Paine Ponderings

I just realized it’s been over a year since I’ve posted anything on our blog here.  It’s not because the Paine clan has gone into suspended animation, though. Life continues to move on at a blistering pace….  Brandon with one more year of high school then off to college, Victoria turning 15 this month, the kids having parts in school plays like Beauty and the Beast, Mousetrap, and an upcoming performance of Christy,  trips to the USA summer of 2011, Canada for December 2010…  We continue to face many challenges as we live in China, but find God faithful and with us through everything.  This week, Breena and I are experiencing what an empty nest might look like in a few years as both kids are off on a high school service trip to another city.  It’s kind of nice, but we really miss the kids and can easily wait several more years.

Here are a few pictures from our Canada trip.  It was absolutely beautiful, and we learned to keep Victoria away from Breena’s dad or no telling what plans they might come up for our family :-).    We all had great fun, and it is the most memorable Christmas I think we’ve ever had.

Our kids’ musical Guys and Dolls is done, and they did a fantastic job.  If anyone is following this post, here is a link to see a clip with Brandon and Tasha as Nathan and Adelaide (the song Sue Me).  The youtube video is unlisted, so you have to have the URL to find it and watch it.

Here’s Victoria as the magazine sales lady, and Brandon with Josh James and Kevin Guo.  They all did a fantastic job.

If you are one of the five people on planet earth who have followed our Israel trip, I must apologize for not finishing out the blog of our trip. We got back to China and very busy with life, travels here, kids, etc. After our time at the Dead Sea, we made our way to Jerusalem.  We did get a little lost, driving half way to Tel Aviv before I realized where we were, but eventually made it to Jerusalem.  We stayed in a nice, cheap guest house there that some friends run, but decided right away that we would walk as our main method of transport. We were only about a 15 minute walk to the Old City, so that worked out great.

Here we are right after making it to the Old City. We bought a ticket to walk along the wall and get a bird’s eye view of the city when we first arrived.

Fortunately, everything was very calm while we were in Jerusalem. There were no protests, rock throwing, etc. We missed all that by about a week and were really thankful for that.

One of the sites that we were told we HAD to see was the City of David.  We sat     through a really good video about the site, and enjoyed seeing where the city was in David’s time.  What really surprised me, though, was finding a picture of me riding a segway on a sign right near the City of David.  I don’t recall ever riding one of those, but it must be true since I saw if for myself.

Here is the home of a wealthy person during David’s time.  Know how they figured out this is a wealthy person’s home?  Well, that thing in the middle is a toilet seat, and apparently only the wealthy had toilet seats. Who knows, King David could have sat there!

In the City of David, you can walk through a couple of tunnels. One of these is called Hezekiah’s tunnel.  You can check out more on this at http://www.bibleplaces.com/heztunnel.htm.  We  chose the dry tunnel to walk through since we didn’t bring proper shoes  and change of clothes, but it was very cool seeing where King Hezekiah dug a tunnel to channel water into the city. 

After we got out of the tunnel, we hung around for a bit near some other ruins before heading down the Kidron Valley.  When Breena and I went to Jerusalem in 1989, there was a bit of rioting in this valley with tear gas and a lot of rock throwing.  As we walked down the valley, it was eerily quiet.  Some of my protective dad genes was telling me this might not be the best idea, but a couple of people we saw were friendly. When we ran into a big tour group of Israeli soldiers there, I felt a little more at ease. However, the week after we left, I saw in the news that there were crowds rioting in this same valley.  Better take that fatherly intuition to heart next time.

One of the tombs we came across there is called Absolom’s tomb where King David’s son Absolom is said  to have been buried.  Rebellious children were taught in Judaism to throw stones at "Yad Avshalom" the shrine of Absalom to learn what rebellion leads to, ""if any one in Jerusalem has a disobedient child, he shall take him out to the Valley of Jehoshaphat, to Absalom’s Monument, and force him, by words or stripes, to hurl stones at it, and to curse Absalom; meanwhile telling him the life and fate of that rebellious son." Our kids aren’t rebellious, but it was a fun picture.

We made our way up the Mount of Olives from the Kidron Valley and visited the traditional site of the Garden of Gethsemane.  They have a beautiful garden there next to the church they built on the site.  We met the gardener and he actually gave us a clipping of an olive tree. He told us that if we planted it, it would grow quickly into a full size olive tree. Unfortunately, we didn’t want to risk trying to bring a plant on the plane back to China, so we gave it to a friend who lives in Jerusalem and teaches English there. 

From there we went in to Jerusalem and spent the next few days touring around the city.  It was amazing, from seeing the location of caves that were rock quarries underneath the city, to the Western or ‘wailing’ Wall, to excavation of houses dating back to the fall of Jerusalem in 70 AD, still having clear evidence of the burning of the city.

The trip was amazing, and I wish I could post all of the 600+ pictures we took and all the video but can’t really do that.

Some aspects of the trip were a bit sad, also.  Probably our least favorite place was the church of the Holy Sepulcher. In this church, it is believed to house the site of Jesus’ crucifixion, his being prepared for burial, and also a burial cave.  Though I understand people’s wanting to venerate a place like this, it was sad to see people bowing down at rocks and kissing slabs of rock.  It made us wonder what the Muslims and Jews might think about Christians doing this, especially with all the statues in the churches, with outward appearance looking like they were worshipping these statues. 

However, we all really loved our trip to Israel, and I hope that I won’t have to wait another 20 years before my next trip there.

After our trip to Akko on Friday, we got up early on Saturday Feb 13, packed up, and headed off to the southern part of Israel to the Dead Sea area.  We had two choices to get there, either going the long way around the West Bank (maybe not that long as it only added about 1 hour), or going the short direct route down through the West Bank.  We surveyed several people first to see how safe this would be…car company: “you can do it, but it may not be too safe.”  The people who owned the guest house in  Galilee: “Of course it is OK, perfectly safe.”  The guy at the gas station right before crossing into the West Bank: “Well, as long as you don’t get lost, it is probably OK. If you make a wrong turn you might end up in Jordan”  In the end, it was a quiet ride, not too many cars, and no problems.

We decided to stop at Qumran on the way down before getting to our guest house.  By this time the kids were getting a little tired of seeing old ruins, but Qumran was fun.  We learned about the Essene community that lived there, and could we ever tell that ritual purity was important. Either that or it was REALLY HOT, as they have many ritual baths. Here is a picture of one, with a divider down the middle to separate those who have been cleansed coming up and those going down.  You can see evidence of a great earthquake that hit the area with the destroyed steps.

Probably the most fun we had, though, was climbing up the mountain along a trail that leads to the caves where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found.  Breena and Brandon climbed up to a couple of caves and discovered lots of birds dropping and  feathers, but no more ancient scrolls.  After our trip to Qumran, we wound our way down to the place where we were staying for the night.  We only made one wrong turn, and by the time we realized it, we were halfway to Beer Sheba.  Not too bad…the whole time we only made two such driving faux pas. 

The place we stayed at the Dead Sea was great. We were at a little farming community at a place called Ne’ot Hakikar. You can see that it is right next to the border of Jordan.  Now, this map actually has it further away than it really was.  From the guest house we stayed in, we could probably almost throw a rock into Jordan. All around us as we drove in, there were signs warning us of mines, and telling us to avoid certain roads because they went into Jordan. It was actually very cool.  We stayed at a very comfortable cabin in Ne’ot Hakikar run by the Belfers.

This is the cabin we stayed in. The kids had a very large loft with lots of room and very comfortable. If you head down to the Dead Sea, check out Belfer’s cabins.  The cats must have followed us down south, because we had plenty of them, but Victoria really enjoyed that. They are OK, but we had to cook outside while we were there, and the cats were always trying to take the food out of the frying pan.

We did have one really big surprise in Ne’ot Hakikar. When we went to the village grocery store, there were a lot of people coming in who looked Thai, and sure enough, the store clerk was speaking to them in Thai. Then we found lots of Thai products you normally find only in  Thailand in the grocery store. We learned that there are about 600 Thai people living in the area working as farmers.

One thing we loved were the road signs you don’t normally see in China or America. Here are two common ones, the “Danger Mines!” sign and the Ibex or Camel crossing signs on the road.

There there are signs warning that the land around the Dead Sea has lots of sink holes that you need to watch out for…’Danger, OPEN PITS”. I think  Brandon had the wrong kind of pits in mind.

The second day, we headed down to En Gedi. This is the place where David ran to as he escaped King Saul’s attempts to capture and kill him, and where David cut off a piece of the King Saul’s clothes as he relieved himself.

En Gedi is absolutely beautiful, and one of my favorite places we visited in the Dead Sea.  There are underground springs with waterfalls and rivers coming up out of the desert.  Because of this, there are also many ibex that stay around that area. While we were there, we came across a herd of ibex.  Here are a few pictures of En Gedi.

We hiked up in the mountains around En Gedi for a couple of hours, a great walk with awesome views of the Dead Sea.

After our trip to En Gedi, we went across the street to the Dead Sea where there is one of the few areas where they allow swimming.  We didn’t swim, but we did put our  feet in and collect some good souvenirs of the salt rocks there.  We finished off the day with the kids riding bikes around the village we were staying in, I think one of the highlights of their trip.

The last day, on our way to Jerusalem, we made a stop at Masada, built by Herod the Great around 37 BC. This is where a group of Zealots held off against the Roman army around 73 AD. The Roman army finally built a huge siege wall which allowed them to breach the wall. However, before the Romans got there, all the people had killed themselves. 

While we were there, a group was celebrating what we think was a young boy’s bar mitvah.

In these pictures below you can see a huge cistern that collected water for Masada. Brandon is sitting on large stones that were probably used as missles by the Romans as they breached the wall, and the bottom picture is part of the palace that was built up at Masada by Herod the Great.

Some of my favorite places we visited were the old ruins like Masada. It became a bit of a joke in our family as we came upon another lump of rocks, but I find it really fascinating. Whether it is the remains of the Roman siege wall, the stones the Romans used to breach the wall, or the remains for the Roman encampments that were set up for the siege, it brings the history to life as we see how people lived, and realize the struggle for freedom and the great sacrifice they were willing to make for that freedom. And if they couldn’t have freedom, then choosing death rather than slavery. For more information on Masada, visit the following site.

 http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Archaeology/Masada1.html.

Right now I am sitting in the airport in Korea, just making an overnight flight from Tel Aviv, so I’m a little muddle-headed…OK, more than my usual amount. The kids are in a computer area down the hall checking facebook and gmail.  The airport here has all macs, so I guess this is another opportunity for the kids to see how much better macs are than pc’s and hound us to get macs. :-)  Anyway, this looks like a good time to post a few pictures from our trip to Akko on the Mediterranean Sea.

Akko, also known as Acre is one of the oldest continually inhabited  cities in the world, dating back to 1500 BC. It has a wall surrounding it, and inside are many remains of the old Crusader parts of the city. Here is part of the wall on the Mediterranean Sea with local fisherman.  You can read about the history of the city at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acre,_Israel.  The city was a fortress city, at one time for the crusaders, but also for the Muslims, and still has this flavor.

The city is a labyrinth of small streets and shopping bazaars that you can easily get lost in, or just wander for hours seeing all the interesting sites.

One of the main things we came to see in Akko is an underground Crusader city.  Quite a few large halls have been uncovered, as most were filled in with dirt to the roofs after the crusader knights were kicked out of Akko.  These pictures represent the crusader architecture used at the time.

One of the other really cool things we saw there as an old tunnel built by the knights Templar. It was discovered in 1994, was cleared of dirt, and had pumps put in to keep the water at a constant level.

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Thursday February 11 we decided to head down to the southern part of the Sea of Galilee and visit a crusader castle. Just south of the Sea is a section of the Jordan River that is set up for people wishing to be baptized in the Jordan River.  It doesn’t have any historical significance other than being a calm, peaceful section of the Jordan River.  When we visited, it was very quiet with few tourists.  We saw many birds, and even a couple of beavers swimming in the Jordan River. If you look closely, you can see one of the beavers.

Afterwards, we drove down the Jordan toward Bet She’an and visited an old Crusader Castle called Belvoir. The fortress of Belvoir served its purpose as a major obstacle to the Muslim goal of invading the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem from the east. It withstood the attack of the Muslim forces in  1180. During the campaign of 1182, the Battle of Belvoir Castle was fought nearby between King Baldwin IV of Jerusalem and Saladin. Following the victory of the Muslim army under Saladin over the Crusaders at the battle of the Horns of Hittin, Belvoir was besieged. The siege lasted a year and a half, until the defenders surrendered on 5 January 1189. The fortifications of Belvoir were dismantled in 1217-18 by the Muslim rulers who feared the reconquest of the fortress by the Crusaders.  The kids had lots of fun running all over the ruins. We even had a chance to see some vultures, Belvoir being a refuge for an endangered species. 

After Belvoir, we made our way to the city of Tiberias on the Sea of Galilee where Brandon and Allen ate Shwarmas (BIG roast meat sandwiches), and Breena and Victoria had falafels for lunch. Then we headed up the mountain to a place called Mt. Arbel where we enjoyed the sunset. 

We decided to hang out around the Sea of Galilee on Wednesday Feb. 10.  This is a picture of sunrise over the Sea from our balcony up in the village of Amirim. Breena’s an early riser and got some good pictures. After breakfast, we headed down to the sea.

Our first stop was Kibbutz Nof Ginosor. In 1986 some locals found a old fishing boat encased in mud. When they began to dig, they suspected this was a major find and called archeologists to help them. What they found was a 2000 year old fishing boat dating to the time of Jesus. After finding some creative ways to get it out of the mud and preserve it, here it is at the Kibbutz.  Breena and I saw this in 1989, and at that time, the boat was encased in liquid, where it stayed for 11 years.  Here are some artifacts found with the boat…some nails used to build the boat on the right, an oil lamp found in the boat, and a cooking pot found near the boat.

Afterwards, we headed to towards the northern side of the Sea of  Galilee to Tabgha. There is a church there which is the traditional place where Jesus multiplied the bread and fish to feed the 5000.  There is a mosaic there of the 2 fish and 5 loaves, but one thing we found really interesting were the swallows building nests close enough to touch. It was so much fun to watch this work of God’s creation.

After Tabgha, we headed over to a site found not too long ago called Kursi, a possible site for where Jesus cast out the demons from the Gadarene demoniac.  A Byzantine monastery was built here in the 6th century, and also housed pilgrims who arrived there by boat on the Sea of Galilee.  The ruins were found accidentally in 1971 when a road was being built. Up on the slope overlooking the monastery to the south  were the remains of a small chapel, incorporating a cave with a mosaic floor. In front of it stood a rock, some seven meters high, surrounded by walls to prevent its collapse. This presumably marks the place where, according to tradition, the miracle recounted in the New Testament occurred. The monastery was destroyed in the 8th century in an earthquake.

Next, we headed over to a small place called Ramot.  One of the main things our daughter Victoria wanted to do in Israel was to go horseback riding. So, we headed up to Ramot Ranch to enjoy an hour riding in the Golan Heights overlooking the Sea of Galilee.  The horses at the ranch were well trained, and we received great instruction so that even someone like me who isn’t the greatest lover of horses was well prepared for riding. The views overlooking the Golan Heights and Sea of Galilee were stunning, and this has to be one of my favorite activities we’ve done in Israel. Probably the only thing I would change about the experience was wearing the dorky hats, but all in all, it was great fun for all of us.

Tuesday, February 9, we made our way to the Mediterranean Sea to check out Caesarea by the Sea. It is the site of one of the most important cities in the Roman World, the Roman capital of the province of Judea at the time of Jesus, and a Crusader fortress along the road from Acre to Jerusalem.  Today, Caesarea is a large and interesting national park which is a must-see place to visit while exploring the Holy Land. Near the city, you can see ruins of the aquaduct that brought in fresh water to Caesarea from the North. The city had many Roman baths, and needed lots of water.

In the Roman period, King Herod created it into one of the largest cities in the Roman World, and called it after his patron, Augustus Caesar.  The site was an important Roman city, and played an important role in the history of Ancient Israel. It later decayed after the  Arab conquest, and returned to glory with the Crusaders. After their retreat the city was left in ruins, and its stones were reused in buildings throughout the region. This picture is the harbor area. Under King Herod, it became an important protected harbor, though it has long been destroyed.

The city, once a Roman city, later has a history under the Byzantines in  the 4th century, the Arabs in the 7th century, and later became an important stronghold for the Crusaders in the 12th century. As you enter, here is part of the Crusader fortress After getting across a large moat and entering this main gate area, the enemy would have to make a 90 degree turn, slowing them down and  making it easier to kill them.  From above, archers had openings where they could attack the enemy.

From the Roman period, there are ruins of a Hippodrome or ‘circus’ where chariot races would be held. Here are some pictures of  Victoria and Brandon riding their chariots at  the Hippodrome.

Caesarea also has an impressive theater with great acoustics.  At certain times in history, it was used as a site for mass executions of Jews and also of Christians.

Caesarea has a number of bath houses, and it is believed that Pontius Pilate had a home here, with a stone  tablet bearing his name.  Here is Brandon enjoying one of the baths. I think he would have had a little more privacy 2000 years ago in Caesarea’s prime.

  Of course, the day wouldn’t be complete without Victoria making friends with some wild animal of some kind.  We saw a beautiful Irish Setter at Caesarea that Victoria just had to meet. This was her first official time to pet an Irish Setter, so she was a very happy camper! 

Here is Brandon near a sarcophagus found in Caesarea with a Gorgon’s head. 

Monday, February 8, we decided to make our way to Nazareth, the town where Jesus grew up.  We heard that there was an old village there where you can see things the way they were in Jesus’ day, so we decided to check it out.  We wound our way up and down mountain roads, traveled through the Arab town of Cana where Jesus turned the water into wine at the wedding feast, and then found our way into Nazareth.  After parking, we found a great little falafel shop. The kids and Breena got falafels for lunch.  A falafel is a ball of fried chickpeas with some spices such as cumin and corriander.  You put the fried chickpea balls into a pita with hummus, tahini, and anything else you want. We put in some french fries, pickles, olives, tomatoes and cucumbers.  It is the local equivalent to a hamburger and can run from $3-5 depending where you get it, and how much extra they want the foreigner to pay.  Allen got something called a shwarma, which is much like a falafel but with meat such as roast beef or roast turkey. They roast the meat on a large spit, and slice off enough for your sandwich. 

After eating, we made our way to a place called Nazareth Village.  We  had our own tour guide, a young woman from Virginia who is volunteering at the village.  She did a great job introducing what life was like in Jesus’ day.  There are a number of old olive trees at the village. Some olive trees may live as long as 2000 years. Imagine that there could be some olive trees alive today that were growing in Jesus’ day. There are also a number of almond trees at the village. The almond trees were in bloom and very beautiful. 

Here is Brandon studying to be a carpenter’s apprentice.  They showed us how carpenters used tools at that time. This tool that Brandon is using is a drill.  It uses the wood and string to move the drill back and forth quickly to drill holes.  On the right is a young woman that is using a tool to separate the wool from sheep. After separating the wool, they spin it into thread, then dye it different colors. The more vibrant colors can be very expensive. For instance, blue dye used to come from sea snails, and one snail might only produce one drop of blue ink.  It could take 2000 snails to produce enough dye for a piece of cloth.

The village is founded on a real olive press, and during harvest season, they demonstrate how to press olive oil.  The village also has built a replica of a synagogue from Jesus’ day. Here, Brandon is reading a scroll from Isaiah similar to the one that Jesus would have read in the synagogue in  Nazareth. They also have a threshing floor, and in harvest season demonstrate how to thresh grain.

The village also has sheep and shepherds, which made Victoria very happy. We also got to feed the donkeys.

The village is really worth seeing, and we all felt like we understand better what life was like during Jesus’ day.

One thing really struck me in Nazareth…it seemed to be the friendliest place we had been so far since coming to Israel.  Someone said it was because there is such a large number of Arab Christians in Nazareth, but everyone seems to get along well, Jews, Christians, and Muslims. 

  After seeing the village, we visited the Church of the Annunciation built in memory of the angel announcing to Mary the birth of Jesus. Then we walked around the old market town of Nazareth.  In winter, things close very early. By 4 p.m. all the shops were already closing down. 

We found that Nazareth indeed has many wonderful things to offer, its people being the most precious.

Sunday, February 7 we decided to head out toward the North from the Sea of Galilee and see the Golan Heights.  We first stopped off at Tel Hazor, a very extensive archeological site.

Here is Brandon at Hazor with Mt. Hermon in the background.

The city originated some 4000 years ago. The Bible mentions a King of Hazor that fought the Israelites at the time of Joshua, and it was an important trading partner with Egypt, Syria, Babylon, Cyprus, and Greece. 

One of the really cool sites in Tel Hazor is a cistern that goes down some 45 meters and supplied a regular supply of water to the city. At the bottom of the shaft just below where we are standing, there is still a pool of water. I think Victoria’s favorite site in Hazor was a mother dog and several cute puppies that she got to hold.  No cats this time, but puppies will definitely do.

We met some Americans from Seattle at Tel Dan, and their Israeli guide told us that just the day before, an 8 year old boy stepped on a land mine up in the Golan Heights. There are still many land mines, but most are in areas that are clearly marked. He also told us of a very good restaurant near Tel Dan at a local Kibbutz.  The food was very good…bbq’d steak, lamb, chicken, and a popular fish called St. Peter’s Fish. It also came with roasted peppers, olives, carrots…and freshly baked bread.

Next, we drove to Tel Dan. This is an important site as one of the sources of water for the Jordan River.  The site is identified with the Biblical city of Dan, the northernmost city in the Kingdom of Israel, which the Book of Judges states was known as Laish prior to its conquest by the Tribe of Dan. All over the site, you see springs of water gushing out of the  ground. 

This may have been a place for the ruler next to the gate or a place for an idol to be set up.

2 Sam 18:4 "So the king stood beside the gate while all the men marched out in units of hundreds and of thousands."

Here is Brandon next to a site called the wading pool at Tel Dan.  

After Tel Dan, we drove up in the Golan Heights.   We passed an old Crusader Castle called Nimrod’s Castle.  Over 20 of these castles were established by Crusader Knights around 1100 A.D., later destroyed later by Muslim armies who wanted to make sure the Crusaders no longer had a base to mount future attacks.

Here is a picture from the road up near Mt. Hermon.  A bit of snow fell in Syria and Jordan the day we arrived in Israel, and there is still quite a bit up in the Golan heights. If you look really close, you can see a yellow sign…that is a warning that the field here has land mines.  Many places near the border with Syria still have active land mines. 

As we drove out of the Golan Heights, we had some good views of Mt. Hermon and also of Syria.