Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Have you ever gotten to a place in your life where you feel like you could go in a million directions? I mean, presently, I'll be living in Lakeland until I graduate. Living at home, getting an education, yada yada.

But after that? Anywhere! I could go ANYWHERE. I could literally do anything. And there's so many things to do! I could do the au pair thing, in Europe. I could do the school thing (amazing grad schools everywhere! Portland! Boston! Chicago! North Carolina! San Fransisco!) or I could do the teaching thing and go to Asia or Africa or the Middle East. Or the peace corps, or just take a year off and do whatever I want.

I'm feeling that feeling like the first time you read "Oh, the Places You'll Go." Or the first time you realize that there's a whole WORLD out there. It's a big world. But not so big that I can't take it in. I plan on taking it in.

Besides this glorious, liberating feeling, I'm also crazy excited by the fact that when I come home, it'll only be a few short weeks until summer. Summer means no classes. Shorts and skirts and tank tops. Thrift stores and windows-down-driving-to-the-beach.
I don't know about my job situation, if I'll be able to work at school or if I'll need to work at Barnes and Noble again (if they let me) or something else. But in any case, it's coming soon, and I'm glad.

Saturday, March 28, 2009

You are my favorite.

So I was catching up on my blog-following (it's Shabbat, we've got the day off!) and bumped into Lauri's little list of favorite things, and I love lists of favorite things so I thought I'd share too :) but I too have a problem choosing ONE thing, so this is a little revised.

My Favorite Picture Lately
[of myself]

(his name was Jacov)


[just in general]

(this says "Salaam", which means "Peace" in Arabic.)


My Favorite Poem Lately

"Everyday You Play" by Pablo Neruda (one stanza)

You are like nobody since I love you.
Let me spread you out among yellow garlands.
Who writes your name in letters of smoke among the stars of the south?
Oh let me remember you as you were before you existed.


My Favorite Item of Clothing Lately

A good scarf.

My Favorite Quote Lately

"I keep my ideals, because in spite of everything I still believe that people are really good at heart." - Anne Frank.
That word "everything" encompasses way too much.

My Favorite Place Lately

Chocolate by the Bald Man - a gelato place close by.
You don't know how many sheqels I've spent.

My Favorite Song Lately



My Favorite Disney Princess (lately?)

Jasmine.
She was my favorite when I was little, I used to tell people my name was Jasmine.
She rocks.
but I love Belle too :)

Friday, March 20, 2009

Here's a lil update.

Tuesday we went up into the northern country and went on a couple hikes and saw some ancient ruins. We also saw the borders of Syria and Lebanon, and got to hear a lot about modern Israeli history and conflicts. Cool stuff.

Wednesday we went to the Israel Museum and saw a huge model of the ancient city. You wouldn't believe how enormous the Temple was when it was standing. Incredible. The height of the dome of the rock fits inside the doorway. We also saw some of the Dead Sea Scrolls, and got to spend a while in a synagogue, talking to the hazzan (like an assistant-Rabbi/worship leader).

Yesterday we spent the day in Tel Aviv, which was a huge contrast to Jerusalem. It's just a modern city with all the things you expect a modern city to have. We did, however, see some of Jaffa, the ancient city that Tel Aviv was built next to. And we saw the Mediterranean sea.

Things are going well. Everyone's settling in, we're getting to know eachother, and no one's been fighting. All I can ask for. AND I successfully downloaded Lost. So life is good. But I haven't watched it yet, so don't say anything :)

I've also decided that I want to learn Arabic. The end. I just need to find a program or a school or something where I can learn. Worst case scenario, I guess I could just do the Rosetta Stone thing, but that's expensive and I'm not sure if I could really teach it to myself like that. Anyway. I miss you all at home, I hope life is good.

Monday, March 16, 2009

Threeeeeee.

Today was heavy, man.
I wrote a blog about today for the official trip blog, so I won't bother restating everything I said. If you're reaaaally interested, here's a link. http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/topic.php?uid=38681792579&topic=9588

But we went to the Western Wall and prayed and watched a couple Bar Mitzphah's, which was cool. Then we trekked up Mount Zion to where the bus was parked, only to realize that two of our girls were missing, and were back at the Wall. We then proceeded to Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Museum, which was one of the most intense, emotional, heartbreaking experiences of my life.

My conclusion about today is this: I should be more careful about what I think. Before coming I was SO anti-Zionism, I thought it was racist and irrelevant and un-biblical. But after being here and listening to people talk about it, and particularly after Yad Vashem, I have come to the conclusion that I should pause to think and consider. Maybe it's a more complicated issue than I had assumed. In any case, I'm more emotionally involved in the issue after today.

Pictures!

Men praying at the Wall. Women weren't allowed on that side, we had our own little piece of the Wall. The boys' side was bigger :P

this is our tour guide, Jane, who was originally from England, but has spent the last 30 years (from college onward) in Jerusalem, which gives her a crazy weird accent. Then, Ms. Rina, Dr. van der Laan's wife, and my favorite lady. And Ryan.

Yad Vashem was the most beautifully set up museum or memorial I've ever seen. It's almost like a huge concrete tunnel, you walk through the exhibits and by the end your heart is so heavy. But then you come out the other end into this bright white light and look out over Jerusalem. The gray triangle is kind of the backside of the museum.

Sunday, March 15, 2009

Day 2

I feel like I've been here for a week, but today's only our second full day. I basically feel like we're operating outside of time, like Jerusalem is on another planet. It's an insane feeling.
But! I'm loving it :) I love listening to people speaking Hebrew, I love pita bread and hummus (I'm not a hummus fan, but the hummus here is amazing!) I love Dr. van der Laan and Ms. Rina, I love our room and our shower and Luis, the really sweet owner of the house.

Today we went to the Tower of David museum. First of all, it was rainy all day, which is a blessing for Israel which is in a drought, but a nuisance for us. So between the rain and the big stone tower, it actually reminded me of London. London's the only other place I've ever been that's "old." But Jerusalem is thousands of years older than London. It blows my mind how OLD everything is. Literally ancient.

We ate lunch at a tiny little hole-in-the-wall cafe (literally, it was a hole in the wall...) and listened to the pastor of the messianic congregation speak. His son, Calev, is a lawyer who works for civil rights for messianic Jews who are denied as "real" Jews because they "converted." He was pretty inspiring. And attractive ;) and married...

Then I spent about an hour with Jess and Ryan trying to get to a pharmacy where I could buy some Robitussin, because I've been coughing like an old man. Let me tell you, I love nothing more than that Robitussin right now.

But my favorite part of the day was at the museum when I was SWARMED by a pack of twelve year old Israeli school boys who were all throwing us peace signs and saying, "Peace! Peace! Shalom!" and "Yes we can! Yes we can!" Here's my conversation with one kid:
kid: Where are you from?
me: America.
kid: oh! Britain or USA?
me: USA?
kid: oh okay! Virginia tech?
me: no, Florida.
kid: you know Shaquil O'Neal? Phoenix Suns?
me: yeah, sure... you know Disney World?
kid: yeah! Orlando! I went there last year...
me: yeah, I live there...
kid: My bar mitzvah's next week, you wanna come?

They were crazy. Anyway, here's a couple pictures :)

This is a glass sculpture hanging in the museum. I've seen this guy's work before, but I don't remember his name, has anyone ever seen one of these? It was so cool close up :)

This is our view of the city at night from our balcony. I wish it was a better picture :/ But if you look close you can see the dome.

This was a view from the tower. Right there, the hill to the right of the dome is the Mount of Olives, which is where Jesus was supposed to have ascended into Heaven. Holy crap.

Saturday, March 14, 2009

Hola from Jerusalem.

Well, I'm here at the holy land, sittin' in the window seat in our room which is the only place where you can get internet access. We've walked around town, went around the old city and David's castle, went to a messianic synagogue, and ate gellato. Here's a few pictures of our first couple days :)






1. This is our walk along the wall that surrounds the old city. It was old.
2. This is from the wall, the best shot so far of the Dome. I don't care who you sympathize with, it's definitely the most beautiful thing on the skyline.
3. This is the name of our little room, which I'm pretty positive is the best room in the building. The house is really nice, very cozy, just INCREDIBLY cold at night.
4. the view from the top of the house where there's a little balcony. That'd be the dome of the rock, there.

So, I'll post more later :) tomorrow we're going to a museum about David? Monday is the holocaust museum. Tuesday is our first day-trip to Galilee. We've got really limited internet access, but I do have skype if you wanna say hi, I'm usually on in the afternoon your time (night-time here.)

Monday, March 9, 2009

I've made a huge mistake.

Note to self: don't take naps at 8 pm. Because then you'll wake up at 10 and not be able to go back to sleep. And you'll watch three or four episodes of Arrested Development. And St. Elmo's Fire.

However, I think I just came to the conclusion that staring at a computer screen for hours does not put you to sleep. It's unnatural. I need darkness, warmth, soothing music and peace of mind. Not LCD brightness. But I'm still here, staring at the screen, watching the words type themselves out...

Lessons learned tonight:
1. no late naps.
2. the last half of season 3 tanked.
3. don't do coke and have sex with friends and tease your hair out like Demi Moore.
4. learn to turn the laptop off.

Saturday, March 7, 2009

Saturday March 7, 2009.

Today, might very well be the most productive day of my life. I'm excited for it, I'm ready. There is a list. A to-do list.

1. Clean my room - you may think this is a small task, but it will most definitely take me a few hours. You don't know. I don't want you to know.

2. Go shopping - I have a lot to buy for the trip (little things) and I'm trying to hunt down an inexpensive jacket that's thicker than the one I have now, which I think will be insufficient.

3. Take Laynee out for ice cream - I know you're not supposed to have favorites when you work with kids, but Laynee's probably my favorite kid. She's homeschooled, 13, a genius, and maybe more spiritually mature than I am. Love her.

4. Write another book report - I wrote one last night and it only took me about an hour and a half. I hope Dr. van der Laan can't tell how little I know about the material.

That's my Saturday. It probably still leaves a little time to chill/hang out. Right now, I'm sitting in my bed, and through the wall I can hear Rebekah watching Mulan. That was a good one. She just lost both her bottom teeth and one on the top (the other one's loose.) Nothing cuter than toothless kids.

Also: I really want to see Watchmen. I probably won't have time before I go, unless anyone wants to go Tuesday night...

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

How am I not myself?

I'm feeling a little overwhelmed.

I feel like I'm missing an anchor, like I'm just careening off walls, disoriented. I don't know what's causing this, it's probably a lot of things. Like the fact that I'm getting older and I can't run to my mom for everything anymore. I spent my life at home, that was my foundation. But now, though I'm still living at home, my mind resides somewhere else. I feel like I'm floating between adolescence and adulthood. Like that Britney Spears song. No longer a girl, not yet a woman... or something. Forgive me for that.

I don't know what I need. I know what I want. But I'm not sure that that's a solution. "I don't want what I always want, nobody does, not really!" to quote Coraline ;) But I do want what I want. Theoretically, I want the things that will make me most like myself... that's what's important to me. Being me. But it's hard to feel like me when I'm just floating. Maybe that's why I'm so bothered by this feeling. I'm afraid of floating to a place that's not me. I just want to be what I am, and not what I'm not.