Museum, Tu Bshvat, Jerusalem, Oh My!

I've had quite the exciting week. On Tuesday, we went as a group to the Ghetto Fighter's Museum. This is the link to the website: http://www.gfh.org.il/eng/
We learned about the resistance of the Ghetto Fighters during the Holocaust. The museum is associated with Kibbutz Lohamei Haghetao. This kibbutz was started by holocaust survivors and maintains a strong educational/historical/etc. connection to remembering the holocaust and members of the resistance. The museum was very interesting. There was a neat touch screen wall used to display objects belonging to ghetto fighters. We didn't have enough time to go to the children portion of the museum. The children's section is meant to start teaching children about the holocaust, using art and interactive exhibitions. After the museum we had a nice trip to Naharyia for lunch. I had a lovely warm chocolate croissant.

On Wednesday, we went to Kibbutz Gaton to see the final dance performance of the American/European MASA Participants. Their program ended this week and they held an hour long show. It was very enjoyable.

Later that night, we had a Tu Bshvat Seder. Tu Bshvat was on Friday and celebrates the new year's of the trees. In the seder we drank wine and drank fruit and nuts. I had a nice time just eating and being with the group.

Thursday started with a 5:15am wake-up. I headed with my group to Jerusalem for an organized day trip. In cooperation with the Jewish National Fund, we started the day planting trees for Tu Bshvat. We planted them in the Peace Forest. Then we

Then we went over to the Western Wall and Jewish Quarter. We also went to the City of David- a3,800 years old city. We walked through the Hezekiah tunnels, which run under the entire city. I went on the tour through the dry tunnels, although would love to go back at walk through the wet tunnels. Walking through these tunnels is more like caving, with skinny walkways and water up to your ankles-waist.

So the Oranim organized part of the trip ended around 5pm. A few of us stayed in Jerusalem, although only Emily & I were staying together and for the entire weekend. We checked into our hostel. It was an interesting old building, definitely not originally intended on being a hostel, located in the Old City very near the Jaffa Gate. We had a private room which was just big enough for the two single beds. It was nice to have an actual mattress...unlike our beds on the kibbutz. We walked to Ben Yehuda street. Looked in some stores, started some shopping and ultimately had a great sushi dinner. On the way back to our hostel, we walked through Mamilla, which was an open-air mall with shopping and cafes. It reminded me of walking through Bethesda, minus the Hebrew of course. Back at the hostel, we socialized with the other hostel mates then went to bed.

Friday was an incredibly fun day. We started by leaving the Old City and walking to Yemin Moshe. There was a cute neighborhood which I'm told is an Artist's colony. However, perhaps because it was Friday, there were no open studios or artists that we found. There is a beautiful view and windmill. As the internet summarized for me:
"The Yemin Moshe neighborhood, named after the philanthropist Sir Moses Montefiore, is built on narrow stone lanes with rural houses. The old flour mill now houses an exhibition on the philanthropist's activity. Montefiore's reconstructed carriage stands in a display-window next to the flour mill."

From there we continued our walk over to Emek Refaim street. Emek Refaim is the main street in the German Colony neighborhood in west Jerusalem. It has plenty of neat boutiques, cafes and restaurants. It was a beautiful day and a lovely street to walk down--plenty of trees. It was a really different and beautiful part of the city. Reminded me of Washington DC, with its combination of nice residential streets intersecting with the main street. When we got there we immediately sought out a belated breakfast at a lovely cafe that was decorated in New Yorker magazine covers, however the founders are from Chicago. I had an espresso milkshake and a bran muffin with AMAZING jam. I couldn't for the life of me figure out what flavor the jam was and I finally asked to find out it was Cherry Tomato! I couldn't believe it! It was so sweet, not savory at all. The waiter said there is like sugar and cinnamon, and perhaps more, with the cherry tomatoes.

Anyway, from our great breakfast we walked a block over to the International Cultural Center, who holds a great market on Friday's. The market was mostly crafts and gifts, some food (cheese, sauces, etc) and some jewelry and clothes. It had a nice variety, all of which was unique to anything else I saw in Jerusalem.

We left the market and continued walking down Emem Rafim, going into nearly every shop. Around 130pm we took a cab over to Ben Yehuda street to see the Tu Bshvat festival. We saw a ton of street performers, including flamenco dancers, musicians, another dancing group and a ton of people dressed up a crazy costumes<---identical to the people I saw in Barcelona. We then rushed over a few blocks to a market, that starts with a "M" but I can't remember the name at the moment. Anyway, it was quite the sight to see. It was PACKED with people seemingly getting ready for Shabbat. With the market closing down, because of Shabbat around 330pm, we found a burger place for lunch. It was very very good, I had a burger topped with hot chili and tahina YUM!

We walked back to our hostel for a few minutes then headed to the Western Wall, to see the Shabbat 5pm rush. We didn't quite know the way there from our hostel so when we spotted some men in hats, we followed them. After a few minutes they picked up their pace and started nearly running through the city to get to the wall. Determined not to loose our "guides" we literally ran after them/with them through the city. It was hilarious. In the security line to get into the Western Wall, I was literally shoved out of the way by a man who pronounced he was going in front of me in line because he had to get into the wall to pray. (Note he was not dressed in the orthodox-Jew garb.) I was astounded by this but never said anything back to him.

Side-stepping a bit I should explain why we were going to the Western Wall for the second day in a row. Partially, to see what the atmosphere is like at the start of Shabbat. However mostly we went because several Israeli women shopkeepers, of a variety of ages, told us to go to the Western Wall around 5pm on Friday to get dinner. They said that people would approach us and invite us to their home for a nice Shabbat dinner. Apparently this is not a form of begging or charity, but just sharing the experience with others. We decided to go to the wall to see this for ourselves. We were not propositioned for dinner and probably wouldn't have gone anyway. We told other people from the hostel about this and three of them went to see if they'd be invited for dinner. The women were but the men weren't and ultimately none of them went to the strange rabbi's house for dinner. I saw the man that invited the ladies and he was very bizarre. I watched him for a while and aside from the women in my hostel, saw him only invite a dozen or so very Jewish looking men to his dinner.

When we got to the Western Wall, there was an army troop (outside the actual prayer area) singing and dancing together in a circle. It was quite packed at the wall, which, might I add, is MUCH smaller up close then I'm led to believe in photographs or stories. On the way back to the hostel, we continued our shopping and I did some lovely negotiating with my Hebrew. It was quite the success.

We spent Friday night out with about a dozen people from our hostel. We went to a pub near Ben Yehuda street and sat there for hours talking & eating tons of free popcorn. Of course some of us bought drinks or whatnot also. Everyone was very interesting. I spent much of the night talking to university students from Belfast, Ireland. I exchanged my Belfast experience with them and they told me they would LOVE to host me if I ever go back. Overall we ranged from 19-40, male and female, and hailed from USA, Canada, Northern Ireland and different European countries that I can no longer remember. Back at the hostel a few of us watched American Idol on the Israeli tv channel. It is from the current season playing at home, or so I'm told, and was actually quite entertaining.

Saturday morning we attempted to visit the Dome of the Rock, which we were informed by many sources, would be open on Saturday mornings for about a two-hour window. We went at the supposed right time, but arrived to find that access was closed because it is Saturday. Weird. I don't understand how so many sources were wrong, but it didn't bother me too much.

We walked through random markets and just zig-zagging around and ended up at a church. It was mobbed with people, many were clearly from large tour groups. I started taking pictures and walking around, but didn't quite know where I was or why people were kissing a stone tablet, etc. After a few minutes we conveniently bumped into someone from our hostel who clued me in. We were at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, which is said to be the place where Jesus was crucified and buried. There are three main things that people go there to see: a rock with a whole in it that is said to have be where the cross was standing when Jesus was crucified, a stone tablet that Jesus body was laid upon, and a tomb where they think Jesus may be buried. It was mobbed with people so we saw the tablet and just other sights around the church, but not the rock or tomb. It was incredibly interesting and had it not been so crowded, I would've loved to have spent more time exploring and taking pictures.

On the walk back to our hostel, I was excited to find a cart selling Salep to eat for breakfast. Salep is a flour made from grinding the dried tubers of Orchids and is then made into drinks, puddings, etc. The way I had it was like a think drink/thin pudding, topped with nuts, raisins and cinnamon. I'd had it once on the kibbutz made from a packet and I really like it. I also grabbed another bagela to eat--a large sesame seed covered bread, similar to a bagel, which is in a large 0 shape and is nearly a foot long. They give you a portion of zatar (lovely spiced) to dip the bread into.

From the hostel we joined some people from the hostel through the Old City a way I'd never been and out the Damascus Gate. The 12 of them went to the Dead Sea for the afternoon. Emily and I were considering joining but when we got to the location of the shirut (cheap mini-busses) that were running on Saturday, we decided not to go. The prices were high, we needed to be back in Jerusalem much earlier than the others and the transport seemed a bit unsettling.

We walked back to our hostel to enjoy our last minutes in Jerusalem from the roof of the hostel. It was an amazing view of the Old City, and beyond. Absolutely incredible.

From there we walked out of the Old City and down Jaffa gate to shirut stop. We joined a bus to Tel Aviv. We got to Tel Aviv around 3pm and had time to kill before our 7pm train. (We went to Tel Aviv early to ensure we'd get the first train north and to have another adventure before the weekend ended.) We started our eating afternoon at Moses Burger. We sat there, eating burgers, talking, enjoying the WiFi, for nearly two hours. Then we walked down the street to Max Brenner. Apparently, the bald man Max Brenner (as he seems to be known internationally) is a man hoping to change the worldwide culture of chocolate. The dessert/drink menu was quite interesting however, full as we were, we only got hot drinks. I got a simple hot dark chocolate. My friend Emily got a thick hot dark chocolate that was whipped with vanilla cream, or something. It was incredibly rich and more like a topping for ice cream then a drink. Overall, both were good although other items on the menu would've been more interesting. Anyway, we took a cab over to the train station and roughly two hours later + a 20minute cab back to the Kibbutz and bam I'm back home. We arrived around 9:15pm and it's now taken me around two hours, perhaps more, to write this blog. (Mind you I've been interrupted with snacking, talking to people and streaming American television shows...but still.)

Anyway, I'm off to bed now. Thankfully my volunteering starts mid-day or I would be a wreck for tomorrow's weekly two-hour Ulpan class. This Thursday I'm planning, once again, to take a day trip to Safed. I'll keep you posted about that. As usual, I hope you all are well.

Rain, Rain Go Away

We've had a lovely 24 hours without rain. Although it has been very cold (40s mostly) so I unfortunately did not spend the day outside. The rain will start again tomorrow. If you haven't heard, the south of Israel, including Eilat, have received more rain than they typically get in a winter and many places are experiencing serious flooding. My day trip to Sefad was postponed, once again, because of the rain.

On Wednesday of this week, we had a lecture about the 100 years of Tel Aviv. Last spring, Tel Aviv celebrated it's 100 year birthday and this spring the Kibbutz movement will celebrate their centennial. The lecture talked about the many mayors of Tel Aviv and how each had a different vision of how they wanted the city to be--what should be located in the city center, who should live in the city, etc. A fun fact was learning that until 1990 Israel only had one television channel, which included a half day of Israeli educational programming and a half day of some international broadcast.

Also, we've had another excellent Israeli movie night. We watched "Someone to Run With" ("Mishehu Larutz Ito"). Apparently the book it is based on is much better-the plot was good but the movie was lacking. Still enjoyable to watch, but not the best filming or something. It shows the lives of two teenagers intersecting. One of a boy with a summer job to find the owner of a stray dog. In doing so he learns about the other main character, a female teen who ran away from home and plays music on the streets. I don't really know how to write a description without giving away key elements, but needless to say it was good.

Anyway, today I got a new roommate, my friend from the program, Emily, moved in. A new girl joins the program on Monday and instead of moving in with me, she'll now move into Emily's old room.

Not much else to report. We head to Jerusalem on Thursday for a group day trip. We'll be planting trees. That's all I know about the trip thus far. Then a few of us will stay in Jerusalem through Saturday night. I have not been yet and am excited to go. Also next week we are going as a group to Kibbutz Gaton to see the final dance performance of the international visitors there (including the girl I know from home).

I hope everyone is well stateside...or wherever you are reading this from. I am excited to come home in six weeks but am also savoring every moment here.

Sunday, January 17

***I just NEEDED to clarify something about my trip to Barcelona. I was pulled from the security line and questioned because I am NOT an Israeli citizen (duh). All other non-citizens, and some un-lucky citizens, get pulled out of line just as I was. I have compared stories with others and was pulled out of line for that reason, not the way I look or any other reasons.***


Since the new year, we've had a day trip and lecture. We went on a trip to visit the Yizrael Valley. We started the day visiting Kfar Yehoshua – The Valley Train. We were told the story of the valley train foundation and its contribution to the development of Haifa and its surrounding.

Then we went to the Alexander Zaid Statue. We climbed up a look-out tower on the Barkan Mountain, overlooking the Izrael Valley and the eastern Galilee. It was beautiful and also overlooking part of the fence of the West Bank.
Skipping our usual hike, we went to Beit She'an. A place of ancient ruins of bath houses, theatre, more. It was really interesting.

Last week, we had a lecture about the history of Jewish names...well it was like the history of Judaism starting with abraham and while going through the history, down the generations, the lecturer explained the roots of the names of each person. It was interesting the way he used the meanings of their names to talk about the history of the people and time. It was, as far as I'm remembering at the moment, the first religious lecture we've had thus far.

Anyway, with about 7 weeks left, I have many trips planned, with the group and on my own. This Thursday, Emily and I are hoping to be approved to miss volunteering and spend the day visiting Safed. Next weekend, the group has a day trip to Jerusalem, but I'll be staying longer, for the weekend with friends. We still have to look up where to stay...but anyway. Thanks for the e-mails.

December 2009: Chanukah, Spain & New Year's Eve

DECEMBER
2- Had an interesting lecture about the Knesset, the legislature assembly in Israel. We learned about the different political parties that make up the Knesset. We also learned about strange parties that did not make it into the Knesset, like a Taxi Driver party and the pro-marijuana Holocaust survivor's party (which is one party).

8- Chanukah celebrations officially begin with a trip to Maalot, a town about ten minutes away. We visited a community of people from the Tribe of Manasseh. The Bnei Menashe ("Children of Menasseh") is a group from northeast India who claim descent from one of the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel. We hosted a Chanukah crafts program for kids. They also made Sfinch, a Moroccan version of a donut. Don't know how the recipe varies from a normal donut, they were tasty and topped with sugar. Also, we had some lovely chocolate donuts and sufganiot (jelly donuts). The kids were lovely but none spoke English, most of the parents didn't either, so our Hebrew was tested.

10- DAY TRIP! We went to the beautiful Ramat Hanadiv Gardens in Zichron Ya'akov where the Baron Rotchild is buried. The gardens were beautiful and thankfully it was a sunny beautiful day. Then we went on a hike in the Carmel. I forget were exactly we hiked but it was quite muddy and included a cloudy view of Haifa and the Mediterranean. Then we went for lunch and a visit at a Druze village, Daliyat El Carmel. I ate labneh on a crepe-like wrap. Labneh is a yogurt like cheese, often eaten with spices and olive oil (like I ate it). We also had a nice walk around the town and into markets and stores. (And I finally did some souvenir shopping.) On our way back north to the kibbutz, we made a brief stop at the Bahai gardens in Haifa (where I've been briefly before).

11- First night of Chanukah (by this point I'd eaten sooo many donuts and sfinch in pre-Chanukah celebrations that I was almost dreading the actual Chanukah week)
The kibbutz held a huge Friday night dinner & show in celebration of Chanukah and the 63rd birthday of the kibbutz. There were dozens of tables set up in the dining hall, with a plate of sufganiot, bottle of wine, and a make-shift menorah (with all of the candles). For dinner, there was soup with bread. It was very good--full of potatoes, vegetables and meat. The vegetarian soup was also really good, it was especially spicy. I think I had a ridiculous amount of food, like four bowls of soup and 2.5 donuts. The show was interesting....kinda--and all in Hebrew :(
The little kids on the kibbutz performed skits and dances. One of my favorite performances was the parents of a kindergarden class on the kibbutz. The kids are too young to perform, so their parents performed for them & to them. It was cute. We, my program group, also performed. We sang some Chanukah song in English that most of us knew. It was slightly embarrassing but overall we couldn't be heard by most of the room because the participant holding the microphone didn't turn it on properly- so the sound was messed up.
They also lit every candle of the menorah, dedicating each candle to different reasons: the pioneers from the kibbutz, soldiers, etc. There were no blessings over the candles or anything religious during the evening. Most of the kibbutz was there and the room was packed! The kibbutz is made-up of about 200 families=about 500 people. Oh, they also did a slideshow of kibbutz members and a few other things in correlation with the kibbutz history and its birthday.

The week of the 12-19 was Chanukah break. SO most everyone on my program went to travel, visit with family, see friends, etc. My workplace had different hours this week because the kids don't have school. I stayed on the kibbutz and went into work half of the week. I vaguely planned a day trip for my days off work but the weather was gross and rainy, so I stayed inside instead.

23- MOVIE NIGHT!! Our program coordinator set-up a lovely movie night for us. We all got together and watched "Etz Limon" = "Lemon Tree". It was very good and I recommend it.
A brief summary:: Salma, a Palestinian widow, has to stand up against her new neighbor, the Israeli Defense Minister, when he moves into his new house opposite her lemon grove, on the green line border between Israel and the West Bank. The Israeli security forces are quick to declare that Salma‘s trees pose a threat to the Minister’s safety and issue orders to uproot them. Together with Ziad Daud, her young Palestinian lawyer, Salma and he fight the orders to uproot her trees.

24- Heading to Barcelona!! My flight boards 3:50am on Friday the 25th, but we are a two hour train ride from the airport so I headed there the night before. The adventure to Spain started with an interesting cab ride. I called the cab company and was hung up on by dispatch. I was left un-sure if a cab was headed my way or not. A few minutes later the cab driver called to confirm. Unfortunately he didn't understand English or my attempts to speak Hebrew. It also doesn't help that I was using the wrong words for things...like when I said the feminine version for "write" instead of train. (so I said cotevet instead of racevet)
But anyway, I made it to the train station just fine and got on a 10pm train. I got to the airport around 12:15am (the 25th) but didn't get through security until 1:15. First I went to the wrong security place, I went to the second check-point place before the first. So then I found the right security place but was taken out of line and questioned about my family, stay in Israel, etc. Mind you I was LEAVING Israel and yet being questioned more than I was when entering Israel from the USA. They asked about the religious affiliation and memberships of my family, my favorite holidays, etc. Ultimately she left and came back and apologized for the excessive questioning, explaining that I look like someone likely to have been convinced to carry a bomb on for someone. Ridiculous. Anyway, then my bags were x-rayed. Then my large bag was opened and briefly searched--and they swiped it for explosives or something.
Now at security place number two. Where me and my bags (for the second time) entered x-ray machines. Then my bags were searched, again and worse. My backpack and large bag were unpacked. It was horrible. Things went through the x-ray machine again (now for a third time) and other things were swiped or just searched.
After nearly an hour, I've finally made it through. I brought plenty of snacks and sat and ate in front of the waterfall fountain thing they have in the Ben Gurion airport. Eventually I got tired, napped a bit. Then bought a Sudoku book and headed to my gate. The flight was very full and unfortunately didn't feed me. (But I slept most of the way anyway).

Barcelona Trip (24-30):: AMAZING. I had a very great time with my parents in Barcelona. We ate amazing food, saw some beautiful (and some un-impressive) sights/museums/etc. On a brief overview, we saw the Gaudi park and two of the Gaudi houses, the Picasso museum, the Miro museum, a Flamenco dancing/music show, went to three movies, a Chocolate museum, went to Montserrat, took a cable car, and more.
Just to start with the movies, we saw "It's Complicated", "Fame", and "In the Loop". "Fame" was entertaining but overall very choppy and un-impressive. "It's Complicated" was cute and entertaining. By far "In the Loop" was the best movie we saw and I loved it. I highly recommend it.
We ate tapas of a huge variety, paella, excellent croissants and hot chocolates and chocolates and more. The food was great.
The Gaudi park and one of the houses were some of my favorite sights. Absolutely beautiful and innovative. In the park, we had a lovely afternoon walking around and listening to a ton of different music as there were musicians all around the park.
On the 30th, we woke up early for our flights. I was in the last row of the airplane and the flight was packed, so it wasn't the most enjoyable experience. I hopped on a train back up north when I got back. I'll do my best to write more about the trip later, but I also invite questions. Overall, great trip and I would LOVE to go back (and also see more of Spain).

New Year's Eve was an excellent success.
I went out to dinner with my friend from the program, Emily. We went into Naharyia for dinner at Spagettim- a local Italian place that she'd eaten at before and vouched for it's amazing quality. We enjoyed an elaborate and tasty dinner, starting with an appetizer of bruschetta caprese (with tomatoes, mozzarella and basil YUM).
Our entrees were delicious. I had whole wheat pasta with salmon and spinach in a cream, something, sauce. Then our amazing coffee and desserts. We got two desserts: a hot chocolate cake topped with nuts and with a raspberry topped ice cream on the plate as well AND a three kinds of chocolate mousse cake. The night of my favorite was the ice cream and Emily's was the cake. However, as we finally ate our dessert left-overs last night, both of us agree that our left-over favorite was the mousse cake. The hot chocolate cake tasted like fudge and made for a very rich left-over.
Anyway, then we went back to the kibbutz. We actually had a group event to rush back to, where our group talked to an Oranim short-term group about what it is like to live on the kibbutz. (Oranim runs short-term programs, similar to Birthright although no longer apart of that organization.)
Then off to the kibbutz pub for the night where they were handing out free glasses of champagne. The night was great but it was still a different new years vibe.

Finally up to date, yesterday was a very warm day on the kibbutz and I went with my friend Emily on a nice long walk around the kibbutz (actually around two or three times). We also got up earlier this morning for another walk. I head into work in about thirty-minutes. I'm back in the USA in almost two months exactly. On Thursday we have a day nature trip to the Yizrael Valley. (Don't know anything about it yet.)

I hope you all are well and that you had a good holiday season. Happy New Year!