We've experienced so much already and I've been slacking on my note taking so it's hard to figure out where to begin. I guess I'll start with our sight seeing...Caesarea -- Is on the Mediterranean coast north of Tel Aviv. It was built by King Herod around 20 BC and was the capital of Judea during Jesus' time. Has a theater, aqueducts, hippodrome, bathhouse, amphitheater, synagogue as well as fortifications built by the Crusaders. (The Crusaders stuff is relatively new. Only a paltry 900 years old instead of 2000 like the rest of the ruins.) The place is fabulous! Very open, lots to see, very little barricaded off. We need to go back when we have strollers/back carriers for the kiddos because it's too extensive for them to walk the whole way. Also we had a minor incident with Alejandro removing a small boulder from one of the walls of the hippodrome. The wall had lasted over 2000 years, and our son was tearing it down in the split second we had turned our backs. Anyhow, we got to see some gorgeous Roman ruins just in case we never make it to Italy .
Capernaum and the Sea of Galilee -- Capernaum was where Jesus "recruited" many of the apostles and spent time preaching. The town is just ruins that were excavated by Franciscan monks the first six decades of the last century. There are several houses including that of St. Peter as well as the synagogue from the time. It's quiet and peaceful and I found the trip much more meaningful than our visit to Jerusalem . Jerusalem is a living city and has changed so much from the time of Jesus. Capernaum helps one imagine life at His time. Of course the significance was lost on the kids as Dante played in the gravel the whole time while Alejandro investigated every crevice in the walls with sticks. The Sea of Galilee (which is not a sea -- it's a fresh water lake) is in northeast Israel . It's green and lush and reminded us of Ireland . We stopped and let the kids go swimming but they fussed about the gravel shoreline instead of the soft sand they've become accustomed to at the beach in Tel Aviv. The whole walking on water thing didn't work for us. Unfortunately we had left the camera at a friend's house the night before, so we have video but no pictures. Purim -- Purim is more of a national holiday than a religious one. It is to celebrate the Jews' deliverance from the Persian plot to kill them recorded in the Book of Esther. People dress in costumes similar to Halloween but only those of a playful nature -- nothing scary allowed. (I really don't understand the concept of the masquerade because there are no disguises in the Book of Esther.) Anyhow, we went to a Purim "parade." I am reluctant to perpetuate this misnomer about calling it a "parade" because it was stationary -- with little stages and booths setup where people in costumes put on skits. The crowd had to do all the walking. We didn't have costumes for the kids but they enjoyed seeing everyone else dressed up.
Easter -- We weren't brave enough to take on all the droves of tourists that come this time in Jerusalem , so we just went to church in Tel Aviv. Then we gathered with four other American families for dinner. I had never had chili cheese hotdogs and green chile stew for Easter dinner before, but there's a first for everything. (The green chiles were leftovers for someone's stash from Hatch NM -- we haven't found anything for a close substitute yet.) The kids played on the slip'n'slide and had an egg hunt in their bathing suits -- another first.
Terrain -- Israel is so tiny but it offers so many different sceneries. We'll start driving from the beach, sandy desert, head into plains with olive trees and citrus groves, highly irrigated farmland, next we are headed up wooded mountains in just an hour's drive. Then up north we found cliffs, bluffs and grassy hillsides where sheep and cows graze. Plus, just watch out the window and you'll pass ruins everywhere along the way. There are so many different types of architecture because this land has been conquered by the just about everybody and their brother -- Persians, Romans, Byzantines, Arabs, Crusaders, Ottomans and the British. Children -- It's not uncommon to see an Israeli man pick up a strange baby and just gush over the little one. Israelis delight in seeing children and love to spoil them. Dante loves to flirt but is not comfortable with strangers trying to touch him. As we've been dining out so frequently, Alejandro wants to run around and entertain whoever will pay any attention to him. While in the States, people might smile and say hello to a child, they eventually want to be left to dine in peace. Here they are thrilled to keep the child's attention for so long and Alejandro is thrilled to have an audience. As I'm desperately trying to keep Dante from picking up litter on our walk to the beach, Alejandro is busy collecting cookies and candy from shop owners and passersby. The whole don't take candy from strangers approach doesn't work so well here.
All the little things -- Like the rest of the world, Israel uses the metric system. It's been a long time since I've stepped on a scale and it read in the 60s. (Kilograms instead of pounds, of course.) On Easter, it was 42 degrees (unfortunately that was in Celsius which made it a whopping 107 Fahrenheit! It's only March!) They use military time instead of am/pm. The currency is the shekel which is worth about 3.4 shekels/ US dollar. Just six months ago, it was 4.2 shekels per dollar. Since Alfonso is getting paid in dollars, we've lost 20% of our purchasing power. Oh, did I mention everything is crazy expensive? Gas and milk are both over $7/gallon (if you do the conversions -- they only sell liters here.) They only things we have found cheaper here are flowers and avocados.Anyhow, that's enough for now. I don't want to bore you all to death and end up with everyone setting up an auto-delete for my emails. We are really excited to be here and are really looking forward to these next two years.
Love always,
debi
