Megabus

I'm now a big fan of Megabus over the Chinatown buses.

I paid $9.50 for a one-way ticket from NYC to Philly. If you book further in advance, the fares are even cheaper (They claim as low as $1). However, the fares don't ever get up much past $10.
Comparison: Megabus is just as cheap, if not cheaper than Chinatown buses

I picked the Megabus up outside of Penn Station in NYC, and was dropped off at 30th St. Station in Philly. They also had another stop option at 6th and Walnut in Philly.

Comparison: Megabus is much more convenient location-wise on both ends, and saves bus/trolley fares to and from Chinatown.

Megabuses were painted bold blue with the Megabus logo huge across the sides. There were official signs where Megabuses were allowed to park and load. The drivers were in uniform. The driver made an announcement at the beginning and end of the trip (where the bus was going, how long it would take, thanks for riding Megabus, etc). An employee helped load baggage underneath. We drove straight to Philly without any random stops.

Comparison: Megabus is a lot less sketchy than Chinatown buses

Over-rated?

The great thing about NYC: there is always something to do.

The downside: there are always millions of people who want to do those things.

Greek Escape

I left technology (besides a camera) behind for a month and set out for a vacation, a reunion after 4 months apart. A real vacation. Too often we get caught up in doing and seeing as many things as possible in the time allotted. But honestly, how many tourists actually care about the history behind a building, or remember it the next week? The draw of Greece is not its history, it is its scenery. And so we took it all in.

CAUTION: I would never recommend anyone to go to the Greek Islands - at least Crete and Santorini - if you are not traveling as a couple. There are so many young couples everywhere. I couldn't help but think how depressed I would be if I were not in a pair myself.

Here is a "brief" outline of my romantic, picturesque escape:

--Successfully met in Athens airport after my flight was delayed 4 hours and there was no way of getting that message across.
--Acropolis, walked up random hill with great view and listened to a band rehearse for a show that night at the hill-top amphitheater

--Went to Pireaus port in hopes of catching a ferry to Santorini - there were none that day, so we caught an overnight to Crete (Kreta) instead, because, well...why not?
--Arrived at Chania port at 5:30am. Sat along the Venetian harbor drinking wine/Fanta combo and eating crackers for breakfast, watching the sunrise.
--Camped at Chania Campground for a few days, explored the coastline, lay on the beach
--Hiked Samaria Gorge - beautiful. About a 5 hour hike. Gorge goes as narrow as 3 meters at one point, with a crystal clear stream running down alongside the trail. Although it is full of tourists, and they relocated a settlement in the gorge when Greece made it a national park - not okay in my eyes -still worth a visit.
--Unimpressed by Rethmyno - its Venetian Harbor is not as beautiful as Chania's, however students get into the fortress for free.
--Got bedbugs in Iraklio hostel. Miserable for the next couple of days from all the itching.
--Took a ferry to Thira, Santorini with GA Ferries - cheaper rates.
--Set up camp at campground 200m outside of the main town of Thira.
--Spent the next week bumming around Santorini...a volcano that erupted and collapsed creating a lake in the middle that merges with the Mediterranean Sea. Villas and towns are built on the top of the cliffs that drop off into the lake. Breathtaking.
--Went to a black sand beach, a red beach, and a rock beach. Not the most comfortable beaches for relaxing.
--Walked to Oia for the sunset over the Sea. Drank wine sitting on a rock while watching the sun descend. (Fyi- Oia is not really a safe walk, or in walking distance at all from Thira).
--Saw a local "walk" his dog by driving his car holding the leash with the dog running beside him outside.
--Don't waste your money getting dinner at one of the restaurants on the cliff with an amazing view - just order coffee and an appetizer and slowly enjoy the view...they don't kick you out.

--Set out on our journey to Venice Italy. Took ferry back to Pireaus, train to Patras, got molested at a park in Patras by a group of about 5 year old boys...embarked on ferry to Venice, set up our tent on the deck for the 2-night 36hr journey.
--Highly recommend this. The ferry was like a cruiseship, so even though we got the cheap deck tickets we could use all its facilities, showers, restaurant, bar, casino, discotech, pools...impressive for a ferry boat.
--Arrived in Venice. Spent next 2 days wandering around and getting lost in the neighborhoods. Neat place. We forgoed the 100 Euro gondola ride for a 13Euro ride on the bus boat. Crowded, but a nice view at night.

--Took train to Lugano, Switzerland where we were met by my sister - we were based here for the last week of our trip.
--Went to Lucerne for a yodeling festival. Not what you would expect. They were more yodeling choirs.
--Paddle boated on Lake Lugano and ate lots of gelato, and chocolate.
--Hiked up tall hill - Monte San Salvatore - basically 2 hours of stairs for a Panoramic view
--Trip to Bellinzona to see castles. Went on a Sunday, the town was pretty much deserted, so we relaxed on top of the castle playing cards.
--Eurocup final - go Spain!

--Back to Philadelphia. First time in the States in 5 months.


Interesting tidbits:
-Greeks don't seem to be the most attractive people we've ever encountered, nor the skinniest.
-Outside of the tourist areas Greece is a dump. Trash and graffiti absolutely everywhere.
-Everyone apparently speaks English. Extremely helpful, somewhat sad.
-Italians are always late.

I think I've caught the travel bug.

That's all folks

My semester in Israel has come to an end. It is a bitter sweet ending. I will miss my roommate terribly, and the freedom that goes with studying abroad. It will be culture shock in the Fall at Penn when I can't negotiate class and test times, and when suggesting a weekend hike or beach trip would be a joke.

Of course there are positive and negatives to every experience. But I want to remember the happy stuff when I look back on this. It is hard to remember what I found different about Israel at the beginning, because I am so used to it now. But I will try to end this segment of life with little tidbits about Israel.

1) Cats are Israel's equivalent to squirrels in the US
2) Your bag will be checked whenever you enter a building
3) Soldiers with guns are everywhere
4) All toilets have a half flush and a full flush - way to conserve water!
5) Sheruts - shared taxis
6) Should negotiate a price before you get in a cab
7) Speaking Hebrew at the shuk will get you lower prices
8) Marzipan rugula is the best ooey gooey pastry ever
9) Jerusalem lives to pray
10) Tel Aviv lives to play
11) You can easily barter down to 1/2 and less of the asking price at the Arab shuk
12) Lines don't exist
13) Pushing is perfectly acceptable
14) The dollar declining in value makes Israel pretty expensive

and finally:

15) Toilet paper comes in bulk - and is used for everything


Next stop for me: a month in Greece! I leave tomorrow!

Cable Car?

We don't need no stinking Cable Car. Actually, we really didn't want to pay for one. You are allowed to hike up Masada before 10am, however the first bus did not get us there until 10:30. People were still on their way up the path when we bypassed the ticket booth and went to the trail head. Nope, there was a guard. They would not let us hike up the desert mountain because it was "too hot." Well...through a little complaining and stating that we don't have money for the cable car, the manager quickly decided to give us free passes for the cable car. Score. We would have still rather hiked it, but if we can't, we'll take it.

We spent a good 2.5 hours on top of Masada, walking to the different breathtaking view points, the echo point where we sang "I like fishes cause they are so delicious," and meandered through the fortress.We hiked down the path to the bottom where a plethora of snack/drink stands awaited our business. We passed by the 20 shekel drinks to a booth with a bored teenage boy, who decided that he would give us free iced coffees. Fabulous.

Caught a bus to the Ein Gedi Spa at the Dead Sea near by. This was going to be our reward for a semester of hard work. The staff must have thought we were a part of one of the many tour groups, because they let us walk right through without paying. Perfect. I mean really, all we did was use their spot on the beach. Salty float, natural mud, and sulfur pool plunge later, and we were on our way back to Jerusalem.
While we were waiting for the bus, a sherut (a 15 seat shared taxi) pulled up and we were able to barter with the driver down to 25 shekels each - cheaper than the bus! What an amazing, lucky, day. All we had to pay for was transportation.

The Zoo

I forgot to mention my trip to the Jerusalem Biblical Zoo a couple of weeks ago. It is by far the best zoo I have ever been to. The scenery was gorgeous, the animals happy, active, playful, and came right up to us.My favorite part was the big open safari area where the giraffes, zebras, ostriches, and rhinoceroses roamed together next to a lake overlooking the mountains in the distance. As my friend remarked "If the big giraffes can live with the little zebras happily, why can't we all live in harmony?

Frolicking in Gardens...or not

Last week in Israel, I needed to see everything I hadn't yet. This being impossible, we chose to go to Haifa, Israel one of the days, to visit the Baha'i Gardens. This is a very interesting religion, who claim to believe in all religions. Which in reality means they believe in all of the different prophets of the religions. The have a shrine/temple in Haifa with gardens that encompass an entire hillside, with over 200 gardeners to keep it beautiful.

We got off the bus at the bottom of the hill:We were only able to climb to the first gate before we had to come back down. All after my friend had to layer on her sweats, because her tank top and shorts were to scandalous for a holy place. We were hoping to be able to climb the steps all the way up, but instead we had to take a bus to the top to another viewpoint.
This was torturous. We could look down at the gardens, but were not allowed to go in them. The guards smiled at us as they unlocked the gate for select other people. Denied. All I wanted to do was to skip around and frolic in the gardens.

We walked down the hill (along a side road) to the middle, shrine level, and came across a sculpture garden. We actually were able to play around and pose with the sculptures here.
The Gardens were built like the Champs de Elysses in Paris, so when you looked down, the main street leads to the Mediterranean Sea. We could easily walk there! So we did - but not so easily. The street lead to the Port. It was another hour or more walk to the beach. We finally got to a somewhat secluded beach and we passed out on the sand. Best nap ever - minus a little sunburn.

Red Sand

Jordan. Red desert. Bedouins. Camels. Petra.
Such a wide away of amazing experiences.

Friday (May 2nd) morning we made the trek to Eilat to the border crossing, and into Jordan. We had a general plan of what we wanted to do, with advice from friends who had already ventured that way.

Our taxi driver was very friendly, but sketchily so. When we told him our plans he took that to mean that he would organize our trip for us. This created a lot of confusion, frustration, and distrust as he arranged for rides we didn't ask for, but had to pay for, etc.Anyhow, we asked to be taken to an authentic Bedouin Camp in the Wadi Rum Desert to spend the night. What we were told would be 5 Jordanian Dinar for the night, dinner, and breakfast, turned into 25 Dinar as we were taken to a tourist "Bedouin camp." While not exactly what we expected as our Bedouin experience, we made the most of it and had a great time. We sat and relaxed while drinking tea for the afternoon. I got to ride a camel - much like riding a horse. My camel was a rare white, wise, and gentle camel...while the others were feisty, and even kicked the boy leading us in the leg. While the boy recovered, we saw the sunset over the desert mountains.

Night gave way a huge party of dancing around the bonfire with Jordanian students. It should be noted that only the boys (and the 4 of us Americans) were dancing, putting on quite the show for the women. And man, they could shimmy 100 times better than I ever could. Dinner was taken out of the ground - chicken that had been cooking under the sand for 2 days. Who needs a grill when you are in the desert? de.li.cious. I then slept out under the stars after being maliciously attacked by bugs in the tent.
We headed to Petra bright and early the next morning. Honestly, it was everything I expected it to be. I heard stories, and saw pictures of little people in front of huge structures (note me sitting in the Monastery in the above picture). Nevertheless, it was beautiful. The red rocks that the buildings were carved into gave it a little extra something. The walkway was lined with souvenir stands - a little annoying if you ask me. Two of the group stopped to have tea with a couple of Bedouins, while the other two of us continued the long climb up to the Monastery. There was the option of taking a "taxi" (a mule) up, but we decided to use our feet. The view once we got there was amazing, and the shop at the cliff viewpoint was playing Bob Marley - which was amazing and obviously called for a dance session.

We hurried down the mountain, taking the obligatory silly photos, in order to catch a cab to cross the border before it closed. I never thought I would be so happy to be crossing back into Israel. It was a mix of amazing sites, and being taken advantage of as a tourist. But we enjoyed it, and made it back in time to see the sunset over the Red Sea in Eilat.

Sea to Sea: Survivor Style

This past weekend started our two week vacation for Passover. We took advantage of the free hiking trip offered by Rothberg Office of Student Activities hiking club. Four days hiking from the Mediterranean Sea to the Sea of Galilee and camping out under the stars. It was as amazing as it sounds.
The experience was incredible. I had a fantastic time, despite some trying moments along the way:

The first day we came across an aquifer . Feeling adventurous a group of us decided to climb through the narrow opening into the mountain, wading through water with flashlights to see the source. Being afraid of water/drowning, this was not the best decision on my part. We got to a section where the ceiling of the cave was so low we had to crawl on our hands and knees with only our heads above water and inches between our heads and the cavernous roof. I had a little freak out and did not want to pass through this section - even though the ceiling got higher right after it. I wanted to head back...but they wouldn't let me. They wouldn't give me a flashlight. So there I was, having to decide between facing my fear or being left in a water-filled cave in the dark - alone. I don't know whether to call them encouraging, or just plain mean, but I got through and we eventually came to the source. Quiet, we could hear the water flow. As one of the Israelis exclaimed "that's the noise it makes right before it collapses." Thanks...a lot.
The third day, as my roommate calls it, was rock tobogganing. We were hiking cliffs, with a drop off on our right side, and a wall on our left, with about a 2 feet path in between. This "path" was composed of mostly boulders to climb/lunge up and down. Every once in a while we'd see a trail marker on some crazy high tower of boulders and just think "seriously?". One wrong step or slip could result in falling over a cliff. I found myself sliding down rocks on my butt to better navigate when foot holds were not evident. While I admit, I was scared at times - looking back on it now it was a lot of fun, like a puzzle.

My last personal trial was on the fourth and final day. They had a surprise in store for us: repelling! I was really excited, thought it would be so much fun. They had us stand on the edge of a cliff, lean back and back, and then start walking down the side of the cliff. I hated the whole way down. Maybe it was the lack of practice or direction. They had us jump right in. Of course I'm glad I did it, otherwise I would just wonder. I would even consider trying it again. But it was probably one of the scariest extended moments of my life - and I don't really even know why. These experiences are not what I am referring to when I say "survivor style." We were split up into 4 tribes. There was a challenge for all teams once a day, and then any team could challenge another team during the hike. Challenges included building the tallest structure using natural materials, who could pee the longest, trivia, crossing the "river", arm wrestling, wearing team hats and creating a team song. Some teams were competitive, some non-spirited, but it was a great idea, and I had a lot of fun with it. Go team Golani with red striped hats!

We came across a couple interesting groups of people. One was the Druze. A religious group in Northern Israel. Not much is known about their religion, as they will not talk about it with others. A big secret. They were barbecuing skews of meat and they gave us one to share as we passed by. All I can say was that it was the best thing I have ever eaten. The other, we refer to as the tree people. However, they refer to themselves as "The Greater Spirit." We found them literally hugging and singing to trees. The worship trees and found this area to be particularly spiritual. We heard their singing into the night as we woke for our fire-watching shifts. Interesting.I make the hike sound like this intense experience, but most of it was just hiking. Yes, up and down mountains and sometimes for 10 hours a day, but it was hiking. Outside, in nature, without technology, green, trees, natural springs, passing out on uncomfortable rocks during lunch breaks. A great way to relax and get to know new people and the country and culture of Israel. There was an amazing sense of accomplishment and pride as we made it to the top of the road for our first glimpse of the Sea of Galilee. The most amazing thing: I wasn't sore at all.

Mud Rejuvenation

About two or so weeks ago we had a day off of school. Needing a little pick-me-up, two of us decided to make a day trip to the Dead Sea.

Not exactly sure how to get there or where along the Dead Sea we were going, we hopped on a bus going in that general direction. After several conversations with the bus driver we departed at the free beach. Sunscreen in hand we ventured off into the intense "insta-tan" sun.

Having been there before my friend remembered Sulfur Pools being on the beach to use. We looked for them and eventually ended up at the tourist information center. Here we were told that the Sulfur Pools are only at the Ein Gedi Spa. Well, so much for that. We followed the exit sign of the little complex to find ourselves in the "Solarium," an enclosed area on the beach with naked purple leather people. Oops.

Back out on the real beach we waded into the water. The oily salty water insisted on lifting us up. Floating was effortless. We just lay there relaxing, naturally exfoliating our skin. Until...dun dun dun. My friend got water in her eye!!!! And by water I mean salt. To the rescue, I lead her blinded self up to safety and poured fresh water in her eyes.

With regained eyesight it was time to find some Dead Sea Mud to continue our natural skin treatment (and get the full Dead Sea experience). It was a little suspicious that no one else on the beach was covered in mud, but we were determined that there had to be some. All we saw was mounds and mounds of huge salt crystals. We finally resorted to asking the lifeguards where the mud was. "People like you came 20 years ago and took it all!" Um...right. So turns out the Ein Gedi Spa is the only place that it is naturally in the water. I see a pattern here. "But you can buy it at the market." Yes. We bought packaged Dead Sea mud at the Dead Sea. In our defense it was only 7.5 shekels each.

Lathered up in mud we were like aliens on the beach. People stared at us, 13-year-old boys wanted to take their pictures with us, but it was fun...and crusty. After washing the mud off it was time to hop on the bus back. This time with glowing skin and smiles.

Going Gray

Today as a friend was giving me a neck massage since I had a headache (yes, I know, I have amazing caring friends), she found something that did not belong. A gray hair, well, silver actually. Don't worry, it is no longer attached to my head. I still try to insist that it is because I am turning blond from the intense Middle-Eastern sun.

But, honestly, I am not that surprised. This place, coupled with nursing, has been the most emotionally stressful experience I have ever had. I don't even know how to adequately explain it, examples will have to suffice.

Example 1 - this place. This past Sunday the Penn nurses were on an Arab bus on our way to Old City to experience a Purim celebration with our professor. We were pulled over by a group of Israel Police Officers. Everyone had to produce a passport or ID (which by the way, you don't need to ride a bus). He took one man off of the bus. We waited while 3 officers searched, interrogated, and just took their precious time with this man. Eventually the man came back to the bus to get his little son. The police interrogated and stood around some more. Eventually the man told the bus driver to leave, and him and his son piled into the Police Car. Such disturbing pointless intimidation tactics. Such racism. Such hate. And all we could do was watch.

Example 2 - nursing. I saw my first death. It affected me so much more than I thought it would. Especially considering that she was not even my patient. I knew nothing about this little 4 year old girl other than her medical condition, which I will not share. I watched almost an entire resuscitation attempt. It was fine as long as we were discussing technical skills applied and the physiology of the girl's condition. Somehow 45 minutes into watching the trauma put on this tiny body it hit me, and I had to leave. 15 minutes later they called it. I get shivers just writing about it. I cried. I keep thinking about it. I know it is better, that she was in no state to live, but I was there while she died. And all I could do was watch.

The Best Laid Plans...

February 21-23
…are no plans at all. We decided to make the most of our last free weekend before intense nursing classes began. What better way than to go to a warm sunny beach on the Red Sea. We found a hotel for cheap in Eilat the night before, made our reservations, got on the bus after our Hebrew Finals and were on our way. Five hours later, at 11pm we arrived at our hotel, only to find that we “misunderstood” the price, and in fact they were going to charge us double the amount they quoted to us on the phone. Through a little struggle and a phone call to the manager they finally agreed to cancel the reservation without charging the credit card the full amount.

So, here we were, 8 girls, 1 boy, wandering Eilat at 11pm without a place to sleep. Pretty comical really, but it gets better. We decided to go back to the bus station, because we saw a couple hostels around. While walking through the station we ran into a group of boys from Spain who also needed a place to stay. The group of us was wandering up toward the hostels when we were approached by a woman saying “place to stay, very cheap.” We bargained with her for a little bit just for fun, but after she became pushy we realized it was just a bit too sketchy. The Spanish boys went with another man in a Jeep. We continued on our way...

While we split up to inquire about different hostels about open beds and pricing, the woman drove by and honked, then she stopped up by the other group and started bargaining again. She was going to give us 10 shekels less per person for two nights. We had to convince our friend that $2.50 was not worth risking our lives.

We ended up finding a beautiful hostel. The man who owned it has traveled all over the world, is an architect/designer, and designed his hostel. He even has the “nicest house in Israel” to rent out, and he was not exaggerating. Nestled into our room we had an intense 2 hour conversation (that prompted my previous post) and called it a night.

The first day was very relaxed. We wondered around the beach shopping at different stands. It was gorgeous. A sea with the bluest water I have ever seen, surrounded by looming mountains. We meandered up the jetty to see if there were any boat rides on the Red Sea that seemed appealing. We were invited onto a man’s boat to explore. To our surprise to was a beautiful pirate ship (okay, some might call it a sailing ship)! The cruise left the next morning, so we signed right up! For 125 Shekels (about $35) we got a 4 hour cruise to the border of Israel/Egypt and Jordan/Sinai, delicious Israeli BBQ lunch, time to jump off the ship into the Sea with a rope swing, and relax or dance while music played. It was truly a vacation and an adventure. And of course it turned out so much better than if it was planned.

Under the Desert Sun

February 15-16, 2008
Large group trips really aren’t my thing, especially when the crowd resembles that of freshmen during New Student Orientation (NSO). That said, I can’t complain too much for another free trip, this time for a whole weekend to Mitzpe Ramon.

The original itinerary of a 4 hour hike was adjusted due to risk of floods in the desert. I for one was extremely disappointed, but I can’t say the same for most of the girls on the trip. Instead we rode the buses from site to site, got out, wandered around, listened to the tour guide say a few words, and got back into the bus. Enjoyable enough, just not what I had anticipated.

We checked into our hostel (which by the way I was very impressed with for a hostel - Each bunk room had its own bathroom and shower). While most people went to Shabbat services a small group of us decided to explore. The town of Mitzpe Ramon is located right on the edge of the cliff of the crater. It is absolutely breathtaking. We climbed up a hill with a camel shaped viewing area on top and watched the sunset over the desert.

Saturday was much more enjoyable. We woke up bright and early to head off into the desert for archery. Not the typical archery, but a sport closely resembling Frisbee golf. It is actually quite ingenious. As the owner told us, he wanted to replace golf with this form of archery. It takes the same skill, concentration, and focus, but you can play on the natural terrain. Golf wastes so many resources solely trying to maintain the grass. Good luck actually making that happen. It was a great experience and we all had a blast briefly learning technique and then just trying over and over with different distanced targets hiking across the desert.

A bathroom break led us to discover that this archery place was a hidden gem. Inside the fence was an open air shelter with a kitchen, and an abundance of mattresses and blankets. Inside were students just sitting, smoking hookah, drinking tea, and playing the guitar. It costs 80 shekels to spend a night on the floor, which is a little expensive seeing how the hostel was 90, but the atmosphere was amazing. We sat and chatted for awhile before returning to our group to carve sandstone.

After lunch 2 of us decided to diverge from the group “hike” and go for a real hike of our own. The view from the top of the crater was amazing, but we wanted to find a way to get down into it. After a little exploration we found a trail leading down the cliff. Hands down this was the highlight of my weekend. Nothing compares to the desert. It is the most relaxing, serene experience. It was the sound of utter silence. A picture looks as if you cut out our heads and pasted it on a background. You feel insignificant as the cliff walls surround you and you are in the middle of a vast open crater. The joy and awe I felt at that moment is inexplicable.

Pinch Me

February 7, 2008
Who does this? This is so unreal. Every once in awhile it hits me “I am here, in Jerusalem, traveling, seeing new things, and not at Penn spending all my time studying, doing the same old same old.” Granted we had 6 days of school this week rather than the usual 5, to make up for those snow days last week. But school is hardly a burden when you are done at 1:15pm and travel afterwards.

The Office of Student Activities organizes various free trips throughout the semester for international students to experience Israel. Today I went on the Caesarea trip where “archeology and history meets in one of the most romantic places in Israel Caesarea – Harbor, neighbor to the splendid Caesarea National Park learn about the periods, the places, and the people that have made Caesarea what it is today.” Sure, why not? I’ll go. And I was glad I did.

It was absolutely breathtaking. We took a walking tour through the ruins along the Mediterranean Sea, with the sun shining we didn’t even need coats. Normally I’m not a huge fan of guided tours, but this one was a wealth of interesting information. King Herod wanted a port where there wasn’t a bay, so somehow they constructed one. There was an amphitheater and hippodrome where there was free bloody entertainment for the male citizens of Caesarea, because, as King Herod figured, if they were happy and busy then they would not try to kill him. He had a fresh water pool where he poisoned his enemies and could pass it off as them drowning. He was so paranoid, in fact, that he killed his two sons so they would not steal his reign. When his wife was mad at him for this action, he killed her too. Then had an extravagant funeral for her, completed by covering her in honey. Yeah, no one really knows.

After the tour we were able to wander around on our own, and we caught the sunset over the Sea. While sharing coffee and conversation with a friend in a café overlooking the water at the end of the day, I realized why this place was considered romantic.

Mini NYC

February 3, 2008
After class on Sunday we spent the evening in Tel Aviv, an hour bus ride, on Egged, from Jerusalem. It was a short trip, but long enough to let us know that we must go back. We met one of the Penn Nurses’ roommates at the bus station and we continued to walk around the city. Tel Aviv is known in Israel to be a miniature New York City. It attracts a much younger crowd than Jerusalem, and is more hip and modern.

We walked along, what I understood to be the first road in Israel. The walkway was wide and ran up the middle of the street with trees lining each side. It was beautiful. I love when nature and cities come together. Part A of our walk ended at Max Brenners, a chocolate café. There are now other locations across the world, but I was told it originated in Israel. We made the mistake of filling up on the dinner portion. It was delicious though. The side salads are not made with cheap ice-berg lettuce, and have an abundance of toppings. My friend tried the traditional Israeli dish, Shakshuka, for her main portion. We ordered hot chocolate in “Hug Mugs” for our drink; shaped like a raindrop you cup it in your hands and drink from the spout. Being at a chocolate café we convinced our stuffed selves that we needed to order a dessert to share. We decided on the ice cream with various chocolate toppings. Delicious.

Having officially become pregnant with food we felt the need to walk it off. Part B of our walk took us to the Mediterranean Sea. It was dark by now, but it was still beautiful and exhilarating to walk along the boardwalk next to the sand, even briefly. We hurried to catch the bus back to Jerusalem; after all, we had school in the morning.

The Outcasts

February 1, 2008
Today we took a tour of Old City and the Jewish Quarter. We stood in the room where Jesus supposedly had his last supper. The tour ended at the Western Wall. It is divided into two gender sides with the much larger division being the men’s. I overheard other girls on our tour expressing their anger at how much smaller the women’s side was, but my friend turned to me and said they are lucky the women even have a side. Here Jews were praying, reading their Torah out loud, swaying up and down, burying their faces in their Torah, pressing themselves against the wall. There are pieces of paper stuck in the wall that have people’s prayers written on them. It was a really interesting place to observe and people watch. Old City is a historically significant place for many different religions; however, I feel like a lot of the meaning and history is lost on me as I am not religious.

Some people might refer to it as culture shock. I’m not sure if that is exactly what I am experiencing, but it is different being in Israel without being Jewish. They have such a strong community that everyone studying abroad here knows each other through someone somehow. All except our little group of Penn nurses. The topic comes up somehow in every conversation where I hesitantly admit, “no I am not Jewish”, and the response is usually something like “oh.” At least we have each other.

Being an outsider in this particular region is not necessarily a bad thing. We have a whole different perspective on the whole Arab-Israeli conflict. It is really quite disturbing the little derogatory comments we hear in everyday conversation. But we are having difficulty with what we can do with those comments. We are outsiders, so on one hand, do we even have a place to say “this is wrong”? But on the other hand we have a valuable unbiased perspective. Will our views impact any one person and make a difference? Or will we lose friends by opening our mouths? We feel like we have gone back prior to the Civil Rights Movement in America. It is a frustrating situation.

Sheleg!

Snow in Jerusalem? What? This snow resulted in my first snow day since high school. Jerusalem is definitely not prepared for any amount of snow. Weather forecasts of a possible snow storm sent the city into chaos. My school kept sending us emails and SMS (text messages) warning us that class might be cancelled Wednesday and to make sure to stock up on groceries, because the whole city would shut down at the slightest sign of snow.

Doubting that there would actually be snow, yet still hopeful, we decided to go out to the Village Bar (on the first floor of the dorm next door) for Tuesday night karaoke and a girls’ night out. It was empty at first, but packed with other hopeful students in just a matter of time. We had a great time turning the bar into our own club, dancing and singing along to the music. I went up with a new friend and sang Ricky Martin’s “She Bangs” while our other friends and roommate sang “Lady Marmalade.” It was nothing short of hilarious.

As we left the bar the snow was coming down. Shouts of “sheleg, sheleg!” resounded across the student village as we skipped and jumped around in the falling snow.

An SMS this morning answered our hopes “Following the windy forecast there will be no classes today at the Hebrew University and in Rothberg International School.” A relaxing day of sleeping in, chatting in PJs and watching movies followed. Now we are just watching the snow hoping for no class tomorrow. What a hard life.

Hebrew…Go!

Talk about returning to Kindergarten. Ulpan started on Monday, which means I am in Hebrew class 5 hours a day, speaking, reading, and writing nothing but Hebrew. It is actually pretty impressive how you can learn a language solely through pictures, gestures and repetition, and of course a patient friendly teacher. Having never even seen Hebrew before Monday, I was a bit overwhelmed. Completely different alphabet, different sounds, print and script writing, not to mention reading/writing from right to left. Wow. So here I am back to kindergarten sounding out words letter by letter. Sounding like I am coughing up mucus trying to get the correct pronunciation. Oh well, I am learning. It has only been two days after all, and who doesn’t wish they were still in Kindergarten?

First Shabbat

January 25, 2008
Up and at it relatively early we spent the first half of the day at Mahane Yehuda (the Jewish shuk). This was an amazing experience. Mahane Yehuda is a huge outdoor market with so many vendors selling fresh produce, dried fruits, nuts, pasta, hand-made hummus, cheese, bread, and all sorts of miscellaneous household items. We walked around for about 3 hours listening to shouting vendors competing for consumers, maneuvering through the packed aisles, and stocking up on delicious Israeli foods. All of this in the morning of course, because this was Friday, Shabbat, where everything shuts down completely in the afternoon until Saturday at sunset.

After getting locked into campus after using the internet we wandered around trying to find an open gate. The campus beautiful and full of cats just like the US is full of squirrels. They are adorable and look well-fed. I am a little weary of petting them though. We finally got out and had to walk a round about way back to the Student Village (the new set of dorms). On our way we stood and overlooked a small Arab village with children playing soccer in the streets, clothes hanging on lines outside, and a horse hanging out in a backyard. With the campus up on a hill (Mount Scopus) we have great views all around.

I dragged myself out of bed from a nap (still recovering from jet lag) to make it to a free Shabbat dinner. This was put on in one of the dorms by a Jewish group on campus, who apparently are very welcoming at first but eventually want you to become more and more Jewish (according to a friend we met). It was an hilarious first Shabbat experience. It began with singing in Hebrew, then we all went to “wash” our hands. Traditionally you wash your hands before eating the bread by pouring water over each hand with a basin 3 times. Things started to get interesting when the Rabbi went around to each person pouring Vodka shots or mixes with cherry liquor, which quite frankly just tasted like cold syrup. Not to mention pouring some for himself. The food passed out was not very good quality, but gave me a general idea of the types of foods served. Although our table did not get much variety as they ran out of food before reaching us. At one point we had to “de-fishify” the table, discarding anything that touched fish. Throughout all of the eating the Rabbi was singing songs, banging on the table, and drinking vodka. At one point he attempted to make a speech, standing on his chair, cradling the empty bottle of vodka, and rambling on about the “metaphysical” and the “finite and infinite” claiming that “believe it or not, I am making sense right now.” I was assured multiple times that this was not a typical Shabbat dinner and that Rabbis usually hold their liquor a lot better.

The dinner was still a lot of fun, and we met 2 Israeli students who go to Hebrew University (this is rare since we are surrounded by other international students attending the Rothberg International School at Hebrew U. We invited them up to our apartment after dinner and ended up talking until late. They were fun and nice and we discussed our different cultures.

There is a lot that I do not yet understand. I still have so much to learn about Israel, Judaism and their respective traditions and cultures, and am looking forward to it!

No Sleep Allowed

January 24, 2008
The pitting dread and sadness turned into excitement as we drove from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. The scenery was beautiful, like I have only before seen in pictures and movies. This excitement quickly dissolved when we got to Hebrew University campus. We were shuttled like cattle from room to disorganized room waiting in line after line getting room assignments and filling out paperwork. All of this after an overnight flight landing at 7am. And so the sleep deprivation continued as we had to stay up for a mandatory Academic Orientation at 4pm, which was pointless because I kept drifting off and didn’t remember a single thing. We finally meandered back to our apartments at 6pm during which I apparently managed to fall asleep while still walking. Back at the apartment I showered, unpacked, almost had a sleep-deprived sad breakdown from looking at pictures, realized that things will be so much better after a good night’s sleep, and went to bed at 9pm. I could not have gotten through this day if I were not with my fellow nurses.