Budapest: Part Two, The Secondish Part

Where to begin? The airport? Yeah, the airport. I get my luggage and exchange some of my cash for Forints. I try and contact my couchsurf host with the wifi and my phone but I can't seem to use the payphones correctly. I go and buy a train ticket and end up using the attendant's phone to call my host. I'll meet here when I get off the train/metro. Kindness of strangers and having a sad face can work wonders. I have to take a bus to a train to a tram to get to the apartment. I take the bus to the last stop, it's always helpful when you're in a new place and you only need to take something to the last stop. I get on the train and my eyes keep darting back and forth between the station name and the directions on my phone to make sure I get off at the right stop. Hungarian is not a super easy language. I get to the station and wait for my host to meet me, I'm pretty hard to miss with my giant green backpack, red hair all over my face and my bright yellow backpack. Eventually my host and one of her flatmates arrive and we get back to her flat. She lives in a beautiful old apartment building, pictures are on film and will be posted when developed, probably when I get to Berlin.

Castle District, view from the top

I finally have a good wifi connection and can call up and cancel my cards. Time to stop worrying and just enjoy myself, I have enough cash to last me at least a few days if not a week. So we go out to lunch to this buffet, about $7 for all you can eat. Fried everything, all kinds of beans, pickles, I'm in heaven. Deep fried cauliflower. Say no more. After stuffing our faces we start the tour part. We go to the chain bridge, the castle district in Buda, St. Stephen's Basilica and lots of walking around. Now for some pictures!

Basilica

Castle District and a scale model 

Church, penguin not to scale

After a really long day of seeing all the sights and walking around we need to go to Ikea to pick up a coat rack as Christmas is soon and we'll be having a big dinner and we need somewhere to put all the jackets. Ikea is a wonderland in any country, so many beds and couches to try out. The next day involves me sorting out all the BS of losing cards and trying to get enough cash until I get a new card sent out to me. Luckily there is Western Union and a global assistance program. So I spent the first half of the day on the phone with people. We found a place that does Western Union and the customer service rep, lets call him Gregory, called them up to see if they pay out in forints or dollars. He called them up and their reply- "No English". Welcome to Eastern Europe, or at least Budapest. So now it's my turn to walk over there and ask in person. I do and they tell me "No WIFI, can't do transfer." I grumble back across the street and call up Gregory again. There are some more places within walking distance so I go to one and after about twenty minutes of her angrily muttering at the computer and the phone, I get some much needed cash. I won't go into it more than I have but this was a very time consuming and frustrating ordeal. And to the ass who has my cards, thanks for the inconvenience. 

Let's change the mood, shall we. Day two, Later that evening Christmas is almost upon us and we need to do some serious shopping. There are supposed to be 20 people coming over, there are barely 10 chairs... So we go to the supermarket in the evening in search of food. I know this meal isn't exactly geared for vegetarians so my own meal I must make. I decide to go with one of my favorite one pot dishes, lentils with onions, yams, mushrooms and goat cheese. Well we get to the supermarket and as far as produce there isn't much left. Two yams the size of a baby's forearm but plenty of butternut squash and I'm not really sure which one the goat cheese is but I see something with a goat on the cover and it says chevre, good enough. Then there is also the matter of drinks. They don't really have dark beers so I just go for a bottle of whiskey. All together it didn't cost me that much. During this shopping trip I also got to meet some of the other couchsurfers and people who live in the apartment. There were 4 people couchsurfing including myself but since some of the flatmates weren't in town there were enough beds for all of us. We get back eventually, trams and buses go everywhere and like some other cities almost nobody checks if you bought a ticket or not. Almost. Was that foreshadowing? Maybe. Maybe, yes. I just realized I'm messing up the order of events in this post but it doesn't matter and I'm too lazy to correct it. Just gonna leave it a mystery as to what actually happened when.  

Day two. Part two. I do some cooking in the morning, cutting up the butternut squash with my swiss army knife because the Ikea knives they had weren't exactly doing it. (I'm not gonna make that pun.)  I manage to get it down. Sweet. Soon after this was all the credit card and western union BS. Later that evening. Of day two. The 24th of December. We're finishing up making dinner and starting to drink. Mmm... Ballantines Whiskey... There is something made that I've never heard of, Coxinha. Fried dumplings with the dough made from mashed potatoes, milk, butter, flour, eggs and some other things. Dipped in egg then some kind of batter and fried until its the best thing I've ever had deep fried.... God Bless Brazil. I couldn't eat any that night but I had some a few days later filled with my lentils. So good. Also, only about 13 people were there, not the expected 20 so there was enough of everything, even seats. One of the guests also brought a giant plate of some kind of egg salad sandwiches that I couldn't stop eating. So good but so bad. So much sulfur... Any who, it was really fun and I got to meet even more awesome Brazilians. Eventually people left but we still stayed in the living room till like 2 or 3 am. I taught my host(ess?) how to use different modes on her camera. I even got to bring out my tripod so we could take a group photo. Yes. I brought my tripod. My first christmas too! 

Day three. I'm on a long train ride from Vienna to Prague now so I'm just doing everything I can. I wake up kinda late, leftovers for breakfast. I go to Heroes Square with one of the couchsurfers and we try to go to one of the public baths but they were all sold out of lockers and we brought all our stuff so... Maybe some other time. We passed by some things of interest on our way back. The terror house and Jafar's.

 For dinner, we're going to one of the friend's apartments and afterwards we're hitting up the club. The dinner consisted of Christmas leftovers, as there were a lot of them... More drinking ensued, some people drank what I would consider a little too much but to them its normal. A while later I end up going to this giant 4 story maze of a club/bar, I only took one picture. I went with 2 of the couchsurfers while everyone stayed behind to keep drinking. We passed by our apartment on the way there and I was so tempted to just go to sleep but as you may have already guessed, I did not go to sleep. I danced for the next 3 hours. My legs. They were tired. We get back to the apartment at around 4 in the morning. Some of the people take the tram I just walk. It was a good thing too as there were people checking for tickets on the tram. HA! Foreshadowing! There is a tiny bit more which I'll finish up later but here's this for now.

Welcome to Budapest.

My flight to Budapest was fairly early, 6:40 am to be exact, and I knew you needed to get there early. I figured I would end up taking a taxi at 3am but that wasn't exactly very appealing. I couldn't find anyone who had a flight as early as I did so nobody wanted to split a taxi with me. So, I decided to go super early and leave with a friend and share the taxi with her around 9pm. We get to the airport and in the 30 feet between the taxi door and the airport doors we already get stopped. A security guy asks to see our passports and asks us a bunch of questions, I guess I look suspicious? My friend's flight is at 1am so I go with her to check luggage with hope that I can check mine too. So we get on the first line, pre-security screening and x-ray scans of the checked baggage. Well my friend puts her luggage through and they send her over to extra inspection and they send me to the counter so I can get it checked. Turns out I have to wait till 2am, 4 hours before my flight to check my stuff and I need to carry it around with me until then. Until 2am... I go back to my friend and they are just giving her the whole 9 yards. I have to return my Israeli simcard so I tell her to just meet up by a cafe for whoever finishes first. By the time I come back (I may or may not have been distracted by a dog) she is still there. They made her unpack all her baggage. Did I mention how 100% American she is?

She finally gets through and we say goodbye. I still have over 2 hours before I can check my big backpack. So I watch The Road while half falling asleep. Blablabla... It's 3am and I'm by the gate and kinda hungry. I go see my food options. I've always wanted Sushi at 3 in the morning. And so it was. The flight boards, I kinda nap. Take some pictures of the mountains and clouds. We land. I check to make sure I have everything. What's that front left jeans pocket? You feel kinda empty? Hmm... Well I better check to be sure. Oh now, you're right. My little wallet isn't there. Which means neither are all of my credit/debit cards. HA HA HA... I check all my pockets, under the seat, to the side of the seat, rip off the velcroed (didn't know it was velcro before I ripped it up) seat cushion. Check my backpack, I check everything, 3 times. Nothing. It's okay, I have enough cash on me to get to where I need to go and last me Budapest at least. Good thing I already paid for my eurail pass. I still have my passport and some cash at least. This makes for a fun start to my trip. I talk to the stewardess and explain the situation. They help me look until the cleaning crew comes and I need to leave. I get my stuff and find the lost and found, she barely understood english but she knows enough to tell me she can't help me at all... Welcome to Budapest. It's 12:15am and I want to sleep. Thats all for now.

Last bits of Tel Aviv

The last week in Israel was an interesting one. I was lucky to have both of my finals the first two days of finals week and finished them rather early. So I had a lot of free time the last week, did a lot of walking around tel aviv, had dinner with a friend at a tapas bar. Went to an improv group event Tuesday night after my last final, it was a lot of fun. We spent a few hours just playing improv games and went to a karaoke bar afterwards. However, most of the week was just me running around like a decapitated chicken getting paperwork done and finalizing travel plans and trying to send a piece of luggage home instead of taking it with me to Europe. I went to the post office to try and send the luggage home, you cant send luggage unless you put it into a box. I couldn't find a box big enough for it so I ended up using DHL. The Israeli customer service was perfect, straight to the point and full of dry humor. I also went back to the post office because of the two times I sent postcards, I got one postcard back from each batch so I went back to send them again. Hopefully they won't send them back a second time as I am no longer in Israel...
Later that week on Thursday I went to Jerusalem with a few friends. The bus normally shouldn't take more than an hour but there was a ton of traffic and it took us a few hours. I was sitting next to a brooklyn hipster with a medium format camera and beard who raised ducks in his apartment... We finally get to Jerusalem and the sun is in its last hour, so we're in a bit of rush to get to the kotel so I can get some good pictures while there is still light. There was snow on the ground, helped me get into the mindset of winter even though the following day in Tel Aviv was quite warm. We were walking through the old city, christian quarters avoiding the small tractors occasionally passing us by, trying not to speak hebrew or make christmas jokes. After getting a little lost and the girls getting a little distracted by all the stores we finally arrived. The last time I was there was over 5 years ago, it felt a little eerie to be back. The kotel just does that. We also went to Marzipan Bakery by Machane Yehudah street, such good rugalech. Fresh out the oven and covered in syrup. By the time we got back, two of my suitmates had already left. I'm not sure how they were able to leave because they didn't exactly do a good job cleaning up after themselves. My roommate left some shoes, his hookah which he told the madricha was mine... and a bunch of other random things. So that wasn't fun.
The last week also included us cleaning and trying to finish the rest of our alcohol. It was tough but we managed. It made cleaning a lot more fun. We either gave away our stuff to friends who were staying for the whole year or the 3 year BA program, put it in the shelter or threw them out. It took a lot of garbage bags and trips up and down the stairs to the underground shelter but we did it. Post about Budapest and the flight to follow. Going to Vienna tomorrow!!

Pile O' Shoes in the Shelter

Snapchat

I have recently gotten snapchat and quickly have become addicted. Let me know if you have one too and want to receive snapchats. I can only promise laughter or disappointment. Your gamble.

Petra/A Day Well Spent... (this ellipsis means it's a lie)

For the past month I was planning a trip to Petra, Jordan. At first I wanted to go for as cheap as possible and not miss any classes. I was trying to see how much it would cost and if it would be cheaper to piece everything together myself.  After talking to numerous people I realized it would be worth it for me to just go on an organized tour and pay a little bit extra for it. The two people who wanted to go with me agreed. Then one of them backed out... (this ellipsis means I wasn't happy.) I had yet to book the hostel and pay for the $200+ tour. Two days later my other friend backed out. So now I'm contemplating whether or not I really want to go by myself. For about a day I think about this. I wouldn't be completely alone as I'd be with a tour group that friends have used and loved. So safety wouldn't be much of an issue. But it would be so much nicer to go with at least someone I'm somewhat familiar with. I eventually decide I should still go, even if by myself because when is the next time I will have this chance and I just got my Nikon from my parents. Petra in 35mm would be so beautiful.

It's Wednesday night, just a few days before I would be going. I book the hostel and pay the $4 online deposit, the rest due when I check in. I go on to the tour website and fill out the forms. As I'm about to enter my credit card information, my paranoia creeps up on me. "Hmmm, I should probably check to make sure I can re-enter Israel on my temporary tourist visa." One of my friends who has a student visa was given trouble when he was trying to get back into Israel so I have an even higher chance of having trouble and I would hate to be stranded in Jordan by myself.

Earlier that week, I was with said friend at the Ministry of the Interior so I could get my student visa and he could fix his. It was like the DMV on rude Israeli steroids. We entered the building, found where we needed to be and waited in line just to ask where we needed to go to figure our things out. I kept bouncing around from different offices and people all giving me very general directions to go to this window or its down this hall... I finally found my little window, took a number and waited, and waited, and waited. Finally my number is called and I'm told I just need to go to another office and talk to Attitude McGee, who isn't in her office right now but you can just wait for her to get back. So I wait.

Eventually she shows up and I tell her I want to get a student visa so I won't have any problems getting back into Israel from Jordan. First she tells me the office is closed and that they, or rather, just her, only does student visa applications on Thursdays. Then she tells me that I'm not here to have fun and I should be focused on my studying. She gets even sassier, telling me I'll be fine with my temporary visa and that I shouldn't bother coming back to her. Thanks.

Fast forward back to Wednesday night when I'm wondering if Ms. Short&Sassy was being honest and getting slightly anxious at the prospect of not being able to re-enter. I start looking up whether or not I can re-enter on my temp visa. After about 30 minutes of googling and calling numbers I find out that no, I cannot re-enter Israel on my visa...(this ellipsis is for dramatic pause) However!! Tomorrow is Thursday and Thursday is when I can get my student visa, supposedly the same day, after talking to numerous people who have all had to experience the Sasshole because the Israeli Embassy in NY was on strike and wasn't giving student visas. Harumff. I'm starting to wonder if I'll actually be able to get a student visa the next day. It doesn't matter though, its time to go to the Polish Cinema event!!! There was a brief intro about Polish Cinema history relative to politics of the time. After the intro there is time for discussion, wine and mini sandwiches. I guess I won't be cooking dinner. The movie is comprised of three stories, all following the same character, each with a different outcome related depending on the first scene where he is rushing to catch his train. Besides the obvious different plots in each there were some subtle details that differed like what drink was served and how he interacted with women. It was really interesting and something that I would probably never experience if not for deciding to go to the event.

I get back to my dorm and am still wondering what to do regarding Jordan. After talking to some people I decide to throw in the white flag and try to do something else this weekend. I'll eventually come back to Israel and Petra isn't exactly going away anytime soon.

Mail Time!!!

I got my Eurail Pass in the mail!!!!! Penguin for scale.

Catch Up

Nothing like some time at the farmers market AND then finding the biggest and most adorable dog ever!!! This girl was pulling it around all over the boardwalk and just yanking his leash. I felt so bad for him and impressed that he didn't snap at the little girl. I mean look at it. It's huge!

My view of the shuk from Beer Bazar. I love
the little tree growing out of the house.

I was a little surprised to see this in Israel. Just in time for winter back in the states... It wasn't very good. Shipyard Wreck still remains my favorite.

I went on a little adventure last Tuesday around  the Levinski market on Levinski street. It's where all the spices and dried goods are. Nuts, seeds, dried fruits, teas. All slightly cheaper than the few vendors at the Karmel Shuk. I was feeling kinda hungry when I was walking around and saw this little hole in the wall store and a guy eating at the table closest to the sidewalk and I saw this pizza pie. So I bought my own. My first real pizza in Israel. Eggplant, onions and 'spicy' peppers.

 That same Tuesday I went to running club after class, only I was the only one who showed up that week. Oh yeah there is a running club started by a few graduate students there that I joined via facebook. The first week we ran about 5 miles and it took an hour. Painfully slow. But we got ice cream afterwards and it was really nice. This past week I was alone and wanted to do better than my previous time of 40 minutes. So I had a very intense run and did it in 37 minutes. I don't think I ever did this well in high school. So I was exhausted and ended up going to the Dancing Camel Pub downtown with a friend after. I got the stout and we shared a plate of 'nachos'. They were mini rice cakes with some horrible cheese powder coating. But the beer was delicious and the pub was awesome. I got a horrible sore throat and cold the next day. It lasted about a week and I'm all better now. I'm also definitely not going to a party tonight...

My parents were also in town, they won a raffle and got a free trip to Israel. They took me and some friends out to dinner at this Italian place. Had creme brulee for the first time and realized how much of a foodie I am yet again. I said it was my first time eating it and everyone was so shocked. You've never had creme brulee?!? They were so surprised that I have never eaten it. Also there was an old picture of John Krasinski outside the restaurant. I was also treated to multiple meals and an afternoon nap in a hotel room. Those are always so nice, especially when you're sick. Thank you if you're reading this.
We also went to North Abraxas and made quite a mess. It's a good thing the tablecloth is just two strips of butcher paper. There was also some fish leftover and they didn't have any takeaway containers so they just gave me one of their ceramic plates and covered it in plastic. Unless I go back for another meal, I got a free souvenir!!

Eukanuba even in Israel

Cool graffiti

Jeep Trek

Disclaimer- I was not actually in a jeep, rather a 4x4. Jeeps are just a "shitty brand name", paraphrased from our driver/guide. Normally the class in the fall semester would fill up two jeeps but this semester not a lot of people signed up. Only 7 people signed up for this trip and luckily we were able to go with only one jeep. Saturday morning, we met outside the dorms and were of course running late. We were waiting for one more person... She came wearing a dress and sandals... Not exactly what you should wear when you're going to the desert/west bank. As you can see in the pictures the jeep had a big UN sticker on it, it was just a prop in a movie so they kept the sticker. Maybe makes things a bit safer when you're in the middle of the desert/west bank? Our teacher and driver were pointing out things along the way like how easily you can tell the difference between the Israeli and Palestinian territory, plants=Israeli. Our first stop was in Abu Ghosh, a place known for its amazing hummus. Arab hummus > Israeli hummus. There is one famous place there with a secret hummus recipe. The cousins of that family opened their own hummus place and that may have caused some family tension... We got our lunch at the cousins place (but we didnt eat it there, sad face). We just had a small amuse-bouche, some amazing falafel. And pickles, Israel does great pickles. Perfect for picklebacks. If you are or were in college you should know what these are.
After picking up our lunch, we continued to the west bank (should that be capitalized?). We stopped by one of the pulsating springs for lunch. I don't remember the names of these places, lots of Arabic and Hebrew. Such tasty food, but we couldn't even finish it between 8 people. Leftovers for dinner. We did a little hike and saw some cool things, look at the picasa album. We also found lots of jimson weed. Look it up. After we left we hit a traffic block, a herd of goats. We made our way through some bumpy desert/old army testing grounds. We stopped at Hell Mountain (literal translation) and had the option of a camel ride. We could see the three towers of Jerusalem from there. We then continued, via donkey, one at a time, towards the cliff opposite a Greek Orthodox monastery that was built into the side of a mountain. No girls allowed. Seriously though. The founder's mother wasn't even allowed in, they just a bare bones small rock house for her at the top of the cliff. We saw a lot of water collection tanks and a bush/tree that the Bedouins use for marriage proposals. A male will follow a female and see her daily travels. He will then make a knot on a special plant out of the branches. If she responds with another knot and the parents approve. They get married. Whole new meaning to tying the knot. (Maybe that's where it is from.) After that we had dinner by a narrow canyon where we shattered oil shale and inhaled the fumes. Nature's garage smell. We had a little fire going and had a nice dinner and conversation about how different some of Palestinian society can be. Another concept people had a hard time grasping. The first being that honor killings are a real thing in modern times with certain groups.
After dinner we got to use our teacher's night vision goggles, pretty cool. It also allowed for a lot of scaring people by jumping into their line of sight. I may or may not have started that trend. Once a little brother, always a little brother. We cleaned up and took the night vision goggles on the road. Then we got to take out the handheld spotlight. We saw a bunch of (I think) deer and a rabbit or two. Most of the animals don't come out till later. We also stopped by an onion field and may have taken a few... Lastly we stopped by the famous Elvis cafe on the way back. Two of the largest Elvis statues. Also, two of the largest Elvis crotches. Some things I forgot to add- we found a button plant and "brought it to life" and went to the bathroom off the side of a mountain. So I was able to cross a few things off my bucket list this trip. And in case the picasa slideshow doesn't work here is the link

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Various Pictures, Mostly Animals

They just follow you around clucking, expecting food

Beautiful plumage

Pheasants

The inner portion of the farmers market at the port, like a mini version of Chelsea Market in Manhattan

It talks!!!! In Hebrew!!!!

Frightening emu, orange eyes like the devil, long sharp claws too

I got to make pizza with a pizza stone at a friend's house!!!

All of the animal pictures are from Hakfar Hayarok, where I volunteer Friday mornings and take care of these 'lovely' creatures along with many other animals not pictured. They are very camera shy...

Eilat Trip #2: The Good One

Jordan River Valley

This weekend the program had a trip to Eilat and since it was planned by competent adults it went really well. No expectations not being met by reality leading to disappointment on this trip!!! (Not sarcasm) We got up Friday morning and took our sweet ass time loading onto the buses, the counselors making sure we had hats, 2 liters of water and closed toe shoes. I want to say how it's not necessary for people our age to be treated like children but I would be lying if I did. Sad truth. Not all 20 year olds are capable of 20 year old behavior. We stop for breakfast at a mall and all approx 70 of us line up at the Aroma (upscale Israeli starbucks I guess). I see donuts. I get two. They even warmed them up for me so the jelly inside was more like a syrup but I honestly think that was just the way they are, regardless of them being warmed up. No regrets. Just donuts. Our next stop is at the Hebrew Israelite community near Dimona. One of the leaders there was talking to us and he was a very smooth talker but there were still a few things that were pretty off-putting. At first it seemed like a really good community. Mandatory exercise, emphasis on lowering stress, vegan diet, which he said is natural for people and can't be disputed... But then there were some other things. They don't really believe in higher education, he cited it as being responsible for the production of weapons of mass destruction, but ignored the fact that so many great things also come from higher education... They are not very supportive of LGBT, he said it was unsustainable... He also talked about how women absorb the dna of men and physically become more like them when they have sex... So much pseudoscience... It was a good thing we weren't staying very long. I even asked one of the teens who was born there if she liked it. I got a silent head nod saying no. All I needed to (not) hear.

We get back on the bus and keep going, past the "Krembo factory". Krembo is a chocolate mousse puff atop a graham cracker covered in chocolate. It resembles a dome or part of the nuclear power plant near dimona (southern desert city)... They keep the "krembo factory" heavily guarded and don't let anyone know the secret recipe. Also if you are seen taking pictures of it you might get a talking from the security or cops. It's best to not talk about the "krembo factory". We take a stop for lunch at the Yotvata store/gift shop. There are very few things in the desert on the way to Eilat so all these places we stopped at I had been on my last trips to Israel about 5 and 8 years ago. We finally get to the hotel, a few hours to nap and shower before dinner. Dinner was pretty good, the vegetarian option consisted of corn cutlets and spring rolls but there was many options for salad stuffs. After dinner we went on a "party" boat for a few hours. It was a boat and there was loud music and a very understocked bar. The only liquor they had was vodka and they ran out of that super fast and all the beers were room temperature. We also all got a voucher for one free drink, other wise it would be about $7. Oh Israel. At one point they bring out this bellydancer and she puts on her playlist and is just making everyone uncomfortable. She has a dedicated playlist, videographer and photographer. They make us clear a space for her to dance around and make everyone feel super awkward for a a good twenty minutes. If you made eye contact you were as good as dead. She honed in on people feeling uncomfortable like a heat seeking missile. After she finally ruined the mood enough she vanished. Probably just resting in her tanning bed, just waiting to strike at the next party. The music selection was great at some points but horrible at others. A lot of people were just being party poopers and not dancing at all. Now usually I would be one of those party poopers but this time... I was not.

Breakfast the next day included jachnun. I love jachnun. Look it up. Jachnun Jachnun. The next part of our day, and the last part for me as I needed to leave Saturday to be back for my sunday class and midterm due on sunday, was a 5 hour hike through Amir canyon. It was great but like the party boat, not everyone was enjoying it. We played a few little games on our little breaks but group participation was really low. People made the mistake of eating their lunch too early, not packing enough for lunch and then complaining about it when lunch came. Did pack more than enough food. Didn't get a sun burn. Did do a lot of rock scrambling. Didn't poop on the party. Did have a great time. Didn't fall or cut myself. Did see a lot of awesome rock formations. Didn't take a lot of pictures. Took two. Did meet a lot of new (nice) people. Unfortunately when it was over we went back to the hotel and then I, along with a bunch of other kids, rode back to Tel Aviv where we promptly fell asleep. 

I guess I should update this

I had two midterms this week along with other assignments, some of which I'm still working on so this will be a fairly brief update with the possibility of expansion later but not so likely...

• Last weekend I slept over at a friend's (from sprout lake) house and I made pizza for her family for dinner, they had a pizza stone, it was glorious. It was super relaxing and just nice to be in a real home instead of the dorms. They also had a kitler. Google it.
• When I was at the Shuk I got a hummus plate. Warm hummus. Whole new experience. Life changing.
• I did some kumquat harvesting at Hakfar Hayarok and they were so good. Really weird that not only can you eat the skin but the skin is sweeter than the juice inside it.
• I'm in love with the farmers market. I spent almost 100 shekel ~$30 on cheese alone and about $5 on the best mango I've ever had. 10/10 -would buy again
• I spent a lot of time studying for my economy midterm in the library. It's nice but it doesn't compare to the 26 floor behemoth of a library at UMass. 
• I spent almost no time studying for my environment midterm. Didn't really need to. Much easier to learn and memorize environment notes compared to economy notes. I guess I should write a post about Israel's environment and the mistakes they made in the past. Horrible mistakes. One after another...
• I've adjusted to cooking with the food they do have here. In part due to my deal with a friend. I cook dinner for both of us and I get paid. Initially with a liter of bourbon. Anybody have any good mixed drink recipes with Jim Bean? I don't really enjoy drinking it plain...
• I learned how to say apricot in hebrew. Meeshmeesh.
• I found the TAU running club. Ran 8km (5 miles) with them Tuesday night in about an hour. It was a painfully slow pace but fun experience nonetheless. We got ice cream after. 
• I heard that there was snow back home and became very jealous. I want winter so badly even though the weather here is beautiful. 
• I saw blue jasmine, new woody allen film. It was pretty good and I think the first woody allen film I've ever seen.
• I finally found out who was in charge of the secret neglected garden and started working with him. I spent about twenty minutes trying to uproot a guava tree but couldn't do it. I had to go to class.
• I talked to someone about the new grad school program here dealing with food security. It was really cool to hear about and a little tempting.
• Nothing else is springing to mind at the moment and I have to run to my acting class. 

Dog Decision Tree

Picture 1

Picture 2

This is dog. Dog likes to play fetch. However, Dog doesn't really know how to play fetch. Most of the time if you throw the stick Dog will get the stick. Dog might bring the stick back, which Dog does most of the time, or Dog might just lay there with the stick. If Dog brings the stick back, just like before, one of two things will happen. Dog might put the stick at your feet for you to throw again and if you do, the Dog Decision Tree starts all over again. The other option, as seen in the pictures, is what happens when Dog does not give the stick back. Dog will keep the stick in it's mouth but put it's head against your hand. If you move your hands away from Dog it will push it's head against you as seen in Picture 1. However caution must be exercised. For as soon as you try to grab the stick Dog will bite further up the stick closer to your hand. If your hand is not bitten off in the process you may continue to Picture 2. In Picture 2 you will simply be playing tug-o-war with Dog. If the stick gets broken off in the process a new stick will be required to start the Dog Decision Tree all over again. Also, if you let go of the stick you will go back to Picture 2. Fin.

Another Tuesday, Another Day of Fun

Tuesday, time to explore and walk around and maybe some errands. I needed to get my Rav Kav as I've been putting off getting one for way too long and just decided to finally do it in the morning. The Rav Kav is essentially a metro card for the buses. You can get unlimited ones, or ones with discounts for certain groups like senior citizens and students. As a student my Rav Kav gives me 30% off on the buses I normally take. Lots of different bus companies, lots of different rav kavs. You can also add money onto the card when you get on the bus so it's very convenient, to use. To get it you need to go to one the major bus stations. One of which is very sketchy and you don't want to go to at night at all. I went to the other one. I had all my paperwork and they took my picture. Serious face. I decided to walk from there down to the Shuk and hope to find some cool places and food on the way there. One of the first places I saw was called

Cake Art, it had my curiosity and attention immediately. Initially however I knew I had to get falafel from the shuk and kept walking but then I thought about how hungry I was at the moment and decided to at least cross the street and check it out. From the outside it looked like a restaurant but was really just a glorified bakery with so many options to choose from. I found a "single" serving eggplant quiche and ate the whole thing. I considered it a "single" serving because I ate it all on my walk without putting it down. It was so good. I need to go back.

I walk over to Ibn Gabirol St and just follow the path of the bus I would otherwise normally take. This gives me a chance to really take in my surroundings as opposed to trying to soak in all the details on a bus going 50kph. I also am given the chance to go into any store or park I please, something which I take advantage of. I find this little park with a really awesome swing. Instead of the boring strip of plastic

 it's basically a concave disc (think satellite dish) and made out of rope. I swing on that for a good ten minutes. Nothing wrong with a 21 year old American tourist on a children's swing in the middle of the day. Nothing. I continue on my walk and come across two more pretty awesome places. A really cool but way too expensive clothing store, with tons of awesome/weird stuff, and an awesome coffee/book shop. Both of these stores were super easy to just walk past without notice, luckily I walked past and took notice. I have a feeling I'll be coming back to the book/coffee shop for when I need to actually start studying for finals/do work.

 

Eventually I make my way to the Shuk, with supermarket prices in mind to see what's cheaper and where. I just get a few things, and can barely fit them all in my backpack, luckily I came with some extra plastic bags. I get a kilo of this, half a kilo of that. Then  two beers. Because I met someone last week I feel like this is a good place to meet strangers and have good conversation. Oh, and drink beer too. I met some Americans working in Tel Aviv, one of whom graduated Brandeis in 2010 but we weren't about to start playing Jewish geography. I had a pomegranate cider that was amazing, as alcoholic as a very dry cider but without the dryness, and a Belgian Tripel(9.2%), both brewed in Israel, as is every drink at Beer Bazar. As soon as I know it I gotta run back to campus for class. I will admit, I was a bit past tipsy when I finished. I also got the drunk munchies and although I couldn't find the fabled falafel place I found another highly recommended place that I couldn't find last time. Fresh made laffa stuffed with hummus, salad and charif (hot sauce). Picture break...

I stumble back to the bus stop, okay that might have been an exxageration, and wait for what seems like forever for it to come. I finally get to use my newly obtained Rav Kav and fill that up with some money. After a few stops the woman sitting next to me gets off and an American girl sits next to me and starts talking to her friend all about her relationship woes. At first I'm debating on whether or not I should interject and then I'm just wondering at what moment do I chime in. My opportunity arrives and I grab it with a buzzed glee. We talk for the rest of the ride, turns out they are graduate students at TAU, one from France, one from America., both studying conflict resolution. I get back with about half an hour before class. By the time class starts I still feel a bit buzzed but it ends up being the best class so far. I'm killing it. Answering every question, I feel completely in the zone. Everyone else in the class seems pretty much dead. After class I talk to the teacher about Israel and agriculture and I find out a bunch of stuff, companies and kibbutzes that are very into the whole sustainable thing. So I have my research and contacting to do now. I see exciting experiences in my future!!!! 

The Fun Never Stops

One of the residents

Friday morning I woke up early like usual (okay, its only the 2nd time) to go volunteer at the youth village. I learned that most of the other people there are less volunteers and more court-mandated-community-service-workers. Hahaha... They're not murderers or anything, I was talking to one of them and he just got in a drunken brawl with some guy so now he's there a few days a week. He also really wants to learn English and I want to learn Hebrew so that's a plus. Main point, I'm there to volunteer and work hard, they are there not by their own free will so they don't want to work at all. Also, Friday mornings they typically have birthday parties for kids. They bring food and eat, feed the animals, make pita, go on tractor rides, perfect for the budding kibutznik. I have to leave early because I'm going on a trip to Eilat for a day and a half, I get back and have just enough time to do laundry, the dryer even already has 20 minutes on it, just enough time.

So I know next to nothing about what this trip will entail (Bedouin tent and camel ride is all I know) and ask one of my friends what she is bringing. I cram some warm clothes for the night and another shirt in my yellow backpack and some food, of course. I go to the central bus station with my other friend. This place is huge, in a sketchy part of tel aviv and very confusing to navigate. We finally find the right gate and get our tickets. We're still waiting on the two other girls. The other two girls arrive and we get on the bus. I then learn its going to be a 5 hour bus ride. No problem, I am the master of long bus rides, Amherst to NY was almost always 5 hours.  Besides, I have my music, food and water, I'm ready for the worst. Which is what precisely happens in the form of a mother and her two very young, very loud, very upset children. She ends up displacing my two friends who were sitting across from me. Hip hip hooray... Throughout the ride they cry, scream, hide under the seat, fight each other, get hit by their mother and cry about needing to go to the bathroom. To which the mother makes the bus driver stop, right by a police station on the highway mind you. She grabs the kid by the arms brings him to the side of the bus, in everyone's view and just pulls his pants down and away he goes. He also apparently started to poop because I hear her scream something about poop in hebrew. Luckily we also had a few breaks. One of which involved a McDonalds in the middle of the desert, complete with golden arches. Even in the desert of Israel you can't escape the clown. As we're getting closer and the sun is setting there is the most beautiful sunset over the desert horizon, wonderful color gradient. 5 hours later we arrive to the bus station. I was under the impression, a wrongful one at that, that a taxi would be waiting for us to take us to Yusef's Beduoin Tent!!!!!! There was not. However there were still taxis, they just had no idea what we were talking about... After many minutes and talking to numerous drivers we finally find one who knows where to go. Unfortunately there are five of us and only four seats. He refuses to take all of us so we split up into two taxis and just follow the first guy. We finally get to our destination.

There it is...

Courtesy of google maps, also
the image seems broken, oh well

Quite literally, Yusef's Bedouin Tent. Just one. A single tent. As humor is my go to coping mechanism I just laugh and take in the whole situation. I should clarify a bit. We were expecting the usual Bedouin tourist destination. In the middle of the desert, with many huge tents, for sleeping, eating and dancing. What we got was a roadside restaurant attraction... We were all severely disappointed, especially those of us who have never been to the real thing. We even went through the 5 stages of grief, denial, anger, bargaining, sadness and acceptance. This can't be the place, this fucking sucks, can't we find another place, this is not what I was expecting (sad face) and alright lets just see how this works out. So we walk the 15 feet from the side of the road to the tent with our bags and are greeted by who else but YUSEF!!! There are couches outside with sheets over them, almost every surface is covered in either a tapestry or rug. The ceiling is adorned by decorative lanterns and poorly wired light bulbs. We sit down, still in shock just focusing on getting some food in our stomachs. He asks us what we want to eat and we explain that there are people in the group that dont eat meat. Hummus and pita it is. Every time he talks to us it sounds like he is being sarcastic even though he is being sincere, it confuses some of us. He starts us off with olives, pita, hummus, labneh and some surprisingly good salted cucumbers and tomatoes. We all start chowing down and a bit later he brings out the authentic stuff, grilled meats and french fries. Two heaping plates of french fries. Hummus and french fry tacos for dinner it is. One of the girls asks about sleeping over and he replies with what seems like sarcasm but is really just confusing sincerity. He tells us of course we can stay and tells us where each of his family members sleep. They all live in this tent... 

A lot of other groups are also coming through for dinner and hookah. One of whom leaves a very memorable impression. A Polish grandmother with a very high pitched voice who ends up getting quite shitfaced off of beer and befriending just about all the other adults there. Her face was just glowing with drunken glee and I really wanted to be her friend. Some of us are getting very tired and just fall asleep pretty early. I stay up pretty late as I'm still a little sketched out and paranoid. Eventually, I fall asleep and wake up 5 hours later to the sun rising over the mountains in Jordan. It's pretty dam cold and I'm not gonna get any warmer by laying in bed. So, I struggle to put on a pair of jeans over my pajama pants, get my shoes on and go across the street for a better view and some exercise to warm up. The First Days of Spring by Noah and the Whales was my soundtrack for my morning outside the tent. I still can't get over how good Love of an Orchestra is. I walked down the street to see what else was around because we weren't exactly offered breakfast. "I give you tea or coffee in the morning and then you leave" -Yusef

That's fine, we had to make it to the camel place by 8:45. Luckily I found an aroma close by andwent on a breakfast run and got back with minutes to spare. We load into I guess his son's taxi and go just down to the road to the camel place. The whole of last night he wouldn't give us a straight answer to how far away it was. It was only a few minutes away, so we say our goodbyes and go. We arrive to the camel ranch and are debating between the 1.5 or 4 hour ride. I've done camel rides before and would not want to be on one for 4 hours. Thankfully that's not the case, there are parts that the camels are linked together, parts we ride on our own (aka not chained together) and parts where we just chill with the camels and make food. We get two guides and they bring us out to the camels. They are all female camels with distinct personalities and we get matched by the guides. I got the ginger camel, Offi (well as ginger as a camel can be which is not very.)

view from one of our breaks

Lots of great conversation with the guides, it felt less like a tour and more like just hanging out on/with some camels. They call a taxi for us so we can get back to the bus station. Same thing happens as before, the driver won't take us all but we ask him to call another cab. I don't think he ever did because me and the other guy were waiting there for a while. We find the guide again and ask him to call another cab. Finally one comes and we make our way to the station. The girls already bought us tickets but for the bus 3 hours from now. This would mean getting back to the sketchy bus station at 11pm. Not something we really want to do. Also, one of the girls 'needs' to get back in time for her birthday clubbing celebration. So we end up getting on the bus with the agreement that we give up our seats to anyone coming onto the bus. Well that wasn't an issue as there were no seats for us to begin with. Besides the seats on the floor and in the stairwell in the back. I ended up sitting next to a woman's smelly feet. That was only the first two hours. We finally had our first rest stop and it was utter chaos as there were a few other buses stopping as well. Well it was chaos for the women. The line for the bathroom was going out the door and some women resorted to just finding a semi-secluded place to just pop a squat. The men's bathroom had no issue, no line, just in and out. I stand up for the next hour of the ride. No problem, it's just like the subway. Finally a bunch of people get off the bus and seats open up. I'm losing my writing steam and can't remember anything super funny or interesting happening after this point. So we finally get back and take a taxi to the dorms.

Trip Up North and an Israeli Wino Part 3

Oooohhh Agriculture

The next day we had a nice and early breakfast, as a means to make sure nobody would drink too much. I would say it was successful for most people, but for those it wasn't, you could tell. Made for a fun game at breakfast. I love Israeli breakfasts because there is always such a wide range of options to choose from. I even tried cottage cheese for the first time. I didn't feel as if I was missing out my whole life. As good as the breakfast was, the view of the sunrise over the Kineret was even better. No pictures, so you'll just have to trust me. We start our day with a nice hike by the El Al stream, "so clean you could drink it". But none of us do. We have 2 liters of water each, more than enough to get us through the day. Oh, and a hat. Two liters of water and a hat. Can't travel without them, but apparently we don't need a towel... We get back on the bus and then go to Bantal Mountain, very high up, luckily I had all my clothes in my backpack so I wasn't freezing. There was a vendor selling fruit and honey between the parking lot and the summit. There is also a ton of scrap metal artwork, including this giant dinosaur. However, I have to admit I took this picture about 5 years ago when I was on Seminar. The above picture was taken this year though.

Aaah 5 year old dinosaur picture

There was also a cafe at the top that felt a lot like a ski lodge, cold weather outside, wooden walls and warmth inside. It was just another reminder that Fall is happening back home and that I'm going to completely miss it and go straight to winter when I leave to travel in December. To compensate, I got a bottle of hard cider and a potato bureka. Perfect. We got back to the hotel where there was a shuttle van waiting for those who needed to get back Saturday night in time for Sunday class. Only one problem. There weren't enough seats. Some people decided they wanted to leave early and some forgot to register for the shuttle. The van is full and I'm waiting with one other person for another taxi because we don't want to sit on the tiny floor of this van for 3 hours. The taxi driver then says there is room for one more and he nudges me on. I get on, he closes the door and just starts driving. There are still two people standing putting their luggage and two seats, they tell me to sit. I do but it turns out there was no other seat, so one of the guys ends up sitting on the floor. I am so pissed at the taxi driver but he's not gonna turn around. We agree to take shifts sitting on the floor but we all actually end up falling asleep. I feel like I got off too easy this time, totally not foreshadowing right now... All in all it was a good trip. Now for the wino.