Ahlan wa Sahlan

One of my best friends, Liz, and I have the same feelings about friends: we love it when they can come together and meet one another. We are happiest when we can gather all of those we love in one place for a time of friendship, food, and laughter. There have been so many times during the past nine months (what?! where has the time gone?) that I have thought, "How I wish so-and-so were here to experience this with me!" or been with a friend here and considered how a friend or family member back home would enjoy this person as much as I do.

This past Sunday (Pentecost Sunday, in fact), a bunch of people I love gathered for a BBQ. That's right, Alma (the other YAGM who volunteers at the school with me) and I planned a traditional BBQ! Of course, it was only a success because everyone came together and participated: some of the men grilled the meat (OH MY GOSH IT WAS SO GOOD!); myself and some of the women prepared the meat, putting it on kabobs and molding it into patties; some looked after the little children; some helped set up the tables; and everyone brought a dish to share (representing a family specialty or regional favorite). It was a great mix of people, of food, and of activities.

I'm so blessed to have the community I have here. It's not simply that I have people who I'm friends with because I'm here, but that I have deep relationships that have formed despite my only being here for a short time. These are people God has taught me so much through, and that I would choose to be with no matter if I was in the States or in the Middle East. These people are my family.


One of the first phrases I learned when I arrived in Jerusalem and Bethlehem was ahlan wa sahlan, which basically means "You are welcome". People would say it all the time, especially in the first few months. When you arrive somewhere or meet someone new- ahlan wa sahlan. Over time it grew to be a normal phrase without any special significance. "Welcome"- we can say it without actually feeling a deep sense of welcomingness, can't we? I know I have.

And yet reflecting on that word again now, it means so much more. Ahlan wa sahlan means more than a mere "hello" or "welcome"; it means "you are desired here", "you are a vital part of this community". Now, in my last months, I finally realize this. I finally feel this.

I think what changed this perspective for me was the BBQ, at the point when people started to arrive. It was a bunch of people I care about very much, all together and the only words that could sum up my delight in seeing them was ahlan wa sahlan, "You are desired here. You are a vital part of my life and this community. This time together would not be complete without you."

May we experience the warmth of the spirit of ahlan wa sahlan and share that love of God to all whom we encounter for either five minutes, ten months, three years, or forever.

Alma and I making the meat into patties to be grilled (irony being that Alma is a vegetarian :)

Plenty of help in the kitchen preparing the meat for the grill. 

Julie having a laugh as the grills get ready for some delicious pork and chicken kabobs.

I was greeted with a hug and an exclamation of "Oh! There's my other daughter!"

I was the designated meat pusher (every BBQ has one). People were going to finish that chicken, dang it!

A medley of foods from around the world. Everyone brought either a family specialty or a regional favorite. We had jello, pasta salads, tabouleh,  and much more than I can remember!

I have become known as the "Bacon Girl" this year, as everyone knows how much I love bacon. This has resulted in Pastor Imad always seeming to show up with bacon (thick grilled) whenever I am at a BBQ :) I'm spoiled...but I won't argue!

What better than some card games after you've finished eating?  First a friendly game of Uno...

Then a more intense game of Halli Galli, which is kind of (but not really) like Slap Jack... but with a bell... and way more concentration involved. It really gets your adrenaline pumping!
[Apparently a couple of us have gotten so good we can play with our eyes closed ;) ]

[Photos all by Alma Gast]

Our Choices Have Consequences

I came across an article that I really want to share with you all, especially with Easter coming up on Sunday which, for many of us, means Easter baskets. I don't know about yours, but mine is usually filled with chocolate (ew, jellybeans? why would you eat those!?).

The Bitter Truth Behind the Chocolate in Your Easter Basket

Some 70 to 75 percent of the world's cocoa beans are grown on small farms in West Africa, including the Ivory Coast, according to the World Cocoa Foundation and the International Cocoa Initiative. The CNN Freedom Project reports that in the Ivory Coast alone, there are an estimated 200,000 children working the fields, many against their will, to satisfy the world's hunger for chocolate.


(There recently was a lot of buzz about the KONY2012 campaign, and how horrible it is that children are used as soldiers in the Lord's Resistance Army. Agreed. But, does anyone else think that, while yes, they are "just" being used to harvest cocoa beans, these children would be equally as enslaved into a harmful system?)

The article then goes into describing how you can buy chocolate that is less likely to have been produced by children who are enslaved, or those who work in deplorable working conditions. My point in sharing this is perhaps to share something specifically about chocolate production and how we can stop being passive in ways that harm others, but more about the larger movement of seeking out ways to consume without harming others.

I've become increasingly more interested in ideas such as Fair Trade over the past few years, and while sometimes I think it gets pigeon-holed, and then sometimes written off, as as super progressive, or liberal-minded, I don't think that's a fair conclusion.  If you have qualms or critiques of the Fair trade movement, that's fair. Let's talk about that. But we can't throw the baby out with the bath water. For me, considering where what we consume comes from (food, clothes, or other items) and what effect it has on not just ourselves, but other people, is a Christ-like way of approaching how we care for our sisters and brothers.


I love me some chocolate. But just because I love it and desire to continuing consuming it doesn't mean that I should ignore how my pleasure could cause pain and injustice to others. I almost see it as someone who likes to shoot guns at moving targets but instead of paying money to go to a range and use those moving people-ly things (can you tell I have little idea what I'm talking about with this analogy), they opt for the cheaper alternative of shooting people. Yes, that's a bit extreme, or is it?

Basically, the choices we make, especially as American who consume (so many) products from all over the world, effect others. Do we want them to be negative effects, or positive ones?

Here are some sites that I have found helpful for purchasing items that pay their creators a fair wage and/or make sure that working conditions are positive. Consider what your paying a few dollars more could do in the long-run. Consider how we are effecting others, whom we have the ability to "not see".

(LWR stands for Lutheran World Relief)

LWR Coffee Project Web Store
I can vouch that people I know who love coffee, love the blends offerred through Equal Exchange. Many of you reading this are Lutheran (or main line Protestant) and you know how much coffee is consumed at fellowship hour right after Sunday's service (or Men's Breakfast, or Women's Bible Study, etc, etc). Consider talking to your pastor and council about how you can make sure that the coffee you drink is having a positive effect on those who brought it to you.


Eco-Palms
I had never even thought about where the palms we get on Palm Sunday come from before I heard about this site. I may be a week late, but you know you have to think about next year, too!


SERRV
All around, SERRV is a pretty cool organization. They offer coffee & tea, chocolate, handcraft accessories, and REALLY AWESOME HOME DECOR! (Frankly, IKEA has nothing on this place.) Again, we know how bad that cheap Easter chocolate is anyway (you know, the stuff you force down just because it's chocolate, you got it as a gift, and you can eat it but you would never actually buy it for yourself?) Instead, buy some really tasty chocolate :) Everyone is happier that way!


Also, here is a list compiled of ethical chocolate companies. I can't confirm they are (since, I don't know much about the people who put the website together, but it seems like it could be legit), but places to start, maybe look into them further from there. Divine Chocolate is on there, so I know that is legit (see chocolate link under SERRV).


So, let me know: what do you think of all this? Do you seek out Fair Trade items? Any recommendations for websites or stores? And, how much bad Easter candy will you get this year? ;)

More Adventures with Food & Language (and an introduction to Eid al-Adha)

I'm starting to realize there is a trend between my language mishaps and food. Luckily this one has a happier ending than the egg episode (which ended up fine, albeit thirty eggs richer)...

Yesterday I woke up to the sound of a rapping on my front door. It was slightly early for my day off, but I thought it could be something important from either my host Grandparents or other YAGM friends. I opened the door to find someone with what appeared to be a screen laying down on the gate in front of my apartment (ok, so honestly, it looked like a silk screening screen, or, for my archaeology friends, a sifter). I was wholly confused. I started to speak in a mixture of Arabic and English to try and figure out what my visitor wanted. I assumed he was there to see my host family (especially since he had that screen). Between the two of us we spoke perfect Arabic and English...unfortunately, neither of us actually understood much the other said. But then, as luck would have it, we began to make sense to each other and he showed that the screen he had was not, in fact, a screen, but a box! A box of delicious sweet bread!!! I bought one and hoped that what I asked him in Arabic was to bring the bread by every Saturday. Unfortunately I was not sure that I had conveyed the verbs and nouns I wanted to and so there was a chance he would either come today, or... not at all.

You see, this week is also a holiday week for my Muslim friends and neighbors: Eid al-Adha, which means "Feast of Sacrifice". It's one of the two biggests feasts of the year (with the other being the Eid after Ramadan). It commemorates Abraham's obedience to God in almost sacrificing his son. During the next few days people will be out in their finest clothes (and from what I've heard, doing lots of shopping...today is like Black Friday in the States). Then families will gather and butcher their finest animal, dividing it into three. One third is kept for the family, another third is given to relatives, friends and neighbors, and the last third is given to those in need.

So, I was not sure if the sweet bread was just being brought around for Eid al-Adha, in which case, next Saturday would not be filled with more sweet bread. [I realize also that "sweet bread" is not very descriptive, aside from you knowing that it is both sweet and bread. I liken it to an Easter bread (also, so very vague), perhaps with a hint of anise, but in the shape of a cinnamon-less cinnamon roll. Or, if you are familiar with the baked goods at Starbucks (I'm giving away too many of my secrets!) it's very much like their sweet bread (Mallorca Sweet Bread) without the powdered sugar (Miriam, you know what I'm talking about!). Either way, it's delicious! Trust me!]

Yet this morning I heard someone calling out in the street that runs by my apartment and I knew that the sweet bread was back! Today I bought five (I'm thinking ahead, see!) and hopefully have ensured that the bread will be back often.

******

I should also add that this episode feeds into the running joke that is more truth than actual joke: At times when I am very hungry (at breakfast or lunch) and need to buy groceries in order to really eat, there seems to always be someone who brings food to my door. It's an absolutely wonderful thing, the hospitality and generosity of people, especially my host family, to bring down an extra plate of something. Last week, my host family (who live in the levels above my apartment), after finishing harvesting their olives, had a traditional Palestinian dish of pasta and some type of bean, a generous portion of which they sent down my way. Again, this morning, I realized I would have to go get groceries before I could have my breakfast. Then, I hear the man selling sweet bread. Perfect timing :)

Egg Salad, Boiled Eggs, Scrambled Eggs, Deviled Eggs, Macaroni Salad, French Toast, etc.

After volunteering at the school today, I decided to grab some groceries on my walk back to my apartment. It was a splendid idea and I love making the most of my trip home. I gathered up a shopping basket full of food and made my way to the deli section where there were mountains of eggs in giant egg cartons. This is it, I thought, it's my time to shine. I'm going to use my Arabic to order my eggs! And so I did, I ordered a whole dozen. Although I probably only needed six, I thought it would be worth it to get the extra now and have them in my fridge when need be. The gentleman helping to pack my eggs (in the carton with the pastic wrap) even gave me the option of which section of eggs I wanted. I didn't know the difference so I said I would take the bright white eggs in the larger container.  I went around the corner to grab my newest and final parcel for this grocery voyage and met with the man giving me quite a few more eggs than I thought I had asked for. I didn't count, but I thought, a dozen and a half or so, perhaps? That's nothing to make him rewrap the eggs for. 


Needless to say, I am now sitting with thirty bright, white eggs in my fridge, trying to come up with recipes to use them. Next time, I think I'll let go of my pride/embarrassment and just say that I don't really need two and a half dozen eggs. Oh, and I'm having French Toast in the morning ;)

C'est la vie! Roll with the punches...or eggs, as the case may be!

A foretaste of the feast to come

Since Wednesday me and my fellow YAGMs have been in Chicago going through orientation to prepare us for the next year. We've learned about the Accompaniment model of ELCA Global Mission work, self-care, health and well-being, YAGM/GM policies, and cross-cultural relations. For the week we're staying in University of Chicago housing, but hosted by the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Chicago, and it's been pretty fabulous.

Sara, Michelle, and I celebrating the approval of our visas!

Yesterday, however, was one of my favorite adventures so far :) After our afternoon session on health and well-being, we were told by Heidi, our director, to drop our stuff off in our rooms and head right back to where we had been. When our country group, Jerusalem/West Bank, had all arrived we were given a 24 hour bus pass, some directions in the form of riddles and sent off to find where we were going to be dining. We had to turn our cell phones off and rely on figuring things out ourselves and asking people if we needed directions.

My friend, Kaylyn, had a similar experience earlier this summer before she went on a missions trip to the Ukraine: when she arrived at the airport, her group had to navigate without using English, doing different tasks before arriving at her destination. After hearing about our task in finding our restaurant, I got a bit excited at having that same experience, too.

Needless to say, I saw a lot of Chicago. It didn't take us very long to get to the restaurant, but it did require a few bus and El Train transfers. At one point we had decided on getting off at a certain stop, but realized at the stop before that we needed to get off there instead. Our team worked well together, and all went smoothly.

This photo doesn't do my Chicken Schawarma
justice: it was so colorful and tasted AMAZING.

Then we found our restaurant, Chickpea, a Palestinian cafe. I cannot explain to you how good the food was, but suffice to say I am extremely excited about the cuisine I'll be experiencing this next year. I can't remember what everyone ordered, but Sara had a delicious (I would know, I tried a bit) dish of Musakhan -chicken, onions and pita- which is the Palestinian national dish. The chicken was amazing, like a meat pie.

I, however, went with my staple: Chicken Schawarma on hummus with pita. It was absolutely amazing, and the presentation was good, too. There was baklava on the menu but I was too full to indulge (I know, many of you know how full I must have been to pass up baklava).

Our group had a lot of fun spending time together and getting a small glimpse at some of what we will encounter this next year. It has certainly whet our appetites and filled us with more excitement :)

Chi-town

Ye olde Windy City. It's actually been quite overwhelming, as far as the city goes. I arrived here on Wednesday after saying goodbye to my parents at Albany International, switching planes and meeting a friend (fellow Jerusalem/West Bank YAGM, Michelle) in Baltimore, and flying into Chicago Midway. It was good to meeting Michelle in Baltimore, and it made travelling to the University of Chicago's campus, where we're staying this week, much less stressful.

As I've mentioned in earlier posts, we were aware that the six of us going to Jerusalem were still awaiting our visas to be approved, and we received an email on Monday acknowledging that even after the visas had been approved it would be another 1-2 weeks until the visas arrived in Chicago at the consulate where we could get them in our passports. So I knew upon leaving home that I was going to be in Chicago a little longer than the original one-week orientation. We met as a group, as the other countries had or will, with the wonderful director of YAGM, Heidi, who did her best to assure us that they had plans for us to learn Arabic, start readings on our country's history/current events, and otherwise start our Global Mission experience. Yet, I left the meeting feeling a little more than bummed that, to be honest, we didn't know when the visas would be approved or if the wait would cause us to go home in the stead.

The days have been gently filled with presentations, so far on the Accompaniment Model (more on that in a later post) and Cross-cultural Competencies, time to socialize with our fellow YAGMS, both in small group settings, as a large group, and informally during our free evenings. The programming has been really great, not only in what we've had presented to us, but also in regards to the amount of stuff we have each day. Wednesday afternoon I went to sleep shortly after our evening chapel service, and Thursday (after our meeting as a Country group and discussing our current predicament and feelings about such) I decided to stay in and re-charge with some "alone time" both because there had been a lot of extroversion and also because the news about the visa had finally started to really bum me out.

Today, however, has been fabulously better than yesterday. Perhaps the best day ever. After breakfast and our morning devotions we found out that our visas have been processed!!! It was the *best* news ever, and when Heidi told us I felt all the emotions I hadn't felt the past few days flood me: excitement, anxiety, fear, sadness, relief, and joy to name a few. I felt my eyes tear up; it was finally real. We're going. Soon.


Today has progressed pretty nicely since hearing the joyous news of our visa status. This afternoon I went with a good sized group to Grant Park, in the downtown area of Chicago, for a free dance music concert. There was supposed to be cajun dancing (perhaps there was and I didn't realize), but it seemed to be mostly waltzing (which looks awfully similar to polka--I can strike that off my bucket list!). We all graced (or humiliated) the dance floor with our presence; I danced with friends and a few nice and willing (and need I say patient) teachers. It was a blast!

I'll post more tomorrow or Sunday about some of the great things I've learned in presentations this week while at the YAGM orientation, but until then, may you have patience and peace-of-soul as you give control over to God.

Airports

[Note: This was written 17 Aug; sorry for the delay in posting!]

Flying. I have a love/hate/love relationship with it. I love the airports, the excuse to take long naps during flight, arriving in a new place, but the actual moving on a speeding bullet through the air isn't really my favorite thing in the world. Now you may be thinking to yourself, "Courtney, you're just scared! Suck it up, be a woman!" but, alas, it is something all together different. Something that makes me feel nauseous, irritable and fuzzy-headed: circulated air. No, no, I won't write an entire post on the ills of circulated air, I've said my piece.

I do love airports, though (for the most part). Before heading through security, my parents and I grabbed some breakfast in the airport and talked about some of our previous travels and the number of airports we've been through (16 for me; I consider those merit badges). There are some that I've really enjoyed (Philly is one of my favorites, even though everyone always seems to hate it, tied with Albany) and some that are less than desirable (Newark comes to mind; although any airport that charges for wifi is lame-o in my humble opinion). But even in the worst of conditions there is something magical about airports (seeing people from all walks of life and from all over the world; and I always manage to see a monk or nun in full habit--I feel safer flying with them). Seriously! I could write a poem about 'em! ...but I won't.

I've just arrived at Baltimore via Southwest, where I will have a few hours until my flight around 1:20 to Chicago Midway. Greeting my hungry eyes was an Au Bon Pain, one of my favorite little cafes (I'm fairly certain that it was an Au Bon Pain in Oxford when I studied there that hosted me quite a few times). The food at airports has to be my favorite, because you *could* eat healthy...but all the other options are so much tastier! No matter what, I always treat myself when travelling. A sandwich, a coffee, or maybe some Junior Mints (perfect to settle that slightly churning mid-air stomach). It's like a vacation... (I have yet to get one of the airport massages, but rest assured I feel that is in my future either on the way to Jerusalem or on the way back at the latest)

So there you have it, I managed to write an entire post on the first leg of my flight. Makes me hopeful that I'll be able to post a lot each week :) 

Please continue to hold all the YAGMs in prayer as we descend on Chicago like the flock of eager beavers we are, as well as my parents as they plan my coming home party ;)

Chocolate in Bethlehem

For those of you who share with me a love of chocolate, you will be pleased to know I plan on visiting this store at least once :)

Read about the West Bank Chocolatier located in Bethlehem...