the adventure continues

alright, where was i? oh yes, Eilat was thankfully behind me as i rode into Jerusalem, and i was gearing up for my next excursion, this time to the north. sadly enough, my first intended item of business (hiking up to a secret hot springs with a local artist friend) ended up being no item of business; he had taken ill, and wasn’t up for the trek. mind you, he was up for sitting in his studio drinking red wine and philosophizing until well after midnight…*sigh* artists, i tell you. well it was all in good fun, and he didn’t try any monkey business (thank god, for his sake—i had enough aggressive knee-jerk energy stored up from Eilat, he would have been very, very sorry)…i think he’s a bit lonely up there, and appreciates my company as i appreciate his; a friendship has been forged, and though i didn’t see him again (for he really was sick, and stayed in bed for 3 days thereafter), we plan to meet up when i come back to israel. actually, he has the wanderlust bug almost as badly as i do, and has been loosely throwing around tempting invitations to go with him to morocco, or thailand, or nepal…all nice ideas, which i am currently thoroughly enjoying playing out in my fantasies. will they come to fruition? doubtful. who knows…stay tuned!

i’m sure i’ve spared no gushing detail in previous emails about how beautiful tzfat is; every time i’m there, i feel myself grow ever more attached. the perma-smile spread steadily across my face as the bus climbed higher and higher north; by the time i de-boarded, it was all i could do not to burst into a fit of dancing for joy. i located my hostel easily enough (yes ladies and gentlemen, i learned something from my misadventure in eilat, believe it or not—i even booked in advance!), and once i’d checked in, set off to explore my beloved city. there’s a lot more to it than i’ve been brave enough to cover on foot (if i mistakenly take a turn downwards, there’s no telling how far i can go—and it’s not the down that bothers me, it’s the hike back up!) ; but i did discover some new winding alleyways and picturesque streetscapes. i also acquired a map, which enabled me to find may to Citadel Hill, a large park on top of the mountain that has small paths winding up and up and up; i went at night, by the faint light of my cellphone, and sat with my jaw gaping open in amazement at the view of the surrounding hills and towns, and the star-speckled canvas of the night overhead. if ever there was a place to contemplate the meaning of life, and get your neurons firing at warp speed in attempting to solve the mystery of existence, and time, and space—that’s the place to do it. and in this wonderful age of wireless technology, i had my dear friend erin (sitting in snowy ontario) to share it with me.

 the hostel i was staying at offers a variety of classes in the morning and evening (they also run community programs all year-round, and seminars, and a bunch of other interesting things), so i was very disciplined in attending all i could attend (not to mention i got a rebate on my room for each session…incentive enough for me, though i would’ve gone to them anyway). the subject matter covered hanukkah-related themes, to studies of the Tanya and Chumash, to a mind-blowing mysticism class with a ba’al teshuva from london, ontario (originally born in montreal, go figure), who blew my socks off with one paragraph dealing with the idea of Divine Nothingness. i wouldn’t even pretend to claim that i understood a word, but the thoughts zipping through my brain were on fire, and it made me painfully aware of how much more i need to learn. i think i need to study physics. the hostel also had a full library, so i took the liberty of stacking up a pile of books, which i munched on throughout my stay. I was also cutting across town to attend a few classes in an all-girls’ seminary called Sharei Bina; the teachers were good, but the concentration level (in a roomful of 17-19yr old american girls right out of high school) was less than my cup of tea.

right around the corner from the school, i remembered the park where i did some volunteer gardening in the summer; an artist used to live there, and the grounds are littered with his impressive stone sculptures. it’s a quiet spot looking out over the hills; i sat for a long while on one of the benches, enjoying the scenery, and pondering. i figured i may as well see if anyone was in the Center for Healthy Living (the organization that was in charge of tending the park), since i had made a nice connection with the 2 staff members i had worked with that one day. they were there, as well as another cool hippie girl (these people most closely resemble my cobourg friends—i felt right at home), and i ended up spending the evening and lighting my first hanukkah candles with them. the next day i had some spare time, and my feet found their way back to them—talk about animal attraction—and again we spent a few hours together, lost in conversation and painting windowframes. they are renovating this humongous space/cave that was once an arab khan, sort of this gathering place for the caravans that would come to the markets and where the people could sleep and keep their donkeys…there are many small cavernous offshoots, and as they continue to dig, they continue to discover rooms. it’s a great project; when i come back and don’t know what to do with myself, i might just head up for a week or so to lend a helping hand. one of the staff members is a sweet young guy who did an art degree at massart in boston, where i did a summer program when i was 16; it is so nice to keep having this overlap here, when i meet people—the ease with which we can establish a common frame of reference makes everywhere i go feel like a taste of home.

 speaking of home…my condolences to all of you stuck in the -22 C winter wonderland. i am still wearing my birkenstocks (although people think i’m a bit crazy), and the winter rain that has begun to fall, bringing everything back to life, is filling the air with a springtime smell (the fragrance of flowers, grass; the aroma of mud and humidity)—my canadian weathermeter is baffled by the seasons here. oh but don’t get me wrong, i wouldn’t trade places, nope. :)

 so, i am now spending time with my cousins in modi’in, and soon i will be bouncing between more relatives in rishon and tel aviv; thoroughly enjoying being taken care of (mainly in the food and laundry departments) before i rough it for a month in the sri lankan wilderness…and that’s all folks! i hope you are all keeping warm and happy during this holiday season. chag sameach…happy chrisnukkah? merry hannumas? whatever works for you.