Live life by living, not only existing

Terrorist Attack (m'cha-bail pi-gua) מחבל פיגוע

International Arts and Crafts Festival (fes-ti-val cho-tzot h'yo-tzar) פסטיבל חוצות היוצר

As most of you know, last Thursday there was a terrorist attack in the south of Israel, near Eilat. This has been followed by an exchange of fire from both Israel and Gaza. While things have calmed down somewhat, rockets continue to be shot into Israel from Gaza. 

The last time that I was in Israel, I was here during Operation Cast Lead. Just like when I was here last time, living in Jerusalem is like living in a bubble, especially when not fluent in Israel. While there is much discussion about this ongoing situation life continues to go on. In fact, many of my peers and I commented on how shocked we were that after the attacks happened, life in Jerusalem kept on going just like it did every other day. For me, my only point of reference I have for such an event like this was 9/11 which was very different on many levels. For us as Americans, having never really experienced what it is like knowing that there always the possibility of violence against us as Americans, an event such as this can really change one's perspective. One thing that I have noticed is that Israelis have unfortunately had to adopt this attitude of living life by living, and not only existing. That is to say, Israelis know that there is always the possibility of violence, however, they do not let this possibility stop them from living their lives in the way that they normally would. Sure, there might be some increased security, and people might be a little bit more precautious, but this is just the way of life here. This is how I have continued to live here. While I am certainly more cautious and more aware of my surroundings, I am not going to let the possibility of something that may or may not happen inhibit my experiences in Israel for the year.

To this extent, last week I went to an International Arts and Crafts Festival with a few of my friends last week. This was in the midst of all of the fighting in the south, but if you had been at this festival with us, you would have been able to see that it was just like any other day in Jerusalem. The way I saw this fair it was a combination of a celebration of world countries and cultures, art festival and a circus. How can all of these things exist in one, you might ask? Take a look! 

This man was walking with a group of people from the  "circus." The thing that he is holding he used to do handstands and other entertaining tricks! 

Hand decorated umbrellas from the booth for Thailand

A piece of stained-glass art that was being sold at one of the booths from Central and South America. 

One of the coolest things about this festival is that they not only have different artists from all over Israel, but they have booths representing many different countries from around the world. Some of the booths were expected, like China and Russia, but some were very unexpected, like Hungary, Macedonia and Ghana. 

We were even able to see some of the performances by people from different places around the world. They were what you would generally think of for each of these countries, but it was still really interesting to see how the people at this fair reacted to these performances.

I also hosted a Shabbat dinner this week that was quite successful, if I do say so myself. On the menu was Israeli salad and other salatim (salads), homemade vegetable bourekas with a homemade teriyaki glaze, honey mustard chicken, roasted vegetables, mashed potatoes, and of course dessert from Marzipan. It was quite an entertaining evening, and I can't wait for us to host our next Shabbat dinner! 

This upcoming week is also my break from Summer classes. We finished last week with some great performances by each of the kitot (classes) and have now gone our separate ways for break. I am spending some of this break in Jerusalem, with all that it has to offer! Today I went on the light rail for the first time, so look out for a blog post about that. I will also be going to Haifa and Caesarea for a few days with my friends Rebecca, Lenette and Elle. I am sure that I will have many great pictures to show after this week.