Airport Travels

The time has come!! I can't believe it!! My baby brother is becoming a Bar Mitzvah this weekend. It seemed that this time was soo far away, and now it's only a few days away. As I sit here in the airport, waiting to board my flight, I think about the past two months I have spent here and realize how lucky I am. So lucky to be given this opportunity to spend a solid amount of time in Israel, enough time to learn more about my religion and myself as a person. I am excited beyond words to be able to fly home for this oh so very special occasion and to be able to see friends and family, who I wasn't able to see before I left. I also am super excited to come back to Israel and spend another amazing two months. Stayed tuned for updates about being back in USA.

P.S. As I am writing this, I am watching a few orthodox men gather as many men or boys as they can (at least 10) so that they can daven. This I have never seem before, but because of my updated Jewish knowledge, I knew exactly what they were doing. I feel very proud of myself!! :)

Yam L'Yam & Haifa

This past week, I took part in Yam L'Yam, which is a hike from sea to sea. We started in the Kinneret (Sea of Galilee) and ended at the Mediterranean. This hiking adventure lasted for five days. During these five days, we slept in tents, learned survival skills, cooked our own food, and ate a lot a lot of matzah (since it was Pesach). I also learned how to use nature as your bathroom and what it feels like fr not showering for a full week. That was definitely not my favorite part. I had a lot of fun though, and I even made friends with our cooks! One night, my friends Alexa, Sarah, and I helped chop up some vegetables, which were then used to make a delicious tomato soup. After the five days were up, we all spent two days I. Haifa. There, we stayed in a cute motel. Since there was not enough room for all 85 of us, the girls stayed at one place and the boys stayed at another. The room o stayed in was awesome because it was a suite that I shared with seven other girls, several being close friends. The weather on Haifa was beautiful both days we were there. The first day, we just hung our and rested, since everyone was exhausted from the hike. That night we went to a synagogue for services. It was kind of funny how at the service it was all EIE kids plus a few others, who are members of the synagogue. The second day, we went to the Baha'i Gardens. This was my second time being there, except this time we couldn't walk down the whole thing because our group is too big. I wasn't too upset about it since I've already seen it. Before we made our way back to Tzuba, we stopped at an Arab village near by. That was a very different experience. A little intimidating at times because all of the shop keepers would do everything they could to get you to buy something from them. By the end of our time in the Arab village, everyone was eager to get back to Tzuba. When we were finally pulling in, my entire bus was cheering, including myself. If felt super good to finally be back and to settle into our new rooms. We got new roommates, and I was pleasantly surprised as to how much I like whose in my room. Coincidence how one of them happens to be my best friend's (from home) cousin. It's hard to believe that I have already been in this amazing place for two months. Looking forward to last two months and the experiences and adventures to come!

Pesach !חג שמח

After spending about five days at Goldstein Youth Village, I spent my Passover Seder with all of my cousins and two friends, Jamie and Alexa. The Seder was at my cousin Katriel's house, in Givat Zev. All of my cousins, except for two, were packed into that small house. It was extremely chaotic with of the screaming in Hebrew and rushing to get all of the food ready for dinner. But, this Seder was definitely an awesome experience. Although it was a few hours longer than what I'm used to, Alexa, Jamie, and I had a blast. We all sat around the table eating, telling stories, laughing, and eating some more. I'm pretty sure that I ate my body weight in food. Gotta love homemade Jewish cooking! The funniest thing that happened, is that by the end of the Seder, almost everyone had fallen asleep face down on the table. We were all exhausted and passed out as soon as we hit the bed. What made it so special was being around family that I don't see often, and the fact that my friends loved being around them. Since Passover in Israel is like Shabbat, we couldn't drive anywhere so we had a really restful day and was able to catch up on sleep. Tomorrow we are up bright and early and start Yam L'Yam! We will be hiking from sea to sea over a span of five days. I'm super excited, since I've never actually been hiking before. It will be one more awesome experience to add to my trip!

Ein Gedi- March 1-3 (Weekend before Gadna)

While at Ein Gedi, we stayed at a youth hostel, which had a beautiful view of the water, and the highway.  The weather was beyond beautiful, which everyone was ecstatic about.  The couple days we stayed there were more relaxing than I expected.  All we did all day was hang out with friends, walk around, and tan.  Friday night and Saturday afternoon, we had Shabbat services, which were lead by a few of my friends.  There was also another teen group that was staying at the hostel, and it turned out that some of the kids on my program go to camp with some of the kids on the other program.  Also while we were there, my Jewish History teacher, Oshrit, took us on a nice little hike to a waterfall.  It was a lot smaller than most of us expected, but it was still super fun, especially being all together.  Before we knew it, Sunday came and it was time to make our way to the army base and start Gadna.   

Gadna- March 3 (Sunday)- March 7 (Thursday)

            We left Ein Gedi some time after breakfast, on Sunday.  When we arrived at the army base, which is in Sde Boker, they were not ready for us yet so we went to this little market near by for a bit.  Once we entered the base, and set our bags down on some benches, we were sent immediately to meet the commanders.  The commanders intimidated us all because they were only talking to us in Hebrew and only a few of us could understand.  Before we got split up into groups, we were taught the army stance that we would have to stand in the rest of the time we were there.  The way we got split up into our units was completely random.  The head commander would point to a person and tell them to go to the commander said.  I ended up in a really good unit, with a bunch of my friends.  The commander we had was the first commander that we met, and we were upset that we got her because she seemed scary.  But in actuality, she was the nicest commander on the base and every other unit was jealous of ours. Our commander then told us some info about the upcoming days. The next day, we got our uniforms, which consisted of a puke colored shirt and pants.  Unfortunately for my unit, there weren’t any jackets left by the time we received our uniforms.  For the rest of the day, we learned about 0 to use and shoot an M16 (a gigantor gun used in the IDF-Israeli Defense Force).  It was actually really cool to learn about all the different parts of the gun, especially since it was the first time I was up close and personal with one.  The next day, Tuesday, we had a few lessons in the morning and then headed off to the shooting field.  Once we got there, my unit was split up into five smaller groups, obviously I was the last one.  As soon as my group was called, I could feel all of the muscles in my body tense.  We got to the entrance of the building where we would shoot.  When we finally walked in, we all lined up on a blanket and sat in attention position, waiting for the Memem (higher position than commander) to give us directions.  The time finally came, I was lying down in shooting position, one hand on the handle and the other on the barrel.  As soon as I heard the command to “fire,” I moved my finger to the trigger and let it rip.  This was probably the coolest thing I have ever experienced.  Once I finished, I was in such shock that when people asked me how it was, I didn’t know how to answer.  It was such an awesome opportunity that I’m super glad I was given.  The next two days went by quite quickly and before we knew it, it was time to leave.  Even though I didn’t enjoy it at the beginning, I ended up having fun.   There are two things I will not miss about Gadna; waking up everyone morning at 6:00AM and having only twenty minutes to get fully ready for the day, and sleeping on flimsy cots in a tent.

Eilat/Bedouin Tents- March 7(Thursday)-9(Saturday)

            Straight from Gadna, we went to Eilat for another relaxing weekend.  Yet again, we stayed in a youth hostel, but this one was nicer than the one in Ein Gedi.  It was also nice because all 85 of us were in the same area and had our own little courtyard.  Thursday night we all went to the boardwalk, which was about five minutes walking distance from the hostel.  At the boardwalk we walked and shopped around.  The weather was amazingly warm, heavenly compared to what we dealt with at Gadna.  Friday morning, we woke up early and headed to the beach.  To our luck, it was a perfect beach day!  While we were there, I stretched out in the sand and soaked up the sun.  I even got to go snorkeling and see a bunch of cool-looking fish.  That night we stayed at the hostel and had evening Shabbat services.  After services, we had bonding time, where we did funny activities, including some short skits.  Some of the activities reminded me of the show “Whose line is it anyways.”  After bonding time, we had some free time before it was time for bed.  Saturday morning we got to sleep in, which I was super grateful for because I didn’t get much sleep while in Gadna.  Around 11, we had afternoon services and then lunch.  After lunch we went to the mall and boardwalk (which are right next to each other), and hung around.  Early into the evening, we packed up our rooms and had Havdallah service before we left.  Once all packed up and on the bus, we made our way to the Bedouin Tents, where we would sleep for the night.  Upon arrival we were greeted with beyond delicious food that just kept on coming and coming.  After dinner, we sat around a fire and sang some songs.  The next morning, we woke up a bit early so that we could ride camels!  This was my second time riding a camel, but I was still really stoked and had an awesome time!  I rode on a camel with Nina, and somehow we ended up being the very first camel, the one to lead the pack.  It was another awesome experience that I will never forget. 

I apologize for not updating my blog in quite some time, but as you could have probably guessed, I have been crazy busy.  First here are some posts that I wrote previously, but couldn’t find the time to post them.  These are from the end of February.  I promise that I will post more tomorrow!  Enjoy!

             

 (Tuesday February 18, 2013)

            Today was a good day.  Since Purim is this weekend, this week we have been dressing up as something different each day.  Today was animals, so I decided to wear my Paul Frank footie pajamas, which was the best decision that I could have made.  Besides wearing pajamas all day, it was a pretty normal day.  I had a ton of fun in Hebrew, today.  Since we just learned the vocabulary for fruits, vegetables, and other stuff that would be in the market, we took a class trip to the Markoleet.  While we were there, we filled out a sheet naming different foods according to color, different cheeses and chocolates, and what other items (besides food) could be purchased there.  After we got back to the classroom, for the last hour, we did fun coloring sheets, which tested our knowledge of the colors and our skills of staying in the lines while coloring.  The rest of the day went by pretty quickly, and before I knew it, it was dinner.  For the rest of the night, I just hung out with friends and did homework and then went to sleep.

 (Wednesday February 19, 2013)

            Today was our first tiyul for the week.  As a group, we went to the Israel Museum, which had an amazing model of Old Jerusalem.  While we were there, we walked around with our Jewish History class and teacher and learned about the four different sects, who lived in that time period: The Sadducees, Pharisees, Essenes, and the Zalots.  It was actually really cool to learn about the different sects and how they all had similar beliefs, but were extremely different.  Also at the museum, there was an underground exhibit of the Dead Sea scrolls that are from thousands of years ago.  In the exhibit, there were also artifacts from the same time period, such as: tifilin case, sandals, scissors, combs, and even charred dates.  Since it was only a half-day tiyul, we had our general studies classes when we got back to the kibbutz. General studies went by unusually slow for me, since I wasn’t feel great.  After my last class of the day, which happened to be physics, I made food in my room. I made pasta in the water boiler, and topped it with sauce and cheese.  It was delicious.  After dinner we had our group meetings and then a couple of hours to do what I normally do; homework and hang out with friends.  Unfortunately, I still don’t feel great, and we are supposed to go on an all day tiyul tomorrow, to The Old City.  I am hoping that by tomorrow morning I will feel better. 

 (Friday February 21, 2013)

             So, as it turns out, I felt worse yesterday morning than I did Wednesday night, and ended up staying home from the tiyul to The Old City.  Even though I was bummed that I missed out, I made the right decision because I was healthy to go to Mount Masada and the Dead Sea today.  Waking up this morning was brutal.  We had to get up at 2:15 AM because we had a two-hour drive from the kibbutz to Masada and we wanted to get there before sunrise.  The bus ride wasn’t too bad, but I wasn’t able to sleep.  Once we got to Masada, we all sat at picnic tables and ate our “breakfast,” which consisted of barely anything; a slice of cheese, a cucumber, a tomato, a roll of bread, a pudding, and cottage cheese.  It definitely wasn’t a gourmet breakfast, but at least it was something.  Once we were done eating, we all gathered in our Jewish History classes, for a little pre hike talk, and then headed our way up the mountain.  The hike up took about ten minutes, which surprised me, but it was not a piece of cake.  The first step I took on top of the mountain was a sigh of relief, that I was able to relax a bit.  We then all gathered at a sitting area, which looked out over the Dead Sea.    Then we had a short service and had some time to venture and take pictures.  After, we split into our Jewish history classes, again, and walked around the top of the mountain and learned all about the history of Masada and the people who resided there.  Before we started our journey down the mountain, my teacher, Oshrit, took us to an area of the top of the mountain where my class stood on a bridge, which had an amazing view of the entire desert and sea.  While we stood there, Oshrit would say a word and as a class we shouted those words; “Masada will not fall again.”  The moment that we heard the echoes of our voices, gave me the chills, while Oshrit said that the echoes represent the voices from the past.  I know for a fact that I will never forget that moment, because it was the time when I felt the most connected with Judaism and my ancestors.  For the rest of the day, I kept telling everyone how I got the chills and was blown away by that experience.  The climb down the mountain was more brutal than waking up at the crack of dawn.  We took the “Snake Path,” which was an extremely long, winding path that had steep steps that were covered with loose rocks and sand.  It took about thirty or forty minutes to get down the Masada and into an air-conditioned building.  I had never been so thankful for air conditioning and ice cream.  Straight after lunch, we went to the Dead Sea, where we all hung out at the beach, floated in the water, and covered ourselves in mud.  Today was definitely a day that I will not forget. 

 (Saturday February

           

            It felt amazing to be able to sleep in, and best yet, it was Purim today!!  Once we woke up, we went straight to afternoon services.  They were actually really nice, especially since my friends lead them.  After services, we went to lunch, which was delicious for two reasons; the food was nicer because of Shabbat and because I was starving.  After lunch we had a lot of free time, which I spent hanging out with friends and relaxing.  Then around 4, I started to get ready for the night, which meant figuring out my costume.  I decided to go with a soccer player, which was really simple since I had the entire costume.  Instead of having Havdalah service at the kibbutz, we split up into two groups.  One group went to Modi’in and the other to Gezer.  I was in the group that went to Gezer, since I had gone to Modi’in last time we split up.  It was definitely a different experience, since we were not in a Synagogue, but a huge room on a kibbutz dedicated to services.

 (Sunday February 5, 2013)

            This morning, I woke up feeling absolutely wiped out.  I didn’t get much sleep and had zero energy in me, even to get up to go to the bathroom.  I was really upset and distraught, because I really wanted to go into Tel Aviv with everyone, instead of missing out and staying at the kibbutz and doing nothing.  It took me way too long to decide what to do, but I ended up pushing myself to go with the rest of my friends.  I ended up having fun but still didn’t feel great.  While in Tel Aviv, we went on this cute street that had a bunch of small boutiques.  Then we went to the mall in Tel Aviv, which was within walking distance of where we were.  We didn’t have much time to shop, which I wasn’t too pleased about.  But, I did get one thing accomplished that I needed to get done.  The bus ride home was super relaxing, so relaxing that I ended up falling asleep.  When we got back to the kibbutz we had a good chunk of free time, which I spent as I always do; doing any work I have and hanging with friends.  

Little recap of this past week/weekend...

On Wednesday (2/13/13) was a huge deal for everyone.  It was our first, big, Jewish History test.  The night before, everyone was cramming.  Being around everyone complaining and freaking out about it, kind of made me freak out and become really anxious.  I knew that to get rid of that feeling, I had to go to a quiet area, aka my room, and study on my own, which is exactly what I did.  Instead of following the pack, and staying up late, I decided to go to sleep early and and wake up early to finish going over my notes.  That was probably the best decision I could have made.  The morning of the test I felt more relaxed than I did the night before.  Once I finished my test, I took a huge sigh of relief.  

Thursday (2/14/13), Valentine's Day.  It was a normal school day, except for the first hour of Jewish History.  My class and the other class, that is at the same time as ours, mixed together and had a debate.  One side represented the Israelites who wanted to go back to Israel, their homeland, and the other side represented the Israelites who wanted to stay in Babylon.  It was a pretty entertaining and heated debate.  After we finished the debate, we had a little "feast" of pastries and drinks.  Later that night, we went to the mall in Jerusalem.  Before we boarded the buses, my friend Ryan, being funny, got a couple of us little bags of heart shaped chocolate.  We were all his valentines.  At the mall I got a bunch of stuff from H&M (which is much much better in Israel, than in the states), and from this Israeli store called Hoodies.  The clothes and scarves from Hoodies are unbelievably soft and comfy.  I know that is one store I will deff be buying more stuff from :)

Friday (2/15/13), it's Shabbat!  In the morning, a bunch of us left at 8:30am and went to a soup kitchen.  While we were there we didn't exactly work in the kitchen, per say, but we still did charity.  What we did, was take baby and children clothes from storage and fold them nicely to put into boxes to be brought to donate to those who are in need of clothes.  We were there for about an hour or so, and then headed back to the kibbutz.  Between getting back to the kibbutz and getting picked up to go to my cousins, I just relaxed and hung out with some friends.  Then around 2pm, Carly Fromm and I got picked up by my cousin David and were on our way to Kochav Yair (the town where my cousins live), which is near Tel Aviv.  It was about an hour drive, but since I was exhausted from my busy week, I slept in the car, which made the car ride seem much shorter than it was.  That night, Carly, Aura (cousin), and I went to Shoul (Temple) for a little bit.  After Shoul, we went back to the house for a wonderful, home-made Shabbos dinner.  I was definitely pleasantly plump, after that meal, since I scarfed down so much food.  After dinner, Aura, Carly, and I went to this place called Beit Akiva.  Beit Akiva is like a youth lounge where Aura and her friends hang out.  Carly and I got to meet a bunch of Aura's friends, some of them I had already known.  We were there for a little less than an hour, since all three of us were exhausted.  

Sunday (2/16/13), Aura's Hebrew birthday!  The three of us were typical teenagers and slept until noon.  Once we woke up, we had really good chocolate mousse cake for breakfast, as a treat, since it was Aura's Hebrew Birthday.  After breakfast, we just hung around the house for a bit, since we couldn't go outside because it was raining pretty heavily.  Then around 2pm, we all had Shabbos lunch.  Again, I stuffed my face, and was pleasantly plump after.  After lunch, the three of us took a solid four hour nap, which brought us to dinner, when we woke up.  Before we ate, we had Havdalah, which is the concluding prayers for Shabbat.  After having a light dinner, David and Aura drove Carly and I back to the kibbutz.  I truly enjoyed being with my cousins, even though I missed my friends at the kibbutz, since I have been with them all day everyday.  However, one of the perks of being off the kibbutz is that I was able to sleep and do laundry! Cousin Suri and David were super nice to let Carly and me use their washing and drying machines.  I can say with confidence that I had an awesome weekend.  

In the upcoming week, we have three trips, including one to Masada and the Dead Sea.  I am super excited for all of them, especially Purim this weekend!  Stay tuned for some more blurbs about my exciting days at Kibbutz Tzuba. 

So some of you have been asking about what my typical day is so I am going to tell you starting from the minute I wake up. Right now, I am currently sitting in the cafe/Belmont Hotel lobby.  This is one of the places on the kibbutz that has the best wifi and where I can do my homework.  So here is my schedule...

7:00 am- Wake up.  At this time, the madrichim (counselors) come around to every room and wake us up.  Personally, I like to be up before the madrichim come to wake us up, so I set my alarm for 6:50 am.  This gives me time to lay in bed for a little bit, and really wake myself up, before I have to drag myself to breakfast. 

7:45 am- Breakfast.  We all eat in the Chadar Ochel, the dinning hall, which we share with the residents who live on the kibbutz all year.  The only downside to that, is finding a place to sit, since it gets really crowded.  They have a lot of options to eat, such as hummus, pita, eggs, salad, vegetables, etc.  It's absolutely delicious! 

8:15 am- Jewish History class.  This is by far my toughest class.  It is a 3 hour class, fun-packed with teachings from over 4000 years of Jewish history.  It's definitely going to take some time to get used the long class time, but I already have a bit, so I know that I will be okay.  I usually am not a fan of history class, but this class is the exception.  I am starting to become more interested in the specific history of Israel and Judaism, because it is a topic that I don't talk/ learn about often.  

11:15 am- Hebrew Class.  So far, this is my favorite class.  I absolutely love my teacher, Ella.  Just like me, she doesn't like homework or tests.  The other cool thing about her and this class is that, we are going to go out of our classroom, such as the Belmont Hotel, to interact with the Israelis and to practice the hebrew we learn in class.  So far, we have learned some phrases like "How are you?" and "Where are you from?"  I am really proud of myself because Hebrew is a really challenging language to learn and I am doing really well.  I can't wait until I can start to hold a conversation.

1:05pm-7:15 pm- General Studies. This is the time that I have all of the classes that I would take at home.  These classes include: Physics, English, Algebra II Trig, Spanish 4H, and US History.  I truly like all of my teachers, and love the fact that the classes are no more than ten kids.  In these settings, I feel that I will succeed with flying colors.  

7:15 pm- Dinner time.  Right after my seventh period class, my friends and I run to the dinning hall, to make sure that we get food before the dinning hall closes.  The food is absolutely delicious, which usually makes me even more hungry, but I know that once I get there, I will be satisfied.  

7:45 pm- Group time.  This is when our groups meet for a few minutes to talk about the upcoming events in the days/weeks to come.  

8:00 pm-11:00 pm- Free time.  During these three hours, is when we all get our homework and studying done.