Fauzi, Nazareth and other amazingness

It's been a while, but I actually have time to write now! I can't catch up on everything, but I will be able to share a bunch of stories! I am sitting at the one computer in the Fauzi Azar Inn in the old city of Nazareth about 12 minutes walking from Nazareth Village. We have this ridiculous line for this one computer, but I'm not getting off until I'm done.

So we had a few more days on the kibbutz after I last posted. Not too much happened, in relative terms. We finished our interviews and papers and discussion groups. We wrapped up our lectures and Hebrew lessons. Daniel, Aaron and I finished up our time with the dogs cleaning kennels and painting chairs. Overall, I was ready to go. The free time and Jordan River and hammocks and flourish of card game playing was excellent, but if I had to choose my least favorite spot this trip it'd be the kibbutz.

So now we're in Nazareth. Our days are spent mostly at Nazareth Village, a 1st century village in the heart of the modern city of Nazareth. It's really quite random. The church owned this land for many many centuries when someone sold it so they wouldn't have to pay taxes on it. Not too long ago people bought it and started constructing a working 1st century village! It's not a full village, but it's crazy how large it can be in the middle of a city!

When we're there we mostly to manual labor. They are always building and it all takes a tremendous amount to human labor with all hand tools. They are planting trees and getting ready to put a roof on the weavers house. So people strip bark and carry logs and dig trenches and a ritual bath. It's all tough. We love it though! Basically it means you get to hang out with a small group of friends all day!

I like the fact that anyone who works where tourists walk must be in 1st century clothing. So those that do have sandals and robes and everything. I appreciate the strictness even though it means my glasses create a problem. So far I've stayed out of the tourists eyes, but when I can't I'll have to take off my glasses whenever a tour group comes by. I find it quite interesting that of all 30 students I am the only one with glasses. Oh well.

The rest of our time is spent on our final 3 credit class of the semester involving the Christian movement through the Mediterranean. Linford has a masters degree class studying here and they all have to give sizable lectures. So we've learned about the Roman Empire as compared to modern day Israel, travel in the 1st century and the Jesus Trail, the religious elite and their lifestyle, and rebellions and resistance of the 1st century. Tomorrow we learn about food and eating in the 1st century. With that last one we also get a meal, which ought to be unique. I've been enjoying everything!

All I have to say is that Google Earth is amazing! We've had too much fun with it these last few days! The presentation on travel used Google Earth to show the routes in Israel. Before and after the lecture we just took turns fooling around and showing each other where we live. I'm definitely going to use Google Earth the describe all my travels for the last 3 months!

Also as a part of the travel lecture, we walked to Zippori from Nazareth yesterday. We were the first group ever to walk any portion of the Jesus Trail, but soon many groups will be traveling it! It's still a rough path, but tons of fun to hike! That leg took about 2 hours and there was a bus to drive us back to Nazareth after we were done at Zippori, but 5 of us forgo(ed? forwent?) the bus and hiked all the way back. I'm so glad I walked it all! Conversation is so much better walking than taking a bus. It's completely worth the effort!

At the Fauzi we mostly just play card games, laugh an outrageous amount, wait for the shower, and read/write. Rook, Euchre, Up and Down the River, Checkers, Briscola (and Riscola and Ricola and Trinity), Scum, 31, and probably more. There is also a 1500 piece puzzle going together. On top of that we had a paper due at the start of this week and one due on Saturday. It's been so great!

I have way more stories to tell, but I can't tell them all! I'm really looking forward to telling so many stories when I get home! Most days I don't want to go home and I'd rather stay here and live more stories to tell, but occasionally I just want to be home right away to tell all my stories now. 3 weeks is all that's left and I'm afraid it won't be enough.

Random facts that most people don't care about: I'm actually leading our trip's NCAA bracket and if UCLA can pull off the win then I'll get like 15 euros! Sun burns have been a problem and I'll have a pretty fantastic farmers tan when I get home. I've recently had a stretch of days where I kept singing Clay Crosse songs, mostly "I Will Follow Christ." Today the song was "A Place Called Grace." Liberal Arts beat Computer Science in a Euchre series. I keep having Texaco moments like in 4th grade. (Maybe only Darrel will get that one.) Oh, and life is really good!