Gunthers in Jerusalem : Thursday 2 October 2014-Daily life in Jerusalem

Thursday, Oct. 2, we gave tours at the Jerusalem Center. After work we ran some errands and then came back to the center for Palestinian night. On the way back from running errands we took some random pictures of what we see every day

Garbage is a huge problem in Jerusalem. They have big dumpsters along the side of the road where everyone dumps their garbage. A big truck comes along and tips the whole dumpster upside down to empty it. Garbage is always spilled on the road so it's never really cleaned up.

This is the road that leads to the Jerusalem Center. You take the right lane to Mount Scopus. The left lane goes through the tunnel into the West Bank to Ma'aleh Adumim. It is a big Jewish settlement in the West Bank. The Palestinians think the settlements are built on their land making them illegal. The Jews say they've owned the land for 3,000 years. The roads out to Jewish settlements are nice big highways. The roads that the Palestinians use are very bad and in need of a lot of repairs.

This is our view just before we turn right on Hadassah Lampel St. or we follow the sign to the Mormon University.

This is the entrance to the parking garage on the 7th floor. The security booth is just behind the car.

This is the parking garage. BYU has 10 cars available for us to check out. We pay a monthly fee for the use of the car and 400 kilometers ( about 240 miles). There are approximately 30 parking stalls. You could almost eat off the floors they keep it so clean.

The security staff take such good care of us and are wonderful men. Here is Nassif Asfour and Rami Naber.

Thurs. Oct. 2, was Arab night. Before the dinner they had father and son sheiks that chant the call to prayer from Al Aqsa Mosque. The son memorized the Koran when he was 7 years old and it is a job that has stayed in their family for 600 years. They made a point that they don't sing but chant or recite the call to prayer. It happens 5x's a day starting at 4 a.m., noon, mid afternoon, evening, and night. We always sleep with the windows closed, the fan on, and ear plugs to sleep through the night. I wouldn't make a good Muslim. There are 4-5 mosques close to the center so in the evening it is common to hear them all going at once. It's really quite beautiful when it isn't disturbing your sleep.

Here they are showing how they pray. They face Mecca and pray in their homes, mosques, and sometimes on the street. When we had Muslims over for dinner in our apartment, they excused themselves and faced Mecca and prayed.