Me: Slicha, Cama Ze? (Excuse me, how much is this?)
Israeli: (mumbles) hamishim vachetzy
Me: Ma? (what?)
Israeli: (scoffs) hamishim vachetzy
Me: uhh, 40? Lo lo lo, toda (no no no, thanks)
Israeli: (in perfect English) it's 4.50, not forty.
Me: Ohh, thanks!
So yea...sometimes I think I get it, then a lot of times, things go as above, and I end up looking pretty ridiculous at my attempts. And lately, I'll be honest, I hardly try. I should probably work on that!
Tuesday last week, we began our voyage to the Northern part of Israel, including the Golan Heights and the Galilee. The first morning, we had a short (3 hour) hike in the Galilee which was beautiful, led by a really awesome guide named Anat. She was great at telling us stories along the way about the area, and even made some pretty tasty sage tea mid-hike, with sage she found on the way! After the hike, we continued north a bit and arrived at Rosh Hanikra Grottos, which is an amazing rock formation on the north-west most point in Israel, on the border with Lebanon. And yes, we were about 300 meters from Lebanon, but I swear, there was no war going on there, however seeing the military border did give me goosebumps...but the sunset on the water was amazing, and well worth the voyage!
Wednesday morning, we had an interesting lecture in the north at Kibbutz Misgav Am, by one of it's, ahem, colorful residents. This particular Kibbutz is right on the border of Lebanon, and has been the target of many attacks and raids during the ongoing clash between Israel and the Hezbolah, who control the majority of South Lebanon. The guy who talked to us (can't recall his name) was hilarious - first thing he said was something along the lines of "I'm going to give you my opinion on the situation here. This is not a discussion. I will answer your questions based on what I think. You might not like a lot of what I have to say. Deal with it." In short, I loved this guy, and his blunt views of the situation. Vastly different opinion than reading a story by some political analyst! He's been here through fighting, ambushes of his kibbutz, air force bombings and more. He's got some radical opinions on the way Israel handles it's political business, but who can blame him? There's a huge divide between the Knesset in Israel who makes political decisions and the people who are actually affected by said decisions. A nice change of pace to hear from the latter!
Later this same day, we went to yet another Kibbutz and had a short lecture from yet another hippie...this ended with a very awkward encounter at a high school in one of the Arab communities of the area. We were funneled into the gym and circled around unsuspecting groups of 16 and 17 year old Israeli-Arabs, and directed us with some "light-hearted" topics to discuss, ranging from "how does it feel to be a minority in your country" to "do you believe in God, and how does that affect your daily life". Needless to say, this resulted in a ridiculously awkward conversation with some high schoolers that should have been done with people our own age, and maybe people that knew we were Jews (shock!), as most of these kids didn't...and in case you were unaware, Israeli-Arabs and Jews kind of have a dysfunctional relationship here...FAIL on that one, Career Israel!
View from Kibbutz Misgav Am looking into Lebanon (border is just beyond the road approx 300 meters)
After a grueling hour talking with these kids, some of whom I have to say were good sports about the whole thing, we finally headed to Tzfat, which is a very historic town in Israel, and home to some of the oldest and most beautiful synagogues in the country. Tzfat is also a sort of artistic mecca in Israel, with tons of galleries, shops, etc where you can check out cool (and some lame, but still entertaining) artwork of all kinds. While in town, I stopped by David Friedman's gallery to pick up a print - he's a very talented artist whose work features his graphic interpretations of Kabbalah, the study of Jewish mysticisms. In case you'd like to check him out...here is a not so accidental link to his website (newly redesigned, at that!)
We ended our trip in the North quite appropriately - with a morning spent at the Kinneret, or the Sea of Galilee. It was a nice change to be in a fresh body of water! As beautiful as the Mediterranean is, it's pretty damn salty! Try as I might, there was no walking on water for this girl. Still not sure how anyone ever actually did that...
Just for fun, here is a photo of our mid-hike swim break...the robust man in the salmon pants is Itzik, my madricha (counselor) and he's basically the most hilarious Israeli I've ever met. His English is great, in a sense that when he tries to communicate, oftentimes it results in a cultural misunderstanding that you can't help but laugh at...
Cheers!
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