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.

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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