Like wings on water...

As always, strong Elisa won out.
After taking a class with the famous Ohad Naharin, two friends and I decided to brave Tel Aviv. It was decided that we were going to do this about an hour or so before we left and I assigned myself the task of figuring out where we would stay/how we would get back. Sadly, I (maybe unsurprisingly) got distracted after writing down a bus number and a few names of hostels. Thus, we ended up wandering around using my handy-dandy touristy Israel! book. After finding some delicious food (I ate shakshuka, a totally Israeli dish. Basically is sunny-side-up eggs cooked in tomato sauce. With a cute little loaf of bread on the side (lachmania in Hebrew!). Unfortunately, I have been abstaining from eating eggs while here, as they still freak me out. Thus, the meal was delicious, but a little strange. For dessert, I ordered vanilla gelato in a cup of espresso. YUM!), we attempted to find a hostel. We realized this morning that we walked the majority of Tel Aviv in our search! Finally we found one, paid and went to bed. Mission one accomplished. I have never in my entire life done something like that. Wandered around with no notion of where I am going to sleep. We contemplated sleeping on the beach, which would have been fabulous. Next time. But, like always, situations that could be problematic seem to put me in a state of complete calm and I was not at all worried about what would happen.
We woke up, ate breakfast and walked the two blocks to the beach. DE-Licious. The Mediterranean is beautiful, a deep blue, green. Walk in and take a close look at the bottom. You see little gray fishes swimming calmly around your feet. We floated for so long, rolled in the sand, floated some more. It was lovely. Then we began our adventure to try to get back. Once again, we had little to go off of but a map and the number of a bus. After sitting outside a vacant bus station, I reread the sign and realized that it said "lila" (it also said some other words, however, I could not read them!). We quickly deduced that that bus was probably not going to come any time soon, wandered around a bit more and made it onto the next bus to Jerusalem.
Sitting on the bus thinking, I felt very proud of myself. I have never been the type of person who really looks up to other people in the way that I feel most do. I always find the most strength and courage by reflecting on the things that I have been able to do in my past. This night was a true beginning to actually immersing myself in the world of Israel. It only makes me feel like I can do more, see more, learn more.

Tel Aviv is very different than Jerusalem. Walking around Jerusalem in shorts that would be considered a moderate length in the US can be rather uncomfortable. I simply feel disrespectful and very aware of the Hasidic, Orthodox and Muslim people around me. But in Tel Aviv, things are much more like what I am used to. Everything stays open late at night, there are many young people, there are dogs instead of the ridiculous number of cats that wander around Jerusalem. In our journey, we saw many parts of Tel Aviv. To be honesty, it felt a bit like Boston, but all the buildings are built with white stone. We walked past the tent cities, which look rather homey now, full living room sets placed outside of some. We wandered past beautiful gardens, many cute cafes, and stores that are oft seen in the US.

Traveling simply made me feel like I COULD accomplish all that I want to. We were hungrily attempting to read all the signs and trying to figure out what they said. We were listening to people talk and getting really excited when we recognized words or even phrases ("Yesh hadash?" "Ken": Do you have new (bread)? Yes.). It was a fabulous reality check.

Now I am back in Jerusalem with great plans to travel and sight see as much as I can during Rosh Hashana break. It is, after all the new year. Time to set the pace for the next one!

To you all, Shana Tova!

What the hell am I doing here?

This is a question that has crossed my mind so many times recently. The question itself, I have discovered, is much more layered than it appears. Thus the answers produced range from the literal to the philosophical.
Literally: I am sitting here enjoying the internet that, after exactly 4 weeks, was FINALLY set up in my apartment!!! Thus, facebook chatting with someone who I can actually talk to if I stick my head out the window and doing other such silly things.
Literally on a bigger scale: Studying dance and religion. Living in Jerusalem, Israel. Going to school.
Emotionally: Trying to find my equilibrium. Attempting to balance so many hours of dance and school with establishing a life, while attempting to maintain connections to those who are much further away.
Physically: Trying not to fall asleep.
Mentally: Trying to wrap my head constantly around all the amazing things that I am doing and what they mean for my life and for the world. A few days ago I was in the Elah Valley, where David fought Goliath. David, who became Judaism's most beloved King, fought the giant Goliath in the valley where I slept a few nights ago. I can see the shining gold dome of the Temple Mount from my living room window. The place where Abraham almost sacrificed Isaac, where Muhammed ascended to heaven, only a few blocks away from the Church of the Holy Sepulchur, where Christ was resurrected. The Western Wall, the Mount of Olives, etc. All these places are a part of my daily life.
Which brings me to the more intense layers of this question. What am I doing here? All I seem to do is go to school. I have had little time to explore or engage with the place in which I am living. This is beginning to drive me crazy. With the week-long break that comes with the Jewish New Year, I plan to explore and spend quality time with this center of so many religions. But at the end of the day, what is it that I want to get out of being here? I am honestly not sure.
I find myself asking this question in dance class, when I am exhausted and staring at the clock, counting the minutes to when we will be done. When I am feeling absolutely hopeless about executing a piece of choreography that we have been practicing for weeks. When I watch the other dancers and hear them discuss the icons of dance, whose work and lives I know so little about. I am immersed in this world but, just like to Judaism, I came so late! It leaves me unsure of where I want to be and unsure of where I am. Thus leaving me feeling unsettled about the correctness of actually being here, in this program. Am I just wasting my time? What do I want to get out of this? What do I hope to do with these two fields of study? Usually when nagging strangers hear about my majors and ask why I am studying them, I simply reply that I love them and will gladly go where the wind takes me.
The wind has brought me here. What will I do now that I am here? I feel so exhausted by the whirlwind way that I have been moving through life, while am becoming so aware of my complete ignorance of the place that I am living. I am so caught up in this bubble of international students, in the bubble of dance students within that bubble and I feel unsure of how to escape. Time itself is moving so quickly. How to take advantage without being dashed to pieces?
The optimistic, strong Elisa who got me here with so much passion and curiosity and drive would set goals down here. Set goals about speaking Hebrew, about exploring as much of Israel as I possibly can, about not only reading but really touching and being touched by the people and culture and history of this beautiful place. The exhausted, yet to be emotionally settled Elisa can only think about how great those goals sound, but how much better some quality rest time sounds.
So let the winds blow. I suppose I will try to follow them where I may without getting lost.
And for now, maybe the literal answers to this question can ground me so that I do not feel lost as I search for answers to the deeper, philosophical ones.

To be a bird with(out) roots

This is a phrase that I have been meditating on this entire week, one that resonates with the complexities of my life as it has come to be thus far. Thinking about how it is that we, as human beings, and me, as a changing, evolving being, balance flying and stretching our wings with planting roots and attaching ourselves to places, to people, to things.

This week brought on a strong bout of homesickness, not dealt with well. It has been an exhausting, backbreaking week (kashe, in Hebrew!) and I was not sure when it would end. I needed to restore myself to a mental, emotional and physical place of solidity and balance. Thus a day spent skipping Hebrew class before the other dancers and I took a trip to an Eco-Art Kibbutz. I attempted to find that place of peacefulness that I so require in order to participate responsibly in the world. Isn’t it fascinating how quickly we attach ourselves to things and to people, regardless of their impending end. I leave here in about 3.5 months and find it difficult to not already regret parting with some of the amazing people that I have met and with this oh-so-complicated place in which I live.

Anyways, let me tell you about my travels! So, I went to this Kibbutz which is the home of Vertigo, an truly beautiful, interesting dance company. The project, housed on this Kibbutz, was started by a woman named Noa. Today, after an exhausting, sometimes painful day of rehearsals, she sat and spoke with us. Noa is a true storyteller. She talked to us for hours about her thoughts on life, how the company came about, her relationships with her dancers, how she creates her choreography…Just watching her was fascinating. I heard in her explanations many themes that I have encountered as I have begun to choreograph and think about the creation of art. Noa lives on this kibbutz with her three other sisters and their 12 children. She emphasizes the importance of honesty in her life and in her dances. In dancing as a human and not as a dancer, an element that was strikingly clear in her dance “Birth of a Phoenix”. My favorite dancer in the entire piece was a dark skinned, sinewy man. He danced with dark brown eyes so open and alert the entire dance that I would have been fascinating just watching his face. This was true of many of her dancers: they did not look like typical dancers. But they moved with such alacrity and poignance that their being brought new dimensions of meaning to the word dance itself. She told us how she questions the usefulness and sustainability of dance as is now. How can one live on a Kibbutz that is concernced with being environmentally friendly when one must carts tons of equipment and humans around to places around the world? However, she said, it is something she is researching. Always researching. “The best teacher is one who is not afraid to be a student,” she said with a sparkle in her eye. This is so true of both of she and her sister, who have taught us: they are fascinated by everything. Their work with us is always teaching them new things even as we learn from them. It also spoke directly to my recent thought, one that floats to the forefront of my mind when I am feeling frustrated with my inability to execute a movement in dance or to truly feel what I am doing for fear of being left two steps behind. In those moments I think about how much I JUST want to choreograph. That is where my passion lies, I tell myself, and this is good but I won’t always be struggling to keep up with others. Luckily these moments are balanced by others that remind me just how much I have progressed in the past few weeks and how good this program is for me as a dancer and as a human being. Like today when I gracefully completed a shoulder roll that flipped me over completely and a classmate congratulated me with such enthusiasm, as she knew I had been working so hard on it! Or when the director of the program looked me in the eye and told me how noticeable my improvement and hard work was. How well I was doing. But even more meaningful than those moments of praise are the moments when I myself feel truly immersed in what I am doing. When I am the one leading the group and am sure of the move to come. When I am able to stop worrying about where I am supposed to be moving to next and can really appreciate the place that I am in, even if only for half a second.

I left the Kibbutz feeling incredibly inspired and as though my feet are placed more solidly on the ground here. The faces of my peers are so familiar to me now. The different way that things work no longer make me blink. I am beginning to forget where I need to move to next and am actually sitting in the movement. This is making my experiences that much more fun and rich.

Random moments that I would like to share: This morning, waking up to shower at 6:30 in an open air shower with luke warm water. I was freezing. And very awake after it!

My hilarious roommate researching the difficult life of a T-Rex. How, for example, do you drink a glass of water when your arms are so tiny and you only have three fingers?

Walking into my apartment unsure that it was in fact my apartment. This is not actually a rare occurrence. The other day I was sitting in an apartment diagonal from mine and one of my roommates walked in. I mentioned that I was surprised to see her there and she asked why. “Because this isn’t our apartment?” Thankfully, turns out that one of the roomies had simply bleached the floor and put everything back in different places. And again, this makes me wonder about the need for comfort and stability. I am still not adjusted to the new living room configuration.

The several dinners that I have made with new friends. How important it is to have friends. The qualities you look for in a friend (people with similar views, levels of judgmentalness and bluntness, people who make me laugh).

How difficult it continues to be to connect with people from home. How sometimes that feels so important and affects how I feel about myself so much and how at other times, I really don’t feel that I need to be in contact at all.

How hard it is to walk when your ankles and knees (and shoulders and hips) are bruised. The marks of the art, darling! 

What strange skills I have. Like the fact that making rice sounds strange and difficult to me, but making a caramelized pear sauce does not. 

Life goes on. As does the research. As does my attempt to find a balance between roots and wings.

Dance Away!

So. I am here. Dancing. Right?
Right.
I would now like to explain what I am doing in these dance classes.
Four days of the week (which begins on Sunday in Israel. So today is my Friday. Even though it's Thursday. Confused yet? I am.) the DanceJerusalemers are shuttled over from Ulpan to another campus of Hebrew University, Givat Ram, where the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance is located.
Two days we spend with the lovely, powerful women of Vertigo, two sisters who run a Kibbutz for Eco-conscious Dance (I believe, but don't quote me on that). This was the first class we took here and it TERRIFIED me. We begin our classes doing release (let go of the tension in your hips, observe the way your feet move when you aren't controlling them) and manipulations of our bodies. This is wonderfully freeing and incredibly exhausting. It is the most natural and the most difficult thing to do, at the same time. After about an hour and a half of this and attempts to follow demonstrations which require muscles that I have lost and am only now regaining ("roll over your shoulder backwards, then roll forwards over the same shoulder. Switch!"), we begin learning/practicing choreography. This choreography is incredibly demanding. It constantly requires you to be pushing energy out and down into the ground constantly. It is strong and forceful, but also lovely and incredibly precise. I have only recently (read: today) been able to remember and do it all (now I just to have to do it with FEELING!). It is a ton of fun, but is truly tiring. The piece that we have learned I believe to be about 4 1/2 minutes of constant movement, with tons of level and direction changes. Today we began to learn a softer part of the dance that is about surrender. This dance is fierce and hardcore. I am impressed that, after two weeks, I have picked it up (after NEVER EVER having learned choreography like this in my entire life) and am so aware of the true pleasure in movement.
The other classes are lead by a  hilarious, slightly terrifying woman named Aya. She has been called the right hand woman of Ohad Naharin, who is an incredibly famous choreographer here in Israel. He invented a movement style called Gaga and has choreographed many pieces for Bat Sheva, a FABULOUS company in Israel. I simply love to watch Aya. We spend an hour and a half attempting to float, be covered in flesh, have traveling stuff moving through us, isolating parts of our bodies while moving our entire bodies, feel waves of motion go through our bodies while continuously allowing the motion to be organic. If you stop moving, you hear a "But don't stop moving! What, you have to stop moving to talk? Be alive. Not dead like this. Alive. Always alive. And the traveling stuff. Always you must have the traveling stuff." Accompanied often by a slight baring of the teeth. And then a "But don't be so serious about it!" Haha. No wonder I like this woman so much. It is the most soothing and also the most awake state to be in. It is as though you are allowing your body to actually lead you, instead of you always trying to lead it (thank goodness, I'm sure it says). The complete paradox of this motion is so freeing. I LOVE Gaga. We then begin to work on the choreography that Aya has taught us. She is a stickler for details. So much so that we have really only learned about a minute and a half of choreography. But it is so important, she tells us, how you feel it, how it moves through your body. Another dancer discovered a recording of the choreography online and it is amazing to watch it. It is as though the dancers are completely in the present. They do not anticipate their next movement, it just happens, with no connection to the one that came before it. Because we have been taught this movement more slowly, I was quicker to pick it up, although no one has been able to pick it up as perfectly as she hoped we would.
All in all, I feel that I have developed so much as a dancer in the past two weeks. I have so much work to keep doing, but I feel that my body is more alive and that my creative brain is as well. I know now the pleasure of executing specific choreography correctly and doing so in connection with a group of 18 other people. It is magical and powerful and freeing and very difficult. And I am having a blast.
On to the weekend!

Going into detail!

Is not something that I do via blog, obviously! I'm just not mentally here. So, instead, I would like to refer all you blog followers, of which I believe there to be few, to a fellow dancer's blog about his (our) time in Jerusalem. He has all the deets on our dance program, what we do with our everyday lives and some interesting reflections on his time here in Israel thus far. Plus he's just really cool!

http://carloantonio.wordpress.com/2011/09/12/dance-in-israel-reflection/

My dance goals have changed this week from attempting to learn the choreography to actually being an alive, present dancer. This is a very difficult thing to do when you are unsure of where you are supposed to be moving next. So, I have adopted some of the strategies I used when trying to get better at field hockey (which, if you remember, I did rather successfully). Number one: GAME FACE. Always look like you know what you're doing. Number two: you can never practice enough. Number three: Concentrate. No more wandering minds (hmmmm, there is a dead bug on the ground, I wonder if somebody stepped on it). I am determined to reach my full potential as a dancer. As that wonderful, famous quote says:

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that frightens us most. We ask ourselves, 'Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and famous?' Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that people won't feel insecure around you. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in all of us. And when we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”
Maryanne Williamson


And isn't that the truth? Who I am not to be....


Even more so, who are YOU not to be? 

How to (not) navigate Israel

So, I have been here for about a week and a half.
Looking over my prior posts, it looks as though I feel rather confident about where I am and what I am doing with my life.
Am I?
No.
As I sit out here (we still don't have internet in my apartment. The people who are supposed to fix it always seem to be off. Even when they are supposed to be in the office. For three more hours.), ignoring the fact that I am supposed to be doing homework, I have begun to contemplate the hilarious mistakes and wrong turns I have made this week. Also the things I have learned about Israel.

1. Are Israelis good drivers? No. In fact, the lines seem to mean very little to them. As though they just happen to have been thrown down there on the ground but really don't mean anything. So, driving over the line is pretty common.
1 1/2. Will I ever sit at the front of a shuttle/bus ever again? No. Made me too nervous.
2. It is really hard to shop when you can't read labels. Which is why my shampoo/conditioner smell quite similar to bug spray. One of my friends has actually joked that they have seen bugs scuttling away from me when I walk in the room. This is also why the curly hair product that I bought here smells like rice. I often stop and wonder what that strange smell is. Oh, yeah. It's me.
3. Buying food based on the way it looks and the expectations that come with that is really not a good idea. I bought blue cheese this week, thinking it had herbs in it. Not my fave. I also bought bread that is certainly whole wheat and healthy, to the point of having the texture of cardboard. Luckily, raspberry jam can fix anything. Always an adventure going to the store, I tell ya. I'm trying so many new things.
4. Looking guys in the face, or even not looking guys in the face, will generally result in a prolonged, awkward stare, probably a honk and possibly a wink or rude gesture. It is generally better to stare at the ground. Hee hee.
5. If someone calls you 'honey' or 'woman,' should you be offended? No. It's just Israel. And the leer that comes with it? Meh.
6. Walking 45 minutes in flip flops into the city of Jerusalem will give you blisters. Even if you don't notice them at first.

All that being said, I am having a blast. I went to a Shabbat dinner last night in a friend's apartment and it was fabulous. Reminded me so much of being at school. Everyone was so loud, chatting at the same time, and had brought SO much food. Then we started singing. When I moseyed back to my apartment, the people there asked if I knew where the singing came from. "Oh! That was us!" I said. "Wow!" they said. "You all sounded great!" I was eating dinner on the 2nd floor. My apartment is on the 6th!!!! Being with all those people was the first time that I really felt at home here. What a great feeling! I am already feeling sad about leaving! HAHA! Today I am going to a Shabbat brunch which will pretty much be in the same style! I am going to bring toast (cardboard bread) and raspberry jam.
When I returned to my apartment, it was full of people I knew, but none of my roommates were in sight. Regardless, it felt like the most natural thing. People were drinking wine, and I made some tea and sat down. We talked for a long time, about silly things and very deep things. I was told that I was "one of them." "Who?" I asked. "A person with a beautiful mind!" I am still flattered. We talked about what our minds were. The others said theirs were combinations of famous people all piled together. I said that mine was a mixture of sunflower seeds, the way the world looks right after it has rained and it is sunny, coffee beans  and something else, which I can't remember right now. "I don't know you very well," someone said. "But I think that's pretty accurate." So, there you go. That's what my mind looks like. I'm off to keep adventuring in Israel (aka make tons of toast)!

So, what are you eating?

Clearly the most important post. Can't believe I've been in Israel for...holy shit, it's been almost a week!!!! Feels like about 10 years.

Hummus. Lots of it. With everything. Crackers, bread, peppers.
Veggies. I know, weird, right? I actually, contrary to popular belief, do like vegetables. And fruit. And, for some reason, I keep buying Costco sized things of fruit, so I eat like 3 pears/bunches of grapes a day at least.
Just cooked my first meal tonight. VERY simple. Need to buy some key ingredients...like flour. And sugar. And garlic.

Moving on and more importantly, the weird/good food that I have had here thus far:
The amazing chocolate with pop rocks in it! I blew all the dancers' minds with this!! Pretty funny.
A chocolate croissant. OH. MY. GOD. Here, they give you WARM pastries. And in the middle of this croissant was basically a ton of similar but better than Hershey's Kiss chocolate. YUM. I have never been so happy.
Yogurt. Well, really, what I thought was yogurt. I am definitely smart enough to read the side of the container and figure out what is yogurt and what is not, not to mention that I helped one of my roommates decipher "Vanilla Yogurt" the other day. But, I was rushing and just grabbed something in the dairy section in a yogurt-like container. I opened it the next day and took a spoonful. NOT what I was expecting. I figured maybe it was just plain yogurt. So I put some sugar in it. The more I thought about it and looked at it, it reminded me of cottage cheese. After contemplating this and staring at the container and, well, eating my strange, sugary container of lumpy dairy product, I finally asked my Israel-savvy roommate. "Oh, yeah," she said. "That's a type of cheese. It's not cottage cheese, but it's similar." HAHAHA. I bought quite a few containers of this and now need to figure out what to do with my runny, yogurty cheese.

I have yet to eat falafel (since I don't really like it) or really anything I buy from anywhere else yet. Sadly, by the time I get  home, all I want to do is sit down!

Dance class number 2 today! We did something called GAGA, which is this up and coming dance style. It was a blast. "Pretend there is a ball in your body. Rolling around your body. Faster. Now there are 2. Now there are 64! Now there are 180! Is that how fast you would move if there were 180 rolling balls in your body?!" Too fun. I actually picked up the choreography a bit quicker today, although I don't think the choreographers quite know what to do with me. The director of the program told me that I am doing just fine and that I am here to learn. Which is what I am doing.

Huzzah!

Shalom! Naim Me'od!

So today was the first day of class and I am reeling! Hebrew from 9-2 Sun through Thurs then dance for 3 hours an hour after! Whew!!!! And having class on Sundays is very confusing - I am still convinced today is Monday!

So, this weekend we went up north. A long bus ride, then an Israeli breakfast which consisted of a bag of chocolate milk, which was fabulous, and a roll, which was not so great. Then we began our hike. The hike was supposed to be easy. Me, a kid from CO in decent shape, figured it couldn't be too bad. The beginning wasn't....and then on the way back up, well, let's just say, we were hiking at at least a 70 degree angle. I was cruising past poor people who were panting and wheezing, but boy oh boy was I tired when I got up to the top! In between, the guides lead us to a waterfall. It was beautiful and tiny, although actually the biggest waterfall in Israel. "Swim!" the guides said. "What?" we said. Israelis have a different concept of communication than we Americans. Instead of telling us 50 times when we would need our bathing suits, they just randomly told us to have them. So, we all jumped in in shorts and sports bras and t-shirts. It was a blast. Soooo beautiful. Did I take  pictures? No. Lame. Sorry!

Then we went to the hostel at Tel Hai. We had a Shabbat service - my first Orthodox one. I was trying to explain the little I know about Judaism to the new friends that I had made, while trying to understand the service myself. I have NEVER before sat through an Orthodox service. The barrier was up between men and women and it was verryyy different, although the boys kept crossing over to talk to the gals, which was funny. Made me miss my reform temple and Wes' services!!!

We did some bonding, which was astonishingly fun (Israeli games are much  more creative than American ones: find 7 gumballs in a tray of flour! Eat a pan of bomba covered in chocolate and carmel  (bomba is basically peanut flavored cheetos)). A nice evening sing-a-long and then bed.

The next day, we were taken to an Industrial Park. At first it was fun, as we got to wander around a really neat photography museum (the only one in Israel), but then we were put in front of a video about how industrial parks are changing the world. They are bringing about peace, didntchaknow?! It was very odd. Luckily, I slept through most of it, hee hee.

More food! We were most excited about the food. None of us have really started cooking yet and having a hot meal was AMAZING. Not to mention more and more and more. Ate so mmmuuccchhh. Soon, we were on our way home. I maintained a long conversation with an Orthodox lad and learned so much. What different views of religion we have!!!!!!!!

Classes started yesterday and, even though I know some Hebrew, my brain was EXPLODING. Hebrew from 9-2 is pretty intense! But, I'm picking it up fast, as are my classmates.

Today I had my first dance class. Taught by two famous Israeli choreographers: Noa and Rina Wertheim. They were amazing. The first part, with all the typical modern dance theory stuff (move like your vertebrae is water, move like there is a stick up your butt) was great and pretty normal for me. Then "on your feet!" they commanded and began teaching us a combination. 30 seconds later, everyone knew the first part and I was looking around like "what?!". I worked my butt off. I'm glad I'm at least in shape and not affected by the altitude (woot CO!). I have a LONG way to go but will learn a lot. One of my roommates, who I really respect, didn't give me any crap about being fine. "You'll work really hard," she said. "It will be a trial and if you approach it the right way, you'll learn a lot. If not, you won't." I agree. And I plan to not be intimidated and just keep working hard.

My accomplishment of the day? I learned how to do a jete! They put this into the dance we were learning and everyone knew how to do it. I was pretty intimidated. A jete is when you spin your torso and your legs come out looking like they are straight and fully extended. A bad explanation for a beautiful move. I am pretty comfortable with the other dancers, thank God (otherwise I would be sooooo intimidated), and asked them to teach me. In 2 minutes, they had shown me a move that they have been working on forever. I have a loonnggg way to go before it looks near as pretty, but I am planning on practicing up and down the halls of Rothberg!

Rock on beauties!

My Favorite Place In Israel

Rather a bold post name, I suppose, seeing as how I have only really done Israel 101. But, today we, me and two people I've been having out with, neither of whom speak English as their native language (which sure makes it interesting, let me tell you!) decided to be bold and figure out how to take the buses down to the shuk, the big open air market in Jerusalem. Surprisingly, this went just fine. It was in fact, very easy and I am no longer intimidate by buses (I say now). But, truly, the shuk is the place I most loved and was most looking forward to visiting again (FREQUENTLY) when/if I returned to Israel. Picture this. Blocks and blocks of an open air market. No, not like a farmer's market. That is such a terrible copy. The food, it has flies on it and sometimes adventurous pigeons. You can smell most of the food from 4 stalls down; olives, mangos, tomatoes, cilantro...And it is beautiful. Truly. The food, it is so bright and real, not waxy and pale like our American fruits and veg. The people themselves are just as varied. It is what I think of when I think of Israel. Dark, dark skinned Jews, loud Israeli Jews, Asian Jews, Arabs, Europeans, Americans, students, vicious old grandmas, etc. Everywhere, talking at once, shouting at each other, laughing with each other. Could have stayed there forever. If you ever have trouble finding me, that's where I'll be.
I also was able to use my Hebrew! The most exciting part was getting shouted at in response - but in Hebrew. I hope that simply means that the shouter believed I actually spoke Hebrew! I just poured out the 'Toda's (thank you) and the 'Slicha's (excuse me) and even asked a question in a full sentence ('Afo ha shuk?' Where is the shuk? Seeing as how we are ignorant and do not speak your language, but boarded this bus anyways).
Finding food has been interesting. I have eaten three meals consisting of bread, hummus, tomatoes and grapes. Yummm. Today I bought some rugelach from a very grouchy man. Surprisingly, I am not yet sick of my normal sandwich. It has many variations. For example, this morning I had a bowl of grapes and toasted the bread, then put olive oil and garlic salt (thanks, Mom) on it. Yummmmm. I proceeded to sit and stare at my beautiful view for 3 hours, while reading and chatting with my roommates. Hopefully I'll figure out how to vary this diet...I think I am in need of some protein...and calcium...and fiber. I'll get there!
I also looked up the Hebrew word for 'language' today and managed to change some of the settings on various websites to be in English. So now I no longer have to guess what each one is (guess meaning click on all of them until one does what you want it to). Go me! It's the little things. Taking the bus, figuring out the Internet, becoming immune to the constant crowing of the rooster who lives on the roof of the neighboring apartment building...the little things!
So, that's day 2 in my world. Please send me updates about yours! It's really nice to hear from people!