Sunday, May 31, 2009

Pizza and Wine Suits Me Just Fine

So after three days of playing Bob Marley's "Redemption Song" next to Gaza I returned to Netanya via awful public transportation yesterday for the Sunday kick off of my work week. It's 6 days a week here so I'm not sure why Americans feel we work the hardest in the world - right about now I'd say it's the Thai's in Israel.

But tonight I had an interesting cross cultural experience :) Idan, my family's oldest son had a water polo match in the recreation area of Bet Yitzkah. It was just like an American sports competition in that there were crazy parents, standing on edge ready to fight for their children, cheerleaders shouting (in hebrew) "Hey other team, go home!", and even a band that came from Haifa (an hour away) to support the away team.

The sports complex here is supposedly one of the nicest in the entire country and because our team won (even though our player is smaller than everyone else and sat the whole match out on the bench) our whole family got pizza for dinner! Forget Dominoes this time we tried a place in the next town over and it came with the same amazing pizza seasoning that's prevalent with the italian treat everywhere.

So it's pretty funny to see a water polo match amongest 13 year old boys in Israel and the pizza you get to eat to celebrate a victory is top notch : )

Friday, May 29, 2009

You think you're better than me, you're not better than me.. I'm better than you

Last night speaking with one of Oran's friends about politics he spoke to me about how he is upset how Israel waits to hear from America before they take action and try to lift themselves up as a country. He said back in the 70s, the Israeli army was working on building the best planes in the world and selling them to China. America didn't like this and forbid the research and instead gave Israel a lot of F16 planes instead. The boy sited this as only one example of America butting in where they have no business. I don't think he was saying he doesn't think Israel doesn't need America as an ally - he just wants people to be informed that sometimes Americans don't know what we're talking about, we don't know what dealing with 50-70 terrorist attacks every day feels like, to have national tragedies occur all the time - and to basically just butt out. This goes back to me thinking Israel will preemptively strike Iran sooner than later to stop their nuclear program. It's an issue of when and not if.

The Great King of Israel

Last night one of Oran's friends told me about the Israeli musician Zohar Argov.
She called him the "Great King of Israel" and told me how he was very popular in the 1960s and had a unique story of coming from nothing to achieving popular culture status and then blew it all and died young of a cocaine addiction. Now she says his son is a great musician too but also into drugs and following in the same foot steps. Oran agrees that the son is only using the father's name for money.

Here is a link to one of Argov's songs.

South by Gaza - A weekend at the spa

So this weekend I'm visiting with the armed guard from my birthright program Oran. Besides being only slightly exaggerated- the sexiest man I've ever met- he's a traveler and such a laid back guy. He invited me to his house for shavuot and he lives very close to the gaza strip and the border of Egypt.

I thought to myself - ok i'm going to visit Oran to see how he lives. He spoke of missiles flying over head constantly and I thought - prepare yourself Jessica for a war zone. Well, like everything in this country - his neighborhood and home are full of contradictions. For 8 years these missiles fly from Gaza everyday - to the point where there is a bomb shelter next to the soccer field here in case mid game the players need to escape the field - but next to his house his mother runs her own spa. There's a hot tub, massages, facials and waxing in the most serene environment. The sunset here is the most beautiful I've seen so far in Israel. They have a veranda behind their house and it's filled with hammocks and cushions where I could spend weeks of my life reading and napping and drinking tea with fresh mint and lemon. There are pomegranate, mango and orange trees.

The neighborhood is filled with young people Oran's age that gather outside without calling each other to smoke nagilla and talk for hours while drinking nestea or coca cola.

But last night was very interesting. We went to the house of one of Oran's friends and it was a gathering of hippie travelers. Everyone looked like they'd been to India and back yesterday and we drank wine, smoked and ate sweets and talked about music and politics.

Oran told me one night they were in the exact same situation- chilling out and enjoying themselves - when 15 different missiles flew over them. I still today can't process what that must have felt like but again it's the case where I'm sitting right there picturing it happening that night to me.

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Party in NYC like you were here w/ me in Israel

There's a big festival on June 21, 2009 in Central Park. An artificial beach - set up to look like the shores of Tel Aviv will be placed near the Naumberg Bandshell. This event is to celebrate the 100th birthday of the Israeli city. Click here for the link for full event details!

God bless my ipod

I told a few of you that i regretted impulsively purchasing the Ipod touch about two days before leaving for Israel. This very expensive item had me feeling buyers remorse almost immediately - especially since I should have been in a thrifty mind set setting off for two months of travel.

Well, I take all of that back. My Ipod is my most prized possesion right now and here's why: at the farm here from Sunday - Thursday I'm alone working in the fields with the thai men who don't speak a word of English. They may be happy working in silence but without my ipod I'd be bored out of my mind. Bored is the wrong work - this picking and plucking and farming in general is hard work and really who doesn't like to exercise to music? My music is probably the only thing getting me through.

Plus the men hate me. Well, they don't hate me but let's say it's obvious I have no idea what I'm doing and after hours and hours of work I get tired and they don't. The only words they seem to know are "come on, come on" which is to encourage me to cut lettuce faster, pick bigger beets or sort zuchinni with more accuracy.

I don't know what these two little guys are eating but let me say as laborers i think they should be paid a LOT! They have boundless energy and when I almost passed out today in a field picking weeds from the strawberry patch they stepped in and continued for almost an hour finishing the work I could not. Amir says with the money they make here they can take care of 2 families back in Thailand but then he told me one of the guys ran up a phone bill of 2,000 sheckels and that was a months salary. But when I calcuate that's only about 300-400 dollars.

My math is bad but I bet they're not being paid enough. I'm here as a volunteer and I feel taken advantage of I can't imagine how they feel. Sucks that I don't get to ask them either because i'm so curious about their lives back home but they don't even understand when I say "i'm sorry for being so bad at this work. I'm a middle class jewish girl from long island."

Monday, May 25, 2009

Anti-semitism abroad

So I wasn't aware that in summer and even year round a huge majority of french jews own property mainly in Tel Aviv and also throughout Israel. Time Out says if you don't speak hebrew you can get by just fine with french. I remember that anti-semitism in France was and is bad with people going into jewish cemeteries and defacing grave sites all the time but I didn't realize the french jews are safeguarding themselves for a day when they may be expelled from their homes.

I also heard a crazy story about jews in Peru being forced to leave their homes by the local government. People traveling in South America- did you feel or see any of this in Peru???

Jerusalem Recommendations

This is for my own recollection. A woman I spoke w/ in Tel Aviv said when I was in Jerusalem to visit:

1. Nachlaot Area
2. German Compound - for architecture and restaurants
3. Tmol Shilshom Coffee Shop - near Ben Yehuda St.
4. Mamila Mall

This is Louise - She's like my second wife

So Amir - my farm owner who I've inside jokingly started to call "never nude" because of the cut off jean shorts he wears is an Israeli farmer and family man but it seems to me he has a lot in common with other American dads.

He has three adorable children and he and his wife both work. Amir worked for 23 years for Motorola - starting in sales and working his way up to management. He asked them to fire him two years ago so he could get severance and stay on in a contract position. Now he works from home and the farm all day. Two of his children are 10 year old twins. Inbal - the girl, does competive gymnastics and is extremely competitive and focused. Her brother Idan is small for his age but is a fierce water polo player. His aunt tells me I should see him the water, that I wouldn't believe it. Gilad is their older son who is 13 this year and will be bar mitzvahed next month - just because it's custom. The family doesn't consider themselves religious at all. The aunt tells me not only is she not religious but she's anti-religion. She teaches hebrew language and literature at a kibbutz in the north and goes on for a half hour how the western wall is idolatry.

I really like Amir's wife Tsrit. The three of us take their two dogs out for a walk around the neighborhood every night and Tsrit and I talk during this time.

But Amir is such a character. You can tell he has a lot on his plate and he works very hard for his family. I know he loves his kids but he's always snapping at them and the person in his family he loves the most is Louise - his dog. OK OK she is a beautiful dog with white fur and big brown eyes but he talks to her and plays with her like something unkosher is going on.. He told me today after he stood there petting her for 10 minutes in front of me - she is like my second wife.

I love this family!

Sunday, May 24, 2009

White Night

Wednesday 5/27 is White Night in Tel Aviv. This once a year event happens in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem where every shop, club, bar stays open for 24 hours. I read about a dance party at a club called The New Train Station but Noam tells me I should just plan to walk the street and celebrate spontaneously with the locals. This is going to be crazy!

On the note of partying - this is a party promoting group that supposedly has the scoop on great music. They're called Pacotek.

Suicide Bomb Attempt in Riverdale

I hung out with two Israeli friends last night and one girl whose mom is American said she heard about a suicide bomber that was caught in Riverdale, New York.

According to the New York Police Department, 4 muslims plotted to blow up the Riverdale Jewish Center with a car bomb made of plastic explosives.

Here's the link to the wire story that was on Salon.com.

These men were American citizens.. all with criminal records so it's not right to stereotype who the crazy people are that plan things like this. Just highlights how complicated the situation really is. SCARY.

Hey Jerry, nice pants ...thanks, I got them at the Comfort Zone

This is post is about organic farming. It is NOT easy. So far the work I've been doing here on the small family farm outside Netanya has been incredibly rewarding and, at times- like now, crippling!

I've planted fields of strawberries (take that tourists that come to Israel to plant a single tree!), cut zucchini, stomped out weeds, picked celery and beets, grabbed grapefruits and lemons from their branches, cleaned cabbage and picked strawberries till my thighs were as sore as if I'd had 50 Bikrham lessons in a day.

This is my problem right now..i'm walking at such a slow pace it's like i have hemroids (*i've never had hemroids I don't actually know what that would feel like but i'm trying to be colorful here)

So again, I mention that I love to see the farm to table process. On Thursday night me and the two thai workers picked strawberries until 10pm. Then we packaged and labeled them here for Friday morning. Fridays in Israel are like Saturday's in the States. People generally have off and in Tel Aviv everyone heads to the beach to swim. I went with Amir at 6am to drop off nuts, grapefruits and the berries we spent half the night packaging at the greenmarket by the old port.

For those of you used to Madison's Farmer's Market or the Divisidero St. market in San Francisco- this puts all of that to shame. There's wine tasting and samples of everything from Macadamia nuts to marzipan and the cheese - oh my the fresh cheese! Y U M.

So I saw very clearly how the food I picked will end up on the Shabbat tables of locals. Today I saw the bigger picture. A delievery truck from a larger organic grocery store stopped by the farm to pick up larger quantities of the cabbage I cleaned, oranges, strawberries and lettuce

***p.s. This delivery truck was driven by the hottest most yummy man i've ever seen in my life. I actually swooned. There I was dirty and sweaty and probably never looking worse but I smiled and took off my farmer's hat, wiped the layers of dirt off my face and said "shalom" - he completely ignored me. He was tall and thin with meditteranean eyes and a close shaved head of brown hair with a musical note tattoo on one arm and many more elsewhere. He'll be back next Sunday. Let the fantasies begin..

But so the point is this is not easy work. It's been three days and my legs still hurt but they're getting better. There's really nothing in the world like tasting quality organic products not made with pesticides like the tomatoes, potatoes, cucumbers and grapefruits I eat all day.

As for fish, chicken and beef I've still got a lot to learn. Amir showed me a product he gives his fish once a week that are eggs you put in boiling water. It comes from Salt Lake City Utah and he said it is so expensive because think of how many hands it had to cross before he found it here in Israel.

But Amir said he's had the highest number of applications for people to come work here ever.
And apparently the New York Times have noticed too. Here is a link Kfir sent me from an article from Sunday's paper about college students interning on organic farms in the states.

Happy reading this ridiculously long email. Hope you're bored at work!

Saturday, May 23, 2009

Is that you Joni Mitchell??

Asaf Avidan is an Israeli singer voted by Rolling Stone magazine as the next big thing. He plays with a band call the "mojos," has a mohawk and his voice sounds exactly like Joni Mitchell. Check it. He's on tour in Europe through the summer but i'll be on the look out for some NYC dates. I'm sure they're coming...

Shabbat Shalom

So on a more positive note, a majority of israel citizens and the country in general considers itself to be secular but that doesn't mean shabbat isn't an amazing day of rest celebrated by families across the land. In tel aviv today i was invited to shabbat lunch at Noam's house in Herzilya. Her father BBQ'd, her mom made onion quiche, grilled veggies, an amazing salad and great spiced sweet and regular potatoes.

Shabbat goes from Friday early in the day to Saturday evening. That means people in tel aviv head to the beach, the outdoor greenmarket or the bar. Shabbat on Saturday is a combination of a Spanish siesta and New York City Sunday Brunch. Families and friends gather around 1:30pm to eat for hours, drink, rest and laugh. We didn't say a single prayer but at this gathering there were women from London and Israel and I was able to join representing New York. Then Sunday is a regular workday.

Suicide Bombers

Let's just cut to the chase, no sugar coating Israel's complicated history of "martyrs." Noam, my friend from Herzilya who was a soldier that came on my birthright trip, told me some stories today that i will repeat here below... it's an eye opening, contemplative view of what it means to be a jew in this world and especially to be Israeli.

Noam is in her early 20's now. She tells me this story about when she was in 8th grade and she knew a girl in the 9th grade. They both were eating at a shwarma/falafel place in herzilya. Noam wanted to stay but her friends wanted her to leave so she went with them. In the car on the way home she hears the radio that there was a suicide bomber in this restaurant in herzilya and she thinks - i saw that girl a few minutes ago and now she's dead.

Part two is the story of the Dolphinarium. This is a party spot located on the mediteranean in tel aviv. It used to be a place you could go and see dolphins but in 2001 it was a nightclub that was hit by a suicide bomber named Saeed Hotari. Twenty one teens were killed and 132 injured.

Today this is a spot covered in amazing murals and street art, it's a bar and concession area, and there's a musical outlet where you can rent instruments and have drum circles on friday night to kick off shabbat. i was here last night and it was one of my favorite experiences in israel so far. i didn't know the story of the suicide bomber. when my friend told me today i was shocked. if i was there in 2001 at 11:30pm on a Saturday night doing exactly what i was doing last night - i wouldn't be here today.

the israeli girls i spent the day with tell me after a bombing the phone lines are jammed. families are calling each other across Israel, to the states - just wanting to hear a hello and know a random bomb hasn't murdered their friends and relatives.

When i get back to the farm in Netanya I ask Amir's wife Tsrit about suicide bombers. She says up to about 2 years ago they were still happening a lot. She sites three cases in Netanya and the surround area alone - one at a bus stop filled with soldiers and others just buses on the roads. She says as a parent in Israel you don't go to the mall or crowded places with a lot of people. she tells me when she goes to the mall she thinks more than twice should i bring my children or leave them at home. basically - better me than them, just in case.

Thursday, May 21, 2009

You could be a farmer in those clothes

The schedule here at the organic farm is as follows. For my first official day wake up time was 6am. For my first task- feed the fish.. I underestimated the strength it would take to pull a time released pulley in a box and almost fell into a stinky tank. Luckily, for me and the fish, I caught myself in time.

Then it was off to clip zucchini off their vines and pick and package strawberries. I had some of these berries with my lunch and they were incredible.

Planting a new plot of the fruit came next. We spent about two hours planting strawberries and I learned to bury the roots from the sides and in a round gulf so that the dripping water can circulate.

Lunch was schnitzel on a challah roll with fresh, super fresh tomatoes and onions and babaganoush. I also had some pecans that were amazing. Everything here is organic and brought in from 150 feet away.

I thought I had the good life and misunderstood when Amir, my boss, told me I was finished for the day. I was about to ask him to translate the newspaper headlines of the day for me when two minutes later he told me to run and catch up with the thai gentlemen he employs. We spent the next few hours in the very hot sun picking grapefruits. I underestimated the romanticism of this task but when I sat for a break I ate some of the fruit and it brought a smile back to my face. Again, best grapefruit ever!

I like seeing the farm to table aspect here and appreciate the hard work that goes into this profession and way of life. And I'm eating like a queen.

Iraq, Iran, I'm Terrified

The prime minister of Israel is currently in the United States speaking with Barak Obama about both the situation in Iran and the Palestinian territories. The head of the Israeli state- Netanyahu is decisively right wing. This means he doesn't give up land and is considering a pre-emptive strike on Israel's scariest enemy right now - Iran.

Barak Obama has his (our, my) army fighting a war in two places on the globe and does not support Israel's invasion of Iran. Israel doesn't want to go it alone and start a war that will drag in the rest of the middle east but according to Neil Lazarus, a wonderful speaker who gave a speech to my birthright group about the current situation in Israel..and my tour guide Chen who at one point served for the most elite secret forces of the Israeli army for over 14 years.... this is going to happen whether the United States says they're in or not.

According to Lazarus, the problem for the United States is the Straits of Hamooz (this may be spelt wrong). This is a waterway that has 30 - 40 percent of the world's oil passing through it. It borders Oman, Iran and Saudi Arabia. If Israel starts a third world war by invading Iran the United States would probably have to join eventually to protect and keep this piece of geography.

Please post comments about what the media is saying about Netanyahu's visit to America. In Israel it's the front page of the newspaper every day but I can't understand what they're saying about it. The last I had translated for me was "They Agree to Disagree"

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Israel - The first post

I've been in Eretz Yisrael for eleven days now and I\ve already traversed most of the northern half of the country, swam in the dead sea, rafted on the Jordan River (with its one timid rapid)slipped a note of peace into the cracks of the western wall, haggled for figs at the market in Jerusalem, salsa danced on the beach in Tel Aviv and today picked lemons on an organic farm outside Netanya.

I've been journaling in my notebook, created a facebook travel group and have taken so many photos and videos I'm sure I'll be here all night uploading but I'll try and be as insightful as possible here. Stay tuned for cultural revelations as the months trickle on.

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Take me to the River

This from BrooklynVegan:

With the Hudson River and the setting sun as the backdrop of its Pier 54 stage (at 14th Street), RiverRocks kicks off its three-date series Thursday, July 9 featuring Brooklyn's Matt & Kim with the Chicago-based electronic team Flosstradamus opening the evening....
RiverRocks is Hudson River Park's signature concert series staged on the Pier 54 waterfront adjacent to New York City's Meatpacking District (at 14th Street). Gates open at 6 p.m. for all RiverRocks shows, which are scheduled to begin at 7 p.m.