TheSweepingSwallow: An "eskimo" in the desert

I've been having some time management issues on this trip which has caused a lot of stressful mornings where someone is waiting for me, with people knocking on my door telling me to hurry. This morning I perfected a new way to pack when I just threw everything in a pile into my suitcase, closed it and just sat on it until it became possible to close the zipper.Who needs folding anyway? Instead of the neat two bags that I had on my way over here I all of a sudden have four bags but yet I haven't bought anything and I've lost some stuff along the way. This puzzles me.

This morning a staff member at Karei Deshe took me to a town that I'm ashamed to say don't know the name of and then I took a bus from the town that will remain nameless to the Judean desert where the plan is that I visit the Dead Sea and the Masada fortress. I was feeling a bit under the weather though, I think it may have been something I ate last night, so I made the strategic decision to take it easy for the day. I did exactly what I talked about not doing yesterday and just hung out to the pool here at the hostel all day (or half a day - it took the other half to get here) and enjoyed the sun. Coming from the land of geothermal springs and heated pools you don't know the joy that is a cold pool until you find yourself in a desert. What was even better that for the biggest portion of the day I had it all to myself and I even managed to get a tan without burning. There's a first for everything!

The lifeguard at the pool took quite an interest in me and despite a bit of a language barrier he did his best to woe me with some English/Hebrew sign language and a confident grin. I think every hostel pool should come with a handsome flirty lifeguard to provide a much needed confidence boost after seeing all the pretty Israeli girls around with their crazy pretty hair and perfectly pedicured toes. He made me some coffee, offered massages and talked about my beautiful white skin (read: mosquito bitten slightly burned and not liking the water clammy pink skin). It was a good deal for everyone: he got to practice all his best lines and I got some free coffee. A win win situation, really. When I showed him a picture of the boyfriend and the princess he started telling me about his family of fishermen in Akko and how his mother (if I understood him correctly) sends him home with a month's supply of fish every time he visits which he then eats until he visits again. I hope for his sake he has a good freezer. When he found out the boyfriend and I are not married (note to self: learn to lie) I suddenly became fair game again. He was nice though so it was all good.

My interaction with the life guard made me think about some of the things that have been said to me on this trip. He told me that I was the perfect size, not too small and not too big, but failed to mention what my size was perfect for. I'm guessing he was referring to my great child bearing hips. If a guy at home would have the audacity to discuss a woman's physical appearance, especially if the word "big" was involved, he would likely have earned himself a slap or at least a verbal beating. Here I just laughed and thanked him for the "complement". Yesterday I was told that I have very unremarkable features and that the person had seen my face "a thousand times before". My white skin was also discussed. I didn't realize what a lost cause the boyfriend has on his hand, the poor soul.

I think when we travel we are much more tolerant because we expect people to be different from ourselves and don't take the time to be offended about the (sometimes) silly things that are said to us. Israelis strike me as very direct people that don't go around things that need to be said so it doesn't surprise me when discussions take strange turns to unfamiliar territories. If only we could apply the same tolerance to the people closer to home as just because someone lives in the same country, street or even house as us it doesn't necessarily mean that they see the world the same way. I'm making a point when I come home to get less offended by the things people say and put the questionable things down on cultural differences.

Tomorrow I'm going to fit in a trip up to Masada and a dip in the dead sea before I take the bus back to Jerusalem. If I'm good for time I might also check out Wade David which is a easy hike to a pretty waterfall. I was supposed to be going Eilat tomorrow but if I'm this miserable in 36°C I don't think 40+°C that is expected in Eilat this weekend is for me. I'm sure I'm going to miss the heat though when I get back to the 12°C and rain in Reykjavík.