The past two days have been a blur and all together fully fantastic. Friday evening I spent Shabott with my host couch surfer Marc and his family family as well as another present surfer, Mosh, from Canada but he resides as an artist in India. I have to say it was one of the most amazing experiences breaking bread in a house on the outskirts of Jerusalem with about two dozen individuals who have all migrated to Israel from such places as Spain, Australia and England. The house sits in a valley about ten minutes from the city and our back drop during dinner was the flickering of lights from the homes of countless others celebrating Shabott simultaneously. It was a wonderful evening filled with love, sincerity and opened hearts. They treated me as family and I am deeply appreciative.
Saturday morning I spent a few hours prepping for lunch at the soup kitchen. If you could imagine playing a game of charades in Hebrew it may give you some idea of how well my serving and setting up went. Shabott lunch may have hit a few snags at Uriel Kitchen yesterday do to some foreigner from Jersey, but everyone eventually ate. No worries.
Later in the afternoon it was an awesome day of touring the city with Mosh and Elaina (an Israeli citizen, but is originally from Chicago). It was quite an experience visiting the Western Wall on Shabott and peruse through the Jewish Quarter which was pretty much a ghost town. Everything, and I mean everything, shuts down for Shabott. What may have been a bustling street and market place 12 or 15 hours prior is now desolate.
Saturday evening we received a last minute call from a fellow couch surfer, Becky, who is presently working a short stint in Jerusalem for the annual Jerusalem Film Festival. She was able to hook us up with tickets to a sold out film, Into The Wild, and then provided VIP access for an after hours wine & cheese tasting with the film's producers, directors and so on. To say the least, it was one of the most wonderful evenings of my life (and that's saying alot). Sitting in a theater with well over 1,000 Israeli watching a screening of a movie that truly left me speechless. I'm not sure if it's even released in the States, but it is beautiful, moving and stirs the soul. It is AMAZING. Following the movie we chatted and sipped Israeli wine on the outside gardens of the cinema which actually overlooks the Western Wall of the Olde City. We ended up all watching the stars and chatting about politics, films, religion and life all together. Wow... what a night.
Jerusalem is a special place that words nor picture can properly depict. I am blessed to be here.
Saturday morning I spent a few hours prepping for lunch at the soup kitchen. If you could imagine playing a game of charades in Hebrew it may give you some idea of how well my serving and setting up went. Shabott lunch may have hit a few snags at Uriel Kitchen yesterday do to some foreigner from Jersey, but everyone eventually ate. No worries.
Later in the afternoon it was an awesome day of touring the city with Mosh and Elaina (an Israeli citizen, but is originally from Chicago). It was quite an experience visiting the Western Wall on Shabott and peruse through the Jewish Quarter which was pretty much a ghost town. Everything, and I mean everything, shuts down for Shabott. What may have been a bustling street and market place 12 or 15 hours prior is now desolate.
Saturday evening we received a last minute call from a fellow couch surfer, Becky, who is presently working a short stint in Jerusalem for the annual Jerusalem Film Festival. She was able to hook us up with tickets to a sold out film, Into The Wild, and then provided VIP access for an after hours wine & cheese tasting with the film's producers, directors and so on. To say the least, it was one of the most wonderful evenings of my life (and that's saying alot). Sitting in a theater with well over 1,000 Israeli watching a screening of a movie that truly left me speechless. I'm not sure if it's even released in the States, but it is beautiful, moving and stirs the soul. It is AMAZING. Following the movie we chatted and sipped Israeli wine on the outside gardens of the cinema which actually overlooks the Western Wall of the Olde City. We ended up all watching the stars and chatting about politics, films, religion and life all together. Wow... what a night.
Jerusalem is a special place that words nor picture can properly depict. I am blessed to be here.
No comments:
Post a Comment