middle east 5/27/09: jerusalem

Shalom all!

So right now we are in Jerusalem. We were supposed to go out tonight, but there's a TERROR ALERT. Poo. This means we will be having sangrias at the hostel to ensure our complete safety. So, no need to worry at home.

Anyway, Jerusalem is rad! This trip has been so busy, and I've had no time to write at all, particularly because this hostel has no computer. My only internet access is to pester Noah to use his laptop, but today my new friend Courtney needed his computer anyway so we are here, updating our internetz. Whee!

Let's see, quick highlights. Yesterday we went to Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Museum. It's interesting, it's really the first time I've dealt with the Holocaust since visiting Auschwitz two years ago, and in some ways I feel like I've just finally begun to digest that last trip. The museum gave us all a good cry, then afterwards our group got to listen to a Holocaust survivor speak. It's sort of funny I suppose, but I've always really wanted to meet someone who had survived the Holocaust and hear them talk about it. Even though this woman, Wertl, seemed to have to emotionally disconnect herself from the words she spoke, it was still moving to hear her speak.

Other things...last night we got to go to the desert and sleep under canopies at a Bedouin camp. So cool! They served us delicious food and had ceremonies with dancing and then a couple of us walked around under the stars. Super rad.

Finally, today we got to float in the Dead Sea! Totally excellent. It's amazing: even if you think you are totally scratch/scrape-free, after about five minutes in the Dead Sea, everyone knows exactly where all their injuries are because they sting! Ack. It's supposed to be healing, though. We also all covered ourselves in Dead Sea mud. I expect amusing pictures will come once everyone gets home and uploads
to facebook.

I hate to be so brief, but I think I need to run. Hope everyone is well at home. Much love!!!!
-Sara

middle east 5/23/09: shabbat shalom:-)

Shalom!


The past few days can definitely be described as (what Amy and I call) "extreme traveling." We have done so much, and we haven't even made it to Jerusalem yet! (Speaking of Jerusalem-- I have handwritten nearly all of your prayer requests, including the ones left at facebook, and I will definitely be done by the time we get to the wall.)

For the past two days we have been in Tiberias, in northern Israel. It is so exciting to finally be in an ancient city. From our hotel we can see the Sea of Galilee, and I'm hoping we get to walk all the way down to the water soon so that I can try to walk on top of it. (This is surely a simple thing, no?) The 'mifgashim' (Israeli soldiers)
have arrived, and they are pretty cool.

Amy: The mifgashim are all such wonderful people. A few of them are struggling and getting a little bit frustrated with speaking English, but they are all able to communicate if you speak clearly and are patient when they are speaking. One of the female soldiers, Yaara, is rooming with me and Sara now! She basically works in army human resources, and she interviews new soldiers and decides which position would be best suited for their personality. She speaks English fluently, and she says she learned from American television shows. She is definitely on Jewish Standard Time, though, and she's been late to almost every event we've done.

Sara: The soldiers arrived on Thursday, which was our first full day in Tiberias. It was a pretty awesome day. In the morning, we headed up north to the Lebanon border. The border, at a kibbutz, is literally a fence across a rolling hillside. We got an added bonus because when we arrived, we could hear morning prayers coming from Lebanon over a loudspeaker. The voice was slow and melodic and sounded eerie, but I could understand how it might be soothing for the people living there, as well. Adding to the eerie-ness was the view-- we could see the yellow flag of Hezbollah on the closest hill. We got to hear a speaker from the kibbutz, an American-Israeli who had fought in four wars, including the first war with Lebanon. He was intense and fascinating to listen to. Finally, after the speaker, I walked over to the fence on the pretense of taking a picture... then I reached through the fence and took a rock from Lebanon;-)

We also got to visit Tzfat yesterday, which is the city where Kaballah (Jewish mysticism) was born, about 1,000 years ago, where we were able to see a (pretty cool) speaker and run around town eating lunch and buying a gift for our "Secret Santa" (funny, on a Jewish trip.) After Tzfat, we went rafting in the Jordan river, which was so fun and refreshing. We weren't allowed in the water, but I "fell in" when an Israeli soldier "pushed" me. Naturally, he dove in to "save" me, as well.

Amy: The group of people on this trip who we've been getting to know over the past few days are fantastic. A lot of people who Sara and I have been sticking with actually live in Los Angeles, and I'm positive that we'll hang out together when we get home. Last night, after the Shabbat dinner, a group of us all went in someone's room and played cards and talked for hours. We actually stayed up until three in the morning, just visiting. We've bonded a lot about all of the annoying rules we have on this trip, like how we can't walk around town without a chaperone (which of course is understandable...but it seems ridiculous nonetheless). I feel happy and safe with all of these new friends we've made.

Sara: It's worth noting that the reason we were able to stay up so late last night is because today is Shabbat, the day of rest. Finally, we've all gotten a chance to sleep! Tonight we're going out to have dinner in the city, and then tomorrow we see the Syria border and head to Jerusalem.

Until next time, much love,
Sara and Amy

middle east 5/19/09: machadash? hakob'a seder

Shalom all!

We made it safely to Israel and we are now at a GREAT little hotel in Tel Aviv overlooking the Mediterranean. The water is so nice and warm! Okay, I (Sara...Amy is going to write some of this too) am sort of loopy so I'm not sure this will be in any logical order. But the beach is awesome, and the people on the trip are so nice. I already feel like we've known them forever. Amy and I actually made a ton of new friends, to the point that we decided to sleep in separate rooms so that we could socialize with more people. This is a little bit silly though, since Amy and I are sharing a lot of things (like shampoo.)

Amy here! The flight...was long. So long. Fifteen hours long. But it was actually not quite as miserable as one would expect, because we all were free to move about and visit with people on different sides of the plane and help ourselves to egg salad sandwiches in the kitchen. My row buddy and new friend, Theo, loved playing card games just as much as I, so we kept ourselves entertained for a good portion of the flight.There were also incredibly amusing instructional videos on how to stretch in your airplane seat.

Sara: Oh yeah, about the flight. It was all sort of dramatic because Israel takes security SUPER SUPER seriously. So, checking in to El Al, every single one of us was questioned. Amy and I were able to be interviewed together and they just asked us a few questions (like about where our relatives in Israel lived) but both my roommates, Stacey and Elisa, were detained for further questioning and had their bags searched and held until they boarded the plane, along with several other people. Jared, who will be going with us to Egypt, initially didn't get his bag back-- which had $4000 of camera equiptment. How stressful. But in the end everything worked out fine, phew:-)

Amy: Luckily, Sara and I were anticipating much hotter weather than what we were greeted with. There was a nice breeze when we stepped out of the airport, and so far the temperature is much milder than it's been in California recently. Tonight we have the option to go out to a nightclub, but a group of us decided to skip it and hang out at the beach instead. Because it's THAT awesome. I hope you all are doing
well back on the other side of the world!

Lots of love,
Sara and Amy

middle east 5/16/09: shalom!

Hey friends and familia,

It's travel time again...Monday morning, Amy and I are off on the
birthright trip to Israel! Our flight is at 1:45 p.m., but we have to
be at LAX by 9:45 to meet up with our birthright group...and since the
405 is crazy at that time, we actually leave for the airport at 6 a.m.
Eek:-p

We will be abroad from May 18 to June 18, and we will be visiting
Israel (two weeks with a free! Mayanot birthright group, plus a week
with familia at the end), Egypt (Cairo), and Jordan (Petra). During
that time I'll be sending out periodic email updates to share any
travel highlights. If you're not really into group emails, let me
know and I'll take you off this list, no problems.

Also, If anyone has prayer requests, let me know and I will tuck them
in the Western Wall for you:-)

Hope everyone is doing well!

Love,
Sara