My airport pet peeves:
1. Airline employees who are unhelpful and/or incompetent, as in, "Why do you want to change your seat?" or (after I have just completed a 43-mile hike inside the airport, only to discover that I had hiked in the WRONG DIRECTION:) "No, I didn't tell you it was Concourse H; you said Concourse S." (See: "The customer is always wrong.")
2.Unhelpful or contradicting a signs and instructions: "Tram to Terminal S4, Gates H, J, K, L" but since we don't know which gate our flight is at because they won't post that information until 30 minutes before the scheduled departure, we don't know which stop to get off at, or whether we even need to take the tram, and yet we are supposed to check in at the gate 40 minutes beofre departure. (See: "Catch-22")
3. People who get off the escalator and then just STOP and STAND THERE right at the end while they try to figure out the signs, causing me to plow into them suddenly and violently with my roll-on luggage. (See: Phyllis, in the airport, with the suitcase.)
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
The Clueless American
We had to change planes again in Madrid on the way to Amsterdam. From the airport, you can see mountains in one direction--don't ask me which direction, I have no idea. And I don't know what mountains they are: Alps? Pyranees? (Am I even spelling that right?) I should have paid more attention in sixth grade geography class. or at least lookied at a map before coming on this trip. But I am ashamed to admit that I am of those Americans who is pretty much clueless about the rest of the world.
What was I thinking?
Our flight from Tel Aviv to Amsterdam was scheduled to leave at 6 AM. That meant that we had to leave Jerusalem at about 3:15. So it didn't make sense to even go to bed; we checked out of the hotel at noon and took our luggage to my brother-in-law's house, and after dinner we stayed up talking until 1 AM and then just dozed on the couches until it was time to leave for the airport.
I know there must have been a reason we chose a flight that left at 6 AM, but now I sure can't imagine what that might have been.
I know there must have been a reason we chose a flight that left at 6 AM, but now I sure can't imagine what that might have been.
Falafel
We spent Tuesday afternoon walking in downtown Jerusalem, visiting several art studios, watching the people go by, and eating falafel. The little falafel stand we went to was small and crowded and had no indoor seating; one of those hole-in-the-wall takeout places. Israeli falafel stands apparently are exepmt from whatever health codes the city or State has (if they have any:)the people behind the counter were not wearing hats or hair nets, they handled the food withpout wearing any plastic gloves or even using tongs; and they handled the money and ran the cash register without washing their hands. Since it was warm outside, the doors were wide open, and there were flies, and outside on the sidewalk there were some less-than-spotless tables, and cement planters that people were sitting on, and a few benches, and many stray cats, and a fair amount of trash on the ground.
It occurred to me that in Chicago, it's highly unlikely that I'd eat at such a place-the general unkempt and unsanitary appearance would be enough to scare me away with thoughts of food poisoning. But because it's Israel, I'm more willing to overlook those things.
But the falafel was really good, and only cost 6 shekels, which is about $1.50---and that's all the math I am willing to do.
It occurred to me that in Chicago, it's highly unlikely that I'd eat at such a place-the general unkempt and unsanitary appearance would be enough to scare me away with thoughts of food poisoning. But because it's Israel, I'm more willing to overlook those things.
But the falafel was really good, and only cost 6 shekels, which is about $1.50---and that's all the math I am willing to do.
Israel traffic rules
Israel traffic rule # 1: When stopped at a red light, it's entirely appropriate to honk your horn at the car in front of you a few seconds BEFORE the light turns green.
Israel traffic rule # 2: If you are thr first car stopped at a red light, and it isn't turning green soon enough, just go through it. Who cares if cross traffic is coming through the interesction?
Israel traffic rule # 3: When driving on a freeway or two-lane street, drive exactly in the center of the road, taking upoth lanes, whenever possible, especially if other cars are trying to pass.
Israel traffic rule # 2: If you are thr first car stopped at a red light, and it isn't turning green soon enough, just go through it. Who cares if cross traffic is coming through the interesction?
Israel traffic rule # 3: When driving on a freeway or two-lane street, drive exactly in the center of the road, taking upoth lanes, whenever possible, especially if other cars are trying to pass.
End of part 1 of the trip
If I were interested in doing math, I could figure out how many hours of sleep I averaged per night during the week we were in Jerusalem. I'm guessing it's about 5. But who wants to waste time sleeping?
Jerusalem has changed quite a bit since I was last there several years ago. new museums, new apartment buildings, new excavations, and streets torn up for a new light rail system that's being built. But we were told that the light rail is about 10 years from completion because somehow the people who were making the tracks and the people who were making the trains didn't communicate effectively, so the trains don't match the tracks--or something like that.
Last night we were in a taxi and a car in the lane next to us was going a little slowly--maybe looking for an address--but not THAT slowly--and the woman in the car behind him beeped her horn continuously for 2 blocks. When we all stopped at a red light, she got out of her car and went up to his window and started screaming at him until the light turned green. My Hebrew isn't good enough to be able to understand when people are talking very fast and screaming--which happens more than you might expect in Israel--but I'm sure you can imagine what she was saying.
Jerusalem has changed quite a bit since I was last there several years ago. new museums, new apartment buildings, new excavations, and streets torn up for a new light rail system that's being built. But we were told that the light rail is about 10 years from completion because somehow the people who were making the tracks and the people who were making the trains didn't communicate effectively, so the trains don't match the tracks--or something like that.
Last night we were in a taxi and a car in the lane next to us was going a little slowly--maybe looking for an address--but not THAT slowly--and the woman in the car behind him beeped her horn continuously for 2 blocks. When we all stopped at a red light, she got out of her car and went up to his window and started screaming at him until the light turned green. My Hebrew isn't good enough to be able to understand when people are talking very fast and screaming--which happens more than you might expect in Israel--but I'm sure you can imagine what she was saying.
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Friday, Shabbos, & Sunday
Friday morning:
At around 7:30 we met the other family members who are here for the Bat Mitzvah in the hotel dining room for breakfast (again). We tend to sit around all morning; we keep saying to each other, “Why are we always the last ones out of wherever we are?” Maybe it’s just because there are so many of us, but also because we are always talking!
After breakfast, eight of us went to the Menachem Begin Center, which is a new museum that’s only a 5-minute walk from the hotel. We had an audio tour (in English) and it was interesting but about 90% of the museum consisted of going into different rooms and watching short videos about some period in Begin’s life, and although we were hearing the narration in English, the speakers still played the sound in Hebrew at the same time so it was sort of hard to hear. Also since we have been staying up till at least 1 AM every night and getting up at 7 or earlier, I was tired and nodded off a couple of times during the videos. But overall the museum was interesting. They have one room re-created as the Begins’ living room, with the actual furniture from their apartment, and you’re allowed to sit on it. (Kind of cool, to sit on Begin’s sofa!)
After the museum we went back to the hotel and got ready for Shabbos. Then we went to a shul in Yemin Moshe about a 15-minute walk from here. It was small and beautiful in the uniquely Jerusalem style, a fairly new (or newly renovated) building, so that there were no broken stones or worn-looking seats, but still retained the style of a very old shul. The davening was just slightly different in a couple of places; and actually that’s one of the things I like about traveling--going to a different place and seeing how they do things.
After we got back from shul, we had dinner. The hotel had set up one long, long table for us in the dining room, and we were loud and probably drowned out other peoples’ conversations at their own tables, but we tried to be considerate and only one other group seemed to be annoyed. And after dinner---I bet you can guess what we did—sat and talked until midnight.
Shabbos day:
The Bat Mitzvah (of Norman’s sisters’ granddaughter) was in a shul about a 20-minute walk from the hotel. It was a beautiful sunny, cool morning; the weather had been gorgeous here, which is great for us tourists but a worry for the country, since there is already a water shortage, so I wouldn’t mind if it rained. The Bat Mitzvah was lovely, with many family members participating, and a lunch afterwards. Later we walked back to the hotel and spent the afternoon talking and taking up at least half the hotel lobby (the other half has been taken up all week by several Christian tour groups, some of whose members are wearing Kipot and tzitzit—they told us, when we asked, that they “follow Torah,” but they don’t appear to be Shomer Shabbat, so I don’t know much about it. They are extremely supportive of Israel, though, even if their political views are more right-wing than mine.
After Shabbos we made Havdalah in the hotel without setting off any of the smoke detectors or sprinklers! And then 26 of us went out for pizza. (The Bat Mitzvah girl’s entire meal consisted of 2 chocolate milkshakes.) Midway through the meal Norman told me to look under the table. I did, and saw that one of the cousins had brought her dog—it’s a Maltese, and tiny, and it was poking its head out of her bag. The waitress didn’t notice until one of the kids did and was a little too loud about it, but the cousin who owned the dog just winked at her and the waitress just smiled and didn’t tell anyone.)
Sunday morning:
I woke up at 6:15 and opened my eyes to the brilliant red sun just climbing over the horizon, and jumped out of bed and grabbed my camera and took several pictures. It always amazes me how rapidly the sun rises and sets during those few minutes when it’s near the horizon—you can get a real sense of the earth turning at those times; while during the rest of the day it just doesn’t appear to move so quickly. Although that may be because we don’t usually start at the sun in the middle of the day, and there’s no nearby horizon against which to judge its movement.
We got up and sat in the dining room again until they kicked us out at 10:30 and then different groups of us sat in the lobby or went for walks or other excursions. There is a large patio next to the hotel, where you can see all over southeastern Jerusalem—mostly the Arab village of Abu Tor, which is more or less right below the hotel (we are on a hill) and which I could walk to in 5 minutes; close enough to see people walking and be able to determine their gender and approximate age. And farther up past Abu Tor is the separation barrier, which is probably a couple of miles away, and from this distance looks like a gracefully curving ribbon. But I know it doesn’t look like that up close, and people here have told us about the very mixed effects this wall has had on the country—both a blessing and a curse.
This afternoon we walked to a nearby park (Independence Park, I think) and 2 little Arab kids peed in the fountain and then stripped down to their underwear and went swimming. (Personally, I would have done it the other way…)
Later, we went out for falafel. When I went to pay, I discovered that my wallet was not in my purse. My first reaction was that I’d been pickpocketed, but I mentally retraced my steps since leaving the hotel, and I was almost positive that my wallet must have fallen out of my purse while it was in the safe in our room. And sure enough, that’s where it was, in the safe. So, a few nervous moments, but everything turned out OK in the end.
At around 7:30 we met the other family members who are here for the Bat Mitzvah in the hotel dining room for breakfast (again). We tend to sit around all morning; we keep saying to each other, “Why are we always the last ones out of wherever we are?” Maybe it’s just because there are so many of us, but also because we are always talking!
After breakfast, eight of us went to the Menachem Begin Center, which is a new museum that’s only a 5-minute walk from the hotel. We had an audio tour (in English) and it was interesting but about 90% of the museum consisted of going into different rooms and watching short videos about some period in Begin’s life, and although we were hearing the narration in English, the speakers still played the sound in Hebrew at the same time so it was sort of hard to hear. Also since we have been staying up till at least 1 AM every night and getting up at 7 or earlier, I was tired and nodded off a couple of times during the videos. But overall the museum was interesting. They have one room re-created as the Begins’ living room, with the actual furniture from their apartment, and you’re allowed to sit on it. (Kind of cool, to sit on Begin’s sofa!)
After the museum we went back to the hotel and got ready for Shabbos. Then we went to a shul in Yemin Moshe about a 15-minute walk from here. It was small and beautiful in the uniquely Jerusalem style, a fairly new (or newly renovated) building, so that there were no broken stones or worn-looking seats, but still retained the style of a very old shul. The davening was just slightly different in a couple of places; and actually that’s one of the things I like about traveling--going to a different place and seeing how they do things.
After we got back from shul, we had dinner. The hotel had set up one long, long table for us in the dining room, and we were loud and probably drowned out other peoples’ conversations at their own tables, but we tried to be considerate and only one other group seemed to be annoyed. And after dinner---I bet you can guess what we did—sat and talked until midnight.
Shabbos day:
The Bat Mitzvah (of Norman’s sisters’ granddaughter) was in a shul about a 20-minute walk from the hotel. It was a beautiful sunny, cool morning; the weather had been gorgeous here, which is great for us tourists but a worry for the country, since there is already a water shortage, so I wouldn’t mind if it rained. The Bat Mitzvah was lovely, with many family members participating, and a lunch afterwards. Later we walked back to the hotel and spent the afternoon talking and taking up at least half the hotel lobby (the other half has been taken up all week by several Christian tour groups, some of whose members are wearing Kipot and tzitzit—they told us, when we asked, that they “follow Torah,” but they don’t appear to be Shomer Shabbat, so I don’t know much about it. They are extremely supportive of Israel, though, even if their political views are more right-wing than mine.
After Shabbos we made Havdalah in the hotel without setting off any of the smoke detectors or sprinklers! And then 26 of us went out for pizza. (The Bat Mitzvah girl’s entire meal consisted of 2 chocolate milkshakes.) Midway through the meal Norman told me to look under the table. I did, and saw that one of the cousins had brought her dog—it’s a Maltese, and tiny, and it was poking its head out of her bag. The waitress didn’t notice until one of the kids did and was a little too loud about it, but the cousin who owned the dog just winked at her and the waitress just smiled and didn’t tell anyone.)
Sunday morning:
I woke up at 6:15 and opened my eyes to the brilliant red sun just climbing over the horizon, and jumped out of bed and grabbed my camera and took several pictures. It always amazes me how rapidly the sun rises and sets during those few minutes when it’s near the horizon—you can get a real sense of the earth turning at those times; while during the rest of the day it just doesn’t appear to move so quickly. Although that may be because we don’t usually start at the sun in the middle of the day, and there’s no nearby horizon against which to judge its movement.
We got up and sat in the dining room again until they kicked us out at 10:30 and then different groups of us sat in the lobby or went for walks or other excursions. There is a large patio next to the hotel, where you can see all over southeastern Jerusalem—mostly the Arab village of Abu Tor, which is more or less right below the hotel (we are on a hill) and which I could walk to in 5 minutes; close enough to see people walking and be able to determine their gender and approximate age. And farther up past Abu Tor is the separation barrier, which is probably a couple of miles away, and from this distance looks like a gracefully curving ribbon. But I know it doesn’t look like that up close, and people here have told us about the very mixed effects this wall has had on the country—both a blessing and a curse.
This afternoon we walked to a nearby park (Independence Park, I think) and 2 little Arab kids peed in the fountain and then stripped down to their underwear and went swimming. (Personally, I would have done it the other way…)
Later, we went out for falafel. When I went to pay, I discovered that my wallet was not in my purse. My first reaction was that I’d been pickpocketed, but I mentally retraced my steps since leaving the hotel, and I was almost positive that my wallet must have fallen out of my purse while it was in the safe in our room. And sure enough, that’s where it was, in the safe. So, a few nervous moments, but everything turned out OK in the end.
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