Graduation Slideshow

1) You can see the video on YouTube at
http://bit.ly/czPSqv

2) It's also available for download at
http://www.mediafire.com/?k1zm3dfh3kg

3) It will be on the website shortly at
http://www.destinationisrael.com/videos/
(*then look for Oranim 22 or Kibbutz Yehiam in the title)

Graduation Day!

I am very tired but we had a lovely graduation and bbq tonight. I made the slideshow for the event. It's about 10 minutes long and will likely be uploaded to the Oranim website within a few days. In the meantime, if anyone is just interested in downloading it, the link to do that is here--> http://www.mediafire.com/?k1zm3dfh3kg

Also, this afternoon they held a goodbye event for me in the after center. It was very very sweet. The kids all said nice things to me and gave me cards and pictures. A few even cried.

Tomorrow, we'll celebrate Purim on the kibbutz. I still don't know what I'll dress up as (a tourist perhaps?). Anyway, I'm off to bed.

Trip to the Golan Heights/Last week volunteering

Last week we had an overnight trip to the Golan Heights. We started day one by going to Rosh Pina, a lovely city not far from Sefad. Then we went hiking in the Gilaboon Stream down from the Golan, going through deserted villages and old Syrian army emplacement and waterfalls. It was a LONG and exhausting hike, but very very beautiful. We then went to a bunker at the Valley of Tears and talked about the battle for the Golan during the Yom Kippur war.

At the hotel, we had dinner and met up with the dozen other Oranim groups there. (I even bumped into someone I knew from Capital Camps.) The second day we went to a kibbutz even closer to the Lebanese border than we are. We spoke with the kibbutz security officer and he talked about how the army protects the settlements in the north. We also went hiking in the Banias- one of the Jordan River sources. This hike was also extremely beautiful.

Anyway, this week is our last week volunteering. We're having a graduation ceremony/dinner on Thursday. Friday night will be a HUGE party at the pub for Purim. Then people start leaving the kibbutz and heading home around Sunday/Monday.

Sefad, Tel-Aviv/Herzlyia

Wednesday, February 10: SEFAD TRIP!
I finally made it to Sefad for the day. I went with my roommate Emily. It took us three vehicles and nearly 2.5 hours, but we made it. Once in Sefad, it took us another 30minutes to finally orient ourselves and find the things we wanted to see. We spent our day (5 hours) going to various art galleries and shopping/window shopping. The Sefad candle store was really cool. The candles were beautiful and they had some funky ones in various shapes- including a Harry Potter candle in the shape of the broom he flies on.

Our day in Sefad concluded with a FABULOUS lunch. We had a Yeminite version of pizza. It was Lachuh with Sefad cheeses and vegetables on top. Lachuh is a type of bread with a lighter and slighly sticker consistency than a pizza crust. It reminded me a lot of injera, the Ethiopian bread, although thicker than that. The man making the food tried hard to convince me that Italy is not the inventor of pizza, Israelis are. He asked us to repeat the word "pita" to him from a child's point of view. He explained that a child would misprounounce pita to create the word "pizza" and thus is the origin of the name. It was hilarious and silly, but the food fantastic.

Thursday, February 11: Off to Herzilya!
I went to stay with Israeli friends of mine that I know from Capital Camps and stayed with when I first arrived to Israel. They were great hosts for the weekend. I arrived Thursday night, in time for a late dinner of burgers/fries.

Friday, February 12: My friend dropped me off in Old Yaffo, where I started my day of walking nearly half of Tel-Aviv. The weather was beautiful and warm and sunny, clear blue skies. I walked around Old Yaffo for only a short while, I didn't really know what sights I was supposed to see there and I think I missed the must-see sights. Then I proceded to walk up the boardwalk, along the coast and then over into the city to the HaCarmel market. I walked through the food/clothing/stuff side then through the artists market. It was very crowded. I also sat and listend to a band (The Band Holler on their Just Married Tour). They were really good.

I grabbed a passion fruit smoothie (with mango and something else- YUM) and started my walk towards Dizengoff Centre. Around this time, someone stopped me on the street and asked in hebrew: Do you speak English?
Not registering what he actually asked, I responded in hebrew: Yes, a little, a little. (This is my token answer when people ask me if I speak Hebrew)
Anyway, then he proceded to ask in English about the bus system and how to get to the train station. I answered in English that I don't know much about the busses, showed him on the map where to catch them, and told him I don't know why I answered that I spoke only a little English. **He looked very confused. I wished him luck and continued walking. It was funny.

In Dizengoff Centre, which is an unusually large mall, although on Friday's they have a food market and a designer clothing market inside the mall. The food market was AMAZING. It was like a cheaper much better version of Taste of Bethesda. I started my eating with a Kuba, which is similar to a samosa as it's a doughy, meat filled item. I think I've had them before but never as large as this one, which was like the circumference of a bowl. Quite tasty.

Then I ruined my second course by being swayed by the pasta stand. Not only was it only okay pasta, I should have kept walking because afterwards I found the second floor of the food market. Oh well.

The market was comprised of dozens of stands with food from a baked potato bar to sushi, chinese food, pasta, local cuisine (kuba, stuffed peppers, etc), and dessert stands as well.

Anyway, around 3pm I made my way to the bus staion to grab a bus before the stop running for Shabbat and headed back to my friend's place. I joined them for dinner at their family's house, but before that watched a documentary about/interview with Rupert Murdoch's mother. Very interesting.

Saturday, I spent the day on the beach in Herzilya. It was hot and sunny but the water was still to cold to swim in. Instead of heading back up to the kibbutz late saturday, which is when the trains start running, I decided to spent the night and head back on Sunday morning. I watched "Far and Away" a 1992 movie with Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman. It was about Ireland and the US in the 1890's. Pretty good and really nice to sit on a couch and watch a movie in english.

Tomorrow we have an overnight trip to the Golan Heights & Hula Valley with the whole group/Oranim. On Friday, I'll be celebrating Purim with the kids in my center. Next week we have our group graduation--I'm busy making the slideshow for it. Then next friday we'll celebrate purim on the kibbutz in the pub. And then that's that. The program ends. I don't fly home for another week, leaving saturday march 6. I'm still unsure what I'll do during that week and where/if I'll travel.

I hope everyone is surviving the snow and staying warm. (and I apologize for mis-spellings and awkward sentences, I'm supposed to be leaving for work any minute...so I had to rush this update a bit)

rain again.

Well, I was hoping to go to Sefad today but it's raining and way too cold. I heard snow was predicted for nearby towns, but I haven't yet heard if there is any. Not much new since returning from Jerusalem. We had another Israeli movie night and saw "Sweet Mud" (Adama Meshuga'at). It was a movie about a family living on a kibbutz. It depicted many of the harsh realities of kibbutz life, when children still lived in the children houses and before the many changes that kibbutzim have now experienced. They showed the abuse and gossiping, etc. It was kind of a depressing movie but the Israeli's in the room agreed it was realistic to their experiences.

I have about three weeks left on the program and then an extra week an Israel (the first week in March). I'm busy planning trips for my last weeks in Israel and for the first few weeks back in the USA. So far on the agenda in Israel: Tel Aviv, Rosh Hanikra, Safed, Jerusalem, Dead Sea and Ein Gedi. Back in the USA: New Jersey/New York, San Francisco, Bloomington and Chicago/Highland Park.

Hope all is well stateside. Time to head to work.

Museum, Tu Bshvat, Jerusalem, Oh My!

I've had quite the exciting week. On Tuesday, we went as a group to the Ghetto Fighter's Museum. This is the link to the website: http://www.gfh.org.il/eng/
We learned about the resistance of the Ghetto Fighters during the Holocaust. The museum is associated with Kibbutz Lohamei Haghetao. This kibbutz was started by holocaust survivors and maintains a strong educational/historical/etc. connection to remembering the holocaust and members of the resistance. The museum was very interesting. There was a neat touch screen wall used to display objects belonging to ghetto fighters. We didn't have enough time to go to the children portion of the museum. The children's section is meant to start teaching children about the holocaust, using art and interactive exhibitions. After the museum we had a nice trip to Naharyia for lunch. I had a lovely warm chocolate croissant.

On Wednesday, we went to Kibbutz Gaton to see the final dance performance of the American/European MASA Participants. Their program ended this week and they held an hour long show. It was very enjoyable.

Later that night, we had a Tu Bshvat Seder. Tu Bshvat was on Friday and celebrates the new year's of the trees. In the seder we drank wine and drank fruit and nuts. I had a nice time just eating and being with the group.

Thursday started with a 5:15am wake-up. I headed with my group to Jerusalem for an organized day trip. In cooperation with the Jewish National Fund, we started the day planting trees for Tu Bshvat. We planted them in the Peace Forest. Then we

Then we went over to the Western Wall and Jewish Quarter. We also went to the City of David- a3,800 years old city. We walked through the Hezekiah tunnels, which run under the entire city. I went on the tour through the dry tunnels, although would love to go back at walk through the wet tunnels. Walking through these tunnels is more like caving, with skinny walkways and water up to your ankles-waist.

So the Oranim organized part of the trip ended around 5pm. A few of us stayed in Jerusalem, although only Emily & I were staying together and for the entire weekend. We checked into our hostel. It was an interesting old building, definitely not originally intended on being a hostel, located in the Old City very near the Jaffa Gate. We had a private room which was just big enough for the two single beds. It was nice to have an actual mattress...unlike our beds on the kibbutz. We walked to Ben Yehuda street. Looked in some stores, started some shopping and ultimately had a great sushi dinner. On the way back to our hostel, we walked through Mamilla, which was an open-air mall with shopping and cafes. It reminded me of walking through Bethesda, minus the Hebrew of course. Back at the hostel, we socialized with the other hostel mates then went to bed.

Friday was an incredibly fun day. We started by leaving the Old City and walking to Yemin Moshe. There was a cute neighborhood which I'm told is an Artist's colony. However, perhaps because it was Friday, there were no open studios or artists that we found. There is a beautiful view and windmill. As the internet summarized for me:
"The Yemin Moshe neighborhood, named after the philanthropist Sir Moses Montefiore, is built on narrow stone lanes with rural houses. The old flour mill now houses an exhibition on the philanthropist's activity. Montefiore's reconstructed carriage stands in a display-window next to the flour mill."

From there we continued our walk over to Emek Refaim street. Emek Refaim is the main street in the German Colony neighborhood in west Jerusalem. It has plenty of neat boutiques, cafes and restaurants. It was a beautiful day and a lovely street to walk down--plenty of trees. It was a really different and beautiful part of the city. Reminded me of Washington DC, with its combination of nice residential streets intersecting with the main street. When we got there we immediately sought out a belated breakfast at a lovely cafe that was decorated in New Yorker magazine covers, however the founders are from Chicago. I had an espresso milkshake and a bran muffin with AMAZING jam. I couldn't for the life of me figure out what flavor the jam was and I finally asked to find out it was Cherry Tomato! I couldn't believe it! It was so sweet, not savory at all. The waiter said there is like sugar and cinnamon, and perhaps more, with the cherry tomatoes.

Anyway, from our great breakfast we walked a block over to the International Cultural Center, who holds a great market on Friday's. The market was mostly crafts and gifts, some food (cheese, sauces, etc) and some jewelry and clothes. It had a nice variety, all of which was unique to anything else I saw in Jerusalem.

We left the market and continued walking down Emem Rafim, going into nearly every shop. Around 130pm we took a cab over to Ben Yehuda street to see the Tu Bshvat festival. We saw a ton of street performers, including flamenco dancers, musicians, another dancing group and a ton of people dressed up a crazy costumes<---identical to the people I saw in Barcelona. We then rushed over a few blocks to a market, that starts with a "M" but I can't remember the name at the moment. Anyway, it was quite the sight to see. It was PACKED with people seemingly getting ready for Shabbat. With the market closing down, because of Shabbat around 330pm, we found a burger place for lunch. It was very very good, I had a burger topped with hot chili and tahina YUM!

We walked back to our hostel for a few minutes then headed to the Western Wall, to see the Shabbat 5pm rush. We didn't quite know the way there from our hostel so when we spotted some men in hats, we followed them. After a few minutes they picked up their pace and started nearly running through the city to get to the wall. Determined not to loose our "guides" we literally ran after them/with them through the city. It was hilarious. In the security line to get into the Western Wall, I was literally shoved out of the way by a man who pronounced he was going in front of me in line because he had to get into the wall to pray. (Note he was not dressed in the orthodox-Jew garb.) I was astounded by this but never said anything back to him.

Side-stepping a bit I should explain why we were going to the Western Wall for the second day in a row. Partially, to see what the atmosphere is like at the start of Shabbat. However mostly we went because several Israeli women shopkeepers, of a variety of ages, told us to go to the Western Wall around 5pm on Friday to get dinner. They said that people would approach us and invite us to their home for a nice Shabbat dinner. Apparently this is not a form of begging or charity, but just sharing the experience with others. We decided to go to the wall to see this for ourselves. We were not propositioned for dinner and probably wouldn't have gone anyway. We told other people from the hostel about this and three of them went to see if they'd be invited for dinner. The women were but the men weren't and ultimately none of them went to the strange rabbi's house for dinner. I saw the man that invited the ladies and he was very bizarre. I watched him for a while and aside from the women in my hostel, saw him only invite a dozen or so very Jewish looking men to his dinner.

When we got to the Western Wall, there was an army troop (outside the actual prayer area) singing and dancing together in a circle. It was quite packed at the wall, which, might I add, is MUCH smaller up close then I'm led to believe in photographs or stories. On the way back to the hostel, we continued our shopping and I did some lovely negotiating with my Hebrew. It was quite the success.

We spent Friday night out with about a dozen people from our hostel. We went to a pub near Ben Yehuda street and sat there for hours talking & eating tons of free popcorn. Of course some of us bought drinks or whatnot also. Everyone was very interesting. I spent much of the night talking to university students from Belfast, Ireland. I exchanged my Belfast experience with them and they told me they would LOVE to host me if I ever go back. Overall we ranged from 19-40, male and female, and hailed from USA, Canada, Northern Ireland and different European countries that I can no longer remember. Back at the hostel a few of us watched American Idol on the Israeli tv channel. It is from the current season playing at home, or so I'm told, and was actually quite entertaining.

Saturday morning we attempted to visit the Dome of the Rock, which we were informed by many sources, would be open on Saturday mornings for about a two-hour window. We went at the supposed right time, but arrived to find that access was closed because it is Saturday. Weird. I don't understand how so many sources were wrong, but it didn't bother me too much.

We walked through random markets and just zig-zagging around and ended up at a church. It was mobbed with people, many were clearly from large tour groups. I started taking pictures and walking around, but didn't quite know where I was or why people were kissing a stone tablet, etc. After a few minutes we conveniently bumped into someone from our hostel who clued me in. We were at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, which is said to be the place where Jesus was crucified and buried. There are three main things that people go there to see: a rock with a whole in it that is said to have be where the cross was standing when Jesus was crucified, a stone tablet that Jesus body was laid upon, and a tomb where they think Jesus may be buried. It was mobbed with people so we saw the tablet and just other sights around the church, but not the rock or tomb. It was incredibly interesting and had it not been so crowded, I would've loved to have spent more time exploring and taking pictures.

On the walk back to our hostel, I was excited to find a cart selling Salep to eat for breakfast. Salep is a flour made from grinding the dried tubers of Orchids and is then made into drinks, puddings, etc. The way I had it was like a think drink/thin pudding, topped with nuts, raisins and cinnamon. I'd had it once on the kibbutz made from a packet and I really like it. I also grabbed another bagela to eat--a large sesame seed covered bread, similar to a bagel, which is in a large 0 shape and is nearly a foot long. They give you a portion of zatar (lovely spiced) to dip the bread into.

From the hostel we joined some people from the hostel through the Old City a way I'd never been and out the Damascus Gate. The 12 of them went to the Dead Sea for the afternoon. Emily and I were considering joining but when we got to the location of the shirut (cheap mini-busses) that were running on Saturday, we decided not to go. The prices were high, we needed to be back in Jerusalem much earlier than the others and the transport seemed a bit unsettling.

We walked back to our hostel to enjoy our last minutes in Jerusalem from the roof of the hostel. It was an amazing view of the Old City, and beyond. Absolutely incredible.

From there we walked out of the Old City and down Jaffa gate to shirut stop. We joined a bus to Tel Aviv. We got to Tel Aviv around 3pm and had time to kill before our 7pm train. (We went to Tel Aviv early to ensure we'd get the first train north and to have another adventure before the weekend ended.) We started our eating afternoon at Moses Burger. We sat there, eating burgers, talking, enjoying the WiFi, for nearly two hours. Then we walked down the street to Max Brenner. Apparently, the bald man Max Brenner (as he seems to be known internationally) is a man hoping to change the worldwide culture of chocolate. The dessert/drink menu was quite interesting however, full as we were, we only got hot drinks. I got a simple hot dark chocolate. My friend Emily got a thick hot dark chocolate that was whipped with vanilla cream, or something. It was incredibly rich and more like a topping for ice cream then a drink. Overall, both were good although other items on the menu would've been more interesting. Anyway, we took a cab over to the train station and roughly two hours later + a 20minute cab back to the Kibbutz and bam I'm back home. We arrived around 9:15pm and it's now taken me around two hours, perhaps more, to write this blog. (Mind you I've been interrupted with snacking, talking to people and streaming American television shows...but still.)

Anyway, I'm off to bed now. Thankfully my volunteering starts mid-day or I would be a wreck for tomorrow's weekly two-hour Ulpan class. This Thursday I'm planning, once again, to take a day trip to Safed. I'll keep you posted about that. As usual, I hope you all are well.

Rain, Rain Go Away

We've had a lovely 24 hours without rain. Although it has been very cold (40s mostly) so I unfortunately did not spend the day outside. The rain will start again tomorrow. If you haven't heard, the south of Israel, including Eilat, have received more rain than they typically get in a winter and many places are experiencing serious flooding. My day trip to Sefad was postponed, once again, because of the rain.

On Wednesday of this week, we had a lecture about the 100 years of Tel Aviv. Last spring, Tel Aviv celebrated it's 100 year birthday and this spring the Kibbutz movement will celebrate their centennial. The lecture talked about the many mayors of Tel Aviv and how each had a different vision of how they wanted the city to be--what should be located in the city center, who should live in the city, etc. A fun fact was learning that until 1990 Israel only had one television channel, which included a half day of Israeli educational programming and a half day of some international broadcast.

Also, we've had another excellent Israeli movie night. We watched "Someone to Run With" ("Mishehu Larutz Ito"). Apparently the book it is based on is much better-the plot was good but the movie was lacking. Still enjoyable to watch, but not the best filming or something. It shows the lives of two teenagers intersecting. One of a boy with a summer job to find the owner of a stray dog. In doing so he learns about the other main character, a female teen who ran away from home and plays music on the streets. I don't really know how to write a description without giving away key elements, but needless to say it was good.

Anyway, today I got a new roommate, my friend from the program, Emily, moved in. A new girl joins the program on Monday and instead of moving in with me, she'll now move into Emily's old room.

Not much else to report. We head to Jerusalem on Thursday for a group day trip. We'll be planting trees. That's all I know about the trip thus far. Then a few of us will stay in Jerusalem through Saturday night. I have not been yet and am excited to go. Also next week we are going as a group to Kibbutz Gaton to see the final dance performance of the international visitors there (including the girl I know from home).

I hope everyone is well stateside...or wherever you are reading this from. I am excited to come home in six weeks but am also savoring every moment here.

Sunday, January 17

***I just NEEDED to clarify something about my trip to Barcelona. I was pulled from the security line and questioned because I am NOT an Israeli citizen (duh). All other non-citizens, and some un-lucky citizens, get pulled out of line just as I was. I have compared stories with others and was pulled out of line for that reason, not the way I look or any other reasons.***


Since the new year, we've had a day trip and lecture. We went on a trip to visit the Yizrael Valley. We started the day visiting Kfar Yehoshua – The Valley Train. We were told the story of the valley train foundation and its contribution to the development of Haifa and its surrounding.

Then we went to the Alexander Zaid Statue. We climbed up a look-out tower on the Barkan Mountain, overlooking the Izrael Valley and the eastern Galilee. It was beautiful and also overlooking part of the fence of the West Bank.
Skipping our usual hike, we went to Beit She'an. A place of ancient ruins of bath houses, theatre, more. It was really interesting.

Last week, we had a lecture about the history of Jewish names...well it was like the history of Judaism starting with abraham and while going through the history, down the generations, the lecturer explained the roots of the names of each person. It was interesting the way he used the meanings of their names to talk about the history of the people and time. It was, as far as I'm remembering at the moment, the first religious lecture we've had thus far.

Anyway, with about 7 weeks left, I have many trips planned, with the group and on my own. This Thursday, Emily and I are hoping to be approved to miss volunteering and spend the day visiting Safed. Next weekend, the group has a day trip to Jerusalem, but I'll be staying longer, for the weekend with friends. We still have to look up where to stay...but anyway. Thanks for the e-mails.

December 2009: Chanukah, Spain & New Year's Eve

DECEMBER
2- Had an interesting lecture about the Knesset, the legislature assembly in Israel. We learned about the different political parties that make up the Knesset. We also learned about strange parties that did not make it into the Knesset, like a Taxi Driver party and the pro-marijuana Holocaust survivor's party (which is one party).

8- Chanukah celebrations officially begin with a trip to Maalot, a town about ten minutes away. We visited a community of people from the Tribe of Manasseh. The Bnei Menashe ("Children of Menasseh") is a group from northeast India who claim descent from one of the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel. We hosted a Chanukah crafts program for kids. They also made Sfinch, a Moroccan version of a donut. Don't know how the recipe varies from a normal donut, they were tasty and topped with sugar. Also, we had some lovely chocolate donuts and sufganiot (jelly donuts). The kids were lovely but none spoke English, most of the parents didn't either, so our Hebrew was tested.

10- DAY TRIP! We went to the beautiful Ramat Hanadiv Gardens in Zichron Ya'akov where the Baron Rotchild is buried. The gardens were beautiful and thankfully it was a sunny beautiful day. Then we went on a hike in the Carmel. I forget were exactly we hiked but it was quite muddy and included a cloudy view of Haifa and the Mediterranean. Then we went for lunch and a visit at a Druze village, Daliyat El Carmel. I ate labneh on a crepe-like wrap. Labneh is a yogurt like cheese, often eaten with spices and olive oil (like I ate it). We also had a nice walk around the town and into markets and stores. (And I finally did some souvenir shopping.) On our way back north to the kibbutz, we made a brief stop at the Bahai gardens in Haifa (where I've been briefly before).

11- First night of Chanukah (by this point I'd eaten sooo many donuts and sfinch in pre-Chanukah celebrations that I was almost dreading the actual Chanukah week)
The kibbutz held a huge Friday night dinner & show in celebration of Chanukah and the 63rd birthday of the kibbutz. There were dozens of tables set up in the dining hall, with a plate of sufganiot, bottle of wine, and a make-shift menorah (with all of the candles). For dinner, there was soup with bread. It was very good--full of potatoes, vegetables and meat. The vegetarian soup was also really good, it was especially spicy. I think I had a ridiculous amount of food, like four bowls of soup and 2.5 donuts. The show was interesting....kinda--and all in Hebrew :(
The little kids on the kibbutz performed skits and dances. One of my favorite performances was the parents of a kindergarden class on the kibbutz. The kids are too young to perform, so their parents performed for them & to them. It was cute. We, my program group, also performed. We sang some Chanukah song in English that most of us knew. It was slightly embarrassing but overall we couldn't be heard by most of the room because the participant holding the microphone didn't turn it on properly- so the sound was messed up.
They also lit every candle of the menorah, dedicating each candle to different reasons: the pioneers from the kibbutz, soldiers, etc. There were no blessings over the candles or anything religious during the evening. Most of the kibbutz was there and the room was packed! The kibbutz is made-up of about 200 families=about 500 people. Oh, they also did a slideshow of kibbutz members and a few other things in correlation with the kibbutz history and its birthday.

The week of the 12-19 was Chanukah break. SO most everyone on my program went to travel, visit with family, see friends, etc. My workplace had different hours this week because the kids don't have school. I stayed on the kibbutz and went into work half of the week. I vaguely planned a day trip for my days off work but the weather was gross and rainy, so I stayed inside instead.

23- MOVIE NIGHT!! Our program coordinator set-up a lovely movie night for us. We all got together and watched "Etz Limon" = "Lemon Tree". It was very good and I recommend it.
A brief summary:: Salma, a Palestinian widow, has to stand up against her new neighbor, the Israeli Defense Minister, when he moves into his new house opposite her lemon grove, on the green line border between Israel and the West Bank. The Israeli security forces are quick to declare that Salma‘s trees pose a threat to the Minister’s safety and issue orders to uproot them. Together with Ziad Daud, her young Palestinian lawyer, Salma and he fight the orders to uproot her trees.

24- Heading to Barcelona!! My flight boards 3:50am on Friday the 25th, but we are a two hour train ride from the airport so I headed there the night before. The adventure to Spain started with an interesting cab ride. I called the cab company and was hung up on by dispatch. I was left un-sure if a cab was headed my way or not. A few minutes later the cab driver called to confirm. Unfortunately he didn't understand English or my attempts to speak Hebrew. It also doesn't help that I was using the wrong words for things...like when I said the feminine version for "write" instead of train. (so I said cotevet instead of racevet)
But anyway, I made it to the train station just fine and got on a 10pm train. I got to the airport around 12:15am (the 25th) but didn't get through security until 1:15. First I went to the wrong security place, I went to the second check-point place before the first. So then I found the right security place but was taken out of line and questioned about my family, stay in Israel, etc. Mind you I was LEAVING Israel and yet being questioned more than I was when entering Israel from the USA. They asked about the religious affiliation and memberships of my family, my favorite holidays, etc. Ultimately she left and came back and apologized for the excessive questioning, explaining that I look like someone likely to have been convinced to carry a bomb on for someone. Ridiculous. Anyway, then my bags were x-rayed. Then my large bag was opened and briefly searched--and they swiped it for explosives or something.
Now at security place number two. Where me and my bags (for the second time) entered x-ray machines. Then my bags were searched, again and worse. My backpack and large bag were unpacked. It was horrible. Things went through the x-ray machine again (now for a third time) and other things were swiped or just searched.
After nearly an hour, I've finally made it through. I brought plenty of snacks and sat and ate in front of the waterfall fountain thing they have in the Ben Gurion airport. Eventually I got tired, napped a bit. Then bought a Sudoku book and headed to my gate. The flight was very full and unfortunately didn't feed me. (But I slept most of the way anyway).

Barcelona Trip (24-30):: AMAZING. I had a very great time with my parents in Barcelona. We ate amazing food, saw some beautiful (and some un-impressive) sights/museums/etc. On a brief overview, we saw the Gaudi park and two of the Gaudi houses, the Picasso museum, the Miro museum, a Flamenco dancing/music show, went to three movies, a Chocolate museum, went to Montserrat, took a cable car, and more.
Just to start with the movies, we saw "It's Complicated", "Fame", and "In the Loop". "Fame" was entertaining but overall very choppy and un-impressive. "It's Complicated" was cute and entertaining. By far "In the Loop" was the best movie we saw and I loved it. I highly recommend it.
We ate tapas of a huge variety, paella, excellent croissants and hot chocolates and chocolates and more. The food was great.
The Gaudi park and one of the houses were some of my favorite sights. Absolutely beautiful and innovative. In the park, we had a lovely afternoon walking around and listening to a ton of different music as there were musicians all around the park.
On the 30th, we woke up early for our flights. I was in the last row of the airplane and the flight was packed, so it wasn't the most enjoyable experience. I hopped on a train back up north when I got back. I'll do my best to write more about the trip later, but I also invite questions. Overall, great trip and I would LOVE to go back (and also see more of Spain).

New Year's Eve was an excellent success.
I went out to dinner with my friend from the program, Emily. We went into Naharyia for dinner at Spagettim- a local Italian place that she'd eaten at before and vouched for it's amazing quality. We enjoyed an elaborate and tasty dinner, starting with an appetizer of bruschetta caprese (with tomatoes, mozzarella and basil YUM).
Our entrees were delicious. I had whole wheat pasta with salmon and spinach in a cream, something, sauce. Then our amazing coffee and desserts. We got two desserts: a hot chocolate cake topped with nuts and with a raspberry topped ice cream on the plate as well AND a three kinds of chocolate mousse cake. The night of my favorite was the ice cream and Emily's was the cake. However, as we finally ate our dessert left-overs last night, both of us agree that our left-over favorite was the mousse cake. The hot chocolate cake tasted like fudge and made for a very rich left-over.
Anyway, then we went back to the kibbutz. We actually had a group event to rush back to, where our group talked to an Oranim short-term group about what it is like to live on the kibbutz. (Oranim runs short-term programs, similar to Birthright although no longer apart of that organization.)
Then off to the kibbutz pub for the night where they were handing out free glasses of champagne. The night was great but it was still a different new years vibe.

Finally up to date, yesterday was a very warm day on the kibbutz and I went with my friend Emily on a nice long walk around the kibbutz (actually around two or three times). We also got up earlier this morning for another walk. I head into work in about thirty-minutes. I'm back in the USA in almost two months exactly. On Thursday we have a day nature trip to the Yizrael Valley. (Don't know anything about it yet.)

I hope you all are well and that you had a good holiday season. Happy New Year!

Important Website: photos and calender

Hello hello,

All is well with me. I had a new roommate for about two days last week (she decided to leave the program early). So, I'm back to having my own room and enjoying it.

Important website to note: http://destinationisrael.com/
When at that website--the bar on the top of the page has two things worth noting.
1) Calendar: if you click this, you'll get to a list of programs. The one I'm on is referred to as "Oranim 22, Community Involvement, Kibbutz Yehiam".
This calender is being updated constantly but can give you and idea about what my group is upto.

2) Photos: you can also access this site by going to http://www.flickr.com/photos/israelservicecorps/collections/
Click on Community Involvement.
Then look for any album with "Oranim 22, Kibbutz Yehiam"

there are many albums, all taken by yours truely...only the first album, pictures from our arrival on the kibbutz were not taken by me. i'm hoping to add captions to the photographs, but that could be another week before i actually get around to it.

Oh, something exciting not on that group calender is my upcoming trip to SPAIN! I'll be meeting my dad & cindy there on christmas, to spend about five days exploring Barcelona. I'm very excited and, if anyone has been, please give me tips on good places to eat and see.

Thanksgiving day we didn't do anything. However, the next day, Friday, was the group's thanksgiving. I decided not to take part, as I already had an invitation to my host family's house for dinner and choose to go there instead. I stopped by their thanksgiving dinner at the end, the food looked very traditional and everyone seemed to be having a great time. (I wasn't the only one who didn't go.)

I had a very nice afternoon off the kibbutz today, in Naharyia. I got money out of the atm, ate a decent falafel (it was great at the time cause i was so hungry and looking forward to it, but i won't go back to that particular stand again), then we walked around for a while. i bought a 6 in 1 game set thing for about $3 which i'm very happy to have found. it includes chess and baggammon. we also went to the grocery store. oh and i went into my usual two bakeries, bakery #1 for potato pastries/patties and to get some with mushrooms inside. then i go to bakery #2 to buy donuts.
actually bakery #1 has the better donut, but the bakery #2 has more interesting ones with chocolate and coconut and nuts on top, so i keep buying different kinds there anyway.

so that's that. with the cold weather, i've noticed an increase of daddy long legs bugs around my place. the dont bother me since they are on the ceiling or high on the walls. i've seen a few of those centipede's since my horrible bed incident, but they have been little and are always found by the door. (now i either kill them or sweep them out)
unfortunately, i've been waking up in the middle of the night, startled, thinking i felt a bug on me. there is a reading light above each bed, so i turn it on, check for bugs, and seem to fall back asleep immediately.

anyway, that's that. on wednesday we have two lectures. the first, not really a lecture, is a woman from MASA. MASA is the organization funding my grant to be here and works closely with Oranim to run the program. the second lecture, will be about politics in israel. this will be run by Offer, a man who works for Oranim and has lectured for us in the past.

thursday, we have a trip to Acco and a village. it should be interesting and i'll be sure to take lots of pictures.

anyway, it's nearly 1am. i am still volunteering on the kibbutz at the afterschool center, so thankfully i don't start until mid-day. i really like it and find that my hebrew and interactions with the children seem to be improving. i've recently discussed options to volunteer elsewhere, but i will continue working where i am (at least through december). i enjoy the people and kids i work with, and i am a useful extra set of hands when dealing with the kids, serving lunch, creating and preparing activites, etc.

don't forget to check the website and see pictures of everything or the calender of our trips & lectures.

hope everyone had a happy thanksgiving and all is well stateside.

eight weeks into the program...

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.

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.

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.

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.

4+ weeks in Israel...

last Thursday: we had a lecture about security in the middle east by Ofir (a man who works for Oranim). he talked about the history of Israel, recapping the wars and boundary changes over the years. he talked a bit about the west bank and Gaza strip, mostly discussing history and not very much current affairs.

last weekend was hot and slow. i didn't go anywhere. on Sunday i went with people from my program and international people living in Kibbutz Gaton and in Akko to a huge event in Jerusalem. it was a concert by the Idan Rachel Project for MASA participants. i originally wasn't planning to go but my program coordinator was given an extra ticket. (so i went for free, shh it's a secret) the concert was all right. i enjoyed going but wouldn't have been disappointed if i missed it. although, i did bump into four people i knew! three from the camp alonim (in California) and one who worked at Capital Camps for a few summers (she's from England). so that was exciting and I'll likely meet up with some of them again during my stay here.

this week i did not return to the high school, to work in the English classes. instead I've been working in an after school program here on my kibbutz (my program coordinator runs it). the kids are 6-12 and very cute. I've enjoyed working here, but am still not sure were to settle in for the next few months.

on Monday we had a nighttime program at the yehiam castle. a man from the kibbutz took us on a tour through the castle with lanterns. he'd stop from time to time telling stories of the first pioneers at kibbutz yehiam. following the talk, we had a bonfire with tea and sweet treats. the whole evening was great.

Tuesday we met our new ulpan, Hebrew, teacher. we only spent an hour with her, so i don't an opinion yet. we'll be splitting into two classes for Hebrew lessons. they will start next week.

today we went to the high school to see a memorial assembly created by 10th grade students, for yitzak rabin. (every year the 10th graders organize the assembly) the students were talented- they sang, played instruments, and also had a dance component. overall i found the assembly to lack any emotion towards Rabin and was kind of choppy, as it was made up of a lot of short segments.

on Sunday, we're having a hike to Klil. this hike was scheduled for a few weeks ago, but was postponed due to rain. other than that, my weekend will likely be free.

wednesday, october 21

Monday: went back to the high school. it was okay. i felt useless in some of my classes, either because of lack of Hebrew or because the kids were in advanced English and didn't need my help. in the evening, back at the kibbutz, our group had a lecture from a man who has lived on the kibbutz for 30-40 years. it was interesting but many of the information, about the changes in the kibbutz, weren't new to us.

Tuesday: i worked with the construction man on our kibbutz. i lacquered wooden benches, tables, etc. afterwards, i went to Oshra's house. (our program coordinator, she lives on the kibbutz and has three girls ages 15-12-8) Her refrigerator went out so Jackie, another girl on my program, and i helped oshra move the food into a neighbors fridge and then we went with her to buy another. afterwards, we were headed home for the day when people from the kibbutz invited us to the beach. we went and had a lovely late afternoon swim.

Leaving the beach parking lot, we realized we had a flat tire. we were there about, or over, an hour before the tire was fixed. we knew how to change the tire, but we couldn't get the spare from it's spot- under the bottom of the van. our fourth helper, fourth person we waved down, was finally able to show us which pin to pull to get out the spare tire.

today: i went back to work in the high school. i worked with one 9th grade class, that I've been in before. the kids are very smart and in a pretty high level of English. then i went to a class with 8th grade boys; there were only five of them because they're all, more or less, delinquents. this class was less successful because i was a distraction to the boys. not because of my teaching/helping abilities, or lack there of, but because i was an American girl and they just wanted to ask me questions.

then i went back to a 12th grade class i have been to before. they are in the lowest level of English and are also trouble makers. this class went well as there were nearly the number of teachers to students- which seems to be the key to success with these rowdy boys. (there are five boys in the class)

afterwards i went to a 7th grade class. I'd never been there before and particularly liked it. they in the first year of learning English and, in this class, focus on grammar. i found the kids surprisingly smart considering they are new to the language.

meanwhile, i just got home from playing with kids 6-11 years old in a kibbutz after school program. (Oshra, my program coordinator, runs the program) some of the kids new English, which was very helpful and the others tried teaching me. oshra asked if i want to come everyday and do my volunteering with her, but this would mean not going back to the high school. (the after school program is on our kibbutz) I'm still thinking about what i will do. i really enjoy some of my classes in the high school but find myself bored or frustrated in others.

we haven't started our Hebrew lessons again. they are still looking for a part-time teacher, since we will only have it 1-2 times a week. tomorrow we will have another lecture- this one is about the "security situation in the Middle East". I don't know specifically what this means. I know Ofir, a man who works in the Oranim office and has a law background, will be coming to give the talk. Also, volunteers from Kibbutz Gaton (the nearby dancing kibbutz) will be coming to listen as well.

that is all with me. i am healthy and well. we've had a heatwave the past few days, with temperatures in the mid-90's. thankfully this is breaking and today has been humid/muggy but much cooler.

back to school

saturday: early morning beach trip with my friend on the trip Jackie and her host family. they are health nutty parents with an eleven year old girl. we went to a lovely beach north of our kibbutz, very near to the lebanese border. she, the host mother, fed us brown rice and tuna fish--upset she forgot the seaweed, which, she says, would have tasted delicious and brought the meal together. i enjoyed the rice and tuna (i was so hot and hungry after the hour at the beach that i would've eaten anything).

we returned to our kibbutz and joined our group to an outing at Kibbutz Gaton (a nearby kibbutz that produces medical supplies, i think, and has a huge dance program). we watched a beautiful and innovative modern dance performance. i really enjoyed it. the dancers were part of the company, so they were the teachers not students. the audience, however, was clearly filled with dancers. one of which was a daughter of a family friend of cindy/my dad's. i sought her out for a conversation--she is doing a five month dance program at Gaton and arrived about a month ago. she seems to love her program thus far.

in the evening i went, for the first time, to my host family's house. Maayan and Orr are the parents, with Carmel (she's 6) Gilad (he's 3) and Arabel (she's 14 months). Carmel was very excited for me to come and is anxious for me to quickly learn english. she immediately became my teacher--bringing me things and naming them in hebrew, running me around their apartment to name more things, opening up books and pointing to the pictures, etc. she knows only a few words in english, not enough for a conversation. after a little while, gilad opened up and he too began teaching me by naming things. the parents were very nice and spoke good english. i stayed there for about three hours just talking and playing with the kids.

today we had our first day of volunteering. we went to a high school on Kibbutz Evron. Kibbutz Evron is a kibbutz about fifteen minutes southwest of yehiam. the high school, grades six through twelfth, has students from other kibbutz's and the nearby towns/cities. it used to be that the high school was all, then mostly, children from various kibbutz's but not anymore. now the kids from kibbutz's are the minority.

we toured the school, which is made up of several separate small buildings, all with doors leading to the outside (like a motel, none with indoor hallways). we also saw a bit of the kibbutz, including their dining hall. the dining hall was large and set up like a cafeteria where you get a tray and have a variety of choices then go to the cashier. (we didn't eat, just looked)

the head of the english department is Betsy. she has been living in israel for nearly 25 years and hails from chicago (a northern suburb i believe, she told me which one but i forget). another english teacher is from philadelphia and the other two english teachers we met were from israel. (perhaps there are other english teachers we did not meet, i don't know).

i worked one period in a class with Betsy, alongside another volunteer in my group. she had each of us sit in specific places in the classroom, next to children who usually need help and extra attention. the kids were in 9th grade, so about thirteen years old. there were about 25-30 kids in the class. they were studying past progressive and past simple. thankfully i actually knew a bit about this and was able to help the students with their worksheet. i was not looking forward to teaching english, but it did go much better than i expected. although, i am still doubtful that i will enjoy teaching english nearly everyday for five months. tonight we have a meeting about volunteering and creating a schedule, perhaps a rotation, so we'll see how that goes.

new people

nothing much to report of the last few days. we finished our intensive hebrew program and will only have hebrew upto two afternoons a week for the remainder of the program. new people arrived yesterday, including one who is my roommate. the 5 additional people will only be here for one month (then they'll go home). everyone seems nice and our groups are meshing well.

today i finally did laundry- by hand, instead of sending it through the kibbutz laundry. (cheaper) it was easy and since we're having a heat wave, my clothes dried quickly.

two weeks in israel

friday: we went into Naharyia for the afternoon. it was great weather to walk around and we spent a lot of time walking along the beach. i bought some delicious patties and pastries at a bakery. one kid of our group wanted a burger so we ate at a restaurant overlooking the ocean. his burger came with veggies & tehina, pita, and then the hamburger with french fries--oh and his bun was pieces of pita! the rest of us bought sides of french fries, which totally hit the spot.

saturday: we went back to Banana Beach, near Aschiv, which is the same beach we spent the day at last saturday. again it was lovely, the water seemed cooler and less inviting to me. i packed a nice lunch with me and didn't leave my towel once. it was great.

sunday and monday: hebrew lessons, free time, nothing special. an addition to our program arrived yesterday. we haven't spent much time with him yet, so i couldn't even tell you his age or anything. on thursday 5 people from another oranim program will be joining us for the last month of their trip- one of whom will be my roommate for the month.

today i went with friends into Naharyia to the grocery store. it was overwhelming but a successful trip in the end. we also stopped into a bakery for some delicious patties and pastries. tomorrow we start our community service with Elan, a man on the kibbutz who builds/fixes/maintains things. tomorrow we will help him by picking up trash, i think. in the future we will help him on a variety of projects: painting, cleaning, etc. next week we will start our volunteering. our placements have not been arranged yet, so i still don't know what i will be doing. oh also we each got host families. i have their contact information and know they have three kids (ages 6, 3, and a baby who is a few months old). i tried calling them tonight but nobody answered. i'll try again tomorrow perhaps. they are supposed to invite me over for dinner, so i'm excited at the prospect of somebody cooking for me. (and for meeting new people of course).

thanks for those who comment. leora, if i'm back in Akko i'll be sure to look up those places.

slow days

tuesday: we were supposed to have an 8am hike to/in Klil. instead we woke up to a bit of rain and so we happily went back to bed and postponed the hike. at 1030 we had a lecture about israel's geography and the history behind israel's map (the way land has been divided). we also learned about the history of the Kibbutz movement and the changes that have gone on with the structure of the Kibbutz. we learned about the history of Kibbutz Yehiam and went to small musuem they have showing the development of the kibbutz and displaying the kibbutz history (on-site of course).

wednesday: we a field trip in our hebrew class! there is a renissance festival occuring in the Yehiam Castle, which is on the kibbutz property and barely a five minute walk from our housing. we went with our class to walk around the castle and learn more hebrew words and history. there were people dressed up in clothes like we see in the renissance fairs in the states. there were craft activities, stands of food to buy (and taste! like cheese, wine, crackers), and of course food to eat. i shared a pita that was baked with tomatos, onions and spices on top. it was good although i would've loved to have added some hummus or even sour cream on it.

yesterday we had hebrew lessons, went to the kibbutz market for groceries....that's about it.
today and tomorrow we have off from hebrew lessons. we're hoping to go into Naharyia today and the beach tomorrow.