19 days and counting.

[bironic]

I'm leaving for vacation in less than three weeks. Wow, does time fly.

Almost all of the Taglit-Birthright trips are 10 days, all around Israel. The March of the Living trip I'm going on is 15 days, starting with 5 days in Poland doing the concentration camp - ghetto circuit. (MOTL is the Holocaust-themed trip, as opposed to the others, which are mainly adventure/youth- or young professional-themed.) I'll actually be away for 20 days, since I've tacked on a few extra at the end separate from the group to visit roga and possibly a relative or two and see anything I missed.

The itinerary was (finally!) distributed to participants yesterday, and I'm now thoroughly excited for the Poland portion. It's a strange word to use when you're talking about visiting historical sites where such horrific events occurred, but it's true. We're seeing what feels like everything: Auschwitz-Birkenau, Majdanek and Treblinka, Krakow (synagogues & ghetto) and Warsaw (ghetto, cemetery, Lublin yeshiva, Old Town Market Square, services at Nozyk synagogue). I've studied the Holocaust in and out of school with an intense and morbid fascination for I don't even know how many years, and walking those grounds is going to be just amazing.

Oh, yeah, and then there's the neck-to-knees Israel adventure. It looks as though we'll be swinging by Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Haifa, Massada, the Dead Sea, the Golan Heights, Galilee/Kinneret, Tzfat/Safed and Akko/Acre, with stops along the way at limestone cliffs, caves, river rafting, scenic views, hikes, a winery, markets... And at the end I fall into a coma, wilted from summer heat in thrice-worn clothes and jittery from constant exposure to 40 other people. Heh.

But no, I think that other than the temperature/sun and inevitable Zionist sales spiels (I do not like the concept of a "birthright" to begin with), it's going to be a fantastic time. Now that I've got the itinerary in hand and most of my questions answered and vague plans in place to meet a couple of LJ friends and a short list of things to buy, I'm really looking forward to it. PBS recently aired a "Visions of Israel" special that's two hours of aerial footage of the country, too, and I recorded that to watch before I go, to go along with a book of photos a cousin-some-steps-removed gave me for my bat mitzvah back in the day that I really should dust off and look at again.

...Was there a point to this post? I'm not sure. Maybe that tonight is an orientation for all of the Birthright groups in the city, and I'm supposed to meet up with one of the other MOTL participants right before, and possibly another one from Jersey over the weekend or next weekend. Until that mass email went out yesterday, I'd been thinking of "the group" as a faceless mob of 30-40 people who would just be there everywhere we visited. It hadn't occurred to me that it might include people I'd like.

Comments

[kassrachel.livejournal.com]

I don't like the notion of "birthright," either, and I find I'm oddly relieved to hear you articulate that. *wry grin*

I hope we can make our paths cross while we're both over there.

[bironic.livejournal.com]

We're using each other, I figure, the program and me. I'll tolerate its political agenda for the benefit of the low cost and organized itinerary.

I hope we can make our paths cross while we're both over there.

We'd better! :D I think roga's going to synch up schedules with you and see what works.

[roga.livejournal.com]

Oh, man, this is used to be weird for me - I'm against the "birthright" notion myself, but whenever a non-Israeli says something I always feel defensive about the place. I assume we will agree on many issues, though, and if we don't, at least the debate will be fun :-)

For the record, the Hebrew name for the Birthright program is actually Taglit, which means "discovery" - a far more appropriate name, IMO.

[bironic.livejournal.com]

but whenever a non-Israeli says something I always feel defensive about the place.

:) Understood. Like when you say something about a friend or family member and it's okay, but when someone outside the group makes a remark, you jump to their defense.

[daasgrrl.livejournal.com]

It hadn't occurred to me that it might include people I'd like.

Hee, heresy! But, importantly... do you get single rooms? Amazng itineray, though.

[bironic.livejournal.com]

*g* I'm expecting more like a range of doubles and group/hostel-like rooming situations. Which I don't mind for a trip like this, in the short term.

Turns out the girl I met is quite nice and normal and interesting, so at the very least there will be one person to hang out with.

[celebriangel.livejournal.com]

Awesome!

My less exciting trip starts tomorrow, where I high-tail off to, er, *Musselborough* (near Edinburgh) to spend a week rehearsing for a concert next friday.

[Actually, it's going to be amazing and fun and my fingers are going to die from 6-hours-per-day of practise plus rehearsal for that concert on Monday where I have to play the *piano*, but...still not quite as awesome as Israel.]

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Oh hush, you just got back from Italy. :)

Concert sounds cool. What do you play besides piano?

[celebriangel.livejournal.com]

Violin. Um. I'm drasticlly better at the violin than the piano, so this whole concert thing? Freaking the *hell* out of me.

So, yeah. Third desk, outside...we're playing a bassoon concerto, prokofiev No.4, Brahms Slavonic dances, and something else that's supposed to be a susprise. Should be good! Also, there's a celilidh and a barbecue. *g*

And LJ won't let me post (doubly annoying because I have a Rodney-in-chem-class drabble), so see you next week!

[walking-miracle.livejournal.com]

Hiya, backreading through your LJ for any House stuff since I finally watched the finale yesterday, and happened to catch this entry.
It made me think to mention that if you ever visit Germany you need to make a trip to one of the concentration camps over there. I took a trip with my advanced history class to Berlin last year (the class was focused on the Holocaust) and one of the days we visited the Sachsenhausen camp, which is just outside of Berlin. Let's just say that place gave all of us serious chills, and it still sticks out as the highlight of the trip as far as the education part goes. They also took us to the place I don't remember what's called anymore, where Hitler et al. came up with The Final Solution, that was a boring tour, but hey, now I can say I've been there

Off to browse through your pictures from the trip (I always enjoy stuff like that, makes me feel like I've been there too, can even light up a desire in me to go to places I'd never thought of visiting before)

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Oh, hey, excellent. Yes, I'd love to visit Germany some day, and I'd definitely want to see another camp or a few, and maybe some of the Nazi bureaucracy sites like you mention. (Is the Bunker still around?)

Your trip sounds wonderful. Creepy, but wonderful. I wonder how Sachsenhausen compares to the camps we saw in Poland. What was it like?