weekend

thoughts from the weekend (in chronological order - of course):

friday evening: shabbat dinner. there was an hour service prior to the meal. all in hebrew. what was most amazing to me was every friday night the service is exactly the same. same scripture reading, same prayers, same liturgy. the only aspect that changes is the 10-15 minute devotional like reading in the middle of the service. i imagine with this great familiarity comes a sense of security, stability, consistency, etc. talk about having scripture imprinted on your heart, for in going to this service one's whole life it would be next to impossible not to memorize the lines weekly recited. there is a negative side too, however, as was illustrated by what tim and i called the "misfit family." sitting directly across from us (the room is situated where every section faces the middle - so you end up literally facing those in the section across from you) were 3 sons (ages approx 15,18,24), 1 daughter (4), dad (60), mom (45). the oldest son had a beard that looked like it had never been trimmed, groomed, cut, nothing. just growing every which way. his hair wasn't much better - curly and big - pulled back haphazardly in a pony tail. glasses, slightly crooked, and substantial gut. he, along with his 18 year old brother and mother, dozed off throughout the service. the father at one point feel asleep too, but not for very long. the 4 year old was asleep before the service started. i think the 15 year old was the only member to make it the whole time. the look of the older brother pretty much translated in different forms for the whole family. and because i am slightly tired from the field study today i will let your imaginations paint creative pictures for the rest. for me and my love for people watching it was difficult to not be totally captivated by the scene.

after the service we had a nice dinner in a meeting room at the synagogue. we were familiar with the liturgy of the shabbat meal having been a part of one at school that Dr. Wright led, as well as going through the liturgy weekly at our off campus group meals. the only thing that was new was the hand washing/no speaking part. the only awkward moment with that was when we sat down and the sweet south korean man in our class loudly offered us sparkling water and we had to ask him to be quiet. either he forgot the instructions or something was lost in translation. after we were allowed to talk we apologized for asking him to be quiet. rabbi moshe, tim's teacher, also taught us a few family oriented tradional shabbat meal songs. all-in-all it was a good night.

saturday: day of rest (and cleaning). we enjoyed a walk around the old city, as well as tim played soccer with some teenagers that asked him to come back next week to play and teach them some english. the man finds soccer wherever he goes. :)

sunday - today: trip to samaria. again, not able to go in 2001. not exactly the safest place to go today, but we stayed out of the dangerous parts. one of the most interesting aspects of today was meeting a samaritan priest. there are only 600 samaritans today. and they are pretty much living in the same location they lived in during the days of the bible. still doing live animal sacrifice on passover, still professing Mt. Gerizim as the most blessed of any place on earth. the priest was extremely kind. and i greatly enjoyed learning more about the samaritan culture and people.

pictures to come. may just be a few. we just made 3 stops today and did a lot of looking at the land, which doesn't make for super interesting blog picture posts. but so it goes.

until tomorrow. good night, kristi

one more thing. thinking of the oscars tonight. my mom's favorite night of the year (as far as entertainment goes). they are actually having people over for the big show, which is somewhat surprising. i hope the guests know the rules, the greatest of which is you must be completely quiet while the show is on. i remember as a little girl concentrating extremely hard on this rule. so mom in your (and keri's) honor i wanted to let you know i am wearing my gold chiffon dress with the pearls. have the limo pick me up around 3. wouldn't want to be late. if i am just tell jack, will, tom, kate, nicole and denzel i will be there soon and to save a seat. love you. :)