...this lady in the airport asked...

The past week or so, I have been traveling with my momma in Israel.  I took an eight day vacation from work, we rented a car, and we had a big adventure.  Some things went according to plan and some things did not, but throughout it all, I kept thinking, "This is so Israeli.."  So here it is, a rundown of the week, a picture or two, and a few too many Israeli moments.

My adventures started before my momma even made it to Israel.  They started with the rental car.  I am sure the next blog entry will be dedicated to this topic (more on that later), but we'll start at the beginning.  I rented a car.  I have my Israeli license, and although I was a bit nervous to drive, I was very excited. The rental process was painless.  I was sitting in the car with the rental guy, and he was explaining this and that to me.  We were finishing up and I asked him if he needed my mom to sign anything because she was going to drive too.  It was so Israeli when he said no but a "neshika"--a kiss-- would be nice.  And he pointed to his cheek.    We continued going through things in the car, and I asked him to check the GPS he gave me to make sure that it was a-okay.  As he turned it on, and something not so Israeli happened.  He looked at the GPS and said that he didn't realize it was so small.  Then he decided to give me a 40% discount on the GPS rental--out of the blue and totally unsolicited from me.  I am not complaining, but I was definitely surprised.

The next morning, I left at the crack of dawn to pick up my momma at the airport.  I made it there more or less without a hitch, parked, and waited for her in the arrival hall.  The airport is a fun place for people-watching, that's what I did to pass the time.  There was a guy holding a sign that read "Tikkun Olam" which is a phrase used to say "repairing the world".  There is a five month volunteering program called Tikkun Olam, and I am assuming he was waiting for arriving participants.  It was so Israeli when (in Hebrew) this lady in the airport asked him if he really thought he could fix the world.  He said he could try.  The lady said I don't think so in response, and the guy, clearly at a loss of what to say, just responded, well the kids arriving think they can.  After his response, everyone in earshot started giggling and mumbling about the ridiculousness of the exchange.  The nosiness, blase attitude and opinionated mannerisms of Israelis never cease to amaze me.  A couple minutes later, my mom came out, and we were on our way.

Our first day consisted of a drive down to the desert.  We stopped at a winery to taste some wine, stopped at a goat farm to taste and STOCK UP on goat cheese, and then we went to the desert spa for a bit of relaxing before turning in for the night.  Somewhere along the way, we lost a hubcap.  I was silently praying that it would be our only mishap.  The next day, though, led to more car adventures.

 Colored Sands in Mitzpe Ramon

We left our kibbutz hotel early and drove down to Mitzpe Ramon.  After a stop at the visitors' center, we picked a hike and drove to the site.  We got out, made a sivuv, a loop, and continued our drive to Eilat, or at least we tried.  We got a few meters from the site and the car just wouldn't go anymore.  We flagged down some help and the couple that stopped was the sweetest thing.  The husband happened to know about cars, and he told us we weren't doing well (we sustained under-car damage while driving in the gravel parking lot by the hike).  It was so Israeli when every two minutes his wife would chime in to be careful or to move away from the road.  She was a typical Israeli with a big heart who worried a ton.


A couple minutes after the couple stopped, another car pulled up behind them.  It turned out to be the family that we saw in the parking lot of the hike site as we were leaving.  At that point the couple, Chaim and Mazal (such fitting names, meaning "life" and "luck"), had determined that we weren't going anywhere soon, and the rental company told us they would send a tow and a new car, but the family (with four kids) offered to drive us back to the city of Mitzpe Ramon or help in any other way.  They waited with us for about an hour, let the kids out to play in the desert sands in the side of the road, and made a tiyul (an adventure) out of it.  It turns out the family is from Jerusalem; they live near me and know some of the families with kids in my preschool.  We chatted with them a bit, both in English and in Hebrew, and with a friendly park ranger that drove by.  As a thank you to the family, we (my mother) saw it fit to give away my M&Ms brought all the way from the States.  While I know it was the right thing to do, I still sort of miss them.  Then they continued on with their day.  They left us their phone number in case we needed a place to stay for Shabbat (if the car didn't come in time to drive to Eilat that day), and wished us well.  Well we were.  About an hour later, a tow came.  We had a nice time becoming one with nature (reading magazines and eating almonds on the side of the road), and then we were off.  Due to the two and a half hour pit stop, we missed one of our Eilat activities, but we did some good tax-free shopping, and then checked into the hotel right in time for Shabbat cocktail hour.  We had some wine, fruit, and cakes.  It was quite a spread.

The view from the underwater observation tower.
We were in the Red Sea, looking at natural coral reef.

Shabbat was restful and relaxing.  We did a lot of walking, a fair amount of reading, and a bit of sleeping.  We also did a good deal of eating!  The next morning, we had a full day starting with a stop at the Eilat aquarium and underwater observatory.  Our next stop was Kibbutz Ketura and the Arava Insrtitue.  Then we stopped at Kibbutz Lotan to see their solar tea house and their eco-education center.  We even used their compost commodes (potties).  Then we continued up to Tel Aviv where we had dinner and theater at the Na Laga'at Center (Hebrew for "please touch").  We ate dinner in complete darkness.  It was quite an experience.  Even though they gave us bibs, I was quite a successful eater; I didn't use my fingers and I didn't make a mess, nor did I spill anything.  That's a lot more than some people can say.  The show was also cool.  It was a performance by blind-deaf actors and it was a portrayal of a day in their lives, including their hopes and dreams; I was quite impressed.  It was a very unique and meaningful end to a long day.  After the show, we drove back to Jerusalem for a bit of much-needed sleep!


Monday was a lazy-day!  Momma and I shopped, ate, and drank our way through Jerusalem.  Wine and dessert on the Mamilla rooftop bar were definitely a worthwhile splurge.  The dessert we ordered was absolutely delicious, as were the wines we split.  Tuesday morning, we drove up to Haifa, and after my meeting at the Technion about potential research, we had a delicious lunch with a beautiful view of the port city.  Our next stop was Kibbutz Hazorea, where Great Uncle Walter lives.  We caught up on family gossip, ate a TON of goat cheese, and then had a delicious dinner.  (Feldmans are really good at eating.)  After a restful sleep--the kibbutz was so quiet-- and another yum meal, we set off again.

Our next destination was Herzliya, but we made a stop at Nahal Alexander.  We took a bit of a hike and looked for the turtles that are supposed to live in the river.  We didn't see any, but there were some pretty ducks and bizarre eel-like catfish things.  After our hike, I dropped my mom off in Herzliya and drove to Jerusalem for a friend's wedding.  She and her husband met in our ulpan, so it was a nice little reunion for our group of friends.  The wedding was a lot of fun, but because we danced into the wee hours of the night, I was exhausted when I woke up in the morning.

Nevertheless, I set off early to meet my mom and our family friends in Herzliya.  We had a nice brunch and then my momma and I continued on to Tel Aviv.  We were supposed to go to Better Place Cars to learn about electric cars in Israel and have a test drive, but between the written directions, the wonky GPS, my mom's sense of directions and my level of exhaustion, we never found it.  Instead, we settled for a cool art fair in Yafo followed by a movie and some more shopping.  We got gas for one final time (I feel like we did a ton of getting gas!), and that was the end of our birthright-esque whirlwind adventure.  Now I am back to work, grad school applications, and internship research.  Revived and refreshed and ready to go!

...I devoted all of my spare time to my staj....

Many of my friends, and my roommates especially, think I am a bum.  On most occasions, when I am not at work or at the gym, I can be found in my bed, under the covers.  Sometimes I am sleeping (I really push for 8 hours a night), but a lot of the time, I am working like a busy bumblebee.  Between grad school apps, my staj (internship), staying in touch, and blogging, I am always on my computer, and in the cold Jerusalem winter, my bed is the warmest place to work.  There are the nights I prefer my desk to my bed, but really, what's wrong with wanting to be cozy while I work?

Why am I so busy, you ask?  I'm not in school, and I work an 8-4 job.  Why am I not out exploring the country?  Well I will give you a short run-down of my busy bumblebee antics, and then I am to finish a few more pages before turning in for the night.  

First and foremost are grad school applications.  Applications just came out, and I am currently communicating with admissions offices at three universities.  I have decided to which three programs I would like to apply for the coming year, and I have completed various parts of the applications for each school.  Hopefully by the end of March I will be finished with all of the components: interviews, research proposals, meetings with advisers, Hebrew tests, etc.  I am applying to the Grand Technion Energy Program at the Technion,  a program in Desert Studies at the Arava Institute in conjunction with Ben Gurion University, and the Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior program withing the School of Biology at Hebrew University.  Each program is a bit different, and I still have not narrowed down a first choice, but hopefully the application process will go well and I will have a few options!

My internship probably takes up the largest chunk of my time.  I am doing research with the Green Zionist Alliance.  The focus of my research is environmentally sound development in the South of Israel.  Through this research, I have been building on my biology background and my environmental and ecological studies, but I am also learning so much.  I am learning, amongst other things, about the ecology, history, and geography of Israel, about new green development methods, and how to effectively research and write scholarly articles.  It is really refreshing after being out of school for a year and a half to focus on a new, intellectual project that I am passionate about, and I hope that this staj will help me in my grad school decision.  If you want to know more specifics about the project, shoot me an email, and once I finish my article, I will make sure to upload a copy!

Aside from the serious things that keep me clicking away on my keyboard, there are the not so serious but equally important things: the blogging, the skyping, the news reading, the emailing, etc.  Although I am living in a country far away from so many of my friends and family, I try to stay connected.  I really appreciate the gchats, the emails, and the facebok posts.  Snail mail is fun too!! Stay in touch!