"Squeeze the World"
Tuesday, March 06, 2007
hello!
So, I'm back in AQVNT and no longer in charge of teenagers! This is an incredible feeling. Okay, well I doubt that I'll be able to bring this up to date in one post tonight, but I'll see how far I can make it...
A student from the American College in Jerusalem volunteered at Nazareth Village for over a month during the winter holidays, so T and I decided to make a trip to visit her and spend extra time in Jerusalem. She's also done work teaching English at the Bethlehem Bible College every week, so we took advantage of that and went through the checkpoint with her. Both of us had heard varied stories of Bethlehem, but it really didn't look much different from Nazareth, and was certainly better than many areas of Cairo. We got through the checkpoint easily enough, but that is the benefit of American passports. The Church of the Nativity wasn't anything special, but we were able to interact with a few locals and get a feel for the place.
We also made friends with the other students in the college and went on a few outings with them. Neither T or I had seen much of the New City, so we went to the Shuk (outdoor market) with some of the students. Because of the secular city atmosphere, I wasn't sure how much of the clothing was due to Purim or was regular wear. It was interesting to see an orthodox jew shopping right next to a girl in skimpy clothes and black fuzzy wings, and many other great sights. Later in the trip, T and I took our own journey into the New City and walked throught the Artist's and German colonies. Also, walking through the Old City was refreshing as we didn't have the tour-rush and could enjoy the people watching. We had some interesting encounters and were free to explore as we liked. One day EB's group from Egypt rendevouzed with us and we did a bit of touring for them. Also! Here's a diagram of the latest poorly-reported Israeli "conflict," in case anyone's following:
I almost forgot to mention- The movie "One Night with the King" which my dear mother mentioned in a comment to my last post was showing at a Jerusalem congregation. We actually attended it, and it was very well done. I and others were slightly disappointed that the makers didn't rely more on the natural drama of the story, but what can you do. We'll have to make our own, I guess.
I took the bus back up to AQVNT on Saturday night, the first bus didn't leave until 7pm because of Shabbat, and couldn't find the key to my house. It was very discouraging, but I spent the night at a friend's house and fortunately had packed enough clothes for the Bersheva trip the next day. That morning, I went to the congregation to help out with their Purim party and met up with my next traveling companion, a fellow volunteer at the school. I shall call her F. She's from the Black Forest in Germany, which is pretty cool since I've heard of it before. That is pretty rare.
Both F and I have a friend, M, living in Bersheva and we met through completely different circumstances. I met M while she did a short-term volunteer service in the army and was working along the the northern border. She was required to take weekends off and ended up staying at the house with me. Somehow she and F met at a girl's conference in Haifa about a month ago. Anyway, we left straight from the party and bussed to the train station. The train is such a wonderful experience after a bus ride. We were fortunate enough to catch a lovely sunset over the Mediterranean and later have a great conversation with a soldier.
The next day M took us on a walking tour about Bersheva. We went through the Old City there and their public marketplace where we enjoyed falafel. She knew of a great "Negev Art Gallery" where a woman practiced her German on F for almost an hour. Later, we saw the Hospital and Ben Gurion University. The hospital in Bersheva is the largest in the south and those wounded in Gaza are often air-lifted there. While we walked through we saw one of the medical helicopters coming in to land.
So, I got back just today and I'm very much enjoying having a house to myself for the night. Tomorrow things turn back to semi-normal, but who knows what the next nine days will have in store. Ha! I did it!
A student from the American College in Jerusalem volunteered at Nazareth Village for over a month during the winter holidays, so T and I decided to make a trip to visit her and spend extra time in Jerusalem. She's also done work teaching English at the Bethlehem Bible College every week, so we took advantage of that and went through the checkpoint with her. Both of us had heard varied stories of Bethlehem, but it really didn't look much different from Nazareth, and was certainly better than many areas of Cairo. We got through the checkpoint easily enough, but that is the benefit of American passports. The Church of the Nativity wasn't anything special, but we were able to interact with a few locals and get a feel for the place.
We also made friends with the other students in the college and went on a few outings with them. Neither T or I had seen much of the New City, so we went to the Shuk (outdoor market) with some of the students. Because of the secular city atmosphere, I wasn't sure how much of the clothing was due to Purim or was regular wear. It was interesting to see an orthodox jew shopping right next to a girl in skimpy clothes and black fuzzy wings, and many other great sights. Later in the trip, T and I took our own journey into the New City and walked throught the Artist's and German colonies. Also, walking through the Old City was refreshing as we didn't have the tour-rush and could enjoy the people watching. We had some interesting encounters and were free to explore as we liked. One day EB's group from Egypt rendevouzed with us and we did a bit of touring for them. Also! Here's a diagram of the latest poorly-reported Israeli "conflict," in case anyone's following:
I almost forgot to mention- The movie "One Night with the King" which my dear mother mentioned in a comment to my last post was showing at a Jerusalem congregation. We actually attended it, and it was very well done. I and others were slightly disappointed that the makers didn't rely more on the natural drama of the story, but what can you do. We'll have to make our own, I guess.
I took the bus back up to AQVNT on Saturday night, the first bus didn't leave until 7pm because of Shabbat, and couldn't find the key to my house. It was very discouraging, but I spent the night at a friend's house and fortunately had packed enough clothes for the Bersheva trip the next day. That morning, I went to the congregation to help out with their Purim party and met up with my next traveling companion, a fellow volunteer at the school. I shall call her F. She's from the Black Forest in Germany, which is pretty cool since I've heard of it before. That is pretty rare.
Both F and I have a friend, M, living in Bersheva and we met through completely different circumstances. I met M while she did a short-term volunteer service in the army and was working along the the northern border. She was required to take weekends off and ended up staying at the house with me. Somehow she and F met at a girl's conference in Haifa about a month ago. Anyway, we left straight from the party and bussed to the train station. The train is such a wonderful experience after a bus ride. We were fortunate enough to catch a lovely sunset over the Mediterranean and later have a great conversation with a soldier.
The next day M took us on a walking tour about Bersheva. We went through the Old City there and their public marketplace where we enjoyed falafel. She knew of a great "Negev Art Gallery" where a woman practiced her German on F for almost an hour. Later, we saw the Hospital and Ben Gurion University. The hospital in Bersheva is the largest in the south and those wounded in Gaza are often air-lifted there. While we walked through we saw one of the medical helicopters coming in to land.
So, I got back just today and I'm very much enjoying having a house to myself for the night. Tomorrow things turn back to semi-normal, but who knows what the next nine days will have in store. Ha! I did it!
A, 12:07 PM
2 Comments:
Wait - you can't sign off now. I need to know what happened to your key. Where was it, did the gnome have it? I know the old man in the speedo had it and he was holding it ransom until you took a picture of him holding your key along with a newspaper showing the actual date.
Oh, that's right. This is actually a very boring part of the story, which is probably why I didn't mention it. Much to my frustration, I found it that night in my suitcase just before retiring. And then there was a lunar eclipse, so I had to go stand in the night breeze while my warm sleeping bag called out to me.
