Updates on May 9, 2007

May 4, 2007

Dating and Social life

I have still been meeting people from Jdate. Of course, some people are really nice and others not so nice. Also, there has to be some level of attraction. I want to make it clear that, although I am using Jdate, I really want to use it to be able to make friends here as well. I’ve finally met a couple of men that I can hang out with on occasion.

I have Hebrew class five days per week from 8:15 AM until 12:50. It’s a lot to memorize. I often have to do word association when I memorize new vocabulary. For example, “stairs” are madregot. Thus, I think of a mother goat on the steps. Yesterday, I had another blind date with a woman named Anat Talia. To remember her name, I imagined her first name to be Jenna. That triggered me to remember the name Talia. I wanted to giggle when I would remember her name.

She took me through a nice walking tour of the city to some quieter spots that meant a lot to her. Her 17 year-old daughter dances and models and performed at a beautiful arts center in the south of town, near the Yemenite Vineyard area. She told me she could meet me during the day but that she had some big party that she was invited to in the evening. She showed me some flower and street markets that I had never seen. She said she I reminded her of her Canadian friend who was idealistic and green as I am. He met his fiancée here. She said she would have him call me. I really need to have some men friends, here.

There is a case where I told a woman (Mihal) that I was not interested in a romantic relationship with her but that I really did want to be her friend. She is a great soul, telling me about rustic vacations to quiet beaches in the Sinai where Bedouins cook for you and you sleep in a rough hut or outside completely, inches from the Red Sea. She has a son named Yam (translated as Sea) and she once told me a story of how she gave clothes to a homeless woman and eventually had her live with her for 6 months. She even paid her about $250/month. The woman helped her around the house (some) and babysat for Yam. She also called me from the Marina to come hang out on her friend’s big sailboat in the afternoon. Anyway, I think she’s a great person who will be a friend but there’s no attraction more than that. She invited me to a party last night (Shabbat) that ended up being 40 minutes away in the city of Caesarea. I thought it would be a chance to meet some new people but I seemed that she was trying to set me up with her friend who was a little older than I. The party was in the back yard of a nice home that had a safari feel with all of the trees and foliage there. The DJ was BLASTING dance music and lots of people were dancing. However, we were the youngest people there by 10 years or more. It was also so loud that you couldn’t talk.

I danced with Mihal and her friend for a while. Dancing is much like Europe and unlike the USA. You can dance by yourself or, if you are dancing with someone, you can abruptly walk off without telling your partner. I thought, “I don’t know anyone here so I might as well let it all go and make the best of it”. I was on the other side of the home away from the noise when a woman approached me to say here friend wanted to say, hello”. She took me over to… Gena Tal… no, ANAT Talia. So, “THIS was your big party tonight”. I had never told her that I was going to one as well. She was, of course, surprised to see me. It’s a small world and a tiny country.

May 9, 2007

Ulpan (Hebrew school)

I think I’m done with Jdate for a while. It’s gotten me no where. I really wanted to use it for networking and making friends. I still love the Hebrew school that I attend and I’m still amazed at all of the countries in the world that are represented there. Half of the fun is seeing people on breaks (always smoking breaks) and checking out all of the languages being spoken. My Portuguese is getting better due to the breaks but it gets a little confusing while trying to think in Hebrew. I also speak Spanish to the other South Americans. There are a lot of attractive people there but I still have not met that many of them outside of those in my class. Most are in their early 20’s and act it. It’s cute seeing how people trying to be cool, look good, be in cliques, etc. Russian, French, Spanish, and English are the predominant languages spoken on breaks. Of course, those that don’t speak these communicate in Hebrew.

I am absorbing a lot but it’s tough to keep up. I’m definitely in the right class. I figure I’ve somewhere in the middle as far as understanding what’s going on. It’s all in Hebrew, albeit baby Hebrew. I get frustrated sometimes when I can’t understand and I forget what we learned the day before. My problem is that, although I try to memorize, I don’t speak it or practice speaking. I think it would drive Israelis crazy to wait through my Uhhh’s until I remember a verb or noun. I’d like to approach other students to study with me and quiz each other.

Kabbalah

I have to say that it was not quite the incredible spiritually journey for me this time. But, it was an adventure. On the Jewish holiday of Lag Ba-Omer, we left Tel Aviv at 9:00 PM and arrived somewhere in the north of Israel near Safed around midnight. They were kind enough to have someone sit with me on the bus and translate everything that was said to prepare for the party. People sang through much of the way as well. We saw some of the traditional huge bonfires on the way up along the sides of the road. No one is certain where the bonfire tradition started but someone told me that when the Romans murdered the 20 or so experts on Kabbalah of the time as well as thousands of Jews, they light the fire on this day to show the world that we’re still here.

We waited until other buses arrived. There ended up being over a thousand people there from all over the country and some from overseas. It is the anniversary of the death of Rabbi Shimon Bar-Yohai, the writer of the holy book of Kabbala, the Zohar http://www.ou.org/chagim/lagbaomer/yochai.htm.

We visited the cave where Rabbi Shimon taught his disciples. Many people lit candles and prayed in the caves. They read portions of the Zohar in order to connect with the “energy” of the area. I only caught portions of what was said by the Kabalistic leaders of the world that were speaking there. I had translators. Basically, it seemed that they were saying that the Zohar can deliver incredible happiness and fulfillment but you have to work at it and read it. They say that the greatest illusion of the Zohar is that it’s a book (23 books to be exact). It’s written in Aramaic but is translated below the Aramaic into many languages. I met a few people there but not many. There were a group of older Brazilian women that I spoke to for a while. While waiting to enter the cave, I mat a new friend, Shimon. He was dressed in white as the observant were at this holiday. He was intense in his gaze but I didn’t flinch as I welcomed it and was interested in learning. He explained what was going on at the time and I explained my reasons for being in Israel and for going to Africa. We exchanged numbers and will hopefully hang out sometime as he also lives in Tel Aviv.

Around 3:30 AM, the band started and they were great. It was a Rastafarian looking Israeli named Mosh Ben Ari. I teared up when he sang his final song, Od Yavo Shalom Aleinu. It’s the one my friends, Rabbis Mario and Analia in Atlanta sing sometimes during services. It’s a song saying that peace will yet come to us. He sings in Hebrew and Arabic. I video taped it but I’m trying to find out how to post it so you can see it on the web. Here is a video version of the song. The live version rocked the house. Salaam is, of course, shalom in Arabic.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wI_PMwe78TQ
I recommend letting this run in the background while you read the rest of this posting. Once you click the link, you will have to open another window to this blog in order to run the music in the background.

The sun rose around 6:00 AM and I saw the rolling hills and vineyards around us. We were really in the boonies. Everyone patiently waited for their appropriate buses t go home. No one was pushy. We were in time to be in the middle of Tel Aviv rush hour. I got back to my apartment at 10:30ish. Fortunately, we had a day off from school because of the holiday. I was not of much use on Sunday.

Monday was a regular school day. I called Shimon to see if he wanted to get together sometime. He answered and said he would call me back. While I was at the Kabbalah event, I was told that there was an organization called SFK (Spirituality for Kids), Peace Now. They get Palestinian, Jewish, and Israeli Arab kids together to learn about each other, bond, and explore and transform the preconceptions they have for each other. The Brazilian woman told me there was a big even in Tel Aviv on Monday. So, I caught a taxi to the event to check it out. I was told when I arrived that is was just for volunteers. “Then, I’m a volunteer”, I said. She put me to work for 3 hours, just carrying stuff and breaking down the event. I enjoyed being a part of it. I have attached photos. While breaking down some tables, I ran into Shimon who happened to be volunteering as well. Small world again. I am looking for some volunteer activities and this will be one of them. I am meeting with another American that Anat Talia told me was a great guy that met his wife here. He did a lot of volunteer work and will give me some ideas.

I played pickup basketball at Hyarkon Park tonight. That was a blast and yesterday, I played Frisbee and paddle ball on the beach with Dan whom I met one of my first nights here when Benji invited me to a small birthday party. Savlanoot means patience and I need more of that.

I did not mention before, although I posted pictures of it, that I attended a rally to send Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert home. There were thousand with music, speakers, signs, the works. It was in Rabin Square. I stuck around for a while and took some photos.

In summary, I still feel pretty lonely and often wonder what I’m doing here. I feel like a lot of time is wasted. When you’re alone, going to the beach and cafes is not so fun. You really need friends with whom to pass time. Besides the night of Lag Ba-Omer, I have not left Tel Aviv to see this absolutely beautiful country. I am trying to get the feel for living as an Israeli, not as a tourist on a bus or with a backpack. I know that I will be OK in the long run. I’m just trying to find my niche. I have not found the African program to work for yet and I have not made plans to go to Turkey or Jerusalem. These will all happen at some point.

Hineini kahn. Here I am. We’ll make something happen. Savlanoot.

Randy