Two Unforgettable Weeks

April 23, 2012

Five cities.  Two sunrises.  The Lowest Point on Earth.  One mud bath. Two Passover Seders.  Two rooftop hostel gardens.  A 5 a.m. mountain climb.  Seven long bus rides and one train ride.  Old friends and new friends.  Dancing across Israel.  Life advice from 71 year old Peggy, a dorm mate in a hostel in Jerusalem.  The best hummus in Israel.  The best hot chocolate in the world.  A literary café in Jerusalem. Spying on a wedding reception in Tel Aviv. Burning leavened bread in Be’er Sheva in preparation for Passover.  A shepherd with his flock next to the Sea of Galilee. Coming home to Haifa.

It is hard to know how to begin to describe my spring break.  Just as my friends and I thought as we were planning the trip, where do you begin a whirlwind tour of a country that has so much to offer?  All I know is I am convinced more than ever that studying in Israel was the right decision.  There are moments here that are hard and confusing, such as when I witnessed a young man hissing at an Israeli soldier in the Old City of Jerusalem. At times like these, I wonder what I have gotten myself into.  Who am I to be a cheerful, curious tourist when the reality of the situation in Israel is very serious for so many people?  But it is this confrontation with a human experience so different from my own that makes studying in Israel so incredible.

Another occasion in the past two weeks that showed me the high intensity of life in Israel was when my friend and I had Shabbat dinner with a lovely, generous Orthodox Jewish family in Jerusalem. They had an eighteen year old daughter named Shlomiya who was preparing to begin her army service in a few weeks.  Army service is mandatory in Israel, women serve for two years and men for three.  Observing Shlomiya and the mature, thoughtful way she spoke and acted throughout the evening, I thought of myself when I was eighteen, and how the most important thing on my mind was my next Spanish test.  Constantly living on edge, young Israelis must mature quickly as they are faced with challenges that never crossed the minds of me and my American friends as we were growing up.

I spent the majority of my break with my friends Emma and Heather, fellow international students who attend Brandeis University in the U.S.  I met Heather during the intensive Hebrew Ulpan at Haifa University at the beginning of the semester, but she is now doing a complete Hebrew immersion program at Ben Gurion University in Be’er Sheva, during which she is not permitted to speak in English.  To be completely honest, after the first day we spent together I did not have a very good attitude toward the situation.  What was I thinking, spending my spring break with someone I can’t even have a normal conversation with?  But within a couple of days, I was amazed by how Hebrew really started clicking for me.  I had always thought I learned almost exclusively from reading and writing, but I was proved wrong as I learned more from a few days of conversations than I had in weeks of classes.

This semester has held some challenges for Heather.  On top of the difficulties of having to speak Hebrew all the time, several weeks ago she had to run to the bomb shelter in her dorm several times as over ninety rockets were fired at Be’er Sheva from the Gaza Strip over the course of a few days.  She said the Israelis in the shelter with her would sit and count the booms as the Iron Dome, Israel’s missile defense system, destroyed many of the rockets in mid-air.

I accomplished a lot of bucket list items over break – climbing to see the sunrise on the desert mountain fortress of Masada where almost one thousand Jewish rebels committed mass suicide rather than be taken by the Roman army, floating effortlessly on the buoyant salty water of the Dead Sea, and seeing the sun rise over the Sea of Galilee and set over the Mediterranean in the same day.  Most importantly, though, I had a lot of time for reflection, and when new thoughts to ponder came my way I was able to soak them in, trying to expand my understanding of what it really means to live in Israel.

Sunrise over Masada

Standing on Masada

Sunrise over Sea of Galilee

Mud bath at Dead Sea

Leave a Comment » | Rebekah in Israel, Spring 2012 | Tagged: , , , , , , , | Permalink
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Waterfalls and a little bit of history

April 9, 2012

I just got back from an amazing weekend getaway in Kanchanaburi, Thailand.  Kanchanaburi is about two hours (by bus) northwest of Bangkok.  The city itself is quite small – it is most frequented by visitors on their way to Erawan Falls, but the city does boast its own attractions– for example, the Bridge over River Kwai, which we visited the morning we arrived.

The bridge was commissioned by the Japanese during World War II in order to secure a better supply route between Thailand and Burma.  The bridge was built by both local Thais and prisoners of war, thousands of whom died during its construction.  The bridge is primarily famous because of the movie “The Bridge over River Kwai.”  There is not much really to see– it is quite literally a bridge over a river–not too thrilling.

The rest of the day we saw two more sites: temple caves and a World War II allied cemetery. The temple was an incredible labyrinth of underground, natural caves–very claustrophobic at some points! Each cave contains a shrine or Buddha.  Near the caves, our tuktuk driver took us to see the most incredible view of Kanchanaburi – the beautiful river surrounded by greenery and mountains on either side.  The natural beauty in Thailand is magnificent, and that was particularly evident this trip.  After spending so much time in a city, it is refreshing to see a more rural side of the country.

Our last stop of the day was to an allied war cemetery, which serves as the resting place for many of the soldiers killed building the bridge.  It was actually quite intense walking around and seeing all the name plaques – reading the quote written on the headstone, each name and nationality engraved, and particularly reading the soldier’s age; most were between 20 and 25, around the same age as I am.  I have to admit after my four months in Thailand I don’t know that much about its role in World War II so this was certainly a glimpse into some of Thailand’s history.

The next day we made the trek to Erawan National Park, located two hours from Kanchanaburi.  We had no idea how incredibly beautiful the national park would be! We literally spent four and a half hours walking along a path through the jungle, passing waterfalls as we went.  There are seven primary waterfalls that make up the national park, though there are small ones spread throughout.  There were tons of people – both international and Thai – and like everyone else, we walked from one waterfall to another and jumped in whenever we couldn’t stand the heat anymore.  It was incredibly beautiful, and so nice and peaceful to spend an afternoon just walking through nature, and enjoying it.

The most intense part of the trek was the 7th waterfall – much less crowded than the others because not as many people make it that far up.  As we approached the waterfall, the friend I was with, Rebecca, pointed out the monkeys overhead.  We had seen signs throughout our trek warning us to be careful of the monkeys because they can be dangerous, but hadn’t actually seen any monkeys until this point.  They were adorable climbing all over the branches, a mother and her babies.  While we were swimming in the waterfall, however, a large monkey got a little too close for comfort and started hissing at anyone who came too close.  It then went over to someone’s backpack, unzipped it, and started pulling out every piece of clothing in there and flinging it to the side.  Just as we were leaving, Rebecca pulled out a bag of peanuts, and within .2 seconds, the monkey was right in front of her, looking threatening as ever, moving exactly as the peanuts moved.  Completely scared, Rebecca just threw the bag of peanuts at the monkey – as we hurried off, we looked back to see the monkey rip the bag of peanuts open, and one by one, pop peanuts into its mouth, as he sat on the ground looking for his next target.

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Reflection week

April 9, 2012

Hello everyone!  Period 4 is done, and now we have a one week break.  Most international students refer to this break as spring break, but at UCM, it’s known as reflection week.  It’s my understanding that reflection week was just implemented last semester. I decided to spend the first few days of my reflection week in Berlin, Germany.  My sorority sister is currently studying abroad in Copenhagen, Denmark, so we decided to meet up in Berlin and see all of the wonderful pieces of history in the city.

The first day we were there, we visited the Victory Column, the Brandenburg Gate, the Reichstag, and a monument dedicated to Atlas Shrugged and other mythological figures.  Below is a picture of the Victory Column.  My sister and I walked all 285 steps, and I must say, we were feeling the burn after the walk back down.

This next picture is of me with two “German soldiers” at the Brandenburg Gate.  Being at the Brandenburg Gate was a lot of fun; there was music and people everywhere.  As you can see in the picture, there were also people dressed up in a variety of costumes (most of them looking to earn money).  In my opinion, these two “soldiers” were by far the best dressed.

Being able to see the Reichstag in person was an experience that I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to explain.  Just knowing that I was at a building that, for a period of time, basically served as the headquarters for Hitler and the rest of Nazi Germany left me speechless.  This building is truly a part of Germany’s history and I felt privileged to be able to see it in person.

Seeing a version of Atlas and being able to recognize him as someone I’d learned about in school was a really good feeling.  Below is a picture of me and my sorority sister in front of Atlas, Sybil, and some others.

The next day of our trip, we visited the zoo, the aquarium, and of course, the infamous Berlin Wall.  The zoo and aquarium were both nice, but if I had to pick, I’d say the zoo was better, since it had a larger selection of animals and more variety.  Below is, in my opinion, one of the nicest pictures I took while at the zoo.

Last, but certainly not least, was our visit to what’s left of the Berlin wall, which for so long divided Germany into East and West.  I knew that if I didn’t do anything else while I was in Berlin, I couldn’t leave without seeing the remainder of the wall.  As I walked along both sides of the wall, I honestly couldn’t imagine that this wall, which is currently beautifully decorated by artwork, was a source of division. It was mind-boggling.  Non-tourists walked, biked, and drove past the wall without really looking at it, but for me, this was a piece of history that people will probably learn about forever and, once again, I just felt privileged to have been able to see this in person.  In the following picture you can see a glimpse of the wall from both the East and the West side.

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Barbados, Week 10: Life on Campus- UWI, Cavehill

April 6, 2012

A strange thing has happened in the beginning stages of my third month studying abroad:  I have begin to think of Barbados as my home.  The first two months of my study abroad experience were often a constant, ever-progressing comparison to how my life normally would be back home.  Yet now that all these irregularities, cultural differences, and lifestyle changes have been successfully synthesized into daily norms, something finally clicked.  I no longer wake up surprised to hear the boisterous beeps and buzzes of constant traffic directly outside my window, nor do I freak out if a scheduled event or bus is half an hour late…or an hour late, for that matter.  I’ve begun to compile a master playlist of island Soca, Dancehall, and Pop songs that I’ve heard enough times to sing in my sleep.  I’ve even caught myself looking at large groups of sunburnt tourists, fresh off the cruise ship, thinking “Here come the Americans…”

So after weeks of making everyone green with jealousy over tales of cross-island adventures and a weekend trip to St. Lucia, it is only fair that I also give everyone a taste of what it’s like 80% of my time in Barbados, on campus.  Put bluntly, University of Richmond’s (Virginia, United States) campus seems like Yellowstone National Park in comparison to Cave Hill.  UWI, Cave Hill has prime real estate at the top of a long hill overlooking the Caribbean, and no space is left wasted; One of the dorms connects to the cafeteria, which connects to the student guild, which connects to the health office, which connects to the bookstore.  While Americans like to number their classrooms in numerical order, classrooms at UWI have fun distinctions such as LT1, LR1, LH1 (lecture theater 1, etc).  After the first week of mistakenly stumbling into every room possible, I actually think i’ve probably been in more rooms than not on campus.  Students, for the most part, come to class on time and NEVER pack up before the professor is finished, even if class time is over.  I was amazed at this phenomenon, because American students are almost always packed up and ready to go at least five minutes before class is over.

Some things I love about school here?  My professors.  They are engaging, personable, and brilliant people whose work can be found in academic journals throughout the Caribbean.  Also, the cafeteria food.  Save for Oistins Fish Fry, one of the best fish steaks I’ve had all semester long came from none other than Cave Hill Campus Cafeteria.  It probably cost me less than US$5.

Some things I don’t love about school here?  The library. After getting used to one of the nation’s chillest, most comfortable libraries —  Boatwright Memorial Library at UR — the Cave Hill Campus Library just has a hard time stacking up.  While Boatwright not only lets you bring a day’s worth of food into the library for a studying marathon, it also lets you bring in your entire bag, making it easier to study for multiple subjects in one sitting.  Now, there’s nothing necessarily wrong with the Cave Hill Library, but it’s more of a no-nonsense establishment.  Wanna take your entire bag in?  Nope.  You turn in your bag for a card at the front entrance and then proceed to clumsily drop your 4 books, computer, calculator, and glasses as you’re somehow supposed to open the entrance door.  Wanna bring food and water in so your mind is properly fueled?  Nope. You can chug your water bottle outside and then throw it away before entering.  Would you like to borrow a book for an hour and then return it to the shelf?  Nope.  First, please fill out every single detail possible about the book before handing the slip to a library employee who will take twice as long as you would to find the book.  Then, wait patiently as they scan your card and stamp your info slip and give you back a copy.  It’s good to have physical memoirs to remind yourself that you did, indeed, study, in case you ever forget.

Sorry about the library rant, but it was a long time coming.  To tip the scales back in UWI’s favor, however, are the students.  I have the incredible opportunity to go to school with and talk to people from Barbados, St. Lucia, Dominica, Antigua, the Bahamas, Guyana, Belize, Trinidad, Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, and Canada.  Most Caribbean students I’ve met have displayed a cheerful, laid-back attitude and, like most other university students, are constantly laughing and looking to have fun.  It’s truly rare to find a loud, in your face, attention-craving student from the Caribbean, and most are very down to earth people.  I advise learning some Caribbean expressions and honing one’s listening skills, however, because understanding the different dialects has been one of my biggest challenges while abroad.  I can’t tell you how many times I’ve answered “Where are you from?” with “My name’s Ryan” or just “…yes…”.  I’m getting better at understanding the nuances of the Bajan dialect though, and may or may not have tried it out on a couple of occasions.

There’s probably another 1,000 words I could say about life on campus at The University of West Indies, but there’s no point in continuing to talk about the library.  Jokes aside, I moved up to join the Advanced Team in tennis last week, so I guess I can now say I’ve played tennis on the collegiate level?  Cross that one off the bucket list.  I’ll be taking some pics and giving you the lowdown on that next week, though, so stay tuned.

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Botswana – Mokoro!

April 2, 2012

Last week we had spring break, or what the locals would call “mid-time.” It was possibly one of the most amazing experiences that I have had! However, it wasn’t easy to maneuver around Botswana during the trip — especially the Delta!

We started off by stuffing ourselves into a 15-seater bus to the local bus station. There were about 30 of us. Needless to say, it wasn’t the most comfortable experience, but it did bring everyone closer together to sit 3 in one seat!

After packing into the next bus, we realized that it seated 60, but there were only 30 of us. So, we initially thought to ourselves, “Excellent! We can finally relax, lay back, and enjoy this 15 hour bus ride up to the Okavango.” We couldn’t have been more wrong: The bus stopped every 15-20 km to a new stop that always had at least 2-5 people entering the bus. Some of the windows did not open correctly, and others made strange noises; it was very uncomfortable.  The majority of the time, about 1/4 of the people were left without anywhere to sit, and had to stand the entire time. Yes, 15 hours of standing! Thankfully, we had very generous passengers and students offer their seats to others and interchange over time. I offered my seat to an elderly gentleman with a cane. He was more than grateful. Although the bus ride seems like somewhat of a drag, everyone still enjoyed themselves and I understood that this was more of a learning experience than anything else!

Finally, after arriving, we were quickly welcomed by other locals, goats roaming the streets, cows eating grass, and stray dogs looking for food. An interesting experience. We even had a few locals attempt to speak to us in their own version of English. It was very hard to understand them, but their smiles said enough about them and the wonderful country of Botswana. Soon afterwards, three large safari trucks pulled up, let us jump in the tour seats, and took us away to our campsite.

As we arrived, we noticed that the crew we had hired had completely done everything for us — from setting up the tents and our sleeping bags, to even making us a welcoming dinner with dessert! Due to our long 15-hour journey, we were exhausted and decided to stay in for the night at the campsite.

I woke up the next morning at 4am, with no shower, no combs, no mirrors, and only the ability to brush my teeth with a limited supply of water from a water bottle and my own toothpaste and toothbrush. I, and the others, did not realize how real and serious this trip really was. It was a reality check for us; we were in the Okavango Delta. The nature of Africa. Anything could go wrong at any time, and help is a 10-13 hour safari truck ride away. No KFC, Nando’s, or school food, nor showers or bathrooms.

Our guides drove us to a secluded, marshy area of the Delta. We thought to ourselves, “What in the world is this place, and why are we here?” We passed over 15-20 local Botswana who all had long sticks measuring at least 20 feet. Again, the same question of confusion came to our mind.

Our Guide, Mr. Costa:

As we pulled up and parked in the Bush, we noticed that the locals with long sticks were coming towards us. At first, we were fearful of what was going on, but then we realized that they are part of our tour; they were our water guides!

Before departure:

We quickly jumped into our Mokoros with our partners and our personal guides took us into the high water grasses. At first, it was amazing to be in the Okavango waters – where anything can happen in any second. However, we slowly realized that the Mokoro trip was 3 hours long, and none of us brought sunscreen, nor any way to cover up from the sun. We were as red as the sun after the first 30 minutes.

Although the trip was long, it was still amazingly beautiful and interesting. Our Mokoro guide was very knowledgeable and even showed us a few tricks of nature: how to make a flower necklace and leaf hat!

Everywhere we travelled in the Mokoro, we encountered beautiful white flowers growing out of the muddy and brown water. After an hour of gently streaming through, our guide leaned down into the water, took a drink (he advised us not to), and then pulled out the flower by the stem. Most of these flowers’ stems are around 3 feet long. He bit the bottom off, then started to peel one end of the skin from the bottom to the top of the flower and same for the other side, but also breaking the strong core of it each time. Then he tied the ends together and said to put it around our neck. We were trying to keep our body temperatures cool by stacking as many wet flower necklaces around ourselves as we could!

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Outside of the Classroom

April 2, 2012

One of the primary reasons I came to Bangkok was to be able to work with Step Ahead, an integrated community development organization that works in many capacities in Thailand.  Step Ahead’s work includes programs in one of the slums in Bangkok, called Khlong Toei.  There, Step Ahead runs a microfinance loan project, organizes sports activities for children, runs health clinics, and much more.  I, however, am primarily working with Step Ahead in a marketing capacity, helping them to market the products of their purse project.

The purse project is located in Pattaya, Thailand, where it is estimated (and this is a low estimation) that 25% of all residents are in some way involved in the sex industry.  Therefore, just by virtue of being born in Pattaya, residents are at risk for sexual exploitation.  Identifying this need, Step Ahead created Itsera, a brand of high-quality handmade bags, made by women in Pattaya.  This project was created as a prevention mechanism; the hope is that by earning a good wage making these bags, the women will be able to avoid the trap of sexual exploitation.

Despite being focused on marketing for Step Ahead, I had the chance to visit Khlong Toei last week.  It was so interesting to see where Step Ahead works, most of all because I spent last semester living and working on the edge of a slum in Kenya.  I could not help but make comparisons between the two in my mind.  To be honest, the slum that we saw here was much more permanent and formal compared to the slum in Kenya.  Most of the slum had paved roads weaving in and out, closed homes with roofs overhead, some people even living in permanent structures, most shacks having electricity and plumbing.  There are even a few small businesses that operate within the slum — for example, we walked by computers and washing machines, which residents can pay to use.  Not to say that Khlong Toei isn’t still very much a slum community, but it was certainly an interesting comparison to Kibera, in Kenya.

During our walk through the slum, we met one of Step Ahead’s clients, a single father with three children.  He has used a microfinance loan that he received from Step Ahead to run a chicken-foot business.  He sells chicken feet, which are a delicacy in Thailand.  School is not in session at the moment, so he and his three children were all sitting around and extracting the bones and nails from the chicken claws with the aim of selling them at the market.  It is refreshing to get a glimpse into the social issues that many Thai people are facing.  After a semester in Kenya where I only studied health and development, I have been craving that knowledge and interaction here.

Earlier this week, I was also able to attend a Needeed event.  Needeed is a new non-profit organization, which seeks to bring together professionals from the expatriate community here in Thailand.  The aim is to have organizations present at monthly meetings and identify volunteer opportunities within that organization. The hope is that expatriates with particular expertise would be able to fulfill those volunteer opportunities.

The meeting was really incredible…after the visiting organization presented, we had a brainstorm session — all 25 attendees.  It was almost magical to watch all of the ideas flying around – not only were there many nationalities in the room (Hungarian, American, Belgian, Australian, French, British), but there were also an incredible variety of different professional backgrounds represented.  There was a woman who had previously been involved in public policy, a nurse specializing in neonatal care, a psychologist doing her masters degree on post-partum depression and PTSD in Congolese refugees, a woman involved in the hospitality business – the list really goes on.  Most of these women are in Thailand because of their husbands’ jobs, and they are all well-educated and have a lot of experience in some professional capacity. Needeed seeks to bring together these untapped talents to make a difference for non-profits.  It truly is incredible to be able to not only experience another “side” of Thailand, but to meet so many fascinating people and explore potential career possibilities at the same time!

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Transported back in time…

April 2, 2012

I just came back from the most incredible trip to Myanmar (formerly Burma, but the United States chooses to use the name Burma as a political statement against the current Burmese government).  I have to admit, before arriving in Bangkok I was not at all aware of anything going on in Burma.  Nothing. Nada. Zilch. It was not until a dinner with friends in Bangkok, who are passionate about Burma, that I learned about the fascinating country and its political situation.  When you think of the world’s worst dictators, many of you may think of Kim Jong Il of North Korea, or Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, but did you know that Burma is one of the world’s worst dictatorships, responsible for some of the world’s worst human rights attrocities?  It is only in the past year that Myanmar has been creating better relationships with the West, and that the West has been easing some of the sanctions and boycotts against the country. But as many people told us, though progress undeniably has been made, in reality, things may not be so picture-perfect.

What really sparked my interest in this country, before my visit, was the story of Aung San Suu Kyi, depicted in the recently released film “The Lady.”  Suu Kyi is the leader of Burma’s opposition party.  Her father led Burma to freedom from Britain in 1947, only to be assassinated shortly after, leaving the country in the hands of a dictator.  Though she grew up in Burma, Aung San Suu Kyi later married an Englishman and had been living in England with her two children when she became the leader of the opposition party in Burma.  Though she claimed victory in a general election in 1990, the ruling party refused to accept the results and placed her under house arrest, where she spent 15 years, living away from her family in England and therefore sacrificing her life with her children and her husband.   Aung San Suu Kyi was released in 2010, and is a candidate in the Burmese parliamentary election to be held on April 1st.

Needless to say, this country is fascinating, and it is in the midst of one of its most critical times in history, so I definitely had to see this for myself.  On top of that, because Burma has literally been shut off from the world for so many years, we were told it was like going back in time to Asia 100 years ago.  Until recently, the Burmese did not have access to news from outside of Burma (purposefully controlled by the government).  A cell phone there costs around $1000, and the down payment for internet in your home is $2,000.  In most places outside of the capital, a “taxi” is a horse-drawn, or ox-drawn carriage.

Because we spent five very packed days around the country, I will give you the highlights of our trip:

1)     Yangon (formerly Rangoon, and formerly the capital of Myanmar).

There is not much to see in the city.  We spent only a few hours our first day, and a few hours our last day, exploring the Yangon.  Other than the Shwedagon Pagoda, an impressive and revered Buddhist religious symbol, there really wasn’t much to do.  The city is quite run down, and much less developed than Bangkok, understandably so.

2)     Kalaw

Kalaw is an incredible mountain town, which we reached through a 12-hour overnight bus from Yangon.  We arrived at 2am, with no hostel booked, and no plan at all – it didn’t take us long to find the “Winner Hotel,” but the temperature had dropped overnight, so it was freezing.  In Kalaw, we did a trek into the mountains with two tour guides who were both 21 years old, named GuGu and Chaw Su.  We spent the whole day wandering through the mountains – the trek was not difficult, which was fantastic, because it not only gave us a chance to talk with the girls and learn about their lives in Burma, but it also gave our guides a chance to stop and point out different plants and crops along the way.  It is truly incredible what is grown in the mountains there! We saw oranges, pears, raspberries, gooseberries, ginger, cabbage, papaya, banana, pineapple, and much more! We stopped in two villages and two monasteries along the way, each time having a chance to (through our guides) talk with the families we met, sit down for tea, ask them questions, and laugh with them.  It was truly fantastic to be able to talk and interact with native people in a non-touristy setting.

In Kalaw, we also had delicious food – a broad-bean, peanut, tomato, and onion salad, noodle soup, and curry.  While curry in Thailand is coconut milk-based, Burmese curry is largely oil based, so it was interesting to try the different foods.

3)     Inle Lake

Just a two-hour drive from Kalaw, Inle Lake is one of the most popular destinations for tourists.  Similar to Kalaw, the town itself is very small, and very primitive, boasting half-paved, half-mud streets lined with small hostels, small houses, and shacks.  We spent an entire day (8 hours) on a boat ride around Inle Lake.  It was one of those long “typical” Southeast Asian boats, propelled by a motor.  The lake is enormous, so it was a 2-hour boat ride to our first destination.  Throughout the day we made many stops, including: a shop where silk is produced, a shop where cigars are made, a delicious restaurant, a paper making shop, a silversmith, and a few more destinations. Inle Lake is entirely made up of small villages, comprised of houses and buildings, which are on stilts.  Therefore, to get to each new shop, we had to go by boat, which is how locals get around as well.  The post office, for example, is a small house on stilts in the middle of the water.  Surrounding the villages are also endless fields of rice and other crops.  So throughout our day we observed men and women working to harvest and plant their crops.  We were able to stay out on the lake for the sunset, which was absolutely magnificent.

Before our 15-hour bus back to Yangon from Inle Lake, we rented bikes and biked in the area, again surrounded by endless rice fields; I’ll let the pictures do the talking, because it was absolutely breathtaking!  I came back from the weekend completely happy and refreshed; though I was exhausted, it was refreshing to have seen such an untouched nation, and to have been able to experience another country  knowing so much of its history and current political issues.  Even more importantly, we were able to fully interact and speak with locals to hear their perspectives, and those moments are what made the trip so incredible.

Below are some photos from the trip:

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Tel Aviv Without a Plan

March 30, 2012

So far this semester, I have only been to Tel Aviv once, only for a weekend.  Many of the international students have gone several times to experience Tel Aviv’s vibrant night life, but that aspect of the city doesn’t have that much appeal to me.  So I hadn’t been aching to go, but when my friend Eva asked if I wanted to join her, I didn’t refuse.

A little background on Eva:  She was born in Hong Kong, lived part of her life in Texas, returned to Hong Kong, and now goes to college in the States.  Last semester, she did a Semester at Sea program, where she lived on a ship that traveled literally all the way around the world.  So, needless to say, she is a seasoned traveler. We chose a hostel with no problem, and planned our bus and train times for the trip. When we arrived in Tel Aviv on Thursday, we spent the day hanging out and touring Old Yafo with a couple other international students who were there for the day.  When we woke up Friday morning, I expected to carefully plan our day so that we would be able to visit all the museums and such that would be closed on Saturday.  So I started making suggestions of possible plans.

Me: “So, what do you think of checking out this Bible Museum, or going to the Art Museum to find the street festival the lady at the tourist counter mentioned yesterday?”

Eva: “Meh.  We’ll see what happens.”

Taken aback, I tried a couple more times to suggest plans, but each time, she refused to discuss them with me.  I was rather frustrated.  So we set out walking, really in no particular direction at all.  I wasn’t sure how to handle it at first, and the controlling side of me was rebelling at the thought of aimlessly wandering the city with no plan or goal in mind.  Finally I made up my mind to try my best to forget about a plan, and just go with the flow.  I guess really that was my only option anyway, as Eva had pretty much taken control of the situation.

So we continued wandering, and entirely by accident, we bumped into this really neat crafts market, with some really amazing handcrafted items made by the vendors.  There was a lady who made baskets with rolled up, painted newspaper, there were painters, jewelry makers, you name it.  It was really fun, and we ended up spending a couple hours just wandering around.  Eva also was determined to practice her basic phrases of Hebrew with every shop owner that would give her the time of day, and hilarity ensued.

After the market and a stop for some freshly made carrot juice, we continued our wandering and ended up at the beach, where we ended up hanging out and playing a strange form of tableless beach ping pong that is really popular on the Tel Aviv beach.  Then we explored a little more and met a couple friends for dinner that we had run into the day before.

That is how our weekend progressed, and once I was able to leave my comfort zone of carefully planning every step of the day, it turned out to be one of the most relaxed, enjoyable weekends of touring I have ever had.  The weather was beautiful, and the Tel Avivians were extremely helpful when we were standing on a street corner trying to figure out our map; on multiple occasions  people even stopped to ask us if we needed help.  I think if we had minutely planned the day, I would have been focused on our next destination in my mind, and I would not have noticed all the life going on around me.

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Standing on the Edge of the World

March 26, 2012

I’ve never before experienced a feeling quite like I did standing on the rim of a crater in the Negev desert this past weekend.  I felt all at once the vastness of the desert, my own comparative insignificance, and how incredibly blessed I was to be able to witness such amazing beauty.

We started our trip by leaving campus at 5:00 A.M. on Friday morning.  Driving south, we could see the diversity in Israel’s landscape as the lush green fields gave way to sand and rocks.  After a drive of about six hours, our bus left us at a trailhead on the side of the road, and we set off on our 8 kilometer (about 5 mile) hike.  We were about 75 students, plus 4 guides, two guards, and a medic.  At first, the hike was relatively flat and easy, although it was surprising cold and windy, and huge dark clouds threatened to rain on us.  Then we arrived at the edge of the Ramon crater.  The view was beyond spectacular.

We then had to pick our way down the steep descent, through the crater, then climb out the other side.  We all celebrated when we made it up the last stretch.  But alas, our rejoicing was premature – the bus had not been able to make it down the road to meet us, and we were going to have to walk another two miles!  At this point it was only our will that kept us going.  But finally we made it to the bus just as it started to rain. We then drove to the center of another crater, to the Bedouin camp where we would be spending the night.  We all pitched in and made a huge dinner of Israeli salad (chopped cucumbers, tomatoes, and onions), stir fry and rice, hamburgers and hot dogs, and of course, lots of pita.

Sleeping in the tent was quite an experience. I remember waking up in the middle of the night, and even though I was cozy in my sleeping bag, I felt how bitterly cold it was outside.  Waking up to the sun casting morning shadows across the crater, we set off on our second day of hiking.  This time we climbed up the edge of the crater and walked along the rim, and a couple of times, we had to climb rock scrambles where one slip could send you rolling down the edge of the crater.  At one point, there were even iron handles drilled into the rock; we knew when we saw those that this cliff meant business.  But we all made it through safe and sound, circling the rim of the crater around until we ended up back at our camp just before sunset.

We then set off for Eilat, where we stayed in a lovely hostel that fed us an amazing hot breakfast the next morning, which we were all incredibly grateful for.  On Sunday, we could either choose to stay at the beach or hike in the Eilat mountains to a peak where you can see Jordan, Egypt, and on a clear day, Saudi Arabia.  I chose the hike, even though I was pretty worn out from the past two days, and I was so glad I did!  Looking out over the Red Sea as it lay nestled in the midst of desert mountains was an exhilarating moment, to say the least.

It is really hard to describe in words how I felt throughout this weekend.  It was definitely the farthest I had ever been pushed physically, and the camaraderie the shared experience built within the international students was really great.  Passing each other on the way to class on Monday morning, we all knew not only how sore we were, but that the endless sweeping desert vistas we had seen together would be printed on our minds for the rest of our lives.

7 Comments | Rebekah in Israel, Spring 2012 | Tagged: , , , , , , , | Permalink
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Barbados, Week 6: Island Hopping in St. Lucia

March 16, 2012

When I see tall things in the distance, one thing pops into my head:  I must climb that.  I was perusing my sister’s photos of her own St. Lucia vacation when I stumbled upon the Pitons of St. Lucia.  Like a mismatched set of gigantic fangs, Gros and Petit Piton rise out of the Caribbean Sea on St Lucia’s west coast and are its most recognizable landmarks.  They are so important to St. Lucia, in fact, that they named their own indigenous beer, Piton, after them.

I flew into St. Lucia on a late afternoon REDjet flight on Friday, a flight all of twenty minutes, knowing only where my hotel was located and that it had balcony views of Petit Piton.  Unlike the United States, finding a cab is never an issue; they will find you, and quickly.  I knew the price was set at US$65 from Hewanorra Airport to Soufriere, so I got a kick out of my cab driver when he told me “It’s $75 but, for you, i’ll knock it down $65”.  So nice of him to charge me regular price!  But as the drive progressed and we began talking, and I learned that he goes by the name “Cow”, we bonded as much as a taxi driver and tourist can.  I learned that he owns 4 acres of banana trees as well as driving the taxi van 7 days a week, and that he has three daughters from four different wives.  That is one busy man, I thought to myself.

Cow offered to drive me to Gros Piton the next morning, but I would have to be ready by 6:00 a.m.  Of course one of the two nights I was in a spacious, comfy, air-conditioned hotel room I wouldn’t even be sleeping for more than five and a half hours!  Soufriere, however, is settled in between beautiful, lush mountainside opening up onto a quiet fishing bay, so when I woke up at 5:30 a.m. with light clouds rolling over the jagged mountaintops and the sun illuminating just enough detail, and it was definitely a sight worth seeing.  All I had to eat was a bag of peanuts that morning, with two water bottles packed for my climb, before my guide Shem and I began the ascent of Gros Piton just before 7:00 a.m.  It was a good thing we left so early, though, because even by the quarter mile mark, I had sweat pouring down my face while Shem had not even broken a sweat.  I guess that’s the difference between casually keeping in shape and hiking a 2,619 foot peak everyday.  The trail consisted, at first, of inclined packed dirt with a few areas of steep broken rock that would have to be navigated with use of all four limbs.  As the path hit the half-way mark and continued upwards it morphed into steeper switchbacks with crude earthen stairs and wooden railings nailed between especially steep sections.  If it had been just me, I would’ve taken my sweet time, but Shem was under the impression that a young man of my age was capable of going faster than I wanted, and thus I pretended to be hardly winded when we would stop for breaks.  With aching limbs, I reached the summit look-out point about an hour and ten minutes after we began, and there it hit me that it was completely merited to be so winded, because I was really, really high up.  The view was stunning:  You could see nearly the entire length of the island, with many of its uneven peaks shrouded in early morning clouds.  Soufriere was just a cluster of houses behind Petit Piton across the bay, and you could see numerous sailboats jetting around the west coast.

The way down was a bit easier, and in the fifty minutes it took us to descend from Gros Piton’s glorious heights, I learned a little bit about my guide, Shem.  Although I didn’t ask his age, he must’ve been somewhere between 17-19 years old, and had graduated from school in Soufriere.  Shem lived near the base of the Piton and had four brothers and two sisters, but he was a middle child.  He had been working as a guide on Gros Piton for two years, hiking the mountain at least once, if not twice, daily.  He told me the fastest he had ever climbed Gros Piton was in 55 minutes, but the slowest was with a group of older tourists who took 4 hours to make the climb!

Traveling to unfamiliar destinations is exhilarating, but, at times, it can be just as frustrating.  Upon coming back to town, I needed to take out money for my celebratory post-hike meal, but of course Saturday was the day where the Bank of St. Lucia in town was inconveniently switching its location to a waterfront building.  The ATM would not be operable until Monday.  Cow had to pick up a couple in the northern capital city of Castries at 12:00, so I had to take an hour drive north with him, take out money in Castries, and take a public bus an hour back to Soufriere.  Exhausted, dirty, and desperate, I stumbled into Archie’s bar and restaurant around 1:30 p.m.  and had the best chicken rotis and salad of my life.  Despite my limited time in St. Lucia, the only activities I could muster the energy for the rest of the day was to nap on the beach, nap in my hotel room, eat dinner at Archie’s, and wander the town streets and talk with some locals until around 10:00 p.m.

Sunday I played the typical tourist role, with Cow taking me and a couple from Arkansas around to the drive-in sulfur volcano just outside of Soufriere along with a trip to Toraille Falls.  It made for some good picture taking, to be sure, but it did not have nearly as an authentic, organic feel to it as did yesterday’s hike up Gros Piton.  Cow agreed to drive me over to the east coast for some sightseeing before my afternoon flight back to Barbados, and I even got a dip in at a beach down the road from the airport before my 5:00 pm flight.  I wouldn’t recommend cutting one’s time that close, however, as I enjoyed myself at the beach so much I almost missed the cut-off for check in.  All in all, a great weekend away that I would recommend for anybody — well, anybody who enjoys challenging physical exertion, that is — and a nice break before my head is buried in the books for midterms at UWI!

 

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