I admit: I have been downright terrible at updating ever since the workload this semester picked up. (As a friend of mine posted on my Facebook wall, "Hey, what's up? Remember when you had a blog?")
With that in mind, ma hadash? [What's new?]
Well, briefly, the program here has used several of its weekends wisely and decided to take us on trips all over the country. One weekend was spent visiting the northern, rather mountainous parts of the country - namely the Golan Heights, overlooking the borders of Syria, Lebanon and Jordan. A few weekends later we went down south - hiking through the Negev, swimming in the Dead Sea, while staying on a kibbutz during the evenings. A day trip to Jerusalem's Old City was also organized by our Islamic History teacher, where he managed formidably at helping us view the city through a socio-religious-political lens that I had never thought about when previously visiting the Old City. Although each trip had its own unique merits, the overriding reason I enjoyed all three of them was that they 1) helped me further shape my perspective of this country, both past & present; and 2) helped me further strengthen friendships that have been blossoming since my arrival in August.
[In the Negev]
[Overlooking the Zin Valley from David Ben Gurion's grave in Sde Boker]
[This is a friend's picture: just about everyone on the trip stopped to take a picture of the longhorned ibek, standing majestically, until I pointed out that he was taking a leak.]
Speaking of strengthening friendships, nothing strengthens expatriate friendships more than celebrating Christmas, the new year, and birthdays in a country where the government, as well as the educational system, fails to recognize this time of year as a period worthy of holidays. [Our semester ends the last week of January.]
Determined to keep a semblance of normalcy in our lives, several events took place: a few friends from the program hung out at Heidi's for homemade eggnog and some classic Christmas movies [Disney's Scrooge, Dr. Seuss' Grinch, and last but not least, National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation]. In addition to that great night, the 8 crazy nights of Chanukah were an excellent way to spend time with friends: celebrations included the nightly lighting of the candles, making various types of latkas, and generally eating a lot while getting to know people on a more personal level than usual. Also, a girl from my class had the kindheartedness to open her doors to the whole class for a weekend Christmas party - even Lior, our brilliant Arabic teacher, showed up and stuck around for a few hours.
All in all, we definitely enjoyed ourselves as if we were on holiday!
[Getting our mud on before the entering Dead Sea]
Coming up next: The bubble that is Tel Aviv finally bursts, somewhat...Along with general sentiments until now about the situation in Gaza. For now though, here are some more pictures from my travels:
[The group from The South Trip]
[An action shot while 'hiking']
[Ein Gedi]
[Hanging out in the Negev]
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