There's No Place Like Home

Since there's only about a week left in my time abroad I've been thinking a lot about missing things. What I miss about America, what I will miss about Israel, what I won't miss about Israel, all that fun stuff. So I decided to just write them all down, and then maybe I'll be able to focus on my final papers and get all the work that I have done before I get out of here.

What I Miss About America:

• The people: Seeing my family, all of my closest friends, minus the amazing people I've met here
• "American Food" or American interpretations of other culture's food (AKA Chipotle/Pete's,  Noodles, Bagels, etc.)
• A Saturday-Sunday weekend, despite being here for 5 months, I STILL can't get used to my weekend officially being Friday-Saturday and having class on Sunday
• Weather: If I'm gonna feel cold, there might as well be snow on the ground and an excuse to curl up in a bunch of blankets with some hot tea and a book
• Efficient public transportation: RTD Light Rail > Egged/Metropoline/Metrodan

What I Will Miss About Israel:

• The people: I have met some amazing Israelis and Americans (and some pretty cool Germans) in my time here and I don't want to think about leaving them
• Shabbat Dinners: This is something I'm planning to bring back to the states, there's just something wonderful about Friday dinners with your close friends, destressing from the week a little, just hanging out and having fun
• Food: America does Middle Eastern food pretty well but you can't argue that getting really amazing falafel for about 3 bucks isn't something to be missed
• How close everything is: I can travel to anywhere in the entire country on a weekend by just taking a bus or train. Can't really do that in the US. Also, EVERYTHING in Beer Sheva is within walking distance

What I Won't Miss About Israel:

• The Smell: I'd really like to go out somewhere with my friends and not come home smelling like an ashtray, a smell that sometimes doesn't come out of your hair after 1 shower. Also, sometimes Beer Sheva just smells, they could use some infrastructure improvements
• Shabbat: A day of rest is great, an entire country practically shutting down is not so fun
• The people: I won't miss really agressive guys who don't get the hint when you act uninterested or Israeli girls who are (often) pretty cold towards American girls
• Security checkpoints: Now I'm all for security, but it'll be nice not having to go through a gate to get to class every day and only having a few entry/exit points to the university

Putting the Terror in Terrorism

All my life I've heard the word terrorism. I saw it on the news, I learned about it in school, I knew what it was. At least I thought I did. I knew the theory behind it, had a pretty good definition of it, and felt pretty secure in my understanding of it. Boy, was I wrong. Because you can't understand terrorism just theoretically or even from a couple (or a lot of) rocket attacks. I didn't understand what terrorism was until I was sitting on the 446 Egged bus to Jerusalem with Abby this morning. We were hoping to get away from boring little Sde Boker for a day, do the Jerusalem thing, hang out with Joey and friends but all that changed with 5 little words. "Bus bombing in Tel Aviv". It's one thing to hear about a bus bombing from the comfort of your own home and another thing entirely to hear it while sitting on a bus. Not a bus in Tel Aviv, but a bus nonetheless. We hardly had time to look up what happened before Sarah (our counselor and current "mother") called us giving is two options: 1. Go straight to the place we were staying in Jerusalem without taking public transportation and stay there, or 2. Get back on the bus going the opposite direction and come back to Sde Boker. Abby and I went to get a bagel and discussed our options and what we wanted to do. We eventually decided to get back on the 470 (a faster bus to/from Beer Sheva) and head back to Sde Boker to be with our group. All the while we're calling friends in Tel Aviv making sure they were all ok and continually checking the news to find out all we could about the incident.

There's a reason the word for this kind of thing is terrorism and not something else. It is meant to instill fear. It's meant to make you scared. Scared to take the bus, scared to go to school or work, scared to leave the comfort of your bed in the morning. It is supposed to disrupt your daily life in such a way that changes things. The definition of terrorism I always used in class was a violent attack on civilians (anything non-military) with the goal of affecting policy. But after today, I would have to add the element of fear. The word "terror" is the whole root of "terrorism", so why isn't the fear element a part of the definition? How much of terrorism is physical, and how much of it is psychological? Throughout all of Operation Pillar of Defense my friends and I have talked about the psychological aspect of this whole war. The IDF dropping leaflets in Gaza City telling civilians to stay away from known Hamas operatives or to leave their homes in preparation of a ground invasion that might not come. Hamas sending rocket after rocket after rocket, often in the middle of the night to disrupt daily life and sleep. This whole operation has been half physical, half psychological. To be entirely honest, I haven't been scared until today. I wasn't worried about rockets hitting Beer Sheva. I wasn't worried about being stuck in Israel, or spending a night or two in the bomb shelter. I was a tiny bit worried about my Israeli friends getting called up to the reserves and having to fight in this stupid operation, but that wasn't fear for myself that was fear for others. But today, I felt fear. I was worried. I didn't want to get on a bus, but I didn't want to be stuck more so I got back on a bus (well, 2 buses but same difference). Even though this attack didn't really disrupt my life much more than this whole Operation has, it was more than just an inconvenience and 42 shekels down the drain. It was a scary moment and one that I never wish to relive again.

In other news, I'm back in Sde Boker, moving down here for the semester even though I don't want to. Classes will start on Sunday with only some minor changes to the schedule to accommodate the week of missed classes. I don't know what we're doing for thanksgiving tomorrow but I know one thing I will be thankful for: the wonderful people I am going through this experience with. I wish I could be thankful for a cease fire and an end to this whole balagan. Maybe in the next 24 hours that will happen but I don't know what to think anymore.

The Average Israeli

A week or two ago (honestly time has gotten so skewed in the last few days, this activity could have taken place months ago and I wouldn't be able to tell the difference) our OSP did an activity called "the Average Israeli" where we basically discussed/learned about the life of, you guessed it, the average Israeli. Our thoughts before the game: The average Israeli is a college aged male, who wears jorts, crocs (Thomas, crocs are super successful in Israel, I have NO clue why), bro tanks, and have long post-South American backpacking trip hair/beards. Now that we have our "average Israeli" in mind, we move towards the activity itself. We played a sort of "game of life" where we each had a game piece that was a different group within Israel (I was an Ethiopian refugee) and we "rolled the dice" (spun a dreidel with numbers on it) and went through the life of an Israeli. It went from birth through elementary school, high school, year of service, the army, etc all the way through marriage and children where the cycle theoretically starts all over again. This game was interesting for me, but since I have family here in Israel none of it was all that new to me. But recently it's gotten me thinking, the average Israeli is really fantastic (minus the crocs, I just can't hang with that trend).

When all of this balagan (Hebrew for chaos/mess/craziness) started on Wednesday my American friends and I had all of our Israeli friends, even people we had just met a few days before, offer for us to come stay with them and their families outside of Beer Sheva. As each of my 3 flatmates left to go home, they all offered to take me home with them if I wanted to get out of Beer Sheva and didn't have anywhere to go. Once we finally left Beer Sheva and took refuge on Masada (as one of my friend's brothers noted, refuge on Masada usually doesn't work out to well for the ones hiding out...) and eventually Sde Boker we encountered tons of other Israelis more than willing to take us in and offer us a place to stay. Here in Sde Boker, despite being not a very populated area filled mostly with PhD or Masters students, those who do live here have been wonderful. Last night the student union hosted a "refugee party" where a bunch of different people brought food, they provided us with everything we needed to eat, and just hung out with us, gave us something to do. My cousin (well sort of, I'm not entirely sure how we're related) who is also doing her PhD here came to hang out last night and told me about a Thanksgiving dinner that a friend of hers is hosting here in Sde Boker on Thursday that she invited us to as well. In general all the Israelis we have met throughout this whole ordeal have been so wonderful, realizing that none of us have ever been through something like this before and they have been so open, friendly, and hospitable. They also think they're really funny, when I say I study International Relations and Conflict Resolution, they tell me to go resolve the conflict. I usually respond that I'm not qualified yet, I haven't finished my degree, but maybe we just need to get the Holy Trinity here and things will work itself out.

Just a little update about the last few days and what we've been doing, we left Masada Friday morning and arrived in Sde Boker sometime Friday afternoon. We napped, hung out, relaxed, attempted to find internet to check news and see what is going on in the world, and eventually went to sleep. Saturday we hiked to Ein Akev, a natural spring near Sde Boker. It was a hike I had already done before but the route we took on Saturday was exactly opposite the way I went a month or so ago when I did the hike last time. It was nice to see it from a new perspective, and this direction was a WHOLE lot easier and my legs were a lot happier afterwards. We had another bonfire Saturday night (we had done one Thursday night before Masada), and exhausted from the hike crashed early. Sunday, the day classes theoretically would be starting again if the war wasn't going on, we had a mini lecture about Patents and Intellectual Property (random, I know) and an information session about what was going to happen in the next few days. Conclusions: We're staying in Sde Boker until at least Thursday, and on Thursday we will either go back to Beer Sheva to resume life as normal or we will return to Beer Sheva to pack up our things and move our semester down to Sde Boker for the last 5-6 weeks, however long it is we have left. Now personally, and this opinion is shared by everyone else that I've talked to, I prefer the first option. Sde Boker has been great and all, but there is really nothing to do here and all the students are PhD students doing hydrology and bio-technology and desalination and all of these things that we know nothing about. At least back in Beer Sheva students were more our age and we were able to easily make friends, not the case here in Sde Boker. Plus, I think if I had to stay here for the remainder of the semester, I would go stir crazy and the Masada murder/suicide option would be looking pretty great (exaggeration of course, but I would be really really bored). For now, we're just continuing to have these little mini lectures that don't actually count for anything but are just to keep us busy. Tomorrow we're going on some secret adventure because we can't be in Sde Boker during Ben Gurion Day (apparently the Prime Minister is showing up, it's a big deal). Wednesday Abby, Sam, and I (and anyone else who decides they want to come) might be heading up to Rehovot or Tel Aviv just to get out of here for a day or so in case we're stuck here for the rest of our study abroad. So that's life right now, here's hoping a cease fire starts soon and life can return to normal and I can get back to Beer Sheva.

#RefugeeProblems

Okay, so I'm not really a refugee but hey, we need some way to lighten the mood right? When I last left you it was about 3AM on Wednesday night/Thursday morning and we had just heard our 6th or 7th siren go off and I was really needing some sleep. In the span of 13 hours from 8:30 PM Wednesday to 9:30 AM Thursday the sirens went off 15 times. If that's not psychological warfare, I don't know what is. The whole of Beer Sheva and the areas surrounding Gaza must have been sleep deprived like no other and ready to cry/scream/lash out every time we heard that siren go off again. Sometimes, I just didn't have the energy or capacity to go down to the bomb shelter so I waited it out in my bathroom. Some friends of mine even brought mattresses and sleeping bags to the shelter so they weren't awoken by the siren and had to run somewhere. By the time the 5th or 6th siren went off, our program directors had decided that we needed to get out of Beer Sheva. Since we already had a trip planned for Thursday night through Friday morning to Masada, they decided to just change our plans a little, leave Beer Sheva Thursday morning instead, hike and then camp near Masada, climb Masada Friday morning like planned, and then head back to Sde Boker instead of Beer Sheva. Sde Boker is an are south of Beer Sheva that, while still officially in rocket range, is so small and insignificant that here is no way Hamas would attempt to launch their not super accurate rockets at it. Our counselors keep telling us we're probably in the safest place in Israel. As of right now, we're staying in Sde Boker for another night and deciding tonight whether we will stay here, or perhaps go to Jerusalem until it's finally safe enough to return to Beer Sheva.

If you though Wednesday night was bad, things have only gotten worse. On Thursday, sirens were heard in Tel Aviv for the first time in over a decade, since the first Gulf War when Iraqi scuds were fired towards Tel Aviv. Even more rockets were fired into Beer Sheva and the Eshkol Region, and the IDF began calling up the reserve units. On Friday the unthinkable happened, sirens were heard in Jerusalem and rockets landed somewhere on the outskirts of the city. Even more rockets were fired into Beer Sheva and the Eshkol region. In the last 3 days, since Operation Pillar of Defense started, 640 rockets were fired into Israel, 410 of which hit the ground, the remaining 230 were intercepted by the Iron Dome. For those who don't know, the Iron Dome is essentially a system that detects when rockets are fired towards Israel and then sends up it's own rocket to explode the one coming into Israel. Pretty cool, eh? And so far, pretty effective seeing as it was only put in place March 2011.

So now that I've talked about all the factual stuff, let's talk about me. I mean it is my blog after all, I'm allowed to talk about me. Honestly, I'm not scared. I'm more scared for my Israeli friends who may be called up to serve in the reserves than I am of being in danger myself. I know that my program will take care of me and make sure I'm in a safe area and even get me out of Israel if necessary. I've talked to my uncle and my terrorism professor who believe that this won't last very long and soon life will return to normal in the south of Israel. According to my terrorism professor, after a few days the IDF will go into Gaza, "Hamas will get the shit beaten out of them" (yes, that is a direct quote), and this will all be over. Pretty reassuring given that he predicted when rockets were going to be launched, and where they were headed to. Other than not really having the right clothes for hiking (when I packed for the weekend, I didn't know what we'd be doing), not having great internet connection most places, and you know, not being "home" (AKA Beer Sheva), I haven't been too inconvenienced by this whole conflict. While yes, I would prefer to be going about life as usual in Beer Sheva, not worrying about my awesome Israeli friends, and not having to update my friends/family as often as I can that I'm safe and ok, this hasn't changed my life all that much. And honestly, I think that says loads about the Israeli mentality. My program could be saying that we need to leave Israel until this is over or insisted that we leave the south of Israel before all the rockets started or change all of our plans because this is happening. But that is not the case. People could be freaking out and going crazy and unable to function but that's not the case either. Life goes on. Of course we wish this wasn't happening and that innocent civilians didn't have to be a part of this violence but even though it's happening life goes on.

Some of my friends here and I have been planning what we would do if this were to continue and school was cancelled indefinitely and it seemed like our semester was over (mostly because university students would be called up to the reserves, not necessarily for safety issues). Even though we know and hope that this won't happen, it's been fun to plan. For me, I might visit my sister in Austria, or friends who are studying abroad in London. I might go back to California for a few weeks, then go back to Denver, finally move in with Erin and start looking for a job. I don't know exactly what I'd do, and I know that it won't actually happen, but it's been fun speculating. But for now, we're just taking it day by day, enjoying our little break from school and in a way reality, and just living. Who knows what will actually happen in the next few days/weeks, all I know is that things are okay right now and life goes on.

#WelcometoIsrael

Now before you read this post I want you to know that I am and will be perfectly fine, I am safe, and if there ever comes a time when it is thought that I am not safe, I, and the other international students here in Beer Sheva, will be moved to a place where we are safe. That being said...

Just a little bit ago the IDF (Israeli Defense Forces) led an air strike in Gaza that hit 20 underground missile sites as well as killing Hamas head of operations Ahmed Jabari (See http://www.jpost.com/Defense/Article.aspx?id=291779 for more info). It goes without saying that Hamas is gonna be pretty pissed. The last few days have been a little intense on the border between Israel and Gaza with Hamas firing lots and lots of rockets into the Eshkol region (the border area) almost nonstop. People in the region have been essentially living in their bomb shelters and every once in a while, the threat has come to Beer Sheva and we've had our own sirens go off. Of course as each day passes, the situation has escalated with the IDF insisting that they will not let these rocket attacks go unanswered, leading them to this air strike that was supposedly planned to target Jabari himself.

After the attack on Jabari, lots of people are thinking that a war of sorts will be starting between Hamas and the IDF (aka Gaza and Israel). Islamic Jihad has said that this is an act of war against Hamas. The IDF has started to call up the reserves in case things escalate even further. Classes are cancelled until further notice here in Beer Sheva and in the surrounding area, and the dorms are empty just like a Saturday, everyone's going home or getting out of the South. That is, everyone but the majority of the International students. We're waiting out the fight. For me, I refuse to let fear and this whole conflict disrupt my daily life. Of course some of that is out of my control as I can't go to class and other life has somewhat been put on hold, but I truly believe I'm starting to understand those who live in Sderot or even those who live near the Green Line in the West Bank. I've had many friends and family all letting me know that if I want to get out of Beer Sheva they'll take me in and help me out but honestly, I don't want to leave. Yeah, maybe it's safer to be in the north or Tel Aviv or not Beer Sheva but I don't want to go. I'm safe enough here and if it does get bad enough that the OSP feels I need to be evacuated then I'll evacuate. But until then I'm staying right here.

*****The writing of this blog was interrupted by not one, not two, but three rocket sirens in the span of about 20 minutes. I am now writing to all you in blog land from my friend Abby's room since her room is closest to the shelter. Don't worry, we're still all ok just some nerves and a few tears (not from me, from my friends). It's going to be a long night but we'll get through it. We're contemplating bringing mattresses and sleeping bags down to the shelter and just sleeping there. It'll be quite the kiki.

Why Can't We All Just Get Along?

Picking up where I left off last time, we woke up Friday morning in Bethlehem after a beautiful 10 full hours of sleep. Our hostel provided us with a lovely, yet small, breakfast and gave us a few suggestions on what more to do in Bethlehem before we went to Hebron. We wanted to see the Mosque of Omar but unfortunately, since it was Friday, we were unable to go inside at the time that we arrived at the mosque. Instead we decided we were done with Bethlehem and that we were ready to take on Hebron.

Mosque of Omar from the outside

Hebron was perhaps one of the most interesting cities I have ever been to. The city holds great importance for both Jews and Muslims, and is the center of many conflicts between Israelis/Jews and the Palestinians. Currently "for security reasons", the city is divided into H1 under Palestinian control and H2 under Israeli control. "For security reasons". I can't tell you how many times I saw or heard those three words in my single day in Hebron. Everything seemed to be justified "for security reasons". Soldiers were stationed about every 100 meters and at various checkpoints in H2 for the "security" of the Jews living there, despite the Jewish settlers also being very antagonistic towards the Palestinian residents in H1.

Before I talk about my tour through Hebron, let me just give this little preface. Everything that I heard on the tour had a strong bias towards the plight of the Palestinians in the area as our tour guide was a Saudi student who had been living and studying in Hebron for the last several years. Walking around with us ended up giving him some problems with the Israeli soldiers at the checkpoints as we were four clearly Jewish/American girls walking around with a clearly Palestinian guy. I cannot tell you how many times we were asked if we were okay, if we felt safe with him, how we knew him, all that jazz. I would like to return to Hebron with an Israeli/Jewish guide to see their take on the situation and formulate a more balanced and perhaps semi-neutral sense of what really goes on in Hebron.

SO, now on to the tour. We met Abdullah (our guide) in the Palestinian area of Hebron (H1) and went straight to the Israeli area, H2. We were stopped at the checkpoint so the soldiers could ask us what we were doing in the Palestinian area and if we intended to go back and were told that we probably wouldn't be let back into H1 because, as Jews, we officially weren't allowed there ("for our own safety"). After assuring them that we were okay and that everything was fine, we moved on with our tour. After walking through the first 100 meters of the main street in H2, we had to go off to a side trail that went up and over the hill next to Hebron. Even though continuing down the street would have been quicker, we couldn't go that way because it was forbidden for Palestinians to use the street and since we were with Abdullah, we could only go where he could go. We started climbing the stairs occasionally looking back and round us into the Palestinian part of the city, considered the "Old City" of Hebron. Abdullah would point out different buildings that were seized and re appropriated by the Israeli government/army/settlers for various things including a Synagogue and a Yeshiva (university for Jewish Talmud/Torah study).

 Deserted main street in H2

Palestinian Hospital converted to an Israeli Synagogue

Near the top of the hill was a huge wall covered in graffiti and street art done by visiting Jews from Europe. In several parts of the wall, the phrase "Free Israel" with a Star of David was painted, sometimes even painted over a graffitied "Palestine". The wall was split into two parts, and the break in the wall was a door/gateway to a little balcony/platform that, according to Abdullah, was used for random shootings during the Intifada of 2000. Israeli soldiers would stand on that platform with a perfect view of one of the main streets in the Old City (H1) and randomly shoot Palestinians that walked past. While I'm sure there's an Israeli side to this story, I don't exactly know it. Another reason to return to Hebron with an Israeli guide.

We made our way back down the hill and attempted to return to H1 in order to see parts of the Old City which included the Mosque and Ma'arat haMachpela (Tomb of the Matriarchs and Patriarchs). We had hoped that we had spent enough time on the hill to have a change of the guard at the checkpoint and while that was true, clearly they were talking to each other about us because they knew exactly who we were. I guess there weren't many groups of 4 American girls with a Palestinian guide that day so they were told to keep an eye out for us. The soldier at the checkpoint asked what we wanted to see in H1, why we wanted to go there, called his commander who had initially told him not to let us cross, and finally let us through, telling us to stay safe and basically not die/cause any problems.

Once back in H1, we entered the markets. Since it was nearing Friday afternoon, many of the shops and stands were starting to close, but there were still some open. Something fascinating that we noticed was that there were absolutely no women out. In the entire day we saw very few women and the women that we did see were Jewish women near the Machpela in an Israeli controlled area. Back to the markets. Something interesting about the markets in the Hebron were that they are separated based on what is sold. They have a chicken market (smells TERRIBLE), and a meat market, and a vegetable market, etc. After walking through some of the markets, we moved off through a side alley that had a section full of tons and tons of trash. This, according to Abdullah, used to be the Gold Market but the Jewish settlers have thrown so much trash over their walls/fences into the area, making it completely unusable. Right next to the gold market was a house with an awful story attached to it. Apparently the owner of the house had his wife killed by Israeli soldiers, has often been beaten by Jews in front of his children, his children have been attacked as well by Jewish settlers, and despite all this he has been offered tons of money to leave his house but he continues to refuse. While it seems ridiculous that he would refuse, Abdullah made the point that if he sells his home to the Jews, they will be able to appropriate the entire street that his home is on and subsequently push even more Palestinians out of their homes. The whole time I was listening to this story I was shocked, however it's important to remember that this story was told by a Palestinian about a Palestinian and so it'll be a little bit skewed towards that perspective but still an interesting and perhaps relevant story.

The former Gold market

After walking through the markets and passing through another checkpoint, we finally arrived at the spot that all/most visitors to Hebron go to see, the Mosque and Ma'arat haMachpela. Unfortunately, it was still Friday so we weren't allowed to go into the mosque either but instead we went through a different checkpoint to go to the Ma'arat haMachpela. This is where the (supposedly) the Patriarchs and Matriarchs are buried. At least it's where graves from the time that Abraham and Sarah supposedly lived/died have been found, and thus they have determined based on descriptions of the place within the Torah that this is where they are buried. The site is still relatively controversial as the area is divided between Muslim and Israeli control and at certain points of the year only one group or the other can enter the area. As it so happened, the day that we were in Hebron was the Friday before the Shabbat where the Torah portion was about Abraham purchasing the land in Hebron for Sarah's grave. Thus religious Jews flock to Hebron on this day every year, camp outside the grave sites (well the building that is above the graves) and spend Shabbat in Hebron. I felt weird taking pictures where people were seriously praying so I don't have any pictures of the Tombs but you can look it up, it was a pretty cool site.

Our tour was about to come to an end, and so we walked up the final hill next to the Mosque/Ma'arat and took one final look over the city as a whole. We were surrounded by ruins destroyed during the various wars that have not yet been restored as we talked about what we had seen that day in Hebron and took a moment to reflect. Hebron was an interesting city, I don't exactly know how else to describe it. There was so much conflict and tension in such a small place and it's impossible to determine who is "right" or who "rightfully belongs" in the land. I don't think it's a situation that we'll ever truly be able to rectify and change, no matter how many policy changes there are in the world. I'm so glad I went to Hebron, despite all the difficulties and conflict there.

The Oldest City and the Holy City

So last Monday as we were walking to class Sam asked me out of the blue if I wanted to go to the West Bank. What else was I to say but "um. Of course"?? We did a little bit of planning, decided out what cities we wanted to go to, a rough guideline of what we might like to see in each city, and figured out what buses we would need to take to and from and between these places and then set out Thursday morning for the West Bank!

We took the early bus to Jerusalem, so that we could stop at one of the greatest places in the city before catching our next bus: Holy Bagel. Now none of us had had a bagel since we left the states, so a good 3 months ago. For me, the girl who had a bagel about 4 times a week when I was home over the summer, this was quite a long time to go without a good bagel. It wasn't the best bagel I had ever had, probably because I had high expectations, but it was still pretty wonderful.

Nice and full on our bagels, we head out to the Damascus Gate to hop on one of the Arab buses that would take us to Bethlehem. Once in Bethlehem, we left just about right away for Jericho with the taxi driver that gave us the best price who ended up being a really awesome guide for our time in Jericho, driving us between all the important sights and then back to Bethlehem that evening. So. Jericho. The Oldest City in the World, apparently.

Our first stop was Tel el-Sultan (Sultan's Hill), the site of many archeological excavations, finding layers and layers and layers of civilizations all built upon each other, dating back about 10,000 years. The excavations were awesome, despite the crazy heat out in the middle of the desert. There were also a bunch of stray dogs lounging in whatever shade they could find in the hills of the excavation, Abby and I didn't want to do anything but play with them they were just so cute! The Tel was at the base of what supposedly was the Mount of Temptation where Jesus spent 40 days fasting in the desert before being challenged and "tempted" 3 times by the devil. We had wanted to take the cable car up to the top of the Mount simply for the amazing views that it would offer us of the entire surrounding area, but it didn't seem worth the 55 shekels so we decided to skip that little detour.

 Mount of Temptation

 Ruins overlooking the rest of Jericho

The many layers of excavation/settlements at the Tel

Next stop was Hisham's Palace! This palace, bath house, and mosque belonged to a Muslim caliph from the Umayyad Period a long, long time ago. The greatest thing about this spot was the restoration and quality of the ruins. Many of the columns looked perfectly in tact with no restoration, and pieces of artwork were pieced together based on other examples of typical artwork from the period and completely restored. Despite not really being able to see many of the mosaics through the gates they put up, it was clear that they were extremely beautiful. One of the mosaics, which I wish we could have actually seen, was the famous Tree of Life mosaic, with a large tree in the center, on one side of the trunk are two deer "gracefully nibbling greens" and on the other side a lion devours a deer showing the dichotomy of life and death, peace and war. The ruins were pretty extensive, so it was a bit of an adventure wandering through the site seeing all that we could see.

What the Tree of Life mosaic supposedly looks like...

 Entrance to the Palace area

 Little Cat hates Bananas...

 Restored artwork in the ruins

Nothing but love

Next stop: The Sycamore Tree! So apparently this tree, approximately 2,000 years old, is THE TREE that Jesus sat under before heading up the Mount of Temptation I mentioned earlier. Not unless I'm missing something, this timeline doesn't exactly make sense. Yes the tree is about 2,000 years old and Jesus lived about 2,000 years ago but wouldn't that make the tree pretty tiny 2,000 years ago and not a great tree for Jesus to sit under for shade? I'm no botanist or whoever it is that studies trees, but that's just what I think. Regardless it was a nice tree and in front of a really beautiful but unidentifiable building.

 Said unidentifiable building

Said sycamore tree

So that exhausted all of the important sights in Jericho, and we returned to Bethlehem. Our driver was awesome, leaving us at the Church of the Nativity and giving us great directions from the Church to the hostel we were staying at that night since we really had no clue where it was. We parted ways and went to the Church of the Nativity. From the outside this church was really simple and beautiful, with what seemed like a lot of pilgrims from mainly Hispanic countries (we heard a lot of Spanish, possibly Portuguese...). But from the inside, it was like no church I had ever seen, except for maybe the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. There were ornate lamps all over, paintings on the walls, and a HUGE mass of peopled lined up to go see the Milk Grotto. Rul Cray. There were lots of gilded things, tons of gold and silver, and just a lot of over the top things. Next to the main entrance sanctuary area was a beautiful little side church that was a lot simpler and led down to the caves beneath the churches where Joseph was supposedly visited by the angel who told him to take Jesus and flee to Egypt to avoid Herod's wrath.

 Church from the outside

 Uncovered Mosaic in the middle of the floor

 SO MANY LAMPS

Beautiful underground window/lamp

After seeing just about everything in the church, we head back to our hostel, relaxed a little before heading out for dinner and some narghilla before crashing super early. We knew we'd be getting up relatively early the next day to see everything in Hebron before having to head back to Beer Sheva before Shabbat started and we were stuck. All in all a great day, blog post about Hebron coming when I get out of class...

DU Does the Holy Land

So, before I tell all you in blog land about my adventures in the West Bank the past two days, I want to talk about last weekend. I had been feeling pretty homesick about Denver and all of my lovely friends there, but luckily I was about to get a little piece of Denver in Israel because the wonderful Katrina came to visit from France! I hadn't seen Katrina since the very beginning of the summer when she came to visit me in California and we had a great few days visiting Disneyland, the beach, and all of the exciting things Irvine has to offer.

Katrina arrived late on Wednesday night, but we still ended up staying up until 3AM just chatting, catching up, talking about all of our adventures abroad thus far. Despite how late we stayed up, we woke up at a reasonable time, and set out for the Shuk HaCarmel. The Shuk HaCarmel is the big market in Tel Aviv and probably one of the biggest markets in Israel. You can literally find ANYTHING at the Shuk, clothes, food, household items, you name it, you can probably find it at the Shuk, and for pretty cheap too. We wandered around the shuk for a while, going back and forth and back and forth getting little gifts for Katrina's friends/family, things for ourselves, and mostly just looking at every little thing they had there. After we had seen everything, we left the Shuk and headed to the only other thing you HAVE to go to when you're in Tel Aviv, the BEACH! Of course there are more things to do in Tel Aviv, but since Katrina and I only had one day, we had to hit the highlights. Katrina was so stoked to see the beach and swim in the Mediterranean, it was really fun to see. One of the great things about the Med, especially at the end of the summer, is that the water is pretty warm, at least it doesn't make your feet freeze when you go in. We chilled at the Med for a while before needing to head back to the train station and make our way back to Beer Sheva.

Back in Beer Sheva we had dinner with Sam and Abby before starting to get ready for our Halloween Extravaganza that night at Adam and Kristina's apartment. The party could only be described as ridiculous. Of course everyone was in costume, anything from a 1920's garden party attendee to a panda to a stereotypical Israeli couple. Without including the nitty gritty details, the evening ended with a lot of drunk people, a broken Dora the Explorer pinata, and some stitches. Yep. Stitches. Don't worry he's okay, but what's a Halloween party without a little injury?

Friday morning Katrina, Joey, and I woke up, got our stuff ready for the weekend, and headed out to the bus stop to catch the lovely 470 to Jerusalem. Oh Jerusalem. I love that city, and it was especially fun seeing it with Katrina who had never been before. We couldn't see much on Friday since things were starting to close and we wanted to make it back to Joey's before Shabbat started and public transportation stopped running. We relaxed, had Shabbat dinner with some of this friends, and stayed up playing cards, listening to really random music, and eventually watching Boondock Saints before crashing.

Saturday: our day walking around Jerusalem. So since it was Shabbat, we had to walk everywhere! It ended up being pretty nice though, even though we did a lot of back tracking and walking in the same place we had gone before. In just a few hours of walking we managed to see the Western Wall, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, King David's Tower, the Arab Markets, 4 different gates into the city (Damascus, Dung, Zion, and Jaffa), and most of the 4 quarters. I'd say we accomplished quite a lot. I wish I had picture to share with y'all but they are all on Katrina's camera and I have yet to get a hold of them. After walking around a TON, we returned to Joey's place, ordered dinner, ate with his roommate Adam, and just hung out like we had the night before.

Despite it being unfortunate having to say goodbye to Katrina again, it was such a great weekend, with a little piece of DU following me to Israel at just the right time. We had some great conversations, had a lot of fun, and got even more excited for when we would all be reunited with all of our friends again in Denver in just a few short months.

Off to the West Bank!

Hard core blogging will commence when I return. Cross my heart.

Red or Blue

Warning: I'm about to use this blog as a bit of a soapbox. Feel free not to read it, I'm just going to share some things I've noticed while experiencing the election from here in Israel and some comparisons with the Israeli election that is supposed to be in January or so. You have been warned.

Depending on who you ask, this question could mean a lot of different things. Just a few weeks ago in Cyprus (don't worry, blog about that coming soon, I've been slacking a lot) I asked someone who was from Liverpool if they were red or blue, implying that they were either a Liverpool or Everton fan. But now, in the last few weeks, if you asked anyone in the US if they were red or blue, you'd get into this intense political debate. Oh wait, who am I kidding, in the US you can't really ask that question, people will get pretty offended. But in Israel, land of the direct questions and lack of subtlety, I have been asked several times who I am voting for (well, who I voted for) and have received some interesting responses. I am not the type of person who tries to hide my political affiliation. Yes, I don't wear it on my sleeve, or my Facebook page like many people I know, but if someone asks me what I believe or who I support, I'll answer them honestly. I'm proud to say that I did my part to re-elect President Obama but when I've said that in Israel I've gotten one of two responses, the more common being "how can you vote for Obama? He hates Israel!" A friend of mine even got the "you can't be Jewish if you're voting for Obama" since he supposedly hates Israel.

Now I consider myself somewhat educated on the US-Israel relationship (thanks AIPAC) and something that I have learned in the last year or so, is that despite what seems like reluctance to support Israel, many of Obama's policies have actually been tremendous for Israel. His foreign policy has been instrumental in building more Iron Dome locations within Israel, keeping it so much safer from the Gaza rockets, and joint military exercises have benefitted both Israeli and American soldiers. Israel receives the bulk of our foreign aid, and there is so much collaboration between the two nations. Perhaps Obama and Bibi differ in their opinions on how to deal with Iran and the Arab Spring's consequences, but that does not mean that the United States will not support Israel if the time comes.

Since the election is basically over (I refuse to say that it's official until all votes are tallied and we have confirmation from basically everyone and the Electoral College), I can finally say how lucky I feel to not be in the US during election season. Of course it would have been nice watching debates when they were actually live instead of finding a high quality version in the next few days online, and I definitely would have appreciated not having to wake up at 6AM in order to watch the election results, BUT I do not miss the frenzy and extremism that comes from election season. I like that I'm able to watch TV (when I manage to find a tv to watch which is not often) I am not bombarded by political ads. I have enjoyed walking down the street and now seeing hundreds or even thousands of lawn signs and bumper stickers with the names of various candidates or initiatives. I like how I have not had a single phone call or person knocking on my door telling me to vote or asking me to contribute to a political campaign.

And the greatest thing is, even though Israel is about to have their elections (well, supposed to) coming up this January, I still won't be in an environment that is full of election frenzy. Israel does not allow political ads on TV, they don't have lawn signs or bumper stickers, no one canvases communities to get out the vote. Now of course, the Israeli political system is a lot more complex than the fairly bipolar 2 party system in the US, but they also do not have an extremely agressive electoral system despite being extremely agressive people just in general. I'm pretty excited to see the Israeli electoral process unfold, even though I don't really understand most of it, but what better time to learn the nuances of Israeli politics, than while I am in Israel during election "season"!

After the Storm...

Since Jordan, life has hit a little bit of a lull. The rest of my break was pretty boring, as I spent majority of my time getting work done blogging, reading for class, and working on my thesis proposal for INTS back at DU. Of course I still had some fun, hanging out at the pool with Nisha and Nate, throwing together a super impromptu Shabbat dinner with Nisha and Doug (never, EVER listen to Lady. Or watch her music videos. Trust me on this one), going to the Kibbutz to see family and celebrate Kibbutz Hatzerim's 66th birthday. It was a pretty nice change from the physicality of Jordan but now that I've really caught the hiking bug I want to do it all the time!

Also this week, classes started fo realz. Before Sukkot break we had a few days of class but since we had about a two week break after them, they didn't really count. Now I have officially been to at least one session of each class and I'm pretty excited for this semester. I'm taking pretty diverse classes, one on the controversial topics in Israeli history (immigration, etc.), one on violence in mass media, one on terrorism and guerrilla warfare, and one on the creation of a collective memory within Israel, and of course Hebrew (with only 2 other people, it's a little intense). So far none of my classes seem like they will be boring, or more of a burden than I feel they are worth (aka not a lot of work). As the semester goes on I'll have more to do, but all the work should be pretty fun and interesting.

One of the best things about the "study" part of study abroad is the size of the classes. I've gotten pretty used to having small classes in Denver, with only about 20 other people. But since there's only about 30 people total int he program, our classes have at most 10 people and it's AWESOME. There is so much freedom for discussion instead of just lectures, and the classes feel so personal. For example in my terrorism class, our professor loves to address the one Czech guy in the class whenever he mentions Eastern Europe and always looks at the two French girls when talking about anything even remotely related to France. In my violence class we're watching specific movies but we're also able to suggest our own and bring up topics that are interesting to us rather than just what Kobi planned for the class.

I've got some pretty exciting things coming up, hiking day trip tomorrow (hopefully), birthday cruise to Cyprus in a week, the amazing Katrina coming to visit for a weekend, and then who knows what adventures will come my way! Can't wait to share them with y'all :)

Dogs in the Desert

Like all the other days of our trip, we woke up to the sun rising over the rocks in a beautiful, yet bright, fashion. Luckily we were dry, as were all of our things, so once we had some breakfast we were ready to go! Because we didn't get to hike through the canyon the day before like we planned, we had to revise our plans a little bit and cut out a dog leg we planned to take around another canyon. Our first stop was another set of inscriptions, supposedly... Just like Lawrence's House, the inscriptions were not so easy to find, and certainly not where the little #7 was on our vague map. But we got to find a little spot of shade to sit before proceeding to Lawrence's Head.

The first time I heard that we were going to a place called Lawrence's Head, I was confused, what was that supposed to mean? But when we got there, it all made sense. Carved into the rock was a drawing of T.E. Lawrence's head labeled with "Lawrence of Arabia" (in Arabic of course) as well as a carving of another dude that I had never heard of, I don't even remember his name. On another rock a little ways away, there was another, much larger carving of Lawrence's face that just seemed awkward to me. We hung out at Lawrence's Head and met an adorable, but clearly stray and probably sick dog. She was covered in flies and other bugs and was definitely hungry. Adam took pity on her and gave her some sausages but that also meant that she followed us. And not just around Lawrence's Head or around to the next canyon, she followed us the entire rest of the day and even stayed and slept near us that night.

After Lawrence's Head we started to hike back to the Seven Pillars of Wisdom (named after a book title by, can you guess who? yep T.E. Lawrence) taking several breaks for tea from some random Bedouins that we met as well as taking a little nap in a shady cave-like section of rock. While our little detour and nap time was great, it ended up causing some little problems later but I'll get to that, no need to skip ahead. We continued hiking towards the Seven Pillars and found this massive rock that just looked too fun not to climb, especially guessing what amazing views we'd have from the top.

As we sat on top of the rock what should we see but more storm clouds. Seriously desert? Two rainstorms in one trip? We scrambled to find some shelter and ended up not really finding a place that would protect both us and our packs. Luckily it was only a sandstorm and by covering our faces we survived and proceeded to hike out to the camping spot to find a place for the night while Adam ran back to the Visitor's Center to refill our empty waters. Because of that nap time I mentioned earlier, as well as the threat of storm, we got to the campsite and it was getting dark quick. Too dark to find a spot up in the rocks that we could get to safely in order to be protected for the night. Instead we found a spot that was basically in the middle of open desert. We were close enough to the Visitor's Center that if a super rough sand/rainstorm came we could grab our stuff and run for at least some form of shelter behind a wall, but we were trying to be optimistic. We prepared our "feast" that wasn't exactly feast-like since we attempted to combine mac 'n cheese with cheese ravioli (blame Adam, I wanted to cook them separately), after having very, very strong soup (too much soup powder stuff, not a big enough pot for water). Unfortunately it was still pretty cloudy so we didn't really get to stargaze much but the moon was still mostly full and when the clouds cleared a little we got to see the beautiful night sky.

So that brings us to the end of my trip. We woke up in the morning, got a ride into Aqaba to the border, got through okay (no tourism police this time) and walked down to the Eilat Central Bus Station to catch our bus back up to Beer Sheva and take our packs off for the last time. A shower has never felt so amazing. Overall, it was a pretty fantastic trip despite the many mishaps and changes in plan. It was a once in a lifetime experience and I'm so glad I went.

Soft Sand and Breaking Backs

So now we get to the real adventures, or should I say misadventures once more. We got a relatively early start cause we didn't want to be hiking with heavy packs through open desert in the heat of the day. With our packs full of water (about 12 liters per person to last us the two days) and not much else, we set out for the first few kilometers (klicks, k's, whatever you want to call them) to Lawrence's house (see, I told you everything would be named after T.E. Lawrence). But of course the house was not where the number was on our very vague map. We went about .75 km too far and had to go back in order to see it and let me tell ya, it was not worth the 1.5 km detour. It was nice to see, but nothing all that special especially when we had a long day still ahead of us hiking through super soft sand.

After the detour to Lawrence's house was over, we headed onwards to the first of two inscriptions we would see on the trip. Painted and carved into the stone were images of camel caravans from (if I'm remembering correctly) when the Nabateans lived in the region. The carvings were pretty cool, but the best part about the inscriptions was the fact that there was a little cave in the wall that provided some nice shade to take a little break, eat some food, and rest before what would be the worst part of the hike going over sand dunes. Now if you've never walked in/around/up sand dunes, it is one of the most difficult things ever. Especially when it's upwards of 90 degrees outside, and you have a 30 pound pack on your back that you've been carrying for the last 8 km.

But I survived the sand dunes, and after taking a few little breaks in the very sparse shade we were able to find on the way, we finally made it to Burrah Canyon. We stopped pretty close to the entrance of the 5km long canyon in what was was probably a spring sometime in the past before the water dried up. We had a great lunch thanks to Chef Kristof, and each took a little nap before we were to hike through the rest of the canyon and find a place to camp on the other side. Of course, things couldn't work out that way as we were all awoken from our naps by thunder and Adam saying that a rainstorm was two canyons over and we needed to pack up and find shelter, STAT. Uh oh. We found a little cave that we thought might work out, til we realized that the wind was blowing directly into the cave and we would only be partially sheltered. But there was no time to find another spot before the rain hit so we just covered our packs the best we could and hoped that the rain wouldn't be too bad. The rain storm was quite long though, lasting at least 2 hours with some serious thunder and lightning. Once we realized that the rain was going to be happening for a long time we embraced it, running around in the rain, marveling at the formation of waterfalls on the rocks all around us. Clearly the storm was something as we kept seeing cars presumably full of excited Bedouins, all driving to the canyon to watch the storm.

Luckily one of those Bedouin families saw us trying to find a better shelter where we would be able to stay dry that night, and took pity on us. They told us about a nice, roomy, dry, flat cave that would be just perfect for us that night. And in true Bedouin fashion, they built a fire, brewed us some tea, and left us the extra dry wood they had found so we could have our own fire later after they left. It ended up being a pretty awesome night in the cave, just chilling with the fire and cuddling up in sweatshirts and warm sleeping bags to fight the continuing rain. Luckily we stayed dry and were able to be up and at 'em the next morning with dry things, ready to take on the next day.

Sandstorms and Stone

So the day after Petra, the guys decided that they wanted to return for one more day in order to hike out to the Monestary. Since the other ladies and I didn't get 2 day passes to Petra, we stayed at the hostel sleeping in a little and relaxing before making the drive down to Wadi Rum. Wadi Rum is a protected area in the south of Jordan that is best known for its connection to T.E. Lawrence (AKA Lawrence of Arabia) as it was the base of his operations in the Arab World during WWI. The connection to T.E. Lawrence was clear as on the map we had of Wadi Rum, half of the famous sites were named after him. Since we got to Wadi Rum pretty late in the afternoon, we only really had time to organize our jeep tour for the next day and hike to an old Nabatean temple that was just a few minutes away from the house we stayed at. It was nice to have a relaxing day because the next few were not so.

 Gotta love the spelling...

Pretty nice view to wake up to if you ask me.

The morning of the jeep tour was relatively chill as we hiked up to a spring up in the hills. It was such a rewarding hike as the water was cool and beautiful and after sitting under the dripping water, we were able to lay out on the rocks and let the sun dry us before hiking back to start our tour. Within the first 5 minutes of our tour, a sandstorm started followed by little drops of rain. I think our tour guide, Mohamed, was more excited than we were about the sand storm, stopping the car to take pictures of his own. Regardless the sand storm was pretty cool, even though standing outside in it hurt a little since sand kind of stings.

 My first sand storm!

On the rest of the tour we saw different canyons, springs, natural rock bridges, etc, and the best part of it all was the fact that at each stop we got to get out of the super tightly packed jeep and scramble up all of the rocks seeing even more than what was just in front of us. At each point of the tour we met other travelers who were also on their own jeep tours and we got a chance to talk to a bunch of different people and see where they all had traveled thus far. At some spots we even got some Bedouin tea. I've mentioned it a few times so far, but Bedouin tea is maybe the best beverage in the world. It is pretty simple, just black tea with sage and a whole lot of sugar added, but there is something about the way it is brewed directly on the fire and given out with such generosity that makes it so delicious. The sugar gives you energy to keep going, and is amazing even on super hot days. We tried to brew it ourselves a few times in the coming days but nothing was as good as when the Bedouins made it for us. I can't even count how many cups of that tea I drank over my 6 days in Jordan, and it will definitely be what I miss the most about Jordan.

The end of our jeep tour brought us to Mohammed's bedouin camp in the middle of the desert where we had a delicious Bedouin dinner, relaxed, and just talked. We had wanted to sleep out on the rocks outside but Mohammed kept warning us that sand storms and a little rain were probably coming again that night and the wind did not seem friendly out on the high flat rock we hoped would be our bed. Probably for the best, cause I got to get a good night's sleep under a tent, my last of the trip as the next morning we would don our packs and start on the real adventure of the trip.

My Day as Indiana Jones

The first day of my Jordan trip should've been a sign as to how the rest of the adventure would go: absolutely not according to plan. We took the 1:30 AM bus from Beer Sheva down to Eilat, arriving at around 5AM. Of course, the 5 of us were split on 2 different buses and didn't all get off at the same stop, meaning Kristof and I had to take a little 5AM hike to get to the rest of the crew so we could cross the border all together. Getting across the border was an adventure in and of itself, as one of the placed Kristof and I had planned to go was essentially off limits unless you had a guide, which we were lacking. But for some reason, I was the only one pulled aside by the tourism police (curse you Israeli passport) and after not believing me when I said I would change my plans and not go to Wadi Chessa (seriously, why would I lie to the Jordanian police? that would be such a bad move!) they made a copy of my passport and wrote down my travel plans for their files.

FINALLY we made it across the border and into Aqaba, where we bought the cheapest falafel I will ever get (less than 1 Dinar, which converts to about $1), and boarded a bus to Petra. As we met other Israelis crossing the border and on the bus to Petra, they all said that because it was International Tourism Day, entrance into Petra was going to be free, woohoo! But why should things be so easy? After we arrived in Petra and dropped our things off at the hostel, we got to the entrance to the actual Petra site and discovered that it was only free for Jordanian residents. Maybe it's just me, but it doesn't make sense that tourists don't get in free on International Tourism day. Regardless we paid the entrance fee and started our trek into Petra. It was hilarious to see how much they attempted to exploit Indiana Jones at the various shops leading towards the main canyon.

I'll spare you all the specific details of Petra and just hit the highlights. At the end of the Siq (canyon in Arabic) we got to the Treasury which is arguably the most famous part of Petra, immortalized by Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, as it is where Indy finds the Holy Grail at the end of the movie. Of course I have seen many pictures of the Treasury before but nothing could compare to actually seeing it in person. I can't even imagine how it was made as the stones are smoothed to perfection and meters above the ground. It was absolutely incredible but it was nothing compared to everything else that we saw.

From the Treasury we went through the next canyon and up what seemed like hundreds of steps to attempt to reach the High Place of Sacrifice up on top of the mountain. On our way up, we met these wonderful Bedouin women that offered us tea, practically forced us to sit and rest while we drank our tea and just chatted. It was a lovely conversation, and a very interesting insight into the lifestyle of Bedouin women. Two of them were only 16, and worked instead of continuing with school. However one of these 16 year olds knew the basics of 7 or 8 languages because of all the tourists she talks to each day on the mountain. She seemed like she would do so well in school, afterwards the crew and I were saying we wished we could send her to a real school in the states and not the Bedouin schools that she was probably attending in Jordan.

From the High Place of Sacrifice we could see everything, the views were absolutely incredible. It if weren't for the heat, we might have stayed up there all day. But alas Petra was closing in a few hours and we still wanted to get down the mountain and see what else there was to see. On our way down the back side of the mountain everything was just indescribable. There were absolutely no people around so we could do all the exploring we wanted through every single ruin we passed. The rocks were brilliant colors, and looked amazing as the sunlight hit them just right. We got down the mountain finally, wandered through one final temple, and hiked our way out through the Siq and returned to the hostel. Overall, a pretty fantastic day, despite the rough start...