Scorpion Attack!

Check out what happens when a bunch of tipsy Jordanians find a live Scorpion!

The Abouna Band

The Abouna Band plays one of its favorites before disbanding . . .

Guess What I Got!

Look closely to discover what's had me geeked out for 20 hours and counting . . .

Israel Trip

I wonder which one's the Dome of the Rock.

I'm going to cover this trip in one post, because I've been putting it off for a while.

Caroline, Marlise and I went to Israel with about 30 residents of al Houson. The group we were with was a little scattered, but they were good Housonites. The trip was a great opportunity to see the Holy Sites and also see things from "the other side of the line." There was a definite tension between the Israelis and our Jordanian group, and this came out especially in a couple situations. I think that perhaps the worst was when we were invited into the Dome of the Rock and al-Aqsa mosque, which is quite an honor considering that only Muslims are allowed inside. Some of the Jordanians (who were all Christians) had made it, and Marlise and Caroline had just gotten into the mosque when an Israeli policeman showed up, mad. I had taken my shoes off and was about to enter the mosque, but he stopped the rest of the group and I from entering and had an argument with our tour guide about his jurisdictional authority. Granted, the officer was doing his job - there had been problems in the al-Aqsa mosque before, including an assassination. But the thing is that Jordan owns the land that the Dome of the Rock and al-Aqsa occupy. Needless to say, I was disappointed.

We saw a lot of Holy Sites, including Lake Tiberias, Peter's House in Kafer Nahum, Mary's cousin Elizabeth's house, the Church of the Nativity, the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, the Wailing Wall, the Jordan River Baptism Site (the Israeli version, that is), the Church of the Annunciation . . . and I'm forgetting a lot. The cities we saw included Haifa, Jerusalem, Bethlehem and Tiberiat. It was a really exhausting trip, especially because I had just been touring Jordan with the Germans, but it was worth it. Caroline almost got baptized in the Jordan River, but she decided to wait 'till her boyfriend could be there. I really would've fought to be godfather.

Towards the end of the trip, we got to meet the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, His Beatitude Msgr. Michael Sabbah. I'd seen him before at a scouting event, but this was the first time I had a chance to meet him in person. He even gave each of us a really cool See of Jerusalem rosary.



We all had fun at a last-night party in Jerusalem before heading back to Jordan to sleep for 3 days straight.

Caroline Sings!

Here is a video of Caroline doing her thing in the Ajloun amphitheater. Isn't she great?