One Last Post

I'm officially at the end of my time in the Middle East, and that means this blog is also coming to an end. However, I enjoy this form of communication, so I'll be blogging from Chicago. :)

For those of you who want to read my ramblings from Chicago check out:

www.ericainchicago.blogspot.com

Hopefully, I'll keep it updated fairly regularly, and maybe even with pictures! :)

Thanks to everyone who read this blog, prayed for me and encouraged me in writing it. 

I APPRECIATE IT!

Last Blog Post from the Middle East

Well, I am down to about 48+ hours left in the country and it blows my mind that I'll be on a plane very, very soon. So I just wanted to make sure I got in one last post before I take off, although I might update after I get home too.

I don't have any pictures to post, or any great stories to tell, unfortunately. The only thing I can think of at the moment is that my students took their final exam this evening. :)

I've got things to where I will be able to pretty much just put it all into the suitcases now. I have to do some laundry tomorrow, and then on Wednesday I'll wash my sheets and all that so that I can leave them clean.

I do have one question for you all, my readers. (I'm not sure who all you are, or even how many of you there are) If I were to write a blog while I'm at school this fall in Chicago would you read it? It wouldn't be this blog...but I would be able to write a bit more freely than I currently am able to. I can't promise it'll be very exciting, or even updated very often, but I do like this medium of sharing my thoughts with friends. Do you like reading those thoughts?

Anyway, leave a comment or email me...

Thanks!

See you all in America!

Pictures

Here are a few random pictures I've taken in the past few days. 

See the mama pigeon sitting in one of our plants? She decided our mint was the perfect place to make a nest. :) She actually stays on the nest when we go out onto the balcony, which means we get an up close and personal view of the whole deal.

And these are what she is sitting on. As of last night there are two eggs, but I haven't checked today to see if she laid another one.

Guess who?! :) 

Yesterday I went shopping and came home with everything I need to become completely invisible in this part of the world. Not literally invisible, of course, but dressed like this and without speaking I would just be another Arab woman on the street. 

It's a strange sensation to wear all this, I must admit. I don't know how some of these women do it day in and day out. And it's not even that hot here compared to places in the Gulf, where all the women have to wear this. 

Second Trip

Here are the pictures of our trip...it's late so I probably won't be going into a lot of detail. :)

The view as we came down the road to the river valley and the border crossing. We were already below sea level and we still had a ways down to go.

One of the guys traveling with us feeding the donkey at a re-created 1st century village. They were threshing wheat.

The carpenters in the workshop at the village.

The Basilica, or Church of the Annunciation. I was told it's the largest church in the Middle East. Downstairs is the grotto where they say the angel came to Mary to announce the coming of Jesus.

The family we stayed with were celebrating the daughter's birthday with sparkler candles. She's on the chair with balloons around her and the oldest brother is in the blue shirt. They are a very nice family who I enjoyed meeting. :)

Shabbat eve we sat at the Western Wall and observed the celebrations and the people coming to pray. It was fascinating. 

Morning coffee in the Old City of Jerusalem

At the Garden Tomb. 

This place was amazing and I had a couple of cool encounters with people there that I won't go into on the blog. And just to make sure it's clear, the tomb is empty...He is risen!

Like the night before at the Western Wall, we found a spot in the shade to observe people around the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. This little Ethiopian girl was running around. :)

The doors to the church and our vantage point in the square.

A view from the Mt. of Olives of the Old City.

On the way back to the border we stopped for about 20 minutes to step into the Sea of Galilee. It was a hot day and it was nice to step into the water for a bit, even if the stones on the shore burned my feet afterwards. :)

The four guys we traveled with. 

They were a lot of fun to hang out with and really looked after us two girls. It added a different dimension, certainly, to the trip, trying to coordinate everyone traveling at different times and going different places and without cell phones, but we managed to have a blast and there are loads of stories to tell of our adventures over the four day trip.

Dead Sea Weekend

Here are the pictures I got from my friend of the Dead Sea visit. 

It was so flippin' hot down there, at the lowest place on earth. But as long as I could slip into the pool every now and then to cool off it wasn't too bad in the sun. I greatly enjoyed the chance to tan a bit. :)

Starting to put the mud on...you can't tell, but my feet were burning standing there. :) I had to keep running up to the cement to actually cool off my feet. 

Now it's going on the faces...see how salty white the rocks are behind us?

Waiting for the mud to dry a bit before we go rinse it off in the Sea. 

Floating in the Sea. It was a crazy experience, floating like that. Notice my friend on her stomach? You really can float on your stomach in this sea, it's so salty.

And for a bonus, here a couple of actual pictures from the King's Parade when the King didn't actually show up. :)

A cute little girl who sat beside us.

Our position along the road. It got a bit awkward being surrounded by all those guys. 

Photos Coming

The last two weekends have been busy going here and there and I promise by Friday I'll have pictures up. I'm kinda "borrowing" the neighbor's internet at the moment since our router, which needs to be reset, is in the apartment of someone who is gone until Thursday. :) 

Anyway, I had a great time traveling over the weekend, although this did happen to be the weekend that the weather decided to change to full-on summer. :P I think as soon as I stepped into the sun I started to sweat. But I am grateful it waited until now, because I only have to deal with it for another 2 weeks! Ahhh!!! On the 28th at 3 am I'll be boarding a plane to head home, and it's such a surreal feeling that has been catching me at odd moments throughout the past week... "I've only got two weeks left! I won't be doing this anymore. I won't be living here anymore!"

Life the next two weeks is going to be crazy, needless to say. :)

Inshallah, pictures will be coming on Friday.

Life...

I am finding that this summer has seemed like life slowed down a bit, but in some ways I have more to do each day now than I did while school was in session. :) Maybe it's because my routine varies from day to day, rather than 5 days of the same thing each week.

My routine has turned into something like this:

Sunday: 10-3ish - a gathering with the other teachers from the center, to stay on the same page with each other.

Monday: prepare in the morning for teaching; teach my class from 4-6; hang out in the coffee bar at the center until 7:30-8

Tuesday: one hour of Arabic with my tutor (sidenote: I feel like I'm learning a lot and finally, finally am able to put thoughts into sentences in a way that actually makes sense); also meet with my friend at some point.

Wednesday: the same as Monday

Thursday: one hour of Arabic; and then whatever else comes up for later in the day.

Friday: sleep-in; church in the evenings

Saturday: a two hour session with my tutor, my roommate and my friend (we are all studying with the tutor and use Saturdays to learn also from each other) in the morning

And throughout the week I might add in a Conversation Evening at the center, hanging out with friends, a visit to the university to meet with my friends there and other various random activities.

I just realized I might not have put pictures on that I have from the picnic/convo night that we had a couple weekends ago. However, I want to be sensitive to my students so I might ask them first if they would mind if I use the pictures. It was a fun night...one of the teachers, who is from Norway, brought this game that's kinda like bocce ball or bowling or something like that, but with wooden blocks and so the students played in teams in a kind of tournament. There were a few guys teams and then the girls had a chance. :) I was on the team that lost in the game of two girls teams, but I am proud to say that the other girls team beat one of the guys teams before going on to lose to the tournament winners. :)

Another thing going on was the death of one of the center's students. He was a 17 year old who was just finishing high school, and he had an accident at his home. We closed the center last week to honor his death and then the next day of classes we had a small memorial time. My friend was his teacher and I think her class will probably feel the effect the most.

This evening I came back from an overnight stay at the Dead Sea. :) A couple friends and I went down yesterday, tried out the mud, and took a dip in the sea before laying the rest of the afternoon, and half of today in deck chairs by the pool. :) It was glorious! The Sea is amazing...you know how in regular water if you lay back you're going to sink at least a little? Well, not in the Dead Sea. I laid back expecting the regular experience only to float as if I were sitting on an inner tube or something like that. It's a crazy sensation that can be experienced in only one place. 

I came back a bit sunburnt, but I think it will fade quickly and I won't be so completely white anymore! I missed soaking up the sun, since in normal life here I have to be pretty much covered from wrist to ankle. 

Pictures will be coming as soon as I get them from the friend who actually remembered her camera. :)

Next weekend we are again making a trek to the country next door, this time with a few more friends. :) Some of the teachers who are here for the summer are going with us. It should be a riot!

And with that I think I've come to the end of my random life update. I do have a few pictures I might upload tomorrow of the lunar eclipse a couple of weeks ago, and of a little kids tea party I hosted. :)

Video of the King's Parade

I finally got the video I made of the King's parade uploaded, so here it is for you to enjoy!

Proud Sister

I'm sure you're all aware that I have younger siblings, and while this is supposed to be a blog about my year here in the Middle East, I can't resist this small opportunity to brag on my siblings.

On Sunday Reg got the opportunity of a lifetime...playing baseball in Busch Stadium! (for those of you who don't know what that is, it's the stadium where the St. Louis Cardinals, a.k.a. the best team in baseball, play)

Anyway, the baseball team from his high school was invited to play another high school in the stadium after the Cards game was finished for the day, so they did. It sounds like half of Kalona went down for the game. :)

All that to say, I'm super proud of my big little brother. I just wish I could have been there to cheer him on. 

If you want to watch a clip of the highlights, go here. Reg is the one running in to home and scoring at about the middle of the clip. :) At least, I'm pretty sure it was him.

Now, this is not to say I'm not proud of Tony and Kerri...I am very proud to be their sister. This event was just a chance to say it publicly on this blog. :)

A Few Updates...

I realized I haven't updated the blog in awhile...somewhat because I haven't had as much going on now that school is finished and also because I have pictures but don't ever take the time needed to upload them and therefore keep putting off updating. :)

Last week I started teaching English, which so far has been a good experience. My roommates both teach at this center, and with so many people leaving for the summer they needed as many people as they could get. Actually the group of teachers that eventually came together to teach is a great group, and since all but four of the teachers are guys, that will help with the ratios of guy to girl students as well, as far as interacting goes. One of the guys is even going to be at my college next year, so that is a fun connection. :)

I have hung out with Roa'a and Haneen a couple of times since classes have finished...last week I had both of them here and we celebrated the end of the semester and the end of finals. :)

I have pictures I'll add below.

I spent last Friday night with my friends on the other side of the city, and then Saturday morning I went with one of them to meet up with a group who's visiting for a couple of weeks. Along with the group we went down to the main road where there was supposed to be a parade and other such things in honor of the King, and at some point the King was even supposed to appear. Well, we waited...and waited...and got stared at...and waited some more...and finally my friend and I decided to leave since it was getting towards evening and traffic around the area was a mess. So, I didn't see the King, but it was a fun, and somewhat exhausting, atmosphere. 

Anyway, I have a video but it didn't want to load (I've been trying for the past two days) so instead here are the pictures from my times with my friends.

With Roa'a after her last final for the semester.

 Haneen without her hijab

With the girls at my house for our celebration...both of them allowed me to take pictures of them without their hijabs. :)

End of School, Citadel & Olive Wood

Wow, you guys are lucky. Two pictures posts in two days!

Just over a week ago the semester ended at the university and so the weekend before and leading up to the finals my classmates, teacher and I spent some time together. One day for breakfast we gathered to meet her fiance, and then the night after finals were over I, along with three other classmates met my teacher for supper, which was nice. 

Then last Friday my friend and I decided on a picnic at the Citadel, where there are lots of ruins from the Roman period, and the Islamic Empire period. We crazily went through with our plans even though Friday turned out to be the hottest day yet this year. 

And then Saturday I went with a couple of friends from church (the same ones I went paintballing with) and some of their colleagues to an olive wood factory, where they create hand-carved olive wood pieces.  We had a tour and then got to explore their small shop there too. One of the reasons I was glad to purchase things from them was because their goal is to mostly hire people who are disadvantaged, in order to help them. They have beautiful things and they also do online orders, as well as some wholesale, if any of you are interested in checking out their site.  

Me with my teacher, Afnan, and her fiance. They are getting married this summer and she's so excited she's almost giddy...it's so cute!

The famous mosque at the top of my jabel, or mountain. It's quite an uphill walk from my house, but it is beautiful up there, as well as having a nice view of the city.

The remains of a Hercules statue at the Citadel. The only other remaining piece is the elbow in the background. This thing is huge, in case you couldn't tell from the picture.

There are 4 or 5 columns left from the Hercules temple at the Citadel and it's pretty fascinating to stand directly below them and look up. 

One thing I love about this country...you can get up close and personal with the ruins. They aren't roped off and inaccessible. 

Trying to stay in the shade when at all possible

These are some of the roughly cut shepherd figurines at the factory. They are carved like this on a larger machine, and then someone carves the details into them, before they are sanded no less than 5 times, and then finished. The end result is beautiful!

Some of the men working on the pieces

This woman is sanding ornaments, and she's deaf. It was fun using sign language to communicate just a bit. And the camels at the bottom of the picture...super cute!

Pictures from A Month Ago...

Finally, finally, finally!

Here are the pictures I promised a long time ago from our afternoon of paintballing. :)

Enjoying the scenery between lunch and our "battle". :) Everything was still so green then! Now all that green has probably turned brown and dry.

Lunch with a good friend. She's from Chicago and actually went to the U of I! :) 

(Cue, "It's a Small World After All")

The group minus one.
We were trying to look tough...
I don't think any of us pulled it off.

Our team. That's my tough face...it actually makes me laugh instead :)

We've now added the protective gear...

The whole group with our paintball guns. 

I Have Some Changes To Propose

...To English vocabulary that is. 

I've found that as I continue to learn Arabic there are certain words or phrases that I use all the time, even when the rest of the conversation is in English. Somehow these words capture a thought or expression better than any word English has to offer. So I think that we should think about adding them to regular English vocabulary. Or at the very least, be prepared for me to have them in my vocabulary when I come home. :)

Here are the words I have thought of:

SHA-BOB

Literally translated this word means "youth" or "young men", but I use it to describe the teenage/post teenage young men who prowl the streets like they own them, using their profound grasp of the English language ("Hello! How are you?" in a strong accent) to attract any foreign woman they see, along with other catcalls and kissing noises. Really, what woman wouldn't be attracted to sounds like that? 

(please read this description with a heavy dose of sarcasm) 

I think the worst part is that any sign of acknowledgement (even a glare) on my part is tantamount to saying, "I want to sleep with you." I mean, really. 

I love how this one word sums up that whole description. In any conversation I can say, "Oh those shabob" and the other person knows exactly what I'm talking about. 

Brilliant!

YAL-LAH

This is basically like "let's go" or "come on". This a great little phrase that you can use as a response, a question or any time you want to move from one place to another. 

HUL-LAS

I think the literal translation is "enough" or "finished". I'm not sure I ever got the exact translation although I learned very quickly what it meant. :) I use it as a question, but also like, "...and then, hullas." Another time I use it is at the end of speaking in front class, sort of like a "the end" type of word. It's a fun word to say too. 

INS-SHA-AL-LAH

It means "if God wills it" but I use it more like "I hope..." Everyone here uses this phrase, all the time. Sometimes even in taxis, when I tell the driver where I want to go, he will respond, "Insha'allah". :) This phrase encapsulates the mentality of Arabs...only what God wills will happen. Whatever happens in life must be because God wills it, so they don't worry about it. 

I think independent, politically-correct West has lost sight of the truth within this phrase, because we think we can control our own destinies, forgetting how wrapped up they are within the Plan of our Father. 

Anyway, those are just a few I thought of this afternoon. There's one other I thought of, but it's more of a very descriptive sound that's too hard to put into words, so that one will have to wait 'til we meet in person. :)

Hullas.

Sorry I haven't updated in awhile...I just haven't had a lot to talk about I guess. I was hoping to get some pics from my friend of our paint balling adventure, but alas, her flash drive decided not to work right as she was trying to put them on to bring to church. So those will have to wait 'til next week. 

This is my last full week of classes, after which I will enjoy not getting up at 6 am every morning. :) But I will have things to keep me busy this summer. I will be teaching English two days a week and inshallah spending a few hours a week with a tutor, maybe spending a few evenings learning to cook Arab style, hanging out at the university with my friends during their summer classes and then if everything works out, I'll be heading back to the States on July 28th or 29th. :)

Oh, tomorrow I'm visiting Roa'a's house with my friend, and maybe on Thursday I'll visit Haneen. So, I'll try to remember my camera and then I'll actually have pictures to put on here.

Anyway, since ya'll didn't have questions, that's the best I can come up with... :)

100th Post!

I've been waiting until I had something exciting to write on here, to celebrate my 100th post...but I got nothin'. :)

Not that life has had it's fun times, but I don't have any pictures, and frankly, I've told you all about school and classes enough that it would probably bore you to tears.

It was a bit hard getting back into that school routine though this week, after being gone for a week...and then having the one and only holiday during this semester on Sunday. One change in the routine was that on Tuesday the Language Center fed us breakfast...bread, hummus, fool (a type of bean that they make into something similar to refried beans, but that doesn't taste anything like refried beans), falafel, cheese (not the good cheese from the Cheese Factory...this is a salty cheese that is pretty much contained to this region), and eggs that they baked in the oven with the shell still on, to make them like hard-boiled eggs...just with a bit of a different taste. Oh, and they had tea with mint, but I got there too late to get the mint so it was just tea. :)

In weather news...we had a thunderstorm last night, with lightning and everything! And for all you people who are experiencing that almost every week right now...this is definitely an occurrence that only happens a few times a year here. I'm grateful for any rain we get because it means that we're putting off the heat and dryness and barrenness that much longer. As soon as it stops raining here the temps will shoot up and we'll be dealing with 100 degree weather for the rest of the summer. Not so bad without humidity, but when I have to wear long pants, longer sleeves and hip covering shirts...well, I'm already not looking forward to it.

Wow...this post really is boring...

One other item out of the ordinary...I bought the book The Horse and His Boy on Tuesday...in Arabic. :) It will be my challenge and opportunity to keep improving my Arabic, especially after I return back to the States. I read the first paragraph, and could understand enough words, and by context and memory of the English version, to know what it meant! We'll have to wait and see how the rest of the book goes.

Anyway, since I'm not coming up with a lot of stuff to talk about, I was wondering if ya'll had any questions for me to answer on here. If so, please leave a comment or email me. I would love to know what you all want to read and hear about from my life here. :)

Nazareth and Jerusalem: Take Two

Okay, so there aren't as many pictures as I thought from my friend, so this will be a bit shorter...and I added a couple of mine to the end.

My friend's second host family in Nazareth welcomed us warmly and we spent a few hours with them. This is the father, and the daughter. They have a son as well. This family is so interesting to me because the father is a Russian Jew and the mother is Arab (I think Muslim background). The children speak Russian, Arabic, Hebrew and English with ease and the conversation flowed from one language to the next, sometimes in the same sentence!

They had a small kitten that was so cute! I enjoyed holding it and it made me miss the kittens from home. 

This is me in front of the Dome of the Rock

Jews from all streams, from very mainstream to Orthodox, praying at the Western Wall.

From the Mt. of Olives we observed some Orthodox Jews praying at a grave (or graves). It was interesting to watch and listen to them...at one point they pulled out shofars and were blowing them...I have it on video, but it's not really exciting enough to go to the effort of uploading. :)

Another close-up of their prayers...I think the earlocks would drive me nuts if I had to wear them like that. :)

Nazareth and Jerusalem: Take One

Here are my pictures from my trip these past few days. Just to warn you...there's a lot...and I'm going to add another post with pictures from my friend. :)

I'm not sure how much you all want to know about the details of the trip, so I'll just add a bit of explanation and if you want the full scoop, let me know and I'll email you instead. 

The streets in Old City Nazareth. You can just see the sign for the Fauzi Azar Inn, a pretty famous place to stay...at least among people I know. :) It's a pretty incredible place...right in the heart of the old city.

Inside the Fauzi Azar there is an incredible mural in the dining area, done by a woman I am privileged to know. We went into the inn and they graciously allowed us to go and see the mural, even though the room wasn't technically open. :)

The Orthodox Church of the Annunciation...or the Basilica as it is also called. It is supposedly on the site where the angel appeared to Mary telling her she would give birth to Jesus. Inside are pictures (mosaics and other media like that) of that announcement given by lots of countries from around the world. 

The doors to the Basilica

Inside a group from Ethiopia was there praying and carrying out a service. I think they were Coptics...and it was interesting to observe their way of worshipping. 

Looking out over the city of Nazareth...right behind my head is Mt. Precipice, where they say the story in Luke 4:16-30.

We spent Saturday, Sunday and Monday in Nazareth and then headed to Jerusalem Tuesday morning...

We stayed at a hostel right inside the Old City, and this was the view. :) Our "room" was actually the roof, and although it was a bit chilly last night, in reality it was an amazing place to spend our night in Jerusalem.

We walked and walked through the Old City, getting lost at times, but eventually making our way here, to the Western (Wailing) Wall. I got some pictures as we walked up the walkway onto the Temple Mount.

Some men placing their written prayers into the cracks. 

These men were having a Quranic study in the Temple Mount complex, right outside the Dome of the Rock...the man on the right is the teacher I believe.

The Dome of the Rock

A man studying in the Temple Mount complex

From the Temple Mount we made our way...eventually...to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. This is a bit blurry (sorry!) but these people are putting items on and kissing the stone believed to be the slab that Jesus' body was laid upon while he was in the grave. The people believe that the items they place on there will be blessed...fascinating and a bit sad.

From the Church we took the bus to East Jerusalem, up to the Mt. of Olives. Not really like what I pictured, but we did get a great view of the Old City. Directly below is a Jewish cemetery and I believe it's either the Kidron Vally or the Valley of Ben Himmon (I'm not sure on that spelling) between me and the Old City.

Here's the view without me in it. :)

This is where we slept last night...this is at 6 am as the sun was coming up. :)

And this was the sunrise...it was incredible to look over the Old City, because from where I was at, it looked so small...every important site to Christians, Muslims and Jews so close together, and yet worlds apart. From the catacomb of streets below it was a totally different story...it seemed like they went on forever. 

One of our "roofmates" woke up with the sun too, to pray. It was fascinating to observe the ritual prayers of the Jews.