Weekend Trip to Tel Aviv

I apologize for being so scarce in updating my blog lately. When I'm not busy I'm usually trying to use my few blocks of free time for some more adventuring out and about in Israel, but I keep forgetting to save time to actually share updates on them! This past weekend I finally got around to exploring Tel Aviv. Thursday a bunch of my fellow Arabic classmates, Noah, and I all headed back to Jaffa. We decided to take advantage of the 84 degree weather in December.

A pretty view of Jaffa beach and the city.

Noah and I in Jaffa. (Photo credits to Kati.)

We spent the day leisurely enjoying the markets and cafes around Jaffa before heading to the beach. We really hadn't intended on swimming, but the weather was amazing so we found ourselves spending our afternoon in the Mediterranean.

A rare sighting of Arabic students enjoying free time.

(L to R: Simon [Australia], Theresa [Germany], Kati [England], myself, and Lisa [Netherlands])

At the end of the day most of the group headed back to Jerusalem but Noah and I had booked accommodations to spend the rest of the weekend in Tel Aviv. We met up with Noah's friend Roi who showed us around the city. Including the best place for ice cream ever.

Roi and I take our ice cream very seriously.

Although we hadn't actually met Roi until that weekend we became fast friends. Without his help we would have been horribly lost and missed out on so much of Tel Aviv. Plus we got to enjoy Shabbat dinner even away from our usual Shabbat at the student village.

Saturday we lazily made our way to brunch before enjoying a little more time on the beach. We took our last day in Tel Aviv as leasurely as possible filling our day with louging seaside and sampling some more restaurants before finally heading back to Jerusalem.

Another beautiful beach in Israel.

I can't believe this is what I'm doing with my "winter".

A beautiful sunset on our last evening in Tel Aviv.

A little sun and a lot of good company is definitely a great way to end the week.

Spending Time at the Shuk

I wanted to spend my day off in the city. However, with Hamas calling for a "day of mobilization" and Fatah calling for a "day of rage" today* (on top of the fact it's a Friday, which is already usually tense in the Arab quarter downtown) I figured the Old City was probably not the best place to go. So after waking up this morning I decided to head downtown to the Mahane Yehuda market (aka "the Shuk") for a slightly safer location to spend my free time.

After scoping out the market for a good place to hang out, I found a espresso bar on a corner in the busy market with seats looking out onto the booths and people. With strong coffee in my hand and smooth jazz playing in the background, I sat and people watched for a good portion of my morning. 

Literally sitting at a corner in the market enjoying my morning coffee.

And the people watching really was fantastic. Sitting at the coffee bar gave me the perfect spot to become a part of the Shuk experience. I watched locals and tourists wander amongst the piles of products and became a temporary part of the madness.

"See this fish? You want this fish." - the dialogue in my head

This guy.

And this guy.

Soldiers with machine guns buying bread.

Another fish vendor.

I may not speak Hebrew but I was running a constant dialogue of body language, gestures, and facial expressions with each vendor I passed. I was sitting across from the fish vendor pictured above this paragraph as I sat at the coffee bar. Between scooping more ice on top of his displays of fish we exchanged a variety of looks while I sipped coffee across from his stall. I walked past him once I was finished and his otherwise serious face lit up with humor and he pretended to throw the huge scoop of ice at me instead of his fish. We both laughed and I set off to browse the market in the midst of my caffeine high.

Challah for tonight's Shabbat.

I loved the color and texture of these sweets piling out of the store front of a bakery stall.

When I was done at the Shuk I decided it was too nice of a day to just hop on the train back toward campus. So, assuming it was impossible to get lost as long as I walked along the train tracks, I wandered downtown. 

After a passing a few train stops I found myself at a plaza downtown. There a guy around my age sat on a stone barrier playing guitar as everyone meandered about their day. Surprised by his actual musicality and impressive voice I paused a few benches down and sat for awhile enjoying his music. As I sat continuing to just take in the day the weather decided to switch over to a torrential downpour. Continuing I still didn't move he much figured out I was sitting there listening to him so I just gave in and moved next to him. So there I sat in Jaffa square, in the middle of the pouring rain holding an umbrella over a street musician and dueting to pop hits with this stranger in downtown Jerusalem.

Eventually we both ended up soaked through and he gave up on playing guitar. In apprication of my umbrella he joined me in my walk up until the next train station and chatted about his experience in Jerusalem. As he turned back two girls nearby me looked over and asked if he was bothering me. I answered no and before I knew it I was walking with them into exactly where I was avoiding in the first place, the Old City. There I sat making new friends and enjoying fellowship over lunch. 

Eventually I had to wander back into the rain and made my way one train stop further before I finally got on the train and finished my trip back to my apartment.

The Weekend (Belatedly) in Review

Every other weekend America's Unofficial Ambassadors comes up with planned trips and activities as part of our program. Visiting the Buddhist monastery, white water rafting, and Borobudur are examples of these trips. However, that means every other weekend Sarah, Suraiya, and I are left to fend for ourselves. And apparently to our coordinator's surprise, we actually do things other than sit in the house.

The AUA interns out for dinner with other foreign women we've met who are working near Yogyakarta.

Saturday we attended a traditional Javanese wedding for the daughter of the couple who live next door to Dian Interfidei. They had invited us a few days prior, and as it turns out weddings here are more about pleasing the neighbors around you than much else. Translation: so much free food. Even for days before the wedding they provide food for all of their neighbors (us).

Tanto, myself, the groom and bride, Suraiya, and Sarah.

We waited out the afternoon heat (and power outages) with long naps before heading to Malioboro for dinner. We ate dinner and then met up with a friend from Holland for the grand opening of Art Jog, Yogyakarta's summer art festival / gallery. Hundreds of people, literally hundreds, packed like cattle into this hot building and slowly pressed their way from one piece of artwork to another. I found a little airconditioning machine near this one piece of art and stood there for as long as the pressing crowd would let me, enjoying the foggy coolness that would brush past me for a few seconds when the people between the airconditioner and myself would shuffle onward. A local not much older than myself looked at me and, after accessing my whiteness, pointed to the airconditioner before speaking to me in English and said, "This. This, is art.". The exhibit was impressively large and was a collection on Indonesian's feelings on democracy, politics, and corruption. (This is a popular theme right now as the presidential elections are coming up next month and there's a lot of interesting talk going around.) Also, we recognized a few pieces from Malcom's gallery opening the few nights prior. 

Sunday started lazily as we eventually made it out of the house and walked a few kilometers to a cafe for brunch. We met another international friend there who suggested we do some batik shopping that afternoon. And so we wandered Jogja finding batik and silver trinkets to bring back to the US. Our two weeks of Bahasa lessons served us well as we chatted with taxi drivers who drove us to different off the map artisan shops where we'd haggle for a decent price.

Women applying wax as part of the process of making batik.

We closed our evening with a gathering at our friend Tanto's house where we sat around in the backyard over delicious food and conversing in a blend of English, Bahasa Indonesia, Javanese, German, and Romanian with just as interesting a blend of people. Life might be calm, but it's never boring!