Last Day

This is my last day in Tel Aviv. My flight leaves at 11 tonight, and 3 (!) flights later, I'll be back home. Yay, home!!! For so many reasons!


It's hard to leave, but I think it's time. I've had an amazing time here, and I'm afraid that I'll never be able to come back. But, at the same time, I think that this trip has really come full circle. 


Almost the first thing I did in Tel Aviv was go swimming in the Mediterranean, and on Tuesday we were able to go swimming again. Somehow, spending just a few minutes in some salty water or lying on soft beach sand makes everything seem right.


Yesterday, two friends and I went and had pizza and lemonade at a nearby place, and chatted. There was a bomb threat a couple feet away, but life just kept on keeping on, probably in part because there wasn't a bomb. Plus, yummy pizza. That evening, we went and had cake, followed by a trip to the store to get plane snacks. I tried an Israeli winter chocolate marshmallow puff thing that everyone has been telling me that I need to try. Then three of us went to the lounge, ate popcorn and drank hot chocolate and tea. We watched the end of Inception, and printed our boarding passes.


Leaving is tough. Saying goodbye to people who I might never see again isn't easy. But there's also so much that I have to look forward to at home. Family, friends, food... The forever adorable Donut and Ginger.


On a less sentimental note, I thought I'd throw out a couple of final observations.


Hanukkah is not an ostentatious holiday. Businesses light menorahs, but they are small, and the decorations are minimal. Turns out that my idea of Hanukkah is influenced by the wonderful, over-the-top love of Christmas in America. Speaking of, is Christmas really in a few days? It still feels like mid-Fall here, except that most everything is still green. Snow? What? What's that? What?


Free-cycling is the best. In my part of Tel Aviv, people put out clothes and shoes they don't want anymore on benches for anyone to claim. The weather is mild enough here that things don't get wrecked before people take them home.


Last observation/suggestion/note-to-self: If you ever want to get to know the layout of a city, and it has reasonably-sized streets and isn't too hilly, ride a bike. I feel like I know Tel Aviv so much better from the times that I rode my bike places than the times that I took the bus, and walking is too slow to really cover ground in a reasonable amount of time. Bikes!!

Yom Kippur

Hi!


Yesterday was Yom Kippur--well, more accurately, Yom Kippur was Friday evening to yesterday evening at 5:54. It is an extremely important holy day in Judaism, and it is the best holiday that I have ever not celebrated.


In Israel, everything shuts down. There are no trains, planes, buses, sherutes, or taxis--only the occasional emergency vehicle. There are no television or radio broadcasts. 


Friday night, at one in the morning, some friends and I went out on our bicycles to see what a fasting city looks like at night. The streets were empty but for the occasional group of teenagers standing together with their bicycles. We rode our bikes in the street, weaving between the dotted lines that normally separate lanes of traffic. 


We cruised through intersections, completely unconcerned with the possibility of cars; it was quiet enough that we could have heard a car from a mile off. The traffic lights flashed from red to green and back again pointlessly--we wondered why they weren't turned off.


It was surreal reaching our destination: the highway. Normally, the highway is a congested mass of cars whose drivers are convinced that there is no such thing as a blind spot and that tailgating is just being friendly. Now... it felt like being in the iconic scene of any post-apocalyptic movie (but without the fear of unexpected zombie attacks or horrifying, highly transmissible diseases--more importantly, without the well-justified fear of deadly accidents that occur too often on all highways). 


Being there felt unexpectedly freeing. So much space, under a huge moon... We passed people lounging on the highway, passed under overpasses and alongside graffiti... This, I thought, was how I city should always be.


I thought the same thing yesterday, on my three bike rides. 


Bike ride #1: I went by myself, just to see what there was to see. Groups of kids on tiny bicycles pedaled furiously in what looked to be second gear, wearing little helmets--the first helmets I've seen out in force since I've been here. Families sat in the park, enjoying the sun. Parents walked alongside toddlers scooting along on those little bikes without pedals, or held their 8 year olds up on their bikes with a broom handle stuck under their seats. Again, this is the way a city ought to be. 


Bike ride #2: A friend and I went out riding again, with the long term goal being the beach. We enjoyed huffing our way up hills and enjoying the smooth, recently resurfaced asphalt helping gravity to make us speed down the hill with the wind in our faces. The beach was gorgeous. There weren't as many people as usual there, and the restaurants and hotels hadn't covered the soft sand in for-rent lounge chairs. Perfect couple of hours at the beach.


Bike ride #3: Another trip to the highway! This didn't seem quite as apocalyptic as the trip in the middle of the night had. For one thing, it was daytime. The highway is an amazingly great place without cars.


I would love it so much if we could not celebrate Yom Kippur in other parts of the world too. I love the quiet, the family feeling, and I appreciate that other people are having really meaningful religious reflections as they fast, and most of all, I love the absence of cars.

Since Will Got a Bicycle

Will got a bike, and so I present to you a list of advice that he won't need at all since he's someplace completely different.


1. Avoid window-shopping while riding your bike, as obstacles appear suddenly, and that dress is too expensive anyway
2. Watch for cats because they are everywhere, and they don't really do backwards
3. Watch out for dogs
4. Watch out for dogs with an evil, thin rope connecting them to their owners. Owners using these devices purposefully encourage their dogs to walk on one side of the sidewalk, while they walk on the other. This danger has been called "the clothesline"
5. Be aware of strollers and the elderly. (Oops.)
6. Lock your bike up against anything stationary, including bike racks, sign poles, trees, and sturdy-looking people
7. Use the two phrases in Hebrew you know: "excuse me!" and "thank you!" Nonsense phrases and crazy eyes are equally effective
8. Notice that if you are going to go over a bump, it is best to do so straight on, because wheels don't work sideways. The next innovation in cycling: magnetic spherical "wheels" that would allow the rider a fuller range of movement. Also, the wheels are super awesome, so you can go up walls with them. This provides an excellent workout, as you must then hold yourself on to the bike
9. Curbs exist. You will go off them. Remember not to lock your elbows
10. The single biggest threat is a small child. They will not move aside for you if they see you, and you are less likely to see them due to their diminutive stature. Should you spot one, abandon your bike and run the other way as quickly as possible. These creatures tend to travel in packs called "families," and are often accompanied by ferocious little beings known as "siblings."


Finally, bikes are the best. For reallies. 

Ballet!!!!

I went to my first ballet class in two weeks on Saturday!! It's amazing how much more flexible I get when I let my muscles completely disappear--all of a sudden it's like there are no muscles connecting my bones. What? Hamstrings? Totally not there at all. So yay for that.

I asked for help in finding a studio about a week ago, but I ended up just googling a place. It didn't look like a ballet place so much as a pilates/yoga/spiritual place that also offered ballet classes. Anyways, I figured that I would try it out. And I did.

The bike ride down there was fairly exciting! Because I feel over! Which made me happy. Because I've been waiting for it to happen, and then it did, and I totally didn't hurt myself. Although I need to practice falling--I totally went for the hand-ground-first-thing, which is silly if one likes the bones in one's hand (as I do). Anyways. Glad that's done with. It was kind of embarrassing though--I was right across the street from the studio at the time. Oh well! Embarrassment is useless. Right. Ballet!

So, this studio is in an area of Tel Aviv that looks a bit sketch on a Saturday evening--people aren't really around, and appears less affluent than other areas. The studio was up a narrow, cracked flight of stairs that opened up on a broad, sunlit room with couches to one side, and a desk with a computer to the other. A silvery teapot sat surrounded by cups on a low table in the center of the ring of couches. It felt very welcoming, although empty. The only person in the studio was a young-ish man in one of two studios.

I knocked, looked blank for about 2 minutes while he talked incomprehensibly to me over the music, then I realized he was speaking Hebrew, then I felt stupid for thinking that I just wasn't hearing him. Oops. He actually spoke really excellent English once I explained that I know exactly two things in Hebrew (excuse me and thank you).

It turned out I was twenty minutes early (which has never, ever happened before. I factored in extra time for when I got lost, but I was never even slightly confused. It was a seriously excellent bike ride). So, I stretched, and met the studio cat (yay ballet cats!)

The class itself: it turned out the guy I met first was the teacher, and there were only a couple of other students there that day. I was wearing the most ballet-ish clothes of anyone there (this has also never happened to me before. Ever. I even had my hair up all the way, since I had twenty minutes to kill before class. Although I didn't even bother bringing hairpins, so it was a pretty slapdash bun. But still. Leotard, tights, bun...ballet shoes. It was crazy).

It was really excellent to be in a class again, although it was something of an odd class. I am pretty positive that we did more forward cambres than plies. Also, there was not a single releve. Also, there was a distinct feeling of crazy arms. I didn't even know where to throw my arm to next. But it was a fun class anyway. They need to put a new floor in there, though. It is in this tiny tiny studio, and the floor is not even a little bit flat. Plus there are sinkholes. Grand allegro was way exciting--that'll teach me to have some awareness of where I am in space.

Some of the other students gave me the name and address of another studio to try out, so I'm excited for that. I got the feeling that it is a more ballet-oriented place (they apparently have a pianist).

Hopefully I won't get completely out of shape this fall! Actually, hopefully I'll get more in shape. I suppose that's always the goal. Especially if it doesn't involve running in straight lines just to run in straight lines.

Bicycles and Beaches

Hey hey!

I bought a bicycle two days ago, and can I just say that bicycles are the best thing ever. Seriously. It is so wonderful to be able to get around the city quickly without getting on a bus or paying for a taxi. And, I have a basket! It looks a little bit silly, though, since the bike is sporty. Also, I love the clickety sound it makes when I don't pedal.

Yes, it's a guy-style bike. But I don't think that you would ever see me on a bike in a dress anyway. Plus,  I'm all about the triangles. Also, is the basket not the cutest?

Things about biking in Tel Aviv: everybody is always on the sidewalks, which are wider than in the US. Bicycles don't do streets here. I really like it because I am intimidated by cars, but I also need to develop my steering skills. I am going to break my face while trying to avoid a head on collision with a Moped and a motorized scooter. But really, I feel like alertness is seriously important for cyclists here.

Speaking of cyclists, there aren't any serious cyclists. People mostly seem to use bikes as transportation, more than anything else. Actually, much of Israel is making an effort to become a more bike-as-transport-friendly place. See here.

Feel like commenting on the awesomeness that is my bike? I know I would. :)

Today, my bike and I went for an excellent adventure to Jaffa. The plan was to go to an Arabic-language mass at St Anthony's.

I copied out directions to myself, but then I forgot my map, so when I thoroughly missed the second turn of the trip it was an exciting adventure. More or less, anyway. I knew where the church was, and I knew where I was, it was just a question of finding a sidewalk to take me there. It ended up being the most circuitous route that anyone not driving with me or my mom has ever seen, but it was fun to be able to connect places I had visited from a bus to each other. Plus, I was only 10 minutes late to mass. The whole spire thing helps.

The church is beautiful, set back in a small green courtyard behind a high wall. Inside, marble pillars obstruct the view from the side pews in a way that is very homey. It gives the feeling of being a tiny cathedral, with arching ceilings and long stained glass windows. The grandeur is somewhat impaired by the oscillating fans attached to the walls and standing in the aisles.

As I said, the mass was in Arabic. I understood a word here and there, but I didn't catch a single complete sentence. I did find that even though the language is different, the rhythm, the cadence, of the words and phrases are almost identical. Apparently, the Nicene Creed sounds like the Nicene Creed in any language.

The music struck me. It was so much better (to my ear) than the music in most other masses I've heard. There wasn't a choir, only a nun, sitting on the left side of the church in the front pew, playing a little electronic organ type instrument. But everyone sang fantastically, even without the (sometimes distinctly off-key) choir help that I am accustomed to.

I was most surprised by communion. I had assumed that it would be the most instantly familiar part of the mass, but that honor was taken by a beautiful rendition of "Alleluia" (I was really excited because I totally knew the single word in that song. Be impressed). Instead of having a priest giving the wafer and a deacon or other qualified person giving the wine, the priest dipped the wafer in the wine before putting it in the person's mouth. I was very, very glad that I was looking at the person in front of me. I can just picture myself putting out my hands, and the priest holding this dripping wafer, wondering whether I actually want it in my hands... it would have been embarrassing, and something of a break from the reverence one ought to have. To those who might know: is this style of communion common? I've never seen it before.

Anyways, I was glad to make it to mass, and very excited to hear it in Arabic! There were a few minutes there on the bike ride over where I thought that I might possibly get there just as it was getting out. Here is St Anthony's from the outside, because I tend to feel a little bit weird about taking pictures of churches from the inside:

St Anthony's in Jaffa

Final thing: pictures from the beach. Here's a couple. I'm sure that I will take more over the course of the semester.

View of Jaffa Port and Tel Aviv skyline

One of the many beaches of Tel Aviv