Benelux 2015: Meeting my Friend Tessa

Just two days after my previous trip to the Netherlands I went there again to meet my Dutch penpal Tessa. We had planned it much earlier that it would be nice to meet up once I come to Belgium to visit my dad and had chosen the date much in advance... But you know, there's always some difference between the plans and reality! ;) On the day when we were originally supposed to meet I was still in bed fighting the Israeli-Hungarian-Belgian virus. Then we chose another day, but suddenly the train tickets became much more expensive! Fortunately, my stepmum was very helpful: she called the Belgian railways and managed to convince them to sell me the tickets at a reasonable price. Training is quite an expensive activity in West Europe - getting from Belgium to the Netherlands costed almost as much as a flight to Israel! But that wouldn't prevent me from meeting a friend in any case! :) 

To be honest, I also didn't realize that Zwolle was actually quite far away from the Belgian border. It took me 4 hours to get there and I had to change trains in Rotterdam. I was afraid I'd miss my connection or wake up in Amsterdam, but fortunately everything went fine and Tessa was waiting for me at the Zwolle railway station! :) I know it may sound strange, but I still find myself feeling quite nervous before meeting a penpal for the first time, even if we get along just perfectly through letters. I guess it's because I sometimes feel embarassed with myself and as far as I seem to be a serious a deep thinking person in my letters, I think I may be a bit crazy and overenthusiastic in the "real life". My friends, who have met me in person say it's not true, but I can't help feeling self-conscious anyway. I guess Tessa could see that I was a bit nervous, so she gave me a hug and I immediately felt a bit more relaxed. :)

A canal and defence tower in Zwolle.

From the railway station we walked to the center of Zwolle. It's not a very big city, so soon we were already in the historic part, which is surrounded by canals and still has some fortifications left. As I've mentioned in my previous blog entry, I'm a bit ignorant and therefore most of Dutch cities and towns look similar to me, but I could see that most of Zwolle's historic sights were older than those, which I've seen in Gouda and Delft. Still, to be completely honest, we didn't spend so much time sightseeing. :)

The bookshop in a former church.

Our first longer stop was in Zwolle's nicest book store, which is located in a former church. Seeing a church being used in such an unconventional way may be surprising to an East European person like me, but actually like this idea. And I've actually visited one more book store like that in the Netherlands a few days later, but I'll tell you about it - as well as about my personal views on the problem of empty churches and their usage - the next time. Apart from buying books and postcards, you can also have a tea or coffee in this old church - and so we did. :) That was a great chance to relax and to finally talk to each other without using the pen and paper. To me it didn't feel like talking to Tessa for the first time though - it felt rather like a continuation of our letters and I really hope she felt the same. Later we decided to eat some sandwiches and so we had another excuse to spend more time talking and being lazy. :) But finally we had to see more of Zwolle...

View from the tower.

... And so we climbed the tower of one of the old churches! The tower was over 50 m high and that was quite a big challenge for a clumsy person like me, who doesn't ever do any sports! :D I was joking that this tower must have been designed to make people more religious: even if you're an atheist, you'll end up saying "Oh my God!" for a few times while climbing it! ;) But it was worth it - the views were really rewarding! When we went downstairs, we got small pictures of the church stamped with the date when we went there - 20th January 2015. So at least we have evidence that we've actually managed to climb it! :)

Again a canal :)

The bridge over a canal in Zwolle was one of my favourite places in the whole city. It looked really beautiful with the old houses and fortifications on both sides, as well as with some ships. Finally I had the feeling that I've done enough sightseeing and so we could walk to Tessa's place without any guilty conscience! ;)

My letter to Erin in the USA.

On the way I've found a mailbox and posted my letter to Erin, who's actually mine and Tessa's mutual penpal. :) I just hope she won't be too confusing when she receives a letter from an Ukrainian penpal sent from the Netherlands while she was visiting her father in Belgium. :D

Then I had a really nice time and Tessa'a and her brother's place - we discussed some interesting topics and ate yummy pancakes! At first I was surprised to see that Dutch pancakes were cooked with gouda cheese inside, but this way they taste even better! Sadly, I was only able to eat one pancake, which was probably caused by the fact that I had eaten too much gouda cheese in the kitchen! :D (Yes, apart from lemons, I can also steal cheese sometimes!) ;)

Tessa and me :)

Unfortunately, soon it was time to travel back to Belgium. I had the temptation to take the very last train, but if I missed my connection in Rotterdam, I'd have to spend the whole night waiting for the next train there, so I decided not to risk. Tessa took me to the railway station and it was the time to say goodbye, but I really hope we'll meet again: maybe in the Netherlands again, maybe in Belgium, Poland or even Ukraine? :) I don't really mind as long as we're able to spend some time together again! To me this day in Zwolle was an absolutely positive experience... and I still hope my behaviour wasn't too crazy! ;)

A typical Dutch train.

What I really like about Dutch trains is that they have the same colours as the Ukrainian flag! I realize it must be just a coincidence, but what a nice one! ;) The way back to Belgium took 4 hours as well and then I managed to get lost at the Brussels-South railway station and couldn't find my dad, who was waiting for me at one of the entrances. That's so much my style! ;) But that was an amazing experience of Friendship and Training nevertheless! :)

Benelux 2015: Windmills and Cheese.

Today has been a snowy day in Belgium, which is quite a rare event over here, but finally it feels a bit like winter! :) Tomorrow I'm already flying back to Budapest (and then trying to get to Ukraine before midnight), but as you can see I'm quite behind with my blog. ;) But I'll surely catch up and try not to bore my readers to death will all the travel stories! :D

I've been in Belgium for the last 10 days, but in fact my trips to Belgium always include short visits to other countries. Over here "going abroad" has a completely different meaning and feeling than in Ukraine. First of all, Belgium is a small country, so if you keep on driving from Brussels for about 2 hours in any direction, you'll most likely already be abroad. Then there are no borders as such, because it's the Schengen zone, so a trip abroad doesn't feel like a huge event. Each time I come here, I travel together with my dad both to places in Belgium and in the neighboring countries. This time we've visited The Netherlands and Luxembourg, therefore I've decided to call this journey "Benelux 2015". :) 

And I'll start with The Netherlands, because I've been there for... 3 times within the last week! I went there twice with my dad and once I went Training on my own to meet my Dutch friend Tessa. :) Yet today I'm going to tell you about 3 places which I've visited with my dad last Saturday: Kinderdijk, Gouda and Delft.

Windmills in Kinderdijk

What can I say about Kinderdijk? It's just amazing and it's probably one of the most beautiful places in The Netherlands! The village is known for 19 old windmills, most of which were built in the 18th century and which were used to keep the water out of the polder. Windmills and polders - that's so stereotypically Dutch! :) The windmills and their reflections in the water looked just stunning in the morning sun. The museum is unfortunately closed during the winter season, but just having a walk there was worth traveling all the way! 

Me and windmills! :)

In my mind The Netherlands are a highly urbanized city, so it was really refreshing and interesting to see some small villages with old houses and more windmills on the way. Once we even had to take a local ferry, because there was no bridge between the villages on opposite banks of Lek river. Some half an hour later we were already in Gouda, which is obviously the home town of the famous cheese. :) 

One of the old streets in Gouda.

To be honest, I felt a bit overwhelmed in the town center, as there was quite a big market with cheese, fish and other traditional Dutch stuff and I can feel really sociophobic in such places... :/ In the end I didn't even try the local Gouda cheese... But I enjoyed walking down the old streets and visiting the Gouda cathedral, which is famous for old stain glass windows and is also known as the longest church in The Netherlands. 

Inside the Gouda cathedral.

After the lunch we went to another old town named Delft, which is located between The Hague and Rotterdam. It's known for the beautiful canals in the historic center and for the blue pottery. I have to write something very ignorant from time to time ;), so I'll admit that most of Dutch towns look similar to me. Of course, there's something special about each of them, but most of them share a similar architecture style and therefore I tend to mix them up in my head. If you asked me, which Dutch cities and towns I've visited in the last 10 years, I probably wouldn't be able to name all of them. Well, maybe it's because it's usually my dad who plans the trips and he often tries to visit several places in one day, but I feel totally ignorant nevertheless!

The town hall in Delft.

I think I'll remember Delft as one of the typical Dutch towns, but I must tell it's a really special one and it felt much more cozy than Gouda, even if both towns are of a similar size. We had a lovely time walking along the canals and my dad had his favorite "Dutch sushi"! :D Are you wondering what it could be? ;) Well, it's raw herring with onion and my dad really loves it, while I doubt I'd ever dare to try it! Then we tried to go to a coffee shop (isn't it nice when you can go to such place with your own father?) ;), but unfortunately - or maybe fortunately for both of us - it was closed. :)

One of the canals in Delft.

Then it was time to go back to Belgium, but luckily I already knew that I'd come back to The Netherlands in just two days to meet my friend. :) But I'm going to write about my international Training next time. Of course that'll only happen in case I survive tomorrow's flight, because I still can't help being a bit nervous about it. Hopefully on Monday I'll be already at home with a lot of received mail and ready to share more travel experiences! :)

My Israeli adventure, Part 4: Saying Goodbye (But hopefully not forever!)

Unfortunately, each journey comes to an end one day. I've been on some trips in my life, which felt too long or exhausting, but usually it's been the other way - I felt like I'd like to see an experience more. This time wasn't an exception. The 5 days passed by very quickly and I didn't even notice how the day of my flight back to Budapest came. Some part of me felt slightly disappointed about not having seen everything that I wanted (especially the Dead Sea), but on the other hand, isn't that good to have a serious reason to come back? Now that the flights aren't really expensive anymore, traveling to Israel doesn't feel like a "once in a lifetime" experience. In fact, that would be quite sad to leave a country with the feeling that I've seen everything and there's nothing new to explore. I've had this feeling after my last trip to Moldova in October, because I've indeed been to almost all the places which could be of any interest to a tourist there. Still, if I want to find a reason to come back, I will do it. :) And so I believe, I'm actually convinced, that I'll come to Israel again. And who knows, maybe it would even happen this year? But I'm terrible at planning more than a month in advance, so I'll think of it when the autumn is closer. :)

The last day of my stay in Israel was really sunny (finally!) and so we decided to go to Netanya, which is a town closest to my friend's village and which has some nice beaches.

Netanya also has some palm trees!

It's quite a modern town and, according to my friend, has a bad reputation, but I found it nice nevertheless. And eventually I was able to swim in the Mediterranean Sea without the risk of drowning in huge waves! I think from the perspective of Israeli people swimming in January must look weird or extreme, but it's all relative. I might find it slightly amusing how Israelis think it's cold when the temperature falls under +10 degrees, but I bet they'd have even more fun watching me not being able to go outside during the Israeli summer, because to me +30 degrees are already too much! ;) Anyway, the temperature of water in Netanya in January is just a couple of degrees lower than it usually is in the Baltic Sea in Poland during the summer season. So no, I'm not going to claim that I've done ice-swimming this year, but I might still do it when I come back to Ukraine! ;)

Swimming in January is so extreme! :P

After having a walk in the center on Netanya, drinking a yummy coffee in the local mall and buying some souvenirs, it was time to go back to the village and get ready for my flight. In fact, that day I also found time to steal a lemon from my friend's garden (and she was watching me while I was committing this terrible crime!) and to take a photo of myself with an orange tree! :D

Look! Real oranges! :D

I've also tried to learn some Hebrew during my stay in Israel. I actually started revising everything that I had forgotten since taking some Hebrew classes in 2005 a few weeks before my journey, but of course it wasn't enough to learn a difficult language like this one. Or maybe I shouldn't say it's difficult? According to my friend, it's very logical and I can believe her, because Hebrew is a language that was revived after many centuries of being used only for prayers. Therefore it shouldn't have as many exceptions from the grammar rules as some languages have, if they've gone through all the stages of natural development. I still think that the hardest thing about Hebrew is the writing system. Just learning the Hebrew alphabet is not a problem at all, you can do it in one day (and then spend another day learning the cursive version)! :) The thing is that in Hebrew they don't write the vowels (there are diacritic signs called niqqud used to indicate them, but you won't find them in normal books and newspapers), so if I see a new word and try to guess its pronunciation, in most cases my guess will be wrong. You can also have two different letters, which stand for the same sound, for example both ת and ט stand for [t] sound. Then one letter can stand for two different sounds, for example ב can be both [b] and [v]. It makes the whole thing quite complicated, but I still want to learn. Of course, I feel guilty of starting to learn too many languages at once, because I realize it's not exactly what you'd call a productive learning process, but as long as I'm doing it for pleasure it can't be a totally wasted time. I didn't dare to buy a "serious" Hebrew book for foreigners, because I don't know how far I'll actually go in learning this language and I want to finish the one I have from Poland first. Still, my friend's brother has made a really funny small book with all the words that I've learnt in Israel, that was so cute! :)

I always start with learning the most important words! ;)

Speaking of books in Hebrew, I had a bit of a culture shock! :D I obviously knew that Hebrew is written from right to left. But somehow I didn't realize that you start reading a book from what seems to be the end to me! ;) First I thought that my friend and her brother were making fun of me, but later it turned out that all the books in Hebrew actually start from the other side. Yes, I'm a bit stupid! :D

Unfortunately, I haven't written a lot of letters this month, but I've managed to send one from Israel. It was to Theodore in the USA, who's my partner in the random letter swap. It was the first time I took part in such event and, to be honest, I found it quite hard to write a random intro without asking too many questions. But I hope he'll like this letter nevertheless.

Letter for Theodore in the USA

I've also sent quite a few postcards from Israel, which was a wonderful chance to practise writing the names of countries in Hebrew! :) I hope my penpals will receive them soon!

Some of the postcards I've sent from Israel.

I've also received a lovely letter from my dear Stav, but I wasn't allowed to read it until I boarded my plane back to Budapest. The temptation was high, especially while I was waiting at the airport, but I promised, so I waited! ;) Her letter really helped me to go through another flight without experiencing a strong fear. As you may have noticed, even on the envelope she's mentioned me having stolen her lemon... ;) So think twice before inviting me to come to any "exotic" country - your lemons, oranges and palm trees won't be safe anymore! ;)

A lovely letter from Stav.

We landed in Budapest about 1 am, because the flight was delayed, but it didn't matter much, as I had to sleep at the airport anyway. It was as uncomfortable as you may imagine, I managed to sleep until the morning and there were many more people doing the same thing. :) The bad thing is that I've caught some virus and felt really sick, but I'm not even surprised, because it often happens to me while I'm traveling. ;)

Early morning at Budapest airport.

The next day I went to visit my Hungarian friend Brigitta, who lives some 70 km away from Budapest and we played some game, which was very similar to Scrabble. In Hungarian. Yeah, it's very funny to play it in a language that you barely can speak! :D But we had a lovely time and I was happy to meet her again. On 14th January I flew to Belgium and that's where I still am, but that'll be the topic of the next boring blog entries. ;) 

I still find it hard to believe that I've actually been to Israel, although the photos of me and the palm trees show that it must be true! :) It was a really special experience for me, I think it's the furthest out of my comfort zone that I've ever been! But I hope this year, as well as the next years to come, will be full of such lovely adventures! :)

My Israeli adventure, Part 3: The Jerusalem Syndrome

Dear readers of my blog, I promise I'll stop boring you with my trip to Israel soon, but there are still some things I feel like sharing with you, because it was a really unique journey for me. :)

I always have mixed feelings when it comes to visiting very famous places, such as Paris or Jerusalem. You know how it works... You keep on hearing about such places since your childhood, you believe them to be absolutely special, but then you often end up being disappointed, because each city has it's advantages and shortcomings and you don't experience that thrill which was supposed to come. For this reason, I usually prefer to visit smaller places, which aren't famous at all. When you don't expect anything and are just open for new experiences and impressions, you can't be disappointed. That's why the list of my favorite countries includes ones that definitely aren't popular tourist destinations, such as Belarus, Macedonia and Moldova. Yet going to Israel and not visiting Jerusalem would have been a shame. I wanted to go there not because it's such a famous place or because it has any special meaning for me (as most of you know, I'm not religious), but simply because it's an ancient city, which has played a very important role in the history of many religions and nations. Therefore I didn't expect myself to experience the Jerusalem syndrome, but we kept on joking about it all the time nevertheless! ;) And so we've taken a train to Jerusalem! :)

On the train to Jersusalem

The train trip to Jerusalem is a really special one. Okay, I'm the one who always manages to find something special about Training, but this particular railway is quite picturesque. Jerusalem is located on a plateau in the mountains and to the train has to "climb" it. I was trying to write a letter during this ride, but for most of the time I just couldn't stop watching the landscapes! :) The trip takes about an hour an a half from Tel Aviv, which is probably quite long as for Israeli measures, but I wouldn't mind even if it took much longer.

Yes, these are palm trees!

We had to take a bus and a tram (it's probably the only tram line in Israel and they call it a "light train") to get to the historic centre of Jerusalem. Finally saw the old city walls and a lot of palm trees! What I've immediately noticed (apart from the palm trees) ;) is that there were many more religious people than in Tel Aviv. As I've mentioned in my previous blog entry, Israel seems to be a country of big contrasts and Jerusalem is certainly the more conservative part of it. 

A street of the old city

The old city of Jerusalem is divided into 4 quarters: Jewish, Muslim, Christian and Armenian. We didn't go to the Muslim quarter, because that might be slightly risky for my friends, but even without it we might spend hours walking down the old, narrow streets. Some of them looked really cozy and beautiful, some were full of cars and shops, which was a bit disappointing, but indeed I was just trying to take this city the way it is. I'm not sure if I can express my thoughts properly, but it felt a bit weird to be there and not to feel anything beyond the natural interest in a very old and historically significant city. Why? Probably because I've heard several people telling me how much they envied me because I was going to the Holy Land - and they meant Jerusalem in particular, because I don't think the palm trees in Tel Aviv would be of any importance to those people. ;) Does it depend on the level of religiousness? Or maybe it's that people, who haven't traveled much in their lives tend to dream about some very famous destinations and expect themselves to experience some unbelievably strong emotions if they ever manage to go there? Has it ever happened to you that you expected yourself to feel very special, happy or fulfilled after visiting a certain place, but when you came there, it was just nice and interesting? 

The Western Wall. And palm trees!

When we came to the Western Wall, the sky looked really amazing and that made me feel cheerful, even though I still didn't have my Jerusalem syndrome! ;) I had small pieces of paper with prayers from my mum and landlady, so I put them into the wall... and maybe even tried to pray myself in some way. I wish I could believe in the power of holy places as much as some people do. I was happy to do this small favor for them and I believe it can really help if they have a strong faith. To me it still felt special because of the historic meaning of this place and because I could see how much it meant to the people, who were praying next to me. For safety reasons, Western Wall is one of the most protected places in Israel and you have to go through the security control almost like at the airport. But I wouldn't complain about it, because it's necessary. 

The Church of Holy Sepulchre

We've also visited one of the holiest places of Christianity - the Church of Holy Sepulchre. There was a long queue of people waiting to see the place where, according to the Christian belief, Jesus was buried and later resurrected. To be honest, I didn't feel like standing in the line and that would also feel slightly hypocritical, so I only walked around the church and bought a holy oil for my landlady, because she really wanted to have it. I can imagine that a few years ago my attitude would also have been completely different...

My version of the Jerusalem syndrome!

Yet eventually I had to experience the Jerusalem syndrome too! ;) I didn't have a bed linen with me, but I was ready to deliver a sermon about the peace in the world to a palm tree anyway! ;) Afterall, those were palm trees that made me most excited during my journey in Israel! So I hugged this wonderful tree, felt united with it and with the whole world and so that was the most unique spiritual experience you may imagine in Jerusalem! :D I really hope I'm not offending anyone's feelings now! I just love to make fun of myself from time to time and I thought that leaving Jerusalem not having done anything stupid wouldn't be my style!

Outside the walls of Jerusalem.

When we were leaving, the walls of old city looked wonderful in the golden light, which is typical for Jerusalem shortly before the sunset. We surely haven't seen everything in Jerusalem - I guess it would require a few days and not just a few hours. But who knows, maybe I'll be able to return there one day? It definitely is an unique city and is worth visiting no matter what are your religious beliefs. It's fascinating to see how different religions and cultures were able to co-exist on such a small territory for many centuries. This will sound cliche, but I hope one day the harmony will come back to Jerusalem and so there'll be no need for security checks or to be afraid of visiting certain quarters. It's a naive hope, but I still haven't totally lost my faith in humanity. :)

My Israeli adventure, Part 2: The Saturday

It feels a bit strange to be writing about my Israeli trip, while actually I've been traveling to places in Belgium and the Netherlands last weekend, but let's try to keep it chronological. :) I just hope I won't end up being too lazy to write about all the places I've visited this winter. ;)

Today I'll write about my Saturday in Israel. Even though nowadays the majority of Israelis aren't very religious anymore, Saturday or Shabbat (which actually starts on Friday after the sunset) remains a very special day. I'd say that its of bigger importance than Sunday for Europeans, which isn't so much different from other week days anymore. At first, I was quite surprised to learn that there was no public transport on Saturdays in Israel (maybe just on Saturday evenings, but that's already Sunday according to the religious laws). I'm sure they could find people to work as bus or train drivers on Saturday, especially if they'd be paid more than on normal days. Yet it turns out to be a huge political discussion and one of the examples of Israel being a country of big contrasts - and sometimes contradictions. On one hand, it's a very liberal country, which even recognizes gay marriages (it means that same sex couples can't get married in Israel, but if they do it abroad, the state of Israel will recognize their marriage - I don't think Ukraine will have such progressive laws anytime soon!), but on the other hand there are no trains on Saturday, because it might offend the religious people. It might be not very logical, but if you think of Israel as of home to people coming from all around the world and following slightly different traditions, it must be difficult to maintain the balance and build a harmonic society. Moreover, it seems to me that most of Israelis have cars, so they don't get upset about lack of trains as much as I do! ;)

On Friday the weather was just terrible, it was raining almost all the time, but I think I was still rather lucky to have just one day like that during my whole stay in Israel. We went on a short walk to the seaside during the day and then in the evening I asked my friend, whether we could go to the local synagogue. I've been to a few synagogues in Europe, but never during a service, so it was a really special experience for me, even if I could barely understand anything. :) Later we had a fancy supper at my friend's home, which is one of the few traditions that secular Israelis still keep on Saturdays.

Fortunately, on Saturday the weather was better and so my friend's brother was kind enough to take us by car to Caesarea Maritima - an ancient port and town founded by Herod the Great about 25 - 13 BCE. 

Caesarea Maritima

During its long history the town used to belong to Arabs, Crusaders and the Byzantine empire and has survived several earthquakes before turning into ruins. Nowadays it seems to be quite popular among tourists even in January.

I think it was a mosque. And palm trees of course :)

It was quite cold and raining sometimes, but we've been able to walk a bit, as well as to watch a short movie about Caesarea's history and to drink some coffee. :) Actually, I'm a bit surprised to see how nice the sky looks like on my photos thanks to the changeable weather.

The sea looked really beautiful.

Later we relaxed a bit and in the evening went to Old Jaffa together with my friend's parents. It's an ancient port city (I think it's over 4000 years old), but nowadays it's actually a part of Tel Aviv (therefore the official name of the city is Tel-Aviv-Yaffo).

The famous clocktower in Jaffa.

The clocktower, built in the beginning of 20th century in honor of a Turkish sultan, is one of the most popular Jaffa's landmarks. And yes, there are palm trees growing next to it, so I had something to get excited about! ;) We got a bit lost walking around the old town, but finally have found some really lovely streets.

A street in Old Jaffa.

It's also a very multicultural place. I'm not (yet) great at Israel's history, but as far as I know, until the 20th century Jaffa's population was mostly Arab. Nowadays there are also quite a few mosques and churches. 

A mosque. And a palm tree! :)

I'm glad we went to Jaffa in the evening, because old towns have a really unique atmosphere at night. Of course, I'm not great at taking pictures in darkness, but does that really matter? :) I think the wonderful memories are much more important. Thanks to my friend's family I had a lovely Saturday in Israel despite lack of trains! :) And the next day we went to Jerusalem, but that's something I'm going to tell you about in my next blog entry. :)

My Israeli adventure, Part 1: How I survived the flight + border control and visited Tel Aviv :)

It's been quite a long while since I've written anything on my blog, but I haven't had much access to computer and writing a blog entry from my tablet would have been a torture (you know, I'm not so fond of modern technologies) ;) At the moment I'm at my Dad's place in Belgium and trying hard to recover from zombie mode, but while I'm still to sick to travel anywhere, I may start telling you about my journey to Israel. :) I've got so many thoughts and impressions that I don't even know what should I start with - it will certainly take me more than just one entry.

Let's start with the flight. There's a huge gap between the euphoric feeling of booking a flight to a country you've never been to and actually taking it! I'm not as aviaphobic as I used to be, because I realize it's all in my head - I've been afraid of flying since the very first time I did it in 2004 because I had told myself that it should be scared. I know quite a few people, who are totally opposite of me - they get positively excited about flying from the very beginning! Now that I've had this phobia for such a long time it's quite hard to get rid of it, but I've made some progress. A few years ago I used to believe that the chance of my flight crashing was always 50% - it either crashes or not! :D Due to my poor understanding of physics, I still don't find it completely normal that planes fly, but I try to trust the stats saying that it's one of the safest ways of traveling.

The wing of a very scary plane!

Still, I was quite anxious before my flight to Tel Aviv. First I was afraid it might be cancelled due to poor weather conditions in Israel, especially that the boarding was delayed. When we finally boarded the flight and took off (that's one of the scariest parts of flight for me, along with landing), I started thinking of how the Israeli border guards will surely not let me into the country and wondering, whether they'd let me fly back to Budapest an hour later or whether I'd have to wait for my deportation until the next day... Yeah, that's me! :D When we finally landed in Tel Aviv and I was standing in a queue for foreigners at the border control, suddenly a border guard called me to come to the part for Israeli citizens, as there were no people anymore. That's when I got really scared and asked "But... I have no Israeli passport... Can I go back to that long queue?", but the guy insisted on seeing my passport. Now I think he could see how terrified I was and wanted to prevent me from getting a heart attack if I had to wait for 15 more minutes! :D I've read so many articles about scary Israeli border control on Internet, but in fact the whole thing took less than 3 minutes. I only showed him my passport, invitation letter from my Israeli friend and the return ticket to Budapest, he asked how did I meet my friend, wished me a nice stay in Israel and that was it! I was even brave enough to ask him to put an Israeli stamp into my passport, but unfortunately they don't use them anymore, at least not at the Ben Gurion airport. This means I can still travel to Saudi Arabia, Iran, Syria and some other lovely countries without getting myself a new passport, but I'd still rather have that stamp! :( Anyway, apparently I didn't look very suspicious. ;) I don't know, whether it works like that for everyone or whether I was just lucky, but I have the impression that a lot of stories about Israel are way exaggerated. They need to take some safety measures that foreign tourists may not be used to, but that's simply necessary and they try to be as polite as possible at the same time. 

My friend and her parents were waiting for me at the airport and took me to their village, which is some 40 km away from Tel Aviv. They've been so nice to me and I was really happy to spend those 5 days with them and their crazy rabbits! :) But I think I'll tell you more about it in my next entry, and for now I'll try to stay serious... ;) The first place I've visited with my friend was Tel Aviv. We went there by a real Israeli train!

רכבת [rakevet] - One of the most important words in Hebrew :D

Israel doesn't have a very well-developed railway network, but they have some trains and that already makes them more lucky than countries, which don't have them at all, for example Iceland. :) It took us only about half an hour to get to the center of Tel Aviv. My first impression of this city (apart from my famous "Wow! There are palm trees!!!") ;) was that it's very modern and feels kind of... American, which I can't really explain, because I've only been to the USA once and that was a long time ago. But somehow Tel Aviv felt more American than European to me. 

An old German neighborhood... and a palm tree!

There are some relatively old quarters in Tel Aviv, for example this small German neighborhood, but even those are surrounded by very modern architecture. One of the biggest misconceptions that I had about Israel was thinking that Tel Aviv was the capital. Actually, that's the information you can find in many foreign resources, because most of countries don't recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital for political reasons, so I'm not totally ignorant. ;) But in reality most of the government buildings can be found in Jerusalem and that's the city which Israelis consider their capital. On the other hand, there are a lot of embassies in Tel Aviv - again, for political reasons. It's all quite complicated. Still, this city can be called the cultural capital of Israel and probably the most liberal place in the Middle East.

The White City

Tel Aviv is also known for the White City - a bid modernism style quarter, which is on the UNESCO list. I wanted to see it once it's a part of the World Heritage, but I wasn't really impressed, as I have a strong preference for old places. I wasn't even able to find nice postcards there. But at least I've seen it and know what it looks like in reality. :)

A street in Nevek Tzedek

Fortunately, Tel Aviv also has some really nice neighborhoods, for example the Neve Tzedek. It was the first Jewish quarter built outside of the old Jaffa. Tel Aviv didn't exist back then, but nowadays it's considered to be the oldest part of the city. We've spent some time in a cafe there and written postcards together for our mutual penpals. :) I still find it quite amusing how our beloved penpalling world seems to be a tiny village where everyone knows each other! :)

Seeing the Mediterranean Sea for the first time!

Then we came closer to the sea, which looked really beautiful with the big waves in sunset. The weather was slowly deteriorating, but I must admit we were very lucky that day anyway, because it wasn't raining for most of the day and so we were able to visit all the places that we planned.

Dark clounds and some palm trees on the wind :D

In case you've been thinking of visiting Israel and choosing the right time for your trip, I'd say that January probably isn't the best option. I really enjoyed my journey and don't regret doing it at the worst possible time - I knew what I was doing! ;) But the truth is that the weather can be quite unpredictable at this time of the year in Israel. When my friend first told me that it might be raining a lot in January I couldn't really understand, why would it be a serious problem. But in Israel it is, because once it rains, it rains a lot, there are floodings, many roads are closed and the country is paralyzed. Oh, and people get excited about seeing 1 cm of snow just as much as I get excited about the palm trees! :D Yet when I'm looking at my photos from Israel now I realize that despite the bad weather which made us change some of our plans, I've managed to see a lot of amazing places! :) And I'll continue telling you about them soon! ;)

Welcome 2015!

The New Year has started and I think I've adjusted quite quickly. I haven't even made a mistake while putting the date in my first letter this year! :) To be honest, the year change would sometimes make me feel quite uncomfortable, because it's a bit like stepping into a new, unknown land. Even if it's purely symbolic. This year I feel kind of okay about it - and even a bit enthusiastic, because I have so much to be looking forward to this year! :) In 5 days from now my plane will be landing in Israel... Which will be scary (I mean the landing!), but very exciting at the same time! I've been discussing the details of my trip with my Israeli friend today, so it finally feels more or less real. :) The weather forecast isn't very optimistic, but who cares?! I'm so glad I'm going there in any case!

But before I start rambling on my future journeys, I guess I should tell you about my first trip of 2015. Which actually started in 2014. ;)

Lviv railway station. 31.12.2014

On this photo you can see the crowd of people waiting to take the train to Odessa! ;) Yeah, traveling on New Year's night isn't a very popular activity in Ukraine, because most of people want to party. For this reason train tickets are 40% cheaper on 31st December. There were maybe 5 people in my carriage, which was already surprising, because on New Year 2013 I was completely alone.

Let's get the party started! ;)

The train departed at 21:31, I ordered a tea and started writing a letter to my new penpal Leslie. Don't you think that starting a new penfriendship is a great way to start a new year? :) I must admit that I didn't manage to write the whole letter in 2014 and I fell asleep before the midnight though. Therefore I was very confused when my dad called me at 0:05 to wish me a Happy New Year. First I couldn't understand what he was talking about! :D So if I was superstitious, I should believe that I'm going to spend the whole 2015 Training, writing letters and falling asleep too early. Not so bad! ;)

Odessa railway station. 1.01.2015

I arrived to Odessa at 9:30 am. Somehow there were more people than in Lviv. Soon I realised that it would be a really wonderful winter day!

Odessa railway station. 1.01.2015

The winter in Odessa is real, so you should be careful while walking next to the railway station. Better don't come too close to the building! ;)

Odessa. 1.01.2015

And better don't leave your car unattended for a long time... Otherwise you may have problems finding it in the snow! ;)

Sea!!! :)

Finally I came to the place where I could see the sea! It looked so blue and peaceful! But I still had to walk down and try hard not to fall on the slippery stairs...

Selfie! :P

Finally I came to the beach - it was quite hard to walk there without drowning in the snow, but of course I had to take some selfies! ;) I felt like swimming in the sea, but as I already had cold and 38 C fever before taking the train to Odessa, I decided I shouldn't jeopardize my trip to Israel. Still, I felt very happy! :) On such sunny and snowy days I feel that winter is my favourite season - and even the beast season to come to the seaside!

Then I took some pictures of the sea and seagulls. Actually, I took a lot of them, but I'm only going to share a few, don't worry! 

Sea and sun! :)

Sea and birds! ;)

One more bird... And ships in the background!

I guess this one is my favourite :)

Later I went to the city centre. I haven't done much sightseeing, because I've already been to Odessa for quite a few times. Luckily, I didn't have a New Year's resolution on quitting junk food, so I was allowed to spend some time in the world's most famous fast food. ;) Well, at least it was open.

Odessa, 1.01.2015

That's what the main street of Odessa looked in the late afternoon. The first time I came to Odessa I didn't really like it and I couldn't understand why so many people were fond of that city. I guess the reason was that I didn't have much time to see it, as I wanted to combine it with the Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi fortress during a day trip. But as I started coming to Odessa for different reasons (for example to get a Belarusian visa without traveling to Kyiv) and had more free time, I realised that it had its own specific atmosphere. And there was something attractive about it. Of course, Odessa is very different than Lviv. Some could argue that Odessa isn't even an Ukrainian city, because you can barely hear anyone speaking Ukrainian there (maybe just the tourists from West Ukraine). ;) But I think that's what Ukraine is like: diverse and full of contradictions. And I like it this way. When I come to Odessa, I just switch to Russian - not because I'd get myself into trouble by speaking Ukrainian, but simply because I have respect for this diversity. I bet most of my Ukrainian friends would disagree with me... But well, I have the right to express my opinion, don't I? :)

This morning I woke up back in Lviv and immediatelly took a tram to the post office...

For Leslie in Turkey.

There were no letters waiting for me yet, but I've sent my intro to Leslie. :) Actually, we've had a little misunderstanding on who should write the intro and ended up writing to each other at the same time, which we've only found out yesterday! :) But it's even better this way!

So that was my New Year 2015! :) I've been asked, whether it didn't feel very lonely to spend it on my own. No, it didn't. Of course, ideally I'd like to spend it with a person, who shares my views on what this day should be like. But believe me, traveling on my own can be very enjoyable and lets me reach the highest level of spontaneity! Afterall, I had no specific reason to choose exactly Odessa as my destination. It was just because of the music video, which I've shared on my blog a few weeks ago. It was about Odessa and so I decided to go there! And I don't regret it at all! :)

Happy New Year everyone! :)