Desert Living

Hello again and sorry for the major delay in a post. Since it has been so long, I'll give summaries of everything that has happened since my last post.

Volunteering:

Hannah and I in the break room, this is our view every day.

Working on Masada as a whole is absolutely incredible, I could not ask for a better job placement. I am outside all day, I am getting dirty, I am learning history from various tour guides that we follow sometimes, I am creating a relationship with the workers that have extremely different backgrounds, some are Israeli, some are Ethiopian Jews, some are Arabs and some are even Bedouins and I am also getting to know my fellow Year Courses who are just all around great people. We get a free lunch every day, we take naps after lunch and get as much tea or coffee as we want. We also get treated as staff so we are allowed to go where tourists can't. For example, yesterday, we cleaned in the bathhouse below the platform where the tourists walk. A Birthright group stopped and looked down at us cleaning. They were all from Brown University and one kid was from Wayland and one of the counselors was the wife of a Prozdor teacher of mine, small world isn't it? Who could ask for a better life?

But nothing is perfect, after being on Masada for almost two months, we have also seen the not-so-nice side of volunteering there. We have a 10 hour day so when we get home we are exhausted and don't have much time to do anything between dinner and an activity or Hebrew class we have every night. Although I do love Menachem, our Ethiopian boss, and Suli, our second boss who is Bedouin, they are sexist. There are four year coursers that volunteer on Masada and one is a boy, Simon. Menachem and Suli always tell Simon do work with them while the 3 of us girls do the same thing every single day, sweep or move rocks.  Last week was especially bad because the cable car was shut down due to reconstruction and the snake path was shut down also because it was unsafe for anyone to be climbing up or down right under the cable car. So instead of working on top of the mountain, we worked only with Suli on the bottom. We were told by Eitan, the head of Masada, that we would be telling tourists why it was closed and things like that, but no, every single day we cleaned up trash next to the parking lot and got very little rest time.

A Normal Week in Arad:


Sunday through Wednesday I volunteer. In the evening, Monday and Wednesday we have an hour long Hebrew class that is mandatory but not for credit so few people go. Instead of 5 levels like in Bat Yam, there are only four levels so I am still in level 3 but its mixed with kids from levels 2-4 in Bat Yam, a big vocabulary difference. On Sunday and Tuesday there are usually counselor activities that are kinda stupid but also mandatory, yet only half the kids show up.

Thursday morning are little trips when we hike somewhere or last week we went to an Army base then the Air Force Museum.


Winter Break:

Mom and EG surprised me after work.

The family came in a week before break actually started and I spent their first weekend in Israel with them in Ra'anana with family friends. It was great to have the whole family back together again. Saturday night we went back to Arad where they stayed at an apartment and saw how I lived in Arad.

Some of the highlights of winter break:
- Seeing the family, obviously
- Seeing the leftovers of the Carmel Fire
- Seeing the bird migration with Mom and Nava Ravid, an old next door neighbor

From Left: Ilyssa (roommate from Bat Yam), EG, Dad, Mom,,
Andrew (EG's friend from Greece), Donna (current roommate),
and me after dinner at my apartment.

-Belly Dance Festival

The weekend after break ended, Mom was still in Israel and I met her down in Eilat for the International Belly Dance Festival 2011. It was incredible! So many different kinds of dancers and so many different kinds of costumes! The picture to the right is Mom and I with our friend Samir who we met at the Arab market in the Old City of Jerusalem two weeks before.


Rwanda- 11 Days:

The most exciting new thing is that I leave for Rwanda in 11 days! Last Thursday we had our final meeting and we all got extremely excited! Just today I started to separate my clothing between what I'm going to take and what I will be seeing in Jerusalem. Next week is my last week at Masada then Arad will be emptied out of 15 people.


That is a summary of the past two months in Arad. Questions? Comments?

Til next week, a day before Rwanda!

Tamar