My computer died. This probably explains my absence from email, Skype, this blog, and life in general. I discovered that I can use the computers at the community center across the street for only 5 shekels an hour (which is what I'm doing right now) but it's not the same.
Since the death of my computer, life in Israel has resumed to the normal pace that countries have when they don't take breaks for holidays every few days.
On Thursday, we had our first Dorot seminar in a long time. It was on Literary Movements in Israel. We took a walking tour around Israel to see the houses of people very influential to modern Hebrew and modern Hebrew literature, like those of Eliezer Ben Yehuda (a key figure in the revival of Hebrew as a modern spoken language) and Rav Kook (the first chief rabbi of Palestine under British Mandate and poet) and locations mentioned in books and poems by modern Israeli authors like Amos Oz.
Our tour ended at Tmol Shilshom, a bookstore/cafe named after Nobel laureate S.Y. Agnon's novel. Besides the amazing cuisine, Tmol Shilshom (translated to "those were the days") is a sort of hub for the literary scene in Jerusalem and has hosted many many famous Jewish and Israeli authors. (The owner told us an amazing story about a young man who sat in the bookstore for months writing a book. One day he stopped showing up. The owner saw him on the street one day and confirmed his suspicions that hopeful author could not afford to buy coffee anymore. The owner generously encouraged the young man to return to Tmol Shilshom and provided him with a free space to write. His faith in the man was rewarded when he bounded into the cafe one day to announce that his book was to be published in 2000. The man was Nathan Englander, who has received many awards for his collection of short stories, For the Relief of Unbearable Urges, and his novel, the Ministry of Special Cases.) At the cafe, we heard two young, up-and-coming poets read some of their work, and were treated to a 3-course meal!
After lunch we took a much needed walk to Matt's house where we met with a professional translator of Hebrew poetry. And then we had a writing workshop during which I wrote a (very basic) poem completely in Hebrew!
On Friday, I took the bus to visit my camp friend Ruth at her parent's house on a moshav in the North. We watched a lot of movies and talked about camp, and I thoroughly enjoyed watching her family interact in a strange combination of Hebrew and English. (They made aliyah when Ruth was 7.)
Yesterday, I finally volunteered at Carmei Ha'ir. It was crazy! They threw me in immediately as a waitress and I spent 2 hours running around trying to serve people soup and take their "orders" (it's still a soup kitchen ... they get a choice of chicken or fish) and remember to bring them new silverware. All in Hebrew, by the way. With a very slippery floor. There were so many people and everything was happening so fast that I didn't really have time to process how crazy the whole thing was. But it was really fulfilling. These people are incredibly grateful not only for a meal (possibly their only meal of the day) but for the experience to eat in it a place that gives them a little bit of autonomy, normalcy, and dignity.
Oh, my time at this computer is up! Love and miss you all.
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