Well, we have been here almost two weeks so far, and what an experience it has been. Here are some differences with life in Palestine (or at least in Bethlehem):
- Water is highly calcified; kidney stones are highly likely if you live here for a long while. Filtered or bottled is a must. Plus the water is stored (from rain and rationed water) into big metal containers on top of the roof and then funnled in through the pipes so you don't exactly know what's floating around up there in the water. It's fine to drink the water when you need it and in fact we have drank the water - and lived to tell about it!
- Heat: We do have hot water and along with small space heater, the radiator has been turned on in certain rooms in the building including our apartment for a few hours every evening (since there is more than two guests staying in the guest house). It does wonders for taking the cold chill out of the air through the night until we leave for breakfast the next morning (which is all we need).
- Light switch: up is off, down in on.
- Mail: Longest its taken to get 6 miles from Jerusalem to Bethlehem was a year. Sometimes it never arrives. Needless to say, we, via the college's PO Box, receive and send mail from Jerusalem. If you send packages though, please mark it as a gift, put the lowest value it is worth, and put in the extra description "For Family - Personal Use". Also, be specific about what you send when you have to list the items, otherwise Israel might be suspicious or curious and open it. For example, put "1lbs ground Kroger's Coffee" instead of just food. I don't think you can send more than 6lbs of coffee at a time also (not that any of you were planning on sending more than that but just so you know). You can send the items and a note first class but if you send it priority then you can't include a personal note. I'm not sure why but I guess Israel only wants personal correspondence to be sent through first class. Israel will put large taxes on anything that they think is new and expensive, or will be resold. Obviously, you wouldn't send used coffee (yummy) but it doesn't cost too much so I think we are okay with that one. Your post office person should be able to help you with all of the customs rules and regulatios and what you can and can't send.
- Shopping – no mega stores – go to bakery for bread, green grocer for fruits and vegetables, to the butcher for meat, etc. etc.
(Local Green Grocer - the bananas are still on the branch)
- Tea anyone? – Tea time is 10:30 every weekday morning at the college. Tea is an all day thing, however.
- Who knew yogurt, rice, & lentils could taste so good together.
- Cooking: gas stove & oven (gas stoves we were used to from camping but it took a little while to figure out whether the oven was electric or gas and then how and where to light it. We've still only figured out how to use one temperature setting for the oven.)
- Toilet paper is not to be flushed anywhere in Palestine - use your imagination (Hint: bathroom bins!).
- Driving: There is one stoplight in Bethlehem, sometimes obeyed sometimes not. General traffic laws are used according to the driver's preference - usually they prefer to not use them.
- Milk is highly preserved - the expiration date for our first box (yes, it comes in a box) was around the day that we leave (3 months later)...that's just not natural.
- Time: 8 hours ahead of Texas and 9 ahead of Colorado.
- Cucumbers and tomatoes are at every meal along with pita bread.
- Price of Food: Israeli imposed taxes are pretty high on anything imported into Palestine so it's best to buy food that you can't read the label to (i.e. arabic ramen noodles - ramen is everywhere) since it was most likely made in Palestine therefore much cheaper to buy.
- The Palestinian Military Police are very nice, I (Aaron) was shown around their compound and given a map of the Bethlehem area.
- Language: Arabic and British English; the main person that we go to with our questions (the English Administrator) is from Britian so it has been fun to learn a bit of British English on top of Arabic from the Palestinians. For example, to "nick" something in British English is to take it without permission.
- People: nice, genuine, helpful and eager to meet you
- Lost in Translation: Translations don’t come easy for some Palestinians - Example: Version Olive Oil.
(I think they meant "Virgin")
...there's more where that came from! But most speak english very well and many people are at least bilinual if not trilingual which is awesome! So we can't really poke fun too much of their translating because they know more than we do. It does still make you smile though! =)
Typical Day:
So, what does a typical day look like for us? Well, it depends. Any typical morning Misty and I are up at 6 am to be at the Guest House (up four flights of stairs) at 7am to serve breakfast for our guests. Currently we have a six member crew here from the US, a young German, and a Jordanian staying at the Guest house. After breakfast we go to staff devotions at 8am (guests and anyone else are invited to attend), then we clean up the kitchen area and check the rooms for anything they need. We wash towels and linens and hang them on the line to dry, empty the trash (& the bathroom bins too), clean and prepare vacated rooms for the next guest (yes, this does involve scrubbing toilets), arrange the bedroom assignments, prepare invoices as the guest house is a major source of funding for the college, and any other job that would belong to guest house managers.
(Aaron - hanging the laundry)
Thursday morning at 10:30 we attend chapel at the college.
(Student Chapel Worship Service - all are welcome to attend though)
Saturdays we go to the "Suq" which is the place where they have the "open-air" market place to buy very cheap fruits, vegetables and other items for the guest house and ourselves, and Sundays we go to a local palestinian Christian Church to fellowship with the body of Christ in Palestine.
(Misty - shopping in the Suq)
Some mornings we drive into Jerusalem to retrieve the mail and packages from the college’s P.O. Box there. This is more complicated than it seems, especially driving (white knuckled in a big van through the sometimes small & narrow streets with few obeying traffic laws), finding parking in E. Jerusalem, getting the packages after paying a shipping tax, getting the right packing slip, (all with Arabic speaking people). Moreover, we have to go to another location in E. Jerusalem to get the packing slips and letters before we go to the post office for the packages. This is all after we make it through an Israeli checkpoint, if it is open and allowing cars to pass through. After lunch which is at 1pm at the college we go to the stores for fruit and pita bread for breakfast (the rest of the food we usually get from the cook) and then typically the latter half of the afternoon and the evening is ours (that is if we don’t have any administrative duties, guests that just left that we have to clean up after or other errands that the college needs us to run).
Later, when the English language classes begin we might be asked to come and teach or interact with the students there. Also, an American professor from Kansas is here teaching a couple classes, and he has asked us if we might come and share with his students as well.
Relational Ministry:
A recurring piece of advice given to us by many here (foreign missionaries as well as native ministers) was that the most important way we can minister to the Palestinians is to simply listen to them and then to share their stories with others. In the short time that we have been here, we have heard amazing stories - some of heartache and sadness and others of reconciliation and rejoicing. But the faith of the Christians through it all and the heart and prayers that they have for those who oppress and persecute them is inspiring. We will be sharing some of their stories in later blogs.
Staff Devotions & Chapel are a great time to worship and grow with other believers as well as to share in one another's burdens and to go before the Lord together in prayer. Tea time and lunch is a great time to interact with the students and faculty here and get to know them and listen to their life stories. And while we are shopping in the community or running errands, it gives us the opportunity to talk to and form relationships with many Palestinians (Christian and Muslim).
How to pray this week:
- My (Misty's) mom is in Detroit right now undergoing another procedure to rid her body of cancer. Pray for recovery, healing and the financial resources to cover the necessary treatments she is receiving.
- Pray that we can deepen our relationships with our new friends here.
- Pray for Tom, our German guest, who has met a family here in Bethlehem and is sharing the gospel with them.
- Pray for the people of Gaza who are suffering greatly in a time of war.
- Pray for the effectiveness of our ministry.
- Pray for the effectiveness of our ministry.
Thank you for your prayers and your encouraging emails.
Stay tuned for more.
Bye Bye! (Arabic for "bye" - no, really, it's what they say! =) There is an arabic word too but we don't know it yet.)
Aaron and Misty
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