After weeks of waiting to get DSL installed, I am finally happy to say that I am up and running in my flat with the Internet. I am not quite to the point of being on wirelessly, but I do have a 2 foot long LAN cable connected to my DSL modem, that for the time being allows me to be online as long as I maintain a 2 foot radius.
I have been in the Holy Lan now for approximately 5 weeks. I have learned my way around (most of) Haifa city. I have a routine that involves me waking up at about 6:30 each morning and heading to work with my flatmate to arrive by 8am.
We are on time.
(Correction: We are on time, 98% of the time. Now this one fact should be stunning to most of my friends because they know that my virtue of punctuality has been sorely lacking and the mere thought of me waking up before 9am was a miracle over the last year. But yes dear friends, truth be told, miracles do happen in the holy land... I am walking proof of it.)
I should add that my flatmate is now one of the rare young people here who is blessed with having a car, he purchased it about 2 weeks ago. Since then our rides to work in the morning bypass the usual 100 stair climb and 4 block hike up Golom street towards the Arc. Oh well, looks like I'm going to have to find another workout routine while I'm out here... any suggestions?
Work, service, worship... is great. I'm doing a lot, learning a lot about how things work at the BWC and gaining perspectives into how differently things are done, especially where I work. Having come from the ELNK world where things were very much based on time to market, here the objectives are different, the mode of operation is different, and the inspiration for work is different. I have learned that while I draw on my past job experiences, many times I fall short if I approach a task or a solution to a problem with my old work mindset. Patience is key, the quality of what is produced must be absolutely perfect, so there is no room to sacrifice quality at ALL.
I miss my friends, I miss my family, I miss firesides at the Nelsons, I miss Starbucks on Wednesday nights after Fireside, I miss teaching, I miss Assembly meeting, I miss...
a lot of things. There are however extraordinary people here who have made me feel at home and had me over for many a dinner and we have laughed and enjoyed ourselves a great deal.
The Shrines are here, and while the experience of visiting them as a staffperson versus Pilgrimage is much different, the love affair that we build with these sacred spots sustains, guides us and nurtures us. There is truly something very special about this place. This mountain is sacred ground and I found a quote from a letter that Abdul'Baha wrote to his sister, the Greatest holy leaf, that sums it all up quite nicely:
"Thou didst go away to Haifa, supposedly for only three or four days. Now it becometh apparent that the spiritual power of the Shrine hath brought thee joy and radiance, and even as a magnet is holding thee fast. Thou surely wouldst remember us as well.
Truly the spiritual quality of the holy place, its fresh skies and delicate air, its crystal waters and sweet plains and charming seascape, and the holy breathings from the Kingdom all do mingle in that Sacred Fold. Thou are right to linger there..."
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3 comments:
it's always---ALWAYS---interesting to hear how people feel about being here. thank you for this snippet.
nice post YOU'RE ON DSL!
i suggest walking up the 10 flights of stairs from the lower basement to the third floor every day, also at lunch time. so that makes it TWO TIMES.
i feel like a mountaineer and it's made my legs very, very, magically strong.
with lvoe from elila
Hi guy; great you are hooked up again; i am using wireless; charter people knocked our telephone out for the moment; i bless you every time i use this computer; bill getting better; Haifa sounds wonderful; have had interesting conversations with Martine; we are in our IPG, slow; amazing, wisdom to it all; yet there seems to be a deeper spiritual level in the community;
it is very cold; hope i can do all the walking when I am there; kathy is going to Trinidad; she's been amovie buddy; i'll missher but she's coming back in two weeks; stay well; thanks for always connecting; love e (b is sleepig)
don't worry... wireless help on its way... soon i hope... =)
yea... sorta miss mid-day Peets run... miss hanging out at the pad after work... miss riding in the s4... miss a lot of things... and o yea... there's you that is sorta missed 'round here too...
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