Life's Lessons Learned

My family at a Jewish cemetery, with the Dome of the Rock in the background.

So, I have now been in Israel for a full three days, and I already feel like I have learned a lot of things from my experience. Here's a brief summary of some of the things I have learned/discovered since arriving in Israel:

• Minarets are cool, but really loud. They play music five times a day (at least) to remind the Muslims to pray. One of those times is at about 5:30 in the morning. (Click here for a video of what they sound like. And it's a surprise that all visitors get jet lag?)
• At the Jerusalem Center, there are trees that grow little citrus fruits that are slightly smaller than a tangerine. The inside is very sour, but the peel is surprising sweet, so you eat them peel and all. It sounds weird, but they're really good.
• Water pressure here is not the same. At least, my bathroom facet seems to have two settings: off and turbo. I still manage to splatter myself every time I turn it on.
• Adapters and converters are NOT the same things. Too bad I didn't figure this out until AFTER I blew out my hair-dryer. Oops. Good thing I didn't test it out on my laptop.
• Falafels are amazing! They are pitas filled with a kind of ground-up, fried chickpea, and lots of other good stuff. I plan on eating a lot while I'm here.
• Drivers here are crazy. Before I came to Israel, people used to ask if I was nervous to come here (because of all the violence, terrorist attacks, etc.) After the last few days, I now know how to respond. I am less scared of terrorist attacks than I am of the psycho drivers here. They whiz down narrow streets at 40ish miles an hour, and they'll squeeze within inches of people that are walking. Did I mention it's scary?
• There is such a thing as selective hearing. On my first night here, I slept right through the minarets blaring, but I promptly bounced out of bed as soon as I heard my baby niece screaming (evidence that my sister had just arrived in Israel).
  

All in all it has been quite the experience adapting to life in the Holy Land, but in spite of its peculiarities, it is a wonderful place to be. I am excited to see what new lessons I will learn during the next four months.

Shalom!

A worker at the Olive wood factories at Bethlehem, making a figure for a nativity scene.

Drinking from an olive wood cup at the olive wood factory. You can't really see from this picture, but the whole scene of the last supper is carved into the cup, in great detail.