Hello all of you out there.  Today I learned many things.  I learned that the bars over the windows at the flat  allow you to hang your laundry out to dry in addition to contributing to safety.  I learned when we went to the three art stores in Jerusalem that it makes no sense asking students to purchase high quality papers and paints when such papers and paints either do not exist in the environment or are priced so ridiculously high that only the most rich people can consider buying them. (Papers that I spend $3.20 for in US cost $12 per sheet here, for instance, and in any case, the students cannot go to Jerusalem, they must have an international bring them supplies.)  I learned that morning on Sunday is a really stupid time to try to visit the Church of the Nativity, at least if you want to worship in “the spot” where Jesus was reputedly born; the line streams through the massive edifice and out into the street.  I learned that the Casa Nova pilgrim hostel in Bethlehem has great coconut ice cream.  And I learned that “all roads lead to Jerusalem”; in the Tantur Theological Institute in Jerusalem, I met a priest who has been pastor of a church in Altoona, Iowa and who will soon be working in Des Moines!

(I should add that I was not near the violence that occurred near the Al Aqsa Mosque today. I was on the other side of Jerusalem. )

Here is a picture of the square in front of the Christmas Lutheran Church and Dar Annadwa; this is where I am teaching.

love to all,

chris