The Holocaust in Ikea

Monday, we took a TASP field trip to Yad V’shem, the Holocaust museum in Jerusalem (affectionately known as J-town). The last time I had been there was in 1999. A new part was built 5 years ago and the old museum was closed, so I was strangely excited to go. We went on a guided tour, which is not how I usually go through museums. While I heard a lot of things that I’m sure were not written on the displays, I discovered that I am not fond of guided tours. I would rather go through at my own pace, able to read everything that I want. I’m going to have to go back at some point in these next 2 years. I think I can squeeze that in.
Afterward, we went on a winding bus ride through the hills to a boutique winery (that means they produce less than 100,000 bottles a year). They gave us loaves of good bread, dishes of soft cheese and olives. A woman taught us about how wine is made, the differences between reds, whites and roses and how to properly taste wine. We had a sauvignon blanc and a cabernet sauvignon. Both were delicious! They also have honey in the gift shop from all the bee hives they have to pollinate the grape vines. I got a jar for Rosh Hashana, which is in a few weeks.
When we got back to Tel Aviv, Allie, Raquefette, Julie and I went to Marty’s to hang out. We bought the beer and he provided some good music and food...chicken kebab and mini burgers, hummus, babaganush and tehina. Mmmm…
The only thing to note about Tuesday is that Allie and I met up with my friend, Roy for dinner. He took us to a small hummus restaurant. Everyone gets their own bowl of hummus (I got a hard boiled egg sliced on top, too.) and it’s served with pita and Israeli salad. Yum!
Wednesday, I went to school to meet some other teachers and start decorating my room. I was only there for a few hours, but it was plenty of time to prepare for the first week of my classes. My room is the bomb shelter, so it’s underground. I felt a little dirty when I left.
I got back to the hostel and Ali, Allie and I walked to get lunch (falafel!) and hopped on a bus headed for the train station. We took the train (only 6.5 sheks- approx: $1.50) to Netanya, where Israel’s Ikea is.

Turns out we got off one stop too late, so we grabbed a cab for the short ride there. Things in Ikea started out pretty well. We were really excited to be there and were so amazed with everything there. We had to ask a few people before we could get help in English about how to get the big things, like a futon to use as a couch and beds. So many of our first choices were out of stock, including the futon I wanted for my room. There’s a futon store on Ben Yehuda St. in TA, though, so we’ll go there to get it. In the living room section, we were reminded of Yad V’shem by some pillows that shared an uncanny resemblance to concentration camp uniforms. We vetoed those! Helping Ali and Allie pick out mattresses was fun! Selecting sheets was surprisingly confusing. Had anything been in English, it would have fine. However we had to rely on deceiving pictures. We finally realized the sets were just comforter covers and pillow cases, but the measurements were bigger than the beds (so they can hang over). That’s right, measurements. Not easy words like ‘full’ or ‘queen’. Then came the sheets. Of course, they were not labeled with ‘fitted’ or ‘flat’ (not even in Hebrew). We had to open a package to find out what was going on. It was fitted, but all the other pictures were the same. I don’t even think they sell flat sheets, so we didn’t get any. Comforters, towels and hangars calmed us down. And then we entered the warehouse. This is where we were to pick up all our big stuff. I can’t even begin to explain the frustrations of trying to get all the pieces of a large futon when everything is in another language and no one speaks English.



Some of Allie’s bed wasn’t even on the right aisle. They had to get lift to get it down. Luckily, Ali can communicate enough in Hebrew to convince people we’re not completely idiotic with our hand gestures. The check out line was ages long, it took 30 minutes to get their mattresses, (Ikea has food, so we ate hot dogs and fries for dinner then.), and then we had to attempt to get everything delivered. Luckily, that woman spoke English and it was fairly easy. We still had 7 bags to carry of “little” things that Ikea won’t deliver. The next counter was to get the stuff built once it’s delivered. She didn’t speak English and literally ignored us while we stood and stared at her for at least 20 minutes. I don’t know what compelled her to pay attention to us, but the Hebrew was basic enough for Ali and Allie to take care of business for us. Heading back to TA was an ordeal, of course, also. We took 1 sherut (a van that follows bus lines) in the wrong direction even though the driver told us it went to the train station. The other one went straight to TA, and we got off kind of close to our hostel, carrying all of our bag, including one with a broken handle. The boys were nice enough to let us store our stuff under their beds because they have so much more space and then we collapsed on our beds. I really hope we don’t have to ever go back. 7 ½ hours was enough for a lifetime.

My school visit

Sunday (8/26/07)
The English Inspector from the Ministry of Education in Tel Aviv (the titles sound so much more intense!) and a middle school teacher came to talk to us today in orientation. A lot of time was spent on talking about the Bagrut, a standardized test the high schoolers have to take for each subject to exit high school. There is a lot of frustration, just like in the States, from teachers wanting to teach more creatively and based on their students’ needs rather than teaching to the test. However, there is much less verbal dissent about it and both were very hesitant to answer how they truly felt about the tests.
Afterwards, I took a taxi with Marion to my school. It is called Tzahalah and is in a very wealthy area in NE Tel Aviv. It is a very large school- more than 600 kids, 1st-6th grades. I met with the principal (Irit), the 4th-6th grade English teacher (Michelle) that I will be working with closely and the secretary (Eyal) that will be the one to answer all of the questions Michelle can’t. In Israeli schools, the principal is a very administrative position and is not expected to be very hands-on, with the students or the teachers. I am told that I will probably not see very much more of her and should direct my questions to the teacher and secretary only. She’s a warm, friendly person, but has too many other things to deal with. She met with me today just to find out who is going to be in her school and then is just going to trust that Marion and Michelle make sure I do a good job. Even so, Mark says, just like any principal, she always knows what is going on throughout her school. Somehow, she has her ways. Michelle is very friendly also, though a tough teacher. Marion says she is very independent and will sometimes say things in front of Irit, even though she is planning on doing it a different way. For example, she said I will spend the 1st few days to a week observing, but Mark and Marion have both said that I will be teaching the 1st day. We’ll see. :)
For dinner, Allie, Ali and I met another girl in our program, Molly. She lives 2 blocks from our new place. We went to a Thai restaurant where for 15 shekels ($4.75) you can get a 1/2 kilo (1 lb) of noodles & veggies! They have a lot of other, cheap dishes that are also that big. Great for 2 meals. And...sushi! I think I'll be there a lot- at least when I'm not eating hummus and falafel!

Do you like it hot?

So the last few days have been brutally hot...more so for my roommates from the Northeast than for me. We walk outside and they immediately mention the heat. By that point, I haven't even noticed it yet. I notice when we've been walking around for 20 minutes and I start lightly sweating. It is at those moments that I am thankful I am from Texas and worked outside all summer! :) I posted some pictures in the other entries, so scroll down. I need to figure out how to put them inline with the text, though, so they are near what I am talking about, instead of all at the beginning.

Thursday (8/23/07)
I met with Mark after orientation to grill him about the school and teaching situation. He answered all of my questions and more. He even gave me a list of kids I will have and told me what they needed the most help with! He told me to invite all the people in the hostel to his apt for a Shabbat dinner the next day. That evening (Allie, Ali and I) had our meeting with the landlords of the dream apt...it's ours!!! Their lawyer is out of town, so we didn't have the official lease, but we wrote up & signed a temporary agreement that included most of the terms the lease will have. They emailed us the contract, so we're printing it out and showing it to our program's lawyer to make sure it's ok, because it's all in Hebrew. That night, we went to meet one of my Israeli friends at a bar in South Tel Aviv. We (Allie, Ali, Leeba and I) took a cab to the area, but couldn't find the bar. We stopped in a convenient store and asked where it was. One of the guys, a customer, said he didn't know, but that we should come to "his" bar. We were a little taken aback, but followed him, and got in free (apparently there was a cover)! It was a pretty cool place, similar to what I was used to. They were even playing some American music. I was the only one of our group drinking beer & not liquor. Allie and Leeba also started dancing, so the bartender I guess thought of me as the "responsible one" and kept handing me the bill or telling me how much a drink that someone else ordered was. I got paid back, but it was pretty funny. My friends kept calling me "Mommy Carly." My Israeli friend, Roy, stopped in to say hi, but didn't want to pay the cover, so didn't stay long. His friends were still outside. I might have recruited him to drive us to Ikea this week, but it'll be a real undertaking, so we'll see. :) We didn't get home until 4 in the morning and we slept until 12:30 pm- just like our first night!

Friday (8/24/07)
When we got up, Allie and I got ready for the beach. Ali wasn't feeling so well so we left her in the hostel. Allie and I walked to the beach, found a restaurant and shared an Israeli breakfast for one. It was very large! There was a loaf of good bread, a large bowl of Israeli salad, and a tray of tuna salad, olives, feta cheese and cream cheese, all in their each sections. It also came with OJ- fresh squeezed and delicious! We went to the part of the beach that was nearest to the restaurant. I twas between 2 levees, so it was kind of secluded. That's the first time it really felt brutally hot. I spent some significant time in the water. It is gorgeous! Green and clear- I was in water up to my waist and could see my feet! I decided I need to get a little blow up raft...and a beach towel. We've been using an extra hostel sheet. I've got to also figure out how the Israelis sit on the beach without sweating or getting sandy at all. This sand is so much more fine tan on the Texas beaches and it just clings to you! The heat kept us from staying too long- only a fe hours, but I still got a little darker. :) (Don't worry, Mom, I'm using sunscreen. SPF 34!) Before we left, we got some ice cream to cool off and then headed back for some showers. Ali and Allie went to find a cafe to use the internet and I took a good nap!
That evening, 7 of us from the hostel went to Mark's for dinner. It was a little hard to find, because each side of the street had a different name and we were walking on the "wrong" side. We found it, after calling, and invading his room because it had AC. Mark custom made quesadillas for us. :) Mark even had Corona! I felt so at home! About midnight, Mark, Allie, Dina, Shari and I walked to the namal (That's the port. It has many clothings shops, restaurants and bars.)- with beers in hand!- to meet my friend Lauren who was in town from HUC in Jerusalem for the weekend. We caught up for a bit, mostly with camp stuff, before she left and I sat with the rest on a couch at a bar called Speedo for quite some time. It was a lot of fun getting to know my new friends over beers! Turns out you find out more than in class or over coffee. :)

Saturday (8/25/07)
Slept in again...decided we didn't want to brave the heat at the beach...walked to the namal for food & internet...back to the hostel to meet Leeba @ 5:30. The 4 of us walked to Dizengoff Center (kind of like a mall w/ lots around it, too- 30 min walk away) to go to a movie. The selection was limited, but we chose one called "Love and Other Disasters" with Britney Murphey. It was a British film and if it comes out in the States- don't go see it. It's not worth your $8. That was our weekend & I went to bed early so I could be well rested for orientation the next day and my school visit afterward.

Finding the dream apt...

There was a break through in the apt hunt today. We saw a place that is currently be renovated- it will be ready next week, when we have to move out of the hostel (perfect timing!). It is fully furnished (stove/oven, fridge, closets, etc) except for 2 beds and a couch. We'd each have to only by 1 piece of furniture. Rent is a little on the high end of our range at $1500 a month, without the city tax or utilities, but the tax is only $50 a month (split 3 ways) and there are so many windows - one HUGE one in the living room- so we wouldn't have to use much electricity during the day. It's beautiful!!! (Or definitely will be, once it's done.) They wanted a family and for it to be a long term lease, but we let them know we'd be there for 2 years and they seemed to like that. We also tried to impress upon them that we're responsible people, going to school for education and would really take care of the place, not trash it. We were apparently the first people to look at it. They'll be calling us tomorrow, so hopefully they think we're a perfect match for the apt, too. Keep your fingers crossed for us!
In orientation today, we talked about the Israeli school system. A lot of parts are very different than the American system, but there are some similarities, like standardized tests in HS. Again, like the banking, it's complicated, but let me know if you'd like to know more & I'll tell you. I took ample notes! :) The academic director, Marion, also told me today what my teaching assignment will be. It's a little unfair to other people that they are already placing some, before they finished all the interviews, but it works out for me. They haven't told anyone else about their specific placements, just gave some people a general idea of age group or location. I will be working in the same school as the guy, Mark, that had graduated the program and came to talk to us the other day. It's a very wealthy school and has a English room. So, I'll have my own classroom, with my own key, that I can decorate. I will be essentially be left alone to do my own thing and the only people checking up on me will be Marion and Zvi from TASP. I pretty much start teaching right away! I wish now that I had brought more than just a few books & Texas posters and maps. :) I am meeting with Mark tomorrow to ask him a thousand questions about how to get started and get an idea of what my classroom should look like. Sunday, Tuesday and Wednesday are designated for school visits- that's when everyone else finds out their placements. I get to go to my school & meet the principal on Sunday!
I was totally cool w/ working in the school system before, when I knew we'd have some time to sit and observe. I'm really nervous, now that I have start immediately! Hopefully, meeting with Mark tomorrow will calm me down.
I miss everyone & will hopefully post pictures soon. I am using free internet at a cafe now, which means my laptop is not plugged in and it's losing juice quickly. SO, once it's charged & I can come back to get free internet, pictures will go up! :)

My first few days in Israel

OK, so I'm still catching up with this blog. When I'm doing keeping up with it more consistently, it probably won't be so long. Oh, who am I kidding? It will always be long and detailed!

Friday (8/17/07)
I woke up at 10 am with someone banging on my door. Apparently, we had to move out then and then recheck into new room at 2 pm. I was so groggy, so I just got dressed and went with one girl from the program to eat.
Then I just hung around, paid for internet to contact the family, and fell asleep in the downstairs lobby (even though there was a program going on in the rec. hall next to it). When I woke up a little later, I went to the courtyard to get some fresh air and fell asleep again on the bench. I woke up at 2:05, discovered my legs had been eaten by mosquitos and went to the front desk. I was to just check 2 rooms upstairs the girls in the program were in to see where the extra beds were. One room had 3 people and 1 tope bed left. The other had 1 girl and 2 bottom and 1 top beds. I went with the latter room! Allie, from NY, was in there. We got to know each other a bit, then each took showers to clean traveling off of us. :) Soon after, Ali (from Baltimore) showed up. They had been keeping in touch through Facebook, but I got along well with them, too. We walked toward the beach in search for some food for dinner. It was closer than I thought-only 15 min. away! I got so excited at the sight of the white sand that I ran to just put my toes in it. The girls called me crazy, but came to feel the beach underfoot also. :) We found a restaurant where we could watch the sun set into the Mediterranean Sea. I had a delicious Greek salad. I know I should have had some Israeli food, but I needed something light after all that eating during my travels. We walked back slowly and went to bed, excited to go back to the beach the next day on Shabbat.

Saturday 8/18/07
We all slept about 13 hours-until 12:30 pm! We didn’t really get out of the room and on our way to the beach until 2:30. We took a different way this time and stopped on the way to eat. I had a salmon toast. A “toast” is essentially a grilled sandwich and is usually very flat. I should mention that Ali and Allie spent a semester and summer of their Junior year in college abroad here. Ali was in TA at Tel Aviv Univ (TAU) and Allie was in Haifa at the Univ. of Haifa. So, they can speak some Hebrew and are helping me around a bit.
We found a good spot on the beach and soon, an Israeli guy came up to us, first speaking in Hebrew & then in English when he discovered we didn’t understand him. He was saying that he worked for a radio station that was offering a prize to people that got sunburned. It took some time for both parties to understand that he meant suntanned! The prize was “AC in the sea.” I said, “Is that possible?” and he said, “Sure,” and reached into his pants. Luckily, he pulled out a fold up fan! What a pick up line! We asked him if the prize could be an apt. (We decided we liked each other a lot and could live with each other!). His friend apparently knew of one and he brought him over. The apt wasn’t in the area of town we were looking in, but he and Allie exchanged numbers, so we could meet up and they could help us look online the next day. It’s all in Hebrew and though Ali and Allie know some, it always helps to have an Israeli on your side! (The original guy was Uri and his friend was Elad.)

We left a little later to go look at an apt. It took longer to get there than we thought and the people weren’t there. Someone else that knew about the place said to come back the next day because he didn’t have the key. On the way there, I tripped over nothing (surprising, huh?) and broke my flip flop. I walked 1/4 of the way with one shoe! Dizengoff Mall was very close, so we went to get a new pair. We stopped 1st at a kiosk at the entrance of the mall to get Ali and me cell phones. The 2 main companies are called CellCom and Orange. Allie had an Orange phone and said the process was super easy. I liked the name, so that’s what I went with! Since I don’t have an Israeli ID, I couldn’t get a real plan, so I got a choice of 4 different prepaid phones, 2 were 600 shekels/ $150, one was 350 shekels/ $87.50 and one was 300 shekels/ $75. I went the middle one because it was cheaper & would actually last the 2 years. I put 150 shekels/$37.50 on it and got a little more than 200 min outgoing. They gave me 100 free text messages and all incoming calls are free! The phone is also capable of calling America. There are 3 calling codes to choose from, each with different rates. I’m going to use Skype, though, so I can talk for a while and not worry about how much it’s costing me! :) After getting a new pair of flip flops, we stopped at Aroma Cafe (It’s a chain around the country.) I couldn’t read a thing, so I pointed to a picture that looked good and got a margarita pizza on a croissant. On the walk home, I discovered I don’t like new flip flops-they gave me blisters! :(

Sunday 8/19/07
We woke up about 8 am to get ready for “school.” It was our 1st day of orientation! We made it downstairs in time for the hostel’s breakfast. It’s offered 7-9 am. That’s where we met up with the other 6 interns staying in the hostel and hopped on the bus to TAU. We started “class” at 10 am and got our schedule for the next 2 weeks. We have orientation every day, except Friday and Saturday until 2 pm, with a trip to Yad V’shem (the Holocaust museum) and a winery tour in Jerusalem next Monday. We visit the little town next to TA (Rishon Le Zion) and our school at the end of next week. Then we each gave a little presentation/introduction of ourselves. There are a total of 20 interns; about half are right out of college, and the rest are 24-28, with various levels of life experience. Some of their experiences are just mind boggling! One girl (the first one I met, Katie) has a Master’s in Music Ed. and plays the organ. She’s taught English in the Netherlands for the last 4 years. One guy (Keith), has spent several years traveling Europe and Asia and has taught English in Korea over the last year. He flew in from Bangkok mere hours before orientation started with a laptop, a large bag and another small bag- that’s it...all his stuff! Another girl (Molly) taught high school in Los Angeles, in a part of the city with a lot of gang violence and had several days in a row the school was on lock down. Security was not an issue for her when coming here! A few people have 1 (or both) Israeli parents or have just fallen in love with the country and made Aliyah anywhere from weeks to years before starting the program. The rest of the seminar was pretty boring- just an overview of the program, its history and who’s who in it. I don’t think I drank enough water during the day and got a headache. I stayed at the hostel while Ali and Allie went to look at a few apts.
Monday 8/20/07 Today’s seminar was all about apt. hunting. They (Zvi and Marion Dank, the Director and Academic Director) took us through a map and explained the cultures and key points (traffic, attractions near by, etc) of each neighborhood and showed us the apt search websites, explaining the Hebrew and what everything meant in the context of what is meant to the Israelis posting in, not what in meant to the Americans reading it. Two other people were there also- 1 that had graduated the program and 1 that was starting the 2nd year- to tell us about their experiences with teaching and living in TA. Each of the interns has a 10-15 min. interview with one of the Danks today, Tuesday or Thursday to talk more intimately about our Hebrew level, what age group we want, our strengths and weaknesses and how we feel about working with advantaged vs. disadvantaged kids. Working with disadvantaged younger kids (4th-5th gr.) may not happen for me because of my Hebrew level. Those kids don’t have nearly as much English as the other demographics because they don’t get it at home since there’s not an immediate need. They don’t travel the world on breaks like the wealthy kids do. I said I was willing to try new challenges of teaching older kids and wanted different experiences each year. There is a school with a lot of kids of immigrant workers which “might be really interesting” for me (to quote Zvi). So, we’ll see! After orientation, Ali, Allie and I went to go look at a few more apts. Technically, we shouldn’t be looking at them together because we shouldn’t be living together because the Danks don’t want apt issues to carry over into class & such or for us to get sick/annoyed with one another. We feel that we’ve lived with enough other people to know what kind of people we can live with as long as we all have our own rooms and can have “alone time,” we’ll be fine. We’re also all independent enough and have groups of friends here so we don’t always have to depend of each other for a social life. We also made a deal- I’ll cook if they will do the dishes! I’ll be a real chef by the time I come home. :)
The 2 apts we looked at were in good, central-north locations, but one only had 2 bedrooms (A thing we learned is that to Israelis, 3 rooms could mean 2 bedrooms and a living room/kitchen.) and the other, though it had a view of the beach was completely unfurnished- it didn’t even have a fridge or oven/stove!
Allie and I went out that night with our new friends, Elad and Uri, from the beach. We met at “Mike’s Place,” a bar near the beach that a lot of Americans go and I’ve been told that as long as there’s not a soccer or Pro American sport on, I can ask them to show a UT football game! :) Most bars in Israel aren’t the stand around kind with high tables to pt drinks on with stools might sit on. They are just pretty much like restaurants- you can order food, but after a certain time, most people just order alcohol. There’s apparently a very distinct difference with a club, but I have yet to experience it. I drank a local Israeli beer called Goldstar (it’s a medium-dark beer) and just had 2 and got a little tipsy. I think there’s more alcohol by volume here.
Tuesday 8/21/07
Today’s seminar was fine. A bank representative came in to talk to us about banking in Israel. There are a lot of things that are very different than banking in America. It is kind of complicated, but if you would like to know more, I’d be happy to try to explain it to you. Other than that, we just went over our handbook and the dates of breaks and such. Then, Allie and another intern, Leeba and I explored the campus book store while Ali was in her interview. We waited to buy anything until we have our student IDs and can get a discount. I did find some children’s books in Hebrew that I have the English versions of. I am actually thinking of buying them as language study aids. Leeba left and Allie & I laid on the grass under a tree until Ali walked up and we went to the Ramat Aviv mall. It is very upscale! I don’t think I’ll ever be dressed appropriately enough for it. Ramat Aviv is a wealthy suburb north of TA and is where the university is. At a store outside of the mall, I got an adapter for all of my electronics finally! I can now stop borrowing Allie’s. Oh, and I’m speaking Heblish now- all English, except for the Hebrew words I know! :)

Getting to Israel

Note to the reader: This is going to be long...give yourself time to read it.
8/18/07-Sat.
Wednesday's flight to Chicago was pretty uneventful. Then I spent 2.5 hours in the airport, bought postcards and popcorn, found a place to plug in my laptop and paid for internet. I talked to the other guy sharing the plug, but decided I didn't want to be seat buddies with him. I was one of the last to board in order to avoid it. I sat next to a guy from Chicago going to NY for business and then to the Hamptons with friends.
I struggled getting my bags off the conveyor belt, but found Aunt Alice easily. What did we ever do without cell phones? The front pocket of my new pink bag was torn a bit. :( We (Aunt Alice, Grandma and I) went to pick up Michael and his girlfriend, Kim, and then went to eat at a kosher deli. Very yummy! I had a pastrami sandwich and a potato knish. Then we went back to the house, Michael fixed my bag with safety pins and Aunt Alice gave me some chocolate biscotti.
When I got to JFk, I stood in the super long Delta line with my huge bags. When I got the front, I found out that I was at the wrong place. I was on the Delta flight but it was operated by AirFrance. I was supposed to be at the counter of the flight operator. I had to take a van there. That took forever because I had to go to a desk to check in, then to another desk to pay for my heavy bags and then go back to the first desk. Then, the line for security was super long and I was randomly selected to be searched. That line was so long, too, and by this time, it’s 15 minutes till boarding time. I put my bags on the belt and walked through the metal detector and they had me stand off to the side and called for a “female secondary”. I had to turn towards the wall because I was tearing up. JFK had been so stressful so far. At this point, I had 2 minutes till boarding time. I went through a machine that puffed air all over. I don’t how that checked anything, but at least I didn’t get a pat down. Then they had me find my bags to search those. I couldn’t find my laptop, but luckily they had just taken it off the belt and put it off to the side. Fortunately, I was fine-I knew I was, though. When I got the gate, I found out that the flight boarding time was 40 minutes late as it was. So I had time to make a few calls. :) When we finally boarded, we sat on the runway for at least an hour. I think I fell asleep...
Dinner on the plane was like a 4 course meal on a tray-with real silverware! It was the first airplane meal I’ve had that was actually good. Then I slept for a while, woke up and there was breakfast! We got into Paris at 10:45 am, and my connecting flight to Tel Aviv was at 11:00 am. Someone from the airline met us at the bottom of the airplane stairs (Yes-just like in the movies!) and took the 5 of us that were in the same situation to the transfer desk because we couldn’t get on our next flight and needed a new one. We were put on a flight at 7:10 pm, given a 10 minute phone card and a sandwich & drink coupon. I called Dad, forgetting about the time difference-it was 5 am there, 12 pm for me-oops! Then I got euros and went with 2 others (one Israeli, one American becoming and Israeli) to hop on a train and go explore Paris! We found our way to the Eiffel Tower, took a ton of pictures and went to find the Arc de Triomph.
We didn’t go up or into anything because we didn’t have the time. It took an hour each way to get between the city and the airport. The last thing we did was find a small, corner cafe and had coffee and crepes. How French! We noticed it was across the street from Le Maison du Chocolat. I had to go! I didn’t now what the euro was worth, so as it turns out, with train tickets, coffee, chocolates and stuff at the airport, I spent 65 euros. The exchange rate, I learned later, is 1 euro is $1.30, so I really spent $84.50!!!

The plane ride to Tel Aviv (TA) was pretty uneventful. In fact, before we left the runway, I fell asleep. I thought we were still on the ground when I woke up. :) I ate my free sandwich which was good because this airplane food turned out to be not so great. Oh, but I discovered on European airlines, you can get a small bottle of wine for free! I didn’t this time, but now that I know this, I will next time. :)
We got into TA at 12:40 am and it almost took my breath away to see ‘Welcome to Israel’ in Hebrew when I stepped off the plane. I stood in the Passport Control line and this huge Russian family kept trying to get to the other part of their family that was closer to the front. Every time the like moved, they they tried to push past me. It was really annoying-especially at 1:15 am! There were so many people in this line and if they can’t be smart enough to stay together as they walk through the airport, they don’t deserve to be together in this line. They should have to wait for each other on the other side. FInally we got close enough to the front of the line that I could go around the rail to the next line that only had one person in it. One of the Russian women came and stood in frontish/to the side of me, maybe to get out of her family’s crowd, but I got mad and said, very firmly, “No. I was here first.” I lied to the passport person, saying I was here visiting friends for a few weeks because I don’t have a student visa yet. Again, I struggled with my luggage and found a guy offering a taxi. There were going to charge me too much (170 shekels/ $42.50), but it was 2 am, I’d been traveling way too long and I just wanted to go to bed. He helped me with my bags, but I didn’t tip him because I felt like I was going to die when he drove and he overcharged me. (I found out later, it’s not normal to tip taxi drivers.)
As was going to my room at the hostel, I found a guy who was in the program smoking hookah with friends and he helped me with my bags up the stairs. I got up there (quietly-there were people in the room asleep) and immediately took off my shoes. I changed into PJs and when back to the lobby use a phone to call home. It was 4:45 pm there/1:45 am here, so I thought it was perfect, but the security guard at the desk said it was only available from the morning to 6 pm. I went back to the room to brush my teeth/wash my face (finally!) and just stood in the bathroom and cried! After the long, stressful day of traveling, I was finally able to breathe a little and all I wanted to do was talk to my parents before I went to sleep. I got in bed and just laid wide awake and cried for quite awhile. I just couldn’t stop. Finally, I fell asleep. I don’t know what time it was, but definitely after 3 am. Not counting time changes, my total time of travel was 37 hours!

I'm here!

Howdy from Israel! It was a long journey to get here, but here I am, in Tel Aviv! I got in on Thursday and have been partially keeping a journal that I will use when posting. Conveniently, I don't have it with me, so this is just a test blog, I guess. Check back tomorrow (keep in mind I am 8 hours ahead of Central time), and there will be a better entry! :)