Shake it Like a Salt Shaker

-Thank you to the YinYang twins for this blog's title.

So, I have just returned from a pretty sweet trip to London and Italy. You will get all sort of info and pics about that shortly. It was amazing! Shabbat, after red-eye catchup sleep, was also very nice.

In the meantime, this post serves to show my three or four fans that I'm here and safe, just in case you don't follow my Facebook addictive status updating.

I got back to Jerusalem at about 5:30AM, and promptly made my way upstairs to turn on the hot water heater (remember, no auto-hot water in Israel!) so I could wash 2 days of Italy and airplane off of me, unpacked my borrowed backpack, did some general organizing, quickly scanned the email I've been unable to deal with, showered, and went to bed as the sun was rising on Jerusalem.

What did I miss when I was gone? There was an interesting article in the Forward on Kosher restaurants open on Shabbat, all about the 2nd Avenue Deli. It was covering a review, and subsequent blog, in the NYTimes. The last line of the article is my favorite. As somebody whose friends have enjoyed many a 2nd Avenue Deli Shabbat dinner, back when it was on 2nd Avenue, and as somebody who often disagrees with the religious right (more below), the article strikes a chord. Shomer Shabbat (observing Shabbat) and Shomer Kashrut (keeping kosher) are not always hand in hand, as its possible to keep kosher but not keep Shabbat. Keeping the 2nd Avenue Deli open is another pluralistic approach -- think of all the options for a Jew in NYC on a Friday night. Why not begin your night with a traditional Shabbat dinner, housed in an magically historical (although relocated) deli?

In this, the most blessed of cities, apparently, I missed talk of earthquakes and a slushing (Israeli snowstorm). I also missed Rafi (aaaawwww).

There have been quite a few (5, I believe) minor earthquakes in Jerusalem this (school/Jewish) year. I have slept through them, or flat out not noticed the tremors, every single time. This coming from a girl who is absolutely terrified of earthquakes sounds crazy, but it's true. I didn't even know Jerusalem was on an ACTUAL fault line. I thought all fault lines are philosophical, but NO, of COURSE Jerusalem could split in two, physically, without the aid of a security "fence", at any moment.

Why am I telling you this? Because there's some crazy super-religious Knesset (Parliament) member - I think he's in Shas - who is quite sure that if Israel tightens (insert inappropriate snicker here) up current, liberal laws on homosexuality, "millions of sheqels" will be saved (in earthquake damages). I mean, come on. Really? I know I'm liberal, but this is just too much for me. I feel like next he's going to say something like, "Maybe good old Ahmadinijad (can't spell that, don't care to look it up) has it right in Iran. Deny, deny, deny. I mean, when was the last time THEY had an earthquake?" Iran denies that they have any homosexuals, and they take away rights left and, um, right. Fabulous.

Apparently, sodomy causes earthquakes. And not just in the bedroom. (I couldn't resist.)

Travels, travels, travels...

I totally forgot to post my Petra post from November. Since I'm about to leave for a week in Europe (and JTS Distance Learning, as I am NOT a slacker), I thought I'd activate my Petra post. It appeared in November (when I wrote it), so click on the link above to read about those travels, and know that Eurotrip details are soon to follow.

Speaking of travelling, I also made it out to Bayit Vegan (pronounced Veh-gan, not vegan, much to my disappointment.) to have dinner and hang out with my cousin at her all-girls' college. We made dinner and hung out, and it was good. Just wanted to keep you posted.

Anya's backpack is packed, I am taking my coat off of its hanger, and I'm practically out the door. Much love! Ciao!!!

So, this one time, at [Jewish] camp...

...I love working for Jewish summer camp. I've worked at a few, I've attended more than one, and Jewish summer camping is where I want my career to be. So I'm always happy when Jewish summer camp comes to me, in the middle of the winter.

Benjie and I went on Poland / Israel Pilgrimage 9 years ago (yes, Benj, NINE). Then we worked together at Camp Ramah Darom for a few years, and we stayed in touch because he and Rafi are closer than most people in long-term romantic relationships. Benjie works for CRD, and he's in Israel hiring staff. I love hanging out with Benjie. Below are pictures from a variety of days in the shuk, a Ramah party, and nights just hanging around. Benjie even joined Rafi, Jeremy and me for a 2-dinner night. Ethiopian for me, boring regular restaurant for them.

Benjie, Rafi and I mug it in the shuk last Friday afternoon.

Pilgrimage may have been 9 years ago, but we're still making crazy faces in the shuk like we're children!

With Baylene and Benjie. Group 7 '99. At Hagigat Ramah.

That is love right there, ladies and gents.

Benjie, Rafi and I act out.

Jeremy shows off our waiter's name at dinner #2.

That's what Jeremy's little sign says. It was on the table at Rimon Cafe, which, by the way, has a long wait for the meat side, but not the dairy side.

I love camp! Not lamp, but camp. And I (we) had a great time with Benjie.

Writing and Being a Good Student!

Yesterday I did work on my finals and my JTS classes, did laundry, and went to a Ramah Darom reunion dinner. Here are some pictures to prove that I was out doing these things, as I don't have to use a ton of words to describe my generally worky day.

Joelle and I studying -- ok, writing papers.

Cheesecake + laptop + course packet = Formula for an A paper!

Have you met my friend the vegetarian?

Yay for Benjie visiting!

Also, I talked to my Zayde briefly. He asked about Turkey, in hilarious Zayde fashion, "Did you smoke a lot of hookah?" Another Zayde laughfest. I can't believe some of the stuff that comes out of his mouth, at the young, fresh age of 89!

After my double-take, he explained that back in the day, when our cousin flew Turkish Airlines from Chicago to Israel, "it was required to smoke on the plane."

Zayde paused. "But I have to be honest. Using water without Scotch is pretty much a waste."

What can I say? The men in my family like their Johnnie Walker.

I Miss New York!

There's still snow melting on the streets of Jerusalem. I took this on Monday at Hebrew U. It reminds me of the brown, slushy walls that crop up after a snow storm in New York (you know, about two minutes after the snowfall).


I miss New York!

Ultra All Inclusive!

When I woke up at the crack of dawn on Thursday, I was not pleased. Not only was I exhausted, but I was greeted by a beautiful, peaceful blanket of snow. All of Jerusalem. The serene quiet that comes with a snow storm teased me, saying "you won't get to Turkey." I stuck out my tongue, got dressed in layers, and crunched my way to Rafi's to meet the 6:45AM sherut / shared taxi. Crunchy snow! And it was still falling! It was really beautiful, and probably the only reason I was able to maintain a semblance of happiness with my 6AM wakeup for a 1:45PM flight.

Before I wised up about the rain boots...

Rafi and I waited. And waited. And waited. And waited. 45 minutes, 20 frozen toes, a few snow-art attempts, a hideout in the slightly-above-freezing stairwell, and a bulldozer-turned-snowplow spotting later, the sherut came, and Rafi and I were OFF to Ben Gurion! As a bonus, we got a tour of all-snowy Jerusalem. It was really breathtaking. AND my toes finally unfroze by the time we got to the airport -- about 2 hours early for check-in.

And then, in Turkey, on the coast of the Mediterranean...my feet win!

The separation barrier and snow. We took Road 443, and the separation wall/barrier runs along the side of parts of the highway to the airport.

We finally checked in, went to the terminal to enjoy kosher McDonald's (something I am opposed to in real life, but support in the few kosher outposts in Israel), and then eventually to board our plane. As a Turkey-unrelated sidenote, I find it interesting that while I really dislike fast food (Not you, Subway. I love you!), find it wrong, and fattening, and gross, I REALLY loved going to McDonald's. Maybe it's the I-Don't-Eat-That-Stuff holier-than-thou mindset you get in college / high school when keeping kosher amongst those who do not. Maybe it's the horrible additives that McD's puts into their food, making me crave it. But I ate McDonald's at TLV like I was dining at my favorite New York Italian restaurant (bonus points if you guess correctly in the comments). I guess I can make allowances for a McDonald's that sells Israeli salad and McKebab.

Tel Aviv airport means one thing to kosher kids -- McDonald's.

I'm going to pretend that kashrut (or, in this label's case, Hebrew writing) makes McDonald's less disgusting. Yay, kashrut!

Super Size Me! I'm hooked!

The flight to Turkey was fine, as was the customs experience (here's $20 so you can give me a sticker), and the trip to the resort. Once at the resort, Rafi and I took to eating tons, walking around the hotel and on the other shore of the Mediterranean, and trying to figure out Turkish. We were, at best, wildly unsuccessful. I spent some time in the Turkish bath (amazing), and both of us spent time in the pool (not bad). On Saturday night, we went to a multi-lingual comedy show that was so terrible, words can't even describe it -- in German, Russian, English, OR Turkish. Let's just say any improv night at any given summer camp where we've worked displayed a finer grasp on comedy and creativity. It did really make the whole trip seem like a cruise, though.

As Rafi pointed out, that's Israel in the distance. Can't see Her? That's ok, you can trust me.

Requisite "Look, we went on vacation!" picture.

The best part of the trip? Apart from the visas and the Turkish bath, it was Ultra All Inclusive. Wine? Sure! Cakes? Of course! Italian dinner with 12 courses (give or take)? But of course! Rafi and I enjoyed that -- and the unlimited, FREE minibar.

Another "We went on vacation and we're so cute!" picture.

Ultra All Inclusive means that the minibar is FREE!

The trip back was uneventful (although we did stop in the outside-the-terminal McDonalds for an interesting lunch), and I've been doing schoolwork ever since. Let's hear it for a trip to the lovely land of Antalya, Turkey, where the weather rarely dips below 15 degrees Celsius (where rarely = when I am there).

We went back to McD's, Rafi got a McKebab, and it was AWESOME. Whyever don't they market it in the states?

Maybe the best thing about Turkey. In Turkish, "Stop" is "Dur."

PS -- Turkish delight is pretty repulsive. It's like passover jelly candy, but covered with powdered sugar, instead of granluated.

שלג! / Sheleg! / Snow!

People had been warning me for days that it was going to snow in Jerusalem, but I was all "whatever" and "I'll believe it when I see it" and "as an authentic New Yorker, I fart in Jerusalem snow's general direction" and so on and so forth. That being said, I got scared into submission to the snow, and stayed and waited in Jerusalem on Tuesday, waiting for the snow to fall. The first disgusting, slushy flakes fell when I was eating Yemenite food with Rafi. Wintry mix. Ick.

Over the course of the evening, I went to hang out with Rafi and his roommate and went to bed at a reasonable hour (it happens!). It snowed a little. When I woke up, early (By early, of course, I mean 10 or 11. I'm on break!) in the morning, I walked outside to some serious, stuck snow. Or what was once stuck, and had promptly become slush.

Snow on a mini-frog (They call the big, green garbage dumpsters "frogs" in Hebrew, so I've decided that this one is a mini-frog.)

Snow-covered car, Israeli plates.

The stairs to my apartment. Real, authentic snow. In Jerusalem. Amazing.

I spent most of the day inside, working on my thesis (yes!), and then, after she braved the nasty, slush/sleet/snowish, hanging out with Shiran. I love Shiran, and I'm happy for her that she's going to India -- but I'm REALLY going to miss her.

Shiran and I take time to pretend we're having fun at Gan HaTzfira (the park on my street, HaTzfira). As you can see, I learned a valuable lesson this year: I can wear my North Face Brand Snobby Fleece with a hoodie and be warm enough for snow temps.

Check out the snowflake that fell in front of the camera, blocking a bit of my hoodie. Cool, huh? By the way, rain boots in snow = dry, FROZEN feet. I had to blow dry my toes for a good 15 minutes after hanging outsite with Shiran and later, Ita.

Let's make a list of things that won't happen to Shiran in India...

Shiran and I warm up in Coffeeshop.

Gan HaTzfira, snowcapped.

After Shiran left, I ran into Ita. Ita plays in the park, looking all Israeli, with plastic bags in her rain boots!

Shiran and I eventually went outside to brave the cold (Yes, I will admit it. It was cold.) to see if any restaurants were open. We ended up in Coffeeshop, which I think has terrible service, but I also think that they have the BEST breakfast (deal) EVER, and they serve it all day long. We hung out for a while, and then stood at the bus stop, freezing, until Shiran was able to make her way to the central bus station.

Wednesday night, I watched a movie with my roommates and then looked outside to see something astounding -- more SNOW, sticking on the neighbors' roof. I went to bed, worrying about what the morning would hold. Stay tuned to hear about my adventures in getting to TLV - Ben Gurion International Airport and from there, to Turkey!

The versatility of Israeli bulldozers. Usually, I'm a-bulldozin' Palestinian homes. Today, I plow Emek Refayim.

7AM on Emek Refayim. I'm waiting for the Nesher to Turkey, and catch this bulldozer on film. Yay!

Translation: Sara Beth Loves Snow!