Jerusalem

Someone is entering the walled Old City of Jerusalem

The round disk with the number one symbolizes the first station of the cross,
where Jesus begins his journey of carrying the cross he was to be crucified on.

A path within the walls.

The view of the Dome of the Rock is a Muslim shrine,
as seen from the window of a Muslim school.
Spectacular!

Another view of the Dome of the Rock.

This is the place where Jesus is believed
to have been crowned with thorns.

This is where Jesus is believed to have been nailed to the cross.

Another confessional

The ceiling of this church features a crown of thorns.

This is the fifth station of the cross where
Simon is believed to have carried the cross for Jesus.

The seventh station of the cross.

The eighth station of the cross.

This is the ninth station of the cross.

The last four stations of the cross are located inside the Church of the Holy Sepulcher.
It is believed to be where Jesus was crucified and buried.

View of a courtyard

The area where people are kneeling is believed to be where
Jesus was laid after being taken down from the cross.

This is believed to be the tomb of Jesus.

Another view of the tomb.

Another view of where Jesus was laid after his death.

 To walk where Jesus walked was an amazing experience.  You knew you were walking on sacred ground.

I'll remember this always.

Bethlehem

Here are some of the sights from this Holy City.

Across the street from the Church of the Nativity

Manger Square

"Humble Door" where you must bend down to enter / exit

Beautiful stonework in the ceiling of the walkway entering the church.

This diagram shows where Jesus is believed to have been born,
and the churches that are built around the area.

This the entryway to the descending staircase that ends at the birthplace of Jesus.

These steps lead down to the nativity scene.

This star marks the spot where it is believe Jesus was born.

This is a better picture - online photo

This is a wide view of the area - online photo

This symbolizes where the manger is believed to have been.

The manager is straight head draped behind those curtains.

These is a line of people waiting to kiss the star
where Jesus is believed to have been born.
The lady on the left is bending down to kiss it.
The lady with her back to the camera with the blue backpack is in front of the manager.
This area is quite small and compact.

An altar

This picture doesn't capture the absolute beauty of this wall / altar.

Entryway to the Church of the Nativity - online photo

Closeup of the columns in the entryway where
you can see where they were burn in a fire centuries ago.

Another "Humble Door" 

In the courtyard of the church.

A view inside of the Church of the Nativity

A confessional inside the Church of the Nativity

A door with the Jerusalem Cross

Bethlehem Peace Center

A street around the Church of the Nativity

Narrow alleys

I'm thinking Starbucks might not be happy with this.

The Wailing Wall.
This is the place where people write things on small pieces of paper and
stuff them into the cracks and crevices of the wall.
The lattice barrier on the left separates the men's side from the women's.
Interesting, when you're finished praying,
you back away from the wall, instead of turning around and walking away.
It is a sign of disrespect to turn your back to the wall.

A view from Mount Olive.  The things you see up close are tombs,
as this is a burial ground for Christians, Muslims and Jews.

Another view from Mount Olive.

On the left is our driver.
The other is the young man from America that I'm sharing the day with.

Olive trees in the Garden of Gethsemane,
where Jesus is believed to have prayed  in agony before he was betrayed by Judas Iscariot.

Church of All Nations, next to the Garden of Gethsemane.

I'm admiring the magnificent craftsmanship in the Church of Al  Nations.

A tree in the garden propped up with rocks.

The trunk of this tree was incredible.

Next stop - Jerusalem.

The Holy Land

I started this post on the road, but was moving too fast to complete it.  I'm home now, where I'm able to string my thoughts together.

~~~~~~~~~~

It has long been my desire to visit to the Holy Land, and thankfully, I was able to do that last week.

I visited Bethlehem, Jerusalem, and Jericho.

First stop though - Amman, Jordan.

Amman is a quick three hour flight from Abu Dhabi, and a place I've been to before, a couple of years ago.

Jericho is Amman's closest Israeli neighbor, just inside the border, but each time I've inquired, I was told crossing the border into Israel is tricky at best.  I tried when I was here before, but there was push back and hesitation, so I let it go and didn't pursue it.

This time, I was on a mission to get there, and gratefully, crossing the border was without incident, and when we finally reached the checkpoint for checking passports, getting processed through was quick, about fifteen minutes.

Side note - There was concern with making sure that my passport not be stamped going into or coming out of Israel.  The UAE, as most other countries in the Middle East, does not recognize Israel as a country.  I would not be allowed to re-enter the UAE with an Israeli stamp on my passport.

What was really interesting was the number of checkpoints along the way.  There must have been at least a half dozen.

My taxi dropped me off at the the departure area in Amman, just east of the King Hussein Bridge, where tour busses were waiting to take us into Israel.  The King Hussein Bridge crosses the Jordan River and connects the West Bank with Jordan.

I'm sitting in the cab at the border, waiting for it to open.
This is a view of the area across the street from where I'm going.

I arrived early and had to wait a while, but while waiting, I met an American kid also doing what I was doing, taking a day trip to Jerusalem.  We became fast friends.

This is where we caught the bus.

Once on the bus, we rode for about half an hour, stopping at each checkpoint that was guarded by armed soldiers.  They were checking passports of passengers in cars, looking in trunks, and checking for explosives under cars.

The buses that make the trek over and back.

At all of the checkpoints, the process was the same.  There was only one way into the country, so the cars, trucks, buses, etc., were the same at each stop.  I'm not sure why there were so many checkpoints.  Double, triple, quadruple checking to make sure everything was in order, maybe?

A view from the bus along the way.

Anyway . . .

We were fortunate in that we were given a cursory look and a quick pass.  The large 18-wheel trucks carrying cargo also passed through without incident.

Everything was nondescript and uninviting.

The roads were desolate except for the roadside sheds of the guys checking the traffic.

When we crossed over the King Hussein Bridge, we entered Israel.

A picture of the bridge that I found online.

The countryside was barren most of the way into Israel, with rolling hills, mountains really, of rugged, tan-colored terrain.

When we arrived at the main checkpoint, it was a bus station really.  There were no welcome signs, nothing indicating we had crossed the border, except for Israeli flags flying.

Soldiers guarding the border.  Online picture.

Soldier guarding the entryway into the checkpoint.  Another online picture.

After answering the usual questions (Why were we visiting?  Where were we going? How long would we be staying?, etc.) we hired a taxi, now off on our adventure, headed first to Bethlehem, then Jerusalem, and finally Jericho.

Our driver was an Israeli Muslim.  His car was registered in Israel, so he was free to drive in both Israel and Palestine.  A Palestine driver would have been limited to driving in Palestine only.

Bethlehem and Jericho are in Palestine on the West Bank, while Jerusalem is in Israel.  Jerusalem is a walled city.

When towns came into view, they were built in the hills/mountains.  The buildings were all white, against the tan earth.

Thank God for the folks who can capture what I saw so much better than me.
Yes, it's another online picture.

It is a beautiful sight, especially so because it was barren in between cities.

Next stop, Bethlehem.

Another Brave Soul

Tim Wise writes and lectures about race in America.  Specifically he talks about the permeation of white privilege in our society.

This is his response to Ferguson, written last week, before the grand jury in New York City failed to indict yet another cop for the murder of a black man.

It's long, but well worth the read.

http://www.alternet.org/most-white-people-america-are-completely-oblivious

~~~~~~~~~~

By the way, the Huffington Post's headline today reads:

"How To Get Away With Murder" with a picture of a police hat underneath.

That says it all.

Suspect Arrested

There was an arrest today of the suspect in the brutal slaying of an American teacher in Abu Dhabi on December 1st.

I am still shocked at the incident, but even more shocked and extremely grateful, that it appears to have been solved so quickly.

Check out the arrest below.

The first two minutes is a repeat of the suspect entering and exiting the mall.  The new information begins at 2:07.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2014/12/04/uae-detains-suspect-in-teacher-death/19880561/?csp=eMail_DailyBriefing_51968940

Safe

As many of you have already heard, a 37 year old American teacher was stabbed to death in an upscale area of Abu Dhabi on December 1st.

This has sent shockwaves through our system and throughout the UAE.

Many people are out of the country, including me, and heard about this like I did, through the US State Department Advisory Warning email.

Although this is incredibly tragic, it also is incredibly rare.

I stand by my conviction that this is one of the safest places in the world to live.

Clearly though, there are crazy people everywhere.

The suspect, which you can see in the video clip below, is completely covered.

http://www.thenational.ae/uae/abu-dhabi-police-release-cctv-video-of-boutik-mall-murder-suspect?utm_source=Communicator&utm_medium=Email&utm_content=&utm_campaign=Abdullah:%20UAE%20won't%20rest%20in%20war%20on%20terror

This is not unusual.

Trying to identify her (or him, although it looks like a woman to me), will prove difficult.

The other thing is, because this type of thing is so rare, I wonder how equipped the local police is to handling something like this.

There is no doubt, there will be an exodus of US teachers leaving during the upcoming winter break.  If they were on the fence at all about being here, this kind of thing will push them over the edge.

Huge thanks to those of you who reached out to me, making sure I'm OK.

Thank God, all is well with me.

Waking Up to Rock

I'm headed out of town today, so I'm up early, making sure I have everything packed and ready to go.

Now that it is, I do what I do every morning . . . get on my computer and see what's happening in the world.

I stumbled across this interview of Chris Rock that is worth sharing.

Enjoy.

http://www.theroot.com/blogs/the_grapevine/2014/12/chris_rock_let_s_hope_america_produces_nicer_white_people.html?wpisrc=newsletter_jcr%3Acontent%26