Abrahams Herberge Bethlehem

... me up and down numerous furrows of cabbage, lettuce, broccoli, radishes and green onion that were all being slowly taken over by different types of weeds. When weeding for hours on end in an uncomfortable kneeling position, being pricked by thorny stems and having a fantastic variety of bugs crawl all over you it is best to recount the good things that are happening. Such as being outside in the fresh air and warm sun, not in the crowded United Express ...

... voor moesten betalen, wat we raar vonden, maar een hostel is altijd duurder, dus dan maar accepteren heh.. In het blik op wielen reden we naar de berg/het kasteel van Herodes. De lieve meneer die alle Bethlehemse kindjes vermoordde in een poging van Jezus af te komen kan best goed bouwen. Het lijkt net een berg/vulkaan van verre, maar eigenlijk is het een grot, compleet met groot basin voor drinkwater (waar overigens niets meer in zit, omdat de Israelis vrijwel al het water ...

... until dinner at about 7pm. Evenings float by as very pleasant rest time and vary from cardgames to chatting and smoking 'waterpipe&#8217; round the bonfire to learning Dabkeh (Palestinian dance) with Jihan. <br><br>The work I have been doing has also varied a lot. I have swept up mountains of dust which, though quite therapeutic is not my favourite job &#8211; more satisfying is working with the trees; digging around them, watering, pruning &#8211; working on the grape trees is the ...

... 8217;t met any other Brits here yet). Also a group from Brazil came towards the end of the camp and did some activities with the children. One of the things I love about staying here is the incredible amount of people you meet, though, with native English speakers greatly in the minority, being here makes painfully stark how awful we are at languages. Often I find myself marvelling at the fact that I am the only one with English as my mother tongue while chatting in a group, and everyone ...

Jerusalem to Bethlehem, Palestine (West Bank):<br><br>Go to Damascus Gate and catch bus No. 124 or No. 21. We took bus No. 124, it cost 4.00 NIS and took 30 minutes to get to the Security Wall. The Security wall is the entrance to get into Bethlehem. We felt like we were being herded like cattle. We had to go through small corridors and gates and our stuff had to go through a security check. Again it was easy for me to go through because I was a foreigner, all I ...

... man V**letzt** in einem Krankenwagen ist. Und das sind keine theoretischen Planspielchen, sond**n grau** Alltag in den besetzten Gebieten. Die Frage, ob die Unt**drueckung von Millionen von Menschen den Schutz vor T**roranschlaegen - die vielleicht auch g**ade dadurch motivi**t w**den - rechtf**tigt, sei hi** mal dahingestellt.<br>Dem gegenueb**gestellt ist das Leben d** Siedl**, die in schw** befestigten Siedlungen umgeben von Mau**n und Wachposten ein gemuetliches Leben ...

... also so she got a bit of a mixed picture of who I was and what I was doing.<br>We touched down to a strip of pink sky at 6am (Israeli time; 4am British time) and joined the hustling queue for passport control. I smiled at the woman behind the desk and hoped that she wouldn't ask toomany questions. Fortunately though she came across as sharp and suspicious she let me through without any problems. I collected my bags and followed the woman from the plane to the line of 'shabutz ...

... are actual threats made by Israel's neighbors.<br><br>A little sidetrack about Sabbath and Yom Kippur: I'm learning that there is a wide spectrum of Judaism from the secular Jews to the extremists on the ultra-ultra-Orthodox side of the fence. Somewhere early in that spectrum are Jews trying to follow their faith: eating kosher or observing Sabbath are some of the ways one does this. The more devout and holy one is, the more rules one follows and lives. For instance, to keep Sabbath, you ...

... every nook and cranny of the Old City is rediculus.  It's beautiful but polluted by the commercialism of it all.  Too much junk for sale on beautiful, ancient streets.  I think tomorrow I'm going to look for an apartment to live in, but not sure if I'll find much since Shabbat is tomorrow at sunset and no work can be done.  Not even pressing a button in an elevator for the intended floor.  They leave elevators running all day stopping at every floor and ...

... western wall was double the size of the women's. I spotted a tour group leaving so I followed them. Silly me. What do tour groups usually do, get onto the bus. Yeah, so I kept walking straight only to find a dead end. I did find a great view of mount olive which is where many Christian/catholic leaders are buried today. I'm hoping to up there one day this week. Sunday's its hard because many of the churches are closed on Sundays. I think I walked about a 1/2 hour ...