Splish splashing in the Dead Sea

After the morning in Ein Gedi on Wednesday, we went to the Dead Sea for a quick dip. Actually you can't really 'dip', you just float. I was a bit nonchalant, didn't really care whether I went in or not but decided 'what the heck' in the end and went in. It was fabulous! the water itself is lovely and bath temp warm, and a beautiful aquamarine bluey green. And you float and float and float, in fact it is really hard to get your arms and legs to do anything you want....We had a bit of fun trying to form a starfish on the surface, but doing so without kicking anyone in the face was the tricky bit. A bit of hilarious enjoyment for all. getting out is not so much fun, as you end up feeling and smelling slightly like a sardine or similar oily fish...very peculiar sensation, and one i was happy to scrub off in the shower.

We returned home to Jerusalem that afternoon and it was an absolute shock, after the quiet of teh desert, to enter via Damascus gate and have to dodge the hawkers and the sidewalk shopkeepers of the souk to get back to Ecce Homo. I think the desert stillness has quite a bit going for it....

We have met so many people, and they are very friendly and welcoming. I met a lady in a shop the other night who is a teacher of Arabic and she made sure to welcome me here to Jerusalem. The staff here at Ecce Homo are terrific, two of the young kids (maybe early 20s?) who work in the kitchen and serving meals etc have been very friendly and one of them has been trying to teach me Arabic phrases. So far I know how to say: Hello, hurry up (that is a very useful phrase and you hear it all day in the streets), take it a little bit at a time, God willing (which is what is said in answer to a question of when you can expect a job to be done….ie, ‘who knows? One day…’) and a couple of others. Absolutely no idea how to spell anything though, all signage is in Hebrew, Arabic and then tourist signs (Churches, historical places etc) are in English as well.