We slept in a suburb outside of Tel Aviv in a boarding school-turned-hostel where the roosters crow loud and the cats roam wild. Most of us awoke somewhere between 4 and 6 a.m, feeling tired but unable to sleep due to jet lag. After a quick breakfast, we hopped on our tour bus to travel to Cholon, the "town of the children," according to our tour guide. Indeed, there were many children at summer camp and lots of playgrounds and parks. We played ninja in one of them, led by our "Moshe of the day," Sam Levy, before heading to our first museum exhibit of the day: Invitation to Silence.
At Invitation to Silence, we were led through an interactive tour to learn about the experience of being deaf. We experimented with how we could give one hand gesture many meanings, learned a few signs, and practiced ordering food in sign language. Most interesting was our "dialogue" session at the end, a sort of Q&A with our deaf tour guide about what it's like to be deaf in a hearing community, whether she identifies more strongly as deaf or Israeli, and whether she likes music, among other topics.
After a delicious but quick falafel lunch in the park (food delivered from a local vendor) we got on the bus to Southern Tel Aviv, where we met our next guest speaker, Dan, a man from the secular yeshiva and social action organization, Bina. He told us about the history of the neighborhood (known by some as the Tenderloin of Tel Aviv) as we sat in a public park. Most exciting was witnessing a minor incident in which an unknown man chased a woman across the park, allegedly trying to steal her phone. Our cohort was scared, but felt safe due to the presence of our armed (and muscular) body guard, Guy. Yet as my adrenaline peaked, so did my interest. Here was a live example of the injustices in this community—the stalker looked either drunk or mentally ill and probably had little support to treat either condition—that we heard about from Dan. Though we didn't get a chance to volunteer with the organization, we could at least witness a day-in-the-life event that is at least indirectly a result of what Dan spoke about: large numbers of migrant workers and asylum seekers come to Israel seeking a freer and safer life, but receive limited support and face challenges integrating with the culture.
Since I'm getting tired, I will relay the rest of today's events more briefly.
We visited a sociopolitical contemporary art museum in Jerusalem that featured pieces critiquing dictatorship and greedy leaders. It was unfortunate timing since most fellows (myself included) were finding it difficult to stay awake.
Tonight, we stay in a lavish hostel in Jerusalem. They've provided us with wifi, towels, and even complimentary shampoo and conditioner!
That's all for now—below, I've started my own blog features that hopefully provide you more insight into our experiences.
Sweet dreams!
Quotes of the day:
"I woke up at __ this morning!" -every Diller fellow at the same time
"This bus doesn't have a bathroom in the back. It's a good quality bus...but who needs five seats in the back?" -Tomer
"Sam, don't touch the painting!" -Max O.S.
Common topics of conservation:
The stylishness of my Chacos
College
Criticisms of the Diller dress code
The sketch-level of Southern Tel Aviv
Caption for photo:
(From left to right) Swag McSwagger, Lil Beat, dalma saallama, and InDizzle spit fire on the busride to Jerusalem. Not pictured: Shirdasheep.
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