Middle East 08

 I spent another day in Jerusalem at the Jewish Agency, learning about the two holidays here in Israel this week.  In addition, I got to see a movie that was done very intimately depicting a family who’s young son is missing after a bomb exploded at his bus stop while he was on the way to his base. Tuesday at 7pm began Yom Haatzmut; the official Memorial Day for fallen Soldiers (as opposed to Holocaust Rememberence Day, Yom HaShoah, last week).  At 7pm, everything in all of Israel shuts down,there is another siren signalling everyone to freeze for 1 minute; same drill, cars stop in the middle of the road, people freeze, life stops.  We went to Kikar Rabin for the event.  There were thousands of people gathered at the square (Kikar Rabin is the memorial for Yizhak).  There were performances of all sad songs, ones that we learned about at the Jewish Agency,  huge screens showing people talking about loved ones they’ve lost, and a real feeling of togetherness.  At 11am Wednesday, a 2 minute siren signalled the end of Yom Haatzmut, and the beginning of Yom Hazikaron.  Below is a link..

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BgFaxP0Xx7U&feature=related

 Yom Hazikaron in Israel is the equivalent of the 4th of July.

 However, Israeli’s are so incredibly proud of their country and independence, that they take it to a whole new level.  This year is Israel’s 60th birthday.  I have no idea how this compared to the 59th, but, holy sh*t.  I though Israeli’s were crazy before.  Last night, I went to a barbecue on a rooftop, 1 or 100 that I had heard about.  From there, we could see the fireworks and lazer show at the beach.

 There were again, crazy performances going on at Kikar Rabin.  After the barbecue, we stopped by a couple of places of friends on the way to an area of the city called Florentine.  Florentine last night had the makings of disaster.  I imagine its like the running of the bulls in Pamplona.  I’ll be uploading videos later of the craziness that happened. there were thousands of people in the streets, everywhere, people dancing on cars, concerts everywhere; it was total mayhem.  fun mayhem.  I danced with a crazy sect of Nachman Jews.  Good times by all.

 Today, there is an air show down at the beach, parties all along the coast, and the party continues through the day.  The air show was awesome.. until one parachuter misread the wind and ended up injuring a bunch of people.  But, the beach was fun, tons of people, all very proud of their Air Force and their Country.  Its a much different feeling here than the 4th of July in the States.

 School was off for the week, and, the woman I had been babysitting for got fired, so I’m out of that job.  Tonight is Shabbat; I’m once again having a big potluck Shabbat on the roof of our apartment and taking it easy after that because I have a lot of work to do for the coming week.  One of my women from my Nepali Women’s Group was invited to speak at a Human Trafficking Seminar on Tuesday in Haifa, so I’m going to accompany her up there and then rush back to make it back to ulpan!

Everything else is good. i hope everyone had good weeks~ a shout out
 to all of the Mommies on the list – HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY!!!!!!!

This isn’t a terribly exciting update, so below is an outline of the
 contents (in case you want to skip the super boring parts)

 1. Complaining
 2. Israeli Memorial Day and my day in Jerusalem
 3. Plagarized Jewish stuff
 4. Bragging
 5. Hebrew School Stuff
 6. Empty Promises

 1.  I mentioned in my last email that I was feeling pretty sick since my return from Turkey. The sea-legs didn’t go away until yesterday,  which was weird because I was only on the boat for a couple of days. And, my cold, or bronchitis, or whatever was wrong with me, was awful
 this week.  Lots of oranges purchased at the shuk… But, alas, today I’m feeling like myself again and even treated myself to a morning at the beach.
2.  This past Wednesday, my program had a program to commemorate Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Rememberence Day. We toured the gardens of Yad Vashem, then went to Mount Herzel, the cemetary of fallen soldiers.  After a little free time, we went to a play about some court jestersduring the Holocaust. It was awful. As they say in Hebrew, “nap-time”.
3.  In the early 1950s, education about the Holocaust (Shoah, meaning catastrophe, in Hebrew) emphasized the suffering inflicted on millions of European Jews by the Nazis. Surveys conducted in the late 1950s indicated that young Israelis did not sympathize with the victims of the Holocaust, since they believed that European Jews were “led like sheep for slaughter.” The Israeli educational curriculum began to shift the emphasis to documenting how Jews resisted their Nazi tormentors through “passive resistance” – retaining their human dignity in the most unbearable conditions – and by “active resistance,” fighting the Nazis in the ghettos and joining underground partisans who fought the Third Reich in its occupied countries.

 (Not plagarized Jew Stuff)

 The next day, the actual day of rememberance, at 10AM i went up to the roof to watch the siren that sounds.  Since the early 1960s, the sound of a siren on Yom Hashoah stops traffic and pedestrians throughout the State of Israel for two minutes of silence.  Every single person walking on the street freezes, cars pull over suddenly and the drivers and passengers all get out, and people in office buildings all go stand at their windows.  It’s absolutely incredible.  Quite different from our Memorial Day in the U.S.  All radio programs during this day are connected in one way or another with the Jewish destiny in World War II, including personal interviews with survivors. Restaurants, movie theaters, all stores, and even the kiosks are all closed.

4. Thursday, I was woken up my volunteer coordinator who received a copy of a new publication that I’m in called Zarim. The editor, whom I met a few weeks ago, put my article first, and included all of the pictures I submitted, and included an editor’s note about me and my experience here in Israel.  It was exciting news, not only to be in a brand new publication (I’m going to the launch party tonight), but also to have the first article. I also found out that I got into another magazine that I’ve been submitting articles to for a few weeks; they finally published me!  And, I had two articles in the main magazine that I’ve been writing for. A big week in the Jamie Swartz Foreign Literary World.  Wednesday I also had a meeting at the Filipino Embassy about the business class I’m teaching; and am currently looking for outside speakers to come and discuss starting one’s own business, being one’s own boss, and basically anything so that the students don’t have to listen to me the entire time.

5.  Thursday night, I started ulpan (Hebrew School) again.  Because its not a part of my program, it extra and out of the way, but I’m really excited about it.  My class is basically all adults from all over the world, and I’m the youngest by a couple years, which is nice. And, a lot of them read my publications! There are a handful of people from Singapore, Turkey, Germany, and Switzerland. And a woman from Australia who thought I looked familiar. Odd. So, school was great; I’m excited to learn some more.  It’s also about 2 miles away, which is a nice walk while it’s still relatively nice out. That’s about it… I’m going to the big magazine launch party, and tomorrow it’s back to my Nepali Women Voice Group.

 6. Due to the overwhelming response from my last email; I have been taking my camera more places, and do intend to send an album of more pictures around Tel Aviv.. As opposed to just the nightlife (Which I’ve been abstaining from due to said sickness for tose lazy’s that skipped portion #1 of this email). So, expect some real touristy pictures coming your way in the near future.

 Okay, over and out, have to get ready for the big magazine launch.  know those Thai’s are all bringing pens for me, the featured author’s
 autograph. I’ve been practicing for days.