Living in the Present

This morning we were all very tired from our night out in Tel Aviv last night. We packed up and dragged ourselves onto the bus and headed to the Israeli Independence Museum. We watched a video about the history of Tel Aviv and then heard a presentation about the ceremony where David Ben Gurion declared independence for the state of Israel.

Next we headed to Rabin square, the place where Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated in 1995. We learned about his life and then interviewed locals about how his assassination effected them and the country. We had lunch there in the square.

After that, we drove to Jerusalem and went on what seemed like a very long but informative tour through the Old City. We went to different scenic lookout spots and learned about the four different quarters in the city: Jewish, Muslim, Christian, and Armenian. There were cute street cats and kittens roaming around and they distracted us at every turn. There were also fruit trees all over the place: lemons, oranges, cumquats, etc. It’s not something I see too often while living in Boston and I‘m always impressed when I see them. We ended our tour with a stop at the Western Wall. It was a very powerful sight. The wall is very tall and stuffed with notes and I put one in as well. Many ultra orthodox men and boys were praying and singing near me.

After that, we finally got back on to our bus and drove a short distance to our hotel for the night. We had dinner right away and I’m happy to say, in my opinion, it was the best we’ve had since we’ve been in Israel. Tomorrow we are going to the Holocaust Museum and then I’m not sure what’s next… it’s best not to concern myself with the coming events, only to absorb as much of the present as I can.

-Jeremy Lach