Holidays in the Holyland

Ho ho ho.

What's been going on?

I'll tell you what's been going on.

I went on a hike to the Judean hills last thursday. We hiked about 8-10 km down this choppy dirt path. Since it is the dry season, the shrubbery do not have leaves, so we walked through narrow passageways of prickers, and the dirt that would have given us footing was like slippery chalk. But the views were breathtaking. We visited an abandoned tomb of a sheik, and cleaned out a 4000-year-old watering hole that was filled with rocks (and spiders).

Thanksgiving was lackluster, but we tried to make it special. Actually, it was the non-Americans who helped me prepare a thanksgiving feast of frozen peas, orzo, cauliflower, roasted chicken, and ice water.

It was fun to see the family virtually eating at Grandma's house. I wished I could be there.

Now Chanukkah is approaching, I feel even more nostalgic for the days of old (not Ancient Greece...like...when i was 12). I bought my favorite Hanukka CD on iTunes (Festival of Light 2). I didn't pack a menorah with me, so I used the clay I accidentally bought (Our ceramics class uses Minerco .02 White...not .05) to make my own. People don't sing Hanukah songs here. The only real Chanukah-y thing I've seen here are sufganiyot (jelly doughnuts) in every shop (they smell and look fantastic) and menorahs in every window. Those empty menorahs are so promising. I love imagining them all filled with light.

*noticed I spelled Hanukkah differently every time. Pluralistic Judaism at its finest.

Thanksgiving
The hills
Our Class
Sheik Tomb

Back Message (get it? like...back massage?)

No, mom, I'm not dead, sick, kidnapped, paralyzed or depressed. I am an artist...one that traps herself in the recesses of her creative consciousness and refuses to emerge until inspiration has surfaced like a tampon on the shores of Long Island sound.

Apparently you miss my blogging about everything I'm eating (right now, a roasted eggplant with tahini) my bowl movements (normal, chunkysmooth), my kvetching (I was harassed at the Arab shuk yesterday), my bargains (haggled a Druze kippah from 220 sheckles to 70), etcetera.

Well, I'm back.

If the real purpose of this gap year is to eat, pray, and club, then you can just watch Julia Roberts take a bite out of Europe and Asia with that big mouth of hers. I'm here to do art. It's becoming less and less stressful and a bit more comfortable. I can navigate my way through the Bezalel library, I know how turpentine and linseed oil affect the application of paint, I know how to center a mound of clay on the wheel, and stretch it to make cups and bowls, I can measure an angle for perspective drawing by squinting one eye and sticking out my pencil , I know the shortcut to get to the piano rooms in Hebrew University, I know where to get a 2-sheckel, vanilla, soft serve cone (McDonalds. It tastes like drive thru with dad).

So, I'm feeling a bit more Sabra/artsy and a little less American. Especially since Thanksgiving is approaching. Though, apparently, Israel consumes the most turkey per capita in the world. I regret being here a little bit...missing out on the eating, the family gathering, and the traffic-congested car ride. But I'm here to live like an israeli...which means, I get to gawk at the menorah light fixtures the municipality recently put on all the light posts on Mount Scopus, it's still warm enough to wear shorts, and I haven't seen a Christmas ad on TV (granted, I don't own a TV).

The synergy of art and Israel creates a new element of its own, and it feels authentic. Overall, I'm living the Chai life.

Below are some pictures of my pictures...

bear in mind, that these are all practice, and I haven't had time to work on anything more than a class period. I am still a student. I posted the good and bad. Enough disclaimers.

In painting class today (less than 3 hours ago) we did painting "sketches" meaning we didn't have more than 20 minutes to work on these. This one is a theater.
Still wet. This one's a kitchen.
The Tree of Art in our studio. I did the apples.
Me priming my "canvas" for class today. I binder clipped a sheet of canvas to the piece of plywood I use for drawing.
Amichai, our nude model for One-Arm's class

Contour drawing...meaning you only get one chance to make one straight line in order to define the shape of the model.
Nudette. check out those Rainbow Brite pubes.
Big ass.
Nude dude.

Still life of green vegetables on red canvas
Perspective drawing (I hated this class)
Monochrome exercise (I hated this class, too)
Perspective exercise drawing a tower of desks and chairs.

AND shout out to mom and dad. Happy 26th Anniversary! You guys are hot.

Filling the Gap

Damn...more than a week since i've written. Maybe that means I'm finally getting a life.

Since a lot of time has gone by since i've blahged, I won't detail what i am doing, rather how i am doing, because when people back home ask, "How's Aliza doing?", it's insufficient to answer with, "She made three cylinders on the wheel yesterday. She ate pasta." You would rather answer with something like this:

"Aliza has finally occupied her niche at Bezalel. True, in class she is labeled as the American student who, during lectures in hebrew, maintains an expression of complete confusion and pathetic apathy, but she is totally immersed and engaged in her art. Her teachers are impressed by her skills as a student at pre-beginner level. She loves the thrill of tackling a challenge and in the process, making something that is all her own.

Her father wishes she would go to synagogue services more often, but Aliza reassures him that the art she is doing resonates with something more powerful than flipping through pages of a siddur.

Despite popular belief, Israel has not made Aliza fat. She weighed herself (in kilos) and has lost about 3 pounds since she has arrived. (Thanks to an overpriced gym membership and no Honey Bunches of Oats in her cabinet.)

Aliza misses her family, not the life at home. She misses subtle nuances of Woodbridge sometimes: her mother's cooking, Target, downtown New Haven, Shabbat, sleeping with her dog (she found a dog hair on her coat yesterday and got incredibly nostalgic), diners, car rides with the Ganses, Saturday mornings, get-togethers with her gals, and seasons. She has spent enough time with Israelis (and Arabs) that she knows she does not want to make Aliyah (maybe if she learned perfect hebrew she would retire in Haifa). Her perceptions of Israel have changed. She once romanticized it. Now the country is more real to her. She has a hard time trusting it.

Aliza is still indecisive about next semester. She would love a change, but is not sure if she wants to risk her art for picking grapefruits in a kibbutz field. While her experiences at Bezalel have not given her a clear direction of where she wants to focus her career (which is why she took a gap year in the first place), she has had time to stew over who she is, what she wants, and what is important to her.

working title

inside the studio
spray paint
me in the elevator
laundromat
cafe
gardens/campus
kvar studentim...my apartment building from the dumpster
kitchen table

I haven't really been in a blogging mood. But I don't want to let down my multitudes of devoted fans. This weekend I visited Hannah at Kibbutz Ein Dor. It's a 15 minute drive from Afula, which is a couple hours from Jerusalem. It was a nightmare of a schlep to get there (sat in the aisle and then next to a over-touchy guy), but it was worth it. Shabbat on the kibbutz consisted mainly of sleeping, eating, partying, passing an ice cube from mouth-to-mouth with 20-something teenagers, and catching up with my best friend.

Sunday I had a really interesting theory class. He lectured on the mysticism of the Aleph-Bet. I then rushed to Hadassah hospital for my first volunteer gig. My partner and I made claymation figurines with kids. They were mostly arabic so it was difficult to communicate. It was very rewarding. I want to steal a set of these retro-looking Hadassah Hospital sheets. There are piles of them lining the hallways. Is that wrong?

I then scurried to ulpan and was only a half-hour late. We learned how to conjugate infinitives. Still boring as heck.

Today I had a fantastic pottery class (chiseled/refined our cups/painted designs on them). I had drawing with Ami second class (the one I exchanged that boring installation class for). This guy is fantastic. He actually gave us exercises and, I feel, he is really committed to helping us improve our skills. Our model was really neat too. She was very classic-looking and had shape to her. She did these really crazy poses, and was laughing. It was a good-humored day.

Le Grande Tour

Transvestite Wrestler Figurines
View from my bedroom window
Bathroom
My food stock
The infamous oven

Lounge

Kitchen

My room plaque

Sink

My decorated drum

My Desk

Right side of my room

My encyclopedia-ed walls

Where I sleep

My room

Some amazing things have happened this week:

- I made three perfect cylinders on the wheel without messing up once

- I painted a still life of green vegetables on an all-red canvas

- I rented a heavy duty camera from the Bezalel Electronic Rental place

- I took out a chockfull of books at the Bezalel library

- I switched out of my boring sculpture/installation class into Drawing

- I saw five blind people in one afternoon

- I found my keys

- I sat across from a woman on the bus who ended up being a past israeli emissary from Afula who volunteered in Woodbridge, CT! Crazy little country.

So, Dad wanted me to give him a picture of where I'm living. I went around with my spiffy Canon and took snapshots of campus culture.

More pics to come...i am just in a rush to leave to meet hannah at the bus station, and it takes FOREVER to upload photos on here.

Shabbat Shalom!

Challah-ween

Saturday, the girls in my apartment and a couple others were planning to go to the Kotel, but the weather proved to be a blustery mix of wind and rain. I saw all of the street cats take refuge under the lavender bushes. Because it was Shabbat, the roads were quiet enough so I could hear the droplets pinkle on the pavement. For some reason, it reminded me of Thanksgiving.

Saturday night I visited Shimon, our Brooklyn-bred, Bronfman rabbi. His house is located in Katamon, which I had only visited once, two summers ago. It was a little daunting trying to navigate the residential dark streets of Jerusalem, but thanks to this amazing free app on my iTouch called JeruBus, I had the bus time, route, and map of Jerusalem in the palm of my hand. (and I looked less vulnerable/tourisy because I was carrying a consumer electronic, not a map.)

The dinner was a post-shabbos mixer for all the Alumni currently living in Israel. Shimon had Pizza Hut pizzas stacked on the dining room table, along with veggies, chips, and dips. There were 10 of us, 5 from my year. It was nice to see familiar faces and to discuss the weekly parsha over chocolate ruggelach. I felt a little out of place because mostly everyone at the table was taking a gap year from their ivy league school to study at a yeshiva. But, hey...who can say they dined on greasy pizza with torah scholars and Harvard grads?...when life makes you a fish-out-of-water, make tuna salad.

Sunday was Halloween, but it also was class and ulpan day. I was dreading going to our Spirituality and Consciousness class because we had a substitute. And if the real teacher was uninspiring, imagine what a snooze this substitute would be. WRONG!

Rabbi Menachem Nissel is a man with a muddy accent. It's a combination of Tennessee twang and proper British. He told us of his trip to Amsterdam at age 10, when his older sister introduced him to marijuana. He loves pop music. He taught us a lesson on Jewish reincarnation based on a text called, "The Way of God" by Rabbi Luzzato. Some interesting points he made:

- Special needs people are high souls trapped in a lower body. Some orthodox traditions stand when a mentally-disabled person enters the room to show respect.

- A book called "Sefer Ha Gilgulim", which literally translates to "The Book of Wheels," gives us the Jewish take on regeneration.

- The World to Come is when body and soul are reunited, cleansed and rectified, and both body and soul have a direct relationship with God. We are given a sixth sense: the perception of spiritual beauty.

- reincarnation exists for the purpose of fixing errors or completing what you did not finish on earth.

It was wild, weird stuff. I don't know how much of it I believe, but it was eye-opening and engaging.

After that, I took a nap before ulpan. Ulpan was boring, as usual. I had a pounding headache.

So you know those signs we made for a Halloween Party outside the kvar? Maintenance tore them down. There was no one outside to share our small slice of Americana Nostalgia pie. We got back to the apartment and totally pooped out. Halloween this year was a Hallow-LOSE. BOOOOOOOOO! (not in the scary sense...but in the GET OFF THE STAGE, YOU SUCK sense)

I did dance to "Monster Mash" in my room. Hopefully, Purim will be a bit more stoked.

Today I had ceramics and actually managed to make a perfect cylinder! After class, I rushed to the bus station to get to Tel Aviv for "The Empty Space". We met up at a gallery where our teacher was featured. We ended up doing the same exhibit tours as I did with Talia. I think I am going to drop that class. There is too much lecturing in Hebrew. It's not practical, especially when I'm here to hone my skills. Here are some pictures of some kewl installations: