Today, armed with our passports, we took a taxi into the West Bank to spend several hours in Bethlehem. The city was full of Palestinians who were anxious to give us "great discount" on their world-famous olive wood nativity scenes, ornaments, and other nativity decor. They have been hit hard by the effects of the recession in the United States, as the number of tourists has decreased significantly.
We began by touring the Church of the Nativity--the cathedral, jointly owned by three churches, that was built over the site of Jesus' birth.
Pictured below is the place believed to be the literal spot where Jesus was born. So, of course, we had to put our newborns down there. I don't think the priest was very impressed.
This is a preserved portion of the mosaic floor from the Byzantine (376 A.D.ish) church of the nativity.
Lunch at a yummy shawarma place. Lamb on the left, chicken on the right.
Jimmy invited us to tour his olive wood factory in Bethlehem. Here is one of the big piles of olive wood set outside to dry. The wood has to dry for 3-7 years before being carved.
Here is a machine that carves 6 identical figures at once. The worker is just tracing over an already carved figure. This movement is reproduced by six other blades farther down the machine which produce 6 carved figures.
Here is a picture of the non-OSHA approved "factory" where men (with no earplugs) were smoking while they carved and sanded wood figures with huge piles of sawdust at their feet
Very large figures made from a single piece of olive wood are difficult to come by, since the olive tree branches are not very large in diameter. Here are Richard and Dad holding very large statues, which would be very expensive.
Kim drinking from the Holy Olive Wood Grail. Don't worry, it's not wine.
A view of the Bethlehem from one of its hills
Doling out the fruit snacks
Krista's getting good at nursing on the run!
Becca met a funny old lady who predicted the gender of her baby. Read
here for more of the hilarious details.
Today Richard and Bryce wore the baby slings. The weather was a little cool, so Amy and Lily spent most of the day in the sling under the boys' jackets, with only their heads peeking out. They attracted so much attention. One man pointed happily at Richard, "Baby! Very good!" It was fun to watch the faces of the Palestinians break into huge grins as they noticed the boys and babies. I think it's safe to say they haven't seen two Baby Bjorns in one place at the same time.
Mom suggested that perhaps the part that amazed the Palestinians the most was that it was the boys that were helping with the babies. Her Palestinian visiting teaching companion lives in the West Bank and said she hoped to not marry a Palestinian man because they don't help in the home. Here is one Palestinian woman who stopped to take a picture of the boys and babies with her cell phone. It was fun to be noticed and stared at for something other than our skin color.
Or our tongues sticking out.
Happy family
Now if we could just get Danielle here...(she should be in NY now, and here by tomorrow afternoon. Let's hope her try #3 is more successful than the other two).
