Check out the weather report!

Yesterday began with a jaunt to Hebrew University, where we worked on setting up the student accounts, getting Eclipse to run properly, and making sure that our lab code worked. We then went to the mall for lunch.

I don't know what your impressions of Jerusalem are, but this mall would likely prove most of them wrong. Besides the fact that most everything was in Hebrew, and besides the fact that you have to pass through a metal detector to enter, this could have been any mall in the US. We were hungry, so we headed for the food court, and many of us opted for the schwarma or the falafel (which was heart-shaped!)Jon and Humberto, however, opted for burgers.There was even a sbarro...And a Burger King!I'm told there was also a second Burger King on the 3rd floor. However, both are kosher, so no cheeseburgers, unfortunately.

After lunch, we pooled our money (100 shekels each) and sent a committee off to purchase groceries. We'll see how long this communal grocery system lasts... Alice and I made use of our time by finding a bookstore, where we purchased a guidebook for Israel and a map of Jerusalem. Now when we get lost in the Old City, we'll at least know what we're looking at!

Around 7:30 pm, Humberto and I went on a hunt to buy dinner, only to discover that everywhere in the neighborhood that sold falafel was closed. We could have had our pick of more than 20 clothing stores or various other establishments, but nowhere could we get a falafel. We returned to our apartment saddened, but happy about the fact that we'd gone grocery shopping earlier and had hummus and pita galore. We then spent ~1.5 frustrating hours trying to get socket networking code to work, followed by more coding. I think I finally got to sleep around 2am.

Today has been a slow day, with sleeping in, followed by a brief teaching workshop in which each of the Year 1 instructors gave a 5-minute presentation and we discussed presentation skills. Our turn will be Saturday, so I have to come up with something to present. Noa also showed up with ice cream, including some "educational flavors", which meant kiwi, red berry(?), and chestnut, which was particularily delicious!Today's dinner was slightly more successful, perhaps because we went earlier. We tried the falafel shop on the corner, which serves quite decent falafel for only 6 shekels! (They also sell hot dogs: 7 shekels.) With my falafel, I also purchased a Fanta:and Mike bought gummies. (Wait, is that a gummy toothbrush??)This evening, we went on an excursion to attempt to see the sun set over the Old City from the top of the Mount of Olives. Unfortunately, we neglected to bring a map, and we missed the turn to get up to the top, but we did get some nice photos. But next time, we know where to go for a better view.

Now, some brief facts, with informative links!

The unit of currency here is the shekel. Bills come in 20, 50, 100, and 200 denominations. The currency also consists of a number of coins which commonly come in 1, 2, 5, and 10 shekel denominations. I also received a 1/2 shekel coin today. The subunit of a shekel is an agorot. I have yet to come across the 10 agorot piece (according to wikipedia, the smaller 1 and 5 agorot pieces aren't used anymore) because most everything rounds to the nearest shekel. The currency conversion is currently 1 USD = 3.35 shekels, so dividing things by ~3 gives a good estimate of price conversion to US dollars.

After listening to the Muslin call to prayer several times each day, I looked up and found an online schedule of times, so now I know what times it will occur.

And finally, check out the weather link! (which I've also added the the list on the right) We really do live in the desert here. I was told that it does rain occasionally during winter months, but after about May, forget it. It'll be hot and dry here all summer. This means days are REALLY HOT (although not quite intolerable) and it cools off and becomes quite pleasant at night. It also stays really clear (no moisture, no clouds) so you can see stars. I'm excited for our weekend trip to the desert later this summer, since once we are away from the city, the stars should be quite spectacular!