Christmas in November (Nov 21 - 29, 2016)

We returned from our weekend in Galilee to find the center in the process of transformation:  Kathy Holyoak and the other amazing service couples set up 8 full sized Christmas trees for the upper level.  It was all ready by the time the students returned from Galilee, and they appreciated the taste of holiday decor as they approached the end of their stay and looked forward to Christmas with loved ones.

One of my friends was planning a trip away from Jerusalem during Easter, and someone commented that it was a shame to miss that central holiday in its place of origin.  She remarked that here in the Holy Land, every day is Easter and every day is Christmas.  That is really true!  Almost every day we are either visiting a site which is central to those holidays, or reading scriptures about the Savior, or teaching or (in my case months later) blogging about the Savior's birth, life, death, and resurrection.  The sites are a good catalyst for the focus and the study, but the focus and study on the Savior is completely portable and replicable anywhere in the world!

Back to the Christmas set up:  We invited Ophir Yarden and several of his kids to join in the fun of decorating a tree for level 7.  This is the family that had us over earlier in the fall to help set up their sukkah.  (Click here to jump to that post.)

Lara helped out as well.  Her desk is right inside the doorway, so she had the best view of this tree.

Lisa's friend Ada also happened to be visiting, making for a fun and varied crew.

The young women decorated the tabletop tree for the Oasis.  Rosemary Lind is our amazing YW president.

This olivewood nativity set always graces the south end of the hallway on level 8.

Rosemary and I found some birthday plants at the Peace Nursery up the road from the pita "factory."


Emily and McKenna had a friend over to play.  This is their version of the hot lava game.

Speaking of friends, on one of our previous trips to Jerusalem,  we lost Pinky-Winky, who is a pink, fuzzy dolphin or fish?  We mourned her loss and despaired of ever seeing or replacing her.  But while sorting through some old Christmas decorations and toys from the luggage room, who should emerge but a dusty pinkish-gray sea creature?  After a refreshing swim she turned pink again, and the kids were overjoyed to see her and reunite her with all her fuzzy friends.

 As happens back home, all this preparation for Christmas made us realize that Thanksgiving was approaching.

The Oasis staff did a great job of approximating an all-American holiday.  We ate turkey with mashed potatoes and cranberry sauce, sweet potatoes with brightly colored marshmallows on top, and stuffing with huge chunks of bread.  I begged the bones and made lots of turkey soup, which is my favorite part of the holiday.  Turkey is pretty rare here, but I just happened to be at Baladi's when they were expecting a shipment and bought one bird, I think it was about 13 pounds, for 200 shekels (about 50 bucks) and ate it near Christmas.

We took our kids to ring the Carillon bells at the YMCA tower.  This is always a special treat, spearheaded by Kathy Holyoak, who is one of the official carilloneur.  The rest of us are happy to play one hand of a melody with her reaching in to help out on difficult passages.

The bells range from small, pictured here, to huge.  It's hard to be in this room without plugging your ears when the bells are in action.  Amanda brought a friend along and they went together to a birthday party afterwards (at an escape room--very fun!)

The YMCA tower has some beautiful architectural features.  Here flanking the window is the verse, "If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, may my right hand forget her cunning."

 
The tower provides a great view of West Jerusalem.  Behind Amanda is the King David Hotel, where U.S. presidents often stay.

 Christmas had already begun at the YMCA by late November!  This tree was massive, maybe 25 feet?

 As we exited the winding stone staircase, we peeked in at the tiny chapel in the basement.

En route to the party meeting place, we passed this interesting vehicle.  That's what I call going green!

Lisa's school project required some video footage of a cemetery.  So we found this one, where the grave of Oscar Schindler is memorialized with hundreds of  small stones (equivalent to the American gesture of leaving flowers on a grave).  

You can see Lisa's final video project here.  She and her classmates worked really hard on this, and it won the school's Shakespeare Film Festival contest. 

 You could see the date palms heavy with red fruit.  This is by Damascus Gate.

A quadruple pretzel!  Must be a lucky day.

 Here's a new food find:  Pomellos are like grapefruit except without so much bitterness, and with a huge rind.  All the rind on the right is more than double the size of the fruit inside.

Emily's class made tie-dye t-shirts for the Elementary  School's  Christmas around the World program.

And nothing says thankfulness like a blood drive!

With friends at a bookshop/ cafe that serves great shakshuka, eggs in a tomato sauce.

Someday, I'm going to reorganize my bookshelves by color!  Think how quickly you could find what you need!

Cute doorway en route to the bookshop cafe.

If every day is Easter and Christmas here, then that means every day is also Thanksgiving!  

Galilee

Our trip to Galilee is always a delight, even if we can only miss a day of school and enjoy the weekend.  This was November 17-20, 2016.  

The weather was breezy and the lake was cool.  We did some wading and a little swimming, enjoyed hammock time, journal time, some yummy fish, a visit to Capernaum, and ice cream at McDonalds on the way home.

Margaret Ludlow, who is an excellent New Testament seminary teacher for the teens, took the older girls for a boat ride and a tour of Magdala.  Lisa and Amanda loved the dancing and singing of the Indonesian passengers and feeding the seagulls.  They also loved the painting of the woman touching the hem of the Savior's robe.

One of the highlights of the weekend was the baptism of three children in the Tiberias branch.  This was a sweet experience.  There at Yardenit, pilgrims from all over the world make or renew their promise to walk with the Savior, and joining them were three eight-year olds, far from strong wards and stakes, the gospel vine bringing strength to their families despite great obstacles.  That day we heard the sacrament prayer in Hebrew, the baptismal prayers in Arabic and English, so many languages but one authority through the living priesthood of Jesus Christ.  


Our bungalow by the sea at Ein Gev resort:

St. Peter's Fish at  the Ein Gev restaurant just north of the resort:

Gotta have that ice cream!  Even in November!

Early morning serenity:

When we find an empty hammock, we drop everything and relax!

The exercise playground is a little oversized for our crew, but still entertaining.

Friends who would walk on water for our sakes!

Emily's castle has all the amenities, dry moat, walls, even a mikveh.

The bonfire is always a fun event, even when the wind is blowing it everywhere...

View from the Tiberias Branch building:

Lots of catfish at Yardenit, where Amanda was baptized four years ago:

Walking on the Sea of Galilee:

In the ancient synagogue at Capernaum:

The getaway always goes too fast, and yet there were moments when time seemed to stand still, when we could savor each minute passing by.

All the languages

So, today I was shopping in my favorite nearby store, Tannour's, where the hoagie rolls are fresh and the service is excellent, although rarely smoke-free.  This is in East Jerusalem, in the Palestinian side of town, so I am interested to hear a woman at the bakery counter speaking Hebrew.  She asks for two bagels (pictured below) and two pizza bagels.  So I decide I would like the same and wait in line.  The woman continues chatting with the clerk, and he answers back in Hebrew.

I'm smiling because I love exchanges like this--a friendly Israeli telling a story to a trilingual Palestinian.  The woman asks if I understood, and I say, no.  She then tells me her story in broken English:  A cat is chasing a mouse, who hides in his hole.  The cat waits and waits, then finally starts to bark like a dog.  The mouse comes out of his hole, right into the jaws of the cat.  The mouse says, "I thought you were a dog!"  The cat says, "Well, to get by in this town you have to speak all the languages."

By the way, the pizza bagels were fabulous.  I replaced most of the olives with pepperoni from the states and toasted them open-face style, and my kids liked them a lot!