The past twelve or so hours of travel from Berlin to Tel Aviv have been a crazy mix of emotion. It was so wonderful to see bro and Keki and traveling around was a perfect traipse down memory lane. However, I couldn't help but get excited as the days and then hours counted down to my arrival back in Israel. This crazy mixed up world. I didn't leave feeling particularly attached to Israel and two weeks later I realize how much I liked the oven hot, dry heat or the farms springing out of nowhere. I even miss people yelling at me in Hebrew and laughing at my horrible attempts to read signs.
I began to think of how wonderful it was that I had the freedom to sell all of my things, travel halfway around the world, and develop a new home and a new attachment in whatever place on the map I chose. I began to marvel at my own resilience in the most narcissistic of ways. I began to think that it was going to be easy to pick up and move here. Pride comes before the fall?
Immediately this changed when I walked out of the gates and even at one in the morning the place was filled to the brim with welcoming families. People ignored the security guards to run and embrace much missed family members. People wept and a guy with a dog jumped from behind a pillar asking me something excitedly in Hebrew and brandishing a homemade sign that read "Dominique??".
Even though I might live here, I don't know if I'll ever have that. That kind of welcome. That knowledge that there are at least 3 people in my immediate vicinity that have wanted nothing in the world more than seeing me step into that arrivals area. There's a damn good chance that that place of exuberant welcome is never Israel for me.
But I know some places and some people always will be waiting at that airport arrivals gate. I know that I'll always have a home in Sacramento, San Fransisco, L.A. (though chances are I won't be visiting during the NBA season... let's be real), Raleigh, Atlanta, New York, maybe Japan, and wherever the heck else my talented family and friends decide to settle. So maybe Israel will just be a stop over and maybe it won't exactly be home for very long... but I don't think I've ever been more proud of anything so much as the homes I have or have created around the world.
All my love from Ben Gurion Airport after a safe flight.... home?
Friday, August 3, 2012
Thursday, August 2, 2012
Things to Like About Berlin
So since I had to spend the past few days in Berlin instead of London (aw shucks!), I figured I could use that time to research what puts Berlin on so many "Greatest Cities" list. It seems like it has been listed as one of the greatest cities for just about everything... history, art, food, dancing, people, beer, etc. So this is what I have learned while staying with fantastic CS hosts. For reference, my original host was a guy named Cristophe who took me in when I had nowhere to stay for the night. He let me stay in his flatmates room for two nights and when my host fell through for the third night he let me stay on for two more. Cristophe lives with four undergrad friends who are all now attending various grad programs in or around Berlin in a great flat overlooking a small park. After staying with these fantastic guys, this is what Ive discovered about the best and worst parts of Berlin.
Best Parts
1. The biggest must see attraction Ive found here is in this small playground near the river walk near the flat. Its a playground shaped like... wait for it... a pirate ship with an enormous slide from the upper "mast". And its not a weenie slide either... its a polished smooth metal slide with bumps and sheer drops. The kind of slide you would be sued for in two seconds in the US after some dumb kid fell off of it. But her in Berlin, it has gone un-sued for years and endures to attract at least one tourist a year (since I will now make an annual pilgrimage to this sacred site).
2. You can wander about public transportation, the streets, office and shopping buildings, etc. with an open bottle of beer. Keki says its pretty much a requirement actually. And any time after 16h00 the usual choice of refreshment is... you guessed it... a cold beer. The only real drawback is getting embroiled in the debate between Berliner Pilsner and Berliner Kindl (both equally mediocre but always side with the one whose opponent seems the most adament and/or ridiculous... at least then you get a good show).
3. When you climb construction scaffolding next to a bar so you can drink the beer you brought from home, no one says a word. In fact, when you vacate the spot, other clambor up to enjoy the view.
4. Opening beer bottles with lighters is the most natural thing. And finding new ways to open beer bottles is a novel sport. Slamming the top on a counter is childs play next to opening it with your eye or with newspaper. Literally had a discussion about opening a bottle with white bread, water, and a freezer. Use your imagination.
5. When they abandon an airport, they dont develope it. Just open the fence every day so it becomes a kickass park where you can kitesurf on a skateboard down the abandoned tarmac.
6. They might have the best clubs in Germany but I wouldnt know. What I do know is that they have the most random, improbable clubs. In abandoned warehouses, on boats, in vacant lots, etc. And the more unlikely the location, the more fun. I dont have any numbers to back that up but Im pretty sure its true.
7. You can sit by the river to drink and look at a victory monument rising over the Presidents estate. Just for kicks. Now Im not usually a fan (ecologically speaking) of buildings going right up to the waters edge but gosh is it fun to just chill in the Presidents back yard.
8. Theres not so much sun all the time and its been downright cold for me a few times. Heck, today it was as sunny as it gets with clouds passing by every five minutes or so until a huge thunderstorm brought hail and lightning so hard I thought the sky was falling. And its the middle of Summer. The reason this makes the best list is because when there is sun, people go bonkers. Apparently, sun to Berliners (Berlinians? Berlinpeople?) means walk to your nearest patch of grass, strip down to your underwear, and lie around like its the most natural thing on earth... even if your nearest patch of grass is outside of the Reichstag or by the river. Not saying I didnt participate since the temperature was perfect... but I am saying it was an odd experience coming from the unspoken bathing suit only sunbathing rules of the US.
9. Döner. Its shwarma but better. And I never thought I would say that.
10. The grafitti. I figure this one is pretty obvious with all of the famous grafitti on the wall but the graffiti is always around in the crazist places and always random and fun. Even if its just a "Happy Birthday Francie" written on the wall near checkpoint charlie.
Worst Part
1. One of the bars we went to refused to play Janis Joplin for me. A travesty, really.
So you can decide for yourself on Berlin but I think Ive made a pretty compelling argument for both sides.
Best Parts
1. The biggest must see attraction Ive found here is in this small playground near the river walk near the flat. Its a playground shaped like... wait for it... a pirate ship with an enormous slide from the upper "mast". And its not a weenie slide either... its a polished smooth metal slide with bumps and sheer drops. The kind of slide you would be sued for in two seconds in the US after some dumb kid fell off of it. But her in Berlin, it has gone un-sued for years and endures to attract at least one tourist a year (since I will now make an annual pilgrimage to this sacred site).
2. You can wander about public transportation, the streets, office and shopping buildings, etc. with an open bottle of beer. Keki says its pretty much a requirement actually. And any time after 16h00 the usual choice of refreshment is... you guessed it... a cold beer. The only real drawback is getting embroiled in the debate between Berliner Pilsner and Berliner Kindl (both equally mediocre but always side with the one whose opponent seems the most adament and/or ridiculous... at least then you get a good show).
3. When you climb construction scaffolding next to a bar so you can drink the beer you brought from home, no one says a word. In fact, when you vacate the spot, other clambor up to enjoy the view.
4. Opening beer bottles with lighters is the most natural thing. And finding new ways to open beer bottles is a novel sport. Slamming the top on a counter is childs play next to opening it with your eye or with newspaper. Literally had a discussion about opening a bottle with white bread, water, and a freezer. Use your imagination.
5. When they abandon an airport, they dont develope it. Just open the fence every day so it becomes a kickass park where you can kitesurf on a skateboard down the abandoned tarmac.
6. They might have the best clubs in Germany but I wouldnt know. What I do know is that they have the most random, improbable clubs. In abandoned warehouses, on boats, in vacant lots, etc. And the more unlikely the location, the more fun. I dont have any numbers to back that up but Im pretty sure its true.
7. You can sit by the river to drink and look at a victory monument rising over the Presidents estate. Just for kicks. Now Im not usually a fan (ecologically speaking) of buildings going right up to the waters edge but gosh is it fun to just chill in the Presidents back yard.
8. Theres not so much sun all the time and its been downright cold for me a few times. Heck, today it was as sunny as it gets with clouds passing by every five minutes or so until a huge thunderstorm brought hail and lightning so hard I thought the sky was falling. And its the middle of Summer. The reason this makes the best list is because when there is sun, people go bonkers. Apparently, sun to Berliners (Berlinians? Berlinpeople?) means walk to your nearest patch of grass, strip down to your underwear, and lie around like its the most natural thing on earth... even if your nearest patch of grass is outside of the Reichstag or by the river. Not saying I didnt participate since the temperature was perfect... but I am saying it was an odd experience coming from the unspoken bathing suit only sunbathing rules of the US.
9. Döner. Its shwarma but better. And I never thought I would say that.
10. The grafitti. I figure this one is pretty obvious with all of the famous grafitti on the wall but the graffiti is always around in the crazist places and always random and fun. Even if its just a "Happy Birthday Francie" written on the wall near checkpoint charlie.
Worst Part
1. One of the bars we went to refused to play Janis Joplin for me. A travesty, really.
So you can decide for yourself on Berlin but I think Ive made a pretty compelling argument for both sides.
Tuesday, July 31, 2012
Brazil 2016
So I ended the last post (as far as I remember) saying that the next post would be in London. Well when I missed my flight by five minutes due to a lost mitfahrgelegenheit (the longest word for carpool ever), I thought there was no use writing until I got to London... which I was still determined to do. So I got another mitfahrgelegenheit to Köln and was going to catch another one on sunday afternoon to London. To be fair, I devised this plan after fifty bajillion other ones werent going to work and it was 4 am after spending the night sleepless and kind of depressed in the Berlin airport. Im finally back in Berlin after the person who was supposed to take me from Köln to London had a family emergency but there have been so many moments in the past week when I've had to remind myself what a wonderful wonderful problem this is.
The first was actually just seven or so hours after I missed my flight. I was in the lobby of the airport just leeching wifi and waiting when a woman sat down next to me crying. She was about 55 but in great shape and dressed to the nines and being comforted by a young twenty something. The way they acted it was pretty obvious that she was the most fantastic cougar ever. So when he went to the ticket counter to sort things out and left her, distraught, next to me holding a Brazilian passport, I thought I would make her feel better by google translating "I hope things work out with your tickets" into Portuguese. Turns out she lives in Florida. She is Greek but was raised in Brazil and after being shipped to the US for swimming, decided to stay and was a national level swimmer so we had loads to talk about. It was also a nice glimpse into my future as a cougar. She hadnt been back to visit her friends in Athens in 17 years and was bringing her boy to meet them all (read:s show off). Apparently her friends were driving all night to meet them but they had lost their credit card. As a result they couldnt buy the tickets ahead of time and by the time they got to the airport there was only one ticket left on the flight to Greece. They didnt know if there were other flights or how to pay for them because they only had US dollars. So I found them a flight for her boyfriend and she left on the original flight. I also bought him the plane ticket and he would pay me in cash. But the woman told me the wrong last name (oooops) and to change it I had to cancel the ticket and repurchase it which caused my bank to think my account was compromised and freeze it. So with transaction fees that left me $20 poorer all told and with a frozen bank account and no tickets to London OR Athens but I think Breno made it eventually since at least he had the flight information and knew that there were tickets available. Fingers crossed.
The second was when I was in Köln and got to watch the Olympic opening ceremony in a sports bar and convinced a bunch of other patrons to play the opening ceremony drinking game with me. Only instead of drinking every time NBC had ridiculous commentary we drank every time the coverage of a country's team was completely dropped to show inane coverage of the German team. They skipped over 20 countries to show wide angle shots of those horrible pastel ski jackets. Not even an interview or commentary on the athletes... just views of the team from really far away. I actually would have loved to hear "And this is what the olympics is really all about" or a dream team reference at that point.
Finally, this morning when I grumbled my way out of bed to go to work with my CS host. Did I mention that he works for the German Parliament? So he showed me around the parliament and all of the cool Reichstag dome\ roof tour thing for free and then showed me all of the back room VIP areas. Which was pretty darn cool. At that point I wasnt so disappointed that I missed London. I mean don't get me wrong... I was REALLY excited to go to the Olympics but having to spend a week bumming around Germany with no responsibilities is not a bad runner up is it? And plus.... there's always Brazil in 2016 (and I AM going to make it)!
Pictures and other fun anecdotes to come soon. All my love from Berlin....
The first was actually just seven or so hours after I missed my flight. I was in the lobby of the airport just leeching wifi and waiting when a woman sat down next to me crying. She was about 55 but in great shape and dressed to the nines and being comforted by a young twenty something. The way they acted it was pretty obvious that she was the most fantastic cougar ever. So when he went to the ticket counter to sort things out and left her, distraught, next to me holding a Brazilian passport, I thought I would make her feel better by google translating "I hope things work out with your tickets" into Portuguese. Turns out she lives in Florida. She is Greek but was raised in Brazil and after being shipped to the US for swimming, decided to stay and was a national level swimmer so we had loads to talk about. It was also a nice glimpse into my future as a cougar. She hadnt been back to visit her friends in Athens in 17 years and was bringing her boy to meet them all (read:s show off). Apparently her friends were driving all night to meet them but they had lost their credit card. As a result they couldnt buy the tickets ahead of time and by the time they got to the airport there was only one ticket left on the flight to Greece. They didnt know if there were other flights or how to pay for them because they only had US dollars. So I found them a flight for her boyfriend and she left on the original flight. I also bought him the plane ticket and he would pay me in cash. But the woman told me the wrong last name (oooops) and to change it I had to cancel the ticket and repurchase it which caused my bank to think my account was compromised and freeze it. So with transaction fees that left me $20 poorer all told and with a frozen bank account and no tickets to London OR Athens but I think Breno made it eventually since at least he had the flight information and knew that there were tickets available. Fingers crossed.
The second was when I was in Köln and got to watch the Olympic opening ceremony in a sports bar and convinced a bunch of other patrons to play the opening ceremony drinking game with me. Only instead of drinking every time NBC had ridiculous commentary we drank every time the coverage of a country's team was completely dropped to show inane coverage of the German team. They skipped over 20 countries to show wide angle shots of those horrible pastel ski jackets. Not even an interview or commentary on the athletes... just views of the team from really far away. I actually would have loved to hear "And this is what the olympics is really all about" or a dream team reference at that point.
Finally, this morning when I grumbled my way out of bed to go to work with my CS host. Did I mention that he works for the German Parliament? So he showed me around the parliament and all of the cool Reichstag dome\ roof tour thing for free and then showed me all of the back room VIP areas. Which was pretty darn cool. At that point I wasnt so disappointed that I missed London. I mean don't get me wrong... I was REALLY excited to go to the Olympics but having to spend a week bumming around Germany with no responsibilities is not a bad runner up is it? And plus.... there's always Brazil in 2016 (and I AM going to make it)!
Pictures and other fun anecdotes to come soon. All my love from Berlin....
Wednesday, July 25, 2012
Pristi Pumpa
When I met Keki in the Hauptbahnhof in Frankfurt on Monday afternoon it became fairly obvious that we wouldnt be making it to Amsterdam. It was just too late and we had had such a hard time hitching to Frankfurt. Also, as some of my things were in Dresden, it just no longer made sense to go all the way Northwest and then head further south than Berlin and then back up ... it was just a mess of planning. So we said that wherever we could get a rideshare first (wether it was Amsterdam or somewhere else) that was where we were going. So we ended up back in Dresden at noon the next day and as we sat down for lunch and to write a hitching sign, a couple asked us where we were going.
A couple of hours later we were in Prague ready to meet up with our last minute couchsurf host Phillip.
Now I loved Prague. A lot. The city is gorgeous and vibrant and full of history and people and delicious things and beer. But the public transportation authorities....
We had heard that they checked tickets on the trams and so even though we had yet to pay for public transportation (quite a tast considering we had spent hours on trams and buses in Germany) we decided to buy a 24 hour transport pass for while we were in the city (110 kc or 5 ish usd). So after taking the pass we had bought from a station employee down a ridiculously long escalator we were caught in the biggest government run tourist scam ever. The official stopped us and took our passports because the ticket wasnt validated at the unmarked machine up above. The officials were pretty much only stopping tourists and asking them to pay the 800 kc fine on the spot or else they would call the police and the fine would jump to 10000 kc (thats really 4 zeros). We were saved by two things. First, Kekis ability to hold her temper much better than I could (I dont think my exasperated "well then call the damn police" really helped anything. Second was the czech girl standing to the side mouthin "dont pay". So after 20 minutes of being detained and threatened, the official simply manually validated our tickets and let us leave. I was pretty much ready to pack up and leave at this point but Im so glad I didnt.
Our CS host Phillip was insanely nice and showed us all around the city even though he was exhausted. He took us to get dumplings (after we pressed him about typical Czech food), goulash, and good Czech beer. A walk through the castle, the bridges, and the Jewish quarter left us pretty touristed out so we made our way back for a quiet night in. We completed our sightseeing (and piercing shop perusing ... to no avail) the next morning and headed out of town. Not that I didnt have an amazing adventurous time in Prague but the hitch out was the real adventure.
After consulting hitchwiki we took the metro and some buses as far out of the city as we could but couldnt follow the instructions to the petrol station as they were in butchered English. So we kept asking people and they kept directing us to random places. In the rain. We waited by a roadside that didnt go to our motorway for several hours until being instructed to walk on the motorway itself. Also not advisable. By the time it hit early evening we were desperate enough to start wandering several kilometers until hitting the airport. What followed were a series of useless conversations with check people who knew neither English nor where the nearest Petrol station was. After making our way across a muddy field and through a thorn thicket we found a neighborhood randomly with hardly any people. After several more pointless conversations we struck gold when two guys looked at us like we were idiots and pointed to a barely visible petrol station roof in the distance. We ran through more dense woods to get there and ended up at this tiny station right on the motorway covered in mud, wet, and exhausted.
And there we sat. For hours. We had pretty much given up at this point and figured a hitch would come if a hitch came. So we settled in for a long cold night at the petrol station. At 22:00 though the attendant came out to our rescue and taught us how to say "Pristi Pumpa" or "next station" in Czech. Apparently we werent even fully on the motorway to Dresden yet and the next station was much better.
Two minutes after writing the sign a perplexed guy took us to the next station - only 2 km away - with a look of disdain for the two least ambitious hitch hikers ever. While we debated the feasibility of hitching all the waz back to Dresden from petrol station to petrol station and laughing about our fate, a guy looked at our Dresden sign and said something random in Czech. Confused, we just stared at him until he mentioned some town along the way to Dresden (teplice) and said it would be a tight fit.
Let me tell you that four people and two enormous backpacks IS a tight fit for a brand spaking new PORSCHE but we managed it. Pretty sure it was one of the most epic hitches ever and got us most of the way to Dresden in about 20 minutes thanks to Daniels 240 km per hour driving. I have never been so in love with a car. I know I always talk about how I dont understand high performance vehicles and sports cars and the like but I fully get it now. It was amazing. The guys were also really nice and kept offering us food. The passenger was born in LA but lived most of his life in the Czech Republic (didnt quite get the full story through the language barrier) and was hilarious. When we saw a speed camera, Daniel had to slam on the brakes to avoid being caught going 110 kmh OVER the speed limit and we asked what the rules were like in CR. After some babbling we didnt understand he came up with "the speed limit like in shop... you break it you buy it!" which he laughed about for several minutes. Also. Porsches have boots under the hood. And they can hold exactly two backpacking backpacks. Who would have guessed? Certainly not me.
When we got dropped at the next station we were on top of the world. We were only 70 km or so from Dresden and it was warmer so sleeping there for the night wouldnt be so bad. It was mostlz a trucker stop anyways by that time of night and as they arent legally allowed to take hitchers we would have to wait until morning. But as we lamented about how the days of truckers picking up helpless hitchers were over a string of cars pulled up. So when a guy we had unsuccessfully tried to speak to in German and English gestured towards the parking lot, we were excited but not fully surprised. We started to get a little worried as he passed all of the cars though and were a million times more confused when he gestured to an enormous semi truck. But up the ladder we went and settled into our dream come true long hitch straight to Dresden. He explained that if we were stopped by the police, we should climb into the luggage compartment above the bed and not make a sound. It was slow but so much fun. Full of horrible Sparta cigarettes and random music and the windows down. I even slept a little on the super comfy bed behind the two seats. When we finally got to Dresden, he refused to just leave us at a petrol station and took us mostly to the city center.
Surely we couldnt make the trifecta of all hitches and get dropped at our door. But taking a bus wouldnt be a problem. Theoretically. But when we realized that the buses had stopped running at that stop, even that wasnt a problem. We just stuck out our thumbs and got a ride literally to Kekis front door.
So yes I was complaining about hitching last time. I said that hitching trips always ended on a high note with a refreshed love of people and a sense of adventure that you cant get anywhere else. If I was disappointed last time, its just because I didnt wait long enough. The trip wasnt over.
Unfortunately, now it is. I stay in Dresden tonight but have to say farewell tomorrow. I leave for Berlin in the afternoon and will hopefully find a place to leave my things. Im actually quite panicked about it since I cant take all of it on Ryan Air... or even most of it. But regardless I have to make it to Berlin tomorrow to catch my flight to London. Only a flight, a night in the airport, and a couple buses stand between me and Katie Lower.
Ill send an update from the OLYMPICS!!
p.s. sorry if there are any "y"s mixed up with "z"s or if youre frustrated by the lack of apostrophes... Im typing on Kekis keyboard since "my" converter broke (sorry Michelle!) and I dont know how to use Kekis properly.
A couple of hours later we were in Prague ready to meet up with our last minute couchsurf host Phillip.
Now I loved Prague. A lot. The city is gorgeous and vibrant and full of history and people and delicious things and beer. But the public transportation authorities....
We had heard that they checked tickets on the trams and so even though we had yet to pay for public transportation (quite a tast considering we had spent hours on trams and buses in Germany) we decided to buy a 24 hour transport pass for while we were in the city (110 kc or 5 ish usd). So after taking the pass we had bought from a station employee down a ridiculously long escalator we were caught in the biggest government run tourist scam ever. The official stopped us and took our passports because the ticket wasnt validated at the unmarked machine up above. The officials were pretty much only stopping tourists and asking them to pay the 800 kc fine on the spot or else they would call the police and the fine would jump to 10000 kc (thats really 4 zeros). We were saved by two things. First, Kekis ability to hold her temper much better than I could (I dont think my exasperated "well then call the damn police" really helped anything. Second was the czech girl standing to the side mouthin "dont pay". So after 20 minutes of being detained and threatened, the official simply manually validated our tickets and let us leave. I was pretty much ready to pack up and leave at this point but Im so glad I didnt.
Our CS host Phillip was insanely nice and showed us all around the city even though he was exhausted. He took us to get dumplings (after we pressed him about typical Czech food), goulash, and good Czech beer. A walk through the castle, the bridges, and the Jewish quarter left us pretty touristed out so we made our way back for a quiet night in. We completed our sightseeing (and piercing shop perusing ... to no avail) the next morning and headed out of town. Not that I didnt have an amazing adventurous time in Prague but the hitch out was the real adventure.
After consulting hitchwiki we took the metro and some buses as far out of the city as we could but couldnt follow the instructions to the petrol station as they were in butchered English. So we kept asking people and they kept directing us to random places. In the rain. We waited by a roadside that didnt go to our motorway for several hours until being instructed to walk on the motorway itself. Also not advisable. By the time it hit early evening we were desperate enough to start wandering several kilometers until hitting the airport. What followed were a series of useless conversations with check people who knew neither English nor where the nearest Petrol station was. After making our way across a muddy field and through a thorn thicket we found a neighborhood randomly with hardly any people. After several more pointless conversations we struck gold when two guys looked at us like we were idiots and pointed to a barely visible petrol station roof in the distance. We ran through more dense woods to get there and ended up at this tiny station right on the motorway covered in mud, wet, and exhausted.
And there we sat. For hours. We had pretty much given up at this point and figured a hitch would come if a hitch came. So we settled in for a long cold night at the petrol station. At 22:00 though the attendant came out to our rescue and taught us how to say "Pristi Pumpa" or "next station" in Czech. Apparently we werent even fully on the motorway to Dresden yet and the next station was much better.
Two minutes after writing the sign a perplexed guy took us to the next station - only 2 km away - with a look of disdain for the two least ambitious hitch hikers ever. While we debated the feasibility of hitching all the waz back to Dresden from petrol station to petrol station and laughing about our fate, a guy looked at our Dresden sign and said something random in Czech. Confused, we just stared at him until he mentioned some town along the way to Dresden (teplice) and said it would be a tight fit.
Let me tell you that four people and two enormous backpacks IS a tight fit for a brand spaking new PORSCHE but we managed it. Pretty sure it was one of the most epic hitches ever and got us most of the way to Dresden in about 20 minutes thanks to Daniels 240 km per hour driving. I have never been so in love with a car. I know I always talk about how I dont understand high performance vehicles and sports cars and the like but I fully get it now. It was amazing. The guys were also really nice and kept offering us food. The passenger was born in LA but lived most of his life in the Czech Republic (didnt quite get the full story through the language barrier) and was hilarious. When we saw a speed camera, Daniel had to slam on the brakes to avoid being caught going 110 kmh OVER the speed limit and we asked what the rules were like in CR. After some babbling we didnt understand he came up with "the speed limit like in shop... you break it you buy it!" which he laughed about for several minutes. Also. Porsches have boots under the hood. And they can hold exactly two backpacking backpacks. Who would have guessed? Certainly not me.
When we got dropped at the next station we were on top of the world. We were only 70 km or so from Dresden and it was warmer so sleeping there for the night wouldnt be so bad. It was mostlz a trucker stop anyways by that time of night and as they arent legally allowed to take hitchers we would have to wait until morning. But as we lamented about how the days of truckers picking up helpless hitchers were over a string of cars pulled up. So when a guy we had unsuccessfully tried to speak to in German and English gestured towards the parking lot, we were excited but not fully surprised. We started to get a little worried as he passed all of the cars though and were a million times more confused when he gestured to an enormous semi truck. But up the ladder we went and settled into our dream come true long hitch straight to Dresden. He explained that if we were stopped by the police, we should climb into the luggage compartment above the bed and not make a sound. It was slow but so much fun. Full of horrible Sparta cigarettes and random music and the windows down. I even slept a little on the super comfy bed behind the two seats. When we finally got to Dresden, he refused to just leave us at a petrol station and took us mostly to the city center.
Surely we couldnt make the trifecta of all hitches and get dropped at our door. But taking a bus wouldnt be a problem. Theoretically. But when we realized that the buses had stopped running at that stop, even that wasnt a problem. We just stuck out our thumbs and got a ride literally to Kekis front door.
So yes I was complaining about hitching last time. I said that hitching trips always ended on a high note with a refreshed love of people and a sense of adventure that you cant get anywhere else. If I was disappointed last time, its just because I didnt wait long enough. The trip wasnt over.
Unfortunately, now it is. I stay in Dresden tonight but have to say farewell tomorrow. I leave for Berlin in the afternoon and will hopefully find a place to leave my things. Im actually quite panicked about it since I cant take all of it on Ryan Air... or even most of it. But regardless I have to make it to Berlin tomorrow to catch my flight to London. Only a flight, a night in the airport, and a couple buses stand between me and Katie Lower.
Ill send an update from the OLYMPICS!!
p.s. sorry if there are any "y"s mixed up with "z"s or if youre frustrated by the lack of apostrophes... Im typing on Kekis keyboard since "my" converter broke (sorry Michelle!) and I dont know how to use Kekis properly.
Saturday, July 21, 2012
Hitching Is Not An Exact Science
Yesterday when we were hitching I explained the concept of a jinx to Keki. Now I don't know what the German equivalent of a jinx is but I do know that I sure jinxed our trip. First, I made a tentative time table. Never do that. You never get anywhere hitching if you want to. Second, I told my brother on the phone (laughingly) when asked when I would arrive that "hitching is not an exact science" and boy was I right.
We left Dresden in the afternoon and managed to dodge all of our tram fares out of the city (shh... don't tell). We caught our first hitch in the rain at an intersection from a guy who wasn't really going our direction for very long but had caught his first hitch the day before and wanted to pay it forward.
At the petrol station he dropped us at we weren't having much luck either because everyone seemed to be going to Leipzig. It probably didn't help that I speak zero German. So when a van full of what appeared to be an Austrian metal band pulled up, we were stoked. Sure to be the best hitch ever. They were going to Leipzig too, though, and suggested that since it was getting late we just catch a ride (not with them because they had no room) to Leipzig and then back South from there.
It was out of our way but we had already chatted with this guy headed to Leipzig. However, when we had passed on the ride, two other hitchers from Poland had taken him up on it. They made room, though and we were all able to squeeze in. Along the way one of the Polish guys managed to insult me being American and my hitching abilities nonstop until I snapped and delivered a particularly wonderful speech that shut him up until we made it to Leipzig.
Unfortunately, our ride left us at possibly the worst hitching station I have ever hitched from. It was near the Leipzig airport and the only people that traveled that road were going to and from work. After an hour or two of discouraging hitching punctuated only by a beautiful sunset and the clearest double rainbow I have ever seen, we were contemplating other options. When a camper pulled up we started to get a little bit excited but as Keki scampered over there to chat with the drivers two hitchers tumbled out of the back.
So instead of a ride we picked up two new friends. Their names were Ben and Martin and they were hitching in a group of about 8 or so from Utrecht to the Czech Republic for Fluff-fest (a hardcore punk festival). Each day they split into pairs and then met at a rendez-vous. Two days to fluff-fest and then a day back to Prague and then they would go their separate ways as I understand it. Today they were stopping in Leipzig to stay with a friend of a friend and offered to let us stay with them since it was quite cold and dark at this point.
So we fell in with a huge group of Dutch people in a fairly large (but not large enough) flat in Leipzig. It was a blast even though I was exhausted from traveling so soon after food poisoning. We hung out for a while at this building which was apparently kind of a vegan kitchen but they were giving away all of their left over bread and cake and salad at the end of the evening and you could buy beers for the road for 1,50. Oh my goodness, the salad was incredible. It was kind of a cole slaw but no mayonnaise clearly and way more delicious. I, being me, packed up a huge container of it for the next day. And let me say that it was just as delicious the next day. We had conversations about Israel (one of the girls had gone to hitch there for a while) and I sampled my new friend Martin's music. It was pretty fun. And completely reminded me why I love traveling. Especially low budget traveling.
We passed out on the floor and spent the morning hanging around with our new friends. It was hilarious to be in a room full of people making signs for hitching. This is a task which I am and have always been particularly bad at. Our sign for Frankfurt that read "Franfurt" should have tipped me off. But it also turns out I also write the number "9" funny or so I'm told since my nines are straight and therefore look like "q". It's totally acceptable in America. Or at least that's what I'm sticking to. After taking pictures on the roof... but actually a sloped crazy gable kind of roof... to commemorate our new friendships, we each continued on in opposite directions.
After two stops at horribly dud hitch stations (one at a toys'r'us/ikea interchange - no one picks up a hitcher with their kids in the car or a trunk full of furniture - and the other several km off of the autobahn) we got completely stuck. Now this happens to all hitchers but since Keki and I had never had such a tough hitch and Keki was exhausted after one of our Dutch friends kept her awake by falling off of the couch on top of her in the night (my snoring had nothing to do with it) and so we were letting it get us down a bit. As late evening settled in, it started to hit us that in two days we might have gotten 100 km. At this point, we were going to hit Frankfurt by the time my plane left for London. It was a mess.
And then we met Frank. With so much discouragement, I was ready to give up but was willing to try one last car with my only coherent sentence in German "Fahren Sie in den Süden?". Now I would always ask this hoping that they would just nod yes or no so that Keki could stay napping but they would always babble long explanations that I couldn't understand at all in German and so I spent a lot of time looking back at Keki trying to decipher their answer. I felt like a particularly dense child that she was reluctantly babysitting.
Luckily Frank responded in fairly good English that he could take us to the autobahn intersection to the South. At least that was on our way. So when we piled into his car it was a wonderful surprise (to say the least) to find out that he was going all the way to Frankfurt (or rather, a little past it) and would willingly drive us all the way to the Haptbaunhof.
And so we finally made it to my brother. Finally. On the verge of giving up on hitching completely. I feel like every hitching trip has its perils but in the end you find a faith in humanity and a sense of adventure lacking in all other forms of transit. At the end of this trip, I've met loads of people who have given me the warm fuzzies but for the most part the best I can say is that at least it was free and I had wonderful company.
Which reminds me. It's so wonderful to be reunited with Keki. I can't say it enough. Her laugh and positivity (even though neither of us are quite as optimistic as we were two years ago) are infectious and I know that I will never have a dull day in her company. She's in Marburg now visiting friends that I super wanted to meet but have been stuck in with horrible tooth pain and we'll hopefully be reunited tomorrow. And then we'll have to decide whether we feel we've atoned for tempting fate and have enough hitch karma to make it to Amsterdam and then back to Berlin. We'll see.
Now I'm going to go hang out with my BROTHER now. Everyone can commence being insanely jealous.
We left Dresden in the afternoon and managed to dodge all of our tram fares out of the city (shh... don't tell). We caught our first hitch in the rain at an intersection from a guy who wasn't really going our direction for very long but had caught his first hitch the day before and wanted to pay it forward.
At the petrol station he dropped us at we weren't having much luck either because everyone seemed to be going to Leipzig. It probably didn't help that I speak zero German. So when a van full of what appeared to be an Austrian metal band pulled up, we were stoked. Sure to be the best hitch ever. They were going to Leipzig too, though, and suggested that since it was getting late we just catch a ride (not with them because they had no room) to Leipzig and then back South from there.
It was out of our way but we had already chatted with this guy headed to Leipzig. However, when we had passed on the ride, two other hitchers from Poland had taken him up on it. They made room, though and we were all able to squeeze in. Along the way one of the Polish guys managed to insult me being American and my hitching abilities nonstop until I snapped and delivered a particularly wonderful speech that shut him up until we made it to Leipzig.
Unfortunately, our ride left us at possibly the worst hitching station I have ever hitched from. It was near the Leipzig airport and the only people that traveled that road were going to and from work. After an hour or two of discouraging hitching punctuated only by a beautiful sunset and the clearest double rainbow I have ever seen, we were contemplating other options. When a camper pulled up we started to get a little bit excited but as Keki scampered over there to chat with the drivers two hitchers tumbled out of the back.
So instead of a ride we picked up two new friends. Their names were Ben and Martin and they were hitching in a group of about 8 or so from Utrecht to the Czech Republic for Fluff-fest (a hardcore punk festival). Each day they split into pairs and then met at a rendez-vous. Two days to fluff-fest and then a day back to Prague and then they would go their separate ways as I understand it. Today they were stopping in Leipzig to stay with a friend of a friend and offered to let us stay with them since it was quite cold and dark at this point.
So we fell in with a huge group of Dutch people in a fairly large (but not large enough) flat in Leipzig. It was a blast even though I was exhausted from traveling so soon after food poisoning. We hung out for a while at this building which was apparently kind of a vegan kitchen but they were giving away all of their left over bread and cake and salad at the end of the evening and you could buy beers for the road for 1,50. Oh my goodness, the salad was incredible. It was kind of a cole slaw but no mayonnaise clearly and way more delicious. I, being me, packed up a huge container of it for the next day. And let me say that it was just as delicious the next day. We had conversations about Israel (one of the girls had gone to hitch there for a while) and I sampled my new friend Martin's music. It was pretty fun. And completely reminded me why I love traveling. Especially low budget traveling.
We passed out on the floor and spent the morning hanging around with our new friends. It was hilarious to be in a room full of people making signs for hitching. This is a task which I am and have always been particularly bad at. Our sign for Frankfurt that read "Franfurt" should have tipped me off. But it also turns out I also write the number "9" funny or so I'm told since my nines are straight and therefore look like "q". It's totally acceptable in America. Or at least that's what I'm sticking to. After taking pictures on the roof... but actually a sloped crazy gable kind of roof... to commemorate our new friendships, we each continued on in opposite directions.
After two stops at horribly dud hitch stations (one at a toys'r'us/ikea interchange - no one picks up a hitcher with their kids in the car or a trunk full of furniture - and the other several km off of the autobahn) we got completely stuck. Now this happens to all hitchers but since Keki and I had never had such a tough hitch and Keki was exhausted after one of our Dutch friends kept her awake by falling off of the couch on top of her in the night (my snoring had nothing to do with it) and so we were letting it get us down a bit. As late evening settled in, it started to hit us that in two days we might have gotten 100 km. At this point, we were going to hit Frankfurt by the time my plane left for London. It was a mess.
And then we met Frank. With so much discouragement, I was ready to give up but was willing to try one last car with my only coherent sentence in German "Fahren Sie in den Süden?". Now I would always ask this hoping that they would just nod yes or no so that Keki could stay napping but they would always babble long explanations that I couldn't understand at all in German and so I spent a lot of time looking back at Keki trying to decipher their answer. I felt like a particularly dense child that she was reluctantly babysitting.
Luckily Frank responded in fairly good English that he could take us to the autobahn intersection to the South. At least that was on our way. So when we piled into his car it was a wonderful surprise (to say the least) to find out that he was going all the way to Frankfurt (or rather, a little past it) and would willingly drive us all the way to the Haptbaunhof.
And so we finally made it to my brother. Finally. On the verge of giving up on hitching completely. I feel like every hitching trip has its perils but in the end you find a faith in humanity and a sense of adventure lacking in all other forms of transit. At the end of this trip, I've met loads of people who have given me the warm fuzzies but for the most part the best I can say is that at least it was free and I had wonderful company.
Which reminds me. It's so wonderful to be reunited with Keki. I can't say it enough. Her laugh and positivity (even though neither of us are quite as optimistic as we were two years ago) are infectious and I know that I will never have a dull day in her company. She's in Marburg now visiting friends that I super wanted to meet but have been stuck in with horrible tooth pain and we'll hopefully be reunited tomorrow. And then we'll have to decide whether we feel we've atoned for tempting fate and have enough hitch karma to make it to Amsterdam and then back to Berlin. We'll see.
Now I'm going to go hang out with my BROTHER now. Everyone can commence being insanely jealous.
Tuesday, July 17, 2012
There's Never a Good Time to Get Food Poisoning...
But there are certainly better times than others.
For example, spending the entire night before you're supposed to go meet potential PIs and try to register for classes at Ben Gurion University. I spent from 11 pm to 5 am writhing in agony and alternating between crying in the fetal position and projectile vomiting. I'm sure my parents appreciated that call around dinner time in California...
At 7:30 am, it didn't matter that I still felt like vomiting every time I took a step, I had to go to Sede Boqer. An hour to an hour and a half away via winding desert highway. The conversation with my potential advisor and tour around various greenhouses also probably didn't help my stomach. So by the time we got back to Idan, instead of packing up my stuff, I was back to hugging the toilet.
Another car ride in a completely full truck with Jehonathan and his friends to Be'er Sheva, two trains (one in which I accidentally called for emergency staff help when I tried to flush the toilet), and I'm finally at Ben Gurion Airport. The original plan was to stop off in Jerusalem first to go to the Kotel in case I didn't get a chance and really left on August 7. However, the idea of puking on the holiest Jewish site in the world deterred me.
I board a plane to Istanbul at 4:30 am and then will head on to Berlin after a stopover. After a short bus to Dresden I should be able to take some time to recover at Keki's before we start hitching to Frankfurt to meet up with brodre. I couldn't be more excited! Well I probably could be if I could keep food down....
So here's what I found out at my meeting this morning regarding the likelihood of me just not leaving Israel for a couple of years. Today was the last possible day for me to submit my application (over two weeks after the deadline). The admissions woman is going to wait to make decisions until she has my recommendations and such. It turns out that the board of education is almost sure to admit you if you have an advisor already willing to take you into their lab. My potential advisor (Shimon Rachmilevitch) has already agreed to take me on and to fund 25% of my work. The work would be collaborated with Gidon who I met at the pool at the Arava R&D Center and he would fund another quarter of my fees with the University matching their contribution and offering housing and a 3000 nis a month stipend. So really I just have to get everything in and it's almost a sure deal that I could start classes in October.
In the meantime, Ruth is looking for someone to cover her job managing the dairy while she is visiting the US. Apparently they're looking at someone else who has less of a time constraint than me (classes would start on October 21st but Ruth won't get back until the 24th or 25th) but if they don't take the job then I might spend August training in the dairy and the September and October running it.
If neither of these work out.... well then I guess I'd be coming home. But it seems fairly lifely. I don't want to jinx it though since I've clearly got a bad track record for that! So keep your fingers crossed and wish me luck! If this goes through I will have a masters in Agriculture and Desert Biotechnology from Ben Gurion University's Albert Katz International Institute for Desert Studies and be debt free from undergrad and grad school in two years.
Oh did I mention I might be looking at root morphology and modeling of Acacias and tree crops? Root physiology and respiration in extreme water deficit would also be an option. And the institute is trying to open up a developing country sustainable agriculture program thing. Which would be pretty cool for me.
For example, spending the entire night before you're supposed to go meet potential PIs and try to register for classes at Ben Gurion University. I spent from 11 pm to 5 am writhing in agony and alternating between crying in the fetal position and projectile vomiting. I'm sure my parents appreciated that call around dinner time in California...
At 7:30 am, it didn't matter that I still felt like vomiting every time I took a step, I had to go to Sede Boqer. An hour to an hour and a half away via winding desert highway. The conversation with my potential advisor and tour around various greenhouses also probably didn't help my stomach. So by the time we got back to Idan, instead of packing up my stuff, I was back to hugging the toilet.
Another car ride in a completely full truck with Jehonathan and his friends to Be'er Sheva, two trains (one in which I accidentally called for emergency staff help when I tried to flush the toilet), and I'm finally at Ben Gurion Airport. The original plan was to stop off in Jerusalem first to go to the Kotel in case I didn't get a chance and really left on August 7. However, the idea of puking on the holiest Jewish site in the world deterred me.
I board a plane to Istanbul at 4:30 am and then will head on to Berlin after a stopover. After a short bus to Dresden I should be able to take some time to recover at Keki's before we start hitching to Frankfurt to meet up with brodre. I couldn't be more excited! Well I probably could be if I could keep food down....
So here's what I found out at my meeting this morning regarding the likelihood of me just not leaving Israel for a couple of years. Today was the last possible day for me to submit my application (over two weeks after the deadline). The admissions woman is going to wait to make decisions until she has my recommendations and such. It turns out that the board of education is almost sure to admit you if you have an advisor already willing to take you into their lab. My potential advisor (Shimon Rachmilevitch) has already agreed to take me on and to fund 25% of my work. The work would be collaborated with Gidon who I met at the pool at the Arava R&D Center and he would fund another quarter of my fees with the University matching their contribution and offering housing and a 3000 nis a month stipend. So really I just have to get everything in and it's almost a sure deal that I could start classes in October.
In the meantime, Ruth is looking for someone to cover her job managing the dairy while she is visiting the US. Apparently they're looking at someone else who has less of a time constraint than me (classes would start on October 21st but Ruth won't get back until the 24th or 25th) but if they don't take the job then I might spend August training in the dairy and the September and October running it.
If neither of these work out.... well then I guess I'd be coming home. But it seems fairly lifely. I don't want to jinx it though since I've clearly got a bad track record for that! So keep your fingers crossed and wish me luck! If this goes through I will have a masters in Agriculture and Desert Biotechnology from Ben Gurion University's Albert Katz International Institute for Desert Studies and be debt free from undergrad and grad school in two years.
Oh did I mention I might be looking at root morphology and modeling of Acacias and tree crops? Root physiology and respiration in extreme water deficit would also be an option. And the institute is trying to open up a developing country sustainable agriculture program thing. Which would be pretty cool for me.
Sunday, July 15, 2012
Reasons to Love Ruth (and Her Family)
So everyone remembers the family that took me in from the bus stop and got me to Idan on my first day here? The one that the dairy manager, Ruth, belongs to? Well if you don't, feel free to review...
Well, the point is that I've been spending a lot of time with various members of the family. With Ruth at work and in the afternoons just hanging out. Her sisters often go swimming with me now. Her brother Jehonathan took Haley and I to Be'er Sheva. And of course her whole family (including her cousins who I had never met) organized a pool party for my birthday complete with a present from every family member. The whole family is as follows (and yes, I had to have Ruth write down all of the names for me):
Her mother and father (Esa maybe?) whose names I don't know since everyone just calls them Ima and Aba (of course). The oldest is Jehonathan (Jonathan, pronounces Yehonaten)(24), followed by Ruth (22), Ron (19?20?), Simcha (18), Avigaijil (pronounced Avigail)(16), Talitha (14?), Batjah (pronounced Batya)(12), Schifrah (pronounced Shifrah)(10?), and Orijah (pronounced Oriah)(8?). All but Jehonathan live in Ir Ovot which is a collection of houses which were built by the British and transitioned to army base and then finally a kibbutz that fell apart. 200 meters from their backyard is an archeological dig and a km or two away is an isolated mountain surrounded by sand dunes which they call Ari's mountain after their neighbor, Rachelle's, son who died in army training. The only people who live in Ir Ovot are Ruth and her family, their grandmother and grandfather, her aunt and their family, and Rachelle. It's a nice little family compound.
I recently had the opportunity to spend Shabbat with them and hope to spend many more if I could move to Hatzeva. You can almost see the field school from her house. I spent much of Shabbat fantasizing about how I could get adopted into their family. If I had to marry Jehonathan, Ron, or Simcha I could probably do worse.... and I'd get a huge family out of it. Not that I love them more than my real family but I think the two would definitely get along.
So here's why I love Ruth (and her family) and why you should too:
1. They can all flare their nostrils. It's hilarious. All except Jehonathan so the jury's still out whether he's really related or not. Simcha and Batjah are particularly good at it.
2. Their dad worked in agricultural extension in Paraguay because his dream since he was little was to work in community development and organic farming. He also knows a ridiculous amount about trees. And archeology. It's fantastic.
3. Together with Haley and I we could fit 11 people in a teeny tiny clown car. No one even complained about the lack of space or oxygen. To keep the bottom from dragging in the back, though, we had reseat people on top of the car and myself on the hood. Video forthcoming.
4. They each gave me a gift on my birthday. Ruth gave me 22 balloons and a card and organized a party for me, Ron gave me a headband from him and Simcha that is surprisingly fantastic for a gift from two (almost) teenage boys, Avigajil got me a roll of bubble gum, Talitha made me a cheesecake pudding cake that we destroyed in about three minutes, Batjah made me a lanyard for my bag, Schifrah made me a bracelet, and Orijah gave me four balloons that said "I love you" on them and were shaped like hearts. It was pretty fantastic. You can commence being jealous now. Jehonathan was supposed to get me a teddy bear but he was in Tel Aviv for his friends getting out of the army party so .... lame.
5. There are nine of them so doing the dishes only takes like 15 minutes between all of us. And most of the time you're just standing around making fun of each other.
6. After Shabbat dinner, Ron and Ruth play guitar and ukelele and everyone sings. Almost exclusively in German and Hebrew but yknow... you can't win them all. They don't even mind when me and my horrible voice join in so they must be saints (and/or deaf) as well.
7. Ruth's dad or her brothers can fix everything. They snaked the entire plumbing system of Adi and Ynan's house to get a clog out, Jehonathan fixes air conditioning, and her dad even helped me make an anklet and a clasp by drilling holes in shells and helping me bend wire. Her sisters are pretty darn handy too.
8. Ron likes pyrotechnics. Last night we ended Shabbat with Ron lighting aluminum on fire at the end of a chain and spinning it around until it looked like the coolest firework display ever. When we ran out of the aluminum scrubber things, he started filling up bags of gas and then lighting big pools of gas in designs on the ground on fire. Just for kicks.
9. Ruth taught us how to slide down rock formations at Ari's mountain. In between the two isolated "mountains" in the middle of this part of the Arava is a smaller hill that is mostly rock covered with a thin layer of very soft sand. If you go to the top, there is a small warn away path for rainwater that's covered in sand where you can slide down (with a little pain) until you reach the solid 6 foot drop at the end. It's horribly nerve wracking. Especially with everyone laughing at you being a wuss. But it's fun once you do it.
10. You're never alone. Now this would probably get annoying after a while but when you're not living there it's pretty darn awesome. You always have someone to play games with or make bracelets or cook or just sit and chat.
11. Their challah is so so so good.
12. Jungle Speed. This is a really insanely violent game when played with people who refuse to lose (read: Ruth's sisters).
13. They have this "party area" and garden by their house which consists of a gazebo which the boys light up, a fire pit, a bunch of tables and such all outside under the trees of their garden. Each of the kids has a plot that they're responsible for managing and planting and it's an oasis in the middle of the desert.
14. They live in the middle of the desert. With no AC. Or water cooler. A desert cooler only does so much. During the afternoon yesterday it reached 55 C (131 F). And we were just chilling inside. When we walked outside in the afternoon to stretch our legs it was 110 F and it felt pretty cool and fantastic. Their dad said it once it 60 C which is pretty much the hottest temperatures I've ever heard. So that's pretty incredible.
15. Most of them speak German, Hebrew, and pretty good English. Which is just plain amazing. Some of them are also learning Arabic and know a little bit of Spanish from living in Paraguay. Win for general multiculturalism.
And there you have it. There are a billion more reasons to love Ruth's family but those were the first 15 that came to mind. I'll update with pictures and more about work here after we finish making cheese.
Well, the point is that I've been spending a lot of time with various members of the family. With Ruth at work and in the afternoons just hanging out. Her sisters often go swimming with me now. Her brother Jehonathan took Haley and I to Be'er Sheva. And of course her whole family (including her cousins who I had never met) organized a pool party for my birthday complete with a present from every family member. The whole family is as follows (and yes, I had to have Ruth write down all of the names for me):
Her mother and father (Esa maybe?) whose names I don't know since everyone just calls them Ima and Aba (of course). The oldest is Jehonathan (Jonathan, pronounces Yehonaten)(24), followed by Ruth (22), Ron (19?20?), Simcha (18), Avigaijil (pronounced Avigail)(16), Talitha (14?), Batjah (pronounced Batya)(12), Schifrah (pronounced Shifrah)(10?), and Orijah (pronounced Oriah)(8?). All but Jehonathan live in Ir Ovot which is a collection of houses which were built by the British and transitioned to army base and then finally a kibbutz that fell apart. 200 meters from their backyard is an archeological dig and a km or two away is an isolated mountain surrounded by sand dunes which they call Ari's mountain after their neighbor, Rachelle's, son who died in army training. The only people who live in Ir Ovot are Ruth and her family, their grandmother and grandfather, her aunt and their family, and Rachelle. It's a nice little family compound.
I recently had the opportunity to spend Shabbat with them and hope to spend many more if I could move to Hatzeva. You can almost see the field school from her house. I spent much of Shabbat fantasizing about how I could get adopted into their family. If I had to marry Jehonathan, Ron, or Simcha I could probably do worse.... and I'd get a huge family out of it. Not that I love them more than my real family but I think the two would definitely get along.
So here's why I love Ruth (and her family) and why you should too:
1. They can all flare their nostrils. It's hilarious. All except Jehonathan so the jury's still out whether he's really related or not. Simcha and Batjah are particularly good at it.
2. Their dad worked in agricultural extension in Paraguay because his dream since he was little was to work in community development and organic farming. He also knows a ridiculous amount about trees. And archeology. It's fantastic.
3. Together with Haley and I we could fit 11 people in a teeny tiny clown car. No one even complained about the lack of space or oxygen. To keep the bottom from dragging in the back, though, we had reseat people on top of the car and myself on the hood. Video forthcoming.
4. They each gave me a gift on my birthday. Ruth gave me 22 balloons and a card and organized a party for me, Ron gave me a headband from him and Simcha that is surprisingly fantastic for a gift from two (almost) teenage boys, Avigajil got me a roll of bubble gum, Talitha made me a cheesecake pudding cake that we destroyed in about three minutes, Batjah made me a lanyard for my bag, Schifrah made me a bracelet, and Orijah gave me four balloons that said "I love you" on them and were shaped like hearts. It was pretty fantastic. You can commence being jealous now. Jehonathan was supposed to get me a teddy bear but he was in Tel Aviv for his friends getting out of the army party so .... lame.
5. There are nine of them so doing the dishes only takes like 15 minutes between all of us. And most of the time you're just standing around making fun of each other.
6. After Shabbat dinner, Ron and Ruth play guitar and ukelele and everyone sings. Almost exclusively in German and Hebrew but yknow... you can't win them all. They don't even mind when me and my horrible voice join in so they must be saints (and/or deaf) as well.
7. Ruth's dad or her brothers can fix everything. They snaked the entire plumbing system of Adi and Ynan's house to get a clog out, Jehonathan fixes air conditioning, and her dad even helped me make an anklet and a clasp by drilling holes in shells and helping me bend wire. Her sisters are pretty darn handy too.
8. Ron likes pyrotechnics. Last night we ended Shabbat with Ron lighting aluminum on fire at the end of a chain and spinning it around until it looked like the coolest firework display ever. When we ran out of the aluminum scrubber things, he started filling up bags of gas and then lighting big pools of gas in designs on the ground on fire. Just for kicks.
9. Ruth taught us how to slide down rock formations at Ari's mountain. In between the two isolated "mountains" in the middle of this part of the Arava is a smaller hill that is mostly rock covered with a thin layer of very soft sand. If you go to the top, there is a small warn away path for rainwater that's covered in sand where you can slide down (with a little pain) until you reach the solid 6 foot drop at the end. It's horribly nerve wracking. Especially with everyone laughing at you being a wuss. But it's fun once you do it.
10. You're never alone. Now this would probably get annoying after a while but when you're not living there it's pretty darn awesome. You always have someone to play games with or make bracelets or cook or just sit and chat.
11. Their challah is so so so good.
12. Jungle Speed. This is a really insanely violent game when played with people who refuse to lose (read: Ruth's sisters).
13. They have this "party area" and garden by their house which consists of a gazebo which the boys light up, a fire pit, a bunch of tables and such all outside under the trees of their garden. Each of the kids has a plot that they're responsible for managing and planting and it's an oasis in the middle of the desert.
14. They live in the middle of the desert. With no AC. Or water cooler. A desert cooler only does so much. During the afternoon yesterday it reached 55 C (131 F). And we were just chilling inside. When we walked outside in the afternoon to stretch our legs it was 110 F and it felt pretty cool and fantastic. Their dad said it once it 60 C which is pretty much the hottest temperatures I've ever heard. So that's pretty incredible.
15. Most of them speak German, Hebrew, and pretty good English. Which is just plain amazing. Some of them are also learning Arabic and know a little bit of Spanish from living in Paraguay. Win for general multiculturalism.
And there you have it. There are a billion more reasons to love Ruth's family but those were the first 15 that came to mind. I'll update with pictures and more about work here after we finish making cheese.
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