These 3 weeks will be interesting! After hotel hopping around Egypt and Jordan at a frantic rate, we now get 3 consecutive weeks at Palestinian homes in Beit Sahour, a suberb of Bethlehem in the West Bank. Phil and I are living at the Shomali house about a mile and a quarter from ATG (Alternative Tourism Group) where we have our daily classes, lectures, and tours. It's been fun to have other students living nearby our house to hang out with their families in the evening. Today is special because the snow has canceled ATG giving me extra time to blog! Schools have been canceled for a few days or the teachers have been on strike, but until now we've always had ATG.
It has been really nice to settle down these last 4 days. Phil and I have our own appartment in the basement of the Shomali house, but it has been more fun to spent time upstairs watching Arabic TV or just talking with my host dad. We've learned a bit of Arabic, so I can pratice a bit on my family. We don't know the letters yet, but I can say sabah ilheer every morning to greet my family!
Driving to Israel from Jordan was interesting, but I'd say boring as well. We stopped on Mt Nebo but this ever-present rain storm chased us away from the lookout and severely reduced our visability. Then we got our exit stamps, drove across no man's land and the tiny Jordan River and made it to the Israeli border. We all made it through in less than 30 minutes. I guess I should be thankful for an easy crossing, but I say it was boring. We skipped all the lines, they didn't check our luggage at all, and the only decision we faced was whether to get our passports stamped or a slip of paper to slide into our passports. I would have rather experienced a real border crossing.
We saw Jericho and the Dead Sea and we drove up the Mount of Olives to see old Jerusalem and all the sights, but all that was only a glimpse. Later in the program we'll live in Jerusalem for 2 weeks. Now we live in the oppressed West Bank. We were given tours of the illegal settlements, the fences and the wall on our first day. It certianly seems unfair an quite oppressive, but the Palestinians here seem to live a normal life, except for the fact that they can't travel 5km away to see Jerusalem and any extensive travel is a hassel barely worth dealing with. I'm sure I'll experience even more of this in the next few weeks.
Our experience at the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem was interesting! See, we actually got kicked out. We were having a nice little tour from Imman, an ATG worker, when Linford saw the perfect opportunity for a joke. He said it, we laughed as has happened hundreds of times this trip. Then they kicked us out. No laughing in the Church of the Nativity! Remember that. After we stood outside for a while we were able to go back in and see the cave when Jesus was born and the alter of the 3 magi. It's a great church with fantastic history!
We also went to Bethlehem University, walked along the Separation Wall, saw the Shepherds Field, and experienced Palestinian cuisine and music. All of those stories will have to wait until later though.
As for my journaling, this steady home situation has allowed me to write a lot more. It has been incredibly good for me as I sort out my surroundings and experiences and my health. I haven't exactly been healthy for a while. Actually, I've been downright miserable, but there have been plenty of distractions so I've been able to continue enjoying life! If someone wants to hear more about my journal entries these last days then they'll just have to ask me when I'm home. Sorry.
I keep singing too! A lot of Bebo Norman recently, but I had a Celtic Woman stuck in my head randomly the other day. I can't even remember which one it was! Life is good!
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Saturday, January 26, 2008
The internet cafe is cheap here in Amman and I had a free evening, so here I am again! Overall I had way too much fun with Bedoins the last few days! First of all, we rode camels. A herd of 27 camels took us for a walk around in the desert for an hour. They are the strangest animals and not all that comfortable, but if ever I needed to traverse great expanses of desert I'd be happy to have one! They seemed more reliable than the trucks/jeeps that we rode into the desert later that day. Those vehicles are ancient! We made it out to the springs, canyons and sand dunes though.
This morning a buch of us had the pleasure to experience some of the greatest rock climbing ever! It was all free climbing these massive sandstone/granite mountains that seem to just pop out of the vast plain of sand. We reached the top of one mountain to see a second peak just a bit higher that we had to climb. Then of course there was a third that was even higher yet! Luckily the fourth peak was quite a bit lower and couldn't taunt us to keep going! It was an exceptional morning!
Tomorrow we leave Jordan. That's the easy part. It means that we enter Israel, but we're actually going to the West Bank so it gets complicated. I really have no idea what to expect with all the checkpoints and border stations. All I know is that it might be a bit difficult, but everyone has made it through from the past groups! I'm excited to start our 3 week home stays with Palestinians! It'll be great!
By the way, I think I am getting in plenty of pictures. There have been many thousands of pictures taken, perhaps 10,000 and I know I'm in at least 16 of them. Just kidding. No, but really I counted.
Time to go.
This morning a buch of us had the pleasure to experience some of the greatest rock climbing ever! It was all free climbing these massive sandstone/granite mountains that seem to just pop out of the vast plain of sand. We reached the top of one mountain to see a second peak just a bit higher that we had to climb. Then of course there was a third that was even higher yet! Luckily the fourth peak was quite a bit lower and couldn't taunt us to keep going! It was an exceptional morning!
Tomorrow we leave Jordan. That's the easy part. It means that we enter Israel, but we're actually going to the West Bank so it gets complicated. I really have no idea what to expect with all the checkpoints and border stations. All I know is that it might be a bit difficult, but everyone has made it through from the past groups! I'm excited to start our 3 week home stays with Palestinians! It'll be great!
By the way, I think I am getting in plenty of pictures. There have been many thousands of pictures taken, perhaps 10,000 and I know I'm in at least 16 of them. Just kidding. No, but really I counted.
Time to go.
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Now in Petra
These last three days have been quite the physical test! Two days ago our group was in St. Catherine, a small tourist town located right at the base of Mt Sinai. So at 2:30pm we started our trek up the famous mountian! The first 80 minutes of the walk were really simple. They were always up, but wide smooth paths the whole time. Then it started going up--straight up! We had steps for the last 20 minutes to reach a summit that was completely worth the climb! Desert mountains as far as the eye could see! A small church was constructed at the top and served us very well in blocking the wind. Our visit was unique to all the other cross-culturals yet because we were met with snow at the top! Snow in the desert is not a common sight, but we were blessed with the chance to witness it! Our weather has been like that though. Rain is quite rare in Egypt and we had rain in both Luxor and Cairo. Jordan was also wet when we arrived. I've enjoyed the weather!
Yesterday was a travel day as we caught a ferry to Jordan and a bus to Petra. Today we hiked around ancient Petra for 9 hours! The valley is beautiful! I've only seem the movie once and I don't remember it well, but apparently Petra was in Indiana Jones: the Last Crusade. A lot of us here want to watch it but can't find it anywhere. So someone watch it for me and tell me what you think. I'd guess that we hiked around 7-8 miles today up and down canyon walls. We saw more facades than I can count and I was constantly amazed at the dexterity of donkeys.
Tomorrow we head out into the desert to spend parts of 2 days and a full night in tents with Bedouins! A part of that time will be camel rides. That's a bit freightening, but I'm sure it'll be a lot of fun!
I have really enjoyed getting to know what I refer to as my "family" these last 2 weeks. It's one big happy family of 30 students and 2 fantastic parents! It's been a blast sitting and talking with different people on the bus and walking with different people during our tours! As Sarah said today, it's really interesting to see who you are with by the end of the day! Then you can trace the events that made it happen. It's such a great family--I don't care who I spend the day with!
Reading/summarizing the story of the Exodus on the top of Mt Sinai was eye opening to be sure! I'd been in Egypt and saw it's splendor and beauty. Then I drove out into the desert and was tired of the sand and mountains very quickly. And finally I climbed Mt Sinai and saw that the desert continued as far as I could see. From that spot going back to Egypt looked very tempting! I knew Jordan awaited me so I kept going. The Israelites had the promise of a land and signs of a God who loved them, but continuing on into the desert was quite the step of faith!
My hour is up. Thanks for all those that read and post comments! I love to read them!
Yesterday was a travel day as we caught a ferry to Jordan and a bus to Petra. Today we hiked around ancient Petra for 9 hours! The valley is beautiful! I've only seem the movie once and I don't remember it well, but apparently Petra was in Indiana Jones: the Last Crusade. A lot of us here want to watch it but can't find it anywhere. So someone watch it for me and tell me what you think. I'd guess that we hiked around 7-8 miles today up and down canyon walls. We saw more facades than I can count and I was constantly amazed at the dexterity of donkeys.
Tomorrow we head out into the desert to spend parts of 2 days and a full night in tents with Bedouins! A part of that time will be camel rides. That's a bit freightening, but I'm sure it'll be a lot of fun!
I have really enjoyed getting to know what I refer to as my "family" these last 2 weeks. It's one big happy family of 30 students and 2 fantastic parents! It's been a blast sitting and talking with different people on the bus and walking with different people during our tours! As Sarah said today, it's really interesting to see who you are with by the end of the day! Then you can trace the events that made it happen. It's such a great family--I don't care who I spend the day with!
Reading/summarizing the story of the Exodus on the top of Mt Sinai was eye opening to be sure! I'd been in Egypt and saw it's splendor and beauty. Then I drove out into the desert and was tired of the sand and mountains very quickly. And finally I climbed Mt Sinai and saw that the desert continued as far as I could see. From that spot going back to Egypt looked very tempting! I knew Jordan awaited me so I kept going. The Israelites had the promise of a land and signs of a God who loved them, but continuing on into the desert was quite the step of faith!
My hour is up. Thanks for all those that read and post comments! I love to read them!
Saturday, January 19, 2008
Lotus, Attack!
So, I had a chance to blog in the Library of Alexandria a few days ago. That would have been a good story, but I decided to explore the library instead. It's a pretty sweet library! 30 minutes certainly isn't enough time to explore it though. And thanks for the advice about the pyramid climbing! I guess next time I'm there I'll have to attempt the bribery.
At the moment I'm in Luxor, Egypt. We visited the Valley of the Kings, Queen Hachepsut's temple and a few other places today. The day before that we were in Lower(northern) Egypt exploring Coptic Monestaries. The day before that we were able to relax in Anafora, a Coptic retreat center. The day before that we saw the sights of Alexandria. And the day before that we had lunch on the Nile and dinner overlooking the Mediterranean Sea! That was amazing! The day before that we were all still in Cairo seeing 3500 year old hair on mummies and King Tut's 110kg coffin of pure gold. That was one of 3 coffins inside each other in 4 wooden rooms built inside each other as well. I think his body was quite safe!
Highlights so far have mostly involved singing. Our group sang on the stage of a ancient Roman theater in Alexandria, hopefully to the delight of the other tourists. We also had the chance to sing in a Coptic chapel from the 6th century. And we also sang from the rooftop of the church in Anafora. I know I'm missing one more place that we sang that I thought was really neat. I journaled about it but I don't have my journal with me. Oh well.
We were given an extra 2 hours to sleep in the morning we were in Alexandria and a bunch of us took that chance to walk along the Mediterranean Sea! It was beautiful! The boats and the fishermen and the cats and the scuba divers and the cement blocks and the wonderful friends--everything was amazing!
I've also greatly enjoyed the many bus rides talking with friends, singing and trying to grasp the logic of Egypt. I've had a bunch of songs from Spirit stuck in my head and I'm sad to say I didn't get that soundtrack on my mp3 player. I can survive without that though. At least I got my luggage back! I think it's safe to say that Josh loves his snowflake!
A lot of my journaling has been about choices. The choices here are completely different from the choices back at home! We have to choose what to see and do with our time. We have to choose who to spend our time with and how much to spend resting. We have to decide how bold we want to be with food and where to use the bathroom and when to just hold it. It's been incrdible! I'm happy to say that it has just begun!
At the moment I'm in Luxor, Egypt. We visited the Valley of the Kings, Queen Hachepsut's temple and a few other places today. The day before that we were in Lower(northern) Egypt exploring Coptic Monestaries. The day before that we were able to relax in Anafora, a Coptic retreat center. The day before that we saw the sights of Alexandria. And the day before that we had lunch on the Nile and dinner overlooking the Mediterranean Sea! That was amazing! The day before that we were all still in Cairo seeing 3500 year old hair on mummies and King Tut's 110kg coffin of pure gold. That was one of 3 coffins inside each other in 4 wooden rooms built inside each other as well. I think his body was quite safe!
Highlights so far have mostly involved singing. Our group sang on the stage of a ancient Roman theater in Alexandria, hopefully to the delight of the other tourists. We also had the chance to sing in a Coptic chapel from the 6th century. And we also sang from the rooftop of the church in Anafora. I know I'm missing one more place that we sang that I thought was really neat. I journaled about it but I don't have my journal with me. Oh well.
We were given an extra 2 hours to sleep in the morning we were in Alexandria and a bunch of us took that chance to walk along the Mediterranean Sea! It was beautiful! The boats and the fishermen and the cats and the scuba divers and the cement blocks and the wonderful friends--everything was amazing!
I've also greatly enjoyed the many bus rides talking with friends, singing and trying to grasp the logic of Egypt. I've had a bunch of songs from Spirit stuck in my head and I'm sad to say I didn't get that soundtrack on my mp3 player. I can survive without that though. At least I got my luggage back! I think it's safe to say that Josh loves his snowflake!
A lot of my journaling has been about choices. The choices here are completely different from the choices back at home! We have to choose what to see and do with our time. We have to choose who to spend our time with and how much to spend resting. We have to decide how bold we want to be with food and where to use the bathroom and when to just hold it. It's been incrdible! I'm happy to say that it has just begun!
Sunday, January 13, 2008
Cairo
So, turns out I'm in Cairo, who knew? I'm having a night on the town with Josh and Daniel Akers! We walked for a while after a 30 minutes metro ride, caught a truck/bus to a location slightly closer to Josh's flat then walked the rest of the way. It certainly has been an adventure! Daniel and I will be going back to the hotel without Josh which will be a must greater adventure. Josh's Arabic has been amazingly helpful!
Today we saw the famous sights of Cairo: Plenty of pyramids and heiroglyphics (including a trip inside a pyramid) [Darrel: I really wanted to climb the great pyramid because it's totally possible, but Greta told me not to.], a carpect school [Rachel: sorry to say their weaving is a bit more complex than yours.], a paprus art place, a statue of Ramses II the size of a bus, and too much more to mention! It has been incredible!!
The story on me involves a severe lack of luggage. One bag was missing when we arrived in Cairo and guess whose it was? It's no problem though. Actually in many ways I've enjoyed it!
Alright, time to head back to the hotel!
Today we saw the famous sights of Cairo: Plenty of pyramids and heiroglyphics (including a trip inside a pyramid) [Darrel: I really wanted to climb the great pyramid because it's totally possible, but Greta told me not to.], a carpect school [Rachel: sorry to say their weaving is a bit more complex than yours.], a paprus art place, a statue of Ramses II the size of a bus, and too much more to mention! It has been incredible!!
The story on me involves a severe lack of luggage. One bag was missing when we arrived in Cairo and guess whose it was? It's no problem though. Actually in many ways I've enjoyed it!
Alright, time to head back to the hotel!
Friday, January 11, 2008
This is actually happening
After well over a year of dreaming, the day has come. Orientation is over. My bags are packed. The bus leaves in less than an hour. I'm trying not to think too far ahead right now otherwise I'll be overwhelmed I'm sure. This is so exciting!
These last days at EMU have been wonderful! Sitting and talking with friends, going shopping together, playing card games with my family and friends that practically are family, getting a crash course in world travel, practicing and participating in fictional cultures, singing, everything has been amazing! Sure, I'll miss EMU, but there are far greater things out there this semester!
So, as always I'd appreciate prayer and messages. I'll check my email and Facebook when I can and respond when I can. I can't give guarantees but I expect to post here more often than responding to other communications. So my advice would be to post comments here! Thanks to those that already have!
Oh, also I think I'll keep a list of songs that are stuck in my head just for fun!
"When God Ran" Phillips, Craig & Dean
These last days at EMU have been wonderful! Sitting and talking with friends, going shopping together, playing card games with my family and friends that practically are family, getting a crash course in world travel, practicing and participating in fictional cultures, singing, everything has been amazing! Sure, I'll miss EMU, but there are far greater things out there this semester!
So, as always I'd appreciate prayer and messages. I'll check my email and Facebook when I can and respond when I can. I can't give guarantees but I expect to post here more often than responding to other communications. So my advice would be to post comments here! Thanks to those that already have!
Oh, also I think I'll keep a list of songs that are stuck in my head just for fun!
"When God Ran" Phillips, Craig & Dean
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
Two days and counting
I'm actually going to the Middle East!! Ahh!!
The more time I spend in orientation the more I realize just how unprepared I am. And that excites me. I realize that I won't be prepared; I can't be prepared. Even when I'm there walking the streets of Cairo I won't be ready for my adventure to begin. It's not something that I can be ready for before it happens. Orientation is amazing and immensely helpful, but no matter how much I'm told about what I'll face or how to respond or what to pack it won't scratch the surface of adequate preparation. This trip is too far beyond anything that I've ever done for lectures and sessions and books to prepare me. So I wait. So I trust my leaders. And I trust God. We serve an amazing God and he travels with us! I'm so far from being ready, but I don't have to be--I have faith.
WAAG simply stands for What An Awesome God! Sometimes it's "amazing" instead of awesome, but the idea is the same. For those who knew me 4 years ago, WAAG was something I used back in my first journal sitting outside Hickory as a CIT at Penn-York. It has popped up sporadically through my journals and I bet it'll be a rallying cry for this semester as I explore the Middle East and all of it's beauty. The more I live the more I realize how incredible God is and over these next 14+ weeks I'll live a few years. The prospect of travel and seeing God everywhere is why I'm so excited. I know this semester be difficult, way more difficult than I can imagine, but in the end I'll survive and I'll have grown.
The 30 students in our group and our 2 fearless leaders are all fantastic! One thing I look forward too is the family bond that will form rather quickly. I learned today that I'll be on the student leadership team in charge of leading songs whenever our group has a devotional time. I like to sing, but I've never really led a group in song like this at least not without extensive help. I have a good team though, so this too will work out. The good news is that I get a legitimate excuse to take my hymnals along with me! I was finding it a bit difficult to justify lugging 3 song books around for a semester, but now I most definitely will!
Is it Friday yet?
The more time I spend in orientation the more I realize just how unprepared I am. And that excites me. I realize that I won't be prepared; I can't be prepared. Even when I'm there walking the streets of Cairo I won't be ready for my adventure to begin. It's not something that I can be ready for before it happens. Orientation is amazing and immensely helpful, but no matter how much I'm told about what I'll face or how to respond or what to pack it won't scratch the surface of adequate preparation. This trip is too far beyond anything that I've ever done for lectures and sessions and books to prepare me. So I wait. So I trust my leaders. And I trust God. We serve an amazing God and he travels with us! I'm so far from being ready, but I don't have to be--I have faith.
WAAG simply stands for What An Awesome God! Sometimes it's "amazing" instead of awesome, but the idea is the same. For those who knew me 4 years ago, WAAG was something I used back in my first journal sitting outside Hickory as a CIT at Penn-York. It has popped up sporadically through my journals and I bet it'll be a rallying cry for this semester as I explore the Middle East and all of it's beauty. The more I live the more I realize how incredible God is and over these next 14+ weeks I'll live a few years. The prospect of travel and seeing God everywhere is why I'm so excited. I know this semester be difficult, way more difficult than I can imagine, but in the end I'll survive and I'll have grown.
The 30 students in our group and our 2 fearless leaders are all fantastic! One thing I look forward too is the family bond that will form rather quickly. I learned today that I'll be on the student leadership team in charge of leading songs whenever our group has a devotional time. I like to sing, but I've never really led a group in song like this at least not without extensive help. I have a good team though, so this too will work out. The good news is that I get a legitimate excuse to take my hymnals along with me! I was finding it a bit difficult to justify lugging 3 song books around for a semester, but now I most definitely will!
Is it Friday yet?