Two Fur-Peeps and A Writer: Eucalyptus

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Travel Tales: Day 6: Sweetman’s Grandparents, and Traveling to Ocre, Part One

Today, September 8, 2011

This morning our friend, Daniella, picked us up. She lives in Galilee but before we went all the way there Sweetman went to pay respects to his grandparents from his father’s side. He never knew them.

Sweetman was born in a little town called, Pet a Tikva. It’s twenty minutes north of Tel Aviv going toward Galilee. This is where they rest.

The story of his father’s parents is a sad one and has been somewhat a mystery since him and his family moved to the states when he was seven. Even though Sweetman does have extended family in Israel, they’re not real close. One time we went to visit an aunt of his, two times. She refused to open her door. Oh well…

Luckily, we had Daniella with us and she was able to read their tombstones. Sweetman speaks Hebrew fluently along with several other languages but can’t read it except for a few words.

When Sweetman’s father was four months old his father suddenly died, at the age of thirty-two. The man was studying to be a rabbi. The word used for this is ‘shiva’.

When Sweetman’s father was four years old, his grandmother died at the age of twenty-eight. She was a doctor on her way to Beirut and got a cut. The cut became a full blown staph infection and took her life. So Sweetman’s dad was raised by his grandmothers. We also found out that he has an aunt somewhere. Now we’ll begin the search for her with the help of our friend.

After, we made our way to Galilee with plans to visit Haifa. But we ended up taking a different way and I got great pictures of the city standing high up somewhere off the side of a road. Our friend decided to go to Ocre instead.

Eucalyptus trees were everywhere. At first, I thought I was smelling basil but Sweetman corrected me. As you go further North, the scent of these trees get stronger. In fact, I’m standing in front of them to get this picture of Haifa below.

After, we made our way around winding roads to get to Ocre. It’s a friendly Arab city. Also, the Crusaders’ fortress still stands there. Wished we could’ve visited this. It’s fascinating. You would’ve loved the pics, especially Sir Wills. Maybe next time.