Day 2: Slumbering Succotash

In their defense, they tried really hard. The flight got in at around 10am Israeli time, so we were fully greeted by the bright sun illuminating palm trees and the Tel Aviv skyline. It wasn’t for lack of stimulation. I mean: WE’RE IN ISRAEL for Peter’s sake! (We all keep saying that, minus the Peter part, to remind ourselves and to acknowledge the ever-refreshing sense of wonder.) It’s just that all-nighter didn’t help, and the flight might as well have been another all-nighter for the quality and quantity of sleep that it rendered.

In my defense, I didn’t fall asleep right away. It’s just that those bus seats were so much more plushy and pliable and spacious than the airplane seats, and our guide’s voice is just so pleasant to listen to. But anyways, before the nodding and the slumping started, we stopped by the aqueduct. Getting to see and touch and stand in an archway built under the rule of Herod the Great over 2,000 years ago was definitely enough to wake me up for a bit! And running into the wide-open Mediterranean Sea and its salty air was the tower on top of my sand castle. The temperature was perfect and lovely; I could have slept on the beach allllll day in near bliss.

But we headed to a mall where people could get food (some familiar forms, some not). We forwent the McDonalds and Pizza Hut in lieu of some Israeli street food/fast food. “The Jewish Hamburger” is the falafel, but since most forms of it have gluten my friend Kim and I opted for a vegetable plate and hummus (thanks for keeping me strong, Kim!). They have the most colorful salads here: mixtures of cucumber and tomato drizzled with olive oil and mint or parsley, red cabbage soaked in vinegar and olive oil with whole stems of fresh dill…it’s quite colorful and tasty (not to mention good for digestion).

After our meal, and a couple minutes of walking around like human bipeds normally do when they’re not systematically canned into a giant tube of metal 35,000 ft. above ground-level, we got back on the bus. Here inlays the problem: we finally had some decent food and a decent comfort level. Commence the drowsiness!

There were sweet prayers, and passages of Scripture read. There was knowledgeable and insightful and impressively communicated information. And some of that I missed.

I know that we got out of the bus to overlook Nazareth, but other than that I don’t remember too much. I’m again very grateful for their foresight to keep the day’s schedule light and mainly focus on traveling the distance from Tel Aviv to the Sea of Galilee in the North. We arrived at the hotel with time to take a shower and become human again before a wonderful dinner after which I attempted to unearth the mysteries of the wifi and fell asleep.

But it was such a sweet blessing to sleep all the way through the night, and awake again in the hills of Galilee where the wind reminds me of faith and the Light that has shone through every darkness.

Arise, shine; for your Light has come,

and the glory of the LORD has risen upon you.

For behold, darkness will cover the earth

and deep darkness the peoples;

but the LORD will rise upon you

and His glory will appear upon you.

Nations will come to your light,

and kings to the brightness of your rising.

Isaiah 60:1-3