Once again, it has been 2 weeks since I last wrote. I have been very busy, among other things, considering beginning a PhD in Foreign Languages and Literatures, struggling onward in my Ivrit (Hebrew) bakitah (class), reading and attending for Prof. Gelber's Current Topics in Literature Seminar, researching for the Stefan Zweig annotation project for the German Studies Center, which Prof. Gelber heads, and of course, tutoring English. Add to that the Young Voices Magazine proposed project, and, well, you get the idea!
Tonight is Christmas Eve, but as we are in Israel, it is of course a regular work day, though we are in the midst of Hannukah, there's no sign of outward festivities here in Be'er Sheva. Once again, I must emphasize that we are in the Jewish State. Christmas is only evident in cities that are holy to Christians (Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Nazareth, etc.) It is thus not "a wonderful experience to be in the Holy Land at Christmas", not unless one is in one of the cities where pilgrims frequent. The observed holiday for the 8 day Hannukah holiday is Sunday,December 28th, when we don't have my Hebrew class for a change. There is a Christmas Eve service tonight at the Catholic Church, but my Hebrew Ulpan meets from 5-8 pm. There is another service on Christmas Day, but I don't know if we will go. David and Daria, another med student and his wife, are hosting a Christmas Day brunch at their apartment tomorrow. (The American med school students get Christmas Day off, but ONLY Christmas Day).
A week and a half ago (Saturday, Dec. 13th), Sonja, from Austria, and Nadine, from Germany, came over to our apartment for some Christmas cookie baking. After about 4 hours of prep work and baking, everyone was ready to call it a day (we took a break for dinner... I think we had spaghetti and salad). The Christmas music of the King's Choir of Cambridge which I had downloaded from ITunes was playing, and I even found some German Christmas songs on YouTube and other sites, including our favorite of the day, "In the Weihnachtsbaeckerei" (In the Christmas Bakery).
Last Friday night, December 19th, we made our weekly trek to the med school student-led Bible Study, (a 40 minute walk... There are no buses on Shabbat) for a couple hours of Christmas Caroling, food, fun, and fellowship. Jacob looked like the Fonz from Happy Days, with his hair slicked back, as he led with the piano, while Ryan and David accompanied him with their guitars to all the favorites: O Come All Ye Faithful, Joy to the World, Hark the Herald Angels Sing, and some fun songs, like Rudolph and Walking in a Winter Wonderland, just to name a few. Spiced hot wine, similar to Gluehwein, hot apple cider, and prayer in 2 and 3 person groups served to round out a wonderful evening. I'll attach pictures of the cookie making and baking, and of the Christmas Caroling.
