Jerusalem

 We left the kibbutz, and did a tour of Israel from the north toward Jerusalem.  We took a boat ride on the Sea of Galilee.  We saw the Sermon on the Mount area.  We went to Capernaum and saw where Jesus taught.  We saw Peter's house.  Mr. Vivian baptized Talula in the Jordan River.  Several people wanted pictures of that moment, so he actually baptized her several times.  I have thought that Talula is very blessed because of that.  We had lunch at the Sea of Galilee at a restaurant overlooking the water.  They served something called "St. Peter's Fish".  It was a fish which was caught there; thrown in a pot of boiling water to kill it; and served it up head, scales, eyes and all.  They gave you a knife and fork and said go at it.  It reminded me of dissecting class in school.  It really was kind of gross, especially looking out of the window of the restaurant to see guys in fishing boats with gasoline slicks on the top of the water.  And my fish came out of there?  It really put me off of eating fish for a long time after that.  It hasn't been until the last few years when I have started to eat fish again.
  That afternoon, we went to Megiddo and the Valley of Armageddon.  The Bible was really coming alive for us.  Since our guide was Armenian, we got to go to Samaria and see Jacob's well.  Had our guide been Jewish, we could not have gone to Samaria, so that was a real treat.  We headed up the mountains toward Jerusalem. 
  Our hotel was on the Arab Quarter of Jerusalem not far from the US Consulate.  It was also very close to Herod's Gate and the Old City.  The hotel was again not a deluxe one, but it was comfortable.  We had water purification tablets with us, because the water was a bit suspect, but we found that Coca-Cola worked just as well and was safer.  The food was great.  I loved the Arab music.
  That night, the girls and I went a block down the street from our hotel to a souvenir shop called the Jordan Bazaar.  There were three guys who ran the place.  Two brothers and a cousin.  Their names were Sam, Omar, and Sam.  They were in their mid-twenties.  As we wanted to get the local flavor of the place where we were visiting, we asked the boys if they would take us around the neighborhood.  They said they would, and were closing up their shop around 9:30, and for us to be back then.  Sha decided not to go with us, but Judy, Sandra, Talula and me did.  Each boy walked with a girl, and I walked behind them alone.  The boys and girls had their arms around each other, and I was walking behind Sandra as we toured the neighborhood at night.  Sandra reached around the boy and waved at me.  I thought it was a signal to drop back further, so I did.  Later, she told me she was just waving at me.  I dropped further back to when they were no longer in sight, and I got lost. 
 Jerusalem at night is very dark.  I walked through housing areas which were very poor.  I came upon some Hassidic Jews and asked them for directions back to my hotel, but they wouldn't speak to me.  It was getting close to midnight by now, and I was getting kind of scared.  I had no idea where I was.  I came upon a taxi and asked the driver to take me to the hotel.  He did, and it turned out I was only a block from there.  I gave him $1 to take my a block, but I was quite relieved.
 When I got back, Mr. Vivian was waiting for me.  He asked me where I was, and I told him I had gotten lost.  He said the girls had gotten back about an hour earlier, and they didn't know where I was.  I really wasn't sure if he was more concerned about me being lost, or rather me not being with the girls and chaperoning them.  Whatever his motives, he was pretty mad.  He told me from now on, I would have to go where the girls went.  I would have to be their bodyguard.  The trouble was just beginning.