All in a days work

We have a variety of roles, which means that no two days are alike. Yesterday it was teaching English in the school and a barbecue with stranded Brits who couldn't fly home to the UK; today it was helping to lead a prayer meeting and general maintenance in and around the chapel, which was later the venue for a funeral. The deceased was Nijme (Arabic for star), a lady who was adopted by the hospital 79 years ago after being abandoned by her parents aged 8. She was 'adopted' by various doctors and nurses, and later worked in the hospital as the head chef. She had no family, but the chapel was full of her hospital family. She was an Anglican and was buried in the church cemetery, which is in the hospital grounds, hence the Reader outfit. P

Home

Over the last two and a half years home has been wherever we open our suitcase, but since we have settled in Nazareth it is where my pillow is. We had a nice Easter at home in the UK with our families, but I have been looking forward to my pillow and bed in Nazareth.
We have recovered from our overnight flight and today we will be linking up with a group from CMS who are staying in Nazareth for a few days.
It is hard to choose between spring in the UK or here - the perfect mix would be the weather of Israel with the flowers and blossoms of the UK. In the UK we had rain on most days, but we had some sunshine when we visited St Mawes in Cornwall - the perfect setting to try out my new camera on some lovely spring daffodils. P

80th

We managed to avoid the British Airways strike and we are flying back to the UK today. It promises to be a busy time. The main reason for our trip is my father's 80th birthday. We are also going to be godparents to children of some good friends who are moving abroad to work. There are the obligatory visits to the doctor, dentist, optician, bank etc. When we return to Nazareth we will hit the road running because there will be CMS tour in town for a few nights, which will be hosted by our regional manager. Part of our responsibilities will be giving a presentation about our various roles and experiences. P

Welcome

This must be one of the most photographed warning signs in Israel: No dogs; No shorts; No talking; No food or drinks; No guns; No smoking. It is the 'welcoming' sign of the Church of the Beatitudes, near the Sea of Galilee. I wonder if there were similar restrictions when Jesus taught on these hills.
Perhaps you should consider adopting a similar sign at your church/club as it pulls in thousands of punters every week. P

New curtains

We have been busy with our little home and as you can see in the background of the photograph we have some new burgundy curtains in our living room, and we now have a lamp-shade. But my DIY has been slightly hindered by an accident I had with a hack-saw, as well as cutting the bolt I managed to also cut my finger. Having never had an injury like this before I thought the pain and discomfort was normal, until I had the dressing changed today only to find a bad infection - that would explain the throbbing pain last night.
Having the stitches out this morning produced more than one ouch. P

Inflation

We have just successfully renewed our visas, so we are here for another 6 months. We survived one sizzling summer, so I'm sure we can manage another. The clerk in the Ministry of the Interior made an interesting comment to our solicitor when he asked her about the process of renewing our visas again in 6 months time. She told him that we probably wouldn't want to stay for another 6 months, but if we did then there would be extra forms to complete. Perhaps she thought that we didn't want to go through the frustrating, lengthy and irritating visa application process again, that we didn't like living in Nazareth, or perhaps it was the cost of renewing a visa. In August last year we paid 80 shekels each (£14), today we paid 165 shekels each (£28), by my reckoning if the Ministry of the Interior inflation continues it will be 340 shekels in August, the price of rubber stamps and ink must be going up. P

Green Pastures

Nazareth is a friendly place whose appearance had been compared to a wasps nest attached to a Galilean hill side. The many honey coloured concrete homes and crooked streets, cling to the steep sides of this Arab town.

But sometimes I just long for green hills, to go and run into and amble up. There are no gardens or parks in Nazareth, however just a ten minutes walk away from the hospital we have discovered a verdant oasis. It is a small green wooded area, which at the top has amazing views of Haifa and the West Bank. There are amazing wild flowers, such as red anemones and lilac cyclamen. The surrounding grass is rich and lush. The only blot on the landscape is the fly-tipping, with litter scattered around, but somehow I have learnt to block this out, to see the natural beauty without the dross. J