Jerusalem

Halva - dessert made from sesame

spices and rosebuds at the market

merengue, tahini, pastries. 

more spices 

in the neighborhood outside damascus gate

rooftops in the old city

Went to Jerusalem to go to the markets and the kotel before leaving Israel in a week. Its all so beautiful, feels like a different country than Tel Aviv.

I've been blessed to have already seen many of the worlds incredible, busy and beautiful cities at the ripe old age of 20, but I'm so lucky that my favorite one is my own. I miss you, NY! Not even the mountains of Bogotá, the street food of Bangkok, the nightlife of Buenos Aires, the rhythm of Rio or the beaches of Tel Aviv can compare. (Thats a lie. Rio is pretty damn incredible.) 

Robert, me and Noah the other night at Cafe Dalia!

Sin amigos

In a few days I will be friendless in Tel Aviv for my remaining two weeks! It seems crazy to me that the time has flown by so quickly. I've managed to see several new parts of Israel, work at this crazy job, meet people from all over Europe and make a lot of new friends. I have learned a lot, but the Tel Aviv is incredibly hard to pop - no one wants to be the downer trying to talk about politics all the time. It is fascinating to me that so many people who live in and move to Tel Aviv consider themselves apolitical. How can you move to the most volatile region of the world and consider yourself removed from politics? Being able to cross this border is a political act. Regardless, as much as I am learning about the current reality and the conflict itself I am also learning about apathy.
Crunch time at work. I have a big grant application due in 2 weeks and then I have a few days before I fly to NYC. The plane lands in NYC at midnight and my flight to MN is the next day at 11 30 am. I won't be able to sleep which will ensure prolonged jet lag. Mac friends, be ready for me to be a weepy mess! I am already incredible stressed out - the new apartment, jumping straight into school and work and grant applications. I am trying not to think about it when I have the sea outside my window and this gorgeous city at my feet, but it's hard! I am thinking of taking a twice a week babysitting job at school - but can't decide if it would be a source of stress or fun.
I've been in a weird mood lately. The weather makes things difficult, I've been eating mainly fruit during the day because it's too hot for anything else, and I've been stood up several times so I am finished with people for the time being. (For the love of god, if you don't want to see someone, just make up an excuse and cancel. It's easy. I just did it to someone this morning! Don't just vanish. Israeli men transform into Houdini at a moments notice and just turn into thin air when they feel like it. So goddamn obnoxious.) The gruff Israeli manners (or lack thereof) is seriously wearing on me (the Midwest got to me more than I thought! I'm really upset by how mean people are here to strangers on the street, it's terrible) and it's too hot to motivate myself to do much. I also have no internet in my apartment which sucks because it cost an arm and a leg and a torso and I am losing valuable time I could be spending on various applications.
Last night was Noah's last night and his birthday! We went back to Cafe Dalia, where we went earlier in the week to listen to live jazz in their pebbly backyard. We met some Austrians, and between them, his Swiss roommate and German friends we had all 3 German dialects at the table and he was very happy. Then we went to the beach before going home a bit too late. This morning I walked all the way to Kikar Rabin to pick up a check before work, and then Maya and I had to go deposit it which was a quilombo like always - the bank here is survival of the fittest at workkkk.
This is Maya's last weekend here in Tel Aviv so we are trying to find fun things to do. Hopefully we have the energy to actually do them!

Recently

I've barely written since getting to Israel! I have officially moved into Tel Aviv into a nice big room close to the ocean and right at the end of the Shuk Carmel. Work is a little crazy because we are backed up and can't move forward with grant applications without next years budget. The weather is getting even hotter and more humid if this is possible!

Going to Ramallah and Haifa two weekends ago was fun and interesting. Ramallah was bizarre because it was empty (it's Ramadan, so people are inside away from the heat). We spoke with three people involved in politics to varying degrees and it was very interesting. We are not allowed to write or blog about what they said but a big take away message was that no one has more to lose or more to gain in peace negotiations than the Palestinians. We also visted Rawabi (see photo), the first planned Palestinian city in the West Bank. It's going to be huge and very modern - it reminded me of any planned development center in the states. A bit Disney-esque. They showed us this campy 3D video tour and we went into the huge gorgeous showroom (there were quite a few families there checking out properties actually). All very interesting. After going to the Gaza Border and then into Ramallah, it seems to me that not only Israel-Palestinian relations will need decades of work and dedication to fix, but Gazan-West Bank relations will also prove to be a huge challenge.

Haifa was fun. The evangelical Scandanavian guest house was a TRIP! All these christians who think Jews are the chosen people and the reason there are problems between muslims and jews is because the muslims are muslim and not christian. So it was challenging but interesting. It was really funny to have these conversations over dinner with a jewish guy leading shabbat without any idea of how to do it. And then all the graces. Oh dear lord. Noah was into it. Robert tried really hard to follow along. I tried really hard not to laugh. The next day we went up and down the mountain Haifa is on, had some good soup for lunch, and visited Noah's friends at Uni. of Haifa. All in all, it was a great trip because we had a lot of fun but I don't like Haifa much as a city. It seems like a bunch of small towns/strips of commercials ventures spotted up a mountain. The views are beautiful, the Arab Quarter was great, the Bahai gardens are stunning and the beaches are cleaner though, so to each their own. It is a lovely place.

Yesterday Noah and I took another venture out to Neve Shalom, a peace/co-existance village in between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. It's difficult to get there, took about 2 hours on two buses but it was worth it! Our friend from school Tarik is volunteering there for a few weeks before moving onto other projects. Tarik helped found Shalaam at Macaleter. Amazingly, Neve Shalom is situated on a hill looking over what remains of his grandmothers old village (Tarik's paternal family is Palestinian). We walked up the hill to Neve Shalom, had a few little walking tours around the village, saw the schools and community centers, swam in the swimming pool (praise the LAWD) and had a nice little picnic on the roof of the volunteer compound. Then we hiked down the hill and up another one, where the Latrun monastery is. It is shockingly beautiful out there, only a 20 minute car drive outside the city. 

Other than that, I am going to work, going to the beach, sleeping alot, eating on a shoe string budget, walking around, meeting Noah and Elana as much as I can, etc. The other night Maya and I went to see these guys play at a bar near us on Rothschild and then we went out with the drummer and bassist afterwards. They were both very nice and sweet and had studied in America. Tonight I think Elana and I will go hear music at the port. I've been trying to do fellowship work but without internet at the apartment it's a bit difficult.