Temporary Exodus
Trip Start
Jan 15, 2006
1
7
11
Trip End
Jun 2006
Jerusalem,
Israel
Thursday, March 23, 2006
On the 22nd of the second month, the final day of Ulpan arrived and with it came a final exam. The test was fine and contained an amusing text about one man and his dog on which we had to answer questions. Sadly, it was only a few days after the end of Ulpan that the Wing Commander grabbed his wings and departed for a far off land known as New Zealand. He shall be missed. After the final exam, all my friends here split up and went to dwell in various parts of the area for a four day break. I went up to a Kibbutz near Haifa to stay with family. They took me to a snow park up a mountain. I went on a ski lift right to the peak of one mountain, where the view was stunning. I also went on a bobsleigh type ride which you control the speed of by using breaks or no breaks. Other notable news from the Kibbutz was that a giant wolf of a dog attacked me. I had always wondered what I'd do if a huge dog did that and now I know - I ran away. I couldn't really kick it in the head or anything - it was someone's pet.
After returning from the Haifa region, it came to pass that I went up to the fourth floor of the International School to get my Ulpan result. 90%. Job done.
Since arriving here I have become an even bigger fan of humous than I ever could have imagined. What I've noticed is that humous is not just an Israeli delicacy or a traditional dish, but a diet staple. People pop down to the shops to buy milk, eggs and humous. Anyway, we have definately indulged in eating loads of humous. Infact, Jacob the Brit of Cambridge single handedly eats several litres of humous a week. Due to his outstanding achievements in dip eating, I have renamed him and he shall be known henceforth in this blog as MAXIMUM HUMOUS. On the subject of nicknames, I am considering calling Nick Farmer Giles from now on...something to think about.
Now the semester has well and truly stated and most days I go to lessons mainly on Israeli politics, but also some on classical Jewish texts which are very interesting. I'm not going to bore you with the details of that so I'll tell you about a friz-bee game we played. Gabe, Evan, Avi, Adina (all from North America) and I were walking to a local sports field to throw a friz-bee around. On the way we heard a couple of shots go off. We turned around and legged it. So we played in one of the dorm car parks. The funny part was when I wasn't watching and was hit in the back of the head by the friz-bee. Yes, it hurt. Yes, everyone else laughed. I did not find it funny.
Before departing to England, I stayed at my cousin Zoe's in Tel-Aviv which meant I didn't have to get up at three in the morning to get to the airport. I arrived at Zoe's mid afternoon, thus she was out. I decided to go for a walk and explore Tel-Aviv. I walked right into the centre of town and had a look around some of the really cool shops. I went into a huge guitar shop in the Dizengoff centre to check out the prices of various guitars, hoping they would be cheaper than at home. Alas, they were more expensive because they have to be imported further - although one of the salesmen tried to convince me otherwise and tried to sell me a nine hundred quid guitar. In Tel-Aviv there are millions of shwarma bars and although it was four in the afternoon and I'd only eaten lunch an hour before, I decided that as I was going to be away for a week and a bit, that I'd need, yes need for the sake of my well-being, a nice tasty shwarma. So I had one. The best one I've ever had in Israel in fact. I also decided that Tel-Aviv is great and I am definately going to spend some more time there.
It's good to be back! (in Israel that is)
Daniel
