Ten Things About Jerusalem

A daily challenge in Jerusalem is grocery shopping. Most products are made in Israel with Hebrew packaging. Imported products typically have a sticker listing the ingredients in Hebrew, usually slapped over the English list. This leads occasionally to bad purchases: Maleaha bought a beetroot dip based on its beet-oriented packaging. It also included a picture of sliced horseradish (quick: what does sliced horseradish look like?). Her sandwich was inedible. To prepare, Mike learned some basic Hebrew, including the alphabet, so he can sound out a lot of products. For example: ש ו ק ו ל ד is shukulad , so chocolate. Maleaha, on the other hand, relies on Google Translate. She takes a picture of a label and it instantly translates the text. It is amazing that a phone app can bridge linguistic divides. However, the algorithm still needs work. For example, what appears to be an iced coffee translates to High Caffeine Rainbow Grease Mouthfeel. We have also checked ou...

Autumn brings the Jewish High Holidays, which are spread out over the span of a month. Long weekends bring Israel to a standstill. Stores, transportation and public services are closed for extended periods. Rosh Hashanah is the Jewish New Year, announced by the blowing of the shofar (a ram’s horn). We did not hear one.   Treats include apples dipped in honey and Honey Cake - great from the bakery, but terrible from the supermarket. Yom Kippur is the Day of Atonement, the most solemn day of the year. How solemn? Even radio stations do not broadcast. No planes, trains or unnecessary vehicles run on this day. In Jerusalem, major roads are blocked off with fences and actual concrete roadblocks (to dissuade non-observant Palestinians). With nothing else to do, we took the opportunity to stroll down the main boulevard to downtown.  The following week was the start of Sukkot, the harvest festival and a reminder of the 40-year sojourn in the desert, ending on Simch...

After several weeks in Jerusalem, we took the advice of seasoned residents and booked a getaway to Jordan. Our bus tour took us to the ancient Roman ruins of Jerash, a massive archaeological site. The town was destroyed by earthquakes in the 8 th and 9 th centuries and discovered only in the 1800s. Jerash is highly walkable and Lena enjoyed scaling the various ruins, especially the amphitheatre.   Next was a day in Petra, the Nabatean “Rose City” carved into sandstone valleys made famous by Indiana Jones . We walked over eight km past ancient tombs, caves, temples and a church, then hired mules for the trip back. We camped nearby Bedouin-style at a hotel with passing camels, starry skies, tea and – most importantly – puppies.   Our last stop was Wadi Rum, site of King Abdullah I and T.E. Lawrence 's 1916 Arabian revolt (and more films). We rode in pickup trucks around the Mars-like landscape, climbed a sand dune and Lena joined a camel caravan. Th...