Morning

7 am.

Bang, bang, bang!

Scraaaape.

Buzzzzzzz.

Ah, the refreshing sounds our our upstairs neighbor commencing with his excavations...ahem, I mean remodeling.

7am? In an apartment building with neighbors fore and aft?

Welcome to Israel, I guess.

Out on our balcony, intermingled with the sweet smell of jasmine, I catch a wift of sawdust on the breeze, a fragrant reminder of construction back home. Only the strains of country music are missing.

Good morning!

What I learned today

1. Feet will mutiny if left to their own devices while you are working up above.

2. Things turn out better when you totally don't follow the recipe...or have the ingredients the recipe calls for...or even have a recipe.

3. New kitchens are hard to get used to...especially when their normal state is one of chaos and disorganization.

4. Cookies are more appreciated in foreign countries:

Student: "These are the best cookies I've ever had!"

Me: "You haven't had very many cookies, have you?"

5. "Family" movie nights at Beit HaShum are quite enjoyable.

6. The Muppet Movie has an amazing amount of TERRIBLE puns...and occasionally reminded me of Mathnet.

7. Finding books online about people like E. H. Palmer is spectacular.

8. I need to regularly give myself a talkin-to to keep myself from being stupid in various ways, shapes, and forms.

9. I need sleep. Soon.

Good night! :)

Christian Communities in the East

Today I went on my first (and probably one of my only) field studies this semester.

I admit, I didn't enjoy it as much as it probably deserved. It was hot, I was tired, and I'd already been to many of the churches and monasteries that we visited. Still, some of them were new, and some of the old ones were seen under different circumstances, so it was interesting.

This particular field study was for the Christian Communities in the East class, taught by Petra Heldt. She is very passionate about both the eastern churches and the Jewish people, so quite a bit of today was spent learning about how there is dialogue and cooperation happening between various Christian and Jewish groups (sometimes also Palestinian).

We visited...let's see if I remember...

1. The Monastery of St. John of the Desert, a Franciscan monastery. Apparently, the Franciscans have been in the country for 800 years now, according to Petra, the only Catholic group that was somehow allowed to stay after the Muslims kicked out the Christians. It was fun to see this sight while not dodging raindrops.

2. The "Moscovia" Monastery? Not quite sure of it's name...but its a Russian Orthodox Monastery. With a fairly new church (build since the re-unification of the Red and White Russians in the land) with beautiful gold domes.

3. The Visitation Church (celebrates where Mary visited Elizabeth and sung the Magnificat, and where Elizabeth and John hid from the soldiers who came to kill John). Claim to fame: The Magnificat on a wall in hundereds of different languages.

Side note: At this point (and a few others in the trip) we discussed non-cannonical stories about John, Jesus, Mary, and Elizabeth. Very interesting. I think it's a bit unfortunate how little we in the west know about our "roots" in the east.

4. The Monastery of the Sisters of Zion. By this point in the trip I was quite warm, quite low on blood sugar, and quite unable to give my full attention. But they had some pretty flowers. :) (And, from what I did hear, it sounds like they do some good things in the land.)

5. LUNCH!

6. The Monastery of the Holy Cross. I'd been here before as well.

7. Syriac Church in Jerusalem. I'd also been to that compound, but this time we met with a different guy and actually got to see their church. I didn't realize that they also claimed to be built over the location of the Last Supper. Of course, for every event that took place in this land, there are at least two sights that claim "It was here!"

8. Church of the Holy Sepulchre. As I've already spent several hours in this church, I felt less guilty when I skipped out early and went home. I was a bit exhausted.

And then I came home...ah...a relatively cool flat, and really cool flat-mates, are good to come home to. :) Just for kicks, here's a picture from the road outside my apartment of sunset over Jerusalem.

Today the heavens were opened and the angels sang

In other words, I visited a library. No, I visited THE Library. It is arguably the best library in the Middle East on Middle-eastern and Biblical subjects. It was pretty sweet. All the second year MA students at JUC share two library cards to this rather exclusive library, so I will get to go back to do research at various times this year.

However, after that highlight, a few clouds also rolled in.

I agreed to cook for the school on Sundays. I think I will enjoy it...but I'm a bit nervous about becoming familiar with the kitchen and planing meals that I will be able to fix by myself, with limited ingredients, in a new environment, that will hopefully be not to similar to other meals served that week. We'll see. It will also take time...which could be at a premium this semester.

I also had my first class today. It was a bit of a fiasco, but I won't go into that here.

Then I had my second class. It was a little better, but I think I'm in the first stages of syllabus shock.

I also need to come up with a thesis idea...or else just not do a thesis. So many hard decisions. Lord grant me wisdom!

Oh, and for those of you who participate: "RABBITS!"

Link of the Day:

http://www.shibumi.org/eoti.htm

...It made me smile.

Adventures of the First Day Back

Let's just say its been quite a first day. It started around 3:30am when I woke up and couldn't fall back asleep for a couple hours. I eventually did sleep another hour or two. "Welcome to the land of jet-lag" one of my flatmates said.

After a quick breakfast I went on a "walking tour" of some sites of historic and cultural importance in Jerusalem with my friend Cameron (from last year) and his friend Adam. Adam is visiting from the states for about a week and Cameron is trying to show him the highlights. Today we hit the Temple Mount/Dome of the Rock, The Church of All Nations/Gethsamane, Dominus Flavit, and the Mount of Olives, just for a start. Then we headed back down into the Kidron valley, took a gander at Absolom's Pillar and then headed to the City of David. Gaby would have been disappointed at the small amount of time we spent there. Our main goal was Hezekiah's tunnel and we made our way there with a rapidity that was stunted only by the heavy crowds. The tunnel itself was enjoyable, in large part due to the cold water on my feet. Ahhh... It was a warm day.

After emerging from the tunnel we finally headed to the Jewish Quarter to get some lunch, in the form of falafels that we bought from a Jewish Iraqi man. (Bet you didn't know such a thing existed, did ya?) Then we ran a couple errands in the old city, purchasing pita, bread, nuts, and a notebook for Adam. We finally limped back home to rest our aching feet.

For dinner we decided on tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches (which is a delicacy here with the rarity of cheddar.) Fun in the kitchen was had. I like not cooking for 200 people at once.

It was a bit chaotic here at the apartment too, with the land lady coming, the juice man coming, and several guests here beyond what will be normal when school gets going. It is fun though.

So there's a day in my life. I have yet to arrange my room and organize my stuff, but that will come in time, and in time a new rhythm of life will set in.

Life Transitions...yet again

I think my life for the past year or so has been a series of transition interrupted by brief periods of daily routine. This time the transition back to Israel is waning. I made it to Tel Aviv, to Jerusalem, to my new apartment, and even started moving into my room. All of my "flatmates" are here, as well as a couple others in transition. It will still be a few days until the dust settles and the daily routine sets in, but the major hurdles have been crossed. Re-adjustment to live in the Middle East has begun.

More updates will follow. :)