31 things to say for a month - Day 26: YOLO travel adventures

Day 26: You Only Live Once (YOLO) - My travel adventures

6 years have passed since the day I embarked on my exchange to Sweden. Recently, I left my job and hence I was given a lot of time to think about what I want to do next. I was chatting with lil sister about how my fast time has whizzed past me in the past 4 years. Although I have been constantly travelling in the past 4 years, certain memories from Europe linger on. Recently, a few events that happened made me walk down memory lane and led me to think about how much I have changed in the last four years.

Firstly, an occasional conversation with a relative who will be heading to Munich in August made me decided to look at my old blog posts to give him some recommendations on the places to visit. This walk down memory lane certainly stirred up emotions in me and I find it a waste that I did not keep to my own promise to blog about all the places that I travel to e.g. USA, Canada, etc. So I told myself that when I am back from my next adventure i.e. Australia and I have some time off, I shall try to recall as much as possible about the places that I have been to and write about them.

Secondly, I happened to chance upon an ex-student's Facebook to discover that she embarked on a 33-day journey to Europe travelling to places such as Turkey, Hungary, Czech, Germany, UK, and Iceland. The way she described her adventures was a mirror of the younger me. Though I was a poor student back then, I had a lot of fun on my travels meeting new people, some whom I will probably never meet again, others whom I had met on previous adventures, and of course some whom I subsequently met up with again. However, I always enjoyed meeting these strangers and engage in conversations about anything under the sun. Now that I have aged and been through the washes of the working society, I realise that I am no longer the traveller I used to be, the one who is always willing to meet new people. Perhaps because I know that 80% of these people are those that I will never meet again, or that I am sick of explaining all about my job, or why I was in a particular location, or that while I am travelling, I just want to enjoy the peace and tranquility of the surroundings. I guess wisdom and maturity come with a price as well and that is innocence. No one can say the older or the newer me is the better one because you only do certain things when you are young and I am glad I did experience those emotions when I was young. Not that I don't enjoy meeting new people these days, but I definitely am more reserved and less proactive in making new friends. For example, when I see a new colleague, I will say 'HI' and acknowledge his or her presence but no longer asking probing questions or whatsoever.

As I am writing about all these thrills of a young adult, I recall this meaningful saying that I came across a few years back:  "When you are young, you have energy and time but you do not have money. When you are a working adult, you have money and energy but you do not have time. When you are old, you have money and time but you no longer have the energy." At every stage in your life, something will be lacking and hence the best way to get out of this is to always find the thing that you are lacking or make the best out of what you have. When you are young, try to travel on a budget since your pockets are not deep enough. When you are at adulthood, try to take a break from work and make time for the world. When you are old, make sure that you have been maintaining a healthy lifestyle since young so that you will still have the energy to spend time with the world.

Thirdly, all these friends that I have made in my previous working place and also friends from my schooling days are like lighthouses or maybe like Leonardo di Carpio in Inception. They plant ideas in me but they make me happy unknowingly.  A proposal to go to Hokkaido, an occasional mention of a visit to Turkey, an invitation to view the Northern lights and I have decided to once again embark on my travel adventures in these 6 months that I am taking a break from. Remember, to make time while I still have energy and some $$.

People, YOU ONLY LIVE ONCE. Not that we should make use of this saying to do evil things, to be impulse and make rash decisions but we should really live everyday to the fullest and this saying is like an occasional knock on the head for me to not think too much about risks, about $$, about any other commitments. All the events that have been happening around the world in the last 2-3 years should have knocked some sense into everyone of us - to cherish the people around us, to love them, to learn to forgive and cast aside sayings such as 'An eye for an eye' or 'Revenge is best served cold'.

#Pray for the peace of Jerusalem #Pray for MH17 & MH370 #Pray for the kids of Gaza and Syria

How many more of such hashtags do we need to create?

31 things to say for a month - Day 25: Why I left teaching

Day 25: Why I was so upset with teaching

As I look back on the past 27 years of my life, I can proudly to say that I have very few regrets in my life. However, so many things have been happening lately and this has made me experienced one of the biggest regrets of my life. I know that the emotions are very overwhelming now which is why I feel so strongly about this and 10 years down the road, I would see myself as being silly and stupid to be writing about this.

About a year and a half ago, I made the biggest wrong decision in my life and that is to accept hockey as a CCA. I was doing so well and enjoying the quality time that I spent with my students in tennis. Last Apr, when I saw the little success that our team experienced, I was so excited and happy even though I know that they are still far from being the best. When I eventually moved over to Hockey, I told myself to commit fully to the CCA and pick up the sport as I go and even though I cannot provide any technical advices, I could show the emotional support and motivation sports players require. I started to watch hockey videos and learnt the technical aspects of the game. I spent time watching with them, organising friendlies, etc. just so that the students will not be shortchanged and get the required training time that they need. Of course, success does not come so easily and in the first year, I was still learning how to manage the many administrative aspects of things and also how to run the CCA smoothly.

Then soon came the new batch of J1s and I tried my best to develop them, be it the leaders or the rest of the members, taking time to talk to them and providing the best support that I can. I went to great lengths to try to recruit an experienced player and the team started to experience a little success in our  friendlies last year, beating the likes of SA by a marginal score of 2-0 and also overwhelming AJ during the friendlies.

Despite having the option to change a coach at the end of the year, me being the sentimental me, decided to retain our current coach because I felt that he was just beginning to experience a little success with our girls and it would be unfair to change a coach suddenly.

Unfortunately, I was not able to keep this experienced player due to individual differences and also many associated problems outside of the game. So, she left. There was a stark contrast in the ability of the team to achieve greater success in the absence of this one player and it was a consensus that the coach and I had come to after many discussions. However, I never gave up hope. I looked out for experienced J1s that could join us to fill the void or complete the missing puzzle to the jigsaw. Eventually, we found a suitable candidate and I worked my ass off to try to convince her to join us and it was after much persuasion that she decided to give hockey a shot.

Then came that two fateful events which changed the dynamics of the team and the relationship between them and me soured. A group of girls spending time in the changing room, probably fooling around or whatever it is, I do not know instead of thinking about the important game that they are going to have. I went over and started to question them about what they were doing and of course, gave them a piece of my mind. My ideology of a sportsperson is someone who is disciplined and has a sense of urgency, visualises what awaits them before an important game. Maybe I had too high expectations so this scolding session earned me a "I hereby declare you the worst teacher ever" honour. Not knowing that I had lost my worth as a TIC, I foolishly proclaimed them as one of my few remaining joys in school.

I did my duties diligently, taking over other teachers duties just so I could better manage the rest of the players' emotions and made sure that they had something to do while the coach focused on training his precious players. I cared, I cared for every single player whether they were in the first team or not.

Despite having to study for my own exams, I agreed to bring them on an overseas trip to Malaysia and burn my March holidays just so they could have wonderful memories about the CCA and their teammates to bring home with when they eventually stopped training. I never complain about the administrative work and the added responsibility and risk that I had to take up because my belief as a teacher is that I would never shortchanged my students for anything. While we were in Malaysia, I was always feeling frustrated over the things that they did and the way that they played. As much as I was unhappy with the way they behaved, I still care about their well-being such as "Did they have sufficient time to study?" "Did they have enough sleep?" etc and I often reflect upon myself as well. "Did I expect too much out of these 17 and 18 year olds?" "Was I too harsh?" etc etc. Then, I came to the conclusion that the only way for me to not be disappointed and frustrated with them is that I have to not have any expectations and completely detach myself from their results or gameplay. So I stopped commenting on how they should play, what they should improve on, etc. because they weren't ready to listen to me anyway. For all the things that I did, I do not expect anything in return because I know that I am just doing my job and I am the sort that will always put in my 100% in any responsibility that people give to me. At the end of the trip, I saw how the volleyballers thank their coach and also their TIC and found it so heartwarming. When it was the hockey girls' turn, they never forgot to thank their coach but where was I in the picture? Not a single word of thanks or appreciation but I thought perhaps I simply walked away too soon and too often that they did not think that they had to thank me. I did feel a little upset that I had failed so badly in terms of inculcating the most basic value in life - a sense of appreciation in my students. But it did not take long for me to realise that it was not that they had no sense of appreciation towards what I had done for them but that they did not find me to be a person to thank in the first place.

A week later, a fateful event further damage the already torn relationship between my students and I. A misfortune and a colleague's comment to check out their social networking profiles made me realised that to them, I was a "supportive teacher who provided them 0 motivation to work hard for" because of yet another scolding. It is not about paying out of my own pocket and telling them so that they could understand how much I have done for them but that the fact that I will pay out of my own pocket to provide them these things show that I deemed them to be important for them to be equipped with. I do not need to elaborate on how traumatised and guilty I feel myself when such a misfortune happened and that it happened when the student was under my charge. A lifetime of disability for a stupid game is simply not worth it.

But I knew that I had to be calm and professional and provided the much needed support to the entire team and that from that point forward, the team has to work not for their own glory but also to fight for that one member. But that comment about me really hurt me badly. After all the effort and time that I committed, that was the impression that they have of me. That was when I felt so dejected and gave up trying completely. I could have withdrawn them from the competition but I did not because I felt that they would want to play so badly. I went to settle all other administrative tasks, go all the way to Peninsula shopping centre to buy the competition socks for them because I did not want them to waste their money and time when they should be focusing on their studies.

Yesterday, the same old drama unfolded as per every friendly and competition game. The coach ran into the pitch and tried to "question" the umpires over a decision and I had to run in to stop him just so the team would not be disqualified. After the game, I spoke to the coach and apparently, he could not see things from the professional perspective. Sometimes, I really feel like telling him, "Shame on you for behaving like that because you were once a National Hockey player" but I did not. I show him full respect for what he has achieved over the years, all the fame and glory that he enjoyed in his younger days and that he truly cares for the girls. When he cannot understand my reasoning, I had to be even more firm about what is right and wrong and tell him not to blame the referees for a game that we could have won yet drew. If there was anything that we could have done better, it was about improving on our players' fitness and gameplay. The girls probably heard that or he could have told them subsequently about what I said, it does not matter anymore and once again, I was the convicted one. I was deemed to have "crossed the line" because I did not have the right to talk to "their" coach in that manner. "The team can succeed on their own and that they only need each other and their dear coach's support."

After reading it, I felt so insulted and that is when I know that this has got to be the biggest regret in my life thus far. To continue trying while trying to manage my own emotions only to get all the insults and criticisms from people whom I once supported so much, sacrificed so much for and deemed to have taught me a lot of lessons even though they are so much younger than me. I am very angry and upset at myself for being such a fool to let myself be affected by their comments, all because I once truly cared for these people. I do not even need them to show any appreciation for whatever that I have done, just to understand that I did everything I could to provide them with the best activities one can have in a CCA and also to protect them. But crap, with each passing day, I still have not found rock bottom yet. I am a fool, I must be a fool.

No one will really tell them the cold hard truth that without me and my fellow teachers' support to be there for games, etc. the team would not have existed. We do not even want to claim credit for any of these things but just a little sense of appreciation or a word of thanks for what we have done or at the bare minimum, we definitely do not deserve such criticisms. In all my years of teaching, I have never felt so upset before, not even when a student commented that I was not helpful or when I fell out with one of my best students ever. At least, he eventually come to realise that I truly care for his well-being and wanted him to do well just so he could secure a good future.

Now that I have narrated the story, I feel so much better and I realise that I just needed an avenue to vent my frustrations. Just because I am an adult and I have to manage my emotions way better than kids meant that I had to be tough in front of everyone else and act nonchalant. If I were to speak of this incident, I am very sure I will eventually breakdown and become inconsolable because I would not be able to stop my tears from flowing. After all, I have embarrassed myself too much the week after that fateful event and I hate to let others see the weaker side of me.

Yes, the worst will be over soon. I just have to hang in there for the next 1 month. Teaching, a satisfying career? I guess I will never get to experience the satisfaction that I ought to ever again.

Life's fragile.

Officially counting down to the end of my bond and the new life ahead of me. However, even counting down is a chore and there is so much uncertainty ahead of me. Grad school plans didn't come through that smooth and while I am busy studying for my exams, I have to look for financial aid to fund my studies. Meanwhile, school hasn't been that kind after all, with Talentime on my to-do list, Lesson study coming up and the 'A' divisions approaching not just for hockey but also tennis. When there's so many things that I have to be responsible for, I told myself I have to bite the bullet and press on. Just as I thought I was coping well, with the support of the many people around me from colleagues to friends to family members, something hit me real hard. It made me want to leave the profession even more and also it made me realised how fortunate I have been these days and thankfully, I have always been thankful for what I have had thus far. Although I do grumble a little or maybe pour my sorrows to my lil sister, those grouses were actually meant to make me feel better yet continue in my pursuits and what I believe in. If God is gonna discount me for that, I would be terribly upset.

So, I learnt that life is precious and having being in a job whereby you are responsible for another person's life, wait, not just one person but tens or even hundreds of lives is insanity. When all goes well, it seems like you are all relaxed and get to enjoy your vacation four times a year. However, more often than not, it just takes one incident to slap you real hard in your face and throw all your beliefs aside. No matter how detailed and comprehensive your plans are and how much caution and calculation you exercise in every step that you take, it takes seconds to destroy all that you have worked for completely. The Chinese saying goes, 人算不如天算 and my mother always tell me in Hokkien, zou lang ham ham, meaning you never know what is going to happen to you on a daily basis.

An ex-student came back to visit yesterday and I always find it refreshing to talk to him. He is one of the students who closely resembles a mirror image of myself. I enjoy listening to updates about his life because that makes me reflect more as a person. We came to this conclusion that, "growing up is a pain." He is at a stage in his life whereby he is facing a lot of tough decisions like I did 10 years back. I did not have anyone to look up to and ask for advices and I had to stumble to find my direction so I vowed to always be there as a mentor to guide him to find his way in life. Not that life will be smooth sailing with my guidance but to know that someone is there to listen and share with you a different perspective definitely helps, I believe.

Two different events happening two days in a row, I am completely thrown off my personal conviction about life and I found myself crying like a baby at a certain juncture. Thank you, God, for always shedding light on me on how life should be, even though it may not be the all positive and joyous way but you kept me in your blessings. And I will continue to keep many others in prayers. We have to focus more on what we already have, not what we lack. A timely reminder.

31 things to say for a month - Day 24: What lies ahead in the future?

Day 24: 这世界很复杂

曾经很爱某一首歌的一段歌词，“这世界很复杂，浑淆我想说的话。我不懂太复杂的文法。” 今天却忽然很有感触并且想起了这首歌。

我发现其实我对身边的人好不了解，可能是因为这社会越来越以自我为中心，繁忙的工作和科技的发达大大地减少了人与人之间的接触。一直以来，我对周遭的人和事都保持一种很冷漠的态度。部分的原因是因为我觉得当你要走进另一个人的世界时，你就必须先卸下防卫让他人走入你的世界，而当你总是在过程中受伤时，你就会自我保护而选择和他人划清界线。

今天的一番对话却让我了解其实一直以来，这种自我防卫的方式虽然让我失去了很多，同时我也算是因祸得福。有时候，我真的觉得这个世界很复杂，让我搞不清楚谁才是真正的朋友而谁又只是我生命的一个过客或一个会让我从过程中学习并且慢慢成长的人。

我生命中最值得信任的人只有我的家人和青少年时期认识的一群死党。在他们面前，我不需要去猜测他们对我会有任何的隐瞒，只有满满的支持和鼓励。在我回想过去的点点滴滴时，或许这几年里，只有那么一个人真心真意地关心过我并且很努力地在尝试和我沟通并且建立一份真正的友谊。可是，我却始终没有好好地珍惜一切因为我实在搞不懂真心的付出还会有任何的收获吗？

自己反省的同时，才发现原来我一直把这世界想得很复杂而事实也证明了我的想法。在不懂得如何去应付以及不愿受伤的情况下，我已经彻底地封锁了自己的心。在事后想了想，受伤可以等待痊愈并且从中学习然后从新出发。但是，选择逃避却会让自己离现实的世界越来越遥远，不是吗？

”他”，和未来的一切可否简简单单呢？

A long overdue trip to the Holy Land VII

Oh well, I have already finished blogging about the entire Holy Land journey. Why then do I dedicate another post to the Holy Land visit? This is all about my personal feelings and reflections and not representative of what Israelis speak about or what my role as an educator should be.

The story about Palestine and Israel. If one were to take a good look at history, it would not be difficult to see that for most of Israel's history, the Moslems had been there. The Dome of the Rock has been there since 600AD and though it was converted to a church by the crusaders, subsequent Moslem reign ensued its continuity as a religious site for the Moslems. We asked the guide about why the Jews had allowed the site to be under Palestinian rule despite them having the authority over the land and the old city. It is most likely that they do not want to wage another religious war which will hamper their rebuilding efforts. After all, they are a race that has undergone extermination and preserving their culture and population should be their utmost priority. I feel upset because if indeed, Abraham and his followers were the intended recipients of the State of Israel, why is it that they are not able to have their holy site back? That should have been where the Temple Mount would be, if not for the Romans and Moslems. I do not know if I am biased in determining my stand but I sometimes feel that the Moslems should just return Temple Mount to the Israelis. After all, Jerusalem was never mentioned in the Koran unlike Mecca or Medina. They had identified Jerusalem as the edge where the Prophet Mohammed ascended to Heaven but this was all based on rumors and hearsay. But Jerusalem was clearly recorded in the Torah for the Jews and the site means so much to them. If you take away something that does not belong to you, sooner or later you will have to return it. Why not return it out of goodwill in a nice gesture, rather than hold on to it and suffer the consequences later? However, I am in no position to judge what is right or wrong. Maybe it is not about where the holy site is but it is about do you actually hold on to faith in your heart. If you believe in the Holy Master, He lives in your heart forever and you abide by His teachings regardless of where the Holy Temple is. However, I feel that history and belief seem to speak otherwise. It seems like having Him in your heart is insufficient. You have to be aware of His presence and this divinity has His own demands that He require of His followers, perhaps to teach them a lesson in life, or to make right the wrongdoings.

Nevertheless, this episode has also taught me something about life; that imperfections are inevitable and we have to deal with them by living with them rather than constantly trying to perfect it. In the process of perfecting it, lives will be lost, people will be hurt and even if you eventually attain it, the grief that you cause will most likely outweigh any joy of becoming perfect.

For those who might not understand the meaning of Palestine and why the name, I got my information from various internet sources and understood that the Palestinians are Arabs who were refugees from the various Arab-Israeli wars. From the Israelis' perspective, they feel that such refugees should have been allowed to return to their native home i.e. various Arab nations because from their names, you can tell that they are of Arab descent either Jordanian, Syrian, Saudi Arabian, etc. However, they were denied entry or return. The Israelis are unwilling to grant them citizenship perhaps because they do not belong to Israel in the first place and it would be unfair to take in these citizens who do not belong there in the first place. From the Arabs' perspective, these refugees had left the Arab countries during the war and they should have been assimilated into the nations who had taken them in, in this case Israel. In most countries, the descendants of refugees are often granted citizenship in the country in which they seek refuge from but what about the Palestinians? They have been known as and maybe will always be known as refugees. Those in Jordan have already been assimilated into Jordan, taking on Jordanian citizenship.

This leads us to one critical question, "For whom does the State of Israel exist for?" Is it a home for only Jewish people (with Jewish blood or that their mother is a Jew because the latter is how they used to determine if someone is a Jew in olden times) or for anyone who considers themselves as a Jew or an Israeli regardless of faith? Where do Arabs or their descendants who have been living in Israel for centuries ever since the first Moslem rule stand? What about the minority groups like Druz or Christians (brought there by the Byzantines or Crusaders)?

It makes me wonder if uniformity is really of importance and is it even possible in a world today that is increasingly globalised and geographically mobile? I myself am  divided over this issue. I grew up in a multi-racial society whereby Chinese, Malays, Indians and other minority races live together and call themselves as One Singapore, One Nation. I am accepting of our history as an immigrant society and find it palatable partly because I come from a majority racial group and has never experienced any sort of discrimination or inconvenience, since the majority inevitably has an advantage. However, in recent years, as immigration becomes imminent, I too experience some kind of discomfort and had wished for the status quo that we had enjoyed in the last forty years. If one is unable to adapt and wishes for uniformity, then we perhaps would slowly be hypnotized by Hilter's idea of an uniform society with a superior race.

I doubt we can ever return to ancient times when China was a place for Chinese, Europe a place for the Whites, Africa a place for blacks, Middle East a place for the Arabs, India a place for Indians, and Israel a place for the Jews. This is simply because inter-racial marriages are increasingly common, distances between nations are smaller and love transcends boundaries. Who is to say that uniformity presides over a multi-racial society or the reverse? Perhaps it is what Israel has and undergoes that makes me interested to learn more about their nation. I would want to continue to live to witness how history will be written on this Arab-Israeli conflict in the next few decades, but I do pray for it to be resolved in a peaceful manner.

If Jerusalem is the centre of Israel and Israel being the centre of the world, let it continue to enjoy peace for those living within it. #prayforthepeaceofjerusalem.

31 things to say for a month - Day 23: What would I be 10 years down the road

Day 23: What would I be 10 years down the road? 

Just a few days ago, my sister and I had this conversation about what you foresee yourself or where you see yourself to be at 10 years down the road. I first thought about this question when I graduated from the Polytechnic. I am still shy of the 10 years that I first started thinking about that question as of now but back then, I kind of know 8 years of my future would be secured should I decide to pen for the scholarship. I did not imagine that my life would turn out to be what it is today despite being mentally prepared for my current career. There were surprises, both positive and negative ones. 

One, I thought being in a steady relationship or having settled down was something would have been completed on that checklist but I guess I still have a lot to work on. Some other day, I will talk about this. 

Two, my poly bestie, Omma, made me a video for my birthday and in it, it detailed my dream to be able to tour the world. It was something that was more of an abstract to me back then when I watched the video and honestly, never would I have expected myself to have really gone so far in my travels. I know how people always talk about dreams and I myself also preach about living our dreams frequently but to be truly living all the dreams that you conjure as a kid or a teenager, it is simply impossible. I am just glad that I manage to live a few of those, one definitely being traveling around the world. Not the stewardess way which I once thought about though, but no regrets about that. 

I used to have something like this as my status on MSN but I cannot recall the exact wordings: 
Dream --> Embark --> Enjoy --> Back to reality --> where next? 

It has been 7 years since it first began: 
Bangkok, Thailand --> Various cities, Vietnam --> Genting, Malaysia --> Hong Kong & Macau --> Stockholm, Sweden --> Oslo, Norway --> London, Manchester, various cities, England --> Copenhagen, Denmark --> Amsterdam, Netherlands --> Brussels, Belgium --> Munich & Berlin, Germany --> Salzburg & Vienna, Austria --> Prague, Czech Republic --> Edinburgh, Scotland --> Rome, Pisa, Florence, Venice & Milan, Italy --> Athens & Corfu, Greece --> Madrid, Spain --> Porto & Lisbon, Portugal --> Marrakech, Morocco --> Barcelona, Spain --> Paris & Strasbourg, France --> Batam, Indonesia --> Brisbane, Surfer's Paradise, Cairns & Sydney, Australia --> Osaka & Kyoto, Japan --> Taipei & various cities, Taiwan --> Tokyo, Osaka & Nara, Japan --> Various cities, Egypt --> Jeju and Seoul, South Korea --> Toronto, Montreal, Quebec City & Niagara Falls, Canada --> Shanghai, China --> Interlaken & Zurich, Switzerland --> Krakow & Warsaw, Poland --> Rovaniemi & Helsinki, Finland --> Santander & Bilbao, Spain --> Beijing, China --> Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Grand Canyon & San Francisco, USA --> Male, Maldives --> Amman & Petra, Jordan --> Tiberias, Jerusalem, Bethlehem & Jericho, Jerusalem --> ??

And the journey shall continue. 

Three, the friendships that were lost in the last decade. Sometimes, I think about these friends and wonder how they are doing. However, I lack the courage to pick up the phone to call or send a text message. Maybe some day I will. 

If you are reading this post, how about you? Are you the "YOU" who you imagined yourself to be 10 years ago? Do share with me! 

A long overdue trip to the Holy Land Part VI

Day 7: Lingering in the aftermath of the Holy City

I woke up with a heavy heart because I was about to leave Jerusalem, such a beautiful city with so much history to offer. On a positive note, I was heading to the Masada and the Dead Sea, the latter being one of the places that I want to visit on my bucket list.

Dead Sea:

• Lowest point on Earth but highest pressure and oxygen content!
• Formed from the Great Rift Valley that stretches from Turkey all the way to Ethiopia. (Not that into Geography so I probably cannot explain well how the Dead Sea is formed.)
• Formed by 2 tectonic plates, the Arabian plate and the African plate. Imagine two zigzag plates moving in a different direction, one towards the north and the other towards the south. They then create two main rifts, one the Sea of Galilee in the North and the Dead Sea in the South. 
• Dead Sea and the Sea of Galilee used to be together and Jericho is the area where they used to be one. So Jericho is an area where there used to be a lot of minerals and springs but subsequently the water dried up. Nonetheless, the soil is still very fertile and you can see a lot of agricultural activities in the area. 
• Jericho is known as the oldest city in the world as it has a history that dates to 6000 BC, which is 8000 years ago! It is believed that Moses could not lead the Israelites to the Promised Land so Joshua, leader of the Israelites after Moses, first brought the people to Jericho. They stayed here for 7 days and eventually Joshua blew the trumphet to bring down the city walls. There is not much evidence of the presence of the Israelites in Jericho perhaps due to them using mud brick to build their city 8000 years ago and it simply dissipated. 
• Water boils at 102deg and not 100deg in the Dead Sea due to the high salt content of 35%! Apparently, the water source is similar to that from the Jordan river and of course the Sea of Galilee. However, the Sea of Galilee has an exit whereas the Dead Sea does not. So when water evaporates, the minerals and salt are left behind. Since there is no exit for the water, there is no way freshwater could enter the Dead Sea either. Hence, the water level recedes by about 1m every year. The British had made marks of the water level in 19th century and as we pass through the Judean Desert, we could see the marks. In order to ensure the sustainability of the Dead Sea, a South lake was created whereby water could be pumped from the North lake to the South lake. In this way, the water level in the South lake could be maintained, otherwise, we will lose the Dead Sea to nature i.e. evaporation. So currently, only the North lake experiences receding water levels. 
• Why the Dead Sea is called the Dead Sea? I saw a T-shirt that illustrates - Mediterranean Sea (fishes are blue), Red Sea (fishes are red), Dead Sea (fishes are dead). I think the high salt content would not be deem suitable for the survival of any marine life. In addition to that, as we pass through the Judean Desert, the guide told us about some horror stories of drowning incidents in the region.

One, there are floods at certain times of the year and drivers who want to pass through the Judean desert are unable to gauge the actual water level because the water is muddy. So cars may end up being totally submerged in the water and death results. People would then wonder, why would any car be in the area should there be a flood. As the saying goes, curiosity kills the cat. People drive there just to cure their curiosity of how the flood would look like and tragedy happens. 

Two, the soil or sand surrounding the Dead Sea contains 2 different layers of water. There is salty water underneath coming from the Dead Sea and also freshwater above that comes from the springs. However, the two types of water do not mix. Hence, as the Dead Sea water level falls, salty water underneath decreases, bringing down the freshwater level with it. Eventually, this will then melt the ground i.e. the soil absorbs the water and sinks, creating sinking holes. On the surface, you see a pool of water but as we all learn in Physics, the water level is deeper than you see with your naked eye. Therefore, people who unknowingly step into a sinking hole risk diving into the unknown and no one will be able to swim in water that contains 35% salt! 

Indeed, the view from the Dead Sea region near our resort is one that is beyond your imagination! The different gradient of blue, orange, and yellow that you see in the sky and it eventually combining with the light blue waters as one is indescribable. 

Biblical stories/ places:

• Story about the Sons of Light - so they were living in a mountainous area that is a day's walk from Jerusalem and where the Dead Sea is. The high salt content also ensured the preservation of the Dead Sea Scrolls, hence its name. It is located in Qumran and it is probably a small household of 140 men, evident by the 140 sets of plates and 4 rows of seats, with each row seating 35 people. 
• You see lots of water cisterns, pools for ritual baths because they were very religious and had to be cleansed frequently? 
• A story from the New Testament: Jesus's disciple asked Jesus, "Who's our friend?" His disciple then sees that a Jew was injured and while other Jews ignored him, it was actually a Samaritan (known to be enemies of Jews) passer-by who took care of that injured Jew, brought him to an inn and even paid for all his medical bills and associated expenses. Subsequently, he also visited to check on his recovery. So Jesus answered his disciple, "A friend is someone who takes care of you, not necessarily one that is of the same religion or race." In addition, he was also trying to teach them a lesson on maintaining peace. :) 
• Fun fact: Why do religious Jews wear a hat, and even non-religious ones wear one when they enter a religious site? To acknowledge the existence of a greater Him that is above mankind. 

And now, I shall move on to the last story for my adventures in the Holy Land. 

Masada: 

• A fortress where luxurious kings built their palaces, one of them being King Herod. Before he became a king, he went to Rome to seek approval from the then Roman emperor Caesar Augustus to grant him the throne so he hid his family in Masada. 
• Subsequently, Masada became his winter palace since temperatures in the Dead Sea region was much warmer than anywhere else in Israel. Jaffa was probably still non-existent and also too susceptible to attacks. He had 2 palaces in Masada and a swimming pool i.e. Roman bath. THe Northern palace had lesser exposure to the sun whereas the Southern palace had natural protection from the fortress since it was located on a steep slope. 
• Despite its glorious existence during King Herod's time, Masada became a roman soldier's guard post after Herod died and his kingdom was split between his two sons since none was bold or witty enough to fill his boots.
• Masada also has its legendary existence as it was the hiding place of King David before he became King and was under the chase of King Saul. 
• Masada also lend its UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE CENTRE's status to the Great Revolt of the Jews when Israel was under Roman rule. The siege ramp, camps and surrounding walls that go around the walls of Masada are very well preserved with clear markings and this is probably the inspiration for many of the ancient movies that we see such as Troy, Kingdom of Heaven, Lord of the Rings, etc. 
• A group of 963 Jews hid in Masada and it was the last fortress that was still standing for the Jews back in 66 AD. They had to fight against 15,000 Roman soldiers and the Romans simply pooled together all their resources in an attempt to bring down Masada. They built a wall around Masada  so that no one could run away from the Roman siege and till today, you can still see the marks being made. On top of the 15,000 Roman soldiers, they also had 5,000 support soldiers and 8 encampments surrounding the Masada fortress. 
• Though the Roman soldiers cut off the water supply, the Jews living within Masada had enough food and water. The way they channel the water into the water cisterns is simply amazing, partly thanks to Herod's brilliance. Lol! In fact, it was the Roman soldiers who were struggling with their water needs and the Jews would at times pour water down the fortress walls to exhibit their ability to be extravagant when it comes to water. 
• Masada has very good fortification because the end that was facing the Dead Sea was 500m tall. In the end, the Romans had to built their siege ramp at the Western side (I think so) where there could make use of the surrounding mountains 200m from Masada and start building a siege ramp from there. Of course, the Jews were constantly attacking the Romans from their fortress as the Romans work to bring down the walls of Masada. Eventually, when the siege ramp was about to be completed (after a 3-year war), all the people in Masada committed suicide. In those days, if you start a war against the Romans, you know that there would be no escape for you if you fail. All men would be massacred, women raped and even children were not spared their lives. So perhaps the mass suicide was to escape any humiliation that was to follow when the Romans eventually break in. However, according to Jewish tradition, no one is allowed to commit suicide thus it is believed that family and friends probably killed each other. Eventually, it was down to 10 chosen men who did their part to kill their family and friends and they had to draw lots to decide who would be the last standing one who will eventually end his own life after killing the other 9. 
• One of our tour members then raised a ethical question. If it was a sin to kill yourself, wouldn't it be and worse and even more unethical to take away someone else's life? Oh well, Jews are Jews and traditions and beliefs have no logical reasoning to begin with, more often than not. Eventually when the Romans got into Masada, they found only 5 people, some women and children who had hid themselves in the kitchen and hence were not killed by their loved ones, but probably by the Romans. What an irony! 
• I read somewhere that this could be a myth because no one could testify to such stories that the famous historian, Joseph son of Matthias, wrote. Apparently, Joseph Matthias himself had led the Great Revolt in 66 AD but failed and when he was hiding in a cave with 9 other men, the whole drawing lots thing came about and he was the chosen men to kill the rest and himself but fortunately he kept himself alive and surrendered to the Romans! Otherwise, we would not have any account of the Temple Mount or even the great Masada holdout. Anyway, his story about Masada could be supported by archaeological findings of the 10 names that he mentioned, believed to be the 10 chosen ones to end the holdout in Masada. 
• We do not belong to that era of living so we will never comprehend why certain decisions were being made. All we can do is to reinforce the positive takeaways and learn from the negative ones. At least for me, no one should ever throw in the towel before putting up a fight! Coincidentally, the Israelis have the same sentiments as me in present times. Great minds indeed do think alike! Lol. Why did I draw similarities between the Israelis and me? It is not uncommon to see Israeli soldiers making their way up to Masada (most probably by foot, and not by the cable car) to say an oath that there will not be another Masada again so as to not let history repeat itself. War is about morale and mental fitness. Beside the widespread belief of God not letting His chosen people lose another war, the triumph earned by the Israelis in recent wars could also be attributed to their history of letting down their land and people by giving up even before it began. 
• I like the slogan, "There will not be another Masada again." They are not going to lose a war ever again. The only regret that I have from this trip is not getting that T-shirt with the above slogan. 

With that, I put a period to my 7-day journey in the Holy Land physically but the memories and stories live on. I will return, someday because this small little country has left a permanent mark on my heart. Revisiting a place is a must especially after you have been to others that are connected in a complex way. Rome will not be the same on my 2nd visit compared to the 1st because I had not witnessed and fully comprehended the majestic empire and spread of the Romans back then. 

Next exotic destination: Turkey!

A long overdue trip to the Holy Land Part V

Day 6: Understanding the history of the Holy Land

This is the 2nd last post about the Holy Land and indeed, it has taken me more time to blog about this than what I had expected. Nonetheless, a little a day goes a long way so I am glad I did this for it will be something that I will remember for the rest of my life. Without blogger and the Internet, I doubt I would have a lifetime memory of the short 7 days in the Holy Land! 

Anyway, day 6 was a free day for sis and I to explore the city. Fortunately, I had the Jerusalem guide with me to figure out how to spend our free day in the city. Like what sis said, we learnt more about Israel, Jerusalem, Judaism, Christianity and the whole ancient history of Jerusalem the most from our visit to the Tower of David Museum. Before I talked about the religious visit to Temple Mount, let us go back in time to understand the history of Israel! 

• 2000 BC: City of Canaan: Fortified town on a hillside above the Gihon spring. Subsequently, Egyptian pharaohs ruled Canaan and the Kings of Jerusalem became their vassals.
• 1020 - 1006 BC:  Saul, the first king of Israel chose Gibeah (territory of his own tribe Benjamin) as the capital
• 1006 - 965 BC: David, King of Israel, conquered Jerusalem
• 965 - 930 BC: Solomon, son of David, ruled the empire and extended the city to include Mount Moriah (location of Isaac's sacrifice). He also built the First Temple Mount (a.k.a. Temple of Solomon)
• 930 - 722 BC: Israel was split into two kingdoms - Israel and Judah - first decline of Jerusalem
• 722 -586 BC: Assyria kingdom - Refer to the story about the spring and water tunnel (Hezekiah) in Part IV. 
• 586 - 538 BC: Babylonians (territory in present day Iraq, some of Turkey, Syria Iran and Kuwait), under Nebuchanezzar, captured Jerusalem and destroyed the First Temple.
• 538 - 332 BC: King Cyrus of Persia took over and allowed the Jews to return to Zion. Rebuilding of the First Temple begin - known as the Second Temple. 
• 332 - 63 BC: Hellenistic Period (Greek) - Time of Alexander the Great but he only ruled for 9 years after which he passed away and Jerusalem was passed from hand to hand.
• 301 - 200 BC: Ptolemies of Egypt
• 200 - 141 BC: Seleucids o Syria
• 141 - 63 BC: Hasmonean Kingdom: Jewish recapture of the Temple and full independence 
• 63 BC: Roman general Pompey conquered Jerusalem. 
• 37 - 2 BC: King Herod's 35-year reign - Monumental building and also the four walls to surround the Second Temple and 3 watch towers (I think). 
• 66 - 70 AD: The first of the three Jewish revolts.  This led to the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 AD. The Romans also brought back many Jewish sacred objects to Rome (My next visit to the Vatican museum or British museum will make me keep a lookout for the connection between Rome and Jerusalem). 
• 136 AD: Jerusalem became Aelia Capitolina after another Jewish revolt against Roman emperor Hadrian's plan to build a pagan city. Jews were expelled from Jerusalem. 
• 324 - 638 AD: Byzantine Period - Romans who adopted the Christian faith and after a visit by Constantine's Mother, she identified the burial site of Jesus Christ. Constantine then ordered the Temple of Aphrodite which then stood at the burial site to be destroyed and ordered to build the Shrine of the Holy Sepulchre, one of the 14 stations in Via Dolorosa. Although Constantine granted the Jews to rebuild the Temple Mount, the construction never came through. 
• 638 - 1099 AD: Moslem rule (Umayyad dynasty, 660-750 AD, which ruled from Damascus, capital of present day Syria); Abbasid dynasty, 750 - 969 AD, which ruled from Baghdad; Fatimid caliphs of Egypt, 969 - 1099 AD) - Jews and Christians were allowed to return to Jerusalem. Jerusalem became the third most holy city for the moslems after Mecca and Medina. Although Jerusalem is not mentioned in the Koran, according to the Moslem tradition, the prophet Mohammed had a night journey from the holy mosque of Mecca to an outer mosque while being carried on the back of his winged horse. The outer mosque is to be present day's Al-asqa mosque in Jerusalem and it from the rock on Temple Mount, Second Temple, the prophet ascended to the Hughes heavens, hence the Dome of the Rock was built in 691 AD. The Umayyads built various palaces next to the Dome of the Rock and moslems wanted to be buried near the Dome of the Rock but those palaces were destroyed by the Abbasid empire. Since then, Jerusalem has been the source of constant fighting between the Jews, Christians and Moslems. 
• 1099 - 1187 AD: Crusaders' rule. If you are a big fan of Kingdom of Heaven, this would ring a bell in you. Apparently, when the crusaders invaded Jerusalem, they massacred the Moslems. All Christian shrines were liberated from the Moslems as well and mosques (including Al-asqa mosque) were turned into churches or buildings to accommodate Christian pilgrims from around the world. Jerusalem became the capital of the Latin Kingdom and was inhabited by Europeans and Eastern Christians such as the Greek Orthodox, Syrians and Armenians. The one thing that surprises me is that the Dome of the Rock was untouched. In 1187, Salah-aldin, ruler of Egypt and Syria i.e. Ayyubid dynasty, defeated the Crusaders at the decisive Battle of Hattin. Jews returned to the city and settled among Moslem inhabitants and the Eastern Christians - Jewish, Moslems, Christian and Armenian quarters (have walls around their quarter because they were massacred by the Turks and wanted protection when they came to Jerusalem). Entire crusader population was either ransomed, expelled or sold into slavery (this was probably a light punishment considering what they had done to the Moslems and Jews when they gained control a 100 years ago). A peace treaty between Salah-aldin and Richard, the Lion Hearted in 1192 assured Christians access to holy places in Jerusalem. In 1229, emperor Frederick II negotiated to divide Jerusalem - Temple Mount in Moslem hands while the rest for crusader rule. In 1244, it was attacked by Turkish tribes from Central Asia. The Jews escaped but the Christians were slaughtered. 
• 1260 - 1517 AD: Mameluk empire - The mameluks came from steppes of Asia and were educated in special schools of warfare and Islamic studies. The elite military sect ruled over vast areas from Cairo to Jerusalem but Jerusalem was mainly for religious purposes, not economic or political. Pilgrims from Europe came in the 15th century by sailing on Italian merchant ships to Jaffa then Jerusalem. Mameluks built many impressive structures in the area of Temple Mount and streets such as Madrasas for religious studies, hospices for pilgrims, water fountains etc.
• 1517-1917 AD: Ottoman Empire: Sultan Suleiman the magnificent (1520-1566) wished to improve the city's life and security so he rebuilt its walls to prevent against invasion and regulated the water supply. 
• 1917 - 1947 AD: British rule after World War I - common bloodshed between Arabs and Jews
• 1948 AD: War of Independence and although the State of Israel was eventually declared, Israel was divided - East bank was given to the Jordanians and West bank to the Israelis. 
• 1967 AD: Six-day war to reclaim East Jerusalem
• Till forever (hopefully): Pray for the peace of Jerusalem! 

As for all the stories about Palestine, I cannot write anything about it because it is something that is very complicated and I did not have many chances to find out from the guide. 

The famous quotes that I saw and was deeply moved by it. 

David's time: And his kingdom was firmly established,  

Second Temple: Come let us build the wall of Jerusalem, 

Herod's time: Jerusalem: a metropolis for all, 

Moslem rule: Jerusalem the first of two directions of prayers 

Ottoman rule: Jerusalem, the rising dawn, 

Independence as State of Israel: Jerusalem shall be inhabited as villages without walls. 

Our first stop was the Dome of the Rock and Al-asqa mosque, the supposed ground for Temple Mount.  Our guide told us that there is always a long queue due to stipulated opening hours, pilgrims from all over the world, and of course stringent security checks therefore we have to make sure that we arrive early to beat the queue. We were rather fortunate because when we reached the security checkpoint at 7.30 a.m., there was no queue at all! Indeed, the early bird gets the worm.

Anyway, we were prohibited from entering the Al-asqa mosque and the Dome of the Rock as it is only meant for religious moslems. We could only take pictures from outside, see Mount Olives from the opposite and also have some restricted view of the Old City. Seeing how big the premise is, it really make me wonder how the Temple Mount had looked like thousands of years ago. It is moments like this that make me feel and think about what I had said during Shabbat dinner - that I hope the Israelis with their superior technological know-how can one day invent a time machine to bring me back in time to see with my own eyes the wonders of the ancient world. 

My last story for this post is all about Temple Mount and the Western or Wailing wall. The details of the Temple Mount were documented by a famous Jewish historian, Joseph Matthias (not sure if I spelt his name correctly). Read about how him in the Masada episode but all you need to know is that he followed Roman soldiers around Jerusalem and described the war that had taken place between Rome and Jerusalem, Masada (will come to that on the last day). The Western wall is the last wall remaining that was built in Herod's time to hide the Second Temple Mount within four walls. The southern wall is 300m long and the western wall is around 500m long. At the Southwest corner, there is a bridge that provides quick access to the Temple Mount and it is also at this end that we have the Jewish quarter. The Jewish belief in a one and only God meant that they are not to pray to tombs of even righteous people, rabbis, Kings, etc. thus there is not a single statue or image inside Temple Mount back then. Paganism is the idea of idol worshipping e.g. God of Sun, Goddess of Love, etc. The holiest of holiest in the Temple is probably tablets from Moses at Mount Sinai (not too sure). A story about Jesus - he flipped the table where the money changers were  located (at the entrance to the Southwestern end of the Temple) because pilgrims came from all over the world and foreign coins had images of foreign kings or gods so it should have been forbidden inside the Temple premises. 

Why do the religious Jews pray at the Western wall? For reasons such as them believing that the Western wall is closest to the holiest of the holiest, the presence of the divine never left its presence and it is the only part of the wall that was not destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD. Or perhaps, we could link it all up and think: because it is closest to the holiest of the holiest so it was the only part of the wall that was not destroyed since the divine never left. One thing that sis taught me and coincidentally I myself learnt in Intro to Psychology is that people often like to link up events after they have happened and try to draw conclusions from these events. 

Of course, I myself was filled with many puzzling questions and if I had more time, I would probably bug the tour guide to explain more. One of those many questions that was also bugging the other tour members was - why did the Moslems build the Dome of the Rock above Temple Mount and now that the Jews have control of Israel, why did they not take back the Temple Mount premise from the Arabs (or Palestinians) through negotiations or by force as the last resort? This is definitely a sensitive one and in order to understand this complex issue and appreciate all that has happened in a war-plagued Jerusalem in the hundreds of years, you really have to be able to take a neutral stand and not let your emotions rule you, be it you being a free thinker, a believer of God, Islam, Judaism, Christianity, blah blah blah. One of the many perspectives that has been related to me which I could perhaps share - that for financial and political reasons, the Moslems built the Dome of the Rock above Temple Mount. The riches that you can gain from the pilgrims all over the world is limitless and that a place that you can claim as a holy site for your religion grants you access or the entitlement to claim it as your territory, perhaps? As for the second part of the question, the state of current affairs in Jerusalem is indeed intriguing to me but when you think about the bigger picture of peace for all living in Jerusalem and also experiences of a race that has undergone extermination, why not just let go and prioritize harmony? 

If indeed Jerusalem is the Holy Land, because it is in the center of Israel and Israel being in the centre of the world and choosing such a central location as the Promised Land for a group of people who are descendants of followers of our Creator, then the more the people should have absolute faith in the eventual arrival of the Messiah at the time the Third Temple Mount will be built. I cannot live forever, neither do I want to be immortal but I do relish the opportunity to be able to witness for myself this grandiose idea that will take the world. :)