This week in Narazeth

Greetings from warm, sunny Nazareth.  It is lovely to go to work with bright, blue, sunny skies. Mel has really appreciated the good weather since his job is outside, picking up what the local populace leaves behind.  We really don't have a whole lot to say except that we have now adjusted to the time change and we are set into a routine of going to work, coming home, getting the apartment how we like it, eating dinner, doing some reading, and going to bed.   Does that sound exciting to you?

Last night we had a couple of Canadian volunteers from Winnipeg, Manitoba, over and they joined us for our evening meal.  We had an enjoyable evening with them.  This is their first time in Israel although they have done volunteer work in many places.  We haven't seen any of the locals this week except the ones we work with because the sister of the first friend we made in Israel died this week.  It seems the custom is they bury the person the day after and then they receive friends and family who want to share their concern and their grief.  They do that for four afternoons in a room in the local church, Greek Orthodox, from 3:00 p.m. until 9:00 p.m.  How exhausting could that be!

So we left Chris home on Tuesday and we walked down to the Souk (local market), bought some victuals and got a taxi home with our usual taxi driver who seemed glad to see us.  He said the tourist industry was really way down, and we have not seen many tourist buses ourselves.  We also noticed that at rush hour, there were a lot of taxis at the taxi stand instead of out carrying fares somewhere.

Our boss told Chris and Morag today that he wanted them to volunteer for a year instead of a few weeks.  Somehow I don't think that is going to happen.

That's the way it is, Thursday, February 5, 2015 in Eretz Israel.