On Oct 1, I took a bus from Kaditah to Akko, and a train from Akko to Tel Aviv Savidor Central Station. My cousin Yoni picked me up at the train station and took me out to dinner, where I was nourished with so much yummy Mediterranean food. After dinner, we walked around a part of the city that I had never seen before, the German Colony. It was renovated over the years and still has some of the original buildings, but is mainly a really cool, large plaza with shops, bars, and restaurants. There's lot's of benches and grassy areas to hang out. Underground, there is the Sarona Market which is absolutely insane. It reminded me very much of Reading Terminal Market in Philadelphia, but smaller and more compact. It was fun walking through, but also a sensory overload. Yoni showed me the building next to the colony where he was stationed during his years in the army, some 30 years ago or something. Since the colony is so new, it was interesting for him to see how the area has changed so much since he worked there. After, Yoni drove me to Gordon Inn Hostel in central TLV where I stayed for the night.
The next day, I went to the beach and cleansed myself in the Mediterranean. Then, I wandered around the city trying to find a falafel stand (which really isn't that hard), but it took like a half an hour. Eventually I got some average falafel and Yoni picked me up. We drove back to Tivon, where my aunt lives, and picked her up to go to the Haifa Film Festival. We got a nice quick dinner at a cool restaurant in Haifa, then walked to the Cinematheque. We saw the French film, "The Wolves," starring Evelynne Brochu, whom I know from the TV series, "Orphan Black." I really enjoyed the film. I thought about writing a separate blog post on the film, but I'd rather not ruin it for anyone. Luckily, there were subtitles in Hebrew and English so I had no issues understanding the plot. We got freshly squeezed pomegranate and apple juice after the film, and drove back to Tivon to drop off my aunt. Yoni and I went back to Tel Aviv together, and he dropped me back off at Gordon Inn.
Last night, Oct 2-3, we got back to Tel Aviv around 1:30am. I met up with my friend Estee and her British-Israeli boyfriend Dorian in Florentine. I had such a blast with them. Dorian used to work at the bar we went to, so anything he ordered was on the house. So last night, the three of us all drank for free, and got a free pizza. I know I had fun because I woke up this morning feeling gross and still drunk. I think that may have been my first time ever getting around 10 free drinks plus food. They invited me out again tonight, so I think I may join them for another night of debauchery. There's definitely a plus to knowing the guy who knows everyone else. Somehow, this just happened to include me. I'm gonna roll with it.
Saturday, October 3, 2015
Nahariyya + Akko Festival
During one of the days I was with Allison, Shmuel, and Aravah in Kaditah, we drove to a beach in Nahariyya. I had never been there before and it ended up being a great trip. The water was warm, the waves were fun, Aravah and I collected cool rocks and shells, and we all ate lunch that we brought under this nice hut on the beach. Later when they took a walk down the beach, I was walking toward the bathroom and heard an American band, Modern Baseball, playing on the stereo at the beach bar. Not only do I listen to Modern Baseball, but they are from Philly and I've met them before. I've also seen them surprisingly when I was at school in Amherst. They really are not that popular of a band, so hearing them on the beach in Nahariyya was quite odd and hilarious. I ended up chatting with the bartender and becoming friends with him. He was telling me his perspective of life here and where to find the hidden punk scene. I still can't believe he knew Modern Baseball and played them when I happened to be there. Then he played another band that I was really into in college, The Front Bottoms. Of all places, I hear their music on the stereo on a beach in Israel....can't wait to tell the bands about this!
From Nahariyya we drove south to Akko which was a short ride. The parking situation was a mess, but eventually we took a bus from the Akko Stadium lot to the Old City, where the festival was. The festival itself consisted of tons of street performers, short concerts, plays, etc. The first one we saw was called "The Gypsies Are Coming," which was really fun to watch. There were "gypsies" throwing fire, doing all sorts of acrobatics, while moving the plot along with other characters. Very fun and lively. My other favorite was a short story performance from a man who is a refugee from Darfur, Sudan. His village no longer exists and he is in exile. He has no family and sought refuge in Tel Aviv. He told his story in Hebrew and Arabic, and every now and then would include some musical interludes and dancing.Very deep and sad, but hopeful. I believe his other band/group members were from Sudan too, but I'm not positive.
The energy at the festival was so fun and exciting, and it was cool wandering through the old city of Akko at night. The street performers were really cool, too. Fun time for sure. We got back to Kaditah around 1am and passed out after a long day of energy and travel.
Kaditah
From Sept, 25 - Oct 1 I was with family up north in a small mountain village called Kaditah, about 10 min north of Safed. I visited my mom's cousin Allison, her husband Shmuel, and their daughter, Aravah. I consider them all to be my cousins and I get along really well with all of them. It was (and still is) the holiday Sukkot. Sukkot is my favorite Jewish holiday because it really connects the individual and family with their natural surroundings. The main focus of Sukkot is building a Sukkah, which is a square shack-like structure. There's lot's of different rules about how to build the Sukkah and with what materials. In Kaditah, I got to be a part of building their Sukkah in their yard. The walls consisted of tapestries sewn together, and the roof was made of bamboo-like sticks and date palm leaves. Aravah, who is now 15, came up with the idea of making this year's Sukkah theme to be the lunar eclipse. We made the decorations accordingly and it turned out pretty cool.
Kaditah is seriously one of the most amazing places I have ever been to in my life. It's very removed from society, which I actually really appreciate. I thought that after a while, I would want to return to society, but I actually found it really nice there. Allison made so much yummy, healthy food for all of the meals, and Shmuel bakes his own varieties of bread. Aravah is in charge of making dessert, which included fig and lemon cakes.
I barely looked at the time when in Kaditah. I slept in my one-person tent on their lawn, and the tent got very hot around 10am so I naturally would wake up then (which if you know me well, you know that is very early for me). While in Kaditah, we went on many tiyulim (trips/hikes). We walked through the Meron forest close to the John Lennon Trail, funny enough. There are also a lot of structures dedicated to important Jewish figures scattered around the mountain. One of them, Rebbi Tarfon, has a huge tree that grows through it and extends its thick branches outside of the site. I had fun climbing up into the tree and looking at the Meron forest in the distance.
If you are ever heading to Israel, make sure to visit Kaditah. It's a hidden gem here that will make your jaw drop. I had so much fun seeing fam and soaking up the serenity of the forest.
Kaditah is seriously one of the most amazing places I have ever been to in my life. It's very removed from society, which I actually really appreciate. I thought that after a while, I would want to return to society, but I actually found it really nice there. Allison made so much yummy, healthy food for all of the meals, and Shmuel bakes his own varieties of bread. Aravah is in charge of making dessert, which included fig and lemon cakes.
I barely looked at the time when in Kaditah. I slept in my one-person tent on their lawn, and the tent got very hot around 10am so I naturally would wake up then (which if you know me well, you know that is very early for me). While in Kaditah, we went on many tiyulim (trips/hikes). We walked through the Meron forest close to the John Lennon Trail, funny enough. There are also a lot of structures dedicated to important Jewish figures scattered around the mountain. One of them, Rebbi Tarfon, has a huge tree that grows through it and extends its thick branches outside of the site. I had fun climbing up into the tree and looking at the Meron forest in the distance.
If you are ever heading to Israel, make sure to visit Kaditah. It's a hidden gem here that will make your jaw drop. I had so much fun seeing fam and soaking up the serenity of the forest.
Monday, September 21, 2015
Haifa
Today, my aunt and I drove to Haifa which is 25min from her house. Haifa is an underrated city in Israel, the third largest in population. It's a port city along the Med Sea, AND a city that climbs up the Carmel Mountains. I can't think of many cities that are both by the sea and mountainous. Our first stop in Haifa was the Baha'i Gardens all the way at the top of the city mount. The Baha'i Gardens were not only extravagantly beautiful, but also a great place to see the entire city from above, as well as the city of Akko further down the coast another 25 min. I learned a lot about the Baha'i faith today during our descent through the gardens. Baha'i's are really an amazing group of people. They believe that all of the major figures in each major religion descended from the same God, or Universe, or whatever you want to call it. They focus more on practicing pacifism, acceptance, love, truth, and unity. The gardens are their holy site and pilgrimage. They must ascend the 19 terraces, which is their holy number. There's a shrine of the Ba'b, which is beautiful and houses the remains of the founder of the faith, as well as a Greco-Roman looking building that houses the original archives of the founding of the faith. The gardens are completely symmetrical and maintained perfectly all the time. Baha'i's are actually not allowed to have a community in the State of Israel because 1) It is a place where they should go for their pilgrimage and 2) they have seen the violence of Christians, Muslims, and Jews in Israel and do not want that to happen to their people. So they reside in communities all over the globe, but not in Israel. In many ways I really connected with the ideas and values of the faith. It was a really exciting, jaw-dropping experience.
After the gardens, we walked around the city to find some shwarma. We took some directions from a guy, but they didn't take us to a shwarma restaurant. Instead, we ended up in a cute, artsy, Arab neighborhood called Wadi Nisnas. The neighborhood has lot's of outdoor art on the buildings, streets, etc. It was fun that we ended up there, but we were still starving. Finally we got our shwarma and it was awesome and super yummy.
Our last stop was the Haifa Museum of Art. There were a lot of pieces of art in the museum that I really appreciated such as the sculptures, mixed media, and various installations. However there was also some "modern" art that were ridiculously simple and meaningless, and I would never have thought it would be displayed in a museum. I have great appreciation for all kinds of art, intricate designs as well as simple forms. But some of the pieces in the museum were, in a way, diminishing the quality of the other pieces of art. Overall, I was glad to have went. I bought a cool hologram-type postcard at the end.
Haifa is a really steep city, so you either need a car or rely on public transportation. The bottom part of the city around the port is pretty flat, but the rest of the city is quite a hike. I found out that there have also been some health issues for many individuals living in the city because of the amount of industry and pollution from the port. Great city overall and I would definitely return to explore more.
After the gardens, we walked around the city to find some shwarma. We took some directions from a guy, but they didn't take us to a shwarma restaurant. Instead, we ended up in a cute, artsy, Arab neighborhood called Wadi Nisnas. The neighborhood has lot's of outdoor art on the buildings, streets, etc. It was fun that we ended up there, but we were still starving. Finally we got our shwarma and it was awesome and super yummy.
Our last stop was the Haifa Museum of Art. There were a lot of pieces of art in the museum that I really appreciated such as the sculptures, mixed media, and various installations. However there was also some "modern" art that were ridiculously simple and meaningless, and I would never have thought it would be displayed in a museum. I have great appreciation for all kinds of art, intricate designs as well as simple forms. But some of the pieces in the museum were, in a way, diminishing the quality of the other pieces of art. Overall, I was glad to have went. I bought a cool hologram-type postcard at the end.
Haifa is a really steep city, so you either need a car or rely on public transportation. The bottom part of the city around the port is pretty flat, but the rest of the city is quite a hike. I found out that there have also been some health issues for many individuals living in the city because of the amount of industry and pollution from the port. Great city overall and I would definitely return to explore more.
Saturday, September 19, 2015
Tel Aviv, Caesarea, and Tivon
Yesterday, my aunt picked me up from the hostel in TLV and drove us to her old neighborhood there where she lived five years ago. Neve Tsedek is a cool neighborhood, but it's definitely becoming gentrified which is a shame. We got some gelato, walked to the Carmel Shuk which was crazy because everyone was buying last minute things for Shabbat. We also walked down Nachalat Benyamin St. where there's tons of artist tables selling awesome random handmade things on Fridays and Tuesdays. We were both very tired at the end of this overstimulating adventure, so we drove to Caesarea and walked along the beach and swam as the sun was setting large and beautiful over the Mediterranean. On the way back to the car, instead of walking along the water, I walked on top of the entire ancient Roman aqueduct ruins. My feet were so sore from the jagged rocks and fuzzy things that pierce your feet, but it was well worth it. Earlier that day, we bought some fresh grape leaves and tabouleh from these Druze women in the shuk. On the ride from Caesarea to Tivon, we enjoyed this yummy snack.
We got home kind of late and began preparing orange soup and fish. I was in charge of chopping and peeling veggies for the soup. In case you're interested (I highly recommend this soup), here are the ingredients: carrots, pumpkin, sweet potato, onion, turmeric, ginger, coconut milk. Boil the veggies until they are soft, then put it all in a blender. Super easy, nutritious and tasty. My aunt made some kinda of fish with garlic and pesto. We lit candles for Shabbat, had some challah and wine, and enjoyed each other's company. At this point, it was around 10pm that we ate dinner, and we both had the sleepy-haha's. Naturally, dinner was silly and fun. My aunt left for the night so I had the whole house by myself (but also the responsibility of her four dogs). I had some snacks, watched X-Files, and went to sleep.
Today, I didn't wake up until about 3:30pm. I got lots of much needed sleep, walked and fed all four dogs (one at a time, which took about an hour total), and made "lunch" for myself at 5:30pm. Had some left over grape leaves, orange soup, and toasted some amazing spinach burekas. Thinking about eating some halva and left over apple poppyseed cake from Rosh Hashanah for dessert. It's nice having her house as a home base. The dogs are all in food comas, so now I can do what I want here and not worry about them for a bit. :)
We got home kind of late and began preparing orange soup and fish. I was in charge of chopping and peeling veggies for the soup. In case you're interested (I highly recommend this soup), here are the ingredients: carrots, pumpkin, sweet potato, onion, turmeric, ginger, coconut milk. Boil the veggies until they are soft, then put it all in a blender. Super easy, nutritious and tasty. My aunt made some kinda of fish with garlic and pesto. We lit candles for Shabbat, had some challah and wine, and enjoyed each other's company. At this point, it was around 10pm that we ate dinner, and we both had the sleepy-haha's. Naturally, dinner was silly and fun. My aunt left for the night so I had the whole house by myself (but also the responsibility of her four dogs). I had some snacks, watched X-Files, and went to sleep.
Today, I didn't wake up until about 3:30pm. I got lots of much needed sleep, walked and fed all four dogs (one at a time, which took about an hour total), and made "lunch" for myself at 5:30pm. Had some left over grape leaves, orange soup, and toasted some amazing spinach burekas. Thinking about eating some halva and left over apple poppyseed cake from Rosh Hashanah for dessert. It's nice having her house as a home base. The dogs are all in food comas, so now I can do what I want here and not worry about them for a bit. :)
Friday, September 18, 2015
Jerusalem ---> Tel Aviv
It's been a few days since I've had access to my blog. Lots to catch up on.
So the dinner at the neighbors house was funny. The family was a really wealthy, clean, and proper family. Most of the other guests were grandparents of the family who immigrated to Israel in 1948 from Romania and Hungary. I had my first gefilte fish in a very long time. It gets gross though... So apparently the family tradition is to eat a fish head because for the new year, you want to be more like the head than the tail (in life). But this time they switched it up and served cows head meat. I tried it because I was feeling adventurous, but that was definitely a one time thing. Besides that, the food was great.
The next morning, I decided not to go to the service at the kehilla. We were planning on going to Jerusalem on the second day of Rosh Hashanah, and I wanted to do my own thing in the mountains. I stumbled upon a secret trail off of a road winding through Tivon and heading towards the mountains. Naturally, I followed the trail and found the most amazing spot where I could see the mountainous landscape through a shady forest area. I set my intentions for the new year, did some breathing and movement, and grounded myself in the soil. It truly was an amazing way to start the year.
That night, my aunt and I drove to Ramat Gan where my cousins Yoni and Ronit live. I hadn't seen them in three years! They looked the same but I didn't. Their father recently passed at the age of 95, and their mother is still alive at 93 and lives with them.. Their parents came from Poland around the founding of Israel in '48. We had a nice dinner together and I had the chance to comfortably practice more of my Hebrew. We drove back to Tivon that night.
In the morning on Tuesday, we drove to Jerusalem to go to a service. It was probably one of the most amazing services and form of Judaism that I have ever experienced. It was so spiritual and musical and communal and amazing. They held it outdoors in a garden. People were meditating on mats, playing guitar and djembe to the Hebrew prayers, and of course, dancing. It was so heartwarming to finally feel connected to my people.
After the service, my aunt and I had lunch that we brought to a park next to the kehilla. She drove me to the hostel I was planning to stay at, and we parted ways. She went back home to Tivon and I stayed in Jerusalem for a few days.
Jerusalem was deserted until around 9pm. It was eery but also fun to have the city to myself, even if nothing was open. The whole city shuts down for holidays. I met three cool German guys on the hostel rooftop and hung out with them for a while. Then, I had plans to meet up with my childhood friend Davida. We met on Ben Yehuda St and went to this super cool outdoor bar called Birdman. They had live music too which is always fun.
The next day, I wandered around Ben Yehuda St again when it was more alive and bought some great colorful flowy pants. 2 pairs for $15. So incredibly cheap. I met up with Davida around lunch after she got out of work and we got some shawarma which was GREAT. We walked around a lot of Jerusalem, but avoided the entire Old City because there were recent stonings and I wasn't trying to risk it. It's so fucked up and confusing that one of the holiest places in the world can be so violent. There are just so many radicals of all kinds who constantly clash with each other. I plan to return to the Old City later on in my trip because that part of Jerusalem really is incredible and historic. We walked through Machane Yehuda, which is a huge shuk (open air market type thing). One of my favorite things about Israel is the fresh squeezed juice. So I got fresh orange juice to get some good vitamin c. The amount of walking that we did was insane, but I got to see so much of the city that I had not seen during my past visits. I actually grew to appreciate Jerusalem much more than before, which I'm happy about.
That night, we went to the old railroad tracks to get dinner and a drink. It's so cool and kind of hard to explain, but it's like a huge plaza but also a boardwalk without the sea. They have lots of vendors and stores and even live music. We got Italian food because we hadn't had it in a while and chilled out on these outdoor pillows. I slept at her place that night because she had an extra bed. Saved some money from the hostels for a night.
On Thursday, Davida had lots to do at work, so I said goodbye and backpacked my way through these crazy mountain trails to the Israel Museum. I had been there in the 8th grade, but obviously couldn't appreciate it then as much as I can now. I think this was my first museum experience ever being alone. It was actually spectacular and going at my own pace was so nice. They had exhibits on Humankind, World Art, Jewish life and synagogues, Arcaheology and more. The land here is so ancient and rich with knowledge. Outdoors, they had the Shrine of the Dead Sea Scrolls, which I went into. They also had an outdoor model of miniature Jerusalem (which was still huge). I wandered through the rest of the art garden until the museum closed.
I continued my journey by hiking to the central bus station and traveling to Tel Aviv. At this point, my feet were in bad shape from the amount of walking, plus the fact that I was starting to get blisters from my sandals. When I got to the bus station in Tel Aviv, I walked (still with my heavy ass backpack) 45 min to the next hostel. Got some falafel along the way which made the walk somewhat bearable. I checked into the hostel, then walked to the beach down the street. It was dark at this point. It was amazing to finally take off my shoes and walk along the water. I walked another 45 min south to Jaffa, but it was a nice, slow, relaxing walk. I met up with a family friend, Estee, from NJ who lives in Israel. We were going out with a bunch of people for her birthday in Florentine, a grungy hipsterish neighborhood in southern TLV. It was a lot of fun, and the walk back the hostel was easier than the walk there. I got back around 4:30am, bought some Bamba at the market, and passed out.
Now, I am feeling SO tired from walking and partying. My aunt is en route to TLV for the afternoon, so I'm going to meet up with her and swim for a bit (which I didn't get to do yesterday). Then, I'm hoping to go back to Tivon and rest for Shabbat. I plan to paint, play some guitar, and get away from the hype of the city for a little. It's so easy to get to Tel Aviv, so I'll come back next week or something to explore more. Now, I am enjoying the hospitality of the hostel, as well as their free breakfast, including burekas (which are one of my favorite things about Israel) and rugelach. That's the latest update of life so far. It's been fun being alone when I travel. It's more fulfilling in a way when I know I got from Point A to Point B using nothing but my inner strength and my own two feet. And my wits to order a bus ticket in Hebrew :)
Goodbye for now.
So the dinner at the neighbors house was funny. The family was a really wealthy, clean, and proper family. Most of the other guests were grandparents of the family who immigrated to Israel in 1948 from Romania and Hungary. I had my first gefilte fish in a very long time. It gets gross though... So apparently the family tradition is to eat a fish head because for the new year, you want to be more like the head than the tail (in life). But this time they switched it up and served cows head meat. I tried it because I was feeling adventurous, but that was definitely a one time thing. Besides that, the food was great.
The next morning, I decided not to go to the service at the kehilla. We were planning on going to Jerusalem on the second day of Rosh Hashanah, and I wanted to do my own thing in the mountains. I stumbled upon a secret trail off of a road winding through Tivon and heading towards the mountains. Naturally, I followed the trail and found the most amazing spot where I could see the mountainous landscape through a shady forest area. I set my intentions for the new year, did some breathing and movement, and grounded myself in the soil. It truly was an amazing way to start the year.
That night, my aunt and I drove to Ramat Gan where my cousins Yoni and Ronit live. I hadn't seen them in three years! They looked the same but I didn't. Their father recently passed at the age of 95, and their mother is still alive at 93 and lives with them.. Their parents came from Poland around the founding of Israel in '48. We had a nice dinner together and I had the chance to comfortably practice more of my Hebrew. We drove back to Tivon that night.
In the morning on Tuesday, we drove to Jerusalem to go to a service. It was probably one of the most amazing services and form of Judaism that I have ever experienced. It was so spiritual and musical and communal and amazing. They held it outdoors in a garden. People were meditating on mats, playing guitar and djembe to the Hebrew prayers, and of course, dancing. It was so heartwarming to finally feel connected to my people.
After the service, my aunt and I had lunch that we brought to a park next to the kehilla. She drove me to the hostel I was planning to stay at, and we parted ways. She went back home to Tivon and I stayed in Jerusalem for a few days.
Jerusalem was deserted until around 9pm. It was eery but also fun to have the city to myself, even if nothing was open. The whole city shuts down for holidays. I met three cool German guys on the hostel rooftop and hung out with them for a while. Then, I had plans to meet up with my childhood friend Davida. We met on Ben Yehuda St and went to this super cool outdoor bar called Birdman. They had live music too which is always fun.
The next day, I wandered around Ben Yehuda St again when it was more alive and bought some great colorful flowy pants. 2 pairs for $15. So incredibly cheap. I met up with Davida around lunch after she got out of work and we got some shawarma which was GREAT. We walked around a lot of Jerusalem, but avoided the entire Old City because there were recent stonings and I wasn't trying to risk it. It's so fucked up and confusing that one of the holiest places in the world can be so violent. There are just so many radicals of all kinds who constantly clash with each other. I plan to return to the Old City later on in my trip because that part of Jerusalem really is incredible and historic. We walked through Machane Yehuda, which is a huge shuk (open air market type thing). One of my favorite things about Israel is the fresh squeezed juice. So I got fresh orange juice to get some good vitamin c. The amount of walking that we did was insane, but I got to see so much of the city that I had not seen during my past visits. I actually grew to appreciate Jerusalem much more than before, which I'm happy about.
That night, we went to the old railroad tracks to get dinner and a drink. It's so cool and kind of hard to explain, but it's like a huge plaza but also a boardwalk without the sea. They have lots of vendors and stores and even live music. We got Italian food because we hadn't had it in a while and chilled out on these outdoor pillows. I slept at her place that night because she had an extra bed. Saved some money from the hostels for a night.
On Thursday, Davida had lots to do at work, so I said goodbye and backpacked my way through these crazy mountain trails to the Israel Museum. I had been there in the 8th grade, but obviously couldn't appreciate it then as much as I can now. I think this was my first museum experience ever being alone. It was actually spectacular and going at my own pace was so nice. They had exhibits on Humankind, World Art, Jewish life and synagogues, Arcaheology and more. The land here is so ancient and rich with knowledge. Outdoors, they had the Shrine of the Dead Sea Scrolls, which I went into. They also had an outdoor model of miniature Jerusalem (which was still huge). I wandered through the rest of the art garden until the museum closed.
I continued my journey by hiking to the central bus station and traveling to Tel Aviv. At this point, my feet were in bad shape from the amount of walking, plus the fact that I was starting to get blisters from my sandals. When I got to the bus station in Tel Aviv, I walked (still with my heavy ass backpack) 45 min to the next hostel. Got some falafel along the way which made the walk somewhat bearable. I checked into the hostel, then walked to the beach down the street. It was dark at this point. It was amazing to finally take off my shoes and walk along the water. I walked another 45 min south to Jaffa, but it was a nice, slow, relaxing walk. I met up with a family friend, Estee, from NJ who lives in Israel. We were going out with a bunch of people for her birthday in Florentine, a grungy hipsterish neighborhood in southern TLV. It was a lot of fun, and the walk back the hostel was easier than the walk there. I got back around 4:30am, bought some Bamba at the market, and passed out.
Now, I am feeling SO tired from walking and partying. My aunt is en route to TLV for the afternoon, so I'm going to meet up with her and swim for a bit (which I didn't get to do yesterday). Then, I'm hoping to go back to Tivon and rest for Shabbat. I plan to paint, play some guitar, and get away from the hype of the city for a little. It's so easy to get to Tel Aviv, so I'll come back next week or something to explore more. Now, I am enjoying the hospitality of the hostel, as well as their free breakfast, including burekas (which are one of my favorite things about Israel) and rugelach. That's the latest update of life so far. It's been fun being alone when I travel. It's more fulfilling in a way when I know I got from Point A to Point B using nothing but my inner strength and my own two feet. And my wits to order a bus ticket in Hebrew :)
Goodbye for now.
Sunday, September 13, 2015
Feeling Like An Israeli
Shalom!
Yesterday was a really interesting day. Since it was Saturday (Shabbat), I slept in, played guitar for a while, and just chilled out. Later, we drove up through Mt. Carmel to a spot where I had been 3 years ago, to enjoy the sunset (20min drive). A few years ago, there was a huge forest fire in the Carmel Forest, and unfortunately as we drove through the mountains, you could see the effects. Trees are definitely starting to grow more and more, but there are a lot of areas that look devastated. Driving up the mountain, we could see Haifa, a large port city, below. When we got to our spot, it felt really eery being back there. It felt familiar but looked so different because of the fire. We knew we were back in the right place because there were three tall skinny trees that withstood the fire, serving as land markers. I sketched these trees on the rocks where I once sat, feeling the energy around me. The rocks had a cold energy, but it was very clear to me that the forest was still alive with spirit (Ru'ach in hebrew). As the sun set, we descended the mountain, passing through Haifa University campus, making our way back to Kiryat Tivon.
That night, I finally had a night out on my own. I went to the one bar in the town where I ended up making two friends, Eli and Ohad. They both spoke decent English, so we talked for hours. Eli left to go meet up for a date, and Ohad was waiting for a date at the bar. Ohad and I exchanged info and I'm hoping to hang out with him again. It was nice to finally meet some people my age (they were 28, but the age gap in Israel is different from the U.S. Even 10 yrs apart is nothing to them).
Today, I am getting ready for Erev Rosh Hashanah. I believe we are going to the same Kehilla that we went to the other day. It's only an hour service, then we are going to a neighbor's house for dinner. Hope it's not too awkward because neither my aunt nor I know the neighbors yet. Everyone here makes sure that you have a place to go for the Chag. It's nice that people are so kind and hospitable.
Today, I got a SIM for my phone, so I now have an Israeli phone number! If you need to reach me, it is 050-694-4206. Only 60 shekels a month, which is like 15 bucks. Woo!
I am now going to eat some Kasha & Bowties for lunch, and relax before tonight.
Peace
Yesterday was a really interesting day. Since it was Saturday (Shabbat), I slept in, played guitar for a while, and just chilled out. Later, we drove up through Mt. Carmel to a spot where I had been 3 years ago, to enjoy the sunset (20min drive). A few years ago, there was a huge forest fire in the Carmel Forest, and unfortunately as we drove through the mountains, you could see the effects. Trees are definitely starting to grow more and more, but there are a lot of areas that look devastated. Driving up the mountain, we could see Haifa, a large port city, below. When we got to our spot, it felt really eery being back there. It felt familiar but looked so different because of the fire. We knew we were back in the right place because there were three tall skinny trees that withstood the fire, serving as land markers. I sketched these trees on the rocks where I once sat, feeling the energy around me. The rocks had a cold energy, but it was very clear to me that the forest was still alive with spirit (Ru'ach in hebrew). As the sun set, we descended the mountain, passing through Haifa University campus, making our way back to Kiryat Tivon.
That night, I finally had a night out on my own. I went to the one bar in the town where I ended up making two friends, Eli and Ohad. They both spoke decent English, so we talked for hours. Eli left to go meet up for a date, and Ohad was waiting for a date at the bar. Ohad and I exchanged info and I'm hoping to hang out with him again. It was nice to finally meet some people my age (they were 28, but the age gap in Israel is different from the U.S. Even 10 yrs apart is nothing to them).
Today, I am getting ready for Erev Rosh Hashanah. I believe we are going to the same Kehilla that we went to the other day. It's only an hour service, then we are going to a neighbor's house for dinner. Hope it's not too awkward because neither my aunt nor I know the neighbors yet. Everyone here makes sure that you have a place to go for the Chag. It's nice that people are so kind and hospitable.
Today, I got a SIM for my phone, so I now have an Israeli phone number! If you need to reach me, it is 050-694-4206. Only 60 shekels a month, which is like 15 bucks. Woo!
I am now going to eat some Kasha & Bowties for lunch, and relax before tonight.
Peace
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