Something that already happened.

1st July - Thursday

On the bus, we race the shadows of clouds. The motion soothes me and I fall in and out of sleep. Makes me wonder if the calm I feel when being driven around has anything to do with the fact that mum used to put me in the car and drive to get me to fall asleep when I was a baby.

We leave the north of Israel for Jerusalem. First stop of the morning is to pick up six of the Israeli soldiers who will be spending the next five days with us. Asaf, Adi, Tzlil, Mali, Itay and Neta. Avi joins us later. The bus then takes us to the grottos at Rosh Hanikra.

Caverns made of rock hollowed out by waves that branch out into pools. Years and years of water lapping at the rock. Such a bizarre natural phenomenon - one of the few times nature really gets me.

We then visit an old prison that was discovered under a palace. I'm sure they gave us more information than this but as usual I am living mostly inside my own head. It seriously looks like the setting for Assassin's Creed.

Tara wonders what made them dig underneath the palace in the first place. "How do they know where to dig? I never dig!"

 (Yael + I accidentally both wear stripes and everybody makes sure to comment.)

 

 Best looking couple in Israel

John says:
we're never gonna win the world
we're never gonna stop the war
we're never gonna beat this if belief is what we're fighting for.

2nd July - Friday

Yiscah + Ben

This morning we are at Yad Vashem, the Holocaust memorial museum in Jerusalem. I am sitting in a room where a gentleman has just told us his story of survival. He was a young boy from 10-14 or so during the war, and was taken - amongst other places - to the Lodz ghetto and to Auschwitz. I wish I had words to describe what an incredible speaker he is. His English is good, slightly broken, and like a poet he calmly recites his story to a room full of young people. He talks of the last time he saw his mother and brother ('their eyes I can see even now'), of Mengele with his hand in his jacket signalling life or death, of kicks like presents and a boot to the head. 'I was on my own like a sinking stone'. He explains that for 50 years the survivors of the Holocaust did not talk about their experiences not because they wanted to forget or were ashamed, but because their were no therapists to tell them how to deal with such a trauma. They were told instead that in order to move on, they needed not to speak of it. I can't help but think of when I went to Auschwitz, set foot on that soil in that cold place. I am overwhelmed to have had the choice to leave when it became too much, unlike so many before me.

After Yad Vashem we walked to the cemetery at Mt Herzl where many of the Israeli soldiers who have fallen are buried.

 

 Daniel

All seven of the soldiers with us and Inbar, had friends buried there and spoke to us about the people they had lost. Inbar spoke a bit through her tears and I wanted to crush her with love. I find it so amazing that these women are shooting instructors or tank mechanics and are ready to die, but can then put on dresses and cry unashamedly. To watch Inbar holding a rifle and being emotionally vulnerable at the same time makes me realise that women are the same everywhere. We should never be told our feelings are too much.

It's been pretty spectacular to meet people who lead such starkly different lives to us. On the one hand they really have seen nothing of the world - they come straight out of school and into the army, they're still kids when they become soldiers. On the other hand the army seems to quickly turn boys into men and girls into women... the soldiers with us are between 20-22 years old, and really, they're badass.

Mali + Asaf

Asaf, Avi + Neta

Sometimes I imagine what they'd be like had they grown up in Australia - sitting around drinking overpriced beers and wearing dumb pointy shoes and talking shit. I'm glad they are here instead, being strong and far less full of shit.

Sombre part of the day over, we take a bus to the market and spend a frantic 45 minutes buying candy, checking out the junk shops, and finding little presents for our "shabbat-o-grams" (which is basically the Jewish equivalent of that Christmas thing where people buy a secret gift for someone in their workplace or whatever). Daniel, our tour guide, pulled out my name and bought me the besssst halva. Lucky guess - I love that stuff! The best part was the card:

Dear Talia,
Halva great shabbat.
You rock!
Daniel

The only thing I would have wanted more than halva was a good pun.

We all got into our Shabbat clothes and walked to the Western Wall. There was singing and dancing and soooo many people - thousands and thousands. Men and women are separated which drives me crazy because of the reasoning for it. It's something along the lines of 'man has an animal nature so for him to focus on praying instead of sex he can't be near a woman or hear her sing.' There are actually some super orthodox rabbis walking around with ear plugs in so as not to accidentally hear a female singing.

I felt pretty uncomfortable after a while (even though the spirit of the evening is pretty amazing, forcing a dance feels weird), and Mali had a headache so we went and sat away from the crowds and talked a bit about our very different lives. When the group was done, we all walked for 45 minutes (!!) to an empty synagogue where we had dinner. Pretty cool. Everybody was asked to say a small something about their feelings regarding the trip... it was a good night.

At about 2am (rabbis know how to party), we walked back to the hotel (another 45 minutes). Somehow we ended up on the rooftop, where everyone was drinking and dancing to music that made me want to put screwdrivers deep inside my ears. After a while I commandeered the iPod and subjected the remaining few to some Lil Weezy. Sat with Avi + Dom + a few others until about 5am when almost everybody went to bed.

Dom, Asaf, Avi and I then sat and talked until the sun was well and truly up - Avi in broken English, me in non-existent Hebrew, Dom translating back and forth. We spoke about the differences between Israelis and Australians, and even though they are men in some ways, when they talk about women they still sound a bit like boys (perhaps that never changes). Avi's English is super limited, and my favourite part of the evening was when they were telling us about their different jobs in the army. Asaf explained how he is a commander, and is sometimes responsible for up to 3000 soldiers. Avi then said simply, in perfect English and with a mad grin on his face, "I kill people for fun."

It's funny how some languages are universal, like smiles.