baaba noweel

Birthdays are over and we are now getting into the Christmas spirit. We had a busy time during our birthdays (16th & 28th) with trips to Bethlehem, helping at a youth conference and our day to day routines. But our routine was interupted last night by a call from the Childrens Ward, 'Can you come and help decorate the ward, because the Pope is visiting us tomorrow?' We helped with the Christmas decorations and this morning waited for a 'messenger' from the Pope who turned out to be heavily disguised as Father Christmas from Germany, who had been delayed by snow a Frankfurt airport! He had a bishop's mitre and crook, and a pet pig to give out the chocolates (culturally sensitive!). He was surrounded by the local press and all the hospital mangement so we didn't manage to get a papal chocolate. P

Let them eat cake!

Our Arabic may be basic and people often laugh at our attempts - "Would you like to drink some cake?" - but it is also amusing when locals use their English with us. People always ask us where we are from, and then why we are here - which is always a good opening. England seems to revolve around Manchester United: "Where are you from?" "England." "Which England, London or Manchester United?" I have also started to help with English Administration at the Bible College, part of this has been amending translations from Arabic into English. A translated student profile read: 'I want a teaching postion, if I did I would be in love with it.' P

Drought Plants

I've been given a project to improve the chapel garden at the hospital. The hospital grounds have previously had a good irrigation system, but Israel has had 5 years of drought over the last 6 years. The level of Galilee has dropped to a dangerous level and the cost of water has gone up. So with my limited gardening experience I have been taking cutting and seedlings from all the plants that survive the waterless summers: rosemary, lavender, palm trees, olive trees, cactus and many more unknown plants - my plant knowledge is poor. More than 50% are surviving. I planted them in the spring and I was told that if you get them through their first summer then they should survive, so hopefully they will grow. Now is the time for the olive harvest, we have one tree, but our neighbour has a few more and she is more skilled in picking the olives. P

Three Seas

Last week we enjoyed having our niece and nephew with us for a few days. It was a whistle-stop holiday because there is so much to see in Israel and they were only here for a week, but we were able to see all the important holy sights and visit the three seas - Dead, Galilee and the Med.
We were also able to visit friends in Jerusalem and Nazareth, Julie & Phil enjoyed having time to listen to people's stories and experiences - something that package tours miss out on.
Life is now getting back to normal following the end of Ramadan, the Jewish New Year and Yom Kippur celebrations. P

Our most productive day!

We have had a frustrating few weeks trying to arrange meetings with some of our partners, but making appointments is not how it is done here, but yesterday turned out to be very productive.
Our previous visa appointments have never had a positive conclusion, we have always had to leave and return a few days later with additional documents, not this time. At our early meeting at the Ministry of the Interior we discovered that one of our documents didn't have the official church stamp, our early appointment gave us time to race over to our vicar's home, he had just returned home from a meeting, and so he was able to stamp the letter in time for us to drop it back to the visa lady - we now have visas for another year.
On the way home we called into the school (without an appointment) to see the head-teacher and found that for once she was not busy. She was also able to introduce us to the new English teacher and music teacher. We start the new term in a few days.
And then out of the blue came a call from the new administrator of the Bible College, he was arriving in 10 minutes so could we meet - over the next couple of weeks we will be helping with their relocation to offices in the hospital.
In the afternoon we had the pleasure to meet with Hector and Lydia (CMS) ,they have recently arrived in Israel. And then to round off the day we went to a BBQ for ex-pats returning from a cool summer in USA and UK.
Our most productive day! P

Man in Black

During the summer, with temperatures 100F+, I have decided not to wear my cassock (black robe) at church and only wear my surplice (short white linen vestment normally worn over a cassock).
But without the cassock I have had to invest in an all-black outfit to wear under my surplice. Walking to church now feels much hotter in my black clothes, so I have started to use an umbrella to provide some shade. I get some strange looks, so I wear my sunglasses as a disguise. P

Oh for water games

The 'Summer Camps / Holiday Clubs' have ended, but the temperatures have remained high. Our current heatwave started a few weeks ago and yesterday climbed to 114F (44C). The favoutite activity was water games. It was quite amusing to see relay races and team games where the prize for winning was having water ballons broken over your head; and pass the parcel (pass the water balloon) where the prize for holding the water balloon when the music stopped was bursting it over yourself.

One advantage of not having air-conditioning and a car is that you become more accustomed to the heat. Last night we were driven back to our home in a nice air-conditioned car and when I got out my glasses misted over because of the heat and night-time humidity - something that normally happens when you enter a steamy kitchen or bathroom. P