My new friends

There was a request for pictures of all the people in my program that I talk about in my blogs, so here they are & then some (in case I mention them later):

Julie & Stephanie:

Adam & Evan:

Keith:

Ali, Leeba, Allie, me:

Lenore, Marty, me:

Mark (graduated) & Nili (2nd year):

Mike (living on our couch...still):

Raquefette & Allie:

(front to back, left to right) Shari, Stephanie, Jen, Dina, Lenore, Allie, Mike, Ali, Adam, Keith Ya'ara, Raquefette, Evan, Julie:

If you would like to know who anyone else is, just let me know and if I don't have a picture to post of them, I'll try to take one. :)

3 Fall holidays down, 1 to go

So this past Wed-Thurs was Sukkot, a Jewish harvest festival that commemorates the 40 years of walking in the desert. One of my Israeli camp friends (Meir) invited me and another camp friend (Josh) to his sister's house for dinner Wednesday night. The eve of every holiday usually involves some sort of traditional meal. This one is eaten in the sukkah. Meir is the youngest of 5 and his whole side of the family and his sister's husband's side was there. The table extended pretty far out of the sukkah. There was so much delicious food and everyone made us feel so welcome. Meir joked that we had to keep our plates filled, but seriously, every time there was space made, someone else offered us more! After the meal, we sat around outside, digesting and watching the kids play. Later, Josh, Meir, one of his brothers (Yoni) and his girlfriend (Yael) and I went to south TA to some clubs. Yoni and Yael were meeting friends for a birthday and Meir took Josh and I to a place called Bordel. It was packed and they were playing a kind of heavy metal trance music. Meir tried to volunteer me for a drinking contest. Luckily, he was joking and I got out of it. Next, we went to -1, which is underground and designed to look like a parking garage. This is where Yoni and Yael were. This club was playing more fun songs. One was even from camp and we all did the dance. I told Meir that I thought all the Israelis at camp said they don't ever do these dances. He told me that they only do them when they are goofing around. I was under the impression that most Israelis didn't even know the dances...I have discovered their secret! After a bit, we went to a place called the Breakfast Club. Loss of house type music. Had a weird encounter at the bathrooms where no one really stands in line. Some girls asked if I wanted to go in with them. Thinking this was the only way I was going to get in, I took them up on the offer, until their guy friends started walking in too. Meir wasn't standing too far away, got a little protective and we left to go back to -1. We actually didn't go to bed too late (2:30 am), so we were able to hit the beach by noon on Thursday. We had our biggest group yet with 7 people: Ali, Allie, Josh, Raquefette, Evan, Adam and me. Spent some time in the water on the raft with Ali and a lot of time hanging out on the blankets getting coated in sand by the wind.
I'm going camping next week, so look for a blog about that later.

Another holiday...

This is almost a week over-due, but here is my recap of Yom Kippur in Israel. Yom Kippur is the Day of Atonement, a day where Jews all over the world go to synagogue and fast all day to repent for their sins. At least, that’s what I learned in America. Here in Israel, where people don’t have to go out of their way to prove that they’re Jewish, it’s a little different. First off, EVERYTHING is closed, starting about 2:00 pm to 8:00 pm the next day. Also the only motorized vehicles on the roads are emergency vehicles. At sundown, people pour outside to meet friends and bike and walk in the middle of the street. Kids are everywhere, racing each other down the long, now safe and obstruction free streets. I went with Allie and Ali to meet my friend Alona. Every year, all her old high school friends come home for this holiday. They all meet at the same place and time to see each other and catch up. Another camp friend, Nitzan, who was in town came by with her boyfriend also. It was the most interaction I’ve had with Israelis at one time. I didn’t even mind that spoke to each other in Hebrew some of the time. It was just one more of those “Wow, I really am in Israel.” moments. I got home at about 1:00 am and slept in as much as I could. I fasted from food, and electronics, not water (because of my migraines) and read a lot during the day. We didn’t go to synagogue because the ones we were interested in (as in: not orthodox) were across town and we didn’t want to do that much walking on a day without food. Judging from the people outside and from what I’ve heard, at the beach, not praying is pretty common. Allie had made a wonderfully huge chopped veggie salad with tuna and cheese that we ate at dinner before the fast and again for our break the fast. Pretty good experience overall.
On another note, we found a new, small bar called Cerveza. I’ve only been once, but I’ll go back.

An educational trip to J-town, a migraine and Indian food.

This post has a lot of link to Wikipedia articles in it. I didn't want to go into all the history of everything we saw. If you want to learn more, just click on the link!
We met on the TA University campus at 8:30 Wednesday morning and got onto a small bus. It was not nearly as big and luxurious as the bus we took on our first trip to Jerusalem...we did not have our own seats. It’s a good thing we like each other. :) Marion and Zvi met us in J-town by the Jaffa Gate leading into the old city. They led us to meet our tour guide and guard. We took a quick bathroom break and I only mention it because I thought it was weird how close the men and women’s bathrooms were to each other in a city with so much separation of the sexes. We literally were standing in one line to go the left or right. They even shared the same sink.
We walked on the walls of the old city, marveling at how large the steps were, especially since people used to be shorter and they probably had to run around the walls when defending the city. We were peering out the spaces in the wall at the modern city of Jerusalem. The stark contrast between the history we were standing on and touching and the new, bustling life we were looking out at was breathtaking. Or maybe it was all the walking in the heat. I found the back of HUC, where I spent Rosh Hashana and our tour guide, Tom, pointed out the famous King David Hotel
, the Mount of Olives, the largest, oldest and holiest cemeteries in the world, and the Dome of the Rock. We stopped at a semi shady spot and sat and listened to Tom give us the biblical and archeological history of the old city. He was so animated and dramatic; listening to him was really fun and it was easy to be interested and take in what he was saying.
Just outside the city walls is the City of David and we heard a little about the excavations they were doing and went underground to walk through Hezekiah’s Tunnel, which redirected the water source down the hill.
Afterwards we went to the Davidson Archeology Center to see a computerized reconstruction of the Second Temple. When we walked outside again, we were taken to a non-public section of the Western Wall that we saw inside. It is where the keystone of a huge arc stairway fell when the Romans destroyed the Temple. It is amazing that something so old had been preserved underground, so in tact.
There is so much tangible history under this city that has not yet been discovered. People build and renovate right on top of it! The city laws only allow home expansions downward and people have to pay for the archeological excavations themselves if they find something (and report it!), so most of the time, concrete is just poured over it!
After finally getting to eat lunch at 3:30 pm in the Jewish Quarter of the old city, we went to visit the public prayer section of the Western Wall. It is the closest, remaining thing to the old temple, so even though it used to just be a surrounding, barrier wall it is now the holiest place for Jews to pray. The women’s section of the wall is so much smaller than the men’s, and it was very crowded and hard to get to the wall. I finally did and said a little prayer for my family, friends and myself. I didn’t have any paper to write on to put in the wall, but I’m sure I’ll be able to go back and do that at some point in the next 2 years.
When our whole group was finished praying, we said good bye to Tom and boarded the bus to go to dinner at the house of one of the guys on the TASP board of directors. My head hurt, but it wasn’t until I sat down to eat that I realized how nauseous I felt. I ate a little, but the weird lighting on the patio where we were eating was not helping my head. I went inside to sit on a comfortable chair near the bathroom. Everyone that walked by was so concerned. Though it was not nice to have a migraine so far away from my bed (or at all, really!), it was nice to know that I was taken care of, even a half a world away from home. Before we got on the bus to go back to Tel Aviv, my friend Evan gave me ½ of a Tylenol 2 and he reached over the seat and rubbed my head the whole way home. It definitely made the trip bearable. Ali, Allie, Lenore (who was spending the night) and I split a cab home from the university so I didn’t have to deal with another bus. 15 minutes later, contacts out and Imitrex in, I passed out!
Thursday, I woke up feeling so much better and ready to teach. When I got home, I wrote a thank you email to my whole cohort for all their concern. Later that night, for dinner, Ali, Allie and I met up with some of the girls from the 2nd year, took a bus to south TA to a vegetarian Indian restaurant. We had to take off our shoes and we sat on cushions with tapestries over them at the table. There were essentially 2 plate options: Special and Classic. Most of us got the latter, which is only 27 sheks (approx. $6.75) for a large sectioned plate of brown or white rice, lentils, 2 vegetable dishes and a flat pita type bread. Ali and I also each got a samosa. The food was delicious! However, when our waiter was clearing our plates, he spilled them all over Allie! He felt SO bad, kept apologizing and offered to hug her. She was very cool about it & we all were laughing, especially when she said that she thought he was the one that needed the hug!
He brought over a variety plate of desserts and chai tea for everyone “on the house” and sent someone else over to clear the rest of the plates. When we were leaving, we saw him telling the story to someone else, almost reenacting it. Hilarious!
Oh and here is a picture of graffiti in Israel. It says ‘Am Yisrael Chai’, which mean ‘The Jewish People Live’.

Rosh Hashana in Jerusalem

Wednesday I slept in, packed a bag and headed to the bus with Leeba, Allie and Mike. We took the bus to the train station. Mike got on a train to visit his family in Haifa. Leeba, Allie and I got on a bus to go to Jerusalem. This is not as easy as it sounds, because you buy your ticket on the bus and everyone is crowding and pushing their way on to get a seat. It’s ridiculous though, because these busses were leaving every 12 minutes. Allie was going to visit her mom’s friend, Leeba was visiting her cousins and I was going to visit my camp friend Lauren, who is going to HUC. After the bus, I took a quick cab ride with a very friendly cabbie to Lauren’s very nice place! Things are cheaper in J-town and they got really lucky with this place, too. We hung out and watched TV for a while (my first time in 2 weeks!), then walked to HUC for services. HUC stands for Hebrew Union College and the campus in J-town is where all the Reform rabbis, cantors and educators to be spend their first year of their respective program. Then they spend the rest of their time on a campus in Cincinnati, NY or LA. When I was here 8 years ago, our trip spent a lot of time in J-town and every time we stayed at a youth hostel called Beit Shmuel. I discovered Wednesday that HUC and ‘The Shmu’ are connected! Services were really nice and then the students and their guests had a catered dinner. It was so delicious- the best I’ve eaten since I’ve been here! After dinner, we had a camp-style song session, but without all the kids or dancing! We were there pretty late and so just went to bed when we got back to Lauren’s.

In the morning, we went back to HUC for services...which lasted 3 ½ hours. I remembered why I’ve been leading the youth services for the last few years! We had lunch at Lauren’s, hung out and watched more TV. Grey’s Anatomy was on one of the English channels! (Does anyone know when the new season starts? I think I’m going to download them on iTunes.) We went back to HUC at 4:00 for tashlich, the symbolic washing away of sins by emptying the lint in your pockets or tossing bread crumbs into flowing water. We were lead by Outreach coordinator guy to the only natural water source in Jerusalem. It was a good 40 min. walk around the walls of the old city
and down this monstrous hill. I couldn’t help thinking about the fact that we’d have to walk back up it. Along the way, we stopped a few times to get biblical and historical explanations of things were were passing or seeing in the distance.


When we got to the water, which is just a little stream, it was amazing to see ALL types of Jews there. There was a span from the Reform in short sleeves and knee length skirts to the fully covered Orthodox, all praying next to each other and tossing their sins away. The area of town we were in was near an Arab community and there were many police officers patrolling. Before we left, 2 Hassidic Jews (super, ultra Orthodox) came. They were the men, of course and in their High Holy Day attire. Satiny, black, long coats and pants and tall, circular fur hats. If it had not been inappropriate, I’d have taken a picture. Maybe I’ll see some in Tel Aviv on Yom Kippur and be able to. On the way back, we went a different (slightly easier) way back to learn more about the area we were in. For dinner, since restaurants and stores were still closed, Lauren and her roommate’s girlfriend made a yummy pasta dinner. Another friend came over to join us and everyone sitting around a homemade meal had a nice, family feeling to it. I can’t wait till we have gas for our stove...it’s coming soon!
Luckily, the sherut (van that runs bus lines) was running back to TA Friday morning. It was iffy being the 2nd day of Rosh Hashana and the morning before Shabbat. If it hadn’t been running, I would have to stay until the end of Shabbat Saturday evening and I didn’t want to overstay my welcome. Friday night, Allie and I met up with Gal, a friend from camp ’06, at a bar on the port. It was his friend’s birthday and we got in for free! This bar actually reminded me of the bars at home, with stools around the bar, some couches on the walls and dancing space. Allie and I did a little dancing. It was fun, but the techno beat they add to the songs is very repetitive and I got bored with it. We felt kind of lame for leaving “early” by Israeli standards, but we also went out early, so it was time to retire.


Now, I’m off to spend the day at the beach, floating in the Mediterranean on my raft!

Shana Tova

Progress on the apt (since move in):
-Curtains on doors
-Curtains on big living room window
-AC in Ali’s room.
-Shelf mounted in my room
-Outlets in kitchen (We can use the microwave!)
-Shower head mounted
-Shower curtain
-Futon/Allie’s bed/stools built
-Tub leak fixed
Last weekend, we hung out w/ my Israeli friend, Nati, at the apt Thursday night. Friday, Mike, Allie and I went to the beach. I bought a yellow raft! The waves were monstrous. Mike had a blast getting body surfing and getting tossed around. I laid on my raft right at the edge of the water. So nice! That night, Allie and I went to a sports restaurant/bar where a lot of Americans go, called Mike’s Place. I met Lauren and her friend there & then another camp friend, Erica, showed up randomly with her friends. Very fun! On Shabbat, I met up with an Israeli, Tal, that worked at camp in ‘02, ‘03 and ‘05. We went to a hummus restaurant for lunch. If you think hummus is good in the States, you don’t know what you’re missing. I hadn’t talked to Tal in a few years, so we sat and talked for 3 hours!
Sunday, I spent the morning at the bank getting the bank guarantee for the apt and then the elementary interns met to share ideas. I feel much better about teaching older kids than I’m used to now. Allie, Ali and I took our laundry to be done. For a little more than $10, they will wash, dry and fold up to 13 lbs. of clothes. They even separate lights and darks. I get them back today. The do-it-yourself machines can get pretty pricey, especially because the dryers aren’t so good. At least this is what I’ve heard. So, this is a pretty good deal. There are even places that will pick it up and drop it off. I may look into that! Then we went to city hall to get the city tax on the apt and water put into our name. Ulpan seemed easier than the first time. Maybe it wasn’t so overwhelming after I knew what to expect. I didn’t try to understand everything that was said, just the gist of things. I also realized that the people who I thought knew a lot, don’t really. I bought some frozen schnitzel (pretty much breaded chicken), cucumbers, a tomato and more pita on the way home, added hummus and had my first real homemade dinner here!
Monday, I met more of my kids and got to know some of the other classes better. I still don’t know what I’m doing after the holidays (when we’ll start the more academic lessons and units), but I’m looking forward to work more. After school, I met with a woman that Mark connected me with. Her family might be moving to Houston in a few months and she wants to make sure her younger kids (5 and 8 years old) will be ready for school in the States because they haven’t had much exposure to English yet. I get to do what I love and teach them the basics! We’ll start after the holidays. The extra money will be very nice.
Today started out really well. I observed a 4th grade class and worked with 3 boys from the 3rd grade. Tuesday mornings are going to be lots of fun! The principal is also thinking about having me work with 2nd graders at some point during the day. :) The last 2 periods, I have one 6th grade class. I had seen Michelle earlier in the day and she said she was leaving and Tami was teaching for her. Tami is the computer teacher and recently became certified to teach English. She has one class of her own and helps with the others. When I saw her in the middle of the day, she was angry that she was "just being thrown into the class." Anyway, I get to the class to take out my group and there is no teacher. I wait 15 minutes, all the while trying to keep them in the room, to stop kids (girls, too!) from fighting & yelling and sending a kid to try to find the substitute or the principal. I finally realized I'm going to have to do something with the kids. After about 10 minutes of just trying to get them quiet enough to play a game, they are still yelling at each other. I would get them almost quiet and then someone would yell out translations of what I was saying and then there would be chaos again. Someone had gone to the bathroom and I walked over and closed the door a little too hard. That finally got their attention, and then another teacher walked in. She made a deal with me. I took her calmer class and she took mine. But that was only for the 1st of the 2 periods. She stayed a little later, but I still had 30 min. with these disrespectful, boisterous kids. Finally 7 min. till the end, I gave up playing a game with them and made them work in their books. After school, I waited half an hour for the bus and then it broke, after going 2 feet. We all waited another half hour for another bus. I am so glad it's the holiday and we have off until Sunday. Shana tova!

New pictures

I added some pictures to some of the other posts. Hopefully when my internet is a little more stable, I will start putting the pictures in with the posts at the same time. :)

First week of school

I felt pretty comfortable going to school for my first day on Monday, since I had been there before a few times. However, since I don’t know many of the teachers and many are not comfortable speaking in English, the teachers lounge was a little awkward as I waited for one of the teachers I am working with to get there. Her name is Michelle and she teaches English to the 6th graders and 2 other the 5th grade classes. I am also working with another teacher, Meirav, who teaches 2-4 grade and one of the 5th grade classes. This week, I was just with Michelle, because Meirav wanted to get the younger ones adjusted before I showed up. The Israeli classes are very departmentalized and even the elementary schools have different periods. This school has six 45 min(ish) periods, but the kids stay in their rooms and the teachers change. They also have 2 breaks during the day, 1 longer one in the morning for a snack (most of the kids don’t eat at home, but bring breakfast of some sort to school) and recess and a shorter one in the afternoon for recess. The school (and most others) doesn’t serve lunch. The kids just eat when they go home.
I observed each class once the first two days (Mon & Tues) and then took my small group the second time I was with the 6th grade classes. Michelle needed to test the 5th graders on their English abilities to know who would be in my group. I’m doing mostly enrichment with native speakers (those that have one or both English speaking parents) and students doing really well in their English class. I read "Where the Wild Things Are" to them and then we made class rules “together” so they wouldn’t be ‘wild things’ during the year. I let them make name tags for their desks and interview each one to find out where they were from and/or how they knew English. The majority have relative in America/Canada or have traveled to/spent significant time in English speaking countries. Tuesday, I got to go to school at 10 am because I have Meirav’s classes in the morning. Thursday, I tested 2 5th grade classes on their reading comprehension and verbal communication. I still need to speak to a few of the kids, but one group already has 11 while the other will only be about 5. I also met with one of my 6th grade groups for the 2nd and 3rd time. We had a class discussion about what they would like/need to learn/do and played 20 Questions. I also had them start on making the calendars that will go on the walls. These first few weeks will be pretty easy while I am still subtly observing them to find out what will and won’t work for each group. This week, there was no 6th period, so I got home pretty early.
My schedule is:
Monday Tuesday Thursday
8:00-8:50 6-1 4-3 5-2
8:50-9:40 6-3 3-2 5-3
9:40-9:50 snack snack snack
9:50-10:15 recess recess recess
10:15-11:00 6-2 5-1 6-1
11:00-11:45 5-3 Off-period 5-1
11:45-12:00 recess recess recess
12:00-12:45 6-1 6-2 6-1
12:45-1:30 6-3 6-2 6-2

I also took my Hebrew Placement test this week and I placed in the 3rd level (A plus plus), but it doesn’t start until October after the holidays, so I opted to be in the 2nd level (A plus). I also went to one class. It is freakin’ hard! The teacher only speaks in Hebrew, unless she has to define something she can’t explain in Hebrew. I feel like most of the other people also speak a lot more Hebrew than I do. I haven’t taken a Hebrew class in 5 years and think end of level A would have been a better place for me, but that doesn’t exist. I’ll have to do a lot of studying. I’m kicking myself now for not bringing all my Hebrew textbooks from college. I especially miss "501 Hebrew Verbs". My bags were already heavy, I should have just brought them. Oh well. Maybe I can find a bookstore here that will have it.

Israel= balagan

A balagan is a mess. A big one. Nobody focuses here. The banks take forever because the tellers answer their cell phones and everyone talks to each other and asks questions and helps each other. (Which is fine, but it would just be easier if they learned how to do their jobs.) We met with the lawyer and the landlord today to sign the lease. Took 2 HOURS! It was freakin’ ridiculous. My futon was supposed to be delivered at 7pm today. I rushed home from the lawyer’s office to be there and waited. I understand that time isn’t something people worry about here, but at 7:15 when there was no sign of a truck or anything, I called. The first guy I talked to tried to tell me that it wasn’t supposed to get here until tomorrow. Luckily, I wasn’t speechless. In the store, we had a big discussion w/ the delivery guy about coming on Sunday or Monday. I knew it was Sunday and told him so. I talked another guy that said something about Shimon (the main delivery guy) and the hospital. I had no sympathy anymore. I just demanded to know why I wasn’t called. I don’t care what the country’s custom is. If you’re not going to make an appointment or delivery, say, what someone is planning on sleeping on that night, have some common decency and call the person that is waiting on you. Ok, I’ve said my piece.
I never wrote about Thursday or Friday. Thursday, Ali, Allie and I took a bus to Yaffo (just 10 min outside of TA, to the south). It’s a poor city and there are lots of shops there that you can bargain in and little market areas where people literally spread out their junk. We were searching for kitchen stuff (plates, cups, silverware, pots/pans, etc). We didn’t accept any first prices and we got almost everything, including some new things like our knife set for about $35 total!
We also met my friend Nati for lunch at Dr. Shakshuka. Shakshuka is a dish that is a tomato/onion-y mixture (like spaghetti sauce almost) w/ sunny side eggs on top. You can add different things. I put mushrooms in mine. It’s really good, even though it might sound weird.
Friday I spent the day at the beach with Allie, Mike, Raquefette and Evan. It was kinda cloudy, and it made laying out in the heat bearable. Every once in a while, we’d go into the ocean. I loved just floating in the water. It still amazes me that I can be in water up to my shoulders and still see my feet on the ground. I can’t wait to get a raft/float thing and hang out in the water all day or lay with it on the beach and not get super sandy! The weather is warm enough that I can go to the beach (in my bathing suit) through October, at least. I am going to love the weekends!

Move In Day

Last night, we went to a bar on the beach (literally sitting in the sand!) and were planning on not being out so late, just having a few beers. Mark and Nili (a 2nd year student) joined us and we got wrapped up in conversation and stuff going on around us. We got home at 4:30 am. Needless to say, we slept until noon.

(Allie, me, Ali)

Packing didn’t take nearly as long as we had anticipated and soon went out to eat lunch. Our landlords weren’t going to be ready for us to move in until the afternoon. We tried calling them and got no answer. So, we went back for our last group rest time in the hostel. They finally called around 4:15 pm and tried to get us to move in on Monday because they haven’t had a chance to clean and some things were still not ready, renovation-wise. Allie told them that we had to move out of the hostel (and we did, just not until 10am Sunday), so they let us come. We lugged all of our stuff down to the lobby, where it took up quite a lot of space. I had 2 suitcases and 3 carry-on sized bags, Ali and Allie each had about 3 suitcases and a few other bags. In addition, we had 7 Ikea bags and about 5 smaller bags from the market in Yaffo, where we bargained for kitchen supplies (we only spent about $35 total). It was pretty ridiculous. The front desk called for 2 taxis, but refused to take us when they got there, saying that they are taxis not trucks and they carry people. It took a while to get a hold of some drivers that would take us and all our stuff to our apt, which is only a 5 min. drive away. The guys that came were really nice and didn’t charge us nearly as much as we thought it would. We are technically on the 3rd floor, but in reality, it’s like the 7th. After every 10 steps is a landing with an apt, but they alternate with the back and front of the building. We stationed ourselves a few landings apart and relayed the bags so we didn’t all have to keep walking up and down the whole way. We were still dripping with sweat when it was all over, though. Good thing our AC works well! My friend Alona, from camp, came over to visit for a bit and when she left, we each attempted showers without a curtain. Luckily we have a handheld shower head, so we just sat in the tub and showered sitting down.

Oh yeah, and we have no internal doors, just a white mesh curtain where the bathroom door should be. Fun! Some of Ali’s friends came over to visit for a bit also. It was nice to hear other ooh and aah over the place. We were going to meet them at a bar later, but first had to eat and get cash. After stealing some internet from the corner coffee kiosk, we headed out, walking toward the bars, looking for cash. There are banks all over this town, but somehow, not any on the street we were walking on. We got to Dizengoff Center (about 20 min. away) before we found an ATM (caspomat in Heb.) and then just ate at the mall. We met Leeba at a bar on the boardwalk (tayelet) because Ali’s friends didn’t know what we were doing. The waitress was really annoyed because all we got was water and made us get it in bottles. Leeba and her roommate, Becky, had had a long day as well and we all called it a night relatively early. The next task is to try to get the 1st Texas football game on the internet. Go Horns!