THE LIFE OF A WANDERING JEW! PT.2.

      We wound up sleeping at the tent for the evening. it was ok a bit uncomfortable but it was ok. The next morning (Weds.) we woke up to a wonderful yemenite breakfast. With authentic yeminite bread and salad dishes. From there we as a group wound up doing what israeli's and jews do best. WANDER THROUGH THE WILDERNESS! We had 3 maps spread amongst us! and we had to navigate from the kibbutz where the tent was, to acco! OY! WE WALKED FOR ABOUT 4.5 HRS 7 + MILES we wound up stopping at a couple kibbutzim to rest we also wound up escaping from one of the kibbutz's and recorded isc's first B&E (ok not really but hey) then wound up being so tired that we wound up taking a bus the rest of the way (surprisingly enough after all that walking in those last 48 hrs I survived!!!!). once in acco we wound up hiking to the shuk where we found seid's humus and had had humus and pita and a humus and tahini mix dish. it was supposed to be the best humus in the area. i wasnt really thrilled with it all but pita was nice. after eating we had a chance to wander around the shuk and shop if we wanted. it was really nice how ever the shops were closing early for prayer time.

       After all that we wound up taking the train back home and getting home to a nice cool house. we were all hot sweaty, and STINKY!! YES I SAID IT! STINKY!! today has been a pretty relaxed day for once. the only really going on is some of us is going to kfar sabah for training for oranim. Oh and we get a new guy to the house. which should be intersting i'm excited we are planing to mess with him a bit. whether we'll go through with it or not who knows! We all have our mixed feelings about it all b/c he is coming in two weeks in and the group dinamic is already pretty tight. we've bonded and we're practically family! well thats it for now! nothing else to really report. tomarrow i'm going to anat's ( for those who don't know who that isit is a friend of mine from rishon latzion she was the israel fellow @ Cleveland's hillel) for shabbas dinner with her  fam. and then Mon. going to a family wedding (it's orthodox) so in the next posting I'll tell all!! Till next time though people! stay healthy! and stay happy! PEACE!!!

THE LIFE OF THE WANDERING JEW! PT.1!

   Well its been a interesting few days to say the least! lets start back to friday friday was nice. Friday was we went to a kind of elderly day care center of sorts, and wound up playing some bingo with them it was pretty interesting especially considering they didn't really know any english so my hebrew skills had to somewhat come into play. the women i was with were very entertaining and might I say the elderly here have it pretty nice at the center... hell they have a tv room with a huge flat screen tv and massage reclining chairs gallore! after that we had some free time to our selves and wound up just relaxing.  later that evening I was envited to Bella's house. Bella is the pres. of the rotery club here in Ramla a nice woman. it was her and most of her fam minus a child and their kids. The grand kids were so adorable. there was one she must have been 7-8, and she was trying to play a game of astronaut it was adorable even though it was all in hebrewk and i barely understood her. it was entertaining to see her imagination. saturday we really didnt do much. mostly hung out and relaxed. sunday pretty much did the same but in the evening we wound up going to tel-aviv to chill.

       Now the title doesn't lie I was a wandering jew for the past few days. starting monday. we started out in taking a train early morning to benyamina to meet up with the tiberias group. From there we went to cesarea! to the ancient ruins there and we did some group building activities. from there we went to the kinneret cemetery and learned about the first aliyah the pioneers of the country. there we saw the graves of Naomi Shemer who wrote the famous song and technically the second national anthem of israel 'Yerushelaim shel zahav' 'jerusalem of gold', and the grave of Rachel a amazing poet of her time! she wrote a lot of peoms of love and the love of the land. apparently theres a special box inattached to the grave and in the box there's a book of her poems. And it is known that on nights of a full moon couples have been known sit there at the grave side and recite poems to one another. after that we went to tiberias where we settled into the tiberias's groups house it was pretty decent. in the evening we went to dinner and then to a bar/club and met up with a canadian birthright trip nothing really exciting there. tues we wound up on a 4 hr hikethrough the north, and in a cave and might I say i had a winnie the pooh moment. ok so i was able to fit through the tight and small tunnel out. but having to pike down and basically millitary crawl out of the tunnel. it was a good laugh. after the hike we went to naharia and wound up going shopping for food for dinner later that night.... TO BE CONTINUED

Is it just me? or is it hot as hell out here!

Shalom from israel! I've been here for 3 days now and OY is it crazy! I arrived here Monday afternoon and boy did they not waiste time... I arrived here only to be rushed to the house in Ramla (which for those who don't know is about 20 min south east of Tel-Aviv) only to be greeted by the rest of the group from ramla and tiberious! at which point Erez who is a awesome guy and momo also a cool yet semi intimidating guy, oriented us to the program and welcomed us properly.

    The fun didn't stop there though that night we ( the ramla group) went to tel-aviv to a bar with one of the groups associates todd called Cafe Noga. It was a nice pool hall, and the bartender erez was also cool. that night we didn't get home till about 2 or 3 but i didn't fall asleep till ohh... 5-530 am. only to wake up at 830 to the sounds of bob marely. which was kinda funny. That morning (tuesday) We were graced by our city coordinater Chava (who is really awesome) and a few other women from the area. and they cooked us a wonderful breakfast for us. afterward we all went on a city wide scavenger hunt and each place pertained to things that we can and will be doing around town. which was really cool and interesting.  after that in the evening the house mates had some people over but i wound up meeting with a ole' friend of mine Anat who I haven't seen in a few months it was like old times! she took me to a different part of tel-aviv and we grabed a bite to eat and caught up on eachothers lives. I miss her it was great seeing her though.

       this morning though I got to finally sleep in till 11:30 WOOOHOOOO!!! it felt great at which point we had a city person come over with chava. and they talked about our volunteer oppertunities! and then they left and we had our first house meeting talking about rules and necessaties shopping wise. after the meeting a few of us took a nice 3 hr walk. YES I SAID it 3 HRS! TODAY AND DURING THE SCAVENGER HUNT! HELL THATS ALL I HAVE BEEN DOING AND YES I HAVE LIVED TO TALK ABOUT IT! HAHAHAHA!!!! to do some shopping and went to get some pretty good falafel. in the evening we went and met up with tthe cities rottery club and went to kfar bi'lu which is a moshav that harvest some amazing passion friut. it was really really good! and then we came back and here i am.

It's been a really great experience thus far.. I am really enjoying myself and my house mates are really cool! I'm really looking forward to the next few months there definitely seems to be a lot of promise for what we are doing! well people thats it for now! i have to be up in a few hours for another crazy day at the office but till then everyone stay cool! and keep it real! Peace out till next time! B'shalom,

Zac,

oy what a week!

Well its definitely been a crazy week to say the least! to start off the wedding on sunday was beautiful!! My friend beth looked beautiful in her dress... it was a nice simple ceremony, they had a live band and everything. i must say though it was wonderful to have my laura there!  we danced and had a great time together! and might i say WE LOOKED PRETTY DAMN GOOD!

    This week is almost over and my departure draws closer! oy! I know some people and i don't even want to think about that but its the reality of the time... i feel like everything isn't fully ready for my trip i feel like i am missing things, granted i know i can get things when i am there but even so. Time is going by way to fast. i'm ready for this adventure and this experience. i'm going to have to savor the experience. i'm going to miss everyone here and they know who they are. but they know that i will be returning to them soon!!! I love you all and I will see y'all soon.

till next time which will be from the wonderful land of israel!!

B'SHALOM,

ZAC

a time i never thought would come

well this is a day that I have been looking forward to for a while now! It's my best friends wedding tonight. I'm very happy for her, she has gone through so much in her life the last 8 years or so. I'm glad she has finally found someone! he's a nice guy, I think they will be fine with one another. its a black tie affair yes i said black tie, and that means tux or suit with black tie. well i went with the tux, it'll be the first time i've worn a tux since i was 11 at my big brother kip's wedding! oy. the good news is i've lost some weight and might look half way decent in it.

       well on the flip side its scary to think that literally in a week I am going to be on my way to the aretz ( israel) am i nervous yes... But I feel like I'm up for the challenge... BRING IT ON! Its nice actually I've already been talking to some of the crew thats going to be in the house with me. they seem cool and seems like we would get along pretty well. I've already been invited to a friends house in israel for the holidays which is wonderful and I am very greatful to her and her family It will be an honor and pleasure to be a part of the families holiday hospitality.  well thats it for right now more to come over the next week or so. till next time people! Peace out!!!

 

THE MADNESS!! THE MAYHEM!!

Well it is officially 12 days till I leave and things couldn't get crazier! Right now I'm stressing out over my trip, and getting ready for it has just been just nuts! ok I may be exaggerating a bit on that but at times it feels a bit over whelming. Just the thought of it approaching really fast has engolfed the mind with all these thoughts of whether I have everything, what else do I need to buy for this trip? just the thought of packing is someting I really havn't truly thought about. but I'm slowly but surly getting things done. today I started taking a tally of what I have, and go from there!

    In other news I'm presently finishing up my hebrew class at the local college. unfortunately I'm not getting much out of it. granted yes I'm getting something but not enough. the pace is a bit slow and the level of work and stuff is a bit below me, however if i were to go to the next level up it would be above and beyond me, so i guess i basically have to stick it out. its only a few more days... oy!!!

     also I would like to thank the guys DJ and Brett and my girlfriend Laura for a wonderful fun day yesturday. they took me to the WWE house show in Akron OH. Where saw some great action and Laura took some wicked Awesome pictures! not only that we went to see "I now pronounce you chuck and larry" which I have to admit was pretty good had some good laughs. thank you guys for doing that for me we had a blast can't wait raise more hell when I get back with you all. and Laura thank you for coming along it was a great time! love ya babes! well people thats it for now. But don't fret, I will keep everyone posted and up to date with everything. Till next time. Peace out!!!