So tardy I should get an absence.

Hello. My name is IJW, nice to meet you. Glad to make your acquaintance.

I think I owe y'all a post (yes, I know that's not how it's done in Texas).

My trip back from Jordan? Alas, forthcoming.

My reflections on my trip? Also forthcoming.

Is this another f*cking teaser entry with more promises and no photos!?!

Er...yes? Don't hate me. My body aches and I am eg-zau-sted. Forgive me. This week, something, for sure.

Holiday Season, and other rambling thoughts.

No, not Christmas. Holidays season in Israel is...now, and I can't tell you how strange and cool it is. I had tons of very interesting observations to post here, but I just spoke to my dad and vented them already. So you guys get the bare bones summary, for now. Until I'm feeling a bit more spry (why I'm not feeling so hot you'll find out soon).

Anyway, the State Department site specifically has an alert on Israel--here, let me put in down for you guys:

"The State Department urges American citizens to remain vigilant while traveling anywhere in Jerusalem, especially within the commercial and downtown areas of West Jerusalem. Israeli security services report that they continue to receive information of planned terrorist attacks in and around Jerusalem. In addition, American citizens should stay away from demonstrations and generally avoid crowded public places, such as restaurants and cafes, shopping and market areas and malls, pedestrian zones, public transportation of all kinds, including buses and trains and their respective stations/terminals, and the areas around them. Spontaneous or planned protests within the Old City are possible, especially after Friday prayers. Some of these protests have led to violent clashes."

It's ridiculous. Basically, they warn against doing anything. Anyway, of course, I couldn't not seewhat was going on in those crowded circles (usually cool street performers/performances)--especially during holiday season when there are lots of bands, and tons and tons of people outside. Sometimes the "reality" would hit me. That many suicide bombings had taken place within the 100 meters I was walking--Ben Yehuda Street, or at the shuk where I was shopping, Machane Yehuda, on the bus lines I was riding, etc. But, you've just got to go with the flow--and the average Israeli just goes on with his or her life. Sure, you saw signs of the extra security too. People would pop onto buses and get off, walking up and down sometimes to check for...I don't know what. One thing I really like about Israeli security compared to a lot of other places is that here it is not necessarily about brawn, but using the brain. Those who try and kill innocents often disguise themselves, try to melt in, or indeed melt into society. There is a fine line of walking that line of security to help people, and alienating regular citizens. They do an amazing, inhuman job.

(And now, a non-sequiter to lighten things up a little bit. A a quick link I found funny.)

I'm leaving out a lot of particulars on this portion of my trip in Israel, not on purpose, but just because there is too much. So forgive me for summarizing (talks to self). Anyway, I remember things like I forgot to mention shaking Bibi Netanyahu's hand after Kol Nidre services and wishing him a "Shana Tova" (Good Year), and him wishing it back to me. Of course, others warned me that I'd have to bleach that hand now. Haha.

Sukkot has never been a huge Jewish holiday for me, or at least it doesn't seem to be a big deal for most people in the States, but I can definitely see why it's some peoples' favorite in Israel. Almost everyone (and definitely students) get a vacation, everyone has a Sukkah. It's amazing. All the restaurants, families...etc. Even the City Hall has a huge one (the biggest in the world) outside. They have shows in there every evening. The weather is beautiful--music and laughter floats by on the wind, and life seems good and carefree.

Hardly indicative of the actual state of Israeli society, which I feel to be (and have concluded from talking to many people there) to be in near crisis. This constant state of war is taking a huge toll on society and their economy. And I will go into this more, but just for the record, I feel a lasting peace in the Middle East will probably do more for Israelis than anyone else there--and I doubt this is very controvertible. A huge drain on resources, the economy and the job market comes from security.

Okay, some other cool things about Israel--and there really are too many idiosyncrasies to denominate here. Weekends are Fridays and Saturdays, which makes Thursday night a legitimate and true party night here. Plus, Saturday night, after all, work starts the next day and you've just been "resting"--no buses/transport--all day. Sunday night was never a party night anyway, so it's like the U.S., but better--in my opinion. At first it was sort of strange to adjust to the new weekend schedule. Your "Sunday" so to speak before your "Saturday"--but then I adjusted a bit too well: "Oh let me call my parents (Sunday at 8:30 a.m.)...they should be at work right now!"

Now one last observation for the moment. Food in Israel--fruits and vegetables, dairy products, chocolate--taste so real. None of the bland wax stuff in the States...and if you thought the stuff you were eating was flavorful, just come try the stuff here. Anyway, everywhere you go order food, people give you tons and tons for your money. I've never had better deals than in Israel. The other day I got a lox w/ everything on it bagel, plus a mango juice...(that bagel was towering)...and the lady there practically forced me to take a pastry, throwing me back two shekels and telling me it was part of the deal. (What if I don't want a pastry?!)...Everyone here is your Jewish mother. It's kinda nice.

Whew, I'm wiped. Oh, did I mention I spent the last two-ish days traveling. 32 hours straight. What for? Well, I'm back in the States again. Back home, finally after 4.5 months of travel. I suppose I neglected to post my new travel change-in-plans here. Oops!

Okay though, now for real I will be posting an entry on my journey back (that's a story), as well as those retrospective thoughts on my trip and each country. I have been thinking about it a lot, and am quite glad I waited to let the experience sink in. Will write soon.

Fasting and Starving.

Yes, this is an update of everything since...and until...now. (Ed. note: I lied. I got too tired. Sorry.)

Get ready--and keep in mind that I am writing this at 3 a.m. after having walked the (near)-span of Jerusalem today--for about the last 9 hours, actually, I was running for one of those hours.

Yom Kippur in Jerusalem

The entire city goes dead. It's "bike day" for kids--and they are out on the streets on bikes because no one (except maybe some police cars or ambulances) drives. Even the radio and television stations just go blank. Almost everybody is in white, and you can hear prayer all day. It is, in short, amazing. The most surreal part was singing what we always sing at the very end before going home to break the fast--"L'shana Haba B'Yerushalayim" (Next year in Jerusalem)...with the added word "Habenuya" (Rebuilt)--we are always striving for something more...


Har Herzl and Yad Vashem

So I saw the interactive museum at Har Herzl--it reads "World Zionist Center"--or some sort of name on the front, and it must be my Berkeley schooling that makes me somewhat shudder. What a pity. I think it'd be interesting to see peoples' reactions to that sign, because in essence, Zionism is truly the belief in a Jewish homeland, none of the other crap that gets attached to it. At least idealistically speaking.

Anyway, after being inspired by the Herzl Museum and visiting the graves of Hannah Senesh, Yitzhak Rabin, Herzl himself, Golda Meir, and too many other national heroes...(I couldn't get "Eli, eli" out of my head for a while), I headed over to Yad Vashem--the world's largest, most comprehensive, and newly redone (they added a whole new section) Holocaust, or Shoah, museum.

All I will say about this is that I have been fascinated and horrified (masochism alert) by the Shoah since I was in elementary school, and began devouring memoirs, autobiographies and other stories about it. (I was a cheary kid.) The new museum goes above and beyond the previous one, and is an experience--overload--in and of itself. Througout the exhibit there are testimonies from people who lived through the horrors--I remember one woman's tale of her mother and she and her brother hearing German boots in the hall, and a pounding on the door, the mother taking her two kids to a hiding place in the closet, and then opening the door while the kids listened on. "Raus, Schnell! they yelled at her to come along with them and she asked them to get her coat--they assented--and she went to the closet, told the kids to go to some family, and kissed them goodbye, grabbing her coat and leaving the apartment with their father. That was the last time they saw their mother.

There's another testimony from a man who is praying after the war for one single living relative. Not a soul remains. "I was alone on this Earth." All of this really puts things into perspective.

The most chilling moment for me--and there were many chilling moments--was looking at a list of "death camp-bound" Jews from Paris, France...looking at the lists with their names and addresses...All of them on the list (and there were hundreds) came from the small neighborhood and environs that I lived in while I was in Paris. I literally recognized the street names, addresses, I could tell you how to get to their houses--walking--from where I lived while I was in Paris. One woman "Ketty"--lived a block down from me on the same street. Hundreds of Jews within a 500 meter radius (if that). These were the empty holes of Ashkenazi Jews that I witnessed when I was in Paris. The Ashkenazi Jews on the whole were shipped off to death camps, and the Sephardic Jews now in Paris are mostly post-war immigrants.

I learned a lot, I felt a lot, and I thought a lot. At the end of five hours, I was tired, depressed--spent. I walked over to the gym and purged myself. (Figuratively speaking, that is.)

Quotable Quotes

I feel like I should do a quick write-up on some quotable quotes (or maybe not so quotable ones) that have been repeated all too often during my journeys here.

1) "Where are you?!"--Said to me by a friend nearly every time I log onto AIM or any sort of messenger.

2) "It's the air conditioning."--Apparently, Middle Easterners and North Africans like to blame air conditioning for almost every health problem they face. Sniffles? It's the air conditioning. Congested? The air conditioning. Don't sleep well? Probably the air conditioning. Tired? The air conditioning...

And it goes on and on. Dammit. I like my air conditioning. Frankly, I think it's just because it's so darn expensive here, and they want to rationalize not using it.

3) "No Problem"--Of course, this refers to Egypt and my post on this subject. Though I too now say it with an infuriating amount of frequency (and I can't shake off the habit of throwing in a bit of an Egyptian/English accent).

Well, that's a wrap for now. But those seem to be the main overarching themes of this trip. Geography, AC (or the lack thereof--99.9% of the time), and "No problems..." (riiiight)

I hope everyone has an easy fast, Shana Tova, Chatima Tova, and Hag Sameach!

Biting Fish?!

That's what I said when Devora told me to "Watch out for the biting fish!?!?!" with a half-crazed, panicky, neurotic yet jokey kind of tone that she has.

And so, I did what I typically do in such a situation. Mock it.

Ah yes, to my very own detriment. There are biting fish in the Tel Aviv waters!

They used to, apparently, be more up North, but this year they've made their way down.


So picture this: There I was, swimming about in the calmish waters of the Mediterranean, and every so often Devora would paranoically (or so I thought) say she felt something and get her feet up and afloat. I would laugh heartily and follow suit, but not entirely, still somewhat treading water with the balls of my feet. This goes on for about 30 minutes. (And in the back of my mind I knew that I would be the one to feel the pangs of remorse (quite literally) for not believing...if they did, indeed, exist. Indeed.) Again, Devora feels something, and says she thinks we should get out, but I tell her that there are waves now, so there shouldn't be such a problem. Meanwhile, we (me, Devora, and Devora's mom--Mona, who's with us) see some tiny fish swimming away near the surface of the water--they kind of look like sardines though. Though Devora's friend, and Devora's apparently seen the after-effect, was bitten by one of these "biting fish"--and has a small hole in her leg where a "chunk" of meat was taken out!

Anyway, a couple minutes later, I feel extraordinarily sharp teeth try and latch onto my foot. I gave out this half scream, half yelp and started swimming frantically for shore with my legs elevated. It felt like a frekin' pirranha! Devora and her mom both alerted to what had happened to me, and an old man swimming about and telling them that there are biting fish around...is enough to get us to leave the waters for the day. We chill a bit on the beach, talking and relaxing on the sand in the sun and shade...before heading out. All in all, a nice day.

But beware the biting fish.

You know you're in Israel when...

You hear the "rock version" of Avinu Malkenu on the regular radio station during the week leading up to Yom Kippur. Not just that. They also play the Unetaneh Tokef (I hope I spelled that close to right)...that's my favorite High Holiday prayer by far.

Anyway, there is way way way too much to catch up on here. So I may do sprits of blog entries here on different topics. I've decided my summation of the entire experience in each country will come when I get back to the States and have the proper amount of time to absorb and compare my experiences. Kind of like how history takes time to write about. (Not that I would ever be so presumptuous in my comparison.)

So High Holidays in Israel are really something else. In Jerusalem, especially. I went to Selichot at the Kotel (Western/Wailing Wall)...people were out at all hours of the night praying to be inscribed in the Book of Life. I was there past midnight and it was packed. The people kept coming...whole crowds! Oh, one thing I read--the additional commentary in the Hertz Chumash really really sheds a lot of light on Egyptian morality, culture and history. I highly recommend it.

Anyway, my time here has basically comprised of a lot of walking around. I'll do a separate entry on my trip to the beach in Tel Aviv (it shan't be long). But otherwise, I've done quite a bit of shopping around in a meager attempt to help support the flailing and failing Israeli tourism economy. There was this Jewish star necklace I had that my parents got me about a decade ago, and after checking every single store on Ben Yehuda Street, the last store on the street, at the very bottom on the right had the exact necklace! Of course, I got it. For old time's sake, that is...and another one--for new time's sake. =)

In other news, my Hebrew has been greatly improving (although, strangely enough, my Arabic still seems to be a bit better--I suppose mostly because the vocab I learned traveling was kind of "utility vocab"). Anyway, after a very very nice Shabbat here with Devora in Jerusalem--she invited tons of people over for Shabbat dinner and lunch the next day--I've been thoroughly submerged in Hebrew, and I definitely feel a general improvement in my ability to get around/talk to people. We'll see how that goes.