Bad Karma? Go to the Beach!

I don't remember having such a streak of bad luck! I've attempted to change each bad luck around with some kind of compromising solutions to make my life a little more bearable. As Mom said, it's good thing that this trip wasn't paid with my own dime but my department's. No, I'm not saying that I think it was a waste of time being here. Being in Israel has never been a waste of time for me. It's just all these minor annoyances that are tripping things up on this trip.

Yesterday, I planned for a day for shopping at the Ha' Carmel shuk and the bargain piles off HaMelech George, and perhaps stop at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art if I had time before it closed. First, I went to Ha'Carmel and dropped like 50 shekels for food, including burekas for today's lunch, baklava for dessert, and labeneh in pita sprinkled with zatar for lunch. I was bad as usual... I also made a conscious decision to buy a plate and some silverware since they're cheap as well (20 shekels total for a plate, 6 spoons packaged together, and 1 knife). These household stalls were crazy about silicon, like it's the best invention ever. I also got around to buying 2 packages of 50 tea candles for Shabbat for 15 shekels (whereas in the US each bag is like 8 dollars or 32 shekels). One woman saw my CI and asked about it because her brother wanted to get one. She asked how much it costed and I said, "if it's for the first implant and your brother is qualfied, the insurance takes care of it." I mean the whole process, while it's not much of a sticker shock as a cardio surgery, it's still surprising.

Then I browsed through Ha'Carmel crafts fair. I saw some gorgeous pieces of art and I thought how great some of these would make for wedding gifts. I'm still thinking about this one particular artist for my friends even though their wedding isn't for another year. They're Jewish so I kind of would like to get them something from Israel. She said that she's there every Friday when she can. I just hope that she'll take a credit card....

I eventually made my way to the "bargain street" which is a small street off HaMelech George, two blocks away from HaCarmel that's filled with cheap-as-hell clothes. My favorite green skirt, I'm sad to say, was getting bleach spots (probably from walking around Old City and shuks in it during closing time when some venders throw bleach on the walk to clean up their messes). So I needed to get a pretty new skirt. I found two that I liked but I picked out a patterned purple skirt- it's so long that it touches the top of my feet! It'll probably get a little short after a wash. For 20 shekels ($5).

Okay, I'm going to sound a bit like one of the graduate students in my program who's addicted to crafts. I've learned to look for patterns when I'm shopping in Israel because so many pieces clothes are unique that you can't really order for more if there isn't one in your size. Like I've said way before, Israel isn't into "trends" so if you're looking for trendy Israeli stuff, it's not really easy. However, I've come to admire Or's dresses that she wears on her Facebook profile for their patterns. There are so many pretty and interesting patterns here that the style of the clothing doesn't really matter just so as long the pattern is eye-catching. Also, a lot of clothes with beautiful patterns are actually simple. In the US, I almost never look for patterns because American designers are much more into fabric and sewing detail (like v-neck, crotching, ruffles) that basic plain colors will usually do for me.

So back to reality. When I reached into my bag to find my money to pay for the skirt, it was gone. My wallet was gone! I flipped out and raced back to Ha Carmel to find it where I had stopped for a minute to adjust my purchases in my bag to keep some stuff from getting squeezed. Not there. I backtracked to a couple of stores that I stopped at on Allenby, nobody saw anything. Some people didn't understand the word for "wallet" so I called up Meredith to ask her. After getting the word, arenok, Israelis began to understand. Well, unless you're a security guard. I asked five different security guards and two cops and they were all helpless, lazy, and slightly idiotic. They couldn't be bothered to radio each other... sheesh. Then I ran into Mike, an old high school classmate and a fellow birthright participant, in the center of HaCarmel. I knew he was just in Tel Aviv but that was just totally random to see him on a Friday afternoon.... He tried to help out a little and offered to give me 200 shekels that I had lost (I supposed that he overheard me telling the guard that I had just under 200 shekels in my wallet when the guard asked what was in it). I was very, very relieved because it meant I could actually get out of Tel Aviv without walking like 5 miles back to TAU. We exchanged numbers and wished each other Shabbat Shalom. I can't say how happy I was to see a familiar face from America there.

I finally got home around 4 with all the purchases, plus stops at the supermarket and minimarket to get some food for dinner and water for the weekend (I've been such an idiot not to buy a case of 6 1.5 liter bottles for 14 shekels before when they're sold for 7-9 shekels). The market was all out of chicken so I settled for some herring and cottage cheese.

I waited around for almost an hour before someone could come to let me in my room (as I lost the key as well... which was attached to my wallet...). Finally, around 5:45, I went out for my weekly long run. The roads would get quieter and the weather would, hopefully, get a little cooler. I ran 2 miles to the HaYakron river and another 2.5 miles along the river. It was like running along the Erie Canal at home- the water was so serene. The whole run was calming, maybe it would be much more so if there weren't little kids riding their bikes and a bunch of rollerbladers around (there are people rollerblading in Israel???). I saw a camp-out by a camp as well. The run was so hot, according to the calculations, I ran in 91 degees heat index. I took it all very slowly, just putting one foot in front of the other.

I came home, showered, ate dinner.... I was really tired so I went to bed at 11:30 PM.

This morning, I got up around 9 and ate my cereal. Then I went out to Namir, the main road, to catch a sherut. Sheruts do run on Shabbat and usually they're traveling between main cities like between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv and Tel Aviv and Netanya. So I caught one that was coming from Netanya. It's so much cheaper than taking a cab- only 6.5 shekels as opposed to probably 30-40 shekels for a cab. I stopped off at HaMelech Shamuel to see the Tel Aviv Museum of Art.

The museum was beautiful and very open. I really liked the architecture- how the exhibits flow from one to another that you're almost constantly in something instead of wandering down some halls. They had two special exhibits. One was "Valley on the Road to Kfar Yehoshua" by Elie Shamir. I was very impressed with his style- a bit dramatic with the colors and shadows, yet the paintings had calming demeanor about them. This one has to be one of my favorites: You can see some more of his works here. They almost feel real but yet really. They're great contemporary pieces of art. He also had about 30-40 portraits of his family members and himself. He had a few that were reflecting- meaning that he did a few portraits of him painting his subject.

The second exhibit that they had was called "The Fragmented Mirror Exhibition of Jewish Artists, Berlin 1907." I found this very interesting, especially that I took a methodology seminar last fall exploring the subject of "who" and "what" is a Jew and we're always exploring the topic of what consists "Jewish" and what makes the person or object "Jewish." In other words, just another perspective on Jewish identity. This exhibit was interesting because it's in Berlin and the folks asked 5 or 7 Jewish artists around Germany to see if it was possible to create works that wouldn't seem Jewish, or perhaps there was a Jewish style in the art? The exhibition was "reflecting the Berlin Jewish community which sponsored it, it was replete with contradictions and paradoxes: Jewish, but not religious; nationalist, but not Zionist; assimilated and German, but also with works by Eastern European Jews." Several artists chose to focus on Jewish images like rabbis and scholars studying in yeshivot and shuls or placed tiflin around men's shoulders. One artist did a portrait of several couples with young children and titled it "After the Pogrom." What struck me about that one was that you wouldn't know they had endured a pogrom except for a bandage around a man's head. I looked at the children and the wives, they looked a bit nervous and sad. The backdrop was just plain beige in color. Some other artists used urban landscape to demonstrate where they belonged as Jews. Certainly since science at the time was concerned with the concept of race, the artists wanted to see if their pieces had a distinct marker of their race. I had to say, yes, there was. Many of the people painted had similar coloring- I didn't remember seeing anyone with fair complexion. Also, from an anthropological sense, the people had certain facial features that were distinctively Jewish. So I think if I didn't know, for most part, that the artists were Jewish, I would say that they were paintings of Jews.

The rest of the museum had two or three major collections of impressionism and post-impressionism with a fair amount of modern art, with their paintings arranged in chronological order. I was surprised to see that they had at least 10 Picassos! They also had 4 Jackson Pollacks (but not those huge ones). Many of the painters were from Germany, Italy, and France, as well as few Americans. So I would say that for Israel, their modern art collection was impressive.

I tried to find posters or postcards from the temporary exhibits but the store didn't have any and weren't planning on publishing them. I was sad as I like to collect posters of works I've seen from museums that I visit. Maybe next time.

For the rest of the day from 1 to 6:30ish, I hung out on the beach. It was great and very calming. There were lots of families there so I felt pretty safe with my things. The water had very few jellyfish as there were a lot of people in there and I got stung lightly just once. The sun was indeed shining but not as intense as it could be with the temperatures around 85 to 90 with some light wind. So you could say it was a good weather at the beach. And it was a great opportunity to exfoilate my skin so now it's nice and soft!

Afterwards, I just walked around Tel Aviv a little bit. It's always really nice to walk around when the sun is going down. Especially when it's Shabbat and things were little quiet.

I do love being in Israel. I enjoy all the shopping, food, people (when they're not being schizophrenic anyway), and weather. It's a wonderful place for me to vacation and relax because I've got friends here and as a a poor graduate student, I get the bang for my buck. So I don't have to travel around South America or Thailand or something all alone. It's also a very safe place for me to travel around alone- way more so than in the US (confirmed by Israelis and Americans alike about traveling in different countries but we do all agree that Japan and China have to be the most hairy places sometimes because of the language barrier!). Why so dangerous/tricky in the US? Because it's a BIG country with lots of logistics to figure out. It's also expensive because we have no hostels here so to really get a bang for your buck, it's best to travel with a friend or two to cut down the costs. Sometimes I'm amazed at myself for being able to travel around America and that I have to be able to study public transportation maps, research different airlines and trains, and figure out where I'm going to stay that's most reasonable in terms of costs and locations.

Tomorrow- to the beach. Another full day- no classes as people are on a three-day trip in the North. I chose not to go because I've done at least 3 hikes up there. While I had good times, I really needed people to help me with hiking and doing these take up a lot of concentration energy. I'd really like for people to enjoy the hike and not worry about me because the Galilee is so pretty.

The Israelis and Sholem Aleichem

Last November or December, my advisor and I talked about what it meant to study American Jewish history and why should I study modern Jewish history anyway. She made a point that much of influence for American Jewish history came from European Jewish history. European Jews brought their traditions, culture, language, and history with them to the United States. Then they infused it with American traditions and culture to create American Judaism. None of us (American Jews) could imagine our lives without Yiddish phrases, gefilte fish, songs, shtetl, socialism, and other remnants of central/eastern European Jewish life. They brought dreams and values that they passed down to their children such as education, importance of class, and social mobility. Yes, it made sense to learn about European Jewish history in order to understand American Jewry. And sometimes if we looked at American Jewish culture first, we could nitpick what was “American” and what was not American, which then was part of the baggage from Europe.

I also wrote a paper two years ago for my American Jew/Israeli Jew: A Comparative Perspective course on “Are We One?”. I concluded that Israeli and American Jews are not one people today or have they been. I saw so many contrasts between the two communities that it’s stunning how there have been cooperation to develop programs and friendships across the Atlantic to create a relationship between American Jews and Israelis.

It struck me today while sitting in JC’s lecture on Sholem Aleichem. Mind you, I was in a class full of Israelis with several Poles and Americans. The Israelis were quite participatory with their opinions and questions in their attempt to understand Yiddish literature. Their previous questions had been mainly related to literature analysis and understanding of the language. Today, their questions were different.

Sholem Aleichem was a man who wrote for the folk, the common mass. In this manner, he glorified Yiddish while his rivals tended to write for the highly educated and urban Jewish population across Eastern Europe. One of his strategies, Sholem Aleichem often wrote with a variety of voices and situations that Jews could relate to. In his collection of short stories or episodes, one could make sense of the life and culture of the Jewish world in the Pale Settlement, may the setting be in a shtetl or a city like Odessa. Personally, I never really quite picked up history books on Eastern European Jewry, simply because of Sholem Aleichem’s stories. They’re vivid and rich with details, voice inflections, quotes and idioms, and patterns of common Jewish behavior and grammar structure. Frequent themes were always played out such as politics, religion, God, pity, and so forth. In essence, Sholem Aleichem was your window to Eastern European Jewish life but not necessarily the policies of the czar. So I suppose that if you read his stories while studying Russian history, you’ll get a pretty good grasp.

That said, this was my, perhaps, fourth or fifth discussion on Sholem Aleichem over the last five years since I first read him in JC’s class. When I read a variety of stories for today’s class, I was amazed just how familiar the framework was, even more so than I remembered. I could just hear American Jews of immigrant generation doing all of this. It was almost like witnessing American Jewish experience in a different setting. I saw so many connections in terms of themes, language, and reactions. For example, most American Jews would flinch at the thought of anyone choosing to convert out of Judaism. American Jews are now fine with intermarriage because it’s not the end of the world- they can always raise the kids Jewish and they’d still have Jewish blood anyhow. For Tevye, he practically disowned Chava when she chose to convert to Russian Orthodoxy in order to marry a non-Jew. But he accepted Hodl’s marriage proposal to a non-Jew because of his progressive, world political views that were enriching Hodl’s mind. Also, there was another story called Menchem Mendel and it’s about a Jewish man who abandoned his family in order to travel and make money through stock exchange. This story was a series of letters between him and his wife. His thirst for wealth and success as well his obsession with urban life in Odessa tied with American Jews’ search for social mobility through wealth and success, and love for big cities like New York City and Los Angeles, filled with excitement and entertainment. Who wanted to live in a sleepy town? So reading Sholem Aleichem stories brought out a lot of mirroring with American Jewish life.

Now to the Israelis. They had trouble grasping the notion of Jewish identity in Eastern Europe. They asked if Tevye’s move to Israel was because of Zionism, or was there even Zionism in Sholem Aleichem’s works? Was Tevye religious man? JC said no. Well, was he secular? If he was secular, then he must be a Zionist, right? JC said no. Then what was he? JC tried to explain that he was just a traditionalist and perhaps Sholem Aleichem was more secular than Tevye. The Israelis were puzzled- either you’re religious or a nationalist. I tried to relate to them by saying that there just wasn’t an idea of a Jewish nationalism and what Tevye inherited was from his forefathers, just all the traditions of practice and wisdom. JC picked up on that and tried to elaborate what it meant to be “just” Jewish with understanding of Judaism.

This moment struck a chord on just how our understanding of Jewish identity contrasted each other. And how my advisor was right as well another moment of confirming my thesis that American Jews and Israelis aren’t one people. As American Jews, JC and I understood all the varieties of Jewish identities and thus could relate to different Jewish characters in Sholem Aleichem’s stories and in Yiddish literature. For the Israelis, they generally categorized three different Jewish identities: the ultra-Orthodox/haredim, modern Orthodox (usually American olim and Sephardim), and secular (all the rest). The secular Israelis saw Zionism as their religion. For them, their story of Jewish identity began with the origins of Zionism and early settlement in Palestine. In America, our Jewish story generally dated back to the Pale Settlement, where most of our relatives were from. Some American Jews, especially of German origin, might reach further into the mid-nineteenth century. Also, American Jews preserved some forms of Yiddish culture over the years whereas Israelis have rejected it upon their arrival in the Land of Israel and adopted of Zionism.

Just the notion of being Jew without being secular or religious (as in Orthodox) just confounded the Israelis. It’s no wonder why they can’t understand American Jewry. If you can’t understand American Jewry, you’re not going to understand Sholem Aleichem. Or vice versa.
I mentioned this to JC after class. He responded, “They just don’t know their European Jewish history!” Very true. I began to wonder how much my Israeli friends know. I do recall them saying that when they studied European history, the only “Jewish” thing they learned was the Holocaust. If they were studying “Jewish” history, it would be the history of Zionism and Israel. If they read “Jewish” literature, it would be Zionist or Israeli literature. Anything “Jewish” they learned, it was relevant to the Land of Israel and tanakh.

It’s one of these moments that makes me very glad to be in Israel and witnessing the Israeli mindset. While I’m not going to be doing any research on Israeli history or society, these moments and my experiences in Israel in general enriches my own research and understanding of American Jewry and the Diaspora. It’s especially important when I write about the American Jewish response to the Holocaust in terms of actions in the 1940s and consciousness. I think, “What would my Israeli friends say about Israel if it was Israel, not America? What makes American Jewry different from the Israelis?” Israelis are very proud of all the aliyot, rescues to help Diaspora Jews in distress like the Soviets and Iraqis, and protection of Jews abroad as well as the Law of Return. They challenge me, “Where was America?” Then I think of the tensions within the American Jewish communities among the Jews as they negotiated their dual-identities as Americans and Jews.

Sometimes I do get exhausted of always being in Israel because I’m just far away from my family and have been missing out on some summer traditions for the last three years. But I have to remember that my visits to Israel are important in terms of maintaining my relationships with my Israeli family and friends and my perspective as an academic in order to continue bringing in material to my seminars and discussions with colleagues. Many of my colleagues haven’t spent much time in this country or cultivated friendships with Israelis as I have so I bring a lot on the table.

Oh, and the guy who asked the first question about Tevye’s Jewish identity or notion of Zionism in Sholem Aleichem’s stories? He’s a lecturer/director of the Hebrew language program at Michigan. I was stunned. I thought he had been in America long enough to understand the complexities of Jewish identity. Evidently, I was wrong.

An Angel On the Wrong Bus

I stayed a bit longer this morning to have cereal with Toby. I felt very content to be in her apartment and presence. I could feel our friendship growing that I just wanted to stay and wrap things up neatly. She's such a sweet woman that I adore her and her quirks. As I looked out to the Old City once again, I noticed something that I hadn't quite noticed before- the windmill in Yemin Moshe. Even if this apartment couldn't see the walls anymore, it could at least still see one of Jerusalem's treasures.




My day truly turned around, I think, on that 480 bus back to Tel Aviv. Since I was one of the last passengers, I ended up standing in the aisle with a few other people. Just as the bus made its way onto Highway 1, a woman passed through a couple of standing people to me and asked about my cochlear implant. We then divulged into a long conversation that lasted nearly the entire bus ride. It was as if God sent an angel to me in unlocking some doors to make my dark world as a deaf-blind a brighter place.

This woman was a mid-50s divorcee from San Diego. Her name was Karen. She was on her third trip to Israel (one 2 years ago, first one back in 1971) dong some medical volunteer work in Tel Aviv, Haifa, and Jerusalem with Israel Volunteers. Karen wanted to make aliyah so she was using this trip to explore different cities where she could wind up living and working with deaf children as some sort of social worker or educational professional. She had just returned from a visit with a deaf man in Jerusalem who was teaching her some Israeli sign language. She told me that it's going to be a challenge to learn both Hebrew and Israeli sign language (only 30% of the signs are American Sign Language). When I asked how she got interested in this whole Deaf business, she said it was from her experience as an 18 year old camp counselor working with blind children and there were two deaf-blinds at camp. Upon hearing this particular story, I said to her, "Have you heard of Ushers? I have Ushers so I'm partly blind and...." Then she said that particular man in Jerusalem had Ushers as well! It was as if fate met its destiny. I got her e-mail so I can e-mail her for this man's information so I can talk to him. She told me that he was very happy to be in Israel. He made aliyah from Manhattan, I supposed, a bit ago. I was amazed and in awe that he had such courage to do it as a deaf-blind. I mean, I'm still relatively lost in the world of the deaf community in Israel because resources seemed so scarce. He even had a job! (Even if it's in the post office). Finally, finally there was someone with Ushers a little older than me who can maybe give me some support on dealing with my new identity as visually impaired.

We also talked about aliyah and new immigrants' experiences, including challenges of Hebrew. I reassured her that once she finishes Bet, she should be able to function in the society. Once she gets into Dalet, she'll be able to read the newspapers. There was still a lot that she didn't know about moving to Israel and how to move forward once she's there. So I gave her plenty of helpful hints that I've picked up from living in Israel and other olim.

As we got closer to Tel Aviv, she asked if we were getting close, and I said, "Oh, yeah, it looks like we're hitting the rush hour though.... maybe another 10 or 15 minutes." She said that she needed to meet her group in Tel Aviv's CBS. I thought, "CBS? That's not right..." I responded, "Wait, you mean the Central Bus Station as in downtown?" She nodded. I smirked, "You're on the wrong bus then. This goes to the one north of Tel Aviv... you should've caught the next bus over- the 405." She was so embarassed. I told her, "I've seen and gone through worse things than this."

I was so elated that I didn't even care about anything else today. Not even the news of Naomi, my teacher, being hospitalized could bring me down from the sky. I am now a little concerned but I trusted the director's words that we would continue to receive excellent instruction. We had liked our subs, Irit and the guy, anyway. They definitely didn't expect much from us except to be eager learners in the classrooms. I am just very grateful that I'm not in a situation where I do need to have credit- I mean with Naomi gone for some time, there's just no way I can get a fair evaluation anyhow.

Who Blew Up Jaffa Road?!

I got to Hebrew U by around 11:45 and met Meredith at the gate. It was so wonderful being back in Jerusalem. I had considered stopping by the shuk on the way to pick up some rugalechs and hummus but I wanted to see her more. Meredith and I got some lunch at the new Burger Bar on French Hill. I was excited as I love Burger Bar's burgers and chips! That's one thing crossed off my list of places must eat before I leave.

We got together with one of her friends, Becky, for a walk around the Old City. Becky, from Salt Lake City (they didn't know each other before), had only visited the Jewish Quarter with the school the day before. So we showed her the Christian and Muslim Quarters, mainly just wandering around the shuk and the Church. I took quite a few pictures to replace all the pictures that I lost of Israel when I reformatted my computer last winter. It was a gorgeous day- not too hot! If anything, it was so cool for me that I had to put on my button down shirt over my tank. I supposed that I was getting used to Tel Aviv's hot weather...




We walked into this store that sold beautiful olive wood sculptures and pieces. Many of the pieces were related to Christianity. Meredith fell in love with The Last Feast piece. The guy persuaded her to buy it and said it was 300 shekels. Meredith resisted and replied that she didn't have 300 shekels. I whispered to her, "200 shekels," as she looked at him and complimented on the piece. Then he said 260.... he was so pushy that I walked away and encouraged her to come with me and Becky out of there. As I stepped out, I found her still standing there, trying to get out of this man's face. Then I heard that she had agreed to buy it and then the guy sent his little boy to help her find an ATM machine to get the cash. I couldn't believe it. After the whole transaction was done, I asked her, "How much was it?" She responded with a smile, "200 shekels."

We stopped in a beautiful spice store. I had no idea that there were spices for a variety of dishes like chicken, rice, beef, etc. The zatar was done beautifully like Jerusalem's valley. I'll have to consider buying some spice to take home with me for my cooking.
We stopped in the Church of the Holy Schelupre to show Becky around a little. I re-took some of my pictures. Here were a few that came out quite nicely and I liked the compositions. The Church was hardly crowded at all, which surprised me. I wondered if tourism was really going down this year or something.


As usual, because of Meredith's long, red hair, and her sweetness, merchants tried to coax her into buying their pieces. So it took a lot to keep her moving and ignoring all the "cat-calls." I know that because of my dark complexion and likeness as a Jew, nobody would bother me if I walked through here by myself. Sometimes her hair could pay off well in terms of bargaining, I think. One of the things I noticed was that there were a lot of brown sandals! I had been trying to find a pair of nice brown sandals in the United States but they were hardly anywhere. I didn't know why I just never thought of finding a pair in the Old City. I thought about all those brown sandals as we spent time around the Old City. Finally, we stopped in one place and looked at them. I found a pair that I liked and Meredith found a pair that she liked. At first the guy said, "one shekel!" in a joking manner. Then he offered us 70 shekels for them. I told him, "Eh, 50 shekels." He said, "70." I decided that I could think about it and come back another time. But Meredith continued to talk with him and complimented on the sandals. I guessed that she did want those shoes. Then he said, "Okay, I'm giving her 55 shekels so I'll give you 55 shekels, okay?" Well, that's close to my asking price so I got a new pair of brown sandals! YAY!!!! (Toby later evaluated the shoes and thought they were extremely well made for such a bargain price).

We came out of the Jaffa Gate and began walking down Jaffa Road. The whole road was a serious disaster. The construction for the new railway (more like a tram as it looks like from the tracks) had indeed begun. The fact that they even made it all the way to the Old City from the Central Bus Station last year, it was progress. I kept saying, "wow, this is progress!" Essentially, Jaffa had become a one way road. It'll still continue to take a long time because of archeaological excavations that need to be done to ensure that nothing of value would be destroyed. We caught the 19 bus back to Hebrew U after walking through Ben Yehuda a bit. I was amazed to see more of rail construction on Bar Levi, another major road.

After changing and picking up my stuff and the flowers, Meredith and I headed over to Toby's by bus and got there a bit after 5. We chilled for a bit while we waited for dinner to begin. We had a lovely evening of talking about ourselves, families, religion, and academia. It's always interesting to learn more about Mormonism and how she lives within her religion. She also talked a bit about her studies at her university in Middle Eastern Studies. We chatted for quite a while that it was time to send her on her way after 2 1/2 hours of sitting around and talking!

I was so exhausted that I read a few pages of my book before falling asleep.

On Shabbat, Toby and I went over to her friend, Soushana's for lunch. Soushana used to live in Manhattan and made aliyah when she was 18. She wanted nothing to do with her life in the United States after high school. She had her mother (who made aliyah recently) there along with a friend and a young family, both recent olim from California. It was pretty interesting sitting and thinking there how these olim gathered together like this, to talk about their challenges as new immigrants of Israel. Although Toby had been here as an immigrant for the last 9 years, she still faces difficulties at time, mainly with bureaucracy and Hebrew. As much I think olim should spend time integrating within the Israeli society, they do really need the support of the olim community, especially in their neighborhood. There will be things that olim will just not *get* like the Army experience and internal emotional attachment to Israel as sabras. And of course, Israeli Hebrew.

(Some pretty pictures of the Baka neighborhood)

After lunch, we walked back along Emek Refaim and Toby pointed out some new places that had popped up recently. Yo-Jan, my favorite Asian restaurant ever, changed its name to RYU. I do hope that the menu and quality is still there!

It seems to me that the more I come back to Jerusalem each time, the bond grows. I see myself living there more and more as Jerusalem continues to strive for improvement for the young and secular. You have Talipot, a neighborhood south of the city that's famous for its nightlife. The budget for cultural activities have doubled. The construction, despite the fact that it smears the city view, continues to produce gorgeous architecture of Jerusalem stone. The whole city is essentially made of Jerusalem stone that the only way you can tell by how long the building has stood for is to look at how dirty the walls are. The recent fight over a parking lot to be used on Shabbat makes me comfortable knowing that there is indeed a secular voice in this city. I love living with history and each time I walk around and look at Jerusalem, I'm just reminded of the city's survival over the last 3,000 years. Although it's a holy and spiritual city and I'm not much of a religious person, I'm more for the preservation of the city's architecture, culture, traditions, and historical spots like Mehane Yehuda shuk and Mea She'arim (yes, as much I don't like the haredim, that neighborhood is important). And it's just always beautiful. I do hope that when I do live in Jerusalem in the future and when people send me mail that says "Jerusalem, ISRAEL", I hope that they think that I live there not for purely religious or Messianic reasons, but a great place for me who appreciates history, culture, and politics.

Gee, I hope I don't really have the classical Jerusalem syndrome. I mean, I left the city, didn't I?

Are Things Shaping Up Yet?

Overwhelmed is no longer the right word to describe my first week. Lost is more like it, I think. I just suddenly had no idea what to expect after the first class. I am so used to heavily structured Hebrew ulpan that the whole concept of "no exams" seems... foreign, yet refreshing.

My American teacher, Naomi, came yesterday (Wednesday). Her pace was just right for me so I decided to stay in class. We talked a little today about what to expect and how to move on from here. She explained that second year Yiddish was just what it was- just more of texts and conversation and no much on grammar since "there isn't much to Yiddish, it's not that hard." So I will be mostly building up my vocabulary this summer, then, and getting comfortable with reading in Yiddish.

When I asked about credits or grades or something (because I loathe quizzes), she said there's none of that. But if I needed credit, then she would do an evaluation at the end. Um, no thanks, I don't want a test. I just want to be able to handle short stories by the end. So the idea that I can skip a class or two seem quite good to me. Without guilt. But the Jewish guilt will probably come to me later on.

I surveyed a few non-Israeli people who moved between intermediate classes to see how they were coping and following Hebrew. They thought their classes were appropriate but complained about Leah's rapid-fire Hebrew and Yiddish as well. I was glad that I was not the only one who felt that way. Many of the Americans who I talked to had their prior experience at YIVO's summer program. So we're all really on the same level.

It's quite bit of an adjustment to be in such a diverse class of Israelis, Eastern Europeans, and Americans of different ages. In my class, it's most Israeli with maybe 2 or 3 Polish, and 2 or 3 Americans. So Hebrew is still largely spoken but the Israelis are happy to accommodate for those of us with weak grasp of Hebrew. But when it comes to grammar lessons, they have to be in Hebrew because our grammar section has some English explanations and translations. Like for today, when deciding the appropriate translation for megn (may, with permission), the Israelis got into a "discussion" of what could be the right Hebrew word (I whispered, "guys, it's afsher and just leave it that..."). Everyone is helpful to each other, especially with page numbers!

What I do love about this is that I realized that I can continue to improve my Hebrew while I build my Yiddish vocabulary. For example, I get really mixed up with question words and some English words with multiple meaning like "to know" and "to meet", Hebrew makes much better sense. In Hebrew, the definition is more specific (and that's where English speakers flunk in foreign languages). So I am creating three columns for my vocabulary building- English, Hebrew, Yiddish. I also found that if I wrote down the Hebrew equivalent of Yiddish and not English, it's less of a headache to be reading one way and then the other way. I can simply read from right to left the whole line.

Classes start at 9:30 so I get to sleep in! It's also good because when I return to the United States, I have to go to California within 4 days of arrival. That's 10 hour difference of adjustment! So if I can stay up later and sleep later, all the better.

So my day typically will look like this:
8ish AM- get up, eat my Cinni-Minis (Nestle version of Cinnamon Toast Crunch), get dressed
9:30 AM to 11 AM- class
11 AM to 11:30 AM - coffee break (I get tea and some crackers and few chocolate filled wafer cookies- very popular! Yum!)
11:30 AM to 1 PM- class
1 PM to 2 PM- Lunch
2 PM to 4 PM - On Tuesdays and Thursdays, we have lectures. Other days, I go to the pool for some sun time.
5 PM to 6ish PM- gym
7:30ish- dinner
Rest of night is whatever I feel like doing.

I've decided that until I finish these particular lectures, I'm not going to go all the way out to the beach. It's like a 30 minute bus ride. Besides, I'll probably be here for a whole week before I return to the United States so I'll go to the beach everyday then.

For the lectures, my old professor from Smith, JC, is here! He's teaching us basic introduction to Yiddish literature. He's just great as a teacher who knows how to engage and know his stuff. I'm learning a lot. It's helping me to appreciate the short stories and folk tales that I have to read. I respect this guy a lot so he's just the right person to try and inspire me to appreciate and like Yiddish. I thanked the director of the program for inviting him. JC was definitely very glad to see me.
Today, he asked how everything was going and if I was studying hard. Since he isn't my professor anymore, I honestly said to him, "No, not really..." Then he said, "Great, don't need to stress out, just enjoy it, have fun! You study hard during the year!" Wow, a professor telling me that I didn't really need to study. He's done this program as a teacher so he knew. All it mattered, he said, was that I get that certificate of completion.

Last night, I met up with the cousins for Sarai's summer concert at TAU. Mor, Or, and the whole Shalom family were there. So it was very nice to get out a little and enjoy some music. The musicians even played a song from the West Side Story (that everyone seemed to be excited about...). Sarai played the saxophone and percussion. She wasn't a music major- just her hobby at school. Unlike the concerts I've been to at Michigan, video-recording and photographs were permitted. Mor and Or played with their video camera quite a bit until the battery died. There were quite a few Israelis doing the same thing...

After class today, I decided to go into Tel Aviv and walk around the southern part and Jaffa. Jaffa was as run down as you can get so where I walked today wasn't that great to see. But I'm learning my sense of direction and the streets. I ended up walking from Jaffa on Ben Zion (I think) to Herzl and up on Herzl. I stop in the Florentine neighborhood to check out a few eateries that I found online. One of them was Hommus Beit Lechem. I ordered a plate of hummus with hard boiled egg on it. It was quite good- warm and creamy. (I'm ashamed to admit that this was my first pita and hummus of this trip!) After that, I continued up on Herzl and through the Ha'Carmel shuk. I just had to grin at myself when I surveyed the scene. It was about 7 o'clock at that point and everyone was trying to close up - meaning an aisle of mess! Garbage, food scraps, water.... You can imagine how dirty my feet got. I picked up a bunch of seedless purple grapes on the way out.

I'll try to explore a little more of Tel Aviv in the coming weeks. But really, with my budget, I can just afford hummos places and cafes. It's also that I've walked around quite a bit from my previous visits that I don't have a lot of interest in going in unless I need to shop or feel like doing some people watching while eating dinner. So that's why my schedule is like that for now.

Off to Jerusalem for Shabbat. I am so excited about it!