Israel - the aftermath

How do you eat an elephant? 

One bite at a time. Starting with the feet of course.... 

I've sorted through my foot photo's :)

Silly as it may sound, going through these photo's has given me a good 'grounding' (pun intended) for my otherwise over saturated headspace. Every photo is a reminder of the sights, sounds, tempretures, thoughts and experiences I had. Thus the view from my size 7 foot has become the starting point for unraveling the reflections...   


Most people ask me, very optimistically, "So what was your most memorable/favourite highlight of the trip?" Ummmm... right there, you've just found a great candidate question for a the 'Impossible Quiz 2012'. Simply not possible. There are many highlights, all carrying their own story and memory. It's like asking a mother to choose her favourite child - just not impossible (cruel in fact ;) )  

The thing about Israel that stands out and makes it such a unique travel destination is that it exposes one to a view of the world through an overwhelming physical portrayal of history. Strata upon strata, site upon site, you're confronted with evidence of years of civilisations, wars, famines, injustices, celebrations, people's search for God... Over and over confronted with this reality - "My world, my life, my reality is so small, so insignificant, in comparison to the thousands of years, and the hundreds of different stories that have happened inside the lives of millions of people in every generation... And all that really matters, all that literally physically stands at the end of it all is GOD. Even in the civilisations before Christ, before Moses, it's consistently obvious - they were all looking for and worshipping something. The relics, fallen pillars, flattened walls and empty buildings are a reminder of a fading earth given for a short period to mortal bodies. This poses the question, does anything ever really remain? Is there anything worth building towards? 

Matthew 6: 19-21

"Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal,but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."

The reality of our fleeting lives here on earth, changes one's perspective dramatically. 
This life: My dreams. My preferences. My pursuits... my, my, my - How can it be about 'me' when there have been, and will be so many more? It's not about me. It can't be.

Yet in every 'me' there is a God who cares, knows, and has a plan for every one of them/us. Shucks! That leaves me flipped over and dumbstruck on a whole new level. 

God is so much bigger than what we can get our heads around. We can't ever, compete. Still, He wants a relationship with us. So much so that He sent His son to walk this earth, live here, work here, learn here, dwell here...why? So that He could bridge the immeasureable gap between man and God. To be the perfect sacrifice and bridge the gap, so as to be in relationship with us. That of course is the other reality of being in Israel which is overwhelming... to walk on the land and visit the places where Jesus taught, lived, worked and ministered. 

That God, would place Himself on earth? Somewhere in his footsteps I find the map to plotting my own. We are called to live like Jesus did. A King, yet not demanding His Kingly rights. His value lay in who He was, not how people treated Him. He humbled Himself in taking the form and bodily limits of man, while being in nature God. He choose to hang, live, talk and be on earth. (Phillipians 2) He came for the humble, the poor, the sick, the desperate, and even those who are rich but honest enough to see that they have nothing if not God. God on earth, for a bigger purpose than what we could measure in earthly terms. Jesus gives our fleeting earthly reality an eternal anchor.

 Isaiah 40: 6-8 

A voice says, "Cry!"And I said "What shall I cry?"

All flesh is grass, and all its beauty is like the flower of the field.

The grass withers, the flower fades when the breath of the Lord blows on it; 

surely the people are grass.

The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.

The aftermath of Israel lingers longer than what I imagined... 

One photo album at a time, one day entry at a time - still not sure I'll ever really get my head around it all but I'll keep sharing non the less. 

Two vagabonds in Israel

Ok so… 

we’ll have to ignore the fact that I’ve missed about a week of blogging and choose the less pressured option of starting from the ‘now’ and working my way back slowly. (Else I’ll never start!) Going back into the archives of my memory will definatly be good, since at this rate I’m in need of a method to help me come to terms with the trip so far. It has been saturated with experiences, history and sights that have blown me away. Writing will be a good way of coming to grips with the trip thus far!  

Our legendary little Avis  Nissan, keeping us mobile.

Lunch in Jerusalem in the Islamic market.

Supper at a very very good restaurant in Rosh Pina. Terrific tapas!

Dead sea in style. (Please appreciate the floating Korean in the background. Classic, this makes me smile!)

Petra.

Our B&B in Eilat had a tiny tiny braai. Of course we made the most of it and 'smoked' a chicken. Proudly SA! (no boerewors in Israel I;m afraid, so chicken it was.)  

Swimming in the Sea of Galilee - glee! 

Incredible ice cream store 'Aldo' we discovered this evening... 

Really delicious supper this evening in Zichron Ya'achov.  

Here’s what the two Avis vagabonds have been up to:

The last three days in Jerusalem area were spent at Masada, the Dead Sea, the Old City (the list here is long enough so we’ll leave it for now), Israel Museum, Yad Vashem (Holocaust Museum) and many little streets and café’s.

We then took the bus through the En Gedi desert to the southern tip of the country to the coastal town of Eilat. Here we spent three days snorkelling, visiting the coral Aquarium, scuba diving! (smiley face space necessary right here) as well as a day trip over the Jordan border to visit the ancient city of Petra… no words could possibly do justice, but I’ll try when I have the pictures to accompany my otherwise destined to be useless attempt.

Thereafter we took the bus back to Jerusalem and then further north to Afula where we hired an Avis car for the second leg of our trip. Hiring our own car has been the best move! It changes the dynamics of one’s trip completely, so freeing to set your own pace and not be restraint by tours or time constrains. We drove north to the southern tip of the Sea of Galilee and then slowly made our way from the south of the sea to the to north where we stayed in a little city called Zefat. Zefat is situated on the highest mountain (close to Mt Meron) in Israel so we had a completely new view of Isreal. Driving from there in and around Galilee and the Golan Heights is very easy and pretty central. (Technically speaking almost any place in Israel is pretty central since it’s a really small country, about the size of Kruger National Park. Yip, that small!) We spent 3 days in Zefat, using it as our base to explore the Galilean area. 

Today we drove towards the west, and are now staying in the sweetest little town called Zichron Ya’akov. It’s about 5km from the Mediterranean Sea, and the town itself has the most beautiful pebbled streets, café’s and artist vibe. We plan on spending the next two days exploring the Mediterranean coast and then heading down to the cosmopolitan energetic city of Tel Aviv on Friday, until we leave on Sunday evening.

So, only four days of our pilgrimage left, then we head back to South Africa. Going to soak up and embrace every moment and of course keep you posted, slowly but surely one blog at a time…

{ Even vagabonds long for home - sending all our love!}

View From Above

On arrival to the city of Jerusalem, most of the tour guides and travel books suggest one does the 'Ramparts Walk' as your first visitors orientation stop. It's a circumference walk circling the old city from the height of the wall edge - any photographer or secret spy's dream! 

I'll be open enough to admit that I enjoyed every minute of seeking sneaky little shots of the unaware victim below. Verging slightly on voyeurism I know... but made for some great pics! Hidden in the background, unnoticed, capturing a scene no one else is aware of and finding the interesting in the every day - my favourite type of shoot in every way! 

Here are some shots of the Old City of Jerusalem, peering in...

The ordinary things give one a pretty good idea of the city, it's people, and the day to day realities of the city...

Hope it you enjoyed the spy angle like I did ;)

Discovering Jerusalem

How do I do justice to this city in a humble little blog? Here I am sitting attempting to sum up my experience of Jerusalem the Old City... can't.

My optimistic come back to this dire fact will be - to share my thoughts and a few pictures anyway, and hope that some of the impressions will leave you with a better picture of the city and it's stories. There are so many years (3800 years to be closer to fact) of history. Not only are layers in the form of thousands of years but added to this are the different religions and nations that have had their stories overlap and unfold in this one city. The most important fact for me is that the city holds the centre focus of origin, separately, for three major faiths - Judaism, Islam and Christianity. This makes for a very interesting tension and fragile ownership regarding land, religous spots and 'his'stories. It's a complex network of stories, and every one has their own version...and that's what makes it so dynamic. (for lack of a better word. Can't find an apt adjective?) There's something about Jerusalem that draws so many different people.

It drew me too... here's why.

Being of the Christian faith, my natural pull has been to visit the birth place, home, ministry and burial place of Jesus. Not only the New Testament but the old too. Jerusalem was the home of King David, Solomon, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Esther...the list continues. There are a lot, millions, of pilgrims every year that come for the same reason. Searching to know more and find their God within the history of this city. The archeological findings, facts, relics, contexts, timelines, traditions, potential 'holy sites', all of the above can be found here. But, the search is really, if we honest with ourselves a whole lot deeper than the physical insignificant little spot on the map.

This, in a nutshell is, exactly what being in Jerusalem is opening my eyes too.
No salvation or righteousness can be found in the physical, in a temple, on a holy object or in the facts of history. However, it does teach and leads us into the classroom of finding...

I have found Jesus in the people I have met. The Palestinian Nasser family, the American Jewish family we meet for supper every night and share stories with, the street beggar who reflects my apathy in his eyes, the girl soldier who serves in the IDF with pride, the desperate Catholic woman pushing me flat in order to reach the rock to pray on... everyone is searching and Jesus came down to them, spoke here, ate here, rested here, taught, slept, laughed, cried, suffered - He came to answer every face I've seen.

I've also found him in the places. The dry wilderness with no life in sight, the spring flowers creeping their way up cracked pavement, the squashed taxi with no room to move, the open evening sky with the Old Walls surrounding me, the olive tree which I imagined to be His cover in prayer, the stillness of my room. I have found him in Jerusalem.

The true meaning and spiritual significance of Jerusalem lies in embracing and opening ones eyes to the 'realness' of this city, not the super-spiritual, religous customs, gold decorated temples or slick words. The opposite. The honest, the real, the authentic, the harsh, the human - the harder way.  Jesus, God, chose to dwell here. In this reality - I find I am being shocked and amazed all over again - God came down to earth and walked here. He is here. In judea, Samaria, Egypt, Ireland, Pretoria, Sunnyside... to the ends of the earth. His physical being in Jerusalem 2000 years ago, has meaning for us all across the world.

I have loved every moment of discovering Jerusalem! To see the city, smell the air, imagine (I've been doing a lot if this, especially when most of the sites are either covered in gold or the 'rubble' of an archeology site:) and match up the stories of the Bible with the physical sites. My purpose however is not to find purpose. Discovering Jerusalem, learning of her history and learning of her reality now, is done with the purpose of allowing God to open my eyes to our (humanities) past, present and future purposes...which somehow are magnified in this small yet majestic city of Jerusalem. 

My dad and I found this corner spot in the shade close to Lions Gate inside the Old City. We made it our 'office' on the first day and booked day trips and made calls from here. We've for some or other reason gone back twice again to discuss logistics or regather our thoughts (creatures of habit :) So this random corner has officially received the name 'The office'.  

Standing at the Mount of Olives view point on our first day to the Old City. 

This is one of the best  and also most typically famous views of the city.

Land of Milk,Honey,Halva etc

We arrived in Jerusalem on a Friday. After a long day of flying, train tripping and taxi surviving (taxi drivers here are confidently reckless drivers, hence one survives, not drives.) We finally arrived at our hotel in the quaint old neighbourhood of Rechavia (in Hebrew one pronounces a 'h' in the same way one would a 'g' in Afrikaans. I get a kick telling cab drivers and tour leaders where our hotel is "Re-ggggggh-avia". Reckon I do a pretty good Hebrew 'Ggggg').

We quickly learnt that Jerusalem doesn't hold much patience for tired tourists. There's no time for rest. If you want to befriend Jerusalem you have to be willing to go go go. We literally arrived, showered, and headed straight for the famous food market. This was not a planned outing on the itinerary, in fact we had never heard of the market until we arrived at our hotel. Our very informed and opinionated hotel receptionist diplomatically commanded us to go to the local outdoor food market a few blocks away - no questions asked. Apparently this specific market is at it's busy best on on a Friday afternoon between 1pm and 4pm. This due to the fact that their the last 2-3 hours before the traditional Friday Sabbath dinner starts. In Hebrew custom the new day begins in the evening (I love this and want to start doing the same - it makes such a difference in preparing oneself for the new day the eve before!) So the Sabbath (rest day) starts on Friday night. The meals are usually a large family gathering (extended family too) and they need to cook for the next day as well, as they can't cook/work on the Sabbath. All this really means is that Friday evenings is BIG meal, family and fellowship night, which is why Friday afternoon is prime time for market action!

So of course travel tiredness was kicked out the window and exploration mode kicked in! Papa and I hit the streets - camera, shekels, slip slops, hats, sun tan lotion and all - like proper first time travellers (I smirk at the thought now - 4 days in Jerusalem makes one a calmer and cooler tourist quickly;) Thank goodness).

Little did I know that my idea of food market was to be ruined for life...

No food market has ever come close, and if there's one that does I'm looking forward to meeting it!

The Yehuda Market is proof that the Bible is accurate. (so easy, I've solved all apologetics with a market visit!) When Joshua and the spies spoke of a 'land of milk and honey' they knew what they were talking about - this promised land really does have grapes the size of your hands, streams of milk cuppacinos and honey sweet halva! You can find every fresh produce one can think of: from fresh fish, to lamb, to pomegranites, to aubergines, to the sweetest dates, falafels, goats cheese... you name it - it's there, in huge sizes, intense colour and mesmerising aroma's. Not only is the the food an experience, but the people are just as intriguing. Orthadox Jews in the smart attire, frantic mothers elbowing their way, food samplers imposing their produce well into your personal space, young tourists and old know hows... a colourful and tastey mix!

Market Feast... to say the least! 

Sunday Lunch in Palestine

It's easy to travel through a city or place and get a tourist view - but to truly have been somewhere one has to meet, converse and interact with at least one local. For me personally, that is the first time one really can tick a destination off the list.

Today was Sunday. We had the privilege of spending our Sunday lunch with a Palestinian family living in Bethlehem (part of the West bank) We entered through the heavily armed border crossing from Isreal into Palestine by bus without much of a real idea of their nation's political state. I didn't have a clue really about the complex political relationship between the nations of Israel and Palestine as I find it confusing and incredibly layered. (Well, I thought I did, until today) Spending time with locals and hearing their stories is the best way to clarify and give one clear, and eye opening idea of one of the side's realities. There are always two sides to a story. So far, over the past three days in Israel we had only heard the one, today we had the privileged and rare opportunity to hear the other... 

The Nasser Family, Papa and I outside their home in Bethlemhem.

Mai, Nidal, Hiba, Ghassob and Hind Nasser. 

My Paps and Ghassob spending some time sharing their stories with one another. Ghassob did most of the talking and my dad the listening -with very good reason though. When one is in conversation with a person whose reality is so different from yours it's the most wise and appropriate thing to do - listen. Listen means really listen. There's a lot we don't hear and understand especially when our own realities are so different! 

This is Mai's mom. She cooked a traditional Arabic dish for us.

The stew is a eastern version, in my humble South African opinion, of a  'boontjie lamb bredie'. It's a lamb stew with aubergine, zucchini and grape leaves, all three of them stuffed  generously with rice. The photo of the meal is really misleading. It looks very green and slightly slimey in this photo...here's where I wish I could attach a smell button to the photo - so you could tap it and release the delicious aroma - that would make for a more fair advert for the meal :) We gobbled it up and loved every minute of it! Zuki means delicious in arabic - "Zuki zuki zukeeee!"

My head is still spinning with the stories and insight we received from our day with the Nasser family today. We left them late this afternoon and had to cross the border from the West Bank back into Isreal through a check point they call the R300. One can clearly see the huge concrete seperation wall here. The prison wall that forbids the Palestianians from entering the Israel. Well not freely and easily at least.
There's really a lot to be said and I don't have half the knowledge or insight to try and pen down the reality of the political tension between Israel and Palestine right now. I definatly won't try. All I can do is share this...

That we should never forget that behind every person there is a story. And individual's make up a web of stories behind a community, culture, nation, war and unrest. Never be to sure and quick to assume, and always be open and humble enough to listen. In someone else's story/reality there is a thread that pulls through into yours. And if you allow it to be tugged you will find that a 'distant story' can reveal a whole lot more within your own heart than what you assumed.

I am challenged by their bravery and tenacity. Their faith in Christ and their dignified way of living whilst in the middle of a very difficult and tense political state, is humbling.

Shakram Nasser family!

In Israel!

 

My dad and I are on a 2 week trip through Israel.

All of a sudden the places from stories confined to pages are taking on a new form - reality.

Meeting Israel can be best described in a metaphor - it's like I've had a long distance relationship with someone for so many years and now we're finally meeting - face to face! I want to use my blog to share some of the reflections and thoughts that come packaged with this 'meeting'. 

Hope it inspires in the process too :)

 Here's where we'll be heading over the next 2 weeks:

Jerusalem (6 days)

Ei lat, Red Sea (2 days)

Petra, Jordon (1 day)

Tzfat, Galilee (3 days)

Zichron Yaacov (2 days)

Tel Aviv (3 days)





My travel partner, Paps and I.