Up and Running Again (Pun Intended!) - Petra, Christmas and New Years

After a month and a half of doctor-ordered rest, I went running again today for the first time. Stress fracture no more :)

I'm back in my right mindset! And motivated more than ever! In this post I will provide a recap of everything that's been going on since Hanukkah... I'll go in reverse chronological order. Sit tight, because it'll be a long ride.

My dear old ma and pa were here in Israel for a few weeks while my mom attended a work conference. I went to visit them for a weekend in Tel Aviv and the following week they came to visit me in Eilat. And then together, we went to PETRA!!!

In front of the most well known of Petra's surviving ruins: the Treasury building. Carved out of a mountain!

For those who don't know, Petra is in Jordan. The climate is similar to that of Jerusalem's, which is similar to that of Atlanta's (I think...). It was cold! Petra is one of the modern-day Seven Wonders of the World.

Basically Petra is a historic village carved out of mountains - no bricks, no mortar, no stones - just mountains as building materials. It is really quite amazing. But what amazed me the most was finding out that it wasn't discovered by the Western world until the 1800's.

The government in Jordan purchased the land from Bedouins [I think] sometime within the last few decades on the condition that the only people permitted to earn employment there would be Bedouins from that particular tribe.

My mom: Ellen the excavator!

My dad: Leon the legendary!

This man on the right offered to make a trade with my dad: nine camels for me. It's a good thing my parents don't have that big of a backyard!

The worst part of the trip for me was to witness the abuse in Petra of camels, donkeys and horses. I had to hold myself back from crying while I watched as a camel nearly collapsed as it was lowering itself to let an overweight male passenger off of its hump and back onto the ground. I looked into this camel's eyes and never before have I seen such a look of desperation and sadness. It was truly depressing.

Then as we were exiting the site I saw some signs that helped me again find the light at the end of the tunnel.

It reads: "John should've thought about his size and the animal's welfare before taking a ride." Damn right he should have.

We got back from Petra to Eilat at about 7:00 p.m. Crossing the border back into Israel took a little bit longer than crossing into Jordan, since there was more security. I showed my parents where I live, they met my roommates and then we bid one another farewell.

Oh and I almost forgot to mention: our tourguide Nizar (pictured right) left a man in our tour group (pictured left) in Petra. He was not happy!

REWIND to New Year's:

In the U.S. we refer to the time period of Dec. 31 - Jan. 1 as New Years, since you are beginning a new year. In Ghana they refer to it as Pass Over, since you are passing over to a new year. In Israel, they refer to the same as Sylvester. The reason is one I didn't know until this week.

Since I feel the Internet can explain to you better than I can the reason for this title, I will copy and paste a passage a few paragraphs a website:

Silvester or Sylvester (also spelled szilveszter, sylvester or sylwester) is the day of the Feast of Pope Sylvester I, a saint who served as Pope of the Roman Catholic Church from 314 to 335 and oversaw both the First Council of Nicaea and Roman Emperor Constantine I’s conversion to Christianity. The feast day is held on the anniversary of Sylvester’s death, 31 December, a date that, since the adoption of the Gregorian calendar, has coincided with New Year’s Eve.

As a result, many Europeans call New Year’s Eve “Sylvester.” When European Jews started to emigrate to the Land of Israel starting in the nineteenth century, the new year in their new country was, of course, Rosh Hashanah. But they still wanted to mark the changing of the secular year as in their old countries, so they continued to celebrate “Sylvester.”

Over time, the practice grew in popularity – especially after the aliyah in the 1990s from the former Soviet Union, where Christmas was banned and everyone celebrated Sylvester instead – to the extent that Sylvester parties are now held in many bars, clubs, restaurants, and peoples’ homes each year. As more and more Israelis consume American and European popular culture, they have also become more familiar with other holidays such as Thanksgiving and New Year’s Eve.

Though there's no ball that drops here in Israel, the new year is still celebrated, but I didn't feel it on as large a scale. At work we made special flower arrangements to decorate the big dining room in the hotel.

I resolve in 2015 to smile every day!

REWIND to Christmas and my voyage to Tel Aviv:

Even though I am Jewish, spending Christmas in Israel felt a little bit unnatural. I am so accustomed to the culture of Christmas that you can even say I missed it! There were still some little signs of Christmas peeking out of the curtains here, but no Christmas songs on the radio :(

The hotel handed out Christmas candy to all of the employees. Side note: a good chunk of the employees are Christian and not Israeli. Many are African refugees, or are from Russia, Ukraine or other countries.

This restaurant has Christmas decorations since it is not Kosher.

Look closely, a menorah lurks in the background!

On Christmas day I rode the bus from Eilat to Tel Aviv to spend some time with my parents. It was lovely. My dad and I toured the shuk and I was able to find a few vegan delicacies! I felt like I was in the Mecca for vegans.

Vegan cashew cheese burekah!

Vegan Krembo! 

Vegan sufganiyot!

Vegan shwarma! It was so tasty!

Vegan donuts!

The only thing I was missing was another vegan person to appreciate all of this greatness! 

Thanks dad for joining in even though I know you weren't as inspired by it all!

I should also mention it seemed like there there were animal rights activists on just about every corner. We saw people with dogs from a shelter trying to find them homes right on the streets. We saw three pamphleteering booths within half a mile of one another. We saw a fake cardboard garbage can filled with fake little chicks in order to show onlookers what is happening in factory farms.

It was my kind of scene.

One of the evenings my parents and I spent Shabbat dinner with some recently discovered Israeli cousins on my mom's side of the family. I had already met them but my parents had not. Dinner was delicious, and it was like the closing of the circle for my mom to meet these people.

I snuck a picture for you all!

After dinner, cousin Roy kidnapped me and took me as a hostage at a Christmas party in Jaffa. He said he didn't think I would have gone had he told me in advance! (He is probably right... eek... note to self: I've got to stop being so boring!)

Ho ho ho!

Never did I dream I would see so many Jews in Santa hats...

They contracted Santa to be the DJ!

 The next day my parents and I met MORE cousins. It always seems like we have an endless stream of cousins popping up all the time. The hosts live just north of Tel Aviv and prepared for us an incredible luncheon. I can't even begin to explain how amazing the tomatoes stuffed with rice were!

Here we are! 

These newfound cousins couldn't have been nicer. They welcomed us like we had been family and known each other for years, and extended offers to me to come and stay with them at their homes. What a warm feeling :)

This week begins a two-week vacation in my program. I'm not sure what adventures it will bring or to where I will be traveling but my hope is that I will have some great new material for this blog! Hasta la vista baby!

My First Hanukkah in Israel

An Israeli dreidel. 

Before I dive into this post I want to highlight a small but key difference between Hanukkah in Israel and Hanukkah outside of Israel. To me picture the on the right symbolizes why spending Jewish holidays in Israel is so special.

Dreidels outside of Israel bear the letters: Nun, Gimel, Hay, Shin. Together they stand for, "Nes gadol hayah sham," meaning, "A great miracle happened there." In Israel, the Shin is replaced with a Pey to represent the word "Poh," which in Hebrew means, "Here." To put it simply, when you're in Israel, your standing on top of the roots of the very holiday you are commemorating. For lack of a better word, it's really "cool."

With that thought now out of the way let's move on...

Since the beginning of the month I haven't felt like it was December at all. Every time I check my watch for the date I am reminded that we are indeed in the twelfth month of the year. Why can't I get this in my head!?

Perhaps there are a two main reasons. The first and most obvious: the weather! I would have never dreamed that I would be able to enjoy a warm and sunny day on the beach in December. Where I'm from (Washington, D.C.) it often snows the first week of December.

The second and most primary reason is because I am in a country where the majority religion is not Christianity - it's Judaism! This translates to: no Christmas lights, no Santa Clauses outside the grocery store collecting donations for homeless shelters, no "All I Want for Christmas is You" on the radio, no red and green signs in storefronts, no White House Christmas tree, no eggnog, no "Merry Christmas" from passersby, no Rudolph, no elves, no Grinch, no stockings, no advent calendars, no tinsel. No Christmas.

Unconsciously over time I have built the association in my head between December and Christmas. Christmas has seeped into everyday life in mainstream America. It's unavoidable, kind of like those BP commercials following the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill :-0

Do I miss December in the U.S.? I would be lying if I said "no." It's not the actual traditions of commercial Christmas that I miss, it's the familiarity and the culture of the American holiday season.

But in Israel I have found a different kind of familiarity. I grew up celebrating Hanukkah with my family and friends, and Hanukkah is Israel's Christmas. However it's not exactly celebrated in the same sense of the word.

The main difference is that here, the majority holiday (Hanukkah) is not an overwhelming commercial empire like Christmas is in the U.S. Much like Israel, Hanukkah is humble. It's about the people and not the stuff.

Instead of Christmas lights, we light menorahs. Instead of hearing holiday music on the radio, we sing Hanukkah songs with our friends. Instead of drinking eggnog, everyone eats jelly-filled donuts (though I've yet to find any vegan ones in small-town Eilat, so I haven't gotten to partake in the magic). Instead of "Merry Christmas," everyone says "Chanukah Sahmeach (Happy Hanukkah)" Instead of writing letters to Santa, people play Dreidel and compete to win gelt (chocolate-filled gold coins). Instead of Christmas signage, individual shops display menorahs in their storefronts. Instead of baking tree-shaped cookies, moms take to their potato peelers and fry latkes. Kids get off from school and families go on vacations.

To be quite honest, in Israel being Jewish feels less special since almost everyone around me is also Jewish. It's not a bad thing - it makes me forget how far away I am from home.

It's an amazing feeling to celebrate Hanukkah with people from France, Ukraine and Israel and to all be able to sing from memory for the first time together the same Hanukkah songs. I guess I did learn something in all those years of Hebrew school after all ;)

And with that it is time to transition to the Hanukkah photo shoot portion of this holiday special:

DAY ONE

Spending our first night of Hanukkah on the beach!

It got dark early!

DAY TWO

My hotel (Royal Beach) hosted a special lunch for the employees in the guest dining room. We felt really special!

It was yummy!

My work supervisor prepared special flowers for the hotel's lobby. And check out the menorah in the back left!

Later we went to one of the malls for a special candle lighting and outside I spotted the Hanukkah mobile! A rabbi and his family tour the city each night of Hanukkah to ensure everyone gets a chance to light candles and share in the spirit of the holiday. It's the closest we'll get to Santa and his sleigh ;-)

The rabbi and his two children lead the candle lighting on the ice at the ice rink inside of Eilat's Ice Mall.

And afterward what did they do... you guessed it, they handed out free doughnuts!

Look what were hanging from the ceiling!

DAY THREE

Lighting a menorah with actual oil for the first time ever! My roommate and I got excited and probably poured too much oil into the little glasses... :)

We decided to check out the competition... check out the menorah and candle lighting in the Herods Hotel in Eilat!

DAYS 4-8 ... haven't happened yet!

__________________

And lastly, I think my favorite picture has to be this one:

A gelt wrapper on the ground of a public high school in Eilat. It's a small reminder that I'm living in the only Jewish country in the world.

Happy Hanukkah from Israel!

The Iron Dome is in My Backyard!

Having a stress fracture of the foot in Eilat has been quite challenging considering I have to use public transportation to get anywhere (my dear car, how I miss you!), BUT I would say I am now 85% of the way to being fully recovered from my injury with just a two to three weeks to go until I can kick back into running and hiking.

Speaking of hiking... this week my group went on an organized hike of one of Eilat's tallest mountains, which just so happens to be directly behind my apartment building. I had to sit out :( However, rest assured that I made sure to find some sort of adventure. I waited for the group at the base of the mountain. And this mountain wasn't just any old mountain. This mountain houses the IRON DOME!!! That's right, the Iron Dome is in my backyard!

That small brown square on the bottom left base of the mountain is the Iron Dome. There are about 12 of them spread all over Israel. Eilat has two.

So while my group climbed, I sat about 100 feet away from one of Israel's most famous defense devices. Is this real life?

The soldiers who guard this particular Iron Dome battery told us we could not take any pictures of the machinery from up close, otherwise I would have posted a much better picture! Up close it looks SO COOL! For the hour or so that my group hiked I sat and conversed with one of the soldiers in Hebrish/Engbrew about what life is like for him now that he is in the army. He has been in the army for about a year, so I would guess he is 19 years old. Let's call him "Shmuel."

Shmuel's diet while on base consists mainly of bread, cheese and boxed tuna. Shmuel stands guard for four hours, and then has eight hours off, and then repeats this schedule again and again. Shmuel has never left Israel despite having family in a a couple other countries. Shmuel gets bored quite often because his post is not frequented at all, with the exception of occasional hikers. Shmuel and his fellow soldiers like to give the hikers a small scare, [harmlessly] questioning them and their motives, when they get close to the guarded area, since he said it is so boring to stand guard all day. I laughed but told him I wouldn't find it very funny if I was on the other side of the joke... Shmuel couldn't remember the word in Hebrew for "cable car" despite being a native Israeli - I knew it though! It's: Ra-kev-el :)

There they go!

They are as small as ants up there!

Some cool facts about the Iron Dome here.

You can now all rest assured knowing I am neighbors with the Iron Dome and that my neighbor is protecting my friends and I 24/7 from any and all airborne threats that could potentially be posed. Because that's the reality of the situation...

Goodnight from Israel 8-)

I Work at the Royal Beach Hotel

Two days so far I have spent working in the hotel industry in Eilat. For those of you who do not know, Eilat is Israel's resort town. The beach is lined with hotel after hotel and the almost-year-round beach weather brings in many tourists from all over Israel, Russia, France and many other countries. 

The program I am on has a partnership with the Isrotel hotel chain where the participants of my program work in the hotels. The hotel where I am working is the Royal Beach. Many Eilat-ians have told me that the Royal Beach is the most luxurious of Isrotel's nine hotels in Eilat. I work in the VIP lounge, or in Hebrew: the טרקלין (tarkleen). 

Only guests who are staying in special suites or who have paid an extra fee have access to the tarkleen. The tarkleen is open from 11:00 a.m. until 9:00 p.m. There is an all-you-can-eat buffet that is changed four times throughout the day. In keeping with with the laws of kashrut the buffet is pescetarian (there are milk and fish but no other meats). 

In my two days of work most of the guests who have come into the tarkleen have been either Israeli or French, with a small sprinkling of Russians, British people and one man from Switzerland who had nearly accent-less English. Usually the guests approach me with their queries in Hebrew and 90% of the time I have no idea what they're saying. Nearly everyone is able to speak English though. The guests have been very patient with me when I try to practice my Hebrew on them. A lot of the Israeli guests tell me there are too many problems in Israel and don't understand why I came here.

In terms of the work I am not exactly a waitress. I do not take any orders since the tarkleen employs a self-serve buffet. Most of the time I am either bussing tables, polishing silverware or chinaware, or restocking miscellaneous items. Because of my prior experience in the food service biz, it was very easy for me to jump right in. The concept of hospitality here is almost the same, but the company culture is quite different. In order not to violate either company's confidentiality, all I will say is that to me it seems the work culture in Israel is a bit more laid back. I haven't decided yet whether I like it or not. At times it can be a smidgeon bit frustrating. 

The tarkleen usually has three of us "waitresses" working the room at one time, and an additional person is stationed at a desk at the entry to assist VIP guests with checking into the hotel and to ensure guests are properly clothed prior to entering the room. This additional person is called the "secretary." Maybe if I can get my Hebrew up to a higher par I can earn this role before my time in the program expires!

Working alongside me, my trainer Dana coincidentally is also a vegan. When I discovered this it was such a feeling of relief. FINALLY - another person who gets it! I am not alone anymore :) She tells me which foods in the work cafeteria are vegan and helps me with my Hebrew.

My vegan buddy Dana with one of the chefs!

It has been great to finally begin working and I am beginning to actually feel immersed in Israeli life. Maybe soon I will be able to help every guest only in Hebrew!

Random Pictures Round Up #1

Here are some pictures that I took with a purpose and want to share with the world. No need for further elaboration. A picture is worth a thousand words, enjoy!

I pass by these almost daily on my walk into the main part of town. I have no idea what they are!!! Anyone have any ideas?

Quality graffiti spotted in Eilat.

I do not remember the entire story but I will try my best to summarize: Enemy nations/ groups have boats with these containers filled with weapons. The enemies themselves sink the boats- on purpose. These groups send divers to release a tab from the weapons containers that allow them to float to the top of the sea. They then retrieve the tanks and use the weapons to attack Israel.

This is what FRESH dates look like! Picked them up from the shuk :) Nice and juicy though not as sweet and chewy as dried dates.

A kibbutz worker is clipping branches from a date palm tree. Dates are the "gold" of Israel, they bring in more revenue than any other fruit.

A high-five goes to the first person who can guess what is being farmed here!

That fort is on Jordanian soil, you can see how close we go the the Jordanian border during our visit to Kibbutz Eilot. 

A beautiful view from a BATHROOM STALL on our visit to a nature reserve around Kibbutz Eilot.

Visiting a spice factory we got a lesson on algae! Not sure what the connection was... a bit odd...

Flamingos! (That's what those white dots are!) Such beautiful creatures they are :)

A train chugging along on the boardwalk in Eilat. Let's go for a ride!

An ice rink INSIDE a mall in Eilat!

A husband-and-wife-owned-and-opereated restaurant five minutes from where I live. They made me a customized vegan pad thai! They have been together for 27 years and met in the army.