International travel, fortunately, is still exciting for me. Ari and I left cold Ann Arbor on Weds night on a flight to a very foggy Frankfurt, where we landed in extreme fog that demonstrated just how sophisticated auto-pilot can be. Once landed in disciplined German fashion, we were hurried to our next flight to Tel Aviv. The flight is where the "Israel" part starts.
The contrast between the people on our first and second flight was dramatic. The first: clean, quiet, polite, organized, efficient. The second: noisy, hectic, no one following directions, people seeming confused, dirty bathrooms, etc. Ari said that this was Israel "lite" - I guess on El Al everything is much more "Israeli" - I am sure I will experience this more later in the trip. Fortunately, Ari and I were both so tired at this point that it didn't matter and were both able to catch some shuteye. We arrived in Tel Aviv and took an extremely convenient train to Haifa, where Ari's father picked us up at the train station. One thing happened that I hate, which is that awkward first meeting and gesture - I, like most, usually go through the motions (hopefully without error), metaphorically closing my eyes until its over because inevitably, it's weird. Ok, so this time it was weird. Me, being a huggy American, and Ari's dad, who's European, didn't really mesh. He went in for the kiss and me the hug, and well, you know what happens. Awkwardness. And I was already feeling pretty awkward. Its ok, though. We've since smoothed things over.
Ari's house is on a curving quiet dead end street in the hills of Haifa - still close the urban areas but certainly out of the noisiness. The house (like most, I think) has all hard flooring - granite, wood, tile. No carpet. It is built into the hillside with two levels facing the sea view and a tiled courtyard on the back. There are other housese right nearby and in terms of square footage, the houses seem to be about the same size as my house in Minneapolis. Ari has a large room in the lower level which is sort of like an efficiency apartment with a fridge and its own bathroom. The style inside the house is a mix of mediterranean/jewish - lots of artwork and whiteness everywhere.
We watched Maccabe Haifa win last night to a team from Russia, and then went to sleep at the reasonable hour of 10pm. I think there's something wrong with me because I just don't get jet lagged - but I'm not complaining. We woke up around 9, but I was pretty stressed out because Ari had closed all the windows to complete darkness, so I was very disoriented. We discovered that my brain has "boot sequence" (you IT folks might know what I mean) where I need to know where I am, what direction I'm facing, what time is it, etc. in the morning, otherwise I get very grumpy. Crisis was averted when we opened the window.
After a light breakfast, we headed out for a 3-hr walk into the Mt. Carmel forest. Now, I wouldn't classify this necessarily as a forest, more as a park with trees and picnic areas and a view of the sea. The wildflowers were out, which made things quiet beautiful, and I took a bunch of pics.
We also explored some ancient Roman olive oil presses that were still remarkably in tact (some of the vats had small tiles in them that you could still see color on) and saw the view of Haifa port. I guess on clear days you can also see Lebanon, but today was hazy so the views of the sea were unimpressive. We had a big lunch (the main meal of the day) with Ari's grandfather. Since he does not speak English (but does speak Hebrew, German, Russian, and Yiddish), we had to rely on Ari as interpreter. We got along well anyways, and the photo is enclosed to prove it.
The day before I left I had the sudden realization that I was going to Israel. I had been so focused on meeting Ari's family that I completely forgot that I was to arrive in one of the most culturally rich places in the world....so I did what any sensible Nudell family member would do - promptly went to the bookstore and bought a couple of books - one for travel, and one on the culture. The culture book turned out to be about 25% ethnocentric b.s. and I plan on returning it to Borders upon my return.
As a Jew, I'm supposed to care a lot about being here. As Margot, I realize that my "Jewishness", while fortified by the cultural heritage of Israel, is not founded here. Being Chinese lets me "pass" as practically anyone - no one here thinks that I am Jewish (let alone Ashkenazi!), so I have the privilege of being the ultimate observer. Sometimes I feel left out, as if the Jews have disowned me because of this, but then I realize that each person's religion is truly their own - an fabric of faith, culture, heritage, family values - and then I realize I have a lot of that to work with. So, in short, things are just peachy.
Tonight we'll go to dinner with Ari's family and a friend. More updates tomorrow!
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2 comments:
Great column!
I liked the descriptions of the atmosphere, the views and the culture (especially the one about the flight and meeting Ari’s grandfather…). Can't wait for more…
I found your blog!
Ari and his family seem really nice.
Have fun!
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