So my plan to update a little bit as the trip went on failed. I never got that much access to the internet, and when I did, I spent most of the time on facebook and with email.

I did end up watching Lawrence of Arabia before I left. It's probably one of my new favorite movies, and it's definitely one of the most manly movies I've ever seen. It's the only movie I can think of that doesn't include a single woman in the cast. Lawrence and the Arabs don't even need the obligatory mothers and hookers who often appear in manly movies. They just need each other. It's only slightly gay, although Lawrence himself most likely was in real life.

Israel is still another country to me. It's interesting that everybody's Jewish, but I haven't found an overwhelming sense of belonging here anymore than I have anywhere else. When I saw the Western Wall, I was drawn to it like some sort of magnet, although "magnetic" doesn't really accurately describe the feeling. Maybe it was a combination of a sense of history, the intensity of the worshippers around me, and something else that might have been supernatural. I know it was more than just getting caught up in what was around me, because I found my self quietly leaning against it. I put a note inside it. It was hard to find a spot. I found some other notes that had fallen out and tried to put them back in.