out by 7, back by 6.

I absolutely hate waking up and seeing that it is still dark out, especially when it is FREEZING in my house and the heat doesn't work. But once a month, we are forced to set our alarms early and be out of the house before the bus arrives.

Well, only once have we actually made it before the bus (and yes it was when the bus was extremely late) but mostly the bus is late anyway...

Besides our weekend trip to Eilat, and our future trip to the Golans, Oranim organizes 3 single-day trips exploring regions of Israel.

Back in December we spent the day up north in the Carmel. The bus picked us up around 7 and we made our way up north, but not before stopping in Tel Aviv to pick up another group.

Our first stop was a side of the road rest-stop so we could get breakfast. Since most of the places weren't open, and I was exhausted, I decided to splurge and waste some money on the horrible, yet expensive, coffee in Israel. (that literally is hot water and instant coffee, so if you are planning to come here, think ahead)

But apparently that was not in my cards. As soon as I got my coffee and was walking to the escalator to venture down, my day took its first bad turn. The coffee spilled. Yes, it was my fault.

Not thinking, and it still being extremely early, I placed my coffee down, on the escalator railing, not realizing it was moving. So my day started with huge burn marks on my foot (of course I was ignoring the cold and wearing sandals).

We then gathered back in the bus and headed to the beautiful Ramat Hanadiv Gardens in Zichron Ya'akov, where Baron Rothchild is buried.

The area was one of the most breathtaking scenes I have ever seen, filled with roses, white and red, bright green trees, and a beautiful view.

The grave was only a minor detail in the landscape that we saw.

We then ventured to the Carmel for a quick hike. Yes, quick, but extremely dangerous. The grounds were wet from the rain, and we were going straight up for a while. But of course, I was to busy taking photographs to realize I had about 30 near-death experiences. Even my failed attempt to pee in the wilderness was cut short due to the fact I almost fell of the cliff.

After the group made it up to the buses, after 4 or 5 breaks along the way because the front was going way to fast and us in the back simply could not catch up. We rested and had our packed lunches, before piling back in the bus to head to the famous Bahai Gardens.

Though we weren't allowed to go through the actual gates I decided instantly that I wanted to live there. It was stunning. It reminded me of something my grandfather would put together.

A kid on my program had told me he once had gotten a close view of the area and I promised my self that one day I would return, being sure I was allowed to see the gardens for everything that it had to offer.

I loved it so much that I kept on getting yelled at by the guards for stepping on stones and railings to take more pictures. Eventually I think I got asked to leave, but I was to involved in my surroundings to listen.

We finally ended our trip with a stop at the Druze Village Daliyat El Carmel exploring the local market. As the bus was winding through the hills of Haifa, I noticed the most amazing thing I have yet to see in Israel. A Dunkin Donuts. To this day I am not sure if that is exactly what I saw, but it still was the best part of my day.

I loved walking around the market street, and purchased myself a great pair of pants! While most of the Israel high-end fashion reminds me of things I could purchase in the states at Forever 21, Wet Seal and Charolette Russe, some of the fashion I absolutely love. I could spend the day at any market place and purchase an entire wardrobe.

So far I'e bought about 4 pairs of pants, a great sweatshirt, and a couple other things for less then $100 American Dollars. What is also great about it is I can attempt to lower the prices, though I mostly get scared and don't. Alisabeth even uses $2 dollars bills to lower her prices.

Since my style, if we can call it that, consists of anything I like, most of my friends do not like spending time shopping with me, which is great because I do hate shopping. So by the time I had purchased my red striped fold over pants, all my friends were sitting and eating next door.

Our day was coming to an end and I was ready to go home. Apparently I never realized I got car sick because, growing up in Miami, I had never driven on hills and mountains. Now, 10 minutes on a bus through a hill and I'm dead.

A month later we were up early again to venture to Yizrael Valley. This time,the trip

was optional, but my group decided it was free, so why not go!

We started our journey at Kfar Yehoshua, a tourist area with a fake train in place of where the trains used to go. But this was all after our bus driver got lost and literally circled a round-a-bout 3 times.

After being kids and playing on fake, unsteady train we sat and had our lessons. I should have mentioned before that the point of each of our trips is to learn about Israel. So on every trip we have a guide, and at every stop we receive a lesson. But I was to busy taking pictures of the railroads. After all, I have NEVER been on a train before, let alone seen a road!

After the short stop we headed the Alexander Zaid Statue, which made me want to break out and sang the hills are alive with the sound of music. I mean, look at that view, how could you not think that Julie Andrews was about to appear running through them!

At this stop we learned about this Alexander guy, I assume. I was again to busy taking pictures. I don't think I sat once during the entire lecture. Even though the sun was shining directly

towards us, I still couldn't help snap away.

Did I mention the walk from where the bus dropped us off to where the statue rested was the hardest walk of my life. I may not be in the best of shape, but I never thought what I'd be doing in Israel would be the start of the end for me.

We weren't told that we would be hiking, so I stayed in my sandals. Little did I know that we would be walking up the steeping hill I had ever seen. Clearly within ten minutes I was the only one around, as everyone was way ahead of me, some even at the top. Finally as I got near I could hear some of my group asking where I was! Silly them, they should have known that even though I am no longer a cig smoker, I still have the lungs of one. I'm pretty sure that was one of the hardest climbs I have ever done.

After the lesson, Erica, Kerry and I decided to get a head start and began to walk

back to the bus. That's when we saw these beautiful flowers! By the time I got back to the bus, (yes everyone was already there, even though I left way before -- Hey, going down hill is hard too!), the tour guide informed me the flowers were endangered, and I would have to hide the ones that were picked for me. And since I have no idea how to press flowers, they now just lay in my book, dead looking. (SO PLEASE, ANYONE WHO KNOWS HOW TO PRESS FLOWERS, PLEASE TELL ME!)

The rest of the day I am not sure exactly where we went. We ended up at some overlook, the Barkan Mountain, I think. The guide was not to smart here, after all, how did she expect us to pay attention when there was a group of soldiers practicing drills.

I started talking to one, an American from California who had made Alliyah a little bit ago. They were the paratroopers and they were practicing how to carry an injured solider to base.

We got to climb this tower that looked over the entire Yizrael Valley and eastern Galilee, and I happened to look down at the very exact moment to take this picture. I wish I could have taken more, but they broke from the huddle as soon as I snapped my first short. But still, I love the way the greens mesh. I ended up getting my soldiers address promising that I would send some of these pictures to his base on a kibbutz.

Then we took a short walk down to a resting area, where we learned about these pools of water used for fish? I'm not exactly sure, but I do slightly remember her telling us that they were used for fish. Something about selling them or raising them for pets? I really should figure out more about that...

After we learned, and managed to see our bus driving below within the fields, we walked down to the actual ponds! I have in my notes that we ended up Yitspor Stream/Tel Izrael, the summer palace of the kings of Israel.

But basically it was a stream hidden under the trees, with a rock pathway leading to a gazebo. Some of the kids were even adventurous to walk "over water" to them. But not smart enough to realized only one person on a rock at a time. Pour Flappy, a friend in another group, got pushed and almost fell in! The water got up to his knees, and his shoes were completely soaked!

Our last day trip took us to the old city of Jerusalem. Since the holiday of Tu-b-shvat is this coming weekend, we started our trip in Peace Valley, where in groups of two we planted trees.

Corey and I picked the biggest tree to plant so that it would already be the tallest! But after we were done I noticed that there were so many trees unplanted, so I asked if I could plant more. I ended up planting 3! Not knowing that more people were coming later to plant, but I figure that there could never be more trees planted than needed! So I tried to plant 4, but got yelled at.

We then took a one-minute bus ride to Armon HaNatziv view point, a palace from the British mandate period. We had another lesson here, but I was to busy staring at the Wall and eating my Blowpop lollipop, just like the ones from the States! (American candy is hard to find here, and when we do, it just isn't the same!)

After we were done exploring and taking pictures we headed to the old city. First we had lunch in the Jewish Quarter, but of course, I became lost in the world of my camera. Eventually I realized I was nowhere near my group and had to call Nir to find out where everyone was eating lunch.

When we were done eating we walked to the City of David, where of course on the way I became lost. Lucky another Oranim tour group saw me and lead me to the right place, but not before Nir called frantically looking for me! He should really know by now I'm using lost in my own world.

The City of David was really cool. We got to walk through this underground pathway, with water at some points up to my hips! Luckily we had flashlights because otherwise we would have been completely stuck. Not everyone did it, but I had a great time and would totally do it again!

The hardest part of it all was after we got out and had to walk back up to the group. It was a hill straight up, and again I found myself far behind the rest of the group. Now that I think of it, I should probably start working out more!

We then went to the Wall and finished our day. Since I was meeting Norman and Nancy on Friday in Jerusalem I stayed the night at a friends family apartment. Corey and I left the group and wondered to Ben Yehudah street so I could stop at a store to fix a necklace I had bought on a previous Jerusalem trip.

Since I had gone to bed the night before at 2 watching movies with the roommates and had to be up by 6, I was exhausted. I'm pretty sure I fell asleep on the bus to the apartment, and was in bed sleeping by 9.

That is the thing with all the day trips, they are great and all, but are action filled and by the end everyone is exhausted. There is always a difference from the earlier bus rides to the very last one.

By the end no-one is talking, or even moving, they all just lay motionless, body aching from the day, as I sit and think about what to ramble about next. (don't worry, my list of topics is still growing)

life in the getz

Have you ever noticed the 4 letters on the dreidel?

נ. ג. ה. ש .It stands for נס גדול היה שם, which translates to "a great miracle happened there." Well, in Israel the dreidel is different. The ש changes to פ for the word פה, which means here. So instead of it being a great miracle happened there, it is a great miracle happened here, but here is Israel, where we are.

So yes, though over a month late, this will be a Hanukkah blog.

We were lucky enough to be given the week off to celebrate the holidays. We had 10 days to do whatever we wanted, with nowhere to be.

Allisabeth spent the week backpacking with her boyfriend down south. Dan, Nicole and Lindsay rented a car and joined Ron up north at his family. And Jackie, Erica, Taylor and I thought long about what we should do.

We could wait last-minute and search cheap deals to places like Greece and Turkey? But we didn't want to take any chance, and we certainly knew that we weren't about to spend our vacation wasting in Ramla.

So we decided to take note from the rest of the group and rent a car. Leaving Ramla on a Sunday we would grab our car up in Tel-Aviv and spend the next four days traveling the country. Sounds great, I mean what could go wrong? It's not like we would be forced to pull over on the side of the road for the cows to pass by.

Sunday comes around and Jackie and I wake up early, the first of many days where we would be rising before 7. We wake up Taylor and Erica, making sure they would be ready when we returned, and headed to Tel-Aviv.

Our first taxi almost crashes and we're stuck with headaches for the next hour from all the beeping and Israeli cussing.

And then we finally see the big BUDGET sign and rent our little getz.

Now the problem is that none of us have ever driven in Israel. So of course I was not the one to be the main driver. (I mean, you guys mostly know how horrible of a driver I am!) But this also means I am stuck reading the map, and navigating where to go.

That should have been our first sign. But we went on. After 3 u-turns and missing our exit on the highway we were finally back in Ramla. We picked up the rest of the girls, packing up the car, and headed up north.

We spent the first day exploring Ceasareas. A small town on the west of the state, about a 2 hour drive from Ramla. A small city that Herod the Great dedicated to Ceasar more than 2000 years ago.

It was a windy day with a beautiful sky. The scene alone was more than enough to forget about the water hitting us from the massive waves or the fact we could barely walk due to the wind. But it was amazing. We spent over 3 hours touring the area, walking in and out of the ruins, climbing the steps of the old theatre, and attempting to get into the gift shop (though it was closed by the time we got there).

The only thing that bothered me was the fact that a lot of it had been "fixed." I understand that it is an amazing place and a land that should never be empty, but really? What is the point of adventuring through an ancient city when it really isn't as ancient as it should be? The theater had bars on it to hold people up, some of the passages were filled with wood chips to keep them up, and everywhere you looked something was new, just trying to improve the old.

How does that make sense? If it is a ancient landmark, let it be ancient. Don't make it into a tourist attraction, that is not what it was meant to be.

Since most things in Israel close around 4, we still had the later half of the afternoon to fill our time. We drove to Haifa where we were planning on finding a hostel and spending the night. But after figuring out the numbers and talking it over, we realized it would make more sense to drive back to Ramla and start again early on Monday.

Monday we were planning to explore Akko and Rosh Hanikra, and we had found the most adorable Tzimmer, called Pivko Village, to spend the night. Tuesday we would spend the morning exploring Tsfat and in the evening head over to the Tiberius Hot Springs, all before setting up camp in an Israeli National Forest. Wednesday we thought to hike some more and spend another night relaxing at a camp ground before heading home Thursday morning after a quick ATV ride around the Golan Heights.

Monday worked fine. After finally arriving in Akko and finding the sacred area we spent the day sight-seeing. I quickly fell in love with the old Akko prison. Besides the fact I could spend all day taking photographs, it was just simple amazing. Something about the feel of the place, with the dark clouds racing above and the coldness to the air made it really feel like a prison.

I quickly lost the rest of the girls and started to explore. Since we were rushed for time I never made it down to the cells, but did explore the sleeping quarters, the guillotine room, and the check-in areas.

Some of the rooms had been turned into Museum areas, displaying information about the old prison, and some were filled with statues of what used to be. My favorite room was the most creepiest, a squeaky-dark room filled with no windows and tons of dust. I actually hated that I had to leave.

We then roamed the quarters to the Mosque. With our shoulders covered and shoes o

ff we sat in the "viewing" area, made for non-Muslims, and watched. About 20 minutes later I realized I was the only one left and turned around to leave. But I could have stayed forever. The place was a photographer's heaven. The way the natural light lit up the room and the symmetry off the designs. I left the entire area of Akko knowing I would be returning soon.

We then were off the Rosh Hanikra, an area I loved seeing last time I was here. Unfortunately, the weather was stormy and most of the areas were closed off. I even managed to slip once or twice, but not before making friends with the fisherman attempting to catch some food!

We spent the afternoon relaxing in our cabin, sitting in the hot tub and enjoying a real bed.

Because of the weather our plans had to change. The mountains we were planning to hi

ke and camp out were closed due to the weather, and we simply couldn't afford a hostel after splurging on our perfect bungalow, so after spending the day at Tsfat we would be forced to head back to Ramla.

Tsfat was great, cute, and amazing. We walked around all over and I fell in love. At one point of the day I lost my hat only to return later to find it. I really should stop losing things, but lucky for me, somehow they manage getting back to me.

After we left Tsfat we headed to Tiberius to enjoy a night swim in the hot-springs. The water smelled and of course with my luck I ended up leaving my Florida I.D at the place. Seriously, why do I carry things?

Tuesday night we were back sleeping in Ramla and Wednesday woke up early to head to the Dead Sea area. Taylor decided to stay in Ramla, so Jackie, Erica and I heading the long route (since we were told not to drive through the westbank) and hiked the beautiful mountain of Ein Gedi, which was amazing place to watch people of all ages hiking. Kids as little as a recent new born was being held by the parents as they hiked away, and a group of 4 70-80 year olds (we asked) were climbing faster than we were!

We hiked for almost 5 hours, seeing beautiful views along the way. What was wonderful is how by looking at the view you could see the hills of Jordan resting by the Dead Sea area.

At the end of it all we headed to the Dead Sea and soaked up the mud! Unfortunately it was freezing, and of course with our luck, beginning to rain in the desert, so I barely managed to stay in for more than 10 minutes before I ran for cover.

By Wednesday night everyone was exhausted. Still having the car for one more day we decided to take advantage of it and go to the grocery store, allowing us to get everything we needed, without having to carry a thing!

Thursday Erica and Jackie decided they wanted to see a movie, so I convinced Corey to spend the day exploring with me. We dropped them off in Rehovot and headed to Beit-Shemesh to see the Sorek Caves, which though the tour was in Hebrew, we still got to feel like we were living in the underworld palace from Little Mermaid. I even attempted to steal some of the droppings, but it was impossible.

By Thursday night I was back in Ramla and exhausted. I think I spent the following weekend sleeping and refusing to get out of bed.

I had such a great time that for my birthday in April I want to go all over again, using the hot weather as a plus and exploring camp sites all over! But don't get to excited, at my rate that blog won't be rambled about till July...

I want to end this Ramble on two words: thanks Emily.

Without my sister and her great idea of buying me a traveling/exploring Israel book, this trip would have been a mess. All of us are extremely thankful for it and it officially looks like it has survived the Titanic.

hello from the future?

Well, technically from the future... If you count the seven hour time difference.

And those seven hours have been a gift lately. You might have noticed my lack of rambling, but no fear, it isn't because I'm one of the few who died in the Negev floods, it is because I am planning on what to do next in life.

I have simply fallen in love with children and the idea of teaching. Over the past week I have written my name over 10 times, my social, my date of graduation and essay after essay (all about the same thing, but of course, with my luck, a little different). I have decided to apply to teaching programs: Teach for America, Americorps, City Year, and a few different city teaching fellows.

They all sound great and as I work on each individual application I think that I have found the one I want the most. I have found myself applying to programs in cities I never thought that I would live in, simply because the program sounds so great.

I was talking to a friend back home and mentioned these plans and the best part -- another friend of mine is trying the same path! What an amazement that would be, both of us doing things together, helping the world!

I've been looking outside of America too. All you have to do is type in "volunteer" into google and thousands of things come up. I even found a site that helps plan a road trip across America volunteering in each area for free stay! Yes, I am planning on doing that too.

These programs all look great and I'd say everyone should look into them, and for most, age doesn't matter!

In one program I'd be teaching special education, which most of you know is something I grew up dealing with. I do not have much experience with children with those type of needs, but I do have one amazing story I'd like to ramble about with you.

I work at an after-school kindergarten program and one of the kids, we'll call him "Joe," cannot walk. He has legs, but sadly, the muscles never grew correctly. Most of the time he sits and colors, and of course, cries, but today was different.

As I walked in, Liam, another kid, came running to me saying "look what 'Joe' can do!!!" And there in the corner of my eye was "Joe" WALKING. Of course he had to use things to lean on, but he had the biggest smile on his face. It was beautiful to see! At the end of the day, when his driver came to get me, I felt his happiness as he held my hand and walked by himself.

It was a wonderful burst of sunshine since the rest of the day included me getting bitten by Liam "because he was hungry," seeing all the children with new "new haircuts" (shaved heads because they apparently all had lice), and having Eli, the devil child, throw his liquid cheese snack all over me.

Yes, anything you've read is true. The children in Israel have no respect.

Though, it is easy to make them happy. Earlier this morning I was at the elementary school that I volunteer at and was cleaning my wallet out. I came across some quarters and figured why not give them out! I started given some out to the kids and wow they loved it! I had one American dollar too so I gave that to my favorite. I told him it was special and later that day saw him showing it to EVERYONE.

I guess all these events would make today a pretty great day, but it is even better than it seems! I found out something I've been wondering about for awhile...

YES! THEY DO HAVE SHECKEL STORES.

Just like the Dollar stores in America, I can buy endless amounts of crap for one sheckel (the equivalent of $.33)

So next time you're wondering why I'm not rambling it's because I'm playing with my new "racket ball"!

everyone needs a little smile...

guess people do listen to me...

So, the people over at Oranim are setting up a new website! Lucky me, I was asked to write a testimony for the new site...

You can find what I wrote at their site, but since we're all lazy, here's a quick look.

Dentist, needles, scolding hot soup, leaving your life at home and moving to Israel for five months. These all seem like scary things, but if they are seen as part of your life's journey, you will emerge with smiles...and in some cases even a lollipop.

Take me. I'm a 23-year-old Miami native who left the South Beach sun to spend four years in the snow-covered corn fields of Bloomington, Indiana. By graduation, I, like many of my friends, had no idea of what I wanted to do with the rest of my life. OneI year into graduate school, I decided I took the wrong path. Through a friend I learned about Oranim's Israel program and within months I had landed in Ramla. At first, I was apprehensive. I had heard mixed things about Ramla, but after driving down the main street that first day, I realized it was just like most towns in Israel. A gym, a great shuk (including a wonderful Arab shuk only on Wednesdays), a 6-shekel Falafel stand, and apparently, the best hummus in Israel. No, there is not a decent mall, or a beach, or even a movie theater, but who comes to a foreign country for that reason? Besides, Tel-Aviv is only a short ride away, and there are plenty of neighboring towns with all the things lacking in Ramla. But what Ramla does come equipped with is easy walking because it is a cozy, small city full of amazing sights, sounds and experiences.

And, with the diverse participants that Oranim selected for my group, even hanging out in our house is fun (as I write this, I am sitting with my roommates watching movies, drinking wine, and playing games)! My group, Ramla 25, also got lucky, because as we came to Ramla another Oranim group was already half-way finished with their program, and eager to show us the ropes. We all quickly became friends, and some of us even found romance!

Since all of us is different, we clearly have different interests in our choice of volunteer activities. While people in my program spend their time working at the local high-schools helping to teach English, or in the Arab Kadima (an after-school program to keep kids off the street), the senior-center, the soup kitchen, and even the animal shelter, I am one of the very few that gets to spend my time with younger children. Three to four days a week I work at an after-school kindergarden, and in the morning I help out at an elementary school in the English classes. My fifth day is spent at the daycare center, dealing with children as young as 10 months. Don't get me wrong -- not all of the participants are as happy as I am, but as I think about it, you get out of it what you put into it. Sometimes, you are not needed, and it is your decision to leave your activity...or you find some other way to help.

Knowing some Hebrew is helpful (even though I am nowhere near fluent), because few people in Ramla speak English. Although on the plus side anyone who does know English ALWAYS wants to speak it so they can improve. Our group started with a two-week intensive Ulpan, where we quickly learned enough to manage our way, and as soon as we started our volunteer work, we continued to meet twice a week to learn the Hebrew languagae. I can honestly say I've learned a lot, but I am also one of the ones who has tried, attempted to go to all my classes and bring in completed homework.

No, not everyone gets along, and no, not everyone is happy with their volunteering, but we, Ramla 25, are lucky to have a wonderful coordinator who is there for our every need and doing anything he can to turn find a solution to any problem we have, and most of all, he makes sure we are always smiling. If by the last day I'm not smiling, at least I will pray for a Spiderman lollipop!

Hope you enjoy! I'm about to spend the day uploading images and catching up on my rambles!