Sashita's ISRAEL Blog

Hiking the explosive Golan Heights

Last weekend we went on an two day hiking trip to the Golan Heights.

A little history:

The Golan Heights remains a highly contested area of land on the border of Syria and Israel. Two-thirds of the area is currently governed by Israel. Most international organizations and large powers (including U.S.) consider the Golan Heights to be territory occupied by Israel and not part of Israel proper. Israel has controlled most of the Golan since the Six Day War in 1967. The outcome of the 6 Day War between Arab Nations and Israel is just one of the many examples of divergent narratives in the area. In this war, Israel struck first. Therefore, Syria argues that Israel was (and is) a clear aggressor. Israel, on the other hand, claims that the strike was preemptive, as an Arab attack was inevitable. In any event, the Golan Heights, whether ‘occupied’ or ‘rightfully annexed’, serve as a vital strategic barrier between Israel and Syria. The area also provides a rich terrain for long and difficult hikes.

We hiked 7 hours, two days in a row, slept in the open air, bathed in mountain waterfalls and brewed thick Arabic coffee on the fire.

  It was nearly 50 degrees C =120 degrees F  Rare pools of water Swimming in natural pool: COLD! Everywhere, there are still landmines left over from the 6 Day war. They are barb-wired off. Israel claims that the Syrian army planted the bombs. Syrians claim that Israel did.  40 hikers cooking dinner. MEAT! Hand making and ‘grilling’ pita bread This rock fell onto the branches of the tree, and over the decades, as the tree grew, the rock was literally lifted off the ground.  Hikers’ ART. The bubble gum memorial!

Hebrew is Damn Tough!

Haifa is in the North

Classes have started. I am learning the Hebrew alphabet and two words: SUPER HARD! I don’t remember the last time when I was not at all familiar with the characters of a language. The Arabic alphabet now feels like native…so its hard to deal with the ‘trauma’ of piecing together these various letters, complete with various dots and hooks. Hebrew has 22 letters…but each letter is written differently: one way for script and one for print. So in all…it feels like 44! Writing out the letters feels like navigating a winding, slippery mountain path. One wrong move, and all is lost. Nonetheless, I now learned how to write my own name and I am able to fluently read exactly one word: Haifa!

I went SALSA dancing for the first time witha  group of International students. What can i say…salsa in Haifa leaves much to be desired. As far as I can tell, there are two main groups that dominate the teaching “market”- “Latin Beat” and, the name i like, “Clear Mind.”  The “Clear Mind”-ers look like a paramilitary unit, with their dance sneakers and black t-shirts with matching logos. From what I saw, they have a tough time staying on beat and often confuse the ONE and the FIVE.

Nonetheless, they do not lack pride in ther art. For those who know, Alex “Liquid Silver,” an legend of the salsa world, has come to Haifa twice with workshops. This is what one guy called “training UNDER” Alex..)…

My friend Julia and I were standing by the bar and talking. An older guy asked her to dance. She said ‘no.’  He turned to me, and I also declined. We were tired. Then one of the “t-shirts” looked at us and said: “If I asked you to dance and you said ‘no,’ I would just lift you off your chair and make you!” To this, in a lighthearted manner, I tried to explain that ‘No” means NO. The “t-shirt” looked at me like i was an idiot, leaned in raising his voice and pronounced: “YES, but I am a COACH, you SEE!” all the while pointing at the logo of his chest. I guess even without the mastery of dance, Haifa salseros do not lack self -assurance.

But, to end on a positive salsa note, a couple salseros do drive to Tel Aviv every 2-3 weeks specifically to dance. Thats where the real stuff is! So, I got some numbers and was invited to tag along in the next couple weeks. Hurray for networking!

Anyway, this is my sketch for now. This weekend I am going on a 2-day hike in the Golan heights, complete with waterfalls, sleeping in tents and swimming across some impenetrable parts of the trail….

And to finish…this first week has been tough, mostly because of having to settle countless practical details. I also miss a couple people very much and feel a bit of an empty space. Having said that…I really feel that I am in an absolutely right place for me right now. No matter how hard, be it practically or emotionally, I know that I am meant to be here at this point in my life. That gives me strength. I can only describe my general attitude to everything as “zen.” I go about as if guided.

This fills me with confidence.

Success: I bought a TOWEL!

ah yes, when traveling for a long time one does not have a choice but to abandon the habitual comforts of home.

So far I’ve been busy trying to piece together my little existence. Getting money out of the ATM, buying food, getting a cell phone…all building blocks of life.

Language-wise this has so far been TOO EASY! i don’t speak ANY Hebrew – so its not an option. Threfore, there have been no botched attempts at communication. That makes it easy. Also, I cannot yet tell who in this country is Arab and who is Jewish. If I were to make a mistake and address an Israeli Jew in Arabic… I would probably be cursed out. Consequently, I do not use my Arabic.

However, i do speak Russian. And EVERYONE in this country is RUSSIAN! I was at the beach and did not have sunscreen. I knew that i needed to protect my pale Minnesotan limbs, so i went on a search. Walking, looking: no sunscreen stands. I approached two ladies under a tree…two very obviously Russian women (you can always tell by the burnt orange or off-purple color of their dyed hair..).  I said hi, asked where I can buy sunscreen. They told me that I would not find it, but welcomed me to used theirs (“beri nash, krasavitsa)”. Hence: Easy.

Communication with Russians here opens many doors. Even though many of them have lived here for decades, you still feel the lingering air of meeting a fellow immigrant. They still largely exist as a separate cultural community within greater Israel. Therefore, as any of you who travelled will know, the sound of common speech immediately brings an air of familiarity and warmth into the conversation. Therefore: taxi drivers give me lower rates, women at shops advise on which yogurt is best, people give me directions more readily.

Most of these Russian-Jewish immigrants speak Hebrew…some do not. Some have asked me, why do some Russian immigrants find it o.k. to find refuge in Israel, yet forego learning the language?! The reason is this: many of them escaped from the Soviet Union (and later Russia), and had to completely remake themselves. These were doctors, engineers, professors, who by immigrating, gave up their home, their careers and status in society. These highly educated professionals took jobs as street sweepers, store clerks, construction workers. At the age of 30-40 they had to completely remake themselves. By middle age, one usually expects to start reaping the benefits of hard work done in their twenties and thirties. Conversely, these immigrants had to get additional aducation, live in poverty, struggle, survive. And they made it! And therefore, many, i think, feel that they have already proven themselves beyond a reasonable doubt, and therefore learning the language is not a priority.

HELLO / SHALOM / ZDRASTVUITE / MARHABA

ahhhhh...........

Talia Dormitories from the outside

These are the four languages I have so far spoken in Isral. English/Hebrew/Russian/ Arabic.

Flight was ok, except i sat next to a weirdo. The flight from Philly to Tel Aviv (“hill of the spring” in translation i found out..) was 10.5 hours. He was sitting up in his puffy jacket, the whole time, his ticket in his left hand and his passport in his right…staring, blankly…at the dark tv screen in front of him….
 
I landed ok. Our family friend Sasha picked me up. We drove around for 3 hours, got to his house, had a great dinner with his wife and daughter. I asked them all sorts of questions. I was welcomed like family…how lucky! Then next day i hung out with their Russian-Jewish friends. All old folks….it was kind of funny, i was the only youngin. We went to a “woodsy” area up on a hill in Haifa, watched the sunset, grilled chicken, drank wine. Was good…except finally my jetlag got the best of me and i passed out on a lawnchair.
 
Now is my first day in the dorm. My apartment of 6 is still empty. I think this means that i’ll be living with all israelis…cause their classes start a week later than ours (international students). I met a couple people. 

Common Area

Its a holiday today, so a couple girls (one from Estonia, and another Ukranian from Germany) went to the beach. I have forgotten what sea water tastes like..its salty. And so clean…and soothing.

 
I still have this feeling of being in  purgatory…i haven’t taken a bus yet, haven’t really been around Haifa at all. Don’t know anything, dont speak Hebrew, dont feel self-sufficient. But….that will come. Oh, and i still dont know how to turn on the hot water in my dorm room….that kinda sucks…..

Aside from that, today filled me with an incredible sense of peace. Maybe it was  just the sea water……or maybe it is the contrast to my hectic departure….but maybe its being surrounded by multi-lingual, multi-cultural, multi-uknown people and customs….whatever it is…I hope it lasts.

And last reflections as I finish: my challenge to myself is not to loose sight of my daily experiences, to appreciate the small successes (getting hot water in the dorm) and take pride in learning new words or facts. My challenge is not to become overwhelmed by the foreignness around me. To keep my head above water and regard my experiences at an arm-lengh…as temporal occurences that will shape me…but which do not have to smother me.

Its now time to take a cold shower.

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