Anyone speak Arabic?

Hey y'all. I found an internet cafe at long last. And here I burn away my half-hour.

Where am I? Bethlehem, Palestinian authority. We got in very early Saturday morning and tokk a bus the "long way" in order to bypass the mounting "wall of separation" between the two peoples of this land. When it is completed, it will totally cut Bethlahem of from Israel.

Bethlahem was until recently a majority Christian city. Anyway, many draw their spiritual strength from the Church of the Nativity. Hopefully I will be able to load some picture of the spot where, according to tradition, Jesus was born of Mary.

There is so much respect here, every shopkeeper wants us to come by just to have coffee. In this town, tourism is everything. Our group is becoming somewhat famous here, as one guy was offered half of without having to bargain at all.

I wish I could bring the food back with me too. Yes the food is amazing, fresh, Mediterranean, healthy. A perfect cure for fatty airline fare. I wish I could tell you more about the beautiful things that are in store here, but so far the food has gotten me pretty psyched. I start Gospel of Luke class today and tomorrow we have Mass at Nativity. More on that later.