Two Sundays Ago:
The Arad meeting was good. On no notice, they made us write down the top few things we want to do in Arad and who we want for our roommates. My first choice for volunteering in Arad is the Outdoors adventure option, more specifically, I want to work on Massada. I don't remember what I wrote as my other preferences, but other options were living on a Kibbutz and doing a basic training for the Israeli Army (which I can't do because I'm going to Rwanda and we can't miss a whole month of it).
Sunday night was a Patriots game, so a few Boston friends and I went to Mike's Place, an American bar in Tel Aviv. We met some nice people there, everyone was very loud and talkative, very American.
Monday:
My Hebrew teacher went to New York for the week so we had another Hebrew teacher in his place. This new teacher went much slower than Aviv, our real teacher. A lot of kids complained after but I was glad she went slow. Last week was our test on the first book, so instead of focuses on what we were studying in class, I was trying to study the last book. Going slower gave me some time to catch up to all the vocabulary.
After class, the roommates and I finally did a full food shop, but as life goes, all but two of us had to leave by the end for either meetings or doctor appointments. Yael and I were forced to take a taxi home with all our food because we could not carry it ourselves.
Monday night was Tzofim Peula (scouts activity). We learnt about the army and what all the scouts want to do in the army next year. All the scouts are my age, they too are taking a year off of what is most commonly done in our respective countries. I am taking a year off before college and the are taking a year off before the army. Some of the scouts are planning on doing some amazing things, like the navy for 7 years or the air force for 9 years! Noy, my scout, is gluten-free so her medical number is so low that the army said she didn't have to join. She still really wants to join the army so she is going to try to run the simulation activities for the pilots in training.
Tuesday:
Volunteering was cancelled, again. We called Eyal to ask him why we weren't going and he told us that he keeps calling the Center but they either say they don't want us to come that day or they don't answer. He told us we would definitely go on Sunday. Again, I worked at Aroma on my Zionism Paper that is due on Monday. I am connecting Astronomy and Zionism, seems like a far stretch, right? But you see, my paper is about how the early Zionist thinkers believed in the "New Jew," a strong, independent, secular Jew. I related it to how Israel has become the New Jew because of its booming scientific world, a.k.a. Astronomy.
Tuesday night all of Section two went to a local theater for an Itzak Rabin ceremony for Bat Yam students because it was the 15 year anniversary of his assassination (the Hebrew date, he was killed November 4th 1995). It was a beautiful ceremony, although mostly in Hebrew so we couldn't understand it.
After the ceremony, we were invited to a friends apartment for "Tuesday Guest Night." They cook us a meal if we bring desert and drinks. It was fun and a great meal, too!
Thursday:
For this week's trip, we went to a blind museum in Holon, the town over, called Dialog in the Dark. I've already been with Havayah in 2007 but it was nice to refresh my memory. The museum is 100% in the dark. You and a few other people are led by person who is either visually impaired or blind. As you walk, you go through different scenes you might find throughout your day. For example, there is a city scene with cars honking and people yelling. You are forced to use your other senses to figure out what scene you're in. My favorite scene was the music scene, we lied down on the ground and listened to different kinds of music. My second favorite was the shook (market in Hebrew) scene, my friends and I tried to figure out all the different fruits and vegetables just by feeling them.
Friday and Saturday were chill days. Friday morning I got a text message from Rick Kaitz, a family friend from Newton, inviting me and a friend to dinner Saturday night with his wife Erica and their extended Israeli family. I happily accepted and brought my roommate along, how could we pass up a delicious meal in Tel Aviv.
We went to a restaurant called Tzofon Abraxas, the home of a very famous chef in Israel who designs his own tomatoes! The food was incredible!! The food wasn't specifically for one person, the entire menu was small dishes that you shared with your table, and boy did we love that. The food was so simple, but everything was cooked so perfectly and it was all so fresh! It was very nice for Rick and Erica to take us out to a meal, we are very grateful.
Sunday:
Instead of going to the Center, we met with Judy, a woman from the office, about what is going on, or not going on. We were told that the Center we were going to work at now only wants two of us because they can't handle six. The other option is for some of us to go to another center, but Judy didn't give us that place in the beginning because last year they worked the kids from 8 am to 1 pm. We left not knowing what we were going to do, so they will let us know. I stayed at the office and finally finished and printed my paper! I'm done! Sunday night we went back to Mike's place for only the first half of the Patriots game so we can catch a bus home. Yael had a family birthday party to attend so we didn't even get to mikes until there was a few minutes left on the clock for the first half. Then we got kicked out cause we didn't order anything.
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| Idan Raichel |
Monday:
Aviv, my Hebrew teacher, is back and we are all happy, we are now back to our fast past class. I also handed in my paper which is very nice.
After class we had a few fun things:
We started off the day going to a ceremony for fallen American and Canadian soldiers in the Israeli Army. Section One (kids in Jerusalem now) met us there. It was interesting, but also a little bit boring.
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| Mini kotel. |
Tuesday:
Eyal finally brought us to another elderly activity center. We loved it there! First, we talked with the only English speaker there which was nice. She is from Brazil, how she knows English, I do not know. For most of the time we spent there, Natalie and I made a ball of yarn which seems easy, but the yarn knotted up fast. It was great to finally volunteer!
Wednesday:
School was fine, in Zionism we are learning about the Palestinian/Israel conflict which always sparks interesting conversations.
After school, my roommates and I went into Tel Aviv to look for a Halloween costume, we were going to be Where's Waldo but we found out someone else had that idea too. Instead, we decided to be Captain Underpants, a super hero from a series of book.s
Thursday:
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| Ilyssa, Eli and I at the finish line. |
Friday:
We woke up early from Noy's house to go to her local shook. It was a big shook with lots of cheap stuff. I tried not to buy anything, but i fell in love with this cool lizard earring. I justify the purchase because it was only 5 shekels ($1.4). We took a train and a bus back to Bat Yam to get ready for Shabbat and the Halloween party for all Year Course kids in Tel Aviv. We frantically ran around Bat Yam for food for our incoming 6 guests and cooked fast. The 6 kids came from Jerusalem and needed a place to stay for the party. Then off to Tel Aviv at 9:30 for a great party.
Saturday:
We just hung out with our 6 guests on Saturday. Played cards, took naps, a nice relaxing day of doing nothing.
Sunday:
We went to volunteering which was nice. I made another ball of yarn and helped hand out snacks. I also went to the Year Course office to pick up my passport because EG and I are leaving for Turkey in 5 days!!!
That's all for now, I'll probably have another two posts coming up soon, one for this week, one for October reflection and the third will be all about Turkey!
Sorry this is late!
Love,
Tamar
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