Caesarea

Today was a "pinch yourself, this can't be real" kind of a day. We set off to explore Caesarea, only a 30 minute drive up the coast from us. It's our Olmsted duty, right? We're here to immerse in the culture, so exploring and immersing we went.

And this gorgeous gem of a past hustling and bustling city/ port is what we found:

Caesarea was incredible. The view of the Mediterranean was amazing. Just stunning. It's hard to put into words. It's history is rich and long (scroll down for brief summary). There are Roman Ruins, an ancient aqueduct, a Hippodrome, an Herodian amphitheater, a moat, the ruins of Pontius Pilate's summer crib, all interspersed with modern museums, shops and quaint waterside restaurants. Like many things in Israel, what once was political has now become commercial. But even so, Caesarea does not have a touristy feel. It is quiet and charming. There were even tame cats wandering around that you could actually pet (Israel is full of wild cats). This was the highlight of the outing for the kids. Forget 2000 year old ruins, there were friendly felines for Pete's sake.

Pretend like you like each other.

I don't even know what to say about this one.

Lydia is built for archaeology minus the sweat.

A recently uncovered Mosaic tile floor

Why bring an umbrella to the beach when there's...

Roman aqueducts

Sweet Lydia

Caesarea: Historical Overview :

(please don't check or refer to this for historical accuracy)

• Built as Caesarea Maritima by King Herod for Augustus Caesar
• Headquarters of Roman rule in Israel with a mixed population of Greeks, Syrians, Romans, Phoenicians, Egyptians, and Jews. A vast city with stadiums, theaters, temples, palaces, baths, and a huge port.
• home of the first gentile convert, Cornelius, a Roman centurion (Acts 10)
• Paul and other disciples made several trips through Caesarea. It is also were Paul was imprisoned for 2 years before his trial in Rome (Acts 23:23-27:2)
• Jewish/ Roman tensions came to a head between 60-70AD. 2000 Jews were killed in the amphitheater provoking a Jewish revolt. The Romans responded with the destruction of the Temple (70 AD)
• in AD 132 during the Bar Kochba rebellion, Jews were again tortured and massacred in the amphitheater; Christians were also later executed there.
• During the Byzantine era, a more peaceful time, important church scholars arose from this port
• Arab conquest in AD 640
• 1101 Baldwin I and crusaders slaughtered the entire Arab population
• Muslim armies again reclaimed the land in 1265

The amphitheater, once a place of bloodbath, now hosts popular concerts.

Lydia gave a stunning pre-performance today.

Where in the world is Will?

The token Indiana Jones family shot

Caesarea, we will definitely be seeing more of you.

Shalom y'all...

(stay tuned for Stewart's experience on an inside tour of Jerusalem)

Grocery Day

Today was grocery day, and I'll admit... I dreaded it.

So far for me, it is the simple things like gathering my groceries in an unfamiliar way that I find most challenging. After enough time, this will be the new normal, but for now it is still, well, foreign.

Let me walk you through our first Israeli grocery store experience 3 weeks ago:

We were dropped off at our apartment for the first time, checked in by the Embassy, and then left....in the empty apartment....with no food....on Friday....the beginning of Shabbat. We didn't know where to go, and we didn't know what, if anything, was going to be open.

So, we drove until we saw a sign that we thought was a grocery store.

Took the exit.

Circled the mall.

Found nothing.

Circled the mall again.

Then discovered that the grocery store is in the basement of the mall (as we now know most are).

Parked the car in a paid parking lot.

Finally arrived at our destination only to discover that yes, in fact, it was closed.

We were able to grab a bite to eat in the mall before it too closed, and came back 2 days later to try again.

Attempt #2

1. Drive to the mall, enter underground parking and find grocery store.
2. Figure out how to procure a shopping cart. Here's something fun. All the carts are locked, like baggage trollies at an airport. So we had to figure out which of the 10 new currency coins in our possession it required before "renting" our cart.
3. Next, take shopping cart up an escalator, through a revolving door and past security. Good times.
4. Finally, once in the store, your senses are completely overwhelmed. Foreign products. Foreign currency. Foreign language. We now have to make sense of everything, product by product, aisle by aisle.

So, in an attempt to not bore you further, I'll just point out a few of the glaring differences between an American grocery store and an Israeli one (besides price):

• The dairy section. It is enormous and full of soft white cheeses, spreads, dips, yogurts of every imaginable variety, goats milk, sheep's milk, flavored milks, varying percentages of milks, etc. Did I mention that all the labels are in Hebrew? And to the untrained eye and palate they all kinda look the same? I am so very thankful for my Hebrew training; I was actually able to avoid buying goat's milk and drinkable yogurt instead of regular old plain milk. However, I was bamboozled by the vanilla flavored milk. Totally missed that one. Oh, and despite the enormous dairy section, there is no coffee creamer. None. No International Delights. No CoffeeMate. This is steadily helping me kick my coffee habit.
• They don't sell milk by the gallon. Only the quart or half gallon. You can, however, buy yogurt by the gallon, which is what your husband will do when you send him out for milk.
• Vats of open spices, dried fruits, and dried grains/ couscous. This is a feature that I really like. If only I knew what any of them were or how to cook with them.
• You bag your own groceries. Gotta say, this one is not fun. Not fun when the store is empty and definitely not fun when there is a line of impatient Israelis behind you. Really not fun.

This is a box of baking soda. It is 2 inches tall. It is the only size they sell.

This is the only variety of shredded cheese available: mozzarella. Hungry for cheddar or heaven forbid, monterey jack? Sorry, you're out of luck in the land of milk and honey.

These are three different varieties of soft white cheeses. We don't have anything like this in the states. They are absolutely delicious. Much like sour cream, but better.

Once home, the fun continues on grocery day. Now I have to get the groceries from the parking garage to the door of the apartment building, trip by trip. Then from the door of the apartment building onto the elevator, and then back off the elevator trip by trip to our apartment door, and then finally into the apartment and put away. Whew, I'm beat.

So today was grocery day again. I tried a new store in the bottom of a new mall. It was nice. The products are becoming more familiar. I am less likely to buy something other than milk when in need of milk. I know which cheese we like. I can now carry more grocery bags at one time than I knew was humanly possible. Before you know it, I just may figure some of those spices out and whip up something nice. If only I could figure out how to use my oven.....

And last but not least & completely unrelated.....This is what happens when the older sister helps the little brother "accessorize" his spiderman costume.

Tisha B'Av

Today is a holiday in Israel, but not a happy one. It's called Tisha B'Av, and it is a day of mourning & remembrance for the Jewish people. Why? Well, a lot of bad things happened on this day of the Jewish calendar (Tisha means ninth and Av is a month in the Jewish calendar = the ninth of Av). It's a little eery, we'll be honest.

For example:

• This was the day when the twelve spies sent by Moses to scope out the Promised Land returned. Only Joshua and Caleb gave a positive report, so the Israelites panicked and despaired, and God delayed entering the promised land until the next generation (numbers 13-14)
• The 1st Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed on this day along with 100,000 Jews (421 BCE)
• The 2nd Temple was also destroyed on this day. Over 2,500,000 Jews die as a result of war, famine and disease (70 AD).
• The remains of the Temple were plowed over on this day (133 AD) to make room for the pagan city of Aelia Capitolina.
• The Bar Kochba revolt was crushed and over 100,000 were killed (132).
• The First Crusade was declared by Pope Urban II in 1095. 10,000 Jews killed the first month
• 1290 - Expulsion of Jews from England on tisha b'av
• 1492 - Inquisition in Spain and Portugal results in expulsion of Jews on this day
• 1914 - WWI declared
• 1942 - The first traincars of Jews arrive at the concentration camp in Poland (Treblinka)

So there is a long history of suffering attached to this day. It's a somber day for Jews everywhere around the world. But as with most things here in Israel, that does not mean that all Israelis fast or observe the holiday. We are quickly learning that there is a wide spectrum of beliefs here, as in many countries, and people express things in different ways. I had no school today in University, and most students probably went to the beach. Some may have fasted & prayed, but most probably not (not at a secular school like TAU). We rode our bikes to a park in the neighborhood & there were tons of parents & kids there. I suppose this is similar to having bar-b-ques on Memorial Day, like in the States. Till next time...Shalom y'all.