Though in a land of peace thou art secure, yet how wilt thou do in the pride of the Jordan? (Jeremiah 12:5)

After a crossing the no man's land border crossing, we started our trip in Jordan with a long drive in a crowded van to Jerash. Along the way, the landscape seemed to me much like what Iraq would be. My suspicions were confirmed when near Amman we saw a sign directing us to the border crossing to Iraq; we were less than 100 kilometers away.
At Jerash, they recreate the typical traditions of Roman times, from which the ruins date. This includes chariot racing, troop marching, and gladiator fighting, all narrated tongue-in-cheek by an obviously underpaid narrator who enjoys messing with tourists.
We were also lucky enough to see this performance of Irish music played on Scottish bagpipes by Arabs in a Roman amphitheater. The music is a holdover from the Crusades. This is the Middle East in a nutshell. They've had so many things foisted upon them through colonialism and evangelism that it's no wonder they're a little sensitive to outside interference.
After touring Jerash, we spent the night in Amman, which is a bustling city in the middle of a wasteland. If people weren't speaking in Arabic and women were walking on the street, it would be like any big city in the States. But the absence of Western images (besides pirated DVDs) and females was palpable.
We spent the next two days in the desert, Wadi Ram, being bounced around in Toyota trucks by our Bedouin guides. It was like an adult playground, with all the rock formations to climb up and sand dunes to roll down.
A hookah was in order after a long day of dust and sun. But we weren't too tired for dancing, even without beer. Because of the Muslim holiday, the only available alcohol was Ramadan beer, the Arabic form of O'Douls.
To end our trip on a high point, we saved Petra for last. To build up strength to tour this "Wonder of the World," we ate dinner at the house our guide Mohammed. But we ended up burning most of the meal's energy off by dancing with his seven children. If you think that is crazy, Mohammed has 17 siblings. The extended family is so big that their homes take up an entire hillside in Petra.
After relaxing by the pool and gorging at the buffet, we were ready to take on the miles of hikes in old Petra. The teaser is the obligatory shot of the Treasury, the site used in the "Indiana Jones" movie.
But more impressive is The Monastery, including its nearby lookout, where this Bedouin shopkeeper was biding his time by text messaging. The old and new truly collide in the middle of nowhere.
The highlight for me was hiking up to the sacrificial point, where Emily sacrificed some of her lungs to a cigarette. We dared to take the "shortcut" back to Petra's entrance. It was neither short nor a cut, but it was one of the best hikes I've ever done, well worth the burning thighs and calves at the end.
We made it back in time for sunset at the hotel, which was fitting because its colors so closely matched those found in the stones within Petra. Next time you come to my house, try to figure out the artwork created from pictures of the fascinating sand designs, a constant reminder to me of the beauty to be discovered throughout the world.

Now it will spring forth ... I will even make a roadway in the wilderness, a river in the desert (Isaiah 43:19)

As if my room weren't taunting enough, I thought I'd show you the new school in its entirety. If you can see the video, it starts with the guard station. This is scarier than it looks. It's more to keep expensive equipment in than to keep bad people out. Just to the right is the elementary school, which has two playgrounds, two soccer-pitch-size fields, and two basketball courts behind it.

Next up is the library, which is where my lab is located. It is supposed to be the central hub of all things technology, nevermind that the book stacks are still in disarray because the roof, the first of its design in Israel, had to be redone because of leaking problems. Did I mention that rainy season is coming up? And that all the computer labs are on the bottom floor?

To the right of the library is the middle school, which is like a mini-high school, with the same set-up, offices, science labs and all. The high school is just on the other side of the outside amphitheater, the backdrop of which is purely Israeli: It's a kibbutz. The high school, like all the other school buildings, is completely high-tech. Eventually, every room will have a Smartboard with mounted overhead projector; the wireless Internet is already intact.

Another central hub is just opposite of the library: the cafeteria, which is entirely kosher, with isolated areas for meat and dairy. No cheeseburgers here. Typically, lunch consists of one main meal; Wednesday is pizza day, for example. If I don't bring my own lunch, I tend to partake in a variety of yummy fresh salads. The only problem is, it's more expensive than the typical U.S. school lunch; that's what you get when ketchup doesn't count as a vegetable, I guess. The school also has absolutely no vending machines, and you can't even buy soda in the cafeteria; no Coke sponsorship here.

Behind the cafeteria is an in-ground pool that won't open until the spring. The pool is done, but they are still working on enclosing it. Awnings or roofs over pools are typical here because of the dry season, with its constant sun. Behind the pool are two more soccer-pitch-size fields, two tennis courts, and eventually two more basketball courts, once the construction moves out. You can't see it on the video, but to the right of the pool is the gym, which can accommodate two full-size basketball courts at once. It's hard to get volleyballs stuck in the rafters here; trust me, I've tried.

The tour de force of the school is the performing arts center, in front of the gym and to the right of the cafeteria. It has one of the best lighting and sound systems in the greater Tel Aviv area. The school plans to make mad bank by renting it out for community concerts. There's an entire set construction area behind the stage, which is fitted with professional-level rafters and even trap doors! Outside the auditorium itself are all the choral, band, drama, and visual arts classrooms, including a dark room, a kiln room, a TV/radio studio, and a smaller black-box theater. With all this equipment, the school got the rights to do Beauty and the Beast this year. I'm looking forward to reprising my role as salt shaker.

All of the various buildings are connected by pathways covered by pergolas to provide sun and rain protection. The goal was to create a campus that blends in with the environment -- note all the sand-colored buildings -- but that also seems like a green oasis within the desert. It's like being on a well-maintained college campus, really. It still feels incomplete, but once all the backhoes are gone, it will certainly be a nice atmosphere to work in. I already look forward to getting to work and walking around. Feeling like I'm in nature motivates me to be creative, I think. Meanwhile, back in the States, the only green space comes from mold in 30-year-old buildings. I'm truly, truly sorry. All students, and teachers of course, should have access to such an inspiring setting.

The tenth day of this seventh month is the day of atonement ... and ye shall afflict your souls (Leviticus 23:27)

Up until two days ago, Yom Kippur was just a Jewish holiday with a funny name. Now I think it should be an globally recognized day of peace. For the Jewish, the Day of Atonement, as it is called, is a day of fasting, meditating on one's sins, and seeking forgiveness for them. This means all stores are closed and all roads are empty ... of cars, at least. For the non-devout, including heathens like myself, the Day of Postponement, as I've nicknamed it, is a day of dropping any obligations, drinking wine in the middle of the road, and bicycling down six-lane highways. And as a special touch this year, we played Taboo, with at least one round devoted to sex-related clues only.

Okay, so I'm not one for the religosity. But I can definitely get behind a forced day of relaxation. Besides the shouts of pre-adolescent biker gangs, the streets are quiet. And the air is so clean that the anti-haze sunset is more stunning than usual. If I had the power, I would mandate a non-driving, non-thinking, non-doing day for every country, big cities especially.

Like all contradictions in this country, Yom Kippur has a dark side: the stonings. If for some reason you find a need to drive, you must take care to post a red Star of David in your window, to represent an emergency. Otherwise, you might encounter angry mobs, armed with stones to express their discontent with your non-atoning. One of my co-workers got a flat tire on his bike on the way home, and his wife encountered quite a bit of trouble leaving the neighborhood to pick him up. Despite knowing this, I rode to Tel Aviv without a spare, and guess what? Yup, a flat. Thank goodness for better-prepared boyfriends of co-workers who save me from walking the 10 miles home.

As far as religious spectacles go -- and I'm counting those South Americans who crucify themselves and those Spaniards who toss goats from towers -- this is one of the most amazing ... yet more enjoyable. I invite all of you to try reflecting on your life with a tipsy ride on a Trek.

You teach me wisdom in the inmost place (Psalm 51:6)

All right, I'm totally going to brag for a moment. The video is of my new room. As you will see, it is decked out with 19 computers, 13 of which are equipped with PhotoShop and InDesign along with the usual Microsoft Office fixings. The last computer you see is the laptop issued to me by my school. I can carry it to any classroom and access the school's drives through a wireless network. With the wireless setup, I also can find open networks around town, which has been incredibly helpful as I still struggle to get a phone and Internet line in my home. I hoped to filch off a neighbor's wireless modem, but so far, no luck. And my lab is not the top one in the school. Next door is the photo and video lab, which students can use to create podcasts and webcasts. Unfortunately, this means my lab often gets co-opted by other teachers, but despite that, it is still more of a newsroom than my last school's and even my university's. After all, I got to set up the lab myself. I hooked up all the monitors, plugged in all the hard drives, installed all the printers and scanners, and added RAM. I am learning a lot about computers, both technically and philosophically. Right outside my room is a biodiversity area. There is a pond that is supposed to contain algae and other water plants to sustain dozens of fish. A few pits for trees, which were supposed to create the water cycle environment for the pool, remain empty, because some bacteria got into the pool and killed all the fish. I'm sure this had nothing to do with the fact that there was no protection for the pond, so in the beginning students were throwing trash and rocks in. In the attempt to be technologically-savvy, some common sense was lost. Better the fish than me, though. Natch.

There are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in all men (1 Corinthians 12:6)

This is a country of contradictions. According to The Xenophobe's Guide to Israel (yes, it's a real book), Israelis desperately want to be American, but you wouldn't know it from their behavior. It's like communism: Their theory is good but their practice is different, in some cases better and in others worse. So here are my noticeable "buts" so far:

There is indoor plumbing, but you can't flush the toilet paper; instead, you put it in a trash can nearby to avoid backing up the sanitation system.
There is toilet flushing, but it is usually a button instead of a lever, and you get two options: the "just rinse off the bowl, please" option and the "power wash the stuff out of there, thank you" option.
There is hot water, but you turn on a switch to get it; this activates the solar panel on many roofs to heat the water in tanks below.
There is building construction, but houses are often built with said solar panels in mind, not to mention large walls to block blowing sand.
There is road construction, but it is usually to allow for more public transportation, not more cars.
There are many highways, but all have the same no-rules, no-courtesy mentality as the I-75 corridor in Atlanta; however, despite lots of beeping, there is seemingly less road rage.
There are stoplights, but a yellow light indicates that it is about to turn green, like a drag race, and a flashing green light indicates that it is about to turn red.
There are speed b/humps, but the only people they slow down are bicyclists.
There are bicycles, but all of them are mountains or hybrids; no path to anywhere is entirely paved.
There are good bike trails, but they are known as six-lane highways.
There are beaches, but they are like giant ash trays and sandboxes where children up to age 8 often run naked.
There is paddleball on the beaches, but it is done with dazzling proficiency, the ball staying in the air for hours on end.
There is American fashion, but it is taken from the worst fads; they sell decorative bra straps for when you wear those tank tops that show your bra, for example.
There is American television, but it is aired commericial-free for the most part; so it looks really redundant with reality shows that have teasers to keep you on the channel through the break.
There is English language music, but it is either British punk or American '80s; seriously, I heard "Living in America" by James Brown at a fake Irish pub in the middle of Israel.
There are bars, but no one appears drunk until at least 3 a.m., when they start standing to dance.
There is dancing, but not just by packs of women; the floor includes men dancing -- with other men -- who are not gay.
There are margaritas, but they are a little salt and lots of tequila, which I suspect helps with the male dancing.
There is coffee, but no Starbucks; in fact, iced coffee is the one of the only beverages that often is self-serve.
There are McDonald's, but the No. 6 value meal is shwarma; I broke my 10-year abstinence of the chain to try this, and it wasn't worth it.
There is Oriental food, but this means falafel and tahine and such; if you want stir fry, you have to find a restaurant that has chopsticks and the word "Asian" on its sign.
There is hummus, but it actually tastes like beans, not garlic, pepper, or red dye #5.
There is American rudeness, obstinence, cynicism, and chutzpah, but in this case, I fully appreciate all of it.