So much has happened since I last wrote that it makes writing anything feel futile, but if not now when? As the Jews says...
I'll just hit the more intense events:
There has been a
war in Israel and Lebanon. Since everyone already knows this, and I have no especially deep insights, I won't go into it too much. I will say that as of 8 am this morning there is a ceasefire, and it doesn't feel so different than yesterday. As with all things involving Israel, especially Israeli-Arab conflicts, there was a ton of propaganda going around from every side and I found it all disgusting. I am lucky that I have been very safe in Jerusalem, and the war has only really affected me in that my plan for traveling in the North my last month in Israel was canceled.
About a month ago I went with a group of friends, under the guidance of Kareem, to
Bethlehem. This marks the second Palestinian city I've visited (the other was Ramallah with SOP boss Reem). Kareem is a wonderful guide (and person) and I think with his help I was really able to understand the complex life of refugee status.
I have been able to see many, many
friends. This includes
Kareem, and Egyptian-American friend I met two years ago who spends a great deal of time volunteering with Palestinian youth and studies at the University of Cincinnati med school to become a gynecologist.
Aaron Miller, an old friend from OSRUI who I haven't seen in about 7 years and who is now studying at HUC to be a rabbi and is married (though I've never seen the wife and semi-doubt her existence).
Aaron Feinstein my kindergarten boyfriend, just finished leading a birthright trip and has plans to go to Yale med school (South Benders are so impressive).
Alex Seymer, a good friend from Ben Gurion University Ulpan 2 or 3 years ago, who traveled from Belgium via Germany to come visit for a week of Jerusalem sightseeing (especially Yad V'shem).
I am currently
single and give praise unto the Lord.
I was
robbed of my wallet while standing in line at Marzipan, one of my local bakeries, buying challah for a shabbat/goodbye dinner. I ask the Lord, to who I have recently given much praise, to smite the evil doer.
I think that about sums up my last few months. I am leaving tomorrow to go back to America. It is surreal to say the least. I'll have 12 days to unpack, do laundry, repack, and move to New York. At this moment I am not positive I'll make it. I am looking forward to making friends with some of the very nice people I met at the welcome weekend, as well as reconnect with a few old friends who are either in the New York area or on the east coast (DC and Philly). I'm thinking of keeping the blog and renaming it "From the mid-west to the mid-east to mid-town" but I'm not sure that's kosher since I'll be far from midtown, rather just below Harlem. Perhaps "mid-law and justice episode"?
Happy 4th of July!
Even across the world America still calls to me in the form of cravings for BBQ, old westerns, and the desire to sit on grass and watch fireworks. Crazily, I was just there and didn't enjoy any of those things.
On June 14th I took a much needed break from Israel and headed back to America for two weeks. It was a break form Israel, but not a vacation by any means. I got off the plane and went directly to Shira's apartment. Feeling not that tired I went on fun errands with her and got to finally eat at Alice's Tea Cup (very cute and tasty) and to try on my maid of honors dress (very simple and pretty, purple of course). I also finally got to give Shira and Mike their engagement presents (Japanese wedding cups, lavender) and to see Mike again. Asher came in and we four went out a few times.
The purpose of being in NY was to see Teachers College and get a feel for Columbia and the Morningside Heights area of NY. I have to say that I found the campus very beautiful, though mystifying despite being so small. The Morningside Heights neighborhood seems very manageable and surprisingly green and pretty, not at all the image on NY that frightens me. The people I met at TC were all down to earth, interesting and interested. It's impressive what a wide range of motivations and ideas each person has for the same degree. I met a few Israelis, including a pregnant woman who plans on naming her daughter Kinneret, a great omen if ever there was one. I also got the chance to hang out with Jenny, my best friend from London abroad who recently graduated from Barnard, and was able to see Avenue Q, a very funny puppet broadway musical.
I left NY to go home to Highland Park. There it was just my mom and me. We spent a great deal of time getting rid of my old clothing, packing things up in my room, and cooking delicious food. It was somewhat surreal to go home and see the FOR SALE sign on our yard. I will miss it so much, but especially I think my mom will.
We went for a weekend to Cleveland where my Daddio is living in an apartment since he started work there in June. Asher is also there, doing some crew stuff and getting to know the city. It's a somewhat crazy move from Chicago; there isn't much of a downtown area, nothing much in the suburbs except malls. I also got to see where we'll be building a house and walk through a few models. Pretty exciting, though it's hard for me to imagine how it will all end up. I'm trying to convince my mom to use Jerusalem stone and Armenian tile somewhere in the house...
Now I'm back in Jerusalem. It's too hot to move, to hot to wear jeans or skirts, it's a mess. But it's good to see my friends; when I got back I went to a fun party over at my old apartment building that Rachel and her boyfriend threw, galit and brian were there, and of course I have Josh. I went to Tel Aviv with Josh yesterday, saw Sara and Noemie there (former WUJSers) and met up with Brian who came from a great interview at the TA Hilton (here's hoping!)
I am still jobless, but I'm getting used to the idea. Perhaps I could even live this way...
The Jerusalem Hotel (my apartment)
WUJS may be over, but the tradition of communal living and mooching live on!
Our new apartment is fantastic, and everyone agrees so whole heartedly that they have virtually moved in. No, not quite, but we have had quite a few people stay over. There's been Petr, Brian, two of Brian's friends who I entertained while he drank with Petr (whoopee) and who were really very nice, Naomi, Juliet and Evan. Josh and I have even managed to be in the apartment at the same time, something that didn't seem possible the first week we moved in. Josh was in a pretty scary bus crash when he was traveling to Arad for WUJS check-out. Very grisly stuff and I'm glad he's ok except for a gash in his chin that I get to pour anti-septic on while he leans awkwardly over the tub and invariably gets the yellow liquid all over his back and pooled in his collar bone.
Petr has a great love of walking and exploring, which is contagious. It turns out my new neighborhood is perfect for little excursions. There is about one shul (synagogue) per 5 apartments, all either picturesque or so ugly you can't not stop to appreciate them. On our walks we take pictures of exciting apartments, little shuls, hasidic youth playing basketball, particularly ugly cats and pretty doors, the little touches on the neighborhood that date back over a hundred years. It's been so hot during the day, though recently it's cooling down, that these walks are done at night, which make them particularly fun. We once ran into a large group of South African dairy farmers ("We milk the cows" we were told by one of the stragglers), and on another night we happened past a first floor window that was wide open and just inside was an orthodox couple pracitcing the first mitzvah (go forth and multiply), an interesting note, the kippah was on.
Petr, Josh, and I took a daytime walk to the Temple Mount the other day. Visiting times are pretty strict and I went in skirt and large scarf to look respectable as well as carried a passport to get me through security, none of which was needed. It was so beautiful up there, and huge! I had no idea the area was so big. I went up with my family 10 years ago, when you could still go into the mosque and the Dome of the Rock, which are now closed off to non-muslims. The three of us were surprised by the friendly atmosphere and the beauty and spent as long as visitor time lasted to explore the whole area.
I head back to America in just a few days, 3 to be exact. It's going to be an intense two week visit packed full; In New York I have graduate school orientation and hanging out with Shira, her finacee Mike, and Asher, then over to Chicago where I have to pack up the last 12 years of my life, then a trip to Cleveland to see my new "home." And I'm going to try to see some friends in each city. All this with incredible amounts of jet lag. I'm excited though, I'm a bit burned out from Israel and a little time at home for the first time in almost 8 months sounds soooooo good. Like an emotional bubble bath. Myabe I'll come back all refreshed?
Still no volunteering in sight. The YMCA just doesn't know how much I want to work for them, or don't care. Israel you frustrate me so much! FREE labor I scream, FREE. If I don't have it figured out by the time I leave on wednesday then I am goign to try to babysit instead and actually make money. I need to get me some kiddies to play with and fast.
So, next post will either be written when I'm in America, perhaps discussing my impressions of Teachers College, Columbia, and scary NY, NY. Either that or I will be writing once I get back on the 28th about how nice it is to be back in a country where everyone pushing and shoving you is Jewish.
Goodbye WUJS, Shalom Nachlaot
In reference to my last post: It was a cat. Somehow a cat got stuck in our building and decided to take out it's anger on our doormat. We didn't realize the cat was there until the whole building began to smell like Zoo and then we came home to the vicious feline itself hissing next to our door. At some point it got let out, because its smell and gracious gifts have gone.
And so have I, gone that is. WUJS is over and changes are happening all over.
I spent the last Shabbat and week in Arad, visiting the mall and bar that make up my desert experience along with the people I shared it with. It's strange that the last week people seemed less friendly than ever, everyone quiet at the last concert and not even as lively as I remember at the last Shabbat dinner I was forced to face. Our little group, not intact, went to the Dead Sea for our last Shabbat outing. Graduation night was excellent though. Everyone dressed up and went to go get our diplomas (which I don't think many people actually received because they skipped too many classes). First were speeaches; self-involved and business-oriented Alon's speech, sweet and stuttering Jonathan, then Zahava the Ulpan wench all in purple (but this time in teal with her usual pruple glasses) told us something in Hebrew, and then Tugs threw as all with a very sincere, not at all cloying speech. I put together a presentation for PSJ which went over pretty well, people roughly laughed at the right times and no one was hurt. There was a hysterical movie put together by Meghan, and one put together by the staff, and then a montage which seemed to capture bad photographs of just about everyone.
So I'm a bit sad, or lonely. I'm happy WUJS is over, even that week back reminded me of how annoyed I am by the lack of organization and their hiring practices "Do you have no idea what you're doing? Come work for WUJS!" There was a great PSJ talk-back session and you know Jonathan was always trying.
SO NOW. I've just moved to an apartment in Nachlaot. It's a neighborhood made up of the very religious and the very derelict. It's "up and coming" so it has not yet come, so there's a lot of young people and you can find a handful of Americans. The neighborhood lies just south of the Mahene Yehuda Shuk, the big open-air market with rock-bottom prices but you're likely to get trampeled or assaulted by dying fish. I kind of love it. Just a block away and I can get most anything I want at individual stores that cater to cheese, salads, stuffed vegetables, or sponges. This area is made up of tiny little streets that cars can't fit through, and everytime I leave the apartment I get lost. The apartment itself is great. MY OWN BEDROOM, oh how I have missed thee! The apartment is a good flight of stairs up, and there's a kosher kitchen (Joshua, my flatmate is vegetarian so we're keeping it dairy), a living room with a COUCH, oh the joy of sitting on cushions, a half-bathroom, and a dining room table and chairs and bookcase, and a little balcony that overlooks the alley. The upstairs has two bedrooms and a bathroom with an AMERICAN-PRESSURE SHOWER, oh delightful thing that I don't mind holding since you get soap out of my hair. We also have an attic, which is now storing most of our friends bags. I'm already all moved in and today when I wasn't buying neccesity items like potato salad I was cleaning the bathroom. Oh yes, I CLEANED.
Back to my flatmate. You may have heard him called Yohoshua, Joise (French, pronounced Yo-sway), or even Yoshiyahu. He is one of my greatest friends from WUJS. British, funny beyond words, quiet to the point of being unintelligible, polite to the point of being obnoxious. He is a far cry from living with 4 other girls. He's left me alone, our first weekend together and he's gone to Tel Aviv, but hopefully when he gets back we'll be forced to amuse each other and have a lot of fun. Last night we walked back from Tmol Shilshom (near Ben Yehuda in the City Center) and he kept going on and on about how he is now a Jerusalemite! I'm so excited for us!
Still, I miss my ladys of the night.
When you step in not-so-figurative doodoo
I'm sorry to be sharing this, but it needs to be done.
This morning began as most any other morning. My alarm went off, I waited half an hour to make sure I'd be good and late and then got in the shower. I stole someone's soap. I got dressed than headed to Daniela's room and asked her to lend me her clothing. I changed. I had a little breakfast and walked out my door, smiling and waving to my roommates and our guest, Petr. Then it happened. I slid off our front door mat. This is not at all usual. It took a moment for me to realize that someone went to the bathroom on our front mat.
SOMEONE WENT TO THE BATHROOM ON OUR FRONT MAT.
I screamed and headed back to the apartment, offended shoe off of course, and scrubbed my poor little sandal in the sink while everyone who hadn't slid into human waste had a good laugh. Now the immediate problem is what to do with the soiled mat, and the real issue, who will do it. Safely tucked away in the Seeds of Peace office, also the most victimized, I hope it is not me. There is also a question about the deliberateness of this attack; did someone mistake the mat for a toilet? was someone just very much in need of the bathroom and literally could not hold it? or is this the Russian mafia from Arad sending us a pretty clear message to stop our meddling in their sex and drug trafficking...
This also leads me to existential and philosophical questions. The main one being, is this post-Zionism? If this were still the socialist, kibbutz-oriented country, would people be using one anothers doormats this way? Is this what capitalism and progress bring to people, a sense of alienation and impotent anger? Or is it just The Matzav, the Situation? Has the Intifada reduced people from building walls and throwing stones to now voicing their ethnic hatreds through their tushies?
Where did we go wrong?
My 5 Year Plan
Well, no not really, but at least for the next few months. There is some shocking stuff in here, so make sure you're sitting down...
GOOD BYE HP!
My family is moving! Now that all the kids are safely away (strangely all on to he East coast) my Mom and Dad have decided to leave Highland Park behind for Cleveland. I will regret writing this, but I think I'm going to miss Highland Park. JAPpy, snobbish, unrealistic, and sheltered city that it is, it's also been home for the last 12 years of my life and a place that gave me a great education, both in school and in spotting fake Pradas. I know how very lucky I was to grow up in such a place and although I don't want to raise my future family there, I was hoping to bring my kids on vacation for some Hot Tamales. I hear the area my parents are moving to is the Highland Park of Ohio, which I imagine means lots of rich Jews. I'm just scared to think I'll never feel "at home" again when I'm on school vacations. Still, I'm excited for my Dad to be in a firm where he will feel successful, a bit nervous for my mom to make her place there. Most bizarre is that Shira will still be getting married at NSCI (she made us choose that synagogue because she wanted her wedding there, this was when she was 14!) and we'll all be there, but staying in hotels and not having people over to our house.
So those of you in HP, please be around from June 18-July 1 this summer so I can say hello/goodbye while packing up my room!SUMMER TIME
I'm going today to sign over for my Jerusalem apartment! It's in Nachlaot, a slightly religious area just near the Mahane Yehuda shuk and west of the downtown area. It's a new area I've never lived before (I've covered Emek Refaim down south and Giva HaZarfatit up north) so I'm pretty excited to save on cab rides and see a whole new area. I just need to find an organization that wants me to work for them for free.... hmmm. So I will be in NY for a weekend for orientation (see grad school below) from June 15-18, staying with my sister and getting to know the area. Then on to pack up boxes (see moving above) in Highland Park from June 19-July 1. Then back to Jerusalem to volunteer/ travel around until late August when I head back to NY. I hope I can convince Asher to spend some of the summer time around here...
GRAD SCHOOL
Oh yes, decision has been made. I will be attending Teachers College of Columbia University this fall and working towards my MA in Peace Education. There were a few deciding factors: 1. I decided the education aspect was really important to me and my future career 2. Teachers College was recently ranked 2nd nationally for best education program 3. Their program is structured so that if I choose to work towards my MA it's only a year and a half, and if I decide to work towards a Masters of Education, it's another year and a half on top of that, so there's flexibility in the program and if I decide that I need a total life change, I can do that after only a little over a year commitment. 4. New York scares me beyond all comprehension, and is therefore someplace I should be. As Shira and Brian keep telling me, it's something you should try once in your life so you never have to do it again. 5. Not a deciding factor, but a bonus, is that I will be closer to Shira. I think it will be really good for us to be in the same city (but not the same apartment) and get to bond. I will also get to support her in preparing for her wedding (sampling cake, choosing colors for dresses and flowers), and get to enjoy hanging out with Mike. Having family in the area makes the scariness maybe a little less.
I really enjoy making longterm plans. It makes me feel very goal oriented and successful. SO there's roughly the next year and a half of my life, DONE.
JAPAN
I just got back from a 10 day trip to Japan with Brian. It was utter and complete culture shock. I know for a fact that in all my past lives I was never Asian. It's hard to describe it very well, but I'll try to give a brief outline.
Pictures at kodakgallery.com,
kinneretkohn@gmail.com, password: israel (lower case)
We took Alitalia from Israel to Milan (perhaps the worst airport in all Western Europe; the only shopping was Ferrari or Dolce and Gabana and there were no comfortable seat). On the ride to Japan we were offered an Italian meal or Japanese, and the stewardesses didn't really listen for the answer but gave you your meal based on racial profiling. So I returned my safe ravioli for some sobe (cold buckwheat noodles) and sushi (perhaps salmon?). This was not so much my choice but a test that Brian had set up. From here on out I can't vouch for the spelling of anyone's or anything's name...
Arriving in Tokyo we took the 3 hour train ride to our ryokan (traditional hostel) and although it was a hassle with all the luggage it was a nice way to be introduced to the sprawling city. By the time we arrived and took off our shoes to enter our room and then place our things around our bedrolls on tatami mats, we had to go out to meet up Madoka. Madoka is Brian's friend from elementary school and the reason we were in Japan, to attend his wedding party. We went to a very stylish and hidden restaurant and there met with Madoka, Dyjoon (the kindest person on Earth, who went far out of his way to try to speak English with us), Madoka's wife Nizoomi, two other very kind friends, and Vo, Brian's "brother" who we would be traveling with for the next week.
We headed out early for Kyoto and spent the next two days there. On the ride over we took the shinkansen, a bullet train that goes faster than a landing plain. Brian is obsessed with most forms of transportation, especially trains, so I am full of facts, email me and ask whatever you want. Kyoto is a very traditional looking city with wooden houses, lots of pickled vegetables to taste, tea ceremonies to watch, and tourists to walk amongst. We (Brian and Me, Vo is Vietnamese-American) were the only white people, and that was a first for me. There were a lot of tourists, but all Asian. We saw a love shrine and the Golden Shrine and walked in a bamboo forest which was gargantuan. Kyoto was used for the outdoor scenes in Memoirs of a Geisha, if that helps give you an idea of the city.
We went back the night of the 6th to Tokyo so that we would be ready for the wedding party the next day. I wasn't sure at all what to expect, but it was a beautiful party. Madoka and Nizoomi had been married two months before, but none of their friends had been invited, so they re-enacted the bridal walk down the aisle and exchanged vows. Although it was all in Japanese, it was easy to understand that these two people are very much in love, and all the speeches given were saying so. It was an interesting mix of traditional Japanese culture and modern. One doesn't give gifts at a wedding, but a designated amount of money because homes in Japan are tiny and gifts would take up all the living space. Everyone at the party was gorgeous, and although I'm hardly fashionable, I couldn't take my eyes off all the women's shoes the entire trip. Brian's only regret was there wasn't any dancing.
Nikko was our destination for the next two days. It's a mountain town up North and we got there just in time for the fog to roll in and cover the city with drizzle. Walking around in cold wet weather to half-see shrines didn't put me in a good mood. That night we had dinner, yakitori which is grilled meats, in a little restaurant with business cards and mementos put up by guests from around the world. I saw Bukeye memorabilia (Ohio just leave me alone already) and Brian and I left a Nisha's card (Probably the best pub in Arad!). The next day we continued touring in nominally better light.
We headed back for Tokyo to spend the night, and the next day Vo was on his way back to Seattle and computers. Brian and I took a very long train ride down to Hiroshima. I've been interested in visiting Hiroshima for a long time, and especially wanted to see the Peace Memorial Museum. We arrived in the late afternoon, hungry, and went for the fastest and easiest food we could find: McDonalds. I was pretty shocked, THE American food standard standing in the middle of a city absolutly devestated by the US. It's like having a bratwurst restaurant next to Aushwitz.
The museum is incredible; it lays out very succinctly Japan's rising militarism that lead up to WWII, then a brief history of Hiroshima as a city, then discussed the creation of the Atomic bomb, and later America's rationale for using the Atomic bomb in Japan and why Hiroshima and Nagasaki were chosen. Then it showed models of the utter and complete damage that was wrought by the bombing. The only word I can use is Holocaustal. I could go on and on about the horrors that were depicted in models and decribed by survivors, but what struck me was the complete hope and lack of vengeance that the survivors and the museum promoted. The whole exhibition was a warning, a plea, to make sure that an Atomic bombing never happens again. There was an exhibition showing all the letters written by Hiroshima's mayors calling on different countries that have participated in testing or building nuculear bombs to cease their activities in the name of humanity. It was truly moving, especially since the most recent letters were all addressed to George W. Bush. You really wonder how people live without shame. Around the museum are a number of memorials; one to Korean victims of the bombing who had been in Hiroshima as slave laborers by the Japanese and who had not been recognized until recently, a memorial arch and eternally burning torch, and a burial mound with the ashes from the many 1,000s of victims who could never be identified and every year more victims who have died of cancer or other radiation related diseases are interred. There was also a children's memorial which depicts Sadoka, a young girl who survived the bombing when she was two and developed cancer and died when she was 12. In Japanese culture there is a belief that if you fold 1,000 origami cranes any wish you make wil come true, and Sadoka worked her last years to do just that in order to wish for life. She never completed the project, but her schoolmates took it up after her and now school groups that visit the museum bring with them strings of cranes. That night we headed to a little noodle place and then a tiny bar with two patrons and a friendly bartender. They ended up buying our drinks and plying us with Japanese snacks (mmmm, squid!) and we had great conversations about Israel, scuba diving, and Hiroshima being the best city in Japan.
We headed back for Tokyo and stopped in Hijemi along the way. It's home to Hijemi castle, the epitome of Japanese feudal architecture. It's very different from European castles, much lighter and basic with white walls instead of gold brocade. There was no furniture but there were some military costumes and scrolls of art. Also lots of little windows perfect for throwing rocks or pouring down oil on not-so-welcome guests.
We spent our last days in Tokyo trying lots of interesting foods. Cabbage pancakes cooked on the table in front of us, more udon and kitzune (my favorite), octopus balls (I kid you not). We walked in the red-light district, and quickly ran away. We had out last dinner with Madoka and Dyjoon and Aki and then headed back for Israel.
Now I'm breaking free of jet lag and excited to share my pictures and the gifts I brought back for family (and myself!)
