Kindness of Strangers

Along with New Yorkers, Israelis have a bad reputation of being rude and brash. It never bothered me in either place, in New York people are not rude, they're busy, in Israel it's just a part of their culture. In fact, people in both places are quite willing to help you out with where you are and where you need to go. The only problem in Israel is that I didn't speak hebrew which posed a problem when you are not really sure where you are or what's going on exactly. Luckily for me, strangers were really kind in both Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.

After a trip to H&M in Tel Aviv at the Azrieli Center, I was sitting on a bench at a stop for a lot buses that go all over. I wasn't really sure what bus I needed to take, but figured I knew how to get to the beach from the Central Bus station, where I had come from, so it would be best to backtrack and go from there. I was waiting for quite a while and then this woman starts talking (kind of yelling) to me in hebrew and I tried to say "I only speak english", "anglit (the word for english in hebrew)" and the woman just kept talking to me very loudly and quickly. The girl next to me translated for me that the lady wanted to know if I wanted to go to the beach (I did, and was wearing beach attire) and that I should take the bus that was there. "Seshim ve shelosh" she said again, which is 63 (numbers up to 100 are part of the very limited hebrew I knew). I got on the bus just crossing my fingers that I was going to the beach and would recognize where I was at some point. That lady was amazing. She probably saved me an hour of commuting! I don't think I ever properly thanked her since I was so confused about what was happening, but thank you random yelling lady!

The last day I was in Jerusalem I was waiting for a bus to go to the bus station and a lady just handed me her ticket and I stared at it, then stared at her questioningly. She said something in hebrew that I took to mean that there was another ride on the ticket. Sure enough there was and I made I ended up saving 6.40 shekles or about $2 on that trip. Again thank you random lady, sorry for the very confused stare!

This is a lesson that everywhere there are nice people, no matter what the city or the country, even if it might not seem like it. And there is even such a thing as helpful yelling! I wish I could have helped the numerous people that asked me (probably) for directions in hebrew, to which I gave them blank stares. I'm going to have to pay it forward on public transport in Chicago, that is when I learn how to use it.

In my opinion, strangers are pretty great.

My iphone camera really sucks and is not doing the Tel Aviv beach justice at all! 

Ash Wednesday Mass

I haven't had a lot of time for new experiences recently, but I was able to fit in an hour at Catholic mass on Wednesday for Ash Wednesday. Let me preface this by saying I am not Catholic and could never be Catholic, but I am curious about what goes on during different religious services. Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of 40 days and nights of lent before Easter. If you're like me you have probably seen people with ash on their foreheads and have definitely known people who give up some kind of pleasurable thing for lent. I also like to give things up, not for Jesus, but because I think it's good to have self control and not rely on too many things. This year I have given up beer and hard alcohol, one year I gave up facebook.

On Wednesday, two of my friends and I, one Catholic and one not, but like me curious, went to Catholic mass. I had previously been to two Catholic funerals and a mass in Spain when I was 17 that I fell asleep during, so I had no idea what happens when you are at a regular service. Catholicism is so ritualistic and if you aren't familiar with the prayers or the order it is confusing. There is kneeling, communion, Latin, and there was a bell ringing while the priests held a cup up to Jesus. It was probably one of the weirder things I have ever seen, but very interesting to see what a billion people believe in on Earth.

What bothered me is that there hasn't been any changes that allow for how the world has changed. There was one part where they were saying the people of the Synagogues and the "hypocrites" were very wrong in their way of showing good deeds and piety. I understand that it is traditional, but I do not respect religions that bash other religions and if that is not their intent then the words should be changed.

I also do not like being told what a sinner I am and that the music also had a lot of undertones about sinning. This whole idea really bothers me about Catholicism especially, but christianity in general.

I found it highly odd that there were no bibles in the pews, I guess the priests are the only ones that can read it?

I discovered while I was there how lax the Catholic church has become in regards to lent. Apparently, you can do/eat/drink whatever you want on Sundays as per what the Pope has declared. I think that a place so founded in traditions and rituals should either stick to them or undergo some major changes.

Obviously, I will not be converting any time soon, but I think that it makes you a more rounded and educated person to experience these types of situations if not just to be able to form better opinions about them. I respect that it helps a lot of people get through the day and live a more moral life, I just don't believe in any of its teachings. I am glad to have had the experience though, it was definitely a more interesting way to spend the hour than watching TV or sitting on my computer!

We plan to go to a Mormon service next and also to Jewish temple. Luckily we will have people who are familiar with these religions, not necessarily followers, who are going with us so we can absorb more of the experiences.

Update:

I have started my crazy busy interview and travel schedule! Last weekend was intense with two interviews and flying to the east coast and midwest. Tuesday I am off to NYC again! 

Denver Jewish Film Festival and Yad Vashem

This past Friday I was invited to the Denver Jewish Film Festival at Cherry Creek. Film festivals and anything that gets too artsy and hipster are not my scene, but I wanted to hang out with the person who invited me (my friend's mom), so I decided that I would go. Going into the films, all I knew is where it was and that there were going to be two short films shown.

I was really blown away by the movies. The first movie was called Cohen on the Bridge and detailed Operation Entebbe in 1976 when an Air France flight bound from Tel Aviv to Athens to Paris was intercepted by two German and two Palestinian terrorists and flown to Uganda. Idi Amin was in power and the Jewish passengers were separated from the non-Jewish passengers. In the end they were saved by the elite Israeli Defense Force, the Mossad, and most of the hostages were saved. This was a story that I had never heard before, never even heard mentioned. Normally I would have been annoyed by the nature of the movie- a very hipster, very comic book-esque black and white film, but I was highly engrossed in this story. The thing that impacted me the most was the fact that there was a Holocaust survivor among the hostages and I can't imagine living through a situation like that again, in fact I can't imagine anything more horrifying than that.

The next film was Ammon's Journey, a french film that was partly in French, English and Hebrew, detailing a Ammon, who is a luthier (a person who makes violins) and painstakingly took it upon himself to refurbish violins from Holocaust victims in the second world war. He repaired the violins that were played as a distraction, abusively, for hours on end at Auschwitz. The journey took us from Paris to Austria to Norway and finally to Jerusalem, where these instruments were played at a special concert at the wailing wall. The movie highlighted the beauty and the pain of Ammon as he came to grasps of the horror and elegance of these musicians (including his own father) during one of the darkest times in Jewish history. It was again a documentary, something I normally do not enjoy, but found myself engaged in his story all the same.

During the brief time that I was at the festival, I was again reminded at the time I spent at Yad Vashem, somewhere that I have been trying to decide exactly how to incorporate into a blog post for quite a while. Yad Vashem houses the holocaust museum in Jerusalem. It is a free museum, that exists for many historical reasons and to help validate to anyone curious, why Israel exists as a Jewish state. I have honestly never felt such a dichotomy of horror and hopefulness as I stepped out of this museum in January 2011. I learned and saw things about the Holocaust, which in my mind was already so repugnant, that made me sick to my stomach. I will never forget seeing actual footage of Holocaust survivors and victims proceeding with their daily, atrocious life, side-by-side Nazi propaganda of what the ghettos looked like in actuality. This combined with endless photos, knowledge about death marches, the room of  names of millions of victims, understanding the prejudice and racism faced by survivors after the war, was so overwhelming I was unsure of how to cope. The hopefulness lied in what my friend, Josh, described as one of his favorite views in Israel at the end of the museum as you exited. There was an amazing view, at sunset no less, of Israel and Jerusalem, which left me feeling slightly hopeful, and definitely more understanding of the validity and purpose for Israel as a nation.

As a non-Jewish person I think sometimes it is easy to dismiss the atrocities committed on this religious group of people and only see Israel for the strife and conflict it creates in the Middle East. As I learn more, see more, I understand more why Israel exists, and why it should exist. I've never been that curious about history, but I feel a new wonder and found intrigue to learn more about the history of the Jewish people and the country that I have recently fallen in love with.

I said this in the last post, but I am excited about the cultural growth that I am able to achieve, not only abroad, but in my own country. Being stranded here the last three weeks (I have my passport back finally!!!), had really made me expand my openness to experiencing new cultures and doing things that I may not have been as excited or willing to do before. 

Chinese New Year... In the USA?

My new roommate is the son of a man in the Navy and thus spent a lot of his childhood out of the USA. His family lived in China, Singapore and Hong Kong. Instead of growing up with traditional US holidays like Thanksgiving, 4th of July, etc, he grew up in a place that celebrated such holidays as Chinese New Year. He threw a dinner party to share these traditions with everyone, including me the new roommate.

I came home Thursday, February 3rd, to Matt frantically cooking since 14:30 for a party that was to start at 19:30. Since I was at the time unemployed, I offered my help. I preceded chopping vegetables and rolling out dumpling dough for the next two hours! He didn't need any recipes or measuring cups and just kept mixing ingredients while I, the sous chef, just chopped away. At the end of the two hours we had all of the prep work done, but the cooking hadn't even started. Finally, around, 20:00, everything was made and the guests had arrived. 

The menu was as follows:

27-ingredient salad (or was it 24, Matt couldn't remember)- ingredients included raw fish, grapefruit, peanuts, rice noodles, cabbage, carrots, jicama and much more 

Veggie Dumplings (that also happened to be vegan)

Pork Dumplings (no photos)

Various kinds of stir fry, veggie and non-veggie

Noodle Stir Fry 

Rice Stir Fry

Lots of oranges (you are familiar)

Some items on the menu were traditional good luck symbols, namely the oranges and the salad. The salad even had a special way of being "tossed" to bring all of the guests good luck. Everyone sticks a fork into the salad and then shouts "Lo Hi", while flinging the salad high into the air, the higher it goes the better luck you will have in the year. It was a stressful tradition for someone with cleanliness OCD like myself, but definitely a fun way to commence a dinner party. 

The night went well. Everyone had a good time dressed in red (also traditional), eating delicious, food, and drinking. The best part came the next morning when Matt had cleaned up all of the mess from the night before by the time I woke up at 8:00! Awesome roommate.  It was a great ending to a fun night. 

I never expected to have a close encounter with Chinese traditions outside of China and without any Chinese people... I am interested to see what other traditions I will learn in the next few months! I'm glad I'm able to experience new cultures while not abroad, right from the comforts of my own home. 

Huelgas

Plaza de Armas

The Plaza de Armas in Cusco is a place where people often gather in Cusco in order to do demonstrations and marches to support their cause. In the past 3 weeks I have seen several of these kinds of incidents, but the past few days have been different. Basically the entire city of Cusco has been shut down for the past 36 hours and will continue to be shut down until tomorrow.

What does this mean? It means no buses, no taxis, no collectivos, no private buses and many shops and restaurants and are also closed. A lot of locals and tourists alike are stuck walking far distances and many tourists find themselves without any transport to tours, including trains to Machu Picchu. 

The city was informed the afternoon before that there would be demonstrations over the government deciding to cut water off to many of the pueblos near Cusco and that there would be a strike of public transport. I was also informed Tuesday morning via email from the USA embassy to steer clear of these demonstrations in case they become violent. 

Tuesday morning I woke up as usual at 6:30am to go to the gym, only the gym was closed and there were riot police in the Plaza de Armas. It seemed like to today was definitely going to mean more than just a strike of public transport. It has been pretty noisy the past few days with people yelling, blocking roads with rocks, parading down streets with drums at 6:30am and various demonstrations throughout the city. 

Luckily, it has up until now been peaceful and hopefully the government pays attention to the protests without them turning violent. I am glad that for me it has only been the inconvenience of walking 1.5 hours to the bus station instead of taking a cab, like 100s of others, and nothing more serious. Actually it has been quite nice not to have cars running you over and breathing gasoline fumes all day. 

This is the first time that I have ever experienced strikes in a city of this scale, I can't imagine what it would be like if all of a USA city decided to strike and go protest in the streets. It would take a pretty big cause for that to happen and I can't imagine people of every party joining together. It's interesting to see how much bigger local elections are and how people are much more informed in Peru than at least in my home town in the USA. 

Hopefully the rest of today ends with streets empty of cars, lots of noise, the government listening and no deaths.