September 5, 2007

Jenessa Simmons
September 5, 2007
What a day today was! We spent the better part of it on a plane – it was a long flight. This plane was cooler than the one yesterday though, it had bigger seats and cool little TV screens so that we didn’t feel as obligated to make awkward conversation with our neighbors… just kidding, we talked anyway, but it was nice to have something else to do when my super-cool-new-friend-seat-buddy (Danny) fell asleep.
In the airport before we boarded the plane there was this hippy-ish looking Jewish guy playing the guitar and singing, it made me really excited to come to this country. I also met a Mormon couple that was going to Jerusalem for 10 days and all they had were two small carry-ons… amazing! If only I could say the same (my 69.5 lb suitcase was sort of hard to carry.)
When our flight landed we followed the crowd to customs where we got into a bunch of different lines and showed our passports to people. Apparently some people just had to hand the passport over to the customs officers and they got a stamp in their passport, but the lady who took my passport asked me approximately seven million questions:
“What is your full name? Born in…? How long will you stay here? Where are you staying? Why are you here? What are you studying? Are you with a group? How big is it? Do you speak Arabic or Hebrew? What is your father’s name?”
Tough lady, real tough. Unfortunately some of those questions baffled me. I was disoriented, jetlagged, and so tired that all those questions sounded like trick questions to me. Thankfully, the lady finally smiled at me, stamped my passport and let me though. Phew!
We got to the Jerusalem Center at about 6 o’clock. It is such a beautiful building; amazing and majestic – I can’t believe we’re going to live in it! We ate some dinner in the “Oasis,” had a sort of orientation and then listened to Brother Galbraith play the organ in the auditorium. We have a beautiful view of the city from the Jerusalem Center, absolutely unbeatable.
Basically I just can’t believe that we are here, in Jerusalem. It’s surreal, I do not believe it, and I don’t think that anyone else quite gets it yet either. Everyone is really nice though, we’re all still timid and self-conscious; I can’t wait until we’re comfortable around each other.