Out and about in Natseret

Eldon said he'd go out "on the Land" with the girls all day, so I concentrated inside on the computer. It was great to focus for more than two or three hours at a stretch, not to mention stay further out of the heat! I also know that he knows where to find the straw mat bed in the cool of the landlord's house, so I don't worry too much about him. :) There were more tour groups coming through today, so the girls were more excited to be out there getting photographed in their roles. Zoe is mainly sticking with the sheep and the goats (the little twins are her favorites), and Nina has recently been with Lily in the house. It really can be a long day if the landlord's house gets skipped at the end of a tour, which has happened a number of times in the last three days for us/them.

Today I focused on a second children's book manuscript for the Village. I'd emailed Shirley Roth the first draft of a new idea a couple of days ago, so we will need to sit down and go through that together. Her initial reaction was positive. This second project is my work on a story she'd told to children in churches in the U.S. since she's become director here. My goal is to help get three children's books off the ground, for kids from about three years old to adolescents. The oldest piece will be based on work by a previous long-term volunteer. How to best approach that one is still working itself out in my head. The Village shop has nothing like this to sell, and we have so many grandparents traveling through that really need something to buy as gifts for their dear grandchildren! It's a great opportunity. (We had a boatload of Dutch grandparents in there today, for example.)

After we were done for the day at the Village, Eldon hiked up the hill to our hospital apt. with Nina and Zoe. Lily agreed to go with me (in more heat for her, sweet thing!) around in old town. I have been wanting to get to the post office for a week now (it's just something I have to do wherever I travel), so we walked there, then visited the Basilica of the Annunciation (see pics).

The current building is on the site where Mary's home supposedly stood when Gabriel came to announce that she would be the mother of Jesus. It's noted to be "the largest church in the Middle East and one of the Christian world's most holy shrines." Over the years, it has been the site of five churches, including a 5th century Byzantine, and a 12th century Crusader. My travel guide says the mix of artwork is weird, but I found it to be a refreshing mix of contemporary and traditional. The architect was careful to keep different approaches in separate sections -- entries, central worship, which worked for me.

A covered patio area around the church yard contains a beautiful collection of mosaics donated from Catholic communities world wide. I'll post a couple of my favorites.

After our visit to the basilica, we bopped through a short section of the Old City market, called the Suq. I can imagine easily getting lost in the narrow old streets that are lined walls and ceilings with merchandise, with tarps overhead. I hear Jerusalem's market is overwhelming.

We meandered back towards our current residence, stopping in a couple of shops. One had lovely Syrian backgammon cases, inlaid with wood and mother of pearl. Another was a dry goods shop, where we bought some apricots and nuts for munching. Another had a range of "holy land" gift items and jewelry, but at prices that were higher than I thought appropriate (gotta buy that "five-pack of tiny bottles with Galilean olive oil"). All very interesting, though. Then there was Alex, a Greek man who lured us into his pastry shop with "Come, please, it costs nothing to look!" He was charming. Said he's worked to learn "eight languages, honey." Then asked Lily if she was "smart, or lazy?" Oh, smart, for sure. A very hard worker! :)

Our hike back up was via a "short cut" street that Eldon found before. VERY steep with either no sidewalks, cars or trucks parked tightly against the homes and shops right there at the edge of the road, or steps and steps and steps to climb. All was well, though, since we had water in our bottle and great little munchies to stop and enjoy.

Tomorrow evening we head to Jerusalem for a two-day tour. The leaders are Arab Christian brothers (twins, actually). Bethlehem will be included Sunday afternoon, I believe. We'll need our passports to get there, as we'll be passing through the "security wall" built by the Israelis to keep Palestinians restricted to certain areas in the West Bank. More as we learn . . .

Happy afternoon, everyone. It's bedtime in Israel.