jerusalem and such

On Tuesday, I went to Jerusalem for the day with my friend Alex. We took the bus from Tel Aviv, its a short 50 minute busride. We arrived in Jerusalem and it was raining, so we took a cab to the Old City. The cab driver dropped us off at the Christian Quarter, so we walked through their saw David's Tower, then through the Armenian Quarter and finally into the Jewish Quarter. When we arrived in the Jewish Quarter some old guy, showed us where we needed to go and dropped us at David's Tomb. We went inside and there were MANY tour groups so we kept trying to follow them but they stopped every two feet. While walking around, in the ruins, there was a huge mouse and a cat trying to eat it. We watched for about 15 minutes and it was a pretty cool sight. When we finally found our way to the Western Wall, it was gorgeous and breathtaking and sunny for about 10 minutes. Being in Jerusalem was a very different feeling than being in Tel Aviv. Much more spiritual and 1000 times more religious. After the Wall, we went to a cafe for lunch and then to the Ben Yehuda Market. This market was so much cleaner and bigger than our shook but all the same stuff. We decided it was starting to rain so we would trek our way back to the bus station. Alex had a map and circled what she thought was the station. We were following her map and walking our way through Jerusalem and were so proud of ourselves that we thought we found it but ended up in a tribeca-ish type area and when we asked where the bus station was, they stated that we needed to take a bus or a cab back to where we basically started our walk from. So we got in a cab and just felt that we had a nice little stroll through Jerusalem.

Then on Thursday, we were all invited to MASA IDF day. In which any MASA sponsored group, which is Oranim, Career Israel, Israel Government Program, and others came together and we had 3 lectures in the morning, 1 with Professer Asa Kasher, who is a Israeli linguist and philosopher who wrote the IDF Code of Conduct. Then there was a panel that consisted of Nahman Shai, who is an Israeli Journalist who is currently serving as a member of Knesset, Alon Ben-David, who is a journalist and news anchor who has been covering Israeli Military affairs for over 10 years. And the 3rd member being Benzi Gruber, who is a commanding officer for the IDF. After the morning session we re-boarded the buses and went to an Army base in Beer Sheva. Once we arrived on the base we had a question and answer session with 4 soldiers and then a tour of the base. It was overall a really awesome day.

Hey all, haven't wrote in a while. So after day 1 at my internship I decided it was not what I could see myself doing for 5 months, since it was such mindless work. I talked to our internship advisor and she said I could volunteer at this organzation here in Israel called "Save a Child's Heart" which takes children from African and Arab countries to Israel to give them life-saving heart surgery which would cost their parents more than they will earn in a lifetime. I will be working with the children pre and post-operation and help them recover and prepare for surgery. I am very excited about this internship and will be starting next week.

Yesterday, it was supposed to be raining but it turned out to be a gorgeous day so Alex and I went to explore the city of Tel Aviv, we began at Neve Tzedek which is an area that is all small streets with cute boutiques and restaurants and is just gorgeous. We just walked around and took in the scenes. Across the way on the beach is the famous restaurant called Manta Ray, we just went to their "beach bar" and had a drink and laid on these couches that over looked the water and relaxed for about an hour before heading to Jaffa. We walked around the old city of Jaffa which is gorgeous and explored a little more but since it was Shabbat the majority of stuff was closed. We want to go back when their flea market is open.

Today, I went to the beach this morning and now have Ulpan at 4. Tommorow we are going on a tour of Jaffa with our city coordinator and to the Arab/Jewish Museum something like that. I will post more on that. :)

ALSO A SHOUTOUT TO BRETT, wish I could of been at the bar-mitvah with all my faves but saying MAZEL from ISRAEL :)

eilat and since

This weekend Oranim took us to Eilat. The bus picked us up at 530 friday morning and what should have been a 3 hour drive to Eilat took about 7 1/2...we hiked for about an hour of that which was about a 15 minute uphill a 25 minute look over and 20 minute decline which was basically walking through a beach. When we finally got to Eilat and checked in it was time to shower and go for shabbat in the lobby at 530. We went out that night and kind of wandered around Eilat but went to the infamous bar Three Monkeys which we quickly found out in the off season is packed with the 40+ age range. We had our drinks and continued on to this place called park avenue which was fun but had a persian wedding going on. We then continued on back closer to our hotel and found our selves at UNPLUGGED which is where Oranim takes all their trips but its a GAY bar normally. After our adventures we all decided TEL AVIV is sooo much better. But I was dancing outside the bar with my friend Jordan and there was a piece of the sidewalk that was not paved at all and was a hole and I tripped and now have a completley bruised knee and probably needed stitches in part of the cut so now I will be adding scar #6 to my body.

On Saturday morning EVERYTHING was closed in Eilat due to Shabbat so we decided to go to the Hilton and hang by the pool there thought we could get a nice lunch and a nice pool but NOO the kitchen doesn't open till 1 and it was a special shabbat menu. Well it was a pretty nice morning but then we went back to our hotel for the provided lunch and nap time. Woke up and showered and we were going to go try to find a restaurant to eat in but that didn't work and we ended up at aroma (which is kind of like a panera/starbucks) Then Oranim had the night planned for us at UNPLUGGED again and it was fun for a little but the drinks were really expensive and very clubby scene we hung for a little and then decided we were going to just go back and chill at the hotel, since we had to wake up at 645 the next morning for another HIKE.

Sunday morning we all wake up to NO WATER in the hotel, had to brush our teeth and was our face with bottled water and the toliets wouldn't flush. really great hotel choice oranim. The hike the second day was gorgeous we went through the mountains and it was really pretty. Then it took us again about 6 1/2 hours from start to finish to get back to Tel Aviv. But when we finally arrived at about 430 we all couldn't wait to be HOME :)

I started work yesterday and I need to switch asap because it is mindless work and I was just sitting in a closet one on one while the "students" read english passages and I was basically falling asleep. SOO now I need to go email my internship placement person and find a new one asap. :) going to go to the beach now its 80 and gorgeous out :)

Finally it is nice out again.....it is 80 and sunny!! yipppieeee

To start off, last night we went back to neveen which is our favorite bar since we have been here and hung with Yuval (the owner that we befriended) he gave us so many drinks on the house and brought over calamari and shrimp...just a great night and he is sooo nice....

Woke up this morning to Alex calling me and going be ready at 12 Yuval is taking us for lunch...in my mind I thought just a hummus joint or something....NOOOOOO wait he took us to ToTo the MOST expensive Italian restaurant in all of Tel Aviv...AND paid for it all....we got 2 appetizers, an tuna tartare (which I didn't eat) and a roasted eggplant dish (which I tried and it was amazzzzing) than 3 main courses, I got a pizza with salami and tomato, Alex got a cheese tortellini with a mushroom cream sauce and Yuval got an oxtail tortellini that was ALSO amazing....Then we got 3 desserts, I will post a picture of these on my facebook later when I upload....but OMG like I am in heaven...Apparently Alex saw the bill and it was 1500 sheckels like I can't even begin to tell you how amazing this restaurant was....If I could I would order EVERYTHING on that menu....

Then BEST NEWS ever....i walk in from Lunch and My psycho demon girl roomate goes this isn't going to work out I am finding someone else to live with WAHOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!! and like she thinks its me, everyone on the trip is like MY friend and think shes crazy I think she may be bipolar or schizophrenic or something BUT yayayayayaya today has just been A GREATTTT day so far!!!!

Tommorow we are leaving for Eilat for the weekend :) SOOO ill post after that :) :) :)

I am just SOOOO happy here...

After being here for a little over 2 weeks, we are quickly learning that oranim is probably the most unorganized company in the world. We are supposed to be having intensive ulpan for the first 2 wks before all our internships start, so already we have had 1 day cancelled, and 2 days that were supposed to be 4 hours of instruction cut down to 2 hrs and we have never been at the same school 2 days in a row. We usually don't find any of this information out until about 30 minutes before we need to be somewhere, and one of the schools is about an hour walk from our apartment.

So, yesterday morning, my friend Alex and I decided to wake up around 9 to go to the shook to get some vegetables, fruits, cheese and I wanted a tapestry for my bed to make my room look a little more like home. We take the 40 minute walk up to the shook get there have a nice morning strolling through the shook, then we realize its about 1230 and we need to get back to our apartment, collect our ulpan stuff and then head out to ulpan at the school which is acutally located on penis st that is an hour away...As we are heading out at about 115, we all recieve a text message that ulpan is now not starting until 4. So we are all annoyed as usual but we decide to go to the beach.

But back track a few steps, as Alex and I are running to the bus stop, out of no where this guy in plain clothes comes up to us and says "immigration services" let me see your passports. First off I don't carry my passport around...then we are very skeptical because we all know how many guys pose as cops and rape girls, or could of possibly ran away with Alex's passport. Then we are kind of not giving him full answers and then a guy in uniform appears also out of no where. We try to get on the bus and they completley blockade us. So after this i walk away for a minute closer to the stores behind us and call our group coordinator Tomer, eventually he gets on the phone with these s0-called immigration workers and Alex shows the passport. But they were threatening to arrest us if we didn't show one. So after all that both of us are very shaken up and now thinking we are about to miss Ulpan.

That is my first crazy story from Israel and i am hoping something like that doesn't happen again and I was so happy to be with Alex because if I was by myself I would of been shitting in my pants.

Well right now its another thunderstorm outside :( thats all for now