Cultural Delagation, and Hanukkah!!

Chag Sameach!  Happy Hanukkah!  It's been a busy past week or so, and now Mom and Dad are here.  I want to catch up on the past week before I talk about my adventures with them, so here goes.

The Cultural Delegation.  I believe I mentioned this before, but the Cultural Delegation of Israeli Theatre and Music, as well as the International Exposure for Israeli Dance took place this past week.  The Delegation was a 5 day presentation of theatre pieces, (professional, independent, in progress, student work, all sorts) from all throughout Israel to an audience of theatre artists, festival directors, critics, and writers from all over the world.  We had around 30-40 guests from Japan, Turkey, Korea, Philippines, Netherlands, Germany, Bulgaria, Canada, and the US among others.  Since EVE, my company represents a lot of fringe and independent productions, a large percent of the presentations were artists and creators we work with.  Instead of going into the office for those few days, Tomer and I helped facilitate events and introduce productions, and help keep things moving.  The cultural differences I have noted in Israel became even more apparent in this professional atmosphere.  Israel has a severe lack of formality, which is all good, but in some instances (like this one) it was noticeably missing.  The Canadian clan tended to flock to me with questions and frustrations, many of which I shared.  Although it was a tough position to be in, wanted to organize where there was a severe lack, it was fun to play hostess for a while.  In doing so I got to see all the shows being presented.  Many of the pieces were half hour sections from larger pieces, with a few full shows thrown in.  I watched as much as I could. 

I saw Hamlet, in Hebrew, at Cameri to open the week.  I felt as though I knew the show relatively well, so I tried not to follow the subtitles, but instead just watch and take it all in, and check in every once in a while with the projected translation.  I loved it.  Such a great take on the show.  The audience sat in swivel chairs, in two sections facing each other, separated by an aisle.  The action took place in the aisle as well as on both sides.  The audience would simply shift focus and move their chairs to see the scene taking place.  It was so cool.  Hamlet was incredible as well.  It was nice to see the famous "to be or not to be" speech and not focus on the words, just on the emotion.  Refreshing.  I also really enjoyed the student work from the School of Visual Theatre in Jerusalem.  One pair did a object theatre piece using apples as puppets, cutting them and manipulating them throughout the piece to tell their story.  Awesome.  I also got to see a lot of the pieces I have been marketing live for the first time.  I have felt a severe lack of theatre going since I've been here, because its harder to find things in English or that I will understand.  A cutback from my show a week habit in Boston.  This week made up for it.  In addition to the Delegation, my siyur that week was to see a show at Cameri.  We saw Johnny Walked, with english subtitles.  I liked the play overall, but the lighting was very stark and the subtitles were very hard to read.  It was a little more of a challenge than it was worth.  Unlike Hamlet, I couldn't just watch and take it in.  Oh well.  It was cool to experience it with the whole WUJS group. 

Adding to my incredibly cultured week, the week continued with the International Exposure for Israeli Dance.  Many of the guests from our exposure stayed through for this one as well, so I made sure to be a part of it as much as I could.  Chelsea works as an intern at Suzanne Dellal, the dance theatre hosting the events, so I had an official name tag. We had to wait until all official guests and ticketed patrons were in, but if there were remaining seats our staff tags got us in.  We saw a lot a lot a lot of dance.  Many of the shows were 1 hour shows divided into 3 segments to showcase 3 difference choreographers.  We saw a few of these sampler platter shows, as well as some full dance shows.  One was Trout, a modern dance piece that took place on a stage covered in 3 inches of water.  The piece was nightmareish, and mentioned it took place in a world like the bottom of a well.  It was some weird stuff, but a cool concept.  I was in the front row, which I soon discovered was what they refer to at Sea World as the "splash zone".  Except this time it was without warning, and they didn't hand out ponchos...  It was all good, I only got a few splashes, but I have to say it was the first dance show I've seen where I walked out damp.   We saw Vertigo, another dance troupe as well, which was probably the best of the pieces I saw.  There was one I really wanted to see, called Quiet or Sheket in Hebrew, but it was full.  The good thing about this exposure as a promotional event though, is that every group had videos!  I picked one up and can now see the piece from the comfort of my own home.  Between the Theatre Delegation and Dance Exposure I left with a good amount of swag, and lots of DVDs to watch.  Bonus!  Plus we got a lot of interest, so I am looking foreward to talking with the people I met and sending our work abroad.  Successful week I'd say.

Adding to the awesome long and busy but cultured week, it came time for Hanukkah.  My first Hanukkah in Israel has certainly been amazing.  Sufganiot on every corner.  Dreidels with פ instead of ש.  Everyone, and I mean everyone, storeowners, etc, saying chag sameach.  Love it.  We had an awesome group Hanukkah party as well.  For the first night, we all got together in our apartment and had a whole evening of festivities.  It started with a Latke Contest.  Each apartment would submit an entry, and our guests would judge.  We decided to enter a trio of latkes as our entry.  Michal, culinary expert, designed the menu.  We made traditional potato latkes with applesauce, sweet potato latkes with cream and fried sage, and zucchini/potato latkes with dill sour cream sauce.  Yummy.  Someone else entered a chili sweet potato recipe, some traditional potato recipes, and one with red peppers served with hot sauce.  It was awesome.  We grated potatoes for hours, but it was worth it.  Our sweet potato entry tied with the other sweet potato entry as the winner.  Yay!  Next part of the evening was a potluck style dinner.  We ate well let me tell you.  Salad, meatballs, eggplant parm, rice with broccoli, and of course latkes.  Next was a gift exchange.  Organizing that was my assigned role for the evening, so we did it white elephant style like at Nicolet.  Everyone brought a wrapped gift valued between 20 and 25 shekels.  I bought a collection of games and puzzles.  We played by choosing hebrew letters from our aleph bet magnet set out of a hat, and then going in order.  Each person could either choose a wrapped gift from the middle, or steal.  Someone got a toilet plunger gift set, someone a viking hat and beard, a few people chocolates and candy, and I ended up with a dollar store collection of games and things including a ping pong set, a chia pet, and a bright orange Athens Olympics 2004 hat.  Quite a success I must say.  We intended to end the evening with a dreidel game and an 8 bar pub crawl, but we only ended up at 2 due to rain and us being tired.  It was also Michal's birthday at midnight, so we turned it into a celebration for that.  We also went out for her b-day the next day, starting the day as we do every Saturday with challah french toast, and then seeing some dance pieces from the Exposure and having an incredibly decadent dinner complete with sparkling wine at a great restaurant in quaint Neve Tsedek.  Mmmm. I love birthdays.  Happy Birthday Michal!

The week was jam packed, but really awesome.  Seeing theatre, and spending time with friends.  What more could I ask for.  I also started teaching the theatre class for Year Course, which I'll talk more about later.  It seems like its going to be great, and its nice to be teaching and lesson planning again.  More on that later.  Now, I'm gonna head to bed and wake up early tomorrow to head up North and meet Mom and Dad.  Can't wait to tell you all about it.

Links

Hey all!

Sorry its been a while since I've written anything.  I've been crazy busy with the Cultural Delegation/International Exposure.  Can't wait to tell you all about it.  Until then, check out my Turkey pictures - finally posted - but not sorted or captioned yet.  Sorry.  I ran out of room on the old photo site, so catch the link to the new one to the right of the posting.  I'll let you know when they are organized!

Also enjoy more video updates:

WUJS Video 7 - but they forgot to mention Turkey!!

WUJS Video 8

Thanksgiving Break in Turkey - Part II: Escape to Cappadocia

Day 1 in Cappadocia:

We pulled into a parking lot in what we assumed was the right place, and just as confused as before, showed people our tickets.  We got sent to a minibus.  It took us somewhere, and we unloaded and went to a tourism office.  The guy there gave us a map, circled our hotel, and the Flintstones Cave Bar he recommended we visit later, and called us a ride to our hotel in Goreme, the Local Cave Hotel.  Because it was still just 8:30 our room wasn’t available for check in so we left our stuff in the lobby, changed in a bathroom, and waited for our tour group to pick us up.  We ate breakfast there too, not sure it was for us, but they didn’t stop us. 


Our tour van picked us up, we met some others we would be spending our day with, and hit the road.  The landscape in this place is jaw dropping.  An entire city, literally carved out of the rock.  Our guide Fahti led us through Devrent Valley, to see the fairy chimneys.  Fairy chimneys are formed from the settled volcanic dust, formed into tower, and then topped by harder rock that settled.  Over time, the lower rock has been shaped by the wind, leaving pyramids with caps.  You have to see it to understand, just check out the pix.   He showed us cave churches, houses, castles, the unbelievable city formed by stone.  Just awe inspiring.  We had a nice lunch, included in the package, at a cave restaurant.  Three courses including soup, pottery kebab, and dessert options, of which I chose more rice pudding.  In the afternoon we toured the Goreme Open Air Museum, which is a reserve of more rock formations and houses, and saw some beautifully painted church caves.  More lookouts, more stops, and a visit to a pottery shop where we learned how to make pottery the traditional Turkish way, then spend way too much time trying not to spend money in the endless ceramic shop. Hallie won a prize for guessing what the man was forming on the wheel, and Jaks got to make something herself.  Unfortunately she didn’t get to keep it. 

We were dropped back at our cave hotel, and this time were able to check in.  Our bags were still in the lobby, exactly how we had left them.  They unlocked our rooms, and despite the fact that we had asked specifically for 1 room for all of us (to save money, and avoid splitting up) and him telling us it wasn’t possible, the first door opened to reveal 2 twin beds and 1 double bed.  We looked around, saw the other room, and just decided to all stay in one.  Bummer he made us pay for 2 even though we specifically tried to avoid it.  We claimed beds, Jaks and I ended up in the double, and promptly all fell asleep for a good 2 hours.  Guess we needed it.  We woke up, showered, and got dressed for dinner.  We walked through the town of Goreme, looking for some cheap local eats in the tourist town.  It was the off season, and extremely dead.  A ghost town.  Except for the restaurant owners who, as in Istanbul, harassed us with deals and offers as we passed their restaurant.  We finally gave in to one of them and had a nice Turkish meal.  Jaks and I shared Turkish ravioli with yoghurt sauce and a meatball dish, and Ellen and Hallie shared a chicken something and pottery roasted veggies.  Yumm and yumm again.  The ravioli were tiny and triangular.  And delicious.  I have eaten more meat this week than in the entire past year. 

After the restaurant, we decided we had to take the man’s advice and check out the Flintstones Cave Bar.  How could we not?  It was super cute, with a fire place and little tables, across from a stone bar.  We ordered a bottle of local wine to share and a nargila, and the man we soon recognized as the guy who suggested the bar to us, joined us at the table.  Our first thought was that he came to see if we had taken his advice and to join us.  Ick.  Then he told us our nargila was on the house.  Uh oh.  We found out pretty quickly through conversation then that he owned the place.  Oh, thanks for the suggestion.  He very quickly fell in love with Ellen as well.  This would become an interesting night.  We played a game of shesh besh,, me against Ellen (who had never played) and the owner (who was really good).  Awww, just like Israel.  Soon, A little guy, probably 20 something, hopped up and started dancing.  Like Michael Jackson.  The soundtrack of this bar was mostly oldies American music, with an eclectic mix of modern English pop.  Jaks joined him before to long, and next thing we knew the 4 of us, and everyone else at the bar was up on their feet.  We started a mega dance party.  Because of the owner’s little crush, our glasses never seemed to get empty, and we drank at least 2 bottles and a few beers.  After several attempts to drag her outside, he finally gave up and sat all sad in the corner.  We felt bad, but its not like we asked him to get us drinking for free all night.  We met some Australian girls, a group of International students studying in Turkey, 1 American.  Turned into quite an adventure.  Needless to say, we were glad we napped that evening.  Before it got too late,  we hit our very comfortable cave beds and went to bed.

The next morning we woke up, packed up, and went to the lobby for another breakfast spread.  Unlike the morning before when we had snuck meals from the buffet, this time they brought us pre made plates.  Just not the same.  And no eggs.  Oh well, we ate our fill and met our tour van again at 9.  They picked up our luggage and dropped it at the fancy hotel in Urgup (the other town) where we picked up more group members since it would be easier for us to get it there later.  Fahti and our adorable driver led us through another exciting adventure through the valleys and caves of Goreme and Urgup.  The morning started out with a 4k hike through Red Valley, White Valley and Rose Valley.  Named for the colors of the rock of course.  The Moroccan Man from our group kept wandering off, and quickly became the joke of us as well as the guide.  He kept popping up in random places.   We passed the time talking with a couple we met, around our age.  Holly from Australia, and Dan from New Zealand had met in Greece sailing.  They had since lived in England, 3 more years in Greece sailing, and were now working on week 3 of their “one week” trip to Turkey.  I would have loved to live their lives.  Here begins the adventure of the sunglasses.  Ellen had in her bag a pair of turquoise sunglasses she had borrowed from Justin.  They were falling apart, the turquoise color chipping off leaving paint specs on the wearer, and just kinda gross.  Jumping off of Holly’s idea, we decided it would become the new project of the trip to get pictures of as many people we met as we could wearing the glasses.  This included various group members, our guides, and basically everyone we could convince.  When lunch led us to eating at a long table in the hall of the Culture Museum, our sunglass adventure began to include manikins as we snuck into exhibits to snap a shot.  Awesome. 

We saw more churches and houses, and then explored an underground city.  Tourists were only allowed to explore 4 floors.  That’s okay though, that’s more cave village than I’ve seen before.  We crawled through tunnels and passageways, saw stone doors as we entered wineries, stables, living rooms, etc all carved in the underground stone.  I could live there!  Well, except for the cold and fact that it was underground and stone.  There were even chimneys for fresh air and ventilation.  Too cool.  We got a few sunglass shots in various cave crevasses, then returned to the surface.  We stopped for some more free time at a few more lookout points as we worked our way back. 

The last stop of the day was the Onyx factory.  Again, a cheap plea to get us tourists to spend money, but we just watched the demo and then tried on the biggest and most expensive rings and bracelets they had.  Holly kept making Dan uncomfortable talking about them being too small.  Love these guys.  From there Fahti and our driver, who we now knew was named Numan, started the rounds of drop offs.  Since we had a few hours to kill before our night bus back, and no hotel, we asked nicely if they could drop us in the city of Urgup at the Turkish Bath.  Ellen had been talking about getting one since day one in Istanbul, so we decided this was our chance.  The bath, or Hamam, was not quite what they had described in the books.  We asked if they accepted women, since we had heard there were separate sections in most hamams, and they said yes.  They gave us keys to changing rooms and handed us red plaid cloths to put on and green croc like sandles.  The first time my passport had left my body since we arrived in Turkey, we locked them and all of our belongings into the rooms and strapped the keys to our wrists.  Wearing our new garments, and matching the men up front, they lead us in.  We found ourselves in a big hot room, with several smaller rooms off of it.  They took us to one side, and asked us to rinse off in the shower.  We did.  Then they showed us the sauna and told us to get comfortable.  We all awkwardly sat down in there together, not quite sure what to do, and decided that we might as well get the real hamam experience and dropped the towels to our waists.  It was just us after all.  And then through the window of the sauna we saw another couple walk in.  A couple we recognized, from our tour group.  We gathered our cloths back up, and all awkwardly greeted each other.  Hmm, maybe that’s why this one was so cheap, its coed.  They laid down on the stone block, steaming, waiting for us to finish.  When we had had our fill, we traded places, relaxing on the warm stone, waiting for someone to tell us what was next.  The hamam man, not large hamam woman as we had expected, came to take the first 2 for the massage.  Ellen and I stood up and followed them into a different section where they laid us down on more stone tables.  I started at the washing station, Ellen at the soapy massage.  Again, didn’t know this was a group project.  My guy began scrubbing me with an abrasive cloth to remove dead skin.  It was disgusting to see what came off of my body.  I guess I needed this.  He washed me, washed my hair with bar soap, and rinsed me with little bowls.  Weird.  Then Ellen and I switched and I began my soapy bubble bath massage.  This guy was good.  He cracked my back so hard, I giggled.  Seriously though, after sleeping on a bus, I needed nothing more.  In heaven, Ellen and I were sent back to the hot stone room while Jaks and Hallie got their treatment.  We laid there blissfully until they returned, then went to cool off and get our towels.  I have never felt so clean.  We dried off, went back to our rooms to change back, and received our nice free glasses of apple tea.  The amount of free glasses of apple tea we have received on this trip cannot even be counted.  I love Turks.  We dried our hair, bundled back up for the cold, paid our 20 lira, and ventured back outside, refreshed. 

We walked around Urgup, found a doner kebab place to get  food, and then walked back to the Cappadocia Palace Hotel where our luggage was being held.  Again, we walked in and it was sitting there piles up just how we had left it.  Numan, our driver, and some other guys we had met along the way were waiting for us.  We changed in the bathroom and drank, yes, more free tea.  They made more jokes about marrying us, which we started to realize may not have been a joke.  We were a perfect Harem of 4 after all.  They all got excited when we asked to become facebook friends.  I seriously gained a whole crew throughout the week. 

We got a ride to another strange parking lot, where we boarded a bus.  Our tickets were close to the back, but not quite as bad as last time.  There were tons of people gathered for what we discovered was a send off party to the army.  He was probably the only kid to leave this tiny town, and everyone was there to say goodbye.  The kid and some others boarded the bus, and as everyone cried and waved we pulled away.  The bus seemed really empty and I was excited again to move up and spread out.  We stopped at the bus station to pick up more people, and once everyone was settled we spread out a bit.  After about 40 minutes of driving, the bus stopped in another small town, and we looked out the window not just to see tons of people waiting, but men and women loading our bus with giant sacks of potatoes.  What?  They were angry there was too much luggage and were all crowding around shoving at the sacks, loading the carrier. Apparently we were on the food transport to Istanbul.  I have to move back to my original seat next to Hallie as a small child was placed next to me and the mother yelled at me in Turkish.  The older daughter, looking so excited to use her English, saw my confusion and said “Seat.  Me.”  I moved, all four of us in a row, and we curled up as comfortable as we could on the bus and tried to sleep the night through.  We stopped again at the pay to pee in a hole place, and got to Istanbul in the morning.

When we got off the bus, we were expecting to see someone from our travel place with a van, as we had been informed.  After exploring and not seeing anyone, we got in a shuttle to Sultanahmet, the center of town, with another couple who were even more lost than we were.  Thankful it was actually free, we arrived back in town, and went to the travel agency to leave our bags, as they had also told us we could.  No one there.  So, we went back to Alkan’s shop around the corner.  He wasn’t there, but we told the guy there the situation, and he called our friend.  Waking him up as we later learned, Alkan gave us permission to use the basement as storage again.  Since nothing was opened yet, we went to Starbucks across the street to change and get a hot drink.  Like any good American tourist.  As if by perfect chance, what other American tourist do we see with the same plan?  Will, our San Francisco friend from the tram a few days back.  He had also just come in on an overnight bus, and had a few friends with him he’d met along the way.  We discovered he was on the same flight as us back to Tel Aviv, so we decided to spend the day together.  We waited a bit, but he had to go fight with the agent who booked his tour and try to get some money back for things he didn’t receive.  After things weren’t going his way, we exchanged numbers and left him behind to go to the Bazaars. 

We got directions to the Grand Bazaar to do some last day shopping.  This place is a giant, covered, street market, with stands and stores selling jewelry, lamps, scarves, souvenirs up the wazoo, basically anything you could imagine.  I tried to avoid spending money, and did pretty well.  Ellen bought lots of jewelry,  and Jaks and Hallie got some things as well.  I just enjoyed the bargaining.  Someone offered to “change my life” if I entered their shop.  No thank you.  One guy offered me a deal because it was his birthday.  I wonder if he says that every day.  Will called us and asked where the shop was so he could leave his stuff there and meet us.  When he finally found us in the Bazaar, he informed us he had met Alkan and gotten a full breakfast spread.  Maybe we should have waited for him!  Will showed up with  the crazy Mohawk man from the shop, who proposed marriage, then pointed us out the path to the Spice Bazaar.  Now a team of 5, we trekked for more shops and more bargaining.  This Bazaar had spices, teas, and tons of Turkish delight.  We again sampled as much as we could, and bought from the cheap one to take home.  Will decided he would send us on a mission.  He wanted a half kilo of instant apple tea, and a half kilo of natural.  For 15 lira.  We decided to divide and conquer.  Most places would give us a full kilo of instant for that, but not the combo he wanted for less than 20.  Hallie finally got an offer of 16.  We all rushed over, and Will said he would take the deal if they threw in the teacup set for 25.  They said 30.  He said 25.  They said 27.  He gave them 25 and they reluctantly handed over the bag.  Well done.  Well done. 

Souvenirs in tow, we made our way to a food stop.  Jaks, Hallie, and Will wanted fish sandwiches again from the boat.  Ellen and I got chickpea/rice/chicken on the street on the way.  We of course stopped for more mussels.  I should mention that our count for the whole trip, between the 4 of us, had now reached 59.  At 50 cents each though, I was okay with the 10 or so I had eaten over the 6 days.  We boogied back to Alkan’s to gather our stuff, a little later than we had planned.  He said he would call his taxi friend for us.  Another helpful friend of Alkan’s.  I love our fated meeting.  We ran into Will’s friend at the airport, mailed our postcards, and got settled at the gate.  At this point we decide Will would come back with us and sleep on our couch, and that some of us would show him around Jerusalem the next day.  Unfortunately I had to go to work.  Our gate changed a few times,  the plane was an hour delayed, but despite expected travel hitches flying into Israel from a country they don’t like, we made it home safe and sound by 8:30ish.  

Overall, the trip was an incredible experience.  Fate, luck, and a ton of friends along the way really made for an awesome time.  With most of the people we met, we avoided telling them we had come from Israel, due to the political unease.  We had gotten caught up in extensive lies at one point, but it made us feel better so it was ok.  Spent a lot of money, but saw some incredible things, ate great food, and really got a taste of the culture and language.  Couldn’t have asked for a better way to spend my break. 

Now, its back to work, and the Cultural Delegation for Israeli Theatre and Music coming quickly next week.  Can’t wait to tell you all about it.  As they say in Turkey “bye bye!”  I’m serious.  That’s what they say.  See you next time!

Thanksgiving Break in Turkey - Part I: Misadventures in Istanbul

Wow.  Just wow.  This trip was incredible.  Maybe it was the travel bug I caught at the Castle having been stifled all this time, coming back out to play, but whatever it was, Turkey was amazing.  This is gonna be a big one.

Hallie, Ellen, Jaks and I left early Friday morning, the 27th.  We knew we were off to a great start when our cab driver looked at us and blasted club music at 7:30am.  The flight there was relatively uneventful, 2 hours, smooth, and we arrived at Istanbul Ataturk Airport.  We waited in line for our visas, which cost us $20, but Jaks, the Canadian of the group, had to pay $60.  Isn’t it usually Americans that get the bad travel name??  Whatever.  We went outside, grabbed a cab, and the driver looked exactly what I imagined a Turkish man to look like.  Exactly.  He had long curlyish hair, and leather jacket, like a Turkish Uncle Jesse.  We sat in traffic for a while, maybe because of the Feast of the Sacrifice starting that day.  Our book had recommended not traveling the first few days of the Holiday, and we were hoping we wouldn’t regret not listening.  The cab driver didn’t speak English, and didn’t know where the hostel was, and we had the phone number but not the address, so Uncle Jesse called from his cell phone.  Next thing we knew, a large Turkish Man met us on the street and walked us there.  How sweet!  He was the owner of the Chambers of the Boheme, and he turned out to be a great asset on our adventures.  We dropped off our bags, and set out on our first adventure in Istanbul.

Because of the Feast of the Sacrifice, we had been informed most things would not be open, so we didn’t have much of a plan for day one.  We had also been told that families sacrifice goats and sheep on their lawns to commemorate the day, and we half expected to run into a sacrifice.  Good news though, the ritual indicated that the family eats 1/3, shares 1/3 with neighbors, and gives 1/3 to strangers and the poor.  We could have ended up with a goat sandwich!  But we didn’t.  Instead we ate every, and I mean every street food we passed.  This included Doner Kebab (Turkish showarma),  Mussels stuffed with seasoned rice, which the guy shucked and fed us, roasted chestnuts, popcorn, chocolate fountain dipped fruit, all cheap and (almost) all delicious.  We walked the trek from our part of town South across the bridge into the old city, just exploring along the way.  We walked through alleys covered in graffiti of fists and eyes, across the bridge full of fisherman selling their catch, and just explored the city at sundown.  Looking for a Turkish Bath, we ended up in a rather sketchy part of town, so we turned back and just went to see the Mosques in the dark.  We stumbled upon a Mosque accepting visitors, and took off our shoes to enter just in time for prayer.  It was beautifully tiled and decorated floor to ceiling.  We watched a bit, then left as the place closed after prayer.  We found out later it was the New Mosque.  We walked down the main streets of the city from there, sampling Turkish Delight at every store with a tray out, but not buying anything.  Rude?  Maybe.  Cheap.  Certainly.  On the way home, through the streets of Istanbul, we had more mussels, which quickly became a trend on the trip, some honey pastry stick things, stopped to use the McDonalds bathroom, and walked back across the bridge home to Taksim Square.

Back in Taksim, the restaurant, shopping, and bar centre of city on the North side of the bridge, we decided to find a place to go out for some food.  Yes, more food.  No judging.  We were experiencing culture.  We got a apple/mint nargila and an appetizer platter of traditional Turkish snacks.  The guys working there spent most of the evening in the upstairs section with us, telling us about the country and what we should see.  They invited us to come out the next night, which didn’t happen, but it was still the first impression we got of how nice and friendly Turkish people were.  Another trend we would discover. 

Day 2, Saturday, we woke up to our free breakfast in the Café Boheme next to our hostel.  Sufficient meal, certainly, of hard boiled eggs, bread with various spreads, and some veggies and olives.  We decided to take the shuttle/tram into the old city this time, with the goal of first visiting Topkapi Palace.  We asked an orange vested man in the station, and he circled Topkapi Station for us and told us how to get there.  We got off at Topkapi, a lot further down than we thought it was, and a nice man approached us asking if we needed help.  When we said we were looking for the Palace, he laughed.  We were in the completely wrong place.  Fortunately, he was headed the direction we were supposed to be going, so he offered to lead the way.  On the way, we mentioned we were thinking of planning a few days in Cappadocia or Ephesus and asked if he had any suggestions which.  He said his friend was a travel agent, and he would take us there.  We got off the tram, stopped by the gift shop he owned, and then he took us to MYSIA Travel Agency to introduce us to his friend.  We told him what we were thinking, and $230 later we had booked a travel package to Cappadocia.  It was fate.  2 overnight busses, saving us both plane fare and 2 nights of hotel, 2 full days of tours including lunch, 1 overnight hotel in Cappadocia, exactly what we needed.  A lot of money, but based on the circumstances that had led us there, we knew we had to go for it. 

After that, Alkan, our friend from the tram, led us to the visitor sights in the old city.  Instead of Topkapi as we originally planned, we decided to first visit the Blue Mosque, which had been number 1 on my list.  He took of his shoes and joined us inside!  “Don’t you have to go to work” we asked?   No!  It’s a holiday! Perfect, our own private guide.  The mosque, called Sultan Ahmet to the non tourist crown, was incredible.  Large, gorgeous, again floor to ceiling decorations.  Alkan led us through the square, pointing out monuments, then went on his way, leaving us at the entrance to Aya Sofia, telling us to meet him at his store later.  Aya Sofia, or Hagia Sofia is the Church of Holy Wisdom.  The others talked me into paying an extra 10 lira each to get a guided tour.  A nice Australian family joined us, as our guide, a history teacher, led us through the church converted to a mosque , telling us stories of the artists, designers, and worshippers along the way.  Turns out it was the world’s largest Christian place of worship for a while, before converted in 1453 and the artwork covered over by Islamic work.  When the place was declared a museum, the work was uncovered, perfectly preserved by accident.  Cool. 

After the tour we went back to the gift shop, where Alkan took us to meet another friend of his, a restaurant owner.  Is there anyone we need on this adventure that he doesn’t know?  He joined us, and got us a 7 lira price special for a sampling of everything the guy had made hat day.  We ate in style, nice home cooked comfort food.  Its nice to be full on a budget!  After our late lunch, we went to the Basilica Cistern, since we didn’t want to limit our time at the Topkapi Palace and put that off for the next day.  It turned out to be amazing.  An underground cistern, full of red lights illuminating pillars, and this dark, wet, eerie air.  In one corner was 2 Medusa heads, one on its side and one upside down.  No one knows why apparently.  It was really one of the coolest places I’ve ever seen, not sure I can even place why. 

After the old city,   we headed back to Taksim area to do some shopping and walk the streets.  On the train we met a guy from San Francisco, who we chatted with for a bit and found out he was visiting Turkey after a wedding in Tel Aviv.  He was overnight bussing to Cappadocia that night, as we were doing the next day.  More on him later.  In Taksim, again, the streets were packed with people, mostly men.  We stopped at the hostel for a nap, then went to meet Buket, a friend of Hallie’s from her study abroad in Australia who lived just outside of Istanbul.  She took us to a restaurant she would have gone to with her family, good, classic, Turkish cooking.  We had beef in this cream and eggplant sauce that was so rich and sooo delicious.  Dessert was rice pudding and shredded wheat pastry with pistachio and cheese.  Wow.  We ate well that night, and like a local.  Buket then took us to the bar area of Taksim and we  hopped a few different places trying local beer and wine.  Pretty tired, we said our goodbyes and went back to the hostel.

That wasn’t the end of that night though.  Hallie crawled into bed, and on the way to the bathroom to get ready for bed, we met the boys across the hall at the hostel, whom we had said hello to earlier.  Jarkko from Finland, Egert from Estonia, and Gabriel from Italy, all studying together in Ankara.  We referred to them as Finland, Estonia, and Italy, and they called us Chicago, Texas, Canada, and New York respectably.  They were about to head out, and wanted us to come with.  Because Hallie had already turned in, we convinced them to stay in the hostel and they went out to get beers and snacks.  We ended up staying up crazy late talking Israeli Politics (one of them was in a class and studying the topic on the plane), and life.  At almost 3:00, I decided since we were planning to wake up at 8 that I would head to bed.  Sometimes I hate when people aren’t smart, because Ellen and Jaks stayed up almost all night with them.  In the morning, at 8, Hallie and I woke up and started getting ready.  When they weren’t moving, we told them they were leaving without them and they both slept an extra few hours.  Hallie and I trudged through the rain to Dulmabahce Palace, on our side of the bridge.  We had student ids, so we got in for a full guided tour for 1 lira, as opposed to the usual 15 I think.  Nicely done.  We saw incredible chandeliers made of red crystal, crystal staircases, and some gorgeous curtains, rugs, and wall décor.  The tour lasted an hour, and we had a ways to walk to meet them again, so we had to skip part 2 of the tour, the Harem and family quarters more in depth.  For 1 lira, though, a-ok with me.  We walked back, uphill this time, and met Ellen and Jaks just in time for the end of our free breakfast. 

We found the boys again, woke them up, and said we would be back to pick them up to go to Topkapi Palace (finally) in 45 minutes.  We went shopping.  Over an hour later, we were still trying to pick out which lanterns we wanted to take home.  I settled on a purple/blue/white one that glowed red.  Jaks and Ellen both got different shades of browns and golds, and Hallie got a small yellow one.  Can’t wait to have a nice place to hang it.  Late, we headed back to find the boys, feeling kind of bad but toting our new souvenirs.  We ended up running into them on the street, and they informed us they had left us a note saying they wouldn’t have time for the palace since their flight was earlier then they thought.  We took a group shot, said our goodbyes, and went home to pick up our stuff.  We lugged our suitcases (glad I had my frame pack) on the tram back into town, and left our stuff in the basement of Alkan’s shop.  Again, quite a helpful friend we made.  We spent around 2 hours in Topkapi Palace (a 20 lira ticket : ( ) but didn’t do any guided tours or anything, just walked around the grounds.  Huge, could have been an all day endeavor.  We saw the treasuries, gardens, lots of rooms across the grounds, but unfortunately again didn’t have time to tour the Harem and family quarters before they closed.  Oh well.  Really pretty regardless. 

We stopped for dinner along the bridge at the boat we had been saying we should eat at since we first passed on day 1.  These boats lined the shore, rocking back and forth, full of grills where men in funny outfits cooked fish, allll day.  They passed the fish, in a hard roll with lettuce and onion, across the gap from water to land, to more men who served them to customers at little tables.  For 4 lira, we ate fish sandwiches with lemon juice.  Mine had a lot of bones.  But that’s ok.  For 4 lira, it was wonderful.  And quite an experience. 

In a bit of a hurry, we went back to the Alkan’s shop, and changed for our overnight bus.  The travel agent met us there, walked us around the corner to his shop, where we played with his cats, and one tiny baby kitten, while waiting for the shuttle to come get us.  The shuttle dropped us off in a random parking lot, where we, very confusedly, loaded our luggage and ourselves onto a coach bus.  We found out we had the back seats, which for a 10 hour bus ride did not excite little carsick me.  Once we had stopped at multiple pick up points, I found an empty seat close to the front and fortunately was able to spread out across two seats.  The other spread out in the back.  I took a Tylenol PM, and attempted to sleep my way to Cappadocia.  Didn’t do too badly actually, despite the fact that the bus stopped every 4 hours for a bathroom.  A bathroom that we had to pay for…  And that wasn’t a toilet…  Just a hole in the ground in the stall…  Whatever, it was the last bathroom for a while and we had to make due.  Passed out again on the bus, and at 7am arrived in Cappadocia.

TO FIND OUT WHAT HAPPENED TO BECKY, HALLIE, JAKS, AND ELLEN NEXT, TUNE IN NEXT TIME!  THANKSGIVING IN TURKEY PART II – CAPPADOCIA, COMING SOON!

Tiyul Up North! a.k.a. Mini Birthright

Trying to squeeze a blog entry in between trips so I don't forget everything I want to say!  Just got back from a 2 day tiyul with WUJS up North.  We traveled with the Jerusalem group of our program, which made for a nice change of group dynamic, and crammed a ton into our time together.  It kind of felt like a mini birthright; samples of lots of different cities, tours, lectures, hikes, awesomeness. 

We got picked up at 7 am, the Jeru kids already on the bus for an hour, and promptly found out that our hikes that day were not approved due to wet and slippery conditions.  Bummer.  They told us we were going to tour Acco instead.  Ha!  BeJAcco take 2!  We asked if we could be the tour guides.  The official tour guides of cool.  They said no.  That's okay, we don't know the history anyways, just whats pretty and has a good view.  We entered the same complex/courtyard where the theatre festival had been held, and where I had come on birthright.  We wandered the underground cities, learned the history of the Crusaders from our tour guide Etai, all while carrying around the super dorky lunch boxes they gave us that morning.  Then they took us to the Shuk.  Jaks and I remembered the incredible baklava place we had gone with Viola and Tomer, so we grabbed a few people and took them there when they released us for free time in the market.  I put on a glove to pack up a box for us, and we ended up getting 99 shekels worth of pastries for the 5 of us.  Covered in honey. Amazing.  We ate our box lunches and our plethora of pastries at the tables outside.  Yes, I know Dad, more food entries.  I can't help it.  It is Thanksgiving after all.  We saw a gutted shark hanging in the shuk.  Didn't want to forget to mention that. Anyways, Acco adventure take 2. 

After Acco, replacing our hike, we moved on as planned to Tzfat.  Love that city.  Tzfat is the home of kabbalah and spiritual judaism, and you can just feel it in the air.  We learned a lot from Etai and Shlomit (the Jerusalem Ricky) about the city and why everything is painted blue (so when the demons come down to get you they think it is still the sky and miss you).  We also visited Avraham, whom I saw on Birthright, and remembered quite well due to the fact that he's quoted several times on my trip t-shirt.  He is an artist, originally from Michigan, who apparently came on WUJS and now lives in Tzfat.  He is incredibly spiritual and believes in spreading the word of the kabbalah, and speaks to groups like birthright and us for free to share his knowledge.  He manages to sell plenty of his works to group members too.  All of his art reflects different elements of kabbalah.  He is a crazy, hippie-esque Jew, describing everything from the history of his name to the spiritual nature of meditation as "awesomely awesomely awesomely awesomely awesome" and "4 thoooooouuuuuusand years of awesome".  Despite teasing him, he is incredible knowledgeable and a fascinating perspective to listen to.  We stopped by the candle factory store, which I love, and I bought the apartment some pretty candles for Hanukkah and some gorgeous decorative shabbat candles.  Can't wait to put them on display.  We were also given some free time in the artist lane, and looked at beautiful jewelry and judaica, but I couldn't decide on anything to buy.  Guess I'll have to go back! 

After Tzfat we headed to the kibbutz where we were staying the night.  I roomed with Hallie, Donna, and Esther.  We ate a wonderful kibbutz meal, a spread of meats and salads, and then they attempted to set up a movie for us to watch.  After fiddling with the projector for 30 minutes, they gave up and sent us back to our rooms.  We had tvs though, which was a nice exciting change, so we were content.  We watched some random shows and a bit of a crazy zombie movie.  Hallie and I slept on a double bed/two twins awkwardly pushed together, and Donna ended up on a trundle bed.  Adorable.  I slept quite well actually. 

In the morning, we ate a wonderful israeli breakfast of eggs, cheeses, spreads, cereal, everything.  Straight out of birthright.  Love.  We packed ourselves lunches (and snuck some cheese spread on to our sandwiches, shhh) and hit the road.  Fortunately this hike was still going as planned.  Although there were 2 options, an easy hike and a slightly more strenuous hike, we all ended up staying together on the "challenging" trail in Banyas.  We learned all about the site, a christian holy site, and hiked the pretty shaded trails to a waterfall.  It wasn't the most beautiful hike, but I really enjoyed it, and learning about the history of the site really adds to the adventure.  We also made a stop to eat our lunches in the Golan Heights and had an incredible discussion/debate about the land situation, peace with Syria/Lebanon, Gilad Shalit, the I.D.F., Israeli Politics in general, and so much more while overlooking the border.  Really a great discussion.  It makes such a difference to be in the places, talking about them looking over the land, rather than watching the news.  Intense.  From there we stopped by another place I recognized from birthright (by the giant metal dinosaur statue).  It was an old army bunker, overlooking Syria, where we ran through the trenches, and shivered our butts off learning about the sight.  Hallie and I took a detour down some stairs, but found another tour group looking at the bunkers, and decided to leave before we got in trouble.  Etai and Shlomit lead another great chat, and, although really cold for the first time since I got here, learned a lot. 

We rode the bus home, about 3 hours, stopping every hour for a bathroom break at a gas station : /.  Being Thanksgiving, and already 7 pm, I wasn't quite sure what my dinner situation would look like.  I got home and not long after Michal and Chelsea showed up to start cooking.  I munched on their mashed potatoes, green beans, salad, etc, and had a brief makeshift Thanksgiving.  Not the real thing though without cranberry sauce, orange jello, and cork volleyball.  I'm thankful though for being in this incredible country, for learning a lot these past few days, for my family and friends safe at home where there is peace, and so much more.  A weird Thanksgiving away from the family, but a good one.  Besides, who needs to eat turkey when you are GOING THERE TOMORROW!!


I apologize for my lack of detail.  I may add in more later, just wanted to get the framework down.  I kind of want to go to bed since I'm going to Turkey Tomorrow!!! So psyched.  Can't wait to tell you all about it.  Happy Thanksgiving, hooray hooray hooray, aren't you glad you're not a turkey on this Thanksgiving day!

A Jew and a Christian walk into an Arab Bar...

It's been a while since I wrote!  Sorry for keeping you all waiting to hear about my adventures.  I should start with Jerusalem.  Yes, again, Jerusalem to meet a friend.  This time, it was Emma Wiegand, a good friend of mine from Emerson.  She was visiting Israel with her godfather, and staying with a friend of his, an Irish priest.  And no, to answer your question, Emma is not Jewish.  This made for a very different Jerusalem experience.  I took a sherut in to the city around noon on Saturday, and wandered through the shopping on David St. waiting to hear from her.  She didn't have a cell phone so I had to just wait until she could reach me.  Fortunately it wasn't too long, and she said they were on their way back from Bethlehem and asked to meet at the Damascus Gate, near where they were staying.  I guess I should explain this now.  They were staying with Brendan, their Irish Priest friend, at a church in the Muslim quarter.  This meant little Jewish Becky walking by herself from the Jewish Quarter, into the Muslim quarter, and out the gate to meet them.  I confidently strode through the Old City, watching as the clothing changed from American tourist garb to long skirts and full head coverings, and items being sold changed slowly from Judaica to spices.  I made it through allright, no worries, just a whole new view.

I took Emma back around to the Jaffa Gate, the main entrance to the Jewish quarter (this time around the outside) to do some shopping since she hadn't been yet.  We both bought hamsa charms, wandered around through the Jewish, Christian, AND Muslim shopping areas, and just chatted catching up.  We bought some cool looking pastry balls from an Arab place.  The guy explained them to me in Hebrew, I heard d'vash, or honey, and we decided to go for it.  They were these gooey, sticky, shiney, honey balls, and were amazingly sweet and quite tasty. This was just the beginning of my new view of Jeru though.  We decided to head back to Lion Gate near where she was staying to see the church and rest for a few.  We got lost several times, got several sets of directions, in Hebrew and English, and eventually found it.  We talked Israeli politics for a bit, rested our feet, and then met back up with her godfather and Brendan.  We decided to join them for dinner, and made a reservation at a restaurant.  This restaurant turned out to be outside the old city, and not on the Jewish side.  The signs in the area were all in Arabic and English.  The first signal we were out of Jewish territory.  When Emma ordered a Goldstar from the menu, my favorite Israeli beer, and they replied "We only serve Palestinian beers here", I decided using my Hebrew probably wasn't the best idea.  It wasn't necessarily uncomfortable, just different.  I've gotten used to being surrounded by Jews, and actually felt like the minority.  In Israel.  Weird.

I explained to them what some if the menu items were, and Emma and I both ordered labaneh and salmon sandwiches, basically lox and cream cheese on toast.  Yuummmmy.  They were asking me the same political questions Emma did, and it was nice to feel like the one in the know for a change.  We had some fascinating conversations actually.  I was really glad to have met them all.  It  was great to get to catch up with Emma.  I tried to convince her to stay for the nest weekend and come to Tel Aviv, but alas, she could not.

Another exciting adventure of the week, Chels and I got free tix through her work for a dance show at the Opera House.  Jaks interns there, and made several of the props for the show.  It was a nice hybrid of my roommates work.  Called, Rooster, it was a crazy new dance show choreographed by Barak Marshall.  A mix of several stories, and really entertaining.  Confusing, and a bit strange, but I tend to like that kind of thing.  We met up with Chelsea's supervisor afterwards, who invited us backstage to the opening night party.  We wove through the halls of the Opera House to a rehearsal studio, with a giant buffet table and little cafe tables.  We met Barak Marshall and saw lots of the dancers, and enjoyed a nice free glass of wine.  We go to the theatre in style around here!


Whew.  Field trip time.  This Tuesday we went to the Ayalon Institute in Rehovot and Palmach Museum in Tel Aviv.  The Ayalon Institute is the site of the Kibbutz that disguised an underground bullet factory during the war of independence.  We watched a video, then took a tour of the underground factory.  We couldn't enter through the laundry as they did back then, but we entered through the bakery where they brought in equipment.  We wandered through room by room, with cheesy sound effects and cut outs of people, and even learned how to make a bullet.  We learned that the people living on the kibbutz who did not know what was going on under their feet were known as giraffes, and there were quite a lot of them.  The factory workers had to go tanning and eat special food supplements to be and look healthy enough to keep the secret that they were working underground instead of the fields as they told people.  Interesting story behind everything. 

The next stop of our tour was the Palmach Museum.  It is an interactive museum telling the story of a group of Palmach soldiers during the war of independence and the beginning of the I.D.F.  Instead of just looking at things and reading, it was like walking through time into different rooms decorated like different environments with projected videos and various things around.  I feel like the Hebrew playing overhead was much more exciting than the English translation in our headpieces, but still, a great way to experience history.  I learned a lot on this trip.  And I wasn't even bored doing it.  That's the way it should be I feel, interesting enough that you don't realize you are learning history.  Well done Sheldon Shulman, well done. 

News!  I got a haircut.  A big one.  I went to a school called Shiki Zukri Duri, for a 35 shekel cut with one of the stylists in training.  Between that and the language gap, I didn't quite get what I asked for, but I am quite happy with the outcome anyways.  A short bob, shortest its ever been I think, and side bangs, for the first time since I was a little kid.  I like it.  Different, but good.  I'll post pix soon soon! 

And now for your video update of the week.

Jacob's WUJS videos:
WUJS Video 5
WUJS Video 6

A video I made for work, about our company, for U of I entrepreneur week.  Long story.  Later.  Just watch for now.  Don't laugh, its a little embarrassing.
My EVE Video

And a tribute to my friend Matt Starring who died of Lukemia last week.  He was in my theatre ed program at Emerson and a great kid.  Very talented actor, singer, and teacher and an incredible person.  Wish I could have known him better.
Mattsgiving
Matt's story

Article

Article in Haaretz about programs like mine.  Mike, the WUJS director is quoted.

Read it!

Enjoy.

Goat Herding and Pita Making

Shalom!  Had a double long Ulpan on Monday, so I'm enjoying a nice night off tonight.  Figure I might as well share it with you.  So what has happened this week?  Can't recall if I mentioned this yet or not, but Chelsea now has a new internship at Suzanne Dellal, a dance center in Neve Tsedik, and is doing a job similar to mine.  We probably even have some of the same contacts which is cool.  She got free tickets to a dance show last Thursday which was really cool, a group from Korea.  The 3rd and last piece of the performance was this incredible duet between 2 amazing male dancers, perfectly in sync, and was just jaw droppping.  The first 2 were good, but this one was great.  Really glad I went.  We have tickets to another show tomorrow, one that Jaks actually worked on at the Opera House which I am really excited about.  It's great that Chels is getting me back into dance!

Friday night I went out with the Birk family for Yael's birthday.  The entire family was there, all of whom I had met except for Merav.  It was awesome to finally meet her.  We've been in touch on the phone and via facebook, but now that we have met in real life I am looking forward to making plans and getting to know her better.  It's nice to get away from the "dorms" for a bit and hang out with other people so i am hoping to have plans soon.  Everyone is doing well and sends their love.  I even got some nice cozy socks!  (I'm wearing them right now) I love getting gifts on other people's birthdays.

Saturday night, we went to a rally in Rabin Square, a memorial concert for Yitzhak Rabin.  We met Michal's brother, ran into Ricky, and just sat around the crowded square listening to music and speeched in Hebrew. It was really cool to be a part of it.  We got lots of שלום עכשיו stickers.  The four of us went to grab ice cream, and discovered it was much cheaper to get a half kilo to share than 4 individual cups, so we each picked a flavor which the lady packed into a big tub, and we went at it with 4 spoons.  Best 10 shekels I ever spent. 


So, Tuesday, siyur day, was one of our best yet.  It was a place called Neot Kedumim - check out their website.  It is a biblical landscape reserve, and they host groups for leadership training and stuff like that.  We started off with a few cheesy communication/bonding games.  This place is basically covered in trees and plants mentioned in the bible.  And animals.  Our next exercise in communication was a sheep/goat herding challenge.  The first half of our group stepped into the fenced area, and were given the task of gathering the animals and leading them from one marked circle to the next as a herd.  They got off to a rough start, but eventually succeeded.  They started yelling "Yalla" which means let's go in Hebrew, and used giant sticks like a staff.  My group then had to re gather them together and lead them across the pasture to a hay bail, preventing them from touching or entering the marked circle.  We got off to a good start, but finally failed trying to get them to walk up the hill to the hay bail.  I made friends with one brown goat, who was listening to me at first, but after shoving his butt for a few minutes with him stubbornly standing there, I moved on to other tactics.  We learned later that the trick is finding the natural leader of the group and getting it to move, then following behind the herd to keep them in line.  We attempted this, looking for a strong looking male, but we learned that the leader is always a goat, not a sheep, and always a female.  Oops.  "To lead the people, walk behind them", that's what my stage management teacher always used to say.  Now I really get it.

Covered in sheep yuck, it makes perfect sense that the next stop would be to make food.  We all doused ourselves with purell, then were given a quick lesson on the spice zaatar.  We have learned to love zaatar since moving here, and immediately recognized the smell when our guide showed us fresh hyssop leaves.  We promptly chewed them.  Hyssop is apparently known as the humble plant, needing very little care and providing a lot.  The cedar on the other hand is the strong, dominating plant, but is very difficult to grow properly.  Our guide made some serious biblical metaphors from that.  She then gave us some dried leaves from the plant, to which we added some lemony sumac seeds, and crushed them with a mortar and pestle.  She gave us little baggies, which we filled with our new green spice, made the obligatory "can't go through customs with this" and "200 shekels a bag" jokes, and pocketed our fresh, homemade seasoning.  From there, we scrubbed up, and set out to an area covered in fire pits and circles of benches.  I called fire building duty and Jamie and I camped out next to one pit, a small group of boys by another.  We made a one match fire, thank you very much, and made other people gather wood.  It was a good deal.  Other people went to work making pita dough.  We laid a metal hood over the fire, and cooked our very own fresh pitas right on it over the fire.  I made 3.  Sooo good.  We dipped them in olive oil and our fresh made zaatar, and in date honey, which is my new favorite.  Incredible snack.  Our guide also helped us toast wheat over the boys fire, with olive oil, which made a popcorn like snack.  Full of pita and honey and snacks, I barely ate my lunch.

After lunch, we left the reserve for The Jaffa Institute.  Site! One of our WUJies interns there.  It is a not-for-profit that has various programs set up to help end the cycle of poverty in Jaffa-Tel Aviv.  They have after school programs with a hot lunch and homework help, job skill training classes for women, food delivery, and a ton of great stuff like that.  We all volunteered, packing up boxes of dry food to be delivered to needy families.  I hope someone has a good meal because of the cereal and pasta and chocolate spread I packed.  After that we went to visit one of the sites of the after school programs and got to meet and play with some of the kids in the program.  I forgot how much I miss teaching.  I spoke to them only in Hebrew (yay!) and had a really good time.  They were incredibly rowdy, and not very well behaved, but they were doing a fun code breaking/puzzle game, which I helped some of them with.  A lot of people got bored or frustrated, but I jumped right in to do whatever I could.  It reminded me a lot of my Coyote Playwriting class actually.  I miss spending time with kids, and teaching, and all that.  I e-mailed the woman in charge to see if I could come in and help out again, teach a theatre game or two, but she said she couldn't take someone who didn't speak Hebrew because the kids "need strong discipline and  will take advantage of a situation where you might not understand them"  Sad, but I guess I understand.  Oh well.  I guess I'll just have to come back to Israel and teach English or something one of these days...  Still a great day regardless.  

Honestly one of my favorite field trips.   Homemade pita and playing with 10 year olds?  What's not to love.  I hope we have more siyurim like this, not so much tour based, but just cultural and fun.  Love this country, as usual.  

Shalom!

More Videos

And, I figure I might as well post the rest of the video updates while I'm at it.

WUJS Update 3

WUJS Update 4

Enjoy!

Work/Networking Update

As promised, here is an update on what I've been up to at the internship.  It is still going very well, and I am really starting to get my own responsibilities which is great.  Tomer is in Paris this week, and I'm on my own with Viola.  I'm I'll be e-mailing him, and have a list of questions, but it'll be nice to be independent.

So, as you probably know, most of my correspondence is with people and companies outside of Israel.  I did do some good business with a woman at the New Center for Arts and Culture in no where else but the great city of Boston.  And about the exact halfway point between my North End apartment and Campus.  Meaning I walked past this office everyday without even knowing it existed.  Nothing is finalized, but it looks like there is good potential they will book Eshet for sometime in the future, and that means I may be able to see my handiwork for myself one of these days back in the States.  Yay.  Also, I want to share with you a bit from an e-mail I received from a nice woman in London.  Unfortunately, her company won't be able to host our show, but she was kind enough to say, "It fills the heart with much pride that such wonderful work is being created in Israel and that so much talent is to be found in this small country."  Definitely posted that on our new facebook page!  Facebook has been my fun new project.  I asked if I could make the page because our current facebook profile is in Hebrew and deals only with local productions.  Hebrew is of no use to me and my international market, so I made a new one in English focusing on the plays I am marketing abroad.  Check it out here and feel free to become a fan or post a comment.  I am hoping to beef it up a bit, but I think its pretty cool so far.  I also made a LinkedIn page today for the company (and myself while I was at it) but I'm pretty clueless as to how the site works so I'll have to play with that one before I can really use it.  Feel free to find me if you have a profile.

If you want to read a bit more about my job and the company, WUJS did a feature article about me for the website recently.  Pretty cool.  Read it   AND my video profile is up on youtube.  Watch it

Today, Amy, Mike, Ricky, and their intern Allison (all from WUJS) came to visit me at work.  I got to take a little break from the computer to tell them what it is that I do exactly and a bit about the company.  It was nice to fill them all in (and I felt kind of important).  I also learned that Amy is teaching a theatre class for the Year Course program (MASA post high school - pre college).  When I mentioned my background was in theatre education, she got excited and said we needed to talk.  I hope I can offer her lesson plans or games and maybe even help out in the classroom a bit.  I'll keep you posted. 

Speaking of networking, I may have mentioned earlier that Ricky asked me to be on a panel at the JCCs of North America convention.  The panel consisted of Me, Seth, another guy from my program, and 2 other girls, one who just made aliyah and one who completed Career Israel last year and is still here... The discussion was about how the JCCs can reach our age group, college and post college, where they felt they were lacking.  They are hoping to develop more programming to bring our age group to the JCC and basically to promote Israel without relying on Taglit-Birthright.  Fair enough.  I haven't set foot in a JCC since Shining Lights and unless they change their programming wasn't planning on it probably until I have kids of my own.  Haha.  So, we told them what would bring us in.  We discussed how we can get Israel news on our own, but Israeli culture would be a big draw to an organized facility.  Israeli movie night (with free food and Jewish singles), an Israeli cooking class targeted to college students (with free food and Jewish singles) or a concert from an Israeli band (with free food and Jewish singles).  I also explained how it could be cool to collaborate with Hillels from local colleges.  That way Hillel could do cooler things with their financial support, and the JCC could get a great social database.  I also mentioned how cool it would be if they hosted a theatr eproduction/workshop from Israel (hint, hint, through EVE).  They all laughed, but I did manage to get the business card of one of the JCCs of America Program Directors and a local actor who works as the arts representative for Makom Haaretz, a section of the local liberal English newspaper.  He invited me to see his show next week, and although I am not sure I can go, I am hoping to sit down and talk with him and see if we can collaborate at all.  I would love to get him to post a story about EVE or one of our shows. Overall, it was an awesome opportunity to talk, and a great chance to network.  I also feel, that as I was talking to them about Israel, and telling them my story, that I solidified a lot of thoughts that have been floating through my head.  As the only one on the panel not considering or in the process of aliyah, I had a different perspective to share, but I also confirmed for myself that this won't be my last time here.  Now, after spending time here, I am eligible to staff Birthright, which means an endless supply of free trips back here.  Don't worry Mom, I'm not moving here, just not planning to let it get too far behind me. 

That's about all for now, just a quick plug.  If any of you know of any Jewish Theatres, JCCs, or anything of the sort that may be interested in hosting an Israeli production, let me know.  We are hoping to do a North American tour of Eshet in late 2010/early 2011 and would love to get as many stops as possible.  Shameless marketing, I know, but figure its worth asking.  Check out the facebook page again for info/pix from Eshet and some of the other shows, and please pass it on to anyone you know who may be interested.  Thanks a bunch!  Love and miss you all : )

Another week gone by... HALLOWEEN SAMEACH!!

I think this is the longest it's been since I wrote since I started this thing!  Hard to think back almost a whole week.

Tuesday our siyur to the embassies was cancelled, but hopefully rescheduled soon.  Instead we took a walking tour of Jaffa.  I recognized a lot of things from birthright, and its a pretty port town, but overall it was pretty unstimulating.  We had a bit of discussion about coexistance and the arab population within the city, but mostly just walking around seeing the sights.  We did get to sleep in though, which was quite a plus.  Had a nice day off to just relax and do nothing.  Much needed I might add.

Wednesday, work and ulpan.  Nothing too exciting.  Thursday, went to work and then since our hiking in Israel information session was canceled for the THIRD time, got to take a nice nap after work.  Thursday night went out with my new Israeli friends.  Had my first sabich, eggplant and hard boiled egg in a pita with various toppings.  Yummy.  Galit would be proud.

Friday, I slept most of the day, and then went out with the gang to a club for a bit.  The only reason we got in is because there were 8 American girls.  The first time standing out and being obnoxious speaking English worked in our favor...  It was nice, but I really miss the smoking ban.  Israeli bars are much stinkier than Boston or Chicago. 

Saturday, I took a sherut into Jerusalem in the morning to see Kyler again.  I realize I never explained before to those of you who don't know him.  Kyler was a good friend of mine from Emerson, an actor/director I worked with a lot.  He graduated after junior year and recently went on a program to Tanzania to teach HIV and AIDS education to villages, and learned Swahili.  Crazy, I know, but awesome.  Basically, we haven't spoken in over a year, but leave it to us to reunite in Israel.  I went out in the morning and my sherut driver was super nice, so he took me right to the Zion gate to meet them without charging me more.  Awesome.  Granted it took a bit for me to find him and his family, winding through the Old City, but we finally connected and I joined his family and some other folks from their temple trip.  Kyler wasn't kidding when he said they were the youngest of the group, and the next youngest was his mother.  Anyways, I followed them around a bit, then a bunch of them went back to their hotel and Kyler, his Mom, Aunt, and I ventured into the markets of the Old City.  Kyler was on a mission to buy a few gifts, and also to find a rug for his new apartment in NY.  He exercised his bargaining skills, and quite successfully I might add, and foudn what he was looking for.  The first few rugs were way, way, out of the price range, but he finally found a nice brown and tan patterned one that was already half price according to the owner, and got him down (in dollars) from 75 to 60.  Not too shabby.  We grabbed a falafel/shwarma for lunch, wandered a bit more, then went back to their hotel.  The David Citadel, a fancy shmancy hotel in fact.  We crashed a lecture with their tour guide briefly, then we met up with the rest of their family a little later to wander Jerusalem some more, and decided to stop at a burger place.  They only had dollars left, but they fortunately took credit card so we were a-ok.  Kyler and I had already eaten so we had Tuborg, a beer I like here, and he attempted to sound out all the English named cocktails spelled out in Hebrew on the menu.  We went back to the hotel again, and I just relaxed while they all showered and finished packing. 

Lucky me, crashing a temple tour group, but I got to join them for dinner.  Waiting for the bus at the hotel I explained to a lot of curious temple folk who I was and what I was doing there, and for the first time I was the token Hebrew speaker of the group, teaching random people vocab of the things in the room.  I then rode the bus with them and their luggage from the hotel to Beit Ticho. It's a dairy/vegetarian restaurant, and we were served an endless supply of family style goodness.  Quiches, salads, mushroom blintzes, yummy.  And not to mention a large plate of various cakes to share.  Delicious.  Their tour guide did a closing speech, as it was the last night of their trip, and then they filed out to the bus to the airport.  I had been planning on riding the bus with them from Jerusalem to the airport, as the airport is much closer to my apartment, but it turned out their travel guide guy lived in Tel Aviv and had driven to Jerusalem to meet them that night.  He offered me a ride back into the city and ended up dropping me off at home.  Very nice and very convenient.  We talked travel plans as well, and he offered to help as I was planning Israel travel with Mom and Dad.  I'll talk to you about it soon.  This guy also happens to have a sister in theatre in New York, and pretty much booked Kyler an audition on the spot.  Kyler is now moving to New York city one step ahead.  Look at that, networking in the Holy Land. 

So, I got home at a reasonable hour thanks to my tour guide friend, and had plenty of time to get ready for Halloween.  Halloween in Israel, an interesting day.  No one does anything really, as they have Purim, but we did manage to find a party at a bar called the Culture Club.  Pretty much all Americans, but fun none the less.  I dressed up as a butterfly, or par par in Hebrew.  Had to be extra creative this year, and make things from what I had with minimal spending and materials, so I ended up wearing black tights, little pink shorts, a black tank top, wings made out of a bath mat, and antennas made from a blue coat hanger.  The bath mat was formally feet, but I cut off the toes and the shape and pattern worked surprisingly well.  Pictures coming soon.  Again, I have to say, I really have learned to appreciate the smoking ban in the bars and restaurants I go to at home.  It was pretty bad.  Overall though, a really good night and a fun excuse to party on a work night. 

Lot's more to talk about regarding work and WUJS, but I'll save that for the next entry.  Halloween Sameach!

Maccabi! Maccabi! Maccabi!

Sooo, Saturday night, after a long lazy day of doing nothing, we decided to go on a spontaneous field trip to the Maccabi Tel Aviv soccer game against Ramat Gan.  I was hesitant to go, not sure i would enjoy it, but the roomies convinced me.  I decided if I was doing it, i was doing it right, so I decked out in team colors.  In yellow shorts over my leggings and a blue shirt, we ventured on the bus to the stadium. We got in line to buy tickets, but found out we were on the Ramat Gan side.  You couldn't even by tickets for Tel Aviv, so we walked around the stadium and waited in the much longer, much bluer and yellower line.  Tickets were 80 shekels, although we found out later that girls can get in for the kids price, 40 shekels.  There were less than 20 women in the entire stadium so that makes sense.  Too bad we didn't know to ask for them.  Oh well, next time.  We got our tickets, got Maccabi scarves to fit in with the crowd and have a nice souvenir, and waited in line to get in.  Security, as in most of Israel, was airport tight, and we got frisked, patted down, and every bag in my purse was opened and dug through.  Guess I feel much safer knowing they do that though.

The stadium was loud, and only the Maccabi side was full.  Lots of yellow and blue, very little red, just a small section on the side.  The Maccabi stands on the other hand, had an entire section devoted to screaming, jumping, shirtless men.  Unlike in the States, they weren't selling alcohol, so these guys were running on pure fan mayhem.  They did not stop jumping and leading the crowd the entire game.  Ramat Gan scored early on a penalty kick, and although they weren't playing that well, Tel Aviv picked up in the second half and won the game 3-1.  Even though I hesitated, I'm glad I went.  It was an awesome experience, people watching, etc, and I would definitely do it again.

Also that night, some of our WUJS friends were participating in the Nike Night Run - Human Race 10K.  It was a global event that weekend, and we hoped to catch the end of the race and cheer them on.  Unfortunately it was a bit late, and we didn't know where they end was.  So, we decided to go to the start, Rabin Square.  We pretended to run our own races, in flip flops and our crazy team spirit, and found a nice man to ask how far the finish line was.  He said 10 kilometers.  Haha, very funny.  Direct walk, he said it was around 2K, so we started the trek.  Still wearing our scarves, we literally got stopped by runners on every block asking what we soon found out meant "did we win" and "what was the score".  We taught ourselves to say "3 - 1 to Tel Aviv"  and made a lot of friends on the way.  Lots of sweaty, fit, attractive, runner man friends.  I have never had so much fun walking down the street dressed like a maniac. 

When we got to Yarkon Park and the finish line, most people were done running and on their way out, but we got to see a few stragglers cross.  We also, by incredible chance, ran into Harold, Sarah, Jamie, and Vivian, the 4 WUJS runners. None of them had cell phone so we weren't sure we would.  They were rosy cheeked matching their fancy red t-shirts and drinking giant water bottles.  Looking good.  We walked around a bit, then headed back to where we came from to catch a bus home.  I was tired, and all I did was walk about 5K, but it was almost midnight.  What a jam packed fun adventure.

To continue the crazy weekend, Sunday I went to work, came home and took a nap, then met the group to take the bus to Jerusalem (take 3) for the Idan Raichel concert.  It was a MASA event for all the MASA sponsored groups (high school in Israel, year course, post college programs like ours).  They definitely had ulterior motives though, as they began the night with several speakers talking about making Aliyah and being ambassadors and advocates for Israel upon returning home, if we returned home.  Don't worry, I will.  But anyways, after that an Israeli dance troupe performed a mutli cultural dance number, a show choir type group performed Halleluyah, and they showed videos of 3 MASA program participants before and during their Israeli experiences.  Finally, the Idan Raichel Project took the stage.  Idan Raichel is an Israeli musician/singer/pianist, with amazing dreadlocks, and the group is made up of singers and musicians from several countries.  They sing in several languages, including Hebrew, Spanish, and English.  Definition of world music.  I only knew a few songs that I had looked up in anticipation of the night, but I really really enjoyed it.  First thing I did when I got home was buy a CD on iTunes.  Really glad I went, opened my eyes to the genre for sure. If you get a chance, check out "Boee" or "Chalamot Shel Acharim" on youtube.

Guess I gotta go, its Chelsea's bday tomorrow and we are going up on the roof tonight to celebrate for a bit since we have a late day tomorrow.  Birthday shout out if you're reading this!!!  HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHELS!  YOM HULEDET SAMEACH!  Love from the holy land, and talk to you soon!

Jeru Take 2; A Spiritual Quest B.C.

Shabbat Shalom! This may be another one that requires a cup of coffee, so put down the newspaper and get comfy.

This weekend consisted of surprise after spontaneous surprise.  Firstly, I see on facebook on Wednesday Kyler Taustin "Leaving for Israel tonight".  What?  We quickly exchanged numbers and he called me as soon as they landed.  I picked up the phone, asking if he was tired yet, because I had gotten theatre tickets.  He laughed, but he and Cole, his brother, met up with the 4 of us and Tomer and his friend that night to go see "Telekinesis", a piece by one of the artists we represent, Ariel.  Before the show, all the audience waited in a cafe like space, so Kyler and I got a chance to catch up.  It's crazy how long its been since we've talked.  Cole bonded with Michal and Chelsea over culinary arts, and we talked theatre and life.  I love reunions like this.  The show itself was a crazy dance/theatre/movement piece, with thankfully very little text.  I can't even really explain it.  Let's just say it involved some sexual imagery, balloons, red high heels, and the Single Ladies dance as perfomed by three amazing male dancers.

We didn't have much time to chat after the show, because we had the official WUJS party with the Jerusalem kids at a bar called Alice.  Kyler and Cole were toooo tired, so they went home, but the 4 of us hopped a cab to the penthouse bar on the 16th floor.  The bar was packed with WUJies, and several of the Israeli friends we've met along the way.  Had a few drinks with Ricky, Amy, and Mike, and the gang, and made some new friends along the way.  Since the Jerusalem kids were all in Tel Aviv for the party, they had hired a bus to take them back into Jerusalem at 1am.  Chelsea and I were planning to trek Jerusalem for the weekend, so we made arrangements to take the bus with them and sleep on someone's couch that night to get an early start in Jeru.  Perfect plan, right?  Hitch a free ride?  Of course it was too perfect.  Apparently the only people who knew we were coming were drunky mcdrunk drunk and at 1:00 when we got outside, the bus was driving down the road.  Shocked that anything in Israel would actually leave on time we ran around a bit and tried to get a hold of them, but to no avail.  Angry, we hiked home instead.  Glad we had been lugging our backpacks around to the theatre and bar...

We decided we were going anyways, got a good night's sleep in our own bed, and woke up early.  By 9:00 we were on our way to the bus station for Jeru Take 2.  We took a bus to Central Station in Jerusalem, planning our day on the way there.  We brought our MASA guide to Israel and wrote down all the things that looked interesting.  Both of us had gone on birthright and done most of the important tours, so this was more of an exploration day.  Turned out quite well actually.  We got off the bus, and found central station on the map.  After wandering a bit, and not finding any streets we recognized, we asked for the first time of many, "aifo the fuck anachnu".  Excuse my french.  We walked into the Jerusalem Gate Hotel, where I stayed on birthright actually, and asked them to point us on the map where we were.  Turns out we weren't looking at the right station, so we got our bearings and hit the road.  We first ventured to an area on the map that looked like a park.  We found the Supreme Court, a rose garden, a cemetery, and the Knesset.  On Fridays you can only get so close to the Knesset, but we explored a bit, and latched on to an English speaking tour group for a few minutes. 

We decided, to continue our spiritual quest that was one day in Jerusalem by finding the Greater Diskin Orphanage.  Pappa Sel e-mailed me explaining "When my mother's sister Freda Berlin died, she remembers in her will the Greater Diskin Orphanage in Jerusalem.  Each year, Roquel and I have been sending them a contribution."  He requested we make a visit if ever in the area so we gave it a go. We saw Diskin street on the map, close to where we were, so we asked the Knesset Guard if he had any idea where the place may be.  We had an address, but couldn't find it on the map and there was no answer to the phone number we had.  The guard recommended we walk to Diskin street and asked there.  We trekked uphill, asked around, and no one had any clue.  We decided to get in a cab, ask if it was close, and if not just head towards the old city and give up.  He said 3 km, so we went.  He dropped us off on Reines street, and we went through the gate of the Beit Diskin Educational and Charitable Institution.  It was a beautiful building, and we walked through the grounds to take some pictures.  Within a minute or 2 a group of Yeshiva students started yelling at us in Hebrew.  Not sure what they were saying, but understanding the tone, we decided taking pictures in t-shirts and shorts probably made us look a bit out of place, so we left.  Unfortunately we didn't get to talk to anyone, as nothing seemed open, and we were in trouble, so we left.  After looking online later we discovered the building now operates as an ultra religious boarding school.  It all makes sense now.  Regretting not asking the cab driver to wait for us, we made our way back to a main road through a rather religious neighborhood.  We got a lot of awkward looks, and walked pretty quickly.  We found a new cab and set out for the next leg of our spiritual quest.


He dropped us off just outside the Jaffa gate.  We ventured into the old city and wandered through the shops on David street.  We decided on the train that we were going to see the Muslim quarter that day, so we looked around for some scarves so we were dressed appropriately.  Mine for my knees, Chelsea her elbows.  We found some beautiful pashminas, and the salesman was a nice young guy.  He offered us the 40 shekel scarves for 30 shekels.  We said how about 2 for 50.  He hesitated, said 55, and without us saying a nother word said Ok 50.  Amazing.  For 25 sheks each.  Starving, from there we went to find lunch. We wandered through the old city and bit found a nice looking restaurant close by.   They had no menus, so he just told us what they had.  We decided on chicken shwarma and chicken kabobs to share.  He told us to go get our extras from the salad bar, self serve.  And asked if we wanted hummus.  Thinking he meant with the shwarma I said yes.  That was my first mistake.  We ate our salads, he brought us hummus, and pita, and chips (fries) and our chicken, and we stared at the feast in front of us.  We ate, as much as we could, then asked for the cheshbon and bags to go.  The service was pretty crappy, but eventually he came to us with a calculator.  He added up each individual item.  Literally, each.  individual.  item.  Despite the fact that we didn't ORDER the fries, or the salads, he just brought them, we were charged.  We argued a bit, but there was only so much we could do.  We paid the bill, but didn't tip.  We brought home as much as we could, so at least we get 2 meals out of the outrageous cost.  We also learned a valuable lesson about being American tourists...


On the train we had read about the Via Delorosa walk, where Jesus walked with the cross, and decided it could be an interesting experience.  On Fridays, at 3:00, the trek was supposedly led by Monks.  As long we we're here, why not follow the monks.  We checked with some police men to make sure we were okay to enter the Muslim quarter today, and they said as long as we covered up we were fine.  We wrapped ourselves in our new discounted scarves and followed the map.  A bit lost in the maze of the old city, we saw a monk running by.  He must have been late.  We declared "follow that monk" and did our best to run after him.  We lost him, but looked up and saw we were exactly where we wanted to be.  We followed the trail backwards to the start.  We found station 2, and a large crowd gathered outside of a churchy building, but couldn't find 1.  We walked down a bit more and ran into a group of people discussing in English the same quandary.  We joined forces and attempted to find the beginning of the trail, a Muslim school.  We talked with our new friends, and discovered one of them was from Australia, spending 6 months in the Middle East reading the bible and visiting all the places he read.  He had just come from 2 months in Syria and 2 months in Jordan.  We assured him he was sure to find a few places here in Israel as well.  The other men he was with asked where we were from.  I said Chicago, he smiled so I asked where he was from.  He said the Chicago area as well, Highland Park.  I laughed and said Deerfield.  He asked me if I knew John Scornavacco, a former DHS principle.  Of course I know who he is, and he went on to tell me they graduated from HPHS together.  Funny coincidences here in the holy land.  We figured out at that point that the churchy building we were at before must have been the school, so we went back and latched on to the procession, now moving.  There was someone leading the way, or perhaps a few people, telling the story at each stop into a microphone in about 6 languages.  There was a very, very attractive monk next to us carrying a speaker.  We followed the procession for a few stops, from the Muslim Quarter into the Christian Quarter, until we veered off the path into the Jewish quarter.  We literally went from the "Jesus Trail" to the Kotel in 3 minutes.  


We went through the metal detectors into the Kotel, watched a bit, and left our notes in the wall.  Its always nice to just watch other people, wondering about their stories and backgrounds.  There were lots of families with young kids too, perhaps a Friday afternoon weekly event.  From there, we wandered through the Jewish Quarter a bit, just exploring a people watching, admiring the architecture.  A nice man stopped us on the street and asked us, in American English if his tie was straight.  Not sure how he knew we were American right off the bat, maybe we were emanating tourist, but we helped him out.  Turned out to be a yeshiva student from California off to meet his parents.  After sending him on his way, we exited the old city though the Zion Gate and began our urban hike to find a way home.  Since no busses run on Shabbat, and sundown was approaching, we went with a Sherut.  Chelsea had read you could get a sherut from Jeru to TA for 30 shekels from Zion Square.  We found it on our map, and started down the ride.  The sidewalk ended and we almost got hit by several tour busses, but we made it out of there.  It was a loong walk, but eventually we found Zion Square.  Unfortunately all we saw there was a taxi and a man shouting for rides to Tel Aviv.  We asked him how much and he said 300 shekels, but for us 200.  No way.  Despite the fact that we said thanks and never mind, a sherut was only 30, he kept trying to convince us.  I don't understand why he though he would win.  A nice man overheard our battle and stepped in to tell us the sherut station was across the street and one block up.  Thank you for saving us.  We escaped the taxi man's clutches and found a small parking lot where 2 sheruts were parked.  Tov Meod! We got in, payed our 30 sheks, and waited for the van to fill so it could take us home.  An hour later, we found ourselves back at the Tel Aviv Central Bus Station.  Beautiful.  We had officially taken on Jerusalem in one day.  Couldn't have been a better adventure.  Next time, we decided, we are going to the Biblical Zoo.  Can't even wait.  What a great weekend.

Check out my Jeru pix! 


We made it home just in time for Shabbat dinner with the group, a serious potluck style buffet on the roof.  I had promised Jacob his sister could stay in my room that night, since I was originally gonna be in Tzfat for the whole weekend, but when plans changed to a day trip to Jerusalem, and I was suddenly home, I was stuck.  I told her she could have my room still, and I tossed my pillow in an extra bed upstairs in Ellen's room, she was off camping for the weekend.  Not too bad a deal.  After dinner, we camped out for a game of Risk, in Hebrew, and although I owned all of North AND South America at one point, when we decided to break and go to bed, my troops were thinly spread over half of North America.  It's gonna be a quick second half of the game when we pick back up.  Can't help but think of the Seinfeld episode either... Should we have trusted the boys with the board all night?  Find out next time, same blog time, same blog channel.