And I'm...home?

                      Only less than 24 hours after my most recent blog post, a siren for rockets went off over Tel Aviv for the first time in 20 years.  I was walking to the gym and when the sirens went off, we ran to our bomb shelter.  No rockets hit anyone and it was largely very far away from us, though still nerve-wracking.  Within the next 4 days there were 5 sirens.  After the second siren, Israel started talking about putting in the Iron Dome around Tel Aviv and before we knew it, rockets were getting shot out of the sky.  Along with interceptions, there were talks of ground troops in Gaza.  Almost every Israeli we talked to said they were just waiting for the call to come in.  So many reserves were called up, yet university kept going.
                      The 5th and last siren went off at 6:42pm Sunday, and I was leaving for the airport at 9.  That was the second siren of the day and the last for the immediate future.  I got to Chicago on Monday and on Wednesday a bus in Tel Aviv was attacked.  But then Ceasefires were in talks and now we have one in place.  To be there during that time was life-changing and I wouldn't have asked for a different experience.  Here are my favorite links that show how eerie the siren really is.  Sadly I used to be really anxious around any siren sound, now my heart only beats when I hear the specific siren, but still.
                      Again, let me reiterate that I am still and will only be Pro-Peace.  There were victims on both sides of the conflict, and no one side is more right than the other.  And on top of that, both sides have faults.

My friend Adam was smart enough to continuously record the day when the 5th siren went off.  A really moving video with a very audible "boom" at the end.
Adam's Video

This second video clearly shows the rocket flying over Tel Aviv and the Iron Dome hitting it out of the sky.  Still very creepy to see an actual rocket over the city I lived in.
Rockets

                     But coming home helped me realize just how cool America is too.  I've been so focused on visiting all the places in the world, that I haven't really appreciated how different America is. And when I came home, I was happy to finally be reunited with the seesters and spend Thanksgiving in St. Louis.  This is my personal Xmas Card to all of you!  Happy Holidays from us seesters!

                 
               And from there, I have been in 5 states and seen 6 colleges within 11 days.  Megabus is now my best friend and I've successfully watched the show Revenge (all two seasons) within 5 days.  But my first Midwest tour stop was to University of Notre Dame where my friend Alex and I were to meet up with Merrick to see the campus (and the squirrels).  The picture doesn't show it, but the squirrel literally ate the M&M out of my hand.

                    My second stop was to the University of Minnesota to see Meghana!  I took a lovely 8 hour over-nighter to the actually oh so adorable Minneapolis.  The University is huge, but it feels pretty quaint when you head over to Dinky Town, or take the tram to Minneapolis.  We then went to a Goodwill outlet where I bought a Delta Tau Delta Sweatshirt.  I'm now officially part of the greek system, even though I know it's a frat.  It was just something to laugh about.  But something else I could help but giggle about was the Minnesota accent. Yes it does exist, and yes it is just darn tootin cayute!  Oh AND the legal gambling age in Minnesota is 18, so we went to a casino.  I won 3 bucks!


                   
                 Then on Tuesday I was headed down to St Louis!  Meghana and I are friends with a dude in St Louis named Johnny, and the original plan was that I alone was gonna visit him.  But, after a phone call Friday an Saturday night, it was clear that we had to surprise him with Meghana coming to visit as well!  So, Monday night I picked her up from the Megabus and 540 Tuesday morning we were on our way to St. Louis.  When we arrived, we had a good 2 hours to kill before we could surprise him, so we had planned to meet our friend Chen (Chenathy) for lunch at Washington University in St.Louis, aka Wash U.  For those of you that have never seen the campus, take that 5 hour Megabus trip there.  It is absolutely gorgeous!  Chenathy here, struck gold.  And after lunch, I forced Johnny to come pick me up from the tram station just so we could surprise him with Meghana's presence.  And from there we had a wonderful dinner, watched the Victoria Secret Fashion Show, and played with my favorite dog Chubie.  Chubie has a real name, I just can't remember it. The dog looks like Chubaka, so I shortened it to Chubie.  Sadly we didn't take any pictures together when we surprised Johnny, but no worries, I got one with Chubie! His butt at least!

                 
            Meg and I got home on Wednesday, and come Thursday morning, I was in the car on the way to the University of Illinois.  It was a good ol day trip that helped me realize just how many of my friends go there.  If I couldn't hang out with one, there was another person a text away willing to come chill.  So I hopped and hopped around, person to person.  And as the day went by, I remembered more and more people I forgot went there.  I only got to say hi to 8 people I knew there even though I knew a good 5 or 6 more.  It had been over a year since I had been there last, so it was cool to get a tour from a friend living that life.

               The last stop of my Midwest tour was a weekend stop to see the University of Michigan.  It rained the whole weekend, but that didn't stop my fun with the one and only Vicki P.  But Vicki P wasn't the only friend I had there, I also had Tarps (nick name).  So when I was with Vicki, I got to see sorority life along with the whole campus, because even though she goes to school there, she still gets lost.  When I was with Tarps, I literally saw the future of every choir boy in college.  He's on the glee club and so we hung out with 8 or so of the guys Saturday night.  The moment they broke out into song, I was in Heaven.  I couldn't stop grinning.  There was a song for everyone and everything and it reminded me how much I loved to have music in my life. This here is Vicki P before her formal Saturday night, she was lookin gorg!  

           So essentially this whole thing has got Meghana and me thinking about summer roadtrips to see the US.  I mean, to see my friends in completely different lives, and to see different parts of our very own country has really got me thinking about how awesome things like that can be.  But for now, I have roughly 3 weeks before I get back to Israel! So חג חנוכה שמח הברימ שלי and Merry Christmas! Let's hope we make it out alive December 21!

I'm Safe, I Swear

                   So, pushing all of those problems from my most recent blog aside, we've got a bigger problem on our hands.  It seems Israel and Gaza aren't using their words and are getting themselves in a war of the sorts.  So I've decided to make this whole thing pretty easy for you so you don't have to go reading 20 million news sites...though to be honest you probably should be anyway.
                 

(Image from internet of Gaza...NOT out my window)

                  In layman's terms Gaza has recently started shooting more and more rockets (They've been shooting rockets for years and years now) into the surrounding areas of Israel.  It got pretty annoying and disruptive since it was harming citizens of Israel.  So Israel was like "awwww HELL NO we're sick of this" and decided to put an end to the rockets.  This was done by bombing and attacking Gaza resulting in the death of Hamas' leader.  Hamas is essentially a terrorist group that is controlling the political standpoint of Gaza.  Well since Hamas isn't exactly a pushover, they too were like "awwww HELL NO, we gonna get ya Israel, you watch out".  Well then Israel decided that if Hamas' wanted war, then they wanted war too and then here we are.

                  Alrighty class, do we all understand now?  That is the real quick, super spark-notes version of what happened in the last day or so in the Middle East.  And as you can probably imagine, things are getting a little bit tense here.  But class, I have another lesson for you all.  Geography.  I do love that you all have been checking up on me and wondering if I'm ok, because I totally totally am, but this then means we have a little catching up to do.

                  This picture above is from the IDF's (Israel army) website and it maps out the range of each type of missile from Gaza.  The lightest pink ring is where the strongest rocket from Gaza can reach.  You see the dot the very closest to the shoreline/eastern border of Israel...yep that's Tel Aviv and contrary to many different Twitter feeds, Tel Aviv is fine.  Thus, I am fine.

                   What's just very interesting is to see my newsfeed on Facebook completely blow up with anything and everything.  I tweeted "Well this week just got interesting #warinIsrael #prayforpeace" and had some backlash.  I've posted a status saying "Well this week just got interesting.  Pray for peace in Israel and Palestine, that no innocent lives are lost and that this all leads to a better situation." and have received many likes.  But being in Israel, having Israeli and Palestinian friends and then people back home have given me a lot to look at on Facebook.  Many Israelis or other Jewish or Israel connected people have put up a status which translates to the equivalent of saying "'Murrrrrica" with that hick/grunt voice.  I also see articles, pictures and random facts from both sides of the issue.  Then there's the occasional picture of a cat.  It's nice to have that cat as a break.

                     Like I've said so many times before, I am very pro-Peace.  So, it is always unsettling to see people praise death of certain people or wish bad things upon one another.  But I not only see this from locals, but from many Americans as well.  It is one thing to stand by your beliefs and a group in times of war, but please don't fall into the category of being ok and delighted by the idea of a group of people "going down".  Death shouldn't be praised in any situation.

                      So please just be completely educated on your stuff before you make a political status, just like I hope you all did before you made Presidential election statuses.  Please also understand that people's lives on both sides of the situation are at stake.  It may be easy to say that you wish death upon one or the other, but I have friends on both sides of this.  And with that, if I ever heard any of them were harmed or in danger, I would break down and cry.  So by the transitive property, do you want to see me cry?  People are people, and innocent people shouldn't have a real target on their backs.  So also take the time to realize these are real people, with real lives.

                       If anything, please pray for peace and keep peace in mind.  All my HOP kiddies, I'll be thinking about every single one of you for the next few days, Palestinian and Israeli.  All of this is something I never could have imagined to have happen while I was here, but I guess this could be just as enlightening as where to find cheap falafel.  But I am alive and well, no one fret.  And if and when anything happens here, this blog is where I'll be.  Shalom Salaam PEACE    

Losing hair...and sleep

           This past weekend, I had the pleasure of spending time with friends who are living in apartments off campus.  They live in the most vibrant places for coffee, cafes, nightlife, and surprisingly a couple streets away from my May.  After having a slumby in one, waking up to walking downstairs and getting coffee then casually going shopping with May in places i'd never been, I had an epiphany.  I need to live off campus.  Now when I say need, I mean dying-to-get-off-campus-or-i'll-cry-for-the-rest-of-my-time-here NEED to get off campus.  I realized after spending just those two days of living an actual life as a local, that my dorm experience is nice and all, but not anything I came to Israel for.
           I came to live a life in an international city with international and worldly people, live something totally different than what I'm used to.  And while living in the dorm is different, it's just about as similar as it would be living in a dorm in the good ol U-S of A.  I finally understood that no matter how hard I try, going to school here is nothing like going to school back home.  People live in their homes, there is no housing-department, no frats, no sports teams, nothing. So what was I trying to do by live here and pretend i'm going to a regular college? Well what did I do when I came home and then quickly left to hang with May, left a note for the roomies.
           I let my most amazing roomies know that, well, I thought it would be beneficial for us to move out and experience this rich life we could have.  Of course, after talking to the office, we need to let the University know if we're moving out by the end of the month.  Sadly, this has taken a toll on my stress level.

           It turns out that after lots of talk and such, if I'm moving out, it might be without Dayna and Nof, but that really hasn't stopped me, just relative talks with the Parentays.  All understandable about an 18 year old who would like to live without the security of school dorms and people she's lived with for about 3 months now.  So at this moment, I'm not only trying to convince my parents to say yes, because the deadline is soon, but I'm looking up apartments.  Yes, something i've never ever done before.  I'm looking at money and financials more than I ever thought I would and the best part is once I tell the University at the end of the month that I'm moving out...there is no going back...and when are apartments logically available for researching for my time frame...yeah not for another 2 months.  So worse case scenario, I might be homeless, but not actually.
           
             Now let's add on some more things I need to essentially do before the end of the month:
           
                      1)  Finish my college app...I'm applying to one other school as a lama lo (why not) approach to life and education.  But in this one application, i've had to write more essays than the 4 applications I did last year.  Plus not to mention that half of the things I wanna do with transcripts and apps, are normally for current high school students.  So stress level is a good 40/100
                   
                      2)  College homework.  Yeah it's not the most fun thing to do.  Especially when it's all reading, but it costs to print so you have to read on the comp...then your eyes get tired. Stress level is 50/100
 
                      3)  Hoping to take another trip into Bethlehem and Jerusalem for the weekend, but this time I'm planning to go with a group of friends, which means trying to figure out where we're going to sleep, transportation, clothings. So add that to everything else. 60/100

                      4)  I've been blessed with roughly two months off in between semesters and during this time I plan to not go home, but go to Europe for as long as I can.  Well, I gotta plan that soon too, because hopefully Dayna is going to come with me and if we can, convince some others to go with.  I mean like my Apartment plan, I plan to go regardless of others joining me, so I need to get all of this planned...just because I plan to visit 15 different countries.  Stress level now 90/100

                      5)  I can't find my blush.  It is an essential piece of makeup in my life.  I wear it everyday and I can not find it ANYWHERE.  Stress level now 95/100

                      6) And now just to throw it out there, i'm cold.  Cold weather finally got to Israel.  And by cold, I mean 68 degrees.  But when you're used to 85 and humid, 68 is the coldest thing ever.  Although, my dignity is still relatively there.  Most Israelis are completely bundled with scarfs and jackets, but I only had a thin long sleeve shirt on!  But yeah stress level is now at full capacity! 100/100.

             So, if any random Israelis read this and know someone who would love to let 3 girls rent an apartment from February to June, please let me know.  If not, I'll accept magic wands. And goldfish, always accepting goldfish.  

Finally Starting School

            I've been across the pond since July 25th but I haven't officially started University classes until this past Monday.  In Israel, a lot of people's life schedules are based off of the holiday calendar.  And by holiday, I mean the Jewish holidays.  From September 15- October 15, Israel celebrated Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, and Sukkot.  All of these holidays puts the State of Israel at a stand still, so naturally the universities wait until after this time to start all classes.

           So as of October 15, 2012, I am now officially a University student. (Sorry Mom, I forgot to take a picture!)  And to be perfectly honest, thank God.  It is fun to bounce around a country with freedom, but at some point, you need a rhythm in your life, and that rhythm was going to be school.  So now I am going to classes, reading readings and stressing about time management.

           Our classes are only twice a week; either Monday/Wednesday or Tuesday/Thursday.  After that we have perpetual 3-day weekends. We are required to take 5 classes a semester and they meet for 10-12 weeks.  I'm taking the following classes: The Struggle for Palestine-the roots of the issue, Introduction to the Religion of Islam, Radical Islamic Movements, Business Ethics, and After Auschwitz-Contemporary Views of the Holocaust.  So as you can tell, the majority of my classes are either Israel or Middle East related, which makes the whole experience of being in Israel more enlightening.

           And what I mean by that is the relations people have to the topics they are learning.  The best example I can present is when we read a poem in our After Auschwitz class.  The poem was beautiful and very heart-wrenching.  It was a list of what The Holocaust "is".  This varied from movies to emotional connections and it started out light and ended on a heavier note.  It wasn't the poem itself that was the interesting part of the class, but how people reacted to it.  As the list got more and more intense, people became more and more emotional, to the point where several people left the class because they were crying.

           Along with students' connections to the subject material, it is interesting to see how classes are taught.  I went to a class on Thursday to try it out and left feeling somewhat bad because I had to correct my teacher.  The class was focusing on the trials of Jesus and how it affects how people view the Jewish population.  Long story short, my teacher got a lot of the basic facts of Christianity completely wrong, or was presenting theories as facts.  I have nothing against theories being presented and discussed because that's part of life and how we challenge our intellect, but not when they are not prefaced with the idea that they are disputed theories.  My participation grade was really good that day.

          Today is Monday and after a much needed weekend, i'm back to readings and lectures.  Yesterday was the first day for the Israeli students, and I can't stress how stereotypical the campus looks.  Students are sitting on the grassy areas, people walking around with coffee, backpacks everywhere and more.  It's refreshing to see random people all over campus because for the last 3 months, it's just been us.

          I'm sure by the end of this week, i'll be completely sick of school, but for now it's nice to finally feel productive.  This is my passion; here, Israel, Palestine, the people, the peace opportunities and studies, and what better place to learn about it.  Alright, I gotta finish my homework before the Cards are on tonight!  There aren't any Chicago people here, so I found the next best thing, a person from St. Louis!  They better win tonight, or they're gonna have a sad fan here on the other side of the world! (look at ma pants)

A Vacation from our Vacation

           Like I said in earlier posts, I've had a month off before classes start this upcoming Monday.  So after coming home from Bethlehem and realizing no one else in our program was home yet, 3 friends and I planned a little spur of the moment trip to Rhodes, Greece.
           We used a travel site and booked a 5 star all-inclusive resort with flights and all, 3 days before we left for the trip for a ridiculously low price.  We left on Sunday and came back today, Thursday.  A few little glitches here and there, but at the end of the day, we left excited to see what we were about to venture off into.
            Now when I was telling a few people that I couldn't Skype or Facebook for a while because I was "going to be in Greece", I got a lot of "ohhh well look at you world traveling."  Thing is, our flight was an hour long.  It's not like I live as far away as the United States.  I'm ever so grateful to be so close to so many places people only dream of going to.

       
            So Tips of advice while traveling to Rhodes (this is the best way I can describe the whole trip):

                   1.  Rent ATV's.  At first we thought the boys were crazy for wanting to get them for the 3 days that weren't travel, but it was the best idea they could have had.  We used the ATV's (which are street legal) to go anywhere we wanted from the resort.  On the first day we just drove around and had some fun.  The second day we used them to get from our resort to the Old City, which was much better than renting a car because we got to see all the amazing a beautiful sights without the restraint of a window.  The third day was kind of rainy, and to be perfectly honest, we used them to have a little fun in the rain because we couldn't exactly swim at the pool.  The boys drove and had a little drifting fun with us holding on for dear life. Mom, you would be proud because I probably said the Hail Mary about 30 times.  We went around turns fast and over a mini jump we found on the side streets.  So, props to you boys.

                    2.  See the old stuff.  Sure, it might not sound like the most fun thing to do, but when you get to plan what you want to see and do it with friends, it can actually be pretty fun.  Group tours get boring sometimes, and sure you might not learn all the stories, but that's why God made Wikipedia.  We took the second day to leave the resort and go venture around the Old City.  After walking around the medieval moat at our own leisure and having a quaint lunch, we climbed all these old sites and got amazing views.  Things you probably can't do with an organized tour.  After, I got the privilege of driving us back to our resort before we went Jet Skiing.

                       3.  Become friends with the staff.  Since we were at an all-inclusive resort, there was a staff for games, the bars, the restaurants and more.  Well, half the reason why everything was so cheap was because it was the end of the holiday season and there were a lot of old people and a lack of younger people.  So we ended up legitimately becoming friends with all of them.  The boys participated in all the shows at night and I'm proud to say I am friends with the one and only winner of Mr. Electra (The resort we stayed at).  Then at the end of the night, we all went to their common hang out spot and later to a little bar/club thing.  It was always fun to see everyone out of uniform and have inside jokes.  This way, you're not only with the people you came with, but you also have the staff.  We never would have known about half the little places we went if it weren't for them.  

                      4.  Stay at an all-inclusive.  Nothing is better than not having to cook your meals and a pool at your disposal. 

                      Again, I say props to the boys for this whole idea.  It was a super cheap way to just relax, get back my faint tan and see a new and interesting place.  Hopefully I can come back soon!

Having Crossed, West Bank/Palestine pt. 2

                   Well like I said in my last post, this one is not going to be a narrative.  I haven't left Bethlehem yet, which entails a very different checkpoint experience than I had when leaving Nablus, but I'll possibly talk about that at another time.
                    I also want to take this time to let every single one of you know and understand that my stance on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is that of Pro-Peace.  I do not want to see one side come out on top of the other, or see any side squashed.  I have best friends on both sides of the issue and I never want to see any of them hurt in any way.  I truly and honestly believe that solutions can not be made unless both sides are whole-heartily in it or there will always be an underlying issue.  What I'm going to say is honestly just going to be the observations I made while being in Nablus, Tulkarem and Bethlehem.

                    What I've told many people that have worried about me being in Nablus or Tulkarem, is that the people really do just go about their daily lives.  It is not war-torn, there is no obvious violence and I honestly felt very very safe just hanging there for the week.  But the biggest difference between just hanging in Tel Aviv and hanging in Nablus, was this eerie and underlying sense of containment.  And even though I am obviously a more free person in movement than they all are, I even felt contained.  And this is portrayed through different physical aspects:
                   1)  The Wall.  The pictured one is around the refugee camp in Bethlehem with some gorgeous and very interesting artwork along the Palestinian side.  And the example of Rachel's tomb is very interesting.  Technically, Rachel's tomb is in Bethlehem, but the wall surrounds the tomb in an square annexing it as part of Israel.

                     2) Is the massive amount of checkpoints you will find on Palestinian roads.  Although a lot of the ones I passed were not active, the fact that I had to drive through 3 during the hour drive from Ramallah to Nablus was really interesting. 

                     3) The last reason everything really felt contained was because of the road situation.  Like the rest of Israel, to get from one town to another you need to drive.  But something you will quickly notice while driving from Palestinian town to Palestinian town, is that there are no, absolutely no street lamps for night time driving.  Now being with my friends they explained to me this situation.  Like every human being, they would much so love to have lights on the roads especially since all the driving is basically mountain driving.  But they are not allowed to put lights on the road because they technically are not in control of the roads.  And then, that also means that Israel has not put lights on the road for them.  So since people are basically driving on and through mountains, you wouldn't dare drive at night.  This limits when you can travel and to where.  And since I already hate mountain driving, the lack of lights scared me even more.

                      Another thing worth noting is my checkpoint experience.  I got very lucky while hanging out with my friend Hiba one day.  Her friend was talking about the fact that her parents had Israeli ID cards and had to return back to Israel every once and a while in order to keep their status.  So they were going to Haifa the same morning I was leaving for Haifa.  Well, I'd rather drive through a checkpoint than have to take a bus to one, manually go through then try to catch another bus once I pass through.  My heart was pounding the moment we drove up.  Our car consisted of the Mom and Dad both with Israeli ID's, me with my American passport, and their nephew with a Palestinian ID and pass for the few hours in Israel.  We dropped off the nephew at the Palestinian entrance and we proceeded to drive through.  They took our ID's, checked our pictures and constantly asked my hosts who I was and why I was driving with them.  They answered "friend" in hebrew multiple times.  Then they extra took my passport, did some computer work and came out.  

                    Now, there were two different routes the car could go, one was to the left where we would immediately drive through, or to the right where the entire car would be searched along with our belongings.  Well, it was a random selection of cars to go to the right, and guess where our car was instructed to go.  We drove our car to the right and were faced with another IDF soldier.  To be completely honest, in a very stern and very frightening tone, he told us in Hebrew to put everything from the trunk and our personal bags in a shopping cart to bring to the airport like security checks.  After going through the metal detectors, we have to wait in a waiting room for the car to be finished being searched.  Now, if you thought I got a lot of stares when I was at the University...well imagine being the only uncovered female waiting for her car to be released.  Yep, that's correct.  When I said the car searches were random, I meant that loosely.  Every single female waiting in the waiting room had some sort of head covering.  Now hey, that could just be a coincidence.

                     After a good 30 minutes of waiting for the car to go through and a half heart attack later, we got through and we drove around to the exit of the Palestinian side to wait for the nephew, which took another 45 minutes until he was released.  He had nothing but his phone and cigarettes on him.  

                     Another thing troubling is just, how not awesome life really is there.  It turns out that the friends I stayed with in Nablus are luckily a pretty well off family.  They own the buildings they live in and don't have many troubles with their way of life, but what I found interesting was that even though I was staying in nice parts of Nablus, there is no way you could tell it was nice.  Below is a picture of the "nice" part of Nablus.

                   

                      Also, while visiting the refugee camp in Bethlehem, I learned that water is only turned on once every 20 days for 5 hours, and so all the tanks on their roofs is so that during those 5 hours they fill up as much as they can and then have the tanks to ration out for the next 20 days.  Below is the tanks on the roofs, and the visual of the squared wall around Rachel's Tomb.    

                      Lastly, something I will never fully be able to understand.  While I was up on the mountains in Nablus, you can very clearly see different settlements.  Now, if you know geography, you will know that Nablus is basically smack dab in the middle of the West Bank.  So, why would Israel put a settlement in the middle of the West Bank, instead of along the edges, where the settlers are generally surrounded by people who don't like them?  Well, while I was audibly questioning this situation, my friends made quite the statement...turns out most Palestinian citizens are more afraid of the settlement and its settlers than the settlers should be afraid of them.  

                      So like I said, people go and live their lives like anyone can and should do, but really people live their lives secretly in fear.  They can't escape their reality and in all honesty their reality isn't too awesome.  Many Palestinians asked why I wasn't studying in one of their Universities, and all I could say was if they didn't even want to live where they lived, why would I choose to live there? 

                      Overall, this was one of the most eye-opening experiences I have ever had.  I don't know what the checkpoint will be like tomorrow, but hopefully my American passport and cross on my neck will soften the blow.  I want to go back to every place I've been and even visit Ramallah because that's apparently the fun town in Palestine.  But as cool as it was, now I get why you wouldn't want to live there.  But I highly recommend every person to take even a day trip into Bethlehem, see what they Wall is like up close and experience daily life.  It will truly open your eyes to a new world.  At the end of the day, I just wish peace upon us all.  I hope and pray that peace will be upon this region every day. 

Crossing the Barrier, West Bank/Palestine pt. 1

               About a month ago while I was on Facebook, instead of doing my hebrew homework, my friend Asma chatted me.  Asma was in Hands of Peace with me back in 2009 and she was a Palestinian Participant.  She had seen that I was in Israel and had then graciously invited me to stay in her home in Nablus, Palestine.  And well, knowing I had somewhere to go and somewhere to stay...guess where I just was!  If you guessed Palestine, you'd be correct.
               So this is going to be the first of two posts about my time in the West Bank/Palestine.  This first one will be more the social aspect; what I did, who I saw, the narrative version.  While after my much anticipated trip to Bethlehem, I will post the more observational, serious post about what I saw and learned while being here.  But for now, the fun stuff!

                The day was September 23, a Sunday and I woke up at 6:45 in the morning in my roommate's bed...sorry Dayna but I found a lil critter in mine and even though I killed it, was too scared to sleep there.  But, the thing was, I woke up completely drenched in my own sweat.  I had two terrible nightmares and because deep in my mind I knew the day I wake up is the day I go to Palestine.  Yep, West Bank Palestine.
                 Sorry for the language Mom, but I was scared shitless.  Of all people, I should know that it really isn't a scary place, that people just go about their lives, but c'mon it's still nerve-wracking.  But what was more nerve-wracking than anything else is the fact that I had to take 3 busses and a tram to get there, and the most important bus isn't even advertised or talked about.  So, yes, I took a bus from school to the Bus Station.  Then from the Bus Station in Tel Aviv, to the Bus Station in Jerusalem.  Then I took a tram to the Damascus Gate in Jerusalem where I had to sketchily walk to a hidden bus station for all busses to the Arab neighborhoods and West Bank destinations.
                  Now while on bus #18 to Ramallah, I was to pass a active and working Checkpoint called Kalandia Checkpoint, and that is where Asma and her mother were supposed to pick me up.  Of course, me being me, we passed on by and I didn't make the connection that that was where I was supposed to get off...so here I was riding straight into the city.  After having a random palestinian woman talk to Asma on the phone in Arabic (because she didn't speak english), I got off at the Ramallah bus station, waited a few minutes and was officially on my way to Nablus.
                  We drove for about an hour, but then in Nablus we were.  I met Asma's adorable little dog and brother, friend and best off another HOP kiddie named Hiba, who happens to be Asma's cousin.  We took the car and just went driving and happened to catch one hell of a sunset.

                  Monday, Asma and I met her friends for some coffee and tea but the kicker was going to their relative's house.  Asma and Hiba are both related to, basically, the richest Palestinian guy and essentially the 44th richest Arab in the world.  His big mansion just happens to be in Nablus, and we just so happened to have a little photo shoot there.  For more pictures on the house, stalk my album, but seriously, it's gorgeous.

                  Tuesday we went to Tulkarem for the day.  That's where the majority of my friends from HOP are from and one of my friends there arranged a little meeting for all of us.  Asma and I took a Palestinian equivalent of a "sherut" to Tulkarem and met up with all my HOP friends for lunch and then a tour of the city.  Other than seeing them all, the coolest thing was seeing where they all got "their start".  By getting their start, I mean the english teacher that runs her own little school for english classes and really instills going to programs such as Hands of Peace and Seeds of Peace in her students.  On one wall of the classroom, there were about 8 paper hands with the names of her students who had participated in Hands of Peace, and on another wall were maybe 30 or so paper hands of students who have applied for Hands of Peace.  She too is an American, but moved there about 25 years ago because she married a Palestinian man.  In the picture below is the teacher in red and all my friends that came out to visit.  The boy on the far right, in the red, I actually hosted back in 2007.

                    Wednesday was by far one of the most interesting days on this trip.  I can now officially say that my first University/College course I have ever attended was in Nablus.  Hiba goes to the University here in Nablus and we thought it would be cool if I checked it out.  Now, if you thought I got stared at a lot while I was in Israel, than you would never have believed this.  The night before, Asma, Hiba and her mom played dress up with me so that I wouldn't look too provocative.  Girls already wear long pants and things that don't show your chest, but since I only wore leggings, we had to be extra sure that my butt wasn't showing and my chest was really covered.  As we walked in the school, I counted at least 10 guys obviously staring.  I got multiple compliments and serenades as I walked by, but my favorite was when someone would try to be sneaky and curse at me...well hmm the only words I know in Arabic are swears so I guess that didn't work...

                      But overall, this was a fantastic week.  Learned a lot.  Saw a lot.  And to be completely honest, I'm coming back.  To Nablus, Tulkarem and hopefully Ramallah.  In the grand scheme of things, it wasn't that hard to get there, and now sitting in Haifa, it wasn't terrrrriblleeee getting back in, so I'll deal with the return checkpoints just because I liked it so much.  Remember my next post won't be a narrative, but more on what I saw in contrast to the Israeli way of life.      

No Words

         This post is going to be relatively off the record.  Because this is a post that doesn't concern what most of you think is the biggest factor about Hands of Peace.  I don't care if you're pro-israel or pro-palestine.  I don't care if you're Christian, Muslim or Jewish.  I don't care if your heritage is that of the Middle East.  The one thing I care about is the relationships you build in the program, that of sisterhood, friendship and mutual love and respect.
          Thing is, I never really explained my love and interest for the country that is Israel and why I am here.  And to make this post even more meaningful, I really should explain.  For those who already know, this is just a re-fresher.

           In 2003, 3 women launched a peace program based in Glenview, Illinois called Hands of Peace.  It was a peace program that focused solely on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the idea of co-existence.  This program involved 4 different delegations; Israeli, Palestinians in the West Bank, Palestinians in Israel and Americans.  For about 2.5 weeks, these 4 delegations would spend the morning having dialogue about the conflict at hand, and the afternoons were like most and every summer camp in the area.  The kicker was that it was all locally done.
           Unlike other programs, all the teenagers and staff from the Middle East were placed with host families. Because this was a non for-profit organization that was just getting started, families in the area would have the teenagers stay in their homes to save money.  Other local events were that there were downtown days in Chicago and Hands of Peace picnics and parties.  And ever since that first year, it has still all been locally done.  Right smack dab in the middle of Glenview, Illinois and more and more host families as the years have gone by.
            Although most of you know that I personally participated in Hands of Peace in the summers of 2009 and 2010, my family was one of the first host families back in 2003...when the shirts were red, not purple.  And we have been ever since.
         
            So, I was 7 years old when Hands of Peace and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict entered my life.  All I knew was that these two teenage girls were going to be staying in our house for two weeks and my little sister was going to have to share a room with me.  Little did I know that from that day forward,  my life was going to change forever...as cheesy as that sounds.
            In 2003 we hosted two teenage girls.  One was an Israeli teenager from Ashkelon, while the other was a Palestinian in Israel teenager from Haifa.  Their names were Shira and Natalie.  And from day 1, they were the big sisters I never had.  We would do each other's hair, have dance parties in the basement, watch movies, go to the mall, have censored boy talk around me and my little sisters and more.  I would wait at home until they got back from all the cool Hands of Peace activities they did just because I wanted to hang out with them.  I asked them questions upon questions about their lives and their homes and I would say over and over again about how I couldn't wait to visit them.  But the coolest thing they showed me as my older sisters, was that they "weren't supposed to like each other", but at the end of the day all I heard was "mi amor".  They showed me what true friendship was all about.
             Needless to say, the end of Hands of Peace in 2003 was a very vivid day in my memory.  I cried like no other and probably just looked like a stupid 7 year old.  But at that time, Hands of Peace was the best thing that happened to me.  Ask any person from that year and they'll remember those 3 little girls that ran around a lot.  I finally had two cool older sisters, that spoke cool languages and ate cool food and now they had to leave.  All I wanted them to do was officially move in my house and be my big sisters forever.

               This was the last day of the whole program, just hours before they boarded the busses back to the airport.  That picture was taken 9 years ago in my front yard.  Shira has her head tilted against my head, while Natalie is touching heads with my sister Nonie.  And fun fact, the shirt I am wearing was the original Hands of Peace shirt; they switched to purple the second year of the program.
                After they boarded the bus, we didn't know what was going to happen next.  Was there even going to be a Hands of Peace next summer?  Well luckily for us, I got one of my original big sisters back in 2004.  Shira came back as an XL, but Natalie was still back in Haifa.  It was another summer I will never forget, but after that the years bunched up.  I loved each and every girl that came through our house like they were my big sister, but nothing was quite like that first year.
                I counted the years until I was allowed to be in the program because to be perfectly honest, I wanted to be just like them.  I wanted to be as good of friends with someone, like they were.  And I wanted just wanted to be those cool teenage girls that they were way back in 2003.  And in 2009 I got my chance.
                I did the program in 2009 and 2010 as an XL.  And I got my wish.  Hands of Peace has some pretty intense moments, but at the end of the day we were all best friends.  With a hug every morning and a hug every night, there was no denying that each and every one of those people were my friends.  It didn't matter what beliefs you had, what religion you practiced or where you lived, at the end of the day we were all just teenagers trying to have some fun.  And after they get on that bus, just like back in 2003, you never know what was going to happen next.

                Well as you all know, I'm here in Israel.  In between the semester starting in October and Hebrew class ending about a week ago, I have no school.  So I am taking this time to see a lot of Israel.  This week, i've been in Haifa trying to catch up with as many friends as possible.  I got to meet up for ice-cream with a great friend from 2009 that I haven't seen since he drove away in that bus.  I got to really know George's family and see another friend I haven't seen since that bus ride in 2010.
                 But the kicker and the best part of this whole week is the person who's bathroom I'm sitting in writing this while she's sleeping.  After 9 years of no visual contact, scarce facebook inboxes and a couple phone calls later, I'm with Natalie. And I can't thank God enough for the opportunity and the utter joy I feel staying in her home and meeting her family.
                 Yep, that's right, Natalie.  My big sister, my role model and idol.  The girl who told me that Spanish music is prettier than English music.  The girl that used to dance and sing with me in the basement.  The girl that was mountains taller than me is now hosting me in her home.  The moment I walked out of George's building and gave her a hug, I got tears in my eyes.  And to be honest, just writing this is making me cry.  I never ever knew if I would see her again.  I never knew if that bus ride was going to be the end of the road for us and I would only get to hear from her through facebook comments.

                     So, if Hands of Peace did one thing for me, it was that it made reunions like this possible.  And like this, I mean meaningful.  Someone could go 9 years without seeing relatives and generally just feel a neutral sense of joy, but this...this is something I will hold with me forever.  My big sister and idol is once again my big sister and idol.  Hands of Peace created bonds and relationships completely indescribable and that only tears can really describe.  She means the world to me because she was the basis of everything I am doing now.  I would never have come to Israel or done Hands of Peace if she didn't give such a lasting impression on me.  I would have never thought of caring about conflicts and situations in this world if it weren't for her.  

                    And now at 24 and 18, things are pretty similar.  She is giving me advice and telling me stories about her life.  She doesn't know my thoughts on anything and she doesn't ever need to ask because at the end of the day, she's just my big sister. 

             
Hands Of Peace  <---Click the link, you won't be disappointed
       

Tiberias and Birthday Fananza

One of the best things about living in Chicago is that you get the best of both worlds when it comes to summertime fun.  We have a beach AND it's a fresh water beach!  Don't get me wrong, I love the beach in Tel Aviv, but nothing is worse than that itchy feeling you get after being in salt water.  So what did we decide to do, visit the Kineret (Sea of Galilee) naturally!

The Kineret is the biggest source of fresh water Israel has and also has the city Tiberias along the shore line.  So last Thursday 3 of my friends and I made reservations for my first hostel experience and hopped the bus to Tiberias.  After 3 hours and a beautiful sunset later, we got off the bus at the Central Bus Station in Tiberias, Israel.  We walked to our hostel, locked our door, walked around and found dinner.  It was good Falafel.  We walked around some more but ended up on the balcony of our hostel for a real relaxing evening.

This is Tiberias

We had check out at 10am the next day, but that was the best time to head to the beach anyway.  We stayed for a good 2 and a half hours and got to swim and lay out.  Not going to lie, stepping in fresh water was like having a slice of Gilson Beach...except not with as great of a view (picture below).  We again got some falafel for lunch, walked by and in some ruins and caught a bus back home.

I came back just in time Friday night for a shabbat dinner with my roommates.  Dayna had her friend, Cincy, over from Bar Ilan for dinner.  Seriously, nothing like a good family dinner. 

Sunday, I finally got to register for classes for the semester!!  Took long enough, but I do know the latest a class can start is 10:15 am and I'm going to be getting a lot more sleep.  Abroad and I get to sleep in, what could be better?

But the best part about this week was the double birthday celebration!  Apart from my birthday being on Wednesday, it was Dayna's on Tuesday!! A bunch of us went to dinner Tuesday night and at midnight they started singing happy birthday to me.  This random guy on the boardwalk handed us a balloon for our birthdays and we passed the Birthday Torch! 

That day I got the best surprise I could ask for!  I went to the mail room to see if other mail or packages had come through.  To my surprise, the one and only Vicki P had sent me a care package, full of my favorite things.  I know it wasn't for my birthday exactly, but for it to apear on my birthday was pretty damn great.  So shout out to Vicki P for being one special gal!

Later I went to dinner with May and when I came back home to the dorms was surprised by my roommies and a friend with some toaster-oven-chocolate-peanut-butter cupcakes.

And now with having had my last day of Hebrew Class, a month off has never sounded more amazing.  I already have plans to go to Haifa, Jerusalem, Bethlehem and more.  See some old friends and have some life changing experiences. But no worries, my laptop will be on the road with me because there's no way I could go a month without saying anything!

An American Type of Week

Gotta say, I went a long time before I started falling into an American mindset.  I tried to live like any Israeli up until this week, but there are just some things I can't help but be a true American about.

Thursday (the Israeli Friday) I went to a basketball game! Israel vs. Montenegro. Israel lost... but it was fun!  My friend, Ericka, and I grabbed a flag and took a picture infront of the court before 3 groups of 12 year old boys wanted pictures with the two blonde Americans in the stadium.  If you didn't know any better, you'd probably think we were celebrities!

Friday was actually a very enlightening day. It was the first day I really did much on my own.  I went to the beach with friends, but they all went back to the dorms while I stayed back to wash up at May's house before I left on my own meet my friend for a quick hang out.  I walked down Ben-Yahuda/Allenby street to find one of my favorite people, Elias from Haifa.  It was a nice slice of familiarity again, before heading off the May's boyfriend's birthday party.  It was fun, but to be honest, the best part of the evening was coming back to my room.
     And with that, I have to say...for the first time since being here, I actually thought "ahh, I'm home". Yes, home.  Nothing felt better than walking into our kitchen and grabbing a glass of water and just sitting down, in my home.  And to add to that, two of my best friends were on Skype.  Now because they're in school, it's harder to catch up especially with the time change.  Before, I was the only one gone and the only one living a separate life, but it's finally hit me that everything really will be separate from this moment on.  Seeing them in their dorm rooms, naming names I've never heard of, and going to collegiate games was truly a wake-up call.

Saturday I called mommy dearest at home solely to tell her that I'd like to skype with our home TV so that I could watch the Notre Dame football game.  I did end up having a good phone conversation with her, but not until I told her I needed some good ol' college ball.  Oh and they won 50-10.

Sunday (the Israeli Monday) I bought Oreos, Pringles and a Snickers bar...all things I have not had nearly enough of while I've been here.  But we also ventured to a lovely place called "Mike's Place".  While I was at the beach with two friends, we got to ranting about certain foods that just don't but should exist here.  This lead us to walk multiple blocks to "Mike's".  While I may just call it heaven on earth, it is also known as the American bar/restaurant in Tel Aviv.  The food is American style, with only English Menus and an American owner.  There was a pool table and best of all...Bacon Pizza! And to top it all off, there was a Cardinals World Series Flag.

Overall, I do love Israel and I wouldn't trade being here for the world, but every once and a while, it's nice to have that little taste of home.  I'm just happy to know where to go on SuperBowl Sunday!

Video Tour of the casa!

I get out of class at 1...and Sex in the City starts at 10:55 so there's a lot of down time.  When i'm not at the beach, I dance and sing around the flat.  Well, the homework was done and Aaron Carter was playing, how could I resist?!

This is a video of me attempting to lip sing Baby It's You by Aaron Carter and show you my flat!  I kinda dance and this is mostly something i'm doing because I'm just super bored, but for those of you who haven't gotten a tour yet, here ya go!

PPS obviously since I get super bored...cawledge friends, inbox me your class sched so we can find a good time to skype because I really do miss you all.  AND send me LETTERS! Inbox me for my address.  I love snail mail and I promise if you send something to me, I will send something back!

Jerusalem Round 1

Dear All,
   Not sure if this has occurred to you all yet, but I live in a foreign country.  I mean I live in Israel.  Well, this didn't really hit me until my "sherut" ride up to Jerusalem today for, ya know, just a basic day trip to Jerusalem.  I mean Tel Aviv feels a lot like America especially since I have May and her family and home to "go home" to when I feel homesick.  But today, riding across the country to my favorite city in the country, did I finally understand I live in an entirely different place.

     So at about 9:30am, two of my friends and I got our way to the central bus station in Tel Aviv and took a "sherut" to Jerusalem.  A sherut, is like a bus but holds less people and is cab styled.  It has a route, goes faster than busses and you must tell the driver where to stop.  We got to Jerusalem at 10:45am and were off and running.  Went to a poster store, the Jerusalem shuk (much better than TLV), and then did my all time favorite thing to do.

This is me two years ago with the Dome and Western Wall in the background....well....

I never thought the day would come, but here I am two years later taking the same picture.










So yes, we went around to all the quarters and visited the Western Wall. We did so twice actually.  We went earlier, walked around and then went around 6:15 pm and watched as more and more people filled the place for Shabbat. People were singing and dancing, many different outfits and beautiful scenery.

Jerusalem is truly an amazing place.  If I thought Haifa was hilly, then Jerusalem is a mountain range.  There is not more than 10 feet that isn't on a hill of some sort.  People that live there must have amazing legs and butts, because the work out I got was crazy!  But really, it is my favorite place to go.  The different cultures, the old city, the lack of humidity, and beautiful scenery all make this one great city.  Thing is, it is still a bumping city at night (even on shabbat) because there are a lot of young people, but at the same time, there are neighborhoods that have kids walking in the middle of the street because their neighborhood is religious.

We got home about midnight and now I'm sitting writing this.  Point is, I just did a day trip to a crazy important, worldly city.  I don't care if you're not Jewish, not religious, and think you have no connection to Jerusalem...part of being a worldly and educated person is to see places like these...so ALL of you, get your butt over here fast.

Shabbat Shalom,
         Mary

Things That Never Get Old

I've been gone for almost 4 weeks, and only recently is it hitting me that I'm living in a foreign country. And one very foreign from home.  All the while, i've been making mental notes of things that I don't think will ever get old while being here.

Things That Never Get Old

1. History around every corner
2. Scenery like such:

3. A totally different language to catch up on.
4. Having to grow up and live on my own.  I love that I get to do this in a real city and not a college campus because I have to grow up much faster.
5. A beach accessible by bus
6. Only having to take a bus or train to get from one end of the country to the other.
7. Cheap airfares to Europe.
8. My Hilarious and amazing roommates:

...and now my 9th thing thus far. I went to a formal Shabbaton this weekend in the Golan Heights.  Though I've been very exposed to the Jewish faith ever since I was little, this was a very different experience.  It was a more Orthodox experience, but totally modern at the same time.  Thing was, it wasn't just about the services and going to what I would call "church", it was about the family meal and the time you spend together.  The sense of community and familiarity I experienced was really cool.  Everyone knew the same songs, had the same prayers and the meal and day were all about spending time together.  There was such a sense of togetherness even if you weren't family that was super cool.  This is what I think makes me such a culturally jewish person.

Things That Will ALWAYS Get Old

1.  The drastic difference in skin color on my stomach and legs
2.  NO public transportation on Shabbat (sundown Friday-sundown Saturday)
3.  The obnoxious humidity
4.  People calling me a "bebe", saying i'm nine or any younger age, or using the whole "Oh you're so high school" phrase.  I get it, i'm a youngin, but I think i'm a little more mature than most for going to a foreign country my first time away from home.
5.  No feasible bacon...or bacon pizza for that matter...and Senior Group for that matter
6.  The 8 hour time change for skype dates
7.  No netflix, hulu, pandora or anything else that doesn't yet "exist in my country" blahhhhh

Other than that, it's pretty great here.

For all mi amigos heading to school in the following weeks, good luck! Hope you guys have just as great of a first month as I did!

Haifa

Alright, if there is only one piece of advice I can give to someone traveling to Israel...it would be to go to Haifa.  Because I mean...look at this!

Ok, now I mean that's a lie because each and every city in Israel has such flare and something so special about it, but Haifa...oh, it's just gorgeous! 

I booked it out of class so fast on Thursday to catch the train to Haifa. My favorite foreigner George had a driving lesson and they picked me up from the train station!  After a very authentic arabic meal, we were headed out into the broiling heat to help me do every tourist-y thing possible...so that meant the Baha'i Gardens.

We decided to walk there because it's not that far, but it was such a crazy walk.  What most people don't know is just how hilly and not flat Haifa truly is.  It is honestly the San Francisco of Israel.  I don't mind walking anywhere, but coming from Flat-ville USA, it was quite a challenge.

But we finally made it to the entrance...only to learn that you're not allowed to even walk in the lands without being completely covered.  I was wearing jean shorts...I mean it's the Middle East, I would be crazy to even think about wearing something that covers my knees because of the heat.  But I have a whole year!

Not gonna lie, the best part of being there was getting to see people I haven't seen in forever.  What was really funny was when George and I were walking down the street to get a good view of the whole city, we saw a group of people walking down the street.  So, I turned to George and said, "ya know George, I think that's Rawy." And sure enough, the closer we got the more we realized it was him!  Rawy is another one of our Hands of Peace friends and I didn't think I was going to have time to see him because he lives 20 minutes out of the city. 

Other than Rawy, I got to see my friend Talia for the first time in 2 years, since I visited.  And we also got to spend time with our friend Elias, who I've known since I was 8 but wasn't really friends with until now.  Those times are honestly the best because I know that even though I haven't seen them in forever, nothing has changed, best friends as usual.

Moral of the story, go see Haifa.