Monthly Archives: June 2010

Jun 17 2010

Multifaith room in Heathrow Terminal 5

Just reading a friend Jon B’s visit to Turkey on Islamic culture, reminds me of something.  At Heathrow airport I had a long wait for my flight, and I saw a sign about a multifaith room, a kind of politically correct euphemism for a one size fits all church for any faith.

There is a church in at least one of the hospitals in Portsmouth, there is also a multi faith centre in the recently built £40m Lymington hospital in the New Forest I worked at sometimes about 18 months ago, when I visited this, I was pleased to see judging by the literature put out it was mostly had Christian books and bibles there.

Here is this one in the shiny new and hopefully post-problematic Heathrow Terminal 5, is one of these places, so I decided to take a look, as there’s only so long you can spend reading books and magazines you aren’t going to buy in WH Smiths. 🙂

Firstly apologies to the chap bending over, it was hard to get a quickie shot of this place without appearing to be disrespectful. 🙂  When I went in there and first of all unlike any religious establishment there is no symbol on the wall of any deity, or any centre point to make the room significant apart from the screen reminding passengers of upcoming departures.  There is a wooden cabinets with labels for Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Sikh and other holy books.  There are signs asking people to be respectful and not use it as a place to sleep or do baby changing.  The place also smells like a gym changing room as people take their shoes off at the door.   I didn’t bother at first, but there were five Islamic worshippers here at one point and one of the pointed out I should do the same to be respectful so I likewise decided to comply.

Out of the ten people I saw that went in and out of this place nine of them were Muslim, each borrowing a prayer mat from the cupboard, at least two of them were employees of the airport, one was an Indian gent (I think Hindu) with a piece of rope being held in both hands.   With some praying aloud in Arabic, it was a little hard to concentrate when I was reading a bible at one point, but it got me thinking.  There was a message from a Chaplin about that people should ask permission before leaving any literature in the cabinet to avoid causing offence.  I am not sure if the Chaplin has a sit-on-the-fence attitude to the Christian God to try and ‘not offend’,  just a general admin bod employed to keep the places clean and tidy, or someone with a real zeal and love for Christ but wants to be a servant to people not following the Lord.

Where as we could get alarmed at the number of worshippers of faiths other than Christianity being practised in the UK changes our culture, (and oh how the BNP and similar fascist groups and their ilk love to rub this in) but how many of us Christians actually make the effort to go to one of these places and maybe spend time in prayer before a journey or silently pray for the other users of the room for them to find the loving acceptance of Jesus?  Maybe if we did we would have very different faith landscape in the UK.

If anyone in church leadership is reading this, I would like to know what you think.  Is it a spiritually difficult to pray in a room with people with other beliefs or is worshipping Jesus here could be a good way to pray for others, or are these rooms pointless.  Those of you who are Christians travelling to other lands blogging on airport things too.  Please let me know your comments.

Jun 17 2010

Bridgend Wales visit

Our UK office had some IT gremlins that was making things a bit hard for them, so I volunteered to go out and get a train all the way to Bridgend in South Wales and stay with one of the managers there.

Going long distances on a train is very pleasant way of traveling.  Gone are the days of ancient slam door trains which had some charm, even if you had to stick your hand out of the window to open the outside handle to get out.  (I used to commute from Fratton to Fareham back 10 years ago) Modern fast trains means getting around the country doesn’t make the UK look like an embarrassment compared to the transport systems of the rest of Europe.   Going by rail means you get to see all kinds of things you don’t see in a car or bus, peoples gardens, derelict factories, nature, mostly deer, rabbits and foxes that aren’t afraid of being close to the line, also a glimpse of the city of Cardiff with its mix of old and new architecture together blended well.

This was great as I managed to get almost everything done there (apart replace one antivirus app which I did later using remote software)  The new email system was put in, and the old email addresses were merged into the new system.  Google Apps, which includes the business version of the popular web based mail client Gmail is quite a pleasure to set up and use, some aspects are a little quirky maybe to get used to if you are used to a traditional Microsoft Outlook client for email, but better when you get more used to it.  I will blog more on specific aspects of this another time though.  The migration project was a complete success even though this was a new type of project I have not done before, plus it didn’t cost anything to our organisation either, I have had one support question to answer for this team so far which is better than I expected.   The staff will not use Google’s word processor or spreadsheet app at this time, as they will stick to Word and Excel like the rest of the organisation for the time being.

I needed to go out and buy a new hard disk to replace one that was too small on one staff member’s PC, this was done just as the office closed and I fitted it and cloned everything across the next day.  The rest of the time I replaced Internet Explorer with Firefox, Nero with Infrarecorder for CD burning, Windows Media Player/Quicktime with VLC player for playing all kinds of audio and video content.  All these apps are just more simpler and efficient without the drag of unexpected (annoying search toolbars etc) bits included, open source can work extremely well in business, seeing as applications can be written more in mind of people who used them.

The evenings I spent in Wales were also good, I got taken out for dinner at a very old pub (at least 300+ years?) in a nearby village, this pub had a large collection of Toby Jugs hanging from the ceiling, and looking outside on to the garden there is an aviary with budgies in but also some chipmunks, which I noticed one of these furry fast movers had got out and was running around the patio.  After a nice cod and chips and pint of Brains (beer from Cardiff)  I did a brief bit of remoting into the office from my laptop to check on the 2800 emails to migrated over to the new system from one user which took a few hours to do.  The next day we went out for a curry as well, so I was extremely well fed on this three day trip.   The pictures didn’t come out right on the phone, but the beach outside had views over the sea onto Devon!

Jun 17 2010

Uncledom awaits – meet Beth Naomi Saunders

During the time in Spain, using this beat up clunker of a Gateway laptop in the hotel on their free wireless the day before the wedding I got the news I had been waiting for, my sister Claire and her husband Jim had their first child, Beth Naomi Saunders.

Once back in the UK I tried to catch up and see various friends although I only some people I was hoping to see.  I had to work from home, taking into account the time zones, meant I needed to be in front of a laptop 6.30-3pm weekdays apart from 1pm on Friday.   This gave me a chance to fix some things back in Jerusalem using remote software (I do now really like Logmein) and draft out a new email system for our UK office.

Anyway for the first few days it was necessary to give Claire and Jim and bit of time to recuperate and so just me and mum went to visit it them in St Mary’s hospital (where myself, Matt and Claire were also born in 76,78 and 82)   This was a slightly weird feeling, as you know its a very special day when you see a new member of our family for the first time.

Strangely Beth is now the fourth member of our family to be born on a 29th (she arrived in May)  For me I was glad to be around soon after birth, she is very nice and Claire and Jim seem to have adapted to being great parents quickly, although a bit of shame I am not around much to see Beth grow up this year though.

Jun 16 2010

EspanLOL

few oddball pictures from Spain that deserved their own mention:

A shop has this handy washing machine with built in sink in this tasteful colour

I really want to do this!  the bubbles were 2 metres long.   Going to try and head to Ben Yehuda Street back in Jerusalem, where street entertainers often gather and give this a try and maybe make a bit of cash…

This just means do not disturb on my hotel door, but the translation just sounds so wrong!!!!

No parking outside the church unless you are religious.  I think.   A bit later there were a couple of hearses outside though.

Jun 16 2010

time out of Israel: wedding in Asturias, Spain

I took some time out of my volunteering for a break for a variety of reasons, I promised my good friend Ian I would go to his wedding, which was in Gijon, Asturias, northern Spain.

This hotel had this interesting looking old government building in a square.  Asturias is quite different from what I imagine Spain to be like, less tourists, bars supplying cider and people playing bag pipes.   Its a nice place, and Ian and Veronica had a super day with a beautiful old building overlooking a lot of hills, perfect weather, and got chance to meet up with some people I not seen in a while, as well as get to know Ian’s family, as well as some friends of Ian I went to Iceland with on a lads holiday back in 2005.   Ian surprised us all by doing all the work driving people from the (relatively dinky) airport with me, and other guests arriving off an Easyjet flight from Stansted, great as I thought he probably had a lot more to get ready as the groom.  One particular point of note with the cider is the barman will hold the bottle above head height and pour into a glass at waist height accurately from behind their backs, its apparently to do with the amount of air that gets into the liquid on the way down but I suspect its more a piece of unique bar showmanship.

Its worth mentioning the Spanish are seriously into their fish, probably more than the French I reckon.  There is some weird and wonderful finned and scaled creatures, such as this pink one with huge eyes at the local market, and tanks of lobsters still alive only a few minutes cooking and preparation to someone’s plate, as Jacobs shows here.   Some of these crabs and lobsters were 30 Euros each in some medium-class restaurants.

I also visited a train museum with Ian’s dad and sister and friends.  The steam trains here are in beautifully restored condition, and the bright bold colours and livery makes them eye catching in familiar Spanish colours.

Lastly of course I have to mention the beach.  Here the beach is sandy but quite empty, mind you it was quite cold being windy the two days before the wedding, of course chances to go and get cider on a pre-pre-wedding jolly with just the lads, seeing as Ian didn’t have a stag due to cancelled flights because of volcano ash.

Jun 16 2010

my East Talpiyot neighbours

My neighbours are nice, I don’t seem them that often, apart from the odd shalom to the Ethiopian family in our block, some people say Israelis are hard to get to know initially which maybe true to some degree, but in the flat that I live in East Talpiyot, I burnt some toast, and someone knocked on the door asking if I was ok and to make sure I had not set the place on fire, I have had people twice knock on the door asking to borrow a bottle opener (sadly I didn’t have one)   and someone else below me pointed out when I had a leaking tap on the balcony gushing out over the side of the block, but today I had someone else knock on the door to say she was watering her plants and some of the dirty water had gone into my balcony, and she wanted to say sorry and clean it up.  I told her thanks but it wasn’t necessary, but was quite touched but how thoughtful this was.

Across the car park from my block is a large house owned by an Arab family, I don’t know them so well, apart from see the kids out playing at the front, but I have seen a very large tame rabbit jump out in front of me on my bike as well as their large garden at the back and have three sheep I can often hearing baaing and a few chickens, the sheep seem to be a recent purchase though.  I guess Arab people may chose to buy sheep ready for Eid, the Islamic festival in November.  Either way, with 100 yards down the road is across the 1949 Armistice line, as the Palestinian territories I sometimes go to a shop to get supplies as they are open most of the time.   I think its great that many Arab families with largish amounts of land around their house aim to be self sufficient and keep their own animals.

Jun 4 2010

June Gaza Flotilla incident and being a volunteer in a unpopular place

I know Christians working in numerous troubled parts of the world all over.  Pakistan, South Africa, Chile, Ukraine and many more.  Western nations as well.   For me, being in Israel has to be one of the most difficult, not so much just in the context of my actual role and living there, but more in case of being an ambassador and explaining to people in my home country both Christians and non-Christians alike why I am volunteering there.

“Christians supporting Israel? Oh so you are Zionist are you?”  is sometimes reactions I get.   This week has been particularly difficult as I try and explain to some people what I believe why the IDF had to board the ships by ‘freedom fighters’ trying to enter Gaza.

In a usual predictable fashion, there is worldwide condemnation of Israel being an aggressor on civilians yet again.   But hold on are these people really people providing humanitarian aid and support to the Palestinians?  Look on Youtube and you can see videos released by the IDF about these people came armed, ok mostly with relatively crude weapons, kitchen knives, iron bars and such, but still able to kill.   Fine if you wish to make a legitimate statement they could of just held up banners and could arrange a third party from the UN to arbitrate sending goods and assistance from their boat to the people in Gaza, instead they were there motives are not so well intentioned.  Even more so, one of the pro-Palestinian activists (I think from the UK or Europe) brought an 18 month old child, why?  Sounds familiar like Hamas terrorists deliberately attack Israel from amongst buildings knowingly containing women and children.  To the folks from Europe, just like some anarchic animal rights protest group, it probably seems jolly exciting to join a band of mercenaries against what they have read as an oppressive authority, and join a cause.  Its now been found that the supposed Turkish freedom fighters have links to Al Queda.

As I said earlier, I am not really a political sort of person.  In the UK I have voted on all three parties at different years, sometimes though when injustice and lies come from our familiar media channels you need to speak out, and when you are a Christian supporting Israel, your views are not always very popular.  All boycotts are a stupid and pointless thing and don’t achieve anything productive.  Instead we need pray and show love to people in all places of conflict.   Israel may get financial support from the US, but for me as a volunteer, the kind donations I have been given by people this year can be counted on one hand.   I am in great need of sponsorship and through asking through various channels, finding a regular sponsor has turned up very little so far.

My role as an IT administrator in the charity in Jerusalem means I have a relatively hidden backroom job but very necessary role of keeping a charity infrastructure running.  As usual with my blog I don’t like talking about politics and arguing, so I will get back to just more biblical places I have visited and seeing people in need lifted up and encouraged by the different Christian organisations I know of here.

Jun 1 2010

Dead Sea Odyssey 422 metres below sea level – 1: The snake trail at Massada

( 1 ) – ( 2 ) – ( 3 ) – ( 4 ) – more soon….

My friend Magnus from Sweden who I work with and Marcel from the Netherlands who works for another Christian organisation in Jerusalem decided to spend a weekend on a trip, as Magnus was close to the end of his volunteer time in Israel.

Various different ideas were discussed on a biblical place to go, maybe Jericho (although didn’t manage to fully research safety and security in this place) or more of the Galilee. In the end we decided to check out the Dead Sea. I have been there twice before but not recently, but where as before I went up in a cable car, this time this would be a gruelling climb up the ‘snake trail’ at 3am, a zigzag path that goes right up to the top of the Masada fortress where a Jewish community once lived before tragically committing suicide after being hopelessly surrounded by the Roman army.  More information on Masada here.

After the shock of getting up at 3am to get there to see the sun rise and not have the intense midday heat when hiking up the path, this was definitely worth it I think 🙂

( 1 ) – ( 2 ) – ( 3 ) – ( 4 ) – more soon….

Jun 1 2010

few weeks break to Spain and the UK

Apologies this blog has been quiet. I took a leave from Jerusalem for a short while for several reasons, I needed to visit to Gijon in northern Spain to see my good friend Ian get married, also then fly back home to the UK to see my sister and family who is expecting a baby this week, I also need to work on an email migration project for the UK office of the charity I volunteer for.

More soon….