making a life here

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Just watched that, ala Brandeis Students for Justice in Palestine. Not a very optimistic outlook, I'm sad to say, but 60 Minutes is not the end-all-be-all. Just a simple presentation that I feel shows a relatively realistic glimpse of what happens in the West Bank.

Besides that, I am continuing my apartment search, although without as much force at the moment. I have tons of new vocabulary to study and lots of work to do for class. I am going to have to find a way to supplement my studies with more exposure to Hebrew conversation because the class is very advanced in literary Hebrew and does not give enough of an outlet for speaking. My comprehension and my reading is improving, but I feel that it is most important for me to converse as much as possible outside of class. That goes for Arabic as well; I am constantly trying to get a few words in with Arabs who pass me by just to show them that I can if they're interested, and I always ask Arabs for directions or logistics.

In fact, last night on my way back from a lovely weekend in Tel Aviv with the Spivack sisters, I took the wrong bus and ended up far from the University. I eventually got a taxi as the buses were not running very regularly and it began to rain very hard. The driver was an Arab who kindly accepted the pathetic amount of money I had with me to take me to the center, from which I could take a bus to the University. However, as the ride continued, we spoke about everything in Arabic, from the upcoming elections and the importance of Arabs to vote in them to how he doesn't think Jordan is beautiful at all--well doesn't he realize how spoiled he is living in the greenest city in the Middle East?? By the end of the ride, he had agreed to take me all the way to the University because he was so happy to have a lovely conversation in Arabic with me, an American Jew. Haverim.

An extra special thank you to Allie and Lauren for taking care of me this weekend, delicious dinner included. It is so nice to have people here who are like family to me.

I plan to travel to Jordan in 18 days. And I can hardly wait.

--Avraham

float upstream

I took a sick day today. I'm not terribly sick, but I have been since Saturday and it is simply time for this to stop affecting me. I woke up this morning feeling a bit the same as yesterday, which isn't the worst, but I should be feeling better. So, I did something that I never would have done in Jordan, and that was call a friend to tell the professor that I would not be in class. So here I am, taking care of myself.

I have made a few observations that are pretty funny. First of all, the culture here is so different from that in Jordan. Even in the cats! The cats in Jordan are reserved, move away from you, don't make eye contact. Here, you can just feel the hormones overflowing. The cats are chasing each other, mating at every chance they get, staring you down and walking towards you slowly if you're eating... how Israeli of them!

My class is going well, and I'm realizing that I am much further ahead in Hebrew than I imagined I would be upon my arrival. Which is great! The only challenging aspect is that my level is less focused on conversation and practicing over and over how to speak Hebrew than it is on critical reading and comprehension. Thus, I must look to other outlets in order to rehearse my ever-so-growing vocabulary. In Hebrew they say "treasury of words" in order to say vocabulary. I think that's pretty neat.

There are so many Arab students here, and I just want to go up to all of them and make a fool of myself by just throwing myself at them and saying something along the lines of HI I SPEAK SOME ARABIC WILL YOU BE MY FRIEND BECAUSE I WANT TO MAKE ARAB FRIENDS PLEASEEEEE???? But then again, I think there are better, smoother ways to do it. I miss Jordan and how the students at the University of Jordan are incredibly approachable. Maybe they are here, as well, but everyone is in exams right now so it's a bit of a strange time to meet people. Either way, I see lots of potential friends everywhere I go. It's just a matter of time before I go in for it.

--Avraham

shtei safot, lughtein, BILBOOOL!!!!!!

So, as I've already began to inform you all, I have begun the second part of my year of discovery: the West Side of the Jordan River. I sit in my dorm room at the University of Haifa after my second day of ulpan, a word for an intensive Hebrew language program. If it's enough indication, there's a word for everything as you can tell by this last definition. However, it's in no way as confusing or crazy as Arabic because after you get to a certain depth with the language, all of the words are just like English but given Hebrew accents, like ambitziyot (ambitions).

I've met a bunch of new people, very nice, some of them I've even bonded with in a nice and deep way. I can tell that a lot of people feel the awe of first coming here after a while or at all, and I am happy for them. However, I do not have my eyes wide open and I am not shocked so much so that I feel like this is more than just a continuation of my life--which is good. Of course I still marvel at the greenness of the city and the beauty of the sea, but I am also proud to say that I feel capable of living a real life here as opposed to just feeling a part of my program and having it laid out for me. I'm gon' take my prize!

So I started an apartment search, which alone is a really interesting process. The first person I call... she's in my class! A very cool girl, and whether or not her apartment (which would be perfect) works out for me, I at least made a nice friend. We chatted for hours, looked at photos, talked about everything, our lives, our experiences, hung with her other roommate who lives there who's a guy from Russia who also seems pretty cool, and we ended up making dinner together and enjoying each other's company well into the night. So I'm really excited about that and hope for the best in terms of the apartment working out. But in case, I am looking at a few others. Here's where it gets a bit less convenient and a bit sillier...

I was chatting away to Rasha online, HOW I MISS JORDAN!**, and I made a call to a number from one of the ads I found. Hebrew was not working out so well... I kept translating in my head from Arabic and realized I was speaking like someone who's either an infant or clearly not competent in the language at all, and I don't think I'm either of those. So we spoke a bit in English, unfortunately (fail #1), then I couldn't completely understand her name (fail #2), but it's okay because we have an appointment set up for tonight at 7 (success!). After that, I made another phone call to yet another girl who happened to be working. The Hebrew flowed like it was my step-mother tongue, yofi! She gave me the number to her other roommate because she was at work, and I'm waiting for her to call back because she didn't pick up.

My cold is going away, I'm sitting around and taking an easy afternoon, and I'm going to figure out this stuff now because a) I should figure it out as soon as I can so that I can get the money back for housing for after the ulpan, and b) it's exciting to have these fun little adventures that could actually become my daily reality.

And I bought my favorite snack food the other day... PRUNES!

--Avraham

**So the program in Jordan is starting to take speed for the Lanugage Program students, and everyone's figuring their stuff out there. It's weird to know it goes on without me and that some of my friends are still in familiar places with people that know and love us. I miss them, and I hope to visit after the ulpan, but for now I can just hope to rely on updates and stay in touch. Guys, I know you're reading this, when you know I'm coming there better be some mansaf waiting for me!

westbound and down

Shalom likulam.

I made it over to Israel again, this time to stay. I'm in Jerusalem staying with a friend, and it's been really nice. Actually, the friend is Ari's friend Alana from school who is letting me stay until I need to get up to Haifa. She's been incredibly nice, and I'm really looking forward to hanging out with her this semester while we're both here. Ari was here for a few days, but he's back in Jordan now. It's strange to think that the program in Jordan is going to start up on Sunday with so many new people, and I will be moving into a dormitory in Haifa, starting all over again.

I was only given a one-month entry visa to Israel as opposed to the regular three-month visa that I've gotten the other five times I came here. Serious searching through my stuff and body at the border crossing. And I saw something very inappropriate. A man working there asked a woman to show her face, which was veiled behind a niqab...in front of the entire line of people waiting to get through. I stood by my New Year's Resolution and asked someone who I could report this to, as it is a serious violation of privacy. He could have asked to see her face somewhere private, where the entire border crossing could not see. Anyway, the woman I reported this to said that there is no body to receive complaints like this and that it wouldn't work because it would slow down the whole process if they had to do that every time. My first attempt at changing a system to be more appropriate was frustrated by an unforeseen obstacle: there is no facility to change the rule in an occupied territory. Because everything that Israel is doing in the West Bank is internationally illegal, they can create their own laws for what is and is not permitted in that territory.

Jerusalem's been nice. I've had the pleasure of bumping into several friends, of course, some that I did not expect to be here. For example, my friend Becky who graduated last year happens to be living in Jerusalem and doing a good job of making a life for herself here. We really met during both of our first visits to Israel, so it's great to see how much we've learned and grown. And we're both here, now! Also, I bumped into a few friends from Brandeis who are studying at Hebrew U for the semester as well as met up with some people who I knew were living here.

Of course I've seen Allie, only twice though! She's doing really well, surrounded by interesting people and living in a quiet area. I'm so happy to be near her again, and the rest of her family is soon to join us here in Israel.

I have little to say right now. Two failed attempts at entering al-Aqsa, well failed even getting on the Temple Mount:

Guard: Are you a Muslim?
Me: Hamdulillah.
Guard: Where are you from?
Me: America.
Guard: Uh.. do you have a passport?
Me: Not with me.
Guard: Get lost..

I'll try again another time, I guess I wasn't prepared enough at the time anyway. Looks pretty though!

The research for organizations with which I can work:



It sounds RIGHT up my alley. I am emailing them now, the Abraham Fund, how fitting! They were suggested to me by an Israeli I happened to meet in Jordan, go figure. I don't know if they have an office up in Haifa, but I would love to see if there is any work to be done for them up there.

So, this weekend I'm off to Haifa to spend with some friends, and Allie is offering her generous self to help me get up there with all of my stuff! My friends up there are kindly offering their houses and even cars to get me to the university so that my move-in is painless. I feel so lucky to already have a community like this, it's really nice and helps with the transition so much. Until Sunday, I am just reconnecting to Israel, but I am very excited to start my program so that I can fill in my time and not think about all of these vast changes.

Interesting conversations to come, I'm sure. Just you wait.

--Avraham

audrey's photos

Audrey posted the photos of the trip to Iraq!!

Some stories:

I know why they kept wandering, looking for water. We saw MASSIVE lakes in the distance.. like oceans. They kept moving as we drove. They weren't real!! I felt like parking on the side and running towards them, but seriously, most of them were not real. Maybe some were.

Also, did I mention the cops who tried to give me a speeding ticket, laughing hysterically, and took 20JD from me? They returned my license with the 20 between the license and the registration, so smooth. Silly, bored Jordanian guards.

Enjoy the photos, thanks Audrey!

--Ibrahim

strange fruit hangin from the poppy trees

I read a really interesting essay from a blog that I follow. It's the kind of perspective that a lot of my Arab friends would be glad to hear, as they are not alone in the desire for all of this to just be over.

I've gone on two adventures since my last post. Both were perfect, besides one point*, and as a result, I've fallen in love with Jordan again. *The one point that made them not perfect was that my traveling mate, my source of entertainment, inspiration, and companionship in this great Kingdom, Jackie, was no longer mawjouda! I miss her so much, and these trips are dedicated to her!

Trip A: Karameh and Shouneh

In a class at Brandeis, we learned about the Battle of Karameh and that there was a small memorial to the Jordanians fallen at that battle, despite the fact that the Palestinians at the time declared it their own victory. A very interesting piece of history, indeed. What my professor did not expect was that his mentioning this small memorial was enough for me to dedicate a day to find it!

From Freedom in the Kingdom

After I found it, I went and sat down with a new friend, Marwan, in Shouneh where I waited for the bus to Salt. We just chatted all day, watched the sun sink in the sky, waved and smiled at everyone who passed by on foot or in a car. It was great. The drive up to Salt was beautiful, and I saw naturally flowing water! Between the Jordanian charm--constant tea invitations--and the unbelievably unique natural and political environment of Jordan, I was reminded why I originally fell in love with this country.

Between journeys...

So Ari's brother Aaron and his best friend in the whole world Rachel came in town, and I got to hang out with them quite a bit between journeys. Ari and Aaron went into Petra while I was gone, and they picked up some friends who came to stay with us. It was refreshing to meet other American students who I didn't know, and these two were pretty cool. Knowing Ari and then getting the perspective from his little brother Aaron was so fun and sometimes hilarious, unfortunately at Ari's expense from time to time. When Rachel came in, we had some great bonding through political discussions--there's no end, especially at times like these--and cuddling. Hamdulillah.

I spent a bit of time visiting the office for my program. I'm really going to miss Rana, who's been a great support and a really cool friend. I feel like there's nothing, personal or political, that I can't discuss with her. And she shared all this great music with me, which I'm listening to now so I thought I'd mention it. I'll be back to visit her though, as well as all the others in the office, like Ahmad, Rasha, Ala', and of course, who could forget Allison.

Okay, ya'allah, Trip B: Iraq

Don't freak out yet, we didn't get to actually enter Iraq. And even if we did, we'd be in the middle of the desert, turn around and come back to Jordan. So Audrey and I rented ourselves a car and went into the East. There is one lane on route 10, and that lane goes through about 2 towns within 200km, eventually taking you to the Iraqi border. The best pictures are on her camera, and once I get a hold of them I will share them, but for now you'll have to make due with mine.

So.. in seeing the entire country from one end to the other, I learned how to drive stick competently enough!

From Freedom in the Kingdom

My dad didn't envision me learning to drive a manual car in Jordan, driving out to Iraq and in Amman during rush hour, but the high stress of the city driving forced me to get good enough and fast. Thanks to Audrey for the free lessons and the great company. It just felt so great to be free. At one point we got damn near empty on gas at a town called Ruwayshed. They ran out of gas in their town, as well! Hurray! So we snatched some gas from a guy who drove a Mercedes because had we not gotten any gas, well, we wouldn't have made it to the next town which was almost 100km away! One of the guys who helped us siphon the gas accidentally swallowed quite a bit of the benzine, oops! Shoutout to the peeps in Ruwayshed who saved us from being stuck in the desert longer than we needed.

So here I am, getting ready to cross the river on Sunday. I'm researching jobs and apartments in Haifa because I might be in the mood for a more realistic life. No, I am certain that I'm not ready to give up apartment life and need to take initiative and put myself to use in a country where that is possible and necessary. Enjoy the rest of my photos from the past few weeks, and look forward to an update from a land not so far away!

--Ibrahim

kiva

Hey guys, got updates coming your way. Some great solo travel in Jordan, so I'm excited to share this stuff with you. I have fallen back in love with the country :-D

In the meantime, check this out...


A Fistful Of Dollars: The Story of a Kiva.org Loan from Kieran Ball on Vimeo.

I am a Kiva loaner and I advocate people to help by becoming one as well. Enjoy!

--Ibrahim