Kibbutz Ramat Yochanan.

This weekend I took what I would like to call a "mini vacation" up North. My friend Molly, whom I lived with during my Ashdod volunteer program, made aliyah and is doing a 5 month Hebrew ulpan program on a kibbutz. I decided this would be the weekend to visit her.

Things do not always go as plan here in Israel so I took every precaution to make sure I could get to her with a little trouble as possible before Shabbat arrived. I knew the bus line 997, which would take me to Kiryat Ata, the closest town to her kibbutz, was a religious line and may be less than reliable but it was my only direct option. I got to the bus stop practually an hour early so I knew there would be no way I could miss it. I told myself I could not get worried about the bus not coming until 12:15 and slowly but surely it was 12:15. I asked some other people and bus drivers about the bus and they said they were not quite sure what I was talking about. Great. It was getting better by the minute. If it did not come I would have to take a bus to Tel Aviv, than to Haifa and somehow from there get to Kiryat Ata or her kibbutz, an adventure I was not prepared for.

A few minutes later the bus pulled up. I ran to make sure I got on it, luckily I did make it aboard but unfortunately there were no seats left and the bus was packed with people, mainly religious families. Wow, this was going to be an interesting ride. Eventually the people around me sat in the aisle so I joined them. All I wanted to do was rest my head somewhere, anywhere, and take a nap. I am not sure what happened but I did eventually manage to fall asleep. I started to get real achy an hour and a half into the trip so I stood up for the last 20 minutes or so. It was a shame I missed the scenic view the whole way up and just sat there starting at religious women's skirts.

We arrived at Kiryat Ata and I took a short cab ride over to the kibbutz. Man, was I happy to finally to see Molly. I put my stuff in her room and we went out for a long stroll. One of the kibbutz dogs, Hannah, loves Molly and her roommate. Hannah joined us everywhere we went throughout the weekend. We started off by walking by the cows and bulls, into the avocado trees and around to a beautiful view where we watched the sunset. You could see alot of the kibbutz with Haifa and the Carmel Mountains in the background.

We went back and rested up for Shabbat dinner. People start to fill into the dining room "chedar ochel" around 7 and there was a mini ceremony. It was typical cafeteria food Israeli style, a change in what I have been used to eating. After dinner we hung out with some of the people on her program and talked with her roommate.

The next morning we went for another walk. This time we checked out the baby cows. Molly insisted I let them suck on my finger, I did not disappoint her. They had all the cages labeled, there were probably 7 cows born in the last week. After wards we walked through the areas where most of the kibbutzniks live. It is amazing how nice some of the housing is. It is all done by seniority. When the kids are around 17 then move out and as they get older and older the housing gets nicer and nicer.

We had shabbat lunch back in the cheder ochel and then went for a walk into the cirtrus fields. They were growing oranges, kumquat look alikes, pomellos and some green orange that I have seen in stores. We just walked up and down the rows of trees trying the fruit and picking some. Overall it was a great mini vacation. For only being there for one day I think I got a true kibbutz experience and a wonderful one at that.

Shabbat & Yoga

I am sure this will be one of my many shabbat stories...

Two weeks ago I was walking by myself to a shabbat service. I was walking down a side street\driveway and a truck that had been parked started to move. BUT I was walking there first. To my surprise, but not really, he started honking and screaming at me for walking in his way. I do not know if he noticed or cared but I was walking there first, a parked car does not have the right of way over anyone. It freaked me out and pissed me off, a great way to start off shabbat.

As the sun was setting and shabbat was ending I went with a friend to the Old City. We walked through the Arab quarter and then found ourselves at the Western Wall. He did not want to go up to the Kotel but I figured why not? I covered up as best as I could and slowly approached the wall. There was an empty chair against the wall surrounded by many other chairs with religious people praying in them. I did not want to move the chair to sit in it or get closer so I just stood there and enjoyed the experience. A religious girl about my age noticed what happened and quickly moved the chair so I could be next to the wall as well. We often see and feel the divide between the religious Jews and secular Jews but this shabbat, for me, it was a bit different. It did not matter how I was dressed, where I was going or what I was doing, some people chose to embrace me and help me enjoy my shabbat while others had more important things to be doing. A shaky shabbat ended up with a beautiful ending.

This week I started a new-ish hobby, yoga. So far its going great. Last weekend I looked up yoga studios in Jerusalem and to my surprise one of the only websites that worked was of a studio that happened to be in an apartment building on my block. As my mom would say, it was b'shert. So I called ahead to let them know an American would be coming. I thought they deserved a heads up and she seemed nothing but welcoming on the phone.

I showed up Sunday morning to a small woman's only Kundalini class. It was just what I needed. The first 30 minutes we did a lot of stretching and warming up. The middle section were some really interesting yoga positions that I was not familiar with and the end was an unbelievable cool down. She played different music throughout the session. It was quite the experience. I had a great view of Jerusalem when I was standing looking out a window in the corner of the room. It was very spiritual in a non Jewish way but a wonderful city to be experiencing it in. After the class she brought out tea and cut up bananas an apples. We all sat around for almost a half an hour talking and enjoying each others company (of course I was mostly listening). No to mention the instructor translated everything for me, it was a good Hebrew lesson for me and English lesson for everyone else.

Yesterday I went to an evening Vinyasa class that was totally different but equally enjoyable. So far so good. I always enjoy finding new hobbies. We'll see where this goes.


(Of course it turns out that a lady who teaches Hebrew at Hebrew University was also in both classes, what a small world...)

October Update.

Topics: Israel REALLY is a Small Country, The U.S.A., Public Spaces & Parties.

As I have been walking around the city of Jerusalem over the past few weeks I cannot help but realize how small this country really is. If I leave my apartment with one of my roommates and go almost anywhere in the city, we are guaranteed to bump into someone they know. Its really unbelievable. I lived in Washington DC for 5 years and I have never seen anything like this.

I was at a bar the other week talking with a friend of a friend. We were discussing that he lived up North and the conversation led us to ask how his family was effected in the 2006 Lebanon War. Incidentally his house was actually hit by the rockets. When people tell you everyone knows someone effected by everything that happens here they are not kidding. Israel REALLY is a small country.

A new perspective. Being involved in an International School where the classes are taught in English leads many of our readings to be from American Literature and Research. I have studied abroad before but it is quite interesting sitting through these research examples and readings from the US. Two of the boys in our class are from South America and I cannot help but wonder what they think of it, they have a much different perspective. Sometimes the examples and cultural difference in the readings must have a very different meaning to non-Americans. Its amazing how much influence the US and the English language have.



I have always found public spaces interesting since my freshmen year University Writing class, Public Spaces. I know I have already mentioned the park that I run in but it continues to amaze me. In the past few weeks I have witnessed several birthday parties, with balloon set ups and all, countless sports practices, religious girls rollerskating and even a minyan. Yes, at first I was really confused what a bunch of men were doing silently facing one direction but I was quickly able to count 10 of them before I passed them and immediately realized what was going on. My only issue with the public spaces in Jerusalem, moreover the country as a whole, is the lack of garbage clean up. It is a particularly big issue in Jerusalem. Its dirty.

Last night I went to a protest with my roommate, Ina, and two of her friends. The government is planning to start to give money to the religious students in Yeshivas for living expenses while there is no intention of helping out the students studying in the secular universities. The rally met at the top of Aza Street by my house and went down King George ending at Kikar Zion at the end of Ben Yehudah. It was interesting to see the signs people had made, to listen to the cheers people were chanting and simply to see who showed up in support of the cause. Some people carried stretchers symbolizing their time, among many other things, given to their country through their years of service, very powerful images. Obviously they are deserving of government financial support as well. It is a touchy subject, like MANY others, in this country. I clearly understand the view point of the students and it surely is interesting how they go about expressing themselves. Only in Jerusalem, Israel would a rally of this nature exist.

 

Parties like you've never seen. Last week I went with my roommate, Ina, to a party sponsored by her school. She happens to be studying medical research along side the med students at the Medical School of Hebrew U. So this party was a crowd unlike any I have ever seen. It was a hopping bar\club (especially for Jerusalem standards) filled with future doctors. I think it was the largest amount of Jewish doctors in the smallest space that I will ever witness. To top it off, it was a great night. 

This last weekend I went to a birthday party in Tel Aviv, this was like no birthday party I have ever been to. It was located in one of the 2 well known Yoo Buildings in Tel Aviv. They are circular sky scrappers and this particular apartment had a view of Tel Aviv and the Mediterranean Sea from the 27th floor. There was Halloween decorations, open bar, delicious appetizers, a dj and an amazing balcony. In Hebrew, זה מדהים, it was amazing.

 

Roommates and me.