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.
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
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.
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.
Sunday, October 18, 2009
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.
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.
Friday, October 16, 2009
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.
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.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
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.
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.
Friday, October 9, 2009
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.
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.
My Israeli Cell
The number of the cellphone is: 0525668304
My cell can be reached from the United States by dialing 011972525668304
I recieve incoming calls and texts for free, but I honestly do not carry my phone around very much.
I am able to check my voicemail. Listening to the voicemail does charge me, but hearing a short message is better than wondering who called.
My cell can be reached from the United States by dialing 011972525668304
I recieve incoming calls and texts for free, but I honestly do not carry my phone around very much.
I am able to check my voicemail. Listening to the voicemail does charge me, but hearing a short message is better than wondering who called.
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