I keep waiting to post more about Israel until I develop the rest of my photos from there to illustrate the posts a bit. However, since I'm planning on developing the film myself (maybe even printing it! Who knows?), I have to wait till I can get a tutorial in the darkroom and actually do that. So. Patience. There will be talk of Hebron, talk of a lovely Israeli boy, talk of strangers on buses, perhaps.
In the meantime, I'm sitting in the RadCam (Radcliffe Camera for all you non-Oxonians; one of the numerous buildings of the Bodleian Library) working hard. Well, working hard at avoiding work. It's actually pretty difficult to do that in this library because especially in the LCam (Lower Camera) everyone is really dedicated and conscientious. Which, really, is why I work here a lot, so I am encouraged by all these studious Oxford people.
Term just began yesterday, but I've been work-pressured since Wednesday when I received my first assignment and reading list. As it happened, that was also the first day my mother was in town for a visit -- good timing! She was very understanding and had her own things to do as well, but I wish I could have spent more time with her around Oxford. As it was, we spent a lot of the weekend together, Shabbat at Chabad and all that. She left early Sunday morning, a few hours before my ex-boyfriend arrived. With me still having lots of work to do. (These visits had been arranged a while beforehand, because I figured my workload wouldn't have begun yet. Um, wrong.)
It was good to see Dan again (we went out for two-plus years, had a somewhat difficult break-up this summer) and to know that we can still be friends and be comfortable together. I had to do a lot of work, but we could sit in the same room in silence and not feel awkward. A part of me thought that after the stupid things we did to each other, we probably couldn't be friends again. But that's not the case, which is reassuring. Also, he has a new girl, which makes him happy and I'm pleased to say makes me happy. Anyway, it was a generally pleasant weekend (although I missed the Zoo Bop and the next night I missed seeing my friend get so plastered that he had to be carried back to his room! haha). (Oh, also: We had a go at my bottle of absinthe while watching Eddie Izzard on Sunday night, but no hallucinations, sadly.)
Anyway, it seems like most of my break-side fun is coming to a quiet end. It also turns out that this term both of my tutorials are going to be on the same day. Whee. So. Back to this essay (on Christian intellectuals in 19th century England) and translating Mesechta Brachos of the Mishnayos.
Tuesday 15 January 2008
Monday 7 January 2008
People, Faces, Things
Among the things I really enjoyed in Israel were the people. Not getting run over by the cab drivers or pushed around the bus by rushed masses, but the individual faces. I spent a large part of my time out people-watching.
All those 18- and 19-year-old soldiers drew my eyes to them in their olive green and khaki uniforms and the rifles swinging alongside their legs. The juxtaposition of the weapons and the youthful faces was alarming at first, but in time I think I got somewhat used to it, or as much as you can.
Once I got past the big guns, I payed more attentions to the faces and builds and walks of the young men and women wandering the streets of Jerusalem in uniform. I think my interest in portraiture has given me a different sort of appreciation for "looks" in general. I have a tendency now to frame people's faces in a mental lens, imagine a snapshots. The snapshots are also little bits of stories that I get to explore in my own time, as well. It makes more sense 65-year-old woman surrounding by grocery bags on a bus to be "beautiful" when thought about as such.
Actually, I realized that most of the shots I took of people in Israel (see links on the side, especially "Black, White, and Turn"), aside from family, were of people at least a little older than I am. There's just so much more interesting in creases and folds and eyebrows and anger, so much more to tell.
Anyway, this has grown to be a bit of a ramble. All I meant to say is that Israel is a country choc full of beautiful people, conventionally so and otherwise. I hope I have the same sort of opportunities for portraiture here as I did on those crazy freakin' buses.
All those 18- and 19-year-old soldiers drew my eyes to them in their olive green and khaki uniforms and the rifles swinging alongside their legs. The juxtaposition of the weapons and the youthful faces was alarming at first, but in time I think I got somewhat used to it, or as much as you can.
Once I got past the big guns, I payed more attentions to the faces and builds and walks of the young men and women wandering the streets of Jerusalem in uniform. I think my interest in portraiture has given me a different sort of appreciation for "looks" in general. I have a tendency now to frame people's faces in a mental lens, imagine a snapshots. The snapshots are also little bits of stories that I get to explore in my own time, as well. It makes more sense 65-year-old woman surrounding by grocery bags on a bus to be "beautiful" when thought about as such.
Actually, I realized that most of the shots I took of people in Israel (see links on the side, especially "Black, White, and Turn"), aside from family, were of people at least a little older than I am. There's just so much more interesting in creases and folds and eyebrows and anger, so much more to tell.
Anyway, this has grown to be a bit of a ramble. All I meant to say is that Israel is a country choc full of beautiful people, conventionally so and otherwise. I hope I have the same sort of opportunities for portraiture here as I did on those crazy freakin' buses.
Wednesday 2 January 2008
Back in Action
It's 2008 already; I haven't updated around here in over a month. That's OK, since this blog is mostly to keep family up-to-date with my goings-on in Oxford, and I spent the last month WITH my family.
A few days after winter break began, I flew out to Israel to visit my with brother and sister and their respective spouses in Jerusalem. It was difficult for me to go, as I was just beginning to enjoy vacation in Oxford -- friends, drinks, sillyness, no stress. The first week there was a challenge, too, mostly because I was hung up on Oxford. Plus, not being as comfortable with the language as I would have liked, I didn't explore freely on my own the way I usually do in a new city. While I wandered occasionally and did some of the main tourist things (such as the Wailing Wall and the Old City of Jerusalem and the Jewish shuk, the open market), I also spent some days in bed or in my brother's flat, reading, sleeping, and watching DVDs.
The next week was a bit better, mostly because I was becoming acclimated. And I was seeing lots of gorgeous soldiers. (I'm against war, but all for the physical beauty of such a great number of the Israeli people.) I made my own way to a few museums and some times just wandered the area near my sister's house, the downtown sort of place. My sister (Chava), my sister-in-law (Shira), some of Shira's family and I took a bit of a day trip to Amuka to visit the tomb of a rabbi. I found myself miserable on that day more than I can remember -- three hours in a stuffy car each way, hungry, craving Oxford, going to some place where people prayed to find their future spouses ...
The good parts of that trip are 1) I met a bull and gave him water when he was thirsty and 2) most days seemed much better in comparison. All the same, I still wasn't happy and eventually changed my ticket to come back to England a week early, at which point I felt a great sense of relief and I was able to enjoy myself more. This was followed by a greater understanding of conversational Hebrew, visits to museums, meeting a wonderful Israeli guy, my mother's arrival, another day trip up north (to Haifa), as well as one south (to Hebron). I hope to detail more of these in the coming week or two, as quite a few things struck me about the people and the culture and how I relate to the land that is supposed to be that of my forefathers.
But for now, I'm resting up from a long, long trip.
(By the way, I've put new photos on Flickr -- see the links on the left -- including a new category: black and white shots.)
A few days after winter break began, I flew out to Israel to visit my with brother and sister and their respective spouses in Jerusalem. It was difficult for me to go, as I was just beginning to enjoy vacation in Oxford -- friends, drinks, sillyness, no stress. The first week there was a challenge, too, mostly because I was hung up on Oxford. Plus, not being as comfortable with the language as I would have liked, I didn't explore freely on my own the way I usually do in a new city. While I wandered occasionally and did some of the main tourist things (such as the Wailing Wall and the Old City of Jerusalem and the Jewish shuk, the open market), I also spent some days in bed or in my brother's flat, reading, sleeping, and watching DVDs.
The next week was a bit better, mostly because I was becoming acclimated. And I was seeing lots of gorgeous soldiers. (I'm against war, but all for the physical beauty of such a great number of the Israeli people.) I made my own way to a few museums and some times just wandered the area near my sister's house, the downtown sort of place. My sister (Chava), my sister-in-law (Shira), some of Shira's family and I took a bit of a day trip to Amuka to visit the tomb of a rabbi. I found myself miserable on that day more than I can remember -- three hours in a stuffy car each way, hungry, craving Oxford, going to some place where people prayed to find their future spouses ...
The good parts of that trip are 1) I met a bull and gave him water when he was thirsty and 2) most days seemed much better in comparison. All the same, I still wasn't happy and eventually changed my ticket to come back to England a week early, at which point I felt a great sense of relief and I was able to enjoy myself more. This was followed by a greater understanding of conversational Hebrew, visits to museums, meeting a wonderful Israeli guy, my mother's arrival, another day trip up north (to Haifa), as well as one south (to Hebron). I hope to detail more of these in the coming week or two, as quite a few things struck me about the people and the culture and how I relate to the land that is supposed to be that of my forefathers.
But for now, I'm resting up from a long, long trip.
(By the way, I've put new photos on Flickr -- see the links on the left -- including a new category: black and white shots.)
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