First Impressions
At the very, very beginning, I was completely comfortable. This pretty much means I was completely comfortable at the airport. The Ben Gurion Airport is absolutely beautiful, perhaps the most beautiful I've ever been to, and was extremely easy to navigate. Then we went outside.
I don't think we've said this before, but this is both Matt and my very first trip to Israel. So everything is new.
What struck us first was the landscape. It is utterly beautiful, but not in a sense we have known before. There are hills everywhere, covered in dirt, white rock, and sometimes with small, green shrubs. All the buildings are pretty much the same color because they are all made from similar stone.
Our friend's husband, who drove us from her house to Jerusalem, used to be a tour guide so he pointed out historic sites as we passed them. It seems like on every hill there used to be an important city with a fascinating history. We took a quick pit-stop between Modi'in and Jerusalem to see the tomb of Samuel. How amazing! Just by taking a quick right turn, you go up a hill and see the tomb of a prophet!
We had a bit of culture shock when we first saw our apartment. It doesn't have fresh paint or matching furnishings from Pottery Barn. After about 15 minutes here, I realized that I am prissy. It was quite a realization for me, because that's not a term I would ever want to describe myself. But, especially having lived in L.A. for a few years, the American goal of bigger and better had become somewhat ingrained in me.
To survive here, I am going to need to peel away some of the snobbishness and get down to the part that is important. It doesn't matter how much you have or how sparkling new it is, for those aren't the things that make you (meaning me) a good person. It is how much I know, how I act, and how I treat others that really defines me.
It's amazing what a self-inspection this first day in Israel has brought me. I wonder what I will learn about myself on day two.
I don't think we've said this before, but this is both Matt and my very first trip to Israel. So everything is new.
What struck us first was the landscape. It is utterly beautiful, but not in a sense we have known before. There are hills everywhere, covered in dirt, white rock, and sometimes with small, green shrubs. All the buildings are pretty much the same color because they are all made from similar stone.
Our friend's husband, who drove us from her house to Jerusalem, used to be a tour guide so he pointed out historic sites as we passed them. It seems like on every hill there used to be an important city with a fascinating history. We took a quick pit-stop between Modi'in and Jerusalem to see the tomb of Samuel. How amazing! Just by taking a quick right turn, you go up a hill and see the tomb of a prophet!
We had a bit of culture shock when we first saw our apartment. It doesn't have fresh paint or matching furnishings from Pottery Barn. After about 15 minutes here, I realized that I am prissy. It was quite a realization for me, because that's not a term I would ever want to describe myself. But, especially having lived in L.A. for a few years, the American goal of bigger and better had become somewhat ingrained in me.
To survive here, I am going to need to peel away some of the snobbishness and get down to the part that is important. It doesn't matter how much you have or how sparkling new it is, for those aren't the things that make you (meaning me) a good person. It is how much I know, how I act, and how I treat others that really defines me.
It's amazing what a self-inspection this first day in Israel has brought me. I wonder what I will learn about myself on day two.
posted by Jen | 1:36 AM
1 Comments:
You can be a nice person, and still live in a not stinky house.
:) Jean
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