Israel

Passover in Israel is synonymous with springtime. I celebrated much of the holiday up north in the Galilee hiking through wildflowers with my cousins.

In some respects, the country is more developed than it was a dozen years ago with its new roads, high-speed train, strip malls, and wireless Internet. On the other hand, many things haven't changed and remind me of the difficulties of daily life. Tension is high and my bags were thoroughly searched due to tight security at the border and bus station (for good reason given the suicide bombing in Tel Aviv earlier this week). People are either caring and kind or rude and impatient. Israel is a place of extremes and my feelings reflect ambivalence -- I love it knowing that I would hate living here.

My friend Leib arrived a few days ago and on Sunday we fly to Istanbul for a week. Then I'll have another two weeks in Turkey before I return to Israel for a bit more visiting with the family.