I spent about six weeks in total living in Tel Aviv, and even though there are tons of things to do, I didn’t LOVE my time there. Everything is super expensive–groceries, eating out, drinks, shopping, etc. Our apartment was next to the beach, but in a so-so location of Tel Aviv and was tinier than tiny for three girls and their year supply of stuff. I had also expected something different while at my job.

TLV sunset (right outside of our building)

Our apartment view from the front door

And the opposite side of the apartment

Our kitchen. Due to its size and the lack on ventilation in our apartment, I spent wayyyy too much money on eating out.

The closet... and Linds had lots of her stuff in a suitcase, I had lots of stuff at Jacquie's house, and this is not any of Madeleine's stuff. Oyyy.

Lindsay and I could hold hands while we slept.

Home Sweet Home

Food, convenient stores, the beach, restaurants, and so much more just by walking downstairs.

On the bright side, I did get to have lots of fun shopping and enjoying Tel Aviv…

A group of us were at the first live show of Kohav Nolad (Israels version of American Idol).

This is Itamar! The train ride between Netanya and TLV is very short so I got to come back and visit during most weekends.

Shavuot dinner at Jacquie's house (the dairy holiday!!!).

Sarah, Jeremy, and I went back to the kibbutz for the beer festival at Beit Ha'Yayin

Madeleine, Lindsay, and I had restaurant nights in Tel Aviv. This is a delicious dessert from Max Brenner.

Benedicts

Red Bull Flugtag!!! People build their own flying contraptions and launch them off a platform to see how far they can fly.

Lindsay and me watching Flugtag with lotssss of people in the HOT HOT sun!

This was a butt wearing a thong and all the men on the team were wearing tan body suits and thongs

A big old cow.

I went to visit Jeremy at work. Not only did I get to feed some of the animals (something really disgusting!), but I also got to pet some cool animals. Like this hyena!

And this wild boar!

And this ram type of thing.

I loved this little turtle guy

A cute little gisele!

My mode of transportation to get all over Tel Aviv!

Tzeira and Madeleine with me at my birthday dinner!

ITAMAR

After we left our Part 3 cities, all of Otzma headed to northern Israel for a final trip. We went to natural springs, hiked, relaxed in the Kinneret, and had a lovely and relaxing last few days together.

Kissing a crab at the sachne (natural springs)

Exploring a cave at the sachne!

Hiking on our final Otzma trip.

Our fancy dinner in Tiberias on our Otzma final trip

Saying goodbye to Jerusalem with Otzma during our final closing ceremony

Goodbye Otzma!

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Just some advice… watch the video of the tour of the kibbutz without sound… at one point the sound is off and when put on YouTube from iMovie it just doesn’t synch. But, you can still see how pretty it is!

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About two weeks ago I moved to Tel Aviv.  I’m living in apartment on the beach.  It’s the size of my bedroom at home, and three girls are sharing it.  I’m not a huge fan of this apartment, but luckily my job at TAU Hillel is keeping me SUPER busy.

It’s like having a real job… I leave my apartment around 8:00am and arrive sometime around 9:00a.  I spend the day working with others in the office to create wonderful events for students at the university to enjoy.  For example, coming up is a volunteering day with the Jaffa Institute and a yard sale style event.  My day is filled with making phone calls, sending emails, creating posters, figuring out the best way to advertise for events, and doing whatever is needed in the office.  I like it a lot.  The only downside is that so many Otzma people have such a joke of a job and I’m a bit jealous when I hear that while I’ve been working all day my friends have been at the beach.  Oh well… I didn’t come here to go to the beach!

Life in Tel Aviv is 100% different than what I had become used to while living on the kibbutz and in Ashkelon.  Lots of bars and clubs are for ages 25+, cost lots to get in, and I didn’t realize how spoiled I was by getting meals and living in smaller towns… Tel Aviv is expensive!

I am definitely not used to living in a city.  I’ll admit, at this point I would rather be living on the kibbutz still, but I know that I just need to give Tel Aviv a chance and be more open minded.  The people I am working with and my job are great–thank goodness for that

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-The smiling man who works in the dining hall and tries to get me to eat anything but shnitzel
-ALL of my classes
-Living alone
-Going on afternoon walks around the kibbutz with Madeleine
-Daily dinners with Raya and Gilad
-Hearing the donkey from REALLY far away
-Going to the strange little kibbutz pub that usually has about 5% girls
-Living in a jungle
-Eating at Segafredo
-Living close enough to Jacquie to have Shabbat dinner every week there
-The koi mouths
-Hearing the jackals in a distance at night

I made a video tour of the kibbutz. I am a terrible editor though… oops. I had 18mins of movie and had to squeeze it into 10 minutes. So… Enjoy!

(the ceremony with Israeli dancing and wheat being chopped down was a traditional ceremony that signifies the start of the harvest season–it’s not a normal activity you see!)

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Ever since I can remember I had been spending my first night seder at Diane and Jules’s house and the second seder night varied from year to year. This year, Jacquie invited me to the seder on her kibbutz and said it’s an experience that I can’t miss!

Before I continue, let me paint a picture of people preparing for the holiday. The week before the holiday we were in Jerusalem for a seminar. We were staying at a hostel that was cleaning for Pesach and they fed us the old food (yea…) that they needed to get rid of. That was annoying. Chairs were taken outside and everything was cleaned to the max (to remove the chametz). The bus that drove us around was also cleaned… we visited a community center that was clean… THIS MEANS NO EATING CHAMETZ IN THESE PLACES!

Anyway, when we walked into the dining hall for the seder, Lindsay and I were absolutely shocked to see about 500 people spread throughout the room, sitting at long tables that are covered with food, wine, and set for the meal! We took our seats and looked at the Haggadah. It would be our first seder with an all Hebrew Haggadah (and an all Hebrew service). There was a stage in the front and Jacquie said the same man has been leading the service for years and as the sedar goes on he gets drunker and drunker. Different people (children and adults) would go up during the seder and sing or recite the blessings.

We sat at the end of our little table just drinking wine and loving the evening.  Something that Lindsay and I had a hard time grasping was that the tables didn’t have the traditional items found on a seder plate, and they didn’t even have a seder plate–at least not anywhere that we could see. For Echad Mi Yodea, each table had a number and had to stand up and sing… it was so much fun and the perfect tradition with 500 guests at the sedar. We ate a delicious meal, and before we knew it the seder was over.

A couple things to notice in Israel during Passover:
-Grocery stores have sheets/plastic over aisles with chametz
-Vending machines have paper covering the window
-Food courts in malls have kosher for Passover bread for sandwiches
-Some places change their menus for the holiday, some don’t, and some close down for repairs or upkeep of some sort.

Grocery store

I ended up being the only person out of all the people I spent the holiday with to not eat chametz, which is how it has always been throughout my life.  For some reason though, I found it to be the easiest time keeping the holiday.  My ‘Passover is over’ meal was ravioli and bread at Segafredo–yum!

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Someone in Otzma came across this and I thought it was a good little 5 minute video that gives an explanation to those who don’t really understand the conflict in with Israel…

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While so many 2010 graduates are still searching for jobs, I have been in Israel following a different path.  With only three months left, I am 100% positive that I made the right choice for myself.
Last summer, very close to the time I left for Israel, my close friend Brittany followed a similar path… she was offered an internship with TOMS Shoes .  We started a TOMS Shoes club at High Point University during the 2009-2010 school year and I am proud to say that the club is still continuing successfully.  Anyway, Brittany worked for TOMS this past fall which led her to another internship with Falling Whistles.  Currently, Falling Whistles is trying make a change to the way elections are held in Congo.  It’s best to check out this video…

And just a few words from the professional intern & Falling Whistles…
6 months ago, we realized Congo was having an election this November 27, 2011. This will be their 3rd in history, and the second since the “official” end of the war that left 5.4 million dead, 200,000 women raped, and a generation of children stuck in cycles of violence.
Falling Whistles’ Congolese partners kept telling them – we want peace, and to get there we need reform. That happens with elections. You’ve got make sure they are FREE and they are FAIR.
This week, we are working to collect over 200,000 signatures on the petition. These signatures will go directly to Obama and Clinton, demanding that they appoint a Special Envoy.
It’s also cool that when Obama was a Senator, he tried to pass 156 pieces of legislation.  Only one was signed in, and it’s this one.  They’ve yet to enact upon this, so now we’re pushing them to do so.

They also have a blog, more information about the cause, and the petition.

Falling Whistles Blog

Falling Whistles Website

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I’ve always thought of Purim as being similar to Halloween, but instead of getting something (candy) from someone, you are giving something (a gift) to someone.

I showed up to school on Monday morning to see tons of kids dressed in their pajamas.  Also, this time of year is a weird time because everyone is traveling and not around. Because of that, I ended up only having one hour of class today.

On Tuesday, Madeleine and I arrived to a school filled with dressed up students and a day full of activities.  We walked around for a bit, joined in on some zumba, and watched part of the student versus teacher volleyball game.  A pretty popular style that kids sport during Purim is bleaching their hair and coloring designs in it.  It’s pretty tacky, but extremely popular.

Hair coloring & face painting at school

Na Nach Nachma Nachman Meuman

Zumba

The weekend of Purim was the annual party at Kibbutz Ha’Ogen.  The various English teachers at school all encouraged Madeleine and me to go because their children (who are around my age) were going to be there and we heard it was the place to be.  The theme was Legends and Fairy Tales so Madeleine and I ventured out to Netanya and decided on dressing up as Greek goddesses.  The night of our outing, Madeleine, Lindsay, and I ate a wonderful Shabbat dinner at Jacquie’s house and then came home and dressed up for the party.  When we arrived there was a huge wait to get in and there was no line… it was just luck and who you knew.  We skooched to the front and Madeleine made it known that we were American by getting the attention of the guy letting people in.  We chatted with him for a while and after being told no more people can come into the party for 30 minutes, this guy let us in.  When we arrived we were amazed by the unbelievable amount of people.  I immediately ran into a friend I met a few months ago, and he was talking with someone I had met the night before who lives on my kibbutz.  The energy of the party was amazing.  There were TONS of people and it was just so much fun seeing everyone dressed up and so into the holiday.  Another thing that is so amazing is that EVERYONE at this party was Jewish.  I found out a few days later that there were about 2,000 people at this party!  While there I saw the daughters of two English teachers, hung out with new friends from our kibbutz, danced the whole night away, and had an amazing time!  The party didn’t start until 12:30a and we didn’t go to sleep until around 6:00a… it was a long and wonderful night!

So many people!!!

Dirty party feet

On Sunday night I headed to Jerusalem to meet up with Lauren.  We had a lovely dinner date in the German Colony at Luciana and drinks at Rosa.  It’s an adorable area of town with tons of cute restaurants.  We walked around and enjoyed seeing people dressed up again… people driving by were dressed up… people in restaurants were dressed up… waiters and waitresses were dressed up… everyone was dressed up!

The day after Purim is called Shushan Purim and this is when the holiday is celebrated in Jerusalem.  We started off walking around Mamilla Mall.  It was super packed with dressed up people of all ages and entertainment.

We had lunch at Waffle Bar and sat at the window watching people walk by.  I decided that about 75% of the people walking around Jerusalem were in some sort of Purim costume.  A woman passed in a wedding dress made from plastic bags, there was a group of men and a woman dressed up in medieval attire, a boy on a unicycle passing out flyers for NU Campaign, which we heard about at our leadership convention.

We continued on to Ben Shatach which is a closed off street with little restaurants and bars.  There was a children’s costume contest and tons of different musical performers.  Again… it was just so cool!  I still can’t get over how cool it is that so many people are celebrating this Jewish holiday!

We continued our journey and passed a temporary ice skating ring and then found the jackpot of the day!  Shushan Street!  It was more like a large alley but there were crazy musicians decked out in elaborate costumes.  There was a Japanese Dragon running around the streets with drummers, face painters, a DJ, and a magician.  The street itself was also super cool… pipes, electrical boxes, garage doors, and everything else possible was covered with cool paintings or just cool designs.  Lauren and I decided it was a sweet place to come back and check out.

DJ

We finished our day off by grabbing a drink at café café at Mamilla Mall.  On our way there we ran into the family we spent Shabbat with during our Conflict and Hope Seminar in January.  Everybody was in Jerusalem!

Purim decorations in the window!

The next weekend I went to a Purim party at Jaquie’s kibbutz.  The theme was “Old Kibbutz” which basically meant work clothes or anything else that makes one think of a kibbutz from the past.  The party started at 9:30p if you lived on the kibbutz and Lindsay and I were able to join in on the early celebrations.  This was the last of my Purim celebrations (for this year!) and I am so glad to say that I have experienced Purim in Israel!

Shopping for my costume before the party at the costume shop on the kibbutz! So cool

Milk...cows...get it? I'm in a onesie... it was just a cool outfit

Deganit, Tze'ela, and Yshai... my family!

This would have been an easy costume for us

Scouts!

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About three weeks ago I was reading Holes to the 7th graders.  They were completely enthralled in the story.  Then a siren goes off.  It happened once before during ulpan in Ashkelon and we quickly stood up and went to the stairwell of the building.  The siren quickly turned off.
The difference was that I was in a trailer with a group of children and Joyce wasn’t there.  I looked to the trailer next door and the teacher put up her arms in question.  We didn’t know there was suppose to be a drill… what could this be?  I had about 20 worried children staring at me and they asked in panic, “What’s going on?! What should we do?!”  I responded with, “Well, what do you normally do?!” and they said, “This has never happened!!!!”  That made a little uneasy.  I opened the door and looked outside and people were walking around as normal.  I didn’t understand how people were so calm… the siren was pretty loud and a constant ringing.  Since people weren’t moving to the shelters I told the kids to go under their desks.  It makes me laugh to think about it now… but I figured it was a better idea than doing nothing.  After about two minutes the siren turned off.  I told the kids to come up from under their desks.  Some did, and some wanted a reason for the siren before coming out from hiding.
It turned out to be a drill…
Madeleine was with Ellen (English teacher) at the time and she said she looked to Ellen with a panicked expression and Ellen just shrugged her shoulders and told her to continue the lesson.
It turns out people respond to the siren similar to the way kids in school in America respond to a fire drill.  I know that it’s not this way everywhere in Israel… but in this area and during the instance, this is how people responded.

As you may have read in the news, yesterday afternoon a bomb went off near the Jerusalem central bus station.  Different reports have different numbers, but about 50 people were injured, and one was killed.  I don’t think there is any specific information about the terrorist yet.  Anyway, this is the first serious terrorist attack in Jerusalem since 2004.
Our program staff called everyone to make sure that we were all safe and I quickly sent emails and called Mom, Dad, Stephen, and Josh to pass along the message that everything is okay.
This morning I had an email from mom…  she asked “How do you feel after experiencing something like the bomb today?  Was it scary for you at all or does it make you nervous?”
I wouldn’t be surprised if lots of people from back home are wondering about these same questions. Of course, that would mean you are in a relatively calm state of mind.  It’s easy for a parent (or anyone) to want their child to come home immediately after hearing about a bomb exploding nearby.  I understand people’s concerns… but I don’t agree.
Life goes on.  Terrible things happen in the world… and living in Israel means having to figure out what to do when terror strikes.
The way I feel after hearing and reading about the bombing… it’s a bit nerve-racking because I was at the bus station this past Sunday and Monday.  While waiting for a bus Sunday night, a loud speaker announced the street was closed down due to suspicion of an explosive on a bus about two blocks away.  I could see it in the distance and wasn’t sure how long it would take for the buses to come down the street again so I took a cab.  I wasn’t really concerned.  On Monday, Lauren and I were walking to the bus station and about a block away we were told to stop, along with many other people, and we could tell the street in front of the station had been blocked but were not sure why.  About two minutes later we continued with our journey.  Again, it wasn’t a big deal.
Do I feel scared or nervous?… No.  I have faith in the security here.  Also, I am in an extremely safe area.  I don’t like the situation… but I’m not scared or nervous.
I have heard and now seen that continuing on with daily life is something that Israelis know how to do.  Responding to terror by leaving the country or showing signs of weakness would be giving into the terrorists plan.
I’ve never felt patriotic in America… I do love Thanksgiving (because it’s such a food filled family event) and 4th of July (just because we’re at the beach and play dress up) but I’ve never loved America the way I love Israel.  For those who don’t feel the same way, it’s hard to explain. For those who do feel the same way… there is no explanation needed.

Currently in the news you can read about a lot commotion going on in the Ashkelon, Be’er Sheva, and Ashdod area.  This does make me a a bit nervous because I have friends there and when I think about Beit Canada, I remember it being my home.  The army is responding accordingly and hopefully things will quiet down.

I can imagine so many close family members and friends being on edge when hearing the news and reading what I just wrote.  Don’t be.  I wouldn’t be here if I felt unsafe… Mom and Dad would come get me if they thought that!  I love you all, hope you are well and if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask!

Make sure to check out various news sources when checking out what is going on here because American news tends to look at things differently than Israeli news.
Here are a couple sites to check out…

http://www.haaretz.com/

http://www.ynetnews.com/home/0,7340,L-3083,00.html

http://www.jpost.com/

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-You can only buy fruits and veggies when they are in season.
-You only have to tip 10% to a waitress.
-When getting on a bus you don’t wait in a line… just shove your way on.
-Israeli hairdressers love pronounced layers.  No good.

**Update: currently on a week long leadership convention.  I’ve spent my days from early morning until late at night in seminars and workshops.  It’s mentally exhausting but I am having some fabulous opportunities!

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