A Tale of Two Sisters

Chapter 8: A break and a new semester!

2009-02-27T12:27:00.012+02:00

Hello again! So since it's been so long since I let you know what's going on in my life, I thought that a fun way to catch you up would be to narrate my adventures through pictures.

At the end of January my first semester here ended and Jamina arrived from the states to my kibbutz. It was a much-anticipated reunion, and only defied expectations. How did I get so lucky to have first my sister and then another one of the most important people in my life here with me?? Anyway, so we left after my check-out and such were done here, and began our 3 weeks of adventuring in between my semesters.

We began with a fun and ridiculous trip up to the north of Israel with Adam, saw rain for the first time in a looooong time (at least for me), swam at the point where the two rivers meet to form the Jordan river, visited a really cool educational permaculture farm, and drove back down to Beer Sheva with a queen sized mattress and a dining room table strapped to the roof (see above, this was the only part of that trip that I had a picture of ;-). No, they didn't almost fly off on the highway...oh, wait...

One of our next big adventures was a trip to Ramallah in the West Bank. We went to stay with one of my really close friends who studied with me last semester named Hazem. Probably the sweetest man who ever lived with the most beaming smile you will ever see. There were a few other people I wanted to see while we were there, but they ended up not being able to meet up with us. It was a truly amazing and eye-opening experience to travel on the bus through the check-points and past the seperation wall to see things from literally the other side. It inspired a many thoughts, and a few drawings. In the end though I felt like a door had been opened to me - I now really feel like I have a home in Ramallah that I am always welcome in, and that I know how to make my way to. I envision many more visits there before I leave this part of the world. The two pictures are Mina and I in the center of Ramallah, and Hazem and I at one of the highest points in the city looking out to the west...you can see Tel Aviv from there! Amazing.

During my break we also spent a few days in Haifa, visiting a friends of Mina's at the Technion and making some new friends by inspiring a great jam session with my banjo, Mina's flute, and several other instruments that came out of the woodwork. We also went on an incredible hike on a beautiful mountain in Haifa - totally different scenery than the desert views that I'm used to from my kibbutz, as you can see.

We also spent a fantastic weekend at a "Gathering of Peace, Light, and Unity" by the Dead Sea (see left), organized by a great woman who is an alumni of the Arava Institute, and ran into a bunch of wonderful people there, some old friends, and some new. On the way there we stopped at some amazing natural hot pools by the shore of the Dead Sea - sitting in them at sunset and then floating in the Dead Sea as shabbat came in was a pretty spiritual experience.

The highlight of our adventures, though, came at the very end. After the Dead Sea we continued south, spent a night back at the kibbutz, and headed south some more...past Eilat, and into Sinai, Egypt. It's hard for me to imagine anything much closer to my idea of heaven than those 5 days of living in a tiny one-room bamboo hut on the beach of the Red Sea, with nothing to do all day by read, draw, paint, play music, do yoga, eat amazing Bedouin food, swim, snorkel, and talk to Mina. It's pretty hard to express our blissfulness, but I think the pictures get a little of the message across.

There were lots more little fantastic adventures along the way, but those were the main highlights. Now I'm settling in to this new semester here at the machon (Hebrew for "institute" and how we at the kibbutz refer to AIES). I think I'll describe the last 3 weeks by telling about the main differences from last semester (NOT necessarily in order of importance):

1) The group is much smaller - last semester we were around 42, this semester we are 26 total. The percentages of Arabs, Jewish Israelis, and North Americans are much closer to 1/3 each than we originally expected at the end of last semester, but the dynamic of a group that is so much smaller is very different from last semester. It's more intimate (although last semester it didn't feel like things could be any more intimate), and even classes are much smaller - some have only 3 students, and one even had to be canceled because there weren't enough students to fill it. It's nice though in that campus and group meetings feel much less crowded in general, and I feel like the smallness helps keep down the stress level.
The people are fantastic though. It was hard to imagine anyone living up to the family that we had built last semester, but the new students are really wonderful and helping us heal our wounds and missing last semester's group. Now we're about 1/2 new students and 1/2 students who were here last semester.

2) I have my own room.
It may seem trivial, but by the end of last semester I was really feeling like I needed to have my own space, especially when things get politically and emotionally tense around here - it's really important to have a place to listen to your thoughts and totally relax. Also, it means I've been much better about talking on skype because I have a place to talk privately - so if I haven't talked to you in a while, let's make a date!

3) Jamina is so close by! She's working on Adam's farm only about 2.5 hrs away (sounds like a lot, but it's close considering that I'm so in the middle of nowhere) so I see her every weekend at least, which is sooooo much more than we're used to (it's better than across countries or continents)....but she's leaving in 2 weeks, so things will go back to normal in that respect :-(

4) Mir isn't here.
I still get waves of sadness when I go to our adobpted kibbutz mother's house for dinner, or pass by where she used to live or work and don't hear her voice or know that she isn't inside napping. But then I remember that she's having the adventure of her life in Africa and I'm so excited for her that I can't help but feel a little better.
She hasn't had too much access to internet, but she sounds like she's having an amazing and really intense time and learning so much. They had a change of plans and decided to go to Rwanda a few weeks ago, which sounded unbelievable. Hopefully she'll have a chance to tell us all more soon, but for now know that she's learning and growing and exploring a completely different world - when I was in Egypt it make me happy to think about the fact that we were on the same continent :-)

Also, I'm going to be doing an independent study project this semester with my favorite professor from last semester (who reminds me so much of my dad), helping him do a mapping of all of the environmental initiatives in Israel, seeing how they are all connected to one another (who studied with who), and studying how they are affecting local community practices as well as their impacts on more mainstream culture. I'm really excited about it, and it might lead to a) a thesis topic for next year and b) something amazing I want to participate in over the summer...who knows! My other classes should be amazing too, but there's only so much I can say in one post!

Anwyway, that's all for now, but I hope you all have a better idea of what I'm up to. Email me, skype me, facebook me...
I hope everyone who reads this happy and healthy and I can't wait to hear about YOUR adventures.

Love love love,
Sarah

Chapter 7: Miriam's New Adventure!

2009-02-10T19:36:00.002+02:00

Hello all,

I am currently sitting in London Heathrow Airport waiting to meet up with the rest of the group that I am traveling to Africa with. I had a long layover today, so I got to galavant around the city. I ended up spending all afternoon sitting in Hyde Park, which was wonderful! I will be continuing on my way to Uganda later this evening.

The name of the program is Carpe Diem International Education. My group consists of 7 girls and two group leaders, none of whom I have met yet! But I will be meeting them all in the next few minutes. I have yet to know what my communication standards will be once we are in Africa, but I will try to keep my postings as regular as possible. I miss you all and can't wait to tell you about my next big adventure!

Peace and Love,
Miriam

Chapter 6: In case you're interested

2009-01-13T13:54:00.003+02:00

...here is a link to the Friends of the Arava Institute's newsletter for January. It offers a few perspectives on the war from students and administration. Look for familiar faces in the pictures.

Friends of the Arava Institute E-News

Be well and lots of love,
Sarah

Chapter 5: Too much all at once...

2009-01-05T21:03:00.011+02:00

For those of you who might be worried about us, and to those who have written or called to check on us: We are safe.
I can't manage (or maybe just don't have the mental capacity right now) to figure out how to put into words for all of you how the violence here has affected all of here at the Arava Institute, as well as in the rest of the country. It's been really hard. It's hard to continue about our daily routines, and especially to keep up with the always-stressful end-of-semester workload when the reality of war and death and the tensions between ourselves and the people we live with and love are all around us at every second.

I want to share with you something that an AIES alum from last semester wrote and posted on an alumni forum that sums up really well the better part of what a lot of us are feeling:

I'm living in Be`er Sheva, in the Palestinian missile range, and I
came for a day to visit in the AIES in Ketura. During my stay here,
and during the conversations I had with both Israelis and
Palestinians I found, as expected, lots of anger and frustrations,
but I did come to realize some things.
I realized that we are going to win.
Why am I so sure? Because when missiles are falling near my home I
can still find it in my heart a place to feel compassion for my
Palestinian friends and their people. Because when they are worried
about their people in Gaza, they are still able in their hearts to
relate to me as their friend, and even invite me to stay with them
where it's safe. Because even in the darkest times, we have a group
here that manages to remember that even if there is an enemy – he is
still a human being.
I don't think that the conflict is about to be over soon, but for me,
every act like these I mentioned is a small victory. A victory to the
same voices that provides me with hope that better days will come.
Keep up the faith my friends, because if we will, we are going to
conquer the hatred and win the fight for a peaceful co-existence.

Peace and love
Dror Paz

There are also a lot of less optimistic feelings. But I want the ones that Dror expressed to win out. And I know the rest of us do too.

Here are some pictures from the demostration that many us (the students) organized and particupated in last Monday. It was born out of the desperate need to do something to make our message of the need for non-violent cooperation heard.

Now back to the paper that I've been putting off for my Environmental Mediation and Conflict Resolution class...

Love to every one of you,
Sarah

P.S. Our parents are here!

P.P.S. Mir is leaving the kibbutz on Wednesday. On top of everything else.

Chapter 4: Where does the time go??

2008-12-11T08:40:00.019+02:00

Hello, wonderful people! Long time no...update?

Sarah here...There's so much to say, it's really hard to know where to begin. So I'll start by saying thank you to all of you who sent me so much love last Tuesday for my birthday. I could feel it! :-)It was a really perfect birthday - Mir and I made breakfast together before work and class, I got some really sweet gifts and notes from friends here and lots and lots of birthday hugs, and I opened the mysterious package that arrived a few days ago and it turned out to be a copy of "Rise Up Singing" - an amazing song book with chords and words to every folk song ever - from Julie (I love you!!!). What better inspiration to get better at the banjo?? Mir also gave me an awesome gift (see right)....

How did she know??
Anyway, the highlight of the birthday came around 10pm, when I went to look for a friend who had said she wanted to talk to me. Instead, I found myself being led to the zula (our awesome chill-out space behind the campus made from mud with a palm-frond roof and a fire pit), which was glowing with firelight and love and full of the sounds of singing, clapping, and drumming. As I walked in everyone starting singing and playing happy birthday (on drums, harmonica, guitar, etc...), and then we had an amazing night of s'more-making and music and dancing around the fire, and there was even HOME-MADE APPLE PIE AND ICE CREAM!! I'm guessing most of you know how happy all of that made me... I love the people here so much.

I never wrote about the field trip we went on a few weeks ago...or I guess a month ago by now, but it was really intense. The theme was environmental justice, and we visited many disturbing and moving sites. We sat in Bedouin tents in several recognized and unrecognized Bedouin villages and heard the people of these shanty-towns tell their stories of being forced by modernity and the Israeli government to quit their nomadic tribal lifestyles, and describe the terrible situation of their culture and quality of life as a group. We saw towns that were within meters of the only hazardous material disposal site and chemical production facility in Israel. We talked to very right-wing owners of single-family farms in the middle of the desert. We also stayed for two nights in Beit Jallah, a Palestinian town that is technically not within the separation wall. These pictures were taken from the roof of the hostel we stayed in...And a few more pictures from random adventures on our trip:
The steep ascent of the climb to the ridge of Machtesh Ramon - a "crater" caused by erosion...
Worth the view from the top...

Hazzem and I - victory pose. (Arik! Get off the phone!)
This man lives in one of the 7 recognized Bedouin villages in Israel. It was created by the Israeli government, and then many tribes were forced to live in it, with no regard for their culture or livlihood. Now he's building himself and his family a house from mudbrick...
The tent that we had tea in with a Bedouin man and, immediately in the background, the chemical and waste disposal plant that is the cause of ridiculously high cancer rates in their unrecognized shanty-town...We also went to a really interesting peace conference in East Jerusalem with representatives of many prestigious institutions and lots of important Middle Eastern government officials. Some of it was inspiring, and some of it was nothing new, but overall it was amazing to be at the heart of such intense issues. On Wednesday night of the trip we had "Thanksgiving dinner" (even though Thanksgiving was the next day) at one of our professor's house. He lives in East Jerusalem and his family - who mostly only spoke Arabic - cooked us an enormous and amazing Thanksgiving dinner. There were several turkeys and, of course, pita, hummus, and the usual Middle Eastern salads and spreads. It was an interesting and fantastic combination. We ate on the roof of their apartment building looking out over the lit-up city of Jerusalem. We all left the trip overwhelmed by intensity, but glad to have had such eye-opening experiences.

Now it's back to the world of academics where things are getting rather intense - it's insane to realize how many research papers I'm expected to complete in the next few weeks, but I'm sure it will all work out in the end.

Mom and dad are coming to visit in less than two weeks!! It was a last minute decision, and it's really exciting since I wasn't expecting to see them until the summer.
Mir will (hopefully) update soon on her side of things. They're generally intense, what with the coming and going of close friends from the kibbutz, but good overall (at least that's my interpretation).
But here's a sneak peak....
(Yeah...I look ridiculous, but check out Mir's hair!!).

Sending heaps of love your way,
Me

Chapter 3: Birthday in Jerusalem, Abridged

2008-11-08T10:40:00.003+02:00

Hello all,

No time right now for an extended update, but wanted to mention the loveliness that was Mir's birthday in Jerusalem. Thursday night we went out on the town with a bunch of her friend, some who live in Jerusalem, some who came up from Ketura for the weekend. All day Friday the two of us spent the day wandering around Jerusalem, going out to breakfast and buying yummy treats in the shook. That night a few of her friends threw her a mini-party with cake and sparklers at Hadas' house. When we got back to the kibbutz, the other volunteers had decorated her room and bought her chocolate - doesn't get much better than that!
Mir says thank you so much to everyone for sending so much birthday lovin'!
Right: Sar, Mir, and "Margaret" at Hadas' house just before walking to Susan's for a delicious shabbat/birthday dinner :-)

Until next time,
Us

Chapter 2 continued: A few Pictures...

2008-10-29T23:08:00.004+02:00

The barbed wire fence that marks the beginning of the no-man's-land between Israel and Jordan - those mountains are in Jordan.

Yovav and the donkeys in the date orchards.

Me watching the desert bloom at Kibbutz Grofit, down the road from Ketura.

More to come!
Love to all,
Sarah

Chapter 2: Reunited!

2008-10-29T18:39:00.004+02:00

Hello, loved ones!
It finally got "cold" here today - it went down to almost 65 degrees tonight! Brrr! (Hahaha...)
So here are the updates:
MIRIAM IS HERE!! She has only been here for about a week, but it feels like much longer. That may have to do with the fact that some of her best friends from Israel as well as her sister are on the kibbutz! As soon as she arrived, she already knew half the kibbutz by association. She has had a great time over the past week making friends with the other volunteers. It is really perfect because not only is she meeting new awesome people, but she is surrounded by people she already knows and loves as well! She spends her days cleaning... mmm fun... but its a kibbutz, what do you expect?! She works in the hotel, which is really one of the better jobs, despite making over 15 beds a day. Work ends in the mid afternoon, and the rest of the evening is just spent hanging out. It kind of feels like summer camp! Anyway, things are off the a great start, and Miriam will be updating you with new stories regularly (we hope)!
Sarah is still really happy, and even happier now that she has her sister around to stop by in the mornings on her way to work, meet up with in the dining hall, and bring her cookies :-)Things at the institute have gotten really insane...free time has pretty much gone out the window, unless it replaces time for sleep or reading. Which it sometimes does. Oops! But really, there's so much going on. Classes are now in full swing, but since we still haven't chosen exactly which ones we're staying in I'm still going to about 9 classes. Oy. But after tomorrow I'll be down to 5 officially... I'm just not sure which 5. We also have endless meetings about every little thing. And I've volunteered to be "co-coordinator" for two student groups: Megamah Yerookah ("Green Course") which is a national student environmental activist group of which we will have a branch here at AIES, and the Music and Dance club, which will be whatever we make of it. Yay! They should both be a lot of fun, and I actually feel inspired to make things happen - lack of time and all. I also said I would be an English support tutor for someone who speaks English as their second language. So much to do! But It's really exciting. Last weekend my friend Yovav from when I lived at Tzuba (3 years ago) came all the way down here to the Negev to visit, which was fantastic. We went for a walk/hike along the border with Jordan and down to the next kibbutz. So beautiful...pictures will come soon, right now the internet is too slow.
Tonight both of us went to meet our new adopted family - a really sweet woman named Leorah (shout-out to our LP's! we love you!)and her two young daughters. She gave us cake and ice cream and tea and invited us to come to dinner every Saturday night, and let us borrow two children's books that she wrote to practice our Hebrew :-D So basically it's a great deal! Don't worry, Mom, she doesn't make apple pie - you're irreplaceable ;-)
This weekend we're going to Jerusalem to celebrate Mir's birthday (!!) with a bunch of her friends. She'll be 18 on Friday, so send lots of birthday love!! Also a friend of Sarah's from the institute is throwing a party near Jerusalem Friday night, so it should be lovely weekend.
Sorry for the switching between 3rd and 1st person...it's a little confusing to write from two people. We'll try to work out a better system.
Lots and lots of love you all of you!
Love,
The Schuldenfrei Sisters

Chapter 1: Life in the Desert Begins...and It's Beautiful

2008-10-15T15:23:00.016+02:00

So...I'm in Israel!
Can you believe it?? I couldn't at first, but somehow - amazingly - I already feel completely at home here in some ways.
I arrived in Israel on Saturday night after many hours of travel. Traveling with my banjo put an interesting spin on things. I got some funny looks and a lot of smiles, and it ignited a few interesting conversations with nice strangers on the planes and in the airports. It was great to feel like a traveling musician, even if my banjo skills still aren't quite up to professional level. Here's the sunrise I saw from Heathrow:
I stayed with our family friends in Jerusalem Saturday night, then met the group at the bus station in the morning to come to the kibbutz. We got in Sunday night, and woke up the next morning to the mountains of the desert - Jordan on one side, the rest of Israel on the other.
It seems like so much has happened in the last three days that I can't decide what's important to tell all of you. So I'll start with a few details about the people here. About 1/3 of the people in the program are American, one third or so are Jewish Israelis, and the rest are either Palestinian or Jordanian. I'm amazed by how wonderful just about every person here seems. It's incredible to be surrounded by such an open-minded and driven group of young people. When I say young I mean everywhere from 18 to 32, and we all mix together entirely. So far there haven't been any lines drawn between nationalities or age groups in terms of who hangs out with who. Everyone welcomes everyone else into there circle with a smile at any given moment. It's really beautiful to see. Already there have been some amazing moments when politics and history have been discussed - Israelis and Palestinians laughing and joking together, talking completely openly, talking about the pain they are in without even the slightest hint of blame. The respect that every person here has for every other person has already astounded me. The Israelis and the Americans want to learn Arabic from the Jordanians and the Palestinians, and the Arabic speakers who don't know Hebrew are eager to learn. Last night we had a bonfire and took turns playing and singing songs in Arabic, English, and Hebrew.
Yesterday morning we left at 7am for a hike through the mountains behind the kibbutz. It's amazing how much we are actually in the middle of the desert. By the time we got back around noon, it was already insanely hot. We drank water the whole time, but even so we were all weak with heat and dehydration when we returned. Every moment was worth is though - the hiking was exhilarating, and the views, well...

An aerial view of the kibbutz...

When we got to the top of the mountain, after 3 hours of brutally hot hiking, someone asked, "who wants coffee?" and proceeded to make Turkish coffee on the small propane stove that he had carried in his pack.

What really got me was when someone else pulled out his stove and asked, "who wants tea?".

Oh Israel, you crack me up! :-)
All in all, I'm living in a dream world, and I expect that things will only get better. Tomorrow we are taking a field trip to Eilat, and on Sunday classes will begin and MIRIAM WILL GET HERE! So life is good.

I love you and miss you all and hope that you are well. Be in touch!
Love,
Sarah

Introduction Part II: Contact Info

2008-10-06T21:41:00.006+02:00

Hello all!
As promised here is our contact info so you'll know the best ways to get in touch with us once we're overseas.

Sarah's contact info in Israel:

EMAIL: sschuldenfrei@gmail.com

SKYPE: sarah.schuldenfrei

SNAIL MAIL:
Sarah Schuldenfrei
Arava Institute for Environmental Studies
Kibbutz Ketura
D.N. Hevel Eilot 88840
ISRAEL
(Send me lovin'! But if you're sending packages use regular USPS - UPS and FedEx don't deliver to Ketura. ...Just in case you were wondering ;-)

Miriam's contact info in Israel:

EMAIL: mschuldenfrei@gmail.com

SKYPE: miriam.schuldenfrei

SNAIL MAIL: Coming soon!

Drop us an email or skype us if you want our cell and/or landline numbers.

Hope to hear from you all soon!

Introduction

2008-10-01T22:50:00.007+03:00

Greetings!

Sarah and Miriam here...

As you may or may not know, we're both heading off on adventures around the world within the next two weeks. We've created this blog so that you can keep track of us a little bit, and check in at your own convenience, rather than being bombarded by mass emails every few weeks.

So here's the dealio:

Sarah is leaving on October 10th to travel to Israel, where she will be until July 1st, aside from the traveling in the Middle East that she plans to do during her breaks. She'll be at the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies at Kibbutz Ketura in the Negev Desert in the south of Israel, about 1/2 an hour from Eilat (and the Egyptian border and the Red Sea!). She'll be earning credit towards her studies at Barnard, taking classes about environmental issues, especially those specific to peace and politics in the Middle East. For more about the kibbutz, the program, the people, and the classes...stay tuned!

Miriam will be leaving October 15th to join Sarah on Kibbutz Ketura in Israel (:-D) as a kibbutz volunteer. She will be there for three months - until mid January - doing who-knows-what (again, stay tuned)! After a quick trip back home to regroup, she will be leaving on February 11th for... AFRICA! To answer a few obvious questions, Miriam is traveling to Uganda, Tanzania, and Zanzibar with an organization called Carpe Diem Education. She, approximately 10 other students, and two group leaders will be working on various volunteer projects focused on environmental conservation and community health. She'll fill you in on details as it gets closer, but for now she is getting excited about Israel. Can't wait to tell you more!

For the time being we're livin' it up in Rose Valley, enjoying our last few weeks (days?!?) at home with mom & dad, packing, voting, and finalizing plans. Feel free to give us a call while we're still in the country!

We'd love to hear from all of you, so comment on our posts, email us, skype us, call us, IM us, facebook us, SEND US LETTERS (!!!), ESP us, or yell really really really loud....

*Contact info coming soon*

Shanah tovah and lots of love!