December 25

Happy holidays! (it occurred to me just the other day that I don't know why anyone would get upset about this expression...Christians have two holidays at this time of year, Christmas, and the Christian new year; what's to be bothered by?) Ben-Gurion street is decked out with Christmas lights, Santa figures (some cute and some creepy), and an enormous Christmas tree constructed of empty water bottles and covered with lights. Rather than being snowy and cold it's hot and dry. Rather than listening to Christmas songs for four months we put them on just for today, which distills their enjoyability. And rather than giving any gifts I enjoyed good company, good food, good music, good movies and good conversation at a relatively large and cheerful Christmas (or in-honor-of) Christmas party.

Today also happens to mark the halfway point of my service in Haifa. Exactly as much time remains as has already passed, and it has passed quickly, and I am told it the second half passes faster. I am beginning to really realize that my time here is short and whatever I want to do, I'd better do it before the opportunity slips away or is cut short, because you never know what is going to happen. I feel like it's time now to begin to seriously consider and make plans for life after Israel. I can tell already I will probably have a difficult transition, and culture shock wherever I might go, even home. Well, if you pray, please remember me in your prayers and even if you don't I'll remember you in mine.

Love you.

12 December

I can no longer say things are so normal. You never know what is going to happen next. On 2 December a huge forest fire that lasted 4 days and killed now 43 people broke out near Haifa (although I never so much as saw the smoke from the fire, I was sent a large number of concerned messages). Hundreds of visitors came to Haifa on 8 and 9 December to celebrate the Twin Holy Days, the birthdays of the founders of the Baha'i faith and the Babi faith, its short-lived predecessor. Yesterday I went to Jerusalem, which is an incredible city - I think there can't be many more exciting and interesting places to visit in the world. I could have stayed for a week or longer. We went from place to place to place to place. First we went to the Mount of Olives and looked out over the city, then we saw the Church of Gethsemane (though we didn't go inside), then visited the tomb of Mary (amazing, and eerie in a warm, homelike kind of way...it's hard to describe otherwise). We went on to the Western or Wailing Wall - humorously, to me anyway, the wall is partitioned so that there is a women's side and a men's side. The men's side comprises about two-thirds to three quarters of the wall. Yet there were many more women than men present. I waited quite a while before I finally got close enough to touch the wall and say a prayer there. After that we wandered through the bazaar for a little while - it was raining and our driver/guide introduced us to sahlab, a drink made of powdered milk, rosewater, coconut, crushed peanuts, and something else I couldn't identify which made it very thick, like oatmeal. Maybe it was semolina flour. After that we went to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, which I can't adequately describe. I can only recommend going. It's an ancient and somehow harmonious mix of the expressions of devotion of many sects of Christianity. After that we caught a panoramic view of the whole city from the top of the Austrian Hospice of the Holy Family (where the Pope stays when he goes to Jerusalem). It's low and dusty and ancient and all gold and stone. Finally we paid a visit to the Israel museum, which contains an encyclopedically comprehensive history of Israel and the entire world. I saw some things I thought I'd never see...like a prayer niche and surrounding wall of a mosque from Esfahan, Iran (how and why a portion of an ornate mosque was transported to a museum in Israel, I don't know, but, as long as it was there I enjoyed it). I could have spend an entire day or two in the museum. As might be imagine I went home completely physically and mentally exhausted...but excited because I've seen life from a different perspective...from many different perspecties...and now I'm filled with new images and ideas and feelings about the world around me.