New Friends Experiencing Ancient History

2:15 am, flying out of Athina and into Tel Aviv. The red eye flight has an interesting group of passengers, all of which are not from America besides me and 3 others. I get lucky and have a whole row of seats to myself, which is great because I needed (and still do need) the sleep. I started to get comfortable when a head pops up from behind me.



“You know why this flight is so late?”



“Uh, no.”



I lay back down and start to doze off, but not for long. These crazy Greeks wanted to feed me breakfast. It’s a 2 hour (if that) flight at 2:30 am! Eggs, hash browns, yogurt and tea is served, and I must admit it was the best food I had eaten in two days. By the time I was finished the flight was about half over. I turned around and tapped the American who bothered me earlier and asked him if he knew about the Tel Aviv Beach. I had more than 12 hours to kill at the airport and was hoping it was close. This sparked a conversation in which he felt the need to climb over the seat and sit next to me. The rest of the flight we talked about history, psychology, dreams, rationality, languages, traveling… pretty much anything you could think of.



“By the way, what’s your name?”



“John.”



“I’m Jenna, pleasure.”



Once we landed, I met his two friends that were on the back of the plane once in the airport. Trey, a minister for a college in Greece, and Josh who is a high school Spanish teacher in Texas. Lovely guys, I felt at ease for once with strangers 10,000 miles from home. We went to passport control together, and after some hassling, from both French vacationers who were obnoxioulsy hitting on me and the Israeli security, I got through and into Israel. I left my new friends, and went in search of an ATM and coffee. I knew I had a long wait ahead of me, so WiFi, a map and money were oh so necessary. After a bit of wandering, I find the ATM, and what do you know my American friends are there! I tell them about my wait, and they tell me that I am silly and that they would gladly split a cab with me. Awesome possum, then I could drop my bags off at the hostel and roam the streets of Jerusalem instead of the airport, which was such an uncomfortable place.



You would think a cabbie in a small place like Israel would know the hotels, but Jerusalem is such a maze, even to the locals. After a lot of searching, we find my hostel and see that it is 2 blocks from their hotel! It is 5 am, none of us can check in yet. We walk up to the gate to get into the guesthouse I am staying at and meet Alfred, he lives and sleeps at the gate to this hostel. He is one of the nicest most genuine people I have ever met and his daughters name in Jenna too! He tells me that Jenna means "a little piece of heaven" in Arabic, and allows us to all stow our luggage in a spare room. We decide to try to find something to eat, but Alfred tells us we will not be able to because nothing is open this early.



We start walking towards the Old City of Jerusalem, the streets are silent and the weather is ideal. He was right, not a shop or café was open. The only people out, were religious persons praying or singing and the Israeli army patrolling. I took video as we walked through the old city and through a checkpoint where we had our bags checked and walked through a metal detector. I found it interesting to witness a orthodox Jew walk next to the detector and nobody said a word to him. We made our way to the western wall, which is unexplainable. Women are not allowed near the wall, so I wrote down a prayer and gave it to John, who smuggled it into a cozy place where it will forever stay.



The old city of Jerusalem at 5 am is something most people will never see.



I very much enjoyed traveling the country with John, Trey and Josh because they are history buffs like me. We walked and talked; exchanging facts and legends, putting pieces together and making memories. After a couple hours in the city, hunger was starting to win the battle. We headed to the YMCA for brunch. Such good food!! We ate from a huge selection of cheeses, vegetables, fruits, breads, meats, olives and beans. Fresh squeezed orange juice and delicious coffee to wash it down. Feeling glorious, we headed back to the hostel to meet up with their friend Jeff, who was staying with a friend the night before in Jerusalem. Jeff is a recent grad from Texas, and begged us to go to Masada. Masada was a topic during our brunch, the history there is ridiculous, and we all wanted to go.



http://www.israelnewsagency.com/massadamasadaisraelpalestine481021.html



It also worked out perfectly because I really wanted to swim in the Dead Sea, which Masada overlooks. Trey negotiates with Hani, a Palestinian cab driver on the flat rate for the afternoon in which he would take us to Masada then the Dead Sea and give us plenty of time to enjoy ourselves. After about 30 mins, we freshen up and head to the desert.



The drive to Masada was breath taking. The desert on my right, and the Dead Sea and Jordan to my left; camels freely strolling through the mountainous sands and date trees offer some vegetation to the scenery. Masada was an amazing site to walk through, I let my hand follow the walls and lead me to the next room. The view from the top, overlooking the desert, the Dead Sea and Jordan was spectacular.



The sun was starting to get to us all, and swimming sounded even more appealing. We met up with Hani and headed to the beach. My experience at the Dead Sea is too wonderful for words. The water is so dense and full of salt that you literally float on it. We covered ourselves with mud like the locals, and floated on our backs for what seemed like a life time. I have never been in this state of mind, sure the lack of sleep and desert heat probably had something to do with this… but dude! We were floating! After we showered the mud and salt off, we grabbed a chair on the beach and had a Hebrew beer before heading back to Jerusalem.



I passed out on the way back, but woke up as we were driving through a check point. It is so weird, but I am already starting to get used to these. The young guards sit in the shade with their massive guns up against the wall and stare you down as you pass by.



I tell the boys bye, and that I will see them tomorrow. The walk back to my hostel was hot, and I was close to dehydrating. I got lost for about 15 minutes, it was now 5 aclock and the traffic was buzzing past me as I tried to remember landmarks. I walk past this obviously American tourist and ask her is she speaks English, I never assume. She is explains to me that she too is lost and is desperate to find her way back to her hotel. The name rang a bell to me and I told her to tag a long with me and I would surely be able to help her. 10 long, hot minutes pass by and I find her hotel and also my hostel. Alfred greeted me at the gate and showed me to my room which was now ready. He calls me his daughter, we have a special bond.



Shower, then passed out.



I wake up to a banging on the door… It is my roommate Caitlin! The rest of the group has finally made it! I jump out of bed way too fast and almost fall down getting to the door. We head to the courtyard of the hostel for some dinner and a briefing. I just cannot believe this journey; I cannot wait to wake up in the morning.



Noura, a graduate student who came with us, was held up at the passport control for over 2 hours because she is Palestinian. We had an emotional discussion after dinner, and decided on a time to meet in the morning to tour with the Ir Amam. After dinner, Caitlin, Shannon, Rachael and I explored the hotel and surrounding area. These next ten days will change my life like the last two have, I have no idea what to expect…