The last normal two weeks of our Bat Yam section is here...A sad sad thought.
Monday:
Arrived from Turkey and took a day off from school to catch up on sleep, but I only skipped school. After school was the weekly Israel Update. This week, the Israel Update was at the Etzel Museum in Yaffo. The Etzel was one of the few underground resistance organizations before the State was born. A man in the Etzel told us his story and the history of the Etzel. This man told an incredible story, he is a real hero. Even people that had partied the night before and didn't get any sleep stayed awake for this man. He told us a story of how he fought in the British army as a spy when he was 14 years old. Another part of his presentation was about an incredible reunion between him and another man whom was saved by this man. The video they showed us brought a few of us to tears.
Later that night was Tzofim Peula Girls Night! A bunch of girls came and we all hung out, got to know each other and played fun girlie games.
Tuesday:
Volunteering was wonderful. Each day it gets better and better. The connections we are making are getting stronger but we only have a few weeks left to get to know these people and then we have to leave. It's a very sad thought.
After volunteering, I went straight to the Bat Yam office to meet up with my roommates for more volunteering. Each week, a different apartment volunteers at a school and teaches English. We taught the alphabet by playing Bingo with the kids. They were adorable but I am glad I'm not teaching kids every day in a language I don't know.
Israeli dance that night was alright. Sadly, they are not that much fun, but I'm learning new dances!
Wednesday:
Back to class where I had to take a Hebrew test. I was very nervous about it but that didn't show in the grade! For night class, our teacher was sick and another teacher needed the projector so we had to wait an hour for class to start. We watched most of one movie but had to stop it because class was over. It was a good movie too and we were annoyed we had to stop the movie and that we weren't able to finish watching it right then.
After night class, a few friends and I went into Tel Aviv. We got some cheap champaign and walked all the way from Allenby Street to the Namal, Tel Aviv port. It was a fun evening of exploring.
Thursday:
stay tuned, i forget what i did on thursday :)
Thursday night Ilyssa, Jacob and I went back into Tel Aviv, but this time we went to an ice cream store that apparently my friend's relative owns. We walked a lot more than sat down at a cute cafe and got some yummy lemonade.
Friday/Shabbat:
Ilyssa, Alice and I went into Tel Aviv to the Azrieli Towers, three towers one shaped as a rectangle, one triangle and one circle. At the top of the circle tower is an observatory where you can see all of Tel Aviv and apparently it is quite beautiful. Once we got there and walked around, we learned that the observatory was closed due to a private party..ugh! Instead, we window shopped then Alice went home and Ilyssa and I went over to Eyal's house for Shabbat with Helene. Shabbat was so wonderful. His family is so funny and SO sweet! It was also really nice to just hang out with Eyal and get to know him better. We talked, ate, slept and played cards the entire Shabbat...What a good deal (no pun intended)!
Sunday:
Volunteering was again wonderful. I have started knitting with some women and found out one woman was from Istanbul, Turkey! I immediately showed her my many pictures I took with EG in Istanbul. It was very nostalgic for her. I have also befriended an adorable man named Yaakov. He was in the Palmach, another underground resistance group before the State was born.
Later that day I was invited into Tel Aviv to spend the evening with Joyce Juda, the director of my USY region and two other fellow USYers who are also in Israel now, Adam and Aaron. We went out to dinner and had a very nice evening.
Monday:
Hebrew class went to Cafe Cafe in the Bat Yam mall which was a lot of fun! We had to order in Hebrew and talk in Hebrew. Our teacher invited us to his apartment for a goodbye party in Tel Aviv Thanksgiving evening, but I'm not sure how long I'll be able to stay because EG will be in town.
After school, I went back to Tel Aviv, this time with Seth, a friend from home, to see Joyce, Adam and Aaron again. We spent some time on the beach then did a little shopping in the shook. We had to leave a bit early, Seth had a meeting and I had to work on my film paper that was due that night. The assignment was to tell the history of Israel through the movies we watched.
Tuesday:
Tuesday was a pretty free day, more so than usual. After volunteering, the Leadership class offered a flash mob, large group of people who assemble suddenly in a public place, perform an unusual and pointless act for a brief time, then quickly disperse. Flash Mob Link on YouTube. It took place at the Shook in Tel Aviv and was a lot of fun. Can you find me? I am wearing an orange long sleeved shirt with shorts.
That night, I finished my film paper and it was time for YJ Idol. The madrichim put on a talent show and had different kids perform. It was a lot of fun, people sang, some people danced and an apartment did a revolting game involving oreos, toothpaste, a toothbrush and a small bucket water. I'll let your imaginary wonder with that.
Wednesday:
After classes, Eyal invited all his apartments to our weekly meeting at the beach. It was fun to hang around and have some food on the beach. Night class was normal as usual, but for the last half an hour, we watched Merhak Negia, an Israeli TV show I watched at camp a few years ago and we were all obsessed with it! We have another paper due for film. This one we have to write a movie about our experiences here in Israel, its going to be a lot of fun to write.
After night class, a few of us went over to a friends out to hang out. My roommates, Helene and I made oatmeal cookies which turned out great!
Thursday/Friday:
Instead of going on the weekly trip every Thursday, I had another 7 hour Rwanda meeting. This meeting made us realize we only have two more months before we leave! Talia, the staff member training us and coming to Rwanda with us, was just at the village and told us all about it! She told us what our day is going to look like. She also told us our main project while we are there!!!! We are building a storage house. Now, that might not seem to interesting, but the need it for a good reason. This January the village will have 3 grades in high school and the village wants to have other classes for the kids to learn skills that will be good to get a job outside the village. They already have a lot of little building where they want the classes, but the buildings are used as storage now. So we need to create a storage building so they can use those smaller buildings as specialty classrooms.
After the meeting, 4 of us went up north for the second scouts trip. We got there much later than expected and it was much colder than expected, too. Everyone was hanging out then around midnight we all went to bed. We woke up at 7 AM, ate then took a short bus ride to Rosh HaNikrah where we would be taking a short but beautiful bike ride along the coast. Our midway stop, we got off our bikes and took a short walk to a memorial for soldiers who fell during bridge battles. After the ride, we took another short bus ride to a park for lunch then had a small little goodbye ceremony. We had time to talk to people we wanted to and time to reflect and share experiences we have had during this section. We then went home to Bat Yam on a nice long bus ride.
Right when my roommates and I got off the bus, I bought some Challah for Shabbat. Then Noy told Ilyssa, Yael and I (Robyn was in Haifa for the weekend) that she was going home for the weekend and she can take two people with her. Even though I really wanted to go spend a weekend with Noy and her family, I knew I would feel super guilty knowing one of my roommates was home alone with nothing to do. I also knew Ilyssa and Yael are inseparable and would want to be together, so I took the bullet and stayed home.
Friday night I made myself a big Israeli salad for dinner then went over to my friend Kayleigh's apartment to work on our 7 minute Hebrew dialog we have to perform to our teacher on monday. We also learned that another friend's apartment was broken into and everything expensive was stolen from them, computers, wallet, ipods and cameras. Kayleigh didn't want me sleeping alone in my apartment so she slept over. She left around 10 AM to go pick her mom up from the airport.
Saturday:
The apartment was a big messy, so I did a little house cleaning and made myself some yummy french toast for a late lunch. Tonight, I plan on doing some more homework and study for the finals I have coming up this week.
A look at the upcoming week:
OUR LAST WEEK IN BAT YAM!
-Monday and Wednesday are Hebrew and Zionism finals
-Tuesday night is an Rwanda Fundraiser and we are putting on an Auction
-EG comes Thursday morning!!
-Tamar
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