My (second) Winter Break

I'm going to try to make this post concise, as fitting a whole week into a single post is a daunting task. The photos from my trip are here. (EMBEDDED PICTURES TO COME)

While most American college students have to settle for a measly single winter break, the Institute for American Universities believes that their students should have TWO winter breaks. So having already spent a month on break in Pittsburgh, and having only spent three weeks in classes in Aix, I spent a week-long vacation in Israel. The "real" reason for the vacation is that the end of February marks a vacation period for the French, and in the spirit of experiencing the full French lifestyle, this wondrous policy trickled-down to us lowly Americans.

My flight was scheduled to leave Marseille at 7 A.M. on the Friday before break. The only problem was that the airport is a 30 minute bus ride from Aix, and the first bus doesn't run until 4:40. On top of that, the bus station is a 30 minute walk from our apartment, and I didn't feel like asking Dominique to drive me. So I had decided to take the last bus out of Aix Thursday night, and sleep at the airport. Unfortunately, that week I came down with a monster of a cold. The combination of not sleeping in Madrid and the sudden change to rainy days hit me hard. Feeling miserable, I asked Dominique and she amazingly agreed to drive me to the bus station for the first bus. As it turns out, I need not have been worried about time. The airport was relatively empty, and it took me less than 20 minutes to get from the front doors of the airport to my gate. The flight was uneventful, and upon arriving in Tel Aviv I took a taxi to my friend Davida's apartment where I spent Shabbos sleeping on a most uncomfortable mattress.

Aside from Friday night which we spent going to a barbecue and a bar, I only had Saturday in Tel Aviv. We ended up doing what was probably the best thing for my cold: going to the beach with a group from Davida's program. It was 80 degrees and sunny out, and a perfect day for the beach. After eating some delicious shawarma, I laid out in the sun and took what may be one of my all-time favorite naps. When I woke up, my cold was completely gone. We spent the rest of the day relaxing at the beach, playing backgammon, paddle ball, and listening to people play guitar.

The next day (Sunday) I woke up early and took the bus to Jerusalem. Finding my way was relatively uneventful, and Bubbie's (my grandmother) instructions proved to be detailed and accurate. After arriving at her apartment, we spent the next several hours talking and playing cards. It was so nice getting to spend time with her, as I hadn't seen her in over three years! We got falaffel for dinner, and I can't even begin to describe how good Israeli falaffel is. So I won't. The next day I made my way (with great difficulty) to my aunt's house where I got to spend several hours playing with my cousin's infant daughter, Devorah. The combination of seeing my aunt for the first time in 3 years, and getting to play with an adorable baby made for a great day, which was capped off by getting to have dinner with the rest of the family.

After taking his sweet time to get there, my dad finally showed up on Monday night (lazy bum). We did some relaxing sightseeing together, toured our old neighborhood, and went to an incredible stalactite/stalagmite cave. Hidden for thousands of years, this cave was uncovered years ago during a routine mining blast, and exposed to the world breathtakingly intricate marvels. Despite there being a group of a million loud seven year-old girls in the cave with us, it was a good experience. Afterwards, we visited a national park that is home to a fortified Crusader farm house.

The highlight of the trip, and the reason we went, was the wedding of my cousin on Wednesday. If you haven't been to an Israeli religious wedding, it's quite the experience. This was my third such wedding, but it's always a bit overwhelming. The actual ceremony only takes about 15 minutes, after which follows 4 hours of food (a LOT of food), music, and (most importantly) DANCING. It's a crazy time, during which it's customary for people to try to entertain the bride and groom. This is exhibited through juggling, lighting hats on fire, silly masks, and a miniature hot air balloon. All of this was going on while I was trying to catch up with family members I hadn't seen in years (some of whom I'd never met), but all in all it was an amazing night.

The next day dad and I spent the day in the Old City of Jerusalem, walking around and re-experiencing all the sights, sounds, and smells. My favorite part was going to the new Aish HaTorah building (where my uncle works) which is right next to the Western Wall and the Dome of the Rock. I'm convinced that the roof of the Aish building has the most spectacular and unobstructed view of these two holy sites in the entire city. It was an amazing sight, and I couldn't stop taking pictures. That afternoon I met up with one of my closest camp friends, Rayna, right outside the old city. Rayna is currently in the Israeli army, and is in a special canine unit. We spent the day walking around, catching up, and having dinner at a restaurant near the infamous Ben Yehuda Street.

On Friday, Dad and Bubbie and I went to tour the Ayalon Institute. In the years leading up to Israeli independence, the Israelis were fighting a sort of war of independence against the British. The precursor to the Israeli military, the Haganah, had established an underground system of manufacturing weapons piece by piece, but were constantly low on ammunition. They decided to create a Kibbutz whose sole purpose would be to serve as a bullet factory. Hidden under the laundry room, 40 Israeli youth working for 4 years, making millions of bullets that aided in the fight for the liberation of what was then British-mandated Palestine. The factory has been kept as a museum, and it was a very surreal experience descending into the depths of the factory.

The entire extended family spent Shabbos in my uncle's town, Kiryat Sefer. I spent most of the day sleeping (5 hour nap), but the rest of it was spent praying, eating (a lot of eating), listening to speeches (a LOT of speeches, none of which I could understand) and playing with my adorable little cousins. It was a relaxing day, as Shabbos should be, and I was sad when it was time to leave on Sunday.

The post should end here, but it doesn't because my voyage home was terrible. To begin with, the Tel Aviv airport is one of the slowest airports I've ever been to. We had to wait through a line to get our check-in bags X-rayed before even getting to check-in. The check-in line was moving at a snail's pace, but I finally made it to the counter. The agent asked if I wanted a window or aisle seat, but then smashed my hopes against the rocky shores of reality by informing me that there were only middle seats available. However, it turned out there weren't ANY seats available, and she explained that they needed to open more seats up. However, there seemed to be a light at the end of the tunnel, as she informed me that I would be traveling business class! This also proved to be a tease, as when I got on the plane everything made sense. The business class aisles were exactly the same as the rest of the plane: two aisles of 3 seats each. However, in business class there was an armrest inserted in the middle seat, giving the aisle and window seats room to spread out. However, they had taken out the armrest in my seat (hence the "opening up new seats"), and my "business class" seat was really just a middle seat in the front of the plane. Our plane was 40 minutes late departing, which made me nervous as my connection in Paris was only an hour to begin with! This led to me hustling through Charles De Gaulle Airport in Paris, and making my flight to Marseille. Unfortunately (but not surprisingly) my bag did not make it. After getting back to Aix I took a 2 hour nap, and was woken up by my phone ringing. Air France was outside, having driven my bag from the airport in Marseille to my doorstep in Aix-en-Provence. Tout est bien qui finit bien!

All in all, my trip to Israel was a refreshing change of pace from my previous travels. Being alone with family was a pleasant experience, and I enjoying not having to deal with the hectic pressures of standard tourist traveling. It was a relaxing week full of family, fun, and good food. With that being said, I was happy (as always) to return to the comfort of Aix, to see my friends, and to be able to speak the local language.