Wars and Rumors of War

This week has been full of rumors of war.  Syrian chemical weapons, American missiles, and Jordan is right in the middle.  Convinced that we might find ourselves evacuating within days, we decided to (finally) make the mint-truffle brownie mix that I've been saving for a special occasion and spend the night playing games.  

The brownies were delicious and the games and company impeccable.  And best of all, President Obama decided to ask permission to conduct missile strikes and, since Congress can't decide on anything, we'll likely ride out this rumor of war in perfect safety.  Thanks ALOT Obama!

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Catan-Man!

Kiya and Michael re-introduced me to Settlers of Catan.  One of these days I'll beat them.  In the meantime, I also learned how to make Catan-Man so I have something with which to occupy myself, while getting trounced.

Love this Boy

Matt-2-Cool didn't quite make it out to visit me.  But he sure has kept in touch. Bless SnapChat as a source of endless amusement...

I Do Not Heart Jordan Tonight

Most days I love it here.  

But tonight, after riding around in a taxi for an hour, smelling the fumes of cigarettes, gas, and body odor, listening to horns and arab techno, watching person after person stare, sweating from the heat of the summer night, having everything take twice as long because people insist on walking out or pulling out in front of the car, or creating three lanes instead of one, or double and triple parking so that three legitimate lanes have to merge into one, I just want America and Mexican food.

Goodbye Susan and Willy

I am back from dropping Susan and Willy (and David) off at the airport.  I should write a long elegiac poem, to fully convey the deep grief I feel.  But I'm too sad.  So I will post the picture I took, to remember you by, instead.  Goodbye.  This year passed too quickly.

one last cuddle

off to new adventures

Jerusalem: Part 1

We spent our morning in church and then headed over to the Church of All Nations and the Garden of Gethsemane, for a short look around.  We headed from there to the Garden Tomb and then over to Mount Zion to see Dormition Abbey and the Room of the Last Supper.  David wanted an opportunity to wander through the city, so we drove over to the Damascus Gate and parked and wandered in.  

We spent most of our time in the Christian and Muslim Quarters but did swing through the Jewish Quarter, as well.  We bought t-shirts, artwork, some pottery, and lots of chocolate, and then headed over to Zuni's, in West Jerusalem, for some delicious French Toast.  Perfect way to end the day!

this was my view the four months I studied in Jerusalem with BYU - roses and a golden Dome

olive trees in Gethsemane - love how the leaves are curled up to beat the summer heat

the Garden Tomb

why not set up a couch for lounging in front of the Damascus Gate?

working hard...

...hardly working

so many t-shirts, so litt

these hoodlums pointed their toy guns at us

GQ in J-Town

kinda felt like I was tripping when I rounded this corner

hoodlum of a different religious pursuasion

didn't know these came off?

Jerusalem: Part 2

Sunday morning, we started at the Israel Museum which has a fabulous art collection, a huge map of Biblical Jerusalem, and the Shrine of the Book, housing the Dead Sea scrolls found at Qumran.  Also a giant mirrored pod (we might have spent more time in front of the pod than in front of the priceless works of art inside).

From there, we headed over to do the Ramparts Walk, around the walls of Jerusalem.  We hit up the route that walks you past the Muslim and Christian Quarters of the Old City.  I love doing the ramparts walk because it gives me the opportunity to peer down from the walls into the crowds of people coming in the gates and dispersing to shop, sightsee, worship or just mess around.  I know how God feels, peering down from the clouds at our antics.

how many satellite dishes can you count?

We walked our way through the Old City, stopping into the souq that lines the walls around the Temple Mount to buy some gummies for Katie (we love you!) and to visit the little Western Wall, an alleyway where you can access the walls of the Temple Mount (before the city cleared out the Western Wall plaza, the Jews of Jerusalem had only alleyways along the Temple Mount to worship in).  

From there we made our way to the City of David.  Right outside the current city walls, the kings and priests of the Old Testament lived and ruled.  There are ruins of the city but the main attraction is Hezekiah's Tunnel, hewn out of the rock in secret by King Hezekiah to protect the city's water supply from the raiding hoards.  After a long, hot walk along the ramparts, we were very excited to stomp our way through a cool, water filled, underground tunnel.

giddy with anticipation

Tel Aviv

On this, my twelfth trip to Israel, I finally made it to Tel Aviv.  My only goal was to eat at the Thai House.  Everything else was a bonus and oh, what a lot of bonus it was!

We started out with a trip to the Tel Aviv Museum of Art.  I had kinda forgotten what its like to go to a real museum.  I was forcefully reminded when I got too close to a painting and tripped the alarm.  Three times.

me, in 20 richer years

The museum was followed by a trip to Carmel Market, which proved disappointing (lots of junk, all made in China).  Less disappointing was The Bun, which was inventive and seriously delicious asian fusion.  We walked from there to the Bauhaus Center, where we learned all about the Bauhaus movement which was, from what I understand, a movement to "build buildings that are different from other buildings".  On the way there, we passed the Dizengoff Fountain and a man that may or may not have been eaten by the pigeons he was feeding.  All I know is that when we came back through a few minutes later, the pigeons were still there and the man had suspiciously disappeared. 

mmm...braised beef burger

cannot take him anywhere

should've saved you old man...

We closed out the evening with a visit to the Helena Rubinstein Pavillion, a performance art venue.  The coolest exhibit was by Janet Cardiff and involved 40 speakers set up.  From each came one voice of Thomas Tallis' 40 part Spem in alium (which is amazing and you should listen to it right now).  It was interesting because the voice coming from whatever speaker you were next to would come in and out, depending on whether that singer was singing or not.  Which led to a guessing game - where are the tenors?  Baritones?  Small boys who can still sing really really high?  (Tallis composed during an era when women did not sing).

so cultured

The least cool was by Alona Rodeh piece with piped in music horns and a stage and lights that got brighter or dimmer and were intended to draw the watcher onstage, to "explore the potential experience of spectatorship".  We stayed at the Pavilion for quite awhile and the horns, which were loud and audible two stories up from the exhibit are now annoyingly etched in my memories.

we succumbed to temptation and shuffled off to buffalo for our spectators

some guy was taking picture after picture of the crowd on the stairs...this is the face he got in every single one

the performance artists were to press up against the wall with all available surfaces of their body, an effort which "becomes erotic over time" - terrifying

Day two in Tel Aviv was spent exploring Jaffa, with it's churches, mosques, port and ice cream stores.  Jaffa was where Andromeda was tied to the rocks and later rescued by Perseus.  It was where Jonah boarded a boat to Tarshish, to escape his missionary transfer.  It is also the site of Peter's vision of the clean and unclean foods, which led to the gospel being preached to gentile and Jew.  After all the hard work of wandering around Jaffa and eating ice cream, we headed back to Tel Aviv to lounge on the beach.  I discovered that incredibly itchy, peeling, sunburned skin comes off quite nicely after a short soaking in the Mediterranean.

poor Andromeda's rocks

the house from which Christianity was spread to the world

when can I move here?