joining the army!

So we officially moved out of the mercaz today, and as of tomorrow I'll be volunteering for three weeks on an army base somewhere up in the north, probably near Lebanon (update: as a matter of fact we are actually building a fence on the Lebanese border). Safe I know right. I do get to wear uniform....and shoot a gun. Exciting shit. I won't be on much, if at all during that time, don't be too sadddddd. Hope I don't die, but if I do you can ask Amanda for my parents address to send flowers.

ENJOIIIII

love,
Anne

if you haven't heard

I'm coming home for a visit!!!

actually officially I am going home to have an interview with George Mason, but after those 45 minutes are over I have 9 days to see everyone

obviously this is OOC (out of control) and GIT (get into it)


Countdown Clocks at WishAFriend.com

February 29th, fucking mark that down

yours,

A PE G-P

the "List"

so I know some of you have been hearing about my infamous list for weeks now

(this of course being the itemized list of things that I miss in America)

well here it is, this time in no particular order (and of course to be appended as necessary)

- Subway
- Autumn
- seasons in general
- Starbucks

- Starbucks seasonal beverages (pumpkin spiced latted, what)
- drip coffee
- Halloween
- Thanksgiving
- Chipotle
- waiting in line
- drivers, to include ones from Maryland (yeah I mean it that much)
- soup in the can!
- cheddar cheese (I heard you can get it here but I'm sure it isn't yellow, nor does it have renin in it so it doesn't count)
- cilantro (also apparently obtainable, though not anywhere I've seen)
- accessibility to international cuisines
- the east coast

- the wild west
- the north east
- the south east
(not the west coast, ha! take that, I've still got regional pride)
- a good and properly made mixed drink
- oh I don't know maybe service in a restaurant
- marked prices on anything, ever
- the Food Network
- Bravo
- normal release dates for movies
- black people
- spanish people
- other ethnicities who aren't Jewish
- BAGELS (shocking but true)
- cream cheese (schmear right I know, come on)
- Lindsay Lohan (lilo I miss you girl, and your dramz)
- getting my groceries bagged (Wegmans, Wegmans, Wegmans)
- the option of more than 4 kinds of beer at a bar
- pinot grigio
- instructions, for anything
- non-kosher pizza
- non-kosher restaurants
- salmon from alaska
- crab meat (I know I know I'm a bad bad Jew)
- Wegmans again
- not having to squeegie my bathroom floor after showering
- not having to turn on the dude (hot water heater) a half hour (or ever) before showering
- central heat and air
- delis
- goyim!!!
- target
- not having to download tv
- Sonic!

- Chick-fil-a
- my cellphone/Verizon
- BIG cities, GODOL cities
- rivers (I've gotten some shit for this one, but it's my list, I like rivers, get over it)
- my facewash
- my shampoo and hair products
- US electrical outlets
- ovens
- real mattresses (some of these just happen to have to do with my current conditions)
- ice in your drinks
- deli meats (Boars Head)
- the beef and chicken prepackaged meats at the grocery store, not that waiting to watch you grind my beef in the same machine you use to grind chicken isn't fun


Please feel free to leave comments adding things to this list, I know I'm for sure not done

Of course don't take this to mean I don't care about Irael, desserts here are far superior. Like f-ing get into chocolate in this country because you'll probably want to die it's unreal. I've also come to enjoy green olives, corn and real home-grown conservative ideals I never happened to find in the U.S. of A.

gam (also)
two other fun factz!

1. z is called zed in australia (and apparently england)
2. Americans wear black low top chucks; conversely (converse, HAR HAR!) Brazilians wear white low top chucks

dairy meal

so I'm currently at the Judean Hostel in Jerusalem, on our politics and society seminar, and all I can think about is how delicious the cake was tonight at dinner. It was a dairy meal so it had MILK in it, non of ths parv brownie shit....now all I'm thinking is how different these thoughts are from my normal life. Who the fuck worries about meat and dairy meals and whether or not your cake is going to have milk in it. Well apparently us.

Interesting side note the parv mashed potatoes were significantly better than the dairy ones.

tripping on ecstasy in jerusalem

UPDATE

So early last week Serena, Jordan, Aliza, Jessica and I went to Bet Shemesh to check out our new digs, and might I say pretty sweet apt. We have a pull-out couch, an OVEN, a large fridge, real mattresses, a MICROWAVE, AC/heat, wi-fi, and get this a fucking maid once a month. They also gave us a couple of bikes to use. SaWEET. Besides the fact that Bet Shemesh is currently in an uproar because the ultra orthodox population has been stoning cars on shabbat, and have been rioting, the city seems beautiful and super close the Jerusalem (which I really can't get enough of). The volunteer opportunities seemed to be pretty cool. Working with kids mostly at schools and libraries. I also might be getting a Hebrew tutor....this is most necessary. Apparently when ranking our abilities I came in 1 out of 5...shocking (not). You can't win them all now can you. Oh and because food is topic of most of my conversations let me plleassee tell you about the lunch we had. My dear lord, we went to this guys house in one of the moshavim in the area, he's a junk metal sculptor and his artwork was really very interesting to look at (especially his take on events, like say 9/11 or the disengagement, a little surprising to say the least to see a giant metal replica of the twin towers mid attack, planes and all). After he gave us a small tour of their home and his work, and a description of his past (Kurdish from Iraq) we went into the main home for a traditional meal his wife prepared. Course after course of the most deliciousness. A meat pastry soup, salads, this un-fucking-real rice dish with lentils (she explained how she made it, so simple, I think she's lying), oh even the water, it had mint and sugar and lemons in it. Refreshing. Oh what about the meat, this brisket was like falling apart it was so soft and delicious, I think it might have actually found a way to melt in my mouth with out my chewing...maybe I'm remembering incorrectly, but I don't think so. I can't even keep talking about it....moving on...

so that weekend we had an educational day in -
East Jerusalem: So we started out on the tayelet over looking the old city. It happened to be some special religious day for Ethiopian Jews so there was a lot of balagan around. It was pretty cool. Our new funky educator for the day, no joke, started out by passing out incense for everyone to light, I think there might have been some sort of actual tie in. I'm not sure anyone caught it, and I did actually overhear him say that he originally wanted to hand out sacarin tablets and make us all take them like ecstasy so we would really "loose ourselves" during the day. I think it was then that I remembered this guy was fucking weird. He actually titled the educational day "tripping on ecstasy in Jerusalem", hence the blog name, nice huh. Apparently something to do with his past...I obviously couldn't figure out what that might be. Either way it was definitely the right place to start the tour, the view was amazing you could see everything. We then headed for the old city, toured around the Southern Wall steps , I think we might have meditated, who knows I was far more interested in taking in the sights myself than trying to force a hokey sense of spirituality on myself in front of 50+ other people. We watched a video, it had graphics, I think Eric might have drawn them himself. That area has been excavated to show the original road of ancient Jerusalem and highlights what the city must have looked like. Cool shit.

From there we had some free time at the Kotel to reflect, pray,and eat lunch (bagels!!) I obviously sat in the corner eating my delicious tuna bagel (on everything) and stared at all of the kitties running around (Dganit told me I'm not allowed to play with them, I'd like to say I'm a responsible enough adult to know that on my own....but something tells me the reminder didn't hurt). From our time at the Kotel we had about 8 minutes to group together to re-go through security so that we could enter the Temple Mount within the time slot allotted to visitors. Obviously the higher ups think this is a good idea. Mark gave us some more history on the area, information about Al-Aqsa mosque as compared to The Dome of the Rock (Al-Aqsa was built when a particular caliph felt that the idea of praying to the rock and not in the direction of Mecca was detrimental to Islam, sooo Al-Aqsa faces the South instead). The area is so incredibly peaceful and serene, in my opinion a much better atmosphere for prayer than the chaos of the Kotel. No one asked me my opinion though, so I guess it doesn't matter. Both mosques are beautiful, but there certainly is no denying that the Dome of the Rock is one of the most magnificent structures I've ever seen. The mosaics on the sides are unreal, and there is an overwhelming sense of somethingness there, if that makes any sense. I'm not even suggesting a higher power, maybe just a greater human connection in those moments we spent there. I wish we'd had more time there, but we did what we could, scurrying around the buildings snapping as many pictures as possible (luckily Lauren had time to switch settings, otherwise we'd be stuck with AUTOMATIC!) So being Jews and all we aren't allowed in either of the mosques, buuut Nikki's brother did manage to snap a phot of the actual rock through the window, I'm not sure I'm supposed to be looking at it, but I'll post it anyways, DUH..

From there we trekked it through the old city to the Christian Quarter to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Oh you know just the place that Jesus was crucified and buried. The Sepulchre being the actual cave he was buried in. This church is so intense, one because it's so holy all sorts of different Christian sects are all over being in charge, so that basically means there are like 40 different sanctuaries and sets of rules. I also got to go to the center of the universe, i.e. this urn in the Greek Orthodox sanctuary that is literally thought to be the center of creation or something along those lines. Because of all the dispute between the warring sects there isn't much change in the decorum of the church, so it's an interesting look. Lots of gold and silver medallions and sculpture as well as huge ornate paintings. Pretty interesting stuff.

Finally to end our intense day we continued our travels in East Jeru to the Mount of Olives. The mount is where religious Jews aspire to be buried, because with the coming of the messiah they are the first to be brought into heaven, fully intact from their graves. We concluded the day with the opposite view of the old city than that of the tayelet. This view was equally as spectacular, it was also freezing like seriously freezing, I thought I might perhaps die. I of course didn't, but they did make us walk through the cometary to get to our bus. SPOOKY.


Gala: Last night we, the girls and I living in Bet Shemesh, went to a gala event for the partnership cities (South Africa, DC and Bet Shemesh). We listened to a bunch of speeches, I had no idea what they were about, but I did have some vino so it seemed a fair trade. We listened to some local students play some classical music. I'm not sure I've ever taken the time to mention it but I absolutely love the sound of the violin, I could listen to those jamz all G.D. day. Now the kid who was playing it i could have lived without, he had this hair that I'm not sure I could explain even if this entire entry was about it. Suffice it to say that it was like a mullet that curled out at the ends. Strange. Oh did I mention it was greasy...well it was. I actually ran into my host mother while I was there. AWKWARD, she asked me why I hadn't called in months, when I tried to pass that on to her she told me she's called like a million times she just had my number wrong...whoops. I'm glad there are no pictures of the evening, otherwise you'd actually be seeing me singing along and enjoying myself, I even got up and danced with a bunch of crazy Jews. I even heard I was smiling. It must have been the wine...or maybe I'm learning to enjoy myself, no the wine, that's it. After the good times and warm chocolate cake I introduced myself to a few peoples who seemed important, got myself invited to like 30 seperate homes for shabbat, and actually made plans to see my host mother again. From there we hopped into a van and headed back off to the desert, sigh - but we'll be there soon enough.


this weekend of course is our politics and society seminar...no worries only spending shabbat in the West Bank. No big deal or anything, GREEN LINE. Before that though we do get to go to the Knesset, Israeli House of Parliment. I can wear crocs, but only if they are black or blue...duh.

http://www.masaisrael.org/Masa/English/Anne+Alexander a quick little article I wrote for the MASA seminar I've been partaking in, only if you care of course.

fun times

NEWz updates!!!

So this past weekend Lauren, Leore and I went down to Tel Aviv for an AMERICAN style Halloween. It was in every single way every single thing that I needed. People were in COSTUME. Fabulous. Ours were of course stupid, I was Lauren, she was Leore and Leore was me. Obviously no one understood it, obviously we got endless pleasure out of acting like one another all night (as if we haven't already adopted every part of one anothers personalities already...but this gave us an excuse finally.) There was a pre-party at Lyndsey's apartment and the apartment across the way and then all of their friends (who are all studying at Sackler the American Med-school program at TAU and who also obv couldn't miss the best day of the year) had organized a party at this place called Liquor Bar. After somehow talking ourselves into being lost, so we were FORCED to stop for ice cream and I drunk dialed my mom we finally managed to walk across the street and actually enter the bar. I'd love to recount the events of the evening for you from there but all I realistically remember is broken glass, cigarettes (I know I quit, so sue me), the Hulk, and Karnaf (shut up only this like phenomenal meat sandwich restaurant thing place that I'm not sure how I never knew about until now, it's like the Chipotle of Israel). Well next thing I know I woke up...there are pictures - most of which are embarrassing, this one isnt.Leore, Lauren, Anne (respectively)

The rest of the weekend involved walking from food to food, to food to chocolate, to dessert to food, at one point someone promised me a bag of kittens, they didn't follow through....sigh, ummm anyways - oh and no one letting me watch Shakespeare in Love, I mean really what were we doing that was just so important I just couldn't possibly have ever watched that damned movie. Oh that's right eating and napping, my b. Although we were able to peel ourselves off of the couch long enough to check out the memorial to Yitzak Rabin in Rabin Square. No joke 150,000 people showed up - it was unreal to see that many people flood the streets to pay their respects to the late Prime Minister, even 12 years after his death. And did you know that the man who killed him (a fellow Jew who murdered him at a peace rally in '95, if you were unaware) has scheduled his son's bris on the day Rabin died - reminds me not to forget people really aren't all good, Jews kill Jews over peace - speaks volumes.

On the horizon:
Tuesday I'm headed off to Bet Shemesh (literally House of Sun) Washington D.C.'s partnership 2000 sister city, where I'll be living come January 2nd. Checkin out the pad and seeing some volunteer opportunities - pretty psyched about that. And here's the clincher Thursday we are basically having the most amazing, like seriously AMAZING (legit capitalization here) educational day (no not with Jared the funky educator like you were obv thinking, someone new). We are going to the Kotel (boring over it - Just kidding), the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, and the Dome of the Rock (you know the gold dome building everyone sees in pictures of Jerusalem, it's probably all you know of Israel). This is a huge deal it's in East Jerusalem, not many people, well of the non-muslim persuasion, ever get to go there. Seeing as it's not exactly in the safest place ever being in East Jeru and all.

Here's a little background if you didn't know: Kotel = Western/Wailing wall, the only remaining wall of the 2nd temple and the holiest place for Jews. Church of the Holy Sepulchre is where Jesus was said to have been crucified, and where he was buried (so I suppose the X-ians might find that important). Dome of the Rock would be literally the rock on which Muhammad ascended to Heaven after having flown on a magic horse to Jerusalem from Mecca; and for Judaism it's the stone at the place where Abraham was sent when God requested him to sacrifice his son Isaac, it's also the Temple Mount and is speculated that the rock was the Holy of Holies where the Ark of the Covenant was placed in the First Temple. It was also used in the Second Temple days during Yom Kippur services and Rabbinc legend tells that the entire world was created from this rock. So as you can imagine these three places are pretty fucking important to a large percentage of the world. (thanks Wikipedia for summing that up for me succinctly, it's paraphrased not completely stolen...because I'm creative!!!)

Other news:
Security update, we've been banned from Peki'in. Something about a cellular tower causing cancer, the Druze being mad at the Jews, a Police woman being kidnapped and chickens. Whatever I can't go there any more. Also there is the forthcoming peace agreement in Annapolis between the US, Israel and Palestine....keep your ears open for that.

Wrap Up:
Things are going well, but I've always got to remind myself that that isn't always the case. In my personal life, in my life as a Jew and in my life as an Israeli (for the time being - I'm still on to you Israel, I know what you want from me)--don't worry about that of course that's just where I causally bring up my conspiracy theory.

Irrationally yours,
A PE PG

FINALLY

so for the last week ive been sans the INTERNETZ. yes its been horrible and quite frankly, as many otzmanikim can attest, ive been loosing my mind...something to the effect of a government conspiracy. Anyways point being my laptop is back in some sort of working order after hours of hard labor and many sheqalim im online GET INTO IT!!!

Duh!

So just a quick little update, I have of course been re-instated in class, as well as the other 4 students. After two fabulous morning meetings we are back to the status quo.

Besides that I went to my second volunteer site, Be'er Sova, the soup kitchen/restaurant this evening. It was awesome, we set up the place, served the families (in evreet of course, because we are talmidim tovim) and set out the activity we had created for them. We made a giant puzzle on poster board, cut it up and had everyone color it however they wanted and then they had to piece it together themselves. The mothers worked with the children and it was a pretty moving experience. I don't how I would be dealing with living here if I didn't get to be involved with opportunities like this.









Anne

BANNED!

You read that correctly, banned, ME, from ulpan! We'll get there, but let's start at a convenient place...the beginning.

So since we last chatted (that is what we do, you and I, it's a dialog, I just happen to talk a lot) I've just been hanging 'round the mercaz, stayed here for a second weekend in a row. I've yet to figure out what kind of logic I applied to come up with that decision, but such as life. Thursday night a few of us (the cute ones of course, orrr just the ones who also opted to stay here in Be'er Sheva) decided to go late night bowling. So after my test in ulpan (you know while I was still invited to attend class), which I obviously aced *edit - aced here could mean many different things, not all of which are positive* I thought it pertinent to quickly drink something along the lines of exactly 6 Stella's (good choice right, and a .2% higher alcohol content than Carlsburg, not that I looked), put on the best damned bowling outfit I could find, toasted Michaela and had an entire beer bottle explode onto my adorable cowboy sheets (operative word BOTTLE , that means glass...everywhere, in small shards, ugh I had to wash my sheets...well I mean for the first time...and three days later once Sharon got home from her sensible weekend on the OUTSIDE and I couldn't realistically sleep in her bed any more), and headed to HaBig - which honestly has turned out to have the solution to all of life's problems. It is quite possibly the largest strip mall I've about ever seen, and I've never seen so many knock off American store chains like best buy (lowercase letters obviously, they wouldn't want to be cited for copyright infringement, they are two DIFFERENT companies, with the same name that sell virtually the exact same things, it's coincidence). Anyways of course above the grocery store is a pool hall, which not that we need another aside in this drawn out blog, but pool tables in Israel must be at least twice the size of a regulation size table and the balls smaller, in a completely unrelated matter they charge you for the balls by the hour...ANYWAYS again, next to the pool hall is a bowling alley, so we saddled up with a few half pints and some nifty shoes. For some reason my coordination wasn't up to par, I think I broke 25 so thats an accomplishment.(Sarah Cohen, go get 'em girl!)
Point being, we made it out of the mercaz and did something fun, it was a good time. I'm relatively certain I called both of my parents several times, incidentally I think it was some of the better conversation we've had.

The rest of the weekend there's not much to share, I don't remember leaving my apartment often, Be'er Sheva does that to you, it's kind of like a dementor, sometimes it just sucks all the happiness out of the room (I'm aware I used a Harry Potter reference, and all I have to say about that is that I'm not quite sure why it took so long). In defense of the weekend I will say that Jen, Sarah, Sam, Michaela, Tzeira and I did put together a nice little Shabbat evening. A lovely mish mish (apricot), honey chicken with kosher mashed potatoes (thanks me), and Tzeira's chicken noodle soup, which has gained quite a cult following already. Good times. Oh and how could I forget the freezer dramz, of course our freezer completely iced over and it was a CRISIS. Sam, Sarah and I, in our Be'er Sheva induced delirium hacked away at the ice with knives and boiled water in the kum kum and thought somehow we could just poor that all over the ice. After like a half hour, of what could be summed up as insanity, we did manage to finally thaw enough of it that our refrigerator would actually close, so all in all a success (for now, I give it like a week until it happens again). Yesterday, I went to class, had a few meetings, prepped for some volunteer stuff, managed not to sleep again - it's becoming something of a talent, nay an art.

But today was really pretty wonderful, I woke up bazman (on time), had some yogurt with dates, made my usual cup of coffee with kane sugar and soy milk and headed to ulpan. During first break it just really wasn't working out today, so I went home to nap before Atidim. Woke up again bazman for that, and it was really honestly amazing. Leore, Eric, Lauren and I went to Tel Sheva (an Arab Bedouin village about 20 minutes cab ride from here) with chocolate in tow (it really is the answer to all balagan (chaos)), and we finally met with our students. Not to trash the Israeli Jewish kids but sometimes they are just too cool, and I know you know what I mean, but these kids were different, they're degree of separation from us was just that tiny bit greater that they really appreciated us being there. I think they might have asked me more questions than I asked them. We went around the room and gave everyone a different (well choice of four) piece of chocolate, the kind corresponded with a specific question and we made all of the kids tell us their name and then their favorite movie/music/hobby/food. (lesson plans!)For being 15 years old, in an isolated Arab village in Israel, where the teachers are all on strike and having to already have prior knowledge of both Arabic and Hebrew, these kids were amazing. A couple of them were completely fluent and the ones who struggled still put forth honest effort. A couple of the girls told me they'd teach me to cook Arabic foods, and the boys bragged about their girlfriends, the girls of course didn't have boyfriends as per cultural restraints and they were horrified that me, a 20 year old girl, wasn't married or at least in a relationship. One of the kids fathers has three wives, and all of the girls but one were wearing at least hijab and complete body covering. (some of our kids) Not your typical Monday afternoon I suppose, but so worthwhile. It was the first time I really felt my impact in any real sense, trying to figure out with my broken Hebrew what word they needed me to explain to them in English, and laughing with them when we didn't connect the languages but still understood what the other meant. I don't know it's difficult to explain in words, I just really remember the cab ride back where all four of us were hurriedly telling one another all of the amazing things we heard and gushing about how wonderful we thought the kids were. (I can count to ten in Arabic now, look out).

When we got back I had a meeting with MASA for a graduate seminar that meets over the course of three weekends to build future leadership in the Jewish community strengthening the ties between the diaspora communities and Israel. I think my interview went really well and I hopefully don't have anything to worry about, but I'll know for sure tomorrow. That led into our weekly meeting with our madrakah (counselor) Jenny and an informational session by Livnot (the final option we have for track 1.5). It sounded really, really fascinated, but I'm still pretty focused on getting into Pardes, I think three weeks of 8 hours a day intensive text study, as insane as I know that sounds, is exactly what I need to finally be able to know that I am a Jew - with all that that entails. But more interestingly, after the meetings Jenny asked me, Sam, Kate, Aaron and Stephanie to stay after. Seeing as we were the five people who either didn't show up or left class early today it was relatively obvious what that was about. Welllllll, we are all currently banned from going back to class until we meet with the manager of all of mercaz klita ye'elim ulpan EDNA. That should be interesting, you win this round Meerit (and I'd assume all following rounds, power game well played). So I have that to look forward to tomorrow morning before I obviously get re-accepted into ulpan, and then have to disrupt everyone when I come in 45 minutes late. Oh life, oh, Israel, you would, you just would.

Ughgh well after that incident, Lauren and I made what could potentially be considered the best salad in the history of salads, or at least of salads on OTZMA 22. Field greens, sauteed mushrooms/red onions/red, orange and yellow bell peppers/potatoes, goat cheese, cherry tomatoes and of course homemade honey-Dijon vinaigrette. Then those of use working at the modified soup kitchen put together a giant puzzle out of poster board that the kids can color in and put together tomorrow after dinner, cutttte.

That's all for now
I'll let you know if for any reason I don't regain my postition in kita alef, wouldn't that just be something.

update - I did get accepted to the BFL MASA graduate seminar, I mean not surprisingly, I am (not) a college graduate, who has(n't) had lots of experience working in the Jewish world at large. I jest, I jest, this should be a really great experience and I'm looking forward to my first weekend, starting Thursday, in Jerusalem. (take that Meerit, looks like I HAVE to miss class now!) not this MASA, although I'd like to find out more...

A PE G-P

Journey

GOOD NEWS everyone, apparently my blog has finally made it big time (it's been long enough)! I was just recently informed that I happen have a very special subscriber. So here's to you, Mrs. Barbara Fringer, thanks much for being interested enough to read my ramblings, in all honesty it does mean a lot.

In other news I'm no longer in a funk. Maybe it's because I finally stopped sulking and got out of bed, or maybe it's because miraculously everything started going exactly my way, WHO KNOWS. I'd obviously like to say it's because I got out of bed and took initiative, but realistically I got lucky on this one. Yesterday I went to Jerusalem for the MASA (just to connect the title, MASA means journey) seminar I previously wrote about, and it ended up being wonderful and exactly what I needed. A day away from the Mercaz, and a day away from everyone - not that I dislike anyone, but like Eric said "lacking a television, the human drama of our group becomes so compelling" however sometimes it becomes TOO much and it turns out that I don't want to see the same faces at every meal, every class, every meeting, every everything. And thankfully yesterday I got to meet other kids here on semester or year courses being sponsored by MASA from all around the world. One, it made me not feel so alone in what it is that I'm doing, and two it was just nice to see some fresh faces. The seminars were fascinating, enough so that even when I did "accidentally" fall asleep at one point, I got some coffee (what I will approximate as being my 12th cup of the day) downed it (it was of course gross because Israelis drink instant coffee) checked back in, and soldiered through. We learned how to succinctly talk about our stories and how to sell MASA to potential donors, which apparently all look like old Jewish women from Palm Beach, luckily that's what I expected (and also kind of what I envision all donors for everything as being). I now also possess the ability to convince Bill Gates to give me money after meeting him in an elevator in only 30 seconds, that's what they TOLD me and they wouldn't LIE. **Disclaimer** this might have been during the time I was asleep, so don't hold me to it. The day wrapped up around 8 and Josh and I boarded a bus back to Be'er Sheva, having eaten meals we didn't have to pay for, annnd with new numbers of people we can talk to. I don't even care if I liked them (thankfully I did) they're getting called this weekend.



On top of all that my group (Leore, Lauren, Eric and myself) actually did get a call back from Atidim (the volunteer project working with gifted students in the general area to help increase their English abilities). Seeing as teachers all across the country are on strike, just getting called in was surprising in and of itself, but not only that we did end up getting a Bedouin village like I had been hoping for. Because of the strike school is obviously not in session, so I suppose that makes what we are doing extra special as the kids selected are going to be meeting with us Mondays on their own time. Yesterday the three others in my group wen to meet with advisers while I was in Yerushalayim, and all of their feedback sounded really positive. Apparently the kids are really excited to be working with us and it's supposedly a stark contrast to what we have become used to as far as Israeli society, seeing as this is an Arab village. The kids aren't used to having Jewish Israeli's help them get into university, no less American's, and from what I've heard they are completely baffled by our interest in them. We also get the distinct pleasure of being allowed (allowed here means forced) to wear long pants and sleeves at all times, which here in the desert is what I normally feel most comfortable in, obviously. Joking there aside this should prove to be deeply fascinating work, not only the volunteer aspect, but the real life perspective I'll be presented with in working with a group of Arab Muslims who live their everyday life within the boarders of Israel.

Not only that but a third volunteer opportunity of mine has also happened to work out, this one actually does meet on Tuesdays regularly, so again I had to miss it because of the MASA seminar. Lucky for me Eric and I have virtually all of the same interests (except I don't sail, nor do I drink Framboise) so he's involved in this as well. Once a week we are helping transform a soup kitchen into a family friendly restaurant for poor families in the area to come in and bring their small children to dine in a safe environment. We act as decorators, hosts, waiters, and event staff, with activities we plan and set up after every meal. I did get to meet with the woman on Monday, where we went over the way the whole project is run, and Eric told me the whole evening went smoothly and was a great experience for everyone. So again I have that to look forward to.

It's interesting how in just a couple days everything can just turn around, not only am I not blah anymore I'm specifically happy and feeling like I'm wanted and needed. I was hand picked for both the MASA seminar and to be a part of the soup kitchen family night, and I'm realizing I have a lot to offer here. It might be fall in America, but it's fall in Israel too, even if that means we get creepy 2 minute rain showers and it's still 40 million degrees outside (that was supposed to be silver lining,so please go with it).

We have a test in Ulpan tomorrow, that's going to be a bitch, apparently missing class (even for volunteer opportunities! {and general exhaustion*, of course}) does not make you caught up with everyone else. Mah (what) are you going to do about it, right? Right. On top of that we are also having to pick what it is that we would like to do for track 1 1/2 (the three weeks separating tracks 1 and 2). Our options are between serious text study in Jerusalem at Pardes, alternative spiritual development/discovery and volunteer work with Livnot in Tzfat, 3 weeks with Sar-El doing manual labor on a military base (in uniform of course), or staying in Be'er Sheva to work on our Hebrew and experiencing some cultural things here like theater and museums. I had originally only been considering Sar-El (I thought it would be worthwhile to try to understand the mindset of a people who KNOW they have to serve in the armed forces, and I figured it would probably help me to connect better with Israelis), or staying here to work on my Hebrew; but in the last 24 or so hours I've made a complete turn around. Yesterday I met some people who had done Livnot and two others that are currently enrolled at Pardes full time, and both groups gave really compelling arguments for their respective programs which really struck a cord with me. I think I'd most like to be at Pardes, one we get to spend Chanukkah in Jerusalem (and when else will I ever have the chance to live in Jerusalem again {probably in like a year when I make aliyah, beside the point}) but so much more than that I've never really taken the time to see where Judaism fits into my life religiously without me ever even having known it. Hopefully I will get picked to be one of the 15 kids going there, and I will get to focus my energies on G-d and religion as opposed to spirituality, and find if G-d (Jewish G-d) has a place in my being. Even if I walk away without having found that connection, I certainly won't be walking away the same person. Doing legitimate text study is inevitably going to enrich my life in ways I can't yet imagine, but am dying to figure them out, not to mention my deep fascination with religion in general. I almost can't imagine a better opportunity for me to be able to dive into as both and insider and outsider.



* so let me briefly explain to you the sleeping situation here, I'll draw my room for you and I'll allow you to deduce for yourself why occasionally (always) I have a difficult time sleeping (the picture will come after Brandon resizes it for me because I'm still incapable of doing anything for myself)

APEGP

Fall

so its officially fall in the united states, and not only that but its my favorite month OCTOBER. the weather is purrrfect, my mommy, daddy, and grandma (and a few friends) all turn a year older, and my favorite holiday ever falls right at the end.


its interesting to not be home for October, and certainly on days like today when I'm feeling a wee bit homesick its really of no comfort to know I'm missing not only everything i know but everything i look forward to every year {{(like lunching on the mall in front of the monument with friendies/having a very Cruzan Halloween as Paul Baldwin/still working at fucking Brio/or not being friends with Brandon yet (haha maybe thats why i miss it so much, JUST KIDDING BRANDY))}}.

I've been working really hard on remembering to recognize all of the things that i have in Israel that i cant have in the united states. things that will never be and therefore makes them special moments in my life....but like i said sometimes its just not so easy. especially when i look at a weekend like this past one where i barely even left the mercaz (besides clubbing in a strip mall (of course!) and that 25 dollar burger meal because i was going a little crazy - thanks payoneer) since we had a closed shabbat (aka you cant leave) because jesna (a jewish agency that works with jewish education in the world at large) came down for some seminars/programs and meals. the mercaz isn't exactly the hippest place in the whole fucking world and fact of the matter is the other people who live here aren't from Israel either so we don't even speak a common language with our neighbors. it gets pretty boring sometimes, and being that I'm aware all of my friends are going to pumpkin patches and haunted houses and planning their Halloween outfits and evenings makes me a little bit jealous. not only that but i wasn't even home to be with my parents on their birthdays or just walking around taking in the brisk weather and the turning of the leaves. i really never thought id get to a place in my life where i understood why my father always wanted to just drive around in autumn, well dad guess what i get it. America is fucking beautiful, and i suppose its nice to know that i really do love and appreciate the place that I'm from. some people here refer to missing home as in the specific town or city they are from and my whole life I've always felt like i didn't have a hometown, that i wasn't "from" anywhere, being a military brat and all, but now its clear to me...I'm from America. thats all just America god dammit, and i love the shit out of it. (just like me!!!)



now as much as i do love America I'm not having doubts about being here, but i would be kidding myself and everyone else to tell them that everyday was amazing that or that i am taking full advantage of everything. some days just are harder, they just are worse, something things just are a disappointment - thats the way life works and to tell you anything else would be a misrepresentation of my my time here and of my own memories for myself.

all of that being said i am being offered once in a lifetime opportunities. early last week Dganit (basically the head of Otzma on the Israel end) came by for a bi-weekly meeting she has set up with us. she offhandedly mentioned a project two of us could sign up for if we wanted (assuming we just so happened to live in one of four areas she listed for our second track) to be publicly representing MASA, in meetings and commercials/other media outlets. i thought it would be an awesome thing to do and given the short list of things id actually be willing to do with my life as a career it certainly couldn't hurt. i told her she could toss my name into the hat along with all of the others, and i actually got it. so on Tuesday josh and i are busing into Jerusalem for the day to figure out exactly what the fuck MASA is, to learn how to publicly speak and who knows what else, should prove to be pretty cool. I guess i could probably cool it on the negative nancyism and focus myself on how lucky i am, i cant imagine that will happen but you never know!

alas homework time

A PE G-P

settling in

So now that sukkot break is over everyone seems to be settling into life here in the mercaz. Volunteer options are finally opening up now that the chagim (holidays) are over. However, that being said atidim (this program most of us signed for, working with teens in the area teaching them English, so that they have a chance to get into university), has been postponed potentially indefinitely (at least while we are here) because currently middle and high school teachers are all on strike throughout the country, demanding more funding. In the meantime we are all having to come up with other ways to keep ourselves busy. Why just this very afternoon some of us trekked on over the the senior citizen home at the end of the mercaz to see what they had to offer there. Not surprisingly their instructions were less than comprehensive, as a matter of fact every single thing I've been told in this country has been less than comprehensive. Its quite different than what we have all been used to coming from a country where there are printed outlines, rules and regulations for every single thing you might possibly want to do, and here they don't even tell you what they need help with its just kind of a guessing game.

other musings from around town...one our apartment smells absolutely wretched, perhaps something akin to burned red and white beans. You might be saying Anne that sounds very specific, well that would be because last night the fire alarm got set off in the mercaz because red and white beans were burning on our stove. NBD (no big deal) now all of my clothing and my cowboy sheets make me want to vomit a little, again NBD. Yesterday we started past tense in Hebrew classes, apparently this means we are now at a second semester equivalent level - on day 11. I also finally learned block Hebrew which apparently is necessary, whatevers! One other thing is these damned door handles, I'm not sure who designed these but I'm really at a loss for what they were thinking. They are basically titanium daggers that jut outwards.
My arms look like Ive had a serious intravenous heroin problem for quite some years after all the beatings they've taken just trying to walk into my room. Its real cute (you can quote me on that) For a long time I thought I was the only one too, so it was kind of embarrassing, aval (but) everyday someone else nonchalantly brings it up in conversation trying to see if its happened to other people. You'd think we would all learn to avoid ramming into door handles, apparently that's beyond us (I'm certainly not surprised with myself, I tend to run into a lot of things). Well we've got an educational evening planned with Jared, the funky educator. Tonight we are going to be learning about diaspora Jews, LIKE ME, it's optional but I'm choosing to go because I care, gam (also) I can't stand the smell of my own room and I would gladly go do anything else.

A PE W. G-P

Sukkot Break

Chag Samech everyone (i still am not 100% on what that means, but i bet by the end of my tour here i will)

well now what is sukkot, i certainly had no idea, so i wikipedia'd it for all of us

well turns out they went quite a bit more in depth than i had hoped for, so i kind of skimmed - what i do now know is that the word tabernacle is applicable to this 7 or 8 day holiday, that im supposed to eat all of my food in a sukkah and something about a funny little citrus fruit called an etrog (which i had thought was just some sort of israeli lime that they ate all the time, i was wrong and apparently you cant just find them in the shuk...whatever) very jewish menz studying the etrog...i, of course, have no idea why they would do this

anywho so as far as my break was concerned some friendies of mine and i went down to tel aviv to start off the good times. lauren and i found someway to blow money on ridiculous things, like our hostel room for $72 a night (not A PIECE, sheesh but still right, its a fucking hostel) whatever it had AC, its own bathroom and a tv - all legit luxuries, or perhaps being swindled into spending $50 on goodies at the Midnight Grocery and More - a store that admitedly sells crackpipes, this included an unmarked bottle of 2005 Gamla chardonnay (luckily lauren knows the good growing seasons so we NEEDED this particular bottle), 172 sheckel later it seemed like less of a good idea...especially when we let that bad boy oxidate for approximately 3 days in the hostel (after our tour at the winery later on in the week i learned this was a bad idea, however i think i might have already known that through common sense). it turns out niether lauren nor i should be trusted when it comes to making decisions concerning money, and it only took 2 days to figure that out - anyways so tel aviv is a bit of a blur, but what i do know is that it consisted of a lot of beaching on the MED, relaxing in the AC, purchasing stoli gold (like that shit is real, thanks eric yet again a bartender lets me down), daynas midnight rape and not necessarily consensual (just kidding) nap on the prison cot, watching communist chinese television (remember to do your studies so we can catch up with the united states, japan and europe), all of the poor food decisions lauren is capable of making (many of which are fairly obvious, but youve just gotta let your friends figure things out for themselves - thats how they learn), a wonderful meal that nicole and leore put together at a surprisingly delectable sushi restaraunt, oh then came the clubbing of course, which im not sure if youve heard but tel aviv works it the fuck out. im pretty sure we all found somewhere we really enjoyed - the port is always fun but thats closing down now that sukkot is over, so no more beachside bashes, but other places like Breakfast Club are alive and well...you know a place that doesnt even open until 2 is relatively worthwhile - they also play some amazing trance, however ive found that everywhere here plays better music than anywhere in america (no offense) (this is also based off of my extremely limited clubbing experiences in the US of A, so really no offense). that ended with us seeing the sunrise for like the third night in a row (or so i heard). i also managed to find a store that sold these cute little biddies i obviously bought them.

well from tel aviv we headed north to tiberias for one night before we started our four day sea to sea, aka yom le yom, hike (galilee to med), we only made it one day, obviously not all the way - it was in everyway disasterous, we ran out of water, we were scaling rock face 13 hours into the hike, dying in the hot sun all before we turned around and of course some how i was the one that planned this hike, so that looks pretty good on me - lets not talk about it, if it matters two people did finish (the fact that they are both eagle scouts is unimportant). well after that we cabbed into tzfat, one of the four holy cities in israel - this one symbolizing the air element (it being in the mountians and the closest to heaven). tzfat is also the birthplace of kabbalah and jewish mysticism, that means madonna has been there. the first hostel we stopped at (thanks Lets Go Israel 2005 edition) was absolutely terrifying, the second hostel was approx $40 american dollars a night, this was apparently unacceptable (im sure lauren and i would have paid it give the opportunity, but we werent in charge) luckily for the group of us a chabad (hasidic) hostel called ascent allowed us to stay there even though all of the girls were dressed like whores (in this context that means shorts and tanks). they were also gracious enough to let us eat with them and hang out in the sukkah singing nigguns with actual chabad lubavitch guests. nigguns are a sort of spirited chant religious jews tend to do with clapping and fist pounding to certain beats and rhythms, it was relaxing and a nice change of pace, also something i never really expected to be partaking in (perhaps because i was supposed to still be hiking, or perhaps because i still didnt know what sukkot was, your choice). from a completely anthropological view it was super interesting, but it did become rather apparent that a. they did not really like us heathen americans and b. that they were generous mostly out of a sense of obligation and took the opportunity to proselytize. we stayed there for the evening, and i think got yelled at somewhere around 45 times for having boys in the girls hall!!!! i know, sometimes i wish we werent so permiscuous but what can you do, we are from AMERICA. the next day we all walked around and got some lunch while we reorganized break plans. in a quick fit of energy and inspiration sharon, lauren and i decided we were going to cab to the golan and go horseback riding. so through whatever connections we had (connections means sharon) we called some israeli cowboy, grabbed our packs and headed off into the sunset (sunset here means the golan).

once we got to what i believe was called cowboy ranch or something along those lines, we settled into the grass made some pb&j sammies, which were might i add delicious, took more pictures than necessary, waited for willie and then boarded our respective horses. , so cute in my little helmet of course
mine was named benjamina (i dont personally think its the cutest name for a girl, but she was kind of butch if you know what i mean) - i didnt care to learn sharon or laurens horses names. the ride was beautiful, and it being israel there obviously were no real rules, so we galloped up to the top of some ridges and got to look out over the kinneret (sea of galilee). it turns out lauren is terrified of horses, and i think enough distance has been put between now and that particular day that i can say listening to her shrieking wasnt unfunny. the israeli kids we were riding with were unnecessary and found it pertinent to abuse the horses, i wasnt particularly a fan, and i can say i wasnt upset when one, what we will call a "dumb bitch", fell off of her horse. by the end of the hour and a half ride i knew the horses were beat, one was staggering another was virtually foaming at the mouth. i felt terrible about it, these are the things that really make me miss america, im sure the ride would have been so much more boring and structured in the states but the animals would have been looked after much better and even to someone like me thats much more important. either way after the ride we mosied on up to the restaraunt they had onsite and enjoyed ourselves a nice facsimilie of american west food, grilled chicken with salad (or saled depending on which menu you got) and french fries. they even had "bbq" sauce, quotes because that is obviously a lie but they had something they called bbq sauce, if given a blind taste test i might have said "is this supposed to be bbq sauce" or "i think this bbq sauce has gone bad", obviously it was close enough. once we were done with our not undelicious meal yonathan, our chabad cabbie from tzfat, came back and picked us up again and drove us all the way to tiberias, on the way we stole laurens ipod and we all listened to lubavitch jamz while yonathan told us about his life (apparently hasids can get divorced who knew).

back in tiveria (tiberias) we checked back into the same hotel aviv wed been staying at prior to the hike, where they realized quite quickly we had poorly planned our break so they made a nice mint off of us stuffing up to 8 of us into one room. but lbr (lets be real) they had ac, tvs, a fridge and a kum kum (eric this must have made you rather excited i forgot to ask, eric loves kum kums you should ask him about them at ewgreenberg@gmail.com). the next day those of us who hadnt had the foresight to rent a car (i.e. me, sam, lauren, shazy (sharon), hope and a few scragglers waiting to head off their own seperate ways) went out for a 4 hour brunch on one of the touristy streets of tiveria. lauren and i managed to spend $45 dollars because we NEEDED the smoothies, and two meals (we ate half of it, shocking). but it was rather good, especially this insane pizza we ordered and the smoothies, mmm. then we all broke off, hope lauren shazy sam and i heading up to the golan winery to meet up with some of the others, by that i mean 5 people who had rented a car and a surprise group of 7 other otzmanikim we hadnt expected to see...but ive come to accept that no matter where in the country i am i will run into at least one other otzmanikim because we are fucking everywhere all at once, even the same winery on the same 4 pm english language tour. i downed about 4 half glasses before the tour started, i thought i liked white wine best and it turns out i do, but i had to test that a few times.
we sat through a terrifying a/v presentation with a genie dubbed in english and it scarred me, especially their depiction of american culture (all i have to say is tupac is not from ny and the statue of liberty is specifically NOT a lush), however they were dead on with their interpretations of french and italian culture. did you know that the golan winery makes three labels of wines, yarden, gamla and golan, they also produce 22 different kinds of wines because of the climate they are able to grow so many different kinds of grapes for the various wines. you can even find them in america, check out the website at yardenwines.com. after that the five of us plus the seven other kids that showed up walked to this restaraunt recommended to us. we were told it was a twenty minute walk to some really cute bistro. 45 minutes later strolling down the highway we ended up at some gross mall somewhere in kitzran. the restaraunt was of course a bakery in this small, decrepit mall - we just happened to luck out that the line cook actually knew what they were doing and we all ended up with something relatively tasty. i know the eggplant lasagna lolkatz (lauren) and i split was delicious, i could have lived without the quiche, and as per usual laurens dessert demons took over and with a crazed look she ordered the most delicious fucking cake ive ever had, i dont even like dessert and i thought i might just die it was so fabulous. after that all 12 of us hoped into one sherut (a large van that acts as a cab) they only hold ten people but thats never a problem, for the right amount of sheqalim breaking laws seems to not matter to the drivers. so we headed back to hotel aviv, relaxed around the place and walked all along the boardwalk in small groups so as to avoid having to see one another...of course we ran into everyone we knew and then all walked back together.

the next morning those who had a car headed off to rosh hanikra, these gorgeous grottos on the lebanese border which i have luckily been to before, and the five of us without slept in compltely disregarding checkout times...psh unimportant, and do you know what they didnt care. oh israel, sometimes i forget. shazy and lolkatz headed off with one of shaz's friends and sam hope and i boarded a sherut bound for haifa to meet up with the others. we checked into the port inn, a rather nice little hostel. we all grabbed some lunch and chatted about, headed back napped a bit talked you know did the gossip thing, whatevs. later josh, eric, hope, nicole and i grabbed some chinese food...it was gross and american style, neither of which surprised me. but the woman was super sweet and even went out of her way to make us some chili sauce (im having actual withdrawls from sriracha), granted it was sweet ketchup and chili flakes GROSS, but she TRIED. we also helped her kid with some math and when i say we i dont mean myself, i didnt know there were a thousand milliliters in a liter i thought it was like a hundred or something, unimportant. we then had a few "cocktails" (mixed drinks in flimsy clear plastic cups) and one of hopes israeli friends took us out to a touristy strip in haifa where we had some drinks and some laughs, i broke a glass no biggie. nicole got the grossest looking cosmopolitan ever and i heard leore order a mojito, though im not sure what they served her. luckily ive lowered my standards as far as service and the actual product i am ordering, and overall we had a good time. hope and josh apparently found it difficult to stay awake, this is not my fault so i dont care (just kidding hope i always care). we then headed to a trendy little late night called amadeus and had some pizzas, royee's was delicious, but thats not what i ordered so leore and i's was only ok...it was also unnecessary, but we ate it. we then crashed at 3 something and our rando roomie woke us up at 6 to go out on his mada run (he actually had mada classes with a bunch of otzmanikim so we almost already knew him). when we finally did rouse i thought i lost my cellphone, i obviously didnt it was sitting in my bag with my wallet. then we got all guised up, just kidding, but i did put on my bathing suit and we headed to the beach. did some more lounging on the shores of the mediterranean, ate some less than appetizing lunch (why is yellow cheese white?) napped on the beach and then went back to the hostel to grab our things and go our own ways.

once all packed up we headed to a bus stop, sam simcha josh eric and i were all headed "home" to "b7" or be'er sheva (sheva means 7 in hebrew). this is the part of the trip in which we were terrorized by these young arab kids (haifa is a jewish and arab city that has generally genial relations between the two religions...except these two kids). they threw some glass, rocks and garbage at us. the menz stood tall to show them we werent MESSING AROUND, but they did try to steal sams purse. the boys thought they were kind of cute, i didnt. not that im not "motherly" but im not and i dont really like kids anyways, so it turns out these little rapscallions were really just annoying. whatever i got over it, plus eric had his peanut butter knife somewhere so i can remember to always rest easy now (haha, im laughing because eric is obviously a fighter, he was on the crew team at lehigh). after about a half hour of waiting we caught back to back buses all the way home. settled in and ate some delicious shawarma at our local stand, passed out and that brings me to today.

this morning sammie and i went to the shuk grabbed some delicious fresh fruits and veggies, put together a nice potato dish in one of the kosher apartments for a shabbaz dinner a bunch of us planned together. did some crucial resting and i complied this little diddy while simcha made some fabu chicken and rice and tzeira put together a from scratch chicken noodle soup. its such a different experience than ive ever had before, as a matter of fact ive never once had a shabbaz dinner in the united states, and i know i never really envisioned myself sitting around a cramped, square table with all of the people ive recently acquired in my life and come to rely on as my family, singing and praying, laughing and enjoying a meal at once so personal and yet also so traditionally jewish but here it is, and im finally feeling the jewish connection i was looking for. perhaps it wasnt as ingrained in my past life as everyone elses, but it certainly will be a bigger part of my future. enough for now - im going to go watch a movie and relax

Anne PlzExtreme

bahafsakah

i know that title probably looks like gibberish to you, but that's only because youre not fluent in hebrew (transliteration)like me. it of course means "on break", this particular break is from hebrew class. i mean not that i showed up at all to class today.

but after my alarm (someone with good intentions set on my phone for me) before i broke it *keep reading youll get to that part* went off for like 30 minutes and i finally realized it just sets itself to snooze if you dont do anything about it. really very clever NOKIA, its almost like you didnt want me to miss class, but i figured out your games, and went back to bed...but when i did wake up three hours later i went into my actual room (which i havent been sleeping in seeing as for the past week or so we have ostensibly had 3 singles since two of our roommates are doing some sort of complicated medical thing in jerusalem that makes them better people than i) sam was there and informed me that SHE was on break key (because) she did show up today, whatever some people are just perfect, and they can keep a perfect attendence 8 days running. i 1. dont think ive been to 8 consecutive days of class since middle school and 2. dont need to be comparing myself to her unreal standards, its just not fair to the average joe like me

so my real story of todays missed class starts last night after a delicious meal at the local - meaning closest since there are probably at least 20 within a five minute walking radius - falafel stand (mine was grilled chicken instead) that leore graciously bought for me, we decided to go on a wine run. because we DESERVE a break, i mean the whole day had been obviously so difficult, i hung out - used the internet, wandered around, mailed somethings at the doe'er(post office), {some things of course meaning free write style letters to brandon}, and other such taxing afternoon activities. well since there were four of us (me, nicole, nikki and leore) we needed(not in hebrew i just really wanted to stress it) four bottles of wine. x4 (only two were gross emerald reislings, please wine experts out there please tell me why israel doesnt have pinot grigio at ALL) i mean how do you really relax and unwind, unless you drink and entire bottle of wine? you cant its actually scientifically impossible, i didnt just make that up, its science and thats irrefutable.

the ladies, eric, aaron and i, met up around "10/10:30" to start our relaxed evening in. three glass and fifteen minuts later...suffice it to say i was drunk. Then a bunch of things happened, they arent important/are blurry...then came the period of time - actually until about ten minutes ago - in which i was convinced i had broken my cellular telephone, because it "dropped" like 10 times (youd think that wouldnt be an issue since israel created the damned things, but that would have cost me like a hundred bucks just to replace - and look at how fancy the phones theyve given us are) im not even sure they cary these in the us anywhere anymore (not even the real south) and the picture is of a nice one, mine certainly didnt come to me that new and fresh, its been in use since its release to the public in what 1998.

also it should be noted that when i say broke i mean that the 2s and 8s just werent working at all, and i only know that because i tried to drunk dial paul, and his phone number includes BOTH of my non functioning keys. then of course i tried to call other people, but it turns out every single phone number ever, or that i happen to have memorized (which is like 9) all have 2s and 8s in them. GREAT, so now what - talk to the people im with, i dont do that im a phone kinda gal. (im sure my parents {hi mommy} are actually thrilled with the temporary brokeness of the NOKIA, seeing as its 16 cents to call america, not that i wouldnt have obviously used my very alert sense of discretion for the lengths of those particular calls)

i did eventually make it back to my room - there were lots of things on the bed, some of them were quizically still there this morning

in conclusion, last night was fun - i bonded with my friends, i dont think anyone hates me....and sometimes you really do just need a bahafsakah...(now im going to sit in my room and review the infinitive by myself, because my break is over.


more later
Anne PE

ani lomedit ba-ulpan

back from Jerusalem after a well rested weekend, which im sure you all have already read about in my previous blog. today was pretty relaxed we had ulpan, sundays it starts two hours late at 10:15 so thats nice, today we somehow managed to cover the entire language and by tomorrow i think im supposed to have put together some sort of 25 minute lecture (im EXAGERATING!!!!) i bet you knew that though, but no seriously we are flying through this shit. i know more hebrew after a week and a day than i do for all four years of spanish i took back in amerika.

im really pleased with how much of the language im picking up, at least conversationally, reading and writing i need a fucking IEP, you know that thing you get that lets you have more time to take tests and shit. thats rather frustrating, i mean im obviously not used to being at the head of the class, but ive certainly never been the slowest at anything...whatever ill get over it (once ive a. mastered the entire language or b. given up in a dramatic fit in which i turn over one of the tables)

anyways after class today i spent about 3 hours trying to update this danged blog to make it look better, i didnt succeed; this does not mean i failed either...now there are GRAPHICS.

following that fascinating time we had a lecture (surprise) on our volunteer opportunites, basically they give us a list of things that Yael (our logistics coordinator/kickass israeli staff member) has put together for us to select from. as of right now it looks like ill probably spend one day a week hanging with the elderly, kicking it, talking some REAL jive - because old people know jive. then im hopefully going to be in Rahat, the biggest bedouin city, working with arab israeli high school students on their english so they can hopefully get into university here, seeing as its almost impossible for any child (especially of arab descent) to get into university from anywhere that isnt Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Haifa - or the wealthy surrounding suburbs. if i get to do that it would be a dream, i am so legitemately fascinated with race and religion relations, especially when you add in the fact they all consider themselves israeli citizens...JUICY. aside from that i think ive decided to work in a soup kitchen, that once a week on tuesdays clears the place out of all the general public and cleans it up like a real restaraunt for less fortunate families with small children to come in for a safe family bonding dining experience. i heard we'd be acting as not only servers, but also coordinators in creating fun games and activities for the families to participate in.

so a small little israel factiod...most of what we are being asked to do is teach english, and its not as i know you were thinking, because english is fucking cool. its because all of the text books are in english and these children actually stand no chance at all to enter into higher education without being virtually fluent, in at least written english.

i havent decided yet if ill add a fourth day of volunteer work on yet, i know i need to focus on my studies, but i think the busier i keep myself the more ill accomplish (no brilliant break throughs there), if so ill either work with the kids around the mercaz klita (absorption center) we live in, or in an ethopian center.

another little factoid, when people ask if there are black jews, or why there is such a large ethiopian population in israel its because about thirty years ago one of the original 12 tribes of israel was found, that being the missing tribe of dan...and guess where they were discovered. through a few covert missions israel was able to bring these people back to the land of their origin, and while still some of them struggle to assimilate, its becoming easier...not to say that israel is perfect, but its a living breathing entity just like any other nation.


this is be'er sheva the city we live in


and this lovely bitch (the longest building in the middle east)is the mercaz klita ye'elim my HOME

im going to make premade pasta now!

regards,
Anne PE Alexander

Jerusalem of Gold

Israel Update, for those of you interested, or who had asked anything regarding syria/iran related questions....skip if you dont care about my safety.

so ok as i understand it north korea is in cahoots with syria to build nuclear weapons (of course allegedly) to move into lebanon to give to hezbollah, seeing as syria and israel have some sort of peace treaty, and syria is quite obviously hesitant to break UN sanctioned legislation to attack Israel. But since Lebanon is a. the only bordering country of israel that has no sort of peace agreement and b. the literal strong arm of syria's agression towards israel, they would then at worst have the nuclear capability to anihilate virtually the entire populace of israel, and at best be armed with new artillery to bomb the north again. earlier this month israeli fighter pilots broke into syrian airspace, under US backing on "a secret mission" which is suspected to be have been a strike against the alleged nuclear factories, but no one is really talking about that. to make matters worse iran is accusing israel of having nuclear capabilities itself, which although has never been confirmed or denied is relatively obvious that we do, and that its all one big card game everyone is playing, North Korea doesnt want any involvement in the media but secretly wants to hurt the united states by using syria as a pawn and the US using israel as a pawn, in turn syria is using lebanon so as to not have to face a world wide war caused by breaking UN legistlation and israel is playing by bluffing their hand, basically hoping that if people think we might have nuclear bombs they wont fuck with us, but if they are aware that we do all of these other countries will start pouring more funds into becoming nuclearly capabale as well. which basically creates a small portion of the world (i.e. the middle east) with enough explosives to end humanity (this is my obvioulsy extremely optimistic way of looking at this)

in my opinion boils down to israel being the crux of the worlds existence


if you didnt guess this is an Israeli Plane

anyways thats as informed as i am thus far, that and also at least two suicide bombers have been apprehended within the last week (one who was headed to the mall in my city). opperative word there is apprehended, so nothing happened.

but just so you worry a little less, the head of our program is getting all of her safety information for us via the Israeli intelligence, which if not the best is among the best intelligence in the world, so we are currently as safe as we possibly can be. i guess we will just see what happens from here


anyways as far as my weekend was concerned after the carnival (well hours after, actually like one in the morning) after sam {my roommate} and i read almost every single piece of imformation on top chef available to us, to include trying to figure out ways to set up private dining plans with brian at his san digeo oceanaire restaraunt, i finally packed *it should be noted that packing consisted of me taking the laundry i had just cleaned, adding 4 pairs of pants 3 pairs of sandals, two belts, every pair of underwear i own and about 35 shirts and zipping them together in a delightful little duffle my mother purchased me at JFK because she thought it would make a nice stuff sack (turns out we are both "idiots" - of course in quotes because we are both obviously above whatever the national, and presummably international standard level of intelligence is - because my sleeping bag obviously came with a stuff sack, it just happened to be rolled inside of it so we never saw it at first) well thank goodness because this opened up use of the duffle for me. im not sure i mentioned our sojourn to jerusalem was to be whatever clothes you wore that morning, clothing for if you opted to go to shul that evening, sleep clothes, again optional shul clothes and return bus ride home clothes. so ostensibly, if you were a good packer you could wear the same outfit there and back, the same outfit to shul both days (seeing as you want to wear white anyway and its almost weird, strike out almost, just is weird if you have like multiple all white outfits) and one outfit to sleep in. actually i could have packed all of this in my fucking satchel, but of course i packed damn near everything i own because thats how i fucking work, also because after being forced into watching curb for the first time i was tired and packing is bullshit. side note, 1, or perhaps even 2, points to leore - curb (y.e. of course) in fact does not suck ass, as a matter of fact it might almost kick ass...but i still give myself an infinite number of more points because i like arrested (d. duh) and she is really pretty hesitant about watching it, and thats dumb - seeing as its the best damned show that is (not) on tv.


(courtesy sol israel)http://www.flickr.com/photos/11828079@N07/

well we have certainly moved off track, so the point of this weekend was for us to experience yom kippur, the holiest day of the year for us judes (bordering on inappropriate to use german?) by bringing us to the holiest city . seemingly a flawless idea, only it occassionally appears that otzma really only does these things so that we are literally awake by 6 every morning and in lectures 9/10ths of the day. luckily these lectures werent too horrible. i genuinely enjoyed listening to a former orthodox jewish woman from the UK explain her newfound connection to nontraditional Judaism, in every sense of the word...and for the most part the discussion we held betwixt ourselves was decent. i of course thought most people were fucking dumb as shit, but i normally do so thats ok, i guess. then we had a kosher pizza brunch MMMmmmMMM good god kosher pizza is almost good, whatever that was a nice half hour we got to sit outside the gates of the jewish agency, moving on...the next speaker was an irish catholic from the 'burbs of philly (obviously he made aliyah) who has thrice converted to judaism, the last time to orthodoxy (although at his own admission "because i was tired of being told i cant be married or burried here", well cheers to a religion that actually thinks those are valid reasons) whos a professional commedian. He was relatively entertaining, but mostly he proved to me that you dont actually have to be that funny to make enough money doing comedy to support a family of four, and since im looking at spending my life alone in this field of work, that kind of money should be roughly enough for me to get through at least 2/3s of the year. lastly i went and listened to jared, our funky educator, speak on the connection between yom kippur and the actual fast of the whole day, again i enjoyed the text selections he made and his insight, everyone elses, perhaps i could have done without....luckily i was there to interject with the correct opinions (this is not an oxymoron, my opinions actually are factually correct - in the grey areas of interpretation and spirituality)

Following the educational parts of erev yom kippur we bused to the lovely ariel hotel, which is being bulldozed later this week (so as you can imagine they have kept that bitch in tip top shape) to eat our last meal before the fast. dinner at three o'clock what the fuck is this easter or christmas or whatever the fuck day that is yall eat all early...anyways, apparently they wanted the fast to start right then and there because this was legitmately the grossest shit ive ever eaten. anyone whos been on birthright knows what im talking about...but imagine that as your last meal before yom kippur, f that s...am i right (rhetorical, of course i am).

then those people who felt so inclined had the option of going to any shul within walking distance, i know a lot of people tried new ones, reform jews at orthodox shuls, vice a versa, and a couple people (i think maybe actually just adam) went straight to the kotel for the kol nidre service...i on the other hand tried to read the glass castle, i got about 22 pages in before i was "like, man what is it 530 already, lord am i tired", so then i tried to watch top chef on my ipod, but that bitch was so annoying to hold so i set it down, figuring i could just listen to it. i of course didnt even get through the quick fire challenge before i was asleep. oh but let me rewind so right after leore, nicole, nikki and a few others leave for shul i go to the bathroom, push the little lock button in whatever anyways when i leave the bathroom i guess i closed the door (obvious thought in my opinion) well no, of course i have now locked the door from the inside out and im like well fuck. this certainly was not in my plans for 26 hours of napping before i could eat again. anyways so i try all sorts of little tricks, they apparently didnt work, then i call the front desk...they apparently didnt care...then im like ok well ill just wait for beth to get back then this will all be solved. but of course no when i wake up at 1035 to crippling pangs in my uterus, becuase i have to pee so badly the door is obviously unlocking and its obviously leore, and im obviously like well fuck. so OF COURSE, OF COURSE the first thing she says is "wow, tonight was great i really felt connected...but man do i have to pee" so now i have to explain the whole situation, but OF COURSE im hit by a fit of giggles because this is the just the way things HAVE to happen. so then we have to go through a whole ordeal where i was forced to tell the man at the front desk what id done wrong, and sit in the room with the man while he fixed the door (he tried some of my tricks first, they didnt work OBVIOUSLY, but i didnt tell him that, he looked bothered by me as it was) anyways that was my yom kippur night (for those of you wondering the jewish calendar is lunar so all holidays start sundown one night and end sundown of the next, or appropriate one).

so yom kippur day i obviously slept in until about noon time, then i showered, which is one of the five things you arent supposed to do but fuck that, i mean im not eating for christs sake at least let me smell deec. then lauren, nikki and i hiked it to the kotel only about 900 miles away in the blazing sun, and of course we cant drink water...but hey this was my choice...i did feel like it would kind of be something i would look back on and go "oh ANNE" if i didnt do anything on yom kippur in fucking jerusalem, and seeing as this wall that i am standing at is the direct place that every jew around the worlds prayers are being directed to is a pretty unreal thought, unfortunately for me i dont like to try to wrap my mind around things like time (be it history or even time zones) nor do i like communal prayer in anyway. while some people thought that it was part of the beauty of a questioning religion like judaism that people werent all wearing white, that they were wearing day glo fucking crocs at the wall, that some woman had her screaming child, and that their prayers were so strong they werent distracted is something i really do admire...but its certainly not me...im an extremely extroverted introvert and thats about all there is to that. on a day that i am supposed to self reflect, how does singing in large groups or being surrounded by distractions make any sort of logical sense. maybe im just not spiritual enough (in a jewish sense of course, or perhaps more accurately religous sense) to push through the distractions to find god. after about 15 minutes there i walked back to the hotel and did just as much complaining about being tired, hungry and thirsty as everyone else, i hoped they wouldnt notice that theyd been out in the sun and in shul for 6 hours and id been out of bed for 45 minutes. of course i went straight back home to nap, slept until about 6, break fast was at 6:20 - i had some gross coffee and "cake" and then the break fast meal which was surprisingly worse than the before fast meal...actually the only difference was the pre fast meal was meat and the post was dairy...so i cant actually compare them. maybe they were equally as bad, i dont really know. all i do know is that hagim are for families, not for otzmankim and random groups of 18 year old brazillian jews, who act more israeli than any israeli ive met.

in conclusion i only have three days of ulpan this week before sukkot break, so im pretty fucking stoked...my friend lauren and i planned a hike from the galilee to the med over four days of the break, besides that musical festival in tiberias, vineyards, beachs in tel aviv, god who knows - but itll be fun.

this trip is going by so quickly, i really will be home before i know it (if i come, just kidding, im not planning on making aliyah...although apparently according to past trips about ten of us will stay for our size group)

no one really took pictures this weekend in accordancew with religious traditions so thats all for now

Anne PE Alexander

Oh, Israel...

welcome to Israel

thats right it says "parking camel"



So my first official blog, it's coming a little later than I had hoped it would...but apparently it takes threeish weeks to get 47 people organized enough to get internet. Not that our internet currently works too horribly well but that is beside the point.

anyways so ive decided to keep as irreverent and yet still factual account of my time here in israel as possible. seeing as its been so long since the beginning of the trip i know im going miss out on a bunch of facts but ill rememeber what i can.

the trip started with a much delayed flight into tel aviv, which resulted in a much delayed arrival to jerusalem...which meant like some ungodly hour shehechianu that we said all together at Kiryat Moriah (where all of my mail SHOULD be going to, ahem. We stayed there for a couple of days to acclimate, before we left on tiyul. or more acurately 6 hour hikes in the negev desert in heat im relatively sure it was illegal to have us out in.
the group on the Nachal Tamar hike (courtesy Sol Israel)

Followed by a stay at Mamshit Camel Ranch...sound vaguely familiar, thats because its the same fake israeli run, permant structured, electrically rigged arab, nomadic encampment birthright took me to in June. not that i didnt love hearing all of the same speaches for a second time, or the timeless musical sounds of the coffee grinder (which actually is really cool im just being whiny because its easier), we also got the distinct pleasure of riding camels yet again which is potentially the worst thing ever, not that going in a circle on a gross smelling animal that defecates on itself every 30 seconds isnt fascinating but once would probably have been good enough to last a lifetime, that and the fact that they jostle both the male and female genitalia in ways I had previously thought impossible.

lauren and our madrakah jenny aboard the camels

feasting Mamshit style
(please keep in mind I am the embodiment of eternal cynicsm, but I'm a bleeding heart optimist and while I complain it's mostly because that's the only way I know how to talk...to date I have thoroughly enjoyed every minute of this trip *the exception to that being this ridiculous lecture about education in Israel in which I almost attempted to insert my key into my temple)

Anywho after tiyul we did the obligatory trip to the Dead Sea, which admitedly is an amazing experience if you've never been, and then spent Shabbat in Jerusalem just relaxing. That following Monday we moved into our GORGEOUS apartments (side note gorgeous in this context means heinous) so we live in Be'er Sheva, for those of you who don't already have a map of Israel ingrained in your minds, this is the middle of the Negev Desert...it's fucking hot here, we don't have a/c. You do that math. I think the square footage is smaller than my freshman dorm and thats including the "dining room", kitchen and bathroom. I live with four other young ladies, all of whom have proved not to be blithering idiots so I'm relatively thrilled about that.

The following day we went to Dimona to help build student apartments, for a tuition break the students who help build these homes get to live in them as long as they do something like 10 hours of community service a week (or at least thats what I understood of the program, and I'm always paying vigilant attention). The day after that was Table-to-Table, a non-prof which gives fruits and vegetables to the overwhelming poor population here in Israel, so we got to pick onion in the hot sun for hours on end, which actually was probably the most rewarding thing I've done, it was something in which I could tangibly see how what I was doing affected a peoples. Immediately following the onion picking was our first trip to the Med Sea, apparently I don't hate swimming - I will however still die a water related death, as I have long suspected. From there a large group of us went to Tel Aviv for the weekend, you know to unwind...aka drinking, beaching, clubbing, shopping, all of the obligatory touristy things.

(courtesy sol israel)

It was of course amazing, the artist market was beautiful, and to bring in Shabbaz we watched a drum circle on the beach, while crazy Israeli's (and Stephanie) played with fire.

stephanie and that damned fire


Upon our return to hell (Be'er Sheva) which surprisingly the accomodations seemed luxurious after MoMos hostel, which actually IS hell, we had an ulpan test...obviously since I've basically never seen the Hebrew language I was placed in kita alef, which apparently means class a, not so shocking.

dorm style accomodations, minus A/C


obviously the shower at the hostel OF COURSE


anywho from there we just had some free time until wednesday, 1 am where we loaded the bus for Jerusalem and then had a 2:30am educational session with Jared, our "funky educator" about Rosh Hoshana - look up Hebrew words you don't know, what am I your mother? This lecture was conviniently followed by a 4 hour tour of religious neighborhoods in Jerusalem so we could watch different minyans doing their slichot prayers/aka a bunch of secular tourists peering into religious peoples homes and shuls at like 5 in the morning. Then but only because it was a good idea we met our adoptive families, random Israeli's we were placed with to spend Rosh Hoshana. Mine happened to be 2 gen -xer's about 32, she spoke some english, he apparently didnt think that was necessary for hosting an American he knew didnt speak any Hebrew. Point being I didnt talk for 4 days, but they were needlessy sweet and kind, and inexplicably had a horse (this of course was not their original horse, that one was of course stolen by the arabs {apparently all of them, and apparently for some sort of wedding ritual}) in the backyard which I rode to the JFK memorial located about 20 minutes outsides of Jerusalem to see the tree Jackie Onassis obviously planted, obvious stuff.


a horse, if its unclear to you this is in fact NOT their horse sue


So again after returning to our new homes we started ulpan this week and have already had our first exam...would you believe that I can already read and write in Hebrew, granted we do have 5 hours of class a day. Besdies that we've just had constant lectures and meetings (I now know the entire history of the Israeli Palestinian conflict), and today we put together a carnival for all of the children. It was much more rewarding than I would have thought seeing as how I generally find that I hate children, and it is interesting to have to try to explain a relatively simple game to a child who speaks no English and you certainly dont speak any Russian or Hindi, so you both use your broken common denominator of Hebrew. Tomorrow morning we leave for Jerusalem again for Yom Kippur this weekend.

carnival fun!!!! (i got my nosed {af ba evreet that means nose in hebrew in hebrew} if you couldnt tell)




both courtesy of sol israel
http://www.flickr.com/photos/11828079@N07/

Other than that I think i should include the fact that there was an attempted bombing on the mall here in Be'er Sheva last Wedensday, a memeber of Hamas was apprehended making his way through the desert strapped with explosives...so I guess in closing what I'm doing is real and I finally had that wow moment, I live in the middle east and I am a Jew and there are certain undeniable and unpleasant facts that go along with that.
(again to sol israel for the photo)
even more pleasant than that is the fact that right outside the US embassy in Tel Aviv is this lovely graffiti, while ive yet to hear any israelis have anything other than positive things to say about our being here there certainly is no denying being american in other countries in and of itself isnt always the best thing either. That being said, this is home *for now* and I am in it for the long run.



More later
Anne

***egregious spelling mistakes are obvioulsy purposeful (aka blogger doesnt have spellcheck, and I am virtually incapable of spelling anything correctly)