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.
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