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!
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!
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