Israel 2010-2011: The Beginning (ish)

Hi everyone!

I know, I know...I've been in Israel for about 3 weeks now. Should've started this earlier, but hey, Internet in the hotels I was staying at wasn't available, and I wasn't going to set this up while I was in class, I had to be paying attention (wink-wink-nudge-nudge)!! One notable part of this trip was how I spent Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Christmas Eve found me at a midnight mass at the local Scottish Church, and on Christmas Day, Gabi and I went church hopping (not even kidding) from the Church of the Holy Sepulcher to a church in East Jerusalem that looks similar to Notre Dame (minus the river around it).

For those of you who don't know (and therefore I have no idea why you're reading this), I am spending the winter semester of 2011 at the Rothberg International School at Hebrew University. I am living in university dorms that are part of the Mount Scopus campus of the university! The area of the dorms is called the Kfar Studentim (student village) - so when you read "kfar", assume it's the village! The kfar has quite a few buildings that house students, and the grounds are home to numerous cats (who I can hear fighting down below right now).

My Ulpan (Hebrew language course) doesn't start until January 19 - so why am I in the dorms already? The answer is relatively simple. Because I was participating on the York University Jewish Teacher Education trip to Israel which took place over winter break, I decided it was not worth my time (or money) to fly back to Toronto at the end of December, only to fly back to Israel a couple of weeks later (talk about jet lag!). For the past week or so, I have been living in the dorms. What have I done? Sleep, more sleep, read, and, of course, ventured out to campus and to the city center! Since I assume that you don't want to hear about me sleep and read, I guess I will start this blog by summarizing what I've done other than that!

I ventured on campus the day I moved in. I know, adventurous!! Campus is beautiful, naturally; although, I must admit, being placed on the top of the hill/mountain means that it is quite the walk to get from my dorms to the building that my classes will be in. The more interesting parts of my recent travels are, obviously, the times that I went to the city center, and the Old City. On my first trip into the city, I started at Machane Yehudah, which is an outdoor market /shuk where you can get practically anything you want, from fresh fruits and veggies (I got amazing strawberries!), to fresh meat and fish (wasn't brave enough to get that...), to clothing and housewares (I finally have hangers!). From there, I walked down to Ben Yehuda street (those of you who have been will know that it is one of the biggest tourist traps for shops in Jerusalem), and from Ben Yehuda, I made my way to the Old City. I visited the David Citadel/Tower of David, a museum detailing the 4000 year history of Jerusalem and boasting spectacular panoramic views of the Old City from its rooftops. Then, by chance, I overheard someone in the tourist office mention that there is a free walking tour of the Old City, which I joined! The group, called New Europe Tours, offers these free tours all over Europe (no catch - it's free, you can tip at the end of the tour if you wish). It was a great basic tour of all four quarters of the Old City - Armenian, Jewish, Muslim and Christian. On this first trip, I decided it best to take a taxi into the city - but yesterday, I braved the Jerusalem public transit system, and took a bus from the kfar to Ben Yehuda. It was pretty normal, except the bus driver couldn't seem to go for more than 5 minutes without honking the horn! Ah well...when in Israel...

For the past two Shabbats I have gone to the Student Center for dinner, where I have made friends from all over the world - from the US (California to Rhode Island), to Moldova, to Switzerland, to Italy, to France!

That's all for now, hope you all have enjoyed reading! I hope that the rest of my blog posts won't be as long, but I figured I had a lot of time to cover!

Peace, hummus, and rabid homeless cats, and of course, love!
Dale =)