Let's begin with some random photos, shall we?
Carrie meets hair straightener.
Megan makes creative note cards for students. Several of these are 3-D.
Lisa celebrated her 10th birthday on March 2 with family, "Jerusalem Cousins" the Muhlesteins, primary teachers and home teachers, and other faculty members and service couples. See earlier blog labelled "Partaaay" for Carrie's coverage of Lisa's friend party.
Elder and Sister Butler returned from the South Africa, Johannesburg mission to Orem via Israel. Elder Butler used to teach at Lakeridge Jr. High when Jill was a part time creative writing teacher there. They are among the lucky few who experience a tour of Israel without jet lag.
Emily took this photo of some happy students: A.J. is our home teacher, Kaitlyn is Emily's primary teacher, and Jessica is in the primary presidency.
Okay, I got the randomness out of my system. Now for more good stuff:
Banana Land:
We enjoyed a day at Banana Land in Jericho with branch members, especially those from Bethlehem. Some branch members have difficulty coming to Jerusalem because of the separation barrier, but we can all meet in Jericho. Sahar Qumsiyeh, our R.S. President, smiles at Carrie while Odeh Marcous helps carry bundles in the background.
I've seen a lot of terraced hills around here, but this one takes the cake! We ate under the shady bower on top.
We ate our lunch under a bower of palm fronds.
The Awwad family from Tulkarem communicated with our Russian-speaking friends, the Peters family. The Awwads also speak Arabic. This was my first opportunity to meet them and chat by way of interpreters
Brother Al-Shiabat's wife Rachme speaks English well. She brought a huge batch of stuffed grape leaves. These make tamales seem like fast food. They are stuffed with lamb and spices and rolled by hand, then steamed in a giant pot. Nowadays, there is a store with a machine that will roll and tuck the grape leaves for a fee. But these ones are homemade. The huge white bottle is yogurt, a staple that goes with everything.
The larger green things on the platter are stuffed cucumbers, if I remember correctly. One end gets sliced off, then the seeds come out with a special tool, then they are filled with meat and spices and cooked.
Sena Marcous prepares lamb to be cooked on the grill by squeezing the ground meet around skewers in a hot dog shape.
Saida Al-Shiabat was so sweet to Emily, helping her around the inflatable slide. No translation was necessary for the giggling and squeals of excitement.
Megan is working hard on the paddle boat.
For 10 shekels, you can have your child photographed holding an exotic animal. Amanda chose the boa constrictor. If we had stayed longer, Megan would have chosen a photo with a huge parrot.
Bethlehem:
Emily and Carrie hug a column at the Herodion, the mountain-top fortress built by Herod the Great.
Lisa and Michelle sit on top of the Herodian. Notice the olive trees and greenish background. The land really looks beautiful during the winter rainy season. It had a late start this year, but made up for it well into March.
Amanda is bundled up against the wind.
One way to get out of the wind is to enter the cisterns, the water storage system that collected any available runoff from the volcano-shaped mountain. Like Masada, the Herodian was later coopted by zealot forces, who expanded and linked the cisterns and also converted a Roman-style dining hall into a synagogue.
Remnants of a fierce battle, round catapult stones are stacked up in several places around the mountain.
At the base of the fortress, Herod used to entertain guests in another palace, complete with a huge pool. Jessica leads Emily down the stairs, across the pool floor...
and up onto the island in the center of the pool.
From the base of the island, you can see how deep the pool would have been (10 feet, maybe?) and view the Herodian in the background. The fortress walls would have towered even higher over the skyline.
Amanda poses with a student from Bethlehem University, Heidi, and Jamie.
Bethlehem University is a Christian institution serving a majority of Muslim students. We enjoyed seeing a bit of the campus and mingling with their students.
Emily quickly attracted a fan club. Natalie was an English literature major, Amira was studying business, and I forget the other names, but they were all kind and played with Emily and invited me to come back and have lunch with them. But only one had papers to visit Jerusalem, and I could not have visited Bethlehem without a compelling reason. The residents here certainly feel the inconvenience of the separation wall at a personal level, for all its pragmatic security advantages.
Ashling and Celeste ate with us at the Tent Restaurant. Grilled chicken and tomatoes, eggplant, and hummus were some of my favorites.
Jessica shows us the purple pickled cauliflower, and Julia endorses the fabulous whole wheat pita.
We had a devotional at a rocky hill overlooking modern Bethlehem. We call the location Shepherd's Field, and on many occasions we have seen sheep walking through before the sun sets. But not this time. Emily was chilly and let me pile on the layers.
Carrie in the driver's seat. What a thought!
Frank and I toured the Kotel Tunnel, which begins at the Western Wall and continues along the wall under arches and through cisterns to the Northeastern corner of the temple mount.
Our guide shows us a column which was put in place by use of notches on the sides, which would later have been chiselled away.
But the construction of this street in the Roman era was interrupted, so the notch was left intact.
Because the tunnel passes close to the previous site of the Holy of Holies on the west side of the temple mount (a subterranean synagogue marks the closest approachable spot) all male visitors cover their heads.
Back to the random photos:
Nathanael puts on a brave face for the blood drive (His brother served in Iceland with Mark).
Altogether, 44 people donated blood, tying last semester's record.
Since Lisa's party, Emily has often asked to get her hair straightened. Every once in a while she gets her wish, but it always reverts to curls at the end of naptime anyway.
Carrie and Tashara performed a dance at the luau night. Both did a great job!
Mascara on a redhead? I thought it was cute and soon age appropriate, but the contrast between before and after was too much for Carrie's tastes, so she washed it all off after this picture.
In March, we had to face that reality that only 5 months remain of our adventure. So much to look forward to at home, but as Barbara says in My Turn on Earth, "Have I found what I came here to find?" If not, we can look for it again when we come back in August of 2012.
