Technical Difficulties

So apparently two posts I thought were published weren't...so now they're out of order. Whoops sorry!

Riding Camels and Tel Aviv

As tacky as it sounds, riding camels in the desert was actually the coolest thing ever. It didn't feel real, riding huge-ass ugly creatures and feeling their muscles move under my butt. I had the honor of sharing the experience with my wonderful friend Mallory, who named our camel Humphrey. 

We stopped at a hydroponic greenhouse farm place that produces the majority of Israel's fruit and vegetables, a major feat considering it's smack in the middle of the dessert. We tasted tomatoes, herbs, strawberries, and lemons, which provided a much-needed vitamin boost. 

Tel Aviv was the next major stop, the biggest city in Israel. It's full of cute artsy shops and a a great Saturday market.

Now it's the morning of our departure, and I can't help being sad it's over. I made so many great friends and learned so much on this trip. I'm off to Prague early tomorrow morning for a whole other adventure.

Outdoors Day

As Birthright has continued I've noticed they like to clump activities by category. Yesterday was sad day, spending time in a soldiers' graveyard and taking a tour of the Holocaust museum. The day was moving and powerful and deeply somber.

Today took on a new theme - the outdoors. We started by hiking the Masada, expansive Roman ruins in the middle of the desert. 

In the spirit of Romanness, we had a push-up competition in the ancient baths.

Next was a hike through waterfalls. The scenery was beautiful but the falls were largely dried up. Finally, we went to the much-awaited Dead Sea. This was probably my favorite part of the trip this far. It feels hilarious to be in such salty water. You can bounce up and down like a yo-yo without touching the ground and float without paddling. We took a quick falafel break and then slathered ourselves with mud. I'm now the softest I've ever been, and I can't stop stroking my face. 

 

So Many Hamburgers

Our Germany adventures started with a day in Dresden, where we met up with a friend of mine who's studying there. Having a native with us made all the difference. She took us to a great restaurant, showed us the fun, non-touristy area of the city, and found us cheap bus tickets on an all-German website. Dresden felt a little like Boston, full of students and great shopping. After a day of wandering, we got back to the station just in time to hop on the bus to Berlin.

Berlin wins most interesting city award, at least in my book. The complicated politics and history make for a city you can't simply stroll around in and get a feel for. It took two walking tours and a long visit to the German History Museum for me to begin to grasp what Berlin is all about. We took the classic walking tour, led by an ex-history teacher oozing with love of sharing history with us. He took us mainly to major sites of the Holocaust. I stood over the bunker in which Hitler committed suicide, and a few steps later saw the site where his body was burned. Ironically, a child's slide now sits in that very spot.

We also took a tour called Alternative Berlin that explored the street culture and graffiti art that began largely after World War II. Much of the artwork is spectacular and easily missed without a guide to point it out.

The torrential downpour made it tough to take lots of pictures, but I promise it was really cool. 

If you're ever in Berlin, go to a place called White Trash Fast Food (WTFF). This bar/restaurant/music venue couldn't even be called a room - it's more like a large covered space lit with vintage chandeliers and candles held in liquer bottles. We ate awesome veggie burgers, drank much beer, and listened to a band described as "pop/funk/theater." As strange as that sounds, it's exactly what they were. 

Alana and I left the hostel early the next morning, her for the airport and me for the bus station. I slept most of the way to Hamburg, and was greeted by my good friend Jan as I stepped off the bus. He goes to university a little ways outside the city but came home to Hamburg for the weekend to hang out with yours truly. Despite the wind nearly blowing us away, we managed to hit most of the major sites in Hamburg. 

The best part, though, was realizing that the name for one who lives in Hamburg is legitimately Hamburger. I couldn't stop picturing the food kind of hamburgers hobbling around the streets. 

The awful weather eventually scared us away. We spent the evening drinking wine I can't pronounce, sharing music, and reminiscing about New Zealand. His wonderful mom went out of her way to make sure I had everything I needed, and it felt so nice to be in a home instead of a hostel. Now I'm off to Amsterdam for five nights. The forecast looks very wet, so I see a lot of hiding inside in my future. 

Czech It Out

I arrived in Prague after pulling an all-nighter, with only a few measly hours of plane sleep in me. My wonderful friend Alana was waiting for me outside of customs, just arrived from Dublin. We navigated our way to the hostel, which looks like it could be in Animal Kingdom in Disney World. As we speak I'm staring at a grinning giraffe painted above my bed. It took us about a day to get our bearings, since old town of Prague was apparently designed before the invention of straight lines. The windy cobblestone roads, while not conducive to efficient navigation, create the charming European feel of rich history and architecture.



Juxtaposed onto the old city is graffiti of all shapes, color, and sizes. Most notable of the graffitis would be the John Lennon wall. During the communist rule, civilians would paint Lennon quotes on the wall each day, and officials would paint over them each night. This back-and-forth created a space for silent, peaceful protest until the Velvet Revolution in 1989. Today the wall flourishes with layers of John Lennon-themed graffiti art.

Alana and I took both the general walking tour and the castle walking tour, getting a pretty solid overview of Prague's major sites. It houses the world's largest ancient castle, an impressively huge astronomical clock, and an extremely well-preserved Jewish quarter. Apparently Hitler was very fond of Prague and had intended to retire here. He forbade destruction of the major synagogues, planning to use them to house a museum of an extinct people. I know, freaky, right?!

The other thing one must note about Prague is the beer. People love to shoot out the statistic that the people of Prague drink the most beer per capita of any city in the world, averaging over a liter of beer per person per day (this includes babies). Beer is cheaper than water in most places, and I'm starting to wonder how Czech people don't all suffer from dehydration. There's also this...I don't know what it is but it can't be bad.

Alana and I took advantage of this on a pub crawl on our second night and met a mob of drunken Irish students along the way. Our night out was a blast and involved a burrito, which is all a girl could ever want.

For our last night we went to a Black Light Theater show, recommended to me by a guy on the plane. Apparently very Czech, this type of theater involves very strange effects and very little plot. I'm not sure what else to say about it except that we left at intermission and will probably never attend another one of these shows.

All in all Prague seems like a great city with much beauty, color, and alcoholism. Hopefully I'll come back some day to spend more than three days, but we're off to Dresden in the morning. Czech-out is at 11:00!

There's No Wifi at the Western Wall

...or anywhere else in Israel for that matter. Which is fine, no complaints, but it makes it difficult to blog every day.

We've done a lot since the first day. We went on a gorgeous hike

Met up with a sister school to Boston and had a dance party with 6th graders

Had free time in the charming little town of Zizhronyaakov, where we drank coffee and made friends with an Israeli lay who lives in Ohio of all places

(Photo creds to that lady)

And then had a night out in Jerusalem. It wasn't really popping on the Sunday night. I recommend aiming for a different night if you ever find yourself turning up in Jerusalem.

Seven Israeli soldiers joined us yesterday morning, with whom we will make friends and question about Israeli culture. We went to the Old City of Jerusalem yesterday. It was mind-boggling to think I was chilling where Jesus chilled, and where some of the most important events in history took place. 

I can't say I had a spiritual or emotional experience at the Western Wall, as many do,  but i certainly felt the profound importance of such a famous site. 

We had dinner last night at the home of the Sachlav (our specific birthright program) CEO, who told us about the purpose behind Birthright and the ways in which we should return this "gift" - in the form of active participation in the Jewish community back home. 

Other notable parts of the trip are sleep deprivation and illness being passed around, but I suppose that's all part of sitting on a bus with 40 other kids every day on a travel tour. We're headed south in a few minutes, so hopefully I'll snag a bus nap.

Day 1 - Svat

After a gazillion hours of flying, we arrived in sunny Israel and were treated with donuts and much-needed water. The 40 of us met our Israeli tour guide (actually from Philadelphia) and loaded onto a big bus. Exhausted from not sleeping on the plane, I passed out without a glance out the window. We arrived where we're staying, ate dinner, and spent the night getting to know each other. 

Today we started early, with breakfast at 7:15 and a 7:45 departure. We drove down the winding roads, through stunning scenery of mountains and lakes. David our tour guide talked us through a basic history of Israel and the Jewish religion. He has a great voice and knows his stuff; it would be hard not to listen to him speak about the land he so clearly adores.

We arrived at Svat the mystical city high up on a hill. The charming, pedestrian-only city center winded past art galleries and boutiques. David toured us through various temples, explaining Svat's important history as the cite of a miraculous defeat of Arab aggression post-World War II. Here's the scoop - with heavy rain and loud weapons, the invading Arab army thought the Jews had nuclear weapons and retreated, abandoning their homes completely in fear of a nuclear attack. 

Next was my favorite (and I think everyone's favorite) part of the day. We walked into an art gallery and sat in a circle to listen to the artist speak about his experience with mystical Judaism, or Kabbalah. Also an ex-pat, Avraham grew up in Michigan and attended art school in Chicago before gradually making the move to live in Israel. The man exuded positive hippie energy, punctuating most of his points with "like whoa." He spoke of his search for spirituality in Eastern traditions before someone pointed him towards the practice of Kabbalah. The rest is history - the man can talk for days about Jewish mysticism, and his art richly symbolizes the Jewish tradition. He told us that the main goal of Kabbalah is to move away from caring about oneself and towards feeling concern for others. The special part of this wasn't just what he said but how he said it, with this pure unadulterated joy. He repeated over and over how fantastic it was to be seated in a room with people who share ancestry, tradition, and family struggle. 

Then we were set free for lunch and exploring. Naturally we headed straight for the winery and tasted local cabs made by a cute old man from Morocco. 

With the intent of finding lunch, I got side-tracked by a pretty ring and a lady from Westchester who has no intention of ever returning to the States (the common theme of American ex-pats). I wandered into a cute coffee shop with a spectacular view and met up with other kids on my trip. We drank cappuccinos and enjoyed the view. By the time we were done it was time to meet back with the group, so I grabbed a falafel and rushed to catch up with the group.

Last stop was a mikvah. We learned about cleansing and such, and we delved into the realm of Jewish gender issues. Women are impure when the menstruate and such. No need to get into it here, but needless to say I'm not rushing to pick up Orthodox Judaism. 

The next 24 hours will be pretty low-key for Shabbat, but tune in soon for our next adventure. One of the many spectacular views...