Getting Here is Half the Fun

Getting here was characterized by a series of minor hiccups. But when you're leaving for 3 months, hoping you didn't forget to pack something important or leave your passport at home, minor hiccups can turn into whooping cough.

It started when our Uber driver called to say he was stuck on Stratford, in the middle of a line of cars, waiting for a garbage truck to finish emptying trash receptacles. And it looked like it was going to take a long time. And there was no way for him to break the logjam. Even tho it seemed like forever, the delay was only 5 minutes. We got to the airport at 435PM for our 7PM flight. And we got to sit in the brand new Flagship Lounge, which is reserved for first and business class passengers only. It was very nice; finally American has a lounge that is up to the standards of most international carriers.

Did I say 7PM flight? Oops. We went to the gate at 630, when boarding was due to begin but hadn't. There were several guys wearing jackets with the word MAINTENANCE going in and out of the jetway. Not a good sign. The clock kept ticking while the gate agents stood around chatting. Finally one of them made the announcement we'd all been waiting for: there was a problem with one of the tires and the brain trust was trying to decide if it really had to be changed. The consensus among the passengers was: of course you change it. Taking off and landing a fully loaded 777 (766,000 pounds - I googled it) with a bad tire is a bad idea. Duh. Maintenance finally agreed. OK, a one hour delay. Not bad for that kind of job, and they were going to board us while doing the repair. But they didn't, nor did they make any announcement to let us know what was happening. 

When I'd had enough of waiting I asked the gate agent what was going on. She said that it wasn't just a tire that was the problem; a part was broken which made the repair more complicated. They were deciding whether to repair this plane or put us on a different one. Departure time was still 8PM, which was getting less and less realistic by the minute. Finally an announcement. There was a plane that was supposed to go to Dallas at a nearby gate and they were talking to operations about making a swap. While all this was going on the flight crew were milling around the gate area. All of a sudden they all started to head in the direction of the other gate. I decided to follow. They got to the other gate, but didn't board. After several minutes of trying to figure out just what was happening, they all marched back to the original gate. While following them, the dreaded text came: AA150 has been cancelled. We're working to re-book you and will send an update soon.

OH NOOOOO

When I got back to our gate, the agent was trying to calm a bunch of agitated passengers, all of whom got the same text. Don't pay attention to that text, she said. Really? What's the point of signing up for flight info texts if they aren't accurate? Indeed after only 8 minutes another text came: AA150 has been reinstated, with a new departure time of 845PM. But a few minutes later they rolled in a very big rack of snacks - sandwiches, chips, soft drinks. Not a good sign in my opinion; we were in for another long delay, so we might as well go back to the Lounge. Who needs their crappy saran-wrapped sandwiches when we could be having something really good in a setting that was much nicer than the gate area. I did ask the gate agent if we had time to return to the Lounge; all we needed was for us to be sipping Bollinger while our flight took off. She assured us that it would be OK, so back to the Lounge we went. We barely got settled when they announced that our flight was boarding. We finally left at 945PM, a delay of nearly 3 hours.

We had an unusual experience on the flight. The head flight attendant went thru the cabin and introduced herself to each passenger. I don't know if this is some new AA policy, or if it was just her style. Whatever it was didn't quite compensate for the fact that they ran out of single malt and vegetarian meals. But considering the fact that it was 1030PM we didn't care about the meal service; we were going to go to sleep anyway, altho Sid was pissed about the scotch.

I slept well and didn't wake up until I heard a flight attendant say it was last call for breakfast. Not that I was hungry, but I wanted coffee and maybe a piece of fruit. When she got to my seat she said all they had left was quiche Lorraine. In that case, just bring me coffee and a croissant. I must have looked annoyed because she came back to my seat with a fruit plate that somehow magically appeared. She was probably keeping it for herself. And the basket of rolls contained not one single croissant. Imagine ... a flight to Paris and not a croissant in sight.

We made up an hour in the air and arrived in Paris with 2.5 hours to connect to our El Al flight. I was a bit concerned because El Al security is thorough and time consuming. I should have been more concerned about getting thru the transit area and security at DeGaulle. We had to walk about a mile to the security checkpoint, and as we put our stuff on the conveyor we were asked for our boarding passes. Uh oh. We didn't have them because AA couldn't print them in Chicago. OK, so let me see your reservation. Big UH OH. Because in my very misguided attempt to get with it and enter the 21st Century, I didn't print it out. Hey, there's an app for that. But in order for apps to work you need wifi. Fortunately there's wifi at the airport and I signed on, but couldn't get either of the 2 apps I have to display the reservation. The most I could show the guy was the flight number and when boarding was due to begin. So he pulled us out of line and called a supervisor. I had to convince her that we really did have a valid reservation, but I had nothing to show her. She finally believed us and let us thru. 

We actually had time to sit in the El Al lounge, which was pretty nice. But we hadn't cleared El Al security yet and I was wondering when this was going to happen. We decided to go to the gate a few minutes before boarding, and as we approached we heard ourselves paged over the loudspeaker. We had to pass El Al security, which was done at the gate. The agent asked the usual questions - who packed your luggage and has it been with you the entire time? What flight did you take to Paris? Can I see your boarding passes for that flight? How many bags did you check? Can I see the claim checks? When he called someone to verify the bags, he took a picture of the claim checks with his cell phone and sent it to the baggage handler. So how come everyone else is in the 21st Century and my apps don't work???? When everything checked out we got our boarding passes and were on our way.

El Al is a pleasure to fly. I remember the days, long long ago, when El Al was the acronym for Every Landing Always Late, and the inflight service motto was: get it yourself. Not any more. The flight attendants were cordial and even the food was good. Their slogan, roughly translated, is feel at home wherever you fly. And it's true. 

Israeli passport control was very crowded and we had to get into separate lines. Mine went faster than Sid's. Way faster. Citizenship does have its advantages. I retrieved all our bags before he came out. He must have been in the line with the passport control agent who asked even more questions than El Al security. 

We took a sherut to Jerusalem. The driver must have been in a big hurry to build his sukkah because he made it from the airport to the entrance to Jerusalem in 28 minutes in heavy traffic. In fact he was in such a hurry that he backed all the way up our one way street, which is about 3 blocks long. We were the last to be dropped off. As we shlepped our very heavy suitcases up to the second floor I realized that we had an extra bag. The driver just emptied the luggage compartment and drove off without either one of us realizing that he unloaded an additional suitcase, which happened to resemble one of ours. I called Nesher (the taxi company) to let them know. The bag's owner had already contacted them. Nesher took my phone number and gave it to the hapless suitcase owner, who called and thanked me profusely, and came right over to get it.

By this time it was around 1030PM. Luckily we have a 24-hour convenience store right up the street. We bought the necessities (coffee, milk, rolls and butter) for the morning, did some unpacking and went to sleep around midnight.

I slept fairly well till 8, Sid was up at 4. We went to the super market for a few more items to cover us for the next 48 hours, finished unpacking, made a few phone calls, and here I sit finishing my first post for this trip. 

Sukkot begins at sundown. 

Chag sameach from Jerusalem.

Identity

Several weeks ago I attended a lecture entitled "Genesis and the Big Bang". The speaker was a religious physicist, which is a contradiction in terms according enlightened western thought, but here he's just another brilliant scientist. He made the case, in terms I could barely understand but illustrated by a power point so it must be true, that in fact the world could have been created in 6 days.

Time as a concept has been on my mind lately, as we count down the days till we leave. Does time really speed up as we get older? When people say where has the time gone, where does it go? I have a very early (I must have been 5 or 6) memory of telling my father I wanted to be a grown up. He told me I'd be a grown up before I could turn around. Of course I turned around and said see, I'm still little. Then one day I turned around and found an adult staring back at me in the mirror. I can't rewind the tape and stop at the exact frame when the transition took place, any more than I can point to the moment when I began to implode due to the fact that we are leaving here in less than two weeks. With winter weather finally making an appearance in Chicago,  I'm even less inclined to get on that plane.

We rarely go to movies, but last Saturday night we went to a screening of Moonlight, which won the Oscar for best picture. Maybe we're not sophisticated enough to appreciate the subtleties, but neither one of us could understand what made this movie worthy of the Oscar. The acting was very good but the story didn't hold up. We found it to be choppy, trite, unconvincing, and it left too many loose ends. If it was about identity it didn't accomplish it's mission. As I thought about it, I couldn't help but wonder if the film would have won the same accolades if it had been set in Appalachia. Israel, particularly Jerusalem, is a place where identity is very important. It impacts where you live, go to school, how you dress, who you marry, your political affiliation, your livelihood, even how you spend your leisure time. How would the filmmaker capture the complexities of identity if the story was set here? Would he adequately portray the nuances, or would his characters be one-dimensional cutouts? An authentic film about identity in Israel is no easy task, one that this filmmaker isn't up to. 

Purim was celebrated on Sunday night and Monday. It's a big holiday here, and not just for kids. In Jerusalem the mayor, who is very big on public entertainment and festivities, made sure the right atmosphere was created by having all kinds of music and entertainment venues throughout the downtown area. We went to Pardes to hear the megilla. It was a good choice because we knew two of the readers, and almost everyone wore a costume.

The Jerusalem Marathon took place this morning. 25,000 runners participated, and the route went almost by our door. It's a difficult race because of all the hills. We've seen a lot of runners training in the neighborhood, including an increasing number of religious women who wear skirts over their tights. It brings to mind the burkini and hijab controversies in France, where religious garb can't be worn in public. Hmmmm. I wonder what kind of identity film Barry Jenkins would make about that.

Shabbat shalom from Jerusalem,
Peggy and Sid

Sushi, Shiatsu and the passage of time

Not everything I do here is of the brainiac variety. Some things are an attempt to bring out my (non-existent) creative side. Actually I have no patience for crafts and the like, but I do find certain activities therapeutic.

Besides ceramics, I signed up for a fruit carving class. (Batsheva can talk me into almost anything; isn't that what friends are for?) It's easier than it looks but it takes the right equipment and a certain amount of practice. Best of all, unlike ceramics, you don't have to wait for the results. (My mother used to make beautiful carved vegetables and watermelon baskets but I never had the interest to learn how to do it myself. There's a life lesson in that, but now isn't the time to explore it.)

On Monday we had a lesson in making fruit sushi. It was a demo only - no hands on - but it looked fairly simple. The results were beautiful and very tasty. Perhaps now people will stop bugging me about not eating sushi.

We love the Dead Sea. It's beautiful, especially for a desert person like me. The salt formations are unstable which makes the landscape new every time we go. We spent 3 days there this week. The weather was perfect - not too warm, cloudless blue skies, starry nights and an almost full moon. We stayed at a different hotel this time, the Isrotel Ganim, and we were very pleased.

       Not tabular icebergs off the coast of Antarctica,

                 but this year's salt formations.

            Yes, flowers. Lots and lots of flowers.

There are a lot of things a person can do in the desert, and we've done many, primarily hiking. This time we wanted to take it easy and be spoiled. We spent lots of time in the hotel's salt water pools and the spa. I've had spa treatments before but never shiatsu. I'd heard about how good it is for straightening the spine and loosening joints. I was also aware that it's painful. Well, the therapist looked like he trained at the Spetsnaz interrogation unit and I immediately regretted my decision to try this out. The treatment is done on a mat on the floor, which is uncomfortable enough, and it did hurt. Even standing up afterwards was difficult, and being told I was doing it wrong didn't help. It took a while to recover but in the end it was worthwhile.

We have two and a half weeks left here, and I'm fighting the end-of-trip depression that usually sets in 3-4 weeks ahead by filling our schedule as much as possible. There's a lot left to do, see and study, which keeps us busy but makes the time pass even quicker. As Sid said the other day as we floated in the salt water pool at the hotel, time doesn't go by, it runs away. Another life lesson best left for another time. 

Shabbat shalom from Jerusalem,

Peggy and Sid

Desert Wine

It's been a quiet week.

The highlight was the excursion we took on Tuesday to the Negev. Tours for locals is very popular here. There are tours for kids as part of their school curricula, tours for army draftees as part of their basic training, tours for workers as a company benefit and all kinds of tours for people in the third phase of life, which sounds a lot better than seniors citizens.

Even tho we were told the tour would begin at 730AM, it left about 45 minutes late. Naturally the first stop was a coffee break. We finally got to the first real stop - the Pula Reserve - which is a biosphere between the cities of Kiryat Gat and Sderot. There are many areas like this in Israel - unique biospheres and micro-climates. This one happens to be on the Israel Trail, which is a walking trail that goes the entire length of the country from Metulla in the north to Eilat in the south. Or if you prefer, from the Lebanese border to the Egyptian border. The anemone, the signature Israeli wildflower, is in bloom in the Negev at this time of year, and Pula is one of the places to view them. There's another fascinating plant that grows in the area. As the guide explained, this is the plant that made it possible to transition from nomadic hunter-gatherers to sedentary farmers. It sounded a bit exaggerated to me, but the explanation made sense. When burned, the plant reaches a temperature of 1700 degrees celsius. This makes it possible to soften the local limestone to a powdery substance, which, when mixed with water, forms plaster. The plaster was used to line cisterns to store water, thereby making it possible to have a water source.

We continued to the desert city of Arad and visited the local history museum. One of the town's original founders was our docent. Located roughly between Beersheva and the Dead Sea, 20th century Arad (as opposed to the biblical Arad located nearby) was founded in 1960, intended to be the first planned city in Israel. At the time there were good jobs and the city's micro-climate made it an ideal place to treat asthma. Well, that was then. Asthma was cured and the jobs dried up as factories closed. Tourism didn't really take off they way they hoped it would, with 4X4 jeep tours of the desert. Today the city is run down; the population is 22,000 and they keep losing people to the big cities where opportunities abound. We had lunch at the city's only hotel, although I can't imagine who stays there.

From there we went to the Large Machtesh. A machtesh is a geological phenomenon, similar to a crater, unique to Israel. It's formed when two mountains collapse into themselves, forming a valley or crater. There are 3 in Israel (Ramon, Large and Small) and the word has never been translated. We took a short hike into the machtesh to see yet another geological phenomenon: huge boulders that look very much like petrified wood, but there are no growth rings or any telltale signs of fossilized bugs and insects. They also have quartz-like characteristics. Yet the chemical analysis doesn't confirm what their composition really is. A mystery for the ages.

Our last stop was of all things a vineyard. Yes, in the middle of the desert. It turns out that 2500 years ago grapes thrived in this area, and were supplied to vintners. When the Muslims conquered in the 7th century alcohol consumption was banned, wine was no longer produced and the grape market dried up. Even back in those days it was all about the economy and jobs. When archaeologists started to explore the region and found wine amphora they realized grapes and wine had been produced here. Researchers from Ben Gurion University in Beersheva figured out how it was possible in the harsh desert conditions and voila, by using those same ancient methods an industry was re-born. We had a tasting and the wine was surprisingly good. Hopefully the bottle I bought will make it back to the States.

Shabbat shalom from Jerusalem,

Peggy and Sid

Catching up

It's been a very busy 10 days ...

This is our 4th extended trip to Israel. We've had company from the States each time, but this was the first time we've had a group. It was a great experience for us and for them.

My close friend (and first sister in law) Linda and her brother Denny arrived on Wednesday, February 8. We met them at the airport and headed straight to the Galilee for a 2 night stay. It was already dark when we left the airport so we missed the scenery along the way, and the ride took about half an hour more than usual due to traffic. We stayed at Ohalo Manor, which sounds more like it should be in Hawaii than the southern tip of the Sea of Galilee at Kibbutz Kinneret. Fortunately they were awake enough to go to dinner at one of our favorite restaurants, Ein Gev, which stayed open just for us. Then, a well-deserved good night's sleep.

We spent Thursday doing a circuit around the Galilee. The first stop was Magdala, located near the modern city of Migdal, overlooking the Sea of Galilee. The site was discovered by accident in 2009, when construction began on a hotel. As often happens here, ruins were uncovered as the ground was being excavated for the foundation. Turns out this was the location of the ancient city of Magdala, a fishing village that is very important in Christian history as the home of Mary Magdalene. What makes this place unique is that it was covered by mudslides (only 10 inches deep) but never built over, as most places were, and the remains of the city were well preserved. We had a remarkable docent take us thru the ruins and the modern additions to the archaeological park which include chapels with amazing mosaics. The hotel that started the whole thing will be open some time this year.

We continued to Nof Ginossar, the kibbutz that has a 2000 year old fishing boat on display. Popularly known as the "Jesus Boat" it was discovered in 1986 when the level of the lake dropped to a record low following years of drought. The film showing the boat's rescue and preservation (after being covered with mud for two millennia) was as fascinating as the boat itself. We followed that with visits to Kfar Nahum (Capernaum) and Kursi, another relatively recent site (discovered in the course of building a new road) on the eastern shore of the Sea of Galilee. 

That was plenty for the first day. We went back to the kibbutz for a short rest, then had dinner at the Pagoda, our other favorite local restaurant. 

Friday, being a short day, was limited to one spectacular site, Caesarea. This was a very important city and seaport two thousand years ago. It's a large and well preserved site, and you get a good sense of how vast, wealthy and significant the city was during Roman times. From there we got to Jerusalem in record time, dropped Linda and Denny off at the apartment they rented and rushed home to get Shabbat dinner ready. The directions I gave them to walk to our apartment were right on, and the four of us had a very nice and relaxing dinner together.

The London Three (our niece Jenny, her husband Dave and their friend Georgi) arrived the next day. We took a walk to the Old City and the Western Wall via the Armenian and Jewish Quarters. It was the first time Sid and I had gone there since we arrived. It was Dave's birthday and we wanted to do something special that evening so I scouted out restaurants (specifically hoummous restaurants) that were open on Saturday night. We went to Hatzot, where Sid and I had gone a couple weeks before, to celebrate, and took a short walk thru the night scene at the shuk on our way home.

On Tuesday the 7 of us squeezed into an SUV and headed south to the Dead Sea. We stopped for a hike at Ein Gedi, where there was more water than I've seen in the past, and continued to the Ein Gedi spa. One of their objectives was to float in the Dead Sea. Sid and I knew better - it's very cold at this time of year. We stayed in the spa with the warm mineral pools while they went down to the beach which unfortunately has retreated nearly 1/4 of a mile in the past several years due to the lowering levels of the sea. Yes, it's a big problem. 

The goal for Wednesday morning was to walk up the Snake Path at Massada to see the sunrise. (Jenny's idea of course. Ever since I took her to Paris and we walked to the top of every single monument, she hasn't stopped climbing.) We stayed at the Massada youth hostel Tuesday night, which was surprisingly comfortable, had surprisingly good food and was very crowded with groups of Israeli high school kids and German tourists. We (everyone except Sid who had the foresight to sleep in) got up and met in the lobby at 520AM. When we got to the entrance of the Snake Path we were informed by a very apologetic gatekeeper that the path was closed because of a minor rock slide during the night that made the path unstable. (Someone from the National Parks authority has the unenviable job of walking up the path every morning to make sure it's safe.) By way of compensation he comped us for the cable car, which was actually quite generous since it saved us about $18 each. So we went up the old fashioned way, by cable car. We were disappointed, but it leaves something for us to do the next time.

The weather during their trip was mostly cold and rainy. This impacts on plans, especially when most of the sightseeing is on foot. The big decision that had to be made, and soon, was when to go to Tel Aviv. With considerable deliberation they decided to go there on Friday, which left Thursday open for a rainy day activity in Jerusalem. They started the day by going to the Temple Mount for literally 5 minutes, then met us at the Israel Museum. Sid and I hadn't been through the museum for a very long time, and a lot of it has been very nicely redone.

On Friday they went by bus to Tel Aviv; actually they started in Jaffa which has reinvented itself over the last few years. They met Dori at Abu Hassan, which she says has the best hoummous in the entire country. After all, one of the goals of their trip was to find the best hoummous in Israel, so this was as much a research project as a lunch stop. They spent some time in Tel Aviv proper before returning to Jerusalem. And they all (Dori included) came for dinner Friday night.

We gathered one last time on Saturday night at a restaurant called Kadosh in a relatively new restaurant row near the Mamila Mall. The food scene in Israel has grown by leaps and bounds, and in Jerusalem it seems to have migrated from Emek Refaim to the Mamila neighborhood.

We all had a great time, and hope this will turn out to be the first of many visits to come.

                                                At Hatzot celebrating Dave's birthday.

Away message...

To all of you who wait with baited breath for the weekly episode, there will be a slight delay in posting the latest update. We have out of town guests arriving today, Wednesday Feb 8, and will be busy touring with them. Stay tuned ...

Week 3 - January 27 - February 2

Sid left early Sunday for his second and final week in Sar-el. I had plenty going on to keep me busy.

Most of the week was very cold and rainy. Typical for this time of year, and of course rain is extremely important, but it gets in the way. I should have brought one more layer of warm clothes. I was also busy with office work, which filled a lot of my time.

Sunday I felt like a housewife, which convinced me I'm not cut out for it. Laundry, straightening up, etc. No disrespect to housewives, but it's boring. The reward was attending the second lecture in the Reincarnation series.

For something completely different, on Monday I was part of a photo shoot. My krav maga friend Shefa is now an instructor and she wanted to put together some publicity photos. Because she works at a gym that has a religious clientele, they wouldn't let her use photos with a male attacker. No, it doesn't make sense, but those are the rules. I met her Monday afternoon, along with the photographer, another friend. We did some outdoor shots in a small park downtown, where it was windy and cold. Lots of fun. From there we moved to the gym where she works for the indoor shots. The three of us wound up having dinner together, and for dessert I went to the first of a 3-part lecture series called Absolute Power Corrupts Incrementally. Fascinatng.

The City of Jerusalem went on strike this week, from Sunday to Wednesday. The fight was really a pissing match between the mayor and the finance minister over where funds for the city should come from. The mayor wants an official Jerusalem budget, the finance minister wants to continue allocating funds from the general budget. The first department to strike was sanitation. There's nothing quite like garbage not being picked up, especially around the produce market. The sanitation workers spread the garbage along the light rail tracks, which meant the trains couldn't run. They also lined their trucks up along the major roads in the city, blocking off one lane which effectively made the streets one way. This had a big impact on transportation as well as sanitation. The next move was for the kindergarten teachers to walk out. This proved to be the turning point. In a country where both parents work, this was a real hardship. It took the intervention of Netanyahu to end the strike so both parties could save face. The issue hasn't been resolved, but at least everyone's back to work.

I finally got back to my ceramics class this week. I was warmly welcomed, which is always a good feeling. This time I actually enjoyed the class and was able to complete a small sculpture.

My soldier boy came home yesterday afternoon. His time at Sar-el was rewarding, but he says this is his last time. Of course he said the same thing last year. We went to yet another lecture last night called Genesis and the Big Bang. The title is what pulled us in. The lecturer is a renowned nuclear physicist who explained that there are no discrepancies between biblical time and geological time. 

It was way above our heads. Fortunately the talk was recorded.

Tonight we are having our first Shabbat guests, and tomorrow night we're having a birthday for my Israeli daughter Yafit who turns 44. I've been busy cooking, so I guess the housewife thing is unavoidable.

Shabbat shalom from Jerusalem,

Peggy and Sid