Highlightin' Highlifin'

I'm not sure if highlifin' is really the proper way to manipulate the english language... but, the bottom line is here: this week has been poppin' with highlights. I'll break them down for you, in order of appearance.

• I achieved record levels of puking and survived. You probably recognize this triumphant sentence as an offspring of my previous post, so I'll move on.

• I finally went to the International House of Prayer. People kept telling me, "Em, there's an IHOP across the road!" And I was like, "Fools, I don't see no pancakes nowhere." I stand (sit, type) corrected. I went with other JUC'ers to watch this documentary. After the film everyone worshipped together and lifted that Korean Film team up in prayer. I tried to include myself in the blessings and edifying etc as much as possible. I figured since they were basically praying for those in the communication field and I upload things on Youtube, it was alright.

• After doing the let's-sync-our-schedules dance, with germs, field studies and distance tripping up our feet, I was finally able to meet with my friend, Matt N. from the Middle East Studies Program. His semester took an unanticipated turn when Egypt decided to depose if its government and he's been relocated to Jerusalem. Always good to meet a friend halfway around the world and hear a first-hand account of history.

• Fridays are great days. No classes for Emily, Shabbat begins, and we play frisbee. Hours of frisbee. This week though my favorite part of hours of frisbee was not, in fact, frisbee. It was my teammate, Matt Traylor. I am not so good at frisbee. I acquired the nickname "shekels" after it was established that, on a field full of dollars, I am the shekel. But Matt Traylor stoutly defended me, "No Emily, you're a reliable player!" I proceeded to botch some throws, miss some passes and feel like a champion the whole time. Meanwhile, there was Matt. Always with his game face, always playing that D, making us look great, making my friday awesome. Thanks Matt.

• Final highlight of the week was going to the Ethiopian Orthodox Church dedication in Jericho. I've been anticipating this day all week. Best day I've had in Israel.

St. Gabriel's church.

I was hoping to creep in and creep out, but there was no blending in. We walked into the church the only and obvious Americans (plus a British and Canadian fellow). Everyone else was Ethiopian and if they weren't, they looked like they belonged. But a few minutes into the ceremony I forgot about feeling like a sore thumb. It's incredible to see the cross-cultural expression of the church. Check out the video! but first let me say, you can't really see anything. It's sideways and over-edited and effected and overall, not much to watch. What's the point then? Press play, turn up your volume and read on while you listen to the drums! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S29-hWZxKNU

Drummin

Kids in the ceremony.

Priests

After the dedication, there was so. much. food. We got a plate of injera loaded with meat and a spicy sauce. I mean, really spicy– says the girl who has a difficult time eating pepperoni. Three bites into this meal I was facing some health and safety issues. But it was so much fun eating with my fingers that, even though my esophagus was on fire, I ate the entire plate of food.

Cleaning off as much as possible, we started to walk towards the direction where we would meet our taxi. The man who invited us last week intercepted asking, "You enjoyed the Ethiopian food?" As we nodded enthusiastically and 'thank you'd' he held out his arm and ushered us into another building. "Good, now it is time to eat Arabic food!"

Lunch #2. It was like Thanksgiving. There was practically half a chicken on the plate, loaded with rice and a plain yogurt with vegetables. It was delicious, and quenched the palate, thank God (I was melting). Unfortunately, I couldn't possibly finish it all, but dangit if I didn't make the effort. As we plowed through that plate of food, we discovered the one of the guests was the Governor of Jericho. We left shortly after he said a few words, but not before we found the priest that we met last week, and thanked him.

That wrapped our visit. We had some drama go down with our taxi-driver on the way back to Jerusalem. It was a crowd-drawing scene– lots of hollering, waving of the arms, and finger pointing between drivers and eventually some police presence. I still don't completely understand what was going on... I think the gist of it was one sherut driver was trying to get our business when the other driver had dibs and it was cramping the other driver's income. There's my confusing explanation. How about: it was exciting. I'll leave it at that.

Street in Jericho

Tomorrow, we go north! We're going on a field study to Samaria. Keep your eyes out for that post!

Thanks for reading,

-Em