Village Visit #1: Be'er Tuvya

I just got back from a 3 hour walk around Jerusalem. That's pretty much all I've done since I got here. Today I met a friend for shawarma downtown, after which we walked, well more like strolled, to the old city, wandered around there for a bit, then headed back. Three hours later I'm back in her apartment nice and relaxed on her couch, wanting really badly to take a nap, but that probably isn't the best thing for my jetlag.

It's already been two days since the first village visit, even though it feels like forever. On Tuesday January 5th, Becca Polivy (one of the organizers of Ultimate Peace here) along with two other volunteers and I drove to Be'er Tuvya Regional school which is on the Be'er Tuvya moshav. A moshav is kind of like a kibbutz, but not everything on a moshav is shared. In the past decade or so, kibbutzim and moshavim have started to look more and more alike, but that's not really important. Earlier on in the day I met up with Alanna, someone I used to work with at camp who is now here for her third year of Rabbinical school.

At 2:30 I walked over to Becca's house, met up with her, and then we walked to meet up with Jacki, another volunteer who lives in Natanya and is here working for Habonim Dror (a socialist labor zionist movement). We were picked up by the fourth volunteer, Jez, also part of Habonim Dror, I believe, who is from the UK. We arrived in Be'er Tuvya a little bit before 4 pm and found our way to the space where we would be running our program. It was a small sized gym, probably the size of a gym you'd find in an elementary school in the states. I was introduced to Inbal who works with the Peres Center for Peace, and another woman who is the Israeli coordinator on this side. There were 8 kids and one coach there. 7 of the 8 kids were girls, one boy, and I think about 4 of the 7 girls had been to Tel Aviv last April for Ultimate Peace in the Middle East. I knew this because I recognized one or two of them from the team I coached, which was pretty exciting. Jacki started off by talking a bit about Ultimate in Hebrew, although most of the kids already knew what she was talking about. There were two girls from the school who had never played before, but when we got them tossing, they all looked like naturals. It was great seeing the girls who play Basketball with the Peres center playing so hard and it looked like they were having a great time. We ran a bunch of drills with them, ending around 5:20, after which I got a chance to speak with Inbal about getting the opportunity to interview some of the kids and getting my written consent forms to them and their parents. Truthfully, that's the only thing I'm worried about dealing with and making sure happens. I have some more work to do on my IRB proposal and a few articles and books to read while I'm here, but there is definitely plenty of time to do that in the next few weeks.

After the program, we killed some time at a place called Bilu Junction, which was basically a pretty good sized mini mall, equipped with bungee jumping for kids and even a little ferris wheel thing. We got food and sat in a cafe that had wireless, which was nice because I got the chance to talk to a few people online. Around 8 we drove to Rishon Litzion to go to a frisbee practice with the local team there, The Holylanders. Yeah, I know. Great name, right? It was fantastic. I played frisbee from around 9 to 10:50. I'm glad I'm here for the month of January because it means I get to be outside and moving. I got a ride back to Tel Aviv and from there caught a bus to the Bus station in Jerusalem. I was exhausted by that time so I figure I'd just hop in a cab back to my friend's place. As I was telling the cab driver where I wanted to go, another guy came and said he was going to a place close to where i was going. We get in the cab, and start driving, and the guy starts telling the cab driver that he should take him first then swing back and drop me off. I was too exhausted to protest, so I just sat in the back and listened to the conversation upfront. I caught most of what they were saying. Long story short, I was in the cab for a lot longer than I should have been, but paid less than I would have because the guy gave me 25 shekels for a trip that cost 45 total. Actually, I probably would have paid 20 shekel either way. After the guy was dropped off, the cab driver turned to me and said, in hebrew, I thought you two were together when he first got in. I didn't agree to what he was saying. Riding alone is better. And all I could mutter was yes. I agree. I was really happy when I finally got out and made it to my friend's apartment by 12:30. Another late night, but it was a fantastic day.

Yesterday, I got up late and walked downtown by myself, walked through Ben Yahuda, up to the Shuk (the open market) and then headed back. The rest of my day consisted of a nap, hanging out and relaxing, and going to a local bar with one of my friend's housemates.

Things are going well. Relaxing mostly. Spending time outside. Hope the cold isn't too bad at home! Saturday I'm going to Tul Karum which is in the West Bank. I'm really excited!

There are a few things I'd like to do while I'm here, like spend two or three days in Tel Aviv and go to the beach, maybe even make it to Tzfat this time (a really cool ancient city), and just spend time walking around. It's nice being able to do research and relax at the same time.