Wow, the past few weeks or so have gone by in a blur. I am now in Nazareth Israel and have been in the Galillee area since the 9th with the youth venture team that I am co-leading. Thus far it has been a great experience. We have a very good team of young adults who are enjoying their experience (as far as I know, they are quiet), and I feel that it’s an honour to be leading them and to be part of this journey with them.
Coming here has felt quite natural although this is also true of other places that I have been….and yet this is different. It is not entirely explainable but I’m not looking for an explanation. I am loving the food, culture, people that I meet, the activities that we are involved in and the company of the group although I am a wee bit low on sleep. As with any group, there are dynamics that can get a bit stressful at times but these are eclipsed by the beauty of the location, people and culture here.
The old city of Nazareth reminds me of the old cities of Lamu, Kenya or of Zanzibar although here it is far more ”organized”, it is cleaner and there seems to be less Islamic influence in the architecture. The smell of spices in the air, the feeling of market time, shopkeepers sitting outside their doors is very similar. I look forward to actually understanding Arabic so that I can converse with people and build relationships.
We move on to other places next week and hopefully I will have time to write again. This week we are busy dressing up as 1st Century people at a place called Nazareth village that recreates the time of Jesus in the style of a living museum. This is the place where I expect to spend my first two and half months when I return in October. For the last two days I have been working on the roof to a mikveh which is a Jewish ritual bath used for purification back in the 1st Century. I am now able to do 1st century masonry (sort of) in very warm handspun clothing.
That’s all for now.
