Live from Jerusalem

I arrived in Tel Aviv no problem, and was eating falafel in Jerusalem in about an hour. Ashley and Dirk are incredibly gracious hosts, and I am having a very enjoyable stay with them here. Friday and Saturday we went to Nazareth, stopping on the way back in Tiberius and the Sea of Galilee. Friday night we stayed in this incredible hotel. It wasn't fancy in the least, but everything you needed was there, and the building was amazing - an old arabian house with easily 18 foot high ceilings and great old doors and windows. I took a bunch of pictures of the courtyard, I hope some of them do it justice. In Tiberius I had St. Peter's fish for lunch, and we stopped at a monastery on the site of Capernaum, where Jesus called his disciples, from where we could see the Mount of the Beatitudes. Sunday I saw the parts of the Israel National Museum that weren't under renovation: the zen influenced sculpture garden, the to scale recreation of Jerusalem in 62 AD before the Romans destroyed it, and an excellent exhibit of other works in minature called "Bizarre Perfection". Today I went with Ashley through the Old City - although because of the threat of rain we stayed in the Christian Quarter where Ashley works and knows plenty of places to duck under a roof. We went to the church of St. James, immediately beside the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, which contains the tomb of Jesus. We started at St. James because Ashley and Dirk attend liturgy there sometimes, and they know the Muktar (sp?), the lay leader of the church, who gave us a tour of all the icons in his church and the history of the various rooms. The church is supposed to be built on the site where Mary first met Jesus after he'd risen. The tour was great, detailed and informative, and we left to go join the throngs of people at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. As we were looking at the tomb from the outside, discussing coming back early one morning before the lines get to be about 2 hours long, there was the Muktar by our sides again, asking if we wanted to go in. When we said we'd come back later, he told us to wait, went and talked to the guards, and walked us right into the tomb with the next group. We couldn't believe it (nor could the guards, or anyone else in line - I think surprise is what kept us from getting in any more trouble!) Then the Muktar proceeded to show us the entire church, pointing to the stone that marks "the center of the world", the tombs of Joseph of Arimethea and Nicodemus, a brief architechture lesson in Byzantine columns, and entrance into the back room where all the relics are kept. Most of it Ashley had never been shown before, either, and we could not have dreamed of getting such a thorough tour. We continued on to the Ethiopian and Coptic churches all connected to the main courtyard. It was an incredible experience, and I feel so lucky that it all worked out so well.

I have to admit, however, that I feel strangely unprepared for interacting with these sites. In spite of identifying myself as a Christian, I find myself impressed with what I see as historical events and places, without any particular spiritual weight - not something I'm particularly proud to admit. At this point in time I don't feel a great desire to come back to this part of the world, and a part of me wonders if I will regret later that I didn't take this chance to really make this a spiritual pilgrimage. I felt awkward, rather than honored, when shown their relic of the cross and told "Here, you can venerate" - an act in the Orthodox church that involves a combination of touching with fingertips, crossing, touching with the forehead, and kissing in a combination that eludes me. I find this veneration moving, inspiring, even, and at the same time mysterious and foreign. I'm simultaneously put off by it from years of Presbyterian white walls (hung with felt banners) and envious - feeling at a loss from not having something to do when I come here.

While thinking about this has thrown up questions for me that will certainly take much longer reflection than a few paragraphs here or contemplation over the rest of the week to get very far with, it is refreshing to get the time to think deeply about other things that interest me besides German Literature. Not that I don't get energized trying to fit ideas that I have about the power of the written word back into written words, but there will be plenty more opportunities for that (I've already gotten confirmation from one Professor in Göttingen about attending his seminar on the history of the essay.) A change of pace is doing a lot of good, particularly at the start of a period where I'm hoping to transition from mostly being a student in classes to a much heavier balance of independent work. We'll see. At any rate, it is a true mental break from what I've been doing and will go back to in just a few days, which is great.

Potentially the worst part of the trip

I think that the Goodbyes that are a part of making a big move are possibly the hardest part of all. I haven't been away from home for 24 hrs yet, I haven't been in Germany for more than 3 and a half hours, and I'm already way happier than I could have believed Tuesday morning.

Some is just a sense of relief. Nothing bad happened with flying here! In fact, everything went almost suspiciously well. All of my flights were way underbooked - I always had an entire row for myself. Perfect weather, no hassles at any check points - everything went perfectly.

I got into Hamburg fine, got my bags, got the SBahn, talked to the people at the train station, dropped off my biggest suitcase. I know what to look for in the morning to go back to the airport. Found the hotel no problem at all. They said to follow the street to the church, and they meant it - the hotel is right next to this old brick church, that has been chiming faithfully every 15 minutes, and I imagine will continue all night. Supposedly this is a non smoking room, it's still sort of smoky, but compared to the breakfast room it is a lot fresher. Still for all that this hotel far from the nicest place I've been, it is convenient and cheap - and the locks on the doors seem pretty reasonable.

Which brings me to perhaps my first cultural observation - Doors. Germans and doors. There have to be half a dozen doors between you and wherever you're going. And at least here, at least this time of year, they all stick, so when you push against them to see if they're not locked, you're (I'm) likely to walk away thinking someone's in there, when really, you just have to lean your entire body weight against it, is all. And all the locks turn funny - so if there's anyone else staying on this hall, they can tell any time I go to the door, walk down the hall to the bathroom, because I will turn all the locks twice the wrong way, before turning them back the right way, and then shoving them open. Maybe the doors just seem heavy because I'm tired from travelling and carrying my back pack all day - but I doubt it.

I have to admit - it's nice to walk in a city again. It's nice to walk down streets where there are lots of other people walking, where distances between buildings are measure in walking rather than driving distance. I imagine this is a lot nicer as a pedestrian - having to drive some place like this - having to paralell park ALL the time, I think would make me a bit nuts.

But yes, I checked into the hotel, made a few quick updates (including wonderful pictures from Britta of my room/apartment, which I think I'll just have to go into later) then went out heading for dinner. I decided that it was a good sign I was hungry at something like "dinnertime" and walked up "Lange Reihe", which I had read was a very happening street in Hamburg, particularly for the gay scene, for whatever that's worth. I found this great small italian restaurant, and got some kind of wonderful penne with duck, mushrooms, and a tomato cream sauce. I wished later I had brought a camera to take a picture of it, but decided as long as I don't know my way around, I shouldn't advertise it (ie, take pictures of everything). Anyway, I'm already happy walking around, seeing that EVERY bookstore has TONS of books in German (amazing..) and since this was the most unkown part of the whole trip, generally feeling better - everything from here on out has more of a feel of a safety net - someone to call, just in case, someone to meet me somewhere.

Last two points: 1. both wonderful and awful to not have a phone that anyone can reach me on - I'm completely independent, and completely on my own, if you know what I mean. 2. I just realized what I did not bring. The cord that lets me upload pictures from my camera to my computer. Thoughts, anyone?

Writing from Germany, Part 2

Hi again to any previous readers,

Thanks to your encouragement, I've decided to try blogging as an accompaniment to my time in Göttingen. It will be interesting to see as I write what strikes me about living abroad. There may be more reflections on the university than on small town life, but it's hard to say in advance.

At this point I can say: I will be leaving my comfortable, lived-in life on Tuesday (day after tomorrow, there, I've said (typed) it) and flying to Hamburg via London and Chicago. After one night in Hamburg, I'll be flying to Tel Aviv, to spend a week with my friends in Jerusalem, with a short excursion to Nazareth and environs. On the 26th I'll fly back to Hamburg, and will take a train and arrive in Göttingen on the 27th of March. I'll be sharing an apartment with Britta, a physical therapist, and her dog Buck, and will be taking seminars at the University of Göttingen. Classes will start April 15, and will end sometime in the middle of July. I'll have a couple of weeks to finish up my papers and will return to the States on Aug 1. Long enough to be "a long time", but for a long time - not really very long.

Hope you have fun reading along, and that we'll see each other soon!