Jericho

Picture a city that is preparing to celebrate its 10,000 anniversary. At home we look at things which are 100 years old and think about them as antiques. We go shopping in Pennsylvania, wandering Amish country, for that 75 year old bargain that no one else has noticed -- and its a steal! Now take it back about a zillion times further. And its not like there's a rock somewhere in whatever the ancient precursor was to aramaic that says "Jericho founded on this day." Of course, no one had invented writing 10,000 years ago anyway, so the chances of that were kind of small. Imagine a city that traces itself back before writing. 

Crazy. 

Then picture a bunch of Americans dressed up in skin tight costumes doing Jungle Books in front of a gathering of kids who, in the words of one of our program sponsors "have never seen anything like this in their lives" (I didn't really want to say that sometimes we feel like that at home, too).

Then jump over to the Dead Sea, where the next round of contrasts will set your mind wandering. Women in full burkas immersing themselves in the salt and mineral filled water next to bikini clad CityDancers. Men walking along covered in the "healing muds" with cigarettes in their mouths.