Solid Gold Dancing in the Holy Land: March 2007

a mild (but manageable) case of Samsonitis March 21, 2007 |

Just when I thought it was safe to banish Samson the Suitcase to a cupboard far, far away, he laughed in my face and said "Girl! I'm not done with you yet!"

So, tonight I find myself packing again, this time bound for New York City. (Ok, I can't really complain!!) Tomorrow night I am going to NY to attend the conference on student journalism I mentioned in an earlier post.

Today, it was looking extremely dicey as to whether I was going to be able to go at all given the Histadrut (union) called a nationwide general strike, which was supposed to include the shut down of Ben Gurion International Airport. Yikes!!

Thankfully the union and the government reached an agreement late today and the strike was called off. The union claimed over 3,700 municipal workers hadn't received their salaries and naturally the government disputed the number of people affected and claimed that those who were genuinely affected had already been paid.

It was days like today that reminded me that Israel's backbone is still staunchly socialist - be that for good or bad (ok, the verdict is in - BAD!!). When I arrived in Israel for the first time in 2003, as an olah chadasha (new migrant), a national general strike had just begun. I wasn't so lucky back then, as the strike dragged on for close to three weeks.

I was unable to perform even the most basic task like getting an Israeli ID card, opening a bank account, getting my health insurance sorted out - everyone was on strike.

Thankfully today's action was short lived and everyone seems to be happy (for the moment - this is Israel we are talking about, don't forget).

So. New York, New York!

I have been watching obscene amounts of Sex and the City lately, to get into the NYC spirit. I have only to New York once before; a very fortuitously timed trip in June 2001 - a mere three months before 9/11. I was there for just over three weeks and loved every second of it.

I arrive the weekend before the conference, so I have a couple of days to be a total tourist and catch up with a couple of very good friends. One of them is a girl I went to primary and some high school with in Hong Kong. Lisa finished her schooling and university in the UK (where she is from originally) but we managed to stay in touch over the years and I would always visit her whenever I was in the UK. The last time I was there was 1998 - it's hard to believe that is almost 10 years ago!

Around the same time I moved back to Israel permanently last December, Lisa was offered a transfer with her company to Atlanta, Georgia. Thanks to the wonders of modern technology, we've been able to speak on skype and really catch up on a lot of lost years.

When I told her I was coming to the States, she said she could meet me in NY for the weekend. So as hard as it is to believe as I sit in my apartment in Jerusalem and my old childhood buddy sits in her apartment in Atlanta - two old school friends from the other side of the world will reunite in one of the world's greatest cities this weekend.

Olam katan. It truly is a small world.

a real "what the" moment March 11, 2007 |

Well, my stuff has finally left Aussie shores!!! With a bit of luck, and a healthy dose of finger and toe-crossing, it should arrive in mid-April.

Now, my insurance company (who shall remain nameless) apparently did me a very special favour by agreeing to insure the contents of my container.

Apparently they don't normally insure things going to Israel - it's too high a risk, they told me.
Still, the nice man I have been bugging for about four months is bending the rules for me slightly. However, he told me, they can't list Israel as the final destination, or his company won't insure me. Instead, the invoice lists KUWAIT as the destination for my beloved possessions.

Truly - I kid you not.

The paperwork lists my name, my full address in Israel (and even says, "Jerusalem, Israel") but the very last line says, KUWAIT.

Now, given the reason they wouldn't insure me because I live in Israel, if one follows this so-called "logic", can someone please tell me how Kuwait is supposed to be safer??!!

Only in Israel #1 March 08, 2007 |

I have decided to start a little sub-series in my blog called "Only-in-Israel".
I come across so many oddball things in this country and it's a crying shame to just let them go without writing them down, taking a photo etc.

So, here's the first one:

Remember how when you were a kid and you used to play that game, "Simon says"?
Well, here in Israel, kids play the same game, except they say, "Herzl says"!
I love that! Such patriotism.

Somehow I can't imagine Aussie kids saying, "Howard says" - oh, except perhaps for those big kids in Canberra at Parliament House...

Labels: Only in Israel

New York! New York! March 05, 2007 |

Hot off the press guys! SGD is going to New York!

My work trip was confirmed today and I am going to be in New York from March 23 - April 1. I will be attending a national conference on student journalism and meeting with all the student journal editors I am working with at the moment and who will also be attending the conference.

I am so excited about going, I am doing little internal backflips! I have only been to New York once before - in June 2001 (yes, a mere three months before 9/11) and I absolutely fell in love with the city.

Ahhhh... New York, New York...

More news to follow!

Pink moons, popcorn princesses and knitting groups March 04, 2007 |

Last night I stood outside my apartment building in my pyjamas and dressing gown and stared up at the sky. On a cold Jerusalem winter's night I found myself transfixed by a rare and beautiful sight - a pink moon.

I wish I had been out in the desert somewhere, away from city lights to have been able to view the lunar eclipse properly, but it was still a magical experience. For just a few minutes, my mind emptied and I focused on nothing but the celestial wonder above me. For a moment, my life was not the frenetic ball of chaos that I have known it to be for the last few weeks.

There have been so many little snapshot images and experiences here I have wanted to capture but I wonder how, if at all, they will translate and be understood if I write them down. It's a bit like taking a photograph of something amazing that you see, only when you get the photos back, none of the magic has been captured.

Anyway, here's a small selection of my recent Israel 'images'. I hope my words can capture the essence of them:

Picture if you will, four elderly ladies on the bus. They are on their way to the market. None of them seem to know each other, but because they are of a similar vintage and they have established that they are all going shopping, that's all they require to bond instantaneously. It reminded me of when you see little children playing together. They might be absolute strangers, but when a single sentence like "you wanna play?" is uttered, suddenly they become inseparable.

The ladies joke and giggle like teenagers, but find time to kvetch about the weather; "Oi, it's so hot today, and it's not even summer yet!" I watch them get off at the next stop and bid each other farewell and shabbat shalom before they take off in different directions.

***

I spent shabbat in Tel Aviv, catching up with my friend Elisabeth. She works on Friday, so I entertained myself during the day by wandering up and down Dizengoff St - Tel Aviv's equivalent of Melbourne's Chapel St or Sydney's Oxford St - but not really. This is still Israel after all. It's the day before Purim and it seems everyone, young and old alike, are getting in the spirit of things. It's a glorious spring afternoon and it feels like the whole city is celebrating.

Families walk by in matching Purim costumes, the young barista in the coffee shop is sporting a cowboy hat, the hairdresser is wearing an afro wig. Suddenly, I hear the unmistakable clip clop of a horse and buggy. I turn to see three little girls in matching outfits riding in the buggy in the middle of the city. They are a vision of yellow and white. Sewn into their ballerina tutus are delicate tulle pillows, each filled with popcorn. On their heads, they are wearing little top hats, alternately decorated with both popped and unpopped corn kernels. It's all at once surreal and magical.

***

Last week I went along to a knitting group. Yes, you read right - a knitting group. Known as "SnB" (A.K.A ."Stitch 'n Bitch") this interesting group of women meet every two weeks in a delightful European-style tea room in the centre of the city. From the frenzied energy of downtown Jerusalem, you enter a parallel universe: one of calm, quiet and freshly baked scones.

I found myself sitting with a very diverse group of (mostly) American women, of all ages (and knitting ability, I discovered) and for two of the most relaxed hours I can remember in a long time, we sat, chatted, sipped English Breakfast tea from fine China cups, nibbled on scones with clotted cream and strawberry jam and of course, knitted.

A couple of hours later as I walked home, I decided to take a different route and as I reached the crest of a hill, I looked across and saw the Old City of Jerusalem, it's majestic walls lit up and glowing like iridescent honeycomb. The contrast seemed almost too great and I felt like pinching myself.

***

With Purim this weekend, I have enjoyed a long weekend. All the shops were open today though, because Purim is celebrated a day later in Jerusalem (known as Shushan Purim).

Shushan Purim (the 15th day of the Hebrew month of Adar) is the day on which Jews in Jerusalem and Shushan (in Iran) celebrate Purim. The Book of Esther explains that while the Jews in unwalled cities fought their enemies on the 13th of Adar and rested on the 14th, the Jews in the walled capital city of Shushan spent the 13th and 14th defeating their enemies, and rested on the 15th.

The Jewish Sages noted that Jerusalem, the focus of Jewish life, lay in ruins during the events of the Book of Esther. To make sure that a Persian city was not honored more than Jerusalem, they made the determination of which cities were walled by referring to ancient cities walled during the time of Joshua and based on that criteria, this allowed Jerusalem to be included.

The city center was ablaze with colour as children dressed up in their costumes wandered the mall and the shops were doing a brisk trade selling everything from fairy wings and clown costumes to the more traditional outfits of Queen Esther and Mordechai. I saw one costume in a shop that was quite disturbing actually. It was a boy's costume for a "Kohen Gadol" or High Priest from Temple times, except the photo on the front of the bag had a little Chinese boy modelling the costume. Closer inspection determined that the costume had indeed been "Made in China" and clearly some poor unsuspecting child model had been roped in to sport a most peculiar costume. I wonder what he would say if he knew that his picture was being seen by half of downtown Jerusalem.

Today marks three months to the day since I arrived in Israel. A quarter of a year already, where has the time gone? In some ways it feels like I only just got here, but then again, I think about everything I have done already and I don't know how I squeezed it into three short months. It's no wonder I am exhausted half the time.

But when I find myself getting caught up in the daily grind, when stress seizes and takes me over, I will stop for just a moment and remember the magic of last night's pink moon...

I saw it written and I saw it say
Pink moon is on its way
And none of you stand so tall
Pink moon's gonna get you all
It's a pink moon It's a pink, pink, pink, pink, pink moon.

- Nick Drake