Day 7 - it's been a lifetime and a week

...since we arrived!  A week?  We have covered so much ground, met so many people, and touched so many issues...and all at Max Carter's pace which is not for the faint of heart!  We arrived yesterday in Ramallah where Max is greeted like a superstar.   This place has been a part of his life and Jane's since before he was born, with his beloved Aunt what's her name teaching here decades ago.  We arrived after crossing in and out of Israeli and Palestinian territory  - fake boundaries that Maia is always talking about when we discuss the Cape Fear River Basin in NC and our shared water and other resources.  There are so many of the "lord's proprietors" boundaries here.  And as they get defined and redefined for reasons that date back to the building of ancient Jericho (which we trekked across yesterday), resources here continue to get depleted and fought over - not stewarded and preserved.  This "holy" land is lusted after in terms of ownership, but it seems to me that it is not revered, coddled, or stewarded.  

It is wonderful how quickly we have bonded with our new friends here, and then how significant the parting is.  We said goodbye to two of the "Pilgrims of Ibilline" yesterday, Nancy Sutton and Larry Mulligan.  Nancy is from PA and Larry from MI, and both were serving as hosts in the Guest Quarters at Mar Elias, Abuna (Our Father) Elias Chacour's school.  They were delightful.  Before leaving they showed us the church that Chacour had built on the grounds.  Rather beautiful but not used for a congregation, (a problem to the Quaker mentality).  Another challenge to the Quaker mindset is Chacour's stained glass image there.  Downstairs in the church there is large mural with a Guilford alumni connection.  Cassie Fox's father, Tom Fox, who was a peace activist in Iraq and killed there several years ago, is prominent in the mural along with other martyrs including Gandhi and Martin Luther King.  A sobering reminder of so many dedicated souls.  

We covered some serious Biblical territory this day.  From Nazareth to Jericho, by Mount Tabor, Dead Sea, Quram hills, waved to Zaccheas' tree, Armagheddon hill, and then skirted Jerusalem back to Ramallah.  We visited the Church of the Annunciation, supposed site of Mary's visit from the angel, which is full of beautiful mosaics with representations of Mary from countries all over the world.  Jericho was desert like and hot, an archeological extravaganza claiming to be the oldest city in the world.  We ate at a funny place called "Temptations" restaurant.  The desert puppies there hiding in the dig sites were troublesome in that it was a million degrees and they were adorable and....well, it's good that Julia wasn't seeing that.  

Despite the caution about the icky and stingy and yucky Dead Sea-is-a-chemical bath - I battled with my FOMO condition (fear of missing out) and decided I couldn't pass it up.  More resort like than I had imagined - (I thought everything would look like something from the Bible here) we walked down to the sea "put it" place by swimming pools, tiki torches and thatched roof bar!  The brave of us went on it and once past some intitial "why did I shave my legs this week" stinginess it was a blast!  I could hardly get my body upright and felt like a bobbing cork out there!  We choreographed a loved synchronized swimming performance once we figured out how to maneuver.  It was fun.

On our way back to Ramallah there was a lot of traffic.  We then realized that a random check point had been set up by an army jeep on the high way.  When our turn came, two Israeli soldiers boarded our bus and asked for our passports.  Fully loaded with rifles and gear, they walked through our bus, checked our i.d., smiled and told us to have a nice day.

We unpacked in what will be our home for the next week.  A nice apt. on the campus of the Friends School.  I think we all breathed a sigh of comfort to know we could settle in a bit.  I think we all realized the stress of clinging to our belongings, not losing our passports, not seeming vulnerable and that it had caught up with us.  However, we had another quick turnaround to be at the home of Guilford sophomore Nour Salhoub for dinner.  Her mother Lena and Nour welcomed us to their lovely apartment for a delicious and full spread dinner.  Walid, another Guilford student joined us.  We had a great time there and I enjoyed getting to know Nour and Walid better.  

Here are some photos from Day 7 -