Being Me: The Bennett's Take on Israel- Part Deaux

Hey There Old Friend,

It's me again, Ethan. So its been a few weeks since this happened, but I will now talk about the time in Jerusalem over break with my family.

It was really great to arrive into Jerusalem, especially since I hadn't been there since orientation seminar the very first week of my gap year. We arrived, checked into the hotel, and decided to go out for a bit. We walked around a lot, did a bit of shopping, and then got to bed early. The following morning, we woke up early to make a day trip to the Dead Sea and Ein Gedi. While we were initially worried about some rain, we got to Ein Gedi and Michelle, Abby, and I were able to hang out in the freezing cold, yet really fun beautiful pools and waterfalls at Ein Gedi. We hiked a bit, saw lots of animals, and relaxed some. We even ran into a boy with a St. Louis Cardinals hat, who turned out to be from Yokneam, St Louis' Sister City, explaining why he had the hat. After, we headed down the road to get some lunch and take a dip in the Dead Sea. Right as we arrived, the sun peaked out and we had great weather from there on. We all got covered in mud, including hair for Abby and me. We started walking to the water, when we realized it was much further than 3 years ago. The water level is so rapidly decreasing that you can see the difference from year to year. So we had a dip, washed off the mud, and relaxed in the healing waters, despite the stinging pain anywhere we had a little cut. After spending some time being healed, we made our way back up the the showers, with a dip in an ICE COLD pool for Michelle and myself, cleaned up and headed out. We couldn't have visited the region without a stop at the Ahava Lotions factory, but then we actually headed back to Jerusalem.

So we got back to Jerusalem, cleaned up, and got another early bedtime. The next morning, we visited an incredible museum, called the Museum on the Seam. It is in a building that used to be a British Police house on the borders of Israel and Jordan, but inside it is a very modern art museum. Containing some really edgy yet thought provoking modern art, we happily spent a few hours there. After, we made a necessary visit the Machane Yehuda food market on Friday afternoon right before it closed for Shabbat. We picked up some delicious Halva at the Halva Kingdom and some other food for New Years, grabbed some lunch and headed back to the hotel.

At this point, my family proved to be much smarter than me. On the walk home, it started to drizzle a bit, so we talked about getting cabs. Since 4 people could fit in one cab, I told them to go ahead and I would walk... after all, it was just a drizzle. Right as their cab door closed, the heavens broke open with torrential downpour. I immediately got soaked, and as I continued to run towards the hotel, my clothes got heavier and heavier. I soon gave in and took a shared taxi a bit down to road to the hotel, and magically had arrived at the room and changed into dry clothes before the rest of the family even arrived. We rested a while, cleaned up for Shabbat, and made our way to Tzur Hadassa, right outside of Jerusalem, to spend Shabbat and New Years Eve with some family friends. We had a great evening, and were planning on making it back to the hotel to spend New Years with the family, but unfortunately due to bad weather, we spent midnight in taxis travelling back home. Nonetheless, when we got there we celebrated a bit with each other, ate more food, and then hit the sack to get some rest.

We spent Saturday in the Arab market in Jerusalem. Its very fun to shop, observe, and wander around, and this time I had a very incredible experience:

A few years when I was in Israel for a whole summer, and I became acquaintances with a t-shirt salesman in the Arab market. We talked a bit, I came and saw him a few times, and he even offered me a job being security in his shop. So that was that. I remembered the meeting, but I was quite shocked when three years later, as I walked past his shop again, and we made eye contact, he said "Ethan?". I was stunned, and also very happy. We talked some more, he told me that he now has 3 shops, with spices, shirts, and other gifts. It was very exciting to talk to him again, he gave me his phone number, and once again offered me a job. Not that I am going to work for him, but it is very exciting that we both still remembered each other and I hope to talk with him more and get to know him a bit better.

The rest of the time in Jerusalem was busy and lots of fun, filled with walking on top of the walls of the old city, more sightseeing, shopping, eating, seeing people we knew, and relaxing. It was really great to be with the family and spend time in Jerusalem, and it was very sad on Sunday when I had to say goodbye. I took a bus, train, and taxi in order to get back to Karmiel, but I eventually arrived and prepared myself for work the next day. It was a great week or so with the family over break, but it was time to get back to work. Theres lots more to come, including a special week in Jerusalem, so be on the lookout!

Here's some pictures!