Tour de Jour

Wonder where we work when we're not out filming or painting or exploring? CBN News Jerusalem Bureau is right here, complete with intern guides. Just watch this ~

Artists for Hire

One of the activities we really wanted to do while here was work with the locals for a day. Last week, we finally had that opportunity when we spent the afternoon painting at an Armenian pottery shop. If you go anywhere in the Middle East, then you know the people are all about the blues, the reds, the greens, and those itty, bitty tile mosaics. After slaving away in the bureau, it was nice to be able to enjoy some mild revelry with a paint brush slaving away for the Armenian. The potter's name is George Sandrouni, and his family are very nice and welcomed us into their shop with open arms. He gave us a few painting pointers, some pottery, assigned the colors, and let us be for 2 1/2 hours. Not only was it relaxing, it was really fun, and we kept a few things we painted! The video says everything else.

St Peter in Gallicantu

We had the honor of traipsing around the city with producer Erin and cameraman Yoel as they filmed b-roll for a TV series on the life of Jesus. The day started before 6:00 am. We hiked all over the Old City in the heat with gear strapped to our bodies. By about 1:30 pm, we were all a little sun-scorched. Yoel has the record for being the most loopy by the end of the day. You'll see what we mean when you watch the video that highlights one of the locations...

Going Underground

Lessons Learned from the Darkened Recesses of Hezekiah's Tunnel:

Lesson 1: Water from a spring is either frightfully cold or disturbingly hot. There is no temperature in between, tepid or lukewarm, when water flows naturally out of the ground.

Lesson 2: Dark caves and tunnels have little to no natural light. When there is no natural light, the water does not heat up; it stays cold.

Lesson 3: When a tunnel is chiseled in a hurry, the space between walls is often narrow and low. Frequent duckage (literally meaning "hunched-over positions of the body occurring at random frequency and considerable length spans") is likely to occur.

Lesson 4: When a tunnel dates back to 720 B.C. and when thousands (if not millions) of visitors have entered the tiny space, the tunnel is likely to be filled with a not-quite-so-sweet aroma.

Lesson 5: Turning off flashlights in the middle of the tunnel's darkness can be both amusing and loud as fellow interns' screams echo off the walls.

We took a brief leave of absence from our internship responsibilities this morning to visit Hezekiah's Tunnel in the City of David. To get to the tunnel (which contains the water flowing from the Gihon Spring), we first traveled through Warren's Shaft. This shaft reminded me of Carlsbad Caverns, minus the stalagmites. It is a larger space with comfortable and easy to climb steel staircases and warm yellow lighting ensconced in "old" urns. As it turns out, Warren's Shaft is actually nothing like Hezekiah's Tunnel at all.

The story goes that in 720 B.C., King Hezekiah demanded a secret underground tunnel diverting the Gihon Spring (the main water source) to be built beneath the City of David (Jerusalem) in fear of an imminent Assyrian siege. The Assyrians didn't conquer Jerusalem that year, but the Babylonians did 100 years later. The tunnel was almost forgotten about, until re-discovered a few decades ago. The entire place is actually really cool...and really wet...and really really dark. Because it diverts the flow of the spring, and because the spring still flows, there is in fact cold water running through the tunnel at an almost comfortable knee-high depth. However, because it was a sweltering 100 degrees outside, the coolness of the tunnel was a welcome change. Other than this, there really isn't much to say about the tunnel. The experience can be described in four words: dark, wet, narrow, FUN.

When you come to Israel, bring your flashlight, shorts and Chacos for this B.C. version of a water park.

Bethlehem

No trip to Israel is complete without traversing over to the West Bank to see where the story of Jesus all began: in Bethlehem. Getting to the West Bank was no problem. Kim & I live within walking distance of the checkpoint to Bethlehem (about 5 city blocks). Despite our relative proximity, we drove with the CBN crew.


Our morning started at 5 AM. Our alarms sounded half an hour late, so we only had 25 minutes to get dressed and out the door. From there we had a 20 minute walk to the office to arrive by 6 AM. We left the apartment at 5:27 and arrived to the building at 5:50. Not bad, but did we mention that all of this happened in the AM?? Erin Zimmerman, the best CBN producer there is, needed to shoot B-roll before her flight left the same day. We didn't mind arriving to the office so early because we love working for Erin, and we love the exclusive access a CBN press pass gets us. We filmed lots of neat rocks and hillsides, a donkey, and even a few places inside Manger Square, but definitely not inside the Church of the Nativity. Despite having the paperwork and almost all the permissions in order (we were missing the Greek Patriarchate...one out of twelve!), the police outside wouldn't let us in. Of course, when we say police, we actually only mean one police officer - the rest had no problem with permitting us entry. In the end, we were unable to film inside the church but captured great exterior footage nonetheless.



Later that day we went with Erin to Ein Karem, the traditional birthplace of John the Baptist. We hiked half a mile uphill through a construction site to reach the Church of the Annunciation (where Mary might have visited Elizabeth while they were both 'with child'). Our last day shooting with Erin was fun but sad. We miss her and look forward to slaving away for her anytime...the sooner the better!

CBN Partners & the Tomb

The CBN Partners & WorldReach directors came for a visit to The Land. They were gracious enough to allow us to hitch a ride on their buses and see some of the sites with them. In addition, the Partners were also more than willing to allow us to eat several meals with them. Now, we should tell you that the CBN Partners & WorldReach directors really know how to travel. WE ATE GOOD. And for the record, Kim & I got our fair share of vegetables and viewed some Holy sites that we may have otherwise been unable to see.

Perhaps the most important activity we did with the CBN group was visit the Garden Tomb and share communion together. It was one of the most blessed experiences we've had thus far. For starters, there is an indescribable peace on the Garden Tomb, and an amazing sense of joy in taking communion at that location. The Garden Tomb, which sits outside the Old City walls, is one of the speculated locations of Jesus' burial and crucifixion. This is the popular location for Protestant believers; whereas, the Catholic & Orthodox favor the Church of the Holy Sepulchre as the traditional burial spot. The Garden Tomb is owned by the British Garden Tomb Association after General Gordon of England discovered it in 1894. In case you'd care to check it out, we've placed additional reasons why this spot is the likely location of Jesus' burial under the "Loaves & Fishes" section of the website. Regardless of which site you choose (if either), the important fact which cannot escape notice is that Jesus isn't dead or buried. He's alive! He's risen! And because of this, it really doesn't matter much where He died as much as that He rose again.

After walking inside the believed tomb, we sat under a tree nearby and took communion. The service was led by Michael Little, CBN president. The entire experience was simply amazing and joyful. We were very blessed to be able to spend the morning with the CBN party and share the symbolic Last Supper near the likely spot of Jesus' one-time burial.

Unfortunately for us, the Partners left last Saturday, which means that Kim & I haven't eaten quite as nutritiously as we did last week. Our visits to various Holy sites aren't nearly as fun without those precious folks! Thank you, CBN partners!

Gone to Gaza

Normal internships, if the word normal can be used, usually include sitting in a cubicle in a room with fluorescent lighting. The normal internship might include a coffee machine that makes ridiculously strong coffee half-responsible for the creation of corporate America. A normal internship might require a dressy or business appropriate attire. It even may require a uniform. Some normal internships include copy machines, fax machines, Dell computers, and a network system that stretches the demands of its outsourced IT division. Some internships may be supervised by Roman-nosed, widow-peaked Human Resources officials. But rest assured, our internship isn't normal.

Extraordinary internships include portable offices, open fields, and natural lighting. Extraordinary internships include instant coffee, a tasty gift straight from Heaven. An extraordinary internship allows jeans and bermuda shorts and sometimes requires the use of flak jackets & helmets. An extraordinary internship includes expensive HD cameras, beautiful editing suites with Final Cut Pro, reporter's notebooks, and fast Macs ready for anxious typists. Extraordinary internships include minimal supervision by bureau chiefs, senior editors, and a cameraman/editor/producer/slave-driver/native Israeli. And then I remember, CBN Jerusalem is anything but normal. This internship is definitely extra, extraordinary.

Yesterday, the interns accompanied Chris & Yoel to the Gaza border. We walked along the chain link and barbwire fence that separates Gaza from the rest of Israel. We visited 3 Kibbutzes (Kibbutzim), Sderot, and a few other rocket-barraged places. We drove past bomb shelters, met IDF soldiers, visited with the Prime Ministers spokesperson/Press Secretary, and traversed to a few "Hamas hot spots" and sniper zones. Did I mention that we forgot the bullet-proof vests and helmets? These might have come in handy yesterday afternoon.

While searching for a good place for Chris' stand-up, the entire CBN crew came upon a suspicious looking fire less than 100 yards away, as though a mortar or qassam had recently exploded there. Bare in mind that we were standing on a hill in an open field, completely exposed to snipers should there be any out there. In fact, one journalist was shot just a few yards to our left only months ago. This type of thing inspires great confidence and trust in one's relative safety. As we helped set up for the stand-up, we heard the sound of close range gun fire. Chris called the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) desk to find out what kind of activity was in the area (to assess the level of danger he had just put the interns in). The IDF assured him that they knew of no such activity along the Gaza border today. Sure enough, less than 10 minutes later the IDF jets were circling the area. Once this happened, we decided it was best to head safely home and not get an exclusive shot of IDF special forces conducting an offensive engagement less than 200 yards from where we were standing.

Suffice to say, this is not your normal internship!

A very artistic bomb shelter we passed.