life force

i had a great time in israel, but i am going to love munich i can tell.

the air is crisp, cold (4 degrees C), and fresh.  i feel relaxed.

No big deal

Serenity (not the valley or the ship)

After the constant verbal male harrassment and pollution of the otherwise lovely Cairo, staying with my cousin Tami and her family on Moshava Kinneret in the Galilee is such a nice wind down.  Cairo was great, but I was so dirty and sweaty and always lost.  I stayed with a great guy in CSing that Courtney Robinson connected me to.  I saw Sufi dancing and pyramids and the synagogue Rabbi Ben Ezra rebuilt.

I then weathered a terrible 19 hours of travel.  A 10 pm night bus out of Cairo was not a treat.  I was the only single female traveler on it.  And while people left me alone, I got a lot of looks.  Deciding to actually sleep on it, I took a sleeping pill, which helped, but left me disoriented at all stops.  It was only once I was safely in Tami's car in Haifa and I told her did I realize that taking a sleeping pill in that situation was probably not a real smart thing to do, safety wise.  I arrived in Taba at 5:30 am and walked to the border and crossed into Israel by 615.  Took a cab to the bus station in Eilat (that ride was more expensive by 5 shekels each time I took it) and sat until 8 am for the bus to Tel Aviv.  That bus got in at 1 pm.  I sat until the 1:30 bus to Haifa.  Arrived at 2:45 pm and waited until 3:30 for Tami to pick me up near some tech center.  Then we drove to her house on the Moshava.  At 5:30 I finally sat down in her house and ate some homemade food.  

Then we went to a ceremony run by the moshava's children for Rabin rememberence day.  Didn't understand a word.  Then a lovely dinner and bed.  Today I woke at 10 am, tried to make breakfast and get online.  Neither worked.  Very confused went back to bed.  Apparently the power went out around 9 am.  Slept until 2 pm when I was woken for lunch then read a bit and went to the lake to swim.  Then dinner and a nice talk with Tami and Amit. 

Tomorrow, however, Lior's father is leaving Tiberias at 930 am from his sisters, which saves me a ride but ruins my sleeping in plans.  So I'm getting up at 7 am and going for a morning kayak and swim in the lake with Amit, then catching a bus to Tiberias, where Lior's dad will pick me up.  I'll be in Tel Aviv by 11:30 am.  On Friday midday I switch to Uri and Ella's, where I will stay until I leave Israel on Monday.

Honestly, my family is so wonderful and so are my friends.  I miss Adel, his cat, and Christina, who made Cairo so wonderful.  But I also love being with family.  I know that some day I will go to Egypt again and see other parts (especially Sinai), and of course I will come back to Israel.  So for the first time since getting to Israel, I'm okay with the idea of leaving.  Something to do with the Kinneret...and overwhelming sense of peace and, yes, serenity.

I did this thing

where i got kinda spontaneous.  anyway i'm in cairo, egypt.  i saw the sufi dancing show and then the pyramids of giza.  guess which i was more in awe of?  

i go back to israel on the night bus tomorrow (monday) and arrive at the taba border somewhere around 4 or 5 am.  some  night bus, huh?  where do i go then?  no idea.  gotta call tami and see if her and ahmit are at home or in eilat.  if home, to the kinneret, i hope.  otherwise....uh....tel aviv i guess.  no idea.

Fwd: picspam

1. Amsterdam.

2. A quote by Janathon Saffron Fower in the Jewish Museum in Amsterdam.  How accurate.

3. Rhine River Valley, Germany

4. Lock bridge, Koln, Germany

5. Yup, I am a child.

6. I fell asleep on the curb across fromt his synagogue in 2004.  Prague.

7. What a tourist! 

8. Going for a dip in the Dead Sea.

9. Bird watching in the Hulah Valley

10. Ba'hai Gardens, Haifa, Israel

11. The same.

Ani lo mevinah Ivrit.

And I don't understand Russian either.  But thanks for assuming I did.

 

I'm in Israel now, have been for almost 2 weeks.  We spent a few days in Tel Aviv, met my dad's cousin Uri and his wife and kids (Ella, Ron and Hadar, respectively) and then went to Jerusalem.  After that we went to visit family friends Raz and his family down on Moshav V'at Kikar, I think.  A Moshav is a place where the community works and farms together like a Kibbutz, but people have private property and such.  Their moshav is by the Dead Sea and they grow dates.  Really really good dates.  Their tiny daughter is adorable, but after 5 minutes in a car with her I was ready to throw her out the window.  This is why I am not having children.  Ever.

 

After the moshav we picked Evan up in Tel Aviv (he chose to stay with Uri) and went to Haifa.  We stayed in an empty apartment that mom and dad's friend owns with her siblings since their mother's death.  But no one had been there in a LOOOONNNG time.  How do we know?  We found a bird skeleton on the couch.  No feathers, no organs, no skin anymore.  Just the skeleton.  It looked really cool, but I felt bad for it.  From that apartment, we went to Safed, Moshav Kinneret (where dad's other cousin Tami lives with her family who is awesome), and some other town or two.  Tami and her husband are marine biologists and they invented a sunscreen that neautralises jelly fish stings.  Totally safe swimming. 

 

Now we are back in Tel Aviv.  On Monday my parents and brother leave Israel.  I will take a bus to Jerusalem to see Rachel Marder (who I ran into at Simchat Torah services at some synangogue), Mari, and MichelleAran, both of whom are at the University of Jerusalem for the year.  Then I will go to Eilat and snuba diving I hope at the reef Mark told me is amazing near the Princess Hotel.  From Eilat I am going to Cairo, Eygpt to see pyramids and stay with a friend of Courtney Robinson's.  From there back to Haifa to spend a day with Haley Panneton, who has started her year of university there.  Hopefully another day at Moshav Kinneret (the lake is probably my favortie place to be in in Israel) and a night at the cousins'.  Then back to tel Aviv for my last 4 or 5 days to stay with Lior half the time and Uri half the time. 

 

The 25th I go to Munich, hopefully not all the way to Prague (gonna try to not get on my connecting flight).  I fly back to London on October 29th at 7 am (gross).  If I have the time in Munich, I am going to go to the Dachu Concentration Camp. 

 

I will be back in London for Halloween, although lord knows where I am going to stay.  I've got 3.5 weeks in the UK.  I'm hoping to visit Wales (yay, AshKitty!), Manchester, Liverpool, York, Bath, and maybe Brighton or the Costwalds to visit Hermione's family homestead.  I fly back to California on November 22nd and plan to spend the following month in a complete depression (save seeing Natalie) of having to live in Elk Grove and not Israel or London. 

 

Man, when I put it like that, my trip is practically over.  (It's moments like this I have to remind the depression to wait until I get home.)

 

And in really important news, I am now the owner of bright pink (yes, Meredith, pink) jeans that Lior didn't want.  Hehe.  I love them.

I have not had truly clean clothing in three weeks.

And everything smells. 

Another night of hand washing a few pairs of socks and underwear in the sink hoping that they will get clean enough (they never do).  And my feet smell and I smell and I really want a washing machine.  With a dryer.  A luxury I haven't had since I was staying at Ed's flat three weeks ago. Plus my only pair of pants, capris I bought with Tia and then took my Veggie Knife to on the Allotment to fold down the hem into pants, have split open in 28 hours from a small rip on my inner thigh, to traverse the width of one panel of fabric: side to side.  So, new pants are a must.

In Prague now.  My parents arrive tomorrow mid-day if all connections go well.  We spend the weekend here and then....ISRAEL!!!!!!!!!!!

So excited.

Went on alternative pub crawl in Berlin last night and had to sit and defend Israel to an Irish guy.  All because a girl from NYC asked if it was worth going to Auschwitz if she visited Krakow.  I emphatically said yes.  The funny thing being the Irish guy, JP, was going to Auschwitz in two days time.  But then got all political and was trying to make some point about American politics, but really couldn't manage to do it without badmouthing Israel and comparing the situation to the IRA in Ireland.  I fianlly got him to understand that a pub crawl where I could only half hear him was NOT THE TIME for this debate.  And that frankly I think he didn't know what he was talking about and needed to back the fuck off my grill.  (Oh, excuse me, he DID write a thesis on something or other with the policy...he has DATA!)  He was nice, and we ended amicably and whatnot, but fucking annoying.  I clearly didn't want to discuss Israeli-Palestinian politics in a goth bar blasting music I would have killed to own in junior high school.

Otherwise the crawl was fun.  Hung out mainly with a couple from Madrid after that.  Discovered that Drum+Bass techno is just that: only drum and bass.  Oh, and that it is boring as fuck and super awkward to dance to.  The hilarity of everyone doing so was great. 

Well, I really should do this sleeping thing I keep saying I need.

I am not a donut, but I want one

Strudel in Köln?  Yes please.

Riesling wine with dinner and then Riesling wine gelato for dessert in Bacharach?  Yes please.

4 hours cruising down the Rhine in the blazing sun?  Yes please.

Watching the sunset against the Köln skyline with one of the biggest gothic buildings in ever?  Okay, yeah, I´ll take that, too, thanks!

From Brussels I went to Amsterdam.  Mainly spent the time in shul for Yom Kippur.  I found the gayest congregation ever.  Bob told me several things, includig that his boyfriend is 32 years younger than him and that the congregation was all "faggots and dykes".  Led mostly by women, the about 40 person congregation, welcomed me for services with open arms and an amazing break fast.  The cantorial soloist (or maybe one of three cantors?  not totally sure) of the morning service sounded as whimsical as Regina Spektor.  It was awesome.  Mom says how Cantor Carl, my late Chazzan, would prostrate himself on the floor on Yom Kippur.  I fail to remember ever seeing this.  But everyone at the service did it three times.  All laid out in white in what I´ll call a "super bow" to G-d, on the floor facing a movable Ark with white flowers on the table.  HI-larious.

Went to see a BOOM CHICAGO show, which was great sometimes and a bit wane in other scenes.  I got selected for the FACEBOOK game and signed into my account for them.  They chose 3 random friends by profile pic and made me explain them during act 2.  They chose Andy Rivera, the only Mexican on Smile and Nod, Becky, Val#s friend who makes corsets, and Cantor Wally Shachit-Briskin, who worked at Swig in summers.  I was played by a black man.  In the scene I was on a quest to become more like Alan Rickman.  It was hilarious!

My hostel was a block from the start of the Red Light District.  I dont think those hookers were even trying.  Only one had a librarian look going on.  Mainly they wear glow in the dark underwear sets and knock on their windows to grab men.  Everything was obviously aimed at men.  No male prostitutes to be seen.  And just a ton of loud stag partiers.  A very modern seedy.  Boring.  Sort of like a freak show really.  And at all hours of the day too.  Saw some underwear I wanted on the girls, but that was about that.  Had a pot milkshake from Betty Boop Cafe.  Wandered about, but it just made me really tired, honestly.  Disappointing, really.  Wish I had had more time to try the other places suggested to me, but Yom Kippur makes it kinda hard.

Yesterday, train from Amsterdam to Köln, dropped my bags in luggage storage, train to Koblenz, boat for 4.5 hours down the "romantic Rhine" to Bacharach.  Wandered, ate dinner, train back to Koblenz, train to Köln.  Total from 8 am to 11 pm of travel.  Awful.  But beautiful.  And the sun!  Fuck you Holland and Belgium and your rain and cold.

Staying with a girl called Helen from Couch Surfing here in Köln.  Very sweet girl.  Tomorrow morning to Berlin, at a hostel cause I suck and forgot to email more than 2 CSers for Berlin.  CSing is so much easier with a smart phone or iPod touch that carries internet. Boo.

Berlin tomorrow, Thursday, and Friday, with a night train to Prague.  Meet parents, get Lactaid (yay).  Spend two days in prague and then ISRAEL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I´m so excited I could puke!

photos

1 Me Nora and Tim at Sterling Castle on our Highlands Tour in Scotland. Yes, we bought those hats.  They are highland cows, or hairy coos.
2 A real wild hairy coo!
3 With cocunuts at the castle from Monty Python and the Holy Grail
4 Giqnt lilypad house at Kew Gardens
5 Nora Rachel and I go to Greenwich for the day
6 Pray for the Royal Family, please
7 These are made from wax in Mexico; this is the Modern Art Museum in Brussels
8 This is where government happens.....ALL of European government

really slow to type

Officially, Belgium keyboards are the most confusing I have used.  The A key is on the top row, the M is next to the % sign, and the period and numbers need the shift key to work.

Not murdered yet, obviously.  Stefanie & Martin are very nice and even gave me a spare key.  Saw a lot of the city today.  Had dinner with Martin, who found a legit beer I like, not even a fruit beer.  Mission for Belgim accomplished!  Saw St. Nikoas Church where a cannonball is embedded in the wall from the 1600s.  Tomorrow, going to pqrks with my Lord of the Rings.  I will be done with Two Towers by tonight; 30 pages left.  Have not done a Hebrew lesson in days.  Very bad.

Nowhere to stay in Amsterdam yet.  Debating between a hostel in the city and Couchsurfing 20 miles away in Haarlem or Almere.  Hostels are at the dirt cheapest for 3 nights 71 Euro, at normal 95 to 115 Euro:  Not more than say Spain or Greece, sure, but a lack of secure place to stay in London for the final 4 weeks scares me with money.  Whatever, I suppose.

I will wait until tomorow for the last two responses from CS, if they are to come, then book this hostel thats a little outside the main ring of the city, but only 100 USD for a 6 bed female dorm or 105 USD  for a 4 bed mixed dorm.  Once that is booked, I should plan ahead to Germany so I dont run into the same problem again.

Hopefully one of the two synagogues will have space for me for Yom Kippur:  So far the third has told me they are out of room.  Clearly I forgot that North Europe does not run on Spain/Israel/Greece laxidasical time.

Spoke to Coutney Robinson on SKYPE the other night about things to do in Israel.  I forgot how much I missed her.  Seriously, I wish I had the money to go to Victoria, Canada to see her when I get back.  I really must keep in better touch with her.  I wish I could introduce her to Mark, though, seriously.

Also, Nora Doaner Kebab came up with a great Halloween outfit I can do without buying much:  I think I can do it in 15 quid.  As the other two I want to do I cant do well enough on my time and budget.  LIFE