Israel! Who would have thought we'd make it?!?

I am not an aggressive person--I have trouble even being assertive!  I enjoy seeing new places, but mostly through videos or books; I really don't feel the need to experience things "in person".

I also don't like change.  Whatever place I'm currently living in, I don't want to pack and leave, even for vacation. That's just the way I am.  

So when some Beijing friends started lobbying for us to join in a trip to Israel they were organizing, I was cool to the idea.  After all, isn't it dangerous there???  

Buses bombed and burned on every corner in strikes and retaliations!

But the Davis' persistence paid off, and Alice in particular wanted to go as she is studying the New Testament in seminary this year.  So we decided to go.

First issue:  Air tickets.  From Beijing, you can either go to Europe first or to Dubai or Abu Dhabi.

We ended up going through Moscow (I can mark Russia off my "countries I've been in" list).

Aeroflot was  fine.  In fact, the planes were Airbus, and had in-seat USB power ports for charging

electronic devices.  The food was interesting--not all edible according to my taste buds. But the drink cart went by every half hour or so, so we had all the juice or soft drinks we wanted.  My favorite part was

the in-seat movies (none of the Russian movies were ones I wanted to watch), but there is a camera in the nose of the plane and they broadcast the take-off and landing!  You got to see the runway several miles in the distance, growing larger as it got closer, and then if the pilot put the plane on the middle stripe of the runway.  It was most interesting!

All announcements and signs were in Russian and English.  For the first time in several weeks, we were among others that were blondes.  On the first flight from Beijing, the flight attendants assumed we were Russian, since we weren't Chinese.  We left Beijing at 3 a.m., slept some on the 8 hour flight and arrived in Moscow at 7 a.m.  (There was a lot of snow outside.)  Then a 4-hour flight to Tel Aviv, arriving about noon.

We were met at the airport by someone, and put on a shuttle bus to Jerusalem, to our hotel.

It was Saturday--Shabbat.  And it didn't take long to find out that means everything shuts down--no buses.  No tram. The elevator at the hotel stopped at each floor so you wouldn't have to push the button and

cause "work".  

 So we took a walk.

Jerusalem is 6 hours' difference from Beijing, so the sunshine would help us adjust quickly to the new time, and it did.  We looked at a map obtained at the hotel and thought, "it's not too far to Old Jerusalem, we'll just walk."  The only thing we hadn't figured on was the winding streets--nothing goes in a straight line.

And we were headed in the wrong direction.

 We walked through a lovely park,

and really enjoyed the warm sunshine and awakening spring flowers.

But when we had to walk through a dumpy, empty area and cut through some apartment complexes

 it was time to readjust our "map".  

 We found an ATM, got some shekels, and found a taxi (Arabic driver--not Shabbat for him!).

He took us to the BYU center, where a guard told us it wasn't open--we didn't think to tell him

that we were church members! Then the driver took us to the promenade

which had a great overlook from the Mount of Olives across the brook Kidron to Old Jerusalem.

 With a 3000-year-old (and still used) Jewish Cemetery on this side,

and a Moslem Cemetery along the old wall on the other side,

this valley reminds me of Ezekiel 37--the valley of dry bones.

We returned to the hotel, and were met by Omar, the woodcarver, who took us to his shop.

He had amazing pieces, and great stories of his friendship with church members (his

sons went to Ricks and BYU).  

 What a long day! 

When we asked the hotel at what time the restaurant would open, the fellow took out his cell phone, looked at some calculations and finally said, "7:15 pm."  With the sun going down later each day, Shabbat ends later as well (Friday night sundown to Saturday night sundown).  The tour hadn't even started yet, but we learned plenty!