Shopping and Lunch

It seems as if this last week has had a month’s worth of events. Our friends the Huntingtons and the Seelys arrived, who are part of the administration and faculty for the Jerusalem Center. We spent a day with each of them going to stores to stock our pantries and refrigerators. Thankfully, the streets of Jerusalem are beginning to look more familiar. Back at the BYU Jerusalem Center Derek and Daniel honed their skills in foosball and ping pong. We joined them one evening and were able to show them that Mom and Dad can still hold their own.

Sabbath in Jerusalem

Our first Sabbath in Jerusalem brought back a flood of emotions and memories. We had forgotten how inspirational it is to look out over the Old City through the large panoramic windows behind the speakers in Sacrament Meeting. It is surely distinct from the solid walls in our chapels back home. Derek and Daniel were asked to bless the sacrament. We felt overwhelming gratitude to have them with us and to be blessed with such an opportunity together. Just sitting in Sacrament Meeting, blessed with the Spirit and looking out the windows, brings deepened insights to the scriptures we have been studying the last two years in Sunday school. It was fast Sabbath and we had a little reality check as members referred to the blessing of being able to come to the Center this week knowing that it may be some time before they can pass through the security checks again between Israel and Palestine. When we were here nine years ago, members often came to stay with us on Friday evening so that they could be here for Sabbath meetings, but the situation now is more difficult with the barriers between the Palestinian West Bank and Israel. One sweet sister has had a one month holiday pass that allowed her to come to Jerusalem from Bethlehem, but she will attend for the last time next Sabbath. It is a pretty tender and sensitive subject for her as she is leaving to work on a graduate degree in the West Bank city of Jenin and will be on the other side of the barriers unable to associate with members of the Church. For those interested, the December National Geographic has an article on the Security Wall between the West Bank and Israel. In Israel there are now three branches of The Church—one here in Jerusalem, and the others in Tel Aviv and Tiberias, which is on the Sea of Galilee. There are no branches in the West Bank for the members there.

Walking Around the City

In preparation for the students to arrive, we took a day to re-orient ourselves by walking down the Mount of Olives from the BYU Jerusalem Center through the Kidron Valley, up to the Old City and through East and West Jerusalem, knowing that we would be taking the students on the same route two days later. Jerusalem is divided East and West as areas for the Palestinians in the east and the Israelis in the West side of the city. For Derek and Daniel our five mile walk fulfilled something that they have been waiting for since we arrived. That is, we ended up on Ben Yehuda Street, where they finally were able to sink their teeth into a shawarma. For those of you who have never tasted shawarma, it is a laffa wrap (flat bread) filled with lamb meat cut off a rotating spit, humus, cucumbers, tomatoes, and French fries. Sandy and I shared a falafel, which is pita bread filled with the above ingredients, except the lamb is substituted with falafel balls. Falafel consists of ground garbonzo beans or chick peas mixed with delicious spices, rolled into balls and deep fried.
We saw Shaaban, one of our favorite vendors in the Old City and our first purchase was a chess set and a scarf for Sandy. The next day, Derek and Daniel could not wait go out on their own to try out their bargaining skills again. Let’s just say that they got some good deals and some not so good deals. They went to the Old City market and shops with Katy and Ben Seely, whom they did not know beforehand and the only two other faculty children, and came back good friends. So we count that a successful jaunt, regardless of the financial outcome.

BYU Students Arrive

The Center is now alive with students, who arrived Wednesday evening tired from their flights to Tel Aviv. We all went to the airport to pick them up and bring them to the Jerusalem Center. Since then we have been to orientation meetings with them, taken them by foot around the city, and last night we went to the Western Wall to observe the Jewish welcoming of the Sabbath. Actually, we did more than observe the praying, singing, and dancing—we joined with them and felt a bond with our Jewish brothers and sisters. At the wall there is a barrier separating those that wish to merely observe and those that wish to participate. Craig, Derek, and Daniel (and the male students) donned a kippah cap and mingled among the men, and Sandy went with the sisters among the women on their side of the wall. We would include some photos, but none are allowed on Sabbath, which begins at sundown on Friday evening.
The pace is exhausting from here on out. Craig’s first class on Friday morning began at 7:30 am and was two hours of insight into the Old Testament followed by another hour of introduction from Brother Seely in the Ancient Near Eastern Studies class. We had a little breather to get ready to go to the Western Wall and came back tired and ready for a good night’s rest. As Craig found, it was a loritab night for him to recover from the constant pace, but enjoyable beyond what words can describe. Sandy has been called as the Jerusalem Branch Young Women’s President. She will learn more about who the potential Young Women are, but for today there was only one that attended. Derek taught Sunday school for all of those that attend church here. He thought that it would just be students and the next thing that he knew he was staying in the large panoramic viewed upper auditorium teaching everyone. He did a very good job. He and Daniel are now off with some friends seeing the sites on the Mount of Olives and then walking over to the area north of the Old City to visit the peaceful Garden Tomb private grounds.

Weather Report

This week we have had rain, fog, bright sunshine, cold, and warm. We layer our clothing and we are constantly either adding a sweater or coat or removing them.

The Jerusalem Center on Mount Scopus

This is the Jerusalem Center on Mount Scopus, adjacent to the Mount of Olives and overlooking the Old City, the Kidron Valley, and the Holy Mount. This picture was taken looking back from the Old City. The BYU Jerusalem Center for Near Eastern Studies has become a landmark here in Jerusalem. Most of the local people here refer to it as the "Mormon University on the hill".

We are still getting oriented to the new roads, where to shop and how things are run at the center. We are getting ready for the new students to arrive here on Wednesday. We will try to keep you posted the best we can. Here is an email that was sent out a few days ago. Sandy

Jan. 3, 2008
Dear family and friends,
A special thanks to Kurt Ostler, (Craig’s brother) for taking us up to the airport with all our luggage. If you haven’t heard, we sold our 1989 GMC Surburban. Yes, that was a sad day for me, I will really miss it. Really!!! Can you tell that I am still in mourning. I was so busy packing and getting ready that I haven’t had time to think much about it until Daniel reminded us that there was no way to get our 12 bags and 4 backpacks and 4 people to the airport. Kurt saved the day!
The miracle at the airport was the weigh-in of the luggage. For three days before leaving we were weighing and repacking and re-weighing and repacking (or redistributing the weight) and then we moved all the suitcases to the living room for the final weigh-in (using an old scale that Grandma Webb gave me when she was down-sizing to move). We put a post it note on each tag with the weight listed and hoped that the scales were accurate since the weight limit in now 50lbs instead of 70lbs. We were weighing in at 47, 48, 48, 49, 49 and 70(we paid extra for one suitcase to go over). At the airport the suitcase weighed…47, 48, 50, 51 and 70, pretty good job weighing with that old trusty scale at home. Thanks mom. PS –they let the suitcase at 51lbs go on through.
Well ,now that we are here and all the planning and preparation and packing is over, I think I can finally relax. Well, maybe until I get behind the wheel of the car and pull onto the roads of Jerusalem where everyone else thinks they have the right of way all the time. Yesterday Brother and Sister Draper drove us out to the money changer---Aladdin on Saladdin Street. A flood of memories came back as they drove down the hill from the center that we walked so many times before to the Old City. While we were there getting our shekels Aladdin came in and seemed to remember us, he teased with Derek and Daniel and we felt right at home again. We then drove by our old apartment at French Hill on our way to the Co-op Grocery store. First time shopping for groceries is always a SHOCK!!! So expensive! Derek kept looking at me as I put things into the cart and he said, “but that is so many shekeles-it’s too much!” He was right, but we do have to eat and it is still less expensive than eating at the cafeteria at the center. Derek was quite helpful; he found the generic brand of Nutella. It was labeled in Hebrew, but looked the same and so we took a chance and after tasting it today it passed the test. We made a stop at the pita factory to get fresh pita and torpedo bread. There is nothing better than fresh pita!
Today the boys and I ventured out by car to the Arab wholesale market. The old grandfather is still there and they were happy to see Mormons again. The shop keeper we got the fruits and vegetables from was very good to us. He said, “ I like Mormons, they don’t smoke and drink, they are good people”. The prices are a lot better at the wholesale market, but I think I will always take one of the boys with me because I am a bit outnumbered by men and boys there.
The center is pretty quiet right now with the students gone. We are slowly getting to know the different Service Couples here. They each work really hard with their different responsibilities. We have meet with Eran (executive director) and Tawfic (assistant director and chief of security). They have helped to orient us to the changes here in Jerusalem, reviewed the rules and answered many of our questions. The new students come in next Wednesday. We will be going on the bus to meet them at the airport. It will be an interesting day to pick up the students because President Bush is also arriving that same day. Security will certainly be tight that day. What a day to have the students arrive.
We are slowly getting over jet lag and adjusting. Hopefully we can relax will have everything taken care of before the students arrive.
Hope all is well back home.
Love, Sandy Ostler