It’s funny, when you’re updating your blog regularly, you have so much to say. And then as you’re busy, you think of a hundred things, but don’t make time to write it all down, then when you come back to it…you’ve got nothing. ;-)
I saw two great shows in Tel Aviv and Yafo during Pesach break. One was the Vocal People: http://voca-people.com/, and the other was a one-woman show by one of the other Fulbrighters here this year. It was great fun. They were both on Saturday (read: no/fewer buses and trains), so I had planned to head down on a sherut after the service at my congregation and plop myself down at a café to get some work done before her show that night…well, that didn’t happen. :-P Instead, my friend messaged me the night before and asked if I wanted to join him for the afternoon show of Voca People. A quick scan of the website, and the prospect of hanging out with one of my favorite friends here, and voila (how French ;-)), plans were changed. :)
So instead, I walked down to Hadar the next morning and hopped an earlier sherut southbound (they’re pretty unreliable, time-wise, so I gave myself plenty of wiggle room). As I was walking from the sherut route (that rhymes depending on your dialect ;-)) to the show, my friend called, and after some confusing figuring out where I was, where he was in his taxi, and where the show was, they picked me up along the way, and we arrived with plenty of time. Lovely. The show is about these aliens from planet Voca who have come to visit Earth, but have run out of fuel for the trip home. They need “energia” to return, which they harvest from the audience’s applause and whatnot, apparently. The plot is certainly not the point. It is reminiscent of the Blue Man Group, but the acting part is simply a frame for their outstanding acapella performance. I don’t know if it is the same every time or not, but there was a great medley of American rock through the decades, a tribute to movie music, and a run through of numerous classical genres, as well as a variety of other great pieces. They’re mostly in Tel Aviv, Italy, Spain, Paris, and New York, but if you have a chance to go, Go.
My friend had also brought some work to get done, so after the show we went in search of a cafe. We began walking in the general direction we wanted while we looked for a cab…and we walked, and walked, and walked…side note:
I noticed that my idea of “within walking distance” has drastically changed. I’ve always thought that people in countries other than the USA have a different idea of what is “close” – or at least people on the west coast, where everyone has a car. I was showing some people around Haifa and we were trying to decide to take a bus or to walk to our next destination, and I realized my first inclination was that it wasn’t very far, where we were going. Only about a 45-minute walk. And then I stopped in my tracks (in my thoughts, rather…my feet kept going) and realized the thought I’d just had was kind of insane. :-P The other day I was talking to a coworker about everything I want to get done in the one day I’ll be in southern California at the beginning of July, and I stopped again, and said, “Oh! I can drive there! I was thinking I’d be walking.” He asked how far it was, and I said, “Not far, maybe three miles, but if I'm driving it’ll only take a few minutes rather than the hour I was thinking it’d be.” Funny the change in paradigm. I’ll be interested to see what happens to it when I return stateside…
Anyway, eventually my friend and I found a sherut…to another sherut…eventually taking us to Rothschild Street (is it “street”?), where we sat down to do our work…and continued to talk. So, okay. Neither of us did any work that day, but we had fun, and got some fresh air, laughed a lot, and had some nice psychological/philosophical discussion that was good for the heart, and even got me to the night show on time. :) The Fulbrighter’s performance was excellent. She’d been telling us how it’s still a work in progress, but I thought it was well executed! And I met up with a couple other Fulbrighters, so we got to sit together and cheer and clap and laugh and sing, ready to fully support our friend; but she certainly didn’t need us, the audience was great. :)
I hadn’t seen them in a while, and it was good to catch up as we walked to and from the show. Two of us will be leaving next month, and we talked a bit about our process so far of being within the Two Month mark, our mixed emotions and how we’ve both been trading them off and on with a willful denial of the fact that our time here is ending. Our other friend is a post-doctorate and she’ll be staying here for two years total, so she is only halfway through her time. It was interesting to here her very different perspective on things, with so much more time ahead of her in Israel and with her project.
I had a funny moment that I had thought to blog about, but now can’t remember what I was going to say. Haha, it was something about how Old Jaffa reminded me of Disneyland that evening when I walked up to the clock tower (where I was meeting my friends). The other day, I also likened Jerusalem to Disneyland when I went to visit my friend last Monday. Something about going to a place that people from all around the world know about and spend tons of money to go see, and spend the whole day rushing around trying to fit everything in, and take it all in, and, and, and, that I go to, for, you know, lunch. The lighting in Old Yafo felt Disney-ish, too. Or maybe I just miss Soarin' and the Castle at night. :) I don't remember what all I was going to say about it. *shrug* When I have a thought to blog, but no time, I just hop on my computer and make a note of it. But then the time comes to elaborate, and all I have is three words and a vague memory…
I’ve noticed that many cashier attendants here have a strong preference to put your change on the counter, rather than in your hand. If you put your hand out clearly and early, they will put it in your hand, but there seems to be a clear preference toward the counter. I find it inconvenient to pick up each coin off a counter, and easier if they just put the coins in my palm, and then the bills. I tend to have more coins here than in the states, since 1, 5, and 10 shekels are coins, not bills…
I had a funny interaction with some of the other volunteers at Shema a few weeks ago. I can’t remember how it began, but they were talking about a crater in southern Israel, and trying to describe it to me. They thought there was another common word for Canyon, and were asking me for it. But I had no context, not even realizing we were talking about a geographic formation, and one of the main malls in Haifa has a name that plays on the Hebrew word “Kanyon” – a place of shopping, and is called Grand Kanyon. So they asked me how to say the word…which is where I entered the conversation.
“This place in the Negev. It’s a…oh, how do you say it in English? It’s like, um…the Grand Kanyon”
“Oh, like, a mall?”
“No, the GRAND KANYON.”
“You mean, like a shopping center?”
“No, no. Not the Grand Kanyon in Haifa, the one in…oh, I don’t know where it is. In America.”
“Kanyon. We have those in America. We call them ‘malls’. You know, like Makom Liknot?” (“A place to shop”)
Blank stare…gesture indicating a deep valley… “THE Grand Kanyon”
“OH!! In Arizona?!”
“YES!!!”
“Oh, the Grand Canyon!”
“Yes!”
“Oh, okay. So, now what about it?”
“What’s that called? In English.”
Blank stare…
“Um. A Canyon.”
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