First Dealings with Snow and Ice

Although the cold here was one of the things that I was concerned about prior to this program, the weather was been disturbingly nice here. When I saw "nice," I do not mean anything like back home. It has been pretty consistently around 40 degrees. When I first arrived here, there was snow on the ground and I got to walk on some ice in my first few days wandering but it did not snow the all the snow that was already there did was melt. However, I keep telling everyone here that I cannot wait for it to snow. After being here nearly three weeks, it is getting to the point where people are not convinced that I am going to get to see snow falling...
Yesterday however, I saw my first "snow!" I put snow in quotation marks because what I saw was disappointing. It was described to me by the person I was with as "snow flurries." I walked out of the metro and thought ash was falling out of the sky in a similar manner to what happened during the Southern California fires back at CMC. But no, I was informed that these were actually "snow flurries." They melted immediately when they touched the ground (I know because I leaned down to inspect this "snow"). So, basically, my first snow was extremely disappointing and does not count. I really hope it snows again!
We then went ice skating yesterday afternoon. People had been commenting that you couldn't go ice skating in previous days because it was too warm and the outdoor rink would melt down too much (foreign concept to me!). But if it was cold enough to snow a little, it was cold enough to go ice skating. I had a pretty good time. There is a castle like building right beside the ice skating rink so that was cool.
Afterwards, a beirut challenge was made so I ended up going to a bar with 2 guys from my program after beirut (I was the sober one watching out for them, it was HILARIOUS). We randomly met these two French guys who I think might have been hitting on the guys I was with (they kept talking to the guys I was with and they bought them drinks). Then, myself and the other guy who lived near me walked home at 2 in the morning... I have now walked home after public transportation has closed three times. It really isn't too bad of a walk and I have people to walk with so I don't mind. But, as I was in bed around 3 in the morning, I did not make it to language class in the early morning (but will be heading in in a minute). About half the people in my program have dropped out of language school, it is crazy.
In really exciting news, we booked a hostel for Vienna in a week and a half! It will be the 21st birthday of one of the guys going (and it is looking like we will spend the weekend before my 21st in Paris!). I am sure it will be a blast and a great adventure! Math class starts Monday, so that will always change the mood of the program I am sure.

Fun, Packed Week in Budapest

This week has been so much fun. Something exciting has happened after language school basically everyday this week! On Tuesday, we got student tickets for the Slovenian Philharmonic. They were $1 (plus $0.75 for coat check...) and supposed to be standing room but as the orchestra is not typically packed on a Tuesday night, we go to sit in fairly decent seats! It was awesome. You could go up on the terrace of the building and see the Buda Castle and the Danube. We also bought roasted chestnuts off the street, which was really fun! And we bought them in mostly Hungarian haha.

Wednesday night we had a Heath Ledger mourning party. The girls of the group organized this one- we made dinner and then watched 10 Things I Hate About You. It was great fun. Nicky, one of my friends here, brought a ton of movies so that will definitely be nice.

Thursday night was La Boheme at the opera. We bought $2 tickets and were told we wouldn't be able to see. As I did not think they would built an opera house with seats where you could not see, I did not believe this. Well, they did not lie. As the opera went on, people left and we moved down the row allowing us to see better but the subtitles were in Hungarian and I only saw part of the second half so next time I think we might splurge for the $8 or $9 tickets... Afterwards, I went with 3 others to watch Rent (again, Nicky's movie collection) since La Boheme is based on Rent. I have to admit, I enjoyed Rent a little more than the opera haha! On the tram back to watch Rent, it was completely packed and this one guy who is really tall had his hands in his pocket and when the tram started moving, he fell over onto this short little old woman and could not stop himself at all since his hands were in his pockets! Poor old woman... Then, when the tram stopped and someone had to get out, there were in the corner completely far away from the open door so we just shoved her through the crowd of people to get her out of the tram. It was hilarious- best public transportation experience so far, for sure!

They have the craziest method of clapping here, as I discovered at both the opera and orchestra. In the US, we clap constantly (clap clap clap clap) but here there's like a beat to clapping (clap...clap....clap...clap). They clap in unison with pauses between claps. It seems so weird to me! I never would've thought people could clap differently...

At language school yesterday, we had a scavenger hunt in Hungarian, which was pretty fun. I got pretty competitive... I couldn't help myself... but we had this impossible question (that took the judges like 20 minutes to deliberate) and we came in 2nd. Last night (Friday night), I had my first going out in Budapest experience. After dinner, myself and 3 others (the same group that watched Rent) decided to play some Beirut before going to the bar and it was a slaughter with myself and my partner winning, resulting in one guy becoming drunk very quickly! We then went to one bar, which was way too smoky, so then we went to a club to go dancing. It was so much fun! It was all American music (although probably not what they would play at an American club) and I had a great time going out dancing! The one issue with going out in Budapest is public transportation shuts down at around 11:30 PM and doesn't come back til close to 4:30 AM. The city is small so it is not a problem to walk places and luckily, a bunch of the people I have befriended (including 2 of the 3 I was out with last night) live really close to me so I got walked back to my apartment. It was really nice- there was like no one out near where we lived and we walked along the river and saw everything lit up at night. It was beautiful.

I am having a great time here. I am loving having all these opportunities to go to so many places. We are already talking about traveling. It is awesome because 2 of the people I have become close with (who live really near me) are taking many of the same classes as me so we will be a study group and travel together so we can do our homework all over Europe! I am really excited.

A Communist Culture and Apartments

I thought I would post on two topics today, which seem different but are slightly related here.

So Hungary is a post-communist country, which becomes apparent through the service offered here. It is constantly being explained to us that since people are coming out of the communist way of life and didn't use to have to do a good job (or much of a job at all) to get money, they don't offer great service. It becomes very apparent at restaurants. The waiter is rarely seen- they bring the menu (sometimes after you've been there a while), take your order, bring your food and that's it. You have to track them down for the check. Meals frequently take 2 to 3 hours just because there is so much waiting at each step. Tips are also usually just a flat 10% (sometimes they are included in the price) so there is no incentive for good service.

The relation to apartments here is that people don't have much incentive to fix things. My landpeople (there is a woman and a man, technically it is the woman but her boyfriend is always there too so I just call them my landpeople) are actually pretty good about this but my friends not so much. For example, one girl has a leaky faucet (I mean really leaky) and her landlord was like well just catch the water in a pan and use it for your baths or find a plumber yourself and I'll reimburse you. Another girl had a broken microwave, the landlord told her to buy a new one herself and they would take it off of next months rent. So I guess stuff gets taken care of eventually but there definitely is not the service we see in the US. On the other hand, my internet did not work and my landlord came over to help me with it that night (although it still is flaky... grrr) and our lock wasn't working so he literally unscrewed the bolt from the door and fixed the lock by himself! I mean, I've never lived in an apartment before so I don't know what exactly is normal but this is all rather interesting.

I really will eventually post pictures of my apartment but I currently do not trust my internet. I do really like my apartment. It is quiet and cute. However, after seeing all the other apartments, mine is TINY by comparison. I have put up a sheet and gotten around the lack of door issue so that is good. It is by no means quiet or dark if either myself or my roommate is up though- sound travels well and our rooms are separated by glass doors letting in all light. It also is a little far from most places it seems. There aren't really restaurants or anything right nearby. There is a big mall about 5 or 6 blocks away and a market (only open during the day) a block away that has fresh fruits and vegetables, cheeses, meats, etc. There are at least 4 other apartments with BSM students within a 15 minute walk and the metro and public transport are easy to use but we're not right next to anyone really. The people who I think I will form a study group with are about a 10-15 minute walk away though so that is good (I really like the people in this apartment and we are most likely taking the same classes).

The size of my apartment comparatively though is its biggest drawback. I don't mind it that much- if I had a big apartment I would feel like I would need to host parties and such which I don't want to. But our kitchen literally just has two chairs and my room just had my bed, desk, and one chair so I don't feel like I can invite people over (Kailyn's room has a couch and three chairs but I can't invite people over to hang out in my roommate's room). Tonight, I was going to make dinner with two other people and the guy's gas was turned off (so no hot water, no stove, nothing) and I felt bad because I couldn't invite them to my place instead because there is literally no room! But of the apartments I have been in, some of the peoples' bedrooms are literally 3 or 4 times the size of mine! Some people have living rooms (though most who do seem to be sharing bedrooms), which would be really nice to have. My apartment could literally fit in some single rooms of the other apartments I've seen. However, our apartment seems better equipped, our landlord seems a little more on top of stuff, and our apartment is quieter- all perks in my opinion. So ya, it is not perfect and I am definitely learning to appreciate things back home (Collins dining hall, anyone? dryers instead of line drying? yup, miss those!).

But some really, really great things they have here that they don't have at home? 400 forint (about $2, $2.50) opera tickets (we were told you can't see much... we'll find out on Thursday...). 200 forint (just over $1) student standing room Philharmonic orchestra tickets. Food at restaurants can be ridiculously cheap. I ate at this upscale coffee shop today where my bagel with camembert cheese was about $2. They had desserts and stuff for between $0.75 and $2- imagine that sort of stuff at Starbucks! I had a sandwich at the school cafeteria (which does not even compare to collins) for about $1.50! I am really enjoying this aspect of studying abroad! It may be a very cultural week with the Philharmonic and the Opera... for about $3! We shall see...

Missing the Familiar

So my internet seems to have miraculously decided to fix itself. Thank the lord. I was getting really stressed out by not having constant access to talking to people back home and such.

Today is my first day off of language school since it started. It has been wonderful. I slept in and then I've just been uploading pictures, answering emails, chatting with people back home, and doing Hungarian homework. I needed that lazy refresh sort of morning. It is exhausting constantly being surrounded by new people in a new place. And having 50+ new Hungarian words thrown at me a day does not help! I also have been feeling a little homesick recently. It has now been over a month since I saw my CMC friends and two weeks since I saw my family. Which really isn't that long given how long it will be til I see everyone again (although my parents and brother will be in Budapest in less than a month!). I miss knowing people well and knowing what to expect and feeling really comfortable with people. And I have spent the past few hours online but as it is around 5 AM in California, no one is up. I really was hoping to talk to some familiar people but instead I just got to answer emails to familiar people (although I did get to talk with Greer briefly, which was so nice). I know that CMC starts back up on Tuesday so people are going back over the next few days and I'm a little jealous- part of me wants to go back too. I mean, I also want to be here, but I really do miss the familiar. I would love to get to go back to my floor and do the post-winter-break reunion with my friends and just hang out and laugh and talk all night. I guess it will be even more rewarding when it has been so long apart and we have even more to talk about but I really miss home right now.

Last night, 7 of us got together and cooked dinner (fajitas... damn have I missed Mexican food) and then went over to a party hosted by some BSM students. All of public transportation except for night buses shuts down around 11:30 PM and we stayed out past that. We tried to find a night bus (they have different schedules and locations then regular buses) but it was absolutely packed so we decided to walk. The city is quite small. Although the apartment I was at would take probably 20 minutes to get to by metro or bus (with waiting, switching lines, etc.), it took only 30 or 40 minutes to walk and there was a big group of us who live near each other walking back together. It was something of an adventure- Budapest at night sure seems to have a different crowd out (more sketchy for sure). I still have not been to a bar or a club and I'm sure I will make it there eventually but it's not exactly a huge draw for most of the people I have been hanging out with. Tonight, a group of us are getting together to cook dinner again, which should be fun. I'm sure as more and more time passes here, things here will feel more and more familiar.

Amsterdam, Israel, and Petra in Pictures- Finally!

I tried unsuccessfully to post some pictures from Amsterdam, Israel, and Petra on this blog but the formatting and getting the pictures to load just was not working with me. So... they are up on Picasa (go Google products) at http://picasaweb.google.com/rmaltiel/AmsterdamIsraelPetra. And I will get on posting some Budapest pictures soon too... hopefully...

My First Week (mostly without internet, hence the lumped entry)

Limited internet access is a bitch. But, I am still alive and enjoying Budapest.

Since I last posted, I have continued wandering around with a constantly increasing group of people as more and more people have been arriving. A student here for a full year (so he was here last semester) brought us a tea house where you order a type of tea (they probably have 200 types) and then just sit around and drink tea. We’ve already gone twice. It’s just a really cool, relaxing place. The second time we got our own room and had cushions on the floor to sit on and just sat around for hours, hiding from the cold. It could very likely become my favorite place in Budapest.

Some other places we explored include this park with a zoo and a circus and an ice skating rink (we still plan to go back to go ice skating), a museum of applied arts that had all sorts of handmade crafts like dishes and books and dresses and jewelry, parliament, St. Stephen’s Basilica, Buda Castle, labyrinths under Buda, and we hiked up a hill in Buda to get a great view of the Danube and Pest. It is fun being a tourist but also discovering a place I will spend a lot of time in- a sort of weird combination.

Things here are nice and cheap although more expensive then they were a year ago and therefore more expensive then we thought they would be. In my past few meals, most have been between $2 and $4. A more expensive meal where I ordered dessert too was about $8. We of course haven’t gone to expensive restaurants so there definitely are places with more American prices but you can also eat for really cheap here. Museum entrance prices usually are between $2 and $7. We also heard rumors today of student opera tickets for under $2. We need to investigate this more but it is definitely nice having these cheap opportunities around us.

On Wednesday we started Hungarian lessons. When they say intense survival Hungarian, they are not kidding about the intense thing. In 3 half days (and they become whole days after tomorrow), I feel like I have covered as much of a language as I did in a whole year of 7^th grade French. That being said, I still can’t really say anything. We’ve learned three verb conjugations, numbers, and some basic foods, jobs, and nationalities. The pronunciation of certain letters is weird. For example, cs makes a ch sound, sz makes an s sound, s makes a sh sound, zs makes a j sound, gy makes a d-ish sound. And the vowels… I can’t even tell you about the vowels… I’ve never been any good with foreign language pronunciation so it’s a struggle. But being in the country where the language is spoken while learning it does seem advantageous because you see things around. Like, I went to the store today and I saw the names of some of the fruits and vegetables we had just covered. And various words become obvious over time, like the word for open on store fronts and the word for push on doors. So, I definitely don’t think I will become fluent in Hungarian anytime soon but may be able to at least read labels on food to get the gist of what I’m buying… hopefully, at least.

Speaking of food, that’s one of the biggest adventures for me here- living on my own. Well, yes I have a roommate, but I have never had to feed myself or anything like that. There’s always been a parent or a dining hall taking care of that. But now I either need to go out or cook myself something. I have eaten most of my meals out but things here take a while- dinner out last night took 2 ½ hours. Which was fine for last night but won’t work out so great once classes start. So far, I have stuck with really basic things- canned tomato soup, pasta, peanut butter and jelly. But most prepackaged foods here are relatively expensive. Also, I have only found canned soups are Tesco, which is not that nearby. Otherwise, there are soups in a bag that I think you just add water to but of course I can’t read the instructions and can’t even tell what type of soups they are. It is definitely going to be interesting figuring out to feed myself while being unable to tell what a lot of foods are and how to prepare a lot of foods I can buy.

The worst thing that I have experiences so far is internet trouble. My infrequent posting has had nothing to do with lack of desire to post. Our internet in our apartment was installed Wednesday evening and worked fine for a little while and then stopped working. My roommate’s then went back to working while mine continued not to work, no matter what I did. I finally called the landlord this morning and he came over this evening, unplugged it, plugged it back in, and it immediately worked again. For an hour. (I am actually currently typing this in word, intending to post it later when I can.) Again, my internet stopped working after a little while. I followed the instructions my landlord gave me about unplugging and plugging back in about 3 or 4 times to no avail. I will have to call him in the morning and tell him the same thing happened again. It is a real hassle. Internet is my way of communicating with my family and friends and I feel really isolated without it. It has really been stressing me out not having regular internet access. I feel really bad bothering my landlord about it AGAIN but I really need internet. It is also a hassle because he will estimate a time that he can be here and both times with the internet he has been late (90 minutes once, 30 minutes the other time) and that means I need to stay in the apartment and wait for him while other BSM students are out and about, enjoying themselves. But, I desperately need internet so I guess that’s the prices I have to pay. Hopefully, he comes by tomorrow and this gets fixed for good.

Update as am I posting this: I called my landlord, he said try again. So when I was home, I tried again and it wasn't working. Then, all of a sudden, I looked down at my computer and it was connected. I actually think when it first became connected, the wireless router was technically unplugged. I don't get it at all but I will go with it and hopefully it will last. Please, please put a prayer into the internet god for me. My sanity will greatly improve with constant internet access. I've been a little homesick and having internet will help me out with that a lot.

First Full Day in Budapest

Today, I wandered around with 5 other students from my program, including a girl from Scripps. We got our public transportation passes, found our school and the language school, saw the river (again), and ate. My roommate also came in today. Her name is Kailyn and she is from Canada. We think she is the only Canadian on the program. I also discovered that a girl who is an international student at Mt Holyoke but from Pakistan went to school with the one Pakistani girl at CMC and that a boy from Stanford (whose internet I am currently using... but we are getting internet in my apartment in the next week!) has a roommate from Saratoga and lived in the same dorm as a girl I grew up with. Small world.

We had lunch at TGIFridays... we are slowly weaning ourselves off of America :). Dinner was at a pretty Hungarian place. It was upscale with techno music, which was a weird combination. I am pretty sure I will not continue being vegetarian here. While there are vegetarian options, I don't want to walk into a restaurant and have what I am getting decided for me since there is only one vegetarian option. I want to try the different types of food here so we'll see. Maybe I'll be vegetarian in the apartment but not when I go out.

It really has been really fun and interesting being with a group of math majors. Over dinner today, we started talking about knitting and got into the mathematics of knitting and knot theory and one boy shared about how he had gotten a really cool book about knot theory. For once, not everyone was staring at him like he was crazy but instead was agreeing that it sounded interesting! And one girl shared a little paper puzzle her professor had given her to explain why she should be a math major. And another girl answered, "You need a reason to be a math major??? What? Why?" rather than the usual "Ew, math, why would you major in that?" I can definitely tell it will be super fun being able to say math nerdy things and have everyone appreciate them rather than be totally scared off.

I feel much better now that I have met a few people and have liked everyone I've met. Also, the promise of internet in my apartment is very reassuring. Once I get internet in my apartment, I will take and post some pictures.

Arrival in Budapest

Although I am posting this at the same time as my final Israel update, for organizational reasons I am posting this separately.

In a slightly nerve wracking episode, my mom calls me after she got back to the US to tell me that my Saturday flight to Budapest had been cancelled. Uh… what???? I could either take a Friday flight or Sunday flight. As I have been really excited to get here for a while now, I went with the Friday flight but did not receive confirmation that I was on the flight until 34 hours before my flight left. I then did not know if BSM, my program, had received information about my flight change until 15 hours before my flight left. This all was a little scary to say the least. If I arrived in Budapest with no one to meet me, I would not have known where to go (I did not have my apartment address) or what to do. But luckily that was not the case.

I got to the airport at Tel Aviv super early Friday morning (try 3:30 AM Tel Aviv time, 2:30 AM Budapest time) and went to check my bags. Everything was going quickly until I ran into a major problem. My bags were very overweight. While I had called the airline and checked about luggage restrictions and learned that Malev (the Hungarian airline) only allows one carry on, the thought of only allowing one checked bag never crossed my mind. I was sure I could take 2 bags of 20 kg each. Yeah, no. I could take 20 kg TOTAL. That’s about 50 pounds. For 5 months. Yeah right. I tried saying I was coming from the US and studying in Budapest for 5 months and hadn’t known to no avail. My carry on baggage was also overweight (Malev allows 8 kg while every other airline basically allows 12 kg… let’s just say I’m not a fan of how Malev has different luggage restrictions than the rest of the world). I had my laptop bag inside my carry on suitcase so ended up just carrying on my laptop bag and checking my carry on suitcase- checking 3 bags. I had to pay $16 for each kg I was overweight- 25 kg. You do the math and try to imagine how happy I was that morning.

After that whole fiasco, I got super emotional. I learned my first abroad lesson. Anything that doesn’t go well while abroad becomes 100 times worse because then it brings on doubts about the whole abroad experience. The whole flight I was just ridiculously overwhelmed and emotional. I wanted to go home to the US, to the familiar. I was just so scared. I was greeted in Budapest and taken to my apartment (more on that later) and then left on my own. I wandered the streets near my apartment, managed to find my bank, exchanged money for what was not a great rate, decided I wanted to eat lunch and this led to being completely and totally overwhelmed yet again. Although I haven’t yet decided if I will stay vegetarian while in Budapest, I was not in a hurry to eat meat. So I wanted a vegetarian meal. Well, I speak no Hungarian, menus were only in Hungarian. Even fast food places with pictures of food left me with no clue what was in the picture. I didn’t have internet and couldn’t get in touch with anyone in my program so I was on my own, confused and hungry.

And then, I found a saving grace- an internet café. It could not have come at a better time. I went in and used the internet and even though I was just sending emails, not receiving emails, I felt much better being in touch with the familiar. My apartment does not have internet and I for some reason cannot connect to any of the nearby unprotected wireless networks. My landlady said we could get internet if we paid a slightly higher rent so I’m REALLY hoping my roommate will agree to that. I will just feel so lost and confused if I can’t have internet in my apartment- I need that connection to the familiar.

By pure and total luck, I was on the facebook group for my program minutes after a guy from my program had posted saying if anyone wanted to meet up they should message him with their phone number (the people who had my apartment before me had left a phone with my landlady which is now mine… wohoo). I of course messaged him and as he didn’t yet have a phone, a couple minutes of facebook message gave us a place to meet up. It was pretty lucky we were able to find each other. We agreed on a train station to meet at and described out coat colors to one another and that was all we had. But we met up! Things became so much better when I had someone to wander around with and talk to. We covered a good portion of the city near-ish to where we live by foot. There is a mall about 5 or 6 blocks from my apartment that we ate lunch at. It was a fancy, more expensive restaurant for Hungary but it had an English menu and I really needed that since I was feeling overwhelmed. But this expensive meal? Between $11 and $12 each, with tip. I am a fan of the price of things in Hungary (except for overweight luggage)! I really enjoyed seeing the snow (okay, there are just little piles of dirty snow in some places but it was really exciting for me) but I didn’t feel too cold, which is great news. I mean, it is pretty warm in Budapest this week for this time of year (somewhere in the low to mid 30s) but I’ll take it! The buildings in Budapest are amazing. So much old architecture. As it started to get dark, buildings and bridges were lit up, which was really beautiful. We got to walk along the river for a little bit. By the end of the day, I was starting to like the city. Even though everything was in a foreign language, with my map I could get around and it really was beautiful. We covered so much ground- I am so sore right now.

I had posted my phone number on the facebook group and got called by another girl who actually lives quite near me. She and I will meet up sometime this morning. Also, my roommate flies in early this afternoon. Now that I have someone else’s phone number and people to see and my roommate coming in, things feel much better. I will figure this city out and it will be fun! The people so far seem nice and we talked about math all over lunch. It does seem like CMC does math a little slower than other schools putting me at a lower level than other students, but that just means I won’t be taking the hardest classes. I do think I can do well in the lower level (for the program) classes.

Lastly, let me describe my apartment. I live on the 8^th floor of a big building not too far from the city center. It is quiet, a block off a main street, which is perfect for me. There is a 24 hour corner store across the street. A block down on the main street there is a market. It is similar to the Shuk in Israel. There are produce stands (and the produce does not seem expensive or bad, I didn’t think I’d be able to get fruits and vegetables in Budapest) and bakeries and candy shops and stands with basic toiletries. I have not yet found a regular grocery store, which I would like to find rather than going to one stand for fruits and vegetables, another for bread, etc. My apartment itself is pretty nice. There is a kitchen, bathroom, 2 bedrooms, and a balcony. It seems like it is supposed to be 1 bedroom and a living room because although both rooms have beds, one is much bigger and has the door to the balcony, a tv, a couch, and 2 lounge chairs. I took the smaller room because I wasn’t convinced I wanted my room to be the hangout room and I don’t need the tv and couch and all. The one problem is the smaller room has a doorway with no door. I will ask the landlady if we can get a door and if not I will put up a sheet or something. It already will not be the darkest or most private room because there are glass double doors between the two rooms so if one room has a light on, the others room will be fairly well lit up. I am sure we will make do, it just would be nice to have a door at the very least. I have not yet met my roommate, but I am not worried. Right now, I feel good about being here. The complete and total sense of being overwhelmed I was experiencing earlier has passed. I will be okay. In fact, I will probably even be great. There will be tough times but I will grow so much this semester, I’m sure of that.

Final Days in Israel

So my limited internet access over the past week has caused me to fall way behind on my intentions to blog. I have three completely different topics I need to write about.

First, Bush in Israel

As I’m sure many people are aware, Bush had his first presidential visit to Israel from Wednesday through Friday of this week. The amount of attention Bush received in Israel was amazing. A taxi driver told us several days before Bush’s arrival that any road that Bush would be driving on would be closed 4 hours prior to Bush driving on it. Now, Jerusalem’s traffic is miserable without Bush’s presence- this virtually meant that Jerusalem would have to be shut down for days. There were US flags decorating the main streets that Bush would be riding on. Everyone in Israel was aware of Bush’s visit. Various US military men were seen on various tours and in various bars by me and other friends in Israel at the time. When Bush did arrive on Wednesday, Fox News did not mention that Bush had arrived until 3 hours later (instead focusing on the primary that had already happened) whereas the Israel channels stopped their regular programming to show video footage of Bush’s helicopter and caravan of vehicles. I don’t really have any insightful commentary on what all this about Bush’s visit to Israel meant but I thought the way it was received was interesting so I thought I would share that.

Second, Eilat and Petra

My family left Israel between the evening of Sat Jan 5 and the morning of Mon Jan 7 (different flight times because people needed to be back at different times). I spent my last few days in Israel traveling with Matt down to Eilat and Petra. Eilat is a resort sort of town in the Southern most part of Israel. It is in the 100s in the summer but is usually around 70 in the winter. Many Europeans vacation there- there are just tons and tons of resort-y hotels. Petra is in Jordan and is an ancient (or at least old? Is there an age limit for ancient?) city carved into rock. It’s similar to a canyon (but isn’t actually a canyon since it is formed by tectonic plate movement rather than water) and you walk through this narrow pathway for over a kilometer and then you see the treasury (this is a scene in Indiana Jones, which I haven’t actually seen.

Both Eilat and Petra were very nice. Eilat wasn’t very warm so we didn’t get much beach or pool time (when we finally made it down to the Red Sea, the weather becoming cloudy and the sun disappeared and the weather was bad from then on… which was only a day but still). But we got some time to relax, which was nice after Matt’s tiring trip and before my arrival in Budapest, and we watched plenty of Fox News and heard a lot about the primary! Petra was amazing. The structures and tombs that had been carved into the stone were absolutely unbelievable. I don’t think I have ever taken so many pictures in one night (and once my internet gets situated better, I will get on uploading pictures). The walk down the canyon-type-thing (I forgot the technical term) to the treasury was my favorite part. You are in this narrow pathway with rock going up on both sides of you for probably 200 to 300 feet and then blue sky above that and then finally you get to the end and can see part of the treasury, this amazing intricate tomb. It was really a sight to see. We also met some cool people on the tour. We got to talk to Venezuelans, Australians, and a man from England. The Venezuelans talked about disliking their president and the problems currently being experienced with violence in Venezuela, which was really interesting to hear. It’s always interesting to meet people from other countries.

Soldiers, Soldiers Everywhere

In Israel, since the Jewish Sabbath is sundown on Friday until sundown on Saturday, the weekend days are Friday and Saturday (although schools are 6 days a week with classes ending early on Friday and off on Saturday). Soldiers get both Friday and Saturday off usually to go home so Thursday afternoon public transportation is packed with soldiers. All public transportation is free for soldiers. Today, we took the train back from Haifa. There was only standing room because there were so many soldiers. One of the soldiers sitting in a group of about 10 soldiers got up to offer his seat to my mom or dad. Neither of them took it so my brother took it. They got upset, saying it was for someone old but they were just joking with them. We ended up talking with these soldiers. They were very nice although not exactly PC in their joking around. Eric and the soldier next to him kept asking each other questions. He was showing off his phone; in Israel, they download music which they play off their phone and they also get games and youtube videos all for free. The soldiers were all joking with Eric about whose gun was the biggest. I mean, we were sitting on a train with all these guys showing off their huge guns! It all seemed like so much fun- riding the train home with all your friends from the army.

Seeing all the soldiers on their way home was one of my favorite things that I have seen in Israel on this trip. Everywhere you looked today there were soldiers. The mall was filled with people in uniforms, guns strapped across their back. It's just so different from anything you would ever see in the US. You rarely see anyone in uniform in the US and to have it be no big deal that everyone was walking around with guns is just so different. I mean, these aren't little pistols tucked into their pants (and even that would be weird in the US). I wish I could have taken a picture of just how many soldiers were everywhere. It was seriously as if every other person we saw today between 2 PM and 5 PM was a soldier! It is something that just seems so unique to Israel.

End of 2007, Start of 2008

I resolve to eventually figure out how to post on this blog without writing a novel but I've had 3 full days in 3 different cities (actually we did things in 4 cities...) so this entry might not be the one where I figure that out.

On Sunday, my family met up with the Fines (a family from near home who we went to high school with). I had not seen any of them since I graduated and it was really cool to see how the boy my age had grown up from how I remembered him in high school. They had 9 people traveling with them- a family of 7 plus a girlfriend and a friend of high school (who was an older brother of one of Eric's friends from middle school and someone I had taken a class with in high school). The Fines have 3 boys in some process of the Israeli army (one finished, one in it, one about to join), which is really cool. All the Israelis are shocked when we tell them we know Americans coming to join the IDF. And of course, while wandering the streets of the village, my mom ran into someone she knows from home. Only in Israel...

Our families went on a tour of a Druize village. Druize are like a secret religion that make a small minority of the Israel population. It is really interesting because there are Druize in Israel, Syria, Jordan and a couple other middle eastern countries and even though they are all connected by their religion and culture, they feel bound to the country they are in. So an Israeli Druize is very loyal to Israel, they even fight in the IDF (and did even when Israel was gaining independence and few had faith in Israel becoming a country). Some Druize choose to be religious and others don't and those who do not choose to be religious are never allowed to read the books of the religion (hence why it is a secret religion). They also have really interesting beliefs about resurrection. Greek philosophy works are very important to them. I have to admit, I feel like I am on an interfaith tour of Israel- first the monastery, then the Druize village.

We also saw my one and only cousin on Sunday. Keren is 12 years older than me and I've probably only seen her about 5 times in my life and probably 3 of them were from before I was 5. Since I don't have any other young relatives, it was really interesting to see how similar to my siblings and me she looks. Same facial expressions as Tami, same eyebrows and coloring as Eric and me... She lived in the cutest little commune type place right off the beach. There were all these dogs wandering around everywhere just going into their neighbors house. The houses are tiny but really pretty and with everything that they need. It was interesting- Keren was vegetarian and is still organic... so my vegetarianism does seem to come from somewhere (assuming diet is the least bit genetic lol). She invited us to have dinner with her again later this week.

Monday we went into Jerusalem. We saw some ruins of David's City and walked around the old city. We went into the Muslim and Christian quarters, which I have not been in since I was really young. Tour groups like Birthright do not allow their students to enter the Muslim quarters. It was interesting to see the difference. The Jewish section seems neater with less items in bigger spaces while the Muslim quarter is crowded with very different goods. My favorite was a shop with teas and spices just out in big bowls. The shopkeeper wouldn't let me take a picture even though another man was taking a picture in the store (because I'm female? who knows...) so I just went outside and took a picture from outside. In the Christian quarter, there was a guy who called out to me "You look rich, come into my shop!" It's so different from the US. They perceive Americans as people who came and spend tons of money on little trinkets. We of course went to the Wall but my mom, sister, and I did not go by it- the women's side is just so crowded and small. I swear, the Wall is the most sexist place in all of Israel.

New Years was a dud. Tami, Eric, and I had at first planned to stay in Jerusalem and meet up with either the Fines or a friend of Tami but could not find a way to get back to Tel Aviv where our apartment is. Then we were going to meet up with someone else we know in Tel Aviv but he didn't end up coming to Tel Aviv. Tami went to sleep early. Eric and I walked over to Mike's Place, a pub that gets a lot of Americans. Although we didn't have any problem getting in (Eric is 17, the legal age here is 18 but it's not strict like the US), most the people inside were much older than us and we didn't want to just sit around waiting for New Years. Not only am I shy and not great at meeting people in a random pub, I don't have a clue how you would meet people if everyone is sitting at their own table. So we left saying maybe we would come back for midnight but back at the apartment, we just got over it. I was asleep before midnight. So that was the start to my 2008- in bed asleep. I haven't slept through New Years since I was too young to stay up... Oh well, hopefully it doesn't jinx me for the rest of 2008. I didn't have a great New Years in 2007 and I had a great 2007 so I'm not worried.

Today was our lazy day and we stayed in Tel Aviv. We toured Ben Gurion's house (first prime minster of Israel, helped bring Hebrew back as a regular spoken language rather than just a biblical language). Our apartment is actually next door to Ben Gurion's house. He had rooms and rooms of books in all sorts of language about all sorts of subjects in his house, which I thought was really cool. I would love to read like that and retain all that information. We then walked over to Jaffa/Yafo (some place, different spelling). It's right next to Tel Aviv (often considered to be the same city) with a lot of Arabic influence. It is really nice being in a city and walking everywhere. Jaffa is an hour walk from our apartment but we just walked there, along the beach the whole time. There were beautiful art galleries and people from all over- we heard people speaking French, Italian, Russian, English with British accents. There was also a group that said they were from Prague and a group from Japan and of course Americans and Israelis. There were also tons and tons of cats. There are stray cats everywhere in Israel but Jaffa just had like 10 cats around every corner. It was ridiculous!

Whenever I go to Israel, many people ask if it is safe. I feel very safe in Israel. We see influences of security everywhere. Many restaurants and stores have a guard outside. They stop some people to look inside their purse or jacket but not everyone. Bigger sites like the Wall or main train stations have security similar to at airports to enter the site. It is also not a dangerous time now. Several years ago, suicide bombings occurred daily but that is not the case now.

One thing that has been very strange in Israel is the presence of Christmas. At the airport, there was a sign "Merry Christmas and welcome to Israel" from the tourism department. There have also been Santa trinkets in a good number of stores. Today, there were big signs with Santas on them with happy holidays written in Hebrew. My dad's good friend here who we have seen several times has a Christmas tree in his house, although we don't think he really knows what it represents. I was in Israel over Christmas last year and did not notice so much Christmas stuff, although I doubt everything has just suddenly appeared this year. It's very bizarre, though.

I'm really enjoying being in a city. So much to do within walking distance and all these cute little coffee shops and interesting shops. I'm really excited to live in a city for the first time in Budapest. Less than 2 weeks until I will be in Budapest!