Israel For Dummies

It's raining.
And grey.
And chilly.

If you thought I was writing from Scotland you're wrong. This is how Israel says goodbye to me. At least it won't be such a shock when I arrive in the UK.

Now that my time here is up I feel inclined to impart some wisdom on the Israeli persona -
Words To Know:
1. Shalom - Hello, Goodbye, Peace
2. Slicha - Excuse Me, also know as "What the Hell are you doing in my way?"
3. Bivakasha - Please, You're Welcome. Not to be confused with "Benzona" as happened to someone at the farm in the desert. Benzona means "Bitch."
4. Sababa - Awesome, Cool
5. Todah - Thank You
6. Yofi - Great

Best Israeli Food:
1. Falafel. Israel's version of fast food in some respects.
2. Shakshuka. A tomato sauce with maybe some onions or red peppers or whatever you've got lying around and then crack eggs onto it's surface as it cooks. So good.
3. Hummus. Just put it on everything it only uses its powers for good.

How To Cross Streets:
It's perfectly fine to walk directly out into the middle of the road and start crossing...if you have a death wish. This is proper road crossing protocol.
Step 1. Locate your nearest crosswalk. There may or may not be a sign saying when it's safe to cross or not.
Step 2a. If there is a sign, wait for the green person. Or run. Israelis usually choose to run at seemingly safe moments because who really wants to be that loser who's actually waiting for it to be safe to cross?
Step 2b. If there is no sign then you have the right of way. Don't think that means people will stop for you though. Just start walking and look the driver in the eye and hope he stops.
Step 3. You have now either successfully made it to the other side of the road or are roadkill. There's about an equal chance of either happening.
My first day I couldn't figure out why no one would stop when I was clearly standing at a crosswalk. I thank Michael Grumer for teaching me this valuable lesson.

Things Israelis Like (pt 2):
1. Coca Cola - never Pepsi
2. Eggs! Most houses have between 1-2 dozen eggs ready to go
3. Scarves. It could almost be a law: "No female neck may be visible during waking hours."

Be Prepared To...
1. Have a lot of food thrust at you by the infamous species known as "Jewish Mothers." If you politely refuse expect to be asked, "What, you don't like it!?"
2. On a similar note, people don't beat around the bush here. They're going to be bordering on rude at times and the only acceptable response is to be just as direct back at them.
3. Assert yourself or you will be completely taken advantage of. Israelis can smell weakness from a mile away.

My entire time here I've been guilty of a few things:
1. Thinking like a Mainer. Whenever I'm on a dangerous road I always think "Man, this must suck in winter with all the ice on it." WRONG. It is winter. There is no ice.
2. I always try to use cats as landmarks. Whenever I walk anywhere and take mental notes of where I'm going it's usually something like: "So I went down Ben Yehuda St, turned right at the black cat who looks like a jerk, etc" But sometimes this actually works! Or you'll at least know that you're in the right neighborhood.
3. Anytime I try to think in Hebrew and form sentences I fill in the blanks with French words and grammar. Which makes me wonder how it's possible for those people who know 4 or 5 languages to keep them all straight.

I've been told that when you're here you notice all the bad things that are going on and crave to be elsewhere, and that when you're elsewhere all you want is to be here. Time to test the theory! This really is the last post from Israel. I'm going to miss going to the beach and wearing flipflops and t-shirts in January - not that the weather has been that nice the whole time... And to anyone who housed me and might be reading this: Thank you so much for the hospitality and generosity you showed me. Until next time!

One Last Day

Out of money and clean clothes I feel I've reached a new stage of traveller's life. Perhaps it's a good thing the weather has been rather unpleasant this weekend because if it was beautiful I'd be more tempted to go places that require money. I think Israel is doing its best to prepare me for Scotland's weather - grey days are all I've seen since arriving in Herzliya, with the exception of one afternoon stint of sunshine. I'm beginning to have trouble grasping the notion that I leave the day after tomorrow. I've been getting a little desperate to move on and start the next stage of journeying, but now that it's the day after tomorrow my brain is losing the ability to comprehend what this means. It took me weeks to adjust to the idea that I was in Israel; once the homesickness passed I would laugh to myself whenever I thought this because it just sounded so strange in my head. "Hey Ilana, whatcha doing?" "Oh, not much! Just chilling in Israel." You know when you do something that is so out of sorts of your normal life that you can't help but find it a little hilarious? It was like that.

February promises to be an interesting month in three different countries - actually four, because I'll still be in Israel in the morning of February 1st - and spent on various continents. I fly to Scotland this Wednesday afternoon, February 1st, where my Dad will pick me up from the airport and we'll stay at my Grandpa's house. After a week in Scotland my Dad and I are spending a week in Germany. Then it's back to Scotland and my Mom and little sister, Maya, are arriving on the 17th. They're staying about a week but I leave on the 22nd so I only see them a few days. For me it's off to California to see my older sister, Noa and the Pacific Ocean. This will be my first time on the western coast; I've never been farther than New York! I'm really looking forward to having a month with family. It'll be nice not having to be the one in charge all the time or responsible for figuring out how to get places and such. Also it'll be nice to not only be traveling with people, but the people I know best.

The past few days in Herzliya have been a little boring, but it's also been nice just to relax and not have to be doing something all the time. Not to mention the weather hasn't been conducive with major explorations. I've spent a lot of time with Ronit and we get along very well. It's weird that I've never met these people before, but we're family so that overrides the normal behavioral codes of strangers. On Saturday I went into Tel Aviv with Ronit and a friend for a few hours and we saw the movie, "The Artist." Please go see it if you haven't, you will love it. And then, with a few other friends, we went to a bar for a while. There's something really nice about being able to go into a bar, sit at a table with your friends, and just have a beer. None of that "let's get so wasted tonight!" attitude, though of course there are still times that's true. Pretty much the rest of my time here has been spent in an unexciting manner. I stay up late watching movies with Ronit and sleep late in the mornings. Grey weather means occupying my time trying to get organized for leaving which takes surprisingly little effort when you've only been using the very topmost layer of your suitcase. I don't know why I thought I needed such a big suitcase or so much stuff - first time travellers' folly I suppose. So now I have this oversized, unwieldy suitcase to drag around with me. Next time I travel I'm getting a backpack! And travel companion(s) - I will be accepting applications upon my return.

I still don't know if I'm going to be sad to leave or not. As a Jew, there is automatically a connection to Israel that isn't present in other countries I will visit. I've changed and grown up a lot since leaving home and I don't know if that's solely because I was forced to, or if it was partially due to being here, in Israel. My relationship with Judaism has certainly changed. The older I've gotten the more I've resented Judaism and pulled away from it, because all my life it's been something that's distanced me from those around me. I wasn't allowed to go out on Friday nights when I was younger because of Shabbat, and so it separated me from my friends. There were restrictions on what I ate and I had a Bat Mitzvah and there were certain days a year I didn't go to school for Jewish holidays. All these things made it so I never quite fit in, but here those things are exactly what unite me with the people around me and make me a part of this community. I don't feel any more religiously inclined than I did before leaving home and no, I'm not going to go to Synagogue more than I do now or refrain from using electricity on Saturdays and I still don't believe in any God. But Judaism is both a culture and a religion, and I think I can definitely draw partially from both sides in new ways that I have been resisting my whole life. I suppose all that is because I'm in Israel, but I think the ways I've grown up and become more mature and responsible are more important and simply due to traveling alone. When I think about how I could have been in college right now I am so unbelievably glad I took this year off. I'm definitely learning more than I think I could have in college, at least in respects to life and myself and all good things.

This might be my last post from Israel!

Herzliya One More Time

I'm back in Herzliya, at Avi's house. I think I'll spend my last five nights here. Being with family, and being back where I started, seems like a nice way to end my trip. When I last wrote I was just leaving for Tel Aviv to see the last of my parents' contacts, the Beazleys. The trip to Tel Aviv was easy - I'm no longer afraid of the bus system or not knowing where I'm going. I have vague memories from my 11 year old trip of Noa Beazley, their daughter. She's the same age as I am and in a similar boat; she's about to leave for the US where she plans on spending a few months. On Tuesday we walked around for the afternoon, Noa pointing out all the good stores to see and places to eat. I think that must be the reason people can tolerate the cramped conditions and lack of space of cities: the food. I wish I had more time and money and room in my stomach so that I could just go around eating all the food. As a land of immigrants, Israel is blessed with a diverse range of food so that you can find most ethnicities on most streets. I remain partial to the falafel joints; what am I going to do without falafel when I get home? I've decided that if all else fails in my life I'll just open a falafel/bookstore/cafe. It was interesting getting Noa's perspective on Tel Aviv in that she has a very negative opinion of Israel. I haven't met someone who so dislikes living here, but it's true that this isn't a place for everyone. I don't know that it's a place I could imagine living. The people are rather aggressive at times and there are a whole different set of concerns than you face. Nonetheless, she and I had a fair bit in common and I enjoyed hanging out with her.

On Wednesday I went back to Jerusalem and, where else, Danny's apartment. Sometimes I think what my trip might have been like if they didn't have that apartment; I've gone back four or five times and stayed between a night and week. Danny's cousin, James, hosts meditation classes on weeks that he is available so I attended this one. As someone who has never done any meditation beforehand, the idea of sitting quietly for half an hour had me a little wary as to whether I'd enjoy it or not. Surprisingly it wasn't nearly as difficult as I'd expected. Afterwards he spoke on the topic of true strength and confidence, and how that means being able to open yourself up and present some vulnerability. People who are hard faced may come across as strong, but it's usually fear that closes them up. The closing point of his talk was that if we accept this as true, then why don't we do it? Why don't, or why can't, we open ourselves up and let in what the world is offering?

Thursday was my last day in Jerusalem, and it was such a wonderful day. I got breakfast at a cafe my sister highly recommended which turned out to be a good place to read for an hour or so and start the day slowly. I meandered around Ben Yehuda Street and Jaffa Street finding presents for family with my dwindling money supply. I got the best falafel I'd had so far and met some cool Americans in the Max Brenner chocolate store. Afterwards I met up with Danny and ventured into the shuk for the last time. On our way home, a street vendor Danny befriended invited us into his little store to show us how he makes pita. This is something he's been doing since he was six years old and has the skill and deftness of hand to show for it. He took one of the large pita fresh from the fire pit, painted it with olive oil and zatar, and cut it like a pizza for us to take. And the way he and Danny became friends is because the man smiled at Danny one day and so Danny introduced himself the next time he saw him. It's really that simple.

Do you remember the woman I so adored? The one I went to for Shabbat dinner with Danny - before New Years I think. Well, to my slight embarrassment, Danny e-mailed her what I wrote about her. About two weeks ago, when I was in the desert, I received a call from her inviting me over should I find myself in Jerusalem again. So a bit later in the afternoon I paid her a visit and it was extraordinary. I was only there for about half an hour because she had a lot of work to do, but we had such an intense one-on-one conversation while I was there. I've never been so exhausted after a conversation with someone, but it was so intense and connected and engaging for those 30 minutes that it might have been a good thing we couldn't go on indefinitely. Though I wouldn't have minded going on indefinitely. I have such admiration and respect for her; I truly hope to see her again. And to strive to affect people the way talking to her affected me.

Hovav, one of Danny's roommates, played his first guitar show Thursday night. It was really fun and he did an amazing job performing the songs he wrote while traveling. On a selfish side of things, I got to see all the people I'd met at various times spent at Danny's apartment and say goodbye on my last night in Jerusalem. It was strange and sadder leaving this morning than I'd expected. I've always gone back there after and in between various stages of my trip that to say a goodbye (for now) to the apartment, the city, Danny, Moshe, Hovav, and Aaron felt a bit like leaving the desert or leaving home. The trip to Herzliya took a couple of hours but it was simple. Avi picked me up from the bus stop because of the rain and I've spent most of the afternoon chilling with Ronit and watching tv and movies...which is weird because I haven't watched tv in weeks. I have four whole days left (is that it?) before meeting my Dad in Scotland (he leaves today). I'm hoping for some nicer weather so that I can better make use of them and do some exploring. I still don't really know how I'm getting to the airport on Wednesday and I've got a very small amount of money left but I think - I know - it will be all good. Shabbat Shalom everyone.

Arava Ahava

After the most extraordinary two weeks spent working in the Arava desert on an organic farm I'm back in Jerusalem, back at Danny's apartment. I'll do my best to justly describe the desert, but, to quote Yann Martel, "Words are cold, muddy toads trying to understand sprites dancing in a field - but they're all we have. I will try." So I will try.

It was love (ahava) at first sight. On the 2 1/2 hour bus ride down from Jerusalem I had my face glued to the window, in awe of the looming desert dunes. I couldn't believe how the people around me could sleep, or, worse yet, ignore what I was seeing. For a long ways the road winds between the Dead Sea and high cliffs; staring out across the Sea on a good visibility day you can see right into Jordan, but it had misted into indecipherableness on the day I went. It feels like the road has been etched onto the end of the world, as if there is nothing more than the hazy void that extends past the shoreline. Cleverly, I missed my bus stop, though not by too much. The owner of the farm, Ynon, picked me up and, after driving between a series of mine fields, I got my first view of Idan. Idan is a small moshav, an agricultural community, occupied by many families of Israelis and even more so by the Thai workers who are hired by different farmers.

When we reached Kayema Farm I was greeted by Adi, Ynon's wife, a selection of their four children who range from ages 2-9, four other volunteers, one of whom had also arrived that same day, and lunch. As an organic farm, food is clearly very important and the meals attest to that. Never have I chopped so many vegetables or eaten as much delicious food as I did at Kayema. They have an outdoor kitchen where the volunteers prepare and eat lunch and dinner; lunch is organized by Adi who is incredibly creative when it comes to cooking and will put us all to work making the most fantastic meals, and dinner is our own responsibility. Thankfully, many of the volunteers were adept enough at cooking that dinner is always great, too. Breakfast is a whole different story. We work in the mornings from 6-12 at the greenhouses caring for tomato plants and breakfast takes place around 7:30. We pack a box the night before with a loaf of bread, butter, cheese, jam, and whatever else is left in the fridge. Always there were fresh tomatoes straight from the greenhouses (one of the perks of being organic is that we could eat directly off the vine). Shivering in the early morning cold, we'd crouch on the ground and wooden slatted crates and lay our feast before us, with nothing more than our laps as plates and hands still dirty. There were always interesting mornings when we'd realize we'd forgotten bread or cups or the day we didn't have any knives, but it was all in good spirits. After finishing work we'd begin preparing lunch on Adi's instructions. This usually was about a two hour procedure: 1 1/2 hours of chopping and cooking, half an hour of eating. It's so wonderful eating food you picked or that you know is grown by one of the other farmers; I haven't eaten such delicious food maybe ever. It would give Shirah Paley a run for her money. Should you happen to go hungry between meals, there is an endless supply of cherry tomatoes we picked. I think I'm addicted, but only to the yellow ones. If I could only eat one food for the rest of my life it would be yellow cherry tomatoes.

After lunch is over the evening is yours. Providing you have enough energy, there were countless things to do. After being by myself for the entire trip, it was unbelievable to have friends and fellow travelers. When I arrived there was Molly from California, Yona (my first roommate) from Massachusetts, Sun from Korea, and Hannelore from Holland. Yona left a few days after I arrived and was replaced by Damien (my second roommate) from Australia, as well as some of Molly's friends from Jerusalem: Esther from Mexico and Inna from New York. It was a very diverse group, in ages as well; the range was 18-43. I wasn't really expecting to make any good friends but I became pretty close with Molly, Sun, and Damien, and maybe Yona though we only spent a few days together. Most often we'd walk across the street and enter the Badlands, an empty expanse of desert extending forever, all the way into Jordan (you could walk to the border from where I was). This is the part that's tricky to describe. I've taken hundreds of pictures, but looking through them it's only pictures of sand dunes. There's no way to capture the enormity of the desert in a photograph, no way to properly describe the energy of the place. Barefoot is the only way to be in the desert. Your toes break through the sun-baked outer layer of sand into the cool, squishy earth below. The desert is never the same as when you entered it; climbing dunes causes mini avalanches behind you and you've eternally changed the landscape. The dunes create a fortress where you can hide among the caves or dry river beds. Except you're never really hidden, you're always out in the open in this landscape stripped bare of everything. The desert is an honest creature, and maybe in the presence of something so bare and beautiful and uncloaked we take on a few of those characteristics. It's as if a truer self becomes present, and we can open up and let ourselves be seen plainly in the same way the desert does. It's not all good, but it's all there and true. It's not uncommon to find a few skulls while walking and there's no embarrassment on behalf of the dunes, it is what it is.

The most incredible moments I had at Kayema were in the Badlands. There was one afternoon I took my iPod with me and had a solo, barefoot dance party for hours on top of a sand dune until the sun went down. There was the extreme babysitting of 2-year old Achai and 6-year old Tanna with Molly and Sun; running and sliding and hollering with them across the dunes until they were finally exhausted. Sun is really into photography and has had an exhibit in Berlin and one afternoon she wanted me as her model so I ran and jumped and rolled and crashed about on sand dunes to her heart's content, a much more physically demanding (and life endangering, when I had to climb head first into a collapsible sand cave) role than I had previously expected. Damien from Australia is also a horseback rider and Ynon has three horses that we're allowed to take out almost whenever. They're a bit crazy and we would go galloping through dry river beds, partly urging them on, partly hoping we'd be able to stop them. And then there was the evening when Sun, Molly, Damien and I all ended up in the Badlands from different directions and on various sand dunes, all of us coming for the same reason: to watch the sunset.

Sunday through Thursday, as I mentioned, we work 6-12. So at 5:45 we wake up hurriedly and layer up our clothing for the freezing mornings. Ynon typically drove us to work in the greenhouses, but some mornings we'd hitch a ride on the back of a tractor pull with all the Thai workers heading there. The work was never very hard and usually just monotonous. My first week we spent trimming and pruning the tomato plants. My second week we did a variety of things from raking up what we had previously trimmed and then picking up all the leaves to picking cherry tomatoes and preparing them to be sun dried. We had breaks at 7:30 and 10 for 30-45 min. On Friday we worked a half day starting at 8 and doing chores and clean up around the house. Usually in the afternoons on Friday we'd help cook the Shabbat meal for which we were invited to join the family in the house, and then Saturday was an entirely free day. My first Saturday I biked the Peace Route with Hannelore and went to a crocodile farm. My second Saturday was a bit more interesting in that I went for a hike with Sun and Damien, but to get to and from our hiking destination we hitch hiked. Our plan when we left at 8am was to hitch hike to the Small Makhtesh, the small crater, and hike across it which Adi had told us could be done in 3-4 hours. The second person who picked us up on the way to the crater, after hearing our plan, told us we were crazy and it was impossible to get there and hike the crater in one day so "to help us out" he dropped us off at the base of another trail which he claimed was great. So we began his trail and it turned out to be a couple miles of climbing directly up. It was ridiculous. When we finally reached the top we decided to disregard this man's further instructions and began walking through the middle of nowhere to the crater. So we walked. And walked. And finally we made it the crater observation point where we met some kindly Israelis who shared a snack with us and encouraged us to do the crater walk. What I didn't realize ahead of time was that to walk across the crater...you first have to get down into it. I don't do well with heights and this was a steep, slippery, at time sheer cliff downwards with a few footholds and the occasional railing for the really dangerous parts. While Sun and Damien confidently made their way down, I hovered at the back nearly in tears for most of the way down. My legs were shaking like mad but it was one of those things that once you started you really can't go back up, and everytime I thought the worst was over we'd have another stretch of terror. But! I made it alive, as you may have guessed. And the walk through the crater was beautiful. It's filled with dunes of different colored sand, and not just sand tinged a little bit, but bright purple and green and yellow and pink sand. You're not allowed to take it but I think we all snagged a few colored rocks. After this beautiful walk we had a new problem: how to get home. The sun was threatening to set and the last thing you really want is to be in the desert at night when it's dark and freezing. We walked on a tiny road for miles as quickly as we could, ignoring the blisters on our feet, until we found some Russians and persuaded them to take us to the main road. From there we hitched a ride with two very creepy men. The driver started smoking from a homemade plastic bottle bong and he didn't seem to be so aware of the road. We almost hit a bus and he swerved onto the curb every few seconds. We were all so glad to get out of that car alive and then it was easy to get a safe ride straight to Adi and Ynon's house. After doing the math we figured we walked about 16 miles that day. It feels like it for sure, my legs are still aching.

It was with a lot of sadness that I said goodbye to my friends and Kayema Farm and the desert. Even with a shoddy bed and impossible shower and an unattached toilet seat, I was happy there and it felt like a home. I thought for a while, when I was in Jerusalem for any amount of time, that I could live there and be a city girl and while I do love being here, it's got nothing on the desert. So now I've got just over a week left in Israel and I'm really looking forward to going to Scotland and seeing my Dad and Grandpa. I hadn't really planned this far at all so I'm taking things one night at a time. I slept at Danny's 2 nights, I'm going to Tel Aviv tonight to see the last of my parent's friends, and then...we'll find out! There are things in Jerusalem I'd like to do Wednesday and Thursday night so perhaps Jerusalem again and then...I really don't know. In some ways I feel like I'm just going through the motions of exploring at this point and I'm a bit ready for a break and seeing some family. But I'm going to make my last week count! And now it's time to go to Tel Aviv.

Smile, You're Beautiful

Yesterday I ventured out of the realms of Ramat Rahel into the southern part of Jerusalem in search of Emek Refaim, what was rumored to be a cool street with lots of cafes and such to explore. My map does not extend as far as the kibbutz so I set off in the direction of Jerusalem and assumed I'd find a street that was on my map pretty soon. To my dismay and growing anxiety, I found myself quite lost in a series of streets that looped around one another in mockery of my directional difficulties. And then I saw on a bus stop, "Smile, You're Beautiful," and a little of my fear dissipated as I smiled. But I was still in unmapped territory and hardly even sure of where I wanted to go. And then I saw it again, "Smile, You're Beautiful" written on a phone booth. And I saw it on more bus stops and hidden on signs and scrawled on benches; it made me think of Oscar from Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, shaking his tambourine through the neighborhoods so he'd remember that he was still himself. And it made me think of how some days we wake up so full of sunshine that it's easy to be pleasant and in good spirits even when lost or in a less than opportune situation, and then there are other days we wake up on the wrong side of the bed so we work a bit harder to turn our attitudes around. The last time I wrote I was cranky from being bored and lazy, a terrible combination. On one hand you're annoyed because you've got nothing to do, yet on the other hand you're too unmotivated to find something to do! But I woke up in better spirits yesterday, and today also...though today it might also be because I woke up early for a phone call with Noa.

In some ways being lost has its benefits, because when you suddenly find where you intended to go there's such joy and pride. And if you don't find where you meant to go, you run the risk of ending up somewhere even better. With the help of a lady at a bus station, in a mixture of english and hebrew, I got the directions I needed. I've discovered a new problem with learning Hebrew: I can usually figure out how to ask the questions I need, whether or not they're grammatically correct, but then people will respond in Hebrew...rapidly, and I have absolutely no idea what they are saying. Regardless, communication is always possible and I've never not been able to get my point across or find out what I needed to know. So I made my way into mapped territory and then it was easy sailing to Emek Refaim. After being told to go there by at least three different people I guess I expected something a little bit more widespread. There aren't such a lot of stores and it doesn't take very long to walk from one end to the other and back again. That didn't really matter, though. I saw what there was to see, my favorite place being a used book store. I couldn't resist - I bought another book that I really don't have room for. I just can't stop reading! I finished East of Eden the day I arrived at Ramat Rahel, I read all of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows in three or four days, and this book was small and on sale and I needed something to read so it was a justified purchase. For those of you who've read Life of Pi, it's by the same author, Yann Martel. I hadn't heard of this book before but it's called Beatrice and Virgil.

Since I left in the morning I had a strong feeling that I was going to see someone I knew at Emek Refaim, and sure enough, who should I run into but a girl I met at Danny's apartment and hung out with on New Year's! She was on her way to work so we didn't talk long but it was pretty cool because how many people do I know in Jerusalem? Maybe a dozen, tops? And everytime I'd walk around Nachala'ot with Danny or anyone else, they would always run into at least one person they knew and I never did. So take that, onlookers of Emek Refaim, I too have friends!

And now it's Friday. Heather and I finished our puzzle on Wednesday night and began a new, even more difficult one yesterday. We're doing pretty well in that we've made some progress, but it definitely won't be finished before I leave. Tonight we're having Shabbat dinner here and some of Heather and John's children and grandkids are coming over. This will be my fourth Shabbat in Israel and I can't help but remark on how time has gone by. I am more than half way through my time here, how strange is that? Sometimes it feels like I've just gotten here, but mostly I feel like I've been here such a long time, in a good way. I don't know that I'll get a chance to write again before I leave on Sunday for the farm in the desert, and once there I'm really not sure that I'll have access to a computer so this might be the last post for a while. If that's the case, then have a wonderful next two weeks! And remember to smile because you're beautiful.

Ramat Rahel

If there's one thing I really miss about home, it's having my cat sleep on my bed. It's a rare moment when I enter my room to not find her there, and unheard of for her to be missing when I go to sleep. Heather and John are the first people I've stayed with to have cats and I love it. The first is Mitzy, she's very old and not allowed inside the house; she sits by the door meowing all day. On mornings when she isn't at the door right away Heather hopefully exclaims, "Maybe she's died!" Then there's Missy, short for Mississippi, who is a little weird. She's friendly enough and will come and sit on your lap now and then but it's as if she forgets where she is because you'll touch her and she'll meow and look around shocked, trying to figure out what just happened. Also, she won't come in doors. She insists on jumping onto windowsills (giving you a heart attack if you're sitting next to the window) and meows until you open it for her. Finally, there's Spot. He is my favorite, mostly because he sleeps on my bed all the time. He makes reading in bed a bit difficult because he gets jealous when you don't pet him and will either sit right in front of the book or wrap his paws around your arm and pull it away. You have to pay attention while you're petting him because every so often he likes to affectionately nibble, or as I call it, "bite," your fingers. Also, yesterday I had a snack next to my bed and when I came back to get it he had taken the liberty of eating it for me. Nonetheless, he's still more normal than the other cats.

My first day at Ramat Rahel rained off and on the whole day, and when it wasn't raining it was cold and windy so I really didn't have any desire to walk around much. But it's nice to have a day to relax here and there. Heather and I spent most of the afternoon (don't laugh) doing a puzzle. Well we started it, it's 1000 pieces but by now we're almost done. And by "we," I mean mostly "me." Puzzles are addicting! I can't stop. I do like Heather quite a bit; she's kind but also just a cool lady. Her husband, John, is also nice if a bit quiet. They have five kids but I've only met two of them; those two usually drop in at least once a day. Most of their children live close by but one lives in Germany right now.
Yesterday was much nicer out that Monday so I spent a few hours exploring the kibbutz. It didn't take very long, there isn't a lot to see. Or there are some cool things to see, it just doesn't take long to see them. I first explored the archaeological park. Not the most impressive ruins I've seen (and I've seen a lot of ruins in my time here), but a good little walk. There is still debate over what is what so all the descriptive signs are hypothetical. If you walk past the main section of stone remnants you get a wonderful view, in which direction I couldn't tell you. There's this funny little house made of stones that looks like a mushroom house which leads down to a better view of the cities in the distance. I was at Ramat Rahel with my dad when I came to Israel seven years ago and didn't recognize a single thing until I saw that little house. I walked around a little bit past the house, only to be told when I met up with Heather for lunch to not really explore past the house if I want to return alive. Whoooops. Not planning on going that way anymore! After lunch I went off in a different direction to see the hotel and its grounds. There are more beautiful views in other directions, and the entire hotel is quite lovely. So after seeing the archaeological park and the hotel, there are really only two more sections that, from what I can tell, make up Ramat Rahel. There's a pool and gym and such, but those are fenced off and I need either Heather or John to call ahead if I want to go in there. And then there's the area where the members of the kibbutz live. I think I saw most of the houses but if not, they're all quite similar and I got the gist of it. Time to start exploring past the kibbutz I guess!

Today seems like an even nicer day so I'll definitely go on an adventure. Heather and John had to leave early and won't be back until 11 so I have to wait for them to return if I walk into Jerusalem. They're rather protective and always want to know where I am or where I'm going, and I have to meet them at certain times at the dining hall for lunch or dinner. I think kibbutzim are for people who really enjoyed college and campus life. All your food is prepared for you in the dining hall, everyone lives in small houses in a designated area, and during the day people have different work they do at certain hours. It's a communal living center, so everyone is working and offering their skills for the overall survival of the kibbutz. Kind of like small-scale communism, though its changed a bit over the years.
I'm here until Sunday, and I'm afraid I won't have much to do in these days. I offered to work but if you're visiting for less than two weeks it isn't required. I suppose if nothing else, it'll be nice to have some quiet time before I go work on a farm for two weeks. I don't remember if I said that's what I was doing after being here, but I'm WWOOFing at a farm in the desert. I still need to get in touch with the people to make sure Sunday works as a good day for arriving, but I'm thinking it will all be fine.

Could I brag for a second? So I just figured out how to check the stats of this blog and it's been visited almost 900 times since I started writing it a month ago! I'm kind of amazed and I really didn't realize how many people were reading it. I thought it was just my family and close friends, but I've gotten e-mails and been messaged on facebook by random people telling me that they're reading and enjoying this. Someone even said it had inspired them to take a semester abroad! So thank you to people who are reading this, I really appreciate and am honored by it.

Three Weeks? When Did That Happen!

I have come to the conclusion that no matter how many times you may walk a particular street, you never really know the terrain until you walk it with a 50lbs wheeled suitcase. The walk from Danny's apartment to the bus station is not a long one, but it's funny how curbs and uneven sidewalks don't really register until you've got an oversized suitcase trying to pull your shoulder out of your socket. Today I left Nachala'ot, the center of Jerusalem, to come to a kibbutz called Ramat Rahel which is in the very south of Jerusalem. I am really glad I chose to stay at Danny's apartment for as long as I did, I had a very wonderful time there for Shabbat and the new year, but it feels like the right time to move on and be somewhere new. Funny how 5 nights in one place seems like a long time, and I'm a week at Ramat Rahel - that's practically forever! I think the longer I stay in one place the more accustomed I become to it and the more difficult it is to adjust to the next place. Arriving at a new house with new people took me by surprise, I hadn't realized how comfortable I'd become with Danny and his roommates.
True to my word, I spent Thursday at the Israel Museum. If you are ever in Israel I would definitely recommend going there. There's a really great mix of history and art and relics and religion. There's something for everyone, and you can easily spend hours there. My favorite part was the contemporary art section; so many cool pieces of art and so many different forms of media. There were movies and paintings and photos and sculptures, and so many pieces combined some of these. My favorite piece I think was a three screen film called "Going Places Sitting Down" by a Japanese artist whose last name is Sawa. I'd give it a quick google if you have 8 and a half minutes to spare.

For any non-Jewish readers, Friday night at sundown until Saturday night at sundown is Shabbat, the day of rest. People will go to different degrees of respecting Shabbat, from just a nice dinner on Friday nights (my family's style) to turning off all electronics, not handling money, not riding in cars or other transportation forms, etc (Jerusalem's style). The whole city stands still for one day a week. No buses, no stores, no nothing. Danny and his roommates are all pretty respectful of Shabbat so we spent most of the day cooking food for Saturday (can't cook on Shabbat). What does cooking require? Ingredients. Where do ingredients come from? The shuk (market). Who else is trying to cook before Shabbat starts? Everyone. Who got to go to the shuk twice and face near death at the hands of small women and hungry men? Me. It's fairly terrifying in there. Picture yourself at a busy concert or in a packed group of people. Now imagine this group of people squished into an alley that's maybe 10 feet wide, and everyone's trying to go every which way. You've got vendors on every side screaming out prices of any type of food you can imagine and everyone's trying to get what they need which requires much veering from side to side of the market alley, with others trying to go up and down the path. It's completely ridiculous! And being Israelis, they want everything as fast as possible. So people are running and pushing and dodging; I happen to pride myself on the dodging skills I acquired on Friday. By the end of the second trip I could run and dodge and slither my way through the crowds with bags of groceries in either hand. So after getting everything we needed and spending a less than ideal amount of time cooking with a more than ideal number of people in the kitchen, we had all our food prepared for lunch the next day. Shazam.

I went to shul with Danny in the evening. It was my first time being in a synagogue that segregated men and women. So all the ladies and I were crammed in a small, cold room to stand the whole time. Not so peachy, but the music was nice and I knew some of the people there as Danny's friends. Afterwards we went to dinner at the house of a man who studies with Danny. He and his wife are, without a doubt, the most extraordinary people I've met so far. Especially his wife. She is my role model from this moment on. I can't describe her in a way that will do her justice, but there is such love that radiates off of her and aimed at people she'd only just met. When she looks and you and talks to you, you feel so wonderful about yourself. She's a psychotherapist, which is what I want to end up doing but with horses, and I have no doubts she helps everyone she meets with. She's so genuine and honest and interesting. She's one of those ladies who should be used to negotiate world conflicts because at the end of the meetings all the countries would walk away feeling good about themselves and the other. At the same time, they hosted a birthright trip. Birthright is a program where Jews who have never lived in Israel after a certain age or gone on any organized trip to the country can apply for a 10-day, all expense paid tour around the country. I applied for this, didn't get it, but came anyways (obviously). I really loved meeting all these kids because they were such a kind and intelligent group of people. I didn't get to speak to all of them but those I did were wonderful and engaged. It was undeniably my favorite Shabbat so far in Israel.

Saturday was a nice, quiet, electronics-free day. Around lunchtime a slew of Danny and his roommates friends came over for lunch. I was pretty tired and a little out of the loop, but nonetheless I enjoyed the food and the conversation was interesting. That night was new years and up until about 10 I had no idea what I was doing. One of the guys at lunch, Mori, had invited Danny and his roommates over but I wasn't so sure the invitation extended to me. Before I continue, instead of always saying "Danny and his roommates" let me actually tell you who his roommates are. There's Aaron, originally from Canada, who has lived in Israel for two years but mostly in Tel Aviv. He's the kind of person who genuinely smiles when he sees you as if he's truly happy to see you. Then there's Moshe who grew up in Boston and has only been in Israel for four months. He divides his time between Jerusalem and an organic farm in the north. He studied sustainable agriculture in school and he really enjoys working at the farm. He also has a supremely comfortable bed, which I got to sleep in for two nights while he was away. Hooray for tempur pedic! And finally there's Hovav. Except it might be spelled Chovav. I know how you would spell it in hebrew but basically in english it's that deep throated "H/Ch" sound. He's lived in Israel...all of his life? At least most of it. All of his family is here. He plays guitar and is kind of always on the move and running out to fetch things. So those are the guys I've spent most of this past week with, and I am so grateful to how welcoming they were, and are, I wouldn't be surprised if I end up there again before leaving. So anyways, I did end up going to Mori's with Aaron and Moshe and then Danny showed up and a bunch of other people. Various stages of drinking later and with midnight approaching, it was decided we would go to a bar on Jaffa Street. We ran into Chovav and his friend when we left Mori's, but then somehow everyone pretty much got divided. Magically we all ended up at the bar at exactly midnight, just in time for a drunken Mori to grab and kiss us all in turn to the tune of "What A Wonderful World" in the background. Danny and Moshe headed home not much later, Ariel Fisher from previous blog posts arrived and herded the remainders off to a soup only restaurant. I don't really know who wanted soup or why it was suggested but it was a sweet little place to hang out. Everyone sort of drifted in and out over the next few hours until maybe six of us were left and close to three we ended the evening. So I missed the beach ball wrapped in lights being thrown off a rooftop in downtown Bangor, but for some bizzare reason spending the night in Jerusalem was slightly preferable.

Sunday morning, a brand new year, time for me to go somewhere new. I am now at Ramat Rahel, as mentioned earlier. I had my reservations at first, just because Heather and John, old friends of my parents, are so to the point that it caught me a little off guard I guess you could say. But in the short time I've been here I'm really liking them and it's definitely nice to have my own room for a little while. Not to mention that I spotted Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, a Harry Potter mug, a book called Horse Heaven, and the fact that they have three cats...I think we'll be getting along just fine. So that's me up to the present moment! I hope everyone had a wonderful new year. Oh! Resolutions. Mine are to try to be interested more than I try to be interesting (taken from Danny), to not miss up any opportunities that might lead somewhere good, and to be like the woman I met on Friday night, I'm telling you, I idolize her more than is justifiable for the amount of time I've known her.

And I can't believe I've been here three weeks already! Seriously, when did that happen? And now I have exactly one month in Israel. I think I'm going to be pretty sad to leave. So I hope everyone is enjoying their new year and doing wonderful things and being the loveliest they can be. Shalom