Israel, first impressions

Sunday January 27th, Tel Aviv

I am not sure how to break up this blog post.  I could post something short every day, or I could save it all up and post at the end...I have the time tonight to write about my first impressions and maybe put up some pictures, think about some expectations, and then push publish.  My tour starts tomorrow, so I will potentially have more to post tomorrow night (who knows if I will have internet), but maybe I will have actual humans to hang out with, I guess we'll just see how it goes.

First, why did I come?  This was one of only three questions that the passport control person asked me.  (I had been prepared for serious questioning, but maybe that waits for me upon exiting.)  I had originally thought I would go to Antarctica during this semester break, thinking I would never have two weeks off in southern hemisphere summer that wasn't Christmas again.  Sarah Doty talked me out of it saying this was too late to go and the only penguins left I wouldn't want to see.  Ann will say that I couldn't stand the idea that she has been somewhere I haven't, which isn't true, but it did occur to me that this is a long way to come from California and a very short way from Turkey, so it might be a good idea to get it done while I am close.  Of course the reason that Israel is interesting to me at all is that it is full of history.  I have heard the stories from the Bible for my entire life and I can't pass up the chance to see the places they happened.

I have already had a taste of this living in Turkey.  I have seen both the Tigris and Euphrates (albeit at their north east beginnings and just at the tip of the so called fertile crescent).  I have been to Ephesus and seen where Mary supposedly spent her last days as St. Peter preached to the Roman City.  Regarding more recent church history, Constantinople was the seat of the Eastern Church, and Iznik (ancient Nicea) saw important church doctrine established.

There are very political reasons to come or not come to Israel but I am here to focus on the history.

Next week when I cross the border into Jordan, it will be much easier to answer the analogous question: Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade!

So what were my expectations?  I usually try not to have expectations, they cloud observation, they lead to disappointment, they take too much effort to come up with in the first place.  All that being said, of course I have expectations.  I expect Israel to be a serious contradiction between the ancient and the modern, perhaps even more striking than Istanbul.  I expect it to be warmer than Istanbul and less crowded.  I expect to see amazing things and connect to history in new ways.  I expect to try new foods and meet new people.

Now that I have been in the country for 4 hours, what are my first impressions?  It is warmer than istanbul (it had just started snowing as I was on the bus to the airport).  I was comfortable in jeans and a fleece walking around after dinner along the sea.  It is also dry.  I will have to buy water tomorrow.  My guide book says that the water is technically drinkable but tastes like chlorine and I can confirm this.

So far all three people I have interacted with have excellent English.  (The taxi driver sent to pick me up, the hotel concierge and the waiter at Pappa's)  I am sure this facility diminishes away from the service industry in touristy places, but there is definitely more English here than in Istanbul.

Tel Aviv is a city.  It isn't the main focus of the Holy Land tourists, people live and work here in ways completely separate from the tourist industry.  The streets are well enough lit and there are some folks walking after dark, enough not to feel unsafe, but nothing like the crowds in istanbul.  There are newish buildings that are run down, paint pealing, big cracks, etc.  I haven't seen any of what I would immediately recognize as an old builiding (more than 100 years old).

I can't read the signs.  I don't know if it mostly the fact that the alphabet is totally foreign to me, or if I have just forgotten how lost I was when I first moved to Turkey, but not even being able to make sounds out of the symbols makes me feel totally lost.  It is true that most signs are also in English,  but it would be a BIG adjustment to live here.

Ok, final first impression.  Ann told me to be on the alert for how the air feels in different places.  Here there is definitely a sea side taste in the air.  It feels dryer to me, but by the sea and warmer, should lead to more humid, so maybe I am just not drinking enough.  It was very cloudy/hazy when we landed and into the evening.  The moon was a big fuzzy blob.  I wonder if there are fires (wood or coal) used for heat near by and that particulate in the air is what I am mistaking for dryness.