Trip: Part 6 Host Home

For two nights in Bethlehem, Mimi and I stayed in this host home.  Our hosts were John and Giselle Lama.  They have two children at home, but we only met Nisrim their daughter.  Such a lovely family. 

John took us down the driveway to his cousin's house who produces olive wood carvings.  It was interesting to see their second floor bedroom-sized workshop.

The lemon trees outside the house were beautiful,

and Giselle made some of the most delicious lemonade I've ever tasted.

Check out their long, narrow, concrete wall lined driveway.  They have family members living in all the houses around them.  With a little bit of imagination and simplification, it felt a bit like my own current living situation.

Mimi and I stayed in the apartment on the first floor of John and Giselle's house - which is fully furnished for one of their older sons to move into someday down the road.  John and Giselle, Nisrim and her brother all live on the second floor and the third floor is being finished out for another son to live in.
Giselle cooked us amazing meals.  The first night she prepared Wrak dawaly (rice and meat wrapped in grape leaves - leaves from their yard), mahshi (a hollowed out small green squash stuffed with meat and rice), beitingan (a hollowed out small egg plant stuffed with rice and meat) and some homemade pastries, lettuce, purple cabbage salad and fresh squeezed lemonade (from their lemon tree). And, I had Giselle and Nasrim spell all the names of the food out for me, because I never would have spelled them correctly on my own.  

Each morning she filled the table with options for our breakfast.  We had black tea with sage in it, scrambled eggs the size of our plate, fresh bread, spreads of all sorts for the bread and falafel.

Being in a host home was sincerely humbling and one of the best learning experiences for me.  The family was on day 18 without water when we left their house.  They have tanks on their roof so they had water to use, but the water in the tanks will run out at some point, too.  They served us their best food and lots and lots and lots of it.  Giselle was so hospitable and John was real with us.  He told us that in two years they likely won't be there anymore - the Israeli settlements will be there instead.  I hope he's not right.