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Thanks for the warm welcome, everyone. And I want to see those pics of IowaMan in the lace thongs!

The trip was great. I was sick for a good part of it, but that didn't stop me! We had some amazing experiences.

The first 3 days we spent visiting a friend who I met through my MBA program -- we stayed with him and his family. We had a wonderful time...everyone was really warm and inviting and it felt just like being at home. His family is wonderful - and I enjoyed my first ever Shabbat dinner at their home.

On December 24th, we went to Jerusalem and spent the day touring. Walked down the Via Dolorosa, where Jesus was said to walk as he carried the cross. Spent time at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher where Jesus was taken after he fell, removed from the cross, and finally laid to rest. We also saw the Temple Mount, the Wailing Wall, Damascus Gate, and many other Old City sights.

After the day in Jerusalem, we met a group of MBA students for a bus trip to Bethlehem. There, after a kind of tense border crossing, we went to the Church of the Nativity. Underneath the church in a cave is the site where Jesus was said to be born. I visited the cave and lit a candle at the spot of his birth. We also went to a 9 pm mass there, where the President of Palestine was the "guest" reader. He gave a speech about peace and the value of dialogue in ending conflict between Muslims, Jews, and Christians. His appearance at mass was the day after his meeting with Olmert. The sermon was unique and there were many Arab Christians at the service (which was small, maybe 75 people, and also was on TV as a firend here in CA said they saw it on the news). We even sang some Christmas carols in Arabic!

Being in Palestine was interesting....because of the wall that was put up a couple of years ago around the West Bank, most of the Palestinians do not have jobs and are very poor. However, we were welcomed and had a truly memorable experience.

The next day...on the 25th....my official study trip began. For those of you who didn't know, the reason I was in Israel for 2 weeks was for a business school trip where we went to meet with government and business leaders to understand the Israeli economy and entrepreneurism in particular. The trip was about 50% "business" meetings and about 50% travel and tourism.

more to follow when I have some time....