I'm Dying for a Picture of the Moon

Today started off normally; meaning, it started off with breakfast. Breakfast here is basically the same thing every day: hummus, pita bread, bologna, fruit, fresh cut green peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers, and jelly. With tea. Of course with tea. They drink so much tea here I think I'm turning green (Japanese?)! The couple that lives in this hostel are in their 60s and they're really sweet people. We call the lady "mama" because she takes care of us like a mama. She provides us with tea and Arabic coffee all day long! Even when you don't want tea, there is tea! Though, I will say her mint tea is very tasty. I had a stomach ache a couple days ago, and guess what mama brought me as the remedy (dare I say, THE remedy?). That's right, mint tea.

After the Bethlehem tea party we set off to work. More ceiling duty for me. Yay.....

In the afternoon I went with the Dean of my school and our translator up to the hardware store to pick up some more supplies. This is when I realized that life here is just a little bit different than in America. In America we just walk into the store, grab what we need, check out (as fast as possible of course), and then get on our way. Time is important, go go go! Here, time is no matter. When you walk into a store, they invite you to sit with them and drink. Drink what you ask? That's right, TEA! Or Arabic coffee!

Moving forward...Tonight I decided I wanted to take a picture of the moon rising. Bethlehem is on a hill, so you can see the moon rising over the Dead Sea/Jordan in the distance rather well. I was just dying to take a picture of the orange/red moon rising over Bethlehem. Little did I know, I almost did! We walked up through a neighborhood that sits on top of the hill overlooking the valley, where I could easily see the moon rising and get good pictures. We got there about 15 minutes before moonrise. This was a mistake...

As my friend James and I stood there, we realized we were not in a good part of town. It was very dark and all of the sudden people were lurking about - one could even say lurching about. A van pulled up and two rather surly looking characters got out and were eyeballing us from afar. Another man came walking down some steps behind us, but not near us. He kept creeping about, and I had a bad feeling about it. I told James, "If a car pulls up and stops, I'm running!" The creepy little man stood about and kept inching his way closer. We had our eyes on him, but he appeared to be on his cell phone, so we thought we were ok.

As the moon was rising over the horizon, I began taking pictures. It was blood red and extremely beautiful! Then the creepy cellphone guy approached us and asked us our names, where we were from (does this sound familiar), and if we would like to come to his house for a drink - yes TEA or COFFEE! At this point, freaked out was an understatement. Great, creepy cellphone guy wants to kill us. He thinks we have money, wants to invite us into his home, so that he can stab us and take our money. Wonderful. I'm going to die trying to take a picture of the moon! It's just the moon people!!! I just want a picture of the moon!!!

At this point, we politefully declined - about eight times! As we began to walk away I thought, "here we go, we're going to turn our back and then it's all over with! No more Van...no more long walks on the beach with Mr. Fluffy (don't ask people!)" We turned to go and thankfully, creepy cellphone guy went on his way. I did, however, get some amazing pictures of the moon! Take THAT creepy cellphone guy! You think you can take me?! What-chu got holmes?! NOTHIN! That's right! I'll take my pictures! What are you gonna do about that homeboy?! I got a picture of the moon, BOOM!

So here you go - my near-death moon pictures. I hope you people are happy with yourselves...

You can't really see it, but this shot of the moon is right above the horizon. Along the horizon I could see the city lights of Amman, Jordan, just below the moon. 

The orange/red moon over Bethlehem. I feel like there's a song about that somewhere...Wait, that's Moon River. Oh well, Enjoy this one anyway!