Tuesday: My day in Amsterdam. Took the train to Amsterdam Centraal after buying a map of the city in the airport. Used my map to navigate to the Anne Frank House. The line for the Anne Frank House was long, but I met two girls who were traveling after graduating from the US Air Force Academy. They were delightful. Then I experienced the many-storied canal house where Anne Frank and her family/companions were hidden during the Holocaust, until they were caught. Two things really amazed me:
1. I was the only apparent Jew in the museum. The museum was packed. I found it hopeful and inspiring that people care, not just Jews. That seemed like a good sign to me, that everyone was taking it seriously and honoring what happened.
2. Anne Frank had an incredible inner life. Her writing was eloquent and deep. When I wrote in my diary that night about what I had seen in the museum, I felt so clumsy with my words. The way Anne Frank maintained her positivity and humanity during her years in hiding and preserved it for all the world to hear about...wow. Truly awesome.
Wednesday: Arrived in Israel at 3am. Baggage claim by 4am. In a sherut and on the way to Jerusalem by 5am. In bed by 6am. I woke up from the heat of the day at 3pm and it was time to venture out into the world. I had dinner at Chakra with Cathy and Jeff, easily the best meal I've ever had out in Israel! And of course, the conversation was top notch. Then I met up with Ilana from Nativ in Crack Square (sorry, we had to). I felt so connected to my past self to be in the place where I've made such incredible memories. Catching up with Ilana and her friends from the army was incredible. I was humbled to call myself friends with such brave young women--to be a lone soldier! I can't imagine.
Thursday: Woke up late again, whoopsies. Walked to the Old City to deliver a note on behalf of a friend to the Kotel. Took a little detour on accident, ended up getting a tour from a tour guide. He told me he loved me, kissed me on the hand, and asked for money after the tour. Classy.
After the Old City I popped in at Beit Nativ and saw some dear friends and past madrichim of mine. I met up with Yuval and we ate falafel on the corner of Azza and Berlin. I spent some of the evening reading and emailing, but then I got a sudden inspiration to go to White Night in Tel Aviv, a famous night of free concerts and parties all night long. I took a bus from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv at 10pm, made my way to Rabin Square where there was a headphones party going on, met up with Ilana and lots of her friends, and the craziness began. After spending a great deal of time trying to obtain headphones, we regrouped and Cafe Landver and decided to head toward the beach. Our group had more than doubled in size at that point, since there were lots of American-Israeli-young-people there who all knew each other. At the beach, we joined in an Israeli folk dance circle for a long time. My feet blistered and started bleeding but I wasn't ready to call it a night and limp to a bus station so I had a little something to take the edge off and prayed that the sand wouldn't infect my open wounds. Then we went to Mike's Place, the mecca for Americans in Israel. There I met up with more friends, went to a beach club with them, and decided to go for a spontaneous swim in the Mediterranean. It was about 5am by that point, and the sky was starting to get lighter. At that point we just HAD to stay to watch the sunrise (which was totally anticlimactic, by the way) and get breakfast. I got back home to Jerusalem at 8am.
Friday: Brief nap, met Shiri for lunch at DeMasa on Ben Yehuda. So great to see that chamudi again. Then I braved the shuk on a Friday afternoon and took a bus to Efrat where I spent a most restful and educational Shabbat with my Nativ madricha Cori and her new husband and baby! We ate delicious food, talked about politics, read World War Z and discussed the complex issues surrounding a worldwide zombie war, and played with the beautiful baby.
Saturday: A restful day in Efrat, complete with guests for lunch, a bit of reading, a bit of napping, a walk to the playground, and post Shabbat blues. I got on a bus to go back to Jerusalem and went straight out to the bars to meet up with friends, backpack and all. I was going to call it a night around 1:30am when I ran into more friends as I was walking back. I turned right around and we danced the night away.
Sunday: Toured Jerusalem on foot with Shayna! We walked the city twice it seemed like. Lunch at Rimon in Mamila, strolling on Emek Refaim, a wifi/bathroom/fanta break in the lobby of the King David Hotel, a visit to Beit Nativ, a frantic search for a specific Yehuda Amichai poem in an empty Pomerantz bookstore, and a scenic route through Ben Yehuda and the shuk back to the bus station. Then I had a delicious dinner with Shiri and Shy at Foccacia and a great last night out in Jerusalem with Liza and friends!
Monday: My day in paradise/Herzeliya. Gil picked me up from the bus and we went to his pool and then to the beach, where the waves were extreme. After a delicious homemade schnitzel dinner, we went to see Monsters University at Cinema City, got ice cream, and had Stella Artois on the beach at Yam Bar.
Tuesday: The big first day! I met the group and we were off on a bus to the Luzit Caves/quarry where we had a picnic and introduced ourselves. There were scary bats and some horrid dead things in the bottom of the caves but if you ignored that you just saw what was basically an underground cathedral of limestone and sand. Then we got settled in Be'er Sheva with a walking tour of our neighborhood, a meal at a delicious Italian restaurant where youth-at-risk are given job experience and counseling, and then we did some group activities.
My apartment is gorgeous and my apartment mates are DELIGHTFUL! I could not be happier. There is wifi and a great hot shower and everything is clean and we have plenty of space. So different from my first day in Yerucham three and a half years ago. I can't believe how much has changed. And yet, some things remain. I feel at home in the desert. I love the heat and the sand and the smell of the streets. It's very distinctive here. I can't wait to be a part of this neighborhood. Already I've started meeting some of the locals and everyone is very friendly and welcoming. Ahh...to be in Israel.
Jerusalem’s a place where everyone remembers he’s forgotten something
but doesn’t remember what it is.
And for the sake of remembering I wear my father’s face over mine.
This is the city where my dream-containers fill up like a diver’s oxygen tanks.Its holiness sometimes turns into love.
And the questions that are asked in these hills
are the same as they’ve always been: “Have you
seen my sheep?” “Have you seen my shepherd?”
And the door of my house stands open
like a tomb where someone was resurrected.
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