heal the world...make it a better place.

It seems that only yesterday I was sitting at Camp learning about the concept of "tikkun olam." The simple act of repairing the world, and making it a better place. I remember sitting and learning the basic lyrics of Michael Jacksons heal the world.

There's A Place In

Your Heart

And I Know That It Is Love

And This Place Could

Be Much

Brighter Than Tomorrow

And If You Really Try

You'll Find There's No Need

To Cry

In This Place You'll Feel

There's No Hurt Or Sorrow

There Are Ways

To Get There

If You Care Enough

For The Living

Make A Little Space

Make A Better Place...

Heal The World

Make It A Better Place

For You And For Me

And The Entire Human Race

There Are People Dying

If You Care Enough

For The Living

Make A Better Place

For You And For Me

If You Want To Know Why

There's A Love That

Cannot Lie

Love Is Strong

It Only Cares For

Joyful Giving

If We Try

We Shall See

In This Bliss

We Cannot Feel

Fear Or Dread

We Stop Existing And

Start Living

Then It Feels That Always

Love's Enough For

Us Growing

So Make A Better World

Make A Better World...

Heal The World

Make It A Better Place

For You And For Me

And The Entire Human Race

There Are People Dying

If You Care Enough

For The Living

Make A Better Place

For You And For Me

And The Dream We Were

Conceived In

Will Reveal A Joyful Face

And The World We

Once Believed In

Will Shine Again In Grace

Then Why Do We Keep

Strangling Life

Wound This Earth

Crucify Its Soul

Though It's Plain To See

This World Is Heavenly

Be God's Glow

We Could Fly So High

Let Our Spirits Never Die

In My Heart

I Feel You Are All

My Brothers

Create A World With

No Fear

Together We'll Cry

Happy Tears

See The Nations Turn

Their Swords

Into Plowshares

We Could Really Get There

If You Cared Enough

For The Living

Make A Little Space

To Make A Better Place...

Heal The World

Make It A Better Place

For You And For Me

And The Entire Human Race

There Are People Dying

If You Care Enough

For The Living

Make A Better Place

For You And For Me

Some may argue that now that Michael is no longer with us, his words mean more. But to a 12 year old, those lyrics meant the world to me.

I am not sure when, but shortly after that activity, I decided I would do my best to heal the world. I quickly got into the act of photography because to me, a simple picture can do so much more than be an act of a memory.

With a single image one can see so much more. It is like my favorite Neil Young song, "there is more to the picture than meets the eye." I don't know when music became so important to me, or when it began to help me understand life, but I do know that I truly believe in it. Just as much as I believe in healing the world.

I wouldn't go as far to say that I am healing the world being here in Ramla, but I know a simple act can mean the world to one.

Two weeks ago we started our volunteering. It only took a week before some of us were begging for more things to do. And since Nir is so great, not only is he filling our schedule with more, but everyday he is finding new places for us to help.

Some of the kids in my program spend their time at the soup kitchen, senior centers, and high-schools. Most of the group volunteer at an Ethiopian school, where they are each paired to different kids, sort of like Big Brothers/Big Sisters. Jackie and Ron are even helping out with the Ramla special olympic soccer team.

But for me it is different. I spend the majority of my time with kids that are no taller than my knees.

On Sundays and Thursday I spend my afternoon working in a Kindergarden after-school program. From 4-7 pm I read stories, play in the sand, color, and teach simple words to 4 and 5 year olds. There are a little less than 20 of them, and as the time goes by, more and more kids are picked up.

There are two teachers in the classroom, and sometimes I get help from other volunteers in my group. But there is never enough help.

One girl is always completely happy until someone else has something she doesnt. Then she starts crying.

There are two Ethiopian sisters, with the younger being to young, but allowed because she is family. Everytime I see them it is like they have forgotten me, and it takes a while to remember.

Miriam is my favorite. To be honest, at first I thought she was a boy. She has short hair, and I mean SHORT, and wears baggy clothing. It was not until I heard her being called Miriam, and asking Nir if there was anyway a boy could be called Miriam, that I came to realize. From day one she attached herself to me, and we sit in the sand box twirling for hours.

Some of the kids are hard to open up, but most of them coming running to me when I walk in. And since my hebrew is nowhere near perfect, they are the first to correct me when I say something wrong, or use the wrong form. I have already asked Nir if there is a way for me to spend more then just two days a week with them.

Monday night I go to a place called the Kshoat center. Erica, Jackie, Taylor, Lindsay and I hold a meeting for kids 18 and up who want to practice their english. On average there are about 12 kids, and we spend 2 hours playing games, laughing, and making friends.

It is a great way to meet local people, and we have already started friendships with most of them. One has even promised me her IDF uniform when she is done serving!

On Wednesday and Thursday mornings I will be going to an elementary school. Since I am just getting over a horrible cold, I have yet to go. On Thursday I am at one school, and on Wednesday I go with the same teacher to another. Tomorrow will be my first day, and I already know it will be absolutely wonderful.

One a week, and hopefully more, I go in the afternoon to the Arab Kadima, which is basically a place for kids to go after school so they do not get in trouble.

The first time I went, Jackie and Erica were with me. We spent an hour helping them with English. Lucky for me, I got assigned to the most amazing kid.

His name is Sliman, and he is an 11 year old boy who speaks a little hebrew and english. It was instantly easily for us to talk, and he spent most of the time trying to make me laugh. The biggest problem we had was trying to teach him what MR. meant, and I am still wondering why they would have that word in a beginning level english learning book.

For Erica and Jackie it wasn't as easy. Since they both don't know much hebrew, and since we all certainly do not know arabic, it was hard, and I had to help a lot. But I loved it. The other kids even tried to get "help" with their arabic homework, just so they didn't really have to do it.

With Sliman, who I basically started calling Slimity, he would show me his sad, happy, and animal faces, just to make us laugh and get out of doing his homework. As soon as the hour was up, he jumped up and ran outside.

I told all of the kids that Jackie was a professional Soccer player in the states. Since, after all, she did play for Cornell. So Jackie went outside and played soccer with them, as Erica and I stayed inside with some of the older girls, and had a dance party.

They taught us dances that they had made up, and we promised we would teach them American dances, like the electric slide and cotton-eye joe.

There are so many more ways to help out in Ramla, and basically all over Israel. Whenever we go some placer new, or meet someone else, we instantly try to figure out how we can help them. Erica and Taylor will soon be helping out the social worker that we met last week.

Everyone is happy, which is great. Because from what we hear, we are the only Oranim group that is satisfied. The other groups have been lied to, have had dates change, and are simply miserable.

We talk about it all the time. We talk about how lucky we are. We talk about how even though we are completely happy (don't get me wrong, there are definatly some problems), we would never recommend this program to anyone. Nir, our amazing coordinator, has only been working with Oranim since March, and he is their longest working employee. That has to show something, right?

But we absolutely got lucky and would never change these moments for a thing.

the dirty dirty.. (of israel)

Look at me... So adventurous. Who would have thought?

After a 4:30 am wake up, only to find out that we had been lied to about the time to make sure we were at the bus stop on time, and then waiting an hour for the bus, we made it to the Negev.

Well, sort-of. We made it to a bus stop in the Negev.

After an hour "lunch" break (at 9 am), and enough time for 5 busses full of Oranim kids to run to the bathroom, we separated into groups for the advance and easy hike.

Again, feeling adventurous, we opted for the advanced. I figured after rock climbing in Indiana, this couldn't be that hard?

So I put on my hiking shoes (thanks grandma and pa!) and quickly fell in love with our tour guy Ron, a complete CRAZY man who seems to belong PERFECTLY in the wilderness, given plenty of room to spin circles. I only wish there were video tapes of this man and his ways, because I cannot even begin to explain.

Well, the hike was a joke. We were instantly wondering how easy the "easy" hike must have been (we later found out it was literally an hour of walking).

We hiked downward, using man-made "ladders" on some rocks. And about 5 hours later we made it out.

It was beautiful. We spent a lot of time hiking in complete shade, had way to many water breaks, and clearly, way to many pee breaks. But none the less, it was beautiful.

Then we got to get back on a bus, yes, we were sandy, sweaty, and gross, and head to Eilat. But not of course before stopping at an ice cream shop. Wonderful.

We spent the rest of the day sleeping, and Randy, an old YJ friend living in Eilat through another Oranim program, quickly came and met us at the hotel. My entire group loved him, and we spent the night getting our own tour of Eilats night life by an Eilat resident!

Saturday we spent the day in the water. Wanting to be away from everyone, we went to the rocky area, and everyone quickly had bloody feet, even one kid stepping on a (insert name of prickly thing that I have forgotten).

Realizing that was a horrible idea, we gathered our things and moved to a new area to finish the day snorkeling. AMAZING. I absolutely love fishes. I will defiantly have to swallow my fear and eventually become scuba certified, which is another thing I can do in Eilat.

We woke up early Sunday morning and quickly left the hotel. But not before I managed to leave half my things and not be able to brush my teeth because the water and electricity in the hotel had gone off.

Feeling tired and off, Erica and I decided to switch to the easy hike. Since, for some ODD reason, Oranim had scheduled us to hike again.

But it worked out well. Erica and I were given the chance to meet new people, and get a completely different view.

I'm pretty sure everyone fell asleep quickly after we got back to our original busses to return home.

Unfortunately here is where our fun weekend in Eilat turned sour. And because I am blogging about my entire experience in Israel, I must continue to write.

It was not until the following day that we found out the events that had happened after returning to Ramla.

It was 9 am Monday, and we were meeting at the house to go on a tour. Nir, Allisabeth and Nicole walked in, and we quickly noticed Hila was missing.

And this is the story we heard:

Being afraid of getting dehydrated, Hila had spent most of the weekend drinking gallons of water. And since Hila is petite as can be, she is very fragile.

Upon the bus ride home she began feeling sick, and by the time she and her roommates had arrived back to the apartment, she had begun speaking gibberish.

Allisabeth and Nicole walked her to the clinic, where the doctors, speaking mostly hebrew, basically said come back tomorrow.

It was then Hila became to seize, bleeding from her biting her tongue, and then laying completely still. She was rushed in an ambulance to the hospital, where they induced a coma, where she laid for 3 days.

Thankfully, that was the worst of it. After spending a couple more days in the hospital under watch, she was released and has return back to us and is better then ever.

We are all so thankful that no permanent damage happened, and that besides a couple minor level off-beats, she is perfectly healthy, and soon will be continuing with group activities and programs.

Hila is lucky. She has family members living in Israel, and her mother was quick to fly over. I could only imagine having to go through that alone, and Hila is still brave as can be.

She has spent the past two weeks resting and we are told she will be beginning volunteering soon. And I'm sure she will love it as much as we all do. After all, the reason I haven't been rambling as much is because I have simply been spending all my time wondering the city of Ramla, helping out when needed.

But do not worry, I will continue to make sure every detail and aspect is covered.

Until then...

best idea ever: teaching israeli soldiers english

I wish I would have learned the first time.. But I am beginning to think I should never leave Ramla.

Most of you will remember my story about trekking home from Tel-Aviv a couple weeks ago, taxi being pulled over and all, and think, how could it get worse than that? Well, rest assured, I have the answer.

It was a simple Thursday, a day that I have nothing to do. Around 1 o'clock I went to meet up with the group as they got out of Ulpan. My bag was packed, and I was ready to embark on what I thought would be a great journey!

See, Erica was running low on money, and needed to cash her travelers checks. But after searching around Ramla, she was told that we would have to go to Rehovot, the town over, to do this.

Having nothing to do, and always loving an adventure, I quickly said I'd join.

As we waited an hour on the side of the road for a bus, and as two taxis drove by us completely full, we finally were on our way. What should have been a 10 minute drive turned into another 45 minutes and we were stuck in horrible traffic.

RULE #1: never go to Rehovot in the afternoon. Avoid traffic by traveling in the morning.

A little bit before 4 we finally arrived on the main street and started heading to a bank.

The first bank we went to was not open.

The second bank we would not accept travelers checks.

The third bank also would not accept travelers checks.

Finally. The fourth bank, a western union( thank you America) said yes...

And then we realized Erica did not have her passport.

RULE #2: you need a passport to cash travelers checks. But more importantly, don't ever get travelers checks because many places do not know what they are!

So, at least we knew where to cash them, and could come back again.

Wanting to make the best of our day, we headed to an ATM where I took out money for Erica to borrow and began shopping.

An hour later, having bought nothing, we walked into a Pizza store. But, no, it was not that easy. I could not eat my pizza, but I did realize that my wallet was missing.

Great. Thankfully at this point Erica had money so we would be able to make it home. I called my mother, canceled my credit cards, and called Nir.

As we waited for a bus, which never came, I began getting phone calls from a blocked number. Being upset, I didn't bother to pick up, but they kept on calling.

Finally, I said Shalom, and a man started speaking. Not caring to know what he said, I hung up about 3 times before I finally calmed down and listened.

He was talking about money. But What?!

I stopped a soldier on the street and had him translate. A MAN HAD FOUND MY WALLET? how had he got my number? who was this?

The soldier, not knowing we lived in Ramla, hung up and told us the man was heading to Ramla and would be back later to meet up with us.

Having no idea how he had my number, Erica and I panicked. We called Nir right away to have him come save us, fearing we were about to be lead down a dark alley.

Taylor and Jackie were back in Ramla searching for how this man would have found my number. They googled my name, read my blog, and we even called IsraelPhones (the company I am renting through) to see how this could have happened.

No luck. We were scared, shocked, and completely freaked out.

Still not having this mans number, he called again. Nir was still not with us, and we stopped another soldier to help. She barely spoke english, and I was in to much shock to speak hebrew. It was certainly not an easy conversation.

She told us to follow her, and literally began walking down a side street. Erica and I, holding hands, can't stop wondering!

This man wants us to go to his office. The soldier assures us he sounds nice, but no, we were scared.

Nir finally came, and I'm pretty sure I cried as I saw him.

Finally, he got on the phone with the man and asked "How did you get her number?"

Silly me, I had completely forgot I had put my number in my wallet.

RULE #3: always keep your phone number in your wallet.

As we waited on the side of the road for the man to come, Nir told us he was an Arabic man.

I can't believe I got it back, nothing missing. And though I had already cancelled my cards, at least I had my wallet back and the realization that people in this world can be nice, and aren't exactly what we thought.

and the rain falls...

I feel a little selfish. I know the rain is good for this dry country, but really? does our roof have to leak? The landlord came around yesterday and just poked at the wall saying "lo tov" meaning no good.

Well, that's great! I'm glad we're given a roof over our head (at least for now).

I do have to give Oranim credit, they do set us up with a "free" gym. All we have to do is make an appointment with some "doctor" and pay 50 sheckles, and we're set to go!

But I guess before we get into that I'll fill you in on my past week here. After that amazing concert up in Jerusalem we all slept in on Monday. By 11 only 2 of us were up, and by 12 we packed our bags and (most of us) journeyed to the local shuk and grocery store.

We spent what felt like forever walking through the shuk looking at crap and more crap. My favorite. By the time we got to the end of the shuk we were so lost, to get to one of the grocery stores was a mission. At one point we were walking by a school with kids throwing rocks. Not okay.

We made it to Yesh, the bigger grocery store, which is a little farther, and each filled our book bags to the fullest extent. Jackie and I took our time walking, and by the end of our journey my bag was frontward and we were aching. I was even treated by my cottage cheese exploding in my bag. Lucky me.

During the afternoon the group went to the local college to meet with a group called the Kshaot center. Basically they are a local "club" for kids over the age of 18 to come and practice english. The kids all know how to speak, but use it more as a test for an english-speaking job or some sorts.

We met with one lady in charge and one of the participants. I instantly fell in love! It reminded me of the old Young Judaean activities where we'd sit in circles and just talk. They only wanted 4 volunteers, but five of us, Jackie, Erica, Taylor, Lindsay and I begged for 5.

Successful! We were to meet the following Monday to go over plans, before the meeting began at 6.

After the meeting Lindsay and I went to Dr. Cohen to get our gym note, and boy am I glad I am healthy. Because if I wasn't, I could have easily still passed.

Tuesday, besides getting woken up at 7 when the rest of the house leaves, I slept till 1. Lovely. And by 4 I was off to Ulpan. Still not knowing my way around, I got lost on my way home, know being dark out. Thankfully Lindsay was able to direct me.

On Wednesday, Lindsay, Jackie and I took our first step to the gym. Well, we were the only girls there, and lets just say it was an interesting experience.

In the evening we met with Nir as a group for our weekly meeting and enrichment. Since it was the anniversary of Rabins death, we spoke about him. Half-way though Nir passed around a book, when suddenly Erica explained how "this" was her favorite piece of art, and nothing had touched her more. I looked up to see "this" was the Holocaust memorial, which as many of you know, my grandfather made.

Thursday was basically a waste of time. My only activity of the day way to meet everyone at 1 to help an old lady "fix" her house. Basically, we were expecting the worst. Apparently this lady had called social services, explaining how her house was, saying she absolutely needed some help.

Nir was quick to sign us up, since after all that is what we are here for. But after a late wake up, and rushing to make it on time, no one was home. At least, that is what we thought. We knocked, called, banged, everything, but eventually we turned around and walked home.

This past weekend was wonderful! I can't believe its already been 3 weeks since i've been in Israel.

On Friday, with the rain pouring down, I trekked to the central bus stop and rode to Jerusalem. By the time I got to the central station, it was around 3 and things were shutting down for Shabbat. Wow, that town really closes.

I used my "knowledge" and got on another bus to head towards the old city, where I met Norman at his hotel. It was great seeing him, and meeting all of the people on his ride.

We went with another couple to the Kotel, and it was beautiful. Being there on a Friday night, with everyone dancing and the rain falling was wonderful.

After we met with a couple other riders, and had the most amazing meal. Hands down the best meal I have had in a long time. Sweet-potato soup, amazing bread, great schnitzel, and absolutely wonderful desserts. I took the card, and hopefully can go back soon.

Since Shabbat had taken over the city of Jerusalem, I was stuck taking a cab back to Ramla, which turned out to be great. My driver was so nice and tested me on hebrew my entire trip.

Then came Halloween, my favorite holiday! We had planed to have a "party" for some people of Ramla through the Kshoat center. Few showed up, but it was still fun! My last minute costume turned into Rainbow Brite, since without shock, I have tons of bright clothe!

I even, as I said earlier, got the dutch kid to dress in my Marlin jersey!

Sunday was a rain cloud, and by Monday morning our roof was leaking and I was sick. Thankfully the people I live with are AMAZING. Because of the horrible flu I was struck with, I wasn't able to go to our first Kshoat center, and spent the day a mess.

I felt horrible because Ron was the only other person home, so I just sat with him so he wouldn't be alone. How horrible. But everyone was absolutely great towards me! They spent the entire time, and still are, making sure I drink plenty of water. Even as I went to bed the other night Erica knocked on my door with my water bottle refilled to make sure I was drinking. All 6 of them will make perfect parents!

Today is Wednesday and we just got back from a meeting about teaching english. It was about 3 hours and we went through all these great activities and methods to help the kids. Absolutely worth our time, and worth the "hike" I took while sick as can be.

This weekend we venture to Eilat, and i'm sure that will come with great stories! Allowing me to ramble for hours!

Till then....Enjoy!

7 strangers...picked to live in a house

A couple weeks before I arrived in Israel someone joked about how my life was about to become a real world Israel edition. Little did I know, they were right.

I do live with seven people. They were all strangers. And we are all different.

So I figured, before I go more into explaining my life here, i'll give a little introduction about the 7 people in this house, ad the other 4 on my program.

I'll start with Lindsay. A 23 year old graduate from Penn State. Another big ten school, no wonder we're roommates! She grew up in Connecticut, and spent the year after college being a nanny. In may she traveled to Thailand to take a month long teaching english as a 2nd language class, and spent another month there traveling around! Thailand lead her to Israel where she spent 5 weeks before returning back to Connecticut to sort things out for Ramla.

Lindsay and I live down the hall way, and share a bathroom with Dan and Ron.

Dan is a 28 year old from Chicago, who has spent the past years working in the entertainment

business, and has actually never been to Israel. He is the one and only first-timer on our trip, so we have all planned tons of tourist things to do for him, that Oranim will not be planning. We are already trying to plan a Masada and dead sea adventure!

Then there is a Ron, a 21 year old dutch man. The only non american in our group. We spend our time teaching him american words with fake meanings. For halloween I even convinced him to get into my Marlins shirt and jersey, to be an "american".

Erica, Jackie and Taylor share a room, finishing up our house of 3.

Erica, another 23 year old, is from Lansdale, Pa, and spent the past year working in a therapeutic wilderness school for emotional disturbed teenagers. I'm currently working on her reading the EasyWay to stop smoking book, and it seems to be working!

Jackie graduated from Cornell where she played Soccer! She spent the last year doing financial research, and jumped at the opportunity when she was giving a chance to leave! She spent two months the summer after graduating, 2008, living on a Kibbutz working in the laundry room and almond field.

Taylors the youngest of the group. A 20 year old from California, she spent the last couple of months also working in a Kibbutz, right by Ramla! It's great because she knows the area, and knows israeli friends! I'm also desperately trying to get her to read the EasyWay book, so hopefully one by one i'll stop the world from smoking!

In the apartment down the block lives Hila, Allisabeth and Nicole.

Hila is also a Cornell alum, but her and Jackie had never met. She is the only other girl in the program who joins me at the advanced ulpan.

Alisabeth is just as amazing as her name sounds! Her parents made up the name, and describes perfectly how wonderful and unique she is! She's from Boston but recently moved to New york, and fell in love with Israel after recently going on Birthright.

Nicole, another new yorker, is a 26 year old. She spent the past 4 years working as an auditor and once she went on birthright she knew she had to come back!

Everyone gets along great and things couldn't be going better! Even my rambling has cut down because I seem to always be busy! But I promise i'll ramble more soon! But now it's time for ulpan!

And don't forget, Oranim puts up pictures of us through flickr.

These are from the first day, but i'm sure if you move around the site you can find more!