Being adopted by a druzi family for the holiday!

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The “Day of Sacrifice” is a celebration of a story similar to that of Abraham and Isaac in the Torah. It is essentially the only holiday for the Druze out of the entire day, while there is another holiday it is not as celebrated by the non-religious. For two entire weeks the family has a vacation and gathers at home to celebrate together. It is rare for people during the actual two days of the holiday to be outside of the house. In the middle of the two weeks is the actual holiday where everyone will feast with close family. Close family entails the nuclear family, and aunts, uncles, and grandparents. This family had one grandmother, six aunts and five uncles, and twelve children. There were twenty-five of us with myself included.

During the day children were in the streets next to their homes playing with fireworks, while mothers, sisters, aunts, and daughters worked on the meal at home. Every household welcomed you with chocolate, dried fruit, nuts, and specially made cookies laid out on a table. The table was aesthetically gorgeous with candles and ribbons and little beads. As a guest I was constantly offered hot drinks and sweet treats which were either brought to me on a tray or placed on a small table that was brought to me. At first, the hospitality was overwhelming to say the least, but as the day carried on it became clear that this was a cultural norm.

As the night fell the feasting began. A long table was set up outside to accomidate all the guests, everyone sat around the table happy to be with family despite the bitter cold. Five or six different meats were being grilled by the head of the family as everyone else began to eat the spreads that were laid out in front of them. The table was set with homemade tehina, humus, cabbage salad brought by one of the aunts, purple cabbage salad, olives in tomato sauce, special pickled eggplant made by the grandmother, grilled onion and tomato, baked eggplant, pickled mushrooms and carrots, and everyone had their own special Druzi pita. Everyone ate with a fork and their hands. I was encouraged to try each dish several times. Everyone was expected to eat beyond satisfaction, being the only holiday of the year everyone indulged in the food and each other’s company. One had to forget about their fullness and succumb to the ritual of feasting.

Through out the feast the children would get up and play with each other. The boys played soccer in the yard as the girls remained close to their mothers and talked with each other. When I wanted to play soccer all the children gathered around me in an attempt to play, despite the girls not knowing how. Some admitted they didn’t like the game but just wanted to play with me. The opportunity to connect with me taking priority over their disinterest in the sport of soccer. After the feast the men and women went to separate side of the courtyard to sit and discuss. Coffee was brought out and served in “finjans”. Later in the night we enjoyed a special spice tea with walnuts floating in it. Earlier, everyone got into a line and danced, all children and adults danced around the table with a repeated step and hand-clap group dance. They attempted to teach me how to keep the rhythm and move my hips. The fun was in moving with the entire group around the table, not in dancing by oneself.

Everyone was exited over the arrival of an uncle and his new wife from another village. On this day they would be returning from their honeymoon. They were married a month ago and through out the day the family members had watched the wedding video of the ceremony with everyone dancing. During the meal the video was playing on loudspeakers so that everyone could continue to hear the music as they anticipated the arrival of the newly weds. When they arrived everyone jumped up with excitement to greet them, including myself. Then we all gathered again to watch the video for the first time all together. As the video played we sat and joked and made speeches. The uncle announced him and is wife moving into the village in five months. He did this in English for me to know. His house is currently being constructed and refurbished on top of his mother’s home.

Shana tova! How did I kick off my Jewish new year?

I woke up to enjoy running through the crop fields of the Hula Valley. Just a hop and a skip away from my cousin’s abode is a stretch of fields where fresh plums, corn, olives, grapefruit, pears, apples, and nuts grow. To run on the dirt path along the mighty, mighty Jordan River as the sun peeks over the golden mountains of the neighboring country is just the beginning. Forecast: Clouds and humidity as Israel is on the verge of its first rain of the season. After spending hours and hours baking in the heat of the sun, I can almost empathize with the land and feel its thirst.

As I passed by the lush greenery I glanced above at the hovering military helicopters monitoring the boarder. Then I turned left and became witness to a wetland. But not just any wetland, it was once lush swampland, once drained in the heat of an agricultural engineering frenzy, and now restored and man-made swamp. Who would think to find such a complicated history in Israel of all places :P. Even in nature, each chapter of change and progression is driven by an ideology like preservation, restoration, protection, progression. This is not uncommon but whats crazy is how rapid and dynamic the shift of ideology is here...all unfolding in only the past 60 years or so. Early in the morning thousands of birds will stop on their way to the south to rest on the water of this swamp …somewhere close to 5,000,000 will stop in the next few months.

I continue on towards the fields where innumerable amounts of fruit create specks of color among the dark green leaves. I feel as though I have discovered a secret grove because it is immersed in the beautiful wild and unkept growth of the Hula Valley. I decide to return on roads that run through the local kibbutz. I breath freely here, despite the smell of fresh farm manure. It is the flight of the red and yellow crop-duster overhead that causes me to hold my breath until it passes over. As I run through the kibbutz I note the location of a special spice store to my right, which smells like the owner found heaven in the Jumbalaya kitchens of Cajun country or in some ancient Chinese tea den. Finally, I reach my destination completely satisfied with my day already and it has barely begun.

Now in Jerusalem

Tel-Aviv was a lot of fun but what I did in Ein Ghedi I will never forget.

I did hike in a nature reserve, see a desert fox at night outside of my window and a huge herd of some kind of mountain deer run right before my eyes. I did float in the dead sea (and my tiny cuts burned with fury). What I truly enjoyed was hiking Masada at sunrise. I tried to go at sunset but they closed so I found a Hostel nearby and stayed there for the night, all my things at another Hostel, I slept in my clothes and woke up at 4:30. I was among the ancient ruins and staring into the mountains of Jordan from across the dead sea well before six and I had made it up there at least ten minutes before other tourists came.

Now I am in Jerusalem and I have just been to the market to get some food supplies. It is remarkably unbelievable how cheap things are here. I have gotten loads of advice from israeli's:
1) JOIN THE ARMY
2) Get a sandal tan to show off when your done with the army
3) If you want to become rich in Israel, run a factory that makes fences or plastic bags...they are everywhere here.

Just an hour ago I was invited into a shop where I was asked to buy something or get married. I can't tell if telling a girl she has pretty eyes, kissing her hand, and saying everything is half off is a sales pitch or a marriage proposal. I mean I know what it really way...but he did say that If I wanted a rich husband I should consider. Well..... I am practicing my hebrew as much as possible. Tomorrow is day 1 out of 5 in Jerusalem!

-Maya

A month of exploration begins....NOW

29/8/09

Today I am in Tel Aviv. A super crowded city, even residents here have to drive around the block a few times before finding a parking space near their own home! I don't know if I thoroughly explained how Shabbat is in this country but it is important to know that most things shut down. If you need a bathroom and you're nowhere near home, don't count on anywhere to be open except a gas station. I love Shabbat here because everyone is almost forced to take a break. Even if you want to conquer your whole 'to do list' if it involves the world outside of your home, it is not easily achievable. Of course, a lot of bars and movie theaters in the big cities stay open, but for the most part there are less cars on the road and less lights on in the shops and restaurants. Surrounding Shabbat is a special atmosphere, people prepare themselves for relaxing with all sorts of entertainment. Faimilies head to the beaches, there is live music everywhere and people dance in the allyways and streets. All the while delicious Shabbat meals are waiting, simmering, on the stove. Then there is Saturday afternoon when the city begins to come alive again. People come out of their homes to see one another, food begins to be cooked and the smells in the air become more concentrated as the sun sets in the distance. Stores are opened, lights are turned on, and the army radio can be heard in each boutique by passer-bys. Suddenly there is life, the city has a pulse again! By night time the entire community is refreshed and energetic and all things stay open a little later than usual. Next weekend I will be spending Shabbat in the holy city of Jerusalem but before I go there...

Here in Tel Aviv
Then off to the Dead Sea to hike mount Masada
Then off to live in Jerusalem for 5 days
Back to Tel Aviv for the BIG ISRAELI WEDDING
Then up North...Hopefully more hiking and exploring some smaller cities.

That is the game plan so far...I will try my best to post and share.

I have my final in two days and all I can think about is anything else.

I suppose that is the magical thing about studying abroad. You're still studying but your abroad…your horizon broadens, and when you see that there is so much world out there, your studies become just a small component of your life. Or you could see it as your mission to study life, not just text, vocab, and a vicious cycle of rigorous absorption and regurgitation of homeless (no meaningful context) factoids.

Before I jump into the story of the week…you know your in a different country when:
1) Your at a bonfire where it has been advertised that ‘smore-making’ is an activity, yet when you say “smore”, all the other people look at you like you have two heads, as they bravely attempt to assemble the nutella chocolate, British tea biscuits, and pink kosher marshmallows into a sandwich. Then marvel at the concept of the combination of sugars of fats that has become a hot, gooey, and slightly burnt reality in their hands.
2) Nutella and humus on a pita becomes an acceptable combination. Another American equated it to popcorn and m&m’s, a salty sweet surprise. Don’t diss it till you try it, and don’t try it unless you’re in Israel where both condiments are up to par.

This past weekend I had the opportunity to visit Jerusalem right before Shabbat. I first went to Mount Hertzel, which is a mountain and a monument to the history of Israel, and it’s people. On one side, at the bottom, is the Yad Veshem Holocaust museum to show the lowest state of the Jewish people in history. At the top is the grave of Herztel, the man who theorized and pushed for the creation of a Jewish state; with him there are several Israeli leaders. At the top lies the ideology behind the state of Israel. Finally, on the other side of the mountain, there is a live graveyard that contains the bones of soldiers…from all past wars and current events. This is the price that Israel continues to pay for its existence as a Jewish state. This place was beautiful and I had the opportunity to find my great uncle buried almost near the top with six other paratroopers who died on a mission over 60 years ago.
Reading his name-my last name in Hebrew on that gravestone made me feel as though I was in his presence on top of Mt. Hertzel. Meaning that a man who I had always known to be dead, was suddenly associated with a life. I gained access to a tiny window with a view into his life. A window that I could see through clearly. Previous to this visit, the only portal I could view him through was so far from the reaches of my mind that I needed my father to hold me up with constant and vivid story telling to get just a brief glimpse. This moment finally imprinted his existence into my mind. All the stories I have heard about him are connecting and I am finally getting to know the man in all those stories, the war hero, brother to my grandfather, ect. Here the foundation to understanding my family's past has been laid down. As I placed a rock on his tomb stone (as is customary here) I found comfort in knowing that I will not, from this point on, forget who he is or what he did.

A final note: The holocaust museum I visited has a wonderful mission to give a name to all holocaust victims. So they will no longer be remember as an unfathomable number, but rather as people lost. So if you have family that perished in the Holocaust, it is worthwhile to check their website and see if they have that member logged. If not you can submit an application and send them pictures. A page will be created in their archives so that future generations can understand the loss and start to make connections. So far they have 3,000,000 people.

http://www.yadvashem.org/wps/portal/IY_HON_Welcome

ah -hah!

ah-hah is in 'ohhh thats interesting. While there are many different items of interest, I will focus on a couple.

1) Here around Haifa there are beautiful towns and a glorious city. Just 10 km out are Arabic villages that are a little less scenic. However, the flee markets are wonderful and the fruit stands are cheap. We drove through the Druze inhabited villages of Ufsia and Daliat el Carmel. They aren't as well kept...there is trash all around...little hope for recycling. Some say this is due to the apathy of the arabs; however, there is the factoid that villages like these receive less money from the government. It is the Druze I find intriguing. They are a tribe which is extremely loyal to the customs of the country they inhabit. They seem like wonderful acomodating people. Most even serve in the army of Israe. From my experience they make fantastic pita and labneh with zatar. They can only marry other Druze to ensure the survival of their culture (which is fairly religious). One cannot become Druze, they must be born to Druze parents. This begs the question of intermarriage between cousins. Apparently Israel is having the Druze draw blood for matches before they marry their partner. This begs the question...is survival of a race and culture really survival when the procreation of future generations will lead to mutations and other defects? We had a druze man come to class today to answer our questions. Since I didn't know enough Hebrew to ask the question that was burning in my mind and searing the tip of my toungue, I instead asked: "Ma Shem-ha?" He replied: "my name is Abude- Abude"....damn language barrier. hmmmmmmoving on.

2) I need sunglasses real bad. The sun here is nothing to f*%k with. I apologize for the language...I know better than to end a sentence with a preposition. Anyway, I have been searching for some sunglasses. Today I went to the grand Canyon (Hebrew word for mall). I was looking for those little stands that are in the middle of the mall walkways. You know, those little kiosk-tent things where there is one person sitting there, all day, trying to sell you hair wraps, or a dress to wear in a million ways, or your face on a mug, or cheap sunglasses. There are no little kiosks in the malls here. It is a choice between mega cheap flea market glasses or ultra-expensive, high-end, store-bought glasses. The fact that these kiosks don't exist here is ironic due to the fact that most of those little kiosks in the states are manned by Israelis!

half way there

12-8-2009

Tomorrow I face my first Ulpan exam. I have been fully immersed in the language while here and I knew absolutely nothing before, so i figure there is nothing to really get worked up about. Today I ran in the Carmel national park next to campus. Running on mountain side trails I watched sunset and orthodox families passing by. Some men dressed in all black...looooooong beards. Several older women and one two three four....wait there are two babies in that carriage...and oh there is some older children trailing behind...and oh she is pregnant...oh and there is another toddler. The religious families here have many offspring...so much in fact that we are going to volunteer to pack food so all their children can eat. As the trails were getting pitch dark I saw a shooting star...which was made what seemed like one of the average days way less mundane.