Memorial Days and Celebratory Days!

The past few weeks there have been several memorial days and celebratory days in my life and the life of the country. First it was Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Memorial Day. I went over to a friend's apartment to watch the ceremony that takes place at Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem. It is a very powerful ceremony but only one part is translated into English. They light six large candles in honor of the six million Jews who were killed and each is lit by a survivor and their story is told. Since the stories are prerecorded there are english translations. Obviously mainly survival stories exist, and these stories are really incredible. No matter how much I learn about the Holocaust the stories never cease to amaze me. Another intersting thing about this day in Israel is that nearly all of the stores and restaurants close, the country basically shuts down. 

The next day there was a ceremony put together by my school. It was an international ceremony with readings in English, Russian, French, German, Spanish and I am sure a few others. It was a really nice ceremony with songs, poems and even a dance. The ceremony commenced after a nationwide siren went off to commorate those who fell. The entire country stops when this siren goes off, no matter what you are doing, where one is driving, or what else is going on around them.

About a week later was Yom HaZikaron, Israel's Memorial Day. We had off school for this so I spend/commemorated the holiday in Tel Aviv, last year I was actually in Jerusalem with my parents for this so I was exited to see something new. Just before the national siren went off at 8 I started walking through Tel Aviv towards Rabin Square where a ceremony\concert was about to begin. I got to the corner of busy intersection just as the siren rang. The streets were mainly empty because the country had basically shut down again, but the few cars on the road immediately pull off the road. People were only outside if they were walking to Rabin Square or else they were inside probably watching tv, nothing was open, there was no other reason to be outside. 

As we got to the square we bumped into a few friends here and there, everyone went. The front half before the stage was packed with chairs for elderly people and the rest of the square was filled with young people, thousands of young people. Every was quiet and rather somber as people waited for up to an hour for the ceremony to begin. Basically there were different famous artists singing songs related to Memorial Day and different peoples stories of loss and in between they cut to video clips telling the stories of fallen soldiers. It was a really powerful ceremony and I was proud that I could actually understand a good amount of the stories because the Hebrew subtitles really helps. It was incredible to be among such a large crowd, all there for the same reason, at the same time for their own reason. People in this country really respect these days. I have never seen anything like it in the states.

The actual day of Yom HaZikaron there are ceremonies all over the country, mainly at schools and cemetaries. I went to a elementary school in the neighborhood to watch their ceremony, it was an arts school so it was actually an impressive, artistic performance put on by the kids. Another 2 minute siren started this ceremony as well. Its amazing how still and respectful even the youngest were. 

Most people do work this day but people do take the time to remember those who they have lost, because everyone in this country has lost someone. You really feel the heavy mood of the country. The interesting thing is that Israel has decided to put Yom HaAtzmaut (Independence Day) immediately following Memorial Day. There is a huge ceremony on Mount Hertzl (Biggest Military Cemetary in Jerusalem) in the evening and it immediately transforms into a Independence Day ceremony. The mood switches literally at the flip of a switch from the saddest day of the year to the happiest. Its really an amazing transformation to be a part of. People really are happy and celebrating.

I was inside at about 8 pm and all of a sudden I could hear fireworks going off. I immediately got dressed for the night and Idan and I went to stroll the streets. Its just what you do. Not many cars were out and even on the way to Rabin Square the road were closed because they are flooded with people. Everyone goes out to celebrate, young and old. The streets were filled with babies, parents, teenagers, everyone. There was dancing and singing at Rabin Square where just 24 hours earlier was the Memorial Day ceremony. There was so much going on that I just wanted to sit down and take it all in. As I sat on the curb what did I notice? I had gotten sprayed on my legs by one of the kids. They run around with this shaving cream type stuff spraying eachother, making a mess and having a good time. What a sight.

As we started to leave the fireworks went off again. I have seen alot of fire works in my life and these were pretty good!

We spent the rest of the night hopping around the city. First we went to a friend of Idans who lives on the top floor of a building off a main drag with a roof. We hung out there for a while and just watched people in the streets and people across the way celebrating and bar-b-quing. Then we stopped in a bar that had some great music, everyone was dancing, than we stopped by a burger joint for a bit to eat, pretty delicous! What a crazy night!

On the actual day of Independence Day everyone bar-b-ques. Everyone. Idan's army group has a bar-b-que on one of their friends moshavs every year so we went. Normally it would have been maybe a 45 minute drive but because everyone was headed somewhere it took almost 2 hours. Not fun and some of the good meats were gone before we got there but it was still a fun experience. Its interesting to see how people really keep in touch over the years with their army friends, it really replaces college friends that we have in the states and it is taken to the next level. Everything in this country turns into a cultural experience for me and its always fun to see how different people do things. 

That's all for the holiday update until next month!

Passover Break 2011.

A bit of an update:

A few weeks ago I visited a Modern Art/Architecture Museum in Holon, just outside of Israel. The main exhibit was all modern art that was made to look like objects from prehistoric time. Some of the pieces were pretty amazing looking.

The first weekend of Passover I spent in Jerusalem. I met some girl friends from school at the shuk and we bought a bunch of groceries and all came back to my place to cook for shabbat. It was a wonderful evening, nice to spend time with friends outside of school, delicious food and great conversation. I hope to do it again before the end of the year. 

The next day I drove to the Dead Sea with Idan. The ride is only about an hour from Jerusalem and it's a nice ride. Starting off in the hills of Jerusalem and before you know it you are in the dessert. The views are beautiful. We went to a nice beach, floated around a bit and relaxed in the sun before we headed back. It's always nice to escape the city.

 

 I spend Passover in Tel Aviv. In Israel there is only 1 seder and the holiday is only 7 days long. I went with Idan to his aunts house for the seder, there was about 22 people who came. Lots of delicious food, salads, appetizers, soup, big main course and desserts. The seder was not too long and pretty easy to follow. A few things were different than what I am used to and surprised me but it's always nice to see how other people do things. (Joy, they didn't do the pinky dip for the 10 plagues, I thought of you). After dinner we all went outside, ate dessert and sang a few songs, there was a really nice feeling among the group.

The next day we went back to the same house for a big lunch. Food was good and everyone just hung out and relaxed most of the afternoon. It took me a little while to figure out why we don't have a passover lunch in the states and then I realize, we all go to work and school the next day! It's nice when the Jewish holidays are national holidays. That night I went to a concert of the band "Hayihudum" - it was an intimate theater and we had good seats, it was great to be so close to the performers.

I took an elective class during 4 days of the holiday on Social Protection - pretty interesting stuff, look it up. So the next few days I spent relaxing, doing research for the class and meeting up with friends. My roommate Polina came to Tel Aviv and we had a nice lunch together and walked around the city. It's always nice doing new things with people. Also amazing how many places and people do not keep passover in this country. At the same time, when I was desperately wanted some pizza it was amazing to pass by a koshers for passover pizza place, and it wasn't half bad!

I was going to go camping the weekend during the holiday but there was a rainy forecast so that was postponed. At the end of the holiday I went to another dinner, in Israel its another "holy\religious day" for everyone the last full day of Passover so people meet up for a big dinner. Delicious food once again. 

The next few days I spent in Jerusalem going to my class and working on my paper. I chose to write about South Africa and their HIV/AIDS problem among the female population. Interesting yet depressing. Thank god almost getting somewhere with this paper.

This weekend we tried the camping trip again. Me, Idan and his best friend Nati. We left Friday afternoon and headed South. We saw a beautiful sunset as we approached our campsite. There was a car of young people where we were staying whose car was broken down and they were waiting for help. They had started to build a fire so we help and hung out with them until their car was fixed. It always amazes me how friendly Israelis are. 

When they left we made pasta for dinner and did the gaffen over the wine, it was shabbat after all. We wrapped up some plain potatoes in tinfoil and let them sit in the fire for a few hours, I wasn't sure that they would be that good but when we finally dug in the potato was pretty soft and tasty. I brought ingredients for banana boats (chocolate and bananas) and we made them in the fire. They were pleasantly surprised with my American treat. We played the guitar and hung out for a while before we went to bed. 

There was a bit of rain in the middle of the night and unfortunately we forgot our rain fly for the tent so in the middle of the night we jumped into one tent. Always an adventure in nature. 

The next morning we organized our breakfast food and went for a hike into the area. We found a great place to rest and laid out all of our stuff. Made breakfast and hung out for almost 5 hours. There were these amazing birds in the area and the place was so quiet. I took a nap, played games, ate. Truly relaxing and beautiful. 

Just as we were heading back to the car it started to rain again. Now this may sound normal but in the end of April in the desert it is not supposed to rain, let alone 2 times. By the time we got to the car we were soaked but it stopped just a few minutes later. We decided to go for a drive to and overlook before heading home. It was an amazing view of the crater in Israel and strangely enough there was crazy wind. The weather was so off, it was bizarre. Afterwards we headed back to Tel Aviv. I always love going on adventures.

Today is my last day of break and I am hoping to finish up my paper so I can move forward. Surprisingly is May 1 and school ends in just over a month. Next week we have 2 days off for Memorial Day and Independence Day and time is flying by. I am hoping to start and finish my final papers in a timely fashion so I can enjoy some free time in Israel before I head home mid July.

More updates to come! Hope you all had a nice Passover\Easter!