jenny does kosher

israel: final thoughts and feelings

2009-07-04T07:44:00.003+03:00

i have been in this constant state of reflection the past couple of weeks. my stay in israel has been a whirlwind of amazing experiences and the rare glimpses into this life that i didn't even know existed outside the bubble of my sheltered american life. i am so, so, so glad that i chose to come here to study and live and grow. i admit that israel is not the easiest place to adjust to and still some events are jarring. however, it's slowly becoming a part of my everyday vernacular and i find it quite wonderful. at first, i fell in love quite easily with israel: the sights, the history, THE FOOD!, the people. furthermore, this place gave me a break that i sorely needed. then after a while, what i loved about israel slowly began to smother me and hold me down. the political situation here is something that takes a lot of effort and time. moreover, most people in israel aren't even fazed by the conflict and sometimes consider it a nuisance or background noise (!). indifference runs rampant in these parts and it can be difficult and frustrating to breach this shield. i was also tired of being treated as a frier, a pushover, because i am a foreigner and the attention that came with looking discernibly different from the rest. the atmosphere in jerusalem was oppressive and stifling at times. it was hard to find something to do on shabbat because the whole city shut down and not many things were open. it was hard being in a country, that is surrounded by countries that do not believe in the existence of said country and want to annihilate it. i also became homesick after a while and wanted to desperately come back because i had thought i saw, learned, did whatever it was that i wanted to accomplish. after much reflection, this is not it. it is hard to explain how i have come to love this country that i have no connection to in any way. but it is in a way a flower in a desert. if you give it the right care and enough time and have great patience, it flowers into something quite breath-taking and amazing. that is israel. yes nostalgia can make me gloss over the bad things but the bad things are outweighed by the good i have come across in israel. the close knit group of people i call friends and perhaps even family. the people that i have met on my trips who have shown me great hospitality to a complete stranger. the determination of both israelis and palestinians to keep persevering despite all the opposition that exists. i might not ever make aliyah but i see myself returning again and again. it is true what itamar and matan had told me before i left. i have a home here. for good or bad, it is someplace i can begin to call my own.

last day for lasting memories

2009-06-29T06:35:00.002+03:00

june 26, 2009 was my last full day in jerusalem, last day in israel period. it was a whirlwind of last minute errands, museum visiting, last shuk run, finishing packing, last shabbat service and dinner with friends. i can't believe that the day just snuck up on me. i was expecting so much more time and i didn't have any. it was shocking and depressing. i also had a total of 100 shekels to use the entire day, not counting the 50 shekels i was saving for my sherut ride later in the night.

i ran some errands in the morning to get a skirt fixed so i could have something decent to wear to shul. the tailor was really nice and helpful, understanding my broken hebrew as i tried to explain that i needed a zipper fixed. after that, jonathan and i rushed off to the museum on the seam where we spent a couple of hours walking around, taking in the art, and the breathtaking view on the rooftop. the receptionist was super, just having graduated from hebrew university's art history program. lovely. afterwards, jo and i got a falafel from moshiko's. ahh, my last moshiko's. it's so sad. at moshiko's there is this one guy who is constantly smiling and is the one offering free falafel balls to the people coming in. i think he recognizes me as i have frequented this shop many times before. i was explaining to him that it was my last moshiko's sandwich and he exclaimed "what a shame!" and said i need to make aliyah and visit him. haha. i told him i would be back soon and enjoyed this great falafel sandwich of jerusalem.

jonathan and i finally made it to the shuk and found it more bustling than ever. i honestly don't remember it being so busy in all the times i've been there on fridays or any other days of the week. i had planned a shabbat dinner with friends later in the evening so i wanted to make my rainbow salad and a carrot cake, the two dishes my friends associate me with. as we were hurriedly walking to and fro from each stand, comparing prices and goods, jo slipped away from me several times as he went off in search of something. after loading up with 20 pitas, 2 sweet challahs, ingredients for a HUGE salad, and carrots for the carrot cake, jo took me to a dry goods shop on jaffa, saying he needed to buy something. little did i know, he was ordering ground turkish coffee with cardamom and za'atar! the things i wanted to get before leaving israel. i was so touched but indignant that he was doing this for me. what a sweetheart. we decided to chill and i bought jo a demitasse of espresso while we sat and watched the passerbys.

we made our way back to lisa's place, where the dinner was going to take place. i got together the ingredients for the salad, chopped and assembled. i am truly a master of salads. anyways, after putting the cake into the oven, it was rounding up to 6 pm and service was starting in almost an hour. i was sweaty and gross and still unpacked. so i ran off to my place to take my last shower and get ready for shul. shul itself was very nice. it didn't have the small, homey feeling as the last one i attended on har hatzofim but it was good. the chazzan was quite amazing. there was also a jewish choir? didn't know those existed. interesting to sit in on an orthodox service albeit a little ruined by tourists with overwhelming perfume and obvious lack of respect for the service. but alas.

lisa, jo and i were starving by the end so i rushed over to my place to clean and pack and cart my luggage over to lisa's. it was slow to get started and suddenly a lot of people showed up, including itamar, dekel and matan, my favorite israeli boys. i was just so happy that all my friends were to there to spend my last evening with me. it made me feel so at home and made me want to stay in israel more than ever. i had also consumed an entire bottle of muscato wine by this point so i was a bit tipsy. i crashed in to walls and fell several times. heh. the time for the sherut was closing in so fast. around 1:30 am, my friends all carried my bags down to the street level and waited for me. this huge group of people waiting with me on jaffa st, hugging and crying. finally the sherut came, and i had to leave. my friends all gathered around me and hugged me and sent me off with a chorus of the song "so long, farewell."

that was the longest ride i ever had to take.

israel museum & museum on the seam

2009-06-29T04:42:00.003+03:00

last tuesday, i had no more obligations at bezalel so i decided to go and visit the israel museum. israel museum is situated in an interesting place. it is in givat ram, which is known as the political seat of israel/jerusalem. the knesset is situated there as well as hebrew university's science and math campus. israel museum is the national museum and even though it is an art museum, it didn't strike me as one but more of a historical/archaeological one, which isn't something bad. there wasn't much to see because of the renovations taking place. they seriously hampered the viewing experiences as there were two permanent collections available and several temporary ones. the permanent collections were the miniature replica of jerusalem from the 2nd temple period and the dead sea scrolls. i thought that the miniature was quite fascinating to see and compare to the walls of the old city as we know it today. many consider the dead sea scrolls to be the highlight of the visit but it wasn't too overwhelming or grand. perhaps at this point, i have become accustomed to the weighty history of the place. the scrolls were nicely curated and well preserved. it was interesting to see that the hall they were housed in were also art pieces to tell of the history between the sons of light and the sons of dark. the temporary exhibits were pretty mediocre and the sculpture garden was nice.

on friday, my last day, i visited museum on the seam with jonathan. museum on the seam has a fascinating history. it advertises itself as a socio-political museum that brings into light contemporary issues that ranges from environmental to tolerance of any kind. the museum itself was a lookout point for israeli army, situated on the 1948 armistice border with jordan. now, it sits on the edge of east jerusalem, known for its arabic population, and on the edge of west jerusalem which gives you, mea shearim, the ultra orthodox jewish neighborhood. the current exhibit, titled naturenation, "examines the complex relationship between land and state and between people and nature from a socio-political stance." it was a well put together show and i wish i had enough time to fully incorporate the exhibit. the photos in the show were outstanding, besides the edward burtynsky's work, which i'm not a fan of. i found it fascinating that the museum still kept the original modeling of the lookout in certain parts of the museum, making a powerful statement about war and art and people and space. the rooftop also featured a small sculpture garden with a tremendous 360 view of jerusalem.

overall, i think the museum on the seam had a better space and used it well. i know i can't make a judgement on what i saw at israel museum but i think that for one that enhances people's experience of israel and/or jerusalem, museum on the seam is more on the beat than israel museum. however, if history and archaeological and nice art collections are up your alley, the israel museum is a nice place to visit. don't know if it's worth the money, though.

ben gurion: sitting and waiting

2009-06-27T04:29:00.003+03:00

my computer is about to run out of power. but the free wifi in the airport is nice. i don't know why all the airports don't adopt this as well. boo.

i will be updating with my final thoughts about my stay and about the insane airport security that i had to endure for TWO HOURS including the departure with a visa.

i miss jerusalem. i want to stay. things were just starting to get amazing. damn time.

homosexuality and jerusalem

2009-06-25T18:58:00.002+03:00

today is the gay pride parade in jerusalem. i think one occured one or two weeks ago in tel-aviv. people are not kidding when they say that tel-aviv and jerusalem are worlds apart even though they are just an hour away from each other by car. while tel-aviv tries hard to exude this european mediterranean city atmosphere, jerusalem really hasn't changed much in a long time, holding on to its roots with an iron grip. so while tel-aviv is more of the accepting variety, jerusalem is not so much. i am a part of the fan page of jerusalem on facebook. and in lieu of today's event, the maintainer posted that the gay pride parade was occurring today. this seemed to be a cause for outrage among the other fans of the page. people were writing how gays are going to hell; they don't want their kids to be exposed to this kind of behavior; the torah said it is abominable; how rude it was to defile the holiest city; how they should be focusing on gilad who has been missing for three years today; etc. i don't understand how people can think that homosexuality is a behavior that can be taught. total misconception and one that is ruling in california at the moment. i also think that using religion as a tool for spreading hate and uncompromising with the changing times, not that this is really a change... religion should serve as a guideline for life. it shouldn't be treated as something strict and unbending. i think it is a great thing that there is such an event occurring in the 'holiest of holy cities'. it is a shame that people still have a need to hide who they are. it is fascinating to me to see a place where men are more open with each other than women are, homophobia runs rampant. but i guess that is part of the idea of this area. people in jerusalem need to get their act together and stop discriminating and being so filled with hate and trying to form scapegoats for the problems of israel.

jericho, you busted.

2009-06-25T01:20:00.003+03:00

yesterday, lisa, jan and i decided to venture out to jericho, a city in the west bank. we must have been a little crazy because the hamsin winds were on full blast making the day around 93 degrees. maybe it was because it was hot and we were all tired, but jericho was less than stellar and it was rather disappointing. bah. jericho is known as the longest continually inhabited city in the world. fascinating but not really. there was no one out due to the heat. the cable car to the mount of temptation where jesus was tempted three times by the devil was closed. we could have hiked but who the hell hikes in that kind of weather?! so lisa and i rode a camel instead. it was the weirdest feeling and i was so excited that the guy leading the camel made fun of me. i had no idea camels were so tall! i think jan got some funny pictures out of the experience. there was an austrian casino that was closed due to the conflict. and that was also the first gambling place i laid eyes on in israel. after riding the camel, we walked around for a little bit, doing little photo shoots in abandoned, decimated houses along the way. there are also banana farms in jericho; how random. is desert climate good for growing bananas?

we finally arrived in the city area and crawled in the nearest restaurant. one of the things i'm going to miss about israel is paying so little for such a grand spread that we shared between the three of us. big plates of hummus, various salads and other dips, fresh hummus and a plate of succulent lamb. oh, plus a hookah and sweet turkish coffee. our server, named mr. smiley, was incredibly nice and helpful and even offered to let us nap. haha. we kindly declined the offer because we really should really be on our way and left, full of delicious food and hazy apple smoke. we caught a cab back to abu dis and experienced one of the most lax checkpoints back into israel. the heat can take a lot of a person so lisa and i dragged ourselves slowly down jaffa st to our houses under the intense sun.

סוף סוף!!

2009-06-23T02:46:00.003+03:00

ahh! i am finally finally done with classes for the semester. i think i had pretty successful reviews on the work that i've been doing for the past couple of months. i found out that it is really easy to get caught up on certain ideas of what a place should look like and feel like in the place and there is too much subjective tastes to be found. i was told that i was successful in capturing a contested place as a respectful viewer of the life and culture there! that's so nice to hear! i was also made aware that some of my photos have failed to transcend this notion of touristy image. i think it's rather hard to do so in a place that is completely new and foreign. i'm sure that an jewish israeli or an arab israeli would have done my project completely differently but i'd like to think that i can see things in a new way that puts things in a different light. i also developed my first!! cross-processed film! it looks pretty damn amazing. now i know why lisa does it all the time. i'm ready to relax for the next couple of days before i return to the states.

masada and rotten eggs

2009-06-20T23:10:00.003+03:00

i found myself still in israel after making plans to go to jordan. c'est la vie, i suppose. however, i did something that i haven't done yet so i'm pretty excited about that. after shabbat dinner at petra & jan's, i was hanging out with lisa and jonathan. petra invited me to come to masada to see the sunrise. this was 2:45 am. twenty minutes later, i had my backpack packed with a litre of water and cameras. everyone recommends the dawn hike up the snake trail up to masada to see the sun rise over the jordanian mountains and the dead sea. oh masada, how you test me. i must be pretty out of shape at the moment because the hike that was supposed to last 45 minutes seem to drag on forever, over countless steps up steep inclines and rocks ready to give out. that wasn't all. there were about 90 almost vertical steps into the actual site. damn you, masada. however, it was all worth it. we got to the hike just in time to see the sun beginning to rise about three quarters of the way, the sky changing from midnight blue to cerulean blue tinted with orange and pink as the sun peeked out of the mountains. as it rose, it illuminated the amazing, wonderful desert scene around us, highlighting the white canyon walls below and the orange red walls around the place. we all celebrated this beautiful event with sips from the wine bottle and quiet contemplation.

masada is an important cultural heritage site for israelis. it is where the jewish people died rather than having to surrender to roman rule. geologically, it is at a great advantage as it is situated on top of the plateau with steep, challenging cliffs on all sides. approaching enemies could be detected. the site is in pretty great condition with many things to see besides the amazing 360 desert views. the most impressive part was the souther water cistern. it is a huge cavern with plastered walls with several holes at the top to draw water. it is amazing to see the extent of the place and see how it aided the jewish rebels in evading capture for so long. it is known that the israeli defense force is initiated on masada with the declaration: masada shall not fall again. fascinating.

afterwards, we descended from masada to board the car to take a short trip to metzoke dragot, a region on the dead sea that is less populated by tourists had has irregular intervals of fresh water. we hiked a fair way up the coast to find a remote enclosure of water. the hike was interesting as the air was permeated with the smell of rotten eggs, salt from the dead sea, and quicksand areas on the ground. never again. since i don't swim, i just waded a little before leaving. petra managed to bottle up some of the mud that is so popular near the dead sea area. now, i just need to figure out how to smuggle that back to the states.

moved!

2009-06-15T00:51:00.002+03:00

so, it turns out that my hebrew understanding and speaking skills have increased unbeknownst to me. yay for me. but for the next two weeks i will practicing more korean than hebrew. i will be living with two korean girls and they are super nice. the area is a welcoming scene than the one at the student dorms. a nice send off.

obama and israel

2009-06-14T00:35:00.004+03:00

there seems to be a lot of hate for obama coming from israelis/zionists: ha'aretz op-ed

i don't know whether to take this as a joke or not.

edit: my taxi driver today (14/06) called obama an arab and kept emphasizing his middle of 'hussein.' he also drove by some posters near the city centre that show obama with the traditional muslim head gear, calling him an anti-semite. interesting, israel, interesting.

first steps inside a korean church in 8 years

2009-06-13T23:38:00.002+03:00

went to a korean church.

was sung to by the congregation as a welcome.

had hamburgers for lunch.

engaged in conversation reminiscent of korean tv comedies.

watched defiance together.

talked some more.

will be moving in with them tomorrow.

living out of suitcases for next two weeks.

rent is free.

the west bank experience (part 4)

2009-06-12T18:56:00.011+03:00

last wednesday, my friend, jan, and i went on a trip to ramallah and then to nablus.

ramallah is a mere 16 km outside jerusalem and is considered very liberal in comparison to the other west bank cities. the ride there was very interesting as the bus drove through givat shaul, a jewish settlement. although i knew the existence of several settlements, i had no idea that some were quite close to jerusalem and that there are more than just several. there are many! furthermore, due to many government headquarters, ramallah serves as the de facto capital of palestine. it is also where yassar arafat established his headquarters (and is buried?) and lots of diplomatic missionaries and NGOs work out of ramallah. it is also home to one of the most stingiest checkpoint (qalandia) in the west bank.

our stay in ramallah was quite short as we were just there to meet tim, our mutual friend who lives in al-bireh, who was going to be our designated tour guide for the day. after a short coffee break, we headed toward the central station to catch a taxi to nablus. nablus is the northernmost city of interest in the west bank. as ramallah is the center of government, nablus is the center of commerce and culture, known for its knafeh, a sweet goat cheese pastry, and olive oil soap. nablus is also home to one of the most stringent resistance to israeli occupation and has seen much rough action as a consequence. my well-worn lonely planet tells me that that the northern west bank is referred to by old testament purists as samaria* and there is quite a thriving samaritan community in nablus.

nablus was bustling by the time tim, jan, and i arrived. many were lounging about drinking turkish cafe or a refreshing yogurt with fruit. tim led us around the centre and then we dove right into the old city, walking around the myriad of stores and alleyways that date back to roman times in the 7th century. the people in nablus were very frank and openly gawked and twittered about our presence. i have come into terms that it wasn't tim or jan's presence but mine that garnered a lot attention. what can i say? asian looking people are a rarity in these parts. the children followed us, demanding that we take their pictures and yelling 'welcome!' every few minutes. it was also very odd feeling because while visiting other west bank cities, i was able to get a definite feel but nablus laid dormant.

because of nablus' history with resisting the occupation, there were many posters of boys and men carrying guns with the background of a palestinian flag or dome of the rock plastered all over the walls. tim said these posters are a commemoration to those who fought the occupation and died. these were completely idealized images of the people and while they were strongly political, there was something strangely pop cultural about them. the macho poses coupled with the heavy artillery were quite ridiculous.

it was insanely hot. so much so that the three of us were sweating copious amounts. so gross. to take a break, we ducked into a knafeh shop and sat down to enjoy some of the best that i have ever had. i am going to miss this pastry so much come two weeks. i had some good ones in nazareth and in hebron but the ones in nablus blow others out of the water. after a much deserved snack, we walked back toward the centre and explore an olive oil soap factory. because it is more expensive to use their own olive oil, oil from from spain and italy are imported. while the soap is mixed by machines that are quite old, cutting and drying are done by hand. upstairs, a great majority of the floor is covered with the wet soap for it to harden. afterwards, the soap is hand cut and towers of soap are constructed to further dry it out. the conical towers of asymmetrical soap provided a beautiful contrast in the room of grey stone.

six bars of soap later, we boarded a taxi to balata, one of the largest UNRWA refugee camps. over 15,000 people occupy a ridiculously small space of 1 kilometre square. it was supposed be a temporary residence for those thrust out of jaffa and nearby areas. but over the years, the tents gave way to concrete buildings with many as 40 people living on one floor/apartment. there is a program, yafa cultural centre, that try to ease the problems that arise from living in close quarters but it can only do so much. just as nablus resisted/is resisting the occupation, balata residents were also heavily involved in the palestinian intifadas. the living conditions in balata are miserable. the alleyways between the buildings are so tiny that large people cannot use them. there is no privacy. the economy is pretty much shot through the roof. the people still live with hope that they will be able to return to their homes. i can understand now, what heshem said about the palestinian support of hamas. in a situation like this, one can only hope for change.

sometimes, i think israel really, really sucks.

*there is so much history in this area and so many different conquest, i can hardly keep up with the changes. i have a newfound respect for those who study the complicated history of the middle east. sometimes facts are myths and myths are facts. if that makes any sense...

some thoughts on work

2009-06-12T03:37:00.007+03:00

bezalel has been an interesting experience thus far. i'm really glad that i came here and i feel fortunate to study art in a place that is truly unique. i have never done so much work. although it seems like i haven't as i've missed classes more often than attending (!) but the amount work i have done is quite a lot. thus far, i have shot 11 rolls of 120 film, giving me around 132 frames to choose from. (for comparison, when i take classes at smfa, i am only able to take 3 or 4 maybe 5.) but i'm not even done. i have 7 or 8 more rolls to develop with one or two more trips to hebron in attempts to finish my work. in a vain attempt, i also tried taking other art classes but failed at grasping the medium or maybe i didn't care enough. screenprinting is nice but i just didn't know what to print. i have an idea that i should finish before leaving but that is about it. collage was a major fail.

the teachers are a bit eccentric and old-fashioned. there are worlds upon worlds of differences between the teachers in smfa and the teachers here at bezalel. while it was refreshing to get a different perspective on my work, it wasn't all that pleasant to hear that my work is not "serious" or that it looks to "snapshot-y." i've also been thinking about why i'm doing art and it seems i can't answer that question legitimately anymore. i used to love photography and now i have almost fallen out of favor with it. i don't know how to hold myself artist, defending my work and talking about my work.

henri cartier-bresson's idea of the decisive moment was something i was striving for.

"The simultaneous recognition, in a fraction of a second, of the significance of an event as well as the precise organization of forms which gives that event its proper expression... . In photography, the smallest thing can be a great subject. The little human detail can become a leitmotif."

i tried by using toy cameras because it didn't take "work" to find the correct aperture and shutter. you just depress the shutter button. any cameras besides toy cameras or point-and-shoot cameras were too entrenched in what people seemed to think photography is and i wanted to get away from it. but somewhere along the way i forgot everything, especially the reason why i was photographing.

it was nice to have free reign over what i wanted to do with great support and TIME to do it. time is of the essence in art work. if there is not enough, the work will suck and it will show. i want to believe that i took advantage of my semester of doing nothing but art and hopefully it will show. i'm ready to go back to what i'm good at: reading and talking abstractly. i am afraid i forgot how to study but i'm sure it will come to me again soon.

two week countdown

2009-06-12T00:20:00.004+03:00

two weeks ago, i created a list of things i wanted to do. some of them realistic, some of them not. so i will revise and see what is possible now that i have two more weeks left.

~~1. egypt must happen. even if it means taking a week off classes.~~ (what was i thinking? not possible.)

2. go to jordan. weekend trip, anyone? (next weekend.)

3. west bank city hop: jericho, ~~ramallah~~, ~~nablus~~, and ~~bethlehem~~.

~~4. bauhaus architecture walk around tel-aviv. (maybe this weekend)~~ (not really all that important!)

5. haifa for bahai garden hike and akko for the beautiful port and the best hummus joint in israel. (quite possibly this coming wednesday!)

~~6. antique and junk shopping in jaffa.~~ (don't need more crap to carry back!)

7. shabbat service at the great synagogue. (this i will do the friday before i leave with a last shabbat dinner with friends.)

9. church tour in mount of olives. (last thursday)

10. museum visiting: rockefeller museum, israel museum, museum on the seam, chagall windows. (if i have time)

the west bank experience (part 3 cont.)

2009-06-11T18:58:00.003+03:00

the daughter of the person i was going to meet, met me at one of the checkpoints. she was waiting with her little brother, looking rather uninterested. we went through the checkpoint and they took me up a hill, through rubble and garbage. the passageways were not determined by anything but rocks and the direction upward. i can't believe that they climb up and down to get into town. the house was hidden from view by growth of trees. there, heshem greeted me and welcomed me into his house. the rooms were clean and well-maintained. he showed me to his sitting room and told me his story.

heshem is in an difficult predicament as he lives right below one of the most religious fanatic jewish settlers in the area. he is involved with the organization called b'tselem, an israeli human rights organization of the occupied territories. the program distributes camera and video equipment to the palestinians who live near military outposts, settlers, checkpoints, etc. they record their daily life, living precariously on the edge of potential violence. it goes without saying that heshem has had a difficult life. the settlers above continuously throw down garbage, old machinery and rocks, trying to maim him and his family. heshem believes that two state solution is not the way to go. he thinks that it will only cause more problems and violence between israel and palestine. he is determined that one state is the answer; everybody living together in peace as one. the separation, for heshem, has gone on too long. he also gave me his opinion of hamas, saying that the hamas party was the one at the moment that appeared to want and bring about change to palestine.

after much talk, he showed me around his house. the trees on his property were cut by jewish settlers and one is barely flowering. the windows of his house were broken so heshem installed metal grills. now the settlers use long sticks to get through the grill. heshem said that there were many graffiti on the walls and doors but he painted over them. he showed me one door where there is still the star of david as he wasn't allowed to paint over that by the IDF, who told him that if he did, they will arrest him. all the natural walkways into his house are blocked. on the roof, his water tank was shot and couldn't be repaired.

heshem had several videos he wanted to show me so we went back down to his house. the first video he put on showed heshem trying to pick up the olives from his olive trees. the IDF only allowed heshem to do it. while he was gathering olives, the settlers saw him and came down, screaming. they were calling him a stealer, a murderer, and a nazi. a woman started wailing in the middle, creating a commotion. she kept saying things about how the jewish people have no land and no way of life, that everything they have is being stolen, etc. the next video showed a gathering of jewish school girls chanting "die arabs" "murder the arabs", etc. the third video, by a swede, showed a group of palestinian girls on their way to school. they were bombarded by jewish girls and boys who kept pushing and hitting the girls, including the teacher. the IDF stood around doing nothing while the teacher pleaded with them to do something. the boys threw rocks at the girls from below. the last video i saw was frightening in all levels. heshem told me that several years ago, there was a curfew installed so that the palestinians were not allowed to leave their houses for several hours. during these hours, the jewish settlers would come into their villages and terrorize the people, who were not able to do anything. the video showed the settlers coming with long metal poles and guns, destroying property and breaking windows to grab the people inside. again, the IDF did nothing to stop this from happening. imagine living like that, in constant terror, living in fear that these people, will one day no doubt commit murder because of their hatred. heshem also told me that the jewish women would come and kick his wife around, telling him that they will come back another time with men so they can rape her. someone must be at home at all times so that the settlers do not come and destroy their home. his children cannot go to sleep at night unless the light is on and their parents are there to console them.

it was getting late so i had to leave. i thanked heshem for his story and for showing me great hospitality. i made my way back to the old city to wait for egged. while waiting for the bus, i ran into a soldier who recognized me from before. he seemed very happy to see me and greeted me. i also saw a great celebration near the synagogue. i believe it was a wedding ceremony. it's funny to see such happiness when those people are the ones creating fear in those who live not 50 metres away.

happiness is...

2009-06-10T03:54:00.005+03:00

baking carrot cake with a good friend while catching up.

a wine and cheese tasting get together with french wine and french cheese.

making plans with people who are amazing.

not happiness but excitement is making plans to go to ramallah and nablus.

oh, and prayer calls at 3:30 am means insomnia.

indeed.

the west bank experience (part 3)

2009-06-08T20:59:00.002+03:00

today is the last day for "official" field work for documentary workshop class. so i hightailed it to hebron again, with the notion in mind that it will be my last time. boy, does it make me feel nostalgic. i decided to take egged this time for one reason or another. waiting for the bus was a different experience than the first because there were actually a lot of people milling around, mostly IDF. #160 was completely full. i was aware that there would be a difference in taking an israeli bus and an arab bus but i didn't realize that it would be so drastic. the first blatant difference are the vehicles. the egged bus resemble charter buses, air-conditioned, albeit without bathrooms in the back. the arab buses are old vans, with windows that open sometimes. next are the people. of course, only israelis ride the egged, which isn't to say that israelis do not ride arab buses but they don't make it a habit. the atmosphere was completely different. on the arab buses, the people are an amalgamation of the population. they bustle. they bump. they gossip. they are alive. on the egged, orthodox jews and IDF proliferate. the air is calm and silent. and the lady next to me kept scooting over as if i was diseased. the ride was pleasant, however, because i knocked out, waking up in kiryat arba.

upon my arrival in the old city, i walked around, taking pictures of the people (it's illegal for me but whatever) and the graffiti that occupy the landscape. it was much more livelier than the last i've been. little jewish kids riding bikes and running around. there wasn't much to see since most were out of sight inside so i made my way toward the city. i never had a problem with my passport but they were much more adamant to see it this time, asking questions such as "are you christian?" (no i am not but i said yes.) and finalizing with "you from america?" (yes. [what a freaking dumb question.]) the market area was bustling this time! i was excited to see. i walked toward the women's coop shop and got some shopping done for people back home. while picking out wares, one of the women engaged me in a conversation. i found myself explaining my purpose in hebron and showed her my photos, telling her that i need to start focusing on people, instead of the landscape. she got really excited and said that there was a person i needed to meet and talk to. so she calls him up and tells me that he will meet in 10 minutes and his daughter will pick me up at the checkpoint. wait, there is another checkpoint? (i found out there are 6? 7? checkpoints in hebron. ridiculous!) so the guy i met previously in my group excursion leads me around, showing me places i haven't seen yet. when he delivered me to the daughter, he shamelessly started asking for money, ending with phrases like "as you like" and "please". this guy is really annoying. i don't mean to be callous. what he does is really rude and i don't like being harassed.

i'm sorry but this will have to be continued later. i'm pretty exhausted. ta.

my first security (bomb?) drill

2009-06-03T14:19:00.004+03:00

the national security administration or something issued an announcement that yesterday at 11 am, there was going to be a security drill. okay, so i guess the tension between israel and iran are heating up. being from california, i had my share of drills: earthquake, fire, crazy guy in the hall, etc. this was different. i was at school in the library reading and the librarian came over to me to say that at 11, i had to evacuate the area to the auditorium. so at 11, the siren rang and everyone was making their way to the auditorium. this was unlike any other drill because everything was calm and orderly. the auditorium was not big enough to hold all the students in the school so many were standing just outside the doors. and a lot of people were using this time as a photo op and took many pictures. interesting. i heard that while people inside buildings headed toward the nearest shelter, those on the streets just went about as usual. many didn't even realize that it was a security drill. this drill, named turning point 3 (was i not aware of turning points 1 & 2?), is based on a presumption of a missile and rocket attack from all sides, with large-scale terror attacks from within the country itself. this scenario is not fictional, according to deputy defense minister matan vilan'i. somewhat related but not, israel was ranked 141 on the global peace index. i'm beginning to feel sorry for israel as it is surrounded by countries who want to annihilate it.

the rest of the day was rather uneventful. had my first photo crit in documentary photo. was told my photos were very snapshot like and that i needed to hire a tour guide to take me around places so i can get direction.

that is all.

שבועות

2009-05-28T19:18:00.003+03:00

shavuot (שבועות) is the second of the three pilgrimage festivals in judaism. literally meaning 'weeks', it celebrates the anniversary in which god gave the ten commandments to moses on mount sinai. it marks the conclusion of counting of the omer. the date of shavuot is directly linked to pesach. beginning the second day of pesach, seven weeks are counted, leading to the conclusion that is shavuot. the counting of days and weeks expresses anticipation and desire for the giving of the torah. on pesach, the jewish people were freed. on shavuot, they were given the torah and became a nation under god. shavuot is also connected with the harvest which lasted seven weeks.

shavuot is very different from other jewish holidays because it has no prescribed observances. however there are some that are pretty unique to it. dairy products and fruit are consumed during the holiday. this is because when the jewish people received the torah, the meat they had on hand were not kosher to the laws found in the torah.

*info mostly taken from friends and wikipedia

i have to say that i love jewish holidays. not only does it commemorate family but the food is beyond amazing. examples: purim: hamentaschens; pesach: matzah and charoset; shavuot: cheesecake, blintzes, etc.; channukah: latkes, sufganiyot, etc. i didn't get a chance to celebrate pesach correctly so hopefully i will be making some amendments to that for shavuot. there are many torah readings and lectures about god in many different subject matter. it would be great to go to these events to learn. the night will culminate in the pilgrimage to the kotel for the first prayer of the day come next morning.

month countdown begins today

2009-05-27T02:23:00.006+03:00

so in a month, i will be waiting all night at ben gurion airport for the flight back to boston. with alitalia's crappy service, i know i will be delayed for one to two hours at most. however, that's a different topic. this is my to do list before my time in israel dwindles down to nothing.

1. egypt must happen. even if it means taking a week off classes.

2. go to jordan. weekend trip, anyone?

3. west bank city hop: jericho, ramallah, nablus, and bethlehem.

4. bauhaus architecture walk around tel-aviv.

5. haifa for bahai garden hike and akko for the beautiful port and the best hummus joint in israel.

6. antique and junk shopping in jaffa.

7. shabbat service at the great synagogue.

9. church tour in mount of olives.

10. museum visiting: rockefeller museum, israel museum, museum on the seam, chagall windows.

I WILL GET TO THEM. I HAVE TO.

seriously?

2009-05-26T15:13:00.002+03:00

seriously.

i have no opinions. first one is asking for boycott. the second one is a response to the boycott action. these are just videos i stumbled upon. take it or leave it.

hebron visit

2009-05-26T13:37:00.001+03:00

words i repeat a lot, not counting common words

2009-05-25T03:53:00.002+03:00

click for bigger

note to smfa

2009-05-24T19:23:00.002+03:00

dear smfa,

i really like your photo facility. i really do. however, i think you could use some improvements in the color lab. first, it's really uncool to send out film constantly and pay for developing. it gets pretty expensive in the long run. the mini lab machine would be a wonderful addition to the color darkroom. it's simple and you can factor in the price into the tuition. it would be worth it and many people would use it. color services are nice people but it sucks having to wait the two day turnaround service and trying to get the film to the media stockroom before the time cutoff. so please, get a mini lab. it would encourage the photo students to do more color.

best,

jenny

the west bank experience (part 2)

2009-05-23T23:38:00.005+03:00

okay, this hebron experience is different than others. lisa, sarah, stefanie, jeremie, yael, gloria, petra and i traipsed to hebron. i have to say that hebron is THE most dangerous west bank city. i know i keep mentioning it a lot but there really is a palpable sense of unease that permeates the air. i felt even more unsafe this time as yael and gloria are israeli and israeli citizens are in no circumstances allowed in hebron as it is area a, which means it is under palestinian authority and control. the fact that they blatantly ignored this was really disrespectful as there are many contestation about the area regarding jews and arabs. it wasn't fair that they jeopardized everyone else's safety by their presence. we were very lucky that no one really caught on or questioned us.

we were aimlessly wandering around the city. to be honest, there is not much to see or do in hebron besides cheap shopping and visiting the abraham mosque in the old city. this guy named ibrahaim friended us and decided to be our tour guide for the day. he showed us several watchtowers and the destroyed houses caused by the jews living in the settlement. it is really astonishing that kiryat arba is so close to the arab hebron. they're practically neighbors. the arabs (i think) had to build a ceiling fence in the shuk area because the settlers are proned to throwing random debris to harm the passerbys. i saw many water tanks riddled with gunshots as to deplete the water supply. when ibrahaim led us to a rooftop to show the settlement, i saw jewish boys walking back. they saw me looking and started to scream obscenities at me. it's really horrible, this living situation.

finally we reached the abraham mosque after many stops into shops for random trinkets and scarves and pots. here i was also put off by the rude behavior of the people i was with. first of all, we're in a holy place, a gravesite of the ancesters of the three monotheistic religions of the world. we were not allowed to take pictures inside, yet they kept whipping out cameras to discreetly take pictures. that is just so disrespectful to the people and the religion. i may be going overboard but it is something i have come to notice and it bothers me so much. just because you are an artist doesn't give you the right to ignore and belittle the social practices and laws of others. there are boundaries and it's just common courtesy to respect that, i believe. sorry, i sound so orthodox about art practices. meh.

ibrahaim had ulterior motives it seemed. he led us deliberately to shopping places and lingered for long periods of time. when we arrived at the old city, we acquired an annoying pest, who was peddling cheap goods. when we didn't want to buy his wares, he accused us of not supporting palestine and its people. right. then he proceeded to follow us around, shouting 'welcome' every few minutes and trying yet again to press his bracelets and keychains on us. at the end, he wanted baksheesh (tip) from us for being our tour guide... what?! at this point, i have had enough. i was so ready to leave.

i'm at a point in my israel stay where my cup is so full that everything else is overkill. i am enjoying and not enjoying my time. i don't know if disillusioned is the word but i just don't care. i am desensitized to all the ulterior motives of the people, the rudeness, the way of life, the violent overtones, etc. it is how they live and they cope. how come i can't do that?

the pope's visit amongst other things

2009-05-23T01:07:00.004+03:00

in hopes for peace and reconciliation, the pope visited israel and palestine last week. i have to say that his aspirations backfired in his face. in his wake, the traffic increased much to the chagrin of commuters in jerusalem. everyone was so irritable, the bus drivers more so. there was an influx of italian tourists. what, you don't see the pope enough in italy? everyone was more than ready to feed the pope to the dogs, which they did. the newspapers in israel printed the pope's involvement in hitler youth and the general air of anti-semitism of the roman catholics. furthermore, the entire student village was on military lockdown with snipers galore because he was landing in the helipad that is located right next to the dorms. lucky us. it seems that even though the people were looking forward to the pope's visit, it was gone soon after his arrival.

last monday was my first photo crit of the semester. it was also the first one in which my photos sparked a 30 minute debate of the differences between documentary photography and well... political undertones of the photography. because i chose to do my project on the different travel modes to hebron, i guess i could have expected nothing less. however, as stated below, i'm getting tired of the underlying political aspects. sometimes, things are just what it is. it is nothing more. i also do not want to do a critique on the relations between israel and palestine. here is where i am truly an outsider. i have never lived here nor do i have any connections with the place besides my fascination of the language and culture. i will never have the deep-rooted feelings that the israelis have accumulated over time. in a way, i feel like it is not in my place to do this project but it is one that i can do because i am a foreigner. i feel i cannot do the places and people justice in my photography because even with all my research, i will still be a 'tourist', an outsider. my photos of israel will always gravitate toward the things that have political charge to them, such as a watchtower, the wall border, military personnel, etc. i don't mean to only take pictures of that, not that i do. it is just that this is what comes from the project and it is hard to separate the politicalness of the photos, but my intentions are clear. it is merely a project documenting MY journey to hebron using egged and the arab buses. documentation and nothing more. but i cannot stop an arab israeli and a jewish israeli seeing something completely different that i mean to show.

i'm still alive and this is going to be rather long

2009-05-19T02:48:00.004+03:00

there have been a lot of things on my mind the past couple of weeks, that started during the end of my pesach break. those 'lots' of things can be condensed into two: religion and politics.

living in jerusalem is not the easiest thing to do. everything this place is, what it is not, and what it can be weighs down heavily. sure there is the jerusalem syndrome where foreigners who visit this place believe that they are the next messiah or develop psychological symptoms that they never exhibited before. this is something else entirely. it might be a combination of living in israel and jerusalem simultaneously. i'm constantly surrounding by politics, religion, history, hatred, oppression, not to mention the underlying hint of violence (which really frightens me now). if any society is a master of switching 'faces' or maintaing one so steadfastly, israel has others beat. needless to say, after being immersed completely in this environment for 3.5 months, i'm so heart and head tired. i think pretty soon, i can call myself an israeli by the way i'm "ignoring" the political troubles, even going out of my way to avoid the discussions altogether. i'm disgusted by those who use academia as a means to support their hate-filled biased statements. i'm tired of nothing GOOD happening. i've talked shop here more so than i have back in the states and i just want to throw in the towel. as childish as this sounds, israel and palestine should just hug it out. instead of showing violence and fear of one another, an extension of trust and happiness surely will fare better in the negotiations. i've started telling people here that i'm switzerland. indeed.

another thing that i've realized, being in the land of holy, i have been reflecting back on my past as a christian. i always went to church because my mother made me. but after a while, i decided that it was something that i liked doing and did so willingly. i was never a "die-hard" but it is safe to say that i had a relationship with god. at the age of thirteen/fourteen, i had a falling out with religion as i saw so much hypocrisy within the church. it was disgusting and i did want any part of it. in the meantime, i experimented with other religions such as wiccan (who doesn't), buddhism (to an extent), and even toying with atheism as i'm coming to see that god has a lot of bloodshed in his footsteps. but i have been spiritual and i don't know how to really explain that. after certain personal experiences, i felt that there was something missing in my life. i don't mean to get sentimental or religious in any fashion, i merely want to outline my progression of thought. i don't know what this missing 'thing' is but i'm starting to get the feeling that i want to return back to some form of god. i don't know if it is a christian god or a jewish god. while learning hebrew, i toyed with the idea of converting to judaism.

i'm surrounded by the culture that comes with judaism and i am very fascinated and drawn to it. judaism is such a strong community based religion. even those who say they are not religious still uphold the culture and customs of the religion such as going home for dinner with the family on shabbat, having seder on pesach, etc. it is so lovely to see that in the midst of a tumultuous globalization, that this traditionalist religion still strongly carries on. instead of celebrating the individual's connection with god, judaism focuses on the community's altogether relationship with each other and how that relates to god. it's so beautiful, really it is.

i've been to synagogue for shabbat service and it was comforting. i will hopefully accompany kimmy to her yeshua group and get my comparison going. i can't say for sure which i will eventually turn to but i see myself on a journey with god in the future.

moving

2009-05-04T14:48:00.003+03:00

i have finally decided to move into a different suite in the כפר הסטודנתים. the past few weeks were agonizing with palpable tension that did not bode well for my well-being or my outlook on my stay in israel. i dreaded coming back to my room if i was out and when inside the suite, i didn't want to leave my room, not wanting to run into my two atrocious suitemates who made my stay in this suite living hell. i'm moving in temporarily with my friends with hopes that i will be able to move out finally into the city centre.

*fingers crossed*

i feel so much lighter and happier now that i'm moving out.

tel aviv beach front

2009-04-30T00:19:00.002+03:00

tel aviv is prettier from sea.

click for bigger.

a cause for celebration!

2009-04-28T18:42:00.001+03:00

happy independence day, israel.

you sure are young.

heh.

a vigil for those past

2009-04-27T21:54:00.003+03:00

israel sure does know how to do sadness, unsurpassed by any other. in the course of ONE week, there are three sirens, to remind the entire nation of its past and those who fought to make israel a reality. although they are relatively short bursts, its enough to penetrate the thoughts and actions into momentary sadness. even though the holocaust rings strongly in israelis' past, none hits further home than the soldiers who perished while protecting the values and the land of israel. the israel defense forces are comprised of people who are younger than i am, as military duty in israel is compulsory. while most do not see action, it is undeniable that their time as a soldier on duty has impact on the rest of their lives. i am not writing off the american memorial days but the ones here in israel are more... harrowing, to say the least. the people who die for this country are mere young men and women, aged eighteen to twenty-two. i don't know what i'm trying to say. i shouldn't even be comparing america and israel together, seeing as they are completely different ideologically, historically, culturally, etc. but for some reason, i feel more affected by the services in israel than i do by the ones in the states. i can't explain it, i just feel it. i will also be happier once these days are past, which will culminate in israel's independence day which will be nothing short of amazing fun. supposedly, there is a jerusalem day coming up in may. there is also shavuot. may these be happier times.

i am also ready to start school again; i'm tired of break.

musings

2009-04-27T02:24:00.002+03:00

i've always had this ideal in my head--that when one goes abroad, one engages in adventures that are one in a million, changes into a different person, etc. well it's been almost three months, yet i feel completely unaltered from when i first arrived. these are my assessments. i am more vegetarian than before. i won't touch meat here. however, if someone has prepared some for me, i will eat it out of respect, i suppose. i adore coffee and won't be able to tolerate the weak american one once i return. i love fresh produce and haggling. political discussion rule my day to day living. i don't know. perhaps i was banking on this experience too much. maybe it is what it is and i shouldn't expect to "miraculously" change although i am engaging in different social customary practices and whatnot. i feel more affiliated with israel than america, which should amuse my friends, especially my teachers. i find myself keeping shabbat inadvertently. this is a terrible assessment. i will stop now.

remembrance day

2009-04-21T16:09:00.005+03:00

as mentioned earlier, last night and today is יומ השואה, day of holocaust. last night, there was a service at the yad veshem, the holocaust museum in jerusalem. today, i got to witness the siren. at 10 am, a siren blares across the entire country for two minutes. in these two minutes, crowds of people, buses, cars stop in their tracks to stand and observe the deaths of their ancestors in the holocaust. i don't know how to describe the experience. it was... a bit overwhelming. there is a palpable feeling in the air of remorse for the dead. the city isn't as buzzing as it usually is. i just felt an entire nation's feeling of despair and the effect of the diaspora on my shoulders.

in lighter news, kimmy and i went to beit ticho to see some nice paperwork art. the exhibit was small but the works on display were really amazing. i'm starting to gain a new appreciation for paper related art. there was even sound installations of paper. interesting. the whole place is such a nice reprieve from jerusalem. cute cafe, nice garden and an awesome little library of art history, artists, poetry, and literature. kimmy and i have a date to go there often and lounge around eating desserts and drinking tea while reading. afterwards, she took me to jerusalem's printmaking workshop. what a cool studio! there was a gallery up of woodcut prints and they were really nice.

on a completely different note of deliciousness. there are four king of sandwiches in israel: falafel, shwarma, fuul, and sabich. and now i can say that i've tried all of them. in order of desirability: falafel, fuul, shwarma, sabich. falafel for me is going to be the quintessential israeli food. fuul is an amazing pita pocket of beans, egg, and veggies. shwarma... it's okay; i don't get the hype. but if you like meat, go for it. sabich was interesting. not sure if i'll get it again. maybe i'll try one at moshiko's.

i haven't been to see a lot of art while my stay in israel. so this week i will remedy that by going to israel museum, museum on the seam, seeing the chagall windows at hadassah hospital and just general church hopping in mount of olives. then i will shut myself in the darkroom for hours to crank out some photos.

april is the month of rebirth, rejoice and remembrance

2009-04-20T17:32:00.002+03:00

yesterday for my israel: place and culture class, we went to the old city to view the greek orthodox easter celebration at the holy sepulchre. it's quite a bizarre celebration. there was a procession into the apse of the church which the patriarch led while chanting and singing in latin. there were many people in the church as well, visiting the calgary and the stone upon which jesus was anointed before burial. people crowded around the stone tablet, laying candles and various knickknacks, covering them in the oil and fragrance laid out on the stone. my teacher, doron, told us there was another celebration earlier called the miracle of the holy fire. a holy blue fire descends from heaven to the tomb of jesus, which the patriarch catches with two candles. as he appears among the people, the crowd goes crazy in chant and praise, vying to light their own candles with this holy fire. it is also the only time in the year where the holy sepulchre is open late.

today and tomorrow are the holocaust memorial days. tomorrow morning at 10 am, a siren will go off in which people will completely stop what they're doing for two minutes to remember the tragedy. many will be flocking to the yad veshem, the holocaust memorial on mt. herzl. the radios will only play sad songs... and people will be in mourning.

next week wednesday is israel's independence day. so that will entail a lot of fun, i hope.

i also realized that the semester is quickly coming to a close and i have yet to print any of my photos. i'm disliking my digital camera and from now on will only shoot analog.

places

2009-04-16T22:00:00.003+03:00

we went to:

tel meggido

nazareth

tiberias

yam kinneret

kiryat shemona

har hermon

majdal shams

yehudia reserve

ein gedi

mitzpe ramon

21 L of water

four gas refills

400+ km

4 days on the road

awesome.

more substantial update once energy is back to full.

random thoughts about photography

2009-04-13T00:08:00.005+03:00

i have this teacher named yosef cohen. he may not be the most liberal minded when it comes to photography but he does provide interesting insight. i remember saying that i "shoot" pictures rather than i "take" pictures. yosef then proceeded to kind of chew me out on my choice of words saying that i do not shoot but take or record things. i think it was also in his class where someone talked about how a photograph is a gift. it is offered to you to take. otherwise it is stolen. this is interesting because i have never come across this mentality in the states while studying photography. the photo students always nonchalantly used the word shoot or take. it is true, i think, that a photograph is a gift that has been given to you, especially if you work with people. it is a reward to getting to know the subject better. if one just barges in, demanding good pictures, there will surely be none. moreover, it's difficult to say if this mentality would inherently provide the best pictures. then this discussion goes into the intent of the photographer and whether the subject is being manipulated. etc etc etc. photography has always been an heated subject with many theories in approval of the medium and many more ready to tear it to pieces.

perhaps i should adopt this method and see where it takes me in photographing jerusalem and/or israel.

a hodgepodge of things

2009-04-12T22:49:00.002+03:00

in addition to the birkat hachama last wednesday, today was the birkat kohanim. it is a massive ritual blessing at the kotel. each year thousands flock to the wall on the intermediate days of pesach to be blessed by a convocation of kohanim, judaism's hereditary class of priests. this tradition is normally conducted at people's respective worship place but the kotel as a location has been around since temple eras. the kohanims' chant, "may the lord bless you and keep you; may the lord shine his countenance toward you and be gracious to you; may the lord lift up his countenance toward you and give you peace." this is chanted over the tallit-shrouded believers, raising their hands in praise.

picture courtesy of jerusalem.com

furthermore, spring should be around the corner but the weather today was pure summer. maybe it was the weather in conjunction with the thousands of people milling around jerusalem today. it was a nice sight to see after all the quietness in the beginning of pesach. there were tourists from other places, some making a pilgrimage to the churches around jerusalem for easter sunday service. and then there were the israelis escaping their homes for the vacation. the central bus station was crammed with tents, coolers, sleeping bags, IDF, etc.

i was out and about the entire day, getting a good dose of sun. i went to mt. zion as it is one of the places on my list. here is the tomb of david, the last supper room, the church of dormition, oskar schindler's grave, and the church of st. peter in gallicantu. i visited the first three. mt. zion is not too far from zion gate and i was surprised by the close proximity. the tomb of david appeared to be one of the many prayer sites in jerusalem. there is a partition to create room for women space and men space. there wasn't much to see as there were many people reading their prayer books. so i went in search of the last supper room. the lonely planet guide can be misleading sometimes and the people milling about can be misleading too. i don't think i saw the 'actual' room but it is a nice place. what else can i say about it? nothing more than davinci's last supper is rather a figment of his imagination... because the room doesn't look anything like that. anyways. my last stop in mt. zion was the church of dormition. this is the traditional site where the virgin mary died, or 'fell into an 'eternal' sleep'. the latin name for the church is dormitio sanctae mariae. i have to say that this is one of my favorite churches in comparison to all the others i've seen so far, and i've seen a lot. this might even top church of all nations. the crypt was very peaceful and beautifully constructed. there is a stone effigy of mary in the center with jesus calling his mother to heaven. i don't know if you are aware of this but while jesus ascended to heaven, the virgin mary's is called assumption meaning she needed to be helped physically to reach heaven. take it however you want it.

on an excited note, i'm leaving on a road trip around israel tomorrow morning. i will be going down south to the negev to hike in the mitzpe crater and up north to hike in the woods/rivers and ascend mt. hermon to see into syria and maybe lebanon. and hopefully make it to akko, caesarea, and meggido. but anything that happens will be fun. i am very excited for this. afterwards, i will also hopefully partake in the greek orthodox easter celebration at the holy sepulchre and then be on my way to egypt for a week. AHHH!

jerusalem at night

2009-04-10T16:28:00.007+03:00

חג סמח!

2009-04-10T00:49:00.004+03:00

it is the holiday season in the holy land. and there is so much to say and i apologize in advance if this post reads a little scatterbrained.

pesach just started and i can already feel its effects in the city. the streets are completely void of people and cars. there is silence in the air as people sit down with their families to remember the time of israelites' imprisonment in egypt. if you know anything about the ten plagues, this is what pesach is all about. the holiday lasts for a week and this is one of the few times many people in israel have a break from work or school. it is also a time when many haredi jews go on vacation so on my travels, i will see black and white clad perons in the negev or the galilee area. pesach is one of the three pilgrimage festivals, along with shavuot and sukkot, which are the three times in which the jews offer up a sacrifice to God. and just like any jewish holiday, pesach involves the family. there is the reading of haggadah, which elaborates the story of enslavement in israel, the ten plagues and the exodus from egypt. along with the story, there is an intricate service, involving drinking of wine, partaking in bitter herbs, and consumming the matzah.

i wasn't able to join a family for the seder dinner so my friend, jonathan, and i decided to spend the holiday together. it was really nice since both of us weren't going to be alone. jonathan cooked a fabulous dinner of salmon steak with sweet curry sauce, vegetables and quinoa, and a nice salad. avi left us a copy of the haggadah so we can partake in the seder service. since we didn't get to eat until midnight (we napped for a long time), we gave up on the story halfway through and made hillel's sandwiches (matzah, haroseth, bitter herbs) and drank the customary four glasses of wine. our own tradition was in the making.

the one thing that makes me weep a little inside is how forlorn the bakeries appear this time. during pesach, no leavened products (חמץ) are consumed and the pesach cookies are so unforgiving. they are made from coconut, eggs and sugar. some have jam and some are covered in chocolate. these cookies are the hardest, nastiest tasting things i've ever eaten. there are no more pitas, breads, rugelach, bourekas... it makes me so sad. there is no more lovely smell of yeast in the air. i'm a little crazy, sorry.

this year, the seder pesach was made extra special because of the birkat hachama (creation of warmth). this is 'sun worship' happens every twenty-eight years. the prayer is said to commemorate the creation of the sun, which supposedly happened on tuesday night/wednesday morning. and because of the way the earth rotates on its axis and revolves around the sun, the exact same point is reached every twenty-eight years. for the prayer service, many flocked to the western wall before sunrise and created a frenzy of voices as the sun rose. while the birkat hachama occurs every twenty-eight and pesach every year, the next time the two will coincide won't be for another five hundred years. so indeed, this pesach is something special.

it's 9 PM; why are you still here?

2009-04-05T22:15:00.007+03:00

today was a pretty good day, despite the fact i didn't get to enter temple mount and that i was detained for 30 minutes because i, stupidly, brought an x-acto knife in my backpack to the western wall. it just proves that i'm not yet used to the lifestyle here. and it's illegal to carry a knife in israel.. what? but i'm an art student! anyways...

this weekend, i kind of did what the people do and rested the entire weekend. i slept day in and day out all of friday and saturday. i kid you not. it was marvelous!

the israel culture class wasn't as interesting as it normally was, as we explored the kotel and the jewish quarters. maybe i just wasn't in the mood after dealing with the whole knife fiasco. honestly.

some pretty alley way in the jewish quarter
remains of the broad wall and map behind it (jewish quarter)
um, i actually have no idea what this is; it's pretty, though.
after the class, i went to prisma to pick up my photos from my fisheye. OH MY GOD. i love this camera. thank you mark! it might just be beginner's luck but i got some amazing shots from it and i don't even remember half of the shots. hrm. also, my baby (nikon d60) is clean and ready to go. woo. kimmy and i got some food to go at moshiko's which serves pretty damn good falafel. afterwards, we trekked back to bezalel to do some work before break and classes.

avi and i've been working on this project for about 3 weeks now. we didn't even start til last week. oh dear. but it's coming along fabulously, if i do say so myself. it's a collage/installation on a crime scene. avi and i are trying to do something absurd with it and i think it's working. i think that because of this project, i'm becoming the crazy art girl who does everything the hard way. yea. and what is the deal with kicking everyone out at 9 pm. what is this?! how do they expect us to get any work done with only 3 hr class periods while taking 7-9 classes throughout the week. you are insane, bezalel. i also do not like being nagged by police officers. i was on such a good working mood too.

that's all i really have to say, so here are pictures of the upcoming work:

avi made this metal structure
in a different location
this is my corner. i like it. it's my baby.

happy birthday, serge gainsbourg and lisa weiss

2009-04-03T17:46:00.005+03:00

i went to tel-aviv for the first time yesterday. it has a completely different feel than jerusalem-- definitely more urban, open, and free. it reminded me of los angeles for some reason. lisa, jonathan, carla, avi and i went to an art show somewhere between yafo and tel-aviv. it was in this building called the panorama. the displayed work was not necessarily good but definitely interesting. avi and i walked through the part of the building where there was a fog machine running. we couldn't see anything and avi caught me freaking out on camera. the art scene is more happening, as people say, in tel-aviv than in jerusalem. lots of the art students i talked to reference berlin, germany as the next new york art scene and tel-aviv a close second after berlin. in conjunction with the art show, there were also musical performances. i ended up talking with this old, eccentric looking man. what i didn't like about this conversation was that he asked everyone where they were from in hebrew. when i answered in hebrew, he said that i should speak in english because it's my native tongue. when i told him that i wanted to speak hebrew because i'm in israel, he said that it doesn't matter, just speak english. i didn't understand this. it was also at the art show when i realized the question 'יש לך סיגריות?' (do you have a cigarette?) is somewhat of a pick-up line. it's a given that any person in israel smokes and therefore has some to share. sometimes, the cigarette in question is a joint.

yesterday was serge gainsbourg's birthday. avi, being french as he is, he heard there was a birthday party in gainsboug's honor. the place wasn't even a kind of bar or a club. it was someone's house that they put a tiny bar in. i loved the homey feeling exuding from the white walls covered in kitschy art. everyone there looked decadent in their french styles, sipping beer and red wine. the deejay spun some 50s/60s music, much to the liking of my friend, lisa. we twisted and shimmied and just had good fun. it was funny that even though it was gainsbourg's birthday, they played none of his music.

i met three soldiers at the party. so far the best experience i've had with the off-duty IDF. their names are dekel, matan, and itamar. they were very nice and offered me a grand tour of tel-aviv the next time i'm back there. dekel is in the process of learning spanish. matan and itamar can't wait for their service to israel is over and move to berlin where matan wants to study music and itamar, history or film studies.

and of course, how can one visit tel-aviv without a visit to the beachside? we trooped over to the ocean around 430 am. the walk there peaceful and nice. i was constantly reminded of santa monica, walking through the residential areas to the pier/beachfront. and, i dipped my feet into the mediterranean! from the sand, tel-aviv appears to be just like any mediterranean city/port. it's pretty at night. i am told that this after midnight past time is one high schoolers engage in. nevertheless, it was a fun, but tiring, experience. i definitely have to go back to tel-aviv as much as possible.

we got back to jerusalem at 630 in the morning by the way of a sherut. jerusalem by morning light is really an amazing place. the streets are empty. there is lively silence in the air. oh my god, i love it. by the time i made it back to mount scopus, the entire city was enveloped in a dense fog. it was peaceful.

i'm really starting to really like being in israel. the life style is radically different and i can feel myself changing, acclimating easily into the life here. the food, the people, the sites-- i'm amazed by it all. interestingly enough, i'm practicing korean more so than hebrew. i don't know if i want to come back to the stateside!

פסח

2009-04-01T17:26:00.003+03:00

it is getting to be that time around the world: spring cleaning. here in israel, i feel like that has more depth than just throwing away junk and cleaning out your house for the new year (i am now wondering why the new year doesn't start with the spring season). פסח, or passover, is one of the most important religious holidays in judaism. i don't know if you are familiar with the bible, especially the old testament, passover is connected with the ten plagues god unleashed on egypt for not releasing the israelites from slavery. for the tenth plague, god intended on killing the first born sons. however, israelites were instructed to mark their doors with the blood of a spring lamb and god would pass over their house. when the pharoah let the israelites go, they left in such a hurry that they didn't wait for their bread to rise. פסח is celebrated for seven days in the festival of unleavened bread. it is also one of three pilgrim festivals, the other two being שבועות and סכות.

one or two weeks before the start of פסח, most households in israel clean out their houses. the orthodox jews do so even more vigorously to remove any traces of חמץ, wheat products, which include yeast goods, certain cakes, and most distilled liquor, from the house. afterwards, they do a formal search of חמץ with a feather duster and a wooden spoon. any found are then burned. while, none of my flatmates are religious in any way, they partake in cleaning out the house thoroughly. there is an elaborate meal called סדר (seder) for פסח that is quite long and can span the course of two days. there is retelling of the story, washing, and consumming unleavened bread and bitter herbs. hopefully, i'll be adopted by a family for this!

on the road to hebron via egged

2009-03-30T22:26:00.005+03:00

in an earlier post, i mentioned the semester project for my documentary workshop class. the class takes place on hebron road but i intend on using hebron road as it was meant to be used. today was the first day of the project, so to speak. i called יקוב, my teacher, telling him that i will be doing a dry run of the journey. since i know hebrew more than arabic, i decided to travel using egged, which for the purpose of my project i will call jewish bus. the cost of the ride is 8.80 shekels, which is barely over 2$, going from jerusalem to hebron. total time of travel was about 1 hr and 15 mins.

on the bus, i befriended a jewish woman, who made עליה to israel 5 months ago from canada. she lives in a jewish settlement 10 mins away from hebron. she told me that the bus initially traveled on hebron road before the building of the rail commenced and when it was 'safer.' after the bus was attacked on many accounts, a tunnel highway was built that bypassed the initial entry into the west bank. after 10 mins on the bus, the travelers on the left side were treated to an amazing view of the wall cutting through the landscape. i am still astounded by how close jerusalem is to the west bank area, being nearly encompassed by the giant concrete structure on almost all sides. the ride was mostly uneventful but i appreciated seeing the landscape of israel for the most part. there is a certain beauty in the hilly, deserted terrain, dotted with housing complexes or the occasional rundown buildings occupied mostly by arabs. there were also several farms along the way and i think with a little stretch of my imagination, this is probably what the area looked like 2000 years ago.... that actually might be too far a stretch.

hebron. what to say about hebron. a little history: hebron is the largest city in the west bank. it is the biblical region of judea and it is the second holiest city of judaism, after jerusalem. the most famous site of hebron is the cave of patriarchs. even though the site is holy to judaism, both christianity and islam hold the site sacred due to the connection with abraham. he bought a piece of land to bury his wife, sarah, and afterwards abraham, issac, leah, jacob, rebecca are all buried there. in recent history, as any piece of arabic land, there has been many tense conflicts between arabs and israelis. hebron is heavily patrolled by israeli military guards. rabbi moshe levinger and his wife began colonising the centre of town after israel incorporated the west bank in 1967. even though this move was illegal, it gained endorsement, even after the settlement of kiryat arba was established to draw the settlers out. each armed settler in the old city is protected by as many as four armed soldiers, who are stationed on rooftops and street corners, emboldening the ~600 jews there to parade in the streets chanting anti-arab calls and wielding guns. on february of 1994, baruch goldstein, a physician, entered the ibrahimi mosque and open fired on the praying palestinians. palestinians believe the israeli jews are stealing their rightful land and protest against the military occupation. the israeli jews believe they have every right to occupy hebron because it was jewish under abraham. however, it appears as if the palestinians always get the wrong end of the bargain. their homes are constantly decimated or taken over. they face constant harassment from the settlers.

the egged bus dropped me off in the old city. so my initial viewing of hebron was very unsettling. i was surrounded by crumbling structures, closed shops, graves, pro-zionist graffiti and gun-toting civilians and soldiers. i thought that this was hebron itself. i was mistaken after some research. even though the area looks unpopulated, there are people, both arab and jew, walking around the streets. there are many palestinian and israeli flags flying from windows and houses. however, there are more of the latter. everyone seems to be very welcoming and friendly. i visited the muslim part of the cave of patriarchs. a man there gave me a brief tour, beginning with donning of a head covering. the mosque is one of the more unassuming ones i've visited but the humbleness is appealing. there is a shrine of a stone with an imprint of a foot. my guide told me that this is abraham's footprint. interesting. i also visited the tomb of abraham, isaac and rebecca. in all, my stay was brief as service was going to start soon.

i am glad that i picked this as my project. i will get to explore a place where most people are unwilling to go to because of the heavy military occupation and threat of danger. this is one of the few times i am thankful i'm from abroad.

history of the city of david, the mount of olives and the surrounding areas

2009-03-29T23:16:00.006+03:00

that is a long title but it encompasses what i've learned today in my israel culture class. i am enjoying that class immensely.

today we met outside שער האשפות (dung gate), located right next to the הכותל (western wall). from there we discussed the ever famous al-aqsa mosque, the third holiest place for muslims of the world, next to mecca and medina. there is a jerusalem archaeological park in the area and near the entrance one can see the remains of the cardo maximus road which was supposed to be this amazing colonnaded road that lead to damascus gate and was used as the main road.

there was a lot of soldiers milling around. the professor said that before the soldiers go back to their unites, they do educational visits to important places of israel history, getting exposed to zionistic propaganda. they were loitering all around the western wall, dung gate, and the city of david. there are still ongoing excavations in the city of david. the excavations show different layers which go all the way to the second temple period (516 BCE - 70 BCE). he then also explained that archaeological digs are used for political reasons by the zionists to claim possession of israel/jerusalem as the rightful cultural owners.

right next to the city of david is silwan, an arab neighborhood of jerusalem. like every arab neighborhood in jerusalem, it is a highly contested area, where they have no building permits and jews are starting to infiltrate and take over the property. an very interesting fact: some of the houses in silwan are built on top of burial caves of ancient jerusalem. most arab houses are usually close to the ground but because the property is so expensive, the buildings are many storied. currently, jerusalem municipality is talking about destroying houses in silwan.

afterwards, we walked behind the temple mount/al-aqsa mosque. there were several muslim burial sites. i think only the rich are allowed to bury the dead there and also if their family for many previous generations have been buried there. on the other side, we saw the valley of jehoshaphat, where it is said that the events of the day of judgement are to take place. within this valley are series of tombs. here are pictures.

absalom's pillar

grotto of st. james & tomb of zechariah

after class, since we were in the area, kimmy sue, jonathan and i decided to trek over the valley of jehoshaphat to mount of olives. there we visited the church of all nations (basilica of agony) and the garden of gethesemane. the church is quite beautifully ornamented inside with mosaics of blues and golds. the ceiling shows twelve? nations. the garden of gethesemane was pretty as well. it is the place where it is believed jesus was arrested. the olive trees in the garden are some of the oldest trees, dating back 2000 years. amazing, if you think about it.

from there we returned to the old city and because kimmy sue and i have been talking about it for the past three weeks, we decided to do the walk of the cross. kimmy said that some of the stations are made up. it was such a nice day that i didn't mind a little make believe and visiting the places where jesus is said to have walked with the cross on the way to his crucifixion. i saw the ecce homo arch, where pontius pilate declared, "behold, the man!" to viewers on the street. i saw the places where it said he stumbled. then we ended the journey at the holy spulchre (this makes it my third visit). while the walk itself was very nice, kim and i didn't not appreciate the different catcalls from the arab men in the marketplace and the uninvited help. one went so far to say "i'm available." i don't even want to think about what that even means. i got even more 'china' and 'konichiwa'. i'm sort of getting used to them by now but it still bothers me. i have taken the politically correct nature of america for granted. oh, how i miss it.

later, lisa, carla, stefanie and i got together to plan our various trips for pesach break! soooo excited! but i am tired after walking around for a solid 6 hours so i will show you the places i will be visiting sometime later.

היומ היה מענין

2009-03-29T01:00:00.003+03:00

i was up all night planning the trip to egypt and for the roadtrip around israel for the upcoming pesach break. i am so excited! seeing the pyramids and the cairo museum and alexandriaaaa! okay, that's enough of that for now.

today, i met up with lisa and omri in the old city. we were meeting petra for a catholic mass at 1830. it was interesting for me to go to a church service after i haven't gone in so long, especially one in jerusalem, the mecca of the three monotheistic religions of the world. it was conducted in english by father richard, who came to jerusalem four months ago, leaving florida. the service itself was nice and calming, even though i'm not by any means familiar with mass. i forgot how drowsy i can get during church. oops. afterwards, father richard came up to us and asked if we would like a tour around the rooftop of the church. what an amazing view! he was really kind and pointed out several noticeable landmarks in jerusalem. the church, pontifical institute notre dame of jerusalem, is also quite known for its replica of the shroud of turin. it is also a place where many pilgrims start out their journey in the holy city. we might go back there soon to see this shroud exhibit because we can't go to italy :P.

afterwards, we walked to המרקיה (the souperia in english). what a homey place! upholding its name, המרקיה serves several different kinds of comforting, vegetarian friendly soups as well as שקשוקה (shakshuka), which is what a lot of the israelis refer to as the omelette. however, it's more like a tomato stew with a cracked egg on top. it is delicious! i must learn how to make one so i can make it for people back in the states. המרקיה seems to be a hipster/foreigners hotspot. one of the workers is a boston native (!) who just completed his thesis in hebrew literature in israel. omri, lisa, petra, and i sipped on תה נענע (mint tea) and chit chatted. it was also cool that the cafe decided to observe earth hour, by turning off the lights completely, immersing the restaurant in total darkness with little points of candlelight illuminating the diners. i like it!

i bid goodbye to the bunch and walked toward zion square where i came across a group of asians singing praise. they were singing in korean. what?? ever since i got here, i am astounded to find a big population of koreans living in jerusalem. i made friends with one who is in my documentary photo class. she told me that most of them make a pilgrimage here. that's cool, i guess? i never knew there was such a big following though. i should find out more information on this and hopefully get a decent korean meal while in israel!

the good mood i was in was shattered when i came back to my room in the כפר. a meeting was held to discuss the nasty atmosphere that occupies apartment 771. however, i think it was just an excuse for the two flatmates who do now like me to attack me even further. they really make me feel unwelcome in a place that is rightfully my own. i hope i get to move out into the city centre so i can be closer to my friends, שוק and fun things. but i will have to haggle with the dorm office, who might not like the idea! wish me luck. tomorrow my israel culture class is meeting outside dung gate, near the jewish quarter. i think we're exploring kidron valley, the place between the old city and mount of olives. more info on it later after the lecture!

ideas for screenprinting

2009-03-26T19:59:00.003+02:00

just going to jot down my ideas.

i had my third screenprinting class of the semester. it's kind of hard because i'm not really used to this kind of teaching where the teacher just gives us free rein especially when i'm new to the medium. i asked him about this but all i got back was a nonchalant answer of "i'll give you a project then." didn't happen. so i just looked around at what people were doing and decided to experiment with photo emulsion. i printed out an image i found on the internet that looked pretty cool (link). it's hard to think in screenprinting terms because things may or may not show up and it is an additive process. seeing that i don't have a painting background which probably most people do in the class, i got a little frustrated with the medium quite quickly.

kim printed on glass and it looked so cool! she then combined her etching stuff with screenprinting and made really awesome prints. she's really talented and a great artist!

i wish i was doing stained glass again so i can print on it. but c'est la vie! i might continue the class 'images on clay' from last semester and print in clay tiles or something. not sure yet. i want to do something that explores my duality as an asian and an american. maybe combining some kind of transparent and coarse paper. it would be interesting to combine my documentary workshop class with screenprinting and impose maps or some other thing on top of the photos? or, printing anatomical images juxtaposing with something... oh the possibilities! there are so many i just don't know what to doooo.

on a different note, my flatmate from romania yelled at me for taking a shower this morning. i didn't know that she was going to take a shower. she was making breakfast. she said that i was inconsiderate and how she had class at 8 am but it was 7:40 when i got in the shower. it gave me a sour outlook for the day. i don't understand her gripe against me. she doesn't know me and i her. she stares at me like i'm some weird animal from some distant world, like everyone else in israel. she is not a nice person.

israel: facts of life

2009-03-24T19:19:00.003+02:00

so i've been in israel for a little over a month. it was difficult getting adjusted at first but it's easier now. it isn't exactly smooth sailing but i'll take it. list of things i've noticed. enjoy.

1. everyone in israel smokes. no lie. they smoke after exercising. they light up while drinking, talking, eating, walking, photographing... the list goes on. i think i saw a kid who looked no older than 14 years smoking in the old city. what's up with that? moreover, the packs here are emblazoned with caution signs. so much for that, right? because of this, the most common question is יש לך אש? (do you (f) have fire?) the cigarettes here from what i've gathered are not cheap but they are also primarily bought by people who are rolling their own cigarettes and/or hash. fun times.

2. this is by far the most disgusting one. women and men alike don't seem to realize their asses are hanging out of their pants. literally. there is nothing like getting mooned in daylight. once when i was waiting for a bus after shabbat ended, this guy was opening up his stall across the street. when he squatted, his whole butt hung out. ew. in class, the pants just doesn't seem to stay on. this girl was shoving a pen into this guy's butt crack during a lecture. what the hell. this is just not cool.

3. furthermore on lack of respect of others in public spaces, people pick noses everywhere. on the bus, standing on the street, whatever and whenever. it's like they're thinking, 'oh i have nothing else to do so i'm just going to pick my nose.' what's worse, those boogers don't end up on a kleenex. they end up on the table at a cafe, seat on the bus, window, stone wall, etc. you name it and it's quite possible there is booger residue.

4. being a foreigner is hard, especially when i don't look white. because of this, i've been constantly stared at. quite rudely, actually. i was coming back from the שוק and this orthodox woman was blatantly staring at me, making me uncomfortable and unwelcome. i stared at her but it didn't seemed to matter until my friend, arielle, glared at her. i don't get this staring business. sure, i don't look jewish or israeli or even american for that matter. but the staring? unnecessary! i'm scared to venture into mea shearim because of this. we'll see.

5. haredi jews speak yiddish. when you ask for direction in hebrew or english, both of which they understand, they look at you condescendingly and shove past you. ohhhhkaayyy.

6. israeli men do not know how to keep their hands to themselves.

7. most people drink coffee all times of the day, from morning to late night to early morning. cafes are extremely crowded, more so than a popular starbucks during a busy time. if not coffee, it's tea. the most popular being תה נענע, a black tea with fresh mint leaves. it's incredibly delicious!

8. there is nothing to do from friday sundown to saturday sundown. unless you want to shell out money for a taxi and go to some arab places.

9. american jews (i really don't want to generalize but it's what i've noticed) fear the arabic people. they are afraid to get on arab buses or go into arab neighborhoods. it's rather frustrating at times and annoying. they also seem to think the worse before actually experiencing what it's really like instead of what they've been told. oh, and they also travel in packs.

10. falafel really is the cheapest meal you can get. it's vegetarian and can be healthy depending on the sides you pile into the pita or lafah bread. i've had it so many times, i'm actually getting sick of it. the best one i've had to date is served right outside damascus gate for 6 shek.

11. there is no "true" israeli cuisine. israelis have come from all over the world: europe, asia, northern africa, other middle eastern countries, and america to date. so each culture shows up on the menu. most people think of gefilte fish or matzah ball soup, which is only true to eastern european jewish cuisine. there is malewach, tabbouleh, couscous, etc. if anything, falafel might be heralded by all as a national food.

12. instead of saying 'um', israelis say 'ehhh'. it's actually way more annoying than 'um'. very nasally and obnoxious.

13. i'm picking up the mannerisms of my peers in the exchange program. i will be saying things like an elongated "yes" or "no" for every question. meanwhile, i'll be translating the sentences in my head into hebrew and spewing out random words like בסדר, בדיוק, באמת, לא!, מה?, tzebabah, and i think the list does go on for a few. i really do hope to improve my hebrew while here. but that's hard going!

that's all that i can think of right now.

on a different note, i baked cookies for the first time since i've gotten here. they were pretty successful. three ingredient peanut butter sandies: creamy peanut butter, dark brown sugar and flour. yum. i also started soaking the kumquats in vodka, in hopes that it turns into kumquat liquor. *fingers crossed!*

hebron project

2009-03-23T14:52:00.002+02:00

for my documentary workshop class, we are to choose a place on hebron road, it can be the road itself, or the outlaying villages/places and photograph them. for my project, i want to use the road was it was meant to be used: going to hebron. i would like to make a pilgrimage of sorts there, using both arab and jewish buses. along the way, i would get off at certain spots to document the place and the people. it would also be great to photograph from the bus on the journey there. now i know that the west bank isn't the safest place to be but i have the foreign aspect working for me. hopefully, i'll be able to access jewish neighborhoods within the west bank as well as a part of the project. thank god for my holga because i don't know how i'd do this with any other camera.

i don't understand

2009-03-17T21:47:00.003+02:00

today, i had my collage class for the first time since school has started. the first time, the teacher cancelled. the second time, i just didn't show up. my excuse: purim. anyways, the class is not what i expected. i thought we were going to do something similar to what people do in camp: draw, paint and glue things to pieces of paper and call it art. how sacrilegious am i? nope. he, gil, wants us to think REALLY REALLY outside the box. think installation and performance art combined with paper-ish products. okay, what? the topic for the next three weeks is crime scene. again, what?? i teamed up with avi and we got a-working. we plan on subverting the crime scene into something banal and absurd. should be interesting, yes? since avi does set building at his art school, we're going to use that to our advantage. woot. today, i imitated a dead person on the ground so avi could trace my outline with masking tape. during the process, he asked me to pose in different positions and took pictures of those. the things i do for art. anyways, while i was laying on the ground, this janitor person walks by and starts talking dirty, saying how sexy i looked on the ground. avi and i are giving each other the "wtf" looks and we start laughing. the janitor thought avi tickled me so he said something along the lines of "ooh... sexy and ticklish..." this made me feel so uncomfortable, especially since i was on the ground. besides that, i have high hopes for this project! it's exciting. :D

later on, i had my documentary photo class. the quality of the work in this class sucks. i am by no means a great photographer who produces awesome prints but c'mon! the teacher makes my blood boil. he is a hypocritical jerk. he says he wants to broaden the boundaries of what documentary photo means and criticizes how the students nowadays are self-absorbed. he is one of those teachers who wants the students to do it his way or it isn't good at all. he wants people to document the israeli-arab/palestinian conflict yet he only wants the israeli point of view. i don't get it. i'm more and more inclined to believe every day that i'm here that the arabs are unfairly treated. i don't know what else i wanted to write but i'm beginning to miss the american way of teaching and support.

efffffff... my life, kind of

2009-03-16T23:34:00.004+02:00

today, i had my documentary workshop class that takes place on hebron road that leads into the west bank. the class trekked up and down גיבת המטוס and looked at some amazing landscape views of jerusalem. that place just can't be beat. however breathtaking and awesome the place was, i just can't find something i want to do. i want to observe the israeli-arab interaction but that's kind of hard seeing how the neighborhoods are segregated. it is also hard that i'm not originally from israel so i have no background information of the historical meaning of the place. it's quite infuriating, to be honest. the teacher, yaakov, was very encouraging and told me to think beyond the box and what i'm used to and just photograph what i feel. well then, i feel like making a journey to hebron, the city hebron road leads to. it's going to be dangerous since i will be going into the occupied territories with a camera... and sometimes being a foreigner with a camera is not a good idea, so i've learned. we shall see.

i also got to develop film for the first time today since... march 2008? it's been a while. developing color is going to be a big pain in the ass. everything has to be in the right temperature... the water level has to be right, i have to dump this there, dump this here, blah blah blah. but it was nice working with toxic chemicals. i'm not going to lie: the more toxic the art is, the more i'm intrigued by it and will dip my bare hands into it. speaking of, they wouldn't let me process color bare handed so boo but i got to do b&w with no gloves! i probably shouldn't be so excited about this because my hands are super dry and smell toxic... but it just got me in the photo mood, which is exhilarating! however, the film was not so exciting. they came out crappy. oh well. stupid bulb setting! dammitt! i had some really good shots today.

anyways, sarah invited me over for dinner. we had hamburger patties, mashed potatoes, israeli salad, two veggie dishes of some kind, indian rice, zucchini soup and bread. quite amazing. sarah then busted out mango & passion fruit sorbet. yum! i should host a dinner party soon and show off my awesome cooking skillz. haha. just kidding. but honestly, i need to start exercising or i'm going to put on the weight i've lost!

after dinner, i went salsa dancing! rothberg international school holds weekly salsa dance lessons. it's fun. my first time and i liked it. what i didn't like was this israeli translating condescendingly to be as if i didn't know anything. honestly, that's the one thing that bugs me about israel. i don't care if you have an opinion about how you think i'm some stupid american tourist, just keep it to yourself. don't show off. it doesn't impress me. (so far, only guys have done this to me.) another thing, this really weird looking dude gave me the once over... twice and tried this come hither look on me... what?! no. after the lesson, i danced with joseph and he's an aggressive leader. but the boy can move. :) afterwards, i was asked to dance! haha. it was fun dancing and i might go again next week!

lasly, i think for my pesach break, i'm going to go to egypt and jordan for the first half and travel israel for the second half. i'm going to stick to the middle east instead of eurotripping because i'm here and the middle east is just as, or even more, fascinating and fun than europe. that said, i'm tired so i'm going to bed.

dinner party & בית שאן

2009-03-14T23:56:00.006+02:00

kimmy sue invited me over for a housewarming/dinner party at her place. she's a fellow bezalel student who is taking screenprinting with me. she's pretty awesome and super nice! joseph and i made rice pudding for the potluck. when we got there, i met so many people from hebrew university. it was really fun, eating good food, meeting new people, talking and laughing. i met a girl who's studying at USC and we spent quite a while talking about LA. during this talk, i realised that i forgot a lot of los angeles. i mean, i even say that i'm from boston when people ask me where i'm from. haha. she wants me to go back to LA so we can scout out great food and etc. harris, a guy from wash uni at st. louis, brought his guitar and played the harmonica simultaneously. how great is that! also, there were three people named jenny at the party: two jenny's and one jennifer. but whatever.

בית שאן, beit she'an, was the destination for the weekend. it was quite fun despite all the lack of enthusiasm coming from the israelis. anyways, בית שאן is the site of the ancient city of beit she'an-scythopolis and tel-beit she'an. here is a little history provided by the brochure:

settlement first began in the 5th millennium BCE on the tel. in the late canaanite period, the city became the seat of egyptian rule. the israelite tribes did not succeed in conquering canaanite beit she'an. after the battle waged at mt. gilboa, the philistine lords of beit she'an displayed the bodies of saul and his sons on the city walls. the city was later taken by king david, becoming the administrative center of the region during king solomon's reign. the site was destroyed 732 BCE, with the conquest of the norther part of the country by tiglat-pilesser III, an assyrian king. during the hellenistic period, the city known as nysa-scythopolis was founded on this spot. local lore has it that dionysos, buried his nurse, nysa, here and settled the region with this followers. at the end of the 2nd c BCE, the city fell to the hasmoneans and the city became predominantly jewish. as one of the ten cities of decapolis, it became the most important city in northern israel. during the revolt against the romans in 66 BCE, the jewish pop. was murdered by their gentile neighbors. in the byzantine period, beit she'an became largely christian. a wall was erected around the city, with churches and monasteries near it. after the arab conquest, the city declined in prominence and the population dwindled. it continued as a rural settlement thereafter.

עין שוקק

we left bright and early friday morning, caught a bus for the two hour ride to beit. we checked in the hostel there and it was a pretty nice place. we wanted to leave the actual national park for the later half so on friday, the group split up two ways: one for hot springs, the other one for trekking around. guess which group i was in. carla, claire, and i took off to find a kibbutz but instead found a vacation resort that looked pretty swanky. and after two hours of walking, we found עין שוקק. it was so refreshing to dangle our feet in the water after all that ambling about. at the waterhole, there were people playing checkers, swimming, playing guitar, and picnicing. it was very cute. we tried to hitchhike back to the hostel but failed and took the bus instead. haha. the shabbat dinner was amazingggg. did i mention how much i love israeli salad? and hummus? yum. they also served us non-dairy ice cream for dessert. niceeee. we were all antsy so we played games like it was recess time. petra introduced a game called sandokan, a czech game. it was hilarious and fun! basically it involved jumping around and stomping on people's feet. german jan was quite good and we were all scared of him.

today, we walked to the national park. it wasn't that far away from the hostel. it appears that my new friends like charades because before brunch they played. and when we found the first amphitheatre (which they mistook for a coliseum), they acted like gladiators and wild beasts. i had fun being a spectator. i'm not going to elaborate much on the actual national park because it's quite... dull actually. so i'm going to post some highlights.

amphitheatre

gladiator vs lion

view from tel

bath house

hieroglyphs

on a donkey to fight a giant

2009-03-11T21:24:00.007+02:00

see? isn't it pretty?

kimmy, jenny, and i went to a little place called yemin moshe today. that area is super gorgeous and i'm jealous of every single person who lives there. yemin moshe is identified by the windmill in its quarters. it's quite an eccentric landmark. the windmill is actually one of the first structures to be built out of the old city, and yemin moshe, the first living space outside the confines. it was part of a scheme developed by sir moses montefiore, an english jewish philanthropist. he wanted to help the jews residing in jerusalem by easing the overcrowding within the walls of the city. montefiore built a block of 24 apartments, a development known a משכנות שאננימ (tranquil dwellings). the windmill was built in 1857 to provide the basis for a flour industry. however, few were willing to live here due to the lack of protection from attacks. a wall was eventually built and the gate was locked at night. the windmill never operated and now yemin moshe is one of the top real-estates in jerusalem.

in other news, i found a pad of paper for 12 sh which is like... 3$. unheard of. i also got... i think 36 eggs for 6$. score! too bad purim is over and back to school tomorrow. this weekend, some friends and i are heading up to בית שאן (beit she'an) for the weekend! and i mistakenly gave my number to some guy... and now he won't stop calling me. gah!

פורימ!

2009-03-10T17:08:00.003+02:00

god, i love holidays. not only does school shut down but there are seasonal/holiday goodies that are super delicious and addictive. purim is a celebration of the liberation of jews from the evil emperor haman, who wanted to decimate them and picked a day by drawing lots. this story comes from the book of esther, which is read as a part of the celebration (מגילה). during the reading, children and adults alike hold noisemakers so when the name haman is read, the audience shakes the noisemakers, stomp their feet, or hiss.

in the story, king ahasuerus throws a drinking festival for his provinces. he gets so drunk that he demands his wife, queen vashti to display her beauty for everyone to see. when she refuses, she is beheaded and king ahasuerus orders all the young women to be presented to him so he may pick another wife. among the women was esther, a jewish orphan, who changes her name to disguise her jewish ancestry. the king finds her favorable and picks her to be his wife. soon after, the king appoints haman as his prime minister. when mordechai, esther's cousin, refuse to show him respect, haman plans to kill not just mordechai but every jewish person in the empire. haman receives permission from the king and draws lots to decide on the day. when queen esther hears of this, she throws a party for haman with the king present. they are invited to a subsequent party the next night. that night, the king can't fall asleep and learns that mordechai had saved his life before and wasn't properly awarded. haman enters and the king asks what he should do to honor a man. thinking that the man is the king himself, haman replies that the man should be dressed in the finest clothes and paraded around on the king's horse. haman is furious when he learns the man is mordechai. at the second party, esther reveals to the king and haman that she is jewish and that haman is planning to exterminate her people. haman is hanged and esther and mordechai write a decree in which the jews can defend themselves in an attack. as a result, many attackers and ten of haman's sons were killed.

purim is also considered by some to be the jewish halloween. during the holidays, which can span from 2-4 days depending on the jewish calendar, everybody dresses up and parade around the city center and anywhere. the holiday consists of the megilla reading, sending food gifts to friends, charity for the poor, and a celebration dinner. there is also a saying that 'on purim everything is allowed.' there is also a considerable amount of drinking as one should imbibe until one cannot tell the difference between two sayings in the talmud... or even until one cannot recognize the other.

my favorite party of purim is the hamentaschens. they are these triangular buttery cookies with hidden fillings inside. they are supposed to resemble haman's hat or his ears. people aren't sure which it is. nevertheless, they are yummy and i will be indulging in these for purim!

EDIT: i went to the bezalel's jungle party in some parking lot by givat ram. holy crap, israelis are crazy. i told my suitemate's friend and he told me that what i experienced was not a good israeli party/club scene. i saw lots of guys dressed in womans' clothing and the music sucked. after 00:30, the party turned into some nightmarish trance club with many people in masks. several grabbed me and screamed in my ear. wtf? and i came home smelling like cigarettes and semi-covered in spilt beer. how lovely.

the west bank experience (part 1)

2009-03-08T10:02:00.005+02:00

even though israel is "secular", shabbat is taken very seriously. jerusalem is probably the one of the worst places to be on friday night/saturday as a lot of the shops and places shut down and the egged buses stop running. this does not condone fun times. i think the bright sun got to me yesterday because i didn't want to sit around in my room, browsing the internet. i mean, i can do that in the states to my heart's content... but here, i have the chance to do something different and experience things that is not possible anywhere else. soo... i popped open my lonely planet guide and they recommended that on the weekends, people should visit jericho or bethlehem. so being the person that i am, these were just other cities in israel. how mistaken i was. they're located in the west bank, or what is known as palestinian lands. i know there are tons of security and travel warnings against the west bank, but being there changed my perspective.

when you first leave jerusalem, the scenery changes. to me, it seemed less abundant than what i saw in jerusalem. it's a given that the palestinian reality is drastically different than that of the israelis. but that doesn't stop them from being extremely hospitable. my friends and i were constantly rewarded with smiles and exuberant cries of 'welcome' and 'hello!' one even went so far to share his education story with us. they're humble people and it shows. it was just so fascinating to be there because the media goes beyond what's necessary to show this place as dangerous. sure this is my first time, but danger was the last thing on my mind. we arrived to bethlehem quite late so most of the 'tourist' attractions were closed. however, we were invited to an AICafe talk to discuss israel as an apartheid state and how to go about boycotting israel. it was good to get the other side of the discussion because in the states, we (or i at least was) are constantly bombarded with pro-zionist propaganda or some israeli-palestinian peace resolution. but being in the reality, it seemed peace or an establishment of equality is far off.

after the talk, we went to one of the bezalel student's apartment. we cooked vegetable curry and drank arak and talked about social issues of the day and art, of course. then we were further informed about the construction of the wall, which is pretty much finished by today, and the destruction caused by the conflict... mohammed was very frank with us and told us how he isn't allowed to go to jerusalem or israel... and how he was 24 when he saw the ocean for the first time. it's hard not to be emotionally moved by his story. i know that i should get to know both sides thoroughly but what is going on right now is just morally wrong. it's racism and cultural genocide. a bit harsh? i don't know. my friends and i are going to go around the west bank more to talk with the people and get a first hand account of their lives that is suppressed by the media. it's interesting that i went to bethlehem to see the site of nativity and etc and got altogether an experience i never expected.

אני יודא שומ דבר באנגלית

2009-03-07T02:10:00.003+02:00

let's see... first off, i'm really excited that i got into the screenprinting class. it was full when i asked the secretary of fine arts but i found out that it's better to go ask the teacher first rather than "officially" registering for classes. the teacher is hilarious. he's an ex-pat from england and tries to make art organic and toxic-free, which is quite a feat. he concocted a recipe for the paint thickener? out of flour, sugar, honey, and lemon salt. he calls it his "ארוחת בקר" meaning breakfast food because it looks like porridge. and he even tasted it in class. afterwards, i had a laboratory tutorial workshop class because i figured i need to learn how to use the lab here since they have a b&w, color and slide processing. however, my mouth turned sour when the teacher asked the class if he could teach the class in english. first of all, i understand that by being here, hebrew will be a constant thing. however, it was unnecessary for the 10 minute discussion of how they don't understand english, which is bullshit because they need to know a good amount of it to get into bezalel. whatever. i asked the teacher if i can take the class as "independent" study and he said it would be alright. cool.

today i had my shabbat class: the sea, the mountain, and the in-between. we met in מודיעין city which is half way between tel-aviv and jerusalem. it's a city that continually grows with new development projects and what not. so our project for the semester would be to find a subject matter in the city and stick with it throughout. my group decided to photograph from high-rises and rooftops of the apartments down into the city. the buildings there look very cookie cutter and like legos. so taking an aerial p.o.v would be really cool especially if we can use a tilt-shift lens or perhaps use a rc helicopter with an attached camera. oh the possibilities!

sarah held a dinner party at her apartment and the food was glorious. we ate and talked politics, philosophy and ate some more and talked about classes and ate some more and talked about movies. the israeli cheesecake is really different. it's really light and fluffy, unlike the american cheesecake. i kind of like it. oh, the kumquats are amazing. yum. next we had tea and sat around talking. it was really fun to get to know people from many parts of the world. and one even busted out a dictionary so she can learn more english. haha.

the weather is getting better... well at least for the weekend. i'm exhausted so sorry for the boring update but it is what it is!

second day of classes

2009-03-03T20:44:00.002+02:00

today i had collage and documentary photography. collage was cancelled for today but i didn't find out until i got to class and waited for 30 minutes. however, i did meet a girl named alissa who is from the states delaying the college process. she and i hung out in the library looking at cool art books. i think it was open house day at bezalel because i saw the members of the army walking around the school. thankfully, none of them were carrying guns. i'm sorry but i'll never get used to people my age in a uniform toting a m16. it was the best open house that i've ever been to. first, i think there were art students, or post-bacc students selling cool artsy ware. one was selling a translucent keyboard lamp. one turned white potholders into cute wallets. someone had a rubix cube and made it into a doll thing. a plugin lamp in a can, etc etc. the coolest, i think, was the light bulb soap dispenser. and there was free popcorn and redbull all around. then i had documentary photography. first off, i'm really excited to take this class. reason: the teacher announced that we will be doing stereoscopy photography. OMFGGGG excitementtt! but i have to build a slide bar for it and measure the distance between my eyes so i can take pictures to make them stereo. who cares if the students in the class take really crappy pictures? it's interesting that i can tell the difference between a first year, second year, third year and a fourth year. at smfa that was never really the case. anyways i'm rambling. last thing, i thought i'd be able to take three or four classes... however, i'm taking seven classes and that's barely a full semester. i wish i have enough time to take photo and develop them.

first day of school

2009-03-03T00:08:00.002+02:00

today was the first day of school. to count, it's been about 2.5 months after my academic semester ended. so to start school again was a little bit of a shock for me, kind of like freshman year all over again. fun times, man. i had to get up extra early so i can meet with the head of photography department to see if i can take some first year courses. i don't understand why third year students can't take first year courses. what's the stigma? i don't know why there are strict regulations for that. it's bizarre. anyways, he said he would let me take lab tutorial so i can refresh my technical skills in photography. phew. i'll really need it after i got that tour of the lab, but more on that later.

my first class was documentary workshop. basically, this class will never meet inside a classroom but near תלפיות, the industrialized part of jerusalem. the חברון road leads eventually leads to bethlehem and we will walk up and down this road doing our little projects on whatever catches our fancy. supposedly this is a really contested area and strict places for jews and arabs. honestly, why can't people just get along? i'm really excited for this class. surprisingly, i understood most of the hebrew that was spoken in class even though it was 95% in english. people in the exchange program seem so surprised that the teachers here are unwilling to teach the course in english. i mean, a prerequisite to going to a foreign country is that you have some prior knowledge of the language, which isn't to say full fluency. anyways, i'm ready to get on the road and explore this place like no other for the sake of art. it would be interesting to do this project with a holga or a view camera if i can get my hands on one. so fingers crossed. it also means i have tons of researching to do ahead of me. argh.

moving on, the second class was in the animation/video department called photography stills basic. the teacher didn't want to speak in english because it wouldn't be conducive for the class. to be honest, i can see why it is a first year class. the work was pretty sloppy and they weren't able to defend their work very well. it also didn't help that i only understood like 45% of the words spoken. goddamn academic language teaching. it is not helpful in actually using the language in real life. during break, i talked to the teacher saying that the class wasn't worth my time or his so i said thanks and left. phew.

even though it was only two classes, it was really stressful being in a new environment and seeing so many people in such a small building. anyways, the photo lab, right. that place is AMAZING. if i thought the smfa photo basement was awesome, bezalel's has it beat. it takes up an entire floor. we can do C-41 processing which should be interesting since it is very toxic.. haha. they use ilford b&w processing so that means i have to relearn all the processes again. they also process their own E-6 here at the school. awesomeeee! there are two studios if needed. a media stockroom for borrow equipment. it's just really amazing. i also need to find people to see what kind of film they use here in israel because the lighting is different so i need to find something that works best in this situation. i heard ilford hp5 isn't good here but tmax is, which i don't like using. boo. i'm anxious to do some serious art. i can't wait.

a side note: i had a chocolate craving and was at a falafel place that sold some other stuff as well. i picked up the brand elite thinking it was just regular chocolate. oh no, it wasn't. when i bit into it, there was an unexpected sensation running through my mouth. POP ROCKS IN MY CHOCOLATEEE. whattt. surreal. it was bizarre but i think i really like the novelty of it. if you're really nice, i'll send you a bar... if you'd like of course. :)

יד ושמ

2009-02-28T02:46:00.002+02:00

let's seee... thursday, i went to bezalel again to register for classes. for some reason, they didn't realize that they had to set aside an allotment for the study exchange students because guess what?! there are no classes for us. so i had to beg and plead... actually, i had to be really stern and tell the photo secretary that the only reason i'm at bezalel currently is to study pure photography and if there are no classes, my time and money is being wasted for nothing. after i said that, she gave me options that i could look into. for a full semester of classes i need a minimum about 12 credits. i have 9: israel: place & culture; collage; art & activism; documentary workshop; and the sea, the mountain, and that in-between. that last class should be interesting. it is a friday class, which is kind of unheard of in israel since it's the start of shabbat, and it is a 6 hour class. oh well. i need at least four more credits in order for me to get full credit from SMFA. argghh.

after all that israeli bureaucratic nonsense, sarah, suley, jonathan and i went to the יד ושמ (yad veshem), the holocaust memorial. it was super intense and depressing. the exhibits were laid out really carefully and it was done well. they brought back a piece of the ghetto and recreated a scene around it. they also had original torahs that were saved from the burning synagogues. the museum is located on mount herzl, which is incredibly gorgeous and the memorial takes up most of the mountain. it's freaking huge. we're going there for our culture class so hopefully i get to see more of it.

today, friday, i wanted to go to the שוק to take advantage of the low prices. however, i was beaten with hail and torrential rain. it's been raining and thundering nonstop. i hate it but it's good that israel, or jerusalem, is getting so much water... to somewhat alleviate the water crisis. and my umbrella broke. later, i hung out with arielle and lisa. their suitemate, liran, is really funny and cool. his friend, edad, is like a super gentleman. he also happens to be a bartender and recommended a drink that i should try called martini biano. or i think that's what he said. it's a really smooth drink that should be savoured, not devoured. i liked it. afterwards, we were feeling a bit hungry so edad took us to this arabic food place. i got something called malewach, which consists of a flat bread (reminds me of naan) that is smothered in choice of hummus, tahini, sour cream, or cream cheese. then you get a boiled egg, chopped tomato, some spicy concoction, salt, pepper, za'atar and olive oil. OH MY GOD. it is super awesome. i got hummus, tahini, and cream cheese on mine with an egg... it just melts in your mouth. kind of like a sauce burrito but not really. kind of amazing. ahhh. i really should go to the gym if i keep eating street food. dammit. oh well.

classes start sunday. ahh!

orientation

2009-02-25T15:47:00.005+02:00

so we had orientation today. it was nice to meet the people who i'm going to be hanging out with (hopefully) for the months to come. they are all really nice and super artsy looking. plus the two guys from france are really really really good looking. haha. we got an introduction to the school and how the semester is going to run. it appears that we can't really deviate beyond our department because the classes are prioritized for the department students. but i'm going to try anyway. we have a mandatory culture/history class, which will be taught by a professor from germany. we'll be going on trips around the city, learning about the culture and what not. sounds cool. it turns out we have a three week break for pesach: april 8-april 29. how awesome is that? classes will begin monday and i'm really excited. woo.

gosh, i've spent quite a lot since i've gotten here. ahhh! anyways, that's all i have to say for now. will probably update later! i think we're going to hang out tonight. i hope so!

edit 8:39 pm - i just got back from rock climbing for the first time ever with joseph and kimmy. it was really fun and exhilarating BUT SCARY. my body was on overdrive with adrenaline because i didn't want to lean back and clung to the wall for dear life. maybe i have some height issues. whatever. now my hands are stiff and my arms feel like they're about to fall off. i really liked it so i might make it a regular thing? but that means buying shoes and a harness.... booo

edit 1:21 am - my friends, joseph and kimmy, and i went out on the town... which means to city centre. joseph brought along his friend, harris and kimmy brought her friend, jenny. we went in search of a bar, was turned down because we weren't twenty-two or twenty-three. we finally found this place called blue hole. it's a pretty decent bar... with random music that keeps you guessing. i had a sex on the beach. please don't judge. the server was right there and i wanted a long island iced tea but she said no.. we also got free shots on the house of penguin, which is their house shot specialty. it was being able to go out and have fun.

another trip to the old city

2009-02-24T01:31:00.000+02:00

sorry for the absence since thursday. it was raining all weekend and i was inside. sunday i did stuff but not very significant besides meeting an awesome girl named lisa who's doing photography like me! oh i discovered an amazing falafel place near campus on הגבעה צרפתית (french hill). i just came to the realization that i'm going to walking along two freaking hills: mount scopus and the french hill. my legs are already complaining. anyways...

lisa, sarah, and i wanted to go to the old city again to explore. i don't think lisa has been there before so score. along the way we were further accompanied by suley, a hebrew university student, and joseph, another bezalel exchange from wash u in st. louis. the first stop was the holy sepulchre. and OH MY GOD! i'm going to be an art history nerd here and i apologize in advance. it was really cool walking into the holy sepulchre, not only because it is an ancient church but because i've actually studied it in my medieval architecture class in krautheimer's essay on iconography. so cool. as mentioned earlier, the last five stations of the cross are in the holy sepulchre. they are located on the second floor and it was really crowded. station eleven is the site of golgotha, where jesus was cruxified. there were so many people, most who i think were pilgrims, kowtowing in front of the altar, lighting candles, and murmuring prayers. it was really a sight to behold. the altar itself was amazing. everything was bathed in gold or silver and of course it wouldn't be complete without a medici altar next to it. we explored further, visiting christ's prison, chapel of the discovery of the cross, and of course the anastasis, jesus's burial tomb. it was this massive wooden structure in the ambulatory. the entrance was tiny and in the first room was this slab of rock... i'm racking my brain right now, trying to remember what it was... oh! it was part of the boulder that closed off the cave he was buried in. the actual tomb itself is very overwhelming. it was tiny and cramped. everything was lit by candles and gold shimmered everywhere. there was an intensity being that close to what is believed as his tomb. furthermore, there were so many well-preserved mosaics on the ceilings and walls... and frescoes that are still present today. being in the holy sepulchre just overwhelmed with the feeling of antiquity. i just couldn't believe that i was walking around in the same space, on the same ground as many people have for thousands of years. it's just... wow. yes, it's wow.

after the holy sepulchre, (since no one wanted to walk via dolorosa) we went in search of the western wall and got lost in the muslim quarter. in the meantime, friends bought spices, pots, and almost bought a hookah and some tobacco. and it was sketchy. we were led in the right direction finally and we were all hungry so each of us went in search of food. sarah got some bagel at a store in the jewish quarter. lisa got bonker's bagel. bagels seem to be a luxury here for some reason. i don't get it. joseph and i got shwarma. i never had it before and it's really good. it's marinated turkey that's cut up in pieces and put in a pita or a lafah, a pita-like tortilla. it comes with the same condiments as a falafel. it was yummy.

the western wall was interesting. it was really busy and i heard chants of prayer coming from the wall. the old city is so overwhelming. at least to me it is. from there we went separate ways. joseph and i went in search of the שוק because we're going to cook dinner together. at the i שוק found wonderful goodies! three cinnamon sticks for 3 sh = .75$. awesomeee. i also got some rice and walnuts and that was 5 sh. ahhh! i also found this middle eastern food/candy/whatever called halva. it's made from sesame seeds and something and comes in many different varieties. it has the consistency of marzipan. i love ittt. i got some in coffee flavor and pistachio flavor. !!! i scored 10 pitas for 5 sh and they were still warm and fluffy and amazing. love it! i love the marketplace!

for dinner, lisa made fried rice with red cabbage, corn, yellow bell pepper and celery. it was yummy. i made a salad of spinach, apples, walnuts and tomatoes.... and for dessert: rice pudding!

i'm starting to adjust better, i think. or i'm being more adventurous and giving things a chance before writing them off. tuesday we might go horseback riding or maybe to mount of olives. we have an orientation this wednesday. i can't wait to meet the rest of the group. i'm excited for classes! i might challenge myself and take a history/theory class that is solely taught in hebrew. but others photo classes are looking good.

my feet are exhausted as am i. today was a good day.

שוק, oh how i love you

2009-02-19T23:52:00.000+02:00

שוק is the israeli marketplace. but it's just not any market. oh no. it's like foodie heaven but it's still more than that. they don't just have food, but other things that you can get for really cheap, considerably so. this was my destination for the day. i ended up in the city center again today near ben yehuda and king george v. this is promenade is what is referred to as a tourist trap. there are jewelry shops, book stores, many clothing stores, cafes, falafel places, etc etc. what i found most exciting was finding a mcdonald's and a burger king. lots of food that americans eat are not considered kosher such as a cheeseburger, a meat pizza, and chinese food is definitely not kosher. i didn't see the menu but before i leave israel, i must try the mcdonald's here.

i found the chain bookstore, סטימצקי, to buy a lonely planet guide. foreign books are terribly expensive! 200 sh for a travel guide? oh dear. i don't care much for the store but the location. is located on ben yehuda which is where many orthodox people look to reform the passing people. there is also a circle of young guys dancing around to music and sometimes, they even drum and play guitar, i believe. it was pretty cool to view something like that.

finding the שוק was not hard but an experience. it was also my first time using hebrew outside my personal bubble of teachers and friends. i think i did pretty well! you know you're heading toward the right place when you see a bunch of people carrying colorful plastic bags of various things. i just followed the trail and the noise. the שוק is sight to behold. if not the sight, the smell will certainly get you. there are various fruit and vegetable stands filled with lots of varieties and cheaper than מיסטר זול. there are also meat kiosks, which i stayed away from. cheese stands, nuts stands, fish stands, everything stands. my favorite though has to be the bread/pastry stands. oh the goods! i got myself a sweet challah filled with chocolate, some cinnamon rolls, and various fruit and caramel rugelachs. i didn't know what things were so i just sniffed and picked what i liked the best. the challah wasn't what i expected it to be. my suitemates say it is a challah but to me it's more like a danish bread. but whatever. i also scored some bananas! yayyy.

i should definitely go back there again and look around more closely. maybe even get גבנא, a farmer's cheese thing that's supposed to be really good. now that i have a lonely planet guide, i want to explore more. school doesn't start for another week or so. i have time! מצדא and ימ המלח, here i come!

food! glorious food!

2009-02-19T01:39:00.000+02:00

okay so, i didn't do a lot today. but i did do something very important: grocery shopping. it's disgusting what i've been eating for the past five days. nothing but peanut butter, bread, and honey... throw in some milk and water and you got it. and maybe some falafel here and there. there's nothing wrong with peanut butter. in fact, i love peanut butter, crunchy please. but i cannot subsist on peanut butter and honey alone. plus the bread that i got here in the beginning is this "dark diet" bread and it's about 50 calories a pop. so i wasn't getting much in the way of energy.

so מיסטר זול it was. i bought some apples, yum. lots of pasta. i got a 500 g bag for around a 1$. i got some chicken soup mix, tomato soup mix... since my hebrew class didn't teach me a lot of practical hebrew, i had to guess from the pictures what the contents were. not fun. got a box of black tea, oatmeal, more bread and some instant pasta mixes. haha. i think i'll be living off of pasta and instant stuff. hopefully not though. that would be utterly disgusting.

when i got back, i made one of the instant pasta things. it's was rice and noodles in the style of chinese. i kid you not, that is the literal translation. it took me a while to work through the cooking directions. the end result was alright. i modified it with some ketchup and pepper. it's funny because ketchup seems to be an essential to an israeli college student's pantry. my suitemates put ketchup on EVERYTHING. well ketchup is good. so i'm not complaining. the taste to this pasta dish was interesting. it didn't taste very chinese food-y at all. oh well. sarah tells me chinese food here is really bad. i mean, they serve it in a baguette thing. what? i know.

tomorrow, i'm going to go into the city. i should have bought a lonely planet back home but i didn't. i also need more socks and still in need of hangers. my suitemates urge me to explore now because when school starts i won't have time to. they're really nice. i'm glad i got this suite. and talking about school, i saw the curriculum for next semester. I WANT TO TAKE A LOT OF HISTORY & THEORY CLASSES! they sound amazing. for example: ruminations of photography: from walter benjamin to roland barthes, the scream: the liminal locus of artistic & poetic representation, the arist: myth & reality, the body as a symbiotic field, etc. AH! but the classes are taught in hebrew, i believe. so we'll see how that works out. i'm excited nonetheless.

furthermore, i hate rain!

today was the day for jet lag

2009-02-17T19:22:00.000+02:00

as the title suggests, i did absolutely nothing besides sleep today. i wasn't able to get proper rest after landing on friday and since i'm settled in as much as i can be, i just slept! so that's my story for today.

maybe tomorrow sarah and i will go to the museums like planned. she keeps telling me to go the שוק on friday because everything will be cheap. supposedly it's because it's the last day of the market and they want to get rid of stuff so everything will be dirt cheap! ahh!

that's it for now.

המישביר is just like macy's except not really

2009-02-16T20:29:00.000+02:00

so today i made my trip to the "city" which is funny because it's just a small concentration of shops, restaurants, and random stuff. i had to buy a comforter, sheets, pillow, etc. my suitemates told me to go to המישביר because it's just like macy's. well macy's in the states do not do security checks. nor is it filled with discount looking stuff. anyways, it took me an hour to find the stuff only because i'm being super cheap. the bed set was 119 sh, comforter 159 sh and a pillow for 49 sh. the pillow was free because there was some buy one, get one free or something. it seemed rather arbitrary. the tax is 15.50%!!!! what the hell! so i ended up paying around 278 sh which is around 70$, which isn't bad. the buses here are really weird. the drivers are semi-rude and want to drive everywhere. yeaaa. it's 5.9 sh so it's a little expensive, i think.

everyone here is on finals crunch. semester just ended a week ago so their tests have started. i feel like i'm bumming again! but anyways, i was able to meet sarah, one of my fellow exchangers. she's pretty cool. haha. and my suitemate, eleanor, bought me a hebrew peanut snack ( במבה bamba) because she saw me eating peanut butter and as a welcome gift! how sweet! :)

finally, my phone was available for pick up! yay! it's a crappy bang up phone but whateverrr. i can call people now, which comes to a grand total of two people! hahaha.

i need to brush up on hebrew... i'm in way over my head here. what i am doing here?? i don't know. hopefully things will get better once school starts. i kind of want to fly back to the states but won't because i'm stubborn... and also if i do fly back, that means this semester has been a complete bust. no defeat!

israelis believe every road is straight, even when it's curvy

2009-02-15T17:55:00.000+02:00

today, i made my way to mt. scopus to get myself situated at the student village of hebrew university. my taxi driver kept talking to about the changes happening, such as the building of the train tracks, traffic, etc. he dropped me off at the student dorms, when i specifically asked him for hebrew university campus. he swore this was the right place, dumped my luggage onto the streets and left me with a "מזל טוב" and ran off. okay. i'll be fine. i entered the security office and the guy there didn't speak english and looked dazed when i tried speaking hebrew. luckily a guy came by and asked if i need help. i jumped at the chance. we found the dormitory office. however, it wasn't that simple.

they told me to go to the dorm office on the campus in frank sinatra plaza, which by the way isn't a plaza. so i begrudgingly walked up mt. scopus. i will never complain how tufts' hill sucks. mt. scopus beats tufts hill hands down. then at another security check point, i was reprimanded for not having a student ID. of course i don't have a student ID yet, it's my first day on campus. what the hell? now, everything is in hebrew at this point. the signs, EVERYTHING. i think people made fun of me a little because i'm sure i looked confused as hell. it took me 20 mins to find frank sinatra building. why is it even called frank sinatra? he's not even remotely jewish... unless there is some bizarre connection with jews and the italians? the directions to said building was... not easy. everyone i asked said go straight, take the stairs on the left and it will be right there. easy enough. after i leave the student center (the forum), the road is windy and forks. what the hell. i keep walking and i don't see any stairs but some ramp way. i walk up those things and the road curves elsewhere! but keep trekking. gah. i finally find the office but the person, sivan, isn't there.

so i went in search of bezalel. it's a pretty small building but i'm guessing it looks deceiving. i talked with jennie avery, the program director. she wasn't helpful and didn't look very sympathetic toward my situation. FINE. i got my ID and left to go get the deposit slip to submit to the post office. pay 100 sh and go back to the dorms again.

after all that, i finally got my room in the 7th building, the 7th floor, 1st apartment, second room. thank god the people here are nice if not a little bit weird. all girls. three are from israel and one is from romania? i don't remember their names... oops.

my suitemate and her friend took me to "מסטר זול" (mr. cheap) which isn't very cheap at all. i need to go to the city tomorrow to buy sheets, comforter, another converter since radio shack is cheap, hangers and pick up my phoneeee. ahhh.

israel takes some getting used to and i'm nowhere near it.

middle eastern men are all womanizers

2009-02-14T19:12:00.000+02:00

is there some kind of rule book about travel writing? do i just elaborate in its entirety or select a few highlights? screw this. onward, ho!

around 2 pm, i left the hostel to find one of my fellow bezalel students, gianvito. he is staying at the citadel youth hostel, which i found out, wasn't too far from where i'm staying. even though the walk wasn't far (5 mins tops), it took me 30 mins to get there. why? because all the store owners (who are men, by the way) kept calling out to me, engaging in a conversation with me and eventually took me inside to see their wares. the first one complimented my face and smile and said that he had the perfect thing for me, asking me where i was from, etc etc. his name was something i can't remember now. the second guy was a little bit more sketchy. apparently, it is the style of storekeepers to say that anything in their store is of their own design, especially if it's jewelry. whatever. the second guy's name is gizo. he asked me if i had a boyfriend and when i told him i had one back in the states, he asked me if i had one in israel. what the hell?! i said one was enough for me. he kept pushing these opal earrings on me and didn't take no for an answer. the price went from 500 sh to 250 sh to 200 sh to 120 sh and finally 100 sh and i caved. he made me feel bad. 100 sh ~ 30$ he asked me to a drink later. i said okay and just left. i am not returning to that shop ever.

when i finally got to citadel, i met gian. he's italian and is studying industrial design. we took a walk toward the holy sepulchre, the site of anatasis, jesus's burial site. after seeing some members of the church make their way in, we left for via dolorosa. there gian pointed out a marker that denotes the path jesus carried his cross. there are twelve markers* in total and these are places where people sometimes preach or others touch in reverence. toward the muslim quarter, we had lunch. 17 sh for a tiny bowl of blah soup and water... that's expensive! afterwards, we went to the wailing wall (western wall). it was shabbat still so it was very crowded. the western wall is divided into the men and women section. the men's part is huge compared to the women's which was crowded by people holding prayer books and well, praying. i was told repeatedly not to take pictures. especially by this woman who had very red cheeks.

on our way back to citadel youth, gian and i ran into his italian/canadian friends. they were going to go walk the wall and invited us along. alessandro, roberto and alexander led the way through the muslim quarter and i found myself at a school at the top. the kids were drumming in a circle and some were on the field playing football (soccer). the five of us walked the eastern wall to oversee Mount of Olives and the Jewish cemetary. From then on we went along the northern wall and exited through damascus gate. the wall was pretty scary as the it was constructed a long time ago and the steps are irregular. cool nonetheless.

dinner was amazinggg! we went outside damascus gate and found a place that sold a falafel sandwich for 6 shekels! that's like barely 2$! score! then i bought a bag of candy because i was getting jealous of the kiddies with candy.

p.s. my hostel mate likes watching grey's anatomy.

*my mistake. there are fourteen in total. nine are outside and five are inside the holy sepulchre! link of via dolorosa

the beginning

2009-02-13T19:01:00.000+02:00

i am finally at my destination: jerusalem after two months of tedious boring-ness that consumed my life. no offense yang, carole, mark, caitlin, and amrita. anyways, i'm currently at jaffa gate hostel. at first from the reviews, i thought the hostel was going to be amazing. but it kind of isn't? but no matter. i'm sharing a room with three guys: czech, german, and a fellow american. me being a girl, it's kind of awkward. but alas it's only for two nights.

the flight here was interesting and very tiring. i believe the total flight time clocked in at a grand total of twelve hours. insane. however, the flight from boston to rome was not good at all. there was a tour group of annoying middle school kids who would not shut up. they occupied the middle section so their voices echoed around the cabin. the guy sitting in front of me was one of the tour leaders and also annoying; he sounded like a know-it-all. during beverage service, i was able to get white wine, which was pretty awesome and i got a little buzz from it. hah. the dinner was pretty good with some kind of roast chicken with veggies, a side of lasagna, a fruit cup, a PETITE salad, wedge of cheese and some crackers. during the descent to rome, the view was amazing. we flew over nice, france, which i never would have thought was that close to italy. the overview of rome didn't look fascinating. maybe because the airport is outside the city limits. the people i encountered in the airport looked fascinating. most of them wore flashy outfits that either looked well put together or just looked devastatingly ugly. quite a few had fur coats. ew. most appeared to be on the skinner side, affirming people's notion that america is indeed one of the fattest nations on earth. the flight to tel-aviv was uneventful.

when exiting the ben gurion airport, i was awashed by crowds of people and guys yelling at haifa?! or jerusalem?! these guys offer the really cheap taxi services called nesher. for 50 shekels a pop, it's not bad at all. the ride from tel-aviv to jerusalem was cool. israel seems to be a very brown place. everything is brown. i think the people and the signs are the only color in this place. it quickly changed from a desert terrain to a mountainous one and got cool pretty quickly. the nesher taxi chauffeured people to their hotels/hostels. jaffa gate is pretty intense. it's a huge fort with immense walls. inside the walls, i was dropped off and was immediately confronted by this old man who seems like he carts people's luggage in a wheelbarrow for a small fee. he was really nice and helpful. i was sketched out at first but that happens.

and that is how i am now on my hostel bed. i am in desperate need of food and a nice long hot shower.

shabbat tovah!