From The Middle East-3

Day 3
Christmas Service, Trip to the Mediterranean sea, Mount Roshanika the border of Lebanon the roof that caved in.

It was now time for the real Christmas service. It was about midday, people had gathered in a place called as the house of prayer and study (HOPS) it was not called the church, synagogue or mosque. It had no symbols or signs. Frans explained that this was meant to be a meeting point for people of all religious traditions. If there was a cross the jews would not come in and if there was a star the muslims would not step in. So it was best to just have a hall with large windows.

Annemarie lead the service. There were carols that were projected on the screen so that the congregation could join in, there was a bible reading, followed by some songs and a narration of Christmas in another context. Eva, a volunteer who had spent a Christmas in Australia all alone shared the need to go out and think of the poor on Christmas day. After a couple of songs, Annemarie gave us the Christmas message. The service closed with the choir singing Mary had a little baby boy. The song was so animated by Mathias, a German pastor, he was also choir master.

The service led us straight into lunch. The salad bar, bread and curds, it was the milk lunch. Having a quick lunch we left for a short trip.

We knew that were going to mount Roshanika. On the way, Frans stopped the car on the beach. We saw many families partying and having fun. Walked on the beach and Florina had the real chance of touching and walking on the cold Mediterranean sea. The beautiful blue sea couldn’t have been more splendid than here. It looked like a sheet of blue glass that was laid out. With minimal waves it appeared almost still.

We then drove on top of mount Roshanika. This was the border to Lebanon. The road to Lebanon actually ended here. There was a barricade and the united nations was present to guard the border. Though we did not see them we could say that it was heavily militarized.

There was a cable car and a hotel that presented a beautiful view of the Sea. The coast was fertile with banana plantations that were covered with mosquito nets and the bananas themselves were covered with plastic bags. The sea shore almost came inside the land. The mountain that ended like a cliff oversaw the ocean and the old railway line that ran between Istanbul and Cairo. This must have been a wonderful route. It is a pity that the conflict has put an end to the rail route.

Standing on the Lebanon border we were informed that it was almost like India and Pakistan. After 1948 the families who lived on both the sides were separated. So if a person wanted to meet her sister she had to go to Cyprus or to Europe or another African country. There was no possibility to walk across the road and meet them though they were merely a kilometer away. This was truly appalling. Made our hearts to imagine this situation.

We continued our drive through the mountains. We now went from there to the border places of Lebanon. We came to small rocky trek trail. I have always loved these trails since it reminds me of home. We walked on rocks and reached a site where the rock that formed the roof of a cave had fallen, making it look like a bridge. It reminded me of one of the gorges in China. It was natural bridge and it could take a lot of weight. We walked on it without any fear but when we approached it from the other side to see it as a standalone bridge it looked like the one in the Manirathinam’s Raavana.
That was a lot of impressions for the day. We returned home right on time for the chirstmas dinner.

Florina wore her new saree and impressed all the people who saw her. We had carols, soup, Christmas message, carols, main course, carols and soup. We had a lot of time to socialize in between the carols and the food. Finally we had a full meat meal after days of having milk meals. It was a wonderful spread of Mediterranean cuisine (Kosher of course). Soups and salads, fish, beef, egg and turkey, with a whole range of regional veggies sautéd in olive oil and garnished with herbs all this with really fresh bread to go with the meal. This brought the Christmas party to a grand end.