Spring Break In Israel

So I meant to write this a few days ago, but I just kept getting so busy (or lazy...) that I haven't written it yet. So! For spring break I went to New York and Israel, which in reality wasn't much of a break, but it was amazing nonetheless. I figured I'd document it here for your (whoever you might be) reading pleasure. So here goes.


March 13/14, 2008 - Day 1
After getting out of class at 2:30, Paul and I went to get ice cream, then I went home to finish packing. At 4, Casey and I left for the airport. We stopped on our way to get gas (he was driving my car), then made it there so I was barely an hour early for my 6:30 flight. I checked in, then hung out in the airport for a bit, mainly reading. Boring. Then I flew down to LAX, where my family picked me up! Mom, Dad, Lewis and I drove over to CPK (which I was ridiculously excited for...we don't have that in Chico) for dinner. Lacey met us over there. After dinner, the fam drove me back over to the airport for my 11:00pm flight to New York. I slept for most of the flight, then landed in New York. I took a car to Daniel's apartment, where Daniel said hi, then left for work. I took a nap for a few hours, then got up and walked from his apartment to Times Square. I walked around there for a few hours, then Daniel met me at the Nederlander Theatre to try and get tickets for RENT. We didn't get picked for the lottery, so we went to TKTS to see if we could get decent tickets for Spring Awakening. They just had partial view, so we got tickets to Passing Strange (which I had never heard of, but it was on the list of shows that TKTS had, so I figured why not?). After TKTS, we went to dinner at Mars 2112, which was this weird alien restaurant. While we were there Daniel and I talked about what I wanted to do with the rest of my life, and...how the alien wanted to mate with him. And we joked about how all the dressed up aliens were child molesters. 'Twas quite amusing. But it was all in jest. The food was actually pretty good, and our server was awesome. We told him we were going to see a show and we needed to eat quick so if he could bring us our food and check at the same time that would be awesome, and he basically did that. So that was cool. After dinner, we rushed over to the theatre for Passing Strange. I think that show was amazing. It chronicled this man Stew's life. Really good. I love the music too. (Check out
http://www.passingstrangeonbroadway.com for more information!) After the show, Daniel and I ran home to his apartment (via subway) to change, then went to this bar called The Other Room, in the West Village where I met some of his co-workers. While his co-workers were all talking to each other, two random guys came up and started hitting on me. They were from New Orleans, but had just moved to New York. It was pretty hilarious, they were superdrunk. Then around 2AM, Daniel and I went home and went to bed.

March 15 - Day 2
Woke up superearly (7am) to get in line for Spring Awakening student rush tickets. Got there around 7:40, where it was supercold. (I was pretty dumb about it too...I wore a regular sweatshirt without a hood, no scarf, a tank top under my sweatshirt, no gloves...I was pretty cold. I'm pretty sure I lost feeling in my toes at one point.) Then at 10:00, the box office opened, and at 10:15, Daniel and I walked away with tickets! Score. Then we went to Duane Reade to buy shampoo and conditioner for me (for Israel) and razors for Daniel, then went back to Daniel's apartment and slept til about 2:30. Then we woke up, showered, got dressed, and walked to the MET to look at some of the exhibits. It was pretty cool. We saw the fashion one, which was pretty crazy. They had this hat that was made completely out of human hair. I don't know of anyone who would wear that, but ok then. Then we tried to find the musical instrument exhibit but it was closed for renovations. Lame! Then we rushed home (so much rushing!) and got ready to go to dinner. As we walked down to the cab we called Mom to wish her a happy birthday. Then, we went to La Masseria, an Italian restaurant by Daniel's work. Good food. Daniel and I talked about what makes a person "interesting". It's kind of hard to define, but I think we figured it out. Kind of. Then we went over to Spring Awakening, where we saw David! He met up with us in front of the theatre to say hi and catch up before rushing off to celebrate his 6 month anniversary with Jess. After he left, Daniel's married friends Barry and Kate met up with us, and we went inside the theatre together. The show was pretty good. Darker than I was expecting, but still good. Some of the stuff was hard to see because we had partial view seats, but it was cool just being there. After the show we went to this bar down the street from the theatre called "Social" to get a drink. Then Daniel's friends went home, and we went to this bar/club called The Sapphire Lounge. We met up with Joey there, hung out for a bit and talked, then left to go to Daniel's friend's birthday party at Sway, another club. It was a cool club, but my feet were killing me so I sat down for most of it. Then around 3am, Daniel and I headed home.

March 16 - Day 3
I woke up at 8:15 to finish packing, then said goodbye to Daniel and hopped in a car to JFK. When I got there I checked in with JNF, said hi to Jason P. (from BCI, the guy who told me about this trip), then hung out with Geoff, Andrea, and Liz (Geoff's friends from GW) while we waited to board our flight at 2:20. Once we finally boarded the plane, I slept for most of it, but watched part of Enchanted. We arrived in Israel at 6:30am.

March 17 - Day 4
Got off the plane, got our luggage, then made our way to the bus. We had breakfast (muffins), then drove to the Negev, where we started right off with a lot of weeding and cleaning for a few hours. At around 3 we headed to Sde Boker, the kibbutz and final resting place of Israel’s first prime minister, David Ben Gurion. We got there around 4:45. We got our room keys, then had free time until 6:15. I took a nap and then showered. At 6:15, we walked over to the dining hall and had dinner. After dinner, a few of us wandered around a bit to explore. We saw a bunch of the high school students making sculptures out of recyclables and boxes and stuff. It was pretty cool. They wanted us to come back the next night to help them paint. Then we had a bus meeting, and walked to this park area. We played a name game and talked about an article for a bit, then found out we were painting and cleaning the next day. At 9 they released us (not that we were imprisoned or anything), so I went back to my room, then decided I wasn't tired yet and went to find Jason P. I thanked him for telling me about the trip, then talked about other stuff for awhile. Then the other Jason (Jason F, the other bus leader) came over and started talking to us. Then Jason P left, and I talked to Jason F for awhile about a bunch of random stuff. Around 10:30 (I think?) we said goodnight, and I went to bed.

March 18 - Day 5
Woke up at 6:30 for breakfast at 7. Got on the bus at 8 for a short ride to go hear the mayor talk. He was talking about the Negev and all the things that were being done to fix it. It was pretty cool. Then we went to Dimona, where we were assigned different projects. 20 people from each bus were recruited to paint buildings, and the rest to paint the playground and build stuff over there. I painted the buildings. We painted for about 2 hours, then took a break for lunch, where we had cold cuts and pita. Mmm. After lunch we resumed painting to finish the buildings. We got pretty far, and it looked really cool to actually see the difference we were making so immediately. At one point while we were painting I had a run in with a (maybe?) community member (who was young), but I moved on from it. Anyway, after cleaning up the painting supplies, we drove back to the Kibbutz to change and get ready for dinner and the night hike. We met up at 5:30 in front of the cabins as a bus. Then we walked to Ben Gurion's grave overlooking the crator. We talked about Ben Gurion's visions, and his ideas about reviving the Negev. Then we talked about the Dead Sea and how the water spply is decreasing, then we moved on to talking about moving to the Negev eventually. It was a really interesting discussion. After that we went to dinner, then drove away from the Kibbutz a bit and started the night hike where we walked through the crator. It was a cool hike, but really hard towards the end. I think it would have been even cooler if we had turned off our flashlights and just walked with the moonlight, but I can understand that it could've been dangerous to do that. After the hike everyone went to hang out because we were done for the day. I sat out in the courtyard with people for awhile, then around 11 went to take a shower (I tried to blowdry my hair, but I accidentally blew out the outlet...oops!) and went to bed.

March 19 - Day 6
Woke up early to go to breakfast, then spent the day at a vineyard moving sticks and branches away from the vines so they could grow. Although it may not seem like much, Karen (a woman who used to work for the Or movement) told me that had we not been there to help, the work would not have gotten done, and the profit for this year would be very low. So yay us! We were there for a good 7 hours in the bright, ridiculously hot sun. I got pretty badly sunburnt on my neck and arms. Ouch. We came back to the kibbutz at about 4:30, then had some free time, during which I went to the store with Geoff, Andrea, and Liz to buy wine, chocolate and chocolate milk. Then I went and took a shower and decided not to wash my hair in fear of hurting my neck. Then I went outside and started talking to Jason F, and then we went to his room looking for Jason P to see if he had my song on his iPod, but he was taking a nap. And also, he didn't have it. Then I left Jason squared's room, and went to dinner. After dinner we went and heard a man talk about the Bedouin community and what could be done to help it. He said he had 3 moms and 26 brothers and sisters. He also said that anytime anything bad happened with the community (good or bad) every single person was involved. It was really interesting. After that we had a bus meeting where we talked about how sometimes people didn't think that we should come in and do community service work where they live and how we all feel about that. Then Jason P had me talk about my experience with the kid who said he didn't need our help and whatnot. After the meeting a bunch of us shared some wine and had a good time. After awhile I went to bed after talking to Stephanie and Lauren (my roommates) for a bit. Good times

March 20 - Day 7
Had our stuff packed by 7:45, then took it where we heard the Bedouin speaker. After that was breakfast, then we left to walk to our hike. The walk took about half an hour, and then we were at the hike site! It was a nature reserve, so it was really cool. We hiked from 9:30 until about 11:45. At the end I kind of felt like I was going to pass out, but I also felt accomplished. Woo! Then we went back to the Kibbutz to put our stuff on the bus, then went to lunch. After lunch we got on the bus and drove to Jerusalem. We arrived in Jerusalem to the hotel we were staying at, then took QUICK showers and went down to the lobby 45 minutes later. Then we traveled to the Kotel for half an hour, then separated by who wanted to hear the Megillah read (and where), or if they wanted to go shopping. I chose Ben Yehuda street in Jerusalem and went shopping. I finally got my falafel, and oh man was it DELICIOUS! Then we walked the street, shopping. I ended up buying a necklace that is a chamsa with a Jewish star in the middle and colorful crystals down the side. Very pretty. At 8:30 all the groups met up, then walked over to Capricorn, a club/karaoke bar. After getting drinks, a bunch of us went to go dance. Irene, Jenna, Andrea, Liz, Geoff, and I all went pretty crazy on the dance floor. Kind of. I got kind of hot after awhile, so I went outside and hung out there for the rest of the night. Eventually the bus came, so we got on and sang camp songs all the way back to our hotel. It was awesome. When we got back, a lot of people hung out outside for a long time. Finally, at 1am I decided it was late, and went to bed.

March 21 - Day 8
Drove from Jerusalem to a farm to pick strawberries. The strawberry farm is completely volunteer run and is all donated to the less fortunate. We did that for a few hours, and it was really fun. I talked to Jenna and Irene pretty much the whole time about school and people and other random stuff. It was cool bonding with them. After that we drove to Tel Aviv where we had two hours to go shopping. I walked around with Geoff, Aaron, Lauren, Jenna, and sometimes Liz and Andrea. I bought a magnet chamsa that says Jerusalem on it and has stones and stuff. Very pretty. Then I walked with Geoff to find this really cool mezuzah made out of Dead Sea Sand. After that we met up with the rest of the bus. Then we drove back to the hotel to get ready for Shabbat. I took a shower and then got dressed. I finally got to blow dry my hair again! Sherry had a converter/adapter thing, so I borrowed that. After that, we all headed downstairs for Shabbat Shira, then cancle lighting. They separated the boys and the girls, so the girls went to light candles, and then after that the boys brought us flowers! It was cool. Geoff gave me two flowers. Then we hung out for a few minutes, where Jason F put a flower in my hair. Good times. Then we all went to our respective services (I went to the Egalitarian/Conservative service) After services was dinner, then we had a bus meeting/discussion. We talked about the trip and stuff, then Jason P made me sing for a wristband. I sang the first 2 verses of the song I wrote at BCI (myspace.com/estherhatkoff). After the big meeting we all got wine from when we worked at the vineyard. After the meeting/wine we had free time, so I hung out with a bunch of people and we all exchanged stories about all sorts of things (mostly embarrassing/awkward moments). Then after awhile I was cold, so I went back to my room and grabbed a sweatshirt, then came back out and talked to Jenna and Irene for a few minutes, then went to bed.

March 22 - Day 9
Slept in til 9:15, then listened to music for a bit. At 10:30 we had coffee and cake, then at 11 we had a bus meeting discussion. We played charades and then talked about how we could bring the JNF experience back to our peers and make people come to Israel in the future. After that we had lunch, then Shabbat menucha, where I listened to music on the grass, then ran into Jason F and talked to him for the rest of free time. Then it was time for the third meal, Seudah Shelishit, where we had another bus discussion about what we thought of the trip. Jason, Jason and David also passed around foot. Yum! Then we had a little more time to go pack, and then we had to come downstairs for Havdallah. I love Havdallah. They brought all the buses together, and had the same tune in Israel as in California. Nice. After that we had to bring our suitcases and whatnot downstairs, then got on the bus. We went to a kibbutz for dinner where we had spaghetti and pizza and salad. Yum again. After dinner we got back on the bus and went to the airport. We said goodbye to everyone who had extended their trip, then went through security. Walked around there for ahwile, then saw Jamie from BCI! I miss that girl. then she boarded her flight, and we boarded ours, and we were on our way back to New York!

March 23 - Day 10
Slept for most of the plane ride, but woke up when there was AWFUL turbulence. Then went back to sleep. I woke up 3 hours before the end of the flight. A lot of people were up then. I watched August Rush (good movie), then talked to Rachel, Stephanie, Sherry, Michelle, Leah, and Jason. All at different times. We shared my pop rocks chocolate. Finally, the plane landed at 6:40am, and we all went through passport control and customs and such. After I got my bag, I said goodbye to people, which was sad. I headed to the air train to go to the right terminal, then tried to kill some time by getting breakfast. After that I still had a ton of time, so I went to my terminal and read for awhile. Then Dad called, and Lynn called, so I used up some time talking to them. Then we boarded the plane, where I slept for about 2 hours, and read for the rest of the time. Arrived at LAX, then went to lunch/dinner with Mom and Dad at Islands. I love Islands. Then Mom and Dad dropped me off at the airport, and I flew to Sacramento, where Sean picked me up. Then I was home!

The end.

Overall, I think it was a really good trip. I love Israel. And I miss my bus friends. But that happens.

I'll try to post pictures later, but my internet is being slow right now.