A hunk of my Heart is left in Israel (I hate being sappy so I said hunk)

SO.
    I've been really tired lately, doing a lot. So I've been catching up on a lot of naps during the late afternoons when I get home from my day trips, but in doing so don't feel so bad.. apparently late day napping is a normal Israeli thing to do.
 I feel like I've seen more than I could have seen or experienced here in Israel and have been taking er' easy lately. My own choice of course.
 Yesterday Sharona and I decided to hit the beach, crack some beers and relax. It was really nice. White sand, blue cool Medertaraniln Sea, Heineken and sun.  TOO BAD the sun here is like the hottest in the world and fries you like a Belgian crepe! (I just wanted to say crepe..) I wore SPF 50 applied it every 30 minutes. The rest of me is brown, MY LEGS however.. Lobster red.. and sure as hell feel like a lobster had its pincers on them a few times. Ugh. Brutal. BUT I wouldn't trade the sun for anything because sadly Nova Scotia has horrible weather..
 It's very strange in the city Tel Aviv. It may be modern and have terrific streets with colourful markets and people.. but underneath this fun active city.. is a very disturbing reality. I'm sure I mentioned this a few times before but I can't walk the streets of Halifax and point out places of suicide bomb attacks. It just bothers me so much that it happens. It's an unfortunate and just plain shitty situation. You can flower coat it or say "Its okay, it happens" no. It's messed up. I can't even begin to imagine what it would be like to have sites, city grave stones if I may to walk passed and remember what had happened there.
 My friend Sharona works in the Hotel Industry like most such as myself, well bartending anyways. Very common great job, good income, high hospitality. Not even three blocks from her work was a suicide bomber that unfortunately her ex had been involved in the bombing (he was security for the site and was injured). He had a ten cm nail shot through his side from the bomb, was launched 12 feet away from the site, landing on a car. People shouldn't have to have these occurrences as memories.  The bus bomb that only happened in March on the 24 of 2011, drove passed it yesterday. Its a beautiful city and people continue on with their lives, we need to have a respect for that. Israel has strong people, with good hearts. Think about that for a while before you go walking around your city, we are lucky. Very lucky, that we have such a safe country to live in. I really hope you all appreciate it, because after this trip, my insight has completely changed and I feel sorry for those of you that don't realize how easy your lives really are. I understand you cannot compare anyone's life, but you sure as hell can learn from others and appreciate the one you have more than you did before. Phew, anyways as you can see I am very passionate towards the stories and people and sights I have been to.


 The photo's above are two from one of the farms I visited. This one was a rose farm, Thai workers whom get paid 6 shekels which works out to be about two canadian dollars and hour to work the fields here in Israel, mind you this is by choice. Accommodation, fresh water and food is provided free of charge and the workers usually sign a contract of five years. I still felt that their living conditions were poor, the work environments were also poor, but I was told it was better than Thailand.. I stand to disagree but everyone has an opinion about everything.

 The third image is of my most FAVORITE house in Israel. It belongs to Jacob's brother and his wife. His wife is a self taught oil painter/ ceramics master. Her works were fabulous and her house was beautiful. Full of her work and crafty interior decor I had to photograph this space!

 I leave for Turkey on Sunday and will miss all the people I've met here greatly. It makes me sad just thinking I only met this people a few weeks ago but grew to have a strong connection with them. I hope to keep them as friends for a long time and see them again soon in the future. I feel I will definitely have plans in the future to re visit Israel, now that I have new family here it's a good enough reason to come back.
 Like I said before, I plan on posting their stories with their photos when I arrive home :)
 Some strange things I will definitely miss about Israel though which I can't remember if I mentioned in previous posts, would probably be the dogs barking at night, 4 am wake up to Muslims prayer calls from across the Palestinian border, random gun shots at 2 am from Palestinians shooting guns in the air and all the fantastic grand market places scattered throughout the cities.

 I would also like to say, I miss all my friends and family back home. They have been nothing but fantastic supporters of me before and during my travels. I hope you are all doing well and rockin' Halifax for me. We're all going to have a ton of catching up to do when I get home. I send my love.

Post soon!

The End

   Sorry I've been so MIA lately. There's been a lot going on here! I'm finally settled in and have been spending a lot of time with my fantastic group of friends here whom feel a lot like family to be honest. They are such great people and work really hard every day. In meeting them, my prospective has changed greatly and has left me to appreciate my life and experiences so much more than I try to already. To hear the past stories of these individuals is unbelievable. I will be posting their stories with my  photos when my independent project is done. These aren't stories you can just tell in one way..
 In the last few days I've been up to quite a bit. Sharona and I went to Tel Aviv, I also visited and had a wonderful chance to observe the agricultural side of Israel as well as get a view of the Gaza border. I've also been to some pretty sweet A shops and visited the BEACH! Mm white sand. I think today we're going to the Dead Sea which as I'm sure you all know has the highest salt content in the world to the degree that when you swim.. you float. Also no sea life has the ability to withstand the high percentage of salt except for Pandalus Borealis being a species of shrimp.
 I will post again tonight, explaining the opening for the second paragraph and then a recap of todays adventures. I just wanted to have something written out since it's been so long.  The weather has been nothing but sun and heat for the past week with roses and flowers littering the side walks and birds chirping away.
 The evenings are cool but gradually getting warmer. AND I have finally grown accustomed to the beautiful language here!


Post another tonight with photos! (Or today.. your time..)

Holy Tourists

  

   Today I visited another market which lies within the walls that separate the religious quarters here in Israel. Because I am not religious I found this to be a very interesting place to observe. I'm actually really liking that I have no religious followings while I am here. Why? This would be because I have an opportunity to observe every religion with 'equal sight'. We walked through the narrow alley ways packed full of anything and everything you could imagine. The air was filled with different incense and oils. Food, cafe's, glass, bags, clothes, everything had it's own shop, it's own hole in the wall.. I mean this literally. I looks like stone walls that they carved out to place shops. Now we began in the Muslim quarter of the wall. Here you could see women selling grape leaves in large amounts sitting on the ground, fresh shawarma everywhere. There were people bushing up to get passed you every two minutes. Everywhere you looked, something different was going on.
 We then made our way down through the alley's into the Christian Quarter.. for me this was the most interesting quarter. SO here I saw the most famous church in the entire world. The church where Jesus is known to be buried along with his mother Mary.
 Upon entering the church there is a breath taking mural of individuals from the bible and laying in front of it the stone in which 'Jesus' dead body lay' while in the tomb.  Basically he was killed on it. This stone EVERYONE was touching it. Priests crying and rubbing their faces on this slab bathing themselves in the oil that the rock is covered in. People would take out crosses and lay them on the stone and cry. Of course I had to touch it, you can't not.  It's about the size of a person in width as well, and about two inches thick. Appeared to be marble?
We moved further into the church (ps. this Church is MASSIVE, I'm talkin HUGE) and there is a giant wooden/stone tomb where Jesus' body supposedly lay. Let me tell you, the line ups to get into the tomb for TWO MINUTES was like four hours long... like insanity. People fly from ALL AROUND the world just to go to this church. That blew my mind.. the things people do for certain belief's.. when you see it you don't know what to say or think.
 (Sorry this post was so long, I just forgot to write yesterday)

ALSO..
 I HAVE to put a word in on this whole "World Ending" crap. Yes it's crap. How do I know this because Israel is the 'HOLY LAND' and if people aren't trippin' here then nothing is going on. If anything the people that know about it only from friends in North America are making fun of how stupid we are. Way to keep a good rep guys... not only will Obama announce a 'solution' for Israel but the world is also going to end and the Conservatives will run Canada into the ground. Greeeaaaat.

Haha oh well.


First Image- Candles lit within the burial place of Jesus Christ

Second Image- Mall (Saturday) Awesome lady in shorts.

The Machane Yehudah, Israel. Famous Market Place

   Today I ventured into the city of Jerusalem with my good friend Jacob.
We went to the Machane Yehudah which is probably the most breath taking market places I've ever been to before. Photo's definitely cannot do it justice.
Everyone is very friendly and would ask me to take their photograph with their stands.
 We also visited, The Israel Supreme Court which had some fantastic architecture within its walls (Dad, grabbed some nice shots with you and Geoff in mind!)
 We also visited and saw the walls surrounding Jerusalem. The history behind this city lays within it's people and structures. These structures have been standing and maintained for thousands of years.
 Although I lack in religious beliefs I still found myself at a loss for words for most of the day while taking in all that was going on around me. The mixture of relgious  people in practice I still find astounding.
 We stopped to check out one of the two Hebrew Universities and I noted a taxi driver had pulled over to pray, he was a practicing Muslim completing his mid day prayer.

(my apologies for photo size, I'm still trying to figure out a decent conversion for this blog!)

Hello Israel

  Israel is a beautiful country with an amazing mixture of culture and a lengthly filled history BUT one thing you might not know is they also have and are known for the BEST and HIGHEST security in the world. I dare you to argue me on that one.
 I go through security in Halifax with no problem, have a glass of wine on the plane and fall asleep. I slept for almost the entire flight. Six hours later I arrive in Heathrow airport. Which by the way is MASSIVE. Any store you can imagine, it's there. So I have a five hour lay over in Heathrow, so I sit in this Skybar place have some frits and hang out.
 The gate opens at noon to check through El Al so I decide to go at this time. I get down from the second level to the first where the airline is and the line, 45 minutes long. Why? Because El Al is so great with security that they have their own. (You'll soon hear of Israel and how the entire country is like this. Which is great for safety though.) Anyways,  I finally get to the end where there are a ton of security asking you a series of questions etc. For me, the question of "Where are you going after Israel?" I say "Turkey" BAM questions go bonkers I'm waiting patiently while they speak in Hebrew to one another. BUT When you think about it, it's pretty understandable I mean, I don't travel much. Why Israel alone and visiting this family friend? Why a five hour lay over and not a shorter one. Many things made sense in the end. Also I am not Jewish so what is my purpose to visit etc. Added on the factor of traveling with camera gear.
 So, after an hour or so of questions after waiting in a 45 minute line, they let me through. I walk to my gate with the load of people and pass in my passport with my ticket at the gate. They take me to a blocked off area and set up a strip search private section with screens and ask me if they can empty and search my carryon. I was like holy crap. While they did this they proceeded to ask if I was okay. DUDE I have traveled for like a million years, am on Malaria medication which makes me want to puke and I'm being checked out, Uhh yeah I'm a little worried.  So for like the fourth time that day within being in Heathrow they take my carry on apart again, swipe everything etc. Clear. I finally get to go sit down. Poor dude next to me got strip searched, I was lucky.
 Now, within Israel is different quarters of religion so because of this you get to see the origins of them and strong people within practice of these religions.  It's really quite neat to see all the different dress, hear the assortment of language and interaction. Especially with the Jewish community.
 The weather is perfect, not too hot just right with cool evenings. Roses line the side streets of the neighborhood I'm staying in. The houses are all on mountain side made of white stone but very modern architecture with modern appliances. Well ahead of our time.  Its very Eruo, North American. Mind you this is the neighborhood I'm staying in, like other places it varies.  This neighborhood is very nice, I'll post a photo tomorrow of it for you guys. One thing thats odd though is it is right on the Palestinian boarder.. for those of you that know your History and Politics this is a different situation here in Israel than in Canada. But from my standpoint I find it interesting. You see barb wire fences and guards in the morning with guns at the boarder gates. (I was told this and have only seen the gates with my good friend Jacob, I would never go there alone..) You can see the giant main Mosk over the wall, from a distance. Its really beautiful. During the times of prayer an announcement is said on a large speaker system and can be heard everywhere. This is very common wherever a Mosk is in Israel.
 Anyways, all is well. I'm going inside Jerusalem tomorrow to visit the market and finally get my photo's a flowin' so I have some stuff to post for you! Its been hard to get going with the six hours time difference.


The End

No Liquids On the Airplane please. WHAT ABOUT WATER.

Finally I get to begin to use my blog for its sole purpose which was to help communicate and document before, during and after my trip overseas.

In two weeks I will be heading over to Jerusalem, Israel to apprentice under a pretty popular Israeli photographer for two weeks. (It was going to be a month but due to certain circumstances the time frame was adjusted).

I will be staying with a very very dear and close family friend who I basically consider my uncle named Jacob. He's absolutely amazing for putting me up for two weeks. 

After I complete my two weeks in Israel I will then be heading to Istanbul Turkey for a month. While in Turkey I'll be continuing my independent study from Israel (a couple things on the go during all this as you can see). Lucky for me I have the best tour guides in the country! My two best friends Eser and Bengy whom I've been friends with for years now will be yet again putting me up with their families and friends in Turkey! We will be traveling within Turkey but using Istanbul as our main spot. 

After a month in Turkey, Eser and I will be traveling to Paris for five days. I figured after all those crazy art history courses I might as well see what I've learned. 

So there's the break down. 

While I'm away, I will be posting an image every day of my trip turing my blog into a photo journal if you will to help document my trip.

Of course when I have more free time, I'll leave in a little more detail what's been going on.

Of course you can all contact me via e-mail, for the few I'll miss the most ( which is obvious ) I'll be calling you at random :] With the amazing six to seven hour time difference this should be fun... hahahaha because see you can't actually get mad at me for waking you up because like.. man... I'll be calling from Turkey, how the heck can you get mad at that?

SO! 

Two weeks.. 

I'm freaking out. Not going to lie. Not freaking out in a sense that I'm doubting this choice, more or less this is really going to be I honestly think something that will change my over all perception. Sure you can say yeah yeah a load of crap Alex but this will be the biggest trip I've taken alone before. I'll be pretty self dependent even though I am staying with friends. I'm leaving Halifax for a month and a half. Sorry two months in Saskatchewan doesn't count as leaving home. 

I'm excited to experience culture outside of Canada and to have a chance to compare where I live with where my friends came from. I think if anything it will be a definite eye opener and I'm really looking forward to developing an even greater appreciation for what's around me and for what's to come.

I think it will the unexpected.. because things never really appear as what they seem to be in your head I've learned. So we'll see how she goes. 

Keep checking my blog for updates. 

My next post will be the day before I leave May 14th. 

I will then update May15th while I'm in Heathrow Airport for like a five hour layover so SKYPE is going to probably be on. Don't be surprised if I'm chillin with Beibs. He chills at the Starbucks in Heathrow on the regular and apparently was rockin in Israel like last month? Rando.

ANYWAYS

Sweet treats, thanks for the read.

Hope the next few months rock my world. 

The End

Alex

Running with Tears in my eyes.

   So I'm a pretty huge Grey's Anatomy fan, I will not deny that ever. It's an amazing show and I totally love all the crap that goes on in it. Love triangles and crazy relationships between patients and doctors leading to conflicts in interest and ALL THIS unrealistic television drama. Its entertaining to boot. (People can disagree thats fine, I've probably written you off anyways). 

 SO I generally watch the show when I'm about to go to bed, get all comfy ready to bawl my eyes out. Thats another thing! This is the ONLY show in the entire world that makes me cry like a 12 year old girl. Its pretty pathetic but I'm down with it.    Any who, so I was kind of tight on time trying to wrap up finals get my shit together so I killed two birds with one stone, ran on the treadmill and watched Grey's at the same time. Why not?  I'm not technically moving anywhere andd a lot of people do it in the gym right? I think I'm hardcore, pretty confident in my running abilities on the treadmill there so I say screw the safety clip I don't require that psh. Who the hell falls off a treadmill.. You'd have to be an incompetent idiot to manage that. 

 Grey's starts up, it's the musical episode where my favorite loves of the show Callie and Arizona get into a car accident. Tragic. The entire episode is basically a musical but really really good.. from my prospective. Running away, have a pretty sick incline ya know decent pace workin up a sweat AND SOME CRAZY SHIT happens. I lose it. Start bawling my eyes out. Meanwhile running on this treadmill not thinking that I CAN'T SEE. Blinded by tears. (By this point of the story you can definitely judge me and think I'm a huge loser thats fine. I would 100% think the same. HAHA)

 Tears streaming down my face, running and I all of a sudden get extremely disoriented and I FLIP THE HELL off the damn thing. Like I lose all balance (after P90x Yoga like a million times you'd think I'd be a tad more graceful.. FAIL) 

 Flip off, no safety clip the thing is STILL going at a running speed and I smash my head on the bar thing.. now I'm sitting on my ass Grey's still going treadmill still running full speed or what have you.. and I'm laughing and crying at the same time.

There's a story for you.

Wear your safety clip and don't run and cry.. it's not as easy as the movies make it seem. 

The end.