seven hours later...

its basically over

2010-06-07T05:53:00.000-07:00

While I never got around to writing about the rest of our time in Europe, I can assure you, it was amazing. Corey and I had a wonderful time and I'll be home soon enough to share all the stories and pictures.

My time in Israel is ending. On June 16th I will board a flight and head back to America after being here since October. I've had an amazing time and am very lucky to be given this great chance.

I'l be starting grad school in the fall and packing up and moving to New York.

Till next time...

a little break

2010-05-19T07:31:00.000-07:00

I know. I'm not anywhere near done rambling about our amazing Europe trip, but more than a month has gone by since I returned and so much has happened just here in Israel!

At first when we got back it was different. My group of 10 that I have been with since October was now back in the States and my house was a little more empty. But luckily the emptiness didn't last long. A participant from a program back in August, the first group we met, was back in Israel getting ready to join the IDF. He stayed with us while preparing, so that was a treat!

I even started going to the beach more. I figure if I'll be moving to New York, which I'm guessing is more like Indiana than Miami, and there will go my "I'm going to the beach whenever I feel like it," I need to start working on a tan (and take advantage of the sunny hot weather).

During my first week back I was at the beach with a couple of friends and it was extremely crowded for a Wednesday (or was it a Tuesday?) Regardless, it was Israeli Memorial Day, and we were treated to an amazing air show as we played in the sand! Every so often different planes, all sorts of sizes, flew by! I tried taking pictures, but my camera was all worn out from snapping away in Europe.

Over the next week we had Memorial days, Independence days, all sort of days. Our first Sunday back we got in busses and headed up North to celebrate one of those days! We went on a tour of (insert name here), an old camp where the Jews were placed (think concentration camp) after they were caught by the British coming over after the Holocaust. Then we saw a ceremony at a Navy base. All the soldiers were dressed so clean in white! What happens if they get dirty?! When they went to sit down, I'd watch as they cleaned the bench before sitting.

Volunteering has become less and less as my time here is ending. I'm trying to make the most of my time in Israel, making sure I don't miss anything. Though sadly, as of now, all I've seen is the beach. Over the next month I'm planning a trip to a safari, water park, the Dead Sea, and hopefully up north!

Remember back when I was rambling about the museums? Well, I was lucky enough to join the new group to their choice: the Weitzman Museum, which was cool!

I had been trying to gather a group of people to go there myself, so I'm glad I was allowed to go.

First we sat and watched a video of the science they work on and then walked (a lot!) to a tour of his house. Then we walked back to where we started (not sure what point the order was here...) and went to the outside science field! It was all these interactive "games," trying to show that science is fun. I wish we had more time there! We split into two groups and a tour guide explained some of the gadgets. But by this point everyone was so tired and hungry no-one cared. I'm going to try to go back there!

Have I mentioned that my glasses broke? Yes, I snapped them and instead of buying new ones I attempted to superglue them back together. It worked for a while, but every time they broke, I'd have to shave away the glue and start over. During the museum visit, they broke again.

We also went back down to Eilat for the weekend, like we did in November, where I finally broke my glasses without repair, and spent the entire weekend barely being able to see.

It was such a hot weekend, most days breaking 105*. The first day we had to be up by 6 and expected to hike. But since I had already done them, I was the first to suggest to stay on the bus. So that is what we did, and it was worth it.

Saturday we spent the day in 117* weather, ugh. We first wanted to swim with the dolphins, so some of us took a taxi to the south beach and hated life once we figured how expensive that was. So we got back in a cab and headed to the regular beach.

Then we saw a great sign and decided on a group plan of banana boat, tubbing, and paddling. So much fun, my body ached for at least 2 days, and I couldn't stop laughing. One of the kids with us must have fallen off 4 times from the tubbing part. We almost decided to go again, but ended up grabbing lunch and swimming in the sea.

Still without glasses it was a little annoying not being able to see, but it was a really fun weekend. Sunday was so hot the hike was cancelled and instead there was a quick 30 minute stroll. Then we ventured to Ben Gurion’s grave, where I basically hid in the bathroom throwing cold water at my face.

Thankfully I have all this to occupy me as I sit anxiously waiting to hear back from grad schools and see what I'll be doing next. I still have a month left here and tons of activities planned, including a wedding of a good friend of mine! Until then, I'll just have to sit and watch as 8-year-old Israelis play the claw machine, where toys aren't the regular soft dolls. No, here in Israel, you win boxes of cigarettes wrapped in money. And yes, I see 8-year-olds trying to win daily.

I'll try my best to continue my Rome, Barcelona and Paris trips soon.

Dear Miriam, P1

2010-05-17T04:28:00.000-07:00

Miriam,

Thanks to you, and your numerous amount of hours, our trip to Rome was wonderful. Luckily, because without you, our time in Rome would have been as horrible as our first 24 hours.

Our last seconds in Venice were pretty interesting. Since we had been flying Easy Jet’s cheap flights, no-one has a seat assigned. People really just get to the plane and run! So Corey and I were lucky to make it to the 2nd row of the flight! But right before we left we overheard the flight attendant telling the family in the first row that their kid was too young to sit in an emergency exit. They were a little scared they wouldn't find seats together, so Corey and I offered to switch.

The flight from Venice to Rome was a quick one, but since I'm petrified of flying, the front row made it feel like forever. We got to be the first off the plane, which meant first on the shuttle to the terminal, but last off the shuttle! I'm glad we decided on taking a flight instead of the train, because the train was much more expensive. But if I ever make it back to Italy, which I really hope I do, I'm using a train all around! The country was just beautiful.

We got to the airport a little late, but your directions were easy to follow! We made it on the train, and after we got off at the stop, we realized that once again, nobody had checked our ticket. Another place we could have not paid! We spent 2 Euros on a bus ticket once in Rome, and again, no-one checked it! Thankfully, because at first we got on going the wrong direction!

We over heard some Americans so we stopped to ask which way to go, and got off and turned around. We made it to our first place and this is where it became annoying.

We were supposed to meet the guy who we were staying with at 11:30, it was midnight now, and we could not find him. Corey and I were screaming his name, I'm sitting in the corner crying, and we even wasted way too much money trying to call him. The first number was wrong, and the 2nd didn't work.

We were miserable and now it is 2 a.m. We realize we'll have to find a hotel for the night and figure things out in the morning. My ankle is still killing me, and our backs are in serious pain over the bags we have been carrying all over the city. At this point my sandals break and I'm barefoot.

We must have walked into three hotels before we finally found one around 4 in the morning (though because day-light savings, it’s technically 3). I find some Internet, and e-mail the guy asking where he was!

We couldn't believe the amount of money and time we had spent, especially because our original plan was to wake up early on Sunday and stay in line for free Vatican day. But that didn't happen.

So after we check into an over-expensive hotel, that we're only planning to stay in till morning, I grab my ipod and run to find wireless. I'm searching every street for some slight way to e-mail this guy. Finally, at the corner of some building, I reached a signal. I was able to e-mail you in panic, and e-mail the man we were supposed to meet.

Sunday morning, instead of waking up at 6 to get in line for the Vatican, we woke at 9 (an hour before we had to check out), and I paid way too much money to use the hotel's Internet. But still no e-mail.

Finally, not knowing what to do, we booked a hostel. Annoyed.

Of course, with five minutes left of our Internet time, we receive that e-mail.

Long story short, and after getting lost trying to find our new hostel, we gave in and called our guy. Annoyed that he didn't make more of an effort finding us, we needed a place to stay. And you had already mapped out such a great plan for us, so we went and finally found him.

I can't believe it, but he acted like it was our fault!! I wish I could have recorded the situation, it was RIDICULOUS!

But regardless, we were determined to make our time in Rome great! You had spent so much time planning these days for us, that we had to figure out how to save them!

So it is now 4 pm on Sunday, and our day felt completely ruined. We knew at this point we couldn't get our entire Sunday itinerary in, so we did some switches.

Tuesday originally was our day of water, but we figured we could fix it up and that fountains would look nice in the day or night. So we followed your left and rights, and had the most wonderful afternoon.

Seriously, if anyone is ever looking for trip ideas for Rome, you must help them! Save those e-mails, even better, send them to a travel guide publisher. Done.

Our first stop was Piazza Novana. But before we even made it there, I stopped to take some pictures of that sculpture with the flyers on it, and lucky for me, my camera filter broke. (Hence the e-mail you got asking where I could find a camera store and a sandal shop - from the previous night. )

But seriously, Piazza Novana! Amazing. I loved how there were so many people there! It was the most crowded area we saw. I loved how the artists were everywhere, and almost didn't mind the annoying men selling crap.

The fountain in the middle, which you seemed the most excited about, was unfortunately getting work done. It was completely covered up, thankfully they must know people come to see it and had a couple of transparent holes for us to peak through.

I wish I could have seen it in all of its glory, but the other two were great! I knew the rest of the fountains were going to be wonderful. At first I don't think Corey and I realized how the fountain theme would work, but it only got better.

We decided to sit and enjoy this area, and that is when we saw that church in the center. Wow, I see why it wasn't on the list, because we didn't say we wanted anything specific, but that was the most beautiful place I have ever seen.

Corey and I sat in their for a good hour. We later decided it was better than the Sistine Chapel. It was actually a little sad, as we were walking in, an old lady slipped and fell. I think I saw her praying in the corner after she made it in.

We knew it was getting dark so we wanted to finish the rest of the fountains. We tried following the steps you gave us, but we got a little lost. I hate to say it but we never saw any of those tiny drinking fountains. (Actually, we saw the one of the wine barrel).

We made it to the Pantheon and I can't tell if I liked or hated the men wearing swords standing in front for photo opps. But inside it was awesome. I got yelled at for sitting on the floor taking pictures, but oh well.

I loved the area around the Pantheon, I sat on the edge for a while, but Corey was sure I was going to fall, so I left.

We found the elephant, but that was about it. We gave up around the Fountain of Treve, it was just too crowded. Now the men who were selling random toys, were with Polaroid cameras. It was such a scene. We even thought we made it to the Spanish Steps, but were told later on that we didn't. We eventually settled on a grocery story, cheap pasta, and heading home for the night.

We stuck with Monday's places of interest since we figured we hadn't screwed up that day. We woke up early, excited to get breakfast at that great market you were talking about. I really wanted to get some fruit and stuff for a lunch later. But of course, we couldn't find it. We also spent way too much time walking up and down the street waiting for a store to open to buy new sandals.

Why do stores not open till 10? It makes no sense.. Really? What is their reasoning on that?

We decided to give up on finding Campo de'Fiori and ventured to the Ghetto. We thought it'd be hard to find and assumed we'd get lost. But we shockingly made it! The Synagogue and the area were beautiful, but because it was the first day of Passover, the entrance was closed.

We thought about asking to go in anyway, because we did see people entering, but decided not to push our luck.

Then we walked over to Capitol Hill. But that wasn't before seeing the amazing ruins of the Theater of Marcellus, which was amazing, especially knowing there were apartments on top! I can't believe you used to know people who lived there... AMAZING.

At this point we stopped and grabbed a bag of chips and continued to the Capitoline. The piazza on top was amazing, we saw the most amazing Asian tourists doing a photo-op, and even saw a Save Gilad poster. I found it really interesting how all the statues you talked about were actually copies, with the original inside. And the wolf with the two babies? I thought that it would be much bigger, since it is supposed to be the basics of Rome all together. But there were still tons of tourists snapping photographs.

Then we saw the Forums. And they looked awesome. But we couldn't figure out how to get inside. We took a break and just watched down below as the flocks of people looked like dolls in this miniature land.

Around an hour later, now a little after noon, we walked over to the Colosseum. Again, thousands of people, all being distracted by men trying to sell things. Scarfs, miniature monuments, glasses, everything.

The line was over 2 hours, and we were starving. There were a bunch of "promoters" out and about trying to sell you their tour. Basically, if we paid around 10 Euro more, we get to skip the line and get a tour. So we decided to go get lunch and then think about it.

Luckily we didn't waste the money, because by 2 o'clock when we were done with lunch, the line was super short. Corey actually went to go buy a drink because we assumed the line would be long and easy to spot me. We were wrong, and I was almost at the ticket counter, at this point swarmed by chaos, when he finally got there.

I loved inside. Who needed a tour when there were signs everywhere giving great information! My favorite was how the Colosseum was used for lots of things, including reenactments of ancient fables,where the actors were actually killed to show accuracy. Could you picture Brad Pitt actually dying for his work these days?

One thing I hated was the construction workers present. Rome is supposed to be this great ancient city, filled with actual ruins from years ago. But from the look I had it seemed that most of it was being restored. I'm not saying I want it all to crumble, but how can it be ancient if it is being constantly worked on in 2010? So I had a little issue with that.

We were now exhausted and as much as we wanted to enjoy it, we had to get out of the Colosseum. The good news is we finally found the entrance to the Forum. And our ticket from the Colosseum worked there! This place was awesome, once you were inside it was literally just bits and pieces of the ancient city. If I lived in Rome, I'd visit it weekly.

I hate to say it but my new sandals, which turned out to be a bust, were starting to make my feet bleed and we had been up since 9 roaming the streets. I'm sure we could have spent all day there, but we were grouchy, and starting to hate the fact we didn't have a book with us explaining everything.

About an hour in, when everything started looking the same, and I found myself taking pictures of the grass just as an excuse to sit, we decided to call it a day.

We walked to a super market behind the Colosseum, got a bag of fake-cheetos and two apples and sat down. That's when we saw heaven. Well, we assumed. It was a 3-D museum, bringing you the best of Rome! We were to tired then, but we figured we'd come back on Wednesday when we had more time. The best part about the 3-D is my over excited-ness actually convinced an American family to go in and see what it was about, I guess there kids worked off my energy?!
As we were walking away the mom came running up to us asking if it really was AMAZING before the spent the money going in.

But now, freaking out we wouldn't have enough time, and already being so close, we kept on trekking. San Clemente has a group of kids outside, with of course, a man trying to sell them fake glasses. There was also homeless sitting on the steps begging as you walked inside

This church was breathtaking. I would make sure anyone who goes to Rome sees it. I would need to see both this and the one in Piazza Novana to decide which is best, but WOW. And what a great place to take a break. We never made it down to the Museum because one, we were broke, and two we wanted to see more.

When we left San Clemente, we finally saw the old gladiator training area you were talking about. I loved how it was just placed next to a restaurant with outdoor seats. And even better how there were garbage cans inside! Must be still used? I read a little research on the description, and found it really cool how it used to connect to the Colosseum underground!

We got a little bit lost here, and ended up using our map to find the next place. We even stopped in a couple stores to figure it out. It's around 6PM now and we are literally dragging ourselves. But there was a lot to see!

I was determined to make it Michelangelo's Moses before the day ended. That was until I saw the steep steps needed to reach it. By the time I got to the top I felt dead (yes, over exaggerating, but still) We sat on the benches outside and watched a group of American tourists. They were clearly Jewish as they joked about seeing all these churches and taking pictures in front of every one like they do at their temples.

San Pietro in Vincoli was awesome. I loved seeing the Moses statue, though I thought it was a little tucked away. The ceiling in this church was also really detailed. How did they paint like that? Long brushes or stools ? Either way, I'm amazed.

We would have taken a bus home, but we couldn't figure out where we were, or which to take, so we walked. We passed the forums again, and the Capitol Hill, and basically just walked back the way you took us. Yes, we realize there were probably easier and quicker routes, but we were too tired to care. We had to wake up early on Tuesday to venture to that Vatican....

something strange happened here

2010-04-29T13:00:00.000-07:00

As we got off the place we couldn't help but wonder, "why didn't our passports get stamped as we left the London airport?"

Well, I must have been talking at my normal voice, which yes, is very loud, because a young girl next to us stopped to answer. Apparently once you arrive in Europe, most airports don't care to stamp your passport.

Dang, there goes my goal to fill up my passport pages! But luckily, it was stamped in Milan, though lightly.

It's now 11 AM and we are wandering around the Milan airport, we have to search for an ATM because of course we can't buy our shuttle tickets with a card.

After walking through another terminal, we find one. But of course, it's broken, and says something in Italian, which we later means "updating, wait 10 minutes."

Phew, we get our money, buy our tickets, and are on our way to the Milan train station.

Our time in Milan was short. After a 30 minute bus ride we had arrived at the station, and now faced our first challenge.

How the hell do we speak Italian?

We managed, with great difficulty, to purchase two train tickets to Venice. We're now exhausted from carrying our bags, and cannot find one bathroom.

We have literally no idea how this train stuff works, as I'm sitting waiting for Corey I see all these people placing their tickets in this little yellow box. So, when Corey gets back we figure why not?

It wasn't till later that we realized that by doing this, we were assigning ourselves seat numbers. But at first, we just entered the train (that is after we found which number it was).

Wow, we loved it! Why didn't we take trains more often? But after I walked around, I realized we were sitting in the first class section, and were going to have to move.

So we picked up our bags and headed back to where our real seats were, and quickly fell asleep. I woke up a few hours later as we were driving by Italy and fell in love. I love Italy!

We have no idea that the time zone has changed, so as we arrive in Venice we still think we have another hour to go. But luckily the train was stopped for a while, as there was nowhere else to go, and we ventured off into Venice.

We end up walking out of the station into the beautiful city of Venice. It's sunny out and crowded as can be. We realized we'll need to take a boat, so I get in line to purchase tickets while Corey sits with our stuff by the water.

I end up buying a 48 hour unlimited boat pass, because, of course we think we'll need it. That turns out to be the only time we ever got asked to show a ticket, and most stops didn't even have people there to check. (Yes, a waste of money).

We take the boat all the way to St. Marco Square, where we get off and follow our directions to the hostel. Pretty simple, and as exhausted as we are, we can't help but notice all the people.

We find our place, and remember, my knee is still killing me, we have to walk up way to many narrow steps to find the reception desk. Then we're told we aren't staying here, but in a tiny place a block or so down. So we walk down the steps, walk a block or two, and then walk up even more steps.

I think I counted over 90 as we walked up the narrow stair case that had walls reminding me of shower tile.

Our place was great, a little apartment with a kitchen, that we'd be sharing with 3 other people (using another room). I couldn't figure it out, but I assume the building itself used to be a dorm of some sort as there was a "biblio..somethig, library" downstairs.

It's now around 6 and we decide to venture for food. Suddenly, Venice is empty. Where did all those people go? We bought some ice cream, ordered a pizza and went back to our place. Apparently, Venice was dead on a Thursday night where we were.

7:30 the next morning and the bells are ringing. I figure this must be some sort of city alarm clock and by 8 AM we are up and exploring the great city of Venice.

The city is now filled with tourists, most in massive groups following a leader holding some sort of object. My favorite were the ones that carried these long fake flowers, but some went as far as to hold umbrellas ( I wonder if they shut them when walking inside?)

The weather had taken a complete turn from the previous, it was rainy and by far the coldest city yet. We walked through the main Square, took a boat to Lido (did anyone know there were actually cars? It looked so strange to see a gas station and cars driving on wide streets!), and then walked through Murano. We went to a glass museum, yet never managed to find some place to watch someone blow anything.

Our day was filled by rain and wind. Not the best way to explore Venice, but still, it was wonderful. My favorite was when we were on the boat going home from Murano and we noticed one of the stops at a huge letters that said "something strange happened here." Now, this wasn't graffiti or anything, this was legit words placed on a brick wall. I think we guessed it was where the University of Venice was, but still, it was hysterical.

We never managed to find any great food because every place seemed to have ridiculously expensive service charges, so we ate a lot of ice cream.

By Saturday morning the sun was out and we were able to enjoy our last day. We stopped at a shop to get some coffee and as I went to the bathroom noticed the back of the store was a casino?!? I was completely shocked, but apparently Corey had noticed it before and thought it was normal for Europe?!

But what was normal was seeing all the men selling fake bags and stuff outside. This is something we will become used to as we move from city to city. I still don't understand why someone would think it is a good idea to sell a fake Gucci bag in front of the Gucci store?

We spent Saturday walking around, opting to use our legs instead of taking one of the boats. We were shocked to find out where we went as we took turns and got lost! But we loved to! And being worried for time we packed our bags and headed to the airport...

We were off to Rome to do as the Romans do...

21 hours later

2010-04-21T06:51:00.000-07:00

Rambling note: I know this is long overdue, but it has been a hassle to write.

I wrote down notes along our journey to make sure everything would be written about

and have over 4,000 photographs to edit. I have decided to write about our trip in segments,

talking about each location separately, so my hands don't fall off from typing,

and your eyes don't become blind.

I promise within the week I will have up all the wonderful stories from our trip!

Hopefully the pictures will soon follow, though I still have tons from Israel that are on my edit list.

Though I will spend more time thanking later,

I want to especially thank my parents, grandparents, and aunts for helping Corey and me!

Without them, these wonderful moments, and this amazing vacation,

would not happen.

Europe was simply wonderful and I cannot wait to share it with all of you!

Our flight isn't supposed to take off until 7, but we're bored, it's Saturday and nothing is open. So we head to the airport a little early. Its 2pm and we are starved, we're completely looking forward to getting to the airport, checking in and eating un-healthy airport food. But no, taking EasyJet, one of those cheap airlines, means we're in Terminal 3. So we wait for a shuttle and head on over!

Terminal 3 consists of EasyJet and one other airline company, a quick "sandwhich" bar, and a vending machine. Its now 4 pm and we can't even checked in yet. We have to spend way too much money and on food that tastes like dirt. Around 5pm people start getting in line, so we pick up our bags and even start to wait. At this point, we've made some friends and are in the middle of tiny conversations when we see on a tiny screen above us "Delayed, 12:00."

We have no idea what's going on. It can't mean midnight because they go by Army time here. So midnight = 2400. But, really? Delayed until tomorrow?

Still, no members of EasyJet around. WHAT IS GOING ON!?!

Finally, we get an answer. Yes, our flight is delayed. It hadn't even left London! We were told to get in line and wait some more, before they finally told us what was happening.

But this cuts our time in London. An entire day cut off! So, being annoyed as could be, try my best to call EasyJet and complain.

I talk to some lady for 20 minutes, but since our flight from London to Milan is under a different reference number, the lady says no.

I'm begging her to just ask her supervisor, explaining EVERYTHING. All we want is to extend our trip in London to the next morning, and we'll skip Milan in total. Taking a bus from Milan to Venice, instead of spending the night in Milan exploring.

After crying, crying and crying some more, she asks her supervisor, who within minutes, says Yes. Okay, so we're losing our time in Milan, but now we'll at least be able to see London.

So for some reason that I still have no idea about, our flight was not leaving on time. They were putting us in a bus and shipping us to a hotel, where we were to wait until further notice.

It was a nice hotel to be honest! They even offered us dinner and breakfast, and we were right by the beach in Tel Aviv. So it's 6 pm, an hour before our flight is supposed to leave and Corey and I are eating pizza off Alenby.

What could go worse?

Then Corey screams. His tooth, which he just had a root canal on the previous Tuesday, had fallen out. We think again, this trip can only get better.

We go to bed Saturday night after watching a horrible comedy still having no idea what time our flight is set to leave.

We find out Sunday that our flight isn't set to take off till 3pm. But that isn't before I have zero sleep over anxiety of missing a flight, which has not taken off time yet!

They take us to the airport and we were lucky enough to be surrounded by tons of London locals who helped us plan things to do during our short stay . We're already annoyed by holding our huge backpacks and we begin to wait in the first of many long lines. Two airport security workers are searching the lines for people with Israeli passports to have them cut the line. After they realize there aren't any more Israelis, they come to Corey and me. I explain to them we are Americans, talk to them for a little about what we're doing in Israel, and they let us right through.

We get our tickets, don't even have our bags go through security. I mean, what if we had something? I've said it before, but they 100% need to stop stereotyping. They were way too nice to us!

We're excited! Things are looking up! We got out of that line, got our tickets, and managed to pass though passport control. Then we get on another shuttle and head to the main terminal.

HELLO DUTY FREE! Sadly, it was actually a little expensive, so I just bought something little for Maria, who we'd be staying with in Barcelona.

We don't end up boarding till 4pm. It's around 11pm when we get into London and we finally get "real" food. UnKosher Burker King. Hello!

In London we're planning on staying with a friend of mine. His name is Aron and he moved back to America 3 days earlier, but luckily still had his lease until the end of March. He had given us his roommate's number to reach and directions to his house.

I must have tried calling her 20 times, but we decided, well let's go. It was getting late and we took a train, then took a subway, and then walked.

Still, this girl wasn't answering. One o'clock in the morning and nothing.

Finally we were let in and kept thinking to ourselves, it can only get better! After all, it wasn't that she wasn't picking up her phone, Aron had simply given us the wrong number.

Monday morning we woke up early and ventured to see London! And, as excited as we are to have a fresh start to vacation, I find out my ATM isn't working.

But everything is okay, because I have spotted my first Starbucks since October.

We walk to Tower of London, one of the only attractions in London that we decided to pay to see, and spent all morning. It was wonderful! One of the most cool places we saw all vacation! Absolutely my favorite place!

We got to see old prison rooms, theatre reenactments and jewels, tons of them!

Then, we saw something even better than Starbucks (for Corey): Subway.

We ate a quick, cheap lunch, and walked towards St Pauls Cathedral. I'm more impressed with the flowers and monuments around the area than the building itself, but to be honest, we never actually made it inside!

We decided to save the 20 Euros and head to Leichester Square, something that reminds me a lot of Times Square.

That's where I spot a TGIFridays, (hello! why isn't Israel filled with crappy American food!) but it is under construction! So we wander into a mall where we find the most amazing fun zone ever! It's an Asian filled, four story building. People are just standing there, like robots, wasting money into these stupid games. This becomes our favorite place to people watch, and we visit it almost daily.

The escalators are the longest we've ever seen! They won't let Corey in wearing his hood on from his sweatshirt, they tried to be an intense casino. It was amazing. Everyone should go there.

This is when we decided London was filled with tourists, so we decided to be extremely tourist-y and see a play! We decided on 39 Steps, a British play, based off of Hitchcock's thriller, that we'd never be able to see in the States. A four-person play that was absolutely amazing. It mocked the fact there were only four actors, and made a joke every time they'd switch to a different character.

Being in London as our first stop was great because they all spoke English. So it was easy to figure out our way home. But once we got home we walked into a new room. All of our things were gone. It turns out the landlord had realized Aron left early, and rented his place.

We found all of our bags downstairs and lucky for us, one of the roommates was leaving the very next morning. We slept on her floor that night and had her room for the next two days. Since we had no idea this would happen, some of our things were randomly around the house. I had to search to find all of our things, and it wasn't until the last day that I found my skirt in a corner of one room rolled with dust.

We go to bed that night and we're so tired it doesn't matter that we're sleeping on the floor. The only thing that is of annoyance is my knee. I somehow had messed it up walking up and down all those winding, narrow steps in the Tower of London.

Tuesday was great! We walked towards Big Ben, Parliament, and all those amazing sights! Then ventured to Buckingham Palace for a "picnic." It's still pretty chilly, and lucky the sun was out, so we sat on a bench and ate bread.

Buckingham Palace, like most tourist places, was overly crowded. By the time we got through the park to the actual Queen's house we coudn't see through the gate. Everyone was looking to see the changing of the guards, but we figured we'd look it up on YouTube at a later date.

It's around 1 and we're exhausted. It is only the beginning of these early morning, long days. We venture into National Portrait Museum as it begins to rain, but we can't even keep our eyes open. We end up going into a of couple rooms, using their couches for a rest, and staring at a few pictures.

Knowing we can't end our day we decide we need coffee and a new plan! So we decide on the nature and science museum. And stupidly, decide to walk there. What feels like 3 hours later, we make it! The museum had a cool exhibit on medicine, and a great interactive room! But after an hour or so of being a kid, we're back to exhaustion.

So we decide we'll grab some dinner and call it a day. We venture back to Leichester Square and I decide to ask some of the men in suits outside of the TGIF if there is another.

Yes, I take Corey to his first ever TGIFriday experience. And as our eyes can't stay open any longer, we take a bus home and fall deep into sleep.

We wake up Wednesday knowing it is our last day. I had been spending the last couple of days trying to get in touch with an old friend, Sam, that I know from vacationing with the family in Sanibel, but it hadn't been so easy without a phone. We decide to take a walk by the river towards the Tate Modern, one of the last things we had wanted to see.

We had a breakfast picnic by the London Eye and then found the most amazing graffiti park. A bunch of skateboarders were around, and I fell in love. I think we spent over an hour here as I took thousands of pictures. There were all these boys skating and biking and doing all these tricks, and then the most cutest thing happened. A two-year old Asian boy went right to the middle and screamed for his mom to bring down his scooter.

This kid was so cute, he slid down the ramps like they were slides and caused a couple of accidents on his scoot

er. But, it was the best sight ever. While we were there a graffiti removal truck drove by and stopped to look. As soon as they got out of their car every skater stared. It was a hysterical thing to witness.

I could tell Corey was bored so we walked by the Globe Theatre and into Tate Modern. Of course, with our luck, more than half the exhibits were closed due to some strike. We only got to go into one room, but it was still great to see such wonderful art. I tried to explain to Corey how most of the art here ( as we stood by Jackson Pollack's work) looked like the art we have in our living room as my uncle and grandfather love to paint.

We finally reach Sam and meet up with him at this lounge for some drinks. Knowing we'll be up all night for our flight the next morning, I order my 5th coffee of the day (seriously, I didn't realize how much I missed real coffee). We take some seats outside and just as I go to sit, my drink spills everywhere. All over my jeans, and yes, we tried to pack light and these were my only pair.

We stay for a while and it's great to catch up. Around dinner we head back to to the apartment and pack things up. We have no idea how long it will take to get to the airport, so I set the alarm for 2 am.

We take a bus, after walking to the subway and realizing they weren't open, to a station, and it looks closed as could be. We walk around and finally see the trains, and a lady with some luggage.

We sit down and figure this looks right, though we can't seem to find one person to buy a ticket from?! Around 20 minutes later we hear a loudspeaker informing us train 8 will leave in 10 minute to the airport. WHERE IS TRAIN 8?

I run around while Corey slowly walks with our luggage, and find it. Yet, can't find Corey. Finally I hear his voice and get him to where I am and we get on the train just before it leaves. But we still have no ticket? And as its 3 in the morning, it doesn't seem like anyone is there to check?

We end up making it to the airport and checking in without having to buy our pass. This is our one luck place, as the rest of the time we find ourselves buying tickets for things that were never even checked (ah the money that was wasted)

It's now 4 am and we are praying this flight isn't as delayed as the last. But we're so tired, who really cares at this point.

As blurry as things could be as Corey is basically dragging me around the airport, we find a quick store to buy some snacks (Hello 1 Pound Tuna Sandwhich!) and start thinking about our time in London.

They use pounds and not the euro.

Its rain everyday but you don't really get wet.

My knee has completely broke.

Double-decker buses are actually pretty scarey.

And it's a 2.5 hour flight to Milan....

should have picked 4.

2010-03-15T00:58:00.001-07:00

I can't believe it's been five months. Not just since I packed my bags and headed to Israel, but since Nir sat in our house, with the whole group present, and asked us what we wanted to do.

We had two options: Visit two museums and have Oranim pay for our transportation, or visit four and find our own way.

I was the only one who picked the 2nd option, and now that we are done, I was right..

Our first excursion was back in December. Nir had told us about this great museum in Tel Aviv called the Palmach museum, and it sounded great. It wasn't till I got there that I realized I had been there before.

But regardless, it was a great museum. Nir met us at our house and we got in a Sheruit, and Ron and I rode in Nirs car. (reason #1: my ride was free anyway).

The Palmach museum is very cool. It tells the story of soldiers before the start of the IDF in a story. You walk through different rooms as you watch a story about soldiers, from the beginning to the end. You are introduced to a unit and all its members and then as you walk hear different parts of their lives.

I loved it. I'm pretty sure I'd recommend that to anyone heading to Israel. But it was after that became annoying.

Since we were already in Tel Aviv, Nir had planned us to meet one of Oranims tour guide, Yariv, and learn a little bit about Tel Avivs history.

Now it was around 4pm when we exited the museum. Yariv was supposed to meet us and drive over 5, while Nir took the rest. But Yaris was stuck in traffic and this wasn't going to happen. So Nir took half of us, saying he'd be back for the rest.

But around 45 minutes later, as Ron, Erica, Taylor, Jackie and I waiting outside, sitting on the ground, Nir called. He told us traffic was to bad and to find a taxi. He said he'd pay for it when we got there.

At this point, none of us even wanted this Tel Aviv tour. So annoyed and tired we attempted to find a taxi. Around 30 minutes later we finally found our first Taxi. Ron, Erica and Taylor got in.

Jackie and I then sat and pretended to look for another taxi, which wasn't to bad because none actually came. Around 6 a taxi finally came and we got on in! We figured by the time we all met up, it'd be to late for our tour.

Well, things got even better. As we drove along the streets of Tel Aviv all of a sudden, our taxi stalled. It was a manual, and something went wrong, and we literally rolled down the street. He finally pulled over and stopped, after he realized rolling down the street is not a safe way to drive, and just dropped us of.

We had no idea where we were. We were in the middle of Tel Aviv, and our taxi rolled away. Lucky for us there was a cute furniture store right there. One of those that sells ridiculous things that no-one really needs, but who can resist a chair hanging from the ceiling? So Jackie and I went in and played.

Finally we called Nir and he told us to walk!?! Apparently we were on the street and were to find another taxi, but walk as we did.. 60 blocks later and we saw Nir waiting for us.

It turns out Ron, Taylor and Ericas taxi had got lost, and they were also just arriving. Its not around 8pm.

So, our Tel Aviv tour got cut short, really short! We basically walked a block to Ben Gurians house, and heard a little blurb. Then Yariv took us to "the best ice cream in Tel Aviv." And we went home. End of museum story.

Until yesterday, when Museum number 2 happened. I'm not sure who picked it, but we ended up going to the Israel Museum.

We woke up at 8, met Nir at 8:30, and spent an hour and a half in horrible traffic as we became car sick. Most of the time there were 3 lanes, but one seemed to only be used by buses and taxis. I could not figure out why our taxi driver wasn't taking this obvious much shorter route. It was like he would rather see us vomit?

Regardless we finally arrive and meet our tour guide. A cute little "grandma" from Minnesota, who had made Alliyah years ago. At first we saw this replica of the old city. It was pretty cool, but we sat there for an hour hearing stories, and then continued to walk around it and hear more stories. An hour and a half later and we're wondering when we get to go into the actual museum.

That's when we found out the museum itself was closed. It has been for the past 3 years and is planning to open in July.

REALY? How come no one figured that out? So after 2 hours being lectured and dozing off, we got to see a room filled with the dead sea scrolls.

Pretty cool? Except the fact it was literally just a photograph of them, because apparently the original were off being preserved.

That's it. We then left. No museum to see.

There are tons of other museums here in Israel that I plan to visit before I leave, but it's going to be a journey. After all, the other ones seemed to be! If anyone has a good recommendation, that'd be wonderful!

glad i've never done that before

2010-03-07T09:42:00.000-08:00

I've always been a strong believer of laughing gas over the anesthetic shot at the dentist. I don't know why, but the idea of a GIANT shot being used to get rid of pain sounded ridiculous to me. Every time I've been to the dentist and it gets to the time where they try to point this massive needle in my mouth, I've always cried like a baby and asked for something much more easier.

Well, I am glad I have always cried like that baby and asked because today I had the worst dentist experience of my life.

About a week ago I was munching on a gummy candy. Sort of similar to peach rings back in the States, when I felt something extremely not gummy in my mouth. At first I panicked and assumed that I had just ate a bug or something. But no, I realized it was a piece of my tooth.

Yes, eating a gummy candy cause a filling in my lower tooth to come out. Thanks Israel.

So today I woke up, after a lot of refusal, and went to the dentist to get it fixed. First, the lady cleaning my teeth actually broke a part of my tooth off. Then my mouth bled more than I've ever seen. These people were crazy.

After I went to the next room to get this cavity cleaned. Now, since I've never had the shot I've just heard that usually they put some Novocain on your mouth before they do the shot. Regardless, after finding out there was no laughing gas, I had to rid my fear and understand I was going to have to get that shot.

I honestly felt that I was getting tortured. First, no Novocain was put before this shot. Second, the shot lasted for 15 seconds ( I counted as I tears ran down my face). And third, it was the worst experience of my life.

After waiting ten minutes, All I felt was puffyness and that my face was ten times big, he started to poke. But no, after all this needle business, it still hurt!!!

He finally just said he was going to start and to raise my hand if it killed. Well, basically I could have raised my hand the entire 30 minutes, but I didn't just to get out of there quicker.

I don't know why I got the shot, it did nothing. All that happened was my lip looked fat for two hours, but that was it.

I came home to find my roommate saying how proud she was off me for going to the dentist, followed by the words "Why the hell would you ever go to a dentist in Ramla?"

I'm not sure, but I'm never going again. Ever. And back in America, every time I go to the dentist I will cry like a baby until I get laughing gas.

do all children look this cute?

2010-02-27T01:34:00.000-08:00

In Israel, instead of dressing up on Halloween, they have a holiday called Purim. Where the days leading up to the holiday, kids dress up, have carnivals, and eat hamentashen, which in Hebrew is actually called something else.

This past week I was lucky enough to be working at one of my kindergartens during one of the days leading up to Purim. Since I think my children are the cutest things ever, I took out my camera and shot way to many pictures, including videos.

Here are some videos of my dancing kids! (Apparently, it only allows me to add one!)

little kiddies

2010-02-22T03:40:00.000-08:00

Some of the kiddies at the kindergarten.

i'm glad it wasn't me.

2010-02-16T12:48:00.000-08:00

Yes. we know I lose things easily. And yes, I've been lucky enough to always find them afterward (even ifit’s just waiting for me on the side of the road). But I saw the saddest thing.

I was on my way to Tel Aviv to see a friend, and a backpacker got on the bus. He put his things down and went up to the driver to pay. As soon as he realized the prices had risensince New Years, he decided to walk instead.

Around 20 minutes later, someone sitting in the back of the bus found a random backpack. This bag was clearly the hiker’s, it looked rugged, had a scarf and a map hanging out, etc. But we're in Israel and when a bag is found, unattended, on a bus, people panic. It was horrible. Our driver quickly stopped and gave the bag to another bus heading towards the station.

I couldn't help but feel horrible for that guy. That bag probably had his camera, wallet, phone, etc. I never found out what happened to him or his bag, but I sure hope he got it back.

Unlike him, I had a great bus experience over in Jerusalem. See, Oranim had taken us on a day trip to the old city, and I had decided to stay in Jerusalem with a friend because Nancy and Norman were coming the next day.

So Friday morning I woke up and explored the streets of Jerusalem waiting for lunch time to see my family!

While I'll ramble about the Oranim trip later, the best part of Jerusalem was the bus ride.

I was on the bus going to the Shuk when a old woman got on. She took the seat next to me and we started talking. I couldn't help but gush about how pretty her flower was that she was holding. It was still in its tray to be planted, and was BEAUTIFUL. Remind you, this conversation was in Hebrew.

Well, it ended with her leaving the flower to me! I didn't know how to say "I wouldn't be home till much later, and it was worthless to give me this flower," so I took it. I walked around a good hour with it, before I passed it on to someone else. It almost felt fitting since it was Tu B’shevat.

I can't say if it was because of the holiday or not, but the old city was absolutely glowing all day. We walked around the shuk where people were singing and dancing.

There were these two religious man in the Yeshiva נ נח נחמ נחמן מאומן, which basically is a group that goes around doing LCD. They believe that to be closest to g-d, they have to be out of their world. You can find them any day driving around town. When they get to a red light they stop, put their music really loud and get out and dance. But today it was just this man and his guitar and a fellow member dancing in the streets.

After I wondered the streets of the shuk, I had to head down to Ben Yehudah street to get a necklace fixed before meeting Nancy and Norman.

There was a street fair going on for the holiday and it was the most wonderful thing I have ever seen. Music playing every other block and all the people dressed as flowers walking around. I literally walked around for over an hour, making friends and taking pictures. It was beautiful.

I took so many images that my camera filled up. I kept on having to stop and delete old images just to be able to continue on. I even had some of the "trees" ask me for my card so I could e-mail them some of the images. Apparently they are a touring group out of Tel Aviv that goes and shares spirit.

But finally it was time to meet Nancy and Norman, which was great! I always love seeing family! It was only a short visit before they were off to a Bar Mitzvah and I was trucking back to Ramla.

Tu B’shevat is a wonderful holiday in Israel. Literally a made-up holiday that the government started to care for the environment. People all over plant trees. A couple days before our trip to Jerusalem Ramla held an event for people of the city to come and plant trees.

I really enjoyed being able to plant all these trees. I think this holiday should be a world-wide one, where every so often all cities plant trees. It would be the most amazing thing to help our environment.

But yes, I've been doing much more than just saving our environment over here in Israel. I've been having fun too!

Back in February I had my favorite night in Israel. There is a touring music group that goes around covering Beatles songs. Every so often they have an event called "Let it Beer," where Beatles music is played, and beer is given out free. It is times like this that I wish I drank beer, but I still had a lot of fun.

I also celebrated New Years over in Tel Aviv, which marks the fourth year not ringing in the New Year in Miami. It is funny to know that every year is really a different amount of time, depending on where I am and in which time zone.

Since Rosh Hashana is the real new years, it wasn't a very big event. But some American bars celebrated. Dan even bought us all roses! Such a gentleman!

But bringing in the New Years always makes me wonderwhat's next. And since I've been in Israel since October, I know you guys are wondering that too!

Well, here's a little insight of what else I'll be up to this year. I finally booked my ticket back to the States. I will leave Israel June 16th and spend a night in the New York before heading to Miami on the 17th.

Thanks to help from Elise, Julie, Sheri, Sara and my mother, I was able to receive a grant allowing me to stay till then! I am thrilled and forever thankful for them!

I'll be living in Ramla till then, finishing up the school year with the kids I've been working with! I really will miss them when I leave.

Other than that I will finally be making my first trip to Europe! We get two weeks off for Passover, and I have an extra week off during program changes so I will be flying to London the 20th of March, playing in Italy, Barcelona, and Paris before heading back to Israel on my birthday, April 10. Yes, I know it might be pretty bad celebrating my 24th birthday on a plane, but it had to be done. It was cheaper to fly out that day, andtherefore, no other options. And besides, this way I was able to convince my traveling buddies to celebrate my birthday in EuroDisney. (3 down in my attempt to visit everyDisney!)

I'll be spending the next month planning for the trip, so please, send over ideas! I'm super excited to go! Also, if anyone knows a place for me to stay in Venice, Rome and Paris, that would be great!

I would love to stay and ramble, but the sun is shinning and I have two more applications to finish.

Wish me luck, my next one is due March 1st...

And also, if anyone feels like they'd like to be nice.. Please save me a copy of the ESPN magazine Baseball preview. Or, feel great and send it over to Israel. Go Marlins!

apparently i'm funny?

2010-02-04T04:26:00.000-08:00

Everywhere I go I end up on the floor, in some awkward pose, taking pictures. People keep on sending me pictures of me apparently looking like an idiot...

out by 7, back by 6.

2010-01-30T01:08:00.000-08:00

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

2010-01-25T03:50:00.000-08:00

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?

2010-01-24T11:12:00.000-08:00

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...

2010-01-11T11:19:00.001-08:00

guess people do listen to me...

2010-01-09T06:41:00.000-08:00

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!

learning where "we" come from

2009-12-28T04:35:00.001-08:00

Before I came to Israel I received an e-mail with a flyer inside.

It read:

The Shabbaton, for post-college programs only, will provide an examination of the security reality in Israel from various perspectives, through lectures of senior speakers and academics, interactive group workshops and fascinating tours. On the Shabbaton program you will find: A tour of the security fence around Jerusalem • A background lecture about the Israeli-Arab conflict • A lecture about the Iranian threat • A lecture about Israel and the Hamas • Group workshops dealing with dilemmas and issues in Israeli security • Group workshops dealing with questions of Zionism in the face of the security • situation in Israel and the personal perspectives of participants And more…

Sounds great right? Oranim was paying for us, and we'd be given food and a place to stay. Why not?

I wish I could say I got a lot out of this weekend, but this is the weekend my plague started. So instead of spending the weekend learning, I spent most of it in a daze, on probably one too many Dayquils.

But since I know most of you, yes including you father, are curious about what is really go on around here, I borrowed Jackies notes and with what I remember, will ramble on.

We woke up early Friday morning and ran to make the 8 am bus to Jerusalem. Being the beginning of the weekend here in Israel the busses were filled with Soldiers going home to their families, so it was a tight fit.

Jackie, Erica, Lindsay and I did the Israeli thing and pushed ourselves onto the bus. We could not afford to miss this bus, wait an hour, and arrive in Jerusalem late, we would miss the entire tour.

As we got on we realized Dan was still outside waiting. Lucky us, Dan was the last to get on. After we realized there wouldn't be any stops letting people off till Jerusalem, we sat down to "enjoy" the ride.

An hour and a half later we were on a tour bus. We had two options on which tour to take, and we choose B'Tselem, a civil rights group for West Bank and Gaza.

It was interesting to hear the side of the story from Arabs. Unfortunately, this is when the Dayquil kicked in, and I spent the remaining of the tour asleep on the bus.

We toured the fence, Rachels Tomb, and had lunch on a view of it all. I wish I remembered more, but all I remember is the story of how they leave their land.

It takes up to 8 hours to leave the West Bank, and cars are not allowed to drive from one side to the other. Our tour guide told us of a story of a son and his sick mother who needed to get to a hospital.

He carried her the 8 hour walk along the fence, only for her to die along the way. Ambulances are not allowed to go through out the areas, even though the fence is not completely finished.

Sadly that is about all I got out of the convention, and the best thing about the weekend for me was I got a chance to stay at the new Young Judaea Hostel.

A couple weeks later Oranim send a guide down to Ramla where we all got a tour of the city. There is actually a lot of history here.

Ramla means sand in Arabic, and it is one of the only cities in Israel built completely by Muslims.

There is actually a book, called the Lemon Tree, written about a family in Ramla! And though the city doesn't have much to offer, like a mall, bar, or movie theatre, it does have monuments and underwater wells!

Take a look at Ramlas Wiki Page if you really want to learn more! I've been living here since October and still find new things about Ramla to ramble about!

what a long strange trip its been

2009-12-20T10:13:00.000-08:00

I know. I know. It has been a while. But consider that a good thing? Or a bad... But don't you worry, I haven't forgotten about my dear old friends in the states...

I have a list of things that are piling to write about. But instead of draining your eyes on one long-long-long post, I'll write them as planned, and hopefully all this week.

I have been extremely busy, and when I do get a break, I fall straight to sleep. I went to the doctor again today. This time I was smart about it. I brought Nir.

After waiting an hour for the Russian Doc, who was extremely rude, we finally went and saw her. I have to go back tomorrow at 8 in the morning to get blood taken. The worst part? They told me I couldn't eat after 7. It's now 8:17 and I'm about to go to sleep because I am very hungry.

Even though I had to bring Nir with me, my hebrew is getting much better. Since I am the only one from my group in the advanced class, I was worried that once the younger kids leave in January, that my studies would stop.

I had talked about this with Nir, and today my teacher told me that come January, her and I will be meeting once a week for private lessons. I'm bound to be fluent by then.

I would say it's getting colder, but not really. We have some cold days, but mostly it's beautiful. We also get some rain every so often. And because it is Israel, we can't complain. But when the rain comes, it really falls. Our roof was leaking, we got it fixed, and it is already leaking again.

The other week I went with a friend of mine to Rehovot, the town over, because it was absolutely pouring out and we wanted to hide in a mall. We ended up leaving, and heading to Tel-Aviv looking for a particular book. I had already been to about 5 book stores, and still could not find it.

We get off at the main bus station, and get on a sheruit (shared taxi) to get to this mall. The driver lied to us. Dropped us off in the complete wrong area, in the pouring rain. We asked a man in a shop where the mall was, and he said it was far, but walkable.

Since we are broke, we decided to walk. We were already soaked, so why not? We walked about 20 minutes till we found another store, where the man told us it was a bad neighborhood, and that we shouldn't walk there.

So we turned around, walked back to the station, and went back to Ramla.

A trip that started at 10 am, turned into hell returning at 5pm.

Never again.

We also just got the week off for Hanukah, but that is a story for itself. Interesting enough, Israel does not make such a big deal, like we do in the states. In America it is more to compete with Christmas, but not here.

At Harin, one of the Elementary schools that I go to once a week, we had a festival. I sat in a classroom helping kids put together "talking" dreidels. I loved it.

We also get a little "enrichment" every Wednesday. Nir or someone leads us in a little lesson. Last week we had a lecture about Hanukah. Most people listened, but I felt like a child, having been told the story millions of times.

We've also been taught about Israeli music, media, and the social life here. Most of the talks are pretty standard, but every so often you catch yourself learning something.

I thought I would love the music one, having heard many Israeli songs at my time at camp, but it turned to be pointless. What a disappointment.

Erica and Allisabeth are in charge of making an enrichment every so often. They've only made one and we had a pot luck dinner, each passing around a bowl of questions, and picking who we wanted to answer. We all got to learn about each other, even though we had already been living here for so often.

I really am loving living here, and I'm having a great time here, clearly the reason my posts are coming fewer an farther apart. But don't you fret, I'll be writing more, and my rambling will never stop.

Oranim has been taking us on day trips, and along with my pictures for my vacation, I have over 400 images to upload. So get excited and keep checking back for more!

best $300 ever spent...

2009-12-08T02:32:00.000-08:00

Coming from America and having zero health insurance, to a country where for 300 dollars a visitor can have the exact same coverage as a local, is a little confusing.

When do I go to a doctor? Do I take advantage of this? Should the common cold have me ending up in a waiting room?

Most of you know me, I am weak, tiny and almost alway sick with something. So it was no shock to me when November came along, the cold weather started showing up more frequently, and I was constantly sneezing, coughing and having trouble swallowing.

Why would I go to a doctor? I am used to the constant echoes of "bless you" running through my ears. But as the days go colder and hotter, with the temperature dropping and rising at a sudden moment, I gave in.

Sure, I'll go to a doctor! It's free, and I can call for an appointment literally moments before I show up. That sounds amazing! And nothing like America.

I wake up at 9 am, dial *3833 on my Israel Phone, and am instantly connected to a call center. I give my medical number, and within seconds they know I am Rebecca Treister, volunteering in Israel and that I will be here for 5 months.

They ask where I am living. WHAT? How is this possible? The call center treats all of Israel?!

By 11 am, the same day, I was already walking to the doctors office.

After I walked up 3 flights of stairs (okay, I took an elevator), I saw a huge waiting room. I had to use the heberw I know to say "I don't remember the name of the doctor I am meeting with." And after 10 minutes of speaking shaking hebrew, they finally understood me and sent me to sit by door 6.

At first I tried to open it, but no, it was locked. I saw the list, all in hebrew, and one single name in english. Treister. 11:25. Okay, its 11:20, I should be going right in...

No. I was wrong. Around 11:45 I began to wonder. I tried to open the door again, thinking maybe it lead to another waiting room and I was just to weak to figure that out the first time, but it didn't. Finally, the door opened, and a women walked out, and just as quickly as she walked out, another had walked in and shut the door.

What? Had she had an appointment? What was going on?

Seeing the look on my face the ladies started to explain that the doctor was always running late, and was only seeing her 10:45 appointment.

So maybe this was a lot like America? Waiting 3 hours for a doctor to see me? Sounds familiar.

By 12:30 I saw that door open, and ran in. Not really knowing if it was my turn or not, but it seemed to work.

My doctor was a Russian women, who barely spoke any english. After 5 minutes of basically doing nothing, she told me I had the common cold, and told me I could leave. Seriously?

Now almost 3 weeks later and I'm still coughing up a lung, barely able to swallow, and shivering in my sleep... Will see how long it lasts before I have to return to the "doctor" again, but for one thing, Nir is absolutely coming with me next time.

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

2009-11-24T02:30:00.000-08:00

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)

2009-11-22T01:05:00.000-08:00

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

2009-11-10T01:47:00.000-08:00

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...

2009-11-04T05:13:00.001-08:00

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

2009-11-01T10:59:00.000-08:00

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!

our taxi got pulled over

2009-10-27T00:55:00.000-07:00

Lets just say greasy pizza plus a boat ride on the Mediterranean is not the best idea. Though, at one time, Oranim thought it would be a great idea.

But, before we embarked on this horrible boat ride, we had one great group meeting. Nir, the guy stuck in charge of us who we absolutely are obsessed with, sat us down and went over the volunteering activities. We got to pick 3 locations. Kindergarden care, helping out in the english class in elementary schools, middle schools, soup kitchens, animal shelters, the local TV station, and even a group of kids around our age and their english speaking club, were on the list!

During the next couple of weeks, since we don't actually start volunteering till mid-november, we are going to have the chance to try a couple out. All the kids I've talked to from previous groups just complain, but we all seem to think it sounds great! But, we'll have to see what happens!

If the volunteering is organized anything like this boat ride, we'll all be screwed.

After rushing to get ready, all of us got in a taxi and headed to Tel-Aviv. Right away we were miserable. They fed us pizza, which was free, so of course we ate way to much, and then the boat started going from side to side. I think within the first minute people were throwing up out the window.

What was supposed to be at two-hour journey around the Mediterranean, turned into a 20 minute session of plastic bags begin passed around. It was horrible.

We're not sure if he felt bad about the boat, or if just because he is awesome, Nir took two trips driving us to our hostel (i'm serious, we really love this guy!). We spent the night celebrating Lindsay's birthday, and the next day at the beach! It was perfect weather and soft sand!

By 2 o'clock we were all ready to embark home. While some of the group got tired and decided to splurge for a taxi back to Ramla, I simply did not have the money. The two guys and I decided to trek a 45 minute hike through town to the bus station.

Now, me being the only one to speak Hebrew, a lot falls on me. Including, getting directions. And since I absolutely always get lost, this was bound to be a long trip. But we finally arrive at the Central bus station, and after mazing our way through a mall-like structure saw the ticket center.

Except, they didn't have buses to Ramla, so we had to continue searching. Finally, I found it. But by the time it was almost 4, and the station was beginning to close for Shabbat. The guy in charge said "nope, no more busses to Ramla" and we all thought we were stuck. We ended up walking down two flights of stairs to the area of shared taxis, called sheriuts.

11 sheckels later and we were, FINALLY, on our way back to Ramla. But what should have been a 45 minute car ride, turned into 2 hours when our van was pulled over. Again, being the only one to speak Hebrew, I had to translate between the group of 3 I was with, and the Israelis on the bus.

Turns out we were speeding, and not wearing seat belts. Seriously? We had been trying to get home since 2 and it was now almost 5.

Using my Hebrew to figure out where the bus needed to stop in Ramla to drop us off was also RIDICULOUS, but we finally saw the park outside our house, and ran.

The rest of the weekend was spent wondering around the city, and learning more about each other. By Saturday night, the end to the Israel weekend, we were exhausted.

Sunday we started Ulpan. The entire group had to be at the college at 8:30 to learn! Lucky for me I didn't have to go to my advance lesson till 1, but unfortunately, I got woken up anyway.

Only one other girl in my group is going to the advance, and we join in on another Oranim's Ulpan. At least we'll make new friends?

Class was fine, and I was able to understand! I can't wait to become fluent!

Sunday night we went on another horrible journey. A 45 minute or so bus ride, up and down bumpy roads, to Jerusalem. MASA, the organization behind it all, was hosting a huge concert for American kids in Israel on MASA programs.

Not everyone in the group went, but it was still a lot of fun! I got to see tons of friends of mine who are in Israel on other programs!

We're going to spend the rest of the week working on our hebrew, and this weekend we're trying to plan something fun for Halloween. But who knows? Maybe I should dress up as a ramblin' man? Or does someone else have a better suggestion...

my twizzlers cost more than my shampoo

2009-10-20T23:13:00.000-07:00

It all started with a simple e-mail. Saturday, two days before I was to embark to Ramla, I received a message from a girl in the program. Her name was Lindsay, and she was also in Jerusalem until the program begin. And Lindsay suddenly found herself without a ride.

Knowing little about her, I asked Yehudah, who would be taking me the following days down to Ramla if she could join. "How will all your luggage fit?" was all he could say. I figured if we managed to squeeze in the luggage, everything would be okay.

The next day, Lindsay and I decided to spend some time getting to know each other and, after we looked at her luggage over where she was staying, we adventured to the mall. Both having little money, we walked around like middle-schoolers, having their parents drop them off at the entrance on a Saturday. We got along great, and quickly became great friends.

And then, as if it couldn't come soon enough, it was finally October 19th. The day I was to begin my 5-month journey. Yehudah, late as most Israelis are, picked both of us up, and drove us the hour drive (well a little bit shorter) south to the northern part of Ramla.

We were only the 2nd to arrive, entering our house at 3 Herzel St. I was shocked, what a big house, though extremely dirty. It seems Oranim (the program I am going through) passes this house on and on through participants, and we assume it has never had a real cleaning.

A nice wall lines the front, where a fire-pit and table/chairs are. It's actually extremely cute for how old it is. Once inside you are greeted by a huge space. To the left is the living room, with 2 couches, a tv, and lots of room! And to the right is a kitchen, dining room table, and more space!

7 people in total live in the house, with 4 more girls living in an apartment a block away. There is one room with 3 girls, (bunk-beds!) and a bathroom for them! There is Erika, Jackie, and Taylor. All 3 very different, but very great girls!

And then, luck would have it, Lindsay and I were sharing the other room! We share a bathroom with the two boys (a 28 year old from Chicago, and a 20 year old from the Netherlands!). The bathroom is already so dirty and gross, that we don't seem to mind sharing it with them (though we are planning on trying to talk to someone to get rid of the horrible smell).

Lindsay and my room is honestly great, we have plenty of room and a giant mirror! We have even turned a bedside shelf into our "office" space. The beds are ripped and turn apart. The blankets that Yehudah gave us (an extra, lucky enough for Lindsay) do not fit on the extra-long twin beds. The air-vent leaks through and we hear all sounds from the outside, along with being extremely cold. But even with the bedding being anything but perfect, everything is pretty nice! (except the fact, i am writing this on 4 hours of sleep because I could not sleep, and I am waiting for people to wake up...) I'll have to go into a store tomorrow and figure out a better sleeping way!

We've spent the past days going through orientation, and soon we will begin Ulpan (intensive hebrew learning). I am 1 of 2 girls who actually knows the language, so Hila and I will be going twice a week, for 3 hours, to an advance class, while the other kids will spend the first 3 weeks going from 8:30 - 1, 4 days a week.

Nir, our city coordinator, has told me I can go to the class with the kids, on days I don't have my own, so I can practice. I am determined to become fluent.

I am actually shocked how little everyone else knows. I guess after going to a jewish day school and camp for so long, plus learning it in school, I really picked it up. Kids here had no idea that Biet was house, or that Achat was one.

We're going to Tel-Aviv on Thursday for a boat ride with other Oranim kids, and also, Lindays birthday! And I'm planning on staying till Saturday, spending time with an old friend, Keren, who will be at her brothers house! I am really excited to get to explore Tel-Aviv.

There has already been tons of talks about trips we all want to take, and we even found out we get the 8 days of Chanukah off! I am sure we will be traveling a great amount! But since this has all yet to come, I will save the rambling for later. Hopefully I'll take pictures soon and be able to show you what I truly mean by all my descriptions!

did you hear the one about the painted donkey?

2009-10-15T08:45:00.000-07:00

Only in Jerusalem could you find a biblical zoo, complete with a play-size Noah's ark. But I can't say that I am that shocked, after all, Jerusalem is a city that prides it self on their Jewish connection. Though, I can say I was shocked walking around this zoo. I took over 500 images that day, mostly of Yoavi, but a lot of the animals and what the zoo had to offer.

After I dreadfully went through each picture, I picked around 100 that I would like to showcase. Maybe you'll find it as strange as I did, or maybe it wont shock you at all, but the picture above, of a hamster, was an actual image I shot in the zoo. Yes, that is right, not only does the Jerusalem biblical zoo showcase hamsters, but also, squirrels and other rodents (and no, these aren't pictures of the animals running freely, they are behind glass!).

In a total of three hours I was surrounded by more english speaking than I would have imagined, more unusual "zoo" animals, and most shockingly, not one shopping cart. In America, especially the Miami zoo, it is not a place to showcase animals, but a place to make money. Everywhere you turn there is another cart selling ice-cream, waters, and junky souvenirs. And on a crowded day, there is always a line of screaming children trying to beg their parents.

That was not the case in this zoo, as I started getting thirsty along my journey, I realized that there was not one place to buy a drink. About half way through, I finally saw my first (and the only) cart that is placed through-out the zoo. And it was closed. I saw no children sheding tears, and only one begging her parents to buy a stupid little toy, and even that wasn't until the end in the tiny-little gift shop.

Back to my original "simple thought" of the Israelis, the zoo is, shockingly, actually a place for people to view animals.

After three long hours, we finally made it to the end. But, this wasn't before, no lie, Yoavi fell asleep mid-walk. I have never seen anything like this before, but it was true. He was fast asleep (and stayed asleep through-out the elephants, the deers, and the flamingos), and did not wake up till we stepped on the train at the end.

One thing the zoo did have was a beautiful bridge that walked through their very own "safari." The giraffes, hippos and zebras were absolutely breathtaking. I hope you enjoy looking at my pictures, as much as I did taking them!

Before I end my ramblings, I must tell you about the zoo in Gaza, which for reasons, I will not be able to go to. But I did find out about why it is such a zoo to visit. They could not afford a zebra, so why would I want to go their? Please, my words cannot explain the phenominam of this story, take the time and read/glance over this article. It will certainly give you some laughs.

"there's more to the picture, then meets the eyes..."- n. young

2009-10-14T12:08:00.000-07:00

Hey guys! I have already taken TONS of pictures! Of course, the only problem is cutting them down to put them on the web! While sometimes I'll post some on here, all the ones I choose to "edit" will be here ...(http://picasaweb.google.com/rtreiste) I really hope you enjoy! And i'll try my best to always post a rambling when I've put up new pictures...

*also, I figured out how to send e-mail notifications when I have posted a new blog... comment below if you would like me to add your e-mail address to the list!*

silly rabit, Trix are for kids!

2009-10-14T10:05:00.000-07:00

About a month ago, I remember being in the supermarket browsing the cereal selection. I decided to feel like a kid again, and bought my old-childhood favorite, Trix. But I was completely disappointed when I got home, poured myself a bowl, and realized that the individual pieces were no longer shaped like the fruit the tasted of. Instead, they were just round, like all the other cereals in the world. They were no longer unique. And I was sad.

America has gotten so lazy, even the simplest things are no longer being done. The reason I loved Trix was not because of their super-great commercial, but because I enjoyed the different shape of the cereals. I'm pretty sure I used to even eat them one shape at a time. Knowing me, I probably refused to eat the grape shapes, until all the pretty blue "flowers" were gone!

Well, yesterday I went to an Israeli supermarket. Now, this wasn't a huge "Publix" type store, but more of a neighborhood market type. And out of the 10 or so cereals that they had, one was Trix. To my greatest surprise ever, it was the original cereal, shapes and all! I was so happy! And that is when it hit me, Israel is full of enjoying the simple things in life!

First, they don't have a blackberry or IPhone to buy here (those who want them have to get them from the staes). Most phones here still have 3 letters per number, and barely any has the internet, let alone e-mail! The phone I have is the same phone I had back in high-school. And I love it! (mostly because it has Snake, which if anyone remembers was the most amazing phone game ever!)

Also, the shampoo here is amazing. You guys know me, I have hair that if not taken care of properly, turns HUGE and FRIZZY. But now here. For the past week I haven't even used conditioner. I HAVE NEVER ONLY USED SHAMPOO! Yet, my hair is the best it has ever been! (which makes me think there is a huge market in America for Israeli shampoo, who's with me?)

So far, the only bad thing I have noticed about Israel is that Twilight:New Moon will not be coming out till December 10th. And i'll live with that (as long as someone promise to send me a bootleg version off their cell phone!)

68:2:1

2009-10-12T11:16:00.000-07:00

68 females wearing white-long sleeve t-shirts under a shirt that shows skin.
2 females wearing a black-long sleeve t-shirt under their shirts that show skin.
1 female, out of the two wearing black-long sleeve t-shirts, pregnant.

I noticed it my first night in town, all the women wear these colorful and flowered tank tops, and low cut/off the shoulder shirts, and then "ruin" them with this white shirt. I don't understand. I always thought I dressed pretty conservative, never thought of myself as a "slutty" dresser, but now, wearing shorts, or a v-neck, i feel awkward, and stared at. awkward.

The funny thing is, I didn't notice that they were only wearing white, until I saw a young pregnant women wearing black. Then it hit me, maybe white is the good and black is the bad? Who knows... I'll have to look more into it.

Jet-lag is starting to kick-in. The family I am staying with expects so much from me. I feel bad being tired, and I'm starting to get sick. Yesterday, after i took a nap, Yehudah took me to the old city and kotel. Instantly memories of the past came flooding back to me! I remembered things I had not thought about in years. Crazy.

We walked down the old-qtrs and saw all the people selling "crap." it's all the same, walk a little past, and you'll find it again. TOURIST scheme if you ask me!

By the time we got to the actual wall,I was exhausted. I hadn't ate since my "toast" at breakfast (which is really two HUGE pieces of bread, with way to much butter, and 4 slices of really heavy cheese) at 10, and was just feeling sick. I am not used to the dairy products here, it is all heavy, and i can't eat it. (All i hate today was another one of these "toast" things, and I'm disgusted with myself, i am getting really excited to live on my own and being shopping for what i enjoy!)
Anyway, (sorry for the rambling about the toast) I barely wanted to take my camera out. And when Yehudah left me to go to the men's side, i took a couple pictures and waited, i was just to tired to go see g-d. I know I'll be back. So it's okay.

We then had to walk back. At this point all i wanted to do was sit, I could barely walk. I had to convince Yehudah not to walk back through the shuk, and finally I realized I was starving. After a way to long hike to find a restaurant, I asked for the first thing i saw, Pizza, and ate it all up. QUICKLY.

The thing is, they eat HUGE meals here. So for me,I get full easily, and they do not understand. After the pizza, I was completely full, but Yehudah wanted to take me to get a hamburger, I'm seriously shocked they eat this much.

Today I spent most of the day sleeping. When I first got up around 10, they wanted me to go to a Bat-Mitzvah with them, but I politely declined. I had to get some rest. It is 8:30 and I know I'll be going to bed soon. I know they look at me strangely, not in a bad way, just in a "how does she not eat" way. But honestly, I am not hungry. They eat SO MUCH, and it is all so heavy, I just simply could not imagine eating that. You should see the amount of butter (no, not "I can't believe it's not butter light") that they put on things.

But with all the ramblings aside, I am so excited and still happy as ever to be here! It is a wonderful world, and tomorrow, if I am up to it, I am going with Shira to the school she works at! Hopefully I will be able to get up and go at 6!

and the rambling begins...

2009-10-12T01:27:00.001-07:00

Wow. My timing is still off, but I'm pretty sure it's been almost 24 hours since I turned off my American phone and left my parents at the gates at Miami International Airport... After an extremely long flight to London, where the only "joy" was watching a bad movie with a shirtless Ryan Reynolds, I breathed my first taste of European air.

I was completely surprised, and confused, about the fact I had to spend every minute of my two hour layover going on trains and standing in line. Apparently, London does not trust America, and I had to go through security all over again, which took forever. By the time I journeyed on a terminal bus, up an elevator, and on a train, I got to my gate just as I was supposed to board...
But still, I loved my time in Europe, and hope I will be back soon...

I fell asleep quickly on my next flight, my eyes were closed before we even got off the ground. And after around 5 hours, I arrived in Tel-Aviv.

The first thing I noticed, having forgotten mostly about my past trips here, were how "americanized" everything is. Even the sign for the airport is written in English.
After a quick ten minute line under a sign that read "foreign passport," which could have gone much quicker, except the guy in front of me was confused, I got my luggage and became nervous about going through customs. I saw two signs, a red one and a green one, and followed the massive crowed under the green sign. I was shocked, I was already outside. Yehudah later told me that it is mostly about stereotypes here. If I look like I have something to hide, then I will be stopped.

I was shocked.

During the hour drive to Jerusalem, I also realized more about this stereotype. Yehudah explained it to me as if we were driving on a path (en route to Jerusalem from Tel-Aviv), but on the left and right is Palestinian land... So when you go through a "check-point" (if we will call it that), all they do is ask how are you. If you sound strange/look weird, they stop you. I guess it works for them, but to me it seems strange.

Yehudah and I finally arrived in Ramot, and he had to have his son come down and bring my luggage up. Who would have known my 2 HUGE HEAVY bags would have to be walked up millions of steps. I even feel bad, because some how the family I am staying with is under the impression I will be "living" here. They are assuming I will be keeping things here, and only bringing some stuff with me to Ramlah next week. I keep on trying to tell them, but I do not think they understand.

We will see...

So before I start rambling more, I'm going to go enjoy my first night in Jerusalem! It is Simcha Torah today, so Yehudah and his wife are taking me on a night tour and to a park, where people apparently dance with Torahs!

Lehitraot...