Jerusalem and the Negev

This past weekend my program had our first of two group trips. We went to Jerusalem and the Negev and it was amazing! Here are the pictures... 

Our first stop in Jerusalem was Mount Herzl (this is his grave). We went to the Herzl museum and we saw the military cemetery. 

This is Yizhak Rabin's (and his wife, Leah's) grave. 

Next we went to Yad V'shem, the holocaust museum. We couldn't take pictures inside the museum but this is right outside. As some of you might imagine, I cried quite a bit in the museum (especially at the children's memorial). 

 After Yad V'shem we headed to our hostel by the Old City of Jerusalem. We arrived Friday afternoon, right in time to go to a feminist Orthodox synagogue for shabbat services. Right after the service finished I ran to the western wall with a friend to catch the end of the crazy shabbat crowds that gather every Friday evening. (I didn't get pictures of either of these events because it's forbidden to use a camera during shabbat).

The next day, Saturday, we woke up early to take a tour of the Old City. This is my group at the very beginning of the guided tour. 

This is Hadar. He is the RA for our program and also organized and led the trip. Yay Hadar!! 

We walked the perimeter of the Old City on the city walls. This is East Jerusalem from the wall. 

This is the birth place of the Virgin Mary. 

This is the second station of the cross. But actually it was right here. 

Pretty view of Mount of Olives from the Old City. 

After our morning in the Old City we made our way to Sheikh Jarrah, a Palestinian neighborhood in East Jerusalem. There we met a couple of people from Grassroots Jerusalem, an organization that promotes dialogue between Palestinian and Israeli activist groups. I found their stories to be incredibly inspiring. (And will probably discuss them in a later post). Then we went back to our hostel for an interfaith discussion with an interfaith group (Jews and Muslims). 

The next morning, Sunday, we left Jerusalem and made our way to Masada. This is Masada. We climbed it. 

View from the top of Masada. 

A group of us on top of Masada. From the right Leah, Liana, me, Hayley, and Carolyn. 

I stood on this wall which was scary because I was really high up. 

View of the Dead Sea from the top. 

We took the cable car down. 

This guy floating in the Dead Sea. 

Salty feet after the Dead Sea!! Very floaty and fun! 

After the Dead Sea we drove a couple hours into the middle of the desert to a TINY village (one supermarket and nothing else). We stayed with this dance organization so we did a 'contact movement' class on Sunday night (it was called Adama, earth in hebrew). The dancers all live together and cook all the meals-- the food was delicious! 

This is the eating area during dinner on Sunday. 

Me (with Tati, Vikas, and Jane) on a swing. 

The chicken coop of Adama. 

Desert. I can't decide if deserts are beautiful or depressing... 

Fault line in the rock in the desert. 

Carolyn and me jumping!! We took this right before we took a mountain bike tour of the desert right by Ben Gurion college. 

Desert. 

Desert. 

We visited a Bedouin village where a couple of people talked to us about the Bedouin struggle with the Israeli government. 

Carolyn in the sunset. 

Sunset on the way back to Tel Aviv. 

This weekend was amazing! I experienced so many new things and got to know people on the trip better. There was a great juxtaposition experiencing some of the wonderful things about Israel and also seeing some of the problems first hand. Hopefully I can talk about my trip more in another post (or I can email you if you have specific questions/interests!) but I am running low on time because I am off to Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan right now! 

This is Carolyn and Sal (the people I'm going to Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan with!) I'll post about this trip next week. 

Rosh Hashanah

Last week I had a short break from classes for Rosh Hashanah (Jewish New Year) and Eric came to visit for the holiday. 

On Wednesday night (when Rosh Hashanah starts) we went to Ramat Gan (a suburb of Tel Aviv) to spend the evening with Eric's family friend, Ron, and his family. The dinner was delicious and the huge family reminded me of my family holiday dinners. 

On Thursday morning I went to Rosh Hashanah services with my friends Eric and Ari. We went to a reform synagogue just up the street from where I am staying. It was a really great experience, the services was full of families and little kids. Everyone involved in the service looked incredibly happy and proud throughout. The community was very welcoming and friendly. A Catholic monk and two nuns also attended most of the service which I found incredibly interesting. I was hoping to talk to them after but they left a little bit early so I never got the chance. 

After services we took a nice bike ride! 

This is a picture that I took of the Carmel Market the first week I was in Tel Aviv. This is pretty much what it is like everyday, and sometimes it's even busier. On Rosh Hashanah (Thursday) Eric and I rode our bikes through central Tel Aviv to Yafo... 

This is the same street at about 3:00 on Rosh Hashanah. We rode our bikes through the market which would be completely impossible on any normal day. It was actually a bit creepy because the whole of central Tel Aviv, which is usually bustling and loud, was quiet and empty. 

That is me riding my bike down the Carmel Market. Also, I should say here that even though I am known to hate riding bikes at home I love it here. Rosh Hashanah was great for bike riding because the streets were empty and we could go almost anywhere. But my favorite bike ride in Tel Aviv is along the beach. The beaches in Tel Aviv go from the very north (where I live) all the way to Yafo (the southern area of Tel Aviv) and there are bike paths all the way down. I do at least part of this ride a couple times a week to get around Tel Aviv. Since the sun sets on the correct side here (over the water like California!!!) riding along the water in the evening is especially amazing. 

Me on a bike. 

I live right next to HaYarkon Park, a huge park with bike and running paths, basketball courts, soccer fields, gyms, rock climbing gyms, lots of grassy areas for picnics and a river running through it. On Friday we spent the day in the park and for part of the day we rented this boat! This is me driving it. 

Another picture of the boat on Yarkon river. 

Rosh Hashanah weekend was great! A very nice break (and maybe my only calm one this semester because my travel plans are getting pretty crazy). I'm glad I got to experience part of Rosh Hashanah with a family, part with a reform community in my neighborhood, and part around Tel Aviv with friends. I'm looking forward to Yom Kippur this Saturday, I think it will be an interesting and unique experience-- but I will disclose that I am not fasting on Yom Kippur so I won't get the full effect of the holiday. Also, here is a Rosh Hashanah video.... You may have seen this but its pretty cute. 

Dip You Apple- Rosh Hashanah!

"Hiking" Trip in the Galilee

Last weekend I decided to go hiking by the Sea of Galilee with some people from my program. We planned to leave Tel Aviv at 6:00 am, arrive at Yehudia Park around 9:00 or 9:30, hike until about 2:00 or 3:00 and be done in time to catch the last bus on Friday afternoon (Because the all the buses stop running after 4:30 or so on Fridays for shabbat). 

But of course, we didn't leave enough time to get to the bus station by 6:00 so we missed that first bus which made us miss our connection. We ended up waiting at our connection stop for a couple hours so we thought maybe we would do the whole hike that day and head back the next day after sleeping on a beach or something like that. For this plan to work we would need a fair amount of food with us so we went to the convenience store by the bus station and we all stocked up on all sorts of snacks and water (because they didn't have much in terms of real food). 

With our backpacks full of bamba and potato chips we ended up getting to our hiking spot at about 1:00 pm. We started to hike and found an AMAZING swimming hole (with a beautiful waterfall) but almost as soon as we all jumped in, it started to rain (which, by the way, was ridiculous because I was told that there was no way it would rain until at least October and this was mid September). The rain ruined our plans of sleeping on a beach so we got out of the water, turned around, and ran all the way back to the bus station to make sure we made the last bus. 

We ended up making it back in time for an enjoyable Friday night in Tel Aviv (with our pounds and pounds of snacks which seemed completely ridiculous at this point) but it was quite an adventure for one day. Here are some pictures! 

The group just getting started on our hike after an already long day of bus stations. 

Tessa, Leah, and Carolyn hiking through some ruins. 

Me on a cliff. 

That's the waterfall we swam in from afar. 

Cool flower I found. 

Swimming hole! It was beautiful and I actually really loved that it started raining when we were swimming! (Others were less than thrilled...) 

The group in the waterfall! 

It was a pretty crazy and tiring day but I ended up being very glad I went.