Hi everyone!

I write to you from the Kibbutz where we are visiting for Pesach!

I don't have too much to report, but I thought I'd say hi and share a few stories while I have the time.

As I'm sure many of you know, there has been some balagan (this is Hebrew for a pretty big mess) in Jerusalem the last few weeks with Netanyahu announcing more Jewish settlements in East Jerusalem and the following protests. To be honest, I had to seek out the affects of this if I wanted to feel them, which often comes as a surprise to people who aren't here and expect everything to be craaaazy. It's not. The Old City was closed from the Arab quarter and there were many more soldiers at each gate, and occasionally my bus to school had to take a different route because of big protests in the larger Arab neighborhoods/villages of Jerusalem. There was a big protest at the entrance to Hebrew University, full of shouting and flag-waving, but when it was all screamed and done, the two opposing sides walked into school to learn together. The irony of this conflict is felt every day. I must admit that like may I am very frustrated with Netanyahu's announcement, as it so clearly does not send a message of readiness for compromise or concession.

I posted this story on my facebook, but I just think it's funny enough to share again:

The other day I was sitting on the bus when a relatively young religious woman got on with a stroller. She parked the stroller in the aisle of the bus, picked up the baby, and handed it to me. She went to pay the bus driver, came back, and retrieved her infant. To me the strangeness of this encounter is clear, but it is made even weirder to me by the fact that normally the religious women don't want people like me (read: tanktops and shorts) even looking at their babies, and don't even think about smiling. So the fact that this woman trusted me to hold her small child without as much as an explanation was pretty foreign. Also the fact that since sharing this story I have heard many accounts of similar experiences from friends. I think it also speaks miles about Israeli culture and Jerusalem in general - it's like one big neighborhood.

Another funny thing happened that same day: I was outside one of my classrooms in the international campus when a girl came up to me and asked (in Hebrew) if she could take a picture of me and ask a question for a project. I said sure, she snapped a photo, and said, "Okay, so the question is: Where would you rather live - Israel or America?" Seriously?! I looked at her and responded, "Do you have six hours? Because we can sit down an talk about this, but I just don't have a single sentence for you." She was pushy, as any good Israeli is, and eventually squeezed out of me some statement about how I love the culture in Israel but have a hard time living without the food, fashion, and family of America. I felt like she casually asked me one of the biggest questions she possibly could have conjured up. Funny.

So I think that's all I've got for now. I'm very much looking forward to Pesach on the kibbutz (imagine a 150 person seder!) and the pool opens in a few days! Next Thursday I'm going to Paris to visit three of my dear friends from high school who are studying abroad there, so look for a Parisian post in the near future!

Chag Sameach to you all, and many hugs and kisses!

xo

k