Pictures from my trip so far:


http://tufts.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2067757&l=4fa6d&id=1708389

(the link should work even if you don't have facebook)

I feel like I haven’t sat down and documented everything that’s been going on around here for a while, so I’ll try to start from where I left off without leaving anything out. I did end up going to the pickup frisbee game, though it was raining and kind of muddy so even though about eight people had shown up, it was cancelled anyway. I’m still glad I went since I got to meet the people who play and I’ll try to go again this week.

Our head counselor, Liat, organized a volunteering fair for us last week where representatives from local non profits and organizations on and off campus came to the university to talk to us about different opportunities we could sign on for over the semester. One student spoke about the possibility of working with Bedouin students at the university on their English and tutoring in any way that could be helpful. Many of the Bedouin students come from areas deficient in resources (water, hospital care) where the education system is lacking as well, especially in comparison to schools in other parts of Israel. I’m hoping that I’ll be able to learn more about Bedouin culture and practice my Arabic while teaching at the same time, which is something I really enjoy.

Liat also organized a movie night for us where we watched an Israeli film called Yossi and Jagger. The film had been shown in the Boston Jewish film festival a few years ago and I had wanted to see it since then, so I was excited to see it. The story was basically of a group of soldiers stationed on the northern border. The commander/head guy of the unit and one of his soldiers were in a secret relationship (no one knew that either of them was gay). The unit finds out that they must go on an ambush that night, and while I won’t give away the ending, the movie definitely gives you a good understanding of why Israelis call films with happy endings “American movies.” Everyone who comes to Israel comments on the ubiquitous presence of soldiers on the streets, in restaurants, on the beach, basically, in every public place. I should be used to it by now, and to some degree, I am used to guns over shoulders and bag laden Israelis peers heading home for the weekend on the train. The part that I have more trouble digesting is the reality of perpetual war and that the honor of serving in an army, and specifically in an elite unit, means that death is that much more present in a person’s life (how ironic sounding). We just finished a movie in my Ulpan class that sends the point home extremely hard called “Chatsotsra b’Wadi,” or A Trumpet in the Wadi. It is based on a book by Sami Michael about a romance between an Israeli immigrant from Russia and a Christian Arab woman living in the same apartment building near Haifa, a city mixed with Arabs and Jews. I’d definitely recommend the movie (though the subtitles were in Hebrew and Arabic, I’m not sure if English was an option) and I read the book in English a few years ago and I think I liked that too.

One of the girls in Ulpan with us right now is from Iowa and is Baptist. I’ve had a bunch of interesting discussions with her about our respective religions which is pretty cool. I’m basically surprised at how much I have retained from my 13 years of Jewish education (cue parents: sign of relief) but there’s also a lot I suppose I’ve glossed over. I’ve never been great at remembering dates and orders of events so when she started to ask me about when certain texts were written I started to blank out. Anyway, trying to explain Judaism in 20 minute segments has been a challenging exercise but one I wasn’t expecting and one I enjoy.
Speaking of culture gaps, I guess I’ll end with an account of the different ways I’ve been intimidated/screwed by your typical Israeli. A bunch of friends and I went out to a falafel joint one evening and wanted falafel sandwiches in pitot, but the guy had run out of pita (he only had 3 and there were 5 of us). So, he made us a “special deal.” We would get a plate of falafel and a plate of whichever salads we wanted, and he cut each pita in half so that we’d each have at least some, plus he made us up a batch of fries. A regular falafel in pita cost 11 shekels or so (that’s about $3), and somehow he calculated that we each owed him 12 shekels. Something about how he made us all the fries. I’m pretty sure that wasn’t supposed to happen, but none of us were in the mood to argue in Hebrew so we let it go. This is why the Israelis always win. I know I’m helping losing the war of manipulation of the tourists but sometimes arguing over 50 cents just doesn’t seem worthwhile.

I also was originally going to buy an Israeli cell phone so that members of my family who make future trips to Israel wouldn’t have to rent a phone every time. However, when I walked into the phone store and observed the tables lining the walls each manned by a phone representative and took in the animated jabbering coming from both sides of each table surrounding me, I didn’t want to stomach it and decided I’d just buy a sim card before the end of the trip and stick it into a Nokia I’d buy off ebay when I got home. The taxi driver thing I can somewhat handle, but cell phone people are evil even in America.

I still have to write about my Tel Aviv trip from this past weekend but I’ve been sitting in the laundry room for about an hour and I’m kind of sick of it so I’ll take a break and write some more later.

Love,
Ilana