Israeli Food

I have come to realize that, since coming to Israel, my whole outlook on food has changed. My likes and dislikes have changed, my "staple" foods have shifted...It's partly because of the foods available and normally eaten here, and partly because of the other American people I'm around. Nonetheless, there have been changes.

Following are three very loosely organized lists:

1. Foods I was introduced to here in Israel. These are foods that, to the best of my knowledge, I never had before coming here, for whatever reason.

2. Foods I have come to like/love. This list includes foods that I liked before coming here but have learned to like even more, as well as foods that I previously disliked.

3. Foods that have become a staple. This includes foods that I perhaps more or less familiar with before coming here that have become a main part of my diet, either because I love them so much or because they are so readily available.

Foods I was introduced to:

Falafel - Ahh...the amazing fried chickpea burger...how I love thee!

Shwarma - I think I prefer falafel, but still amazing

Caramelized Onions - I really am not sure how I managed to avoid ever having these before Israel, but these could almost be in the third list. Here at HaShum we eat them with almost everything. I personally had them with two meals, just today.

Quinoa - Really, this is a South American thing, but somehow I learned about it here. Good source of protein, especially considering the scarcity of meat at my place.

Kohlrabi - Weird vegetable...but not bad.

Coconut Milk - Having never cooked with this before, I am still in awe of its amazingness...and need to do more experimentation with it soon.

Foods I have come to like/love:

Sage - In America I always liked sage in things like stuffing or chicken noodle soup. Here, the Bedouin put it in tea. I LOVE sage in tea.

Cilantro - I'm not sure how I managed to avoid using fresh cilantro until this year, but that seems to be the case. I don't think I was quite introduced to it here, but I have definitely come to love it more, in a variety of dishes, since my arrival.

Olives - I've always like the black, American-style of olive, but the green or the more bitter black olives were more problematic for me. At school last semester there were often olives in the dishes...and being too lazy to pick them out, I just ate them, and so began to be able to stand them. This year a couple of my flatmates love olives...so I've continued eating them...and I think I've come to actually like them...at least pretty close. I even ate some by choice on our field study this weekend!

Cucumbers - I find it hard to believe that until about a year ago, I never liked cucumbers. I avoided them like the plague. Here they are so readily available, and so tasty (compared to what's usually available in the states), it's almost silly to avoid eating them. They could fit in my third list.

Tomatoes - Similar story to the cucumbers. I grew up generally disliking tomatoes. Here, I eat the little ones like candy.

Sweet Potatoes - I still don't think I'm a fan of the whole "candied yam" thing with marshmallows and all that... But I have come to appreciate sweet potatoes in other dishes, like this recipe of Aubrey's, which also includes caramelized onions.

Lentils - I still don't use these all that often, but I like them a lot, and they're very common here.

Foods that have become a staple:

Pita - This may surprise you if the only pita you've ever had is the dry, gross, store-bought variety found in the states. That's nothing compared to the fresh, warm, soft pita you can buy daily on the streets of Israel. Hardly a day goes by where I don't have a pita or two.

Hummus - Ah, hummus (or chumus?)... What would pita be without good hummus? Again, hard to find good hummus in the States...but here, it's amazing.

Peppers - I liked peppers a lot before coming here...but here, the bell peppers are so cheap, so beautiful, so amazing...Yeah, they're pretty much a staple.

I'm sure there are other foods that have changed my life...but I'll stick with these for now.

Welcome to my life!

So, I happened to watch an episode of Top Chef where their challenge was to make a meal for 300 airmen, with the supplies and kitchen equipment on the base, and I thought, "Welcome to my world." That's pretty much what I do daily at camp. Except with a lower budget, less equipment, fewer people, and less cumulative experience on my side. Most of the challenges they compete in I wouldn't even know where to begin, but with this one, well, I could relate.

In other news, I recently found out about a site with a number of online books. I haven't read much for fun for a long time, and they had some shorter books that I'd been wanting to read, so in the last couple days I've read Manalive! by G. K. Chesterton and Right Ho, Jeeves by P. G. Wodehouse, both of which I recommend, for very different reasons. Here is one quote from each, respectively, which made me laugh.

"Imprudent marriages!" roared Michael. "And pray where in earth or heaven are there any prudent marriages? Might as well talk about prudent suicides.

Jeeves: "Yes, sir. Each time he endeavours to formulate a proposal of marriage, his courage fails him."

Wooster: "And yet, if he wants this female to be his wife, he's got to say so, what? I mean, only civil to mention it."

Jeeves: "Precisely, sir."

A Day in the Life of a JUC Grad Student

Disclaimer: While all of these events are unlikely to occur on any ONE given day, they are things that I am likely to see or experience at any given time.

1. Walking to school in the rain. Up hill. Both ways. Not even exaggerating. Oh how I hope it snows this winter!

2. Night-time field studies to the Israel Museum. This includes

a. Catching a taxi near the school with three other people, trying to haggle for a decent price, and hopefully managing to end up at the Israel Museum by 6pm

b. Once the whole class trickles in, in groups of four, entering the museum (at least the part that is open) and the proceeding to stand and/or sit outside for well over an hour. Fortunately it had stopped raining. Still cold.

c. Looking at the Second Temple period model of Jerusalem. It is a pretty sweet model, I have to say.

d. Reading about odd Rabbinical-type-people. Like Choni the circle-drawer. Or about the disagreements of Shammai and Hillel.

e. Sitting inside in warm, comfortable chairs, and watching an interesting movie about the community at Qumran. And by interesting I don't really mean "informative" but more "rather odd."

f. Going inside the Shrine of the Book and seeing artifacts from Qumran, including several Dead Sea Scroll fragments.

g. Trying to catch another taxi home...walking to the bottom of the hill to try to find one that will give us a better price...and saving maybe 12 NIS in the end, in exchange for walking further.

h. Gathering my things from school, and then walking home. Up hill. At least it wasn't raining, and the walk did warm me up.

3. Playing board games as part of my upper level graduate class...

...Yeah, I suppose I should explain this. For this week, we were each assigned a country or region (Edom, Moab, Ammon, Syria, Phoenicia, Israel, Judah, Philistia, and (my region) the raiders of the Greater Negev). We were to research sort of the political and economic type pressures and desires of our area during the 9th century BC. What was their resource base? What were they trying to gain? Who were they trying to trade with? Who would be natural enemies and who would be natural allies? All that sort of thing. In class we laid things out on the map and talked about what DID happen during the 9th century and why, as well as what COULD have happened (and maybe did happen during a different time period).

4. Watching beautiful sunsets from the roof of a building built on the remains of a tower from the Hasmonean period.

5. Trying to take care of and keep track of several visitors coming and going and coming again in my flat...and also trying to keep track of the coming and going of my flatmates.

6. Cooking. Lots of cooking. Including experimenting with new-to-me foods, such as quinoa and kohlrabi.

And that's all for tonight! Tune in next week for more adventures in the life of a JUC Grad Student! *cue music*

The Shuk

Today I went to the big Jerusalem shuk (open air market) for the first time, which is rather sad, considering how long I've lived here. It was about time.

So this morning I headed off with my friend Anna. It's a bit of a walk, though not too bad. I'm still working on putting the city together in my mind, so it helped. I need to get out more.

I rather enjoyed the shuk itself. All sorts of colorful displays of fruits and vegetables, meat, fish, nuts, grains...whatever you could want.

...occasionally birds also take advantage of the spread.

Generally priced cheaper than anywhere else in the city. As we had just gotten groceries for our flat yesterday I didn't buy much. Just oatmeal, beans, and some pita. (We kind of eat a lot of pita here.) I did get to watch Anna buy all sorts of goodies, though. I rather like the atmosphere. Ironically, not at all like Walmart.

One place also had some really cool fruits that neither Anna nor I recognized. They looked sort of like pink and green artichokes. After googling it, I discovered that they are "Dragon Fruits" or "Pitaya." They look tasty.

Thus ends the tale of my shuk trip.

Minute Observations

1. Apparently, Hebron Road is Wedding Central right now. I have seen at least 4 decorated cars on the walk to and from my appartment in the last few days, some of them in the process of being decorated, some being used by the wedding couple, and some just sitting in readiness. They're nicely decorated, too. None of the plastic wrap, shaving cream, and tin cans that are seen in the states. Nope. These ones employ tulle and ribbons in matching color schemes and attractive designs.

2. Many people here seem to wear large amounts of scent. I often pass people on the sidewalk and can smell them for several seconds after they've passed. Back home there always seems to be the occasional woman who sits behind you in church and infuses a 10m radius with her perfume, but it tends to be the exception rather than the rule. Here it appears to be more of a rule.

3. Everyone here has little plaid suitcase-like carts for carrying things too and fro. We have two at my apartment. They're really quite useful, especially in a place where walking and public transportation are the main ways to get around. They make me laugh, just a little, though. I mean, they're ALL plaid patterned, and usually in some combination of blue and red. Someday I'd just like to see one orange and green flowered attrocity.

4. We live a nearly vegitarian existence here. This is partly because on of my flat-mates has issues with the meat here. Even without that, though, we probably wouldn't eat much meat. It's fairly expensive here and if you want to be kosher, meat and milk products can never be eaten together. Thus, it is fairly common all over the country to have meals utterly lacking in any meat product, a happenstance that would be shocking to many males I know in the states. Instead, we eat lots of bean products: lentils, falafels, and hummus! Americans eat too much meat.

There are my observations of the day. :) Now I need to get to work on research and decide what to do with my life, stuff like that. :)

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.

Reflections on the end of summer

Here I sit, at my cluttered desk, contemplating the last food order of the season. The summer has gone incredibly quickly, and, at times, incredibly slowly. We've finally come to the end, though, the last week of ten. Staff memebers are starting to leave for sports, school, and jobs. We lost one on Saturday, another on Sunday, and yet another leaves tomorrow.

It's a bittersweet time. I'm excited to have a break. I feel like I've been cooking 24-7 for years now. I will enjoy not always smelling of food. I'm excited to see family briefly after camp. I'm excited to head back to Israel (in a little more than 2 weeks). On the other hand, I'm sad to leave the friends here, many of whom are like a second family to me. I'm sad to leave the sights and smells of camp. This place feels as much like home as any place on earth, and I miss it when I leave. I'm also a bit nervous to get back to Israel...there's a lot I need to do before I'm ready to leave, and a lot I need to do and decide on once I get there.

For now, though, I have about 4.5 days left here at camp and I want to make the most of them.

Yesterday the staff had a little "Cook Appreciation" ceremony and they gave us cards and a little gift. It was nice.

My parents were campers up here last week, so it was fun to hang out with them. We even got to go on a picnic one day. We found a beautiful spot along the river to eat and then explore a little.

omeday I want to come up here with some extra time and just explore EVERYWHERE.

This summer I/we have made, in rough estimates:

- 60 gallons of Granola
- 10,000 cookies
- 80 loaves of Challah
- 1500 hot ham and cheese sandwiches

- 2000 pancakes

We have used (approximately)

- 400lbs of ground beef

- 120 bags of potato chips

- 120lbs of bacon

- 800lbs of shredded cheese

-1000lbs of apples

...and much, much more, obviously.

In addition to "good ol' American food," we have served ethnic foods, which, if not totally

authentic, are at least reminicent of Italy, China, Mexico, Greece, England, and Israel/the

Middle East.

Tonight is a recipe party...all sorts of new favorites. :)

Rainbows and Flat Tires

Here we are, another week drawing to a close. And what a week it's been! Roughly 170 kids here, and, according to my sister, they eat "like banshees on drugs!" I'm not quite sure what banshees eat like, much less how drugs would affect their eating habits, but it is quite certain that these kids do eat a lot. And then, just for fun, they eat some more. There have been times when we've had a hard time keeping up with them...which has made for some stressful moments in the kitchen. But no one has starved to death yet, so I guess I'll consider the week a success.

Yesterday I went to Big T. in the afternoon to mail my visa application, so hopefully I'll get that before I leave again in August. One of the counselors had a pine cone hit his eye that morning, so I also took him in for an eye appointment. His stuff took a lot longer than mine, so I spent a lot of time waiting... Oh well.

That evening I went back to Big T. to go bowling with the children of the crew. That was pretty entertaining...for many reasons. First of all, my van got a flat tire on the way into town. Well, actually, it wasn't just flat. It was shredded. Flat tires are pretty routine on staff trips, but that doesn't make them simple to resolve. We did have a spare with us, but we lacked the proper tools to get it out. When the other van came back for us, they had a spare which we were able to take out and use. However, that wasn't the end of our problems. Both vans had jacks, but neither jack was of the proper height to lift the van off the ground, so we had to use rocks. And, well, to make a long story short, it took some time and ingenuity, but we eventually finished changing the tire and continued on our way. At least we got to see a rainbow as we were working. :)

Once in town we proceeded to their 6-lane bowling alley where we hung out most of the rest of the night. I didn't bowl myself, but I enjoyed watching others bowl. :) And I rather enjoy hanging out with high school kids, so yeah, it was fun. Then we got in the vans to go to the gas station and then home. The other van left before mine. And when we turned the key in ours...nothing. So we opened up the hood to discover that...the battery wire was utterly disconnected. And again we had no tools. So we held the battery wire on the battery while we started the car and managed to make it to the gas station, and eventually home. It was close to midnight when I finally got to bed.

This morning came quite early... As I was running to the kitchen (I always seem to jog places here...walking just is a waste of time) I passed another staff member who pointed up. I looked up and there above the mountains was yet another rainbow.

So to sum up, it's been a crazy week, with lots of ups and downs, joys and struggles. We've had lots of rain, which can make activities difficult. But then, we've had lots of rainbows too - constant reminders that God keeps His promises. Even the trials bring reminders of God's faithfulness.

Bonus: Here's an article from the Jerusalem Post...I found it rather amusing.

A few more random thoughts

1. Junior High camp started tonight. As I type the counselors are probably busy making sure everyone is getting ready for bed, doing devotions, and trying to get everyone to quiet down and sleep. As stressful as it is, I have to say that I often miss those days. I rather like hanging out with kids of varying ages and maturities. :) Jr. High became one of my favorite week of the summer. Oh well, tonight I got to hang out with crew kids, which is almost as good. Not quite as good because I have to share them with their crew counselors, but still fun.

2. I made Challah bread again tonight, just for the staff. I know it's not Shabbat, but they really enjoyed it last time...and they get a little tired of chicken nuggets and tater tots, so I figured it would be a nice treat. It was quite tasty.

3. We went to the Big Timber Rodeo last night. It was fun. :) The Wild Cow Race was hilarious, as usual. Our teams did fairly well, both of them managing to at least get into the saddle a couple times, but were unable to place.

4. This is the first time that I've shared an actual room with people other than myself (for an extended time) in...well...years. I've shared a cabin or a 'room' but our beds have always been separated by a wall of some sort. I rather miss having a place that I can go to be alone, but only on occasion. I rather enjoy being around people. It's fun to talk and laugh and plot mischief with my roommates before we go to sleep - which is about the only time we are all in the cabin at the same time. Most of my time is spent in the dining hall...with the food...

5. I finally finished one book on my reading list: The End of Days: Fundamentalism and the Struggle for the Temple Mount. It was interesting at least. If nothing else, I have a better understanding of the recent history of Israel in general and the Temple Mount in specific. He seemed to repeat himself a good bit, and I didn't agree fully with his analysis of some of the fundamentalists, but he did make some interesting points. None of which strike me at the moment, but maybe I'll incorporate them into future postings.

6. I've now started reading The Lemon Tree. It's also about Israel and the Middle East...it was recommended by a friend, so we'll see how it goes.

7. I've recently started occasionally glancing at the blog of an orthodox priest (as another friend mentioned him in her blog). Today's post struck me as rather interesting: You Are Not A Bible Character. I will quote part of it here and then take a tangential trail off of it.

The pilgrim fathers who came to America read their situation into the Bible (or the Bible into their situation) with the result that white pilgrims were seen as fulfilling the role of the Israelites in this, the Promised Land, while native Americans were cast in the role of Canaanites. Thus generations of Joshuas arose feeling Biblically justified in the genocide of America’s native population. Some of that Biblical reading continues to echo in the popular imagination to this day. It was Bad theology in the 17th century and it is bad theology today. Stated in a fundamental way: you are not a Bible character.

Disclaimer: I know relatively little about American history, but I am fairly certain that not all "pilgrim fathers" were guilty of this incorrect application of the Bible. However, as that is not to be the object of my post, I beg that you would overlook this statement and take it up with the original poster if you feel so inclined.

To the subject at hand, when the phrase "You are not a Bible character" is used, numerous thoughts pop into my head, including "Jerusalem Syndrome." However, I think it has a broader application to how we, as "evangelical Christians" interpret the Bible. So often we are quick to read a story about a Bible character and leap to an application: "God did such-and-such for them, so surely He will do the same for me." At times that may be an application that can be legitimately made. Other times, it might be wiser to reconsider. After all, we are not Bible Characters. We do serve the same God, but He does not always work in the same ways.

On a slightly different tangent, his talk of the "pilgrim father" interpretation of the Bible reminded me of the Israeli settlers' interpretation. In their view, all Palestinians are the Canaanites to be driven out. As Bible-believing Christians, we often find it easier to support them in their efforts because they are, as far as we can tell, actual decedents of the Israelites and they are actually trying to take the historic land of Israel. But in reality, they are no more Bible characters than we are. They do not have direct revelation from God, as Joshua did; no divine commands to conquer the land. Some of you may bring up the New Testament: doesn't Romans (and other books) clearly state that God still has a plan for Israel? Couldn't these settlers be those new Bible characters? I don't want to give a categorical "No" to that question, though I am tempted. Even assuming that God does still have a plan for the literal nation of Israel (which I'm sure some of you reading this would disagree with that interpretation), defining "Israel" is still a problem. It is the secular state of Israel? It is all Jews? Is it all Messianic Jews? Is it all Zionistic Jews? None of these definitions quite fit what Israel was in Bible times, which makes it difficult to draw any further conclusions. To take it even farther, even if the settlers are included in "Biblical Israel" (whatever that is), many of their tactics and attitudes directly defy God's commandments and how He told Israel to behave to foreigners and strangers.

8. To stop you before you start thinking I'm "anti-Israel" let me just say that many of my teachers are settlers themselves, or are at least sympathetic, and that I like them all quite a lot. I also understand some of their passion and drive to create and protect a Jewish homeland. However, I am striving to see both sides fairly, which means that I see the wrong done by both sides, and settlers are not exempt. Kicking a Palestinian off his land and then waving a Bible in his face saying that it is your deed to his land is definitely an improper use of the Bible.

9. I should go to bed. I have about 220 people here and they'll all be hungry tomorrow morning.

Camp Life

I've now been at camp for a full 8 days, and have, in general, been far too busy to either think about anything or do anything exciting.  Even if I had done anything other than cook, I would have had time to write about it, so I suppose its just as well.  

We had a week of staff training: cooking 3 meals a day, trying to remember how the kitchen works and then teach my new cooks about it.  Trying to plan meals and remember recipes.  Add to all that various inconvieniently timed manditory staff training meetings and an oddly timed Sysco delivery and you get a picture of my week.  

Not that's it's been bad.  It's really gone pretty well.  The cooks are learning well and doing good work.  The rest of the staff has been encouraging and helpful.  There have been occasional moments of missing Israel and a couple times when I've thought, "Why in the world did I agree to work here this summer again?!"  Mostly, though, I've been too busy for either, which is probably good.

I have been able to bring small pieces of Israeli food here - Challah for our Shabbat evening meal, Tabouleh, Bedouin tea for myself.  It helps.  

It's a bit odd...before coming here, some returning staff people had expressed an interest in hearing about Isreal.  However, no one has really bothered to ask anything about it beyond, "So, how was Israel?"  Perhaps it's as hard to think of questions as it is to think of answers: "Uh, it was great.  I learned a lot."  It is understandable.  After all, people are quite busy.  Still, it's a little sad.  I feel like I've learned so much and changed in so many little ways...but I have no one to tell about it.  I'm going to need to work on finding an outlet.  I don't want to be the know-it-all who always talks about Israel, but I also don't want to have to bottle it all up.  We'll see how it works out.  

Anyway, here at camp we have survived staff training and our first meal with campers.  As we continue I'd appreciate your prayers for unity in the staff and for God's work in our lives and the lives of our campers.  

Random thoughts.

1.  I've been state-side for nearly 3 weeks now.  

2. Which means that I've adjusted to somethings, at least.   For example, I rarely look for a trash can in which to throw my toilet paper any more.  

3. I found a resturant in town that serves falafel, which I find quite impresive, considering the size and location of my town.  It's pretty tasty too.  I might just have to visit it more often...

4. I'm working on integrating some things from Israel into life here.  For example, tonight for dinner I made "mujadarah"- a middle eastern dish including rice and lentils and fried onions.  Here is an example recipe, though it's not the exact one I used.  In honor of Shabbat I also made challah bread, which turned out quite well.  The recipe I used is the first one on this page.  

5. The other day I bought mint and sage so I could make Bedouin tea.  The mint reminds me of Jordan and the sage reminds me of Dahab...and both make me want to go back...

6. I head up to camp tomorrow...or I guess it's today now... so that I'll be able to settle in a little bit before I have to feed everyone (perhaps single-handedly) on Sunday.  

7. I'm kind of sad to be leaving town again, just as I've started to re-connect with some old friends...but on the other hand, I'm rather looking forward to having a demanding schedule again.  I'm hoping that new friends and lots of work will help take my mind of missing Israel and friends from there.  

8. I've started reading Jerusalem Post headlines online.  I find that when people find out I've been to Israel, the first thing they ask about is the current political situation.  If they were to ask about the political situation during the time of Solomon, I might be able to help them, but they never seem to be interested in that.  The joys of being an ancient history major. :)  So I've decided that over the summer I need to educate myself more on the modern state of Israel and current events there.  

9. Lately, removal of outpostAmerican pressure to stop settlement growth have been the subject of debate in the headlines.  It's interesting to see different perspectives batted around.  Settlers are among the most extreme people in Israel, unwilling to give up even an inch of the land they believe they are Biblically entitled to.  I'll quote from this article:

"Israelis must acknowledge that just as Israel's right to exist cannot be denied, neither can Palestine's," the US president said at Cairo University. "It is time for these settlements to stop."

Such statements are rejected out of hand by residents here, who view the increase in American pressure as misguided and ill-informed.

"I think it's symptomatic of Western thought," Gal said. "They read so deeply into a situation that in reality, is quite simple. We're the Jewish people and this is our home, and the Arabs are not going to stop attacking us if we leave Givat Asaf. If Israel pulls back from the settlements, Ben-Gurion Airport will become the next target. You have to ask yourself, what could we possibly gain from another disengagement?"

I have to say that this settler's arogance really struck me.  "We're the Jewish people." As if that is the answer to all questions.  To them it is.  If we push theology aside for a moment, historical rights are hard to determine.  Jews base their claim to the land on their historic presence there as documented by the Bible.  However, the Canaanites had possession long before the Hebrews came, and Arabs and Turks ruled long after the Jewish people were scattered abroad.  As far as total time in the land is concerned, Jews really have a debatable claim.  Of course, everything is far more complicated...which is one reason I wish both Jews and Arabs would be less black and white in their perspectives.  

10. And on the other side there is this article:

An IDF soldier was lightly wounded Tuesday morning after a 13-year-old Palestinian boy stabbed him at the Hawara checkpoint, south of Nablus.

Soldiers arrested the assailant, who had entered the checkpoint through the "humanitarian lane," which is meant to be used by Palestinians in need of immediate medical attention and therefore bypasses the inspection in the regular lane.

Such actions seem to lend credence to the settlers' claims.  There is always food for thought in the events in modern Israel...usually depressing thoughts.  It's a mess.

11. I talked to my brother and sister-in-law tonight, which was good.  We talked about my perspective on my church since coming back and sort of brainstormed ideas on how to make all my new-found knowledge useful to the Body.  This question is sort of a corollary to one of the most commonly asked questions I get: "What are you going to do with this degree?"  I tell people, "I will be a better informed Christian."  If nothing else, I want to be able to use what I've  learned to encourage people in their faith...but I want to do that without being a critical know-it-all.  That balance could be difficult to find.  Something to work on this summer.  

12. And with that, it's high time that I head to bed.  My next post will probably be about some camp adventures.  :)

Chapter 2: Wherein the author travels back up to the plateau and experiences some aspects of Bedouin life

Let's see, where was I...

May 11, 2009

We woke up well rested after a night in the Eco-Lodge, a virutal resort, especially when compared with our lodging for the rest of the trip.  To the typical fare we'd had the day before they added halva which made my day that much better.  If you've never had halva, well, you're missing out.  Someday I will figure out how to make it and post a recipe.  Hopefully.  

Anyway, after a good breakfast we again hopped into our "jeeps" and drove off across the desert to where our driver had left the bus the previous day.  On the bus we drove up the Arabah to the southern tip of the Dead Sea with Israel just across the way.  It was pretty barren (for the most part): dry, flat, sandy.  I rather think that life can often look like that to various people at various times...but the Bible constantly reminds us that God is with us, especially in the desert.

"Ah, the Saved...what happens to them is best described as the opposite of a mirage.  What seemed, when they entered it, to be the vale of misery turns out, when they look back, to have been a well; and where present experience saw only salt deserts memory truthfully records that the pools were full of water."  (C. S. Lewis, The Great Divorce)

From there we cut back up a wadi to the top of the plateau and then drove back south, past Bozrah, the capital of Edom, to Shawback (spellings may vary but it's pronounced more like Show-beck).  It's a bit off the tourist route, but it does have a pretty good crusader castle ruin, in addition to the "fake" bedouin camp we stayed at: Jaya Camp with our host, Saleh Rawashdeh.  

We arrived just in time for lunch...well, right after tea that is...we had mansaf!  Of course, you all know exactly what that is, but just in case... :)  Mansaf, as I understand, is a fairly typical Bedouin dish.  They probably don't eat it daily - it's more of a special occasion meal: the arrival of guests, a wedding, a funeral, etc.  Anyway, it consists of flat bread (tortilla-like), rice, some sort of meat (in this case, chicken), some cilantro, some nuts (peanuts), and a sort of white sauce spooned all over it.  Oh, and have I mentioned that it's all on one big platter?  And you eat with your hands?  We had several platters and crowded and average of around 6 people around each to eat.  It was a messy business.  Stupid Americans, don't know how to use their hands properly.  Nevertheless, it was a fun and tasty meal.  

After lunch we spent some time (with several breaks for tea) learning about a few aspects of Bedouin life.  They first showed us how to grind and mash grain.  Then we spent a while trying to figure out how to plow a field with a donkey and then sow it.  Fortunately the real plowing and planting time is long over, so our efforts are not responsible to feed the family in the future.  After a tea break we went out and herded goats in a circle for a while.  There were more people than goats so it really wasn't all that exciting, but perhaps we got just a little taste of it.  We then continued walking over to a nearby hill top.  There we had more tea and spent time throwing rocks at other rocks.  We're an easily amused bunch, what can I say?

A few people headed back to the camp at that point, but the brave and intrepid explores among us headed down the hill to the wadi bottom.  (Which, by the way, is a really fun combination of words.)  On our way down we stopped at a mosque/sheik's tomb.  I don't remember the name of the sheik, but he was supposedly a friend of Saladin.  As we walked up the wadi towards camp we paused to explore some caves that had obviously been lived in at some point and admired the terracing in the region.  We considered making an assault on the castle that night, but decided we should wait until morning when we were more rested and had more light. :)

Instead, we made our way back to camp where we shortly had dinner.  After dinner we sat in the bedouin tent, drinking more tea and listening to a man sing and play a one-string violin-type instrament made from a petrolium can.  It was impressive.  When he finished we hung out in the tent for a while, talking and playing games, before making our way to the tents for the night.