The first taste of Arad

I haven't had a chance to blog for about 2 months now.. I know that's a long time to catch up on, so i'll break this up into a few posts- starting out with the first three weeks of Arad:
So, on Sunday, we packed everything up and cleaned the apartment one last time, said our goodbyes to the madrichim and scouts, and piled onto a bus heading south. Me, Shayna, and Masha are all roommates here in Arad, only the three of us, but that made it much easier to divide up the rooms and shelf space, and also to make meals and such. At the same time, though, it is much emptier than what I am used to- never before have I lived with only two other people.
Anywho, for the first three weeks, all us three did (since all of us are on Marva also) was go to classes from 9-6 every day. Since we're on Marva, we need to jam all our classes into the 3 weeks we had in Arad before winter break. But for anyone who has now clue what I'm talking about when I say I'm on Marva: Marva is a 2 month program run by the Israeli army (IDF) and it is basically like being in basic training, but it is meant for 18-19 year olds who are thinking of making aliyah and moving to Israel and are interested in the army. So, since it is 2 months long and we only had 3 months in Arad, one week of which was winter break- tha left only 3 weeks for classes- and in order to have them be worth credit, we had to put in 3 hours a day, 4 days a week. It was hard to do after having so much free time in Bat Yam, but I was glad to be busy again.
I had 3 classes: History of the IDF.. which was one of the most boring classes I have ever had; Absorption of Immigrants- very interesting, and which I really enjoyed; and Ulpan.. cause we all hafta learn Hebrew. So every morning, I had Hebrew from 9 till 12, but it weas really enjoyable. The teacher's name is Eti, and we went on a feild trip outside of the clsasroom or watched a movie in Hebrew, or played a game almost every day, so I was glad to finally have a class where I used my Hebew instead of practicing it in a useless conversation with the class about what we did that day. We even went one day on a trip to the Telma factory, which is a cereal factory where they make all the great Israeli cereals, like Cariot- chocolate filled crunchy pockets. And when we were there- having a tour in Hebrew of course- the tour guide let us taste the cereal as it was falling out of the machines- so I got to taste it all fresh, and hot- it was the coolest thing I've ever done in class.
Next, after an hour lunch break, I had IDF history class- which was only 1.5 hours long, since it is paired with our time on Marva as hands- on time or something like that. But either way, that was the longest hour and a half of my life, every day. Yikes- well, I learned alot about wars, but I do not enjoy listening to lectures from someone who mumbles everything and on top of that has an impossible Israeli accent and also just shoots facts at you... But afterwards, I had Immigration class.
Immigration class was great- we learned all about immigration waves to Israel since the foundation of the state, but also about identity changes the people go through, as well as their reasonings for going and coming and such. The teacher was very knowledgeable, and the class reminded me a bit of how Ms. Page's class was, but this was more laid back, and there was nearly no homework.
SO, i had a final after 3 weeks of class, and then had a weeklong break to get ready for the start of Marva- and to visit with my parents :)
I had a great time- we went to the Deaf exhibit in the children's museum in Holon, went to see Petra which was beautiful, then spent New Years and Shabbat in Mitspe Ramon- we went on an amazing hike in the Ramon crater and watched High school Musical and When Harry met Sally on New Years Eve. I was glad to see them, but then I had to start packing for Marva and get ready to go...

Last days in Bat Yam

So, this week's siyyur was really fun- I went to this set of underground caves and tunnels where the people involved in the Bar Cochva rebellion hid- It was alot of fun, and I had to crawl on my hands and knees for most of it, and the rest I had to crawl on my stomach. We needed to use flashlights (as our tour guide said: torches). I loved crawling around in the dark and small tunnels :)

For the rest of the week, we didn't really do much- we cleaned ALOT and had a few talks about what Arad will look like. Tomorrow at 7 in the morning, we are all leaving Bat Yam and moing down to Arad, located in te Negev, or the Southern desert of Israel. It's supposed to be a small town, but with a beautiful veiw of montains, although with not much else to speak of. I'm not worried because I plan to join the Marva program, which is an army program (through the Israeli army) for the last 2 months of nixt semester, and the first month will be dedicated to my classes (from 9-6 every day but shabbat). So I wont really be spending much time in Arad itself.

I'm excited to move into a new lace, and to explore and such, I'm ready for a change of surroundings :) But at the same time, I'm sorta sad to see Bat Yam go. I'm going to have a much smaller aptt in Arad (only 3 of us in total) so I'm gonna miss the others that I won't be living with anymore :( And I'm gonna miss our apt itself, it's been my home away from home for 3 months now and now I gotta move into a new apt...

It's for the better, though, since I know that I would not enjoy having to live here for too much longer- it's just that the moving process is painful as well as difficult.


Some fun facts about my first semester in Bat Yam:

• There is an elementary school half a block from our apt and every school day we heard its bells through the windows: "Row your boat", "Twinkle, twinkle, little star", and "Dear old Clementine" were some of the tunes used
• Maddie made us pasta nearly every day :)
• there are millions of cats that hang in our courtyard, and I saw some of them grow from being kittens to beng adults in our stay
• It takes 30-45 minutes to get to Tel-Aviv from here by bus
• There is a wonderful bakery right net to the bus stop that I always use in the mornings to get to volunteering where I buy either breadsticks or a Sufgania (doughnut) in the morning for breakfast
• The laundramat and the little food store across the street each know me by name, since I go ther often enough (it's wonderful, I'm gonna miss them)
• We have seperate shower and toilet rooms- one with just a toilet ant the other with the sink and a shower
• We didn't know that we had to flip a switch to get how water for the first month... which means we had a month of cold showers
• We always had various horrible songs playing over and over again from Maddie's computer ("Sexy Bitch", anyone), now it's lots of Jewish songs.. slightly better
• We run out of tolet paper very quickly... and we ran out a week ago- too late to but any more, it would be wasteful, so instead, we just stole from the Ulpan and from the shul and from the Gym and other kids' apartments to last us :)
• Stipe was always running away, or not working
• I have an awesome apartment and I'm gonna miss it!! (both people and the building)

Love you guys, and I'l next talk to you from my new (and supposedly bigger- but with fewer people) place in Arad :)

<3>

Beit Shemesh, Efrat, paintball and syran wrap... and Thanksgiving

So, I haven't blogged in a few weeks, but don't worry, I'll update you all thoroughly. :)
First for the siyyur on Tuesday: we all went to see a one- man show about terrorism and how it happens (it was really cool, and showed how fighting against terrorism can also create the kinds of broken people that perform these acts). It was very interesting, and really made me think about how we are going about the situation the world is in right now. He showed how Muhammed the baker turned into Muhammed the terrorist, because the Israeli army (consisting of 18 year olds who are inexperienced) knocked down the wrong house, accidentally killed his family and destroyed his store, withou meaning to, and also without properly compensating him. The actor was very talented.
That weekend I went with Shayna to her family friends who live in Beit Shemesh, which was a wonderful and exhilirating weekend. We left on Thursday night with a bunch of others to go to Jerusalem, and we all hung out there, then parted our seperate ways. I got delicious falafel on Ben Yehuda, and had a minor scare when Maddie got stuck inside Ben Yehuda street cause the police blocked off the way out to explode an unidentified bag. (Israel has a policy of destroying a.k.a. exploding bags that do not have an owner that are left places- a good reason to keep track of your stuff)- but anyways, all of a sudden we all hear this loud bang and none of us know what happened (we were a few blocks away)- and when we called Maddie, she was freaking out (it's what she does, love her though :). But it was just a false alarm, thank god. That night, I slept in Emunah V'Omanut dorm with some friends of Masha and Tova's (who previously visited Bat Yam and are super sweet). When Shayna and I went into Beit Shemesh on friday morning (we met up with Elianna Mintz at the Tachana-bus stop- first) we didn't know which stopto get off on bus, and we were in major- Chassidish town, but the busdriver got on the phone with Shay's friend and got directions, and dropped us off as close as he could (we were the last ones and he was super nice). I had a great time on shabbat, with lots of little kids (one Alex's age who I did puzzles with, and one Sofies age who told me all about their birds). Also, Beit Shemesh is gorgeous, next to the mountains.
The siyyur that Tuesday was to the Palmach museum, about the first Israeli military force that helped gain the state its independence. The museum was very well done, but it was a frustrating siyyur because we had to get ourselves back by bus and our bus passes didn't work that far away from Bat Yam, so we had to pay our way back; and while it only took 45 minutes on the charter bus YJ gave us for the way there, it took 2 hours to get back afterwards. And I do not enjoy long busrides without a chair to sit on.
That weekend, I went with Chana and Tova and Masha to Chana's family in Efrat (close to the Green line). Again, gorgeous veiw of the mountains, and wonderful little kids to play with, as well as a dog this time. It was very homey and I really enjoyed it. However, on Shabbat day, Tova and Masha decided to go on a walk and accidentally crossed over the fence and into an Arab vineyard. Luckily, Chana, her cousin and I saw and were able to retrieve them, but they were just wandering in Arab land , where they take tresspassing very seriously...
So I have no lack for drama :) what with people endangering their lives and such
The siyyur that week was to the Comic museum in Holon, themed around the idea of Israeli-Palestinian conflict. They focused more on Israeli creations, so I dod not see any familiar faces, although there were American comics in the giftshop. It was not very exciting, but we heard an informative speech about how Arabs and Israelis are both affected by this conflict, and about this organization that tries to bring both sides together in the mutual pain caused by this conflict.
This weekend, I had Elianna and her friend from seminary Melissa come over for shabbat, and it ws really nice to be able to spend time with them.
For Thanksgiving, Shalem did their own special dinner, with each apartment bringing in food. The trukey was delicious and sweet potato pie...mmm....
That was really nice, and our Madrich, Avi, even came for a bit. We all love Avi and we're all gonna miss him when we move to Arad. Today he was giving us instructions on how to pack up and clean, and he said that now that there's only one week left, he's gonna be dangerous, that we should watch out :) He's funny.
Last Wednsday, Barry and his apartment bought syran wrap and wrapped Avi's car while he was talking to someone inside the Ulpan building (hwere we have our classes). Afterwards, Avi chased Barry and threatened to thro him into the dumpster, and made him clean the car in 3 minutes, but ended up chasing Barry and the tripping on the slippery- just washe- floor of the Ulpan, saving Barry.
Also, last Wednsday, Shalem went paintballing which was very fun. I was so good at it, I got 6 or 7 people out, including Avi (which is serious because he was Mr. Army, and was a sniper and all that jazz) I got him rismack dab in the middle of his back, then later on his shoulder, but i only got hit twice :)
So much fun.
So, we had our finals in all our classes and just wrapped up volunteering, and now we need to start cleaning up the aprtment for the next kids, as well as pack up our stuff.

I'll post one last Bat Yam post... sad to be leaving, but glad for the change of scenery... and it also means that I'm that much closer to starting Marva (2 months of army training)!! Yay

Love you guys, and miss you more than you know.
<3
:)

four long bus rides... and a cat named Sassy

So, the siyyur this Tuesday was in the north- I was supposed to go rapelling in the mountains, but due to severe rainage (it was STILL storming!!) that was cancelled, and we went to wee the ancient city of Acco and the Bahai gardens instead. It was nice, except for that the bus ride was four hours each way and I had to wake up at 5:30 since Shalem has davening every morning... :)
But I had fun, it was a nice change of pace , and it was pretty. Also, there was a shuk there where I bought a nice scarf for 20 shek- not a bad deal.

Friday Shalem all got up early again (for it being a Friday and usually a day off) at 6:30 and we set off again for the golan, first to Gamlah which is a nature preserve for vultures and eagles and other such large birds of prey, and then we all went to stay in this wonderful moshav called Moshav Yonatan- where Rb.Yossela's sister and her family lives. The scenery as well as the weather were wonderful, and you could see soo many more stars at night than in Bat Yam or MN.

At the Moshav, all the girls were in the same house, in guest bedrooms of a nice house. For meals, we plit off into groups of 2 or 3 and ate at the local families' homes. I had alot of fun practicing my hebrew, and got to play with little kids who reminded me insanely of Sofie and Alex. On Friday night, there was this boy named Ariel was about the same age as Alex, and acted just like him- the way he runs away fom the table, being all pouty. And on shabbat, there was this one year old who was exactly how Sofie was at the same age- spilling all kinds of things on himself, and running around, trying to join his older siblings' games.

I was very happy to find that many families in the moshav had pets- so I met a huge Yellow Lab named Popeye, and a German shepherd/Black lab mix named Skipper- both of whom were so sweet and playful. Then, near the end of shabbat, this adorable and insanely soft cat (who we later named Sassy) was hanging aroung us and letting us pet her- so we took her with us to the rooms we were sleeping at and sat and played with her. She was so adorable, but we couldn't bring her back with us to Bat Yam- even though we wanted to. :)

Just got back after another 3 hour bus ride...
love you all <3
:)

Tents in the kitchen and kayaks on the sea

So, as stated before, nothing too exciting happens on a day to day basis, so I'll just highlight some interesting debvelopments. Last weekend, all of Shalem was planning on going to Ein Gedi for th weekend in honor of two birthdays that weekend. And as I was picking up the tents from the Young Judea office, I unexpectedly recieved the second package my parents sent :) which is awesome. But anyways, we got the tentsand were all set up but people kept being noncommittal and dropping out, so in the end we weren't able to do it. So we had two tents and nowhere to use them. So we built one in our kitchen. And camped. It was so much fun, even though we didn'd get to see Ein Gedi which is a nature preserve with lots of wild animals right across the street from the Dead Sea.
Anywho, great weekend hanging out with friends and such. On Sunday night, Masa (fund for sending teens to Israel) hosted an Edan Reichel concert in Jerusalem that I went to. At first I was a little annoyed because we were told to escort VIP's to their seats and then we listened to a couple speeches and watched a few videos telling us all about how great Masa is and how it's great to send kids to Israel. But after that, it was great- the first time I heard most of their music, but I really enjoyed it. A few songs in, everyone started getting up and dancing, so me and Chana (who was sitting next to me) got in and it was a blast.
The siyyur this week was Sea Scouts, where first we wentdown t the Bat Yam beach and played some relay race- water based games, then went sea kayaking. I've gone sea kayaking with my Aunt ASliza in the Galapagos before, which was absolutely stunning, but this time it was toally different. Me and Barry were in a two person kayak, and we were a power team, the fastest and most efficient out there. Plus the weather was great for being on the beach, and the sea was beautiful. It was great.
Wednesday we had a great dating shiur from R. Yossela :) Then the girls (and whoever didn't wanna play b-ball) went to the Michal Negrin factory, where they make all her jewelery, which was interesting, but not exactly my style.
Thrusday I reall enjoyed Atara's class on Ruth, even though there were only 4 kids who showed up. She's really sweet and has invited us all to Shabbat at her house :)
This weekend's weather was ridiculous. It stormed Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Yikes. I mean thunder, lightning, and raining cats and dogs. Nothing you ever see in Israel, but it was really good for the water shortage. And it made me hgappy, cause now it's in the 60's, not the high 80's. Feels like fall.
Right after shabbat ended, I worked on lots of homework, since I have a midterm in Bible Babel tomorrow and had to do the take-home midterm for Godtalk ("let's talk about God"). Hoping I'll do well, but not worried at all ;)

Love to all <3

October... and still 80 degrees F with no air conditioner

So, I know it's been an entire month since I last posted a blog, I have been very busy and it was difficult for me with the holidays and such... and yes I do kno that's a poor excuse. The main thing is that right now, I am postponing my much- needed nap to finally blog. Yay!!

So, here's Sukkot (hut holiday) in the one- minute version: I was with my friend, Jason Edelman (also on Shalem), and his family in teir Jerusalem apartment for both ends of the holiday, visiting the Kotel (Western Wall) a few times and on Simchat torah, a huge dancing party-thing. The food there was delicious (it may even rival yours, Grandma, although no one can come anywhere near how great your Borscht is), the hospitality was wonderful, and I had a wonderful time hanging out with Jason and some other kids from Shalem who also went for the holiday. In the in-between days of Chol Hamoed, Shalem all went to the Western wall to hear Birkat Hacohen, and the next day we went (I'm not sure where) snorkeling for techailet- a snail used to make the blue dye used for talit/tzitzit. I had alot of fun exploring around, although i did not actually find any of the right kind of snail. I did see this really cool school of fish, though, they swam together in such a way that they looked like Medusa. But I didn't bring any extra clothes, so I was wet on the bus for the hour- long journey home.

I had my birthday over Sukkot, and I had a great time, getting to hear the birthday song way too many times, but on wednesday after my birthdya, all of Shalem went out for a birthday dinner to a nice meat restaraunt. I had alot of fun going out with everyone, which doesn't happen very often. :)

Everything else the past couple weeks has been as usual, volunteering, classes, etc. are pretty much the same, nothing to note about those, the only new things to talk about are the Tuesday siyurim. So, diving for techailet was one siyur. The next one was sports day, where all the tracks (Shalem, medical, classic, bussiness, sports) played basketball, volleyball and soccer against each other in a tournament. I played 3 games of volleyball (we lost to the sports team but beat everyone else), one game of basketball (again lost to the sport track) and one game of soccer... needless to say I was totally wiped after that insanely hot and active day, but I'm pretty impressed with how we did since I was the only one there who had ever played team sports at all in high school.

And the Siyur this week was to "Dialogue in the Dark"- a blind museum in Holon. Basically the entire place is pitch black, and ther are rooms that each set up a scene- a boat, a marketplace, a street, a forest, a park ranger's lodge. Everything is in the dark, and you are guided through there by a blind or visually impaierd person. It was definitely an interesting experience, but i felt so lost the entire time, always calling to the guide to reorient me every so often.

Oh- and yesterday, i finally got my package from the Young Judea Office!! Yay!!!
Then I went to the Comic book shoop in Tel Aviv with Barry- and then Falafel for dinner!!

If there's one thing you should know about the food here, it's that both falafel and schwarma are delicious and great meals- I got mine last night for 14 shek ($3.50) for a meal!!

peace out, lovelies
miss you all and love you

<3
Anna

A New year and a wrestling match

So, I left you all off ten days ago, and haven’t had a chance to update recently. So, on Tuesday we all went on our own up to Tel Aviv and found this building called Migdal Shalom, and then went on a guided tour of tel aviv and head all about the start of Israel as a country and went to Independence Hall and heard the dynamic story of Israel’s fight to create the Jewish State that exists today. The tour guide was really good, and he held our attention for the while that it took. It was really powerful.
After that, we were set free to roam around tel aviv and whatever. First I had lunch of schnitzel and potatoes… mmmm…. Then I went to the shuk and found some really cool stuff. For those who have been to the Uptown Art Fair, it was just like that, but much bigger and with smaller walkways. It was amazing, the shuk is open every Tuesday and Thursday. Wow.
Wednesday was uneventful, most of our classes ended up getting cancelled due to the upcoming holidays. Thursday- I cant remember- uneventful.
Friday I went off to Ramat Gan (but getting there… I got on the wrong bus…heh). Here’s the problem. I asked the Israelashvili’s which bus route to take, and they were so helpful and told me to take the 43 to Tel Hashomer Hospital. But- when I went to take the 43 I asked the driver if he went to Ramat gan and he told me no- so I got on the 42 which does go to Ramat gan. But- when I told him that I need to go to Tel Hashomer, he told me that I needed to get on another bus- 70- at the main bus stop in tel aviv. So I did and got there okay, and in time for the holiday and everything, but it took me 2 hours to get there. (it’s only a 40 minute drive ) and a lot of stressing out about a bus system I knew nothing about because their website is sooo horrible. Hate it.
Rosh hashana was amazing at the Israelashvili’s. I spoke mostly in Hebrew, which was really good practice. I tried reading Harry Potter in Hebrew- that was a mistake- too high of a level of Hebrew is needed. But I did play Bananagrams in Hebrew against Yochai- and didn’t do too bad. Plus the food was amazing and it meant that I didn’t have to do dishes. Yay J and the chazzan at their shul had a really good voice, although he dragged out the davening a bit too much. I got bored standing there while he sang slowly through a huge paragraph I had just said to myself. But for each of the dinners, since Moshe Israelashvili is Sephardi (meaning his family originates from the middle east- basically not Europe- you guys know about the two diff kinds of jewish customs- based on geography…) so anyways, we did about 10 blessings over signs (honey symbolizes having a sweet new year, a pomegranate for having a multitude of good things, head of a cow to be at the head and not the tail, etc.) and I actually led one of them. That was cool, and I’m glad I had the opportunity to do that.
Monday was a fast day, so I tried to take it easy although I had volunteering and then Hebrew class (which, by the way is 2.5 hours long) but we toughed it out, and ended the fast with pizza a block away from my apt. I LOVE HAVING KOSHER FOOD EVERYWHERE!!!! It makes me so happy. Then, as our Tuesday siyur, we all (shalem and some others who were interested)got on a bus and rove to Jerusalem at 9:00. I don’t even know how far away it is, like 1.5 hours maybe) cause I slept. We had a tour of both the new and old Jerusalem which was really cool, ending at the Western wall. We got back at 4:00 in the morning, but then had to stay up till 5:00 to pray. That was pretty difficult. But then we had the day off mostly. We made shofars at 1:30 (not as exciting as it sounds, trust me) then my whole apt went off to the Doosh to buy groceries. We had nothing in out apt but now we are stocked up full!
Wednesday was a normal day. Lots of classes, some fun, some not. But at night we had this optional martial arts class called Krav Maga- some Israeli culmination of lots of different defense arts. I had so much fun, they first taught us how to get out of a stranglehold, then, we wrestled (don’t worry it was all girls) and lemme just say that you shouldn’t mess with me, man. I won twice against Tova, but I don’t even really care about that- it was just so cool. Not about brute force at all, all about anticipating your enemy and using their momentum against them.
Today was boring- classes and such. Nothing to write home about. But it was nice just being here. I realized that I just really love being here, in Israel.

Shabbat in Bat Yam/ intro to volunteering

Ok, so I left you guys off at Wednesday night. Thursday we were supposed to have volunteering- but as you may or may not already know- my volunteering was not set up correctly. Here's what happened- yosef and me were supposed to have gone on Wednesday to volunteer, but we couldn't because we had a talmud class then. So, the woman in charge of organizing this adult education (her name is Levana, and the program is called Tehila) figured that we didn't want to do it, and thought we had quit on her. So when we showed up Thursday morning to volunteer, no one was there for us. A couple of phone calls later, and alot of bad Hebrew later, I finally set us up to start our volunteering on Sunday at 8 in the morning. So we spent Thursday hanging around, and then before dinner, me and Tova went off to the beach and swam in the waves. In case you forgot- the beach is absolutely gorgeous. I wish we had an ocean nearby in MN.... not those nasty lakes with leeches- ugh.



Anywho, the plan was to go up to Jerusalem on thursday night, and I was gonna meet up with Elianna Mintz, but I decided last minute to stay in, since I was tired and had a headache. I watched some TV with a few other kids who had stayed behind and it was fun :)



Friday- same thing- we hung out, and since there were lots of visitors for shabbat (people's friends who came to visit) we spent alot of time getting food and accomodations ready for them. In Friday night, I went with a few others to a shul a block away from our apartment, then we all had dinner together. It was really nice to eat together :)



On shabbat, we all had lunch together, and hung out, then i took a 2 hr nap. That's the whole day!



Yesterday, I woke up early to walk our guests to the bus stop, then got home in time to eat breakfast and run off to my first day of volunteering. I helped Yaakov- a 65ish year old guy who's learning how to read hebrew, and Rachel, a 65ish year old lady who is learning to both read and write hebrew. She's reallly sweet- she was telling me about how her grandson is having his bar mitzvah this week. I think its amazing how these adults are trying to learn to read and write so late in life. Then at night, there was this big commencement ceremony officially welcoming us YJ chanichim to Bat Yam, and at this great- hem hem- get together- I gave a speech. Yes, me- about who I am and why I chose to do this program. All because Avi called me and tole me at like 12 that I was going to do this. It was not a request. But I did okay, and everyone liked what I had to say about pluralism being understated by the general public- esp orthodox.

For anyone who is curious, my main problem with orthodoxy in general- could be any religion- is that everyone should be open to discussion with another Jew (for ex) regardless of the section of Judaism they belong to. There is no legitimate reason why I should be discouraged from mingling with less observant Jews on the chance that they will make me lose my connection with god or whatever. We should all be encouraged to discuss religion with everyone of our faith- not isolated to maintain observancy. That's just like sticking your head in the sand in my opinion.

Anywho, I got to skype with family on Sunday night! Yay! I miss you guys. And for anyone reading this who does not have skype- I recommend it. It's free. Just costs whatever you need to pay for the camera(if you even want one). Ans I would love to talk to you all. :)

Today, I accidentally made our whole apartment miss morning prayers (Shacharit.. and if you need help pronouncing the "ch" ask Kathleen). But it's all good because Avi hates reprimanding girls. The boys he'll punch and attack, but the girls he wont even yell at. Thank god I'm a girl. And likable. Did more volunteering today- I'm really starting to like it. I also got adopted today by a 50ish year old woman named Allegra who tole me she would be my mom as long as I am in Israel. And she gave me her phone number and tried to invite me over for the upcoming holidays. I didn't even care that she was pinching my cheeks the whole time. I also got rugalach- which are delicious croissant-like pastries that often have chocolate in them- from these women Yosef and I were teaching to use computers.
I love my volunteering- I always get food :)

Today we had our first Hebrew classes- of which there are seven groups and I got put in the highest one- we'll see how that goes. It's hard, but she seems nice and didn't give us any homework. Yesterday I had my first Bible Babel class (about Israel's political situation during the times of the temple) and I got a reading packet for homework. Except the teacher is really relaxed about it and said that we can do whatever we want to as fara s hw goes,a dn that all tests are open book and open notes. We can even bring Aunt Tzimma's cookbook if we want. (his words, not mine)

And tonight we had out second- but first official Mifgeshet Dira- apartment check/ deliberation. Our fridge still has too much dust on top of it to let us pass- but again, we didn't get in trouble. Then I made fish for dinner- from frozen fish, some oil, soup mix, and lemon with some potatoes thrown in for more substance. It was gone within 7 minutes of it coming out of the oven. SUCCESS!!! But right now as it stands we have virtually no food unless you wanna eat noodles-again- or rice or barbecue sauce. That's pretty much it. So we're going to the Dush for food shopping tomorrow (after the Siyur-trip- in Tel Aviv to the markets)

We need more pears. They are delicious. Scrumptious. I could probably live off pears and cottage cheese. No lie. But i need meat too... Sorry Tal.

K, so I'll check in again soon. Hope all is well settling in without me and into college- whichever situation you find yourself in. And know that I am having a great time. :)

Love to everyone <3 :)

An old city and a wonderful beach

So... long time, no blog.

Here's the update:

Sunday we all signed up for the siyurim (tours) that we wanted to do (we ranked three choices for every tuesday. I honestly don't remember what I did the rest of that day, I may have just spent time organizing and cleaning our apartment.. nothing too serious.

On Monday we learned about our volunteering- mine is adult education, which I am doing with another kid from Shalem, namd Yosef (he was actually on my orientation, but wasn't Shalem at that point or something. We went, we met the woman in charge, then I took a nap- I know- BORING!!

But, after that refreshing snooze, I went with a few others to the beach to swim. Oh. My. God.

I live a ten minute bus ride away from the Mediterranian Sea. It is gorgeous and has soft sand and has the perfect temperture for water. Makes me wanna own a beach house (but not more than wanting to own a cabin in the woods..)

I got kinda burned at the beach, but I didn't mind.

Then we had free time till about 6, when Shalem met up with Avi Gabai, our Madrich (advisor/counselor) and we all went out to Tel Aviv for dinner. The food was delicious in the outdoor restaraunt where we ate- and there were 4 chairs randomly hung up around on the walls- don't ask me why.

The food was delicious- cous cous (a food so nice they named it twice) and potato soup stuff and meat (which was kinda weird) and of course Israeli salad and bread (but no pita). After dinner, Avi took us around the port city of Yaffo, and we saw some really cool things. It made me feel for the first time that we really were in a foreign and ancient country, exploring it all.

Tuesday. Shalem went to this mall about a half hour away by bus and volunteered by packing bags and transporting heavy boxes for an organization that was making packages to send to families in need for the upcoming holidays (Rosh Hashana- Jewish new year). It was so much fun, and we took a break halfway through where we went to this toy store above ground (did I mention we were working in the underground parking garage which was soooo hot) Toys R Us and we looked around at all the fun stuff. I decided then that I need to buy a kite and fly it at the beach. Good plan.

After we finished the volunteering, we quickly did a once-over to our apartment and called Avi to come do the first Mifgeshet Dira ("apartment meeting" where he checks to make sure our apartments are clean and that we have food to eat, etc.). We were si cinfident that our apartment was spotless. Until Avi came in and showed us the error of our ways. Obviously, we had to dust and wash the windows, as well as dust the tops of doors, mop behid the frdge and oven, and squegee the floor. He literally wiped his hand on the top of our fridge, checked shelves and such for dust, and said we would have to fix it an that he would check up on us again in an hour. He didn't, but we were cleaning for the next four. Yikes. Never again. Oh, and he told us how we should give hime something to eat seeing as the boys had given him something when he came into their apartment. So, we were prepared. We made hima turkey sandwich with all the fixins and when he came back, he said we did a really good job, and that he could see that we had worked hard. Yay! Then he helped us make green beans which we brought to a pot-luck dinner at the boys place where there was Schnitzel.. mmmm...

After dinner, we all went out to Tel Aviv, and roamed around, but not the best night ever, it was pretty boring.

Wednsday: Had our first Torah study class. I challenged the teacher on asically everything he said, it was fun. We talked about hostages, and what the Jewish laws (halacha) dictates we do in such a situation, such as our situation with Gilad Shalit. After the class, we took pictures around town to use as promotional stuff for Shalem. Then we kinda vegged out in our apartment. Maddie kept falling asleep on the couch, because that's just what she does at home- she can't help it- she just always falls asleep. But I finally got out to the mall but had to leave early for a security meeting for all of year course. Apparently, we wont be going to Dimona as the next town, since a few bikes were stolen from there and a few apartments broken into. No one was hurt, but they're all moving to Arad because the kids don't feel safe. So we will be there too for the next session.

After that, I just hung out with Tova till dinner, and we all (yues, all 20 Shalem kids) ate over at our apartment for supper. Not looking forward to dishwashing. Yuck.

That's all for now, I'll updte again before Shabbat, though.

Miss you all, and please don't hesitate to reply or shoot me an email or whatever, I love to hear from home (even if you're not still in MN/ the Twin Cities)

Love and peace to you all :)

First Shabbat in Bat- Yam

So, we had our first shabbat in Israel. On Friday afternoon, we all met up and went to a B'nei Akiva shul close to the beach (and about a 45 minute walk away). Then all the Shalem kids were paired off and went to different Israeli families for Friday night dinner. I went with a girl named Tova (not from my appt) and we had a wonderful time- the family didn't all speak English well, which gave us each a chance to practice our hebrew skills. They were all very welcoming and sweet... and funny the way that Israelis are. The mother sent us home with cookies and fruit, and they were all just so nice.

Afterwards, we all met up at the beach, with the rest of the Year Course kids. It was really fun because the beach is so softand it was so pretty and the water was the perfect temperature.

Today, we soke up early to meet up to go to shul, but couldn't figure out where we were supposed to meet, so we ended up walking for about 2 hours and still ended up at our apartment without a clued where everyone else was. We had kiddush together and then talked about pluralism in Judaism (a topic I find important but that is usually dismissed). We had a group lunch and then played wome games in our apartments (yes.. we played Bananagrams, and Uno too :)

On our way to the other girls apartment to hang out, we met these Israelis in a park right across the street from my apartment who were very cool. They were really energetic and were happy to meet Americans. One of them was named Yochai and told us that he plays soccer on the Tel- Aviv team. I have no idea if that was true, but we also got to meet his mother since they live right next to the park, and she came to say hi, and it was really cool because we got invites over to eat, or visit :) That's Israel for ya.

We had Seuda shlishit at our apartment- which we finally cleaned and organized!! Then havdala, and now we plan to just watch a movie tonight, although lots of people are going up to Tel-Aviv.

I'm glad to finally feel like this is our apartment, and that it is now a living space, not just a place to sleep.

Had a great time, and cant wait till tomorow when we find out what our volunteer jobs are :)

Our first Tiyul

Ok, so nothing big to report about yesterday- more boring talks about safety and insurance, and what to do in case of an emergency, yatta, yatta, yatta. After two days of being talked at for hours on end, we were all ready for a break. So last night the Israeli scouts (which stay in the apartments- just notfor Shalem kids.... I want one but we don't get one) took us out to bars or pubs or whatever- I didn't go, just stayed in with Chana (also Shalem) and watched "He's just not that into you"- that's a movie for all of you over the age of youth.

But today, we all piled into busses (that's our whole section, Shalem and Year Course kids together) and drove for 2 hours to what used to be a river up near Haifa I think- can't remember. We hiked down it for about 4 hours, and it was a blast. After we got to the bottom, they explained that we had just traveled nearly the same path that hundreds of Jews had in 1945, when Britain was in control and didn't let everyone in. They rose up against the guards together- with the help of Palmach (an underground Israeli army at the time) until they got to a town at the bottom- a Kibbutz- again, can't remember the name. In the morning, when British troops came looking for them, every one in the whole town would only say one sentence: Ani Yihudi me'Eretz Yisrael... meaning: I am a Jew from the land of Israel.

After that, they fed us dinner of pizza made in front of us on a cool grill thing- can't explain. All I know is that pizza with carmelized onions is the only kind I will ever eat again. Seriously, it was amazing. Much better than Little Tel Aviv.

Overall, feeling great and meeting tons of new and interesting people, all very nice, and generally having a good time.

I posted the pictures so far on Facebook- if you have an account just look for it, otherwise, follow this link: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2033381&id=1069097522&l=b0922f01ee

Love you all!

Oh, and skype is a good way to reach me: my name is my account- find me and lemme know if you wanna talk. You can join the google group to get emails whenever I update, or you can just check in whenever. If you want in on emailed updates, post your email address or email me, I'll hook you up.

<3>

I'm finally in Israel!!!

Soooo..... on Sunday night- about 11:00, I got to the airport, then stood in line for an HOUR to get checked in and to validate the fact that I was NOT a terrorist... and then the flight was delayed for half an hour but we didn't actually leave the airporttill like 3:30 ish Monday morning. I know- right?!? Then the flight took forever... and by the time we got in to Tel Aviv it was 8:30 local time- you do the math. On the upside, it gave me a chance to watch X-men again :) By the time I got to my apartment, it was alreay 11:00 at night.

The first day was so packed with activities. First they gave us debit cards for the apartments, and set us loose in the mall to go shopping. The name of our supermarket is Super Dush(pronounced Soo- Pair Doosh) :) We all got a kick out of it. Then we got a tour of the city and got maps... not like it helped at all- I have no idea how to get around at all. In fact, after dinner (which the girls decided to do pot-luck style the first night, we brought salad and drinks and they made noodles) I got us lost on the way home. It took half an hour what it should have taken 10 mins. But it's good that I had my map with me- not that it was accurate...

So- there are four Shalem apartments- 2 girls and 2 boys. 4 and 5 split for the girls- I'm in the smaller group with only 4 people in our apartment. It's me, Masha from Long Beach CA, Madeline from Long Island NY and Shayna from San Diego CA. I'm really glad we got a small group- it's much easier to manage as far as food shopping and stuff. Plus we get more room. I think the boys have the same set-up of 4 and 5 (there are also 9 boys- a perfect 1:1 ratio). Our apartment is sorta small, and the bathroom and whower room are two different rooms, but the shower room has a hole in the ground. Just a 3" diameter hole. In the floor. And no towel rack or shelf. Or air conditioning, and boy is it hot! the only time you don't sweat is in the shower and as soon as you get out, you wanna get back in cause you feel gross already. I'm glad the summer is ending, I don't think I can take that kind of heat :)

The rest of this week is more Orientation- rules, security, learning about our volunteering and classes, taking placement tests and trying to familiarize ourselves with our environment. Sounds like fun, right? But once we get into the swing of things and have a set schedule. Ta-ta for now- I'll try to update once a week for the first month then once every two weeks after that. We'll see how that works.

Love you all and miss you! Please call me- my Israeli phone # is 052-603-7010 Just remember that I'm about 8 hours ahead (in MN) - 7 from NY
<3 <3 <3

The pre-trip trip

On Thursday, I left Minneapolis early and went to NY to visit with Aliza for the few days before I left for Israel. While there, we went to see a few plays- "Graveyard Shift" (a musical about zombies) and "The Bacchae" by Euripides in Central Park.

We went to visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art and made it to the Charlie "the bird" Parker Jazz Festival in Marcus Garvey Park. While this was technically the beginning of my long stay away from home, it felt like just a nice vacation... but I can't wait to get to Israel :)

P.S. forgot to mention seeing the awesome star show at the Planetarium starring Whoopi Goldberg... and later hanging out with Nir and Tami on Sunday. Got to see Times Square- my favorite part of NY ;)
Love to all!