Arad remains an ever-growing mystery. It's a tiny city in comparison to Tel Aviv or Jerusalem, but it always seems bigger to me. There are so many different cultures living in around our apartment complexes, and there're always new people walking around. Established as an immigrant city, Arad serves as a bit of a middle ground between the incoming and the established citizens of Israel. Despite the fact that America is technically a "mixed salad" or "melting pot", I feel that it is horribly lacking in diversity compared to the different languages, clothes, and customs of the people of Arad. Just this week, we've met Russian, Polish, Sudanese, Ethiopian, Bedouin, German, and Egyptian immigrants. It's been fantastic! Taking an Israeli immigration class has definitely increased my appreciation for the stories behind people's journeys to Israel, especially of the Sudanese refugees. It's interesting to think about the locations of the different cultural communities throughout Israel and how time effects social status and political standing. For instance, the more urban, successful areas of Israel were originally created by extremely educated Russian immigrants (doctors, professors, etc), and now, those areas are still dominated by similarly educated cultures. In contrast, because Israel was not prepared to deal with most of the immigrants from Africa, they were shoved into small cities like Arad and Dimona, and were left to figure out life for themselves in a semi-modern world beyond anything they'd ever known. Between the short history of the modern state of Israel and the massive amounts of immigration waves, the line of "who's cleaning the floors" is certainly an interesting one to follow.
On the language side of things, my hebrew has improved so much! It's only three days into ulpan, but I'm feeling confident! Ani ohevet ivrit! Hopefully, I will be able to post more and more in hebrew as time goes on...
One of the downsides to doing Marva, however, is that I'm not volunteering these three months. Granted, I have more than enough on my plate, but I can't help feeling a slight yearning for the experience when I see my friends go off to tutor english, or work with the Sudanese, or work at Masada or Ein Gedi. I can't wait to start the actual Marva program!!! I want to do something besides sit in class all day and then sleep like a lazy bum! I have started running again though, so at least that's something.
I have a feeling I'm not making much sense any more, so I'm going to sign off for now. I miss everyone and I love you all!
Rachel
Hi Rachel, I'm very intrigued by the "people of Arad" you speak of. In fact, Birgitta and I just watched a beautiful film called "Live and Become," directed by Radu Mihalleanu. It's the story of a young Ethiopian boy caught up in "Operation Moses," which attempted to reloate African refugees to Israel. You must see it.
ReplyDeleteI love following your blog :)