Gaza.

Alright, so, I've spent the last hour or so telling you about a trip to Jordan and Christmas in Bethlehem in my past posts, but I feel now that I need to update you on the situation in Gaza. While I am not located in Gaza, and you should have no fear for my immediate danger, there are, as of this moment, over 270 people dead and 900 people injured from Israeli air strikes. Let's compound the fact that Gaza has essentially been cut off from resources for months or even years now. They have very little medical supplies, food, water, etc, etc, etc. It breaks my heart. These aren't savages. These are human beings.

What does this mean for Bethlehem? We've already had two protest marches. Yesterday's march ended at the checkpoint, where stones were thrown at IDF soldiers and tires were set on fire. Bethlehem, and the rest of the West Bank, has announced a strike. This means that basically all businesses were closed yesterday, and will be closed for the next two days. A Palestinian car hit a police officer on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem yesterday. There was a large riot there today. Kids were throwing rocks again, which ended with the IDF police showing up and eventually arresting some of the kids.

I don't know really what to even say. My blog is to be used as a ministry tool, not a political tool. I don't even know what the opinions of my readers are. I don't want to say that I am pro one side or the other, because both are at fault. It may sound cliche, but I'm pro-human rights. I am anti-death and suffering of people. I am pro-finding a good solution for the maximum number of people possible. The strikes on Gaza though, scare me. It saddens me. There were fighter planes flying over Bethlehem. It's a no fly zone here, so that means the planes had to be Israeli. I've never seen this at home. Now, I'm not trying to scare anyone, especially my mom, but I've never lived through this and I'm here to inform many of you that haven't as well.

I don't really have much more to say here, except please pray for the people of Gaza, Palestine, Israel, and everywhere else. Everyone's suffering. It's war. I watched RENT last night as a stress-breaker and there's a line in the movie that actually says, "The opposite of war isn't peace. It's creation." I'm attaching some links of articles with a different understanding with the situation here.

I'll leave you with one thought: Nearly 300 dead and over 900 injured Palestinians. 1 dead Israeli. Which side deserves self-defense again?

Pray for those around us.
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2008/12/200812279451509662.html
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=34306
http://jmm.aaa.net.au/articles/2760.htm (This is actually from Dr. Mitri Raheb, the pastor at Christmas Lutheran Church. He wrote this in regards to life under curfew during the second Intifada.)
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/3707556/Vicar-bans-Christmas-carol-O-Little-Town-of-Bethlehem.html
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=34170
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=34268

Christmas in Bethlehem

Christmas in Bethlehem.

You've all been waiting for this blog post since the moment you heard I was traveling to the Holy Land for a year.  I would also venture to say that a number of you thought of me when you sang "O Little Town of Bethlehem" in church on Christmas Eve.  It probably brought tears to my mom's eyes, for sure, and probably a few others.  It was an amazing Christmas.  Unfortunately, the words to "O Little Town of Bethlehem" are not entirely accurate.  Bethlehem is no longer some quiet, peaceful, little town.  It's currently separated by a wall and experiencing a suffering economy, due to these changes.  Bethlehem is one of the most fortunate places in the West Bank, as far as accessibility, but it's still difficult here.  There has been a movement to actually ban singing this Christmas carol in some churches because of its inaccuracy.  Some manger scenes have included a wall between the shepherds and baby Jesus.  Let's be honest, if the sheperds were from Jerusalem, they wouldn't have made it to Jesus' birth, unless they had the right permit.  I know this is sad and depressing, but I want you to be aware of it.  I had an awesome Christmas, but remember those key details to life here.  I will do my best to remain optimistic.  I will be following this post with a post about the situation in Gaza, to keep the two as separate as possible.

Christmas in Bethlehem was phenomenal!  First of all, I was really blessed to live with two girls who support my need for decorations.  Thus, we have a fake fireplace, stockings hung, some Christmas lights, some pine branches, and even part of a tree!  I say part, because it was someone's trimming job...it's concave on the top.  I have also been blessed to be a part of an amazing international community that celebrated lots.  We had a big Christmas cookie decorating party at our house last weekend.  We also had two different nights of potluck-ing and Christmas carol singing at some of the others' homes.

As for Christmas itself, we celebrated Christmas Eve by spending the majority of the day in Manger Square.  There was a large parade, comprised of the various scout groups in the area.  They played Christmas carols on bagpipes and drums and marched through town.  It was awesome!  I ran into a teacher from my school, whose three kids are all in classes I work with.  I ran into a lot of other students and people from church.  It was nice to realize that I know people here and that I'm just a random tourist.  We actually watched the parade with that family, and his youngest daughter, Mae, insisted on having me hold her.  He asked her if she loved me and if I was her best friend in Arabic.  She excitedly responded yes.  She's actually not been to school for nearly two months now, because her grandmother passed away.  It's tough, because she should be in school, but she adamantly refuses to go.  She was really excited to see me, though, so that was a nice feeling.

We continued to watch the parade, where we saw the Latin Patriarchs from Jerusalem come through in their hot pinks hats.  They were coming to Nativity Church, probably for the Midnight Mass later that evening.  We spent the day in Manger Square, then headed in to get seats in Christmas Lutheran Church for the service.  We claimed seats at 3:45, for the 5pm service, because they were only offering seating for 75 people in the sanctuary.  It's a small church anyway, but they needed room for two choirs, several church elders, and some foreign dignitaries.  The service was a live broadcast, but I'm not really sure where it ended up.  We sang the hymns in our own respective languages, the hymns being traditional Christmas hymns.  It was crazy to hear "Hark the Herald" in Arabic, German, and English, simultaneously.  It was also crazy to think that I was spending Christmas in Bethlehem.  I did feel bad about the service though, because we hearded a group of our young international friends in, but there were definitely not many of the actual members of Christmas Lutheran Church there.  Granted, I'm sure some of that comes with the territory.  For instance, people of St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City are probably used to masses with tourists who get their souvenir coin on the way out the door.  I would not expect this from my experience with Zion Lutheran Church in Indiana, Pennsylvania, so it confuses me.

After a delightful Christmas Eve service, we headed off to Beit Sahour for dinner at a restaurant called the Tent.  It's designed to look like a Bedouin tent, with a low, drooping fabric ceiling and tapestry-covered benches.  The food was great, but the entertainment was better.  At one point, they lowered the lights, and starting blasting the Arabic version of "Jingle Bells."  In sprinted not one, but TWO Santa Clauses, launching gift packages at the tables in the back corner.  My group of friends started to yell, of course, so they came over and threw presents at us.  We ended with Santa hats, toy racecars, balloon animals, noise-makers, etc.  It was great.  I could have asked for a better Santa visit than that!  We headed back for more Manger Square time, but things had pretty much died down.  The lights were beautiful there though!  Check out the pictures at some point.

Christmas Day was church in Jerusalem, followed by a brunch at the pastor's house.  It was nice to be around lots of people and relax.  We were able to eat and laugh and remember that Christmas was about a gift.  A gift from God: Christ.  We have been given the gift of being able to experience Christmas in this place.  I've had the gift of a supportive family, despite how hard it is to say goodbye to me, loving friends, who will forever hear the stories of "One time, when I was in Bethlehem...", and people who are here and home to welcome me into a community.  I'll be completely honest, I wasn't homesick at all, minus one moment, this Christmas.  The moment I felt homesick, was when my sister told me that my brother made a derogatory statement, paused, and said that he missed me, because I would have yelled at him for that.  I know that may be insignificant to you, but the fact that it was yet another "little moment" where I was missed and where I miss them, was intense.  

Random side note, my favorite part of Christmas here?  Over 50% of the kindergarteners on Tuesday were wearing Santa Claus costumes, complete with fake beards.  Hysterical.  Alright, I'll be posting plenty of Christmas pictures, as soon as I can.

Merry Christmas!!!

Jordan

I started this blog awhile ago about our YAGM retreat in Jordan, but I never got around to finishing it, or blogging about it.  So here's Jordan.

We left our apartment in Bethlehem at 6am on Sunday morning, which was rough, but we saw a BEAUTIFUL sunrise over Bethlehem and Beit Sahour.  We drove to the Allenby/Al-Karameh/King Hussein Bridge (Israeli/Palestinian/Jordanian names), which stands as the only exit point for West Bank Palestinians into Jordan.  We had to get a taxi to cross over the "actual border", which dropped us at this bus station thing, where we went through customs.  Then, we took a bus from that terminal to another bus station thing, where we then got cabs to head to Amman.  It was a pain.  I think my favorite part was driving through the first "checkpoint," where the soldiers held mirrors on long poles (like dentists' mirrors) and scanned the bottom of every car for bombs...nice.  One soldier also poked his head in the window and very nonchalantly asked if we had any weapons.  I've been asked that a lot at checkpoints.  I wonder how useful that is, because if I seriously did have weapons that I was sneaking into another country, I wouldn't suddenly tell them.  "Why, yes, I do have loads of weapons.  I was planning on opening an attack on your country.  Is that cool with you?"  Anyway.  

It was a long trip and slightly irritating, but getting to Amman was awesome.  It's crazy to think what things stood out there, because I've become used to life with or without them.  

For instance:
Amman vs. Bethlehem

Minimal garbage......absurd amounts of garbage in the streets

Police officers that pull drivers over for speeding, etc.......police officers that do...?

Lots of construction vehicles/new buildings.......a bulldozer here or there

Massive billboards.......signs on the sides of buildings

Wide streets.......narrow streets

KFC, Pizza Hut, Starbucks, Hardee's, etc........no chain brands.  It's impossible to have chains in the West Bank

Feeling free and relaxed......feeling this insane tension that permeates through everyone

Etc, etc, etc.

Let me explain too, that this was Amman and not all of Jordan.  Some things were in all of Jordan, but mainly Amman.  The biggest difference for us though, was feeling like we were out of an occupied country.  People were much more relaxed.  It was crazy.

We spent the day in Amman, where we saw some Roman ruins, a Roman ampitheatre, King Abdullah Mosque, and some other cool sites.  We went to church at the Good Sheperd Lutheran Church, which is the only Lutheran church in Jordan.  It was cool to worship with a new congregation that we have no immediate connection to their members, but still in the synod.  Paster Samer also asked for a volunteer to read one of the lessons in English.  We all looked at each other for awhile, then I volunteered to read it.  It was cool.  I haven't read in church like that for probably six months or so, in an Arabic church, nonetheless.  We had burbarah after the service.  It's a Palestinian dish that is made for St. Barbara's Day.  Here's a blurb about it: "According to tradition, Burbara (Barbara in English) was the daughter of the pagan Dioscurus. On discovering that she became a Christian, her father tried to kill her, but she was miraculously transported out of his reach. Dioscurus denounced her to the authorities. Despite being tortured, she refused to denounce her faith. Her father killed her and was immediately struck by lightning and reduced to ashes. As a result of her father's fate, St. Barbara's prayers are especially sought as protection against thunderstorms and fire, and by an extension of this idea she became the patron saint of gunners, miners and firefighters. Palestinians Christians mark the occasion with a Burbara pudding made from shelled wheat. The Orthodox churches celebrated on 17 December St. Barbara's Day. The Protestant and Catholic churches celebrated it on 4 December. Some people believe this is in remembrance of a time she was locked up in a storeroom and only had these ingredients available to eat."  http://www.palestine-family.net/index.php?nav=6-23&cid=10&did=1028&pageflip=4  This website has some more Palestinian traditions and recipes, if you're interested.  

On Monday, we got up and spent the day at Petra.  It's this BEAUTIFUL ancient city that was basically carved into the sides of rock cliffs.  We got there by 10am and stayed until 5pm, walking all day, including an 850 step hike up to the monastery at the top.  It was insane.  I'll post pictures later.  That's the best way to describe it.

On Tuesday, we got up early and drove to Wadi Rum.  We spent the next two days camping out in the desert with Bedouin.  It was, AMAZING!  Our guide picked us up and we jeeped into the actual village of Wadi Rum.  We had some tea, then we started our camel trek into the desert.  It was so surreal.  My camel was actually the slow, angry one, so I was in the back...by like, 20 feet, for the majority of the trip.  I was able to watch the other girls on their camels though, riding into the sun on camelback, in this amazing site.  Again, I'll post pictures.  We were on camels for awhile, then we switched to jeep-trekking.  It was awesome.  The desert there is flat with massive mountains, so it made for some awesome views.  We hiked into a canyon that day and hiked a lot on Wednesday.  We hiked up this MASSIVE sand dune.  It was phenomenal!  The hike was so hard that we layed on top of the sand dune for awhile.  My one roommate hugged the dune.  We could see so much from the view.  

We spent the next few days there and returned home on Thursday.  It was an amazing trip and I loved it!!  

My pictures are not loading well on this page lately, so here are the pictures I've posted on Facebook.  I have tons more of the scenery shots, but here are some.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2012374&l=fb5c4&id=175200680

Blonde hair and Advent decorations...

I don't think anything that profound has happened since I last blogged. I guess I'm feeling like I've somehow found a comfortable place, as far as work goes. I'm hoping to tweak my schedule though, to focus in more on being with specific students. Right now, I help the middle school English teacher on Mondays and Wednesdays. This is great, but it means that I end up with only like, one period a week with some students and that she never knows how to truly use me. I'm thinking I'm going to switch and be present for all of the classes with one or two grades, but then spend the rest of my time in kindergarten. I hope this improves how I'm being used in the classroom and build stronger relationships with specific students.

I have found that this one little girl on the bus, named Lydia, has taken a fancy to my hair. I don't think I mentioned it before, but she's four years old and is in the middle kindergarten class. I usually wear my hair up—not as high as I normally do at home though—and so the kids don't really see it down. I wore it down the one day and she came back and petted my hair for the twenty minutes of our bus ride together. She came back the other day and we somehow started playing this weird game of passing an invisible object from her hand to mine. It was really sweet! It's really nice to be consistently recognized by some kids, because I feel like about half of the kids I interact with have Alzheimer's. It's seriously like being in 50 First Dates with them sometimes! I just mean by this, that some kids totally run up to me and hug me or kiss me or greet me or whatever. Then, there are plenty of other kids, who I've specifically played with and had conversations with, and I say hello or good morning to them, and they just look at me like a deer in the headlights. I'm so confused by it. I've pretty much focused on it being amusing though, much like one of my favorite Adam Sandler movies.

I think it's important to talk here about the beginning of Advent for me. I think it's strange being in a place where there's no major anticipation for holidays. Now, let me clarify: there's no anticipation for MY holidays. I recognize that I'm saying this as an American, who had no Halloween celebration and an awesome Thanksgiving celebration, but only with internationals. Meaning, I went to work on Thanksgiving and it was a totally normal day for everyone I was around; whereas, in the States, there's a buzz or a vibe with that day. So, Advent started on Sunday, which is way more important than usual for me, because it's the preamble to Christmas. I'm living in the Christmas capital of the world, so Advent's a big deal. I helped decorate the Church of the Redeemer, which is the Lutheran Church in the Old City of Jerusalem (my post office, if you've written me). There are three congregations there: Arabic, German, and English-speaking. The Arabic and German congregations both worship in the main church, while the English-speaking congregation worships in the chapel. The Arabic and English congregations worship simultaneously, while the German worships after the Arabic. It was really cool to help decorate the church. The pastor there, Mark Holman, and his wife, Marcia, have been an AMAZING blessing to me and other volunteers while we've been here. Kendra, one of the girls in my group, was asked to help with the Advent Planning Committee for the church. I volunteered to help her decorate on Friday, because I knew she was going in. We ended created a really cool (I'm somewhat biased) backdrop for the first Advent service. It was neat to be able to create church decorations and feel like we could do whatever we wanted with them. It really created a sense of pride in our worship space, which I hadn't felt before there. I think I've felt pride in Zion, my home church, because I've been there so long, but also because I've spent many a Sunday acolyting, reading, or just waiting for my mom after church and hanging out there with my siblings, debating on where we can convince her to take us out to eat. So, why do I care about some cloth or pine branches? I think because not only does it "dress" the church to prepare for Christmas, but it reminds me to get ready. I feel like half of the holidays are in the anticipation of what is to come. That is, Thanksgiving was lacking, despite the AMAZING time I had celebrating the actual feasts (yes, I had two). It was obviously lacking in the sense that my family wasn't there, but it was also lacking in the prep work. I didn't see paper turkeys hanging on people's doors. There were no fall leaves or snow, which I guess was pretty standard for turkey day at home. There wasn't the hustle and bustle of buying vegetables and bread and a lifetime supply of butter and milk, which I usually help my mom with. I know that my writing here isn't very good, so I apologize in advance. What I'm getting at, and maybe it's cheesy, but Advent is that time to prepare yourself for Christmas. I don't just mean buying presents, but I mean feeling like Christ's birth is right around the corner. I like that anticipation. I like reminding myself that I am a Christian and I am trying to prepare myself for Christ's birth, or our memorial of it.  

Advent is one of the easiest ways to mark Christmas is coming. My home church uses the three blue candles and then one pink candle for the last Sunday. I love when the pink candle is lit, because we've built up that anticipation with the blue candles. I know it's coming. I know that Christmas, Christ's Mass, that is, is near. I love it! I'm living in Bethlehem, which if I'm going to miss Christmas with my family, I better "Go big or go home." I'm pretty sure I can't go home, and Bethlehem is the epitome of "going big" for Christmas. I guess in all of this rambling, I encourage you to look at your church or home or family or whomever, and look for that anticipation…the excitement for something great to come. It's sad, but strangely inspiring to spend holidays away from home. I miss my family and friends, which I'm sure is obvious through my last blog. I'm glad though for trying something new. Spending the holidays away from home, means that I get to pick and choose how I want to celebrate. This isn't saying that I WANT to throw out family traditions, because BELIEVE me, I don't! It's cool though to think that I get to go to church on Christmas Eve in Bethlehem, where I will have spent the day watching Palestinian scouts march in the Christmas parade, playing Christmas carols on bagpipes. I'll get to wake up and eat hummus and pita, if I want. Breaking out of the normal for me, has made me feel things more intensely. I don't have many examples to site here, but I consider Thanksgiving. The night we spent with all of the internationals had a warm glow in the room, candlelight, and just this amazing happy vibe flowing through the room. I don't think I've ever felt that warm and cozy on Thanksgiving at home. There are completely different feelings there, for sure. The sense of newness reminded me that when I go home, that will be "new" too. Feel the anticipation in yourself and look for meaning in what you're doing.

Let's pray!

Dear God, 
Thank you for new friends here. Thank you for the patience that you've given me to handle "newness" in lots of ways. I pray that you be with Paul and Anne still, and with those others who are struggling. God, help me and those around me, physically and in spirit, feel the anticipation of Christmas. Prepare us to be ready for Christ's birth a new way. Watch over my family and friends and give us, all of us, energy when we feel weak and tired. I ask all of this in your Son's most precious and holy name, Amen.

Much love,
Meredith