Two Months in a Glance

My apologies for not blogging in two months. Life can be a bit hectic here and I usually take every extra moment I have to sleep.

Speaking of sleep, or rather lack there of, last night-or more like this morning we woke up at 1:30AM to go on a tiyul (trip) in the Negev. Hiking through the desert at 3AM was an amazing experience.  One of the best things about the tiyul was from starting out in the dark where it was hard to see where I was going and knowing me I did trip several times. As we walked the sky slowly got lighter and lighter until the sun peaked over the cliffs. Before the hike started we had a moment of silence-the fourth one of this trip.

In Israel there are two national holidays where the whole country comes to a stop and commemorates the dead. The first is Yom Hashoah- Holocaust Memorial. This year it was April 8th.  A siren goes off in the morning for a whole minute. When the siren goes off everyone and everything stops. All traffic on the streets and highways stop and people step out of their cars and stand in silence and remember those who died in the Holocaust. This was a very moving day for me as we were learning about the Holocaust that week and we had a few ceremonies for it. Later that week we went to Yad Vashem- the Holocaust Museum. The museum itself was extremely moving but what was even more important was talking to a Holocaust Survivor. Her name is Hanneli Goslar. She was Anne Frank's childhood best friend. She was a wonderful speaker and her story will always stay with me. 

The second national holiday where the country stops is Yom Hazikaron- Memorial Day. It was April 15th. This holiday tends to be more personal to Israelis than Yom Hashoah. This holiday isn't like what it is in the U.S. In the U.S. people have barbecues and get school off. In Israel it is more personal than that. Everyone in Israel goes into the army when they turn eighteen. For this reason almost all Israelis know someone or know of someone who has passed away serving their country. On this day there are two sirens. One in the evening and one in the morning. Same as Yom Hashoah, everything stops. It is a very moving day especially since that night starts Yom Haatzmaut- Israeli independence day.

To describe Yom Haatzmaut take the Fourth of July than multiply it by five. EVERYONE is out on the streets dancing and singing or at parties. TRY went to Ben Yehuda (a very popular shopping street in Jerusalem) and got to take part in the festivities. We were out till 1 in the morning and there were still tons of people out when we left. The next day we had a barbecue on the beach. It was chilly and rainy but still a good time. The difference between the U.S.' independence day and Israel's is that Israel's goes deeper. Instead of just a day of partying it has a deeper meaning. Israel is a very controversial country with many enemies and the fact that the Jewish people have a place to call home is worth celebrating.

The week after these holidays we had Gadna- army training. We spent five days at a Sde Boker in the desert. We ran around a lot, did conditioning, learned about all different sections of the army, and learned how to shoot a gun. The last thing was a bit controversial for me as I have no interest in ever using a gun. We spent days learning about the different parts of the gun and what commands were used for shooting. We were taken out to a shooting range were we all got the chance to shoot a M-16. It was an interesting experience but as I said, not something I plan on doing again.

This past Tuesday we had a tiyul different than all the rest. We were split in to groups and chose a topic to write an article about for a non existent newspaper.  My group chose the question: what makes you an Israeli? Depending on the group's topic the ICC teachers chose a place for us to interview Israelis. My group went to the shuk- market place or bazaar. The answers we got were really interesting and as soon as I finish  writing the article I'll post it on here. What was possibly more interesting than the answers to my questions was the general interaction with the people working at the shuk. I was asked by a old man to marry his son. He was speaking in Hebrew so at first I didn't understand what he was saying but I finally got it than politely declined. My friend got the same question from another man. It was very amusing.

That bring us to today. Hiking at 3 in the morning. We were in the middle of no where and had a fourth moment of silence. The only difference was that this was complete silence. In the world today there is not many places you can go with complete silence. There were no cars, no trees blowing in the wind, no animals stirring at this hour. My ICC teacher told us to use this moment to reflect on the past few months. I thought back and realized how amazing this trip has been so far. I am excited to see friends and family in a little less than a month but I will miss Israel. Luckily I have a whole month left (and hopefully a few more blog posts) to enjoy this wonderful country!