Good morning, or, good evening I suppose, to everyone in the US! We are still in Tel Aviv but leaving today. It is beautiful here and I have very much enjoyed my stay.
Since my last update, we had a wonderful concert in Nazareth with a local choir. Because it was a Christian church, we were able to sing a good amount of our Christian repertoire that had been taboo before. The audience was also a bit of a change of cast for us, because we were now in the east of the country and a big Christian city, so the audience was almost 100% Arab. For those of you who don't know, almost all Christians in Israel are Arabs, and generally Christian Arabs have better relations with the Israeli Jews than the Muslims. Nazareth, for obvious reasons, is a big Christian hub in Israel. As we drove east to Nazareth earlier in the day, there was a marked change in the composition of cities. They became smaller, more compact, and we were finally seeing mass quantities of mosques. The cool thing about these mosques is they are like ward houses in Utah: they are EVERYWHERE. Here in Tel Aviv, we saw a mosque just down the street from another. When driving past them, they stand out from the skylines of these towns like sore thumbs. Every mosque has a minaret (a tall tower) and a dome, and many of the domes are colored gold. These gold domes are magical when they glisten in the Israeli sun, and I wish I had been able to get a picture of them.
After the concert, and the realization that I don't know as much Arabic as I thought I did, we drove to Tel Aviv to our new hotel. And let me tell you, this is one of the nicest hotels I have ever stayed in. Jim and I are in a suite with a gigantic balcony. We finally have a fridge and a hair dryer (can't tell you how happy I was about that). The food here is great too: they have waffles for breakfast! Everyone is very impressed; some have even asked me if I was responsible for it, because they know me to be a man of taste and class. :) The notable thing about our drive, however, was we were returning the way we came, and thus drove past all the mosque-infested towns. And every single one, I mean EVERY single one, had a ring of green lights around it's minaret. At first I saw just one and thought it was just a localized phenomenon, then two, then we came upon Haderra and there were dozens of mosques in view, all of them with these rings of green lights around the minarets. Of course, I was fascinated, and as soon as I reached the hotel, I pulled up Google and tried to find and explanation, but could not find anything. So it's still a mystery. My guess is that it has something to do with the color of the religion; generally you see a lot of green in Muslim culture. But I am still very curious.
Yesterday we had a workshop at the Tel Aviv University, where aspiring Israeli conductors came to genuflect towards Brady Allred. He had us sing to demonstrate the different ways he manipulates our sound to get the incredible results he does, and all the students were very appreciative of the workshop. Afterward, we headed to the waterfront to have a free afternoon in Tel Aviv. We arrive around 1:30 and waited for a long time for the daughter of the woman who was organizing our trip for us, and finally found her and exited the bus at around 2. We had a vote to determine how long we would stay. For some reason, everyone wanted to go back to the hotel at 5 instead of spending a good amount of time in the city, which was lame, but we still got some time to look around. After following this woman for about 5 minutes as she showed us a train station, Emily, Andrea, and I decided that the guided tour was a total bust and we went off on our own.
Our first stop after the ATM was a local restaurant in Jaffa. I had my first falafel of the trip (unbelievably delicious) complete with a Fanta. Afterward we cruised the streets of the Neveh Tzedek, a place that really can't be described in words, but features narrow streets, cafes, and buildings that would blow your mind. It is the ultimate place of urban decay juxtposed with old structures... very cool! We then stumbled on a flea market and were accosted from all ends by shopkeepers. I found some awesome gifties for others and for myself and made some excellent deals. I am learning how to be an effective barterer, despite some missteps in the beginning that led to me getting things for more than I should have. The key is to not let them play on your Utah niceness. They know Americans are polite and don't want to be rude, but you have to not be afraid to walk away. They want the sale, and will go low to get it. So I got some great deals yesterday walking around. The best part of the day, however, was the sea. We stood by the Mediterranean for nearly an hour, letting the rough sea spray refresh us as we ate pear gelato. I even got to walk on the beach again. :)
I don't know exactly what the plan is today, but we are leaving for Jerusalem soon, and will have a full day there on Tuesday. Will keep you posted. Stay tuned for pictures after I go eat breakfast.
