Christmas in Bethlehem

We were in Bethlehem for Christmas Eve. As we made our way down to Manger Square the streets were crowded with a procession of scouts leading the way for the Latin Patriarch. See the bagpipe players here:

Here is a view of Manger Square, full of people celebrating Christmas.

frisbee golf on the mount of olives

ready, set

jump!

walking around the old city

View of the Old City of Jerusalem, looking East towards the Mount of Olives and mountains of Jordan, from the top of the Lutheran Church's tower.

On their last day in town I met up with Kelsey and Njuhi, my classmates from Notre Dame who have been doing their internships in Jerusalem for the past 6 months.

Mint tea. Perfect way to end a day in the old city.

kimbap. :)

Chin-Won indulged my craving for sushi and helped us make some 25 rolls of kimbap (Korean version of sushi). was DELICIOUS.

One of the main differences with kimbap is that the veggies are cooked (even the cucumbers were sauted), the rice is made with sesame oil, and you put a whole lot more in each roll.

its beginning to feel a lot like Christmas

My first Saturday back in Jerusalem we had some friends over and baked all day long. Happy to be back to using an oven!

We started the day off right, with ableskiver--- a pancake/waffle batter made into balls of goodness :)

gingerbread cookies in the making

rolling out saffron dough to make delicious rolls

Brit drizzling chocolate on the macaroons

Our finished products. We also made those paper stars and hearts :)

goodbye gulu

So, its been a whirlwind couple of weeks. Some highlights:

-Ray has been approved to be a pastor in the ELCA, meaning that once he graduates next May from seminary he can be called to be ordained as a pastor. He had his final interview via skype, and was unanimously approved.

-I am feeling much better. All signs of malaria and e.coli are gone, and I'm just working on regaining my strength and weight.

-A strange disease, yet to be identified by name, started to spread in the Northern region of Uganda. The disease originated in an area outside of the district we were living in, but a couple of cases had arrived at a hospital in town. Our university decided to relocate us to Kampala (the capital city, 6 hour bus ride from Gulu) and officially end our program, moving up our departure date from Gulu by 10 days. We said rushed goodbyes and packed up our lives in Gulu over the weekend and drove down to Kampala Monday.

-I decided to fly home early, so here I am in Jerusalem. I am happy to indulge the comforts of being home-  yesterday I had a delicious steak (helps with my post-malaria anemia!) and fresh veggies. On the menu for tonight is sushi! I am working on my final paper for the semester, due Tuesday and then will be able to really relax.

-Ray is presently in Egypt-- he had a 5 day layover in Cairo on route to Jerusalem. He is staying with a WCC friend and is seeing the sites! He has now seen the source of the Nile in Uganda and the end of the Nile in Egypt, all within a matter of weeks.

We will be in Jerusalem through the new year and then back to the states in January to begin classes. We'll keep posting from Jeru :)

chimp tracking

Can you see the chimp? I promise there is a chimp in this photo. We went chimp tracking, a four hour walk through a rain forest area in the park (see, I am feeling better). Our guide did a tremendous job finding these chimps.

 Thanks to the telephoto lens we can see the chimp that was way high in the branches.

This female chimp hung out for a while closer to the ground before swinging her way to the tops of the trees and joining her male compatriot.