So, it’s been such a long time, and I really do apologize. So much has happened, and I have fallen so far behind, so I’ll do my best to catch you up with everything, and give you short tidbits of my second semester!
Yerucham:
My love for this small town only continues to grow. I love interacting with the locals (my Hebrew is the strongest it’s ever been!) I love living in a community where people welcome you into their house and feed you and more. It’s amazing
Work: MDA
So, as I write this, I’m relaxing in the Magen David Adom station.For the previous 5 shifts I have worked, there have been 0 calls, COMBINED! So although it’s a good thing, I haven’t seen much action. Today, I worked on Shabbat with Yanai, and we got a call to Dimona, the next closest town, where a 27 year old was playing soccer and broke his ankle. It was notably bent in a horrible direction, but Asher (the patient) was incredibly cool and collected. He laughed at himself, told funny jokes and was really cool, ALL in the ambulance. When we dropped him off at the hospital, I told him that he was very strong, and it if was me in his spot, I would be crying. He laughed and wished me luck with the rest of my time here! Totally awesome.
Work: Gan
So, I know I started out really unhappy with the gan, but it turned out to be one of the greatest parts of Nativ. I loved the kids, and I had an amazing time working there. Thursday was my last day, and the kids went around the room, one by one and said something to me and gave me a hug. Needless to say, I started to cry and I know that the relationship with the kids has changed my life!
Pesach:
Probably one of my favorite holidays to be in Israel for. I went to Caesarea for the Seder and spent some time with Eli, Amit, Lisa and Moshe, which was a blast! I then went to Jerusalem for a couple of days, where I ate out in restaurants and did other things that I wouldn’t dream of in the states. At the end, I went back to Yerucham, and spent time my host family, with the highlight being eating cow brains with Tyler! ITS SOO GOOD!
Yom Hazikaron:
Israel’s Memorial Day. Except it is way different than you would think. Since there is mandatory service when you graduate high school, everybody in the country can relate to what is happening. We went to Har Herzl, the military cemetery for the ceremony, and it was incredibly emotional and you could feel the sadness. After the official ceremony, we went back to Beit Nativ, and heard Michael Levin’s Parents speak. Michael Levin, a personal hero of mine, was a person who was active in USY, went to a Ramah Summer Camp, went on Nativ, and then joined the Army. In the 2006 Lebanon War, he was killed in action, and his story became known through the country. It was incredible hearing his parents speak for over 2 hours, and really touching. At the end of the day, when the sun set, the mood changed from incredible sad to incredibly happy… why? Because of….
Yom Ha’Atzmaut
Israel’s Independence Day. The mood changes completely! Everyone starts to celebrate and dance in the streets! We stayed out until 4 AM, dancing and partying with everyone! The next day we had a huge Mangal, or BBQ, and it was such a fun day!
So, I’ll be home in 16 days, and its really sad! In the next two weeks, I’ll be traveling on a Northern Tiyul, packing to come home =(, and spending the final way in Jerusalem…
So, sorry this is short, but I hope you enjoyed it!
I know it’s been a while, and I don’t really have a good excuse, so I’m not going to even bother making one up! =) Anyways, I’m living the dream here in Yerucham, and its awesome
Yerucham:
Last semester, while in Jerusalem, I would tell people that I was living in Yerucham the second semester; I would almost always get the same reaction… “UGH… YERUCHAM? Why? Its so gross”… Needless to say, it got me really nervous to come. But after living here for a month, I can honestly tell you it is one of my favorite cities in all of Israel. It’s small (only 10,000 people) and has one major road. No bars, 2 pizza places, and zero Laundromats. With the exception of one pizza place, which closes at 11, the town basically shuts down by 8:30 PM. It’s a place where everyone knows everyone, and is actually pretty religious. We live right across the street from a synagogue (that we go to everyday for the nightly service, Ma’ariv). It’s a small little town that welcomes everyone and enjoys seeing new faces. When we first came, we (Nativ) stuck out like a sore thumb, but everyone who saw us introduced themselves and welcomed us into their lives. It really is amazing how hospitable the city is! My friend Michael Gelb once said, “Drive to the middle of nowhere, then go another half hour… you’ll wind up in Yerucham”. This past weekand a half, Yerucham has been in a heat wave, and the temperature has been well over 90-95, and it is excruciatingly hot, especially without an air conditioner in our apartment! Here is the Wikipedia page for Yerucham!
Apartment:
I live at 1004 Rambam Street, apartment 11 with 6 other guys. I included a video tour of our apartment.
Our apartment is a lot of fun, and a great place to relax. Since the video, we’ve gotten a new couch, but its still the same set up! It’s really weird living on our own, buying our own food, preparing it and cleaning it up. There is a strong sense of independence and it is a big change, but one we’re all embracing. Since I can’t really cook, I usually help out with the clean up. It’s a good balance between everyone in the apartment.
Work:
So, while living here in Yerucham, I have two jobs. My first job, is working in a pre-school (Gan). Now, this job has a lot of ups and downs. In the classroom there are 23 kids, who are all SUPER CUTE and really fun, but I specifically work with 3 kids. These three kids, Yonatan, Avial and Maor, have been diagnosed with ADHD, and are all best friends. It is my job to keep them occupied while the rest of the class is busy being good little 4 year olds. As cute as they are, they are tough, especially when the three of them are together. There are days that I have been bitten (literally), had my hair pulled out (they like the face I make when they grab my leg hair and yank), had sand and other objects (phones and shoes and more) thrown at my head. I won’t lie. It’s very difficult to stay positive in a hard environment, but the teachers (ganenets) are actually amazing. Though they don’t speak English, we still are able to communicate through basic Hebrew (my Hebrew is improving!) One of the ganenets is actually my host mom! But I’ll talk about that later!
My Bite Marks
I have also been volunteering with Magen David Adom. It’s been harder to get shifts in because the hours don’t always agree with my Gan job. So far, I’ve only worked 3 shifts, but I have had my share of action! On my first shift, I got called to a car accident, where the car was totaled after rolling over 4 times. When we got to the scene, it was really brutal, and I thought there would for sure be casualties, but, thankfully, only one person was injured, and it wasn’t too serious! I took her blood pressure (160/100) and helped her hand stop bleeding. She probably needed stitches, but I don’t know what happened to her after we dropped her off at the hospital. It was really cool to be involved in the action. The next (half) shift I went to, there were exactly 0 calls, so it was basically me chilling in the MDA station. My last shift started at 3 PM on Shabbat. I decided that I was with working on Shabbas because someone needed to do it, and it’s a good place to relax, read a book and learn how to play Shesh-Besh (Backgammon). That 8-hour shift saw us get 4 calls(ish), which is a lot for Yerucham. Side note: because Yerucham is kinda in the middle of nowhere, the nearest hospital is in Be’er Sheva, which is about 30 minutes away when you’re driving 160 KM/H (over 100 MPH!), so it is a long process to get a call, treat them, take them to the hospital, deal with the paperwork and come back home. The first call, a man called to complain about chest pains, so we took him to the hospital and dropped him off. As we drove back through the street (not streets) of Yerucham, we saw a woman pass out on the side of the street (good timing, right?!). So we pulled over and the driver knew her (everyone knows everyone in Yerucham) and knew she was a diabetic. The reason she fainted was because her BS was 27, which is really low. So we treated her in the street, and by the time her BS was up, her family showed up and they took her to the hospital. So the driver and I went back to the station. We got a call a little while later for a reported stabbing in the next town over (5 miles away!) but by the time we got there, the guy ran away. So we went on another call in the city, which was transporting an elderly man to the hospital, which was uneventful. The driver for all three of my shifts is a man named Yanai, who speaks great English, and is really cool too! This is also a great place to transition to my next topic, because Yanai is also my host dad!
Host Family:
So, as you already know, I work in the Gan with my host mom, Ya’arit, and with Yanai at Magen David Adom. I am not exaggerating when I tell you that they are some of the nicest people I have ever met in my life. My Yerucham experience would be completely different without them, and I feel so lucky to have such a close relationship with them. They’ve invited me to their house for dinner multiple times [which of course I accepted=)], invited me to go to see Avatar in 3D with them (which hasn’t worked out yet) and allow me to come and hang whenever I want. They have 2 kids, a 4-year-old daughter named Noa, and a 1-year-old son named Levi. They both are adorable! Yanai works on his computer as a web site designer when he's not working with MDA, so he downloads a lot of TV shows and movies (its legal here!!!!) and he’s shared so much with me! He got me hooked on the show “How I Met Your Mother” and has given me so many movies and other TV shows. He really is amazing, and I think the world of him and his family! They truly are amazing.
Anyways…
That’s all for now, but here are some picture and videos to keep you entertained!
I know that I haven’t written in a while, so I am going to update you only on my happenings since coming home from Italy. The week that I came home (Beit Nativ), we had an all-Nativ week, which was called “Israel Today Seminar”. This weeklong seminar focused on many different current event issues and areas of modern day Israel.
On Sunday, we had a discussion with an Editor-In-Chief of the Jerusalem Post. It was a really cool experience to hear what he had to say about current issues, as well as talking about his job at the newspaper. After the lecture, we took a 10-minute walk to the Menachem Begin (Pronounced Bayg-in) center, an education facility dedicated to the life and work of Menachem Begin, a former Prime Minister of Israel. Many people believe that Begin was the most successful PM Israel has ever had, as he created the first peace treaty with Egypt, and was the first opposition party to take control of the government. It was really interesting, and learned a lot about a man I that I didn’t know much about! After dinner that night, we had a panel discussion with a bunch of people in the army, (which included 3 Nativ staff). It was interesting to hear about their perspective of Operation Cast Lead, the 2008 Gaza Strip war. It’s really weird to hear people close to my age telling their war stories. It’s amazing to hear their perspective on it.I thought the panel discussion was actually really informative and fun!
On Monday, I went to 2 different science museums, and I was able to play around with the exhibits and other fun stiff. It was like the museum of science and industry back at home, and I love that, so it was a really great morning. After that, we went to a comic museum, which was kinda boring, kinda fun. We looked at political cartoons and other Israeli comics. Comics aren’t really my “thing” so I didn’t get as into it as others, but it was still an experience! After that, we saw an Israeli movie called The Lost Island. It was… interesting… to say the least. It was themed about teenagers, and their… impulses… anyways… we ate dinner at a mall in Tel Aviv and then relaxed the rest of the night.
On Tuesday, I went to the Supreme Court of Israel, which was not as cool as I expected, and I was really bored at that, as well as the discussion that followed. It was a really long an uneventful day. However, at night, we all hoped on a bus, a went to a show in Old Jafo (outside of Tel-Aviv). This show was really special and uniquie because all 15 of the actors and actresses were the “Helen Kellers” of Israel, meaning, they were all Blind AND deaf. It was really amazing, and we all wound up tearing up. It was really moving and its something that I’ll never forget in my life.
The next day, we started our trip down South, where we hiked, went to biblical theme park, stayed in a Bedouin tent, Rode camels, hung out at the beach, watched the super bowl (without commercials), and explored the desert for the week.
On Wednesday, February 10th, we were supposed to go from Eilat to Yerucham, however, in transit, our staff told us we were heading to Be’er Sheva, which made no sense, as we were going north, and then turning around back south. All of us were confused as to why, and upset at the staff, but it turns out they had a good reason. A person from Nativ, who was not on our tiyul was diagnosed with the Mumps. We had to go to the Ministry of Health and get a MMR (Measles, Mumps and Rubella) booster shot. It was an unexpected turn in the day, but hey, you gotta be flexible when you live here in Israel.
I apologize for my long delay, but I believe that I have a pretty good excuse for why I’ve been so busy that I haven’t been able to blog.
I’ll start where we left off. Ashley came to Israel! I had such a great time hanging out with her. Some highlights of the trip included her coming out with my friends and I, spending Shabbat at Shira Hadasha, and hanging out, just relaxing! Hopefully, we can get her to guest blog and tell you all about her trip (HINT HINT, ASHLEY!)
After Ashley and Mom left, it was close to finals at Hebrew University, so it became time cramp down and write some papers and study for some tests. I wrote 5 papers, and took one test. My test was in my Holocaust class, wrote a paper about the redemption of papers for my Talmud class, and wrote four papers for my Modern Jewish History Class. These papers ranged from the history of Jews to my opinion on intermarriage between a Jew and a non-Jew. I really felt like I did well and I can’t wait to find out how I did!
On Thursday (A week ago today), I spent the entire day packing up my entire Jerusalem life and preparing for the next month of adventures. That day, I packed up my life into 4 different sections. The first section of stuff was a bunch of clothes and random items that I put into storage and will pull out of storage when I go to Yeruham. The second section was clothes and other random items (electronics and such) that will be taken with me to my Israel Experience Week. The third section is the stuff I am bringing with me to Italy for break, and the fourth is for the Israel Today Seminar that I will be going on when I get back from break, before Yeruham.
Our last Shabbat in Israel was really special. It was a closed Shabbat and it was absolutely amazing. The seniors at Chicagoland Jewish High School are on their annual trip to Israel for three weeks, and they stayed at Beit Nativ for the week! On Shabbat, I got to lead Friday Night Ma’ariv in front of not only my Nativ friends, but also my CJHS friends! It was so fun to see so many people that I knew from home all at the same time! After a great dinner, I hung out with a bunch of friends in a room, and enjoyed the rest of Shabbat relaxing, going to Kol Rina, and having a great time with all of my friends.
Sunday morning, we woke up really early, put our stuff on the bus and went on our way for Israel experience week. There are 4 different trips that you could go for the week. The first tri[, which left a week before was a trip to Poland, where you could get guided tours and stuff of camps and other significant places. I did this on pilgrimage, so I decided to pass on this opportunity and do something new. The second option was you could do a weeklong Army training program, called Gadna, with the highlight being you get to fire a M-16 machine gun at the end of the week. As cool as that sounded, I couldn’t picture myself going through a week of army, so I decided to pass. The third option was to go to Haifa and volunteer in the community there. While volunteering, you could work at a zoo and do other things, which seemed cool, but not as cool as what I chose, which was an Archeological Dig in Tiberias!
When we got off the bus after a 2.5 hour ride, we found ourselves on the shores of the Kineret, Israel’s largest (and only!) freshwater lake. We were at an amphitheatre that was from the roman times, almost 700 years BC! It was mostly excavated, and actually really beautiful. You can see it in pictures in the link below! It was here where we got associated with the site, had our introduction to the tools and learned what we were going to be doing! After we left the excavation site, we wound up back at our hostel! It was absolutely beautiful!
We went straight out to the back of the hostel, and started to play in the Kineret. It was so fun to play in the water, and hang out with a bunch of other Nativers. I wound up getting into my boxers and shirt because I didn’t want to get my pants wet, and completely submerged myself. It was great to escape the 83 degree (!) heat! It was hands down the hottest January 10th I’ve ever had in my life!
The next morning, we woke up early, as we did every day that week, and went to work! I was in a group with Adina, Joey and Seffi and we wound up digging in a room that was about 8 feet by 8 feet, and about 4 feet down. After 4 days of intense work, the room was 8 feet by 8 feet, about 7 feet down. It was truly astonishing to see the progress that we were making! We found pottery, bones, and a lot of rocks! It was so fun, and we had a lot of laughs!
Alright, im sorry to wrap this up so quickly, but I am about to walk out the door to go to the airport to depart for my 2 week vacation in Italy!
I will be sure to update you when I get back!
Here are some pictures from the Archeological Dig!
