i know, i need to update.

pics from various end of may activities

I'm currently wandering around between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv and traveling to other places that I haven't seen yet/want to see again before I leave. Living out of a backpack I repack every couple of days or so. Saying goodbye to everyone at school last weekend was really hard, and being in Israel without all of them is kind of weird.

Last week I went to the Dome of the Rock in the old city which was amazing. I thought it was much harder to get in but it's not. You can't go inside the "dome" though unless you're Muslim but it was still cool to be there. Jews are forbidden to go there by Rabbinic law because some areas used to be only for the high Jewish priests called Kohen's and everyday people couldn't go there. Since they don't know exactly where this area was they just say stay away from all of it so as not to be in the wrong place. This works for me though, since my dad is a Kohen so that half is good, and my mom isn't Jewish so...it's also fine to be there. haha. Then I went to the Dead Sea and hiked in Ein Gedi with Michelle and her friend Ariel. Ein Gedi is one of the natural wonders of the world, its an oasis of springs and waterfalls in the desert. pictures of both those things to come once I find my camera cord.

A few weeks ago I went to a restaurant with some friends called Blackout. The whole restaurant is run by blind or partially blind people and it's in the pitch black. You pick what you want before hand or you pick "surprise" and then you all go in, your waiter brings you to your table in a train-like line and tell you where everything is set up on the table and stuff. At first it was pretty uncomfotable with your eyes always trying to see something or make something out but gradually got more and more comfortable as dinner went on. We ended up eating a lot with our hands since that was the easiest, it was a great experience. There are only 11 restaurants like it in the world.

Last weekend I went to visit my friend Daniel at the army base he was at for the weekend. He's in an elite unit and the base he's usually on I can't visit, because he can't even tell me where it is, but this past weekend he was in a course at a different base near Tel Aviv. It was interesting to see the soldiers families and friends all visit on Shabbat and to actually see a base. It makes the army a little more real, although most of it is still so beyond my understanding/comprehension which is frustrating, but such is life.

Other than that I've just been going out a lot and pretty busy everyday doing some thing or another. I have ideas for the upcoming two weeks but nothing solidified yet. Two weeks is not enough time left...

I'll post more pictures and update again when I can.

look at all my pic-a-tures!

Trip to Sderot pictures

hiking up north

random may more to come on this one

oops, it's been a while...

so two weekends ago was the last Building Future Leaders conference...lots of fun, friends, learning, and sad goodbyes, i suck at good byes. Among things like going to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and hearing important people speak, we herded sheep and goats!! One of the best things I've done in my life, let me attempt to explain the amazingness that was this experience... My group went first with no prior knowledge of how to actually herd sheep or goats just the understanding that we had to get them from one place, to another, to another, then separate them and put the sheep in one place and the goats in another. Sounds tough, but do-able. We figure: surround them and bring them together then lead them and they will follow, after all...that's what real shepherds do, right? well, wrong. After pushing and prodding, screaming and yelling, speaking in every language we knew, falling over, and laughing hysterically, we moved the group a few feet only to have them stop again and we had to do the whole process over. These are some damnn stubborn animals. Anyway, after 17 minutes of strenuous work, we accomplished our goal. I could not have had a better feeling than when the animals were actually following us from one destination to the other. I felt a sense of accomplishment as if I had just won an olympic gold, and i wish i were kidding. So the other 2 groups did it in much less time (cause they saw what worked for us and what didnt) but i still felt like i won, for sure. Tips for future sheep and goat herders: the herd has a leader, its a goat, a girl goat, and once you get that one moving...the whole herd will follow. Also, when sheep are scared they huddle together with their heads in the center to protect thier necks...their most vulnerable part, do not try and break them up physically, it just doesn't work, get the goat. And no, of course we didn't have any idea about this until after.

More exciting adventures that I can remember: I met up with Allie in Jerusalem to sign the lease for her apt. Her landlord was kind of scary..a "sabra" or, very typical israeli (note: Allie's face in the picture), but the apartment's pretty nice and in a pretty good location (see: beautiful sunset).










Last weekend I went hiking up north. We did three wonderfully beautiful hikes, went to a hot water spring resort thing that was awesome but smelled like northern Jerz (I mean sulfur), had a campfire/tea/made pitas at a nearby kibbutz (socialist community thing, they're all over Israel), and went "rafting" in the Jordan. Rafting was amazingly hilarious. I attempted to take charge of our 6-man raft trying to paddle but it was quite a balagan (mess/disorder), we couldnt co-ordinate the two paddles and we ended up in a lot of trees/branches on the side. I broke the paddle on a rock and we got laughed at by a lot of arseem (read: Israeli guidos, watch that hilarious video) hanging out on the side of the river.

I went to Ein Hod yesterday which is an artist's village on the way up to Haifa. Super cool village and we got lessons on stained glass from a resident. Went to the beach with Allie today then I went to the Maccabi Tel Aviv soccer game. VIP tickets with free food and beer, yea connections :). Maccabi won but the last 3/4 minutes were real close, we scored to go up 2-1 but had to bicycle kick the ball out of the goal in the last 5 seconds to prevent the tie. Going to Sderot tomorrow, if you don't know about the city you should read about it, or i'll tell you about it next time!

I didn't forget about the serious/thinking post I said I would write, I will. And two photo albums to come at some point.

Lauren

yom ha'zikaron and yom ha'atzmaut

I'm tired, forgive me :)

Last Monday night yom ha'zikaron, the memorial day for fallen soldiers and victims of terror, started. In case you don't know Jewish holidays start at sundown the evening before. I went into the city to Rabin Square for a big ceremony. On the way to the square the siren marking a moment of silence went off. Everyone got out of their cars or stopped walking and stood for a minute in silence. I thought I took a video but I never pressed play, slicha. All (Jewish) shops and business were closed around the country, the square was packed with people and the ceremony was beautiful. Various Israeli artists each performed their songs that are connected to the holiday and videos of personal stories and pictures were shown on large screens. Unfortunately, although I understood what was going on and parts of the stories, I didn't understand enough of the Hebrew for the ceremony to be as meaningful as it could be. It is impossible, while standing next to soldiers in uniform and hundreds of other Israeli's, not to think about the fact that almost everyone has a connection to this holiday. It's sad, but true. So of course, memorial day here is very different then memorial day back in the states. My Israeli friend was telling me about how hard the day was for him. He went to Mt. Herzl with his (elite) army unit and first they had a ceremony around the grave of a soldier from their unit with friends and family of the soldier also present. After this, as if it wasn't hard enough, he then went to the grave of someone from his high school class with more friends and family. He tried to describe to me the feelings he had while standing there with the parents of these people but of course, although I can understand, it's not possible for me to really relate to it. His memorial day experience is not unique, either.
On Tuesday Abe and I took the bus into the city and while we were on it the second and last siren went off for two minutes this time. Here is a video of this one, it's not "exciting" as its not supposed to be, but it gives you an idea of what it's like for the whole country to be standing in silence.

Towards Tuesday even people start saying "chag same'ach" Happy Holiday. Why, on such a sad holiday, would people say this? Because Tuesday evening at sundown yom ha'aztmaut, Independence day, starts!! What a happy, exciting and proud day this is! When the two holidays are so close, almost overlapping even, it really makes one understand that you have to know where you came from and what sacrifices were made...it actually makes you see the impact of those who gave their lives so Israel can exist.

Let the celebrations begin! 61 years and going strong! Fireworks, tons of shaving creme (left) on everything and everyone (they market special shaving creme just for independence celebrations), typical 4th of July things like glow necklaces and big blow up things as well as bbq's and such. Bigger parties though, like this one (bottom left) on the beach...
Wednesday I went to the beach with Adam and Itamar, played ultimate with them and others, then went to Itamar's for a little bbq get together wednesday night.

This past weekend was my last Building Future Leaders conference. It was a lot of fun, and helpful for my project (which I still have to write about), and very sad to leave everyone. I herded sheep and goats! It was one of the best experiences I've had, too. My group went first and it was sooo frustrating when the animals wouldn't move and cooperate (we had a "mission" to accomplish). We tried many different tactics but the animals were very stubborn. I can't explain, however, the feeling I had when we got the sheep and goats to follow us. It was like we were real shepherds, we were walking and they were following in a herd! (and NO it is NOT as easy as you imagine it to be!). I felt like I was on top of the world, so lame, but so true. Those sheep and goats really taught me a lot, for sure. Also, AMAZING (shout out: Yaniv's AMAZING group) news from the conference: Parallel Lives, a program that brings together special unit IDF soldiers with diaspora Jews, wants to bring the soldiers from my BFL to my synagogue at home in cooperation with my project! AHHH!! How GREAT this would be!! Let's cross our fingers and it could become a reality as early as this fall.

a pics from holidays, BFL graduation, etc.

That's all for now; interesting, deep, serious post to come soon. Be excited to really get in my head.

A Lovely Shabbat

tangent: Last Thursday night I saw Balkan Beat Box perform for Earth day, good stuff. Very typical Israel does Earth Day...let's turn on ALL the lights around the square so people notice when we turn them off for an hour then we'll turn them ALL back on again. good energy conservation skills. (although, to give them credit, they did power the lights from people riding stationary bikes and by using the excess oil from falafel stands, haha).

For the past Shabbat I went to Jerusalem to my friend Daniel's. I was pretty nervous since my Hebrew isn't superb and I was going to be eating dinner with his family. Plus the typical concern: I didn't know they're Shabbat customs and I didn't want to, basically, make myself look like a fool for doing something stupid. Well I got there, we hung around, went up to some part of what I guess would be the "country-side" of Jerusalem to watch the sunset over the city/valley, then went back for dinner. Daniel's mom is from France, she made Aliyah here when she was 22 and his dad is from Argentina and came here when he was 15. Ohh, Zionism. So that means his mom speaks French, Hebrew, and English, his dad Spanish, Hebrew, and English and him all 4. His dad's mom was at Shabbat dinner as well, and she speaks Spanish and Hebrew, no English. I would soon find this out when I tried to respond in English and she stared at me blankely. Dinner was delicious, and the conversations were plenty, although almost entirely in Spanish and Hebrew. yayyy Spanish! I haven't listened/spoke in so long! I actually understood a lot more than I thought of the Spanish but that was probably because his grandmother speaks really slow. I paid attention very well in hopes to not be so left out, and I actually followed the conversations pretty well. I kept getting caught up in the moment though, thinking about the situation I was in and how cool it was that I could understand, and then I couldn't understand cause I had stopped listening. Saturday we went on a mini hike to a spring and enjoyed beautiful sites.
All in all, it was a wonderful Shabbat and I thoroughly enjoyed myself. Updates on Yom Hazicharon and Yom Ha'atzmaut (memorial day and independence day) when I have time to process. Big Independence pick-up ultimate game today then the last leadership conference tomorrow.

61 years and going strong :).

camera's working again..

long album, over pesach break

short album, maccabi tel aviv basketball game




during the siren that sounds for 2 minute on yom hashoa to remember the victims of the holocaust. Everyone in the entire country stops what they're doing and stands, even on the highway they get out of their cars. (well, everyone except that person on the "tus tus" or scooter that rides by.)

pesach break

fairly long update of break.

so I decided to change the title of the blog for the last time since I decided to spend my time here traveling in Israel, and not around other middle eastern countries. I wish I could do it all, but money and time make this not possible. (Except, I WILL go to Jordan before I leave.)

That being said...I got back last night from traveling around the country for the past week and a half/two weeks with my sister. First, we spent some time up north in and around Haifa. We did a little hike on a trail called "Little Switzerland" which I guess looks like Switzerland? either way it was pretty cool. Then we went to the Bahá'í gardens, Daliyat-a Druze village, Mt. Carmel/the Carmelite monastery, and Zichron Ya'kov-one of the first Jewish settlements in Israel. In one day we saw four different religions (Bahá'í, Druze, Carmelite Christians, and Jews) which exist in one area of the country. Sidenote: If you haven't heard of Bahá'í or Druze before your should check them out, they're really cool religions.
Back to TA then to J'lem in the morning. My friend Daniel took Allie and I out to an area in Jerusalem that wasn't Ben Yehuda street! (The area where everyone goes out in J'lem...it's fun but c'mon, I knew there had to be more, haha). Then the next day we went back up to Haifa for the Passover seder. We stayed at the grandparents house of Allie's friend Adina for a few nights and went to her family's seder at her great aunt and uncle's house nearby. The night was fun, interesting, and similar yet different to what I am used to. There were about 30-35 people at the seder and the whole night was in Hebrew. Much of the joking around went over my head but I still had many laughs and enjoyed myself all the same. Then it was back to TA for the following Shabbat.
Friday Allie and I thought it would be a good idea to ride our bikes to the shuk (market) and the artist's fair in Tel Aviv, typical day usually, but we totally forgot it was holiday and the city would be PACKED. If i'm ever here for Passover again I'm leaving the country, it is SOO busy!! Anyway, Saturday night was the long awaited dinner with Abe's parents! We went to Havana, a Cuban restaurant Darya and I went to one afternoon and it was just as amazing as the first time. We had never met Abe's parents before but the feeling of having known them for a long time was mutual for some reason. Went out in TA, I met Abe's friend Ari finally, came back to the university, then we were off to J'lem again Sunday morning.
Sunday night we went to Be'er Sheva and stayed with Allie's friend Yoav for a few nights. Be'er Sheva is south of J'lem, kind of desert but not quite desert yet. We explored Be'er Sheva a little and got to meet up with friends including Adam, our friend from Ultimate Peace who is studying in Be'er Sheva :)!!
Back to J'lem where Allie and I parted ways. I met up with my friend Gili from the leadership program I'm doing and we hopped on a bus to the dead sea. Gili and I met up with Daniel and his friends for the second night of a festival on a kibbutz right by the sea. The night was really fun we saw Mosh Ben Ari and Aviv Geffen! This was the fourth or so consecutive day of hanging out with Israeli's/people that speak Hebrew and it started to really frustrate me, a lot, that I can understand the gist of conversations but I can't communicate back much. Of course they all speak english as well but I don't want to talk in english, I want to know more hebrewww. Moving on, we got back to J'lem around 7am yesterday morning and promptly went to Daniel's to go to sleep. Traveling from place to place came to an end last night when I arrived back in TA for probably the remainder of break (until Sunday). Today I'm bumming around, tomorrow I'll probably go to the amuzement park nearby with friends, and I'm not sure what Saturday and Sunday will bring. I surprisingly have some work to do before school starts again, lame.

my computer decided to stop recognizing my camera so here are some old pics for now.

Until next time.