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.
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
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!
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