Petra back to Eilat (12/26-12/27)

Breakfast buffet at the hotel. Enjoyable.

Packed up to leave and we greet our driver outside the hotel. Pick up at 9:30 as requested! One last picture in the fabulous Amra Palace. Our driver Mohammed took our photo because we asked so nicely.

We got into our private vehicle (this time, not a pickup truck) to start heading back to the border via Aqaba, the Eilat equivalent (beach/tourist city) on the Jordanian side. Mohammed was mostly quiet during the ride, but we entertained ourselves for approximately 90 minutes, staring out into the beautiful desert hills. He did eventually get some Arabic music pumping through the stereo, and we LOVED it! We were all dancing in the car (as much as you can wearing a seatbelt and sitting in an uncomfortable seat) and recording videos on Denise's camera. As we get closer to Aqaba, we double check that we are actually going to see Aqaba, because the day before we arranged it with the tour company. But this guy might not know that and might just take us somewhere else! Eek! So he says, sure, Mustafa will meet us there. HOORAY Mustafa! Now that we're like obviously old friends, we are so excited to meet up with Mustafa again. Mohammed pulls up to the Aqaba office and Mustafa gets in the driver seat. He takes us to a pedestrian area in Aqaba to show us some shops and a park area. There are lots of people out and about, but one thing that is unique is that all of the women who are out (eating lunch in the park, walking in and out of stores) is wearing a head covering and traditional Muslim dress. This is to be semi-expected, but we saw no secular women. That's the part that I thought was more interesting. Even in Jerusalem, there are a lot of religious people - both men and women. But mixed in you also see lots of secular people, like myself.

He then met up with Mohammed again, and we all drove to the water. They wanted us to take the glass bottom boat ride, but we told them we didn't have enough time unfortunately. I guess they know that Eilat is our destination and therefore where we will spend additional money, not on the Jordanian side. Well, it was a worth a try. Meanwhile, we did manage to capture a picture by the water in Aqaba.

We got back in the car and to the border. We said goodbye to Mustafa who told us on the other side of the border we'd be greeted by Ze'ev who was our cab driver. Putting trust in this whole system, once again. The border was very quiet, by the time we were crossing, and going back the other way. We were no longer with a group; it was just the four of us so it went pretty quickly, the only exception being the Israeli side gave us a bit of a hard time coming back in. Rachelle, Carolyn, and Denise had all been beyond their expiration date on their original visa, so coming back in, they were each granted 2 weeks to extend their visas. I thought I'd have no problem with mine since I left the country on my 2nd tourist visa, and I was still within the dates. However, either because the clerk was cranky or because I came back with the other girls, he also only gave me 2 weeks. Now we all have to get in touch with the WUJS staff to help us not be here illegally. Thanks Israel for being annoying with the visas!

After much waiting, Ze'ev got all of us into the cab, and by request, took Carolyn and Denise to the bus station before dropping Rachelle and me at the Youth hostel from two nights before. We were pretty sure there was space there, because we had looked online at the hotel in Petra the night before, but we wanted to make sure, so we went right to the front desk, and they said they had space in an open dormitory room, meaning it is shared with others. No problem for us! We put our things down there, changed in our beach attire (shorts and tank tops!) and went back to the boardwalk area. We knew we wanted to enjoy our time on the beach. Fun drinks and watching the sunset - perfect end to a nice vacation!

We decided on frozen strawberry banana rum drinks, and a garlic bread appetizer to keep us held over until dinner time. Looks yummy and it was yummy!

We spent a good few hours on the beach watching the sunset. I'm a huge sucker for sunsets so it was nice to just relax and talk. Clearly spending 2 full days prior to this with Rachelle was not enough time so we HAD to spend more time together. We could talk (and did talk) for HOURS! It's a little crazy!

Once the sun went down, we took a slow walk back to the hostel to change into some warmer clothes and head out to dinner. We planned to meet Koby again for dinner, this time at an Asian restaurant we had passed on our cab ride to the hostel with Ze'ev, and Rachelle and I just KNEW we wanted to go there. Koby met us and we all loved our food, including sushi and noodles. He walked us back toward our hostel via the mall, where we walked around for a little bit, because on Friday the mall was closed. You know, that whole thing called Shabbat? So we went into a few stores to check things out and see what was on sale. When we got bored, we left for our hostel, settled back into our room via a nice cup of tea each, and said our goodbyes to Koby and went to sleep.

The next morning we got up early to grab breakfast at the hostel and head out to see the Underwater Observatory. It's basically the Eilat aquarium, including views of actual coral reef and fish, and live feeding times on the schedule. We knew we had to get back to the central bus station by a certain time to catch our bus back to Jerusalem, so we were hoping to squeeze in everything the aquarium had to offer before we had to go. It was just about perfect timing. We got to see sharks, turtles, play on the playground, see the reef under water, take tons of pictures, and have a bite to each for lunch. And we got ice cream! We could not have been any happier. We had a great vacation and got back in time to take the bus back to Jerusalem.

To top off an already fantastic vacation and time away from all things routine, cousin Josh called me to see if I could join them for dinner on my way back to Jerusalem. I said as long as Rachelle (my home-slice) could join us, then I'd be more than happy! We got off the bus at Kfar Adumim where he picked us up, and we spent a whole night with the Goldsmith clan! Rachelle wanted to take home all the kids, but I told her she was not allowed to do that :)

We finally made it back around 10pm to end our fabulous vacation. Welcome back to Israel!

Turkish Bath (12/25)

We all walk into the waiting area past the jacuzzi and swimming pool (which look awfully nice but we really want the steam room and massage, so bring it on) to check in with the receptionist. We hand in our tickets and Rachelle and I are told to have a seat. Denise and Carolyn are brought into a room already. I thought they were going into the steam room right away, but they were just brought into a changing room so they could wrap a sarong around them for privacy. They get escorted to the steam room while Rachelle and I are invited to the changing room. We're wearing our bathing suits but we take off our shorts and put them in a locker. We are then escorted to the steam room to join Carolyn and Denise, and I almost choke as I enter the room. I mean I know it's called a steam room but it is REALLY steamy in there and it's hard to breathe! Carolyn, Denise, and the others in there (yeah, we are not the only ones who are capitalizing on this awesome deal) tell me that if I put my head closer to the floor, or lie down on the bench, it'll be easier to breathe since the steam rises to the ceiling. Boy were they right. Taking in slower breaths and lying down on the bench make it much more enjoyable. In a matter of 60 seconds I think I am already sweating. Or the steam is beading on my body. I'm not sure which, and maybe in fact both.

In the order in which we arrived, men and women are called out one by one to the next step of this whole process, which I'm still not sure is a Turkish Bath or not. Carolyn gets taken in first, then Denise, and eventually me. By eventually, I mean about 45 minutes. In the steam room. No joke. Tried to kill time in the jacuzzi instead (making sure that I would get called in the right order) but it was way too crowded so back to the steam room I went. Right, so eventually I get called in and the same woman who was working at the reception area when we first walked in to the spa part of the hotel, is in a room, soaking wet, and takes my sarong (which really is like a sheet, a thick one, and kinda smelly by the way) and puts it on this huge marble table. She tells me to lie down. She takes a neoprene glove (or something else, I'm still not really sure what it was) and starts scrubbing my arms and legs at lightning speed. Maybe this is part of the experience but I think she's just in a mad dash to get everybody in and out of this room. In between scrubbing she is taking a bowl of warm water and throwing it all over me. Is this really supposed to be good for my skin? I was imagining a nice relaxing fairly quiet and not so hectic atmosphere for this, but maybe this deal is not so much of a deal. She finishes with the scrub and the last bit of warm water and sends me back into the steam room. As I walk out of there I realize why she is soaking wet - cause all she does is frantically throw water around in that room.

Rachelle gets called in and I'm waiting for the next part - the massage. I hope that part is good. I'm sitting there in the steam room waiting and meanwhile talking to some of the other people in there with me. At this point, I am sitting in the entrance to the steam room because the actual room itself is so hot and beyond steamy. As more and more people enter the room, they think that where I am sitting is actually it, so I tell them they have to walk through the curtain to get to the real deal. Some can tolerate it; some are wusses like me.

I finally get called in for the massage part. And this is really where the fun starts. The little lady (who really is probably about 4'7") who is going to do my massage tells me, "English no. Arabic." Umm ok this could be fun. I say, "Salaam" which means "hello" and "peace" like "Shalom." At this point it's like the only Arabic word I know, so I figure I might as well. She takes my sarong just like the scrub lady, and covers the table with it. Then, with her lack of English and my lack of understanding what these next steps are, starts pulling down my bathing suit. I'm thinking, OK, just to get the straps off my shoulders is probably practical for this type of activity. Nope, not enough! Halfway down my body is suitable for her. Is this seriously happening? Am I on candid camera? Maybe. I lie down, face down on the table. However, unlike an actual legitimate certified massage, there is nowhere to put my head, so I have to rest my head on my hands. She starts the so-called massage, which is really just taking soap and rubbing it all over my body that is not still covered in my bathing suit. This is totally not a massage but whatever it is, I think I'm stuck here for it. She is finished with the back of my arms and legs, and has me turn over onto my back. She starts doing the same soapy rubbing thing, not so much a massage. Does my face and my hair and it feels like I'm at the hair salon getting shampooed. I think I'm probably laughing slightly at this point, really wondering if this is happening. This has got to be a joke. I'm lying here on a marble table, topless, with a little Indonesian woman who speaks no English, who is putting soap all over my body. And she's getting paid for it!

As if this isn't enough, the special package isn't over. She indicates to me that I should stand up, which I do, and then she has me sit on the floor by the water faucet. She takes the bowl of water and starts pouring it all over me, I guess to get rid of all this soap. I'm soaking wet at this point, my hair is maybe filled with soap, maybe washed away, I have no idea. She has me stand up, and pours water into the front and back of my bathing suit, shakes it and pours more water. What planet did I get dropped off on, and how did I get here? At this point I'm laughing for sure (but trying not to), because all of this is going on without a bathing suit top on my body! It is so funny, and so awkward, and so unique an experience, I don't even know what to do with myself.

OK surely this must be done. I reach for my bathing suit straps to cover myself up, and she stops me. She takes a small towel and wraps it around my head. I reach again for my bathing suit and she stops me again. She takes a bigger towel and wraps it around my body, tucks it in and I'm free to leave. Deep breath. Ready to face the world again. Only a little more violated now.

I walk into the waiting room where I assumed my friends would be waiting for me. As soon as I walked in there, I absolutely burst out laughing. When Rachelle and Denise did too, I realized we all just had quite possibly the weirdest experience of our lives. Apparently Carolyn is upstairs already showering (cause let's face it, the scrub and the soap were really not making us cleaner, they probably made us dirtier and more filled with germs) but we all ask each other about this whole situation to make sure we all just experienced the same thing. It's absolutely hilarious and I'm sure I'm crying from laughing so hard at this point.

We all head upstairs to our rooms to shower for dinner. Even while I'm in the shower, trying to clean off all the filth of the Turkish Bath experience, I start cracking up to myself, remembering every detail of what just happened. It is hilarious and I can't even control myself. We all get dressed to head downstairs to our buffet dinner, which is all set up and decorated for Christmas. It's so cute. Jews in Jordan on Christmas for a nice dinner. While we're sitting there, of course we are all still comparing stories and laughing like children. We finish up, we are totally exhausted, and call it a night.

Eilat/Petra Vacay (12/24-12/25)

Winter Break!!! Bring it on!!!

Rachelle, Denise, Carolyn and I took advantage of our break and spent Christmas Eve in Eilat. We took the Eilat to Jerusalem bus, leaving at 2pm, arriving just before 6pm, an hour earlier

than we expected - HOORAY! From the central bus station in Eilat we make our way to the hostel we have booked, but of course, not without adventure. We knew the name of the street that the hostel is on (Ha'Arava), and we know that just before we turned to head toward the bus station, we were on it! However, it's not so easy to get back there, being that Rachelle and I were both on drugs (legal drugs, it was just Travamine - the Israeli version of Dramamine) so we were all sorts of sleepy and out of it, and Denise and Carolyn were only half paying attention because they didn't know we really should have all been paying attention.

We start walking up the hill from the bus station to find that we are clearly nowhere near the right place. Down the hill it is! A taxi driver approaches us, obviously hoping we'd get in and give him a fare, but instead, we just ask where Ha'Arava road is, and the name of our hostel. He tells us it's down this way about a kilometer. Ok, wonderful - we start heading in that direction after telling him no thanks for the ride. We're young and healthy. And just sat on a bus for 4 hours. We can most certainly handle a kilometer. Or so we thought.

Turns out, the Eilat airport is right on that road, and at that moment, of all moments, the road to the airport is closed down because of a "chefetz chashud" or a suspicious bag. Here in Israel, they take suspicious bags very seriously, and I've seen it before - not just at an airport, but even in the middle of a street during my first ever trip to Israel in 2003 when I was a participant on Birthright. So this didn't really surprise me but did anger us all a little bit because we really just wanted to walk to the hostel that wasn't so far away. We tried sneaking around one of the buildings so the guard didn't see us, but it still led to a blocked road and we had to take a cab to the hostel anyway. We got there and checked in and got the key to our room, and relaxed a bit (in a lying down position as opposed to a sitting up position from the bus ride) which was so enjoyable! We eventually made our way out to the Tayelet/Boardwalk area by the water, so we could check out the sights and work up our appetite for dinner.

We saw a beautiful hotel (way too expensive for our tiny wallets) on our walk:

And we also saw a funny statue outside a restaurant called The Three Monkeys. How cute.

We walked and walked and walked and it seemed like the tayelet wouldn't end! We kept looking at restaurant menus and popping into stores. At that point, we were just being so goofy from being on vacation! We were excited to be in a new place and not with a huge group of people; it was just us 4 ladies! We decided to go to Cafe Cafe, which is a popular chain of restaurants in Israel, because they have a good and reliable/consistent menu, and they had outdoor seating on really comfy chairs. Koby, a friend of my roommate Marlowe, also met up with us, and brought 2 of his friends along. So we ended up with a nice little crowd for dinner and walking back on the tayelet toward our hostel. Our night wouldn't have been complete without a CREPE! Chocolate and banana? Yes please! Such a nice treat on our walk back.

Koby and the boys walked us home (such gentlemen) and said goodnight to us. We crashed fairly early knowing we had to get up pretty early.

By 6:15 I think we were all awake. For the most part, bags were packed and we were ready. Carolyn went ahead to the front desk to pick up our packed breakfasts so we were ready for our pick up at 6:55am to go to the border. We cleared out of our room and met our driver downstairs in the parking lot. Two other girls were already in the van, and he took us all to the Yitzhak Rabin border to Petra. We had no idea who he was but he said he was with "Eco Tours" so we went along with it! This was the first of many drivers who basically said, "follow me." Kind of hilarious. So he took us to the border and as we wait there, others are dropped off who also must be doing some kind of tourist thing. Families, children, couples, friends, lots of people. Rachelle, who was the one to coordinate our group tour with Tomer from Eco, told us that we'd each be paying our fee that morning when we got to the border. Now, I didn't see a store or an office or anything there, but suddenly, Tomer appeared! He has a credit card machine in his bag of tricks, each of us pays our trip fee and the border taxes, etc. He goes to the other people to check them in, explains that the border doesn't open until 8am but we were told to be there at 7am because the line gets long and we will be the first ones through. HOORAY! He then escorts us all to the gate at the border. We wait in line, trying to scarf down the last of our food so it doesn't go to waste (apparently we were told we couldn't bring food across the border, but really, no one checked) and throw away our trash.

The actual border process is, well, a process.

1. Pay your fees. OK - check.

2. Go through the Israeli side and have them check your passport. We get through with only a short delay, as Carolyn, Denise, and Rachelle are all past their initial tourist visa expiration date. Mine was fine because I was issued another tourist visa after coming back from Turkey. Step 2 - complete.

3. While Tomer is still with us (he is not coming with us on our tour), he says, "When you get through, you will give your passports to Mustafa." Ummm, what? Who the hell is Mustafa and why do I have to give him my passport? So sketchy, but hey, this is how this stuff works I guess.

4. Go through the Jordanian side to get stamped and turn in proof of payment of border tax. Pretty easy.

5. Hand over passport to Mustafa. He's such a sweetie pie - I hope he's not stealing our passports! While we all wait at the shop, exchange money, and use the bathroom, Mustafa is doing whatever he needs to do with our passports before he gives them to Ali (he says it's pronounced like Allie, but I'm sure it's really ahh-lee, the Arab way) who is our tour guide.

6. Get passport back from Ali and make our way to the bus with about 30 others. Not too difficult a process but still a little nerve wracking!

We all board the bus and Ali begins telling us a bit about the area and the country. Apparently there are about the same number of people who live in Jordan that live in Israel, but they have so much more land. I guess if all the land looks like the desert, it's relatively uninhabitable so it doesn't matter how much land you have; people are still going to be living in cities and suburban areas. He tells us about our trip so we know a bit about what to expect. After he's done with his short talk, we all rest a bit and try to catch as much of a nap as we can. Halfway from the border to Petra we take a rest stop to use the bathrooms, buy something to eat, or shop around.

Once we get to the city of Petra, those of us who are staying overnight take our bags out and leave them at the company's office. They aren't locked up or secured, but they are in the office. We really just trust this whole process enough I guess, to let this happen. In no other time of my life have I left so much in other people's hands. In a foreign country. What a trip. We get back on the bus and they tell us to return back here when we are done with our tour in Petra, since we will not be leaving the park with the group. We pull up at the entrance to the Visitor's Center and have another quick bathroom break. And time for a tourist picture:

We head on in to the entrance to the park and we are greeted by lots of Arab men who want us to take a horse ride into the park. Hello guys, clearly we're on a tour don't you hear the tour guide screaming "Yalla - Eco!" and all of us following the man in the hat and listening to everything he's saying? Well, I get it, you're trying to make a buck (or, a dinar, yeah, we're in Jordan), but we will do it on our way out of the park when we're tired later. Ali takes us on our tour of all of Petra, which includes carvings into the rock, aqueducts that the Nabotheans used to channel water to their village, and lots of beautiful eroded rock - oh nature how I love you so. We are basically walking in a slot canyon that reminds me of Zion National Park and the hike I've done many times up the Virgin River during 4n4 with Camp Echo Lake. I probably made too many references to Zion that the other girls wanted me to shut up but I was just fascinated and kept taking pictures (Facebook has 'em all!). The first 30-40 minutes of walking through the park, we see some beautiful stuff but nothing beats the Treasury, arguably the most awe-inspiring of all the carvings/buildings in Petra. Ali gave us fair warning - this is it guys, take out your cameras and get ready for jaws to drop. So we indeed took out the cameras and got the Treasury upon first glance. It was so crowded that it was hard to get pictures but at some point I think I just told myself - take a look at it and stop worrying about the pictures. Ali gave us about 10-15 minutes to take our own time there, which was very nice.

We continued our tour through the rest of Petra, looking at burial/funeral caves and some other paths/stairs that led to hikes in other directions. I think at that point we really wanted to go explore but we knew we were going to be limited on time, given that we hadn't even had lunch yet, which was part of our tour and we had paid for it already in our fees. At the end of our tour of Petra village, we said our goodbyes to Ali, who was absolutely fantastic. We walked over to the restaurant for lunch which was a nice buffet of food that, I think, for the most part, we all enjoyed! Salads, hummus, pasta, some meat that we all probably avoided (me being veggie and other girls being kosher) and a nice sweet rice pudding type of dessert which I loved! Well ladies it's time to head back out there because the sun is gonna set soon and we do not want to be stuck in Petra in the dark. We wanted to take some more pictures on our walk back, and explore some of the caves without taking too much time, so we stopped in a few places on our way back for some adventurous fun. Almost every 3 minutes there was another Arab guy on a donkey, horse, or camel asking if we wanted a ride back to the entrance: "Taxi? Taxi? Free air conditioning!" and although we were very polite and said "No thank you" they still persisted: "Luxury camel ride!" and "This one is a Ferrari, that one a Lambourgini" and we smiled again and said "No thank you." They even had kids on donkeys trying to get passengers. They were super cute but we still said no. First of all, we wanted to walk and take our time so we could take pictures. Second of all, no one ever came up to us with 4 camels or donkeys at a time so we couldn't have all stayed together anyway. Nice try pals. At the Treasury, we stopped one last time to soak it all in. When we got to the top of the slot canyon, we finally decided to get onto those horses we saw at the beginning of our day. After all, they were included in our visit and we just had to tip the guides. I was so excited to get on a horse! It's been many many months now! I'm not exactly sure how Denise, Rachelle, and Carolyn felt about hopping aboard, but I was pumped.

We rode our horses back to the entrance to the park, tipped our guides, and thanked them for a wonderful ride during the sunset. Whew! We made it out before dark set in. We walked from the park entrance to the office to reclaim our bags and make our way to our hotel. A cute little old man tells us he's taking us to the Amra Palace where we have reservations for the evening. He walks us outside, and shows us to our vehicle - a pick up truck. Really? Not expecting that one, but OK, I hope this ride isn't too long! Just another hilarious transportation moment in Jordan. As promised, he gets us to our hotel and we check in.

The woman behind the counter has the skin color of Snow White, yet wrapped up in a hijab/head covering, and beautiful beaded black dress. When she greets us, she sounds English, or South African but I can't put my finger on it exactly. Not quite what I would normally expect when meeting a Muslim woman, but I go with the flow. She tells us we have 2 rooms upstairs - 2 beds in each. We thought we were going to be all together in one room but we get even more privacy this way, so it's fine with us! She also tells us about a special deal the hotel is offering this week for 13 Jordanian Dinars, or $20. The package includes: jacuzzi and swimming pool, sauna/steam room, scrub and massage, cup of tea, and unlimited use of internet (in their computer room of the hotel). This is seriously tempting. All of us are sore from walking so much during the day, and for such a great price, we might as well do this! We tell her we will come back and pay for it when we put our things down in our rooms. We each decide to do the deal but we'll pay first, get into our bathing suits for the sauna and jacuzzi, and then go down.

We all have our tickets and we're all ready to go. If you thought any of the above was an adventure, just wait. For the next post.

Day in Sderot (12/21)

Today we had the heaviest siyur/field trip yet. We went to Sderot, which is a small city outside of the Gaza Strip. Yep, the Gaza Strip - that place we all hear about in the news. All the time. For not such good reasons. The WUJS staff wasn't kidding when they said the siyurim during the 2nd half of the program was a little more political, a little deeper, and much more intense, than the fun and exciting trips we took in the beginning.

We arrived in Sderot at 10am to meet our tour guides from the Sderot Media Center. They took us to a few different places around the city - some in walking distance from each other, and some too far to walk so we took our bus. The first location we went to was the Sderot Police Station which has a Qassam Gallery.

They gather the qassam rockets that have been fired into Israel over the last few years, date them, and identify by color, which group was responsible for an individual rocket. Qassam rockets are basically hollowed out metal tubes (such as water pipes) that are filled with explosives, but also all kinds of shrapnel including nails and other small bits of metal. Qassam rockets are not really meant to kill people (although about 30 people have died in the last 10 years due to the rockets falling); they are meant to cause damage by the shrapnel - to people and buildings, and emotional/psychological damage in people. Certainly, the damage caused by shrapnel and emotional trauma is really unmeasurable. Many children in Sderot and in surrounding communities suffer from PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder) and it's no wonder, when on any given day, a rocket could land in your schoolyard, or in the street, or in some cases in a vacant lot or field, hopefully not incurring any damage. In Sderot, and in some surrounding cities, a siren goes off to notify residents a rocket is coming, and they need to find a safe shelter somewhere. In Sderot, it is 15 seconds; in Ashkelon, 30 seconds. It's not very much time to find shelter, but because of the history of rockets landing, Sderot (and I assume other cities as well) has built bomb shelters in or near almost every building, and there are bomb shelters in most bus stops in Sderot as well. This is normal? This is life?

That morning, at around 8am, a rocket landed on a kibbutz not far from Sderot and the Gaza Strip (and was taken to the Qassam gallery at the police station).

A 14 year old girl was injured by it, but fortunately no casualties and no other major damage. By 10am when we were at the station, the rocket was already there on site. I saw it with my own two eyes. It's such a shame, and so unfair. I'm oftentimes, and even most times, very torn about Israeli politics and right and left and giving up land or demanding that Israel keep it, and religious versus secular and should the government be religious or secular - but when it comes to terrorists in the Gaza Strip putting these rockets up in the air, and then landing anywhere, there really is no left or right side. There is no discussion. Terrorists intending to incite harm and danger to others - whether physically or emotionally - is just not acceptable. How the rest of the world doesn't respond to Hamas (a terrorist organization) who continues to maintain a presence in the Gaza Strip and launch these rockets, is beyond me. Israel is often cited in the media as the "bad guy" for responding to these rockets, even though most of the time Israel has its hands tied because the location of the launches of these rockets comes from hospitals or schools which means civilians are nearby and Israel won't fire back. Media paints pictures of whatever it wants. The bottom line is - hate and destruction aren't productive or helpful for anyone or anything involved here. People can't just talk to each other anymore? I simply don't get it.

All of this is rushing through my head as we continue the tour around Sderot, which includes a viewpoint into the Gaza Strip, and an outdoor playground with a bomb shelter built into it. A huge cement tunnel was built on site at this playground for children to have a safe place to go when the siren goes off, and it's painted in bright colors like a caterpillar so it looks fun and childlike, instead of cold and static like it really is - a bomb shelter.

Our tour concludes and we have a few minutes to get some lunch. About 10 of us sit down at a nice little restaurant serving felafel and salads and all kinds of vegetables, and the owners are so nice and accommodating. They kept giving us more salads and more fries! "Bli kesef" they told us - without money (aka on the house). They were the typical Jewish parents just trying to feed hungry youth! It was adorable.

We got back on the bus and drove about 30 minutes away to Kibbutz Netzari, where many families who were evacuated from the Gaza Strip in 2005 now live. We met Anita Tucker, who was one person of about 8,600 (1700 families) who were forced to leave their homes from Gush Katif on August 15, 2005, after the Israeli government decided to unilaterally disengage from Gaza. This means all Israeli/Jewish settlements/communities had to leave by this time. To make the biggest understatement of the century, this issue was a bit complicated.

Anita told us her story. She grew up in Brooklyn, met and married her husband, and in 1969 they decided to make aliyah (move to Israel). At that time, the area around Be'er Sheva (a fairly major and now growing city in the south of Israel) was just up and coming, and the Israeli government was helping to support new immigrants in this area. A few years (and children) later, the Tuckers decide to move to Gush Katif - not really knowing how they would earn a living (supposedly by agriculture but all that was there was sand dunes!) and not really knowing anything about their Arab neighbors. Somehow, the first few (or many) years were pretty good! They figured out how to work the land, produce crops, and make a profit. And many Jewish families got along very well with the Arabs who lived there as well. At least, this is what her story says. In some ways, I think she was a little kookoo and really excited about the prospect of the rebuilding of The Temple and Messiah coming (which many people believe in, fine, great, wonderful) and kept mentioning it. If that's what keeps her going, then I'm all for it. I'm just a bit skeptical you could say, taking everything she said with a grain of salt.

In any case, she described her own family's struggle in the evacuation of Gaza. After reading about it in newspaper, seeing it on TV, watching it in films (one in particular called "Unsettled" which we screened at Hillel a few times), hearing this one person's story made the whole saga much more personal. The film I saw highlighted 6 young people - either settlers/residents or soldiers who were involved in the evacuation - so in that way it really did make it personal. It wasn't just faceless people on the nightly news. Even more so, Anita's story was so much more personal. I'm not saying I agree with everything she said in describing her plight to want to stay in her home, but it was just nice to hear a personal story. It was a sad story, yes, because I wouldn't want to be uprooted from my home and forced to leave with my family to go elsewhere. Especially not after the Israeli government encouraged them to move here, helped them agriculturally and succeed. I also wouldn't want to live near so many terrorists whose aim in life is the destruction of the Jews. Hello lady you get yourself the hell outta there! You don't fight to stay - are you nuts? Well I think she was a little nuts.

After listening to Anita's captivating speech for over an hour, our group of 17 participants split up into 4 groups and met very briefly with some other families or representatives of families, to see what their experiences were also like. The home I went to was of a mother of 6, Oshrat, whose husband (a rabbi) was killed in a terrible accident years before. The only child that was there, I understood was her brother's daughter, who appeared to be less than a year old - what a cutie. Oshrat spoke only in Hebrew to us, so I didn't get the full story, but Dina and Denise engaged her in most of our conversation. I wished we could have had a conversation with her in English (which she probably could have, we think) but we had such limited time there, that we would not have been able to engage in anything too serious anyway.

All in all, I am convinced this siyur has been the heaviest of topics so far, and I will continue to process it all over the next few days and weeks. It's what I'm here to do, isn't it?

Women of the Wall Part Two (12/8)

Last month I went to the Women of the Wall service for Rosh Chodesh (the new month), and was so inspired. As usual, I wasn't inspired by prayer; I also wasn't inspired by being at the Western Wall. I was inspired by being a part of a group of people (both men and women) who believe in the equal right for women to pray and read from a Torah scroll at a site that, according to Jewish Halakha (law) forbids it.

I returned this month for another Rosh Chodesh service, to continue to be a part of something, a cause that I believe is worth fighting for. I wouldn't have my alarm set for 5:45am if I didn't. Fortunately, by the 6:00 hour, Jerusalem's city buses are running, so I was able to take a bus most of the way, instead of walking the entire way last time, worrying if I'd be late to the start of the service. I made it there with a few minutes to spare, joined the women at the back of the Kotel area, and started to sing with them. Only a few men were present on the men's side; far fewer women were even on the women's side. Small crowd, but it was Hanukkah and many schools in Israel are closed for the holiday, and many people take off from work or are on break from their programs.

Throughout the morning service (which includes Hallel/Praises, a part of the service I am very unfamiliar with), there were many women who were not a part of our group, who felt the need to publicly "shush" our group or scream/speak so loudly as to attempt to disrupt the group. Many of them were yelling things in Hebrew so I didn't fully understand them, but they were saying something along the lines of, "Be quiet, this is a disgrace!" or "It is because of you people that the Messiah isn't coming" and all sorts of wonderful things I love to hear at 7 in the morning. I think they are totally rude for interrupting one's prayertime. I also think it's none of their business. Haven't they ever heard "If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say it at all" - if not, then they should. It's just disrespectful at such a holy and meaningful site in this ancient city. The response I had to them in my head was, "And chag sameach (happy holiday) to you too!" with a big smile on my face. I only pictured it in my head, as I didn't want to start or cause any trouble with security while there. Besides those few interruptions, the service was really nice and calm and quiet, and I really enjoyed it! When the morning service was over, both the men and the women met outside the Kotel area on the plaza and walked over, with a Sefer Torah, to Robinson's Arch. This is done because the reading of the Sefer Torah on the women's side of the Kotel is illegal. Someone stands outside the Kotel, on the plaza, with the Sefer Torah, during each Rosh Chodesh morning service each month, and then we all walk together to the location of the Torah service.

The Torah was wrapped in a Women of the Wall tallit (prayer shawl), as it is Jewish custom to take the Torah out of the Ark, and then use it for the reading. Since there is no actual Ark at the Western Wall, this method of covering is sufficient.

These women rolled the scroll back to where it should have been (apparently someone had borrowed the Torah and didn't roll it back), for the Rosh Chodesh reading, which is the same each month. Both of them wear tallitot (prayer shawls) and one wears tefillin (philactories) on the head and on the arm.

After they rolled it back to the correct space, they invited certain people up to read from the Torah and to take an aliyah (which we usually translate as an honor, but relates to the Hebrew word for "to go up"). The entire Torah service takes probably less than 30 minutes, and is fairly scripted. Those involved know when to go up to the Torah, where to stand, and what to do. Educated women who are so committed to Judaism and love of Torah. It's such a shame that for so long they have to fight for this right which seems so natural. There are plenty of people in the world who could not care any less about being Jewish, or doing mitzvot/commandments, or celebrating our people's history with the reading of the Torah, and these dedicated women are not allowed to fully practice their beliefs and customs.

Despite my loathing of early mornings, I have vowed to myself to attend the 2 Rosh Chodesh services in January and February, so I can be a part of something I believe in. The prayer doesn't get me and neither does the Kotel. Maybe one day it will. But in the meantime, I am happy to stand shoulder to shoulder with like-minded people just hoping that someday women can be treated as equals in the Holyland.

Hanukkah in Nachlaot (12/7)

Today's siyur was an evening one. We went to Nachlaot, a neighborhood in the center of town that was one of the first neighborhood built outside of the walls of the Old City. It's well known for its quiet, within a hustle bustle mentality of a city. And it's famous during Hanukkah time for the lights in the windows.

I guess because I was gone for half of Hanukkah, I didn't really get a chance to walk around and see the menorahs in the windows around Jerusalem. Tonight was really my only opportunity, and the lights were beautiful. It just made me think - how unnecessary it was to put menorahs in the window. We know you're Jewish! OK so not quite to that extreme because not all homes here belong to Jewish families. But growing up, and at home, one of the reasons why I always felt it was important to display the menorah in the window at home was as a symbol saying, "Yup, we're Jews. And we're so proud of that so we're gonna show you!" So I certainly enjoyed the tour with Liyan, our guide (who we've had a few times) and seeing a lot of other tour groups there - at least we were where the party was at! I enjoyed the lights as well - they were beautiful and glowing. But it just made me think. Nothing new while being here.

We ended the tour on a rooftop apartment of a friend of Liyan's, which was really nice to see the entire city at night. When we all left, some people stayed behind to get Koobeh or go to a bar. Others went straight home. Yonit and I finished off the evening at Cafe Cafe on a small street off of Bezalel street. I ordered a pumpkin soup which came with grainy bread - served warm - yum! We had a really nice time chatting, just the two of us. Quiet, not rushed, enjoyable.

Happy Hanukkah!

Last Day in Istanbul (12/5)

Traveling is never easy; travel days are never fun. Rain and 7 degrees celsius didn't help either, to make the best of things. Last night we checked the forecast for the weather so we knew if we should even bother attempting Topkapi Palace. We knew it would be awful out so...no alarms! We slept in and had breakfast at the last second before they closed the buffet, cleaned up the room a bit, packed up our bags and left them with the front desk for a little while so we could do one last bit of exploring.

Some light food for lunch and another stop at the baklava place - both very good choices. We got even more baklava this time so we could smuggle it back to Israel and enjoy the treats for a long time.

We had to be ready to depart from the hotel at 12:45 because the shuttle was picking us up to go to the airport. Our flight was not for a few hours but we had to follow instructions and go. Many of the same people on the shuttle ride to the hotel were also going back on the same flight, it seemed. The shuttle dropped us off at the airport and we got through security and ticketing and went to the gate. They changed the gate on us so we had to switch locations, just like our first flight out there. But the flight also became delayed. The good news is that I was able to do a lot more reading than I would have!

We boarded the plane, had our own row again, just like on the way going to Turkey, landed in Tel Aviv, left the airport, waited for a sherut (shared cab) to fill up going to Jerusalem, and made it back home by about 9:30pm. Not too bad for a day of traveling.

Now it's time to finish all that baklava!

Boat ride up the Bosphorus (12/4)

Breakfast at the hotel was a bit more familiar this morning. I knew which cheeses and pastries I would select for my plate; I had some clementines for a hopeful vitamin C boost.

We left the hotel pretty early in order to catch the tram over to Eminonu, by the Galata Bridge once again, so we could buy tickets for the half-day boat cruise up the Bosphorus River. It's a Saturday, which is also the weekend in Istanbul, but you'd think it was a weekday. The tram station is filled with people, and not just tourists but people who even look like they are dressed for work. Maybe people here just dress nicely every day. Well it's so crowded that when the first tram comes, we don't even bother pushing our way on. It looks like there is one right behind it. So we are patient and once again don't even push to get on the 2nd one. A third arrives and we finally squeeze in. Where is everybody going? Seriously?!?!

We are forced to get off a few stations before we want to, because this tram only goes so far. We have to get off and take the next one (which would have been the 4th) to the correct stop. Man oh man, this is turning out to be a little drama this morning. In the end, we get to where we need to be, and with plenty of time to spare. We buy our tickets and head into the waiting room. Lots of time to kill so I look through the tour book to keep myself occupied, eventually going outside for some fresh air and then boarding the boat. Making note of suggestions made by friends, we sat on the right side of the boat so we could see the Asian side as we cruise up the river. There is an inside section which has really comfy chairs, but we opt for the outdoor seats for a better view. We are semi-covered so it won't be too cold.

The boat leaves as scheduled at 10:30am and is scheduled to make a number of stops along the way, going to the European side and the Asian side and back and forth. We originally sat down next to 2 guys who were speaking Spanish. They were also clearly tourists with their cameras in hand. After a few minutes, they got up, so we slid down on the bench and snatched up the seats closest to the side for optimal picture taking. Since my travels/adventures first started in Israel, I have been trying to take more pictures everywhere I go - partly for the sake of posting them on here (rarely) or on Facebook (more frequently, still kind of rare) so others can see, and partly because hopefully in the end I'll look back through all the photos and remember the fun times! Anyways, tangent aside, these 5 nice Turkish people sat down next to us now that there was more room. After a while of their hearing our English, one of them made some simple conversation, "Where are you from? Do you like Istanbul?" It's the same as what we had heard - friendly people proud of their city wanting to make sure you're enjoying it too! To make a long story short (yes, I can try), they are 5 Turkish Jews! The shocking question was when one man asked us if we were Jewish because we looked Jewish. At first we were so nervous we both kind of laughed it off. It came up in conversation a few minutes later that they were Jewish, and one of the women even spoke Ladino (a mix of Hebrew and Spanish). So once we knew they were Jewish, we felt comfortable saying we were not only Jewish, but that both of us were traveling to Istanbul from Israel! It was nice to have company for the boat ride anyway, and even nicer to be speaking with our fellow brethren! We spoke on and off as we took pictures over the side of the boat, going under bridges, looking at the sights on the shore. When we finally stopped, our new Jewish friends wished us a good afternoon when the boat dockeds on the Asian side (Anadulo Kavagi). We had just under 3 hours to kill.

We had read about this castle at the top of the hill, which we could even see from the water, and decided that despite my feeling not so great, that this would be a good and fun idea. About twenty minutes later and burning calves, we reach the top. Tons of other tourists are here as well. We can see the Black Sea from the top, take some pictures, and walk over to the castle. I thought we'd have the opportunity to walk into this thing and check it out. Well, it's basically a pile of organized rocks with no entrance and no way of really learning anything about it. So we people watch and take some pictures and just enjoy being outdoors.

After about 45 minutes of just hanging out, we decide to go back down the steep hill to get some lunch. Of course, once again, the restaurants are attacking us to come and sit at their restaurants. At some point, we have to say yes to someone because we're hungry, so we sat down at a quiet little restaurant not even on the water (still wondering if that was a good move or not, considering the beauty, and also the stinky smell of fish) and we both enjoy our lunches. We had the place mostly to ourselves which was nice. We were outdoors which was also nice. Really can't complain.

About half an hour left before we want to be back on the boat, and we start walking around the boardwalk area. We found homemade pistachio ice cream! My friend Andrea, who works at Purchase, had given me some tips about Istanbul since she has spent extensive time there. One of the things she said was - try the pistachio ice cream! Who am I to not listen to a friend? We got it, and it was DELICIOUS! Unfortunately, we could not indulge in the crepes because we were so full. Maybe we should have walked around first before getting lunch where we did, because I really could have enjoyed a crepe! But our lunch was nice and our walking around the boardwalk area was nice as well. I don't know how many times we said, "No thank you" and "We already ate" to all the restaurant staff pursuing us with menus, but we managed to do just fine. We got back on the boat, and who meets us at our seats - the Jews!

We not only had a great ride back down the Bosphorus with them, but as we got closer to the end of the ride, they made some suggestions for us to do for the evening. Seeing as we only had kind of half a plan, we took their suggestion! They told us to get off at the 2nd to last stop instead of the last stop, because we could end up taking the tram back home later that night. We got off, they helped us get a cab and explain to the driver exactly where we wanted to go (they were so sweet, really) and went to Taksim Square, the top of a pedestrian mall where we could just walk around and people watch. We walked down Istiklal Cadessi until the bottom of the hill, stopping in a few bookstores and other shops along the way. While we were in one bookstore we even saw a protest go by, of citizens angry about a murder that the police stopped investigating. I guess it doesn't matter what country or city you live in; these things happen everywhere. We picked up immediately where we left off, just looking at books in a store, but it was a very "real" moment of being abroad.

At the bottom of the hill, we got in line at the Galata Tower, a highlight suggested by our Jewish friends from the boat. It's fairly cheap to get in, so we wait in line, take the elevator to the top, not really knowing what this was going to be, and it turns out we can walk 360 degrees around the top of the building - views of the entire city, with lights on the bridges, and we can even see the 3 rocking cooking boats from the day before. Most people spend about 10-15 minutes up there; I think we spent about an hour. We were enjoying the views, enjoying the weather and the breeze, and conversation. We also needed to kill time until dinner. Having late lunches doesn't help in having dinner so early.

We head down from the tower to the street level to check out some menus. Our last dinner in Istanbul - let's make it good! All I really wanted was a salad. I felt like I had eaten so much heavy food over the last 3 days, that I needed something a little lighter! Restaurant was good - food came fairly quickly, and because I told our waiter I was a vegetarian, he kind of let me pick me own little special meal. People in Turkey probably don't encounter very many vegetarians, so they don't know what to do with people like me. Fortunately, this guy was very nice to me! As usual, the food was too much and I had to leave some behind. We headed back to the tram station and started making our way back home.

One last stop before the night was over - baklava! The first night we were out and about, we got the baklava and Turkish Delight from the sweets store, and as we were walking home, one shop clerk tried to get us to come in and get some baklava. We said we'd be back the next day, thinking we'd have eaten all the baklava from the first place, but we hadn't yet, so we hadn't yet fulfilled our promise of returning. Tonight would be the night! On our walk back from the tram, we stopped in and got some samples - all kinds of flavors. We took them back to the hotel and ate them right before bed. Tummy ache!!! And goodnight to Istanbul for the last time.

Touring in Istanbul (12/3)

We filled up on breakfast at the hotel - a spread of breads, pastries, sliced cheeses and vegetables, and of course drinkable water. Plan - get out of the hotel for a full day of sightseeing, adventures, food, taking pictures, and probably come back only at the end of the day. We each had all of our important travel documents with us, plenty of water in our waterbottles, and the Lonely Planet tourbook as our Turkish Bible.

First things first, we need to buy tokens for the tram system (it's like an above ground subway) which is apparently a popular, efficient, and affordable means of transportation in the city. Once we have them, we go through the turnstiles and look at the map. Of course we think we are going one way so we look at the stops and think we know which train to take. Well we were all sorts of turned around and didn't get on the first train that came because we were so confused. It took my asking one of the security guards/staff there - which way to go. He told us we were in fact facing the right direction and it was only 4 stops away. Great! So we hopped on and took the train to the Aya Sofia, a church turned mosque.

We paid our entrance fee and were bombarded with tour guides trying to get our business. We were offered tours in English, Spanish, French, maybe even other languages. We opted for the audio tour instead - much cheaper, definitely reliable (it's run by the museum itself) and it would be fun. We could split up if we wanted to look at different parts of it, or stay together and listen to tracks at the same time. We spent about 90 minutes in total going through the mosque and listening to the audio guide when prompted by a numbered area. My brain doesn't really do history, so I don't remember a lot of the dates and the emperors and the architecture styles, but I really enjoyed taking pictures of the place because of the beautiful artwork. The calligraphy panels were probably my favorite part of the mosque, just out of sheer beauty and size. They were each 7 meters by 7 meters, which is huge! From far away they look like posters. On the second floor of the mosque, we were able to get a sense of how large the panel was because of its close proximity to the area we were standing in, and also because there was someone working on the restoration of one of the panels (they must do upkeep regularly and today was the day for this one particular panel) so we saw how big the panel was compared to a person! And it was huge! Man do I have an appreciation for the amount of work and measurement and technical skill that go into those puppies.

We left the Aya Sofia to head for the Blue Mosque, another famous and important site in Istanbul. Unfortunately, it was Friday at noon which is the height of prayer time in the Muslim world. So the place was not only packed, but the sign at the entrance said visitors are not welcome during prayer time. Out of respect, we didn't try to fight it or sneak in. I wouldn't appreciate it if I was about to read the Torah in synagogue on a Saturday morning and some people rushed in and said, "Oh don't mind us, we just wanted to take some pictures of the building, but go on, don't stop for us."

Instead we decided to head over to the archaeology museum. Now, we know history isn't exactly my thing, but it is definitely Steven's thing, so I kind of suck it up and know that I'll probably like or learn something from the museum. Turns out I really did enjoy the museum because a lot of what we saw was artwork and sculpture and pottery and statues. Again, I couldn't tell you what era these pieces came from, or if they were influenced by the Greeks or the Romans or the Ottomans or the Byzantine Era (are those the same maybe?) but I enjoyed looking at a lot of the work in the museum. We even saw the bones (and insides - GROSS!) of a king who had been mummified. I guess that preservation process really works!

By the time we were done with the museum around 2pm, we were both ready for lunch. As we left the museum, we were somewhat bombarded with restaurants trying to show off their menus and get us to sit down. Friendly yes, and a bit aggressive too, but very sweet, welcoming, and friendly - this is what we encountered for almost every meal of our trip. We decide on one restaurant which has meat, fish, and vegetarian options. I decide to go more authentic for Turkish food this time than pizza from last night, and go for the veggie kebab! Turns out some of the vegetables really were in some sort of stir fry, which, I was not complaining about; in fact it was the most delicious meal I had there. But only some of the vegetables were actually grilled, including a full eggplant, skinned and cooked, and the meal was served with fries and rice. Delicious! Our bread for the table came with 3 sifferent dips including olive oil, cheese, and a pomegranate syrup that I thought was interesting but Steven really liked it, so much that we asked for another dipping tray! We had such a nice time at the restaurant, and the wait staff kept refilling our waters which was so nice. Treated like royalty! They wanted to know where we were from and what we were doing in Istanbul and what we liked and when we were leaving. It was nice, I have to say, compared to the typical Israelis, who really most of the time couldn't care less! A different experience needless to say.

Despite wanting to go into a food coma, we really had to get back out and do more exploring. On to the Basillica Cistern, an underground water cave that was built may centuries ago. But don't ask me how many; I just know this thing is old. The second we walked down there, I was amazed and in awe and smiling and happy. I had no idea what this thing was going to be or what it would look like, but I was blown away! Tall columns and a huge pool of water - with fish! There was a paved path/platform going over the water for tourists to walk around. Everyone was taking pictures of the stone, the water, the lights, the coloring. It was just marvelous to see. We spent about 30 minutes there before heading out to the gift shop and being touristy suckers for souvenirs.

We began our walk back toward our hotel, not really knowing where we'd end up, but if we could find the Grand Bazaar and the Spice Market, we'd try to check 'em out. On our walk, I saw a Starbucks Coffee, and almost had a freakout. Not because it's impossible that it's there, but it was certainly a surprise that it was there, and I also haven't seen one in so long that it just made me smile! Of course, I took a picture. Click happy you could say.

We find our way to the Grand Bazaar which we've heard is a bit of a tourist trip, kind of like the Mahane Yehuda market in Jerusalem, and cheap stuff for sale. I think in some ways, all of those descriptions were right. I had no intent really of buying anything there, unless I saw something that really spoke to me, but I wanted to go more for reasons of playing tourist and seeing what it was like, how authentic to Istanbul it was versus shops playing up to the tourists. It was quite a mix. The place was much bigger than Mahane Yehuda and had a lot more in variety of products. Lots of souvenirs, lots of ceramics (which I love!), lots of jewelry, carpets, bags, some clothing. One owner of a carpet store was really intent on getting us to buy a carpet. "We're from America, we have no way of getting it back there, sorry, we're not buying a carpet, but thank you." "Where are you from in America? My wife lives in America - in Arizona." "I'm from NY; he's from LA." "We work with UPS and DHL and we can ship to you no problem." Really buddy, just give up. Not happening. Anyway, it was funny and a good experience.

It really was mostly a tourist trap. I'm sure there are plenty of locals who shop there too, but it's the kind of place where in order to buy anything, you have to haggle with them over the price, and that's just not my thing. Also, I didn't really have all that much space in my bag going back to start buying up souvenirs. So I saved room for just a few special things. I took in the experience of the Grand Bazaar just by being there and walking around, but not dumping money into it. Sorry Istanbul.

After the Grand Bazaar, we decide to venture off and find the Spice Bazaar which apparently is not so far away. We are pointed in the right direction and end up finding another market; we must be in the right place. We find a small store that sells none other than...pomegranate syrup! 12 Lira later and we've got ourselves a Turkish delight! Not that kind of Turkish delight but still, we're very excited. We leave the market and find ourselves out by the water overlooking the Galata Bridge, all the boats out on the water, including 3 that seem to be cooking up some food, putting into "to go" wrappers, and sending it over to shore via some workers doing the handoff. When bigger boats go by farther away, the wake creates these huge waves and the boats are rocking back and forth so much so it looks like they are close to tipping! Somehow, the food does not slide off, no one goes anywhere, all the guys on the boat are just doing their thing. It's a pretty amazing setup they have over there. We watched the fiasco for about 20 minutes and decided to take a little walk over the bridge. There are fisherman almost the entire length of the bridge, despite the fact that it is dark out, so that was surprising. We got across the bridge and found the nearest tram stop to hop on and get back to the hotel. We wanted the free shuttle service to the Fish Market area, which includes live music, or so we were told.

We get back to the hotel for a quick change of clothes and to drop off our belongings. The front desk tells us that the wait to "Kalamar" is just a few minutes; he would call the shuttle service. As promised, a few minutes later, our driver arrives and we enter the car. It's almost a mini limousine; I'm not complaining. This is seriously so cool! We get there and a boy around 12 years old greets us outside the limo. We follow him down a small hill and past tables filled with customers at dozens of restaurants. He brings us to the front of the restaurant, where they are expecting us, and show us to our table. Talk about being treated like royalty - again! I think I've seriously been dropped off on another planet. We had no idea what we were getting ourselves into in terms of menu and price - this could be a huge wallet dropper, but as it turns out, the menu in this really nice restaurant in this really nice district, is just like the other restaurants in Istanbul so far - affordable!

I'm only going to be in the Fish Market in Istanbul once, so I ordered the salmon, what seemed to be the only fish item on the menu that doesn't come as a whole fish, head included. I just don't play that game. Steven gets the mixed meat plate - who knows what on earth is on that plate. We get a few appetizers/salads to share, the bread they gave us on the table, and it is all more than enough food. Everything again was delicious and the treatment was excellent. They also had a live band at the restaurant, like a mariachi band you'd find back home. But each restaurant here seems to have their own band. It's lively, it's noisy, and I really enjoyed everything about our meal as it comes to a close. Although they wanted us to order dessert (of course, who wouldn't want a customer to do that), we politely told them no thank you. They were happy to call for the shuttle service back to our hotel, but we asked if we could walk around the area for a few minutes before going back. "Take your time, take your time, enjoy." So we did. We took in the sights, listened to all the live music at each restaurant, and returned to get our ride back to the hotel.

I'd say that's a pretty packed schedule for one day, and one that I was still feeling not 100%. Vacations are made for sleeping or sightseeing; I'll take the latter in this case. Not letting a wasted minute go by!

Travels to Istanbul (12/2)

Steven and I discovered we had similar breaks for Hanukkah, so we decided to utilize our time and travel! I hardly think that my 3 layovers in European airports during Birthright trips qualify as visiting Europe so the decision was made to visit Istanbul, both in Europe and in Asia. But Israel is technically on the Asian continent so I guess I shouldn't be so excited about going to another part of Asia. I'm just excited about it all.

Today's adventure begins last night when I got home from the WUJS tiyul/trip to the North, had to do laundry and then pack for 4 days. I stayed up way past my bedtime trying to get to a lot of things before I left, and then awoke at the lovely hour (ahem, no) of 6am when my alarm went off. I quickly put the last important belongings in my bag, had a quick breakfast (cereal!) and went to Steven's apartment so we could get picked up to go to Ben Gurion airport.

6:45am - sherut (shared cab) arrives. A few other passengers are already in which means we only have a few more stops to go to fill up all 10 seats. Pretty soon we're on our way to the airport. We ask which counter is ours, have our bags scanned, head over to get our tickets, go through security and head to the gate. Plenty of time to kill, about 2 hours. Well it IS Hanukkah, why not start the morning with a sufganiya (donut)? YUM! Sugar rush to the head; we both take out books to read until Seth and Nicole, other members of the WUJS program, arrive to the gate. They are on the same flight as us! We shared some travel plans incase we had some overlap in ideas, but none of us have cell phones that will work in Turkey so we're going to have to sort everything out by email.

The gate for the plane changes with no announcement, but thankfully we get to the new gate with plenty of time as well. We board the plane and Steven and I have the row to ourselves. No strangers - hooray! We can spread out a little bit. The flight is just over 2 hours so it's not too bad, aside from the increasing pressure in my head from the altitude drop as we land, and the cold I've been battling for the last few days. After we land in Istanbul, we meet Dina, our travel agent rep outside of Passport Control and Customs, who tells us to wait seated down for our shuttle to arrive to take us to our hotel. Gives us just enough time to get some Turkish Lira from the ATM to spend while we're here. And observe all of the religious Muslim women sporting hijabs (head coverings) who are walking around the airport. So this is what it feels like to be in the minority again.

Dina shows us the way outside of the airport to wait for our shuttle. We walk into a huge puff of smoke. No way is it even humanly possible to smoke more cigarettes than Israelis do, or so I thought. Wow, there really is a lot more cigarette smoke here than in Israel. At least at the airport. We'll see how the rest of the city and country are. We get onto the shuttle with the other families and travelers who booked with the travel agent. Dina starts speaking in Hebrew to everyone - uh oh, this is going to be interesting. She knows we are English speakers, but between both of us, we get most of what she is saying. Don't drink the water in Istanbul, it's not safe. But don't drink the water from the minibars at the hotel because they are way too expensive. Go to the store and save yourself some money. She also tells us about different possible tours while in the city, gives us her phone number, and says call for any reason. What a sweetheart! She was also one of them smoking like a chimney.

We get dropped off at our hotel and check in, go up to our room, and with a killer headache all I want to do is lie down for a nap. Lucky for me, today is apparently construction day all over Istanbul! One of the elevator shafts in the hotel is undergoing construction, so the workers are finishing up for the day with their last of the noise and the hammering, but for quite some time. Meanwhile, the air conditioner in the hotel is basically not working, so we open the window to get some fresh air (which definitely cools down the room) but there are other people making all kinds of racket outside too. Just some peace and quiet is all I ask for in a hotel! Well we don't get exactly that, but I was able to rest up for a little while before going out for a walk in the neighborhood we're in, to find some dinner and check out the sights. The fresh air does wonders for me and by the time we sit down at "Diana" our restaurant, I'm feeling much better. The wait staff are more than happy to serve us, they speak English and have English menus as well. Makes this pretty easy! I ordered a vegetarian pizza for dinner - hey we're in the Mediterranean. Kinda. Really I just didn't want to be too adventurous with foods on day 1 with a headache. Food was great but too much - couldn't finish my plate.

We walked back to the hotel, taking in the sights again. Fortunately, the sights included a candy store that had Turkish Delight and Baklava. Well, I might only be in Turkey once, so of course we hit it up! The staff at the candy store also spoke English and were very friendly. They wanted us to buy more than we did but we stuck to our guns and bought only a small amount of each. We get our sweets to go, head back to the hotel and called it a night!

WUJS Tiyul/Trip to the North (11/30-12/1)

WUJS has a few tiyulim/trips that they run for all participants in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. The first was the hike in Ein Gedi on the 4th day of the program. The hike was great, the weather was super hot, and the Jerusalem participants didn't exactly mix so well with the Tel Aviv ones. I'm still not 100% sure why but it's really fine. This trip there was a bit more interaction but we are still clearly two separate groups. And I'm still OK with that.

The trip started Tuesday morning with a 6:30am meeting at the bus to load our bags on and hop on board. Our first short drive was to pick up the Tel Aviv crew and staff. Most of us had two seats to ourselves, so we tried to nap, mostly unsuccessfully from all the stop and go traffic on our way. A few Tel Aviv participants hopped on our bus and the rest had a mini-bus to take. We made our way up north to Nahal Kziv, a hiking trail that crosses a stream a number of times, so it was fun and a little nerve wracking (don't fall in!) and really beautiful for taking pictures. Lunch was provided for us in advance so we loaded our backpacks, and midway through the hike, we stopped at a part of the stream where there was open rock for us to sit and enjoy. Our tour guide stopped in a few locations to tell us about the Golan Heights, the history of the land, and the different groups of people that have lived and still live in this region today. I spent most of my time hiking in the front of the group with Ethan, Marlowe, and Josh, but toward the end, I found Rachelle and we spent the rest of the hike together. I know, we're cute.

After the hike, we drove to the Druze Village of Peki'in and toured a little bit, sampled some food from local shops, and hopped back on the bus to continue our day. The Druze are an offshoot of Islam but a fairly secret religion/culture so no one fully knows who they are except themselves. They live in many Middle Eastern countries including Israel, particularly in the North, and they are loyal to their country, so much that they serve here in the IDF and elsewhere in their militaries. Family members have fought against each other in war because of their national loyalties. They are completely recognized as citizens of the State of Israel and give back to the country in many ways. They have certain foods which are unique to Druze culture, and some that are not so much, so a bunch of us spent our shekels on some yummy Druze food while we were there (baklava for me!). They were so happy to have us - either to show us their culture or to make a profit (or both!).

After our tour of Peki'in ended, we boarded the bus once again to head to our kibbutz accommodations for the night. After a short drive, we arrived at the kibbutz, the staff handed out our keys and Rachelle and I went to our room to settle in. The rooms were SO nice! Much nicer than our apartments. We had dinner in the hadar ohel (dining room) which was a nice buffet of hot food and some cold spreads. Although the meal was a meat meal with chicken schnitzel, they gave me a vegetarian soy schnitzel, because I told them I was a vegetarian. Apparently I am now the only one - no one else asked for one so I had as much as I wanted!

After dinner, we had the option to go to a movie in one of the lounges at the kibbutz, but I started coming down with a cold so I wanted to just relax, drink some tea, and have girl chat with Rachelle until we decided to just call it a night. At about 2:30am Shoshana (one of the Israelis living with us in the building) came in, as expected, and I woke up just to the sound of the door opening, but fell right back asleep and waited until morning to say hi. She and Dani and Elazar (the two Israeli boys who live in our building) all took a bus up to the kibbutz that night so they could join us for the second day.

The second day began with breakfast around 7am in the hadar ohel (dining room) including packing a lunch. Since it was all sliced meat and vegetables for lunch, I went ahead and took dairy from the breakfast spread, to make a cheese and veggie sandwich, cause, you know, that's how I roll. We drove to one of the trails on Mount Merom, one of the highest points in the north of Israel, and started our short hike. The whole hike was only around an hour, with a couple of stops here and there, including one stop where we could view the Hermon, the highest mountain in Israel where they even have SKIING! There has to be enough snow for that to happen but there is snow in Israel. Sometimes.

After the hike we boarded the bus again and drove to the ancient mystical Kabbalistic city of Tsfat (which is sometimes written as Safed but that just looks dumb so I'm gonna all it what I wanna call it). We did a short tour in Tsfat, most of which I had seen before. I didn't even bother going in to the synagogue on the tour because it was so crowded, and, I've seen it 7 times. No need to see it again and fight through the crowds. We got to see Avraham Lowenthal, an American who made aliyah after starting his journey and discovery of Kabbalah and spirituality and Judaism and how it all comes together for him. He is an artist and sells his work to the visitors to his shop. I had no idea we'd be going but I've met him a few times from Birthright trips. They arranged the visit with him because he was on the arts track of WUJS back in the day! Who knew! A fellow WUJS participant. Everyone really enjoyed what he had to say about his journey and artwork; some made purchases including Rachelle who had wanted one particular piece for a while. Worth dishing out the shekels when you appreciate art that much!

We were given about an hour of free time to walk around, have a bite to eat, do some shopping, etc. All of the shop owners were pretty antsy about selling, as usual, especially for Hanukkah and pushing gifts. "You can take this home as a gift to your friends, your family." OK yeah buddy not taking home all this stuff that's gonna break in my suitcase. Nice try. But they were sweet and I wished them all a Hanukkah Sameach (Happy Hanukkah).

Our next stop was to Rosh Hanikra, the northernmost part of Israel on the coast, where it borders Lebanon. The water has created these beautiful and amazing natural cliffs and rock formations from erosion and wind and weather. We took a cable car down from the top of the cliff to the caves and did a short walk through them. We didn't have enough time for the video unfortunately, but I was OK with that because I'd rather have walked through the real thing myself instead of drive all that way to see a video about something I'm right next to. Would have been silly. The sun was starting to set over the water and it just sparkled. It was beautiful. I miss the water being in Jerusalem. I'm so used to seeing water everywhere back at home. It was so nice to see the water even just for a little while.

We all got back on the bus and drove through half the country on our way to Tel Aviv to drop off their group, and then made our way to Jerusalem to call it a night. One of the greatest things about being in our Jerusalem group is that we are a group that makes things happen. So after about 5 minutes of having returned to the building, barely unpacking, we all got together in the lobby of our building to light Hanukkah candles together. After all, it was the first night of Hanukkah! Since Josh had scored a box of free menorahs from some Chabad rabbi in Tsfat (I guess Chabad rabbis do have their pluses too!), we lit as many as could fit on the small table we put in the lobby. It was really nice to light together, sing the blessings together (including the shehechiyanu blessing said on the first night of the holiday) and some songs. Hanukkah for me is such a time of family and tradition, that, just like my birthday, and Thanksgiving, and other moments of this year, I was a bit worried about how I'd feel being so far from home and away from everything familiar. This really comforted me and made me realize how much of a family we have become. Sure it sounds cheesy, but somehow, amazingly, it's happened! When all of us are in the same position of being away from home and missing our families, it's nice that we can come together in such a positive way for a fun holiday.

Now it's time to unpack, do some laundry, and re-pack, because I'm going to Turkey tomorrow!!!