Merry Christmas

5 reasons that it doesn't really feel like Christmas:

1. I have class tomorrow and will spend the majority of today (Christmas day) studying. So, Merry Christmas from the library!

2. Christmas music isn't playing ubiquitously...or even at all. I have to chose to listen to Christmas music rather than being surrounded by it non-stop for a month.

3. I just spent 8 days celebrating Chanukah which meant eating sufganiyot (donuts) and latkes (potato pancakes).

4. I haven't been stressing about what gifts to give people! Present buying is usually a stressful and unpleasant experience for me. That being said, I do love watching people open presents that I've given them.

5. People aren't happier or jollier. In Oklahoma people genuinely seem happier and more caring in December. There is a palpable difference in the air and I always liked that. The air hasn't changed here. Israelis are still Israelis.

Despite it not really feeling like Christmas here are 5 things that I really like about Christmas this year:

1. I spent a day down in Jaffa and found several Christmas trees!

2. Studying has been made more jolly and happy by listening to acoustic Christmas music!

3. As mentioned above, no stress regarding gift giving!

4. I got to help decorate these Christmas cookies!

5. I'm celebrating Christmas by having dinner with a friend with whom I lived when I spent my first Christmas outside of the States 12 years ago!

Interdisciplinary Seminar

Last week I talked a little about one of my classes and this week I'm going to tell you about another: Interdisciplinary Seminar.

This MA program aims at being very interdisciplinary and so our classes range from socio-psychological approaches to history of the Middle East all the way to Buddhism and mindfulness. Just to make it that much more interdisciplinary, they gave us an interdisciplinary seminar in which we organize the speakers. We can choose speakers from any field or perspective we want to hear from.

We've heard from a woman who worked with an NGO in South Sudan for the past 6 years, we've heard from a US diplomat, this week I think we're going to hear from an international business man.

Of course, sometimes, a speaker has to cancel at the very last minute so we end up watching an Israeli film about an aspect of the Israel-Lebanon war in '82. Where else could we watch such a film but in the "poofim" room (Hebrew for the bean bag room, Bean Bag Blessings).

The interdisciplinary seminar definitely qualifies as the most laid-back class that I'm taking this semester.

History of the Middle East

I'm currently taking 9 classes.
It is a bit overwhelming right now but thankfully the material is generally quite interesting!

So, what material am I learning?

One of my classes is 'history of the Middle East'. We've studied Islamic modernist apologetics regarding democracy, Pan-Arab Socialism, Islamism, Muslim Brothers, and some elements of radical Islam. We've switched our focus away from the Arab/Muslim side the last couple of weeks to look at Zionism and the creation of the state of Israel.

Yesterday we went on a field trip!

We visited the kibbutz of one of the founding fathers of Israel, the first prime minister, David Ben-Gurion. Apparently he is known for standing on his head? There is also a statue on the beach in Tel Aviv of Ben-Gurion standing on his head.

I wonder if George Washington ever stood on his head.

We also visited the largest bedouin settlement/city, Rahat. Bedouins are a minority group within the Arab community in Israel. Due to politics, stricter border control, and modernization bedouins have generally been forced to give up their nomadic lifestyles. There are around 70,000 bedouins living in Rahat today.

I asked one woman if they ever miss the tents. She said that they love going to their "summer home" (a tent) and that her father does miss the nomadic life. I also found it interesting that Rahat neighborhoods are divided by families or clans. They have encountered conflict due to sharing the same space with different clans. As they build new neighborhoods in Rahat they are hoping to mix the clans in order to develop a more integrated city.

We also took a slight detour to visit Mitzpe Ramon - a massive depression in the Negev desert and a beautiful lookout point.

I'll try and give you guys a brief synopsis of my other classes in the coming weeks!

Trip to Ramla

One of the beautiful things about Israel is the coexistence of modernity and the ancient world. For instance, Ramla is a town which was founded sometime in the 8th century. The ruins of a mosque from that same century are still lying around with modern buildings just beyond them.

A couple hundred years after this mosque was built a large tower was constructed next to it. While the mosque was destroyed in an earthquake hundreds of years ago, the tower still stands and you can climb the circling staircase all the way to the top (which is the point from which the above picture was taken).

Ramla also offers an underground boating experience which was delightful and unexpected. There is an aquaduct that runs from the mountains (maybe around Jerusalem area) to Ramla. In the first picture above you can see stone square holes in the ground, these are shafts to this aquaduct. The aquaduct continues to the "Pool of Arches".

Shortly after arriving, my friend Miranda and I were the only ones left (Miranda also writes a blog, if you want to check it out you can at A Year in Israel). We canoed around and around the arches. At one point I tried to spin us in place between them. It worked for a couple of circles before I started hitting the pillars. This quickly became one of my favorite places in Israel.

It happened to be Sunday when we visited Ramla so we stopped in at a Franciscan church service which was being held in Arabic!

We finished the day by visiting the local outdoor market, my favorite way to shop for groceries. 

I'm going to feel like a tourism advertisement as I conclude this post because I'm still blown away by the fact that I was able to have such a wonderful day trip for under $10!