Yes, travelling to Israel was a shock. First of all, it was the first time I've ever left North America, and I don't even cross into the USA very often. Being accustomed to Canada's not-so-urgent security situation, it was a little bizarre (and I'll admit exciting) to enter the "C-Wing" of Frankfurt airport. The area of the terminal for flights to Israel is basically an armed fortress filled with German soldiers everywhere. I stared at their machine-guns and concluded that they look almost as fake as plastic ones. The Lufthansa plane was being guarded by a number of soldiers, with an army truck parked in front (the kind with the swivelling machine-gun on top). On the opposite side of the army truck was a plane with "IRAN AIR" written on the side. The sight of the German army GUARDING Jews is quite mind-bending...it made me think about how much the world can change in 52 years. Army trucks escorted our plane as it taxied down the runway, all the way until it took off. I arrived at Ben Gurion airport, near Tel-Aviv, safe and sound. My penpal Adi Yavne and her brother were waiting there for me.
I spent 8 or 9 days with Adi and her family at the beginning of my trip before I went to work as a volunteer in Kibbutz Dalia. The Yavnes are amazing people and I had a great time with them. They live in a city called Ra'anana, pretty close to Tel-Aviv, and it's a really beautiful place with nice trees and a colorful main street. For my first day in Israel they took me to JAFFA, an ancient port city beside Tel-Aviv. Jaffa has a really beautiful restored old section, an interesting wharf area, and a really dirty modern section (but it has a cool Mediteranean atmosphere). I've heard lots of people compare Jaffa to Greece, but I've never been to Greece so how would I know? The most striking thing that day was the heat. It was May 10, just in time for a HAMSIN (heat wave)...37 degrees celsius. The next day me, Adi, and her sister Efrat took the bus up to Kibbutz Ginossar, which is on the shore of the Sea of Galilee. We celebrated independance day there (with an all-night dance-party on the Sea of Galille...WHAT WOULD JESUS THINK?!), I went swimming in the lake, and we went to the city of TIBERIAS on the way home. Tiberias is a good place to go in order to visit the Christian holy sites in the area. The ruins of Capernaum (the town where Jesus lived and taught)are nearby, as well as Taghba, the place where the New Testament says that Jesus multiplied the fish and bread to feed 5000. The Golan Heights are also right near by, and are definately worth a trip. But the city of Tiberias itself is expensive and the people there can be quite annoying (lots of punks). Just use Tiberias as your base to see the surrounding area and to swim in the Sea of Galilee. Be warned, the beaches COST MONEY! In order to subvert the establishment, walk or bike a couple km out of town so you can swim anywhere for free.
The next day me and Adi went to TEL-AVIV. Tel-Aviv is the perfect place to come to when you've accidentally overdosed on holy sites and Crusader ruins. We went to Dizengoff Center shopping mall, the beautifully chaotic Carmel Market, a bunch of clothing and record stores, and then we went to visit the Yitzhak Rabin memorial in Rabin square, where he was assassinated (upon God's orders, of course). The Tel-Aviv beaches are great, way better than Eilat (although from November to March I'm sure the situation reverses). Tel-Aviv is also a great place to sit at a sidewalk cafe and just watch people walk by. Tel-Aviv is not Jerusalem. It is a regular city with a fun atmosphere. It's a modern Jewish metropolis, and that's what makes it intersting.
For my last day before heading to the kibbutz, I went on a hike with Adi and her friends on MOUNT CARMEL, near HAIFA. This area is really beautiful, with lots of great views. At one point we were just hiking along, and then all of a sudden we were surrounded by cows. I think we were a bit off track. We also passed by some Arabs with their flocks of sheep and goats, and this really made me feel like I was in the Middle East...Israel can, depending on the area, feel more like Europe at times. After the hike we ate lunch in a DRUZE village called Isfiyyah, and then we went exploring an underground water tunnel from Roman times. This was a really fun day.
The next day, the Yavnes drove me out to Kibbutz Dalia, where I would spend the next couple of months as a volunteer worker (though I quite frequently visited the Yavnes on my time off). So my amazing first week in Israel ended, and a new experience began.
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