I just have time for a brief update because where we are staying for the rest of the week has internet only if you want to pay 35 shekels for two hours. Which is like nine dollars. Lame. My friend Cody and I are splitting the cost and the time so we can keep people posted and make an important call or two... or just one.
Anyway, yesterday's events: We went to Sephoris (Roman city over the ridge from Nazareth), then one of the possible locations of Cana (water to wine). The we went to my favorite place in Galilee I think. The Arbel cliff overlooks the whole Sea of Galilee -- the view is amazing and you get to stand on the edge of a 200+ foot cliff :) The we hiked down the wadi Arbel (the canyon on the side of the cliff, a major route to Galilee in the good old days) and stopped at Kursi, where the pigs and demons event may or may not have happened. It's funny, both times I have been there it has been the last stop of the day, about 4:30 or 4:45 in the afternoon... weird.
Today we went to Capernaum (Jesus' other hometown/center of ministry), the Mt. of Beatitudes (I recommend the Sermon on the Mount for some devotional reading, it is cool to read without being there, it is even more cool to think about it as you look around the hills and see them decked out for spring, wheat fields almost turning color, flowers, olive trees... awesome). Then we went down to Tabgha, fishing suburb of Capernaum and probably the area that Jesus called Disciples and met them after His resurrection. (Tabgha means Seven Springs if I remember right, they are like pseudo-warm springs).
Then we headed over to Ginosar, where a 1st century fishing boat was dug out of the mud in the mid-80s. It's pretty cool, google it or something. Then came lunch in the very much modernized Tiberias before we headed back up to the north side and Bethsaida. To be brief, the site is almost certainly not actually Bethsaida, but a nearby village that was occupied before and after Roman times, but not really during Jesus' time. There is more to say, but I don't have time, ask me when I get home, it's interesting.
Next the cool part: We got to tube down the Jordan River. Oh yes, it was basically warm enough, they definitely have innertubes for us to blow up and use, and it was the Jordan River and we floated down it. Very cool, enough said.
A quick sketch of tomorrow and then I am done using my internet time on you. We go up to the Golan Heights, to Caesarea Philippi (Banias), Tel Dan, Tel Hazor, and come back down to Chorazim (or Korazim or Chorazin or however you prefer to spell it). That being said, this concludes my broadcasting for now, I may or may not blog the rest of the week so don't worry, I'm not dead yet.
But you could help me out with something, I would love it: Will you do me a favor and pray for me? Two things: 1. it is nearing the end of the semester, there is a ton of stuff in my brain and a lot to do and tons more to learn and I can't hold it all in there on my own. 2. This trip is amazing, but with so many things in such a short amount of time it is easy to overload and check out, pray that I don't.
Thanks seventy times seven!
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Awesome Day Number One
So we left on our week-long Galilee trip today, it is going to be more or less super-cool.
Just a brief rundown of the general itinerary for you: The north-ish coast (Caesarea, Mt. Carmel), the Jezreel Valley, then into Galilee (lower and upper regions which means the Sea, the surrounding area, the Golan Heights, up north to the foothills of Mt. Hermon) the down to the lower Jordan River toward the Dead Sea. I'll be updating you when I have internet so the day to day events/itinerary will come then.
That said let us talk about today's adventure. We left home, headed west into the coastal plain and stopped at Aphek/Antipatris. In the OT it is where the Philistines hung out and then toasted the Israelites and took the Ark of the Covenant, which certainly did not go well for them (1 Samuel 4 and later). In the N.T. it was named Antipatris by Herod the Great for his dad, how sweet. Now there are Crusader remains... woohoo.
Aphek means spring, which is handy, because there is a spring there, the headwaters of the Yarkon river. Aphek and the rest of the Sharon plain supply Israel with pretty much all of their non-Galilean water. Like 3/4 or the national water supply or something, talk about an underground water table, this place has a table factory.
Then we went north some more to Caesarea. Built up by Herod, the man-made port took 12 years. Read about it on Google, or better yet, check out a copy of the old Jewish historian Josephus and read about it, it was rather amazing. And today was a beautiful day. Oh wow. 70-ish degrees and sunny with big puffy clouds = great day on the Mediterranean coast. We learned a lot, took tons of beautiful pictures, got wet from the ginormous waves that crash against the breakwater, and beheld the beauty of God that remains in contrast with the "impressive" feats of man that come and go with time... Herod, the Byzantines, the Crusaders, the Turks... they have nothing on the engineering work of God.
Then my favorite part of the day up to that point: Mt. Carmel. Taking the northernmost pass through the Carmel range toward the Jezreel Valley, we ascended the Jokneam pass and came to the traditional site of Elijah's showdown with the lame prophets of Baal. The site is called Muhraka, which I think is Arabic, meaning flame (very appropriate I think). There we (I) read 1 Kings 18 as we looked out over the coastal plain on one side and the Jezreel Valley on the other. What an amazingly beautiful setting for an awesomely powerful event. On that day thousands of years ago, God used my namesake to show the people that Baal was nothing but a made up god of nothing, proving Himself to be the only one worth serving. My words do not do the experience I had today any sort of justice, but you get the idea.
Then we headed back toward the coast, stopping to view Haifa and the Plains of Acco from the point of Mt. Carmel. While waiting for our rooms and dinner, we played around on the coast and saw a sunset that would make everything you learned today seem that much more awesome. It was most certainly a great day.
Trivia time: for those of you who went to Israel last year with Corban, does the name "Nasholim" ring any bells? Well it should, because that is where we stayed on the coast of Dor on our first night. And that is where I am right now. How cool is that? Thanks to God for that little blessing.
And I have one last thing. A request from deep inside: please. please. please pray that this stuff sticks in my heart and mind. There is so much that is so cool and so life-changing and I want to bring it home and use it. It's nearing the end and I have so much in my mind it's hard to keep it all in, help me out with this if you don't mind. Thank you friends...
Just a brief rundown of the general itinerary for you: The north-ish coast (Caesarea, Mt. Carmel), the Jezreel Valley, then into Galilee (lower and upper regions which means the Sea, the surrounding area, the Golan Heights, up north to the foothills of Mt. Hermon) the down to the lower Jordan River toward the Dead Sea. I'll be updating you when I have internet so the day to day events/itinerary will come then.
That said let us talk about today's adventure. We left home, headed west into the coastal plain and stopped at Aphek/Antipatris. In the OT it is where the Philistines hung out and then toasted the Israelites and took the Ark of the Covenant, which certainly did not go well for them (1 Samuel 4 and later). In the N.T. it was named Antipatris by Herod the Great for his dad, how sweet. Now there are Crusader remains... woohoo.
Aphek means spring, which is handy, because there is a spring there, the headwaters of the Yarkon river. Aphek and the rest of the Sharon plain supply Israel with pretty much all of their non-Galilean water. Like 3/4 or the national water supply or something, talk about an underground water table, this place has a table factory.
Then we went north some more to Caesarea. Built up by Herod, the man-made port took 12 years. Read about it on Google, or better yet, check out a copy of the old Jewish historian Josephus and read about it, it was rather amazing. And today was a beautiful day. Oh wow. 70-ish degrees and sunny with big puffy clouds = great day on the Mediterranean coast. We learned a lot, took tons of beautiful pictures, got wet from the ginormous waves that crash against the breakwater, and beheld the beauty of God that remains in contrast with the "impressive" feats of man that come and go with time... Herod, the Byzantines, the Crusaders, the Turks... they have nothing on the engineering work of God.
Then my favorite part of the day up to that point: Mt. Carmel. Taking the northernmost pass through the Carmel range toward the Jezreel Valley, we ascended the Jokneam pass and came to the traditional site of Elijah's showdown with the lame prophets of Baal. The site is called Muhraka, which I think is Arabic, meaning flame (very appropriate I think). There we (I) read 1 Kings 18 as we looked out over the coastal plain on one side and the Jezreel Valley on the other. What an amazingly beautiful setting for an awesomely powerful event. On that day thousands of years ago, God used my namesake to show the people that Baal was nothing but a made up god of nothing, proving Himself to be the only one worth serving. My words do not do the experience I had today any sort of justice, but you get the idea.
Then we headed back toward the coast, stopping to view Haifa and the Plains of Acco from the point of Mt. Carmel. While waiting for our rooms and dinner, we played around on the coast and saw a sunset that would make everything you learned today seem that much more awesome. It was most certainly a great day.
Trivia time: for those of you who went to Israel last year with Corban, does the name "Nasholim" ring any bells? Well it should, because that is where we stayed on the coast of Dor on our first night. And that is where I am right now. How cool is that? Thanks to God for that little blessing.
And I have one last thing. A request from deep inside: please. please. please pray that this stuff sticks in my heart and mind. There is so much that is so cool and so life-changing and I want to bring it home and use it. It's nearing the end and I have so much in my mind it's hard to keep it all in, help me out with this if you don't mind. Thank you friends...
Friday, March 27, 2009
Death has not gotten to me...
In case you were worried, I am not dead - though we think I pulled a muscle and or messed up some ligaments/tendons in my wrist - I am just busy.
I do not have time and it is cold outside so I can't post right now (the cold part is because I only get decent internet outside right now). We take off for our 8 day Galilean adventure which will be awesome. I will try to post a couple of times then so that you can share in the fun. But until then, have a good spring break and eat a hamburger or chicken ceasar salad for me, I missed those the other day...
I do not have time and it is cold outside so I can't post right now (the cold part is because I only get decent internet outside right now). We take off for our 8 day Galilean adventure which will be awesome. I will try to post a couple of times then so that you can share in the fun. But until then, have a good spring break and eat a hamburger or chicken ceasar salad for me, I missed those the other day...
Saturday, March 21, 2009
Ok, ok, ok... I'll write a new one finally...
Ok, so it's been something like a week or ten days since you last heard from me. Contrary to the worries of some, I am not dead, Gaza has not overtaken IBEX, I have not been shanghai'd into the IDF, and eating too much pita bread has not yet sent me to an early grave. So where were we? I think that you have not yet heard about my Indiana Jones adventures or the second trip to the Shephelah region. Ok, I will tell you:
It all began on a rainy morning in March. This last Sunday to be more exact. Now don't hate me, but I worked on Sunday again. But it is ok, because Saturday is our Sunday over here. Anyway, all of us IBEXers loaded up and headed for Jerusalem, off on an adventure find the Ark or the Holy Grael or some such nonsense. We had the rare and oh-so-"exciting" privilege of sifting through hundreds of buckets of dirt and rubble from the Temple Mount. To explain that, since we all know that excavations on the Mount are illegal: A while back the Muslims were like, "hey, let's build another Mosque so that we can have like 10,000 people come to worship a false god." So they added a mosque below ground (the area known as Solomon's stables) and took out tons and tons of old, important dirt. Then they dumped it all over without any archaeological study. Bad news. So now this little project, called the "Temple Mount Antiquities Salvage Operation" is gathering those piles of dirt, moving them, and sifting through them. Yay.
So we got to sift and find tons of tiny pieces of pottery, some mosaic pieces, strange rocks and not much else. Except for some of us. Oh yes, some of us found really cool stuff. Or really cool if you are a nerdy archaeologist and just pretty cool if you are someone else I guess. Jason and I (we were sifters together for the day) had one last bucket to sort through before it was time to go. So we pick one of the buckets who has been left off to the side of the rest of the bucket. All the ones around him had been chosen long ago. He was lonely, we saved him. And he liked it or something because as soon as we started spraying the rubble we saw this corroded piece of metal. "ooh" is what you might be thinking. Jason and I both said, "hey... wait. what's that?" so we pulled it out, sprayed it off, asked one of the staff, she wasn't sure, she took it to another guy and he says, "yep, it's a coin." Probably the coolest one of the day, we were happy about that. They say that once they send it off to the cleaners it will be "really pretty" - clearly that was the gal's assessment, ours was more along the lines of, "it will look awesome and we will be famous." For once guys used more words than girls to describe something.
The next day we had the "privilege" of working at one of the current archaeological digs in the City of David area (just south of Temple Mount remember?). We were the chain gang, but it was so nice to have a day off of learning and do something physically taxing. We hauled bags and bags of dirt up out of the fortress area where they are excavating. I was on the line the whole time, though some of our number got to do the digging down in the big hole (room enough for 8 or 9 people to swing a pick-ax, not like those tiny shafts we imagine) where it was hot and smelly and stuffy. I got the fresh air region, sitting on a beam between the ground level and the excavation area. Somehow in this elaborate process we think I pulled a muscle in my wrist. You know that little muscle about 2 inches down from the very bottom of your thumb that kind of comes across the top of your arm? Well mine hurt like the dickens the next day, I could hardly lift my Bible and putting clean sheets on my bed was one of the most excruciating experiences of recent Eli history. But enough about that, the digging was fun and now I have official Israeli archaeological experience.
As for Wednesday's trip into the Shephelah (lowland/foothill region), it was one of the most beautiful days we have had here. We spent the morning at a Biblical garden (Neot Kedumim for those of you looking at my life calendar) where we saw every major Israeli plant and learned all sorts of cool stuff. I think Jeremy and I are two of the maybe 7 people who actually enjoyed spending 3.5+ hours there, but it really was cool despite the other opinions of our group.
Then we went to Gezer, which has some pretty sweet ruins, including a Solomonic gate. It's really off the beaten path, so much so that the only other people there were IDF trainees practicing their binocular-using skills by viewing the coastal plain. The road to the tel is ridiculous, Israeli bus drivers make rally car drivers look like pansies. Then we went to Gath (Goliath was from there if you recall), which has a great view and is huge. I would not at all want to charge up that hill. It was also where David acted crazy and escaped up the Elah valley to the Caves at Adullam. We like David, so we followed his footsteps and went to the caves, which were pretty neat if I do say so myself, but the view of the plains and the Shephelah and the hill country were unbeatable. It was close to sunset and the sky was clear. Basically it was a great place to sit and consider how God has worked through the ages. David was there, I was there... that's a lot of history in between -- and a lot of God being awesome and faithful in between.
That's all for the trip, we stopped at McDonald's on the way home for dinner, which is so much better than McDonald's at home, but still just fast-food...
Today a bunch of our people went to Tel-Aviv to chill on the beach, I have this fun thing called "doing scholarship renewal paperwork and financial aid verification forms" so I am here, getting things done so that tomorrow I can spend a guilt-free day in Jerusalem, cruising through new and old city alike and getting my shopping done. It will be oh so much fun. I think I will reward myself with a shewarma and ice cream. Maybe I will even hunt down a Pepsi...
It all began on a rainy morning in March. This last Sunday to be more exact. Now don't hate me, but I worked on Sunday again. But it is ok, because Saturday is our Sunday over here. Anyway, all of us IBEXers loaded up and headed for Jerusalem, off on an adventure find the Ark or the Holy Grael or some such nonsense. We had the rare and oh-so-"exciting" privilege of sifting through hundreds of buckets of dirt and rubble from the Temple Mount. To explain that, since we all know that excavations on the Mount are illegal: A while back the Muslims were like, "hey, let's build another Mosque so that we can have like 10,000 people come to worship a false god." So they added a mosque below ground (the area known as Solomon's stables) and took out tons and tons of old, important dirt. Then they dumped it all over without any archaeological study. Bad news. So now this little project, called the "Temple Mount Antiquities Salvage Operation" is gathering those piles of dirt, moving them, and sifting through them. Yay.
So we got to sift and find tons of tiny pieces of pottery, some mosaic pieces, strange rocks and not much else. Except for some of us. Oh yes, some of us found really cool stuff. Or really cool if you are a nerdy archaeologist and just pretty cool if you are someone else I guess. Jason and I (we were sifters together for the day) had one last bucket to sort through before it was time to go. So we pick one of the buckets who has been left off to the side of the rest of the bucket. All the ones around him had been chosen long ago. He was lonely, we saved him. And he liked it or something because as soon as we started spraying the rubble we saw this corroded piece of metal. "ooh" is what you might be thinking. Jason and I both said, "hey... wait. what's that?" so we pulled it out, sprayed it off, asked one of the staff, she wasn't sure, she took it to another guy and he says, "yep, it's a coin." Probably the coolest one of the day, we were happy about that. They say that once they send it off to the cleaners it will be "really pretty" - clearly that was the gal's assessment, ours was more along the lines of, "it will look awesome and we will be famous." For once guys used more words than girls to describe something.
The next day we had the "privilege" of working at one of the current archaeological digs in the City of David area (just south of Temple Mount remember?). We were the chain gang, but it was so nice to have a day off of learning and do something physically taxing. We hauled bags and bags of dirt up out of the fortress area where they are excavating. I was on the line the whole time, though some of our number got to do the digging down in the big hole (room enough for 8 or 9 people to swing a pick-ax, not like those tiny shafts we imagine) where it was hot and smelly and stuffy. I got the fresh air region, sitting on a beam between the ground level and the excavation area. Somehow in this elaborate process we think I pulled a muscle in my wrist. You know that little muscle about 2 inches down from the very bottom of your thumb that kind of comes across the top of your arm? Well mine hurt like the dickens the next day, I could hardly lift my Bible and putting clean sheets on my bed was one of the most excruciating experiences of recent Eli history. But enough about that, the digging was fun and now I have official Israeli archaeological experience.
As for Wednesday's trip into the Shephelah (lowland/foothill region), it was one of the most beautiful days we have had here. We spent the morning at a Biblical garden (Neot Kedumim for those of you looking at my life calendar) where we saw every major Israeli plant and learned all sorts of cool stuff. I think Jeremy and I are two of the maybe 7 people who actually enjoyed spending 3.5+ hours there, but it really was cool despite the other opinions of our group.
Then we went to Gezer, which has some pretty sweet ruins, including a Solomonic gate. It's really off the beaten path, so much so that the only other people there were IDF trainees practicing their binocular-using skills by viewing the coastal plain. The road to the tel is ridiculous, Israeli bus drivers make rally car drivers look like pansies. Then we went to Gath (Goliath was from there if you recall), which has a great view and is huge. I would not at all want to charge up that hill. It was also where David acted crazy and escaped up the Elah valley to the Caves at Adullam. We like David, so we followed his footsteps and went to the caves, which were pretty neat if I do say so myself, but the view of the plains and the Shephelah and the hill country were unbeatable. It was close to sunset and the sky was clear. Basically it was a great place to sit and consider how God has worked through the ages. David was there, I was there... that's a lot of history in between -- and a lot of God being awesome and faithful in between.
That's all for the trip, we stopped at McDonald's on the way home for dinner, which is so much better than McDonald's at home, but still just fast-food...
Today a bunch of our people went to Tel-Aviv to chill on the beach, I have this fun thing called "doing scholarship renewal paperwork and financial aid verification forms" so I am here, getting things done so that tomorrow I can spend a guilt-free day in Jerusalem, cruising through new and old city alike and getting my shopping done. It will be oh so much fun. I think I will reward myself with a shewarma and ice cream. Maybe I will even hunt down a Pepsi...
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Some pictures of the Negev trip...
The Wilderness of Paran, where the Israelites walked for a long time.
Mactesh Ramon: A real big crater.
Some ruins like we see all the time, these are at Avdat.
It's just a cool picture I think
Nahal Zin. I think I would like to avoid wandering in such a wilderness.
The Gulf of Aqaba at Elat, looking toward Jordan.
Nighttime in Elat.
The Red Canyon.
The Tabernacle model.
Just before sunrise at Masada.
Update for the sake of update...
Not much has really happened since last time, but I thought I would give you a short rundown so you don't get bored or think that the cough I had killed me or something. I don't think this will be exciting, but at least I will have filled my blog quota for the week...
Healthwise, I am almost better. The cough is almost gone, a good nap this afternoon and a normal night of sleep and I'll be good to go. Most of my counterparts are in the same boat. Thanks for the prayers, we felt them.
Wednesday we had a big workday here at the Moshav, the jury is still out on whether or not working all morning was good for Eli, but Thursday he did not have class and Abner said he could type his papers later and should go sleep. Eli obliged, that's why he feels better.
Wednesday night was a joyous occasion. We bbq'd hamburgers. Non-kosher, deliciously homemade-esque chunks of meat and bread. Oh, we were happy. Tears were shed afterward.
The parents/family of my counterparts leave tonight. Sad day for them, no difference for me. Tomorrow we get to go help dig in old dirt! We're helping with an archaeology project near Temple Mount. The Muslims won't let anyone excavate, but they dug a bunch and dumped it in the valley when they built another mosque there and so now Israeli archaeologists are sifting through all of it. So we get to help. Maybe we will get to find something cool. Or maybe we are just slave labor...
Same for Monday, except we are for sure going to be slave labor. We're helping with a current dig just below Temple Mount in the area known as the city of David. We will be bucket-haulers and no more. Such glory that won't bring, but at least we can say we helped with that particular dig.
So that is all. My life is not too exciting currently outside of that. I have to go and do those papers for Abner... woohoo...
Healthwise, I am almost better. The cough is almost gone, a good nap this afternoon and a normal night of sleep and I'll be good to go. Most of my counterparts are in the same boat. Thanks for the prayers, we felt them.
Wednesday we had a big workday here at the Moshav, the jury is still out on whether or not working all morning was good for Eli, but Thursday he did not have class and Abner said he could type his papers later and should go sleep. Eli obliged, that's why he feels better.
Wednesday night was a joyous occasion. We bbq'd hamburgers. Non-kosher, deliciously homemade-esque chunks of meat and bread. Oh, we were happy. Tears were shed afterward.
The parents/family of my counterparts leave tonight. Sad day for them, no difference for me. Tomorrow we get to go help dig in old dirt! We're helping with an archaeology project near Temple Mount. The Muslims won't let anyone excavate, but they dug a bunch and dumped it in the valley when they built another mosque there and so now Israeli archaeologists are sifting through all of it. So we get to help. Maybe we will get to find something cool. Or maybe we are just slave labor...
Same for Monday, except we are for sure going to be slave labor. We're helping with a current dig just below Temple Mount in the area known as the city of David. We will be bucket-haulers and no more. Such glory that won't bring, but at least we can say we helped with that particular dig.
So that is all. My life is not too exciting currently outside of that. I have to go and do those papers for Abner... woohoo...
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Skipping class... oh yeah.
Contrary to my normal standards of living, today I rebelled and skipped my one class. Hebrew is not a good class to skip, but under such circumstances I deemed it appropriate. But before I get to that story let me tell you more interesting things that occurred in the past few days.
On Saturday the week known as "Friends and Family Week" began. This is that fun time where friends and/or family of us IBEXers are given the chance to come to Israel and tour around under the guise of visiting their kids/friends. Fortunately none of my friends or family bought into this cruel hoax, choosing to be honest and stay at home rather than come to Israel "to see me." I laugh at the irony of the whole event, but it is cool when parents bring food that is not so typical around here. Hooray for a roommate and a fresh supply of gum, I really didn't want to have to buy some here.
Anyway, they came Saturday evening which brought us the rare privilege of going into Jerusalem on a Saturday night. Since Shabbat is over at sundown the town comes alive. In the modern city (as opposed to the Old City) one of the main streets is Ben Yehudah street. It's a hotspot for fun times on Saturday nights, or so I have been told. It's basically the Israeli version of big-city downtown events, food, fun, hippies, you know, the normal. We had some delicious crepes, watched some guys juggle torches, saw an Asian group sing praise songs, passed punks, emo kids, thugs, and boys with firecrackers with the beat of a Israjamaican drummer in the background. It was fun, but probably not the best for my cough.
Then was Sunday. Homework, woohoo. In reality I don't think I accomplished all that much, but it was a nice day off nonetheless. Then Monday came with class and a not-so-fun quiz, on which I missed no less than one question -- normal I guess. But the culmination of the days events came at 8 pm. The halloween of Israel, Purim, was yesterday/today (it's confusing, I won't try to explain). Needless to say, we have some real costume pros around here. To give a small overview, two of us dressed like our profs (Bill and Abner, I was Abner even though I am quite far from being Asian) Brandon dressed like Jesus and Jordan was John (the Disciple whom Jesus loved, though that was in debate many times last night :) Jeremy was the best John the Baptist I have ever seen, flannelgraph or real life. Then there was a Shakespeare, Chinese empereor, mafia man, thug, 80s disco star, Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and a few others to round out the guys. I think my favorite were the fou girls who found these terribly awesome old dresses in the costume box and came as "the old spinsters." I'll tell a story about that in a minute. From the girls ranks there was a Tupac (the dead rapper), a couple of princess types, a bear and half a set of twins. To explain that more: We have a set of twins over here (Chad and Breana) and they dressed like each other, Chad played the girl part rather well, the only problem was that his massive biceps stretched out Bre's sweater a little too much for a normal girl. They were great.
Ok, the old spinster story: I was holding the door for everyone coming in and they walked up in pairs. The first pair was Lily and Annie. Now Annie is one of those girls who pretty much never talks, but she's nice and has a good sense of humor when she does use some of her 37 words per day. (For point of reference: Dad, imagine someone sort of like Kelsey Childers her freshman year; Corban people, think someone like... umm... James Kilcup. yeah, James :) So as she was walking through the door I hear the most Unlikely thing ever. True to the part of old spinster, she turns to Lily with her hand raised toward me and says, "ohh so cute... I could just pinch his cheek." If the door had not been holding me up at the time I would have fallen over, I was too shocked even to laugh, that and laughing would have made me cough for a full five minutes. Then wave number two of old spinster came in, Danae and Heather came through and they both smiled and said thanks. Thinking I was in the clear I relaxed slightly, still dying of internal laughter and wonder at Annie's way-way out of character comment. Then they struck again. Danae turns to Heather and in a very shaky, very good, old lady voice says, "ooh Heather! ... if I were just fifty years younger." Needless to say I have still not recovered.
Along with all of that the Purim party was still rather enjoyable. We read the book of Esther (3 verses at a time as it was passed around the group of 75 people or so) and had some delicious cookies, known as Haman's hats or Haman's ears. They are like 3-corner hats with chocolate or date filling.
That's it for the party. Today I skipped class to get rest. It was well worth it. Today I also found out that the schedule has changed somewhat and I have no classes on Thursday. I am so pumped and so unable to think clearly because of coughing that just now I thought to myself, "Booyah!" Which is one of those super-outdated phrases that I should not be thinking. Clearly it is time for me to stop.
On Saturday the week known as "Friends and Family Week" began. This is that fun time where friends and/or family of us IBEXers are given the chance to come to Israel and tour around under the guise of visiting their kids/friends. Fortunately none of my friends or family bought into this cruel hoax, choosing to be honest and stay at home rather than come to Israel "to see me." I laugh at the irony of the whole event, but it is cool when parents bring food that is not so typical around here. Hooray for a roommate and a fresh supply of gum, I really didn't want to have to buy some here.
Anyway, they came Saturday evening which brought us the rare privilege of going into Jerusalem on a Saturday night. Since Shabbat is over at sundown the town comes alive. In the modern city (as opposed to the Old City) one of the main streets is Ben Yehudah street. It's a hotspot for fun times on Saturday nights, or so I have been told. It's basically the Israeli version of big-city downtown events, food, fun, hippies, you know, the normal. We had some delicious crepes, watched some guys juggle torches, saw an Asian group sing praise songs, passed punks, emo kids, thugs, and boys with firecrackers with the beat of a Israjamaican drummer in the background. It was fun, but probably not the best for my cough.
Then was Sunday. Homework, woohoo. In reality I don't think I accomplished all that much, but it was a nice day off nonetheless. Then Monday came with class and a not-so-fun quiz, on which I missed no less than one question -- normal I guess. But the culmination of the days events came at 8 pm. The halloween of Israel, Purim, was yesterday/today (it's confusing, I won't try to explain). Needless to say, we have some real costume pros around here. To give a small overview, two of us dressed like our profs (Bill and Abner, I was Abner even though I am quite far from being Asian) Brandon dressed like Jesus and Jordan was John (the Disciple whom Jesus loved, though that was in debate many times last night :) Jeremy was the best John the Baptist I have ever seen, flannelgraph or real life. Then there was a Shakespeare, Chinese empereor, mafia man, thug, 80s disco star, Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and a few others to round out the guys. I think my favorite were the fou girls who found these terribly awesome old dresses in the costume box and came as "the old spinsters." I'll tell a story about that in a minute. From the girls ranks there was a Tupac (the dead rapper), a couple of princess types, a bear and half a set of twins. To explain that more: We have a set of twins over here (Chad and Breana) and they dressed like each other, Chad played the girl part rather well, the only problem was that his massive biceps stretched out Bre's sweater a little too much for a normal girl. They were great.
Ok, the old spinster story: I was holding the door for everyone coming in and they walked up in pairs. The first pair was Lily and Annie. Now Annie is one of those girls who pretty much never talks, but she's nice and has a good sense of humor when she does use some of her 37 words per day. (For point of reference: Dad, imagine someone sort of like Kelsey Childers her freshman year; Corban people, think someone like... umm... James Kilcup. yeah, James :) So as she was walking through the door I hear the most Unlikely thing ever. True to the part of old spinster, she turns to Lily with her hand raised toward me and says, "ohh so cute... I could just pinch his cheek." If the door had not been holding me up at the time I would have fallen over, I was too shocked even to laugh, that and laughing would have made me cough for a full five minutes. Then wave number two of old spinster came in, Danae and Heather came through and they both smiled and said thanks. Thinking I was in the clear I relaxed slightly, still dying of internal laughter and wonder at Annie's way-way out of character comment. Then they struck again. Danae turns to Heather and in a very shaky, very good, old lady voice says, "ooh Heather! ... if I were just fifty years younger." Needless to say I have still not recovered.
Along with all of that the Purim party was still rather enjoyable. We read the book of Esther (3 verses at a time as it was passed around the group of 75 people or so) and had some delicious cookies, known as Haman's hats or Haman's ears. They are like 3-corner hats with chocolate or date filling.
That's it for the party. Today I skipped class to get rest. It was well worth it. Today I also found out that the schedule has changed somewhat and I have no classes on Thursday. I am so pumped and so unable to think clearly because of coughing that just now I thought to myself, "Booyah!" Which is one of those super-outdated phrases that I should not be thinking. Clearly it is time for me to stop.
Monday, March 9, 2009
Sorry for the delay
You ever get those moments where three or four days go by and you wonder where they went and what you did and how seemingly moments ago it was last Thursday and now it's Monday?
Well that's not the case, I was just curious.
But in all seriousness, it's been a rather full week/weekend/whatever since the last time I typed. The Junior High Boys Choir has gained members, I waver between baritone and bass these days and yesterday it felt like John Henry was using my face for his next phenomenal feat. But fortunately the pressure in my face has diminished to where it now only has the capacity to blow up a few dozen volleyballs. But I really can't complain. I've been blessed with pretty great health in the last few years, it makes sense that I get it eventually. God has been good to remind me that I am healthy every other day only because He takes care of me. When one is sick (and surrounded by sickness) one realizes the amazingness that takes place in a single day of not coughing. We have a pretty cool immune system folks.
I like typing because I can say as much as I want without increasing the number of coughing interruptions. But enough shooting the breeze. Let's get back to last week's southerly adventure.
If I recall we left our fearless hero perched on the precipice at the great Mactesh Ramon (Ramon means "exalted" by the way, so I stood on the edge of an exalted crater :) So... let's see. Day 2: Some crazies got up for the sunrise, I slept like a normal person and had no regrets. We drove south (through the floor of the crater) into the wilderness of Paran, where our friends the Israelites would have wandered for a real long time. We stopped right by the sign that says something like "danger, live firing area" or some such safety indicator. We wandered in the wilderness for a mere 40 minutes. Taking time to wander alone, Bill had us read Deuteronomy 8 and consider the words with the wilderness all around us. You read that chapter sometime, it means a lot in general, but so much more when you look at your clothes and shoes and see how worn they are after a month in the land and you look all around you and see rocks, a few bushes, no clouds, and a lot of brown nothing... God's protection and provision is much more than astounding.
From there we continued south, pausing momentarily at an overlook. It's rather weird to see Egypt, Israel, and Jordan all withing a few miles of each other. But it was a great view, I am excited to go to Egypt next month! Plus the view of the gulf of Aqaba was amazing (the gulf is part of the Red Sea, though pretty much definitely Not where Moses parted it, wrong side of the Sinai peninsula). Then we drove down to Elat (the coastal tourist trap of Israel) and snorkeled for the afternoon. One thing about IBEX is that we see where our money goes - and it usually goes right to us. We get to travel like nobody's business, eat, snorkel, get a daily stipend on trips to cover meals, and all sorts of other joys that I have yet to discover. Hooray for good stewardship over here.
I have never snorkeled before, I liked it, there are some amazing fish over here, my salt intake was raised to the 20th power that day and it was overall just super.
Then we slept.
Then we woke up. Some crazies got up for sunrise again, I slept like a smart person.
This time we headed the other direction, away from oceans and beaches and 1 inch of rainfall per year. We drove up the Rift Valley (aka Aravah aka the border regions between Israel and Jordan) and stopped in the area of Mt. Timnah. Back in the day (and even some still) it was a big copper mining area. The Egyptians left behind some scratches in a rock wall, a little temple, and the big rocks deemed "Solomon's Pillars" are there. It is funny to me that anything big and impressive and old gets to be Solomon's, weird names around here...
The coolest thing there was the replica of the Tabernacle. Built in 1999 by some college in Germany, this model is pretty cool. Unfortunately the recent storms came upon the Tabernacle in great winds and blew off the main cover and ruined some "fence" cloths. But it was cool to see the layout and how cool our God is for dwelling among His people. He did not have a big room, let me tell you, that Holy of Holies is like a Davidson dorm room. That is one huge God saying something pretty big to us little specks.
From there we got to hike around in the sandstone, see a mushroom rock, and leave one of our own to die in the wilderness. Just kidding. But back in the day it might have been that way, who knows? She sprained her ankle on one of the bazillions of rocks that make walking not so easy. So if you are worried when you look at the pictures and see the author of this blog carrying someone do not be dismayed, I was merely recruited as - and I quote - "another pack horse" by Bill. Then we went to a zoo of desert predators, which would have been much cooler had I not been part of aforementioned injured woman's chariot squad. But nonetheless it was sweet. You know how we have coyotes back home and we shoot them? Well over here we put them in behind safe fences under witness protection programs and call them jackals. We also saw some vultures like the ones from The Jungle Book (Disney version), but still playing the role of one of the noble steeds I didn't get to see as much of the rare and terrifying animals as I would have liked. But it was cool.
Then we went to the Masada guest house, played some intense ultimate frisbee on a little basketball court and hiked through the Marl Canyons at night. It's like walking on the moon. The chalky dirt in moonlight really does make it look like the moon, it was amazing.
After not too many hours of sleep we got up to hike Masada. I'm glad we did it in half-light because it is a killer hike, particularly at 5:30 in the morning. I don't love getting up early, but when it involves climbing a mountain I tend to get out of bed with a lot better attitude. And it was so worth it. The sunrise was wonderful times ten. A great way to start a day, the Word, sunrise, Israel, huge rock fortresses... so great.
I played tour guide for about 5 of the guys in the group, it's amazing how much I can remember from last time and the reading we've done, it was a ton of fun. Fast-forward: we hiked down, left, went to Qumran, hiked around the ruins of the Essenes settlement, and drove a little way and hiked up to cave number one. This is the cave where the first Dead Sea Scrolls were found, but NOT by a shepherd throwing stones. Contrary to that little myth, it was archaeologist-type people who were looking for something beside lost sheep. Just call Bill the newest host of Myth-Busters, he and Abner continually shatter our false presuppositions.
Then we went home. And it was great. It was so cool to see all of the southern parts of Israel, such desolate country demands an outside source of survival. Good thing God was there for the Israelites huh?
That concludes this broadcast hour, sorry that it was so long, but I wanted to get the whole trip in there. Hope you didn't fall asleep.
Well that's not the case, I was just curious.
But in all seriousness, it's been a rather full week/weekend/whatever since the last time I typed. The Junior High Boys Choir has gained members, I waver between baritone and bass these days and yesterday it felt like John Henry was using my face for his next phenomenal feat. But fortunately the pressure in my face has diminished to where it now only has the capacity to blow up a few dozen volleyballs. But I really can't complain. I've been blessed with pretty great health in the last few years, it makes sense that I get it eventually. God has been good to remind me that I am healthy every other day only because He takes care of me. When one is sick (and surrounded by sickness) one realizes the amazingness that takes place in a single day of not coughing. We have a pretty cool immune system folks.
I like typing because I can say as much as I want without increasing the number of coughing interruptions. But enough shooting the breeze. Let's get back to last week's southerly adventure.
If I recall we left our fearless hero perched on the precipice at the great Mactesh Ramon (Ramon means "exalted" by the way, so I stood on the edge of an exalted crater :) So... let's see. Day 2: Some crazies got up for the sunrise, I slept like a normal person and had no regrets. We drove south (through the floor of the crater) into the wilderness of Paran, where our friends the Israelites would have wandered for a real long time. We stopped right by the sign that says something like "danger, live firing area" or some such safety indicator. We wandered in the wilderness for a mere 40 minutes. Taking time to wander alone, Bill had us read Deuteronomy 8 and consider the words with the wilderness all around us. You read that chapter sometime, it means a lot in general, but so much more when you look at your clothes and shoes and see how worn they are after a month in the land and you look all around you and see rocks, a few bushes, no clouds, and a lot of brown nothing... God's protection and provision is much more than astounding.
From there we continued south, pausing momentarily at an overlook. It's rather weird to see Egypt, Israel, and Jordan all withing a few miles of each other. But it was a great view, I am excited to go to Egypt next month! Plus the view of the gulf of Aqaba was amazing (the gulf is part of the Red Sea, though pretty much definitely Not where Moses parted it, wrong side of the Sinai peninsula). Then we drove down to Elat (the coastal tourist trap of Israel) and snorkeled for the afternoon. One thing about IBEX is that we see where our money goes - and it usually goes right to us. We get to travel like nobody's business, eat, snorkel, get a daily stipend on trips to cover meals, and all sorts of other joys that I have yet to discover. Hooray for good stewardship over here.
I have never snorkeled before, I liked it, there are some amazing fish over here, my salt intake was raised to the 20th power that day and it was overall just super.
Then we slept.
Then we woke up. Some crazies got up for sunrise again, I slept like a smart person.
This time we headed the other direction, away from oceans and beaches and 1 inch of rainfall per year. We drove up the Rift Valley (aka Aravah aka the border regions between Israel and Jordan) and stopped in the area of Mt. Timnah. Back in the day (and even some still) it was a big copper mining area. The Egyptians left behind some scratches in a rock wall, a little temple, and the big rocks deemed "Solomon's Pillars" are there. It is funny to me that anything big and impressive and old gets to be Solomon's, weird names around here...
The coolest thing there was the replica of the Tabernacle. Built in 1999 by some college in Germany, this model is pretty cool. Unfortunately the recent storms came upon the Tabernacle in great winds and blew off the main cover and ruined some "fence" cloths. But it was cool to see the layout and how cool our God is for dwelling among His people. He did not have a big room, let me tell you, that Holy of Holies is like a Davidson dorm room. That is one huge God saying something pretty big to us little specks.
From there we got to hike around in the sandstone, see a mushroom rock, and leave one of our own to die in the wilderness. Just kidding. But back in the day it might have been that way, who knows? She sprained her ankle on one of the bazillions of rocks that make walking not so easy. So if you are worried when you look at the pictures and see the author of this blog carrying someone do not be dismayed, I was merely recruited as - and I quote - "another pack horse" by Bill. Then we went to a zoo of desert predators, which would have been much cooler had I not been part of aforementioned injured woman's chariot squad. But nonetheless it was sweet. You know how we have coyotes back home and we shoot them? Well over here we put them in behind safe fences under witness protection programs and call them jackals. We also saw some vultures like the ones from The Jungle Book (Disney version), but still playing the role of one of the noble steeds I didn't get to see as much of the rare and terrifying animals as I would have liked. But it was cool.
Then we went to the Masada guest house, played some intense ultimate frisbee on a little basketball court and hiked through the Marl Canyons at night. It's like walking on the moon. The chalky dirt in moonlight really does make it look like the moon, it was amazing.
After not too many hours of sleep we got up to hike Masada. I'm glad we did it in half-light because it is a killer hike, particularly at 5:30 in the morning. I don't love getting up early, but when it involves climbing a mountain I tend to get out of bed with a lot better attitude. And it was so worth it. The sunrise was wonderful times ten. A great way to start a day, the Word, sunrise, Israel, huge rock fortresses... so great.
I played tour guide for about 5 of the guys in the group, it's amazing how much I can remember from last time and the reading we've done, it was a ton of fun. Fast-forward: we hiked down, left, went to Qumran, hiked around the ruins of the Essenes settlement, and drove a little way and hiked up to cave number one. This is the cave where the first Dead Sea Scrolls were found, but NOT by a shepherd throwing stones. Contrary to that little myth, it was archaeologist-type people who were looking for something beside lost sheep. Just call Bill the newest host of Myth-Busters, he and Abner continually shatter our false presuppositions.
Then we went home. And it was great. It was so cool to see all of the southern parts of Israel, such desolate country demands an outside source of survival. Good thing God was there for the Israelites huh?
That concludes this broadcast hour, sorry that it was so long, but I wanted to get the whole trip in there. Hope you didn't fall asleep.
Friday, March 6, 2009
It's March...? Already?
Oh my... it would seem that I have not written anything in quite a while. Maybe it had something to do with traveling the world. At least as much as traveling the world pertains to traveling the southern regions of this country. Our first big field trip has come to a close. Technically it has been over for 24 hours, but we're still recuperating over here.
I will try my best to be your tour guide through the southern regions of Israel, let's hope you don't want to fire me by the end. Since I have Shabbat dinner in an hour it is likely I won't finish, so we'll embark on this adventure now and pick it up tomorrow or something. Here we go.
We left Monday morning and headed for the area of the Biblical Negev. Today the whole southern part of Israel is more or less referred to as the Negev (on a map, brown = death and the south is full of brown :). The Biblical Negev is a smaller area; it begins in the middle of the country and sweeps to the east, beginning just south of the hill country and heading toward the coast (like the Gaza area). It's sort of (and when I say sort of, I mean barely) in the shape of an hourglass, the top bubble is smaller and in the east and the bigger bubble is out toward the coast. Anyway, the sites that we went to are what's important to you I guess.
Our first stop was Tel Beersheba, which is just few miles east of modern Beersheba. The city ruins are pretty cool, Bill thinks that the actual Beersheba is buried in the modern city and the one we visited is just a little daughter town or something. Anyway, it was not so warm that day, like cold-ish and windy, making for a bone-chilling visit. The excavations there have revealed structures that are likely from the time of Hezekiah, about the time he was fortifying cities all over his country. There was a pretty amazing water system, which was super deep, that was carved so that the water runoff from the nearby Wadi Beersheba would make it into the city (something about water-table depth and all that). We experienced a few things this trip that Bill has only seen once or twice (or maybe never, I forget on some things). One such thing was water running in the wadi, he said it has only done that once or twice when he's been around Beersheba (which is many, many times in the last 20-something years). We've had lots of rain lately up here in the hills and it was enough to make a real stream out in the pseudo-desert that is the northern Negev.
Next stop: Tel Arad, which for the sake of you knowing location, is up to the east of Beersheba. There is an Israelite period citadel up on the hill, inside there was even a temple. It was probably one of those temples outside of Jerusalem that was regularly denounced by the prophets. Oh those Israelites, they were not so good at worshipping the LORD alone. But the cool part of Arad was the ruins down the hill a little. Those ruins dated back to the Bronze Age, which means that Abraham and Lot were most likely among those who walked the streets that we walked. That's some old dirt - like 4,000 years old.
Here I lose track of the order, but I will just go with what comes to mind. So "next" we went to Avdat, which is a Nabatean city somewhat south of Arad. The Nabateans were originally nomadic traders, camelling spices from what is now Saudi Arabia to the coast of the Mediterranean. But then they began to settle down, most likely because they discovered wine, and apparently, "the moment a nomad drinks wine he ceases to become a nomad." These were the same folks who built Petra. To briefly sum them up, they're pros at whatever they do. They camelled across the desert like nobody's business and when they settled down they became experts at pottery making. But most of what we saw at Avdat dated to the Byzantine period. When Constantine converted the world to Christianity, the Nabateans went with the flow (many of them for real I'm sure) and so now the town has chapels/churches galore. If you look at the IBEX site with pictures (whenever they are posted, I'm guessing in four or five days) then this is the place with the big metal camels.
I can't remember where it was, but I know that we were going to hike in one of the big valleys, but with all the rain some of it was flooded so we had to drive to the other end of the main canyon and hike up the less deep area. Less deep is like 15 feet deep verus 150 feet or more... but it was still really amazing to see so much water flowing in a desert land. Bill reminded us of the passage of scripture that talks being blessed with streams in the desert, it takes on some amazing meaning when you see what it is normally like and what it looks like when there are actually streams. Along the way we found a broom tree. So like my namesake, I sat under a broom tree in the Negev and pretended to look like I wanted to die. Fortunately the spiritual state of my counterparts at the time is not one to make me want to give up, though in saying that I suppose I should think about the overall spiritual state of our world with a little more of a somber attitude.
From there we went to Mactesh Ramon, a GINORMOUS crater, look at a satellite map sometime, it's huge. It's not a crater from a space rock, it's like a giant washout crater, like one caused by a big flood perhaps ;). At sunset we stood near the edge of the 200+ foot cliff and pondered our day. A full first day to say the least, but pretty cool to think about all the history that surrounded us. It's time for me to go put on nicer clothes for Kabbalat Shabbat (shorts and flip-flops are not my style for such a dinner as the one where we receive the Sabbath, but maybe that's just me and my conservative - very much not Californian - background)
Until next time...
p.s.- there is this terribly uncool fad going on over here, we fondly call it coughing up one's lungs. It is sort of like a junior high boys choir, no one likes it, everyone coughs their part, and the result leaves a lot to be desired. I am so fortunate as to be part of said choir, this morning I was talking in contra-bass, but some improvement is slowly coming into view. We would all greatly appreciate as much prayer as you can muster right now. Do it for the sake of a the junior high boys choirs around the world if nothing else.
I will try my best to be your tour guide through the southern regions of Israel, let's hope you don't want to fire me by the end. Since I have Shabbat dinner in an hour it is likely I won't finish, so we'll embark on this adventure now and pick it up tomorrow or something. Here we go.
We left Monday morning and headed for the area of the Biblical Negev. Today the whole southern part of Israel is more or less referred to as the Negev (on a map, brown = death and the south is full of brown :). The Biblical Negev is a smaller area; it begins in the middle of the country and sweeps to the east, beginning just south of the hill country and heading toward the coast (like the Gaza area). It's sort of (and when I say sort of, I mean barely) in the shape of an hourglass, the top bubble is smaller and in the east and the bigger bubble is out toward the coast. Anyway, the sites that we went to are what's important to you I guess.
Our first stop was Tel Beersheba, which is just few miles east of modern Beersheba. The city ruins are pretty cool, Bill thinks that the actual Beersheba is buried in the modern city and the one we visited is just a little daughter town or something. Anyway, it was not so warm that day, like cold-ish and windy, making for a bone-chilling visit. The excavations there have revealed structures that are likely from the time of Hezekiah, about the time he was fortifying cities all over his country. There was a pretty amazing water system, which was super deep, that was carved so that the water runoff from the nearby Wadi Beersheba would make it into the city (something about water-table depth and all that). We experienced a few things this trip that Bill has only seen once or twice (or maybe never, I forget on some things). One such thing was water running in the wadi, he said it has only done that once or twice when he's been around Beersheba (which is many, many times in the last 20-something years). We've had lots of rain lately up here in the hills and it was enough to make a real stream out in the pseudo-desert that is the northern Negev.
Next stop: Tel Arad, which for the sake of you knowing location, is up to the east of Beersheba. There is an Israelite period citadel up on the hill, inside there was even a temple. It was probably one of those temples outside of Jerusalem that was regularly denounced by the prophets. Oh those Israelites, they were not so good at worshipping the LORD alone. But the cool part of Arad was the ruins down the hill a little. Those ruins dated back to the Bronze Age, which means that Abraham and Lot were most likely among those who walked the streets that we walked. That's some old dirt - like 4,000 years old.
Here I lose track of the order, but I will just go with what comes to mind. So "next" we went to Avdat, which is a Nabatean city somewhat south of Arad. The Nabateans were originally nomadic traders, camelling spices from what is now Saudi Arabia to the coast of the Mediterranean. But then they began to settle down, most likely because they discovered wine, and apparently, "the moment a nomad drinks wine he ceases to become a nomad." These were the same folks who built Petra. To briefly sum them up, they're pros at whatever they do. They camelled across the desert like nobody's business and when they settled down they became experts at pottery making. But most of what we saw at Avdat dated to the Byzantine period. When Constantine converted the world to Christianity, the Nabateans went with the flow (many of them for real I'm sure) and so now the town has chapels/churches galore. If you look at the IBEX site with pictures (whenever they are posted, I'm guessing in four or five days) then this is the place with the big metal camels.
I can't remember where it was, but I know that we were going to hike in one of the big valleys, but with all the rain some of it was flooded so we had to drive to the other end of the main canyon and hike up the less deep area. Less deep is like 15 feet deep verus 150 feet or more... but it was still really amazing to see so much water flowing in a desert land. Bill reminded us of the passage of scripture that talks being blessed with streams in the desert, it takes on some amazing meaning when you see what it is normally like and what it looks like when there are actually streams. Along the way we found a broom tree. So like my namesake, I sat under a broom tree in the Negev and pretended to look like I wanted to die. Fortunately the spiritual state of my counterparts at the time is not one to make me want to give up, though in saying that I suppose I should think about the overall spiritual state of our world with a little more of a somber attitude.
From there we went to Mactesh Ramon, a GINORMOUS crater, look at a satellite map sometime, it's huge. It's not a crater from a space rock, it's like a giant washout crater, like one caused by a big flood perhaps ;). At sunset we stood near the edge of the 200+ foot cliff and pondered our day. A full first day to say the least, but pretty cool to think about all the history that surrounded us. It's time for me to go put on nicer clothes for Kabbalat Shabbat (shorts and flip-flops are not my style for such a dinner as the one where we receive the Sabbath, but maybe that's just me and my conservative - very much not Californian - background)
Until next time...
p.s.- there is this terribly uncool fad going on over here, we fondly call it coughing up one's lungs. It is sort of like a junior high boys choir, no one likes it, everyone coughs their part, and the result leaves a lot to be desired. I am so fortunate as to be part of said choir, this morning I was talking in contra-bass, but some improvement is slowly coming into view. We would all greatly appreciate as much prayer as you can muster right now. Do it for the sake of a the junior high boys choirs around the world if nothing else.
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