Getting Ready to Go

It's surprising how much work goes into traveling overseas! I've had to do so much work to prepare to go to Israel for just two and a half weeks. I decided to go on this study abroad trip the week before the deadline to sign up for it. It has been a whirlwind of preparation since that second week in October (yup, that's right, I signed up only 3 months before this trip was scheduled to happen). :)

I worked furiously to get all of my financial aid paperwork in, in time for the loan to be disbursed before the balance of the $5300 payment was due. I worked with the International Studies and Study Abroad office to obtain all the correct health and travel information (all was due the week I decided I wanted to go).

I had to go to a passport office to get my picture for my passport and apply for a passport. I didn't know it would be SO expensive to apply for a passport ($145 with a picture!!). Luckily I didn't need a visa because I STILL may not have gotten my passport back from the Israeli consulate in Washington. I'm incredibly excited to finally be within days of heading to Israel. The past three months have felt as if they passed at a snails pace.

We continue to study for four hours each morning. Today, we studied the foundations of Christianity, and the way it influenced the Israeli (technically Palestinian historically speaking) area. We're currently reading and discussing a book called Israel/Palestine by Alan Dowty. The book goes into great detail of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which is very helpful at this point. Although I did take the course my first semester here at Hamline, it's helpful for me as a refresher. When we get to Israel, we'll be listening to tour guides and guest speakers talk about historical parts of the conflict. Without having this historical context, it would be a great deal harder to understand the complexities of the conflict and the country it's centered around.

We had quite a lengthy discussion today about the incredibly complex makeup of the Israeli ethnic and religious landscape. There are literally hundreds of individual religious groups in Israel; the vast majority of which are sects of the 3 major religions in Israel: Islam, Judaism, and Christianity. One thing many people don't seem to understand about the conflict is that ALL of these groups have a stake in the division of the country; so it's not as easy as making an agreement that satisfies both the Jews and the Palestinians (although that goal is vastly helpful). The problem with only solving the problem for these groups is that decisions have to be made about where the other factions of these religious groups would reside after the country is divided.

The Christian population of Israel is very small compared to 20 years ago. The Christian population that used to comprise nearly 20% of the Israeli population in the late 1980's, has now withered to around 2%. Many of the Bedouin Muslim groups have driven them out of their villages because of conflicting religious views. The most persecuted religion in the Middle East is Christianity, namely because they are by far the smallest of the major monotheistic religions in Israel. The (moderate) Jews are known to be the most tolerant of the religious groups in Israel. Many 'Jews' in Israel, in fact, are not religious Jews at all--they are ethnic Jews. That is to say that they are non-practicing Jews, but are ethnic Judeans--from the ancient tribe of Judea (the only lasting tribe of the ten ancient Israelite tribes divided after the Davidic kingdom ended).

 Some unknown but sizable minorities in Israel are the Bedouin Muslims and the Druze. Bedouin Muslims are nomadic people who show no allegiance to the country in which they reside. They prefer to remain nomadic, often living in caves or make shift shelters, squatting and staying in different places. The Druze are a separate religion that combines Shi'a Islam and Greek philosophical beliefs. Nearly 95% of Druze followers live in the Middle East; mainly in Syria, Lebanon, and Israel.

I'm now almost ready to go to Israel. I just received my Israeli power adapters in the mail today, and I got my  bank card recognized for overseas use in Israel and Jordan. I called my cell phone provider, but unfortunately they do not offer overseas reception. So I will be using my blog, Facebook, e-mail, and Skype for communication while in Israel. Any and all of these sources are going to be checked everyday, so if you'd like to contact me, just send me a message through any of those sources and I will respond to them! If you wish to Skype with me, the time difference from Minnesota to Israel is +8 hours. I'll mainly be available from 10pm or later in Israel, so if you wish to contact me on Skype, your best chances of getting a hold of me on Skype would be between the hours of 2 and 6pm US central time.

That's all I've got for now. I'll update the blog either tomorrow or Friday. Then again on Saturday before I board the plane. Thanks everyone for following! I'm very excited to share my experiences with you while I'm in Israel! :)