Lost Day/Great Night

I got up this morning and to the dismay of my first migraine on my trip thus far. I tried to sleep it off, but it's nearly impossible to sleep with a migraine in the day in Jerusalem and the temperature today reached well over 100 degrees. After some time, I thought it might help to get some food in me, so I walked across town to Damascus Gate to get a 5 shekel Falafel from my favorite food stand, all the while trying to remember to keep breathing, and downing water. If you've you've ever had a migraine, you know that in the pain you have to remind yourself to do simple things like breathing, and on a hot day in Israel it's all the harder. On my way back from Damascus Gate the whole street was blocked because a brawl that took place between two Arabs who were hauling their inventory on wooden carts coming in opposite directions. Apparently the street was too narrow for both of them to get around each other, so in pushing through, one accidently knocked over the other one's cargo, spilling it all over the floor. The other man retaliated by dumping over the other's cart, and immediately a fight ensued. People from the sidelines jumping in to stop the fight eventually became a part of it, but I had no patience for this sort of thing at the particular moment, so I crawled my way through the fighting mob, dodging punches as I went until I reached the other side.

I sat and watched TV in the lounge for a bit, nodding off until my headache subsided, and then I headed out to meet some friends my mom had gotten me in contact with, for dinner. They were absolutely amazing people. We had so much fun talking, and laughing. I told them about my blog, and they actually asked me not to mention their names and to keep things pretty general when mentioning them in my blog, because they said they'd like to fly a little under the radar if at all possible. So respectfully, I told them I would try to be as general as I could. I can tell you however, that they are both magnificent people, and we had a great time. I had dinner at their house, and they made me a wonderful home cooked meal. After dinner they hooked me up with a friend they have who's a professional tour guide here, and they got me booked on a tour tomorrow through Bethlehem, and then on Wednesday through Galilee, and Nazareth. They told me I also very much need to see the Dead Sea while I'm here which is only a 20 minute drive from here. At the end of the night, they loaded me up with the leftovers, so that I could store them in the hostel fridge and use it for free meals or snacks while I'm here. Although tomorrow, my lunch is already provided in the tour. It was great seeing them both, and I learned a lot about what's here still to see. The husband told me that on Thursday, he'd love to pal around with me for the day, and show me whatever I hadn't seen by then. So I told him that would be great, and he wrote down directions for me of what exactly I need to do tomorrow, where to meet the tour group, and how to get back. Thank God for them. There's probably so much I would have missed here that I never would have realized I missed till I was gone.
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