This passage from the appointed readings for the past Friday stuck with me, for obvious reasons. I guess I’m technically in Jerusalem now, although I haven’t seen a sign announcing the city limits. (Then again, I did dodge away from Highway 1 for a bit when the shoulder vanished. A quick scramble down the side of the wadi brought me to the new road that’s under construction.) Anyway! I just walked past the massive cemetery on the westernmost part of the hill and sat down at the nearest available spot to rest and cool my heels. (Yes, literally.)

The name Zeno may not be familiar to many, but the past 24 hours of my life have been an illustration of one of his famous paradoxes. (As I write this, I still have about 4 kms to walk to the hostel I’ll be staying at.) Here’s the scenario: an archer shoots an arrow at a target. It flies through the air, and after a certain amount of time it has covered exactly half the distance between the archer and the target. After a shorter interval of time, it has travelled half of the remaining distance, and then half of that, and half again, and so on and so on. How is it possible for the arrow to ever actually reach the target? So yeah, that’s been my last 24 hours.

The sun has finally set, I’ve cooled off nicely, and I even have a bit of water left. This evening I’m going to splurge and check myself in to a private room at the hostel, bathe, and then sleep. Tomorrow I plan to attend services, light candles, fulfill promises, and visit the Patriarchate, the Holy Sepulchre, the Wailing Wall‎. Photos will be posted sporadically over the next few days, plus (if I have time) some updates covering the past few days of walking. (The thing is, I am in Jerusalem. I don’t want to spend hours hunched over my phone doing all that.)

Bleh. I need to get off my feet for the day, and sitting here typing in the cool dusk isn’t going to make that happen. So, “Yay! I made it!!!”‎ I am really looking forward to the shower. Comforted in Jerusalem.