Here we are again, ready to start yet another week in Israel. We’re all realizing that time is passing really quickly. We already saw so many beautiful things in Israel, but we’re sure it hides more amazing things. This past week our students had to teach in schools in and around Haïfa. Our student, Syreen, had to teach math to the 7th and 9th grade. The students weren’t always that well behaved, but she managed to interest them in the subject. She had some good didactical impulses, like the cards in a bag (the students had to pick a card and solve the riddle that was on it). She got really good grades (95), so it was a pretty good week for her and for us.
Yesterday we didn’t go out of the village. We all had a lot of schoolwork, so we stayed home and worked all day. Ashton, Mieke and Laura had to read a book, but Ashton couldn’t concentrate, she was busy with her new baby. It’s a cat she found on the street. She couldn’t resist the pretty face, it wasn’t pretty at all, and took it home with her. Now here’s the funny bit: people in Israel
aren’t that fond of cats, you can say they really don’t like cats at all, they are more fan of dogs. So there she was, Ashton with a little kitten without a mother, without a name, without a place to sleep, without food, you get the picture… She glanced over to Syreen with puppy-like eyes, than looked at Syreens father and mother with a sad look on her face and she knew she had won them over. She could keep the kitten, but only if she took care of it. And that was that. Ashton went to the supermarket, bought some milk and nourished the kitten like it was her own baby. (Maybe she should have a baby, her mother instincts are really up there.) Just another little detail: Syreen’s brother came in and was shocked she could keep the kitten. When he was, he also wanted a pet, but his father said it was a no-go. So he turned to Ashton and said: ‘He likes you more than me…’
So back to our workday. Ashton started readi
ng her book earlier than Laura, Laura was jealous so she kept on reading. The fact is that Ashton doesn’t read all that fast, so Laura was soon on page 96, while Ashton was still on page 22. Well done Ashton, you go girl. (It’s diss Ashto-day today, so excuse us for the harsj words, we really like her you know!)
Mieke was also reading her book, but she wasn’t all that pleased with the content, so she decided to leave her book for what it was en take a walk. All the sirens (Syreens) were going off when they discovered she wasn’t home anymore. Ashton and Laura could convince Syreen and her mother that Mieke was going to be ok. But that didn’t stop Achmed, the fiancée, from bringing her home. They really take care of us here, it’s like having a second family, with a mother who’s always worried (not so different than in Belgium you see), a sister who we can make fun of and fun with, and a father who’s telling his daughters they bought to many things they don’t need (2 handbags, 2 pairs of shoes, 4 rings…). All three of us were on the same page about this: when you come back after a long day, it’s like coming home, we are really sorry we have to leave the family on Sunday, they’ve become our Isralian family. It’s cool to see that you don’t need the same language to love and understand somebody.
At three o’clock we left our home to visit mount Tabor. Ashton and Laura have been there before, but the church wasn’t open, so we went back there. Ashton decided she couldn’t leave her kitten alone, so she brought it with her to mount Tabor. Laura had a sweater on with a sack in front and settled the cat inside. She was imitating a Kangaroo and we have to say, it was pretty similar to the real thing. It was sleeping all the way up to the mountain, but when it started moving Laura yelled ‘watch out people, it’s on the move, I repeat, it’s on the move…’ (She actually stole the sentence from Ashton, but hey, let’s be honest, she doesn’t care!) We drove up the mountain and Mieke enjoyed the view. She was ooewing and wauwing all the way up to the top and oooeeeed again when she saw the entrance of the churchyard. We let the kitten walk his way and it fell down a few times, because his orientation-sense and balance aren’t that good yet. A lot of the tourist were smiling when they saw the cat and a lot of them wanted to adopt it. But Ashton said ‘no no, it’s my baby people, stay away from the baby!’ We entered the church, without the kitten of course and Achmed, Syreen’s cousin didn’t understand why he had to be quiet. He’s only five years old, so we’ll forgive him that one. He also wanted to know who we were and why we can’t answer his question. We don’t speak Arabic yet, so it’s hard for him when he wants to ask to us a and it’s hard for us to answer. The church was amazing, the light falls in at all the right places en it brings a certain calm with it. We took a lot of pictures (Ashton on top, because you know she is a tourist with the ‘Arty-farty’ pictures). We came back down and worked some more.
On Saturday we have an engagement-party, so Syreen thought it was about time we went shopping for a dress. The cool thing is that the shops in Israel are open until 22.00! Why don’t we have this in Belgium darned! We want this in Belgium, READ IT WELL: WE WANT THIS IN BELGIUM! We took the car to Nazareth, because the shops in Afulla were closed (Jews start their Sabbat on Friday night and end it on Saturday night). Syreen told us about the ‘Big store’ and ignorant as we are, we thought it was a big mall in size (it is a big mall, but that’s not the point!), but the name of the shoppingmall is ‘BIG’. So we learned something new again. We put on some music and enjoyed our time together. We sang along with the songs and Syreen started dancing (that’s not so common, because normally, she doesn’t dance at all). She also explained to us how the marriage-system in their culture works.
First of all you have the engagement-party a year before the actual wedding. Imagine 800 people in pretty, colorful dresses and a bride to be who steals the show (that’s the same as in Belgium, it’s a universal law that the bride has to be the most pretty one). Then, a year later, they have the actual wedding that consists of three days. First you have the bridal party, then
the next day the groom party and the last day is the day when the groom has to pick up his bride from her house and drive her to her new home. We learn a new thing about the weddings every day. This month it’s the wedding season, so every night you hear fireworks in the village and people singing songs.
We pulled up to the mall and couldn’t believe our eyes when we saw it. It’s in the open sky and all the shops you want and need are inside. So we walked up to the entrance and looked over to the board where all the names of the shops were on. We recognized some names, but most of them we hadn’t heard before. Syreen took us to her favorite shop and we all tried really hard to resist all the sales. Laura’s mother told her that she could buy some t-shirts, so she did. It was a barging, so she bought two, Ashton bought one and Mieke also bought a tank-top with flowers. Syreen needed shoes for the engagement-party, so we looked for some amazing grey shoes, but at first we didn’t find any. We found some beautiful sandals with heels as high as the sky, but Syreen calmed us all down and said she’s used to walking in these shoes. Just for the record, Ashton did it again! She brought the cat with her, already granted with two names: Spiderpig and Sugarpops (the last one is Laura’s favorite, she calls everybody sugarpops). We put it in Ashton’s scarf so no one would notice we had it in our hands. Ashton was annoyed from the first moment, because her baby kept her from looking at all the pretty clothes. In the shoe-shop we left her on the sofa. Looking at shoes is only practical when you concentrate to the fullest. Ashton tried on 5 pairs of shoes, think before you act, don’t ever go shopping with Ashton, it’s like a day in hell… The lady in the shop helped us really well, but she didn’t know there was a cat hidden in the scarf, so she put a lot of boxes on top of the scarf. Ashton yelled and transformed into the camelrider (you see, she’s only one camel away!).
We didn’t buy all that much, but the shops were closing. We headed back home and we stopped for pizza, because we hadn’t eaten yet. Strange people, those Arabs, they put (a lot) of ketchup on their pizza. Mieke thought, Hey, this is the perfect opportunity to taste some of their culture, so she tried it out. We have to applaud that, because Mieke isn’t a great eater. (That’s what we say, because Ashton and Laura eat a lot. There is no other way for Ashton, since she is eating for two…)
We’ll end it for today, but tomorrow we’ll have another report, because we’re going to a party. Syreen already warned us. She needs five hours to get ready, so we’re ready. Bring it on, people!
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