A Kfi-equation

In the spirit of Purim, I am nahafoching (making contrary) my post. Or rather, I am going to do something that I, as an artist, try to never do. Math. Here is my equation for the past week:

2 drag queens outside of yoga
- 17 bottles of wine
+ 3 men in leopard skin tights (think LMFAO)
+ 10 pipe cleaners wound into my hair
- 5 lasagnas
+ 3 strangers showing up for dinner
- 1 lost Persian
+ 2 more men dressed in drag
+ 169 sparkly blue scales
+ 1 unibrow (Frida Kahlo style)
+ 4 speeches made while standing on a chair
+ 7 lbs. of candy
+ 8 tentacles
+ 1 pimp cane
+ 1.3 lbs. of makeup
+ 1 snuggie
- 1 saran-wrapped cucumber
+ one bag of fake cocaine from a fake Uma Thurman
+ 2 packages of cookies from loving family members
x 8 hours of feasting

= Purim in Israel.

The only thing missing was havdalah, Berk-style.

The Battle with Bezeq

This time I have a legitimate reason for not having written in weeks. Well, I'm in the midst of finals, which is also a legitimate reason, but I also haven't had internet for 2 weeks now.

But oh kids, you would be so impressed with me. I was positively fierce! And I didn't even have that normal ladylike guilt of having to yell at someone because I managed to be justifiably pissed without being rude. And all in Hebrew. Clearly, it didn't really get my internet fixed much faster because, though I had three technicians come to my house, it was the last one who figured out what was wrong and ordered a new part for the thing. (I still don't really know what was wrong). But I called them at least three times to give them a piece of my mind. Unfortunately all I got out of that was 50% off of my monthly bill and the nice feeling you get after some good cathartic indignation.

And the truth is, if I have to lose internet, finals week is a good time for it. My first final- Creativity and Mental Illness- was supposed to be my easiest, but the professor forgot to tell anyone that I could use a dictionary so I went the first hour of the test worrying about whether I was properly understanding the questions. Think I did alright in the end, but it was only 20 questions, so missing a few could be really bad. My second final, Psychotherapy, was significantly harder. Its a 2.5 hour test and I get an extra 30 minutes. And I used everyone. 36 multiple choice questions and it took me 3 hours. It was exhausting. Which means this coming Monday will be hell. I have a 4 hour Statistics exam on Monday (and I still only get an extra 30 minutes), which I feel weirdly confident about, but I am sure that is just my pre-Shabbat positivity.

After that exam I am taking a few days vacation to Jerusalem before I come back and work on my final projects. I think I deserve it. Plus, I have not left Haifa in over a month and it rains a lot here. (We have been waging war with the mold in our apartment as well, but I had to step back and leave that one to the roommates because I simply had no time.)

Anyway, I am going to go and do nothing all day because I am in too good of a mood to start studying statistics and ruin it. Wish me luck on my final! 

That was an awkwardly long silence

I have to say I am impressed. It has been almost two months since I sent an email and I have not had a single complaint! Well at least not directly- apparently my father is bearing the brunt of it because you all think I am too busy to write. Which is a little bit true. Okay, a lot true. 

I passed my three years in Israel marker and thought- "Wow, have I really been sending out an email for 3 years?" That's like a really long time. And then I thought that perhaps it was time to retire the email. I mean, if I go any further I will have to keep doing it forever (3 times is a permanent commitment in Jewish law). 

But the truth is, I like sending out the email, and I like hearing back from you. I don't think I need to do it as often as I did when I first got here, but it is not something I want to give up altogether. The truth is I have built a network of support here that I feel very comfortable with. But that does not devalue the support that I receive from you all, and so I will try to continue to send out emails when exciting things are happening to me. 

I have finished my first semester of grad school. Well almost. Today is my last day of class, and then I have three weeks for finals. Oh, and for make up classes. Because my teachers went on strike this semester and now I have to come in to make up for the classes we missed. This is so much less fun then a snow day. Anyway, I am having a hard time believing that the semester is already over, and I am a little bit terrified of my finals, but it has all made me realize how much I love what I am learning. It is like every little piece is coming together to create this infinitely larger picture of art therapy- expanding my understanding in such a way that it is affecting my whole life, not just my studies. 

I had a chavruta (one-on-one peer session where you learn something Jewish) last night with my friend Lorenzo, and I just felt like everything I was learning was directly relating to my life and to my art. I have been artistic for as long as I can remember, and seriously studied it in my undergraduate degree- but the things that I am making now, as part of my exploration of art therapy, are so fulfilling and enlightening that they are changing my life. Ill learn something with Lorenzo and the next day, I will see how it relates to art. I will make something with the student I work with as part of my internship and later in the day I will realize how it relates to my relationships. I will come home and paint something and look at it and realize it is all about Hashem (God). And I am learning to understand and verbalize the things that I have only been able to visually express before. 

So basically, my life is awesome and I love it.

Outside of my deep artistic and spiritual development- I'm also feeling growth as an Israeli. I have officially been dubbed the "Abba/Father" of my apartment because I have apparently become the adult of the apartment. Well, at least, I am the one that deals with the landlord, with the internet company, with the water taxes, with the mold on the ceiling, and the power outages, and I am the one that fixes our table and paints our walls. I'm also the one that says kiddush on Friday. Ophra and Elisheva are competing for the "Mom" position, which is awesome for me, because they bake a lot of cookies. They also give me this mom-look when I stay out too late that would make my own mother proud. 

Rafi came to visit over Channukah and we got to do all sorts of fun things together, most of which involved beer, but hey, we had a really good time and it was a nice preview of the fun to come when he moves here in August (!!!). 

יש לה נוכחות

"Yesh la nochechut." That is what my teacher said about me. I then had to ask the girl next to me what "nochechut" was, and found out my teacher was saying that I had presence. Which made me really happy.

In most of my classes I feel sort of like a tiny little fish in a sea of Hebrew occasionally squeaking out a "help" that no one really hears. I have class two days a week. On Mondays I start with "Creativity and Mental Illness". The professor is mostly understandable and since we are talking about history right now I am pretty much following what is going on. Plus it is fascinating, so that makes it easier to pay attention to the Hebrew. Next I have "Psychotherapy" where we are learning all about... therapy. The teacher, in an attempt to make it easier for all the students but me, has assigned only Hebrew articles this semester. It took me over a week to read 10 pages. She also believes that all therapists should have a very high vocabulary- which she uses in class. I am still having to have a normal vocabulary, so I get lost a little more easily in this class. Then the fun starts (I am dripping sarcasm right now). I have 3 hours of qualitative research methods with a woman who talks like she is stoned. She really loves research methods but I basically have no idea what is going on, because I cant pay attention to her for more than 6 minutes at a time. Then I have 3 hours of quantitative research methods with a woman who talks faster than any human being or cartoon character I have ever heard. Its like getting hit by a tsunami of Hebrew. Luckily the program she is teaching us is in English, so I can actually keep up with the class. Plus, she is entertaining, which is much appreciated at the end of the day.

These classes are all 60+ people lectures for the whole creative therapies program. (There are 4 tracks, music, drama, movement/dance, and visual art. Art is the biggest, with 60 people starting this year). I am generally too embarrassed to ever speak out in class and reveal my grammar mistakes and American accent, plus I am afraid that someone might have already said what I wanted to say and I just didn't realize it. This is a little hard for me because I am one of those kids that speaks up in class (not the annoying Hermione-hand kind of kid, but still, I am a talker). So the only chance I really get to do this is on my second day of classes, which in my head I call "art day". On art day, I start with a 4 hour class on art therapy. There are 20 women in my class (there is one man in the entire program) and we alternate learning art therapy theory and drawing/painting/sculpting. The women in my program all seem to know who I am from the few occasions where everyone had to introduce themselves (Apparently my Americanness and strange name make me rather memorable), and are all very nice to me. So I can speak up a little in this class, but I frequently lack a word or feel like I am not properly expressing myself which gets a little frustrating. After this class I have a second art class. This one is my smallest- there are only 10 of us- and is focused on giving us a support group through the program, a place where we can really connect with other students and talk about any issues or questions we might have. Nava, our professor, is wonderful, and two of the other religious women that I have befriended are in the same group. We tend to start class with some sort of individual project and then come together to create something as a group. And then we sit around and talk about it.

This class is my favorite because I feel like I can express myself without necessarily talking. For example, this week we started class with everyone drawing a tree for themselves. We then put each one on one large poster paper and Nava told us to create a forest. This is always the awkward point, where no one really knows where to start. Some people put out an idea or two but no one will make a decision. Since this drives me crazy in almost all situations, I ended up just getting up, picking up a paintbrush, and saying, I am going to paint a "______" now. Which is how I earned the lovely compliment from my teacher.

So school is hard but wonderful. I am generally excited and interested in what I am learning (even research methods has its moments) and though there are days when I feel like Im drowning in Hebrew, I think I am going to be okay.

I have been told there is a song about Haifa but I do not know it yet

And were done! With holidays that is. Tonight is actually the beginning of a new month, the much underrated "no-chag-Cheshvan" and even us one-day Israelis are ready for it. I spent the last of the holidays, Simchat Torah (Literally Joy of the Torah), in Jerusalem in my old roommate's new apartment. Unfortunately, I couldn't really participate in the best part of the holiday- the dancing- because my knee was still protesting my 9 hour hike (You know, my right knee went on the same hike and she hasn't complained at all!). But I did get to celebrate with friends in Jerusalem so I can't really complain.

I spent Shabbat on a hilltop in the Gush with David and Davida and had wonderful long talks about starting a farm on an isolated hilltop. My dreams of moving to a hilltop and building a house have recently expanded to include a small farm. And neighbors, as David wants to come live there too.

Unfortunately this dream is a long way off, as seen by the rude awakening I received this morning. Literally. I was awoken by someone with an overactive airhorn complex followed by some guy trying to sell something by screaming into his megaphone. This is of course on top of the constant noise of traffic passing by my building. Last night the Technion had a dance party. Which I could sing along to in my room. I hate living in a city. I thought Jerusalem was bad sometimes, but apparently I was spoiled by a nice quiet neighborhood with everything from the doctor to the grocery store a 5 min. walk from my apartment. Rude awakening indeed.

The noise is the worst of it though. I could complain about my shirtless hairy neighbor who insists on smoking right outside our door, or how the bakery only sells challah for 2 hours on Friday morning, but... oh wait, I just did :) Stam, Haifa is not that bad, it is just taking some adjusting. I am getting to know more and more people, thanks to the fact that the one friend I had when I moved here is apparently the social life source of Haifa. She actually knows everybody and does everything. The other night I joined her for a Capoiera class at the Technion, which taught me I have a whole slew of muscles I do not regularly use.

Anyway, Shabbat is approaching so I must go, but I start school on Monday (!!!) so next week I can tell you all about it :)

A hike, a reunion, and a soldier come home

First things first, this past Wednesday the Jewish holiday of Sukkot started. It is a seasonal festival where we build huts like the Israelites lived in when they left Egypt and spend the week, eating, sleeping, and generally living in these huts outside. I came to Efrat, like I do every year, and enjoyed their large and homey Sukkah. We bring the couches outside and hang out there all night playing cards or watching movies. My friend Mickie and Shoshana both joined me for part of the holiday and it has just been lovely and fun.

To make a good weekend even better, I turned on my phone after Shabbat and got a text message from my friend Marnina with two words- "Night Hike". There is a very popular hike from Tekoa to the Dead Sea (here's a map) that is generally done at night since it is through the desert. I have been wanting to do this hike for about 6 years, so I was really excited when the opportunity arose. Unfortunately, it was very last minute, and I had not really packed for a 9 hour hike, so I ended up doing the whole thing in converse and jeans. It was a fantastic 8.5 hours of sometimes getting lost and mostly being awed by these vast ravines and mountains and gorgeous views. It was a night hike, but the moon was very bright and it was like being in a black and white movie. It was a little hard to determine depths and distances but it only made the views more fantastic. As we got closer to the Dead Sea and the sun started to rise and bring color back in to our surroundings, I was hiking along feeling refreshed and energized even though I had not slept all night. Unfortunately the last bit of the trip was somewhat ruined when my knee gave out and I had to hobble the rest of the way. The boys I was with were very gallant and offered to carry me, but I had only met them that night and there was no way I was going to make someone do that. Anyway, the sun rose, we eventually finished on top of a mountain overlooking the Dead Sea, and then we started the long process of hitchiking home. I got back to Efrat around 9:30 am and slept until 4pm.

At 4, I headed over to the Merkaz Klita 20 year reunion. 20 years ago, my family tried to make aliyah and lived in an absorption center outside of Jerusalem for a year. Aliyah then was very different from now, and out family of 6 was living in a 2 bedroom "house" with a tiny bathroom and a toaster oven that my mother somehow made Thanksgiving turkey in. The neighborhood was filled with Russian, Ethiopian, and American immigrants trying to adjust to Israeli society. Back then there were no organizations to help out immigrants and there were a lot of missing amenities. There was one pay phone for the whole neighborhood, and people who were used to having large suburban homes found themselves cooking for their families on one electric burner and drying their clothes with a clothes line strung between bookshelves (my dad has a great story about that one). Anyway, the American families that immigrated in 1991 became a very tight community that supported each other through Israeli bureaucracy, cultural clashes, and the unending language difficulties. Well this year was the 20th anniversary of their aliyah, and all the families got together to catch up and reminisce. Since Judy (of my adopted family) was planning the event, she insisted that I come to represent my family. So there I was in a Sukkah with 60 people, most of whom I have not seen since I was 5 and don't really remember. So imagine my shock when I was introduced to my old kindergarten teacher who took one look at me and said "Kfirah! Didn't your family leave Israel?". This was 20 years ago! I was 5! And she remembered me!! Crazy. So I caught up with all my parents old friends, told them how everyone was doing, showed them pictures of Alon and then got to watch a fantastic slideshow of the Merkaz Klitah days that was full of old pictures of my parents and siblings. Barak- you were so freaking cute when you weren't covered in slime. Anyway, it was very cool to see how tight this group of people still are and very much made me appreciate how much easier aliyah now is.

Okay, one last point to discuss. For those of you who have not heard, Israel has just agreed to trade over 1000 prisoners in exchange for Gilad Shalit, a soldier who was kidnapped out of his tank on the Gaza border 5 years ago. He is my age and we have not had any proof of life in over 2 years. Hamas has refused to let the Red Cross in to see him, and the military has not been able to retrieve him. There have been deals on the table before, but the cost has always been too high and Israel has refused. Now they are trading 1,027 terrorists, over 350 of which have "blood on their hands" meaning they have actively participated in terrorist attacks that ended in fatalities. Many of these terrorists will be allowed to return to their homes in the West Bank, and East Jerusalem. Others are being deported to the Gaza Strip and other countries. Statistically, it has been shown that most released terrorists return to terrorist activity and have caused even more damage (http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/121845#.Tpsu1Jv-7v8). Gilad Shalit has become a cause. There has been a huge public protest over the past 3 years to encourage the Israeli government and the UN to do something to bring Gilad home. He is seen as the brother and son of every Israeli. Those going into the army worry that should they ever be captured the government will not come get them, will abandon them to their enemies. Though he is a soldier, he is also seen as a child and everyone in Israel wants to bring him home. The price is steep, many believe too steep, and the newspapers are filled with articles and editorials debating whether Netanyahu made the right decision and whether we will regret this in the future. Aside from the danger of releasing terrorists back into our country, we are also showing Hamas that this tactic works, that they can kidnap one man and 1000 murderers will go free.

I want Gilad home. And I think that we should not be negotiating. But I also understand why we do. I can look at the situation rationally and say that he is a soldier and the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few (thanks Shosh for the Spock quote), and one day my husband and my sons will be out there in uniform, an ideal target for a kidnapping attempt. And what would I do if it was my kid? I don't know. But I understand the Shalit's fight, I understand every teenager in Israel that wants to see Gilad come home so that when they put on their uniform they are a little less afraid. And I understand an Israeli government that will do anything to bring back one of their own- and will deal with the consequences when they come.

There are summer storms in Haifa

That's right! I live in Haifa now. And my first day we had an all out summer thunder storm. I have never seen it rain so hard while I was wearing short-sleeves. Haifa is only 2 hours from Jerusalem but I can see that I will be having to adjust to some difference in weather.

I have to keep this short because our living room looks like a tiny village made of boxes and suitcases and we are hosting dinner tonight. Which I also have to help cook for. But basically, moving was not as terrible as I feared it would be. This was mostly because my adopted brothers, Eli and Shlomo, are the most wonderful people in the world. Rafi, Barak, I love you, but you should be warned that I am holding you to a much higher standard now. Yesterday I went and rented a nice Chevy van and drove back to Efrat where Eli helped me move the ridiculous amount of material possessions I have out of their attic and into the car. He helped me arrange it all so that I actually got everything in and then he came with me to Jerusalem to pick up my bed from my old apartment. Which he then spent another 30 minutes helping me secure to the roof. This is even more impressive because he was 40 minutes late for class. I then dropped off Eli and picked up Shlomo, who drove to Haifa with me. We almost lost the mattress at one point, got in a small fender bender at another point, hit rush hour traffic in 2 different cities and then I got lost coming into Haifa. But I was with Shlomo, so it was more funny and ironic then annoying. Then we got to Haifa, where my roommates and my friend Marnina (as well as her brother) were waiting to help us lug all the stuff up four flights of stairs. At this point it was almost 7pm and Shlomo wanted to get home so we tried to find the bus station, failed, and then drove to the other station near the beach where I waited with him until his bus came. The boy wouldn't even let me buy him dinner.

So, sof sof, I have an apartment, I can unpack my things, and start a new life in Haifa. I miss my Efrat family already but will be headed back there next week for Rosh Hashana. In the meantime there are all the small apartment things that have to get fixed, painted, replaced, or bought. So I imagine it will be a busy week.