Monday 27 October 2014 West Bank visits (finally!)

It's been 5 months since we've been able to visit in the West Bank. We visited some of our contacts in Bethany.  We first stopped at Peace Center for Heritage to visit Sasan. I had brought some thank-you notes from Caroline, Grace, and Kristin's visit last Christmas.  Sasan listened carefully as I read each note.

She wrote each of their names in Arabic so she could tell her mom about the letters.

Sasan took us to her workshop a couple of blocks away.  BYU helped with the remodel project.

Then we visited Fatima Faroun with Shorouq Society for Women.  The women make uniforms to sell to the local schools. They also prepare a nutritious lunch for the children to buy inexpensively at school.

They served a traditional Palestinian lunch.  The woman standing prepared the meal.

This is the staff at Shorouq.  The girls on the right have graduated from college and would like to go to graduate school.  They are volunteering at the society.

Finally we stopped at Four Homes of Mercy and met with Usama. We had a good conversation about the problems Palestinians are dealing with in their government.  BYU helped update the lighting system.

 

A mosque has been recently built in Bethany.  This was the first time we had seen it completed.



or nearly completed.

When we go into the West Bank, we have a driver take us.

After we go through the border crossing, we drive through the tunnel that takes us back into East Jerusalem.

Monday 27 October 2014 Making olive oil



We made olive oil from the olives at the Jerusalem Center, picked by the students last week for today.

The process starts by crushing the olives with a heavy stone.   Gaye Strathern, Donna Funk, Tina Whitchurch and Linda grind the olives. The four women are cheaper than hiring donkeys.

The crushed olives are put into hemp baskets.

 and the baskets are stacked on top of each other on the screw press.



 The screw press is tightened

and the oil flows into reservoirs.

Push the other way, Linda.

The lever and pulley olive press technology is 3,000 years old.  The oil goes into a cistern and water is poured on top.  The best oil floats to the top and the garbage settles on the bottom. It then drains into a second cistern and the good oil floats again to the top.  The oil is then scooped out.

Saturday 25 October 2014 Home Teaching Marcous in Bethlehem

We went to Bethlehem to home teach the Marcos family. Ameer and Yara made a lamp with plastic spoons.

and a mirror.

Hallway from the Bethlehem side of the checkpoint leading into the checkpoint.

Friday 24 October 2014 Around the Jerusalem Center

 I've been thinking just how much I love it here.  I've gone through the day taking pictures of my life here in hopes that I'll always remember it in detail.  I'm afraid I'll go home and it will all seem like a dream.  This is the view from our apartment.

Our front door- apt. 206

Our living room

This is the hallway to our apartment on the second floor.  We are the only ones living on the second floor.  The laundry is down the hall so we sometimes hear the students, but it's generally pretty quiet.

This is the hallway that leads to the laundry room.

Most of the student apartments entrances are in a courtyard.

This is the laundry room that doubles as a bomb shelter.  We were in here 4x's this summer with air raid sirens.  We'd only stay a few minutes until the threat of a rocket was over. 

The washers are on one side of the room and the dryers on the other.  I love doing 3-4 loads of laundry at the same time and being done in less than 1 hour.

Our bed

 

This is our bedroom with an open closet.  I can lay in the bed and decide what I am going to wear.

Our spacious entry hall

Bathroom

Front desk on the 8th floor where I wait for tours.

The view from my desk looking towards the auditorium

The auditorium where we have concerts, organ recitals during the tours, and church meetings

The front entry of the Jerusalem Center

From the hallway looking out towards the patio

Top of the stairs on the 8th level

Blaine in his office which we now share

Top of the stairs where we explain the mosaic.   It was found near Jaffa Gate while they were building the Mamila Mall.  It's from the Byzantine period and is on loan from the Israeli Antiquity Authority.


Mosaics on 7th floor were uncovered near Beer Sheeva.  There is at least one animal in each picture.


Workroom of the library

Going down the stairs

Where the students eat- the Oasis

There isn't an elevator below the 5th floor so I climb 53 stairs each morning to get to an elevator.

That evening there were protests on the road at the back entrance.  Fires, tear gas, rocks thrown, IDF chasing Palestinian youth, explosions, and gun fire all took place.

Israeli police on the road below the Jerusalem Center