Nicole's World Travels

Clarity

2011-08-23T01:14:00.000-07:00

Often there are things we have been thinking about for days, weeks, months, and even years but we can not quite grasp how its connected. Or the importance.

Recently, I found clarity to something I have been thinking about for what I want to say is years. I'm not sure when it started, maybe it was at a point in my life when I was looking for meaning, trying to understand my purpose. Perhaps it was when I was trying to understand what having meaning in life actually meant. Or when trying to understand the purpose of my daily actions.

Every day, we as humans, go through our daily actions, but we don't always think about the purpose. We get lost in the repetitiveness of our daily lives, and we forget the meaning of our actions. We forget the deeper meaning of what we woke up for and we don't think about the purpose of sticking our foot in our shoe or why we tied our laces. We rush through the day, we rush through an alley to get to work. As we rush through the alley we don't see whats in front of us, or next to us, or above us or even what we are stepping on. What many people don't realize, what they aren't seeing, is that in that alley there is beauty. There are flowers growing on trees, theres a hidden garden beneath a gate and in the beautiful flower we missed as we rushed through the alley, there is a small ant crawling.

The reality is that the world is huge, there are so many things happening around us that its impossible for our brains to take it all in. To avoid sensory overload it doesn't really look at everything. We look but we don't always see. We rush through crowds but we don't look at anyones face. Everyday, I rush past the man sitting outside his apartment to leave my building, but not once have I spoken a word to him. In graduate school, I walked through Forrest Park every single day, but I often missed that flowers bloomed, or trees turned yellow. Next thing I knew the leaves were gone, but I not once had I stopped to take a look.

This has been something I have thought about for a long time. The fact that I go through days at end and forget to remember why I am doing it. I forget to look at my surroundings, as I rush through the day, in order to get to another day. As I rushed through the days, the days swept by and months past me by. Now I am at this point where I realize that I allowed time to pass me by, without stopping to take it in. To understand all my actions and make sense of all my motives. Or to just stop sometimes and see my surroundings. I question how much I've missed in life, just because of the fact that even just in the last two years, I forgot to stop and appreciate the present day and the people who surrounded me.

I moved here to Jerusalem over two months ago. At least a few times a week I walk down my street through an ally to Beit Lechem. Recently I discovered that in that ally there are beautiful homes. The most extravagant homes I've seen in Jerusalem. Beyond a gate I realized there was what seemed like an enchanting garden, with a pond and flowers, that seemed to never end. As I stopped and stared at the garden, what I couldn't really grasp was the idea that I've walked by this gate so many times and had no idea what I was walking past. I was looking, but I was not seeing.

It is more than not seeing though. You would think that putting on your shoes each day has no meaning to it. When you think about it there is more to a shoe than most stop to realize. First of all, why did we choose the shoe. For what purpose did we put that shoe on when we woke up that morning. It is the idea that we don't often think about the actions of simply putting our foot into a sock, that then goes into our shoe, that then leads to accomplish a goal and takes us through a day.

Perhaps though, its too much to always have to think about these things. We don't really want to allow ourselves to experience sensory overload, or think about every single action we take. It would take too long to get out the door and I guess it would also take too long to get to work if we stopped to see what we walked past everyday. But there is something to be said, about every now and then stopping to think of the meaning of your actions and stopping to not just look but to see your surroundings.

The fresh perspective on life. This is the clarity.

"I sold my tent, to pay the Rent...."

2011-08-02T00:09:00.000-07:00

"The Rent is Too Damn High!" I first heard this stated from a newly formed political party in New York. The rent is too high was not just the name of the political party, but it was the basis for its agenda. What happens when a government does not regulate prices, when price ceilings are not enforced and it allows for cost of living to sky rocket? I ask this question
but I realize the question is relevant outside the perimeters of Manhattan.

This past year has sparked something that I believe has been sitting and waiting to erupt. Protests, revolutions, passion, fighting for ones rights to afford the cost of living, a social media phenomenon, and in Israel..

..Tent Cities.

What happens when prices rise, but peoples salary's stay stagnant? What happens when the cost of food continues to skyrocket with no controls, no ceilings? What happens when the youth of this generation decide that they are fed up with neglect of the government on its own people? Protests.

"Economic Gaps Widen in Israel" - YNET

This summer in Israel I think I have the luxury of experiencing something different, something unique. I first heard of a student protest in Jerusalem about the cost of rent a few weeks ago. What I didn't realize was the extent of these protests. I was told that students were going to be protesting in Jerusalem because prices of

rent have continued to increase and students can't afford to live anymore. These protests became a country-wide protest that sprung up throughout the country in the form of what they are calling: Tent Cities. Throughout Israel you can see these tent cities, where students and now even non-students are camping out in tents to protest the government. Organizing marches throughout Tel Aviv, in front of the Prime Ministers Home in Jerusalem, down the streets of Jerusalem and in front of the Knesset. Today, I even read an article that protests have even occurred in front of the Israeli Embassy in Berlin. Young Adults who couldn't afford the cost of living in Tel Aviv that moved to Berlin because of the lower cost of rent.

What they are fed up with is the rising cost of living. Landlords who are raising the cost of rent in the middle of the year, food prices that have skyrocketed,

low salaries that don't compare with the rising price indexes. These are all key issues that are finally being shoved in the faces of governmental officials. Security has been a main topic of interest in Israel for several years, but as things have died down, people have begun to fight for the issues that have been pushed aside. What I read about the other day in a YNet article, is that Israeli's have understood for years the importance of security and have dealt with the economic struggle. Except now, this summer they no longer want to be ignored.

The key similarity here to the uprisings we saw in Egypt, Syria and other middle eastern countries is the use of Facebook to spark interest, to rally people together. I don't see this being a revolutionary protest like we saw in Egypt. But I do see these tent cities, protests against the government to have a major impact on policy. The Prime Minister and other members of Knesset finally need to take a look at the people, and the needs of the people.

At this point in history, at a time when social media such as Facebook are wide-spread, the people can no longer be ignored. What I have seen in the last year, tells a story of what happens when you allow too many people to suffer, to allow too many people to not afford to live a decent life. If you don't put policies in place to keep people happy, you see revolutions, riots, uprisings.

I find it interesting how a social media site like Facebook can have such a important impact on global history.

The New York Times - "Israeli's Feel Tug of Protest, Reviving the Left's spirit"

***Pictures taken by Miriam Wasser in Tel Aviv, Israel***

Nicole Takes Pilates in Hebrew....or so I thought.

2011-06-21T09:41:00.000-07:00

After a long three week fight with the hills of Jerusalem I was defeated. I learned that two mile runs up a steep hill may be good for my butt, but my legs were yelling at me. While doing Yoga in my room without a Yoga mat was quite calming, I gave in and I joined a gym for the next month. Apparently there is a Groupon type entity in Jerusalem, "JReal" I believe it was called, so I bought a coupon to the gym down the road from me, from a girl who sprained her ankle.

Two days in and its already been an experience. Yesterday I tried running on the treadmill, but either they are all not working properly or somehow I now can run a 6.5 minute mile. I wish.

Now today, is really what I wanted to write about. Today, I decided to take a Pilates class. Of course when I joined I was really excited to get free classes along with it. What I didn't think about was that they are all in Hebrew.

All day I was excited about this Pilates class, having done Pilates on my own for several years. I get to the class and I instantly know I have a problem. While I'm not shy in English, in Hebrew its a completely different story. I walked in and thought that maybe I wasn't in a Pilates class and I had misread it. Even so, I watch the things the other women grabbed and found a spot on the floor. There is no way to have known what I was getting myself into.

What I thought was a Pilates class turned into what I felt was an Israeli dance party. As we listened to music from an Israeli club, the teacher I believe was instructing us to move are hips back and forth and our arms in wave like movements. The teacher just kept smiling and saying things as if I understood her. Which of course I did not. Not being fluent in Hebrew, it is impossible to listen while trying to move my hips at the same time. Every now and than I'd catch the word "Hand" or "Up" and of course I understood when she counted to 10. Trying to play it off as if I knew Hebrew and knew what was going on, I continued to shake my hips and move my hands in what seemed like some sort of belly dance move. I would randomly start laughing realizing how absurd this class was and how in the United States you don't get pilates mixed with some sort of middle eastern flow.

Eventually we started to do some moves that resembled Pilates. While I thought I was playing it off quite well that I knew what she was telling us to do, things began to take a wrong turn. First it began with the girl behind me, who kept saying things to me in Hebrew. I nodded my head and pretended as if I understood, but she kept looking at me strangely. Then the instructor kept telling me to correct what I was doing, but the pressure got to me and I couldn't focus well enough to understand. So what did I do, I nodded my head and said, "ken,ken" (yes, yes) several times until she gave up on me.

I didn't think this experience could get any stranger but I was mistaken. We all had these large exercise balls that we were balancing in a strange way on. Next thing I know, I hear a crash and see the instructor running over to this girl who had head first dived into the floor. It appeared that her glasses had cut up her face. It was pretty awful and I felt really bad because I didn't know if I could help not knowing Hebrew well enough. What disturbed me is that the instructor used her bare hands to cover this girls bleeding. It really got stranger though when the teacher eventually got up and finished the class with this girl still laying on the ground bleeding. Best part is that she did it with blood on her hand, not hers, the girl who had face dove into the wooden floor.

And that concludes the story of Nicole takes Pilates in Hebrew. Perhaps next time I'll do Yoga.

A Proverb in Amharic.

2011-06-16T12:59:00.000-07:00

Today my field instructor taught me a really interesting proverb in Amharic. Amharic is the language that is spoken in Ethiopia. In Amharic they say that when someone points at you with one finger, complaining or excusing you of something, they have three fingers that are pointing at them. When you point at someone else, you should always remember that three fingers point back at you and you should ask yourself what you have done to make things the way they are. Rather than complaining, you should ask yourself how you can create change for yourself. I wish I knew how to say it in Amharic, but although I do work with a non-profit that works with the Ethiopian community, everyone speaks Hebrew. Perhaps I will ask my field instructor how to say this in Amharic.

Today I reached a benchmark as I strive to regain my Hebrew back. While I do my work in English, I hear Hebrew every day in the office. I went on an adventure today by myself to find the Israel Museum in Jerusalem. My benchmark reitterated the fact that confidence is key in learning to speak a different language. What I have lacked is the confidence in myself to speak with mistakes. The struggle has held me back and the frustration has created barriars up until recently. When I got to the Israel Museum I went to get a ticket to enter and started speaking the the sales person in Hebrew. Out of no where all this Hebrew just flowed out of my mouth and I guess I was just amazed that perhaps I was just holding myself back. The salesperson wondered where I learned my Hebrew because I spoke very well. So today I reached a benchmark, reach a goal and I am some how managing to regain my Hebrew abilities back along with gaining new vocabulary without spending money on an Ulpan class.

I woke up the other day and was chatting with a friend on facebook and writing to her in Hebrew. When suddenly I had this realization. If I could write in Hebrew and have a conversation than I can speak in Hebrew. So that day I went to work, threw my fears out the door and had a conversation in Hebrew with one of the Israeli girls that works in the office. Up until that point I was nervous and didn't know how to approach talking to her because I thought I couldn't speak in Hebrew. With that, I am approaching my learning in a new way. I still struggle sometimes with understanding. Some people are more clear to me than others. But I've already made significant progress in the last few days!

The other day I sat through a meeting in Hebrew and was able to make out parts of it. But the reality was that since I lacked a lot of the vocab used it was difficult to follow. While I learned later that I missed the important parts of the conversation, I came up with a whole new set of vocab. I can now say "vision" in hebrew, which I feel is a really great word to know!

Along with this, I have started with my roommate a Hebrew wall on a pillar in my apartment that was painted with paint you can on with chalk. I've decided there should be a word of the day. Yesterdays was "Alarm clock" and the day before it was "toothpick." Now that I think of it, I did not pick a word of the day for today.

Todays word of the day is, ’’נאנח''– In english it means "sighing." I learned it today when I went to buy envelopes. The salesman said "Why are you sighing" but all i heard was "why blah blah" Which is usually how people sound to me if I don't know the words.

to be continued....

Thru Jerusalem

2011-06-15T14:44:00.000-07:00

Appropriate that I share this.

A continuation of my world travels.

2011-06-11T11:31:00.000-07:00

I arrived to Israel a week ago and started writing a blog about my internship with the Ethiopian National Project as a project that I must do in turn for a scholarship I received from my school. As the week went on I kept thinking that I needed to write down the things I've been seeing and the people that I have encountered here. So I have decided to continue writing in my blog from when I lived in Israel two and a half years ago. This time I'm back, with more perspective, with a different way of approaching this country and with different goals. And this time I'm living in Jerusalem, a place I never thought I'd live, but after a week I see there is something very intriguing about it.

When I first got here, I wondered if this had been a good decision or if I had gotten wrapped up in a crazy idea that I somehow managed to make work out. Perhaps its a combination of that and a combination of fate. From the moment I returned from Israel June of 2009, I haven't been able to get over Israel. I fell in love with this country, with its history, its land, its beauty and sometimes I don't even mind the crazy people. After navigating myself physically and mentally past the stumbling blocks I encountered I once again feel like I have been pulled back into what ever enchantment this place creates. My internship allows for creativity and outside the box thinking and I'm somehow managing it in 3/4th English and 1/4th Hebrew. When I look back at not just the effort I put into making this happen, but the things that just somehow seemed to work out for me, I can't help but think that I'm supposed to be here. I always said I wanted to try living here beyond a program, and here I am doing it.

Perhaps though I'm still seeing this place with rose colored glasses because I'm not really a citizen here and I haven't had to go through the obstacles of a new olim. Countless times I hear the same things. "Everything takes too long to get done," "The people are rude," "People don't talk nice to eachother," "Its dirty." I could go on with a longer list but you get the idea. At the same time, even though the streets are infested with cats, and yes people are rude quite often (depending on who your talking to), There is so much culture here and there is quite a lot of diversity just in this small little country. The country itself is beautiful, with history that dates back 1000's of years.

With that, today I decided to take a walk to the Old City of Jerusalem because it is Shabbot and almost nothing is opened here. It was my first time ever being in Israel and going to the Old City and the Kotel by myself. The walk was beautiful, blue skies and sunshine. It was a two mile walk for me to get there from where I live, but I realized how nice it was to have that time to myself. I entered the Old City through the Jaffa gate but realized I actually had no idea where to go. Previous to today, I had only ever been to the old city with groups and once I went with my friend Jess. I chose to not venture through the Arab quarter by myself right away, so I walked around into the Armenian quarter. With other people around it was ok, but alone it felt questionable. After much walking and searching I came upon the Jewish quarter and finally the Kotel (Western Wall).

Entering the Kotel area I was mistaken for an Israeli and was assumed to be able to speak Hebrew (which is half true). This made me happy to not look like a tourist! From there I entered the women section of the Kotel, took a prayer book and sat in a chair.

This time was different than other times. It was the first time I really had an extended amount of time to really think about what I was doing and the significance of this wall right in front of me. Previous to this time, I've seen women pray and I've seen people crying with their hands and heads up against the wall. When it comes down to it though, this wall that is so significant to so many people, that people come to from around the world, is just that, a wall. But is it? I was sitting looking at it and couldn't help but think about the history that it stands for. The only left remenents of the Temple from thousands of years ago. A place that people have come to, to pray to g-d, to ask for forgiveness, for health, for happiness, or to just stand in silence. This wall is surrounded with little pieces of paper from people from around the world. They are stuck in little cracks, in holes, loaded on top of other peoples prayers, they are surrounding the bottom of the wall and bursting out of bricks. Pieces of paper that they stick in the wall hoping g-d or someone will hear their prayers. I've also put pieces of paper into the wall many times before. This time I didn't. This time I just sat and observed people and wondered what this wall meant to them. This time I sat and thought to myself, what does this wall mean to me.

Here is a little secret about the wall. Your prayers that you put in it, on those little pieces of paper, they don't remain there forever. Eventually cleaners come and collect them when they begin to overflow. Where they go, I'm not quite sure.

I come here and i always wonder if I'm searching for answers for something along the way. Its my fifth time here and I'm not sure if I have really found anything. What i have discovered though is a place that has weirdly ingrained Judaism into their culture and their country. I have discovered that this country still has a lot of growing to do. I have discovered that the situation in the Middle East is not simple. I have discovered that without confidence my Hebrew will never improve. I have discovered that sunshine and blue skies makes me really happy. I have discovered that nature inspires me. Lastly, I have discovered a love for a place that is often unexplainable.

reminder of israel...

2010-03-06T09:50:00.000-08:00

I found this amongst the pages of my Hebrew notebook I carried around with me during my time in Israel....

Standing in the Center of the world

The Sun sets beyond the hills

As the sky is painted in shades of red

Our worlds grow farther apart...

Our eyes view life through different lens

Nature, open spaces, trees swaying in the wind

Awakens my soul

Noise, tides crashing in, crowds of blank faces

Capture your heart

Protestors in clown makeup march in Tel Aviv Saturday

2009-06-06T21:59:00.000-07:00

Protesters march in Tel Aviv to mark 42 years of occupation

By Ofri Ilani

Tags: Israeli Occupation

Protesters held a rally in Tel Aviv Saturday to mark 42 years since the beginning of the Israeli occupation of the West Bank.

Around 1,000 demonstrators marched in the rally, which led from Rabin Square to the Tel Aviv museum.

MK Nitzan Horovitz (Meretz) addressed the crowd, calling on Israel to stop settlement building and heed calls by U.S. President Barack Obama to restart the peace process.
"The negative reactions to Obama's initiatives are only coming from Al Qaida and [Israeli right-wing party] the National Union," Horovitz told the crowd, adding "this is the time to end the occupation."

Head of the far left Hadash party Mohammed Barakeh also addressed the demonstration.

____________________________
I was running yesterday (finally) and I decided to not run on the tiyalet near the beach and to explore a little more. As I'm about 10 minutes into my run I find this protest that is written about in the above article. From what I could understand from the Hebrew I could tel it had something to do with Palestinians but it was a little unclear to me. It was by far one of the stranger things I have seen in awhile. Of course my curiosity made me stop and get as close to the drumming protesters as possible. I squeezed through the crowd and around the camera guy and peered in through a couple of strangely dressed Israelis and the many clowns standing around me. My first thought was why the hell are there clowns here. I thought to myself that maybe it was some sort of entertainment for a good minute but the chantting and drumming squandered that thought. As i stood there I was sweating up a storm because Tel Aviv has become absurdly hot these days, but still I stood and became the curious bystander. About 5 minutes in the police started coming in and later I noticed there was a row of army guys standing there too. As the Police tried to break up the circle of drummers and chanters a couple guys start yelling in English "Fuck the Police." Beyond this experience being quite thrilling i decided this was my cue to keep on running. I stood and observed for a few more minutes trying to figure out what i was observing and kept running. About two seconds a way was a whole crowd of people , young and old, Israelis, Jewish and non Jewish it appeared holding up the colors that represent Palestine. A guy was yelling something through a microphone coming out of his beat up truck.

I always have wanted to be part of a protest but i guess a observer is close enough at the moment. Although until this morning I had no idea what i was observing or that the the buildings I was standing near were government,army buildings. The question I pose though is , How exactly being dressed as clowns fit into this whole picture and have to do with the occupation?

And the whole country ran for cover....or not.

2009-06-02T11:29:00.000-07:00

JPost.com » Israel » Article

Jun 2, 2009 0:44 | Updated Jun 2, 2009 20:53
Sirens sound in home front drill
By YAAKOV LAPPIN, JUDY SIEGEL, JPOST.COM STAFF AND AP

Air raid sirens sounded across the country at 11 a.m. on Tuesday as part of a week-long, country-wide war drill dubbed "Turning Point Three."

Home Front official on Turning Point 3
When the sirens went off, citizens made their way to designated safe rooms, while schoolchildren were led to bomb shelters and shown a 20-minute film on safety procedures.

Israel never ceases to amaze me on the out of the ordinary things that occur here. A full out country wide drill occured today. When i was first warned about it i thought it was a joke. But no. This really happened. at 11 am exactly today I was walking around the art street with my friend Julia when the alarm went off. The day before i had asked, "What do i do if i'm on the street" the consistent response was do what everyone else does... Well the alarm goes off, julia and i look around to see what everyone is doing and well the answer is nothing. Everyone just went on with there buisness like it was no big deal. And why is there a country wide drill? for the chance that there could be a full out attack on Israel. a little scary wouldn't you say?

Now this is something to write home about.. "Dear mom and Dad, Today i particpated in a country wide drill to practice what to do if the country is under attack.. Don't worry because I actually don't know what to do because during the drill no one ran anywhere."

My niece told me she had to hide under desk during the drill and my brother ran to a bomb sheltor. As i said...israel just never ceases to amaze me. in a good way and odd way sometimes.

The Bubble

2009-05-15T14:38:00.000-07:00

10 Reasons to Love Tel Aviv....
-time out israel-

1. there are draconian laws against smoking which nobody seems to know about

2. you can buy rolling paper, bongs and God knows what else at the corner store

3. its easier to find passion fruit smoothie than a parking spot

4 there is a gay beach right next to a religious beach and g-d doesn't seem to mind

5. the prostitutes, policemen, street cleaners and convenience store owners are all... jewish

6. you can bring your dog to a gourmet resturant

7. the city's official language changes to french every summer

8. every taxi driver feels the need to tell you about his brother, the millionaire in the usa

9. who knew that people actually play paddleball

10. rabbis driving around and dancing to loud trance music are the city's biggest noise violation

p.s i didn't write this, i just read it somewhere. the reality is that half of it is true......tel aviv is like no other part of israel.

The wandering Jew

2009-04-13T13:06:00.004-07:00

- Passover Chofesh in Amsterdam...

I was at the jewish heritage museum in Amsterdam and I heard this quote and I wanted to share it...

""There is no Orthodox, there is one Judiasm that we all experience in different ways..."

I've come to the conclusion that there might not be a day where the whole world agrees on the same thing. When an entire group of people can't even agree on the same topic then at what point do we all meet in the middle? I think that while disagreement can at times make one grow, it can cause distruction because everyone wants to think they are right. But, if everyone is right then who is wrong?

I'm on my Passover Vacation right now in Israel. Wait what? Passover Vacation... Thats a new one. Usually i'd be on my "Easter Vacation" but i'm in the Jewish State and here, theres no easter vacation. I actually forgot about easter until I was in Amsterdam and started seeing chocolate eggs everywhere.

Why is Passover different here then in every other part of the world? Why is it special to be here in israel on passover now, rather then any other time of the year? Why today do we eat matzah and not bread? Why do sephardic jews eat beans but ashkenazic jews not? Why do we have one sedar in Israel and not two? Why do I question everything this week and not last week?...

Passover in Israel... Special Round matzah that costs a fortune. Stores that cover up their shelves with white paper that says חמץ... Long vacation for all students... 48 hours of no public transportation... Where kosher could refer to more then one type. Are you sephardic kosher or are you ashkenazic kosher? Is your kosher kosher enough? What label kosher do you buy?

It was sad to not be with my family on Passover but i was with my brother, sister in law and nieces. To answer why its special to be in israel for passover instead of other parts of the world... Because there is a point you say "Next time in Jerusalem." and where was I ...Jerusalem! We jews walked 40 years through the desert to get here, along the way we received the torah...and here I am... years later spending passover in Israel. Now... i'm only 23 years old, so unlike those who left egypt, i didn't spend 40 years wandering the desert to get here...but I did spend 23 years of my life searching for the right path to get here. As much as I missed my family, sometimes it takes different experiences to realize what you beleive in and what kind of experiences you want to have in the future.

For everything else...
The weather in Israel is great... I feel like its Summer in Michigan. Question is..What will the weather be like in the next month in Tel Aviv? Summer in Israel is not really my cup of tea. I spent the first week of my break in Amsterdam and when I came back I realized I need to relax, so i've been hanging out in Afula. Sometimes its nice to not run around trying to catch buses, but rather lay out on a patch of grassy knoll with erica and catch some sun. Who needs the beach, i probably wouldn't have gone in the water anyways.

On Thursday I am moving to Tel Aviv and living with Dana and i'm really excited!

The wandering Jew

2009-04-13T13:06:00.001-07:00

2009-03-11T12:47:00.000-07:00

"Let your beat go on forever,
They say we are made to live as one
Let this need to fear eachother, Not be passed on to my son
let your beat go on forever
let your fears down rivers run
Let the silence be the music, when the words are said and done..."

Purim: Israel is the only place in the world that all children get a 3 day vacation for. It is the only place where purim, as far as I know is celebrated for a whole week or even better... a entire month. Is the only place where I have seen the most creative creations for costumes in my 23 years of life. Purim I have come to find is by far one of the more interesting holidays. Can't say i completely understand the whole idea behind it, but i guess its a mitzvah to drink until you have lost all senses.
Should i feel guilty that I did not get into the holiday that much, perhaps. I did a few things for it. Afula had this huge carnival/ fair in the center of the city and i was pretty in awe with it. I did not dress up though. It is not that I do not like to party, but i guess since i never celebrated puriim before this year I found it hard to get into it. It was fun to see everyones costumes though, the city really got into and it was kind of exciting to see. I felt like i really was experiencing something in Israel that I could not see in the United States. To Tell you the truth, Purim here is way cooler then Halloween at home.

Considering I work with only children, I was surprised with a 3 day, which turned into a 4 day vacation! Happy Purim to me! Vacation for purim? Thats new to me.
I made pretty good use of my vacation execept for the actual day of purim, where apparently I did not receive the mitzvah of hearing the migillah reading...woops.

Monday Jess and I took a little tiyul (trip) to go hike up Mount Tevor. It was a beautiful day and I'm so happy I decided to go. I need something like that in my life to make me feel like i'm not wasting my time here. I guess we did not anticipate the diffiuculty of the hike, because it was hard and well... i'm out of shape. Everything about it the was beautiful, it is these kind of trips that make me realize and remember how much i love Israel. There is something really refreshing about open space, fields, nature and mountains. Somehow this supposed 30 minute hike took two hours or more. We took the wrong the path and were kind of wandering around the mountain for awhile. As we got closer to the end what did we find, well a heard of wild cows....and their children. Now how often do i walk around michigan and find random wild heards of cows? pretty much...never. Being pretty uneducated about wild cows, jess and i decided we should find out if it was ok to go near them. There was no way to keep going with out being inches away. So we called my friend who informed us that no...wild cows are not dangerous and to just not pet them.

By the time we got to the top of the mountain i was exhausted, we skipped the church at the time and hitched a ride with a sherut going back down with some catholic people from england, here for a pilgramage of sorts. They were absoltutly appaled that we didn't go to the church. We get to the bottom and a group of nigeran tourists try to push their way on to the sherut. Apparently they didn't understand you have to let people off first, so i'm trying to get off this bus and they are pushing me as they shove their way on. A little fact for the day....The nigerian government pays for it citizens to come to Israel once in their lifetime. The rumore has it that they make a lot of money from oil that pays for this. Is this true? don't entirely know.

Today! I took my first small road trip in Israel. It was quite exhilirating. I went with erica and rehut, her host sister and it was a lot of fun. Its a rare occasion that i go long distances in an actual car. I sometimes wonder if i can even still drive after 6 months of not stepping into the drivers side of the car. ERica and I had interviews at save a childs heart and then spent the rest of the day at the beach. Today was also a beautiful day!

Recently I watched this movie called the Bubble....First I want to say i recemend it. Second, i have been thinking about the title. The Bubble. It takes place in tel aviv, and in some ways I can see the idea behind it being a bubble. To come from Afula to Tel aviv in one day, you almost your not living in the same country. Life in Tel Aviv always just continues on, with no realization of life outside of the city. you could live in Tel aviv and barely know whats going on in the south Near gaza, or in the north...

"Are you making Alliyah?".....

2009-02-27T08:23:00.000-08:00

Life happens when your busy making other plans ~John Lennon~

A crossroad has been reached after more then a half of year of life in Israel. I beleive I have gone through every emotion I could have gone through being here. From absolute happiness to wishing I was on a plane to go home last week. During October I recall thinking I had fallen in Love with Israel and I as i faced the many challenges of living here I think that feeling has grown stronger. There were times i wished i could just go home for 5 minutes and see all my friends and for daily life to be simple again. But with anything or anyone you love, there is obstacles that you face. You become angry with them, they make you sad and confused but at the end of the day you still love them and feel connected. Thats how I feel about Israel.

Now is a point in the year where I have to make decisons. Do I go along with my orginal plan I had when i signed up to come here or do I make a bold and maybe unwise move and change everything. This is where the crossroad comes in, what kind of decision do i make. My brother once told me about this concept that humankind is the only species on earth that has the ability to think about the future. There is a part of the brain that has the ability to daydream about the future and think about will happen. With this though, sometimes the things that you think you want in the future are really the things you want right now in the present. In the future I would like to travel the world, but the reality is I wish I was traveling the world right now.

And as John Lennon once said, "Life happens while your busy making other plans." Now I have reached this crossroad and need to make a choice. There is nothing I can do about going home in July because my cousin is getting married but I don't really want to go. As thoughts of next year consume me, I have realized I need to remember that quote. While I sit here making my future plans, life goes by and you forget to look at the mountains as you drive by them. Or you speed walk through a crowd of people with out noticing their faces. Think about how much your actually missing when your constantly thinking about the future. It is ok to think about tomorrow, but it is also important to take in whats happening today. To take advantage of the good things in front of you.

I have a long time until I have to go home but time flies. It seems like yesterday that I moved out of Be'er Sheva but it was 3 month ago. It seems like a week ago that I moved to Israel but it has already been 6 months! I wish in some ways I could have both of each worlds. That I could go back to the United States but then come back here to try living here. OTZMA is great but I do not think its real life at all. My life style here is just not normal. I go to work every day but it is very different then working at home. I don't have a car, I don't pay bills and actually I do not get paid. Would I still love Israel as much if I was just a regular person and no longer the "מתנדבת" (volunteer). Life is just not a program.

With that... 6 new things that have become a part of my life since I left the United States
1. I light shabbos candles now with my roommates
2. I celebrate holidays that I never have celebrated before in the States
3. I found a love for art and drawing and it has become a important part of my life
4. I have become really good at boggle and catch phrase
5. I know longer speak just english...but i'd call in Heblish. Why? Because I find that when I'm speaking english I somehow subconciously add in hebrew words. like, כן, לא, מה נשמה?, אני לא יודעת, נכון...etc
6.

Yalla...

2009-02-23T22:34:00.000-08:00

"If I am not for myself, who will be for me?
And If I am only for myself, what am I?
And if not now, when?" -Pirket Avot

ONE
They all seem to think that they are obeying the call of duty

Don't they k now that the only duties to be called up are
Ghandhi's doctrine
John Lennon's "imaginge"
Bob Marley's, "Redemption"

Haven't they figured out that we are all One
and the same like
The Trinity
The Star of David
The pilgrimage to Mecca

Don't they know that there is only One who cradles us,
but communicates to us in different scriptures.

Why don't they know?

---- taken from... Yalla----

What I have Mono???!!!

2009-02-19T04:23:00.000-08:00

Actually I don't have mono, but when you can't communicate with your doctor these are the conclusions that come of it.

I am beginning to realize what kind of barriars and struggles are created from people not knowing the same language universally. Going to the Docter should be a simple task right? It should not be so hard to understand your docters diagnosis but now what if that diagnosis is in a different language and your unable to understand completely what they say? Now this is a problem, and a problem that i experienced the other day.

I started being sick on Monday, and tuesday i diagnosised myself as better to be mistakenly wrong when around 4 or 5 pm my temprature shot up to 102.5 degrees Farenheight. In israel I have to cal my insurance company before I can go to the docter, which i did. There were no docters in Afula that i could go to so I decided to have a docter ordered to come to my home in the student dorms. One of the werider things i've experienced here. In the States I have never heard of ordering a docter to your home.

So here is the other problem...You have (or i had) a 102.5 fever but your docter only knows celcious and is unable to understand the significance of your fever. Not only that I didnt' know how to convert to celcious. So thats the first big barrair. I come from a country that wants to be special by being the only country that uses Farenheight.

Lastly, The docter comes in and I ask if she speaks english (in hebrew) and she says (in hebrew) I speak only russian and hebrew. Well obviously I dont speak russian, and although i can speak hebrew, i do not do well in high stress situations or when i'm not feeling good. She starts checking me, can't figrue out what 102.5 *F means and then procedes to diagnosis and treat me in only hebrew. Being flustered I have no idea what she is telling me. I mean this is a huge problem. I'm sick and the docter sent to me is telling me there is something wrong and I can't understand her because we speak different languages. Finally i get hillary to translate to me and in confusion I think the docter is telling me i have mono!! So then i get upset because i'm thinking how can the docter know this , she barely checked me. But then hillary says the docter says i have a throat disease. At this point i'm very upset, because she uses the word disease and thats a scary word. In the end it turns out i have a throat virus but how can you trust the diagnois from a person you can only understan through the translation of your roomate?? Very frustrating.

I have never been so frusrated to not be fluent in hebrew. But in a time of need all you wish for is that people just spoke your language. I guess thats what i get for deciding to move to a country where i'm not fluent in the language. Now i have something to laugh about later....

A world where bomb sheltors become the playground...

2009-02-03T08:33:00.000-08:00

For the ones that do not know and still read this... I do not live in Be'er Sheva anymore. As of one month ago i live in a small town called Afula. Or as the Israelis call it, "The hole at the end of the ruler." it is like no other place I have ever lived before and from outside of where I live you can see mountains, or hills. Literally i live in the middle of no where, theres no night life here and not much to do at all. Today we discovered a small take out place that has sushi. My four roomates are Hillary from conneticut, Erica from Flordia and Jessica who is also from Michigan. We live in student dorms for the college Emeq israel and we live with 200 students. We haven't met everyone but we have made some friends.

I volunteer in 4 different places. Twice a week i work in a community center, twice a week i work with a program called ATIDIM and i am going to teach debate to high school students to help them with there english. Two mornings a week i go to another city called Mgdal Hemit and I volunteer in a high school with Jessica. We work in the english center and we also are teaching different lessons to students. Then once a week i go with jessica to Nazrait Illit and we work in a elementary school. I find it pretty rewarding and i like it better then when i was in be'er sheva but sometimes i still think i should be doing more.

Right now all otzma particpants are in the cities they should be in , accept asqkelon just moved to their city yesterday. I found out they were worken up this morning at 7 am by a siren and had to run for cover. If i heard right the rocket hit so close they could feel the imact from when it hit the ground. Kind of scary and i'm wondering what will happen with them. I think they are taking a chance by being there because its hard to tell what is going to happen and exspecially after the israeli elections on tuesday if anything is going to happen.

Speaking of elections...I was in jerusalem this past weekend i saw the most ridiculous thing. Since the elections are on Tuesday there are posters all over the place with the canadiates pictures on them. Right now Tzipi livni is running for kadima so she has her picture all over the place, and even though its just a drawing somebody took paint and drew all over her face so you couldn't see it.

Yesterday I got back from a 5 day seminar called "Conflict and Hope." We spent the entire five days discussing the conflict in Israel, the occupation of the West Bank and the war in Gaza. I'm not entirely sure how to describe the last 5 days but they were very signficant to my OtZMA experience. I began to realize how much I don't know, and i dont know if i'd say it changed my perspective but i left feeling a little bit more pestimistic then i was before. So where the hope comes in , i'm not sure. But i learned a lot that made me lose a lot of faith in the world. I left feeling saddened that people could hate eachother so much. And I wish i knew what it is that i could to do to create change. I used to think all change was possible but I think this is a time that i dont feel confident saying that.

Since I do not know how describe it to you.. i'm going to leave you with quotes i wrote down from people and thoughts i wrote down throughout the weekend. In hopes you can get a small perspective to what was going on and how it was signficant.. I spent time in jerusalem but i spent shabbos in a small settlement in the west bank called Tackoa and then i spent sunday in Sderot.

Jan 29th Thursday
Topic: The Israeli Arab Conflict - Intro and Backround
on the subject of land for peace..
"Two withdrawls Gaza and from a security area in Lebanaon, has led to attacks back on israelis..."

Topic: The zionist attitude Towards Arabs Prior to 1948 in Israel

Topic: When fighers turn pacifist and their vision of Peace
Speaker: Combantants for peace
* Two speakers, one a past member of fatah who was caught trying to plan a car bomb and a past israeli soilder who was kicked out of his unit when he refused to serve in the west bank

Jan 30th Land vs Peace
Topic Land vs Peace? A perspective from the Left
Speaker: Peace Now
Peace now beleives that without negotiations on Jerusalem there will not be peace and is for a 2 state solution

Topic: Land vs. Peace: a perspective from the Right in the West Bank
Speaker: Eve harrow
"When it comes to religion all rationality goes out the door
"They Say : we hate israel because they took our land.."
Israel gives back land for peace and then nothing comes out of it
"Should people still be considered refuggees generations later? Why should refugee status be passed down. That means all jews kicked out of their country are refugees too"

Topic: Foreign Press Coverage of the conflict and life on the other side of the green line
"Foreign medias predisposed to the favor of the palistinians"
"When your sitting abroad watching foreign news your not seeing the human side"

Feb 1st- Sderot
* Why do we have to wait for kindergarden to be hit by a missile full of childeren, to get international support.."
"what does it mean to have 15 seconds to run for your life?"

Thoughts from Jan 30 - Feb 2nd
Given the backround of the conflict and the perspectives of different peace group and individuals...

The situation is more complex then I imagined. yesterday we saw that a palestinatn and israeli could be friends even though they differed on certain perspectives.
Why don't people realize that hate is bred on both sides, whether ones more extreme then the other is, its still hate. And with hate the situation doesn't cease to exhist.

Jan 30 -31st Day in the West bank/ shabbot in Tackoa
"Today I traveled in a bullut proof bus into the west bank..."
The only thing that made me realize I was somewhere out of the ordinary was that people were caring guns around with them. When i thought settlement, Tackoa was not what i had pictured in mind. Its a beautiful place, with nice homes and friendly people.
I don't think I know enough to give an objective opinon the conflict. I can't decide who is right or who is wrong. These people here don't seem violent or crazy, they just seem like normal people who want to live their life on land that israel captured during war. Isn't that how war works? But then i think about the occupation.. and as another speaker said "With land comes people.." So what about the other side, why should they be forced to live their life under occupation? maybe some want to live i peace too..

I find myself becoming more pestimistic and losing my faith in the world, the more exposed I am to the hate and to the stories of violent acts driven by hatred.
Today we heard a speaker who told his personal story about the death of his son. In 2001, 2 14 year old boys were stoned to death in a cave near Tackoa by palestinians. So brutal they were not recognizable. What kind of person can justify this?

Where is there an end? Will there be an end? How can they even meet in the middle? When hate is present can there be peace? What comes first, comprimise or learning to like eachother and get along?

...and you begin to lose hope when the side that is supposed to work together can't even agree with eachother...

Feb 1 - Sderot
...Its crazy to think that right now i am looking over from sderot to Gaza. Think i'm looking over to a place full of suffering but a place where people are planning attacks on the very land i'm standing on right now. All i can see are buildings ut I know these buildings represent greif, teror, suffering, hatred, conflict, saddness..."

------
"The moent you go back and you realize as jews wea re family and not just friends then you'll realize יהיה בסדר (it will be ok)."

2009-01-19T05:41:00.000-08:00

• Statistics of Kassam rocket and mortar fire from the Gaza Strip

Total rocket attacks:

Since the first rocket fell on Israel on 16 April 2001: 4,067
Since the Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip in August 2005: 3,484
Since the Hamas takeover of Gaza in mid-June 2007: 2,046
Last year (2008): 1,571

Mortar bomb hits since April 2001: 4,183

Here are my thoughts. Imagine a person stood next to you and continuously poked you every day for 8 years. How would that make you feel? Imagine you kept telling them to stop but they kept doing it, should you be able to react? This is a horrible comparison, now change this to, imgaine someone was shooting rockets into your back yard for 8 years. Three to ten times a day a siren goes off and y ou have to run to a bomb sheltor, or all of your children, including you suffer from post tramatic stress syndrome. Not only that but now your children have to go to school in the bomb sheltor, how would that make you feel?

It has been three weeks since the war in the south started. With a cease fire declared, hamas still continues to shoot rockets into Israel. The question i'm continuously asked is , "What do you think about the War in Gaza" or what they also tried to call it "the operation." Luckily i moved out of Be'er Sheva a couple weeks before everything started, but why did the idea of rockets hitting there still make me feel very unsettled and terrified. After three months living somewhere you make connections, and the people being affected begin to have faces, emotions and life. I beleive that Israel made the right decision to finally stand up for themselves, and let Hamas know that rocket fire across the border is unacceptable. As a country, and a nation, they have the right to live in peace. At the same time, a lot of suffering occured in Gaza and it shouldn't be ignored. Was the suffering because of Israel or is it because Hamas leaders were letting their citizens suffer. All the blame shouldn't be put on israel because it shouldn't be forgotten that Hamas is a terrorist organization.

Being here during all this I think has given me a perspective that i never would have had otherwise. I have never lived in a country at war before, but from every experience you learn and grow and begin to understand the world a little bit better. When everything started I was in Istanbul with three friends. Before I even knew, Dana and I stood and watched a protest in the middle of Taxim Square but with everything in Turkish we didn't know what it was about. When we went back to our hostel we asked the hostel manager what the protest was about. In his words, "Crazy Israel, killed 160 children." and the protest was people protesting against israel. Later i found out this was not true, but i was horrified. I kept thinking to myself, how could israel do that. Even to find out that the guy had be mistaken did not make me feel less unsettled. Why? Purely because he had such a distorted view of what happened. For three weeks after that i began to learn how effective the media is at not giving all the news and only telling part of a story. If Hamas had anything, they had the ability to use the media to their advantage. All i was hoping that somehow people could hear the real story, understand the reasons behind the IDF's deployment into Gaza. Instead what i saw was protests across the world against Israel and a rise of anti semitism.

I hope that everything really does begin to calm down but I am happy that i am here still. A lot of people wanted to know if i was staying, but it would have been ridiculous for me to go home. In the States i would have felt disconnected to the war and i would have not had the chance to talk with israeli citizens about their feelings and their opinions. It is experiences like that , that i think has shaped my perspective, and see as this a really crucial aspect of my life.

"To understand a culture..you must first learn their language.."

2008-11-27T10:26:00.001-08:00

Every year the North American and Israeli Jewish Communities hold a conference called the General Assembly. This year the General Assembly of 2008 was held in Israel, in Jerusalem. Otzma was lucky enough to have the opportunity to attend it this year. Although going into it i had no idea what it was, in the end I really appreciate the fact that i did get this opportunity. The general assembly has people attend from north america (u.s.a and canada) and from Israel, and they come together to talk about different topics that have to do with the Jewish Community, the next generation, israel, etc. This year I was told that less people attended due to the financial crisis in the United States but at the same time there was still 4500 people in Jerusalem for the conference.

The first day of it we were full particpants and attended the Next Gen day, which was the first one ever held. There was 800 young jewish people between the ages of 20 and 40, from north america and Israel and it included soilders from the IDF. It started at Yad Vashem where we heard people talk and then we all split up onto different buses and they took us to see different organizations in Israel. Interestingly enough I ended up on the bus that went to see TEVA. Which is a pharmacutical company and although might have been interesting for some people, i was a little bored by it. I met some really cool people though, some from Israel, some who had made alliyah and some who were here on different types of programs.

That night was the opening of the GA and the Prime Minister Ehud Omert spoke to everyone. Although he really isn't that popular here, i was really excited that I got to hear him speak. In college I took a Israeli Politics and Society course, and although one of the more difficult course i had in college, it was one of my favorite ones. It really is an interesting experience for me to see and hear from people that i read about and learned about in a classroom. I can not exactly remember what he really talked about but he did give a shoutout to OTZMA. That was really exciting.

Throughout the G.A. we heard a lot of other speakers that I was really surprised to be hearing. We heard from President Shimon Peres, Defense Minister Ehud Barak, Leader of the Likud Party Benjamin Netanyahu and the new Leader of the Kadima Party, Tipsi LIvni who spoke about Tikkun Olam. I would say the best speaker was the leader of the Likud party but at the same time i'm pretty sure he was giving us his campagin speech. Which would have been great if i had the ability to vote in Israel.

On the 2nd day of the G.A. all of the particpants had signed up for different buses to go on trips around Israel. the point of it was to see the different projects the federations help fund throughout Israel. Since OTZMA particpants volunteered that morning to help get people onto buses we got an awesome opportunity to get onto any bus that had room and join a trip. I would have to say this was one of the best days and experiences i had durig the general assembly. I got lucky enough to get on a bus that was going to Sderot and areas near the Gaza Strip, an opportunity that because of security reasons I couldn't have done with OTZMA. We got the ok from the office and i joined the bus with Eilan, Erica, the ilanas, sara, rena, and justine and particpants that came from many different areas in the U.S. Since we were going to a area that had been hit by rockets the last 10 days before, we had to sign a waver to even get on the bus. The idea of danger I do not really think processed in my head until we got there, so at the time I was not very worried.

Why was this day so signficant to me you might ask? After that experience I think i began to really understand what the people living there are going through. Its not the same to read about a situation in a newspaper or hear it on tv, rather then talking with the ones affected by it on a daily basis. It gives you a whole new perspective and you go from feeling disconnected from it to feeling like you really want to do something to help them. To sum it up though, the day was really depressing to me. When you go to places like this and you meet with people, for me it makes me feel sad for our society and the world. Its enough to already have to make it through daily life challenges but then on top of it these people who live there have to constantly fear rockets being shot into there cities. They have to fear that a rocket might hit there home or that they might not make it to a place to hide when the siren might go off.

When we got to Sderot they took us to this place that collects the rockets. While you walk there, it was noticable that not a lot of people were walking around outside. they showed us rockets that had hit the day before and rockets from the day before that. Pretty much every day they are getting hit by them. Many of the rockets are as they say "primitave." and these are the ones that are detectable but then there are these other ones that I guess they are getting from Iran that has no warning when they will hit. Apparently they are smuggling them over from egypt to the gaza strip. It was 10 days before this that rockets started coming over and since then there have been 107. the day before there was 13. that morning 4 had hit. since the year 2007 there had been 471. Except for that 3 month period where there was the cease fire and it was actually being kept, rockets have been coming over the border since the year 2001.

Can you imagine that? Imagine living somewhere, where every day for 8 years you live in fear that you could die from getting hit by a rocket? Its just so uncomprehendable and so sad all at t he same time. They say that people don't even really go outside anymore to do normal life activites that most people do on a daily basis. Kids don't really use the playgrounds anymore for fear a siren might go off. Most people only go outside to get from point A to Point B. Usually there is about 15 to 20 seconds to repond if a red siren goes off.

After they showed us the rockets and talked to us about them they brought us to see the trama center where they treat people for Post tramatic Stress Syndrome. Basically what we were told is that the type of PTSS they are dealing with is something different that is never seen anywhere else. Usually when people suffer from this its when an event begins and then ends but here there is no end. People have suffered every day for 8 years and they find it difficult to even treat it.

We heard a resident from Sderot talk to us about her experience living there and it was really emotional. She told us about how her house had been hit twice by rockets and that her children have nightmares because of fear. They can't even sleep by themsleves anymore. She said the 3rd time she experienced a rocket she was on the way to work and she couldn't get into hiding in time. She had to duck where she was and the rocket hit to close and she flew in the air where she then landed with a pile of concrete landing on top of her. In hopes to not upset her kids, they never told them what happened and said she was just sick in the hospital while she was recovering.

After the visit to sderot, where they also showed us where a rocket had hit last week... they took us to a moshav outside of Ashkelon. The Moshav is called Netiv Haasara and they told us that usually in the newspapers they never actually mention the name but rather call it a small jewish community. While in reailty they are also another place that every day gets hit by rockets because they are so close to the gaza strip. One of the woman that talked us told us she didn't think the situation was going to get any better, that before it could get better it would have to get worse. Not a really great thought, but i guess it is better to realistic sometimes to be prepared for a situation.

Me, Eilan, the Ilanas, erica, Justine, Sara, and Rena near the border of Gaza

Bomb Sheltor at Moshav I went to...

Many of the rockets that have hit sderot

The end of the day we met with people that were part of the disengagement of GusH Katif, which does not exhist anymore. I learned that 10,000 people were evacuated from their homes. Although the Government considered it to be a efficient evacuation, they left most people with no after plan. What my interpretation of it was that they evacuated everyone from their homes and then since then have done nothing to help them out. A lot of them had professions in the community even if they weren't qualified by paper for it. Even though they were a teacher all their life or a librarian for 25 years after the disengagement they couldn't get a job because they didn't have the right certificates. We heard three different women speak to us. They were part of this program call Job Katif that is funded by money from the federation system, and it has helped them get back on their feet and get jobs. The whole day in it self was really depressing but this for some reason hit me really hard. The third woman to speak started crying after her first sentence. Just seeing her get so upset about her life and what has happened to her made me cry to. It was really emotional, her entire life was turned around from the engagement. The saddest part about it is the organization is going to be out of money next year with no hope at the moment for secondary funding.

What was so signicant about this tiyul (trip) was meeting the people actually affected by these sad stories you might read in a newspaper. You feel more connected to the situation emotionally. What amazed me the most was how much the federation system actually does for people, and to see where these emergency funds were going to. I knew they did a lot for people the United States but there are so many great things being done here to.

The General Assembly ended that Wednesday and that Thursday I had another educational day with OTZMA. The day was called "Israeli Politics and Society." One of my favorite educational days so far. They took us to see the Knesset and talk with a member of the Kadima party. For me this, was soo exciting, it was exciting to see this place i learned so much about in college. I still remember the first time I had to read an article in class and I actually didn't even know what the Knesset was. I was really unknowledgeable about Israel. Now i look at myself, the things that i know, the people I met and its hard to beleive where I stood two years ago. For anyone who does not know what the Knesset is, it is Israels house of politics where all the decisions are made.

We met with a member of the kadima party while we were there, who was the first female general in the IDF. It really impacted my thoughts for the day. One thing she said that i think is important to share is "To understand a culture, you must first learn their langauge." Its this idea that you have to remember how much language can change a persons perspective. How can you really understand a culture when you don't understand the words they use to communicate. Definatly there is other ways to communicate but the point is, what do you do if the democracy means something different in one language compared to a next. It creates conflict, and its something to take in to consideration. In my Ulpan class the other day we talked about this. the fact that theres one word for snow in Israel but then in alaska there are many words for the word snow. I want to same its a simular idea. Words do a lot to change a context of situation, and a understanding of why people do one thing or another. Also in some languages they have words or phrases that aren't even translateable to the english language. Or words in the english language you can't translate to a different language...

Today was education day for "Israeli Politics and Society" part two. True story I went to a prison today. I have not even been to one in the United States before. We were forwarned to not wear tight pants, low cut shirts, or to touch anyone (guys or girls). Let me just say, although they have simular problems such as a cycle of crime, israeli prison system is really different. The one we went today people only stayed there for a max of 7 years and were there for i any crime you could think of. I am a little unsure of how to explain this prison, so i am going to leave it at that I went to prison today for the first time. Although I was tempted to stay because they receive vacations every month and tv's with cable, i decided that i'd rather be living in the outside world...

As for whats going on now... In a week and a half I move out of Be'er Sheva. Its hard to beleive i've been here for three months already. Tonight we are doing a big thanksgiving dinner with americans and some israelis and i think its going to be good. I am going to miss Be'er Sheva a little bit, i really feel like i live here now. Not only that now all the students have come back for school! It is werid to see so many more people around but now i'm leaving. After I leave Be'er sheva I will be moving to Sufat to do a program called Livnot. There is about 15 of us doing this and it revolves around hiking, volunteering and learning about judiasm in a more informal matter. It has more to do with spirtiuality and i'm really excited about it.

Lost in Translation...

2008-11-11T14:56:00.000-08:00

Tonight there was a מסיבה (party) with the russian doctors that live in the mercaz klitah with us. I guess you can't call it a party, a get together... It is this group of russian doctors that have come to israel to learn medical information to become doctors in Israel. They have to take a test in february to see if they can pass or not. The craziest thing is they are all around our age and are already doctors in their country. They only had a couple months of ulpan so they don't know a lot of hebrew but also some of them don't have great knowledge on english too. I was really interested to talk to some of them but there ws a real language barriar. I realized i need to start thinking in their s hoes. Its hard to remember they might not understand the words i say because of the speed of the language. I found a lot got lost in translation because i didn't have the correct words to express what i wanted to say.

I think coming here a lot has gotten lost in translation to people we meet everywhere.

on a side note, i went on friday with Jackie to run a 5k in Tel aviv. While the experience was awesome, my run was terrible. The experience it self was awesome. I felt like i really lived here, minus the ability to understand the loud speaker. There was so many people there because theire was a 5 k and a 10 k and then a half marathon.

we are lookign into a runing a 10 k before the end of living in be'er sheva

"We keep waiting...waiting for the World to Change.."

2008-11-06T02:05:00.000-08:00

Nelson Mandela, South Africa’s former president, who said in a letter to Mr. Obama: “Your victory has demonstrated that no person anywhere in the world should not dare to dream of wanting to change the world for a better place.”
-New York Times 06/11/08

The French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, said something on similar lines. “Your election raises in France, in Europe, and elsewhere in the world, an immense hope,” he said in a message that called Mr. Obama’s victory “brilliant” and his campaign “exceptional.” Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany called his victory “historic”
--New York Times 06/11/08

Being in Israel, i found it a real challenge to keep up with american politics and the election. Exspecially when internet was not easily accessiable to me. At the same time, before I came here i knew that this was going to be one of the most signficant elections of my 23 years of life. The question i think many people in Israel had before this election and still have after the fact is "Will Obama be a friend to Israel.." and also "Will the jewish american population vote be dependent on if the candiate was for or not for Israel.." I was asked that 2nd question a couple times since i've come here. My answer might have not been what they wanted but its because thats a hard one. With all the speculation though that Obama was not for Israel, i think it was a lot of made up speculation. I think people were not and are not sure what the future will bring and were willing to stick with what made sense to them. What do i think? I think that for there to be change, even if you don't know all the answers, you need to step outside the box.. Without taking a chance on something that has the potential to be the revolutionary answer everyone is asking for.

This election proved that people were ready to take that chance. People are ready to stray away from the past, with the hope of a better future. People are ready to look beyond color and hopefully look beyond gender. Its not race or gender that matter and i'm hoping that this election is going to begin spreading that idea. Although I had a hard time keeping up with t he election here, I've been trying now to read about the post election. Those two quotes came from this New York Times article i read called "Election Unleashes a flood of hope Worldwide." I never realized how signficant the american election was to people world wide until i read that article.

Nelson Mandala's quote in the article really struck a cord for me. Obama is the first african american president but he also opens up doors for people to realize that they can dream big. I think also that he is going to really have to prove himself in office, he is not just the first african american president but i think he is going to be a really signficant role model to a lot of people in the United states.

Yesterday i went to buy a newspaper in e nglish that would have the picture of Obama/Biden on the cover. Sadly the french stand did not have any left so i decided to buy a hebrew one with Obama on the cover. I thought about it after and realized a hebrew newspaper with him on the cover really descirbes my situation here. I stayed up the night before that until 4:30 in the morning with my roommate Jared watching cnn coverage on his computor, that was streaming in from his slingbox at home in California. Two and a half hours later I was woken up by the voice of Obama coming from my roommates computor, who was watching his live victory speech, Then i proceeded to go to Ulpan class where we spoke about the election in hebrew....

as i write this...Dana just came in here and told me the newspaper i bought yesterday was printed before Obama actually won. Kind of disappointing and this is what happens when you do not know enough words in hebrew.

...................
On that note.. I moved up to a higher ulpan class. I was in aleph and now i'm in bet. I am a little unsure of if this a good deciion but i'm really anxious to improve my speaking and comprehension and Mary uses a lot more vocab in her speaking. Although i don't always know what she is saying, i find i'm slowly improving my comprehsion and it makes me really happy. I find that i'm a lot more challenged to pick up vocab words in her class.

Since this blog is supposed to be about Israel...
This past sunday The Otzma 23 Be'er Sheva group went on a tiyul (trip) to learn about where we are living. The NEGAV. and learn we did. We started off our tiyul in a bedouin community school, where I learned more about the bedouin's then i ever have staying a bedouin tent and riding camels. Did you know there are only 7 bedouin villages that are recognized by the Israeli government? and that about 30 something other's are unrecognized and receive no electricty, transportation or water. This is a fact i was un aware of. If you drive down the roads you can see these unrecognized ones, that are usually made up of tents or tin builidings. Did you know that there used to be 65,000 bedouins in Israel and after one of the first wars, i think the war of independence, only 11,000 remained. We also went to visit one of the high schools there. It was pretty amazing to see. It is one of the biggest school apparently in Israel and children come to go to school there from everywhere, unrecongized and recongized villages. The principal told us how when he was in high school he ahd to go all the way to the galilee for school. To make this more understandable... Negav = South. Galilee = North. its far.

From there We contintued are tiyul by visiting dimona and visiting the community of black hebrews. There village has a sign that says "Welcome to the village of peace." I have no idea really how to explain them , except that well i felt like i was in some sort of alternate reality. All the children sound american. I was really confused until i learned there story. So about 40 something years ago about 400 African american's came from america, they started in Africa, trying to live off the land. In the end about 100 or so of them cam eto Israel. Years later they still live here, and live a vegan lifestyle and beleive in peace. The community is really interesting and I dont really know enough to tell you about it but i suggest you research it. Recently the Government made it mandatory for them to be a part of the Army. I was really in shock though, i had no idea this community even exhisted here and it makes me wonder how much more i dont know.....

Our tiyul ended by first, the bus driver running over some hose and almost breaking down the bus. We had to stop so he could get it out. 2nd, we went to visit the ben guiren institute and to see his gravesite. What was so signficant about this place was the silience. It over looks the most beautiful site and as we sat there and listened to the women speaking, it lacked the usual noise of cars and people. If ben Gurien were still alive he would not be very happy. He dreamt that the negav would be conguored and inhabitated by the jews immigrating to Israel... I see both sides. I see why he wanted this for israel, but maybe sometimes you need to leave things the way they are. Its from nature and silience, that inspiration is born from. I can imagine it must have been a disappointement when ben guiren gave up his postion to move to the negav and no one followed...

To conclude this... Today I'm going to Tel aviv with Jackie G. to run a race tommarow! There is a half marathon, 10 k and 5 k and we decided to run the 5k. I'm really excited about this and i think it will be a really cool experience. We are hoping that in February we might run a half marathon near the dead sea.

My feelings are that i've already come to israel, and why not do the things i wanted to do in the united states but didn't. This is the time for it.

living out of a suitcase

2008-10-26T12:28:00.000-07:00

"One who saves a single life... is like one who saves a single world"

Stated by our speaker from Rabbis for Human Rights tonight. if you understand this and the idea behind it, i think you'll understand why i find it so right, in so many different ways. He also noted, if you continue to teach hate and inequality, you will never receive the change that should be strove for. More or less this is what he said and i found it to be really empowering. Yes, he was not an engaging speaker but he was passionate about what he was talking about and he made me feel like i needed to be dong more to help create a more equal society. Where does peace come in if not everyone is treated equally?? There is no peace if one party receives unqual conession compared to the next. For peace, i beleive there must be a way to meet the other in the middle but first one must find a way to undo the hate and strife that has already been done. or maybe make up for it?

and another point....To not recreate history, To learn from history, one must understand how that history came about. To conclude that... i need to learn more history.

I just returned from two weeks of traveling in and out of be'er sheva. With three nights in be'er sheva and the rest in other cities around israel. I stayed in 2 hostels, one backpacker tent in the desert (with no electricity), 3 nights on a tile floor. I feel like a drifter sometimes. Many israelis we have met find our constant traveling to be obsurd. Because yes a 2 hour train ride to the north is obsurdly far. Except yes... in a country that fits maybe 5 times in michigan, i guess i can see their point of view.

Theres a confession that i want to make. I think that i have fallen in love. No, not with a person but with Israel. If you are reading this, its ok to laugh at me. Except i think i might be serious about this. While on the bus to mitzpae ramon, i sat and looked out the window and i saw this site that i've never seen in my lifetime. Who could ever have thought the desert was a beautiful place, but it is. It was amazing and i couldn't help but think how lucky i am to be having this experience. how lucky i am to be seeing the things i'm seeing and will soon see. theres a lot to take from a new place, new people and a new culture and i've found this connection with this place that i've never felt anywhere else. Maybe i'm a little disillusioned because this isn't a normal lifestyle, but i feel very strongly about this...

With that, in these past two weeks i went from the north of israel and back down to the south with a lot of my new friends from OTZMA. We started in Jerusalem with the entire group for a seminar. One of my favorite ones to date because in one day we saw places from all the big religions in israel. you forget sometimes when your surrounded by all jews that your not the only ones. We live amongest so many more cultures and there are muslims and christans that live here too. In general i think its realy important to understand their pespectives too and not forget about them.

From there I went with becca, jamie, jess, kira, elisa and hillary to haifa for two nights. a lot of it was a bust, to say the least. Why? We got to the bahi gardens too late and didn't get to see them. the movie we came to see at the film festival lied to us and did not have english subtitles. that was fun, Polish movie with hebrew subtitles. At the same time, haifa is a really nice place and i can't wait to go back and see more of it.

The next 3 days and 3 nights after that about 20 otzmanikim took part in this student intiative in the north with 100's of israeli students. It was a really great opportunity to really volunteer and feel like i'm making a difference. I'm not going to lie , i haven't gotten a lot opportunity to volunteer yet here and its been a disappointed. I mean i came here to volunteer, and i've been getting impatient. the student intitiave was near the kinnert and we stayed on kibbutz levi. Where i had the fabulous opportunity to sleep on a tile floor for 3 nights. My body felt great after that. Two of the 3 days i volunteered around the kinnert, cleaning up trash and making trails and one day i worked in the forrest near the golan. In a matter of 3 days i really felt an improvement in my hebrew and i made some new israeli friends.

During sukkot break I also traveled to mitzpae ramon with kira, julia, dana and elisa. We stayed at a backpacker tent 15 minutes out of town in the desert. Orginall we were supposed to be visiting our friend warner there but he decided to end his stay earlier then we thought. The hostel , called silient arrow is without electricity and at about 5:30 or 6pm we found ourselves in the dark. I haven't had to be so creative with things to do in a really long time and it was really refreshing. Considering we were left in the dark with candle light we went to sleep early and woke up with the sun. dana, julia and I decided to do the 3 hour hike into the crater. Funny story is that 3 hours means a hour and a half. I really like the way people tell time here. never exactly on the dot, either too much or too little. The crater or in other words the "Maktesh." is something i'd do again, its the only one of its kind and enormous. We got lucky and were the only ones hiking on the green trail. The only thing that we we could hear was ourselves treking through the sand, me trying to rhyme and at one point the buzzing from the electricty line. it was GREAT!

On a side note i met a girl from huntington woods michigan at the bus stop in mitzpae ramon ....she graduated last year from berkley high school and knew my friends siblings. You know its not that big of a world when you can be half way across the world in the middle east, at a huge crater, and somehow run into someone from a square mile city.

Now i'm back in be'er sheva for the next maybe 6 or 7 weeks. Life is good. Ulpan still great and I am starting up volunteering again. I have new israeli friends and as long as you don't make me nervous i'll probably have a conversation with you in hebrew.

"All of life is two balanced scales, and you never know what kind of minimal act you may take to tip the scale one way or another..."

Otzma receives internet

2008-10-07T14:11:00.000-07:00

After three weeks of living in be'er sheva, I have finally received internet. Offically my life is complete. In some sense.

What is one thing i've learned about israel that differs from the United States? Everything is taken care of "after the hagim (holidays)" Basically the holidays all come around the same exact time and because of this I have not really begun my volunteering here. After Sukkot I will be volunteering with this organization called PUSH and helping a student at a local high school learn english. This will be once a week. Another two days, sunday and wednesday I will be volunteering at the after school club at the merckaz klitah where I live. I've gone there a couple of times and it is definatly going to be a challenge.

You might be wondering what exactly could be so hard about working with kids. Well when none of them speak english and you speak broken hebrew...it creates a challenge. Yesterday I volunteered there and I found myself having to be very creative with my communication. Its the challenge of the job that really attracts me to. I find myself having to put together sentences very carefully and put together onces that I don't find myself using outside of this place. The biggest challenge I had was trying to help one of the girls with math. If i were to explain to her in english what to do it would be easy but here I had to use hebrew. I didn't even know how to tell her to add or subtract and I had to have one of the 7 or 8 year girls give me the words to explain to her what to do. It is a really good learning experience for me but also a great way to help the people who have moved in here. I feel good about this volunteer placement for a couple of reasons. Someone pointed out to me how its great that people want to volunteer outside of here but if they took a look at where we live... theres a lot that can be done. Everyone here has moved from other countries to start a new life and in there period of transition they move into these absorption centers. To learn hebrew so they can survive here and to learn how and begin to start their lifes here. When you really think about, you have to really give them credit for making such a large change in their lives and their families.

My new home...

For me... this has been one of the biggest challenges i've ever had. I dont know if i realized how hard it would actually be to adjust to living in a new country with a whole group of people I've never met before. At the same time, I think i'm doing alright for myself. Everyone that i'm living in be'er sheva with is great. I think this group has been getting a long very well and it really helps with adjusting to living here.

What can I say about be'er sheva. Theres not a lot to do here. Its not the prettiest part of the desert but it is the 5th largest city in israel as i was told yesterday. On the weekends its really nice to leave and I think it makes me appreciate living here more. This past weekend I stayed in be'er sheva but me and about 7 other girls took a day trip to Ashkelon, a beach town near the Gaza Strip. to get there we had to pass through a city where in the past rockets have hit. apparently one hit 3 weeks ago. Technicaly we aren't supposed to be going through there but its the path the bus takes to get where we were going. It was definatly an odd through to realize how close i was to the Gaza Strip. I spent a lot of this summer reading about what was going on and in the past I spent time staying up to date. the thing is, i was so close to a dangerious or i guess controversial area but at the same time felt disconnected.

Ashkelon was a beautiful area , with a really realy nice beach and also it was relaxing. On Shabbos that weekend, I went with Jared, Mike, Emily, Kira, Elisa and Ashly for a walk to this hill that over looks be'er sheva. On top of this hill was a memorial for the War of Independence. It was one of the most interesting structures i've seen. yesterday i was told that it was created by this artist that has done simular things in other countries. We went later in the day so we could see the sun set and for once I actually through that Be'er sheva looked really awesome.

The view of Be'er Sheva at sunset.

As most people know this past week was also the Jewish New Year. In israel you just can not hide from the jewish holidays. Its like in the States , how you can't hide from Christmas. The Mercaz Klitah did a small ceremony for all the people that lived here right before rosh hashanah. It was actually pretty nice and people sang songs for the holidays. I spent the holiday in jeruslam with David and his family.

Tommarow I go back to Jeruslaem, where the entire OTZMA group (north and south) are meeting for seminars all day. The next day is Yom Kippor. Apparently in Israel everyone wears white? I have never heard about this before I'm interested to see it. I'm going to try and go to the kotel after i attend services.

Sukkot comes next and that starts This monday. I'm realy realy excited about it. We have חופש (vacation) until the 22nd of october. I'll write more about it later but I'm going to be traveling all around the north for the first part.

Since I finally have internet, if there is actually people reading this heres some photos!

The desert I hiked through for 4 hours during orientaiton

Visiting my nieces the 2nd weekend in Israel

The Otzma Carnival....Jared and Dave (also two of my roommates)

The random couch we found in the middle of no where in Be'er sheva... Thats becca my roommate who shares my room with me!

the holy land....

2008-09-20T14:45:00.000-07:00

I haven't written in this yet for many reasons. When i moved into beer sheva i discovered we can't get internet in are apartment, so we have to wait to get it set up. Everytime i use the internet its never for too long at all.

Israel so far has been great. I really feel like i live here and that i'm not a tourist. What i want out of this experience is to really get as much as i can out of it as i can. Theres so much to learn here and to understand that i have my hands full.

Ive been enjoying learning to speak hebrew and i've been told my hebrew is not too bad. I started ulpan a week ago in beer sheva.

For anyone who hasn't gotten an email from me. Beer sheva is in the desert and its hot here all day long and at night it cools down. It is also a city with a university called Ben guiren university and everyone is my age or older because people don't start college till after they get out of the army and usually not until they've traveled for a year. Life here is very different then my life in michigan. I'm living at the mercaz klita also known as an absorption center. there are like 27 different languages spoken here and people from all over the world. Right now there are a lot of spanish speaking people, some indian people, russians who are here trying to learn medcial term hebrew. Ethiopian, cuban. a lot more. There is interesting people to meet everywhere. I had a quota of trying to meeting 2 or 3 people a week but i think i totally surpassed that one. I'm living with 5 other people in a tiny apartment. 2 guys and 3 girls and they are all great

We do are shopping at the shuk because produce there is very cheap. Israel makes it easy for you to eat healthy and i couldn't ask for anything more. YOu could never buy vegetables this cheap in the united states, its almost too ridiculous.

On a side note, the cats here are like the squirrels in michigan. They are EVERYWHERE. I was told that the britsh brought them in to get rid of rats or something during the years of the british mandate. Apparently they didn't think that one through too well. The cats just prawl the streets now.

I've been doing a little bit of traveling already since i've gotten here. Last weekend i went to visit david in ramat beetshemesh. It was really good too see him and it was my first experience trying to get onto a bus. In a way i feel like i should be concerned about taking buses but on the other hand i really really think the media makes the situation out to be worse then it is. One thing to say about the buses, i've never been so motion sick. My nieces are adorable and i'm excited to see them again when i go to jerusulam for rosh hashana.

Thursday i traveled to tel aviv with 7 other people. We stayed the night in a hostel that was overpriced, near the beach. What can i say about it... tel aviv is dirty. I saw cockroaches on the streets and it was terrifying. Other then that it is also a great city and the meeditrainian sea (excuse the spelling) is beautiful. It felt to get out of beer sheva and it made me really happy. Kira, eliza and i walked the beach the night we got there and it was really relaxing

We went out to a bar on the beach and met up with a friend from college who happened to be in tel aviv also. It was really good to see a familiar face for once. The night before i had made a new friend on my birthday. He happened to be in tel aviv visiting his parents so he came out with us too. Life here is definatly really different then anything i've ever seen. It all has to do with shabbos too.

The weeks start on sunday and not monday. I get done with everything thursday afternoon to be able to go places for shabbos and buses in most places don't even start runing till late saturday night. The world almost stops for shabbos. Why is this strange? Because i'm from ארצית הברית (the u nited states). Life does not stop there for the jewish people. Here you k now its rosh hashana weeks in advance and in ulpan class you sing songs about it with a man playing the accordian. Here i'm in the majority and at home the minority. I walk 2 feet and i can't but help but see another jew. The idea of being jewish i think is different here then nit is in the states. I can't yet really pinpoint why i think this. The other night i even met someone who didn't understand why jewish people would want to go to hillel to hang out with eachother.

There is something realy special about this place and there is a reason i'm here to do this and have this experience. I dont know what it is yet but i'm sure in time i'll figure it out. I can't even understand why people around the world don't accept the idea of a jewish state. Without this place what would we have? the jewish people have struggled continuously throughout history and we deserve this. Everyone has a place to call there own and i think we need this place too. there is something really unique about walking around and seeing young people wearing kippahs everywhere and out at a bar? Theres also something great about being here and meeting jews from places i didn't even know jewish people lived. I feel like i'm discovering a whole new part of the world and life that i've never been given the chance to see before.

with that. אני צריכה לישון. אני אכתוב יותר השבוע הבא.

Part Two: Nicole Goes to Israel...

2008-09-01T08:00:00.000-07:00

In 2 days I will be getting on a plane to Israel, to maybe start the craziest adventure I have ever decided to do. I can't really count the number of times people have said to me ... "Nicole I can't beleive your going to Israel." Well, I can't beleive I decided to go either, and although i might be panicking right now , i'm really excited!!

I don't know if people will read this throughout the year, but i think i'll try to update as much as i can. Someone pointed out to me that it would be a good thing to look back on later on in my life.

If your still confused about what exactly i'm doing, i'm leaving september 3rd to go to Israel for 10 months. I'll be doing a program called OTZMA, where you live, learn and volunteer in Israel. I will be learning hebrew, volunteering and doing other interesting things that i'll write about later.

2008-07-13T00:12:00.000-07:00

July 13
its obsurdly hot in rome. from the moment we got out of the metro to go to our hostel we were sweating from the heat. its been at least almost 100 degrees every day or 100. The first hour of it was miserable because we found out we had to pay for our hostel with cash. we had to search for over an hour for an atm machine.
winnie says rome is dirty, which ya it kind of is, but i think it still is quite unique. its by far one of my favorite places ive ever been to. everything here is more relaxed, and in general is missing that noisyness we had in london and paris and even from back home. Theres plazas and fountains everywhere and people just around in every part of the day. <

yesterday we went to vatican city. in one sense it does not mean the same to me as it does many people who go to visit it. but its one of the most interesting collection of people from all through out the world. you have to cover your shoulders when you go in and many women were stopped and couldnàt go in. while there we went to the sistine chapel and vatican museums. the artwork on the walls and ceiling were some of the best artwork i think iàve ev er seen. i saw an orgional piece of art by rapheal and the famous painting of his self portrait into his painting. i learned about it in art class and it wa s really cool to see it in person. i also saw the very famous masterpiece by michaelangelo, i dont really know if i could put it into words because it was so grand. it puts me in awe and wonder how he had the ability to do that at the time.

thats about it. loving italy and cant wait till have the ability to travel more and come back here to see more. i actually wish i could see more places

2008-07-10T21:00:00.001-07:00

about to leave to go to rome. paris was my favorite so far. beautiful and filled with so much history.

2008-07-08T04:12:00.000-07:00

winnie and i just got to our hostel in paris but not before we got completely turned around; i will definantly say that im becoming great at directions: this was the one hostel that gave us no directions to get here and we were able to navigate ourselves here on our own: the keyboards here are diffrent then the ones in the states: so its hard to type:

dublin was great: i never thought i would ever go to ireland but im happy to say that i did: we stayed at the four courts hostel and the receptionist people were great: it was not as friendly as the one in london but not bad: we shared a room with six people from cali that were just ending their six week trip and ze shared the room with two english girls who were their on holiday: i learned a lot about britan from them and we ended up hanging out with them one night: my favorite part of dublin was the day trip we took to the howeth penninsula: we did a cliff walk around the penninsula and it was one of the most beautiful sites ive seen in a reqlly long time: we could see boats going out to sea to fish for the day and you could hear the water as it hit the rocks at the bottom of the cliffs: it was really peaceful and a great change of pace from being in the city: it made me realize what people ùmeant when they said we needed to get out of dublin to really see ireland: the homes near the coast were gorgeous and all very unique from one another: the dogs there also ran around without leashes ; or as they would say ,leads;

facts that i have learned::: dublin won its independence in 1920 from britan:
in britan cookies are biscuits; leashes are leads; pants are trousers; garbqge cans are litter or rubbish containers: a lot more too::: cant remeber and too hard to type zwith this computer:

winnie and i slept at the airport last night; interesting experience and now my body hurts
i will be in paris till july 11

where i've been more wrong then right....

2008-07-04T13:06:00.000-07:00

\london has been great but the dollar is worth nothing here. we have tried to do everything we wanted to do but it definatly has held us back a little. The hostel we are staying at is called Astor kensington and i reccemend it to anyone coming to london that wants somewhere clean and friendly. its also convientiently located next to the underground and down the street from a market. the market is great because today we discovered how much cheaper it is to cook your own food. comparted to the 16 to 20 pounds we would have each spent, today we only spent 1.83 pounds each.
i've discovered winnie is more observant then me but details have never been something i'm good at. We have found it difficult to cross the street here. when we are inclined to look left for cars, we should be looking right and because of this we've almost gotten hit by cars several times. people also walk up on the left on stairs and down on the right. thats something i'm not going to get used to...which is ok because we are leaving for dublin tommarow.
the first day we were here we saw london tower and walked across tower bridge. we also walked along the river thames and the site was great. i'm in love with the architecture here and it makes me more excited for the other places we are going. we also saw shakespeare globe theatre, westminister, parliment, big ben...the usual tourist attractions. yesterday we went to the tate modern and its been one of my favorite places here. its modern art and i really enjoyed it. i learned that i can pinpoint a piccasso painting from across the room even if i've never seen it before. we went to the national gallory to and saw a lot of orginal van goughs and monet. i also really enjoyed some other artists that i didn't know i would like so much, renoir and camille and one more that i forgot. yesterday we went to st pauls cathedral and walked up about 500 steps to see the best view of london. my entire body hurts now. buckinham palace was not as exciting as i thought because we went too late and missed the changing of the guards.
today we went portebello road and i loved it. its just a street full of people selling things, simiular to a flea market but i liked this better. we checked out kensington park too and just sat and relaxed a little.
what i love about this so far is that i've been meeting people from all over the world and i've only been here for 2.5 days. i want to say london is the cleaner, more victorian, friendlier version of new york. there are so many people from every where here.
tommarow we leave for dublin early.

Leaving on a jet plane....

2008-07-01T08:30:00.000-07:00

While hanging out in my kitchen with my mom, I realized that today is a monumental moment in my life and maybe also winnies. After years of talking about going to Europe after graduation we actually intiated it and we are going in about 5 hours! I some how managed to also pack for two weeks in a backpack the size of a carry on.
On a side note... this picture describes winnie and mine friendship in a nutshell...
Keep reading for more updates!