I don't know how I can possibly blog about 7 weeks of traveling and adventures around Europe. Maybe if I blogged along the way, it would have been easier, but I kept a journal instead. So, I'm just going to list the cities and sites that I saw & things I did in the order I saw/did them. If you'd like details or my thoughts on a certain place, just let me know. There will be a link to the pictures soon.
Italy #1: Rome & Pisa with Annie & Monica
day 1- Repubbilica Fountain, Via Natzionale, Foro Traiano, ate Italian cannoli (yum!) from a nearby bakery
day 2- Vatican= Sistine Chapel & ceiling, St. Mark's Square, Trevi Fountain, Colosseum, Palentin Hill, Foro Romano (Whew!)
day 3- Pisa= Leaning Tower of said city, Piazza Duomo (cathedral), back to Rome for pub crawl
day 4- lunch at Trevi fountain, Tempio Adriano, Pantheon, Piazza Navona, souvenir shopping, dinner in Trastevere
day 5- super early morning flight to Madrid, with a stop at our bakery on the way
Fun Annie quotes: "Dude, mopeds here are like Harleys in America." "Nathaniel Bonaparte- oh yeah, his brother...Napoleon. Most people don't know his last name. I don't know his first." "Holy Ramoly!"
Spain: Madrid & Barcelona with Annie & Monica
day 5- Plaza Mayor, Palacio Real, Cathedral next to the palace, Matisse exhibit at Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Plaza & fuente de Cibeles, tapas & sangria for dinner, partied at a "backpackers" bar & met lots of other travelers from around the world,
day 6- train to Barcelona, tapas dinner
day 7- Boqueria Market, Gothic Quarter & cathedral, Cathedral Santa Maria del Mar, Picasso museum, Barceloneta beach (!!!), pub crawl
day 8- Park Guell, Sagrada Familia, Montjuic Park/Castle, Magic Fountain show at Plaza Espanya, bar with new Italian friends we met at the beach (Davide and John)
day 9- Annie & Monica left :( (Final Nun Count: 49!), Casa Batilló, La Pedrera
day 10- Barceloneta beach for 6 hours! Davide met me there after work.
day 11- Park Guell with Davide, bus to Girona airport for flight to Dublin
Ireland: Dublin, Cork/Blarney, Killarney, Galway/Cliffs of Moher with Stephanie
day 12- St. Patrick's Cathedral, Trinity College, UK Trivial Pursuit at the hostel with our new friends Kayla & Ben
day 13- Guinness Storehouse, laundry, movie night at the hostel ("The International")
day 14- 3 hour free walking tour all around Dublin, pub crawl
day 15- bus to Cork, Blarney Castle & grounds, kissed the Blarney stone (I now have the gift of gab!)
day 16- bus to Killarney, lunch at Irish sports bar, learned a bit about Gaelic football, walked around town
day 17- day trip to Galway, bus tour of Cliffs of Moher and the Burren
day 18- horseback ride through Killarney National Park (My first time on an English saddle!), bus back to Dublin
day 19- souvenir shopping, Steph left :(, movie night at the hostel ("The Reader")
day 20- ferry to Liverpool (7 hours!), met another solo backpacker- Matt
England: Liverpool & London
day 20- met Matt & some guys from his hostel for dinner, saw Beatles cover band, The Cavedwellers, at The Cavern Club (!!!)
day 21- Beatles Story Museum, Magical Mystery Tour
day 22- train to London, Hyde Park, Texas Embassy Cantina (yum! Tex-Mex!)
day 23- day trip to Stonehenge, Thames River walk/self guided bridge tour
day 24- free London walking tour, London Eye ride
day 25- British Museum with camp friend, Josh, Abbey Road, Picadilly Circus, pub crawl, bus to airport
Italy #2: Venice with Sean
day 26- flight to Venice, meet Sean, dinner & walk around island
day 27- self-guided Venice tour with roommate, Shibly- Ponte Rialto, Piazza San Marco, Lido island/beach, water bus ride
day 28- San Marco Basilica, got lost in Venice streets, San Giuliano park in Mestre
day 29- flight to Frankfurt
Germany #1: Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Munich, Garmisch-Partenkirchen with Sean
day 29- walk along River Main, ate Frankfurters, free pasta dinner at hostel, live music on street
day 30- train to Stuttgart, met mom's friend Sara, chilled at their house, authentic biergarten for dinner
day 31- relaxation day- laundry, playing with a 2 1/2 yr old, mini-skate park for Sean, home cooked meal
day 32- train to Munich, walked around town- Marienplatz, Virtualienmarkt, Hoffbrauhaus
day 33- free Munich walking tour, Dachau Concentration Camp & Memorial
day 34- train to Garmisch-Partenkirchen, hiked an Alp for an hour, lunch on the mountain, train to Munich, train to Prague
Czech Republic: Prague with Sean
day 35- souvenir shopping, free Prague walking tour, kielbasa sausage in the Old Town Square, pub crawl
day 36- Letna Park, streets of Prague Castle, changing of the guards, Charles Bridge, found kolaches (finally!)
day 37- museum & Holocaust memorial in Pinkas Synagogue, old Jewish Cemetery, train to Berlin
Germany #2: Berlin with Sean
day 38- free Berlin walking tour, Reichstag building, Potsdamer Platz
day 39- Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp & Memorial, East Side Gallery, Yaam Reggae Beach, long walk to hostel- through Alexander Platz & Bebelplatz
day 40- laundry, souvenir shopping, walk through Tiergarten, saw "Inglorious Basterds" at Sony Center, drank a boot of beer (2L!) at the Circus Hostel
day 41- train to Amsterdam
The Netherlands- Amsterdam, Edam, Volendam, Haarlem with Sean & Stephen
day 41- met Stephen, walk through Red Light District
day 42- free Amsterdam walking tour, met Canadians in our hostel room, Marijuana/Hash/Hemp Museum & Gallery
day 43- Anne Frankhaus, floating flower market, Rembrandtsplein, Belushi's bar w/ new Canadian friends
day 44- rented bikes, I AMsterdam sign & Van Gogh Museum in Museumplein, Vondelpark, souvenir shopping
day 45- Stephen left :(, biked around town, Vondelpark
day 46- returned bikes, day trip to Edam (cheese town), Volendam (fishing village), & Haarlem
day 47- decided against 15 euro Heineken Experience, picnic in Museumplein, ate small Holland pancakes
day 48- walked all over town taking pictures of Amsterdam's Elephant Parade statues, flight back to Tel Aviv!
It was such an amazing trip! This really doesn't do it justice, but the pictures will. They are coming soon, I promise!
Monday, September 28, 2009
Friday, September 18, 2009
A Summer of Amazing, pt 1
This summer has been incredible beyond words since I last blogged and even before that (w/ graduating & skydiving) it was pretty cool. The week before I embarked on my summer adventure in Europe was a semi-sleepless, fun whirlwind in itself. First, I finished my papers the same day as a friend from camp finished his exams, so I went to Herzliya to join him in celebration. The next day, I taught my last private lesson. As much as I enjoyed the money, this goodbye meant complete vacation! The next two days were spent with Meir, two of his friends and our friend, Alex, from camp on an adventure in the Golan Heights. The first day we drove up there from Tel Aviv and hiked down to the bottom of the Gilabon waterfall to swim and relax for a bit. Afterward, we did a little trespassing on a closed bridge over the Jordan River. Meir set up his ropes and we rappelled down into the river off of the bridge. Very Spiderman like! The first time Alex & I did it from a lower rung on the bridge and it was an awkward start. I accidently ended up upside-down at one point & had to start over! By the next time around, Meir had realized that starting higher would be easier...and it was!
That night we spent the night at Meir's friend's apartment & got up early to embark on a 6 hour land/water/rappelling hike along Zavitan Stream. Essentially, we hiked most of the way down to the stream on land, but then got to a point where we had to wade through a little pond, then swim to the other side. There were 3 waterfalls along the way that we had to rappel down. There was a line at the first one, and it wasn't so high, so we jumped into the pond below. The next two were too high and not a straight shot down. We stopped to eat lunch after the second waterfall. After all that, we had to hike back up a very tall, very steep cliff to our car. It was an exhausting two days and my shirt was filthy at the end, but it was SO much fun!
After a good night's sleep, I went back up north to Tzfat to see my friend Jess (from camp, of course!) who was in town chaperoning a group of high school kids. I hadn't seen her in about 2 years, since I moved to Israel, so it was great to see each other again & catch up. After sleeping on her hotel room floor, I made it back to Tel Aviv. I finally packed for my Europe Adventure, cleaned my room a bit and went to a "Goodbye Israel" party thrown by the 4 of us in our program who were not staying in Israel. This would be the last time we'd all be in the country together! Sad.
So many of my Israeli friends showed up, even Idan, who I hadn't seen all year! It was a great party and Meir & I were the last to leave at 3 am, when he took me to the airport to fly to Rome!
pictures: Golan Adventures
That night we spent the night at Meir's friend's apartment & got up early to embark on a 6 hour land/water/rappelling hike along Zavitan Stream. Essentially, we hiked most of the way down to the stream on land, but then got to a point where we had to wade through a little pond, then swim to the other side. There were 3 waterfalls along the way that we had to rappel down. There was a line at the first one, and it wasn't so high, so we jumped into the pond below. The next two were too high and not a straight shot down. We stopped to eat lunch after the second waterfall. After all that, we had to hike back up a very tall, very steep cliff to our car. It was an exhausting two days and my shirt was filthy at the end, but it was SO much fun!
After a good night's sleep, I went back up north to Tzfat to see my friend Jess (from camp, of course!) who was in town chaperoning a group of high school kids. I hadn't seen her in about 2 years, since I moved to Israel, so it was great to see each other again & catch up. After sleeping on her hotel room floor, I made it back to Tel Aviv. I finally packed for my Europe Adventure, cleaned my room a bit and went to a "Goodbye Israel" party thrown by the 4 of us in our program who were not staying in Israel. This would be the last time we'd all be in the country together! Sad.
So many of my Israeli friends showed up, even Idan, who I hadn't seen all year! It was a great party and Meir & I were the last to leave at 3 am, when he took me to the airport to fly to Rome!
pictures: Golan Adventures
Monday, July 13, 2009
וואו! מה קרה איתי
Wow! What happened to me? I was so good at updating my blog last year...now 2 months & many big event have gone by and nothing! Well, last year, I also wasn't working as hard to get all my work done because I thought I had all the time in the world!
Well, let's see...I'll try to summarize the past 2 months w/ a sentence or two about each event. Let me know if you'd like more detail on anything!
Apr 28- May 10: There was Israeli Memorial Day & Independence Day, but I missed both because a misdiagnosed dental abscess caused an infection that made my face swell immensely and I spent almost a week in bed & then almost another week in the hospital on a antibiotic IV drip to get the swelling down. A few days later, I got the root canal & everything is better!
June 18-June 30: We finished university classes, middle & high school finished teaching & our program officially ended with a "farewell banquet." One of the TASPers wrote a long poem/speech about the past 2 years and another made a very in-depth slide show. We had a huge buffet and an open bar. It was quite a night. Most of us when over to Raquefette's apt...one of the usual group hang outs and played a new fun game: Paper in a Pot or Ghetto Outburst. The next day a few of us went to a bar over looking the Med Sea for a day party. They had 2 above ground pools, a huge, inflatable water slide & a mechanical bull! That night most of TASP reconvened at Raq's for a BBQ and more of our new favorite game. Then the elementary interns went back to work for another week & a half. Most of the time was spent on end-of-the-year festivities and shows, though. It was pretty hard saying goodbye to all those kids that I'd taught for the past 2 years. I gave them all my email address. We'll see how many actually keep in touch!
July 3-4: For the past 4 years, every first Friday in Tel Aviv has meant Water Wars. This was the 5th year. It happens in Rabin Square and people can only use the water from the fountain, which isn't refilled from anywhere, meaning people aren't wasting water. I met some friends there to "observe" for a bit on my way home from the gym. Even if you were standing back from the action, nobody wanted you dry! We just wished we had been armed!!! We celebrated the 4th with a BBQ in Hayarkon Park, in our normal spot, across from Adam's apt (AKA: bathrooms!).
July 8: I went skydiving. What? Yes, that's right. I jumped out of plane, hurling myself to the ground. Actually, I wasn't in control at all. The instructor strapped to my back did all this to us. My friend Stephanie set it all up for us for her birthday. I would have never done it myself! There's 50 seconds of free falling, during which I was truly terrified. Then the parachute opens, your stomach drops as you're ripped straight upwards and you float down for 5 mins. That was nice, though I was anxious about being so high up! The beautiful view of the Med Sea helped, though. (We did it at a beach about 45 min north of TA).)
There was also Student Day at TAU, White Night to celebrate TA and an Jewish holiday (Shavuot). I also helped 4 friends celebrate birthdays, saw 3 friends from camp that were visiting Israel (I hadn't seen one since 2002!), my camp director who was here on business and visited 2 more that are spending the year in J'lem in rabbinic school.
pictures: May --> July 4
Skydiving Israel
Well, let's see...I'll try to summarize the past 2 months w/ a sentence or two about each event. Let me know if you'd like more detail on anything!
Apr 28- May 10: There was Israeli Memorial Day & Independence Day, but I missed both because a misdiagnosed dental abscess caused an infection that made my face swell immensely and I spent almost a week in bed & then almost another week in the hospital on a antibiotic IV drip to get the swelling down. A few days later, I got the root canal & everything is better!
June 18-June 30: We finished university classes, middle & high school finished teaching & our program officially ended with a "farewell banquet." One of the TASPers wrote a long poem/speech about the past 2 years and another made a very in-depth slide show. We had a huge buffet and an open bar. It was quite a night. Most of us when over to Raquefette's apt...one of the usual group hang outs and played a new fun game: Paper in a Pot or Ghetto Outburst. The next day a few of us went to a bar over looking the Med Sea for a day party. They had 2 above ground pools, a huge, inflatable water slide & a mechanical bull! That night most of TASP reconvened at Raq's for a BBQ and more of our new favorite game. Then the elementary interns went back to work for another week & a half. Most of the time was spent on end-of-the-year festivities and shows, though. It was pretty hard saying goodbye to all those kids that I'd taught for the past 2 years. I gave them all my email address. We'll see how many actually keep in touch!
July 3-4: For the past 4 years, every first Friday in Tel Aviv has meant Water Wars. This was the 5th year. It happens in Rabin Square and people can only use the water from the fountain, which isn't refilled from anywhere, meaning people aren't wasting water. I met some friends there to "observe" for a bit on my way home from the gym. Even if you were standing back from the action, nobody wanted you dry! We just wished we had been armed!!! We celebrated the 4th with a BBQ in Hayarkon Park, in our normal spot, across from Adam's apt (AKA: bathrooms!).
July 8: I went skydiving. What? Yes, that's right. I jumped out of plane, hurling myself to the ground. Actually, I wasn't in control at all. The instructor strapped to my back did all this to us. My friend Stephanie set it all up for us for her birthday. I would have never done it myself! There's 50 seconds of free falling, during which I was truly terrified. Then the parachute opens, your stomach drops as you're ripped straight upwards and you float down for 5 mins. That was nice, though I was anxious about being so high up! The beautiful view of the Med Sea helped, though. (We did it at a beach about 45 min north of TA).)
There was also Student Day at TAU, White Night to celebrate TA and an Jewish holiday (Shavuot). I also helped 4 friends celebrate birthdays, saw 3 friends from camp that were visiting Israel (I hadn't seen one since 2002!), my camp director who was here on business and visited 2 more that are spending the year in J'lem in rabbinic school.
pictures: May --> July 4
Skydiving Israel
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Mom's Visit!
Wow! It's been so long since I have updated this blog...well, a long time for me, anyway. So much has happened. I'll try to make it short.
At the end of March, my good friends Laura & Jason went on a free Birthright trip and changed their tickets so they could stay a little longer and visit. I have known them my entire life (our parents were friends), so it was so exciting to have them here and to be able to show them around "my" city. Laura's boyfriend, Joe, also flew over after their organized trip and while Jason had to go back to Austin, Laura and Joe spent the next 3 weeks traveling in Greece, Italy and Amsterdam. They came back engaged!!!
During those 3 weeks, Mom was here visiting. There was some overlap in the beginning- talk about a full house! I planned for us to go all over the country. I wanted her to see everything! My friend Meir, who was spending the Passover holiday in Rome with his family, was so generous & lent me his car for the entire time. We weren't tied down by bus schedules & routes. It was amazing. Check out our itinerary and the pictures. Let me know if you have questions!
Day 1: Mom arrived! Dinner at a cafe on Shenkin (my street!) & live music at a neighborhood bar w/ Mike & Marty (friends from the program)
Day 2: Mom met my interim hairdressers. Explored Yaffo (Arab city south of TA, they share a municipality), walked back through TA's oldest neighborhood, Neve Tzedek
Day 3: Shopped for hours at the artist's market near my apt. Laura, Joe & Jason returned from traveling in the south. Mom had her first Israeli falafel & then we all went to celebrate Laura's birthday early at Max Brenner (chocolate restaurant!)
Day 4: Toured TA's beaches, celebrated TA's 100th birthday in Rabin Square with thousands of other people.
Day 5: Visited Independence Hall & drove 6 hours through the desert to Eilat in the south. Stopped at Mizpe Ramon, the largest non-impact crater.
Day 6: Eilat! Met up with Marty (who was already there) & went snorkeling. Mom didn't feel too great later that day, so Marty & I went out to dinner & then his friend's bar that night.
Day 7: We decided to stay an extra night in Eilat & spent the day walking around & exploring the city.
Day 8: Drove back to TA, made a little Passover seder, just me & Mom from whatever we had in the fridge & our memorized version of the Hagadah!
Day 9: Organized tour of Massada and the Dead Sea at the Ein Gedi Spa. We loved the Dead Sea so much, we were late & almost got left behind!
Day 10: We explored the shuk (open air market) near my apt & had Shabbat dinner at the Tami's (one of the English teachers at my school)
Day 11: Beach Day!
Day 12: Jerusalem-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israel_Museum, the shuk, and part of the new city. Drove home. It's only an hour away!
Day 13: Jerusalem- walked the ramparts of the old city walls, visited the Western Wall & walked through the Jewish Quarter of the old city
Day 14: Organized tour of the North Coast of Israel- Caesaria, Haifa, Acco & Rosh Hanikra. I had been on this tour before, but with a new tour guide, it wasn't boring! Had the most amazing non-kosher seafood dinner at a restaurant on the beach in TA.
Day 15: Drove to Tiberias, a city on the Kinneret (freshwater lake) in the north. Explored town, trying to find a public, free "beach". It was harder than you would think for such touristy place.
Day 16: Drove further north to the Golan Heights & attempted to hike. It was cold & we didn't get very far before it started to rain. So instead, we drove to nearby Tzfat & braved the cold & rain there. Turns out it was the place Mom has literally dreamt about for years. It was an incredible day walking through the old cobblestone streets of the old city. We found many of the old, ornate synagogues & the candle factory, both of which the city is known for. We even found a local cheese shop, with cheeses made from goat & sheep milk!
Day 17: The day was nicer, so we drove back to hike around Gilabon Stream. Saw the 32 ft Devorah Waterfall, ruins of the biblical town of Devorah & the 98 ft Gilabon Waterfall. Pretty incredible. Back in TA, went to dinner with some of my girl friends from the program.
Day 18: Beach Day...but it was a bit cold, so we did a beach walk. Ended at the port & visited my old apt & roomies. Drove to Jerusalem to have dinner w/ Meir & return the car.
Day 19: I had to go to class at the university. As far as I know, Mom did some laundry & then spent the rest of the day on the beach. That's where I met her. :)
Day 20: I had to teach, so Mom came with me, saw my set-up, met some of my kids and the other teachers. After, we spent some more time at the shuk & beach. That night, I took her to the airport & had to say good bye. :( Only about 5 more months, though, before I'm back in Austin for good!
At the end of March, my good friends Laura & Jason went on a free Birthright trip and changed their tickets so they could stay a little longer and visit. I have known them my entire life (our parents were friends), so it was so exciting to have them here and to be able to show them around "my" city. Laura's boyfriend, Joe, also flew over after their organized trip and while Jason had to go back to Austin, Laura and Joe spent the next 3 weeks traveling in Greece, Italy and Amsterdam. They came back engaged!!!
During those 3 weeks, Mom was here visiting. There was some overlap in the beginning- talk about a full house! I planned for us to go all over the country. I wanted her to see everything! My friend Meir, who was spending the Passover holiday in Rome with his family, was so generous & lent me his car for the entire time. We weren't tied down by bus schedules & routes. It was amazing. Check out our itinerary and the pictures. Let me know if you have questions!
Day 1: Mom arrived! Dinner at a cafe on Shenkin (my street!) & live music at a neighborhood bar w/ Mike & Marty (friends from the program)
Day 2: Mom met my interim hairdressers. Explored Yaffo (Arab city south of TA, they share a municipality), walked back through TA's oldest neighborhood, Neve Tzedek
Day 3: Shopped for hours at the artist's market near my apt. Laura, Joe & Jason returned from traveling in the south. Mom had her first Israeli falafel & then we all went to celebrate Laura's birthday early at Max Brenner (chocolate restaurant!)
Day 4: Toured TA's beaches, celebrated TA's 100th birthday in Rabin Square with thousands of other people.
Day 5: Visited Independence Hall & drove 6 hours through the desert to Eilat in the south. Stopped at Mizpe Ramon, the largest non-impact crater.
Day 6: Eilat! Met up with Marty (who was already there) & went snorkeling. Mom didn't feel too great later that day, so Marty & I went out to dinner & then his friend's bar that night.
Day 7: We decided to stay an extra night in Eilat & spent the day walking around & exploring the city.
Day 8: Drove back to TA, made a little Passover seder, just me & Mom from whatever we had in the fridge & our memorized version of the Hagadah!
Day 9: Organized tour of Massada and the Dead Sea at the Ein Gedi Spa. We loved the Dead Sea so much, we were late & almost got left behind!
Day 10: We explored the shuk (open air market) near my apt & had Shabbat dinner at the Tami's (one of the English teachers at my school)
Day 11: Beach Day!
Day 12: Jerusalem-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israel_Museum, the shuk, and part of the new city. Drove home. It's only an hour away!
Day 13: Jerusalem- walked the ramparts of the old city walls, visited the Western Wall & walked through the Jewish Quarter of the old city
Day 14: Organized tour of the North Coast of Israel- Caesaria, Haifa, Acco & Rosh Hanikra. I had been on this tour before, but with a new tour guide, it wasn't boring! Had the most amazing non-kosher seafood dinner at a restaurant on the beach in TA.
Day 15: Drove to Tiberias, a city on the Kinneret (freshwater lake) in the north. Explored town, trying to find a public, free "beach". It was harder than you would think for such touristy place.
Day 16: Drove further north to the Golan Heights & attempted to hike. It was cold & we didn't get very far before it started to rain. So instead, we drove to nearby Tzfat & braved the cold & rain there. Turns out it was the place Mom has literally dreamt about for years. It was an incredible day walking through the old cobblestone streets of the old city. We found many of the old, ornate synagogues & the candle factory, both of which the city is known for. We even found a local cheese shop, with cheeses made from goat & sheep milk!
Day 17: The day was nicer, so we drove back to hike around Gilabon Stream. Saw the 32 ft Devorah Waterfall, ruins of the biblical town of Devorah & the 98 ft Gilabon Waterfall. Pretty incredible. Back in TA, went to dinner with some of my girl friends from the program.
Day 18: Beach Day...but it was a bit cold, so we did a beach walk. Ended at the port & visited my old apt & roomies. Drove to Jerusalem to have dinner w/ Meir & return the car.
Day 19: I had to go to class at the university. As far as I know, Mom did some laundry & then spent the rest of the day on the beach. That's where I met her. :)
Day 20: I had to teach, so Mom came with me, saw my set-up, met some of my kids and the other teachers. After, we spent some more time at the shuk & beach. That night, I took her to the airport & had to say good bye. :( Only about 5 more months, though, before I'm back in Austin for good!
Saturday, March 21, 2009
I skied the big mountain!
Wow, I haven't posted a blog in quite some time. I was so much better about this last year! I guess it just makes them more valuable now, right?
Well, February was mostly uneventful. The Superbowl came & went & I sacrificed sleep for hopefully the last time for football. Even though I won't be home for the first month of Longhorn football next season, I'll be able to sleep in the day after!
National elections were held here for a new prime minister and so I had a day off of school. The kids are so loud & chaotic during the day that instead of trying to control them, they just cancel school. In fact, I just heard that one of our professors told some of our class that after you get your certification here, you have to go to vocal training/testing to make sure you can speak loud enough to command and control your class. But that's another issue...and one tied to one of the main reasons I'm not staying here!
We had a Tu B'Shvat seder with our program. Nothing big. Kind of like Earth Day where you celebrate the trees & such. There are 4 types of fruit or nuts to eat & 4 glasses of wine, of different colors. Good holiday.
We had the university semester break during the month of February, which is less of a break & more of a paper writing time, since everything is due after the break. I don't know where this logic comes from. It burns people out so fast. For regular university students, they have exam time, but there are 2 rounds. If you want any kind of break, you had better do well on the first round! How does that make sense? You, who failed, are frustrated & need a break the most- too bad. Study more!
And the big February event: Ted came to visit!!! He was here for 10 days and it was wonderful! We even rented a cabin and had a romantic getaway in the north, near the Kinneret, even though it rained all weekend, we didn't see the lake & his whole trip was like a romantic getaway because we got so much time together...
March started with weather warm enough for the beach and we all dusted our bathing suits off & got excited, but it didn't last past that weekend. Hopefully soon. I'm tired of the cold...or cool.
University started again and we only have 2 classes this semester- only on Sundays, which means Wednesday is a free day! I'm still trying to get an idea of if I like the classes/professors or not. The first week, I did. The 2nd, I didn't. Technology in Language Teaching and Multilingual Literacies. Should be interesting. Let's see if the profs make them as such.
We also had another holiday: Purim! It's like Halloween, except not paganistic. There are actual religious writings commanding us to dress up and get drunk to celebrate the holiday. Who else wants to be Jewish? (On a side note, one of my students expressed a desire to be American after St. Patrick's Day. "They're so cool. There's a holiday where you wear green. There's holiday where you dress up AND get candy. We get a long break for Passover, but it's still Passover." I asked about Hanukka w/ the jelly doughnuts and week off of school & just got an "eh...") Anyway, we had a 3 day break. One night, after pre-partying at my old apartment with friends, we met up with other friends on the bus (it was a little ridiculous--there was a classroom-full of us) & headed down near my neighborhood to a long street called Floretin. There is always a HUGE street party. Lots of music, and way too many people. There's no way keep up with all your friends. Our group splintered apart, and we were left with about 7 of us. Still, we occasionally lost people. One for an hour. oops. Now that I think about it, why is this fun?
The next night, I went with my friend Amos to Jerusalem to go to a few parties with our mutual friend, Meir. They were fun, but we only stayed a few hours because we were going skiing for Amos' birthday the next day. We left J'lem around 1:15, picked up some of his friends in Herzliya (north of TA) a few hours later and drove up to Mount Hermon, in the Golan Heights. It's a 3 hour drive, which is far for a country that you can drive across (N -> S) in 8.
Now this skiing trip was totally spontaneous. Amos asked me to go less than 24 hours before I was strapped in and on the slopes. I surprised myself when I said yes, because I hadn't been skiing in 14 years and that was the first time! So, he helped me out on the practice slope a bit, reminding me how to turn & stop and then he left to go to the big slopes w/ his friend Gil. The other 2 girls were on snowboards & ended up "hurting" themselves early on. They were lame anyway. There are really just 2 main slopes/ 2 ski lifts, even though there are multiple routes down each slope. I practiced a few more times and then I went on the smaller one. I started out fine, then went around a turn, picked up speed & crashed. I spent forever trying to put my ski back on before enlisting help. I needed a break. Luckily everyone else was taking one, too. I sat on the deck, looking at the slope, trying to map out the best way to go. I hit the slopes again with a new confidence, going down the easiest way. I made it down w/o falling! I tried a few more times, trying a way that was a little steeper at the end. Each time, I got farther down w/o falling, but I never stopped under my terms. On our next break, Amos somehow convinced me to try the big mountain with him and Gil. "I'll stay with you the whole time, guide you down, blah, blah, blah"
That slope was REALLY high. It was gorgeous being "on top of the world" like that. But then we had to go down. Ack! Amos went first & I followed him and copied what he did. I did such a great job, if I do say so myself...until we got to the really steep part. We turned & snowplowed the whole way down to make it "less steep." But really, I turned a few times, fell & repeated. It was really frustrating, but Amos was patient and did stay with me. We finally merged with the part of the mountain that I'd skied before, so I confidently went down, only fell when someone skied in front of me and slowed to a stop on my own at the end! It was amazing! I don't think I'll ever ski a mountain that big again, but I'm glad I did it once!
Check out the pictures: Feb & Mar 09 activities
Well, February was mostly uneventful. The Superbowl came & went & I sacrificed sleep for hopefully the last time for football. Even though I won't be home for the first month of Longhorn football next season, I'll be able to sleep in the day after!
National elections were held here for a new prime minister and so I had a day off of school. The kids are so loud & chaotic during the day that instead of trying to control them, they just cancel school. In fact, I just heard that one of our professors told some of our class that after you get your certification here, you have to go to vocal training/testing to make sure you can speak loud enough to command and control your class. But that's another issue...and one tied to one of the main reasons I'm not staying here!
We had a Tu B'Shvat seder with our program. Nothing big. Kind of like Earth Day where you celebrate the trees & such. There are 4 types of fruit or nuts to eat & 4 glasses of wine, of different colors. Good holiday.
We had the university semester break during the month of February, which is less of a break & more of a paper writing time, since everything is due after the break. I don't know where this logic comes from. It burns people out so fast. For regular university students, they have exam time, but there are 2 rounds. If you want any kind of break, you had better do well on the first round! How does that make sense? You, who failed, are frustrated & need a break the most- too bad. Study more!
And the big February event: Ted came to visit!!! He was here for 10 days and it was wonderful! We even rented a cabin and had a romantic getaway in the north, near the Kinneret, even though it rained all weekend, we didn't see the lake & his whole trip was like a romantic getaway because we got so much time together...
March started with weather warm enough for the beach and we all dusted our bathing suits off & got excited, but it didn't last past that weekend. Hopefully soon. I'm tired of the cold...or cool.
University started again and we only have 2 classes this semester- only on Sundays, which means Wednesday is a free day! I'm still trying to get an idea of if I like the classes/professors or not. The first week, I did. The 2nd, I didn't. Technology in Language Teaching and Multilingual Literacies. Should be interesting. Let's see if the profs make them as such.
We also had another holiday: Purim! It's like Halloween, except not paganistic. There are actual religious writings commanding us to dress up and get drunk to celebrate the holiday. Who else wants to be Jewish? (On a side note, one of my students expressed a desire to be American after St. Patrick's Day. "They're so cool. There's a holiday where you wear green. There's holiday where you dress up AND get candy. We get a long break for Passover, but it's still Passover." I asked about Hanukka w/ the jelly doughnuts and week off of school & just got an "eh...") Anyway, we had a 3 day break. One night, after pre-partying at my old apartment with friends, we met up with other friends on the bus (it was a little ridiculous--there was a classroom-full of us) & headed down near my neighborhood to a long street called Floretin. There is always a HUGE street party. Lots of music, and way too many people. There's no way keep up with all your friends. Our group splintered apart, and we were left with about 7 of us. Still, we occasionally lost people. One for an hour. oops. Now that I think about it, why is this fun?
The next night, I went with my friend Amos to Jerusalem to go to a few parties with our mutual friend, Meir. They were fun, but we only stayed a few hours because we were going skiing for Amos' birthday the next day. We left J'lem around 1:15, picked up some of his friends in Herzliya (north of TA) a few hours later and drove up to Mount Hermon, in the Golan Heights. It's a 3 hour drive, which is far for a country that you can drive across (N -> S) in 8.
Now this skiing trip was totally spontaneous. Amos asked me to go less than 24 hours before I was strapped in and on the slopes. I surprised myself when I said yes, because I hadn't been skiing in 14 years and that was the first time! So, he helped me out on the practice slope a bit, reminding me how to turn & stop and then he left to go to the big slopes w/ his friend Gil. The other 2 girls were on snowboards & ended up "hurting" themselves early on. They were lame anyway. There are really just 2 main slopes/ 2 ski lifts, even though there are multiple routes down each slope. I practiced a few more times and then I went on the smaller one. I started out fine, then went around a turn, picked up speed & crashed. I spent forever trying to put my ski back on before enlisting help. I needed a break. Luckily everyone else was taking one, too. I sat on the deck, looking at the slope, trying to map out the best way to go. I hit the slopes again with a new confidence, going down the easiest way. I made it down w/o falling! I tried a few more times, trying a way that was a little steeper at the end. Each time, I got farther down w/o falling, but I never stopped under my terms. On our next break, Amos somehow convinced me to try the big mountain with him and Gil. "I'll stay with you the whole time, guide you down, blah, blah, blah"
That slope was REALLY high. It was gorgeous being "on top of the world" like that. But then we had to go down. Ack! Amos went first & I followed him and copied what he did. I did such a great job, if I do say so myself...until we got to the really steep part. We turned & snowplowed the whole way down to make it "less steep." But really, I turned a few times, fell & repeated. It was really frustrating, but Amos was patient and did stay with me. We finally merged with the part of the mountain that I'd skied before, so I confidently went down, only fell when someone skied in front of me and slowed to a stop on my own at the end! It was amazing! I don't think I'll ever ski a mountain that big again, but I'm glad I did it once!
Check out the pictures: Feb & Mar 09 activities
Friday, January 30, 2009
North Coast day trip
A few weeks ago, I made a new friend, named Prashanth. He was in Israel without knowing many people. A mutual friend suggested he contact me and asked me to show him around Tel Aviv a bit. The first night we hung out, we clicked immediately. He is a senior at UT, so we started with that connection and built from there. The second weekend he was here, I went with him on a tour of the north coast of Israel. After meeting in Tel Aviv, the tour van took us to Caesaria, which I had been to before, but now I had a tour guide telling me the history of everything. Then we continued north along the coast to Haifa. We didn’t spend long there, just went to the top of Mount Carmel to look out at the bay/port and down on the incredible Bahaii Gardens. After driving a little further north, we arrived in Acco (or Acre). It was originally established by a group of Crusaders and then re-established when the Muslims came to the area. In order to re-establish the city, EVERYTHING was filled in with dirt and built over. There is literally one city on top of another and archeologists are still uncovering the first city. Now imagine any medieval period movie and think of the super high ceilings that the buildings had. Now imagine them filled with dirt. That’s a lotta freakin’ dirt! We got a tour through the old (first) city, walked through the market in today’s Arab city and then went to get lunch at a restaurant just outside of the city. It would not have been my first choice, especially with all that Acco had to offer, but I hadn’t eaten breakfast, so I was too hungry to care at that point. Next, we drove up to Rosh Hanikra, which is on the Israeli/Lebanon border. We saw the fence between the countries and the Israeli observation tower that constantly has at least one soldier in it, monitoring the other side. There’s also a navy boat in the water at all times, watching the “water border”. Yes, there are buoys set up with a rope between them in the Mediterranean Sea, stretching out a few kilometers to mark each country’s waters. Rosh Hanikra also grottos, which apparently is another thing it is famous for. I didn’t know. But, they are incredible! The rock is a soft limestone and so the waves that crash into them with a few tons of force have carved out tunnels and caves. The water is almost unnaturally blue; it kind of looks like formaldehyde. There also used to be a train track that ran through, from the days of British control. It ran from Istanbul to Cairo and was destroyed on “The Night of the Bridges” in 1946 by Jewish underground fighters who were immobilizing Britain’s transportation routes during their quest for independence.
As much as I like living in Tel Aviv, I love traveling outside of the city. I always find something to amaze me. This country is truly beautiful.
Check out the pictures.
As much as I like living in Tel Aviv, I love traveling outside of the city. I always find something to amaze me. This country is truly beautiful.
Check out the pictures.
Thursday, January 8, 2009
3rd grade Gaza conflict discussion
Today, my first class of the day was three 3rd grade girls: Danielle, Amit and Gal. The first two came from NY and this is their first year here. Gal was in my class last year, which was her first time in an Israeli school after being in Hong Kong for a few years. They are all fluent in both Hebrew and English. Amit also talks incessantly, but usually about nothing. The class started normally: they wrote the agenda, we finished some work from the last class and then they started talking about how the school was collecting food and clothes for the Israeli soldiers. There were boxes lining the halls, already full. And then they told me why. The catalyst for this drive wasn't just the war. The father of one of the students in the school had been killed by a rocket fired into Ashdod or Ashkelon (I don't remember which they said.) by Hamas. Several students also have older brothers or sisters in the army, who were currently fighting.
I was about to tie up the conversation and move on with the day's lesson and then came Danielle's question. "Why are they (Hamas) doing this to us? It's not fair." I immediately knew this was not a conversation that any self-respecting educator should stop. (And anyway, they were at least speaking in English.) We proceeded to have a discussion for about 20 minutes about the war. Danielle and Gal were the ones doing most of the talking, I only inserted a few comments- when they really needed some kind of answer. Amit was surprisingly quiet for once.
One part of the discussion, though, will stick will me forever, and that is the reason I am writing. Forgive me if it is not verbatim, but it will be close.
Danielle: "We fought a war a long time ago to be a country. They got their place and we got ours. Why do we still have to suffer? Just because they lost, doesn't mean we should still suffer. They have their place to live."
Gal: "And a lot of it."
Danielle: "Yeah! We're just this tiny little country. What more do they want from us?"
me: "Well, they think this country is holy, too, just like the Jews do. And they don't want us living here."
Danielle: "But they already have so much. And we already had a war about it and they lost and we are living here now and they're still making us suffer. It's not fair."
Gal: "They just want more and more and more. Why can't they just leave us alone?"
I remind you that these are only 3rd graders. The discussion only ended because the bell rang.
I was about to tie up the conversation and move on with the day's lesson and then came Danielle's question. "Why are they (Hamas) doing this to us? It's not fair." I immediately knew this was not a conversation that any self-respecting educator should stop. (And anyway, they were at least speaking in English.) We proceeded to have a discussion for about 20 minutes about the war. Danielle and Gal were the ones doing most of the talking, I only inserted a few comments- when they really needed some kind of answer. Amit was surprisingly quiet for once.
One part of the discussion, though, will stick will me forever, and that is the reason I am writing. Forgive me if it is not verbatim, but it will be close.
Danielle: "We fought a war a long time ago to be a country. They got their place and we got ours. Why do we still have to suffer? Just because they lost, doesn't mean we should still suffer. They have their place to live."
Gal: "And a lot of it."
Danielle: "Yeah! We're just this tiny little country. What more do they want from us?"
me: "Well, they think this country is holy, too, just like the Jews do. And they don't want us living here."
Danielle: "But they already have so much. And we already had a war about it and they lost and we are living here now and they're still making us suffer. It's not fair."
Gal: "They just want more and more and more. Why can't they just leave us alone?"
I remind you that these are only 3rd graders. The discussion only ended because the bell rang.
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