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. :)