I've found my way to Jerusalem and am now imposing on my wonderful cousin Linda. Linda is actually my grandmother's cousin, but she's about my mom's age. She came to Israel after graduating from veternarian school in her late twenties, met the love her life, and decided to stay. It didn't work out with the guy (long-distance is difficult) but he introduced her to Shy, her future husband and father of her children. For many years Linda lived with Shy in the side of a mountain, without running water or electricity, raising goats and children. I have three first cousins thrice removed: Omer, Rya, and Moni. I've met Omer twice now via Skype, he's in school in California. Tomorrow I get to meet Rya who is also studying (agriculture) but in Israel. I'll meet Moni this Friday when he comes back from his army base for the weekend.
Fortunately for me, Linda no longer lives with Shy in the mountain. She lives in a gorgeous house in Bet Zayit, a tiny moshav (village) outside of Jerusalem. The house was made by Linda's landlord's late husband, who apparently knew very little about insulation and plumbing. It's cold. And the toilets don't work. But it's very beautiful. I wish I had pictures to post, but it's been gray and rainy since I arrived. I consider this a good omen, because Israel is in its fifth year of a nasty draught. I'm staying in Rya's room on the second floor, and the thunder and rain are so loud that everynight I'm lulled to sleep within minutes.
Linda's been taking me on the rounds, showing me off to some friends and family. She was disappointed that Sharon and I were going to be leaving so soon to work on a kibbutz, but luckily the kibbutz decided they didn't have enough work for us. Now, we have to find something else to keep us occupied, housed, and fed for a month. Linda has opened her home to us, as have Sharon's cousins, which is extremely generous. I told Linda that I wanted to do some volunteer work with Palestinians or Israeli Arabs, and she told me she had the perfect family to introduce me to. Actually, whenever I tell Linda about any of my interests she seems to know the perfect someone to talk to. In this case, it was a woman named Namate, who lives with her family in an Arab village, called Abu Ghosh, outside of Jerusalem. Yesterday we visited Namate and I was offered the best tea of my life, and the opportunity to stay with her and work at a joint Israeli-Arab school that some of her daughters have gone to. This excites me even more than the prospect of working and living on a kibbutz, but we'll have to see what, if anything, pans out. I also have a tenative meeting with one of Linda's friend's son, Amir, who happens to be a cameraman for documentary films. Amir just moved back from California to Tel Aviv and describes himself as 'underemployed', so I doubt he'll be able to give me any work, but hopefully he can give me graduate school advice and more people to talk to. Hopefully I'll meet with Amir on Wednesday, because I'll be in Tel Aviv anyway, meeting with the national kibbutz association to see if they can help Sharon and I find a kibbutz (if that's what we decide to do). It's nice to have so many options! Linda also has a call in to one of Moni's friends who's working on a pepper-picking farm. It's hard work, but they have guest housing, and it would be an excellent opportunity to meet young Israelis.
Basically, Linda's hooking it up. She's at work right now (she owns her own veternary clinic) and I wanted to help her out by starting the fire before she got home, but as you may have guessed, fire-starting is not part of my skill-set. I felt very much the city-girl this past hour, huffing and puffing trying to coax up my meager flames and blowing them out instead. In my defense the wood is damp. If she were here I'm sure Sharon would be laughing hysterically at me as I grow increasingly dirty, smelly, frustrated, and cold. Sharon's still in Herzilyya at her cousin's, where I left her on Friday. She's suffering from what might be strep throat, so it's probably good that she's warm and cozy in the suburbs. On Thursday when I come back f rom Tel Aviv, she'll come with me.
It occurs to me that some of you have never seen Sharon so I'll end this entry with some pictures I've taken of her.
I took this one while we were still on Birthright. It's a suprisingly good photo considering I took it just after calling her name as she was walking away from me. This was one of my favorite days of our group trip. On this day we met with two other Birthright groups from Russia and Argentina. We spent the morning doing team building exercises that culminated in group tree planting. In the afternoon we went to a museum of Jewish history, and got to have political conversations with Jews from four different countries, it was revealing how Jews from different parts of the world conceptualize Israel - there were distinct differences between opinions from people according to their respective country of origin. That night we all went to a club together and danced - one of those few activities that translates perfectly. Although there was a language barrier (especially with the Russians), I had a mind-blowing experience getting to know Jews from other cultures. What a perfect day to turn everything I thought I knew about Jewish identity on its head.I took this one in Petra. I just really like this one.
Obviously, I didn't take this one, but it's very cute. (Photo credit: Sarah Parkington - thanks Sarah!) This was taken when Birthright arranged for us to ride camels. It was pretty lame and kind of painful. Half of us rode camels for about a quarter of a mile in one direction, while half of us followed on foot. Then we switched and rode the quarter of a mile back. Good photo op I guess!
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