Relaxi-Taxi

Wow. I love Israel.
The last couple days have been so nice to relax and get to know the people of Jerusalem.
Yesterday we met two men named Abdah and Ali. Today is Ali's wedding (we just found out he's Muslim after asking the director about the type of ceremony it is) and he invited us to come! Unfortunately, we can't, but just the hospitality of these nice shopkeepers was overwhelming.
We also met a man named Louie yesterday. He was Palestinian and Irish and owned a travel agency/ cafe inside Damascus Gate called the Gate Cafe. We ended up nearly trapped in his cafe to avoid being trampled by the hoards of responsible Muslims quickly trekking to the Dome of the Rock for afternoon prayer. What was sad was that this meant we would now have to wait 45 minutes until we could eat the delicious falafels that we can traveled all the way to Damascus Gate to try.
Luckily, we ran into Louie. He invited us into his cafe/travel agency and made us mint tea and then sent one of his friends to buy us falafels from a closed shop. they were DELICIOUS. omg, first falafels ever are the best falafels. yum yum yum. french fries and cucumbers and pickles and mustard. om nom nom.
He then gave us a two hour "sermon" about his views concerning religion and politics. Louie is an agnostic by our standards, believing in God and good morals, but not organized religion. Basically, he said that we each have God and the devil in each of us and have to decide who will win in each situation, but that we can never be respected and loved if we don't give respect and love, which will in turn bring peace and confirm our morals. I loved hearing his perspective, but it was hard to see how much religion has hurt someone so badly. If you want to hear more about our talk I would love to tell you, but it's much too long to blog.
Today was study day for our test this afternoon, and since it is Shabat, Jessi and I found a lovely little Armenian Christian cafe and had 12 NIS lattes while we studied Israeli rocks and roads. After, we strolled through every district and bought nothing, which felt great. I ever got a free pen from a nice man named Ishmael who just wanted to say hi.
Good day so far, and I hope it continues to improve through the test and class to packing for Galilee tonight. Can you believe it...only 8 more days till this adventure is over...