Chillin' at the Airport

Well, it's 2:37 am. I'm sitting in the Ben Gurion airport in Tel Aviv, Israel, and I am completely amazed at where the last 3 weeks have taken me... I am also completely exhausted!

We were able to get a shuttle to the airport from Jerusalem for pretty cheap. However, the shuttle left at 9 pm, arriving in Tel Aviv at 10-ish. Our flight doesn't leave until 5:55 am... thank goodness for free wireless internet! :)

We're glad to be coming home... I'll post pictures from our last adventure in a few days... 

Just wanted to say thanks for all the support in this trip of a lifetime!

Day with a Tour Guide... Sorta...

Once upon a time, the hostel offered a tour to Masada and the Dead Sea. So we went. It turned out to be like a taxi driver who waited around for us... But it was great!

Stop #1: Masada. Old fortress of Herod's. Yeah, that's right, another one. Only this one is on top of a 1500 foot mountain that pops out of the middle of nowhere, so you can see everything from far away... It's wicked sweet! :) Check out the view...

Herod knew how to do food storage. (1 bonus point for him). He had 29 rooms for storing food, water, and weapons so that his whole little village on top of the mountain could survive for months!

Stop #2: Dead Sea. This is one of the only things I wanted to do on this trip: so, here we are... floating in the Dead Sea! It was amazing! It's like trying to swim in Jell-O! And, it was saltier than I ever imagined! 

We're all wet...

Part of this mighty adventurous stop was lathering ourselves in burning hot mud that smelled like sulfur. It was so awesome. Our skin was SO smooth after this episode!

Stop #3: Meet Sha Sha, the Camel. Cute, huh? The owner kept saying "Smile, Sha Sha..."

So, what do you do with a camel? You ride it of course! 

(Here's the part where a funny story comes in... the other night some guy came up and offered Mama 50 camels for me! That's right! 50 camels! Another guy overheard him and said "She's worth more than that! At least 50 camels, 100 chickens, and 20 sheep!" Needless to say, I was slightly flattered...)

Here's us with Sha Sha and our travel buddy, Aaron. We met him at the hostel. He's been fun to travel around Jerusalem with, and he's been very patient as well! :) 

We were exhausted by the end of the day... more to come!

Jerusalem so far...

Well, we made it to Jerusalem! It is certainly different than what we've become familiar with, but it has been an amazing adventure so far...

We're staying at a hostel. I love it... Mom is getting used to it! :) Our hostel is actually on top of a little fruit market:

It is called the Palm Hostel, and is located right next to the Damascus Gate, one of the entrances into the Old City of Jerusalem. 

We found a little restaurant (Abu Khalil Grill) where Mom ordered a whole chicken. :) Ok, not quite, but it was listed on the menu as half a chicken... :) Good luck with that one, Mama!

I ate more pitas. Pitas are the thing around here. I got bored with just eating it, so I made it talk. Its name is Steve.

Ok, with all that funny business out of the way, let me tell you a bit about Jerusalem. We've explored the city for 2.5 days so far, but this blog will make you think we've done it all in one day. Ah, the magic of TV... er... blogging....

One of our very favorite places so far has been the Garden Tomb. This is not actually located in the Old City, but is nearby, about 200 meters (1/8 mile) from Damascus Gate. This is where the Orthodox believe the crucifixion and burial of Jesus took place, instead of the traditional location inside the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. There was a very different feel near this spot. It was so much more peaceful than anything inside the Old City! It was like the difference between the Cantata and a Metallica concert... if that makes any sense! It was really so beautiful. Amazing gardens, very peaceful... I loved it! 

Mom and I at the entrance to the tomb...

We also visited the Wailing or Western Wall. Talk about different in comparison to the Garden Tomb! It was very interesting for us to see, however! The men and women are separated so as not to touch each other. People write requests and shove tiny papers in between the stones. Mama had to cover her head, as well, because she is married. 

We discovered a beautiful view of the Dome of the Rock and surrounding sites...

Later, after exploring the city, walking the Via Dolorosa, and negotiating prices with piranha-like merchants, we took a walk up to the Mount of Olives and watched the sun set over the city. It was one of the most breathtaking views!

More to come on this Holy City...

Caesarea

For our last adventure on the west side of Israel, we decided to go see a little Roman history. That's right, folks, Roman history... 

Once upon a time, there was a king named Herod. Let me tell you everything I knew about him before this adventure: 

He killed babies.

That's all I knew. Well, as it turns out, he was a king who (surprise) loved his reputation. So, he built (actually, he had built for him) the first ever fake harbor. It has since been torn down and rebuilt about a million times. Really, only 3, but still...

Anyway, this place used to be HUGE. It used to be a big glorified country club for VIP Romans, complete with a private marina. It really helped Herod's reputation, but that's about it. Here's a view of the south side...

Herod had a huge racing stadium built, where they raced horses. Its called the Hippodrome, meaning "circus." This is on the bathhouses off to the side...

Mom found an available chariot for racing... get ready, get set, CHARGE!

Our last stop for the day was the old Roman Theater. Imagine our surprise when we walked into a bunch of people setting up for a huge concert that night! It was pretty sweet... So we took a picture! :) For the record, the concert was Machina... I've never heard of them/her/him... Also, for the record, Nok Out bars come no where close to Magnum bars on the chocolate scale. They fall underneath even Hershey... yep. That bad.

Hitchhiking Guide to Lebanon...

Monday, we decided to go up north... again... We wound up in a town called Kiryat Shmona. Look it up. You'll see how close we were to Lebanon. :) We met a nice guy who spoke English... he said "see, past those buildings over there? That's Lebanon..."

Woops!

The best part about this all, and I can't believe I haven't written this yet, is that we were on a bus FULL of Israeli soldiers! I'm not kidding when I say full... we had to stand for a large majority of the time... yeah. Interesting. 

So, we decided to make the most of our long journey and go see the Jordan River! :) We wound up at Israeli Hippie-ville... I loved it. :) It was some Thai village, but enough people spoke English that we were ok. :) We were able to see where the Jordan River meets the Dan River. :) 

We continued down the path to Lebanon... and found the Banias Falls! 

We thought about playing in the water... but only got up to our ankles...

We decided to head back, only to learn that if we wanted to call a taxi we needed to speak either Hebrew or Spanish with a thick Hebrew accent. Since I'm not fluent in either of these, we had an enjoyable time hitchhiking in a big truck and then finding a taxi on a random street.... here's us, mid-experience! :) Interesting note: Behind us is what is called a Kibbutz (said Ki-boots) which is practically Zion. They are found all over Israel!

For the record, we survived... ;)

While the Girls are away....

It was a busy Monday. But, while Karen and Roxy hitchhike across Israel (don't everybody panic at once...)we had a little home evening of our own.

I watered my roses…




Kristina gave a lesson on the Holy Ghost
Daniel made chocolate poop cookies....





Christopher cooked dinner,
And Kristina beat us all in a competitive game of "Ticket To Ride". You go girl!


This just in… a flock of chickens spotted carrying a large object flew over the carter house, depositing this creature in the crows nest of a large dead tree....

The Point of This All...

For those who don't know, the whole reason there was a trip to Israel in the first place is because I (Roxy) was invited to present at the Export Institute Seminar in Tel Aviv. This all came about because of a few things... most of you (if you are blog fans) know that I lived in Brussels, Belgium for a marketing internship with a company called Obelis. The last month or so I was there, my boss, Doram, came to me and told me about a seminar taking place in June. He had just returned from Israel (as he is Israeli) and told the man in charge (on a whim, it sounded like) that Obelis would be presenting on the WEEE directive (a European law about recycling electronic waste). The man's eyes got wide and he became very excited, so Doram had the whole 4 hour trip home to think about what to do. As it turns out, this was the very directive I had been researching! He asked me to present at the seminar because I knew the directive the best. Initially, he wanted me to stay another 4 months, but something about that didn't feel right. So, we worked out a nice little deal that the company would fly me to Israel to present in June. 

And here we are! Today is the day that has made this all possible! I am actually still in the seminar, but most of it is in Hebrew so I don't feel bad blogging during it all. :) I was the second to present this morning, out of eight presenters, and it went so well! 

Thanks for all the prayers in my behalf...

Check out that pretty Mac! :)

Sabbath Stroll

Once upon a time, in Israel, the Sabbath day is actually Saturday. Mom and I went for a little stroll after my blogging marathon and came upon this wonderful set of statues in the city center of Netanya! Its a little band! We played with them just enough to get some fun pictures for your viewing pleasure!

Mama enjoyed dancing with the large man of stone...

I got stuck looking at the size of his bass! ;)

On our way home we passed a sign I couldn't resist posting... Can you see what it says?

(The answer is: Pazgas)

Brunch!

I do apologize for 5 posts in one day, but I don't know when I'll get the chance to post again... :)

This morning we went to brunch with the Obelis gang... they have a "Traditional Elkayam Brunch" the first Saturday they are here, at the same place every time. So, today, they asked us if we would join! The brunch was delicious... omelettes, salad, bread and butter... we were so full from dinner last night that I don't know how we ate everything today! :) After brunch, we went for a walk around the park that is next to the restaurant. This is a view from the other side of the lake. We ate under one of those umbrellas you see in the picture...

Not everyone went for a walk. It was too hot for some... :) From right to left: (I know, kind of an awkward way to label pictures, but its much easier for this one...) Me, Mom, Neta (who acted as our tour guide), Osnat, Peter (who is presenting at the seminar as well), and Liron (Osnat's daughter). 

There were pelicans at the lake! The only time I have ever seen a pelican before is in Finding Nemo... :D It was beautiful, though!

Mom found some giant railroad whistles. They were pretty fun. I think she's been inspired to write a song... 

This is walking through the park. It was too scenic to NOT take a picture!

Change of Plans

Our plan for Wednesday was to go on a tour of the northern part of Israel... Unfortunately, the tour decided to leave without us and we became our own tour guides. It was quite an adventure, to say the least! We waited for a while for the bus to come. While we were waiting, we found this wonderful sign right by a tunnel that goes under the highway...

We finally arrived in our destination: Nazareth! We met some guys from Utah (what are the odds?) as we stepped off the bus. One of them spoke Hebrew and had been to Nazareth 3 or 4 times before. We decided to spend some time with them. It was wonderful! We went first to the Church of the Annunciation. This is where, supposedly, Mary first learned that she would be the mother of the Savior. 

It was a beautiful church. However, mom and I both had our knees showing (risqué, don't you think?) and so we had to go rent (for a deposit, only) sheets to wrap around our waists... It was an interesting experience, to say the least! It was worth it, though. The church was beautiful! There were mosaics from many countries all around the church, as well.  Each mosaic was of Mary and the baby Jesus. It was pretty neat!

Our next stop was Mary's well. This is the only well in Nazareth, and so is believed to be the well talked of in the bible. 

This is looking into the back of the church, where the well is located. It was a small church, but beautifully decorated.

The 3rd church visit for the day was the Synagogue Church. This was the most amazing experience all day. This is where Christ first declared himself the Messiah! (Luke 4: 16-21). It was very small, but had some interesting arches inside. The coolest thing, though, was to open up the New Testament and read about what happened there. It was amazing how the spirit flooded the room! 

We walked until we found a bus stop out of the city. Nazareth really is built on a hill. It is so interesting. We took a bus around hairpin turns to get in and out of the city! It was a crowded city, as well, but very beautiful. And it was amazing to think that we were walking in the city where Jesus was from! What an incredible opportunity it was to be there!