Sunday, March 22, 2009
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Far beyond the moon and stars, twenty lightyears south of mars...
I feel a little like I have been living on another plant for the past week or so. Good and bad. At least it was a planet with oxygen. I think. Maybe it was laughing gas. Anyway.
A few weeks ago I went to the Dead Sea which is AWESOME. It is by far the wierdest place I have ever been. It really does look other worldly: no waves, no real beaches, no greenery, no animals. Just this huge expanse of hazy water. In the middle of nowhere. And a bunch of really fat really old german tourists. and there is nothing but these fat german tourists because the water is so salty that nothing grows. AT ALL. and, mom you will like this, there are no animals in there. so you don't have to worry about sharks and fish and things. And the sea is crazy. There are all these salt deposits that have built up and are really sharp and you can't step on them or else you cut yourself and IT BUUURNS. So much. And floating is the most bizarre thing. I told someone here that it was like being an astronaut and they just looked at me and then went on talking. but it really is. you can't put your legs down or else you flip over on your stomach. its just so silly. and eveyone gets all covered in mud. which smells really bad. its just the strangest cross section of humanity you can imagine.
Or so I thought. But that was before Purim. Way wierder. Its like Renn Fayre/ Halloween Israel style. Meaning everyone is way more intense about it. There were huge street parties eveywhere you went and people dancing in the streets and dressed up as everything. i think the strangest thing I saw was a guy dressed up as an Arab (you think that isn't PC?- i saw several people just straight up dressed as black people), dancing on a balcony, waving his gun (maybe fake, but this IS israel), DJing to a huge crowd of people dancing madly below. Just on some random street. I guess it was in Tel Aviv but come on. And during purim it is a mitsvah (good deed) to be drunk. So all the really religous people get drunk. Its just a huge party. We just strolled around. There was also a huge party on our street. Appaerntly we are at the center of the Nachalot neighborhood, so there were fire crackers and herbrew sing alongs and people dancing on top of the cars who were trying to drive through the crowd. quite literally right outside my window. it was fun, a little annoying at about 4am but mostly just fun.
We also had a house warming party recently- it was really nice. eveyone brought food and we all just sat around and relaxed. it is so cool. although my room is a little absurd in and of itself. i found out that it leaks when it rains and that it gets unbelievabley bright at first light. but i'm not too worried about it. actually i'm not worried about it at all. its kinda like camping. you have to get all bundled up to go to bed and then you wake up and its like a million degrees and your foot is in a pool of water. and then you can take a shower in the fresh spring water (code word for really cold unless you wait for it to heat up which i can never seem to do). But it really is great. I feel so lucky every day when i get to go home.
Oh yea. also I'm going to school. I always forget about it. Its really fun. I absolutely LOVE my classes. It is so incredible to hear about things from people who are living them first hand. Everyday I come out with a totally new viewpoint then what I had going in. Its so interesting. Sometimes a little overwhelming, but I am so incredibly happy to just be here and listen to what people have to say. I don't want to sound cheesy, but its hard not to when you are enjoying youself.
Lets see. I think that's it. Actually that's not it at all, but for now. That's it.
LOVE YOU ALL!
(and happy late birthday molly and ellen- your presents are on their way)
A few weeks ago I went to the Dead Sea which is AWESOME. It is by far the wierdest place I have ever been. It really does look other worldly: no waves, no real beaches, no greenery, no animals. Just this huge expanse of hazy water. In the middle of nowhere. And a bunch of really fat really old german tourists. and there is nothing but these fat german tourists because the water is so salty that nothing grows. AT ALL. and, mom you will like this, there are no animals in there. so you don't have to worry about sharks and fish and things. And the sea is crazy. There are all these salt deposits that have built up and are really sharp and you can't step on them or else you cut yourself and IT BUUURNS. So much. And floating is the most bizarre thing. I told someone here that it was like being an astronaut and they just looked at me and then went on talking. but it really is. you can't put your legs down or else you flip over on your stomach. its just so silly. and eveyone gets all covered in mud. which smells really bad. its just the strangest cross section of humanity you can imagine.
Or so I thought. But that was before Purim. Way wierder. Its like Renn Fayre/ Halloween Israel style. Meaning everyone is way more intense about it. There were huge street parties eveywhere you went and people dancing in the streets and dressed up as everything. i think the strangest thing I saw was a guy dressed up as an Arab (you think that isn't PC?- i saw several people just straight up dressed as black people), dancing on a balcony, waving his gun (maybe fake, but this IS israel), DJing to a huge crowd of people dancing madly below. Just on some random street. I guess it was in Tel Aviv but come on. And during purim it is a mitsvah (good deed) to be drunk. So all the really religous people get drunk. Its just a huge party. We just strolled around. There was also a huge party on our street. Appaerntly we are at the center of the Nachalot neighborhood, so there were fire crackers and herbrew sing alongs and people dancing on top of the cars who were trying to drive through the crowd. quite literally right outside my window. it was fun, a little annoying at about 4am but mostly just fun.
We also had a house warming party recently- it was really nice. eveyone brought food and we all just sat around and relaxed. it is so cool. although my room is a little absurd in and of itself. i found out that it leaks when it rains and that it gets unbelievabley bright at first light. but i'm not too worried about it. actually i'm not worried about it at all. its kinda like camping. you have to get all bundled up to go to bed and then you wake up and its like a million degrees and your foot is in a pool of water. and then you can take a shower in the fresh spring water (code word for really cold unless you wait for it to heat up which i can never seem to do). But it really is great. I feel so lucky every day when i get to go home.
Oh yea. also I'm going to school. I always forget about it. Its really fun. I absolutely LOVE my classes. It is so incredible to hear about things from people who are living them first hand. Everyday I come out with a totally new viewpoint then what I had going in. Its so interesting. Sometimes a little overwhelming, but I am so incredibly happy to just be here and listen to what people have to say. I don't want to sound cheesy, but its hard not to when you are enjoying youself.
Lets see. I think that's it. Actually that's not it at all, but for now. That's it.
LOVE YOU ALL!
(and happy late birthday molly and ellen- your presents are on their way)
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
house warming party/potluckarming party
our street on Purim
Dead Sea
Monday, March 9, 2009
Bait Sheli a.k.a my brand new beautiful house!
my room from slightly behind the doorway
kim and jenny
my room. i was standing in the doorway when i took this picture.I will put up more pictures as soon as we get everything arranged/I get internet.
THE MOVE BY NUMBERS:
1: number of OVENS!
2: number of walls in my bedroom which actually the stone from the outside of the building
3: our apartment number
4: number of burners being shared by 3 (not 15) people
5: five goooooolden rings
6: the time in the morning I realized curtains might be a good investment
7: the number of minutes it takes to walk to the shuk (market= fresh fruit/fresh bread/fresh anything) if you stop at the coffee shop across the street on the way
8: number of full length windows I have in my room.
9: almost the bus I take to school (19)- but I usually only see the nine because I have to chase it down the street- I did that today- and I caught it.
10: shekls for a load of laundry at the laundry mat across the street
15: How long we have to turn on the hot water for, before we can take a shower
30: approximate square footage of my room
45: time it takes to get from sitting in my bed to sitting in a desk at school (10 minute walk, 30 minute bus, 5 minute walk)
50: number of times you multiply my love of salsa to get my love of this apartment
more soon- LOVE LOVE LOVE
Monday, March 2, 2009
Oh Israel
"Well it's Israel."
For some reason I have found myself saying that a lot lately. Most recently about five minutes ago... Over the past three or so days, I have been on a mad internship hunt. I signed up for the internship class and got an internship with a researcher I was really excited about. Cool. Well it's Israel. Two days after I heard from her, I found out she didn't need an intern afterall. But they were signing me up with my second choice. Cool. So I got all ready to start and the day before I was supposed to meet her, turns out SHE doesn't need an intern either. So now I am left with the very last researcher available (all the other intens had been placed). He is studying widows. Interesting, but not 8 hours a week interesting (to me at least). So I thought, maybe I should do something besides an internship. WELL it turns out that you can't drop classes after Thursday without getting a W (a Withdrawal) listed on your transcript- not a pretty picture. So for the past few days I have been trying my hardest to develop an interest in widows. And frantically emailing NGO's in the area to see if I could get an internship with them. Not going well. BUT... I had forgotten one important thing... It's Israel. About five minutes ago I got a call from the internship lady saying, "Oh hi. It turns out a researcher who hadn't signed up for an intern initially just walked in and asked if we had anyone available. Also he's working on a RELEVENT and INTERESTING topic (sorry widows). Are you interested?"
WHAT IS THIS PLACE! Somehow nothing ever works out, but ALWAYS works out. I don't get it. I mean our apartment- there was no way that was supposed to work out. Everyone was really mean about it and we pretty much gave up- oh and then we randomly go to this perfect place in the perfect neighborhood with a landlord who is a professor at our school and is for some reason really invested in our well being. Another example- When I first got here I spent about two hours wandering around the Old City looking for the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. We finally gave up and decided to leave. "Which way do you think is the fastest way out?" "How about through there." "OK" Ten steps later- the Church of the Holy Sepulcher.
Well it IS Israel.
P.S. This is just a little tid-bit for all of you who had to put up with me complaining about my roommate's unbelievably loud snoring, or heard me detailing the many beautiful nights of sleep I have had since she has moved: One of my friends (who has heard me dramatize my roommates snoring on many occasions) came in to wake me up yesterday. Guess who was snoring?.... you couldn't write this stuff if you tried.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)