Summer here in Israel is a combination of great pleasure and
intense suffering. Pleasure because there are so many fun things to do and
wonderful people to hang out with. Intense suffering because the heat and humidity
make you sweat all the time. But I will try not to complain about the heat any
more than that.
Hadossa is taking two classes at the Technion this summer and I
have been working on end-of-the-semester assignments from TAU and tutoring once
a week at Ruppin Academic Center.
In mid-July I went up north to Karmiel to
attend a course for international Israeli circle dance instructors for a week and
then took in the Karmiel Dance Festival for three days. I am NOT a dance
teacher by any stretch of the imagination, however, I went because I wanted to
learn as much as possible for my own enjoyment. It turned out to be an
extremely rewarding ten days. About thirty folk dance teachers from Finland,
Australia, Germany, Argentina, Canada, Italy, England, the U.S., and Israel
came together to learn new dances, techniques, and theory. We also did a bit of
traveling. One day we took a trip to Mount Gilboa where Saul, the first king of
Israel, and his son Jonathan died. That day we also visited some areas around
the Sea of Galilee and our bus crossed over into the country of Jordan briefly
to view some historical sites and an old dam on the Jordan River. Another day
we were led on a tour of the Arab village Dier El Assad by a handful of young Arab dancers,
sampled some olive oil made by one of the families there, and enjoyed a debka
dance lesson from Arab markid Yahyah Abu Juma.
That evening our bus driver Rfef invited us to his house for a party in another
Arab village close to Karmiel, and there we had the opportunity to try out our
new debka skills. The best part of the week was learning from the Israeli dance
leaders that helped teach the week-long course. Dance leaders here are called markidim
(pronounced mar-kee-deem) which is plural for markid (pronounced
mar-keed). We learned from the markidim during the day and then attended
harkadot at night, which are open Israeli dance sessions where hundreds
of people come from the surrounding areas and dance till the wee hours of the
morning. Each night we danced in a different place, often at kibbutzim or sport
community centers, and one time on a paved area right by the Mediterranean Sea
in Haifa.
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| Mount Gilboa |
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| looking over the Beit Sha'an Valley from Mount Gilboa |
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| Gateway between Israel and Jordan |
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| inside the country of Jordan |
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| new friends from Finland |
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| choreography workshop |
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| Shlomo Maman teaching us how to create choreography |
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| Ohad Atia teaching us a dance |
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| lunch in the Arab village |
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| resting while touring the Arab village |
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| sampling some olive oil |
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| Arab village of Dier El Assad |
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| learning debka steps at the dance school in Dier El Assad |
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| dancing on Nirvana Beach in Haifa |
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| party at Rfef's house |
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| party at Rfef's house |
After a week of dance education and travel, we attended the Karmiel
Dance Festival, an annual event of over 5,000 dance performers that attracts
over 250,000 visitors from all over the world for three days of food, dance performances,
and nearly everything you can think of related to having fun. In addition to
the many performances happening all over the festival grounds at any given
moment, there are also several harkadot sessions one can attend nearly
nonstop for the entire festival. Needless to say, I didn't get much sleep
during those ten days in Karmiel and had a lot of catching up to do when I
returned to Tel Aviv at the end of July.
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| opening night of the Karmiel Dance Festival 2013 |
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| Karmiel Dance Festival 2013 |
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| Karmiel Dance Festival 2013 |
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| Karmiel Dance Festival 2013 |
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| Karmiel Dance Festival 2013 |
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| Karmiel Dance Festival 2013 |
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| Karmiel Dance Festival 2013 |
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| Karmiel Dance Festival 2013 |
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| Karmiel Dance Festival 2013 |
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| Karmiel Dance Festival 2013 |
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| Karmiel Dance Festival 2013 |
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| Karmiel Dance Festival 2013 |
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| Karmiel Dance Festival 2013 |
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| Karmiel Dance Festival 2013 |
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| Karmiel Dance Festival 2013 |
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| Karmiel Dance Festival 2013 |
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| new friends from Uganda |
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| Karmiel Dance Festival 2013 |
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| Karmiel Summer Course participants 2013 |
September jumped on me suddenly this year and I am realizing
that I have only a little over a month left till I start teaching classes again
at Ruppin. This next year I will be teaching an English Mechina course for
Israelis who plan to study in a science and engineering first degree program. I
will also begin writing my thesis for my masters degree at Tel Aviv University.
I'll be moving into a studio apartment in October, which I am very excited
about, and also hope to resume my Ulpan studies soon. Hadossa is doing very
well in her studies and will continue where she is for the next several years.
All of her classes are in Hebrew and I am so proud of how well she is doing at
the Technion. I don't think she could have found a better place to study in the
entire world. It is perfect for her.
By the way, this blog doesn't come close to being a
comprehensive record of everything Hadossa and I are up to here in Israel. I do
also post a lot of additional pictures on Facebook and occasionally make
YouTube videos of some of my experiences, but even then, I find it impossible
to record everything, not even all the important things, which is okay and I
have to just let that go. Every day I meet new people and learn something new
about the world. As much as my compulsive inner teacher wants to explain all
the new things I am learning to everyone, I have to allow myself to focus more
on living the life here rather than trying to hang on to and record every
moment. Every moment here is a treasure I want to fully experience. I love it here more than I could ever
express. Deep breath. That's all for now. Shalom.
Here's some videos I made of the Karmiel Dance Festival:
Course participants and stage performers: https://youtu.be/bJVRpvFNZHM
Harp players from Uganda: https://youtu.be/lX0UYx9jyF8
