| Hi Everyone, Now I know it is winter: These guys won't budget from the radiator until spring. The rains have come, and we went from shirtsleeve weather at 30oC to fleece and rain jackets at 15oC in a single day. This happened last Friday, while some of my European visitors were still in Israel , and they were astonished at the change. The day after our workshop, I took several of them on a walking tour of central Jerusalem : the busy pedestrian street Ben Yehudah, which is the heart of the new city ; down Jaffa Road . We ducked into a European-style coffee shop with the firsts downpour, and had cappuchino and croissants. Then it was a half kilometer to the walled Old City and a completely different culture, that of the Arabic Middle East: donkeys carrying goods in the narrow cobbled alleys, the smell of cardamon-flavored Turkish coffee and incense. I took them to Holy Sepulcher. The dark interior of this ancient Byzantine church, the incense, and exotic Orthodox Church ceremonies both fascinated and repelled these Western Europeans. Over the years I've learned to appreciate the Eastern Christians with their older traditions and spirituality, but I understand that first reaction. I left them in the rain, headed for the Western Wall (even in rain there would be a crowd on Friday) and made my way home. These days I don't often get to spend all Friday in the older part of town; usually too busy running errands on my day off work. But it was all very familiar after 15 years living in the Jerusalem area. Sometimes it does thrill me to think THIS is my hometown. I've grown to understand the layers of complexity in it, the nuances, the diversity like many centuries of life all active at the same time. Jerusalem lives in a time warp, and it takes a while to get used to it. Okay, one never really gets used to it, but it gets to seem normal after a while. Jerusalem has depth more than almost any other place in the world; it can be bewildering but never boring. Rain continued, and I feel it in my bones. Arthritis starts up and I start feeling tired. I spent the week catching up on office work and preparing for our annual EBONE meeting, this time to take place in Greece . And not a thing to wear. I went on a shopping spree that I may regret later: new winter shoes, a new anorak since the old one leaks. (" Columbia " brand; I got it cheap as last year's goods being cleared out from the camping store, and scuttled home pleased as punch.) Invested in that electric oil radiator for the kitties and a heating pad for the blind kitten who stays in my bedroom. They should be okay while I am gone. That's it for now. Decompressing after a totally insane month of hard work; now I see the end of it and can relax a bit. Really, in September I had no idea how to survive it, but step by step it all got done. Hopefully the winter is much more quiet than the fall. shabbat shalom, Linda |
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