Writing from Jesus's birth place

The day after the deportation concert, (August 26th) we said goodbye to Ofek and Avner - which was quite sad as I've never goodbye and realized that it might be permanent, and also awkward because the bus driver was yelling t us to get on and pay him. Once we got to the bus stop in Tel Aviv, we sat down at our "supposed" bus stop to Jerusalem and proceeded to wait for two hours for out bus. It then turns out that this bus stop did not exist and we decided to take a taxi to Jerusalem in order to get to Ramallah. I think I have the best sense of direction out of the group as Ryan always seems to go the opposite of where supposed to and Omar doesn't pay attention, and Zahida…is just a really slow walker and we have to shout "Yella Zee Yella" or "Allons-Zee!" whenever she is walking at a snails pace or we might lose her forever. I found the bus station and after 2 check points we arrived in Ramallah. (The check points aren’t very high security on the way into Palestine, it's the way out that you have to worry about…but I'll get to that late). We were dropped off by a building and because Zahida and I did not think ahead were wearing shorts. This issued a lot of "Downward flicks" from the men and "Tut-tutting" the elderly women. We were also pestered by several children. Once Mohammed arrived we were taken to his house then out to a hidden restaurant and swimming pool call "Snoba" (the spelling of this is most likely terribly wrong.) Here we mat Amber and to our surprise AYA another friend from peace it together. For a few hours we caught up and she told us about a party the next night. We then headed back to Mohammed's and after a dinner of Hummus, Pita and Eggs went to bed.
The next day (August 27th) we headed to Mohammed's University work camp, this is comprised of students from all over the world who come to Birzeit to work in different areas of Palestine. Eventually we all headed to the refugee camp in the city of Jenin, located in Northern Palestine. Jenin Camp has a population of 16,000 on a 1km square. In 2002 The Israeli army entered the refugee camp with 600 tanks and 3000 soldiers, and for 13 days they infiltrated and destroyed the camp. The strongest group of soldiers used American bulldozers in order to tear down 360 homes and after they were done, they forced the men and women to walk through the streets completely naked. – After we were explained the history of the camp, we were able to see the truth of the facts told to us through our own eyes. We saw the widened streets, the bullet holes and the sense of community the people of the camp seem to have. We then went to a community center and painted the walls with "graffiti" – messages and pictures of peace. Ryan said "Freedom is when there are no walls to paint" as he painted the Image of Handala. A child barefooted like the refugee camp children, who is rough and smells of amber. His hands are clasped behind his back as a sign of rejection at a time when solutions are presented to the Palestinians "the American way". Handala was born ten years old, and he will always be ten years old. At that age, The cartoonist who created Handala left his homeland, and when he returns, Handala will still start growing up. The laws of nature do not apply to him. He is unique. Things will become normal again when the Palestinians homeland is returned.
I was assigned the role of taking photographs of the events after I expressed my love for photography while admiring a friend's camera. This was a great opportunity for me to use a professional camera and take some well structured shots. Once we had finished the walls at the community center, we went to a theatre where we were shown several documentaries about the refugee camp. After this we drove up a mountain to the famous church where Jesus broke down the wall separating the Christians from the lepers and healed them, however only one out of 10 thanked him for his "gift." In that church I accidentally walked into a room that was for MEN ONLY. Oops! We then went home and that night went to the party at Snobar where for 30 minutes we met up with Zain and her friend Sam as well as some of the people from the camp. I'm really glad we were able to meet new people and here there stories and opinions' on the conflict – I met several people from New York and.
The next day we visited the old city and the music school and eventually ended up going to Basketball game. Basketball is a big deal in Ramallah and the whole gym was filled with screaming fans. But the air was really thick and I began to have an asthma attack! So Ryan took me outside and we talked about philosophy and life and love while America beat Palestine by two points.

On the Streets of Jerusalem Part 1.

So it's August 3rd and I'm just catching up on what’s been going on. Don't hate me for not writing very much this place is so amazing I haven’t had ANY time to do anything except travel, explore and experience these amazing countries (though technically Palestine is not a state)!
On the 22nd Illy's family took us to Nazareth to taste the "best hummus" in the country. Every house we visit insists on feeding us there definition of "the best hummus" but for me the Best hummus is NO HUMMUS. The trip to Nazareth was not very exciting we went to Annunciation where we were able to view the beautiful art each country has donated to the church each one was a representation of the Madonna. The Japanese Madonna looks Japanese, the Indonesian Madonna looks Indonesian and the Mexican Madonna looks Mexican…Canada’s is looks like a mix between a jellyfish and vomit. But I’ll get to vomit later. When we got home Illy put on a very interesting Animated documentary called “Waltz with Bashir” about Israeli soldiers being traumatized by their work during a Massacre in Lebanon. It was very interesting and a true story I advise everyone to watch it. That evening Ryan was ill from the Arabic coffee he drank, so Omar, Zee, Hadas and I went to an ancient burial ground in the mountains of
Tivon. These consisted of sarcophagus’s buried deep inside caves; it was creepy yet really cool. The next day (the 23rd) we traveled to Ofek’s Kibbutz near Hertziliyah. A kibbutz is a socialist agricultural community based on the motto to each “according to his abilities and according to his needs.” However the kibbutz movement as a whole, including Ofek’s kibbutz, have experienced privatization since as recently as the early 90’s. During this privatization the Kibbutzim have lost – their core values and ideologies. As soon as we got to Ofek’s Kibbutz and took the tour, he suggested we take the bus up the Tiberius and Camp with his voluntary commune at the sea of Galilee (for those who do not know this is the same sea where Jesus walked on water). I am finding that here in Israel there is almost NO presence of the conflict and yet is affecting hundreds of thousands of people, instead it is mostly old historical or biblical knowledge that I am picking up in my travels. This sounded great so we packed our camping supplies and took the three hour bus ride to Tiberius. On the bus the guy across from me was holding a machine gun, though this did not shock me as you see over 100 guns day here, I found it rather astonishing when he removed his sandals (or Kaf Kaf’s in Hebrew) and rested his foot on the automatic weapon in such a casual manner. We arrived at Galilee just as the sun was setting and I took some amazing and beautiful pictures (I am really getting into photography here) we also got to meet some of the teens from Ofek’s commune (the group he will be volunteering with instead of joining the army) while we swam, set up the sleeping area and ate some rather disgusting homemade pasta. We also got to see Avner! Then some of the girls and I climbed into a lifeguard tower and sang Joni Michelle songs – which I was happy to learn is quite popular among the teen hippies of Israel! After this we decided to go skinny dipping as it was dark out. This was A LOT of fun and definitely a new experience except while I was swimming I accidently swallowed some of the sea water (which is lake water as though Galilee is called a “sea” it is in fact sweet water). I thought nothing of it at the time but as the night got longer my stomach started to cramp up and I was in a lot of pain. As the tent was full of our luggage (so it wasn’t stolen) everyone was sleeping on blankets, however my sleeping bag had been ripped and my towel stolen during our skinny dipping excursion so I ended up sleep in the dust. Around 5 in the morning I woke up with even worse stomach pains. I ended up throwing up n the rocks on the beach while a random French man asked me if I was ok. After a glass of water and watching the sun rise I went back to seep a restlessly slept until 10 as I had a fever and chills. When I woke I continued to vomit in the baking sun until a taxi came to take us to the bus station. I slept for the rest of the day and all that night while the rest of the Canadians and Ofek and Illy went pubbing in Tel Aviv.
The next day we went to an anti deportation concert in downtown Tel Aviv with Tom, Illy, Avner and Ofek – Ryan stayed home in order to sort out his University issues. This anti deportation concert was very good and very interesting with a mix of Americans, Arabs and Jews from across the country all protesting the deportation and eviction of migrant workers and refugees (children in particular).
Now Ofek is forcing me to stop writing to you because he is an impatient benzona. I will try to write when I arrive in Nablus tomorrow!

Catching Up on the Last Few Days

Sorry I Havn't been keeping in touch the last few days,but as you will read It has been very busy. So I will catch you up on all the wild Israeli times you have missed!

Saturday 18th

• Went to a Israeli pub the night before.
• Went to the Beach with Ofek, Gal, Gili, Alex and the canadians.
• Alex's mom made us an authentic Israeli BBQ on the roof of their apartment building.
• Visted Rabin Square where the Prime Minister was shot.

Sunday 19th

• Took a Bus Taxi (Giant yet cheapish Taxi's) to Illy's house in Tivon
• Thought I lost my passport...but it was in my backpack
• Her family is very cool and VERYVERY welcoming
• Went to an older region of Haifa with Illy's friend Amir
• Asked man on bus what he thought of Arabs - Man on Bus said that it was god's will that they are unhappy!
• Went to a second hand Israeli book store
• Went to the Bi-ha gardens
• Got lost in Haifa
• Went back to Illy's to see May and her mother and drink bad Israeli beer made from Rye and non filtered.
• Packed for Jerusalam and Mays (only 1 dress 1 shirt 1 pair of pants for 4 night! Oy Vey!).

Monday 20th

• Took bus to Jerusalam met soilder on the bus and realized that my knee was touching his Gun after about an hour!
• Went to the Hebrew University to look at the Art Exibition with Illy
• Wandered the ground and tried to figure out where to sleep! - all hostels full
• Went to the Old City and found Hostel then wandered the market place
• Saw the West wall and got lost in the Jewish Quarters of the wall
• Ate the worst food ever in a restraunt in the old city- Stale pitas, old falaffel, greasy and cold fries, and sugar water posing as orange juice.
• Omar didn't want to waste it so we put the uneaten food in a ziplock for later.
• Went to Amber and Avi's (two of our Peace it Together Mentors) screening of their film G-town about a group of rappers living in a Palestinian refugee camp in Jerusalam and rapping about their hardships while bringing the community together. - Amber suggested we may meet them when we are in the West Bank.
• When out to dinner with Amber and Avi and then to their friends house to hang out and listen to music.
• I met one man named Nalem who had lost his leg while filming for Reuters in Gaza. And though there was still time to save his leg, he was left bleeding at a check point for almost 24 hours and the wound was irrepairable - even though he had the proper permit to cross.
• Wandered around Jerusalam and then arrived at our Hostel late at night where we almost didn't get in!

Tuesday 21st

• Shopped in the Market, then went to a hidden Austrian Hotel for breakfast, ate apple strudel and drank espresso and talked for hours.
• My first attempt at bartering failed I and bought a camel leather bag for too much! Omar blamed himself for taking out his wallet to soon (as he carried half my money so i wouldn't loose it all) but he shouldn't.
• Took a bus to the station and as the bus went through a very orthodox neighbourhood an old women started yelling at me to coverup, so I put on the shawl I had purchased in the market for that very purpose.
• Took the bus to May's house in Karmeil with Illy. - Ate the ziplocked food while waiting in the bus station.
• Zahida and I tried to name all of the USA's State and failed - 38
• We then attempted to name all the countries in the world wihch was more successfull - 149
• Got to May's and then attended a goodbye party for teens going into the Army that week which was a big Israeli tradition.
• Was given a ride on a Motorcycle through the streets of Karmeil by a young man named Daniel VERY VERY Fun and Scary.
• Fell asleep talking to Omar on Ryans and Omars Bed - Omar grinds his teeth when he sleeps ;)

Wednesday 22nd

• Had traditional middle eastern cous cous for breakfast.
• May likes to sleep alot and Ryan was very tiered so Omar, Zee and I went for a walk through Karmiel and played football in the park then walked around and got lost for three hours!!!
• Went to another Goodbye party on the beach! and while I was swimming was knocked against the rocks and bruised my back. Ouch!
• Met many of May's friends who were very welcoming, kind and who loved to dance!

Thursday 23rd

• Had homeade Hummos (Pronounced Hoo-mas here) for breakfast
• Went for another walk around Karmiel with the Canadians.
• Taught them how to play the card game spud and we all made up a new Sport which is a mix between European handball, Football and Basketball.
• Sprained my ankle trying to score but iced it and raised it above my heart so it's mostly fine now.
• Made sushi from scratch with May's mom who is very cool then went to an Israeli folk dance to watch. However thery called the four canadian visitors to the dance floor and we tried to dance along! It was very very hard!
• We were invited to stay for slasa dancing but could not. So instead we salsa danced in the street and in the restraunt. - then a waiter asked me to teach him so I did!
• Came home and visited with more of May's friends and played poker until we had to go to sleep.

Friday 24th

• Said goodbye to May and her family who were all very kind and hospitable.
• Took a Taxi back to Illy's in Tivon and was greeted with snitchel and home grown chili peppers called tobasco and red dragon chili's - Zahida and Ryan were to scared to try the chilis but Omar and I ate three each!
• We are now going to visit Avner in Haifa and go to an Israeli Rock Jazz concert!
• Nazereth Tomorrow!

First Day in Tel Aviv

Hello Canadians!

It is 5:30 pm (7:30 am in Vancouver) and I just got home from a massive tour of Tel Aviv. Because of Jet Lag the four Canadians woke up at 7 am (if you know me this is highly irregular) and while we waited for Alex to arise from slumber we talked about philosophy, religion and monty python as well as planned out some of the Kinks in our Trip.* After Alex woke up around 11 am we went off to see the amazing City that is Tel Aviv. 

We first went to the Dizngoff Mall which is enormous and several stories high - there are no stairs but all of the stores are situated around a slanted path which twists up and down. Dizngoff was jam packed full of people yelling, laughing and trying to persuade shoppers to buy merchandise. In the halls of Dizngoff people can get their hair cut, receive full body massages, have their dogs trained AND their tarot cards read. On fridays and mondays there is a food market where local people will bring cuisine and sell it for good prices... or so we thought! The food was delicious and very interesting (Zee and I refused to touch the boile eggs with rice in brown sauce) but we later found out that they charged us double! — We must look like naive tourists to them (go figure). You can't drink the tap water in Israel so we stopped at a local market and bought two 2 litre bottles which cost 10 shekels (approx $3.50)

 It was interesting though because it cost the same amount for a teeny tiny water bottle of the same brand... I guess to the Israeli's size doesn't matter! 

After we were well hydrated we walked for a bit just looking at the stores and buildings. It is very very very beautiful here everything is bright and filled with color and sound. The traffic in particular is insane — the roads are either highways or tiny and drivers are not afraid to honk their horns to get your attention or part on half of the curb if they have to. There is also a very large amount of mopeds and motorcycles here which adds to the insanity. 

But finally we reached the Mediterranean sea which was superb, it was so beautiful and bright! (on Saturdays everything is closed in Tel Aviv so this will be our beach day.) Across from the boardwalk was a Memorial dedicated to the Israeli immigrants who came from british enemy territory to start over in a new land, this was very interesting and the first part of Historical Israel we had seen. As we walked along the beach we passed the American embassy which was in a beige stone building and guarded by Israeli soldiers. One of the things I mainly notice about Israel are the smells, it is mostly of food and dust and urine — as people generally release themselves on the street. 

Later we arrive at an open air market which went on for blocks! They sold so many different things — a lot of Star of David memorabilia i.e boxer shorts, necklaces, flags — as well as t-shirts, china, jewelry, toilet paper holders, pastries, flowers, fake cactus's, dragon puppets made from boa's and, the most interesting of all, street counseling . — We advised Omar to get his head checked but he refused. On the streets of Tel Aviv there are male orthodox jews who will tie a box with the torah in it to the left arm of any male who asks. This, we later learned, was in order to connect the head and heart to God, it is supposed to be done every morning, and females didn't need it as they were already there - Zee and I found this very pleasing.

The stores in the city are amazing and everything is really nice... it is also really expensive! We all went into this little boutique that was buried underground and tried on some gorgeous dresses, including Ryan. We all looked amazing and practiced our model walks in the change room. But we decided any shopping could be done in Nablus where it is supposed to be the same clothes for half the price.

The word most commonly used on the streets of Tel Aviv is "Slicha" (Slee-ha) which means sorry or excuse me and I have learned to use it like one of the natives! We have also learned "Do you speak English" "Yes" "No" "Let's go"  and most importantly "Where is the Washroom."

It is stifling hot here and very very humid (F.Y.I mom organic deodorant is powerless against the heat of Tel Aviv) so we were sweltering hot by the time we made it to Aroma, the Israeli version of Starbucks, and bought drinks — coffee for me (of course) and juice for everyone else. Tel Aviv is supposed to be one of the most expensive cities in the world ($6 for a medium Iced Coffee). Once we had cooled down we decided to forgo the bus and walk back to Alex's house where we have been for 1/2 an hour.

Tonight we will be experiencing Tel Aviv's diverse night life which is Infamous! It is particularly exciting as four of our Israeli friends will be joining us -  Gili and Gal who are currently in the army and got out for the night to see us, Alex whose floor we slept on last night, and Tom whose Birthday is today so were going out to celebrate. 

I'm Having the most amazing time guys please comment so I know your still with me! 

It's the first Day and feels like It's Been Weeks

Hey Guys!

It is 1 am in Tel Aviv (3 pm Vancouver time) and I'm about to go to bed. The flight was exhausting! 5 hours from Vancouver to Toronto, then a 4 hour stop over in Toronto (most of which was spent eating) and then an excruciating 11 hour flight to Tel Aviv. I discovered that I cannot sleep and can barely eat when I'm on a plane, but i did get to watch some good movies. The fun didn't stop there though, we didn't get to leave the airport until 10 pm Israel time  (we landed at 5 pm) because they needed to question my friend Zahida for 4 hours!!! Before we could go to baggage claim we had to have our passport stamped -  they asked us why we were here, was it our first time, our names and families background. Zee's father is Muslim which made the suspicious of us and once they discovered that we knew Palestinian's and had gone to peace camp with them they assumed we were there to create trouble and go to local protests. Zee and I were separated from our other 2 friends Omar and Ryan which was kind of alarming for a bit, and then they made us wait in a little room. An interesting thing was that a lot of Palestinians were in the room as well, and yet all of them got out before the two 17 year old Canadians! While Zee and  I waited for the interrogation (which happened three times) we played Go Fish, or "Allez Poisson" with a plethora french travelers most of whom were on a Pilgrimage to Jerusalem, however there was this one young Lebanese girl from France named Crystal who was exceedingly delightful. Once we were released from interrogation we had to claim our luggage (Zee's suitcase had been broken when the policemen rifled through it!) from the Lost and Found but they had lost our hockey sticks - which we had brought for a friends palestinian league! So we had to talked to a liaison from air canada...But we still couldn't find them! It turned out that Omar had picked them up hours ago :) 

My first taste of outdoors Israel was stifling hot and humid, we took a taxi to my friends Alex's house where we are eating Pasta and reminiscing about the fabulous time we had last summer. Having an amazing time, can't believe I'm here though, and miss you.  

Pease comment I want to hear from all of you!

The Itinerary

July 15 12:00 PM - Fly out from Vancouver Airport, stopover in Toronto at Pearson Airport.

July 16 2:50 PM (local time) - Land in Tel Aviv, Ben Gurion Airport
Picked up by Alex and family

July 16-21 - Tel Aviv, Tira or Hertzilya stay with Alex, Gal, Illy and Hana
Possible day trip to visit Shadi in Tira
Possible day trip to visit Tom
Possible visit with Jeremy and Ofek

July 22 - Depart for Haifa, arrive at the home of Avner
Nights of July 22-25 - Haifa, stay with Avner

July 26 - Depart for Karmiel, arrive at the home of May
Nights of July 26-28 -Karmiel, stay with May
Possible day trip to see Illy

July 29 - Depart for Ramallah
Nights of July 29-August 3 - Ramallah, Amber and Mohammed Q(2 with Amber and 2 with MQ)
Frequent day trips to Jerusalem, Jericho, the Dead Sea, etc
Possible Day trips to see Nada and Itay

August 4 - Depart for Nablus in the morning, arrive at the home of Zain M
Nights of August 4-6 - Nablus, stay with Zain

August 7 - Return to Ramallah
Nights of August 7 - Ramallah, Amber and Mohammed Q (2 with Amber and 2 with MQ)

August 8 - Omar, Zahida and Chloe depart for Hebron. Ryan departs for Airport.

August 8-10 - Hebron, O, Z & C stay with Mahmoud and Mohamax

August 11 - Depart for Bethlehem, arrive at the home of Mirna
Night of August 11-12 - Stay with Mirna

August 13 - Depart for Tel Aviv
Nights of 13-14 - Tel Aviv, stay with Alex

August 15 8:20 PM - Arrive at Ben Gurion Airport
August 16 12:20 AM- Depart from Ben Gurion Airport, Tel Aviv
August 16 9:20 AM (Local Time)- Arrive in Vancouver