Last Thursday (which is like Friday in the US because the weekends here are Friday and Saturday) my roommates and I took the day off and went on a day trip to Haifa! It's about a 30 minute walk to the train station in Lod (the city next to Ramla and the closest train station to us), and then an hour and a half train ride to Haifa from Lod. We woke up super early, because we needed to leave the house by 7:30am in order to catch the train. We also packed a bunch of very yummy snacks to eat for breakfast on the train. We were joking at one point about how Israelis always want to know where we are from, but when we tell them they've never heard of the place, so we end up just saying we're from "near New York." Which has varying levels of truth to it for each of us. One of our seatmates overheard this, but didn't overhear the part about how we weren't really from New York and spent quite some time talking to me about how much she loved New York and hoped to be able to live there someday.
The scenery on the first part of the train ride was rather unexciting, as we were traveling through Tel Aviv and its suburbs, but as we neared Haifa the views from the train became gorgeous! There are a couple of pictures up on my flickr, although they don't do the Mediterranean justice.
The two big things on our agendas for the day were riding on the smallest subway system in the world (and also the only subway in Israel) and seeing the Bahai Gardens. Lucky for us, we could take the subway right to the gardens. Haifa is built on a hill, and the subway basically takes you up or down the hill. It only covers a couple of blocks, so very few people actually ride it. There are only two trains running on the track, with two cars each, and we had a car to ourselves for most of the ride. We actually rode the entire system three times- we had the time, and it was fun! Because Haifa is on a hill, the subway has a very steep incline and is a little bit like a roller coaster. Riding the subway was definitely the highlight of the trip for me.
The Bahai Gardens were a bit of a disappointment, as I had thought that they were going to be some of the most beautiful plants I had ever seen. Instead, the gardens were kept so perfect that they looked almost fake. The gardens also mimicked each other and there wasn't much variety. The tour guide seemed pretty bored with her job, however I did learn an interesting fact- none of the Bahai sacred scripts are translated into Hebrew, despite being translated into hundreds of other languages, and having Bahai holy spaces in Israel. This is because Israel has anti-missionary activity laws. There is also no permanent Bahai population in Israel- the Bahais who live here are only here for five years (there is also no permanent Bahai population in the Vatican City.)
After the Bahai Gardens we walked around Haifa, and eventually ended up at the shuk and got falafel. After several failed attempts to get to the beach (it apparently isn't accessible from the part of Haifa that we were in) and some more seeing of Haifa's gorgeous views, we decided we were done for the day and board the train back to Lod. We all passed out and woke up just as we were arriving in the first of the Tel Aviv stations, and discovered that the train was packed with soldiers (a common occurrence in Israel, but I'm still getting used to it.) After waiting for far too long to switch trains in Tel Aviv and then finally arriving in Lod, we were happy to be home.
Sunday, December 6, 2009
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Idan Raichel Project Concert
Last night I went to an Idan Raichel Project concert in Jerusalem sponsored by MASA. There were easily a thousand other people at the concert who are also in Israel on MASA-supported programs. Apparently MASA holds Idan Raichel concerts a couple of times a year because they are so popular.
I started off the night with a wonderful Skype conversation with my dad, although I had to cut it short so that I could get ready and catch the Egged bus to Jerusalem. It's about a 30 minute walk from my apartment to the bus station in Ramla, and then it takes about 5 minutes to get through the security at the bus station and walk to where the buses depart. But I was really worried about missing my bus, so I moved really fast and managed to do it all in just over 20 minutes. Which meant that I actually caught the earlier bus. This bus was absolutely packed, and the driver just kept letting people on. I was one of the last people on, and joined the other 10 people standing in the aisle. I then moved and got to sit on the floor right up next to the driver, which enabled me to fully experience the very steep turns that we were doing at rather high speeds.
When I arrived in Jerusalem I promptly got really lost, and had to have another person from my program come and show me how to get to the concert. We were very early, and walked around the big exhibition building for a while before deciding that we were hungry and should really go get some falafel before the concert.
I started off the night with a wonderful Skype conversation with my dad, although I had to cut it short so that I could get ready and catch the Egged bus to Jerusalem. It's about a 30 minute walk from my apartment to the bus station in Ramla, and then it takes about 5 minutes to get through the security at the bus station and walk to where the buses depart. But I was really worried about missing my bus, so I moved really fast and managed to do it all in just over 20 minutes. Which meant that I actually caught the earlier bus. This bus was absolutely packed, and the driver just kept letting people on. I was one of the last people on, and joined the other 10 people standing in the aisle. I then moved and got to sit on the floor right up next to the driver, which enabled me to fully experience the very steep turns that we were doing at rather high speeds.
When I arrived in Jerusalem I promptly got really lost, and had to have another person from my program come and show me how to get to the concert. We were very early, and walked around the big exhibition building for a while before deciding that we were hungry and should really go get some falafel before the concert.
When we got back from getting falafel I met up with Devora and Noam, who I sat with during the concert. It was fabulous to be at the concert with people who were also not so into MASA’s introduction video, the overt heteronormativity by the singers and dancers, and the lack of Arab, Palestinian, or Mizrahim acknowledgement throughout the concert.
The music was good, although I understood almost none of it. Idan Raichel himself didn’t seem to do much besides play the piano for a couple of songs and walk around on stage, but one of the main singers, this Ethiopian woman, was absolutely amazing. She sang a bunch of Amharic songs, and was she just owned the stage and knew exactly what she was doing. By the end of the first couple of songs, everyone was out of their seats and dancing, including people from MASA’s Board of Governors (identifiable by their nametags, and their age.)
The ride home was much less exciting, as I just took the chartered bus with other people from my program back to Ramla.
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
A Visit From Jenifer and an Open House Meeting
An old family friend is in Israel for the next two weeks (with a side trip to Jordan), and I got to meet up with her and catch up yesterday! She was in Jerusalem, so I took a bus there and we hung out for the day. It was lots of fun. We walked around Jerusalem and went to the shuk and various other things. I got starfruit, dragonfruit, brie cheese, and cheese with pesto in it from the Jerusalem shuk, all of which are delicious and all of which I can't get in Ramla. It was really interesting to see Jenifer's reaction to the shuk, to Jerusalem, and to Israel in general. It brought me back to my first few weeks here.
Around dinner time we said goodbye to each other and I headed off to another meeting at the Open House. The English Speakers Group meeting was a text study on the creation of gender in Genesis. I personally am not so into text study, but I still found it to be really interesting. There were a lot of ideas floated around that I had never heard or thought about before. We were learning in chevruta, and I got paired up with a fourth-year student at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, which was a little intimidating. Even when we got back together as a group (there were almost 20 people there) I still found myself a little intimidated, as a large portion of the people in the group are in rabbinical school, or are studying at Pardes or another yeshiva. I'm amazed that the attendance at the English Speaker's meetings are so high, and that there are always new faces. The meetings also strike a good balance between social, activist, and academic. I am very appreciative of the group's organizers.
The meeting ended a little after 10pm, and everyone hung out and was social for about a half hour. After that Devora walked with me to the bus station and we got to catch up (I had to make sure that I caught the last bus of the evening at 11:30pm.) I love the bus system in Israel. It seems to be a favorite pastime to complain about Egged, but I really like it. It is incredibly comprehensive (you could probably get from any part of the country to any other part on Egged.) I also feel so safe in Ramla. The bus dropped me off in Ramla at 12:10, and the bus station is about a 25 minute walk from my house. The entire walk back, I felt completely safe.
And when I got home I learned that all my roommates are still sick. It seems as if we've all just been passing a bug back and forth. I really hope that they feel better soon!
And fun fact of the day: Scott Gotikov, MassEquality's Executive Director, is a Hampshire alum.
Around dinner time we said goodbye to each other and I headed off to another meeting at the Open House. The English Speakers Group meeting was a text study on the creation of gender in Genesis. I personally am not so into text study, but I still found it to be really interesting. There were a lot of ideas floated around that I had never heard or thought about before. We were learning in chevruta, and I got paired up with a fourth-year student at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, which was a little intimidating. Even when we got back together as a group (there were almost 20 people there) I still found myself a little intimidated, as a large portion of the people in the group are in rabbinical school, or are studying at Pardes or another yeshiva. I'm amazed that the attendance at the English Speaker's meetings are so high, and that there are always new faces. The meetings also strike a good balance between social, activist, and academic. I am very appreciative of the group's organizers.
The meeting ended a little after 10pm, and everyone hung out and was social for about a half hour. After that Devora walked with me to the bus station and we got to catch up (I had to make sure that I caught the last bus of the evening at 11:30pm.) I love the bus system in Israel. It seems to be a favorite pastime to complain about Egged, but I really like it. It is incredibly comprehensive (you could probably get from any part of the country to any other part on Egged.) I also feel so safe in Ramla. The bus dropped me off in Ramla at 12:10, and the bus station is about a 25 minute walk from my house. The entire walk back, I felt completely safe.
And when I got home I learned that all my roommates are still sick. It seems as if we've all just been passing a bug back and forth. I really hope that they feel better soon!
And fun fact of the day: Scott Gotikov, MassEquality's Executive Director, is a Hampshire alum.
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Moshav Modi'in
Last Shabbat (not the one that just ended, but the one before that) I went to Moshav Modi'in for a Shabbaton with Devora and Dev. It was sponsored by an older couple that hosts mostly students every other Shabbat or so. We all brought assorted food items (I brought grapes, pomegrantes, and bananas.) An interesting thing to note: the couple was shomer shabbat and kept kosher, so we only ate on plastic plates the entire weekend, as they couldn't do dishes during Shabbat, and dishes to feed 30 of us three meat meals is a lot of dishes. That meant that there was a lot of waste, but they also couldn't have hosted without the plastic dishes.
The Moshav is famous for it's Carlebach-style services (basically lots of singing), but I only went to the Kabbalat Shabbat and part of the Shacharit services on Saturday. Oh, and Havdalah. The shul had a mechitzah, and it was the type where the men were in the front and the women in the back (in this case the men were actually in the shul and the women were in a tent behind it.) I didn't find that too be very comfortable for me personally, and it definitely contributed to me skipping most of the other services (that and I wasn't really expected to go to all of them.)
The best part of the Moshav was that it was gorgeous! The scenery completely made up for all the other awkward moments throughout our time there. And I got to interact with lots of people who I don't normally interact with (ie yeshiva students living on the other side of the Green Line with politics to match.) Devora, Dev, and myself spent the night outside, which was absolutely amazing, and we stayed up late talking. We also played lots of Rummikub and Bananagrams on Saturday afternoon, and read, and slept. It was a very relaxing Shabbat and I definitely got to experience something different.
The Moshav is famous for it's Carlebach-style services (basically lots of singing), but I only went to the Kabbalat Shabbat and part of the Shacharit services on Saturday. Oh, and Havdalah. The shul had a mechitzah, and it was the type where the men were in the front and the women in the back (in this case the men were actually in the shul and the women were in a tent behind it.) I didn't find that too be very comfortable for me personally, and it definitely contributed to me skipping most of the other services (that and I wasn't really expected to go to all of them.)
The best part of the Moshav was that it was gorgeous! The scenery completely made up for all the other awkward moments throughout our time there. And I got to interact with lots of people who I don't normally interact with (ie yeshiva students living on the other side of the Green Line with politics to match.) Devora, Dev, and myself spent the night outside, which was absolutely amazing, and we stayed up late talking. We also played lots of Rummikub and Bananagrams on Saturday afternoon, and read, and slept. It was a very relaxing Shabbat and I definitely got to experience something different.
Delicious Dinner Last Night
I have promised multiple people much more substantial blog posts than this one will be, and I have a list of topics that I really need to write about, but right now I'm having trouble focusing on more than dinner last night. It was delicious, and I cooked it all by myself!
Our dinner consisted of steamed beets (lightly salted), steamed carrots with honey, Israeli salad (sliced cucumbers, tomatoes, and red peppers), baked sweet potatoes, whole wheat rolls with hummus, and baba ganoush. (Want to know a secret? I'm actually not a fan of eggplant. But my roommates are, as is my mom.) I wish I had taken pictures.
We were in a vegetable mood. Mostly because Rachel, my roommate, had recently been sent two enormous packages full of candy that we have been snacking on for the last couple of days, and we were feeling a little sick of tootsie rolls and fruit roll-ups (although they are still much appreciated!)
Earlier that day (I don't want to call it breakfast because it was around 1pm) we had hash browns, scrambled eggs, toast, persimmons, and grapes. It was also delightful.
I've recently tried several new fruits that I've never encountered before: starfruit, persimmons, and this fruit that tastes like a slightly sour orange but has a green peel. I love love the persimmons, and the starfruit I'd eat again, but I was a little put off by the sour orange. I'm excited to go to Tel Aviv tomorrow and check out all the fruit at the shuk there.
Our dinner consisted of steamed beets (lightly salted), steamed carrots with honey, Israeli salad (sliced cucumbers, tomatoes, and red peppers), baked sweet potatoes, whole wheat rolls with hummus, and baba ganoush. (Want to know a secret? I'm actually not a fan of eggplant. But my roommates are, as is my mom.) I wish I had taken pictures.
We were in a vegetable mood. Mostly because Rachel, my roommate, had recently been sent two enormous packages full of candy that we have been snacking on for the last couple of days, and we were feeling a little sick of tootsie rolls and fruit roll-ups (although they are still much appreciated!)
Earlier that day (I don't want to call it breakfast because it was around 1pm) we had hash browns, scrambled eggs, toast, persimmons, and grapes. It was also delightful.
I've recently tried several new fruits that I've never encountered before: starfruit, persimmons, and this fruit that tastes like a slightly sour orange but has a green peel. I love love the persimmons, and the starfruit I'd eat again, but I was a little put off by the sour orange. I'm excited to go to Tel Aviv tomorrow and check out all the fruit at the shuk there.
Friday, September 11, 2009
The Golan
I just came back from a two-day, one-night trip to the Golan. Several different groups from my program went - my group and the other group in Ramla, two groups from Tel Aviv, and one group from Ashdod. We left on Thursday morning at 6:50am, which meant that we had to wake up around 6am. Luckily, it's about a four hour drive to the Golan, so we had plenty of time to make up for lost sleep. We also had the same tour guide that we had in Jerusalem, Ron, who is absolutely hilarious.
We arrived in the Golan around noon, and immediately went on a six hour hike. That makes it seem much more hardcore than it actually was - if we were a smaller group it would have taken us 4 hours or less. It was rather easy hiking too, although it was very hot. Half way through the hike was a huge waterfall that ended in a nice pool. I jumped in, and it was amazing. Some of us sat right under the waterfall, and there was even a little area where we could climb into a rock crevice and be looking out through the waterfall. It was gorgeous, and very cooling.
After our hike we got back onto the bus and went to the hotel, where we all promptly showered. I was staying in the same room as Olga and Geula, two other girls from my program. We went to dinner around 8pm, and I was really hungry! I hadn't even realized how hungry I was until I sat down and started eating. I also hadn't realized how tired I was until I was lounging on my bed and fell asleep!
On Friday morning we had to be up at 6:45am, in preparation for another hike. This one was in water - we mistakenly assumed that meant we needed to wear watershoes, not that at some points we would practically be going swimming. But it was a blast, and I really enjoyed the hiking, although I wish there had been more history of the places that we were visiting incorporated into the tour. We also were going to visit the Syrian border, but ended up not having time to do so. I definitely want to do another trip to the Golan by myself to see the border, and also to see the place where people from Syria and the Golan yelled across to each other.
Now it's Shabbat, and I have no special plans whatsoever. I'm having a blogging party with Andreas, but I'm going to walk back to my apartment and go to sleep very soon. Tomorrow I plan to sleep more, and on Sunday we start our volunteer assignments! I'm working at an Arab after-school program, a senior center, and at a college teaching English. I'm pretty excited, and I will give a full report once I've started!
We arrived in the Golan around noon, and immediately went on a six hour hike. That makes it seem much more hardcore than it actually was - if we were a smaller group it would have taken us 4 hours or less. It was rather easy hiking too, although it was very hot. Half way through the hike was a huge waterfall that ended in a nice pool. I jumped in, and it was amazing. Some of us sat right under the waterfall, and there was even a little area where we could climb into a rock crevice and be looking out through the waterfall. It was gorgeous, and very cooling.
After our hike we got back onto the bus and went to the hotel, where we all promptly showered. I was staying in the same room as Olga and Geula, two other girls from my program. We went to dinner around 8pm, and I was really hungry! I hadn't even realized how hungry I was until I sat down and started eating. I also hadn't realized how tired I was until I was lounging on my bed and fell asleep!
On Friday morning we had to be up at 6:45am, in preparation for another hike. This one was in water - we mistakenly assumed that meant we needed to wear watershoes, not that at some points we would practically be going swimming. But it was a blast, and I really enjoyed the hiking, although I wish there had been more history of the places that we were visiting incorporated into the tour. We also were going to visit the Syrian border, but ended up not having time to do so. I definitely want to do another trip to the Golan by myself to see the border, and also to see the place where people from Syria and the Golan yelled across to each other.
Now it's Shabbat, and I have no special plans whatsoever. I'm having a blogging party with Andreas, but I'm going to walk back to my apartment and go to sleep very soon. Tomorrow I plan to sleep more, and on Sunday we start our volunteer assignments! I'm working at an Arab after-school program, a senior center, and at a college teaching English. I'm pretty excited, and I will give a full report once I've started!
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Jerusalem!
I went to Jerusalem yesterday, and it was amazing!! I had been twice already, as we spent the first couple of days after we landed there, and I had also gone a couple of days later to visit the Kotel and the City of David. But this trip was different because I did it by myself, I took public transportation, and the purpose of my trip wasn't tourism. I was going to the Jerusalem Open House for Pride and Tolerance (JOH) for a meeting of the English Speakers Group.
Actually, I first went to visit the Merkaz, which is kind of like a community center for English speakers ages 19-35 (although they are pretty lose about this requirement.) I talked to one of the staff members there, and learned about what they offer and their programming. It should be a great resource for me in the future, and I am so glad they are so welcoming.
Then I spent some time walking around Jerusalem and getting lost. (Why would you put streets named Shlomtsyion HaMalkah and Shlomo HaMelech right next to each other, especially when the spelling is almost identical in Hebrew?) But I also recognized some streets, stores, and landmarks from my previous trips, which was very nice.
I arrived at JOH about a half an hour before the meeting, mostly because I had nothing else to do (I had already walked through the big outdoor concert promoting the Army on the street next to JOH.) The building that JOH is in has a pride flag hanging from the second floor window, so it was pretty easy to spot. I was greeted at the entrance by a very un-traditional security guard who looked through my bag (it was the fourth time that I had been searched that day.) JOH has space that includes two big hang out areas, a kitchen, two bathrooms, and some offices.
The meeting was just what I needed. It was mostly Americans who were studying at Hebrew University for the semester or year, but there were also people from France, Spain, and Canada, and not all the Americans were at Hebrew University (some were older.) We sat around a played games for most of the evening, and I asked lots and lots of questions. It was much like any sort of queer group, but it was a breath of fresh air for me, because it connected me to the community that I have been needing to find in Israel. I will definitely be back.
Actually, I first went to visit the Merkaz, which is kind of like a community center for English speakers ages 19-35 (although they are pretty lose about this requirement.) I talked to one of the staff members there, and learned about what they offer and their programming. It should be a great resource for me in the future, and I am so glad they are so welcoming.
Then I spent some time walking around Jerusalem and getting lost. (Why would you put streets named Shlomtsyion HaMalkah and Shlomo HaMelech right next to each other, especially when the spelling is almost identical in Hebrew?) But I also recognized some streets, stores, and landmarks from my previous trips, which was very nice.
I arrived at JOH about a half an hour before the meeting, mostly because I had nothing else to do (I had already walked through the big outdoor concert promoting the Army on the street next to JOH.) The building that JOH is in has a pride flag hanging from the second floor window, so it was pretty easy to spot. I was greeted at the entrance by a very un-traditional security guard who looked through my bag (it was the fourth time that I had been searched that day.) JOH has space that includes two big hang out areas, a kitchen, two bathrooms, and some offices.
The meeting was just what I needed. It was mostly Americans who were studying at Hebrew University for the semester or year, but there were also people from France, Spain, and Canada, and not all the Americans were at Hebrew University (some were older.) We sat around a played games for most of the evening, and I asked lots and lots of questions. It was much like any sort of queer group, but it was a breath of fresh air for me, because it connected me to the community that I have been needing to find in Israel. I will definitely be back.
Cooperative Housing and Sharing Space
I've always lived in communal housing in one way or another. I've lived in multiple family apartments and in cohousing, and in college I hope to live in a co-op. In Israel I'm sharing an apartment with three other American girls. None of us knew each other before this, and we were put together almost randomly - considering this, I think we've done a very good job adjusting to live together. There hasn't been any issues with sharing space, even in the bathroom in the morning.
When we first started living together we decided that we wouldn't really assign chores, and that we would all just chip in when needed. It was an ok idea - the house was generally clean, but after coming home one day to a pile of dishes that had spread out from the sink and over our entire countertop, I decided that maybe we should do household chores in a more organized fashion.
So last night, over a lovely dinner, we had a house meeting. We decided that doing the dishes and taking out the trash would have two people on each, and that they would rotate every two days. Our weekly chores are cleaning the bathroom, cleaning the living room, cleaning the kitchen, and doing the communal laundry (not our personal laundry, but stuff like the couch covers and kitchen hand towels.) We will do them on Saturdays, and they rotate every week. We also agreed that wine glasses will not be put in the sink, and neither will food scraps. We also had to decide on a standard shopping list and go over the food budget.
It was an incredibly productive meeting, and it also took me back so much to having Family Meetings at home, and to having little written notes on everything that I find are ubiquitous to communal housing ("water this plant only on Monday!", "the green sponge is only for the floor!", "please take off shoes before entering", etc.) So thank you to my parents, siblings, and everyone else who I've lived with over the years for teaching me how to share living space cooperatively. It's come in handy.
When we first started living together we decided that we wouldn't really assign chores, and that we would all just chip in when needed. It was an ok idea - the house was generally clean, but after coming home one day to a pile of dishes that had spread out from the sink and over our entire countertop, I decided that maybe we should do household chores in a more organized fashion.
So last night, over a lovely dinner, we had a house meeting. We decided that doing the dishes and taking out the trash would have two people on each, and that they would rotate every two days. Our weekly chores are cleaning the bathroom, cleaning the living room, cleaning the kitchen, and doing the communal laundry (not our personal laundry, but stuff like the couch covers and kitchen hand towels.) We will do them on Saturdays, and they rotate every week. We also agreed that wine glasses will not be put in the sink, and neither will food scraps. We also had to decide on a standard shopping list and go over the food budget.
It was an incredibly productive meeting, and it also took me back so much to having Family Meetings at home, and to having little written notes on everything that I find are ubiquitous to communal housing ("water this plant only on Monday!", "the green sponge is only for the floor!", "please take off shoes before entering", etc.) So thank you to my parents, siblings, and everyone else who I've lived with over the years for teaching me how to share living space cooperatively. It's come in handy.
Monday, September 7, 2009
Israel's Ikea and Health Food Store, Eden Teva
It was such a long day! Yesterday after ulpan, my roommate Ma'ayan and another girl on our program, Geulah, took the train to Natanya to visit the Ikea store and the Eden Teva health food store there. Ikea was great, Eden Teva was a big disappointment.
We took the same sherut and train as we did on the way to Pardes Hanna, we just got off a few stops before (the Beit Yeshuoa stop is the right one for the Ikea, not the Natanya stop, FYI. And then you take the 84 sherut for about 10 minutes to get between the train station and the store.) It was about an hour train ride, and we had a good time just talking.
The Ikea was such a trip, because it was exactly like the one near Boston, but everything was in Hebrew. The colors were the same, but the letters were in Hebrew. The store layout was the same, but the maps were in Hebrew. The Hebrew was expected, but walking into a store that could almost have been in Boston was not! It was fun to walk through the store and find things that we have in our house in Boston. We ended up getting some lovely dishes, two lamps, glasses, wine glasses, outlet extenders, and other odds and ends.
We did not get a blender (we were informed that "Ikea does not carry small appliances") so we headed over to BIG, a store kind of like Wal-Mart that was across the parking lot. And we had a TII (This Is Israel) experience. We tried to buy a blender at the price advertised, but it was apparently a member-only price, which we did not find out until after they had charged us double. A long conversation ensued in which both of my companions who are in the ulpan bet class (I'm in alef) argued with the store while I stood there and tried to look like I knew what was going on. They ended up refunding everything and giving us cash back, but it was just a weird experience.
After BIG we headed over to Eden Teva, which I was sorely disappointed with, as I've mentioned. I was expecting something like Whole Foods or Trader Joes. It wasn't. They had gorgeous ice cream, but almost everything else in the store we could have found in Ramla (and there is not much in Ramla.) Everything was also about twice as much as it would cost in the US, which means it was about four times as much as we would pay in the shuk here. We ended up getting some American spices, flax seed oil, tofu, and others that were hard for us to get any where else. But I don't think we'll be back.
My entire house is really excited about the new dishes. Our house came minimally furnished, and this means that we don't have to constantly be doing dishes, and that we can have people over. We also have broken about half of our glasses, and two or three plates, so the plastic dishes are much appreciated!
We took the same sherut and train as we did on the way to Pardes Hanna, we just got off a few stops before (the Beit Yeshuoa stop is the right one for the Ikea, not the Natanya stop, FYI. And then you take the 84 sherut for about 10 minutes to get between the train station and the store.) It was about an hour train ride, and we had a good time just talking.
The Ikea was such a trip, because it was exactly like the one near Boston, but everything was in Hebrew. The colors were the same, but the letters were in Hebrew. The store layout was the same, but the maps were in Hebrew. The Hebrew was expected, but walking into a store that could almost have been in Boston was not! It was fun to walk through the store and find things that we have in our house in Boston. We ended up getting some lovely dishes, two lamps, glasses, wine glasses, outlet extenders, and other odds and ends.
We did not get a blender (we were informed that "Ikea does not carry small appliances") so we headed over to BIG, a store kind of like Wal-Mart that was across the parking lot. And we had a TII (This Is Israel) experience. We tried to buy a blender at the price advertised, but it was apparently a member-only price, which we did not find out until after they had charged us double. A long conversation ensued in which both of my companions who are in the ulpan bet class (I'm in alef) argued with the store while I stood there and tried to look like I knew what was going on. They ended up refunding everything and giving us cash back, but it was just a weird experience.
After BIG we headed over to Eden Teva, which I was sorely disappointed with, as I've mentioned. I was expecting something like Whole Foods or Trader Joes. It wasn't. They had gorgeous ice cream, but almost everything else in the store we could have found in Ramla (and there is not much in Ramla.) Everything was also about twice as much as it would cost in the US, which means it was about four times as much as we would pay in the shuk here. We ended up getting some American spices, flax seed oil, tofu, and others that were hard for us to get any where else. But I don't think we'll be back.
My entire house is really excited about the new dishes. Our house came minimally furnished, and this means that we don't have to constantly be doing dishes, and that we can have people over. We also have broken about half of our glasses, and two or three plates, so the plastic dishes are much appreciated!
Saturday, September 5, 2009
Train Tripping to Pardes Hanna
On Thursday myself and two of my roommates, Hannah and Rachel, went to Pardes Hanna to visit Hannah's brother, Eytan. Eytan is originally from Canada and made aliyah after high school. He has been in Israel for about 5 years at this point, and just came back from a trip to India. He is also a vegan.
We started our trip right after ulpan - we gave our books to other people in our class so that we didn't have to go home. We then walked to the bus stop in Ramla, and took a short sherut ride to the Lod train station. It was super exciting for me because it was the first time I had taken public transit in Israel. We then attempted to enter the train station. I say attempted because, as is everything in Israel, the train station had armed security guards. These guards wanted us to produce passports in order to enter the train station. We finally were able to go through the metal detectors when we managed to convince the guards that driver's licenses and Canadian health cards were as good as passports. Then we bought tickets and found the right platform and waited for the train for 10 minutes.
The first thing we noticed upon entering the train was how many soldiers there were- there must have been one soldier for every two civilians. So we covertly tried to take pictures on them. There were so many soldiers on the train because it was Thursday afternoon, and a lot of them get to go home for Shabbat. The train ride was about an hour, and rather uneventful. We all plugged into our iPods and dozed off.
The first thing that Eytan told us when we arrived at his house was there no one wore shoes in the house, which immediately made me feel at ease. Then Hannah and Eytan had some catch-up time while Rachel and I chatted with his house guest. We actually spent about three hours just chilling and talking before dinner. And then we had dinner! As I mentioned above, Eytan is a vegan, and he made us really good food! We had rice with saffron and carrots, baba ganoush with peppers, and a nice lettuce salad with sprouts and nuts and some other stuff. It was delicious, and just what I have been craving.
The rest of the trip was rather uneventful. We chatted for another hour or so, then walked back to the train station. We had just missed the hourly train, so we spent some time just hanging out at the station. Once we were on the train we had to fight to stay awake so that we didn't miss our stop, and we got home safe and sound, and happy and well-fed.
If you check my Flickr account (click on the pictures to the right) I have some new pictures from the trip posted. http://www.flickr.com/photos/daughterofafeminist/
We started our trip right after ulpan - we gave our books to other people in our class so that we didn't have to go home. We then walked to the bus stop in Ramla, and took a short sherut ride to the Lod train station. It was super exciting for me because it was the first time I had taken public transit in Israel. We then attempted to enter the train station. I say attempted because, as is everything in Israel, the train station had armed security guards. These guards wanted us to produce passports in order to enter the train station. We finally were able to go through the metal detectors when we managed to convince the guards that driver's licenses and Canadian health cards were as good as passports. Then we bought tickets and found the right platform and waited for the train for 10 minutes.
The first thing we noticed upon entering the train was how many soldiers there were- there must have been one soldier for every two civilians. So we covertly tried to take pictures on them. There were so many soldiers on the train because it was Thursday afternoon, and a lot of them get to go home for Shabbat. The train ride was about an hour, and rather uneventful. We all plugged into our iPods and dozed off.
The first thing that Eytan told us when we arrived at his house was there no one wore shoes in the house, which immediately made me feel at ease. Then Hannah and Eytan had some catch-up time while Rachel and I chatted with his house guest. We actually spent about three hours just chilling and talking before dinner. And then we had dinner! As I mentioned above, Eytan is a vegan, and he made us really good food! We had rice with saffron and carrots, baba ganoush with peppers, and a nice lettuce salad with sprouts and nuts and some other stuff. It was delicious, and just what I have been craving.
The rest of the trip was rather uneventful. We chatted for another hour or so, then walked back to the train station. We had just missed the hourly train, so we spent some time just hanging out at the station. Once we were on the train we had to fight to stay awake so that we didn't miss our stop, and we got home safe and sound, and happy and well-fed.
If you check my Flickr account (click on the pictures to the right) I have some new pictures from the trip posted. http://www.flickr.com/photos/daughterofafeminist/
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Cooking and Food in Israel
In the last couple of months before I left for Israel, I have gotten increasingly interested in food, cooking, food politics, and what I am eating. In the USA this was pretty easy for me to pay attention to: we got veggies from a CSA, had an extensive garden, and bought interesting flours and sugars and granola and such in bulk. I also had the time and kitchen that allowed me to do lots of my own cooking and be aware of what I was eating.
I've been trying to build something similar in Israel, but so far with little success. All of the fruits and vegetables here are very fresh, but my roommates diets include much less of them then mine does. I have also yet to find exactly the types of bulk food that I've been looking for, but I've been finding somewhat similar things.
However, the weird thing is that despite me feeling less than satisfied about my food, about half of the people on my program are really enjoying it! So much so that they keep coming over for dinner! Being that it is the official food of college students everywhere, I've been making a lot of rice stir-fry. But my rice stir fry has included egg, tomato, cabbage, cucumber, onion, pepper, carrot, potato, etc. We've also been having lots of quinoa. I like the company, but I'm a bit perplexed as to why my food is so popular. Maybe they are only eating it because otherwise they would have to cook for themselves? I'm not really sure, but I'm also not complaining because I really like having the food that I want to eat in the house!
One way that I've been working on getting the food that I like in the house is by making my own yogurt. Most of the yogurt in Israel (that I have been able to find) has been in little cups with candy or fruit mixed in, which is not ideal for making smoothies with. So I've been making my own yogurt! It's been interesting in that I have no measuring utensils, so I'm kind of making it up as I go. But It's worked out pretty well so far. I also haven't been able to find strawberries, nectarines, blueberries or raspberries, or any frozen fruit, so I've been cutting up mangoes and bananas and freezing them. While it's a different process from how I make smoothies in the USA, the end product is very similar. And I'm just happy that I can have smoothies!*
*Short story: We have the most amazing neighbors. They are an older couple who speak very little English, and they have been really helpful to us: helping us reset our circuit breaker, giving us tips about living in Ramla, and lending us a blender! That has made them completely awesome in my book!
I've been trying to build something similar in Israel, but so far with little success. All of the fruits and vegetables here are very fresh, but my roommates diets include much less of them then mine does. I have also yet to find exactly the types of bulk food that I've been looking for, but I've been finding somewhat similar things.
However, the weird thing is that despite me feeling less than satisfied about my food, about half of the people on my program are really enjoying it! So much so that they keep coming over for dinner! Being that it is the official food of college students everywhere, I've been making a lot of rice stir-fry. But my rice stir fry has included egg, tomato, cabbage, cucumber, onion, pepper, carrot, potato, etc. We've also been having lots of quinoa. I like the company, but I'm a bit perplexed as to why my food is so popular. Maybe they are only eating it because otherwise they would have to cook for themselves? I'm not really sure, but I'm also not complaining because I really like having the food that I want to eat in the house!
One way that I've been working on getting the food that I like in the house is by making my own yogurt. Most of the yogurt in Israel (that I have been able to find) has been in little cups with candy or fruit mixed in, which is not ideal for making smoothies with. So I've been making my own yogurt! It's been interesting in that I have no measuring utensils, so I'm kind of making it up as I go. But It's worked out pretty well so far. I also haven't been able to find strawberries, nectarines, blueberries or raspberries, or any frozen fruit, so I've been cutting up mangoes and bananas and freezing them. While it's a different process from how I make smoothies in the USA, the end product is very similar. And I'm just happy that I can have smoothies!*
*Short story: We have the most amazing neighbors. They are an older couple who speak very little English, and they have been really helpful to us: helping us reset our circuit breaker, giving us tips about living in Ramla, and lending us a blender! That has made them completely awesome in my book!
Saturday, August 29, 2009
Missing my Family
My (very) frequent Skype calls with my family have been alleviating some of how much I miss them, but I still miss them a lot. I recently got this email from my mom:
I got a note from my sister, Grace, where she told me that she’d mentioned at their family dinner that I was feeling sad about you being away, and then said:
Avery suddenly burst into tears. "I just feel so sad that she's leaving!" he wailed. I assured him we'd probably see Abigail at Christmas, but I'm realizing now that she probably won't be back yet then. Avery did seem to cheer up when I reminded him that Louisa was still around to take care of him sometimes.
Avery is going into first grade, and is just about the cutest thing ever (as is his younger sister, Lucy.) I miss him too.
I got a note from my sister, Grace, where she told me that she’d mentioned at their family dinner that I was feeling sad about you being away, and then said:
Avery suddenly burst into tears. "I just feel so sad that she's leaving!" he wailed. I assured him we'd probably see Abigail at Christmas, but I'm realizing now that she probably won't be back yet then. Avery did seem to cheer up when I reminded him that Louisa was still around to take care of him sometimes.
Avery is going into first grade, and is just about the cutest thing ever (as is his younger sister, Lucy.) I miss him too.
New Pictures up on Flickr!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/daughterofafeminist/
Most of the Israel pictures were taken by my roomie, but I do plan to start taking pictures soon.
Most of the Israel pictures were taken by my roomie, but I do plan to start taking pictures soon.
Shabbat Shalom!
I have been looking forward to this week's Shabbat ever since last week. Moving to Israel, settling in, and adjusting has been exhausting. In Israel, on Shabbat, everything shuts down. Almost no stores are open, very few people drive, and the public transportation doesn't run.
Last night we went to services at a nearby shul, and I must say, I was not only really disappointed, I was really upset. So far everything religious in Israel that I have experienced has been divided by gender, but has otherwise been almost equal. This shul was not. The men got an entire service, and the woman sat in a separate room in another part of the building with their kids. It sucked. I am definitely not going back.
However, the good part of the evening was going to dinner with our host families! I definitely requested a progressive family, and my host family definitely isn't, but they are still nice, even if there are some clashes. They spent some time talking about how we all should make aliyah and move to settlements because that would cause the the Moshiach to arrive. And they were shomer negiah and just had really separate and static gender roles. But they have a gorgeous baby girl, and the food was amazing (it wasn't a big deal at all that I am a vegetarian), and it was just nice to spend some time with people who were not American 17-20 year olds.
I slept until almost noon today, and haven't left the house since (neither have any of my three roommates.) It's been pretty much just what I needed. We still have to do some more cleaning (we did laundry, but have to take out the trash and reorganize our room.) We're having another apartment over for dinner tonight and we're having pasta with white and red sauce and salad.
Last night we went to services at a nearby shul, and I must say, I was not only really disappointed, I was really upset. So far everything religious in Israel that I have experienced has been divided by gender, but has otherwise been almost equal. This shul was not. The men got an entire service, and the woman sat in a separate room in another part of the building with their kids. It sucked. I am definitely not going back.
However, the good part of the evening was going to dinner with our host families! I definitely requested a progressive family, and my host family definitely isn't, but they are still nice, even if there are some clashes. They spent some time talking about how we all should make aliyah and move to settlements because that would cause the the Moshiach to arrive. And they were shomer negiah and just had really separate and static gender roles. But they have a gorgeous baby girl, and the food was amazing (it wasn't a big deal at all that I am a vegetarian), and it was just nice to spend some time with people who were not American 17-20 year olds.
I slept until almost noon today, and haven't left the house since (neither have any of my three roommates.) It's been pretty much just what I needed. We still have to do some more cleaning (we did laundry, but have to take out the trash and reorganize our room.) We're having another apartment over for dinner tonight and we're having pasta with white and red sauce and salad.
1st Week in Israel
We spent the first three days in Jerusalem, at a hotel. We were trying to get over jet lag, and adjust to being in a new country. On the first day we went to the Kotel, and briefly walked through the Old City. Then we went back to the hotel and (attempted) to sleep. The first couple of nights were horrible - I had trouble sleeping for more than 4 hours at a time, and would end up being awake from 1AM-4AM, which completely messed up the rest of my day. Thankfully, I got over jet lag after a couple of days. We also spent the time in the hotel doing group bonding activities and learning about the history, geography, culture, and media of Israel.
On our third day, we arrived in Ramla! Everything in Israel is so much closer than I thought it would be - Ramla to Jerusalem is like a 45 minute drive, Ramla to Tel Aviv is like 20 minutes. I was rooming with three other girls - one from Toronto, one from Connecticut, and one from California. We arrived in our apartment, and despite it being filthy, the first thing we all did was open our laptops and sit around the table. It was rather comical, but the funnier thing is that we still do that (like right now.) Then we cleaned the house, where we found maggots in the fridge. It was absolutely disgusting. We ended up having the City Coordinator, Daveed, clean it most of it.
The first day in Ramla we went adventuring and learned where important things in the city were (library, grocery store, falafel store, other people's apartments, etc.) The next day we painted a kindergarten and had a lecture on the history of Jerusalem. We also ended up moving apartments because we had sketchy upstairs neighbors. We also switched one of our roommates - the one from California moved into another house, and we got a lovely person from Seattle who had come into the program late. Our new apartment is much, much bigger and has a fully furnished kitchen, and has super nice neighbors who speak a little bit of English.
The mangoes here (actually all the fruits and veggies, except apples) are so much fresher here and taste so much better than in Boston! Everything tastes like it comes from a farmer's market. Also, I have to drink so much here! I go through several bottles of water a day here (the really big bottles) plus iced tea and juice. It's so hot!
On our third day, we arrived in Ramla! Everything in Israel is so much closer than I thought it would be - Ramla to Jerusalem is like a 45 minute drive, Ramla to Tel Aviv is like 20 minutes. I was rooming with three other girls - one from Toronto, one from Connecticut, and one from California. We arrived in our apartment, and despite it being filthy, the first thing we all did was open our laptops and sit around the table. It was rather comical, but the funnier thing is that we still do that (like right now.) Then we cleaned the house, where we found maggots in the fridge. It was absolutely disgusting. We ended up having the City Coordinator, Daveed, clean it most of it.
The first day in Ramla we went adventuring and learned where important things in the city were (library, grocery store, falafel store, other people's apartments, etc.) The next day we painted a kindergarten and had a lecture on the history of Jerusalem. We also ended up moving apartments because we had sketchy upstairs neighbors. We also switched one of our roommates - the one from California moved into another house, and we got a lovely person from Seattle who had come into the program late. Our new apartment is much, much bigger and has a fully furnished kitchen, and has super nice neighbors who speak a little bit of English.
The mangoes here (actually all the fruits and veggies, except apples) are so much fresher here and taste so much better than in Boston! Everything tastes like it comes from a farmer's market. Also, I have to drink so much here! I go through several bottles of water a day here (the really big bottles) plus iced tea and juice. It's so hot!
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Flight to Israel
I'm in Israel! And I can only get Blogger and Google in Hebrew, which is proving to be a bit of a challenge. So much has happened since I was dropped off at the bus station in Boston.
I took a bus from Boston to New York City because my flight left from JFK. I met a friend of mine in NYC for lunch, which was a great because we were able to catch up, and it calmed some of my anxiety. I then took the NYC Metro to the LIRR to the AirTrain, and after about two hours (twice as long as Google told me it would take!) I arrived at the airport, where I met the people that I will be spending the next five months with. It was rather anti-climatic.
Then I went through El Al security. Not airport security, El Al security. There is a reason that they are the most secure airline in the world. My bags went through separate screenings before I could check in, and I also had to answer questions about them- "Who packed them? Where have they been since you packed them? What is this thing in your bag? Did you pack x, y, or z?" Then I had a "little chat" (their words, not mine) with an El Al agent. The little chat was hilarious. First the woman expressed lots of confusion over how to pronounce my name (which is very simple English words and Hebrew words, so it should not have been hard at all.) Then she tried to figure out if I was Jewish- "What are you doing in Israel? Who are you traveling with? Do you have family there? What are their names? Where do they live? Are you going to visit them on Shabbat?" This did not actually make me feel more secure, it just made me realize how overtly they were racially profiling the passengers.
Then we went through airport security, which seemed like a breeze in comparision to El Al's security. When I was boarding I had to answer more questions, but finally I got onto the plane. Whereupon I learned that I was in a middle seat with a TV that did not work and a broken tray table. And I also learned that the flight attendants were not interested in helping, and were rather rude. I was very awed by the prayer area in the back of the plane, and just by the amount of men wearing kippahs and tzitzit, but otherwise my experience on El Al was not that positive.
And then I arrived in Israel!
My first impression of Israel was that it was a cross between Florida and India- very hot, palm trees, different language, and lots of shouting. I was excited and ready to explore!
I took a bus from Boston to New York City because my flight left from JFK. I met a friend of mine in NYC for lunch, which was a great because we were able to catch up, and it calmed some of my anxiety. I then took the NYC Metro to the LIRR to the AirTrain, and after about two hours (twice as long as Google told me it would take!) I arrived at the airport, where I met the people that I will be spending the next five months with. It was rather anti-climatic.
Then I went through El Al security. Not airport security, El Al security. There is a reason that they are the most secure airline in the world. My bags went through separate screenings before I could check in, and I also had to answer questions about them- "Who packed them? Where have they been since you packed them? What is this thing in your bag? Did you pack x, y, or z?" Then I had a "little chat" (their words, not mine) with an El Al agent. The little chat was hilarious. First the woman expressed lots of confusion over how to pronounce my name (which is very simple English words and Hebrew words, so it should not have been hard at all.) Then she tried to figure out if I was Jewish- "What are you doing in Israel? Who are you traveling with? Do you have family there? What are their names? Where do they live? Are you going to visit them on Shabbat?" This did not actually make me feel more secure, it just made me realize how overtly they were racially profiling the passengers.
Then we went through airport security, which seemed like a breeze in comparision to El Al's security. When I was boarding I had to answer more questions, but finally I got onto the plane. Whereupon I learned that I was in a middle seat with a TV that did not work and a broken tray table. And I also learned that the flight attendants were not interested in helping, and were rather rude. I was very awed by the prayer area in the back of the plane, and just by the amount of men wearing kippahs and tzitzit, but otherwise my experience on El Al was not that positive.
And then I arrived in Israel!
My first impression of Israel was that it was a cross between Florida and India- very hot, palm trees, different language, and lots of shouting. I was excited and ready to explore!
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Goodbye Boston, Hello Israel!
Whoa. Long time no post. I didn't mean to let the summer get away like that. I actually thought that my summer was going to be pretty empty, but I ended up doing a bunch of different things (an internship, classes, vacation-type activities.)
I leave in two days for Ramla, Israel. I'm taking an early morning bus from Boston to New York, where I'm meeting a friend for lunch, and then catching an El Al flight from JFK to Tel Aviv. And then I'll be in Israel! It's kind of hard to believe. Right now I'm finishing up my packing (ie doing laundry) and tomorrow will be final goodbyes with friends, and going out to dinner with my parents, siblings and grandparents, which will be sad, but also a nice way to say goodbye.
Despite not updating at all this summer, I will be posting much more once I'm in Israel.
I leave in two days for Ramla, Israel. I'm taking an early morning bus from Boston to New York, where I'm meeting a friend for lunch, and then catching an El Al flight from JFK to Tel Aviv. And then I'll be in Israel! It's kind of hard to believe. Right now I'm finishing up my packing (ie doing laundry) and tomorrow will be final goodbyes with friends, and going out to dinner with my parents, siblings and grandparents, which will be sad, but also a nice way to say goodbye.
Despite not updating at all this summer, I will be posting much more once I'm in Israel.
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Blogging for LGBT Families Day 2009: Rhode Island Same-Sex Marriage Hearing
I'm not writing this to imply that marriage is the be-all end-all for LGBT families. I just wanted to participate in Blogging for LBGT Families Day.
A couple of weeks ago I was in Rhode Island visiting a friend of mine, and we went to the hearing of a same-sex marriage bill. First off, let me just say that the RI state capitol building is tiny! There was no place where more than maybe 100 people could have congregated, and most of the rooms fit only around 30 people. I went into the hearing expecting something like what the gender identity/expression nondiscrimination bill hearings have been like in MA- absolutely brimming with people, almost all in support of it, who have great hope for it's future. This hearing was not like that. It seemed like barely any Marriage Equality Rhode Island people bothered to show up.
After being there for about 30 minutes, we realized why. This bill has been introduced year after year after year, and there is no hope for it passing before Rhode Island gets a new Governor. (Soon! Yay term limits!) Despite this, a maybe 30-40 marriage supporters showed up. We all sat around and chatted, waiting for the hearing to begin. About 20 minutes before it began, security came into the room and banished anyone from it who did not have a seat, including me and my friends.
So we hopped over to another room where we could watch it on TV. One of the first pieces of testimony was given by a lawyer from the Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders, and it was terrific! The best part was after her testimony, when she was answering questions. One of the legislators asked why there couldn't just be civil unions with most of the rights of marriage. The lawyer's response: "Because you can't challenge federal marriage discrimination if you don't call it marriage! And yes, we will succeed and have federal marriage for same-sex couples!"
It was awesome. I can't wait until it comes true.
A couple of weeks ago I was in Rhode Island visiting a friend of mine, and we went to the hearing of a same-sex marriage bill. First off, let me just say that the RI state capitol building is tiny! There was no place where more than maybe 100 people could have congregated, and most of the rooms fit only around 30 people. I went into the hearing expecting something like what the gender identity/expression nondiscrimination bill hearings have been like in MA- absolutely brimming with people, almost all in support of it, who have great hope for it's future. This hearing was not like that. It seemed like barely any Marriage Equality Rhode Island people bothered to show up.
After being there for about 30 minutes, we realized why. This bill has been introduced year after year after year, and there is no hope for it passing before Rhode Island gets a new Governor. (Soon! Yay term limits!) Despite this, a maybe 30-40 marriage supporters showed up. We all sat around and chatted, waiting for the hearing to begin. About 20 minutes before it began, security came into the room and banished anyone from it who did not have a seat, including me and my friends.
So we hopped over to another room where we could watch it on TV. One of the first pieces of testimony was given by a lawyer from the Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders, and it was terrific! The best part was after her testimony, when she was answering questions. One of the legislators asked why there couldn't just be civil unions with most of the rights of marriage. The lawyer's response: "Because you can't challenge federal marriage discrimination if you don't call it marriage! And yes, we will succeed and have federal marriage for same-sex couples!"
It was awesome. I can't wait until it comes true.
Saturday, May 30, 2009
Shavuot!
I've been to many different study sessions in the last 48 hours or so. I started out last night at a friends house who I hadn't seen in more than a year where we talked about sustainable living. She had a bunch of people over, and we all talked about drawing connections between our current lifestyles, available resources, communal living, personal accountability and a passage from Isaiah. We then veered off onto education inequalities (most of the people there were teachers or students), and how education gaps are created. It was fascinating, and much fun.
Then I biked off to my shul. It was raining, which is only relevant because my sister had taken my raincoat and sneakers on this camping trip that she was on, so I got exceedingly wet. My shul was doing an all-night tikkun with different sessions every hour or so. I went to: a discussion on sleep and Jewish tradition, dvar of next week's parsha, discussion on kosher laws, half of a talk on the mikveh (when it became apparent that I would spend the entire time talking with a friend who I hadn't seen in long time, I thought it would be better to leave), how to do hagbah workshop, and a discussion on halakha and copyright laws. I loved catching up with my friend, but the rest of the stuff was not so relevant. It was interesting, yes, but felt rather obscure (arguing about how long you need to wait between eating meat and dairy, with the answer being that there is no answer, was the epitome of this.) I loved learning how to do hagbah, but I didn't end up practicing because my arms were really hurting due to all the shots I just got for college and Israel. I also got to meet and chat with a lot of people who I had seen before, but never really met, which I'm really grateful for.
Around 4:30am the classes ended and we all did shacharit (albeit in egalitarian and traditional minyans.) I somehow thought that we'd be done around 5:15am, maybe 5:30am. I was so wrong. Even with everyone racing through the service (and we were really going fast), we didn't end until 6:50am. At 6:50am I assessed my mental state, and realized it would be a really bad idea to bike home, because I wasn't functioning at even half my normal capacity. So I called my dad and he came and picked me up at 7:15am, but it meant that I was the last one left at the shul (all 40 people who had made it to the end of the night cleared out impressively fast.)
One very strange thing that happened last night was that at least 5 people asked me about the Gallaudet University shirt I was wearing. I thought it was pretty obvious that I hadn't gone to Gallaudet, but apparently it wasn't. I was also surpirsed because I generally assume no one has heard of Gallaudet, and I didn't know that ASL was such a popular language among Jews. Except, reflecting on that several hours later, I realized that almost everyone who had asked me about the shirt was also queer, and ASL is a very popular language amongst the queer people I know.
I slept from 8am-3pm, and then quasi-slept until 6pm. Then I baked really yummy chocolate chocolate chip cookies. And then my mom, on of my neighbors, and I showed a film on white people's experiences with race, and led a conversation on race, racism, and white privilege in the community where we live. It is the first one in a series that we'd like to do, and it was the culmination of months of planning on our parts. I think it was a total success, because in the words of my mom "anything that got these people to talk about race is a mini-miracle." I thought it fell very nicely into the theme of learning and sharing knowledge on Shavuot.
And, I ate A LOT of cheesecake. I think I'm all set until next year.
Then I biked off to my shul. It was raining, which is only relevant because my sister had taken my raincoat and sneakers on this camping trip that she was on, so I got exceedingly wet. My shul was doing an all-night tikkun with different sessions every hour or so. I went to: a discussion on sleep and Jewish tradition, dvar of next week's parsha, discussion on kosher laws, half of a talk on the mikveh (when it became apparent that I would spend the entire time talking with a friend who I hadn't seen in long time, I thought it would be better to leave), how to do hagbah workshop, and a discussion on halakha and copyright laws. I loved catching up with my friend, but the rest of the stuff was not so relevant. It was interesting, yes, but felt rather obscure (arguing about how long you need to wait between eating meat and dairy, with the answer being that there is no answer, was the epitome of this.) I loved learning how to do hagbah, but I didn't end up practicing because my arms were really hurting due to all the shots I just got for college and Israel. I also got to meet and chat with a lot of people who I had seen before, but never really met, which I'm really grateful for.
Around 4:30am the classes ended and we all did shacharit (albeit in egalitarian and traditional minyans.) I somehow thought that we'd be done around 5:15am, maybe 5:30am. I was so wrong. Even with everyone racing through the service (and we were really going fast), we didn't end until 6:50am. At 6:50am I assessed my mental state, and realized it would be a really bad idea to bike home, because I wasn't functioning at even half my normal capacity. So I called my dad and he came and picked me up at 7:15am, but it meant that I was the last one left at the shul (all 40 people who had made it to the end of the night cleared out impressively fast.)
One very strange thing that happened last night was that at least 5 people asked me about the Gallaudet University shirt I was wearing. I thought it was pretty obvious that I hadn't gone to Gallaudet, but apparently it wasn't. I was also surpirsed because I generally assume no one has heard of Gallaudet, and I didn't know that ASL was such a popular language among Jews. Except, reflecting on that several hours later, I realized that almost everyone who had asked me about the shirt was also queer, and ASL is a very popular language amongst the queer people I know.
I slept from 8am-3pm, and then quasi-slept until 6pm. Then I baked really yummy chocolate chocolate chip cookies. And then my mom, on of my neighbors, and I showed a film on white people's experiences with race, and led a conversation on race, racism, and white privilege in the community where we live. It is the first one in a series that we'd like to do, and it was the culmination of months of planning on our parts. I think it was a total success, because in the words of my mom "anything that got these people to talk about race is a mini-miracle." I thought it fell very nicely into the theme of learning and sharing knowledge on Shavuot.
And, I ate A LOT of cheesecake. I think I'm all set until next year.
Saturday, May 23, 2009
My 18th Birthday
I turn 18 in a couple of weeks. Much like high school graduation, I think this birthday will be very anti-climatic, despite its momentous implications. For the last couple of months, my mom and I have been trying to figure out how not being a minor affects things like bank accounts and health insurance. The answer is: it doesn't. The only thing that will change is that if I am not in school when I turn 19, I will lose my health insurance (if I'm in college, I keep it until I'm 24- hello institutionalized privilege.)
In preparation for my birthday, I got my driver's license, registered to vote, and became a registered organ donor. All three of these are awesome. I also gave blood for the first time. In MA, you only have to be 17 to give blood, but because of living in India, I was unable to donate until now. I feel like I've done all the 18th-birthday-things, and now I'm done with it. Despite still being 17.
In preparation for my birthday, I got my driver's license, registered to vote, and became a registered organ donor. All three of these are awesome. I also gave blood for the first time. In MA, you only have to be 17 to give blood, but because of living in India, I was unable to donate until now. I feel like I've done all the 18th-birthday-things, and now I'm done with it. Despite still being 17.
The only things I'm still waiting for is for the passenger restriction when I'm driving to lift, and to get an industrial piercing (it's two piercings on my upper ear cartilage.) And even these are anti-climatic.
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
History
I just stumbled across this wonderful quote:
I study history because I am interested in the future. - Peter Rachleff
My mom has been excessively excited about the fact that Hampshire is first in the percent of graduates who go on to earn Ph.D.s in History (source). I am less excited, because while I love history, I really hope I don't spend years in academia getting a Ph.D. But, I really don't know what the future will hold, so I won't make any big blanket statements right now that I might find limiting later on.
I study history because I am interested in the future. - Peter Rachleff
My mom has been excessively excited about the fact that Hampshire is first in the percent of graduates who go on to earn Ph.D.s in History (source). I am less excited, because while I love history, I really hope I don't spend years in academia getting a Ph.D. But, I really don't know what the future will hold, so I won't make any big blanket statements right now that I might find limiting later on.
Monday, May 11, 2009
New York City, Anti-Racism Class, and Making Bread
After my train trip, I kept meaning to change the title of this blog to something more relevant. But I'm still doing lots of traveling, so I think I'll keep it. I was in New York City this weekend with my extended family celebrating my Grandma's birthday. It was just a short trip- we spent less than 24 hours all together in NYC. The highlight was definitely hanging out with my sister late Saturday night in Times Square. We walked around, went on the ferris wheel in the Toys R Us store, and got my dad a purple "I <3 NY" shirt. I also put really fabulous blue eyeliner and eyeshadow on my sister. The lowlight was my lack of sleep, although this is almost a positive, as it meant that I slept through the entire drive back to Boston. I'm also doing more traveling later this week to Providence, RI and visit a friend there.
In other news, the class I was taking on being actively anti-racist at the Cambridge Center for Adult Education ended. I'm sad to see it end (it was far too short) but I think I'm going to join the alumni group that meets weekly. It had good content, and definitely provided me with the kick-start I needed, although I wasn't as invested in it as I planned to be, and not knowing the other people in the class and their personal histories made it harder to connect.
I've also been getting really into making bread lately (which is good, because it's replacing my interest in making cupcakes.) I've mostly been making challah and whole wheat oat bread with various dried fruits. I've been using my bread machine, which I bought off Craigslist for $20, and I'm pretty much in love with it.
In other news, the class I was taking on being actively anti-racist at the Cambridge Center for Adult Education ended. I'm sad to see it end (it was far too short) but I think I'm going to join the alumni group that meets weekly. It had good content, and definitely provided me with the kick-start I needed, although I wasn't as invested in it as I planned to be, and not knowing the other people in the class and their personal histories made it harder to connect.
I've also been getting really into making bread lately (which is good, because it's replacing my interest in making cupcakes.) I've mostly been making challah and whole wheat oat bread with various dried fruits. I've been using my bread machine, which I bought off Craigslist for $20, and I'm pretty much in love with it.
Friday, April 24, 2009
Road Trip to the South
So much for blogging more. I'm in North Carolina right now, visiting my Aunt, Uncle, and twin cousins. This week is school vacation, and we chose to spend several days making out way down here, camping along the way.
On the first day (which was also my mom's birthday), we went to visit Hampshire College for their accepted students Day. In case you were not aware, I've decided that Hampshire is the college for me! It was a fun day (it was also the day of their Spring Jam), except that the day started at 8:30. Since we had to drive 2 hours to get there, that meant waking up very early, and also convincing my family that we must get out of the house on time. I don't think I was taken very seriously, as we left 30 minutes late.
We spent the first night visiting with a family friend up who lives in upstate NY. My parents met her when they were in Israel, and she has known me and my siblings since we were born. She is also a huge foodie, which makes her really fun to visit. The next day we went to DC. It was my day to sit in the back seat of the van, and we also got lost and added about an hour onto our drive. We stayed with my grandparents in DC, which was also pretty cool, except that I slept next to my sister, who spent the entire night accidentally kicking me.
Then we went camping! Actually, the first night we stayed in a hotel because the weather was so bad. But the next night we went to Shenandoah National Park, to try to re-live my mom's memories of taking us there when we were babies. It was freezing, and the next morning as we were trying to decide whether to stay another night or not, it started hailing. While it certainly was an adventure, I don't think most of us are interested in repeating it anytime soon. Although, my brother really did enjoy the deer.
We decided to move on to a state park in Virginia, which happened to be almost completely empty. The highlight of that campground was the hot showers that were free and did not have time limits. It was also really nice that we didn't have to leave until after noon, so I spent the morning lying in the sun and reading a favorite Tamora Pierce novel. It was good.
Then we got to North Carolina! So far I've hung out with my cousins, slept, and been online. Later today we're going to the Lemur Center at Duke University and having a picnic (this was not my idea).
The South is so different. This is the farthest south I've ever gone in the U.S., and I didn't realize how much the South has a very different and distinct culture from the North. I'd like to spend more time in the South and learn more about it.
In other news, I didn't get the internship that I wanted this summer, and I didn't really have any sort of back-up plan. So I am now scrambling to figure out what I am going to be doing. Any ideas?
On the first day (which was also my mom's birthday), we went to visit Hampshire College for their accepted students Day. In case you were not aware, I've decided that Hampshire is the college for me! It was a fun day (it was also the day of their Spring Jam), except that the day started at 8:30. Since we had to drive 2 hours to get there, that meant waking up very early, and also convincing my family that we must get out of the house on time. I don't think I was taken very seriously, as we left 30 minutes late.
We spent the first night visiting with a family friend up who lives in upstate NY. My parents met her when they were in Israel, and she has known me and my siblings since we were born. She is also a huge foodie, which makes her really fun to visit. The next day we went to DC. It was my day to sit in the back seat of the van, and we also got lost and added about an hour onto our drive. We stayed with my grandparents in DC, which was also pretty cool, except that I slept next to my sister, who spent the entire night accidentally kicking me.
Then we went camping! Actually, the first night we stayed in a hotel because the weather was so bad. But the next night we went to Shenandoah National Park, to try to re-live my mom's memories of taking us there when we were babies. It was freezing, and the next morning as we were trying to decide whether to stay another night or not, it started hailing. While it certainly was an adventure, I don't think most of us are interested in repeating it anytime soon. Although, my brother really did enjoy the deer.
We decided to move on to a state park in Virginia, which happened to be almost completely empty. The highlight of that campground was the hot showers that were free and did not have time limits. It was also really nice that we didn't have to leave until after noon, so I spent the morning lying in the sun and reading a favorite Tamora Pierce novel. It was good.
Then we got to North Carolina! So far I've hung out with my cousins, slept, and been online. Later today we're going to the Lemur Center at Duke University and having a picnic (this was not my idea).
The South is so different. This is the farthest south I've ever gone in the U.S., and I didn't realize how much the South has a very different and distinct culture from the North. I'd like to spend more time in the South and learn more about it.
In other news, I didn't get the internship that I wanted this summer, and I didn't really have any sort of back-up plan. So I am now scrambling to figure out what I am going to be doing. Any ideas?
Thursday, March 26, 2009
CLPP Conference at Hampshire College
I'm going to this conference at Hampshire College in two weeks on reproductive rights, and I'm super excited about it! I've been doing mostly LGBT-focused activism for the past couple of years (LGBT activism was my original "in" into organizing) and I'm just now starting to really expanding my focus and look at the intersections and overlap between different movements. I'm also taking an adult education class on white people challenging racism that starts in a week, which I am really looking forward to.
The conference is sponsored by Hampshire's Civil Liberties and Public Policy Program, and is known as CLPP. I don't recognize most of the workshop presenter's names, but the ones who I do recognize are really good. It should be a really good introduction to reproductice rights organizing for me, and it looks like it also has a lot of stuff for people withmore experience.
I'm also excited to be going to it because it's at Hampshire, and I am getting more and more excited about Hampshire. While at CLPP I plan to check out their Jewish Student Union, and hopefully go to their Shabbat dinner. I'm also planning on stopping by the Queer Community Alliance Center, and since I'm staying on campus, I'll be checking out the dorms and mods too.
This should be really enjoyable.
The conference is sponsored by Hampshire's Civil Liberties and Public Policy Program, and is known as CLPP. I don't recognize most of the workshop presenter's names, but the ones who I do recognize are really good. It should be a really good introduction to reproductice rights organizing for me, and it looks like it also has a lot of stuff for people withmore experience.
I'm also excited to be going to it because it's at Hampshire, and I am getting more and more excited about Hampshire. While at CLPP I plan to check out their Jewish Student Union, and hopefully go to their Shabbat dinner. I'm also planning on stopping by the Queer Community Alliance Center, and since I'm staying on campus, I'll be checking out the dorms and mods too.
This should be really enjoyable.
Monday, March 23, 2009
Cooking with my Dad on Friday
I love Friday Shabbat dinners. I've always loved them. In my family, it means that we all commit to being home by 6, and we have a special, long meal where we all get to catch up on each other.
Last Friday, I made a really elaborate meal: cheese tray, homemade sushi, edamami, bubble tea, homemade challah, and chocolate covered strawberries. I have pictures on my flickr account. I was cooking with my dad, and he was teaching me how to tell when the challah was ready. We were singing along to Marc Cohen or the Dave Matthews Band or Smash Mouth on iTunes, and attempting to make sushi. (We both had very different ideas about how to make a sushi roll - neither of us was particularly right!)
I love spending this time with him, and I love the time that I am able to spend with my family right now. I'm not afraid of moving out and living by myself, I just don't want to leave my family. And thus the conundrum: there are many things I would like to do in life that my family can't do with me.
Last Friday, I made a really elaborate meal: cheese tray, homemade sushi, edamami, bubble tea, homemade challah, and chocolate covered strawberries. I have pictures on my flickr account. I was cooking with my dad, and he was teaching me how to tell when the challah was ready. We were singing along to Marc Cohen or the Dave Matthews Band or Smash Mouth on iTunes, and attempting to make sushi. (We both had very different ideas about how to make a sushi roll - neither of us was particularly right!)
I love spending this time with him, and I love the time that I am able to spend with my family right now. I'm not afraid of moving out and living by myself, I just don't want to leave my family. And thus the conundrum: there are many things I would like to do in life that my family can't do with me.
Saturday, March 21, 2009
Riding the Rails
Every day for the past week I've gotten up in the morning and promised myself I'd update this blog, and every night I've gone to sleep saying I'll do it tomorrow. I have to get better at updating this!
My train trip has been over for about a month now, but I still love trains. The New York Times recently published an article on Amtrak - Riding the Rails. It's a great article, and true to my experiences (including the Amish men and college students on laptops.) The author even followed the route that I took for part of my trip (DC-Chicago-Emeryville), although he got a sleeper car and I was in coach. Check it out.
My train trip has been over for about a month now, but I still love trains. The New York Times recently published an article on Amtrak - Riding the Rails. It's a great article, and true to my experiences (including the Amish men and college students on laptops.) The author even followed the route that I took for part of my trip (DC-Chicago-Emeryville), although he got a sleeper car and I was in coach. Check it out.
Friday, March 6, 2009
Final On-Time Record
DC-Chicago (Capitol Limited) = Exactly on time
Chicago-Denver (California Zephyr) = 50 minutes late
Denver-Emeryville (California Zephyr) = 40 minutes early
Emeryville-Los Angeles (Coast Starlight) = 30 minutes early
Los Angeles-Portland (Coast Starlight) = 7 minutes late
Portland-Minneapolis (Empire Builder) = 22 minutes late
Minneapolis-Chicago (Empire Builder) = 27 minutes early
Chicago-DC (Capitol Limited) = 32 minutes early
DC-Boston (Northeast Regional) = 45 minutes late (it left DC 23 minutes late)
Boston-New Haven (Northeast Regional) = 4 minutes later
New Haven-Boston (Northeast Regional) = 17 minutes late (the train actually arrived in New Haven 32 minutes early, which was impressive, even if we couldn't leave the station before the scheduled departure.)
Overall, I was super impressed, especially because I was expecting the train to always be late. And, when the train from DC to Boston was delayed and left late, it worked out better for me! I was on a train that was supposed to arrive at 1:35pm, and the train to Boston was supposed to depart at 1:25pm. But I still made it, and got to come home 3 hours earlier!
And, if you're curious, Amtrak's website lists the on-time records for all of its routes: Amtrak's On-Time Performance.
Chicago-Denver (California Zephyr) = 50 minutes late
Denver-Emeryville (California Zephyr) = 40 minutes early
Emeryville-Los Angeles (Coast Starlight) = 30 minutes early
Los Angeles-Portland (Coast Starlight) = 7 minutes late
Portland-Minneapolis (Empire Builder) = 22 minutes late
Minneapolis-Chicago (Empire Builder) = 27 minutes early
Chicago-DC (Capitol Limited) = 32 minutes early
DC-Boston (Northeast Regional) = 45 minutes late (it left DC 23 minutes late)
Boston-New Haven (Northeast Regional) = 4 minutes later
New Haven-Boston (Northeast Regional) = 17 minutes late (the train actually arrived in New Haven 32 minutes early, which was impressive, even if we couldn't leave the station before the scheduled departure.)
Overall, I was super impressed, especially because I was expecting the train to always be late. And, when the train from DC to Boston was delayed and left late, it worked out better for me! I was on a train that was supposed to arrive at 1:35pm, and the train to Boston was supposed to depart at 1:25pm. But I still made it, and got to come home 3 hours earlier!
And, if you're curious, Amtrak's website lists the on-time records for all of its routes: Amtrak's On-Time Performance.
Monday, February 16, 2009
Update on Amtrak's On-Time Record
DC-Chicago = Exactly on time
Chicago-Denver = 50 minutes late
Denver-Emeryville = 40 minutes early
Emeryville-Los Angeles = 30 minutes early
Los Angeles-Portland = 7 minutes late
Portland-Minneapolis = 22 minutes late
Minneapolis-Chicago = 27 minutes early
So far, Amtrak's doing pretty well.
Chicago-Denver = 50 minutes late
Denver-Emeryville = 40 minutes early
Emeryville-Los Angeles = 30 minutes early
Los Angeles-Portland = 7 minutes late
Portland-Minneapolis = 22 minutes late
Minneapolis-Chicago = 27 minutes early
So far, Amtrak's doing pretty well.
Dinner with Julie Anne Peters
I was sitting on the train today (I know, how unexpected!) and I realized I never blogged about having dinner with Julie Anne Peters! It was fabulous, by the way. Julie Anne Peters writes LGBT young adult fiction – she’s written Luna, Keeping You a Secret, Between Mom and Jo, Far from Xanadu, and a bunch of others. She’s one of my all-time favorite authors, so getting to have dinner with her was a pretty big deal.
A friend of mine does some website stuff for Julie, and because he was going to be in Denver for Creating Change, she invited him to dinner. I think I got to come too because I was just really excited. (And another friend of ours came, so there were three of us going to dinner.) Julie picked us up at the conference hotel, and we drove to her house where we got introduced to her partner, had really good guacamole and chips, and then some sort of bean lasagna, which was pretty good. We talked about the conference, about her books, and just about ourselves in general. Julie lives in a suburb of Denver with her partner, and a ton of cats. Seriously, they are like foster parents to like an entire animal rescue shelter for cats. It’s really cute.
It was great to get to meet Julie and her partner, and it was great to be able to escape the conference and get a home cooked meal. Basically, it was a really enjoyable dinner.
A friend of mine does some website stuff for Julie, and because he was going to be in Denver for Creating Change, she invited him to dinner. I think I got to come too because I was just really excited. (And another friend of ours came, so there were three of us going to dinner.) Julie picked us up at the conference hotel, and we drove to her house where we got introduced to her partner, had really good guacamole and chips, and then some sort of bean lasagna, which was pretty good. We talked about the conference, about her books, and just about ourselves in general. Julie lives in a suburb of Denver with her partner, and a ton of cats. Seriously, they are like foster parents to like an entire animal rescue shelter for cats. It’s really cute.
It was great to get to meet Julie and her partner, and it was great to be able to escape the conference and get a home cooked meal. Basically, it was a really enjoyable dinner.
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Why Union Station?
After posting about my confusion at the names of the different train stations, I was emailed this explanation:
Why do so many cities have a Union Station?
Although, I'm now in Minneapolis, where the station is named Midway Station, so I guess there is variation.
Just as a side note, the Union Station in Los Angeles was the prettiest and best-designed one that I have been in so far.
Why do so many cities have a Union Station?
Although, I'm now in Minneapolis, where the station is named Midway Station, so I guess there is variation.
Just as a side note, the Union Station in Los Angeles was the prettiest and best-designed one that I have been in so far.
Best Story Ever
I have had some really good moments on this trip, and also some really bad ones. Here’s a really good story:
I am taking the Empire Builder form Portland, OR to Minneapolis, MN. It’s about 38 hours – 2 nights, 1.5 days. Before I left Portland I got some new snacks for the train, and I also got a sandwich and a pint of ice cream for dinner the first night. I have been craving ice cream for the last week. Not eating any for several weeks has just made me want it! And when you are traveling, there really isn’t any good way to make it happen. Here’s where the story gets really good.
In North Dakota, the roads are really bad right now because of the snow and ice, so a lot of people are taking the train only a couple of stations, just to avoid the roads.
We had 20 minutes to walk around during our stop in Minot, ND.I asked a couple of people who were going to Minot what the station was like, and if there was a Dairy Queen nearby. I’ve seen a lot of Dairy Queens recently, but they have all been through bus or train windows where I can’t get to them!
Anyways, one man was like “Nah, there’s nothing but McDonalds and Wal-Mart in Minot.” And that was the end of the conversation.But a little while later, this man comes up to me and asks if I had been asking about Minot- he wanted to know if I wanted some sort of food or something. I was just like “nah, not really, I just wanted ice cream, so a Dairy Queen or something.” He called his wife, who was coming to get him, and asked her to go to McDonalds and get me a sundae! And I also got to ask him a bunch of questions about what it was like to live in a state like North Dakota that had so few people, and what school systems were like here. It was very good.
In Minot, I got a lovely sundae with hot fudge and caramel from this nice man and his wife. It was great. Although North Dakota is like zero degrees right now, which made it a little weird.
I am taking the Empire Builder form Portland, OR to Minneapolis, MN. It’s about 38 hours – 2 nights, 1.5 days. Before I left Portland I got some new snacks for the train, and I also got a sandwich and a pint of ice cream for dinner the first night. I have been craving ice cream for the last week. Not eating any for several weeks has just made me want it! And when you are traveling, there really isn’t any good way to make it happen. Here’s where the story gets really good.
In North Dakota, the roads are really bad right now because of the snow and ice, so a lot of people are taking the train only a couple of stations, just to avoid the roads.
We had 20 minutes to walk around during our stop in Minot, ND.I asked a couple of people who were going to Minot what the station was like, and if there was a Dairy Queen nearby. I’ve seen a lot of Dairy Queens recently, but they have all been through bus or train windows where I can’t get to them!
Anyways, one man was like “Nah, there’s nothing but McDonalds and Wal-Mart in Minot.” And that was the end of the conversation.But a little while later, this man comes up to me and asks if I had been asking about Minot- he wanted to know if I wanted some sort of food or something. I was just like “nah, not really, I just wanted ice cream, so a Dairy Queen or something.” He called his wife, who was coming to get him, and asked her to go to McDonalds and get me a sundae! And I also got to ask him a bunch of questions about what it was like to live in a state like North Dakota that had so few people, and what school systems were like here. It was very good.
In Minot, I got a lovely sundae with hot fudge and caramel from this nice man and his wife. It was great. Although North Dakota is like zero degrees right now, which made it a little weird.
Friday, February 13, 2009
Chilling in Spokane
So, I'm here in Spokane, at 1AM in the morning. I'm taking the Empire Builder train from Portland, OR to Minneapolis, MN. I started at 4:47PM on Thursday, and I'll be getting off this train at 7:05AM on Saturday. The Empire Builder starts both in Portland and in Seattle, and then it meets in Spokane. My part of the train got here first, so I got to step off the train and see the conductors combine them. It was pretty cool, and very loud.
One of the conductors let me step of the train in Wishram, WA so that I could say that I had now been to Washington State! (I was planning on being asleep for this stop in Spokane.) Wishram has one of the smallest stations I have seen so far on this trip, and only one family got on there.
The scenery on this route is supposed to be rivaled only by the Coast Starlight and the California Zephyr (which I've been on) and I can already see why. Tomorrow we're going to be passing right through Glacier National Park in Montana (I went there two summers ago, and it was gorgeous!) and through North Dakota (I've never been there, but I'm very excited to!) However, the problem with seeing all of this amazing scenery is that I start to think this is normal, and expect it everywhere. I need to remember how spectacular it is, and really appreciate it.
One of the conductors let me step of the train in Wishram, WA so that I could say that I had now been to Washington State! (I was planning on being asleep for this stop in Spokane.) Wishram has one of the smallest stations I have seen so far on this trip, and only one family got on there.
The scenery on this route is supposed to be rivaled only by the Coast Starlight and the California Zephyr (which I've been on) and I can already see why. Tomorrow we're going to be passing right through Glacier National Park in Montana (I went there two summers ago, and it was gorgeous!) and through North Dakota (I've never been there, but I'm very excited to!) However, the problem with seeing all of this amazing scenery is that I start to think this is normal, and expect it everywhere. I need to remember how spectacular it is, and really appreciate it.
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Union Station
Every single train station that I have been to so far has been named "Union Station." I understood this in Washington, DC and even Chicago. But it was puzzling in Denver, Emeryville, Los Angeles, and Portland. So, any ideas about why this is?
Berkeley
About a week ago I was in Berkeley, and I loved it. I had originally planned to spend just a day there, but I got sick in Denver, and by the time I arrived in Emeryville, I was really sick. I ended up spending a little under a week in Berkeley, where I stayed with a friend of mine who lives in a co-op. While I only left the co-op once, I loved my one trip out. I took the BART into San Francisco, and I bought mangoes and avocados from stands by the side of the road. The weather was great, and I just really liked the overall city. Maybe I'll move there sometime.
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Amtrak's On-Time Record Update
Just a quick update: Today I took the train from Emeryville (near San Francisco) to Los Angeles, and I was a half hour early to LA. Which brings my experience with Amtrak's on-time record to:
DC-Chicago = Exactly on time
Chicago-Denver = 50 minutes late
Denver-Emeryville = 40 minutes early
Emeryville-Los Angeles = 30 minutes early
*Later*
Los Angeles-Portland = 7 minutes late
DC-Chicago = Exactly on time
Chicago-Denver = 50 minutes late
Denver-Emeryville = 40 minutes early
Emeryville-Los Angeles = 30 minutes early
*Later*
Los Angeles-Portland = 7 minutes late
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Pictures!
I have started a Flickr account where I'm posting pictures from my trip. Check it out: http://www.flickr.com/photos/34689442@N05/
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Amtrak’s On-Time Record
Amtrak has a reputation for always being late, and this is backed-up by actual evidence. Yet, so far on this trip, only one of my trains has been late. My train from Chicago to Denver got stuck behind some BNSF trains in Nebraska, and we were about an hour late arriving in Denver. However, Denver had just had a huge snowstorm, and everything was running late, so I didn’t miss my connecting bus to Colorado Springs. My train from Denver to Emeryville was actually about 30 minutes early. I’m very curious to know if this reputation of Amtrak’s holds true for me.
My Tips for Riding Amtrak
1) Step off the train at all the “smoking breaks.” The fresh air is really nice, as is the chance to walk around some.
2) Get out of your seat. Go sit in the Lounge Car, the Café Car, or just explore the rest of the train.
3) Bring your own food. You’ll like it better than the train food, and it’ll be cheaper too.
4) Bring super-insulating headphones. It’s nice to not have to hear the other people
5) Brush your teeth and change into pajamas every night. It really helps with staying clean and feeling good.
6) Talk to the conductors. So far, all of the conductors I’ve encountered have been very chatty, and have loved to talk about the route we’re traveling, Amtrak, and just themselves in general.
2) Get out of your seat. Go sit in the Lounge Car, the Café Car, or just explore the rest of the train.
3) Bring your own food. You’ll like it better than the train food, and it’ll be cheaper too.
4) Bring super-insulating headphones. It’s nice to not have to hear the other people
5) Brush your teeth and change into pajamas every night. It really helps with staying clean and feeling good.
6) Talk to the conductors. So far, all of the conductors I’ve encountered have been very chatty, and have loved to talk about the route we’re traveling, Amtrak, and just themselves in general.
California Zephyr
Time is just flying for me on the train. These long haul trains that I was really worried about before I began my trip are nothing. Actually, they are pretty nice. I get time to myself, and can work on postcards, reading, or anything else I need to do. Or I can amuse myself by just looking out the window. It’s so gorgeous on this route. Really, I could just look out the window all day long. Today, I spent several hours in the Lounge Car (it has enormous windows) and I also:
Crossed over the continental divide
Went through 30 tunnels (the longest was 6.2 miles)
Entered Utah
Took a nap
Had at least 30 cough drops
Had 5 bottles of water, a CapriSun, and a mug of tea (I’m sick, remember?)
Crossed over the continental divide
Went through 30 tunnels (the longest was 6.2 miles)
Entered Utah
Took a nap
Had at least 30 cough drops
Had 5 bottles of water, a CapriSun, and a mug of tea (I’m sick, remember?)
Monday February 2, 2009
Whew. Creating Change is over, and now, predictably, I am sick. Although this time I’m pretty sure that I am legitimately sick, and not just conference exhausted. Creating Change was wonderful this year. I got to see a whole bunch of people who I hadn’t seen in up to a year, and got to meet many new amazing people too. Workshop-wise, I went to a lot of workshops on development work. This was completely not intentional or planned- it was just what I turned out to be most interested in. I’m pretty sure I don’t want to go into development, but it’s weirdly compelling and interesting to me. I also presented a workshop, which I thought went ok (it was a good workshop, but I was pretty sick by then) but the guy who collected the evaluations said that they were very good.
Chicago Amtrak Station
In order to get from Washington, DC to Denver, CO you have to go through Chicago. As a matter of fact, in order to get most places on Amtrak, you have to go through Chicago (I will be going through Chicago three times on this trip.) Chicago has a Metropolitan Lounge, which is only for Sleeper and First Class passengers. However, I could have sworn that riders with USA Rail Passes could use it too. Apparently, I was wrong. I ended up talking to a variety of different Amtrak staff and pleading my case. Eventually, the Station Manager just let me in (I’m guessing I looked nice?), and I spent the remaining time of my six-hour layover trying to download my email. The Met Lounge was a disappointment though – from what I could tell, it was exactly like the regular lounges, but the chairs were upholstered in leather, and there were a bunch of TVs, neither of which was a big draw for me.
Sunday January 25- My first train ride
My first train ride was really nice. I’m hooked now, and looking forward to the rest of this trip! The seats in coach are really big and comfortable, and there was no one sitting next to me, so I could spread out. It was really as big as a real bed, and I had my sleeping bag with me. I’ve been getting off at the smoking breaks every couple of hours. I don’t smoke, but it’s nice to get off the train, and I’m seeing really interesting parts of the country this way, and getting to chat with so many different people. The smokers are definitely more talkative than most of the other people on the train.
I think I’ve got my email worked out. I’ve been trying to get my yahoo account to forward to my Apple Mail client, and I finally figured out how to do that! So hopefully now I’ll stop missing emails, and also be able to just download all my email when I have internet and respond later.
It’s a little surreal to be traveling without my family. For instance, I grossly misjudged how much food I would need- I have enough to feed a family of five for a train ride, but it should last me much longer. Just little things like that keep coming up.
I think I’ve got my email worked out. I’ve been trying to get my yahoo account to forward to my Apple Mail client, and I finally figured out how to do that! So hopefully now I’ll stop missing emails, and also be able to just download all my email when I have internet and respond later.
It’s a little surreal to be traveling without my family. For instance, I grossly misjudged how much food I would need- I have enough to feed a family of five for a train ride, but it should last me much longer. Just little things like that keep coming up.
Sunday, January 25, 2009
What is this road trip?
When I started planning this road trip, it was pretty simple. I needed to get to Denver for the Creating Change Conference (www.creatingchange.org). Then I realized I was going to be in DC right before Denver, so I could just combine them. Then I realized that I should probably do some college visiting while I was there, so I made plans to see a couple schools. Which blossomed into a few more schools, and some friends. It quickly became clear that flying wasn’t going to work— I had too many short trips to make it time or cost effective. I then looked at taking Greyhound buses, and found out that they were pretty much as expensive as flying, but took much longer, and were super sketchy. Then I looked at Amtrak, and discovered that they weren’t sketchy, and that I could experience gorgeous scenery while going through a couple of states I had yet to visit. On the longer haul routes (say, DC-Denver and Portland, OR-Minneapolis) the train takes much more time than flying, but on the shorter trips they are pretty comparable. My final decision was made when I learned of the USA Rail Pass. It lets me take 12 train trips anywhere in the U.S. (a trip is anytime I get off a train) in a 30 day time period.
So, that’s why and how I am doing this particular trip. But the bigger reason that I have the freedom to do a trip like this is because I just graduated high school this January. I graduated a semester early for a variety of reasons, one of which is because I wanted opportunities to do things like this trip!
So, that’s why and how I am doing this particular trip. But the bigger reason that I have the freedom to do a trip like this is because I just graduated high school this January. I graduated a semester early for a variety of reasons, one of which is because I wanted opportunities to do things like this trip!
Jan 24- Second Day of Trip, and my Cousin’s Bar Mitzvah
The second day of my road trip was much more exciting. We’re here in the DC area because a cousin of mine is having his Bar Mitzvah. I all woke up super early, in order to make sure that we would be on time to the service. Well, we got there exactly when the invitations said it started, but it turned out the service didn’t really start until about an hour later. This was fine, except that it left us exhausted by the end of it, around lunchtime. My cousin did really well, as did my dad who was layning at the service. My sister, my uncle, my great-uncle and I all had aliyahs too. The shul was much bigger than our at home, and had two rabbis. It also had a bunch of religious men who were convinced that I was a boy, and who kept telling me that I had to wear a kippah. Which was slightly weird, but not particularly bad. But the shul was really amazing for one thing: they had an ASL interpreter! Apparently Gallaudet students come sometimes, and there were a couple of Deaf people who were regulars. The interpreter knew English, Hebrew and ASL, and would interpret both the Hebrew and English into ASL. I couldn’t understand the parts that were Hebrew-ASL, but I got the English-ASL parts. I had been wondering how services would be interpreted for some time, so it was nice to finally figure it out. After services we went back to the hotel room, where I finished my Artemis Fowl book and repacked my bag (I wanted to make sure all my stuff fit before this road trip!)
The really cool part of the day though was when we were leaving for the party. We had to take an elevator down to the parking garage, and we got stuck in it. I guess it wasn’t very cool, and it definitely wasn’t that much fun, but it was exciting. It also wasn’t that scary, as we got rescued within 15 minutes, and had cell phones and such. But it was my first time getting stuck in an elevator! The hotel wasn’t that responsive to our predicament, and I’m not even sure they purposely fixed it— it’s possible we got out by pure luck. So, the hotel fails for letting us get stuck in an elevator (and charging for internet— I mean, really?), but it kind of wins for having these cool hybrid iPod speaker/alarm clock things.
Tomorrow I’m meeting a friend of mine who goes to college in DC for lunch, and then I’m leaving on the first part of my road trip! I leave at 4pm from DC on the Capitol Limited train, and arrive in Chicago at 8:40am (if it’s on time.) I’m nervous, but also pretty excited!
The really cool part of the day though was when we were leaving for the party. We had to take an elevator down to the parking garage, and we got stuck in it. I guess it wasn’t very cool, and it definitely wasn’t that much fun, but it was exciting. It also wasn’t that scary, as we got rescued within 15 minutes, and had cell phones and such. But it was my first time getting stuck in an elevator! The hotel wasn’t that responsive to our predicament, and I’m not even sure they purposely fixed it— it’s possible we got out by pure luck. So, the hotel fails for letting us get stuck in an elevator (and charging for internet— I mean, really?), but it kind of wins for having these cool hybrid iPod speaker/alarm clock things.
Tomorrow I’m meeting a friend of mine who goes to college in DC for lunch, and then I’m leaving on the first part of my road trip! I leave at 4pm from DC on the Capitol Limited train, and arrive in Chicago at 8:40am (if it’s on time.) I’m nervous, but also pretty excited!
Jan. 23- First Day of My Road Trip
The first day of my road trip was rather uneventful. I woke at up 8am, to find that the rest of my family was already awake and packing for our ride to DC. I was already packed, and spent some time cleaning up my room and trying to finish loose ends. We finally left around 10:15, and started driving. We stopped four times: for lunch in CT (pizza), snack in NY (ice cream), dinner in DE (food court), and finally just for a bathroom stop in MD. We arrived in Bethesda, MD around 8:30, and my brother and I went swimming in this nice pool with a Jacuzzi. It always amazes me that our family can just get in a car and drive for such a long time. Granted, there is always some petty fighting and a need for stopping, but in the end it all works out. And now I can say I’ve been to Delaware, the first (but not the smallest) state in the Union.
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Anti-Climatic Graduation
I graduated high school last week. As several people have pointed out to me, I am now an alum of my high school. My recent graduate status is sinking in slowly, but it is definitely sinking in. I had to go back to my school today to pick up some final papers and get everything wrapped up, and it was weird. I already felt that I had outgrown the school, and that I no longer belonged there. However, I'm not sad, strangely enough. I guess I am just really ready to be moving on to new things.
I spent my entire last semester waiting for it to end, and waiting to graduate. I literally started the school year thinking "Only 90 more days!" but my time in high school has ended so anti-climatically. I wasn't expecting fireworks or anything, but I guess I was expecting something, and really, nothing happened. Very few of my other class mates were graduating, and the school wasn't doing anything either.
But I'm recognizing my graduation in my own way: I'm going on a train trip across the U.S. for a month. I will be using this blog more, as I will be blogging from the road and keeping updates about what I am doing.
I spent my entire last semester waiting for it to end, and waiting to graduate. I literally started the school year thinking "Only 90 more days!" but my time in high school has ended so anti-climatically. I wasn't expecting fireworks or anything, but I guess I was expecting something, and really, nothing happened. Very few of my other class mates were graduating, and the school wasn't doing anything either.
But I'm recognizing my graduation in my own way: I'm going on a train trip across the U.S. for a month. I will be using this blog more, as I will be blogging from the road and keeping updates about what I am doing.
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