Special Interest Week: Independent Adventure
Sunday, March 18
To start off my week, I made my way up to Haifa. It's a shame that we don't do a lot up in the north with Year Course. Haifa is very pretty, and in general the north is somewhat reminiscent of where I'm from because of all the green. It makes me happy.
After figuring out my way there, I made the first stop of my adventure at the National Maritime Museum. There are a lot of museums in Haifa, but I chose to go to this one because maritime history learned from an ancient port town has to be pretty cool. Also, pirates. When I saw they had an exhibit on pirates I knew I wanted to go check it out. I unfortunately didn't learn much that I didn't know before from that specific exhibit, but I was fascinated by all the maps and model ships and astrolabes and weapons that were inside the museum.
After finishing at the museum I took a walk down to the shore. I relaxed, ate a snack, and took in the wonderful scenery before heading to my next destination. At this point I had to navigate my way around Haifa on buses without knowing the layout of the city and without the bus informing me which stop we were at or going to, so I had to rely on other people and be alert as to where I was. That is difficult when you're averse to talking to strangers.
I stayed the night at the home of some distant relatives who live in the city. I feel bad because I sprang myself upon them at the last minute and they felt bad because they felt they couldn't host me properly, but they were very nice to me and I hope to arrange a visit with them again.
Monday, March 19
Akko on this day. I had a frustrating time getting to where I wanted to be... My plan was to take a bus to the old city of Akko from the central station there, since I had found there was a specific line to do that. The bus never came. There were other buses that were the same number but didn't follow the same route, and it was confusing. And annoying. After a long waste of time, what I ended up doing was getting on a bus that stopped somewhat close by and then walked the rest of the way according to the directions that the bus driver game me.
Old Akko is the coolest. I spent my time there taking a lone tour of the place, going through the Hospitalier Knights Citadel and the tunnels and generally wandering around. I felt quite adventurous! Unfortunately I was wearing the wrong shoes, and by the end of the day my feet were hurting. Nonetheless, it was cool. Really cool. Really really cool.
And then I bussed home to Jerusalem so I could sleep in my own bed and repack for my next outing.
Tuesday, March 20
It seems silly to be doing what I did, but since I didn't get around to doing it before and had to do it sometime... I went back to Bat Yam to take a tour of the Michal Negrin Visitor's and Manufacturing Center that is right at the end of the street I used to live on.
The tour was wonderful. For 20 shekels I got a private tour (because the other guy didn't show, haha) that included good conversation, coffee and cake, and an experience of being in a whole other world. When I walked out of the building I was kind of shocked back to the reality of where I was and I thought about the power one can have over a space and how that what is inside can be totally different from outward appearances.
I then headed to Tel Aviv to go to Nachalat Binyamin. My goal was to get gifts for my friends, but I really just ended up with a whole bunch of stuff for myself. Ah, oh well. The best item that got is a coin purse designed with the wrapper of a kind of chocolate that I always made sure to have a stash of while I was living on kibbutz, and it has since come very much in handy. I also enjoyed strawberries in the shuk, which I feel should be a title for something.
After my time at the markets, I went to a used book store nearby and made some amazing finds! I love it when that happens, and that's why I always like to go to stores of that sort. You never know what gems will be waiting for you on the shelf if you can find them. I found a quartet and one novel from my favorite author that I haven't ever found elsewhere in stores, and I picked up two books of niche plays.
I then went to Rehovot to crash at the home of family friends.
Wednesday, March 21
On this day my original plans were nixed. It was kind of unfortunate because I still want to do the things I had originally planned to do, but what I ended up doing instead was the most "Independent Adventure"-esque of anything I did in this week.
Here's the backstory: My grandmother went to the Galapagos prior to my coming to Israel, and they do not have a post office there. Instead, they have a place for people to leave letters and postcards, where visitors who are from the places said letters and postcards are addressed to can take them and deliver them themselves. My grandmother picked up a few that were addressed to places in Israel because she knew I was going, and then handed them off to me to deliver. When I was living in Bat Yam I sent two of them in the mail, because they were addressed to places far from where I was and I wasn't likely to get to those places. One, however, was addressed to Rishon LeTzion. That's close to Bat Yam, so I vowed to hand-deliver it. Unfortunately I never got around to doing so while I was living there, and then I was unable to do it while I was living down south. So I still had it with me.
This day was the day I took the oppportunity to make my way over to the address listed on the postcard and deliver it myself. It was adventure just trying to get there (the neighborhood was confusing!) and when I finally did, a lady with a barking dog opened the door. After giving her the postcard and trying to explain who I was and why I was there but being relatively unsuccessful because the dog was loud and distracting, she invited me in so that the dog could calm down and I could explain myself further. She spoke little to no English so I had to explain everything in Hebrew, and it took her a while to fully grasp the fact that I didn't know in any way whatsoever her son who had sent the postcard. She was really nice and sat me down and provided me with a meal and she and was quite excited about the whole thing. She explained to me that her son was already back from his travels, but he was at work so I didn't get the chance to meet him. While I was there, someone who I think was her other son called her about her opinion on wedding invitations and she shared with them the story about me. When I had to go, she gave me their contact info (which I just discovered is no longer in the place I had put it! Oh no!) and she invited me to come back again sometime. I was then driven to a central bus station in Rishon from which I could take a bus back to Jerusalem. It was a neat experience on both sides.
Thursday, March 22
The big even of this day was in the evening, so during the daytime I didn't do much but recuperate from my travels. Come nighttime I headed out with a group of friends to Old City in Jerusalem for a free music festival that was taking place. We had an absolutely crazy time.
I can't think of the truly appropriate words to describe what it was like. Following the wandering path of the festival, there were different musicians stationed in the streets and it was amazing to see and hear them all. The theme of the music was the Old City itself, so there were various kinds of ethnic music according to the different quarters of the city. On our way through the festival our group joined up with another group of people who we had never met before, and it became a dance party wherever we went. There's nothing quite like dancing to the music of a gospel choir or Arabic band in the streets of the Old City with the strange characters you can find there. I'll leave it at that.
Friday, March 23 and Saturday, March 24
Technically the Special Interest Week was over by Thursday night, but since my adventures didn't end at that point, I consider these days to be part of that time too. Over the weekend I went down to Kibbutz Ketura. I was missing the place quite terribly after moving away from it, and even though I was only there for about 24 hours on this visit it was completely worth it to be able to see everyone again and spend shabbat there. I took a little nap outside at night after looking at the stars, and in the morning partied it up with the Thai workers (which never happened when I was there before). I got to visit with my kibbutz family and spend time with many friends, one of which I would be seeing for the last time before he left the country. I felt happy and content when I was there and I felt like I was home again, and it was rough having to leave once more.
There's one more picture that belongs here.
--
To the north and then the center and then the south, I basically traveled all around the country in a week. There is so much packed into this small place and it's really quite amazing. I'm sorry for making this post so long, but I felt like it was worthwhile to share it all and I didn't know it would end up being so long. If you read all of it, you deserve Cola Cavod.
To start off my week, I made my way up to Haifa. It's a shame that we don't do a lot up in the north with Year Course. Haifa is very pretty, and in general the north is somewhat reminiscent of where I'm from because of all the green. It makes me happy.
After figuring out my way there, I made the first stop of my adventure at the National Maritime Museum. There are a lot of museums in Haifa, but I chose to go to this one because maritime history learned from an ancient port town has to be pretty cool. Also, pirates. When I saw they had an exhibit on pirates I knew I wanted to go check it out. I unfortunately didn't learn much that I didn't know before from that specific exhibit, but I was fascinated by all the maps and model ships and astrolabes and weapons that were inside the museum.
After finishing at the museum I took a walk down to the shore. I relaxed, ate a snack, and took in the wonderful scenery before heading to my next destination. At this point I had to navigate my way around Haifa on buses without knowing the layout of the city and without the bus informing me which stop we were at or going to, so I had to rely on other people and be alert as to where I was. That is difficult when you're averse to talking to strangers.
I stayed the night at the home of some distant relatives who live in the city. I feel bad because I sprang myself upon them at the last minute and they felt bad because they felt they couldn't host me properly, but they were very nice to me and I hope to arrange a visit with them again.
Monday, March 19
Akko on this day. I had a frustrating time getting to where I wanted to be... My plan was to take a bus to the old city of Akko from the central station there, since I had found there was a specific line to do that. The bus never came. There were other buses that were the same number but didn't follow the same route, and it was confusing. And annoying. After a long waste of time, what I ended up doing was getting on a bus that stopped somewhat close by and then walked the rest of the way according to the directions that the bus driver game me.
Old Akko is the coolest. I spent my time there taking a lone tour of the place, going through the Hospitalier Knights Citadel and the tunnels and generally wandering around. I felt quite adventurous! Unfortunately I was wearing the wrong shoes, and by the end of the day my feet were hurting. Nonetheless, it was cool. Really cool. Really really cool.
And then I bussed home to Jerusalem so I could sleep in my own bed and repack for my next outing.
Tuesday, March 20
It seems silly to be doing what I did, but since I didn't get around to doing it before and had to do it sometime... I went back to Bat Yam to take a tour of the Michal Negrin Visitor's and Manufacturing Center that is right at the end of the street I used to live on.
The tour was wonderful. For 20 shekels I got a private tour (because the other guy didn't show, haha) that included good conversation, coffee and cake, and an experience of being in a whole other world. When I walked out of the building I was kind of shocked back to the reality of where I was and I thought about the power one can have over a space and how that what is inside can be totally different from outward appearances.
I then headed to Tel Aviv to go to Nachalat Binyamin. My goal was to get gifts for my friends, but I really just ended up with a whole bunch of stuff for myself. Ah, oh well. The best item that got is a coin purse designed with the wrapper of a kind of chocolate that I always made sure to have a stash of while I was living on kibbutz, and it has since come very much in handy. I also enjoyed strawberries in the shuk, which I feel should be a title for something.
After my time at the markets, I went to a used book store nearby and made some amazing finds! I love it when that happens, and that's why I always like to go to stores of that sort. You never know what gems will be waiting for you on the shelf if you can find them. I found a quartet and one novel from my favorite author that I haven't ever found elsewhere in stores, and I picked up two books of niche plays.
I then went to Rehovot to crash at the home of family friends.
Wednesday, March 21
On this day my original plans were nixed. It was kind of unfortunate because I still want to do the things I had originally planned to do, but what I ended up doing instead was the most "Independent Adventure"-esque of anything I did in this week.
Here's the backstory: My grandmother went to the Galapagos prior to my coming to Israel, and they do not have a post office there. Instead, they have a place for people to leave letters and postcards, where visitors who are from the places said letters and postcards are addressed to can take them and deliver them themselves. My grandmother picked up a few that were addressed to places in Israel because she knew I was going, and then handed them off to me to deliver. When I was living in Bat Yam I sent two of them in the mail, because they were addressed to places far from where I was and I wasn't likely to get to those places. One, however, was addressed to Rishon LeTzion. That's close to Bat Yam, so I vowed to hand-deliver it. Unfortunately I never got around to doing so while I was living there, and then I was unable to do it while I was living down south. So I still had it with me.
This day was the day I took the oppportunity to make my way over to the address listed on the postcard and deliver it myself. It was adventure just trying to get there (the neighborhood was confusing!) and when I finally did, a lady with a barking dog opened the door. After giving her the postcard and trying to explain who I was and why I was there but being relatively unsuccessful because the dog was loud and distracting, she invited me in so that the dog could calm down and I could explain myself further. She spoke little to no English so I had to explain everything in Hebrew, and it took her a while to fully grasp the fact that I didn't know in any way whatsoever her son who had sent the postcard. She was really nice and sat me down and provided me with a meal and she and was quite excited about the whole thing. She explained to me that her son was already back from his travels, but he was at work so I didn't get the chance to meet him. While I was there, someone who I think was her other son called her about her opinion on wedding invitations and she shared with them the story about me. When I had to go, she gave me their contact info (which I just discovered is no longer in the place I had put it! Oh no!) and she invited me to come back again sometime. I was then driven to a central bus station in Rishon from which I could take a bus back to Jerusalem. It was a neat experience on both sides.
Thursday, March 22
The big even of this day was in the evening, so during the daytime I didn't do much but recuperate from my travels. Come nighttime I headed out with a group of friends to Old City in Jerusalem for a free music festival that was taking place. We had an absolutely crazy time.
I can't think of the truly appropriate words to describe what it was like. Following the wandering path of the festival, there were different musicians stationed in the streets and it was amazing to see and hear them all. The theme of the music was the Old City itself, so there were various kinds of ethnic music according to the different quarters of the city. On our way through the festival our group joined up with another group of people who we had never met before, and it became a dance party wherever we went. There's nothing quite like dancing to the music of a gospel choir or Arabic band in the streets of the Old City with the strange characters you can find there. I'll leave it at that.
Friday, March 23 and Saturday, March 24
Technically the Special Interest Week was over by Thursday night, but since my adventures didn't end at that point, I consider these days to be part of that time too. Over the weekend I went down to Kibbutz Ketura. I was missing the place quite terribly after moving away from it, and even though I was only there for about 24 hours on this visit it was completely worth it to be able to see everyone again and spend shabbat there. I took a little nap outside at night after looking at the stars, and in the morning partied it up with the Thai workers (which never happened when I was there before). I got to visit with my kibbutz family and spend time with many friends, one of which I would be seeing for the last time before he left the country. I felt happy and content when I was there and I felt like I was home again, and it was rough having to leave once more.
There's one more picture that belongs here.
--
To the north and then the center and then the south, I basically traveled all around the country in a week. There is so much packed into this small place and it's really quite amazing. I'm sorry for making this post so long, but I felt like it was worthwhile to share it all and I didn't know it would end up being so long. If you read all of it, you deserve Cola Cavod.