That's how my Canadian Friend fell in love with Israel in Three Weeks

About 9 years ago I have discovered paradise. Yes, that's right.
After a 400-kilometer journey on a bicycle, that I briefly mentioned in my very long introduction post , we have arrived to an amazing valley that became my home for the next couple years of my life, full of experiences, adventures, family and so many memories that still excite me till this day.

Somewhere out there in British Columbia of Canada, between the Okanagan Valley and the Rocky mountains, lies the Paradise that captivated my heart.

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The whole area is simply mesmerizing, with lakes, rivers and mountains stretching for miles, varied lush fruit trees that I had the privilege of picking and comforting in their shade, breathtaking waterfalls, smiling people with open arms that were simply there to give and receive love and one new brother that remained in my life long after my visit in paradise was over.

I believe I still have a certain future with this place and I dream to return to this paradise someday, maybe even to build a home, a business and a family, but until then our beloved Canadian brother comes to visit us here, in Israel.

As you have probably heard, although being a very small both geographically and demographically (only 8 million people!) , Israel is quite an active and vibrant country, there is literally not a dull moment and we have our share of scandals.
Right this very moment there is a serious saga of corruption investigation against the Prime minister and his associates on several different cases.

It often seems to me that we are addicted to action and difficulty and that perhaps without it we will not really know what to do with all the good, the quiet and the calm life that can come upon us.

Perhaps we been programmed to that since childhood.

The exposure to wars, terrorist attacks, conflicts from all over, the difficulty to live without fighting for “your place”, our famous "chutzpah”, the mandatory military duty, the historical persecution of the Jewish people and the mantras that we repeat to ourselves during the holidays...all those and other reasons manifest here as sort of a psychological syndrome of a nation, that despite (and perhaps because of) that nation being very smart, full of achievements, civilized, western and so very special, it also never satisfied and doesn't know how to deal with the good when it arrives.

But you know what they say, “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade” ... and although sometimes it's too sour or bitter, we still have some great “lemonade” here that you will not find anywhere else.

When the Canadian optimism meets the Israeli 'Chutzpah'

So coming back to our story...exactly one year ago, our Canadian friend decided to visit me and my partner in the “Holy land” for the first time, for three weeks.

Since we were self employed, we managed to almost completely clear our schedule, arranged a comfortable bed in the spare room of our apartment, filled the refrigerator with all the local goodies, and waited for our beloved brother from paradise to come.

I will not lie , we had concerns about how he would be affected by the “Israeli vibe” and how he will acclimatize to such a lively (not to say stressful) place, so different from the Canadian calmness and optimism, but as you read soon ... those fears have vanished as never existed.

The Israeli street

Israel is a very small and crowded country.
Unlike Canada, which stretches over vast areas filled with breathtaking nature and with very scarce population, here on the other side, unoccupied land has long since ended, and the busy urban landscape is very lacking the nature.

Construction in Israel is mostly high and in all the cities you can find a combination of old neighborhoods with ugly buildings that have been standing for decades without any drop of architecture or inspiration, alongside newer neighborhoods that if you ask me .. haven’t received a proper breath of creativity in their design for quite a while as well.

Happily, the apartment that me and my better half are renting is located in a quiet but central neighborhood thats has its own charm.

It is very “vintage” but well-groomed.
At the beginning of the street located an old boutique cinema that still screens movies alongside a chef restaurant that is always full, every building here has it own architecture and design with well kept gardens, and it is very close to the city center, where all the shops, restaurants, the hi-tech center and even the famous Weizmann Institute are within a 3-minute walk, so when Patrick arrived (Nice to meet you, I am the “Canadian friend”) it was very easy for him to get familiar and assimilate himself into the Israeli street.





In no time, he was going all by himself to the local supermarket to buy beers, pizzas, coffee...or some other supplies that were running out. He had small conversations with everyone he met on his way (most Israelis speak English, even if it is not that great).

Of course, as soon as we arrived, we took him to eat the famous Israeli hummus and he became a fan in a second! I Love Hummus - Awesome Authentic Hummus recipe inside.
The Falafel Pita got a place of honor on its own, not to mention the “Shakshuka” that he is trying to reverse-engineer till this day in his apartment in Vancouver:)





If you want to try the best hummus you ever eat, make sure to check my post with the recipe

There is no doubt that the richness of the Israeli culinary culture, as opposed to the relatively poor Canadian one (no offense), gave him another taste for his culturally saturated experiences on his interesting trip to Israel.

As a very curious and sociable person, Patrick was simply hypnotized by the Israeli street for its smells, colors, sounds, and the fact that almost everyone he met has served in the army and his family was persecuted in some way or another, only for being Jewish.

Since then, the study of Israelies, learning the Hebrew language and monitoring up closely the Israeli politics has become a kind of anthropological hobby for him.

Purim - the Jewish holiday in which you are commanded to get out of your mind

Patrick's timing was perfect!

He arrived just before the most beloved holiday in Israel, on which all the Jews (and not just) are “commended” to wear costumes and get drunk to the point of “loosing their knowledge”, losing consciousness, losing themselves.

It's a holiday that tells you that once in a year you are allowed to release yourself, release the reins, stop being the captain of this very serious ship called the “conscious you”, the one that is in control of every word, every thought, every action.

They tell you, for 24 hours, let go, be someone else, something else, do not be anything, just go unconsciously, in the infinite cosmos of yourself , before you are reduced to being who you are. Release... and then come back.

This holiday originates from the Book of Esther, which is being read here in the synagogues during the holiday, while making unbearable noise and drinking every time the name of the “wicked Haman” is mentioned.

Of course the part of the synagogues is more for the “believers” and the religious, for the rest of the people it is just the perfect time to put some costumes, get drunk and celebrate out loud “till the loss of consciousness”.

Patrick has arrived just before Purim and the streets were already filled with costumes, decorations and holiday songs.

Because I told him about this holiday in advance, he managed to get himself a cool costume of a green gangster prior to his arrival.

To offer him a full spectrum of wild experiences of israel, we have bought tickets for a big outdoor trance festival in the north of Israel (it sounds far away, but its only two hours away!), Which was so surreal that I can not even start telling you what really happend there. I will put a summary clip at the end so you can imagine the state of mind in which we all were ;).

official clip from the festival

When we left, a little bit different from the way we entered, we realized the enormity of the experience that Patrick just had.

He was mesmerized, amazed, enlightened.

He had never experienced such a “release” (although he had been to countless Canadian festivals before), he described the experience of unity he had with the entire audience, the feeling that each of the participants were his brothers and sisters that looked right into his soul, hugged him with all their heart and loved him as strangers never loved him before.

He was surprised that he had not encountered violence, stabbings or fights, and despite the absolute chaos that dominated the place (as every Purim, the rain decided to give us a visit and made everything very muddy) for him it was the most amazing order he had ever encountered in a festival of thousands of people.

At that point we realized that our Canadian dream was becoming Patrick's Israeli dream, a euphoric feeling of amazement from an experience so strange and wondrous that you feel you will never get tired of.

So it took Patrick at least 4-5 days to land back from the clouds, where he been for a while after being part of the holy celebration of thousands of Israelis, in their attempt to “loose their mind”....and he was in love more than ever.

2 nights, 3 days, an experience for a lifetime - the Dead Sea, Jerusalem and Karma.

So after recovering a bit from the festival, the bodies, broken from dancing back in shape, the floating mind back on the ground and reality perceived its characteristic colors again, we decided it’s time for Patrick to experience some unique Israel piece of nature and ancient culture - Dead Sea and Jerusalem we are on our way!

Again, although it may sound far away, it is about couple hours driving (with breaks on the way) and we are already on the eastern border of the country.

So we packed our bags with some spare clothes, a gas stove, a coffee set, pans, etc.
We stopped at the supermarket on the way to buy food (we planned to spend the night under the stars on the Dead Sea) and continued on our way.

Part of the plan was to go up to the ancient and historic fortress of Masada, but a very defining nickname that stuck with us since the time in Canada: 'snail crew' left its mark here as well, the gates of the site were closed before we managed to arrive.

The road to the Dead Sea (actually a lake) was captivating, slowly passing through the urban landscape to arrive to gorgeous green landscapes and as the kilometers pass we arrive to to a mysterious desert landscape.

As you descend the steep slopes of Sodom you can see the Dead Sea from the top of the hill, the lowest point on the earth and the eastern border of Israel with Jordan spread across the horizon, a spectacular place for a great picture and if you had a chance to be in this place a few years ago, you cannot help but to feal a certain melancholy in the light of the fact that the heavy salt quarrying, dries that mesmerizing lake at an unprecedented rate that raises the question If our children will still have this place to enjoy, to float in its waters.

When you keep descending down to the paved road along the shore, you can see the chunks of salt that have covered everything that dared to approach the water.
Whether it's someone's chair, rocks or even a tree trunk that is not really clear how it grew up there in the first place, everything was covered with thick layers of salt so concentrated that if you tried to taste it, it would burn your tongue.

It’s not without a reason that one of the common names for this Sea is “the Dead Sea” (or the Sea of death), there are not many creatures (only some Microscopic algae and bacteria) that can survive such extreme concentrations of salts (about 350 grams of salt per liter of water).

No animals, no plants, no fish and even most of the bacteria cannot thrive in such an environment.
For the human visitors the place provides certain unique advantages, for example, treating psoriasis and a plethora of other skin diseases is just one of them.

Of course, there was no chance that we would not stop on the way, get our trunks on and go for a little swim.

Unfortunately (and also to my delight, because I laughed madly) I had forgot to warn Patrick not to dip his head in the water and he just jumped right in :)

The burning sensation in the eyes that he later felt, the salt that accumulated on his eyelashes, eyebrows and lips is not something I wish for anyone, but it was funny as hell and he was alright within a minute :)

Another interesting fact about the Dead Sea is the fact that you virtually can not drown there...only float, due to the density of the salt in the water.

So I found myself and my beloved Canadian friend floating on water, at the lowest place on Earth, and that was awesome.

We wanted to take him to the mineral beach (exceptionally stinky beach) with the hydrogen sulfide rich mud that has many medicinal benefits, but the snail crew being like the snail crew always is, takes the time and does things really slowly.
And as the sun was already setting for the day, we had to continue on our way to find a camping site along the shores of the lake.

So after we washed and cleaned ourselves from the salt, we got back to the car and continued to our new quest to find a nice place to stay for the night.
On our way, we passed by a large number of sink holes that emerged in the recent years and became so dangerous that many beaches nearby had to be closed.

After a short drive we found a nice place to sleep on one of the northern beaches of the the Dead Sea, with wooden cabins, big lawns, a restaurant and showers... sounds like a perfect solution for the night.

Hallucinations in the Dead Sea

So we arrived at the place, a beautiful one I must add, which, apart from a Chinese tourist bus, seemed to have no other guest except us.

Ahmad, the friendly guard at the entrance, charged us NIS 120 for a night in a hut for three people, gave us a key and greeted us for the night.

When we entered, we saw a very well-kept place with lawns, sitting areas, a bar that seemed to have been set up for the tourists and an area with wooden cabins overlooking the Dead Sea ... where we spent the night all by ourselves.

We arrived at the place just before sunset. My partner has arranged the cabin so that it would feel like a cozy home with fragrant bedding, thick blankets and some incense for the atmosphere.

We took out the gas stove and some food and started our amazing evening with a strong Turkish coffee and a big joint.
Now it is only the three of us, the Dead Sea, the mountains and the stars ... a cosmic connection that expanded our hearts and minds.

As always with Patrick, the conversations are flowing naturally and there is not a dull moment. The difference between the realities we experience in our daily life gives us a perspective that is much greater than the sum of its parts, and it is always a pleasure to open our minds, to philosophize or to “dig”, as we call it in Israel, with our Canadian brother.

So after we had a coffee, we made some tasty salad, warmed up some pastries that we dipped in tehina spread and local spicy dip, and we were full and satisfied, it was time to pull out a little surprise that I had got from a friend. The Changa.

In my opinion, Changa is not a psychedelic drug, especially because it works immediately and its effect passes after about fifteen minutes without any side effects or ‘precipitation’.

I call it a 'nutritional supplement', especially because it combines an amazing visuals and an inner sense of expanding consciousness, as if it removes a curtain that was covering your reality and you did not even notice that it was limiting your vision .. and then it goes away, leaving you wiser than you were before and with many new insights.

We prepared the pipe and the three of us sat on comfortable chairs facing the water.
The black night had already covered everything, and only the reflection of the full moon shone on the salty lake, and beyond it you could see the lights of Jordan and its roads.
The silence was absolute, it swept everything around us, except for a jack or an owl that occasionally tried to communicate with their friends.

Right after the first inhale our vision has expanded, suddenly the light of the moon and the lights on the Jordanian mountains on the opposite side of the lake, transformed into a hypnotic array of light in a variety of colors that expanded, pulsing into a shining Phoenix flying in front of our eyes.
We were all quiet now, each one in his own world, in his own experience, thrilled and fascinated by the additional reality that is revealed in front of his eyes, in his mind.

At the end of the 15 minutes, we could final talk and discovered that the three of us saw the same thing, that the flare of the light that turned into a Phoenix was a vision that we all shared, that the beauty before our eyes moved and flooded our hearts with emotion and in one second, we felt that existence was perfect as it was. The human burden of accusation, comparison, criticism and the desire to improve was suddenly silenced by an inner voice that simply showed us that everything was good, perfect and complete just the way it is, here and now, even when it was broken and seemingly missing.

It always amazes me how a few puffs from a pipe and a 15-minute journey into my mind can give me such a peace of mind, such a tranquility and mental growth that dozens of books and gurus would never be able to.
With this sense of existential perfection in the here and now, we continued the night …. and awoke in the morning.

It is hard to explain the joy of going to bed embracing the woman you love, a distant brother whom you missed so much, in such a special place as the Dead Sea, when you are alone in such a powerful experience.
Wake up in the morning to this breathtaking view, to the quiet, to the breeze, to life ... That day I was full of gratitude for the privilege of being able to love and experience.

From the lowest place in the world to the holiest (and the bloodiest) city in the world - Jerusalem, we are on our way!

So we woke up in the morning, fresh and calm... made some coffee, sandwiches for the road, did a 30 min meditation thanking the place for embracing us for the night and set off on our way to Jerusalem.

The GPS told us that we will arrive within an hour.

On the way, it was hard to ignore the big red signs that warn Israelies not to enter to certain neighborhoods along the way in which they are not welcome and might endanger their lives by doing so, it is almost ironic that nothing but the sign will stop your entry if you make a mistake.

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On the way to Jerusalem, we have looked through booking.com to find a nice place to sleep for the night.
My partner found a hotel in the Old City, gave them a call and made sure there was a room for us to stay for the night and within 30 minutes we were already in the lobby.

The hotel was ancient and impressive, right at the entrance to the Christian Quarter of the city, close to the Damascus Gate, directly opposite the walls of the Old City, with the Tower of David seen from a few meters away.

The whole experience of this very special city is felt and enters your soul immediately upon arrival.
In the lobby we had a warm reception and a small visit from Karma, as the room for three that we booked, was upgraded at no extra charge to the family suite on the top floor with a balcony overlooking the old city.

In addition to that, it turns out that we arrived on a special day, because the next morning the famous “Jerusalem Marathon” was scheduled to take place, and that the thousands of runners from teams all over the country and the world will run right on the street outside the hotel and our balcony is the best ‘seat in the house.’

A couple of close friends of ours decided to join us on our visit in Jerusalem and just arrived to spend the day with us in the old city.

After getting accustomed to our room, unpacking the bags, rolling a small joint and thanking the existence once more, on the small balcony that overlooks the old and crowded city, we went out on to the streets where in the past few thousand years, so many believers had fought and died.

The Old City of Jerusalem is a kind of a maze.

It's very easy to get lost. Its narrow streets and the fact that in the midst of all this chaos there are still people living there, the various quarters (which are not all welcoming to Israelies) can be very confusing, even for us who have been here so many times.

But on the first day everything went smoothly! We walked through the Christian Quarter to the Jewish Quarter, through many historical places, through colorful markets, passing people of so many ethnicities wearing unique clothes until we reached the Western Wall, a landmark that many visitors of Jerusalem simply cannot miss.

The wall is attributed to the Jewish Temple that was destroyed and is said to be one of the walls of the stronghold that surrounded it.

For thousands of years, people have come here to pray due to it being the closest place on earth to the the sanctity of the Temple.

Today, when I get here, I believe that the very strong energy felt here comes mainly from the prayers and supplications of thousands of believers that visit this place and open their souls every day, for so many years.

The custom is to write down your requests to God and place the note in one of the cracks in the wall (at the end of each day all the notes are collected from the wall and burned together with a rabbi's prayer for their fulfillment).

Of course, we could not let Patrick go home without being a full-fledged normative tourist that does exactly that, so we wrote couple of notes and cracked them in.

Then we went for a walk in the new “Mamilla market”, filled with local art, shops and restaurants, and from there we proceeded to the colorful, fragrant and noisy “Mahane Yehuda market”, not before some kids from the Arab quarter chased us down the road with a question, that felt like the answer to it was crucial to them - are we “Zionists” or not.

In the Mahaneh Yehuda market, we tasted everything interesting we could find.
We bought all kinds of unique tea blends, Tahini and Halva from a whole sesame seed, that was grinded right in front of our eyes, soaps with olive oil and bunch of other local goodies and then sat down to eat in one of the alleys.

If you ever visiting Jerusalem, make sure to check out this market, it is the very pearl of Israeli culinary culture.

On our way out from the market we decided to stop by for a few minutes at a little market bar that was offering hundreds of kinds of beers and of course we could not help but asking for the strongest one of them all.

So, after an hour or so (snail crew hits again), we went out all dangled but happy.
What can I say, everything looks more beautiful and less serious when the mind is blurry and not paying attention to subtleties.

We came back to our room, unloaded the shopping bags, took off our shoes, refreshed, and made a call to faraway Canada.

Patrick's face glowed when he told his brothers and nephews on a Skype call (that suddenly made the world so small), about the experiences that he been having here, in the Holy Land.

After a little rest, we set out on another hike on which we got lost a bit in the labyrinth of the Old City, the situation was a bit alarming for a moment when we realized that the signs in Hebrew had changed to Arabic and that the faces on the streets (relatively empty in this time) were closely examining us.

We decided it is better to find our way back as soon as possible and return to the room.

The Old City of Jerusalem is not a place to get lost in at night.

After coming back to the room, we said goodbye to the couple of friends that have been hanging out with us all day and sat down on the balcony, watching the street preparing for the marathon that is planned for tomorrow, thanking another wonderful day that we passed in each others company.

From a Marathon of joy to a marathon of life in a conflict

Particularly energetic DJ and loud music woke us up early in the morning with the preparation for the marathon.
We washed our faces and went down to eat the great breakfast provided by the hotel, when we got back the marathon has already started.

It was so fun to stand on the balcony and just cheer up the runners, it was a perfect athletic laziness!
On the roof next door we could see a catholic nun, with a huge smile, waving at us everytime we stopped dancing to encourage us to continue!

The runners themselves asked us to continue to cheer and dance :), and in a way we really felt like part of the marathon without even breaking a sweat ... And so after a few thousands of runners that passed us by and a few hours of dancing on the balcony we have decided to finally go for a walk .. as those were are our last hours in Jerusalem.

Cheered up by the amount of smiles and good energies we received, we went on our way.
We decided not to go the same way as yesterday, so we get a chance to see some other places, and we took another root through the maze of the Old City.

In retrospect, it was not very smart.
The streets became more and more crowded and we heard less and less Hebrew.
At some point we saw that the shops were selling shirts with anti-Israeli propaganda (a gentle description) and then realized that we had entered the Muslim Quarter in East Jerusalem.

It is very hard to understand if you not living here, but the danger is that if they hear us speak Hebrew, someone might do something that will be later seen all over the news worldwide, of course we did not want to get in trouble and tried to find the exit, but the overcrowding, the pressure, the narrow streets and the lack of orientation in the small passages, we kept coming back to the same place...to be honest, it was a bit stressful, dozens of kids that realized that we were not locals were trying to figure out if we were Israelis or tourists, luckily Patrick took over the situation and played the role of the neutral Canadian who came for a visit, if they heard us speaking Hebrew, this situation might have ended differently.

After walking around ourselves a few more times, we have finally were able to find the way that took us back to the more secure quarters for us, but the emotional pressure did give us the feeling that it was time to head back home.

Such is Israel, completely paradoxical.
In one moment you can be euphoric, feel the unity, security and love and at another moment to fear for your life, to feel the Israeli-Palestinian conflict out of your gut and lose your innocence.
I pray and hope that this conflict will be resolved and done with, preferably sooner than later.

So after a final stroll through the streets of the old city, buying souvenirs and small conversations with the merchants, we returned to the hotel, packed our bags and boarded the car making our way back home.
It's only been two and a half days since we left the house, but this experience felt like a whole life.

When the Canadian becomes an Israeli

We spent the rest of Patrick's visit in Israel hanging out with friends (that became his friends), parties, family visits and in an attempt to cross out the bucket list that he had made prior to arriving and visit all the recommendations that he had collected.

As the days passed he became more and more attached to the place and for us it felt natural that he lived with us at home.

Our home became his home, our town became his town, our friends his friends, the Israeli food his food and not too long after that, our language also became his language.

Nothing to say .. Patrick, our charming Canadian brother became an Israeli in three weeks.

Saying goodbuy was difficult and after we took him down to the airport and went home, everything was sad and empty and we had to get used to it again.
But since he left, he was planning his next visit to Israel, learning Hebrew every day, practicing Israeli cooking, sharing his experiences with everyone in Canada and communicating a lot more.

We are already planning his next visit in may and we are very excited :)

Hope you enjoyed this story

Peace.

@carpedimus

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• Rooftop Garden in Tel-aviv unites Refugees and Locals - A story of Hope

• Meet Zus - My amazing 4 legged Wolf Dog Friend

• 💖💖💖I Love Hummus - Awesome Authentic Hummus recipe inside Part 1

• Thrilling Paragliding In Pedra Bonita, Rio De Janeiro, Brazil

• Excitement, Confusion, Doubts, Need for Advice from a Father to be

• Art is everything for him, please meet this amazing Artist that nobody knows...

• A few Crazy Stories from My Life that I have Never Shared Before - I am Pasha - #introduceyourself