Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
May The Force Be With You All
So I'm going to Greece and Italy officially now. I am so excited to be there. Greece! The home of my heart! Italy! The home of my stomach! It will be great. I will take plenty of pictures and eat a lot of food and hopefully do a lot of walking to get rid of all that food. If anyone's ever been, I am open to suggestions for places I absolutely have to see, oh my god Jasmine, it's brilliant! Let's hear them.
In stranger news, my brain sort of pinged itself awake this morning. It was very bizarre. I was sleeping happily, and then my brain did a mental hop, skip and a jump and I was awake! I felt it, it was so strange! At 8:30 too, why brain? Why? Today was my sleeping in day! I guess my brain has other plans for me, which most likely include my reading for tonight.
Here is how my parents signed off in an email to me this morning:
MAY THE FORCE BE WITH YOU.... : )
Love,
mom and dad
I know who wrote that part of the email.
In stranger news, my brain sort of pinged itself awake this morning. It was very bizarre. I was sleeping happily, and then my brain did a mental hop, skip and a jump and I was awake! I felt it, it was so strange! At 8:30 too, why brain? Why? Today was my sleeping in day! I guess my brain has other plans for me, which most likely include my reading for tonight.
Here is how my parents signed off in an email to me this morning:
MAY THE FORCE BE WITH YOU.... : )
Love,
mom and dad
I know who wrote that part of the email.
Thursday, March 18, 2010
the fifty-first way to leave your lover
Yesterday sucked and today sucked unbelievably more. My roommate's mother just passed away, and that certainly puts things in perspective. But before that, instead of moping I swept my room and made backed mac and cheese. I think it turned out pretty well, except that I forgot the salt! But otherwise not bad.
It's been a while since I updated; things have been hectic, up and down and up and then down. Things are still down, but we'll see.
I went to go visit some old family friends last weekend in Ra'anana, and it was great! One of their daughters is about my age and we've been friends for literally ages. We only get to see each other probably twice a year, but I'm always amazed by how well we get along and how easy it is to fall back into being friends. It helps that she's one of the sweetest, most easy-going people I know. Anyway, I had a great time.
Last night I went to see Avatar (for the third time, mind you) with my...third cousin once removed? I have no idea. My mom says we aren't even related really but it was still fun. It was my first time meeting him! I cried in the movie AGAIN. Honestly, there is something about the movie, and the animation and the music (my god the music) that gets to me every time! I can't help it. This was my second time seeing it in 3D and I have to be honest, I was still underwhelmed! 3D should be awesome and exciting but this was just...blah! They didn't do anything special with it, it was just the same movie but it looked a little weirder and my eyes hurt a little. So disappointing James Cameron. But that movie remains one of my favorites.
I think that's about it for now. I need to go lose myself in Melrose Place. And yes I know it's terrible. And yes, I was really only watching it for Ashlee Simpson's crazy. But now I almost like it! Almost.
It's been a while since I updated; things have been hectic, up and down and up and then down. Things are still down, but we'll see.
I went to go visit some old family friends last weekend in Ra'anana, and it was great! One of their daughters is about my age and we've been friends for literally ages. We only get to see each other probably twice a year, but I'm always amazed by how well we get along and how easy it is to fall back into being friends. It helps that she's one of the sweetest, most easy-going people I know. Anyway, I had a great time.
Last night I went to see Avatar (for the third time, mind you) with my...third cousin once removed? I have no idea. My mom says we aren't even related really but it was still fun. It was my first time meeting him! I cried in the movie AGAIN. Honestly, there is something about the movie, and the animation and the music (my god the music) that gets to me every time! I can't help it. This was my second time seeing it in 3D and I have to be honest, I was still underwhelmed! 3D should be awesome and exciting but this was just...blah! They didn't do anything special with it, it was just the same movie but it looked a little weirder and my eyes hurt a little. So disappointing James Cameron. But that movie remains one of my favorites.
I think that's about it for now. I need to go lose myself in Melrose Place. And yes I know it's terrible. And yes, I was really only watching it for Ashlee Simpson's crazy. But now I almost like it! Almost.
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
אתה בא והולך אלי
I want to write about it before I forget. Tonight was possibly one of the most amazing nights of my life. I just. I have never been to a better concert ever. Ever! Yehudit Ravitz is my favorite Israeli artist, hands down, and I never ever dreamed I would get to see her live because seriously, how lucky can a girl get?? But two days ago, I walked onto campus and a guy handed me a flyer for her show and literally, I jumped up and down and possibly squealed a little bit. She is incredible and talented and wonderful and I love her!
So tonight was the show and wow. Even though I didn't know most of the songs she played (since I have mostly very old songs of hers. Very old. Like super-80s), it was incredible and she was on fire and everyone in the audience was so into it! There was dancing and singing and waving arms and so much clapping! I screamed so hard I got light headed, okay. Anyways. It was all great, the concert was over but then! Encore! And Yehudit Ravitz, that wonderful woman, comes back on stage and plays MY FAVORITE SONG OF ALL TIME seriously. I can't lie guys, I cried. Just a little, and then I had to sing along, duh, but there were tears. It was gorgeous and there was flute-playing and oh my god. So much I want to say but let's see if I can shorten the list: awesome brass section, hilarious guitarist who kept trying to dance with the brass section, hot bassist who looked a bit like Jude Law, awesome drummer and keyboard dude, and super awesome Yehudit oh my goodness. I love her.
Okay I'm done gushing, I swear. It was so wonderful and I feel so lucky to have been there. Moving on! I had my first tutoring session today and I think it went really well! The girl is great and we had fun talking and learning English, it was a good time. I'm excited to do this more!
And now I need to go to bed. Class tomorrow, but not too early. Then who knows?
So tonight was the show and wow. Even though I didn't know most of the songs she played (since I have mostly very old songs of hers. Very old. Like super-80s), it was incredible and she was on fire and everyone in the audience was so into it! There was dancing and singing and waving arms and so much clapping! I screamed so hard I got light headed, okay. Anyways. It was all great, the concert was over but then! Encore! And Yehudit Ravitz, that wonderful woman, comes back on stage and plays MY FAVORITE SONG OF ALL TIME seriously. I can't lie guys, I cried. Just a little, and then I had to sing along, duh, but there were tears. It was gorgeous and there was flute-playing and oh my god. So much I want to say but let's see if I can shorten the list: awesome brass section, hilarious guitarist who kept trying to dance with the brass section, hot bassist who looked a bit like Jude Law, awesome drummer and keyboard dude, and super awesome Yehudit oh my goodness. I love her.
Okay I'm done gushing, I swear. It was so wonderful and I feel so lucky to have been there. Moving on! I had my first tutoring session today and I think it went really well! The girl is great and we had fun talking and learning English, it was a good time. I'm excited to do this more!
And now I need to go to bed. Class tomorrow, but not too early. Then who knows?
Friday, March 5, 2010
A Lot Of Things
Last night I had a dream involving some sort of secret cult that was trying to kill me, I think, and then there were Dylan and Cole Sprouse. Google them, I'll wait. Yeah. They were my brothers. My brain is a strange place.
In other news, I officially start my internship at David Yellin College of Education on Tuesday! I'm pretty excited to be teaching(/tutoring) again, I can't lie. I'm not sure I talked about this before, but basically I'll be tutoring a bunch of students in English who want to be teachers and need to improve their English before they finish their degrees. So most of them will be several years older than me; I think one is about 40. I hope she doesn't mind I just turned 20!
Yesterday I took the bus with my friends to the German Colony in Jerusalem, which has now become this really hip, sort of expensive neighborhood with coffee shops, stores and restaurants. We had dinner there and it was delicious! I want to come back during the day and just sit in a coffee shop and read. Speaking of reading, here is my goal for this semester: to finish Lord of the Rings as well as Ivanhoe. Ambitious, I know, but I think I can do it. Why Ivanhoe, you ask? Ever since I saw Matilda at the tender age of approximately five (and every year since, I can't lie and that movie is a classic), I wanted to read Ivanhoe because of that scene with her dad where she's sitting in her room reading and then they argue about school. It was illustrated and seriously, if Matilda could read it at six, I think I can do it at twenty. I hope. But Lord of the Rings comes first because seriously, if my brother can read it, so can I!
Anyway. I promised pictures a while ago, and I intend to make good! Here are a few:
This was one of the falls we saw at Ein Gedi, one of the main sources of fresh water in Israel. It was beautiful!
Apparently I love hiking! :)
The view was breathtaking.
This is one of my favorite photos. You can almost see just how HUGE this canyon was! This is in the Negev desert, we hiked a river trail that had been carved out by flash floods. It was so intense!
For my dad: I found a sidecar!
Miriam's fork was really strangely shaped. This is her imitating it. This is here mostly because she's probably going to untag it on Facebook.
The Artist's Colony! It was so beautiful, I wish I had taken more pictures.
There was a water fountain! And it was clean for once. Israel is not very good about the putting trash in the trashcan thing.
One of my favorite places in Jerusalem is Montefiore's windmill. He was this Jewish British guy with a lot of money who came to visit the Holy Land a bunch and built a windmill here, right near the Artist's Colony. Random, right? But the neighborhood is named after him, so I like it.
One of the signs in the Old City, indicating that you've reached the Jewish Quarter. We usually enter from the Christian Quarter, which is full of stalls and spices and crazy things!
Okay I'm done now I swear. But I will take more pictures and post them soon if you all want! :)
In other news, I officially start my internship at David Yellin College of Education on Tuesday! I'm pretty excited to be teaching(/tutoring) again, I can't lie. I'm not sure I talked about this before, but basically I'll be tutoring a bunch of students in English who want to be teachers and need to improve their English before they finish their degrees. So most of them will be several years older than me; I think one is about 40. I hope she doesn't mind I just turned 20!
Yesterday I took the bus with my friends to the German Colony in Jerusalem, which has now become this really hip, sort of expensive neighborhood with coffee shops, stores and restaurants. We had dinner there and it was delicious! I want to come back during the day and just sit in a coffee shop and read. Speaking of reading, here is my goal for this semester: to finish Lord of the Rings as well as Ivanhoe. Ambitious, I know, but I think I can do it. Why Ivanhoe, you ask? Ever since I saw Matilda at the tender age of approximately five (and every year since, I can't lie and that movie is a classic), I wanted to read Ivanhoe because of that scene with her dad where she's sitting in her room reading and then they argue about school. It was illustrated and seriously, if Matilda could read it at six, I think I can do it at twenty. I hope. But Lord of the Rings comes first because seriously, if my brother can read it, so can I!
Anyway. I promised pictures a while ago, and I intend to make good! Here are a few:
This was one of the falls we saw at Ein Gedi, one of the main sources of fresh water in Israel. It was beautiful!
Apparently I love hiking! :)
The view was breathtaking.
This is one of my favorite photos. You can almost see just how HUGE this canyon was! This is in the Negev desert, we hiked a river trail that had been carved out by flash floods. It was so intense!
For my dad: I found a sidecar!
Miriam's fork was really strangely shaped. This is her imitating it. This is here mostly because she's probably going to untag it on Facebook.
The Artist's Colony! It was so beautiful, I wish I had taken more pictures.
There was a water fountain! And it was clean for once. Israel is not very good about the putting trash in the trashcan thing.
One of my favorite places in Jerusalem is Montefiore's windmill. He was this Jewish British guy with a lot of money who came to visit the Holy Land a bunch and built a windmill here, right near the Artist's Colony. Random, right? But the neighborhood is named after him, so I like it.
One of the signs in the Old City, indicating that you've reached the Jewish Quarter. We usually enter from the Christian Quarter, which is full of stalls and spices and crazy things!
Okay I'm done now I swear. But I will take more pictures and post them soon if you all want! :)
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
I Apologize In Advance
Before we get started today I want to disclaim: I have my opinions and they are just opinions, nothing more. You have every right to disagree; disagreement makes the world go round or something. But this is the world as I see it.
Okay! Let's talk about anti-Zionism as a thing that baffles me greatly. I have a friend at school whose political opinions I find rather confusing. He's Jewish, he was raised Jewish, he went to Jewish school like all the other good little Jews here. And yet on Facebook his political views are listed as anti-Zionist. He wants to live in Israel and not make aliyah (becoming a citizen of Israel). He is constantly posting articles that detail all the wrongs that the Israelis have perpetrated against the Palestinians.
Now here's the thing: I understand the desire of the Palestinian people to have a homeland because basically the Jews wanted the same thing not so long ago. They deserve to have a country to make their own; possibly they should have part of the land that we now call Israel - but that's not the point. I think in general everyone rational can see that the situation in the Middle East with the Palestinians and the Israelis can't go on.
What I can't understand is believing that the Jews don't deserve a homeland, and that Israel should not belong to them. I think my friend considers himself a relatively well-informed guy, but if that's the case, how can anyone believe that the situation during the Diaspora, even before the true awfulness of the Holocaust, was in any way okay. Because let me tell you guys, thanks to Professor Mendelsson and my history of Israel class, I can now tell you authoritatively that it was not okay! Anti-Semitism was a long-standing, even supported tradition in many countries, especially Russia and the rest of Eastern Europe (little though it may have been at the time, seeing as Russia pretty much was Eastern Europe). The situation of the Jews in any country, where rationalizing hatred of them by claiming that they were another species entirely and therefore completely incompatible with "regular" people, was not good, friends. It was not good!
So what I'm saying is this: how can a Jew who is not an Orthodox Jew (and who therefore believes that Jews coming to Israel is like trying to force the coming of the Messiah, which is wrong) not believe in Zionism? I just don't get it! His people, my people, our people needed a home, a refuge from the hatred that I am now starting to see was unfortunately pervasive.
And okay, if that all doesn't convince you, well then there's the Holocaust! I think that's pretty good proof that the world was, at least at the time, very much not inclined to be nice to the Jews.
In any case, I'm sorry to get all political on you guys, but it's just been bugging me! So I got it out. Now let's talk about other things, like for example the sick amount of Gilmore Girls I've been watching. Really! It's terrible! But I can't help it, Gilmore Girls is my comfort tv and I love it. What's your comfort tv? Or comfort something else?
Okay! Let's talk about anti-Zionism as a thing that baffles me greatly. I have a friend at school whose political opinions I find rather confusing. He's Jewish, he was raised Jewish, he went to Jewish school like all the other good little Jews here. And yet on Facebook his political views are listed as anti-Zionist. He wants to live in Israel and not make aliyah (becoming a citizen of Israel). He is constantly posting articles that detail all the wrongs that the Israelis have perpetrated against the Palestinians.
Now here's the thing: I understand the desire of the Palestinian people to have a homeland because basically the Jews wanted the same thing not so long ago. They deserve to have a country to make their own; possibly they should have part of the land that we now call Israel - but that's not the point. I think in general everyone rational can see that the situation in the Middle East with the Palestinians and the Israelis can't go on.
What I can't understand is believing that the Jews don't deserve a homeland, and that Israel should not belong to them. I think my friend considers himself a relatively well-informed guy, but if that's the case, how can anyone believe that the situation during the Diaspora, even before the true awfulness of the Holocaust, was in any way okay. Because let me tell you guys, thanks to Professor Mendelsson and my history of Israel class, I can now tell you authoritatively that it was not okay! Anti-Semitism was a long-standing, even supported tradition in many countries, especially Russia and the rest of Eastern Europe (little though it may have been at the time, seeing as Russia pretty much was Eastern Europe). The situation of the Jews in any country, where rationalizing hatred of them by claiming that they were another species entirely and therefore completely incompatible with "regular" people, was not good, friends. It was not good!
So what I'm saying is this: how can a Jew who is not an Orthodox Jew (and who therefore believes that Jews coming to Israel is like trying to force the coming of the Messiah, which is wrong) not believe in Zionism? I just don't get it! His people, my people, our people needed a home, a refuge from the hatred that I am now starting to see was unfortunately pervasive.
And okay, if that all doesn't convince you, well then there's the Holocaust! I think that's pretty good proof that the world was, at least at the time, very much not inclined to be nice to the Jews.
In any case, I'm sorry to get all political on you guys, but it's just been bugging me! So I got it out. Now let's talk about other things, like for example the sick amount of Gilmore Girls I've been watching. Really! It's terrible! But I can't help it, Gilmore Girls is my comfort tv and I love it. What's your comfort tv? Or comfort something else?
Monday, March 1, 2010
Wanderings and Wonderings
I spent the weekend in Tel Aviv, going to the beach, partying a little, shopping, and generally avoiding the rain. It was great! I love Tel Aviv! I want to marry it! Except that Tel Aviv would be the kind of spouse who would expect you to spend a lot of money on them, want to go out partying every night, but then make really, really good food to make up for it. And I am slowly going broke so I think it's best if Tel Aviv and I just stay friends.
I love the beach!!
Today I'm planning to just hang out in Jerusalem. I went to this incredibly beautiful little quarter of town with my dad a couple weeks ago and I want to bring my friends there, it's so pretty! It's the artists' quarter and basically the city pays them a stipend to go live in this beautiful, beautiful neighborhood that has an incredible view of the Old City and be inspired! It's great. The neighborhood is covered in plants and trees and flowers and there are little lakes and waterfalls and a windmill! Although the windmill is not completely related, but still. It's gorgeous and silent and wonderful and I can't wait.
This was a four day weekend because of Purim, the Jewish version of Halloween, so yesterday when I was shopping I saw hundreds of stupidly adorable little children dressed in the cutest costumes! And their parents, generally wearing funny wigs or carrying wands or some such. It was great! And in the middle of the day too! I love Israel.
Okay and now I need your help: if any of the like four people who read this have any food/recipe suggestions, I would love to hear them! I am pretty lazy so keep it simple and preferably healthy but still tasty! Let me know, I am desperate for new food ideas. Pita and hummus is getting a little old, unsurprisingly.
I love the beach!!
Today I'm planning to just hang out in Jerusalem. I went to this incredibly beautiful little quarter of town with my dad a couple weeks ago and I want to bring my friends there, it's so pretty! It's the artists' quarter and basically the city pays them a stipend to go live in this beautiful, beautiful neighborhood that has an incredible view of the Old City and be inspired! It's great. The neighborhood is covered in plants and trees and flowers and there are little lakes and waterfalls and a windmill! Although the windmill is not completely related, but still. It's gorgeous and silent and wonderful and I can't wait.
This was a four day weekend because of Purim, the Jewish version of Halloween, so yesterday when I was shopping I saw hundreds of stupidly adorable little children dressed in the cutest costumes! And their parents, generally wearing funny wigs or carrying wands or some such. It was great! And in the middle of the day too! I love Israel.
Okay and now I need your help: if any of the like four people who read this have any food/recipe suggestions, I would love to hear them! I am pretty lazy so keep it simple and preferably healthy but still tasty! Let me know, I am desperate for new food ideas. Pita and hummus is getting a little old, unsurprisingly.
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