So here is another blog that will include a couple of days to make it easier for me to post and for you to read.
On Sunday (July 25th), I went to the Old city for mass, which is always a treat for me. I took the 21 bus right outside of Tantur, paid 5 shekels (which is about $1.50), and then was taken to the Damascus Gate. I LOVE this gate because you can find all types of vendors there selling coffee, clothes, sweet bread, cell phones, middle eastern candy, and just about anything else you can think of. You can even get fresh squeezed Orange Juice right around the corner!!! So the only mass available at that time was at the Austrian Hospice and it was in German. Since I had a little bit of time before Mass started, I went to one of the stations of the cross, the crowning with thorns & flagellation. This is a smaller church, but I really was able to pray and meditate on our Lord's sufferings. I will load those pictures as soon as possible. There was a very somber atmosphere because of the dark stained glass windows, so it helped you enter into His agony. Then I walked over to the Hospice for mass at 10:30, which was all in German. The chapel was absolutely beautiful, with the entire chapel being painted with pictures and statues. It really was great...although it could only fit around 50 people. Then after Mass, I went to Adoration at my favorite station, Station IV, Jesus meets his Mother. This is by far one of the most beautiful monstrances in the world, being made in Poland and with an image of the Black Madonna. Truly something to behold. I had a delicious falafel pita for lunch and then headed back to Tantur.
I did laundry later that day and I want to describe the process to you so that you can understand some of the beauty of this country. First of all, they offer to us free use of laundry machines and laundry detergent. My friend was using one of the machines so I had to use the other one, which was all in German (noticing a pattern here?). Ya! So I put my laundry into the machine, which really only has room for about 5 days worth of clothes and then let it go through the cycles. Now when they are done, you have to dry your clothes on these racks that you see in the picture above. I love the idea because it saves electricity and it allows the natural heat and sun to do all the work. The clothes take about half a day to dry so I did it at night and they were dry the next morning. However, I HATE that the clothes come out TOASTED!! Do you know what I mean....they come out after being dried...as if you just put them in a toaster or perhaps like old bread.....it reminds me of how they turn out in El Salvador.
So what do you with your toasted clothes????? Well...you can either live with and let your body heat soften them when you wear them....or you can iron steam them in order to soften the fabric. Either way....I much prefer using a dryer, which makes them come out very soft.
Last thing...I do want to say that on Monday we went to go see the City of David, which are excavations near the Old City of Jerusalem. They are the findings of Jerusalem at the time of King David and in fact they have most likely found the palace that he would have lived in. Check out the pictures of the city and the tunnels on www.flickr.com/photos/alvaro_interiano
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