My Summer in Israel

So I finally got around to finishing "The Israelis" and I think it is a really awesome text book. It really went in depth with a lot of relevant topics, including issues that I have run into. I found the whole book extremely relevant but there were a few parts that definitely spoke to me. They included the section on sexual relations and harassment, the conflicting cultures, and the Christian section. Living in Israel I have noticed that the way women are treated is completely different here as compared to the US. In Israel I feel that women are almost put up on pedestals, they are treated better by a lot of the society but at the same time there are limits in what they can do in this society. I’m not trying to say that ... read more

So on Tuesday I went to the Carmel Market and craft market to try and talk to some Taglit/Birthright groups. I went out with the other intern Josep and we took some flyers for the West Bank tour that Windows offers. It's a free tour that we offer to Taglit members (and any one else who wants to go) to educate people about the West Bank and the Palestinians and their living situation. It was awkward when I started as I didn't want to step on any toes or offend the people I was talking to. A lot of people that go on birth right are very biased in favor of Israel, not that its a bad thing, but it makes them reluctant sometimes to consider other points of view. The birth right tours are geared ... read more

So today I went to Jerusalem, because I love the city but also because I really wanted to visit Martin and Liz's internship. Martin really enjoys it and I think Liz is liking it more everyday. I really love Jerusalem and a small part of me is really sad that I didn't get placed there...but I'm also super happy that I got placed in Tel Aviv, as it is a very Western City and I don't feel a large sense of displacement living here. While I didn't find the internship too exciting I think that their mission and their goals are very admirable and very similar to Windows. Radio doesn't really do anything for me, unless it's a station that is playing the latest songs in Philadelphia. I talked with Liz mostly, although I did see ... read more

I loved Jordan. Maybe this isn't a completely accurate statement, as I only saw a select few areas of the country, but what I saw, I loved. I loved the Middle East before visiting and I love it even more now. Petra was beautiful and has so much history behind it. I wish we had had more time, I wanted to hike up to the monastray, but we had a large group with slow walkers so there wasn't enough time. The guide was excellent and gave us a lot of information. The Petra experience was just awesome. I also really loved Wadi Rum, I might even say it was better than Petra. The desert was beautiful and the landscapes were gorgeous. Not only that, but the jeep ride was fun! After working for a while, discussing ... read more

My internship supervisor just reduced her hours and I have to say it’s rather weird to go into work and not have here be there every day. In addition to the fact that she is my supervisor and usually the one to give me jobs, she’s also a friend and I miss being able to chat with her or go to lunch. She ended up getting a part time job at a hostel on the beach. I’m happy for her as it really seemed like the work at Windows was starting get to her. There are two types of work at Windows that I’ve noticed. One is tedious and bureaucratic, such as writing USAID reports (if I never see on of those reports again it will be too soon) or xeroxing financial information to send to ... read more

So today I went to Bethlehem and visited the Holy Land Trust. First I just want to say that I really love Bethlehem. It’s an awesome city, and I love the atmosphere. The people are so nice and friendly. The history behind the city is amazing. I wish that I didn’t live so far away so I could visit more often. It was awesome to see so much of the group again too. The guys from Ramallah were there along which was really great because I haven’t seen them since the first weekend they came to Tel Aviv. We all went to lunch at a great restaurant right off the Nativity Square. During lunch we talked to the supervisor from the Holy Land Trust. He told us why the organization was created and what they do. ... read more

So I went to Haifa yesterday and it was beautiful. I think that it is probably the most beautiful city I’ve seen so far in Israel. The whole city is built into the mountain ridges. It looks like the buildings are rising out of the sea when you look down at it from Mount Carmel. From what I saw, Haifa rises up around Mount Carmel from the port. On the south side of the ridge is the less affluent areas and a major cemetery. I took the train up around nine and arrived at ten. I visited the Stella Maris Carmelite Monastery and Church and the Baha’i Gardens. The Church was beautiful with a lot of history behind it. It was amazing to see some of the ruins from the Byzantine Church. What was also very ... read more

I’m not quite sure what to say for this post, other than I’ve gotten sick twice this week. It kinda sucked, for multiple reasons. First it’s not cool getting sick in another country when I’m trying to have fun and work. Second, it’s really hard to buy any type of over the counter medication when everything is in Hebrew. And I miss the US. Yea, there may be way too many Walgreen's but that means I don't have to look very hard to find one. One every 100 yards.... On Tuesday, I had some type of stomach bug/food poisoning so I had to skip out on my internship that day. I did tell Emily on the phone however that she could send me work at home and I would to it happily (as sitting in bed ... read more

I had an interesting conversation the other day with an Israeli. We were talking on the bus on Thursday (as the traffic gets all backed up because it is the start of the weekend) and had a lot of time to kill and got talking about sports. We talked about what sports we liked and I got a chance to gush about MLS and the Philadelphia Union and how American soccer is actually pretty good and is getting better and better all the time. I also mentioned how I was really sad that I ended up in Tel Aviv a week after the season ended here. He gave me a strange look and asked me which team I would have supported. I told him I didn’t know anything about the different teams but I often favor ... read more

So this is my long blog entry/short essay that Yehuda (my program director) said he wanted. It's a required part of the class. I figured I would post it here because it talks about my work in detail. I work at an organization called Windows: Channels for Communication. It is a non-profit organization that was started in Tel Aviv but now has chapters in America, France, and the UK. Technically the organization is also an NGO but the Tel Aviv chapter is only registered as an NGO in Israel and not America, the UK, or the West Bank. The mission of windows is to confront the barriers to dialogue between the multiple groups living in Israel, specifically the Palestinians and the Israelis. Windows focuses on trying to empower youth to challenge the status quo of the ... read more