New Classes and Bodies of Water

These last few weeks have been a very odd combination of emotions about the old and the new.  Having lived in Jerusalem as a kid in the next neighborhood over from where I am now, a lot of bittersweet childhood memories have come back to me as I've been rediscovering this wonderful country as an adult.  I've been having a great time seeing places I haven't seen in over a decade and getting deja vu, but it's also hard to remember that the last time I was in all of these places, I was with my family, which includes my dearly departed mother.  And so while I'm very happy here, settling down as all my classes are in full swing, I'm also finally being forced to think about things I was able to ignore at Wesleyan, a place where my mother wasn't a major part of my life.  And on that happy note...

Three weeks ago, my semester in the international school FINALLY started.  My classes are, for the most part, pretty good.  I tested into the fourth highest level of Hebrew (out of six) so I actually feel challenged.  And my favorite class is "Revolution and Reaction: Eastern European Jews in the 19th and 20th Century."  It is so interesting.  It's the kind of history class I like most: the kind where how people thought and went about their lives is more important than random dates.  It feels like a COL seminar only it's about my family's history.  For our term paper, we have to write about a family member who lived in Eastern Europe and emigrated and the circumstances in the area that lead to their emigration.  It took me a few weeks to find out how to spell my grandfather's town in Hungary, Satorlja Ujhely (pronounced shah-tah-rah oo-ee-hell).

That weekend, I did one of the big things you HAVE to do when you visit Israel:  I went hiking in Ein Gedi and floating in the Dead Sea.  Ein Gedi is an oasis in Israel that has all kinds of plants and animals from Europe, Asia, and Africa.  It was incredibly beautiful (see waterfall below).  The second my friends and I got to the Dead Sea, we had to cover ourselves in mud and take lots of pictures and then wash off in the Dead Sea, which is so dense with minerals that you can practically stand in it.  No seriously, I walked on the Sea.  There were all kinds of salts that collected on some rocks, and, on a dare (because I'm ten apparently), I licked one...yeah that was a bad idea.

 

Ein Gedi, Being covered in mud

Shortly after my classes started, my wonderful boyfriend came to visit me, which was really nice.  He got here just in time for Purim, a Jewish holiday that is a cross between Halloween and Mardi Gras...with cookies.  The traditional way to celebrate Purim is to wear a costume, eat triangular cookies, and get so drunk that you can't tell the difference between the good guy and the bad guy in the Purim story.  I didn't really go out that much because Zach was jet-lagged, but it was still quite an experience seeing ultra-orthodox Jews with suits and black coats and top hats and long, curly hair in the front of their faces (called peyos) drunkenly screaming and dancing in the street all day.  One man was dancing on his balcony with no railing that couldn't have been more than a few meters by a few meters big, and he was soon followed by a friend, and the two of them stayed there for several hours.  It was hysterical.  There were parades in Tel-Aviv.  They even threw a party in a mall by the old city.

That Friday, Zach and I went to a monastery just outside Jerusalem called Latrun where we bought really good bread, olives, and wine and had a picnic staring at the scenery.  If any of you come visit me, this is what you will do because the food is delicious, the monastery is gorgeous, and (perhaps most importantly) I am cheap.

The next week, I took off class for a few days so Zach and I could spend our last few days together in Eilat.  Eilat is right by the Red Sea, which has beautiful and diverse sea life.  It is also a HUGE tourist spot, which was both good and bad.  Most menus were in Hebrew and English and sometimes Russian and/or French too, everything was expensive, and there were all kinds of American stores there.  It felt a little weird for me because compared to Jerusalem, which I had almost gotten used to by then, Eilat felt very American.  On the other hand, because they were catering to a lot of non-Israelis, everyone seemed to appreciate it when we spoke in Hebrew (as opposed to getting annoyed and responding in English), and the majority of the music that was on at restaurants was in Hebrew (most Israeli radio stations play American music).  Among other things, Zach and I went snorkeling and hiking, in beautiful scenery (as always in Israel), and when it was too windy for me to go snorkeling, we went to an underwater observatory, where I took the picture below.

All in all, Zach's visit was filled with exciting adventures and a welcome feeling that I'm not as cut off from home as I thought I was.  And basically, I'm doing well, and I will actually update this blog in the near future...really!