Tel Aviv Nights

Tel Aviv, at night

I finished my final paper for my autumn courses at the University of Edinburgh at 5 a.m. on December 18. With my backpack packed, and fridge cleaned out, I hit the dark streets of Edinburgh running toward Waverly train station. My breath was visible in the arctic air. Luckily, I found a cab after about a half mile of running. I made my 5:36 a.m. train at Waverly. I arrived at Manchester Airport around 9:20 a.m. And I easily spotted what line to stand in for check in.

Many Jewish people were lined up, dressed traditionally in black pants and jackets, black hats with the brims and long beards. I stood next to a guy who certifies the kosher slaughter of cows and sheep for most of London's Jewish population. He said that he goes into the fields early on freezing mornings with English farmers, and his crew oversees the slaughter of about 200 slaughters cows a week, to make sure they are done according to Jewish law. We talked a bit about food politics and Jewish tradition. A number of ideas he expressed, like about linking the producer-consumer disconnect in modern food culture, I had originally read in Michael Pollan's books.

I was perhaps the only non-Jewish person on the plane, and many spoke to me in Hebrew, until I asked them in English to repeat what they were saying. As soon as the seatbelt light went off, nearly a third of the plane got up, and started changing seats, and talking with each other in the aisles. The kosher-certification guy had told me that because of the large Jewish population in Manchester, many take this flight together, and are family and friends, and it resembles more of a local bus ride than the 5 hour international Thompson Airways flight it is. I saw Mama Mia! and Wall-E on the plane for my 1st time.

Landing in Tel Aviv, I was curious as to how long the the passport control/customs station would take. I had read about the "security marathon" Daniel Zoughbie had to go through before he could fly out of Ben Gurion, after he had spent time in the West Bank setting up micro-clinics for diabetics. I had also heard other stories of some people being pulled aside and questioned for hours about why they were coming to Israel, for what purpose, etc.

I was pleasantly surprised when after waiting in line for 10 minutes, the woman at the counter took my American passport, looked at it for a minute, ran it through some scanner, then stamped it with Israel Ben Gurion Border Control stamp "Visit Permit 3 months" without asking me any questions. Passport control on my entry to Israel was easier than entering the UK through Heathrow, even with my UK student visa. I think it could be in part due to my very European appearance, which could be seen as Jewish. People here assume I'm Jewish and first speak to me in Hebrew. Then again, I am in Israel.

I took a train and van taxi to my hostel:

Hayarkon 48 Hostel in Tel Aviv, Israel

After pulling an all-nighter, traveling all the way across Europe, and writing about 8,000 words worth of essays the previous 4 days, I was ready to sleep. I still went to the beach (only a block away from the hostel). I was amazed at how warm it was outside being night. It felt like Santa Monica, California. I knew then that I was in the right place to escape the cold of the North Sea for a few weeks.

I went back to the hostel and chatted for a bit with an American and Polish guy staying in the dorm room about U.S literary journals and MFA programs.

The next morning, Sharon, a girl working at the hostel showed me the Tel Aviv markets. The fresh fruit and abundance of produce reminded me of the farmer's markets back home in Berkeley.

The fresh pomegranate and orange juice was quite incredible.

It was also interesting to see Christmas decorations. After my trip to the Christmas Markets in the Alsace region of France, I did not expect to find Christmas markets in Israel, but here is a mini one, with Santas mixed with dreidels:


The spices in the markets produce an amazing aroma throughout the markets:

Fresh fruit in the open markets in Tel Aviv.

As for the security here, it is not as extreme as I thought it would be. True, I do see a number of young soldiers carrying their M16s on them. And to get in and out of the street markets, there was a security guard with a handgun checking people's bags. But compared to how Israel is portrayed in the news media in the U.S., since I've been in Tel Aviv for a day, I have not seen the police state that many say it is. My perspective may change if I enter the West Bank to make a pilgrimage to Bethlehem on Christmas Eve. Also, movement and access for me may be much easier perhaps because I am very "white" looking. I may have a much more difficult experience here in Israel, were I Arab in appearance.

In the 2 hours I spent at the beach today, swimming in the Mediterranean Sea, I got more sun than I've gotten in the last 2 months in Scotland.



The beach was a great experience, and it felt like being in SoCal.

I'm excited for my trip to Jerusalem later today. I have a tour of the city tomorrow, and I want to get into the city before the Sabbath because most transportation shuts down from Friday sundown to Saturday sundown. I'll write about that trip when I have internet access again.