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We just got back to the flat after spending four or five hours this morning getting lost in northern Israel, but not being too concerned about not knowing where we are. The people are different, English is rarely heard spoken outside of our immediate group of friends, and the signs are all in Arabic and Hebrew. We did arrange for me to have some time exploring and being in solitude in Jerusalem this next week, and I am looking forward to getting lost in the city.

Jamie and I have had some good conversations the last couple days, some about art in the Church and some even about where I am spiritually with everything that has changed; these have not been bad conversations at all, but really just open and honest conversations that have benefited us both. Last night back in the flat, I took a shower (I take two a day here due to the gross humidity) and then sat in the living area as a neighbor, Jenna Lee, showed us a scrapbook her sister made her of her family and farm back home in Canada. She is homesick. We talked for awhile, and we discussed how tomorrow night another friend is going to visit the flat to teach Jamie and I how to make authentic Arabic coffee. I can’t wait for that!

This morning I awoke at 4:15 am as Dave was using Skype in the room next to the hallway I sleep in; he was calling the folks in 242 to wish them “shalom” from Israel. Just because of my relationship with that particular organization, it felt weird that I was in the hallway just outside his bedroom when he was doing that, and here we are clear in Haifa. I feel back asleep then until about 7am and then awoke to shower and dress before waking Jamie up to do the same. David left for class and we met up with Jenna Lee downstairs to accompany her to the Arabian Market down the street; her for a class and us for tourism. However, both Jamie and I were out of shekals and we needed some before going to the market, and Jenna Lee directed us down the opposite side of Mount Carmel to find an atm. We never did find the plaza or fountain that she described, but we did walk several miles down to the aerial tram base for the sea grottos, then back up Jaffa Road where we found a city center.

Here we stopped for breakfast in a neighborhood shop, and ate pitas stuffed with egg (lots of egg!) and hard cheese, accompanies by cucumber and tomato. The city was overcast this morning and the front of the shop was open to the outside, and everything felt so cool and inviting, yet to foreign and new at the same time. It really was a moment to appreciate. We then stopped in a grocery across the way to buy bottles of water, and we learned that there are no real lines in grocery stores, just insane crowding into any open space available.

We then walked back up then walked back up towards Ben Gurion and stopped to journal about halfway up the promonade in front of the Temple of Bab, but were soon stopped by an Israeli transplant who used to live in Europe. He advised us first on the proper way to hold out backpacks and then returned to quiz us on our knowledge of American Islam. He spoke about the Koran quite a bit, but then told us he was Christian, then went off on a small tangent about the evils of the Ba’hai World Faith and how they used imminent domain to kick Jewish settlers off the mount to built this secular temple. It was clearly a topic he was quite passionate about, but he somehow always wove it back into stories of Islamic and Ba’hai culture and the roles of a man and woman, both in community and in sex. We excused ourselves after a while, and he waived a blessing towards us and we were off.

We did find an atm in the city center, but this man took the time we would have used to explore the Arabian Market, but I’ll come back to it later on in the trip. Back to the flat to shower and relax, and wait for David to return.