Weekend Update!

It has been a pretty packed week to say the least!  So much so that I am writing this on the train on my way north.  I'll be spending Shabbat with Lynne and Assaf once again, and am very much looking forward to a small escape from Tel Aviv!

My friend Annie recently went through an intensive yoga instructor course here in Israel, and now has organized a morning class for a small group of us.  Yes, getting up at 6:50am to do yoga is a bit of a challenge, but it was a great way to start the week on Monday!  Later that evening, we were hustled onto the oh-so-familiar coach buses and driven to Jerusalem for the Idan Reichal concert, which was a MASA kickoff event.  MASA is the organization that provided me with a partial scholarship to participate in Career Israel, and they sponsor over 200 different long term programs to Israel.  There was a VIP cocktail/dinner prior to the actual show, and yours truly managed to find a way to partake...it honestly wasn't an impressive scam or anything, I must admit.  The chairperson of WIZO had given the other intern her ticket to the event, which included the afforementioned VIP access, so I simply offered to go with her to the entrance to be sure she got in...and somehow wound up with a trusty VIP badge, providing me with food/drink access.  Score!  Aside from the free stuff, the best part of the pre-concert event:  I was able to hear my roommate give a speech she had been asked to prepare for the occasion.  Becca did an amazing job sharing her story with the group, a lot of whom are huge donors to MASA.  Way to go roomie!!
After some excessive propoganda promoting the benefits of moving to Israel permanently, Idan Reichal and his "project" took to the stage.  Now, it may have all been in Hebrew, but the message was pretty clear - their songs are all about love, acceptance, and peace.  And of course our VIP badges got us pretty damn close to the stage!  Late bus ride back to Tel Aviv made for a groggy next morning, but well worth it!

Idan Reichal!

Wednesday was another Career Israel program day.  This one kicked off at 7:45am, packing yet again onto the buses, only this time heading south, to Sderot, a town on the border with Gaza.  Sderot is pretty infamous across Israel for having been the town with the highest number of missile shellings during the period of the disengagement from Gaza around 2005.  Depending who you ask, the town had between 40-80 shellings a day.  A DAY.  Bus stations double as concrete bomb shelters, every home has its own bomb shelter room attached, and even playgrounds have shelters incorporated into their design.  We were instructed upon arrival, that if we heard the alarm "sheva adom", we had 30 seconds to seek shelter, as there is an incoming missile.  Just a little unnerving way to start a day of touring!  Thankfully, things are a lot quieter than they were in say, 2005 during the disengagement, and there were no alarms sounded that day.  On a visit to the local police station, we saw that they collect and date any missiles that are shot into town where possible.  This particular shell was at the top of the pile we saw:

just a little unnerving that this was about 2 weeks before our visit!

Our day of touring ended with a visited another border town of where we heard the story of a woman named Barbara, who was a resident of Gush Kafin village in Gaza, until they were forced to leave in 2005.  The village was founded in the 1970's and since its inception, had flourished into one of the most successful agriculture farms in the area.  When the residents had to relocate, all their hard work was left behind, and for the most part, destroyed.  Now, I'm not going to get into details regarding the disengagement, mostly because of my limited knowledge about Israel's circumstances that lead to this decision.  What I will say, however, is that the country was utterly divided over this decision, and since Ariel Sharon, who made the final decision, has been in a coma for the last few years, we may never know the true intentions behind his choice.  The financial and emotional loss the residents suffered continues to this day, and many of them will never fully recover.  It is too often you hear stories about political decisions and actions, and it is easy to forget that there are actual people involved.  Seeing a person whose life was drastically affected by theses decision make it so real - not just a story you see on the news.  Intense day with a lot of lecturing and information, but a very important day - adding yet another layer of knowledge about this Israel place...

Roomie love at a playground of Sderot...this odd looking caterpillar also doubles as a bomb shelter.

By Popular Demand...

After receiving several requests to see pictures of my homely abode here in Tel Aviv...see below!

 reminiscent of the college years...minus the extra long twin bed!

my lovely "bedroom"

complete with home made "curtains"

 "kitchen"

something missing?  Oh, a stove perhaps - electric hot plate is located in the cabinet for this shot...

entrance 

note the art on the wall...its a painting found on the streets that I covered with fabric!  Inspired by the lovely Miss Ashley Mays, of course!

 Bathroom

here in Israel, I guess that bathtubs, or shower stalls for that matter are overrated...better to just hang up a curtain and provide a squeegie for water removal...yeaa that's a great idea!

Becca's "area"

Well, it's no Wellington...but it's not infested with insects and the location can't be beat - approximately 8 minute walk to the beach, around the corner from the Dizengoff Center mall, and down the street from the Carmel Market (shuk).  It'll do!

WIZO

I have been in Israel about 7 weeks.  Pretty crazy, right??  Clearly, my life here in Tel Aviv wasn't going to be entirely beach days, excursions, hiking, shopping and wandering - I had to start work at some point!  After all, they don't call it "Career Israel" for nothing...

For the remaining four months of my stay, I'll be interning with WIZO, Women's International Zionist Organization, in the fundraising department.  I realize that the name itself carries with it certain connotations....Women's = Feminist & Zionist = Pro-Israel super Jew.  I had these same kind of ideas when I was entertaining the idea of working with them, yet despite whatever you may think about the name, the organization does truly wonderful things for the state of Israel.  Since was a bit confused over the meaning of Zionism, I did a little research on the subject.  There is a plethora of ideologies that encompass a Zionist mindset, but at the very root, Zionists can all agree that they seek the preservation of a homeland for the Jewish people (aka Israel).  The Zionist movement was founded in the late 19th century by secular Jews, largely in response to growing antisemitism in Europe.  In 1948, Israel declared independence, and thus, a Jewish state was born, sadly not without opposition and struggles that continue to this very day.

WIZO's goal is to provide for the welfare of women, children and the elderly, and to strengthen the bond of Jews all over the world with the State of Israel.  They operate a staggering number of facilities, programs and services all across Israel, with the financial assistance from WIZO members from more than 50 foundations all over the world.  Just a few numbers to get an idea of how big WIZO is in Israel - 600 day care centers, 6 youth villages, 44 youth clubs, 8 schools, and dozens of women's shelters.  I had the opportunity to visit one of the youth villages last week, and it was an amazing experience.  As I said before, I will be working in the fundraising department, which as you can imagine, involves a lot of office time and computer work.  Not exactly glamorous work, but upon seeing the results in person, it makes it all the more worthwhile!  The youth villages are communities for youth that have been removed from their homes by the welfare department for a host of reasons: abuse, neglect, out of control behavior etc.  Instead of placing children in foster homes to become lost in "the system" WIZO offers these youth a home, with the education, love, nourishment and enrichment activities they have lacked in the past.  

WIZO Hadassim Youth Village- Grounds Map

The fundraising department is fascinating in itself.  This small (4 person) department is responsible for coordinating the fundraising efforts of the 50+ WIZO federations around the world.  Not a small task!  Our Sunday status meeting consisted of running through the list of all the federations to see how things are going.  (i.e. what's going on with Austria?  How are things in Belgium?  Fundraising in Rome going as expected?)  Pretty amazing to work in an office that is so international!  On the plus side, the majority of work is conducted in English, so I don't have any troubles communicating or participating in meetings.  Most people in the office speak 2, 3 or more languages - which I find just amazing.  Our department chair, for example, without fault can switch from Hebrew to Italian to English and back again...and perhaps throw in a little French just for variety.  And here I am still struggling to come up with creative responses to "manishma" (what's up) other than my standard "kol beseder" (everything's ok) or "sababa" (good).     

In the upcoming weeks, we have some exciting things to plan for, including a bar mitzva celebration in Jerusalem, and the office is always buzzing with work to be done, so at the very least, I won't be short on things to do while I am there!  And so far no filing paperwork - but I have been on a few coffee runs for the boss.  Here I am again, I suppose, starting at the bottom in my long journey to the top!

Shabbat Shalom from Tel Aviv!     

H goes North...

Hello again friends and family...sorry for the delay in updating...but I am finding myself all over the place lately!  Most recent developments have been the end of Ulpan, which was a bit sad because I really loved Michal our teacher, but also kind of happy in the sense that, well, quite frankly, I'm not very good at Hebrew, and Ulpan was a daily reminder of that!  Here's a quick sample of how most of my Hebrew interactions go:

Me:  Slicha, Cama Ze?  (Excuse me, how much is this?)
Israeli:  (mumbles) hamishim vachetzy
Me:  Ma? (what?)
Israeli: (scoffs) hamishim vachetzy
Me: uhh, 40?  Lo lo lo, toda (no no no, thanks)
Israeli:  (in perfect English) it's 4.50, not forty.
Me:  Ohh, thanks!

So yea...sometimes I think I get it, then a lot of times, things go as above, and I end up looking pretty ridiculous at my attempts.  And lately, I'll be honest, I hardly try.  I should probably work on that!

Tuesday last week, we began our voyage to the Northern part of Israel, including the Golan Heights and the Galilee.  The first morning, we had a short (3 hour) hike in the Galilee which was beautiful, led by a really awesome guide named Anat.  She was great at telling us stories along the way about the area, and even made some pretty tasty sage tea mid-hike, with sage she found on the way!  After the hike, we continued north a bit and arrived at Rosh Hanikra Grottos, which is an amazing rock formation on the north-west most point in Israel, on the border with Lebanon.  And yes, we were about 300 meters from Lebanon, but I swear, there was no war going on there, however seeing the military border did give me goosebumps...but the sunset on the water was amazing, and well worth the voyage!

Wednesday morning, we had an interesting lecture in the north at Kibbutz Misgav Am, by one of it's, ahem, colorful residents.  This particular Kibbutz is right on the border of Lebanon, and has been the target of many attacks and raids during the ongoing clash between Israel and the Hezbolah, who control the majority of South Lebanon.  The guy who talked to us (can't recall his name) was hilarious - first thing he said was something along the lines of "I'm going to give you my opinion on the situation here.  This is not a discussion.  I will answer your questions based on what I think.  You might not like a lot of what I have to say.  Deal with it."  In short, I loved this guy, and his blunt views of the situation.  Vastly different opinion than reading a story by some political analyst!  He's been here through fighting, ambushes of his kibbutz, air force bombings and more.  He's got some radical opinions on the way Israel handles it's political business, but who can blame him?  There's a huge divide between the Knesset in Israel who makes political decisions and the people who are actually affected by said decisions.  A nice change of pace to hear from the latter!

Later this same day, we went to yet another Kibbutz and had a short lecture from yet another hippie...this ended with a very awkward encounter at a high school in one of the Arab communities of the area.  We were funneled into the gym and circled around unsuspecting groups of 16 and 17 year old Israeli-Arabs, and directed us with some "light-hearted" topics to discuss, ranging from "how does it feel to be a minority in your country" to "do you believe in God, and how does that affect your daily life".  Needless to say, this resulted in a ridiculously awkward conversation with some high schoolers that should have been done with people our own age, and maybe people that knew we were Jews (shock!), as most of these kids didn't...and in case you were unaware, Israeli-Arabs and Jews kind of have a dysfunctional relationship here...FAIL on that one, Career Israel!

View from Kibbutz Misgav Am looking into Lebanon (border is just beyond the road approx 300 meters)

After a grueling hour talking with these kids, some of whom I have to say were good sports about the whole thing, we finally headed to Tzfat, which is a very historic town in Israel, and home to some of the oldest and most beautiful synagogues in the country.  Tzfat is also a sort of artistic mecca in Israel, with tons of galleries, shops, etc where you can check out cool (and some lame, but still entertaining) artwork of all kinds.  While in town, I stopped by David Friedman's gallery to pick up a print - he's a very talented artist whose work features his graphic interpretations of Kabbalah, the study of Jewish mysticisms.  In case you'd like to check him out...here is a not so accidental link to his website (newly redesigned, at that!)

http://www.kosmic-kabbalah.com/  

We ended our trip in the North quite appropriately - with a morning spent at the Kinneret, or the Sea of Galilee.  It was a nice change to be in a fresh body of water!  As beautiful as the Mediterranean is, it's pretty damn salty!  Try as I might, there was no walking on water for this girl.  Still not sure how anyone ever actually did that...

Just for fun, here is a photo of our mid-hike swim break...the robust man in the salmon pants is Itzik, my madricha (counselor) and he's basically the most hilarious Israeli I've ever met.  His English is great, in a sense that when he tries to communicate, oftentimes it results in a cultural misunderstanding that you can't help but laugh at...

Cheers!

Binyamina Winery Tour

Knowing me, you probably are aware of my affinity for all things wine, so naturally, I was beyond excited to take a tour of the Binyamina Winery.  Oddly enough, I have never been to a winery before!  This particular one is kosher, so we were directed to not touch ANYTHING, for fear of contaminating the kosher-fied items related to wine making.  On the interesting side, seeing a winery supervised by a bunch of Rabbis was pretty cool!  We also learned that the winery doesn't actually grown it's own grapes - I thought they all did, but I guess with Israel's not so ideal climate, it's better to import the grapes from elsewhere.  Then came the best part of the day...the tasting!  Now, as this programming always goes, we were with a pretty large group, so it was quite the balagan (Hebrew for "mess" which basically can be used to describe most of the daily situations here).  The wine, however, was delicious!  So tasty, in fact, that I purchased two bottles of red wine to take home with me.  Score!  Also on winery day, we stopped at some botanical gardens, and although I wish we had more time to explore, I still managed to make an impromptu attempt at some "artsy" photo shoot.  Cheers!

H tries camping... hilarity of course ensues

Everyone camps here.  It's crazy, really, how much of the Israeli culture is centered around one's ability to "make it" in nature, to be one with their campsite.  I, however, have not always been one for these type of outdoor activities.  Sure, I enjoy the sun and frolicking outside as much as the next girl, but it's things like bugs, rocks, lack of sleeping surfaces, and hard work that generally keep from being an avid camper.  Aside from these potential setbacks, the ladies (Shosh, Anna, Becca, Keren, Steph, Alee & myself) threw together an impromptu camping trip.  And by impromptu, I mean we figured out we wanted to go camping about 6:30pm on Tuesday, decided where to go about 7:30pm, how to get there around 8:15pm, made a supplies list about 9:00pm, etc.  Early Wednesday morning (the day we were leaving), Keren and I set out for the grocery store at 7:45am to get food for the group, we all had Ulpan, then had to catch a bus at 2:55pm to get to our destination of Nachsholim (midway between Natanya & Haifa).  We made it onto the bus literally by the skin of our teeth and were on our way!  The bus ride took about 2 hours, then we had a bit of walk ahead of us to get to the beach...and of course, by the time we arrived the sun was setting, so we had to find our camping site and set up mostly in the dark - which was interesting!  All I can say is thank goodness some of the group had some legitimate camping skills, as I felt pretty helpless wandering around the camp shining lights on people who were actually doing important things like putting up the tents.

After settling in, we set about to making dinner.  Being the self appointed culinary director of this excursion, with the help of my Aussie friend (Keren) we had decided on some sort of stew for Wednesday dinner.  This consisted of peppers, white beans in tomato sauce & corn, basically thrown into a pot and set on the burner.  It actually came out really well, and with the addition of some rolls made for a pretty decent meal.  We polished off a few bottles of wine and had some quality girl talk before we made our way to bed.  Apparently there was some night swimming, but I was far too exhausted to be up for any of that!

When the sun came up the next morning, it pretty much woke everyone, between the heat and the raging beams of sun through our camp.  Upon rising, we finally got a true glimpse of where we had set up camp:

Not too shabby for doing this in the dark!  And yes, that is the Mediterranean Sea in the background.  Please pardon the slightly dilapidated tent, as we had very limited resources to work with!  Most of Thursday was spent lying around on the beach, or exploring the opposite side of the beach we were camping at - ruins of the ancient city of Dor.  You could walk around excavated foundations of this old city, which was pretty cool.  The best part of this adventure, was near the coast of the little peninsula, where you could climb down from the rocks and into natural pools formed by the rocks and coral.  A bit of a challenge to get down into, but completely worth it once you were floating, swimming and splashing about right on the cusp of the Med, feeling the waves crash over you and fill the pools with slightly warm, and very salty aquamarine-colored water.  Completely surreal and so beautiful!

By the end of the day, I was pretty exhausted from all the exploring and time in the sun, and the sunset brought about some very welcomed shade and cool sea breezes.  The group sat around our campsite, cooked up a dinner of pasta, potatoes, corn and garlic bread and drank cold beer as we listened to the Beatles and watched the night sky for shooting stars (which I am happy to report, that I spotted one for the first time in my life!  Made a seriously intense wish that will be a secret until it comes true...).  All in all, a great trip (excluding the fact that my back was in complete knots from sleeping on a seashell & rock filled beach and that my legs were covered in more bug bites than I care to count).  It's absolutely true what they say, that it's all about who you are with, and I feel very lucky to have been with the people I was, as they are quickly turning into some great friends of mine, and I look forward to sharing more adventures with them over the next few months...

Shabbat Shalom from Tel Aviv!