Somebody asked me what I would most miss about Israel, and I easily summed it up in three things: Falafel, busking on Ben Yehuda, and, most of all, the family I talked about in this post. I know missing Falafel sounds silly, but it’s the Israel snack and I love it. Someday I might start a Falafel stand in America and get everyone addicted to the delicious sandwich.
Leaving Israel was sadder then I thought it would be. It took two days of chaotic packing and an all night plane ride to get to Germany. I made my whole family miss a bus because I went to the bathroom, so we where forced to wait for the next one. The bus we got on plopped us down at the train station- from where we missed three trains. The reason for missing the first one is sadly funny. Mom got the tickets while we waited for her. Unfortunately when the train came she was on one side of the platform and we the other. Right when the train pulled away we saw each other. Ah! It didn’t seem funny at the moment at all. The second one was so late that if we would have taken it we would have missed the next connection, and the third we just plain missed.
Finally we arrived at our distant cousins house, which everyone called the ‘yellow house’. We ate pasta, had a reunion with my grandma (she looked great; she was thinner and had short hair) and talked to our hosts till 10:00. It was still light when we left for our hotel! It was very fancy. The hotel actually is a remodeled farm. Everyone loves it… But I personally think that I’d rather have the experiences of coach surfing. However, it is a nice break from traveling rough.
We were honored to lead worship on our last Sabbath at Narkis Baptist in Jerusalem. This was the first time we have led as a family. Nathan finally got to play the piano instead of the drums or guitar which he had always done the last couple years in his youth group back in Spain. Renae played her flute by reading the root note of all the guitar music she had on her stand. Justin played the drum set for all but the last song when I motioned for him to come join us at the mics. Justin kicked off the the first song with a basa nova beat under “Those who Trust”, which we did as a funky blues style with harmonica. The following songs were “Beautiful One”, “Over all the Earth”, “Shout to the Lord”, “He knows my name”, “Jesus, Lover of my Soul”, and ending with “There is a Redeemer” which we sang partly a capella. The Lord blessed despite our failures, his name was glorified, and his children were encouraged. We didn’t have an offertory ready but a young friend of ours was prepared to play the piano and sing a beautiful song (The Valley) about God’s faithfulness. This fellowship has been sweet and the bible studies deep. Although I won’t be weeping on the necks of the elders like the Apostle Paul did at Ephesus, it is still sad to move away from here. Pastor Chuck and his wife Liz are amazing in their kindness, humility, knowledge, and talent.
“blublabluuh?” I asked confidently through my snorkel. “Yeah, sure, Nathan.” My brother responded. We were night snorkeling in the Red Sea. Around 8 pm it had gotten dark. As we swam the current pulled us south, away from the shore in front of our beloved “Sea View Hotel.”
Dahab is a small city in Egypt that boarders the red sea. With sun cream topping out at 35 dollars for 150 ml and internet cafe’s on every block, this town, with the blazing hot Egyptian sun over head, stayed busy entertaining tourists. Taxi? No way! Pick up trucks preside here and we all pile in the back except Mom. Mother hesitantly sits in front next to the driver.
I tug at Justin’s ankle. Again, in mumbling communication I tell him of the Finding Nemo fish and motion towards the floating counterpart. Deep below us lays the coral reef, now a dark haunted green at dusk. Continue reading ‘“Wahad” Eel’
We left Jerusalem bus station at 5 PM and got to Eilat just before 10 PM. Crossing the border form Israel to Egypt took about an hour. Then, for 500 Egyptian pounds (about $100) Dad got a large bouncy taxi van to take us from Taba (across the border from Eilat, Israel). I got the most sleep because I laid down in the back. We arrived in Cairo at 3 AM on Thursday. We hung out in Ramses Square at what we called the cockroach restaurant because of all the roaches on the walls. The largest one was at least a inch. Only Dad ate his rice and very greasy beans. At 7 AM we arrived from a taxi to our couch surfing hosts. Me and the first bed I saw acted as very strong magnets toward each other. I snored away for three hours.
Continue reading ‘Cairo filth and bubbles’
