Arid Around Arad

Welcome to the desert. Although it's a small country, the Negev (name of the wilderness) is endless. This weekend was one for hikes and hostels with my fellow int'l classmates. The trail was intense. I tried to capture the depth of the mountains, because at times, were going straight down, and there were no railings of any kind. Their were some ropes and ladders, but plenty of other opportunities presented themselves to let your imagination wander off to caves and camels, only to wake up to vertigo. I'm no geologist, but there was a variety of stones in the area where we hiked, including flint. Apparently, this desert is thirty degrees off the equator, and following that plot around the globe you find similar climates. I liked to pick up handfuls of stuff depending on where I was. Sometimes there were pebbles on the ground, other times there was very fine sand, and I wanted to take off my shoes and play hide and seek behind the boulders. Of course, that didn't happen.

After the hike, the group rolled on into Arad, a small settlement, filled with green. We spent Shabbat there, and Saturday morning walked around the city, armed only with copies of Google Maps of Arad. We had to find certain intersections of streets based on clues about street names. Then at each intersection, we discussed a war that took place in Israeli history. We had to know the Prime Minister, Chief of Staff, participants, etc. Unfortunately, we never knew all the details, so we found ourselves Jay Walking up to cars and random pedestrians to ask them "who was the Chief of Staff was during the 1948 War of Independence?" No one ever knew the answer! It was very embarrassing, especially after two girls asked this bald guy walking by with groceries, who turned out to be a woman. All in all, though, the weekend was very relaxing and a nice change of scenery.

Churches of the Holy Sepulcher, Ethiopians and Sudanese. Believni

Apologies for the gap between posts, but the internet is still not cooperating in the apartment. In other local news, I purchased 4 liters of fabric softener last week, and used a hefty sum on my laundry. I guess that explains why they felt oh so soft. Detergent is a powder here, and I was trying to avoid that, but to no avail. Still adjusting to that, but military time is fun...
Now for the meat of the entry. This past Tuesday, I bussed back to the Old City at four in the afternoon, with three friends, and two goals:
1. To get lost in the Arab Shuk (سوق)

2. To visit the Church of the Holy Sepulcher
Both goals were managed with astounding ease. The Shuk brought us to a turn onto a wide street just in time to follow a pilgrimage of Americans who came to visit the same site. The first view of the Church reminded me of the Western Wall, in that it was very majestic in size, but crowded by neighboring buildings, and even a mosque less than 20 meters away (after the trip I did a little research, and although I still know near nothing, inside there's an insignificant ladder that rests near the top of the outer entrance, and hasn't been moved in over a century because of religious disputes). Once inside, I decided a few Kodak moments wouldn't hurt since it was rather empty. Photos ascended to the next level... (*I would suggest clicking on the bottom watching these in high quality by clicking on the bottom right arrow, and then the fullscreen button next to it)







Note that I tried to hide the camera. Basic thoughts concerning the Church included:
α. Huge! endless ceilings and a real mystique with the imminent darkness of the place (we were there as the sun set).
β. A variety and vast number of delicate and decorative sites throughout the structure.
λ. Millions of crosses etched into the stone walls, entrance ways, stairwells, etc.
δ. Everything in a language rare to the rest of the Christian Quarter as well as the Old City- GREEK!
Unfortunately, whereas Muhlenberg is offering Greek for the first time, Hebrew U. isn't, but any experts can gladly translate the words that appear in the Facebook album. Hopefully, one of my classes will include study of the site.
Following the Christian Quarter, we scurried through the slippery stone alleyways to the Jewish Quarter to pay another visit to the Western Wall, and then went out for [what I like: spicy tuna] Sushi!





Now today, two weeks before the Israeli parliamentary elections, one of the candidates, Tsipi Livni (who has a bumper sticker that says Believni) came to visit campus. Unfortunately, I didn't get to see her because Hebrew U. is a little bigger than 'Berg and therefore crowds more easily, and because I chose to attend a session where three Sudanese refugees who fled to Egypt and then Israel came to tell their stories. There's a grassroots organization teaching them English, recording interviews, as well as arranging an event at the famous Holocaust Museum Yad Vashem, where they'll have a tour in Arabic and be involved in discussion groups, etc. This session took place in the evening, while earlier in the day I sat through a Hebrew lecture by an Ethiopian woman who left her home when she was four in order to come to Israel. her story was also very interesting, and I asked her afterward about the possibility of working in Ethiopian communities nearby during the year.
That's the deal up to this moment, Wednesday night. I'm looking forward to another early day of class (1:15am EST), but at least I'm all caught up with 24!
...and here are two videos from my prior visit to the Old City.

Obameow and Rent?

Nothing much new is up here, except the papers are all over the Inauguration, and, for those who have yet to visit this country, the role of squirrel is being played by CATS, especially on campus. They eat with you, hang around outside your door, and sometimes appear in odd places, like washing machines. See the Facebook album for examples.

However, there was one unexpected thrill today, in the form of a free performance of the upcoming hit show "Before Rent." Although there are no new songs, the show is apparently supposed to establish the characters in the play. Anyway, the group sang two songs, and what began as a possibly impressive idea turned into a haunting rendition, far from what was expected by anyone. I'll probably still end up seeing the show, but with expectations of comedic pleasure.

"Send someone to fetch us, we're in...

Saskatchewan!" Every see the Muppet Movie? There's a tremendous amount of name recognition here in Israel, honoring those who made great gifts to improve infrastructure, etc. Ambulances are labeled Magen David Adom (~Red Cross), and then underneath, CANADA or ENGLAND. It feels like every hallways at the university is donated by someone, as the buildings all bear the stamp of a family, society, or celebrity (like the Frank Sinatra cafeteria. Anyway, I found a lobby dedicated by the Jewish Community of Saskatchewan, and instantly Moving Ride Along snapped in my brain. Campus is full of surprises.
and Diversity! I already wrote about the surrounding Arab villages, but this Hebrew Immersion program (Ulpan) invites a variety of international students, as does the rest of the University. I spent my class today studying grammar with a girl from Bavaria, this after I switched from a class with a really tall guy from Warsaw and a woman from Belgium. It's not just neat that I can communicate with these people better through Hebrew than through English, but that I hear their accents in the Hebrew. It's very amusing to me.
The best example of international dialogue, so far at least, took place on Ben Yehuda St., a major shopping site for tourists, and the major bar/tavern/dance club district in the center of Jerusalem. Last Saturday night, my friend Jason (from Muhlenberg, fellow suite mate) and I were strolling, when we found a Korean Christian choir, singing in their native tongue. Now, one can easily assume that the majority of Israelis or visitors to the country would not have the faintest clue what was going on. Nevertheless, there was a considerable crowd of people surrounding the troupe. Many of which were taking pictures or video, while others were swaying, or simply laughing. One woman who looked American was using the music to take her to another place, as she had her hands raised like some of the singers. Another guy, who appeared Israeli, was bouncing on his feet like he was at a Dead concert. Jason and I exchanged many glances, but could not think of a better way to spend the evening. After the last song of the concert, one of the conductors/guitar players approached us, and asked us where we were from and what we were doing in the country. We discovered that he was studying Tanach (Hebrew Bible) at Hebrew U. Delightful! We told him how how much we liked his program, and all of these words were shared in Hebrew. Then, he changes to English and says that he and his group are praying for us and all Jews, because God loves us. We felt even better, that unlike so many events we attend that bug us for contact information or money, and never stop nagging us for more, this guy had no intention of selling us anything, had no desire to take us to a class or study group, but was simply happy we were alive. Jason has already seen him on campus, and I can't wait for my next chat!
On a side note, the inauguration, and especially the bits directed at the Muslim world, Sasha, and the recitation of the Shema, made it to the Holy Land. I know because I watched it live, packed in a third floor corner room with 50 other students. It was very cool talking to the Muhlenberg "delegation" that attended, following the event.

Final Arrival

I shot the landing. It was a round of applause much awaited. I stayed in the apartment of a family friend, who stayed up until I arrived, which was around 1:30 her time, so we chatted for a while, and then I woke less than 6 hours later to go and register on campus. The views from this mountain are amazing. The placement of Hebrew University on a watershed offers a mind blowing sight of the Negev, as well as the lush Jerusalem northern green. I took the tour so I'm fresh on my facts (the first class was Physics, taught by Mr. Einstein, en francais). The campus is arranged much like the city it overlooks. After an hour of walking through different school and cafeterias, I had not improved my directional perspective of the campus in the slightest. hallways and stairwells weave into different buildings, under tunnels. There's a botanical garden and a sweet British military cemetery, and everything is on a hill and heavily secured with guards, especially the Frank Sinatra Cafeteria, which was unfortunately attacked a few years back. The colors of faces and languages haven't reached my senses yet, but apparently there are students from 50 countries here with me, but I'm missing them, either because of over-exhaustion, or the breathtaking views giving me dry mouth and averting my attention.

These are some of those sights. The Facebook Album will grow with time...

Lost in London

Not just like Coldplay, 'cause they're from here, but actually stranded, and it's fantastic! The scenario: Deep fog surrounds London Town. I'm flying from Dulles and circling the airport for half an hour, picking my finger nails with tenseness. I asked a flight attendant (who earlier in the evening had responded with "smashing" when receiving payment for a drink from a customer) to get a seat closer to the exit, so I could blast off the aircraft if it ever taxied. She said yes, so I went for the lot- First Class. Of course that didn't last long, and I was sent back soon after, but man those seats are huge! When the plane finally touched base, I flew through the terminal, with my arms wailing and my asthma acting up to inform the empty hallways that I meant business. I had 15 minutes to get from one flight to another before it departed, and I was sure it would be impossible to make the transfer. I got to security, which was miraculously empty, and thought I was gonna make it after all. I never expected to see this:



p.s. the Alaskan wasn't Jewish, but he was interesting.

Joe Wondering Jew and the Magic Latch

I'm writing the following while I convulse between turbulent bouts on my flight across the Atlantic. It's 12:20, or 5:20am in the UK, where I hope to end up my with dinner still inside of me (Koshair Cuisine, Chicken Rustica, umm yuck). This second of three adventures en route to abroad didn't leave the ground for an extra hour. Why? Because of a latch! Ever see Garden State? There's a chance my life will be changed forever all because of a stupid latch that malfunctioned on the aircraft, leaving a 3' x 3' hole in the floor that needed repair. I may yet get stranded at Heathrow. Fortunately, the pilot's a believer in the might of the atmosphere, and he says the tail winds will get us there on time, cutting an hour off the airtime. Watch out MJ, here we come!

Philly Float

Whoosh. 30 minutes floating 20 football fields over Philly, and I'm in Dulles. Already, I'm feeling like a tourist, especially after passing some Inagural Merchandise stores, with detailed post ups of Obama and Biden. I almost stood next to one, but felt more like checking out the sales rack of $25 sweatshirts for the next president. I got one hour til the next sky spot. First down.

I hope the world is still round.