what's goin' on

I haven't been keeping up with the war in Israel as much as I'd like to, mostly because I can't stand listening to the local media report only half of the story. Check out what my brother has to say about this whole thing because his sources are better than mine.

I am thinking about my friends and family and all of the people in Israel and even the Palestinian territories, as this is not a happy situation for anyone.

does anyone read still this?

as the violent situation in Israel continues, i thought i'd provide a few sources that i've been supporting:

Twiddleeast
this website is a combination of Twitter and Middle East. (Twitter is a site that allows people to post messages and share things with one another. it's a little like email, except you can only post 140 characters at a time, so you have to be creative about how you distill your thoughts.) Twiddleeast looks for Twitter posts that are the most recent "thoughts" people have had about the Middle East.

this site was created by my brother, Josh Evnin. Here are his reasons for creating the site:

Reading these quotes is like briefly peering into peoples' beliefs. Sometimes the quotes are jarring, and other times they are exciting. Either way, I find them fascinating, and I hope you do too. But more importantly, my long-term hope that TwiddleEast helps spread understanding and encourages dialog about topics that for so long have been riddled in ruthless dissent. I am and will be regularly adding features and making changes to the site to support this cause.

I encourage you all to take a look at the site and contribute your own thoughts to it!


Help Us Win
after watching my local evening news, i realized the importance of balanced media and pumped-up my support for exposing the Israeli side of this conflict in the international media. Roam around this website, donate your facebook status to their cause, show your friends the videos they post - do whatever it takes to help people decide for themselves how they feel about this situation instead of letting the media do it for them.

VOTE

today, WE can make history.

so happy

i talked to alex AND eythan on skype today.  it was a little overwhelming to hear their voices and actually be talking to them, but overwhelming in the best way possible.  i was a little faklempt.

they make my life.

summer is almost gone

2 weeks from today camp will be over. i can't believe it has already been 8 weeks. everything goes by so fast, although it's been a hard summer.

i have felt a little in over my head by being at camp all summer. i have yet to process everything that i experienced in the last 7 months or so, including camp, so it just sort of feels like i am going through the motions and not living in the moment. it is a strange way to live. i wish time could just stop and i could catch up to it, but i don't foresee that happening anytime soon.

other than that, everything is fine here. i don't want it to seem like i'm stuck in a rut and depressed, at all. it has been really nice catching up with everyone that i missed from home and i'm very excited to move back up to berkeley in the upcoming weeks. i miss the place and the people immensely. and in the little spare time i have had this summer, i have been thinking a lot about future plans, mainly what i'll be doing exactly one year from now. it's scary and exciting.

and just to calm everyone's fears (who actually reads this anyway?): yes, there was an earthquake in Chino Hills (my home town) on tuesday and yes, everything and everyone is fine. people at camp were freaking out on my behalf and forced me to call home, and then i've received countless voicemails, texts, and emails making sure i am okay after the earthquake. i appreciate the thought, but really people!? i'm from california and we get earthquakes. no big deal. a nice RIP should go out to our mailbox at home, however, because it did not survive the tectonic shift.

one week later

a week and 17 hours ago i drove away from the kfar hastudentim (student village) in jerusalem.
a week and 13 hours ago my plane took off from ben gurion airport in tel aviv.
a week and 2 hours ago i landed at john f. kennedy airport in new york city.
about 9 hours short of a week ago i landed at ontario airport in california.

i think i'm still in shock from all of this. i can't believe how quickly time seems to pass.

i've been at camp for most of my time home. it's been fun, for sure, but i think i've had to suppress a lot of my feelings so i can get my job done. i haven't really let my self be sad or israel-sick or miss everyone and everything from the past 5 months. i had such an incredible, life altering experience and it broke my heart a little bit to leave it. i haven't yet had time to process that. so here i am, at home in chino hills, trying to process.

i did my america-thing this morning and got a pedicure, bought some clothes at H&M and lulu lemon, and ate frozen yogurt at pink berry. i am proud of myself for walking to all of these places because gas is almost $5 per gallon now. disgusting. now i'm at home eating some leftovers for lunch. in a few minutes i'm going to see miss ilana lauren; i'm super excited slash sad because this is probably going to be one of the only times we see each other this summer. basa (the Israelis at camp taught me - it means "bummer").

naomi just called me!! yayyyy!

this is weird

i'm sitting in the JFK airport in new york city right now.  i can't believe i'm back in the states.

my last few days in israel were stressful, but a good way to end my five months in the country.  i handed in one paper and two final exams on wednesday, so i am officially done at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.  i packed and CLEANED my room, which was really depressing.  other than those pieces of business, i ran around the city and pretty much saw all of the highlights during my last week.

my friend james (graduated from Berkeley my first year) just finished leading a birthright trip, so i met him in town on wednesday.  it was really nice to catch up with him and to have a visitor before i left.  wednesday night there was this big outdoor gala-type event in the student village.  there was really yummy free food and drinks, a live band, and the whole village was lit up and decorated.  lots of fun.

i was really really sad to leave this morning.  the nesher (like super-shuttle) came to pick me up early, but luckily aaron came with me to the airport so i didn't have to rush to say goodbye to everyone.  i got through check-in really quickly (it helps to know a little bit of hebrew apparently ;) and then grabbed coffee/tea with aaron before we said goodbye.  i bawled my way through security, passport control, and a good amount of my flight, i'm a little embarrassed (but not really) to say.  my tv controller was broken on my seat, so i slept most of the 11 hours and read my Time magazine.

now i'm sitting in the JetBlue Airways FREE wireless hotspot in the airport.  i had a little bit of a hard time navigating the airport, especially with my 140+ lbs of luggage, but now i'm here with a few hours to kill before i fly back to los angeles.  oh, and i'm drinking my first legal beer in the states, it feels really good (and it's put me in a much better mood!).

i'll be back in california around 11pm tonight, and then i'm off to camp in the afternoon.  it's been real, ya'll.

another photo update

fyi, i added new photos to flickr.  take a look at my pictures from camping at the dead sea, bowling adventure to talpiyot, jacob's ladder festival, and lag b'omer.

less than a week?

as the semester is winding down (i really can't believe i go home in a week!), i've been trying to cram adventures in every second.  it's been a little hard to balance school work and play, but i'm trying to get all of my work done by this weekend so that my last week here can be purely fun.  we'll see.

to tide ya'll over, here are some pictures from the past few weeks.  enjoy!

eythan and me dancing at the Jacob's Ladder Festival.

a mob of dancing religious men at Mt. Meron on Lag B'Omer.

we finally made it to the Israel Museum!

i thought this statue was hidden in all the renovating they're doing at the Israel Museum, 

but Eythan and I found it!  it says "ahava" which means "love" in Hebrew.

since i can't sleep anyway...

health update: i've been congested for about a week and a half now and not getting better, so i decided to go to the doctor yesterday for a little check up. first of all, the closer i got to the doctor's office the better i felt. secondly, the doctor totally delegitimized my illness my knocking on my forehead and making me feel silly. but thirdly, he said i have sinusitis (basically a sinus infection) and gave me antibiotics. the way i was feeling yesterday after the doctor, i decided i was just going to try and get over this myself, but the way i'm feeling this morning i'm definitely taking the antibiotics. fun stuff, right?

alright, real update time. lets see...

bowling in talpiot was fun, the cab ride there even more so. archeology field trip to yemin moshe, rehavia, mea shaarim. coffee with aaron's parents who were visiting from australia.

last weekend a group of us went to Jacob's Ladder Festival at Nof Ginosar on the Kinneret. the festival turned out to be this really great hippy folk fest on the sea. lots of dancing, relaxing, swimming, and happiness. camping out there definitely did not help my sinuses, but i had a really great time regardless. i also ran into Debbie, uncle jeremy's sister, so that was nice.

this week i made my return to salsa dancing (i'd missed the last 2 weeks). i really hope i can find a salsa dancing class or something back home, it's too much fun to stop doing. we went to Yellow Submarine in Talpiot on tuesday for a big band show. it turned out to be a group from germany that is traveling around israel and they were excellent.

tonight is Lag B'Omer, which marks the 33rd day of the counting of the omer. you can read more about the day here and here and here. i'm going to meron in the north to celebrate with thousands of other people. there are supposed to be huge bonfires and even (supposedly) goat sacrifices, so it should be interesting. i'll take pictures.

my flight home leaves in exactly 2 weeks and 20 minutes, so naturally i'm getting really sad. i'm making a pretty sweet slideshow for everyone here, but looking through the pictures makes me realize how quickly my time here has gone by and how much i'm not ready to leave this experience. i apologize ahead of time for the awful mood i'll probably be in when i get home.