M&D's Visit -- A Grand Week Out!

If you caught the Wallace & Gromit reference in the title, bonus points for you!  Anyhow, posting my reflection about an hour ago actually motivated me to finally write this up, so here goes!

Our adventures began on a Tuesday morning.  M&D had flown to Tel Aviv through London and then took a sherut to Jerusalem.  They were both feeling remarkably well-rested, so I took the bus to their hotel!  We walked into and around the Old City, shopping and chatting and drinking fresh juice, and had a delicious lunch of kebabs (the same ones Kat and I stumbled upon on her first day in the Holy City).

Then we took a cab back to their hotel so that Mom could take a nap, and Dad took the bus to campus with me so he could know how to find it the next day when they came to visit the university.  I went to class while Dad went back and napped as well, and I met them that evening for a lovely dinner at Tmol Shilshom, one of my absolute FAVOURITE places in Jerusalem -- I'm heartbroken that I discovered it so late!  It was also where I ate my last meal in Israel with Arielle a couple weeks later.

The next day they came to visit me at Hebrew U.  We had cappuccinos at Aroma and saw my favourite vistas on campus (including the amphitheatre, below), and then we went to French Hill Falafel because, well, how could we not?  I sent them on the light rail to Yad Vashem while I went to class, then we met up with a few of my favourite friends for an incredibly delicious dinner at Darna, a Moroccan restaurant in Jerusalem.  Good food, good wine, good friends -- a wonderful evening!

The next day after I did my laundry and had my last oral exam for Hebrew, we took off on a road trip!  We drove up the coast and stopped in Caesarea (where I put my feet in the Mediterranean Sea -- one to go!).  Dad loved seeing and climbing around on the ancient Roman aqueduct, and Mom had fun taking pictures of the sand and of us!  We finally headed up to Haifa where we spent the night in rooms with gorgeous views of the sea.

The next day we made a quick visit to the Baha'i Gardens, which were as spectacular as everyone told me!  We also headed up to Akko/Acre and wandered the ruins of the crusader city, which my history buff father really loved.  Afterward we drove across to the Galilee to a hotel at a kibbutz where we spent the next two nights.

On Christmas Eve, we went to the surprisingly confusing city of Nazareth!  Navigating it was extremely difficult, but we hit a lot of the sites I had really wanted to visit (and had some tasty falafel to boot!).  We were surprised how many things were closed on Christmas Eve in a city with such Christian history!  We also made a quick stop by the Jordan River on our way back to the hotel and saw a baptism there.

The next day was Christmas!  I was awakened with a couple of presents (although we had agreed to do our main gift exchange on Epiphany in the US) -- a two CD set of Adagios conducted by Leonard Bernstein (swoon!) and a beautiful cross I had admired in Akko.  Then we set off for a drive around most of the Sea of Galilee.  I stuck my feet in the last of the four seas that touches Israel (hurrah!) and visited some of the most famous sites of Jesus' ministry.  My favourite moment was standing next to the Church of the Loaves and Fishes (which was closed on Christmas!) and looking down from where Jesus stood as he preached the Sermon on the Mount, the sun reflecting off the Sea of Galilee.  We had to cut our trip a bit short in order to return our rental car on time, but it was a really lovely adventure to all these places I'd been longing to see!

The next day they headed out on a Green Olive Tour of Bethlehem and Hebron while I went to class.  Womp womp.  But they had a marvelous time, and we had a delicious Italian dinner that night!

The next day we went out to Masada (my third trip there!) which was really fun to visit with my parents.  I gave them a tour as best I could, and then we had a rather crowded bus ride back!  Once again, I headed to class, and they rested in their hotel room until dinner.

On their last day, we wandered the Old City once again, doing the opposite side of the Ramparts Walk than Kat and I had.  From one point, we could see Hebrew U!  We then walked the beginning of the Via Dolorosa, leaving the Old City partway through to grab lunch at my other favourite falafel stands.  I headed out to class while they continued their walk.  I met them for dinner and began an evening of goodbyes.  M&D took off for the US the next morning, and Carolyn was set to leave then as well.  After kissing M&D goodbye at their hotel (to be reunited in just over a week!), I went back to the Kfar for a wonderful last evening with three of my favourite women.

After that my hours were dedicated to writing papers, studying for exams, and getting my fill of all things Israeli before my departure.  This included many hours in Aroma with cappuccinos, hot chocolate, and "orange soup"; a visit to Tmol Shilshom; purchase of Hebrew U swag; and an economy-sized back of sunflower seeds from the shuk.  Two months later, the memory of my experiences and the material goods I've brought back with me connect me to the four incredible, life-changing months I spent there.  Lehitraot, Israel; I promise I'll be back.

What's your story, universe?

Note to my readers:  I have accepted that I'm probably not going to get around to blogging about M&D's visit to Israel anytime soon (pictures on Facebook may be as far as I get, but I promise to try -- if not for you, I want a record of it for myself, because it was a grand adventure!), so I decided I finally ought to post the reflection I wrote back in January.  Enjoy!

As I write this, I am on a plane from Phoenix to Oakland, the second-to-last leg of my long journey from Jerusalem to San Jose.  The whole 32-hour saga includes a 90-minute bus ride from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv; a 12-hour flight from Tel Aviv to Newark; a 5-hour flight from Newark to Phoenix; a 2-hour flight from Phoenix to Oakland; and a 90-minute drive from Oakland to San Jose.  Plus many hours of of waiting around in airports!

A funny thing just happened to me.  As our plane sat in line, waiting for its turn to take off, I suddenly realized what was going on:  I’m not in Israel anymore.  And just like that, I inexplicably burst into tears!  Even now with our plane at cruising altitude, I’ve got a lump in the back of my throat and a serious case of the sniffles.  In the moment that I began to cry, I wasn’t sure why, and why now?  Why not when I said goodbye to Carolyn or Arielle, or when we took off from Israel, or when we landed in the United States?  Was it because after my first trip to Starbucks since I left home in August, I was finally awake enough to grasp the enormity of the situation?  Was it because I was flying solo?  As I have written this, pouring my soul out through my fingertips (and leaking it from my eyes!), the picture slowly became clear—or at least clearer.

I think that when we love, be it a person or a place, we leave little pieces of ourselves behind with them, and bring pieces of them along with us as we continue our life journey.  Depending on the intimacy of that love, the piece may be large or small.  Not only did I leave pieces of myself with the lands and people of Palestine, Israel, Egypt, and Jordan, I left pieces of myself with four extraordinary women who are currently scattered across the globe:  two in Israel, one in Ohio, and one in Washington D.C.  I cried because I honestly have no idea when I will see any of them again—the places or the people.  But I am comforted because I know that my love for them means that I will see them again, be it months or decades from now, and we will reunite the pieces of ourselves that we gave to one another.

So many things about my life have changed in the last four months or so, some obvious and tangible, and some less so.  I know that I have changed enormously, and I can’t even see some of those changes yet—I will come to recognize them as I resume my life in San Jose and at Mount Holyoke.  I can already see that I have new insights, new appetites, new questions, new goals, new friends, new dreams.  I have gained and I have lost.  I am experiencing spiritual growing pains.  I cried because I am not who I was, and I never will be again, and that may mean I lose some things about my old life.  But I am comforted knowing that I have become someone new, someone stronger, and hopefully someone better, and that being this new person will allow me to replace what I’ve lost with something that is a better fit.  (To be honest, I’m a little scared of this new Grace—I think she’s a force to be reckoned with, I’m in for a wild ride with her!)

One of the (remarkably few!) books that I brought with me was a Christmas gift from my parents two years ago, Travel as a Political Act by Rick Steves.  It waited for me on my bookshelf all through the busy semester, and on my flight from Newark today, I finally cracked it open, reading the first chapter and the last chapter, and skimming everything in between.  The first chapter was about how to accomplish travel as a political act.  (I was pleased to see that, even without reading it ahead of time, I did rather well!)  The last was on how to come home again.  The author reminded me that I have changed in more ways than I can see this close to my experience, and that my life at home has continued in my absence and changed too, although only in small ways.  I cried because I am scared that I will not fit anymore.  But I am comforted because I know that I have so much love in my old life, and so while the pieces have changed, the puzzle will solve itself in a new and beautiful way.

This experience wasn’t perfect.  There were days when I curled up in my bed wanted more than anything to come home; there were days when I went miles away from my comfort zone and smiled and laughed until my cheeks hurt.  Mostly there were days that were somewhere in between:  drinking ice-café between classes, walking from campus to my apartment with good company, whining about professors and midterms, having dinner-and-a-movie night with my friends, doing reading and homework while listening to folk music, shopping at the shuk, wandering the Old City of Jerusalem.  I cried because I mourn the loss of the life I built there.  But I am comforted by the thought that I have two other lives waiting for me in the coming weeks, and probably dozens more in my life.

Whether I like it or not, it is time to close this chapter and begin writing the next one.  It is a new calendar year, and it is a new phase of my life.  I do not think I have ever had an experience this life-altering, so I honestly do not know what will fill the blank pages of the next days, weeks, and months.  In some ways I will pick up my old life:  stage managing, singing in Chorale, working toward my teacher licensure.  But I am sure that while there are a few things I do know about the coming months, there are many more that I don’t.  I feel terrified, I feel naked, I feel vulnerable.  But in the last four months, I have been utterly broken and discovered that I have the strength to rise above and come back better and stronger than before.  I also know that I’m not alone; even when I feel broken, I have so much love in my life and so many people to listen to me and help me.  So I am confident that whatever the universe throws at me next, I am ready for it—in fact, I welcome the unknown challenge with open arms.

Well, dear readers, my journey is drawing to a close.  Thank you for your interest, your comments, and your support—they meant the world to me.  Shalom aleichem; salaam wa alaykum; peace be with you <3

Happy New Year

Hello, my dear readers!  I promise that soon I will post about my last two field trips and M&D's visit...right now I'm in the middle of reading days, so once my finals are out of the way and I'm just working on my papers, I'm hoping to take some time off to update you all on that.  (However, I have recently gotten a Tumblr, so for mini-updates on things like my new haircut, feel free to follow me!)  Failing all else, I'll write those posts on the plane ride back in six days!  In the meantime, I've been writing a reflection on the New Year that I wanted to share with you.

2011 didn’t quite turn out like I thought it would, and I’m ending the year in a different place than I thought I would on this day in 2010.  Not just physically (although that too!), but also emotionally, mentally, psychologically, and spiritually. 

This has been a year of enormous growth.  This has been a year when I have pushed myself to my breaking point and beyond.  This has been a year when I have learned to fight for what I deserve.  This is a year when I have realized that sometimes, the strong and right thing to do is to walk away, even though it can be incredibly hard.  This has been a year when I have had my heart broken, broken a heart, and begun to heal.  This has been a year when I have worked toward finding a balance between academics/work, extracurriculars, and personal life.  This has been a year that has brought me some incredibly dear new friends and renewed my bonds with old ones, and this is a year that has taught me to value and appreciate them to the fullest.  This has been a year when I have learned a few lessons the hard way, but they’ve made me stronger.  This has been a year when I have gotten a little better at saying "no" -- but I'm still working on this one.  This has been a year when I have figured out how to be happy by myself and developed my independence.  This has been a year when I have challenged myself in a big way.  This has been a year when I have decided to try and let go of my planning and scheming for my life and just follow my bliss.  This has been a year when I’ve taught myself to look for the good inside the bad, and to always find something positive to take away.  This has been a year of enormous opportunity and amazing new experiences.  This has been a year when I have cried until I couldn’t cry anymore; when I have laughed until my abs were sore; when I have tossed and turned all night; when I have smiled until my cheeks hurt. 

So based on my experience of 2011, what do I expect from 2012?  I don’t know, and I’m learning to be okay with that.  But I do know a few things.  It won’t be a perfect year:  it will be a year of tears and anger, but of laughter and joy too.  It will be the year of my 22^nd birthday.  It will be the first year in almost a decade that I spend the better part of the summer away from California.  It will be the year I take my last college classes.  It will be the first year in half a decade that I will begin as a single woman.  It will (hopefully, application pending!) be the year that I officially begin my teacher licensure program. 

I think that’s about all I know for sure about the next twelve months, but I also have a few hopes for the year ahead.  I hope it will be a year of love, adventures, friends, and more personal growth.  But there’s 366 days to look forward to (bonus!), and tomorrow’s just one.  It’s time to live in the present.  I’m not sure I believe in resolutions (not that it stopped me from making a few), but I guess that’s my biggest challenge to myself for 2012.  Have a happy new year, everyone...I plan to :]

Bittersweet days!

Well, dear readers, the "lasts" have begun.  Yesterday and today were my last days at my beloved internship!  Yesterday I came in for an extra day to help get the kids into costume for their Christmas nativity play, and then I stayed to take some pictures and video -- they were SO CUTE.  I don't want to put them here or on my Facebook since I don't know the school's policy about putting the children's images online, but feel free to ask to see them sometime.  You won't be sorry :) Afterward I went into the Old City to do a little more Christmas shopping.  I had to pick up one last thing for Dad before he comes, and while I was at it I got Ian's last present and something for my roomie!  Today I had a ball playing, laughing, and taking pictures of and with the kids!  I got lots of wonderful hugs and goodbyes from kids and teachers alike -- I will miss them all so much!

I might get a little behind in my blogging over the next couple of weeks, so consider yourselves forewarned.  I'll try and finish writing about my last few adventures before I fly home!  Tomorrow Arielle and I are going on another Green Olive tour to Nablus, Sebastia, and Jenin.  I've heard amazing things about Nablus, so I'm really looking forward to it.  Sunday I've got an all-day field trip to Masada, Ein Gedi, and Qumran -- should be amazing!  Monday after my Hebrew final exam, I've got a six-hour seminar at Yad Vashem for my Holocaust class.  And then, lo and behold, M&D arrive on Tuesday morning!  So many adventures planned...Haifa, Akko, Nazareth and the Galilee for Christmas, Masada (third trip for me!), and of course, the Old City.

In the meantime, I've finally finished all the reading for the semester, and yet somehow I'm already beginning to feel finals stress -- I think because I'm losing so much work time while I'm adventuring with M&D.  I'm doing my best to remind myself that I can spend car rides, bus rides, and evenings working on my papers.  Fortunately, most things in Israel (except restaurants and the club scene) die down after five, so evenings will be quiet.  I'm also glad that my Hebrew class ends earlier than the others -- my final exam is on Monday and my oral exam is on Thursday, so that'll be one class down and four to go!  Unfortunately, most of my finals are jam-packed into two days.  I have a book report due on the last day of class (12/27), then three finals and a paper due on January 1st and 2nd, and my last paper is due 1/5.  I wish it was spread out a tad more!  But, my goal is to get the final papers in decent shape before M&D leave on the 29th -- then I'll have the last few days to focus on studying.  Plus, if I get my last paper done before January 5th, I'll have a few days free of finals stress before going home!

Three weeks from right now I'll be in Newark airport waiting for my flight to Phoenix, where I will catch a flight to Oakland and return to San Jose.  I think today was my first "last," but there will be many more to come.  In a way it will be sad to leave here; as one of my friends wrote on her blog, I've made a few friends who are more than temporary study-abroad friends, and it will be very hard to say goodbye to them.  But I'm also ready to spend a few weeks with my parents and Ian in San Jose -- and with my KITCHEN!  So much cooking will happen.  And I'm finally starting to feel ready to go back to Mount Holyoke.  I know it won't be the same, but I'm prepared to jump back in and see how the pieces will fit together now.  I've also applied for an internship in Northampton that has nothing to do with anything in my current MHC life -- I'd love some more good vibes, y'all really helped me out last time ;]

And now, it's time to sign off -- I'm going to try and get some Hebrew studying done and get through a chapter or two of my book report.  Much love to you all!

Good news!

Hello, readers!  I just wanted to quickly post to share some exciting news with you.  As you may recall, I've applied for and had a couple of interviews with a mysterious summer job.  I am so, so excited to report that this evening I Skyped with the hiring coordinator and she offered me a position!

Now that I've got the job, I'll stop being superstitious and secretive ;] I will be spending seven weeks this summer on the campus of Wellesley College (what up east coast friends!) at the Intermediate Program of Exploration Summer Programs.  I'll be working as an AV co-coordinator and a day student advisor with rising 8th- and 9th-grade students.  This position combines two of my passions -- spending time with young people and engaging my stage crew/organization brain!

Thank you so much to all of you for sending good vibes, offering encouragement and support, and crossing your fingers for luck.  I am absolutely thrilled!!!  Much love to you all <3

EGYPT. That happened.

Hello, my dear readers!  What a weekend I have had...this afternoon when I woke up from my post-bus nap, it seemed so surreal in memory.  So much to say, so here's hoping I remember everything I wanted to share.  Of course, after I had finished writing my first draft of this post (except uploading pictures), Firefox kicked me in the teeth and decided to crash.  Rewrite time!  As I've mentioned before, this blog is as much for me as it is for you, so you may find some of the details a bit excessive.  Feel free to scroll down and skip past the boring parts ;]

On Thursday night after returning home from my all-day field trip with my biblical Israel class, I unpacked my backpack and repacked it with my Egypt necessities -- change of clothes, passport, water, Cariot, books, and so on.  My adventures officially began at 12:45 on Friday afternoon when I took off from my internship a bit early and headed over to the central bus station.  I made it through security, picked up Charlotte's and my bus tickets, and grabbed a kosher hot dog from a booth, and hunkered down by our gate to wait for Charlotte.  She arrived a few minutes later and we chatted and lunched while we waited for our bus to reach the station.

Around 1:50, we boarded our bus!  I joked to Charlotte that as I'd left for my internship that morning, I felt so certain I was forgetting something (I later discovered it was my book light), but I figured that since I had cash and my passport, everything else would work out!  At that Charlotte's face fell as she realized -- she had forgotten her passport.  So at 1:58, two minutes before the departure of the last bus to Eilat until Saturday night, Charlotte walked away from the bus station.

I pulled out my Islam reader as I had intended to spend the bus ride getting some work done, but I couldn't focus, so I napped instead.  Then just after 4:00 Charlotte texted me -- she was in a (very expensive) taxi making the five-hour drive to Eilat!  Thus reassured, I got my reader back out and read all about the intersections of the Middle East and the West.

We rolled into Eilat sometime between 6:00 and 6:30 and I was greeted by an unhappy surprise.  Our tour didn't depart until 9:00 so I'd planned on camping out inside the bus station for a few hours...but it was CLOSED for Shabbat!  Fortunately a few people were gathered outside (anyone who has arrived at an Israeli bus station knows that a wide variety of tour guides, hotel workers, and taxi drivers await new arrivals to offer their services), so I just pulled out my reader again and got started on my next reading.  Then my attention was drawn as I heard someone nearby mention to someone that he was only here for a few hours, he was waiting for a tour.  I interrupted to ask if he was on the same tour as me, and he was!  And just like that I had a friend with whom I could pass the time for the next few hours.

Adam, former Australian marketing executive, current world traveler, and future citizen of Toronto, and I chatted about Israeli politics, our mutual love for Palestine, how insanely terrifying we find the Republican candidates for US president, and so on.  At 8:00 we were kicked out of the outdoor part of the bus station so they could lock up, so we found a shawarma restaurant that was surprisingly still open.  A few minutes later, Charlotte arrived from Jerusalem!  Shortly thereafter we were picked up for our tour by Sara, who works for the Israeli branch of Fun Time Tours.  She took us to the border, paid our fees, and sent us off into Egypt!

Interestingly, while weapons must be declared before being taken into Egypt, carrying pornography across the border is strictly prohibited.

After we crossed the border, we were greeted by another employee of Fun Time who was there to help us with our customs forms and guide us to our van.  He also offered Charlotte the first of three marriage proposals she would receive in the next sixteen hours!  We clambered onto a large van where we spent the next seven hours trying to sleep -- at first with limited success.  The ride was quite bumpy, so for the first 90 minutes or so, none of us had any luck!  But after our first stop, the driver blasted the heat, which created quite a soporific atmosphere and put me to sleep.

Around 7:45AM we were awakened by Ahmed, our tour guide, who took us to where we would have breakfast.  We dined on falafel, pitas, and black bean dip.  The falafel was different from Israeli falafel -- a little bigger, and crispier.  Very delicious :] Thus energized by food, Nescafe, and Coke, we headed over to the Museum of Egyptian Antiquities!

Sadly, cameras were not allowed in the museum, so the only pictures I took were from the courtyard.  Right nearby was a former government building that was destroyed during the protests.

The museum was positively stuffed with antiquities -- you could spend a week there and still not see everything!  The most exciting moment for me was seeing the Merenptah stele, which contains the first record of "Israelites" in history.  I've seen pictures and studied it in my biblical Israel class, so it was amazing to be able to see it up close!  On our way out, Charlotte and I learned that we were just meters from Tahrir Square, and so we asked Ahmed if we could drive by on our way to our next stop.

Only a few tents remain -- most of the protesters have cleared out at this point.  It was so exciting to see the site that has occupied the attention of the news for months now!  We also stopped at a bridge over the Nile River to take a few quick pictures.  In case you were wondering, it's safe to swim in -- no crocodiles in it these days ;] Once again, it was thrilling to see such an important historical and cultural site!

After that we went to a papyrus shop, where we learned how papyrus was made, and Charlotte received her next two marriage proposals.  One gentleman offered her a thousand camels for her hand in marriage!  Fortunately she was able to use these connections to swing us a sweet deal :D

Next up was the moment I had been waiting for -- an afternoon at the pyramids and the Sphinx.

SO SPECTACULAR.  We had to constantly remind ourselves that it was really happening!

Adam also got several comments from street vendors in the area that he must be a very rich man to be able to afford two beautiful wives.  Oh man :P

The three of us got to climb onto the first pyramid...

...visit inside the ruins of two of the smaller surrounding pyramids...
(picture to follow when Charlotte puts hers online!)
...took pictures where we looked like giants...

...and finally we drove off a bit to somewhere with a gorgeous view of all three of the great pyramids.

The we headed over to the Sphinx!

Again -- simply incredible.  Still can hardly believe I was there.

After that we had lunch at a buffet along with some interesting conversation with Ahmed about the current situation in Egypt.  Because of all the political insanity, tourism is down, and residents of Egypt have been blocked from visiting a lot of places.  The waiter who brought us our drinks may want to travel the world just as much as I do -- but I was born into circumstances that accommodate my desire to do so.  I simultaneously felt extremely lucky and blessed and also overly privileged, because why should I deserve this more than anyone else?

Our last stop all together was to a famous Egyptian perfume shop.  I bought a few amazing essential oils -- a couple of perfumes (lotus flower and papyrus), a nice sandalwood/eucalyptus massage oil, and an amazing mint oil that, when a few drops are added to a mug of warm water and you inhale the steam, it will instantly clear your sinuses.  Totally amazing!

At last, it was time for our group to separate as we left Ahmed and Adam in Cairo.  Ahmed was off to lunch with his mother, and Adam's in Egypt for the next ten days before flying to India for a month.  We exchanged contact info and hugs before waving goodbye!  Then Charlotte and I passed the hours of driving across the Sinai with chatting, reading, and napping.  We also glimpsed what I later learned was a partial lunar eclipse -- a sliver of orangey-red moon over the Sinai desert.  Incredible.  Finally we arrived back at the border and said goodbye to our driver and Sinai guide and crossed back into Israel.

Oh Egypt.  It was so sad to leave you.  We WILL see you again!  Sara picked us up and deposited us back at the bus station (and we had a fabulous life chat along the way) where Charlotte napped and I read Lord of the Rings until 12:50AM when we hopped on a (very cold) bus to Tel Aviv.  After five hours of driving, we took a bus from Tel Aviv to the Jerusalem bus station, and then to the kfar.  I got to my apartment at 7:30, quickly checked my e-mail, and then rolled over and napped until noon.

At that point I had to drag myself out of bed and I warmed up some chili, got dressed, and headed to three very sleepy hours of class.  (Charlotte and I discussed how glad we were that our Hebrew class didn't have the supplemental lesson most classes had today from 8:30 to 12:30 because there's no way we would have made it!)  After quickly eating dinner, finishing up Hebrew homework, and quickly reviewing for tomorrow's quiz, it's time to crash.  Hebrew tomorrow morning, then a low-key afternoon of laundry and homework -- 325 more pages of reading for the semester, so I'm hoping to finish this week!

The near future is looking like lots of reading, catching up on sleep, and class.  But all work and no play makes Grace a dull girl, so I've started planning my last few Middle Eastern adventures.  My one class for this Thursday was cancelled, so I'm going to try and spend the day at AISJ helping them with the last-minute prep for their Christmas play.  If they don't need me, then I'm still hoping to go watch them perform!  Friday will be my last day with the kids.  This Saturday, Arielle and I will be taking a tour (again with Green Olive!) of Nablus, Sebastia, and Jenin.  Then just three days later (nine days from today), M&D will arrive, and adventures will abound!  After they leave I'll spend eight days studying, taking finals, and writing papers before (Arielle, I know you disagree, but it's happening!) flying back to CA.

I can't believe my time here is concluding so quickly.  But rather than dwell on the past or future, I'm doing my best to enjoy my present!  Stay tuned for more :]

Bethlehem & Ramallah

First of all, happy (thoughtful?  sad?) 70th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor -- a date which will live in infamy.

As those of you who I'm friends with on Facebook likely saw, this past Saturday I took a tour of Bethlehem and Ramallah.  Rather than spend the day thinking about how I wasn't in Egypt, I decided to take advantage of a free day to do something fun!  So on Friday afternoon I messaged my friend Arielle and Carolyn to see if they'd like to join me for the fun.  We agreed to meet right outside at 8:00.

The day got off to an exciting start as I was awoken by the buzzing of my phone.  Thinking it was my alarm, I glanced on it as I muted it, but saw that it was a call from Arielle.  I looked at the time and jerked awake -- it was 8:11.  Eek!  So I told her I'd be down ASAP and got ready in five minutes flat.  She called the tour coordinator to let him know we'd be late, and we managed to make it by 8:40, only 10 minutes late!  Whew.

We hopped in the car and drove to Bethlehem to the walk-through checkpoint.  Very uneventful -- they barely glanced at our passports.  On the other side, we met our tour guide, Yamen.  He was awesome :D We started walking and stopped to see a bunch of urban art -- a lot of it is from Banksy, as well as some anonymous Palestinian street artists, largely regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.  Lots of awesome stuff...I had to SERIOUSLY trim down which ones I posted, so check out my Facebook (eventually) for more!  This is one of my favourites, which has unfortunately been partly covered:  the five fingers each represented one of the five major world religions.

 Non-Banksy urban art protesting the wall of separation.  This wall has severely infringed upon the rights of Palestinian citizens and has been ruled illegal by the United Nations...but no move has been made to take it down.

The kites each display the flag of a country that supports the creation of a Palestinian state:

Charging through the wall and breaking it down.

A plea for freedom from the wall.

We stopped by the shop of one of Yamen's friends for coffee, which is adjacent to an unofficial outdoor movie theatre which is set up over a Banksy piece!  To the right is a delicious (non-kosher!) menu for the restaurant next door.

Another Banksy:

Women artists for peace.

One of my favourites:

Me with a very famous Banksy piece, a little girl frisking a soldier.  I'm helping :P

 

We also went to Yamen's father's shop, where I bought a bunch of Banksy art postcards -- one to send, but the rest for me!  I now have a full set :D

After we'd wandered past a bunch of urban art, we visited Aida Refugee Camp.

We met some ADORABLE children who were very friendly and excited to see us, and Yamen pointed out bullet holes from the second intifada -- an Israeli military tower is nearby and during the conflict, there was significant property damage, injury, and death.

We also visited the Lajee Center in Bethlehem, which was created for refugee children to have a safe space.  In the schools in the camp, they often don't have a budget for art, PE, music, computers, and so son, so the center tries to provide these things for children.  One of the biggest things I took away from the trip was something one of the workers at the center said.  He didn't want the refugee center to have money, he said...he wanted people to come in and take their stories to the world.  The story of freedom of Palestine is everywhere.  But the story of a Palestinian child who wants to go to the zoo or the sea but isn't allowed to because her parents cannot go into Israel -- people need to hear that.

On our way out of the camp to Manger Square, we also discussed with Yamen the right of return.  Palestinian refugees have taken the keys to their houses with them, and dream of one day being able to return to their villages.  A lot of the art in the area speaks to this.

After this, Yamen hooked us up with a different tour guide for a quick trip to the Church of the Nativity while he found parking.  As you know, I've been there and done that, so I didn't take many pictures.  It was fun to see during Advent, though!  Once we'd finished we wandered through the souq, bought some delicious sesame cake (which reminds me, I should snack on that when I get home!), and then headed to lunch:  falafel, pitas, chicken shawarma, hummus, and...HOT PEPPERS.

Arielle, not realizing how hot they were, popped an entire slice into her mouth.  Man, did she regret that choice!  After lunch we were introduced to our sweet ride:

Oh yes.  We had a 1.5 hour drive to Ramallah, so we all snoozed in the backseat.  On the way, we stopped to check out two more famous Banksy pieces:

Yamen managed to convince Carolyn that, when we were going to visit the flower-thrower, we were actually going to go see the oldest gas station in Palestine.  NAHT!  After a nice snooze, we stopped in Ramallah at the tomb of Yasser Arafat.

In Ramallah, we wandered the city a bit...it's a very lively city, very different from Jerusalem!  We also visited one of my favourite Palestinian sites:

No, no, not Starbucks...Stars and Bucks!  There's no Starbucks in Israel or Palestine, so instead we went to Stars and Bucks.  While it's similar to Starbucks in some ways with its delicious coffee beverages, they also offer food, cocktails, and hookah.  Yamen was under the impression that Americans refer to hookah as "hubbly bubbly," so we've decided we'll never call it anything else!

Finally we headed back to Jerusalem on the bus.  Going through the checkpoint on our way back was quite an adventure!  We were in a very crowded line (fenced in on two sides with a revolving gate in front of us and fencing above us) with lots of pushy people.  Arielle and I both received injuries from the violent revolving gates.  Quite a different experience than coming into Bethlehem that morning!

Overall, a very fun trip :) Since then I've jumped back into getting as much reading as I can out of the way before M&D arrive -- only 367 more pages and 13 days!  I'm also going to try and make some headway on my final papers before they get here to take a little of the pressure off finals week.

Tomorrow I'll be out all day on a field trip with my Biblical Israel class, but I don't think I'll have time to update about that before the weekend!  For details on my insane weekend schedule, click here.  I'll try and update about one or both on Sunday night, but I make no promises -- I'm going to be EXHAUSTED!  Have a great weekend, everyone...I know I will <3

Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?

Well, Mary Oliver (from whom I borrowed the quote above), I will tell you this much -- my Egypt adventure may have come to naught for this weekend, but it certainly doesn't mean I'm going to mope around!  I have just over a month left in Israel, and I'm doing my best to make the most of my remaining weeks in the Middle East.  Who knows when I'll be back here?  I want to pack in as much as I can NOW!

Today I departed for my internship and, just like every week, spending four hours with children brightened my day about a million shades.  I can't believe I only have two more weeks with them :( Then I came home, had lunch, and took a nap!  I slept poorly last night as I tried to figure out how to deal with the Egypt debacle, so a nap was absolutely refreshing.  Tonight will be devoted to trying to finish up some more of next week's reading...shabbat shalom to me :P Tomorrow, however, an adventure is in store!  To counteract homesickness, bad luck with planning, and a host of other negative feelings, we've decided to spend the day with Green Olive Tours in Bethlehem and Ramallah.  You may recall the incredible tour I took with them to Hebron -- I am so excited to have a similar experience now :)

So, what will I do with my one wild and precious life in my remaining time here?  WELL.  I'm glad you asked.  Next week will be quite busy!  On Thursday I've got a full-day field trip for my Biblical Israel class visiting a wide variety of sites.  Friday I'll head straight out from my internship for Egypt take two with Charlotte and Sandy, and we'll return to Jerusalem in the wee hours of Sunday.  The next weekend after that I'm hoping to join Green Olive once again for a tour of Nablus, Sebastia, and Jenin, followed by a field trip on Sunday to Masada, Ein Gedi, and Qumran with my Second Temple Judaism class, and a six-hour seminar at Yad Vashem with my Holocaust class on Monday.

But then the fun really begins -- around 5:30 on Tuesday morning, my parents will arrive in Israel!  Our tentative schedule is as follows:

Tuesday -- relax, visit, wander downtown, visit the shuk, etc...low-key day.

Wednesday -- I'm in class all day, so I'm sending them on adventures, probably to Yad Vashem and somewhere else.

Thursday -- after my Hebrew oral exam first thing in the morning, we'll take off for a road trip to the north!  Thursday will be spent in the Haifa area, exact activity TBD.  Suggestions welcome!

Friday -- we'll visit Akko, an old crusader city, and hopefully join a local family for Shabbat dinner.

Saturday -- after spending the day in Nazareth and the Sea of Galilee, we're hoping to find a midnight Christmas Eve service, one of my favourites of the church calendar.

Sunday -- Christmas will be spent exploring some of the famous sites of Jesus' life -- probably Capernaum, Tabgha, the Mount of Beatitudes, and the like.

Monday -- I sadly have class all day once again, but I'm sending M&D out with Green Olive for a tour of Bethlehem and Hebron.

Tuesday -- we're planning a sunrise hike of Masada, a trip to the Ein Gedi nature preserve, and a float in the Dead Sea.  (Then a nap!)

Wednesday -- for their last day in Israel, we're planning to explore the Old City and the surrounding area.

After that I've got three reading days, two days of finals, three days to write my last final paper, and then 30 hours of airports and airplanes until I reach Oakland! 

And now, if I want to be able to fully enjoy all these adventures, I need to keep getting ahead on work -- time to keep trucking away at my INSANE amount of reading for next week.  Of 505 pages, I've made it through 352 so far!

A quick update on the summer job situation -- thanks for all the good vibes, I got a second interview and will be hearing back in the next couple of weeks!  If I wind up not getting the job, I think I've found a really good alternative.  It's a win-win, I think :D

Here goes everything :(

UPDATE:  Shortly after booking my tour, I received an e-mail from the tour company saying that the tour for this weekend was cancelled due to lack of participants.  Since then it's been a roller coaster as I tried to find alternative tours, considered getting down there myself, and tried to recruit more people to come.  As I tossed and turned trying to fall asleep, I finally decided:  if I didn't hear from the company before leaving for my internship this morning, I was going to call it off.  I didn't want to spend what are normally the least stressful hours of my week trying to frantically square away the last-minute details of checking my e-mail (via Charlotte), texting Sandy (my friend who decided to join me), calling and cancelling my bus ticket if the trip was off...sigh.  So now, just before I leave for my internship, I've received no word so I'm staying in town this weekend.  So, I'm calling it:  time of trip death, 8:00AM.  I'm very disappointed, but I'm going to try and make things work for next weekend when Charlotte's planning on going.

-----

Hello, dear readers!   I hope you're all enjoying fabulous days right now :) Big exciting news is coming your way, get ready!  In a chat with my dear friend Rachel a few weeks ago, she shared this gem:  "I think one of the major parts of growing up while you're abroad though is embracing your own independence by not being afraid to do things by yourself."  She's right, I think.  So here goes:  this weekend I will brave a trip to a foreign country on a different continent by myself!  That's right, folks, my trip to Cairo is on.  As I mentioned in a recent post, violence and rioting and Tahrir Square had put my trip with my friend Charlotte in jeopardy.  I've been keeping a very close eye on the news, and today, after gaining the go-ahead from my father, his former student and current State Department employee, Amira, and her friend Erin who is currently in Cairo, I have booked bus tickets to and from Eilat and a one-day tour to Cairo!

Sadly, it's looking like Charlotte isn't going to make it...because our plans were in flux for so long she had to move some things around.  But as I was talking to Dad yesterday evening and waiting for a response from Amira, he asked, "If Charlotte isn't going, would you go anyway?"  I thought about it and decided, YES.  This is the last weekend that I can conceivably make it happen, and I've wanted to do this for so long.  I've been hoping to do Egypt since I decided to study abroad in the Middle East, and I've been wanting to go to Africa forever!  I've opted for a jam-packed one-day tour instead of the two-day tour -- the single day is the cheaper option (especially since as a single traveler I'd have to pay $40 more for accommodations!) that still allows me to hang out with kids at my internship on Friday morning.  It does feel a little crazy to spend more time on buses getting to Cairo than I will actually spend IN Cairo, but hey...I'm making it happen :)

So here's the plan for my insanely busy weekend!  Today I did laundry, packed (one backpack and one purse, check it out!), and I'm trying to get as much homework out of the way as I can.  After my internship tomorrow morning I'll head straight from the school to the bus station and catch the last bus to Eilat before Shabbat.  With a few hours to entertain myself in Eilat, I'm planning on bringing Lord of the Rings and my Holocaust reader, which I can read while relaxing on the shores of the Red Sea.  After grabbing dinner, I'll be picked up from the bus station by the tour company at 11PM and we'll spend the night driving through the desert to Cairo, where we'll arrive at 7AM.  The day will be spent sight-seeing -- the pyramids, the sphinx, the Egyptian museum, and the Khan El Khalili Bazaar.  5PM will conclude my time in Cairo, and I'll be dropped back in Eilat at 11PM.  At that point I'll catch an overnight bus to Tel Aviv and an early morning bus from there to Jerusalem.  Upon my return, I will probably crash for a few hours before getting right back up again for class!

It's going to be exhausting.  It's going to be amazing.  It's going to be insane.  It's going to be incredible.  And I can't wait :D Wish me luck, dear readers, and I promise plenty of pictures and hopefully good stories when I return!

Happy Thanksgiving

I must say, this week as all of my friends in the States posted their excitement about a break from classes and spending some quality time with loved ones, I felt a pang of envy.  This is the first Thanksgiving I will spend anywhere other than my Nana's farm in Vermont or, a couple times, my family's home in California.  It is also my first Thanksgiving without either my parents or my sister; when Kat was abroad, it was just Mom, Dad, and myself, and last year my sister and I traveled together to the farm while our parents celebrated in California.  This year, we are scattered:  Mom and Dad are being joined by a few friends in California, Kat is at the farm with the Hudkins clan, and I'm overseas.

I remember while we were visiting Kat in Ecuador over Christmas, she regaled us of tales of struggling to find ingredients and making odd substitutes in order to create a pseudo-Thanksgiving dinner at her host family's home.  Sadly, my teeny apartment lacks an oven, so I can't make all my beloved side dishes -- for me it's not about the turkey, it's about the scalloped potatoes, green bean casserole, spinach artichoke bake, and good wine!  I'm contemplating trying to find a microwave recipe for scalloped potatoes, but given the fact that they take 1.5 hours to bake in the oven, I'm not holding my breath!

In spite of the fact that this will probably be the strangest Thanksgiving I celebrate in my life, I am trying to hold on to the spirit of the holiday and remembering to be grateful for all that I have.  I truly have so much to be thankful for:  supportive parents, a wonderful sister, a boyfriend who loves me, and incredible friends; the unique opportunity to study abroad and the ability to have a top-notch college education in the US; a roof over my head, plenty of food to eat, clean water to drink, and warm clothing; enough money to buy all that I need and plenty that I want; I could go on and on.  Plus I am thankful for you, readers, for your support, for your advice, and for your cheering comments.

So today, dear readers, I may have a dinner of brown rice, chili, and Diet Coke over readings about the Holocaust instead of turkey, mashed potatoes, and wine with my beloved family, but that doesn't change the fact that I am utterly grateful for the many blessings of this life.  Sure, sometimes bad days come, and sometimes I'm lonely or angry or sad.  But when I have a bad day, I can always count on the fact that I can make tomorrow better.  When I'm lonely or angry or sad, I know that I have people who will help to pick me up, listen to me, dry my tears, and hug me for 36 hours (Steph!) or until I feel okay.  So here's to remembering the many gifts we are all blessed with, and here's to cherishing those blessings every day.  I wish you all a very happy Thanksgiving.

Cairo, Midterms, Turkey Day, and more...

Hello, dear readers!  Not too much to report, but I thought I'd share a quick post with some recent news and discoveries.

First, some potentially very bad news:  as you may have heard in the news over the last couple of days, violence and rioting have broken out in Cairo, which puts Charlotte's and my trip in jeopardy.  We're keeping an eye on the news, but we'll have to make a decision pretty soon one way or the other.  Keep your fingers crossed that the situation calms down soon!

Anyone who's friends with me on Facebook has seen that it is MIDTERMS WEEK here at the Rothberg International School!  Woo.  I turned in my first midterm essay a week ago, had my Islam midterm yesterday (man, he asked the most RANDOM questions), and took my Hebrew midterm this morning.  My Holocaust midterm essays are due this afternoon and are pretty much done -- I'm planning on looking over them once more before handing them in.  After that, I have an oral exam in Hebrew on Thursday and my last essays (for my Judaism class) are due next Wednesday, so I've got a little time to work on those.  Four down, two to go!

After it seemed that I had finally recovered from the cold I got in September right around Rosh HaShana, last night I noticed that my throat was sore.  I chugged a liter of water and went to bed early in hopes that sleep would be the cure, but alas, it hadn't disappeared this morning!  Various friends have already prescribed orange juice, zinc supplements, and keeping my core warm.  I am also self-prescribing sleep (I hope), plenty of fluids, and chicken soup!  Plus I'm making chili today or tomorrow...maybe the spiciness will clear this thing out of my system!

One of my favourite holidays is this week:  Thanksgiving.  I realized I've only ever spent Thanksgiving at my Nana's house in Vermont or at my parents' house.  I have never had a Thanksgiving without either my sister or my parents.  I'm still trying to decide how to celebrate; the international school is having a black-tie dinner followed by a concert and dance party, which doesn't really scream "Thanksgiving" to me, but I don't have an oven to make my own Thanksgiving-y foods.  The other thing I'm sad to be far away for is my four-year anniversary, which falls the day after Thanksgiving this year.  I hope that despite my sadness at being far from home that I will be able to remember to be thankful for my wonderful and loving family and for four wonderful years with Ian.

I'd also like to share a quote from one of my Holocaust readings which is discussing the Jewish question in Britain.  It comes from the Balfour Declaration, which facilitated the establishment of a national home for the Jewish people in Palestine:  "[N]othing shall be done which may prejudice the civil or religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country."  Boy, that one went REAL well, didn't it.  You know, I was talking to my friend Arielle about this yesterday...for about the first two months here, we simply enjoyed being in this country because everything was novel and new.  Now that we have learned more, EVERYTHING we see is loaded with politics.  It's inescapable.  I am still (mostly) enjoying my time here, but sometimes I just want to get away from the politics.

While parts of me feel ready to be done with my time here, recently another part of me has begun to realize that going back to Mount Holyoke won't be as easy as I want it to be.  What I want -- what we all want when we try to "go back home again" -- is to just slip right back in, to pick up where I left off.  But that's simply impossible; I've changed so much, and life at Mount Holyoke has moved on without me.  I feel like I won't really notice just how much I've changed until I'm trying to fit back into my old life.  But, as my sister and mother pointed out, it's good to be realizing this now rather than be utterly shocked by it when I'm back at MHC.  And as my dear friend Rachel reminded me, even though things will be different, I will still have homes with those I love:  with my stage crew family, with the Project: Theatre board, with my favourite professors, with the incredible women of Chorale.  No, it won't be exactly the same, but I can and will be a part of those things again.

Now, with 6.5 hours remaining before my last class, I am going to resume reading and listening to the Indigo Girls (and my inner debate about whether I should stay on campus or go back to my apartment!).  Yom tov, kulam!  Good day, everyone!