Catching Up

It's been a while since I've written, so I have a lot to update you all on. First of all, I did not get the Hine Fellowship, so if any of you loyal readers are hiring I'm available to start in May.

Right now I'm living in Ramat Gan (a suburb of Tel Aviv) with Lenny and Rivka, friends of my mom's friend Judy Martin. Lenny and Rivka have a beautiful house just minutes from Tel Aviv and I sleep on the top floor, which is a converted roof. The entire perimeter of the room is windows and the ceiling is also huge windows. The entire room opens to the sky, and I would live that way but for the winter weather. I moved here to be closer to an internship I’m doing with Leadel.NET, although it still takes me just under two hours to commute (each way)! Like any internship I spend most of my time doing research and menial tasks, but last week I did get to go on a shoot. We interviewed an internationally successful poster artist, Yossi Lemel, and the Grammy award-winning Native American musician, Bill Miller. I learned a lot from both interviewees, and I learned even more from the camera crew.

(Lenny and Rivka on a hike we took last weekend)

That's where I am now, but you missed a few memorable experiences I had before. When I was still living with Linda I met two of her three children, Moni and Raya. Both are beautiful, strong and independent people much like their mother. Home for the weekend from the Army, Moni and his girlfriend Lali took me to the mountain where his father Shay still lives raising goats and making cheese. It was a delicious and muddy excursion.

(Apparently caves are the ideal storage place for aging cheese because of the climate conditions)

The next week Linda and I met Raya in Rehovot where she's studying agriculture. The three of us went to the outdoor market (Shuk) in Ramla. This city is exceptional in the apparently peaceful cohabitation of Arabs and Jews who live there. Linda informed me that this happens mostly in cities that are pretty poor, and that in fact, Ramla has a big problem with organized crime. When we visited it was the week before Purim and I had full-voltage culture shock as I watched Palestinian children walking around in Purim costumes.

(Linda and Raya at the shuk)

The weekend proceeding Purim I went with several of Moni's friends (unfortunately he couldn't get a reprieve from the Army) to a parade at his former high school. Moni and Omer went to boarding school in Sde Boker. The school is on a cliff overlooking a breathtaking view, and the kids learn in an integrative, nature-incorporating atmosphere, the place is like summer camp. Every year the 5 different grades spend three months conceptualizing and constructing papier-mâché parade floats out of waste materials, a process which culminates in the Purim parade and subsequent destruction of the enormous floats. We spent the Friday night prior to the parade cooking food over a campfire by the edge of the cliff, and woke up in the morning just in time to put on funny hats and watch the Carnival-like festivities. The campfire was an interesting experience for me because it was so different from any other campfire I've been to. None of the ex-classmates smoked anything and there was only one bottle of wine. Our dinner was prepared by throwing any kind of food available (vegetarian only) into a cast iron pot called a Poykin. It took a couple of hours to get everything hot, and when it was ready we all shared the few makeshift bowls and eating utensils on hand. When everything was finally ready I was shocked and delighted to hear the only Hebrew I recognize; sitting around the campfire, no one over 26 present, we had a late night Shabbat dinner, Kiddush and all. As we passed around a mug of wine and homemade challah (courtesy of Lali), I was overwhelmed with the joy of being a Jew in a Jewish country.

(One grade had the theme of 'babies')

(I have no idea what this grade's theme was)

I feel like my time here is beginning to end. This Saturday my aunt Julie and her roommate Debbie are flying in for a week, and I'll probably spend much of next week with them. After that Pesach starts on the 8th, and Sharon and I are planning to travel after the Seder (they only have one here). We'll go to Egypt for the better part of a week, and then fly from Cairo to Vienna. The plan is to take the train from Vienna to Croatia and then go up to Budapest. Realistically, twenty days probably isn't enough to see all these places, so we'll see what happens.

I'll try to write again soon!

Don't be afraid to call me: 972504036654 (the country code is 011, and don't forget I'm 6 hours ahead)

And for the fans here's a picture of Linda, who I miss terribly since I've been living in Ramat Gan: