a taste of israel

what's goin' on

2009-01-13T22:10:00.000-08:00

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?

2009-01-07T17:26:00.000-08:00

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

2008-11-04T16:46:00.000-08:00

today, WE can make history.

so happy

2008-10-10T21:00:00.001-07:00

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

2008-08-03T11:04:00.000-07:00

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

2008-06-12T13:37:00.002-07:00

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

2008-06-05T14:32:00.003-07:00

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

2008-05-30T03:13:00.002-07:00

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?

2008-05-30T00:57:00.002-07:00

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...

2008-05-22T00:20:00.000-07:00

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.

sniffly

2008-05-13T05:34:00.003-07:00

somehow i caught a cold again. it's really fun, not.

to do:
- mad flickr update.
- ship a box of shtuff home.
- update this here blog with some real content.
- load up on vitamins and beat this virus!
- start writing my final papers.
- other stuff that my congested head can't think of right now...

i downloaded the new Death Cab for Cutie CD today (thanks for the iTunes credit, moma!) and it's pretty good. my new musical obsession has been Coldplay's new single "Viva La Vida". i recommend downloading it and supporting great music, but you can also look it up on YouTube and just listen.

i'm coming home in a little over 3 weeks. weird weird weird.

no school again.

2008-05-10T15:21:00.002-07:00

on tuesday i skipped class to go shopping/playing in the old city with naomi and alex. we ended up staying and going to the official ceremony to begin Yom HaZikaron, memorial day, at the Kotel. then we came back home and attempted to watch Beaufort, again.

wednesday we went to Har Hertzl, the military cemetery in jerusalem, to observe memorial day. then at night, just as expected, the mood completely changed in israel and we went out to celebrate independence day, Yom HaAtzmaut. there was a concert and israel dancing in the city center and i had a blast. israel really knows how to celebrate their independence. america's got nothing on them.

on thursday we went to tel aviv to watch an air show and stayed on the beach the whole day.

i went to the dead sea this weekend for lots of relaxing. we camped out near the water which was really fun, but it was so hot!

bowling tonight in talpiot and sleep now. pictures will be posted later!

bottom to top

2008-05-05T07:37:00.005-07:00

alright, it's been hard to find time to update this thing with EVERYTHING i've been up to, so highlights are going to have to do.

jordan:
we basically followed bomb-threats around the country (or people left bags in crowded areas therefor postponing our adventures), ate a lot of yummy meat in eilat, crossed the border into jordan with nothing but a hand-written map and looking for "mohammed", traveled around the desert in wadi-rum in a jeep for 6 hours with a guide who did not speak english, slept in a bedoin tent in the middle of nowhere, ran into everyone (and some of their mothers) in petra, wore kefiahs (arab head scarves), went on an hour and a half mule ride on the "secret trail" just outside of petra with 4 bedoin guys, raced back to the israel border before it closed in a taxi going 140 km/hr, crossed the border (rather easily) back into israel, cleansed ourselves at the table in a restaurant in eilat, almost slept in the bus station but our friends are too nice so we slept on their floor instead, 5 hour bus ride back to jerusalem, hopped off the bus at har hatzofim, jumped underneath the bus into the luggage compartment to get my bag and the bus almost drove off with me under it, watched my ID card fly away at the gate when we got back home, first shower in 4 days that didn't even get half the dirt off of me. i think that may be the longest sentence i've ever written.

ended pesach with pizza and beer in tel aviv.
watched Two Days in Paris at the Jerusalem Theatre.

Yom HaShoah:
i woke up to the siren at 10am on wednesday morning. had an adventure with eythan, alex, aaron, and naomi to Beit Lohamei Haghetaot (near Akko in the north) for their ceremony. my friend eythan's mom was one of the torch lighters because of her work with Holocaust education and awareness building in France. it was great to watch her in the ceremony, see pictures of eythan displayed on the big screen of the event, and to eat at the VIP reception after the ceremony. afterwards, the 5 of us searched all over Haifa for a hostel (everything was booked up because of a Bahai convention in town that weekend).

eythan, naomi, aaron, tami, alex, micha (papa), sharon (sister), and sabina (mama)
at the reception after the Yom HaShoah ceremony

We explored Haifa a little bit on friday and had THE BEST iced-shoko (chocolate milk) and glida (icecream). i spent shabbat with alex and his family in haifa. it was nice to have a proper shabbat and just chill.

on the tayelet in haifa

sunday i headed into tel aviv to the beach and then we threw a surprise party for eythan's (belated) birthday in jerusalem.

and that, everyone, is the last two weeks!

yom hashoah

2008-05-01T00:22:00.002-07:00

Just thought i'd give ya'll a few sites to check out regarding Yom Hashoah.

Haaretz has a nice article about the ceremony at Yad Vashem as well as other things the state of Israel does to commemorate this day.

Of course Yad Vashem has a good site about this day, and you can even check out the broadcast of the official ceremony.

wow, it's been a while

2008-04-30T14:40:00.004-07:00

so my promised jordan post hasn't happened yet, but you can check out my sweet photos to get a taste of my adventures!

tonight was Erev Yom HaShoah, meaning the night before Holocaust Memorial Day. i watched the ceremony at Yad Vashem (the Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem) on tv tonight and am going to two ceremonies tomorrow, one at my school and another up north. it's a sad day, of course, here, but it's nice to be in israel and thinking about this huge part of my history.

next week is Yom HaZikaron, Memorial Day, and Yom HaAtzmaut, Independence Day. It's basically a very solemn day followed by an extremely happy day. it's going to be quite the experience, i can't wait.

alright ya'll, expect some big updates soon!!

spring break part I: turkish delight on a moonlit night

2008-04-25T02:08:00.001-07:00

i would first like to dedicate these posts to iCal for helping me document this very momentous spring break. without you, iCal, i may never remember anything.

...deep breath...here goes the last two weeks...

my break started off with a visit from my uncle, Jeremy. he was out on this side of the world from Virginia for his nephew's wedding. he picked me up on thursday afternoon and we drove to kibbutz ein shemer, which is about an hour and a half north of Jerusalem. the wedding was very beautiful and very un-american. the actual marriage ceremony was toward the middle of all the festivities and lasted about 10 minutes. i had a great time getting to know Jeremy's relatives in Israel, i guess they are somehow my relatives as well!

the bride and groom with their mommies under the chuppah.

friday i came back to Jerusalem for a lovely shabbat with some of my friends here. sunday i was off to Turkey!

we arrived in Istanbul in the afternoon and by the time we settled down in our hotel and were ready to go, it was dinner time. the ten of us decided it's never too early for an adventure, so we hoped on a tram, then a ferry, and made our way over to Asia (no, i'm not kidding). Turkey is actually split between the continents of Europe and Asia by the Bosphorus, so where we were staying in Istanbul was in Europe. in asia, we ate traditional turkish food. ordering was really interesting because none of the waiters spoke english, so i'm not sure what we ate exactly.

istanbul was covered in tulips.

on monday we visited the Blue Mosque, Topkapi Palace, and the Spice Bazaar. we also tried a ton of turkish delight, little jelly-like candies that come in many different flavors. that night we had dinner and drinks in Taksim Square, a downtown sort of area, and then came back to our hotel to pass out. tuesday i got some great shots at the Basilica Cistern. then we went to Hagia Sophia, the great basilica-turned-mosque. i went to the Grand Bazaar for about five minutes. i wasn't so impressed by the bazaar because every vendor sold the same over-priced goods. i'm saving my souvenir shopping for israel ;)

me inside the blue mosque.

after getting lost with aaron for about an hour, drinking some tea, and learning to play shesh-besh, the whole group met up again and we headed to a hammam, a traditional turkish bath. quit the relaxing, nude experience. dinner again in Taksim Square, and then off to bed.

on wednesday we all decided to adventure over to the Jewish Quarter of Istanbul. either it doesn't exist anymore or we went to the wrong place because we only found one synagogue and they wouldn't even let us in. after, a few of ate lunch at a very "LA" restaurant and did a little shopping (i bought really cute boots!). then we had another adventure to Pierreloti, a cute little villiage that overlooks all of Istanbul. we gondolla-ed down the hill and then headed back to Taksim Square for our last meal in Istanbul. we tried to catch a film at the Istanbul Film Festival that was going on that week, but everything was sold out by the time we got there.

the view of istanbul from Pierreloti.

we accidentally slept through our alarm on thursday morning, so we had about 2 rushed minutes to pack up and catch the bus to the airport at 7am. a few hours and a bumpy landing later, we were happy to be back in israel. i went right to Yaffo with naomi and shira for lunch and a haircut. we got back to Jerusalem at 8:30. after checking my email i found out that there was a camp reunion dinner in tel aviv that night! if only i had known earlier i could have stayed in TA for the dinner. so bumbed.

photos!

2008-04-24T13:31:00.002-07:00

budapest and istanbul photos are now up on flickr, jordan photos are being edited and will be posted soon.
spring break update blog is in the works and will (probably) be up tomorrow.

for now i'm exhausted, so it's sleepy time.
laila tov.

i love matzah

2008-04-20T23:52:00.003-07:00

quick update:

pesach break. istanbul last week. seder with shir and her family, alex's friend from camp newman, in hadera. eilat today. jordan tomorrow (wadi rum tuesday, petra wednesday).

lots of pictures taken. will update flickr soon. huge blog update after vacation.

chag sameach, ya'll!

new photos!

2008-04-08T05:33:00.002-07:00

major photo upload to my flickr. everything from the month of march is up now and i put the set in reverse order so that new pictures are first in the album. enjoy!

weekend in budapest

2008-04-07T15:37:00.004-07:00

it's definitely 1am and i'm definitely procrastinating on a paper due tomorrow. oops. i really want to write about my weekend before i forget to, but first things first...

happy (belated) birthday to my favorite brother, josh-u-a!!!

i hope you're not having a quarter-life crisis now that you've turned 26! i'll buy a drink (or 26) for you when i get back to the states!

so, Budapest. thursday began with a detour to meet alex's parents who arrived in the afternoon from england. my original plans were to head up north to Moshav Elyakim for a yeminite henna ceremony, but it was a little overwhelming to go right before traveling out of the country. i walked around jerusalem with alex and his parents (who are adorable, by the way) and then we met up with aaron and had a nice dinner at Tmol Shilshom, a cute little bookstore/cafe downtown. we ended up staying out way later than planned, so i had to shower, pack up, and meet everyone to get the the airport in about an hour.

we left in 2 sheruts, kind of like a shuttle, to the airport (there were about 25 of us on the trip altogether). i was lucky enough to get in the sherut with the angry driver who shouted at us the whole way to the airport about not having as many people as we told him we would, and even threatened not to take us to the airport. fun stuff, gotta love israel. our flight left at 5:30 am and we landed in budapest around 8:30 am.

we toured the Pest side (the flatland east of the Danube river) for most of the day with our wonderful guide Christian, then went to a little artist village outside of the city for an afternoon of shopping. we headed back to our hotel, went to Chabad for shabbat, ate dinner at (probably) the only kosher in Budapest, and then i passed out from lack of sleep at the hotel.

on saturday morning my roommate, sharon, and i woke up early, had a yummy (free) breakfast at the hotel and then hit the streets of budapest. we went to a supermarket to get candy and other hungarian treats, did a little second-hand shopping, and i took some photos of the city. we had lunch at the same restaurant, and then i went back to the hotel to rest and fight off a little food-poisoning :( in the afternoon i went exploring again with dana and michael. we took the first metro ever built in europe (a ticket cost 240 HUF- such a strange exchange rate), i saw my first european H&M (thought you'd appreciate that, moma), ate goulash, and ran into some weird street performance outside of a cinema. that night everyone on my trip hopped on the electric street trolley and then took a boat ride on the Danube to see the city lit up. it was so beautiful, but difficult to capture on film. we went to a pub afterward, but the nightlife in budapest was mostly old people, so we went back pretty early.

sunday morning i woke up at 5:30 am and dana and i went to a hungarian bath. it's basically a huge complex with 3 outdoor swimming pools to wade or swim in (one of them had this crazy whirl-pool thing in the middle). there were also about 20 other pools inside, varying from 16 C to 38 C, saunas, and steam rooms. we paid 2400 HUF for entrance and a locker, and just roamed around the place for a few hours. there weren't any other travelers that early in the morning, so we experienced the baths with a bunch of old, large hungarians. awesome experience. the rest of the day we toured the Great Synagogue and holocaust memorial sights, visited the Buda side (the hills west of the Danube) of the city, ate dinner, and headed back to the airport. our flight was delayed about half an hour, so we landed at ben gurion airport in tel aviv around 4:30 am on monday. i was back in jerusalem and in bed around 5:45 am. nice.

today i went on another field trip with my architecture class (after getting about 3 hours of sleep). we went to the old city and saw the church of the holy sepulcher and such. glad i didn't sleep through that trip. i took a long nap this afternoon, ate dinner, went to salsa dancing lessons (which i do every monday night), and here i am, trying to write a paper.

i took a lot of pictures this weekend, but unfortunately this is a super busy week for me, so it may be awhile before anyone gets to see them. hopefully i can put them up before i head to turkey on sunday! also, my uncle jeremy is in israel this week and we are going to a wedding on thursday. my first israeli wedding! i have so many tests and assignments due this week, but also so many exciting things to look forward to.

one more thing - i want to hear from you all more often! how are things going on the other side of the world? leave me comments or emails, i love hearing from you all!

and i'm off...

2008-04-03T14:19:00.002-07:00

i've been really awful about updating this thing and about uploading photos. i promise you all i have a ton of things to say and photos to post, but i really have not had time.

AND in about 15 minutes i am heading to the airport to go to Budapest, Hungary! it is going to be my first time in europe ever, so excited. i'll be back monday and then it is going to be an extremely hectic week of midterms, but i will find some time to update you all. have a good one!

quicky

2008-03-27T02:45:00.003-07:00

the weather has been fluctuating a lot here the past few days. it was 90°F on monday and today the high is supposed to be only 63°F. what!? it's making me sniffly.

tonight a bunch of us are heading to Caesarea. my friend eythan has a house there, so we are going to relax there for the weekend. it should be lovely.

oh, and the clocks are springing forward here sometime tonight, so for all you california people out there the time difference is going to be 10 hours again.

the end of purim

2008-03-23T12:16:00.001-07:00

unfortunately i didn't take so many pictures of my purim costumes, but here's a great one that someone else took.

thursday night i dressed up like a tiger and helped aaron dress up as Edward Scissorhands. isn't his costume amazing?

today i went to brunch with a few people at my friend becky's sister's house in jerusalem. after we cooked a ton of food for the sudat purim, the festive meal. it was so nice to spend the day surrounded by great people, eating so much delicious food, and drinking a lot of wine ;)

chag purim sameach

2008-03-22T10:42:00.003-07:00

i am getting really bad at documenting my time here whether it's on my blog or in my journal or in photos. maybe it's because things are getting "normal" here. i'm getting in the groove of classes and everything, so things don't seem so spontaneous or exciting anymore. actually, that's a complete lie. things are just spontaneous and exciting in different ways.

on monday we went on our first field trip for my architecture class. we visited the City of David, or ir david and waded through Hezikiah's tunnel, a water-way built under ir david. it was actually one of the coolest things i've done so far in jerusalem, mostly because it was actually historical and i actually understood the story behind it. we're going on another field trip this week and a few more over the course of the semester. it's pretty sweet that i get to travel around Jerusalem for course credit.

this week has basically been a week of purim. tuesday afternoon i went down to Ben Yehuda street to shop for costumes. purim is so much better than halloween! there are a ton of places to buty costume-y stuff in Jerusalem and everything is CHEAP. i kind of want to stock up on things to take home with me for halloween. tuesday night my school threw a little party and i dressed up as a sheriff. on thursday night i went down to Emek Refeim to hear megillah and then a bunch of us went into Talpiot, i think it's a neighborhood of Jerusalem, for a huge purim party. i dressed up like a tiger and even had a tail, and i helped aaron dress up like Edward Scissor-hands. definitely an incredible costume! i was out dancing until 5:30 in the morning, got back to my room when the sun was up. oh purim. we're going out tonight and i think i'm going to be a hippy because it's the only thing i can throw together easily.

being in Jerusalem for purim has been really amazing. because it's a walled city, the celebration takes place a day later here than everywhere else. i guess thursday was purim everywhere else, so it was supposed to be on friday here. since friday is shabbat, the celebrations got pushed back to (i think) sunday, but there are celebrations tonight, too. a little confusing, but basically it means that we've been celebrating since thursday and will continue until early monday morning. fun!

sara's mom and sister were in israel on a tour for the week. it was nice meeting them and getting to know them. sara and i met them for dinner on tuesday night. on wednesday we skipped a class and went to Machane Yehuda to buy food for the evening. that night we cooked dinner for them and afterwards i went to a sushi party. so much good food!

i decided to stay in jerusalem for shabbat this week because i cannot remember the last time i was here for a weekend! i went to a friend's apartment for dinner last night and another friend's for lunch today and basically have been relaxing for the rest of the time. very much needed and very much appreciated.

shavua tov, ya'll. have a great week!

PURIM!!!!

2008-03-20T02:22:00.000-07:00

chag sameach!

update to come later...

update!

2008-03-12T11:38:00.003-07:00

hey ya'll! it's been a while since my last update and i just wanted to assure you all that i am still alive and well in the holy land. let's see, what's been going on since my last update...

last thursday night there was a terrible shooting at Mercaz Harav, a yeshiva (Jewish seminary) in Jerusalem. my roommate alex and i found out while we were getting ready to go out for our friend Rachel's birthday. we freaked out a little bit, looked at a map to make sure the attack was nowhere near us, and, in the true Israel spirits, we went out for the birthday dinner. it was actually really interesting to see how people here react to situations like that. obviously people were upset, but life goes on as usual. it just has to go on, unfortunately.

on a happier note, i went to Haifa on friday to visit Michael, a friend of mine who worked with me at camp this summer. he drove me around the city and showed me the typical Haifa landmarks including the Baha'i Gardens and the German Colony. we went out for chinese food (the first i've had in 2 months!!) with his family for his mom's birthday. on saturday we went to a bbq (a la esh) at his friend's apartment, and then to a pub at night with more of his friends. it was a lovely weekend and i definitely plan on going back to Haifa.

on sunday i came back to jerusalem, did laundry, and hung out with everyone here. the rest of the week has been pretty typical: class, eating, sleeping. i have a 4 hour break in the middle of my day on tuesdays, so yesterday Alex (from london) and i walked to the Old City. we wandered through the Arab shuk, ate yummy shwarma, went to the Kotel, ate glida (ice cream) and then headed back to campus for classes. the Old City is really nice in the middle of the day. it was really warm out, not crowded at all, and just really friendly and nice. wonderful.

alright, i'm going on an adventure to Tel Aviv tonight just because, so i need to go get ready!

ch ch check, check it out.

2008-03-03T23:26:00.000-08:00

massive photo upload on flickr.

and reflection on the events in Gaza to come later...

back to tel aviv

2008-03-02T07:17:00.015-08:00

we went to tel aviv again this weekend. it was warm enough to wear flip-flops and be ok without a jumper (that's british/australian for "light jacket") during the day. lovely. here are some of the highlights:

sara and i sipping really yummy hot chocolate at max brenner in tel aviv. we all shared a chocolaty goodness waffle thing as well, it should have been called death by chocolate. so delicious.

the group in front of the restaurant. (from left: sara, tami, eythan, alex, aaron)

aaron and i looking artsy on some street corner in Neve Tzedeck, a beautiful area of the city.

we went back to the drum circle on friday night and this time there were people spinning fire! i got some amazing amazing shots with my camera, here are 2 samples. hopefully the rest will be up on flikr soon.

on saturday night we saw the show Bejuntos in Yaffo. it is a show featuring Mayumana, basically the Israeli version of Stomp, and David Broza, an incredible Israeli guitarist. to quote the website, because i couldn't put it better myself,

The joyous cooperation between Mayumana and David on stage is a unique production of music, dance, rhythm, sensuality, theater and humor.

it was really phenomenal, something i would recommend anyone go see, NOW! the rest of the weekend involved walking the entire length of tel aviv from bottom to top, top to bottom, eating lots of really yummy food, sitting in the sun on the beach, and hanging out with really good friends. shavua tov!

it's like real school now...

2008-02-27T12:51:00.004-08:00

time for another update i believe.
classes began this week. here's the rundown on what i'm taking:

hebrew: pretty much a continuation of ulpan (same people and everything), except only an hour and a half lesson each day instead of 5 hours. i still feel like i'm learning so much.

jerusalem's architectural history: this class meets once a week for 4 hours and we get to go on field trips around the city once every 2 weeks. i'm very excited to get to explore jerusalem with a teacher that knows what he is talking about.

music in israel: it's kind of a history of israel class, but through the perspective of music. it has been a little dry so far, but our assignments include checking out the various music venues in the city. i think it is going to add to our fun during the next few months here.

peace building and conflict resolution in a divided society: this is one of my favorite classes because it examines the israeli-palestinian conflict through a social-psychology, humanistic lense. we've only had two days of class and already i am learning so much. only in israel.

i am seeing Idan Raichel on thursday in jerusalem. i saw him in october at Stanford, but i am really excited to see him in israel, where he is from. the music is incredible. i am also going to Tel Aviv again this weekend with some friends from school. we're planning on having a nice shabbat on the beach and then hanging out in the city. we are also planning on seeing David Broza on saturday while we are there, i will keep ya'll updated on that.

in other, really exciting news, i made an amazing curry for dinner tonight in my apartment! it was an Indian curry with chicken, potatoes, carrots, chili pepper, curry powder, and soy milk, served with brown rice. so yummy! i am really becoming comfortable with my cooking skills which is something i have wanted to be able to say for a long time.

Netanya for the weekend

2008-02-24T06:41:00.005-08:00

i went to Tel Aviv on wednesday with my program and had an absolute blast. we were supposed to be on a scavenger hunt, but my group ended up fooling around and having a lot of fun exploring the city. the only bad thing is that my phone slipped under one of the seats of the bus we were on and got stuck! luckily we were on a chartered bus so the driver could get the phone for me, but after days of trying to reach him and arrange meeting to get the phone back, i was left with no phone.

luckily i was able to borrow phones and find phone numbers and i managed to meet up with Nomi, my mom's cousin's wife on friday. we met at the central bus station in Jerusalem and then rode 3 buses together to Natanya, which is north of Tel Aviv along the coast. Nomi and her husband Mordechi were very great hosts and tour guides, and i basically ate my way through the weekend with a lot of homemade deliciousness that Moti had prepared.

on saturday we met up with Ruthy, my uncle Jeremy's sister, and her family on their kibbutz near Netanya. it was really cool to meet all of these people who i am distantly related to because we could compare stories and pictures and connect that this is indeed a very small world.

here's a picture of Ruthy, her grandson, Nomi, and me on saturday. it is proof that we all met!

this morning i took a 3 hour bus ride (oy israel traffic...) back to Jerusalem and made it just in time for my first class of the semester. i think i'm going to drop it anyway, but it was nice to be back in the classroom.

i also got a new phone and luckily it has the same number, so it would be nice to hear from you all soon! we have all started to make plans for our 2 week spring break in april. i booked a trip today with a few people to go to Istanbul for 5 days over spring break!! wooohoo! the plan is to go there, come back to Israel for seder on pesach, and then head to Egypt for a few days. it is all very exciting and i cannot wait to do some real traveling.

yom sheleg...od pa'am

2008-02-18T21:52:00.003-08:00

6:47:28
19-02-2008
Sender: OSA
Today the classes will start on 9AM.

This is what it looks like outside of my window right now:

we've officially declared our own sheleg day. you couldn't pay me to go outside right now, let alone trek through the snow to class. brrrrrrr.

[[edit]]

ulpan classes were officially canceled around 8am anyway, so our hopes of a snow day came true! it's actually stopped snowing at this point and it looks like it's done snowing for good, but it is still windy and miserable looking outside.

my roommates and some other friends and i made french toast for lunch and are going to watch a movie right now. i could get used to snow days.

2008-02-17T15:51:00.001-08:00

just thought i'd mention that chino finally made the news. check it out! wooohooo :-/

mayim b'bakbuk

2008-02-17T07:22:00.002-08:00

this weekend we went on a trip with school to Makhtesh Ramon in the Negev Desert. we did some pretty easy hiking and saw a lot of really beautiful sights. it was nice to get away from jerusalem for shabbat and relax with everyone in the middle of nowhere.

and now for the photo-montage:

this is everyone from my bus squished into an ancient winery (or "weinery" as our guide said). can you find me?

sara and i do headstands a lot because they're really fun. we decided that we're going to do headstands at all the places we visit in the next few months. here's the first of many, we're in roman ruins.

this is me in front of the makhtesh. i really love this photo.

this is (from the top down) aaron, me, and alex resting a look-out point over the makhtesh. i hang out with these boys way too much ;). the views were absolutely incredible there. i don't remember the Grand Canyon so much, but i cannot imagine it is much prettier.

enough talking about the makhtesh, here's a nice picture of it.

there's been talk about there being more sheleg (snow) this week, which would really mess up our Ulpan schedule. this is our last week of Ulpan and we start classes (including more Hebrew) on sunday. my roomates and some other girls from my program and i are planning on either going to Eilat or the Dead Sea this weekend, i'll let you know soon what we are planning. everything is such an adventure here, i love it!

rain rain go away

2008-02-12T08:13:00.000-08:00

it's windy and rainy again. it kind of reminds me of the weather 2 weeks ago right before the snow came. could we have more snow in jerusalem? judging by the lack of alerts the Hebrew University has been sending out, probably not.

nothing all too exciting has happened in the past few days. we did find out that Dudu needs knee surgery. it's scary because my brother had knee surgery so i know how big of a deal it is, and i just want Dudu to come back here and be normal.

last night there was a big party at a bar for Rothberg (the international school at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem) students, so we went and had a blast. i can't wait until i can go out to bars and clubs when i get back to the states!

tonight we're staying in and taking it easy. my friend Sarah (from australia) is coming over to cook dinner with us, it should be tasty!

shabbat shalom

2008-02-10T08:41:00.001-08:00

yesterday morning we woke up and decided to go to the Old City for the day. It's a good 45 minute walk from here, and luckily yesterday was a gorgeous day so it was pleasant to be outside. we walked close to the Armenian Quarter to the Jewish Quarter and spent a while at the Western Wall. the Muslim call to prayer sounded while we were at the wall and while it's not my religion nor did i understand anything that was being sung, it was extremely peaceful, spiritual and surreal in the Old City during that time. i definitely felt why Jerusalem is such a special place in that moment. there's no where else like here in the world.

after the wall we walked through the Arab shuk and i bought this incredible Bedouin tapestry from a friendly vendor. we were definitely smoozed into buying from this particular vendor, but the quality of the thing is exceptional and it looks beautiful on my wall right now.

i went on a hike and sifted through archaeological remains in ulpan today. it was very exciting to go on a field trip, but i definitely wore the wrong shoes and my feet hurt a little bit now because of it. after class we headed over to Machane Yehuda, the main shuk in Jerusalem, and bought cheese, dried fruit, veggies, pita, hummus, etc. for the week. the food is kind of amazing here.

one of my roommates, Dudu, injured his knee this past weekend while playing in a very important handball match. we found out this morning that he's pretty much bed-ridden and won't be back in Jerusalem for at least a week. i wish him a speedy recovery!

alright, off to study. happy sunday, ya'll!

finally...

2008-02-07T00:14:00.002-08:00

this is the view from my room...amazing, right?

this is the same view on the first snow (sheleg) day in Jerusalem.
it was very windy, so it was especially gross out and we basically spent two days inside
watching it snow outside. along with the snow came my very first snow days ever!

my roommates and i went to tel aviv last weekend. sara and i walked around the city and beach around sunset and came upon this impromptu drum circle. i really like how this photo turned out.

here is my roommate sara and her gluten-free pita. lucky for her Israel is an extremely Celiac-friendly country, so she's been able to eat just about everything normally, or at least in a gluten-free version. we've also been really conscious about gluten contamination in our apartment and it's actually a good way to live.

finally, here is a picture with me in it just to prove that i am alive and well in Eretz Yisrael. In the picture is alex (from california), alex (from london), sara (from connecticut), and me in front of an amazing panoramic view of the Old City, Ha'Ir Ha'Atika.

Right now i'm writing to ya'll live from my room. we finally got the wireless internet to work in our apartment and so far it's great! expect a lot more updates and a lot more photos to be posted.

don't forget to check out my photos from time to time. i went to the Old City yesterday with my friend David solely to photograph the city and i've posted just a few of the highlights of that adventure.

oh, and today is my birthday!! 21, woohoo! Sara, Alex, and a few other people are making me a surprise dinner in our apartment. a bunch of people are coming over after for a "black and white" party, and then we're heading out to Ben Yehuda Street to find a club or bar or something. turning 21 isn't a huge deal here, but it still feels great to be 21!

l'hitraot!

2008-02-05T09:18:00.000-08:00

so our internet is finally up in the apartment, but we're having a hard time with our router and getting wireless. hopefully i'll be able to update more regular as the internet situation gets worked out. i'm also trying to post some photos to prove that i'm actually here, but again the internet is not being so friendly.

my birthday is in 2 days. yippeeeee!! i have an exam in Ulpan tomorrow so i need to go study. i hope election day goes well in california!

sheleg b'yerushalyim

2008-02-01T10:15:00.000-08:00

this is going to be brief because i am at a hostel in Tel Aviv and i only have 30 minutes of internet right now! when the internet finally gets set up in my apartment in Jerusalem i will update you all on everything that has been happening here. so, here are the highlights of the last week:

it snowed in Jerusalem for two days! i'm sure you all heard because aparenly it has been all over the news. Ulpan (intensive Hebrew language study) started on monday, but classes were cancelled on wednesday and thursday because of the snow. it was really pretty here, but very cold and gross outside.

we've been hanging around with our two israeli roommates a lot lately. it's so nice to get to know them and they are incredibly interesting and fun people. i am so glad i get to live with them.

i'm in tel aviv right now with my roommate sara. we decided to come for the weekend and so far it's been fun. we took 3 buses to get here, but it was worth the effort. tel aviv is much different (and warmer) from jerusalem, so it's a good vacation.

ok, my time is running out and sara needs to get online. shabbat shalom, ya'll, and expect a better update soon!

finally here!

2008-01-25T05:52:00.000-08:00

i'm sitting in aroma cafe near my dorm in jerusalem right now! we haven't yet ordered internet for our apartment, so this was the first chance i've had to get online. thank you wireless.

okay, here's everything since monday:

moma and beth drove me to LAX on monday evening. we had dinner at this yummy pan-asian restaurant on 3rd street in santa monica. when they dropped me off at the airport i was a little sad, and i was surprised that mom didn't cry!

after a short stop in charlotte, north carolina, i arrived at newark airport around 9 am on tuesday morning and took a cab over to alex's uncle's apartment in west new york, new jersey. i slept for about 2 hours and then alex and i took a ferry into manhattan. we ran some errands, walked around the city, and then met up with josh (josh.ev9.org/weblog) for dinner!

i could barely sleep tuesday night because i was so nervous! alex and i took a cab to the airport in the morning and met everyone for our flight! everything was really exciting and hectic at the airport and it felt so good to meet everyone. i was definitely pumped for the semester when i met all the people i'd be spending it with.

the flight to israel wasn't too bad, i think it was about 9.5 hours. i watched the simpson's movie on the flight and met more people from my program.

once we landed in tel aviv it took us about 2 hours to get to campus in jerusalem because there wasn't enough room on all the buses for all of us and our luggage, so we had to wait for another bus to come. getting settled into our rooms at the university was even more hectic. everything was SUPER unorganized and silly, but we eventually got everything worked out and we were in our rooms by 2pm.

i'm living with alex and sara and 2 israeli guys. it's very interesting right now but we're excited to get to know the guys in the next few months. i'll reflect more on the living situation later.

basically thursday was the longest day of my life. after flying, moving, orientation on campus, shopping for pillows and bedding, etc., we still went out at night. our neighbors across the hall were having an australia day party so we got to meet a bunch of people from our building. after that we went to a bar on campus and saw hadag nachash perform. they're a really famous band here in israel and they are so good live! seeing them was the perfect israeli start to my time here in israel!

alright, we're heading out because the cafe is closing soon for shabbat! i'll update again when i have internet!

bon voyage

2008-01-20T23:11:00.000-08:00

in a little under 24 hours i will be on a plane headed for charlotte, north carolina. in a little under 36 hours i will be landing in newark, new jersey. and in a little over 60 hours i will be on a plane headed for israel.

i'm not as nervous as i thought i would be at this point, and to be honest, i'm not as excited as i thought i would be either. i really don't think it has actually hit me yet that i'm moving to israel for 5 months. will it hit me when i get to LAX tomorrow? when i land at ben gurion airport on thursday?

anyway, moma and i have been packing my stuff for the past few days and we're not quite finished yet. we bought these sweet storage bags that you vacuum all of the air out of. they're nice because all my stuff fits so nicely into my luggage and it even seems lighter. fabulous. it's hard packing clothes for five months, especially because it's cold in jerusalem right now but will probably warm up soon. AND i have to look cute; such a dilemma.

well, i'm enjoying my last night in california by relaxing on the couch, watching Project Runway, catching up on Clark and Michael (thanks for the referral, Josh), and fighting with my nervous stomach to try to go to bed at a decent hour. this week in jerusalem.

isn't it pretty?

2008-01-09T17:03:00.000-08:00

i thought i'd share with you all the gadget that is the new love of my life. i introduce to you my new Nikon D80 and Nikon AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6G IF-ED Lens. that was a mouthful. the picture you see here is me and my new baby. it is one of the first pictures i took and it's a mirror reflection, so nothing spectacular about it. hopefully i'll take some decent pictures when mom and i go to Maui tomorrow; check out for pictures posted on flickr.

in other news, the call-in meeting for my HebrewU program was monday and i learned nothing too groundbreaking regarding my semester. it did pump me up for my travels, though, and i can't believe i'll be in israel in about 2 weeks!! crazy.

i'm currently reading the Lonely Planet Israel & the Palestinian Territories Travel Guide. i'm not quite sure how they went about organizing all of the information that they cram into the book about each region in israel, but where they placed the maps within the book is not intuitive and i'm getting frustrated by the amount of page-flipping i'm having to do. regardless, i'm finding lots of interesting things to add to my itinerary and i can't wait to go explore!

alright ya'll, enjoy wherever you may be in the world this next week. be jealous of hawaii!

this year in jerusalem

2008-01-02T12:07:00.000-08:00

I spent the week between Christmas and the new year at camp and had a lovely time. It's been really cold here...well, by LA standards at least. At least it has reminded me that Jerusalem is also cold this time of year, so layering is going to be essential.

On New Year's Eve I had a really nice dinner with Matt at Monsoon Cafe on 3rd Street in Santa Monica (check it out on yelp) and then played with a bunch of camp people. It was a pleasant way to ring in 2008. Since then I haven't really been up to anything except watching movies and sleeping. In the past 3 or 4 days I have seen The Namesake (excellent, I highly recommend seeing this), Fern Gully (classic), Children of Men, The Devil Wears Prada, and Moulin Rouge.

Here are some events coming up that I am looking forward to:

my going away party on Saturday
pre-departure tele-conference meeting next Monday
Hawaii!! on January 10th
New York/Jersey on January 22nd, the day before I leave
flying to Israel on January 23rd!!

Happy new year!

the perfect travel companion

2007-12-19T16:12:00.000-08:00

if i could create the perfect notebook for my trip, it would consist of the following:

traveler's essentials + an address book + a diary

now, where can i find one of these!?

that's it

2007-12-16T23:33:00.000-08:00

i'm all packed up, most of my stuff is in storage, and now i'm sitting in the living room of my house getting really sad to leave. is it really the middle of december? is the semester really over? i can't believe it, to be honest.

i'm thinking of having a going away party. it'll be a nice chance to see everyone and for everyone to get to see me before i leave. i should probably start compiling home addresses and e-mail addresses and skype names and such, maybe i'll get a good address book and put it out at my party. sounds good.

alright, i'm going in for my last tv watching session at this house for a long time and i'm going to mentally prepare myself for the 7 hour drive home tomorrow!

trading the bay area for the holy land

2007-12-02T13:56:00.000-08:00

the year is winding down and, as usual, i find myself procrastinating on my work, reading, and just generally any responsibility that i've taken on. what better time to start blogging?

about 2 weeks ago i got the official notice that i would be studying in Jerusalem for spring semester. since then i've registered for housing at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, bought my plane tickets to Israel, made my plans for next summer (i will be coming home to work at camp again :), and most dauntingly canceled my registration at Berkeley for next semester. now all i have left to do is survive final exams next week, move out of my house and store all of my things, go back home to sunny socal, and get excited to go!

i feel lucky to be able to study in Jerusalem next semester, but recently i've realized that not being in Berkeley for the semester is really sad. i think leaving and knowing that i'm not going to be back for about 9 months is going to be a lot harder than i had anticipated. the change of pace is going to be welcomed, as is the completely new and foreign atmosphere, but there are a lot of people and things i will miss while not being here.

will the new friends i've made this semester forget about me? am i going to ever see my friends again who are graduating in may? how am i going to live without seeing or speaking to some of my best friends whenever i want? am i going to miss out on a lot of fun times and feel bad about it?

at least i know that going to Jerusalem, spending a semester studying in Israel and traveling around the Middle East, Europe, and wherever my journeys take me, will probably be the most amazing 6 months of my life thus far. i can't be sad about that!