Ah, the good old days

Remember how much fun I had in Israel? I just love it there. Could live there, even.

Pray for Jerusalem...

You may have heard about the shooting today at a Jewish seminary in Jerusalem. There are at least 8 people dead and up to 35 injured. Hamas is praising the shooting and there is a lot of celebration in Gaza, calling it "God's vengeance."

Peace seems like a distant hope for this city as long as Israel is divided so strongly...

Wow - who knew??

A less-mobile Bedouin village in the Sinai Desert, Egypt

A (tiny) Bedouin caravan, taken from our tour bus,

looks like it may have tourists with it

I just finished reading an article that inspired further research on trafficking in Israel. Having just been there my interest is piqued, and I discovered that Israel is a major human trafficking destination, mostly from Eastern European countries. Many women, trying to escape the harsh conditions of their homeland, think they are coming to the "Holy Land" for work and a better life. They are marched through miles and miles of the Egyptian desert (in the pic above!) and enter Israel through that low-security Eilat border on the Red Sea. Bedouins, the desert dwellers, traffic women as well.


I'm kind of shocked; as much as I've read I haven't really come across Israel as a hotspot. Apparently they were only recently removed from the U.S. State Department's black list of countries who allow trafficking by starting to prosecute some of the offenders.

In 2005, NGOs estimated that of the 200,000 foreign workers in Israel, 20% are trafficking victims. Amnesty International has estimated that there are 3,000 women in Israel involved in trafficking rings, many of whom are subject to extreme violence.

While trafficking in and through Israel is a growing problem, they are also starting to see Israeli women being trafficked abroad for the first time. The government has started to step up and put some laws in place, but this remains a large stopping point on trafficking highways as well as a final destination and a beginning point for victims.

There are pages and pages of articles and information about Israel and trafficking. I'm kind of sickened. But why not? It's everywhere else, I shouldn't be surprised. I guess being there for tourism purposes, not only do you miss out on a lot of the racial tensions that are obvious to insiders, but you miss out on the criminal patterns as well.

UGH!!!!!

Why, I was just there!

It snowed in Israel this week. That would have been fun...but I was already cold enough. Looking at pictures of all the places we just visited now covered in white was cool.

Here's my picture:

Here it is with snow:

Here we are on the Temple Mount:

Here's a (national) snowman on the Temple Mount:

And a snowball fight on the Temple Mount:

Here's us at the Wailing Wall:

Here is a very sparse and cold and snowy Wailing Wall:

And from Dominus Flevit (I clearly thought of it first) ... mine:

And theirs:

A little crazy, too...Eilat is under high alert for Palestinian terrorist infiltration across the Israel & Egypt Red Sea Border...here:

Israeli military closes to civilian traffic a 3-5 km strip, including Highway 10, along the unfenced Egyptian border
February 1, 2008, 10:51 AM (GMT+02:00)

"Highway 10 is the main route from northern Israel to Eilat in the south. Since Wednesday, the hotels, port facilities and IDF bases in an around Eilat, at Israel’s southernmost point, have been on terror alert. Hundreds of armed Palestinian terrorists are believed at large in the vicinity of Sinai’s 220-km border with Israel, having headed south under cover of the mass Palestinian stampede out of Gaza, which Egyptian police failed to control. Some are reported heavily armed with anti-tank and anti-air weapons as well as explosives and bomb vests."

We were there only a few weeks ago. The week after we left was the destruction of the border in Gaza, and it seems only to be getting worse. :(

The Combover

Or, A Case of Severe Hat Head

Or, The Repercussions of Climbing Mt. Sinai With a Beanie On

Personally, I think it's amazing. So did our Egyptian bodyguard (in the background).

Floaters in the Dead Sea

Most people recognize that "how was your trip?" is the wrong question. They don't want to hear my trite and impersonal answer, and I don't want to have to sum up 3.5 jam-packed weeks in one sentence. So they opt for the next best thing, "What was your favorite part?" After being caught off guard by this question for the 7th or 8th time yesterday, I figured I should probably think of an answer. So I did. Three answers, actually, which encompass most of the trip, so it's pretty much cheating, but at least now I can answer the question in a timely way that will keep people from getting uncomfortable if I talk too much. :)

1. Jerusalem. I loved being there. I loved the Old City, the markets, the small cobblestone and sloped streets, the loud throngs of people trying to sell you stuff, and the historical value that the whole place has. I'm sad for the religious and political strife that has a hold on the city (on the whole nation) and that Islam is so infiltrated and potent there. But arguably no other city has such rich Biblical and eschatological significance, and being there, on the Temple Mount, or on the Mount of Olives, makes you keenly aware of what has happened and what will happen there.

Damascus Gate

2. Galilee. Like I said before, it was here that it was easiest for me to connect with 1st century events and Jesus' ministry because it is relatively undeveloped. Going to Capernaum, Bethsaida, Chorazin, and other cities in the area gave a lot of insight to my Bible reading, understanding the geography, distance from here to there, and other ways the locations and land played into the story. For this reason, and just because it is now so much easier to picture Jesus teaching on the surrounding hills or in a boat pushed out onto the lake, this was one of my favorite places.

3. All the active stuff we did. As far as fun goes, I loved Hezekiah's Tunnel, all the other tunnels and caves (apologies to those who suffered from claustrophobia reading my blog), floating in the Dead Sea, climbing Mt. Sinai and Masada, and all the various hikes and cliff-scaling we did. I'll take that to riding in a bus any day.

So those are my favorite parts. I'm not sure what that leaves out, actually, but I think that will have to be my answer(s) to the question for now. It's all still kind of a blur. Yesterday someone also asked me what my least favorite part was, and I was stumped. I'll have to save that for another post.

home again

I thoroughly enjoyed my granola and nonfat milk and fresh fruit this morning!

Staying up for 48 hours in a row doesn't work. Thus, I didn't make it until bedtime today before crashing for about 6 hours this afternoon. Oops! We got in around 6:00 this morning after our 15 hour flight (eesh) and now I'm wide awake, surrounded by the contents of my suitcase, and wearing my Dead Sea mud mask. :)

Thankfully I don't have to work until Tuesday. Another day to transition from biblical geography and eschatological thoughts back into my life and friends and school, bible studies, human trafficking stuff and a possible new job search. I definitely could have stayed longer, there was so much to absorb and reflect on while away that I don't feel like I fully grasped most of what I was experiencing. I will have to continue to think about it...

Psalm 122

Prayer for the Peace of Jerusalem

A song of ascents, of David

I was glad when they said to me,

"Let us go to the house of the Lord!"

Our feet have been standing within your gates, O Jerusalem!

Jerusalem - built as a city that is bound firmly together,

to which the tribes go up, the tribes of the Lord,

as was decreed for Israel,

to give thanks to the name of the Lord.

There thrones for judgment were set,

the thrones of the house of David.

Pray for the peace of Jerusalem!

"May they be secure who love you!

Peace be within your walls and security within your towers!"

For my brothers and companions' sake I will say,

"Peace be within you!"

For the sake of the house of the Lord our God,

I will seek your good.

Jordan River

Today was more or less our last "academic" day...we hit the Jordan River and a city called Beth She'an with some great ruins on the way back to Jerusalem, where we now sit waiting for dinner and trying to keep warm (it's way colder up here!). Tomorrow we have our last quiz AND a final exam (!) on regions and routes in Israel, and the rest of the day is free around Jerusalem.

Here is my "I've been to the Jordan River" pic:

They've made up a little area for people to be baptized, which is why there are railings around. It flows very slowly because it's dammed up at the Sea of Galilee to regulate how much gets through. 1/3 of all of Israel's fresh water comes from the Sea of Galilee.

It's been a long trip, and I haven't gotten sick of it, but now that the end is in sight, I'm thinking a little of things like my bed and Mexican food.

P.S. I added some more pictures that I like to the Galilee post below, sheck 'em out.

P.P.S. This is a shout-out to Nick, who wanted some recognition for breaking my rib, just letting you know that it's doing great now. :)

Galilee

It has been great being in the Galilee area. It isn't very developed, so it's much easier to feel like you're actually in a biblical location. I've struggled with that in a lot of the places, with highways, buses, modern buildings and houses, etc. But natural features like lakes and hills don't change so much, so it's easier here. Yesterday we were up in the hills above the lake, seeing all the cities around here that Jesus did his miracles in and where other events took place. We walked from the Mount of the Beatitudes down to the shore, around Capernaum, where Jesus was based for his ministry and where Peter lived. It's been really warm and sunny, although right now there is a huge windstorm outside and it's freezing. Here, I walk on water: Earlier today went to Caesarea Philippi, where we did some climbing...

and saw a waterfall that is mentioned in Psalm 42...Also climbed around on Mt. Hermon, near where the Transfiguration probably took place, and explored in Nimrod's fortress, a Crusader fortress with lots of tunnels and passages.Tonight we ate at a restaurant near the water, called, appropriately, the Fish Restaurant. They specialize in "St. Peter's Fish," which we had to sample:He was tasty...at least I think there was a faint taste. We then went on a boat ride on the lake, which was cold, but fun. We read a few of the passages that involved boats and this Sea, including of course Jesus walking on water. We kept looking for him but I guess it was a one-time thing. Obligatory Titanic reenactment:Tomorrow we head back to Jerusalem, for our last couple of days before we return home early Sunday morning!

quickie

We've arrived at En Gev, where I've legally purchased internet access this time, and we get to settle in for a few days. We spent last night in Nazareth, which was kind of a whirlwind with donkeys and sheep and some nuns. The convent we stayed in was beautiful, I'm sure, had I actually seen it in daylight, and there was a chapel there with acoustics that lent themselves to some great singing last night. Here's me overlooking Nazareth (somewhere in there is a spring -- with a church built on top, see earlier post regarding churches built over holy sites -- so we know that the ancient Nazareth was right down in there, since they would have built around the spring. So I breathed in Jesus air!)

I have eaten McDonald's for lunch the last two days. How did this happen? I usually don't condone eating American food internationally. And I never eat McDonald's. But yesterday we stopped at a mall and I was craving ice cream, so I had a McFlurry. And today's lunch stop was at a McDonald's so I was forced to have another. Incidentally, the Hebrew word for McFlurry is something like "pizzutz" (pitzuts?) which means "explosion."

Today we arrived at the Sea of Galilee. I'll post more pictures in the next couple of days, for now here's from a mountain we climbed around on earlier this afternoon. It's been cold, but still hasn't rained. (I've been told I talk about the weather enough that I might as well be English ... it's only because it's totally unseasonable weather and no one understands why it hasn't rained on us!)

caesarea aquaduct

Lots of driving today, stopping at Shiloh and Mt. Gerizim and Ebal, good solid biblical sites. :) After teaching Joshua last year, I was really interested in seeing how far apart those mountains were, because of the story of half of Israel on one mountain and half on the other (see Deuteronomy 27 and Joshua 8). They're pretty close: here's Mt. Ebal from the top of Gerizim with Shechem in the middle, now an unstable Arabic village that we couldn't go to... (yes my ears were very warm, thank you)

We're staying tonight at Dor, on the Mediterranean Coast. We arrived at the hotel after dark, but on the way we stopped at Caesarea to see this 2000 year old aquaduct built by Herod the Great.

I got real dirty today

We had great weather again today, although very cold, as we headed out to participate in an archaeological dig that was in progress in a city called Maresha, and then later to Adullam, where David and his 400 followers lived while hiding out from Saul.

The dig was fun; first we went down into the caves and began breaking up the dirt and putting it into buckets. When we found stuff, mostly pottery, we put it in the "finds" bucket. There were several rooms in these huge caves; they said that this city was abandoned and the people who lived there basically threw all their stuff in these caves and destroyed their homes and burned it all before leaving, to escape being captured. The head archaeologist was actually there today and was able to tell us about the pieces we uncovered.

Found one!Afterward we formed a line and got all our buckets out of the caves, then had to sift through the dirt to make sure we didn't miss anything.

Our guide also took us into some newer caves where they have not yet started to dig. You have to crawl in some parts. I'll spare you more cave pictures, at least until later in the post. Actually I whacked my head pretty hard on a big rock that was sticking out of the wall in there and got one of those giant lumps that last about a half hour, so I didn't go all the way through. I guess I've seen plenty of caves and tunnels on this trip, so I didn't feel like I was missing out. :)

After lunch we drove out to Adullam (see 1 Samuel 22:1-2). This is a big hill covered with huge caves. It was cool to imagine David and his men (and probably some women) living here. For all practical purposes, the kingdom of Israel started in these very caves. (Warning: more cave pictures.)

George Bush left Israel today. And it's not supposed to rain for the rest of the week. This is crazy, and not too good for Israeli agriculture. We think our professor Dr. Rigsby ("Big Rig") has a lucky rabbit foot or something that's bringing us all the sunshine. :)

Red Sea

We had a chance to snorkel at in the Red Sea at Eilat the other day. There is a big coral reef there. I didn't snorkel because I was still getting over my cold, but I saw the coral and a big pretty fish and I didn't even have to get wet!

no rain, no president, and no dead sea pictures

Our streak of good weather luck continues; it rained last night and was cold this morning, but it's late afternoon now and the sky is clear blue. So basically we have had no rain, save for a couple of hours last week in Jerusalem the afternoon of our free day (when Kim and I stayed in and ate chocolate). We're going up north to the Galilee region in a couple days, where it is usually colder and there is more rain, so we'll see if our sunny bubble travels with us.

We are staying in a guest house near Jerusalem, and today we had a free day and took a bus to the Old City to finish up some shopping. You may have noticed George Bush is in town; WE noticed! The security is very high and a few of us actually saw the big convoy of helicopters fly overhead a day or two ago. In Jerusalem today there was an increase in armed soldiers and police, but those are nothing new, and I think George is in Ramallah today anyway. I looked all over for him but to no avail.

.

So, yesterday was quite a big day. We were quite sticky and...aromatic...when we arrived at our hotel last night. In the morning about half of us climbed Masada (the other lazier half took the cable car up), which took 30-40 minutes but was really steep with lots of stairs, which we cursed all the way up. I already mentioned the stairs of Jebul Musa in Sinai, all 750 of them, so to see this many stairs in immediate succession on the side of a mountain so soon afterward was kind of scarring. Starting off the day dripping with sweat knowing you're not getting a shower until the evening was not the most pleasant of circumstances, but that later became the least of our concerns (or, smells) ... Here are some pics from Masada:

The seige ramp built by the Romans

A huge cistern up on top

After exploring for awhile, we took the tram back down and drove straight to the Dead Sea. I gave my camera to someone to take pictures but they didn't really, so I don't have anything to show for it except for this really zoomed in picture of a circle that we were forming as we floated, and I'm not even in the picture. :)

I'm going to check and see if anyone else has better pics and maybe I'll post those. It was so fun! A normal sea or ocean is about 3-5% salt; the Dead Sea is 30%. I can tell you, if you get it in your eyes it hurts like no other. It happened a few times, and I was blinded for a few minutes while I tried desperately to cry to clean out my eyes. You really do just float right on top. I think it was one of my favorite things so far.

From the Dead Sea (after only a quick outdoor rinse-off), we went to En Gedi, to see the caves where David hid out from Saul and cut the corner off his robe (1 Sam. 24), then to lunch and to Qumran. Before the Dead Sea scrolls were discovered there, there was really no reason to stop there; the ruins aren't that spectacular. But since the scrolls were discovered it's a major tourist destination. Our guide took us off the beaten path, up the road to Cave #1, the first cave that scrolls were discovered in, and we climbed halfway up a cliff to get there. It's just a cave, with nothing in in, and with a lot of loose and sharp rocks trying to get there, but hey, the next time I get in a conversation about the Dead Sea scrolls and how valuable they are for the reliablility of Scripture, I can say I've been there. :) Up in the very first cave where a Bedouin guy once threw a rock and heard pottery breaking and found scrolls from the Bible from the first century. In that cave. :)

I have a lot of pictures of myself in caves and tunnels. They all start to look the same after awhile, don't they. :) Anyway, after all that, a shower was fabulous last night, and the bed was even better.