should have picked 4.

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

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?

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

Some of the kiddies at the kindergarten.

i'm glad it wasn't me.

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?

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.

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)