Rome

This past week we were given some freedom to do whatever we pleased. Some people took the opportunity to travel around Israel or go back home for the week. I chose to go to Rome. As some of you may know my family emigrated from Russia, and through a series of events ended up in Rome for a short while. The people that I stayed with were those that helped my family out and continue to be very close friends of my grandparents until this day. So, I have to give props (I know they won't know what that means) to my Dedulya Yasha and Babulya Ella for always keeping everyone connected and allowing me this opportunity. On top of having me over for dinner almost every night, they also gave me my own apartment. Their daughter, Sasha is often out of town on business so she was kind enough to let me stay at her place for the week.

 The week I spent in Rome was so much different from my life here in Israel in many ways. In Israel I am constantly surrounded by other people whether it's at my school, in the apartment, or always going out together. I have become super close with everyone in my apartment, but it was cool doing my own thing in a new city I had never been to. During the day I spent most of my time wandering around alone exploring the city. I had no set schedule and I was able to cover a large portion of the city mostly on foot.  Often times I would just take some random streets to get to my destination and discover new things on the way. At night I would usually go over to Irina and Tony's (family friends) apartment for dinner and futbol. Throughout the week I ate a lot of pizza and gelato. Whatever I had been missing by keeping kosher in Israel I made up for with all the pork and cheese consumption that week. The food was ridiculously good. I also caught up with my roommates Margaux and Sarah on two of the nights. One of those nights was a successful and the other not so much. SARAH had the bright idea of signing up for a bar crawl, although I won't hold her accountable for the nights events. Wait,  I just did. I just want to say first that I love America and many people in America, but goddamn there were some stupid fucking Americans on this bar crawl. It was like they airlifted the most retarded 20 somethings from the states and dropped them off in Rome to kill all potential possibility of us having a good time. Furthermore, the term bar crawl would indicate that the bars are in close proximity to one another, so close in fact that if you were drunk enough you could crawl from one to the other. This was not the case. They were spread out all over Rome. By the end of the night we just wanted to get the hell out and I jumped on the first bus I saw, not knowing where it was headed. Marguax and Sarah foolishly trusted me and we ended up in the middle of some cornfields on the outskirts of Rome. It would have been a good scenario for a Roman-style slasher film. Anyways, eventually the right bus came and I navigated our way back to Rome while they slept on the bus. It was a small price to pay for a week in Rome.

 Rome is probably the most beautiful city that I have ever been to. The churches are are not only beautifully designed, but just so unbelievably massive. It's really hard to wrap my mind around all the work that went into creating them. You can't be inside one and not be in awe. My favorite places were definitely the ancient Roman sites, such as the Forum and the Coliseum. Even a simple side street can become something interesting. There is literally something to see at every turn. Even a month in Rome might not be enough to see everything, but I'll take a week over nothing. Hope I make it back there again someday.

Piazza del Popolo-a beautiful square which leads to Via Del Corso, a popular street for shopping. In the past it was used for public executions 

Italian zombies

Piazza di Spagna

Roman Forum

 Signifying the Roman conquest of Jerusalem. Who steals a menorah? Not cool.

inside the Coliseum

salty pork products- delicious

Anubis

JP2 with a koala- part of an exhibit in the Vatican about the culture of the Aboriginals.
"Your culture, which shows the lasting genius and dignity of your race, must not be allowed to disappear."

cool graffiti

not so cool graffiti

morning ritual. pizza at the local bakery. 

inside the Vatican

going nuts after Roma scored a goal on Lazio

Apparently this is how Italians pose for pictures. Italian folk- Luda, Me, Giorgio

pizza and wine- "Make perfect pair. Go together like lamb and tunafish."

view from inside the cupola of St. Peter's Basilica

Giorgio and I

St. Peter's Square

more Italian folk- Irina, Tony, Alla

Sarah and I

Margaux and I

on the train leaving Rome

IDF

Last week we were given some vacation time for Hannukah. We were offered the chance to participate in an army volunteering program or stay here in Ashdod. Most of us chose to participate in the army volunteering, without much knowledge of what we would be doing. (Just a little background for everyone. Military service is mandatory for men and women in Israel. Women serve a minimum of 2 years and men serve a minimum of 3 years.) We all met at the bus stop at 7 in the morning and were split into two groups. My group went north to a base called Hativa on the Lebanese border. Once we got there they gave us uniforms and sleeping bags and told us a little bit about what we would be doing. For those five days we were soldiers. We had to be up at 7, eating breakfast in uniform by 7:30, and on the bus by 8 which shipped us to an outpost on the border. At the border we carried sandbags for hours re-fortifying one of the many Israeli outposts. The bus took us back for lunch at the base and then drove us back to the outpost for some more heavy lifting. At night we had dinner with rest of the soldiers and afterwards we were free to do what we wanted. For me that meant playing soccer with some of the soldiers and many games of durak (a popular card game). On the last day we were given military clearance to go to the location of the event which triggered the 2006 Lebanon war. At that moment I was standing at the exact spot where two IDF soldiers were killed by Hezbollah forces and dragged back into Lebanon. This event led to the Israeli invasion of Lebanon and was the beginning of the controversial 2nd Lebanon War. The commander was able to explain the kidnapping in great depth because his brother was part of the first special forces unit sent in to rescue the soldiers. The whole experience of volunteering at the base was one of the most fulfilling I've had thus far in Israel. There were many things that I wasn't allowed to take pictures of and that they asked us not to post online, so I'll take this as my opportunity to show off my de-classified modeling pics.

recreation room

luxurious accommodations

Hativa base

killing time

outpost

I can pretend

 On the other side of the fence is the UN buffer zone and beyond it is Lebanon.

Here's Ronald!

Bedouin Village

We recently went to check out one of the many Bedouin villages in Israel to learn a little bit about them. Bedouins are traditionally a nomadic Arab group. Bedouin society has been described as "a world without time." They live in their own tribal villages in the Negev desert, far from the lights of Tel Aviv. In the past they engaged primarily in nomadic herding and agriculture. Scarcity of water and pastoral land required them to move constantly. However, as the world around them has changed, they have for the most part been forced to abandon their nomadic lifestyle. As the younger generations of Bedouins move out of their villages for education and better jobs their traditional way of life is fading away.

Agel (tribe leader) this guy has 3 wives and 24 children no joke!

          

Thanksgiving

I'm a little late, but Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! My roommates and I had intended to cook a Thanksgiving feast, but as we were planning it we realized it wasn't going to work out. First off we don't have an oven in the apartment, so we wouldn't be able to cook a turkey. Sorry to all you vegans out there but it's not Thanksgiving without the turkey. Secondly, having 8 people trying to cook on 2 stoves wasn't going to work out either, so we said fuck it and went out for Chinese. Though two of my roommates are Canadian we still decided to invite them out anyway. So here I am in Israel, sitting at a table with Canadians, eating Chinese food which was cooked by Ethiopians. How did this happen? Anyways the food turned out to be pretty good, and the company couldn't have been better. We then headed down to the park nearby for some pre-gaming and after went out to a nargile (hookah) bar.

Chon Lee- the best and only Chinese restaurant in Ashdod

Park cocktails

Jerusalem

This past week we went on a day trip to Jerusalem. This was my first time in Jerusalem, but certainly won't be my last. We had a really cool tour guide named Ron, who I would describe as an Israeli Pauly Shore. It was really difficult to retain all of the biblical knowledge that he dropped on us and I don't want to bore everyone with historical facts so I'll just tell you a couple things. Jerusalem is really really fucking old and really important to the Jews, Christians, and Muslims. I'm sure this is news to everyone. There is so much history and so much to see in this city, so I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.

view of the Old City

Al Aqsa Mosque

our guide Ron

bullet holes in one of the walls of the Old City

The Kotel (Wailing Wall)

prayer notes placed in the Kotel (Wailing Wall)

room of the Last Supper

Church of the Holy Sepulchre