Hannukah break...Christmas break...

As per the title of this post, I've been given absurd amounts of vacation during the month of December. First, Ben Yakir, like most Israeli schools or youth villages, closed for a week-long vacation during Hannukah. And so, two weeks ago, the boys from the village all went home (or in many cases, where home situations are difficult, to some relative's or friend's house instead), and the four of us yearcoursers who work there were given a week of freedom. This week, I am suddenly off again for the Yearcourse winter break.

It's funny, now that I think about it, this concept of so much vacation. There was a time not so long ago, in fact for the majority of my life up until this very past summer, when I absolutely relished any sort of break. School was never that bad, but the opportunity to relax at home or hang out with friends worry-free was always a welcome alternative. Snow-days, especially, or any surprise days off of any sort, were some of the most exciting times of my childhood. Waking up at 7:00 only to watch "Gann Academy" scroll by underneath a bundled-up CBS newscaster was always a thrill, and falling back asleep after were some of the best sleeps I've ever had. And everything outside was white...and my bed was so warm...
Anyways, the point of my reminiscing being this: vacation from school was and always will be a wonderful thing. I'm realizing now that vacation from my volunteering, from something I really enjoy, is entirely different. As nice as it is to see my friends, and of course to see my family, it's really hard being away from the village. It's hard being away from the routine, from the other volunteers and madrichim there, and mostly, from the boys. I find myself thinking about them so often, wanting to talk about a certain boy or incident to someone who relates, finding it frustrating that the full extent of my experience is and might always be impossible to share with the outside world. I carry around my digital camera with me while I'm away so I can glance quickly at pictures of them, and show them to everyone I happen to be with at the moment, whether they really care to see or not. I realize now that being not-so-happy when vacation comes is different, of course, but definitely a positive thing. It's real proof, I suppose, of satisfaction with the routine and with the "job" (though I hardly see it as a job...) and it's something that I should probably look to achieve while I study in college and pursue a career after. If I can find a job where I'm happier (or at least as happy) while working than while on break, than I've made a good choice.

Among the more memorable/valuable times I've had so far at Ben Yakir was this past Thursday afternoon, before I left for this vacation. Dorit had suggested that I spend some time in the library that afternoon, and help whoever wanted with some English. Afternoons had been really slow, seeing as my group (being in high school a few villages over) doesn't get back from school until four or five. So I was hoping that I would feel a bit more productive in the library. It happened that that day it was pouring rain, which meant that tons of boys skipped their outdoor electives and crowded the library. At first I was unsure that anyone would come up to me with any sort of questions, but slowly they started to. I sat there amongst a crowd of boys of all ages with my notebook and some English flash cards from the internet, writing silly sentences in English and having them translate, correcting their broken grammar, and showing them numbers and letters. It was a bit difficult, having to balance my attention between all of them and juggle so many different levels of English (to switch from reading a book with a seventh grader to learning the alphabet with a ninth grader), but I managed for nearly two hours and left after feeling giddy and accomplished. What was especially rewarding about the experience, I think, was seeing their eagerness. This wasn't their homework, or a mandatory study period. They genuinely wanted to learn. So much so that they'd get angry if I was focusing too much attention on one boy and their own questions weren't being answered quickly enough. We were laughing, of course, for a lot of it; it's difficult to hang out with these boys and not laugh. But in the end, they were serious about learning as much English as they could. I think I'll spend more time in the library, and maybe I'll learn to be more organized about it...

But back to vacation. My Hannukah break was spent visiting friends in Israel and seeing some family. And shopping. I stayed at Pam's Rishon apartment for a few nights, and spent those days in Tel Aviv, shopping of course, as well as sitting with Pam on the Tayelet for maybe four hours waiting for EG and Nathan to show up. Unfortunately at one point we sat next to an old sketchy man who stared at us for a while and then started following us when we walked away. So we sprinted down the street and took refuge in a KFC, where we watched three episodes of the Office and one episode of Seinfeld on my iPod. EG and Nathan did finally show up, and we caught up for a little before going back to Pam's apartment. Fun times in Tel Aviv. I then traveled to Jerusalem, where I stayed with Chanania (a cousin), and at the bayit (Nat's apartment-- where they refuse to turn on the heat and I might have frozen if not for my sleeping bag). I also found time to see Yamit, Viva, and Navah, so that was all good. That weekend I went down to Mamshit, a "bedouin" tourist site down near Dimona, with some yearcourse friends. Ben Degani and Harold are volunteering there so we decided to visit their very secluded location and tried out living in the desert for a weekend. I put "bedouin" in quotes, because while we did get to ride camels (SUCH absurd animals!), and eat inside a tent, we didn't get to really interact with any true bedouins and the place was so designed for tourists that the experience was hardly close to authentic. But it was a fun time nonetheless, and I did get some great photos of the sunset in the Negev, as well as a close-up video of a camel chewing its cud. Gooood stuff.

I'm spending this break with my immediate family, who arrived from Boston a few days ago. [ :-) ] So far our vacation has consisted of hiking around Sde Boker with EG's family and a few friends, repelling off a small cliff, eating dinner in a real bedouin tent, and visiting various supermarkets. (If you know my dad, you know that it's difficult, if not impossible, for him to go more than 48 hours without buying some bananas, or other assorted food necessities.) Now we're in Ein Tsurim for the weekend at my aunt and uncles, and tomorrow we're visiting Sufie's air force base. Hopefully I'll see some cool fighter jets, and maybe fly one (joke. but that would be cool...)

Anyways, I'm exhausted, and knowing my family, we're getting an early start tomorrow. So I'll try to get some sleep...

Ben Yakir :)

Last Wednesday evening, after an incredibly hectic day of packing and loading buses and saying temporary goodbyes, Becca, Arielle, Aliza, and I arrived at Ben Yakir, our location for the next three months. We were greeted by one of the seven sherut leumi (national service) girls, an English speaker who was assigned to help us get comfortable. I was pleasantly surprised by our rooms here--they're apartment-ish-style, with mini kitchens, internet access, and a cable TV in each. We unpacked our bags and bags of luggage, and then ventured to the hader ochel for our first Ben Yakir dinner.

That dinner was an experience, to say the least. In one sentence, I have never felt like such a celebrity. We immediately stood out as the new American girls, and it seemed as if all the kids couldn't stop staring and whispering. There was so much excitement and we were right at the center of it all. It was a strange feeling, to be so noticed by everyone like that, but a good one. It was a small but exhilarating glimpse of what was to come, of how much influence we would have here and how much our presence would really be felt. We also got a slightly less exciting glimpse of the food quality (which ranks slightly above edible, if we're lucky), and quickly realized the necessity of our built-in kitchens and small yearcourse food stipend.

We've now been here for nearly a week, and each day has been an entirely new and worthwhile experience in itself; Each day I go to sleep thinking I've accomplished or learned at least something, whether it be about a certain boy's background, about the boys as a community, about the mentality of growing up in a broken home or of trying to integrate into Israeli society after making aliyah from Ethiopia, or Russia, or wherever. It turns out that the village isn't actually an Ethiopian Youth Village, but rather a religious youth village for boys with difficult home situations, and boys that have had trouble in school for one reason or another. It just happens that 80 percent of the kids here are Ethiopian. Most have just made aliyah four or five years ago, and though their Hebrew is for the most part fluent, they still have strong Amharik accents and naturally speak Amharik when they talk to each other. I tried having one of the boys teach me a bit of the language the other day--it didn't work out so well. The words are just so different and so utterly foreign in structure and sound from English words, that it was hard from me to even repeat the phrase "how are you" in something that comes close to resembling Amharik.

The other day, our supervisor here, Dorit, assigned us to our groups. The boys are split up into groups by their age (it's a small village-- around 20 boys in each grade). In the afternoons, we've been hanging out with the boys and helping them with their English (and sometimes math) homework. I was assigned to the 10th and 11th graders, but since they often mix with the kids from the oldest group, I've also gotten to know the 12th graders pretty well. It's a bit of a strange dynamic, the boys being practically my age, if not my age (many of them were held back one or two grades after making aliyah). It's worked out, though, for the most part, because my role isn't actually defined as a "madricha." I'm not expected to discipline them, nor am I supposed to. I'm there to serve as a sort-of "older sister," or just as a friend. An English-speaking, American, female friend. Which is all very rare and exciting to them. Soon, in the mornings, we'll be tutoring English in the middle school. This year, they weren't able to find any English teachers, so I'm excited to really make a contribution. Some of the boys don't even know the English alphabet. We'll really be starting from square one. Meanwhile, we've been learning SO much Hebrew. We're forced to speak it all day, except when speaking to each other, because hardly anyone here can carry on a conversation in English. It's been really good practice and I can feel myself becoming more fluent. I still need to work on my accent, though...

Today, being the first day of Hannukah, was a fun day. In the afternoon, we had a chugim festival, where we were treated to performances of the capoara, Tae Kwan Doe, and Hip Hop classes. Then, after dinner, we had a "sivivonada," which basically consisted of playing dreidel and winning candy. Or losing candy. Or stealing candy from others' bags. So much fun. Becca, Arielle, Aliza, and I came back to our rooms sugar high, and we had ourselves a balloon-filled dance party to some good oldies courtesy of the Backstreet Boys and Five. It was a good time.

I'll post pictures of the boys later. For now, lyla tov. Or boker tov, or whatever.

Changeover time

I'm writing now from Matan's family's apartment in Herzeliyah, where his dad generously offered to host me and a few friends for this changeover vacation period. The apartment is spacious and comfortable (not to mention absolutely gorgeous), and located in the new area of Herzeliyah Pituach, right by the tayelet and the mall. Our window is a view of the yachts, sea, and sunset, and Pam, Arielle, and I had trouble putting our cameras down yesterday evening. Our time here so far has included fancy dinners of sushi, all-you-can-eat meat at Papagaio (We even convinced Pam, the pickiest eater I know, to sample nearly every piece!), and a Yehuda Policker concert (where we were by far the youngest people in the crowd), all courtesy to Matan's dad. In less than a half an hour, I'm scheduled for a professional massage, and then maybe I'll go take a dip in the pool. Life is not bad here. My only complaint is that we came too late--it's a bit too chilly to go swimming at the beach. We'll at least go later to sit on the sand and bask in the beauty that is Herzeliyah and vacation. Paid-for, luxurious vacation. ;)

This week marks the end of our Jerusalem study period, and the beginning of our "Israel Experience" period. After spending days anazlyzing each of the thirty volunteer options and locations, we each made our top-ten lists and then left the rest for the counselors to determine. My first choice was Ben Yakir, an Ethiopian Youth village, and I found out the other week that I was indeed assigned to it. I know very little about what my next three months will be like.

What I do know:
-I'll be working there with just three other girls from yearcourse: Aliza Belcourt, Becca Abelman, and Arielle Miller
-I'll be living at the youth village, which I imagine to have similar facilities and a similar design as an American boarding school.
-The village consists of boys from grades 7 through 12, 80 percent of them Ethiopian. I'm not entirely sure whether they themselves are new olim, or whether they are children of new olim. Either way, the school serves to help ease the integration into Israeli society.
-I imagine I'll be playing some sort of madricha role. According to Sara Davidoff, who worked there last year, I'll be assigned to a group of boys and I'll be with them for most of the day. They don't know any English, so hopefully my Hebrew will improve.
-I'm expecting it to be hard at the beginning. I've been told that the Ethiopian community tends to be somewhat closed-off, introverted, and seeing as I am not 100 percent comfortable with my Hebrew it might take some time to connect with the kids. But I've also heard that after they get to know you, they tend to cling to you and really start to open up. I'm hoping the experience will be rewarding.
-I see the next three months as a sort of break from my program, and a taste of something really Israel. Or really a part of Israel. I won't be seeing much of yearcourse participants or counselors, except for on my free weekends, which might only be every other week. Then, after three months, we'll all be reunited in yearcourse apartments in Bat Yam or Holon (near Tel Aviv), volunteering some place around that area.


****Massage time, gotta run...***

Back from the massage. One hour of utter relaxation. Ahhhh....

It's nice that I'm away from the hostel for at least these few days. The place right now is way over-crowded, with kids from every section staying there until we move to our third trimester locations. With four people to a room (sometimes five, if the fifth decides he was assigned to roommates that snore too loudly, or are too messy...), it's a hectic, hectic time. To add to it all, everyone at the hostel is still on a sort-of lockdown, as the Israeli terror alert rises during the Annapolis Conference. Lockdown, meaning we're supposed to avoid public transportation and open public spaces. Meanwhile, in my eyes the conference has little promise, seeing as Livni and Qurei weren't even able to agree on a basic statement coming into the few days in Washington. The best I hope for is that it won't spark a third intifada... Well, who knows. Maybe some progress is miraculously possible?


I think I'll go relax some more, maybe read a bit or walk to the beach, before we're taken out to another gormet meat dinner tonight.

Ein Gedi!

Friday morning Raviva and I ventured out to a crowded pre-Shabbat shuk and pushed our way through the challah-buying masses. Our goal: to buy enough food to sustain us for a shabbat on the Ein Gedi beach. After splitting the cost of apples, dried fruit, nuts, Bamba, and of course, the standard humus and pitas, we were off to the tachana mercazit (central bus station), where we met Nat and started on our way.

The weekend trip took little to no planning. I had heard that some of my yearcourse friends were heading down there this weekend, so I tagged along and brought a few friends with me. We packed in backpacks and brought our sleeping bags to sleep on the beach by the Dead Sea. Total expenses included only some food, a two-way bus pass, and 12 shekels to get into Ein Gedi for the day.

After a mere twenty minutes on the bus from Jerusalem, the scenery changed from busy streets and residential areas to sand dunes and ... more sand dunes. It's really incredible how quickly and completely the landscape changes here. We arrived in Ein Gedi after around an hour, and walked over to the nature reserve to try and get in a few hours of hiking. There we ran into some trouble. The sign told us that to enter, the adult fee was 23 shekels and the youth fee was just 12. Youth were "5-18," so naturally, we asked for youth passes. When the ranger asked how old we were, we told him without hesitation that we were eighteen. Mistake. Apparently, in Israel, "5-18" means up to (and not including) eighteen.
--A word of advice: when in Israel, ALWAYS SAY YOU'RE 17. At least according to Egged (the Israeli bus company), and most tourist attractions, every foreign teenager here for the year is just seventeen. For the whole year. You'd think they'd catch on at some point.---
Seeing as it was later in the day, it wasn't worth our 23 shekels for just a short hike. We chilled instead on the Dead Sea beach for a bit (about a half mile down the road), where we'd be sleeping later that night, and waited for my yearcourse friends to arrive.

In the end, there were around 25 of us at our campsite. Mostly yearcourse section one-ers, but also some from sections two and three, a few girls from Nativ, and Raviva and Nat. The combination of desert and sea and sunset was surreal. The sun went down early and quickly, and we all snapped as many photos as we could while the scenery changed from pink to blue to too-dark-for-pictures. The photos were postcard-perfect, but futile, in a way--it was difficult to capture the vastness of the place with a petty digital camera. Even one with "color accent" (which is SO COOL! Nat and I spent a good amount of our trip playing with Viva's camera...). When the sun went down, we figured we should practice our Judaism a bit there in the desert, and we lit some shabbat candles and even prayed Kabbalat Shabbat. We prayed where we could find light, which happened to be by the public bathrooms, and we used a small piece of toilet paper as a mechitza. It felt funny a bit when we bowed towards the toilets during the last verse of L'cha Dodi; one of my more memorable prayer experiences.

The next day Nat, Viva, and I, plus two girls from sections two and three, headed out a bit earlier than the rest to hike. We chose "Wadi Arugot," and this time when we entered we were smart enough to remember that we were actually 17 (cough cough). I'd done the hike at least once before with my family, but the scenery and pools were gorgeous all the same. We stopped to swim in the "Hidden Waterfall," and then continued on a bit to some more pools, where we rested, admired the scenery, and fiddled with the super cool features on Raviva's camera until a ranger told us we had to start heading back.

The bus ride home felt a little longer, seeing as the bus was so crowded that we were forced to sit on the floor in the aisle. (Not the first time I've done that.) Despite this small discomfort, the weekend was relaxing and beautiful and one of my most worthwhile Israel weekends so far.
Note to self: I should have more weekends like that. :)

Friday is Bezalel and Galiah's new baby's bris. So I'll probably be spending the weekend at a cousins house, playing with babies and getting lots of nice sleep. After that there is only one weekend left in Jerusalem, and we'll be on lockdown for security reasons. Crazy how this trimester is almost over! And I don't even know where I'll be next trimester, though I hope it will be Ben Yakir, an Ethiopian Youth Village. I find out my placement tomorrow! *crossing fingers.*

[I have to give credit for the above photos to Pam. Zero special effects in those.]

Our journey is masa ;)

As our time here in Jerusalem nears its end (we're dispersing after this trimester), it seems that everything's becoming so much more hectic. Our weeks are filled with MASA events, little outings or movies planned by our counselors, charity rallies and walks, and of course, some classes and homework in between.

Hm. Now that I think about it, it's likely my own doing that my days are busier. My mindset has shifted a bit, as I realize now that my time left in Jerusalem is limited, and I fill my schedule trying to fit in all I can. I appreciate the city--am less frustrated by the presence of so many Americans and so many tourists/tourist attractions/touristy things (I would hesitate to call the kotel, for instance, an "attraction." Just seems off). There are perks to Jerusalem--things in this city that I wouldn't find in any other city in Israel, much less anywhere else in the world. Where else can I go out on a Monday night and be absolutely guaranteed to bump into at least a few people I know? I've run into my old camp counselor on Emek R'faim, my sister's friend across from the bus station, and a dozen old camp and school friends near Ben Yehudah. It's an odd night if I don't find someone I know, or someone I once knew (and with whom a short reunion with an awkward exchange of "hey!"s is completely necessary). I also have friends here, good friends--friends not on yearcourse but on other various programs around the city. Of course, leaving Jerusalem won't really be leaving them, seeing as everything in Israel is "just forty-five minutes away!" but I'll be seeing them less, and our get-togethers will require annoying planning in advance. (I don't like planning. And I'm not so good at it. Uch.)

Anyways, some highlights from my busssyyyy week. The photo above was taken at a rally for the captured soldiers, that is, the three soldiers captured last year before the war in Lebanon. The backdrop was blown-up pictures of Gilad Shalit, Ehud Goldwasser, and Eldad Regev, sequinced curtains, and neon lights. The performances followed suit--high-tech and a bit flashy at times--but nonetheless meaningful, touching, and seemingly effective. (Effective might be the wrong word, the real effectiveness of the event might yet to be determined, but we were definitely a large presence.) Memorable parts of the night included a short speech by Ehud Goldwasser's wife. You wonder how she keeps living.

In a small change of mood, Halloween fell a few nights after. You wouldn't think the holiday is big in Israel, but as I said, Jerusalem is a city of Americans. Of teenage Americans. Essentially, yearcourse brought Halloween to Israel. Our costumes were creative and elaborate, and included a "nudist on strike," Little Red Riding Hood, Waldo of Where's Waldo, and animals of all sorts. I am shown in the photo above (as a pirate) with a "piece of metal." To summarize, it was a fun night, beginning with filling an entire public bus with American fools in costumes, and ending with some silly kids dancing on the streets downtown while we searched for a cab.

The week ended in excellent fashion with a MASA-sponsored Ha-Dag Nachash concert. MASA-sponsored, I soon found out, does not only mean that the event cost me a mere 35 shekels. It means that the event was more of a carnival-type-event than a simple concert, complete with clowns and men on stilts and a group dressed in "Na-na-nachman" hats dancing around a fake Torah scroll. After these festivities, we gathered in the auditorium to watch the band perform--we being participants of MASA programs around Israel, which is most year programs, meaning I saw ALL of my in-Israel friends and random acquaintances. But before the actual band came out, we were treated with multiple loud and excited playings of the MASA theme song. Yes, they have a theme song, and yes, it is excellent. ("Our journey is Masa," the title of this blog, is in fact a line from that very song.) Finally the real concert began, and in the end, it was no less than amazing.
MASA gave us backpacks too. Nerdy orange ones. Yay for loaded organizations.

That ultimately ended the week, and shabbat was spent with my mom, aunt, uncle, and some cousins down at my aunt and uncles "caravilla" in Ein Tsurim. I think I slept more than was awake. And I played with babies. It was grand.

Until next time, Lehitra'ot

Belated First Post

I know--I procrastinate.
After being in Israel now for more than a month and a half, I've finally found the time and energy to create this blog. I figure better late than never, and I hope I'll have discipline enough to continue to update and document at least some of my experiences here. Bear with me while I neglect to post for weeks at a time; while I'm out in downtown Jerusalem or tanning on the beach in Herzeliyah or eating Shabbat dinner with my cousins, I might find little time in between.
Who am I kidding. It's sheer laziness. There's really no other excuse.

I write my first post from our hostel in Jerusalem, the Judaen Youth Hostel, which is situated way on the outskirts of town near the zoo and the Malha Mall. The location is less than ideal. We spend lots of money on cabs and buses to the center of town, while my friends on other programs are a short five minute walk from Ben Yehuda Street. The hostel itself, though, is pretty much a palace (our counselors, in fact, have dubbed it just that), complete with an outdoor pool, a basketball court, a gym, and a very-much-appreciated cleaning service. The building is new and enormous and clean, and the quality of the place makes up, somewhat, for what it lacks in location. Somewhat.

Specifically, I'm writing now on my laptop while I sit in my History of Zionism class (don't kill me, parents, I can pay attention at the same time!). Zionism class is generally worthwhile, engaging for the most part. Every Tuesday is Zionism trip day. Last week our class traveled to Rosh Ha'ayin, a city north of Tel Aviv with a large Yemenite Jewish population. We were guests in an old Yemenite couple's house, where we were fed Khat leaves (the closest any of us will get to smoking pot this year, as some boys pointed out), dried fruit, and popcorn. There, a few lucky students tried on the traditional clothes of a Yemenite Jewish bride and groom, yellow sequined hood and artificial peyos included (see image). After, we visited the town's Yemenite culture center, where a young professional dancer taught us Yemenite line dances. Lots of clapping and stomping and excitement. We then ate dinner (empty rolls of bread, cucumbers, and humus?) by a fancy, super-cool playground, and Daniel the Sweden showed me how to folk dance Swedish-style. It was a good afternoon.

Meanwhile, our class now is ending in approximately two minutes and a half. I'll sign out, and leave you with this piece of advice: Watch Saleh Shabaty. (We watched it last week in our Zionism class.) You'll laugh, a lot. It's quite absurd.