Yesterday, Tel Aviv--Tomorrow, Hebron

I am finally, after seven weeks in Jerusalem, starting to get out and about a bit.

Yesterday I went with Debby to Beth Hatefutsoth, the museum of the diaspora, on the campus of Tel Aviv University to meet the delegation of Israeli teachers that are leaving for San Francisco next Thursday to go visit my very own BHDS...what an intense experience. I had heard about many of these people from my colleagues who came to Israel this past summer and met them in person, and now here they all were right before my eyes. It was very strange and quite school-sick provoking to hear about Brandeis through the lens of those organizing the trip as they explained about the school I know so very well to this group of people who are almost totally unfamiliar with it. And, much to my surprise, it made me long for San Francisco and for my school and for my classroom and for my colleagues in a way that I have not yet been lonely for home in the time that I've spent on my journey so far...to the point that I got on orbitz last night to see how much a ticket would be for me to join them. $1,000 on Lufthansa? Almost unheard of to get round-trip airfare from the Middle East to the West Coast and back again for such a low price-- my ticket here for this year was almost twice that! Alas, I do not have an extra $1,000 right now and so I will remain here while they go there, me in their home while they travel to mine.

Tomorrow I am getting on an armored bus at 8:30 in the morning (got to love the armored buses) and traveling with a group of educators to Hebron, a city in the West Bank. We will participate in a program led by former Israeli soldiers of a variety of backgrounds who were stationed in Hebron during their service in the army. I have heard it can be a very powerful experience and actually on the last tour some educators attended, one of the group's guides was arrested.

We will be home by 3:00. I will report back on what I can only predict will be a fascinating experience.