Sorry about last night’s lame update; here is a detailed update to make up for it.
Yesterday we had a free day with our host families before we went off to perform in our concert in Emek Hefer. I made a few important discoveries that you might like to know:
1) The names of the people in my host family: Father, Yoram; Mother, Hadas; Brother, Ival (14); Sister, Tal (19, serving in the Israeli navy, and a very cool girl).
2) They live in a small town called Qadima, almost directly East of Netanya, in a beautiful home.
We gave them the gift of a Utah book, which they loved, and promised to come visit someday. They were also very cool about our need for help with our sunburns, and were very helpful by supplying us with several leaves from their Aloe Vera plant in the backyard.
Yesterday Karsten and I were whisked off to Hadas’ parents’ home to meet up with Caitlin and Erica to go to the beach. Her parents are farmers and know everything there is to know about plants. They also gave us fresh fruit for the beach! It was wonderful. From their house we went on a brief side trip to see some turtles that are endemic to the area. These turtles are pretty damn ugly, but still cool. They are all black but with little speckles, and have a soft and flexible shell with a pointy nose. They live only in about a 50-foot segment of a small stream that runs through the farmland, and cannot be found anywhere else. That small segment is the only place they exist in the world.
We then proceeded to the beach, where we set up camp in the incredible, fine, and soft Israeli sand. We spend several hours at the beach playing in the waves and just hanging out. Even when applying sunscreen frequently, I still burned to a crisp on the beach, and received a very bad sunburn. I think it happened when I fell asleep for about 45 minutes… Needless to say, today has been very miserable and I am praying it will go away by tomorrow or the next day. Additionally, I had a near-death experience that was seriously one of the scariest moments of my life when I went a bit too far into the waves at high tide and got caught in a rip current. I was being pulled further from shore and swam so hard that I got exhausted. I cried for help and was rescued by a surfer who gave me his board and paddled me in to shore. But regardless of the sunburn and the rip tide, the day was wonderful. The beaches are so beautiful and it was a wonderful and relaxing way to spend a free day.
That evening we proceeded to yet another kibbutz for our concert. Dr. Allred programmed an extensive concert that featured two Hebrew songs. The first, “Sabbath the Queen,” we surprised the audience with and they responded very favorably. The second the women of the choir performed in collaboration with the Efroni choir, who had been hosting us in Emek Hefer. The song, “Jerusalem of Gold,” was beautifully performed by both choirs. I will try to post the video.
We returned to our host families. Hadas and her friend had attended to concert and absolutely loved it. After extensive treatment of our sunburns with cold showers, lotion, and natural aloe vera from Hadas’ garden, it was off to bed for me and Karsten.
Today we headed northeast to the Sea of Galilee and Golan Heights area. Galilee is actually 700 feet below sea level, though you’d never guess by looking at it. It looks much like Bear Lake, very blue and nestled in a dry valley with various towns dotting the shores.
Our first stop along Galilee was the Monastery of the First Feast, thought to be built on top of the rock where Jesus produced the miracle of fish and bread. The original church was built in the 600s AD, and was destroyed in the crusades. In the 1600s, the ruins were excavated and, amazingly, many of the mosaics from the original church remained in-tact. This church is obviously newer but you can still see the rock of the feast and the old mosaics still form the floors of the church itself. Amazing history.
Our next stop was a small Greek Orthodox on the shores of Galilee. This site is where Christ supposedly selected the Twelve Apostles. A small and quaint church with exquisite tropical gardens now stands on the spot. The interior was so beautiful, replete with orthodox symbols and gold-leafing on the cupola. We sang “Bogoroditse Devo” from the Rachmaninoff Vespers, and the priest asked us if we were Russians, seeing as how we had performed a Russian piece and were all wearing our matching red polos.
The next stop was for lunch, in the main city on the Sea of Galilee, Tiberius. This city is generally not on most tourist’s agendas, and it is very easy to see why. It is old, and very run down. It looks like a city that has literally been neglected for several years. But, of course, this leaves a great deal of history. There is a mosque that dates to the crusader period that is literally abandoned in the middle of the city. The door is locked but you can still stick your camera in the barred windows to get pictures of the derelict interior. It was absolutely incredible. Aside from that site, there was not much to see, but we did do some shopping and found some great gifts. As we passed a street vendor in the most run-down part of the area, Olivia and I saw a pair of boxer briefs (featured in the storefront, might I add) that are just my size with a BYU logo on the bottom for only 10 sheckels (about $2.50). I couldn’t resist. Nobody from BYU would ever buy those, but I sure would. I also found a wonderful gift for my sister that will come in handy when she moves to New York next year and a cheap but good quality and much needed pair of sunglasses. As we departed, we saw people Jet-skiing on the Sea of Galilee, which seemed simultaneously sacrilegious and humorous.
We then proceeded to the Mount of the Beatitudes, which in traditional Christianity is where Christ delivered his famed “Sermon on the Mount.” The views of Galilee were beautiful from here, and the gardens were even more incredible. Fields of roses, well-kept lawns, and bougainvillea dominated the landscape. The church is not very interesting because it is so new (1937), but the entire property itself was positively stunning and very spiritual, even for a skeptic like me.
The final stop was a Catholic Center just above the Mount of Beatitudes which also overlooks Galilee. It is very new, built only in 2000, and was the place where Pope John Paul II held the mass in the region of Galilee. The place was very cool, and while the tour was boring and the guide was long-winded, the modern building was a nice foil to the deep history that had been characteristic of the rest of the sites. The views of Galilee from the balcony were worth the tour.
We are now in a Kibbutz just on the Lebanese border where we will sing in 20 minutes, and I am not yet dressed. We will proceed to Nazareth this evening to sleep, and then have a very busy day tomorrow driving to Abu Ghosh to sing again and then back to Nazareth for an evening concert. I will try to post pictures later tonight if there is WiFi at our hotel.
Until then, Shabbat Shalom!
