American Studying in Amman, Jordan: Kingdom of Heaven Part 1

On September 8th, a group of students from the CET program and I made our way to Jerusalem around four o'clock. We left only two hours after our last class on a Thursday. Getting into Jerusalem is not an easy task and it turned into multiple step endeavor. First it took roughly an hour to travel from Amman to the King Hussein Bridge. The taxi driver could only get so close to the boarder crossing due to regulations, so we were forced to switch taxi drivers in a small town. This small town smelt of rotten vegetables and was infested with black flies. The second taxi cab's windshield looked as if someone threw a rock at. The glass was broken and looked like a cob web.
Once we arrived at the border crossing it wasn't clear where to go exactly, but we made our way into one of the buildings. Lines are practically none existent in the Arab world. It was madness trying to acquire a simple bus boarding ticket. We were required to hand our passports to a police officer and then wait for them to be delivered to us on the bus -giving up my passport for any period of time in a foreign country is stressful to say the least. It took about an hour on the bus to get to the arrival center of Israel, due to the many checkpoints. The arrival center was chaotic as well. People pushing and shoving to have their bags checked. Unfortunately my bag wasn't small enough to take with me through the metal detectors and I had to send it through the bag check.
As my bag was being checked, I went to get my Visa, which is the worst part of the whole journey. I waited in line until it was my turn and then walked up to the desk where a young women was sitting. She was far from welcoming and barely acknowledged that I was standing in front of her. She started interrogating me and told me if I lied I would be sent back to Jordan. After about five minutes of questions she let me through. Almost everyone in the group made it through except one person. We waited an additional two hours, while they were "clearing things up". We spent another hour exchanging money, and then about thirty minutes waiting for a form of transport. After an hour long bus ride through the west bank we finally made it to Jerusalem. The entire trip took seven hours.
I never once felt culture shock living in Jordan for several weeks. I did however experience it upon the arrival of Jerusalem when we were surrounded by Jewish men in their traditional garb, clean streets and large crowds of people drinking outside of bars. It was excited to be in such a different atmosphere, but it was a long day of traveling and all I wanted was to check into the hostel. We were welcomed with a free beer and wifi, so things looked like they were turning around.
Despite the late night, we went on a tour around 11 in the morning. A Palestinian offered to give us a tour of the old city, for 50 shekels, which was about 12 dollars a person. He brought us to all the most famous spots in the city, and even suggested eating a Kebab from the Muslim district. Our last stop, Church of the Holy Sepulchre, was were I was able to ask about his personal life. Apparently, he was born in Jerusalem while it was under Jordanian control, and owns a Jordanian passport. This means that he can only get the three month Visa that anyone can get by crossing the border. This visa doesn't allow you to get a job in the country. I realized that he was working as a tour guide unofficially. Either way, he was a kind and smart man who deserved every penny he received.
Walking around the Muslim district brought about an odd relief, almost like a feeling of security. The most common Language in Jerusalem is Hebrew. Everyone speaks Hebrew and the signs are in Hebrew. The Muslim district was all Arabic, and I had a much better chance at communicating and finding what I wanted there. Most places in Jerusalem were tourist traps and far more expensive than I liked, but the Arabs offered fair prices and so I had one of the city's famous Kebab sandwiches from the Muslim district. It was only 8 shekels.