if you haven't heard

I'm coming home for a visit!!!

actually officially I am going home to have an interview with George Mason, but after those 45 minutes are over I have 9 days to see everyone

obviously this is OOC (out of control) and GIT (get into it)


Countdown Clocks at WishAFriend.com

February 29th, fucking mark that down

yours,

A PE G-P

the "List"

so I know some of you have been hearing about my infamous list for weeks now

(this of course being the itemized list of things that I miss in America)

well here it is, this time in no particular order (and of course to be appended as necessary)

- Subway
- Autumn
- seasons in general
- Starbucks

- Starbucks seasonal beverages (pumpkin spiced latted, what)
- drip coffee
- Halloween
- Thanksgiving
- Chipotle
- waiting in line
- drivers, to include ones from Maryland (yeah I mean it that much)
- soup in the can!
- cheddar cheese (I heard you can get it here but I'm sure it isn't yellow, nor does it have renin in it so it doesn't count)
- cilantro (also apparently obtainable, though not anywhere I've seen)
- accessibility to international cuisines
- the east coast

- the wild west
- the north east
- the south east
(not the west coast, ha! take that, I've still got regional pride)
- a good and properly made mixed drink
- oh I don't know maybe service in a restaurant
- marked prices on anything, ever
- the Food Network
- Bravo
- normal release dates for movies
- black people
- spanish people
- other ethnicities who aren't Jewish
- BAGELS (shocking but true)
- cream cheese (schmear right I know, come on)
- Lindsay Lohan (lilo I miss you girl, and your dramz)
- getting my groceries bagged (Wegmans, Wegmans, Wegmans)
- the option of more than 4 kinds of beer at a bar
- pinot grigio
- instructions, for anything
- non-kosher pizza
- non-kosher restaurants
- salmon from alaska
- crab meat (I know I know I'm a bad bad Jew)
- Wegmans again
- not having to squeegie my bathroom floor after showering
- not having to turn on the dude (hot water heater) a half hour (or ever) before showering
- central heat and air
- delis
- goyim!!!
- target
- not having to download tv
- Sonic!

- Chick-fil-a
- my cellphone/Verizon
- BIG cities, GODOL cities
- rivers (I've gotten some shit for this one, but it's my list, I like rivers, get over it)
- my facewash
- my shampoo and hair products
- US electrical outlets
- ovens
- real mattresses (some of these just happen to have to do with my current conditions)
- ice in your drinks
- deli meats (Boars Head)
- the beef and chicken prepackaged meats at the grocery store, not that waiting to watch you grind my beef in the same machine you use to grind chicken isn't fun


Please feel free to leave comments adding things to this list, I know I'm for sure not done

Of course don't take this to mean I don't care about Irael, desserts here are far superior. Like f-ing get into chocolate in this country because you'll probably want to die it's unreal. I've also come to enjoy green olives, corn and real home-grown conservative ideals I never happened to find in the U.S. of A.

gam (also)
two other fun factz!

1. z is called zed in australia (and apparently england)
2. Americans wear black low top chucks; conversely (converse, HAR HAR!) Brazilians wear white low top chucks

dairy meal

so I'm currently at the Judean Hostel in Jerusalem, on our politics and society seminar, and all I can think about is how delicious the cake was tonight at dinner. It was a dairy meal so it had MILK in it, non of ths parv brownie shit....now all I'm thinking is how different these thoughts are from my normal life. Who the fuck worries about meat and dairy meals and whether or not your cake is going to have milk in it. Well apparently us.

Interesting side note the parv mashed potatoes were significantly better than the dairy ones.

tripping on ecstasy in jerusalem

UPDATE

So early last week Serena, Jordan, Aliza, Jessica and I went to Bet Shemesh to check out our new digs, and might I say pretty sweet apt. We have a pull-out couch, an OVEN, a large fridge, real mattresses, a MICROWAVE, AC/heat, wi-fi, and get this a fucking maid once a month. They also gave us a couple of bikes to use. SaWEET. Besides the fact that Bet Shemesh is currently in an uproar because the ultra orthodox population has been stoning cars on shabbat, and have been rioting, the city seems beautiful and super close the Jerusalem (which I really can't get enough of). The volunteer opportunities seemed to be pretty cool. Working with kids mostly at schools and libraries. I also might be getting a Hebrew tutor....this is most necessary. Apparently when ranking our abilities I came in 1 out of 5...shocking (not). You can't win them all now can you. Oh and because food is topic of most of my conversations let me plleassee tell you about the lunch we had. My dear lord, we went to this guys house in one of the moshavim in the area, he's a junk metal sculptor and his artwork was really very interesting to look at (especially his take on events, like say 9/11 or the disengagement, a little surprising to say the least to see a giant metal replica of the twin towers mid attack, planes and all). After he gave us a small tour of their home and his work, and a description of his past (Kurdish from Iraq) we went into the main home for a traditional meal his wife prepared. Course after course of the most deliciousness. A meat pastry soup, salads, this un-fucking-real rice dish with lentils (she explained how she made it, so simple, I think she's lying), oh even the water, it had mint and sugar and lemons in it. Refreshing. Oh what about the meat, this brisket was like falling apart it was so soft and delicious, I think it might have actually found a way to melt in my mouth with out my chewing...maybe I'm remembering incorrectly, but I don't think so. I can't even keep talking about it....moving on...

so that weekend we had an educational day in -
East Jerusalem: So we started out on the tayelet over looking the old city. It happened to be some special religious day for Ethiopian Jews so there was a lot of balagan around. It was pretty cool. Our new funky educator for the day, no joke, started out by passing out incense for everyone to light, I think there might have been some sort of actual tie in. I'm not sure anyone caught it, and I did actually overhear him say that he originally wanted to hand out sacarin tablets and make us all take them like ecstasy so we would really "loose ourselves" during the day. I think it was then that I remembered this guy was fucking weird. He actually titled the educational day "tripping on ecstasy in Jerusalem", hence the blog name, nice huh. Apparently something to do with his past...I obviously couldn't figure out what that might be. Either way it was definitely the right place to start the tour, the view was amazing you could see everything. We then headed for the old city, toured around the Southern Wall steps , I think we might have meditated, who knows I was far more interested in taking in the sights myself than trying to force a hokey sense of spirituality on myself in front of 50+ other people. We watched a video, it had graphics, I think Eric might have drawn them himself. That area has been excavated to show the original road of ancient Jerusalem and highlights what the city must have looked like. Cool shit.

From there we had some free time at the Kotel to reflect, pray,and eat lunch (bagels!!) I obviously sat in the corner eating my delicious tuna bagel (on everything) and stared at all of the kitties running around (Dganit told me I'm not allowed to play with them, I'd like to say I'm a responsible enough adult to know that on my own....but something tells me the reminder didn't hurt). From our time at the Kotel we had about 8 minutes to group together to re-go through security so that we could enter the Temple Mount within the time slot allotted to visitors. Obviously the higher ups think this is a good idea. Mark gave us some more history on the area, information about Al-Aqsa mosque as compared to The Dome of the Rock (Al-Aqsa was built when a particular caliph felt that the idea of praying to the rock and not in the direction of Mecca was detrimental to Islam, sooo Al-Aqsa faces the South instead). The area is so incredibly peaceful and serene, in my opinion a much better atmosphere for prayer than the chaos of the Kotel. No one asked me my opinion though, so I guess it doesn't matter. Both mosques are beautiful, but there certainly is no denying that the Dome of the Rock is one of the most magnificent structures I've ever seen. The mosaics on the sides are unreal, and there is an overwhelming sense of somethingness there, if that makes any sense. I'm not even suggesting a higher power, maybe just a greater human connection in those moments we spent there. I wish we'd had more time there, but we did what we could, scurrying around the buildings snapping as many pictures as possible (luckily Lauren had time to switch settings, otherwise we'd be stuck with AUTOMATIC!) So being Jews and all we aren't allowed in either of the mosques, buuut Nikki's brother did manage to snap a phot of the actual rock through the window, I'm not sure I'm supposed to be looking at it, but I'll post it anyways, DUH..

From there we trekked it through the old city to the Christian Quarter to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Oh you know just the place that Jesus was crucified and buried. The Sepulchre being the actual cave he was buried in. This church is so intense, one because it's so holy all sorts of different Christian sects are all over being in charge, so that basically means there are like 40 different sanctuaries and sets of rules. I also got to go to the center of the universe, i.e. this urn in the Greek Orthodox sanctuary that is literally thought to be the center of creation or something along those lines. Because of all the dispute between the warring sects there isn't much change in the decorum of the church, so it's an interesting look. Lots of gold and silver medallions and sculpture as well as huge ornate paintings. Pretty interesting stuff.

Finally to end our intense day we continued our travels in East Jeru to the Mount of Olives. The mount is where religious Jews aspire to be buried, because with the coming of the messiah they are the first to be brought into heaven, fully intact from their graves. We concluded the day with the opposite view of the old city than that of the tayelet. This view was equally as spectacular, it was also freezing like seriously freezing, I thought I might perhaps die. I of course didn't, but they did make us walk through the cometary to get to our bus. SPOOKY.


Gala: Last night we, the girls and I living in Bet Shemesh, went to a gala event for the partnership cities (South Africa, DC and Bet Shemesh). We listened to a bunch of speeches, I had no idea what they were about, but I did have some vino so it seemed a fair trade. We listened to some local students play some classical music. I'm not sure I've ever taken the time to mention it but I absolutely love the sound of the violin, I could listen to those jamz all G.D. day. Now the kid who was playing it i could have lived without, he had this hair that I'm not sure I could explain even if this entire entry was about it. Suffice it to say that it was like a mullet that curled out at the ends. Strange. Oh did I mention it was greasy...well it was. I actually ran into my host mother while I was there. AWKWARD, she asked me why I hadn't called in months, when I tried to pass that on to her she told me she's called like a million times she just had my number wrong...whoops. I'm glad there are no pictures of the evening, otherwise you'd actually be seeing me singing along and enjoying myself, I even got up and danced with a bunch of crazy Jews. I even heard I was smiling. It must have been the wine...or maybe I'm learning to enjoy myself, no the wine, that's it. After the good times and warm chocolate cake I introduced myself to a few peoples who seemed important, got myself invited to like 30 seperate homes for shabbat, and actually made plans to see my host mother again. From there we hopped into a van and headed back off to the desert, sigh - but we'll be there soon enough.


this weekend of course is our politics and society seminar...no worries only spending shabbat in the West Bank. No big deal or anything, GREEN LINE. Before that though we do get to go to the Knesset, Israeli House of Parliment. I can wear crocs, but only if they are black or blue...duh.

http://www.masaisrael.org/Masa/English/Anne+Alexander a quick little article I wrote for the MASA seminar I've been partaking in, only if you care of course.

fun times

NEWz updates!!!

So this past weekend Lauren, Leore and I went down to Tel Aviv for an AMERICAN style Halloween. It was in every single way every single thing that I needed. People were in COSTUME. Fabulous. Ours were of course stupid, I was Lauren, she was Leore and Leore was me. Obviously no one understood it, obviously we got endless pleasure out of acting like one another all night (as if we haven't already adopted every part of one anothers personalities already...but this gave us an excuse finally.) There was a pre-party at Lyndsey's apartment and the apartment across the way and then all of their friends (who are all studying at Sackler the American Med-school program at TAU and who also obv couldn't miss the best day of the year) had organized a party at this place called Liquor Bar. After somehow talking ourselves into being lost, so we were FORCED to stop for ice cream and I drunk dialed my mom we finally managed to walk across the street and actually enter the bar. I'd love to recount the events of the evening for you from there but all I realistically remember is broken glass, cigarettes (I know I quit, so sue me), the Hulk, and Karnaf (shut up only this like phenomenal meat sandwich restaurant thing place that I'm not sure how I never knew about until now, it's like the Chipotle of Israel). Well next thing I know I woke up...there are pictures - most of which are embarrassing, this one isnt.Leore, Lauren, Anne (respectively)

The rest of the weekend involved walking from food to food, to food to chocolate, to dessert to food, at one point someone promised me a bag of kittens, they didn't follow through....sigh, ummm anyways - oh and no one letting me watch Shakespeare in Love, I mean really what were we doing that was just so important I just couldn't possibly have ever watched that damned movie. Oh that's right eating and napping, my b. Although we were able to peel ourselves off of the couch long enough to check out the memorial to Yitzak Rabin in Rabin Square. No joke 150,000 people showed up - it was unreal to see that many people flood the streets to pay their respects to the late Prime Minister, even 12 years after his death. And did you know that the man who killed him (a fellow Jew who murdered him at a peace rally in '95, if you were unaware) has scheduled his son's bris on the day Rabin died - reminds me not to forget people really aren't all good, Jews kill Jews over peace - speaks volumes.

On the horizon:
Tuesday I'm headed off to Bet Shemesh (literally House of Sun) Washington D.C.'s partnership 2000 sister city, where I'll be living come January 2nd. Checkin out the pad and seeing some volunteer opportunities - pretty psyched about that. And here's the clincher Thursday we are basically having the most amazing, like seriously AMAZING (legit capitalization here) educational day (no not with Jared the funky educator like you were obv thinking, someone new). We are going to the Kotel (boring over it - Just kidding), the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, and the Dome of the Rock (you know the gold dome building everyone sees in pictures of Jerusalem, it's probably all you know of Israel). This is a huge deal it's in East Jerusalem, not many people, well of the non-muslim persuasion, ever get to go there. Seeing as it's not exactly in the safest place ever being in East Jeru and all.

Here's a little background if you didn't know: Kotel = Western/Wailing wall, the only remaining wall of the 2nd temple and the holiest place for Jews. Church of the Holy Sepulchre is where Jesus was said to have been crucified, and where he was buried (so I suppose the X-ians might find that important). Dome of the Rock would be literally the rock on which Muhammad ascended to Heaven after having flown on a magic horse to Jerusalem from Mecca; and for Judaism it's the stone at the place where Abraham was sent when God requested him to sacrifice his son Isaac, it's also the Temple Mount and is speculated that the rock was the Holy of Holies where the Ark of the Covenant was placed in the First Temple. It was also used in the Second Temple days during Yom Kippur services and Rabbinc legend tells that the entire world was created from this rock. So as you can imagine these three places are pretty fucking important to a large percentage of the world. (thanks Wikipedia for summing that up for me succinctly, it's paraphrased not completely stolen...because I'm creative!!!)

Other news:
Security update, we've been banned from Peki'in. Something about a cellular tower causing cancer, the Druze being mad at the Jews, a Police woman being kidnapped and chickens. Whatever I can't go there any more. Also there is the forthcoming peace agreement in Annapolis between the US, Israel and Palestine....keep your ears open for that.

Wrap Up:
Things are going well, but I've always got to remind myself that that isn't always the case. In my personal life, in my life as a Jew and in my life as an Israeli (for the time being - I'm still on to you Israel, I know what you want from me)--don't worry about that of course that's just where I causally bring up my conspiracy theory.

Irrationally yours,
A PE PG