Blogs from Middle East - page 1209

So when I left off, the plan was to go to bed. But somehow that did not happen. I stayed up until 6am. It was cool though. I spent time talking with Mary Eileen (Denver) and then Analia came in from Bolgaria. Somehow or another I managed to wake up at 9am. Shibolit made Turkish Coffee for me. It smells like Cedar (yes the tree - and it looks like there are little bits of bark in it too). It was very tasty (even though I disappointed Shibolit by putting milk and lots of sugar in it). Apparently, this particular type of coffee can only be found in Galilee (yes, like in the Sea of Galilee). Analia provided breakfast of Croisants stuffed with strawberry jam (yum!). Today we headed to Bethlehem for a small service. It ... read more

After 3 days and 4 flights, I finally made it to Jerusalem. I made it through customs with no issues and found my way to the baggage claim, still unsure exactly where my ride (Greg) would be meeting me. I think my bag passed by me about 3 times before I realized it was mine. At which point I had to sling all 65 lbs of it across the belt almost taking out myself and a 9yr old boy in the process. But we both survived! Once my bags were loaded on the FREE luggage cart, I rolled out toward the exit sign. When the door opened there were hundreds of people on the other side - cheering and screaming! I felt like a movie star. Of course, they weren't screaming for me, but it felt ... read more

I've spent nearly 10 months in Turkey. It's time to say Good-bye now.Maybe not Good-bye....maybe just See you later. You never know what life's got in store for you...but for now I know it's Good-bye. It's not easy leaving. It's not easy leaving behind people I've grown to be very fond of, to care for a lot, to call 'friends' for a life-time...My teaching experience here's also meant the world to me and I enjoyed every second of it. I have grown both professionally and personally and I love the fact that I've done such a great job living on my own in a foreign country, far away from home. I'm sorry to leave Waldo behind, Umut, Fatma, they are all so dear to me, friends that I will treasure forever,wherever life might take me... ... read more

Well, we have been here for a few weeks now and I think we are adapting well. We seem to be finding most of what we need to get this place fixed up, and making a few mistakes along the way which is all part of the learning process. (You can laugh about my mistakes in a bit). OK so most of what we have done over the past 6 weeks is trail shops and follow advice from people we have met on which shops we should go to, which ones to avoid, wheres the cheapest, who's the trendiest. WOW... Im very lucky hubby has a great sense of direction... All roads lead to somehwre here but to me its major confusion.But Gad says it works on an huge grid basis. Each area is a grid ... read more

Geo: 37.8091, 34.1348Quite a surreal place. Never seen anything like the landscape here. This is where many of the early Christians tried to build up the Christian Church faced with huge persecution. Now it's like a Mushroom fairyland!!Moonscape valleys and fairy chimneys.... read more