i think i still have more to write about Eilat...that will become a separate post later.
last week::
monday: we had an israeli food event, ran by our program coordinator, Oshra. we made fresh-squeezed orange juice, falafel, tahini, spruced up some hummus with oil and paprika, israeli salad (which is mostly tomatoes and cucumber, with mint and other things), fruit salad, whipped cream and i think that's it?
it was delicious. unfortunately none of us really remember what ingredients we used and the recipies, but we're hoping to get copies soon.
wednesday: took a day trip to Haifa. we went there to go to the Bahaii Gardens. we had a great, long, lunch then went to the gardens. unfortunately, we'd missed the tour and were only allowed to go to a small portion of the gardens. it was still a nice day trip and through the program, we already have a trip to the gardens planned. we went because some of the people leave today for the states, and they hadn't been yet.
thursday: our group and the group in gaton (including the girl i know from home) went on a hike to klil--lead by our program. it was only about a two mile hike, down into a valley, but given our stop to make tea, eat snacks, talk about different plants and places, it took about four hours. it was a really nice hike.
i spent last weekend trying to upload photos to the Oranim website. no such luck. the internet was horrible, it was slow uploading and would cut-out at times. anyway, i'm gonna send my pictures (via disk with my program coordinator) to the Oranim main office, for someone there to upload. so i'll be sure to keep everyone posted.
yesterday, i went into Naharyia (the nearby city) to get bagel toast with some friends. Bagel Toast is like a panini sandwich---I had mine with cream cheese, mushrooms, peppers, tomato, cucumber, pesto...it was delicious. then we just walked around the city, i also bought some delicious patties and pastries from a bakery.
today, my roommate and the four other people who joined our group recently after living in Ramle, are leaving for the states. we're supposed to be getting two new people, one girl (to be my new roommate) and a boy. they should be arriving sometime tonight. i don't know anything about them.
okay, time to go back to work. on mondays i start later because the kids get out of school later (i don't know why....they just do).
thanks to everyone that posts comments. i'll try to update more soon.
Monday, November 23, 2009
Saturday, November 14, 2009
bed bug.
I will give a proper Eilat/daily life update soon. In the meantime, I've attempted to respond to some questions/comments I've received and tell you about last night's horrible bedfellow.
Eilat is a large city located at the most southern point of Israel. Egypt and Jordan can be seen from Eilat. It was a fun, but short, weekend--full of some amazing hikes. I'm still working out the kinks in my volunteering. I also don't think I'm being utilized to the best of my abilities. I'm finding that in order to be better utilized I really need to just tell them where I want to volunteer...so I'm seeing if there are any 'new' opportunities before, or if, I decide to head back to the high school (where I seemed to be of better use). Meanwhile, my Hebrew is thankfully improving--but I still have a long way to go. I feel healthy and well. The cold and rainy weather has started again. This is already, and continues to be predicted as, a horrible Israeli winter.
Only other news to report is of my the centipede that was in my bed last night. Shortly after getting into bed I felt something crawling on me. I hesitated for a few seconds thinking it maybe was my hair or blanket brushing against me, but soon jumped up, turned on the light, and found that there had been a centipede crawling on me. Needless to say I was completely grossed out and creeped out, so I called for reinforcements. By the way, this centipede was five-six inches. My roommate and an Israeli friend from the Kibbutz came to my rescue. We tore apart my bedding and looked everywhere, which isn't very much considering my room is extremely clean and organized (and small). I'm sure we spent about 45 minutes looking and not finding the centipede--I was starting to look foolish, the little girl who cried spider. As I finally decided to give up and go to bed, I took my sweatshirt off of the radiator--which was previously laying on my bed--and shook it out. Sure enough the centipede flew from the sweatshirt onto the floor.
Our friend from the Kibbutz says it is called a Nadal and, noticing the yellow on it's back, warned me this kind is poisonous. (They took it outside and killed it.) Tonight at dinner with my host family I asked them about the Nadal. Orr, the dad, said that the poisonous ones around here aren't nearly as poisonous as those located in southern Israel (don't ask me why). He said that you would know if you got bit, it would hurt, and upon protocol you'd want to go to the hospital. He said that basically it'd hurt but the poison could affect your heart and put you at risk for a stroke (thus the necessity to go to the hospital).
So anyway, that was disgusting. Just to reiterate, I am fine and was definitely not bit. The consensus is that it probably crawled in while our front door was open. (That or the little baby centipede I saw crawling around inside a few weeks ago grew into the five inch monstrosity that I saw.) Nobody thinks there are more in my place/bedroom.
That's all for now. Time for me to go to bed.
Eilat is a large city located at the most southern point of Israel. Egypt and Jordan can be seen from Eilat. It was a fun, but short, weekend--full of some amazing hikes. I'm still working out the kinks in my volunteering. I also don't think I'm being utilized to the best of my abilities. I'm finding that in order to be better utilized I really need to just tell them where I want to volunteer...so I'm seeing if there are any 'new' opportunities before, or if, I decide to head back to the high school (where I seemed to be of better use). Meanwhile, my Hebrew is thankfully improving--but I still have a long way to go. I feel healthy and well. The cold and rainy weather has started again. This is already, and continues to be predicted as, a horrible Israeli winter.
Only other news to report is of my the centipede that was in my bed last night. Shortly after getting into bed I felt something crawling on me. I hesitated for a few seconds thinking it maybe was my hair or blanket brushing against me, but soon jumped up, turned on the light, and found that there had been a centipede crawling on me. Needless to say I was completely grossed out and creeped out, so I called for reinforcements. By the way, this centipede was five-six inches. My roommate and an Israeli friend from the Kibbutz came to my rescue. We tore apart my bedding and looked everywhere, which isn't very much considering my room is extremely clean and organized (and small). I'm sure we spent about 45 minutes looking and not finding the centipede--I was starting to look foolish, the little girl who cried spider. As I finally decided to give up and go to bed, I took my sweatshirt off of the radiator--which was previously laying on my bed--and shook it out. Sure enough the centipede flew from the sweatshirt onto the floor.
Our friend from the Kibbutz says it is called a Nadal and, noticing the yellow on it's back, warned me this kind is poisonous. (They took it outside and killed it.) Tonight at dinner with my host family I asked them about the Nadal. Orr, the dad, said that the poisonous ones around here aren't nearly as poisonous as those located in southern Israel (don't ask me why). He said that you would know if you got bit, it would hurt, and upon protocol you'd want to go to the hospital. He said that basically it'd hurt but the poison could affect your heart and put you at risk for a stroke (thus the necessity to go to the hospital).
So anyway, that was disgusting. Just to reiterate, I am fine and was definitely not bit. The consensus is that it probably crawled in while our front door was open. (That or the little baby centipede I saw crawling around inside a few weeks ago grew into the five inch monstrosity that I saw.) Nobody thinks there are more in my place/bedroom.
That's all for now. Time for me to go to bed.
Thursday, November 5, 2009
4am wake-up call
Tomorrow morning we have a 4:15am wake-up call. We're headed to Eilat for the weekend and our bus leaves at 4:45am. We'll be spending the weekend hiking, sight seeing, relaxing by the beach, etc. Look for updates around Monday or Tuesday.
This past week has been cold and rainy. My roommate and I have spent the week, when not volunteering, curled up in our beds--staying away from the outside. The one time we did leave the room was for a pancake meal at the pub. Once a week at the pub the Israeli's arrange a communal meal, bbq or something. The pub is about four minutes walking from my room. There is usually a good turn-out of the young Israeli's on the kibbbutz and the people from my program. Well this week they made pancakes. There was chocolate sauce, maple syrup, ice cream, nuts, candies, etc. to top the pancakes with. It was amazing
Anyway, the rain leaked into our kitchen from the roof and the wall in our bedroom also has water damage (but no water leaked in, on the floor, like it did in the kitchen). Thankfully a man came promptly to fix this. They will have to come one more time to fix the water damage on the wall, to prevent, and clear, mold. Also this week, our refrigerator broke- it too was leaking on the floor of the kitchen. Thankfully this too is already fixed.
This week I continued to work at the after school center. It is okay there. I can't mediate problems with the kids, or understand them, or discipline them, because of my lack of Hebrew. There have been several problems this week, with kids not listening and fighting and I feel useless. I enjoy it but want to figure out a way to split my week working there and at the high school.
Tonight I went to my host families house for the second time. We had a nice, light, dinner with ice cream for dessert. The kids were cute but they are all either sick or getting over being sick, so I was kind of happy to be out of there. But I had a nice time, I enjoy the company of the dad, Orr, his English is very good and he's a good conversationalist.
Oh, I'll hopefully have a website for you to see pictures. Oranim is giving me access codes to upload pictures for my group. I don't know any details yet but when I do I'll share them.
Okay, nothing else new here. I was feeling a little sniffly this week but I am feeling better now. I should go to bed because we will wake up in a few hours.
This past week has been cold and rainy. My roommate and I have spent the week, when not volunteering, curled up in our beds--staying away from the outside. The one time we did leave the room was for a pancake meal at the pub. Once a week at the pub the Israeli's arrange a communal meal, bbq or something. The pub is about four minutes walking from my room. There is usually a good turn-out of the young Israeli's on the kibbbutz and the people from my program. Well this week they made pancakes. There was chocolate sauce, maple syrup, ice cream, nuts, candies, etc. to top the pancakes with. It was amazing
Anyway, the rain leaked into our kitchen from the roof and the wall in our bedroom also has water damage (but no water leaked in, on the floor, like it did in the kitchen). Thankfully a man came promptly to fix this. They will have to come one more time to fix the water damage on the wall, to prevent, and clear, mold. Also this week, our refrigerator broke- it too was leaking on the floor of the kitchen. Thankfully this too is already fixed.
This week I continued to work at the after school center. It is okay there. I can't mediate problems with the kids, or understand them, or discipline them, because of my lack of Hebrew. There have been several problems this week, with kids not listening and fighting and I feel useless. I enjoy it but want to figure out a way to split my week working there and at the high school.
Tonight I went to my host families house for the second time. We had a nice, light, dinner with ice cream for dessert. The kids were cute but they are all either sick or getting over being sick, so I was kind of happy to be out of there. But I had a nice time, I enjoy the company of the dad, Orr, his English is very good and he's a good conversationalist.
Oh, I'll hopefully have a website for you to see pictures. Oranim is giving me access codes to upload pictures for my group. I don't know any details yet but when I do I'll share them.
Okay, nothing else new here. I was feeling a little sniffly this week but I am feeling better now. I should go to bed because we will wake up in a few hours.
Sunday, November 1, 2009
rainy rainy cold rainy
friday: slept slept slept. it was a very rainy and cold thursday night & friday. for a bit i worked on a 1000 piece puzzle we've started. other than that, i really slept most of the day. some of the participants from my trip combined forces with people on the kibbutz to throw a halloween party friday night. there was candy, spider webs, americans and israelis in costume (i didn't dress up)..it was like the real deal.
yesterday i slept a lot, seeing as its still cold and rainy. for dinner i went to Tarshika, an arabic village near here and got a schnitzle sandwich. quite delicious and has proven to be tasty left overs as well.
this morning our hike to klil was post poned for the second time due to rain. i will go to work in the afterschool program in a few minutes. i believe we start our hebrew lessons again tonight. tomorrow night we'll have a lecture about minorities in israel.
i'm enjoying my time here. the weekends are slow but i've never been one to complain about laying around. i'm going to try to work it out so i can spend some days in the high school and some days working in the afterschool program--this might not work, trying to split the week, but i'm at least hoping to look at the schedules and try.
yesterday i slept a lot, seeing as its still cold and rainy. for dinner i went to Tarshika, an arabic village near here and got a schnitzle sandwich. quite delicious and has proven to be tasty left overs as well.
this morning our hike to klil was post poned for the second time due to rain. i will go to work in the afterschool program in a few minutes. i believe we start our hebrew lessons again tonight. tomorrow night we'll have a lecture about minorities in israel.
i'm enjoying my time here. the weekends are slow but i've never been one to complain about laying around. i'm going to try to work it out so i can spend some days in the high school and some days working in the afterschool program--this might not work, trying to split the week, but i'm at least hoping to look at the schedules and try.
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