whereisjodi.

I worked a crossword puzzle on the plane yesterday that contained a wonderful quote from St. Augustine:

"The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page."

Maybe it resonated with me solely because I am a traveler, but nevertheless I found it to be powerfully true. There are so many things I can think of that I'd never have known had I not ventured from the borders of my home country, or even those of my home state. Of course the methods of travel now are so much better than those offered in Augustine's day -- I can't imagine travelling so much if I'd had to walk everywhere!

I must confess to a sense of euphoria yesterday when I arrived at the Seattle airport after a mere hour's flight and didn't have to rush to find the gate for the next leg of my journey. I guess that means I'm ready to let grass grow under my feet in Boise...at least for a few months. Within the past year I've seen a lot of our country from the window of an RV, with trips to Israel, Jordan, Egypt, Morocco, Senegal and Spain thrown in for a little variety. And what a beautiful, complex, engaging and a little sad world it is. Definitely a book worth reading in as much detail as possible.

Which reminds me -- I realized while in Spain that my historical education about that part of the world was sadly lacking. I've read loads of history and biography about the United States and England, but next to nothing about Africa and Europe in general. I was fascinated by the brief history lessons I got from my Costa Rican hosts as we roared through thousands of acres of olive trees in Spain <Spain is the number one olive oil producer in the world, one of multitudinous facts I'd never heard about that country>. My interest was peaked and I'm getting ready to make an Amazon order...if you've got any suggestions about where to start, please let me know!

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I walked by myself to the office today. Is that sentence backwards? I told you my English is getting worse, and for the life of me I can't figure out if it should be 'I walked to the office today by myself' or something else entirely.

Anyway! I think going on an errand by yourself is the moment of freedom in any foreign travel -- when you feel confident enough to take off on your own. I remember being downright giddy one time when I was living in S. Korea. I met a friend at the movies and then told her I could find my own way home <through three subways and a short hike>. I couldn't speak more than a few words in Korean and couldn't read the signs, but if I remember correctly I think I only took the subway one stop in the wrong direction before correcting course. ;)

My friend's 14-year-old nephew was a little nervous for me this morning so he carefully copied down a few cell phone numbers on a scrap of paper. I, of course, didn't have a phone, but it was a nice gesture and I could have found one if necessary. But really, what's the worst that could happen...a random chinese chef pulling up to ask me what kind of sauce I wanted?

I had a wonderful stroll and only got off course by a street or two before rolling up to the office. Then it struck me that my usual obliviousness was still intact as I didn't know which apartment number to ring. :p I knew the right floor, but there were four possibilities to buzz. I sat outside on the stoop for a couple minutes, then decided I might as well try out my Spanish. Esta es la oficina de <snip>? Thank heavens it was the right one on the first go.

Of course while I was sitting on the step I realized I didn't know how to get home -- there are several streets of very similar looking townhouses. I've been trying to memorize the house number for a week and have only managed to remember there's a blue flower of some kind and maybe a four in the number. Lucky for me I was able to catch a ride home before I had to buzz at random gates.

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Today I had the option of a Spainish buffet or a Chinese buffet for lunch. I asked my host to choose and ended up at The Wok, a very busy and fabulous chinese buffet -- I think maybe the best chinese buffet I have ever been to. :)

There was one moment of terrible concern when I was at the grill and passed over my plate of raw shrimp and veggies to be flambayed...and the Chinese chef asked me something...and my host was nowhere to be found! Do I panic over being lost in the desert of Senegal at midnight? No. Do I panic over being locked out of my train car in my pajamas on an all-night train in the Ukraine? No. Do I panic over what the chinese chef could possibly be saying about my veggies? You betcha. ;)

Thankfully the woman next to me in line took pity and said something about sauce. Another moment of panic because not only did I not know what my choices were, I wouldn't know how to name them if I did. Another thankful moment when the nice lady pointed at the ceiling and I saw a sign with six options -- I chose the Wok because it was the only one I could pronounce. Well no, I guess that's not true. I recognized one other, but I don't like curry.

Afterward we had a very Spainish cup of coffee. I was offered the local version which I think they called cordoba but I'm not certain, or an American version. I said, what the heck, I'll try it once. It was rather humorous to me because you bellied up to the bar to order in the midst of smokers and drinkers of more than coffee and they slapped down something barely bigger than shot glass. I watched a guy a few spaces down get his coffee with a bonus of some sort of hard liquor added in, but mine came with only milk. It was pretty good actually -- they told me it was very strong so I was expecting something like Turkish coffee. If you can manage to choke down one sip of that you're up all night. Of course I'm still up, so who knows.

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Yesterday I blamed the ninos for making us miss the bus, so it's only fair that I confess I was the one who was late this morning. I've been wearing earplugs because the neighbors in the other half of the townhouse insist on moving furniture <or something like that> until the wee hours. Usually they fall out sometime during the night, but unfortunately last night the plugs stayed snug. I missed both my alarm clock and the noises in the house that usually wake me, and awoke only when my pequeno roommate tucked her day bed in under mine.

So...another nice half hour walk to the office this morning and several repititions of one of my most commonly used phrases lo siento: I'm sorry. Actually, I don't mind the walk at all because we're not usually moving too rapidito and the weather has been beautiful. It's a nice way to feel the rhythm of a city -- the buses chugging along, the cars honking, the people walking by and glaring. ;) My friend tells me this is just the way the Spainish are -- they glare until they get to know you, then they are very friendly.

I've got a new-to-me recommendation this morning. A Brazilian couple made my coffee during the break and, instead of heating water to add the instant coffee to, they used a cupful of milk. Wow. Maybe I've just been missing out all my life and this is not new to you, but if I'm ever drinking instant at home I'm going to try it this way. Makes instant quite tolerable. ;)

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One thing that always surprises me when traveling overseas is how many American influences I see. I went to the supermercado today and watched in shock as my friend whipped out her "El Club" card for preferential treatment. Those tick me off in America -- I can't believe they've made it all the way over here! :p

Since we needed so many items <including a no-joke 10 pound box of milk> she ended up calling her colleague to drive us home. The car is still broken and looks like it will be going to the coche graveyard, so we've been walking almost everywhere. This morning the ninos were running late so we missed our bus by about five minutes after dropping them at school. Since the bus only comes by once an hour we had a nice half hour stroll into the office.

Another thing I'm loving about Espana is the laid-back pace. Kids don't have to be at school til 9 and you pick them up at 2 before going home for lunch and the siesta. Of course my friends are from Costa Rica, so they don't observe the siesta...but the pace still seems slower.

I learned a new important phrase today...but for the life of me I can't remember it now, so I guess learned is not the most appropriate term. ;) I asked how to say I am boring because my friend's son is just mystified that I'm not ticklish anywhere. I feel quite free to regularly tickle him, but tonight he was ringing his hands and talking to himself about where oh where could I be ticklish. I could be wrong, but I think children might be quite similar all over the world. :) 

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Have you ever noticed that, while trying to communicate in a foreign language, your English takes a nosedive? I noticed it quite a bit while I was in Senegal -- one of the first days after we’d returned to Boise I was talking to my parents and said a sentence that was so fractured we just busted into laughter. It would have made perfect sense a few days before with sand swirling around us, but in their basement, surrounded by the trappings of America, it sounded terrible!

I realized it had happened again last night while conversing with someone who spoke English well. My sentences were fractured and my phrases were out of order and I found myself getting flustered. I don’t know how bi- or tri-lingual folks switch back and forth with such regularity without their heads exploding!

After my Bad English experience, I went to sleep and was having a rather normal dream -- something about driving and the mall and my family -- when I felt like I was sucked into another dream. I was in Senegal, but there was an ocean and I was a small boy <you know how dreams are!>. Anyway, something bad happened, I can’t remember exactly what, but I almost got caught by a huge wave and drowned.

Continue reading "Bad English & Bad Dreams." »

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I figure I'm remembering about three new Spanish words a day -- at this rate it should only take me about ten years to become fluent. On the bright side, the words I'm learning are all of utmost importance, so my conversational skills improve every day. Por exemplo, I think I've just about got memorized I need to tickle you: necesito cosquillas tu, which is a very important phrase when staying with children. I wanted to say I must tickle you, but I already knew the verb to need so I went with that out of laziness.

Also important, in that I never realized I used them so much -- I think: pienso, maybe: quevas and ok: balley. I think those words need to be added to donde esta el bano as critical to tourists. Finally, the most important word in this household -- entiendes: understand? :p

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My best friend _____ a CD player.

1. I probably didn’t know what I was talking about anyway since I never took grammar and, when trying to get my book into shape, my editor gave me quite a lot of crepe over who and whom <I said sometimes whom just sounds stupid and I don't care if it's technically accurate>, and
2. even if I was correct, it probably wasn’t wise to question a textbook in a foreign country. I could just envision class tomorrow -- I’m sorry, but my American friend says your book is wrong.

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Yesterday I went to the adult Sunday school at my friend's church while she taught a children's class. Once someone tipped me off that we were studying Job <yobe>, I was able to follow along pretty well. It was sort of a verse by verse discussion, so I could pretty well tell the topic and generally what people were saying. However, when church started, other than understanding we were in Hebrews talking about Jesus, the perfect man....yeah, I didn't catch much else. :p

It was wonderful, though, to fellowship amongst my Spanish brothers and sisters. Actually, my friend told me they have a very international church with members from many Latin countries. The singing was quite rousing with at least 10 people in front playing various instruments. I'm terrible with numbers, but I think there were maybe 80-100 folks jammed into pews as tight as possible. It was just marvelous with everyone standing and singing their hearts out. I was able to sing along with most of the songs because of the overhead, but I can't say I knew what I was singing most of the time --- other than a great song with something like Celebrate the Victory in Jesus as the chorus.

After church we walked to one of Granada's two malls. Nothing is open on Sundays except food shops, but the Burger King was open and we enjoyed a whopper con queso, papas fritas y Coke. It was quite a popular location -- we were there about an hour because the kids were having fun in the play area, and the whole time the line to order was out the door.

When we left BK we headed toward the City Center and strolled for several hours. My friend pointed out numerous fountains celebrating various accomplishments. Some were Spanish by origin, most musulman. She said water is very important to Islam, so they plopped fountains everywhere. There were also quite a few old, beautiful buildings with interesting architecture. We saw the Alhambra from a distance -- as I understand we'll go back later so I can check that out more closely. We also saw the famous statue, The Thinker, from a distance because it's here for a one month exhibition.

It was interesting to see how many Spaniards were out and about, as well as many ... err ... interesting looking Europeans. More dreadlocks than I've ever seen in a single day, and I had occasion to ask my friend if marijuana was legal as I watched some dude rolling a joint in one of the plazas. :x

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One of my family's favorite games when I was growing up was Dutch Blitz. We picked it up on a trip to Pennsylvania Dutch country if I remember correctly and could never find anyone else to play with us. Imagine my surprise when my friend's daughter whipped it out for game night. We also played Uno, Pass the Pig, and ended with a few rousing rounds of Twister.

It's amazing how many things you can accomplish when you don't have a working language between people. I found myself thinking of the Tower of Babel several times throughout the night. Me and the kids have a much harder time communicating anything but the simplest items, but we had a ball playing games. I win, accompanied by pumping your arms seems to be universal to every language. ;) 

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My friend's son is quite the dancer <and yes, the title is phonetic, not accurate>. Last night after we returned from our Coke and tapas walk, he moved the living room table and had me sit on the couch so he could dance for me. I looked up charm in the dictionary to show his mother -- he's got an excess of it. ;)

This morning he also danced, joined by his sister who has been taking Flamenco dancing lessons. She showed me a number she's working on for father's day at the church. Her mom made sure to point out which parts were Flamenco and which were NOT.

The dance fever party was after our leisurely breakfast of tostaditos <I may be remembering that wrong> which were sort of pancakes. Quite good. And pan with chorizo y queso. The chorizo, I'm told, is very Spanish and tasted sort of like a strong pepperoni. And coffee of course, which went a long way toward waking me from my 10+ hour's sleep of jet lag grogginess.

After breakfast, pre-dance party, we had devotions on Proverbs 8. One of the kids would read 7 or 8 verses, then they'd discuss it. I was able to follow along fairly well -- reading along in my Bible helped me at least know the topic of discussion. Actually, though I fully accept I could be delusional, I felt like I followed the discussion pretty well. However, I realized I've been debating the money long enough -- when I get home I'm purchasing a Spanish Rosetta Stone and getting to work!

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We just returned from walking about 15 minutes through some narrow streets to have dinner at a bar. Think English pub more than meat-market American bars. ;) This was one of my friend's favorite places because you order a drink and they serve wonderful tapas. I took that to mean appetizers, probably not unlike happy hour.

We had three kids along with us and it didn't seem to cause a stir. Cokes all around and then they brought out several plates full of pan y carneceria y...well...I don't know the spanish word for olives. Anyway, it was quite tasty and I enjoyed both the light meal and the walk to get there.

Actually, I'm a big fan in general of the latin approach to food. The biggest meal at lunch, then something like a light snack for dinner. When I was in Senegal I often had bread and cheese or some sort of fruit variety. Just perfect for collapsing into bed. :p

Contrary to my request and thus my normal pattern, mom gave me more than the standard two sleeping pills for the long flights. I've just downed one of the extras to combat the afternoon coffee and the 9p coke. I'm not sure it's strictly necessary, but I'm not taking any chances with this first night. In my mind, surviving the first day without even hinting at a snore, then deeply engaging in the first night are your best defense against jetleg.

One time I remember sitting in the living room of a hostel in London with my grandma the first morning we'd arrived after flying all day and all night. We were desperate for sleep, but knew that if we clambered up our three flights of stairs we'd be in bed for the night at 2p. I believe I was trying to read a very engaging book...1776 if memory serves...and had to reread each page a couple times when not zoning out on the mtv-ish programming spilling from the telly.

The two smokin youngsters -- and I don't mean smokin like boy howdy are they hot, I mean truly smoking and playing a game about who could poof their puff farther across the room, meanwhile inconceivably trying to pick up on us. Grandma and I looked bleery eyed at one another and decided that was the last straw. We hauled ourselves up and crashed into our quite serviceable bunkbeds. I thought I did fairly well, waking somewhere south of 10 hours later. Grandma had me beat -- she finally rolled out at 16.

Well it looks like the stroll down memory lane will have to come screeching to a halt. I do believe Mr. Ambien is making his presence known amongst the crowd and my typing skills are fading by the minute. I just took a look and had to correct six misspellings and typos in this short missive. I'd say that it's bueno tiempo for me to say ciao ciao. :)

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A missionary friend recently quoted JRR Tolkien to me: not everyone who wanders is lost.

As someone who can barely go a year without coming down with an itch to travel, this quote speaks to me. I'm self-aware enough to know that there's an aspect of the grass is greener syndrome involved, but that's a minor ingredient.

I could blame my parents. No one can put a 6-month old on an international flight and not expect the experience to get under their skin. And they didn't stop there -- we criss-crossed the country several times before I was in high school. We once spent an entire summer trolling up and down the east coast in a motorhome while my dad promoted real estate seminars. It was the summer before eighth grade and, at the time, I was wildly interested in the Civil War. We went to every battlefield we could get to and I spent hours constructing battle scenes with toy soldiers and cannons.

Yes, I said eighth grade...and yes, I've always been a nerd. :p

Out of curiosity, I just hopped over to dictionary.com to check out the definition of wanderlust: a very strong or irresistible impulse to travel.

Why do I love to wander? I don't know, but the itch definitely borders on the irresistible at times. This year I'll add four new stamps to my passport -- a record unsurpassed but for the year I toured most of Europe. Of course I was two at the time so it wasn't real memorable. ;)

It's just such a big world! So many people, so many scenes of beauty unfamiliar to your usual surroundings. And so much that is similar also. I remember walking in a field of grain in the Ukraine as a 19-year-old and feeling a sense of unreality as I could have been walking in any of several Midwestern states.

Traveling anywhere in Europe can make an American feel like a child. You see cathedrals that passed infancy before the New World was discovered -- and yet -- last April I saw Egyptian monuments that were crumbling down before those cathedrals were even on the drawing board.

I could go on and on, but Tolkien's words ring true to me as I think of the places I've been privileged to see -- not everyone who wanders is lost. The other words that ring true are written in the book of Psalms, chapter 19, verses 1-3:

The heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of his hands.

Day after day they pour forth speech;
night after night they display knowledge.

There is no speech or language
where their voice is not heard.

Posted by authorjodi at 09:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

For years my best friend has given me grief over my tendency to put my nose in a book the second I get on a plane. She's always asking me if I talked to anyone and I'm always rolling my eyes and saying 'do you know me at all?' But I have to say, in the past couple years I've started having short chats with my seat-mates and I've run into all kinds of interesting folks.

Like the woman I just sat next to. She was reading a book entitled something like "How to Communicate with the Spirit World for Dummies." I peeked a couple times and saw topics like "how to prepare for the afterlife" which said something about getting your "energy" right, as well as definitions for seance <sp?>, trance, medium and etc.

I was wracking my brain for a conversation starter when she snickered at me as I tried to cut a string with my teeth. I was sewing but I'd had to leave my reliable scissors back home with Bertha. She dug through her purse and found a plastic knife she'd brought to eat her chicken salad -- unfortunately I couldn't get the knife to work so I was back to square one.

But we did have a few sporadic chats over the hour and a half flight. I found out she's writing a biography of a medium and that's why she was reading the "Dummies" book. She'd come across the medium when trying to contact a family member and that's how she knew this lady was "the real deal." Before I could think of anything to say to that she put headphones on and napped for the rest of the flight. I prayed for her and gave her a copy of my book as we got off the plane -- maybe she'll read it and hear something different.

Posted by authorjodi at 04:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

"It is not until one visits, old, oppressed, suffering Europe, that he can appreciate his own government, that he realizes the fearful responsibility of the American people to the nations of the whole earth, to carry successfully through the experiment...that men are capable of self-government."

Continue reading "Vicksburg." »

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I'm feeling like one of the Seven Dwarfs today and it's not Sneezy. After a full day of moping around I realized that I'm experiencing re-entry stress. Not that my life is bad! It's just...there's something so fabulous about trips, where the only thing you have to decide is what to wear for the day. Maybe whether you're going to have Coke or tea at dinner -- but nothing much more serious than that.
Five weeks of that made me a little lazy I guess.

Tomorrow I rejoin my current reality, wandering around the country trying to sell books and listen to what God wants to teach me through the process. Marketing here I come!

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Continue reading "God Bless America." »

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Last night I called the airline just to confirm everything after last week's fiasco and, lo and behold, my reservation had been cancelled. What! Turns out the local Lufthansa office hadn't done everything they were supposed to do when the ticket was rebooked so the reservation was no more.

Luckily there was still availability tonight so they rebooked me again and I'll be heading for the airport in about an hour. I'll have a 4-hour layover in Frankfurt, then a 10-hr flight to Atlanta. After another 4-hr layover there I'll catch my last 2-ish hour flight to Dallas. I imagine I'll be one tired cookie but it'll be nice to get "home" to Bertha and regular life.

*** You have one final day to enter the drawing for a lovely solid silver necklace handmade in Amman <or a more manly option if you'd prefer>. Just write a review of my book on Amazon and you're entered. Contest deadline: Tuesday night at midnight. :)

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The more countries I see, the more I wonder if we're not all really the same at heart. Granted, I frequently see news stories that shake that opinion -- like yesterday's report of a 12-year old boy beheading an 'American Spy" for the Taliban. It reminds me of how sick at heart I was several years ago to see footage of young Iraqi boys waving guns and jumping up and down on mutilated American soldiers.

Continue reading "Smashball." »

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I didn't want to talk about it when the group was here, but now that everyone but myself has returned to the States I figure I can mention it without worrying too many people. ;) One aspect of this trip that was interesting to me was the level of protection we "required" as an American group. Having been to Israel before I wasn't surprised by the kids packing guns wherever they went. And by kids I mean the majority of Israeli soldiers who, at 18-21, look even younger to me than they did on my last trip. ;)

That I was used to. However, when we crossed into Jordan and I saw a tank sitting in front of the American Embassy...well, I have to say it was a little sobering. I never felt ill-at-ease or unsafe, it was just interesting. Also surprising that we had to go through a metal detector to get into our hotel. Apparently there was a bombing there two years before, which my dad said made it the safest hotel in Amman now.

Continue reading "Protection." »

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One of the things that was most impactful to me on this trip was the night climb up Mt. Sinai. We'd crossed the day before from Aqaba, Jordan to Nuweiba <sp?>, Egypt. That's another story entirely that I'll write about later...but after the crossing we drove an hour or two into Egypt and ended up at a small hotel at the base of the mountain. It was quite cool because the little one-room units were made out of stone quite similar to the mountains, so if you weren't looking super careful the whole complex would blend right in.

Continue reading "Mt. Sinai." »

Posted by authorjodi at 06:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

Apparently it's not a good restaurant unless there's a cat wandering around the premises <meaning they feed it rather than eat it I guess>.

This scroungy but quite sweet cat came up and sat on the couch with us until the waiter shooed him away when the food arrived. He was, as you can see, there when the appetizer beans were served...

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Someone recently mentioned to me their theory that my mother tends to classify everything that doesn't go exactly right as "an experience." ;) As if I hadn't had enough experiences in the past month, or year for that matter, I'm in the middle of a brand new one.

In case any of you imagine that I'm blogging from Atlanta which is approximately where I'm supposed to be right about now...you'd be off by several thousand miles. I'm actually still in North Africa which is where I've been sojourning for the past week. One of the experiences I'll be trying very hard not to repeat in the future is to travel overseas for any length of time without bringing my own laptop -- serious pain in the rear when you're trying to blog everyday! I figured I could take a one-week blogging hiatus no problem and have had a lovely time since leaving the rest of the group last week in Egypt. However, by yesterday evening I was fairly well ready to get back to the States. My friend and I were figuring out which train to take to the airport when we decided we'd better double-check my ticket to make sure we arrived early enough.

My plane left at 12:55am. On the 16th. ie., about 15 hours before! After a moment of pure shock that I'd made one of the more elementary mistakes in travel, I laughed on and off for the rest of the evening. Thankfully I don't have a regular job to get back to because all the flights back are full until the 24th. I have to think it's a God thing that neither myself nor my two more experienced international traveling companions thought of the 12:55 dilemma -- but maybe that's just me trying to assuage my ego. :p

Regardless, I'll be sojourning for another week before returning to the States. Other than having some concerns over my poor neglected pet, I'm thrilled to have more time here. We'll see a few more sights and have many more chats. The best thing -- my shopping is already done! ;) I've figured out a way to blog and get some other work done, so I think I'll be back to my usual schedule -- but no promises since I'm fairly well out of my element here!

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Dad ended his work early so I get the 14 minutes left on our hour. You have to buy an internet card from the hotel <if they have internet> for an exhorbitant fee each half hour or hour. Of course there's a jillion internet cafe's, but this kind of touring doesn't lend itself to a leisurely stop to compose and sip a latte. ;)

We've been doing our usual going, going, going the last several days. Jordan was wonderful! Much more beautiful than I'd pictured. For some reason I had desert, desert everywhere in my head, but we drove through a lot of green mountains. We did drive through some desert on our way to Aqaba which is where we caught the boat over to Egypt. For those of you on the short term committee, Mom and I came up with a new training scenario: Egyptian Border Crossing. I'm going to blog about it, but not until I'm out of the country...

Luxor was so hot today I can't imagine what it's like in the summer <our guide told us they tour from 5:30a-10a then>. We were literally dripping with sweat as we explored some of the tombs in the Valley of the Kings at 8 o'clock this morning. Our ticket gained us entry to three of the 60-some-odd tombs and they were increasingly humid and stuffy -- though interesting! We saw a couple more temples, the Valley of the Workers, Karnak <which I plan to write about in detail later> and ended the day with an hour's sail on the Nile that was fairly peaceful except for every time we floated past a generator pumping water out for the fields. :)

Only about half of the group took this side excursion so we'll hook up with everyone again tomorrow. We're sitting in a hotel lobby waiting for our pickup at 10p, then we'll wait in the airport until our midnight flight. This morning we flew down with a huge group of grade school kids from Qatar. Lots of interesting accents among teachers and students.

Oops! Times almost out so I better publish before I lose it all. I doubt I'll be able to post for a few more days til I'm situated in the next country.

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Sorry -- posting in Jordan turned out to be a one time affair. We're in Egypt now -- technically in Luxor waiting a couple more hours to catch our flight back to Cairo. We had a one day excursion today, leaving the hotel at 4:45 in the am to fly down here. We'll get back at 2a and start the last day of touring at 8:30. Strangely enough, that won't be the least amount of sleep I've had in the last couple days. We had a 1a wake-up call the morning we hiked to the top of Mt. Sinai.

So...I have a million more stories to write about but no time to do it now. After tomorrow's full day I say goodbye to the rest of the group about midnight and then sleep a few more hours before catching my own flight. It's been a wonderful trip but I'm looking forward to a slightly less frenetic pace for the next week of traveling. :)

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Time and persistence and I figured out how to upload pics in a makeshift fashion. Here are some ladies in the wall of the Old City after leaving Temple Mount. In an earlier day folks would have shot arrows out of this hole.

Continue reading "More Pictures." »

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Or more correctly, the Hashmonite Kingdom of Jordan. We left at 9 and trucked along fine on the Israeli side, but had a little trouble trying to get across the border. Not serious trouble – don’t worry – it just took a couple hours and most of the time we were sitting on the bus without our passports. Luckily my brother the salesman kicked in and got us playing some games over the loudspeaker.

The hotel booked us all in as Mr. and Mrs., regardless of whether that was true or not. For my aunt and I it was not so much of a bother to have the King size bed, but several of the guy roommates were not interested in that arrangement. ;) Actually, we switched rooms because you could see a cloud of smoke when we walked in the door, so now we have twin beds again and slightly cleaner lungs come morning.

Continue reading "Jordan." »

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Remember when I wrote about Banias, the old temple to the god Pan? This is from that site. Very beautiful series of small waterfalls coming down from a natural spring.

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Today my dad’s Israeli tour partner wanted to provide a small van and guide for my dad and his family. With a little bit of guilt feeling, the six of us zoomed off just after 9. Our first stop was a memorial to 76 <ish> doctors, nurses and others who were murdered along the road to Mount Scopus. They were ambushed by Arabs on their way up to Hadassah Hospital in the year before Israel became a state. Those of you who have read the Bodie Thoene novels I mentioned in the last entry will recognize that incident.

We hopped back in the car and drove on to one of the disputed settlements – the name of which I was told at least five times…but I can only remember the English translation “the red ascent.” It started out as just a settlement, but is now its own municipality with a police station, a mall, schools, etc. It’s in a very strategic location and the guide just wanted to drive us around to see how great it was. It really was a lovely neighborhood – lots of flowers and parks and the like. Very clean. I hate to say it, but I could tell for instance in the Old City when we transitioned from the Arab Quarter to the Jewish Quarter. It’s the same in different parts of Jerusalem as well. Whether it’s cultural or not, it’s a fact that the Jewish areas show a lot more pride of ownership in the land.

Continue reading "Friday." »

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Here's a few folks some of you will recognize. We're standing in the middle of a tank hole blown through an old Jordanian Officer's Club. This used to be cush duty for the Jordanians, sitting around drinking coffee and looking out at the Dead Sea. There were some incredible murals painted on the walls, but as you can see this one was missing a bit. ;)

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Here is your first and possibly last picture – a couple friends mudding up at the Dead Sea. People come from all over the world to have treatments from the mineral-rich sea. In fact, in socialist medicine countries of Europe the doctor can prescribe a month-long stay and the government will pay for someone to come and stay in a resort hotel and take treatments. If that’s the case, I may rethink my position on Hilary-Care!

I’m sitting in the lobby of our hotel which is the only place you can connect to the internet. I think they must have the weakest wireless signal in production – either that or the steel walls from the shelters on every floor block the signal. ;) 

Continue reading "Thursday." »

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We went down to the desert today -- En Gedi, Masada, Dead Sea and Qumran. Very fun day topped with a lecture. In fact, I'm sitting in the lobby of a kibbutz right now on someone else's computer waiting for our taxis to arrive and take us back to the hotel. I'll have to post more tomorrow -- just wanted those of nervous temperament to know we were alive and well. ;)

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What a day!

Sorry, a little inside joke from my trip to Guatemala last summer. ;) That’s what you write when you’re journaling and you’re too tired to pry your eyes open long enough to write something of significance.

I should begin by letting you know we have our trip to Palestinian Authority controlled Bethlehem out of the way. We were under the protection of the Nissan Brothers the whole time so, though it felt weird to most of us, we were perfectly safe. We ate in their cafeteria, shopped at their olive wood store and visited the Church of the Nativity – before skedaddling back through the security fence complete with barbed wire and armed guards.

Continue reading "Monday." »

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