Trip home

So, last night was a bad idea. I mean to be honest the "sheds" are like a legitimate room they offer, not just a random tool shed on the roof. Also i found they had double booked several times that day so i did them a huge favor by helping out. The roof-shed-room-thing was actually very quiet but there was no proper lock on the door so I was nervous all night, it had a chain and a nail in the wall that you hooked the chain on. Also I started feeling rather itchy and freaking out and got up at like 2:45 since I had that creepy crawly sensation all over my skin.

To be honest, I somewhat regretted it while sitting in the lobby at 3 Am this morning. When I went to bed I was thinking it would be okay, it was quiet, there were other people up there with me, listening to the soft spoken french of my neighbors was really cool, but overall I'm not sure if I would do it again.

BUT the nice deed paid off karma-wise. My biggest fear was that the van wouldnt be reliable. And there were cops lining up outside my hostel since something was going down around 3:30 in the morning and I could see homeless people sleeping or wandering about so let me tell you I was nervous. BUT 10 minutes after 4, the guy called me and asked me to come to the corner. A group of girls my age saw me standing on the shady desolate street corner with my stuff and were concerned, asking if I needed help. I explained that Nesher was coming in a minute and that i would be fine but it was a comft that some normal people were out and about. He called again before he got there to make sure I was in the right place and to tell me he would be coming into view in a second. I noticed he didnt do this with the locals we picked up, so I think he was nice enough to try and give me the extra effort.

I appreciated that.

Then I got to the airport absolutely fine but security in israel is like nothing I have ever been through.

1) All your bags go through x ray machines before you can check anything in, and while you're in line they come around and swipe everything down looking for dust or some other suspicious coating. When you get to the machine you are interrogated. Lightly, but still. Why does it matter that i dont know hebrew?! Oh well.

2) After the xray machine, still you cant go check your bags, a woman opens the checked baggage and goes through everything, more swiping down of all your stuff. I mean undies on display people. Then she lets you repack. Guh.

3)Then you check your luggage and proceed to another security measure. This one is for your carry ones which go through another xray machine and you go through a metal dectector until there is no metal on you. They make you take out every since electronic device you have including chargers, adapters, wires, plugs, ipods, the absolute works. Then once they see it all you can repack.

But I managed to do all that in time. I was asleep on the plane before we even took off! Then i watched some Monsters Vs. Aliens, listened to some music, watched some harry potter, slept more. It was a good flight. Now Im killing time during my layover at Heathrow. Bought myself a bagel sandwhich, some over priced internet. Life is good.

So after all my obstacles I'm overly thankful for finally things going smoothly. And well, it certainly has been an experience.

So miserable. What a horrible idea being nice was. What a horrible, idea. Itchy (bad sign), tired, lonely and unhappy. Just want to be home so very badly.

So when I arrived at my hostel, the family at the desk in front of me was having a terrible row with the receptionist. Well the father was. There had been a mix up and instead of having two rooms they had only one. And the only other available option was something they were terribly against. The man was demanding a solution, one only in the form of his original reservation which they just didn't have. They planted themselves in the lobby looking quite displeased though the receptionist was very apologetic and patient. Which I have not found often here. They had two young teenage looking boys with them.

So, I get to the desk and she looks at me hopefully. My reservationwas fine, a nice private room with a double bed where I was sure to get sleep. However she began so sweetly, Could i offer you a much cheaper option? I explained I knew I was one person and spending a lot of money but that I had a twenty hour trip home and needed to ensure sleep. She told me she had "bungalows" on the roof and they were plenty quiet and nice and cheap and such. She showed me pictures and I just couldn't bear to say no since I only needed a place to sleep for about 5 hours (til 3:15/3:30 or so). However the pictures were rather misleading size wise and though there were two beds inside...

It was a shed on the roof. One I couldn't even stand in. Or even close to stand in. I could kneel, and kneeling with arms BENT, touch the ceiling.

It has a tiny light and a padlock on it. So for my good deed the family got their room and I hopefully got some good travel karma.

And that is how I came to be sleeping on a shed in a roof, on my last night in Jerusalem.

Big Breakfasts and Airport Woes

So this morning the class journeyed to our professor's house for breakfast! There were eleven of us and we split into three cabs but unfortunately our cab driver didnt know where he was going but didnt tell us that when we gave him the address. This happens a bit too often for my taste, but he got us into the general area and asked fellow cab drivers as we drove so we did make it, albeit as the last group.

The professor lives on a quiet street and his house is on a little path with tons of trees and bushes and flowers so we were immediately in love. We all sat down in the back garden at this huge table to eat breakfast outside in the beautiful weather. And what a breakfast. There were four kinds of bread, seven kinds of cheeses, several kinds of olives, a few additional local Israeli spreads for the breads, eggs, tuna, a vegetable platter with peppers cuccumbers and tomatoes, pickles, a quiche, chocolate milk, coffee, lemonade, iced tea, freshly squeezed orange juice, and probably more I cant remember! It was phenomenal. We ate with his wife and son in law and his adorable dog went around keeping everyone company. It was a rescue dog named Casey they recently adopted and so so skinny but with the sweetest temperment! His wife was so friendly and made conversation with all of us about where we were from and how she came to Israel from America and such. Then we finished, cleared the table and went inside the cooler living room to have our study session.

And then his wife started loading the livingroom table with a second course of breakfast!! Grapes, figs, watermelon, a breakfast cake, brownies, freshly baked muffins, water, more coffee, oh my goodness!!! It was just mountains of wonderous food. But unfortunately this means I was in a food coma for the study session. I was so full and sleepy it was hard to focus, especially being on his comfy couch. Also, people got so caught up in the details rather than the big ideas that we kept confusing each other and ourselves, so I think it didnt help as much as I hoped. Also we got sidetracked when Charrise asked about why the Arabs thought they had a claim to the land over the Jews and our professor seems a bit biased on this topic, and James didnt agree with accusations he started making agaist BBC but was too polite to debate with him in his home and after such hospitality. So James simply suggested there were different takes on the situation but it wasnt the best subject to get on really.

Then we went back to school on the bus. I called Nesher, the people who I had a horrendous experience with when we got here. I needed to know if they were running on thursday since it;s a religious holiday and if they would pick me up at 4 AM. The woman was short with me saying yes but to call back tomorrow. They wont take reservations until one day in advance. Annoying!

I'm nevous about the whole getting to the airport thing to be quite honest, just because its at such an inconvenient hour should something go wrong and on a religious holiday where many people might have the day off and things may not be running.

Well I just checked the bus and there are TONS...during the day. If only my stupid flight wasn't at 8 AM, I have no choice but to use Nesher, I checked trains and busses. A taxi would run hundreds of shekels! *sigh* Please pray and hope and wish that I do NOT have a repeat of my first experience and that I get to the airport safely!!!

So I just came back from the best study session I have ever had. It was Cary, James, myself and Zev, a classmate you have not heard of but who is a great guy. We really covered a lot though it was overwhelming and I'm not sure it sunk in since over the course three hours we reviewed about 4,000 years of history. Insane much? Yeah.

But we went to a cafe by school, Aroma, and I ordered something called iced chocolate. Now it isnt exactly like chocolate milk more like they melted chocolate made it a bit like a coolatta texture and made it cold. It's EPIC. I also ordered a big breakfast (for dinner) and it was okay. Massive, but mostly salad which is typical for breakfast here.

Anyway we had some massively uncontrollable giggle fits. It was really over the silliest thing. Our professor wears these somewhat short shorts and one day, while we were all sitting in the jewish quarter in a lecture, well, a classmate of ours got an eyeful and started cracking up. Apparently the professor likes to erm, feel the breeze? Anyway when we got to that day in our notes he explained why he had been cracking up at the time (he had made some excuse and got himself under control in class luckily because really what do you say in the middle of class to something like that?!) and another girl said she saw even more than him and they used such ridiculous expressions and made such faces that we ALL started cracking up and by then it was just contagious.

I know most people would be traumatized and I'm sure glad I wasn't sitting at that fateful angle but they somehow still manage to attend class and really like our professor. I would have thought it would make things horribly awkward but we had a good natured laugh over it.

Cary also told us about a crazy altercation she had with the diva! I wont recount it here but goodness, such attitude! So after a while we got off topic having gotten to a point where it was just too much. We had been studying pretty straight through from 6:00-9:00 when we left to take a walk to a nice look out point right by the wall that marks the west bank. We saw a random fireworks show, rather short but still a nice treat.

On the way back to campus we had so much fun talking and when we got to student village we hung around a bit unable to stop laughing and joking until finally we left for our apartments. It was a massively good time, I really love the classmates I have. What a wonderful way to study. Tomorrow we have a review session at our professor's house where hes going to make us breakfast!!

Weekend

So, I'm back in Jerusalem after a real nice stay with my family. Saturday we got up late, ate breakfast, Yotam watched American cartoons in Hebrew, and Amy (my cousin) packed us a picnic lunch ad a lunch for my oldest cousin, Silvan who had duty in the army this weekend. Usually they have weekends off but she had to patrol this weekend so we went to visit. We were supposed to leave at 11:15 but we left at 12:00 because you know, Israeli time. Noa had been sleeping over her friend's house so we picked her up on the way to the base.

My cousin mentioned not many tourists get to see the army bases so that was kind of neat but it was pretty empty and dismal looking. I wouldn't want to be stuck there with no one else around wearing those uniforms in the heat. Though it was nice of my cousin to bring us to visit SIlvan and bring her some home cooked food. She took apart her gun randomly- or at least part of it, in fact Im not sure what she was doig but I dont think it was reloading...(btw I was informed it was an M-16) and put it back together but she's far off from the 30 seconds you're supposed to do it in. I half wonder if she was trying to impress me -after all, I was impressed at first (I mean my younger cousin with huge ass gun, what?!)- until her father mentioned you're supposed to be able to do it in 30 seconds, not two minutes. Haha. Something about teenagers (18/19) all armed with m-16s impresses me- I saw huge huge droves of them going back on the train from their weekends at home and really its crazy to see, such young kids with such discipline, able to handle being casual about having such powerful weapons on them at all times. Maybe it's my American sensibility though, here it's just a way of life. Noa was complaining about going into the army in four years. I cannot imagine her in the army, at all!

So we saw her office and the base and it was actually pretty uneventful. Then we set out for a trip! We drove about an hour and a half north to the sea of Galilee. There we found this trail, only its not an orindary trail, its a water trail. The whole thing is in a stream. It seems like no big deal BUT have you ever walked on a stream bed? All the stones are smooth and slippery ad different sizes, it's really difficult. Noa and I fell so many times splashing into the water.

Whats really cool is the lush green walls of plants on either side of you. There isnt even a bank and sometimes vines hang into the water. Many times there is a canopy of leaves above you and at times it opens up into deeper pools that go up to your chest or above your head and you have to swim across. There are groves of Eucalytus and grape vines alone the stream too, it's amazing, seems much more like the tropics than Israel. Some of the trees have roots exposed in the water or branches overhead you have to duck under- that sort of stuff. Most toursists dont get there so many times it was just us! It was SO COOL.

Then when we finished we were sopping wet. So we all changed into dry clothes and searched for a place to eat. We ended up in Tiberias, named after the ancient Roman, at some touristy place. For some reason the area was very touristy, lots of stalls selling junk and such. I thought the food was good but Yotam didnt like his dish so I shared my Shnitzl with him. Thats just like shake and bake chicken btw (and for the record: ketchup here SUCKS, its watery and too sweet and not like our ketchup at all! yuck!). The whole trip he didnt utter one word to me in english though he could sing along to the radio, he really was so shy- though not too shy to accept my chicken- he hadnt eaten lunch since he had thrown an absolute fit (not screaming and crying but being sulky and whiny about not liking anyting we had for lunch) and wouldnt eat what his mom packed, so he must have been ravenous. Btw, back to the radio comment- they have this really cool station here that just throws anything on, mixing Israeli with American and contemporary stuff like Black eyed peas with 80's hits and then israeli stuff I'm sure is just as varied. So fun to listen to!

Then we saw a pack of cats lurking by our table- we were eating outside, so of course the kids started to feed them even though we were sure we were going to get yelled at by the waitress if she saw us. One was rather fierce and swatted at Yotam who repeatedly baited it, and another with half an ear and looking better fed than the rest turned out to be rather nice.

Then my cousin gave us all money to go get gelato! It felt just like a family vacation, like I was one of the kids. It was really nice.

We didnt get home util 11 and I was so tired. Then this morning I got up and cuaght a 10:12 bus. I had to trasfer at 11:00 in tel Aviv and thank goodness I asked an older couple if I was getting on the right train, there was one quick announcement in hebrew that I barely caught and no one else was getting on! He assured me it was Jerusalem bound and I got on hoping he was right. It didnt stop for more than two minutes- if that- so I didnt have time to ask anyone else and had to jump right on. Well, he was right. He and his wife sat across the aisle and opened a huge container of assorted fruit. They offered me some and I tried to refuse since it was my first instinct but then he held out a nectarine and seemed determined so I took it. They even gave me a knife and napkin to cut it on. How sweet. Then he gave me grapes. Again I tried to politely decline, again he said "Please!" and held them out. They just felt the need to share I suppose. When the offered me water tho I def declined and they were okay with that. Though I couldnt help smiling. So strange, people dont share food with starngers for no reason back home. Maybe they dont here either. Oh well.

Then I caught a bus back to school, unfortunately I got on at the first stop and school is pretty much the last stop. Meaning it took another hour to get back!

So being with the fam is getting off to a slow start. I sat in on the rflexology workshop and it's all about alternative healing and finding points on your hands that correspond to points on your body and knowing how to massage them to relieve pain elsewhere. I was torn between thinking it was pretty neat and utterly ridiculous but nonetheless it's an experience.

So now Noa is out with a friend, Yotam is sleeping off his all night activity and my cousin and her husband are putting down in the kitchen so Im at a loss as to what to do with myself. I think we are going out this afternoon and then having a BBQ anf then tomorrow should be busy so Im hoping it will get less awkward.

Just thought I'd give a mini update. Hopefully the next is more like the last one- very full!

Edit: So the trip to the beach was very much awesome, as was the BBQ before hand. BTW Israli bbq does not include hotdogs or hamburgers, but kabobs! of chicken (amazing, wonderful, tender chicken...) and some other meat I uh, didnt recognize. And pickles and salad and potatoes and yum. In general. My cousin's husband's friend came over with his two daughters (who spoke no english and stayed to themselves the whole time, as Noa proceeded to nap after eating, teenagers- so antisocial. ) and was quite the jokester, he said not to take him seriously as he was leaving after he kept telling me to call my bf and "dismiss him" for an israeli boy who would teach me hebrew. He joked that it was the ONLY way to learn since I would tell the boy, talking, no touching, then maybe when I knew hebrew, then MAYBE he could touch. Yes tempt boys with my body to learn hebrew. LOl. I rolled my eyes. He was obviously kidding around. I told him I would use rosetta stone, he was like psh, wont work. Which is probably true since I will have no one to talk with by oh well, haha. Then I pulled out the "Hey my boyfriend and I's next anniversary will be three years" and everyone was all like, thats so long for someone so young, whoa, and all that. So it was fun, I took his joking as it was meant- as joking (that to be honest will make steam come out of chris' ears)

And then we went to the beach at 6:30, at home people are leaving then but here its still packed! People are in the water AS THE SUN GOES DOWN because its still nice and warm so we stayed until about 8 and it was lovely. Also we brought the dog, Mickey, and he just ran free. We rarely saw him as he played with other dogs. Things are so lax here dogs right in where people are swimming. Then on the way home Noa being her diva self demanded a popsicle so when we stopped for gas we piled out to get Noa's popsicle, which she then chose the most expensive Ben and Jerrys one, and her mom warned her it was 500 calories and Noa took that the wrong way (you are saying Im fat?!) and so she INSISTED on having it. She didnt like it, so I swapped with her. I had gotten a cheap standard popsicle albeit in a tropical flavor- passionfruit, but got to enjoy a gormet imported one thanks to her stubborness. Win! Noa is too funny. Later when we were eating and her mom thought she didnt want the snack her mom made so she didnt make her one, Noa came down all upset she had to make one herself. her mom mocked her, she made the snack, it was funny. Then we talked about crowd surfing and moshing.

So it was agood evening. I got tons of pretty pics. Was fun.

Haifa

So I lied about the no update thing, heh. Made it to the fams house where I'm staying in my cousin's room while she's away at the army (mandatory for all Israelis) so I get to use her comp, and air conditioning and bed. Sweeeeet deal. So anyway, what it means for you: an update.


So hwere we left off: Leaving for Haifa. We managed to get tickets for a bus leaving in 5 minutes and rushed on board. However, there were too many people and not enough seats. Back home this would mean people have to get off, I'm sure there's a safety law and all that. But noooot hereee, people sat on the floor, stood in the aisle, it was all good. Lol. Btw I got a seat. Thank goodness (though since then I have been an unlucky stander on a train....)

But before this I need to mention that our group had an unexpected guest that someone invited along. Normally, yeah, the more the merrier. But she brought a full sized suitcase for a 24 hour trip. One night. AND we wouldnt have anywhere to keep it, Hostel check out is 10 AM. She knew this and was told we'd be climbing stairs and walking all day and she'd have to lug it around but she insisted, because she needed outfits for taking pictures of herself in. We were in shock. Anyway, you can guess how that went over.

But onto our trip, we get off the bus at the end of the line utterly confused because its way far from the center of town and doesnt look like anywhere people would go for sightseeing. Luckily our hostel was very close since the ones in the center were all already booked so it worked out fine. We figured out the bus to get into town on the first try so it wasn't too much of an inconvenience.

The guy at the Hostel was...well a horrible receptionist. The sign above the desk said he took cash or credit but we went to pay our 95 shekel bill with a 100 bill he said he didnt have ANY CHANGE and we would have to pay exact or charge it. We didnt have exact! He gave us no choice. Now mind you 5 shekels is worth about a dollar. Can you imagine a receptionist telling you they dont have a penny and you'll need the 99 cents? Yeah it was like that. Luckily some other people had change and we were able to put together exact change. But it did NOT endear us to him. At all.

So we got a room that was "dorm style" meaning you pay for a bed and there are five beds in a room. There were three of us and luckily no one else came so we had the room to ourselves! Thankgoodness.

Then we leave to get a bite to eat. We were hungry! We got down to the center by the Ba Hai gardens and find a really cool place called Fattoush. We eat inside since outside people can smoke and are led into this really awesome room where the seats are all little middle eastern pillow type things or a bench covered in pillows! The lamps give it a really cool lighting affect and the menu is all exotic. I got mango soda and a dish called Fattoush which the place was named for. So very cool. But of course the Diva tried to substitue and swap things in her meal which the waiter was very nice about saying they couldn't do. After she tried to order a kids meal and he wouldnt give it to her explaining they were strict about only serving them to children under twelve. So she was in a huff about not getting exactly what she wanted. And later when he asked how everything was she said "It's alright" with an atitude. there was no need since the waiter was nice about it.

After we finished, the waiter was taking his time getting the check to us. I think it's just a cultural thing, people relax more there. But of course miss diva was mouthing off about it. At one point she was like damn Im about to get a manager. I tried to suggest maybe people just tended to converse after meals here and it wasn't really him being neglectful. So finally someone asked me to get up and ask for a check. I did so, very politely, mind you.

Well it still took a while and yes we were now all a little annoyed as we had to make a bus back, but really the Diva was just horrendous. It was then we realized there was more to come from the diva...

But anyway the next morning we get a early start since brekfast is only served at the hostel from 7:00- 8:30 and we HAD to have it included. Well the bread had ants crawling in it... and it was mediocre but we eat found something to fill up on (bread from an UNOPENED AND ANT FREE BAG and butter and cornflakes one of which was moldy) so it was okay. Then we headed to the famous gardens in the center of town. These gardens are built on tons and tons of terraces going up a mountain. You can either pay a taxi to go to the top or walk up. Half of us walked up, including me but Diva had to take a taxi due to her huge suitcase. Even once up there, there were stairs and all the paths were made up of pebbles so she couldnt lug her suitcase around. We didnt bother catering to her and she was getting annoyed. She had been warned and she was not the original group's guest but one invited by a few people we had invited along!

So the gardens are huge and extensive and on an effing mountain but lush and impressive, in terraces with stairs all the way up. There were fountains and spectacular views of the port below us and it was all very well kept up. Now, it's actually a Holy Place with a shrine, but I havent ever heard of the religion!!! The Ba'hai faith it's called and these gardens and the shrine (called the shrine of tha Ba'b) is their most holy site. Only I still dont know anything about this religion, how many follwers it has, where it came from. Weird. Well we couldnt speak in the shrine so that didnt help. Anyway so gardens, pretty, random religion. Cool. I guess.

Then the people who had taken the taxi up with diva decided to walk down, and she wouldn't take a cab alone so down came the suitcase and by now she was all pissy. People offered to help and she refused. She gave us looks for not waiting up for her since she was always stopping and taking pictures with her blackberry to make it worse. And I mean like long, drawn out pauses to take the picture. Point and shoot, people- it's faster.. But yeah so she was all annoyed with us, when we werent going to cater to her. If we were a bit ahead she'd live. We were in sight. Get over it. Normally I'd be sympathetic but she should have known, since she knew we were visiting the gardens and she didnt help matters with her attitude.

So then we go to find Elijah's cave. THAT was a trip. We got lost, took the same bus twice missed our stop, retraced steps and finally found this "cave" which was just a room in the side of a mountain. I'm sure it had been a cave but they had smoothed out the walls, put in fans and bookcases of holy books and it was just a place a few people were praying in. So whatever. Sorry, it was just anticlimatic after an hour of searching. And More issues with Diva who left her bag at a cable car stattion coz she was sick of rolling it around and luggin it up stairs and when we said we might not be coming back to that building she left it there anyways so we HAD to go back since she had to get it again. If you arent prepared to lug it you shouldnt have taken it.

But then, then the glorious beach time came. The beaches in Haifa are gorgeous.

The beach was my favorite part. There are free umbrellas and chairs to use and the waves were massive and the water warm. We got some pizza and settled down while the other half of the group (with DIVA) went to have a more expensive, sit down lunch. We were more interested in the beach! OH we had fun, btw we is Cary and James and I, also we had invited cory and Charrise, from our class. We really like them but dont get their decision to invite diva. They knew her from home since they all went to school together, so maybe it was an obligation, but even they were annoyed.

But Cary and James and I stuck together on the beach and it was so fun. We went in the water, bought ourselves fancy passion fuit drinks to enjoy, took a walk on the beach, had a brilliant time. Epic. We also watched Diva force everyone else to take picture, after picture after picture of her, one even mock running down the beach. That's just too much!!! I know I'm being mean right now, but yeah. It was deserved.

Luckily the train station was right next to the beach- like a five minute walk and eventually i moseyed over there to catch a train to Binyamina to stay with my family.

I got there and bought my ticket seven minutes before the train left! I hurried on and was dismayed that again there were not enough seats and this time I was standing. However the ride was sooo smooth, the train was brand new, and it was only a twenty minute ride!! Soon I was in Binyamina where my second cousin picked me up.

And here I am. For dinner we had french toast without syrup =/ Though noa suggested i put peanut butter on mine like she was doing so I tried that. And I had israeli style salad which is finely chopped and more cucumbers and tomoatoes than lettuce. It was good. Tomorrow I plan to sleep in since there will be a hand reflexology workshop going on in the living room til noonish, my cousin will be out with her friend, and my younger cousin will be asleep since he has some all night activity with his camp. In the afternoon we will go to the beach and then they are having a cookout friday night. Saturday we will visit my older cousin in the army and then go do some fun...thing Im not quite sure of. Its this weird water walk but Noa, middle cousin seems very excited so I take it as a good sign. Then sunday I will journey back to Jerusalem! Ta da!

So, that is all, I'm dead tired. When I get back to Jerusalem I will have three days left!! Crazy! This time next week I will be half way home. I cant imagine.

This update is basically to tell you that there won't be an update.

Since I'm leaving in 30 minutes for an overnight trip to the gorgeous north where I will be seeing the famous botantical gardens and going to the beach and then breaking off from my group to spend a few days with my family in Binyamina. I figured it's really cool to have family in other countries and I really should take up their invite to visit them in their home. They offered to take me to the beach and show me around the north so I'm gong to try and make it to them and back by myself.

It shall be epic. Be back sunday.

Also, smart idea of the day: Do not eat huge greasy burger and fries before 2/3 hour bus ride. oops. We'll see how that goes.

Also today I saw pomegranate bushes, with pomegranates growing on them! two weeks from now they will be ripe and I will be 6,000 miles away whhhhhhy? wish I had pomegranates growing in my backyard....

Also got to pick grapes off a random vine our prof showed us during class. Way awesome.

In other news my right eye is looking rather irritated. At times it feels sore but right now it doesn't at all. However, I look like one eye is on some serious drugs. Well, crap. Hopefully it's no worse than my heat stroke in Italy! hahah. I'm too busy to make sure my eyeball doesn't pop out and run away, k?

Will have loads of pics when I return. Of amazingness.

Cave day

So, the last update was more of an introspective post, I feel I should post about goings on as well.

Yesterday I took a caves trip. It started out somewhat slowly, since I had the same tour guide on ein gedi and while he wasnt bad I had heard some of his spiel before. Luckily Cary and a few others who were not interested in his spiel and we sat on the curb and quietly talked, joked, some slight mocking.

Though, actually, I should have started this story on the bus, where Cary and I started coversation with a guy named Jared. Jared just got his masters from Cornell (so many Ivy league kids here!!!) in engineering, so brilliant much? I assume so. Anyway, somehow we got talking about converting which he is in the process of, since his mother isn't jewish- actually he had already converted to reform judaism, decided it wasnt for him and moved to conservative and finally now knows he really wants to be orthodox. So a great fountain of information just happened to be sitting in front of me on the bus. Through almost the whole bus ride we chatted about judaism and he was very helpful about sects and whats what and what to read up on. Wonderful.

However, when we were talking to the group Cary pointed out that he was a bit like Jesse, in that he had to prove people wrong/ his answer was right/ somewhat liked to hear himself talk, etc and so she seemed uninterested in him for these reasons. But I pointed out, hey he's well educated maybe he IS right and has a right to defend his points, after all he has a graduate degree, Jesse hasnt started college, bit hard to compare.

Anyway I didnt think he was that egotistical at all, in fact later when we chatted he said he knows he talks alot, it's just his character trait. Doesn't necessarily mean he liked to hear himself talk. Anyway, so I was really interested in talking with him most of the trip. He also has this quirk of walking without shoes, even on hot, rocky Israeli hiking ground. But he's been doing it for over four years so I guess his feet can take it.

It was nice to really be able to converse with someone new, and that brought a great aspect to the trip. Anyway, we started by plucking carods off a tree and eating them. I didnt think they were bad and most people seemed to like them but I think it was just the novelty of it being the first time and gettig to pluck them off the tree. On the bus they didnt seem nearly as yummy. Anyway, the first cave was HUGE, it was callled a Columbarium and there were hundreds of niches where pigeons were raised. Yes, pigeons, because they needed them for sacrifice. They also sold them to pilgrims on their way to Jerusalem. It was very nice and cool down there and well lit and rather tame, I was a bit disappointed about that part.

However, our next cave was the exact opposite, you had to get in by crawling, and continue crawling down this cramped rocky passageway. At one point you had to climb up into another passage where you had to wiggle on your belly! In a tiny cramped passage trying to hold a flashlight this is hard. Some people didnt HAVE flashlights (even though they were told to bring them!!!!) so we had to have them go between people with flashlights and even then at points there were screams of I cant see anyting! It's so dark! And when it's pitch black in such a tiny space, thats scary ince we didnt have a clue what was ahead. Especially since that small climb on the way back became a drop and you had to pass along to people behind you to MAKE SURE THEY WERE GOING FEET FIRST. Everyone was saying in the U.S this would ever be allowed, there were no safety measures, no lights except for those of us with flashlights, no rope to guide us, no attendants around the cave to make sure you came back out. We should have had to sign waiver after waiver but nope, they just took us into these tiny tunnels. lol.

We made it into a big cavern with more niches for pigeon raising and the tour guide told us of when the Jewish rebels were fleeing and hiding from the Romans in the caves the Romans would seal them in or smoke them out. Now dont think nice big cave, think tiny passage ways impossible for soliders to fit that twist and turn and are rocky and impossible to light. Imagine being trapped in there or smoked in so that you die choking on smoke, blocked in. Terrifying!! Espceially hearing about it from inside the cavern which was not exactly near any exit, no comforting sign of light, just pitch black with a tiny hole to escape, that is to a tiny passageway you have to crawl and wiggle through.

So that was quite the experience! Im rather glad it was all extreme, at least in my opinion. Jared of course had been 6 times already (something Jesse would have poited out, I'm sure =P) and was telling me about how it's better with a smaller group and even less light. But I enjoyed it the way it was anyway. The whole ride home I talked more with Jared, about childhood experiences (he was a boyscout/ eagle scout- while I played in the streets) and dance since he does Israeli folk dance and I used to do more traditional dance for ten years. It was a nice trip home.

So that's that, whew.

Pondering Religion

As you all may or may not know, I am currently undergoing somewhat of a religious identity crisis. I was not raised with much religion, aside from celebrating Chritsmas and Easter in the most secular of ways and recently I've begun to long for some religious identity.

This trip is the first time I have really been exposed to Judaism, and I've been doing a lot of thinking about it. For a while coversion seemed like a possibility, and I had resolved to do some learning in the next year with that as a possibility.

Today however, what little ground I seemed to have gained was somewhat lost when on the van we got on the topic of Christmas and how ingrained certain holidays are into our culture. Now, of course if I converted I would give up Christmas, no gift giving, no- well, any of it. And that would be difficult in a society that puts such importance on this holiday. Also I have virtually no Jewish friends, am not close to my jewish family and also have lots of christmas celebrating friends. I'm sure it would cause some difficulty to let the holiday season pass by and have to explain to people that I wont be participating. I'm sure they would respect it, but it would take som serious adjusting- I have to admit it wont be easy.

What really was the result of this imagined scenario is that I remembered that I do have some Christian identity and things like that would be somewhat hard to give up. My mother was very big into Christmas and it was an immensely important part of my childhood, and for that reason moreso than the "everyone does it" reason it would be hard to let go of it.

Also, being Jewish over here seems like a whole different story, where Jewish people are the majority, where they have their homeland and it's a state based on a religion. Jewish people are the majority here, at home more minority. Would I be able to find a community? Would it be hard? Will I feel the same way about everything at home, not surrounded by Jewish lectures and Jewish cultural activities like Shabbat? Where I go to Catholic school with no fellow Jewish students? Here everyone talks about Jewish stuff, it's everyday culture, it's everywhere.

I dont know but for the first time it occured to me that maybe my location is having somewhat of an influence on my feelings about this whole subject.

Another reason this is coming up, is yesterday I met a boy (well not a boy since he has a masters degree in engineering from Cornell,) named Jared who has a mother who is not Jewish. He had to convert and it was great to talk to him. BUT he had been raised Jewish, the conversion seems more of a formality for him since his mother isn't Jewish, so he went to jewish camps, etc etc and it's just not exactly the same situation as me.

Sometimes I wish my parents had tried to do SOMETHING so I'm not left in the middle feeling torn and unsure. Why doesn't something just speak to me in a way that I dont run into these doubts? Isnt that how you're supposed to find religion? I feel like I'll never be sure of one. And how can I convert without absolute conviction? Other people have found it, why am I not finding that surety?

Jared had some helpful advice and descriptions of the different sects and which is best for what you're looking for. He actually started reform, converted to conservative and is now converting to orthodox- so he can really explain the differences and why he himself was moved to change so many times. However, he mentioned he is limited in the places he can live because you need a certain community for that- to keep kosher every day all the time you need special food, and to make sure there's a local syagouge and of course if you ever want to get married, orthodox women... that made me realize being Jewish at home is different than here. Not that I think difficulty and challenge should be a reason to give up on religion since any religion demands sacrifices, but at the same time, it isn't going to be what I'm seeing here so I cant really make judgement until I go home and see how I feel.

So I'm now reevaluating, again. It seems that it just keeps getting complicated but even as I struggle I still want it. Part of me wishes I could be happy with my own morals and ethics and personal beliefs about religion, but for some reason even with that I feel like I'm missing something.

Another "P.S" type post

So this is the second post today, so be sure to read the one below this as it has the bulk of today's activities. This is just a small blurb on tonight's torah based ethical lecture on life and death. More specifically topics like abortion and euthanasia and the Torah's stance on life. It was actually very complicated. The Torah's stance on abortion is actually quite complex, whereas the Catholic stance says life beings at conception- so destroying anything after that is a sin- more or less- simple straightforward, the Torah identifies different stages and goes into every possible situation it seems (or is that in the Talmud? Or just Rabbianic opinions... ?!)

At no point is it okay to abort, but it has complex set of justifications in which it is more acceptable, like within the first 30 days IF the mother's life is in danger, and what consitiutes danger, mental health issues, Jewish law tries to cover it all, which means you get into complex distinctions and lots of them.

We also got off topic about the status of bastard children, (there's a hebrew word for this) born out of adultery and how most Rabbis try to look the other way on this because according to Jewish law they can only marry others of their status, and if it isn't CERTAIN if they ARE or AREN'T its too risky and they can't mary ANYONE- BUT most rabbis just try to anull that whole thing by saying its impossible to prove, we dont want to say anything- so that people dont have to suffer that fate. Nice to know, actually. Also nice that he made the distinction children born to a jew and non jew are NOT of this status (whew).

We got into a lot of complex things, actually. Jewish law boggles the mind and yet they really seem to know it in and out and live by it. The whole time I should have been overwhelmed and frustrated trying to keep it all straight but I wasn't, it was fascinating. Even the Rabbi said you cant possibly understand the Torah without Rabbi help in interpreting it! There is also the Talmud which is a written form of the oral tradition which basically does just that- explains and interprets the Torah.

Anyway, long story short another great Rabbi Lecture at the student center =D

More wonderfulness.

So today I started my day by going to school t get a flashlight for my cave trip tomorrow. Now, there is this school store that has everything you could ever need in the entire world, if you don't believe me, here a list of examples of what it has:

Microphones
Webcams
DVD players
Headphones
Backpacks
flip flops
tshirts
Hats
Socks
Male/female underwear
school supplies (a whole lon aisle of everything you can think of)
Some food
Irons
Water filters
Lamps
Light bulbs
Nail clippers
Tweezers
Flashlights
Camping stuff
Water stuff (rafts/floaties)
Pots and pans
Cups and plates
Hygiene products (shampoo/soap/ feminine needs)
Surge protectors
Toaster ovens
Cosmetics
Batteries
Wallets

And it's not as big as you'd think, but it is the most epic store of everything and more everything and I got a flashlight there and was happy.

Then I got an iced coffee and chocolate filled crossaint, which of course was amazing. Sat down, had breakfast, got up, left campus, was halfway back to the student village when I realized my bag with my flashlight in it was not in my hand! I must have left it at my table. And do you all remember what they do to suspicious ungaurded bags? THEY BLOW THEM UP.

My poor brandy new flashlight was going to be blown up! (Just today Cary saw someone report a lone bag OF PASTA hangig on a railing at bus stop and it was taken away and inspected by a police officer!!!) I rushed back to campus bemoaning my poor bag sitting there looking like a possibly planted bomb and being taken away to be eradicted via dynamite.

When I got there, the bag was gone! Woe! I approached the counter to enquire and as soon as the guy saw me he pulled it out from where he had hidden it under the counter. I was so thankful, toda toda thank you thank you thank you! I said. And that is the story of how my flashlight avoided being blown up.

Then James, Cary and I met up to grab a cab to the rockefeller museum. The first cab driver didn't know where it was, so we waved him off. He went around the rotary and came back! He was on the phone trying to figure out where it was so he wouldnt lose the sale! Then he handed the phone to James! James told whoever was on the phone where we wanted to go but THAT guy didn't know either. While this was happeing Cary flagged down a second cab and said Rockfeller museum once and the woman knew exactly where it was. So James thrust the phone back at the driver and we hurried into the second cab. the woman quoted us a fair price and got us there without hassle or fuss. Cary and James were sure it was because it was a woman. Win!

The museum turned out to be FREE. Win again. It had amazing things in it, like skulls and whole skeletons from 10,000 years ago, when there was more than one species of human! Before homo sapien sapien had even evolved!! That's MIND BOGGLING. The oldest human remains ever found in this area were there in front of us. Crazy. And they had artifacts from then going all the way up until the 7/8th century C.E! I of course enjoyed the Egyptian remains from when Egypt ruled the area (we're talking in like 3000- 1500 BC- thats like 5,000 years ago!) and wish I could have taken pictures of all these skeletons and jewlery and really REALLY old stuff, but none were allowed.

So in a little over and hour we were done and didnt know what to do. We were rather close to the old city so I was itching to go back to that store and buy the rings and the tshirt. But we were on the other side and I ddn't want to walk by myself. Luckily the group of us (another girl, Lauren, had joined us at the museum) decided to walk towards Ben Yehuda for a drink. To get there we had to walk on the edge of the muslim section, which James said would have made Rothberg (our school) flip out, but it was just along the main road, right outside of the old city so, I didn't see any harm as long as we didnt go wander inside the neighborhood. Which we didn't!

So then we get to Jaffa gate and the group is going to Ben Yehuda. The store is so close just inside, and it's in the Jewish quarter. I feel so safe in the Jewish quarter. It's modern and bright and open with well marked streets and no market at all. No shop keepers and stalls and confusing bazaars. Crispy angel was on my shoulder saying no, stay with the group! It doesnt matter if you know where you're going! Then his mother popped on my metaphorical shoulder too adding, "You'll make Chris worry!" And I frowned, I didnt want that. But it was the jewish quarter! I decided to make the decision for myself. It was just inside the gates, straight and then a left, in an open courtyard. It was safe, it was familiar, I had ust been there with Miriam and with class and dozens of times before.

Stubborn, I know. But it was just a quick trip, a small detour. AND I employed what I call the "New York walk" all business, fast paced, looking ahead, completely confident and uninterested in surroundings. It worked BRILLIANTLY. I wove between the tourists like I had been here for months, nothing new to see. No one said anything and in moments, I was in the safety of the nice, familiar Jewish quarter. I felt fine and comfortable. In a bright sunny courtyard where the shop was, a group of Jewish guys in kippas were playing acoustic guitars, siging a lovely rendition of the Killers' "Mr. Brightside" People sat under shade and it wasnt crowded or loud. Ahh, what a relief!

I went in the store and the man helped me size the rings. They hadn't had sizes on them but he had a sizer behind the counter! So Chris' mother had told me the size of his class ring and I asked the guy if people's ring sizes change, in say, four years. He said no, so I hope it fits! I also got the t-shirt I wanted and since I had returned he gave me 15 shekels off (the first time he had given me 30 shekels off). Nice, nice man.

In moments again I was outside the gates and on my way to the bus, feeling smug. This is where you expect something bad to happen and me to regret it, but no, as I'm walking, Cary pops out of a bagel shop where they had stopped to have lunch! So I crossed the street and rejoined the group and we made our way to the bus together. Awww happy ending. At the bus stop we were standing next to this guy in civilian clothes with this massive machine gun. I mean It was so big and complicated and dangerous looking just hanging off this guy in a collered tshirt and jeans. What?! Only here folks. Cary was going to sneak a picture and tag me in it, but just as she got out her camera, our bus came! How unlucky.

Speaking of that, last night Jesse, James and I went to get these amazing waffles and there was this short girl in a tank top and jeans with an old rifle just strapped on her like nothing, on the phone waiting to order a waffle. No uniform or sign of soldier status at all, just a huge gun on her back. Crazy. And all these people in the army with these guns are younger than me! Crazy. Anyway, more importantly I had the most epic waffle, half was covered in hot chocolate with coconut shavings, the other half was vanilla cream with coconut shavings. This waffle place had every topping you could think of, and I mean that! It was PACKED. You had to be aggresive to order and I epically failed so Jesse butted in for me and told the girl to take my order.

Then Jesse left and James and I went to a cafe because he wanted a beer and so I ordered a chai milkshake. it was phenomenal! So soon we headed back on the bus and that was that. Tonight I'm going to another Rabbi/Torah talk, with free food!

Nice!

Also, on the walk to the waffle place, Jesse was talking to me about converting and he said actually Judaism isn't big on converts and their very serious about making sure you mean it. Apparently a Rabbi will turn you away like five times!! Just hearing that was discouraging, BUT I think Jesse is talking from an Orthodox point of view and i dont want to be orthodox, so I'm hoping the other sects are more welcoming IF I do choose to go down that road.

So I'm very tired and thinking a nap before the talk sounds like a brilliant idea! Off I go to nap.

Shabbat Shalom

Today has been a long, long day. But a wonderful day. I had been bummed out when I went to bed because I had no one to go with me to the old city in the morning. And as you who have been reading know, going alone isn't very fun. BUT at exactly 6:51 I get a text from my friend Miriam who I went to the Holocaust museum with and she says she changed plans and will be around. Wonderful! So, I catch a 9:00 AM bus, forgoing sleeping in and head down. My first goal is to pick up some art. Unfortunately, it's expensive art. So I get some small prints, as the originals are 400 dollars. Yeah, I dont have that kind of money. though my heart belongs to a painting of a rabbi and soldier praying side by side at the western wall. Nevertheless, I'm very pleased, I have a picture of a lone soldier praying at the western wall, a rabbi walking up stairs with a prayer shawl on in the old city and just a scenic view of a part of the old city. So. Happy.

Then, we go to this store run by a friend of her fathers. It has lots of nice jewlery. Everything is religiously based though- on the Jewish religion, by the way. I spent probably more money than I should have, on a olive branch ring which is very tasteful and a small bracelet inscribed with "Pray for the peace of Jerusalem" in Hebrew. There were also these rings that said "I am my beloved, and my beloved is mine" in Hebrew, and I wanted nothing more than to get a matching pair for Chris and I, but I didnt know his ring size and they didnt have the sizes on them and I wasnt sure he would have worn it on a chain. Later I talked to him and he said he would and I thought it was the greatest thing ever because that would mean a lot to me, more than I realized at the time, but now that I think of it, I want nothing more than to go back and get a matching set for us. I think it would be very meaningful and deep and special to me, especially being inscribed in Hebrew. I'm toying with the idea of learning it though it's especially hard and I'm bad at languages. I want to learn it more than I wanted to learn Italian in Italy though.

Also there was a saucy t-shirt I want to get. It has the header "Civilizations that have tried to destroy the Jewish people" or something along those lines and it lists them and next to each has an X under the heading "Status" and each says "gone" next to it after the X. Like nazi germany, the crusaders, ancient egypt, etc, (its an awfully long list) and at the bottom of the list is Iran with question marks suggesting that it will be the next to disappear when it tries to come up against the jewish nation. At the bottom it says, the jewish people might be the smallest of nations but we have friends in high places... so be NICE.

I want it.

So, our wallets much lighter, we set out to find the market I had previously not been able to find. And we did! I was thrilled, I got my beloved rugalah and cheap cheap produce. A carton full of grapes which is 20 shekels at the store was 7 here. That's less than 2 dollars for a big big bunch of fresh green grapes. AMAZING!!! Why am I just finding this market now?! And why is it a bus ride and twenty minute walk away from me?! Anyway Miriam ad I had a great time there.

After the market it was so hot I came back to the dorm earlier than I had planned and was going to do hardcore homework. But five pages into it the heat had exhausted me so much and getting up early had done me in so I took a nap. When I awoke, rather a long while later, magically Chris was online. So, homework pushed aside. Then Jesse invited me to the Western Wall at sundown on Shabbat which is a very special experience so I jumped on that even though it meant leaving Chris. So no homework then either.

But, the Western wall at sundown was a very special thing to see. The woman's side was more solemn and more like the usual sight you see. But I was glad to put a note in to give prayers for some special people. It was also amazing to see the little girls touch the wall and kiss ther hands like the older woman. They grow up knowing how special it is. Even girls a bit older had prayer books and were really into the praying which was something powerful to see. However, the men's side, which is much different, was even more fascinating.

See, it's not all solemn praying there. There were groups singing and bobbing and danging in circles. And I dont mean like kumbayah, I mean lively hebrew songs, celebrating Shabbat! Rejoicing! It was so much fun! And mixed in are Jews of every type, soldiers in uniform, ultra orthodox in big hats and all black, every day dressed guys in kippas, some rocking back and forth praying, some still, some singing, just this huge mix of people coming together on Shabbat at this Holy place. There was such emotion and feeling and it just felt special. It was also so so so packed. I wanted to be a part of it, I mean really a part of it. I could go and stand but I didnt know the prayers, couldnt read hebrew, just it wasn't what these people were getting from it. i wanted THAT. I wanted to know the songs, to know the prayers.

So I was glad I saw it though. The more I see the more I fall in love with Judaism. On the way back Jesse suggested we go to the student center's shabbat dinner. I have never been to a Shabbat dinner. But I decided to be brave and go even though I, again, knew nothing! It was run by a hasidic (Ultra orthodox) Jewish man and his wife, and they ran it they way they would if we were at their home. She had the most beautiful baby boy- almost ten months. Oh he was such a happy baby, getting passed around, I even got to hold him. I have always wanted a girl myself, but this baby boy had my heart, He had big blue eyes and was gooing and ga-ing and being precious the whole time. Anyway, the shabbat dinner begins with some singing, I didnt know the words but it was interesting to listen. Then you have to wash your hands a special way, theres a cup in the sink you fill and then pour some two times over the right hand and then two times over the left. So we all did that, and after you washed you couldn't speak until the bread was blessed, and then you got to eat!

The meal was served in courses, and you had to use a different fork and plate for the fish and for the meat, in between you either took a shot of something hard (liquor) or a bit of bread to separate them. I had skipped the fish so no problem for me. During the meal, jesse and another boy got into a really intense debate on politics and were talking very loudly over each other. Some people kind of told them to calm down and quiet down because it's shabbat and not a time for that kind of intense debate. Thats for the week but shabbat is more of a reflective time, where people put all that kind of stuff away, so their tension was ruining the mood. But Jesse is so pig headed he either didnt notice or care. I made friends with an Israeli boy across from me who joked about it and used the chance to strike up a converstaion with me. He said dont ask them to pass something, if you interrupt you might get punched in the face! Haha! the one point we got to switch topics we talked about cultural difference between Israelis and Americans and then British people since there was a British boy at our table. That was the nice low key shabbat coversation we should have been having!

There were actually almost no Americans there! People were from Israel, Argentina, Canada, the Netherlands, London, and many other countries! And all jewish! It was great!

So the meal went by fairly well aside from the constant back and forth between jesse and this boy which was just a tad too loud and a bit too intense for my liking. I would have liked the more relaxed conversation. I could tell the very polite refined British boy on the other side of Jesse was getting a headache and didn't really appreciate it either. Though they were both enjoying themselves and most people took it in good grace, I felt badly when I saw that he didnt seem to be very happy about it. He's working on his PhD research here, and is very slight, shorter than me and just seems like, an intellectual- he spoke quietly, not whispering but in a refined manner that piqued my interest about his personality. His accent is more refined than James', cleaner and there something about him that just fascinates me. He's so slight, his frame! He's blond too which is kind of rare for Jewish people, most have darker coloring.

So anyway, after the meal the Hasdic Jewish man gave us a talk, and it was a bit jumpy from topic to topic I thought but good nonetheless. Of course Jesse was disagreeing with things under his breath and I wanted to kick him and tell him to be polite and wait to say it elsewhere. He has issues with their community, but anyway. After the talk Jesse did have some valid points, I'll admit but honestly he could have sat quietly instead of whispering under his breath- no one else noticed but me - it was almost imperceptible, but I DID notice and again thought him rude. On the walk back from the wall I had another of those moments where he seemed very preppy and spoiled and just rubbed me the wrong way. But then at one poit I asked when it would be over ad he said I could leave whenever since the eating part was done, no one would say anything or mind. but he said he would. I thought he was just giving me a hard time and called him an ass. He was like, "No, I meant, it, like I want you to stay! Like I want you to be here," So he was being nice ad I called him an ass since I thought he was just being difficult. I apologized and explained how I had heard it and he repeated that no he hadnt meant it that way. Sometimes I just fail at social interactions. Though it was funny that the Israeli boy across from me said that Jesse was bad at gauging other people's feelings, since he hadnt picked up on that it wasnt the time for such a debate.

Anyway the quote I leave you with from the talk is this:

"Happiness is not a person with a certain circumstance, it is a person with a certain perspective"

I really like the idea. I liked his talk. Everytime I have heard a jewish person speak or give a lecture on Jewish morality or thought I have really agreed. I left resolved to read the books I got on Judaism purely out of interest, I really like their outlook on life, I like their customs, I like how big a role religion plays in their life, how it creates thier community and really seems to give them something no one else quite has. Though I suppose any religion is like that. I've just see it more here.

The boy I had made friends with across the table made a prediction, after I told him about my lack of religious affiliation (due to my parents etc etc) He said I predict you will convert, return here and meet and marry an Israeli man. I laughed a bit and said maybe. I hadnt really thought about converting, not yet, it seems overwhelming, there is so much to know so so much I dont know. But then I thought about how you are expected to marry another Jewish person and frowned. I think it's only orthodox that really upholds that but still, why is there always something I can't handle?

I really do think I'm going to look into Judaism, I'm so happy I got the books, I just wish I had time to read them now!!!

but it's late now and I have had another wonderful look into a jewish tradtion, today- of the Shabbat meal! And again I immensely enjoyed it despite being slightly awkward and out of place when everyone else knew the words and songs and prayers. I really want that for myself in some community. I want the familiarity, the routine, the community but I cant let be the only reason I convert. I have to AGREE and really feel ac onnection toit, the whole religion- not just those aspects. But so far what I have learned I admire, except for certain strict rules, but with all the differnt sects I would have to look into each to see who follows what. Who knows maybe there is hope in the future...

Holocaust Museum

So I went to Yad Vashem, the Holocaust museum today. So be warned if you are sensitive, this entry will deal with some pretty horrific stuff, I had no idea what i was getting into emotionally.

It's free which is really important so everyone and anyone can go, but it's really horrific so children under ten aren't allowed, which I completely agree with after going. We paid for audio guides though because I didn't want to miss anything. I'm glad I did because I honestly don't know if I could stomach it again.

It started out like any other museum, chronicling Hitler's rise to power, how Germany came to be under his totalitarian rule- it wasn't fun stuff but it was by the book, straightforward history. Even though I knew what it led to I could handle this. All to soon though, the hate propganda came into it. He really believed Jews were the scum of the Earth, that they would be the downfall of man kind, of the economy, of everything. It sounded insane to me, but I watched as the German people ate it up, spewed it out and the country's policies became based on hate and racism, as race laws were passed and suddenly equality no longer existed- Jews were less than human.

Still this was early on, just in Germany and I had no idea just how much worse it would get, of course I know the basics but nothing could prepare me to see it, as the Jewish people were corralled ito ghettos, their possessions stolen, shops looted, religious articals taken and sold off like cheap junk. There was a law passed than any non jew could go ito a Jewish home or shop and help himself to anything he wanted. Imagne someone said you had no right to your most valued possessions. German soldiers wouldn't just take valuable things, but things special for sentimental reasons, a baby's cradle, for example. Imagine having your children deprived of everything in front of your eyes because a law said you didn't have the right to owning anything.

The ghettos were crowded and unsantitary and people had very little. What's worse is how people tried to flee to other countries only to have the Germans come and occupy those, so that even when they thought they had escaped, Germany followed, conquering, occupying and persuing the Jews. They were determined to eradicate them, erase all traces of them, to make them extinct. You never think of human beings going extinct but Hitler was determined that there would be nothing left of the Jewish people.

What really threw me though, even more than that was when things started getting gruesome. Suddenly they were being deported, rounded up and killed. If they couldnt be used for forced labor they were killed. In one ghetto we had to watch as the president was forced to tell the people that every child under ten couldn't work, and since they couldnt be used for work they would have to be handed over to be killed. He had to tell the parents to hand over their youngest children to be slaughtered. And the people cried no, no, I will dont give you to them, I will not give you up to their children, weeping, and he said if they dont then the Germans will just kill everyone else.

Can you imagine having to hand over your children to die because they are useless in the eyes of the Germans? One old man who survived told of how his mother bribed a guard to look away just for a moment so she could lift the barbed wire and left her son out telling him to run and never look back. She would never know if he survived, and he would never see her again. He was only 8 but it was his only chance to escape alive.

They had diaries of young teens who watched their world crumble, who were contemplating death and hatred at 14 ad wondering how long it was going to be until they were deported. They had letters from parents terrified for their children. What's worse was when they found notes thrown from the cattle cars when the jews where crammed aboard to be shipped off to die. The Germans lied to them, telling them they were being moved, and to just do what the Germans said- when really they were going to the death camps. There is a note from a child to her mother promising her they will meet again, telling her that she is being moved but she is sure it will not be long until they are able to find each other again. She had no idea she was on her way to die. There were letters asking the finder to please tell their family where they are going, what happened to them, none of them knowing the letters will not be found until after they are dead.

Soon, though, they knew. They knew that they were being exterminated when someone escaped, someone told what was going on, the gas chambers, the deaths of millions, that Hitler was trying to eradicate them. And then it's just room after room of stories of the dead. Not just numbers. Their last letters, diaries found, begging someone to remember them, that they lived, that they were human, telling what was done to them, the horrors, the starvation and sickness and cruelty, all in their own handwriting, I saw it, the papers they hid for someone to find, knowing they were going to die.

There were testimonials too from survivors telling of what they had seen, babies and childrens head smashed against walls in front of their eyes, how at 13 one man recalled that after arriving he was forced to pick the gold fillings from the dead corpses teeth- of his fellow jews. Of how they believed the Germans at first, when they said if they were good, they would let them go and when they realized they would all die. Horror filled stories of death after death. And the samll valuables they left behind are the only way they were remembered. Artwork or poems or diaries found buried, hidden, desperate attempts to leave something behind before they were forgotten, erased, killed. Can you imagine getting glimpses into the last moments, the last few days of countless people's lives? People knowing they were going to die?

It was just room after room of desolation as the numbers rose and the Germans spread, I almost couldn't handle anymore. Tears were constantly threatening to spill onto my cheeks as I read about parents forced to watch their children die, read about children losing their parents, being seperated form them, one death after another of real live people. It was so real, their photographs, their shoes, their words all saved, found long after they had been murdered by the thousands. I felt overwhelmed and like I couldnt keep seeing this, reading it, hearing the survivors choke out the horror they had lived through. But I forced myself to. How did they live this horror story when I couldnt even handle it in a museum?

The worst though, was hearing about their attempts to flee and how many countries refused them entrance. There was a ship full of refugees fleeing Germany who had obtained Cuban visas and were on their way to freedom. When they finally arrived the cubans wouldnt honor the visas they issued. They had changed thier mind and even after days of talking back and forth they wouldnt let anyone off the ship and forced the ship out of their harbor. The captain went to Florida in a desperate attempt to get the refugees somewhere safe and the U.S wouldnt let them in either. They circled around outside of Florida for days in depseration until the captain was forced to head back because of food shortages and the refuggees were sent to their death. Some jumped form the ship instead of go back to germany where they would be killed. Eventually they were let off in some other country, but many never did make it to safety, captured and brought to camps after being so close to freedom just to die. Britain, which was in charge of Israel at the time, wouldnt let refugees in either, refusing them the safety of their own homeland. They too forced shipfuls of refuegees to return to their deaths. Even the countries not killing off Jews didn't want them. It seemed no one was innocent, they all let the Jews die until finally WWII broke out.

Diaries of their despair at being shunned by the world to be killed by the thousand were almost too much. There were chronicles of local villagers beating Jews to death, not just Germans by Ukrainans, Austrians, just every day people, not soldiers slaughtering Jews. As if the whole world wanted them gone. How must it have felt? To see your people slowly disappearing by the hundreds of thousands as the world looked on.

Then there were the death marches. As WWII finally broke out and the Allies looked to be getting the upper hand, the Germans didnt want any Jews rescued so they forced them to march through the freezing winter with almost no food, in rags and wooden clogs. If they were weak the Germans shot them. Out of 2,500 in one case I think only 180 or something horrifying like that survived. When passing through villages the soldiers wouldnt allow any food to be given to them or any help as they were forced onwards.

At the end there were pictures of people on the death march who were saved and brought to hospitals. Many died there. the pictures were horrific, emaciated, skeletal looking people. Women who were 25 looked like they were frail 70 year old women. All in such pain. So many died even after the war had been won.

It was a horrifying experience. I was just so so deeply emotioanlly disturbed. Wrecked. At the end there was a video of all these naked dead bodies being tossed into a ditch. Even a tractor was pushig dozens of bodies, just moving heaps of dead people into this massive grave like limp life sized broken dolls. I couldnt take it. I was going to throw up or start weeping, or both. I ran from the room. How did the world let this happen? How did so many countries support it? How did so many others turn their back? How did this hate not get stopped before millions were slaughtered, with nowhere no run or hide, no one to help them, thinking it was the end for their entire people? They probably died thinking the Germans would win, there would be no more Jews.

I was riding the bus home and as always I passed the playground with dozens of adorable little jewish boys and girls playing, the boys with kippahs and curls and the girls all dressed in long shirts and shirts, signifying them as orthodox. Beautiful little chidren, obviously jewish, playing as mothers looked on holding infants and chatting with other mothers. I wish those mothers who had to watch their children die could be alive like this today, I wish they could know that their people lived on. that they survived. That Hitler lost. I almost cried on the bus thinking thank God, thank God the Jewish people made it through. And thinking about mothers just like these ones, just like mothers I know, just like these people who were so brutally murdered. It could have been the end of us all. But it wasn't, just barely.

The end of the museum covered the end of the war. It should have been a happy ending. But there was none. There was no happy ending. Tons of Jewish children who had been smuggled out with non jews were now orphans and in Poland it was even more Antisemitic than before the war as many couldnt handle the fact that there were still Jews alive. Survivors had lost entire families, homes. They had nothing left. They were free but they were alone, their comunities destroyed. I left the museum crushed. You end and come out onto this balcony with an epically beautiful view of a Valley below. All I couldnt think was God, I'm so lucky to be standing here, so lucky I wasn't born 70 years ago. So lucky I live in America. I just stood there, devestated over all the people who were taken away from beautiful views like this never to see them again, killed in dirty, smelly concentration camps, alone and scared. All because they existed. The view didn't comfort me, it seemed unfair. So horribly unfair. Everything was wrong. How could it all have happened? It had taken me three hours of death and devestation to make it to this balcony and all I wanted to do was leave, like I shouldnt be able to stand there breathing in fresh air after all those people died wanting nothing but to be remembered.

The last room was the hall of remembrance. It was round with shelves that went below and above the floor level, so it was thousands and thousands of huge binders, row after row after row of them. All with the names and stories of those jews in the holocaust who hadn't had a proper burial. Now their stories were kept as a symbolic burial where they would always be remembered because the Germans wanted them forgotten, erased. So now their stories are told, hudreds of thousands line the walls, the dome above has 600 pictures of beautiful smiling people, from before they were taken, from the lives they lived that were destroyed. And then there are more shelves, empty shelves for the people who we still havent found. the numbers dont match up yet, but the museum is on a mission so that every Jew killed will have their name at the very least recorded, so they can be remembered.

Then on my way home Miriam was telling me of her friend. Now there are busses and vans with stripes, ad arabic writing on them. The Arabs had to have their own busses, couldnt bear to take the city bus with the Jews. We were told not to take these busses. So I didn't. But miriams friend had no idea. She tried to get on one. They stopped her ad asked, "Are you a Jew?" No, she answered, because she was't. She was just a canadian tourist. "you look like a jew" they insisted, to which she said again that she wasn't Jewish. They told her they didn't believe her and wouldnt let her get on the bus. No Jews allowed. It made my blood run cold. Even today there is still such hate towards Jews, it terrifies me.

It's bee a draining day...

Amazing trip to the dead sea!!!

So today I went to Ein gedi and the Dead sea which are only an hour away from Jerusalem! I look out the window ten minutes into our bus ride and we are already not only out of the city, but surrounded by the Judean desert! To both sides are huge sand dunes looming over us that seemingly came out of nowhere while I had taken my ipod out of my bag. Eventually they became rocky, and formed cliffs and suddenly we are driving through mountains, which at times are sandy colored stone but then get pinkish, bordering on red at points. The tour guide pointed out when we passed sea level as we went from being much much higher than sea level to the lowest point ON EARTH. It's over 1000 feet below sea level at the dead sea, I dont know the exact number though. So the road winds downhill and the mountains seem to get taller and bigger and we go lower. My ears even pop!

Sometimes we see bedouin camps on the side of the road, a little ways off into the desert. These simply consist of small groupings of aluminum shacks that look to be near falling over and abandoned. Sometimes a small group of sheep huddle bewteen them, and there might be one vehicle in the small encampment but we never see a person. If I hadn't known I would have said they were abandoned but no, the tour guide pointed them out. I dont know how people live in tiny pieces of aluminum propped up against each other in some weird parody of a shelter but they do, right in the desert, outside of any civilization.

When we got to Ein Gedi it was already 4 oclock. It hadn't been overly hot in Jerusalem but even just a hour away I stepped off the bus and the heat was like somethig solid. It hits you, a wall of hot air and you kind of make this internal gasp and just stand for a second in shock at how heavy desert heat is. Not heavy like humidity, but just, oppressive. Noticable. Like nothing I can remember ever feeling in the states, nothing so dry but still so HOT. The desert doesn't care what time of day it is, whether it's closer to evening. If the sun is up, it's stifling hot. At home we think as the day winds down, it gets cooler; here, it is hot and in ten minutes the sun sets and its cold. There is no gradual decline, at least not that I can sense.

So, we had a short hike (thankfully) to a spring. Desert springs are something miraculous. It really is amazing to be trudging along with nothing but cliffs on either side, dust and lifeless desert plants that dont look much more alive than the sand and stone that surround them for miles and then suddenly with no warning, comes a small paradise. Suddenly you see a bit of green and a pool of beautiful blue with a waterfall feeding into it. I can see how mirages came about, these things do exist though. Many in our group plunged right in, clothes and all, standing beneath the waterfall and splashing aroud in glee. Others filled hats with water and put them back on their heads. It was like Christmas morning. And our walk had been only twenty minutes. Can you imagine what it is like to live in that desert? Fun fact: The desert takes up a decent portion of the country, on a map I'd say a fourth to a third of the country is desert, yet only three percent of the population live there.

So soon after, we trudged back to the bus and headed to the dead sea. Whe we got there I lost track of the few people I knew on the trip and couldnt find them, so I had to plop my stuff down by a boy who decided to read instead of go in and hope no one stole my stuff and go in alone. Now, it would have been more fun with friends, but still, I was surrounded by the tour group and I hope I can do this experience justice.

First, the tour guide warned us to take off our jewlery, the high concentration of minerals could turn it black, she said silver and gold might probably be okay but aythig else could turn black. I was actually ito my knees when I remembered and hastened to take off my promise ring and return it to my bag, real or not I wasn't taking the chance. My anklet I didnt care about, nor my earrings, but I was extra careful not to wear my ring.

Second, the concentration of salt is 8-9 times that in the mediterranean sea- its 31% salt, so you cant go under at all or splash, if it gets in your eyes you will be in pain- a few girls had this happen because their hair dripped into their eyes and had to be led out squeezing their eyes shut in pain the whole time.

So, next, everyone knows you float easily in the dead sea, or most do. This is an understatement and does NOT do it justice. Let me try to explain.

You bob like a freaking cork.

It bottom drops quickly to much deeper than you can stand in and you never notice. If your feet are below you, you could stretch your hands and arms straight upwards out of the water and just stay there bobbing with no movement. No treading water at all. If you lay on your back almost half of your body is out of the water, not submerged! It's like the water is trying to push you out! If you go upright and bend your knees in towards your chest the water pushes your bum up so your legs are pushed upwards and you find yourself on your back again, like you cant keep yourself underwater!!! If you go on your stomach you can bend your knees so your feet are up in the air! Imagine laying on your bed on your somach reading, with your feet up- it's that position BUT IN THE WATER. It's so crazy to just be rolling around in the water, never swimming- you dont need to! Imagine rolling around and bobbing and twirling in water with no effort as it pushes you upward. Crazy. Floating doesn't cover it at all.

Also, the water is slippery, it doesn't feel like you are in water at all! It feels like some other substance, like it cant be water! The second you lift your arm out the water beads up, like oil would and in seconds there is no water on your arm at all. Also, because of the salt any cuts will sting ad I guess people tell you not to even shave because the skin will be sensitive. I didnt know that and shaved, but it just felt prickly. Not painful but like, I cant explain this part very well. You knew there was something off with this water! It was such a strange sensation!

When I first got out I felt slippery and oily, it was a weird feeling, but soon I dried just waiting in line to shower and rinse off. When you dry your skin starts to feel a bit tight and you realize you feel GRITTY, like you have very very very fie sand on you that you cant see. It's the layer of salt left behind! Luckily there were showers to rinse off!

The only critique I have is that the water is so warm it wasn't as refreshig as I had hoped. Again, not uncomfortably warm, but...warm, and in desert heat you DONT want that. I'm a person who takes hot showers no matter the weather but even I would have appreciated a little chill upon entering. By the time I got back to the bus in the parking lot it was stiflig hot even though it was 7 PM. I paid a ridiculously expensive price for an ice cream and enjoyed before getting on the bus.

The day has left me very tired. I hope I didn't forget too much. Ah I did! Some random notes:

Our security gaurd this time had this big OLD rifle type gun. The tour guide even joked on how old it was! And it was strange because he was old! Built like a foodball player, sure, but he had white hair. What a badass old dude walking around the desert with a huge gun to protect us.

I think the gun might have had to do with the fact that we passed thrugh areas under the Paestinian authority. Less than an hour outside of Jerusalem there were areas we could NOT go, such as a particularly nice spring the tour guide told us about but warned it was too dangerous to take a tour group of us there- we could go alone if we knew what we were doing. We also had to go through check points! I didnt realize the country was so divided and there are like A areas and B areas and C areas etc- A areas are where the Palestinians control the whole settlement, rules for that town,/city and all. Or something like that. It was complicated, but I guess you absolutely need to know where you shouldnt be going if you are an Israeli even in your own home country! I think we are better off since we're tourists- and mostly American, but for an Israeli you could get into trouble even just an hour away from where you live! Crazy.

Like Jericho is under Palestinian control- it's still in Israel but under their control nonetheless. I didnt quite get that it was like that. It still confuses me and upsets me. How can they live when they cant go places in THEIR OWN COUNTRY? The country of Israel is smaller than the state of New Jersey! There isnt enough to be dividing like that =(

Well I really need sleep now...

Wednesday...

So, shocker, I missed a day! Well that's because nothing really happened yesterday, unfortunately. But it was okay because today suddenly my schedule picked up! We got back from a rather relaxed class, and early too! By early I mean on time, which is rare because of "Israeli time" where you add a half hour to most things unless it's a formal like trip where the bus will leave you. Class, however, is not formal enough to respect time limits apparently!

Since I'm usually okay with that because I expect it now, getting out on time is pretty exciting. Also most of the morning was cool and partly cloudy which is another shocker but a good one- I found I wasn't dragging as much by the end of class. Though now it's up to the usual heat. Anyway, I had some time before my trip to Ein Gedi ad the Dead sea so here I am updating. I bet I'll have lots of exciting things to say after I return!

So, Tomorrow I am going to the Holocaust museum, which will be sobering experience. Getting there is a bit complicated, actually, so I hope we make it alright. I was supposed to go to the new Harry potter movie after that but it's across the city and the busses stop running at 12 so I dont know if its do-able, especially since I dont think we know how to reserve tickets in advance either.

Friday morning I am going to a market, more specifically to a bakery with Greg (the one I couldn't find- turns out I was right next to it just had to turn down any side street! Arggg!) and maybe I can convince him to take me to the old city because I really really want to buy some art work I saw in the Jewish quarter. I mean, amazing beautiful prints that I need to have. I cannot leave the country without them.

Then I think Saturday if Charrise and Corey are going to Massadah on a tour I'm going to join them and Sunday I'm going with James, Cary and his friend to the Rockefeller museum. Then next Wednesday afternoon I'm going to go to Haifa (spelling is probably wrong) and stay over for a night and come back thurday afternoon. Whew. But I'm very happy because I'm nearly at the end of my trip! Only two weeks left! I need to get on this traveling thing!!!

So, random fact: Every day the class goes out into Jerusalem they send an armed security gaurd with us. Usually I dont notice them much but the other day I noticed some tour groups have them as well, ours have small guns hidden by their shirts but one with another group had a huge one hanging across his chest. They are all marked as security with shirts and badges but it's just interesting that we don't go anywhere with one following us. Even just into the old city.

I had more fun facts I wanted to put here but I've forgotten them now. I think I need to go buy some snacks to bring o my trip though and eat a better lunch sice we'll be hiking. I just had some noodles but really they aren't very substantial... well this was quite the filler entry, but check back in the next few days since there is a lot coming up!

Class and zoo!!!

So, today was jam packed and super fun!!!

Class was epically long since we had to visit two sites in one period, due to the fact that they cut our study trips from 11 to 8. So we started at the Israel museum and saw a HUGE model of Jerusalem in the second temple period. Then we watched a video on the dead sea scrolls that was actually fascinating, if not a teeny bit cheesey since there was a somewhat badly acted reenactment of the supposed authors of the dead sea scrolls, a sect that had left Jerusalem, claiming it was corrupt and settled in the desert, but I was fascinated at this cult like group!

Unfortunately, though this museum is WHERE the dead sea scrolls ARE, we didnt get to see them as we had to go to the second site!! What a shame!

Our second site was fascinating, it was outside the temple mount on the southern wall, where it meets the western wall. We were in the archeological park looking at Umayad structures from the early Isalmic period. Its fascinating to see the layers of different structures built over ruins of earlier structures (umayad palaces over byzantine era shops over second temple period road...). Though by the end when it was noon the sun was so hot we were wilting. However, the prof really wanted us to see these Byzantine houses and on our way to the bus he said "we just take a quick peek! I wont talk much!" And one girl whined "Nooo professor it's tooo hot!" and we were shocked. We were all hot and if she felt faint she should have said something like that but to whine and complain like that to a professor?! How immature. Then once in the bus the same girl wanted the van driver to drop them off at their dorms instead of campus where we always get dropped off and the van parks. Yes, it was hot but honestly, after a twenty minute air conditioned ride in the van there was no reason they couldnt walk 15 minutes to the dorm like everyone else.

So anyway, I had tried to get a group to go to the zoo to no avail. I asked EVERYONE and either they had work to do, weren't interested, didnt want to spend the money, or a variety of reasons. So it was just Jesse and I. After trying to think of something else to do we decided to go to the zoo anyway. First we went through the Arab shook (shuk? I dot know how it's spelled) because he wanted to be all bold wearing his orthodox get up in the muslim section to show how unafraid he is (he can be cocky like that), and it was nothing like whe i went alone. No one bothered me, no one said A SINGLE WORD. Jesse moved through crowds and past people with such speed, confidence and purpose no one had a chance to even get a word out at us. It was so epically different from when I went! Well our goal was actually a place called the burnt house, which is the remains of a house burnt during the Roman destruction of the city in 70 C.E. You can even see the outstretched arm of a woman (the bones) next to a spear. It's a horrifying scene, everything burnt and charred, retelling of the horror of that night. There was also a video with a reenactment and though at times cheesily and badly acted, it was also at times horrifyingly hard to watch, like when the priest who was so sure even the Romans wouldnt destroy the world renowned temple, throws open the doors of his home to find his beloved temple in flames and falls to the ground crying and weeping knowing now, truly, the city is doomed.

It also gave insight to how divided the city was at that time and how tense the months leading up to the seige and destruction of the city were. It was a good, educational trip. The we grabbed a cab to the zoo, going later on purpose so the animals would be up and moving and not sluggishly hiding from the midday sun. So, we get there with three hours until closing. I find the zoo is even more fun than I thought it would be! There is such a wide array of aimals and we are able to get really close!

I get tons of pictures, really good ones and despite the fact that it was just Jesse and I he was uber excited and interested in the animals which made it much more fun. I mean he was constantly like"what is THAT?!" and "Oh my god that is the coolest animal I have ever seen in my LIFE" and he named off like ten animals he wanted as pets as we went along. The zoo had lots of exotic, interesting animals and we filled up the three hours easily, just making it to all of the exhibits. Sometimes you could get super close, like one indoor one where these big weird birds flew right at us! And jesse terrorized them back! And we were only seperately by a low rope from the kangaroos! And we were right with the eagles in their enclosure! I mean how cool is that? I got to go o a platform and be right up next to a giraffe! And the big cats were so cool!! We watched oe cheetah totally persue the other, while the other was like pffft, PLEASE and just kept leading the male around, lookig bored as he followed her looking all lame. And we saw one tiger bare its teeth at the other, scaring it off, THAT WAS SO COOL. And then these monkeys that were speeding around like they had drak cans and cans of soda or something...I mean the animals were really fascinating just to watch!!!

So though I tons of fun with Jesse and he is really fun to be around, he can also get a tad bit egotistical and pretentious- like when's he's looking through your i-pod (though a lot of people are like that with music) or when he;s talking about what a brat he was in school. He has this habit of skipping classes, he does it here A LOT, but he just gets away with it because he's smart ad incredibly charming and he knows how charming he is and mentions it frequently (when talking about how he gets away with things). I mean the kid got into an ivy league school, he's not just charming, he is extremely intelligent, but sometimes he's a brat about it because he knows it.

So I guess he's a person best taken in doses really, fun and easy to talk to, very very informative but a bit over confident, which I dont think he has yet realized can be a turn off. Anyway, after the zoo we went to the mall to grab a bite to eat, I hadnt eaten much all day, (a yogurt, some grapes and two mini granola bars) and I had been walking in the sun non stop. So I treated myself, yes, wait for it, to chinese food. Which is not anything special here either. No suprise there. I just, wanted it.

So we chattered easily and then took the bus home. Ive been trying to upload the AMAZING PICTURES for about two hours but facebook is being particularly difficult, so maybe tomorrow. I hate wasting so much time but really the pictures are beyond phenomenal from today and finally i'm IN them! Finally I had someone totally willing to take pictures of me and it's really exciting! But alas, it is late and I have class tomorrow. A long, long i class lecture, no field trip sadly!

Small P.S entry...

So, I'm minding my own business when I hear a loud recorded voice in hebrew outside my door. Not understanding the anouncement (or realizing we had a loudspeaker in our apartment!), I ponder whether the world is ending, but no, a few moments later, it repeats in English.

"Dear students in approximately 20 minutes the water supply to the entire student village will be shut off"

Oh good, the world's not- wait....the fu**?

We're in a desert, yes it is!

So an hour later, after a nap I im my friend jesse to ask if he knows what's up. He didnt even know the water was off! So I im Greg- he doesn't know when it will be back or why it's off either. I try James- he and his roommates are just as clueless. I even try my own roommates, but no one knows whats going on or when the water will return. So, approximately four hours later, I am still waiting to use the bathroom. This just seems like a brilliant idea. Mind you, the student village is a whole group of high rises over (or approximately) 12 I think, well I call them highrises since my building has 8 floors and some are even bigger- filled with students and some with families.

Nice job, guys.

Please, please bring the water back.

edit: I am told the water will return at 11, approx. 6 hours after being turned off. *grumble*

Bad day turned good?

So today I had a grand plan to snap me out of my homesickness, which had set in yesterday afternoon something aweful! I would go out and adventure! First though I would go to the store and get some decent food, so I could have a meal now ad then instead of existing on crackers and yogurt, I was sure a more fulfilling diet would help me feel more stable and at home. Well, I found the Israeli equivalent to Ramen! Halleluah! Hey, I'm serious- it was a welcome discovery. I also got some quakers oatmeal, and even despite my utter embaressment because I couldnt read the labels, yes, I managed to find feminine products that would allow me to go swimming on the dead sea trip this week which falls during a non swim friendly time of the month. Yes I admitted that in a public blog- it was a very brave move to buy certain things for the first time when all the directions are in hebrew! By the way girls, tampax exists EVERYWHERE, just in case you were wondering. Go America. Though they have the directions and labels in about 8 languages, NONE of them english. Huh?

So grocerey shopping left me feeling confident.

After putting my groceries away I caught the 19 bus where I sat next to a nice old woman. I held her cane while she got herself into the seat. I think she tried to make conversation but I just pointed to myself saying "anglit (english)" with a sorry smile. She chuckled and nodded. She understood to get up when i pushed the stop button so it all worked out just fine.

Getting off the bus, I was right outside the old city, however, the bus stop to return home is a ways off, on King George street which is off Ben Yehuda st( big touristy street closed off to cars filled with people and shops) which is off Jaffa street (a main street in the center city, filled with little cheap shops). So I knew where I wanted to go, but I soon realized street signs are scarce. Well a lot of good my big touristy map does me now! (except make me look touristy) But the day was young and I just started wandering down the street away from the old city soon finding from a tiny sign aganst a building that the bus dropped me on Jaffa street! I only knew the stop to get off by sight, which is usually how I know things. From there it was easy to find ben yehuda and at the top, the bus stop at king george! So now I had my bearings and was feeling good.

I wanted desperately to find a market Jesse had shown me a week ago for this one bakery that had these patsries TO DIE FOR, but we had approached it from the central bus station and so I had no idea where it was in relation to where I was on Ben Yehuda. I thought maybe I would stumble upon it and tried my luck but soon it seemed I was more likely to get lost- the shops were thinning out and tourists were getting more scarce so I decided it was probably not in the area I was in and I didnt want to test my luck. So I decided to retrace my steps and go into the old city, to see if there was any yummy food there. I had no idea what a huge mistake this would be.

Well, I went down the same street I had gone down with Greg, going into the Bazaar, only this time taking a fork we had passed by. I had no idea it would be so easy to get so turned around and lost. The map was of no help only labeling main streets. Now with the whole afternoon ahead of me normally it wouldn't bother me. Except the shop keepers wouldnt stop pestering me. I mean constantly harrassing, saying "excuse me, excuse me lady, come here come here" and I doubt they realize how much women dislike being addressed as "hey lady!" but the afct that they didnt realize that didn't stop my annoyance.

Also I tried my best to walk by and ignore them but my biggest downfall was the tattoo. I should have guessed by the two men outside the old city who approached and were oogling it, and trying to talk to me. I wasnt comfortable with them examining my legs so I walked away as quick as possible after minimally answering their questions. So then they pull up beside me in a car and make some remark in hebrew only a minute after! I was so annoyed. So many men approached me using my tattoo as an excuse to corner me and start up conversation before trying to lure me into shops. It also made it impossible to act like I thought they were talking to someone else. Not once did I go into a shop or engage in conversation other than shaking my head, but the barrage of men and shop keepers hounding me was constant, I felt harrassed and claustrophic. All I wanted to do was walk in peace, look around, be left alone. Instead I couldn't go anywhere without someone approaching me and pestering me to come into his shop or talk to him about my tattoo.

And they would call after me, like I was being so rude by completely ignoring them, it just grated on me more and more. I could have no peace!! I couldnt walk two feet without a new man yelling at me from his shop entrance- and the streets are small and narrow so this was more like 5 feet away from me. Then I start realizing all the woman are suddenly wearing headscarfs and everything is in Arabic. Now I'm not being racist but I started see "Free Palestine!" T-shirts everywhere and I'm wearing a Jewish symbol around my neck, don't tell me I shouldnt have been a little nervous. I'm serious, they think the Jewish people have taken THEIR holy Land and have t-shirts proclaiming it and here I am looking nice and jewish and alone in the muslim quarter. I was like fuck fuck fuck, get me out of here!!! So I'm getting more and more anxious as again tourists thin out and Im alone walking down some street. When I see the gate ahead of me, I think oh good, I'll leave the city and follow the outside wall until I get to a gate I know! Perfect. Well, Im pretty much on the opposite side of the city now and following the wall in the hot sun makes me realize it's a bigger area than I thought. I'm sure I'm going to pass out, its about 1 PM and nearly no shade. I'm sure I'm going to die. What a horrible idea leaving the city was, now I'm trapped walking between a long stretch of road and the stupid wall giving me no shade. Right now at 5 PM it feels like 91 according to weather.com, so imagine what it must have been at 1 PM. What, at least 95 if not more, with no shade. Yeah, my ideas are brilliant.

Finally I come to a gate i know, and go inside and rest in the cool shady entrance. Of course a man appraches me "Nice tattoo" he says. I want to throw something at him. I have since learned the cold shoulder doesn't work. He wants me to follow him to his shop. Fat chance, not only are you asking me to follow a strange male, but it involves leaving the shade. I want to throw something at him more. I shake my head and evetually he goes away. It's so tiresome pushing people away constantly.

Finally I make my way back to Jaffa gate and see the freedom of the outdoor mall, where there is a familiar cafe I'm looking forward to eating at. Just as I'm leaving the gate yet another man is saying something about my tattoo. He asks me if i got it in England, "No, the states" I wearily say without even stopping to acknlowedge him. I'm TIRED of these men! He is saying he has tattoos but tattoos here are horrible "All bullshit" he says. Good for you, I think, now go away. He asks where in the states I'm from. "East coast" I tell him, still walking away, because y'know that indicates I'm not stopping to make coversation, meaning go away. The vague answer seems to hint I dont really care to let him know where I'm from. I've also used "For a month- I'm from here" to deter coversation.

So I finally reach the air conditioned cafe and am relieved to order a iced cappuccino and tuna sandwhich. Soon after I sit a woman asks me something in hebrew. I stare blankly, half dead from heat. Then she switches to English and I find she has a perfect native American accent.
"Can I sit here? Is anyone else sitting with you?" she asks politely. I shake my head, glad to have some female company. She motions to my coffee and says "I've found for every coffee you drink you have to drink twice as much water to stay hydrated" and then remarks on how its always only the foreigners who go out in mid-day when it's hottest. I can see why and immediately I feel comfortable engaging in coverstaion with her, admitting I found out the hard way to wait until later to go out. She then tells me about a light and sound show to check out after dark right by where we are.

Well it turns out she's been living here since 1990. She loves taking classes when working and being a mom allows her to and is very friendly. She ordered a salad and chattered about people she knows who are going to America and where they are going, and family back home, and all about her class and showing me pictures on her laptop. She's friendly and interesting and I'm glad to have some companionshp and good conversation. I feel much better whe i finish eating and thank her and say it was nice meeting her. I dont think she could have any idea how much that friendly lunch helped my mood. But now I'm tired of being out and decide to head back to the bus. On my way I treat myself to an ice cream and sit on Ben Yehuda street under an umbrella marveling at how much nicer it is on this big wide street with no cars. No one bothers you or approaches you, shop keepers stay in their shops and it's not confusing to get around since it's outside the old city. I decide I like it much better out here.

So, I catch the bus and get home without any problem, pleased that I recognize the route we take. I enjoy watching the Orthodox neighborhood go by. You can tell it apart because every woman is covered from head to toe- hair covered, long sleeves and long skirts. The men all have the black hats, coats and two curls and it's kind of like going through an amish quarter dress wise, only they talk on cell phones and have cheap "dollar store" like stores. It's surreal. So now I'm home, and determined to find people to hang out with since I have discovered what a trial it is to be out on my own in the bazaar of the old city, and the old city itself.