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

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...

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.."

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

"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

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....

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...

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.

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

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

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....

\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....

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!