My new favorite show would have to be Hoarders. I thought Intervention was as good as it could get, but A&E outdid themselves with Hoarders. I am scared of how similar I am to some of these people. They have messy lives and messy houses that continue to get messier. They accrue stuff, let it pile up and up and up until they cannot walk through most of the rooms. One women had a room filled with her feces from her diapers. One women collected birds, and they shat everywhere and she still didn't want to see them go. Other people had houses so messy that repair people couldn't get inside to fix TVs, phones, or toilets. Yet when the junk removal teams come in to begin hauling this useless crap out to the dump, most of the hoarders become extremely frightened and agitated. Some hang on, work it through, and leave with a clean house. Others stall as long as possible and thwart the effort all together.
I think I am a slight hoarder. My room is roughly the size of Harry Potter's closet in the Dursley house, but still, it is a constant mess. Right now I hardly have any clean room on my floor. After typing this, I feel the urge to clean it a tad before I go to bed, but even so, the mess always creeps back. I don't want to be That Adult with the filthy house so I really need to get better about cleaning this room. I have very little space and few storage options, and i keep telling myself that it's only for a few more months so why start caring about it now. But since my stepmom is the Wicked Witch of Bumfuck Tennessee, I spend most of my time in this house here, or in my sister's room. Its my messy solace, but it provides me with little respite because of the constant clutter. Maybe I need to do what the hoarders do: get rid of everything I don't need- like most of my books, the swim team ball El made me that takes up so much room. Then I would paint it lilac. Then I would INSTALL WALL SHELVES, buy a loft bed, and get a big bookshelf. This would make my room beautiful but could cost $400, which is a LOT of money for me. Preschool teaching ain't paying well.
Ohh that is another thing. I am teaching preschool. I've been doing it for two months now, as a long-term sub for a woman whose broken leg injury was supposed to keep her out a month, but has kept her out far longer. I love the women I work with and the kids. They do fun things like run up to me and hug me with shining eyes. Then, two seconds later, the same hugging angel hits another kid and steals his Barney guitar, leaving me to console the crying kid and yank the guitar back from Hyde. At two, the kids look different every Monday. They constantly learn new words, new songs, and new names. And they LOVE repition. I will spend an hour playing a tame version of Hide and Go Seek with them, and every single time I pop up to scare them they squeal with delight. It's funny how distinct their personalities are- there is the precise kid who, when eating cereal, holds the spoon in his mouth and clamps down with his hand as guard, so that no milk will escape. There is the kid who is CONSTANTLY drooling. There is the kid who will only eat carbs and absolutely NO fruit or vegetables. They are all so different at such a young age.
At the end of the day, I am beat from playing, watching, scolding, making snacks, and changing diapers. It is the best birth control in the world, because they are exhaaausting. I don't know how moms even have time to brush their hair with these little tykes running around. I get stressed out being the aunt to two dogs. How do people raise humans?
I have two other jobs but my interesting one, my internship, involves working with asylees and refugees. It is SO absorbing. A meeting with a client could mean the difference between them finding child care or not. Or health insurance or not. Or a job or not. So there is no way to slack off, because if you slack off, they miss out on a vital service and struggle even more than they are already struggling. I love it. If I could work for this nonprofit forever, I would be content.
Other than that, life is fine. I'm trying to do more to spice it up. My wanderlust is getting the best of me, but the Peace Corps process is moving about as slow as the health care bill did in Congress. The PC dentist and I are obviously BFFs. I call him by his first name when I call the 1-800 number and say "It's Andrea," because I figure he must know who i am since he keeps rejecting my application. Then he gets confused becaues he, of course, has no clue who "Andrea" is, and probably sends my case to mental health to have them evaluate this delusional loon. I WANT TO GO TO LATIN AMERICA NOW! At this point, it is three month away. I have ONE more dental appointment and then all the cavities should be sealed. He has nothing else to reject me for. I hope that this will be IT for the dentist.
At least my friends are keeping me sane. Yvette and I got notecards today to write Thank You notes, and last night i saw Matt and Hernan in full drag, and Antoine in a purple pimp suit, before they went out to Georgetown to frighten young children. Justin and I carved Jack O' Lanterns and that was the first time in years I made one. He tried to make a confused one and I made an Italian one. One good thing about an All-American boyfriend is they are all about the tried and true Amuurrican traditions, like taking out a pumpkins guts and carving an offensive face on it. U-S-A!
That is all for now. Today is officially November 2nd, Election Day, so GET OUT AND VOTE. Every vote makes a difference. Please do. George Washington will smile down on you and your skin will glow with the freedom of democracy. You will shit justice. GO vote.
Monday, November 1, 2010
Monday, August 9, 2010
2AM
Hello 2 AM. We meet again. The fan is blaring and I'm listening to "Young Blood" by The Naked and the Famous, who, besides having an awesome band name, are actually pretty good. Half of the song's lyrics are a high pitched "Yeah yeah yeah yeah" and the other half is filled with angsty lyrics about being young and screwing the man. Ooh now Louis is playing. Good old Louis Armstrong. Did you know he wore a Star of David around his neck and loved the Pope? He was like a modern-day Pi Patel. I wish I could marry his voice. Hold me close, Louis, hold me close.
I wish I had new exciting shiny stuff to update but it is all pretty mundane. The Census job ended two weeks ago. I know it sounds lame but I honestly, truly LOVED what I did. We met in Panera every morning. I worked with teachers, phD students and former Peace Corps volunteers. We sat around the table talking about cases for 10 minutes and then talking about anything from ghosts to strippers to politics for the next hour or so. I loved going door to door to talk to people- my natural nosiness and eye for detail was put to good use. I loved getting to see all the different neighborhoods of Montgomery County. I even liked the time I tried to walk up to a house that was either owned by a drug dealer or gang, but was warned by another neighbor not to go there because "very bad men live there." It was like being a sleuth in a movie. A Census Sleuth. Knocking on the Truth's door. Finding out the population. Conquering message-machine-avoiders and shade-drawers.
The Peace Corps process is going lovely. By lovely I mean I would like to rip my hair out of my head and light it on fire. It is moving at the same pace as Pat Robertson's speeches: extremely slow, and I never quite know what is going on. After three long appointments with my dentist, I got the X-Rays. I mail them in only to learn that they want the original copy of the X-ray, even though I was told on the phone that the copies are fine. The Peace Corps website says we should use this opportunity to practice our PATIENCE SKILLS. Being patient is pretty difficult in the DC Area. If you hesitate to make a turn, you get a honk. If you wait too long in the line at Starbucks, you get a bunch of yuppies clearing their throats loudly while the barista looks at you, saying "Excuse me maam what can I get you?" Patience doesn't fit in to people's Blackberrys and Metro commutes. It is a skill I seldom, if ever, use.
But I'm finding patience to be more and more necessary, not just for the Peace Corps. For life. I look around and see friends moving into apartments with people their age, friends buying bunnies and even dogs, and friends getting married. People are growing up. They are becoming adults, paying rent, starting 401 Ks, and procreating. And I am sitting in my sister's room, unemployed, in my dad's house . It's not the life I envisioned for myself at 23. I thought I'd be wearing a lot of black and working in some human rights organization by now. I'd visit Sephora and Anthropologie regularly and have my own apartment and bulldog. But as for now, it's shared living space with the Olds. No hang out room. No parties. No little bulldog. Just an ice queen stepmom and a neurotic Jewish mom father. So instead of going crazy, as I often want to do, I have to be patient. Hopeful. Jesse Jackson said "Keep Hope Alive" and I do it, day after day. I think about the people with no homes and food, people who don't have anyone to talk to and watch the Shopping Channel all day, and then I feel better. Because it's easy to feel like a 20 something burnout but really, many of us are all in the same Great Recession boat. I'm not grown up, but I am hopeful. It's a start to a lonng ride.
I wish I had new exciting shiny stuff to update but it is all pretty mundane. The Census job ended two weeks ago. I know it sounds lame but I honestly, truly LOVED what I did. We met in Panera every morning. I worked with teachers, phD students and former Peace Corps volunteers. We sat around the table talking about cases for 10 minutes and then talking about anything from ghosts to strippers to politics for the next hour or so. I loved going door to door to talk to people- my natural nosiness and eye for detail was put to good use. I loved getting to see all the different neighborhoods of Montgomery County. I even liked the time I tried to walk up to a house that was either owned by a drug dealer or gang, but was warned by another neighbor not to go there because "very bad men live there." It was like being a sleuth in a movie. A Census Sleuth. Knocking on the Truth's door. Finding out the population. Conquering message-machine-avoiders and shade-drawers.
The Peace Corps process is going lovely. By lovely I mean I would like to rip my hair out of my head and light it on fire. It is moving at the same pace as Pat Robertson's speeches: extremely slow, and I never quite know what is going on. After three long appointments with my dentist, I got the X-Rays. I mail them in only to learn that they want the original copy of the X-ray, even though I was told on the phone that the copies are fine. The Peace Corps website says we should use this opportunity to practice our PATIENCE SKILLS. Being patient is pretty difficult in the DC Area. If you hesitate to make a turn, you get a honk. If you wait too long in the line at Starbucks, you get a bunch of yuppies clearing their throats loudly while the barista looks at you, saying "Excuse me maam what can I get you?" Patience doesn't fit in to people's Blackberrys and Metro commutes. It is a skill I seldom, if ever, use.
But I'm finding patience to be more and more necessary, not just for the Peace Corps. For life. I look around and see friends moving into apartments with people their age, friends buying bunnies and even dogs, and friends getting married. People are growing up. They are becoming adults, paying rent, starting 401 Ks, and procreating. And I am sitting in my sister's room, unemployed, in my dad's house . It's not the life I envisioned for myself at 23. I thought I'd be wearing a lot of black and working in some human rights organization by now. I'd visit Sephora and Anthropologie regularly and have my own apartment and bulldog. But as for now, it's shared living space with the Olds. No hang out room. No parties. No little bulldog. Just an ice queen stepmom and a neurotic Jewish mom father. So instead of going crazy, as I often want to do, I have to be patient. Hopeful. Jesse Jackson said "Keep Hope Alive" and I do it, day after day. I think about the people with no homes and food, people who don't have anyone to talk to and watch the Shopping Channel all day, and then I feel better. Because it's easy to feel like a 20 something burnout but really, many of us are all in the same Great Recession boat. I'm not grown up, but I am hopeful. It's a start to a lonng ride.
Friday, July 16, 2010
earthquake!! heat wave!! impending doom ?
I woke up this morning at 6 AM to Justin's phone ringing. It was his mom, checking to see if we were ok, or if the earthquake had gotten to us and we were goners under a pile of dusty rubble. "Earthquake?" he said confusedly. "Yeah," she said. An earthquake with an epicenter in Gaithersburg shook the walls of Montgomery County households at 5am this morning. It measured 3.6 on the Richter scale, which is lame by California standards, but unheard of by Montgomery County. We don't DO earthquakes. We do high stress, traffic jams, diversity, security clearances, bangin Ethiopian food, and summer pool leauges. But EARTHQUAKES?! Pshh.
Some announcer on one of the hip hop stations, who I listen to because he is funnier than the Kaine show people, said that he thinks it's related to all of the strange weather we've been having in the past six months. In case you've been living under a rock, that includes:
1. Nearly four feet of snow in the winter of 2010- the largest snowfall the region has ever seen.
2. Two weeks of 100 degree temperatures....in June and July
3. An earthquake.
Other people think it has to do with the ending of the universe in 2012, as my Facebook newsfeed enlightens me. I don't know if we'll have an environmental disaster or if 2012 will pass like any other year, but I think this weather, and the strange global weather patterns that happened in the past year, make it adamantly clear that we NEED to enact strict climate change policy, and NOW, before the ice caps melt and Silver Spring becomes the Sahara.
In the words of Roxana:
"We have GOT to be more green, Drea, because we are DYING."
In related news to the greening craze:
http://www.thenation.com/article/37529/clean-green-safe-and-smart
If I could reproduce with an online article, this would be it.
And now for some room cleanage. Hasta pronto!
Some announcer on one of the hip hop stations, who I listen to because he is funnier than the Kaine show people, said that he thinks it's related to all of the strange weather we've been having in the past six months. In case you've been living under a rock, that includes:
1. Nearly four feet of snow in the winter of 2010- the largest snowfall the region has ever seen.
2. Two weeks of 100 degree temperatures....in June and July
3. An earthquake.
Other people think it has to do with the ending of the universe in 2012, as my Facebook newsfeed enlightens me. I don't know if we'll have an environmental disaster or if 2012 will pass like any other year, but I think this weather, and the strange global weather patterns that happened in the past year, make it adamantly clear that we NEED to enact strict climate change policy, and NOW, before the ice caps melt and Silver Spring becomes the Sahara.
In the words of Roxana:
"We have GOT to be more green, Drea, because we are DYING."
In related news to the greening craze:
http://www.thenation.com/article/37529/clean-green-safe-and-smart
If I could reproduce with an online article, this would be it.
And now for some room cleanage. Hasta pronto!
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
food for thought
"A fanatic is someone who can't change their mind and won't change the subject."
-Winston Churchill
-Winston Churchill
Friday, May 21, 2010
springtime part deux
The spring has been rather lovely. Most of the time I feel like a poor Pollyanna. I dream of living on 16th street and biking to a development job, yet I sleep in my dad's house and scrounge up bike money. Despite that, things have for the most part been going well. Here are current life observations and current self-improvement hopes, brought to you by yours truly.
Life observation: There ARE fantastic guys in the world. And, not all of them are foreign and/or Jewish! Or even fans of the city! I've met someone who "haings" with me, who can read my thoughts, who gets turned on by my stack of library books, and who can own a political conversation. I must have rescued a family of whales in my past life to get this lucky.
Life observation: The most interesting people at work are the old people and, like any other people, they are full of contradictions.
Take the former Peace Corps volunteer who bikes to work and listens to Rush Limbaugh. Or the potty mouthed teacher with the secret heart of gold. Or the creepy, rapey, Borderline personality weirdo who might, under it all, just be a scared man. Everyone I work with fascinates me- I love their stories, their lives, how they got to work here, and what crazy things I can get them to admit.
Life observation: I need to exercise more.
Also
Life observation: I am not in Europe anymore- thus, the Coke I drink goes to my stomach, it does not get magically walked off.
I need to move it move it. Maybe AM gym sessions will work well for me. I have no excuse for not going- except for a slight knee injury, I am a-ok. Somehow LOST episodes, phone calls, and food always get in the way of my potential exercise dates with myself.
Life observation: The Peace Corps medical review is HARDDD HARD HARD.
I have been poked, prodded, shined on, interviewed, and given shots. I have gone to three doctors already and will go to a fourth on Monday. I have mountains of paperwork and mountains more to do. They check for every little thing, which, actually I like. I'd rather find out that I have a cavity here than in the middle of a rural village in Boliva.
But, I am over the shots and the blood and the needles. I don't want to be poked for a long time.
Life observation: If a rabbi tells me that I need to convert my boyfriend or "get rid of him," I need to find a new rabbi. A Gentile boyfriend is not vermin that you can get rid of with poison. He is, like everyone else, a living, breathing, human being. Orthodox Judaism may never accept it, but I'm becoming more and more clear that I could never be an Orthodox Jew. People should love each other for who they are- truth, love, and kindness should win out.
Life observation: UGHUGHUGH Whyy am I still living at home?
Life observation: I want to travel.
Life observation: This tiny room needs to get clean. And the GREs need to get studied for.
Life observation: Why is it 2:36 am?
I need to make a list of things to do. I need to sleep. I am making a Gesso salad for a potluck tomorrow, and it will be bangin. For those of you who don't know what a Gesso salad is, I'll fill you in next entry. I'm going to make Justin mix the salad, just so that I can say, "Baby, keep tossing my salad," and, "Justin tossed the salad tonight, so everyone thank him." Hehehe. I am 14.
So to conclude: things are good, they could be better, but everything is comfortably floating along in this abyss called life. Until next times, sweet dreams, buttercups.
Life observation: There ARE fantastic guys in the world. And, not all of them are foreign and/or Jewish! Or even fans of the city! I've met someone who "haings" with me, who can read my thoughts, who gets turned on by my stack of library books, and who can own a political conversation. I must have rescued a family of whales in my past life to get this lucky.
Life observation: The most interesting people at work are the old people and, like any other people, they are full of contradictions.
Take the former Peace Corps volunteer who bikes to work and listens to Rush Limbaugh. Or the potty mouthed teacher with the secret heart of gold. Or the creepy, rapey, Borderline personality weirdo who might, under it all, just be a scared man. Everyone I work with fascinates me- I love their stories, their lives, how they got to work here, and what crazy things I can get them to admit.
Life observation: I need to exercise more.
Also
Life observation: I am not in Europe anymore- thus, the Coke I drink goes to my stomach, it does not get magically walked off.
I need to move it move it. Maybe AM gym sessions will work well for me. I have no excuse for not going- except for a slight knee injury, I am a-ok. Somehow LOST episodes, phone calls, and food always get in the way of my potential exercise dates with myself.
Life observation: The Peace Corps medical review is HARDDD HARD HARD.
I have been poked, prodded, shined on, interviewed, and given shots. I have gone to three doctors already and will go to a fourth on Monday. I have mountains of paperwork and mountains more to do. They check for every little thing, which, actually I like. I'd rather find out that I have a cavity here than in the middle of a rural village in Boliva.
But, I am over the shots and the blood and the needles. I don't want to be poked for a long time.
Life observation: If a rabbi tells me that I need to convert my boyfriend or "get rid of him," I need to find a new rabbi. A Gentile boyfriend is not vermin that you can get rid of with poison. He is, like everyone else, a living, breathing, human being. Orthodox Judaism may never accept it, but I'm becoming more and more clear that I could never be an Orthodox Jew. People should love each other for who they are- truth, love, and kindness should win out.
Life observation: UGHUGHUGH Whyy am I still living at home?
Life observation: I want to travel.
Life observation: This tiny room needs to get clean. And the GREs need to get studied for.
Life observation: Why is it 2:36 am?
I need to make a list of things to do. I need to sleep. I am making a Gesso salad for a potluck tomorrow, and it will be bangin. For those of you who don't know what a Gesso salad is, I'll fill you in next entry. I'm going to make Justin mix the salad, just so that I can say, "Baby, keep tossing my salad," and, "Justin tossed the salad tonight, so everyone thank him." Hehehe. I am 14.
So to conclude: things are good, they could be better, but everything is comfortably floating along in this abyss called life. Until next times, sweet dreams, buttercups.
springtime in Silver Spring
I have a confession to make: I have never planned a successful birthday party. The last true "birthday party" I had involved pre-pubescent girls (and our one token guy friend) wearing gobs of glitter and dancing to Nsync and Backstreet Boys on my deck. I remember seeing 14 candles on the cake and knowing that I would have to heave in gobs of air to blow that many candles out.
Fast forward to 2010. For the first time since I could legally buy lottery tickets, I am in the throes of trying to gather a group together for my birthday. I have tried doing this in years past, but previous attempts have been thwarted by life's little details. Consider 2008, when a botched Facebook invite got sent out the DAY of my party. Ooops. Or 2009, when the invite got sent out three days before the big day.
My ADD and dislike of decision making has also traditionally slowed the party planning process. There are so many CONSIDERATIONS to make, like:
a) where to go
b) what to do
c) **most importantly** who to invite
After spending a solid week perusing Yelp, I have finally made invitations, sent out said invitations, and picked both a restaurant and a bar. This might seem really miniscule and not important to some of you, but to me this is a giant leap forward in becoming a real, competent person who can do real, competent things like get a bunch of people to a restaurant on a certain day for a certain birthday. This is the first birthday party to not involve goodie bags.
Second issue: the non-responders. The nonresponders seem to be comprised of a variety of people. The non-interested, the Facebook averse, and the unsure all seem to fall into this category. I think I will lurch them later on in the week. I could send them an email that says "Respond, non-responders!" or I could sit here and count them as "not coming." Hmmmph. From now on I am responding to all of my Facebook invites- be it "yay" or "nay." "Not responded" is the trickiest category yet.
Maybe this is people's passive aggressive way of telling me that they don't want to come. Or, maybe, some people are just Facebook averse. Or maybe it's both. Either way, I will deal kindly with the non-responders until mid-week next week. No need for quick assumptions or judgments. Hate and anger will only turn around to bite a chunk out of my behind. And, as many of you know, despite being Italian, I need all the behind I can get.
To sum up:
I have oodles of gratitude towards the respondants, and
I am working on my unWashingtonian patience skills by being kind to the responders, and
this party may be me and my boyfriend eating cheesecake in bethesda, or
it may be amazing.
Only time will tell.
Fast forward to 2010. For the first time since I could legally buy lottery tickets, I am in the throes of trying to gather a group together for my birthday. I have tried doing this in years past, but previous attempts have been thwarted by life's little details. Consider 2008, when a botched Facebook invite got sent out the DAY of my party. Ooops. Or 2009, when the invite got sent out three days before the big day.
My ADD and dislike of decision making has also traditionally slowed the party planning process. There are so many CONSIDERATIONS to make, like:
a) where to go
b) what to do
c) **most importantly** who to invite
After spending a solid week perusing Yelp, I have finally made invitations, sent out said invitations, and picked both a restaurant and a bar. This might seem really miniscule and not important to some of you, but to me this is a giant leap forward in becoming a real, competent person who can do real, competent things like get a bunch of people to a restaurant on a certain day for a certain birthday. This is the first birthday party to not involve goodie bags.
Second issue: the non-responders. The nonresponders seem to be comprised of a variety of people. The non-interested, the Facebook averse, and the unsure all seem to fall into this category. I think I will lurch them later on in the week. I could send them an email that says "Respond, non-responders!" or I could sit here and count them as "not coming." Hmmmph. From now on I am responding to all of my Facebook invites- be it "yay" or "nay." "Not responded" is the trickiest category yet.
Maybe this is people's passive aggressive way of telling me that they don't want to come. Or, maybe, some people are just Facebook averse. Or maybe it's both. Either way, I will deal kindly with the non-responders until mid-week next week. No need for quick assumptions or judgments. Hate and anger will only turn around to bite a chunk out of my behind. And, as many of you know, despite being Italian, I need all the behind I can get.
To sum up:
I have oodles of gratitude towards the respondants, and
I am working on my unWashingtonian patience skills by being kind to the responders, and
this party may be me and my boyfriend eating cheesecake in bethesda, or
it may be amazing.
Only time will tell.
Thursday, March 11, 2010
week in Tzfat
I spent a week hanging out in Tzfat after my little collision with the motorcycle. I was in a weeklong volutneer program called Livnot, and had little clue what to expect.
Getting there was an adventure. Luckily, a guy from Birthright was doing the Livnot trip as well. The night before we were supposed to arrive, we haphazardly decided we would meet at 11 am the next morning at the hostel and be on our way. Well. Eleven am came and Brandon was not there. I found out he was still sleeping off the effects of the night before! He woke up in a few minutes, got dressed, and we were on our way. We got to the Tel Aviv bus station and the told us to take the 1:30 bus from Tel Aviv to "Ohimini" and then from there, take a bus to Tzfat. We got on the right bus but could not for the life of us remember the name of the town we were supposed to get off in. I thought it sounded like "Rasputin" or "Rasmeena" or "Ohimini" so we asked people on the bus if they knew what we were talking about. No one did- not even the Israeli soldier who worked in the north! Finally, a girl on the bus said, "I think you want 'Rosh Pina.'" The Israeli soldier's eyes widened and he started laughing. "Rosh PINA! Of COURSE!" We got off the bus and saw a sign that said "Welcome to ROSH PINA" and then we felt dumb at not having been able to remember it. But Hebrew words, when you hear them and can't see them written down, are HARD to remember!
We hailed a taxi to Tzfat, and after lugging our suitcases through the rain, finally found the place we were supposed to be staying at. I immediately felt at ease. The madricha, or leader, gave us hot coffee and tea and warmly asked us how we were doing. We met the 6 other people in our group and I knew it was going to be a good week.
A good week it was. Tzfat is one of the four holy cities in Israel. It is the city of air, or mysticism. Because of this, it is situated in the mountains in the north of the country and when you look up at the mountains, you can see tufts of white clouds around them. You feel kind of light and airy in the town, which reminded me of a medieval Spanish town filled with exclusively Hasidic Jews. There are no bars; no one is on the streets after 10. It is filled with very religious Jews, their families, and...Livnot. Many artists come to the town and open up painting shops, pottery shops, weaving shops. Many eccentric Kabbalah worshippers come to the town to live, as it is the birthplace of the Kabbalah. I met a hippie couple from Berkely who were living in Tzfat for the Kabbalah.
During the week, we did a lot of awesome things.
We volunteered with Ethiopian kids in a school (fun fact: Israel has 100,000 Ethiopian Jews.) They spoke Amharic and Hebrew, I spoke English. Still, we played incessant tag with them, played songs with them on the guitar, and twirled them when they asked. They couldnt pronounce "Andrea" so they called me "injera" which is the name of Ethiopian bread. They also asked three of our girls if BJ was their "boyfriend." They were really into us dating him!
We went on an amazing day-long hike in the Golan Heights. We saw vultures encircling us overhead and visited the lost city of Gamla.
Gamla was an ancient, millenia old Jewish city that was destroyed by the Romans in 68 AD. It remained virtually lost and forgotten about until around 1970. You can still see the ancient walls and the spot where the Romans' battering ram destroyed the city's fortifications.
We also were given ample time to explore the city. We visited a market, where I a new fruit I had never heard of before: a persimmon. (
We became a part of the town for a week, visiting the Yemenite pizza man, the beautiful pottery shops around the village, and getting lost in the city's ancient streets.
Here are some pictures of Tzfat:
One of the most powerful parts of the week was the emphasis on spirtuality. The group was made up of all different types of Jews. We had a Hasidic leader, Eli (whose adorable toddler Zevi was our constant playmate); we had Orthodox madricha; we had conservative, reform, and secular Jews in our mix. It provoked some really thought provoking conversations, such as
-what is the role of Jews in the world?
-will our grandchildren be Jewish?
-how should we treat the Palestinians?
One thing I wanted to address was Israel's culture of denial when it comes to examining human rights abuses in the Occupied Territories. I was always given really brisk responses, such as "if the people in Gaza wanted peace they would get their act together," or "the Israeli military is hated no matter what they do." It frustrated me that there seems to be a very low level of tolerance among many Israelis for people in the Occupied Territories.
Besides that, the trip was a good time. We had the BEST Shabbat I've had in Israel. We went out to the balcony as the sun was setting over the mountains and sang songs and danced together (women with women, men with men). Then, we had a giant feast for Shabbat. Alumni of Livnot (it has been going on since the 70s!) came by for Shabbat so we had a group of about 50. We drank Israeli malt liquor (beer without alcohol, ew!!), ate the food that our group had spent the last DAY making. We had even breaded our own challah for the Shabbat! Everything was delicious, we spent hours talking, and everyone had a good time. During Shabbat, we werent allowed to turn lights on or off, because of a rule that says that you can't "start a fire" on Shabbat. No computers, Skype, lights, cooking, heating up water, nothing. The next day, we ate lunch at different peoples houses. I ate with our leader, Eli, his wife, Shoshi, their two friends, and their little son. Although I didn't know the prayers or the customs, they were so respectful and engaging. That night, we celebrated the end of Shabbat with the Havdallah. We went to a schul (temple) that was divided into the men's side and the women's side. On each side, people were DANCING. I mean mosh pit, all out, dancing. We grabbed each other's hands and spun around and around and around. We twirled and spun and jumped. I felt so united to everyone, so powerful, so proud to be a woman in that moment. We left soaked from sweat but euphoric.
In retrospect, I can't say the trip motivated me to be a religious Jew. It did motivate me to look deeper into what I want for myself, and to talk to people of different faiths with an open mind. I was always under the impression that Orthodox girls got married very early and couldn't work, yet I befriended two smart, funny Orthodox girls and found out that they were just like me. I definately hope to keep in touch with the people I met on the trip. I will always remember our incessant singing of Disney songs, the constant laughter, and the good times we had. Also one of our madricha, who is 20, just got ENGAGED so hopefully, we will all see each other soon.
Getting there was an adventure. Luckily, a guy from Birthright was doing the Livnot trip as well. The night before we were supposed to arrive, we haphazardly decided we would meet at 11 am the next morning at the hostel and be on our way. Well. Eleven am came and Brandon was not there. I found out he was still sleeping off the effects of the night before! He woke up in a few minutes, got dressed, and we were on our way. We got to the Tel Aviv bus station and the told us to take the 1:30 bus from Tel Aviv to "Ohimini" and then from there, take a bus to Tzfat. We got on the right bus but could not for the life of us remember the name of the town we were supposed to get off in. I thought it sounded like "Rasputin" or "Rasmeena" or "Ohimini" so we asked people on the bus if they knew what we were talking about. No one did- not even the Israeli soldier who worked in the north! Finally, a girl on the bus said, "I think you want 'Rosh Pina.'" The Israeli soldier's eyes widened and he started laughing. "Rosh PINA! Of COURSE!" We got off the bus and saw a sign that said "Welcome to ROSH PINA" and then we felt dumb at not having been able to remember it. But Hebrew words, when you hear them and can't see them written down, are HARD to remember!
We hailed a taxi to Tzfat, and after lugging our suitcases through the rain, finally found the place we were supposed to be staying at. I immediately felt at ease. The madricha, or leader, gave us hot coffee and tea and warmly asked us how we were doing. We met the 6 other people in our group and I knew it was going to be a good week.
A good week it was. Tzfat is one of the four holy cities in Israel. It is the city of air, or mysticism. Because of this, it is situated in the mountains in the north of the country and when you look up at the mountains, you can see tufts of white clouds around them. You feel kind of light and airy in the town, which reminded me of a medieval Spanish town filled with exclusively Hasidic Jews. There are no bars; no one is on the streets after 10. It is filled with very religious Jews, their families, and...Livnot. Many artists come to the town and open up painting shops, pottery shops, weaving shops. Many eccentric Kabbalah worshippers come to the town to live, as it is the birthplace of the Kabbalah. I met a hippie couple from Berkely who were living in Tzfat for the Kabbalah.
During the week, we did a lot of awesome things.
We volunteered with Ethiopian kids in a school (fun fact: Israel has 100,000 Ethiopian Jews.) They spoke Amharic and Hebrew, I spoke English. Still, we played incessant tag with them, played songs with them on the guitar, and twirled them when they asked. They couldnt pronounce "Andrea" so they called me "injera" which is the name of Ethiopian bread. They also asked three of our girls if BJ was their "boyfriend." They were really into us dating him!
We went on an amazing day-long hike in the Golan Heights. We saw vultures encircling us overhead and visited the lost city of Gamla.
Gamla was an ancient, millenia old Jewish city that was destroyed by the Romans in 68 AD. It remained virtually lost and forgotten about until around 1970. You can still see the ancient walls and the spot where the Romans' battering ram destroyed the city's fortifications.
We also were given ample time to explore the city. We visited a market, where I a new fruit I had never heard of before: a persimmon. (
We became a part of the town for a week, visiting the Yemenite pizza man, the beautiful pottery shops around the village, and getting lost in the city's ancient streets.
Here are some pictures of Tzfat:
One of the most powerful parts of the week was the emphasis on spirtuality. The group was made up of all different types of Jews. We had a Hasidic leader, Eli (whose adorable toddler Zevi was our constant playmate); we had Orthodox madricha; we had conservative, reform, and secular Jews in our mix. It provoked some really thought provoking conversations, such as
-what is the role of Jews in the world?
-will our grandchildren be Jewish?
-how should we treat the Palestinians?
One thing I wanted to address was Israel's culture of denial when it comes to examining human rights abuses in the Occupied Territories. I was always given really brisk responses, such as "if the people in Gaza wanted peace they would get their act together," or "the Israeli military is hated no matter what they do." It frustrated me that there seems to be a very low level of tolerance among many Israelis for people in the Occupied Territories.
Besides that, the trip was a good time. We had the BEST Shabbat I've had in Israel. We went out to the balcony as the sun was setting over the mountains and sang songs and danced together (women with women, men with men). Then, we had a giant feast for Shabbat. Alumni of Livnot (it has been going on since the 70s!) came by for Shabbat so we had a group of about 50. We drank Israeli malt liquor (beer without alcohol, ew!!), ate the food that our group had spent the last DAY making. We had even breaded our own challah for the Shabbat! Everything was delicious, we spent hours talking, and everyone had a good time. During Shabbat, we werent allowed to turn lights on or off, because of a rule that says that you can't "start a fire" on Shabbat. No computers, Skype, lights, cooking, heating up water, nothing. The next day, we ate lunch at different peoples houses. I ate with our leader, Eli, his wife, Shoshi, their two friends, and their little son. Although I didn't know the prayers or the customs, they were so respectful and engaging. That night, we celebrated the end of Shabbat with the Havdallah. We went to a schul (temple) that was divided into the men's side and the women's side. On each side, people were DANCING. I mean mosh pit, all out, dancing. We grabbed each other's hands and spun around and around and around. We twirled and spun and jumped. I felt so united to everyone, so powerful, so proud to be a woman in that moment. We left soaked from sweat but euphoric.
In retrospect, I can't say the trip motivated me to be a religious Jew. It did motivate me to look deeper into what I want for myself, and to talk to people of different faiths with an open mind. I was always under the impression that Orthodox girls got married very early and couldn't work, yet I befriended two smart, funny Orthodox girls and found out that they were just like me. I definately hope to keep in touch with the people I met on the trip. I will always remember our incessant singing of Disney songs, the constant laughter, and the good times we had. Also one of our madricha, who is 20, just got ENGAGED so hopefully, we will all see each other soon.
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