Tzfat

This past Shabbos, we had a free weekend, meaning we could leave Jerusalem and do what we want from Thursday evening through Sunday at 1:30 when we were expected to be back for lunch. One of the other participants and I went to Tzfat. The entire ordeal was so typically Israeli and bizarre.

We left Friday morning to catch the bus that should have departed at around 9am. On the website for the bus service, there's a note that says all departure times are approximate. We assumed that meant 5 or 10 minutes or so. Actually that meant that 3 full buses passed by the stop, late, and then they sent for another bus. Before the fourth bus came, at one point, we were pushing to get on a bus and Elle grabbed my hand and said we are either both getting on this bus or neither! Luckily, we got on the fourth bus (leaving about an hour after the original time) and had seats. The driver was incredibly angry and yelled at some British travelers, though we didn't understand what was going on because it was all in Hebrew. When we finally made it to Tzfat, one passenger got off and dropped her sunglasses so she requested that the driver open the door again. They were not on the bus and he yelled at her. We were just sitting there laughing awkwardly.

We figured that would be the extent of the weirdness, but it just continued. We arrived at the hostel and all the receptionist did was give us the key. We had given our credit card number over the phone but she didn't ask to see them or anything. We dropped our stuff in the room and went for a walk down to the artist's colony. After eating some great falafel and Elle buying gifts, we went back to the hostel. There were a lot of people around. There was a short lecture that I didn't understand and then there was an "orientation" during which the few English speakers including Elle, two girls from our dorm, me, and then two Hebrew speakers introduced ourselves and were prompted to say when we felt G-d's presence. We English speakers were like uhh. The other two girls were cool. One was from San Francisco living in Israel for the summer to get inspiration for her art degree. The other was on an 8.5 month round the world trip with her boyfriend who was in Portugal and was going to meet her soon. She was from Melbourne, Australia and is starting a job in law in March. We received our directions for the family we were going to for the Shabbos meal, and we followed a group who were supposed to take us to where we were going. Elle and I were together. Actually, though, the guy directed us down the wrong street and we had to ask 4 or 5 people for directions. We finally made it to the apartment. However, when we got there, we found that the family did not speak English, except for the mother and the 17 year old son who knew English from rap songs. It was a bizarre meal, though we were able to talk about American music and movies a bit. At one point, the son turns to his 15 year old sister and says, "fuck you bitch!" Elle and I were like, we understand that! It didn't appear the sister understood the meaning and we were shocked and didn't know what else to say. What was so interesting about this family was not that they were religious and had 8 kids, but that oldest son did not wear a kippah and was typical Israeli through and through. He was ecstatic to be joining the army next year. He wanted to be a fighter and said so. I wondered what his family thought about him not wearing tzitzit or a kippah. His mother was not religious until after her army service, so that might make a difference. The fact that I am vegetarian also was not passed on to the family, but I had rice and a potato and lots of the salad from the first course. It was nearly 10pm so I wasn't that hungry anyway.

After dinner, we walked back to the hostel and sat on the porch. It was beautifully breezy and cool. A huge group of Israelis showed up and we started talking with a few in English. That was great and we ended up chatting with them until 1am by which point we decided it was time to go to bed.

The next morning, there was another class, a big second meal, and then we promptly went back to the room and took a glorious Shabbos nap. Afterwards there was more food, and a women's circle, which we thought would be a good discussion but we ended up just singing and talking about ways to overcome adversity and rough times. It was pretty intimate for having a discussion with people I don't know. I watched the sunset instead which was so beautiful but by the time the circle was over, I had decided I was ready to go back to Jerusalem. We had the Havdalah service, which was actually fun with music and dancing (gender segregated).

After 36 strange and uncomfortable hours, we assumed it would be easy to get back to Jerusalem but we were wrong! We woke up early Sunday morning to catch the first bus back to Jerusalem. It was full and by the third stop there were people standing. There was a commotion with one guy trying to get on the bus and again, the aggravated speech was in Hebrew so we weren't sure what was going on. Apparently, there was another bus that might come. The driver turned the bus off for a few minutes and another passenger went up to try to get this guy off the bus. We weren't sure if there wasn't enough space or what. Finally after 5 minutes, the driver started the bus again and people clapped and we were on our way.

I'm not sure this post really conveys the feeling of the bizarre weekend, but I definitely experienced some culture shock and was incredibly glad to get back to Jerusalem.

Things I learned about Israel this weekend:
1. The bus system is not standardized. It can take much longer than you expect to go places if you take the buses.
2. My limited Hebrew really makes it difficult. Not everyone speaks English. Even so, I had a great conversation with an Israeli Friday night in English.
3. I think Israelis are New Yorkers on steroids. Think about how they drive (like they own the road and you are obviously in their way), talk (passionately and with chutzpah), and act (no real manners). On the other hand, Israelis can be so incredibly welcoming even when they know nothing about you or your story.