Saturday, June 13, 2009

WE ARE HERE!!!

HELLO ALL!!!
We arrived safely in Israel on Saturday morning at 12:30 am...which was 6:30 pm. your time on Friday.
We were dropped off at a bungalow and told that breakfast was at 8 the next morning....we were allowed to stay together last night because there is no one here yet really....i think we are getting separated tonight thought.
Our journey started off on Thursday with my parents dropping us off in Atlanta....actually they had to throw us out b/c the weather and traffic kept us from getting there on time. However we went through everything and made it to our gate right as they were seating our zone on the plane. We got on, found our seats and two hours later we left.......b/c a plane in front of us had gone off the runway and there were firetrucks everywhere.
We sat beside Daniel, a pro hockey player for the Chicago Blaze who is originally from Hungary...he was on his way home for the summer and we enjoyed chatting with him.
Our flight was wonderful and Air France fed us two great meals...they have good cheese!
We got to Paris, France about 9 o'clock their time.....3 o'clock in the morning your time. We had maybe slept a total of 1 hour but still wanted to take advantage of our 8 hours in Paris.
We exchanged some money and bought tickets to ride the train into the city.
Our first stop was at Notre Dame......BEAUTIFUL....it was good weather, not sunny and cool.
We walked around and found a small street cafe where we ate French food...actually a cheese sandwich and a hot dog.
Then we went to the Louvre......AHHHH ( angels singing in background ).
AWESOME.....I was in Art Heaven....I mean, we only had two hours in the museum and I think we saw everything. Adam felt like he was going to heave b/c I was literally dragging him everywhere and talking up a storm....I recognized so much from Art History. He kept sitting down and fanning himself and saying " i am going to pass out"....however, i kept on walking circles around him and chatting.
Then the bathroom incident happened...we went to a back part of an exhibit..there was no one back there and we saw a bathroom sign. We both went in. However, we did not both come out. I went into this room with a single toilet and shut the door and turned the lock pretty hard. When I tried to get back out the lock would not budge and the room I was in was small and heated. I am a tad bit claustrophobic and started to freak a little. So i put everything down ( camera and purse) and started to pull and tug at the lock. When that didn't work I started banging on the door saying " Hello, Help me, can anyone hear me, Im locked in". Adam who was standing outside heard me and ran in. He and this other man tried to get me out but the lock wouldn't budge. So i freaked out hard core and started to panic yelling " PLEASE HELP ME"....keep in mind, people are walking around outside in the Louvre, in Paris looking at ancient art. So Adam, being his handy man self, took out his last euro and used it to turn the screw on the outside of the door....it came open and I felt REALLY stupid. The guy who was helping him had left to go get help but we walked away as fast as we could ....i was sooo embarrassed.
Then we walked around some more...we could see the Eiffel but we are saving that for our layover on the way back.
We got back to the Airport...but found out that we were in the middle of Friday afternoon rush hour in Paris....i have never seen so many people crammed on to one train...like cattle...it was crazy.
We got on our plane around 6ish on Friday for Tel Aviv....however, we didn't leave until 7:20 because of a latch on the cargo holder wouldn't latch. They fixed that and off we went.
This time we sat beside an older gentlemen who kept his ear phones in the whole time, with a sleep mask on and would sing along with his music every now and then...hehe.
Our next meal on Air France was kinda different....it was like vegetables, with figs and lamb and coleslaw and this weird cold lasagna with weird tomato paste and a fig tart....but, THE CHEESE WAS GREAT!!!! We will probably be stopped up for the next five weeks ( says Adam).
We landed in Tel Aviv around 12:10 in the morning and prayed that our luggage had come with us.
IT DID....ALL OF IT!!!! HALLELUJAH
We walked out of the terminal and saw a man holding a sign that said " Harvell, Tel Gezer Project"...his name was David Cole and he is a professor from the New Orleans Seminary.
On the way out of the airport we had trouble paying for our ticket to park at the airport.....the machine took half of the shekels and then said "out of service".....a guard fixed it 20 minutes later and we were on our way.
He drove us to Neve (ryhmes with Chevy) Shalom. You can see it from the highway that runs from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Its on a hill and it is self sustained.

So now here we are, sitting in the lobby of Neve Shalom. We just ate breakfast which was salad, cheese (american cheese taste like cardboard compared to what we have been eating), olive tapanade and boiled eggs....Adam tried the fish and cocoa flakes....he is brave. We have met another team mate Ryan, and another professor...Dr. Mitchell. The rest of the team is coming in around 3 today.
Thanks for everyone who prayed us through our two flights ...and our four bags of luggage. We could feel it all the way!!

We will put pictures up later...we tried but we have to get a converter when we go into Jerusalem tomorrow..hopefully it will work then!!!

Pictures from the plane ride, Paris and Israel.

and even more pictures

5 comments:

  1. Mom and Dad HarvellJune 13, 2009 at 5:03 PM

    Sounds like the prayers were needed. We did not receive a notification that this was posted - we'll look into it.

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  2. So thankful you are where you are supposed to be! Thanks for this way to follow your adventure. Stay safe.
    Love and prayers,
    Martha Kimbrough

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  3. hey girl im so glad you made it ok and i loved the bathroom story "that's swesome" i will keep you both in my prayers good luck out there and get that tan on even though it is going to be a bad farmers tan. ME LOVE KARA

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  4. Oh my gosh! I am STILL grinning from ear to ear!!! What a great adventure. I've traveled your tracks in Paris and I know the spots well (except the I. M. Pei pyramid). Winged Victory was my biggest shock..the sheer beauty of that stone in wind from ancient sculptors. Enjoy that cheese, it is awsome! I was in Paris with a group of high school Catholic Boys that I was in charge of. That added a MUCH different set of things that I was paying attention to! Thanks for the pictures. Dig in and dig it all kids! Love, Mrs. Johnt

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  5. Kinzie, when I first arrived in Paris, I kept seeing this one "item" on all of the menus so I finally tried to order one to check out why it was so special; "Yes, I'd like to order a bistro please". I spent years trying to live down that one! Mrs. Johnt

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