blue and white

Monday evening started "Yom HaZikaron", Memorial Day in Israel. A country nearly always in a state of war, it means considerably more then it does in the US. Everyone here has lost someone, either through terror attacks or through the military. To start off the day I went to a ceremony at the Western Wall. The speeches were nice, nothing too crazy and when it was all over I went to a small American ceremony. Mainly students from within Rothberg, the speech focused on talking about AMericans who had signed up for the Israeli military and had died during their service as well as Americans who had been killed simply for moving to Israel. It was a moving evening and it would more then continue the next morning at Mt Herzl.
The cemetery for all those killed in wars in Israel, Mt Herzl is a huge mountain filled with monuments, graves and, when I arrived, soldiers and what appeared to be half the State of Israel. I walked around with some friends and found the grave of an American who was killed in the 2nd Lebanon War and then tried to get close to the main ceremony. To be held at the top of the mountain, all of the heads of Israel were going to be there. President, Prime Minister, Chief Rabbis, head of the army...they were all there. The ceremony was to be broadcast over the mic system, so I wasn't too worried. All of a sudden I saw a soldier assisting a very old very tiny woman. There was no railing by the stairs and he was holding her on one side, but it looked like she needed help on the other side as well. Together, the soldier and I helped the woman to the top of the hill and entrance to the actual ceremony, which was invite only. At the top the soldier had to leave, so I asked if I could continue to help the woman. After a double ID check and a weird swipey thing of my hands (I'm asumming it checks for some sort of bomb/chemical residue) I was allowed through. Escorting the old woman, I got her a chair and a bottle of water from a police woman and stood next to her, a mere 3 meters from the countrys most important people! After the ceremony was over she very adamantly did not want my help any more so I went to meet up with some friends. We visited some mroe graves and after attempting tot find the wall in memory of victims of terrorism (which was shut off for a ceremony later in the day) I went home. After making lunch for Tova and myself I hopped on a bus and headed towards Tel Aviv, where I was to spend the coming night.

Yom HaAzmauet, Israels Independance Day, immediatly follows Memorial Day and is just as patriotic a day as the latter. Realistly thinking, the State is only 61 years old and people that fouhgt in the war are still very much alive. That evening I met up with Jamie L, Amy, Tali and Elana and, after dinner anda series of misunderstandings, we went and met up at my friend Julias (the grrrrrrrrreat Bing friend who I stayed by a few months ago) whos extra bed I would be staying in. We then met up with Davina, who is so awesome and I hadn't seen in two years and, after staying in a pub for a bit, headed out to the beach. At this point 3 of the girls were a bit drunk, while the other two of us were fine. We sat on the beach, reveling in the mid-night slendor as well as all the bonfires going on. At a certain point a few Israelis joined us and after a bout two hours of conversation we all went back, the girls to their hostel and me to Julias apartment. The next morning was a nice breakfast and meeting a random Binghamton alum because of my t-shirt. Got a pic of that; fun times. I then headed towards Ashdod where I spent a wonderufl afternoon with my uncles, aunts, and grandmother. While I was there I found out that bnoth my presentations have been accepted for the coming fall RA training. Super! After gettign back, napping and showering I went and studied/gossiped with Jamie and Penina+Zack for a bit.
Today I had class. Them I met up with Efrat, a friend of Hodaya, and her husband and 3month old daughter. Together we went and bought Hodaya the headscarves she wanted. After that I sat in the middle of Ben Yehuda listening to street music while reading for class. I spent the rest of my evening with Tobey and Chani, with whom I got waffles and then tried to go to a shiur, but it was cancelled. We ended up hanging out for the rest of the evening. Fun times.