Sunday, July 14, 2013

Travel Made Me Feel My Youth

Citadel of Acre
When I was in college, I was eager to learn as much about the world as possible, so I majored in English. This allowed me to read broadly.

But I didn't want to limit myself to the travel habits of Emily Dickinson, who insists, "There is no frigate like a book." I wanted to get out of the United States and experience other landscapes, other cultures.

I chose to spend part of my sophomore year studying in Jerusalem due to its significance to three of the major world religions.  Also, I was awed by how it had a much older history than London or Vienna.

So in January of 1982, I embarked on a six month travel study in Jerusalem with a group of nearly 100 other BYU students.

We lived primarily at Ramat Rachel--located at the most southern extreme of Jerusalem. But we traveled throughout the region.


Our studies included a week working on a banana plantation, Degania Alef and about five days travel in Egypt--Cairo and Luxor.

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This post is part of the July's Blog Hop at Generation Fabulous. The thumbnails / links below will disappear in a couple of weeks, so here are links to three posts from the hop:

Patpourri writes about "An Awakening" in Oaxaca Mexico. 
Soul Searching at Starbucks describes the challenge of "German Grocery Shopping."
Fun and Fit shares "11 Helpful tips for Travelers" based on a 1974 trip to Europe.
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I got to swim in the Red, the Dead and the Med. I walked through Hezekiah's tunnel, crawled through caves near Hebron, waded in streams near the Sea of Galilee, and in many other ways made close contact with the landscape.

I was usually covered with a fine layer of dirt from some part of the region, especially since we didn't have access to washing machines or dryers. We had to wash our own clothes in the showers at Ramat Rachel. But the histories of the landscape drew my attention away from my dusty attire.

Tel Be'er Sheva
I knew that Jerusalem had deep roots. However, I wasn't prepared for how deeply I felt the age of that city. I grew up in Orange County, California, where most of the buildings were constructed in the 1950s.  True, many of the Spanish missions in California boasted construction dates in the late 18th Century.

But I soon learned that California is an adolescent compared to many other places in the world.  When my classmates and I first entered Jerusalem, it was night. Before taking us to our kibbutz, the bus stopped across from the Temple Mount so that we could take in the scene of the Old City at night.

I was extremely sleepy from the long flight from the States. However, I distinctly remember feeling dwarfed by the moment. I was a mere dot on the timetables of history.  

Here was a city that had buildings dating back several centuries before my lifetime. I could sense the millions of people who had lived, traveled, loved, studied, fought, and died there over the centuries. And millions more who have read, written and sung about this land by only visiting it in their imagination.

On the one hand, I felt very small, young and insignificant during my time there. On the other hand, I also felt cosmically connected to something much larger than myself, my own traditions and my own understanding of the world. Not only did I feel a reverence for the Divine Force, I felt a reverence for all of humanity--for peoples of all time, cultures, races and traditions. I could sense how we are all striving for the same goals in or own way,.

Decades later, I read Geraldine Brook's novel, People of the Book. While set in many landscapes where Christians, Jews and Muslims have coexisted--and not just in Jerusalem--Brooks captures in part the feeling I experienced during my travel study. I had the pleasure of meeting her at a book signing where in response to my short introduction, she declared, "Oh, you are Hanna!" the novel's protagonist.

When I returned to California in June of 1982, I felt a real loss. The newness of my surroundings seemed ridiculous, tinny, fleeting.  People were concerned about maintaining their cars, their tanned and toned bodies, and their lush front lawns. And I wept as I took my clothes out of the dryer only to find all traces of that ancient soil removed.

43 comments:

  1. I've never been to Jerusalem, but everyone who has tells me it's an unforgettable experience. It sounds like you thought so, too!

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    1. Yes, I draw on the experience all of the time. Thanks for stopping by the blog.

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  2. Such a beautiful story! I completely understand what you mean about things seeming so new and superficial and shallow when you return from trips like this. I felt that way when I came back from London this spring, so it must have been 10 times worse coming home from Jerusalem.

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    1. Yes, I was a bit withdrawn when I returned. I didn't write about it, but I got an invitation to have dinner at the home of a local girl whom I had met. I went with two other students (one of them had received the invite in our behalf.) They made wonderful food for us and probably spent a week's worth of food budget on us. It was delicious and they were very kind. I didn't speak the language, but I tried to express gratitude with gestures.

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  3. You are another example of the benefit of education abroad programs. My daughter heads to New Zealand in half a year to complete her studies, which is a dream come true for 3 of us, her, me, her dad. Hope you kept some of the soil in a baggie somewhere.

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    1. My best to your daughter as she studies in New Zealand. From the footage in Lord of the Rings, the place looks like paradise. I've seen a couple of other films set there (Whale Rider, Her Majesty), and it seems like an interesting place with a rich and complex history. Good for you all for making it happen.

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  4. I have never been to Jerusalem, yet know it was always a dream of my dad's. He's now 84 and won't ever go. I wish he had done it when he was younger.

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    1. I see a lot of older adults who push items to "when I retire" only to find they don't have adequate energy, health, finances or memory to go. It makes me very motivated to work on my bucket list now. Specifically, a friend's father was going to write a book that he'd been researching for decades. Now he doesn't have the cognition for such a project. Yikes! But I am guessing that I am never going to willingly pronounce myself "done." So my list will be longer than my life!
      Hugs to your dad. I hope that he has some small pleasures that make his day.

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  5. Really beautifully written. I especially love your description of how you imagined the millions of people who had come and gone through the landscape over the centuries.

    I would love to see Lebanon one day. I imagine it would be a similar transformative experience for me. We lost my Lebanese grandfather when I was 2, and so lost our connection to the old country.

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    1. Oh, wouldn't it be great to go to Lebanon? I hope it happens for you some day.

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  6. This is wonderful.

    There are few really old places in the United States (and old for US means 250-300 years old, not 4-5,000) but you CAN really feel the age, the impressions of all those who've lived, loved, laughed and died there before. What a marvelous experience.

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    1. Yes, most of the US is so shiny. I think we have a few places that have evidence of Native American inhabitants -- like the cliff dwellings of Pueblo Indians. But those are so few and many younger than some of the archeological digs I saw in the Holy Land and in Israel. I got to go into the Great Pyramid and see the Sphinx. Blew my mind!

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  7. Karen:
    What an eye-opening experience at a young age. I know what you mean about "old." You have to go to Asia, Africa or the Middle East to find out what old really means. -LLC

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    1. If I were wealthy, I'd go to Greece, India and China asap. Thank heavens I can read and watch films set in countries around the world. And read blog posts about travel! These offer some small comfort.

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  8. Beautifully said. I know you must realize that travel lives in our hearts and minds long after the "dust" is gone.

    Be well.

    b+

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    1. Yes, I do draw on the memories more than I do the souvenirs I carted back. I actually gave some of my items to a student of mine, a student with Jewish heritage. She grew up in WV and didn't have a nearby synagogue, so I gave her my Torah, my English-Hebrew dictionary, my haggadah and my Seder plate. She made better of use of them than I could, especially since I was busy chasing small children at the time.

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  9. That sounds like the most awesome experience. And I love when you say that you felt insignificant yet at the same time so connected to the rest of humanity. To feel humble yet important is so key to living a good life. I will definitely have to get to that place in the world someday.

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    1. Yes, it was a unique feeling. I actually wrote some cheesy poems trying to capture those feelings. Thankfully, these did not survive to see the 21st century. I think Wordsworth has something to say about the poet's problem: passion of youth vs. maturity of age. The best poems manage to merge these. I seem to have one or the other going for me.

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  10. Ah, I love this. I have also spent time in Israel and I had the same reactions you did. Did you climb Massada? I think I felt the historic significance most when we reached the top and looked out at the Dead Sea. It still gives me chills to think about it.

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    1. Helene: Yes, I did get to visit Masada. There were movie props there still from a film that was made about the stand off. Oh, it was a heartbreaking yet inspiring story to hear from the tour guides. I just imagined that every hill, dale and rock had a story to tell. So many armies marched through that region -- since it's a land bridge connecting Africa, Asia and Europe. Big stories and little stories to be told, many of them lost to history.

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  11. So beautiful. Seeing different countries and cultures definitely puts things in perspective, and living in California now, I totally relate to what you said -- especially after coming back from my recent trip to Africa. Israel is still on my travel list, and I think you just bumped it up a notch!

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    1. Wow, from Africa to So. Cal. That would be a dramatic contrast. How wonderful that you had the opportunity to go!

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  12. I love this and especially where you wrote about "being a small dot on the map of history." Traveling can bring such great humility.

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    1. Yes. All my problems at home seem so small when I get the chance to distance myself from the day-to-day concerns. Maybe this is part of the appeal of road trip movies? I watch films about aging, and I'm still trying to figure out psychologically / symbolically why road trip movies are so popular (well, for characters of all ages, really). This blog hop is food for thought!

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  13. Red-Dead-Med -- yeah! We lived in Syria for two years in the 90s, and, like you, I reveled in the religious and historic importance of the Levant region. It's been difficult to watch the troubles there since we returned home (which pre-existed way before our time there).

    I remember having the same feeling when we returned home that you expressed.

    So very cool that you had the chance to do this!

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    1. Syria for two years! What a great opportunity. I don't know if I will even live abroad, but reading this blog hop makes me think that I need to dream big (as Lois Alter mentions in her Africa trip post).

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  14. How utterly exciting that you were able to go! Goosebumps at the end. I, too, would have cried for the ancient soil.

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    1. Oh, I had mixed feelings about coming home. I missed my friends and family and I needed to continue my degree. But I enjoyed learning about the region, and I was no where near "done" learning.

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  15. We took our kids to Israel and it was an incredible experience. Touching the Wailing Wall was quite powerful.

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    1. Oh, I hope that you have written about it somewhere -- even if just in a paper journal for now. How wonderful that you could take your children. I wrote down some verses from Psalms and stuck it in the Wall. I felt a little out of place there, so I tried to make myself small in my stride and gestures, but I was very grateful to have the chance to be there.

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  16. I have never traveled to Israel, but your post makes me want to see and feel it.

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    1. Thank you for reading. I, too, am getting a list of travel destinations from this blog hop. But I just made two trips in June. I'm done for a while! Bon Voyage to you for your next trip -- which I hope isn't too far away.

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  17. What a lovely post. I related so much to your feelings upon return. We live such an overabundant life her that sometimes it can feel superficial. I'm not complaining, just acknowledging that along with all the good of living here, there is a downside also. Thanks for such a lovely post. Virginia- FirstClassWoman

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  18. I went to BYU too!!! Wish I had been brave enough to go on this adventure!! What great things you experienced.

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    1. You've had a ton of great adventures in other venues. All my best to you, ML Guru.

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  19. Seeing buildings that had been constructed centuries earlier is fascinating, isn't it? You start to imagine all that went on before...we just don't have that sense of preservation over here...well, we're not as old as other countries, either. Fascinating experience you had.

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    1. I wish I could travel through time. I guess traveling to see ancient edifices will have to do. Thanks for reading.

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  20. A year abroad is a wonderful tradition. You are so fortunate to have had this experience. Thanks for sharing it, too~

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  21. Yes, international travel provides us with a new perspective on place, purpose and people! My liberal arts college required an international experience, but ours was only 3 months long...and I was on an island in the West Indies (had it not been for political problems, I would have been in Haiti). A program of 6 months or more provides one with so many more opportunities for immersion! Sounds transforming, indeed!

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  22. Does sound that it was transformative for you!

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    1. It was great. I want to travel more, but I'm really busy launching my kids. Maybe some day.

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