8-16-08

What can make Rebecca act like a 2-year-old?  Kitties.  Every time she sees one she points.  And grins.  And says “KITTY!!”  In a high pitched voice.  Every.  Single.  Time.

What can make Rebecca act like an 82-year-old?  Orange flowers.  Every time she sees an orange flower, she points.  “Wow, that’s pretty!”  Yeah, like the last twenty orange flowers we saw.  And then she has to ask what kind it is.  And wants to know if it would grow in our climate.

What can make Rebecca act like a basketball player?  The irresistible urge to speak about herself in the third person.

We went swimming in the Dead Sea today.  It really stung my fingers where the rashes are, but meh.  It was totally worth it.  The water was actually very very warm.  And you really do float.  You don’t have to tread, not even a little.  If you lie down on your back, you will float above the water, and you have to work to get your feet back under you.  It is very trippy, and extremely entertaining.  Of course, if I had bothered to try swimming in the Salt Lake that’s just a stone’s throw from my home, I guess I’d already know that.  We’ll say it’s their fault for not setting up some good beaches there.  It’s really fun!  Actually, I’m not sure I’ve ever had more fun in the water.  Now if you couldn’t smell, taste, or feel the salt, then it would be perfect.  I wonder if they take suggestions.

We also saw Ein Gedi earlier today, which was quite hot, but really neat to see.  There was a tree there with orange flowers.  But no kitty.  For those of you who don’t know, Ein Gedi is the place where David hid from Saul, and though they don’t know the exact cave, we did see a possible candidate.

Beit-Shean was amazing!  It’s an ancient Roman style city.  And the best part is we were able to walk around and climb around.  Not everywhere, but enough that I felt like I got to explore.  Give me some ruins to climb around in and I’m in heaven.  We saw the baths, public latrines (I didn’t get to use those though), the theatre (got to go down under the stage, though I’m not sure if I was supposed to do that part), and lots of cool pillars and stuffs.

And other good k-news, we get to see Bethlehem tomorrow.  It was going to be an optional tour at the end of the trip, but it’s been moved to tomorrow, which is fabulous.  The option before was Bethlehem or shopping.  Okay...come now, I realize I’m a woman who loves shopping, but that or Bethlehem?  Duh.  But now I’m being forced to go to Bethlehem.  Poor me.  ‘sniffle’

 

8-18-08

We walked the Via Dolorosa today.  It’s a traditional site, not historical.  In other words, they have shrines and things set up so you can remember the events as they happened.  They’re not the actual locations of those events.  It was a bit disturbed by the venders along the rode, though they weren’t nearly as pushy as others I’ve encountered, such as in Egypt.  Although I’m not exactly taken with shrines, I’ll admit, it was significant to join thousands of people in remembering Christ’s sacrifice.

Now, in other k-news, what really distracts me is all these poor, flea-bitten kitties everywhere.  I want to gather them up and take them home with me.  Think Patience would be okay with that?  Meh, okay, enough of that.

In other other k-news...we’re in a really stupid hotel.  Our view: the building next door.  Our room: decent, but nothing exciting.  Our tea maker: there isn’t one.  Our internet: outrageous.  Here we are for four nights, with e-mails and connections we need to make for the next leg of our trip, and we can’t get internet because the hotel thinks they have to gouge you of every last cent for little conveniences like internet.  We’re not all rich business people.  And also...the halls stink.  Seriously.  Yesterday they smelled like stinky socks.  Today they smell like nail polish.  What is the hotel up to?  Meanwhile, our pastor group leader, Dan, is living like a king.  He had a bottle of red wine waiting for him in his room...free of charge (which we dutifully helped him finish).  And a fruit basket.  And chocoalte.  Free.  All of it free.  And a balcony.  And non-stinky halls.  Because he’s a VIP pastor leader.  Ooooohhhhh.  I want to be a pastor.  Of course, he claims this hasn’t been the norm at all of our stops.  Suuuuuure.  There are also rumors he’s been getting this treatment because his roomie and brother-in-law is Kevin Kostner.  Long story.  Actually, it’s not.  I just like saying that because everyone says it and it’s almost never true.  It’s their way of saying, “I like having this inside joke...it makes me feel special, so I don’t want to explain it to you.”  N-E-wayz, basically, someone thought Brad looked like Kevin Kostner, and now that they mention it, he kinda does.  Whew, that was a very long story.  It really took the wind out of me, and now I should go recover.  Bye now.

 

Did ew know...?
Jewish history: they wanted to kill us, they failed, let’s go eat.

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