(Disclaimer: this post has not been edited after writing; it is far too late so it will have to wait until tomorrow. Read at your own risk! Edits will be made where and when appropriate. More blogging about today's adventures will probably be up tomorrow.)
Fortunately or unfortunately, I had to wake up for a purpose on my birthday - an interview with SPNI, the Society for Protection of Nature in Israel, at 10am, in downtown Jerusalem. I may arrange to intern there doing some environmental work as a part of my program. Yonit, the madricha/staff member on the WUJS program, made sure I was in a cab going to the right address. I arrived at 9:45, a few minutes early, and found my way through the courtyard. I walked into the first room I saw and asked for Pearl or Hodaya; the young girl directed me to the library around the corner. I found the library, but on my way I passed the lecture hall, and suddenly had a flashback from a Birthright trip in January 2008 (if I'm not mistaken) of being in that exact place for...a lecture called "Israel Goes Green." It's not the first time this has happened since being here; I have found myself in this predicament a few times. Approaching a street corner, walking past a fruit stand, entering a tourist site, a lot of things feel familiar. It's a good and strange feeling all at the same time, as I am living here now, not as much of a tourist as I have been in the past (even as a returner to this land). Anyways, I will continue the story of this interview.
I met Pearl (who goes by Peninah to Israelis/Hebrew speakers) just before 10am at her office and she tells me to wait in the library area again, so I head down there, Hebrew dictionary in my backpack, because, hey, if I have a few minutes, I might as well learn another word or two. She pops in, tells me to wait just a second because she needs to make a phone call...to make this long story shorter, she ends up on the phone and I'm waiting 45 minutes for her to come back. I take a minute to introduce myself, explain why I'm in Israel and what I'm looking for in an internship. We start discussing options that SPNI has for me in terms of work. She describes all kinds of projects they work on including community gardens, composting workshops, and a ton of information on "Sustainable Jerusalem" which is a green way of looking at cities, specifically Jerusalem, with green maps and bike trails and parks and recycling centers all listed in one central place. The community gardens volunteer coordinator is an English speaker, she tells me (great) and that I can get in touch with her via email after I think about what I'm interested in working on. This is all great news and I leave SPNI with a smile. Now I just need to figure out how to get to my next location.
Meir Panim is an organization that provides food and help for hungry people in and around Jerusalem. Before coming to Israel, I thought this place would be my internship site, as I had requested work with a non-profit organization helping to serve the hungry and homeless poor of Jerusalem. The work I have done with Midnight Run in NYC made me want to continue doing the same work here. I was thrilled to receive an email from Aliza, a staff member at Meir Panim, before I arrived in Israel, letting me know that I could contact her when I got to Jerusalem, to set up a time to meet. Once I was here, I did in fact get in touch with her to make an appointment, and she explained that Meir Panim welcomes volunteers who can come as frequently as they wish, but they will not supervise interns to report to anyone in particular, so it's a come-and-go as you please situation. At least I knew this part before visiting their site in the center of the city. So I went with this in mind, to see the site and consider just volunteering there every once in a while.
I called Aliza around 12:45pm after my long and hot walk across Yafo Street (including a stop at HOLY BAGEL, and no that is not a joke, that's really what the place is called), from the SPNI office to the Meir Panim site, a soup kitchen/restaurant. She met me right outside and walked me in to show me the facility. It is one of 14 restaurants throughout the country that serves anyone who walks in for a meal. They are open every day for a hot lunch and people are welcome to take items "to go" for dinner as well. This impressed me, but through my short discussion with her, I learned that some of the other aspects of Meir Panim that I learned about through the website, are only at the other restaurants or other branches throughout the country. All in all, I had a nice conversation with her, including asking about similar places that might take me as an intern or a volunteer. She is leaving her position shortly to move to another job, so she gave me the contact information of a woman named Esther who I can be in touch with if I choose, as well as the restaurant manager, Shmaryahu, who speaks no English. I think I'm going to look into some other organizations to see what type of work (either internship or volunteering) I might be able to do. Overall, a disappointment, but I'm not going to let it get me down. My SPNI meeting went well and really, I'm just a big hippie; I might as well attempt to save the world one tree at a time.
I leave Aliza after a nice goodbye and start walking to the central bus station. There was a chance I was going to walk back to my apartment after the Meir Panim meeting. Oh right, I'm in the middle of a huge freeking desert and it's hot as hell out here. No way that's happening. I just dream big. So I see a bus stop for the number 18 across the street from the central bus station. I'm pretty sure it'll go the right way toward my place. I get on the bus and ask, "L'baka?" ("To Baka?") and the driver nods. Then I ask, "L'Emek Refaim?" which is a main street near where I live; from there it's walkable. He nods again. Great! Now all I need to do is pay some semblance of attention to where we're going so I know where we are. I stay on the bus until just after Emek Refaim ends and we cross Pierre Koenig, the street to the south of my apartment that is a major road that I recognize. The walk is only a few minutes but I'm still really sweaty. I just need to get home! One quick stop at MEGA, the store I've been wanting to stop in for a week, and two items later, I'm walking to Tsipora Street to get in my place. I arrive around 2pm to a huge and beautifully made HAPPY BIRTHDAY poster on my door :)
Marlowe, one of my roommates, is there to greet me, and we kind of hang out and chat for a bit, others coming by to wish me a very Happy Birthday and ask how my interview went. Good news to report for the most part, so I'm feeling good. We had to get ready to go to the Ulpan "taster" at 5pm so around 4:45 I start getting ready - just change into some comfortable clothing, grab my notebook and dictionary and head downstairs and outside. I had forgotten that our Ulpan meeting was not actually in the building today; it is at Beit Ar-El, where Young Judaea has its offices, and although it's close, it's still a few minutes walk. I'm feeling very rushed so I race downstairs and EVERYONE in the WUJS program is there to surprise me! For my birthday! With cake! And a card! They sing, they even had candles! What a nice surprise. Wondering for so long before I even arrived in Israel, what my birthday would look like, and here I am, glowing. Thanks WUJS for the wonderful surprise!
OK but really, now I'm walking to Beit Ar-El with a cake in my hands, no plates or knives or forks or anything, so I'm just stuck with this thing for now. As I walk into the Ulpan taster, some of the teachers see the cake and the card and wish me a "Mazal tov" and a happy birthday; it's very sweet. The instructors split us up into 4 different groups, levels of some kind. I am placed in level 3 of 4 (I think that's a bit high but we'll see how this goes). We have 4 different sessions, discussing 4 different subjects in 4 different ways.
First, we are with Akiva discussing culture, so we go over some vocabulary including movies, acting, and music. I did pretty well with this activity, where he had us split up into 2 groups and create an advertisement for something cultural; my pair had the Idan Raichel project. At least I know who he is! Our second instructor tells us we are going to be discussing one of her favorite subjects, ochel/food. We go through some vocabulary about restaurants and menus, and we are each given 2 cards. One is the description of a character and his or her restaurant/food preferences. The other is the description of a restaurant in Jerusalem. We have to each read our cards to ourselves, and one by one, read aloud the restaurant description in Hebrew so that the others in the room can see if their character is a match. Well I like to eat, so I know a fair amount of vocabulary when it comes to food; this activity was pretty easy as well. Next, we move into a room where Hadas (I think that's her name) introduces herself and the activity - we will listen to a scenario on a speaker set, and again be split into two groups to have a debate on the subject: a private school in LA wants to charge a huge amount of money for tuition for the students so they don't have to go to public schools which are apparently terrible, and the city of LA wants the money toward this private school to go toward the public school system because it will help many more families. "Anachnu rotzim hakesef l' ha'anashim!" (We want the money for the people!) That was about all I could come up with to take a stand on my assigned side of the debate. Last but not least, we arrive in Yael's room (I think that's her name, but really, I could be wrong) and we are talking about transportation! I know about one-half to two-thirds of the words on the posters in the room, not too bad. Her activity for us is along the lines of improv comedy. Avigail and Danit volunteer to do the first scenario and are given a few small pieces of paper each to hold in their hands. They are given the background (one is a cranky bus driver and the other a passenger trying to go shopping at H&M), and when Yael claps her hands, they have to remove one of the pieces of paper which reveals a vocab word they must use in the skit. Works pretty well for them, great job! Then, Rachel and I are given our scene: we are a couple who has just arrived at Ben Gurion (the airport near Tel Aviv) and we want to go to Jerusalem for a romantic something or other, but by mistake we end up in some method of transportation to Tel Aviv. Well we have to use vocabulary words too upon each clap, but I have a lot of difficulty with the conversation. We're not getting graded on this so I'm not too worried, but I did notice a difference between me and the 3 other ladies in my group. We are all given scripts to a skit that we are told will be "performed" in front of all the other groups when they return to the same room. Each level, from 1 to 4, reads their skit and it's very nice to see everyone participating and laughing. After the last skit is read, Ya'ara, the ulpan coordinator gives us each new groups and homework assignments. Our 4 groups became 3 now, and I am in level 2, intermediate. Now I'm feeling a bit better. I didn't think that higher level was a good fit for me, but Ya'ara says we will all meet as our groups on Sunday and see how well we do. After that, we have the opportunity to switch to an easier or more difficult level.
Back to the apartment to drop off this cake in the refrigerator and get ready for the fabulous birthday dinner! Everyone gathers at 8pm outside the apartment so we can walk together to Caffit, a kosher dairy restaurant on Emek Refaim. I had called ahead to the restaurant to make a reservation for 10-15 people, letting the know that after 8 (and I knew how many people would be coming), I'd call to give them the update. We had 17 people! I'm in a brand new city with only one friend from my past NYC life (Aviva you are amazing!) and I have 15 new friends joining me for my celebration. We walk the short few blocks to the restaurant and are seated upstairs in an almost private room (I felt sorry for the other couples attempting to quietly dine). Yum, yum, and more yum! Josh and I shared an Asian noodle dish, and a ravioli dish. Of course, I sampled some other plates on the table as well! Carolyn, Rachelle, and I shared a bottle of Moscato (red sparkling sweet wine, not white!). Bill paid and we're out the door! Four of us decide to continue the evening at a wine bar up the road a bit more, and everyone else heads back to the apartment or to meet up with other friends.
Josh met the owner of Selinas a few nights before and suggests that this place is good. Apparently, his name is Yehoshua as well, like Joshua. What a match made in heaven. We sit down and order some more wine! Happy Birthday to me! Rachelle and I go in on this bottle of Moscato, again, only this time it's white. Marlowe and Josh share something red that I probably would not like. Yehoshua has the waitress bring over 4 shots of whiskey; maybe because we told him it was my birthday, maybe because he knows Josh, who knows. Ummm, right, like I'm drinking whiskey? I don't think so. It's hard to turn down drinks on the house but I don't play that game. Josh takes his shot; we leave the other 3 temporarily. In an hour's time, all 4 shots are in Josh's liver, and we are getting ready to leave the bar. The music's been great, the waitress has been lovely, and we are ready to say our goodbyes to Yehoshua. He wants to wish me a happy birthday so he gives us more shots (this time, he lets us select our own!) on our way out.
On our walk home, Josh bumps into another friend of his; I swear, this kid knows everyone in this town! Ayelet was a friend of his in high school, who was on the WUJS program last session, who decided to stay and be a madricha/staff person at the Young Judaea year course program. What a sweet girl; she introduces herself to us ladies, and Josh introduces himself to her friends on the other side of the road. It's after 1am at this point. "Yehoshua, yalla, let's go!" And back to the apartment we come.
Quite a special birthday in the holy land.
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