A Day in the Life

Life in Jerusalem is really routine. I wake up, go to work, come back, eat dinner, hang out a little, go to sleep. The working world is boring. A lot of people are actually having a few issues with this. After such a year of adventure, this is what everyone has to look forward to (at least if they can find work). Most of us love what we're doing, but it's just so mundane.


To give ourselves a little break, we've all been traveling more on weekends. We're starting to realize how few we have left.One of my first weekends, I went to Tel Aviv to visit the other half of OTZMA. Nothing makes you appreciate Tel Aviv more than living in Jerusalem. I had never felt the young, relaxed vibe of Tel Aviv until this trip. The first night there was an outdoor concert for Tel Aviv's 100 Years celebration. Everyone there was in their twenties and having a great time. It was amazing to see how much the people in the Tel Aviv group changed in the 2 weeks since I had last seen them. They all looked so tan, fresh and relaxed; all of which are words that would definitely not have been used to describe us in Track 2 when we were all living in grubby little towns. (Actually many people felt really overwhelmed when we first moved into our big cities because there's just so many more people than we had become accustommed to.) Everyone in Jerusalem is still looks pretty haggard, stressed and pale-at least relatively, we do live in Israel afterall. It's amazing what that Mediterranean can do to help a person relax.

Last weekend, I went all the way north to Acco. A friend and I left Jerusalem at 6 AM and after 4 hours of travel, reached the city. Acco's actually a really cool city. The old city has ruins from Roman times. The old Roman fortress has been renovated a few times and was used as a prison up until around the mid-1980's. It's supposed to be one of the most in-penetrable prisons in the world, but there was a famous escape Israeli resistance fighters during the British rule in Israel. There's also an underground tunnel used by the Templar nights and an old Turkish bathhouse- although going to a Turkish bathhouse just wasn't the same without the full experience.

At around 4 we finished seeing all the sites and spent the next hour wandering through the city tryying to find our hostel. When we got there, we asked how much it would be and the man told us 250 shekels ($60 about). We told him that 2 days before when we called, they said it would be 40 shekels ($10). He told us yes, but that was for the dormitory room which was under construction- they had decided to tear down the room within the 2 days between our call and our arrival. He told us however, that the workmen leave at 7 and he could move the beds back in for us then.

All this time, my friend had been talking to the man in Hebrew and I was sure I didn't understand what they were saying. It turns out, I did understand, it was just so ridiculous that I assumed I must have misunderstood. I'm finding that the majority of the times I don't understand what is being said to me, I actually do understand, I just assume I misunderstood because what is being said is just too preposterous.

We went to look at the room and saw it was covered in sawdust with workbenches everywhere- they were actually in the process of tearing down the room to rebuild a nicer room. The door and the windows to the room were missing and all the old metal bedframes were standing outside. Both of us have learned to be flexible this year but even OTZMA hadn't prepared us enough for this. By this point, it wasn't long until transportation stopped for Shabbat which wasn't nearly enough time to get back to Jerusalem or Tel Aviv. Luckily, one girl on OTZMA is living in the hospital in Nahariyya to work with psychiatric patients. It took us an hour to make the 10-minute trip to Nahariyya (because nothing goes right for OTZMAnikim) and slept on her floor for the night. Of course we didn't have time to buy enough food before Shabbat so we had a very hungry Saturday.

Right now for ENP I'm doing a lot of funding research. I just finished researching and starting to reach out to grant foundations. I'm now working on looking up companies that are based in the cities we operate. In Israel, it's still a fairly new idea to have companies support the communities they operate in, so the next step is to reach out to them and convince them it's a good idea. The work isn't all that interesting but I like researching and a major part of what I do is organizing the information into excel spreadsheets, and you all know how much I love to organize so it's great for me. ( Note that I said organize, not clean- some things never change).

The Big City

This week, I moved into my apartment in Jerusalem. I'm now living with 2 boys- Avi who has a type A personality and just graduated with a degree in finance and Warner, who lived in India the past 2 years. We're quite an odd mix, but so far it works. This is the first apartment I've had all year where we do dinner together. Warner and I trade off cooking and we all sit and have family dinners together. Warner had to push me and Avi a little into doing it but it's really nice.

What I did not previously know about this apartment is that it's actually a hotel room. I'm living in the kitchen. That means that of the ten months total I will spend in Israel, I will have spent 5 months living in a joint kitchen/living room, 1 month living on army bases, 2 weeks sharing a bed which the previous owners probably died in, 2 weeks having no home, and 2.5 months living in an apartment that actually could have been made for the amount of people living there.

It's really nice to be in a city. We live in the center of the city so its always busy and there are always people around. It's also nice to have more people from OTZMA around. Even though only 12 out of the 50 live in Jerusalem, that's still double the amount that was in Kiryat Malachi. It's also great to see stores being open past 7 and things like resteraunts and coffee shops- wonders almost too good to be true.

I've started my internship for Ethiopian National Project. ENP works to help integrate Ethiopian-Israeli teenagers into Israeli society. I'm doing a lot here- researching grants, writing grants, writing articles, putting together the newsletter, and preparing for next year's General Assembly. The GA next year is in Washington DC so I'll help put together the booth while I work here and then I'll probably be volunteering at it next year. Check out one of the articles I wrote for ENP at enpblog.blogspot.com

I really love what I'm doing here. It's a small office and everyone is really nice. It's also great to feel useful and productive. I think I'm really going to enjoy my time at ENP

Istanbul was Constantinople

We have a 2 week vacation for Passover so I decided to go to Istanbul for a week with Sarah, Rena and Becky, a few friends from the program. All of us loved the city. It is a very modern European looking city. It is also a very clean city, although we could never find a trash can when we needed one. About half the population is religious so it's very interesting to see the contrast between the modern city and people walking around with their heads covered, some wearing the full burka.

There are some things that we define as being distinctly Israeli that we all learned were Middle Eastern, not Israeli. For example, in Israel, it is hugely popular for boys to wear shirts with horizontal stripes. Everyone wears them all the time. Sunflower seeds were also very popular in Istanbul as well as in Israel. And of course all clothing was bedazzled in Istanbul too. I will never understand why people here love sparkles as much as they do. In Istanbul, we actually found a bedazzlement shop. Thousands and thousands of sparkles in all different colors, shapes and sizes, in case your clothing didn't have enough sparkles already.

As I'm sure you all know, our President visited Istanbul this past week. As soon as anyone found out we were Americans, they were so excited and all shouted, "Hey, Obama!" at us. Everyone wanted to know if we had voted for him. They absolutely love Obama in Istanbul. Everyone was so excited he was coming. On Tuesday, when he was actually there, there were 1400 CIA agents and 4000 Turkish police officers guarding the city. Obama was visiting the main tourist attractions, the Blue Mosque and the Hagia Sophia, and we stayed near them, so we couldn't leave our neighborhood because all the roads were blocked off. We had to go outside the walls of the city and walk along the water to get out. Even the water was being guarded, although these guards were obviously not taking it very seriously. They were standing around eating sunflower seeds and inspecting what the fishermen were catching. A group that we passed standing on the walls of the city saw us looking up at them and waved at us. We passed the attractions and reached the main city just as a road was being cleared off for the president to pass by. We stood at the side of the road and saw the whole presidential parade go by. I was able to see Obama in his car as he drove by.

Another interesting experience for us was the Turkish Bath. Our hostel had a deal with the oldest Turkish bathhouse in Istanbul so we went there. We were given towels by a women who doesn't speak English and once we had changed we were shuffled into the bath room by a women who looked like she had worked in the bathhouse for its entire existence. She wore nothing but a bathing suit bottom and a head covering. Once in the room, she ripped off Sarah's towel and moved here to a seat on one of the marble benches. We all sat down next to basins and were given pans to spoon water onto ourselves to bathe ourselves. In the middle of the room, we noticed a huge table with a girl lying on it. Apparently, the table in the middle of the room is where each person has their turn being massaged. After she finished massaging you with soap, the old women, whom we decided was named Hagar, splashed a bucket of water on you. It was without a doubt one of the most unusual and awkward experiences of our lives. That says a lot considering the past seven months we've been through.

We decided to leave Istanbul one day and go to Bursa, the former capital of the Ottoman Empire. Bursa was a cute little city on a hill with lots of trees and a river running through it. We were the only Americans on our tour. There were 2 women from Morocco, a women from Brazil and 3 couples from Bahrain, 2 of whom were traveling together. We learned that Bahrain is an island country off the coast of Saudi Arabia. None of us were surprised to see that sunflower seeds, striped shirts, and bedazzlement were also popular in Bahrain. Apparently there is an American Naval base in Bahrain and the princess married an officer. Although it is around 130 degrees in the summer, there is so much air conditioning, you can't even tell. Even the streets are air conditioned. It was really interesting learning about life in Bahrain. There are Christian, Jewish and Muslim families that all live together. They also love Obama and were excited to be in Istanbul when he was there too. All of us got invited to spend our next vacation in Bahrain.

All of us had been keeping quiet the fact that we live in Israel. We didn't want politics to be a part of our vacation and it was our first time in a Muslim country so we weren't sure how people would react. Although we didn't we all wished we had told the people from Bahrain that we live in Israel. A huge part of our year has been learning about the conflict and sessions and seminars on everything related. We had talked to people from all sides and had conversations with Palestinians, West Bank settlers and Israeli Arabs. However none of us have ever talked with people living in an Arab nation who weren't handpicked out to talk to us. Bahrain is right next to Saudi Arabia, but people have lots of rights, they can practice their own religion and women do not have to cover their hair. It would have been nice to see what a random person from a different country thought about it all.

Our tour guide in Bursa had a friend who had recently traveled to the gulf. She had brought back authentic kohl eyeliner for our tourguide. The directions were written in Arabic so the guide couldn't read it. She asked the women from Bahrain to translate it and explain to her what to do. Apparently, the eyeliner she had received is no longer used. It has a 5% lead content, so no women in the gulf states use it anymore. Now, they just us Lancome Paris, MAC or other makeups from Europe and America. The women all laughed at the tourguide and she was a little upset she couldn't use her authentic eyeliner.

We all really enjoyed our trip. It was refreshing to be in a big city after spending so much time in our little towns. Everyone was really friendly. Multiple times when we were lost, people would stop to help and walk us to where we were headed. We loved meeting people from all different places and talking to everyone. It was a really nice to go away for awhile and refocus before we all move to cities for the final 2 months of OTZMA

Kiryat Malachi and Beyond

The holiday of Purim was recently celebrated in Israel. All schools got three days off for it. The day before Purim, the schools had parties and everyone wore their costumes to school, like in the US for Halloween. For weeks before, everyone kept asking us what we were dressing up as. In all the shopping centers, photography booths popped up so that people could get pictures of their kids dressed as lions, princesses, or Darth Vader. Also much like the US, teenagers love to play tricks for Purim. Firecrackers, though illegal, were plentiful in Kiryat Malachi. Teenagers loved throwing them in the school halls during class, or during the breaks or at the nearest American volunteer (aka us). We were all very happy to see the firecrackers go as the holiday ended.

It took us awhile to figure out what to do for Purim. There is a big street party in Tel Aviv. In a neighborhood called Florentine, all the roads are blocked off and everyone comes out in costume. We ended up going to the party thrown by Ben Gurion University in Beer Sheva. Two engineering students who were with us were dead set on winning the costume contest. They decided to go as Asterix and Obelix, characters in a French cartoon. We were able to witness the last minute frenzy of sewing the costumes together, stuffing the fake belly with foam padding, and making sure all the lights on the costumes turned on (they were electrical engineering students). At the end of the night though, they won a flat screen TV. At a later party, they won a trip to Turkey for their costumes.

After Purim, we only had two weeks left in Kiryat Malachi before the Passover break. We are all starting to wrap up our volunteering. My favorite thing I've done here was working at the senior center. I work in the art room there doing little projects and talking to the seniors. One who I've gotten to know well, came from Spain in 1950 when he was fifteen. He came on his own and lived in Jerusalem for 6 years before the rest of his family came to Kiryat Malachi and he moved to the city too. Another man that I've met was born in Kiryat Malachi when it was still a tent city. Almost everyone who frequents the senior center was born in a different country and immigrated. It's really interesting to talk to them and hear their stories about how they came, their lives here, and where their families are now. They are all also very patient in helping me with my Hebrew, since they all had to learn it as a second language too, they understand when I make mistakes or don't know certain words and love to teach me.

I also really love working with the high school seniors. I work with the highest level, so they all speak really good English. I spent my first few weeks with them preparing them for their oral exams in English, so I interviewed them all about their lives. Since I never became very close with my host family in the city, I went over to my students' houses when I was in Kiryat Malachi for a weekend.

After we finish here, we have a two week break for Passover. I'm going to be going to Turkey for part of it with a few friends. After our break, we begin the internship portion of OTZMA- the last track. I'm going to be living in Jerusalem working for the Ethiopian National Project. ENP works to bring programming to Ethiopian teenagers to help them succeed. Many of the teen centers that OTZMAnikim have been working at are funded by the Ethiopian National Project. I'm looking forward to working for them, but I can't believe it's the almost the third track already. This year has gone so fast for all of us. A little more than 2.5 months until OTZMA is over.

Adventures in Food, Culture and Language

For the first time in a long time, I have had a week that I would consider normal. I went to work, I went to the gym, and I cooked- that pretty much describes my week. So I decided, so that you all can fully understand my experience here, to give you and update on my experiences in food, culture and language in Israel (backwards).

Language- The most meanyen (interesting) words in Hebrew
*to pronunciate these words it is important to understand i= the sound ee, e=eh, a=ah, and ch=the guttural sound Hebrew is so famous for.

stam- this is by far the best word in the Hebrew language. It means jk (just kidding for the non-instant message/text message generation). To clarify, this word does not translate to just kidding, it translates exactly to jk. It entertains me to no end that there is a socially acceptable word for jk.
agvaniah- this means tomato. It also means butt cheek.
balagan- this translates in English to the word chaos, but it doesn't quite have the same beauty that balagan has. In Israel, every situation is chaotic, so balagan comes up a lot
lenaker-when you are drowsy and are about to fall asleep while you are sitting, you start to nod off and your head tends to fall then it wakes you up a little and you quickly bounce it back up. That is what this word means. It comes from the word for woodpecker.
bassa/chaval- Bassa means bummer and chaval means shame. The root for the word chaval is the same as the one for sabotage and for terrorist. However, in Hebrew, the connotations for chaval and bassa have switched. If you forget your cellphone or you are having a bad day, thats chaval. Bassa is used in the sense, "Whoops, I just killed a little girl. Bassa." or "Oh no, there's about to be a nuclear attack. What a bassa." As much as we try to convince that killing little girls or nuclear attacks are not bummers, they are tragedies, we have yet been able to get the point across.
Shniya- It means "one second" Shniya is always accompanied by a hand motion- take all of your fingertips, put them together, and with the back of your hand facing the person you are addressing, wave back and forth, bending at the wrist.
Tamara- in Hebrew, Tamar means date and the "a" at the end adds a hint of God to the word. What's far more important, is that in Amharic (the language spoken by Ethiopian Jews), Tamara means amazing. I thought that was fitting. You should all remember this in any future interaction with me. Stam.


Food
The food in Israel is amazing. We have been fed Russian, Yemenite, Moroccan, Tunisian and Ethiopian food on different occasions. When you are a guest in Israel, it is very important to never turn down food that is offered to you. However, if you make the mistake of turning it down, it doesn't really matter because they will bring you food anyway. Always. And way too much of it. I have also learned a lot about how to cook since coming to Israel. As I mentioned earlier (like months ago), I learned how to make a grilled sandwich this year. Since then, I have become an expert at vegetable soup (from scratch), Petitim (Israeli couscous), lamb kabobs, egg drop soup and sauteed vegetables. I have successfully attempted shakshuka (sauteed vegetables with an egg poached on top in the juices) for the first time tonight. Although I have yet to attempt it, I have a feeling I could cook fish too. Lentils and chicken is next on the list to attempt.

Culture
Two foods have crossed over to be more a part of Israeli culture than its cuisine. Shwarma is one of them. I have seen people eating shwarma at ten AM on a regular basis. I personally overdosed on shwarma living next to Nazareth, the shwarma capital of the world. Every single time that I have talked about favorite foods with Israeli children, shwarma is always one of the first ones mentionned. Humus is also a major part of Israeli culture. In my fridge right now, there are three tubs of humus and one regular sized container of humus. It is served with absolutely everything. There are many humus restaurants in Israel- the meal is entirely humus with pita, the only option when you order is if you want spicy sauce with it.

One thing is very important to understand about Israel- everyone is family. It is completely acceptable for cab drivers to ask you if you are here to look for your husband, and then offer their son to you as an option and invite you over for shabbat dinner to meet him. This has also happened on a regular basis with people who sell vegetables at the shuk. People will invite you to come stay with them after conversations even as short as ten minutes.

Israelis are also very proud of their cellphones- especially teenagers. It is their most prized possession. All teenagers use their cellphones as ipods but you can hear them without headphones too. Often during classes someone will whip out a cellphone and put music on for everyone to enjoy- because listening to music in English is much more interesting than actually trying to learn something from me.

There is also a major difference in Israeli dress- especially in the periphery. Since living here, I have seen more zippers than I have ever seen before. Extra zippers apparently add some spunk and decoration to a boring pair of jeans. Many tops look like they've been bedazzled near to death. It entertains us to no end.

Music from the 90's is huge here. Every bar we go into plays hits from the 90's and every teenage boy can play "Time of Your Life" by Greenday on guitar.

This is a taste of what daily life in Israel is like for us. All these cultural differences we find all the time make great conversation topics between ourselves and makes us appreciate the differences between here and the US. It adds flavor to everyday life. Every bite of humus we eat is just a little bit better because of all this.

The City of Angels

Kiryat Malachi translates to the City of Angels in English. People make a lot of jokes of how it is just like Los Angeles and often ask us (as Americans we are the official experts on Los Angeles) if it is true. It's not.

Kiryat Malachi is a very small city in Israel. We walk across it in about fifteen minutes. Our apartment has a great location in the city. We are right across the street from MegaBol- the grocery store, the open-air market, Kastina-a major bus stop in Israel- all buses going to Beer Sheva stop here, and the gym. The gym is by far the best part of Kiryat Malachi. You step into it and it feels like you're stepping into America. It's huge, clean and everything works; all things we are not used to encountering in Israel. In the gym, there's a smoothie bar, a spa with lounge chairs right by it, and a steam room. There's really nice shower rooms which we have definitely made use of during the week our shower stopped getting hot water. Last Friday, we had to stay out of the apartment for four hours as it was being exterminated- we don't want to know what for. All of us spent at least 3 out of four of those hours at the gym- it is truly an oasis for us. Little tears of happiness come to my eyes just thinking about how clean the gym is. The gym also offers classes for us. We have already experimented classes from pilates to spinning to belly dancing. Zara and I are in love with our new belly dancing classes- we both now have belly dancing skirts with bells to wear to the classes.

Slowly and surely, we have picked up volunteering in this city. I work in both an elementary school and a high school, tutoring English during the mornings. I've learned that I love working with all ages except 7-9th grade. Those kids give so much attitude and always cause so much trouble. Last Wednesday, after Zara, Sarah and I finished with our 7th grade classes, we were all so worn out from dealing with them. Luckily right after seventh grade is 12th which is the funnest classes. Right now, the 12th graders are preparing for a big oral English exam that all high school seniors have to take. We prepare them for their interviews so we spend a few hours talking to them all, finding out about them and what they do in their free time (a little bit of research so that we can know what to do in our free time). I met one boy that is going to be a hacker in the army next year and is a photographer in his free time. One girl is named Ruth Danna. Her mother always wanted to name her daughter Danna, but before she had her daughter, her mother-in-law came to her in a dream, told her she was pregnant with a girl, and that she should name it after her, Ruth. That's how she got the two names Ruth Danna.

It appears that every teenage girl in Kiryat Malachi has fallen in love with Adam, the only boy in our group there. All of us have experienced trying to teach a girl English who is not paying attention until Adam comes in. Then they suddenly develop a keen interest in the language. Once I was trying to get a group to create a poster for Tu B'Shvat. One girl was far more interested in chatting with her friends until Adam came in. She immediately asked me how to say "You have beautiful eyes" in English. All of us girls have experienced the opposite. I had the unique experience of trying to help a group of 11th grade boys write an essay about eating healthy(in English). They were far more interested in using the English they knew to find out if I had a boyfriend, where I lived, what my plans were for that night, and if I wanted to come over for dinner.

The city itself is an interesting place. There are more shwarma stands than are really necessary for a city of that size. It is a much busier place than either Arad or Natzrat Ilit, which is nice to feel something different. There are also a lot more young people in Kiryat Malachi. For some reason the high school seniors all look like they're 23 so it's hard to tell if the people we see are our age or younger. We made friends with a group of soldiers who are volunteering in the city. They are in a unit called nachal which is more community-oriented. They volunteer at all the same places we do. They informed us that we came to the most impoverished place in Israel with the wildest kids. About every five minutes, we hear firecrackers go off. They sound a lot like gun shots. Even in the hallways at school, the kids are lighting firecrackers. At first it scared us every time they went off, but we're getting used to it. But it really scares the kids. I was working in an afterschool program with 4th graders and firecrackers were going off when they were on a break. It really scared all of the kids, especially since they have all been listening to kassam rockets fall recently.

Seeing Americans is definitely a rare experience in Kiryat Malachi. We get stared at a lot when we walk around because we obviously stand out. Everyone asks us what we're doing here, especially once they hear us speak. One little girl first thought I was from Africa. When I told her I was from the United States, her first question was if there are kassams in the United States. The kids in the schools love having us here. We get to play with them and teach them English in fun ways through games and music. Next week I begin working in a teen center, which has been my favorite thing so far in the other cities. It's always more fun hanging out and getting to know them in a less formal setting. Once I start that, I'll have my schedule all set up and officially be settled in Kiryat Malachi

There's No Place Like Home

I have a home!!!!!!! I have a home!!! I have a home! We never thought this would happen. Tuesday afternoon last week, we found out we had an apartment in Kiryat Malachi and would be leaving Arad at 8 AM the following morning. We thought the house was small and cramped but we did not know how true that was until all six of us were running around our two bedrooms and our group closet/living room trying to pack and clean. Somehow we managed to finish and came to Kiryat Malachi the next morning.

But of course nothing ever works out for the Kiryat Malachi crew. Let me preface by saying we knew the apartment could have been great. It was two floors with four bedrooms, a real living room, and no lime green to be seen in our kitchen. Unfortunately it was hard to focus on that when it was all covered with a layer of filth like we had never seen before. The floors were disgusting. Our bathroom had used Q-tips on the floor and toilet paper streaming out of the toilet. At first we decided to clean it ourselves. As I was wiping down the counter, there was a dead spider on it. When i knocked it a little, other bugs came out of the dead spider. When we found out we didn't have any water (or gas), we were able to convince OTZMA it needed professional cleaners.

Why did the water not work? Well it turns out that the people who had the apartment before us didn't pay the water bill. So the city took out the clock that directs the water to the apartment. So for us to have water, they needed to come and reinstall it- and Kiryat Malachi is not exactly known for efficiency or speediness.

The apartment also did not have any furniture. Not even a refrigerator. All of the food we brought had to be thrown out and we decided to spend our first night in Kiryat Malachi with other Otzmanikim who lived ten minutes away in Kiryat Gat.

We left for five days on a seminar. We had no idea what we were going to face when we returned. There have been things preventing us from having a home for two months. In all that time, I never slept in the same place for more than four nights. We were all exhausted and felt like it would never end. You can imagine our surprise when we came back and found that not only did our apartment have furniture, but it was also cleaned! And we had gas! And water! We are living in luxury. For five hours, we moved furniture and unpacked boxes. Not only do we now have a livable apartment, it really feels like home. I cannot begin to explain how happy we are to be here.

Like I mentioned, we were away for a five-day weekend seminar, called the Conflict and Hope Seminar. I can honestly say that after this seminar, none of us have any hope. It was five long days about the Israel-Palestine issue. The first night, we had a presentation showing how the conflict came out in Israeli and Palestinian culture. We saw poems written by Palestinians showing how trapped and powerless they felt when they left Israel for the settlements. There were pictures of graffiti from both East and West Jerusalem asking for peace. We saw art from both sides, the paintings by Israelis showing broken-hearted soldiers and their families and the confusion with how people can be both a martyr for one side and a murderer for the other. The Palestinian artwork looked scarily like Holocaust artwork, showing pain, suffering and a feeling of a complete lack of power.

The most amazing part of the presentation were videos that were submitted in a contest from a news station asking to show your view of life in Israel. On video, submitted by an Israeli Arab, showed people picking through rubble for anything they can salvage. You see shots of buildings with the fronts blown off and one building that's front was completely covered in bullet holes. Behind all the rubble, is the Israeli flag, waving proudly. But the video that was by far the most powerful was called Ringtones. Israelis are absolutely obsessed with their cellphones. They are a thing of pride and most people use them as phone, Ipod and camera. Ringtones are a true statement about yourself. It started showing shots of all these different phones ringing; Sarah calling, Dad calling, Home calling. They have all the typical ringtones. Then one phone is covered by broken glass, the next by even more. Then phones with dirt and glass and then you can see them on really torn seats. One phone shows Dad calling and 23 missed calls. Eventually you see a blown up bus and hear a news report about a bus full of Israeli school children that was blown up by a suicide bomber as they were on their way to school. All that was left of them were their cellphones, ringing as people called to see if they were still alive. The last shot is a phone in the rubble, playing the song "Somewhere Over the Rainbow".

Our weekend was spent staying with different families in a Jewish settlement called Tekoa in the West Bank. Different speakers from the left made it seem that the settlements were the main reason that there is not peace, even though the Palestinian Liberation Organization was created against Israel in 1964, three years before Israel won the West Bank and at a time when Israelis were not allowed into the area. The town of Tekoa is very interesting. It is half religious, half secular and the majority of the religious people are Modern Orthodox hippies. In Israel, there is a constant battle between religious and secular but in Tekoa, they got along well. The school in Tekoa is even mixed and there are also mixed marriages, both shocking for Israel. The family I stayed with was a Modern Orthodox family. They were both Israeli and decided to move to Tekoa because it is the cheapest place near Jerusalem where you can own a big house. After all the fuss that is made about the settlements and the West Bank, we didn't expect such an ordinary reason. When we asked the family if they felt safe there, they said they thought it was as safe as any other part of Israel (although the dad did have a gun stuck in his pants all weekend- even at synagogue). It was very interesting to spend time in a settlement and see that even though there is such a big deal made about them worldwide, for some people they're just home.

So why are we all depressed? Because no one seems to agree on anything. The left thinks the right is evil and conniving and the right thinks the left is naive and conniving. As time goes on, Arabs and Israelis are becoming more and more separated. Everyone in Tekoa had stories for us about how they used to be friends with an Arab. People kept saying how they used to drive to Jericho or Bethlehem but are now afraid to go. The people we met in Natzrat Ilit would often tell us about how they used to go into Nazareth but were now afraid. Most people now do not believe in a 2 state solution. When Israel left Gaza, Kassam rockets started to come into Israel regularly and with fervor, which is what sparked the recent war. The same thing happened when Israel left the bases in the north a few years ago, which led to the Lebanon war. Everytime Israel leaves an area, it leads to attacks on Israel. Its obviously that land for peace hasn't been working. After this weekend, not many of us see much hope for peace in the near future. Especially since rocket attacks have increased on Israel again- eighteen were fired into Sderot and the surrounding area yesterday. All of us who just moved in are worried that we may have to leave again soon.

As depressing as the seminar was, it was very informative. I have heard many talks on Israel and been to many conferences. This by far was the best and most even-handed one I've seen.