Chadica.com

So everyonce in a while, I just feel like writing about a bunch of smaller topics, so here goes.

It’s Cold

Ok, not really cold as midwest goes…but man, these buildings really don’t have insulation. It’s in the mid 60′s right now, and I’m already in sweatshirt, pants, shoes, and drinking hot tea. Of course, I could turn on the heat…but I’m stubborn and electricity is expensive.

Scuba Diving

I needed to renew my visa (it’s good for 3 months), so I headed down to Eilat for a couple of days. I made a 5 minute cross into Egypt to get my visa renewed, and also went on 3 dives. For those of you who don’t dive, 3 dives is exhausting. Not necessarily physically exhausting, but there is so much nitrogen in your system, that you just feel zonked (that is the actual clinical word for it….).

Some people go to temple, church, or a mosque to feel connected with something bigger then they are. I guess I go SCUBA diving. Diving is one of the few times in my life where my mind is just focused on what I am doing at this exact moment. It’s not thinking about work,  or who I need to call, or what I want for dinner. Focused on relaxing and breathing. Focused on observing the amazing diversity of life. For a perpetual multi-tasker, this is pretty impressive.

Sukkot (Festival of Booths)

So in hindsight, I’m saddened by the fact that I never went around Jerusalem taking pictures of the sukkot (booths) that were set-up. For those that don’t know, 2 weeks ago was the Festival of Booths. A week long harvest festival where you traditionally build these four walled temporary shelters and then you eat and sleep in them. Growing up, we always had one at Temple, but never really followed the tradition of eating and sleeping in them. Walking around Jerusalem and seeing them everywhere is pretty special. The Great Synaoguge had a humongous one that was at least 50ft x 50ft…but probably bigger. Other ones were tiny. Restaurants set them up outside so that people can eat there and still fulfill the commandment of eating in the sukkah.

A friend of mine took pictures of the different sukkot, and here is a link to his blog.

Voting

Our absentee ballots finally arrived on Monday. So Monday night, Jess and I sat down and cast our Ohio absentee ballots. Absentee ballots have to be postmarked before the 4th of November and arrive on or before the 14th…so we spent an extra dollar or two to make sure it gets there in time.

I hope all of you are either planning to vote on Tuesday or have already voted.

I feel that this year, people even more polarized about the candidates then in past years. So I’m not going to get into which candidate you should vote for, but I do feel that it is important that everyone votes. So evenif you disagree with me politically, I still encourage you to get to the polling stations and vote.

The Jewish holidays are finally over and live and school will go back to normal. It also means that are break for Sukkot is also done. For Sukkot, we went with our friends Nikki and Rachel to the Haifa area in the north, and then Jess and I traveled south into the Negev.

Ein Gedi and the Dead Sea

Ein Gedi is a beaitufl river valley not far from the Dead Sea. The main thing to do is go on the short hike and swim in the falls. If you’re looking you might see Ibex (which we did) and Gazelle.

We stopped at a beach that included a gorgeous restaurant and a pretty clean beach. If you’ve never been in the Dead Sea, it’s quite an experience. You don’t even need to try. It’s so calm and easy that you could bring out a book and read while just floating in the sea between Israel and Jordan.

Caesarea

Ceasarea is a city that was originally built over 2000 years ago and has since been modified and changed throughout the years. Walking around it was nice, but like most ruins, you just get hot. You also have to have a pretty good imagination as to what the place would have looked like back in the day. Thankfully, there was a pretty modern movie that had some 3D recreations of what they think the city looked like. The most impressive part of the city is completely gone and only available to see if you go on a scuba trip into the ruins of the harbor. This harbor was huge, and made all the more impressive in that it was made without any modern conveniences like tractors and dredging equipment.

Haifa

Haifa itself is a port city in the Northwest of Israel. Much of the city is pretty unassuming, except for the Baha’i gardens. My knowledge of the Bahai faith is limited to what a friend of a friend told me 10 years ago, so instead of trying to describe their faith, you can go to the wikipedia entry to find out more information.

The gardens themselves are absolutely gorgeous. Physically, they are impressive. Covering the side of Mt. Carmel with 18 terraces of lush green beauty. As it is a holy place, access to most of the gardens is limited. You can enter an overlook at the top and a garden near the actual Shrine of the Bab anytime during the day. But that is about 5% of the whole gardens. They have tours that take you through the top half of the gardens, but we missed out on that. The bottom half is pretty much off limits to everyone but pilgrams making their way to the shrine. The shrine is open and available to the public between 9 and noon. There is one proviso, none of the sections are open when it is raining. And it rained both mornings that we attempted to go to the gardens. D’oh!

Rosh HaNikra

The Israeli costline is pretty flat and full of beaches all the way up to the Lebanese border. At the border, the coastline becomes a beautiful cliff face with these large grottos that they have built paths that you can walk through and around.

Akko (Acre)

Akko is another ancient city with a turbelant past. It has been around since the days of the greeks in 333 BC,  and since has traded hands between the Egyptians, Romans, Arabs, Crusaders, Mamluks, Ottoman Empire, Turks, British, and now is a part of Israel.  Phew. The main section that we walked around was the Old City. Walking around old walled cities is amazing. Old cities that still have a population living within the walls in a non-touristy fashion is even coolor. Just the small narrow streets underneath covered archways that span imbetween the buildings. Walking through the market place that are selling things beyond cheesy touristy stuff. In fact, I was amazed at how many cheap toy stores there were.

While walking around, our main stops included the old Citadel, Al-Jazzar Mosque, and the harbor.

Mitzpe Ramon

Our adventure then took us south of Jerusalem into the Negev (desert). Maktesh Ramon (The Ramon Crater) is the largest natural crater in the world. We stayed at Sukkah Bamidbar aka Tents in the Desert.  The place consisted of 7+ small primitive (no bathroom and a single solar panel for lights) huts of various sizes. The place also had a communal eating area and some gardens and some animal pens. Bathroom facilities were of the camping variety, which meant you either walked away from your cabin and went in the desert or there was an outhouse. The place was definitely not for everyone, but was great to spend some time experiencing a little bit of what life in the desert must have been like.

I can see why people fall in love with the desert. It is beautiful and stark. I’m constantly amazed at how much life can exist in a place with such harsh conditions.

While in the town of Mitzpe Ramon, we stopped at the visitors center, Bio Ramon (they have some of the desert critters on display in their native environments), and an Alpaca/Llama farm. We also drove down in the crater and went on a canyon hike.

On the way back, we stopped at Ben Gurion’s grave and his house on Sde Boker. Also went for a short hike to a cold water spring in a beautiful canyon.  As luck would have it, my camera battery died…so alas…no pictures…this time.

Other stuff

When we’re driving around, I constantly have thoughts and ideas that I’d like to share with you all. Of course, now that I’m writing I can’t remember any of them. Must be in the family genes.

Things are quieting down now that the holidays are over and we can get back on a regular schedule. Jess is at class right now, and I’m at home either working or if there isn’t work…finding something fun to do. We have some friends that are coming out to visit Israel (and in turn us) in November, so that is exciting. I need to make a border crossing in the next 3 weeks so that I don’t overstay my Visa.

So I’m curious what you’d like to hear more about. Travels? Classes? Jewish Life?

Today is Yom Kippur, the Day of Repetence. In the States, we would have woken up, got dressed, hoped in the car, and drove to services. We would have had to deal with the hustle bustle of a normal day in Cleveland. Just a day where 80,000+ people were purposefully fasting and going to services instead of work.

Jerusalem is different. Today, the city is quiet. It’s not 80,000 people that are fasting and going to services…it’s the entire city. Walking back from services last night was like living in a ‘Twillight Zone’ episode. People were all dressed up walking down the middle of the streets going to and from services. Visiting with friends and seeking forgiviness or just hanging out with friends and shooting the breeze. Today is the one day of the year, that there aren’t any cabs on the road, or cars driving around. For the first time since I got to Jerusalem, it’s quiet.

As many of you know, Yom Kippur is a day of repetence. For the last month, Jews around the world have been reflecting over their past year and looking at the mistakes or sins, and trying to make amends. Instead of just thinking about the bad things you’ve done, you’re supposed to seek amends for it. Ask the person for forgiveness. It is also traditional, that if someone asks you for forgiveness, that you give it. That all mistakes happened last year, and that you have a fresh year ahead of you. Today is the last day. The day where you hope you’ve done enough, and that you can start the new year with a clean slate.

Walking around the city makes you feel reflective. The distractions and annoyances of daily life are just gone. No Israeli drivers speeding down the street honking left and right at any little annoyance. Or steroes blaring music. No sounds of speeding cars or down shifting trucks. No sounds of construction. Just the sounds of humans talking as they walk down the street.

Today, the site rests and reflects. The mood of the city makes it hard for me to just pick up my laptop, play a computer game or do something meaningless. I sit here thinking about my year about the crappy things that I’ve done, and the amazing things I’ve done. About the things that I would change in myself, and the things that I’m proud of.

Each year, you are supposed to look at yourself and look at the sins you’ve committed. As I sit here, I am not spending a lot of time about the times that I lost my temper and yelled at the stupid help desk people at Capital One, AT&T, or TIme-Warner Cable. I’m thinking about the times that I’ve hurt the people that are closest to me. The times I’ve lost patience with Jess or my Mom. Or not called my grandmothers as often as I should have. Sadly, the list can go on and on…but I guess that is part of being human. Ironically, I’ve also reflected on the fact that it is easier to seek forgiveness on a blog that my whole family and friends will see, then to actually call up the person and forgive them.

If you are celebrating Yom Kippur today, then I hope you have a short and easy fast. I hope you have a good day of reflection and remember that the ones you have hurt the most are probably the ones you love the most. If Yom Kippur is not part of your religion, I hope you can also look at someone you love and just say that you’re sorry for the last time you yelled at them, or did something that you regretted.

May you be written in the book of life for one more year,

Chad

So after a 43 year ban, a Beatle has finally played in Israel. And man was it a packed show. The concert took place in a park in Tel Aviv. It was us and our 50,000 closest friends all singing along to Hey Jude.

Overall, the show was pretty good. Israeli’s have a strange sense of space. You figure park, put down a blanket have a picnic. Nope. They’ll walk all over your blanket, sometimes even walking right through the middle of your game of cards. Other times, they’ll use you for balance without asking. Fun stuff.

But the concert was good. Well worth the trip. Here are some videos that I took with my digital camera. so the quality is pretty amateur.

Live and Let Die: Part 1

Live and Let Die: Part 2

Let It Be

Hey, Jude Part 1

Hey, Jude Part 2

I know…I know. We haven’t updated in forever. The main reason? Not much has gone on, till this week. Jess just finished her Ulpan, intensive hebrew, program and I’ve been working and generally being a bum. For those that care, ‘How I Met Your Mother’ is a good show, ‘Terminator: The Sarah Conner Chronicles’ is okay, and the Futurama made for DVD movies are fun.

So now that Jess is done with her Ulpan program, she has a week off before school official begins. We had a lot of ideas of where to go, but have decided to take it easy and explore more of Israel. Since the south is too bloody hot right now (105+ degrees during the daytime), we decided we’d head to the north. So we’ll update with more pictures and stories as soon as we have something fun to talk about.

Hope all is well with you.

The hardest travel entry is always the last. It’s the hardest because I am now comfortably sitting at home. No more Da’s, and Na’s, Kvala (Thanks), etc. So now, the vacation is just a memory more then anything. Ironically, I was so looking forward to coming home, yet home isn’t so different then Croatia. I still don’t speak the language, still need to convert currency, etc. At least I don’t have to pack up my life into a small pack every night and then travel to a new room.

Last time I wrote, we had just finished our time on the island of Vis and were now headed inland.

Mostar, Bosnia

Wahoo, new country. So we’re now in a beautiful valley inside of Bosnia in a city called Mostar. One very noticable part of Mostar is the divide. One side of the river are the Muslims, the other side…Christians. The other very noticable part of Mostar is the damage from the war. Modern buildings sitting next to blown out husks. Very new looking buildings in a medieval design, etc.

There isn’t much to do in the city, except for walk around. It was pretty hard to see the real effects of war on the city. Beggers on the streets missing arms or legs. Cemetary’s full of people that died in between 1991 and 1994. Destroyed buildings everywhere you look. That being said, the city had a life to it. The old town had cobble stone sidewalks, great architecture, friendly people, etc.

A centerpiece of the city is a main bridge that connects the east side with the west side. The bridge was 400+ years old, destroyed in 1993 (?) and rebuilt to resemble the original bridge. Apparently there is a club of divers that will jump off the bridge if you pay them 25 Euro (around $40+). You’ll have to see the pictures (below) to get an idea of how high the bridge is, but needless to say….you wouldn’t jump off of it. Apparently a lot of people pay as we saw 2 divers within about 30 minutes of each other. Part of me wanted to pay, just to be able to say that I paid a man to jump off a bridge.

Mljet, Croatia

Mljet is an island off the coast of Dubovnik. It’s a small 35km long island. Half of the island is a national park, and it is all highly. We got their and rented a car to take us around the island. Let me tell you, this car was the smallest POS that I’ve been in. The car was standard, so Scott had to drive, and I don’t think he was enjoying the experience too much.

Our first few spots that we stopped were these sleepy little coastal villages. Not much to do besides swim, hop in a boat, and talk with your neighbors. We then stopped in the national park where we swam in the salt water lakes and visted an old island Monastary.

Probably the highlight of the island and also of the trip was our hike down to Odysseus’s cave. Why they call the island that, I don’t know. The story goes that Odysseus stayed on this island for 7 years. We hiked down to this very rocky part of the coast. Forget the hills and rocky beaches. THis place just had large rocks jutting out of the water. The cave went in from the ocean about 25meters and then opened up to the sky. The easiest way to get into the cave was to swim. The easiest way to get into the water was to jump off the rocks. You could jump from various heights, from 2-3 feet to probably around 25feet. The area was beautiful. The water was clear and a shade of blue that is just…pure.

Dubrovnik, Croatia

The best part of Dubrovnik is the old city. The worst part is also the old city. Dubrovnik is a stop on all of the Meditterean cruises, and so it is very touristy. I can understand why people want to go there as the old city is amazing. It’s a walled city with Guard towers, parapats, and drawbridge. The streets are too narrow for cars. The whole city just feels old. You could almost picture what it would be like to live there hundreds of years ago.

Again, the main thing we did in the city was walk around and people watch. We did stopped in a few churches and a museum or two.

Zagreb, Croatia

Are lsat day found us back at the capital of Croatia, getting ready to fly home. Spent most of the day just walking around the city, looking at Churches, and all of the old architecture. Apparently, finding a place to eat on a Sunday is a difficult thing to do…at least in the area where we were. It’s a nice city to spend a half day in.

I wish I could say the flight back was uneventful. We left for the airport at 3:30pm. Scott’s flight was at 6pm, mine was at 7pm. The airport is pretty small, and Scott and I hung out until he boarded his late flight. My flight was on time to Budapest. I then had a 3 hour layover that consisted of watching the Olympics. The three hour layover became about a 4:45 minute layover. The strange thing about the 3 hour flight to Israel is they turned off all of the lights for take off. (it’s around 2 in the morning).  So I start to dose. Then they turn all of the lights back on and serve dinner and drinks. Dinner at 2:30am? All I wanted to do was sleep. Everytime I started to dose, the woman would come by and ask me something. Maybe got about 30 minutes of total sleep that night because of that. Eventually got to the airport and by the time I got back home it was 6:45am. So about 14 hours total. Oye. I’m still recovering.

That’s all for now. Here are the pictures:

Ah, island time. Basically, hours and schedules have no meanings. The sign says open from 10am to 12:30pm. Might not be open….just because.

So Scott and I are now on the Island of Vis. It’s a small little island with not much to do besides enjoy the beaches, swim, and go diving. So that is what we’ve done. The first thing I should mention about the beaches is that they are not what you’d expect. They are stony beaches without any sand. Which makes lying on them slightly uncomfortable, and sitting even more so. Forget walking barefoot, because that is just painful. The other thing is that there aren’t any waves. 99% of the time the sea has been perfectly calm. The other 1% of the time, a boat went by and created a few small waves. The water is cool and refreshing and the temperature has been hot.

Most of the people here tend to be Europeans with very few native English speakers that we’ve heard. We met an American girl from Seattle and have been hanging out with her for the last day o two, so that’s been nice. As great as it is to hang out with your brother for 10 days, it’s nice to get a change in conversation too.

This morning, we went SCUBA diving. I haven’t been diving since Thailand, so that was about 3 1/2 years ago. It felt really great to get back in the water. The water was colder then I’m used to, but I still had a nice 45 minute dive. I wouldn’t recommend diving here as there isn’t much to see. Supposedly there are octopus, but we didn’t see any . Just saw some eels, lots of fish, a nudibranch, and a stone fish.

The big problem that we’ve had is finding a place to stay. Apparently, all the private accommodations have been booked. So there has been some stress in knowing where we were going to sleep for the night. Tonight will be our third night, and the third place to stay. As for the last week, we’ve stayed in all different types of accommodation. We’ve had our private room at youth hostel which felt like a small prison with a single window and no fan. We’ve stayed in a hostel where we shared our room with 4 others. We’ve also stayed in a hotel room,  and private accommodations. The private accommodations have been nicer since they are people who have extra room in their building and rent it out. Our place tonight has a small kitchen area, personal shower, and a balcony. So it’s been a mixed bag so far.

We actually went to an outdoor theater last night to watch a movie. The movie was ok, but the theater was pretty cool. I kept looking up to watch the stars. Even saw 3 shooting stars….nice.

Well, that’s all for now. Tomorrow, we’re going to head back to the mainland. Thursday we’ll be heading to a town in Bosnia, and then down to Dubrovnik in southern Croatia.

Later,

Two Slightly Burned Travelers

One thing that I love to do is come up with cryptic titles to my blog posts. I’ll get to the meaning of that in a few minutes. First off, pictures are forth coming…probably in a few weeks when Scott gets back to the States.

So let’s get to the gritty details. First of all, I left for the airport at 1:45am. That is an awfully early time to be waking up for the airport. Especially since I went to bed an hour earlier. It took an hour and a half to get to the airport, and then 45minutes to an hour to get through the incredibly tight security. Taking off shoes may seem really annoying, but it’s a slight inconvenience to getting interrogated before you can leave the country. When I say interrogate, I mean everyone gets asked a ton of questions. Where are you going? How long are you going for? Where did you stay here? Where did you go? Are you jewish? What temple did you grow up at? What city? Have you been to Israel before? When? What is your purpose of coming? Etc. This is then followed by putting my luggage through security. Then followed by checking in for my flight, and putting my luggage through security again. Then followed passport control, and then finally going through security again. (and no…they don’t make you take off your shoes)

The rest of my journey was uneventful. I got there before Scott by a few hours. Well the few hours turned into quite a few hours as Scott’s flights were delayed which caused him to miss a connecting flight. So there went a day in Zagreb.

Thursday and Friday: Plitvice National Park

The following morning, we headed down to Plitvice National Park. We stopped at the campground that we were staying to drop our stuff off, but of course the bungalow was not ready. Then we find out that the shuttles to the park leave at 9am and return at 5pm. It was noon. D’oh. We could either find a ride to the park or wait till the next day. So we just pestered every car that was leaving the campground in the correct direction till someone offered us a ride. My first hitchhiking in Croatia….nice.

We also discovered that we should probably have gone from the highest point of the park to the lowest. Instead we started at the lowest point. The reason why is that the area that we were in was completely full of tour groups. Tour groups walk incredibly slow, the guide always holds an umbrella so the group can see him/her and they bunch up so you can’t get around them. Most of the park is on these narrow wooden platforms so you’re basically stuck. Outside of the annoyance of following the umbrella, the park was gorgeous. Think a beautiful valley with steep walls. Inside the valley is a lake, which turns into a waterfall, which turns into another lake, etc….etc…etc. Each of the lakes is a beautiful aqua blue color because of the limestone around it. All around the valley there are waterfalls of various heights and sizes. Sometimes the water just disappears down a hole in the ground and reappears as a waterfall 50ft away. Damn cool.

So this is where we spent Thursday and Friday morning. On Friday we started at the higher part of the valley and didn’t see a single tour group. Much nicer and we were able to stretch our legs and enjoy the hike more.

Friday – Zadar

Zadar is an old walled city along whatever they call the sea that Croatia is next to. Nice and vague…huh? Many of the cities are on little penisulas and the city completely fills it. Most of the wall is gone now, but the city retains that old city feel. Stone roads through narrow streets. I love it. Reminded me of walking through the Old City of Jerusalem….just less history. The city and all of the other cities along the sea have a very mediterrean feel to them. Very white walls with the reddish tile roofs. It’s a beautiful look that just seems to look perfect when you fit it in with the green trees rocky hills, and gorgeous water.

While the city is touristy, it’s nothing compared to Split (where I am currently). It’s interesting walking through the city that combines the incredibly old ruins with the very modern stores. Heck, they had a cinema showing ‘The Dark Knight’ right next to a bunch of ancient Roman ruins. One of the newest additions to the city was a water organ. The waves push the air through pipes which gives a very ethereal and mournful sound to the waves. Definitely enjoyed that, and pictures will never do that justice.

Saturday – Traveling to Split

Todays bus ride was awful. First we got to the bus station, picked up our ticket and then waited for the bus. We had our tickets, and we got on the bus, but of course there were a people in our seat and everybody said just sit anywhere. This idea sounds great up until you realize that they sold about 65+ tickets for the 53 seats available. Thankfully, we had seats. Then the bus started going and we realized that the air barely worked, and we were on the sunny side of the bus. Much sweating later, we make it the halfway point where we are told we need to switch buses. Scott thinks it was because the bus was having mechanical issues. The problem with switching buses is that they were having us switch to an already mostly full bus, and there were about 20 people waiting in line already for the bus. So we jammed our way onto the bus and spent the next 2 hours standing while they added more and more people onto a warm bus. At one point there were about 75 people on the bus made for 53. A lot of people from our original bus didn’t make it onto this bus and had to take a later bus. So the ride was very uncomfortable, but it force me to look out the window and enjoy the absolutely stunning coastline that Croatia has.

Once we arrived in Split, we got off the bus and now it’s 95 degrees out and we’re walking around with our packs on. Oye. Thankfully, our hostel is reasonably close to the bus station. The rest of the day has been much better. We organized and figured out buses and ferry’s and walked around the old palace that is here. The buildings are beautiful and the area is definitely a ton more touristy then Zadar. A highlight was watching the recessional of a wedding in the church inside the palace. I think there were at least 2 couples, possibly more. They had folk singers singing Croatian folk songs and the guests were all singing along. It was beautiful in just seeing a Croatian customs and hearing Croatian folk songs.

And that brings us to now. So far, I’m definitely enjoying myself. It’s great to spend time with Scott, but miss having Jess around. It’s culturally very weird for me to switch from Israel culture to Croatian culture (+ travel culture). First off all, everyone stopped speaking Hebrew. I kept saying yes/no and excuse me in Hebrew…and getting strange looks. Now I have to remember Da/Ne and Kvala (thanks). It’s also very weird because it is a very summery and very beach friendly area. Everyone was walking around the national park in their bathing suits and skimpy clothing and I’m used to seeing people a bit more conservatively dressed.

Tomorrow afternoon, he head out to explore some of the islands near here. Hopefully, we’ll get a chance to go SCUBA diving and maybe hang out on a beach. Good thing I brought a frisbee.

Yartzeit (Yiddish): the anniversary of a person’s passing

As many of you may know, today is my father’s, Mark Rosenthal, Yartzeit. He died four years ago from terminal thyroid cancer. Traditionally, you would go to temple and say the Mourner’s Kaddish. Most reform jews go on the nearest Friday. I’ve always felt that you should find a way to honor the person who died….like do something that they liked to do, eat something that they like, etc. Problem is, I’m just having a hard time finding something. People say that a person is never truly gone if you still think of them. Well, I feel like I’m reminded of him everytime I look in the mirror, say a bad joke, joke with a waiter, get grumpy, or even when I get disappointed with people because they didn’t do the best that they could do. So it’s hard to find one specific thing to do today to honor him. Ironically, it’s much easier to find something that he hated then something that he liked. I feel like I should go eat mustard, go to an italian restaurant that has paper table clothes, watch a sporting event with lots of commercials, etc. It’s also sometimes a hard day for me because we had our differences, but at the end of the day, I am my father’s son.

So one thing that Dad definitely loved to do is go traveling. So it seems appropriate that I just spend some time packing up my backpack and getting ready to meet my brother in Croatia. It’s very weird for me as I am just getting used to being in Israel, and now I’m leaving for 12 days. I’m definitely looking forward to spending some quality time with my old travel partner. I am a bit concerned to leave Jessica alone in Isarel, but am reassured that she is definitely not alone as many of her classmates have already said stuff about making plans and being around. Gotta love community.

Well that is all for now. Give someone you love a hug, cause life is frankly too short not too.