So finally, hineini b'yisrael! I'm here in Israel! I'm sorry I haven't written sooner, but birthright turned out to be the ten most exhausting days I've ever had in my life, and this is the first opportunity I've had to breathe and sleep, let alone mail postcards or use the internet!
The trip was amazing, I'm really flying. It was a great, if touristy, way to start my year in Israel. We travelled from the Golan Heights to Jerusalem to the Negev to Tel Aviv; we hiked, kyaked, swam, toured, tasted wine.
We were a fantastic group of 38 American students from all over the country; 2 hilarious trip leaders, Jesse and Neela; 8 Israeli soldiers, who were actually 
officers; the smartest tour guide I've ever 
had, Maxi; our bus driver, Schneider, whom everybody fell in love with and who hardly spoke two words of English; and three medics with guns, Dror, Kofit, and Gil.
For those of you who are interested, I'll run through what we did in detail, but nobody should feel obligated to read this all!
I said goodbye to my sister and grandparents Sunday morning, and my parents brought me to JFK airport, where I checked in with Jesse and Neela, donned a classy name tag, checked my bags (which, thankfully, did not weigh in at more than the maximum weight), and walked with my parents to security. Whereas the other parents had stayed at home or said goodbye to their children from the car or by baggage check, mine proceeded to document t in great detail, through photo-taking, the process of my walking through the airport. I thought briefly about being embarrassed the second time a securtiy guard screamed at them for taking a picture ("Excuse ME, ma'am, but I don't want my photo taken!" when one was in the background), but then decided against it. After all, the other parents' children were coming home in ten days, or two weeks, or by the end of the summer, and I'm here for a good bit longer. Besides, we did a pretty cool photoshoot.
Security was no problem, then I sat at the gate for some hours and met a few people who would be on my trip and who I'd get to know much better. Also, to my surprise, I saw a girl from Vassar, Rebecca Ain, and discovered that she was doing the same trip that I was, for ages 22-26. It was strange to say goodbye to everybody at home and school, accept that I was leaving and wouldn't see familiar faces for quite a while, and then immediately run into somebody I know! But she was on my flight and we ran into each other a few more times during the ten days.
The flight went smoothly. I sat next to two girls (women?) from the University of Vermont, Lily and Julia, for ten uncomfortable hours. When we finally landed, I was exhausted from not having been able to sleep on the plane, but it was 7:50AM Israeli time, the night was already past, and we were starting a new day! We took a bus to Caesaria,
where we had a toast by the beach and explored the ruins of that fantastically old city. Then we took the bus to Kibbutz Merom Golan, where we stayed in these adorable kibbutz guest houses. The kibbutz was really cute and made me so excited to begin my ulpan on Kibbutz Yagur! It had a Chadar Ochel (dining hall) where we had breakfast and dinner for the three days that we stayed there, and it also had a little pub with a bar, cozy seats, and a small dance floor.
On Tuesday, we explored the city of Tzfat, an old and mystical place and one of the four holy
cities in Israel. I ate at "the best falafel place in Tzfat," according to Maxi, our tour guide, and then, walking around a little bit, ran into Jackie, who was standing in line at a falafel place that was clearly not the best falafel place in Tzfat. How strange to meet up with her in Israel! After catching up with Jackie, I bought a pair of sandals using only my awkward, rusty Hebrew. I'm so proud.
In the afternoon we went kayaking on the Jordon River, which is not as exciting as it sounds. It's actually a very calm and relaxed river.
On Wednesday we did a nature hike in Yehudiya Forest Nature Reserve. This was probably the top most amazing hike I've ever done. The trail was constantly taking us by, over, around, and through water until we got to a big waterfall and a wide pool of water, on the other side of which the path continued. There were only two ways to the other side: climb a ladder down the waterfall and swim across the pool of water; or rappel down the waterfall and swim across the pool of water. So we all rapelled down the waterfall, and there I was, wearing a helmet, harnessed to a rope, making my way down a steep cliff in a very perpendicular fashion, with a waterfall coming down on my head!
In the afternoon, we went to the Golan Heights winery where I downed four glasses of wine and scoffed at how pretentious the whole thing was. Seriously, though, it's one of the best wineries in the country, and it was really neat to get a tour of the place. I bought a bottle of wine which later broke. And we all got free wine glasses, but my glass broke as well. Go figure.
On Thursday we went swimming in the Sea of Galilee, or Yam HaKineret. We went to a waterpark built right on the sea (which isn't really a sea at all, it's actually very small). I've never been to a waterpark with such a fantastic view before. Afterward, we drove to Jerusalem, where we would be staying through Shabbat. At night, we went out clubbing. Thursday is a really big party night in Jerusalem.
On Friday we did another amazing walk, only this one was underground in Hezekiah's water tunnel. It was an ancient water system where water was carried from one place to another by these underground tunnels, which were built using the natural rock formation. We walked through these pitch-black underground tunnels, where there was still water pooled at the bottom.
We checked into our hotel, the Caesar, and met our Israeli soldiers! There were 
four men (Idan, Omri, Yanir, and Richie) and four women (Meital, Jordana, Imbal, and Michal). Then we all went to the shuk, the Jerusalem market, together. If you've never been to a shuk in Israel, you can't really understand what it's like. Streets packed with vendors selling everything from clothes to jewelry to spices to fish to smoothies to kippot 
to candy and chalvah. The entire street so thick with people you can hardly move. Smells, shouts, Hebrew, haggling. Men with black hats and beards and payis, women pushing strollers, young couples, secular men and women, tourists from all over the world, Israeli soldiers, young children. A strange and wonderful mix of people.
Next, we took a walking tour of the Jewish Quarter of the Old City. We went to the Kotel, the Wall, where I tried to pray ended up being so jostled by the myriad people who wanted to visit the Kotel before Shabbat. We returned to the hotel, lit Shabbat candles all together. Then we were allowed to celebrate Shabbat in whatever way we wished. Some people stayed in the hotel and slept, because we were all exhausted from all the touring (and partying at night) and none of the sleeping. Some people visited the Kotel again. A group of us, myself included, went to the neighborhood of Nachla'ot to see what Kabbalat Shabbat services are like in a synagogue there. I witnessed and participated in some of the most joyful and energetic prayer I could imagine. Then we returned to the hotel for the Shabbat meal, and it was really cool to see everybody eating and celebrating Shabbat in the hotel's Chadar Ochel. There were many groups there other than our own, including many religious people who broke out in loud and happy song.
On Shabbat, we had a day off to sleep late and do what we'd like. It was so wonderful to sleep, it really felt so much like Shabbat, like a day of rest. I've rarely needed Shabbat as badly as I did that day. In the afternoon, we walked around the Old City for a bit and did things in smaller groups. I had developed an excruciating tooth ache, so Gil, one of our medics, took me to a dentist who had to open his office specially to see me. He explained what he was going to do in bad English, and he did it. I don't know what. But he prescribed antibiotics and sent me on my way, and I feel a lot better now, although I may have to go back to the dentist in another few days just so he can check. It was awful timing, and I was really upset and in a lot of pain, but it turned out very alright in the end.
Anyway, Shabbat evening we did havdallah and then went out again, this time to Ben Yehuda street, which was crowded with all kinds of people and shops and falafel and drumming. I walked back to the hotel through Nachla'ot and we passed the shuk where we had been a day earlier, and it was eerie to see how different it looked. It was dark and quiet, asleep, none of the loud and colorful bustle from the day before. The street looked huge and wide when it was empty.
Sunday was a very difficult day. We went to Har Herzl, or Mount Herzl, Israel's national memorium. We saw the graves of many important figures in Israeli history, like Theodore Herzl and Yitzchak Rabin. I think Yitzchak Rabin's grave in particular means a lot to me, because I remember the day he was killed. I was a student at Ruben Gittleman Hebrew Day School.
Maxi, our tour guide, took us to the grave of somebody he used to be good friends with. Then Jordana, one of our soldiers, took us to the grave of one of her good friends who had been killed not too long ago. She talked to us about what an amazing person he had been, and you could tell that he was, just by the number of stones on his grave, all the pictures and things people had left. Everybody had on a pair of sunglasses, even though we were sitting in the shade, and you knew that everybody was crying behind those sunglasses.
Then we went to Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Museum. I'm not really sure what to say now.
But I will say that it's entirely different to go to Yad Vashem in Israel than it is to go to the Holocaust Museum in New York or Washington, D.C. It's so beautiful and moving to exit the darkness and pain of the museum and find yourself looking over Jerusalem with all its glimmering white stone.
After Yad Vashem we drove down south to the Negev and checked into a beautiful hostel at the foot of Masada. A few friends and I hiked for a few hours in the dark, up and down hills of sand and rock, all the way to the dead sea. Then, exhausted, we took the road back. It was after 1am, and we needed to get up at 4am in order to climb Masada, so I stumbled into bed. Not two minutes later there was a knock on my door. Two friends from a camp I had gone to five years ago. I was so shocked to see them there! Birthright is so strange. I had a chance to talk with people I hadn't seen in years--and we were together in Israel!
In the morning, functioning on two hours of sleep, I c
limbed Masada. From the top, we watched the sun rise over the Dead Sea, the Yam Hamelach. We hiked down, and then made our way to the Dead Sea. I bought a beer and drank it floating in the water. Really cool experience. The Dead Sea, by the way, is the lowest point on earth. It's a few hundred meters below sea level.
In the afternoon we went for a camel ride. And we slept in the middle of the desert, literally under the stars, without even a tent. The stars are clear, so numerous and beautiful.
Our last day we spent in Tel Aviv. First, we hiked to this giant crater. I tried to take pictures of it, but like so many other amazing things I saw on this trip, a camera just can't capture it. Then we checked into our hotel in Tel Aviv, which was a block from the beach. We walked to the Tel Aviv shuk, which includes an artist's market with so many beautiful things, including lots of gorgeous Judaica--mezuzot, shabbat candle holders, chanukiot, havdalah sets.
We went to the birthright Mega Event, where I saw Jackie again and said goodbye. Then I spent the night drinking wine, eating pita and humus, and smoking hookah on the beach.
Yesterday we all said goodbye to one another at the airport. I took the train to Bet Yehoshuah where my cousin Yossi picked me up and brought me to the hospital to see my Uncle Chaim. I spent the night at my cousins Sarah and Moti's house, and they have been so good to me, taking me out to eat and doing my disgusting laundry.
I'm sorry that was so long. I'm having a wonderful time!
The trip was amazing, I'm really flying. It was a great, if touristy, way to start my year in Israel. We travelled from the Golan Heights to Jerusalem to the Negev to Tel Aviv; we hiked, kyaked, swam, toured, tasted wine.
We were a fantastic group of 38 American students from all over the country; 2 hilarious trip leaders, Jesse and Neela; 8 Israeli soldiers, who were actually 
officers; the smartest tour guide I've ever 
had, Maxi; our bus driver, Schneider, whom everybody fell in love with and who hardly spoke two words of English; and three medics with guns, Dror, Kofit, and Gil.For those of you who are interested, I'll run through what we did in detail, but nobody should feel obligated to read this all!
I said goodbye to my sister and grandparents Sunday morning, and my parents brought me to JFK airport, where I checked in with Jesse and Neela, donned a classy name tag, checked my bags (which, thankfully, did not weigh in at more than the maximum weight), and walked with my parents to security. Whereas the other parents had stayed at home or said goodbye to their children from the car or by baggage check, mine proceeded to document t in great detail, through photo-taking, the process of my walking through the airport. I thought briefly about being embarrassed the second time a securtiy guard screamed at them for taking a picture ("Excuse ME, ma'am, but I don't want my photo taken!" when one was in the background), but then decided against it. After all, the other parents' children were coming home in ten days, or two weeks, or by the end of the summer, and I'm here for a good bit longer. Besides, we did a pretty cool photoshoot.
Security was no problem, then I sat at the gate for some hours and met a few people who would be on my trip and who I'd get to know much better. Also, to my surprise, I saw a girl from Vassar, Rebecca Ain, and discovered that she was doing the same trip that I was, for ages 22-26. It was strange to say goodbye to everybody at home and school, accept that I was leaving and wouldn't see familiar faces for quite a while, and then immediately run into somebody I know! But she was on my flight and we ran into each other a few more times during the ten days.
The flight went smoothly. I sat next to two girls (women?) from the University of Vermont, Lily and Julia, for ten uncomfortable hours. When we finally landed, I was exhausted from not having been able to sleep on the plane, but it was 7:50AM Israeli time, the night was already past, and we were starting a new day! We took a bus to Caesaria,
where we had a toast by the beach and explored the ruins of that fantastically old city. Then we took the bus to Kibbutz Merom Golan, where we stayed in these adorable kibbutz guest houses. The kibbutz was really cute and made me so excited to begin my ulpan on Kibbutz Yagur! It had a Chadar Ochel (dining hall) where we had breakfast and dinner for the three days that we stayed there, and it also had a little pub with a bar, cozy seats, and a small dance floor.On Tuesday, we explored the city of Tzfat, an old and mystical place and one of the four holy
cities in Israel. I ate at "the best falafel place in Tzfat," according to Maxi, our tour guide, and then, walking around a little bit, ran into Jackie, who was standing in line at a falafel place that was clearly not the best falafel place in Tzfat. How strange to meet up with her in Israel! After catching up with Jackie, I bought a pair of sandals using only my awkward, rusty Hebrew. I'm so proud.In the afternoon we went kayaking on the Jordon River, which is not as exciting as it sounds. It's actually a very calm and relaxed river.
On Wednesday we did a nature hike in Yehudiya Forest Nature Reserve. This was probably the top most amazing hike I've ever done. The trail was constantly taking us by, over, around, and through water until we got to a big waterfall and a wide pool of water, on the other side of which the path continued. There were only two ways to the other side: climb a ladder down the waterfall and swim across the pool of water; or rappel down the waterfall and swim across the pool of water. So we all rapelled down the waterfall, and there I was, wearing a helmet, harnessed to a rope, making my way down a steep cliff in a very perpendicular fashion, with a waterfall coming down on my head!
In the afternoon, we went to the Golan Heights winery where I downed four glasses of wine and scoffed at how pretentious the whole thing was. Seriously, though, it's one of the best wineries in the country, and it was really neat to get a tour of the place. I bought a bottle of wine which later broke. And we all got free wine glasses, but my glass broke as well. Go figure.
On Thursday we went swimming in the Sea of Galilee, or Yam HaKineret. We went to a waterpark built right on the sea (which isn't really a sea at all, it's actually very small). I've never been to a waterpark with such a fantastic view before. Afterward, we drove to Jerusalem, where we would be staying through Shabbat. At night, we went out clubbing. Thursday is a really big party night in Jerusalem.
On Friday we did another amazing walk, only this one was underground in Hezekiah's water tunnel. It was an ancient water system where water was carried from one place to another by these underground tunnels, which were built using the natural rock formation. We walked through these pitch-black underground tunnels, where there was still water pooled at the bottom.
We checked into our hotel, the Caesar, and met our Israeli soldiers! There were 
four men (Idan, Omri, Yanir, and Richie) and four women (Meital, Jordana, Imbal, and Michal). Then we all went to the shuk, the Jerusalem market, together. If you've never been to a shuk in Israel, you can't really understand what it's like. Streets packed with vendors selling everything from clothes to jewelry to spices to fish to smoothies to kippot 
to candy and chalvah. The entire street so thick with people you can hardly move. Smells, shouts, Hebrew, haggling. Men with black hats and beards and payis, women pushing strollers, young couples, secular men and women, tourists from all over the world, Israeli soldiers, young children. A strange and wonderful mix of people.Next, we took a walking tour of the Jewish Quarter of the Old City. We went to the Kotel, the Wall, where I tried to pray ended up being so jostled by the myriad people who wanted to visit the Kotel before Shabbat. We returned to the hotel, lit Shabbat candles all together. Then we were allowed to celebrate Shabbat in whatever way we wished. Some people stayed in the hotel and slept, because we were all exhausted from all the touring (and partying at night) and none of the sleeping. Some people visited the Kotel again. A group of us, myself included, went to the neighborhood of Nachla'ot to see what Kabbalat Shabbat services are like in a synagogue there. I witnessed and participated in some of the most joyful and energetic prayer I could imagine. Then we returned to the hotel for the Shabbat meal, and it was really cool to see everybody eating and celebrating Shabbat in the hotel's Chadar Ochel. There were many groups there other than our own, including many religious people who broke out in loud and happy song.
On Shabbat, we had a day off to sleep late and do what we'd like. It was so wonderful to sleep, it really felt so much like Shabbat, like a day of rest. I've rarely needed Shabbat as badly as I did that day. In the afternoon, we walked around the Old City for a bit and did things in smaller groups. I had developed an excruciating tooth ache, so Gil, one of our medics, took me to a dentist who had to open his office specially to see me. He explained what he was going to do in bad English, and he did it. I don't know what. But he prescribed antibiotics and sent me on my way, and I feel a lot better now, although I may have to go back to the dentist in another few days just so he can check. It was awful timing, and I was really upset and in a lot of pain, but it turned out very alright in the end.
Anyway, Shabbat evening we did havdallah and then went out again, this time to Ben Yehuda street, which was crowded with all kinds of people and shops and falafel and drumming. I walked back to the hotel through Nachla'ot and we passed the shuk where we had been a day earlier, and it was eerie to see how different it looked. It was dark and quiet, asleep, none of the loud and colorful bustle from the day before. The street looked huge and wide when it was empty.
Sunday was a very difficult day. We went to Har Herzl, or Mount Herzl, Israel's national memorium. We saw the graves of many important figures in Israeli history, like Theodore Herzl and Yitzchak Rabin. I think Yitzchak Rabin's grave in particular means a lot to me, because I remember the day he was killed. I was a student at Ruben Gittleman Hebrew Day School.
Maxi, our tour guide, took us to the grave of somebody he used to be good friends with. Then Jordana, one of our soldiers, took us to the grave of one of her good friends who had been killed not too long ago. She talked to us about what an amazing person he had been, and you could tell that he was, just by the number of stones on his grave, all the pictures and things people had left. Everybody had on a pair of sunglasses, even though we were sitting in the shade, and you knew that everybody was crying behind those sunglasses.
Then we went to Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Museum. I'm not really sure what to say now.
But I will say that it's entirely different to go to Yad Vashem in Israel than it is to go to the Holocaust Museum in New York or Washington, D.C. It's so beautiful and moving to exit the darkness and pain of the museum and find yourself looking over Jerusalem with all its glimmering white stone.
After Yad Vashem we drove down south to the Negev and checked into a beautiful hostel at the foot of Masada. A few friends and I hiked for a few hours in the dark, up and down hills of sand and rock, all the way to the dead sea. Then, exhausted, we took the road back. It was after 1am, and we needed to get up at 4am in order to climb Masada, so I stumbled into bed. Not two minutes later there was a knock on my door. Two friends from a camp I had gone to five years ago. I was so shocked to see them there! Birthright is so strange. I had a chance to talk with people I hadn't seen in years--and we were together in Israel!
In the morning, functioning on two hours of sleep, I c
limbed Masada. From the top, we watched the sun rise over the Dead Sea, the Yam Hamelach. We hiked down, and then made our way to the Dead Sea. I bought a beer and drank it floating in the water. Really cool experience. The Dead Sea, by the way, is the lowest point on earth. It's a few hundred meters below sea level.
In the afternoon we went for a camel ride. And we slept in the middle of the desert, literally under the stars, without even a tent. The stars are clear, so numerous and beautiful.Our last day we spent in Tel Aviv. First, we hiked to this giant crater. I tried to take pictures of it, but like so many other amazing things I saw on this trip, a camera just can't capture it. Then we checked into our hotel in Tel Aviv, which was a block from the beach. We walked to the Tel Aviv shuk, which includes an artist's market with so many beautiful things, including lots of gorgeous Judaica--mezuzot, shabbat candle holders, chanukiot, havdalah sets.
We went to the birthright Mega Event, where I saw Jackie again and said goodbye. Then I spent the night drinking wine, eating pita and humus, and smoking hookah on the beach.
Yesterday we all said goodbye to one another at the airport. I took the train to Bet Yehoshuah where my cousin Yossi picked me up and brought me to the hospital to see my Uncle Chaim. I spent the night at my cousins Sarah and Moti's house, and they have been so good to me, taking me out to eat and doing my disgusting laundry.
I'm sorry that was so long. I'm having a wonderful time!
1 comment:
Wow Mariel! You have already done in 10 days things I have never ever done in Israel in so many times over the years. So, what's in that hookah, and how did you learn how to drink beer - you hate bubbles in drinks! Love, Ima
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