Big Orange Backpack

I'm in Aroma cafe, spending my last hour in Jerusalem hanging out and grabbing a bite to eat before catching my taxi to Ben Gurion airport. Today has been a really slow, bizarre, and disjointed day. First with my exam, which I feel like I performed competently on, then back to my room for a short nap before going to the cafeteria. I then had that amazing and awful conversation with, I'm not sure if I feel comfortable mentioning his name on a public forum, but the boyfriend of a victim of the suicide bombing on campus four years ago today. Then walking back to my dorm a giant demostration of Arab students against the Lebanese 'war'? I'm not sure what Hebrew University had to do with it, or why they were protesting them... But maybe it was just the closest Jewish thing they could yell at. I don't know. Then packing up with Julie, and sitting here at Aroma for the past few hours waiting for my van.. I can't believe I'm leaving. I'm really excited to get back to see Lori and Karen, Sonnet, Gregory, Sal, my grandparents eventually. Being away from home, and the people I really care about has made me realise how much I need them in my life. It's been an amazing summer. I learned so much, not just Hebrew, but about myself, about Israel, about life. I can't wait to come back, and I haven't even left yet.

Today I was sitting in the cafeteria, and honestly feeling very uneasy about it. I was very aware that four years ago today nine students, like myself, were murdered by a bomb in that same room. I ate fairly quickly, and uneasily, even though I was really looking forward to that meal for two days. This guy came up to me as I was finishing and asked if I went to Rutgers (I have my Rutgers Hillel shirt on), and I was really frustrated at first, because I really felt so uncomfortable being there I just wanted to leave, and I didn’t want to be kept there. And he asked, do you know what happened here four years ago today? And I said, the bombing, yeah I know, I’ve been thinking about it the whole time I was sitting here. He asked how much Hebrew University had told us about what had happened, and I told him it was never mentioned, and he looked sad. And I realised he wasn’t just some jerk invading my privacy and private space, that actually something was honestly bothering him. So I gave him an inquisitive look, and he told me that his girlfriend, Marla, was one of the people killed, that he planned on marrying her. I immediately teared up, realising the gravity of what he was saying… I was near tears for our entire conversation, which lasted almost an hour. We talked about mundane and not mundane things, about the bombing, how it was carried out, how he brought her back on his flight home with her in steerage, the fight with Hebrew University to get a memorial with names and a plaque in English, how awful Hebrew University was with us and the Lebanese situation, his job and what he’s doing in Israel now, how they met… It made me think of a lot of things, of what it would be like to lose Greg, especially in the violent and unexpected way in which he lost his girlfriend Marla, what that entire experience must have been like… And for as much loss as I’ve experienced, understanding that kind of loss is beyond my realm of comprehension. He went into Frank Sinatra cafeteria the day after it happened, with smoke and blood still everywhere, and looked at the place in which his girlfriend was blown up. It reminded me of all of my D-day anniversaries (I’ve had three for mommy so far, and the one for daddy is rolling around the bend). I really empathised with him sitting there, feeling so lost and alone, feeling like nobody there understood or felt his pain. The whole world is moving around you conducting, to take a que from the Motster himself, “business as usual”, however you are in so much pain and grief you almost can’t breathe.. I really hope that our paths cross again.

Tomorrow is my final exam. I hope I can sit on the plane tomorrow night. I have to pack all my crap tomorrow after my final, which reminds me, I have to book my airport shuttle. I leave the dorms at around 7:30, my flight is at 1AM.

My butt hurts.

Letter #5 from the RIS Provost

July 27, 2006



Dear students and parents,

Today’s letter has two purposes:

1. To address the students who are completing their July programs (Jerusalem Ulpan, Summer Institutes, and additional short summer programs) and leaving us next week.

2. To welcome the students who registered for the Summer Hebrew Ulpan starting in the first week of August.



I would like to convey my great respect, admiration and sincere thanks to the 478 students who decided to stay with us in Jerusalem in spite of the disturbing events which Israel has been facing during the past two weeks. We tried to do our very best to enable you to go on normally with your classes and extracurricular activities, providing you with background information on the current events and with the necessary support to confront stress and anxiety. You showed us your strength and determination, and your parents extended us their full support and encouragement. We also admire and value the decision taken by the 150 students of Haifa University who decided to move to Mount Scopus, together with their teachers and program directors, and continue their Ulpan program interrupted by the hostilities affecting the city of Haifa. All of you have contributed to ratify our strength and determination to continue our academic life and hope for a better future in this troubled part of the world.



As you know, continuity is a very precious universal value. One of the hallmarks of Jewish continuity is to start a new cycle of Torah reading on the same day we finish the previous cycle. Continuity is also a cherished principle at the Rothberg International School and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Immediately after our July students will depart, we will start with our summer Ulpan. Many of those attending this Ulpan enrolled in the fall semester and one-year programs for undergraduate students, and in the graduate studies programs. I would like to warmly welcome these students and am ready, together with our devoted staff, to answer any questions raised by them or their parents.



I reaffirm to our incoming students the “business as usual” message conveyed previously to our departing July students. We are going to start the summer Ulpan as scheduled (August 9, 2006), hoping that student attendance will be maximal, and thus showing again our common commitment to continuity.



Lehitraot to those of you who are leaving, and Bruchim Habayim to those arriving!

Prof. Jaime Kapitulnik

Lance Bass came out. Goodbye all joy in life.

Julie and I just arrived back from the Red Sea. It was an AMAZING weekend... I can't wait to get the photos back from the underwater camera.. but more on that in a minute..

We took the 5 o'clock bus down to Eilat and checked into our hostel around 9:30pm. We walked down the boardwalk, and I took a tiny dip into the Red Sea. We bought excellent corn on the cob from a shomer negiah man, and ate it on the beach overlooking Jordan. It was unreal. I had heard that Eilat was great, and that it was like a mini-Las Vegas. However, I have never felt the desire to go to Las Vegas... I thought that meant it was all gambling. What I think people meant was that it was a great city in the middle of the desert.. an oasis if you will. So we walked around for a few hours and then went back to the hostel to catch some shut eye. On Friday we went and rented snorkles at our hostel before taking a cab to "Snuba Beach", within the Coral Reef Nature Preserve. We bought a camera the night before and snorkled and took photos.. I really hope the all came out. We were under water for four hours, and the things that I saw... I'm so unbelievably lucky.. I'm not a beach person, so I never thought I'd get to a place where I could snorkle with tropical fish in a coral reef.. But there I was, in the middle of schools of fish, touching coral. We were so close to Egypt that we actually swam into it by accident, and the border guards started yelling at us to come back to Israel. I guess they missed us. Afterwards we went out to an amazing steak lunch, the first time I have eaten good meat in months. We, however, made one fateful error. We did not apply sun screen to our bums. And we are dearly paying for it now. Four hours butt up in 106 degree weather in the desert in July... Yeah. We thought we had to go to the hospital it was so bad. We went and bought four different kinds of aloe (within three trips to the Super Pharm), and we dropped our pants in public places to apply it three times, we were in so much pain we just didn't care. So today we went to the Aquarium, which was sort of a rip off, but maybe we were just much less impressed with the fish in the glass because we had swam with them the day before, or because we were in a lot of pain and kids kept shoving past us and hitting our burns. We were dreading getting on the bus back to Jerusalem and sitting the whole time.. but it wasn't SO bad. And here we are. The bus stopped right outside of Hebrew University and we asked the driver to let us off, which he did, and we jumped off and were able to get a free trip back.

This was my weekend. It was one of the most amazing of my life. Tomorrow is my last full day in Israel. It's a bit devistating.

Julie and I are leaving for Eilat this weekend, and spending Friday day there, and half of Saturday. I'm so excited, Leslie, a girl in my class, gave me information about snorkling in the Red Sea, and she said it was AMAZING. Apparently the beaches are absolutely packed down there, and especially now with all of the people from the North escaping Katushas, but she said at the snorkling place it's deserted, and tropical fish swim through your legs. Julie and I are going to try and buy an underwater disposable camera when we get there, and spend all of Friday snorkling. On Saturday we might go to a market, or just sit on the beach a bit and walk around. I have to do Hebrew homework on the way down, and on the way back I have to study for my final on Monday. I have class as usual on Sunday, without review, just trying to barrel through the material, and then our test is at 9-11:30 AM on Monday. I am going to pack on Monday, and I'm having a van pick me up here at around 7pm for my 1am flight. I'm so excited about so many things right now. Going snorkling, hanging out with Julie on our last weekend together... finishing my class... packing (and going through all the cool stuff that I've bought this summer)... getting on a plane and RELAXING for the first time in two months for more than five hours... getting off the plane and seeing my Aunt Karen and Lori... seeing my apartment again (I thought when I left that I'd never see her again, and we did not have a proper goodbye)... getting on a bus and CONTINUING to relax (no homework, no studying, no worries)... hanging out in DC and then seeing Gregory... then going home to Sal and hanging out with the Campos... then seeing Sonnet.... This summer is going to be great. It's already been fabulous. I can't wait to get to New Brunswick to hang out with Candice, Greg, Tony, Vita... I've got butterflies at all the amazing stuff I have lined up for me in the next day, week, month.

I'll blog when I get home. But just so everyone knows in case anything happens, Eilat is the southern-most tip of Israel, right next to Egypt and Jordan, on the Red Sea. My phone will still work, and if something happens I'll make every effort to blog, but everything should be fine as the problems are all in the north, and I'm getting as far away from there while still in Israel.

You can look at all of my photos on my facebook page.

the link:

http://rutgers.facebook.com/photos.php?id=8818340&l=18495

Okay, I exaggerate, however, I did get to eat pasta last night. Julie and I were going stir crazy in our room and decided to go for a walk in the French Hill neighbourhood right outside our dorms. However, we discovered that town may not exist, considering we walked for fifteen minutes and all we saw were Hebrew University dorms in the process of being built. I finally convinced her to come into the city with me and get something to eat, even though we're broke and didn't want to spend money on food, I just couldn't handle peanut butter sandwiches or falafel anymore. We decided to go to a pasta bar, and all we talked about the whole cab ride was what we were going to get. It was uber exciting. However, we then stopped at an ATM to get money, but the machine ate my card. I yelled at it, pressed all of its buttons, but to no avail. I called my bank and got the card cancelled, and I'm hoping that I'll last on 200 shekels the rest of the week (which I think I will). It was G-d's way of telling me not to take out or spend more money.. and I heard Him.

I had something else witty to say.. and I lost it. Oh wells. Plans for this weekend are still up in the air - we're going to try and get down to Eilat, but a lot of people have gone down there, escaping the north, so it might be all booked up. We might just end up going up to Haifa... j/k... I joke don't worry. Jake and I are going into the city today so I can buy a crappy duffel at the shuk, and finish the last of my gift shopping. Humn, that 200 shekels might not last me afterall. Julie offered to lend me money and I can write her a check in American dollars, I think I'll have to do that. Pooh.

Anywho, that's all the news fit to print. My oral exam is on Thursday, my final on Monday, and my flight on Monday night.

I miss Israel already.

Below I have copied and pasted a journal entry I wrote last week trying to decide what I should do about my August program.. I apparently was very abrupt in my last post, and a lot of people have questioned why I've decided to leave when I seemed so intent on staying. So here's hoping y'all get it now..

I'm so excited to eat pasta when I get home. And sushi. And Chinese food... mmmm.. Chinese food.

This decision, to stay or go, has pretty much consumed my life, all my thoughts for days, I haven’t slept. I am totally and completely at a loss for what to do. I’m concerned that it might not have altogether everything to do with the Hezbollah situation. I started taking a pro con list last night, due to some inspiration from Candice, but it’s so much more than that, so much more grey than black and white. After this month I will be five credits behind on graduation, and if I stay I will be back on track to graduate on time. However, I could remedy that in a month at CCNY this summer, or come back and do another ulpan. I would really like my Hebrew to get better, and if I leave… well I could just take Hebrew at Rutgers. And if I took it for two semesters at Rutgers, I would only be three credits behind, and could just take an extra class one semester or a winter or summer class. The credits issue isn’t a huge one. I would also love to go to Istanbul, but I’m just kind of sick of travelling, especially to Islamic countries, I don’t think I ever want to do it again without a man, and since Jake wouldn’t come… I don’t know who else I would want to spend five days with. If I came back early, I wouldn’t be in debt for the summer, I wouldn’t owe Aunt Karen any money, and I could be in the black for next semester and get a new iPod and go where I want during breaks (Montreal, Malibu, Rochester). Also, especially with this new situation, I feel totally trapped up here on Mt. Scopus. I’m bored. After the Israel Museum and Mt. of Olives, Jerusalem is pretty much tapped out. And now, with the north cut off, Israel is getting smaller by the day (now Tel Aviv is off-limits). And at least now I have Jake and Julie, but next month there will be far fewer people, and the majority of them will be French. I will be even more bored then I was this month, struggling to improve my language skills in Hebrew AND French. And I didn’t really get a chance to see anyone before I left, and it would be nice to spend time just sitting around and hanging out with the Campos, and it would be amazing to see Sonnet. And help Lori move, and maybe spend a weekend out in West Hampton. And I could see Gregory, and he could meet Sal. I think I’d like him to. And with this attempted suicide bombing, I’m nervous. Okay, I glossed over Gregory a bit. I miss him. We could take a weekend trip somewhere. We can be a couple without anything hanging over our heads, school, work… And just be. We’ve never had that before, not for more than a weekend. This is not a cop-out. I’m in the middle of a country that is at war on two fronts. I’ve been gone for two months. I’ve spent over a year of my life abroad, and this isn’t who I am anymore. I haven’t had a break since May 10th, almost four months. I was busting my ass at the end of the semester, then finals, immediately started work non-stop for a week, then I was running around getting ready to leave, trying to see everyone beforehand. This has been a great trip, and I’ve been so lucky to have seen and done all that I have. But I’m ready.

This all sounds like I’m trying to let myself go home.

This is an amazing opportunity that I’m throwing away though. But I’ve been here two months. I’m just tired, it would be fun, yeah, if I hadn’t already been here a month before I started this travelling. But I’m growing really tired of reading of rockets in my backyard, of feeling scared in a crowded place, of pita and falafel, of feeling lonely (and that would only get worse). And if I get off a plane right after finishing these intense classes and start Fall semester immediately, I will be burned out before we even start.

I just tried to turn the table on myself. And it still sounds like I want to go home.

One of my things, though, was I would go back, be sitting around bored, and then things would ameliorate, and I would regret leaving. But I just read in the Times a major Israeli general said this would last weeks. I doubt I’ll have much of an opportunity to go up north, even if I stay. And this will not be the last time I come home to Israel.

Considering this was my last weekend in Jerusalem, I can say it now, I've decided to go, I really pushed myself to get out and see the rest of what I haven't seen in this amazing city. On Friday Julie and I went to the Israel Museum, and then we went out to dinner and dessert with a lot of friends, it was a great time. Yesterday we walked the ramparts above the Old City, but for the past two days I've still felt pretty ill, and yesterday walking the ramparts I felt like I was going to puke and or pass out, so I decided to take today off and really get over whatever this is. So I did. And that's my life.

I come back August 1 into JFK at 530AM, but I'm going to take the bus down that morning to DC to see Greg, Sal, and last but certainly NOT least, Sonnet A. Frisbie Extraordinare, from Belgium, who I have not seen in two years and who I'm dying to see.

Letter #4 from the RIS Provost
July 23, 2006

Dear Parents,
I am here again with you with another update. I would have liked to tell you that hostilities have ceased, and that there is no more need to send you these updates. However, I can now only pray together with you that peace shall return very soon to our area and a new and prosperous future will .

Your children are doing very well at the Rothberg School. They are not disconnected from the events, and some of them may be more anxious than the others. We are doing our very best to help these students to confront stress and anxiety, with the assistance of the School's psychologist and counselors (BULSHIT, WHAT COUNSELORS?). Your stimulating letters and phone calls also contribute to their peace of mind and tranquility. I take this opportunity to thank from the bottom of my heart the many parents who responded to my

You will be interested to know that we are hosting at the Mount Scopus dorms 150 overseas students from Haifa University, who arrived here this week and restarted their interrupted Hebrew Ulpan program. I believe that this clearly indicates that students feel safe in Jerusalem, and thus see no reason to leave Israel. (MORE THAN HALF OF THEM HAVE LEFT)

As I already informed you, we had a general assembly of students and staff, with a briefing on the situation by Elihu Ben Onn. (WITH NO INFORMATION ABOUT ANY KIND OF SECURITY OR EVACUATION PLAN)

Last Tuesday the students visited Jaffa and Nachalat Binyamin (Tel Aviv), and on Thursday and Friday they went on a tour to Masada and Nachal David (at Ein Gedi).
We also arranged an evening of Israeli Folk Dancing together with our guests from Haifa University.

A large group of students was received by Mr. Charles Goodman, Chairman of the Hebrew University Board of Governors, Prof. Menachem Magidor, President of the Hebrew University, and Prof. Haim Rabinowitz, Rector of the Hebrew University. This was a very warm meeting, in which the students expressed their feelings of safety and satisfaction with their studies at the Rothberg School. (WHO WERE HANDPICKED TO TELL THEM WHAT THEY WANTED TO HEAR)

Best wishes.
Prof. Jaime Kapitulnik

I think I'm going into Tel Aviv tonight to go to a beer festival... and tomorrow I'm going to try and wake up early to get to the Israel Museum, but probably won't happen, so Julie and I are going to try and tour the aquaducts under Jerusalem, and if that doesn't work out, go up to the Mt. of Olives. And Saturday I'm walking the ramparts over Jerusalem with Gavin. I have way too many plans for this weekend.

And in lighter news. I have food poisioning. Thank you Aroma Cafe.

We're moving very fast through our book, although I can't believe we're only on chapter three.

Still alive. Just wanted to remind everyone.

I went to the shuk today to buy some more fruit, and discovered that it's cheaper when it's not closer to Shabbos. We walked around Ben Yehuda for a little while and I got a new backpack from Steve's Packs, a smaller one so I don't bring a backpacking napsack to class all the time.

Two kids from my class have left. I wonder if anymore will follow. I'm going to contact Hebrew University and see if my August program is still on, because they might drop it if too many people deregister. Most of the people doing it haven't come yet, and I think chances could be high that the program will be cancelled.

More bombings in Haifa. Same old.

http://rutgers.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2058551&l=d75f8&id=8818340

All the kids from the Haifa University ulpan showed up tonight with all of their bags when we were outside our dorms smoking hookah and drinking tonight. We all thought they knew something we didn't (shows our faith in Hebrew University) and thought they were fleeing, but they told us they were actually fleeing towards us, and it made me feel a bit better. I was so close to going to Haifa this summer instead of here, it has a much nicer campus, program, view, etc. The only reason I didn't go was because they had a medical form, and I didn't feel like going to Hurtado medical centre on campus and getting it filled out. Hehe, thank you Haifa for having a medical form, now I don't have to get evacuated.

Dear Provost Kapitulnik,

I felt as though today's meeting did not address my, nor my peers concerns regarding security procedures here on Mount Scopus campus. Information that I thought needed to be disseminated but was not includes safety procedures in the event of an emergency (i.e.: location of bomb shelters). If there were to be an attack, how would students know, who would they contact, and where would would they go? These are all extremely relevant and important questions that I was shocked were not mentioned or answered at today's meeting. The briefing was interesting, however, not relevant to my security on campus, and this is what should have been addressed. I feel as though it would be very appropriate for this information to be made readily available to all Rothberg students.

Thank you,
Bethany Murphy

Things here, as the Provost said, are indeed business as usual. I'm going to be honest, but, thankfully most of that will be reassuring to the MANY people that have begged me to come home. The conflict has not expanded past Lebanon, and it doesn't look as if it will, as Syria or Iran would have come to their aid days ago. The real danger is to Haifa and north, which is two hours north of where I am now. Tel Aviv to Haifa are on alert. However, in Jerusalem, especially on Mt. Scopus, I am in the safest place in Israel - no joke. During the 94 Gulf War, when scuds were attacking Tel Aviv, they always passed over Jerusalem, because there is a large Arab population with some of the most holy sites in Islam here. My campus is surrounded by Arab villages. The greatest danger to Israelis at the moment are rockets, however, these rockets have a limited range, and the longest they could POSSIBLY reach, as far as Israeli intelligence is aware, is Tel Aviv.

The meeting today was highly uninformative, as to evacuation plans and the what not. I do not feel safe leaving my decision to leave up to Hebrew University. I do not think they have kept us abreast of information or developments at all, and I realised that it was a very hands off program from the second I got out of the taxi here and there were no signs or directions. The meeting today only increased that assumption. Their way of trying to make us feel safe was saying "don't worry, we have gas masks and bomb shelters, and we can just conduct class down there." If the decision has to be made to leave, it will be up to me. My fear is that I will come to the decision that it IS, in fact, time to leave, but every other American will come to that conclusion at the same time I do, and flights will book up. However, I have registered with the American Embassy here, and I trust that accomidations will be made in the event that I need to evacuate immediately. I have some thresholds in which, if they are crossed, I will leave:
If the conflict expands past Lebanon into Syria or Iran.,
If the West Bank flares up.,
If suicide bombings begin to occur on a regular basis.

My decision to stay or leave has been made and unmade about three times already. The question is do I stay for my August program or not, without question I will make every effort to stay through the month of July and finish my Jerusalem ulpan. Right now, however, I would really like to stay, and I will be watching the latest developments in order to help me make that decision. If things stay as is or improve, I will stay until September 1st. I have until August 8th to decide if I want to stay, and I will be watching the news closely in order to help me make that decision. I won't be a martyr, if I decide things are dangerous I will be fighting to get on a plane out. But right now, in Jerusalem, there is very little danger. However, I knew coming here that this wasn't the safest corner of the world, and that things could very well heat up. This was a risk I was aware I was taking before I came, and I did not believe then, nor do I believe at this moment that the risk is too great.

I'm available via cell phone, I'm on AIM a lot, I check my e-mail as much here as I did back home (aka a million times a day). Please, don't worry too much. Easier said than done, but there it is. What is being shown on American TV is very overblown. If you can't stand to watch the news, don't. I appreciate all of your concern and input, however, my decision to stay or leave will, of course be impacted by all of you, however I alone can and will make that choice, and it cannot be made for me by family, friends, or boyfriends. This is not directed towards anyone in particular, but more to everyone. I have heard everyone's opinion that has one - and there are a lot. I'm taking them all into consideration.

Much love from the holy land.
Bethany

Letter #2 from the RIS Provost

July 16, 2006

Dear parents,

As promised in my first letter, I will keep you regularly informed on the current events and the activities of our students/your sons and daughters.

Last Thursday, July 13, the School's administration met with all the program directors and decided to continue our regular activities. The contacts of the madrichim (counselors) with the students were intensified. The counselors were instructed to provide the students with all the available information on the crisis, guide them as to safety measures, and extend them all the necessary moral support (including psychological counseling).

I was informed by the Director of OSA (Mr. Motty Butbul) that the students' mood is optimal and spirits are high. All the students are eager to complete their programs and enriching experience in Israel.

During the weekend the students visited the new Yad Vashem museum (the Holocaust Martyrs and Heroes Museum) accompanied by their madrichim. This was followed by a visit to Yitzhak Rabin's memorial in Mt. Hertzl and by an activity about Zionism.

Today we will have a general assembly of the students in which we will update them on the events, offer a lecture on the crisis by a well known political analyst, and answer their questions.

During the weekend I received a few letters from parents who inquired about the plans of the RIS if the escalation of events requires an early departure of the students. I would like to confer you a clear and candid message, understanding perfectly your concerns and worries. The crisis is fortunately (a sad word in the present circumstances) far from Jerusalem. Nevertheless, we are fully alert and prepared to handle properly any undesirable events. Please keep in mind that during previous crises in Israel, we were never disconnected from the rest of the world and people were able to leave the country if so desired. At this point in time, we do not consider necessary to "evacuate" the students. We will follow closely the situation and keep you informed about our further steps.

Meanwhile, I would like you to remain calm and fully rely on our past experience and responsibility. This will assist us in keeping "business as usual" and will also permit our students to complete their academic programs and enriching experience in Jerusalem.

Please visit our website (overseas.huji.ac.il) for additional information, and feel free to contact us with questions and comments.

I thank you for your understanding and partnership!



Prof. Jaime Kapitulnik

It's crazy how a few days ago I never would have thought that I'd be seriously considering not doing my August program. But I'm seriously considering it. CNN Headline: Hezbollah ready for 'open war'. I can hear, what I hope is just practice, shells being set off. Last night they sounded like they were right down the mountain. I called my grandparents last night to reassure them, but they ended up reassuring me. Granted, I'm really freaked out right now, but I don't want to put out the impression that I'm debilitated by fear and that I don't go out and have fun - because I do. Tonight I went to what I suppose is Chabad House for Hebrew University and had "Shabbos dinner" - which was fairly awful, but food is food. And when it's free I can't really complain. If fighting moves beyond Lebanon, or if it moves into the West Bank, I think I'm going to leave. Sorry, this is sort of scattered. Today we went into the Old City, we were going to walk the ramparts, but it's apparently closed on Fridays, so we might go tomorrow. We (Gavin, Josh and Jake) went to the Church of the HS because I had to pick up something for a friend, and Josh and Gavin had never been before. We had a great time walking around, and I finished my souvenir shopping, and picked up a tshirt and Hebrew University sweatshirt for myself. The military presence was unreal, there were soldiers with guns when we turned every corner, and the mood was very tense around the Arab quarter, I can't imagine what it was like inside. It's a very interesting time to be here, I'll say that.

Today I had my second test, which I don't believe went quite as well as the first one - however she was not giving us the answers as ridiculously as she was on the last one.. However I do think it went pretty well, and I also got a quiz back from a few days ago and I got a 92 - and I would've gotten a 96 if I hadn't made some stupid mistakes.. But then again, aren't most mistakes stupid?

I went to the shuk with Gavin, Josh and Seth as well, picking up massive amounts of fruit and pita. I'm losing crazy amounts of weight here, it's sort of awesome, except right before I left my aunt Karen brought me shopping for new pants because the ones I had were too big, and now the new ones are too big too. I've mostly been eating hummous, pita and turkey sandwiches and snacking on cereal and eating more fruit than I ever have. It's been AMAZING.

In sad news, my iPod is broken, and despite airmailing it out to New York where my cousin airmailed it out to California, she's kapput. Apple says I damaged it myself and won't replace it. But, I can now purchase a slick black iPod video. With what money, I am not sure. I'll work a lot when I get back.

Tomorrow Gavin and I are going to the old city to walk the ramparts and walk inside the aquaducts, and if Josh comes we will go back to the Church of the Holy Sep., and I can pick some more stuff for friends, and bring Toegang this time and get some shots of him on Jesus' tomb.

I was supposed to go to Safed this weekend, but that got cancelled due to the incursion into Lebanon and the bombing this morning, so we decided to go to Acre instead, but then that got cancelled due to the Lebanese bombs in Nahariya. Not that Jerusalem is that bad of a place to be.. But if this doesn't clear up my trip to Petra (in Jordan) is cancelled.. and I just hope this stops escallating. Everytime I open CNN it just keeps getting worse: case in point: I just openned it to get the name of the town besides Safed that was bombed (Nahariya) and I see: News Alert: Israel’s foreign ministry says it has information that Lebanese guerrillas are trying to transfer the captured Israeli soldiers to Iran, The Associated Press reports. CNN is working to confirm.

It just keeps getting better. I'll, again, continue to post as I can if the situation changes.

July 13, 2006

Shalom,

The students enrolled in the Ulpan, Summer Institutes and Language Courses at the Rothberg International School are enjoying a stimulating program of intellectual and experiential challenges. The School administration is making sure that students are well aware of the latest developments and are taking the necessary safety precautions, as delineated in our publications and orientation meetings.

The madrichim (counselors) will be initiating meetings with students today and during the weekend to provide general information. All the madrichim will be available to deal with personal issues, questions and anxieties. The School’s psychologist will provide additional counseling, if desired or needed.

Next week, the School will hold an assembly with experts who will provide an in-depth analysis of the situation and will answer questions.

We are pleased to report that life in Jerusalem has not been affected in any way by the developments along Israel’s southern and northern borders, and we hope this situation will continue.

If you have any additional questions or comments, do not hesitate to contact us.

Best Regards,


Prof. Jaime Kapitulnik
Provost
Rothberg International School

I'm not so much a fan of being in Israel at this very moment. Two more soldiers have been kidnapped along the Lebanese border by Hezbollah and the Israeli government, seeing as how Hezbollah is a major player in Lebanese politics, has viewed this move as an act of war between the two states, as opposed to a terrorist act. Israel has stated that the Lebanese government will be held responsible for the actions of Hezbollah in this case, and this opens up a northern front along with the one on the Gaza border. The northern border has been comprimised, and people are being told to stay inside as rockets have been fired in the past few hours, killing and wounding civilians.

This means a few things for me.
A) I'm a bit freaked out, I'm not going to lie.
B) There goes my trip up north this weekend.
C) This of course happens while Jake and I are here. Things couldn't just stay peaceful.
D) I'm still avoiding the buses for the most part, although I am taking one tomorrow to go to the market and back.

That's all the news fit to print.. If anything happens I'll make sure to get to a computer ASAP and blog that I'm okay - but my phone will be on as well, however I don't know if circuts go down here after an emergency (i.e. after 9/11 and the blackouts cell towers overloaded with calls). It's strange, none of the Israelis are even blinking an eye about these latest developments...

In other, more pleasant news... Ulpan is going great. It's going slower than I would like it to, we have our second test tomorrow which I shall be studying for for about four hours tonight. The last one I got a 98 on, and I'd like to repeat that grade if possible. Leemore is in Jerusalem and she's coming up to Hebrew Univ in a little while, we'll hang out for an hour and eat some falafel. :)

Christian sacred sites in Jerusalem are locations associated with the life and death of Jesus. Most important among these is the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, originally built by Constantine in 335 as a memorial to Christ’s resurrection. It is believed to contain the two most revered sites of Christianity: the hill where Jesus was crucified and the tomb where he was buried and rose from the dead. A stone slab by the doorway is said to be the resting place of Jesus’ body after he was executed for his beliefs and teachings.

Today was an amazing trip to the place I've copy and pasted a description of above. It was so beautiful - I had heard it was an awful sort of tourist attraction but it was actually quite lovely. I went with Julie, Jake, and one of his friends from class, Kevin. We walked down into the Old City from our dorms at Hebrew University, and it was such an interesting dichotomy coming from our dorm rooms to the most holy place in the Christian religion, and just walking there. I bought some souvenirs for friends and family before buying a faaabulous cinnamon roll and catching a cab back to the dorms. It was a very humbling day, if I do say so myself.

This was most likely the most amazing Shabbos ever. Julie, Jake, Gavin, Seth, Cloie and I went down to the Kotel to welcome the Sabbath - it was packed and really amazing, it was funny how many Americans were there. Julie and Cloie and I went down into the woman's section and I finally wrote a note to put into the wall, the past two times I didn't have paper or a pen - and there was a circle of women dancing and singing and we joined their group for about half an hour, singing and dancing. As we were walking out we spotted the boys fairly quickly (it's a good thing Gavin is so tall) and they had met up with two people the knew. Jake knew this girl Debbie and Gavin spotted his friend Jenn. I actually knew Jenn, she was one of the organisers for LTS, a Kesher (Reform) leadership conference I went to in DC in the winter. We chatted for a while, but Seth and Gavin decided to go home and do Shabbos with some of their friends, so it was just Jake, Debbie, Julie, and I. We decided we were hungry, looked at a map, and started walking towards ben Yehuda. So as we were walking I saw a kid in front of me with a Rutgers bag on, I yelled RU, RU Rutgers! and the kid turned around and it was my good friend from school Adrian. I had no idea he was going to be in Israel, and it was so surprising to see him. We yelled and hugged and chatted for a minute. He was with some people on their way to Shabbos dinner at one of their brother-in-law's houses and the guy whose house they were going to immediately asked what we were doing for dinner, and when we told him going to ben Yehuda for some shwarma he said "oh, no! you're coming to my brother in law's for Shabbos dinner! you can't go to ben Yehuda!" So we discovered on the way that Adrian had rag tagged along with their group (he randomly met a girl staying at the brother-in-law's house), and now we were rag tagging along with them. He now had six extra guests than he told his brother-in-law, but he didn't seem that concerned, and we walked to his house. The walk was about an hour and a half I'm told, way into the suburbs of Jerusalem, and I chatted with a really interesting guy from Stuyvesant town, David, who was also rag tagging along with their group. When we got there the owners of the apartment where we would be eating looked surprised to see so many guests, but when we told them that we were planning on going to ben Yehuda they were relieved that we came there instead. The meal was great, there was tons of singing, even a little dancing. The company was great, there were four kids there that were with birthright but extended their trips, and they were with their staff leader, who was the guy who invited us in the first place. We ended up walking halfway back into Jerusalem, catching a cab, and going back to Mt. Scopus, and we got here after 1am. I had amazing conversations with David and the brother-in-law, who is almost a rabbi, about conversion and my precarious halakic status... It was really an amazing night.

In a little while we're planning on going into the Christian quarter to tour a bit there. :) I love Israel.

So Hebrew rules my life. I wake up at 7, get out of class at 2, nap, study, eat, study, sleep. I've never worked this hard before in my life, but I actually really don't mind it. It's so amazing how much I've learned in the past week, I already have a test tomorrow, so it makes sense that I'm down here blogging instead of studying, yes I realise this, but I've been studying three-five hours a day and am fairly up to date on all of the information on the test.

I've been doing practically nothing with my days so I haven't had much to write about, however, I did go to the shuk (marketplace) today with five other people, we took the bus downtown and we all bought tons of fresh fruit and bread... It was such a cultural experience to walk down that street with people throwing fish and poultry around and haggling.. which I did not do, even though I've been trying to find kippot for a few guy friends.. I can't find any that are quality that aren't too expensive. I was walking through taking it all in when out of the corner of my eye I saw an old man running a shop wearing a short sleeved t-shirt with a tattoo on his arm, I did a double take before he caught me looking, and I realised he was a survivor. Made me really come back to Earth, realise where I was.. what I was doing.. I was fairly quiet for the rest of the night and Gavin kept on asking me if I was alright..

Last night I was talking to Julie (my roommate, it's weird I haven't mentioned her before, but I feel like I've known her forever, she's so cool and we get along SO well) about Israel, about Judaism, and why I've always felt so connected to it. We talked about this amazing place that we're living in this summer, the blood of passionate men that died for this land from aucune (bah I don't know the word in English) countries and religions. I can't really go into it without sounding like a complete loser, but it made me tear up a bit, and reappreciate this amazing place that I'm so fortunate to spend three months in.

Test tomorrow, et puis Shabbat.. I need to find something to do, somewhere to go.

Yesterday we had orientation, which I forgot to mention in my last post and we were told to be careful on the buses, be aware of our surroundings, not to go into the West Bank or Arab quarter... But one thing the guy said hit me. "Just because you're not Israeli or Palestinian doesn't mean this doesn't affect you. Bombs don't look at passports. And your nice blue American passport won't necessarily save you if you're kidnapped. This is the Middle East, you're not in America anymore." He was referring to a Hebrew University student that was kidnapped a few weeks ago when he decided to go to a cafe alone in Nablus and got taken and almost killed, but when they discovered that he was American he was released, however Hebrew University, as well as all other Israeli Universities have a zero-tolerence policy for visiting the Palestinian Authority. If you go to the West Bank, you go home.

This Gaza business is starting to freak me out a bit, I can't believe all of that violence and fighting is happening so close, it's so peaceful and beautiful here, I feel like I should be able to sense it, in the air and in the people around me. But everyone is acting totally normal, although I've noticed extra security in the past two days. The next few days could make or break the current situation I think... I'm keeping an extra eye on CNN. The PA just released a statement: "We are giving the Zionist enemy until tomorrow, July 4th, at 6:00 a.m. (11 p.m. EDT Monday.) If they do not answer our humanitarian demands, the enemy will be responsible for all future consequences." Heavy words. I think I'm going to avoid buses for the next few days, and probably avoid going into downtown Jerusalem too, until this blows over (bad word choice, I realise), or until we find out exactly what the consequences entail.

In lighter news... Class today was fun, exhausting, but fun. We already have a quiz tomorrow and I have a study date with one of my classmates in three hours, I think I'm going to take a nap though. I sat with three French girls (well one of them was Spanish, but she went to Lycee Francais in Barcelona so she's fluent) and we were speaking mostly in French, but in English a bit as well, and the prof would speak to us in French. It's funny because a lot of my notes are in a melange (mix) of French, English and Hebrew, and I think the three languages are starting to give me a brain tumour. However, learning Hebrew is easier after learning a new language, because I understand the idea of words having a gender, etc. My French has gotten much better in the past few days... Weird, I come to Israel and I improve my French. C'est la vie.. Ciao.

Today was my first day on campus here at Hebrew U taking classes. They told us to be outside our dorm at 8:45 to walk together but nobody was there to meet us so we walked here ourselves, but my class didn't start until 10, so I came into the computer lab and chatted with people that were up late in the states while reading my email. Class was fun, I am glad I studied before I came, it made it a lot easier to pick things up. Minor annoyance: I bought the Hebrew book we're using for my Hebrew 101 class that I took for all of 2 weeks at Rutgers, but forgot to bring it and had to buy it again. I didn't even sell it back because I figured I'd take Hebrew again sometime, so I own two of the same book. I also bought CDs that came with the book and am splitting it with three girls in my class.. I would put it on my iPod if it didn't break yesterday.. I have two weeks left on my warranty so I have to air mail it back to the states and my cousin can ship it out to California for me back to Apple. Ugh. Anyway though, my professors (they tag team) are both really nice, and the kids in my class are cool. There are two French girls, Parisian, in my class, so I'm thinking in three languages at once, which feels weird, because the explinations are often given in both languages, and I'm translating a bit for them if the prof knows how to explain it in English and not French. I'm such a show off, I admit it Sonnet. It's fun though, I'm the only person in the class that understands everything going on, well, except when the prof starts going on in Hebrew too quickly, but I'm picking up on it all well, thanks to studying before.

I went to Leemore's kibbutz in the Knerett this weekend, it was so fun. We went to a pub on the kibbutz and stayed out until 4am - Leemore was with her childhood friends mostly, so I hung out with her 16 year old sister Yael, who was, thankfully, not as mature as a 16 year old, and I actually had great fun with. I called Greg and we chatted for a while, which was really nice because we have only had that chance once in the past month as our timing always sucks with me keeping Shabbat and him working late and me being a party pooper and not being able to stay up late enough to talk to him. But Saturday I decided I just wanted to call, and did anyway. We swam in the Kenneret the next day for a few hours after waking up late, which was super fun and beautiful. I took the second bus back after Shabbat and didn't get back to my dorm until almost 1 - so waking up this AM was not so fun, but I'll sleep heavy tonight and be able to wake up for my 8:30 class tomorrow. I'm glad to be getting into the rythem of classes starting.. and Hebrew is fun.

I'm going to grab dinner before starting my homework.. Much love..