A week to experience

This past week has seemed like more of a blur than an actual week. I have had class, work, friends, and of course drama. I started off with a bang on Sunday since I had a meeting with David Keren to discuss my summer job of Pilgrimage. I met with him and we talked about what the job entails, who I am working with, what I can expect to get out of it, and many other topics that I was curious about. We had a blast doing it in an informal way; he is a sweet man that really makes spending time with him enjoyable. Of course the topic of Aliyah came up as it always does with my friends and associates in this country and I told him that my passion for this place has come to me being involved in it and applying it to every aspect of my life but as for me living here it is not in the cards right now. That answer is always followed with that makes sense but it is sad to hear. I finished my meeting and then said a quick hello to JJ and tried to figure out a time that we could get together for dinner. I really miss his kids and want to spend more time around them while I am here. I got to bed early so I could wake up refreshed and ready to go. The one thing I have realized though that is a fatal flaw, the more sleep you get the more you want. It is a vicious cycle that one day I will figure out how to beat the system.

I spent the days busying myself with school work and attempting to reconnect with some people back home that I had not spoken to in a long time. I had e-mails to get to, letters to write, blogs to post you name it and I had to catch up on it. I sat myself down I the library and got to it. I did not make a very large dent in the task list since I got a call from Adam to do lunch. I don’t pass those up since he is so busy here with everything that is going on that when he makes time I have to jump on it. We got some grub at Frankies and talked about life and how happy we are with everything that we have and is going on. He is truly a great guy that I cherish every moment we spend together. Afterwards I finished up class and bustled home to say goodbye to Talia who was leaving for London to visit friends. I then finished the night at my apartment hanging out with the roommates that I normally do not see which was a nice change of pace for me.

Nothing too out of the ordinary happened the rest of the week, just some nice events that I usually go to. I had my Face to Face program where we got together and talked about how we can make a program that will do what we are doing on a larger scale. We tried to figure out how to make a difference in the communication that goes on between Israelis and non-israelis that changes the way they look at each other. I believe it is a key element in the relationship between the two that is mostly neglected. The stereotypes that we hold for the opposite group detract the beauty that is found underneath the surfaces. Whether it is the gruff exterior of an Israeli that hides the scared innocence or the proper American that holds dismay for the chaotic hustle of life, looking beyond that we can see the truth behind it all. I have learned an important lesson while part of this program and that is that until we see the other side’s perspective we can never truly come together.

I had a culinary experience as part of my spring in Jerusalem program where we ate different foods from different ethnic jews. Iraqi rice, Ethiopian vegetables, Israeli salad, just to name a few all helped in understanding how the differences of our histories shaped the bringing together of this state. It was a lovely presentation that wrapped up a stressful week. I decided that it had been long enough and was about time that I saw my host family from Nativ. So this Shabbat I am going south to Yerucham.