No time to get to the computer....

I had these grand plans of updating the blog every day - letting you all know exactly what's going on over here. However, things here have been so busy, so crazy busy, that I haven't had the chance to get to the computer. Today is the first day that I've sat at home and just relaxed. Honestly, it's rather nice. Just by way of a brief update, here's what's been up...

Today*: We had a private Mass celebrated by my Great-Uncle. The rest of the day will be spent lazing around, sitting by the pool and just haning out. Perfect!

Yesterday*: The Baptismal Site of the Lord and The Dead Sea.

The Day Before Yesterday*: The Wedding -- We were out of house at 9:00 am to go to the salon. We got our hair, nails, and makeup done. Seriously, my ultimate dream. It was so nice. Apart from changing our clothes, we didn't get home till 4:00am. We nearly passed out.

The Day Before That*: The Ancient City of Petra. Amazing.

And before all that were parties galore. Apparently one of my cousins has already posted some pics on Facebook. I'll try and post some photos on here later, hopefully soon.

*Being on vacation and being totally sleep deprived, I've compltely lost track of both the day and the time.

Allemagne

I don't have much time to write now about Germany, but here are a few pictures...

All of us in Rolf's appartment -- Ollie, Petra, me, Ramzi (my brother), Linus, and my mum.

Der Mainzer Dom (ie. the Cathedral in Mainz)
(This year is the 1000th anniversary of this Cathedral.)


Linus
(He climbed into this ancient, broken bell, prented he was a baker and was serving us pretend bread. "It's hot, blow on it." )


Linus, the baker, again.

Linus and Petra

This is an ancient alter piece. It was discovered in burried underneath the Dom in Mainz.

My brother and Rolf Decot. Rolf, is Petra's god-father. He is also a Catholic priest who has in doctorate in Church History. He was the perfect tour guide!

Two Planes, A Train, and Three Countries Later

Ah, we've arrived! Sitting here now chilling with my cousins! It's so nice to be here!

It's strange to think that just two days ago, I was barreling down I-5 headed from Seattle to Portland, listening to American music, seeing English road signs. (NB: I started this post yesterday (the day before?) and am just now catching up.)

Everything here is different. The city, Amman, has grown by leaps and bounds. There are new neighbourhoods, new roads, new bridges... and the biggest change of all... there are now street names, street signs, and addresses. Yes, until just recently, this entire city, and quite frankly, the better part of the Middle East got by without address. How still boggles my mind, but somehow they did it. There seems to be a sense of order -- not the stand-in-a-straight-line-wait-your-turn-kind-of-order that we're used to in the States -- but a smaller, slightly more chaotic sense of order that has befallen the country here. People stop at red lights, they drive the correct way on a one way road, and now use turn signals instead of the horn on their car. It's amazing, really...

Family-wise things are okay. We have a large family, many with boisterous voices and a couple who are hard of hearing. Couple that with the Arab tendancy to speak all at once, one over the other, and a discordant cacophony arises -- one, that quite frankly, gives me a headache. Nonetheless, I still love them and am happy to be visiting here with all of them. My cousins, on the other hand, are fabulous! Certainly it's been an amazing reunion for the older generation -- the Aunts and Uncles -- but it's been a great reunion for us in the younger generation as well. Last night, we had the first in a series of pre-wedding parties. We ate, we drank, we danced, and we laughed... good times were had by all. Here are a couple pictures from the pre-wedding party. (The bride is in pink and the groom is in a checkered shirt.)




More about Germany later...

Leavin' on a Jet Plane...

Tomorrow will be my last day in Seattle for a while. After work, I will drive down to Vancouver to meet my family. The next morning, we will hop a Lufthansa flight to Frankfurt, Germany. There, I will meet my good friend Petra, her boyfriend Olli, and their two year old son Linus. I can't wait. I haven't met "baby" Linus before and it's been two years since I've seen Petra and Olli.

Petra and I have known each other for what seems like forever. We met when she was an exchange student at my high school -- yep, ages ago! And now, in a few days, we will celebrate 4th of July together for the 3rd time. The last time we celebrated 4th of July together was back when we were 19. I was spending the summer in Germany with Petra and her family. She and I were hell-bent on introducing her (who eventually also became my) friends to American traditions. The most important thing on our docket was to make one of those silly American Flag Cakes. (Surely, you know the ones I am talking about -- whipped cream atop of a rectangular sponge cake, decorated with berries to look like the American Flag.) Ah yes... but there was no Cool Whip to be found in Germany so we tried to make our own. (Big mistake!) And the berries we needed were scarce to come by that time of year. All in all it was a big mess and less than successful, but we were proud of our attempt to bring American traditions to German soil.

Truth be told, we were less than successful in other American traditions as well. We had this brilliant idea of taking our friends camping and introducing them to S'mores. Well, there were no graham crackers in Germany (so we substituted biscuits) and the only "marshmellows" we could come by were akin to Peeps, shaped like peanuts or strawberries, and flavoured to suit. Gross. The only redeeming quality was the Swiss chocolate that we were using.

This 4th of July we hope to be more successfull.

Though honestly, we will likely be too busy running around Mainz, exploring the cobble-stoned downtown streets, drinking a caffe au lait in front of one of the many fountains and being entertained by the multitude of street performers. It will certainly be a welcome change from sitting on a cramped plane for hours on end! :) And when we get bored of downtown Mainz, there is always St. Stephen's Church and the Chagall windows to explore. St. Stephen's is the only German church for which the famed Jewish artist, Marc Chagall, made stained glass windows. They are breath-taking. And truly, there is nothing like sitting in the pews of St. Stephen's listening to organ-music and gazing at the sunlight filtering through the Chagall windows. I can't wait.

So, that, in itself would be enough of a trip, but after our day in Germany, we will hop a back on a plane and head to Amman, Jordan, for my cousin's wedding. There are four parties preceeding the wedding. (And yes, you need a different cocktail dress for each one.) So, we will be busy from the moment we land. We have family flying in from literally all over the world (Canada, the US, Spain, and Australia) for this wedding, so it's going to be a massive family-reunion as well.

After the wedding in Amman, the plans haven't quite been set... there's talk of the entire famly going to Sharm El-Sheikh for a few days and there's also talk of going to Jerusalem and Ramallah in Palestine. Personally, I'm not too excited about the prospect of Sharm El-Sheikh. Afterall, I could go lie out on a beach anywhere (even here in the Pac NW if I'm willing to brave the cold). Jerusalem and Ramallah have so much more to offer... and I've spent so much time with my Auntie and Uncle in Ramallah that it feels like "home". Besides, take a look at this garden... who wouldn't want to spend time there?

The front yard at "home" in Ramallah.

It's not my choice, though, so we'll see where we end up... either way, it will be fun. I will do my best to blog while traveling and will hopefully be able to upload pictures, too!

Sloth and Fabulousness!

This past weekend was Girls Weekend (with my two dear friends, Butch and Ez) in the Bay. It was completely and utterly lazy weekend. It was also fabulous weekend.

The epitome of sloth and fabulousness - this pedi was the highlight of our weekend. (By the way, this is a pic of Butch, Bals, and Ez. Can you guess who's who?!)

Our schedule of events:

Friday eve:

• Fly down

Saturday:

• Sleep in
• Brunch at Lori's Diner
• Dessert at Ghiradelli's
• Watch a completely mindless movie (The Wedding Crashers)
• **Nap during movie
• Go for a walk
• Dinner in China Town

Sunday:

• Morning Prayers and Mass at St. Albert's Priory
• Breakfast with the Brothers in the Priory
• Lunch in Mountain View
• Tour of St. Patrick's Seminary
• Coffee and Indian Sweets
• Pedicures (really luxurious pedis, complete with hot stone massage and lemon)
• Fly back to Seattle

Wow! Looking back at what we actually managed to accomplish, I realize just how lazy we were. It was really amazing, though. We chatted, laughed, and just relaxed! It was just the weekend that we all needed.

St. Pat's had some amazing stained glass windows!

The organ on the back wall of the chapel in St. Pat's -- beautiful!
(My picture doesn't do it justice.)

Hero Monk Extraordinaire

This past weekend, I not only had the great opportunity to reunite with many of my grad school friends, but I had the honour of hanging out with my good friend, Br. Matthew Augustine Miller, OP.

aka Hero Monk Extraordinaire

aka Jerk (by his own admission - he put it in my phone)

aka Dummkopf (the latest title bestowed on him by Br. Raymond, OP)

Hero Monk - Br. Matthew Augustine, OP

It was amazing, really, to see Br. Matthew Augustine (I call him Matt) in his own turf, at St. Alberts Priory in Oakland. The Priory, the Chapel, the library, and the grounds are all absolutely amazing! How blessed they all are to have such a place in which to spend their formative years of priestly education!

Our mutual friend, Chad (also a seminarian) and I were planning on joining Matt for Mass at St. Alberts. Mass was at 9:30 am and we had a 45 minute drive to get there. To me, this was already impossibly early. Then, Matt suggested we join them for Morning Prayers at 8:30 am. After spending the evening with my grad school friends, I went to bed at 3:45 am that night (morning) and got up at 6:30 am in order to make it in time. It was painful, but so totally worth it. Dominican Morning Prayers are BEAUTIFUL!

After Morning Prayers and Mass, we had breakfast with the rest of the monks, and then ran around the Priory grounds a bit before taking to the streets of Oakland on foot. It was a beautiful, sunny, clear, crisp afternoon. We both enjoyed strolling around a bit, eating AMAZING organic ice cream, and otherwise being silly and doing nothing of any real consequence. On our walk, though, we did find this sign in a thrift shop window that we felt accurately represented us:


And if anyone needs any confirmation of the accuracy of this sign, you needn't look any further than this following photo of these two rockstars:

Me and Matt (aka Hero Monk) hanging out in St. Albert's Priory

Unofficial Reunion

Grad school was fabulous. It was a wonderful time in all of our lives. It was hard work, and there were often a lot of tears (especially on my part), but somehow, we all managed to have fun anyway. Not just any kind of fun, but crazy, off-the-wall antics that made people wonder if anyone in their right minds would actually bestow a Ph.D upon us. It was the same crazy antics that earned us all nicknames like, "Butch", "Bals" and "Bubba". And again, made people wonder if anyone with such a nickname would actually graduate. Well, graduate we did and with our Ph.Ds no less...

Yes, grad school was fabulous, but it was a really long time ago, too.

A lot of life has happened since then.... births, death, marriages, new jobs, new boyfriends, big moves, etc... Sometimes, life gets the best of us and we don't talk as often as we'd like, but somehow that doesn't really matter. We'll all still be friends no matter where we live or how often we chat.

This weekend, we had an unofficial reunion in Mountain View, CA. It was so crazy to see all those old familiar faces in the same room again. And it was fun, oh-so-much-fun! We all looked a bit older and maybe (hopefully?!) a bit more mature, too! But other than that, we didn't miss a beat! I love these guys!

Last Day - Ca'ek, Our Lady, and Gethsemane

Sorry for the long absence - flying home, arguing with Delta (more on that later), dealing with jet-lag, and reassimilating into life (and work) in the States was tougher than I expected this time. I think that traveling two entire days to get from Palestine to the West Coast may have had something to do with it... I can usually make the same trip home in 15 -16 hours. Anyway...

My last day in Palestine was absolutely AMAZING! I slept in! (What a luxury!) And then, I met my Uncle for a traditional Arab breakfast - ca'ek and baid mashwee (amazing bread and roasted eggs) and cucumbers. I even had the opportunity to go to the baker's place to see the old stone oven and how he makes the ca'ek.

This poor man! It was over 100 degrees outside and this man is standing (in his underwear) in a pit in front of a large fire. But he sure does make good ca'ek! Ca'ek is traditionally sold in the streets, by boys or men pushing carts with loads and loads of fresh-baked ca'ek. As they push their carts, they shout out, "Ca'ek, Caaaaa'ek!" To me, it's the sweetest sound! (We bought our ca'ek in Ramallah. Here is a picture of a ca'ek peddler in Jerusalem...)


After my fabulous breakfast of ca'ek, baid mashwee, and cucumbers, I headed to Jerusalem with both family and friends to celebrate the Feast of the Assumption.

The Feast of the Assumption, as many of you know, is 15 August and celebrates the death of the Virgin Mary and the assumption of her body into heaven. The Assumption is the principle feast of Mary in the Catholic Church. In the States, as best as I can tell, the Feast is only a day long celebration. In Palestine, however, it is more like a two-week celebration. Wahoo! Nothing like a good party!

Unfortunately, I missed the start of the celebration. What apparently happens is "they" (I believe priests), carry a statue of Mary from the Church of the Holy Sepulchre (inside the Old City of Jerusalem), to the Church of Il 'Adra, which is just outside of the walls of the Old City, right next to the Garden of Gethsemane. For the duration of the two-weeks of the Feast, people come from all over Palestine to pray at the Church of Il'Adra. It is such a special feast, that the IDF even gives tasreeh (special passes) for the Christian Arabs living in the West Bank, so they can go pray. My last day in Palestine was also the last day of the tasreeh, though certainly not the last day of the Feast, so the checkpoints leaving the West Bank were jam packed. It felt like half (if not more) of the Christians from Ramallah were at the Church. Here are some photos with explanations:
This is the entrance (standing inside looking out) to the Church of Il 'Adra. The church itself is basically built into a cave and these are the stairs that descend into the cave. It is tradition to light candles and put them on the steps. It was a HOT day (39 C), the Church was clearly crowded, add to that the heat from the candles and it was nearly unbearable!

Candles on the stairs.

More candles. (I really loved the candles!)

This was so cool! This figure of Mary was laid out on a table much like a body would be laid out in a wake. There was a huge line (more like mob) of people waiting to kiss the statue and pray before it. Conventional wisdom there is that if you crawl under the table, the Blessed Mother will bistow her blessings upon you. So, there were people, crying, praying, and yes! crawling under the table. (In case you were wondering, of course I crawled under the table! Who in their right mind would pass up such an opportunity?!)

Praying at an icon of Mary and the Child Jesus.

Mireille, me, and Auntie Um Victor in the Church of Il 'Adra.

That same afternoon, Mousa, Mireille's father, and I ran over to Gethsemane. We literally ran over, it is so close... The garden there is beautiful....

The ancient olive trees are breathtaking!

Mousa at the site where Christ prayed.

The Catholic Basilica in the Garden of Gethsemane.

(Mousa and I just went in to tour the Basilica and they were actually having Mass there. It was Communion time, so I ran and got in line. What an amazing experience to receive the Eucharist in Gethsemane!)

Leaving Palestine

Tonight, I'm flying to New York. Today was an amazing last day in Palestine. More later. For now, in my last hour here, I have to fit in a game of Speed (cards, with a 9 yr-old) and a game of the Jordanian version of Monopoly (with a 7 yr-old). Not to mention a quick dinner and extended good-byes. I'll try and find an e-cafe in New York...

xx

Mr. & Mrs. Habibi Walsh live in Bethlehem

Yesterday, after spending my morning strolling down the Via Dolorosa, I ventured over to Bethlehem to spend the day with none other than Mr. and Mrs. Habibi Walsh, who are otherwise known as Hashem and Rula Shahin, newlyweds. (Habibi, by the way, is loosly translated as, "my love". It is used by spouses, lovers, close friends, parents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and anyone really. It's a pretty fabulous, all-encompassing word.) The Habibi-Walshs, who were camera-shy, send their love to everyone back home in the States. And to a certain someone back home (you know who you are) they're not only sending their love, but baklava as well. Be prepared. In lieu of a photo of the Habibi-Walshs, who I promise are super-cute, I give you a photo of the grapes from their garden. They not only look good, but taste amazing, too!

The Habibi-Walshs were kind enough to tour Bethlehem with me in the early evening. From their home, we drove to Manger Square and even parked there (a privilege reserved exclusively for locals). There, the same cops who forbid tour buses and taxis from parking in Manger Square, not only make way for private parking (for free), but also look after the cars as well. It is not enough to have the honor of living in such a Holy city, but it seems that the locals get parking rights as well!

Manger Square itself is usually bustling. We arrived just before dusk, so most of the tour buses had departed, as had most of the local peddlers pushing their rosaries and olive wood trinkets. (I had driven by earlier on my way into town and was amazed by the number of tourists I had seen. It was truly heartening.) We walked into the Church of the Nativity, which is divided into two sections: Roman Catholic and Greek Orthodox. The main nave of the Church is maintained by the Greek Orthodox and is accordingly ornate and laden with gold embellishments. (I wish I had a good picture to post, but all my photos here turned out either way too dark or fuzzy.) Adjoining, is the Church of St. Catherine, which is run by the Roman Catholics. The Church of St. Catherine has been renovated several times, and in my opinion, is way too modern for such a Holy site.

The nave of St. Catherine's (in the Church of the Nativity), Bethlehem.

A side altar dedicated to Mary in St. Catherine's.

Both churches are built upon a cave said to be the birthplace of Jesus. From the Greek Orthodox church, one can descend a steep set of stone stairs to enter the cave. I can imagine that it was, at one time, quite large. But it is now so heavily decorated, that it feels rather claustrophobic with even a couple people in there. Still, the manger, itself was empty (the first time in my visits I have found it so), so I sat and prayed. Wow! Below are some photos of both the manger and the silver star, which signifies the birthplace of Jesus.

The manger


A painting in the manger.

The star of Jesus, signifying where Jesus was born.

The star, up close.

Leaving the cave, there are yet another set of steep, stone stairs that lead to the junction of St. Catherine's and the Greek Orthodox church. From there, one can venture into an inner courtyard that is dedicated to St. Jerome, I believe. He was the first person to translate Bible into Latin. It is in this courtyard where Palestinians hid from the Israelis in the seige of 2oo2. There is, to this day, evidence of destruction, both to the statues and to the effaces from the IDF military action. It is a sad reminder that on this Holy land, there is still no peace.

After leaving the Church of Nativity, we ambled aimlessly through the neighbouring streets. Here are a few pictures from Bethlehem:

Bethlehem, as seen from Bethlehem University.

Look! A goat sitting atop someone's home. The Church of the Nativity is in the background.

The outskirts of Bethlehem.

AMAZING!

Have you ever just been walking down the street, minding your own business, and had something absolutely amazing happen to you?! Well, it happened to me today.

Earlier today, I was strolling down the Via Dolorosa, just basking in the sunshine and enjoying the sights, sounds, and smells of the Old City (Jerusalem). It was a pleasant stroll. As I would walk by, the various shopkeepers sitting in their storefronts would call out to me, "Come Amo(Uncle). You're welcome here. Enjoy a drink of juice or coffee with us." I would politely decline, perhaps banter a bit, and then continue along my way. Suddenly, a young man, about my age, appeared out of a small gate and invited me in to the garden. Wary, I asked what he was inviting me to, and first chatted with him in the middle of the street. It turns out that he was employed as the guard of two churches and was bored out of his mind. There was a Jewish tour group inside and he was in no mood to pay them any mind. I entered, and was given my own private tour. It was fabulous. In these past four years, how many times had I strolled down the Via Dolorosa, and had never given any notice to that small gate?! What an amazing surprise! These two churches that I had happened upon were the Church of the Flagellation (where Jesus was scourged and beaten) and the Church of the Condemnation. The latter was rebuilt in the early 20th century on the site of the ruins of a 13th century chapel. The Church of the Flagellation itself was first built in 12th century by the Cruisaders and was eventually given to the Fransiscans in 1838. It has been amazingly well maintained. The emotion I felt in those two churches is something undescribable. There is an amazing power there, just given the history. Here are a few of pictures of the two churches. It's certainly not the same as being there, but it is better than nothing.

Inside the Church of the Condemnation

Pieces of an ancient wall (from the original ruins) outside the Church of the Condemnation


Inside the Church of the Flagellation

The ceiling above the altar in the Church of the Flagellation. It is made to look like a crown of thorns.

The Church of the Flagellation as viewed from the courtyard and garden.

Via Dolorosa

Honestly, it's pretty amazing walking around the Old City as an Arab, and not as a tourist (despite actually being a tourist). Everyone is so nice and so friendly. People here are incredibly welcoming. To them, I am a daughter come home. I appreciated the friendliness of everyone. Apart from inviting me in for coffee/juice/tea, they would also offer to help in any way that they could. "Can I direct you to something?" And they were always inquisitive as to just where I was from. To them, especially from the older generation, it was thrilling to meet someone born and raised in the States who speaks Arabic - never mind that I likely have the heaviest American accent they've ever heard. Crazy as it sounds, I actually felt like I belonged in the Old City, today. It was pretty amazing.

Aacre

Sunday, our family drove up to the seaside city of Aacre (pronounced Aakaa in Arabic). Aacre is located on the Mediterranean Sea just north of the port city of Haifa and just south of the Lebanese border. It is a beautiful city, but is currently rather unfortunately under Israeli control. Nonetheless, a rather significant Arab community still persists there and attempts to thrive despite constant subjugation.

I wish I had more to say about Aacre. Unfortunately, we've had some nasty GI bug going around our family (we think we've traced it to some raw bitter-greens we'd been eating) and it was my turn to be ill. I spent most of the long (by Arab standards) 3 1/2 hour drive napping on-and-off and otherwise completely ignoring the absolutely amazing and ever-evolving scenery that was passing me by. We apparently drove past palm trees, mango groves, fish-farms, mountains, and the sea. Sadly, I saw nothing of it. In fact, my first glimpse of the Mediterranean, was to run to an ancient wall, lean over it, and immediately get sick directly into the sea below. It was quite spectacular.

In our culture, we have two home remedies for stomach maladies. Of the two, I'm not sure which one tastes worse; they're both pretty awful. But they also both work. The first one may be a bit hard to find in the States, depending on where you live. It simply consists of taking a spoonful of Arak, an anise-based liquor similar to Oozo, but even more vile. (Yes, I know that some of you will disagree with my description of arak.) The second home remedy tastes equally offensive, but is also easily attainable in the States. Simply, mix the juice of one lemon with a couple of spoonfuls of cornstarch. Mix well, so as to make a paste, and then drink it. Personally, I suggest making it in a shot glass and then shooting the vile thing; it's less painful than slowly drinking it.

Home remedies aside, here are a handful of photos of the beautiful, ancient city of Aacre and the Mediterranean Sea.

The ancient walls of Aacre and the Mediterranean Sea below.

Aacre - the restaurant where my family ate is the brown building in the distance. I sat there,too, slowly nursing my spoonful of Arak.

Arab homes in Aacre.

These fishermen were perched upon the wall, despite signs clearly saying (in three languages), "Do not climb on walls." It was a prime fishing spot, though and they caught loads of fish.

The fisherman thought I was cute (my cousin's wife heard them talking), so I asked them if my cousin's son could fish with them. They were kind enough to give him a go.

These rather young boys were fishing on this rock out in the middle of the sea!