Recap

Phew! It certainly has been a while. So much has happened in the last month... It might take me more than one post to get caught up but now that I'm settled hopefully things will even out a little bit!

Where to start...? I guess I will go chronologically and hopefully (someday) end up in the present! Apologies for the instagrams and iphone photos but someone (ahem, mom) forgot to pack a camera charger so this is what we have for now...

Israel:

After leaving Istanbul, mom and I had the pleasure of spending a few days in Israel. We flew into Tel Aviv but drove straight to Jerusalem where we spent two nights. Jerusalem is pretty crazy. Everything is all one color - a kind of yellow beige - and things tend to look older and dirtier than they really are. Which is not to say things aren't old... they most certainly are, but even the new buildings look worn down in the bright, dry light. Adding to the monochrome is the fact that many of the people in Jerusalem dress exclusively in black and white (as is traditional for the Orthodox). I think mom and I were continually amazed that people could be wearing so much clothing in 100 degree heat and not be melting into little puddles on the sidewalk... alas, it must be a matter of aclimatization.

 

jerusalem

Following the supposed footsteps of Jesus through the Old City of Jerusalem was a truly humbling experience. Believer or not, I just spent 4 years of my life studying religion and none of it really compared to the look of wonder on peoples' faces as they entered some of the World's holiest sites. At one point, mom and I just sat in the back of a church and watched the tears roll down peoples' faces while they touched the place from which Jesus ascended. Like I said... humbling. My other favorite parts of Jerusalem were: (1) standing at the Wailing Wall (in the womens section, of course) watching people pray and sway and seeing all the little notes full of wishes tucked into the cracks, and (2) visiting the Israel Musem and seeing the Dead Sea Scrolls and afterwards wandering through a pretty incredible sculpture garden.

sculpture garden

mom at the sculpture garden

Having sites that are foundational for Christians, Jews, and Muslims all in one place was pretty incredible but also nervewracking; the underlying tensions between the groups was palpable in Jerusalem and many people told us that conflict could break out at any moment. When we moved to Tel Aviv for a night these tensions completely dissapated and memebers of many different faiths and ethnic groups coexisted peacefully. Our guide told us that in Tel Aviv people really don't care as much; it's a modern, busy, young city and it seems less burdened by the strains of history.

tel aviv

tel aviv at night

I don't know how else to say it, but I LOVED Tel Aviv. The people were amazingly friendly and kind (not to mention stunningly beautiful) and there was a really great mix of cosmopolitanism and tradition. We stayed in an amazing hotel room, ate great food, and mostly just took our time exploring on foot and poking into shops here and there. For me, Tel Aviv was the most relaxing place we went - if not for all the Hebrew, it could have been anywhere in Europe.

Jordan:

We took a late flight out of Tel Aviv and landed in Amman at about 12 AM. After waiting for an hour for our bags in the dingy airport, we drove into the city and straight to the hotel where we crashed pretty quickly. We met our guide Mo in the morning and did a quick tour of Amman before driving 2 hours to the old city of Petra. Amman reminded me of a small Istanbul, and like Tel Aviv and Istanbul, it was very modern and European. It wasn't until we drove through a small market on the outskirts of the city that mom and I both looked at eachother and said "we're someplace different now." Jordan was definitely the only place we traveled to that we felt truly like outsiders.

ruins in jordan (amman in background)

Petra, which appeared in an Indiana Jones movie and several other films, is, simply put, amazing. To enter the old city you have to walk through a series of passages with naturally made stone walls looming over you. Along the passage there are little caves and arches carved that were meant to be praying stops for travellers but the main attraction is the enormous facade that is carved directly into a rockface. One minute you're surrounded by rock, and then next you step out into an open plaza with the impossbily large monument directly in front of you. It is awe inspiring to say the very least. I thought mom was going to pee herself in excitement. We stood in the shadow of the facade for a long time and just wondered at it; it's so large, and so out of place, it feels like it can't be real.

entrance to petra

old city of petra

camel friend

petra facade

mom and i in the rock

Our last night in Petra we had a private cooking class where we learned to make several traditional Jordanian meals. It was really fun and so so nice to cook for ourselves and not eat in another hotel restaurant! The next day we took off early for the Dead Sea, stopping along the way at a mosaic shop where mom bought a gorgeous handmade table and the guides took one of many smoke breaks. When we got to the Dead Sea we checked into a day room at a hotel/resort, changed into swim suits, and headed immidiately to the water. I cannot explain how insane swimming in the Dead Sea is - it was truly a once in a lifetime experience. When you step into the sea you just bob up and down like a human cork and attempting to change positions inevitably makes you look like a beached white seal - it really is not pretty.

dead sea = below sea level

dead sea

After our dip we ate lunch and got back in the car to drive to the Jordanian-Israeli border. Let me tell you, crossing the border between an Arab country and Israel is not at all like going from Washington to Canada. We had to pass through at least a dozen check points, all of which are guarded by large men with AK-47's, and the one mile bus trip took about an hour. It was an eye opening experience and one that I won't soon forget. We were met on the Israeli side by a driver who took us back into Tel Aviv for dinner before our red-eye to Seattle. On the way, however, we drove past the wall that separated the West Bank and Israel. I have to say, as someone who has studied the Arab-Israeli conflict in detail, nothing prepared me for how eerie and sad that wall really is. I never knew that 30 feet of stark cement, peppered with graffiti and interrupted only by guarded check points, could be so intimidating and devastating.

the wall between the west bank and israel

After a sushi dinner, a ticket mix-up that almost made us miss our flight, and a 16 hour-long flight home in cushy business class, we made it back to Seattle in one piece!