This year, I took Ali's suggestion and decided to have a pot luck Thanksgiving, since last year was so much work. The girls let me host it at the old apartment, since they have a lot of common space and an oven. Last year also taught me that if I wanted a whole turkey, I needed to order it from the grocery store in advance. After some difficulty with that, my roommate, Gal, did it for me. Our Thanksgiving was on the Friday after, since Thursday is a work day here. I went to the apartment in the morning, made my pecan pie & crust (I haven't found pre-made crusts here.) & went to the store to pick up the turkey. 18 pounds!!! It didn't have any insides, but it did have a very disturbing, phallic-looking neck that I had to chop off. I'm glad I had a few hours between that experience and eating. Otherwise, I might have been a vegetarian this year! There was a little hiccup in the plan when we realized that the oven wasn't big enough! Not to despair, though. I am a logical and resourceful...and I also discovered that it wasn't the turkey that was too big, just the aluminum pan. Nothing a bend here and there wouldn't fix. For the next few hours, I waited and basted as the turkey turned a gorgeous golden brown and the air was filled with the delicious smell of the lemon and garlic I stuffed the turkey with.
Ali made a green bean dish with toasted almonds and feta cheese. Allie made sweet potatoes, served in a half a baked green apple and Julie made onion and garlic mashed potatoes. Mike brought a great Americanized Israeli salad. Two of my American friends from camp, DT and Adam, also came. DT brought the cranberry sauce and rolls and Adam made chocolate cookies. Julie's boyfriend, Asaf, completed the dinner by providing all the drinks. It really was a grand feast. (Oh, I also attempted brown gravy, but it definitely didn't work. I will be attending Gravy 101 with my mom when I return to the States.)
DT lives in Jerusalem, so he stayed over at my apartment that night. The next morning, after sleeping in (yea!), he treated me to a good ol' down home cookin' brunch. We had hashbrowns, fried eggs and challah "biscuits" and gravy. (Maybe I should learn from him...) It was delicious, but it's definitely back to healthy eating & working out!
Ted, Ken, Dad: Was this short enough for y'all???
I realized that the link to my pictures didn't work before, so here are new ones: BRUSSELS THANKSGIVING
Monday, December 1, 2008
Saturday, November 1, 2008
New Photos
Monday, October 20, 2008
2 Weeks of Laziness
I am at the end of my 2 week fall holiday vacation. So sad. Mostly because I have hardly done anything. The weather's been getting cooler, so I haven't even been going to the beach. I spent some more time fixing up my room...right now, I'm just waiting for my roommate to stop being so busy and help me hang up a bar for the last of my clothes. I have spent a lot of time lounging around and watching TV. I've successfully convinced myself that I deserve this little break because once I start working again on Thursday and start university next week, I'll be too busy to enjoy much downtime.
The one thing I did do was spend the Sukkot holiday with my friend Meir and his family. Just like last year, we went to his sister's house in Or Yehuda (just outside of Tel Aviv) and ate way too much great food. He has lots of nieces and nephews (about 10, all under 10 years old) and it was neat to see how they've grown up in the last year. Some of them I'd seen since, but most of the older ones remembered who I was. Back the food...if you've ever thought that Jewish mothers were relentless about offering you food, you've never met an Israel Jewish mother on a holiday. Saying, "No thank you, I've already eaten a piece of cake," even in Hebrew, is a waste of breath. I even think that Meir was an Israeli Jewish mother in training. Any time my plate was empty, he put more food on my plate. He didn't care that it was empty because I had already eaten and I wasn't putting any more food on it because I didn't want any more food! It was a very good time, though...and we ended up hanging out until 1 am!
My plan for the next few days is to actually work on at least one of the two papers like I've been intending to during this break. Wish me luck!
The one thing I did do was spend the Sukkot holiday with my friend Meir and his family. Just like last year, we went to his sister's house in Or Yehuda (just outside of Tel Aviv) and ate way too much great food. He has lots of nieces and nephews (about 10, all under 10 years old) and it was neat to see how they've grown up in the last year. Some of them I'd seen since, but most of the older ones remembered who I was. Back the food...if you've ever thought that Jewish mothers were relentless about offering you food, you've never met an Israel Jewish mother on a holiday. Saying, "No thank you, I've already eaten a piece of cake," even in Hebrew, is a waste of breath. I even think that Meir was an Israeli Jewish mother in training. Any time my plate was empty, he put more food on my plate. He didn't care that it was empty because I had already eaten and I wasn't putting any more food on it because I didn't want any more food! It was a very good time, though...and we ended up hanging out until 1 am!
My plan for the next few days is to actually work on at least one of the two papers like I've been intending to during this break. Wish me luck!
Saturday, October 11, 2008
Shana Tova!
Happy New Year!
I started this Jewish year off by moving into a new apartment, in a new part of town, with new kinds of people. I now live in the very hip, artsy & cheaper area of Tel Aviv, on a street called Shenkin (for those of you that know the area), with two Israeli guys. I've been spending a lot of time setting up my room, which was a living space before, or wondering when my busy roommates were going to have time to help me do things like drill shelves into the wall. The recent holidays, combined with Shabbat closures, have not helped. Once my winter outerwear and dresses have a place to be hung, I will be finished and will post pictures.
I moved in the day of Erev Rosh Hashana (New Year's eve), made sure my bed was set up and just spent the evening relaxing in my new place. The next evening, I celebrated the new year by going to a dinner hosted by three of the girls in my program. There was even homemade apple pie! Yum!
10 days later, the country observed Yom Kippur, the day of Atonement. I cannot express what a special experience it is here in Israel, especially in Tel Aviv. Not only is every single restaurant, store and kiosk closed, meaning that everyone is able to be at home with their families, absolutely no Jewish person drives (except for police and ambulances). In Tel Aviv, where there is a non-existent Arab population, the roads are completely empty at sundown...until people finish eating their last meal for the day. Then the road are packed again, but this time with people on bikes, skateboards, rollerblades, scooters, strollers & feet. School-age kids are rarely in groups smaller than five and are often see at large intersections, happily yelling at each other as they try to set up bike races. Whole families walk or bike with their dogs or young children and there is a lightness in the air that is generally not associated with the holiday. It would be interesting to see what it was like in Yaffo, the Arab populated city immediately to the south.
I walked the 45 minutes north to my old apartment to spend the holiday with Ali and her friend Alana, who came in from J'lem. The next day, we slept in, which is very key when you're fasting, and then Alana and I went to services for about an hour at a nearby synagogue. It was very traditional; the men and women sat separately, with a lace curtain barrier, people brought their own prayerbooks and there was no rabbi, just a cantor who would varied between praying audibly and inaudibly. He was there, it seemed, to just guide the congregation as they prayed on their own. Every once in a while, the congregation would join in or participate in a call and answer routine. Out of the 40ish women, there were only about a handful younger than 40. Honestly, I did more observing than praying, but I'm sure G-d was happy I was there nonetheless. When we got back, the three of us decided to take a walk to the highway, 25 minutes away. It was absolutely unbelievable. Imagine I35 or any other multilane highway completely deserted, outside of the occasional group of biking kids or dog & owner. We just had to walk on it! As we were on the entrance ramp, we saw a sign in Hebrew that said it was forbidden to walk or bike on the highway! After a few more hours of resting or reading, Alana and I went back to the synagogue for the final service and to hear the shofar. It was amazing how crowded it was & how many parents were there with their small children. We sat outside of the room where we could still hear and again I found myself doing more observing than praying. Watching all the kids loudly running around and playing brought me to the conclusion that I think Israelis spend more time training their dogs than their own kids.
The shofar was just one short blow and a little disappointing, but it did signal the end of Yom Kippur and the ability to eat again! Whether you are Jewish or not, I hope this new year proves to be happy and sweet for you.
I started this Jewish year off by moving into a new apartment, in a new part of town, with new kinds of people. I now live in the very hip, artsy & cheaper area of Tel Aviv, on a street called Shenkin (for those of you that know the area), with two Israeli guys. I've been spending a lot of time setting up my room, which was a living space before, or wondering when my busy roommates were going to have time to help me do things like drill shelves into the wall. The recent holidays, combined with Shabbat closures, have not helped. Once my winter outerwear and dresses have a place to be hung, I will be finished and will post pictures.
I moved in the day of Erev Rosh Hashana (New Year's eve), made sure my bed was set up and just spent the evening relaxing in my new place. The next evening, I celebrated the new year by going to a dinner hosted by three of the girls in my program. There was even homemade apple pie! Yum!
10 days later, the country observed Yom Kippur, the day of Atonement. I cannot express what a special experience it is here in Israel, especially in Tel Aviv. Not only is every single restaurant, store and kiosk closed, meaning that everyone is able to be at home with their families, absolutely no Jewish person drives (except for police and ambulances). In Tel Aviv, where there is a non-existent Arab population, the roads are completely empty at sundown...until people finish eating their last meal for the day. Then the road are packed again, but this time with people on bikes, skateboards, rollerblades, scooters, strollers & feet. School-age kids are rarely in groups smaller than five and are often see at large intersections, happily yelling at each other as they try to set up bike races. Whole families walk or bike with their dogs or young children and there is a lightness in the air that is generally not associated with the holiday. It would be interesting to see what it was like in Yaffo, the Arab populated city immediately to the south.
I walked the 45 minutes north to my old apartment to spend the holiday with Ali and her friend Alana, who came in from J'lem. The next day, we slept in, which is very key when you're fasting, and then Alana and I went to services for about an hour at a nearby synagogue. It was very traditional; the men and women sat separately, with a lace curtain barrier, people brought their own prayerbooks and there was no rabbi, just a cantor who would varied between praying audibly and inaudibly. He was there, it seemed, to just guide the congregation as they prayed on their own. Every once in a while, the congregation would join in or participate in a call and answer routine. Out of the 40ish women, there were only about a handful younger than 40. Honestly, I did more observing than praying, but I'm sure G-d was happy I was there nonetheless. When we got back, the three of us decided to take a walk to the highway, 25 minutes away. It was absolutely unbelievable. Imagine I35 or any other multilane highway completely deserted, outside of the occasional group of biking kids or dog & owner. We just had to walk on it! As we were on the entrance ramp, we saw a sign in Hebrew that said it was forbidden to walk or bike on the highway! After a few more hours of resting or reading, Alana and I went back to the synagogue for the final service and to hear the shofar. It was amazing how crowded it was & how many parents were there with their small children. We sat outside of the room where we could still hear and again I found myself doing more observing than praying. Watching all the kids loudly running around and playing brought me to the conclusion that I think Israelis spend more time training their dogs than their own kids.
The shofar was just one short blow and a little disappointing, but it did signal the end of Yom Kippur and the ability to eat again! Whether you are Jewish or not, I hope this new year proves to be happy and sweet for you.
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Austin, DFW Metroplex, Brussels & Tel Aviv in 52 hours.
I’ll try to make this short. On my way back to Tel Aviv, I had a 12 hour layover in Brussels. Naturally, I got out of the airport to check out the city. I decided to just stay in Brussels and not get to far from the airport, rather than check out some other Belgian cities. I was given many suggestions for what do and see while I was there. (Thank you, Aaron.) Surprisingly, I did it all. I started off by buying a map and sitting in a park to plan out my day a bit. 
(Cathedral of St. Michel et Ste. Gudule)
Then I went to the Comic Strip Center, which is actually a museum of French/Belgian comic strips. Did you know that Tin Tin and the Smurfs are originally Belgian? Me neither. In fact, this year marks 50 years of Smurfs, so they had a pretty cool display.
Afterwards, I went to check out the Manneken Pis statue. It was a lot smaller than I had imagined and it was almost comical to see all these people there, trying to get a picture with this small statue of a little boy peeing. I got one, too, of course!
On the way there, I walked through the Grand Place, which used to be the main town square and is where town hall is today. 
(Town Hall)
It’s quite amazing to see these huge, old, regal buildings being used for shops and restaurants today.
For lunch, I went to a little stand and got sausage and fries. So many people has raved about the fries and talked about how necessary they were to my trip. They tasted like fries. I didn’t think they were that exciting.
Next, it was Belgian beer time. I went into a friendly-looking bar ordered a Leffe Blonde. My roommate, Allie, loves it, so I thought I’d give it a shot. It was pretty good. More exciting than the fries. The fun part was the bartender who loved that I was from Texas and grabbed a straw hat he had hanging on the wall, put it on, and got goofy. “Yeehaw, Texas!”
Before going to the furthest place on my map, the Royal Palace, I got a waffle, loaded with a thick whipped cream, strawberries and chocolate sauce. Definitely the best thing I ate all day!
I’m glad I fueled up because I got so lost trying to go to the Royal Palace. Every part of Brussels is set up like a grid, except the touristy center. I almost gave up, but finally asked someone instead. I got lost again, but finally found signs that helped me. It took 45 minutes to get there, when it was supposed to take 15. Later, the walk back to the train station took all of 5 minutes. I kinda felt like an idiot. Anyway, the Royal Palace was free, but you couldn’t take in your camera.
They had all the rooms set up with portraits of each of the royal personalities that lived there at some point. It was pretty amazing...and exactly how you’d picture a palace: elegant, ornate, lots of gold. The throne room was the best. It was huge and the throne area was up in a balcony thing, so the king/queen would be looking down at everyone else. I was so exhausted after all of that I fell asleep as soon as I sat down on the plane! And now I’m in Tel Aviv and slowly getting back into my routine. In another week or so, everything should be back in full swing!
(Cathedral of St. Michel et Ste. Gudule)Then I went to the Comic Strip Center, which is actually a museum of French/Belgian comic strips. Did you know that Tin Tin and the Smurfs are originally Belgian? Me neither. In fact, this year marks 50 years of Smurfs, so they had a pretty cool display.
Afterwards, I went to check out the Manneken Pis statue. It was a lot smaller than I had imagined and it was almost comical to see all these people there, trying to get a picture with this small statue of a little boy peeing. I got one, too, of course!
On the way there, I walked through the Grand Place, which used to be the main town square and is where town hall is today. 
(Town Hall)It’s quite amazing to see these huge, old, regal buildings being used for shops and restaurants today.
For lunch, I went to a little stand and got sausage and fries. So many people has raved about the fries and talked about how necessary they were to my trip. They tasted like fries. I didn’t think they were that exciting.
Next, it was Belgian beer time. I went into a friendly-looking bar ordered a Leffe Blonde. My roommate, Allie, loves it, so I thought I’d give it a shot. It was pretty good. More exciting than the fries. The fun part was the bartender who loved that I was from Texas and grabbed a straw hat he had hanging on the wall, put it on, and got goofy. “Yeehaw, Texas!”
Before going to the furthest place on my map, the Royal Palace, I got a waffle, loaded with a thick whipped cream, strawberries and chocolate sauce. Definitely the best thing I ate all day!
I’m glad I fueled up because I got so lost trying to go to the Royal Palace. Every part of Brussels is set up like a grid, except the touristy center. I almost gave up, but finally asked someone instead. I got lost again, but finally found signs that helped me. It took 45 minutes to get there, when it was supposed to take 15. Later, the walk back to the train station took all of 5 minutes. I kinda felt like an idiot. Anyway, the Royal Palace was free, but you couldn’t take in your camera.
They had all the rooms set up with portraits of each of the royal personalities that lived there at some point. It was pretty amazing...and exactly how you’d picture a palace: elegant, ornate, lots of gold. The throne room was the best. It was huge and the throne area was up in a balcony thing, so the king/queen would be looking down at everyone else. I was so exhausted after all of that I fell asleep as soon as I sat down on the plane! And now I’m in Tel Aviv and slowly getting back into my routine. In another week or so, everything should be back in full swing!
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Wrappin' up year 1
As I write this, I am on a plane, flying over the Atlantic Ocean. I don’t know where I will be when I post it, though. I think I had mentioned that for the last month, I hadn’t been doing much teaching with my 6th graders. Rehearsal for their end of the year show took priority, not just over my class, but over pretty much all of their classes. Well, they finally had that show. It was on Thursday night and was such a production! First they had each of the three classes walk across the stage, graduation style, shaking the hands of all the teachers they’d had for multiple years. The last one was their homeroom teacher who had moved with them from 1st grade all the way to 6th. As many problems as I can find with the Israeli school system, there is definitely something to be said the the connection that is made when a class stays together with one teacher for 6 years.
After that ceremony, the show started. It was literally a musical play. Though I didn’t understand everything, I knew it was a fictional story about their end of the year lock-in party and a girl who was faced with a moral dilemma about being nice to someone that no one in her group liked and inviting him to go (maybe even with her...I can’t be sure). I think most of it was part of her dream as she was thinking over her decision. That’s where the singing and dancing came in. The songs were definitely pre-recorded, but it was still the kids singing on the recordings. They were good! The acting was pretty convincing, too. I am so glad I went; my students were very happy to see me there. Now they’re on to 7th grade and I’ll miss them...most of them. :)
Friday I met a Scott Hertz (a camp friend who now works for the URJ in NY) for lunch. He was chaperoning a trip and they were in Tel Aviv for the day. As I was on the bus to meet him, I realized that he was with my camp kids my first year as Melachim unit head. It was very fun to see them again, though they were pretty confused at first as to what I was doing there!
Saturday, I got one more beach day in and while I was in the water, I got stung on my neck by a random floating jellyfish tentacle. The creature itself was not around, but apparently, even detached, the tentacles are dangerous. It felt like a fire ant bite that didn’t stop stinging...for hours. Now I have a mark on my neck that kind of looks like I burnt myself with a hair straightener or something. Nice.
Sunday, Jen and her friend Ashlie came back to Tel Aviv from Europe and we went to the market, where I only spoke Hebrew, even if the merchants spoke to me in English. They met up with Idan for dinner while I went to Ulpan. Afterwards, we all hung out at his place for a while before we left Idan to go to the movies at 10 pm. The cab (that I called and ordered for all in Hebrew, by myself, even though Idan was there) was picking us up to take us to the airport at 3:30 am, so we were doing what we could to stay up. :) It worked, and I was actually able to get a little sleep on the plane!
I’ll be at camp for most of July, but if you’re in Austin in August...give me a call!
After that ceremony, the show started. It was literally a musical play. Though I didn’t understand everything, I knew it was a fictional story about their end of the year lock-in party and a girl who was faced with a moral dilemma about being nice to someone that no one in her group liked and inviting him to go (maybe even with her...I can’t be sure). I think most of it was part of her dream as she was thinking over her decision. That’s where the singing and dancing came in. The songs were definitely pre-recorded, but it was still the kids singing on the recordings. They were good! The acting was pretty convincing, too. I am so glad I went; my students were very happy to see me there. Now they’re on to 7th grade and I’ll miss them...most of them. :)
Friday I met a Scott Hertz (a camp friend who now works for the URJ in NY) for lunch. He was chaperoning a trip and they were in Tel Aviv for the day. As I was on the bus to meet him, I realized that he was with my camp kids my first year as Melachim unit head. It was very fun to see them again, though they were pretty confused at first as to what I was doing there!
Saturday, I got one more beach day in and while I was in the water, I got stung on my neck by a random floating jellyfish tentacle. The creature itself was not around, but apparently, even detached, the tentacles are dangerous. It felt like a fire ant bite that didn’t stop stinging...for hours. Now I have a mark on my neck that kind of looks like I burnt myself with a hair straightener or something. Nice.
Sunday, Jen and her friend Ashlie came back to Tel Aviv from Europe and we went to the market, where I only spoke Hebrew, even if the merchants spoke to me in English. They met up with Idan for dinner while I went to Ulpan. Afterwards, we all hung out at his place for a while before we left Idan to go to the movies at 10 pm. The cab (that I called and ordered for all in Hebrew, by myself, even though Idan was there) was picking us up to take us to the airport at 3:30 am, so we were doing what we could to stay up. :) It worked, and I was actually able to get a little sleep on the plane!
I’ll be at camp for most of July, but if you’re in Austin in August...give me a call!
Friday, June 20, 2008
Home for the summer in T -10 days!
I’ve been very busy lately with teaching, studying, tutoring, working out, waiting for the bus, and laying on the beach. Ok, so that last one doesn’t sound so bad…
This past weekend, my camp friend Jen was in Tel Aviv for the weekend with a few of her friends. They are from Canada and in med school. They had been in Eilat, observing and helping in a hospital and touring around the south through some Canadian Jewish organization. Jen extended her trip to visit Idan and me in Tel Aviv, so her friend Ashley and her stayed at my apartment. Friday, we met up with Idan and took a mini-walking tour of Tel Aviv. He was a great little tour guide. I was surprised by how much he knew about the histories of the streets and the different architectures. After Idan went to work, Jen, Ashley and I found a new (to me) shwarma place. It was one of the best I’ve had so far! That night, while he was working, we walked around the port and ate an Israeli dinner of lafa (huge pita), hummus and salads. Then we went to one of my favorite bars. Ashley got hit on by a 45 year old so we moved to a different side of the bar to “meet some friends”. Then, some very trusting random dude that had been eyeing us asked us to watch his wallet, phone and keys while he went to the bathroom. We left as soon as we finished our beers! I don’t know if it’s my favorite place anymore.
Saturday morning we had a huge, delicious, cheap Israeli breakfast at “Sandwich Place”. (It’s really called Bar Gurion & they definitely have more than just sandwiches there, but that’s what it’s called around my program.) Then we went to the beach, which Jen and Ashley both said was better than Eilat. Our friend Gal came...with popsicles! We waded out to a natural rock levee and found some cool looking crabs. Good day. That night, we met up with another one of Jen and Ashley’s from their trip and went to a club that has a pool in the middle. The bartenders actually stand in it and serve drinks from there! Allie, Ali and I know the guys that promote the party line there on Saturday nights, so we got in easily and had a ton of fun!
Sunday (my last day of class!), Idan was already at the apartment with Jen when I got home from class and Doron came over soon after. Nice surprise! After hanging out for a while and taking some fun pictures on the couch, we met up with some other camp friends (Gal, Kelly and Heather) for dinner at an Italian restaurant. Noam had told me about it months and months ago, so I was glad to finally try it out! Jen and Ashley left super early in the morning to travel around Europe for a few weeks. They’re coming to Tel Aviv on the 29th, so we get another day to hang out before we all fly out on the 30th (them back to Canada, me to Texas). Their flight is only an hour after mine, which means we get to share the cab fare!
Wednesday, Cohort 11 went on our end of the year trip. Well, 8 out of the 18 of us went. 2 have already gone back to the States and 2 had previous engagements. The other 6? Yeah...they had no excuses! Lame. Those that went, had a GREAT time, though. We took a hike around Ramat HaNadiv, which is a nature preserve on the Rothchild estate. We did a 3.5-4 hour hike in 2 hours and 15 minutes. Probably best that we had a smaller group! Afterwards, we got to spend some time in the gardens before we went to a little town called Zichron Ya’acov for lunch and free time. It reminded me of Salado or Fredricksburg in Texas, with the little restaurants/cafes and shops. And it wouldn’t be a Cohort 11 trip without a visit to a winery. We went to the Carmel winery down the road from Zichron. I’m becoming an expert on the wine making and tasting process. Ask me anything!
My pictures have been updated: http://picasaweb.google.com/cpasses
This past weekend, my camp friend Jen was in Tel Aviv for the weekend with a few of her friends. They are from Canada and in med school. They had been in Eilat, observing and helping in a hospital and touring around the south through some Canadian Jewish organization. Jen extended her trip to visit Idan and me in Tel Aviv, so her friend Ashley and her stayed at my apartment. Friday, we met up with Idan and took a mini-walking tour of Tel Aviv. He was a great little tour guide. I was surprised by how much he knew about the histories of the streets and the different architectures. After Idan went to work, Jen, Ashley and I found a new (to me) shwarma place. It was one of the best I’ve had so far! That night, while he was working, we walked around the port and ate an Israeli dinner of lafa (huge pita), hummus and salads. Then we went to one of my favorite bars. Ashley got hit on by a 45 year old so we moved to a different side of the bar to “meet some friends”. Then, some very trusting random dude that had been eyeing us asked us to watch his wallet, phone and keys while he went to the bathroom. We left as soon as we finished our beers! I don’t know if it’s my favorite place anymore.
Saturday morning we had a huge, delicious, cheap Israeli breakfast at “Sandwich Place”. (It’s really called Bar Gurion & they definitely have more than just sandwiches there, but that’s what it’s called around my program.) Then we went to the beach, which Jen and Ashley both said was better than Eilat. Our friend Gal came...with popsicles! We waded out to a natural rock levee and found some cool looking crabs. Good day. That night, we met up with another one of Jen and Ashley’s from their trip and went to a club that has a pool in the middle. The bartenders actually stand in it and serve drinks from there! Allie, Ali and I know the guys that promote the party line there on Saturday nights, so we got in easily and had a ton of fun!
Sunday (my last day of class!), Idan was already at the apartment with Jen when I got home from class and Doron came over soon after. Nice surprise! After hanging out for a while and taking some fun pictures on the couch, we met up with some other camp friends (Gal, Kelly and Heather) for dinner at an Italian restaurant. Noam had told me about it months and months ago, so I was glad to finally try it out! Jen and Ashley left super early in the morning to travel around Europe for a few weeks. They’re coming to Tel Aviv on the 29th, so we get another day to hang out before we all fly out on the 30th (them back to Canada, me to Texas). Their flight is only an hour after mine, which means we get to share the cab fare!
Wednesday, Cohort 11 went on our end of the year trip. Well, 8 out of the 18 of us went. 2 have already gone back to the States and 2 had previous engagements. The other 6? Yeah...they had no excuses! Lame. Those that went, had a GREAT time, though. We took a hike around Ramat HaNadiv, which is a nature preserve on the Rothchild estate. We did a 3.5-4 hour hike in 2 hours and 15 minutes. Probably best that we had a smaller group! Afterwards, we got to spend some time in the gardens before we went to a little town called Zichron Ya’acov for lunch and free time. It reminded me of Salado or Fredricksburg in Texas, with the little restaurants/cafes and shops. And it wouldn’t be a Cohort 11 trip without a visit to a winery. We went to the Carmel winery down the road from Zichron. I’m becoming an expert on the wine making and tasting process. Ask me anything!
My pictures have been updated: http://picasaweb.google.com/cpasses
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
3 Important Days
May 1st was Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day). One of the fifth grade classes at my school led a ceremony. They sang a few songs, did a few dances and read some things in Hebrew that I didn’t really understand. The part that really had an impact on me, though was the beginning. At 10:00 am, exactly, a siren went off for a minute. Everyone was already standing and quiet, ready for it. Remember, this the country where nothing ever happens exactly on time. And this large school was on time. The second the siren sounded, every single kid (even the 1st graders!) and teachers put their head down. The incredible part about this is that a siren was sounding in every neighborhood around the country. For that minute, every single person in the country (except maybe the Arabs) was standing silently. Even on the highways, people had pulled over and gotten out of their cars to stand for the siren. Imagine doing this in America. There would be absolutely no law that could pass that could make everyone in the country do the exact same thing at the exact same time, even if it was in remembrance of something. The impact of this minute was intense. I had chills. However, the rest of the day, at least at school, was normal.
The next week were two abnormal days. In fact, I had off from Wednesday to Saturday! Yom HaZikaron (Memorial Day) was Wednesday the 7th, but like all Jewish holidays, it started the night before. In the States, Memorial Day equals shopping at sales and barbeques because most people are not directly connected to or effected by losing someone that was in the military. However, in Israel, since everyone has to serve in the army in a country that is rarely in a completely peaceful state, every person has had to experience the loss of someone. It is an actual day of mourning. There was a ceremony at Allie’s school down the street, so the three of us went. At 8:00 pm, to start the ceremony, there was another minute-long siren and again, everyone was already standing and ready. In the morning, at 11:00 am, there was a two minute-long siren. We were standing in our apartment, looking out our open window waiting for it. Below us on the street, busses and cars stopped. People got out before the siren and stood silently when it sounded. Luckily, we are on the third floor and people did not look up to see that I was disrespectfully taking a video of it on my camera for 30 seconds.
That evening the entire tone of the country changed from mournful to joyous. May 8th was Yom Ha’atzma’ut (Independence Day). Israel declared its independence on May 14, 1948, but since all Jewish holidays follow the Jewish, lunar calendar, sometimes the date on the secular calendar is different. The government purposely scheduled Yom HaZikaron the day before so that the country can remember why and how it exists and have that contrast. We hung an Israeli flag outside our living room window that faces the street to add one more to the thousands up around the country. At about 9pm, there was a HUGE celebration in Rabin Square in Tel Aviv, full of singing, dancing, fireworks and other excitement. We had a pretty large group of and went down to the street parties on Florentin in very south Tel Aviv. Of course, it’s hard to keep up with that many people and most of the night was spent finding each other. Later, I met up with Keith and Mike (from TASP) and their friends at a reggae party on a rooftop. After, we took a very scenic walk back to kinda south Tel Aviv and I continued my walk home to the old north of Tel Aviv as the sun was coming up. The next day, some people from TASP got together for a potluck BBQ/picnic in the large park in north Tel Aviv. I truly feel like I got the whole experience of the holiday and have a whole new appreciation and connection to this country.
The next week were two abnormal days. In fact, I had off from Wednesday to Saturday! Yom HaZikaron (Memorial Day) was Wednesday the 7th, but like all Jewish holidays, it started the night before. In the States, Memorial Day equals shopping at sales and barbeques because most people are not directly connected to or effected by losing someone that was in the military. However, in Israel, since everyone has to serve in the army in a country that is rarely in a completely peaceful state, every person has had to experience the loss of someone. It is an actual day of mourning. There was a ceremony at Allie’s school down the street, so the three of us went. At 8:00 pm, to start the ceremony, there was another minute-long siren and again, everyone was already standing and ready. In the morning, at 11:00 am, there was a two minute-long siren. We were standing in our apartment, looking out our open window waiting for it. Below us on the street, busses and cars stopped. People got out before the siren and stood silently when it sounded. Luckily, we are on the third floor and people did not look up to see that I was disrespectfully taking a video of it on my camera for 30 seconds.
That evening the entire tone of the country changed from mournful to joyous. May 8th was Yom Ha’atzma’ut (Independence Day). Israel declared its independence on May 14, 1948, but since all Jewish holidays follow the Jewish, lunar calendar, sometimes the date on the secular calendar is different. The government purposely scheduled Yom HaZikaron the day before so that the country can remember why and how it exists and have that contrast. We hung an Israeli flag outside our living room window that faces the street to add one more to the thousands up around the country. At about 9pm, there was a HUGE celebration in Rabin Square in Tel Aviv, full of singing, dancing, fireworks and other excitement. We had a pretty large group of and went down to the street parties on Florentin in very south Tel Aviv. Of course, it’s hard to keep up with that many people and most of the night was spent finding each other. Later, I met up with Keith and Mike (from TASP) and their friends at a reggae party on a rooftop. After, we took a very scenic walk back to kinda south Tel Aviv and I continued my walk home to the old north of Tel Aviv as the sun was coming up. The next day, some people from TASP got together for a potluck BBQ/picnic in the large park in north Tel Aviv. I truly feel like I got the whole experience of the holiday and have a whole new appreciation and connection to this country.
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
There is no title great enough to describe this...
I got back from 2 weeks in Austin on Monday and have been messing up my sleeping and eating schedule ever since. The jetlag definitely just works one way. I didn't feel like this in Austin. I also finally got my big suitcase back from the airline who decided that a big pink & white polka dot suitcase with an "OUT OF ITALY" tag on it wasn't obvious enough.
I won't recap every detail of the trip, but here are the highlights. Lauren, Ken, Dad: you're welcome.
Sat 12th-- breakfast at Kerbey Lane with Mom and Ted
Laura's birthday party at the lake
Sun 13th-- Express baseball game with Dad and Ted
steak dinner at home. yum!
Mon 14th-- dinner at Trudy's with a bunch of Jews and Lauren, Corey and Helen
Tues 15th-- pedicures with Mom
lunch with Mom, Dad & Corey
shopping with Mom!!!
Happy Hour at the Domain with Mom, Dad & Dawn
Wed 16th-- lunch with Mom...more Mexican food...mmmmmm
UT baseball game with Dad
Thurs 17th-- visit to Pillow. It was great to see all the teachers & see how grown up the kids have gotten in a year!
Happy Hour at El Arroyo...got to finally see Sean & drink 99 cent margs!!!
Kelly & Thom's gig at Patsy's Cowgirl Cafe
Midnight Rodeo...more cheap drinks :)
Fri 18th-- lunch & sunglasses purchasing with Sean on the Drag
movies with Annie, Lauren & Sean
Sean's family birthday dinner at Sullivan's...mmmmm
Downtown barhopping with a ton of friends...very, very fun!
Sat 19th-- Sean's 24th birthday!!!
Reggae Fest...long lines, sun, chill music & good people watching!
Adult Spelling Bee downtown to cheer on Annie :)
Sun 20th-- lunch at Guero's (can't get enough Mexican!) with Lauren, Dan & Ken...who paid, btw ;)
17 person Passover seder at the house which included an "under 30" table. I think we had too much fun. :)
Mon 21st-- lunch & visiting with Rabbi Folberg and his wife, Saundra & their daughter, who I babysat in college. She's 6 now...it's amazing how fast they grow up!
dinner with the 'rents
Tues 22nd-- lunch with Mom and Dad at the Frisco Shop while it was still in it's original location
manicures, tennis shoe shopping and Amy's ice cream with Mom
sushi happy hour dinner at Kyoto with JMCS, my girls from camp, minus our vowel :( Oh yeah, and more Amy's ice cream.
Wed 23rd-- drive to camp to discuss this summer (ok, and to visit!)
kept driving to Arlington to visit Sean and see the house he's living in now. Even went to Walmart...glad I went all the way up there for that. :) It was pouring. We got wet and then made stir-fry for a VERY late dinner.
Thurs 24th-- drive back to Austin
visit Annie at work...she loves her job...makes me happy!
Happy Hour at Serrano's...seriously I'm surprised I'm not having lack of Mexican food withdrawls right now.
Kickball game with "Your Mom"...new team, first game, got to pitch. :)
Downtown with Annie. Craziness ensued, even though we stayed on 5th St.
Fri 25th-- Lunch at Kerbey Lane with Ted, Alit and later, Scott
Katie's wedding shower...got to see Pillow people again.
dinner at Matt's El Rancho with the crew. WAY FUN! Started to pour & hail on the way home...somehow, we fit Ted's car in the garage.
Sat 26th-- Annie met Ted and me at the airport to see me off. :)
Flew to NY, ate at a kosher Indian restaurant with a large family group
Saw Abby & Donnie & had fondue at my aunt's house...yummmmm
I was super busy, but it was amazing being with so many friends and my whole family. I could not have asked for a better trip.
Hopefully I will get my brain to follow my body back into my routine soon. There are a few memorial days and an independence day coming up here-- look for reflections on them in the coming weeks.
I won't recap every detail of the trip, but here are the highlights. Lauren, Ken, Dad: you're welcome.
Sat 12th-- breakfast at Kerbey Lane with Mom and Ted
Laura's birthday party at the lake
Sun 13th-- Express baseball game with Dad and Ted
steak dinner at home. yum!
Mon 14th-- dinner at Trudy's with a bunch of Jews and Lauren, Corey and Helen
Tues 15th-- pedicures with Mom
lunch with Mom, Dad & Corey
shopping with Mom!!!
Happy Hour at the Domain with Mom, Dad & Dawn
Wed 16th-- lunch with Mom...more Mexican food...mmmmmm
UT baseball game with Dad
Thurs 17th-- visit to Pillow. It was great to see all the teachers & see how grown up the kids have gotten in a year!
Happy Hour at El Arroyo...got to finally see Sean & drink 99 cent margs!!!
Kelly & Thom's gig at Patsy's Cowgirl Cafe
Midnight Rodeo...more cheap drinks :)
Fri 18th-- lunch & sunglasses purchasing with Sean on the Drag
movies with Annie, Lauren & Sean
Sean's family birthday dinner at Sullivan's...mmmmm
Downtown barhopping with a ton of friends...very, very fun!
Sat 19th-- Sean's 24th birthday!!!
Reggae Fest...long lines, sun, chill music & good people watching!
Adult Spelling Bee downtown to cheer on Annie :)
Sun 20th-- lunch at Guero's (can't get enough Mexican!) with Lauren, Dan & Ken...who paid, btw ;)
17 person Passover seder at the house which included an "under 30" table. I think we had too much fun. :)
Mon 21st-- lunch & visiting with Rabbi Folberg and his wife, Saundra & their daughter, who I babysat in college. She's 6 now...it's amazing how fast they grow up!
dinner with the 'rents
Tues 22nd-- lunch with Mom and Dad at the Frisco Shop while it was still in it's original location
manicures, tennis shoe shopping and Amy's ice cream with Mom
sushi happy hour dinner at Kyoto with JMCS, my girls from camp, minus our vowel :( Oh yeah, and more Amy's ice cream.
Wed 23rd-- drive to camp to discuss this summer (ok, and to visit!)
kept driving to Arlington to visit Sean and see the house he's living in now. Even went to Walmart...glad I went all the way up there for that. :) It was pouring. We got wet and then made stir-fry for a VERY late dinner.
Thurs 24th-- drive back to Austin
visit Annie at work...she loves her job...makes me happy!
Happy Hour at Serrano's...seriously I'm surprised I'm not having lack of Mexican food withdrawls right now.
Kickball game with "Your Mom"...new team, first game, got to pitch. :)
Downtown with Annie. Craziness ensued, even though we stayed on 5th St.
Fri 25th-- Lunch at Kerbey Lane with Ted, Alit and later, Scott
Katie's wedding shower...got to see Pillow people again.
dinner at Matt's El Rancho with the crew. WAY FUN! Started to pour & hail on the way home...somehow, we fit Ted's car in the garage.
Sat 26th-- Annie met Ted and me at the airport to see me off. :)
Flew to NY, ate at a kosher Indian restaurant with a large family group
Saw Abby & Donnie & had fondue at my aunt's house...yummmmm
I was super busy, but it was amazing being with so many friends and my whole family. I could not have asked for a better trip.
Hopefully I will get my brain to follow my body back into my routine soon. There are a few memorial days and an independence day coming up here-- look for reflections on them in the coming weeks.
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
A "take shelter" drill-- Israeli style
Today all schools around Tel Aviv, there was a "take shelter" drill.
In the States, these days, that drill is for hurricanes or tornadoes. Here, in Israel, we practice taking shelter from bombs. The kids don't go into a window-less room or hallway and kneel & cover their heads with their hands. They go into a bomb shelter. I think this might have been the first one they've done this year, but that still doesn't explain the mass chaos that took place during this drill. With the exception of the 1st graders, they've all done it at least once before.
In the States, drills are taken seriously, like the emergency is actually happening. The kids are quiet, listening for instructions, walking from place to place, albeit quickly. In Israel, kids/people don't have quite the same respect for order or authority. (Apparently this is supposed to change when they go into the army, but it seems that they forget all their respect & order training within 10 years afterward.)
2nd period was cut short so that the kids could have recess before the drill. When the bell rang, the kids were supposed to go back to their rooms and get under their desks, for about 5 minutes, until the siren sounded. 2 6th graders with a roll list were "in charge" of each class and met the teacher in the room. Seriously, I directed my questions about what was happening to them because they knew more than my cooperating teacher. This under the desk business just meant play time to the kids. They didn't get quiet longer than 30 seconds for anyone asking for it. They were partially under, partially under, no kneeling, just hanging out. A few even got up & switched spots to go be with their friends.
When the siren sounded, we waited 2 minutes to let the other hallway go down the stairs first so it wouldn't get too congested, as if in a real emergency we wouldn't use the other stairwell that was only slightly farther away from the bomb shelter. When we left, I looked out the hallway window and saw herds of kids full speed running across the school yard to the shelter. No order, no sight of any teachers, who were most likely, walking slowly behind, talking to each other. When we got to the stairs, the class in front has been stopped for whatever reason. This was as far as we got and even the 6th graders "in charge" had no idea why. We sat the kids on the stairs and waited 10 minutes until it was over. The noise from the 2 classes was deafening. I actually covered my ears as I sat at the top of the stairs and they were still ringing for a while after. At least my cooperating teacher thought this whole situation was as ridiculous as I did. As we sat there, she turned to me and said, "As if the roof won't fall in if there's a real bomb?"
I wouldn't say I'm still experiencing culture shock, but I am occasionally still shocked by this culture.
In the States, these days, that drill is for hurricanes or tornadoes. Here, in Israel, we practice taking shelter from bombs. The kids don't go into a window-less room or hallway and kneel & cover their heads with their hands. They go into a bomb shelter. I think this might have been the first one they've done this year, but that still doesn't explain the mass chaos that took place during this drill. With the exception of the 1st graders, they've all done it at least once before.
In the States, drills are taken seriously, like the emergency is actually happening. The kids are quiet, listening for instructions, walking from place to place, albeit quickly. In Israel, kids/people don't have quite the same respect for order or authority. (Apparently this is supposed to change when they go into the army, but it seems that they forget all their respect & order training within 10 years afterward.)
2nd period was cut short so that the kids could have recess before the drill. When the bell rang, the kids were supposed to go back to their rooms and get under their desks, for about 5 minutes, until the siren sounded. 2 6th graders with a roll list were "in charge" of each class and met the teacher in the room. Seriously, I directed my questions about what was happening to them because they knew more than my cooperating teacher. This under the desk business just meant play time to the kids. They didn't get quiet longer than 30 seconds for anyone asking for it. They were partially under, partially under, no kneeling, just hanging out. A few even got up & switched spots to go be with their friends.
When the siren sounded, we waited 2 minutes to let the other hallway go down the stairs first so it wouldn't get too congested, as if in a real emergency we wouldn't use the other stairwell that was only slightly farther away from the bomb shelter. When we left, I looked out the hallway window and saw herds of kids full speed running across the school yard to the shelter. No order, no sight of any teachers, who were most likely, walking slowly behind, talking to each other. When we got to the stairs, the class in front has been stopped for whatever reason. This was as far as we got and even the 6th graders "in charge" had no idea why. We sat the kids on the stairs and waited 10 minutes until it was over. The noise from the 2 classes was deafening. I actually covered my ears as I sat at the top of the stairs and they were still ringing for a while after. At least my cooperating teacher thought this whole situation was as ridiculous as I did. As we sat there, she turned to me and said, "As if the roof won't fall in if there's a real bomb?"
I wouldn't say I'm still experiencing culture shock, but I am occasionally still shocked by this culture.
Monday, April 7, 2008
Sinai, Egypt
I just got back yesterday morning from spending 4 days in my 2nd Arab country. A few weeks ago, when spontaneously touring Caesaria with Meir, he asked if I wanted to go to Sinai with him for a snorkling/diving trip. Apparently, some other friends kept backing out. Well, luckily, last week, I didn't have university on Wednesday and I took off work on Thursday because the English teacher I work with wasn't going to be there, so I wouldn't have anything to do anyway.
We hopped on the midnight bus from TA to Eilat on Tuesday night and arrived about 6 hours later, having slept very little. We talked to 2 other guys going into Sinai and shared breakfast and a cab to the border with them. Since we had no idea where we were staying, we took their word on a northern village called Terabin, near the town of Nuweba. It was right on the water (like most of the towns in Sinai are) & very deserted and quiet. We spent 2 days there sleeping (in the sun or shade by the water) reading, playing cards and backgammon, and battling mosquitoes. The 2nd day we walked along the water for about 20 minutes to see the action in Nuweba. Apparently, it's still the off-season.
2 days was enough quiet, though. We needed some things to do, so we decided to move south about an hour to Dahab. Friday morning, we walked back to Nuweba to catch the 6:30 am bus, which came closer to 7:15 and then broke down when it tried to go up a hill. Good thing we had sunflower seeds & the "-tion game" to pass the time. We got into Dahab around 9 and began looking for a cheap (but nice-ish) place to stay. We found it at the Bish Bishi. We ate breakfast and then...slept outside. (All these places have pillows set up all around tables, so you can just stretch out & relax.)
Later, we walked around and explored the town and priced snorkeling and scuba diving trips. I got molested by a guy that Meir wanted to buy a shirt from. The guy wanted to sell me wrap around pants & put them on me. Outside of that and eating dinner, we didn't do much. We were going to leave with a group from the hotel at 11 pm to go on a night hike to watch the sunrise at St. Catherine's monastery, neat Mount Sinai, but um, didn't. If we had, the next day wouldn't have worked out so perfectly.
The fourth day, we were determined to do something, so we got up at 7:30. Meir is an experienced diver and said that the best time to go is early in the morning. However, Dahab didn't wake up until about 9. We ate breakfast, found a snorkeling trip at the famous Blue Hole leaving at 11am and signed up for a dive at Moray Gardens for whenever we got back. Besides the super cold water & the pretty purple jellyfish that had long tentacles, I thought snorkeling was awesome! The water was so blue and clear and fish were so beautiful. Meir thought it was ok, but he knew what was to come. I didn't.
We got back a little later than we thought we would, but everyone is very relaxed, so the dive center was cool with it. We got our wet suits on and I got a quick lesson on what to do and expect from the instructor (Andy), who was going to have a hand on me the whole time in the water and would regulate my air for me. (What a relief!) We drove 10 minutes outside the town to a more secluded part of the reef & put everything else on: fins, BCD vest (w/ which you pump in or let out air to control how you ascend or descend), weight belt, tank, face mask. It was extremely heavy on land. I don't know how I managed to walk to the water. Once in the water, the instructor had me practice 2 skills: how to get water out of your face mask and how to put your mouthpiece back in if it comes out...both underwater! I apparently mastered them the first time & we were off!
I never thought that I would ever go diving and I am so glad I did. The fact that I didn't have an underwater disposable camera with me just means that I'll have to do it again! I literally thought I was in the middle of "Finding Nemo". We even saw 2 squid! Every new fish I saw was my new favorite. Snorkeling in the Red Sea was pretty cool, but not as cool as diving in the Red Sea. I was worried that Meir wouldn't get such a cool dive because he was just accompanying my introductory dive, but since we went outside the town and were under for 45 minutes, it was better. He was really happy with it, too.
Andy told me after the dive that I only went through half the tank, which is less than some more experienced divers use. I told Meir later & his response was, "Yeah, you were really calm." I don't know how they or my body thought I was calm, though, because my mind was a frantic mess. I kept worrying about breathing and popping my ears (the 2 most important things), not using my arms to swim, keeping water out of my face mask, keeping my mouthpiece in my mouth AND taking in all my surroundings and looking at things. In fact, my face muscles used for jaw clenching are still sore from trying so hard to keep the mouthpiece in!
When we got back, we changed super fast to try to catch the bus to Nuweba at 6:30 pm. We were trying to get back to Eilat to catch our 9:30 bus. It was late. We majorly bargained with a cab driver who took us and 2 other girls. We dropped them in Nuweba and continued onto Taba, where the border is. On the way, we realized that the time change was not working in our favor. Egypt has not changed their clocks, so Israel is an hour ahead.
We ended up missing our bus. We didn't want to pay another 60 shekels to catch the midnight bus, so we convinced ourselves that there wasn't enough room and started to try to hitch hike back to Tel Aviv. The first ride was almost into the middle of Eilat from an empty charter bus who had just dropped off a group at the border. The second was an empty army transport bus who was extremely nice. The driver told us not to thank him when he got out. He wanted to thank us for letting him help someone out. He dropped us off about an hour north of Eilat in Yotvatah, a famous dairy kibbutz with a 24 hour store. We got some chocolate milk and hung around, waiting for drivers. Our next ride was in a semi, with a driver who had moved here from the Ukraine and who Meir thought talked too much. I don't know what they were talking about exactly, but I got the idea the driver was telling his life story and all his plans for the future. After about another hour, we got dropped off again at a junction where we could hitch a ride in either direction and get back to TA. We preferred going toward Be'er Sheva because our friend Noam lives there and worst case, we could crash with him. Also at the intersection were 2 Hasidim (really religious Jews), also trying to hitch. I think having 4 people there was hurting our chances of getting a ride. That and the fact that all the semis were headed to the factory down the road. Eventually a bus came by and we surrendered and got on. It had obviously picked up a bunch of others along the way, because it was packed! With so many people laying and sitting in the aisle, we stood near the front for an hour before the bus took a break. Some people got off and we were able to sit...on the stairs. The bus dropped us in Herzliya, NORTH of Tel Aviv. After unsuccessfully trying to get a ride, we got on a sherut (cheap taxi van) which took us into Tel Aviv & then we took a city bus that stops almost in front of my apartment. It was 6:15 am.
Shower, rest my eyes, went to class. What an adventure!
We hopped on the midnight bus from TA to Eilat on Tuesday night and arrived about 6 hours later, having slept very little. We talked to 2 other guys going into Sinai and shared breakfast and a cab to the border with them. Since we had no idea where we were staying, we took their word on a northern village called Terabin, near the town of Nuweba. It was right on the water (like most of the towns in Sinai are) & very deserted and quiet. We spent 2 days there sleeping (in the sun or shade by the water) reading, playing cards and backgammon, and battling mosquitoes. The 2nd day we walked along the water for about 20 minutes to see the action in Nuweba. Apparently, it's still the off-season.
2 days was enough quiet, though. We needed some things to do, so we decided to move south about an hour to Dahab. Friday morning, we walked back to Nuweba to catch the 6:30 am bus, which came closer to 7:15 and then broke down when it tried to go up a hill. Good thing we had sunflower seeds & the "-tion game" to pass the time. We got into Dahab around 9 and began looking for a cheap (but nice-ish) place to stay. We found it at the Bish Bishi. We ate breakfast and then...slept outside. (All these places have pillows set up all around tables, so you can just stretch out & relax.)
Later, we walked around and explored the town and priced snorkeling and scuba diving trips. I got molested by a guy that Meir wanted to buy a shirt from. The guy wanted to sell me wrap around pants & put them on me. Outside of that and eating dinner, we didn't do much. We were going to leave with a group from the hotel at 11 pm to go on a night hike to watch the sunrise at St. Catherine's monastery, neat Mount Sinai, but um, didn't. If we had, the next day wouldn't have worked out so perfectly.
The fourth day, we were determined to do something, so we got up at 7:30. Meir is an experienced diver and said that the best time to go is early in the morning. However, Dahab didn't wake up until about 9. We ate breakfast, found a snorkeling trip at the famous Blue Hole leaving at 11am and signed up for a dive at Moray Gardens for whenever we got back. Besides the super cold water & the pretty purple jellyfish that had long tentacles, I thought snorkeling was awesome! The water was so blue and clear and fish were so beautiful. Meir thought it was ok, but he knew what was to come. I didn't.
We got back a little later than we thought we would, but everyone is very relaxed, so the dive center was cool with it. We got our wet suits on and I got a quick lesson on what to do and expect from the instructor (Andy), who was going to have a hand on me the whole time in the water and would regulate my air for me. (What a relief!) We drove 10 minutes outside the town to a more secluded part of the reef & put everything else on: fins, BCD vest (w/ which you pump in or let out air to control how you ascend or descend), weight belt, tank, face mask. It was extremely heavy on land. I don't know how I managed to walk to the water. Once in the water, the instructor had me practice 2 skills: how to get water out of your face mask and how to put your mouthpiece back in if it comes out...both underwater! I apparently mastered them the first time & we were off!
I never thought that I would ever go diving and I am so glad I did. The fact that I didn't have an underwater disposable camera with me just means that I'll have to do it again! I literally thought I was in the middle of "Finding Nemo". We even saw 2 squid! Every new fish I saw was my new favorite. Snorkeling in the Red Sea was pretty cool, but not as cool as diving in the Red Sea. I was worried that Meir wouldn't get such a cool dive because he was just accompanying my introductory dive, but since we went outside the town and were under for 45 minutes, it was better. He was really happy with it, too.
Andy told me after the dive that I only went through half the tank, which is less than some more experienced divers use. I told Meir later & his response was, "Yeah, you were really calm." I don't know how they or my body thought I was calm, though, because my mind was a frantic mess. I kept worrying about breathing and popping my ears (the 2 most important things), not using my arms to swim, keeping water out of my face mask, keeping my mouthpiece in my mouth AND taking in all my surroundings and looking at things. In fact, my face muscles used for jaw clenching are still sore from trying so hard to keep the mouthpiece in!
When we got back, we changed super fast to try to catch the bus to Nuweba at 6:30 pm. We were trying to get back to Eilat to catch our 9:30 bus. It was late. We majorly bargained with a cab driver who took us and 2 other girls. We dropped them in Nuweba and continued onto Taba, where the border is. On the way, we realized that the time change was not working in our favor. Egypt has not changed their clocks, so Israel is an hour ahead.
We ended up missing our bus. We didn't want to pay another 60 shekels to catch the midnight bus, so we convinced ourselves that there wasn't enough room and started to try to hitch hike back to Tel Aviv. The first ride was almost into the middle of Eilat from an empty charter bus who had just dropped off a group at the border. The second was an empty army transport bus who was extremely nice. The driver told us not to thank him when he got out. He wanted to thank us for letting him help someone out. He dropped us off about an hour north of Eilat in Yotvatah, a famous dairy kibbutz with a 24 hour store. We got some chocolate milk and hung around, waiting for drivers. Our next ride was in a semi, with a driver who had moved here from the Ukraine and who Meir thought talked too much. I don't know what they were talking about exactly, but I got the idea the driver was telling his life story and all his plans for the future. After about another hour, we got dropped off again at a junction where we could hitch a ride in either direction and get back to TA. We preferred going toward Be'er Sheva because our friend Noam lives there and worst case, we could crash with him. Also at the intersection were 2 Hasidim (really religious Jews), also trying to hitch. I think having 4 people there was hurting our chances of getting a ride. That and the fact that all the semis were headed to the factory down the road. Eventually a bus came by and we surrendered and got on. It had obviously picked up a bunch of others along the way, because it was packed! With so many people laying and sitting in the aisle, we stood near the front for an hour before the bus took a break. Some people got off and we were able to sit...on the stairs. The bus dropped us in Herzliya, NORTH of Tel Aviv. After unsuccessfully trying to get a ride, we got on a sherut (cheap taxi van) which took us into Tel Aviv & then we took a city bus that stops almost in front of my apartment. It was 6:15 am.
Shower, rest my eyes, went to class. What an adventure!
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Spontaneous Day!
I don’t know why I didn’t blog about this earlier, but I had a very fun, spontaneous day a few weeks ago. I had been thinking that I needed to break out of my routine and go explore this country more, but homework and class was preventing that. And then one Saturday (the 15th, I think), my friend Meir, who lives in J-town, but comes to TA often because his brother lives here called me around 1pm. He asked what I was doing.
Me: Not much.
Him: Are you going to be doing anything in the next few hours?
Me: Just reading for the university, but it’s no big deal, why?
Him: I want you to go to this birthday party with me. How long will it take you to get ready?
Me: about 30 min, maybe
Him: How about 10? I’m at Ben Yehuda and Nordau. (literally 2 blocks away...so much less than 10 mins away)
Me: Um...ok. Then let me go so I can get ready!
Exactly 10 minutes later, I was downstairs & getting into his car. Now, I had assumed that this party was in TA. I was wrong. It was in a little kibbutz-like place called Pardes Hana, near the ancient Roman town of Caesarea, which is now a national park. It’s only about a 30-40 minute drive, but in a country this small, that’s about equivalent to driving from Austin to San Antonio for a party. The party was small, just people hanging out in a backyard. I knew a few of Meir’s friends that were there, including the “birthday boy”, Amos, but I always have to concentrate really hard to understand what’s going on because they think I know more Hebrew than I do & so they don’t translate much for me. In reality, these are exactly the kind of situations I need to be putting myself in. Meir’s definitely the most patient of my Israeli friends. He asks me questions or will tell me little things in Hebrew and wait for me to answer in Hebrew. He also doesn’t mind me saying, “Ma?” (“What?”) all the time, he’ll just say it slower or in English.
Anyway, after being at the “party” for about an hour, Meir and I left and took a little detour to Caesarea. It was a Roman port city and a very ritzy beach town has developed around the national park. In fact, if you just say you’re going to go to the restaurants, you don’t have to pay the national park entrance fee. (We were honest.) There are parts of the ancient city, like the aquaduct, that you can visit without paying because it’s just on the beach. Israelis hang out on the beach like they’re not in the shadows of history. I suppose it’s difficult to live in a history-laden country like this, though, and always be impressed.
We didn’t take any kind of tour, just grabbed a few maps and explored for about an hour and a half. It was so interesting seeing all the ancient structures in ruins and just next to the sidewalk without being roped off. I made a comment to Meir about how it because it was so different than what I saw in Greece. He bluntly reminded me that Israel has had a few more wars here and that the Jews here didn’t care as much as the Greeks about preserving Roman Christian artifacts. In fact, the ancient theater now has seat numbers on it and is a pretty hip concert venue.
Afterward, we drove back into TA (which took a long time because there was major traffic) to go eat dinner at the restaurant where his friend, Evyatar worked. I still didn’t want to go home and do homework, so I took him up on his invitation to go with him and Evyatar to their friend Inbal’s boyfriend’s apartment to watch Israeli Survivor. I had met and hung out with them all before, so I knew I would be comfortable. After driving around Givatayim (a suburb of TA) for about 45 minutes because of bad directions, we arrived! It was fun and I was impressed with my ability to figure out what was going on in the show. Granted, all these reality shows are the same and Meir had to tell me about the relationships between some people, but I was happy with myself nonetheless.
We dropped Evyatar off at his apartment first and then Meir drove me home. I got out of the car at 11 pm- literally 10 hours later! Luckily, I don’t have to leave for class until 9:30 on Sundays, because I got up in the morning to finish my reading! That day totally reenergized me about living here. I had becoming semi-negative because of my routine. The next weekend, though, was Purim, a holiday similar to Halloween, but with a very different story and history, but I got sick before the weekend and missed out. Since then, I’ve had 2 non-consecutive totally headache free days. Now, I’m congested with a sinus headache. I can’t wait to go home for the Passover vacation. 12 days...12 days...12 days...
(pictures of Caesarea will be up once I finish my disposable camera & develop it.)
Me: Not much.
Him: Are you going to be doing anything in the next few hours?
Me: Just reading for the university, but it’s no big deal, why?
Him: I want you to go to this birthday party with me. How long will it take you to get ready?
Me: about 30 min, maybe
Him: How about 10? I’m at Ben Yehuda and Nordau. (literally 2 blocks away...so much less than 10 mins away)
Me: Um...ok. Then let me go so I can get ready!
Exactly 10 minutes later, I was downstairs & getting into his car. Now, I had assumed that this party was in TA. I was wrong. It was in a little kibbutz-like place called Pardes Hana, near the ancient Roman town of Caesarea, which is now a national park. It’s only about a 30-40 minute drive, but in a country this small, that’s about equivalent to driving from Austin to San Antonio for a party. The party was small, just people hanging out in a backyard. I knew a few of Meir’s friends that were there, including the “birthday boy”, Amos, but I always have to concentrate really hard to understand what’s going on because they think I know more Hebrew than I do & so they don’t translate much for me. In reality, these are exactly the kind of situations I need to be putting myself in. Meir’s definitely the most patient of my Israeli friends. He asks me questions or will tell me little things in Hebrew and wait for me to answer in Hebrew. He also doesn’t mind me saying, “Ma?” (“What?”) all the time, he’ll just say it slower or in English.
Anyway, after being at the “party” for about an hour, Meir and I left and took a little detour to Caesarea. It was a Roman port city and a very ritzy beach town has developed around the national park. In fact, if you just say you’re going to go to the restaurants, you don’t have to pay the national park entrance fee. (We were honest.) There are parts of the ancient city, like the aquaduct, that you can visit without paying because it’s just on the beach. Israelis hang out on the beach like they’re not in the shadows of history. I suppose it’s difficult to live in a history-laden country like this, though, and always be impressed.
We didn’t take any kind of tour, just grabbed a few maps and explored for about an hour and a half. It was so interesting seeing all the ancient structures in ruins and just next to the sidewalk without being roped off. I made a comment to Meir about how it because it was so different than what I saw in Greece. He bluntly reminded me that Israel has had a few more wars here and that the Jews here didn’t care as much as the Greeks about preserving Roman Christian artifacts. In fact, the ancient theater now has seat numbers on it and is a pretty hip concert venue.
Afterward, we drove back into TA (which took a long time because there was major traffic) to go eat dinner at the restaurant where his friend, Evyatar worked. I still didn’t want to go home and do homework, so I took him up on his invitation to go with him and Evyatar to their friend Inbal’s boyfriend’s apartment to watch Israeli Survivor. I had met and hung out with them all before, so I knew I would be comfortable. After driving around Givatayim (a suburb of TA) for about 45 minutes because of bad directions, we arrived! It was fun and I was impressed with my ability to figure out what was going on in the show. Granted, all these reality shows are the same and Meir had to tell me about the relationships between some people, but I was happy with myself nonetheless.
We dropped Evyatar off at his apartment first and then Meir drove me home. I got out of the car at 11 pm- literally 10 hours later! Luckily, I don’t have to leave for class until 9:30 on Sundays, because I got up in the morning to finish my reading! That day totally reenergized me about living here. I had becoming semi-negative because of my routine. The next weekend, though, was Purim, a holiday similar to Halloween, but with a very different story and history, but I got sick before the weekend and missed out. Since then, I’ve had 2 non-consecutive totally headache free days. Now, I’m congested with a sinus headache. I can’t wait to go home for the Passover vacation. 12 days...12 days...12 days...
(pictures of Caesarea will be up once I finish my disposable camera & develop it.)
Saturday, March 8, 2008
A few thoughts...
I can't believe it's been a month since I've posted anything. Here's what I've been doing: work, university, Hebrew, homework, going to the gym, waiting for buses. I went to J-town 3 weekends in a row for a camp reunion dinner, an Israeli politics seminar, and an Idan Raichel concert (check him out...pretty cool, ethnic/rock music). Oh, and there was a week in there that I had a mild case of the flu and missed work and university. Fun stuff. :\
I went to another seminar this weekend on Israel and the Diaspora and their relationship. It was really interesting. We talked a little about the attack & it was weird (for me) in light of the bombing in Times Square this week (Tues or Wed, maybe?) to think about how my connections have changed a little bit. I felt more affected by what happened in Jerusalem than I did by what happened in NY. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that no one was hurt in New York, but I think a little of it has to do with where I am...
This was the first beach weather weekend! Luckily, the first part of the seminar was outside at a national park and my discussion group at the hotel kept meeting outside. I put my space heater away and pulled out my fan. I can't tell you how excited this makes me!
I don't remember if I've posted this or not before, but the bats in Tel Aviv are HUGE! I did a little research and found out that they are Egytpian fruit bats, which is "a fairly large 'flying fox' type bat with an intelligent looking face. They are particulalry fond of ficus sycamore trees, a tree which is especially common in certain parks and boulevards in Tel Aviv." Apparently there are smaller bats in other parts of the country. Only we get the huge, scary ones. They may have an "intelligent face", but I've only had the scary experience of them swooping around me as I'm waiting for the bus or getting out of ulpan.
I'll be home in 34 days to visit!
I went to another seminar this weekend on Israel and the Diaspora and their relationship. It was really interesting. We talked a little about the attack & it was weird (for me) in light of the bombing in Times Square this week (Tues or Wed, maybe?) to think about how my connections have changed a little bit. I felt more affected by what happened in Jerusalem than I did by what happened in NY. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that no one was hurt in New York, but I think a little of it has to do with where I am...
This was the first beach weather weekend! Luckily, the first part of the seminar was outside at a national park and my discussion group at the hotel kept meeting outside. I put my space heater away and pulled out my fan. I can't tell you how excited this makes me!
I don't remember if I've posted this or not before, but the bats in Tel Aviv are HUGE! I did a little research and found out that they are Egytpian fruit bats, which is "a fairly large 'flying fox' type bat with an intelligent looking face. They are particulalry fond of ficus sycamore trees, a tree which is especially common in certain parks and boulevards in Tel Aviv." Apparently there are smaller bats in other parts of the country. Only we get the huge, scary ones. They may have an "intelligent face", but I've only had the scary experience of them swooping around me as I'm waiting for the bus or getting out of ulpan.
I'll be home in 34 days to visit!
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
Jordan, 2 Canadian backpackers & the Superbowl
Thursday, after work, I finished packing my new intense, perfect-for-traveling backpack (Surprise! It's orange!) and left with Allie for the bus station. 6 hours later, we were in Eilat, the southernmost city in Israel. We met our other travel companion (one of the TASP girl's brother's friend) at the hostel and went out to grab a beer and get to know each other. His name is Mike and Allie had met him once. He was in the middle of doing some world traveling and jumped on the chance to have some companions to Jordan. We were very glad to have a guy coming with us, so we wouldn't be harassed or taken advantage of.
Friday morning we got up and found out that the road to Petra was closed because of the weather. It had snowed in Jerusalem, Petra and everywhere in between on Wednesday. Since it doesn't snow often, these places aren't equipped to deal with it. Good thing we were going to Wadi Rum first! Crossing the border was easier than expected, probably because of the weather in Petra. There, we also found out that it wasn't the road that was closed, but Petra itself. hmm...
We took a taxi to the Wadi Rum visitor's center, literally in the middle of the desert! We signed up for a 5 hour tour, picked out our guide and jeep & took off. We saw some pretty cool rock formations, like natural bridges that we actually got to climb up and a secluded small canyon. We saw Lawrence of Arabia's old house, or what was left of it and drawing of camels on a rock wall dating from his 1500-2000 years ago depicting which way the caravans were going. We hiked up a huge red sand dune & filled our shoes with sand as we ran down. We drank delicious Bedouin tea and listened to our guide play the oud. Luckily, we stopped for lunch with our guide's friend & his group. They had a lot of extra food they shared with us. We had stupidly just brought a bunch of snacks instead of figuring out some way to make & pack sandwiches or something. The most amazing part, however, was just standing in the middle of the vast stretch of desert, with huge colorful mountains on either side and a perfect clear blue sky above. It was a good place for life pondering & trouble forgetting.
At the end of the day, our guide hooked us up with a cab driving friend who drove us to Wadi Musa, the city right outside Petra. The day had be gorgeous and warm enough for everything to open up by this point. Our cab driver, Muhammad, was a blast! He was dancing in the car, teaching us some of his moves. We stopped on the side of a road at at a little stand and he bought us tea & took a picture with us. He made sure to point out everything we were passing, like the farm of goats that were all imported from New Zealand and King's Highway, which was up the side of the tallest mountain in the country that you could drive up. At the top of it, he pulled over to let us take pictures of the sunsetting behind the still snow covered (or spotted) mountains. Allie and Mike were the only ones with cameras (By the way Sean, what's the status on mine?) and Muhammed pulled me behind the car and we started covertly making snowballs with the thick snow on the side of the road. We launched them as they started walking back. I learned that I am a terrible snow ball thrower, which is confusing because I can throw a baseball. Anyway, I think Allie got pictures.
In Wadi Musa, Muhammed pointed out his house and the clothing shop where his wife works. We were almost sad to part ways when we got to our hostel-- it was the best cab ride I've ever had! We got his number, though, so he could drive us back to the border the next day. We were staying at the Cleopetra...haha...and bargained our way into the same deal that our friends got the weekend before, even though we only stayed for 1 night & they stayed for 2. Only 7 dinar per person. That's about $9.80. We got situated and then inquired about where to get dinner. Mousla, the guy that ran the hostel pointed us to a place down the street called Alarabi & we were instructed to let them know he sent us and to give us "the deal". Another, older guy named Gregor joined us. He was from Vancouver, had been traveling alone for a few months now and had just come from Egypt. We shared a bunch of dishes-similar stuff to Israel: hummus, pita, grilled meat, falafel, chopped salad. In the end, it was a total of 13 dinar ($18.20) for 4 people!
It was dark when we got back to the hostel, but it was only about 8pm. There was a decent sized living room and about 15 people staying there were hanging. We joined and ended up playing cards for a while with 2 other guys (Dustin & Kevin) from Vancouver who only knew Gregor because they happened to meet in Egypt. What a small world! They had about a week left of traveling and were planning on going back to Egypt because they were flying out of Cairo, but weren't crazy about spending another week there. Allie and I were talking to each other about making it back for the the Super Bowl on Sunday. Dustin & Kevin were much more excited about that, though weren't sure about traveling to Israel for just a few days. We opened the invitation to our apartment hostel, even though we thought we had finally shut it down after the winter Birthright season.
Saturday was the perfect day for Petra. Mild weather & another cloudless sky. We tour a 2 hour tour through the canyon that leads into the heart of the city, learning all about the history. Did you know that there is a new list of the 7 Wonders of the World? Well, the pyramids are out & Petra is in! It is an entire ancient city inside a ring of mountains. Instead of cutting and hauling rocks around to make buildings, the ancient settlers carved the buildings into the mountains! It was literally stumbled upon by a Swiss explorer in 1812. There is one structure called the Monastery, named by the Crusaders, that was the main pilgrimage site. I can imagine that it was traveled to often because you have to climb 800 steps and several uphill ramps to reach it. Mike, Allie & I did it, though, with only one short break & in 35 minutes. The grueling hike was all worth it when we came around the corner & saw this intense carved building. We sat, ate and stared for a while. There is a bell shaped ornament at the top and we noticed 2 guys walking around on it, quite high up. Mike wanted to see if he could go up there, too. I said why not & joined him looking for how to climb up. We went back the way we came and realized that wouldn't work. We went to the other side and saw the reason "why not". There was a big sign that said NO CLIMBING. That was enough for me, but Mike wanted to explore more. So, I sat with Allie until Mike came back, also claiming defeat. The guys at the top were being stupid, jumping from one building section to another and walking on the small ledges on the sides of the walls. That's when we decided to walk back down, before we witnessed a death.
On our way out of the ancient city, we bargained (very well!) to just ride a camel in a little circle, long enough to take pictures and say we did it. We got the guy down from 20 dinar each for a walk to the end of the road (not too far) to 1 dinar each. At first he wasn't budging, but we walked away and didn't look back. We got about 20 feet away when he realized we were serious and caved. Victory!
After our day in Petra, we said goodbye to Mike, who was taking a bus to Amman to continue his world travels and we had Moula call Muhammed to get a ride back to the border. Sad news, though, he couldn't come. He sent his cousin, though. He was friendly, but didn't speak as much English. We did stop at his house, though, and he invited us in for tea. It was neat to see the inside of a Jordanian house, but it was so awkward. His wife and 4 daughters were there (his son was at work) and I highly doubt they had ever seen anyone like us because they just sat there and stared.
We had made reservations for the 9:30 pm bus from Eilat to Tel Aviv, but got back to Eilat sooner than we thought. We were hanging out at the Eilat mall (There's not much to do in Eilat in the winter!) & decided to change to the 8pm bus, which would get us home about 2 hours earlier. We found out that Dustin and Kevin were at a bar in Eilat & had decided to join us in Tel Aviv. They met us at the bus station and snatched the last few seats on the bus. It was a very eventful bus ride, full of an argument about D&K being in the wrong seats (They're assigned here.) Since it was their very first experience in Israel, they were very confused about what was going on, but Allie was strong and argued back in Hebrew. Kevin ended up laying on the floor, like one of the soldiers on our way to Eilat on Thursday and Dustin had to sit with the girl that started it all. After we stopped for a break, the girl magically managed to find another seat and the guys were able to sit behind us again. Woah. We finally got home at about 3 am.
Needless to say, we all slept pretty late on Sunday & then I took D&K to the laundromat while Allie was a good student and worked on a paper. The guys made dinner for us that night & had it ready when I came home from Hebrew class! The Super Bowl started here at 1:30 am. We got to Mike's Place about an hour before kickoff and were shocked to find a place to sit. It is a very American bar, actually next to the American embassy on the water, with huge TV's. It was as packed as I would imagine any sports bar in America would be. I think the only Israelis there were the ones working! We got home from the game in time for me to get ready for work! The guys left Tuesday morning after another mostly sleep filled day. They didn't see much of Tel Aviv, but we made them go spend the day in Jerusalem, at least, before heading back to Cairo.
And now, after two exciting weekends, it's back the grindstone and paper writing. I think I'll finish just in time for the next semester to start on the 17th!
(Pictures will be up as soon as I steal them from Allie.)
Friday morning we got up and found out that the road to Petra was closed because of the weather. It had snowed in Jerusalem, Petra and everywhere in between on Wednesday. Since it doesn't snow often, these places aren't equipped to deal with it. Good thing we were going to Wadi Rum first! Crossing the border was easier than expected, probably because of the weather in Petra. There, we also found out that it wasn't the road that was closed, but Petra itself. hmm...
We took a taxi to the Wadi Rum visitor's center, literally in the middle of the desert! We signed up for a 5 hour tour, picked out our guide and jeep & took off. We saw some pretty cool rock formations, like natural bridges that we actually got to climb up and a secluded small canyon. We saw Lawrence of Arabia's old house, or what was left of it and drawing of camels on a rock wall dating from his 1500-2000 years ago depicting which way the caravans were going. We hiked up a huge red sand dune & filled our shoes with sand as we ran down. We drank delicious Bedouin tea and listened to our guide play the oud. Luckily, we stopped for lunch with our guide's friend & his group. They had a lot of extra food they shared with us. We had stupidly just brought a bunch of snacks instead of figuring out some way to make & pack sandwiches or something. The most amazing part, however, was just standing in the middle of the vast stretch of desert, with huge colorful mountains on either side and a perfect clear blue sky above. It was a good place for life pondering & trouble forgetting.
At the end of the day, our guide hooked us up with a cab driving friend who drove us to Wadi Musa, the city right outside Petra. The day had be gorgeous and warm enough for everything to open up by this point. Our cab driver, Muhammad, was a blast! He was dancing in the car, teaching us some of his moves. We stopped on the side of a road at at a little stand and he bought us tea & took a picture with us. He made sure to point out everything we were passing, like the farm of goats that were all imported from New Zealand and King's Highway, which was up the side of the tallest mountain in the country that you could drive up. At the top of it, he pulled over to let us take pictures of the sunsetting behind the still snow covered (or spotted) mountains. Allie and Mike were the only ones with cameras (By the way Sean, what's the status on mine?) and Muhammed pulled me behind the car and we started covertly making snowballs with the thick snow on the side of the road. We launched them as they started walking back. I learned that I am a terrible snow ball thrower, which is confusing because I can throw a baseball. Anyway, I think Allie got pictures.
In Wadi Musa, Muhammed pointed out his house and the clothing shop where his wife works. We were almost sad to part ways when we got to our hostel-- it was the best cab ride I've ever had! We got his number, though, so he could drive us back to the border the next day. We were staying at the Cleopetra...haha...and bargained our way into the same deal that our friends got the weekend before, even though we only stayed for 1 night & they stayed for 2. Only 7 dinar per person. That's about $9.80. We got situated and then inquired about where to get dinner. Mousla, the guy that ran the hostel pointed us to a place down the street called Alarabi & we were instructed to let them know he sent us and to give us "the deal". Another, older guy named Gregor joined us. He was from Vancouver, had been traveling alone for a few months now and had just come from Egypt. We shared a bunch of dishes-similar stuff to Israel: hummus, pita, grilled meat, falafel, chopped salad. In the end, it was a total of 13 dinar ($18.20) for 4 people!
It was dark when we got back to the hostel, but it was only about 8pm. There was a decent sized living room and about 15 people staying there were hanging. We joined and ended up playing cards for a while with 2 other guys (Dustin & Kevin) from Vancouver who only knew Gregor because they happened to meet in Egypt. What a small world! They had about a week left of traveling and were planning on going back to Egypt because they were flying out of Cairo, but weren't crazy about spending another week there. Allie and I were talking to each other about making it back for the the Super Bowl on Sunday. Dustin & Kevin were much more excited about that, though weren't sure about traveling to Israel for just a few days. We opened the invitation to our apartment hostel, even though we thought we had finally shut it down after the winter Birthright season.
Saturday was the perfect day for Petra. Mild weather & another cloudless sky. We tour a 2 hour tour through the canyon that leads into the heart of the city, learning all about the history. Did you know that there is a new list of the 7 Wonders of the World? Well, the pyramids are out & Petra is in! It is an entire ancient city inside a ring of mountains. Instead of cutting and hauling rocks around to make buildings, the ancient settlers carved the buildings into the mountains! It was literally stumbled upon by a Swiss explorer in 1812. There is one structure called the Monastery, named by the Crusaders, that was the main pilgrimage site. I can imagine that it was traveled to often because you have to climb 800 steps and several uphill ramps to reach it. Mike, Allie & I did it, though, with only one short break & in 35 minutes. The grueling hike was all worth it when we came around the corner & saw this intense carved building. We sat, ate and stared for a while. There is a bell shaped ornament at the top and we noticed 2 guys walking around on it, quite high up. Mike wanted to see if he could go up there, too. I said why not & joined him looking for how to climb up. We went back the way we came and realized that wouldn't work. We went to the other side and saw the reason "why not". There was a big sign that said NO CLIMBING. That was enough for me, but Mike wanted to explore more. So, I sat with Allie until Mike came back, also claiming defeat. The guys at the top were being stupid, jumping from one building section to another and walking on the small ledges on the sides of the walls. That's when we decided to walk back down, before we witnessed a death.
On our way out of the ancient city, we bargained (very well!) to just ride a camel in a little circle, long enough to take pictures and say we did it. We got the guy down from 20 dinar each for a walk to the end of the road (not too far) to 1 dinar each. At first he wasn't budging, but we walked away and didn't look back. We got about 20 feet away when he realized we were serious and caved. Victory!
After our day in Petra, we said goodbye to Mike, who was taking a bus to Amman to continue his world travels and we had Moula call Muhammed to get a ride back to the border. Sad news, though, he couldn't come. He sent his cousin, though. He was friendly, but didn't speak as much English. We did stop at his house, though, and he invited us in for tea. It was neat to see the inside of a Jordanian house, but it was so awkward. His wife and 4 daughters were there (his son was at work) and I highly doubt they had ever seen anyone like us because they just sat there and stared.
We had made reservations for the 9:30 pm bus from Eilat to Tel Aviv, but got back to Eilat sooner than we thought. We were hanging out at the Eilat mall (There's not much to do in Eilat in the winter!) & decided to change to the 8pm bus, which would get us home about 2 hours earlier. We found out that Dustin and Kevin were at a bar in Eilat & had decided to join us in Tel Aviv. They met us at the bus station and snatched the last few seats on the bus. It was a very eventful bus ride, full of an argument about D&K being in the wrong seats (They're assigned here.) Since it was their very first experience in Israel, they were very confused about what was going on, but Allie was strong and argued back in Hebrew. Kevin ended up laying on the floor, like one of the soldiers on our way to Eilat on Thursday and Dustin had to sit with the girl that started it all. After we stopped for a break, the girl magically managed to find another seat and the guys were able to sit behind us again. Woah. We finally got home at about 3 am.
Needless to say, we all slept pretty late on Sunday & then I took D&K to the laundromat while Allie was a good student and worked on a paper. The guys made dinner for us that night & had it ready when I came home from Hebrew class! The Super Bowl started here at 1:30 am. We got to Mike's Place about an hour before kickoff and were shocked to find a place to sit. It is a very American bar, actually next to the American embassy on the water, with huge TV's. It was as packed as I would imagine any sports bar in America would be. I think the only Israelis there were the ones working! We got home from the game in time for me to get ready for work! The guys left Tuesday morning after another mostly sleep filled day. They didn't see much of Tel Aviv, but we made them go spend the day in Jerusalem, at least, before heading back to Cairo.
And now, after two exciting weekends, it's back the grindstone and paper writing. I think I'll finish just in time for the next semester to start on the 17th!
(Pictures will be up as soon as I steal them from Allie.)
An hour in complete darkness
Last Wednesday (the 30th), I got my 2nd non-Mom haircut. I went to a place called Highlights nearby. Allie had gone and so had another girl from the program. The guys that own it/work there are from South Africa, though they have lived in Israel the majority of their lives. They do, however, speak perfect English. Allie loved them, and though they were more expensive than the first place, I figured being able to communicate exactly what I want and get it was worth it. Well...I was right! I am still growing out the bulk of my hair, but I got fun new long bangs and layers to spice things up! He (Jonathan) even straightened it for me. I don't think it's ever been so straight- I don't have the appropriate straightener or patience. I didn't wash it for 3 days, just to keep it!
That evening, I went with some girls from my program (Dina, Shari, Stephanie & Jen) to a town about 30 minutes south of Tel Aviv to the children's museum because they have a Blind Exhibit. You are given a cane and led through complete darkness by a blind person. Talia was our leader. I don't know how they did it, but your eyes never adjust! There are several rooms you go through, each set up with objects, smells and sounds of real life places, like a pond, a cabin, an outdoor market, a harbor (where we "rode" on a boat), a city street, and a cafeteria. In each room, we had to feel and listen around, exploring and trying to figure out what was there. As I was passing a fence on the city street, a dog started barking. I actually jumped! We were told to bring some change ahead of time and we bought snacks at the cafeteria. We had to bring change so that we could feel the different sizes and figure out how much we were paying. On the way to the table, I dropped my bag of chips and Talia picked it up immediately. I was pretty amazed! We sat and discussed our experience and asked Talia questions about her life as we snacked in the darkness. Talia said that when she first started working there, it only took her a few minutes in each room to learn her way around. I don't think I could have done that. I felt like I was fumbling around the whole time, proud of myself when I found something new on my own that no one else pointed out. The whole point was to, for at least an hour of your life, not just imagine, but actually experience, what life would be like without the gift of sight. It was a very mind-opening experience.
That evening, I went with some girls from my program (Dina, Shari, Stephanie & Jen) to a town about 30 minutes south of Tel Aviv to the children's museum because they have a Blind Exhibit. You are given a cane and led through complete darkness by a blind person. Talia was our leader. I don't know how they did it, but your eyes never adjust! There are several rooms you go through, each set up with objects, smells and sounds of real life places, like a pond, a cabin, an outdoor market, a harbor (where we "rode" on a boat), a city street, and a cafeteria. In each room, we had to feel and listen around, exploring and trying to figure out what was there. As I was passing a fence on the city street, a dog started barking. I actually jumped! We were told to bring some change ahead of time and we bought snacks at the cafeteria. We had to bring change so that we could feel the different sizes and figure out how much we were paying. On the way to the table, I dropped my bag of chips and Talia picked it up immediately. I was pretty amazed! We sat and discussed our experience and asked Talia questions about her life as we snacked in the darkness. Talia said that when she first started working there, it only took her a few minutes in each room to learn her way around. I don't think I could have done that. I felt like I was fumbling around the whole time, proud of myself when I found something new on my own that no one else pointed out. The whole point was to, for at least an hour of your life, not just imagine, but actually experience, what life would be like without the gift of sight. It was a very mind-opening experience.
Friday, January 18, 2008
As clumsy as I am, I rarely fall.
Today, I fell. I fell hard. However, I think I will have one small bruise. It hasn't even started to appear. It's confusing though, since I bruise so easily because of so much less. For example, I have a noticeable bruise on my wrist now, so something so insignificant, I don't even know what it's from.
Before I get into the funny story about this fall, let me give you a look into the demented brain of a klutz. Anytime I trip over something (or nothing, as is often the case), especially in public, I imagine what might have happened if I had not recovered from the trip and had actually fallen. What I imagine is often pretty bad and involves blood. The demented part is that I laugh- sometimes out loud.
So, back to today. Ali and I were walking down near the shuk (market). It was super crowded and we were weaving between people to get to store so Ali could pick up a dress that had been repaired. Ali sees an opening and zooms through it and starts crossing the street. I don't want to be left behind, so I take off, too. I don't think to look down, though. On the curb, there is a knee-high cylindrical barrier about 6 inches in diameter. They are lining the sidewalk, with a few feet between each one. Most are a little taller and they are rarely in front of a crosswalk. As you can guess, I walked into it. Direct knee-barrier contact. I was walking so fast, though that that impact didn't stop me- it sent me flying forward. I landed sprawled out in the middle of a little side street. I heard the water bottle I was holding land somewhere else. I abandoned it, jumped to my feet, grabbed Ali's arm- who had a quite shocked look on her face- and rushed off. She kept asking if I was ok and all I could do was nod my head because I was laughing so hard.
Ali said I landed so hard and everyone behind me gasped so loudly that she thought a baby stroller had fallen over, until she turned around and saw me on the ground. She was impressed with how fast I got up. We walked another block before we investigated my injuries. The top section of my left ring finger and my left palm were sore and I thought they would bruise, but that soreness has past. Also, my left knee (the one that hit the barrier) was and still is a little sore, but still no bruise. I'm shocked- and very happy- that I'm ok.
It was definitely more funny than anything else. In fact, I had trouble typing this because I started laughing all over again!
The culprit:
(Those dents were there BEFORE I came in contact with it!)
Before I get into the funny story about this fall, let me give you a look into the demented brain of a klutz. Anytime I trip over something (or nothing, as is often the case), especially in public, I imagine what might have happened if I had not recovered from the trip and had actually fallen. What I imagine is often pretty bad and involves blood. The demented part is that I laugh- sometimes out loud.
So, back to today. Ali and I were walking down near the shuk (market). It was super crowded and we were weaving between people to get to store so Ali could pick up a dress that had been repaired. Ali sees an opening and zooms through it and starts crossing the street. I don't want to be left behind, so I take off, too. I don't think to look down, though. On the curb, there is a knee-high cylindrical barrier about 6 inches in diameter. They are lining the sidewalk, with a few feet between each one. Most are a little taller and they are rarely in front of a crosswalk. As you can guess, I walked into it. Direct knee-barrier contact. I was walking so fast, though that that impact didn't stop me- it sent me flying forward. I landed sprawled out in the middle of a little side street. I heard the water bottle I was holding land somewhere else. I abandoned it, jumped to my feet, grabbed Ali's arm- who had a quite shocked look on her face- and rushed off. She kept asking if I was ok and all I could do was nod my head because I was laughing so hard.
Ali said I landed so hard and everyone behind me gasped so loudly that she thought a baby stroller had fallen over, until she turned around and saw me on the ground. She was impressed with how fast I got up. We walked another block before we investigated my injuries. The top section of my left ring finger and my left palm were sore and I thought they would bruise, but that soreness has past. Also, my left knee (the one that hit the barrier) was and still is a little sore, but still no bruise. I'm shocked- and very happy- that I'm ok.
It was definitely more funny than anything else. In fact, I had trouble typing this because I started laughing all over again!
The culprit:
(Those dents were there BEFORE I came in contact with it!)
Sunday, January 13, 2008
אני מצטערת
Translation: I am sorry.
It has been way too long since I have written a blog. However, I don't feel like I've been doing much to write about. It's the end of the semester, which means there is a lot of work to be done. All of my papers and assignments are due in the next few weeks, or in the middle or at the end of the semester break. There is even one final paper that isn't due until March! Next semester, as soon as we get the syllabi, I am making due dates throughout the semester for myself. That way, this evil thing called procrastination will be less likely to overcome me.
Besides schoolwork, I have gotten to visit friends that have come in on various trips. The best part is that I only had to go to Jerusalem once. All the rest had nights off in Tel Aviv! My friend Aaron, from California and his sister and another friend are going to be here this week on a non-student Birthright trip. They are staying at our apt (which has been so much like a youth hostel the last few weeks w/all the visitors, we're naming the place Nordau 57, modeled after an actual hostel in TA) for a few days. Luckily the weekend they'll be here is my first weekend off from university, so I'll have a lot of time for them.
Also, the first night they're here, some Israeli friends are coming over for dinner. It was supposed to be a "business" meeting (long story) and that was the only night that it could happen, but now, because of several reasons, it's going to just be a fun meeting. So, between the Israelis, my roommates and my guests, I'm going to be cooking for 9 people. I invented a good recipe yesterday that I may use. I might need to buy a new pan, though!
I'm getting better with actually speaking Hebrew, instead of keeping it in my head, and try to say at least one sentence at the beginning of every phone conversation with my Israeli friends. My ulpan (Hebrew) class is almost over, which means I'll be moving up to the next level in a few weeks. Woo!
Gotta go plan lessons for tomorrow!
It has been way too long since I have written a blog. However, I don't feel like I've been doing much to write about. It's the end of the semester, which means there is a lot of work to be done. All of my papers and assignments are due in the next few weeks, or in the middle or at the end of the semester break. There is even one final paper that isn't due until March! Next semester, as soon as we get the syllabi, I am making due dates throughout the semester for myself. That way, this evil thing called procrastination will be less likely to overcome me.
Besides schoolwork, I have gotten to visit friends that have come in on various trips. The best part is that I only had to go to Jerusalem once. All the rest had nights off in Tel Aviv! My friend Aaron, from California and his sister and another friend are going to be here this week on a non-student Birthright trip. They are staying at our apt (which has been so much like a youth hostel the last few weeks w/all the visitors, we're naming the place Nordau 57, modeled after an actual hostel in TA) for a few days. Luckily the weekend they'll be here is my first weekend off from university, so I'll have a lot of time for them.
Also, the first night they're here, some Israeli friends are coming over for dinner. It was supposed to be a "business" meeting (long story) and that was the only night that it could happen, but now, because of several reasons, it's going to just be a fun meeting. So, between the Israelis, my roommates and my guests, I'm going to be cooking for 9 people. I invented a good recipe yesterday that I may use. I might need to buy a new pan, though!
I'm getting better with actually speaking Hebrew, instead of keeping it in my head, and try to say at least one sentence at the beginning of every phone conversation with my Israeli friends. My ulpan (Hebrew) class is almost over, which means I'll be moving up to the next level in a few weeks. Woo!
Gotta go plan lessons for tomorrow!
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