As of when I last wrote...
on Saturday, Aurora and I walked around the Old City. We went through every quarter. In the Armenian quarter we saw part of the Armenian monastery which is gorgeous. I'd like to go back. There is an Armenian museum (I think it's about the genocide) and we saw a few monks (score twenty points). Then it was off to the Muslim quarter where we wandered through the souq, which is very intense because of all the raw meat hanging on hooks in narrow, damp quarters. I could smell pickled turnips, fava beans, all kinds of mezze, lemons. Wandering over to the Christian quarter, at the entrance to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre I ran into one of my Micah campers, there with her parents because her dad is a rabbi and was leading a congregational trip to Israel. Small world, really. The church is beautiful and haunted and full of conflict and shrines and pilgrims and candles. I want to go on a pilgrimage. This country makes me wonder about spirituality; what is it that makes people feel so intensely about an ideology, a dogma? I see so many people who outwardly show their religious practices with the way they dress and the way they sit on the bus fervently muttering prayers under their breath from small worn books. I watch them buy cheap modest clothes from streetside stalls and discount loaves of bread and think and think. On Sunday I went a photography exhibition of an alternative magazine, Eretz Acheret. The exhibition was called "Mashiach Lo Ba" which means "The Messiah Isn't Coming." It's a parody on all the Lubavitch Hasidic posters that say "Baruch Haba Melech HaMashiach," meaning "Welcome, the King Messiah." I started classes this week. Well...sort of. I may not even be in 2 of my classes because the school is so disorganized. All I've had so far is Hebrew. Tonight I had a really nice dinner with our family friends, the Brautbars. We went to a great classic Middle eastern restaurant with oven-fired pita and lots of babaganoush and baklava to go around. People here sure know how to eat. I love the freshness of the produce. Well, hopefully tomorrow I'll have my environmental science class and get my internship interview. More to come, probably post-Petra...
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Friday, February 22, 2008
kefi kefi
Shalom, and also salaam, after returning from the picturesque Arab village of Abu Ghosh 20 minutes outside of Jerusalem. Our friends Shavit, Gozlan and Haim picked up Aurora and I and we drove to a hummus joint called Abu Daoud where we reclined on cushions like kings of old and feasted on tea, coffee, pita, hummus, khabiyyah, and a hookah full of apple nargilah. We also checked out this cool baklava and halvah bakery. Last night, Aurora, Ilai and I baked an amazing pie. We're not sure how or when, but it was baked, and it was good, (in the words of Aurora: "Vayehi pie, tov me'od"), and we watched Across the Universe which we loved. Tomorrow we are going to do a walk in the Old City, probably the Armenian Quarter. I hope we see lots of monks.
Thursday was my last day of ulpan and we had a small party and a high school marching band came and played. My classes start on Monday. And, exciting news, next week I am going to Jordan-- to see the city of Petra for the day! (and also spend a bit of time down in Eilat. ) Adventures will be had, I'm sure.
Thursday was my last day of ulpan and we had a small party and a high school marching band came and played. My classes start on Monday. And, exciting news, next week I am going to Jordan-- to see the city of Petra for the day! (and also spend a bit of time down in Eilat. ) Adventures will be had, I'm sure.
Monday, February 18, 2008
sheleg sheleg al ha col
Ulpan ends on Thursday, classes start next Monday, hooray! We were supposed to go on an archaeological tour today with class but for some reason it didn't work out which was quite the bummer. Oh well. i got myself a pair of Naot today- I've been wearing them for the past several years of my life and they are so comfy. They're kind of like Israeli Birkenstocks and last for quite a while and are of course cheaper here then back in the USA. I got them on an adventure to the mall with my friend Leah from ulpan and it started snowing/raining/ish on our way back. Tomorrow, therefore, will be a snow day. Nothing as extreme as in Canada where I learned that sometimes the army is called in to shovel snow (thanks Seth) but the whole city kind of shuts down because Jerusalem doesn't know with itself in any kind of "extreme" weather (even if "extreme" involves like an inch of snow).
Events of last week...hmm. I went to Aryeh's army- unit-end-of-a-certain-time-period-that-i-don't-know-the-name-of party in Rishon Letzion which was a bit disastrous because apparently Israeli men cannot hold their liquor very well. Let's just say "gross" and leave it at that. But at least Aurora and I got really good gelato. That tends to make things better. Then on Saturday I got to spend quality time with my Israeli cousins at Modi'in. It was my cousin Noey's birthday party so the whole extended fam was there and we ate lots of delicious barbecue and other delights and I chatted with my awesome cousin Gershon and his sons Avidan, Omri and Uri. Gershon lives on a kibbutz so I plan on visiting him there sometime and my cousins from Tel Aviv also nicely invited me to spend a weekend sometime with them. Also I got to play the keyboard with some of our friends which was a good time.
pictured below: my new naot
Events of last week...hmm. I went to Aryeh's army- unit-end-of-a-certain-time-period-that-i-don't-know-the-name-of party in Rishon Letzion which was a bit disastrous because apparently Israeli men cannot hold their liquor very well. Let's just say "gross" and leave it at that. But at least Aurora and I got really good gelato. That tends to make things better. Then on Saturday I got to spend quality time with my Israeli cousins at Modi'in. It was my cousin Noey's birthday party so the whole extended fam was there and we ate lots of delicious barbecue and other delights and I chatted with my awesome cousin Gershon and his sons Avidan, Omri and Uri. Gershon lives on a kibbutz so I plan on visiting him there sometime and my cousins from Tel Aviv also nicely invited me to spend a weekend sometime with them. Also I got to play the keyboard with some of our friends which was a good time.
pictured below: my new naot
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
i decided to teach myself the polish language
Bardzo mi miło! I'm quite serious about the Polish (I hope). There is a Polish girl who is teaching me a little.
some notable events of past days--
food related, I ate at Hummus Abu Rizek, an amazing and cheap Arab-run pita-and-hummus joint in downtown. nice spicy homemade hummus and fluffy pita. YUM. i have also become addicted to kumquats. they're really bizarre but somehow delicious. also: date spread. mm mm.
riding the bus to school can be kind of a drag, but the views from the bus are pretty impressive. i pass through most major streets of downtown, all these intriguing-looking cathedrals, the Old City with all the gates and I can see Al-Aqsa from the bus, the British military cemetary and my personal favorite, Naomi Street. I really need to go take a walk down my street one of these days. The architecture in general is most awesome. i do hope i get into this architecture class which goes on lots of field trips including the Church of the Holy Sepulchre which I have always wanted to see.
Other places to check out that I have viewed from my bus and from Hebrew U: the Russian Orthodox church, opulent as they always come, the Mormon university, the Italian Jewish museum and the Great Synagogue. plus i need to get over to the old city to do some slick bargaining for Armenian pottery. i was going to go to the shuk (the big crazy marketplace) today but we did a rain check because well, it was raining. hopefully i'll go tomorrow to get the best halvah in town. also, this Ethiopian Jewish woman gave us a talk today about the Ethiopian trek to Israel. basically the Ethiopians are the coolest. i aspire one day to be as cool as they are.
this saturday I am going to Modi'in to visit the Israeli extended fam for a birthday party. (Historical interlude! Modi'in is Hanukkah Town, basically. that's where the Maccabees rocked out. Wouldn't it be crazy if it was Hanukkah there all year long? you would eat latkes and sufganiot every day! everyone would be fat and happy and gamble with dreidels all the time and have melted wax all over the windowsills year round, and presents every day...alas no. it is apparently extreme suburbia now. But still.)
i'm not going to lie, i am getting kind of homesick, having been away for the majority of this year. Israel is such a politically-and-otherwise charged place which makes it ridden with emotional rollercoasters. but i am mostly very glad to be here. and i really appreciate getting mail from all you superstar letter writers out there. take care of yourselves.
Also, I've got some photos, you can see them here:
http://slc.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2015773&l=004aa&id=28601169
some notable events of past days--
food related, I ate at Hummus Abu Rizek, an amazing and cheap Arab-run pita-and-hummus joint in downtown. nice spicy homemade hummus and fluffy pita. YUM. i have also become addicted to kumquats. they're really bizarre but somehow delicious. also: date spread. mm mm.
riding the bus to school can be kind of a drag, but the views from the bus are pretty impressive. i pass through most major streets of downtown, all these intriguing-looking cathedrals, the Old City with all the gates and I can see Al-Aqsa from the bus, the British military cemetary and my personal favorite, Naomi Street. I really need to go take a walk down my street one of these days. The architecture in general is most awesome. i do hope i get into this architecture class which goes on lots of field trips including the Church of the Holy Sepulchre which I have always wanted to see.
Other places to check out that I have viewed from my bus and from Hebrew U: the Russian Orthodox church, opulent as they always come, the Mormon university, the Italian Jewish museum and the Great Synagogue. plus i need to get over to the old city to do some slick bargaining for Armenian pottery. i was going to go to the shuk (the big crazy marketplace) today but we did a rain check because well, it was raining. hopefully i'll go tomorrow to get the best halvah in town. also, this Ethiopian Jewish woman gave us a talk today about the Ethiopian trek to Israel. basically the Ethiopians are the coolest. i aspire one day to be as cool as they are.
this saturday I am going to Modi'in to visit the Israeli extended fam for a birthday party. (Historical interlude! Modi'in is Hanukkah Town, basically. that's where the Maccabees rocked out. Wouldn't it be crazy if it was Hanukkah there all year long? you would eat latkes and sufganiot every day! everyone would be fat and happy and gamble with dreidels all the time and have melted wax all over the windowsills year round, and presents every day...alas no. it is apparently extreme suburbia now. But still.)
i'm not going to lie, i am getting kind of homesick, having been away for the majority of this year. Israel is such a politically-and-otherwise charged place which makes it ridden with emotional rollercoasters. but i am mostly very glad to be here. and i really appreciate getting mail from all you superstar letter writers out there. take care of yourselves.
Also, I've got some photos, you can see them here:
http://slc.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2015773&l=004aa&id=28601169
Thursday, February 7, 2008
mishenichnas adar marbim b'simcha...hopefully
So I went to Caesarea today and saw the Roman ruins. Man, the days when they had gladiator fights and chariot races--that's what it's all about. The Mediterranean is pretty great too. I do miss the ocean living in J-Ru (Aurora and I have, Bay Area style, taken to calling Jerusalem that). The rest was pretty touristy and we had to eat overpriced food, but such is life.
Ulpan is still long and boring--five hours of Hebrew every day can really eat you up. To be fair, though, I am learning stuff, and the teachers are nice and I like some of the people in my ulpan. I joined a gym, but not to use the gym stuff, more so I can take lots of yoga and dance and use the sauna. Last weekend we celebrated Aryeh's 21st birthday with a board game about his life.
The weather has been sunny and pretty nice as of late, so I hope that keeps up. It sure beats the bitter cold. I've been enjoying some rather Israeli delights such as halva spread, 3% milk, yummy pomegranates and dates, and marzipan shaped like challah (I know, amazing, right?). The classes I'm hoping I get are a class on environmental policy in the Middle East, a class on the architecture of Jerusalem, and an internship class where you meet twice a week to learn about the sociology of the workplace and then do 8 hours per week of the internship. I either want to work at the center for autistic kids or do this sociology project interviewing Palestinian teens in J-Ru. In the words of dear old Theodor Herzl, im tirtzu, ein zo agadah. If you will it, it is no dream. Ah yes.
Some places I'd like to visit in the upcoming weeks: Tzfat, Abu Ghosh, Beit Jaan, Haifa, Tel Aviv, Akko, Ein Gedi. If you have any must-dos let me know.
Ulpan is still long and boring--five hours of Hebrew every day can really eat you up. To be fair, though, I am learning stuff, and the teachers are nice and I like some of the people in my ulpan. I joined a gym, but not to use the gym stuff, more so I can take lots of yoga and dance and use the sauna. Last weekend we celebrated Aryeh's 21st birthday with a board game about his life.
The weather has been sunny and pretty nice as of late, so I hope that keeps up. It sure beats the bitter cold. I've been enjoying some rather Israeli delights such as halva spread, 3% milk, yummy pomegranates and dates, and marzipan shaped like challah (I know, amazing, right?). The classes I'm hoping I get are a class on environmental policy in the Middle East, a class on the architecture of Jerusalem, and an internship class where you meet twice a week to learn about the sociology of the workplace and then do 8 hours per week of the internship. I either want to work at the center for autistic kids or do this sociology project interviewing Palestinian teens in J-Ru. In the words of dear old Theodor Herzl, im tirtzu, ein zo agadah. If you will it, it is no dream. Ah yes.
Some places I'd like to visit in the upcoming weeks: Tzfat, Abu Ghosh, Beit Jaan, Haifa, Tel Aviv, Akko, Ein Gedi. If you have any must-dos let me know.
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