I just got back from a really great 2-day trip with Lydia (camp counselor friend I hadn't seen in 2 years) along the Great Ocean Road. I posted the pictures in another public facebook album:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2161527&l=44bee&id=616619
Enjoy!
Maddy
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
Saturday, April 5, 2008
Glacier Hiking in New Zealand - sounds pretty awesome, and it definitely was!
Hiking on the Franz Josef Glacier was probably the most exciting and impressive experience of my entire trip. I'd never so much as seen a glacier before, let alone spent six hours hiking around with boots and spikes and a guide with an ax. We divided into groups of roughly ten based on fitness and desired pace, and we set off - starting on steep steps that are carved into the ice daily, some with hand-ropes to hold onto for safety. It took a little while to be able to trust that the spikes would keep me from falling on my face, especially in parts where the ice steps went down. We stopped to take in the views and pass through caves and take pictures of each other. The ice on the bottom half is pretty dirt-covered and much less astounding than what we saw once we got past that point. Higher up the ice is beautiful. It's a bright clear deep blue color (something to do with what happens when so much snow is compacted with high pressure), with ripples of white on the surface. After stopping to have lunch at one scenic point, we started to hike around the glacier in parts that didn't already have steps cut in. Sometimes, this meant we ended up standing around for a little while as our guide used his ax to cut into the ice so we'd have places to put our feet. He liked to make it challenging, and often we had to turn around and help the person behind us, if we were crossing over a crevice or near a hole or just had to take a really steep step up. We were having a blast with everything he threw at us. We got to our limit, though, when he found a ridiculously narrow cave and spent 45 mins carving a way out of it for us - meanwhile we were getting increasingly cold standing around on the glacier. Normally, the temperature is only 2 or 3 degrees colder than in town, so we were in shorts and t-shirts with our other layers in our backpacks, but once you stop moving it starts to feel a lot colder. Eventually we all made it through the crazy cave, although it did involve calling in the help of the guides for the other two groups behind us. We'd been really lucky with the weather, too, since most of the day was bright and clear despite forecast rain. Only when we'd taken off our spikes (called "crampons") and walked the 45 mins back to the path (that lead to the parking lot to the bus that took us back to town) did the rain start -- perfect timing.
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
New Zealand Pictures are Up!
I am back in Melbourne recovering and preparing to catch up on the work I missed while I was out having a blast backpacking my way through the south island of New Zealand. While I still have a lot to do in terms of posting here about my trip, at least I've uploaded the pictures. Now you'll get a chance to see just how beautiful it is there. Remember, you don't need a facebook account to check them out -- it's just a convenient way for me to post them. Also, sorry to say I haven't figured out how to rotate the photos yet, so a handful of them are sideways.
Part 1:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2148541&l=b9d68&id=616619
Part 2:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2148545&l=32048&id=616619
Enjoy! Let me know what you think!
Part 1:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2148541&l=b9d68&id=616619
Part 2:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2148545&l=32048&id=616619
Enjoy! Let me know what you think!
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Dinnertime Adventures
Dinner is always one of those funny things around here. Most backpackers buy food at the supermarket and make use of the hostel's kitchen to cook their own food and save some money. I've been carrying around breakfast and lunch and snack food, so I allowed myself to go out to dinner each night. Each night has brought really interesting people and situations. My first dinner was in Franz Josef on Monday night. I checked out the handful of restaurants on the main road and picked one that looked like it'd be a good option. Eating dinner alone at a table for two tends to be relatively depressing, and I was trying to enjoy sitting on the deck outdoors in the nice weather to make it feel less lonely. Right as I was getting ready to leave, the couple at the table next to me looked over and asked where I was from. They'd noticed my Akiba t-shirt and figured the three of us may well be the only Jews in the town. So I went over and chatted with them for a little while. They were quite friendly and were telling me about where they'd been so far and where they were heading next. Towards the end of our conversation I asked their names, in case we were going to run into each other when we'll be in Christchurch this coming weekend. The woman said her name was Valerie. Before I got a chance to get out "Oh wow. My mom's name is Valerie" the man told me his name. What was it? Michael. How weird is that?
Them last night I was sitting by myself in the upstairs bar area of another establishment, after ordering pizza for dinner. I was back and forth between checking out the incredible view of the glacier out the window and watching some guys play pool on the other side of the room, when two girls walked in and sat down nearby. They turned to me and asked if I was alone, and then asked if I wanted to come sit with them for dinner. I was so grateful to have people to sit with, and we had a really enjoyable time talking - turns out the two had also just met on their way over so we'd all wanted some company instead of being alone. What could have been a simple lonely pizza dinner at a mostly-empty bar turned into a really fun night playing pool and meeting a bunch of other travelers from Israel, Whales, Ireland, Canada, Scotland, and England who had all come through town during their travels to hike the glacier.
Tonight, I was exhausted from a lot of walking and sore from the glaciers, but I walked up the road back to the hostel before going to dinner in the hopes of finding someone who'd want to go to dinner with me. Since everyone was cooking their own food, I eventually relented and walked back into town to have dinner at a pizza/pasta place I'd spotted earlier. I got a menu and sat down at a fairly large outdoor table all by myself, content to make the best of it. After I'd ordered a group of four backpacker-looking people came down the side street the restaurant was on, looking for a place to eat. Since my table was right at the door, I offered that they were welcome to come join me, if they decided to stay. They took me up on it, and we had a really fun time. The four of them had just met ten days ago and did a hard-core mountaineering course on the glacier. Today was their first day back in civilization since, and they were excited about real food instead of the dehydrated meals they'd been eating. They were a really funky neat group of people, and we were soon joined by some of the Melbourne exchange students that I keep running into in each town I stop in. They'd just been walking around the area and recognized me so they pulled up chairs and stayed with us for a while.
I'm amazed at how fun dinners have ended up, despite lonely starts. It seems like everyone here is just looking to meet some new people and have a good time wherever they find themselves. Backpacker culture in general is really open and friendly, where general conversation starts with where you're from and what you're doing and how you ended up in wherever you are. I'm also really proud of how well things have been going. You never know what to expect when you plan an international backpacking trip for yourself entirely by yourself, and so far it's been all smiles. I can't wait to show you the pictures and tell you about the incredible things I've been seeing!
PS. The sheep all say hi. There are LOTS of them here!
Them last night I was sitting by myself in the upstairs bar area of another establishment, after ordering pizza for dinner. I was back and forth between checking out the incredible view of the glacier out the window and watching some guys play pool on the other side of the room, when two girls walked in and sat down nearby. They turned to me and asked if I was alone, and then asked if I wanted to come sit with them for dinner. I was so grateful to have people to sit with, and we had a really enjoyable time talking - turns out the two had also just met on their way over so we'd all wanted some company instead of being alone. What could have been a simple lonely pizza dinner at a mostly-empty bar turned into a really fun night playing pool and meeting a bunch of other travelers from Israel, Whales, Ireland, Canada, Scotland, and England who had all come through town during their travels to hike the glacier.
Tonight, I was exhausted from a lot of walking and sore from the glaciers, but I walked up the road back to the hostel before going to dinner in the hopes of finding someone who'd want to go to dinner with me. Since everyone was cooking their own food, I eventually relented and walked back into town to have dinner at a pizza/pasta place I'd spotted earlier. I got a menu and sat down at a fairly large outdoor table all by myself, content to make the best of it. After I'd ordered a group of four backpacker-looking people came down the side street the restaurant was on, looking for a place to eat. Since my table was right at the door, I offered that they were welcome to come join me, if they decided to stay. They took me up on it, and we had a really fun time. The four of them had just met ten days ago and did a hard-core mountaineering course on the glacier. Today was their first day back in civilization since, and they were excited about real food instead of the dehydrated meals they'd been eating. They were a really funky neat group of people, and we were soon joined by some of the Melbourne exchange students that I keep running into in each town I stop in. They'd just been walking around the area and recognized me so they pulled up chairs and stayed with us for a while.
I'm amazed at how fun dinners have ended up, despite lonely starts. It seems like everyone here is just looking to meet some new people and have a good time wherever they find themselves. Backpacker culture in general is really open and friendly, where general conversation starts with where you're from and what you're doing and how you ended up in wherever you are. I'm also really proud of how well things have been going. You never know what to expect when you plan an international backpacking trip for yourself entirely by yourself, and so far it's been all smiles. I can't wait to show you the pictures and tell you about the incredible things I've been seeing!
PS. The sheep all say hi. There are LOTS of them here!
Monday, March 24, 2008
New Zealand Adventures Begin
My adventures to New Zealand began with a mistake. No, don't worry. I just misread my flight departure time ast 5:05 PM instead of 5:50. The consequence was spending an extra hour in the airport. Not so terriblle. Other than that one glitch, though, things have been going really well so far. Highlights included fitting everything into my backpack, catching a train and then a shuttle to the airport, and not getting any of my food taken away from me at customs when I landed.
Last night I arrived at the Christchurch airport quite late and went in a shuttle to Charlie B's Backpackers -- looked like an awesome place to stay, from what I saw of it. I got in at midnight, crashed, and woke up at 6 the next morning to catch another shuttle to the TranzAlpine train that goes through the Southern Alps (mountain range through the center of the South Island) to Greymouth, one of the many small towns that dot the west coast. I was exhausted, and for a short while I was fighting the urge to fall asleep on the train, since it's a scenic train ride with big windows and an outdoor viewing car. My body won, though, and I let myself get some rest so that I could at least enjoy the second half of the train ride. Everything I saw was gorgeous, although I think I missed seeing the location used for Edoras in the Lord of the Rings. I'll post pictures on a facebook album when I get back. There were mountains, lush green fields, tiny train stations, and lots and lots of sheep. Some cows and an occasional horse too, but a lot of sheep. This it the country with 4 million people and 40 million sheep.
After walking around Greymouth for a short time and visiting a one-room exhibit about jade and its value in the Maori (NZ's indigenous nation) culture, I headed back to the station to catch a bus down the coast for four hours until I came to Franz Josef.
Franz has two streets - the main road and the shorter one parallel to it. It's used mostly as a base for people who want to explore the Franz Josef glacier, a 10 minute drive away. Tomorrow I'm going out for a full day glacier hike which should be pretty incredible. Right now I'm sitting inside an old bus from the 70's painted bright red and set up with a rows of computers around the wall. What a great system! My plan is to keep everyone aware of where I am by getting on the internet every couple days - hopefully updating via the blog most of the time.
Have a great week everyone! More to come soon! Don't forget to write!
Last night I arrived at the Christchurch airport quite late and went in a shuttle to Charlie B's Backpackers -- looked like an awesome place to stay, from what I saw of it. I got in at midnight, crashed, and woke up at 6 the next morning to catch another shuttle to the TranzAlpine train that goes through the Southern Alps (mountain range through the center of the South Island) to Greymouth, one of the many small towns that dot the west coast. I was exhausted, and for a short while I was fighting the urge to fall asleep on the train, since it's a scenic train ride with big windows and an outdoor viewing car. My body won, though, and I let myself get some rest so that I could at least enjoy the second half of the train ride. Everything I saw was gorgeous, although I think I missed seeing the location used for Edoras in the Lord of the Rings. I'll post pictures on a facebook album when I get back. There were mountains, lush green fields, tiny train stations, and lots and lots of sheep. Some cows and an occasional horse too, but a lot of sheep. This it the country with 4 million people and 40 million sheep.
After walking around Greymouth for a short time and visiting a one-room exhibit about jade and its value in the Maori (NZ's indigenous nation) culture, I headed back to the station to catch a bus down the coast for four hours until I came to Franz Josef.
Franz has two streets - the main road and the shorter one parallel to it. It's used mostly as a base for people who want to explore the Franz Josef glacier, a 10 minute drive away. Tomorrow I'm going out for a full day glacier hike which should be pretty incredible. Right now I'm sitting inside an old bus from the 70's painted bright red and set up with a rows of computers around the wall. What a great system! My plan is to keep everyone aware of where I am by getting on the internet every couple days - hopefully updating via the blog most of the time.
Have a great week everyone! More to come soon! Don't forget to write!
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Melbourne Recap: Month 1
So you haven't heard from me in a month, which is not so great on my part because now I have so many things to catch you up on and I'm sure you don't want to read it all at once. At least I'll take a stab at starting the process tonight.
After the Melbourne Welcome program I moved into my apartment with my roommate Maya who's from Montreal and Israel. Our apartment is super centrally-located in the middle of a great area of the city and right along the tram like that runs to school. The state library across the street has an awesome lawn that is always crowded with people hanging out or reading. I met the five other religious (American) girls who just happen to live down the hall. It's been really nice to have other people on the hall to hang out with, and we've all bonded and spend a lot of time together. I'll post pictures of my room as soon as I take them, which is generally true of whatever else you would want to see pictures of. I'll get around to taking pictures, but probably at the same rate I've gotten around to posting to my blog.
We had a week of relatively lame orientation activities. Lame, because they were geared for first-years so it was all about adjusting to life at "uni" and study skills and things I wasn't interested in. I got a chance to check out the lively swing dancing scene in Melbourne. I've joined the dance club at uni and I've gone out dancing in the city a couple times as well. Really nice people, and some awesome dancers too. I also got to meet some of the Jewish students who are part of AUJS - the Australasian Union of Jewish Students, which is roughly the equivalent of Hillel in the states. It doesn't really have a strong religious component, though, since most students live at home and wouldn't be around on campus for Shabbat or holidays.
It'll take an entire separate post for me to tell you about how wonderful my experience has been with the Jewish community here, with the student organizations but more significantly with the Conservative community: Kehilat Nitzan. They're just great and I love being with them.
Classes started two and a half weeks ago, and the beginning was incredibly busy for me but really fun too. Instead of just picking my 4 classes in advance and sticking to them, I decided I would be better off if I checked out a bunch of different options and saw which ones I enjoyed the most. That meant that for the first week I attended eight classes and spent my time zigzagging all across the campus. I certainly learned my way around quickly. But it was all worth it, because I ended up with a schedule of classes I really enjoy, with none on Fridays and only one final exam (the rest are papers). Those are:
Algorithms and Data Structures - the only required course for me, replacing one offered back at Penn that I'm missing right now. Many of the concepts, at least so far, are review, but they're programming in C which I haven't really used much, so I've got plenty to learn.
Language and Media - fun times with media analysis and a quirky American professor who combines ridiculous linguistics terminology with media stuff I actually understand.
Media, Politics, and Society - more media analysis with a social/political twist. It's filled with first-year students who talk a lot and dress like each day's a fashion show. It's certainly amusing people-watching, and the class is teaching me a lot about Australian media in particular.
God and the Natural Sciences - more accurately the history of the relationship between science and Christianity since the medieval times, but despite the limited scope it's still really interesting. The main professor is an Anglican priest AND has a PhD in Physics. It's the closest to a philosophy course that I'll probably ever take.
Because of Easter, our semester break starts this weekend. I'm spending Purim and Shabbat with Kehilat Nitzan and then on Sunday I'm flying to New Zealand for a week and a half filled with adventures all over the south island. That trip is part of the reason I am actually getting around to writing to you now, since I know when I get back I'll want to tell you all about my trip.
Thanks to everyone who sent me a note wishing me a happy birthday this week. It was very exciting for me to hear from people all over the world who took a minute to say hello and wish me a good day. It did turn out to be an enjoyable one, despite the fact that birthdays away from home have a tendency to end up pretty disappointing. I got a bunch of friends together - new ones and reconnected ones - and we had ice cream and went out bowling. What a great way to spend an evening! My birthday presents consisted almost entirely of candy and stuffed animals. Did I really turn 21 or maybe 12? or 5? I loved it.
Please don't forget to write and update me about your adventures!
After the Melbourne Welcome program I moved into my apartment with my roommate Maya who's from Montreal and Israel. Our apartment is super centrally-located in the middle of a great area of the city and right along the tram like that runs to school. The state library across the street has an awesome lawn that is always crowded with people hanging out or reading. I met the five other religious (American) girls who just happen to live down the hall. It's been really nice to have other people on the hall to hang out with, and we've all bonded and spend a lot of time together. I'll post pictures of my room as soon as I take them, which is generally true of whatever else you would want to see pictures of. I'll get around to taking pictures, but probably at the same rate I've gotten around to posting to my blog.
We had a week of relatively lame orientation activities. Lame, because they were geared for first-years so it was all about adjusting to life at "uni" and study skills and things I wasn't interested in. I got a chance to check out the lively swing dancing scene in Melbourne. I've joined the dance club at uni and I've gone out dancing in the city a couple times as well. Really nice people, and some awesome dancers too. I also got to meet some of the Jewish students who are part of AUJS - the Australasian Union of Jewish Students, which is roughly the equivalent of Hillel in the states. It doesn't really have a strong religious component, though, since most students live at home and wouldn't be around on campus for Shabbat or holidays.
It'll take an entire separate post for me to tell you about how wonderful my experience has been with the Jewish community here, with the student organizations but more significantly with the Conservative community: Kehilat Nitzan. They're just great and I love being with them.
Classes started two and a half weeks ago, and the beginning was incredibly busy for me but really fun too. Instead of just picking my 4 classes in advance and sticking to them, I decided I would be better off if I checked out a bunch of different options and saw which ones I enjoyed the most. That meant that for the first week I attended eight classes and spent my time zigzagging all across the campus. I certainly learned my way around quickly. But it was all worth it, because I ended up with a schedule of classes I really enjoy, with none on Fridays and only one final exam (the rest are papers). Those are:
Algorithms and Data Structures - the only required course for me, replacing one offered back at Penn that I'm missing right now. Many of the concepts, at least so far, are review, but they're programming in C which I haven't really used much, so I've got plenty to learn.
Language and Media - fun times with media analysis and a quirky American professor who combines ridiculous linguistics terminology with media stuff I actually understand.
Media, Politics, and Society - more media analysis with a social/political twist. It's filled with first-year students who talk a lot and dress like each day's a fashion show. It's certainly amusing people-watching, and the class is teaching me a lot about Australian media in particular.
God and the Natural Sciences - more accurately the history of the relationship between science and Christianity since the medieval times, but despite the limited scope it's still really interesting. The main professor is an Anglican priest AND has a PhD in Physics. It's the closest to a philosophy course that I'll probably ever take.
Because of Easter, our semester break starts this weekend. I'm spending Purim and Shabbat with Kehilat Nitzan and then on Sunday I'm flying to New Zealand for a week and a half filled with adventures all over the south island. That trip is part of the reason I am actually getting around to writing to you now, since I know when I get back I'll want to tell you all about my trip.
Thanks to everyone who sent me a note wishing me a happy birthday this week. It was very exciting for me to hear from people all over the world who took a minute to say hello and wish me a good day. It did turn out to be an enjoyable one, despite the fact that birthdays away from home have a tendency to end up pretty disappointing. I got a bunch of friends together - new ones and reconnected ones - and we had ice cream and went out bowling. What a great way to spend an evening! My birthday presents consisted almost entirely of candy and stuffed animals. Did I really turn 21 or maybe 12? or 5? I loved it.
Please don't forget to write and update me about your adventures!
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Facebook Photo Albums
Click this link to see the rest of the photos from my adventures in Jerusalem. Anyone can access it, even if you don't have a Facebook account. Enjoy!
January in Jerusalem
January in Jerusalem
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Zoo Pictures
There was an awesome butterfly enclosure with a zillion of them all over the place. This one was willing to stay still long enough to be photographed.
The elephants were surprisingly playful and silly.
It was a super hot day so the kangaroos were just chillin' in the shade and not doing much of anything interesting.
Emu! Emu! The kangaroo and emu are on the Australian emblem because neither of them can walk backwards, and Australia is a "forward-looking country." They also apparently taste quite good on the barbecue. Funny, a country that eats its national animals.
I promise, there really are koalas in those trees. They're just hard to see.
Look! Cute little penguins who like the warm weather!
So those are some highlights from my Melbourne Zoo experience. I think what I'll do is leave these as highlights and then make an album on Facebook and sent you the link. I'll do it so that you don't need a Facebook username to get to the album, too.
Enjoy!
The elephants were surprisingly playful and silly.
It was a super hot day so the kangaroos were just chillin' in the shade and not doing much of anything interesting.
Emu! Emu! The kangaroo and emu are on the Australian emblem because neither of them can walk backwards, and Australia is a "forward-looking country." They also apparently taste quite good on the barbecue. Funny, a country that eats its national animals.
I promise, there really are koalas in those trees. They're just hard to see.
Look! Cute little penguins who like the warm weather!
So those are some highlights from my Melbourne Zoo experience. I think what I'll do is leave these as highlights and then make an album on Facebook and sent you the link. I'll do it so that you don't need a Facebook username to get to the album, too.
Enjoy!
Monday, February 18, 2008
Study Abroad Musings...
...sure to be the first of many posts like this
(this and the two previous posts were written over the course of the past few days but all posted at once due to lack of internet access.)
I’m back from bowling with a still-sore ankle, and I’m about to head off to sleep. I’ve been giving some thought to the way I’ve felt since I arrived, since it’s not the typical “wahoo this is amazing!” nor was I expecting that to be my first reaction. I think the issue right now is that it’s hard upon first arriving to feel like I’ve got any sort of connection to any of the other students around me. I know that in time I’ll come upon some great friends and be involved in activities and classes, and that those things will help me feel like I belong. But for now it’s a lot of new faces in a strange city, and it gets both overwhelming and lonely at the same time. At least having the Jewish community nearby makes a huge difference. As I rode the tram to the suburbs on Friday and saw the signs start saying things like “Sabra Falafel” and “Drs. Roseberg and Stern,” I knew I was in the right place and that there are people like me here, too. It’s comforting to know that no matter how big and scary the world is, I’m able to find a community to connect with and feel at home with as soon as I arrive. That bubble had to burst on Saturday night, though, when I was thrust back into the study-abroad-student world as I arrived back to Newman for the night. It just feels like I keep having to work hard at being friendly and making conversation, kinda like freshman orientation at Penn. Then, I knew that I’d most likely never see any of those people again, and I’d already had a chance to make some of my own friends. I feel the same way about this experience, except without the comfort zone of friends, so I guess the best solution is to be myself and ride it out and just take in what’s around me. It’s pretty neat stuff we’re doing, albeit exhausting, so I just have to take each moment as it comes. I guess what’s also weird about this is not actually having anything else that I need to do. I come back at night and just kinda shrug my shoulders and get ready for bed, since I don’t have a long list of responsibilities, nor do I have an internet connection to open up the boundaries of communication with my world back at home, which I miss terribly. I really have nothing to do other than be part of this program, which really only lasts two more days, but I’ll be happy to move into my own place on Tuesday and start setting that up, because at least it’ll give me something to do. And hopefully that’ll mean I’ll have internet as well.
So here’s to optimism, and here’s to a good night’s sleep!
(this and the two previous posts were written over the course of the past few days but all posted at once due to lack of internet access.)
I’m back from bowling with a still-sore ankle, and I’m about to head off to sleep. I’ve been giving some thought to the way I’ve felt since I arrived, since it’s not the typical “wahoo this is amazing!” nor was I expecting that to be my first reaction. I think the issue right now is that it’s hard upon first arriving to feel like I’ve got any sort of connection to any of the other students around me. I know that in time I’ll come upon some great friends and be involved in activities and classes, and that those things will help me feel like I belong. But for now it’s a lot of new faces in a strange city, and it gets both overwhelming and lonely at the same time. At least having the Jewish community nearby makes a huge difference. As I rode the tram to the suburbs on Friday and saw the signs start saying things like “Sabra Falafel” and “Drs. Roseberg and Stern,” I knew I was in the right place and that there are people like me here, too. It’s comforting to know that no matter how big and scary the world is, I’m able to find a community to connect with and feel at home with as soon as I arrive. That bubble had to burst on Saturday night, though, when I was thrust back into the study-abroad-student world as I arrived back to Newman for the night. It just feels like I keep having to work hard at being friendly and making conversation, kinda like freshman orientation at Penn. Then, I knew that I’d most likely never see any of those people again, and I’d already had a chance to make some of my own friends. I feel the same way about this experience, except without the comfort zone of friends, so I guess the best solution is to be myself and ride it out and just take in what’s around me. It’s pretty neat stuff we’re doing, albeit exhausting, so I just have to take each moment as it comes. I guess what’s also weird about this is not actually having anything else that I need to do. I come back at night and just kinda shrug my shoulders and get ready for bed, since I don’t have a long list of responsibilities, nor do I have an internet connection to open up the boundaries of communication with my world back at home, which I miss terribly. I really have nothing to do other than be part of this program, which really only lasts two more days, but I’ll be happy to move into my own place on Tuesday and start setting that up, because at least it’ll give me something to do. And hopefully that’ll mean I’ll have internet as well.
So here’s to optimism, and here’s to a good night’s sleep!
Off to Melbourne
I left Philly on Jan 13th. After 6 hours on a plane, 4 hours in the Los Angeles airport, which included one hour sleeping on the floor at the gate nearing midnight and one frantic phone call to my parents right before boarding (approx 2AM their time), and 15 more hours on the plane, I arrived at the Melbourne International Airport. At that point it was 9:30AM on Friday the 15th. Boy was I glad to be on the ground.
I guess I should explain what’s actually going on for me this week. I’m part of this program called the Melbourne Welcome, which is for study abroad students before actual orientation (“O Week”) starts. Upperclassmen basically act as our hosts and take us all around the city to all sorts of activities, just to give us a chance to explore and meet each other and get a feel for things. We were brought straight from the airport to the residential college house next to campus where we’re living for the duration of the program.
Almost as soon as I arrived at Newman College house, I packed my things and headed out to the suburbs for Shabbat. I knew it would mean missing group surfing lessons at Ocean Grove on Saturday, but I decided that it was more important for me to make a connection with the local Jewish community, and I am so glad I made that decision. It felt incredible to show up at the front door of Ms. Evelyn Rose’s home and be taken in with open arms and a welcome smile. Being in a real community with families and home-cooked food felt great after so much traveling. The Conservative community is called Kehilat Nitzan, and I really enjoyed their services and the people I met. Everyone was cheerful and welcoming and interested in where I was coming from and why I had chosen to study at Melbourne. It turns out that Rabbi Ehud Bandel is friendly with Rabbi Lindemann and has visited Temple Beth Sholom in Cherry Hill many times, so we instantly had a connection. I really had a good time with their community, and I am excited to go back and spend many more Shabbatot with them. They already have me reading Torah two weeks from now, too.
Today’s main activities were visiting the Queen Victoria Market and the Melbourne Zoo. Queen Vic was pretty neat – the largest part of it was very much like the Israeli shuk markets: lots of vendors selling produce or souvenir items or random junk. There were rows and rows of these vendors in a tent-like covered area. Then there was another section indoors that had small little counters one after another selling candy or meats or cheese or sandwiches. There were so many different things in their displays. I even saw kangaroo meat at one of the deli counters. Next time I get back there I’ll be sure to take a bunch of pictures and share them with you, because it’s a neat place.
The zoo was pretty fun as well, but by then most of us were completely exhausted because of the heat. We really spent the entire day walking around, so being outdoors at a zoo was brutal in that way. But we did get to see some native Australian animals, like kangaroos just chilling in the shade, koalas hiding in trees, and tiny adorable penguins hanging out at their pond.
Right now I’m sitting on a bench in the outdoor quad area where I’m staying for these next few days. There’s finally a cool breeze after an incredibly hot day. You know it’s hot when even the Australians are complaining about the temperature. The sun’s on its way down, seeing as it’s just after 8PM, and soon a group of us is heading out bowling for the evening. My ankle hurts after a very walking-intensive day, and in the back of my mind I still feel that in the end of the day I’m here alone by myself, just trying to learn my way around and get through each day, but I can at least enjoy the clean feeling of a nice shower and be reasonably sure that tomorrow is going to be another beautiful and adventurous day. It’s going to take some time to get used to being here, and I am sure that having an apartment to call home and a finalized course schedule will definitely set me in the right direction.
And now for some random amusing things I’ve picked up since being here:
- When I got onto the plane from LA to Melbourne (nauseous and exhausted), I spoke with a flight attendant about needing to keep some of my medications cold while flying. He suggested that he could bring me a foam esky and some ice. First thought: “what the heck is a foam esky?” He made a box-shape with his hands, and I figured a foam box of any sort wouldn’t be too bad. Turns out that esky is the name used for cooler, which I learned after he showed up at my seat with a Styrofoam cooler box, which did the trick just fine.
- Also on the plane, the captain had to read out the safety information from a sheet over the PA system, since the recording wasn’t working properly. His instructions for using the seatbelt included how to “do it up” and “undo it,” which I thought were much better terms than the standard American “fasten” and “release.”
- Yeild signs say “Give Way”
- Speaking of the roads, I bet you don’t notice it, but when you cross the street your natural reaction is to look left first, then right, then check left again just before crossing. Here, thougt, it’s right, left, right, given that the cars are coming from the opposite direction. I’ve started to get the hang of it, but intersections still confuse me. On top of that, who would have ever thought that escalators would also switch directions? The side going up is on the left instead of the right!
I guess I should explain what’s actually going on for me this week. I’m part of this program called the Melbourne Welcome, which is for study abroad students before actual orientation (“O Week”) starts. Upperclassmen basically act as our hosts and take us all around the city to all sorts of activities, just to give us a chance to explore and meet each other and get a feel for things. We were brought straight from the airport to the residential college house next to campus where we’re living for the duration of the program.
Almost as soon as I arrived at Newman College house, I packed my things and headed out to the suburbs for Shabbat. I knew it would mean missing group surfing lessons at Ocean Grove on Saturday, but I decided that it was more important for me to make a connection with the local Jewish community, and I am so glad I made that decision. It felt incredible to show up at the front door of Ms. Evelyn Rose’s home and be taken in with open arms and a welcome smile. Being in a real community with families and home-cooked food felt great after so much traveling. The Conservative community is called Kehilat Nitzan, and I really enjoyed their services and the people I met. Everyone was cheerful and welcoming and interested in where I was coming from and why I had chosen to study at Melbourne. It turns out that Rabbi Ehud Bandel is friendly with Rabbi Lindemann and has visited Temple Beth Sholom in Cherry Hill many times, so we instantly had a connection. I really had a good time with their community, and I am excited to go back and spend many more Shabbatot with them. They already have me reading Torah two weeks from now, too.
Today’s main activities were visiting the Queen Victoria Market and the Melbourne Zoo. Queen Vic was pretty neat – the largest part of it was very much like the Israeli shuk markets: lots of vendors selling produce or souvenir items or random junk. There were rows and rows of these vendors in a tent-like covered area. Then there was another section indoors that had small little counters one after another selling candy or meats or cheese or sandwiches. There were so many different things in their displays. I even saw kangaroo meat at one of the deli counters. Next time I get back there I’ll be sure to take a bunch of pictures and share them with you, because it’s a neat place.
The zoo was pretty fun as well, but by then most of us were completely exhausted because of the heat. We really spent the entire day walking around, so being outdoors at a zoo was brutal in that way. But we did get to see some native Australian animals, like kangaroos just chilling in the shade, koalas hiding in trees, and tiny adorable penguins hanging out at their pond.
Right now I’m sitting on a bench in the outdoor quad area where I’m staying for these next few days. There’s finally a cool breeze after an incredibly hot day. You know it’s hot when even the Australians are complaining about the temperature. The sun’s on its way down, seeing as it’s just after 8PM, and soon a group of us is heading out bowling for the evening. My ankle hurts after a very walking-intensive day, and in the back of my mind I still feel that in the end of the day I’m here alone by myself, just trying to learn my way around and get through each day, but I can at least enjoy the clean feeling of a nice shower and be reasonably sure that tomorrow is going to be another beautiful and adventurous day. It’s going to take some time to get used to being here, and I am sure that having an apartment to call home and a finalized course schedule will definitely set me in the right direction.
And now for some random amusing things I’ve picked up since being here:
- When I got onto the plane from LA to Melbourne (nauseous and exhausted), I spoke with a flight attendant about needing to keep some of my medications cold while flying. He suggested that he could bring me a foam esky and some ice. First thought: “what the heck is a foam esky?” He made a box-shape with his hands, and I figured a foam box of any sort wouldn’t be too bad. Turns out that esky is the name used for cooler, which I learned after he showed up at my seat with a Styrofoam cooler box, which did the trick just fine.
- Also on the plane, the captain had to read out the safety information from a sheet over the PA system, since the recording wasn’t working properly. His instructions for using the seatbelt included how to “do it up” and “undo it,” which I thought were much better terms than the standard American “fasten” and “release.”
- Yeild signs say “Give Way”
- Speaking of the roads, I bet you don’t notice it, but when you cross the street your natural reaction is to look left first, then right, then check left again just before crossing. Here, thougt, it’s right, left, right, given that the cars are coming from the opposite direction. I’ve started to get the hang of it, but intersections still confuse me. On top of that, who would have ever thought that escalators would also switch directions? The side going up is on the left instead of the right!
Two Weeks in the States
I flew home from Israel just as Jerusalem was recovering from a snowstorm. Luckily I was able to escape the city before the worst of it on Tuesday night, and I sought refuge from the torrential downpours at David Mitchell’s apartment in Kfar Sava. It took a total of 6 busses from Tuesday afternoon to Wednesday morning to get me from my apartment in Jerusalem to Ben Gurion Int’l Airport in Tel Aviv, but it was worth it to avoid getting stuck in snowy Jerusalem.
It was so great to be home for those two short weeks. I think we crammed in a whopping 7 doctors’ appointments, 3 summer job interviews (in one day) and 2 weekend excursions to NYU. It was incredibly hectic, but absolutely wonderful. It was just what I needed to make me feel a little more ready to be heading off for such a long time, and so far away. I also made sure that I got a chance to spend some quality time with my family, visit my Swinger, Hillel, and DMD friends at Penn, and then pack my things and start getting ready to fly again.
It was so great to be home for those two short weeks. I think we crammed in a whopping 7 doctors’ appointments, 3 summer job interviews (in one day) and 2 weekend excursions to NYU. It was incredibly hectic, but absolutely wonderful. It was just what I needed to make me feel a little more ready to be heading off for such a long time, and so far away. I also made sure that I got a chance to spend some quality time with my family, visit my Swinger, Hillel, and DMD friends at Penn, and then pack my things and start getting ready to fly again.
Saturday, January 26, 2008
So what do you actually do in Yeshiva?
I've been asked that question a bunch of times, most notably by my parents, so I figure I might as well explain what actually goes on for me during the day. Studying at the Conservative Yeshiva has been an exciting opportunity for me to meet new people and interact with them in a way that's different from the experiences I have at school and elsewhere. All day we're immersed in this word of Jewish text study, and because of that the way we speak and think generally follows that model. It's actually really funny how a discussion on just about anything turns into a Talmud-style debate, all in good fun of course.
Every morning begins with Shacharit services at 7:30AM (I haven't woken up so early on a regular basis since high school), and then a break for breakfast (one of the two meals a day that I eat at the Yeshiva, consisting of my milk and cereal that's in the fridge in the kitchenette). The other meal is lunch, which can be a peanut butter and chocolate spread sandwich, or something completely different. We pray all 3 services each day, the second being after lunch and the third at the end of classes in the evening.
We have Talmud class every morning from 9 to 12:30. We are currently studying topics related to the categories of things you are not allowed to do on Shabbat. We spend the first two hours of study with a partner, working through the difficult Aramaic text and trying to figure out what the arguments and questions are, and how the rabbis from the 4-5th century resolved them. For the last hour and a half, everyone in our class comes together with our teacher Reb. Mordechai to review what we've been working on and discuss it further. Usually, the time does pass relatively quickly, and I enjoy the "scavenger hunt through the dictionary" process of figuring out what the text is saying and what it has to teach us about the process of deriving law from original Judaic sources. It's also not all serious work - we do get a little silly sometimes. Reb. Mordechai drinks tea from a huge bowl and enjoys his eccentricities and random knowledge. We often end up on strange tangents and spend ridiculous amounts of time on moot points and crazy details.
One day we were discussing the value of studying the way we do in terms of preparation for rabbinical school, and I looked around and noticed that out of the five students in the classroom, I was the only one not headed in the rabbinical school direction. Reb. Mordechai then amended his statement to include the value of the experience even if you're not going to be a rabbi - and I thanked him. In general, I've been impressed with the overall sense at the Yeshiva that learning is important whether or not you're going to be a rabbi, and as the head of the Yeshiva pointed out,
"We need good Conservative bankers and lawyers and doctors too." (and filmmakers?)
Every afternoon offers a different assortment of class options. Some of these classes required that I do some catch-up work in order to follow along, and others were just starting as new courses for the spring. Twice a week I have Hebrew language class. We read newspaper articles and excerpts from stories, discuss what we did over the weekend or what news we have to share, and once a week we watch an Israeli movie - in Hebrew with the Hebrew subtitles on. Having the subtitles actually makes a huge difference, and I really enjoyed watching "HaKayitz Shel Aviyah," "Aviyah's Summer."
Sunday is Psalms class. We're studying Psalms 145-150, which are part of the daily morning service. Each week has been a different psalm, and I've really enjoyed looking at them in detail. It's made me really appreciate the quality of the poetry and the use of words, as well as the ideas they present and the value in saying them each morning. It's also the kind of study that I feel like I could bring back to the Penn Jewish community, maybe to make Shabbat morning services more meaningful instead of routine.
-- Did you notice I started the weekly schedule with Sunday? That's right. The culture that created the idea of a weekend with the institution of Shabbat goes right back to work on Sunday. At least we have Fridays off.
Monday I have Liturgy class, and we've been studying the central prayer of all Jewish prayer services - the Amidah. The course is a continuation from last semester, so I kinda picked up in the middle, but it's definitely been meaningful to spend a lot of time really picking apart the prayer I've been saying three times every day.
Tuesdays I don't go to Yeshiva. It's kinda a mid-week break for me. Since we don't have Talmud on Tuesday mornings, I decided to use the day to explore or travel or sleep late, and it's been put to good use.
Wednesday afternoons is Kabballah, mysticism. On the first day Simona gave me a crash course in everything they'd studied from the fall semester. Let me just say it's crazy philosophical and detailed and confusing, but at the same time whatever I do end up understanding provides some deeper understanding of the Kabbalistic perception of G-d and His interaction with people. It's neat, but I can totally understand the need for the traditional custom of not studying this until you're very learned in everything else, and at least 40 years old.
Thursday's schedule includes a lesson/discussion with the head of the Yeshiva - about whatever issue he deems worth bringing up or discussing - and a class about the week's Torah portion, taught by a different person each week. The discussion opportunity is a very interesting one, because it's the only time everyone from the Yeshiva comes together to talk, and it's usually something existential about the ideas of learning in a yeshiva environment or being a committed Conservative Jew, etc. Studying the weekly Torah portion is a great opportunity, because Israeli synagogue services rarely include a discussion as extensive as the rabbi's sermons common in American synagogues, and it's a good opportunity to take a close look at what we're going to be reading over Shabbat.
So that's my week. It's incredibly intellectual, usually exhausting, and a lot of fun. Learning for its own sake requires a lot of motivation and a real desire to stay away from distractions (like e-mail). I often rely on my partners in class to keep me focused on the days when I've had too much sugar or would much prefer to be taking a nap. It might also have to do with the fact that I'm only here for a month, and they've gotten into the rhythm of study since they're here for a whole year. But I show up every day ready to pray and to learn and to really expand the way I think about and relate to Judaism. I love being able to put on my tallis and t'fillin each morning, along with the other guys and girls who do, as well as the girls who choose not to. I know that each of us is encouraged to think openly and freely, to relate what we're learning to our own experience in the world, and to really question in a way that's not even thought of in other institutions. We are not fed a world-view and told to simple take it in, we are really lead to find our own answers, which is incredibly valuable.
I am incredibly thankful to everyone at the Yeshiva who, from the moment I arrived, were welcoming and inclusive to me. I have met wonderful people and made great friends and really enjoyed my time studying in this environment and community. At no time did I feel like an outsider or a stranger, and that made a huge difference to my experience.
So now you have maybe more than a taste of what it's like to take on this lifestyle for even just a short amount of time, and I would love to talk to you more if you have questions or thoughts... so feel free to e-mail or comment to let me know what you think.
Finally, I will be flying home to the States on Wednesday, and I look forward to seeing whatever Philly, Cherry Hill, and NYU people I run into while I'm home.
Every morning begins with Shacharit services at 7:30AM (I haven't woken up so early on a regular basis since high school), and then a break for breakfast (one of the two meals a day that I eat at the Yeshiva, consisting of my milk and cereal that's in the fridge in the kitchenette). The other meal is lunch, which can be a peanut butter and chocolate spread sandwich, or something completely different. We pray all 3 services each day, the second being after lunch and the third at the end of classes in the evening.
We have Talmud class every morning from 9 to 12:30. We are currently studying topics related to the categories of things you are not allowed to do on Shabbat. We spend the first two hours of study with a partner, working through the difficult Aramaic text and trying to figure out what the arguments and questions are, and how the rabbis from the 4-5th century resolved them. For the last hour and a half, everyone in our class comes together with our teacher Reb. Mordechai to review what we've been working on and discuss it further. Usually, the time does pass relatively quickly, and I enjoy the "scavenger hunt through the dictionary" process of figuring out what the text is saying and what it has to teach us about the process of deriving law from original Judaic sources. It's also not all serious work - we do get a little silly sometimes. Reb. Mordechai drinks tea from a huge bowl and enjoys his eccentricities and random knowledge. We often end up on strange tangents and spend ridiculous amounts of time on moot points and crazy details.
One day we were discussing the value of studying the way we do in terms of preparation for rabbinical school, and I looked around and noticed that out of the five students in the classroom, I was the only one not headed in the rabbinical school direction. Reb. Mordechai then amended his statement to include the value of the experience even if you're not going to be a rabbi - and I thanked him. In general, I've been impressed with the overall sense at the Yeshiva that learning is important whether or not you're going to be a rabbi, and as the head of the Yeshiva pointed out,
"We need good Conservative bankers and lawyers and doctors too." (and filmmakers?)
Every afternoon offers a different assortment of class options. Some of these classes required that I do some catch-up work in order to follow along, and others were just starting as new courses for the spring. Twice a week I have Hebrew language class. We read newspaper articles and excerpts from stories, discuss what we did over the weekend or what news we have to share, and once a week we watch an Israeli movie - in Hebrew with the Hebrew subtitles on. Having the subtitles actually makes a huge difference, and I really enjoyed watching "HaKayitz Shel Aviyah," "Aviyah's Summer."
Sunday is Psalms class. We're studying Psalms 145-150, which are part of the daily morning service. Each week has been a different psalm, and I've really enjoyed looking at them in detail. It's made me really appreciate the quality of the poetry and the use of words, as well as the ideas they present and the value in saying them each morning. It's also the kind of study that I feel like I could bring back to the Penn Jewish community, maybe to make Shabbat morning services more meaningful instead of routine.
-- Did you notice I started the weekly schedule with Sunday? That's right. The culture that created the idea of a weekend with the institution of Shabbat goes right back to work on Sunday. At least we have Fridays off.
Monday I have Liturgy class, and we've been studying the central prayer of all Jewish prayer services - the Amidah. The course is a continuation from last semester, so I kinda picked up in the middle, but it's definitely been meaningful to spend a lot of time really picking apart the prayer I've been saying three times every day.
Tuesdays I don't go to Yeshiva. It's kinda a mid-week break for me. Since we don't have Talmud on Tuesday mornings, I decided to use the day to explore or travel or sleep late, and it's been put to good use.
Wednesday afternoons is Kabballah, mysticism. On the first day Simona gave me a crash course in everything they'd studied from the fall semester. Let me just say it's crazy philosophical and detailed and confusing, but at the same time whatever I do end up understanding provides some deeper understanding of the Kabbalistic perception of G-d and His interaction with people. It's neat, but I can totally understand the need for the traditional custom of not studying this until you're very learned in everything else, and at least 40 years old.
Thursday's schedule includes a lesson/discussion with the head of the Yeshiva - about whatever issue he deems worth bringing up or discussing - and a class about the week's Torah portion, taught by a different person each week. The discussion opportunity is a very interesting one, because it's the only time everyone from the Yeshiva comes together to talk, and it's usually something existential about the ideas of learning in a yeshiva environment or being a committed Conservative Jew, etc. Studying the weekly Torah portion is a great opportunity, because Israeli synagogue services rarely include a discussion as extensive as the rabbi's sermons common in American synagogues, and it's a good opportunity to take a close look at what we're going to be reading over Shabbat.
So that's my week. It's incredibly intellectual, usually exhausting, and a lot of fun. Learning for its own sake requires a lot of motivation and a real desire to stay away from distractions (like e-mail). I often rely on my partners in class to keep me focused on the days when I've had too much sugar or would much prefer to be taking a nap. It might also have to do with the fact that I'm only here for a month, and they've gotten into the rhythm of study since they're here for a whole year. But I show up every day ready to pray and to learn and to really expand the way I think about and relate to Judaism. I love being able to put on my tallis and t'fillin each morning, along with the other guys and girls who do, as well as the girls who choose not to. I know that each of us is encouraged to think openly and freely, to relate what we're learning to our own experience in the world, and to really question in a way that's not even thought of in other institutions. We are not fed a world-view and told to simple take it in, we are really lead to find our own answers, which is incredibly valuable.
I am incredibly thankful to everyone at the Yeshiva who, from the moment I arrived, were welcoming and inclusive to me. I have met wonderful people and made great friends and really enjoyed my time studying in this environment and community. At no time did I feel like an outsider or a stranger, and that made a huge difference to my experience.
So now you have maybe more than a taste of what it's like to take on this lifestyle for even just a short amount of time, and I would love to talk to you more if you have questions or thoughts... so feel free to e-mail or comment to let me know what you think.
Finally, I will be flying home to the States on Wednesday, and I look forward to seeing whatever Philly, Cherry Hill, and NYU people I run into while I'm home.
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Pictures
Here are pictures from the Tayelet as promised. Thanks, Yossi!
I'm spending tonight with my cousins in Netanya after a Tu B'Shevat Seder at a synagogue in the area. Tu B'Shevat is the holiday celebrating the trees and nature. It's still super cold here, but maybe this will help bring spring along.
One more will 'till I'm back in the States. Get excited!
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
The Importance of Reading
Today I experienced yet another example of why it is important to read carefully. I discovered today upon putting in a load of laundry that in previous loads I had been using laundry softener instead of detergent. I had just figured that since there were two things on the laundry shelf and one was powder and one was liquid, I'd just use the liquid once since it was easier to reach and less likely to make a mess. Oops. Did I mention the writing on both of the containers was in Hebrew? I know the Hebrew word for laundry, and I figured the other word was detergent, which I definitely don't know. Turns out when I read closer this time, the word has the same root as the word I know for soft. A very enormous dictionary confirmed my mistake.
I think that about sums up the amusing experiences for the day. Yeshiva was good, and at some point I'll spend some time explaining what I actually do there and what I've been learning and thinking about. I went out for lunch with my new friend Simona, and I made fried rice and sauteed veggies for dinner with my new friend Judy. It's been a pretty good day overall.
I think that about sums up the amusing experiences for the day. Yeshiva was good, and at some point I'll spend some time explaining what I actually do there and what I've been learning and thinking about. I went out for lunch with my new friend Simona, and I made fried rice and sauteed veggies for dinner with my new friend Judy. It's been a pretty good day overall.
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Scenic Views and Other Highlights: Jerusalem Week 2
Since I spent a lot of my last post giving you a general sense of what's been going on here for me, I decided this time I would instead offer just a few of the highlights from my experience in Jerusalem so far.
- Rock climbing - under the Teddy Stadium there's a brand new rock climbing gym - who knew?! Yossi and I went last Tuesday and had a great time, and I'm hoping to convince some Yeshiva friends to go with me again.
- The Egged bus system: Israeli bus drivers are actually very friendly and willing to help confused passengers like yours truly. They'll even remind you when they reach the stop you asked about when you got on timidly and verified that you were on the right bus.
- The Tayelet is a beautiful "promenade" area overlooking the entire gorgeous city of Jerusalem from the south in Talpiyot. Apparently it's one of the most common tourists stops, but for some reason I can't ever remember having gone there. It's incredible. Yossi and I walked over to it from his cousins house on Friday morning before Shabbat , and I was blown away by the view. (I'll post pictures as soon as Yossi e-mails them to me)
- Bowling! Jerusalem has a brand new bowling alley neat the mall, and after going out to dinner with basically everyone from the Yeshiva for Simona's birthday, a bunch of us headed over there to check it out. Funniest experience - watching super-religious Jews go bowling. It's just silly.
Today was Yossi's last day in town, since he's spending tonight in Ra'anana and flying home tomorrow. We spent the whole day together, and despite my tendency to want to know everything that's going on, I let him plan exactly what we were going to do and leave all of it as a surprise for me. He took me to lunch at the most incredibly-located cafe. It's in the neighborhood called Yemin Moshe, and from our seats next to the windows, we had a spectacular view of the outer wall of the old city and all of the surrounding area. It was a clear and bright gorgeous day despite the cold, and we just soaked in the scenery over lunch. We also spent a while walking around in the Machaneh Yehudah area - it's this incredible open air market with just about anything you could possibly want to buy. I happen to really like seeing lots of bright colored things all lined up next to each other, so I just had fun looking around:
Yossi didn't want to sit on the floor with the spices, but he did long enough to me to take a picture!
I've got a bunch more fun activities on my list, and I'm sure there will be plenty of unexpected ones as well. Stay warm, wherever you are, and don't forget to write.
- Rock climbing - under the Teddy Stadium there's a brand new rock climbing gym - who knew?! Yossi and I went last Tuesday and had a great time, and I'm hoping to convince some Yeshiva friends to go with me again.
- The Egged bus system: Israeli bus drivers are actually very friendly and willing to help confused passengers like yours truly. They'll even remind you when they reach the stop you asked about when you got on timidly and verified that you were on the right bus.
- The Tayelet is a beautiful "promenade" area overlooking the entire gorgeous city of Jerusalem from the south in Talpiyot. Apparently it's one of the most common tourists stops, but for some reason I can't ever remember having gone there. It's incredible. Yossi and I walked over to it from his cousins house on Friday morning before Shabbat , and I was blown away by the view. (I'll post pictures as soon as Yossi e-mails them to me)
- Bowling! Jerusalem has a brand new bowling alley neat the mall, and after going out to dinner with basically everyone from the Yeshiva for Simona's birthday, a bunch of us headed over there to check it out. Funniest experience - watching super-religious Jews go bowling. It's just silly.
Today was Yossi's last day in town, since he's spending tonight in Ra'anana and flying home tomorrow. We spent the whole day together, and despite my tendency to want to know everything that's going on, I let him plan exactly what we were going to do and leave all of it as a surprise for me. He took me to lunch at the most incredibly-located cafe. It's in the neighborhood called Yemin Moshe, and from our seats next to the windows, we had a spectacular view of the outer wall of the old city and all of the surrounding area. It was a clear and bright gorgeous day despite the cold, and we just soaked in the scenery over lunch. We also spent a while walking around in the Machaneh Yehudah area - it's this incredible open air market with just about anything you could possibly want to buy. I happen to really like seeing lots of bright colored things all lined up next to each other, so I just had fun looking around:
Yossi didn't want to sit on the floor with the spices, but he did long enough to me to take a picture!I've got a bunch more fun activities on my list, and I'm sure there will be plenty of unexpected ones as well. Stay warm, wherever you are, and don't forget to write.
Friday, January 11, 2008
Israel: Week One
I've been in Israel for one week now, and everything has been incredible. It took me a little while (or rather, it took my stomach a little while) to adjust, but I am loving it. Yossi decided to spend two weeks of his winter break here too, so we flew in together and spent the first night in Ra'anana with friends of his. I got to experience the Israeli train system - which is pretty awesome. They've got double-decker trains and really clear announcements for all the stops and connections (mostly in Hebrew but it was a good thing the ones at the airport were also in English so we knew where to go).
The next morning I headed to Ramat HaSharon for an awesome weekend. Lauren (Reibstein, first cousin who's also in Israel right now) and I stayed at Rita and Ilan Aloni's house and experienced the whirlwind that descends when all of the cousins come for Friday night dinner. Everyone was there: Orly and Neri with their kids Mica, Amitai, and baby Lihi; Michal and Yigal with their kids Romi and Alon; and even Shir and Yael from all the way up north with Yuval, Edo, and Maya. We had a blast playing with everyone and catching up, and of course we also enjoyed sleeping late on Saturday morning. I have to admit that I had been concerned before going, since our Israeli cousins are secular and sometimes forget that I observe Shabbat and Kashrut, but they made sure to make vegetarian food for me, and we took a walk around the area on Shabbat afternoon, so I was really pleased about how well it worked out. Lauren and I made our way to Jerusalem that night, and I think it took about as long to get from the bus station to my apartment as it did to get there from Tel Aviv. Luckily, with the help of two friendly bus drivers and some patient old ladies, we made it to the right place.
Since then I've been living in Jerusalem and learning my way around. I spend (almost) every day at the Conservative Yeshiva from Shachrit (morning) services at 7:30AM until Maariv (evening) services at 6:30, of course with lots of learning going on in between. Since day one everyone has been so welcoming and friendly, and I really feel at home there. I am with people who are totally dedicated to learning and to living in a Conservative lifestyle, and it's really refreshing. It is such a great feeling to know that I am learning incredible things, purely for the sake of learning, and with people who genuinely want to be there to learn. This week both Conservative rabbinical schools came to give presentations, do interviews, and obviously recruit, so we had free lunch every day, along with presentations about why the world needs more Jewish educators, etc. Actually in my Talmud class yesterday I looked around and realized that of the 5 of us present, I was the only one not intending to go to rabbinical school. Oy. But Reb Mordechai, my teacher, assured me that I don't have to be a rabbi, and that's ok. It sounds funny, but after a week of rabbinical school overload, I really appreciated it. I thanked him because I think sometimes people forget how badly our movement needs active lay people. I desperately want to be one of those people.
The excitement with Bush in town has impacted the entire city, but not in the way you'd expect. I haven't seen protests or even many angry posters hung up. Mostly, Israelis are just annoyed because it's generated a lot of traffic with all the road-closures. Parts of my street is quite often closed off to cars, and even pedestrians. When I walked out of the Yeshiva yesterday I told to join a small clump of people on the sidewalk and told we weren't allowed to go anywhere because Bush's motorcade was about to go by. We waited for a little while, and then we saw one official looking car drive by us, albeit on the wrong side of the street. A few seconds later two motorcycles went by, and then all of the sudden forty cars, vans, SUV's and motorcycles came streaming by, all with official looking signs and blinking lights and secret service people dressed in black suits. All in all it was totally worth the delay, and we did actually see Bush waving as he drove past us. Yossi and I ran into the motorcade again last night when we were walking to meet his cousins for dinner. Maybe the president's following me. Of course neither time did I have my camera on me.
So I finally have started to feel like I actually live here. I am subletting a room in an apartment very close to the Yeshiva, and it's taken a little while to learn my way around. I have a cell phone that accepts the SIM card I bought (speaking of which, if you're in the area and want my Israeli cell number, just send me an e-mail). I have a space heater that actually works, which is an incredible improvement since most apartments don't have heat and it's 56 degrees inside. I learned how long I need to wait for the water heater to warm up before I take a shower - unfortunately by trial and error. I even know where the meat and dairy sections of the kitchen are, and I have clean laundry mostly thanks to Yossi's cousins who are fortunate enough to own a dryer in addition to a washing machine. Those are just some of the little crazy experiences that I have been muddling through this week in order to feel settled, and now, just in time for Shabbat, everything is coming together.
Wishing everyone an enjoyable weekend,
Maddy
The next morning I headed to Ramat HaSharon for an awesome weekend. Lauren (Reibstein, first cousin who's also in Israel right now) and I stayed at Rita and Ilan Aloni's house and experienced the whirlwind that descends when all of the cousins come for Friday night dinner. Everyone was there: Orly and Neri with their kids Mica, Amitai, and baby Lihi; Michal and Yigal with their kids Romi and Alon; and even Shir and Yael from all the way up north with Yuval, Edo, and Maya. We had a blast playing with everyone and catching up, and of course we also enjoyed sleeping late on Saturday morning. I have to admit that I had been concerned before going, since our Israeli cousins are secular and sometimes forget that I observe Shabbat and Kashrut, but they made sure to make vegetarian food for me, and we took a walk around the area on Shabbat afternoon, so I was really pleased about how well it worked out. Lauren and I made our way to Jerusalem that night, and I think it took about as long to get from the bus station to my apartment as it did to get there from Tel Aviv. Luckily, with the help of two friendly bus drivers and some patient old ladies, we made it to the right place.
Since then I've been living in Jerusalem and learning my way around. I spend (almost) every day at the Conservative Yeshiva from Shachrit (morning) services at 7:30AM until Maariv (evening) services at 6:30, of course with lots of learning going on in between. Since day one everyone has been so welcoming and friendly, and I really feel at home there. I am with people who are totally dedicated to learning and to living in a Conservative lifestyle, and it's really refreshing. It is such a great feeling to know that I am learning incredible things, purely for the sake of learning, and with people who genuinely want to be there to learn. This week both Conservative rabbinical schools came to give presentations, do interviews, and obviously recruit, so we had free lunch every day, along with presentations about why the world needs more Jewish educators, etc. Actually in my Talmud class yesterday I looked around and realized that of the 5 of us present, I was the only one not intending to go to rabbinical school. Oy. But Reb Mordechai, my teacher, assured me that I don't have to be a rabbi, and that's ok. It sounds funny, but after a week of rabbinical school overload, I really appreciated it. I thanked him because I think sometimes people forget how badly our movement needs active lay people. I desperately want to be one of those people.
The excitement with Bush in town has impacted the entire city, but not in the way you'd expect. I haven't seen protests or even many angry posters hung up. Mostly, Israelis are just annoyed because it's generated a lot of traffic with all the road-closures. Parts of my street is quite often closed off to cars, and even pedestrians. When I walked out of the Yeshiva yesterday I told to join a small clump of people on the sidewalk and told we weren't allowed to go anywhere because Bush's motorcade was about to go by. We waited for a little while, and then we saw one official looking car drive by us, albeit on the wrong side of the street. A few seconds later two motorcycles went by, and then all of the sudden forty cars, vans, SUV's and motorcycles came streaming by, all with official looking signs and blinking lights and secret service people dressed in black suits. All in all it was totally worth the delay, and we did actually see Bush waving as he drove past us. Yossi and I ran into the motorcade again last night when we were walking to meet his cousins for dinner. Maybe the president's following me. Of course neither time did I have my camera on me.
So I finally have started to feel like I actually live here. I am subletting a room in an apartment very close to the Yeshiva, and it's taken a little while to learn my way around. I have a cell phone that accepts the SIM card I bought (speaking of which, if you're in the area and want my Israeli cell number, just send me an e-mail). I have a space heater that actually works, which is an incredible improvement since most apartments don't have heat and it's 56 degrees inside. I learned how long I need to wait for the water heater to warm up before I take a shower - unfortunately by trial and error. I even know where the meat and dairy sections of the kitchen are, and I have clean laundry mostly thanks to Yossi's cousins who are fortunate enough to own a dryer in addition to a washing machine. Those are just some of the little crazy experiences that I have been muddling through this week in order to feel settled, and now, just in time for Shabbat, everything is coming together.
Wishing everyone an enjoyable weekend,
Maddy
Wednesday, January 2, 2008
Jet Plane
I'm leaving tonight for Israel. I know once I get there that everything will fall into place and I'll have a fabulous time, but at this point it's just barely starting to hit me that I'm actually leaving, let alone that I'm going to Israel for an entire month. Eventually my head will be able to wrap itself around that idea, but we're not there yet. Right now I just hope they're showing Ratatouille on the plane (Ratatouille on IMDB).
Thanks to everyone who's been helping me get excited by sending e-mails or posting comments. It's so fun to hear from everyone, from all over the world and from all different parts of my life.
Thanks to everyone who's been helping me get excited by sending e-mails or posting comments. It's so fun to hear from everyone, from all over the world and from all different parts of my life.
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