Orientation

This morning I woke up to the sound of the prayer call blasting through the speakers on the hill next to the Center. It is in Arabic and goes on for at least 5 minutes. As it woke me up I thought about all of the people getting up to pray, and was amazed by their devotion.
After breakfast and a meeting, we headed off on an orientation walk throughout the city. We saw so many things that as of now I don't know how to spell, but I'll try anyways: Olive trees, Kanab valley, Mount of Olives, Garden of Gethsemane (from a distance), Old Jerusalem... hmmm, really I don't remember all of the places. We weren't allowed to bring a camera or money, they just wanted us to get oriented with everywhere. So I just walked, looked, and tried to take it all in. Obviously in the months to come it will all become very familiar to me.
It is different than I expected. Every building and part of the streets are made with limestone. In many parts of the city you can see how over centuries the city just gets higher and higher because instead of tearing things down, they just build over old buildings.
I can't believe I am here. It still feels like just a vacation. I feel like I need to be buying everything now, seeing everything now, but then I realize I will be here for 3 1/2 more months. Crazy! And exciting. I'm loving it. It's fun getting to know all the people right now. It's like every hour I get to know someone better, which is so much fun.
Jerusalem, so far, so good! I'm loving it!