I have nothing to write really. Just want to update this so my family knows I'm alive (we never really talk on the phone). Sukkot just ended here in Israel and its now Shabbat. And on Tuesday night my entire garin went to an amazing concert near the dead sea.
Matisyahu and Balkan Beat Box (and amazing band!! for anyone who doesn't know them please go youtube them PRONTO!) played and it was really incredible. The stage was set up at a dead end in the middle of a canyon with lights everywhere, people on top of people, dancing and enjoying the amazing show.
Erez, a crazy, hilarious, silly, hippy, smart, foolish, etc. etc. guy on the kibbutz who finished the army and is leaving for china (Israeli travels) in two weeks just came in the caravan and told us about a "mesibat teva" in the middle of the desert that starts at 3 A.M. today. (as in, in 2 hours). It's gonna be trance and lights and crazy, and I think I'm going.
Don't worry Mama, no drugs. Just dancing :)
Friday, October 1, 2010
Thursday, September 23, 2010
My First Israeli Wedding
So I went to my first Israeli wedding on Tuesday and it was so freaking great !
I've only been to four weddings in my life, two of which were before I was 10 years old and the other two were religious ceremonies where men and women had to sit separately. I guess you could say this is the first wedding that I went to that I remember and could actually dance with some male cuties !
I went to the affair (what a fancy word) with my friend Yiftach and had been planning my outfit for the past week. As an American, I wanted to wear a pretty dress and heels. But people kept telling me that weddings here are super casual. People wear jeans, and that's considered appropriate apparel.
So I settled on a black dress with high white wedges. The wedding was in Beit Lechem Galil (not Beit Lechem, Beit Lechem) which is a moshav in the north. The place was really, really beautiful. Everything was outside, including the chupa (marriage ceremony).
Funny differences between American and Israeli weddings (besides the fashion):
- In America, after the groom steps on the glass (signifying the couple is now married), the two kiss and everyone is happy and enjoys a lovely, classy exit.
In Israel, after the groom steps on the glass, a loud, obnoxious song by Baha Men "Who Let the Dogs Out" beings playing and all old people under the chupa rush to find refuge from the dancing newleyweds.
- In America, dogs don't roam around the wedding party
In Israel, all moshav dogs come and start eating whatever food fell on the floor and take dancers (such as myself) by surprise when they feel some fur while dancing.
Obviously this isn't all Israeli weddings, just the one on a moshav that I went to this week. It was amazing though, and I loved every moment of it.
I've only been to four weddings in my life, two of which were before I was 10 years old and the other two were religious ceremonies where men and women had to sit separately. I guess you could say this is the first wedding that I went to that I remember and could actually dance with some male cuties !
I went to the affair (what a fancy word) with my friend Yiftach and had been planning my outfit for the past week. As an American, I wanted to wear a pretty dress and heels. But people kept telling me that weddings here are super casual. People wear jeans, and that's considered appropriate apparel.
So I settled on a black dress with high white wedges. The wedding was in Beit Lechem Galil (not Beit Lechem, Beit Lechem) which is a moshav in the north. The place was really, really beautiful. Everything was outside, including the chupa (marriage ceremony).
Funny differences between American and Israeli weddings (besides the fashion):
- In America, after the groom steps on the glass (signifying the couple is now married), the two kiss and everyone is happy and enjoys a lovely, classy exit.
In Israel, after the groom steps on the glass, a loud, obnoxious song by Baha Men "Who Let the Dogs Out" beings playing and all old people under the chupa rush to find refuge from the dancing newleyweds.
- In America, dogs don't roam around the wedding party
In Israel, all moshav dogs come and start eating whatever food fell on the floor and take dancers (such as myself) by surprise when they feel some fur while dancing.
Obviously this isn't all Israeli weddings, just the one on a moshav that I went to this week. It was amazing though, and I loved every moment of it.
Saturday, September 18, 2010
Yom Kippur
Another Yom Kippur come and gone, and now I don't have to worry about not eating for another year! (or few months, considering tisha ba'av and stuff)
So my Yom Kippur in Israel was not so bad, and I went to Shul a lot more than I expected to. Considering my Kibbutz is so entirely chiloni (secular) and that during the week I get no spiritual/religious stimulation watsoever, I was not expecting anything too great today.
But they hired a Rabbi who came to spend the "chag" on the kibbutz, and had services last night, all day today, and tonight until they blew the shofar (signifying that the fast is over).
Israelis are pretty funny. Usually no one really cares about religion, but today and yesterday the shul was PACKED. literally not enough seats, barely any room to move, all the machzors (prayer books) were taken, etc.
But tomorrow, they're probably going to go back to not doing anything religious. Which is fine (I hope I'm not making a value judgement here) but it was nice to have that bit of tradition I'm used to for the day.
HI DAN ISRAEL!
So my Yom Kippur in Israel was not so bad, and I went to Shul a lot more than I expected to. Considering my Kibbutz is so entirely chiloni (secular) and that during the week I get no spiritual/religious stimulation watsoever, I was not expecting anything too great today.
But they hired a Rabbi who came to spend the "chag" on the kibbutz, and had services last night, all day today, and tonight until they blew the shofar (signifying that the fast is over).
Israelis are pretty funny. Usually no one really cares about religion, but today and yesterday the shul was PACKED. literally not enough seats, barely any room to move, all the machzors (prayer books) were taken, etc.
But tomorrow, they're probably going to go back to not doing anything religious. Which is fine (I hope I'm not making a value judgement here) but it was nice to have that bit of tradition I'm used to for the day.
HI DAN ISRAEL!
Monday, September 13, 2010
Happy New Year!
So I spent my first Rosh Hashannah (Jewish new year) in Israel this past week. I went up north (well actually its the center of Israel but from here, the south, central is north) to Even Yehudah and spent the chag with my family.
My sister is also in Israel now so she came, too. We spent Wed- Saturday at my cousins house eating and sleeping and eating and sleeping. Now that I'm back on the kibbutz I'm so used to just sleeping that waking up for ulpan is posing a big(ger) problem (than usual) !
All the girls in my garin are getting our manilas today. Manilias are pretty much all the jobs that we're being offered to do in the army. I'm really nervous to open mine because my kaba (iq score) is low because they gave me the damn test in Hebrew. So I'm fully expecting shitty jobs like being a secretary.
Which is not why I came to Israel. I'm nervous, and pishy.
My sister is also in Israel now so she came, too. We spent Wed- Saturday at my cousins house eating and sleeping and eating and sleeping. Now that I'm back on the kibbutz I'm so used to just sleeping that waking up for ulpan is posing a big(ger) problem (than usual) !
All the girls in my garin are getting our manilas today. Manilias are pretty much all the jobs that we're being offered to do in the army. I'm really nervous to open mine because my kaba (iq score) is low because they gave me the damn test in Hebrew. So I'm fully expecting shitty jobs like being a secretary.
Which is not why I came to Israel. I'm nervous, and pishy.
Monday, September 6, 2010
Lots of stuff to update on.. but I'm a bit distracted right now because I'm listening to a shiur (lesson) by this Rabbi about Rosh Hashannah (the Jewish new year thats coming up this week). The kibbutz I'm living on is so secular, and I'm used to much more - and to be honest, I really miss being (more) observant. So I do little things like listen to Rabbi's teachings. DON'T WORRY MOM I WILL NOT FLIP OUT AND WEAR ONLY SKIRTS
I like boys too much :)
So I just had a wonderful weekend up north in Yokenam Moshava at my friend Yiftach's house. I know Yiftach from last summer when he was part of the Israeli mishlachat (delegation) to Ramah Canada- the camp I was working at. He was on my staff and we became good friends very quickly.
I went up north and stayed at his (beautiful) house. I went with my friend and roommate Talia, which made the 4 hour journey much easier. The weekend was so much fun- Yiftach celebrated his 22 birthday on Saturday and although he technically lives on a moshava (much different than a kibbutz- more privatized, etc.), the social life between he and his friends on the moshava are much like that found on a kibbutz. In other words, all his friends were chill and fun and we all had a great time hanging out all weekend.
Not to mention we went to a beautiful beach twice!
One very interesting thing that happened while we were up there: someone was making a toast to Yiftach in honor of his birthday. Had the toast been in the US, I really believe that the speech would have been quite lighthearted and silly. If not, I'm not sure it would have compared to what these boys said.
In the middle of a party, while everyone was laughing and talking and getting drunker and drunker, the boys all raised their glasses and made a toast that Gilad Shalit (the Israeli soldier that has been held captive in Gaza for the past 5 years) should come home.
Imagine that! I've yet to see a group of American (drunk) teenagers taking the time to toast to the soldiers in Iraq/Afghanistan. Then again, I don't drink so I wouldn't really have seen any toast at all.
Time to sleep, I'm super tired.
I like boys too much :)
So I just had a wonderful weekend up north in Yokenam Moshava at my friend Yiftach's house. I know Yiftach from last summer when he was part of the Israeli mishlachat (delegation) to Ramah Canada- the camp I was working at. He was on my staff and we became good friends very quickly.
I went up north and stayed at his (beautiful) house. I went with my friend and roommate Talia, which made the 4 hour journey much easier. The weekend was so much fun- Yiftach celebrated his 22 birthday on Saturday and although he technically lives on a moshava (much different than a kibbutz- more privatized, etc.), the social life between he and his friends on the moshava are much like that found on a kibbutz. In other words, all his friends were chill and fun and we all had a great time hanging out all weekend.
Not to mention we went to a beautiful beach twice!
One very interesting thing that happened while we were up there: someone was making a toast to Yiftach in honor of his birthday. Had the toast been in the US, I really believe that the speech would have been quite lighthearted and silly. If not, I'm not sure it would have compared to what these boys said.
In the middle of a party, while everyone was laughing and talking and getting drunker and drunker, the boys all raised their glasses and made a toast that Gilad Shalit (the Israeli soldier that has been held captive in Gaza for the past 5 years) should come home.
Imagine that! I've yet to see a group of American (drunk) teenagers taking the time to toast to the soldiers in Iraq/Afghanistan. Then again, I don't drink so I wouldn't really have seen any toast at all.
Time to sleep, I'm super tired.
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Tzav Rishon
So I'm officially in the IDF database!
This past Monday my entire garin (the group of kids I'm living with that are also joining the army- we're not all joining the same units though) had tzav rishon. That literally translates into "first step" but in real English it would mean something like "first summons". Pretty much its just when we all go and get poked and prodded by doctors and do physical tests and written tests and putz around until they give us our profile (the number out of 97) and our kaba (the number out of 56)
So we get there and woopdie doo, theres no air-conditioning. That's right. Over 50 kids in a room in Be'er Sheva and no AC. ONe by one kids are getting called into this room. I'm obviously nervous so I whip out my Harry Potter (number 4) and started reading about the Yule Ball and how Harry wishes he went with Cho but he went with Pavarti instead!
Anyways, I get called into the room and sit with a soldier. She starts asking me all the questions - "are your parents still together" "how many siblings" "whats your address" etc. etc. It took a freaking year, but eventually we moved on to the Hebrew test which was her showing me a sentence, me reading it and saying what it meant. I also had to write sentences that she would dictate- all of which were level 90897653 and most Israelis wouldn't even understand.
Apparently I scored high enough on that to take the psichotechni (test that all incoming soldiers have to take to show their intelligence) in Hebrew. EVERYONE ELSE took it in English, even the kids who have perfect Hebrew and sound completely Israeli. I was literally THE only one who took it in Hebrew and didn't understand why... I mean legit I barely freaking speak the language.
So everyone else who was taking it in English finished in about 20 minutes but my test was like the freaking SAT so it took about 1.5 hours. Turns out my best friend and roommate Talia took it in Hebrew also. We were both totally freaking out because here we are, getting judged on the same level as everyone else (the score affects your profile which in turn affects the jobs you can get as a soldier) but we had the test about 89764 times harder in a language that is by no means our mother tongue!
(blast that Gittleman and Schechter for teaching me to read and write well)
So the soldier who is in charge of our garin and lives with us on the kibbutz came up to Talia and I today and told us that the office called her and said that we each did well on our tests. Not amazing, not to our "highest potential", but we did well. Well enough for Talia to be a moshakit-tash (social worker for the army) which is what she wants to do. She told us that it wasn't fair that we had to take it in Hebrew and the army is now saying we have the option to take it again in English and potentially raise our scores and profiles.
Here's the catch: we have to write a letter of appeal, translate it to Hebrew, send it back to the office and then wait for the next day we can go in to retake the test. That's not really so bad. The thing is that all of this waiting may push back our enlistment date because the whole process will be delayed. Meaning, the entire garin will be enlisting around november and Talia and I might be stuck on the kibbutz with nothing to do until February just because this FREAKING army can't get their shit straight.
Then again we might be able to take the test right away. Who knows?
The other thing is: there is a "yom me-ah" which all girls go to and get evaluated by specialists. Its a good thing, it can raise your profile a lot and totally cancel out the test grade. Pretty much the specialists see how well you work with electronics, other people, the Hebrew language, etc. etc.
I don't really know what to do. Any suggestions?
This past Monday my entire garin (the group of kids I'm living with that are also joining the army- we're not all joining the same units though) had tzav rishon. That literally translates into "first step" but in real English it would mean something like "first summons". Pretty much its just when we all go and get poked and prodded by doctors and do physical tests and written tests and putz around until they give us our profile (the number out of 97) and our kaba (the number out of 56)
So we get there and woopdie doo, theres no air-conditioning. That's right. Over 50 kids in a room in Be'er Sheva and no AC. ONe by one kids are getting called into this room. I'm obviously nervous so I whip out my Harry Potter (number 4) and started reading about the Yule Ball and how Harry wishes he went with Cho but he went with Pavarti instead!
Anyways, I get called into the room and sit with a soldier. She starts asking me all the questions - "are your parents still together" "how many siblings" "whats your address" etc. etc. It took a freaking year, but eventually we moved on to the Hebrew test which was her showing me a sentence, me reading it and saying what it meant. I also had to write sentences that she would dictate- all of which were level 90897653 and most Israelis wouldn't even understand.
Apparently I scored high enough on that to take the psichotechni (test that all incoming soldiers have to take to show their intelligence) in Hebrew. EVERYONE ELSE took it in English, even the kids who have perfect Hebrew and sound completely Israeli. I was literally THE only one who took it in Hebrew and didn't understand why... I mean legit I barely freaking speak the language.
So everyone else who was taking it in English finished in about 20 minutes but my test was like the freaking SAT so it took about 1.5 hours. Turns out my best friend and roommate Talia took it in Hebrew also. We were both totally freaking out because here we are, getting judged on the same level as everyone else (the score affects your profile which in turn affects the jobs you can get as a soldier) but we had the test about 89764 times harder in a language that is by no means our mother tongue!
(blast that Gittleman and Schechter for teaching me to read and write well)
So the soldier who is in charge of our garin and lives with us on the kibbutz came up to Talia and I today and told us that the office called her and said that we each did well on our tests. Not amazing, not to our "highest potential", but we did well. Well enough for Talia to be a moshakit-tash (social worker for the army) which is what she wants to do. She told us that it wasn't fair that we had to take it in Hebrew and the army is now saying we have the option to take it again in English and potentially raise our scores and profiles.
Here's the catch: we have to write a letter of appeal, translate it to Hebrew, send it back to the office and then wait for the next day we can go in to retake the test. That's not really so bad. The thing is that all of this waiting may push back our enlistment date because the whole process will be delayed. Meaning, the entire garin will be enlisting around november and Talia and I might be stuck on the kibbutz with nothing to do until February just because this FREAKING army can't get their shit straight.
Then again we might be able to take the test right away. Who knows?
The other thing is: there is a "yom me-ah" which all girls go to and get evaluated by specialists. Its a good thing, it can raise your profile a lot and totally cancel out the test grade. Pretty much the specialists see how well you work with electronics, other people, the Hebrew language, etc. etc.
I don't really know what to do. Any suggestions?
Sunday, August 22, 2010
Jerusalem
I never know how to start these things. Maybe "dear diary" ? Or, "to whom it may concern" ? And who does this concern anyway??
Well, I'm back from a very interesting weekend in Jerusalem. I left the kibbutz on thursday afternoon and got my little toosh on a bus from be'er sheva to tachanat merkazit (central bus station) in Yerushalayim. The bus ride was actually incredibly interesting. Thursday afternoon is when all the soldiers get to go home for Shabbat so getting on a bus is a freaking shit show. I'll explain it like someone throwing $10 and everyone going nuts to get it.
Luckily, my charm and good looks scored me a seat on the bus. Others weren't so lucky- they had to sit in the aisles (Israel really doesn't care about safety hazards). So a lot of soldiers were sitting in the aisle and I felt really guilty because HELLOOO KAVOD! (respect). I asked (a not ugly looking) soldier next to me on the floor if he wanted my seat, cause in NY if you see a soldier you get the hell up!
Anyway, he said no, but we got to talking and it turned out that he had been living in gush katif (a Jewish settlement in Gaza) and was evacuated in the 2005 evacuation of gaza operation. It was so interesting to meet someone who was really directly impacted by that government decision.
I got to Jerusalem which looked exactly as I left it. I reached the dorms of Hebrew U where I got to see a lot a LOT of friends: Michelle Cimbol, Talya Frankel, Sam Perelgut, Liz Traison, Noa Orzy etc. (shout out to everyoneee xoxox) <-- I do love them, but thats me making fun of the jap vernacular
The weekend was lots of fun, just a whole bunch of parties and laughing and silliness. I'm so happy I finally got to spend a really nice and observant Shabbat. The reason I went to Jerusalem was for my friend Michael Chaikoff's brother's bar mitzvah, which was at the Inbal Hotel near Yemin Moshe and it was sooo beautiful. They had me for Friday night (5 course) dinner and I got to sit next to Ellen (mama Chaikoff) who is absolutely the best ever.
Saturday morning we went to shul in Yemin Moshe, and then sweat our asses off as we walked back to Talya's sisters apartment. I also got to see my Rabbi's wife Shevy, who I'm in love with, and my friend Esther. We met them at their friends GORGEOUS penthouse apartment in Jerusalem.
Anyway, back to the desert wishing it was okay to walk around naked (its so hot)
<3 (thats a heart)
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