I'm Back

So when I eventually got to the point where I thought things couldn't possibly get any worse, they of course got infinitely worse, and so the last few weeks have been a mess of liquid disaster, complete with teenage drama, roommate issues, drunken violence, drug testing, death threats, and a nasty stomach bug. Super fun. Anyway, I'm back, mostly healthy, and pulling things back together.

Volunteering has still been sort of a fiasco. My position at the school didn't work out, for various reasons all leading down to the fact that Israelis are incredibly disorganized. I've still been working at the soup kitchen sort of on and off, but tomorrow I have an interview with an organization called Windows, which basically works to foster peace through youth media projects. If you're interested in learning more about Windows, you can learn more at http://www.win-peace.org/.

Volunteering aside, the program had been having a lot of issues, which are now slowly beginning to be remedied. This means more group activities, more programming, and generally more learning, and I'm loving it! A couple of nights ago our staff rabbi, Rav Fivel, took us to dinner at a local humus restaurant, and we sat around the table and studied Lech Lecha, the parsha for this week. Last week we visited the Palmach museum, which tells the story of the early defense forces in Palestine. I had been to the museum before, but the intense patriotism and determination of the early Palmach soldiers never gets any less moving or inspirational. Many of my friends were in tears.

Yesterday we did a walking tour of Tel Aviv and Yafo, which we've done a million times before, but the difference is that yesterday we learned something. In fact, we learned a lot of really cool stuff. Tel Aviv began as a sand dune. Literally, Tel Aviv began as 66 families standing atop a sand dune (a sand dune which is now Migdal Shalom) and making a conscious decision to build a Jewish city. They stated that things would be done in "a Jewish manner", and they provided a place for both religious and secular Jews to flourish in the city.

Our tour guide (a New Yorker turned kibbutznik by the name of Avraham) prefaced the tour by saying that Tel Aviv is the most Jewish city in the world. If asked the question what is the most Jewish city in the world, most of us would have answered Jerusalem without hesitation. Jerusalem, however, is approximately 65% Jewish, while the greater Tel Aviv area is 97% Jewish. 97%. That's a LOT of Jews. That means that almost every bus driver, every shopkeeper, every drunk man in the alley, is Jewish. Not so in Jerusalem. This is a society almost completely made up of Jews. That doesn't exist in any other major city on the planet. That's CRAZY.

Here's the thing that really blew my mind. Anyone who's been to Tel Aviv knows that it takes forever to get anywhere in the city because the roads just don't make any sense. What's the deal with that? It's only a 100-year-old city! You'd think they would have designed it in a grid, just like any other sensible world class city. But what shape does a grid make? A series of crosses. That's right, crosses. And if you look very carefully at a road map of Tel Aviv, you'll see that the roads were designed to create a series of menorahs. Seriously. The ROADS ARE MENORAHS. This city is Jewish inside and out.

Living here is just full of little surprises, and I love it. I've made a couple of recent food discoveries: 1) They do have regular American-style iced coffee here, but you have to order "cold coffee", and 2) Any ice cream place will make you a smoothie if you order a milkshake. Yesterday I got a strawberry-mango "milkshake", which was just pure strawberries and mango, and it was delicious.

Last night I went to a political lecture at the Tel Aviv International Saloon. Danny Danon, a member of the Knesset for the Likud, spoke about his opposition to the building freeze in East Jerusalem, his views on the current peace talks in Washington, and the state of Israel today. Personally, I'm a supporter of Kadima, Israel's left-wing party, currently led by Tzipi Livni, and I found myself getting really fired up during Danon's speech. I won't get into politics too much, but I will say that it was a really great experience to be in a room full of people who care about Israel's government and political stance as much as I do. I'm hoping to go back to the Saloon next month for a lecture by a diplomat from Taiwan.

Anyway, I'm about to be late for class, so I'm going to head out. I apologize for the hiatus during my weeks of insanity, and I'll try my best to write more often from now on.

P.S. I just wanted to give a quick shout-out to Jacob, my favorite honorary brother, and his newfound passion for cooking, which is chronicled in his hilarious blog http://jakesflavorgasm.blogspot.com/. Jacob, just a warning, when you come to Israel in the spring, you WILL be cooking for me. <3