Our flight is delayed, which actually splits the delay we would have had in Atlanta, so it’s ok for now. I had some thoughts before I left Toledo that I wanted to get on paper before we left. I was thinking about how, as children, our world is always expanding. At first we can perceive our immediate environment, and are unaware of anything beyond that. As we get older our world starts to get bigger. We start to realize that there are people and places outside of our perception, and they still exist despite the fact that we don’t know them. Even as adults, however, this is largely an abstract exercise. It occurred to me that this is the first instance in a long time where my world is going to start expanding again. The world that I “know” exists is about to become much more real. Of course, I don’t really know what that means yet. Stay tuned…
6/9/2008 (barely)
Flying over the East Coast
We arrived safely to Atlanta, and then boarded our flight to Tel Aviv. We had to go through an additional round of security before boarding, and I got the “special attention” of a lovely young woman who wanted to know what was in my backpack. I’m pretty sure she just thought I was cute and wanted me to stick around a bit longer. No harm done.
We are currently about to fly over Philly, one of my all-time favorite cities. I think it’s important to point out that I don’t know this because the captain told me over the intercom. I know this because of the video display on the chair in front of me that refreshes every minute to show me where we are in our flight. So far we have flown over: Charlotte, NC (where the other 8 people who were supposed to come with us were stranded), Fredericksburg, MD (Hi Janis), D.C., Philly, and we’ll hit the other major East Coast cities on the way to Nova Scotia. This technology is entirely unnecessary, which I tried to tell my grandmother, but she was too busy playing solitaire on the chairback touch screen. It’s 12:32 now, which is 7:32 AM in Israel. I think this is the point where my body starts to get really messed up. I’m going to try to sleep and see how it goes. Should be fun!
6/9/2008 (again)
Ok, we’re in Jerusalem. To add a little clarity, we actually lost half of our traveling party in Charlotte. Their plane also had mysterious “mechanical problems” and did not take off in time for them to catch the 10:40 flight to Tel Aviv. My uncle, aunt, and cousin showed up early enough for their flight that they actually found a spot on another plane. So there are currently 7 tour participants in Israel, and we are all related. The 8 others are somewhere between North Carolina and Georgia. The lesson as always, my family is cooler than yours.
It’s 9:00 here, or about 2:00 in the afternoon EST. We landed, met our tour guide (Sari) and ate a lovely buffet dinner at our hotel, The Olive Tree. The drive to the hotel was really cool. We went from a coastal plains area in Tel Aviv up into a very rocky, mountainous area that led up to Jerusalem. Sari told us that this is the case from anywhere in the country…you are always going “up to Jerusalem.” The hills don’t seem especially high, but they are very steep and there are buildings built right into the sides of them. It actually reminds me a little bit of San Diego. I’m looking forward to lots of good photo ops over the next few days.
6/10/2008
The City on a Hill
Since our touring party had been cut in half, we had a little change of plans for the day. We went to visit a few sights that weren’t on the original list. We went to Mt. Scopus and the Mount of Olives, stopping at both places to take in the sights around us. Mt. Scopus provided an amazing view of the city, including the Dome of the Rock, and the Wailing Wall behind it. The city has a surprising lack of really new buildings. It seems that most were built in the 50s and 60s, and not much has been added since. I mentioned that the elevations don’t seem like much, but driving through the city you begin to see how imposing it can be. The slopes are very steep and the terrain is rocky. It’s not hard to imagine what a harsh terrain it could be on foot, something I’m sure we’ll experience firsthand soon enough.
After the Mount of Olives we went to Bethany and visited a church there that was the site of Lazarus’ tomb. Bethany is only about 2 minutes away, but we had to take 20 because of the walls built up between Israeli and Palestinian living areas. Along the way there was a checkpoint manned by Israeli soldiers, which stopped every Palestinian who came through. We actually went down into the tomb, which was empty but somehow still a little creepy. We also saw the different floor levels of the church from the different times it had been rebuilt. Some of the old Roman tile is very impressive. We also went to a cool little shop to do some souvenir hunting. Our guide, Sari, seems to have built a relationship with the owners, and told us that they offer things at a cheaper price because they don’t have to pay Israeli tax. That definitely helps to explain how much worse the neighborhood looks. But they were very nice and actually had some interesting stuff beyond just the usual tourist trap staples (I got a t-shirt anyway). Outside they were offering very brief camel rides. There are two things you should know about camels that may not be common knowledge. 1. They are very ill-tempered. It seems that the best way to communicate with them is with a sort of guttural hissing sound, though it may be best to avoid this altogether. I could also be projecting this temperament onto them just because they have bad teeth. 2. They are huge. This is not like a horse substitute. 1 camel = 1.5 horses. Combined with the bad attitude this makes camels much more intimidating in person than I would have expected.
We ate an expensive but otherwise not very noteworthy lunch, and then came back to the hotel early for a little rest. Tonight we are eating an early dinner and then going to Bethlehem to visit with one of our trip organizers. He has been working at some kind of camp there, and we have some hope that there will be basketball. I’ve always wanted to embarrass myself on another continent. Good times.
6/11/2008
Quick update from basketball last night. There was no basketball played. A former Harlem Globetrotter had been helping put on a basketball camp and some of the kids did a little demonstration with him. It was nice, but I really thought we might get to play. The one nice thing is that this camp was basically for Palestinians, so we got to meet some Palestinian teenagers. Turns out teenage boys are basically the same everywhere. They were flirting shamelessly, making fun of each other for flirting shamelessly, getting yelled at by their gruff, old basketball coach, and generally being irresponsible, impolite human beings…you know, teenagers. And yet somehow this gave me hope that perhaps the cycle of violence over here is not doomed to repeat forever.
Today is the day that I officially give up trying to tell you everything. There is too much to tell. We started the day by entering the West Gate of Jerusalem, which goes straight to the Wailing Wall, where, true to form, there were Jews wailing. I was shocked at how relatively empty it was, and shocked in an altogether different way by the number of automatic weapons around. We were allowed to go straight up to the wall though, which was quite an experience. You could actually see the difference in the wall where people normally touched it. There was an area about a foot tall at chest level that was clearly covered in oil from the millions of hands that had touched it.
From the wall we went to the mosque at the Dome of the Rock. It might be the most impressive building I’ve ever seen in person, though I am disappointed that we were not allowed inside. It is covered in beautiful tile, and has a huge golden dome, and probably half of my pictures of Jerusalem have this in the background. We walked around the old city of Jerusalem after this, stopping at each place that marked a station of the cross (which might mean more to you Catholics out there than it did to me). The old city was crowded with tourists and with people catering to tourists. You couldn’t walk 10 feet without someone offering you 30 postcards for a dollar or some type of scarf. After that, we went to the Church of the Sepulcher, where the crucifixion was said to have happened. Of course it was said by others to have happened somewhere else. But that’s kinda how things go around here. Everybody has their version of how things went, nobody agrees, and they fight about it sort of a lot.
We stopped at a little café and had the most amazing chicken shwarma pita sandwich. The food was one of the things I was most excited about, and it has not let me down. My grandmother had her first falafel, and loved it too. Of course we walk so much that I think peanut butter and jelly would taste like a delicacy. The last place we visited was the garden tomb, another site that could have potentially included the crucifixion, and a tomb where Jesus may have been buried. We had a quirky British guide through this area, and he was very excited about all the possibilities. However, I was brought down a little by the fact that the alleged site of the crucifixion was covered by a parking lot and a broken down bus. The argument was compelling, but the visual was not. The tomb was much more interesting, although I couldn’t help but think we were defiling a potentially sacred place, especially with all the corny tourist pictures being taken. It certainly took away some of the somberness from the moment. I have been blown away by Jerusalem, but I think that’s a common theme throughout the city: capitalizing on the sacred to make a buck. I can’t be surprised, but I’m a little disappointed at times. Fortunately there are many places where holy sites are protected from the commercialism a little better, and the experience seems much more genuine.
There is so much more I just can’t write. We left the hotel before 8 today and didn’t get back until almost 5, and every moment was packed. We leave again today at 8:15 to tour a tunnel beneath the Wailing Wall. We couldn’t get the tour any other time, and apparently Sari pulled some major strings to get this, so I’m pretty pumped to see how it goes.
6/11/2008 (continued)
Well the tour was pretty awesome. We followed this tunnel from the time of Herod that ran along/underneath the western wall. Some places it was quite narrow, and definitely gave off an Indiana Jones feel that beat anything from the new movie. There was also a curiously placed plasma screen television that we never really figured out. It was just on a back wall in one of the rooms along the tunnel. Maybe the archaeologists are big fans of Lost or something.
The really cool thing about tonight, and the tour in general, is that our guide worked a full day and then came back tonight. He is really invested in doing a great job, and it has really made this trip fantastic. He talked a bit today about growing up and being a pilot in the Jordanian Air Force, and tonight he brought his son (also a guide) along to help out. He always tells us the best place to buy things, when to watch out for pickpockets, and he just has a demeanor about him that is very warm and agreeable, without ever seeming like he is pandering to us.
Tomorrow promises to be a very long day. Since part of our group arrived a day late, we are trying to cram 4 days worth of stuff into 3, and Sari seems intent on making sure we don’t miss anything. So I might be icing my knees before this week is over, and feeling very, very old. Until tomorrow…
6/12/2008
Today was just as busy as yesterday, but I don’t feel quite as sore. We walked in some of the same places, but visited slightly different sites. Today I started to feel a little more comfortable in the city of Jerusalem, like maybe I could find my way as a tourist on my own. Today is also the first day I saw things that I probably could have skipped. We saw some archeological sites and watched two videos that largely overlapped with what our guides had been telling us on their own. We also went to a few rather desolate sites that might have been something important, but didn’t really look like much. For instance, the Upper Room where the Last Supper was supposed to have taken place was a big empty room.
So instead of recounting all that, I wanted to start compiling a list of things in Israel that were different than things in America, specifically Toledo. First, there are not just Jews here, there are many different kinds of Jews with different beliefs, customs, and most importantly, hats. Second, there are many different types of weapons that are appropriate to carry in public to dissuade people from starting trouble. This list includes AK-47, M-16, Uzis, and the meager handgun. Today I saw a girl who couldn’t have been more than 22 holding a rifle in the presence of children. As far as I can tell she was just a security guard, not even police or military. This is a little weird.
Today delivered again in the food department. We went to yet another cool outdoor café, although this one was a bit more secluded. The patio was covered by a sort of tent-like netting that let a little light in, but was shady and cool. They then brought out pita, falafel, and about 9 different things to dip, spread, or fill the pita with, and left us to ourselves. The falafel and pita were still warm, and everything else was so good. We had garlic potatoes, hummus, a spinach dip, tomatoes in tahini sauce, cucumber sauce, something like tabouli, and things I don’t really remember. This has been my favorite meal so far. Too good for words. Now I’m going to dinner and an evening of relaxation. I’m going to try not to take a nap, so I can sleep through the night. Tomorrow we leave this hotel and go on to Bethlehem!
6/12/2008 (continued)
Two quick notes from today. First, one of the pastors traveling with us made a sort of flippant remark about how the Muslim call to prayer sounded terrible, like an orchestra warming up, and how he didn’t see how this could be comforting. My dear cousin Brendan told him that was offensive, and the guy didn’t really back down, but he sort of backpedalled a little before a slightly more sensitive pastor changed the subject. This is the kind of thing that does not give me hope about resolving these problems where belief is so entrenched. Of course I can’t really expect him to like the sound of the call to prayer, but I would expect a person with deep convictions to recognize that ones own religion is a comfort, and that a sound in a different language from a different cultural upbringing would probably not be comforting unless it had some meaning associated with it. It was, I think, a startling lack of empathy from one who would like to be a religious leader.
On now, to lighter things. I went with my brother and cousins Brendan and Kevin to the bar area downstairs to buy some expensive Coke (just the drink people) and be sort of adolescent together. While we sat in the bar area, one of the neighborhood stray cats wandered into our rather fancy hotel and came into the bar. We chuckled a little and watched as nobody did anything about it, and then watched as a manager finally lured the cat outside with the promise of food in a napkin. Not 3 minutes later the cat was back in the bar, having apparently come in through an open door near the main entrance. This time the cat came back over to us, and proceeded to lie down on Brendan’s foot. Kevin seemed less interested, and shook a menacing fist in case the cat thought it would get cozy. This process repeated several times, and the bar manager would make a cute little quip to us before luring the cat outside and promptly walking to the main entrance, presumably to raise a little hell with the doorman. Anyway, it turned what was already a nice little gathering into one of my favorite moments here so far. Perhaps tomorrow I will write more about the glory of stray cats everywhere, and the apathy with which they are consistently met. Or maybe something much more interesting will happen and I’ll forget all about it.
6/13/2008
Today was another one full of interesting sites. We went to see the Herodian structure, which is a pretty amazing piece of engineering. It’s built on top of what is already a very formidable hilltop, and is basically the remains of a large palace. We managed to walk to the top with some difficulty and were greeted by another amazing view. From the top we could clearly see the Dead Sea many miles away, and if it had been less hazy we would have also been able to take in a snowcapped mountain to the north.
We switched to a hotel in Bethlehem, which is located in the West Bank and is therefore dominated by Palestinians. There is actually a sign when you enter Bethlehem that says Israelis may not enter, which I think they do because the Israelis actually work much harder to keep them out of Jerusalem. It would be the equivalent of telling a wealthy person that they were not welcome in the projects, because the poor people had not been allowed to the country club; sort of a meaningless retaliation. At any rate, Americans seem to be welcome enough, at least as tourists. There are lots of Muslims and some Christians among this group who are moderate enough, and really just want people to understand how unfairly they have been treated by the Israelis. For many of them it isn’t a question of religion at all, but rather a question of being forcibly removed from their home without any choice, or even compensation. This seems like a fair enough gripe to me, and is something all of us on the trip have actually agreed on. The one sort of funny thing to me is that the ministers here seem to agree based on their interpretation of the Bible more so than the events of the last 60 years or so. They believe that since Jesus made a new covenant with Christians, there is no longer any need for a Holy Land that belongs exclusively to the Jews. I just thought it was rude to uproot a few hundred thousand people on general principle, but apparently it is wrong on theological principle too. Who knew?!
My new highlight of this trip was when my grandmother asked me if I had a least favorite person in our touring party. I was afraid that Irritating Pastor was only irritating the less evangelical among us, but it turns out that he’s irritating pretty much everyone. This makes his presence suddenly more bearable, because I don’t think I’ve ever felt comfortable complaining to my grandmother about what a pain in the ass a minister was being. Now every time he makes some stupid comment or just opens his mouth when silence is the best course, we can all share a little eye roll together! More family bonding! Today I was telling him about my degree program (he’s a “doctor” too, I’m guessing in either Divinity or Douchebaggery), and he told me I should really be a Christian counselor, because they need more people with psychology backgrounds. He then went on about how people need to know that their therapy is biblically-based and how the church has to deprogram people who have therapy because they learn so many untrue things. I tried to politely tell him that I was focusing on being a psychologist, and that I would try my best to make a connection to people and let them know that I care without indoctrinating them with too much evil. I’m not sure he was listening at this point.
Today was our last day with Sari. His son Jarri is taking over tomorrow because Sari has some doctor’s appointments. This is a very sad day for the tour, because Sari was such a wealth of knowledge, and so funny. Also, he was clearly flirting with my grandmother, which made her laugh, and in turn made me happy. Tomorrow is a “free day” in which we are supposed to do some volunteering at the local Bible College. Our “organizer” is not very organized, however, so we don’t know what we are doing or when we are doing it. So it may turn into a very free day to wander the streets of Bethlehem and try not to be abducted by Hamas. Here’s to our success in that noble cause!
6/14/2008
A Day of Rest
Today we are in Bethlehem, and so far with nothing to do. There was no tour today, because we were supposed to spend some time at the Bible College, but those plans have still not been finalized as of 10:00 today. We are potentially going to another olive wood shop, but that also is not set in stone, or even olive wood at this point.
Last night we were able to hear the Muslim call to prayer very clearly through the door that opens onto our balcony. Brendan and I had been listening to music, but turned it off to hear the full call to prayer. Brendan said it sounded haunting, but that he liked it. I agree that there is a somberness to the tone, and maybe even sadness. What struck me the most was how different that tone seems from the daily interactions I’ve seen. My aunt commented that they sound angry when they talk, even when they are not. They definitely seem to exist at a higher level of arousal, or at least they give that appearance. The call to prayer is very different, and maybe that is the point. In any case, I enjoyed the opportunity to hear it more clearly, even when it came again VERY early in the morning.
6/14/2008 (continued)
A Day of Rest, My Ass
So we went to the Bible College after all, and did some volunteer work. I was assigned to a group with Pastor Douchebag, who as I said is a doctor. I did not say that his name is Phil. But it is. So I will now refer to him as Dr. Phil, which in my opinion makes him infinitely more hateable. So Dr. Phil and a few others and I were assigned to sweep up and clean up a parking lot where they were going to have a camp for kids. So we get to sweeping, only every time I look up Dr. Phil is talking to someone from the college or one of the other group members, regaling us with stories of how lazy Costa Ricans are and how much easier this would all be if we just had a leaf blower. He was even offering to buy one for the college, while leaning against the wall as the rest of us swept. I’m telling you, this guy is a first class jackass. I might stop writing about it, but he’ll probably do something even more egregious and I’ll have to bring him up again.
Anyway, we had a nice lunch with some local people and some other volunteers, and then went on a tour with a local Palestinian Christian. We saw the wall the Israelis have built to close off parts of the West Bank, including Bethlehem. The young man who was showing us around has stayed in the area despite the fact that most of his family immigrated because of the violence. They lost their home and their restaurant when Israelis came into the area looking for militants. They were looking with guns rather than eyes, I guess. At any rate, it’s amazing how different the story seems from a Palestinian perspective. Clearly this young man would happily share his homeland with Israelis, but at the same time he is not willing to give up the land that belongs to his family just because Israelis keep expanding their settlements. It was really amazing to hear not only what has happened between the Israelis and Palestinians, but also how the U.S. consistently takes the side of Israel even when they are clearly in the wrong. I can see now why there is a growing vocal minority who so strongly oppose what Israel is doing over here. It’s not just a religious war after all. There are many secular and Christian Palestinians who are just as angry at Israel, and it has nothing to do with whose God is real.
6/15/2008
Maybe the best part about the last few days is that my body is so confused it doesn’t recognize that I’m waking up before 7 each morning just to sit on the balcony and take in the scenery. We’re still in Bethlehem for the next few hours, and I’m trying to retain what we’ve seen so far. The first few days were a whirlwind of traditional religious sites that most tourists see, and it was good. These last few days have included more interaction with the people here, and required more thinking about the political situation, and it is good. But it is a lot to digest in a relatively short period. I will say, once again, that I understand why people fight over this land, despite its lack of natural resources. First and foremost for many people on both sides, this is home. There isn’t a shack in the U.S. that you could just knock down without some protest from the owner, and it’s the same here. Only it isn’t a shack here and there, and none of the owners are Israeli. Seeing the wall around Bethlehem first hand, and seeing the graffiti comparing it to Berlin, was really eye-opening. We don’t read much about these things in the U.S., I think because our relationship with Israel is so important politically. But we will not always be able to hide behind the idea that we are supporting a Democracy in the Middle East. The Israelis may have a parliament and free elections among themselves, but they are dealing with the Palestinians as you would expect a dictator to do. I don’t think there will be lasting peace until someone comes along Reagan-style and gets rid of this wall, while providing a basis for building real relationships between these two groups. Not just at the political level, but among the real people who could someday be neighbors peacefully. This concludes my naïve and idealistic account of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict.
6/15/2008
From 300 something feet below sea level
Today was…interesting. We didn’t leave the hotel on time, because the pastors among us insisted on having some sort of church service. Like the touring of most holy sites in the Bible wasn’t churchy enough. Anyway, we had a lot of driving to do today, and a lot of holdups. First, two pastors were trying to send a mini-sermon they had recorded back to the states in time for their services in the U.S. today. Unfortunately, internet was very sporadic at our hotel, and they could not send it in time. So we spent quite a lot of time stopping at various places to see if they had internet. We finally found a place, but it took so long that we had to stop for lunch while they uploaded the video. This was our first venture into a non-tourist eating establishment, and especially in Palestinian territory. The upside was that they were deep-frying falafel outside as we salivated in our bus. The bad news was that when we were inside there were multiple pictures of Saddam Hussein. They might not have liked Americans much. But they made good food at the cheapest prices we’d seen this trip, and they were nice enough. In fact, on my way out I met a young guy who was going back to Dayton for school. We talked for a few minutes, and it was really cool to meet him. We then picked up the guy who was trying to upload the video (Dr. Phil), and found out that he wasn’t able to do it. Thank goodness the food was good. We stopped at another large cistern on the way out of town, and then we were on our way to the Dead Sea.
The Israelis had different ideas. We went through a checkpoint, and apparently our driver, Eli, went through the wrong line. The guard told him we would not be allowed through, and Eli threw a little fit. A supervisor came over and we had to pull around for further questioning. A nice Arab-Israeli woman then came over and settled things down, but not before Eli had more words with one of the guards who had come on the bus. We learned afterwards that Eli was mad at the guard for coming on the bus with a large machine gun, because the American kids (mainly a 9-year-old named Russ) were not used to guns. It was quite the act of chivalry. Anyway, two of our “leaders” had to take their luggage and get it scanned, basically to satisfy some kind of requirements. This didn’t have any effect other than to delay us further, and prevent us from seeing Masada today. Instead, we went straight to our hotel on the Dead Sea.
Oh my God. The scenery before the Dead Sea was completely amazing. It turned into a rocky, rolling desert, complete with camels. I have pictures that will not come close to doing it justice. It knocked the Dome of the Rock off the top of the list for things I’ve seen here. Then suddenly we came over one of these hills, and there was the sea. It’s hard to believe we had seen it from the Herodium yesterday, but it took us most of the day to get there today. The Dead Sea (for trivia buffs out there) is about 33% salt. The ocean is about 3.5%. It’s salty. It’s so salty that if you were to walk into it, you would have to work very hard not to float. And I have to tell you, it’s one of the coolest feelings in the world. I walked in and when I started to lean back, my feet flew up off the bottom. I turned to face the middle of the sea, and saw the Moab mountains rising up from the other side in Jordan. The view is amazing. I can’t say it enough. I’m so sad that we’re only here one night, although you are only supposed to stay in the water for about 20 minutes. Something about salt concentrations causing blindness or skin burning or something. Anyway, I will post pictures, and hope you get an idea about how beautiful it is. Otherwise you will just have to come here, which I will continue to recommend highly.
6/16/2008
Diagnosing the Past
Today we checked out Messada, which is without question one of the most intimidating places I have ever seen. It’s a fortress that Herod built way back in the day, in the middle of nowhere, just in case he needed a place to crash when people were trying to kill him. It’s at the top of this huge hill, removed from everything around it, and nearly impossible to climb. We took a cable car up. If I never ride in a cable car again, it will be ok with me. The view from the top was amazing. We were watching some type of bird gliding around at eye level. If there was a cloud in the sky, I’m sure we would have been in them. Herod clearly employed engineering geniuses to get water to a place like this, but he was also clearly a little bit paranoid. Maybe that’s how he managed to live so long, but of course he had to kill a few family members off along the way. Anyway, it’s a feat of engineering that is just awesome to take in. Hopefully the pictures do it some justice.
We also bounced around a bit, and saw one pretty amazing oasis, complete with a waterfall right in the middle of the desert. It was completely crazy. It’s hard to describe the shock of seeing lush green in the middle of miles and miles of desert, but I can see understand why these places are so sought after in a dry environment like this. It was breathtaking. Again, I can only hope the pictures give a little hint of what it looks like.
Not many more good stories today. Much more to write tomorrow.
6/17/2008
Today was all about water. We started the day on a “Jesus Boat” in the Sea of Galilee, which was really the ideal way to start any day. It’s a relatively large wooden replica boat, complete with a motor of course. We got a sermon from our oldest minister on the boat, which wasn’t terrible. Then we got a second sermon from Dr. Phil. Two mini-sermons before 9:00 is pretty much wrong in any language. The view, once again, was amazing and since I tuned out when Dr. Phil started talking it was totally worth the boat ride. We then went to the site of the Sermon on the Mount, where I had to suppress laughter thinking about “Blessed are the Cheesemakers” from the Life of Brian (there really is a valley here called the valley of the cheesemakers…I’ll look up the Hebrew word later), and “Blessed are the dumbfucks” from Lamb. It was a nice site though, and had one of the most beautiful churches we’ve seen. Then we went to a place where we could wade out into the Sea of Galilee a little bit. It was nice to cool off, since the sun was pretty much relentless at this point and for the rest of the day.
We saw a few different sets of ruins today, pretty much a bunch of old rocks. One of the lesser known or lesser visited sites actually had working archaeologists from the U.S., which was kind of cool. One of them gave my aunt a 1st century broken piece of pottery he had just found, which was definitely the only time I’ve ever seen that happen. Not bad at all. It was also nice to see a site that was a little less touristy, and still had the emphasis on uncovering knowledge from the past. It’s the kind of stuff that gets lost in the tourism much of the time. Then we went to a very cool site with lots of ruins, including a theater that was still largely intact. My uncle went down to the stage and recited what he remembered of the famous speech from Julius Caesar to demonstrate the acoustic qualities. We also got to try out some old school Roman toilets (not really, but the pictures are priceless!).
Then a few from our group got baptized in the River Jordan. That was a cool experience to watch, though Dr. Phil’s histrionics again detracted from the moment a bit. He decided after some other people had been baptized (including a father by his son, and then the son by his father) that he should get baptized too. He then let out a shout as he came back up, and made a big fuss that really just irritated me. I did also get the chance to wade into the river a little bit and let the minnows nibble at my leg hair. There were several very large catfish swimming around that were very impressive.
We are in Tiberias for the second night. This is much more of a resort/tourist area, so there is a Jewish Myrtle Beach kind of a flavor to the night life. We’ve walked around the boardwalk the last two nights with the “grownups.” There was a nice bookstore and some good frozen coffee drinks. We’re right beside the Sea of Galilee, so there is a nice breeze and the sky is pretty clear. It’s a nice change of pace from all the ruins and archaeological stuff during the day. Stuart and I are going to have some brother time out there now. There is free beer at a place in the lobby (probably tastes like beer though). Then we’ll probably walk around the boardwalk again and take in the nightlife, to the extent that it exists. Here’s hoping!
6/18/2008
What did we do today?
I honestly have no recollection of what we did right now. I am lying on my bed, recovering from the effects of an amazing massage. My cousin wanted to get one, and my aunt didn’t want him to go alone, so she paid for my brother and I to get one also. Afterwards I came upstairs and told my other cousin that I felt bad, because I had not bought the poor girl dinner first. Stuart came in moments later and said, “Did you feel like you should have bought her dinner first?” No lie, it was that good. It was just about the greatest thing ever. Now I am making myself write so that I don’t skip any days, but I’m really struggling to find content.
Here’s what I know for sure. We saw some more ruins that were still impressive. But it’s getting to the point where we are figuring out the patterns, and the ruins are running together. We did see another live archaeological dig, which is always impressive. This one was by far the largest operation, and you could see that the scope of the project was pretty intense, especially given that they work inch by inch.
We went to Tel Dan, which is named for one of the tribes of Israel. It was clearly the yuppie tribe too, because this place had all the cool, natural springs, beautiful rapids, and really colorful plant life. It also had army barracks in case Syria gets any ideas, but you have to give up something to get fresh water in this country. Our guide drank and washed his face from the spring, so you get the impression it is relatively free of pollutants. We went from there to see the Syrian border up close. There was an old top piece of a tank overlooking the border, still looking pretty menacing. So we took silly pictures and probably made too much light of a potentially very dark subject. Still, it’s not everyday you get to climb inside half a tank, and I was not going to let the opportunity pass me by.
Tomorrow is our last night in Israel. We have a ridiculously full day, probably not checking into our hotel until well after 7 in the evening. Friday is a day of rest by the Mediterranean though, so hopefully we’ll get a chance to recover a bit before our 20 hour travel day. I’ve had such a good time, but I’m ready for home. I’m really ready for cheeseburgers and pizza, and all the stories I’ve missed. I might write more from the road, but I might also call this the conclusion. It’s not the kind of story with a moral to it, at least not one I can gather at this point. Anyway, I’ll leave it as a cliffhanger for now and hope you all come back for more!
Reflections from Toledo
I have a few closing thoughts about the trip to Israel before I close the book on it. First, my grandmother is amazing. We traveled with another woman who was the same age, and she did really well. But she wasn’t in the same class. It’s really something to see what great shape she’s in. She might outlive us all yet.
There are a bunch of things about the states that I missed, sometimes without realizing it until I got home. In no particular order: rain, walking the streets without seeing machine guns, pizza, meat products for breakfast, driving more than 8 inches away from other cars, English, watchable television, reliable internet, and a total lack of checkpoints to go from place to place. That being said, I loved every minute of the trip. Even though my cousin might not speak to me again after rooming with me for almost two weeks.
It’s hard for me to believe how different things were than I expected. I would never have guessed that Americans could walk around in Palestine and actually converse with Palestinians. Many of them just want to be heard, and are not militant crazed people. They just don’t want people knocking down their homes. It’s no wonder that some people resort to violence when non-violent means don’t seem to be working. Anyway, I’m not trying to make the Palestinians out to be innocent. Our guides were very quick to point out that both sides were wrong at times, and that both would need to learn to trust if there would ever be lasting peace. That said, it still seems to be a shame that we back Israel without many conditions. I hope it’s something that changes if this message gets out a little more, though I’m sure there will be lots of resistance.
I guess the only other thing I’d say is that this is definitely a place you need to see in person to appreciate it fully. There is too much history and too many amazing views to understand from pictures and stories (even really good pictures and really good stories). Even if you can’t see everything in a super-packed trip like we did, you can hit the highlights and lounge on beaches for awhile. The must-see places, again in no particular order: The Wailing Wall/Dome of the Rock (too much history to pass this up, and don’t settle for a view from a distance…touch the wall and walk on the plaza), The Dead Sea (float in it, don’t just stare at it), The Sea of Galilee (especially if you want more vacation than touring), and Masada (just an amazing feat of engineering for 1st century, or anytime really).
That’s what I have. I hope you’ve found the stories both humorous and heartwarming. And if you learned something, well I guess that’s ok too.
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