Take that, half marathon!

As cars stopped in the middle of the street, not bothered by any traffic still continuing on their way, you could hear the sound of car doors opening as drivers stood out of their cars to pay their 5 minutes of respect to Gilad Shalit. On June 25, 2006, Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit was captured by Hamas and has since been held hostage in the Gaza Stip. Hamas has refused any requests for visitation and the only communication so far has been three letters, an audio tape and a video that was released in exchange for the release of 20 Palestinian female prisoners. Currently, the parents of Gilad have set up camp outside PM Netanyahu's office, pressuring the government for the return of their son. The spirit of Gilad Shalit is held strong through the bright yellow ribbons waving throughout Israel and that I proudly have tied to my purse. The five minutes of silence campaign was held to represent the five years that Gilad has been held captive. I can't explain the feeling as I watched people get out of their cars and stand in complete silence to honor the now 24 year old soldier.

Sorry to start the blog of on a somber note, but witnessing this campaign, especially in the semi-religious neighborhood that I live in, had a great impact on me. 

After the trip to Maktesh Ramon, the group once again boarded back onto a bus to head down to Be'er Sheva and the surrounding areas. In this area of the Negev there is an abundance of Bedouin villages, both recognized and unrecognized. Standing on top of a hill, hearing the distant sounds of Bedouin children herding animals, I looked out to see the difference in surrounding villages. Our tour guide from the organization Bustan, explained to us the hardships faced by Bedouin people. An  unrecognized Bedouin village is a settlement that the Israeli government doesn't recognize as legal and therefore has no qualms with entering such a village and demolishing property. Unrecognized villages, not being part of the municipality, are unable to be connected to electricity grid, water lines or trash pick up. For those of us who grew up in Western society, it's pretty easy to see the benefits of being affiliated with the municipality and wonder why anyone would want to live without, what we consider, to be basic necessities. Speaking with members of these unrecognized villages shed light onto the Bedouin lifestyle and the importance of the nomadic aspects intertwined in their lifestyle.  

soap anyone?

We left the unrecognized village, bellies full of tea and coffee, and headed off to Tel Sheva to visit a recognized village and see the differences between the two. Now, I had mentioned before that a perk of becoming recognized was the availability of trash pickup. Unfortunately, most Bedouins have the mentality that if it's not on my property, it's not mine. Just imagine how much trash there was on the road... It was actually unsettling. Driving through the streets on the way to our meeting point, I felt conflicted that these people have the advantage of living on recognized land and the access to trash pickup, but do very little to make it happen. This is not to say that the fault is all on the residents, I can't imagine that the Israeli municipality is rushing to pick up trash in a Bedouin village. Anyways, our purpose at the village was to meet a local woman, Maria, who broke away from the typical gender roles and created her own cosmetics business. While waiting for Maria to arrive, transportation in the village isn't exactly reliable, we witnessed just how one milks a camel. And not only that, but we got to try fresh camel milk......yuck. Not my style, at all! To wash down the camel milk we were offered another round of tea. Don't mind if I do! Maria arrived and unfolded the hardships and rewards of her project. If you are an avid reader of my blog, you will notice the trend of speaking to empowered women. It's definitely amazing to hear their stories and it's especially amazing how candid they have all been with us. Creating a business or running for office in a male dominated society is not easy and it's awakening to hear their narratives. 

1.Crossing the finish line
2.Mari and I
3.The group and I after the race

Well, now it's the moment that you have all been waiting for....the half marathon!! Despite the recent happenings in Jerusalem, the first marathon in the fine city still occurred. Since the marathon started at 8 am, my friend Marissa and I decided it was best to spend the night in Jerusalem. Fortunately, I met an amazing friend at the leadership conference (Felix- pictured in the previous post) and he was so nice to let us stay at his apartment. In fact, he had a trip to go on, so when I arrived at his place I found a note welcoming me to the "Felix Guesthouse" accompanied with a nice arrangement of chocolate. I am certain that this is how every hotel should operate. Thanks Felix! Marissa and I woke up to a dark sky and the freezing Jerusalem weather, I guess you could say it woke us up before the run. Let me skip to the good part... the run was absolutely amazing. Jerusalem may be the hilliest place I have ever been. Considering that I trained in the predominately flat Tel Aviv, the hills definitely kicked my ass. At least the track was interesting! It was amazing to run through the city, but at the 2 hour mark, I decided it was time to hit the finish line. Running the 21 km (13.1 miles) in 2 hours and 4 minutes, I was pretty impressed with myself. Coming up to the finish line, I saw my friends waiting on the sidelines which gave me the final push that I needed to sprint the last few meters. Now Jerusalem isn't the most active city, but let me tell you, I was running next to some fierce religious women, donned in leggings and skirts. Talk about being bad ass! Finishing the race was actually an incredible feeling. May I just add that I did not walk once during the race, even when facing the toughest hill. As I waited at the finish line for the rest of my friends, I saw Mari Rubin cross the finish line. Mari and I have known each other since 6th grade- this just shows you how small Israel is. I haven't seen her in a few years, so of course I would run (literally) into her in Israel.  Along with Marissa, 2 other of my friends ran the half marathon. We celebrated with a trip to Holy Bagels- finally real bagels!! Let me just say, that walking to Holy Bagels was the most miserable experience. My legs actually hated me. In fact, they continued to rebel all weekend. The day after the marathon, after getting out of bed, I constantly found myself eating! What an excuse to eat! I couldn't deny my body food after burning off so many calories. All in all, running the half marathon was a great experience and although I won't be running one in the real near future, I'm sure I will run one again.

any resemblance?

Now, the week after the half marathon was Purim aka. complete madness in Tel Aviv. Naturally for such an occasion I chose to dress up as Goldstar- the pbr of Israeli beers. I have to give props to myself for actually making my costume by hand. One pillowcase, some gold fabric, a magic marker, and some pieces of paper later I had myself a goldstar costume. Not too shabby. Purim was crazy. It honestly is an excuse for the whole city to party. The main night, Saturday, was celebrated with a ginormous party taking over the streets of Florentin. I chose this night to not go out, but instead I watched the festivities from a friend's apartment. It was a lot nicer to be on a porch up above the madness then to be down trying to find my way through. Being 5 ft. tall doesn't exactly help someone in a huge crowd. I have never seen so many people parading through the streets in the most unusual costumes, some way more original than others. I have to say, that my friends stepped it up with their costumes. We represented housewives, minny mouse, the joker, thing 1 & thing 2, flappers, and of course sex, drugs, and rock & roll. I think the last time that I celebrated Purim was when I was 7 and I dressed up as Wednesday from the Addam's Family or the year that I was little red riding hood. Either way, it's been a pretty long time since I partook in the Purim celebrations. I do love me some humantashen though, or as Israeli's say it Ozne Hama (Haman's ears). My roommates and I perfected the recipe and had a constant flow of fresh cookies throughout the week leading up to Purim. I don't hate it!

Also, all my pictures are up on my picasa website, so reference those for any visuals that you may need.