Time has really been flying since my last post. I am proud of myself for remembering so far to post about every two weeks. I am not proud of my poor letter-writing skills. That is something I have resolved to do better. I love paper letters and I can mail them out at no cost to me. The trouble lies in finding the time and remembering.
Aram's parents have gone home...Aram didn't want them to go to the airport alone because they don't speak English very well, and she didn't want to come back from the airport alone either, so I volunteered to go with her to the airport in Tel Aviv in the middle of the night. I'm glad I didn't end up as tired as I thought I was going to be. I even survived the next day at work well. Often I feel that with how busy Aram is we don't get to spend nearly enough time together, but we spent a lot of time together with her parents and we had such a nice conversation on the train ride back home. Actually I'm really glad that I came with her because she did not recognize the stop in Haifa. I remembered it because it wasn't that long ago that I first came in on the train. The ride would probably have brought back relatively fresh memories if the image of a jumble of nearly unmanageably heavy suitcases didn't dominate them.
A few weeks ago I joined an art class that focuses on incorporating symbolism into art, but I don't think I'm going to stay with the class. The first session was mostly discussion and when the facilitator asked if we should start drawing this week I piped up that it should really wait till next week. Since then I've been finding excuses not to go. I really want to be making some artwork but I don't have many ideas. I'm kind of afraid to go to a class and be forced to draw but have nothing in my head to put on paper. Maybe the best thing for me is to push myself to go, but something compels me to try to get myself started in the privacy of my own home first.
Speaking of art, last weekend was a good one because I discovered an artists's village twenty minutes south of Haifa by the name of Ein Hod. It's a remarkable place - entrance is free and incredibly it's open on Saturdays, as is virtually nothing in Israel, and there were all kinds of things from paintings and drawings to pottery to a bookstore with many English-language books to even a music box museum - though I look forward to the day I can visit with a little bit deeper pockets, a camera, and no rain. I'll probably have to pack a lunch and push myself to eat it instead of dining at one of the restaurants. That was the reason I didn't have any money left over to buy art - my funds were depleted after transportation costs and lunch at an incredible Argentinian restaurant (these seem to be very popular in Israel for no clear reason. There are a great deal of Russian Jewish immigrants, but Argentinians I don't understand. Then again Argentina seems to be a country with a lot of minority communities - Germans, Italians, British and perhaps Jews too). If anyone comes to visit me while I'm here, I promise I will take you to this place to spend a day there.
This last Monday I went to a one-time cooking class as I've been feeling a need to branch out beyond hummus and pita with cucumber and tomato all the time. The teacher was an Indian man with incredible culinary efficiency. He prepared between 15 and 20 dishes I think for some seven or eight of us to share in the span of two and a half hours. I left the class feeling pretty inspired and fearless because he really encouraged us to have a flexible attitude about cooking and not be afraid to experiment with ingredients we like. However he was big on frying, and though it wasn't involved in all the recipes he made, still all of the recipes I've been moved to experiment with myself since then have been depressingly heavy on the oil. Next week I am going to try to be undaunted and play with some more, like rice with dill and cumin, boiled eggs with a very simple crushed tomato cilantro sauce, and (and I'm excited for this, it will be interesting) chai tea with black peppercorns.
Today and tomorrow are very special days for Baha'is at the Baha'i World Centre, because these are the days that we celebrate the birth of our two messengers of God, the Bab and Baha'u'llah. Now, in most parts of the world their birthdays are observed according to the solar calendar, such that the Bab's birthday is October 20 and Baha'u'llah's is November 12. However, in this part of the world for some reason I still haven't managed to unearth (but I'm making steady progress), all Baha'i holy days marking events that occurred before Baha'u'llah's declaration of his mission are observed according to the lunar calendar, and all those marking events that followed his declaration are observed according to the solar calendar. Being that we observe these two birthdays according to the lunar calendar, the dates that they fall on shift every year, but they are always consecutive, and the Bab's is always first, which is interesting as he was the first of the two messengers. So today to commemorate the birth of the Bab, we convened at the Concourse of the Universal House of Justice (as for most holy days, I understand) for a program not unlike the one I described in November, only it was at 2:00 in the afternoon instead of 12:00 in the morning. Tomorrow we will all assemble in Akka/Bahji to observe Baha'u'llah's birthday, as that is the site where he lived the end of his life, and was buried.
As such, even though I am sadly missing being able to spend what I know as the holiday season with my family, I have observances that happen to fall this year near the dates of Thanksgiving, Christmas eve, and Christmas to keep me from feeling totally disconnected. (Another thing that helps with this is honestly the Christmas light displays of the relatively few but ostentatious Arab Christians in my area. I really enjoy these, and it's interesting to see that Christmas here is observed with many of the same traditions as I see at home, though I must say most of the Santa costumes I've seen, often with full face masks, are a little creepy.)
I wish a merry Christmas and happy New Year to everyone at home who celebrates these holidays, and ask you to have a wonderful time in my absence as you spend time together.
Friday, December 18, 2009
Friday, December 4, 2009
December 4
Since Aram's parents are here, I feel like I've always been busy between them and other things. Work of course occupies the bulk of my time. I was quite happy when my trainer told me that she thinks we've never had someone train so fast in our department. According to her it takes three months to be "trained" but she says I am "trained" after two months. I think I attribute this to my discomfort with having to interrupt someone to ask questions every five minutes over a period of time that feels too drawn out. So I think I asked questions every two minutes and voila. I also attribute this to still feeling quite ignorant of department policy. I don't like not knowing, and I know there are still whole realms of my department that I know nothing about, but I will need to. I don't like that feeling of ignorance so much that it motivates me to learn faster.
I've spent some of time my in the past two weeks pretending to be a pilgrim. I've gone to the pilgrim talks on some evenings (staff are welcome to attend, too, but we are supposed to sit in the balconies and I've sneaked into the lower level to stay with Aram and her family). Aram found old family friends and even distant family on pilgrimage, some of whom I've met. They were very friendly and one of them invited me to stay with her "when you come to Australia". I didn't say the thought never crossed my mind.
During the pilgrimage of my flatmate and her family was the first holy day I've spent in the holy land. It's unusual among Baha'i holy days because it commemmorates the death of Abdul-Baha (son of the founder of the Baha'i faith who led an exemplary life) on 28 November 1921, and it is observed at the hour of his death, which is, fortunately for the sleep habits of all of us, 1:00 in the morning. On Friday and Thursday night, the 26th and 27th, staff and pilgrims visited his old house in Haifa to say prayers and remember him, then we attended a memorial program with readings by him and about his life. One of them stands out in my memory because it was one of the last talks, if not the last, that he delivered to a gathering of Baha'is. Basically he told them that their time together was coming to a close, and they should struggle to live well enough that that they should be able to meet Abdul-Baha again. I'd never considered that heaven would mean being able to, in a sense, meet Abdul-Baha. When I read about his life it's clear that he was a well-loved person. Ten thousand people attended his funeral including local leaders, and he always seemed to be overflowing with love and gifts and comforting words and sound advice for people as well as a great sense of humor. Anyway, after the commemmoration all some 1,000 of us went to the Shrine of the Bab (this is Abdul-Baha's temporary resting place until the international Baha'i community finds the resources to construct his shrine) and circumambulated the building (this makes me think only of Islam though I understand that it is a practice at holy places in other religions too...I guess it was a way to pay respect and to all engage in a spiritual act together). Then some of the staff went out for the night and I assume that most of the pilgrims went straight home and went to bed happy but exhausted. That's what I did.
Since then I've been very busy...on Monday this week I went to the first in a series of art classes. We talked about symbolism and some ideas for our art projects, which I liked. Recently I was finally invited to attend a class with Steven Phelps, super genius. He's a physicist, a physicist, but he came to Haifa to serve in some capacity, surely not as a physicist. I don't know for sure but I'm guessing he was first placed in conservation, because it involves a lot of knowledge of chemistry which is related to physics. I further speculate off the top of my head that in this capacity he was motivated to learn to read the originals of the texts he was conserving. So (and this is no longer speculation but the truth) he learned Persian and Arabic, and eventually became one of the primary translators of the Baha'i writings into English. One only has to spend five minutes with him to recognize that his command of Persian and Arabic, and his of the Baha'i faith, are vast and amazing. Sometimes trying to study the Baha'i writings feels like some sort of weird stargazing, e.g., "this quotation is so beautiful let's read it five times." But Steven Phelps knows his stuff. Some of the things he said felt like a wild stretch, e.g. when he related the power of unity in purpose of human souls to the fact that in chemistry when elements combine they release energy. But I'll forgive him the stretches in light of his background. I'm so fortunate to be able to attend such a high-quality class without having to pay anything. There was even cake.
On Wednesday my office had a farewell dinner at good old Fattoush for Sara, my trainer, who is going home to Florida, then eventually working as an elementary school teacher in Colombia, or that is the plan. After she leaves at the end of this month, our office will be six, then when Katy leaves in June, we'll be down to five. Thanks to budget cuts that are occurring at organizations around the world, we will stay at five. It is anticipated that I will pick up many of Katy's responsibilities in addition to mail processing. As far as the mail that she processes goes - and this takes up the bulk of our time - I don't know what we'll do but work harder. Yesterday for lunch and dinner I was treated to Aram's mother's cooking. She made some amazing dish involving eggplant and fries, but really it was good. Aram said she was so happy that I was so willing to try new foods, and I said well if they are good foods, I want to know about them.
I've spent some of time my in the past two weeks pretending to be a pilgrim. I've gone to the pilgrim talks on some evenings (staff are welcome to attend, too, but we are supposed to sit in the balconies and I've sneaked into the lower level to stay with Aram and her family). Aram found old family friends and even distant family on pilgrimage, some of whom I've met. They were very friendly and one of them invited me to stay with her "when you come to Australia". I didn't say the thought never crossed my mind.
During the pilgrimage of my flatmate and her family was the first holy day I've spent in the holy land. It's unusual among Baha'i holy days because it commemmorates the death of Abdul-Baha (son of the founder of the Baha'i faith who led an exemplary life) on 28 November 1921, and it is observed at the hour of his death, which is, fortunately for the sleep habits of all of us, 1:00 in the morning. On Friday and Thursday night, the 26th and 27th, staff and pilgrims visited his old house in Haifa to say prayers and remember him, then we attended a memorial program with readings by him and about his life. One of them stands out in my memory because it was one of the last talks, if not the last, that he delivered to a gathering of Baha'is. Basically he told them that their time together was coming to a close, and they should struggle to live well enough that that they should be able to meet Abdul-Baha again. I'd never considered that heaven would mean being able to, in a sense, meet Abdul-Baha. When I read about his life it's clear that he was a well-loved person. Ten thousand people attended his funeral including local leaders, and he always seemed to be overflowing with love and gifts and comforting words and sound advice for people as well as a great sense of humor. Anyway, after the commemmoration all some 1,000 of us went to the Shrine of the Bab (this is Abdul-Baha's temporary resting place until the international Baha'i community finds the resources to construct his shrine) and circumambulated the building (this makes me think only of Islam though I understand that it is a practice at holy places in other religions too...I guess it was a way to pay respect and to all engage in a spiritual act together). Then some of the staff went out for the night and I assume that most of the pilgrims went straight home and went to bed happy but exhausted. That's what I did.
Since then I've been very busy...on Monday this week I went to the first in a series of art classes. We talked about symbolism and some ideas for our art projects, which I liked. Recently I was finally invited to attend a class with Steven Phelps, super genius. He's a physicist, a physicist, but he came to Haifa to serve in some capacity, surely not as a physicist. I don't know for sure but I'm guessing he was first placed in conservation, because it involves a lot of knowledge of chemistry which is related to physics. I further speculate off the top of my head that in this capacity he was motivated to learn to read the originals of the texts he was conserving. So (and this is no longer speculation but the truth) he learned Persian and Arabic, and eventually became one of the primary translators of the Baha'i writings into English. One only has to spend five minutes with him to recognize that his command of Persian and Arabic, and his of the Baha'i faith, are vast and amazing. Sometimes trying to study the Baha'i writings feels like some sort of weird stargazing, e.g., "this quotation is so beautiful let's read it five times." But Steven Phelps knows his stuff. Some of the things he said felt like a wild stretch, e.g. when he related the power of unity in purpose of human souls to the fact that in chemistry when elements combine they release energy. But I'll forgive him the stretches in light of his background. I'm so fortunate to be able to attend such a high-quality class without having to pay anything. There was even cake.
On Wednesday my office had a farewell dinner at good old Fattoush for Sara, my trainer, who is going home to Florida, then eventually working as an elementary school teacher in Colombia, or that is the plan. After she leaves at the end of this month, our office will be six, then when Katy leaves in June, we'll be down to five. Thanks to budget cuts that are occurring at organizations around the world, we will stay at five. It is anticipated that I will pick up many of Katy's responsibilities in addition to mail processing. As far as the mail that she processes goes - and this takes up the bulk of our time - I don't know what we'll do but work harder. Yesterday for lunch and dinner I was treated to Aram's mother's cooking. She made some amazing dish involving eggplant and fries, but really it was good. Aram said she was so happy that I was so willing to try new foods, and I said well if they are good foods, I want to know about them.
November 22
The last several days have not been very eventful; I've been taking all the phone calls for the department of pilgrimage for the last two weeks, so I've been handling all of the crazy questions that anyone feels so moved to ask...my favorite so far has been "is it ok to bring my dog on pilgrimage?" (The answer is no.) This has been a bit draining, especially because I feel I was thrown into it maybe a little bit prematurely (and intensely), but then again, it has been a great way to learn the department policy fast. I've been having issues of another kind with telephone calls in the evenings, but never mind those.
I've also been having a few problems with feeling down, and I'm not really sure why, but sometimes I wake up in the morning and the first thing I feel is too overwhelmed to move (but it passes within minutes). I think the reality and the sheer differentness of my surroundings have caught up to me. I'm really going to have a snow without winter, I'm really going to spend my first Christmas away from my family. The other day I was looking at a map of Wisconsin (maps are popular decor here) and when I turned around it hit me that, oh, right, I'm not in Wisconsin. I'm nowhere near it.
There are many positive things to speak of, however. On Saturday I visited three sites that require so much maintenance as holy places that staff members may visit once per year (and the average Baha'i may visit once in every five years, at the most). I won't go into detail about their histories, mostly because I don't yet know them well, but I can say that all of them were residences of Baha'u'llah and his family. The exteriors are quite plain, but the interiors are so delicately ornamented, with so many small artifacts so carefully preserved, that is like stepping into a cross between an old movie and a patterned dream, with a quiet spiritual energy like a persistent hum that pervades the whole place.
A look of something like shock has crossed the face of nearly every person I've informed that I visited three holy places on Saturday, and I tell these people that I don't understand why they are so surprised...I have never been to any of these places, I honestly didn't know some of them existed before I came here, and, naturally, I wanted to see them as soon as possible. Besides all of the places I visited are in Akka, and to make a single trip really seemed ideal to me. I suppose I could have gotten quite tired by the end of three staff visits, but fortunately I didn't. I was quite awake for all of them, and all the more grateful for the extraordinary comfort and beauty of the last place, the Mansion of Mazra'ih, thanks to an encounter with a very very strange cab driver (he was a vague mix of aggressive and flirtatious...fortunately I was not alone and he was quite harmless).
Today I met my flatmate Aram's parents who are going on formal pilgrimage with her over the next two weeks (formal pilgrimage is 9-11 days). They are Persian immigrants to Canada and they are learning English, and they are adorable. Aram's mother poured her tea into a bowl because she couldn't find a cup. Aram told me that they visited the shrine of the Bab today and that her parents cried and cried when they visited it. Relations between Israel and Iran are of course so bad that Iranian Baha'is are not able to go on pilgrimage at all unless they have been away from Iran for the last five years, and they have a passport that is not Iranian, but from another country. So it was a very emotional time for them. I hope they will have a wonderful time together.
I've also been having a few problems with feeling down, and I'm not really sure why, but sometimes I wake up in the morning and the first thing I feel is too overwhelmed to move (but it passes within minutes). I think the reality and the sheer differentness of my surroundings have caught up to me. I'm really going to have a snow without winter, I'm really going to spend my first Christmas away from my family. The other day I was looking at a map of Wisconsin (maps are popular decor here) and when I turned around it hit me that, oh, right, I'm not in Wisconsin. I'm nowhere near it.
There are many positive things to speak of, however. On Saturday I visited three sites that require so much maintenance as holy places that staff members may visit once per year (and the average Baha'i may visit once in every five years, at the most). I won't go into detail about their histories, mostly because I don't yet know them well, but I can say that all of them were residences of Baha'u'llah and his family. The exteriors are quite plain, but the interiors are so delicately ornamented, with so many small artifacts so carefully preserved, that is like stepping into a cross between an old movie and a patterned dream, with a quiet spiritual energy like a persistent hum that pervades the whole place.
A look of something like shock has crossed the face of nearly every person I've informed that I visited three holy places on Saturday, and I tell these people that I don't understand why they are so surprised...I have never been to any of these places, I honestly didn't know some of them existed before I came here, and, naturally, I wanted to see them as soon as possible. Besides all of the places I visited are in Akka, and to make a single trip really seemed ideal to me. I suppose I could have gotten quite tired by the end of three staff visits, but fortunately I didn't. I was quite awake for all of them, and all the more grateful for the extraordinary comfort and beauty of the last place, the Mansion of Mazra'ih, thanks to an encounter with a very very strange cab driver (he was a vague mix of aggressive and flirtatious...fortunately I was not alone and he was quite harmless).
Today I met my flatmate Aram's parents who are going on formal pilgrimage with her over the next two weeks (formal pilgrimage is 9-11 days). They are Persian immigrants to Canada and they are learning English, and they are adorable. Aram's mother poured her tea into a bowl because she couldn't find a cup. Aram told me that they visited the shrine of the Bab today and that her parents cried and cried when they visited it. Relations between Israel and Iran are of course so bad that Iranian Baha'is are not able to go on pilgrimage at all unless they have been away from Iran for the last five years, and they have a passport that is not Iranian, but from another country. So it was a very emotional time for them. I hope they will have a wonderful time together.
November 10
As time goes by and I go on adjusting, it becomes harder and harder to keep a record of even just the highlights of what I experience. I've noticed that a lot of people spend more time absent from their work than they need to because they either don't know their own bodies, or they ignore them and eventually wear themselves down. Right now there is a nasty flu going around...mostly, naturally, among the young people who think their bodies never need rest. For my part, I'm really trying to take good care of myself...generally, I am early to bed and early to rise, try to minimize my stress levels in my work and stick to a routine (I've managed to give up coffee as a daily routine, though I don't suppose it's so much of an improvement that I've always had two cups of tea by 9:00am...and a third by 2:00pm...but hey it's a routine).
In addition to work I'm volunteering two mornings per month in the reference library. I love this place and I want to read every book in it, and the library is one department that needs help badly. I have a good friend who serves there so I think it's going to be a really good experience...plus as it's my first and probably longest-lasting duty to help digitize the card catalog, I get exposure to many titles in the collection, and I can come in and read these titles whenever the library is open and I'm not working.
As far as evenings go, I've been making a point of spending at least 2 nights a week at home and spending a third night a week doing whatever as long as I find it relaxing. One of the volunteers who is a grandmother mentioned that she has a friend who swears by doing things that re-create you in your spare time (e.g., physical exercise that re-creates your body in a sense, or painting that gives you a wonderful new skill), and supposes that is why it is called "recreation". On those nights that I spend at home I might visit the shrine of the Bab on my way home, then read, cook, clean, visit neighbors, work on various projects (e.g., my garden), or whatever serves to keep me fresh and happy and prepared for the next day.
It's tempting to join any number of formal or informal classes on all sorts of topics - often, study of the Baha'i writings, but also all kinds of things such as Hebrew, ballet, aerobics, quilting...so many things. At this point I am waitlisted for one class (which involves in-depth study of whole texts in the Baha'i writings that is supposed to be amazing, and is going to take a lot of time), and I am loosely affiliated with a Persian class...it's advanced for me, but I go because it's a chance to see my flatmate, who I otherwise rarely see. Sometimes I attend the very casual youth study class on Thursday nights, and sometimes I don't.
So I'm really proud that I'm not overdoing it. I only have one major evening commitment so far, and it hasn't started yet. However there are other temptations that might sneak up on me. I told a neighbor I would try coming to his FUNDAEC class. FUNDAEC is a Baha'i organization whose mission is to apply spiritual principles to education at a system level. The idea is that it fills a void left by a general framework for education that is agnostic in its foundations. I want to go to at least one session because I am very curious how spirituality can be applied (a) to topics such as agriculture, chemistry, etc. and (b) without getting on people's nerves.
I can imagine one possibility. Baha'is as a worldwide community conduct two kinds of children's classes; one parallels Sunday school, but the other classes are called "virtues" classes, and the word God is never so much as mentioned; instead, character development and principles common to every major religion are emphasized. For some parents this is a free babysitting service with harmless content, and in my opinion that is A OK. In that case the classes provide a service to a community. Some couples may belong to two different spiritual traditions and not want to push their kids one way or the other or confuse them too much. That is good too. However, some, Baha'is and non-Baha'is, see these classes as a way to rope kids into the Baha'i scene to convert their parents eventually to the Baha'i faith. I am sure that in the case of some Baha'is running these classes, that is the truth, or it may not be an overt thing, but it is the intention that underlies the whole operation. When that happens I think it's really a shame, but I don't think it should cast a shadow on the purpose of the classes in its purest form.
Anyway, considering how virtues classes operate, you can imagine that an academic class with a spiritual rather than agnostic foundation, according to a Baha'i perspective, simply emphasizes character development along with knowledge development. I hesitate to make reference to a "moral" education, because the Baha'i faith leaves the treatment of a lot of enduringly controversial questions of morality, e.g. abortion, up to the individual. Anyway, arguably this new framework is not spiritual at all. You can certainly be agnostic, atheist, secular humanist, whatever, and uphold Baha'i virtues, even better than many Baha'is. So I wonder if FUNDAEC includes aspects that are uniquely spiritual and not arguably universal whether you consider yourself a spiritual being at all or not...and what they could be.
To follow up on my last post. I did go shopping for plants and I didn't buy geraniums (the shop owner wasn't sure what color the flowers on the geranium plants available would be...I didn't know they could be anything but red), but I did buy quite a few other plants. Some have small red flowers - I think they're called calendula(s?). I also bought a plant that vines and will eventually have dark pink flowers, and seeds for herbs, basil, parsley, cilantro, and mint. A friend showed me how to cut our ubiquitous water bottles to make very nice small flower pots. If I can find some nice heavy rocks to put in the bottoms of them, I can put them on my balcony and they won't blow away when the wind is strong (or they will and I'll have to hope no one is standing directly below my balcony at the time...hm). I want to build my balcony into a big beautiful garden, and incorporate some symbolism from my surroundings (being that my property is literally surrounded by the Baha'i gardens), my own life, etc., so that looking at my balcony is like reading a book. Naturally I am going to plant a lemon tree, and the rest I'll see. I have heard that the gardens department often pulls up fairly large quantities of flowers and plants from various areas for whatever reason, and I don't think they always know what to do with what they've uprooted. Maybe there is a chance I could move in. It would be more economical for me and less wasteful for them...a sort of symbiotic relationship.
In addition to work I'm volunteering two mornings per month in the reference library. I love this place and I want to read every book in it, and the library is one department that needs help badly. I have a good friend who serves there so I think it's going to be a really good experience...plus as it's my first and probably longest-lasting duty to help digitize the card catalog, I get exposure to many titles in the collection, and I can come in and read these titles whenever the library is open and I'm not working.
As far as evenings go, I've been making a point of spending at least 2 nights a week at home and spending a third night a week doing whatever as long as I find it relaxing. One of the volunteers who is a grandmother mentioned that she has a friend who swears by doing things that re-create you in your spare time (e.g., physical exercise that re-creates your body in a sense, or painting that gives you a wonderful new skill), and supposes that is why it is called "recreation". On those nights that I spend at home I might visit the shrine of the Bab on my way home, then read, cook, clean, visit neighbors, work on various projects (e.g., my garden), or whatever serves to keep me fresh and happy and prepared for the next day.
It's tempting to join any number of formal or informal classes on all sorts of topics - often, study of the Baha'i writings, but also all kinds of things such as Hebrew, ballet, aerobics, quilting...so many things. At this point I am waitlisted for one class (which involves in-depth study of whole texts in the Baha'i writings that is supposed to be amazing, and is going to take a lot of time), and I am loosely affiliated with a Persian class...it's advanced for me, but I go because it's a chance to see my flatmate, who I otherwise rarely see. Sometimes I attend the very casual youth study class on Thursday nights, and sometimes I don't.
So I'm really proud that I'm not overdoing it. I only have one major evening commitment so far, and it hasn't started yet. However there are other temptations that might sneak up on me. I told a neighbor I would try coming to his FUNDAEC class. FUNDAEC is a Baha'i organization whose mission is to apply spiritual principles to education at a system level. The idea is that it fills a void left by a general framework for education that is agnostic in its foundations. I want to go to at least one session because I am very curious how spirituality can be applied (a) to topics such as agriculture, chemistry, etc. and (b) without getting on people's nerves.
I can imagine one possibility. Baha'is as a worldwide community conduct two kinds of children's classes; one parallels Sunday school, but the other classes are called "virtues" classes, and the word God is never so much as mentioned; instead, character development and principles common to every major religion are emphasized. For some parents this is a free babysitting service with harmless content, and in my opinion that is A OK. In that case the classes provide a service to a community. Some couples may belong to two different spiritual traditions and not want to push their kids one way or the other or confuse them too much. That is good too. However, some, Baha'is and non-Baha'is, see these classes as a way to rope kids into the Baha'i scene to convert their parents eventually to the Baha'i faith. I am sure that in the case of some Baha'is running these classes, that is the truth, or it may not be an overt thing, but it is the intention that underlies the whole operation. When that happens I think it's really a shame, but I don't think it should cast a shadow on the purpose of the classes in its purest form.
Anyway, considering how virtues classes operate, you can imagine that an academic class with a spiritual rather than agnostic foundation, according to a Baha'i perspective, simply emphasizes character development along with knowledge development. I hesitate to make reference to a "moral" education, because the Baha'i faith leaves the treatment of a lot of enduringly controversial questions of morality, e.g. abortion, up to the individual. Anyway, arguably this new framework is not spiritual at all. You can certainly be agnostic, atheist, secular humanist, whatever, and uphold Baha'i virtues, even better than many Baha'is. So I wonder if FUNDAEC includes aspects that are uniquely spiritual and not arguably universal whether you consider yourself a spiritual being at all or not...and what they could be.
To follow up on my last post. I did go shopping for plants and I didn't buy geraniums (the shop owner wasn't sure what color the flowers on the geranium plants available would be...I didn't know they could be anything but red), but I did buy quite a few other plants. Some have small red flowers - I think they're called calendula(s?). I also bought a plant that vines and will eventually have dark pink flowers, and seeds for herbs, basil, parsley, cilantro, and mint. A friend showed me how to cut our ubiquitous water bottles to make very nice small flower pots. If I can find some nice heavy rocks to put in the bottoms of them, I can put them on my balcony and they won't blow away when the wind is strong (or they will and I'll have to hope no one is standing directly below my balcony at the time...hm). I want to build my balcony into a big beautiful garden, and incorporate some symbolism from my surroundings (being that my property is literally surrounded by the Baha'i gardens), my own life, etc., so that looking at my balcony is like reading a book. Naturally I am going to plant a lemon tree, and the rest I'll see. I have heard that the gardens department often pulls up fairly large quantities of flowers and plants from various areas for whatever reason, and I don't think they always know what to do with what they've uprooted. Maybe there is a chance I could move in. It would be more economical for me and less wasteful for them...a sort of symbiotic relationship.
November 2
For the last few days I have been a busy little bee. Over the weekend I had a chance to settle into my new room (and my new balcony)...it feels like a semi-permanent move so I feel that I have taken another step to feeling more at home here. Really it doesn't feel very foreign and it never really has, but it is really starting to feel truly comfortable. I have been a transient for five years; in college I usually had a surplus of possession that did not fit well into the living space. Here I have more space than I need. Of course with lots of space comes LOTS of cleaning...fortunately I think the worst of that is now. I went out onto the balcony and found that it has probably not been cleaned in a year. That plus the storage room (which I finally worked up the courage to clean in spite of rumors of a mouse living there) took up the bulk of my day on Friday. I am thinking of keeping a garden on my balcony - I have more space for a garden than i've ever had before - for herbs (mint, parsley, dill and cilantro are big around here and grow well in the climate), hardy flowers (I hear tell it's hard to kill a geranium plant in Israel), and maybe some desert plants like aloe and cacti. One of my friends told me that on a whim she planted the seeds of a lemon she used for cooking, and the resulting little tree is growing up nicely. It makes me laugh to think of this in comparison to the indoor lemon tree my dad was growing when I was growing up...it was pretty weak-looking and never bore fruit, but it's impressive that a lemon tree grew in Wisconsin at all.
If you have any suggestions for plants to grow, I would welcome them.
I thought i was over my fear of appliances (following the explosion of my iron and the meltdown of my curler), but it happens that fear resides in me again, after a cooking fiasco resulting in a small fire that fortunately did no long-term damage to anything but the pot and the ceiling above the oven (but you can't see it unless you look closely...i mean really closely). The burners on my stove are really tricky to adjust and that was the problem. No one else was in my building which freaked me out and made me decide that i'm not going to cook anything for at least a while unless someone else is home...and I'm not going to use any appliances except the microwave (the inside of which I managed to coat with boiled milk maybe one hour after I vowed to be much more careful) when I am by myself, either, unless I can't help it. This makes me feel a bit like a four year old who needs cleaning supplies to be specially locked up and medicines to have a safety cap. Oh well...I really am having to relearn how many basic things work, and that's just a reality.
In real news, most everything is going well, my training is coming along, and I'm enjoying my job although it's challenging the notion that I had previously that I am a detail oriented person. Details can be something like landmines in my work, so I am going to have to raise my detail bar I guess. Tomorrow night I am hosting a beginning drawing and painting class at my flatmate's request...that should be fun. I receive my clothing allowance at the end of every month, so unless I choose to simply save it up (and I might) I could be going shopping. However with what amounts to a free thrift shop right on the path of my walk home from work, and with Israeli fashion being the questionable entity that it is, I think I am just going to live simply for now - though I definitely, definitely need more pants - Haifa got cold fast. There have been more or less continuous lightning and thunderstorms for a few days, and they are really intense. If you kept your eyes on the sky, you would see lightning every few minutes or so. Sometimes it's so loud I wonder why my house isn't shaking.
If you have any suggestions for plants to grow, I would welcome them.
I thought i was over my fear of appliances (following the explosion of my iron and the meltdown of my curler), but it happens that fear resides in me again, after a cooking fiasco resulting in a small fire that fortunately did no long-term damage to anything but the pot and the ceiling above the oven (but you can't see it unless you look closely...i mean really closely). The burners on my stove are really tricky to adjust and that was the problem. No one else was in my building which freaked me out and made me decide that i'm not going to cook anything for at least a while unless someone else is home...and I'm not going to use any appliances except the microwave (the inside of which I managed to coat with boiled milk maybe one hour after I vowed to be much more careful) when I am by myself, either, unless I can't help it. This makes me feel a bit like a four year old who needs cleaning supplies to be specially locked up and medicines to have a safety cap. Oh well...I really am having to relearn how many basic things work, and that's just a reality.
In real news, most everything is going well, my training is coming along, and I'm enjoying my job although it's challenging the notion that I had previously that I am a detail oriented person. Details can be something like landmines in my work, so I am going to have to raise my detail bar I guess. Tomorrow night I am hosting a beginning drawing and painting class at my flatmate's request...that should be fun. I receive my clothing allowance at the end of every month, so unless I choose to simply save it up (and I might) I could be going shopping. However with what amounts to a free thrift shop right on the path of my walk home from work, and with Israeli fashion being the questionable entity that it is, I think I am just going to live simply for now - though I definitely, definitely need more pants - Haifa got cold fast. There have been more or less continuous lightning and thunderstorms for a few days, and they are really intense. If you kept your eyes on the sky, you would see lightning every few minutes or so. Sometimes it's so loud I wonder why my house isn't shaking.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
October 28
If I haven't written much in the last week and a half (and I have written nothing), it is because there is not much to say. I am developing a routine and trying to bring my body and my life to beat in some sort of harmony with my surroundings; I have a heap of trouble getting to sleep most nights, but I think this is not so much jet lag as a complete lack of physical exertion. Office jobs are really not good on the body...but I like my work as a pilgrimage scheduler. I see some peculiar extremes like those who thank our department with the most flowery and extensive language I can possibly imagine (though they lavish the greatest praise, and chocolates, on their pilgrim guides...but sometimes the guides share their chocolates with us) and those who seem to write every five minutes to request confirmation that we received or processed this or that...all of these exist because pilgrimage is just so important to so many people.
I want to spend my days reading voraciously but there is no time; a typical evening with nothing really special to do (so far) includes tying up a loose end and/or doing personal things while I'm still in my office, walking to the Shrine of the Bab on my way home, spending more time in the Shrine than I anticipated, walking down a series of steps that goes on forever and ever, preparing something for dinner, talking to my roommates a bit, and (frequently) finding that the evening has slipped away or (occasionally) finding that I am too tired to concentrate on reading anything that requires more concentration than a few news articles. I have spent one or two nearly whole days holed up in either my flat or the Haifa Pilgrim house just reading and reading Baha'i books, trying to catch up on what I'd been longing to do all week. I hope I can find more of a balance.
Yesterday one of my flatmates returned to Thunder Bay. I really enjoyed her, but her leaving is not all a bad thing; I have already fully taken over her former bedroom. It has four big windows and a massive balcony with chairs and a table that overlooks the German colony, downtown, and Haifa port. I absolutely love it and don't mind that my options for getting to work are taking the bus or climbing half of Mt. Carmel.
This weekend I think I am going to Akka for the first time in a couple of weeks; I plan to go to the Shrine at Bahji and see for the first time both the Bahji pilgrim house and the Mansion of Bahji. Last weekend I visited the House of Abdu'l Baha, which was so nice though I don't know how to describe it...in many ways it was just an old house, but it reflects quite a bit of Baha'i history and has some interesting artworks and photographs and artifacts. It was peculiar to see Abdu'l Baha's bed and notice how short he must have been to sleep in it comfortably, and the brightness and coziness of the place in combination with its dramatic design (a very large central room with many small rooms all around it) was really very special. On that visit I saw the Western pilgrim house, too, which was also quite nice...it is really amazing and almost overwhelming how ornamental Persian culture is. Sometimes I walk into a room and feel like a pattern bomb must have exploded recently.
On the same day I visited Abdu'l Baha's house I visited the archives building, which recently underwent major renovation, and which I'm limited to visiting once a year. It was like walking into a refrigerator because it was so cold and dark, but everything to see was lit up as needed. I loved seeing the original texts of some of the writings. They are so beautiful; even Persian script is ornamental, and many of the texts were illuminated in a way that reminded me of medieval Bibles.
I'm getting more used to my job every day; overall time is flying by...naturally, as no bills to pay, and really not much to worry about but my work and my personal development. I am very excited to have found three opportunities for oral and written translation already. I am now co-translating from English to Spanish with the Chilean girl in my office, and translating from French to English when I can. The library is sending me photocopies of newspaper clippings in Spanish for me to translate key parts and the gist of articles.
I am also looking into doing simultaneous interpretation translating pilgrim talks occasionally...though I am not sure I'll do this because many of the presenters have very, very strong accents. I attended one last night and I could not understand every tenth to twentieth word or so...a good third of the time I didn't even know what she was talking about. My flatmate, Aram, does Persian translations at talks, and she told me that sometimes she had to just stop and could not even guess at what the presenter was saying...meanwhile, the Italian translator, Danilo, was just talking and talking nonstop. Aram felt inferior until she talked later to Danilo, who commented..."I think I just invented a new Baha'i perspective or two as I was translating...maybe when I get home I'll reveal a tablet."
I want to spend my days reading voraciously but there is no time; a typical evening with nothing really special to do (so far) includes tying up a loose end and/or doing personal things while I'm still in my office, walking to the Shrine of the Bab on my way home, spending more time in the Shrine than I anticipated, walking down a series of steps that goes on forever and ever, preparing something for dinner, talking to my roommates a bit, and (frequently) finding that the evening has slipped away or (occasionally) finding that I am too tired to concentrate on reading anything that requires more concentration than a few news articles. I have spent one or two nearly whole days holed up in either my flat or the Haifa Pilgrim house just reading and reading Baha'i books, trying to catch up on what I'd been longing to do all week. I hope I can find more of a balance.
Yesterday one of my flatmates returned to Thunder Bay. I really enjoyed her, but her leaving is not all a bad thing; I have already fully taken over her former bedroom. It has four big windows and a massive balcony with chairs and a table that overlooks the German colony, downtown, and Haifa port. I absolutely love it and don't mind that my options for getting to work are taking the bus or climbing half of Mt. Carmel.
This weekend I think I am going to Akka for the first time in a couple of weeks; I plan to go to the Shrine at Bahji and see for the first time both the Bahji pilgrim house and the Mansion of Bahji. Last weekend I visited the House of Abdu'l Baha, which was so nice though I don't know how to describe it...in many ways it was just an old house, but it reflects quite a bit of Baha'i history and has some interesting artworks and photographs and artifacts. It was peculiar to see Abdu'l Baha's bed and notice how short he must have been to sleep in it comfortably, and the brightness and coziness of the place in combination with its dramatic design (a very large central room with many small rooms all around it) was really very special. On that visit I saw the Western pilgrim house, too, which was also quite nice...it is really amazing and almost overwhelming how ornamental Persian culture is. Sometimes I walk into a room and feel like a pattern bomb must have exploded recently.
On the same day I visited Abdu'l Baha's house I visited the archives building, which recently underwent major renovation, and which I'm limited to visiting once a year. It was like walking into a refrigerator because it was so cold and dark, but everything to see was lit up as needed. I loved seeing the original texts of some of the writings. They are so beautiful; even Persian script is ornamental, and many of the texts were illuminated in a way that reminded me of medieval Bibles.
I'm getting more used to my job every day; overall time is flying by...naturally, as no bills to pay, and really not much to worry about but my work and my personal development. I am very excited to have found three opportunities for oral and written translation already. I am now co-translating from English to Spanish with the Chilean girl in my office, and translating from French to English when I can. The library is sending me photocopies of newspaper clippings in Spanish for me to translate key parts and the gist of articles.
I am also looking into doing simultaneous interpretation translating pilgrim talks occasionally...though I am not sure I'll do this because many of the presenters have very, very strong accents. I attended one last night and I could not understand every tenth to twentieth word or so...a good third of the time I didn't even know what she was talking about. My flatmate, Aram, does Persian translations at talks, and she told me that sometimes she had to just stop and could not even guess at what the presenter was saying...meanwhile, the Italian translator, Danilo, was just talking and talking nonstop. Aram felt inferior until she talked later to Danilo, who commented..."I think I just invented a new Baha'i perspective or two as I was translating...maybe when I get home I'll reveal a tablet."
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
intermission
I interrupt this transmission to bring you some photos! I tried to add captions, but I had a lot of difficulty with figuring out where to put them, so for now they will have to remain captionless. I promise I will make a complete photo album with neatly coordinating captions when I finally get around to taking my own pictures...and not merely nabbing them from someone else's collection on Facebook (Thanks, Miss Inka!). By the way, I was with the person who took these pictures the whole time she was shooting, so they do in fact reflect my personal experiences. I even had my camera with me at the time, but I was too engrossed in memorizing the exact locations of popular baklava (see below) and falafel shops to remember to pull it out....
Saturday, October 17, 2009
October 17
Naturally the day I choose to climb every one of the terraces of the Shrine of the Bab (yes, all 19 of them...including the ones that ascend behind the shrine and are lit to frame it in the dark. It's hard to find a good shot of them, but there are 9 terraces leading to the shrine, and just as many behind!), at midday, is the same day that Haifa chooses to violate its friendly and reliable (if boring) weather pattern of 85 and sunny every single day. Today's high was 97 Fahrenheit. Good lord. And I forgot my water (but a fellow trekker was kind enough to give me some). No wonder I dripped sweat; it is fortunate I did not shrivel up like a raisin. I will never ever again forget to bring along my water.
If you are wondering what motivated this arduous expedition...there is a really good sushi bar on top of the mountain...my friends and I threw in a little bit of gelato, too, basically in celebration of surviving.
If you are wondering what motivated this arduous expedition...there is a really good sushi bar on top of the mountain...my friends and I threw in a little bit of gelato, too, basically in celebration of surviving.
Friday, October 16, 2009
October 16
I took it easy this week compared to the last one, and I'm glad I did. I've been really restrained on getting involved in things, which in my mind is all for the best. Volunteering, in a number of departments, requires a sustained commitment, and thus far I really have very little idea of how to budget my time. Besides, I am sure have not even heard of certain departments that I would love to volunteer in, and I don't have a concept of which departments are the neediest (and there are many needy departments).
I am thinking of volunteering in the Pilgrim Reception Center, so I can actually meet some of the people I correspond with daily in e-mails and letters. That should be easy to work into my schedule; the staff at the PRC work late into the evening, so I'm sure could just come down there after work one night a week and help out a bit. It's not a massive commitment since I would only be called upon to help when the pilgrims are actually here: 18 days a month, 10 months a year. Another department I am looking into is the library, which has seen a massive dwindling in its workforce in a very short time.
Anyway, my week was relatively uneventful; my trainer was sick for about half the week which dealt my training program a blow, but I don't think she successfully infected me before she decided she was better off resting at home, not infecting all of us. Last night I attended the Thursday night study class for the first time since I arrived, because its instructor, House member Mr. Hooper Dunbar, came back from Germany. He's a cute old man and a funny guy. The purpose of the study class is really lovely: it's meant to inspire young people to read and to really advance their comprehension of the Baha'i writings. We covered maybe five paragraphs of the foreword of one book - the name study class is a bit misleading I suppose, since there is no expectation that we study before arriving. We used those five paragraphs as a sort of primer for looking at the rest of the book - we looked in depth at the density of the language and the big picture the words were laying out. It was also a great opportunity to see people I hadn't seen much since orientation.
I don't know if I will become a regular at the Thursday study class, or anything I've mentioned, but I am definitely looking forward to the Tuesday study class, which is very different - e.g., preparatory readings are expected and whole texts are covered.
All this must sound quite heady, so here are some non-heady things I expect I will incorporate into my routine: shopping in the Hadar and Wadi (two areas of town that are great for shopping; the Hadar is more geared toward clothes, housewares, art supplies, etc., and the Wadi is better for fresh ingredients like spices, coffee, meat and fish, and produce), visiting a great, cheap falafel shop near my home, and going to Japanika, a sushi bar that is fashionable but really affordable by American standards, in the Carmel Center on top of Mount Carmel (mistakenly called the Merkaz by many BWC staff; this is Hebrew for "center").
Another big part of staff activity is visiting other cities in Israel on days off; usually these are day trips because Israel is tiny. The situation in Jerusalem is iffy but I am itching to go there; however I plan to wait until the security department endorses it, because they are very careful about monitoring the security situation. I don't want to go anytime soon anyway because I want to go with a reasonably good understanding of the significance of the religious sites in Jerusalem. That might take a while.
P.S. I am amending this entry because the events of the end of the day were surprising but very nice; I ended up attending a pilgrim talk which occur on four nights of the nine day pilgrimages. The speaker was a house member, Dr. Payman Mohajer, who delighted me to an extent I can't adequately express without a load of context by saying that there is a tendency in the Baha'i faith for members to be "political idiots" and going on to provide recommendations to rectify this (huge, huge) problem. That issue will merit an entry of its own. (I think perhaps I ought to start keeping a list of all the things I have promised that I will address later.)
The person who guided me to the pilgrim talk is the wife of one of the members of the International Teaching Center; while I was put off at first by her tendency to not let me finish sentences, I warmed up to her when she gave me all kinds of advice to regard to navigating the BWC and Haifa, gave me a ride home, and very thoughtfully advised me to haul two packs of water back home as long as someone was driving me down the mountain.
I especially warmed up to her when she said she was lonely and didn't have many friends in spite of being in Haifa for more than a year; her husband travels often, her son is grown up, and the whole move was a shock to her after living in a suburb of St. Paul for 32 years, so I don't think she was eager to regard the move as so much of an adventure as a trial. I plan to talk to some people in my office and/or my orientation group to organize a dinner and make sure she is able to come; I don't know if it would be insensitive to explain that the purpose is that she is lonely, but I want to see to it as best I can that a few more people reach out to her.
Otherwise, I spent the day reading at home and in the reading room in the Haifa pilgrim house (as I have said it is one of my favorite places), and in between those things going to the shrine of the Bab. I read some of the Tablets of Baha'u'llah and a short book called a Tribute to Ruhiyyih Khanum (suffice it to say she's a very important woman to Baha'is). Both of them raised a lot of questions in my mind. Some things had a special emotional resonance with me because I am in the place firmly connected to both of the things I read today. For example one of the Tablets of Baha'u'llah is the Tablet of Carmel, which addresses Mt. Carmel directly, and the tribute to Ruhiyyih Khanum mentioned events in the pilgrim house where I was reading about them. Today I thought a bit about the notion that you have to travel to a place to really know it. I modestly propose that maybe (maybe) this is not necessarily because the physical reality of a place has special meaning in itself, but because humans simply derive inspiration and motivation to learn about more abstract realities (which, logistically, humans could do without leaving home) by connecting with what is material. Or it could be a far less complicated matter of ego: i.e., Haifa and its history have more meaning to me now that I'M a little part of Haifa's history.
I am thinking of volunteering in the Pilgrim Reception Center, so I can actually meet some of the people I correspond with daily in e-mails and letters. That should be easy to work into my schedule; the staff at the PRC work late into the evening, so I'm sure could just come down there after work one night a week and help out a bit. It's not a massive commitment since I would only be called upon to help when the pilgrims are actually here: 18 days a month, 10 months a year. Another department I am looking into is the library, which has seen a massive dwindling in its workforce in a very short time.
Anyway, my week was relatively uneventful; my trainer was sick for about half the week which dealt my training program a blow, but I don't think she successfully infected me before she decided she was better off resting at home, not infecting all of us. Last night I attended the Thursday night study class for the first time since I arrived, because its instructor, House member Mr. Hooper Dunbar, came back from Germany. He's a cute old man and a funny guy. The purpose of the study class is really lovely: it's meant to inspire young people to read and to really advance their comprehension of the Baha'i writings. We covered maybe five paragraphs of the foreword of one book - the name study class is a bit misleading I suppose, since there is no expectation that we study before arriving. We used those five paragraphs as a sort of primer for looking at the rest of the book - we looked in depth at the density of the language and the big picture the words were laying out. It was also a great opportunity to see people I hadn't seen much since orientation.
I don't know if I will become a regular at the Thursday study class, or anything I've mentioned, but I am definitely looking forward to the Tuesday study class, which is very different - e.g., preparatory readings are expected and whole texts are covered.
All this must sound quite heady, so here are some non-heady things I expect I will incorporate into my routine: shopping in the Hadar and Wadi (two areas of town that are great for shopping; the Hadar is more geared toward clothes, housewares, art supplies, etc., and the Wadi is better for fresh ingredients like spices, coffee, meat and fish, and produce), visiting a great, cheap falafel shop near my home, and going to Japanika, a sushi bar that is fashionable but really affordable by American standards, in the Carmel Center on top of Mount Carmel (mistakenly called the Merkaz by many BWC staff; this is Hebrew for "center").
Another big part of staff activity is visiting other cities in Israel on days off; usually these are day trips because Israel is tiny. The situation in Jerusalem is iffy but I am itching to go there; however I plan to wait until the security department endorses it, because they are very careful about monitoring the security situation. I don't want to go anytime soon anyway because I want to go with a reasonably good understanding of the significance of the religious sites in Jerusalem. That might take a while.
P.S. I am amending this entry because the events of the end of the day were surprising but very nice; I ended up attending a pilgrim talk which occur on four nights of the nine day pilgrimages. The speaker was a house member, Dr. Payman Mohajer, who delighted me to an extent I can't adequately express without a load of context by saying that there is a tendency in the Baha'i faith for members to be "political idiots" and going on to provide recommendations to rectify this (huge, huge) problem. That issue will merit an entry of its own. (I think perhaps I ought to start keeping a list of all the things I have promised that I will address later.)
The person who guided me to the pilgrim talk is the wife of one of the members of the International Teaching Center; while I was put off at first by her tendency to not let me finish sentences, I warmed up to her when she gave me all kinds of advice to regard to navigating the BWC and Haifa, gave me a ride home, and very thoughtfully advised me to haul two packs of water back home as long as someone was driving me down the mountain.
I especially warmed up to her when she said she was lonely and didn't have many friends in spite of being in Haifa for more than a year; her husband travels often, her son is grown up, and the whole move was a shock to her after living in a suburb of St. Paul for 32 years, so I don't think she was eager to regard the move as so much of an adventure as a trial. I plan to talk to some people in my office and/or my orientation group to organize a dinner and make sure she is able to come; I don't know if it would be insensitive to explain that the purpose is that she is lonely, but I want to see to it as best I can that a few more people reach out to her.
Otherwise, I spent the day reading at home and in the reading room in the Haifa pilgrim house (as I have said it is one of my favorite places), and in between those things going to the shrine of the Bab. I read some of the Tablets of Baha'u'llah and a short book called a Tribute to Ruhiyyih Khanum (suffice it to say she's a very important woman to Baha'is). Both of them raised a lot of questions in my mind. Some things had a special emotional resonance with me because I am in the place firmly connected to both of the things I read today. For example one of the Tablets of Baha'u'llah is the Tablet of Carmel, which addresses Mt. Carmel directly, and the tribute to Ruhiyyih Khanum mentioned events in the pilgrim house where I was reading about them. Today I thought a bit about the notion that you have to travel to a place to really know it. I modestly propose that maybe (maybe) this is not necessarily because the physical reality of a place has special meaning in itself, but because humans simply derive inspiration and motivation to learn about more abstract realities (which, logistically, humans could do without leaving home) by connecting with what is material. Or it could be a far less complicated matter of ego: i.e., Haifa and its history have more meaning to me now that I'M a little part of Haifa's history.
Sunday, October 11, 2009
October 11
Today at work I finally met the coordinator in my office, whose name is also Melissa. This has struck fear in the hearts of some of my colleagues, who cannot bear the idea of working in an office in which two-sevenths of the workers have the same name. About half of them agree that the other Melissa should be known as Miss Melissa, which is currently a habit of only two people in the office, who are from where else but the south. The other half think the other Melissa should remain Melissa, and I should be Melissa K, which I vehemently oppose. By the time anyone has said "Melissa" we have both turned around (it doesn't help that our desks are next to each other). And why should I be the one to get the modifier? You may as well call me Secondary, Unimportant Melissa. It would be less confusing. By the time you've said "Secondary, Unimportant", no need to bother saying "Melissa": you've said it all.
Anyway, I am going to try to promote the calling of the other Melissa Miss Melissa, which I think is quite respectful because she is old enough and experienced enough to deserve a title; besides, I really like the sound.
I had a lovely day, involving: my first office meeting which was over my head; a wonderful excursion (my first) to the newly re-opened Shrine of the Bab, which was not much diminished by the fact that it's estimated to remain covered in scaffolding for the next three years; a trip after work in search of art supplies (the shop was not open, but it became a nice evening to eat shawarma and talk with friends), and now some helpful reflection on an article that discusses "the disease of language".
The gist of the latter is that the way language is used changes over time - this is a given, but what implications does this idea have for religion? It's hard for me to think of an example, but it follows logically to me that this goes a long way towards explaining why it is a belief in the Baha'i Faith that the Baha'i Faith itself will eventually need to be replaced. People interpret the words of the past according to their understanding of the meanings of the same words in the present. This is a clear and present obstacle to translating probably my number one anticipated Baha'i writing into English: the Lawh-i-Tibb, the Tablet of Medicine. Many of the words it uses are very specific to the historical and cultural context in which the tablet was created.
I can only imagine the subtleties of language in other Baha'i texts that even the finest translators cannot fully relay or even grasp. I am removed from the writings in many ways: historically, culturally, um...original-language-ally, etc. But I know that to minimize their inevitable deficiencies, lots and lots of time and care and forbearance have been incorporated into the translations of the writings.
Anyway, I am going to try to promote the calling of the other Melissa Miss Melissa, which I think is quite respectful because she is old enough and experienced enough to deserve a title; besides, I really like the sound.
I had a lovely day, involving: my first office meeting which was over my head; a wonderful excursion (my first) to the newly re-opened Shrine of the Bab, which was not much diminished by the fact that it's estimated to remain covered in scaffolding for the next three years; a trip after work in search of art supplies (the shop was not open, but it became a nice evening to eat shawarma and talk with friends), and now some helpful reflection on an article that discusses "the disease of language".
The gist of the latter is that the way language is used changes over time - this is a given, but what implications does this idea have for religion? It's hard for me to think of an example, but it follows logically to me that this goes a long way towards explaining why it is a belief in the Baha'i Faith that the Baha'i Faith itself will eventually need to be replaced. People interpret the words of the past according to their understanding of the meanings of the same words in the present. This is a clear and present obstacle to translating probably my number one anticipated Baha'i writing into English: the Lawh-i-Tibb, the Tablet of Medicine. Many of the words it uses are very specific to the historical and cultural context in which the tablet was created.
I can only imagine the subtleties of language in other Baha'i texts that even the finest translators cannot fully relay or even grasp. I am removed from the writings in many ways: historically, culturally, um...original-language-ally, etc. But I know that to minimize their inevitable deficiencies, lots and lots of time and care and forbearance have been incorporated into the translations of the writings.
Saturday, October 10, 2009
October 9
This week was my first full week in the office. It was busy; even so, I haven't been neglecting to write so much for lack of time as for need for digestion of all the new things that happen to me every day. Otherwise this blog could descend into (more of) a jumbled play-by-play account of all facts and no context.
On Monday and Friday I went back to Bahji; I doubt I will visit it twice a week habitually, but it's so nice to be able to go any night of the week I want. Besides, the first pilgrims of the season come on Monday, and when they do the shrines will be packed and it's my responsibility to give preference to them. Speaking of the pilgrims, being that my office is part of the department of pilgrimage, I attended a meeting on Tuesday with the rest of my department (the pilgrim reception centre staff and the pilgrim guides) as well as the department of holy places, to prepare for the beginning of the new pilgrimage season (and have some delicious food).
Peculiarly, I learned at work that the originally designated sites for pilgrimage in the Baha'i faith either are inaccessible at the moment due to disputed ownership or have been razed (with exact specifications to be rebuilt in the future...it's sad because it will never be the same, but then again, what historical building that's old enough hasn't had to be renovated to the point of becoming an eventual replica?). They are in Iran and Iraq, far from Haifa and Akka. But the Shrine at Bahji was designated a sort of pilgrimage site as well, though not by the prophet-founder of the faith, but nevertheless an important figure, and without the rites that accompany a visit to the originally designated sites of pilgrimage.
So, without a series of explicit rules to govern visitation to the Haifa and Akka sites, the process of Baha'i "pilgrimage" to Israel is recognized as a sort of substitute, but very special nonetheless, because it is simply the best we can do, because those living in countries with very bad relations with Israel cannot make even this sort of pilgrimage, and, more optimistically, because no other place in the world contains such a high concentration of Baha'i holy places. As a sort of stand-in, and coupled with the political realities and international relations of this country, Baha'i pilgrimage has evolved over the years and the rules are quite complex (as a pilgrimage scheduler I am learning them all, and it is going to take me a LONG time). For now it is fixed as a nine-day experience, partly I believe to keep the volume of people at a manageable level, and also because the number nine is significant in the Baha'i faith (let's not go into why; there are a lot of reasons). Fortunately, all this hasn't really put a damper on my enthusiasm for the pilgrims' arrival.
Another source of enthusiasm sprang up when at work I received a postal letter written in French and my translator asked me to translate it orally on the fly, to get a sense of how well I did. She was pleased that I could read it so it sounds like I will become an in-department French-English written correspondence translator. I think I will refuse to speak on the phone in French, however. My oral proficiency is really way too far behind.
One night this week I met with my orientation group and a pair of "facilitators" who are helping us navigate a program called "Serving the Divine Plan", which is a way to keep us connected with what is happening in the Baha'i faith in countries other than Israel, where it is not practiced outside of the World Center. In this program we meet about once a month with a member of the Universal House of Justice (the highest administrative body). Our facilitators gave us some information on the program, but moreover their purpose in hosting us was to cook for us and get to know us. It was a lovely evening.
Late in the week I went on a walk through Haifa, on which I learned the best places to find baklava, falafel, and watch batteries. I was told that one of the streets very near where I live was once called Baha'u'llah Street, named for the founder of the Baha'i faith, until the Baha'is objected. It was renamed Iran Street, and it intersects with Persian Street, also named for the Baha'is. So that is how Iran has been honored (sort of) in two street names in Israel. Anyway, on my walking tour I was exposed to fruit and vegetable and meat and spice shops, and to the Carmelit subway (some Carmelit stations do not so much resemble a platform as a staircase). And I learned that the German colony for which I've seen so many signs (which seemed like a very unusual thing to find in Israel, but not when one considers that, like most things, it predates the Holocaust) is all around my house. I've got to find some more information on it to share.
So it was, all in all, a good week.
Many exciting things are coming: the pilgrims on Monday, of course, as well as the re-opening on Sunday of the Shrine of the Bab, which is visible from my house, but has been closed since I arrived for renovation (which is estimated to continue for the next two or three years). Also, all volunteers are awaiting a message confirming that the International Archives building will be reopened after its renovation, recently completed, for us to see. To limit volume and thus hopefully to limit damage, staff have to sign up to visit the building. Personally I think staff who have never seen the archives ever should have first dibs, but I don't think that's how it will work. All the same, there are many sites in Akka that I have to sign up to see too. It will probably be months before I see everything there is to see here.
On Monday and Friday I went back to Bahji; I doubt I will visit it twice a week habitually, but it's so nice to be able to go any night of the week I want. Besides, the first pilgrims of the season come on Monday, and when they do the shrines will be packed and it's my responsibility to give preference to them. Speaking of the pilgrims, being that my office is part of the department of pilgrimage, I attended a meeting on Tuesday with the rest of my department (the pilgrim reception centre staff and the pilgrim guides) as well as the department of holy places, to prepare for the beginning of the new pilgrimage season (and have some delicious food).
Peculiarly, I learned at work that the originally designated sites for pilgrimage in the Baha'i faith either are inaccessible at the moment due to disputed ownership or have been razed (with exact specifications to be rebuilt in the future...it's sad because it will never be the same, but then again, what historical building that's old enough hasn't had to be renovated to the point of becoming an eventual replica?). They are in Iran and Iraq, far from Haifa and Akka. But the Shrine at Bahji was designated a sort of pilgrimage site as well, though not by the prophet-founder of the faith, but nevertheless an important figure, and without the rites that accompany a visit to the originally designated sites of pilgrimage.
So, without a series of explicit rules to govern visitation to the Haifa and Akka sites, the process of Baha'i "pilgrimage" to Israel is recognized as a sort of substitute, but very special nonetheless, because it is simply the best we can do, because those living in countries with very bad relations with Israel cannot make even this sort of pilgrimage, and, more optimistically, because no other place in the world contains such a high concentration of Baha'i holy places. As a sort of stand-in, and coupled with the political realities and international relations of this country, Baha'i pilgrimage has evolved over the years and the rules are quite complex (as a pilgrimage scheduler I am learning them all, and it is going to take me a LONG time). For now it is fixed as a nine-day experience, partly I believe to keep the volume of people at a manageable level, and also because the number nine is significant in the Baha'i faith (let's not go into why; there are a lot of reasons). Fortunately, all this hasn't really put a damper on my enthusiasm for the pilgrims' arrival.
Another source of enthusiasm sprang up when at work I received a postal letter written in French and my translator asked me to translate it orally on the fly, to get a sense of how well I did. She was pleased that I could read it so it sounds like I will become an in-department French-English written correspondence translator. I think I will refuse to speak on the phone in French, however. My oral proficiency is really way too far behind.
One night this week I met with my orientation group and a pair of "facilitators" who are helping us navigate a program called "Serving the Divine Plan", which is a way to keep us connected with what is happening in the Baha'i faith in countries other than Israel, where it is not practiced outside of the World Center. In this program we meet about once a month with a member of the Universal House of Justice (the highest administrative body). Our facilitators gave us some information on the program, but moreover their purpose in hosting us was to cook for us and get to know us. It was a lovely evening.
Late in the week I went on a walk through Haifa, on which I learned the best places to find baklava, falafel, and watch batteries. I was told that one of the streets very near where I live was once called Baha'u'llah Street, named for the founder of the Baha'i faith, until the Baha'is objected. It was renamed Iran Street, and it intersects with Persian Street, also named for the Baha'is. So that is how Iran has been honored (sort of) in two street names in Israel. Anyway, on my walking tour I was exposed to fruit and vegetable and meat and spice shops, and to the Carmelit subway (some Carmelit stations do not so much resemble a platform as a staircase). And I learned that the German colony for which I've seen so many signs (which seemed like a very unusual thing to find in Israel, but not when one considers that, like most things, it predates the Holocaust) is all around my house. I've got to find some more information on it to share.
So it was, all in all, a good week.
Many exciting things are coming: the pilgrims on Monday, of course, as well as the re-opening on Sunday of the Shrine of the Bab, which is visible from my house, but has been closed since I arrived for renovation (which is estimated to continue for the next two or three years). Also, all volunteers are awaiting a message confirming that the International Archives building will be reopened after its renovation, recently completed, for us to see. To limit volume and thus hopefully to limit damage, staff have to sign up to visit the building. Personally I think staff who have never seen the archives ever should have first dibs, but I don't think that's how it will work. All the same, there are many sites in Akka that I have to sign up to see too. It will probably be months before I see everything there is to see here.
Sunday, October 4, 2009
October 4
Thanks to resting well this weekend, I came into the office today feeling much fresher and more positive than I was on Thursday; by the end of the day I was doing some mail processing independent of observation, and it was exciting to take a few steps on my own. In the evening I figured out how to do my laundry - it's wonderful, no coins, no personal laundry detergent - everything I need is there.
Also, on the bus, I got to know my flatmate who will be around the longest a little better, and we've come to an agreement to swap art lessons for Persian lessons. Before I arrived I wanted so much to have an opportunity to learn Persian while I am living in Israel, and it turns out my roommate is the instructor for the Persian class! She also works at the Iran Desk, which deals with communications regarding the Baha'is in Iran, who are intensely persecuted (though not often killed; I don't think there is even very much violence, but many horrible things are said about the Baha'is even in publications like textbooks, and Iranian Baha'is are not allowed to have religious meetings or to go to college). She has already talked to me a bit about her work and the knowledge it exposes her to; she grew up in Iran so stories about her childhood will be fascinating to hear. I think we'll be great friends.
Also, on the bus, I got to know my flatmate who will be around the longest a little better, and we've come to an agreement to swap art lessons for Persian lessons. Before I arrived I wanted so much to have an opportunity to learn Persian while I am living in Israel, and it turns out my roommate is the instructor for the Persian class! She also works at the Iran Desk, which deals with communications regarding the Baha'is in Iran, who are intensely persecuted (though not often killed; I don't think there is even very much violence, but many horrible things are said about the Baha'is even in publications like textbooks, and Iranian Baha'is are not allowed to have religious meetings or to go to college). She has already talked to me a bit about her work and the knowledge it exposes her to; she grew up in Iran so stories about her childhood will be fascinating to hear. I think we'll be great friends.
Saturday, October 3, 2009
October 3
My day, in spite of starting on a very wrong foot, ended up being quite all right and I accomplished a lot of things, even if they more of them were domestic pursuits than I'd anticipated. The plan was to go to the beach with friends, but as I learned, one can only go to the beach with friends when one can contact friends first, and one can only contact friends when one or anyone one can find or manage to call knows how to work the system of landline telephones. I actually ended up walking to my friend's apartment, which was a great deal further away than I thought, but she wasn't home.
In any case, I walked through Haifa under the mid-morning October sun, which was really intense. I was dripping sweat by the time I got back, and I didn't walk up or down the mountain. I saw some things I wasn't aware of before, like an Italian hospital. Haifa, on top of being a much more ancient city than I realized (apparently it was a major dye making center in the third century), is a much more international city than I realized. There is an Italian hospital, neighborhood called French Carmel, German colony, large population of Arabs, sizable population of Russians, Japanese art museum, and of course the Baha'is who come from everywhere - but I'd estimate that about half of us are American.
After I cleaned my flat and better organized my things, and did a little bit of trip planning for when I get the opportunity to take a weekend or day trip, I did some reading. The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana by Umberto Eco is probably the most discombobulated book I've ever read, but it's somehow enjoyable even though it's incredibly hard to follow. I don't think the point is to follow it 100%.
Then I was reading from the tome I bought the other day and came to a passage that really made me stop in my tracks, so I thought I'd share:
"...In the first place every believer is free to follow the dictates of his own conscience as regards the manner in which to spend his own money. Secondly, we must always bear in mind that there are so few Baha'is the world, relative to the world's population, and so many people in need, that even if all of us gave all we had, it would not alleviate more than an infinitesimal amount of suffering. This does not mean we must not help the needy, we should; but our contributions to the Faith are the surest way of lifting once and for all time the burden of hunger and misery from mankind, for it is only through the System of Baha'u'llah--Divine in origin--that the world can be gotten on its feet, and want, fear, hunger, war, etc., be eliminated.
Non-Baha'is cannot contribute to our work or do it for us; so really our first obligation is to support our own teaching work, as this will lead to the healing of the nations."*
This seems to contrast considerably with the previous words of another figure in the faith, actually, with a higher spiritual status in the Baha'i faith:
"When asked on one occasion: “What is a Bahá’í?” ‘Abdu’l-Bahá replied: “To be a Bahá’í simply means to love all the world; to love humanity and try to serve it; to work for universal peace and universal brotherhood.” On another occasion He defined a Bahá’í as “one endowed with all the perfections of man in activity.” In one of His London talks He said that a man may be a Bahá’í even if He has never heard the name of Bahá’u’lláh. He added:—
The man who lives the life according to the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh is already a Bahá’í. On the other hand, a man may call himself a Bahá’í for fifty years, and if he does not live the life he is not a Bahá’í. An ugly man may call himself handsome, but he deceives no one, and a black man may call himself white, yet he deceives no one, not even himself."**
Did the letter written on Shoghi Effendi's behalf then only apply to the very earliest stages of the Baha'i faith? Is he really encouraging Baha'is to neglect practical ways of serving humanity for spiritual ones, when I've always understood the Baha'i faith to emphasize a balance of the development of spirituality and of humanity collectively? And isn't that...zealotry?
The first quotation is even more bewildering when contrasted with some of Shoghi Effendi's own statements (which predate the first quotation):
"Not all of us are capable of serving in the same way, but the one way every Baha'i can spread the Faith is by example. This moves the hearts of people far more deeply than words ever can.
The love we show to others, the hospitality and understanding, the willingness to help them, these are the very best advertisements of the Faith."***
I'm having a crisis now. I'm going to have to think about this one.
*From a letter dated 8 December 1947 written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to an individual believer
**J.E. Esslemont, Baha'u'llah and the New Era
***From a letter dated 14 October 1943 written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to an individual believer
In any case, I walked through Haifa under the mid-morning October sun, which was really intense. I was dripping sweat by the time I got back, and I didn't walk up or down the mountain. I saw some things I wasn't aware of before, like an Italian hospital. Haifa, on top of being a much more ancient city than I realized (apparently it was a major dye making center in the third century), is a much more international city than I realized. There is an Italian hospital, neighborhood called French Carmel, German colony, large population of Arabs, sizable population of Russians, Japanese art museum, and of course the Baha'is who come from everywhere - but I'd estimate that about half of us are American.
After I cleaned my flat and better organized my things, and did a little bit of trip planning for when I get the opportunity to take a weekend or day trip, I did some reading. The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana by Umberto Eco is probably the most discombobulated book I've ever read, but it's somehow enjoyable even though it's incredibly hard to follow. I don't think the point is to follow it 100%.
Then I was reading from the tome I bought the other day and came to a passage that really made me stop in my tracks, so I thought I'd share:
"...In the first place every believer is free to follow the dictates of his own conscience as regards the manner in which to spend his own money. Secondly, we must always bear in mind that there are so few Baha'is the world, relative to the world's population, and so many people in need, that even if all of us gave all we had, it would not alleviate more than an infinitesimal amount of suffering. This does not mean we must not help the needy, we should; but our contributions to the Faith are the surest way of lifting once and for all time the burden of hunger and misery from mankind, for it is only through the System of Baha'u'llah--Divine in origin--that the world can be gotten on its feet, and want, fear, hunger, war, etc., be eliminated.
Non-Baha'is cannot contribute to our work or do it for us; so really our first obligation is to support our own teaching work, as this will lead to the healing of the nations."*
This seems to contrast considerably with the previous words of another figure in the faith, actually, with a higher spiritual status in the Baha'i faith:
"When asked on one occasion: “What is a Bahá’í?” ‘Abdu’l-Bahá replied: “To be a Bahá’í simply means to love all the world; to love humanity and try to serve it; to work for universal peace and universal brotherhood.” On another occasion He defined a Bahá’í as “one endowed with all the perfections of man in activity.” In one of His London talks He said that a man may be a Bahá’í even if He has never heard the name of Bahá’u’lláh. He added:—
The man who lives the life according to the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh is already a Bahá’í. On the other hand, a man may call himself a Bahá’í for fifty years, and if he does not live the life he is not a Bahá’í. An ugly man may call himself handsome, but he deceives no one, and a black man may call himself white, yet he deceives no one, not even himself."**
Did the letter written on Shoghi Effendi's behalf then only apply to the very earliest stages of the Baha'i faith? Is he really encouraging Baha'is to neglect practical ways of serving humanity for spiritual ones, when I've always understood the Baha'i faith to emphasize a balance of the development of spirituality and of humanity collectively? And isn't that...zealotry?
The first quotation is even more bewildering when contrasted with some of Shoghi Effendi's own statements (which predate the first quotation):
"Not all of us are capable of serving in the same way, but the one way every Baha'i can spread the Faith is by example. This moves the hearts of people far more deeply than words ever can.
The love we show to others, the hospitality and understanding, the willingness to help them, these are the very best advertisements of the Faith."***
I'm having a crisis now. I'm going to have to think about this one.
*From a letter dated 8 December 1947 written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to an individual believer
**J.E. Esslemont, Baha'u'llah and the New Era
***From a letter dated 14 October 1943 written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to an individual believer
Friday, October 2, 2009
October 2
For visual people out there, someone made a really lovely website filled with pictures of the Baha'i world center, many of them high resolution.
Today I did basic health training and CPR and First Aid. I learned about the two hospitals the BWC has its staff to go as needed; one of them, as I somehow ended up reading on Wikipedia today, Rambam, moved whole wings underground during the war with Lebanon in 2006. Emergency preparedness is, conceivably, a matter of lifestyle here. All Israelis are trained and retrained in CPR and emergency management starting from a very young age (hence I suppose why we did a short course without the goal of certification...I suppose it's expected that since we are generally young, healthy, invested in each other, and devoted to serving other people and each other, a short course is enough, at least until an Israeli arrives on the scene!).
Later, I went straight back home and slept all afternoon. I was so tired during health training, all I could think about was getting more sleep. The jet lag is finally fading away, but the effects of sleeping erratically all week are catching up with me. I think I am going to the beach tomorrow :D and I have high hopes that some time relaxing in the sun will fix everything, and I'll be fresh and happy for next week.
Today I did basic health training and CPR and First Aid. I learned about the two hospitals the BWC has its staff to go as needed; one of them, as I somehow ended up reading on Wikipedia today, Rambam, moved whole wings underground during the war with Lebanon in 2006. Emergency preparedness is, conceivably, a matter of lifestyle here. All Israelis are trained and retrained in CPR and emergency management starting from a very young age (hence I suppose why we did a short course without the goal of certification...I suppose it's expected that since we are generally young, healthy, invested in each other, and devoted to serving other people and each other, a short course is enough, at least until an Israeli arrives on the scene!).
Later, I went straight back home and slept all afternoon. I was so tired during health training, all I could think about was getting more sleep. The jet lag is finally fading away, but the effects of sleeping erratically all week are catching up with me. I think I am going to the beach tomorrow :D and I have high hopes that some time relaxing in the sun will fix everything, and I'll be fresh and happy for next week.
Thursday, October 1, 2009
October 1
I am exhausted. It's been a long week. My second day of training was rougher than my first. I can only sit and listen for so many hours at a time. My trainer wanted to keep things as simple as possible and so she did not often let me drive. I don't think that's any way to learn to do tasks, and I told her so but she told me there was nothing she could really do about it. It seems that a lot of tasks I have are very integrated with one another, so her approach does make some sense to me, but...she has a background as an elementary school teacher, and it really shows. Her efforts are sincere and she is very kind, but to learn to do my job well I really need to be taught according to methods that have not been developed for ages six to eight exclusively.
I just went home to rest a little bit after work; there is a Thursday night study class that is quite popular, and I considered going, but (a) I was exhausted and (b) the main teacher, Hooper Dunbar, known respectfully as Mr. Dunbar (as he is a Universal House of Justice member), is away so an ITC member put the course on pause and served as a guest speaker. Another week I suppose.
Tomorrow I have health orientation and finish at noon, so I think I'll go in a group or solo to discover the city. The first few days I was here I was nervous to leave the center; this was reinforced by the fact that I don't have to. Everything I could possibly need to live while I am serving here lies within the gates. Speaking of which, I went to the food centre for the first time today, which is like a medium sized in-house grocery store, and I was amazed by the variety of healthy, not so healthy but delicious, international, and reminiscent of home products that were available. I expressed my amazement over lunch to the amusement of my companions. I probably sounded like I was from the USSR. Everything here is so much bigger and better than I could have imagined.
Anyway, the few Israelis I've met have taught me that if I left without getting to know a few, I would have sorely missed out; they are wonderful. They are more inquisitive than I'm completely comfortable with, but they are incredibly warm. I crossed paths with a man on the street who said to me, hello, are you from the Baha'i World Center? I said yes, and he said, are you American? I said yes, I was. (I don't quite know how these things are stamped on my appearance). He said welcome (I guess it was also stamped on me that I was new), I asked for directions (at which point it was obvious I was new), he gave them gladly, and said welcome to me again before I left. It seems that Israelis tend to like Americans (for reasons that are obvious), visitors (for reasons that can be inferred), and Baha'is (for reasons I don't know, yet).
I just went home to rest a little bit after work; there is a Thursday night study class that is quite popular, and I considered going, but (a) I was exhausted and (b) the main teacher, Hooper Dunbar, known respectfully as Mr. Dunbar (as he is a Universal House of Justice member), is away so an ITC member put the course on pause and served as a guest speaker. Another week I suppose.
Tomorrow I have health orientation and finish at noon, so I think I'll go in a group or solo to discover the city. The first few days I was here I was nervous to leave the center; this was reinforced by the fact that I don't have to. Everything I could possibly need to live while I am serving here lies within the gates. Speaking of which, I went to the food centre for the first time today, which is like a medium sized in-house grocery store, and I was amazed by the variety of healthy, not so healthy but delicious, international, and reminiscent of home products that were available. I expressed my amazement over lunch to the amusement of my companions. I probably sounded like I was from the USSR. Everything here is so much bigger and better than I could have imagined.
Anyway, the few Israelis I've met have taught me that if I left without getting to know a few, I would have sorely missed out; they are wonderful. They are more inquisitive than I'm completely comfortable with, but they are incredibly warm. I crossed paths with a man on the street who said to me, hello, are you from the Baha'i World Center? I said yes, and he said, are you American? I said yes, I was. (I don't quite know how these things are stamped on my appearance). He said welcome (I guess it was also stamped on me that I was new), I asked for directions (at which point it was obvious I was new), he gave them gladly, and said welcome to me again before I left. It seems that Israelis tend to like Americans (for reasons that are obvious), visitors (for reasons that can be inferred), and Baha'is (for reasons I don't know, yet).
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
September 30
OK, I don't think I have much to report for the day, but then again, I didn't yesterday either.
Brevity is the language of the soul.
Today was my first day starting in my department; it was pressure free. There is a large volume of work to do, but my coworkers are diligent without putting too much pressure on themselves or making themselves into work-martyrs. I like that and I'm going to try to work diligently too while I'm there and not let my work drag out or sacrifice my evenings. (There is plenty of that to do if I wish - as in any volunteer-run organization more staff are perpetually desired - with at least the variety of helping other departments.)
My trainer is very kind, though she scared me a bit by telling me that because, in a department of 7, all but two would leave within a few months, so she would train me to be a trainer, owing to the slim pickings. Now I can't imagine ever having another job in which I'll be trained to be a trainer, but I think I will be up to it. I'm not going to let her impress upon me too hard the need to develop my thinking as a trainer now (I don't think she will). It's my first and most important job to learn.
So, I learned some basic things; nothing seems too difficult so far. It's all very formal. I really have to have a lot of attention to detail. I'm so happy a Chilean girl's in my office. I've heard some mixed reviews about the comprehensibility of the Chilean accent(s), but hers is perfectly clear to me (it's strange that I would have so much trouble with native accents in Colombia and Panama, but whenever I meet a native out of context I have no trouble understanding).
It was a fairly light and a quick day. At lunch I picked up a tome I've had my eyes on for a while; it is basically a very well compiled reference index (and now that I've purchased it and searched for a link to the Amazon page or something, I find it's free online). After work I went to the Haifa pilgrim house again and spent some quality time with Chicago radio personality (well not anymore, he's dead) Bill Sears's Release the Sun (a sort of easy reading version of Nabil's narrative, a historical account of the beginnings of the Baha'i faith, which I'm told is a bit like reading a telephone book for all the names it mentions without much in the way of further detail). He's a really entertaining writer; I've read some lighter stuff by him too and think he is very funny. I think his best known book is (hey, why not one more link?) God Loves Laughter; it's sort of an autobiography. Anyway, I was one of two people in the Haifa pilgrim house and I think I'll spend a lot of time there; the Baha'i books it holds don't quite fill the bookshelves of one small room (at least the English ones), but they are amazing books, possibly someone's hand-picked treasures. I looked through all of them and made a list of all the books I'd like to read. The list currently totals 18 (and I decided to skip over the scripture shelf because then the list would be way too long).
At 8:00 I got up to head for home, but exactly then I started hearing a lot of noise outside, and I remembered about the protest on Abbas Street. I'll confirm or deny this when I figure it out (I can't find anything in the news right now), but I think it is in protest of this. I looked around the pilgrim house for someone to tell me the safest way home, but no one was there. So I got rather nervous; my reason was telling me that someone would come at 8:30 to shut down the place, and my irrational side was telling me that I didn't know that for sure. Of course the custodian came around at 8:30 sharp and told me the safest way down the mountain.
So much for brevity.
Brevity is the language of the soul.
Today was my first day starting in my department; it was pressure free. There is a large volume of work to do, but my coworkers are diligent without putting too much pressure on themselves or making themselves into work-martyrs. I like that and I'm going to try to work diligently too while I'm there and not let my work drag out or sacrifice my evenings. (There is plenty of that to do if I wish - as in any volunteer-run organization more staff are perpetually desired - with at least the variety of helping other departments.)
My trainer is very kind, though she scared me a bit by telling me that because, in a department of 7, all but two would leave within a few months, so she would train me to be a trainer, owing to the slim pickings. Now I can't imagine ever having another job in which I'll be trained to be a trainer, but I think I will be up to it. I'm not going to let her impress upon me too hard the need to develop my thinking as a trainer now (I don't think she will). It's my first and most important job to learn.
So, I learned some basic things; nothing seems too difficult so far. It's all very formal. I really have to have a lot of attention to detail. I'm so happy a Chilean girl's in my office. I've heard some mixed reviews about the comprehensibility of the Chilean accent(s), but hers is perfectly clear to me (it's strange that I would have so much trouble with native accents in Colombia and Panama, but whenever I meet a native out of context I have no trouble understanding).
It was a fairly light and a quick day. At lunch I picked up a tome I've had my eyes on for a while; it is basically a very well compiled reference index (and now that I've purchased it and searched for a link to the Amazon page or something, I find it's free online). After work I went to the Haifa pilgrim house again and spent some quality time with Chicago radio personality (well not anymore, he's dead) Bill Sears's Release the Sun (a sort of easy reading version of Nabil's narrative, a historical account of the beginnings of the Baha'i faith, which I'm told is a bit like reading a telephone book for all the names it mentions without much in the way of further detail). He's a really entertaining writer; I've read some lighter stuff by him too and think he is very funny. I think his best known book is (hey, why not one more link?) God Loves Laughter; it's sort of an autobiography. Anyway, I was one of two people in the Haifa pilgrim house and I think I'll spend a lot of time there; the Baha'i books it holds don't quite fill the bookshelves of one small room (at least the English ones), but they are amazing books, possibly someone's hand-picked treasures. I looked through all of them and made a list of all the books I'd like to read. The list currently totals 18 (and I decided to skip over the scripture shelf because then the list would be way too long).
At 8:00 I got up to head for home, but exactly then I started hearing a lot of noise outside, and I remembered about the protest on Abbas Street. I'll confirm or deny this when I figure it out (I can't find anything in the news right now), but I think it is in protest of this. I looked around the pilgrim house for someone to tell me the safest way home, but no one was there. So I got rather nervous; my reason was telling me that someone would come at 8:30 to shut down the place, and my irrational side was telling me that I didn't know that for sure. Of course the custodian came around at 8:30 sharp and told me the safest way down the mountain.
So much for brevity.
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
September 29
Today I will be brief: I learned some of the basics of Israel life, including that the Baha'i World Center is very on top of emergencies, and I will be alerted if my safety is in danger. It is Israeli law that every building contain a bomb shelter. There is a huge, well stocked one between the main buildings of the world center. It even has a computer lab, not that I suspect that I will be terribly interested in checking my e-mail under a bomb threat (it's for general use and just so happens to be in the bomb shelter). Also, Israelis are very aware and cautious about bomb threats and suspicious objects, and they are very good about not minding if, for example, their groceries get blown up as a suspected bomb. Israeli culture is also one that is very protective of strangers; just say you need help and Israelis will flock. I write this because I was told a story about one person whose relative in Germany freaked out when she heard of something that happened in Israel. So, there is not a reasonable reason for anyone to freak out; I am well looked after.
Later on I met the members of the ITC, the international teaching committee, which I will describe later. I found the most wonderful and comfortable place I've found yet, which is the Haifa Pilgrim House, a house for pilgrims when there were fewer Baha'is. Now it functions as more of a historic site, and a place to pray, meditate, and (most excitingly for me because I've been looking for a place like this, and not finding one) read - it contains a reading room. The woman who showed us around and talked to us about the significance of the Haifa Pilgrim House, as well as the very nearby Shrine of the Bab, has been at the world center for 17 years, and she delivered what is really the most inspiring talk I have heard since I arrived. I wanted to tell her how grateful I was, but before I could find her she had disappeared. I plan to go back tomorrow to absorb some more of her knowledge and to read in the reading room.
Finally I took the bus to the top of Mount Carmel to Merkaz, a commercial district. (by the way, I don't think I've gotten around to mentioning this, but the Baha'i World Center is built into Mount Carmel; I live at the base; most of the buildings I frequent are halfway up, and Merkaz sits on top). I had my first shoarma (AKA shawarma); it was delicious but I was told that the best are at the base of the mountain, much closer to me! I looked around in a grocery store and saw that the prices of many items are quite high; I think food is generally more expensive here than in the United States. I know that clothing is significantly more expensive here.
It was a lovely day; it concluded the bulk of my orientation, save for a few days here and there and my Hebrew lessons. I start training in my department tomorrow, excitingly.
Later on I met the members of the ITC, the international teaching committee, which I will describe later. I found the most wonderful and comfortable place I've found yet, which is the Haifa Pilgrim House, a house for pilgrims when there were fewer Baha'is. Now it functions as more of a historic site, and a place to pray, meditate, and (most excitingly for me because I've been looking for a place like this, and not finding one) read - it contains a reading room. The woman who showed us around and talked to us about the significance of the Haifa Pilgrim House, as well as the very nearby Shrine of the Bab, has been at the world center for 17 years, and she delivered what is really the most inspiring talk I have heard since I arrived. I wanted to tell her how grateful I was, but before I could find her she had disappeared. I plan to go back tomorrow to absorb some more of her knowledge and to read in the reading room.
Finally I took the bus to the top of Mount Carmel to Merkaz, a commercial district. (by the way, I don't think I've gotten around to mentioning this, but the Baha'i World Center is built into Mount Carmel; I live at the base; most of the buildings I frequent are halfway up, and Merkaz sits on top). I had my first shoarma (AKA shawarma); it was delicious but I was told that the best are at the base of the mountain, much closer to me! I looked around in a grocery store and saw that the prices of many items are quite high; I think food is generally more expensive here than in the United States. I know that clothing is significantly more expensive here.
It was a lovely day; it concluded the bulk of my orientation, save for a few days here and there and my Hebrew lessons. I start training in my department tomorrow, excitingly.
September 28
Since today was Yom Kippur, the city was the quietest I've ever seen a city; I had to walk to work so I walked up the steps of the terraces (yes, all of them, well, except for one) of the Shrine of the Bab to go to orientation. I was really sweaty and tired by the top. The morning was dominated by dry but necessary policy review, then we went to visit the gardens on the arc (just left of the terraces), called the Monument Gardens, because they contain monuments to certain family members of the founder of the Baha'i faith, who were also prominent somehow in the faith's history. Then we did more practical things, and dispersed. I just went home; I'm told I'll be really busy in no time, because there are just so many things I can do here - take classes, go to "this" theme night or "that" theme night, translate talks for pilgrims, volunteer in other capacities, visit the holy shrines, go out to dinner, just go visit a friend...etc. - so for now, I am just enjoying the process of settling into my new home.
Sunday, September 27, 2009
September 27
I want to say thank you to Aunt Susan for helping me to clarify which day I am. I don't think I can be blamed for my misinformation since I just crossed seven or eight time zones, and daylight saving time in Israel is over as of this morning. So, if you wish, take note that I am now seven, not eight, hours ahead of central time.
Tonight marks the beginning of the holiest day of the Jewish year, Yom Kippur (Jewish days start at sunset on the night before what we consider the day, and of course they end at the next sunset). Basically everything shuts down and it is considered inappropriate to drive or make much noise. Any drivers risk having stones hurled at their vehicles. Walking is ok. So I went on a walking tour of the neighborhood tonight with a girl who has been here two months and another new person, to get acquainted with where to buy food in the area. It was really sad to see a number of people driving around on motorcycles and shouting, to be purposefully disrepectful.
Though it was dark and everything we came across was closed, I got a good idea of where to go for groceries, housewares, restaurants, etc. I learned that I am reimbursed for a limited number of meals in a restaurant up to a limited price. I think that's tremendously generous. All the funds that keep this place afloat come from donations from Baha'is all over the world, so I am definitely going to use a lot of discretion if I'm going to take advantage of that privilege.
As for the day, my first day of orientation, it went really well. The emphasis was on spiritual preparation for my service. We met with the members of the Universal House of Justice, which was really an honor, as most Baha'is don't get to meet and greet them personally. They are administrators so they have no higher a spiritual station than anyone else, but they do direct the affairs of the Baha'i world, so that's quite a responsibility. They are also able to provide guidance on anything not addressed in the Baha'i writings, e.g. things that weren't an issue or didn't exist in the middle of the 19th century. In addition to meeting them, we toured the room where they convene for private meetings, which is usually not something volunteers can do for reasons that are obvious.
Later, when my orientation group went to the lovely cafeteria to have lunch together (it doesn't fit my mental image of a cafeteria; it is simple but it is not loud and I don't feel like cattle), the six of us at my table discussed our experiences of becoming a Baha'i. I was relieved when I realized that none of us was raised in a Baha'i family; perhaps there are many more converts serving here than I thought. However, I was profoundly saddened that two of the people just at my table were pressured to join the faith, and explained that they had gone along with what they felt the Baha'is who pressured them (most likely with the best of intentions) wanted them to do.
To do such a thing is explicitly, strictly forbidden in the Baha'i writings, "lest in [Bahai's'] eagerness to further the international interests of the Faith they frustrate their purpose, and turn away, through any act that might be misconstrued as an attempt to proselytize and bring undue pressure upon them."* Unfortunately it's sad but true that some Baha'is look for loopholes in this or don't quite grasp the definition of pressure. I hate how disheartened this made me on the first day. Obviously it worked out well for those in question. Afterwards I talked to one of the ones who felt pressured to join, and just expressed how strongly I felt that what she experienced is disappointing. I hope I didn't make her feel embarrassed or stupid; it is really not an issue that's easy to approach tactfully, but she didn't seem affected.
I don't want to dwell on one issue too much, though. Baha'is believe that every institution, secular or spiritual, encounters its problems. Fundamental to Baha'i belief is the notion that religion on earth is periodically renewed with a new revelation. We acknowledge that one day the Baha'i faith will be so burdened with human error that it will be time to start more or less from scratch. That is something I really love about the faith: we recognize that we have shortcomings. (Identifying them is harder.)
In the afternoon we went as a group of 24 orientees back to the shrine at Bahji, which was lovely again, though short, because we absolutely had to be back in plenty of time for the sherut (shared taxi) driver to drive the sherut back and then drive home, before sunset. It is the most incredibly calm and peaceful place I've visited, and the gardens are so expensive and so beautiful that it is very hard not to arrive at the doors of the shrine without a spiritual frame of mind. To expand a bit on my explanation of the shrine: it is the spot where all Baha'is turn (approximately) when saying a daily prayer; this is symbolic of our solidarity and commitment to our faith.
Something I have to confess is that we were spoken to very briefly today about confidentiality. I don't really understand it, so I'm glad I'll have a more detailed explanation of it tomorrow. I think the guidelines I came away with were oversimplified; they boiled down to not revealing the inner workings of the BWC willy-nilly, which is common sense, but they also boiled down to "just try to share inspiring things with the people back home." Perhaps I will eventually see reason in this counsel, but for now, it doesn't make sense to me to paint an unrealistic portrait of life here. Perhaps it's simply a policy forged out of respect for those who may never be able to afford to visit the Baha'i holy land, and would be reasonably offended to hear griping about it from those who have the privilege of being here a long time. I'll have tomorrow to sort it out and ask my questions....
Also, I followed up on my own speculation about why going to night clubs is not permitted. That policy is meant to help to limit persecution of the Baha'is in Iran by trying to minimize our association with symbols of the idea of a decadent West. That is definitely, however, a subject best left to be explained on another day. I apologize if the blog content seems poorly explained; I will work on writing shorter entries as less of life here is completely new to me, and I will try really hard to write clear and concise and balanced explanations of Baha'i beliefs and practices.
*Shoghi Effendi, The Advent of Divine Justice
Tonight marks the beginning of the holiest day of the Jewish year, Yom Kippur (Jewish days start at sunset on the night before what we consider the day, and of course they end at the next sunset). Basically everything shuts down and it is considered inappropriate to drive or make much noise. Any drivers risk having stones hurled at their vehicles. Walking is ok. So I went on a walking tour of the neighborhood tonight with a girl who has been here two months and another new person, to get acquainted with where to buy food in the area. It was really sad to see a number of people driving around on motorcycles and shouting, to be purposefully disrepectful.
Though it was dark and everything we came across was closed, I got a good idea of where to go for groceries, housewares, restaurants, etc. I learned that I am reimbursed for a limited number of meals in a restaurant up to a limited price. I think that's tremendously generous. All the funds that keep this place afloat come from donations from Baha'is all over the world, so I am definitely going to use a lot of discretion if I'm going to take advantage of that privilege.
As for the day, my first day of orientation, it went really well. The emphasis was on spiritual preparation for my service. We met with the members of the Universal House of Justice, which was really an honor, as most Baha'is don't get to meet and greet them personally. They are administrators so they have no higher a spiritual station than anyone else, but they do direct the affairs of the Baha'i world, so that's quite a responsibility. They are also able to provide guidance on anything not addressed in the Baha'i writings, e.g. things that weren't an issue or didn't exist in the middle of the 19th century. In addition to meeting them, we toured the room where they convene for private meetings, which is usually not something volunteers can do for reasons that are obvious.
Later, when my orientation group went to the lovely cafeteria to have lunch together (it doesn't fit my mental image of a cafeteria; it is simple but it is not loud and I don't feel like cattle), the six of us at my table discussed our experiences of becoming a Baha'i. I was relieved when I realized that none of us was raised in a Baha'i family; perhaps there are many more converts serving here than I thought. However, I was profoundly saddened that two of the people just at my table were pressured to join the faith, and explained that they had gone along with what they felt the Baha'is who pressured them (most likely with the best of intentions) wanted them to do.
To do such a thing is explicitly, strictly forbidden in the Baha'i writings, "lest in [Bahai's'] eagerness to further the international interests of the Faith they frustrate their purpose, and turn away, through any act that might be misconstrued as an attempt to proselytize and bring undue pressure upon them."* Unfortunately it's sad but true that some Baha'is look for loopholes in this or don't quite grasp the definition of pressure. I hate how disheartened this made me on the first day. Obviously it worked out well for those in question. Afterwards I talked to one of the ones who felt pressured to join, and just expressed how strongly I felt that what she experienced is disappointing. I hope I didn't make her feel embarrassed or stupid; it is really not an issue that's easy to approach tactfully, but she didn't seem affected.
I don't want to dwell on one issue too much, though. Baha'is believe that every institution, secular or spiritual, encounters its problems. Fundamental to Baha'i belief is the notion that religion on earth is periodically renewed with a new revelation. We acknowledge that one day the Baha'i faith will be so burdened with human error that it will be time to start more or less from scratch. That is something I really love about the faith: we recognize that we have shortcomings. (Identifying them is harder.)
In the afternoon we went as a group of 24 orientees back to the shrine at Bahji, which was lovely again, though short, because we absolutely had to be back in plenty of time for the sherut (shared taxi) driver to drive the sherut back and then drive home, before sunset. It is the most incredibly calm and peaceful place I've visited, and the gardens are so expensive and so beautiful that it is very hard not to arrive at the doors of the shrine without a spiritual frame of mind. To expand a bit on my explanation of the shrine: it is the spot where all Baha'is turn (approximately) when saying a daily prayer; this is symbolic of our solidarity and commitment to our faith.
Something I have to confess is that we were spoken to very briefly today about confidentiality. I don't really understand it, so I'm glad I'll have a more detailed explanation of it tomorrow. I think the guidelines I came away with were oversimplified; they boiled down to not revealing the inner workings of the BWC willy-nilly, which is common sense, but they also boiled down to "just try to share inspiring things with the people back home." Perhaps I will eventually see reason in this counsel, but for now, it doesn't make sense to me to paint an unrealistic portrait of life here. Perhaps it's simply a policy forged out of respect for those who may never be able to afford to visit the Baha'i holy land, and would be reasonably offended to hear griping about it from those who have the privilege of being here a long time. I'll have tomorrow to sort it out and ask my questions....
Also, I followed up on my own speculation about why going to night clubs is not permitted. That policy is meant to help to limit persecution of the Baha'is in Iran by trying to minimize our association with symbols of the idea of a decadent West. That is definitely, however, a subject best left to be explained on another day. I apologize if the blog content seems poorly explained; I will work on writing shorter entries as less of life here is completely new to me, and I will try really hard to write clear and concise and balanced explanations of Baha'i beliefs and practices.
*Shoghi Effendi, The Advent of Divine Justice
Saturday, September 26, 2009
September 26
Today has not been nearly as much of a whirlwind as yesterday. I slept until I thought it must be morning, found out it was 4:00 am, rattled around a bit before I decided I should probably go back to bed, and slept until 2:30 pm. Then I met my last flatmate, a Canadian. (One of the others is from Kenya, and the other is Iranian-American). I don't know why, but there seem to be a lot of people from Thunder Bay here. There are the most volunteers from the United States. Also, as one might imagine, most volunteers are coming from Baha'i families. One even said it was "so cute" that I came to volunteer here after I became a Baha'i later in life. Um...hmm...yeah. Then again, one of the people I went with to the shrine at Bahji, a new volunteer like me, had a remarkably parallel story; he became a Baha'i only two and a half years ago, graduated from school and worked for a year before coming here. So I'm not completely an oddball which is good.
Anyway, I unpacked all my things in my lovely apartment, and to my happiness I have storage space to spare. I have maybe 5 big drawers and a couple of shelves I don't know what to do with. The same probably can't be said of the girls who came on my same flight. We were a sight trying to pile onto the train with approximately 100 pieces of luggage. I packed considerably lighter than the rest of them. I assumed it was silly not to figure that anything I needed could be bought here and many of those things I would just buy as I needed in the U.S., anyway. I guess I'll see about that.
So my orientation starts tomorrow...and finishes on Tuesday night. I hope that's enough time to absorb what I need to know, though of course there are people everywhere to ask everything. I've already found out about a number of curious restrictions. As a volunteer I cannot: 1) go to night clubs (this was probably permissible in the past and probably became forbidden for reasons that can easily be inferred) 2) date Israelis (this is a weird one but I think is related to the next) or 3) live in Israel. The last one I understand to be an agreement with the Israeli government, though the major figures in the Baha'i faith, I believe, discouraged living in Israel before Israel became a state...out of respect for Jews? I have the facts mixed up in my head (and many are missing) but I have plenty of time to sort myself out and fill myself in.
All in all, these restrictions don't really mean a lot to me; the only one that might even affect me is the second one, because an (apparently liberal) Israeli flirted with me as we waited to board the plane to Tel Aviv in the airport in Istanbul. (He was an actor and a very nice guy. I seem to attract artists.) And I don't think that one will really be an issue, either.
I didn't think I'd be learning more than a little Hebrew; after all, I can't move here, and most everyone speaks English. But it turns out I'll be having Hebrew lessons (at lunch). Cool.
Anyway, I unpacked all my things in my lovely apartment, and to my happiness I have storage space to spare. I have maybe 5 big drawers and a couple of shelves I don't know what to do with. The same probably can't be said of the girls who came on my same flight. We were a sight trying to pile onto the train with approximately 100 pieces of luggage. I packed considerably lighter than the rest of them. I assumed it was silly not to figure that anything I needed could be bought here and many of those things I would just buy as I needed in the U.S., anyway. I guess I'll see about that.
So my orientation starts tomorrow...and finishes on Tuesday night. I hope that's enough time to absorb what I need to know, though of course there are people everywhere to ask everything. I've already found out about a number of curious restrictions. As a volunteer I cannot: 1) go to night clubs (this was probably permissible in the past and probably became forbidden for reasons that can easily be inferred) 2) date Israelis (this is a weird one but I think is related to the next) or 3) live in Israel. The last one I understand to be an agreement with the Israeli government, though the major figures in the Baha'i faith, I believe, discouraged living in Israel before Israel became a state...out of respect for Jews? I have the facts mixed up in my head (and many are missing) but I have plenty of time to sort myself out and fill myself in.
All in all, these restrictions don't really mean a lot to me; the only one that might even affect me is the second one, because an (apparently liberal) Israeli flirted with me as we waited to board the plane to Tel Aviv in the airport in Istanbul. (He was an actor and a very nice guy. I seem to attract artists.) And I don't think that one will really be an issue, either.
I didn't think I'd be learning more than a little Hebrew; after all, I can't move here, and most everyone speaks English. But it turns out I'll be having Hebrew lessons (at lunch). Cool.
September 25
The last two weeks have gone by really fast; they couldn't do anything else. To recap in brief, I went to Duluth to visit Jaime for three happy, comfortable and relaxing days, where I saw the beautiful aerial lift bridge, lovely Washburn and Bayfield Wisconsin, Madeleine Island (future site of Jaime's wedding), the UW-Superior campus, hiking trails, kitties, several used bookstores, a scary movie about the food industry, and a not scary restaurant to balance it out. Then I flew back home, where I had a great time seeing family and friends, and a frenzied time packing, before I left for Haifa.
I left Milwaukee for Haifa at about 6:00pm on Wednesday, and I arrived in my flat at about 6:00am on Friday. (If anyone can tell me the difference between a flat and an apartment I would greatly appreciate it. The English here is by and large British English, I think because Israel used to be under British control. Why the Baha'i World Centre chooses to use British English while most volunteers are American, I don't know, perhaps because it's local preference.) Anyway, I was really tired. I wondered how long they would let me sleep.
The answer was not long. I woke up, my circadian rhythm completely disoriented, about about noon or 12:30 to go to Bahji near Akka (also spelled Akko and Acre), to visit the Shrine of Baha'u'llah, founder of the Baha'i faith. I want to describe everything I've seen and done in detail, but there is just too much to describe in one entry and still hold anyone's attention, so better descriptions will come. Suffice it to say that it was an amazing experience; the shrine is surrounded by vast (and I mean vast) gardens, immaculately kept, with a cool visitor's center to provide some relief from the intense heat outside.
The floor of the shrine itself is covered with Persian carpets (Persian carpets are big here; I think they must be donated by the Iranian Baha'is because they are absolutely everywhere...there's one in my flat), which is great because the carpets muffle people's footsteps, and the holiest place on earth to Baha'is ought to be rather quiet. There are several rooms for prayer and meditation in the shrine, and in the near right corner is the burial site of Baha'u'llah (this is a title that means "the glory of God" in Arabic; his given name was Mirza Husayn Ali. Why this shrine is relatively remote from the Baha'i World Center in Haifa is beyond me at this point. I've never wondered about it; I didn't even know it was quite so far. We drove about half an hour to get there.
In any case, it was an amazing experience; during the visit I had a clarity of mind I've never had before. I went in a group of five total people. We were chatting before we entered the shrine itself, but after we left we walked in silence toward the visitors center for a very long time; I don't think any of us wanted to bring ourselves back to earth right away.
When we came back I went straight to meet what is called my "neighborhood contact". It's a bit of a misleading title because mine does not live in my neighborhood. That's just as well considering that I have three flatmates (two of whom I've met, and they're quite nice) who can show me around. Sara specifically requested to be my neighborhood contact because she's in my department. My department is seven people, so this seems to defeat the purpose of meeting and feeling connected to more people...whatever, that's ok. I am glad she's eager to be sure that I have at least one strong connection.
Anyway, we met for dinner and ended up in a group of four, and visited a sandwich shop. While it was my first experience with Israeli food, there was nothing particularly unfamiliar or special about it. I didn't get sick so that's a good thing. Afterward was an event called "youth presents" or something which amounted to a talent show. As far as quality (and intensity) of entertainment goes, it might have been better I rested after dinner...that's not because the young people here don't have much talent - they are very talented - but because I was so conscious of my fatigue. Anyway, it was good to meet a few people and see some personalities in action. There were some funny acts.
After the performance I was very tired and didn't know my way back in daylight, let alone in the dark; still Sara and I had a hell of a time finding someone to take me back to my flat, because it's Friday night which is the beginning of the weekend here (Muslims rest on Friday and Jews rest on Saturday...and Baha'is at the World Center rest on half of Friday and on all of Saturday), and I guess all the good going out places are further up the hill; the show was halfway up and I live at the base. I could not help wondering where all the hospitality I'd met with at the airport had gone to; several people came to pick up four new arrivals at once at 2 in the morning, and none of them said it bothered them to do it (though I guess what else is there to say?). But one girl even said she volunteered.
In any case, I could see why people were reluctant to walk down and back up the hill when I got a sense of just how huge it is. I am really excited to walk up the whole thing at once, and I think it will probably singlehandedly put me in serious shape. And I guess if you only have one and a half days to enjoy your weekend, and it sounds like the workweek is pretty intense, you are not going to let much stop you from enjoying it. I kind of like that, or I will once I find my way around this place :)
I left Milwaukee for Haifa at about 6:00pm on Wednesday, and I arrived in my flat at about 6:00am on Friday. (If anyone can tell me the difference between a flat and an apartment I would greatly appreciate it. The English here is by and large British English, I think because Israel used to be under British control. Why the Baha'i World Centre chooses to use British English while most volunteers are American, I don't know, perhaps because it's local preference.) Anyway, I was really tired. I wondered how long they would let me sleep.
The answer was not long. I woke up, my circadian rhythm completely disoriented, about about noon or 12:30 to go to Bahji near Akka (also spelled Akko and Acre), to visit the Shrine of Baha'u'llah, founder of the Baha'i faith. I want to describe everything I've seen and done in detail, but there is just too much to describe in one entry and still hold anyone's attention, so better descriptions will come. Suffice it to say that it was an amazing experience; the shrine is surrounded by vast (and I mean vast) gardens, immaculately kept, with a cool visitor's center to provide some relief from the intense heat outside.
The floor of the shrine itself is covered with Persian carpets (Persian carpets are big here; I think they must be donated by the Iranian Baha'is because they are absolutely everywhere...there's one in my flat), which is great because the carpets muffle people's footsteps, and the holiest place on earth to Baha'is ought to be rather quiet. There are several rooms for prayer and meditation in the shrine, and in the near right corner is the burial site of Baha'u'llah (this is a title that means "the glory of God" in Arabic; his given name was Mirza Husayn Ali. Why this shrine is relatively remote from the Baha'i World Center in Haifa is beyond me at this point. I've never wondered about it; I didn't even know it was quite so far. We drove about half an hour to get there.
In any case, it was an amazing experience; during the visit I had a clarity of mind I've never had before. I went in a group of five total people. We were chatting before we entered the shrine itself, but after we left we walked in silence toward the visitors center for a very long time; I don't think any of us wanted to bring ourselves back to earth right away.
When we came back I went straight to meet what is called my "neighborhood contact". It's a bit of a misleading title because mine does not live in my neighborhood. That's just as well considering that I have three flatmates (two of whom I've met, and they're quite nice) who can show me around. Sara specifically requested to be my neighborhood contact because she's in my department. My department is seven people, so this seems to defeat the purpose of meeting and feeling connected to more people...whatever, that's ok. I am glad she's eager to be sure that I have at least one strong connection.
Anyway, we met for dinner and ended up in a group of four, and visited a sandwich shop. While it was my first experience with Israeli food, there was nothing particularly unfamiliar or special about it. I didn't get sick so that's a good thing. Afterward was an event called "youth presents" or something which amounted to a talent show. As far as quality (and intensity) of entertainment goes, it might have been better I rested after dinner...that's not because the young people here don't have much talent - they are very talented - but because I was so conscious of my fatigue. Anyway, it was good to meet a few people and see some personalities in action. There were some funny acts.
After the performance I was very tired and didn't know my way back in daylight, let alone in the dark; still Sara and I had a hell of a time finding someone to take me back to my flat, because it's Friday night which is the beginning of the weekend here (Muslims rest on Friday and Jews rest on Saturday...and Baha'is at the World Center rest on half of Friday and on all of Saturday), and I guess all the good going out places are further up the hill; the show was halfway up and I live at the base. I could not help wondering where all the hospitality I'd met with at the airport had gone to; several people came to pick up four new arrivals at once at 2 in the morning, and none of them said it bothered them to do it (though I guess what else is there to say?). But one girl even said she volunteered.
In any case, I could see why people were reluctant to walk down and back up the hill when I got a sense of just how huge it is. I am really excited to walk up the whole thing at once, and I think it will probably singlehandedly put me in serious shape. And I guess if you only have one and a half days to enjoy your weekend, and it sounds like the workweek is pretty intense, you are not going to let much stop you from enjoying it. I kind of like that, or I will once I find my way around this place :)
September 11
I am (obviously) writing this post retrospectively; a lot of people asked me if it was weird to spend September 11 in Quebec and I have to say it was not weird. The anniversary was honored and remembered in Quebec too, I think especially because Montreal is so close to New York City. I didn't think to ask when I was there, but I wonder how Montrealers felt when the attacks happened; they were probably afraid too.
Anyway, this day marks my last full day in Montreal. It was pretty hard to say goodbye to everyone. I made some good friends. My morning professor asked me about the next step in my life, and I had some difficulty explaining it in French, but I conveyed that I was going to Haifa so my professor told me to say hello to his former student Omre from Haifa...ha ha.
In the afternoon and evening I wanted to get together with my friends from McGill, Ariel and Thurukka, to say goodbye to them. We wanted to go to the Chinese Lantern Festival, but having doubts about the admission fee and not knowing where it was, we ended up in my favorite place in Montreal, Little Italy. We had dinner at a nice little Italian restaurant, which had great food and a lot of characters, including a big table with lots of drunk women and one drunk man. All the women insisted loudly on having a picture taken with the one man. I'm not sure there were aware that they weren't the only people in the restaurant, so our waitress winked and poked fun at them when she came around to us. She was very entertaining.
After that my friends insisted on taking me to Tim Horton's, a coffee chain, for an iced cappuccino, which is not much more than a cheap Frappuccino, but apparently it's a staple of college life in Montreal, and they felt very strongly that I should experience it. So I made them happy.
Then I went home late and packed (from start to finish) in a whirlwind. There were a lot of things I wish I'd had the time to do in Montreal and didn't, but then again, I came to learn French I and did plenty of that, so there's nothing to regret.
Anyway, this day marks my last full day in Montreal. It was pretty hard to say goodbye to everyone. I made some good friends. My morning professor asked me about the next step in my life, and I had some difficulty explaining it in French, but I conveyed that I was going to Haifa so my professor told me to say hello to his former student Omre from Haifa...ha ha.
In the afternoon and evening I wanted to get together with my friends from McGill, Ariel and Thurukka, to say goodbye to them. We wanted to go to the Chinese Lantern Festival, but having doubts about the admission fee and not knowing where it was, we ended up in my favorite place in Montreal, Little Italy. We had dinner at a nice little Italian restaurant, which had great food and a lot of characters, including a big table with lots of drunk women and one drunk man. All the women insisted loudly on having a picture taken with the one man. I'm not sure there were aware that they weren't the only people in the restaurant, so our waitress winked and poked fun at them when she came around to us. She was very entertaining.
After that my friends insisted on taking me to Tim Horton's, a coffee chain, for an iced cappuccino, which is not much more than a cheap Frappuccino, but apparently it's a staple of college life in Montreal, and they felt very strongly that I should experience it. So I made them happy.
Then I went home late and packed (from start to finish) in a whirlwind. There were a lot of things I wish I'd had the time to do in Montreal and didn't, but then again, I came to learn French I and did plenty of that, so there's nothing to regret.
September 10
Today I wrote and submitted a final essay for the class. There is a definite disconnect between my oral and written skills, actually a huge gap. If I just had the talent for conversation that I do for writing, I would be all around advanced in my learning, but at least I've been told that I have a really nice accent.
I was very excited to see a photography exhibit in the evening. It was supposed to be led by the school; we were to meet at the Lionel Groulx metro station and from there the school activities coordinator, Jessica, would take us to the exhibit. None of us had the address or even the name of the exhibit, which was a mistake, because Jessica never showed up. Tonight is maybe the ninth time I'm SO GLAD I know my money is being spent so wisely. The group of six was uncertain what to do; when a number of people waiting in the long line at the bus station proved to know nothing about the exhibit we wanted to see, I tried suggesting that we walk along a major street, find a tourist information booth, anything, but although we were all agreed Jessica wasn't coming, the general consensus was that we ought to just stand there. I found a sharp German in the bunch who saw the reason in not just standing around, and we consulted a map she had to find a tourist information booth marked on it, just up the street. Said booth turned out to be a kiosk stuffed with fliers. Great. Near it we found a lovely canal park with an information booth that appeared to ordinarily contain a real live person, but it was closed as it was getting dark.
So the group finally dissolved. By then it was too late to do much of anything. I hopped back on the metro and went to browse the bookstore near the Mont-Royal metro station that I'd found the day before, but I didn't have enough time to browse in. I spent the whole night there browsing the French titles and reading bits of this and that. There was a huge section devoted to the history of Quebec, where I finally found out who Lionel Groulx was (a famous writer and essayist). I didn't buy anything because it was outrageously expensive, but all in all it was not a completely lost evening.
I was very excited to see a photography exhibit in the evening. It was supposed to be led by the school; we were to meet at the Lionel Groulx metro station and from there the school activities coordinator, Jessica, would take us to the exhibit. None of us had the address or even the name of the exhibit, which was a mistake, because Jessica never showed up. Tonight is maybe the ninth time I'm SO GLAD I know my money is being spent so wisely. The group of six was uncertain what to do; when a number of people waiting in the long line at the bus station proved to know nothing about the exhibit we wanted to see, I tried suggesting that we walk along a major street, find a tourist information booth, anything, but although we were all agreed Jessica wasn't coming, the general consensus was that we ought to just stand there. I found a sharp German in the bunch who saw the reason in not just standing around, and we consulted a map she had to find a tourist information booth marked on it, just up the street. Said booth turned out to be a kiosk stuffed with fliers. Great. Near it we found a lovely canal park with an information booth that appeared to ordinarily contain a real live person, but it was closed as it was getting dark.
So the group finally dissolved. By then it was too late to do much of anything. I hopped back on the metro and went to browse the bookstore near the Mont-Royal metro station that I'd found the day before, but I didn't have enough time to browse in. I spent the whole night there browsing the French titles and reading bits of this and that. There was a huge section devoted to the history of Quebec, where I finally found out who Lionel Groulx was (a famous writer and essayist). I didn't buy anything because it was outrageously expensive, but all in all it was not a completely lost evening.
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
September 9
School is beginning to drag out a little bit. While I love to learn and learning French is really a treat, the habits of my professors that waste time are getting to me. I have the same professor the whole morning and he loves to mix us up into different groups several times throughout the morning. Honestly, if you want to mix people to get them to get to know everyone in the class, good, great, but...once a day is enough. He also left the class for a while today to do personalized feedback for some students, and the class worked independently while he was out...great, but do I really have to be paying to do independent work? Especially when no outside study is assigned to us as a general rule; would it hurt us to have just a little?
One of my afternoon professors loves to fly through vocabulary exercises faster than I can write down and process the meanings of all the words. I've taken to jotting the words down and meaning to look them up later.
In any case, I learned the conjugation and principles for use of the subjunctive today, so I'm fully equipped to continue my studies independently, if the subjunctive in French is anywhere near as complicated as it is in Spanish. It seems to be. I've learned a number of other verb conjugations really faster than I can practice them, which is fine with me. I can practice all the things I have learned later for free.
In the evening I went to a metro station looking for a French-language bookstore that I'd found online; I didn't find that particular store but I found a number of others all set in a markedly mostly-French neighborhood. It was a beautiful store and I want to go back. It had more books about Quebec and Montreal than I've seen anywhere else. Also I don't know how advisable or inadvisable it is, but I was tempted by the bilingual French and Spanish editions of some books. Hm, maybe not the best idea....
Later I met with some friends for dinner and snacks and good conversation. It was the last time I'll see them and I'll miss them a lot. They were the first people I've said goodbye to and it was hard. It's going to be really hard to leave here; I love it so much and I already have a few thoughts in my head about coming back someday.
One of my afternoon professors loves to fly through vocabulary exercises faster than I can write down and process the meanings of all the words. I've taken to jotting the words down and meaning to look them up later.
In any case, I learned the conjugation and principles for use of the subjunctive today, so I'm fully equipped to continue my studies independently, if the subjunctive in French is anywhere near as complicated as it is in Spanish. It seems to be. I've learned a number of other verb conjugations really faster than I can practice them, which is fine with me. I can practice all the things I have learned later for free.
In the evening I went to a metro station looking for a French-language bookstore that I'd found online; I didn't find that particular store but I found a number of others all set in a markedly mostly-French neighborhood. It was a beautiful store and I want to go back. It had more books about Quebec and Montreal than I've seen anywhere else. Also I don't know how advisable or inadvisable it is, but I was tempted by the bilingual French and Spanish editions of some books. Hm, maybe not the best idea....
Later I met with some friends for dinner and snacks and good conversation. It was the last time I'll see them and I'll miss them a lot. They were the first people I've said goodbye to and it was hard. It's going to be really hard to leave here; I love it so much and I already have a few thoughts in my head about coming back someday.
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
September 8
Most of the day wasn't a very good day, but when I think about it none of that is worth mentioning. What is worth mentioning is that I saw another film directed by Hayao Miyazaki, the person who has gotten me to like a little anime (thus far only his). Anyone who has kids in their life in any way at all should have them see this man's films; they are beautiful and they often even have good messages for little kids, not like much of the crap that is all you can find for kids. The movie was dubbed in French so I didn't understand a lot but Fadia helped me, and after all it was a kids' movie, so it wasn't terribly difficult to catch on and catch up.
I suppose it's also worth mentioning that I tried poutine. It's a dish of quebecois origin that consists of a pile of fries, a few lumps of cheese, and gravy. It is really the only uniquely quebecois dish that comes to the mind of anyone I've asked, which is really too bad. I wish there were more strictly local dishes I could try. Well in any case, I've had one culinary cultural experience while in Montreal.
I suppose it's also worth mentioning that I tried poutine. It's a dish of quebecois origin that consists of a pile of fries, a few lumps of cheese, and gravy. It is really the only uniquely quebecois dish that comes to the mind of anyone I've asked, which is really too bad. I wish there were more strictly local dishes I could try. Well in any case, I've had one culinary cultural experience while in Montreal.
Monday, September 7, 2009
September 7
Today was another lovely day. Canada observes labor day the same as the United States, so I didn't have classes; instead Fadia the professional relaxer and I went to the park and sunbathed. Of course I'm not much of a sunbather but we went to the park to swim in the pool, but both forgot our suits, and went to plan B.
After that we strolled the marche Jean Talon again and browsed little Italy before making our way to a patisserie for cake for my birthday. We debated between walking and taking the metro and ended up walking (I mentioned to Fadia that I was tired so I wanted to take the metro, and she said I was lazy, so I said let's walk, because I really don't want her to think that Americans are lazy).
It turned out to be a better idea to walk because we saw a ridiculous parade. I caught a parade unexpectedly in Colombia and it was completely different, full of military marches and beauty queens of the past years; this parade was full of crazy artsy pretentious people doing things like wear red plastic bubbles on their heads and dancing to techno music. OK.
We then made our way to the patisserie and had big slices of chocolate cake that ended up being our dinner, and happened to talk about what else but diabetes the whole time. Naturally then we followed up cake with ice cream. We were able to take the ice cream on the bus, which really surprised me and then Fadia thought I was crazy for being so surprised.
Then at home I finished the first crochet project I've ever worked on, a preposterously narrow scarf that really started out as a practice piece, so thank you Tom for teaching me how to do it. It is about twice as wide at the beginning as it is at the end, and twice as loose too. I don't think I'll drop so many stitches in my next effort.
Anyway, tomorrow begins my last week of school in Montreal; I'll have to enjoy it as much as possible while learning as much French as I can while I'm still semi-immersed in it, so the way I use my time is really going to be a balancing act.
After that we strolled the marche Jean Talon again and browsed little Italy before making our way to a patisserie for cake for my birthday. We debated between walking and taking the metro and ended up walking (I mentioned to Fadia that I was tired so I wanted to take the metro, and she said I was lazy, so I said let's walk, because I really don't want her to think that Americans are lazy).
It turned out to be a better idea to walk because we saw a ridiculous parade. I caught a parade unexpectedly in Colombia and it was completely different, full of military marches and beauty queens of the past years; this parade was full of crazy artsy pretentious people doing things like wear red plastic bubbles on their heads and dancing to techno music. OK.
We then made our way to the patisserie and had big slices of chocolate cake that ended up being our dinner, and happened to talk about what else but diabetes the whole time. Naturally then we followed up cake with ice cream. We were able to take the ice cream on the bus, which really surprised me and then Fadia thought I was crazy for being so surprised.
Then at home I finished the first crochet project I've ever worked on, a preposterously narrow scarf that really started out as a practice piece, so thank you Tom for teaching me how to do it. It is about twice as wide at the beginning as it is at the end, and twice as loose too. I don't think I'll drop so many stitches in my next effort.
Anyway, tomorrow begins my last week of school in Montreal; I'll have to enjoy it as much as possible while learning as much French as I can while I'm still semi-immersed in it, so the way I use my time is really going to be a balancing act.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)