Unpacking

Today I have not followed my usual "get over jet lag fast" routine -- I slept until 1:30pm! So I haven't unpacked and gotten the house back into order yet. I feel very differently about that job than I do packing. I LOVE unpacking. It is literally one of my favorite tasks.

However, I think it'll be best done in the morning. Kagi finished his exam and we are planning to get pizza and watch a movie tonight. I'm looking forward to it, and to finishing unpacking tomorrow.

So I'm off to have a nice relaxing night with my husband:-).

Irrational Exhaustion

I am now in Bradford!!! I'm working to stay awake at least until 8pm and also trying not to distract Kagi because he has a very big exam tomorrow. I did take a nap today but think I'll be fine tomorrow -- I'm plenty exhausted to sleep through the night no matter what the time difference!

The trip really went well and Kagi and I are very happy to be back together.

I was given some extra time today during which I wrote what you see below:-). I actually found my extreme emotional reaction to a series of things a little comical at the time, I hope that comes across.

Exhausted Fit

You know when kids get to that point where they start weeping and scream, “I just want to go home!”? 

Well, I almost just did that right in the middle of Manchester Airport. If I had caught Kagi on the phone I would have burst into tears and done just that. But it wasn't that easy – the phone company doesn't like my American credit card and therefore I have no way to get online or to call anyone.

Kagi will call me when he gets out of his class at 11.

But wait. Wasn’t I supposed to be home by then? Didn’t I have dreams of being showered and maybe even having lunch made by the time Kagi gets home from class? Yes, yes I did.

But alas, after about 20 hours of travel and my body running on about 4 hours of sleep since Saturday night, it didn’t go that way. In my exhaustion I have been quickly unraveling over the last several hours.

First, I’ll acknowledge that my travels went really well. So I know this is irrational. As I’m experiencing the crazy irrationality I kind of think it’s funny, so I’m writing about it. So for the record I do know that things are fine. They just don’t feel that way at the moment.

First, I got held up for questioning at the border again. Yes, even with my visa, I got stuck in the “further questioning” section, wondering if they were going to reject me again. Not a huge deal… I’ve been there before, but I have grown an irrational apprehension for those borders and so the level of impact it had on my emotional state was more than necessary. Apparently I will continue to need further questioning every time I try to enter this country for quite a while, even with all my paperwork squared away. Once blacklisted you’re blacklisted. Awesome. At least the guy was nice.

The last from my flight to clear customs, I went to claim my bags and immediately noticed that something was wrong. They were both there, but one of my bags was slightly opened. The smell of one of my brand-new, expensive, skin-care items permeated from my bag. At first glance I could tell that my closure of the bottle was still in-tact, but the smell and sight of my brand new, wonderfully clean-laundry smelling sheets covered in this toner. Apparently it was not sealed at the bottom of the neck. Great.

Then I began trying to walk with all three of my bags. They total well over 100 pounds and don’t fit together very nicely. I don’t know where I have pounds, so instead of getting a luggage card I began dragging them as best I could. It didn’t work well, and in normal conditions the walk is about 15 minutes. At one point, the bag I had stacked on top of another slipped off, narrowly missing a man’s foot and causing him to dodge it like a meteior aimed at him. “I’m sorry!” I exclaimed. No response other than ticked-off walking away.

I did have a hero appear soon after that, though. An African lady passed me and then said, “Do you need this?” with a cart. “You don’t need it?” I asked. “You need it more than I do,” she said as she took her bags off and gave it to me. I felt bad, but I couldn’t reject her offer. As the situation was I was likely to kill someone.



Finally, I made it to the bus station. I knew I had missed my hoped-for 9:05 bus, but was hoping for a bus in the next 15-30 minutes for about 10GBP. The guy told me that it cost 13.40GBP. “And when is it?” I asked. “11:50,” he said.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I almost screamed it in the airport. What I actually said was, “OK, I’m going to go check on my train options and I’ll come back if I want to take it.”

As I stood in line, I knew it was hopeless. I can’t move all of these huge bags around a train transfer. I checked anyway. The result was that for about 30GBP (a CRAZY amount of money) I could get a train with one transfer. For a more reasonable fee, I could take a train to Manchester Piccadilly, take a trolley to Manchester Victoria, and take another train to Bradford (which might also require a change in Leeds). On a normal day that would be fine. With these bags, no way. So 11:55 it is.

This is when I frantically tried to put money on my phone so I could call Kagi crying. No go. And worse, the guy selling bus tickets found me right before I started weeping so instead of throwing my temper tantrum I calmly bought the ticket.

The agent must have read me right and told me to come upstairs to a nice café and get a cup of coffee. That was a really good idea—I can kind of pretend I’m not still in an airport. I am here in the coffee shop now, writing. I’ll post once I’m home with internet access

I am really excited to get home!

Travels

I am sitting in Minneapolis and just wanted to give a quick update. Traveling has gone well so far. Yesterday I was surprised when I checked in with the airline to find out that I was allowed two checked bags, which was awesome! I was able to pack the denim picnic quilt my mom made for Kagi and me for Christmas which I didn't  think I could fit. That was a very nice surprise!

I've had a nice opportunity to talk with my family who is still in the States over the last few days. I got to talk to Allison and Jesse and Grammy yesterday and today have talked to Jesse more and Jenni. So fun.

Anyway, there isn't much else to report. I'm thankful that things are going well thus far.

Packing... again

10:30am

Well, it's that time again. Packing. Ugg, I'm not thrilled about this! You can tell because I'm writing about it before doing it... a sure procrastination technique! The goal, though, is to do it today, which for me is pretty good. It's 5 days before I travel. If I can get it done today I'll be in good shape.

One of the benefits of an international life is that you learn that there are some things best purchased in certain locations. For example, it is best to buy tea, chocolate, cheese, and vegetables in England. For me, it is better to buy clothes, cake mix, electronics, and almost everything else in the States. Things are cheaper and I know how to work the sales better. This is not the kind of packing I mentioned in my Packing Light blog. This is the "get as much as you can to where it's useful" kind of packing. Totally different.

I'm going to be in the UK for about 4 months before returning for Jenni's wedding. Since Kagi and I are planning to be in the UK for at least another year and a half, I am working to get as much of what I already have over there. This summer we will take many of ourwedding gifts and household items which are now waiting in Maryland.

Now, I need to take things like sheets I bought with wedding money which we really need in England. At the moment, we're using a makeshift set of a fitted sheet from Ikea and and twin top sheet for our almost queen sized bed (it's an Ikea bed which is between sizes). I found two wonderful sets which I'm very excited about (wow, what does it mean when sheets excite you?). Kagi and I also received a sweet denim blanket from my mom for Christmas. I love it, but denim is heavy. I'm not sure how to fit it.

So, I'm going to get to work. I'll update you with progress throughout the day.

12:30

Laundry done, everything I want to take out of the closet and drawers. This is not a pretty sight but it's a necessary first step.

 3:30

After lunch I carefully folded and organized everything in their categories. When I pack I like to see everything before putting it into bags

8:00pm

After dinner I got back to work and finished packing it all up. The pile on the left is the pile of things I realized weren't going to fit. I'm disappointed about my amazing denim quilt, but I'm hoping someone can bring it with them on a visit to England before too long:-). As you can see, the suitcase is pretty ridiculously full. It is 49 pounds, 1 under the limit. The carry-on is pretty light and has a little room in it, just in case there are any problems with the weight of my checked bag at the airport.

 8:30

I admit that I really fought to get the big suitcase closed but here we have it! With room to spare in my carry-ons.

So here we go, I'm packed earlier than ever before. That's cool... but I have been realizing I have a big problem.

I don't know how to get ready for bed, because my toiletries are in that suitcase! Worse, I'm supposed to be somewhere in the morning, and my clothes, makeup, and etc are all packed! I really don't want to open that big bag. Seriously, it took me like 15 minutes of sitting on it, turning it upside down, and pulling with all of my strength to get it closed. There is a little fear that I won't be able to get it all back in there.

I am going to see what I can find around the house. Maybe I don't need to open it.

Nope, scratch that... my toothbrush is in there.

This is why this is probably why I never pack early, and why this is unlikely to ever become an advice blog. Haha!

Argo

Tonight, Pops and I watched Argo. I have been wanting to see it for a while, but didn't know much about the story prior to watching it. Here is the trailer in case you don't know the premise:

I can see why Argo won so many awards this year. It was so well done, with both humor and hardship which effectively made me feel like I was there, experiencing the trauma of being stuck in a country where you are considered the enemy.

It was real enough that I am actually still a little stressed!

I have had a few traumatic experiences at borders and it brought them to the front of my mind. I remember how every time I went out of Israel I was considered a security risk because I lived in Bethlehem. I was strip-searched a few times and regularly had my bags meticulously searched.

More recently, I was questioned and held in Glasgow for five hours before my request for a tourist visa was ultimately rejected. They were kind and courteous to me, but it was one of the most stressful situations I have ever been in. Leaving the country the airline staff considered me a "deportee," although that was not the case.  I couldn't decide if it was funny or embarrassing. I guess it was both.

In the two trips into the UK after that, I needed to wait while all of my documents were examined and am now all too aware that a sovereign state can accept or reject visitors at will. Thankfully those trips didn't involve too much questioning.

I know more about borders than I would like to. They are stressful for everyone, and even as a civilian sometimes you feel like you are supposed to be sneaky to get through. I have realized that honesty is the best policy and I no longer try to out-smart anyone. It's important to remember that there is not much need to get stressed when you're not hiding anything. Transparency is already a life policy of mine but it is helpful to remember its benefits of it when traveling. Thankfully I haven't had an Argo experience. Hopefully it'll stay that way!

I am so thankful that I have my visa sorted out before traveling this time.

Just six days until I leave for England:-). I took this pic in London about a year ago.

Packing Light

As I packed for London, I knew that I wanted to do a lot of walking and would need to keep my stuff with me almost all of the time. So I decided to pack carefully. I managed to get everything needed for two days (including formal clothing for a conference and reading materials for 10 hours on buses) into this bag:

Fully-packed bag for the conference trip.

Here's how I did it:

This is just about everything I took. on the left is my packing cube with all clothes and underwear, and my belt, shoes, clutch purse, and make-up bag. In the middle are the essential toiletries for a shower (which went into another packing cube), and a London tour book (actually wasn't necessary, oh well). Behind is my backpack which I think already had a few snacks in it. On the right are the clothes I actually wore the next morning.

Here is the main section of my bag. See how neat packing cubes make everything? The shoes and belt went on top.

I could have taken a lot more, but was thinking I'd probably need to carry whatever I took for up to ten miles of walking over the two days in London. I love walking in general and especially like seeing a city that way. One of my rules of thumb for exploring is that it is done best with as little baggage as possible.

Culture Shock

I think culture shock happens not necessarily when you're in a new culture but rather when you have expectations that things will be a certain way, and then you find what you expect to be familiar... different. I have experienced culture shock just a few times in my life and often forget what it's like. You see, if you decide to expect the unexpected, international life is usually fun and manageable.

A situation the other day caught me completely off guard and I'm still a little shocked at how it affected me. I was in a usually comfortable situation and suddenly nothing was familiar. I ended up breaking down and needing to disappear for a while -- suddenly feeling overwhelmed with grief for the familiar life I left behind.

Packing Light

I just read this blog post after seeing it on Pinterest. I think it is a great description of how to pack lightly -- even when travelling for months at a time.

http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/well-designed-travel-packing-lightly-164798

I'd add that I LOVE my packing cubes which can be found here. They have allowed me to keep things neat and easily accessible when living out of a backpacking backpack for several months. Really, they're wonderful. Here's a picture:

Packing Cubes

I also should admit that I did not pack light for this trip... and although it's somewhat nice to have more things here, it might be nicer to live lean especially when you're not really in your own space.

Massive Clean Out

For the last several years, I've had many of my things stored in the house I formerly lived in (due to the graciousness of my former housemate!). One of the things I really wanted to do in Maryland was to go through it. I planned to give much of it away and catalog what I kept so I no longer wonder what I have and will be aware before buying duplicates. 

I think having stuff I use is fine, but especially stuff just being stored can be a burden. I wanted to cut my belongings down as much as I could. It ended up being a big project, but I'm really happy with the results. I got rid of about 2/3 of my stored clothes, toiletries, and etc and organized the rest, taking videos and pictures of the layers in the box for future reference:

I hope I'm not a gypsy for much longer. Regardless, living lean and simply is incredibly freeing. I still have much more than I need but this a step in the right direction!

Be Present

I had an absolutely fantastic trip to the East Coast last month to visit my friends in Maryland and then to Atlanta for the Catalyst Conference. I am struck again and again by how blessed I am to have a whole network of amazing friends. Especially as a young single, there is great potential to be alone and lonely. I am so thankful for years in Maryland where God blessed me with the best group I can imagine.

The conference theme was "Be Present," which was perfect. I didn't blog about it, but I figured I should mention it. I think the conference organizers hit a cultural reality on the head -- with the wonders of technology we have the ability to be everywhere at once. The dark side of that amazing ability is that we can fall into the trap of never really being anywhere at once. What a way to waste our lives!

The cool thing is that it wasn't just a criticism, but the speakers brilliantly presented ways to be present in many angles: spiritually, in leadership, in service, as we plan our time, and on and on. If you're interested, ask -- I'd love to share more.

Palestinian-Israeli Camp

Today I'm going with about 40 other leaders for a two-day training prior to our Israeli-Palestinian summer camp. Through this camp, we intend to encourage relationships between young believers and expect the relationships to change the trajectory of their perspectives on the "other" in this conflict.

On Monday, we'll be joined by 73 8-12 year-olds for the five day camp. Since I won't likely be able to blog during the camp I'll be keeping pictures and stories to share with you after the camp.

This camp marks the beginning of my last two weeks here. I'll have a final week in the office and then be off toward home. Check in next week to see some posts about what I'm looking forward to about being home. I'll only be home for a month, so will need to pack a lot in. Maybe having a record of what I want to do ahead of time will help me remember when I actually have the opportunity at home! I hope they'll be fun to read, too:-).

Homemaking

I just spent my Saturday morning in Bethlehem relaxing and catching up on reading blogs.

It occurred to me that the blogs I follow are about as different from mine as they can be. They are almost all blogs of superb mothers, homemakers, and hostesses. They write about crafting and decorating and babies and photography. Many are written by friends of mine, several are from women who are writers whose blogs I have happened upon over time.

I have always loved domestics, and my desire to be a homemaker is as strong as (sometimes stronger) than my desire to be a traveler or an adventurer. I know that homemaking and adventuring certainly aren't mutually exclusive. But the way I am at it now, in Palestine in a great house but without an oven or other essentials for parties, and staying just long enough to make domestic effort seem to not be worth it, they are.

Travel blogger spends her Saturday mornings reading domestic American blogs from the conflict-ridden heart of the Middle East. I admit it:-).

Youth Desert Encounter

During the week before Easter, I had the opportunity to go on one of Musalaha's Youth Desert Encounters. Israeli Messianic Jews and Palestinian Christian youth go into the desert for several days for an experience they will likely never forget. Here are some pictures from the journey:

The men proudly joined forces to move a very heavy table.

The Israeli girls talked on one side of the camp...

As the Palestinian girls hung out at the table with Judy. It made it difficult that several of them didn't speak much English.

Our hike ended right near the Red Sea, and we had the opportunity to visit Eilat briefly. 

At the camp in the desert, a scenic location for our meetings.

I love camels.

An Israeli girl and one of the Palestinian guys. One of Musalaha's ways of encouraging relationship-building is to put the kids together in uncomfortable situations, so they learn to work together:-). This is fun AND uncomfortable!

I finally rode a camel. So much fun!

I admit, the scenery made me feel a little bit like I was in a movie.

Everyone hanging out in the desert.

By the end of the trip the kids had built some good friendships. Here is a Palestinian girl with two of the Israelis.

I loved seeing the kids get to know each other during the trip, and am hopeful that these experiences will influence their perspectives for years to come.

Iron

I have been really tired since coming to The Land, and about a week ago started putting pieces together and realizing that I am showing many signs of anemia (not that hard to figure out because my blood tests always have shown low iron, and I haven't been taking iron pills as I was supposed to). I was excited to realize this, because I can easily fix it. With gusto I started taking my iron supplements a few days ago.

On Saturday night, after a frisbee game, I had some popcorn before bed. I was surprised to find a screw in the bottom of my bowl of popcorn. I think the lid I was using might have fallen apart and deposited the screw in my food... at least I hope so. I threw it away.

Last night, just three days later, my roommate and I got a tomato sauce based dish at a local restaurant and brought it home for dinner.

I found a screw buried in the sauce. For your viewing pleasure, I took a photo of it this morning:

Is this God confirming that I need more iron? Or maybe telling me that He'll supply what I need?

Here's to hoping that I continue finding them before biting them and breaking my teeth...

A Happy Birthday

I had a wonderful birthday yesterday!

I woke up to the sound of what I thought was a child yelling, and looked out my front window to see all of these sheep!

In the morning, I went to my friend Tamara's church where a great storyteller recounted the story of Easter brilliantly. We went to her grandmother's for lunch, and got to see pictures from her youth. She is such a beautiful lady!

In the afternoon I came home and had a great Skype conversation with my parents (before church for them).

In the evening, my amazing friends took me out for a nice dinner and then to "Little Italy" for some fantastic ice cream. They gave me some really sweet gifts which I will enjoy for a long time. So fun, and what a blessing to have good friends!

Here are some pictures from our evening:

These are the amazing women I spend most of my time with. We have a great time, as you can see!

Everyone has their mouth full, but check out the amazing spread on the table! I LOVE the food here!

Tamara and me enjoying our ice cream.

A very good friend:-).

Too Much Adventuring, Too Little Blogging

This has been a busy month. Between things heating up at work, me starting to have things to do almost every night with friends (what a blessing they are!), a few special trips, and some illness, I have done a very poor job of blogging. But here is a "catch-up" post with lots of pictures. If you don't hear from me at least weekly from here on out please send me an email like wonderful father did yesterday: "Hey, I just noticed that you are not doing a good job with your blog. Time to get with it!!" Thank you Pops:-)!

Stars and Bucks in Bethlehem. Definitely enough of a "green circle of pleasure" to make me smile when I see it, and it serves one of my favorite things: fresh-squeezed pomegranate juice! There are many benefits to living in the Middle East and the fruit is at the top of my list of those things.

My boyfriend, Kagiso, was able to get a visa to come visit me here at the end of February. We traveled around the country during his four-day visit.

This is me floating in the Dead Sea. It is very cool, but I think the water is one of the grossest things I have ever tasted! (No, I didn't drink it intentionally. I think a little splashed on my lip. YUCK!)

Kagiso on the sea of Galilee. It was cool to be at a place we read so much about in the gospels.

Hanging out with friends and eating a wonderful traditional Palestinian barbecue lunch. These guys have made life here so much fun!

My roommate, Judith, walking in the hills near Jerusalem. This was at the beginning of March and I hope gives you a taste of the beauty and diversity of this country.

Setting out on a trek through the desert near Jericho with good friends.

After our hike we rode on a cable car up the Mountain of Temptation. It was amazing to spend the day in the place where Jesus had done his fast and been tempted by Satan. I have new respect for how difficult it would have been to not turn the loaf into bread... we were sooo hungry and tired after our one-day hike!

After the recent bombing in Jerusalem I was concerned that getting through the checkpoint would be much more difficult. Thankfully, the day of the bomb was the only time we noticed a difference at all. I'm thanking God that for us here it hasn't caused the problems I feared it would. Please continue to pray for real peace here, and that people would not turn to terrorism. I have many thoughts on this, but will post them another time.

Friends and I went to an event at the Intercontinental Hotel (which is amazing) in Bethlehem. It was my first stand-up comedy performance to see live, and had a great time.

Believe it or not, two days from now will mark three months in The Land. I needed to leave the country for a new visa, and spent a week in Bradford. God is providing some possibilities for my time after being here, and I'll need to write about them later as well. This picture was taken in a paddle-boat on the pond in Lister Park on a gorgeous spring day.

I realized this week...

That in the last year I have spent over a month in four continents. News from Asia, Africa, North America and Europe: God is at work all over the world. And it is exciting!

Arrival in The Land

This is a street near my house in Bethlehem.

I arrived in Tel Aviv on Tuesday and met my driver outside of security. With three bags and operating on very little sleep, I was very thankful to have someone there for me who knows this country and who could take me where I needed to go. He had a Jesus fish on his dashboard, but I'm afraid that, in my sleepy state, I didn't manage to make conversation with him about our shared faith.

The drive was beautiful! As the sun set, we went through rocky but green hills, and overall I was very surprised at how nice I found things. We pulled into Jerusalem around sunset and I went to Ronit's (a new co-worker of mine) house to stay the night with her.

Although I was pretty tired by the time I got to the house, Ronit was having some Israeli friends over for dinner and hanging out. It was good to get to meet them and I'm actually really glad to have gotten a little taste of Israeli-believing culture before heading to Palestine. Many of the people I met are are Messianic Jews originally from America and have attained Israeli citizenship and served in the army here. Very interesting!

Wednesday, Ronit and I came to the office in the morning and I got to experience my first daily prayer time and staff meeting. I walked to the store with Ronit to buy some office supplies (the good kind: coffee and tea) and then went to pick up my bags and run some other errands around town with another coworker. I think I expected there to be more signs in English, but I should be able to get around anyway.

In the early afternoon, Salim brought me into the West Bank to meet my family. We weren't hassled at the border. We just drove through, showed our passport/papers through the car window and continued on our way. My first impression of Bethlehem was that it seems peaceful! Not nearly as congested or seemingly intense (stressful) as Jerusalem. This really surprised me. I also was interested in the walls of separation between Israel and Palestine. They are huge and thick and bleak (ugly concrete) but, on the Palestine side, covered by all kinds of graffiti, including some really amazing art which Salim said is famous around the world. Someday I might spend some time hanging out at the wall looking at all of what is there. If I can, I'll post some pictures.

We went to Bethlehem Bible College, where Salim introduced me to some Palestinian young people. Then I met Ana, who is the mother in the family I'll be living in for my time here. She is in her thirties, full of energy and well educated, currently finishing a MA and teaching school, co-leading a 50 member youth group, and caring for her family of 5, and now me as well. She told me that she is happy to have me and dropped me off at the house, showing me my new home on the way to one of her final exams.

I was thrilled to see my room. It is big, on the roof, simply furnished but private, and with a private bathroom. So much nicer than expected! I was thrilled to unpack all of my things and start to see the room become my own.

Now I am pretty set up, and am settling in. Since moving in I have had several more experiences which I will write about later! Thanks for beginning this journey with me.

Settling In

Hi Friends,

These last two days have been good -- catching up with Bob and Kathryn and starting to get settled in. We went to the grocery store yesterday and met with a couple I expect to be spending lots of time with today. Otherwise, I'm afraid I don't have much to report, since I've been sick with a cold or flu since getting to England. I have been staying close to bed. I'm expecting to feel better soon, and am looking forward to that, so I can get out for a run at the manor and feel more like myself as I meet people and make plans!

Laura

London -- and to home

Today I walked around London and then met up with a friend of a friend in the evening. Overall it was a nice day. Tomorrow I leave the guest house where I'm staying for the airport at 5:20am or something... which is 12:20am East Coast time... not like anyone is taking note of that or anything! I'm looking forward to arriving in Maryland in time for some fireworks:-). Seems like a very poetic time of year to come home to the US from Britain, doesn't it? I look forward to seeing many of you tomorrow. Please don't expect too much intelligent conversation, though:-). I will probably be a little out of it!

I know I have lots of pics to catch up on. I'll post them at some point soon!