Wednesday night update

Yesterday (Wednesday) was quiet where I live. There was a subdued air, not as much honking, not as
many cars out. We moved back to Zoom for teaching and today we resumed our Coronavirus virtual schedule.

Map from NationsOnline.org

Last night a few of us that live very close together gathered for Wolt Wednesday, where we order delivery and enjoy each other's company. We all thought the sirens would start at 6; Nothing (in our area). We thought 7; Nothing. We thought after Iftar; wrong again. A few times we did hear booms that were far away but no sirens in our area to accompany them. Our delivery was not impacted although the gym cancelled evening classes in anticipation of the sirens. Some stores were closed today by individual choice; there was no directive from the government to be closed except for schools.

We stayed until about 8:30 p.m. then headed home, wanting to be home before the sirens started. It was eerily quiet outside on the short walk home (my friend lives about 350 meters away). 

 After a zoom session with some friends in America I again stayed up too late watching the news and just felt "alert". I got into the bed at 11:30ish and I think I eventually fell asleep, although my Garmin didn't register any sleep until 4:50 a.m. At some point I thought I heard booms in the distance and a siren but I wasn't awake.

At 1:30 a.m. I definitely heard the siren and went into the stairwell with my neighbors. I took my phone this time and in our Tel Aviv group from school I learned that this was the 2nd siren of the night--my "dreams" had been a real event. There were 2 really loud booms this time, which I assume was the Iron Dome intercepting rockets.  [Here it is in action. On this video you can also hear what the siren sounds like. I find it disturbing to watch knowing that I live underneath some of those rockets.]

I had a terrible time getting back to sleep. Everything I heard sounded like either a boom or the beginning of the siren. Aside from just laying there I read a chapter in a great book called Holy Land? Challenging Questions from the Biblical Landscape, I scrolled through the news and through Facebook. Eventually I fell asleep and awoke at 7:50 this morning in time to login to Zoom to teach. 

My school serves student from all over the country. Some, who live near Haifa for example, had no sirens last night. Others live close to Gaza and are frequently hearing sirens throughout the day. They are all tired. It was calming to me to take a reprieve and talk about math, where there are right answers and a sense of control. All of my students were present today!

I am being reminded a lot that this is a time of rigorous self care. I need to get enough [read: as much] sleep, eat well and keep up with routines. I desperately want to go on a run but I wonder about going too far into the park where I don't know where the shelters are. The gym, on the other hand, has a shelter attached so feels like a safer choice. I also need to turn off the media, something I hear all the time but find difficult to do. 

Again, I am so grateful for the check-ins, messages and texts. Let's all pray for calm hearts for the leaders and especially for those who are closer to and more impacted by the protests, rockets, sirens, anger and pain.