Looking back on it, it really was a crazy week. I'm in classes for a majority of my day, but then my free time consists of a crazy spectrum of experiences. One hour I'm sitting in my room with the sound of gunpowder igniting in the distance and later in the same evening I'm enjoying live jazz downtown. The weirdest experience yet was on Wednesday evening.
I was walking back from campus to my apartment building when my throat, mouth, and nose began searing with each breath I took. The NationalJournal describes tear gas and explains its effects saying, "the chemical compound reacts with moisture on the skin and in the eyes, causing searing pain, uncontrollable tearing, reflexive shutting of the eyelids, overproduction of mucus and difficulty breathing". I had already been on edge having spent the last hour trying to pay attention in class while gunfire and explosions were happening only a mile or so away outside my classroom window. Walking through tear gas was just the cherry on top of my day.
This is a video Noah took from on campus which overlooks part of the rioting happening near campus shortly after the tear gas was deployed. (I was walking home at this time.)
I know people were nervous about my choice of location to study abroad, but it really didn't hit me until that day just how truly unique my choice was. I could have practiced my German and spent my semester safe and celebrating Oktoberfest and eating baumkuchen in Europe. Instead, I cross the green line everyday commuting to Hebrew University of Jerusalem from my apartment complex in Palestine.
I live where the yellow star is. My campus is off the corner of the map in the direction the blue arrow is pointing. That gray dotted line across the screen is literally the Israel/Palestine border.
What is even crazier is only hours after experiencing tear gas for the first time (and from experience, it definitely wasn't the last), I went out and enjoyed dinner and drinks with an Israeli friend. One minute my mouth felt like it was on fire and in what seemed like no time at all I had forgotten the earlier events in the day in the midst of good company and conversation.
Everyday in Israel is this bizarre paradox. There's this constant beauty within this country, and yet a tension that is impossible to ignorable. Consistent to this unusual structure I ended my crazy week with a school trip to the Negev desert Thursday night. It was the perfect way to mentally conclude another week in Israel.
We started with a brief tour of Ben Gurion's home in the desert. Ben Gurion was the first prime minister of Israel, and one of the founders of the country. He had such a unique vision and passion for the country and led a life seriously devoted to committing to this land and its people.
Ben Gurion's living room. A fun little anecdote: the windows were purposely built to be higher than he was tall so that if any sniper tried to assassinate him they wouldn't have a clear view of him in the house. He was barely five foot tall. The house and everything in it is proportioned to accommodate his short stature.
Part of his vision consisted of always pushing the people of Israel to take on the next challenge. First establishing the country, and then finding ways to develop the desert. He saw the value of positive stress amongst his people. It resonated with me just how strong these beliefs still play out day to day in this country. He saw the danger of becoming comfortable with the status quo.
This was our desert guide while he was talking to us in front of Ben Gurion's resting place.
A night view of the desert from Ben Gurion's grave.
I'll be the first to admit it's not easy. I went from a college that still remembers the exact date that a fleeing convict with a gun ran through campus nearly four years ago (and still acknowledges the anniversary) to a college whose teachers reprimand you if you get distracted in class from gunfire out the window. However, Ben Gurion's right. How are we really growing if we stay in our comfort zone? With this new and refreshing perspective of Israel in mind, I excitedly embarked on the next part of my adventure: a night hike through the Negev desert.
Fellow students leading the way at the start of the hike.
All bundled up for my night in the desert.
The full moon literally felt as bright as the sun as it reflected off the desert rock. It almost hurt to look straight at it.
My favorite part of the hike was a little side trail that our guide offered to take a smaller group on. Our backpacks left on the main trail, we winded through rock crevices hardly wide enough to squeeze through and then started up a steep incline. What we found at the top was worth every ounce of stress I've experienced in Israel.
A gorgeous view of the desert under the night sky.
It was an insane feeling just standing above such expansive stretches of nothingness.
My feet dangling down the edge of the mountain as I sat on the peak overlooking the desert.
Sure, I could have gone to Germany. However there's no way I could have experienced something like this in Europe. Even if I could, it wouldn't have had the meaning and significance it now held before me. The beauty of the dark and still desert sprawling serenely only hours away from all the chaos of Jerusalem was breathtaking. There's perspective and a piece of mind to be found here that would be hard to experience anywhere else on earth. That's why, even through the tear gas, I walk out my door each day ready to experience Israel.
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