Is-thay is y-may ecret-say ode-cay. Ikey-lay?

Today was the type of day that every day in Jerusalem should be like. You know that part in Miss Congeniality where the airhead blonde girl is asked to describe her ideal date, and she says it'd be some time in April because "it's not too hot and it's not too cold--all you need is a light jacket!" Well, I would've never even thought to list January 15th as my ideal date back in Utah, but today was pretty much the perfect day--sunny and in the 70s, but with a nice cool breeze to keep things from getting too hot. Add to this the fact that I bought myself a beautiful golden scarf, and today really couldn't get any better (well, I suppose there's one thing that actually could make it better, but I'm trying not to think about that!). I also split the cost of a hair straightener with my roommate today, which was our main reason for going out into the city--none of ours have worked in the Holy Land, even with our various converters. I wanted to get a ring, too, to put on that finger until I get a new one, but we got a call from security telling us to leave the Old City through Jaffa Gate and take a taxi home because of demonstrations going on outside Damascus Gate, so I didn't get the chance. We're still not sure why we had to leave so suddenly, since the "demonstration" really wasn't a big deal--we even passed it on the way in. Still, it's security's job to be paranoid for us, so we left and called a taxi like good BYU students and I didn't get my ring. Apparently there's a merchant who'll engrave names in Hebrew on a ring for fairly cheap, though, so I'd really like to eventually buy one from him. Another day, I guess.

I've been working on developing a secret code today. Actually, it's not really very secret--it's Hebrew cursive, with a few modifications to compensate for English letters missing in the English alphabet. Still, not a lot of people know Hebrew (especially in America), and even people who do might only know block letters (especially in America), so it's practically like having a secret code. It's really fun, though. In fact, I'm probably having too much fun with this. I was just kind of thinking in Hebrew today how cool it would be to write things in class, and have somebody look over your shoulder and have no clue what the heck you were writing. :P Odd things like that appeal to me for some reason, and I probably just classified myself as a freak, but oh well. It's cooler than any other secret code I could come up with. Pig latin, anyone?