Countdown to Africa

163/365: Night running is my drug

In just four days I depart on a month-long journey to East Africa. AND IM SO EXCITED I WANT TO PEE MY PANTS EVERYDAY! Like, seriously ,I get so jittery when I talk about it – I’M ECSTATIC!

I’m heading first to Tanzania and meeting up with two USC friends to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro. Afterwards I’ll head to Uganda to meet up with students from my master’s program in Israel. We took a course about Rural Water Development and now we get to implement some of what we learned: we will build a rainwater harvesting system and install a weather data recording machine. After 10 days of volunteering, myself and a few of the other students will travel for a week . I’m excited to spend this time traveling with a small group of Israelis – both because two of the girls are my closest Israeli friends here and it will be nice to have alone time with them before my potentially permanent move back to the Bay, and also because I’ve always wanted to travel Israeli style, hehe!

Preparation for this trip has been intense. I started training for Kilimanjaro at the end of May and have never felt so mentally prepared to push myself. I have a regimented running schedule that I learned to love, and that I now cherish. I run every night at 8pm, after the sun sets, just as dusk sets in – down the nature reserve’s switch-back road into the vast canyon near my home. As I run, I inhale the majestic beauty of the canyon before it disappears into darkness. Running in the desert at night time, moon not up yet, no street lights, I am spooked by dark figures that turn out to be trees and bats that fly a little too close to my head. But that makes it all the more invigorating. Overall, it’s like a fresh ocean wave has washed over me, and I feel alive, flying up and down the mountainous canyon wall. I love it.

Just as much as my body has gone through training, so has my mind. I now have the mental ability to push myself to accelerate up steep slopes, but more than that, this running schedule has forced me to sit with my mind for about an hour every day, alone. Just me, my mind, and the dark road (oh, and of course my iPod). I think about Kilimanjaro, I think about tomorrow’s To Do list. But what’s been the best are my internal therapy sessions. What’s good in my life? What’s not good in my life? How I change the not good things? What actions or viewpoints do I need to adopt in order for that to happen? Who am I sending love to? Who else should I be spreading kindness towards? What are my feelings right now?

I did go through a general emotional rough patch and my self-therapy was unbelievably self-empowering. To know that I could cure my hurt, move past my problems, solely relying on myself during the journey is a powerful thought.

Anyway, four days left before my flight, four days left of running in this beautiful canyon.

"The mountains are calling and I must go." 

- John Muir, 

shout out to SC Outfitters.

Peace out peeps,

Nina

From Dreamworld to Soft Pillow

Sunrise on my first day of work at Kibbutz Lotan

I just returned to Sde Boker from the dreamworld I created for myself in the past  six weeks or so: traveling to the north and the south, vacationing on the beach of Eilat, hiking the mountains overlooking the Sinai, volunteering on kibbutzim, exploring my spirituality in Jerusalem, and shakin my hips to the beat at some music festivals.

In my amazing time as a nomad I come across a great lesson my year so far has taught me: uncertainty can be the most settling feeling if you let it be. All my adventures were made somewhat sporadically: not deciding until last minute to go, knowing it would all work out in the end, and relying on an open mind and heart to guide me. If you decide something in the moment, then it is truly the thing that will bring you the most happiness. You can't always plan ahead for how you will feel in the future. I learned that not knowing what comes next can be the best kind of knowing – you control your mind.

Relating this back to the bigger picture of my life, I can be happy to say that I am excited and enthused by the fact that I have no idea what my life will entail after Labor Day weekend (my scheduled arrival back to the Bay). I fantasize about such things as working for ESPN’s Sustainability Team again, or possibly Urban Adamah in Berkeley, or maybe even moving to St. Louis where a friend offered to give me free GRE tutoring. And then my mind wanders back to Israel – maybe I’ll come back and get my hands dirty on a kibbutz for a few months or actually finish this degree I started. I am a lucky girl to have such a wonderful list of opportunity. Only time will tell what ends up on my path…

Coming home to Sde Boker this week was like taking a huge inhale and letting it all out (open-mouth exhale, yogis). Such a deep breath. I feel so happy to have such a supportive community and tranquil natural environment to let my mind and heart rest in. I lay my head down on this soft pillow.

Summer, I welcome you with open arms. I am ready for the last few chapters of this journey.

Hiking in Sde Bo

(Tree of Life) עץ החיים

My eco-dome home at Lotan

Bottle feeding baby goats at Lotan

Kibbutz Neot Smadar

Jacob's Ladder Music Festival

Sunrise at the Kotel

February Water Sampling Campaign

A day in the life of water sampling:

• 5:30 or 6am wake up!
• Drive from Sde Boker up to Beit Jalla (near Jerusalem, but in the West Bank)
• Meet up with Nader, a Palestinian scientist that I am working with.
• Transfer all of my equipment from my rental car into Nader's car and we are off! 
• Nader brings with him someone to be my assistant - anyone he can find, but more recently a Palestinian undergrad student from Bethlehem University named Wa'd. Sometimes my advisor Alon Tal comes, but because he has Israeli citizenship, he is not allowed in Area A, so sometimes he is not allowed to come. 

• Nader drives us to the different sampling sites - all of my sites are places where wastewater flows freely in the West Bank. Sewage water. Out in the open. Gross. But I'm totally OK with it now. Haha. I stay safe, gloves, waders, or boots, whatever I need to prevent contracting dysentery. So far so good ;)

• Once I finish taking a few water samples (usually 3 or sometimes 4 in a day), then I say goodbye to Nader and drive the samples to Tel Aviv to store in a fridge at the Ministry of Health's Water Chemistry Lab.

A day in the life of the lab:

• Sleep at someone's house in Tel Aviv (usually someone from Fulbright, or more recently also a friend I reconnected with from Year Course).
• Get to the lab around 8am.
• Filter my samples through microfiber glass filter discs. This takes a long time because my samples are usually extremely dirty since most of it is raw sewage. 

• Flush the sample through a very expensive disc that collects all the EDCs when the water is pushed through it. This can take anywhere from two hours to six hours per sample - oy vey! So many hours on my feet waiting!

• Use chemical washes to release the EDCs from the disc and collect the released liquid by placing a catchment vile underneath. 
• Run the chemical/EDC mixture through a salt compound to absorb any left over water. Therefore any liquid that goes through is EDC liquid and is no longer bonded to water molecules.

• Evaporate the sample using a warm bath and nitrogen gas environment until only 1ml of concentrated solution is left.

Yes, that is right, you heard me - ONE MILILITER!!!! I take a 4 Liter sample in the field to produce just one tiny itty bitty mililiter of EDC concentrate.

Italia!

Italia! Italia!

Accompanied by close family friend Bria Gray, I went to Ben Gurion Airport on January 29th in the middle of the night for an early flight to Roma! Bria and I arrived and took a taxi to meet our moms at a beautiful little apartment they rented for us for the week. We were staying just around the corner from the Roman Forum! First things first, we went down the block to a small corner store and bought some bread and mozzarella, yum yum breakfast. The mom's got 6Euro cappacinos and decided they'd have to cut down on coffee intake in order to not go under (6Euro = $7.80). BUT they found out that if you stand and drink your coffee inside the cafe, then they charge you less because there is no service fee added - too bad that every time we were in a cafe that week our feet were too tired to keep standing!

After shaking off our jetlag, we headed to the Jewish Quarter to see where our brothers and sisters from another mother once practiced their Judaism. We used Rick Steve's Audio tours (an app that my mom found, so we downloaded free tours of everything before going - great find mom!) and learned about who used to live there and when. The synagogue was the only in Rome that was not ruined during Nazi occupation because of some agreement Mussolini made. The mom's bought leather purses from some guy on the street who we then saw the next day posing as a beggar (with no purses). Haha.

Sistine Chapel ceiling

The Pope's Church

Vatican City

On Thursday we went to the wonderful Vatican City to hang out with the pope. Unfortunately he had to cancel on us, so we just went to the Sistine Chapel and listened to Rick Steve's explain all the beautiful Biblical paintings on the wall (stories of Adam, Moses, Noach, and more). Beautiful fresca paintings by Michelangelo. In the evening we went to see the Pantheon, made wishes at Trevi Fountain and ate some of the best pasta and arrabbiata sauce I've ever had!

Trevi Fountain

On Friday we went on a SEGWAY TOUR!!! It was so fun! We saw the Colosseum, Roman Forum, an old horse racing track, and more! At the beginning mom was scared, but by the end she asked our guide if there was a place where we could just go fast. Hehe, very fun day!

SEGWAY!

On Saturday we went shopping at and around Campo Di Fiore - a cute outdoor farmers market in a plaza square. We were greeted by rain and took refuge to sip cappuccinos and eat pesto pasta. We ended the night with the Spanish Steps and some gelatti!

Spanish Steps with Bria!

On Sunday we walked the two mile long flea market in Trastevere. The on-going debate on how to pronounce the name of this big street and neighborhood was finally settled. We bought last minute chachkies to bring back for friends and family and then ended our trip with some fabulous thin sliced pizza. Bria and I said goodbye to our mommies, as we were flying back to Israel and they to the states. But just to our luck, Bria and I felt right at home once we boarded our carpool van to the airport. The van came 5 minutes early, so it took us a few minutes to get our suitcases down the stairs and ready to go. The couple already in the van was impatient and commented that it took us so long to get in and that they had a flight to catch. They were Israeli and on the same flight as us - which was still hours and hours away (our moms wanted to make sure we got to the airport with hours to wait). After we told them (in Hebrew) that we live in Israel, their attitudes changed and they were super sweet to us.  Good ol' Israeli culture.

Throughout the trip I was training for a half marathon, so I woke up each morning and jogged through the streets of Rome. Each corner I turned I saw some ancient building or excavation site that held so much history. What an amazingly beautiful city, complimented by an equally beautiful language and food! Retuning home was a hard reality, especially without mama by my side, but I got back to Sde Boker happy to feel the tranquility that I have learned to love in the desert. 

Went running at an ancient horse racing stadium.

#labwork

American in Israel: Living Abroad

February 23, 2013

A reflection on a change of mindset. The mind is a powerful thing and can make all the difference. (edited life update I emailed to a friend recently):

After a roller coaster of a winter, I am cruising into spring with my head held high.

Months ago, I arrived in Israel with the mindset to LIVE ISRAEL. Thinking back to Year Course, I arrived this time determined to live my Fulbright year much UNlike Year Course: not with Americans, and definitely not in English. I wanted to live in ISRAEL, with the whole shabang.

I dove in and immersed myself in the culture, the language and the people. For the first few months, my core group of friends were primarily Israelis, I went to Hebrew Class twice a week for 3 hours each, and I tried very hard to let the culture seep into my skin - pushing and honking and talking back, as well as making tea and hosting almost every weekend. At all of this I succeeded - I speak Hebrew well enough now, I love my friends and I know more about Israeli culture than I thought I would ever know. 

But this all came with a cost. For many weeks and even months I had the constant feeling of being an outsider. I constantly struggled with following Hebrew conversations. I had no comfort blanket of Americans to go home to and talk about the nonsense and ballagan that is Israel. I had no shoulder to cry on when dealing with language barriers and no friend who truly understood what it meant to live in a country with no family members, and no one to whom I would say "I love you."

So it got to the point where I knew I needed a safety net. One night, I called up the 2 other American girls at my university and as we walked along the cliff, I immediately felt a calming come over my body. I’ve since learned to be OK with speaking English and being friends with non-Israelis in Israel. I now know that a balance is so necessary, and although I'm proud of myself for the determination I had when I arrived here, I would never ever go to a new country with that mindset again. It's taxing emotionally and physically, and a support system of familiarity is necessary for me. 

Advice to anyone going abroad - it's not cheating to have a little bit of home with you while you are away, and I would even say it's a strategic thing to do :)

Photo Update!

Hello lovely people! I will soon write a new blog post explaining my research lab work and the experiences I've had in the field the past few weeks. But for now, I've elected some picture to tell my dialogue from the past month or so...

I spent my 24th birthday with my mom and our close friends Lisa and Bria in the Old City in Jerusalem.

My mom gifted me The Lorax in Hebrew (Lorax was my camp name at USC Troy Camp)

I decided that just because I turned 24 doesn't mean I can't still wear my onsie pajamas.

I went to Italy with Mom, Lisa, and Bria and we had the times of our lives.
It was one of the most rejuvenating and needed vacations I've ever had. Thanks mom!

Mom and I at the famous Spanish Steps - one of the many famous tourist sites we visited in Rome.

I spend many hours taking water samples and wearing cool things like waders.

I spent more than 15 hours water sampling the day before a final exam (so I studied Hydrology right next to a river, hehe).

I decided that I'm somehow going to run a half marathon in March.

I visited the West Bank many times, mostly research but also for pleasure and curiosity.

At one of my water sampling sites, I hopefully inspired some passerbys to grow up and study waster quality. (after the interaction, I was told by my Palestinian research partner that the boys said they were going to go home and have a party because they met an American)

*On my 24th birthday (January 21, 2013) I decided to choose one photo per day for one year so that when I turn 25 I will have a visual representation of my 24 year old experience, inspiring memories and experiences of the past. Exhibited here are a few selections from those photos thus far in the year.