Cold, Conflicted, Closed Crossing, and Cats- re-posted

The following entry was posted on 1/13 under someone else's name and accidentally got erased, so I am re-posting it. Today's entry will be separate.

I got up this morning and took a walk through Haifa. It was cold, the sun was getting ready to rise when I got up and had risen by the time I finished. When I set off, I had no idea where I was going. My sense of direction is pretty bad, even on a good day, so I was careful to look for landmarks as I was walking. I ended up walking through a residential neighborhood. Nice homes, quiet. A woman was out in her crocks and what looked like pajamas walking her dog. There were a few people out walking, some clearly for exercise, some trying to get somewhere. I wandered through a park with some interesting animal mosaics on the benches. I love mosaics and the park reminded me just a little of Parc Güell in Barcelona- though not nearly as big and not nearly as cool.

Haifa rivals San Francisco in terms of its hills. I went up and down several hills on my walk. Since I stopped running awhile back (always with the intention of starting back tomorrow, next week, etc. and never quite doing it), it felt good to use my muscles. Maybe I’ll actually get a run in while I’m here, tomorrow…or maybe next week…

After the walk, we had our devotional and a nice breakfast. We walked to the Baha’i Shrine. It was beautiful, though I was feeling conflicted about the contrast between the beauty (particularly the vast amounts of water for the grass and other non-native plants in the landscaping) and the resources being used that could perhaps be used elsewhere. Yesterday we had learned about Israeli conflicts with other nations that had begun because of a shortage of and drying up of water in the area, so that idea was rolling around in my head as I looked at the fountains and the plants I mention above. When I brought this is up this evening, someone reminded me that we Catholics don’t have much room to talk about resource usage when we have the incredible riches at the Vatican and so many poor that our social teaching says we should be helping. She was not rude when she made the comment (I’m not sure she knows I’m Catholic), but it was a point well-taken. I think about the issue in my personal life, too. I have so much and I have visited many places where people have so little and yet even seeing that poverty does not prompt me to give as much as I’m sure I could…

After leaving the Baha’i Shrine, we went to Acre, a Crusader fortress. Impressive. What was interesting about it was that the Turks built right over it, not knowing that it was there, it was so covered with dirt and sand. Archaeological digs are still going on… It was interesting to see the work in progress. We also visited the Al-Jazzar mosque. I had never been in a mosque before. It was interesting, quite beautiful. There was a big digital clock on the wall in the front that had not only the current time and date, but the 5 precise times that Muslims should pray today. Claudia (our guide) told us that the prayer times change slightly from day to day. Also, apparently the prayers do not need to be said right at the time of the prayer call, but must be done before the next prayer call happens. We heard one of the calls when we were wandering around Acre.
After Acre, we went to the Israel-Lebanon border. It is a closed border and there is some sort of funky thick mesh over the gate so that you can’t see well into the border-crossing area. There was also a lot of nice barbed wire. We took pictures. There was a soldier watching us from the other side of the gate. Diana, my roommate, told us tonight that she had been at the same border several decades ago…on the Lebanon side…it was a closed border then…it is still a closed border.

Tonight we are staying in a kibbutz. It is very simple, not like the hotels we’ve stayed in so far. This place reminds me of Central America…except it’s a lot colder than most of Central America (except Todos Santos where I lived in Guatemala).

There are lots of cats here…there have been lots of cats everywhere we’ve gone today. Most are pretty friendly, so I’ve been calling them over to pet them and they seem pretty happy to receive the affection. A few are missing bits of ears. The reason became clear when I saw one of the dogs at the kibbutz biting and pulling on one of the cats’ ears. The cat was complaining, but not running away, so I guess they have a strange sort of affection- the dog had been licking the cat earlier. Stray cats seem to pretty common around here. At Acre, I was told I could take the sweet orange kitten that followed us out. I promise (Mom and Dad) I won’t bring one home.
Tomorrow we head to Zippori and then to Nazareth. I am looking forward to Nazareth. We will also be staying in the same hotel (in Tiberias) for two whole nights!

Until the next time…

Peace,
Cory