Day 5: Baltimore

My Cousin, Guy, lives in Rockville, an hour drive north of Baltimore. We both left Israel to live in the states about the same time - his wife got a post-doc position around here in NIH and he followed along with their daughter. We haven’t been in touch in a while, from way before we moved to the states, so I was really happy for this opportunity to  meet him. We said we’d meet today at 5PM, which left me some time to kill in Baltimore.

I drove down to the inner harbor. It was very touristy, but slow at the same time.

I started to wonder around, ended up in a sketchy street. When you’re surrounded by strip clubs - you know you’re in the wrong place. well, if it’s 11AM.

This car had “Bitch” keyed on the front door. Seems like someone went to have some fun and discovered his girlfriend found a new job here:

I googled my options, and decided to walk to the Baislica - the first Catholic church ever built in America:

Inside were maybe two people, sitting on the benches and mumbling to themselves. I noticed the wonderful air-conditioning and let a soft “thank you Jesus” out of my mouth. I sat on a bench and browsed the books in the pocket of the seat – They have the songs there, with the notes and the lyrics and all. After 10 minutes or so I raise my head and found out that some 30 more people joined us, and that service is about to begin. Crap.

The dude said some stupid thing about the kingdom of God being like fishing net. We got up and sat back down a few times, we mumbled (we’ll, I didn’t, but I don’t think anyone noticed) some stuff.

And then the dude had some bread which he started breaking, and some wine that he started pouring. That is a not good at all – what if he comes up to me and tries to stick bread down my throat? I can’t eat that! I’m Jewish!

Luckily, everybody got up and walked to him to get some bread and wine, which was a perfect time for me to get up and leave.

I didn’t want to be a bad Jew and not drink any Christian people’s blood that day; I decided that a good replacement for Jesus’s blood, which is wine, would be St. Patrick’s blood, which is beer, so I headed to look for a tavern. I also reminded myself that people always eat his flesh and drink his blood, but what about breathing his spirit –that wonderful cool air-conditioned air inside the church? I had plenty of that. I think I’m all set.

I got a couple of beers and some chicken sandwich at the Water Street Tavern, while I was watching the a Olympic games.

When I was done, I went back to the car and started driving towards Rocksville. I got there about an hour early, so I killed some time in a plaza, eating terrible ice cream I bought at the Dollar Tree and checking out Hobby Works, an awesome hobby store. I love radio controlled cars and airplanes, model trains such! That’s one of the big disadvantages of moving around - you can’t engage in hobbies that require having a large work-space, your own tools, and storing space.

I then went to my cousin’s place. His parents, my favorite uncle and aunt, had just arrive from Israel for a visit. They didn’t know I was coming so it was quite a surprise for them to see me. We talked for an hour or two, and when they collapsed, me and Guy left drove to Georgetown to get dinner and some beers. We talked about our work, compared living in Israel and in the US, and discovered we’re both very passionate about atheism. Too bad we drifted apart all these years, but that’s life. I’m really glad I went to see him.

Guy and his wife insisted I stay for the night, which was a great idea. Their 6 year old daughter was kind enough to sleep with her parents, leaving me her tiny bed. It was so amusing waking up next to a tiny tea-party table.