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.