December 13, 2003

Our shepherd neighbor has set up camp for the winter.

Marthame went to Jenin to settle accounts today, hoping to finish everything in one fell swoop. However, the false idols of Middle Eastern bureaucracy were conspiring against him. The deposit - which we put down on the cellphone so we wouldn't skip town with a hefty bill - can't be taken until the last bill is paid, but the last bill won't be printed until the 15th of the month and won't make it to Jenin until around the 23rd of the month. Then it'll take a few days for the funds to be released. Aagh. This after four trips to Jenin and many assurances that we'd be able to withdraw the funds sooner. Even with the road to town open on a fairly regular basis, nothing is reliable.

We had lunch with Fr. To'mie and his family after he got back from worship at the church in Burqin. He knew to invite us because they were having msakhan, one of our local favorites! Doesn't matter that we had it yesterday, either. His granddaughters are in town, so they (and thus we) are surrounded by cute baby girls everywhere. We took a break from work this afternoon to sit on the balcony and appreciate our view of the fields, with farmers busy working and our neighbor's sheep and goats baa-ing in their pen.