Random thoughts in no particular order.

The Class

I’m very glad that I went on this trip within the context of a class. There’s no way I would have done all the reading and background research I did beforehand otherwise. Knowing that I would be tested over everything I saw also forced me to pay attention and take notes. The tour itself was different than an average tour. Mishi knew that we were students and this was for a class, so he took the time to go in depth on many subjects that probably wouldn’t have been covered in a normal tourist group. I feel that I gained a much deeper understanding of everything we saw than I would have had I gone on any other kind of tour.

Stop Lights

The U.S. should adopt Israel’s stop light system; it’s ingenious. Instead of the green, yellow, red progression we have here, in Israel, the lights start at green, then the green starts blinking, then it goes to yellow, then red. And instead of going from red straight to green, they go from red to red and yellow (indicating that the other side just got their yellow light), then green. It’s great because the driver gets that much more information about what’s going on. Of course, all the drivers seem to ignore the traffic signals anyways, but it’s a much better idea!

Tradition

Tradition for the sake of tradition is annoying. Many of the holy sites that we went to had nothing to do with archeology but were simply there because that’s where the church had put them many years ago. Take the Via Dolorosa for example. We don’t know that’s where Christ walked on his way to be crucified, and there’s certainly no mention of all of the 14 stations that are marked along the way. I also didn’t like the over-decorated churches like the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and the Church of the Nativity. For me anyway, all the gold, silver, icons, incense, etc destroyed the feel of the place. I would have much preferred to have seen the area as it was when Jesus was there. It also didn’t help that the churches in those places are in constant tension between the different factions that control them. The divisions between the different groups at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre were so strong that they actually gave the key to the building to a Muslim group because none of them would trust the others to have possession of it.

Street Vendors

The street vendors in Israel are hilarious. They would follow our group around waving their wares at us with shouts of “Two Dollar! Two Dollar!” Followed quickly by “One Dollar! 99 Cent! 100 percent discount!” One of them offered us “Jesus Bread” claiming that it was the same bread Jesus ate 2000 years ago and it was still fresh! They didn’t seem to know much English besides “dollar,” but they were incredibly persistent.

Food

The Israeli diet is lighter than ours and has a lot of salads. One thing that was interesting to watch was the complete separation of meat and dairy products. The Orthodox Jews take a very strict interpretation of a verse in Deuteronomy, which is the cause of the separation, and most everyone in the country follows the rule. We also found out that you can put just about anything inside a pita. We probably had pita bread at least once a day the whole time we were there. I really enjoyed it.

Safety

Suicide bombers, car bombs, and terrorists, oh my! Actually, it really wasn’t that big of a deal. I felt safe the entire time I was there. Even in the midst of the large crowds of crazy people getting ready to celebrate Purim in Jerusalem, there was never any problem. The police and military presence in the country is huge; you usually didn’t have to look very far to find someone with a fully automatic weapon.

Even the incident in Jericho while we were there didn’t really change anything. One thing that was difficult to understand without actually seeing it, was the political and social separation caused by very small distances in Israel. The road we took to Tiberias took us just a couple miles outside of Jericho, but the danger was about the same as being in Longview when something bad was happening in New York. It was silly to worry about it.

Tea

I was very surprised by the lack of good tea in Israel. I figured since it was a country other than the US, they were bound to have good tea. They did serve it at every breakfast and dinner while we were there, but it was just bagged tea. And they left the bags in the pot too! I think I’m starting to get spoiled with my good tea; I could definitely taste the inferior quality and didn’t like it.

Stray Cats

Israel is the country of stray cats; they were everywhere! I was very tempted to pet them, despite having to get rabies shots the last time I petted a stray cat. I finally gave in at Tel Beersheva. But, after a playful nibble that reminded me all too well of the possible consequences, I refrained (most of the time, anyway) for the rest of the trip.

Coming Back

I started this trip with the attitude that I was willing to do whatever it took to get the full experience of being in Israel because it would almost certainly be the only time in my life that I would be there. However, about halfway through the trip, my thinking started to shift from “This will be my only chance to…” to “Next time I’m here, I’ll have to…” Not because I still didn’t want to do everything I possibly could, but because I realized there wasn’t any way I could do everything.

Israel is just too awesome for this to be my only trip. I’m going to find a way to come back, somehow. I almost wish my degree was History instead of Computer Science and Engineering. Course credit at the Jerusalem University College will transfer to LeTourneau without any problems. But, there’s not way I could justify doing that now.

It would be fun to live in Jerusalem for a while. I love that city. There are so many historical things to see and experience, and it’s also a great modern city too. The other neat thing is that, because of its central location, a quick weekend visit to any of the sites we went to on this trip would be entirely feasible. The country is so small that nothing is more than a few hours’ drive away. I don’t think I’d want to live there for the rest of my life, but maybe a few months or a year…

Even if I don’t live there, I will be back, one way or another.