The Importance of Rice - An Editorial, by Aimee

          Vietnam is one of the worlds biggest rice producers.  In the big cities, you would never guess how important rice is to the Vietnamese people.  But as you drive deeper into the countryside you will find that the rice fields never end.  Rice is Asia's staple meal.  You can have fried rice, boiled rice, steamed rice, and much more. If you live like a local, rice pancakes are not to be forgotten.  Each country seems to have its own take on this simple yet filling and delicious delicacy.  And rice noodles are simply unforgettable.   A commoner's life is completely centered around rice.  First, they have a quick breakfast of, wouldn't you know, rice noodles.  Then they go out and work in the rice fields.  After a long morning in the rice fields, they have a delicious lunch of rice pancakes and have a nap.  Their afternoon consists of working in the rice fields. After a very long day of rice, they eat rice or rice noodles for supper and go to bed.  My opinion on this riceyness is that it is absolutely delightful.  Rice is really healthy.  In fact, our Vietnam tour guides would not stop saying "Vietnamese thin from rice; Western people very fat from burgers".  (I hope nobody takes offence from that.  If you do I can give you the contact number of our tour guide.  Just kidding.)  I can see their point because during my stay in Vietnam I noticed how small all the Vietnamese people were.  I was really happy though because I finally felt an average height, maybe even a bit tall.  Another point that I noticed was in Asia, being fat traditionally means being rich.  This is starting to change because of the appearance of fast food places in Asia.  The work for Asian locals is getting less physical because of heaps of opening industries. I don't mean to slam McDonalds but in Penang McDonalds has become a common chain of restaurants.  And one cannot help but notice that there are more fat people in Penang.  It really is too bad.  

My Volleyball Game, by Aimee

On Thursday I played my first volleyball game. I was really nervous and excited!  At 3:05 the game started.  The first game I was not playing because there are many girls on our team.  The other team won 15-26 (each game only goes up to 26).  

The next game I was playing.  I hit it over the net a lot of times but I only served it over the net three times.  It was very exciting!  So at the end of the game we were down 23-16.  One of my teammates served it over the net and the other team couldn't hit it.  So she did it again and again.  Soon we were tied and then we beat them just from serving!  

That meant we had to play one more game.  I was not playing the last game.  We did very well but sadly we did not beat the other team.  It was still very fun though! 

One Sunday Morning, by Kate

Hello!  This is reporter Kate and I am here to tell you a tragic story about walking to church one Sunday morning.  I woke up and thought it would be a normal day but when we arrived at the dirt pathway where we have to go to walk to church we saw that it had all been plowed over and with all the rain it had turned really muddy.  We all had our Sunday shoes on and we didn't want to walk into church with muddy shoes.  Even the edges of the pathway were very muddy.  Aimee pretended that we were in a forest in Malaysia and we had to walk through the forest.  My mom took her nice shoes off and just walked in the mud.  She said it was scary wondering what she was stepping on because she couldn't see through the muddy water.  I was wearing flip-flops so it didn't matter too much.  Then in the middle of the pathway we saw a big puddle and we all washed our feet and shoes off.  We were still a bit muddy when we arrived at church but at least not as much before we found the puddle.

Escape, by Aimee

During our October break we went to Escape.  Escape is a fun park where there are lots of obstacle courses and climbing walls.  I was really excited to get started!  I started with Level One of "Monkey Business" (which is kind of like an obstacle course that is off the ground and it has three levels of difficulty).  I got my harness and started.  There were rope bridges and zip-lines and planks and little barrels that you crawl through.  At the first zip-line we caught up to this really slow guy so we had to wait for him for the rest of the course. 

Next I went on to "Gecko Tower".  It is like a house with climbing walls on all four sides but with different levels of difficulty and handholds, for example, rope, metal bars, an air conditioning unit, and stuff like that.  I wanted to do the hardest one so I tried it.  It was really fun! After trying both hard walls I watched my mom bungee jump.  She was jumping around four stories high!  It was really amazing.

After that I went to the tube race.  It is where you drag a round tube up the hill and ride down on the hill.  It is extremely fun! Hannah and I dragged our tubes up.  By the time we got up there I was sweating a lot but it was totally worth it!  I flew down the hill with the wind rushing at my face.  It was really exciting!!!

Then we went to the main zip-line.  It is the longest zip-line in Malaysia.  Sadly I could not go on it because I was too small.  So I went to "Go Ape".  It is where you climb trees but thankfully they attached handholds to make it easier.  I actually found it quite hard!

Finally I wanted to try "Monkey Business" again.  I went on it one time but at the end, as I was sliding down the zip-line, my harness turned around but I still had to grab the rope to stop myself.  So I grabbed the rope but I accidentally smashed my body into my hand.  It really hurt.  My family and I went to the first aid room.  They put a tension bandage on it and it felt much better!  Three days later it was still hurting and my mom and I went to the hospital and had x-rays and the doctor said I had swollen muscle tissue.  I had to wear a sling for two weeks and stop playing volleyball for awhile.

Hannah on Level One of "Monkey Business"

Kate

Aimee, Kate, and Elizabeth at "Gecko Tower"

Kate and Elizabeth coming down the tube ride

Kate on "Monkey Business"

Mom bungy jumping

Highlights Around Israel, by Hannah

          I really liked the Sea of Galilee.  It was very peaceful.  It felt a lot like I remember Abbotsford - it was very, very cold and a bit dark with cloud cover.  It felt rainy even though it wasn't raining.  I am really enjoying the hot weather here in Penang compared to the really cold weather in the Galilee area.  

          The church on the Mount of Beatitudes was very beautiful with all the gardens and fruit trees.  I also thought the Golan Heights were very beautiful.  They have been extremely militarized in the past decades because they are right next to the Syrian border and an hour away from the Lebanese border.  But they are so beautiful in a war-touched kind of way.         
         
          The Dead Sea was also very, very fun.  I loved all the smells of the minerals and salt and the feeling of the mud and water.  Luckily I didn't get any water in my eyes because it would really, really hurt because of the salt.  I put a lot of mud on my body because the mud is soothing and it makes your skin feel nice. Masada near the Dead Sea was also very interesting with the old yet obvious ruins of the fortress.  Masada was an old Roman fortress that was taken over by the Jews and it was the last group of Jews to fall to the Romans.  It was interesting to see all the salt deposits everywhere as we travelled in this area.  In some areas there are so many salt deposits that in some areas it looks like snow.   

         Another highlight of Israel other than Jerusalem is all the ruins we stopped and saw on the way to main tourist attractions. We saw so many old things.  In some ways the ruins must be a nuisance to the Israelis because even if one ruin is found on a lot they must stop all building and let the government have access to the land.  But all of the ruins are amazing and very well preserved.  Some of my favourite parts of ruins were the frescos, which are like old beautifully painted plaster, and I also loved the mosaics.  They must have taken years to build each mosaic floors.  Some of them, even today, are really beautiful.  Like 'stop and look at the floor' kind of beautiful. 
             

Mount of Beatitudes

At the church on the Mount of Beatitudes

Me with Dead Sea mud.  (Our camera was slowing dying from being dropped by Aimee on a previous day)

Masada

Mosaic floor seen from the second story (we weren't allowed to step on it)

A fresco in Masada (the black line shows the original wall - below - and the more modern rebuilt wall - above)

Our boat on the Sea of Galilee

Christmas Day, by Elizabeth

On Christmas Eve we saw the place where Jesus was born. There was a parade in Bethlehem on Christmas Eve. On Christmas Day we went back to Manger Square which was close by where Jesus was born and did some shopping. At one shop the shopkeeper was really nice because he gave us an olive cross necklace, candy, and a picture where Jesus was born.  I decided to buy an ornament because he was so nice. We then went to the Milk Grotto. The Milk Grotto was where Mary, Joseph, and Jesus were hiding from Herod. Mary was feeding Jesus and some of her milk dropped and turned the whole cave white and it was still white when we were there. But the site is not in the Bible.

We also had lunch at Manger Square. We all had falafels for lunch. It is a pita filled with chick peas, vegetables, and sauce. It is really good.

We needed to get to Jerusalem so we took a bus to Damascus Gate just outside of the Old City. We then took the tram to our hotel. We had Christmas dinner at our hotel. It was really good and I especially enjoyed the desserts.

Stars and Bucks cafe with the parade

Milk Grotto

Some Creatures From Our Walks Home This Week

We have had the opportunity to practice patience these last two weeks and likely this coming week too as we have been without a vehicle during this time.  Our radiator needs a new pressurized cap and there are a couple of other issues that require parts from Kuala Lumpur, the capital city, which is about a five hour drive from here.  Everything is delayed because we are in the midst of 17 days of Chinese New Year celebrations which shuts businesses down quite a bit here.  In the meantime we walk everywhere and have some great conversations and see interesting things that can't be seen while driving to and from school.  Thankfully, the school is only a fifteen minute walk away and the market for fruits, vegetables, chicken, pork, and fish is shorter than that.  We even found some flour there the other day.  Things like toilet paper, milk, bread, and cleaning supplies would require taking the bus or renting the school van but we have been managing pretty well.  

Here are pictures that were taken this week of some of the creatures we saw as we walked home from school this week.

You can't see it in this picture but the man in charge of the cows is herding them with his motorbike.

This is a very stinky, dead monitor lizard.

A close up but you can't notice the flies and ants on it in this picture.  We noticed it because Aimee, who was walking ahead of us, accidently stepped on its tail and screamed very loudly which brought us all hurrying to see what happened.

Pictures of Me in Israel, by Kate

Here are some pictures of me in Israel:

This is me in Old Jaffa close to Tel Aviv.  This graffiti was not made by me!

This is me on the beach in Tel Aviv.  I was collecting sea glass and I found a message in a bottle by the water but the message wasn't in English.  Later on I threw the message in the bottle back into the sea.  

This is us and the floating tree.  The floating tree represents the Jews and how they can never settle in one land.  The tree is a Jaffa orange tree which produces Jaffa oranges which are special for that area.  Some companies even put a Jaffa sticker on their oranges even though they are not Jaffa.  It is called a floating tree because the actual tree is in a huge pot that is supported by wires so it doesn't touch the ground.

This is me "going to the bathroom."  Actually, I can't go to the bathroom because the city blocked off the corner so men at night can't go to the bathroom in the corner.  I have my hands in my pockets to keep warm.

                                 

                                           This is me waiting for the Temple Mount Sifting Project to begin.

This is us after the Temple Mount Sifting Project which is when Muslims cleared out part of the Temple Mount and dumped it into the Kidron Valley.  This project takes the rubble and sifts through it for the precious things.

This is at the Temple Mount Sifting Project.  My hands were cold while I was sifting through but I found a stone vessel or part of a stone cup from the Second Temple period (we weren't sure), and other things.  The lady helping me wrote my name on the special bag that she put the precious thing in.

This is what I found at the Temple Mount Sifting Project.

This is at Simon the Tanner's house.  Simon the Tanner's house is significant because Peter saw the vision of clean and unclean animals and then God told him that he could eat all of them.  Before then the people of the Bible would only eat clean animals. 

The Lost World of Tambun, by Elizabeth

For the staff retreat before we started back to school in January we went to the Lost World of Tambun. It was awesome. There was food and there was a boomerang (a type of water-slide) and there were other water-slides.  There was a petting zoo and amusement rides and Tiger Valley.  There was a pool and hot springs and a lazy river. First we went to look around Tambun and we saw some water slides. Then me and my friend Rebekah went on the boomerang. The boomerang went down and then up again. We did not go on the lazy river but we went in the hot springs. The hot springs were very warm. I had popcorn and a chocolate ice cream waffle for food. My friend had lasagne. I went on all the amusement park rides except the roller coaster. One amusement park ride - the Pirate Ship was scary and I felt like I was going to throw up. It went straight up and down and I was up at the top. But at least I was with my friend. But the ride did not look scary. I went to the petting zoo and there was a bird paradise. They let us feed some birds. A lot of birds would eat out of our hands. They also put some food on our head and some birds would land on my head to eat the food. It hurt when the birds were on my head, but it tickled when they ate out of my hand.

Some of the birds from Lost World of Tambun

There was a Tiger Valley with tigers. They had a tiger feeding show which I liked.

I had a fun day at Lost World of Tambun.