Kibbutzing

Last week I journeyed to Kibbutz Neve Ur in the Beit She'an -- this is just north of the boundary of the West Bank and south of the Jordan Valley, divided from Jordan by the Jordan River. Hopping off the bus on the highway at Neve Ur was glorious - warm breezes, trees, and gorgeous topography. To the west are hills, directly to the east are the kibbutz fields and east beyond the Jordan River are the mountains of the country, Jordan. (ed note: the original of this had the directions reversed. I shouldn't write blog posts late at night! Israel is west of Jordan, it hasn't moved!!)

At the highway

Walking to the kibbutz

Looking across the fields to Jordan

I went to the kibbutz, not to apprentice as a kibbutznik, but to visit my friends Marla and Raviv and their kids. Raviv grew up here and they were home to visit his parents. The first thing I did after I arrived was eat fresh, organic dates. Amazing. Then before long we were off to tour the region. Our first stop was a neighbouring kibbutz where we ate hummous at the cafe. Hummous in Israel -- when you go to a restaurant for it, it is a meal -- is quite different from what you get in North America when you order hummous. It's still made of chickpeas and tahini, but it's usually served warm and topped with roasted eggplant or stewed chickpeas or even sausage. And, it's served with amazing slippers of bread. Yum. Hummous can be a serious bone of contention among Israelis. Don't ask more than one person at a time where to get the best hummous -- the discussion will never end. Seriously.

After lunch it was on to a tour of the Kinneret (aka Lake Tiberias and the Sea of Galilee). Jesus is meant to have done much of his work in and around the Kinneret...and perhaps even walked on it?!

The hills that rise on the east side of the Kinneret are the Golan Heights and Israel's border with Jordan and Syria. Beyond the north end of the Kinneret is Lebanon. This is another part of the country where not everyone agrees with the present borders. In the meantime Golan Height's wineries are creating award-winning wine.

The Kinneret

In the spring, the view is apparently all green. Right now it's mostly brown after a long dry summer.

The Kinneret beyond the fields

 Water trivia time:

The Kinneret is Israel's largest freshwater lake and it's below sea level! Running from the north to south of the Holy Land through the Dead Sea and on to the Red Sea is an extension of the Great Rift Valley that starts in Kenya. Much of it is below sea level.

The Jordan River flows out of the Kinneret; the Kinneret is the country's largest surface reservoir (there are two large aquifers (groundwater reservoirs) - the Coastal and the Mountain). It's such a big deal, the government updates daily a webpage that reports the level of the water in the Kinneret. Apparently, you can have water cooler conversations about the level of the Kinneret...hasn't happened to me yet. I don't have any close up pictures of the shoreline, but the locals have observed recession of the waters of the Kinneret -- what was once underwater is now treed shoreline.  

The south end of the Kinneret

The first kibbutz was established on the south shores of the Kinneret in the early 20th century. Later, kibbutzim would dot much of the Jordan Valley and the Beit She'an.

Looking south of the Kinneret in the Jordan Valley - more cultivated land

 On the way back to Neve Ur, we drove up a local large hill (I hesitate to say mountain), called Star of the Jordan, to see the remains of a crusader castle (called "Belvoir") and enjoy the view. The castle construction started in 1168. It is thought to have been one of the most important crusader fortresses with its commanding view of the valley through which anyone travelling south to Jerusalem would have passed. The Muslims took the fortress in 1189 and later dismantled it.

Looking northeast from Belvoir

 While up on the hill we had the chance to see, amongst the lowing cattle, a Thompson's gazelle! Apparently, some of the animals who hang out in the southern end of the Great Rift Valley have ranges that extend to the Holy Land. (Maybe they heard how good the food is up here?)

Thanks Wikipedia!

 And, we had the chance to drink Arabic coffee. Up to this point on this blog I haven't said much about politics. This isn't actually all that easy since in everyday life in Israel the politics are pretty much in your face. We went up to Belvoir to see the view, and not to see the castle (because we were travelling with two kids under 5) and because Marla and Raviv got married under a beautiful tree up on the hill. Since I missed their wedding, I wanted to see the spot where it all happened. We ended up with a cultural exchange.

The tree

 The tree happens to be in a national park. And it was Eid al-Adha. Unsurprisingly, we found an Arab-Israeli/Palestinian (what an Arab Muslim living in Israel calls herself is not uncomplicated) family having a picnic up at the lookout. Arab hospitality is pretty legendary, and it was no different this day. We were served cold drinks and they tried to feed us dinner; we had to beg off having eaten bowls full of hummous and bread only hours earlier. Then we were hanging out, drinking Arabic coffee, which is, well, as Marla said, "like medicine [of the best kind]". If you like coffee with cardamon it's hard to beat a well made Arabic coffee.  I've been in this situation (the beneficiary of Arabic hospitality) before, but not in Israel where everything is...just so different. The older men, Raviv and Raviv's mom were conversing in Hebrew, mostly (I was told) discussing how the valley had changed over the years and children, in between scoping the hill with binoculars looking for gazelle. Marla was making sure we didn't end up with plates full of food to eat. Anyway, it was one of those moments where us and them seemed to fade and just a for a little bit we were people sharing a lovely afternoon in October.

Looking south east, drinking Arabic coffee

Crusader castle ruins beyond the fence

The next day I had a tour of the main kibbutz operations -- fish ponds and dairy cows. Along the way we stopped to climb an old tractor and visit the petting zoo (all kibbutzim have a petting zoo?!) that included a very showy rooster.

An old tractor

The kibbutz rooster

 And, then it was back on the bus to Jerusalem...Yerushalayim in Hebrew...it actually sounds way better.

The incredible (and shrinking) Dead Sea

On Friday, I rode the bus with friends to the Dead Sea. It's only about 40 minutes. The bus goes from Central Bus Station in Jerusalem through the West Bank to the north end of the Dead Sea. To get past the Separation Wall the bus travels Highway 1 which goes through a tunnel under the wall. (Curious.) Immediately, the highway descends from the Judean Hills into the Judean Desert. The terrain goes from green to brown and scraggy almost immediately.

We went to a public beach at the north end called Kalia (sometimes Qalya). When you get off the bus, you feel like you are in the middle of nowhere. It's just a fifteen minute walk to the beach.

Qalya...to the left

Theresa and Dan

Looking west toward Jerusalem

The beach is public as in it is open to all, but you pay NIS 40 to access the facilities. They have showers, beach chairs, some umbrellas, a cafe, and a bar.

Kalia beach

The "lowest" bar on earth

The Dead Sea looking east to Jordan

The Dead Sea is now some 420 metres below sea level. Forty years ago it was 395 metres. The gif below (taken from Wikipedia) gives a great visual of what's happening to the Dead Sea. The recession of the Sea is likely due to excess withdrawals from the Jordan River (Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Israel, and the Palestinians are all co-riparians in the Jordan Basin -- it's complicated) at the northern end.

Image Attribution: I, Hoshana

But, the consequences are clear. You don't need to have been there before to see the recession. You can see that what is now shoreline was clearly previously underwater. And, watch out for sinkholes.

New shoreline (was sea bottom)

Still, the experience of floating in the Dead Sea is pretty fantastic.

Floating in the Dead Sea

And, they say the mud is really therapeutic.  Everyone "lathers up".

Mudding up with Theresa's friend Dan

The really serious folks leave the mud on until it dries and starts to cake and then they scrub it off. Fun fact: apparently you are less likely to burn at the Dead Sea. Somehow being 400 metres below sea level and all those minerals in the air together act as a UV filter. So, all the benefits of the sun and none of the harm? That's some kind of advertisement for tourists who like it hot and sunny.

Houses from within

Today was the final day of Houses from Within in Jerusalem. A number of homes, gardens, hospitals, and infrastructure worksites were open for tours. Since there is no transit on Shabbat I decided to keep to the neighbourhood. The German Colony is mostly filled with German Templar buildings that have been modified over the years. There is a decidedly Christian feel to the architecture.

6 Lloyd George Street (German Colony)

I went to see the Convent of the St. Charles Borromeo Sisters (12 Lloyd George St). The Convent was built in 1893 by a German architect. The Convent originally provided care to the old and needy and then to those suffering from the Bubonic Plague. From 1905 to WWII it was a girls school. After WWII it was a shelter for Holocaust survivors. Since the 1990s its been a hostel for pilgrims. (see http://batim.itraveljerusalem.com/)

The garden side of 12 Lloyd George St

It's a lovely building and the grounds are impressive, in the sense that you could walk by this place and never have any idea of the expanse behind it. The tranquility of the gardens surprised me (I know, it's a Convent) but really, it was peaceful back there.  The tour was entirely in Hebrew so I'm a bit short on fun facts to share with you here. 

The tour guide, speaking Hebrew, in the chapel

The grounds at the Convent of St. Charles Borromeo Sisters

The grounds at SCBS Convent

The grounds at SCBS Convent

Next stop: The Natural History Museum. It also had a tour, also in Hebrew. This time I skipped the tour and instead I spent my time enjoying the community garden that is located on the museum's grounds. There were several plots, with signs in Hebrew, and I restrained myself from my giant temptation to pick the gorgeous lettuce that you can see in the pic below. (I'm hard up for greens over here; Israelis don't often put greens in salad. The standard issue salat is cucumbers and tomatoes. At the market I can reliably find something that looks like Swiss chard, but spinach and bok choy (my Vannie standbys) are a bit scarce.)

Community garden plots...lettuce!

I think that lettuce might be talking to me...

Moving on...loads of rosemary.

There were three giant tables of small potted plants...things we would keep in a greenhouse, but were doing fine outside here today. I particularly liked these three, but I cannot tell you what they are. Expert gardeners out there - please weigh in and leave a comment.

To get to my next stop back to the main street in the Colony, I cut through the Rose Music Library courtyard. This is a classic sight -- Jerusalem stone walls adorned by baskets of flowers. I'm also unable to identify these, but I do appreciate them!




There are two cemeteries on Emek Refaim near Rachel Imenu Street both of which are surrounded by high white Jerusalem stone walls and are normally locked. Today they were open too. The tours here were also in Hebrew so again, I'm short on details...and maybe a little long on photos.

First I went to the the Templar Cemetery

Entrance to the Templerfriedhof

The Templerfriedhof is perhaps the nicest cemetery I've ever been too. Not, to be sure, that I make a habit of touring cemeteries. It was peaceful and visually pleasing. Here are a few pix.

And the other cemetery, is the Alliance Church International Cemetery, which wasn't nearly as charming although there is a giant mural along the south wall that depicts the major stories of the Bible. So, if that's your thing then you might prefer this cemetery.

Much to my disappointment this house was not open this weekend. I pass it nearly every day and I always think -- I would love to see inside it. This is Emek Refaim 16, another Templar House, it's in particularly good shape having recently been renovated extensively. I am not sure this picture quite captures how I feel about this house.

Emek Refaim 16

Even though I saw only a few places, it was great to see the grounds that lie beyond the gates. It's given me a greater sense of what the neighbourhood may have looked like a hundred years ago. From a community perspective it was really nice to see the streets filled with folks. Normally, you could walk blocks in the Colony on Shabbat and see only a few folks. Today the streets were very busy and there seemed to be a general enthusiasm to get out and see the neighbourhood.

As part of the Houses from Within event there was a two-hour tour called, Riding on the Bike Paths in Jerusalem. Bike paths? What bike paths? I thought those were called sidewalks.  Sadly (so sadly), the tour was booked up when I found out about it. Alas, my bike research continues...I'll do a post on biking soon.

Still sunny and warm, still mosquitoes

Dispatchers from home tell me the lovely Vancouver weather has ended.  The rains have arrived and the temperature has plummeted. You may be lamenting the loss of warm temperatures, but I'm here to remind you of a huge positive of cool weather: No more mosquitoes. So enjoy!! I just counted 5 new bites on my ankles tonight.

In the system

After a long and tiring week, my new colleague and friend Theresa (she's a visiting PhD student from Zurich) celebrated our victory of getting into the system with burgers and fries -- real fries as you know them, not those nasty Middle Eastern variety that sneak into your falafel if you aren't careful. (I have never met a Middle Eastern style-fry (chip) that I would recommend. Universally yuck. I don't know if it's the oil or the potatoes but they are vile and frankly an insult to the amazing little falafel balls they are tossed next to.)

On Tuesday I got my student card! You may be wondering...but isn't she done being a student? YES YES YES, I'm done. But, then, why does she have a student card? Well, because there really isn't a better category in which to put a visiting research fellow (or postdoc). And, this is good for me because it opens up a world of discounts (the bus, the museums, etc). A student card is helpful for getting through security at the gates of the university and pretty much critical to doing anything else. Other things you might want to do: get a bus pass, get a library card, get VPN access, get a gym membership, and get paid.

How to get a bus pass? This was epic. First, we went online to the bus company (Egged) website. There's a great site in English that explains the many options for student bus passes - known as the RavKav. Like the UPass, the RavKav gives you a giant discount on bus travel (in the city and in the country on Egged's other lines) and it works on the tram (a standard bus transfer in Jerusalem doesn't work on the tram, I have no idea why not). But, unlike the UPass at UBC-Vancouver, at Hebrew U you don't automatically get a bus pass from which you need to opt-out; everyone has to sign up and choose their pass option. (This is an administrative nightmare of colossal proportions. People cannot speak of how bad it was last year without shuddering.) But, the form is only in Hebrew and needs to be filled out in Hebrew. Awesome. Thanks for explaining that in English. This won't be a problem, though, we have a colleague, Elka (who grew up in Toronto) who is perfectly bilingual and happy to help out her illiterate new friends. She starts to fill out the online RavKav form for Theresa. It's all going swimmingly until Elka gets to the part on the form where she needs to put in the number of the RavKav pass. But, we don't have RavKav passes. And there are no instructions on how to get a RavKav pass (in English or Hebrew). So, Elka suggests the only way to deal with this is to go in person to the Egged depot on campus...at the end of the long dark tunnel the buses enter campus through. (A common solution to administrative problems in Israel is to go in person. A phone number may be given, but really, it's not likely to be answered. This, finally, explains all the fun I had with the consulate in Toronto!)

We made our first pilgrimage trip to the Egged depot on Wednesday afternoon at about 2pm. It's hot (Jerusalem is having a heat wave), about 32C, and the line is out the door of the depot. We cannot find anyone who knows if this is the right queue to get a RavKav card and we cannot find any shade.  Mission aborted. We headed to the Old City to eat Sachertorte and drink espresso in the garden at the Austrian Hospice. It's a bit like taking a trip to Europe, but there's no jetlag.  There we discussed how we would next attempt to get the RavKav. In the meantime we enjoyed a bit of a tour of the Old City, including watching part of an IDF exercise of some sort on the plaza at the Western Wall.

Thursday morning, Theresa and I made our second trip to the Egged depot, arriving at about ten to 9. There's a line up already. Gratefully, we learn there is a waitlist where you put your name down in order of arrival (I assume this is because the concept of queuing is not well established here; without a list it would be a mob). We are no. 18 and no. 19. About forty minutes pass and we end up chatting to folks in line. At least two of them try to tell us this is the wrong line: if we don't have a receipt (the one you would get if you could actually fill out the online form, the one that needs you to have a RavKav card number) we should go to the other line (what other line?). But, we are close to the front of the line, no. 16 is in the office of the ONE WOMAN who is processing all these people. The waiting list is up near 40 now, but this is nothing. Apparently at Central Station in the city centre there are 400 people waiting. So, we wait. We get in to the office and within 5 minutes...OMG...we have our pictures taken and we get RavKav cards. Yay!! Step one is completed!! The Egged lady tells us that we need to come back to her once we've been online and filled out the form. Then we'll have to have the card "charged" with the credit in the "other" line.

We make the long tunnel walk back to the main building, head to the office to find Elka, hoping she can fill out our forms. Elka's not in. So, we find a secretary instead. We get the forms filled out, printed out and we are ready for trip three. (I should note that for some reason my Canadian credit cards are not accepted for any online transactions here. They work in the stores, and I can buy things online that are hosted by Canadian or US institutions, but for some reason they won't work online here - i.e. for buying credit for my RavKav. I could use my Israeli account debit card, but it hasn't been delivered. My name isn't on the mailbox at the house I live in so my bank card is in Tel Aviv...upshot here is that Theresa has become my banker. It's appropriate that she is Swiss. She charges, I go to the bank and wait in line to see a teller (because I don't have a card) to get cash to pay Theresa. My bank card should be back in Jerusalem at my bank branch early this week. I look forward to waiting in line to get it.) Before our next trip to Egged, we get our library cards, actually quite easy to do once you have a student card - the librarian we dealt with was a paragon of efficiency. And, although it took about fifteen redials (the line was busy), I got through to the VPN people and got set up.

By trip three to the Egged depot, I adopted a slightly more Israeli approach. We headed to the front of the (pretty short line) to find out if we were in the right place. The Egged lady waved us in, validated our cards and then her colleague (where was he earlier?) escorted us over to the "other" line to get the cards charged. And, now we have RavKav cards. Which is why we ended up spending Thursday night drinking wine and eating burgers.

Now, for a gym membership...and to get paid.

Holiday roundup

What did I do during the holidays? Not so much. A little R&R, some work, and a bit of sightseeing. Many Israelis travel during Sukkot, touring around the country visiting friends and family. I stayed in Jerusalem, which becomes absolutely overwhelmed by visitors, especially in my neighbourhood. The German Colony has been colonized by Americans, British, and French some of whom have not made aliyah and, instead, come for the holidays, only. (ed: It puts a certain pressure on the housing market!)

I spent some time of the holidays sitting on the back patio reading fiction - yay! I attended the local street fair on Derech Beit Lechem  (the Road to Bethlehem), and walked everywhere. One of my Jerusalemite friends took me on a great tour of the Old City; we ate amazing hummous in a cavernous cafe on the Street of Cloths just outside the Jewish Quarter. I could seriously eat there everyday. (I took some pictures of the Old City, but I seem to have wiped them from my computer and camera.)

In East Jerusalem I rediscovered my favourite Middle Eastern drink -- Mint Lemonade.

Mint lemonade at the Jerusalem Hotel

I spent some of the holiday looking after the family dog who spends most of her time prone (or semi-prone) on the couch. (She spends too much of her other time barking.) The good news is that I seem to have made it into her heart; she barks far less frequently at me now.

Tina, one of my housemates

I checked out the textile shops for knitting and embroidery supplies. Along the way I saw this which I thought was peculiar. I suspect the person who named this doesn't actually know anything about the Yukon because 100% COTTON is about the least appropriate place evocative textile (quviut anyone?)! I guess they just like the name!

Yukon Cotton?

I visited the Mahane Yehuda (shuk) a few times so I'm actually getting familiar with its labyrinthine corridors. These pictures are from a less busy day at the market (Tuesday). I was there last Friday and it was soooo busy I could hardly move. Part of what makes it impossible to move (in addition to the narrow corridors) is that many folks are pulling a shopping cart behind them. These are not age specific. Many people pull these tartan (or wire, or solid colour, but tartan is definitely the most popular which seems so random - Jews and tartan? who knew?) two-wheelers along. And, if they don't have a shopping cart, other folks have a stroller, and a troupe of children. It's like being stuck in rush hour traffic only instead of the comforts of your car (including air con and good music) you are pressed up against sweaty humans on all sides. Interestingly though, people don't seem to mind that much and they certainly act very civilly. I guess you don't know if that bent over, shuffling elderly man is your grandma's neighbour!

Main Mall of Mahane Yehuda

Pastries!

The tartan shopping cart

Another tartan shopping cart

Shopping carts

Shopping carts 2

Shopping carts 3

Oh, and, since I had some time on my hands, I opened a beauty parlour!

Beauty Place on Agrippas Street (near Mahane Yehuda)

Bike report

I continue to see folks on bikes, some look like hybrids with big knobby tires and others are those fold out European specials (technical term unknown). Some people wear helmets and ride on the street; others don't wear helmets and ride on the street. Still others insist on riding on the sidewalks. This was problematic during Sukkot when the sidewalks were jammed with sukkah -- twice I was nearly in a head-on with a bike!

The holidays are over

Sukkot has ended. The week-long festivities and eating in sukkah is over - it's already easier to make progress along the sidewalks. Here are three sukkah (not sure what the plural is) that were put up along Emek Refaim. The reason they don't have tables and chairs inside (or people) is that I took these pictures on Saturday (Shabbat) when most shops are closed and the observant are at home with their families.

Yesterday was Simchat Torah which celebrates the beginning of the public reading of the Torah. On Sunday late afternoon I was leaving the Old City as the Orthodox Jews were headed to the Kotel (Wailing Wall or Western Wall) to celebrate. It was a steady stream of black and white through the Jaffa Gate and the cabbies were doing a fine business.

The University is open again this morning, so I'm off to see how my "registration in the system" is proceeding.

P.S. Comments are now open. Thanks to the reader who pointed out they were closed!