Shepherd Hotel Bethlehem

... Later in the evening I had a good scare. I was reading when I heard a loud explosion. I had not yet mentioned that my location, was approximately 25 miles north of the Gaza Strip, one of the most pollitically unstable regions in the world. Just a year ago there were rockets flying deep into Israel, launched by Hammas millitants in Gaza. I usually put this out of my mind as the action has died down in the past year, but I lept up and ran outside (The ...

... nog met de jongste dochter, Susu. Ze is 2, maar doordat ze een maand te vroeg geboren was, meervoudig gehandicapt. Stel je eens voor, al 6 monden om te voeden, moeder (met lerares-diploma op zak) werkeloos, vader doet hier en daar wat werk, en dan nog zo'n kleintje dr bij! Voor medische hulp moeten ze de grens over, dus dat betekent elke keer toestemming aan Israel vragen. Het meisje kon wel een beetje focussen en wat dingetjes grijpen, maar leek haar hele leven hulp nodig ...

... to come flowing out, plentiful and clean. Its such a basic resource, it really makes you think when its in short supply. <br><br>In this last week a new set of volunteers arrived for the almond harvest, I joined them for a couple of days; picking almonds, cracking them open, tasting to check whether it is a sweet tree or a bitter tree and collecting them in buckets. Unfortunately, the harvest is pretty poor this year &#8211; Daoud said because it rained too late, but he is hopeful ...

... to arrive on the very first day that we were to take one group for everything rather than 'specializing&#8217; on one activity as we had all thought. This meant that the first day was a pretty hectic make-it-up-as-you-go-along day but that evening we planned our activities for the week and, in the end, we were all really glad that we did it in this way, it was a nice challenge to have to come up with something for a whole range of classes and meant that we became very close to the ...

... tour with a friend that works in Bethlehem. He showed us some places where illegal Israeli settlements were and also where soon they will become. He also introduced us to a Palestinian woman who is part of a micro-credit program. She got a loan and made a garden and was able to sell her produce and make money. She also creates beautiful dresses that we got to try on. <br><br>I really enjoyed Bethlehem and we had a great Taxi drivers who was very kind and wonderful.

... d** Erob**ung 1967 haben einige juedische Fundamentalisten entschieden, mitten in Hebron eine Siedlung zu **richten. Das ist jetzt vielleicht schw** zu begreifen, ab** ich schreib es nochmal: mitten in d** Stadt. Dafu** wurde nicht nur ein g**aum** Teil des historischen Hebrons abg**issen, sond**n auch israelische Wohnungen direkt auf den Daech**n d** Einheimischen **richtet. Gefragt hat man die Leute selbstv**staendlich nicht. Die Folgen sind klar: Eine unglaubliche Spannung ...

... and I bid farewell to my travelling companion. I needed to phone Daoud, who is the director of ToN, to tell him that I had arrived and also wanted to text my parents to let them know I had arrived safe and well. I found a spot of shade in the bus station and sat down to sort myself out. My (at the time I thought) genius idea of a windup mobilephone charger has been proving a little frustrating. I sat winding it up for over half an hour untill my arm throbbed and when I finally ...

... aren't handmade signs with some bouquets on the ground, but brass plaques or sculptures. The one we saw today on Ben Yehuda Street even had a small fountain. <br><br>Israel has mandatory military service for men and women: men serve three years, women serve two years, and then the men are also on the reserve list for 30 years after. There are exemptions, of course, if your religion forbids it, if you are of Arab descent but an Israeli citizen, etc. But in the weird twisted logic of my ...

... getting that done and returning to Christ Church at about 10:30, I took several friends here to a store in a church just outside the old city to do some shopping (I knew where it was and can find my way around). After another tasty hamburger for lunch at the same restaurant as yesterday, we went back to Christ Church for a bit. I had the pleasure of meeting a wonderful ...

... tomb of David. This was pretty cool. Again the men and women were separated which follows the Jewish law for orthodox Jews (this population makes up more that 50% of the country). I wasn't able to take any pictures of that. From there I went to a holocaust remembrance site called the Chambers of the Holocaust. It was very small, but filled with many photos of the holocaust. Next I went to see Schindler's Grave. That was amazing. I entered into this small Christian ...