Whirlwind Tour of Israel

For the last week or so, my mom and I have been hitting every major sight in Israel.  I've seen most of them before, but it's always nice to see them again.  Plus, we've been seeing some of the religious sites of other religions, which I obviously didn't see on birthright.  It's been really fun, especially the part where I don't have to obsess over money and get to stay in nice hotel rooms and eat at any restaurant I want.

      Still, I almost feel a little out of place at these fancy digs.  Or I did at first anyway.  The stark contrast to the hostels and hotels of Nepal and Egypt is constantly on my mind.  I do enjoy sleeping in a bed with a really nice mattress, but I realize how unnecessary a luxury that is.  I slept just as well, and usually better, on a board covered by a thin cushion in Nepal.  Don't get me wrong, I love to be staying at all these fancy places, but I'm actually looking forward to obsessing about money and sleeping in the cheapest bed available.  And while it was nice to go into any restaurant and order anything on the menu, I'm kind of looking forward to hunting out cheap food and trying to find the cheapest thing on the menu.  I don't know that I'll always feel this way, but for now, I love to be a penniless student, trying to travel and do what I want while spending as little money as possible.  It's a cool community to be a part of.  Part of what I like about it is that almost everyone is traveling alone and is completely independent, but we're all traveling alone together.  Like I said, it's a cool community to be a part of.

         The last week has been really amazing too.  We went to the ancient Roman city of Akko, which is just north of Haifa.  We saw the most amazing old tunnels and buildings, all set on the gorgeous Mediterranean.  We also saw the Baha'i gardens in Haifa, which are absolutely amazing and beautiful.  Baha'i is one of the worlds newest religions, and it's pretty cool.  Their core beliefs are in unity and equality and they believe that the world has seen many prophets including Abraham, Moses, Krishna, Jesus, Buddha, and Mohammed.  It's a cool fusion of Islam, Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism, and Hinduism.  It's kind of the "Unified Theory" of religion.  The cool part is that they believe in complete equality for genders and among all humans in general.  They also believe in mandatory universal education and the idea that in disputes between science and religion, science should win.  (This was paraphrased from the Lonely Planet).  They have these amazing gardens on the side of a mountain in Haifa.  The gardens are about a quarter of the size of the city itself, it seems.  They are HUGE!  They have 1400 steps and 9 terraces.  You have to reserve tours, but they're free.  I'm going back to Haifa next week, and I plan to tour the Baha'i gardens.  

       The greatest thing about this whole week is that I've been spending it with my best friend.  Mom and I have had a great time and have mostly caught up on everything that's gone on since we've been apart.  It's been so nice to have a break from traveling alone or with random strangers.   Tonight, we're going to celebrate my 21st birthday a month and a half early.  I still can't believe I'll be 21 in a month and a half.  I think 20 was a really year of change and progress from the teens to the 20's, and I'm hoping 21 will be an awesome year, to kick off my 20's.  I'm really excited about what's to come!

      Also, here's a rough approximation of where I'll be for the next few weeks:

Now-Nov 27th Tel Aviv

Nov 27th- Dec 3 Haifa  

Dec 3-Dec 7 Tzfat (Taking a course on Kabbalah and celebrating shabbat with a family)

Dec 7-8 Maybe this small village that's completely vegetarian, if I can find a hostel there

Dec 8-14 Jerusalem and hopefully Shabbat with a family

Dec 14 to Beer Sheva and perhaps to the Kibbutz the same day

Dec 16 Kibbutz Uplan at Kibbutz Revivim starts!

Like I said, it's a rough plan, but at least it's a general outline!