Now it has come time to blog about my most recent two days. Not that I really mind. I enjoy writing and I’m going to enjoy having all these later so it really is a good thing. On top of that, these posts keep all of you informed and, hopefully, at least mildly entertained.
My brain is kind of fried. For some reason I’m not sleeping nearly as well over here as I usually do. Even though I’m getting more sleep than normal, I’m feeling really tired. It’s probably jet lag still. Oh well… all of that to say I know my writing is getting disjointed but I’m just too tired to and distracted to deal with it.
Alright, here we go. Yesterday morning, Thursday morning, we got up early and drove down to the Dead Sea. We first tried to get into another National Park but I guess I drive too fast because we were there about forty-five minutes early. So, we drove on down the lake shore a little ways to a park area where we could actually get down to the shore. While Laura and Beth were talking about dipping their toes in, I had bigger plans. Paying a shekel to get into the bathroom, I changed into my shorts before heading down to the beach.
Yup, I went swimming in the Dead Sea. Well, I don’t know that you can really call it swimming. They say that you float and they aren’t wrong. It was even hard to stand back up after having been flat. It was hilarious, but it was fun. It was so much fun.
The problem is that the Dead Sea is also oily for some reason and for the rest of the day I felt it. That’s a weird feeling, and not exactly comfortable. Let’s just say that the shower felt really good last night.
After our adventure in the Dead Sea we went and looked at some wildlife at En Gedi and then continued on down to Masada. Now let me explain Masada. Masada is the ruins of a fortress at the top of a 1200 foot cliff. You can pay sixty shekels and take a cable car or you can go up for free via the snake path. It’s two kilometers worth of either very steep trail or steps. The sign said there were over seven hundred steps on the way up. Yes, that’s the route I took. It took me a lot longer than I planned, but I made it up. It was even a bit fun.
Once I caught my breath, we looked around up on top. That place is amazing. You could spend an entire day there and not see everything. We only spent right about an hour up there, but we still got to see quite a bit.
Tel Arad was the next stop. On the way we passed by where Sodom would have been. We spent just about ten minutes at Tel Arad because we wanted to hurry up and get to Tel Beer Sheva before it closed.
Beer Sheva was pretty cool. I really enjoy looking around the different Tels. All the layers of history really fascinate me.
And that brings us to today, Friday. We started off the day driving almost all the way up to Tel Aviv and trying to find Tel Aphek. Yes, emphasis on the word “trying.” In trying to find it we accidentally wound up at a Baptist Village, a National Park around some springs, several Tel Garbage locations, and two or three gas stations. It was quite the adventure. We did however eventually find it and it was indeed very, very worthwhile.
There was actually green grass. I’m not kidding! Some of the pictures I took of they Byzantine ruins look like they could actually be somewhere in Ireland. It was really funny.
From there we drove up to Jaffa. Well, not directly up. To get there we had to drive through Tel Aviv and that’s the one city in Israel that Dr. Fisher doesn’t really know that well. We spent about an hour trying to get to Jaffa before we actually got there.
We spent some time wandering Jaffa, ate lunch, looked through a museum, wandered around the artists district, and just enjoyed Jaffa at a leisurely pace. When we were finished, or as close as we were going to get, we spent about another hour navigating our way back out of Tel Aviv and onto the main highway back down to Jerusalem.
We arrived back in Jerusalem about two o’clock. Having time, we settled accounts and then went down to the old city and wandered there until about 6:30. That was pretty fun. With it being the eve of the Sabbath all of the Jewish shops were closed so we were in the Arab section for shopping and money changing. It was packed. The best way I can describe it is that it was like a thick trail of ants running around a labyrinth. Except the ants were people; lots and lots of people. Yeah, it was pretty hectic.
But it was fun, after a fashion. I bought a couple of gifts and only spent a couple bucks, so that was cool.
And…that’s it for this post. I’m posting this at an Internet Café here in the Old City so that’s why there are no pictures. I’ll try to add some later. They should be up either Sunday or Monday. So yeah, check back!
Saturday, December 30, 2006
Wednesday, December 27, 2006
Alright, I’m lumping two days into one here. That’s because yesterday we really didn’t do much besides wander around Jerusalem because Beth was sick and today we just went to two museums. Not that it wasn’t fun; it’s been great. On top of that I’ve learned a ton. It’s just that we didn’t actually do a whole lot. Hence, no really great pictures or stories.
Although, we did get to go in, look around, and ascend to the roof of the building that the Institute has been looking at purchasing. That was fascinating. It would be a pain in the rear to try and “Institutionalize” it (red carpet, mirrors, wood paneling, etc…) and with it being solid stone construction any kind of remodel would be both costly and hard on the construction team.
But hey, it’s not my call and I really don’t want to get involved. So yeah, enough about that.
Then today we went to both the Israeli Museum and the Holocaust Museum. We spent a long time at the Holocaust Museum. It was…interesting. Uhh…yeah, I’ll go ahead and say this.
Don’t get me wrong, I think it should be remembered for the horror that it was. I don’t think we should try and deny it, I don’t think we should try and cover it up, or any of that. I don’t, however, think that the Holocaust Museum was very well handled. The idea is good, but the presentation is kind of rough.
The impression I got was one of wanting to keep a wound open and fresh. It was all I could do to suppress my anger as I wandered through the artifacts, listened to the testimonies, and read the descriptions; and I don’t see any way you can say that anger is a good thing. Especially anger of that nature.
Yes, what the Nazi party did was horrific. Yes, it was worse than most tragedies the world has seen. But that doesn’t give us a waiver on forgiveness. That’s especially true for us Christians. We can’t allow ourselves to take up that offense. That would be so wrong. Yet, forgiveness isn’t seen in that museum; only anger, bitterness, and hatred. I’m not going to hold it against the Jews that they’re holding onto it. What was done to them was terrible. I’m just saying that as a Christian I can not agree with the method used.
Alright…moving on…
While we were in the Holocaust Museum a very peculiar thing happened. It started snowing! Yes, that’s right. It started snowing in Jerusalem. It still is snowing for that matter. I’m really enjoying that. As much as it makes it very cold and wet, I love the snow and the city look wonderful in it.
Well, I guess we’re heading out to the Dead Sea tomorrow so that should be fun. But I’m tired. So, with all that said and that little bit that will probably get me in trouble, I will bid you all a good night.
God Bless!
Although, we did get to go in, look around, and ascend to the roof of the building that the Institute has been looking at purchasing. That was fascinating. It would be a pain in the rear to try and “Institutionalize” it (red carpet, mirrors, wood paneling, etc…) and with it being solid stone construction any kind of remodel would be both costly and hard on the construction team.
But hey, it’s not my call and I really don’t want to get involved. So yeah, enough about that.
Then today we went to both the Israeli Museum and the Holocaust Museum. We spent a long time at the Holocaust Museum. It was…interesting. Uhh…yeah, I’ll go ahead and say this.
Don’t get me wrong, I think it should be remembered for the horror that it was. I don’t think we should try and deny it, I don’t think we should try and cover it up, or any of that. I don’t, however, think that the Holocaust Museum was very well handled. The idea is good, but the presentation is kind of rough.
The impression I got was one of wanting to keep a wound open and fresh. It was all I could do to suppress my anger as I wandered through the artifacts, listened to the testimonies, and read the descriptions; and I don’t see any way you can say that anger is a good thing. Especially anger of that nature.
Yes, what the Nazi party did was horrific. Yes, it was worse than most tragedies the world has seen. But that doesn’t give us a waiver on forgiveness. That’s especially true for us Christians. We can’t allow ourselves to take up that offense. That would be so wrong. Yet, forgiveness isn’t seen in that museum; only anger, bitterness, and hatred. I’m not going to hold it against the Jews that they’re holding onto it. What was done to them was terrible. I’m just saying that as a Christian I can not agree with the method used.
Alright…moving on…
While we were in the Holocaust Museum a very peculiar thing happened. It started snowing! Yes, that’s right. It started snowing in Jerusalem. It still is snowing for that matter. I’m really enjoying that. As much as it makes it very cold and wet, I love the snow and the city look wonderful in it.Well, I guess we’re heading out to the Dead Sea tomorrow so that should be fun. But I’m tired. So, with all that said and that little bit that will probably get me in trouble, I will bid you all a good night.
God Bless!
Monday, December 25, 2006
What Will We Miss While We We Are Sleeping? ... 12/24-12/25
Well, today is Tuesday the 26th. Christmas came and Christmas went; with me in Bethlehem. It really was neat. We arrived in Bethlehem right around noon on Christmas Eve and went directly to Emile’s place. Well, maybe “directly” isn’t quite the word for it. I don’t think there’s a direct path anywhere in Bethlehem. It’s quite a unique driving experience.
To try and understand, think of a road about one and half lanes wide. Then picture enough cars to pack I-5 from Williams to Sacramento. Now make all the drivers of those cars Nascar wannabes. Yeah, that was pretty interesting.
We had lunch with Emile and his family and spent a very pleasant afternoon just fellowshipping, fixing computers, and just having a good time.
That evening everyone else went to stay with another Christian family and I went on something akin to visitation with Emile and Brother Michael. It was absolutely amazing. Everything was in Arabic. I was the only one in the room (of about 25 people) that wasn’t a Palestinian. Emile translated a little bit for me but mostly I just sat there, smiled, and said the one and only work I know in Arabic; “Thank You”. (Pronounced something like “Shookrun”) It was pretty cool.
After that Emile took his family (and me as a tag along) to Bethlehem Square to kind of “see the sights” so to speak. It was crowded and noisy, but worth saying I was there.
I spent the night at Emile’s place, got up the next morning, worked on his computer a little more, had a great chat with Aaron, and just relaxed.
At about 10:00 I got in a taxi and went out to where everyone else was staying. I spent Christmas morning walking around a Muslim village and having coffee with some Muslim people that our host, Basaan, knew. A very different Christmas morning indeed.
We had our “Christmas Dinner” Mediterranean style there and enjoyed yet more great fellowship with Basaan and his family. Late that afternoon we went to a Christmas party in the home of another missionary there in Bethlehem. Finally, it truly felt like Christmas. Pumpkin pie, cookies, and yes, more coffee. It was a lot of fun.
From there we drove directly to our hotel in Jerusalem which is where I am writing this from. We’ll be touring around here for the rest of our trip. It’s hard to believe that we’ve been here as long as we have. The time’s gone by so fast. Oh well, I better get this posted so we can get going. Everyone have a great day!
To try and understand, think of a road about one and half lanes wide. Then picture enough cars to pack I-5 from Williams to Sacramento. Now make all the drivers of those cars Nascar wannabes. Yeah, that was pretty interesting.
We had lunch with Emile and his family and spent a very pleasant afternoon just fellowshipping, fixing computers, and just having a good time.
That evening everyone else went to stay with another Christian family and I went on something akin to visitation with Emile and Brother Michael. It was absolutely amazing. Everything was in Arabic. I was the only one in the room (of about 25 people) that wasn’t a Palestinian. Emile translated a little bit for me but mostly I just sat there, smiled, and said the one and only work I know in Arabic; “Thank You”. (Pronounced something like “Shookrun”) It was pretty cool.
After that Emile took his family (and me as a tag along) to Bethlehem Square to kind of “see the sights” so to speak. It was crowded and noisy, but worth saying I was there.
I spent the night at Emile’s place, got up the next morning, worked on his computer a little more, had a great chat with Aaron, and just relaxed.
At about 10:00 I got in a taxi and went out to where everyone else was staying. I spent Christmas morning walking around a Muslim village and having coffee with some Muslim people that our host, Basaan, knew. A very different Christmas morning indeed.
We had our “Christmas Dinner” Mediterranean style there and enjoyed yet more great fellowship with Basaan and his family. Late that afternoon we went to a Christmas party in the home of another missionary there in Bethlehem. Finally, it truly felt like Christmas. Pumpkin pie, cookies, and yes, more coffee. It was a lot of fun.
From there we drove directly to our hotel in Jerusalem which is where I am writing this from. We’ll be touring around here for the rest of our trip. It’s hard to believe that we’ve been here as long as we have. The time’s gone by so fast. Oh well, I better get this posted so we can get going. Everyone have a great day!
Sunday, December 24, 2006
If I Had A Boat ... 12/23
With Saturday being the Sabbath, there wasn't a whole lot of activity around the Kibbutz or most of the Sea of Galilee for that matter. The roads were even pretty quiet which was a pleasant surprise.
With the spirit of the day, we decided to go ahead and take a bit slower of a trip. We drove out to Cesearea and spent almost the entire day just wandering around the ruins there. There were plenty to see.
Now, it was raining when we first showed up and we only had two umbrellas (guess who didn't get one...right...) so I got quite wet to start out. But then it cleared up and I dried out quite quickly. To tell you the truth, it was really neat to stand out on the rocks overlooking to the sea while it was raining. It was a wild, raging beauty, but it was beautiful.
I'm standing firm on higher ground.
"Rain on, I will not drown
I'm standing firm on Higher Ground."
Here's a small sampling of the pictures Beth was able to get. I'm not posting my pictures because most of them didn't turn well due to the rain.
Alright, now this picture deserves a little bit of an explination. We at an early lunch at a small cafe along the coast and since we were the only customers, the owner hung around and chatted with us from the time we showed up until the time we left. He was absolutely hilarious! He's a European Jew who spent much of his life living in Reno, Nevada working for a software company. I think I laughed harder talking to him than I have laughed since arriving here.
The kicker came when right as we were about to leave. He asked
me if I knew what a survivor was. Obviously, I know what the word means, but I wasn't entirely sure what he meant by that. That is, until he reached down and pulled up his sleeve. That's right, he had a number tattooed on his forearm. He had been in a Nazi Prison camp. He was a survivor of the Holocaust. He went on to explain that it was a Polish prison camp and that he had been rescued when he was twelve years old.
It was quite the story. After we left, Dr. Fisher commented on how amazing it was that he was so full of spunk. I guess most survivors are very bitter and closed to life in general. This guy sure wasn't though, he was a barrel of laughs. Talk about responding the right way to a tough situation...
After leaving Cesearea we headed out to a valley along the Jordanian border whose name I can't remember at the moment and that I don't have pictures of right now. I'll have to get them up later. Until then, Merry Christmas!
With the spirit of the day, we decided to go ahead and take a bit slower of a trip. We drove out to Cesearea and spent almost the entire day just wandering around the ruins there. There were plenty to see.
Now, it was raining when we first showed up and we only had two umbrellas (guess who didn't get one...right...) so I got quite wet to start out. But then it cleared up and I dried out quite quickly. To tell you the truth, it was really neat to stand out on the rocks overlooking to the sea while it was raining. It was a wild, raging beauty, but it was beautiful.
I'm standing firm on higher ground.
"Rain on, I will not drown
I'm standing firm on Higher Ground."
Here's a small sampling of the pictures Beth was able to get. I'm not posting my pictures because most of them didn't turn well due to the rain.
Alright, now this picture deserves a little bit of an explination. We at an early lunch at a small cafe along the coast and since we were the only customers, the owner hung around and chatted with us from the time we showed up until the time we left. He was absolutely hilarious! He's a European Jew who spent much of his life living in Reno, Nevada working for a software company. I think I laughed harder talking to him than I have laughed since arriving here.
The kicker came when right as we were about to leave. He asked
me if I knew what a survivor was. Obviously, I know what the word means, but I wasn't entirely sure what he meant by that. That is, until he reached down and pulled up his sleeve. That's right, he had a number tattooed on his forearm. He had been in a Nazi Prison camp. He was a survivor of the Holocaust. He went on to explain that it was a Polish prison camp and that he had been rescued when he was twelve years old.It was quite the story. After we left, Dr. Fisher commented on how amazing it was that he was so full of spunk. I guess most survivors are very bitter and closed to life in general. This guy sure wasn't though, he was a barrel of laughs. Talk about responding the right way to a tough situation...
After leaving Cesearea we headed out to a valley along the Jordanian border whose name I can't remember at the moment and that I don't have pictures of right now. I'll have to get them up later. Until then, Merry Christmas!
Rocks, Rocks, and More Rocks ... 12/22
Alright, I know these are getting shorter, but I’ll tell more stories when I get home and have more time to write. Right now I’m doing well to get anything written at all. I’m just having too much fun to stop and write down what’s happening. Most of you should be able to understand that.
Our first stop on Friday was Chorzin; the third of the cities that Jesus cursed. Yes, more piles of old rocks. However, I think I enjoyed these the best of all the biblical ruins so far. We were the only people at the site and as such were able to enjoy it to the fullest extent possible. I think I was on top of the walls more than I was on the ground. Yeah, lots of climbing fun. I really enjoyed that.
One of the coolest things there was they had rebuilt the interior supports on a couple of the houses there to give visitors an idea of how building was done back around the time of Christ. Seeing as how I work in construction to a certain extent, that was quite fascinating. BJ, you’re going to love some of those pictures I got. Especially the ones from the top down.
From there we headed out to the Meshushim Pool, a nature preserve with some fascinating rock formations and waterfalls. Yes, we’re seeing a lot of rocks over here. Not that I mind, I love rocks; particularly climbing on them. Beth’s getting tired of them, but you’ll have to ask her about that.
The funny (or not so funny) part was that to get down to the pool itself you had to walk a kilometer and a half down to it. Notice: I said “down” to it. That’s exactly what I meant. It was like the road up Mount Tabor, only thinner and for walking on. It was fun (except for the part where I slipped and twisted my knee) and the pool itself was amazing. Well worth the trek.
But then we had to walk back out. That’s right, we went way down and had to come back way up. It was quite the hike. I probably wouldn’t have felt it too much except for the fact that my knee was hurting. That slowed me down considerably. But it turned out well because by the time I got to the top I had walked off the pain and haven’t felt it since. So yeah, that was great.
Our next stop was Tel Hazor. At Tel Megiddo we had missed being able to see the water system because it was closed. Tel Hazor has an almost identical system and that was open so we were able to see that. Let me explain this system real quick.
The basic idea is that you dig a big hole with paths around the edge to climb down. Then at the bottom of this hole you dig a tunnel straight out under the city walls to where a water spring is. At that point you close off the tunnel from the outside and you’re done. A lot more work than it sounds, I’m sure, but that’s the idea.
There at Tel Hazor they have put in stairs down to the tunnel so you can go look at it. Basically you had to walk down four steps of stairs to get to the spiral stairs. Then you walk down three flights worth of spiral stairs. Then you walk down another two or three flights of stairs and THEN you get to look at the tunnel. It was pretty cool, actually. I really got a kick out of it.
After our time at Hazor we once again drove west to the Mediterranean. This time we went to the town of Akko, had a late lunch, and walked around some of the Crusader ruins and just enjoyed wandering the busy streets. It made a very nice ending to a great day. On top of that it was the best Falafel I’ve had yet. Very, very good…
Our first stop on Friday was Chorzin; the third of the cities that Jesus cursed. Yes, more piles of old rocks. However, I think I enjoyed these the best of all the biblical ruins so far. We were the only people at the site and as such were able to enjoy it to the fullest extent possible. I think I was on top of the walls more than I was on the ground. Yeah, lots of climbing fun. I really enjoyed that.One of the coolest things there was they had rebuilt the interior supports on a couple of the houses there to give visitors an idea of how building was done back around the time of Christ. Seeing as how I work in construction to a certain extent, that was quite fascinating. BJ, you’re going to love some of those pictures I got. Especially the ones from the top down.
From there we headed out to the Meshushim Pool, a nature preserve with some fascinating rock formations and waterfalls. Yes, we’re seeing a lot of rocks over here. Not that I mind, I love rocks; particularly climbing on them. Beth’s getting tired of them, but you’ll have to ask her about that.
The funny (or not so funny) part was that to get down to the pool itself you had to walk a kilometer and a half down to it. Notice: I said “down” to it. That’s exactly what I meant. It was like the road up Mount Tabor, only thinner and for walking on. It was fun (except for the part where I slipped and twisted my knee) and the pool itself was amazing. Well worth the trek.
But then we had to walk back out. That’s right, we went way down and had to come back way up. It was quite the hike. I probably wouldn’t have felt it too much except for the fact that my knee was hurting. That slowed me down considerably. But it turned out well because by the time I got to the top I had walked off the pain and haven’t felt it since. So yeah, that was great.
Our next stop was Tel Hazor. At Tel Megiddo we had missed being able to see the water system because it was closed. Tel Hazor has an almost identical system and that was open so we were able to see that. Let me explain this system real quick.
The basic idea is that you dig a big hole with paths around the edge to climb down. Then at the bottom of this hole you dig a tunnel straight out under the city walls to where a water spring is. At that point you close off the tunnel from the outside and you’re done. A lot more work than it sounds, I’m sure, but that’s the idea.
There at Tel Hazor they have put in stairs down to the tunnel so you can go look at it. Basically you had to walk down four steps of stairs to get to the spiral stairs. Then you walk down three flights worth of spiral stairs. Then you walk down another two or three flights of stairs and THEN you get to look at the tunnel. It was pretty cool, actually. I really got a kick out of it.
After our time at Hazor we once again drove west to the Mediterranean. This time we went to the town of Akko, had a late lunch, and walked around some of the Crusader ruins and just enjoyed wandering the busy streets. It made a very nice ending to a great day. On top of that it was the best Falafel I’ve had yet. Very, very good…
Saturday, December 23, 2006
Winding Roads and Steep Cliffs ... 12/21
The great and mighty Thursday and third day (hmm, coincidence?) of my traveling in Israel. We started the day off by traveling a short distance around the edge of the Sea of Galilee to Ginnosar, another Kibbutz about fifteen kilometers from the one we’re staying in. There we enjoyed a small museum including the remains of a small freighter from around the time of Christ and got to walk around a small but quite interesting book shop.
Then came the part that “done beat all” as they say there in Arkansas. We boarded a boat and set out actually ON the Sea of Galilee. That’s right, a boat ride on the Sea of Galilee. It was stunning; absolutely stunning. I can see why men would spend their entire lives sailing on it; fishing, shipping, and the like. I just wish we could have actually been in a sail boat. Oh well, now I’m just being nit-picky
From there we continued on around the Sea to the ruins of Capernaum. Even though the site is run by the Catholic Church and thus has some interesting and not quite true pieces to it, this proved quite fascinating. One thing that was both there and true was the remains of a synagogue from the late fourth century. Dr. Fisher was able to really explain how it was that the synagogue worked and we were able to see it quite well. A lot of pieces clicked for me because of that, so that was cool.
The next portion of our travels proved to be some of the most entertaining. It was next that we visited the illustrious Mount Tabor. While its history is quite unique, I would have to say that it was completely overshadowed by the distinct road leading to the top. I never really knew what a hairpin turn was before that. Oh, I thought I did, but I had no idea. For about four or five kilometers the road wound around until I thought that it would surely tie itself in a knot. It was fun though and I must say one of the most interesting driving experiences of my life.
To finish out our day we went to what has to be the most stunning sight I have ever seen. In trying to get to the top of the Horns of Hattan we wound up atop the Arbel Cliffs. I don’t think we could have made a better mistake. What’s more, we were there for sunset. Yes, Beth got pictures from the Arbel Cliffs of the sun setting over the Horns of Hattan.
Besides the sunset, I was in rock climber’s heaven. Seriously, I would have given just about anything for a hundred meter rope and my gear. Man…those were some awesome arête routes.
However, without either the rope or my gear, I had to satisfy myself with simply clambering across the top of the cliffs. It was so much fun. Standing atop the rocks looking out over Sea of Galilee with shadows from the sunset stretching into the valley below…it’s simply indescribable.
With that being sunset, we were done for the day and headed back to the Kibbutz. Yes, I was tired. Yes, I crashed.
Then came the part that “done beat all” as they say there in Arkansas. We boarded a boat and set out actually ON the Sea of Galilee. That’s right, a boat ride on the Sea of Galilee. It was stunning; absolutely stunning. I can see why men would spend their entire lives sailing on it; fishing, shipping, and the like. I just wish we could have actually been in a sail boat. Oh well, now I’m just being nit-pickyFrom there we continued on around the Sea to the ruins of Capernaum. Even though the site is run by the Catholic Church and thus has some interesting and not quite true pieces to it, this proved quite fascinating. One thing that was both there and true was the remains of a synagogue from the late fourth century. Dr. Fisher was able to really explain how it was that the synagogue worked and we were able to see it quite well. A lot of pieces clicked for me because of that, so that was cool.
The next portion of our travels proved to be some of the most entertaining. It was next that we visited the illustrious Mount Tabor. While its history is quite unique, I would have to say that it was completely overshadowed by the distinct road leading to the top. I never really knew what a hairpin turn was before that. Oh, I thought I did, but I had no idea. For about four or five kilometers the road wound around until I thought that it would surely tie itself in a knot. It was fun though and I must say one of the most interesting driving experiences of my life.
To finish out our day we went to what has to be the most stunning sight I have ever seen. In trying to get to the top of the Horns of Hattan we wound up atop the Arbel Cliffs. I don’t think we could have made a better mistake. What’s more, we were there for sunset. Yes, Beth got pictures from the Arbel Cliffs of the sun setting over the Horns of Hattan.Besides the sunset, I was in rock climber’s heaven. Seriously, I would have given just about anything for a hundred meter rope and my gear. Man…those were some awesome arête routes.
However, without either the rope or my gear, I had to satisfy myself with simply clambering across the top of the cliffs. It was so much fun. Standing atop the rocks looking out over Sea of Galilee with shadows from the sunset stretching into the valley below…it’s simply indescribable.
With that being sunset, we were done for the day and headed back to the Kibbutz. Yes, I was tired. Yes, I crashed.
How to Read This Blog
I feel an apology is due. Although I am indeed doing a post for each day, that does not mean I am posting each day. It doesn't even mean I'm writing each day. Being the driver for the trip, I'm not getting a lot of time on the laptop during our travels and my evenings are mostly spent trying to catch up from a bad case of jet lag. On top of that, our internet situation has been nothing but trouble since day one.
As such, my posts are coming and will continue to come in spurts. I might not post for several days and then post three times in one evening.
So yeah, all of that to say, check back here often. You never know what you're going to find. (No Brendan, don't even go there...)
Edit: Dr. Fisher just informed me that after Christmas our Internet connection will be much more stable. That should be nice.
As such, my posts are coming and will continue to come in spurts. I might not post for several days and then post three times in one evening.
So yeah, all of that to say, check back here often. You never know what you're going to find. (No Brendan, don't even go there...)
Edit: Dr. Fisher just informed me that after Christmas our Internet connection will be much more stable. That should be nice.
Friday, December 22, 2006
And the Wandering Continues ... 12/20
And now we come to Wednesday the twentieth. This day I did something that I don’t believe I have ever done in my life. Granted, I’ve been doing a lot of those since taking off from the States, but this one was different. I never, not in my wildest dreams, thought I would ever do this.
I got up just to see a sunrise.
Yeah, that’s right. Me, the guy who has to be dragged out of bed by a team of mules or launched from it with dynamite actually chose to get up a full forty-five minutes earlier than I had to in order to see the sunrise.
Here’s the catch. I got up to see the sun rise over the Sea of Galilee. The Kibbutz that we’re staying at is on the western edge of the Sea of Galilee so, obviously, it’s the perfect position to watch the sunrise. I just couldn’t pass that up. Granted, I was so excited about that thought when the alarm actually went off and it was still dark outside. I think the thoughts that were foremost at that moment were along the lines of murdering the machine known as the alarm clock. But it was very much worth it.
Now please don’t kill me for this, but I didn’t take my camera with me. I went simply to enjoy the sunrise and be a bit contemplative. It really was amazing and very much worth while. Again, don’t kill me for not taking pictures. Beth got pictures of it that morning and I do believe I will be getting up for it again before we leave so I’ll take pictures then. Either way, I will have pictures of the sunrise over the Sea of Galilee.
After quite the interesting breakfast (and no, I did not even try the smoked fish) we departed for a day traveling through the northern regions of Israel. We began by traveling around the southern tip and then running road reminiscent of highway twenty up the eastern edge. About half way between the southern tip and the northern end we took a six or seven kilometer detour up into the Golan Heights in order to see the views of the Sea of Galilee from up there. It was, to drastically understate, spectacular. I thought the sunrise had been worth seeing. This was better by far.
Retracing our steps back to the highway (if you can call it that) we continued north until we came within sight of Mount Hermon. For me, that was really cool. Having lived in the Mount Hermon of California for so long it seemed somehow extraordinary to see the “real” one. I did get pictures of that.
From there we continued on to Ceserea Phillipi.
“Upon this rock I will build my Church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” ~ Jesus Christ
Hmmm…no, I won’t go into a sermon here and now. Many of you have probably already heard my newest tangent involving that proclamation of Jesus at Ceserea Phillipi. For those of you who haven’t, I’ll probably wind up posting about it on one of my blogs soon. Or, if you were at Bible School, you heard most of it from Steve Byler. Yes, I will admit, he’s the one who got me started on the whole thing.
Anyways, I really enjoyed seeing that area and putting a lot of the pieces into place for a lot of the things I’ve been thinking recently. That was probably my favorite biblical site that we’ve seen so far.
Then came what has, for me, been the best stop of the entire trip; Nimrod Fortress. Although it completely lacks any biblical significance, Nimrod Fortress was a Crusader castle. Yes Dallas, be jealous. I spent about an hour and a half walking around the ruins of a castle from the time of the crusades. Had you been able to keep up, watching me would have been something akin to watch Ezra at a giant playground. I was pretty excited.
I could have spent another four or five hours there without hardly
knowing it. I didn’t even begin to explore all of the areas you were allowed in. But alas, it was an extra stop and we didn’t have much time there.
Very close to the fortress was Tel Dan. That was our next stop. The Tel itself wasn’t much different than the others we have visited. However, to get there we walked through a beautiful nature preserve full of streams and waterfalls. There was even a stone lined pool about halfway up the path that was absolutely stunning. It really made me wish I was a photographer. With how much of an amateur I am at photography I doubt that I was really able to capture it. I hope Beth got some good shots.
From Tel Dan we traveled west; way west. In fact, we traveled so far west that if we had driven any more west we would have gotten very wet. That’s right, we drove to the Mediterranean Sea. Rosh Hanikra was, quite literally, breathtaking. The cliffs were so white and the water was such a clear blue…I don’t think I can even describe it. Between the three of us with cameras, we went crazy here. Lots and lots of pictures were taken to say the least.
After looking at the tourist attraction there, we drove down a few hundred meters and spent nearly an hour enjoying the rocky beach below the cliffs and getting pictures of the sun setting below the Mediterranean. Again, the water was so clear and so blue that I just wanted to jump in and swim. However, the patrol boat about two hundred meters offshore kept me from doing so. With the Israeli-Lebanon border not even a kilometer north, I had a feeling that they wouldn’t take too kindly to someone in the water. That and the wind was rather cold. So yeah, I didn’t swim. Wanted to, but didn’t.
Once again we drove back to the Kibbutz in the dark and once again I simply crashed. For some reason I am really getting tired easily on this trip. I’m going to chalk it up to jet lag. Yeah, that sounds good…
I got up just to see a sunrise.
Yeah, that’s right. Me, the guy who has to be dragged out of bed by a team of mules or launched from it with dynamite actually chose to get up a full forty-five minutes earlier than I had to in order to see the sunrise.
Here’s the catch. I got up to see the sun rise over the Sea of Galilee. The Kibbutz that we’re staying at is on the western edge of the Sea of Galilee so, obviously, it’s the perfect position to watch the sunrise. I just couldn’t pass that up. Granted, I was so excited about that thought when the alarm actually went off and it was still dark outside. I think the thoughts that were foremost at that moment were along the lines of murdering the machine known as the alarm clock. But it was very much worth it.
Now please don’t kill me for this, but I didn’t take my camera with me. I went simply to enjoy the sunrise and be a bit contemplative. It really was amazing and very much worth while. Again, don’t kill me for not taking pictures. Beth got pictures of it that morning and I do believe I will be getting up for it again before we leave so I’ll take pictures then. Either way, I will have pictures of the sunrise over the Sea of Galilee.
After quite the interesting breakfast (and no, I did not even try the smoked fish) we departed for a day traveling through the northern regions of Israel. We began by traveling around the southern tip and then running road reminiscent of highway twenty up the eastern edge. About half way between the southern tip and the northern end we took a six or seven kilometer detour up into the Golan Heights in order to see the views of the Sea of Galilee from up there. It was, to drastically understate, spectacular. I thought the sunrise had been worth seeing. This was better by far.Retracing our steps back to the highway (if you can call it that) we continued north until we came within sight of Mount Hermon. For me, that was really cool. Having lived in the Mount Hermon of California for so long it seemed somehow extraordinary to see the “real” one. I did get pictures of that.
From there we continued on to Ceserea Phillipi.
“Upon this rock I will build my Church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” ~ Jesus Christ
Hmmm…no, I won’t go into a sermon here and now. Many of you have probably already heard my newest tangent involving that proclamation of Jesus at Ceserea Phillipi. For those of you who haven’t, I’ll probably wind up posting about it on one of my blogs soon. Or, if you were at Bible School, you heard most of it from Steve Byler. Yes, I will admit, he’s the one who got me started on the whole thing.
Anyways, I really enjoyed seeing that area and putting a lot of the pieces into place for a lot of the things I’ve been thinking recently. That was probably my favorite biblical site that we’ve seen so far.Then came what has, for me, been the best stop of the entire trip; Nimrod Fortress. Although it completely lacks any biblical significance, Nimrod Fortress was a Crusader castle. Yes Dallas, be jealous. I spent about an hour and a half walking around the ruins of a castle from the time of the crusades. Had you been able to keep up, watching me would have been something akin to watch Ezra at a giant playground. I was pretty excited.
I could have spent another four or five hours there without hardly
knowing it. I didn’t even begin to explore all of the areas you were allowed in. But alas, it was an extra stop and we didn’t have much time there.Very close to the fortress was Tel Dan. That was our next stop. The Tel itself wasn’t much different than the others we have visited. However, to get there we walked through a beautiful nature preserve full of streams and waterfalls. There was even a stone lined pool about halfway up the path that was absolutely stunning. It really made me wish I was a photographer. With how much of an amateur I am at photography I doubt that I was really able to capture it. I hope Beth got some good shots.
From Tel Dan we traveled west; way west. In fact, we traveled so far west that if we had driven any more west we would have gotten very wet. That’s right, we drove to the Mediterranean Sea. Rosh Hanikra was, quite literally, breathtaking. The cliffs were so white and the water was such a clear blue…I don’t think I can even describe it. Between the three of us with cameras, we went crazy here. Lots and lots of pictures were taken to say the least.
After looking at the tourist attraction there, we drove down a few hundred meters and spent nearly an hour enjoying the rocky beach below the cliffs and getting pictures of the sun setting below the Mediterranean. Again, the water was so clear and so blue that I just wanted to jump in and swim. However, the patrol boat about two hundred meters offshore kept me from doing so. With the Israeli-Lebanon border not even a kilometer north, I had a feeling that they wouldn’t take too kindly to someone in the water. That and the wind was rather cold. So yeah, I didn’t swim. Wanted to, but didn’t.Once again we drove back to the Kibbutz in the dark and once again I simply crashed. For some reason I am really getting tired easily on this trip. I’m going to chalk it up to jet lag. Yeah, that sounds good…
Down the Jericho Road ... 12/19
And now I must actually blog about my travels in Israel. Yes, my trip here and the stay in Italy were fascinating, but the true purpose of both this trip and this blog is to see Israel. So, on to Israel!
As I said in my last post, I arrived about twenty-six hours later than scheduled. I missed an entire day of the trip. However, this wasn’t that big of a deal. I didn’t miss anything that we won’t be doing again. I did arrive in time to eat dinner at the Grand Court Hotel there in Jerusalem. That was good since I hadn’t eaten yet that day. I was rather famished and ate quite heartily. I’m not sure what most of it was, but it was good and I wasn’t asking. I was just eating.
We started the next day bright and early. My alarm went off at five o’clock. Yes, I know, there are no vestiges of sanity in those who awaken at such an hour. I never claimed any.
We loaded up the car, ate breakfast there at the hotel, and headed out before seven. The night before we had received an invitation for a feast in Canna of Galilee so we had that as our eventual goal. So the plan was to go from Jerusalem to Bet She’an, Bet She’an to Megiddo, and then Megiddo up to Canna of Galilee. The plan was to stop and tour the Tels at both Bet She’an and Megiddo.
Now, the most direct route from Jerusalem to Bet She’an is through Jericho. That would be great except for the fact that the residents of Jericho are decidedly against anything Israeli and the van that we are driving has Israeli plates. Dr. Fisher said that driving through there would be a guaranteed way to get our van stoned and would give us a good chance of being shot at. With those odds against us, we decided that it would be the wiser course of action to travel a few kilometers out of our way and drive around Jericho.
South of Jericho, north of the Dead Sea, and west of the Jordan river, we found a sign by the side of the road that proudly proclaimed that this spot, right there, was exactly at sea level. Now, as fascinating as that fact was, it’s not what made this particular gravel turn off worthy of stopping at. That was the fault of the camel.
Yes, that’s right. There was a camel there. There was also a guy who owned and “ran” the camel, but he wasn’t quite as interesting. More than just having a camel though, he was also offering rides for ten shekels (about $2.50) each. Needless to say, we couldn’t resist. At that price, all three of us “newbies” went ahead and rode. It was, to put it mildly, hilarious.
First, the camel had to kneel down. Then we mounted. At least I think that’s what you would call it. Then the thing stood up. That was the interesting part. It felt like you were going to fall off forwards, then it felt like you were going to fall of backwards, then you had to figure out which way was which, and then you were up. I’m sure I had the strangest expression on my face the whole time. Here’s hoping that nobody snapped a picture or two during that six second process.
Once you were up, the camel’s owner led you around for a few seconds, gave you the reigns so that your group could take pictures of you without him leading, led you in front of the sea level sign so that you could get pictures of that, and then led you back and had the camel kneel down so you could dismount.
The kneeling down was just as bad as the standing up; just in reverse. Yeah, quite the experience. It was fun though. I wasn’t actually worried about falling off, it just felt like I was going to. There’s a distinct difference there you know.
From there we drove directly to Bet She’an without any further stops. Bet She’an was amazing. For those of you who aren’t familiar with the terms, a “Tel” is a city site where down through the ages they haven’t changed where the city itself is. They just kind of level off the existing ruins and build on top of them. The result is an artificial hill with layers upon layers of ancient civilizations buried within. A pretty cool concept if you ask me.
I understand that the most recent use of the Tel at Bet She’an was by the Greeks around the time of Christ. However, being the predecessors of American Laziness, the Greeks didn’t bother to build on the top of the hill. Instead they built their town sprawled around the base of the Tel and only used the Tel itself for a temple to Zeus. I must confess that I found the Greek ruins around the base much more fascinating than the Egyptian and Israelite ruins at the top.
From Bet She’an we drove up the Jezreel valley to Megiddo and more specifically Tel Megiddo. While this was a much larger Tel, there wasn’t nearly as much to be seen due to the absence of a Greek presence. However, this site gave a much better picture of what exactly a Tel was and how it worked.
After that tour we headed north and west to Canna of Galilee where we were to partake of the feast. This was the highlight of my day. We arrive about 3:30 in the afternoon, much earlier than we had originally planned. Because of this, Dr. Fisher’s friend who had invited us was not even at home when we arrived. So, showing great hospitality, our host’s brother generously invited us wait in his home. We spent nearly an hour visiting with him, his wife and his son. During this time I made the greatest discovery of the trip; Arabian Coffee.
I was hooked at the first scent. You’ve heard of Cowboy Coffee where you can through the horse shoe in the pot and it will stand up? Well this stuff’s so black, strong, and think that the horse shoe would float! Oh yeah, my kind of coffee. I guess my enthusiasm made it out into my facial expression because I endured a great deal of teasing from our hosts about how this coffee would make my beard grow thick. Hey, can’t hurt and it’s worth a try. Especially when it tastes that good!
While the wondrous taste of the coffee was still in my mouth, our host made his appearance. Speaking in halting English he welcomed us all very, very warmly. With him as our guide we embarked on a tour of the two local churches; one a Franciscan Catholic and one a Greek Orthodox. Our host belonged to the Greek Orthodox. Both were amazing. The architecture, the artifacts, and (in the Greek Orthodox one) the wood carvings were all well worth seeing. As we were leaving the Greek Orthodox church the priest asked if we would allow him to serve us coffee. So, much to my delight and Beth’s horror, we drank another small cup of Arabian Coffee. Mmmm….
By this point it was rapidly becoming dark so we made our way back to the house where we would be feasting and promptly began. Man, when they say feast they really mean feast! Two salads, stuffed vegetables, roasted chicken with vegetables, and multiple sauces and drinks. The food was wonderful and the fellowship was even better. For desert they had fruit, cookies, and (best of all) more of the nectar straight from the gates of heaven that they called Arabian Coffee. This time I was able to have two glasses.
After thanking our host and his wife profusely, we made our way to the Sea of Galilee itself and our Kibbutz right along its shore. It was dark when we drove in so we really didn’t get a good look at the Sea, but it was still cool to know that we were along the shores of Galilee.
With such an exciting day and dealing with more than a little bit of jet lag, I decided to spend my evening in a simply marvelous fashion. I slept. Yes, despite the four cups of Arabian Coffee from that afternoon and evening I zonked out and enjoyed the very comfortable bed provided for me.
*A deep, very KJV sounding narrator’s voice begins drolling in the background*
“Thus ends the account of the first day in the travels of Jonathan Marshall. Tune in next time to hear the fascinating continuation of this and other stories. If you have enjoyed this tale, please consider donating to the ‘Line Jonathan’s Pockets Foundation’. Thank you, and good night.”
As I said in my last post, I arrived about twenty-six hours later than scheduled. I missed an entire day of the trip. However, this wasn’t that big of a deal. I didn’t miss anything that we won’t be doing again. I did arrive in time to eat dinner at the Grand Court Hotel there in Jerusalem. That was good since I hadn’t eaten yet that day. I was rather famished and ate quite heartily. I’m not sure what most of it was, but it was good and I wasn’t asking. I was just eating.
We started the next day bright and early. My alarm went off at five o’clock. Yes, I know, there are no vestiges of sanity in those who awaken at such an hour. I never claimed any.
We loaded up the car, ate breakfast there at the hotel, and headed out before seven. The night before we had received an invitation for a feast in Canna of Galilee so we had that as our eventual goal. So the plan was to go from Jerusalem to Bet She’an, Bet She’an to Megiddo, and then Megiddo up to Canna of Galilee. The plan was to stop and tour the Tels at both Bet She’an and Megiddo.Now, the most direct route from Jerusalem to Bet She’an is through Jericho. That would be great except for the fact that the residents of Jericho are decidedly against anything Israeli and the van that we are driving has Israeli plates. Dr. Fisher said that driving through there would be a guaranteed way to get our van stoned and would give us a good chance of being shot at. With those odds against us, we decided that it would be the wiser course of action to travel a few kilometers out of our way and drive around Jericho.
South of Jericho, north of the Dead Sea, and west of the Jordan river, we found a sign by the side of the road that proudly proclaimed that this spot, right there, was exactly at sea level. Now, as fascinating as that fact was, it’s not what made this particular gravel turn off worthy of stopping at. That was the fault of the camel.
Yes, that’s right. There was a camel there. There was also a guy who owned and “ran” the camel, but he wasn’t quite as interesting. More than just having a camel though, he was also offering rides for ten shekels (about $2.50) each. Needless to say, we couldn’t resist. At that price, all three of us “newbies” went ahead and rode. It was, to put it mildly, hilarious.
First, the camel had to kneel down. Then we mounted. At least I think that’s what you would call it. Then the thing stood up. That was the interesting part. It felt like you were going to fall off forwards, then it felt like you were going to fall of backwards, then you had to figure out which way was which, and then you were up. I’m sure I had the strangest expression on my face the whole time. Here’s hoping that nobody snapped a picture or two during that six second process.Once you were up, the camel’s owner led you around for a few seconds, gave you the reigns so that your group could take pictures of you without him leading, led you in front of the sea level sign so that you could get pictures of that, and then led you back and had the camel kneel down so you could dismount.
The kneeling down was just as bad as the standing up; just in reverse. Yeah, quite the experience. It was fun though. I wasn’t actually worried about falling off, it just felt like I was going to. There’s a distinct difference there you know.
From there we drove directly to Bet She’an without any further stops. Bet She’an was amazing. For those of you who aren’t familiar with the terms, a “Tel” is a city site where down through the ages they haven’t changed where the city itself is. They just kind of level off the existing ruins and build on top of them. The result is an artificial hill with layers upon layers of ancient civilizations buried within. A pretty cool concept if you ask me.
I understand that the most recent use of the Tel at Bet She’an was by the Greeks around the time of Christ. However, being the predecessors of American Laziness, the Greeks didn’t bother to build on the top of the hill. Instead they built their town sprawled around the base of the Tel and only used the Tel itself for a temple to Zeus. I must confess that I found the Greek ruins around the base much more fascinating than the Egyptian and Israelite ruins at the top.
From Bet She’an we drove up the Jezreel valley to Megiddo and more specifically Tel Megiddo. While this was a much larger Tel, there wasn’t nearly as much to be seen due to the absence of a Greek presence. However, this site gave a much better picture of what exactly a Tel was and how it worked.
After that tour we headed north and west to Canna of Galilee where we were to partake of the feast. This was the highlight of my day. We arrive about 3:30 in the afternoon, much earlier than we had originally planned. Because of this, Dr. Fisher’s friend who had invited us was not even at home when we arrived. So, showing great hospitality, our host’s brother generously invited us wait in his home. We spent nearly an hour visiting with him, his wife and his son. During this time I made the greatest discovery of the trip; Arabian Coffee.
I was hooked at the first scent. You’ve heard of Cowboy Coffee where you can through the horse shoe in the pot and it will stand up? Well this stuff’s so black, strong, and think that the horse shoe would float! Oh yeah, my kind of coffee. I guess my enthusiasm made it out into my facial expression because I endured a great deal of teasing from our hosts about how this coffee would make my beard grow thick. Hey, can’t hurt and it’s worth a try. Especially when it tastes that good!
While the wondrous taste of the coffee was still in my mouth, our host made his appearance. Speaking in halting English he welcomed us all very, very warmly. With him as our guide we embarked on a tour of the two local churches; one a Franciscan Catholic and one a Greek Orthodox. Our host belonged to the Greek Orthodox. Both were amazing. The architecture, the artifacts, and (in the Greek Orthodox one) the wood carvings were all well worth seeing. As we were leaving the Greek Orthodox church the priest asked if we would allow him to serve us coffee. So, much to my delight and Beth’s horror, we drank another small cup of Arabian Coffee. Mmmm….
By this point it was rapidly becoming dark so we made our way back to the house where we would be feasting and promptly began. Man, when they say feast they really mean feast! Two salads, stuffed vegetables, roasted chicken with vegetables, and multiple sauces and drinks. The food was wonderful and the fellowship was even better. For desert they had fruit, cookies, and (best of all) more of the nectar straight from the gates of heaven that they called Arabian Coffee. This time I was able to have two glasses.
After thanking our host and his wife profusely, we made our way to the Sea of Galilee itself and our Kibbutz right along its shore. It was dark when we drove in so we really didn’t get a good look at the Sea, but it was still cool to know that we were along the shores of Galilee.
With such an exciting day and dealing with more than a little bit of jet lag, I decided to spend my evening in a simply marvelous fashion. I slept. Yes, despite the four cups of Arabian Coffee from that afternoon and evening I zonked out and enjoyed the very comfortable bed provided for me.
*A deep, very KJV sounding narrator’s voice begins drolling in the background*
“Thus ends the account of the first day in the travels of Jonathan Marshall. Tune in next time to hear the fascinating continuation of this and other stories. If you have enjoyed this tale, please consider donating to the ‘Line Jonathan’s Pockets Foundation’. Thank you, and good night.”
Wednesday, December 20, 2006
The Trip There ... 12/16-12/18
Wow!
Yeah, that’s word for it. And yes, Dallas, every meaning of that word. To start with, it was not my day for air travel. Let me explain.
According to my ticket, which I purchased months ago, I was scheduled to fly from Little Rock to Atlanta, Atlanta to Milan (Italy), and then Milan to Tel Aviv (Israel). Sounds great, right? Yeah, I thought so too. Granted, I only had about an hour and a half layover in Milan, but at least I’d be able to say I was there even if I didn’t get to actually leave the airport. I thought it was pretty cool.
Then I arrived at the airport there in Little Rock. Stupid me, I had forgotten to call the day before and check the flight schedule. They had changed it and hadn’t notified me. Instead of flying out at 11:40am the flight I was supposed to be on had taken off at 7:00am. In talking to them I learned that it was indeed their fault and that they should have called me, e-mailed me, or something so they were more than happy to get me on another flight.
The problem was, there was no other flight to Atlanta. I’ll admit, that kind of freaked me out. At first they were talking about sending me to Tel Aviv by another route. I think Zurich (Switzerland) was the airport they mentioned. However, when I told them that I was supposed to be meeting the rest of my party in Milan and then flying with them to Tel Aviv, they quickly shifted gears and started trying to get me to meet up with my flight to Milan from Atlanta.
To make a very long story very short indeed, I made it to Atlanta in time for my original flight to Milan. True, I got there by way of Cincinnati, but I’m not going to quibble about that. At least I got there. And hey, I saw a new airport. It was a pretty good deal.
The funny thing was, even though I arrived at my departure gate in Atlanta a mere fifteen minutes before the flight to Milan was scheduled to take off (Yes, ask me about running five terminals worth of the Atlanta airport sometime…) the boarding area was still packed with people waiting to board. I was expecting to be the last one on. You know, roll in Secret Agent style just as they were closing the door. Yeah, that’s kind of what I had in mind.
But like I said, that wasn’t the case. Not at all. As it turned out, the flight had been delayed coming in so, naturally, it was delayed in its departure.
To once again significantly shorten a rather long story, the flight was delayed just over two hours.
Aha! I hear those gears grinding in your heads. That’s right, I only had an hour and a half worth of layover in Milan. No, the math doesn’t work and no, just because I teach math doesn’t mean I can make those numbers add up. It didn’t work. I missed my flight.
Not a big deal though, or so I kept telling myself, I landed at 10:30 and the stewardess told me that there was another flight leaving for Tel Aviv at 12:30. I would have plenty of time to make that flight. Dr. Fisher would realize what happened and wait for me at the airport in Tel Aviv. I’d already left a message on his phone explaining everything from Atlanta. I just knew this wasn’t going to be a problem.
That was, until I found the transfers desk and realized just how long this was going to take. There were about fifty of us on the flight from Atlanta who had missed our connections. No, not a pretty sight. Most of these people where very upset. The ladies working the transfer desk were about to go nuts with all the work and grumpy people.
This is when I learned my first lesson in dealing with people from other cultures:
Sarcasm is completely lost on people who are not native speakers of your language.
Oh, I can hear you laughing. It was pretty funny. After waiting in line for over half an hour I finally stepped up to the counter when the lady called “The next one please!” in a stiff Italian accent and brightly commented, “Boy, it sure looks like you’re all having fun!”
Seriously, my voice wasn’t just dripping with sarcasm, it was marinated in it! But just as seriously, she missed it. All I got was a look that could have curdled milk while it was still in the cow and a very stern, “We are working very, very hard here. What is it you need?”
So yeah, that’s lesson number one.
Once again, I will abbreviate this story immensely in order to make it readable in a single sitting.
They got me a boarding pass, they checked my bags, they were about to escort me to the gate so that I would make it on time, and security showed up. It seems that they had forgotten that there was a routine round of questioning required before I could board the plane. The questions weren’t a big deal and the guy asking them was pretty cool, but it was another delay of about a half hour. Yup, you guessed it. I missed that flight too.
So there I was, once again dumped rather unceremoniously at the Delta check-in counter wondering what on earth was next. By this time I was pretty sick and tired of dragging my suitcases around the Milan airport.
Then the strangest news of all came. There were no more flights to Tel Aviv that day. Not only that but all the flights going to other airports in Europe that had flights to Tel Aviv that day were full. There was no way to get me to Tel Aviv that day and the first of the two flights the next day was full as well. I was going to be there in Milan until 12:30pm the following day.
I was inwardly groaning at the prospect of spending the night curled up in one of the seriously messed up airport chairs behind me when the lady at the counter suddenly handed me my ticket for the next day and told me that a driver would be there in just a few moments to pick me up to take me to the hotel.
Yes, I got to spend the night in Northern Italy and not in the airport!
I was pretty jazzed. As it turned out, the Milan airport is actually about 55 kilometers outside of Milan itself and so they put me up in a hotel in a nearby village. After checking in, putting my bags in the room, and calling my folks I hit the streets; camera in hand. That was so much fun.
I found out rather quickly that the name of the village was “Somma Lombardo.” Pretty cool, huh Pop-pop? It was quite small with a population of just over six thousand and a lot of fun to walk around. Trying to find a gift shop, I talked to a lady who knew about ten English words. Seeing as how I know three Italian words, we had quite the lively conversation. There were many hand motions, monkey signs, and exasperated sighs, but we were laughing the whole time and I’m fairly sure we both enjoyed it. I know I did at least.
After a couple hours of walking I returned to the hotel, ate a quick dinner at the restaurant there, and went up to my room and crashed. Thirteen hours later, my alarm clock went off. Yeah, I was that tired.
I caught the airport shuttle from the lobby and back to the airport I went. My problems were not yet over though. When I went to check into the flight, the “standard” round of questioning was much more strenuous than it had been the day before. I think the lady was just having a bad day and taking it out on me. Whatever the reason, she decided that she didn’t like my answers and called her supervisor over. So I talked to her supervisor and her both for another fifteen minutes. At least he seemed to be in a good mood and was quite pleasant. However, she was still pitching a fit over something (I still don’t know what, they were arguing in Italian) and so they decided that I would get a complete search. That took about an hour and half.
I kid you not. First they pulled me off behind the curtains away from the rest of the passengers in line. Then they brought in the Italian police so that the police could get my permission to give the airline permission to search my bags without me present. Then the police officer had to go get a form for me to sign to prove that I had agreed to this. Then they had me open my bags and show them all the electronics in them. Then they took me somewhere else and searched me. Then I waited for about an hour before the supervisor finally showed up holding, of all things, the packet of tuna that Mom had me bring for a snack.
With a very grim face the security supervisor told me that everything except this one item had cleared their search and that if I wanted to board the plane I would have to agree to have this item destroyed. It was all I could do not to bust a gut laughing. I readily gave my permission and things started happening.
They quickly tagged my bags for the trip, gave me back my shoes, sweater, and passport (These were the items they had confiscated when they started the search) and escorted me to the gate.
I really don’t know why I was so tired, but I was. I fell asleep during take off. I didn’t even make it until the pilot turned off the seat belt light. I just zonked out. I woke up half way through the “The Illusionist”, watched the last half of it, and then we landed about twenty minutes later.
I was picked up at the Tel Aviv airport, driven to the Grand Court Hotel in Jerusalem, and there is where I met up with the rest of the group. I was about 26 hours late, but I got here. It was quite an adventure.
Yeah, that’s word for it. And yes, Dallas, every meaning of that word. To start with, it was not my day for air travel. Let me explain.
According to my ticket, which I purchased months ago, I was scheduled to fly from Little Rock to Atlanta, Atlanta to Milan (Italy), and then Milan to Tel Aviv (Israel). Sounds great, right? Yeah, I thought so too. Granted, I only had about an hour and a half layover in Milan, but at least I’d be able to say I was there even if I didn’t get to actually leave the airport. I thought it was pretty cool.
Then I arrived at the airport there in Little Rock. Stupid me, I had forgotten to call the day before and check the flight schedule. They had changed it and hadn’t notified me. Instead of flying out at 11:40am the flight I was supposed to be on had taken off at 7:00am. In talking to them I learned that it was indeed their fault and that they should have called me, e-mailed me, or something so they were more than happy to get me on another flight.
The problem was, there was no other flight to Atlanta. I’ll admit, that kind of freaked me out. At first they were talking about sending me to Tel Aviv by another route. I think Zurich (Switzerland) was the airport they mentioned. However, when I told them that I was supposed to be meeting the rest of my party in Milan and then flying with them to Tel Aviv, they quickly shifted gears and started trying to get me to meet up with my flight to Milan from Atlanta.
To make a very long story very short indeed, I made it to Atlanta in time for my original flight to Milan. True, I got there by way of Cincinnati, but I’m not going to quibble about that. At least I got there. And hey, I saw a new airport. It was a pretty good deal.
The funny thing was, even though I arrived at my departure gate in Atlanta a mere fifteen minutes before the flight to Milan was scheduled to take off (Yes, ask me about running five terminals worth of the Atlanta airport sometime…) the boarding area was still packed with people waiting to board. I was expecting to be the last one on. You know, roll in Secret Agent style just as they were closing the door. Yeah, that’s kind of what I had in mind.But like I said, that wasn’t the case. Not at all. As it turned out, the flight had been delayed coming in so, naturally, it was delayed in its departure.
To once again significantly shorten a rather long story, the flight was delayed just over two hours.
Aha! I hear those gears grinding in your heads. That’s right, I only had an hour and a half worth of layover in Milan. No, the math doesn’t work and no, just because I teach math doesn’t mean I can make those numbers add up. It didn’t work. I missed my flight.
Not a big deal though, or so I kept telling myself, I landed at 10:30 and the stewardess told me that there was another flight leaving for Tel Aviv at 12:30. I would have plenty of time to make that flight. Dr. Fisher would realize what happened and wait for me at the airport in Tel Aviv. I’d already left a message on his phone explaining everything from Atlanta. I just knew this wasn’t going to be a problem.
That was, until I found the transfers desk and realized just how long this was going to take. There were about fifty of us on the flight from Atlanta who had missed our connections. No, not a pretty sight. Most of these people where very upset. The ladies working the transfer desk were about to go nuts with all the work and grumpy people.
This is when I learned my first lesson in dealing with people from other cultures:
Sarcasm is completely lost on people who are not native speakers of your language.
Oh, I can hear you laughing. It was pretty funny. After waiting in line for over half an hour I finally stepped up to the counter when the lady called “The next one please!” in a stiff Italian accent and brightly commented, “Boy, it sure looks like you’re all having fun!”
Seriously, my voice wasn’t just dripping with sarcasm, it was marinated in it! But just as seriously, she missed it. All I got was a look that could have curdled milk while it was still in the cow and a very stern, “We are working very, very hard here. What is it you need?”
So yeah, that’s lesson number one.
Once again, I will abbreviate this story immensely in order to make it readable in a single sitting.
They got me a boarding pass, they checked my bags, they were about to escort me to the gate so that I would make it on time, and security showed up. It seems that they had forgotten that there was a routine round of questioning required before I could board the plane. The questions weren’t a big deal and the guy asking them was pretty cool, but it was another delay of about a half hour. Yup, you guessed it. I missed that flight too.
So there I was, once again dumped rather unceremoniously at the Delta check-in counter wondering what on earth was next. By this time I was pretty sick and tired of dragging my suitcases around the Milan airport.
Then the strangest news of all came. There were no more flights to Tel Aviv that day. Not only that but all the flights going to other airports in Europe that had flights to Tel Aviv that day were full. There was no way to get me to Tel Aviv that day and the first of the two flights the next day was full as well. I was going to be there in Milan until 12:30pm the following day.
I was inwardly groaning at the prospect of spending the night curled up in one of the seriously messed up airport chairs behind me when the lady at the counter suddenly handed me my ticket for the next day and told me that a driver would be there in just a few moments to pick me up to take me to the hotel.
Yes, I got to spend the night in Northern Italy and not in the airport!
I was pretty jazzed. As it turned out, the Milan airport is actually about 55 kilometers outside of Milan itself and so they put me up in a hotel in a nearby village. After checking in, putting my bags in the room, and calling my folks I hit the streets; camera in hand. That was so much fun.
I found out rather quickly that the name of the village was “Somma Lombardo.” Pretty cool, huh Pop-pop? It was quite small with a population of just over six thousand and a lot of fun to walk around. Trying to find a gift shop, I talked to a lady who knew about ten English words. Seeing as how I know three Italian words, we had quite the lively conversation. There were many hand motions, monkey signs, and exasperated sighs, but we were laughing the whole time and I’m fairly sure we both enjoyed it. I know I did at least.
After a couple hours of walking I returned to the hotel, ate a quick dinner at the restaurant there, and went up to my room and crashed. Thirteen hours later, my alarm clock went off. Yeah, I was that tired.
I caught the airport shuttle from the lobby and back to the airport I went. My problems were not yet over though. When I went to check into the flight, the “standard” round of questioning was much more strenuous than it had been the day before. I think the lady was just having a bad day and taking it out on me. Whatever the reason, she decided that she didn’t like my answers and called her supervisor over. So I talked to her supervisor and her both for another fifteen minutes. At least he seemed to be in a good mood and was quite pleasant. However, she was still pitching a fit over something (I still don’t know what, they were arguing in Italian) and so they decided that I would get a complete search. That took about an hour and half.
I kid you not. First they pulled me off behind the curtains away from the rest of the passengers in line. Then they brought in the Italian police so that the police could get my permission to give the airline permission to search my bags without me present. Then the police officer had to go get a form for me to sign to prove that I had agreed to this. Then they had me open my bags and show them all the electronics in them. Then they took me somewhere else and searched me. Then I waited for about an hour before the supervisor finally showed up holding, of all things, the packet of tuna that Mom had me bring for a snack.
With a very grim face the security supervisor told me that everything except this one item had cleared their search and that if I wanted to board the plane I would have to agree to have this item destroyed. It was all I could do not to bust a gut laughing. I readily gave my permission and things started happening.
They quickly tagged my bags for the trip, gave me back my shoes, sweater, and passport (These were the items they had confiscated when they started the search) and escorted me to the gate.
I really don’t know why I was so tired, but I was. I fell asleep during take off. I didn’t even make it until the pilot turned off the seat belt light. I just zonked out. I woke up half way through the “The Illusionist”, watched the last half of it, and then we landed about twenty minutes later.
I was picked up at the Tel Aviv airport, driven to the Grand Court Hotel in Jerusalem, and there is where I met up with the rest of the group. I was about 26 hours late, but I got here. It was quite an adventure.
Wednesday, December 13, 2006
In the Beginning...
Well folks, this is it. Yes indeed, this is the great day which many of us have been looking forward to for some time. Today is the official beginning of this blog marking the beginning of the official record of my trip to Israel.
For those of you who have stumbled onto this site from some source other than myself or one of my friends, I am Jonathan Marshall. As a follower of Christ, a slightly eccentric algebra teacher, and all around nut-case, it is my pleasure to welcome you to this blog.
Over the next three weeks I will be attempting to update this blog as often as possible with pictures, stories, and other varieties of pointless yet hopefully entertaining information about my wanderings in the Holy Lands.
And that, my friends, is about all I have to say. Please, leave me a note and let me know you're reading. That will be quite encouraging. But be aware, I hope to post much longer and more interesting articles in the future.
Until then,
Jonathan Marshall
Galatians 2:20
For those of you who have stumbled onto this site from some source other than myself or one of my friends, I am Jonathan Marshall. As a follower of Christ, a slightly eccentric algebra teacher, and all around nut-case, it is my pleasure to welcome you to this blog.Over the next three weeks I will be attempting to update this blog as often as possible with pictures, stories, and other varieties of pointless yet hopefully entertaining information about my wanderings in the Holy Lands.
And that, my friends, is about all I have to say. Please, leave me a note and let me know you're reading. That will be quite encouraging. But be aware, I hope to post much longer and more interesting articles in the future.
Until then,
Jonathan Marshall
Galatians 2:20
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