June 29, 2007

Travis' blog

This morning started ridiculously early. Stinkin' photographers and sunrise anyway. My alarm went off at 4 am, and by 4:30 ish, we were out the door. We left so early that there was no one at the desk to give our key to. We hiked our way up to Orson Hyde Park, but, since we're not allowed inside while dark (Center rules), we found a spot outside, overlooking the city through olive trees. There we camped out until sunrise. Travis then took pictures while I half-slept on the wall. After sunrise, we went a little ways into Orson Hyde park, but after a few pictures, he decided he liked outside better anyway. So back outside we went. After awhile, we made our way back to the hospice, still too early for breakfast. That's ridiculous. We're usually not even awake yet by that time. So, we came back in, turned on a chapter of Harry Potter and waited for breakfast. Apparently I fell asleep partway through, because at one point, I realized that it was no longer playing and I didn't remember it being turned off. Hmmm... We went up to breakfast, then came back down to take a nap. A few hours and a few knocks on the door from housekeeping later, I finally got up, figuring Travis was just waiting for me to wake up before we headed out and about again. When he didn't move from his scripture reading, I started catching up on blogs. 6 blogs later, it is now 3 pm and we haven't left our room. Either the massive hiking in extreme heat or something that he ate hasn't boded well with Travis, so we've been vegging out in our room all day. Timing worked out well for me, since it gave me a chance to catch up on all my blogs. Talking to one lady here, it sounds like Travis may have caught a bug that has been going around the Biblical Program here (a group of people come to learn about the Bible). Luckily, it's only been a 24-hour bug for them, so we're hoping it is the same and that he'll feel better tomorrow. Now, if only I can get him to drink more water while we're in here...

While we were talking about it, wondering why he got sick, I hypothesized that he had bronchitis before he came, which weakened his immune system, then instead of letting it heal, he came to a foreign country in intense heat, hiking around all day, which just taxed his system more. His response? "Just like Mary and Joseph—I came to Israel to to be taxed. They found no room in the inn, I found no room on the plane." [rolls eyes] At least he's kept his sense of humor. :)

Basically... we just stayed in all day. Let the poor boy recover. :)