We watched a beautiful sunset, and then headed to the Moshav to see some friends' of friends. A Moshav is a really tight community of families. Since it was Saturday night, we were able to celebrate the end of Shabbat with the community. There was candle lighting, prayers, songs, and more songs. It was a really beautiful experience and a perfect way to end the day.
tel aviv
Holidays in the Holy Land
The end of 2011 (and most of the year, really), has already brought so many changes and new beginnings for me and for the entire wold too. I can only imagine what 2012 will have in store for us all. In anticipation of the 2012, all the news coverage was recounting the front page headlines of 2011, a lot of them including the Arab Spring and the Occupy movements in the U.S. I can hardly believe that I was able to experience a glimpse of both with my own eyes!
Despite all my traveling this summer, my sense of adventure has not abated, which is why the New Year of 2012 finds me relocated in the amazing city: Tel Aviv! But while Tel Aviv is always full of excitement and adventure, the vivacious city that I now call home (albeit temporarily) is like living in a bubble. It is a bubble compared to the rest of Israel, and certainly a bubble compared to the Middle East. It is a beautiful, safe city where I can walk alone at night and not carry my keys between my knuckles like I did in D.C. It is a city that where I can haggle for the best vegetable prices at the Shuk (outdoor market) or stop by the "Mega" supermarket on my way back from class and pick up any groceries I need. It's a city which hosts and hides a lot of trauma and crisis (which I've been exposed to because of my Masters program at TAU: Social Work for Trauma and Crisis Studies) particularly in the south where there is a large asylum seeking community. It's a city where I can work with a woman who's been stabbed in the face while trying to cross the Sinai on a journey from Eritrea to Israel. It's a city where I can work with this woman and then decompress as I walk through the sand on the Mediterranean beach en route back to my apartment.
This city is a bubble that contains so much life, so much heartache, so much vitality, pain, suffering, beauty, and resilience. A bubble that contains so much that at times it seems it might burst.
So far I feel like my time in Tel Aviv has been a true gift, and every moment has been blessed. I was so thankful to arrive at the same time as my friend, Aziz. As a local, he was able to navigate the websites offering apartment rentals and I found a place to live within a week. This truly is remarkable in a city where even locals spend up to two months looking for a flat! Not to mention, I ended up in probably the best apartment in the city, with the best people in Tel Aviv.
I truly am lucky to have ended up where I live, in a beautiful apartment with a balcony attached to my bedroom, a huge living room, a dining room that has hosted more than a few large dinners, a teeny kitchen that I've gotten accustomed to cooking in, and a rooftop that accommodated over 400 people at our New Years Party.
Not to mention I live with three lovely roommates who introduced me to their amazing friends. By amazing I mean the night before Christmas Eve, I came home from class and two of them had gone into the dog park nearby and picked branches off trees until they had enough to stick in a pot and make it look like a little Christmas tree - decorations included! Not only that but they accompanied me on an Christmas Eve trip to Jerusalem. They even let me drag them to midnight mass! Clearly these are friends for life!
Lucky. That's the way I feel at the end of 2011, and if 2012 brings half as much excitement and joy as 2011 brought, then it will be an amazing year!
Hipsters Occupying Tel Aviv
I was looking forward to spending time in Haifa, a beach town in the north of Israel. I was often told it was like being in a different world, a world living without a clue as to what conflict is. For those who spend much time in Jerusalem, or in the border areas, I can see why they feel this way, but for anyone coming from outside, signs of the conflict are still everywhere. The buses and trains and even beaches are filled with soldiers in their green uniforms, their M-4's hanging casually off their shoulders. For me this signifies anything but a conflict free area. But I can't complain too much. The beach was wonderful, besides the jellyfish that kept being washed on shore, and to be honest, the soldiers are hot!
After two days Alejandro and I (yes we meet again!) headed to Tel Aviv via the train. We arrived at our overbooked hostel ('tis the high season apparently) and settled into our lovely tent in the backyard! We spent the day walking around the streets of Tel Aviv and, of course, visiting the beach. I can definitely say that it will not be very hard to move to this city! If Haifa is a place removed from the conflict than Tel Aviv is a pradise where conflict never even existed. Now, honestly I know this statement could not be further from the truth. Tel Aviv has a violent history of occupation, war, and conflict that dates back to biblical times, but mostly youth dominates Tel Aviv now. And what a youth they are!
Tel Aviv's artsy hipsters give places like D.C. and New York a run for their money! And as my fellow D.C.ers are aware, that is no small statement. Seriously, Black Cat, Brightest Young Things, the Red Derby.... Tel Aviv may have you beat in the ways of overzized specs, crimped hair, gaudy red lipstick, skinny jeans and the "i haven't showered in a few days" eau de perfume.
The streets are full of artwork and people. Nearly every wall has some type of graffiti (and not just tagging), or posters, or painting. And then there is the awesomeness of Carmel market in the old Yemeni district that rivals the size and yelling of the souks in Cairo, though not the touching, thank goodness.
I really enjoyed my time in Tel Aviv, and left with the comfort of feeling like I'd made the right decision about choosing to go to school there. I am nervous and excited about this part of my future, but as my coffee cup read - the thing I am nervous about will turn out well. Enshallah.