Saturday, October 10, 2009
Saturday, August 8, 2009
Goooood neewwws!!! I am back in Andover.
I got here yesterday evening. The travelling went great, with the exception of the three hours I spent dealing with airport security in Tel Aviv. At the time, it was emotionally traumatic, but I am happy to be able to say that now I think it's funny. When I got to Chicago, I got to see Mom and Frances, who came out to the airport to see me. Mom bought me a delicious turkey and cheese croissant (turkey! and cheese! together again!) and it was SO good to get to see them. In OKC, I was greeted at the airport by my boyfriend Cody, and Deah, my friend who has been in Russia since December. Basically, it was a stupendous day, even if it was quite long.
I am now back in Andover, spending some quality time with the cat. At this point we are still on good terms. I've been unpacking and sleeping and doing laundry and being lazy. I'm looking forward to tomorrow, when my family gets back from Wisconsin. Oh how happy we will be! It will be like the turkey and cheese moment, only better.
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
I still really want a cheeseburger
What does the name Tel Aviv mean? I'm so glad you asked! "Tel" is Hebrew for hill, but specifically a mound that has been created from cities built on the ruins of other cities, making a hill with layers of history. "Aviv" means spring. I like the two words together, because one is about having a rich past, and one is about having a hopeful future. Words are great, right? End of linguistics lecture.
Since I got here, I have tried a plethora of interesting foods! Let me tell you about that.
- At a restaurant in Jaffo called Dr. Shokshouka, I had a delicious potato stuffed with lamb or beef or something. It was splendid, and I wish I remembered the actual name of it.
- My friend Shayna brought some watermelon to the beach, and it was orange! So weird! It tasted fine, but a little like flour. I hope it wasn't poisonous.
- Last night I went to Max Brenner's Chocolate Bar, which was as magical as it sounds. I had chocolate souffle that was served with ice cream, a beaker of hot fudge sauce, and little chocolatey pebble things. I may never need to eat chocolate again.
- Frozen yogurt adventure--passionfruit, mango, pineapple, and a strawberry. It's a good combination!
- Pastries I have eaten include 1) something that may have been a donut, and 2) a potato bureka. Imagine mashed potatoes in puff pastry. Mmm food.
Monday, August 3, 2009
Final day in the northern tundras of Israel
Yesterday Anika and Sandrine and I went to Caesarea, which is a port city built by King Herod to impress the Roman emperor and the American tourists. Paul was imprisoned there for two years before they shipped him off to Rome. Today there are a lot of ruins and expensive restaurants and a beach. Anika and I fell asleep on the beach for a while, but Sandrine, who has more energy than anyone really needs, swam all over the place and made friends and business connections and even found people she knows from France.
Sandrine in front of some ruins. This spot has been home to a Roman temple, a Christian cathedral, a mosque, another Christian cathedral, a fortress, and now piles of rocks.
In its glory days, this was the freshwater swimming pool in Herod's palace. Now it is a saltwater swimming pool for little Israeli kids who don't want to pay twenty shekels to go to the beach.
This is from two days ago, in Akko. Here we have Boris and Anika in the Crusader tunnels. It might look like they are talking on phones, but actually we all had these audio guides that told us about the history of everything. It was a lot like being on the phone with a longwinded, conceited, boring British woman.
Ollie and Sandrine decided that they needed to stop at a hookah bar and smoke some shisha. No illegal substances were involved, just "double apple" flavored tobacco, that Ollie thought sounded more intriguing than regular apple. We spent forever trying to get an awesome picture of them both blowing smoke, but it still didn't work that great and I ended up with a lot of really hilarious pictures of Sandrine.
Anika and Boris on top of the wall promenade in Akko. This picture makes me happy because I don't see grass very often these days.
Saturday, August 1, 2009
Ani ochelet harbe harbe pitot!
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Capernaum Capers! har har har
We left at six this morning, and pedalled our way to the Mount of Beatitudes. Notice the "Mount" part of that name. It is definitely on a mountain. We eventually made it, right as everything was opening. We saw the Church of the Beatitudes, and a lot of tourists. We were feeling a little poor in spirit, but sat and ate grapes and looked out at the lake and that refreshed us a bit.
Down the mountain was absolutely splendid! Praise God that uphill is downhill when you're going the other direction! We went to the Church of the Primacy of St. Peter, then made it to Capernaum and saw the site of Peter's house and the synagogue. It was very pretty. Jesus picked a nice place, with the exception of the weather. We did a little more treading where he hath trod, then started the trip back.
Capernaum is 17 km from Tiberias, which in miles, is a really stinking long way. It's actually not that far, and should have taken us way less time than it did, but I'm a pansy, and it was HOT, and there were HILLS. I think it was the hardest workout I've ever had. Y-Box has nothing on highway 90 through the Galilee. I sweated more than I ever have in my life (possibly total), and drank extreme amounts of water. I was sooo gross when we finally got back. Plus I have a sunburn and my Toms tan got worse. I never want to see a bicycle ever again.
Now I'm done complaining. Thanks for your patience! I feel a lot better now that I took a shower, but I predict a lot of soreness in my future. Tomorrow we are leaving for Haifa, so that should be good. Here are a few pictures for you:
The Church of the Beatitudes, built on a possible site of the Sermon on the Mount.
The synagogue in Capernaum, along with a guy I don't know.
A group of French people listening to The Sermon in the Tourist Trap.
When I was reading my Bible a few minutes ago, a lentil fell out. This makes me happy. I like lentils.
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
I do like to be beside the seaside
Tiberias is SO HUMID. I'm not sure how people can live here. The hills and lake are beautiful, so maybe that's why they put up with the heat.