Turkeys and Travels

Happy Belated Thanksgiving!

As you can imagine, that holiday isn't celebrated here, unless there are Americans, of course.

Friday my housemate Laurel and I tackled the task of baking pumpkin pies from scratch.  We obtained a chunk of "pumpkin" (or so we think, we're not really sure) from the local fruit stand.  With the seasonings, it all tastes the same anyway.  Evidently, the pumpkin-in-a-can we're so used to is made out of a variation of butternut squash.

Oh, that's another thing.  Israelis think it's quite funny that our Thanksgiving "tradition" comes out of a can. I never really thought about it until I had to explain it to someone.

I don't blame the Americans for using pumpkin out of a can.  It was quite difficult to get our pies to set.  One of them eventually did.  The other did not.

I also embarked on the task of making a gluten-free crust for one of the pies.  It turns out that the amazingly cheap "gluten-free flour" is just cornstarch.  Those tricksters.  I succeeded, though!  Since the other pie didn't set, everyone at our Thanksgiving meal ended up eating the gluten free one.  I thought it was fabulously delicious, but I can't speak for everyone else.

The MSIH Class of 2015 had a Thanksgiving Extravaganza, but I did not attend.  Our wonderful host family invited us to a T-day dinner at their house, so I chose to go there instead.  Ohmygoodness.  It was delicious, as ALWAYS.  We started out with two types of soup, followed by some potatoes, broccoli, cauliflower, wild rice, TURKEY, gluten free gravy, and the BEST stuffing I have ever tasted.  It didn't have bread in it, but it DID have figs!

Wow, those meals with our host family are amazing.  We ended the dinner with some gluten free pumpkin pie and our usual hibiscus tea. The couple who hosts us are incredibly interesting people, and we always enjoy our time with them.  Friday they had a few other guests, including their daughter and son-in-law and grandchildren and another friend, in addition to the four of us Americans.

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Hebrew is coming along for me.  We still have class 3 hours a week, which isn't very many at all.  Today was our final exam.  I think I did well; it really wasn't that bad. Our instructor is aware that we are primarily med students and can't dedicate much time to studying language, I guess :)

Last night while I was riding my bike with Julia, a random Israeli guy started asking her about her helmet. I don't remember the whole conversation, but it was hilarious.  He eventually turned to me, and said in a loud voice,

Why you no wearing de helmet?!

It was as Julia and I were splitting up to go home, so I mumbled something like, "Because I don't like them," and rode away quickly.  He seemed so genuinely concerned (and almost offended) at my lack of head protection that I may just start "wearing de helmet."  We'll see.

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I mentioned that I visited Netanya a few weeks ago.  My friend Mayuri and I went up there for one night to see my mom's friend who was visiting Israel for a few weeks.  It was lovely to meet her and her family.  I also got some goods from the States (well, Canada, too)!  Here we all are:

Yes, it's true.  I got to hold a baby!!!

I have one thing to say from that whole experience: "The Leafs still suck."

I don't understand these Leafs.  The plural of "leaf" is very clearly not "leafs." I don't know what they were thinking when they came up with the name.

(brutish men in a huddle) "EH! What should we name our hockey team, eh?"
"Eh, there are a lot of leafs up here, don't ya know, eh?"
"Eh! We should be the leafs!"
(little shrimpy guy) "Actually, I think it's 'leaves,' eh?"
"EH?! I don't know what he's talking aboot. Let's kick him oot, eh?"
"We're the leafs! EH!"

Who knows?  Canadians have some interesting ways of saying English words, but usually they get the pluralization right. Oh well, I guess I will never understand it.

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I've got more pictures from Galilee, too!

During our hike in the Galilee

Farther up this stream, there was a sizable pool with a version of a waterfall. 
Naturally, some of us splashed around for awhile :)

Peter's house - yes, as in St. Peter, THE Peter

The beautiful Sea of Galilee, with the sun breaking through after a storm

This is a legit olive press.  Behind it are some remains of the Roman Empire.

We're just prancing around in the remains of the synagogue in Capernaum

This is a church hovering over the remains of Peter's house

. . . and this proves I was there.

The Mount of Beatitudes, where Jesus gave the Sermon on the Mount

And that's all for now.  I still don't have pictures from Greece (my iPhone never started working again), but maybe someday I'll post some on here.

I need to get back to studying for exams, but first I wanted to mention that I'M GOING HOME FOR CHRISTMAS!!!

It wasn't in the original plan, but all I wanted for Christmas was to see everyone.  I'll be home Dec. 22nd - Jan. 6th.

I hope you all have a wonderful holiday season.

Shalom!

Cloudy With a Chance of Grad Rockets

You know you're not in Kansas anymore when grad rockets are more common than rain.

I was walking outside with my friend from her apartment last weekend, and my arms started to feel funny. It was like they were . . . tingling? I freaked out for a second before I realized it was rain! After we had thoroughly grasped what was happening to us, I kept exclaiming the awesomeness of water falling from the sky and rubbing my (slightly wet) arms with glee.  It was amazing!

The next day, I was studying in my room on my laptop when. . .

WhoooooooOOOOOOOOOooooooooooOOOOOOOOOO

the IDF Red Alert sounded.

I nonchalantly grabbed my laptop and sauntered over to close the front door before holing up in our safe area.  Don't worry, this wasn't compromising my safety.  We have a full 60 seconds to get to a safe area - I used probably a total of 10 during that whole process.

The point of this story is that I was more excited and thrown off by the occurrence of rain than grad rockets.

I just got back from a weekend retreat to the Galilee.  I was so relaxing and lovely - I'll explain more in just a moment.  But first, I wanted to mention how my friend saw lightning in the sky on the trip up (lightning isn't common here, at all) and didn't say anything about it because he wasn't sure if it was lightning or just more bombs.  I'm glad we can see the humor in this situation.

Like I've said before, I feel safe in Be'er Sheva.  It's definitely different (canceling classes because of the threat of rocket attacks, interrupted study time to seek safety in a bomb shelter), but the level of security here actually makes it safer than living in a major U.S. city, in my opinion.  I feel safer here than I did in Akron.  I can walk alone at night, no worries. Would you walk alone at night in Akron?  No? I didn't think so.

No one can enter the BGU campus, medical school campus, or hospital facility without showing ID and getting their bags checked.  Sometimes metal detectors are even involved.  Besides, God called me here, so what am I to do but be obedient and make light of the situation, right?  He'll keep me safe :)

So, I stayed on the Galilee this weekend.  Yes, I could shuffle from my bed to the window and see the Sea of Galilee!  It's actually a freshwater lake, but rumor has it that Hebrew doesn't have a word for "lake."  It's also not really that big.  Here are some pictures of the view, but it looked much more spectacular minus fog and plus sunshine (but by that time my phone had died because I forgot the power cord):

 

After a wonderful weekend studying the Word with friends, a few of us visited the old city of Capernaum.  It was really cool!  We got to see Peter's house, an old synagogue, the beautiful sun breaking through the clouds over Galilee after a storm, and of course, some cats.  Cats are everywhere in Israel, not just Be'er Sheva.  We just have an overabundance of them in/around/by/on top of dumpsters.  I actually hit one on my bicycle the other day.  I'm pretty sure it's okay.

Back to my story, we also went up to the Mount of Beatitudes, where Jesus gave the Sermon on the Mount.  While we were at the church there [yes, there's a church there - there's a church at every remotely-significant site in Israel, and oftentimes on top of to the point where the manger is a hole in a piece of metal on the floor (http://www.bibleplaces.com/newsletter/Bethlehem_Church_of_Nativity,_place_of_birth,_tb102603464.jpg) and the site of the crucifixion is a square hole in a shiny marble-like stone slab (http://www.bibleplaces.com/images/HOLY_SEPULCHER_GOLGOTHA_TB_N030801.jpg)], a group of Christian Korean tourists were singing some of the most beautiful songs I've heard in my life.  Their voices harmonized perfectly as they echoed all around us from the walls and beautiful architecture inside the church.  I stayed and enjoyed it for awhile.

Keep checking my Facebook albums.  I'll post pictures of these things sometime in the future :)

Have a wonderful Sunday!

Shabbat Shalom!