A PATH TO LEADERSHIP AND THEN SOME

shalom chevreh! Well where to start? first off i finally started my volunteering here in ramla. not exactly what i wanted to do but ok. so mondays and weds i'm presently working at the elderly center teaching them how to use the computer. its pretty fun and interesting to talk to some of them. sun and tues i work in a after school program doing what ever i can. and then monday and thursday evening i'm tutoring kids in english. which should be interesting!

    last week was my first week at the after school program. on tuesday they had a small ceremony comemorating the hebrew date of former prime minister Yitzhak Rabins death. they sang , read poems, and did a dance it was pretty nice... however on next monday the 4th of Nov. I will be traveling to Tel-aviv for his camemoration of his english date. which should be interesting and nice.

   Weds. was my last day working at oranim...:-( it was ok kind of a slow day but whatever... thursday i left for a three day conference in Jerusalem on leadership specially for masa! there was about 47 or so people there. thursday night and during this day we were in seminars and in the evening we went to downtown jerusalem, for a scavenger hunt it was pretty fun. learned some new hebrew words, and went up and down ben yahudah it was pretty lively there. there was a group of people doing some kapa rara the brazilian martial arts. which was pretty cool. 

   friday we took a feild trip of the leaders! meaning we went to mount herzel, there we saw herzel,Rabin, jibatinski, and golda meirs graves. and then went through the museum dedicated to herzel and his cause it was pretty interesting.and then we went to the Menachem Begin center and learned about his legacy and how he was a leader. friday night we had a great dinner and a more seminars. saturday again a bunch of seminars. and then came home... it was interesting the key speakers on thursday and friday some how had a connection to me. the one man on thursday he was a former shaliach in tulsa.. i gave a little wooohoo! he wound up figuring i was from there and joked i have a lot of tulsa jokes i could tell. Itold him im sure i've heard them all...friday we heard from a guy who went to case western in cleveland i'm thinking geez what next? someone who's from balitmore and knows my mom?lol but it was nice.

   Sunday really didnt do much until the evening where Anat and I wound up going to Mikes place!! now for those who don't know what mikes place is which is all of you! Mikes is a american owned bar in tel-aviv and also jerusalem. so the menu is your typical american bar style menu. and they had the pats. and skins game woohooo!!! it was nice and regreshing.and the one in tel-aviv is right next to the american embassy! so i felt right at home!

   this week to look forward to is tomarrow a housemate and i are going to be judging a talent contest at the after school program.. and then weds we are having a halloween party here at the house and have no clue what i will be if anything. and then finally thurs i will be going to see hadag nachash a israeli band. I'm excited! i'm seriously looking forward to it!! well thats pretty much it from here! till next time people Peace from the middle east!

WHAT I'M DOING HERE,TRIP TO RISHON, CARMEL, THE MOST BEAUTIFUL THING EVER!

 

 

Well ladies and gentleman I'm sorry its been a while but let me catch you up a little bit on my life here in Ramla.lets start with the new beginnings. So I finally found things that I will be doing for volunteering in a elderly center helping with various activities however my main goal is to document a few of them some who were here in the beginning of the country and those who survived the holocaust and came over. which should be interesting to here their life stories. the other thing I am doing, is over seeing the English tutoring courses at a after school program for kids. it should be interesting this will for sure be a first. but I'm looking forward to it. Also erez put me with partnership 2000 and they want me to write some free lance articles on interesting happenings in ramla. and also translate articles from the papers here and then they will be sent to Kansas city to give them a taste of what's really going on here.

   last week I took a interesting trip to rishon letzion where I met up with Anat. in the morning and we walked around rishon a bit. first to a little out door market, along a <SPANCLASS=CORRECTION id="">strip mall, then to a actual mall for lunch, then she showed me a few historical sights in the area one was the FIRST Hebrew school in all of Israel. it was a nice experience things you don't see everyday. a few days later as a group we went to the Carmel region. we first went to the ayalon aqua ducts got a little wet but it was fun. then we went to a dru's market in a city near by. yeeaaaahh that was interesting. so we get off the bus to only be met by this one guy who approach's us he's like come see my store my family my glass the jewelry my girls makes them selves in the mean time the girls are taking necklaces out of their packets. and the glass was not made by him and was already packaged. then i walked along and found a place with soccer stuff. i saw a beitar Jerusalem jersey i asked if he had a jersey my size. he brings me a jersey a 2 xl ( it was a kids 2xl.) he said try it on i said no its ok. he persisted so i tried it on THE DAMN THING WAS SKIN TIGHT! he insisted it fit i told him it might fit my sister but sure as hell not me!! then we went to Baron de' Rothchilds park/grave it was amazing there we also met some elderly people and heard their life stories a bit as they passed by.

    after that we went to this park were we to a little hike through the hills. saw some cows and some trees very pretty. we got to the top and there was a balcony overlook and the view of the Carmel mountains werejust amazing. right behind the over look was a camp site where we wound up staying in the hostel there we cooked a mean bbq meal and made a fire for some smores. mmmmmmmmmmmm mallow's and chocolate... the next day we made our way to the chai bar (a animal preserve) there we helped dig ditch's for make shift ponds for salamanders what fun that was not!!!

   Israel... a beautiful yet very dry, humid, and HOT LAND! tonight was the night that i along with everyone else was waiting for. and night that will live on the greatest night yet.... THE FIRST RAIN!!!! It was amazing it  got cloudy and pretty quick tonight. and it finally happened at 11:30 and the sound of pattering on the window sill was music to my ears. I opened the window and sure enough rain! I wound up going outside basking in it letting it fall on me. you know living in a dry country like this you learn to never take rain for granted. rain here is something we look forward to or at least i do!! it was the greatest feeling ever just letting it drop on my face and hands..mmmm... glorious rain!!! other than that nothing else has gone on. hope all is well everyone is happy and healthy. mom dad and Laura i love you all i miss you! Jacob i hope you are staying out of trouble... Shira how's things in nature? to the grandma skonlik and mom tzemach said hi he had some kind of surgery the other week on his throat i want to say but he is on the road to recovering. till next time all peace from the middle east!!!

 

 

   

SIMCHAT TORAH AND OTHER REFLECTIONS

    Simchat torah such a joyous occation it is the end and the begining of a new cycle of the torah. even though I didn't have the chance to do what I had dreamed of doing by going to Jerusalem, I went to Pinat shorashim (mentioned in a previous blog) for simchat torah. It was a fun experience there. there was students from HUC (jerusalem campus) and high school students from NFTY EIE, and monks (yes i said monks) from a local monestary! and they all were there for the celibration. we were also graced with the presence of the first and third ordained female rabbi's in israel for our service. it was a great time. lots of singing and dancing. there was also a nice celebration here in ramla at the park with was huge. about 100+ jews food from neighboring business, and a dj. it was fun and intense.

     Yesturday I had my first movie experience here in israel. now that was interesting. i went to see chuck and larry with anat, so one the seats were asigned which was different, two there was a 5-10 minute intermission inthe middle of the movie which was a little odd yet kinda smart. it was a time for the people to go buy more food and treats. it was kinda messed up though. there was a bunch of arsim ( hoolagans) they were causing a rukus and were messing with the girls there, and throwing stuff, and two got into a little scuffle. yeah thats something to remember other wise it was calm and a good movie. good times good times. 

Well its shabbas right now in israel only for a few more hours. and thankfully the holidays are over. but i must say its been a experience, as i knew it would be. i can tell you that the holidays and shabbas here are completely different then what it is in america. i honestly you can sense things in the country is completely different. think about it. life in america during the holidays... lets start with rosh hashanah and yom kippur. on both holidays in israel everything shuts down. nothing is moving. everyone goes to services and then on rosh hashanah rest or visit friends and fam. and relax. no one is driving nothing, and yom kippur you're in either services or sleeping all day. in america we are going to services going and visiting friends and fam. but it seem like we are always on the go. sukkot is a festive time here. there's festivals of all kinds allover the country. people are traveling around and also camp out a lot. in the states ok yeah, they are having sukkahs built and they have meals and little parties there. but thats mostly it. and shabbas... wow there's a huge difference here in israel they get the true meaning of the day of rest. its this feeling in the atmosphere. everything stops, nothing is going on. it is a day were people are mostly home relaxing reading reflecting, taking walks, sleeping, its a peaceful and serene day. you can feel it you can sence it. in the states you can't sence it on shabbas its as if life goes on, everyone is on the move, in a rush, doing things, theres no rest in the u.s.  I'm feeling pretty relaxed and at peace here. well thats it for now i hope all is well.  also what the hell is with the indians rolling through the yanks when i'm gone!?!? oh well! GO TRIBE!! STAY SAFE STAY HAPPY AND STAY HEALTHY!!! TILL NEXT TIME PEACE FROM THE MIDDLE EAST!!!

 

SUKKOT AND THEN SOME pt. # 2

So when I left you last I'm sure getting hungry hehe just kidding. So lets start from where I had left off. which was I was leaving tel-aviv and after a bit of Relaxation at the house I met up with Merav and the fam. to go to a art's like festival in a place called Shoham which is a nice little city between Tel-aviv and Jerusalem. there was a kids story teller, a acrobatic group, a couple of musicians, and a miming interprutive dance troup (which was cheese). but that wasn't why i went. I went for once reason and one reason only... A FREE IDAN RAICHAL CONCERT!!! Ok so most of you are wondering who the hell Idan raichal is... well he is a well know israeli ethiopean folk singer and songer writer. he has taken some no name singers who wouldnt have gotten the time of day, and made them famous.

     HIs concerts are entertaining in them selves. It's interesting how he went from being popular with mostly the young crowd to also no the more middle aged  crowd ( i think its a hippie thing) his sound is kinda trancic. and people are dancing on the side all (i dont know how you would describe it) kinda tripped out hippie tracic like (if you catch my drift). its interesting to watch to say the least its like they are like on this tripped out seizure like dance i dont know how to describe it. but it was cool it was my second time seeing him in israel and def. not my last. Well thats mostly it from here for now.. I'm trying to figure out how to go to Jerusalem for simchat torah tomarrow but it doesnt seem like it'll happen. :-( sigh oh well... well till next time all everyone stay healthy happy and have a joyous holiday. till next time peace out from the middle east!!!!

  

SUKKOT AND THEN SOME pt. #1

   It is time now for the next thrilling edition of what the hell is going on in my life here in Israel hehe! well as you all know it is sukkot just another break for us but a pretty good and fun one at that! well to start out as per-usual I went to shuki's carmela's family's sukkah for the first night which as always in israel is a crazy feast in the least. there was like 20 peopel in the sukkah it was pretty good. Thursday was great I wound up traveling to rishon lezion to meet up with my friend hadar for lunch with her fam. ok yes i'm being spoiled while here hehe! it was great seeing her again i missed her a lot as i do everything else in cleveland (love you laura). I really didn't do much saturday however sunday i wound up going to tel-aviv to visit an old friend from my last trip here. her and I wound up going to burger bar mmmmmmm yum! it was kinda funny how that was what we got b/c it was the last place i went to and ate in israel on my last trip. god the memories. we had a nice lunch and she actually told me that one of the other guys from the trip trip is coming in a couple weeks. I told her we have to have a mini reunion!!! it was nice catching up with her.

    Monday i wound up volunteering for like this carnival that was put on at one of the community center's working a climbing bouncy thing. may i just say that kids here are f'n (sorry for cursing) nuts!! the kids one don't know the meaning of a line let alone one at a time! (rolling eyes) along with that both jon ( one of the housemates) and i both had to break up a fight each. it was a hell of a day to say the least.

    which now brings us to today. this morning i wound up meeting Anat in tel-aviv. we wound up going to sheinken street to the shuk and also looking at this street art market they had there. some of the peices were pretty impressive to say the least! we then walked to dizengoff center which was a huge mall, it was kinda over whelming but we got lunch there. ***to be continued***hehe