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!
Friday, September 11, 2009
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!
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