Heaven's waiting room

Please forgive me for not posting. It has been a very hectic and not so good few days. No worries, we far away from the problems of Gaza. I have my own conflict going on right now. This week has been filled with meetings and many, many changes in my internship situation. When I arrived in Jerusalem, I was told that I would now be living in Ramallah and also working there. The next day we visited Ramallah where I was told that I would have to live with a family in Ramallah! A strict Muslim family. I pled my case against it and they finally agreed to “allow” me to stay in a hotel. That same day I was told that my roommate would also have to agree to stay with me. She was against living in Ramallah and we had to be together so we were asked to accept a different internship in Nazareth. We both decided to not stay in Ramallah. Our movements would be restricted there, and the situation was only worsening.

A few days later and we are in “The Naz.” As our car pulled up the local Howard Johnson in the city of Nazareth we quickly realized that we were no longer in Kansas. Oh yes, this was the Holy Land. The city is strewn with flags from all over the world. This is the “mudial” or world cup phenomenon. We entered the lobby styled much like any other western hotel lobby except for the fact that is would soon be packed with a geriatric tour group from Barcelona or “Barthelona.” These people were vicious. We waited a good ten minutes to get onto the elevator because the little old men and woman pushed their way in front of us. I’ve never met a more stealth group of old people in my life! We got dirty looks even though they were cutting in front of us.
After freshening up in our tiny room with a view of a courtyard that has no way to get to it and only faces other bedroom windows, we headed downstairs for dinner. Picture yourself entering a retirement community cafeteria and multiply it time 10. Oh yes, we were younger than everyone in the place by about 112 years. I’m surprised the wait staff didn’t chew the food before they served it. We were in “Heaven’s waiting room.” As I stood in line for the Salisbury steak and peas, a nun cut me off. Yes, I said a nun cut in front of me in line. I held my tongue for fear of being struck by lightening.

I'm cursed I tell you. There is more and I will post soon. I'm writing from the hotel general manager's office because there is no internet in the hotel. When we asked the front desk if there was internet here or if we could find an internet cafe, the clerk laughed and said, "Internet? No way, you're in Nazareth!" I guess Jesus didn't need the internet so neither we!

I miss you all terribly and promise to write more tonight.