Paradise Bethlehem

... egg on top) babaganoush, (eggplant and garlic spread) salad and some pita from the day before. Most of the ingredients we collected together before cooking. We ate the delicious food on the outside picnic table in silence except for him teaching me how to say "yummy" in Hewbrew. It was far from an uncomfortable silence, but it did made me wish I spoke the ancient language. Back to weeding until the sun sank low enough that the natrual light died out ...

... zat steeds te gebaren dat we moesten dooreten, maar we kwamen nog niet eens halverwege ons brood! Twee uur later was het dan tijd voor het echte Breakfast. De hele familie schaarde zich om een klein tafeltje (de twee kleinsten moesten een stoel delen) en samen luisterden we naar het gebed op tv, wachtend op de Allah Aqbar, het sein om aan te vallen. Op minder stormachtige dagen kon je trouwens gewoon de moskee onder aan de berg horen. Onze meest indrukwekkende ontmoeting was ...

... of Nations summer newsletter, the volunteers guidelines, an explanation of the water situation for the toilets (as in, we have very little so use with care – 1 minute shower max!). Actually, it is incredible to think of how much water we use back home. Its hard to believe that I usually have a shower every day (here it’s a pretty exciting event!), that we don’t reuse the dishwashing water for washing the floor, that we can simply turn on the tap and expect it ...

... Rainbow, Team Eagles, Team Butterfly and Team Phoenix of Hope). I led Team Rainbow (Fareek Kaws Kuzah) with Megume (the wonderfully friendly Japanese woman, who has lived a long time in Israel) along with a couple of Palestinian volunteers to help with looking after and translation. We took them for 3 hour-long sessions everyday, doing everything from music to art to drama to learning about the environment. This was a bit of a shock, as we found out only 5 minutes before the kids were ...

... that is believed to be the site where Jesus was born. <br><br>We also went to see some people who make Olive wood carvings. There are many figurines, (baby Jesus, Mary and Joseph and the 3 wise men) in the market places in Bethlehem and also in Jerusalem. We got to see where they are produced and sold. And these Olive wood carvings are also sold around the world, like the store: Ten Thousand Villages. <br><br>We were also taken on a small informative ...

... Neu- und Ausbaus selbig** aufgeford**t.<br><br>Nun gibt es einen Ort im Westjordanland, wo das Problem d** israelischen Siedlungen besond**s gravi**end ist: Hebron. Wahrscheinlich haben die meisten schon einmal von Hebron geho**t, mit an Sich**heit grenzend** Wahrscheinlich in d** Tagesschau, wo es um viel Gewalt und Tod ging. D** Grund dafu** ist die, sagen wir mal, "delikate" Situation in d** Altstadt d** zweitgroessten Stadt d** Palaestinens**gebiete, denn einige Jahre ...

... be ready to defend themselves. When they were attacked on Yom Kippur in the 60s, it was devastating. There were no radio broadcasts to tell you what was going on, no emergency broadcasting system, no TV reports. Just bombs.<br><br>The Israelis fought back, and ultimately won that war. But at what price? On a casual stroll down the restaurant street near our hotel or one of the pedestrian shopping malls downtown, you see reminders and memorials to those who died in terrorist bombings ...

... I felt it better to get it looked at now than to have increasing pain and be looking for a dentist in ruraly Turkey. The dentist was superb. She did a great job. I have a little soreness now, but nothing like the pain I had been in for almost two weeks. I hope that continues through the night, though I would imagine the first night here, I'll need a little more motrin ...

... where I quickly took out my photocopied Lonely Planet book and saw that there was something that I wanted to see near the Zion gates. I went to Dormitation Abbey. This is a huge church that was dedicated to Mary. It was interesting. Then I walked down over to Cenacle which is the supposed site for the last supper. No one was inside and it wasn't done up at all. Still interesting to see what some people think to be the site of the last supper. From there I went to ...