So today was a really cool fieldtrip, not just because of the great places that we were able to see, but also because of the great peace that i ironicly felt in the great city where the Savior was born. Bethlehem is a great little town and just has this feeling about it, I don't really know how to explain it, but we had a great time going there and we got to see alot of things and learn a lot as well.
Our first stop was at a think tank for the Palestinian people with a mission to find a solution to the issue here with Israel. We had about an hour there and were lectured to by the head of the think tank, which was the first time that I really had heard an educated opinion on the subject. In the past here the things we have heard was mostly rhetoric, and so it was nice to be able to hear some numbers and graphs to go along with the things we are told about all the time. It was an interesting lecture, and while many of the things are true that we hear, we could really tell the things that get exaggerated from time to time. On the other side, it was neat to see the things that are brushed over quickly from the Israeli side as well. As always there is an explanation for the things that they do, but they try not to bring some things up if they can help it. So yeah, all in all it was educational experinance.
I think that the best viewpoint that we got of the day though came from our experinance at Bethlehem University, the first and I think only institute of higher education in the West Bank. This was an interesting visit not only to see another institution that is in the middle of such strife and caters to those types of people, but also because we got to meet some of the students that go here and talk to them and get thier perspective on things in life and school. We got to spend a great deal of time asking these student questions, not only about why they wanted to go to school, but also what they think about the whole conflict that is going on where they are seem most of the times as victims. School wise they are very similar to any other college kids, except for the fact that they have an interesting Christian, Muslim mix of students there in the college. They talked alot about the frustrations of the wall and of the different aspects of thier life that is affected by the conflict.
I should probably put in a little kick about the wall while I am on the subject. The separation wall was put up in the 00's I love Bridget Wood!!! to help with all of the terrorist attacks. Of course some people think that it's more than that... but it has helped with the suicide bombers, that's for sure, and I think that if it works, keep it! But yeah, it was a little intense to cross the wall and to go either way. Getting back into Israel was more intense than going to the WB of course, this armed guard had to board our bus and make sure that we weren't harboring any refugee's i guess, so that was fun, but yeah, you could tell by the graffiti that some people didn't like the wall much!
So yeah, after the tour at Bethlehem U, we went to "The Tent" for dinner which i
s this big Bedouin tent where they fed us these great salad things that went well with our pita's. OH man, it was great food! Some of the salad things that we had were wonderful, especially this little plate of garlic hummus stuff. I don't know exactly what it was, but it was really good with a pita! In fact, we finished off the first one fast, and then Cam asked for a second one and you could tell that he was excited to get more. When the waiter guy brought it for us, he put one on the table, then pulled out this other one and handed it to Cameron and said "this is is just for you!" and then winked at him! We all were rolling after that little episode! Almost as good as him trying to sneak out two 1-L bottles of soda in his pockets when he left! Oh dear, we had fun
.
Then we went to the Church of the Nativity, the oldest church in Christianity. This is a really neat church that has gone though 3 renovations of the door. It was nice and big at first, then they renovated it to bring it up to modern standards at about the time of the crusades, and then they were tired of animals coming in and bothering people during mass, and so now the
newest door is so small that you have to duck to get in! The church itself has been through quite the ordeal as well. It were almost destroyed by the Mongols (i think?), but when they came in, the leader saw a picture of the 3 magi's and said "Oh, they are our people, we shouldn't destroy this church" and so they didn't! Then this one time some guys came to destroy the church, but lucky for the church, hornets came out of one of the pillars and drove them all the way to the arch of the city. They came out of 5 holes that form a cross, which i promptly put my fingers into! Of course you can also go down into the little cave where Jesus was born, and so down there is the place where he was born along with the place where the manger was. Of course, it is not actual cave anymore, although you can still put your hand down through the 12 pointed star and touch the rock that Jesus was born on. The ornamentation down there is elaborate of course, but I really liked the place and respected those that spent so much time to make this shrine.
We also stopped by and went to the opposite side of the cave to where the Roman Catholics have their claim on the area. This is the cave where St. Jerome tranlated the old manuscripts into the Roman
Vulgate bible. This was more like a cave, and so sat here, the two classes together, and sang Christmas songs and read the Nativity story. It was really neat to have done the same thing my whole life, but now to have that chance to read that sacred account in the place where it happened. We are going to have a whole Christmas program later in the semester out on Shepherd's hill, so that should be exciting.
Our last little stop was the Milk Grotto church. This is where supposedly Mary was feeding Jesus and spilled a little of her milk on the rock there, turning it white. It was interesting to see the church, a little uncomfortable to see that many pictures of Mary breastfeeding Jesus, but ya know, ya got to let people know what happened! But that was the day. We traveled back through the wall and then came home. It was quite the day, i love Bethlehem, and the spirit there was really amazing. It is too bad that the current conflict will keep us from going there again, so I do hope that a solution can be found soon!
So yeah, after the tour at Bethlehem U, we went to "The Tent" for dinner which i
s this big Bedouin tent where they fed us these great salad things that went well with our pita's. OH man, it was great food! Some of the salad things that we had were wonderful, especially this little plate of garlic hummus stuff. I don't know exactly what it was, but it was really good with a pita! In fact, we finished off the first one fast, and then Cam asked for a second one and you could tell that he was excited to get more. When the waiter guy brought it for us, he put one on the table, then pulled out this other one and handed it to Cameron and said "this is is just for you!" and then winked at him! We all were rolling after that little episode! Almost as good as him trying to sneak out two 1-L bottles of soda in his pockets when he left! Oh dear, we had fun
.Then we went to the Church of the Nativity, the oldest church in Christianity. This is a really neat church that has gone though 3 renovations of the door. It was nice and big at first, then they renovated it to bring it up to modern standards at about the time of the crusades, and then they were tired of animals coming in and bothering people during mass, and so now the
newest door is so small that you have to duck to get in! The church itself has been through quite the ordeal as well. It were almost destroyed by the Mongols (i think?), but when they came in, the leader saw a picture of the 3 magi's and said "Oh, they are our people, we shouldn't destroy this church" and so they didn't! Then this one time some guys came to destroy the church, but lucky for the church, hornets came out of one of the pillars and drove them all the way to the arch of the city. They came out of 5 holes that form a cross, which i promptly put my fingers into! Of course you can also go down into the little cave where Jesus was born, and so down there is the place where he was born along with the place where the manger was. Of course, it is not actual cave anymore, although you can still put your hand down through the 12 pointed star and touch the rock that Jesus was born on. The ornamentation down there is elaborate of course, but I really liked the place and respected those that spent so much time to make this shrine.We also stopped by and went to the opposite side of the cave to where the Roman Catholics have their claim on the area. This is the cave where St. Jerome tranlated the old manuscripts into the Roman
Vulgate bible. This was more like a cave, and so sat here, the two classes together, and sang Christmas songs and read the Nativity story. It was really neat to have done the same thing my whole life, but now to have that chance to read that sacred account in the place where it happened. We are going to have a whole Christmas program later in the semester out on Shepherd's hill, so that should be exciting.Our last little stop was the Milk Grotto church. This is where supposedly Mary was feeding Jesus and spilled a little of her milk on the rock there, turning it white. It was interesting to see the church, a little uncomfortable to see that many pictures of Mary breastfeeding Jesus, but ya know, ya got to let people know what happened! But that was the day. We traveled back through the wall and then came home. It was quite the day, i love Bethlehem, and the spirit there was really amazing. It is too bad that the current conflict will keep us from going there again, so I do hope that a solution can be found soon!
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