The Jerusalem Center is in the eastern-most part of the city, backing the West Bank. (In fact, I think we are technically in the West Bank, but on the Jerusalem side of the wall.) The surrounding neighborhood is mostly Palestinian.

We were woken at 5:00 AM by the call to prayer. Today is the Islamic New Year, so the call to prayer went on longer than on a typical day (so I’m told–I haven’t had any typical days here yet).

The food they serve us is delicious. Israel doesn’t import any produce; it actually exports a lot of it, so all the food we eat has fresh Mediterranean produce in it.

Today we spent most of the day walking around the city. The Jerusalem Center is on Mt Scopus, right next to the Mount of Olives, so we walked down to the rest of the city. Everything is mountainous and hilly, but buildings have been built over every inch of ground, so by looking at the skyline you can get somewhat of an idea of the shape of the land beneath.

I was going to take photos from our balcony this morning to show you, but it was cold, rainy, and so foggy that we couldn’t see anything from our balcony, not even the neighboring Mount of Olives. So more photos to come soon!