BACKWARDS

I'm not crazy about the blog recounting our trip backwards.  If you would like to read about our trip in the order of our arrival to finish, start with clicking on the left TELLING STORIES - November 29th.  This should get you to the best beginning point. 
Below are photos of our friends playing in the snow.  It was a crazy time for them.  No snow in Nablus for at least 5 years.  It was a weather phenomenon!  We missed this by a couple weeks.

Home

As we stood in Dulles International going through customs, again I put on my sunglasses.  Behind me was a line of beautiful faces....all different....all smiling....dark and light....tall and short.....it was a beautiful site to see. 
We are home now.  Christmas is three days away.  Ben and Allie are back with the UHaul truck from Atlanta with all her belongings in tow.  Presents are wrapped and we will enjoy our family. 
I will continue to show pictures of our friends from Nablus.  Their celebrations and life along with our celebrations. 
2013 was a trying year.  It was a rollercoaster year.  I look forward to 2014. 

Happy Birthday Jeffrey Bean!!!!
 

East Jerusalem - West Jerusalem



Sami had permission to come to Jerusalem to act as our tour guide for the day.  I didn't want to know what he had to go through to get to us.  I waited until the end of the day to ask.  These photos are of the old city of Jerusalem and East Jerusalem.  In my life, I never knew that the city was divided into East and West.  Never in my live, did I know that there was such a division.  We took a taxi to the top of Mount of Olives.  During our ride there, we saw settlements built in the middle of old neighborhoods....they were guarded by towers and barbed fences.  I was glad to get out of the taxi and be around tourists.  We walked down from the Mount of Olives and entered the old city of Jerusalem through the Jaffa Gate.  The Arab market was bustling.  When we spoke a single word in Arabic, shop owners pulled us by the arm into their shops and told stories and shared thoughts.  It was amazing how much they wanted someone just to listen. 



Walking down from the top of the Mount of Olives

 

The convent with the Our Father prayer written in every language

Sitting with his family at the entrance to the convent.  Sami spoke in Arabic to the gatekeeper....we entered for free

Shards of glass embedded in the top of the settlement wall

View from one of the windows in a cathedral coming down into the old city

 The weather was incredible.  If it had been warmer it would have been difficult.  All I could think was how strong the people of the past were to be able to climb up and down these craggy hills day after day.  These folks were not wimps! 


View of the old city from the top of the Mount of Olives....Dome of the Rock....Western Wall 

Olive trees in the Garden of Gethsemene...scientist say they are old enough to be from the time of Christ.

 

I loved the markets within the old city walls.  Everywhere we went we met people from Nablus and other places on the West Bank. 

The ever present young Israeli soldiers

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The photos below are from a popular shopping mall in West Jerusalem.  Sami said we should go there to see the difference between East & West Jerusalem.  As we walked the mall, we were met with stares and looks from the police.  Sami is obviously not Israeli....in fact he looks like he just walked in from the desert :)  He was nervous...we locked arms.  After we left, he said he had been there one other time and had been stopped and questioned by soldiers.  I guess  my red hair had warded off any inquisition.  The mall was at one time the homes of Palestinians.  They were cleared out in 2002 and a shopping mall built in it's place.  Seeing the name brands was difficult...

 

 

 

 

Saying goodbye to Sami was difficult.  St Phillips Episcopal and the people of Nablus were incredible hosts and loving families.  We got up at 3:30am.  Our Muslim friend at the front desk used his Hebrew and had an Israeli van pick us up for the airport.  We stepped into the van...a young Israeli boy draped his leg across the seat so we could not sit.  He and the driver had words.  The boy moved. 

I will never forget going through that last checkpoint.  We stopped.  The soldiers had the driver turn on the inside light.  He boarded with his weapon and looked at each of our faces to make sure we were the "right people".  Lights down, we drove by the Palestinian checkpoint.  I will never forget the many faces of Arab men and women trying to get to work.  They were in "cages" looking at us through the van windows as we rolled by.  I had to turn my head.

When Air France announced we were leaving Israeli air space, I put on my sunglasses.  I can't express the emotions I felt.  I kept thinking how many friends of mine had gone on HOLY LAND tours and had a glorious time.  Ignorance is bliss.

Our time in the ancient lands was glorious.  There were times we took a glimpse of hell too though.  My reasons for going to the Middle East were to see our friends and their families and to see for myself if everything I had heard was true or had been embellished .

I can say now with honesty, it is all true.  Aparteid is alive and well in Israel and Palestine. 

Our Respite in East Jerusalem

Allie in the sitting room off from the dining room

During our time on the Israeli side of the wall, we stay at St George's Episcopal Cathedral Guesthouse.  It was a paradise in the middle of East Jerusalem.  Staffed by Christians & Muslims, it was the perfect setting for us.  We were also only minutes from the Old City of Jerusalem.  There were pilgrims staying at St George's from all over the world....met one man whose group was there to deliver baby blankets and items to Gaza. 

Window of our room...the walls were so thick

I always thought I had a true idea of how I would feel if I ever saw Jerusalem.  I never realized it was such a divided city.  In the next two blogs, I will tell stories and show pictures of our time in the old city and East Jerusalem and then our brief excursion with Sami over to West Jerusalem.  I think the thing that creeped me out was the surprise of all the division.  Our accommodations and time in shops was mostly in Arab East Jerusalem which is technically still in the West Bank.  By the way, the term West Bank, was coined by the Israelis and Palestinians usually don't use the words. 

Our stay at St George's was so comfortable, relaxing and felt like such a godly place to be.  It's hard to describe, but we were so grateful not to be staying in a hotel.  I would recommend the guest house to anyone traveling to Jerusalem.  I can't say enough good things about it! 

SAMI & RULA's HOME

Welcome signs they boys made for us!

The boys were waiting atop the house waving when we arrived.  The Khalil home used to be an old monastery where their family was hidden during an attack generations ago.  Rula and the boys and Nidal's parents were cooking and awaiting our arrival for lunch.

Nidal's mom at the stove!



Sami showing us how we could also eat outside!

Sami and his beloved lemon trees
 

It was a fun lunch with lots of chatter, good food (again!) and the boys running around.  Nidal had exams at college, so he had to leave early.  Now when I close my eyes I can see all of the family and picture them safe and happy.  Rula and Sami are a match made in heaven.  They are loving and daring and their lives are so God centered.