The beats of music from my cousin’s concert swirl into the air as the waves ripple the Mediterranean Sea and splash into the magnificent beach of Tel Aviv.  Residents swarm through the alleys of bazaars while some employees press the button on blenders to mix the fruit.  People enjoy dinner with laughter at cafes at midnight while some sleep peacefully.  Life goes on…

..in Israel.

In the past week in Israel, I just enjoyed my moments there with my family and friends.  Rather than experiencing the country as a tourist, I was just simply a family member visiting family and friends.  It was like any other trip where I visit my grandparents and cousins.  I spent every moment with them as I only see them a few times in my life.  While I’m spending my time with them, I’m still fully immersed in the Israeli culture by eating pitas with hummus, hearing people speaking Hebrew, drinking smoothies, and relaxing on the beach.  I appreciated every image I viewed on this trip – images that I don’t see in the news media.

In the past two weeks, I’ve been on a scavenger hunt to find jewels, spices, and SHINY GOLD.  As I walk through the Jewish Quarter in Jerusalem, the smell of curry and cumin wafts by my nose, causing me to observe the spices closely.  At the quarter, there are bags and bags of spices in bright red, orange, brown, and green – all the names of colors I can identify.  While looking at the spices is part of the experience, smelling them is a must as each of them have their own unique scent.

It’s absolutely hard not to miss men proudly displaying their jewels with shiny gold and gems – turquoise, amethyst, and sapphire.  These men are desperate for your willingness to be greedy enough to buy a huge bag full of jewels.  They will plead with you by putting the jewelry in your hand and will continue to lower the price until give an OK to buy them.  Tourists need to be prepared not to be gullible by the information about the jewels provided by the sales people.  However, many tourists should be intelligent enough to know that some of the stuff is just bunch of dummies.  Fortunately, I found a beautiful, genuine ring made with Roman glass for an incredible deal thanks to my negotiation skills which I have built up over the years from my traveling experiences.

Scarves also dominate the scenes of the quarters, both Jewish and Arabic.  They’re admirably beautiful and come in a wide range of colors, including bright pink, purples, blues, and greens.  Leather sandals are a fad in Israel too.

Aside from the garments, hookahs are greatly abundant at the market.  Hookahs are the strangest creatures I have seen!  They’re those little shiny  machines with hoses on the sides for people to suck on.  They also seem dangerous as when people use them, smoke comes out of their mouth – that says that hookahs are perhaps just as harmful as cigarettes.

This is a hard-not-to-miss experience in Jerusalem and even in the Middle East.  The experiences are exactly what I’ve seen in the movies, such as Aladdin.

Last Friday night, my aunt and uncle hosted a Shabbat dinner on top of a building overlooking the beautiful city of Jerusalem.  I had the opportunity to see the city transform into various shades of colors as I was there from when the sun was still high up in the sky until it was completely set.

In addition to enjoying viewing the beautiful scenes, I enjoyed the sounds of the beats of people’s feet taping the floor as they danced and the tunes of music sung by a group of adorable young boys.

Details will come later…

In spite of the news media perpetuating discussions on the terrors of Israel causing people to feel reluctant to visit here, the lives of Israelis go on.  People go to work, socialize at cafes, munch up some falafels, and play at the beach.  If we had never seen the negative side of Israel in the news, no one would have a clue that it’s occurring in some parts of the country.  This is part of the travel experience which allows me to see the REAL life of each country.  The ones who won’t travel to places because of the news media’s trash talk, are the ones who need to travel more than anyone else like Rick Steves says.

Tonight, after a day of touring Tel Aviv, relatives of mine on my dad’s side of the family and I chilled out at a restaurant by the beach overlooking people swimming in the waves by Jaffa.  People were sitting in beach chairs and reading or listening to music through their headphones.  Children were building sand castles.  After dinner, many of us went out on the beach to have memorable moments.

As I was looking at the menu at a restaurant and being seated at a table with my family by the harbor situated by the Mediterranean Sea, I saw “Shellfish” and a whole list of shellfish that I could order including shrimp.  While I’m not kosher as I want to have the freedom to try new food and have flexible eating habits, I still knew that shellfish was not kosher, and Israel is a Jewish state.  So, that just struck me!  This is certainly one of the messages that I’m receiving while I’m in Israel that it’s okay to be Jewish and still not do any religious practices including being Kosher.  For those of you who do not know what Kosher means, it’s a Jewish eating practice, and the simplest definition of Kosher is that Jews who are Kosher do not eat shellfish and pork, and they can’t eat meat and eat or drink dairy products at the same time.

Israel is certainly a very secular Jewish state where Jews just enjoy life and don’t stress about following religious practices, although, Jerusalem is an exception where there is a heavy population of orthodox Jews.

I sure did order shrimp :).  Because Israel is located by the Mediterranean Sea, seafood is must to eat in Israel!

On another note, I took a stroll with Dana, my cousin, after dinner to enjoy the serene scenery of rays of pinks, blues, purple, and orange and see silhouettes of people and lights of the harbor.

I have to say that I’m really impressed that the Israeli government puts a tremendous effort into ensuring that that their own country is as well secured as  can be due to some violence present in certain areas.  Seeing security guards presented in stores, parking garages, and malls really does leave people with peace of mind.

I would like to leave with a very important quote from a book, Travel as a Political Act by Rick Steves:

“The very people who would benefit most from international travel – those who needlessly fear people and places they don’t understand – decide to stay home.  I believe the most powerful things an individual American can do to fight terrorism are to travel a lot, learn about the world, come home with a new perspective, and then work to help our country fit more comfortable and less fearfully into this planet.”

I agree with Rick Steves 100%.  Without any doubts, traveling is giving me a better understanding of life in other places outside of my own country.  I can’t live my life worrying about the “ifs.”  I have to enjoy my life.  Risks are going to happen both in my hometown and overseas.  Plus, as I mentioned in a previous entry, we can’t rely on the news media to gain a better understanding of the world.

I’m not saying that there are no wars in Israel because I didn’t see any.  There are certainly a few occasions, but they only occur in certain spots, not in every inch of the country, according to my friends and family living in Israel.

As I look back from two years ago, gazing out the window on the bus and feeling overwhelmed by the beauty of the landscapes was a serious cultural shock.  Attending a dance show with some friends in Tel Aviv, dancing on a cruise at a lake in the Golan Heights, crawling inside the pre-historic caves, exploring the ancient Roman ruins in Caesarea, going out for an ice cream on Friday night, and driving through the Carmel Mountains are all activities of which I never imagined doing prior to my first trip to Israel.  This what I am looking forward to – envisioning the beautiful life that is not portrayed in the newspapers.

Aside from choosing to go to Israel to embrace their magnficent culture and view their astonishing landscapes, I’m very delighted to be part of my first cousin’s bar mitzvah and to see my family and friends.