Anyways, here it goes……….
(Continuing from Friday the 22nd)
On Fridays our group has no activities. For those of you that don’t know, in Israel, Friday kind of part of the weekend. While some people still work/go to school, Friday is the typical day off in addition to Saturday. This Friday, my friends and I ad no plans for Shabbat dinner – so we decided to make our own! We went to the Ramla Shuk (outdoor market) and bought some fruits, vegetables, meat, potatoes, etc.
We invited over our closest friends and everyone brought a different dish. We had challah, Israeli salad, schnitzel, and many other delicious foods. We all had a great time just being together and enjoying the food.
Saturday is a rest day like in the states but in Israel, everything is closed and there is nothing to do. So a few of my friends and I went over to the community sports court where we found some young children playing basketball and some older kids playing soccer (or futball). We played some basketball with the kids until the older ones challenged us to a game of soccer. Since the main sport in Israel is soccer, they play it all the time. We didn’t stand a chance. Eventually, a retired professional soccer player joined our team and we played some close games. It was really fun to hang out with some of the local kids.
On Sunday, our group started Ulpan (Hebrew lessons). I chose to start in the beginner Ulpan like most of the people in my group. I figured that I would not remember all the Hebrew that I had learned when I was young. It turns out that my memory returned quickly and that beginner was to easy for me. I decided to give it a few days before switching. After our first Ulpan lesson, our coordinator Nir took us to some of the volunteer places that we might end up in. We saw after school centers for both Arab and Jewish kids. The Arab center seemed to be nicer than the Jewish one even though they get less support from the community.
We have Mondays off of Ulpan because the teacher takes a class of her own. That night, we learned a little bit about Israeli symbols and what they mean to the country.
On Tuesday our group was invited to a community Tu’Bishvat ceremony with some people from city hall speaking, saying prayers and singing songs. After all that, we planted some trees in the garden area and had some typical Tu’Bishvat fruits and nuts. It was a fun event that was different than what we were used to for Tu’Bishvat but very interesting.
\
Thursday was our group trip to JERUSALEM!!!!!!!!!!! This was a trip that every Oranim group in Israel went to. We got on a bus at 7:45am and headed to Jerusalem. Our day started with a stop at a great viewpoint of the city.
We moved on to a place called the peace forest where we planted trees for Tu’Bishvat (twice in one week!!!). We got in pairs and planted our trees. I planted with a friend named Judita (pronounced Yudita) from the Czech Republic. We named our tree Tubey in honor of Tu’Bishvat.
Our next stop was the old city where we had lunch in the Jewish quarter. Most of us ate at a falafel/shawarma/schnitzel combo place that was really good.
From there we headed to the City of David to walk through the tunnels that were built during David’s rule for an effective water system and eventually to be used as a military tactic. Some of us went through the water tunnel while others chose the dry one. I did the dry one because I did not bring a change of clothes or special shoes. It was really interesting to learn about the history of the tunnels and how they were used.
Our last stop of the day was back in the Old City at the Kotel. While I have been there before, I was so excited to get back and experience it again. I stopped to put on Tefillin and spent some time by myself at the wall.
A group of us had decided to spend some extra time in Jerusalem and booked a Youth Hostel for a couple nights. While it took us a really long time of searching with a heavy backpack on my back, we eventually found it. It was outside the Damascus gate – in the Arab area of town. Surprisingly, it was a really nice hostel that was comparable to a small hotel. There was a room of six girls and rooms of two and three for guys. We were all pretty happy with the accommodations. After a long time of searching for a restaurant recommended by a worker at the hostel, we gave up and headed for a main street with plenty of food places. I was starving at this point. We settled for a burger bar that was very tasty. I got some onion rings with my chicken burger and felt like I was eating at home for a short while. A few of us went to a coffee shop/bar next door while the rest went to Ben Yehuda Street to see what was going on. The coffee shop was amazing and perfect for a quiet and relaxing night. My friend Josh from home – who was my roommate in college for three years and is now at Yeshiva in Jerusalem – came to hang out with us and ended up being interrogated by my friends about his beliefs and spirituality. It was pretty funny
Shortly after that, we headed over to Ben Yehuda Street to meet up with the others and get some drinks. For those of you that don’t know, Ben Yehuda Street is a typical tourist location for bars, restaurants, and shopping. I was tired from the long day and eventually headed to the hostel for some sleep.
Friday was a pretty slow day with not much going on. We walked around the Arab quarter and spent a lot of time in the market where you can find anything from Menorahs to candy. I saw my friend Josh again who gave me a little tour before I went back to the hostel for some much needed rest. We had been told that if we needed a place for Shabbat dinner we could go to the Kotel right when Shabbat was starting and meet this guy who would set us up with a family. So we showered, got dressed, and headed over to the wall. Quick note – our shower was basically a shower head in the middle of the bathroom and I thought that was really funny. The Kotel on Friday night is an amazing sight. All of the orthodox men and yeshiva guys head over to do Kabbalat Shabbat and therefore the place is packed with praying men. It is truly Sababa (slang for cool). We got set up with a family and walked about 20 minutes uphill to their house. It was brutal. It turns out that most of the people there were American and some of them were from Columbus. On top of that, they knew the Rabbi at OSU Chabbad and one of the girls our age knew a friend of mine from school What a small world. The food was amazing – it reminded me of Chabbad. Afterwards we made the long walk back and I fell right to sleep.
On Saturdays, not much is open in Jerusalem because of Shabbat. However, the Arab markets and shops remain open. We spent the day walking around those areas and checking out the shops. We eventually climbed up to a rooftop overlooking the city, watched some kids do parkour, listened to our friend Izy play the guitar, and enjoyed the view. We were able to eat dinner at the heritage house – a Jewish youth hostel – but had to skip Havdalah to catch our bus back to Ramla. In a nutshell – we all had a great time in Jerusalem but were exhausted from the trip.
On Sunday I started the intermediate Ulpan because I found the beginners one a little too easy. My new teacher speaks entirely in Hebrew so it is definitely challenging. On Monday I went to sleep with a stomach ache, woke up around 1am and vomited 3 times over the course of a couple hours. My group coordinator took me to the local hospital and I spent the night in the emergency room. I was freezing cold and felt very weak. They gave me fluids and some medication as I fell asleep for the night. I woke up feeling better, but shaken up. I had a fever and a low blood pressure along with dizziness and weakness. They decided to keep me there for one more night. I was extremely bored with nothing to do but slept for a lot of the time. The nurses barely spoke English and didn’t make me feel to comfortable. There were a few med students who spoke English that helped me out a lot and made me feel like I was in good hands. I was released in the afternoon and went to my Mom’s cousin Carol’s house for some extra recovery time. I am writing this on Thursday and am going back to my apartment tonight. I am excited to see my friends and to be back at “home.”
If you are curious about who I live with, here is a picture of me with my roommates:
Jeff is on the far left. He is from San Diego and went to the University of Wisconsin.
To the right is Ben who was born in Cleveland, moved to Columbus, and now goes to OSU.
To the right again is Rachel who is from Annapolis, Maryland and went to Northwestern.
Yeah Big Ten!!!
Lastly is Falan (like Jimmy Fallon) who is from Boca Raton and went to Florida Atlantic University.
Also, here is a picture of Oranim Community Involvement 28 – Ramla (my group)
There have been a couple of fun things that we have done that I can’t remember when they happened and I have chosen to put them at the end. I saw Avatar finally! My personal analysis is that it didn’t live up to all the hype for me but that it was still a pretty good movie.
We went out to Tel Aviv and ate at a really nice Italian restaurant and then continued on to a cool espresso bar where I had the most amazing hot chocolate ever. We had a really nice waiter who loved Americans and gave us a free dessert. It was definitely one of the best times we have had so far and I’m sure there will be many more to come.
I apologize for the length of this post. I wanted to make sure that everyone is caught up with what I am doing.
No comments:
Post a Comment