Buongiorno Israel Part I

 Before...

I am currently on my flight to Israel! This morning was not something I was exactly looking forward to. It involved waking up at 4 a.m and catching the first train out to Milan. Luckily, some of the other girls heading to Paris were also heading out to Malenpesa, the airport in Milan so they also caught the train. I realized a major way of relieving my anxiety about missing this train would be taking  a taxi, well worth it but of course I sat around for a half hour. I was most worried about getting to the airport on time for my flight, which was at 10:40. Luckily, we made it to the 7:40 shuttle, even though our train only got in at 7:35. The ride was beautiful though because beyond the industrial buildings on the outskirts of Milan we could see the Alps which at this point were completely snow covered and gorgeous. It convinced us to attempt to make a trip out to Innsbruck in our last weekend here.  I was able to get through all of the security despite the fact that the El Al desk was the farthest walk possible from everything because of their extra interviews. This was my first realization that somehow when I attempted to speak Hebrew Italian came out, in the end I made a good decision to switch to English but hopefully I will improve. It is very exciting to simply be around something familiar. Hearing Hebrew spoken after being in Italy for so long is very nice.  I am very excited to meet my cousins at the airport and then eventually meet up with a bunch of people from JRF as well as an old friend from OSRUI. Now, I will attempt to watch Salt which is proving problematic because although it is in English partly, it  is partly in Russian and the subtitles are in Hebrew, moving way too fast for me.

Later…

I am currently sitting in the Rome airport. My adventure out of Israel began with a 6 a.m flight, but I will start from the beginning of my adventures in Israel. I arrived at the airport, and it took a bit of time to get through border control. What did not help was a large group of Russians that the customs people decided to give a really hard time, but I ended up switching lines and finally got through. I then met up with my cousin Gil. The last time he saw anyone from my family in Israel, my mom was my age visiting, so he and the rest of the family were very excited. I went back with him to his home which is in Beit Aryeh, which is about a half hour outside of Tel Aviv. Everyone was very nice, but I quickly learned how pathetic my Hebrew is currently (possibly at the expense of the Italian) I met my cousin Noam who was 6 who kept running away when I looked at him, and I was sad I couldn't speak in Hebrew to lighten things up. We had a very yummy Shabbat dinner, then relaxed and watched T.V. I tried to work on my Hebrew by looking at the subtitles, but I am not sure how much I accomplished. The next day I woke up and hung around. A highlight was definetely watching Mary Poppins in Hebrew. Although nothing could top Julie Andrews' voice, I do think they did an excellent job of dubbing and it was hilarious. After that the entire family came over. Although it was an overwhelming amount of Hebrew I enjoyed meeting everyone. It was really nice to meet Leah who was my Grandma's first cousin, but they basically grew up as sisters. We found some old pictures from when she had visited the United States a few years when I was born. I also learned that the family referred to my Grandma as "Erika in America" whenever they talked about her which I thought was really funny. Of course, Leah had the grandmother instinct to make me eat as much as possible which resulted in me being unable to move for awhile after lunch.  Later that night, it was time for me to move on to Amy's  apartment.

My cousin Gil drove me to Yafo, and I think he was a little surprised that was where she lived. I also noticed that the family seemed a bit worried about me going there which was confusing. I later learned from Amy that the area that she lives in does not have the best reputation because there are a lot of different cultural communities where she lives including recent immigrants from Ethiopia, Jews and Arabs. Many Israelis do not like to go to the area because they are worried but Amy assured me that she always feels safe. After arriving I dropped off my stuff and Amy and I walked around Old Yafo. It was a bit bizarre for me to be seeing an old friend from a completely different setting but also really nice and refreshing. She recommended that I try a famous "toast" off of a street  stand which was basically a flattened bagel grilled cheese sandwich=success.  She then showed me around near the sea and some of the older areas which is really cool. I did not realize how old Yafo really was, but it was interesting because when compared to places like Italy there are also more new, modern things mixed in with the Old.

The next morning Amy took off from her volunteering and we went to a Moshav about an hour away where Reut, an israeli who was a counselor with us at JRF lives. It was really cool being in this area because I got to go somehwere where most tourists don't go and got an insight to people who live outside of the major cities. We walked around these gorgeous gardens (in a desert what!?) and the town. Reut explained that there were three synagogues: an Ashkenazi, Sephardic and Yemenite  in her town. We also went to lunch for what she kept assuring me would be the best hummus I ever ate, she was totally right! First of all, I was unaware that you can go to places and simply order hummus as a meal, but it totally worked. Reut recommended that we order a smoked egg, which was kind of like the eggs that are in Cholent, almost hardboiled but also with flavor. We had that, then ordered two things of hummus, one with beans and one with just chickpeas…so delicious!! We also got pita of course, and I ended up eating so much. I have to admit that I will never be the same when it comes to hummus, Sabra does not even come close, I have no idea what I am going to do, but this is an issue to be resolved once I return to Chicago because there is very little hummus in Italy.

  I then accompanied Amy to a community center for Ethiopians where she tutors English. Although a bit rowdy, it was very interesting to get a small glimpse into this community. The girls kept trying to talk to me, asking if I was their new math tutor, I was essentially mute, and then they told Amy that I looked like I knew a lot, whatever that means. Once thing, that I guess is a broad generalization, but I bet is true for most of these girls is they are obsessed with Chris Brown. In the one hour tutoring sessions, he came up multiple times.  After the tutoring we stopped at a small grocery store and picked up some fruits in veggies for dinner. All I can say is, why are pomegranates so expensive everywhere else, they are soooo good!!!I also tried persimion (spelling? this may be a combo of the English and Hebrew word in my head) anyways it is this fruit that looks like a tomato except more orangey in color (the look of it totally freaked me out at first)  and is really sweet. I have seen them everywhere in Italy and now I know they are delicious so will take advantage.

The next morning Amy went off to her seminars and I met up with Rona. I hadn't seen Rona since we were counselors together at OSRUI the summer of 2008 so it had been a really long time. She was very excited to show me Tel Aviv, and I loved being able to see it with an Israel for basically the first time.  We first went to a café and got an Israeli breakfast for two which included eggs, orange juice , bread, eggplant and all  of these different cheese and other spreads and of course, we cannot forge the Israeli salad. This was sooo good. After lunch we walked around the main shopping streets and just caught. I found a beautiful necklace which a woman custom made for me while I waited.  I then got to see the huge shopping mall, which was very overwhelming but fun. I ended up seeing a lot of the stores I see in Italy but it was still fun. Rona also took me to this area which kind of reminded me of Soho in New York. It had a lot of really cute boutiques and a bit of a Bohemian vibe. At the end of this neighborhood was the "Bimah" which is a big theater where they perform drama, dance and music. The entire area was really pretty and for us former Tiferet folks a must see.  We then headed back to the car and parted our ways. It was so great to see her and I hope it will happen again soon!