Major Update Part II (or How Much of Jerusalem Can You See in One Day?)

The morning after our whirlwind trip to Jordan, I got up shortly after 4 am to wave goodbye to the bus as the remaining diggers set out for the day. I was very sorry to see them go off without us, and if I could have given up the Jerusalem trip for two more weeks of digging, I would have!

The bus came at 6 to take us to Tel Aviv, and on the way we stopped at a gas station/café, and I got the most delicious croissant I’ve ever had. Flakey and buttery…oh my!

We got to the airport just outside Tel Aviv on schedule, and then had to find the luggage storage to drop our bags off. I was expecting something fairly high tech, with bomb sniffing dogs and lockers or something, but it was basically just a big room where we piled all our stuff. There was also a sort of gift shop there, with a big sign on the door that said “sale” so we were wondering if our bags would still be there when we got back!

Then we found the shuttle stop, and caught a bus that would take us out to the main highway where we could catch a bus to Jerusalem. When one finally came, it was totally full, so we had to stand in the aisles, packed in like sardines, for the half an hour or more it took to get to the central bus depot in Jerusalem. It reminded me of being on the C-Train in rush hour…

When we got to the bus depot, we had to go through security to get out, and then at the top of the stairs we saw a McDonald’s! It was a happy moment, as that croissant hadn’t really been very filling. I got a McChicken, and while the fries tasted exactly like home, the burger was a bit different. It had two chicken patties with white meat, not a single patty with processed meat, and it had a tomato sauce instead of mayo, and tomatoes instead of lettuce. It was different, but still very good.

After the food stop, we went outside to find taxis to take us to the top of the Mount of Olives, and then we would walk down from there. We were in a hurry, as it was after 10 am already, and lot of churches and sites close from noon to 2 pm. There were only 10 of us – 8 Canadians and 2 Americans, so Dr. Chambers approached a couple of taxi drivers who were standing around and asked for a price. They said we’d need three cars at 70 shekels per car, and he tried to haggle a bit, but they wouldn’t come down, so we went and got in the cars. At this point, some kind of altercation broke out between our taxi drivers and another guy who was standing there – it seemed like maybe he thought that we should have gone in his cab? I’m not really sure what happened, but there was a lot of yelling and shoving and fists swinging, and then our driver hopped in the car and took off like nothing had happened…and he drove like a maniac, but apparently that’s the way everyone in Jerusalem drives…

Our first stop was the Chapel of the Ascension, which was a really small, simple domed building…built over the rock where Jesus left his footprint as he pushed off into heaven…there’s not really too much I can say about that! :)

Next we went to the Church of the Pater Noster (Latin for “Our Father”), which was pretty cool. They have tiles all over all over the wall with the Lord’s Prayer in something like 60 or 80 different languages, and our group said the prayer together in this neat underground cave that was part of the church.

We stopped partway down the hill for our first good look at the temple mount. I have got to say, being a Christian and just a wee bit of a Zionist, I have a really hard time seeing a mosque in such a holy place. Aesthetically speaking, it’s a beautiful building, but spiritually speaking, it gives me the creeps! Anyway, it was super cool to see it in person after looking at so many pictures of it over the years. It was a lot bigger then I had thought it would be.

We were really running out of time before noon and siesta time, and we made it to Gethsemane just in time. They don’t let people in after 11:45, and we just squeaked past. The building was very beautiful – lots of gilding and mosaics. I pictured the garden of Gethsemane as a place where I could go sit in the garden and meditate, but the garden belongs to the church, and when the bells began to ring the noon hour, we had to leave. I was kind of vexed by that, but I guess I’ll have to try going there again sometime.

We walked over a bridge across the Kidron Valley, and along the road that runs parallel to the temple mount. In the valley and all down the slope of it is a huge graveyard – we were told that people believe Judgement Day will occur at that location, and they want to be buried there so they’re handy when it happens…

From the road there you can also see the outline of the original City of David, which also includes Hezekiah’s Tunnel and Warren’s Shaft. I need to go back there and wade through the tunnel – I think that would be a fabulous adventure!

The road curves to follow the curve of the wall, and we went through security to get into the Western (or Wailing) Wall. Men and women have separate security lines, and separate sections of the wall to pray at. I was a little miffed to see that men have about ¾ of the wall, and women only have about ¼, and there were way more women there. There was a Bar Mitzvah happening on the men’s side, and there were a few women standing on chairs, looking over, so they could be a part of what was going on. Crazy, hey?

Anyway, I managed to find a gap in the people crowded around and get close enough to the wall to touch it. And that’s when it really hit me that I was actually there, and I started just crying. It made me think of Simeon, when Mary and Joseph brought Jesus to the temple, and Simeon said:
“Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you now dismiss your servant in peace. For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of all people, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel."
And it made me really sad, because I wonder how many of the people who were also there praying believe that the Messiah has already come? How many of them are living under the law because they don’t know any better? One of the organizations I support is called “Jews for Jesus” and they exist to reach Jewish people with the news that the One who fulfills all the prophecies is Jesus and that their Messiah has come. The prayer that’s been on my heart a lot recently is “That all may see and know”. We didn’t have long there because we had a lot of ground to cover, but I’ll definitely go back there, someday.

We went outside the temple mount and into the old city for lunch. We ate from vendors in the area, and sat inside what was once a Crusader-era souk. It was right outside “The Burnt House”, which a museum of the last building to hold out against the Romans after the Jewish revolt in 70 A.D. It’s a really sad story, but I’ve read quite a bit about it, so it was cool to be there, even though we didn’t have time to see the museum. Another place I’ll have to go back to…

After that we walked through the souk (which was actually really clean, and not too crowded, as it was the middle of the week) and along part of the Via Dolorosa to the Basilica of St. Ann, who was apparently Mary’s mother. I’m not convinced of that fact, but it was one of my favourite places from the trip. The grounds were beautiful, and have extensive ruins from several different periods, and they appear to have been excavated thoroughly. It was the location of the pool of Bethesda, where Jesus cured the man who had been waiting for a miracle. The church is the oldest in Jerusalem, and is very plain and simple, free from all the gilding of the other churches we saw. The acoustics were amazing – one woman was sitting there singing very quietly when we went in, and it sounded like a whole choir of angels.

From there we went back along the Via Dolorosa to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. It doesn’t look like much from the road – just a doorway with a small sign above it. You go through the doorway into a large courtyard, down some steps, and in through a small door. The first thing I noticed was an overpowering waft of incense (it was many hours and a Coke later before I cleared the taste of it out of my mouth) due to the large number of pilgrims anointing a large marble slab just inside the door, which is believed to be the place where Joseph of Arimathea laid Jesus’ body to prepare it for burial.

Further down the hallway and under the large main dome is a small chapel – a building within a building – which covers the place where they believe the tomb was. Also nearby is the rock on which they believe the cross was set. I’m told that there is evidence to prove that this likely is the location of those events. However, I had a hard time picturing it! The chapel over the tomb is falling apart, and due to the fact that there are three groups using the church and they never agree on anything, nothing is being done to fix it. I thought it was all very silly. Here’s a link to a book that was written hundreds of years ago by a man who feels the same way I do about it. The section runs from near the end of page 170 to near the end of page 172.

http://books.google.com/books?id=SsK97I9huRIC&pg=PR3&dq=Incidents+of+Travel+in+Egypt,+Arabia+Petraea,+and+the+Holy+Land+(1838)&ei=B_N_SOSHNKLgtAPnuqXwCQ#PPA170,M1

Happy to be out in the fresh air again, I set out to climb the spire of the Lutheran Church of the Redeemer – apparently the view of the city is amazing – but it was 3:30 and they had closed at 3…

I crossed the street to get a bottle of water, and noticed some wooden nativity sets in a shop. I had sort of hoped to get one, so I counted my remaining shekels (200, plus 50 for supper and snacks) and when to look closer. The shop keeper invited us into the store and I mentioned that it was my last day in Israel, and I needed to get something small because I didn’t have much room left. He showed me one I liked, and when I asked how much it was, he said he would give me a good price because he likes Canadians, and that it was 480. I just about had a heart attack, and said that was too much, thanks anyway, and turned to go, forgetting that he would take that as an opening to haggle.

He asked how much I wanted to spend, and I told him honestly that I had a budget of 200 left. It was his turn to practically have a heart attack, and went on about how he needed to make a profit, and did I want him to have to eat bread without cheese? I was desperately trying to extricate myself and get out of there, and the closer I inched to the door, the lower his price came. Finally he was down to 270, and Jenn decided to grab that bargain for herself, because that was definitely the best price we’d seen anywhere.

But no matter how good of a price that was, I really didn’t have that much money, and I told him so. After he finished ringing up Jenn’s nativity set, he said to me that because he liked me and it was my last chance to get one, he’s let me have it for 250. I did actually have that much cash, so I took the deal. I felt pretty good about that – less then half price! I did tell him that I might not get supper though… :)

Next came our top-speed march through the city, trying to get back to the central bus depot in time to catch a bus back to the airport before the luggage storage place closed. We went out of the Old City through the Jaffa Gate, and I don’t know how many kilometers we walked, or how long it took, but after a full day of walking, by the time we got there, I wasn’t sure if I could go any further, my feet hurt so much! We had to go through security again, and then we had just enough time to restock our water supply before the bus came. With a little creative wrangling (Israelis don’t treat line ups the same polite way Canadians do) we all managed to get on the bus and get seats together.

We made it back and got our bags with about half an hour to spare, and then went and freshened up, repacked our bags, etc. My nativity set wouldn’t fit in anywhere, so I ended up carrying the package in my hands all the way from Jerusalem to Calgary!

I had meant to do email and update my blog, but by the time we got organized and got dinner, it was time to start going through security, which was quite the ordeal. We were standing in the first line, a baggage screening process, when some security people came up to us and started asking questions. They collected all our passports, and took Dr. Chambers aside to ask him some questions, and did the same thing with another member of our group. Thankfully they gave us back our passports and let us go through to baggage screening. They ran our luggage that we were checking in through an x-ray, and then pulled most, if not all, of us aside for a manual baggage search. They wanted to know what I’d bought, where I’d gotten it, and how many jars of honey I had. They were particularly interested in the things I’d bought in Jordan, even thought I hadn’t yet said that’s where they were from, which I thought was interesting.

Finally they were done with that and we got to go check in with the airline and get our boarding passes. Then we had to go through another security checkpoint, although I can’t remember what that one was for – they’re all starting to run together. I think that was comparable to regular Canadian carry on screening. Then we went through passport control where they stamped our passports, and then through another checkpoint where they checked the stamp we’d just gotten.

By this point we were only a few minutes away from boarding, so I still didn’t have time to update my blog! It was quite the time consuming ordeal…

I had a good seat with lots of leg room, even though I was separated from the rest of the group, and I was so tired I was asleep before we left the ground.

Speaking of tired…it’s now past my bedtime and I’m exhausted. More to come in Major Update Part III (or Homecoming Musings).

http://picasaweb.google.com/michelleheumann

Major Update Part I (or Much Adventure in International Travel)

We left the kibbutz on Friday morning at 7:30, and drove to the Israel/Jordan border crossing. We got there just after 8, and waited to be let into the compound. Then we had to go through Israeli passport control, and while I was walking into the building, I heard a loud popping sound, and jumped so violently I banged into the person in front of me. I was sure I’d heard a gun shot, but it turned out it was a bird cannon…

Other then that, I cleared passport control ok, but they had to run some kind of extra check on Jenn, which took quite a while and was kind of scary, but eventually they gave back her passport and let us go.

However, that took so long our bus driver who was supposed to shuttle us across the river to Jordan passport control had gotten tired of waiting for us and left! So we had to wait for a public shuttle and pay 4 shekels for it. Once we finally got across the river and met our guide, we had to go through Jordanian passport control, where they kept our passports until we’d gone through the baggage check. Once they’d cleared our baggage and we got our passports back, we trekked to the bus, and then they stopped the bus at one more checkpoint where an armed guard got on the bus and checked everyone’s passports before they let us out of the compound. By this point it was pushing ELEVEN am. Oy!

The landscape around Jordan is totally different from the more lush landscape around the kibbutz. It’s very arid and dry, and there is not much in the way of agriculture. The cities are crowded, noisy, run down and dizzying. Our first stop was the ancient decapolis city of Jerash, which in itself was pretty cool, but partway through the tour the Moslem guy in the tower started preaching and wailing over the loudspeaker, and it was so overwhelming. I didn’t enjoy it much, although the structures they’ve uncovered there are very impressive. We did happen to run across a Moslem full-fledged fancy dress…playing Ode to Joy on the BAGPIPES of all things! That was quite entertaining, I must say.

Then we went up to the top of Mt. Nebo, the site where Moses stood and overlooked the Promised Land before he was taken into heaven. It has an amazing view – you can see the Dead Sea, Jericho, and on a clear day you can even see Jerusalem from there. Unfortunately it wasn’t a clear day, but it was awesome to see the Dead Sea.

After that we went down to this church with a map of the Middle East in mosaics on the floor around the altar. We hiked really quickly through the city from the place where there was room for the bus to stop to the church, had a quick tour and then booked it back to the bus. By this point, because of the delay at the border, we were running a couple of hours late and we still had a three hour drive to our hotel just outside Petra.

You should have seen the hotel décor…it was called the Silk Road Hotel, and the lobby looked fairly normal, but as we started heading down the stairs to our rooms, the walls were all painted bright purple. Jess commented that it was like Alice in Wonderland…when we got to the landing, even the chairs were squishy purple velvet. Our room was entirely purple, too. It was pretty crazy.

On Saturday morning we set off for Petra – we walked the few blocks to the park entrance, and from there a few people rode horses to the entrance to the Siq, and some of us walked. We hiked down the Siq, and it was amazing. It was cool and shady, and there were a ton of neat rock formations. It was so beautiful, and when I got my first glimpse of the treasury, it was everything I had imagined it would be. Unfortunately after the first minute or so of stunned awe, a really noisy crowd came in behind us and kind of changed the atmosphere a bit. I could probably have sat there for much longer and just looked at it, but there wasn’t time.

Near the treasury there is a lower level of tombs that have been partially excavated, making a pit, and then it was covered over with bars to keep people from falling in. I went over and aimed my camera between the bars to get a shot of the tombs, but as I pulled away, my lens cap caught in the bars and the elastic strap came loose, and the cap fell into the pit. What a pain! But a little part of me will now always be in Petra. :)

We hiked down to the other end of the park, had lunch there, and then some of us tackled the 800+ steps up to the tomb known as “The Monastery” at the top of a mountain. Near the end, I was NOT sure I was going to make it – hiking up a ton of slippery limestone steps covered in donkey dung in the middle of a hot desert afternoon is a lot of work. Dr. Schuler kept saying “we’re almost there” and waiting for me and the couple other people who were lagging. It was kind of like being herded by a sheepdog, and I probably would have given up otherwise! I was surprised to find that I’m likely to push my limits more if I have encouragement to do so…interesting, hey? I’m not sure if the Monastery itself was really worth the hike, but I was pretty proud of myself for doing it in the end.

Hiking back down was also an adventure – while it wasn’t nearly as difficult as going up, the slippery steps were even more treacherous, so I took it pretty slowly. Once we were down, we started the looong walk back to the hotel, avoiding the myriad of offers for camel, donkey or horse rides. (Says the kid leading the donkey “Taxi miss? One dinar!”)

That was the thing I enjoyed the least about Petra – the descendants of the Bedouin who originally lived there now live in government funded housing just outside, and run all the shops etc in Petra. They really have it down to a science – snagging tourists. I managed to avoid getting hooked by anything, but Ian almost landed in some trouble with a kid who asked to be in a picture with him. Once the picture was taken, the kid expected Ian to give him a dinar! I just really did not enjoy being hassled when I was trying to soak in the sights.

After supper at the hotel, we were talking to our guide, and he estimated that we walked between 15 and 20 kilometres that day! I was stunned that I had done that – it’s all due to two weeks of hard labour on the dig site, I’m sure – there’s no way I could have done that three weeks ago. Yay! :)

We did a little shopping before bed, and then in the morning we set off for a whirlwind tour of Amman, the economic capital of Jordan. The actual political capital is in a different city, but most of Amman is fairly western, and there are quite a few Roman-era ruins there. Something about the Middle East: they don’t seem to be big on crosswalks or pedestrian right of way, so while our guide is booking it on ahead, we’re all trying to keep up without getting left behind or run over. It was quite the adventure…luckily our armed “Tourist Police” guard earned his pay by holding up traffic for us a couple of times.

So after the mad dash through the souk, apparently just to get the flavour of it, we went to the old Roman theatre and the little Jordanian culture museum that was there. Then we went up to the old citadel and the museum there, which has some fragments of the Dead Sea Scrolls on display – that was worth the price of admission right there – SOOO cool to see, even if having parts of the Bible on display in a Moslem museum was a little weird.

Something else that was weird about Jordan was tipping in the bathroom. I can understand maybe tipping in store where you just go on for that purpose and don’t buy anything, or even tipping for a particularly clean one, but we went to a few where there wasn’t any toilet paper, soap, paper towel or a working blow dryer, and they still had someone standing there collecting tips. What a racket!

Our last stop on the way back to the border on Sunday afternoon was at a traditional Jordanian restaurant for a “bbq” lunch, which has nothing in common with a North American bbq except for the cooking over open flame part. It was hands down the best culinary experience on the whole trip – I ate till I thought I was going to burst, and then finished off Linda’s watermelon as well! They brought a round of little salad-y things with pitas and olives, and then brought bbq’d lamb and chicken with more pita and then two kinds of melon for dessert. I really thought I’d died and gone to gastric heaven – and they only charged us 10 dinars each – about $15. If I went somewhere like that at home, with that many hovering waiters and that much food, I would have expected to pay at least twice that. It was amazing.

Our goal was to be back at the border crossing by 4 pm so we could be back at the kibbutz in time for supper at 6:30, so our bus driver is booking it down this bumpy road (I’m sure way faster then he should have been) and there was this huge jolt and a block later he pulled over. Turns out he blew out one of the shocks and they had to call for a repair guy. Thankfully he came quite quickly, especially by Middle Eastern standards, and we were only delayed on the side of the road for an hour. It could have been much, much worse!

We cleared Jordanian customs and passport control with a minimum of fuss, and got back on the bus to be shuttled across the bridge. I looked at my watch at that point, and it was just coming up to 5:00 and I figured that would give us lots of time to make it for supper. Well, I guess the Israelis didn’t like us crossing the bridge in a Jordanian bus, and decided to hold us on the bridge for about 45 minutes before someone came out to talk to us. (This was very excruciating for those of us who had to go to the bathroom, let me tell you!)

Finally two people came over and Dr. Schuler went out to talk to them. They asked him a ton of questions about who we were and what we were doing, and then picked one person randomly off the passenger list to haul out and ask the same questions, presumably to see if the stories matched up. Once they did that, they came on the bus and asked us all if we were carrying any weapons, if someone in Jordan had given us something to carry across the border, and if we’d packed our luggage ourselves. Finally they let us go, and once we got off the bus, we still had to clear customs and passport control, and several of us were searched.

Once that ordeal was over, we emerged to find that once again, and despite Dr. Schuler’s two or three phone calls to say we’d be late, the Israeli bus driver had gotten tired of waiting for us and taken off. We eventually got back to the kibbutz two hours later then supper. L Then we still had to finish packing to go home, have Sunday church and say our goodbyes to everyone. I didn’t get to bed till very late!

It was so sad to say goodbye – when I’d been planning for this trip I’d thought a lot about what could go wrong (thankfully none of those things happened!) but I hadn’t thought much about what kind of people I might meet. I was very blessed to work and tour with an amazing bunch of people who will always be very special to me.

After I was mostly done all my running around, I walked down to the lake one last time. It was well after 10 pm, and I don’t think I’d stayed up that late the entire time I was there…so I got to see a beautiful sky full of stars, listen to the waves, and just soak it all it. I could have stayed out there all night, but I knew I needed to rest for the next day and our big trip to Jerusalem.

More about that to come in Major Update Part II (or How Much of Jerusalem Can You See in One Day?)

Crossing the Jordan

What a weekend....we're safely back at the kibbutz, three hours later then we'd planned. Many adventures - too many to write about now, as I have to finish packing and get to bed ASAP. It's 9:45 and the bus to Tel Aviv is coming at 6 am. From there we're going to Jerusalem for the day. We'll be at the airport in Tel Aviv for quite a few hours tomorrow evening, and they have free wireless there, so I plan to post a big update then.
I'm heading down for one last walk along the lakeshore, and I'll finish packing and go to bed.

Last day of digging :(

Sad day!!! I have to confess, I got a little teary a few times this morning. It's kind of like leaving summer camp, and I never did like doing that. It's literally been a mountain top experience!



Here's our A square after two weeks of digging - we've moved a lot of dirt, and I've made a lot of progress physically. Everyday this week I've managed to hike all the way up the hill from the bus without having to have a break, and today I carried down TWO full buckets of pottery without needing Nancy to rescue me. It was a really good feeling - now, how do I keep this up at home??!!

I did breakfast duty today, for the second time this trip. I enjoy it...gives my back a break at least! Here's what the breakfast set up looks like...usually there are tomatoes and cucumbers, bread, jam, chocolate spread (like Nutella, but not quite the same), hard boiled eggs, pickled fish, cheese, coffee, and usually one variable item - some days it was pastries, some days it was pudding, and today it was tuna...icky!

After breakfast Dr. Schuler took us on a tour of next year's dig site. For the last few years he's been working on the North East Church, but it's pretty well uncovered now, so he's looking at digging up the church in the area they believe was the domestic quarter of the hill. The location has an amazing view, and would be fantastic to come back and work on. The potential problem is that the Israeli government owns the hill, and they hold the dig permit. After next year, the current permit expires. They're in negotiations to renew it, but because no synagogues have been found at Hippos yet, the site isn't a big priority for the government, so we shall see what happens with that.



In this first picture, you can see the team standing in what would have been the main part of the church.

This second picture shows what was probably a paved narthex area - we can tell this because there's only grass there and no trees or bushes.


Tomorrow we head off on our trip to the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. I won't have internet access until Sunday night, so all my loyal readers are going to have to live in suspense until then. :)

Winding Down

It's just after 9 pm here in Israel, and waaaay past my bedtime. It's been a super busy day - I was helping restore the mosaic floor in the 'sacristy' area this morning, instead of back-breaking digging work, which I quite enjoyed. It was really neat to plaster the little tile squares back into place, as they were damaged during the earthequake 1500 years ago, and ponder about the person who laid them in the first place. It was a pretty cool experience, and I'm glad I asked to help out there!

Thankfully the bus was on time today, and after a quick swim I spent the afternoon doing chores - hand washing laundry, writing postcards, organizing the souviners I've picked up, checking my 'to buy' list, and visiting the kibbutz gift shop to find something cool for my little brother! Then we washed pottery, had a really good devo about faith in storms, a quick meeting about the Jerusalem trip on Monday for the people leaving Monday night (yay - we're going to Jerusalem after all) and then we were late for supper. We dashed from supper to a really good lecture about the dig history of Hippos, and then came back to the room to do email and such before bed. I'm so tired!!!

Tomorrow is going to be busy as well - we're leaving early Friday morning for our trip to the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, and won't be back till Sunday evening. Then we have to finish packing, as we're leaving Monday at 6 am for Tel Aviv, where we'll store our bags the the airport, take the Egged (public transit) to Jerusalem for the day, and then bus back to the airport before the baggage storage place closes. From here on out our lazy afternoons around the kibbutz are over, and I'm really sad about that.

I'm surprised at how hard it is to think about leaving this place. I realized earlier this week that while I never had a moment of "wow, I'm really here", I feel very at peace and less stressed then I have in a very long time. The serenity of this community has snuck into my spirit and Israel has gotten under my skin in a way I didn't expect it to. I thought this would be a very emotional experience for me, but it's actually been really calming. If I didn't have a husband patiently wating for me in Canada, I just might stay here! I sure don't want to leave...

I've really got to go to bed - it's super late and I don't want to fall asleep on our last day of digging!

No news

Not much to report today - it was a hot one - about 41 degrees, the hottest so far. We found lots of rocks, and spent a pleasant hour or so bobbing around in the lake.

I get a news email everyday from Israel Today, and this is today's update:
http://www.israeltoday.co.il/default.aspx?tabid=178&nid=16548

'Pray for rain,' urges Israeli water official
A senior Israel Water Authority official on Monday said that Israelis better start praying for an exceedingly rainy winter because the nation today stands on the edge of a severe and protracted drought.
Water Authority official Shuli Chen made those remarks to Israel's Ha'aretz newspaper shortly after checking and confirming that the country's main fresh water reservoir, the Sea of Galilee, had dropped below its lower red line.
Chen said that five years ago the Sea of Galilee, known in Israel as Lake Kinneret, had dropped even lower, but only at the end of a very dry summer. This time around, the lake is at its lower red line and summer is only beginning. At this rate, experts expect the Sea of Galilee to reach its "black line" by mid-October, at which point irreversible damage will have been done to the quality of the lake's water.
Already damage is being done to the Sea of Galilee's water quality, former Water Authority chief Dan Zaslavsky told Israel Radio on Tuesday, noting that when the lower red line is reached all water pumping is supposed to stop.
The problem is that if Israel stops pumping water now, the nation will suddenly lose some 30 percent of its fresh water, necessitating draconian rationing policies. Israel is also obligated under its peace treat with Jordan to provide its neighbor with some 50 million cubic meters of water every year. Without the Sea of Galilee, Israel would be unable to meet that commitment.
But if the black line is reached, Israel will be unable to draw any more water from the Sea of Galilee as the national water carrier's pumps will be exposed and no longer under water.
In the face of this dire situation, the Water Authority on Tuesday put forward an emergency plan that restricts the use of water for private gardening and demands that the government accelerate plans to construct additional desalination plants. The plan also calls on the public to voluntarily practice greater water conservation by taking shorter showers, washing cars with buckets of water rather than running hoses, and taking greater care to use less water when washing dishes.
If these measures and the coming winter rains fail to alleviate the problem, Zaslavsky warned that Israelis will begin to experience sporadic water supply to their homes.

So while you're praying for the peace of Jerusalem, please pray for rain as well! We're drinking liters and liters of it - in this climate, fresh drinking water is an absolute necessity. Oh, that does remind me of a story from today...

For some unknown reason, the bus that is to pick us up from the dig site everyday was half an hour late today. It was HOT and there was no shade. It was so hot that my water in my bottle was literally warm enough to make tea in...not very refreshing when you're baking in the sun!

This girl from the international team (not one of our Lutheran group) comes up to me and asks for some water. I was a little distracted by what she was wearing - a skimpy red crop top and about the shortest shorts I've ever seen - that it took me a minute to respond and by that point she was impatiently demanding to know if I spoke English.

I reached for the water bottle hanging from my backpack and asked her where her water bottle was (meaning to pour some of my water into her bottle) as it clearly wasn't concealed on her person! She replied with "I don't have a water bottle. I'm Russian". This has to be the most memorable non sequiter I've ever heard, but I kept reaching for my bottle. I didn't really want to have some stranger drink my water, but I figured I could wash it later. Thankfully someone from her team saw my deilema and gave her their disposable water bottle.

Anyway, the Russian girl went on to say that "We're Russian, and we can't deal with this heat. Our winters get down to -30, you know." Unfortuantly for her, she was talking to a group of Canadians, so she didn't get much sympathy! I couldn't believe it though - to go up on the hill for a full day of digging without a water bottle. We're supposed to drink 2 liters inside of three hours, and then they come around with jugs to refill our bottles from. I haven't been drinking quite that much, but pretty close as I have no desire to die from heat stroke. Sometimes I really wonder about people...hopefully she's not sick tomorrow!!!

Playing in the Dirt

What a day! We shifted a TON of dirt. We're now working three squares in the A section, and out team has grown quite a bit. Other then uncovering a lot of rocks, we didn't find anything interesting except for a small section of mosaic by Liz's Wall. Here's a shot of all three squares, although the original, A0 is dug so deep you can't really see it.

Here's a shot of my favourite tools of the trade...gloves are an absolute necessity, and who could resist pink ones? Not me! The brush is for tidying up and defining the outline of walls, or rocks that could possibly be part of a wall. The small pick and the trowels are also used for the delicate work around walls. That's my favourite part of the job, and this is the section of wall I was working on today. We also use a tool that's a cross between a shovel and hoe, called a turrea, but I don't like it enough to take a picture of it - using it makes my back hurt!

And this is me at the end of the dig today. With so many people working in such a small space, the dirt was flying like crazy, and I emerged from the pit dirtier then I've ever been. I thought that was worth documenting, especially given the heckling I've been getting for staying clean!

At lunch today, still all grimy, having only washed my hands and changed boots for flip-flops, I was contemplating how much work it was going to be to get clean. I'd have to go back to the room, gather up towels, clean clothes and toiletries, wait for a shower stall, shower and rinse out all my dirty clothes, get dressed again without dropping the clean clothes on the wet floor, haul all the stuff back to my room, and hang out the wet things.

Jenn and Katie, my roommates, as well as my pit boss, Arnie, were sitting with me, and I said something to the effect of "I wish I could go through the dishwasher". They all looked at me like I'd spent too much time in the sun...

But the dishwasher here is super cool - you scrape off your dishes, and load it all onto a tray on a conveyer belt, and it runs it through the dishwasher. If I could take a ride on it, I'd be clean, and my clothes would be clean too! Sounds like a pretty good idea to me...

I should tell you about what happened last night...I did the stupidest thing I've done in a very, very long time!

I took my camera down to take some shots of pottery washing on the lawn, but got caught up in it, and then talked to some people, and went back to the dorm to wash for dinner. As I was leaving the room, I went to grab some shekels to buy a Coke at dinner (yes Mom, I know it's bad for me... :) and realized that I'd put my money belt (including my passport!) in my camera case, and that my camera was still sitting down by the lake.

Panic doesn't even begin to describe what I felt...I sprinted all the way to the lawn to find everyone from the group had gone, and so had my camera case. Literally in tears I went back to my room to see if it was there and I'd missed seeing it, but it wasn't. I trudged over to the dining hall, not knowing what else to do, and what did I see but Ian standing outside, waving my camera bag. It took a couple of hours for my heartbeat to go back to normal!

Then this morning on the bus up to the hill, I was dozing off, and the next thing I know Ian (who was sitting behind me) had leaned forward and said, practically in my ear "So did you dream about loosing your passport last night?" I nearly jumped out of my seat...thankfully I didn't scream, as I've been known to do when startled! He swears he didn't mean to scare me, and seeing as how he's not one of my youth boys, I suppose he probably means it. :)

Now I'm off to join Jenn on the lawn beside the Sea to read for a bit before pottery cleaning...and I'm leaving my passport safely locked in my room!!!

Sabbath touring

Saturday was so busy, I was too tired to do a blog post when we got back from touring...we saw three sites, and a lot of the countryside from the bus windows.

Here's me in the stadium/theatre at Bet Shean - you can get an idea of the scale of it...

At Zippori, also known as Sephoris, we saw a lot of well-preserved mosaics, but I think this was my favourite...we've been digging up a lot of shards of Roman fineware at Hippos, so it was really interesting to see it here, intact.

Then we went to Nazareth, to the Basilica of the Annuciation. The church was pretty neat, but Nazareth was basically just one big souk. There hasn't been much, if any, archeaological work done there, so it was really hard to look around and picture Jesus walking there. However, I did pick up a few nice things at this little store...

I've been keeping a sort of mental "critter count" on the trip. Yesterday was very exciting, because I saw sheep, goats, ducks, and a cute furry mamal of some sort that I've never seen before. When I came out from having dinner and was watching the ducks, it scuttled across the deck, and it was about the size of a small cat, was mottled brown, had a pointy face and a big fluffy tail that was as long as it's body. I have no idea what it was, but it sure was cute. I also saw the most pathetic cat I've ever seen - it was at the gift shop at Bet Shean, and she was hanging around. She was so friendly, but sooo sooo skinny. She was obviously nursing, but she wasn't very old herself and just as obviously wasn't getting enough to eat. I felt really bad leaving her there. :(

Today on the dig our team branched out, with two new recruits, to start exacvating another square a bit further over to see if the wall we found runs through there as well. We also continued with the square we've been working on up till now, trying to get it down to the same level as the floor in the next room. I'm really sore today! As soon as I'm done this, I'm going for a nap...

One of the new diggers to our square is this Southern gentelman named Gene, and I'm quite enjoying working with him. I wouldn't say he's old enough to be my grandfather, but he's got a generation or two on me. Anyway, the first time he called me "ma'am" I was a bit taken aback, and then I decided I liked it - it makes me feel old when the kid at the grocery store calls me ma'am, but when someone older then me does, it feels more respectful. He also called me girl, which makes me feel younger, and is also pretty cool. :) He's got a wicked sense of humour, and apparently he's preaching at the Sunday service tonight, so I'm looking forward to that!

On Jordan's Bank the Baptist's Cry

I've always wondered what the Baptists were crying about...I realized today that it's either because the spring that feeds the Jordan is so cold they can't feel their toes, or it's because they're not Lutheran! hahahaha... :)

So, this is me at Gamla, our first stop on our tour today. See that big hill in the background? I had to hike down it to get to Gamla, and I had to clamber back up it to get back to the bus. It was a pretty rough trip back up, but I managed! Yay for me!

From there we went to Tel Dan, which is an ancient Biblican city, circa the old testament. When the kingdoms split into the north and south, the northern king built a temple there and installed a golden calf. It's also the location of one of the main springs which meet to create the Jordan River. It's right practically on the border with Lebanon, and the border with Syria is just over the hills. It was really lush and green, and it was easy to forget the precarious location until we were on the way back out, and we passed a man with his kids...packing his machine gun along as well.

Since we got to sleep in till almost 7 today, I was still up to see the sunset! It was beautiful.

Tomorrow we're off for more touring, and so I'm sure I'll have another hundred or so pictures! Today's lot are currently uploading to my webalbum, so make sure you check them out!

Musings

Today was rough - I'm definitely ready for the weekend! The digging had been getting easier every day - until today, when my bad back finally caught up with me. It's really a miracle that I've gone this long without pain in it, but this morning the strain of hefting the buckets full of dirt UP and out of the hole proved to be a bit too much, and I spent most of the morning with a headache. Darren, one of the Canadian team and who is also in my square, found the top of a column, which is looking promising. And we stopped digging a little early, so Arther Segal, the head archeologist overseeing the entire dig talked to us a bit about some of the history of Hippos, and that was pretty cool.

When we got back to the kibbutz, we were introduced to another aspect of communal living - communal laundry! We had left our laundry in bags on our porch in the morning, and when we came back, the laundry from three dorms was all in the common room in piles - pants, shirts, socks & underwear, sheets, and towels. Thankfully I had the forsight to make a list of what I'd put in the laundry, and managed to find it all, but it reminded me of being at a garage sale!

I can't remember if I've mentioned this, but every afternoon we spend about 30 to 45 minutes cleaning the pottery that was found that day. A lot of people don't like it, but I really enjoy scrubbing off 2000-some years of grime to see what's underneath. When we find the pottery shards in the dirt, they're dirt coloured, but after a soaking and a bit of scrubbing, the original colour and detail is revealed. I like it. :)

We got some vouchers for the kibbutz store today - the dining hall is closed for a few meals over the weekend, in honour of the sabbath, so we needed to stock up on food. It was really neat to look around the store - some things were quite recognizable, like Coke and Doritos, even though they are labeled in Hebrew, but some things were so foreign I could only begin to guess what they might be. I did buy an amazing ice cream thingy - it was like a fudgecicle dipped in white chocolate, with a chunk of white chocolate running down the middle. Yummmm....

So I've been away for a week now, almost exactly to the hour. It's gone really quickly! I haven't managed to have a decent conversation with Trevor yet though, because of the time difference and the internet connection issues, which really sucks. We've never spent more then 10 days apart, in the entire (almost) 9 years we've known each other. So that's becoming more and more rough as the days progress, but thankfully we're so busy here I don't have time to mope much.

Tomorrow we're off for the day to see three sites around Galilee - one of which is a 45-minute hike each way, so that should be interesting and exhausting! Then we're going to experience a traditional Shabbat meal at the kibbutz dining hall, which I'm really looking forward to.

Pictures continue to be put up in my web album - check them out!

Sad Day in Jerusalem

You may have heard about the terrorist attack in Jerusalem this afternoon - four people are dead and over 20 more injured by a man with a buldozer who overturned a bus. Obviously the city's security has been stepped up, and who knows what will happen next, so our trip tomorrow and over the weekend into Jerusalem and Bethleham has been cancelled. It's very, very disappointing. We're going to be doing some more touring around the Galilee on Saturday instead, but it really sucks to have come all the way over here and not be able to see the thing I was looking forward to the most! :(

In other news...we found another wall in our square today, which was exciting, and every day the heat and exercise get a little easier. It's really satisfying to see what emerges from the dirt in our square. I have pictures of the progress on the wall, but it's time to go clean pottery, and with the disappointment of the trip being cancelled, I can't seem to muster up the energy to care too much about photos right now!

Hopefully tomorrow will bring something good and exciting...

Photos...

...are up in my webalbum!
http://picasaweb.google.com/michelleheumann?pli=1

The Wall

So when we started digging, it looked like this:

Day 2, it looked like this:

Today, day 3, it looked like this:

As you may or may not be able to tell, we have found a wall, which is what the dig director was hoping for, so that's quite exciting. I also found lots of pottery, including an intact neck to a tiny amphora, a bone, some glass, mosaic tiles called 'tessera' (probably not how that's spelled...) and a rusty nail. It was very exciting!

Apparently I'm quite the marvel because I manage to stay clean no matter how hard I work and how dirty the people around me get, but really, I don't may any particular effort to stay clean, it just happens somehow. I'm not going to complain!

They've finally gotten our internet up and working properly, so I'm really excited about that - I haven't gotten to talk to Trevor since I left, so I'll be able to call him tonight now. Poor Trevor! I can't believe he didn't want to come muck around in the dirt for ancient garbage. :)

In other news, apparently northern Israel and Lebanon are due for a major earthquake. We're digging up a city that was distroyed by an earthquake in 700-something AD...perhaps we'll be around to see it get distroyed again!!??

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1214726159543&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

Alright, I'm going to try to have a quick nap before it's time to gather for pottery washing, a devo and then dinner...I need to call Trev after we eat, and it would be nice if I could manage to keep my eyes open, which I'm having a hard time doing right now!

Touring Israel

So we arrived in Tel Aviv just as the sun was setting, having seen sunrise over the Atlantic just a few hours before, which was pretty strange. It was a couple hours by bus to the kibbutz where we're staying, and even though it was morning at home, I was exhausted and went to bed as quickly as possible.

The next morning we set out on a tour of the Galilee. I was amused by the title on the side of our bus - "Nazarene Express". It made me think of the Pony Express, and I had a bizarre mental picture of Jesus zipping by on a galloping donkey...

Anyway, it's about 20 minutes from the kibbutz, by bus, up the side of the mountain, and then it's a 15 minute hike up to the top from there. We saw lots of interesting things - mine field warning signs, tomb-caves, a sarcophagus, and the remains of a Roman road, which took us into the "downtown" part of the city.

Anyway, this is one of the ruined churches on Hippos, and behind it is the hall where we eat breakfast - it's a more modern structure that was built by the Israelis sometime in the last century.

Tomorrow I'll post photos of the section of Hippos I'm digging in - I'm too tired to even dig out my camera at the moment!

After our tour of Hippos, we went to Kursi, which is a site that commemorates the casting of the demons into the swine. Said event may or may not have happened there, but a monastery was built there, and is now an interesting set of ruins. Kursi is also home to the largest aloe vera plant I've ever seen...

Then we went on to Capernaum, which is mentioned in the Bible quite often. There is a church there built over ruins of a church built over ruins of what is supposedly St. Peter's house. Again, that may or may not be the case, but it's a beautiful site right on the lake. We ran into a few hundred Anglican tourists there - part of a conference that was happening in Jerusalem. It was crowded, but pretty cool to see so many Bishops in one place!

After that we went to Tabgha, which is the site that commemorates the feeding of the five thousand. There's a church built around the rock that Jesus laid the loaves and fishes on... I don't know about that, but the church has beautiful mosaics and was really interesting to see

For our last stop we went to a more modern church which is built on a hill overlooking the lake, and it commemorates the sermon on the mount. It was pretty windy up there - my hat took off and I had to go chasing after it. That was pretty exciting... Then we went back to the kibbutz, and was starving, so I ended up going off and finding dinner on my own. I've never been overseas before, never mind navigating a foreign restaurant all by myself, so that was an adventure. You know how when you go to a lot of places they give you bread or something to tide you over till the food comes? I was served bite-sized peices of deep fried pita, and wasn't even sure was it was at first...thanfully the waitress' English wasn't too bad!

Today we got up at 4 am and heading up for our first day of digging. I did kill a scorpion - without any screaming, I might add... I also found some pottery shards, bruised my hands using a big hoe, got to know some pretty cool people, and went for a swim in the Sea of Galilee with said cool people. It's been a good day, but I am all done in...time to read and possibly nap before an evening church service by the lake...awesome!

Arrived

Yay! We made it to Tel Aviv - it's just after 7:30 pm here, but according to my internal clock it's not even lunch time yet. We're heading out to take a bus for 2-3 hours to the kibbutz, and then hopefully to bed ASAP. We're touring the Galilee region tomorrow - looking forward to that! I don't know when I'll have internet again - hopefully Sunday or Monday.

Tomorrow

I can't believe I'm leaving tomorrow already...ahhhhhhhh! I've got a ton of stuff I need to do, and quite a few things I just want to do as well - hopefully I can fit it all in. I just need to get through a few more hours of work, and then I can focus on all the other stuff I need to do. When I blog again, I'll be in Israel! Yay!

Ladies...do you like bathing suit shopping??!!

http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/arts/story.html?id=3cba0f93-93cb-40d9-be7a-db81d5acae84

I absolutly loathe it - my goal in life is to find a comfortable, modest, yet nice-looking, bathing suit that will actually stay where it's supposed to when you jump into a pool. So far that holy grail of bathing suits has eluded me, but I found this news article that gives me hope...this might just be the solution!

http://www.canada.com/topics/lifestyle/style/story.html?id=a52dba18-e9eb-4926-a24f-3c56aa445815

Sink or swim

Calgary custom swimwear maker lessens the horror of bathing suit shopping

Shopping for a bathing suit has always been a special kind of hell, real or imagined, for most women.
Every woman -- unless you're a supermodel and, let's face it, even they have issues with their thighs, tummies and butts too -- hates shoehorning herself into an itsy, bitsy and then checking herself out in a teeny, weeny dressing room lit with hideously unflattering fluorescent lights.
Worse than the realization you will have to actually wear the offending item in public, finding a great swimsuit that fits well all over and is flattering seems like mission impossible. And with many of us fleeing the frozen north for sunny destinations such as Mexico and Hawaii in the next few months, the pressure is on.
That's where Calgarian Chelsea LaBossiere can help.
Inside her basement suite in northeast Calgary, the seamstress lessens the loathing of Lycra. While she can't do anything about stretch marks or cellulite, LaBossiere, who makes custom-made swimsuits, eases the pain of buying a bathing suit. "That's a big thing for me -- making people comfortable," says the 32-year-old small business owner.
LaBossiere's company, Caba Fashions, has been in Calgary since 2003, when she bought it from her former employer in Grand Forks, B.C.
With LaBossiere's help, customers first pick out a bunch of bathing suits to try on from her sample rack that contains more than 60 suits. Mixing and matching is strongly encouraged. She can whip up every kind of swimwear, from tankinis, triangle suits, halter tops and bandeaus, to boy shorts, string bikinis, sports suits or lounging-by-the-pool confections.
Customers can also bring in magazine pictures of their favourite suit for LaBossiere to work from.
Need more coverage on the bottom, but like a higher cut at the thigh to lengthen the legs? LaBossiere can do it. She has about 100 different patterns and stitches together the suits on her four commercial sewing machines inside her sewing room.
Once a style has been chosen, LaBossiere pulls out her swatch binder and customers flip through dozens of different fabrics, all of which she has on hand.
She has seen every kind of suit on every kind of body and that experience helps her counsel customers on the best style and fit for their bodies.
"I am honest with people," she says.
She's honest, but gentle in her appraisal of what looks good. (To be honest, it felt a little like therapy, a bathing suit breakthrough, of sorts for this reporter who sampled LaBossiere's wares. And the resulting swimsuit turned out great.)
LaBossiere's mantra: Make her customers feel a little more confident and happy in their suits, as best she can.
"It's the smallest piece of clothing you will wear in public. It's important to feel comfortable in it. . . . It's like going outside in your underwear," she says.
The average custom-made suit costs $60, but prices range from $42 to $80. Don't, however, expect instant gratification.
Sewing is LaBossiere's passion, but it's also her night job. She works full time as an advertising assistant Monday to Friday and fits sewing in on evenings and weekends.
Depending on how busy she is, LaBossiere takes two to three weeks to make suits. (She also sews gymnastics and skating wear.) It only takes her an hour to actually make a swimsuit, but she often has a backlog of orders.
For more information, e-mail caba2003@telus.net or call 244-8255.

Dig Info

Here's a link to the official site for our excavation...
http://www.virtualdig.org/index.htm

It has links to the blogs of other people on the team, bios of everyone going, information on Hippos, Israel, archaeology, past seasons of digging - there's lots of interesting stuff there - check it out!

15 days to go - I can't believe how fast it's coming! I still have a ton of stuff to do...I had my tetanus shot on Monday, and my arm is killing me. It was at it's worst yesterday - I couldn't even carry my medium steeped tea triple triple back from Timmy's without it hurting. I bet they don't have triple triple anything in Israel...eeeek...

Bizzare...

I was just in the photocopy room, looking for a binder to put this client's financial disclosure into, my mind totally on tax returns and credit card statements and such, and I had the strangest conversation...

Co-worker: "Do you mind if I ask you a question? Don't be offended, but you're so quiet. Are you LDS?"
Me: (mishearing and thinking LSD...) Pardon?
Co-worker: LDS. It's a church I belong to - I have it on my resume. You're so quiet and I heard you mention your church once, so I wondered if you belonged to the same one.
Me: (realizing she mean Mormon) Ummm, no, I'm Lutheran.
Co-worker: Oh, yah, that's a good church too.
Me: (smiling politely as I back slowly out of the room)

How weird is that? Not only is she so NOT a quiet person, I never associated being quiet with any particular religion. And why on earth would you put your religious affiliation on your resume? That's just opening the door for all kinds of trouble! It was so strange...

Calgary Philharmonic LIVE

I'm a big fan of the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra (the CPO). If you've never been, you're missing out! They're good - billed as one of the best in North America, and they don't just do classical stuff. This upcoming season has such a good line up - I'm SOOOO excited. If you order your tickets in bulk before the season starts, you get a discount. I'm going to place my order before I leave for Israel (24 days!!) - do you want to come with me to any of the shows? I'm going to:

• Swing, Swing, Swing on Saturday, September 13, 2008 at 8 pm
• Christmas with Natalie McMaster on Tuesday, December 9, 2008 at 8 pm
• Stairway to Heaven - the music of Led Zeppelin on Friday, January 30, 2009 at 8 pm
• Vivaldi's Gloria on Saturday, February 7, 2009 at 7:30 pm
• The Andrew Lloyd Webber Experience on Saturday, March 14, 2009 at 8 pm
• Vivaldi's Four Seasons on Saturday, March 28, 2009 at 8 pm
• Three Worms and an Orchestra - the Arrogant Worms in concert on Wednesday, April 22, 2009 at 8 pm
• We Will Rock You - the music of Queen on Saturday, May 9, 2009 at 8 pm

Let me know by June 17 if you want to come! Depending on which show it is, ticket prices range from $25 for the Arrogant Worms to $35 for the others listed here. If I order enough, we'll get a 15% discount. Those are the cheap, cheap seats without the best view, but it still sounds good from there. Hope you can make it!

Photos!

I haven't updated my web album in ages...not since Survivor in November! I uploaded a bunch of stuff last night to make up for it. :)

http://picasaweb.google.com/michelleheumann

We have the youth Halloween party from October - there's some fun stuff in there.

There's Heather's visit in December - we went to Heritage Park, and I threw an early Christmas dinner that was lots of fun.

In February I went down to Medicine Hat to visit Barb - I didn't take many pictures there, but there are a few here that I like.

Teresa and I went on a walking tour of historic Inglewood (Calgary's oldest neighbourhood) earlier this month - it was a beautiful day and I took some pictures I really like a lot.

On the May long weekend Trevor and I went for a hike outside the city - almost out to Canmore. There was still ice on the creek and that make for some really cool pictures. And I took a few in Nose Hill that weekend as well.

Enjoy!

New Sisterchick Book!

I really enjoy this series of books - I think my favourite one was the first book, but there's a new one out now that's on my "to read" list. I don't really know what genre they belong to - maybe "Christian Chick-lit"? But they're fun and I really like reading about other places. Christian Pub is going to be closing at the end of August - they'll probably have really good deals on books at their closing sale! :)

Much Special-ness

So we're looking for a new place to live (in Calgary) for a bunch of reasons that are just too involved to go into here...and in our searching we found this place that looked just too good to be true, but in our budget and the area we're looking at, so Trevor sent an email to the contact person.

This is what he got back (without any editing by me!):

On Mon, May 5, 2008 at 12:33 PM, pertty loves wrote:
I got your email and Thanks for your interest in my Apartment , i want you to know that my Apartment Flat is still available, The Flat is fully with All Necessary Document registered, I am Glad you response to me on time, i want you to know that i am My wife are very happy and EXCITED that we have finally FOUND a person for our FLAT, i want you to PROMISE us that you will take very good care of the FLAT because is a LOVELY place to stay with FAMILY, Kids,Visitors, E.T.C Actually my Wife and I got relocated to the Corona, New York on a Working Trips work in Corona, New York, we are here for Working trip from the State We used to live in State, but since we left for the Working trip we have to bring the Flat Document papers of the House because of People Who are willing to have the Flat for Rent, And as you asked For, so right now all the House Papers Document are with Our Lawyer here in the Corona, New York, We Just Got a Lawyer Here in the Corona, because we are New to the Country, and we are not Yet a Citizen Of the country, so we really need to get a Lawyer for Back-up, in which we will be staying in Corona, New York for 1-3 Yrs in which all our house Papers Document of the FLAT in State is With the Lawyer Because, We have been Provided a New Flat, Accomodation, feeding , here in the Corona New York, by the Church who brought i and my husband to the Corona,
If you are interested in our lovely Apartment,get back to me with your
FullName---------------
Full Address ----------
Phone number--------
City-----------------------
State----------------------
zipcode-------------------
Occupation-------------
Age------------------------
Sex------------------------
Religion------------------
email Address---------
Fax Number------------
marriage Status-------
Picture If Available----
How many months deposit you will be paying for--------------------

And Let me Know How many Month or Years You are Willing to Rent my Apartment--
So that i can Forward all your information Directly to The Lawyer and the Lawyer will Get in touch with you, In the Paying of the Flat Fee, Agreement of Month or Years You are Willing to Stay and the Sending of the Document to you for you to have the Flat, the Document will be scan to you and also be Fax to You, if you have a Fax, and the Document will be Shipped Down to your Home Address Door Next-Day By Via EXPRESS DELIVERY, for you to have the Document at Hand, so you can move into the Flat, we really need a Good Decent Person for The Flat. And i Hope you are Decent And Respectfully Person, I have includedyou The Pictures of The Flat for you to View, If you are interested, get back to me with the Information Below as soon as possible Hope to read from you soonest
Thanks And God Bless You

So Trevor emails them back and asks for photos of the place so we can see what it looks like. They replied with some photos and:
email me back so that i can get you the details for payment to move in the apartment asap reply bac with the application form fill

Trevor's having a lot of fun with this, so he sends them another email:
Thanks for the pictures. I'm wondering if you have a picture of the Deck and the Stone Fireplace (which were listed in the ad we originally saw). We really like the idea of the fireplace and a private wood deck, but would love a picture to know what it is actually like. Also, is the pool and hot tub for our use also or is it shared with someone? And is that a big hill right behind the house, it looks nice.

I'm wondering how long it's going to take the scammers to realize that Trevor's just stringing them along for fun now, but I'm very interested to see what their response is going to be!

Poor duckies... :(

Five hundred-ish ducks died after they landed on a polluted pond...sad day! I really like ducks - makes me very sad to think of so many of them dying so horribly.

http://www.metronews.ca/calgary/local/article/47312

Hot Mama!

My mom got a new haircut...check it out! Hopefully I still look that good when I'm...well, that 'old'. :)

Book Review "Escape"

I just finished reading "Escape" by Carolyn Jessop, former multiple wife of Merill Jessop. It's the story of how she left the fundamentalist branch of the Mormon 'church' shortly before Warren Jeffs moved them all to the YFZ ranch in Texas, which is big in the news right now because of the recent raid on their compound.

It's a horrifying book - I can't believe it took the government so long to do anything about this cult. The abuse that goes on in that group is staggering. Speaking of the US being so worried about the Taliban's oppression - something just as bad has been going on right in their own back yard for many, many years.

I'm not sure who I feel more sorry for - the women like Carolyn Jessop who recognize that they're in an abusive situation but can't find a way out, or the ones who are so brainwashed and beaten that they believe the hooey that they're taught. The men in authority in that place are simply power-hungry control-freaks. If you're interested in reading more about her story, there's a link below to an excerpt from her book.

I saw a movie on TV a few months ago - unfortunately, I haven't been able to figure out what the title was - but it was based on a true story about a woman in a FLDS compound who's little daughter is almost molested by a young man in the community. The man blames the little girl for being a temptress, and says that he should marry her. I can't remember how old she was, but definitely younger then 12. The woman's husband actually contemplates doing this, so the woman sets fire to her house, and in the ensuing chaos escapes with all her children and heads for social services, hoping that they can help her. The husband lures back the oldest daughter (who's about 16 and his step-daughter) with the promise that he'll let her marry the boy she likes, but when she gets there she finds out that she's actually to marry her step-father. It was a ghastly story!

In my research in the last few days I've found a lot of stories of women who've escaped abuse at an FLDS compound. If there's so many of them, with stories that are so similar, why hasn't anyone in authority DONE anything about it before now? And I'm not even sure that the way they're going about it now (taking 400+ kids and putting them in a shelter) is the best way to deal with the situation. I really feel for those kids - they don't understand that they've been abused and brainwashed, and most of the women there don't realize they've been abused and brainwashed either. I can only pray that something good comes out of this situation!

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/femail/article.html?in_article_id=559132&in_page_id=1879&ICO=FEMAIL&ICL=TOPART

79 days to Israel!

The plane tickets have been bought...at a grand total of over $2500 each way...EEP! I can't think of anything I've ever spent that much money on before!

Leave: 26 June, AC 1132 (dep. 4:10 pm)

Come home: 15 July, AC 117 (arr. 10:12 am)

Here I come! Woot woot!

Law Firm Games

Don't get me wrong, I love my boss, I really do. She's easy going, got a good sense of humour, pretty low maintenance, gives good Christmas presents, and she often buys me chocolate. What more do you need? But some of these 'games' below eerily echo reality. :)

It's funny how these things are facts of life in an office - everyone knows it happens or that they do it, joke about it, and then go and do it! Number 2 and the last one are particularly apt in my lawyer/assistant relationship! haha...so funny...



These popular games require only two players, though more can play. They are not sold commercially. If you are interested in participating in any of them, your first step is to work for an attorney.

HIDE AND SEEK
Object of the game: To locate the missing attorney.
Attorney: Do not tell Secretary where you're going, why you're going, or when you'll be back. If possible stay away all afternoon. To score additional points, arrive late the following morning.
Secretary: Telephone attorney's home, favourite club, golf course, doctor, dentist, the local bureau of missing persons. If unable to make contact, bluff your way through the afternoon. If attorney has not arrived by next morning, repeat procedure of previous afternoon, telling callers, "I expect him any minute."

LOST AND FOUND
Object of the game: To have everything in its place (somewhere).
Attorney: Go over the days mail, important papers, things to do. Then throw in a heap on desk. Later, ask, "Where is so and so? I'm sure I gave it to you this morning".
Secretary: To bolster attorney's self-confidence, pretend to search through your desk and files. Then, while attorney tries to stall client on the phone, walk around him, picking up and examining every paper on his desk, on his credenza, and in his desk trays. When you find the elusive document on his desk, penalize yourself ten points if you say: "I knew all the time it was on your desk".

ESP
Object of the game: To read each others' minds.
Attorney: When you dictate or instruct, leave as many unknowns as possible. (when dictating, mumble and cough into the transmitter to make the game more competitive) If you play back the tape to check for points which need clarification, you are not a good sport.
Secretary: Run and rerun the tape, searching for a clue to the missing word. When uncertain of a word, fill in the gap and hope you're right. If you're right, expect no commendation from the attorney; if you're wrong, look for another job.

AGAIN AND AGAIN
Object of the game: To carry on a battle of wits for perfection.
Attorney: Dictate, revise, dictate insertions, revise again, get in final form, and redline. Then call attention to errors. Be certain to make additions to page one which will require reformatting the entire document. An entertaining diversion would be a last minute decision to require all spellings to conform to second preference spellings in Webster's Unabridged Third Edition.
Secretary: Use precious last minutes to go back and correct, praying that you still have it ready by the time the client walks in. Score five extra points if the document is completed in time. Score fifty extra points if you tell the attorney exactly how you feel about his endeavour for perfection.

BEAT THE HEAT
Object of the game: To file a court paper no more than five minutes before the courthouse closes on the deadline day.
Attorney: Don't dictate pleading or brief until late the day before. Require Interoffice conferences and numerous changes before finalizing one hour before deadline. (Remember, you're cheating if you finalize sooner!)
Secretary: Type, type, type and type. Xerox correct number of copies, assemble, staple properly, draw check for costs, if any, get pleading signed, send copies to appropriate parties, locate law clerk to file it, arrange for courier, or file it yourself. (If you are ready to collapse when finished, you know you have played the game according to rules.)

Sad day...

"Further to your application on the above-mentioned competition, this is to inform you that the panel has recommended that another candidate be appointed to this position."

Soooo...not going to be moving to Kelowna to work for the Ministry of Agriculture! :(

There and back again

March is a travelling month for me...

Last Friday and Saturday I was in Edmonton for a bit. I'm on the planning committee for the next Alberta/BC District Youth Gathering, in July of 2009, and we had our first meeting. It went really well - I'm super excited to work with this bunch of people and see how things take shape. It's going to be SO amazing - I just love youth gatherings. And we got to see a bunch of people we know while we were there, and I had the most amazing lemon doughnut from a place in Red Deer, so it was a good trip! :)

On Monday I flew to Kelowna for the day, for a job interview with the Ministry of Agriculture. I'm not really sure how it went - I felt really good about it right after, but the more I think about it, the less sure I am, so I'm just trying to let it go and not to worry. If it's the job for me, I'll get it, and if not, there'll be something else. They paid for the flight, and I picked up some of my favourite wine while I was there, so it won't be a total waste if I don't get it! :)

And this weekend I'm going down to Medicine Hat to visit my friend Barb - we've been friends for so long I have to stop and count...14 years this fall! Definitely my most enduring friendship - I've kept in touch with a few people from even longer ago, but not in the same way. Of course, it helps that she's also in Alberta and people from 15+ years ago are in Nova Scotia... :) I did recently re-connect with someone from more then 15 years ago who I'd lost touch with, which was pretty cool, and thanks to Facebook!

Anyway, things here at work are INSANE, so I should get back to it...thank goodness it's Friday!