"In God´s country" Israel by Faracy

To make a very long story short, I wanted to go somewhere where I could do an excavation, and Israel was the place where I could be funded to do so. I was an archeology major at the time, (getting profound joy out of looking at long dead bodies, and ancient food.) Unfortunantly, unless you´re from an Israeli institution, you are not allowed to dig up human remains:( I spent a month in the beautiful Galillee digging an ancient sewer system, and cleaning sherds of broken pottery.
I didn´t have the Indiana Jones notion of archeology, but I realized that it just wasn´t the lifestyle I wanted... 20 years of school, and then MAYBE getting a good site! No..
I would much rather do an ethnography on archeologists themselves... a fascinating bunch of people.. too much time in academia isn´t good for the soul.
I want to spend my life with the living, not hypothesizing about the dead..

The Galilee, or northern part of Israel is by far my favorite part. During the dig, I lived on a Moshav called Ramot Naphtali... the nearest towns being Sfat and Kiryat Shmona. Being shy in group situations, I spent a lot, really ALL of my free time wandering the area by myself. I loved watching the night fall over the Hula Valley every night, looking at Mt. Hermon... It had a special feeling, and a special scent.
I wish I knew what flower it was, but it was really pungent at night.. I´ll forever associate that with Israel.
When I was up on top of the Tel, doing my work, I would look down at the lands around me and wonder if this is where my ancestors came from. I would look across the electrified barbed wire fences and see Lebanon.. how strange that something so close couldn´t be visited. The same with Syria... there is a point where you can see all three countries at once.
I was there during a pretty rough time between Lebanon and Israel, constant Hezbollah fighting, bombing overhead, and explosions. It became so normal to hear shelling overhead, that we didn´t even look up.
I don´t know when I´ll ever get back there, I hope I do someday.

Tel Aviv is a huge, frantic city. I spent most of my time at the beach, on the board walk, and avoiding gross men.... be very careful! I got grabbed even swimming in the water!
On a happier note, Joffa is beautiful!
I think there are few more beautiful sites on earth than light minerets at dusk or dawn... wow... I love the hazy blue green they´re light with, and hearing the call to prayer... I must have been Muslim in a previous life, I was much more inspired by the Islamic elements of Israel than the Jewish... and I have a Jewish background.
I vividly remember laying on the beach at 4:00 AM, and watching the waves crash in, and gazing at Joffa and the minerets..

• Pros:Magical, beautiful, full of life.
• Cons:The fighting never ends
• In a nutshell:You have to go