PARTY WEEKEND! 05/25/2009
 

I have to be honest, I did absolutely nothing this weekend except for clean and party!  Thursday was Yom haStudent - or Student Day at the University.  They pulled out the stops, bands, activities, food, everything.  It was great fun.  I got back at 3 in the morning from that.

Friday, one of our friends, Sigalit, had her 30th birthday party.  She lives in a penthouse overlooking the whole city and has an AMAZING patio that takes up most of the roof of the building.  Her family is Jewish from India and she threw a Bollywood-themed birthday... I'll let the pics speak for themselves.
Shabbat was our turn.  Omer, Luke and I decided to throw a Channukat haBeit - which means housewarming party.  We planned a Sushi party, but didn't have the ability to pull it off...  So about 5 girls came and cooked all afternoon so we would be ready by 8pm. It cost us about $300 to buy all the supplies - OUCH!  But, it was worth it... PEOPLE LOVED IT!!! And everyone loves our apartment - which makes me very happy, because entertaining is one of my favorite things to do.  I've got pics from that too!
 
Moving... YIKES! 05/25/2009
 

Alot has happened since I posted last time in the beginning of May.  Obama met with Netanyahu, Iran has tested rockets that can hit Europe, and I have moved houses - gone to several conferences on Middle Eastern Relations, met a long-lost relative, and threw a housewarming party... Let me go into detail...



First - Moving: Omer and I decided to move a couple of months ago, but it wasn't official until we found a third roommate and we found the right apartment... it was a rollercoaster - up and down - and the most hectic part was that Omer had family vacation in Peru - SO - there I was packing up a bunch of stuff that wasn't even mine... oh well.  Anyway - the move preoccupied my time for the better part of 2 weeks, and basically I only now feel settled.  The funniest parts of the move: dropping a refrigerator on myself, getting yelled at by the bipolar president of the Renters association at the new building at 6am (after having no sleep), and of course - dragging a box full of Ikea-stuff about half a mile up the road to catch a minibus back to Tel Aviv at 2 in the morning. (PICTURES COMING SOON)
Second - Conferences:  One of the many perks of going to a large school that is influential in middle eastern affairs is getting to attend the conferences.  Over the last 3 weeks, I have had invitations to 3 conferences.  The first one was with the diplomatic core from Turkey and was regarding Turkey's relationship to Israel.  Very enlightening.  The second one was hosted by the French Institute - Tel Aviv and I heard from Gilles Kopel - French Scholar on Radical Islam and Itamar Rabinovich - former Israeli Ambassador to the US - about the Obama policies on the middle east.  Today I am attending the biggest seminar on Iran ever to take place in Israel.  SO - I've been busy.
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Third - Esta - My long-lost cousin.  Tuvya called me and said we had a relative coming into town, and it was so nice when she arrived.  Several of us got together for dinner and had a great time.  Here are a couple of photos:
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This week, my History of Islam professor brought us to North Israel on a field trip to visit the Crusader Fortress in Akko (Arco).  It was so fascinating to study that period in history, when the Europeans tried to set up a Fiefdom in Eastern Mediterranean.  Akko was their capital. The fortress is undergoing a major renovation, but it is already incredibly preserved.  We had a wonderful time exploring the Tunnels, Arches, Hospitals, Halls, and all then had a chance to visit the Shuk (market).  I asked if I could have an anti-Israel propaganda poster which was posted on the wall, and a store owner ripped it off and gave it to me after giving me a 7 minute lecture on how bad Israel was and how good Hamas was.  BUT - I got the poster (I obvously don't agree with what it says, but I felt it would be cool to have a piece of palestinian propaganda).  
After the fieldtrip, I realized I was only 3 km's from my cousin Clarissa's house.  It just happened to be her husbands birthday, and I stayed the night there - we stayed up late talking and she loaded me up with a dozen avocados and sent me on my way after breakfast in the morning.

 
 

Some of the exchange students at Tel Aviv University are from Poland (a very Catholic country). They were excited to share their holiday of Christmas with the primarily Jewish student body at the University and threw a Caroling & Taste-testing Seminar for us.  Many of their traditions are shared with Americans, but many are not.  They talked about a special ceremony where they wake up at around 4:30 or 5:00 and bundle up then light Christmas lanterns and everyone carries their own Christmas lanterns as they walk to the church in the dark for a Christmas sunrise service, after which they feast for 2 days.  It was alot of fun to learn about their Christmas traditions.

 
 

Semester at Sea Spring 2005.  I'm so thankful for God's hand of protection on me!

 
 

We had a fieldtrip planned to the Temple Mount in our History of Islam class, and when we got to Jerusalem, IT WAS CLOSED FOR A MUSLIM HOLIDAY - the temple mount.  So, Dr. Luz decided to take us on a tour of Jerusalem that we had never experienced before.  The Arab-Muslim tour.  We visited places that we were familiar with, but were able to see the old city through a different lense.  Did you know that there are ruins of an Umayyad Palace right below the al-Aqsa Mosque?  I've been there, and never knew about it!  It was a great day.

 
 

I was tired all day Monday but, by grace, I was able to make it through all 3 classes... two, two hour classes: Hebrew at 8:30 and Arabic at 12:15, followed by a four hour seminar in Modern Middle Eastern History taught by the chair of the department - Dr. Rabi (myanien meod = very interesting).  I, thankfully, loved all of the classes, despite my exhaustion, and I felt as if I had accomplished something: My first real day of Graduate work!