In the land of Ire...and a smidgen of London

Posting things a bit out of order, but it seems that my blog should reflect my mind these days...a "balagan" or 'mess' in Hebrew...so here it goes.

It's no secret these days that I have a vested interest in a young Irish lad named Frank, so a few weeks ago, I finally made the voyage to that small, beautiful island in the Northwest of Europe.  The trek there was interesting, as most of my stories begin.  I arrived at Ben Gurion airport with plenty of time to spare before my flight, and I was patiently awaiting my turn in the baggage screening area.  Just then I looked down, and noticed a bloodstain soaking through the knee of my jeans.  Apparently I had cut myself hours earlier, and at that exact moment, it decided to start bleeding.  Nothing sketchier in an airport security line than being covered in blood.  Awesome.  Luckily, some nice Israelis had a few wetnaps, which although stung something awful, provided me some way to clean myself up.  Note- Israeli security was not too helpful, unless you consider their barrage of questioning about what I did to myself to be covered in blood "helpful."

When I landed in London some 6 hours later, I was incredibly excited to be in an English speaking country again.  I was reading all the signs, browsing through magazines, and chatting to any and everyone I encountered.  It's amazing how often in Israel I have no idea what is going on around me, but here in London, eavesdropping and people watching regained its place as one of my favorite hobbies.  Oh, and Starbucks!  How I missed that delightful coffee chain, especially at this time of year, where I was able to get one of their festive holiday beverages...amazing Toffee Nut Soy Latte :)

After spending a good 10 hours in the Luton airport curled up in a basket I created with two leather chairs, I finally landed in Dublin!  I was instantly shocked by the weather, having been at the beach in Tel Aviv just a day before.  Since I arrived so early, we took a few hours to sleep and relax before beginning our tour of Ireland.  That Saturday we were in Dublin, and saw some great sites including Christ Church Cathedral, which was built in something like 1030 and incredibly beautiful, but also haunting in that way only churches can really make you feel.  Later, we went to the Book of Kells Museum near Trinity college, including a visit to this amazingly old and huge library.  If I was a Harry Potter fan, I would imagine this sort of library is what their wizardry school has...Of  course, no touristy trip to Dublin would be complete without a visit to Temple Bar, which much to my suprise is a neighborhood, not just one bar, and last but not least, the Guiness Brewery.  Now, I've been on a few brewery tours before, but I have to say that this one wins for coolness handsdown.  It was a self guided, interactive tour, where you could watch old and new Guiness commercials, check out how the bottles and advertising campaigns have changed over the year, and of course, sample the stuff.  We opted to have our free pint on the top level of the brewery, called the Gravity Bar.  This large, round bar has floor to ceiling windows on all sides, offering an amazing 360 degree view of Dublin.  We were there when the sun had just set, and I am a sucker for a cool city view at night!  Later, we made the 2 hour drive down to Cork, the city I had heard endless stories about during my summer in Chicago, with a band of 10+ native Cork-ians as my neighbors.

Inappropriate Leprechaun....of course!

We managed to struggle through tiredness and mild sickness to make it out to see some of the guys from the summer, which was a real treat for me.  No longer were they just the Irish neighbors that partied all summer long - these were friends, with jobs and school and shirts...blew my mind!  (just kidding guys :) )  We all went out to the pub that night...something I think the Irish are kind of known for?  Good times, but not nearly enough time to catch up!

Sunday we drove out to West Cork, which is absolutely beautiful!  We drove the Ring of Kerry, which is a beautiful 170 km drive along the Southwest coast of Ireland, with some stunning views of the sea and the Cork & Kerry Mountains (which interestingly enough, divide Cork & Kerry Counties).  Along the way, we stopped at a few detours to break up the drive, mainly to check out ruins of castles, churches or forts, or to grab a cup of soup and tea in a little town.  I won't bore you with every detail of our week, but I will say that in short, Ireland is a beautiful, fun place, with very friendly folks and lots of cool towns, sites and views!

Before heading back to Tel Aviv, Frank and I spent a day in London.  We flew in from Dublin around 8 in the morning, dropped our bags at the hotel and headed into the city.  Our luck being what it is, the temperatures in London that day were the coldest of the year so far!  Our first stop on the tube was in Westminster, were I had some authentic fish and chips at a pub...no beer yet though, it was only like 11:30am.  The dish was....ok.  The fish was delicious and fresh, but I would have liked the crust to be seasoned a little more for my liking, and the side dish of mashed peas was a bit confusing.  Later, we went into the Westminster Abbey, which is one of the biggest, oldest and most famous churches in the world.  The beauty and history located inside the church is like nothing I have seen before.  Kind of exciting to be there around this time, since the royal wedding is taking place there in the spring!  Sadly, no Prince William sitings to report.  Later in the day, we headed to Trafalgar's square, visited the National Art Gallery, the Tower of London and saw the Tower Bridge (what Frank told me most people think is the London Bridge, but it's not!).  Before leaving the city for the night, we had a nice "Thanksgiving" dinner in the Shepard's Bush neighborhood.  Instead of the traditional Turkey Day dinner (since let's be honest, I don't eat most of it!), Frank found a great vegetarian restaurant to check out called Blah Blah Blah.  I was a bit skeptical of the name, but it turned out to be awesome!  It was a BYOB, which I miss dearly from Chicago restaurants, so we brought along a bottle of red wine.  A bit odd being away from home for Thanksgiving, but as much as I missed the traditional meal with my family, it was a great day in London, to cap off a great week!  Looking forward to my next visit already!  

This is how excited Frank was about the art gallery.... :)

Also, purchased my ticket home last week....Chicago here I come on February 9th!  I'm expecting some sort of a blizzard or at least a cold front that day to properly welcome me home.... :)

Haifa's ablaze and Muslim delicacies in the Old City....

Hello again fair readers, it has been far too long since I have written an update!  I wish I could say that I have been so busy that I haven't even had a chance to sit and write...but that wouldn't be entirely honest.  I know I have fallen to the wayside a bit in terms of entries, so I'll do my best to fill you in on what I've been up to, and try to keep it entertaining!

Our awesome makeshift Hanukkiah

Today is December 4th (wow!) and it's the fourth night of Hanukkah.  It's actually pretty exciting to be here for, as it's the holiday that I remember most growing up.  Clearly, my family and I weren't the most traditional of Jewish families...think the Christmas Tree (or the Hanukkah bush, as my Dad delightfully refers to it as) gave us away there.  But regardless of how we defined ourselves as Jews, Hanukkah was always a great time.  Lighting the menorah (or Chanukiot, as it's called here in Israel), eating latkes (yum!) and of course opening some gifts.  Always a good time.  It's interesting to see no Christmas decorations, not to hear the music in all the stores, and of course, lest we not forget the lack of winter weather - or at least what I'm used to.  It's just now getting to be chilly enough at night to require a light to medium weight jacket.  Sometimes during the day, in the shade, you might want long sleeves.  Not to bad at all!

Here are a few things I've learned about Hanukkah here in Israel:

1.  Sufganyot, or jelly donuts are the typical treat enjoyed.  Not latkes.  This literally blew my mind, as latkes have been an essential part of my Hanukkah celebration since I've been a child.  They are delicious, sinful, sugary and awesome, but they sure don't hit the spot for me exactly like latkes do.  There will be a latke night in the next four evenings, rest assured.  Photos to follow, should be interesting.

2.  Dreidels, those little spinning tops popular among the Jews this time of year, have four sides, each with a Hebrew letter.  In the Diaspora (Jewish world outside of Israel) these letters are nun, gimel, hay, shin - which stands for "Nes Gadol Haya Sham" or "A Great Miracle Happened There" (the miracle of Hanukkah, the victory of the Maccabees during the uprising in the 2nd century BC, and the famous oil story, one day's worth of oil sustaining the eternal flame at the temple for a miraculous eight days instead...).  Here in Israel, however, the letters on the dreidel are:  nun, gimel, hay & pay, which stands for "Nes Gadol Haya Po" or "A Great Miracle Happened Here."  Here (Po) instead of There (sham).  Kind of cool, right??


3.  A menorah is any old lamp...but a Hanukkiah is what you light during these eight crazy nights.  Apparently lots of people knew this, but I didn't, so I'm adding it to the list.

Yummy Druze dinner!

Thursday of this week, Career Israel took us to Haifa for the day.  Haifa is the third largest city in Israel, and one of the few places that Jews, Arabs, and Christians all live and work together, seemingly in harmony.  We visited the Bahai Temple Gardens, an Islamic mosque, and had dinner and hospitality in a Druze village.  In case you've been avoiding the news for the last few days, you may be away that there is a raging forest fire that broke out in the national forest on Mt. Carmel near Haifa.  The sky was filled with thick, black smoke that interestingly enough, tinted the sunlight a blazing red color.  During our tour, we had to take a detour around the mountain due to the fire to get to the Druze village of Usaffiya for dinner - a village that a day later was forced to evacuate due to the spreading blaze.  To read up on the efforts to stop the spreading, or to see photos, check out any major news site at the moment... or try www.jpost.com.  During the time we were in and around Haifa, we weren't really aware of the massive scale of the fire, or that it was spreading so rapidly.  I suppose that's for the best though, as I would have been much more anxious knowing this at the time!  But, as always, our madrichim (counselors) were on the ball to be sure we were only entering safe areas.

After our day in Haifa, I hopped the bus back with the Jerusalem people to spend the rest of the weekend there.  That evening, we headed into town and had a few beers at a bar named Uganda, which a very chill lounge bar that had DJ's spinning music for the evening.  Interesting crowd, mostly "hipsters" I would say, but nonetheless, I enjoyed the atmosphere and my frosty Goldstar.  Friday afternoon, Keren and I went to the Jerusalem Shuk, which is WAY more awesome and functional than the one in Tel Aviv, I must say, to get food for Shabbat dinner.  I felt very much like this would be my typical Friday routine if I happened to be an observant Jewish women.  For now, I just enjoy cooking and eating with friends, so that was my angle!  We planned a potluck dinner with a few girls that we knew downstairs, and it ended up being a fantastic dinner/evening with seven ladies, lots of food, a couple bottles of wine, and an amazing three layer chocolate mousse cake.  Yummmm!  Our menu included homemade chicken soup (from scratch, compliments of Ms. Keren Freeman, part-time chef, full-time bad ass photographer), ratatoulle, polenta with mushrooms, israeli couscous, breaded eggplant, challah, and cabbage salad.  In short, way too much food for how many people we had.  And not nearly enough wine...but isn't that always the case??

The next morning, we slept in, and made ourselves an amazing breakfast with some of our leftover food items.  Here was the result:

Challah French toast with caramelized bananas, fruit salad and mint tea

Later in the day, we found ourselves walking around the Old City.  On this trip, we switched it up a bit and entered through the Damascus Gate and headed into the Muslim Quarter.  

Unlike the Jewish areas, which on Shabbat are closed, this area was bustling with activity, restaurants, shops and stores to browse through.  Our mid-afternoon snack was a surprisingly great pizza and Arabic coffee, which was as sludgy and strong as usual, but had enough of a caffeine kick through the rest of the afternoon.

Keren, Becca and I getting cozy outside the Damascus Gate

I think the best story of the weekend, and one that fairly accurately describes a lot of the general interactions here in Israel, came at the very end.  To get get between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, the most common and inexpensive way to do it is to take a Sherut, shared taxi.  These are mini buses that hold 10 passengers each, and cost 22 shekels (or about $6)for a ride.  There is no need to book in advance, you simply show up at one of the designated zones to get in one.  Sounds fairly simple, right?  That'd be true....if this were anywhere other than Israel at the end of the Sabbath.  Becca and I arrived at the spot to hail a Sherut about 6:45pm.  There were already probably 20-30 people milling about the area, anxiously awaiting their ride.  There isn't a line culture here, no one waits in lines, no one respects the lines that do exist, and there is no such thing as simply waiting your turn.  And forget giving way to the elderly, people with children, or tourists with loads of bags.  Those people just get in your way.  Whenever a Sherut arrived, the mass of people just all out ran for it...the second the side door swung open, people started pulling, shoving, pushing and elbowing their way into the doorway.  Two of these passed before Becca and I made a decision:  we are getting on the next bus, if it means one or both of us come out a little scathed.  A few more minutes pass, and Becca's phone rings.  It's her dad, and they sit for a minute having a chat as she attempts to describe the scene we are in.  Then, suddenly, I see the next sherut coming down the street - there is no time to waste.  I shout "Hang up the phone, it's here!" and she says verbatim to her father, "Gotta go Dad, it's battle time."  We grab our bags and run to the door, pushing and shoving in true Israeli fashion.  We somehow managed to get great position to the door, but then all of a sudden, everything just stops.  There is a mass of about 9 people wedged in the area around the door.  Becca is in the first pile, and manages to burst through and into the van.  I am immediately behind her, and not having so much luck.  I manage to poke my head into the car, but my shoulders are pinned back by a man on either side, and they are not relinquishing control of this situation.  Oh, and my bag, the good old rolley suitcase is bringing up the rear behind me, tangled in a web of feet and legs.  I cry out "REGA!" (wait!) as I continue to scramble forward.  Luckily, the driver spots me, and yells at the men to release their grasp on my shoulders, and I tumble into the van, dragging my bag with me, and collapse into the seat besides Becca, that she has been saving with her life, literally.  Finally, we are on the road back to Tel Aviv, back to Bet Leni, that magical dormitory on King George.  Oh, Israel!

Some of the girls and I testing out new ways to wear our scarves...

Happy Hanukkah from Tel Aviv!!

:)