Goodbyes and Traveling Back Home

     Today is the day we left Israel. We had breakfast at our hostel in Tel Aviv this morning before Chaim drove us to the Ben Gurion Airport. When we said goodbye to him I broke down in tears when he gave me a hug and kissed me on my cheek. Even though we only just met about two weeks ago, he feels like family. He's kind and loving like a grandpa, funny like an uncle, and protective like a father. I only hope that one day soon I can return and spend more time with him.

     Today, we spent 12.5hrs traveling from Ben Gurion, Israel to Toronto, Canada. We had to wait for the snow plows to clear a spot for our planes causing us a delay. We then had eight minutes to literally run through customs and across the airport to get to our connecting flight to SeaTac. Their was an issue with Kayla's checked bag somehow getting unchecked and given to her at customs that almost made her and Dr. Fekkes miss our flight. They ended up throwing out all of Kayla's liquids including souvenirs from AHAVA and a cross with four holy elements.

     We just barely made our flight due to our plane having mechanical issues and being delayed. Our plane sat on the runway for about an hour getting defrosted from all the snow before we were able to take off. The weather at SeaTac was too bad (extremely foggy and their were high winds) so we ended up going to Portland, Oregon to refuel. We stated their for about an hour for aircraft inspection and fueling before heading back to SeaTac and just barely landing on the runway (we almost crash landed in a nearby parking lot due to lack of visibility and low flying through the incredibly thick fog). After over 24hrs. of flying and over 4hrs. of delays it is nice to be back, although I really do wish that I was still in Israel.

Can't Wait to Return!

     I'm sorry that I did not post anything on my blog yesterday. It was a very relaxing, low-key kind of day. We visited Jaffa and a few other places in Tel Aviv yesterday morning. We went down to the waterfront and made our way through the artsy part of town. We walked through the largest open-air market in Israel and stopped to look at cool hand-made crafts and listen to street performers.

     Most of the day though we spent walking back to the hostel (a little over a 4 mile walk). While stopping at various restaurants, coffee shops, ect. along the way. I didn't realize just how large the park is that is across the street from our hostel is until we (Elyssa, Bello, Megan, Mykaela, William, and I) were walking through a large portion of it.

     Since we leave for the airport in about an hour and I am not mentally ready to go home, I will share with you a list of things I am going to miss about Israel.

When I go back to the states I am going to miss:

-Chaim (our tour guide)

-Mutasaim (the guy I rode the tandem bike with)

-Muhammed (the college student from Al-Qasim whose dad's farm we visited and had lunch at)

-the animals here (Nubian ibex, wild cats, rock hyrax, fire salamander, white donkey, camel, ect.)

-weird as it is to say this, people who look like me

-the beautiful Hebrew and Aramaic languages

-signs posted in multiple languages

-all the different local dialects/accents here

-the funny sense of humor the people here have

-the scenery (rolling hills, green grass, desserts, orange trees, limestone buildings, black stone buildings, seas, the architecture, palm trees, date palms, cactus)

-the warm weather (in Winter!!!)

-the food (everything here is fresh & locally grown! I love lox, Israeli salad, Hamantash, Rugelach, latke, fresh squeezed pomegranate juice, falafels, pierogi, fresh hummus, weird sour cream tasting yogurt type stuff, and samosa)

-the Arabian coffee

-the iced coffee (similar to a frappe in the states)

-fitting in so much that people think I'm a local & start talking to me in Hebrew

-the unique types of spices they use in the food here

-Yellow gas station

-the unique smells

-the clear/icy blue seas

-all the fresh/ripe produce

-the stereotypes of where people think I'm from (the US, Canada, Ireland, somewhere in Europe, Israel (and apparently I look Jewish)).

     I cannot wait for the day I return here! I am really hoping to come back here for graduate school (to get my M.Div.) after I finish my undergraduate degree at Trinity. Hope to see you in two and a half years Israel! Can't wait to live here, in the Holy Lands, some day!

By the Sea

     Today when we left our hostel in Kefar Giladi the rain had stopped, but the clouds were still dark and stormy. We went to a look out point where we could see into Lebanon. On a hill above us their were some soldiers with tanks watching us, so we didn't stick around for too long.

     We drove to the Mount of Beatitudes where we read from the Gospel of Matthew and visited a church. It was beautiful their, the weather had cleared up and it was starting to get pretty hot out. We stood by Palm trees and cacti as we overlooked the Sea of Galilee. We drove a bit further to visit the Church of Heptapegon where we saw an old olive press and saw a beautiful fish pool. At that church is the place where Jesus was believed to have blessed the bread and fish during the feeding of the 5,000. The floors were covered in beautiful mosaics.

     After that, we drove to Capharnaum, the town of Jesus. We saw Peter's house and visited the church built above it. We also went down to the rocks along the Sea of Galilee. Afterwards, we drove to The Yigal Alon Center to see The Ancient Galilee Boat, unfortunately photography was not allowed in the room that the boat was in. But it was very cool to see the remains of a boat dated all the way back to the first centuries BCE-CE.

     We then drove to Nazareth where we got lunch, visited Custodia Di Terra Santa, and did some souvenir shopping in the market. Megan, Mykaela and I ended up talking to a shop owner for awhile (about politics, Tel Aviv, Washington State, Canada, Texas, weather, ect.) and ended up getting some free Arab coffee from him. We are now at our new hostel in Ginnosar.

Traveling the Boarder

     Today we did a lot of driving. We started at the Mediterranean Sea  near the Lebanon boarder. We took the cable car down to the grottos (sea caves) and got splashed as the big waves came crashing against the limestone. Last night, we had a big thunder and lightening storm. All day today it was still windy, rainy, and humid but I really noticed it while we were at the sea.

     All day, we drove along the Lebanon boarder through thick fog and pouring rain. At one point Chaim stopped the van on the side of the highway and had us all get out. He had us follow him to a barbed wire fence which he cut and had us walk through. We walked through a lot of bushes, passed a lot of cow dung, and brought us to what is supposedly the first sugar press (built during the Crusader Period).

     We also stopped at a mall to visit a McDonalds to see what the menu looks like here. Even at McDonalds everything here is Kosher. After that, we drove to Mt. Hermon and walked around a bit. While their, Dr. Fekkes read from Deuteronomy 8. Our last stop today was a village by the Lebanon and Syrian boarders where we meet with a man who has his Ph.D. in Biology. He offered us Arab coffee and explained to us the issues that come with living so close to enemy territory (rockets, bombs, invasions, ect.).

     He also explained to us that at the end of the day we are all still human and we need to treat each other the way which we want to be treated. He took us to see all the watchtowers (United Nations, Israel, Palestine, Lebanon, and Syria) all of which you can see by standing just about anywhere in his village. Surrounding the boarder of the town are tall barbed wire fences and explosive mines (which have killed 66 people, many of which have been kids who got too close). It's sad that they have to live like that, right in the center of a war zone surrounded by watch towers and explosives. It almost felt like a prison with crows nest surrounding all sides.

Visiting with the Locals

     I don't think I have ever been so excited to see pancakes before in my life! This morning the hostel had more recognizable foods that we have in America. Today we left Jerusalem and headed into Northern Israel, going through many Israeli check points along the way. Chaim's phone rang 14 times while we were driving before he finally pulled over at a gas station and called back whoever was trying to get ahold of him.

     We visited Al-Qasemi and when we told our student guide at the college that we are from Washington State he said, "that's where the vampires are from?" (Twilight reference). We also visited the high school where we met with sophomore students in an English class. One of the boys told me that today is his anniversary with his girlfriend and asked me for advice of what he should do/what he should get her as an anniversary gift.

     They asked us what comes to mind when we hear the word "Islam". Dr. Fekkes told them about how the news makes them out to be terrorist. All of them got very defensive and talked about how Islam is a religion of peace. I tried to reassure them that not everyone believes what they hear/see on the news and that it only takes one person doing wrong in the public spotlight to take a whole group of people down.

     One of the college students, Muhammed, invited us to his father's farm for a traditional Arabian meal. I even tried Arabian coffee. After lunch, we toured the farm where they ship out one ton of mint everyday (most goes to Russia and America). I think the one word that really described today is hospitality! Visiting the settlement today was definitely a highlight of the trip so far. Even though we were only their for about three and a half hours, it was hard to say goodbye. I really hope to come back to Israel someday, perhaps for graduate school after I finish my degree at Trinity.

     We drove from Al-Qasemi to Akko where we walked the crusader built underground excavated tunnel that leads to the port. We visited the port right at sunset and some people in our group got splashed by the crashing waves as they hit shore. While waiting for Chiam to drive around with the van some kids threw fruit at us (lemons and oranges). We just arrived at our new hostel, Shlomi Guest House and Youth Hostel.

Herodium & Bethlehem

     Today we went to visit Herodium, where King Herod died. We were able to walk through the underground tunnels. While at the water basin Chiam was saying something to Michael about cats and Michael thought Chaim was saying something in Hebrew. Chaim said, "a cat, C-A-T" and Michael was like, "achat? What does that mean?" It was so funny.

     We visited a settlement where we met with a man in an art gallery. He explained to us the issues of living in a Palestinian territory. They "rent" the land from the government, but don't own anything. Before building anything they have to get permits signed off by a ridiculous amount of people/committees/government officials.  At any moment the government can force them to pack-up and move out. Everyday they live with that fear.

     On the drive to Bethlehem Megan saw a sheep being attacked and eaten by a couple wild dogs. In Bethlehem, we had to go with a different tour guide because Chiam, being Israeli, was not allowed into that part of Palestine. Afterwards, we got dropped back off at the hostel.

People Getting on Each Others Nerves

     Today we had a late start because Michael needed batteries and tried to bargain with the salesman in the gas station store by our hostel. While driving through the dessert we stopped in a couple places, one where I paid five shekels to get my picture taken on a camel. We drove to AHAVA where we were able to shop for beauty products made from the salt, water, mud, and plants of the Dead Sea. Afterwards, we visited Masada. We took the cable car up to King Herod's Palace and walked around the remains that have been excavated.

     Afterwards, we went to get lunch (hot dogs) at a cabana type place by the water. We tried swimming in the Dead Sea (below sea level, in fact, it is the lowest point on earth) but it is very difficult to swim because of the obnoxious amount of salt. Once I started floating I couldn't get back up on my feet because of the buoyancy. I picked-up handfuls of salt off the ground. The salt was at least six inches deep where I was standing.

     We tried going to Qumran today, but got their right as they were letting the last group of people in before closing. So we headed back to the hostel early. Their were some arguments within our group today, especially among the more outspoken and sassy people. Certain individuals within our group are starting to get on everyone's nerves and people are starting to drink to coupe with it. I'm really hoping things settle down among our group soon and that everybody has a better attitude for the rest of this trip.