38 weeks

Lunch in the Old City

Shawn is officially on Passover break now and we celebrated the first day off with lunch in the Christian Quarter  (at Papa Andreas) with another of his classmates and his family. The views at the roof top were spectacular (Mount of Olives, all the Christian domes, and the Dome of the Rock), the food was not.

Looking east to the Mount of Olives

Buddy

Church of the Redeemer (beautiful Lutheran church) in the background

Hard to see, but the Church of the Holy Sepulchre is behind Shawn who was talking "shop"

Shawn and Jojo

Our new friend Jojo goes to the neighborhood Gan (also called a kindergarten, but really its a preschool) so she understands quite a bit of Hebrew and loves to tell you all about her school, her friends, and her travels in Israel.

Bethlehem trips

Our Bethlehem trips are nearing their end so I thought I should give you a few pictures of our monthly, and now weekly, journeys to the French Hospital (Holy Family Hospital).

Arab buses

Shawn, redeeming the time on the bus

View of Mt. Scopus on our way to the Damascus Gate to catch the 21 bus

Damascus Gate

Hillsides west of Bethlehem

Katie came on this particular trip (when Shawn was unable to come)

Street on which the hospital is located

French and Arabic! But all the staff have excellent English.

My quick attempt at getting a photo of the checkpoint bus 21 goes through

The hospital has a video on their website. Its about ten minutes long, and I think I would say that the economic situation is slightly better than it was when the video was made.

37 weeks

Spring Semester

Shawn is already in the fourth week of his spring semester. While he is no longer taking Arabic due to a time conflict with a Hebrew class, his class load happens to be just as full (if not more) as last semester. Shawn's classes that continue from last semester:

Modern Hebrew
Second year Akkadian
Third year Biblical Hebrew
Jews and Late Babylonian Civilization

New this semester:

Cuneiform in Canaan
Humor in the Bible

Also, he's auditing an Iconography class as well as interning at the Bible Lands Museum library twice a week.  He's doing well so far! Though the university's library hours and holdings continue to disappoint, the professors and lectures do not.

In just two weeks we get a Passover (or Pesach as they say here) break - two weeks long! One of the nice things about this break is the timing. I reach the 37th week of pregnancy (considered full term at that point) just a few days before the break starts. But even if she doesn't come during the break, it will be a nice slow time for the both of us before she makes her appearance. Looking forward to it!

ZIBBCOT Update

A while ago we shared with you about the ZIBBCOT commentary. And today, they put up Job. You can read the entire commentary on Job, if you need any more motivation to buy the set!

Here is the Link

A Saturday walk

Shawn and I just finished a nice walk to the university Mt. Scopus campus and back. Its a nice thing to do on Shabbat and it was sunny and a mild temperature. To see my photos, go here.