Shabbaton and Whitney Departure

Friday Morning I woke up early, and cooked breakfast.  My peers going to the Shabbaton mostly got up as well, and left.  I had decided that four hours of Aliyah fair was not for me.  Stephanie, Judita and I ended up taking the train from Ramla to within a few kilometers from the Hostel and then a taxi.  Once there, we were lightly berated for missing the morning - as if the women telling us how bad of us it was to come late was going to change anything.  I meandered in, and discovered that none of it was really applicable anyway.  I already have set up an Israeli bank account - not daunting.  I also already set up an israeli cell phone plan and got onto a special student rate - also not daunting.  They talked about these as the major challenges when making Aliyah.  It quickly became clear that this was not the information I wanted, with most of the focus on softer stories and facts.  I found it to be typically circumstantial, and not relating to the general population, and so I took many opportunities to read my book and catch up with people.  I wasn't feeling 100 per cent, so I also took some naps, which improved things drastically.  One of my roommates was shomer shabbos, so we left one light on for the time in the bathroom, and worked off of that.

We arrived in time for lunch, and then after one lecture, dinner was served with a brief period between for Shabbat preparations.  I have learned after going to a few of these things, and so I brought two loaves of Challah with me, and some real wine and olives for the evening.  Ours was a very popular table - and for Hamotzi we were suddenly surrounded by many more people than seats.  We washed, said Hamotzi, and then ate.  Food was good.

Finally, there was a talk on specifics of Aliyah, which was going well, until everyone started asking very specific questions about Ulpan.  We basically ended on that note with a brief mention that there are benefits for university study and a few other things.  I remained hungry for knowledge.  Before third meal I was able to grab the speaker, I had three questions about making Aliyah.  I got one and a half answered before his wife called for him, saying that someone needed to watch their young son old while she grabbed food.  He was working his way through chocolate cake, and he seemed to be doing fine with most getting into the mouth, not around it (my recent track record on this matter is not nearly as good as some can recall).  But, I lost his attention.  End of conversation.  GRRR.

Before that though we had a comedy show from Benji Lovitt (What War Zone is his well known blog) and he is my group leader for the BFL seminar.  Opening joke, and someone interrupts him with a random unrelated question.  He transitions to a different joke / comment about how only in israel and with jews would they interrupt you in the middle of a joke.  He continues, and things are funny.  My favorite though was his story about Israeli Taboo.  Card comes up, Europe.  What type of words do you expect on the back: country, northern hemisphere, continent.  Nope, starts with Holocaust.  Do you think this country still holds a grudge he asks rhetorically?

I went to the closing session before havdallah, and in typical MASA fashion, cards were layed out, question posed, and we answered.  How do we feel about the weekend, how do we feel about our aliyah journey.  When it came to me I picked up hungry.  I am hungry for knowledge I explained, I wanted a complex discussion regarding the nuances of making aliyah, the benefits and detriments so that if the question ever arises, I can make an informed decision.  I enjoyed the stories, I really enjoyed the comedy show, as always I enjoyed seeing friends such as Aviva, but the speakers spoke mostly of personal experiences, and the technical details given behind the assistance provided: elementary in my opinion.  And your other card, I was asked.  I smiled and said, I am going to leave it face down, because I don't know where I am.  I am merely collecting information at this point, but I haven't really entertained the question of making Aliyah in a serious fashion.

Time to go home, except that MASA didn't tell us that they wouldn't be providing transportation back to the central bus station.  This angered many, I didn't really mind either way.  So, I tried to arrange a sherut with the seven of us and two Ness Ziona kids.  It failed when everyone kept changing their mind.  Eventually, I decided that I wasn't going to be a part of this group think process (hedge fund mentality -> group think = group stink) and went outside to get some fresh air and make a plan.  There was a tour bus, and so I asked after a while where it was going.  Private I was told, but going to Ramla and somewhere else.  I was delighted, and decided to wait for the group to arrive.  I asked the first person about joining them, mentioning I was a volunteer in the schools.  They welcomed me, and stephanie and Judita who also came out late.  The others walked off to find some distant bus station.  We quickly arrived back in Ramla, dropped off very close to our apartment.

When I arrived back, Whitney was packing having returned from the desert, where she had run into Jonathan (argentine) and his friend.  She told me that Mizpe Ramon was lovely and I should try to get down there as soon as possible.  I asked her a small favor which backfired, and I feel terrible about it, for her to bring some things for Nicole back.

I took her to the airport this morning, leaving at 6.  We had trouble finding a taxi, but eventually arrived.  They wouldn't let me into the check in area this time, and so I had to wait on the side.  She was flagged for being very late to the flight, and me along didn't help I imagine.  Half hour at least of looking through her bags, explosive residue tests, everything but a cavity search.  It was so extensive that at the end they declared her clean, and took her around security, bypassing everything else.  They even came and talked to me briefly.

I had an interesting conversation though, I was chatting with the guard near the exit part of check in while waiting for her luggage search to finish.  He asked where I was living in Israel, and I mentioned Ramla.  Ramla is known for having thousands of volunteers of all faiths.  He told me he also was from Ramla, and we compared notes on the best Schawarma place.  Then he asked what I do, Volunteer, I said.  Because you feel good about your work and because you want to give back he asked, I said that was a part of it.  You must be Jewish he declared.  Apparently, in this man's view - only jews give out of kindness.  What a skewed perception of the world.  We spoke more and he expressed a desire to live in New York, provided all his friends could come.  It was interesting, but I was glad when Whitney came out.  They escorted her towards security where we parted ways, and I wished her safe travels.

I just caught the train which came to Lod, where I got on a sherut which ended up going all the way through Lod and then back through Ramla to my address.  The anology being the desire to travel on a clock from 12 to 10, but instead of going counter clockwise which would be efficient, we went clockwise.  The driver was very confused why I didn't get off the sherut for so long.

Returned home, where I made Shakshouka.  Jael and Izy awoke, so I made them breakfast as well.  I did a side of hashbrowns and we shared some white bread.  After, Jael made us all cuban coffee and Izy took care of dishes and I wrote this blog.

Ahva school this morning with Jeff, plans for later today remain unclear.  I intend to spend some time at the library though working on hebrew and adding some israeli music to my collection.