September 28

We get to do our own laundry here and as you can see, it's been quite difficult for me to figure out!

I have had some more amazing culture shocks in the last two weeks. For Yom Kippur I stayed with a family who spoke great English because the mother is from L.A. and brought her kids up speaking English and Hebrew. I had an amazing vegetarian meal (the mother, Fern, says its much easier to keep kosher if you are just vegetarian – very convenient for me). I finally got to load up on protein from the delicious fish and tofu Fern made. I cant stress how much I enjoyed the meal!
The two girls didn’t feel like going to services so I went with Fern and her husband, Arnon. These services were much more bearable than the ones I went to for Rosh Hashanah. The men and women were NOT separated and I recognized some of the melodies.

Because everyone in Israel gets Yom Kippur off, it’s like a reunion for all the kids in the army who haven’t seen their friends in a while. The older daughter just got out of the army so she went to the town square to see some familiar faces. The younger daughter, Shera, is 12 years old and stayed out until 2:30 in the morning walking around with her friends! Fern told me that Jerusalem, and Israel in general is very safe, much safer than the U.S. It’s not a law, but no one, and I mean NO ONE, drives on Yom Kippur – even non religious people leave their cars parked in their driveways for these special 25 hrs. Instead of going to services, most kids ride their bikes on all the streets and even on the freeway. How cool is that?!
I had a really great time with this leniently-conservative family and because they live in Jerusalem, I will hopefully be there again soon.

Last night ended the first of seven days of Sukkot (yet another Jewish holiday, celebrating the autumn harvest). A lot of kids from the hostel left for the weekend because we got four days off of classes. However, the kids that stayed behind headed to Ben Yahuda (the street where there are lots of bars and clubs and young adults like me). Much to my surprise, there was SO much going on because of Sukkot. There was a stage set up in one of the squares and I watched a man in a black coat, long beard, peis (curls hair near the ears), and a black hat jumping up and down and singing in Hebrew. It was such an oxymoron – usually the Hassidic Jews are contained and quiet, but I saw them riled up in a crowd singing along! Every restaurant on Ben Yahudah had a sukkah for people to eat in and they were all full. The sidewalks were so crowded that I had to push my way through, like trying to leave the Little Theater after a Berkeley High performance. The whole street was alive with Israelis, food, and music.

I am starting to love it here. Just walking around is always fun because I see so many new things. I went to the Mall this morning to mail some things and it was just a big party – again in honor of Sukkot. There were people on stilts and art projects for kids. The biggest Sukkah in Jerusalem is made out of candy (a play on words because Sukka-riya means “hard candy” in Hebrew). For those of you who know me real well, you know that a candy Sukkah would be a dream. I will hopefully find out where it is tomorrow. If I go there, my life would be complete and I guess I would be ok with dying anytime after.
Hag Sameach (happy holidays) and I hope you all have a great harvest! Haha.

September 17

This is Hayley. She is from Houston.

I am back at the hostel - my new "home." I feel so much better now about my situation. I’m starting to memorize my schedule and I organized a binder for school.

I want to share with you all a cultural experience I had on my way home from Nahariya. Melissa and I went our separate ways in Tel Aviv – Melissa took a bus to her apartment while I ventured off into the night to get home to Jerusalem. You have to know that we are advised not to travel at night by ourselves, especially because we haven’t been in the country long enough to know the public transportation yet. However, I did not have a choice because I had to get back for class on Sunday and trains don’t start running until late Saturday night because of Shabbat.

I found my way to the ‘grey hound’ bus station area and bought myself a ticket on the last train to J-town. The bus was very crowded – people even stood for this hour-long ride. A mother sat down next to me and put her two-year-old girl between us, so I squished against the window. Then she said something to me in Hebrew that I, of course, did not understand. The next thing I know, she is holding her ~6 month old baby out to me. I take the boy and she says “toda” (thank you), informing me that I have done the right thing. She walks away and leaves me with her two children. After five minutes of me being amazed that she trusted a stranger and in awe of the adorable child on my lap, the mother returned and retrieved her child. The four of us spent the next 55 minutes cozily nestled into two seats.

I learned that full-on families use public transportation all the time here. Women with small children, who aren’t even poor, take buses and trains. Additionally, Israelis who are serving in the army get free public transportation. It’s nice to look around and see men and women proud to be wearing their green uniforms.

When I got out of the taxi at my hostel I felt completely liberated and a sense of confidence rushed through me. I felt like I had conquered Israel. There is nothing here I cant do now!

The Holy Land

This was our first shabbat and we went to the Western Wall.

I haven't even been here for two weeks yet, but I feel like I've been gone for months. I've been putting off writing this blog entry because I don't want to face the truth that I am homesick already.

In every public area I feel so foreign, because I am. I'm generalizing when I say this, but Israelis are not the most accepting people. They cut in lines and push in crowded situations. I'm used to the pushing because of Berkeley High hallways, but at home I feel no shame in pushing back. I don't push back here because I feel like I will be giving Americans a bad reputation or something like that, I don't know. I feel vulnerable in every situation because I don't speak the language. Hebrew classes just started and they made me realize how much Spanish I actually know, because compared to Hebrew I could say I'm fluent in Spanish.

I spent the Jewish New Year with a girl named Melissa, with whom I went to Portugal, and her cousins up in Nahariya. We went to synagogue three times - all of which made me so happy to belong to Beth El back in Berkeley. Because the synagogue we went to was orthodox, the men and women are separated by a movable wall. The whole service (the rabbi, the torah, the bimah) all take place on the men's side, while the women listen in and stare at a wall. I felt so excluded like, "why the hell am I here?" In Israel the synagogues are 95% orthodox, 1% conservative, and 4% reformed. The Israelis don't accept the conservative movement so most conservative Jews who want to be accepted just become orthodox. You won't find an Israeli in any of the Reform synagogues - these are mostly full of Argentineans and Americans. So when I get back to Jerusalem I will have to do some research to find a reform temple near me.

Nahariya is so north that from the beach, Melissa and I could see Lebanon. Melissa's family showed us three places where missiles fell last summer during the war with Lebanon and these locations are all (don't read this mom)within 10 blocks of their house - scary!

On the positive side, my roommate Stacey (on the right the two of us are in an Italian synagogue in Jerusalem) and I get along and the Youth Hostel is very nice. We have a swimming pool and a gym (which I should be going to every day because meals are "all you can eat" buffet style). Hopefully once a little more time passes I will settle in more and stop comparing life in Israel to life in Berkeley.

Being away from home makes me realize that the city and the people of Berkeley are truly amazing. I miss you all so much and would love to hear about what's going on in your lives.

Shana Tova V'Metukah(have a good and sweet year),
Nina