Quick update

(Kasey here)

Recovering nicely from the bronchitis. Headed to the doctor in the morning for a follow-up.

In other news, I have 7 new mosquito bites from last night: 2 on my left thumb, 2 in my left elbow, 2 on my right... tricep? The back part of my upper arm.

It sucks.

But at least my bronchitis is going away?

Kasey's got the bronchitis.

Sunday night

Hello all,

Jon here...

Kasey is sleeping right now (sleeping away the sickness). So I thought I would make a post.

Kasey's "ring worm" is dying down. We got some medication to put on them (only 3) and they are healing up fast. So thank God, but continue to pray. Polly seems to be getting more which is gross cause her hair is falling off in circular patterns where the "ring worms" are.

For those of you who don't know what Ring Worm is; it's not a "stomach worm" as I thought it was when Kasey first told me. It is a fungal infection, it has nothing to do with worms :P Pretty much Kasey just has to put this cream on them (they look like a bug bite, but with a distinct ring around them...very weird) and this cream pretty much just suffocates the spot and kills it. It seems to be working :)

My field trip went very well last week. I have posted several pictures on facebook which give you an idea of where I went and etc...but we stopped at Beth-Shemesh (near the spot of Samson's birth, then we went to the coast, then Lachish, then Beth-Sheba, then Arad, then En Gedi (where we swam in the Dead Sea) the to Qumran (where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found). This took 3 days. We stayed in two different hotel like hostels (very nice and they gave us breakfast). It was fun because we got to know each other as a group. The majority of us master students all live off campus so we don't really get to know the people in the school except for field study days.

Our next trip is this Saturday-Tuesday (October 24-27) and we are going up to Galilee. Traveling in Israel is not as long as one would think. The whole country is about the size of New Jersey...so to get from the Mediterranean Sea to the Dead sea it would take about 1.5 hours...maybe less depending on traffic. So when we go on these field studies we literally travel all over Israel. I don't know the specific spots we will be going on for this next trip, but I'm sure it will be fun.

The trips we make are so full of information...it's ridiculous. My favorite parts of the trips are going to the location of a biblical spot and reading the story of what happened there. There is however a lot of other information about different excavated sites of really old cities, what it's history was, who built it, who excavated it, etc...these are nice, but to be perfectly honest they are cool at first but after seeing a bunch of them they all start looking the same "oh, a brick wall, oh a house, oh a pathway, etc, etc, etc...once you've seen one excavated site you have seen them all in my opinion. As you can guess I would not do well as an archaeologist :P

I only have 4 more weeks of this semester and then I'm on break. The semesters only run for 3 months...but o my gosh these months are jammed packed with stuff...sheesh. God willing I will make it past the first semester of studying, then I have 2 months off! What am I going to do in those months?! I figured I would study my books and prepare for the next semester AND possibly ask Kasey's school if there is a part time job I could take for those 2 months (fixing stuff or whatever), just something to keep me busy and make some money while Kasey is teaching.

Today I made a video of our apartment so those of you who have facebook will be able to see our new apartment and us as well :)

It's about 5pm right now and I'm getting hungry. I think I will make us Rice and chicken...or maybe Macaroni and hotdogs. I don't know which one sounds more appealing right now. But we have been downloading the 6th episode of the Office and coughAmericascoughnexttopcoughmodelcough which we will probably watch after I make dinner.

You are all waking up right now, or are already starting your Sunday. Have a good day, and please continue to pray for us :)

Peace.

Sickness

(Kasey here)

The past couple of days have been AWFUL. Thursday night Jon came home from class early because I emailed him about the ringworm, and then we watched a movie and had something to eat. We didn't wind up getting to bed until after one, and we woke up the next day at about 5:30 to take showers.

We went to JUC and on the walk, my chest started seizing up and I wasn't able to take anything more than a couple of shallow breaths a minute. We sat down a while until my chest relaxed, and then we went slowly the rest of the way. After Jon went to class, it took almost a full 2 1/2 hours for my breathing to become normal again. I spent a bunch of the time with my arm resting on a styrofoam cup filled with ice -- I have a HUGE spider bite on the same arm where I have the ringworm; ice was the only thing keeping me from going insane. Because of our lack of sleep I was completely exhausted. I had an ugly headache and my eyes hurt from how much I'd cried the night before. When Jon was done with class he had planned to take me to the Wailing Wall, but it was SO hot and I already wasn't feeling well, so we wandered through the 'upper room' that symbolizes where the Last Supper was held, went past David's tomb, and then went home.

We got home a little after noon and called Mrs. Eula (an older volunteer lady who works at the school and who is our designated driver) and asked if she could take us to the pharmacy. She was just getting out of the shower and needed to do her hair, so we had to wait about an hour and a half. Jon got on the computer to check facebook and talk to his dad, and I fell asleep sitting on the couch next to him.

Mrs. Eula brought us to the pharmacy, and the women working there gave me a cream to apply to the ringworm and an antibacterial soap that's good for skin infections. When we got home I applied it, and Jon gave Polly a bath with the soap. Poor kitten was all traumatized again. I kept her wrapped in a towel on my lap, head covered and all, while Jon made dinner -- chicken and mashed potatoes. om nom nom.

We watched Zombieland and ate until we were WAY too full. We'd been invited to a movie night at the Robert's (volunteer) place with him and Julie (english teacher) and Jeff (her husband) and a few other people (all volunteers), so we headed over... Julie and Jeff brought us a full Shabbat dinner -- shepherd's pie, potato salad, hulas bread and grape juice for a communion, and butter cookies and m&m cookies. Jon and I were kind of disappointed that we didn't know there was going to be food. Why feed yourself when you're going to be fed for free?!

We all ate and hung out and it was nice to just be relaxing with everyone. Most people left before the movie started. We let Jeff and Julie pick, because they were the only ones who hadn't seen our collection before. Julie saw Bewitched in our folder and said was "So raunchy!" which... isn't true whatsoever. But she picked Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure, so that was acceptable.

I was coughing a lot during the movie. About a half hour from the end, all of a sudden the muscles in my chest and back, around my lungs, seized and I couldn't breathe at all. Every attempt was extremely painful. I asked Jon to rub my back and showed him where. After he'd been massaging the muscles for a couple of minutes, they relaxed, but my chest was still tight. I was glad that the movie was over -- we packed up, thanked Julie and Jeff for the food, and Robert for having us over, and left right away.

We were in bed by 10. Jon rubbed my back until I fell to sleep and then made sure I laid flat on my back most of the night. We figured that the combination of the ringworm and all the insect bites, my immune system had been weakened and I'd gotten a cold, so my body was just a big disaster and that's why I felt so awful.

Today I was supposed to go into school to supervise the PSAT, but I felt SO gross when I woke up that Jon called Shane and asked if I could stay home. I felt sick to my stomach and dizzy and had a headache. I kept alternating between being way too hot and shivering I was so cold. Jon said I felt the same as last night, when my skin had been burning up.

I feel a lot better now that I've gotten some sleep, but I still feel under the weather. A little while ago I lost my voice and I sound exactly like that guy on 30 Rock who's speaking to Jack Donaghy and says, "You have to leave GE."

"What?"

"Visiting hours--were over--some time ago. You have to leave GE. Geriatric Extended Care."

"... what's wrong with your voice?"

"I was struck by lightning--as a child. They made a movie--about me. You have to leave GE."

Ugh. The older ringworms seem to be clearing up. The one on my hand seems to be drying out, which is how Marian said they have to go. And my spider bite isn't swollen anymore. By tomorrow I hope to be okay, and definitely completely fine by Monday. But I REALLY hope that breathing issue is gone forever. I don't know how asthma feels, but I'd guess it's something like that.

Tonight is church and there's going to be pizza afterward. Kind of sucks that I won't be up to eating much because I was REALLY looking forward to chowing down on pizza. At least at this point is looks like I'll be able to make it there.

Prayer requests:

• My health -- that I'd feel all better soon and that the ringworm would go away with a reappearance.
• Polly's ringworm -- it's a big deal for us to be able to get someone to drive us to the store, let alone the pet clinic on the other side of the Old City. Hopefully this soap we're bathing her in works. She had another bath today.
• Jon's health -- hopefully he doesn't get any infection or anything from all of this.

>:(

My neighbor, Marian, who has been in the mission field for a long time, says the weird bug bites on my left arm/hand are ringworm.

REALLY want to swear right now.

Boy won't Jon think that's awesome when he gets back from class late tonight :P

Between JUC night classes and "volunteer church" which we are "required" to attend, we hardly get to see each other. This weekend is the last weekend Jon has off before all his field studies, which means we will somehow see each other LESS.

Suck.

Also, Kasey accidentally stepped on Polly's paw coming in the door and now Polly is offended and pretending to be injured when she's perfectly fine.

Stupid can-see-in-the-dark cat.

the interwebs, we have them!

WE HAVE INTERNET AT HOME!!! :D

450 NIS ($115) for the duration of our stay.

THAT is a miracle.

A Kasey update

(Kasey here)

School is going pretty well this week. I've had the 9th graders twice every day 3 days this week. They're awesome and I love them, but they require more constant supervision to be kept under control, and that wears you out fast. And the other day, I didn't have just half of them. I had them ALL. OMG.

Besides being tired at the end of the day, I'm keeping on top of my subjects and my classes are going well. I seem to be well-liked (as much as you can like a teacher). Next week I'm being featured in the first edition of the school paper. Guess why. They think I look like Angelina Jolie. ALL of them. So much so that when Kristen (my office mate, and their teacher) kindly tried to steer them toward something more interesting/relevant, they insisted on me. I tell you, it's my claim to fame here. Also, that I can bend my thumbs backwards. That put me a step up in the guys' books.

Polly is doing well. They other night she fell in the toilet and was just a general disaster, so Jon gave her a bath. For as fascinated as she is by water, baths are now in her book Not Okay. I was in the other room, but from the sounds of panic and the desperation with which she fought back, I'm pretty sure that she was honestly afraid for her life. When the Bath of Hell was over, Jon came out carrying a towel. He handed me the towel, and turns out it was a cat burrito.

The cat in the burrito had the biggest eyes I've ever seen and her ears were laid flat back on her head. She kept reaching out of the twoel with one paw to hold onto my shoulder sans claws.

I finally sat down on the floor with her and let her out of the towel... but she tried to climb back in. She was shaking really badly. I tried sitting her on the couch by herself, but she walked in quaky circles with her back curled like she was about to spit, and then she fell off the edge and came back to huddle in my lap. She wouldn't sit still unless she was curled up in the teeniest ball possible in my lap and I covered her with my hands. VERY traumatic evening that, by the next morning, she seemed to have forgotten. She acts a lot more like a cat, though (cleaning herself, minding her litter, mostly ignoring people food). I think we might have driven her back to her catty roots.

Jon's on a field study this weekend. He left this morning at 5:30 and won't be home till late Monday, so it's just me and Polly. He did, however, rent me Fiddler on the Roof before he left :D I've been dying to watch it since I got here.

I coached basketball this afternoon since I had nothing else to do. I know nothing about basketball, nor do I really want to, but it went pretty well. I'm about to head home (and drag a buttload of grading with me). I have a couple hours until I have to be back for volunteer!church.

Oh yeah, and they asked me if I'd like to sing sometimes for church.

AND we might have been given an internet miracle.

So my life is going bizarrely well on this side of the world.

Prayer requests

• Please pray for Jon's safety and his peace of mind. He misses me a lot when he's gone, and even though this is an awesome experience, he'll have a hard time with it.
• My safety. I'm on my own for a full 3 days.
• Miracles! We did our budget last week and it was extremely discouraging.

Praises

• The internet miracle, which we will tell you about if it works out.
• Our apartment was finally finished and we are moved in except for a few things (we have yet to be able to make an IKEA run)
• Yey school! No huge disasters yet, which is promising :)
• We're healthy. Unless you count my left forearm which has 8 bug bites on it. From at least 4 different kinds of unseen critters. I am itchy.

<3

Jon Here…

Hello all. This week was pretty awesome. Kasey and I went to Tel Aviv on Sunday with a group of friends and went to the beach. Extremely nice beach! The water was very warm; you could just walk in and be instantly used to the temperature. After we swam around a bit we headed out further to go onto some rocks where we chilled, looked out to sea, guessed where Greece was (I’m pretty sure we found it…but you cannot see it). I found a place to jump off so Kasey and I did dives off of our spot. It was fun. We swam back and by then it was getting around lunch and our bodies desired food, specifically burgers because we walked by a burger joint on our way down to the beach.

Kasey and I, and a couple more people, came with us. We took orders for others as well so that they could sit and watch our stuff. Kasey and I went to this Jewish fast food place (the symbol was a bull…whatever that means). It took a while for them to understand us and for us to understand them and then to get our food. BUT once we did, it tasted glorious. I have to admit (even in the states) my favorite meal to eat on the beach is a burger, fries and coke. Something about life just seems more simple and alive when you have this combination :P I guess for me it’s cow and water…

After lunch we had a couple more hours to chill on the Med. It was a Jewish holiday and they literally shut everything down, even the beach! So we swam a bit more, went to the rocks again, jumped off and then took off. It was a VERY good Sunday and I plan on doing it again when we can. To be honest it probably won’t happen till after Christmas, because I don’t have that many weekends off anymore.

Monday I had off, so I dropped Kasey off at work and then me and Keith (maintenance guy) fixed up our new apartment. When he was doing something else I was cleaning a bit of the place. But after Kasey got home we chillaxed because it was my day off.

Tuesday we officially moved into our new apartment. It was still really dusty, even after sweeping and cleaning it. We moved all our stuff over there that night and pretty much just crashed. However! I have a story about our first meal in the apartment!

We really wanted Hot dogs! So I got a big bag full of hotdogs out of the freezer and started opening the top. This bag was full of hot dogs and air as well, so when I started opening it up the bottom burst open and all the hotdogs went all over the floor. Kasey started laughing, but when we looked down Polly was running all over the floor trying to get one! I picked them all up but she was already all over this one hotdog and was not acting normal over this thing. It was like cat nip times 10. She was chowing down on this hotdog to the extreme so we left it for her. We washed off the hotdogs, cooked some and had a really good meal.

The aftermath of Polly was that the next day her butt was exploding. Mass cat pooping. She had such a terrible time the next day when we were away that she started eating her cat food on a regular basis. The hotdog changed her into a somewhat normal kitten. So we were happy about that. The bad part was that she tracked poop all over our sheets and they had to be washed.

Wednesday and Thursday we continued to unpack and cleaning up. But on Friday Kasey and I went to JUC together (Kasey watched a movie…the one with the girl from Transformers and she is the devil…I know, I Know…you can judge away :P). But we went to the New City, went to a coffee place called “The Coffee Bean”. This was SUCH a good place! They had about 10 differnet fraps from you to choose from and even more coffee. It was glorious. We then got some cat litter (stuff that didn’t smell). Walked around, found a place to sit and made our budget for every month…this was not good, haha. After that we had lunch together at this really nice place, with the most amazing, biggest tuna salad we have ever had. AND it was only $8. So we were happy about that. All the pics of Friday can be sene on Facebook. Then we went home and watched LOTR’s (we are doing a marathon very slowly).

Saturday Kasey went to work, and I did homework at my new desk at our new apartment. I got a lot done. We went to church that evening and after church a nice couple holds a time of fellowship for everyone which includes food! They are always fun, and the food is even better :P I actually had my first boiled egg at this thing…it wasn’t too bad. Except that it was only a half a boiled egg with no yoke in it. They used the yoke to make a mix and then they put it on half the egg. I only had one, and went for seconds but they were all eaten. Sad day. O well.

Sunday was our IKEA day! And we both volunteered for a soccer/basketball game near Tel Aviv. We did this because on the e-mail that was sent out to Kasey the school said that they would go to IKEA and a big mall for everyone to do some shopping and eating! So it was a free ride and we asked around and the head people said they had no problem if Kasey and I took off to IKEA to get our stuff for our new apartment. But when we got there, we had no ride because anyone who could drive a standard was not “insured” with the school and those that were “insured” did not know how to drive a standard or they were the coaches and couldn’t get away, the IKEA was like an hour or more walk away.

So Kasey and I were stuck watching high school kids all day. At the end of the day we tried going to a mall, but they went to a different mall that was WAY away from IKEA (a different one that they said) and it was an expensive outlet store that only had a burger King and chip store. We did however drive by IKEA and waved at it. So our Sunday was, in our eyes, a complete waste of day of our day off together (we do not get another one for a couple weeks). We may go to IKEA on Tuesday to get the stuff we needed. We left home around 8am, and got back around 7:30pm. We had Macaroni and Chicken and watch 30 Rock to end our day.

All of you might be seeing stuff on the news about riots and stuff taking place here. Dr. Wright told us today that this weekend and this week are kind of celebration of Israel/independence or something around those lines (I was getting ready when he said this…sorry, hahaha), so this causes A LOT of groups and A LOT of Soldiers and police and still A LOT of Tourists. With big groups come riots…just a fact here. Dr. Wright said that Israel hasn’t had some excitement for some time now, and was smiling when he said it. Honestly I did not know what was going on in the news until I was told because Kasey and I are not around it at all. Dr. Wright also said that the safest thing to do is that if you see a crowd to just not go into it or near it. We are perfectly safe. It will hopefully die out soon. But again, big groups of both cultures bring riots and the news. We are fine.

Prayer Requests:

-Our budget is EXTREMELY low, please pray that we use our money wisely and that God continues to provide. And that we will grow in faith through being here

-Coninuous prayer for our protection in all things

-Kasey the teacher

-Jon the student. He has a 3 day field trip this weekend.

Praise:

-We LOVE our new apartment