June 10, 2002

An Oasis in Beit Sahour

[Bethlehem, Palestine] Suddenly this area went from being merely warm to being the hottest place on earth. The last three days here have been scorching. Forget Death Valley, forget the Sahara Desert -- Bethlehem has to be hotter! Everyone points out the temperature in Celsius here, so it's hard for me (schooled in higher mathematics) to tell it in degrees Fahrenheit -- but I'd have to guess that it's about two hundred degrees or so. Too hot to sleep. Too hot to eat.

However, over the weekend I found a temporary solution to this heat problem. It's called the Golden Park, and it's an amazing oasis in Beit Sahour. I was surprised to find a place like that hidden there. It has a nice cool pool, video games, good food, music, and a friendly staff. And at only $6 a visit, I think my financial supporters will be happy to know that I am not wasting their money on frivolous indulgences.

And I was the only customer at the Golden Park. For whatever reason, no one else was there. There were a couple of the owner's 5-year-old children happily playing. I tried to join in their fun, but one of them started screaming and crying that an odd stranger was nearby, so I reluctantly made a retreat. (Go play your stupid games by yourselves. I'd rather swim laps alone.)

I used to swim 40-50 laps regularly. Several times a week. So I thought I could swim ten easily for a warm up. I made one length of the pool and coming back I thought I would die. My endurance is totally shot. (I think you must have to actually exercise to keep in shape.) Slowly drifting to the bottom of the pool, I was thinking the headlines of the Beit Sahour newspaper -- "Out-of-shape American Methodist Church Worker Drowns in Shallow End." I figured it would be a bullet, but instead it was that harmless-looking pool.

I climbed out and worked on my tan instead. I was so dizzy from exhaustion I could hardly walk. (Sort of the same dizziness as smoking one of those Palestinian argila water pipes. Man, those things really make my head spin.) Remember, a nice tan is a necessity, and I needed to lay down a good base. I opened a magazine to read, but before I could find an article I liked, I was red like a lobster. The sun here is merciless. For the uninitiated visitor, I recommend a good sun-block. The SPF number (SPF-32, SPF-64, etc.) indicates the number of seconds you can stay in the sun before completely burning. I put in a full thirty seconds, but I believe it was a bit much for my first shirtless morning. When I recover, I'll have to play it more conservative -- perhaps slowly starting with 2 or 3 seconds of indirect sunlight and working my way up from there.

An oasis in Beit Sahour.

The hotel beside the pool is currently under construction. I was amazed that it wasn't used as an Israeli sniper position in the recent 40-day invasion. (I was told that the Radio Net Cafe/Ararat building between Bethlehem and Beit Sahour was more centrally located, so it was selected instead.) The Golden Park looks like it survived intact.