Monday, March 27, 2006

Barkai, Akko and Haifa

My last full day in Israel started in Barkai—the kibbutz where Spesh grew up. He said he had an idea for our day--we should drive to Akko, a coastal town in the North.

I said, "I'm a bad guest, I don't have any suggestions."

"You're a good guest, you'll do anything I like." Ok then.

The plan was to drive his sister to school, which was in the same general direction as Akko, continue on to Akko, loop back towards Haifa and pick up the sister around 3:30pm. We got started at 9:00am.

Spesh had left his glasses in Tel Aviv so I volunteered to do the driving. I'd spent a couple of days driving around Jerusalem so I was relatively comfortable with this, and presumably not breaking any laws. It went fine, but after we dropped the sister off, I started to feel very drowsy. I suspected that I might be coming down with a cold. I told Spesh that after we got to Akko, he'd be doing the driving.

I didn't know anything about Akko, but it was clearly a tourist destination. There is an old city and a bunch of "Templar" walls, presumably remaining from the time of the crusades. We didn't go into any of the museums or pay to go into any of the ancient tunnels, but it was still interesting just poking around.

city view

Because I was feeling so-so, we walked slowly. Spesh didn't even rush me. He would get ahead of me when I stopped to take pictures, though.
IMG_1304.JPG

The market wasn't only for tourists.
dried goods

This kid actually smiled at me, so I took his picture. The family was Muslim.
smile

We were eating in a restaurant in Akko market and Spesh noted that we were the only Jews in the place without guns. Scary but true. Several groups of young (teenage?) people came in carrying semi-automatic rifles. Spesh said, "She's not even old enough to have a boyfriend, much less a gun." I had to agree.

After lunch, we saw this group, with their armed escorts on the left (one is grinning at me):
safe

I said, "I don't get it, why do all those groups have guys with guns hanging around."

"They have to."

"What?"

"It's the law. All school groups have to have armed escorts."

"So are they paid? Are they soldiers?"

"They're volunteers—from the PTA. Or maybe the school pays them something. But the state provides the guns."

"Damn." I was surprised. It's amazing what you can get used to.

Here I am, looking at the sea.
head shot

We had dessert. This is knafe (accent on the 'e'). (The pic is actually of knafe from Nazareth, but it's the same stuff. The version in Akko looked a little different and didn't taste quite as good.)
IMG_0971.JPG

We spotted some posters for the party Spesh planned to vote for:
politics

It's an Arab party named "Balad" and they didn't even bother to print the posters in Hebrew. Not worth the trouble.

After the walking and eating, it was time to drive to Haifa. The drive would have gone a lot more quickly if Spesh hadn't pulled over three times to take calls on the cell phone. All business, he assured me, except for the call from his girlfriend. And the one from his friend. Even those had something to do with the fundraiser he was planning for Saturday.


By the time we got there, I was too tired to walk around, but we didn't really have time for that anyway. We drove through the town, which is tucked into a steep hill. It's the oldest modern city in Israel and one of the most integrated. It's a very pretty town. We got a little lost trying to get out of the city and we thought we'd be late picking up Spesh's sister. Somehow we made it right on time.

A view of Haifa:
haifa panorama.jpg

The drive home was fun because we had a lively discussion about the pros and cons of raising children "kibbutz" style. In their kibbutz, and many others, after the age of three months all children lived separately from their parents in age-determined "children's houses." They spent a certain amount of time each day (from 4pm-8pm) with their parents and other siblings, but all basic care, sleeping, schooling, etc. took place in the children's houses. Spesh declined to talk about his personal experiences, but said the purpose of this style of child raising was to instill autonomy in the kids. The children took an active role in their upbringing and education. They had input into how things were run and what they did. This was purposeful. The sister was not as positive about the experience and said she would have given up some autonomy for a closer relationship with her siblings.

I argued too, because I feel like a pretty autonomous person, but I knew that kind of argument I was making was too anecdotal to mean much. We kept trying to get Spesh to share his personal feelings, but he steadfastly refused. I understand why, but as I said, we were interested in hearing more about him. We didn't hear it. Maybe another time.

We got back to the kibbutz and continued the conversation, in a more modified form, with his parents, particularly his mother. I got along with this family very well. It's like I'd known them for a long time already. During an after dinner conversation with Spesh's mom and sister, he retreated in the study/bedroom to make phone calls.

When he reemerged, he told me we'd been invited to a party in Tel Aviv. I didn't want to go and we decided to stay at the kibbutz. We did, however, make a housewarming call on a family who had just finished remodeling their tiny kibbutz house. The husband/father was an age-cohort of Spesh's. Spesh, his mom and I made the visit. The house was two bedrooms, one bath and an open-plan kitchen/living room. The family was mom, dad and two kids, all living together. Spesh's mom said it was the house where she'd lived when they first came to the kibbutz. Three families used to share the space, each getting one room. The configuration was completely different then, and, of course, the kids slept elsewhere.

The children's houses when away in the '90s, particularly during the first Gulf War. Now the kids live with their parents. There have been a lot of changes on the kibbutz.

After that, it was time to go to sleep. We had to leave by 6:30am to get to the airport the next moring. Yet, we managed to stay up late again watching a movie on tv. This time it was Wimbledon, something we'd both seen before. Cute, but no Groundhog Day.

3 Comments:

Blogger Bell Jenkinson said...

I want to bring my teenage sons to Akko subtereanean city for an educational visit or join in a dig. We plan to take the train from Tel Aviv airport and want to work together picking oranges from say 5.1.10 to 13.2.10 staying on a kibbutz community farm or perhaps the youthhostel, can anyone help me with information, prices and contacts? We are not Jewish but I'm researching a novel to do with Tutmoses 3 and Moses' ancestoral battles such as the Joshua line. Please contact me Miss Vanessa Lloyd, 13 Woodlands, Tytherington, Wotton under Edge, South Gloucestershire, GL12 8UJ United Kingdom - I would love to do an exchange of dwelling if this would suit anyone out there. nesslloyd@hotmail.com

7:29 AM, December 30, 2009  
Anonymous holy land tours said...

i have just so some more blogs about israel tripping. it's sound so amazing. i am looking for a new place to be and israel definitely came into my list! thank you for great post!

12:57 AM, November 22, 2010  
Anonymous hostels jerusalem said...

INCREDIBLE ONE ! Thanks for sharing photos. Israel seems to be great place for visiting. Hopefully, I will plan there at the time of Jewish festival. The Jews have so interesting holidays. I hope that I will also experience the feeling of Jewish holidays.

4:53 AM, February 10, 2012  

Post a Comment

<< Home