As much as I like living in Tel Aviv, I love traveling outside of the city. I always find something to amaze me. This country is truly beautiful.
Check out the pictures.
Friday, January 30, 2009
North Coast day trip
A few weeks ago, I made a new friend, named Prashanth. He was in Israel without knowing many people. A mutual friend suggested he contact me and asked me to show him around Tel Aviv a bit. The first night we hung out, we clicked immediately. He is a senior at UT, so we started with that connection and built from there. The second weekend he was here, I went with him on a tour of the north coast of Israel. After meeting in Tel Aviv, the tour van took us to Caesaria, which I had been to before, but now I had a tour guide telling me the history of everything. Then we continued north along the coast to Haifa. We didn’t spend long there, just went to the top of Mount Carmel to look out at the bay/port and down on the incredible Bahaii Gardens. After driving a little further north, we arrived in Acco (or Acre). It was originally established by a group of Crusaders and then re-established when the Muslims came to the area. In order to re-establish the city, EVERYTHING was filled in with dirt and built over. There is literally one city on top of another and archeologists are still uncovering the first city. Now imagine any medieval period movie and think of the super high ceilings that the buildings had. Now imagine them filled with dirt. That’s a lotta freakin’ dirt! We got a tour through the old (first) city, walked through the market in today’s Arab city and then went to get lunch at a restaurant just outside of the city. It would not have been my first choice, especially with all that Acco had to offer, but I hadn’t eaten breakfast, so I was too hungry to care at that point. Next, we drove up to Rosh Hanikra, which is on the Israeli/Lebanon border. We saw the fence between the countries and the Israeli observation tower that constantly has at least one soldier in it, monitoring the other side. There’s also a navy boat in the water at all times, watching the “water border”. Yes, there are buoys set up with a rope between them in the Mediterranean Sea, stretching out a few kilometers to mark each country’s waters. Rosh Hanikra also grottos, which apparently is another thing it is famous for. I didn’t know. But, they are incredible! The rock is a soft limestone and so the waves that crash into them with a few tons of force have carved out tunnels and caves. The water is almost unnaturally blue; it kind of looks like formaldehyde. There also used to be a train track that ran through, from the days of British control. It ran from Istanbul to Cairo and was destroyed on “The Night of the Bridges” in 1946 by Jewish underground fighters who were immobilizing Britain’s transportation routes during their quest for independence.
As much as I like living in Tel Aviv, I love traveling outside of the city. I always find something to amaze me. This country is truly beautiful.
Check out the pictures.
As much as I like living in Tel Aviv, I love traveling outside of the city. I always find something to amaze me. This country is truly beautiful.
Check out the pictures.
Thursday, January 8, 2009
3rd grade Gaza conflict discussion
Today, my first class of the day was three 3rd grade girls: Danielle, Amit and Gal. The first two came from NY and this is their first year here. Gal was in my class last year, which was her first time in an Israeli school after being in Hong Kong for a few years. They are all fluent in both Hebrew and English. Amit also talks incessantly, but usually about nothing. The class started normally: they wrote the agenda, we finished some work from the last class and then they started talking about how the school was collecting food and clothes for the Israeli soldiers. There were boxes lining the halls, already full. And then they told me why. The catalyst for this drive wasn't just the war. The father of one of the students in the school had been killed by a rocket fired into Ashdod or Ashkelon (I don't remember which they said.) by Hamas. Several students also have older brothers or sisters in the army, who were currently fighting.
I was about to tie up the conversation and move on with the day's lesson and then came Danielle's question. "Why are they (Hamas) doing this to us? It's not fair." I immediately knew this was not a conversation that any self-respecting educator should stop. (And anyway, they were at least speaking in English.) We proceeded to have a discussion for about 20 minutes about the war. Danielle and Gal were the ones doing most of the talking, I only inserted a few comments- when they really needed some kind of answer. Amit was surprisingly quiet for once.
One part of the discussion, though, will stick will me forever, and that is the reason I am writing. Forgive me if it is not verbatim, but it will be close.
Danielle: "We fought a war a long time ago to be a country. They got their place and we got ours. Why do we still have to suffer? Just because they lost, doesn't mean we should still suffer. They have their place to live."
Gal: "And a lot of it."
Danielle: "Yeah! We're just this tiny little country. What more do they want from us?"
me: "Well, they think this country is holy, too, just like the Jews do. And they don't want us living here."
Danielle: "But they already have so much. And we already had a war about it and they lost and we are living here now and they're still making us suffer. It's not fair."
Gal: "They just want more and more and more. Why can't they just leave us alone?"
I remind you that these are only 3rd graders. The discussion only ended because the bell rang.
I was about to tie up the conversation and move on with the day's lesson and then came Danielle's question. "Why are they (Hamas) doing this to us? It's not fair." I immediately knew this was not a conversation that any self-respecting educator should stop. (And anyway, they were at least speaking in English.) We proceeded to have a discussion for about 20 minutes about the war. Danielle and Gal were the ones doing most of the talking, I only inserted a few comments- when they really needed some kind of answer. Amit was surprisingly quiet for once.
One part of the discussion, though, will stick will me forever, and that is the reason I am writing. Forgive me if it is not verbatim, but it will be close.
Danielle: "We fought a war a long time ago to be a country. They got their place and we got ours. Why do we still have to suffer? Just because they lost, doesn't mean we should still suffer. They have their place to live."
Gal: "And a lot of it."
Danielle: "Yeah! We're just this tiny little country. What more do they want from us?"
me: "Well, they think this country is holy, too, just like the Jews do. And they don't want us living here."
Danielle: "But they already have so much. And we already had a war about it and they lost and we are living here now and they're still making us suffer. It's not fair."
Gal: "They just want more and more and more. Why can't they just leave us alone?"
I remind you that these are only 3rd graders. The discussion only ended because the bell rang.
Friday, January 2, 2009
Trip to Egypt
In an effort to make this 5 day trip less daunting for you to read about, I'm going to outline & number the itinerary and then separately provide details about each number. If you just wanna know more about certain numbers, you can just read that & skip the rest. Like some of my other posts, I'll provide wikipedia links, if you wanna learn more about something Pictures are at: Egypt- Dec. 2008.
Sun, Dec. 21:
1) 14.5 hour journey from Tel Aviv to Cairo
Mon, Dec. 22 (CAIRO):
2) ancient capital of Egypt-Memphis
3) ancient capital of Egypt & first pyramid- Sakkara
4) carpet weaving school
5) papyrus plant/gallery
6) Great Pyramids of Giza
7) camel ride
8) Sphinx
9) perfume plant/gallery
10) free night "on the town"
Tues, Dec. 23 (CAIRO):
11) Egyptian Museum
12) Hanging Church
13) Ben Ezra synagogue
14) Old Cairo Bazaar
15) Citadel of Muhammed Ali (not the boxer)
16) Cairo (tourist) market
17) Dinner on the Nile
Wed, Dec. 24 (ALEXANDRIA):
17) Drive to Alex, Quaitbay Fort, finding a personal cabbie for the day
18) Montaza Palace and Gardens
19) Area of 13 Mosques
20) Kom al-Shuqafa Catacombs
21) Pompey's Pillar / driving through the market
22) Bibliotheca Alexandrina / drive back to Cairo
Thurs, Dec. 25:
23) 13 hour journey from Cairo to Tel Aviv
DETAILS
1) My friend, Shari & I met at the tour office at 10 am and got in the van. There were a bunch of other people there, but had just organized transportation to Cairo through the company. We were the only ones that were actually going on the tour. By the end of the ride, though, another couple decided to join us for the first day. They were about our age, maybe a few years older. The guy (Tristan) was from Canada, the girl (Arunima) from India, but both have been living in LA for a while. There was also another guy, Will, who was about 20 years old, had aspirations to do humanitarian work in Northern Africa and was possibly in the Navy. He's also swimming the English Channel next summer. We started talking to him at the first stop in Israel on the way to Eilat because we thought the van left us. But then we saw him and were calmed. It just went to get gas. We spent about 2 hours at the border. FUN! Arunima was having some problems w/ her Indian passport & non-reentry Israeli visa. She got in, but we don't know if can get back into Israel. We stopped in Sinai to eat at a little place in a little, nameless town in the middle of the desert. Shari (from NY), compared the Suez Canal tunnel to the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel. We got to our hotel in Cairo, the Indiana, at about 12:30 pm. The guy that "helped" us to our room found out we were from the States and proudly informed us that Indiana was a state in the US. Yes. It is. Thank you.
2) We met our tour guide, an Egyptian Christian named Michael, picked up Tristan and Arunima and went to Memphis. Not in Tennessee, which was most likely named after the ancient Egyptian city. Because it definitely is not the other way around. At this point, Shari & I couldn't remember Arunima's name & kept listening closely to Tristan, hoping he'd address her by name. He finally did hours later and Shari quickly & sneakily wrote it down in her journal that she had been taking notes in. Anyway, Memphis was the first capital of Egypt, during the old kingdom (5000 BCE-2500 BCE). It is just outside the city of Cairo and to get there we had to navigate through the 2.5 million cars that are on the roads daily, all traveling together, without traffic lights or noticeable signs/laws. To quote Michael: "We used to have traffic lights..." We drove through a really poor area town that has a few resort-like hotels, because apparently the rich go there to "get away from the city life". Memphis was founded by King Menas, who united Upper and Lower Egypt. Now there is an open air museum there with a lying, feetless statue of Ramses II (found in Luxor) and a small Sphinx and a standing Ramses statue, among other things. Ramses II was king/pharaoh when Moses came to Egypt & he "raised" him. He married 52 women and had 125 children. We were gonna see lots of statues so Michael said the kings were identified by a crown with a cobra on it and a beard. A tall crown was a symbol of Upper Egypt, as was the lotus plant. A round crown and papyrus plant was symbolic of Lower Egypt. And to clarify, since the Nile flows south to north, Upper Egypt is in south and Lower Egypt is north. Clear as mud, right? I'm glad Shari took notes! We also learned some hieroglyphics/ancient Egyptian: ra= sun, (m)ses=son, mo=water, mas=born. SO: King Ramses was naturally the Sun King, Moses was the Water Son and now we know exactly why Christmas is called Christmas. Names, especially of a king, were written in a oval called a cartouche. Also, all standing statues depict the person with their left foot forward (also like some of the Greek statues I saw in Athens), to show that they are reading to step into the afterlife.
3) In Saqqara, Egypt's second capital, also during the Old Kingdom, we saw the first pyramid ever built. It is a step pyramid, with 6 equal sized levels, for Pharaoh Djoser (AKA: Zoches). It took 20 years, about 100,000 workers and 1 million (yes, they were counted) limestone and mud bricks. It's about 65 meters (213 ft) high. The first level was originally used as a very big bench. Nothing was found inside. We still don't know where he's buried. To get to it, you first walk through the Unification Temple/Funerary Complex. There were 22 columns on each side, representing all 44 states in Egypt at the time. Everything was created by a wise man/architect named Imhotep (meaning "in peace"), who was apparently the father of medicine and the first to ever use limestone.
4) In Saqqara, we learned about Egypt's education system. There is not country-wide, compulsory system and so, in Saqqara, a place with many farmers, many kids do not go to school and do not get educated at all. So, Egypt built these carpet weaving schools, that don't cost the families anything. Besides hand-weaving carpets, students learn very basic reading & math skills and also make some money from their efforts. We visited one of the schools. Their fingers FLY on these carpets and the strings are so small. I really don't know how they do it.
5) Next, we visited a papyrus gallery, where we learned how the first paper was made. It was very strong...even more so than today's paper. Ancient books written on it and stored in scrolls and art was painted using raw egg & plant dyes. Now, oil paints are used. We learned about the ancient Egyptian calendar, which was greatly influenced by the Greeks in later times. I aced the "quiz" on it. It is circular and has 4 images like a compass to stand for the directions. The 4 diagonal images stand for the 4 seasons, There are 12 figures, total, around the circle for the month, holding the circle with 24 hands, for the hours in a day. There are also symbols for the 7 days of the week, 52 weeks in a year, all totaling 365 for the days in a year. It's interesting to see how these ancient cultures wanted to symbolically represent time. The Treasury building in Petra, Jordan did something similar.
6) Finally! We got to visit the Great Pyramids in Giza, just outside of Cairo! They're the only remaining monument on the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World list. There are three in a row, of decreasing size and behind the last are three small pyramids in a row. The biggest is the Pyramid of Khufu (481 ft, 2.3 million limestone blocks), the middle is the Pyramid of Khafre (471 ft, limestone) and the small one is the Pyramid of Menakaure (218 ft, limestone and granite). The 3 small pyramids are thought to be unfinished and for the queens. The Pyramid of Khafre looks the biggest, because it is on elevated land and is the only one that still has part of its casing stones at the top. Erosion has left the others with just their base stones. Like going to see any world site that everyone talks about, I was worried that they would live up to expectations. But, they were really amazing. It's incredible to think that people built them without machines. I mean each block weighed about 2 tons and there were millions of them! AND they were built just to be a king's tomb. Thousands of lowly civilians labored for 20 years or so in preparation for their king's death. If they died, they just got a regular old burial, without a headstone. They were thought to be paid laborers, even if very minimally, though, and not slaves. In fact, according to Michael and Hadassah magazine (Thanks for the article, Grandma), the Jews did not built the pyramids. Bubble bursted! They were there for at least 1000 years before the arrival of Joseph (the first Jewish slave in Egypt). The Jews, instead, built the ancient cities of Pithom and Ramses.
7) We bargained hard core, with the help of our tour guide to go on a 1/2 hour camel ride behind the pyramids. These 2 young boys (maybe around 10-12) led our camels. Their English was decent for a country that doesn't have a mandatory education system. Probably from all the tourists...I actually couldn't see them having much of a conversation beyond the necessities for their job. This was my 3rd time on a camel, but it was still pretty cool. Very, very bumpy. I took a video that I will try to post, also. They are wider than horses, especially w/ the blankets and saddle. I was sore the next day!
I took a break from writing this & came back & realized how long this is/how ridiculous it is to go through details about everything. Look at the pictures, check out the itinerary above that I linked to Wikipedia & let me know if you have questions or what more details on specific things.
Sun, Dec. 21:
1) 14.5 hour journey from Tel Aviv to Cairo
Mon, Dec. 22 (CAIRO):
2) ancient capital of Egypt-Memphis
3) ancient capital of Egypt & first pyramid- Sakkara
4) carpet weaving school
5) papyrus plant/gallery
6) Great Pyramids of Giza
7) camel ride
8) Sphinx
9) perfume plant/gallery
10) free night "on the town"
Tues, Dec. 23 (CAIRO):
11) Egyptian Museum
12) Hanging Church
13) Ben Ezra synagogue
14) Old Cairo Bazaar
15) Citadel of Muhammed Ali (not the boxer)
16) Cairo (tourist) market
17) Dinner on the Nile
Wed, Dec. 24 (ALEXANDRIA):
17) Drive to Alex, Quaitbay Fort, finding a personal cabbie for the day
18) Montaza Palace and Gardens
19) Area of 13 Mosques
20) Kom al-Shuqafa Catacombs
21) Pompey's Pillar / driving through the market
22) Bibliotheca Alexandrina / drive back to Cairo
Thurs, Dec. 25:
23) 13 hour journey from Cairo to Tel Aviv
DETAILS
1) My friend, Shari & I met at the tour office at 10 am and got in the van. There were a bunch of other people there, but had just organized transportation to Cairo through the company. We were the only ones that were actually going on the tour. By the end of the ride, though, another couple decided to join us for the first day. They were about our age, maybe a few years older. The guy (Tristan) was from Canada, the girl (Arunima) from India, but both have been living in LA for a while. There was also another guy, Will, who was about 20 years old, had aspirations to do humanitarian work in Northern Africa and was possibly in the Navy. He's also swimming the English Channel next summer. We started talking to him at the first stop in Israel on the way to Eilat because we thought the van left us. But then we saw him and were calmed. It just went to get gas. We spent about 2 hours at the border. FUN! Arunima was having some problems w/ her Indian passport & non-reentry Israeli visa. She got in, but we don't know if can get back into Israel. We stopped in Sinai to eat at a little place in a little, nameless town in the middle of the desert. Shari (from NY), compared the Suez Canal tunnel to the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel. We got to our hotel in Cairo, the Indiana, at about 12:30 pm. The guy that "helped" us to our room found out we were from the States and proudly informed us that Indiana was a state in the US. Yes. It is. Thank you.
2) We met our tour guide, an Egyptian Christian named Michael, picked up Tristan and Arunima and went to Memphis. Not in Tennessee, which was most likely named after the ancient Egyptian city. Because it definitely is not the other way around. At this point, Shari & I couldn't remember Arunima's name & kept listening closely to Tristan, hoping he'd address her by name. He finally did hours later and Shari quickly & sneakily wrote it down in her journal that she had been taking notes in. Anyway, Memphis was the first capital of Egypt, during the old kingdom (5000 BCE-2500 BCE). It is just outside the city of Cairo and to get there we had to navigate through the 2.5 million cars that are on the roads daily, all traveling together, without traffic lights or noticeable signs/laws. To quote Michael: "We used to have traffic lights..." We drove through a really poor area town that has a few resort-like hotels, because apparently the rich go there to "get away from the city life". Memphis was founded by King Menas, who united Upper and Lower Egypt. Now there is an open air museum there with a lying, feetless statue of Ramses II (found in Luxor) and a small Sphinx and a standing Ramses statue, among other things. Ramses II was king/pharaoh when Moses came to Egypt & he "raised" him. He married 52 women and had 125 children. We were gonna see lots of statues so Michael said the kings were identified by a crown with a cobra on it and a beard. A tall crown was a symbol of Upper Egypt, as was the lotus plant. A round crown and papyrus plant was symbolic of Lower Egypt. And to clarify, since the Nile flows south to north, Upper Egypt is in south and Lower Egypt is north. Clear as mud, right? I'm glad Shari took notes! We also learned some hieroglyphics/ancient Egyptian: ra= sun, (m)ses=son, mo=water, mas=born. SO: King Ramses was naturally the Sun King, Moses was the Water Son and now we know exactly why Christmas is called Christmas. Names, especially of a king, were written in a oval called a cartouche. Also, all standing statues depict the person with their left foot forward (also like some of the Greek statues I saw in Athens), to show that they are reading to step into the afterlife.
3) In Saqqara, Egypt's second capital, also during the Old Kingdom, we saw the first pyramid ever built. It is a step pyramid, with 6 equal sized levels, for Pharaoh Djoser (AKA: Zoches). It took 20 years, about 100,000 workers and 1 million (yes, they were counted) limestone and mud bricks. It's about 65 meters (213 ft) high. The first level was originally used as a very big bench. Nothing was found inside. We still don't know where he's buried. To get to it, you first walk through the Unification Temple/Funerary Complex. There were 22 columns on each side, representing all 44 states in Egypt at the time. Everything was created by a wise man/architect named Imhotep (meaning "in peace"), who was apparently the father of medicine and the first to ever use limestone.
4) In Saqqara, we learned about Egypt's education system. There is not country-wide, compulsory system and so, in Saqqara, a place with many farmers, many kids do not go to school and do not get educated at all. So, Egypt built these carpet weaving schools, that don't cost the families anything. Besides hand-weaving carpets, students learn very basic reading & math skills and also make some money from their efforts. We visited one of the schools. Their fingers FLY on these carpets and the strings are so small. I really don't know how they do it.
5) Next, we visited a papyrus gallery, where we learned how the first paper was made. It was very strong...even more so than today's paper. Ancient books written on it and stored in scrolls and art was painted using raw egg & plant dyes. Now, oil paints are used. We learned about the ancient Egyptian calendar, which was greatly influenced by the Greeks in later times. I aced the "quiz" on it. It is circular and has 4 images like a compass to stand for the directions. The 4 diagonal images stand for the 4 seasons, There are 12 figures, total, around the circle for the month, holding the circle with 24 hands, for the hours in a day. There are also symbols for the 7 days of the week, 52 weeks in a year, all totaling 365 for the days in a year. It's interesting to see how these ancient cultures wanted to symbolically represent time. The Treasury building in Petra, Jordan did something similar.
6) Finally! We got to visit the Great Pyramids in Giza, just outside of Cairo! They're the only remaining monument on the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World list. There are three in a row, of decreasing size and behind the last are three small pyramids in a row. The biggest is the Pyramid of Khufu (481 ft, 2.3 million limestone blocks), the middle is the Pyramid of Khafre (471 ft, limestone) and the small one is the Pyramid of Menakaure (218 ft, limestone and granite). The 3 small pyramids are thought to be unfinished and for the queens. The Pyramid of Khafre looks the biggest, because it is on elevated land and is the only one that still has part of its casing stones at the top. Erosion has left the others with just their base stones. Like going to see any world site that everyone talks about, I was worried that they would live up to expectations. But, they were really amazing. It's incredible to think that people built them without machines. I mean each block weighed about 2 tons and there were millions of them! AND they were built just to be a king's tomb. Thousands of lowly civilians labored for 20 years or so in preparation for their king's death. If they died, they just got a regular old burial, without a headstone. They were thought to be paid laborers, even if very minimally, though, and not slaves. In fact, according to Michael and Hadassah magazine (Thanks for the article, Grandma), the Jews did not built the pyramids. Bubble bursted! They were there for at least 1000 years before the arrival of Joseph (the first Jewish slave in Egypt). The Jews, instead, built the ancient cities of Pithom and Ramses.
7) We bargained hard core, with the help of our tour guide to go on a 1/2 hour camel ride behind the pyramids. These 2 young boys (maybe around 10-12) led our camels. Their English was decent for a country that doesn't have a mandatory education system. Probably from all the tourists...I actually couldn't see them having much of a conversation beyond the necessities for their job. This was my 3rd time on a camel, but it was still pretty cool. Very, very bumpy. I took a video that I will try to post, also. They are wider than horses, especially w/ the blankets and saddle. I was sore the next day!
I took a break from writing this & came back & realized how long this is/how ridiculous it is to go through details about everything. Look at the pictures, check out the itinerary above that I linked to Wikipedia & let me know if you have questions or what more details on specific things.
A Weekend of Birthdays (& a b-ball game)
My roommate, Gal's birthday was on Thurs. Dec. 11 & after I brought home leftover pecan pie from Thanksgiving & found out that it was his favorite, decided to make him one for his birthday. He was super appreciative...as was my other roommate, Matan, who was the first to cut into it to give a piece to his friend. Oh, Israelis...
We went to a bar around the corner that night w/ a few of his friends & there's not much to say, but I thought I'd mention it, since there are pictures.
The next day, one of my friends in the program, Shari, had a birthday. She knew about a rooftop party in Florentin (a neighborhood known for their street parties on Independence Day) from a friend of a friend & invited a bunch of us to go. It was lots of fun...cheap beer & lemonadka (get it? ha). There were also these guys making tacos. And they were amazing. Why? Oh, because they're from Austin. At least one was & he and his friends were piloting their potentially future taco stand business. I vowed to personally keep them afloat as long as I was in Israel. Turns out that there's a whole group of them here, permanently living (for now) from Austin. They went to McCallum HS and know a lot of the same people I do from the temple. Oh, and I also met someone else who knows people from camp, even though he's not even from Texas. I'm very proud of myself for still thinking that meetings like this are cool. They happen so often in this country, that some people don't care anymore. Seriously, think of the last time you randomly ran into someone you hadn't seen in a year, or at least several months or of the last time you found out (not through facebook) that you had a mutual friend with someone you were previously unaware of. Remember that "What-a-coincidence-it's-such-a-small-world" feeling you had & how you told the next person you talked to, "Guess who I just ran into?!" Yeah, that happens to me about once a week. This is such a small country/city.
Moving on to Saturday. My friend Mike (also in the program, lived in the living room of my old apt for the first 6 weeks) has been playing basketball with a local Maccabi league. Maccabi is one of the big sports organizations in the country. They have several lower leagues that people who are good, but not good enough to play on a national or international level, can play in. Mike played in college & was really glad to find a good place to play here that wasn't just at the park during pick-up games. We got him to give us his schedule and a bunch of us secretly planned to go to the game. I think he found out about it, but didn't know how many people were coming & that we'd be armed w/ signs! It was a great, close game & they won, even though the coach didn't play Mike as much that day. We really regretted not making a sign that said "Put Cohen in, Coach!" in Hebrew. We thought about it, but apparently it didn't sound right in Hebrew, so...
Monday was my birthday & I started my day at work, like any other Monday, but with an unusual stomachache. I made it through (Luckily, my last class & my private lessons were cancelled.) & by the time I was on the bus home, I had a full on fever. I don't own a thermometer here, but I'm guessing like 100/101 ish. So, my big splurge on my birthday was a 3-hour nap! I didn't feel so much better when I woke up, but ate a little something and got ready for my party anyway. I drank, deciding it would be a really good idea, or a really bad idea. It actually turned out to be not so bad. We were at a neighborhood bar, with my friend, Keith, as the DJ and being around all my friends really helped. My fever broke in the middle of the party, so there are a few pictures of me w/ a really rosy face. I thought the bar had the heat on at first, but nobody else felt it! Since my program friends all had to teach the next day, most of them got there around 9. A few Israeli friends were there then, too. But, by 11, all my American friends had left and it was just me and a bunch of Israelis! Oh, and the flash on my camera broke somehow. Literally, the bulb was in pieces. So, I ran home (less than a 5 min. walk) & grabbed some of the leftover disposable cameras from last December when my camera broke. I haven't finished them all, but will post the pictures as the cameras get developed.
In case you're wondering, my stomach continued to hurt for the next few days and I ended up essentially taking the week off.
Pictures are at: Various December Events
We went to a bar around the corner that night w/ a few of his friends & there's not much to say, but I thought I'd mention it, since there are pictures.
The next day, one of my friends in the program, Shari, had a birthday. She knew about a rooftop party in Florentin (a neighborhood known for their street parties on Independence Day) from a friend of a friend & invited a bunch of us to go. It was lots of fun...cheap beer & lemonadka (get it? ha). There were also these guys making tacos. And they were amazing. Why? Oh, because they're from Austin. At least one was & he and his friends were piloting their potentially future taco stand business. I vowed to personally keep them afloat as long as I was in Israel. Turns out that there's a whole group of them here, permanently living (for now) from Austin. They went to McCallum HS and know a lot of the same people I do from the temple. Oh, and I also met someone else who knows people from camp, even though he's not even from Texas. I'm very proud of myself for still thinking that meetings like this are cool. They happen so often in this country, that some people don't care anymore. Seriously, think of the last time you randomly ran into someone you hadn't seen in a year, or at least several months or of the last time you found out (not through facebook) that you had a mutual friend with someone you were previously unaware of. Remember that "What-a-coincidence-it's-such-a-small-world" feeling you had & how you told the next person you talked to, "Guess who I just ran into?!" Yeah, that happens to me about once a week. This is such a small country/city.
Moving on to Saturday. My friend Mike (also in the program, lived in the living room of my old apt for the first 6 weeks) has been playing basketball with a local Maccabi league. Maccabi is one of the big sports organizations in the country. They have several lower leagues that people who are good, but not good enough to play on a national or international level, can play in. Mike played in college & was really glad to find a good place to play here that wasn't just at the park during pick-up games. We got him to give us his schedule and a bunch of us secretly planned to go to the game. I think he found out about it, but didn't know how many people were coming & that we'd be armed w/ signs! It was a great, close game & they won, even though the coach didn't play Mike as much that day. We really regretted not making a sign that said "Put Cohen in, Coach!" in Hebrew. We thought about it, but apparently it didn't sound right in Hebrew, so...
Monday was my birthday & I started my day at work, like any other Monday, but with an unusual stomachache. I made it through (Luckily, my last class & my private lessons were cancelled.) & by the time I was on the bus home, I had a full on fever. I don't own a thermometer here, but I'm guessing like 100/101 ish. So, my big splurge on my birthday was a 3-hour nap! I didn't feel so much better when I woke up, but ate a little something and got ready for my party anyway. I drank, deciding it would be a really good idea, or a really bad idea. It actually turned out to be not so bad. We were at a neighborhood bar, with my friend, Keith, as the DJ and being around all my friends really helped. My fever broke in the middle of the party, so there are a few pictures of me w/ a really rosy face. I thought the bar had the heat on at first, but nobody else felt it! Since my program friends all had to teach the next day, most of them got there around 9. A few Israeli friends were there then, too. But, by 11, all my American friends had left and it was just me and a bunch of Israelis! Oh, and the flash on my camera broke somehow. Literally, the bulb was in pieces. So, I ran home (less than a 5 min. walk) & grabbed some of the leftover disposable cameras from last December when my camera broke. I haven't finished them all, but will post the pictures as the cameras get developed.
In case you're wondering, my stomach continued to hurt for the next few days and I ended up essentially taking the week off.
Pictures are at: Various December Events
A Baptism in Jerusalem
One of the girls in my program is Christian, or as she puts it, a Believer. In her faith, people do not get baptized until they make the decision to accept the religion. Through the church that she attends here, she got the opportunity to be baptized here in Israel. This was a really special moment for her, especially in land that is also holy for Christians. She had been very supportive of our Jewish beliefs over the last year, learning as much as she could and participating in our celebrations of holidays. So a group of us went to Jerusalem to support her on this significant occasion. The service & sermon were in Hebrew, but there was also a Russian translator, a signer and a nice man from Katie's church who translated to English for us. Because it was in Hebrew, though, there were times that I had to remind myself that these people were not Jewish. There is such a connection between the language and the religion in my head. Katie had to answer questions about why she chose to be baptized now and I was very proud that she did it all in Hebrew, because while she knew the questions ahead of time, she wasn't sure which they would ask her. (She's my buddy in Hebrew class.) Though the service was long, it was nice. Katie wasn't the only one being baptized that day. They had a little band and 2 groups of kids (one older, one younger) performed songs for them.
Afterward, we all went to the old city and ate lunch. The hummus place we wanted to go to was too small for all of us (16!), so we just picked the next place we saw, which was an Arab restaurant where we HAD to speak in English because they didn't speak Hebrew. It was a bit of a contrast to the Hebrew speaking Christians we met earlier.
Pictures from the day are at: Various December Events
Afterward, we all went to the old city and ate lunch. The hummus place we wanted to go to was too small for all of us (16!), so we just picked the next place we saw, which was an Arab restaurant where we HAD to speak in English because they didn't speak Hebrew. It was a bit of a contrast to the Hebrew speaking Christians we met earlier.
Pictures from the day are at: Various December Events
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)