Beer Sheba and The small bomb

Hi again


Last week was very busy for me, ( okay, not more busy than I was able to cope with it)
Heidi my fellow secretary had gone with the Norwegian Ministry to Israel for a Retreat, therefore I had to be the sole secretary at Caspari. If it had been a normal week it would have been no problem, however I was to prepare for a Shabbat School Seminar in Beer Sheba, thus I had more to do than normally. 


If it had been in Europe we would have called it "Sunday school Seminar". - The point of the seminar was to train the teachers of the Sunday Schools, Caspari had arranged for lectures, materiales for teachers ( Activity books, Song books, Story books etc), and workshops.


Friday morning, which is normally my day off, I went with my boss Knut for Beer Sheba, at 6.00 o'clock in the morning - I had a flashback to my pendling days between Randers and Aalborg, where I every day took the train at 6.20 from the station to go to the Teachers College, for four years running. As it had been a while since I had been up that early, I must admit, I had to drink a lot of coffee - But since I had been too lazy to make coffee before I went with my boss to the Seminar, ( alarm clocks are not my best friends) Therefore it backfired and I had to struggle with my body in the car, and once I got to Beer Sheba, I was so in need of coffee that I immediately went straight for the coffee machine and took the biggest cup I could find, and it felt like heaven when the black substance did its magic.


During the Seminar my job was to make sure the coffee table was filled up, that the bathrooms looked decent, selling books, preparing lunch etc. We had one problem during the preperations for lunch, suddently this man came into the kitchen, and he wanted to tell us something - yet again language became an issue - he only knew two languages: Russian and Hebrew. Therefore, Heidi and I did not understand what he was trying to say to us. He contacted one of the other workers from Caspari, and she told us that there were trouble with the sink, so we had to prepare the Lunch somewhere else. 


The Seminar was being held in this local congregation, the area in which it was placed was not very welcoming. It looked like someone had tossed a small bomb and no one had found it in them to clean up after the explosion. In reality they were rebuilding the area, Knut told me that last year when they had been to the same congregation, it had looked the exact same way, the only difference a year after the beginning of the rebuilding, were some brick stones intented to be used on the road. It says something about the planning culture and Siesta mentality of this country.  


The next I want to tell is my experience with the Security in this country, and a slight raising of my heartbeat. 
I was on my way to the post office, as I do almost everyday. Everything looked normal, the man who is incapable of singing, was still singing in his microphone just outside of our office, the smell of cake from our next door neighbour, the sun shining from a clear sky. Nevertheless, when I came to a certain crossing point,  a bunch of Israelis were pushing me, and everyone else in close contact with a small object on the ground, away. I looked down and discovered this explosive device on the ground, I think they were afraid some one would step on it and make it explode. My heart certainly rose with several beats, I had to go to the postoffice and it looked like people had it under control, I saw them push some guy several inches to keep him from stepping on the device and another guy was calling for the police. (Therefore I saw no reason for me to stand their aswell) I passed the gathering and went into the postoffice, when I returned ten minutes later the entire street had been closed off, their were soldiers and policemen everywhere, bars had been set up and no one could go anywhere close without being pushed away by the security personal. They certainly took it very serious, I dont think it was so dangerous as it was made to be, on the otherhand I feel safe in knowing that they watch over their citizens, with so much awareness and diligence. 


Thats all folks!




Hej igen


Sidste uge var meget travlt for mig, (ok ikke mere travel, end jeg var i stand til at klare det)


Heidi, den anden sekreter var taget med den "Norske Mision til Israel" på en slap af tur, derfor var jeg den eneste sekretær. Hvis det havde været en normal uge ville det ikke have været noget problem, men jeg skulle forberede til et Shabbat skole Seminar i Beer Sheba, så jeg havde mere at gøre end normalt.


Hvis det havde været i Europa ville vi have kaldt det, Søndagsskole Seminar. - pointen med seminaret var at uddanne lærerne til søndagsskolerne,  Caspari havde sørget for undervisning, materialer for lærerne (Aktivitets bøger, Sang bøger, historie bøger osv.), og workshops.


Fredag morgen, som normalt er min fridag, tog jeg med min chef til Beer Sheba ved 6,00 tiden om morgenen - Jeg oplevede derved et flashback til mine pendler dage mellem Randers og Aalborg, hvor jeg hver dag tog toget klokken 6,20 fra stationen for at komme til Lærer Seminariet, fire år i streg. Det havde været langt tid siden jeg havde været oppe så tidligt, så jeg må indrømme at jeg var nødt til at drikke en stor mængde kaffe - Men da jeg havde været for doven til at lave kaffe før jeg tog med min chef til seminaret, (alarm klokker er ikke mine bedste venner) gav det bagslag, og jeg var nødt til at kæmpe med min krop i bilen, og da jeg kom til Beer Sheba havde jeg så meget brug for kaffe, at jeg straks gik lige hen til kaffemaskinen og tog den største kop jeg kunne finde, og det føltes som himlen, da den sorte væske gjorde sin virkning.


Under seminaret blev mit job at sørge for,  at kaffebordet var fyldt op, at badeværelserne så anstændige ud, at sælge bøger, forberede frokost osv. Vi havde et problem under forberedelse til frokost, pludselig kom der en mand ind i køkkenet, og han forsøgte at fortælle os noget - endnu en gang  blev sprog et problem - han kunne kun to sprog: Russisk og Hebraisk, Derfor  forstod Heidi og jeg ikke hvad han prøvede at sige til os. Han kontaktede en af de andre arbejdere fra Caspari, og hun fortalte os, at der var problemer med vasken, så vi var nødt til at forberede frokosten et andet sted.


Seminaret blev afholdt i en lokal forsamling, det område hvor forsamlingen var placeret, var  ikke særlig tiltrækkende, det så ud som om nogen havde smidt en lille bombe, og ingen havde fundet det nødvendigt at rydde op efter eksplosionen. I virkeligheden var de ved at renovere området, Knut fortalte mig at sidste år, da de havde været i den samme forsamling, havde området set ud på nøjagtig samme måde. Den eneste forskel her et år efter påbegyndelsen af renovationen var nogle brosten man ville lægge på vejen . Det siger noget om: planlægnings kulturen og Siesta mentaliteten i dette land.


Det næste jeg vil fortælle er min oplevelse med sikkerheden i dette land, og en lille forhøjelse af mine hjerteslag. Jeg var på vej til posthuset, som jeg gør næsten hver dag. Alt så normalt ud, den mand der er ude af stand til at synge, sang stadig i sin mikrofon lige uden for vores kontor, lugten af kage fra vores nabo, solen skinnende fra en klar himmel. Men da jeg kom til en vis fodgængerovergang, så jeg en flok israelere der  skubbede mig, og alle andre i tæt kontakt med et lille objekt på jorden, væk. Jeg kiggede ned og så denne eksplosive genstand på jorden, jeg tror, de var bange for at nogen ville træde på den og få den til at eksplodere. Mit hjerte steg med flere slag end normalt. Jeg var nødt til at gå til posthuset og det så ud til at folk havde det under kontrol, jeg så dem skubbe en fyr flere centimeter for at holde ham fra at træde på genstanden og en anden fyr ringede efter politiet. ( Derfor så jeg ingen grund til at jeg skulle stå der) Jeg gik forbi gruppen og ind på posthuset, da jeg kom tilbage ti minutter senere var hele gaden blevet lukket af, der var soldater og politifolk overalt, bomme var sat op, og ingen kunne komme tæt på uden at blive skubbet væk af sikkerheds personalet. De tog det ihvertfald meget alvorligt, selvom det ikke var så farligt som det blev gjort til, på den anden side føler jeg mig tryg ved at vide, at de våger over deres borgere med så megen opmærksomhed og omhu.


Det var det folkens!