"Squeeze the World"

I apologize to my faithful readers for my posting deliquencies. I assure you that it was not at all intentional. I returned to Nazareth yesterday after another trip visiting A Quaint Village Near Tiberias (named so after my mother's suggestion) which hereafter shall be refered to as "AQVNT." I decline to use the actual name to the town due to several legal yet sensitive reasons. I might sound really cool, but it's really not that huge, just being wary of the Google Spider.

Anyway, while I was in AQVNT I had the opportunity to prepare a house for a returning family. It had been used as a vacation home, so it suffered from tasteless decor disorder, but it was a really cool house. I also got to meet several other people in the community, mostly immigrants. It's interesting to see people from different backgrounds and cultures all coming together. Israel = the new melting pot? Anyway, I will likely be moving up there at the end of the month, though I will continue to visit my friends at Nazareth Village as much as I can.

Pros for AQVNT:
If war breaks out, people tend to take it more seriously (as in: use bomb shelters).
I can safely walk around the streets alone at night, a pastime I tend to enjoy.
Less of a language barrier and people are more open to conversation.
Opportunity to volunteer at a Messianic school in Tiberias.
More opportunities in general.
Will probably still visit Nazareth at least once a week.
Learn Hebrew (a much less frusterating language than Arabic).
Not hearing fireworks at midnight.

Pros of Nazareth:
My friends at Nazareth Village.
Enjoying a whole apartment of my own (which would change at the end of the month, anyway).
Having shops nearby.
Living directly within a completely foreign culture.
Baklava shops.
My friends at Nazareth Village (they have to count more than once).

I'm sure that there's more, but I'm currently at a loss. Oh, and today I was much more hungry and ate a full pomegranate. I heard that some were disappointed that I didn't go into further detail before, so that was for you! It was delicious.

So, the Village has enjoyed an increase in visitors as the traces of katyusha scatterings are forgotten. I have also been assisting for the gift shop and mending clothes during the off-time. This has involved tying ribbons, smelling zatar, eating ice cream and crossing my eyes for great lengths of time. We had two tours today, one was an Israeli couple and my first tour not understanding what the people were talking about. Actually, there had been another before but at the time I had been wrestling a sheep and wasn't required to interact with the group. Anyway, that threw me off since I'm used to the group either speaking English or having a translator who translated from English. Usually I speak in broken English so that people can make their own assumptions, but that didn't work so well today. The other group was made up of American tour guides, or something of the sort, so they might be returning with massive crowds in the future. Hooray!

Also, today I actually remembered about the youth group at the Nazareth Nazarene (tee hee) Church on Saturdays (I would remember better if it wasn't on a Saturday) and made up my mind to go. However, it was cancelled *just my luck* so I decided instead to walk through town and buy some baklava. I have not regretted the decision since.

Well, I've been spending the last couple days near Tiberias with the Moores and Terrane (a girl from Lake Wenatchee who's spending a year or so here). It's been a lot of fun. Yesterday, we went down into Tiberias since the shops are open now- since the town was hit so often during the war, it's been a ghost town for the last month. That was great- it was a lot like Chelan^3. Then today Terrane and I volunteered at an organization that distributes audio Bibles in several different languages throughout the world. This branch seemed to be purely hardware, so we stuck keypads on the mp3 players all day. Not the most exciting work, but it was fun to hang out with the people there. I had met most of them a couple nights earlier at a movie night and they are all so nice. It's been cool to hang out with other girls who are around my age, definitely something I've missed. Also, when i was in Tiberias I bought a Newsweek IN ENGLISH. I was pretty excited. Plus I got a package from home and it made me very happy.

One huge difference between Nazareth and here is that Nazareth has about the same humidity as home (not very much) but here I am constantly sweating in it all. It's a little obnoxious. I'm going to go stand in front of the fan now.

Let there be great rejoicing from the corners of the earth for I have reclaimed my internet connection! After weeks of busy signals and irresponsible techies, my labors are rewarded and I regain my access to the global community. Hurrah! As I suspected, it was a simple fix (something electrical? I didn't quite understand) which temporarily gave me no electricity to my apartment, but that was fortunately fixed about three weeks faster than my former ordeal.

And another entertaining anecdot from Village tours. Yesterday, a tour group scheduled for a time after usual hours (we're accommodating during slumps) so Michelle and I were the only villagers on the land. Trying to make the place look as busy as possible, I went to fetch a basket from one house while she was going to harness a donkey. So, I was greatly surprised when I left the house to see several unharnessed donkeys trotting down the path. (Cue episode 3 Darth Vader: Nooooooooooooooooo)

Fortunately, they were more interested in food than escape, and we found them grazing at the bottom of the hill. So, we set up a system where we each harness a donkey, then she would drag them back to their stable while I made sure that none ran off and tried to make sure that it looked "normal" when the group came by. Of course, just as she returned with the harnesses, the group followed right behind her and enjoyed watching us trying to corner and capture the hungry animals.

As she returned up the path, the night watchman came by and asked if we were done with the animals. I said "uh... yeah" and he promptly swatted their bottoms and yelled in Arabic, and they ran straight up to the stables, passing Michelle on their way. We only felt a little foolish afterwards.

Well, we actually had a group come through today! A small one, but it's a good sign since we didn't have any scheduled this week. I might start wearing my Jesus sandels everyday again so I don't have to wear the ones here that don't fit and fall off my feet. That was a little frusterating, especially since everything's located on a hillside. Maybe tourism will pick up again since we haven't had bombs for the past couple days.

What we have had are fireworks. Huge, loud and obnoxious fireworks. As I ate dinner at the director's house last night, we were startled several times by the huge booms that shattered the night. The perpetrators stood right next to an intersection, and threw the fireworks right into the street despite a constant stream of traffic. Only in Nazareth.

So, the wedding went fairly well. I had never been to a Catholic wedding before, so between that and everything being in Arabic, I didn't know what was going on most of the time. It started out with everyone waiting for Mira outside- it's customary for the groom's family to escort her to the service. When she came, everyone huddled around to see her (she was beautiful, as always) and the groom kissed everyone, then they took several hundred pictures as everyone else went inside.

When they came into the church, the lined up in the front, and it sounded like they had several prayers or blessings, we could never figure out if we were supposed to be standing or sitting. Then Mira's sister read a scripture, and it they did their vows. Arabs are very lenient with their children, especially the boys, so they always run around screaming when they get bored. Unfortunately, the church echoes really well, and then they were punctuated by the church bells. That is a part of the culture that I don't know if I'll ever get used to.

At the end, we had an assembly line to greet the whole wedding party and the favors were at the end. Somehow the little kids got candy bars and all I got was a dish with mints. But I guess that's okay.

There were several sirens last night, and I don't know how much faith I have in this truce going on, but I guess both sides have reason to be cautious and prepared for anything.

Also, another person came today to look at my internet problem. He also seemed troubled by my using a Macintosh, but he was quite impressed by the animated dock. He's supposed to come back either tomorrow or the next day, and a man from the Village will come, too, so maybe the repairman will take it more seriously.

We had probably one of the most entertaining groups yet come through today. It was a bigger group, about 35, and they came from Poland. Most of them spoke English very well, but they had no sense of "group" and there were some who didn't seem to pay much attention to the guide at all. Those who did asked questions like "where did they put the bathroom?" and from the guide's tone, they didn't ask just once. Anyway, since they were a large group and had a translator, it took them longer than usual to enter the actual village. So, Michelle (the director's daughter) and I decided to grab a donkey to add to the scenery. So I took a harness, and of course they all scatter, so I chose the slowest one. After getting it through the gate and deciding not to try putting on the saddle, we realize that it was the slowest because it was the laziest, and it refused to budge. We attempted to give mild encouragement, and when that didn't work, I grabbed a handful of hay to guide it. That worked, but it was just as the tour group walked in, and we're on the hillside, leading a donkey with a handful of hay. We managed to make it less obvious, but that didn't make us feel any less foolish.

After securing the donkey and letting it graze, we picked a few figs and grapes for them. There weren't a lot of grapes left on the vines, but we managed to find a few decent bunches. Put them in a decent bowl, then a couple arrived at the well. Thinking that the group was right behind them, I rose to greet them with the food. They enthusiastically dug in, and no one else was coming. At that pace, there wouldn't be much left for anyone else, so I pointed out the fig tree to them. Soon, people were showing up, but they created a blockade around the tree and the group bunched up behind them. I started to entice some of the newcomers with the fruit (not unlike the donkey) and eventually a path opened to allow the tour to continue, but the only people interested in that were the tour guide, translator, and us. Everyone else was content picking figs and eating grapes. The guide manages to give his explanation about the well, and moves on with the tour with almost half the group behind him. A few people show up from further down the path (who knows where they were) and find the figs as the rest of the group is discovering the donkey and taking numerous pictures of it, then pictures with us and it, then pictures of them with us and it, and so on.

As soon as they leave, we go to take the donkey back to the stable, but just as we pass the last house, some people come out the door. Apparently they decided to make their own tour of the place, because everyone else was still at the olive press. The donkey is chomping away at the bunch of grapes I've been leading it with as they take their pictures with it. I am so glad we didn't put the saddle on her, or the tour would have taken at least an hour longer. So we get her back in and go to the last house, where the self-tour group had invited themselves to at least half the olives we had prepared.

Oy vey.

The group took longer than they usually allow, but since they were brave enough to come here, they get some bonus points.

The Wedding party was good fun, but exhausting. I don't know how they can handle a full week of parties like that, but they are very social people. And I was told that the music was quiet compared to usual parties, but my head was throbbing as I left. Everything was fun, and definitely a "cultural experience."

We have a couple tour groups coming through this week, one this afternoon and another tomorrow morning. I think that this one is from New Zealand, though I'm not sure about tomorrow's. The tourism industry is certainly in a slump, so we're finding other jobs to keep busy. We've had a couple alarms go off and the usual jets overhead, but otherwise it's been quiet here in Nazareth.

Tomorrow I return to Nazareth and I have a full day before me. The Wedding Party of a co-worker from Nazareth Village will go late into the night with dancing, food and fireworks. All very loud (yes, the food, too). It will probably be very exhausting, but hey! it's a cultural experience. Later this week will be the actual wedding in the Basilica of the Annunciation, the largest Christian church in the Middle East. This says a lot, because there are a lot of churches in Israel. Anyway, it will be exciting, and I finally get to see first hand everything I've been hearing every night!

Today, I went mango picking in view of the Galilee. It was very picturesque and sort of poetic, except that there weren't very many mangos to be had. The orchard had apparently already been picked through by efficient workers. Nonetheless, we filled a few bags and had one or two with dinner, and it was all very lovely.

I am currently writing from a friend's bomb shelter, which doubles as their office. The siren's gone off twice today, but we think one of them might have been a test, since their town hasn't had a regular person in charge of the alarm. Either way, it's been exciting with everyone, including Emily's friends, gathering in the same room. I received several emails from family members last night as they gathered at a reunion, which was very entertaining and touching :) miss you guys!

Organizing pictures is eye-crossing work! I've made it through the CDs we had, but supposedly there are pictures stored on almost every computer in the office, so that will be an interesting job. I'm taking a few days off and visiting the Moores, I haven't seen them since they picked Erin up at 3am Sunday morning, and I don't think I was the most sociable person at the time! It'll be nice to relax and enjoy their company for a bit.

I heard several rockets hit the Jezreel Valley last night as I ate dinner. Without internet, I didn't actually know where they landed until I asked someone this morning. Hopefully Nasrallah and the IDF will stop playing "chicken" soon and put an end to the madness.

Today I spent my whole time at the Village making very small and intricate stitches. Hard work, but it certainly makes me appreciate the costumes more. It took me nearly six hours just to sew a stripe onto a child's costume! The director of Nazareth Village is here, and her daughter is visiting with her. We sewed together and tried to learn different Arabic words from Evone, the village seamstress. Afterwards, we had a wonderful meal at Tishreen, a local restaurant, probably the best place to eat in Northern Israel. Also, I'm actually starting to get the hang of Arab coffee, but only when creamer is readily accessible. I think the main reason I might like it is because their cups are adorable- ornate mugs or glasses only big enough to hold a shot! I think it also depends greatly on the grind and who's making it, without the extra ingredients I'm used to, it makes a huge difference.

The internet situation has yet to improve, but at least I know that the company is aware of it. Lisa called me at the Village saying that the internet guys came but didn't see a computer, so I ran back over and set up my laptop for when they came back. About ten minutes later, a man knocks on my door and speaks in Hebrew. I caught the word for computer, so I pointed it out to him, he saw it then left. For another fifteen minutes, I paced around the apartment trying to figure out what he was doing, maybe he thought I said it was fixed? If so, then it would mean another five days before I would be able to get someone to help. I tried calling Lisa a couple times, then just as I got through, another man walked through my door. Scandalous!

So he sat down and tried to figure out how to restart my computer. I was unaware that this was what he wanted, so I was busy showing him how the computer didn't recognize that the ethernet cable was plugged in, and how if we could access the router blah blah blah. Finally he said “restart? How can I?” And so I pushed the power button for him. While it was restarting, he said “this is a problem, this is a Macintosh? I only know PC, Windows XP.” Then I tried to tell him that that shouldn't be a problem because I was pretty sure that the computer worked just fine blah blah blah. I should him again that it wasn't connected, and pointed out that the cable was plugged in. He tried to open DOS, and I was pretty sure that that was a windows feature, but he thought I didn't know what DOS was, so tried to explain “black screen.” Then he said, “this is problem.”
I pointed out the ethernet cable again, and he went outside to see that it led into the room beneath me, and asked if I had the key. I grabbed a bunch of keys that I happened to find during my pacings, but none of them worked.

We went down to the Administration office to ask for a key (at least that was my intention) and I tried to explain the situation, and I thought he was saying the same thing in Arabic, but then the women turned to me and said “he says he cannot work on a Macintosh.” So I tried to explain again that I didn't think it was the computer's problem blah blah blah. Finally, after much confusion, a Sister walks in with a handful of keys. English was translated into Arabic then translated into French. The poor Sister looked so confused and handed me the keys, and the woman next to me said, “she says try them all and please bring them back.” So, we go back to my apartment and get stuck behind slow walkers on the way, then try the keys to the downstairs door. After figuring it out, we walk into an eerie abandoned room and find the cord that runs into a socket. We tried the “pull out and plug back in” technique, I run back upstairs to check, and no success. One of the guys stays behind when I go back down, which I thought was sort of creepy, but I tried to find the socket's source with no luck.

Back upstairs, the other guy was putting different numbers in the configuration and what-not, and I showed him how to check. Finally, they both say, “maybe the problem is in the cord. Someone proficient in cords will come.” So.. maybe I'll have internet in a week or so, who knows.

After they left, I walked back to the office and returned the keys to the Sister, who is probably one of the most darling nuns I've seen. She seemed very sad for me and said things in French, so I told her thank you and have a nice day.

Thus the saga of the internet connection continues.