Hello Arad

(Camel smiling at me)

(Bedouin tent)

The last couple of days have been crazy hectic. Back in Bat Yam, everyone was really sad to leave the Israeli Scouts :( They added so much to our group and we became so close with all of them and it sucks to leave them behind. Aviv (my scout) was SO cute and surprised us the last night in Bat yam by making a little party for us in our living room. She put a candle out with tons of food and candy around and played a slideshow she made for us. She also wrote me a really long, amazing letter. I love her and will really miss her :(
We moved out and went to a random forest area to weed plants and trim trees. Funny thing about it is I went to the exact same place for Muss to do that and they had a picture of my Muss group there. It made me really miss Muss. Muss was the most amazing, spiritual and impacting two months of my life. After the forest work, we drove all the way down to the Negev to Bedouin tents. (We went there on Muss, too!) All around us was desert. And Camels. For dinner six people sat on the ground around a big trey full of rice, potatoes,vegtables,kebobs,etc, and just dug in with our hands. Then they blasted music and we had a dance party in the tents. I walked through the Bedouin village with my friend and we sat by this old Arab guy playing the harp. He taught me how to play a bit and then we got into a long conversation about the similarities between Judaism and Islam. Everyone got their sleeping bags and slept under the tents but me and a couple friends slept outside under the stars even though it was freeeezing cold. We woke up at 7.00, had an amazing Bedouin breakfast buffet, and then I went on a 3 hour hike through the desert. We walked through dried up waterfalls and river canals. Then we drove to Arad, found our apartments, and started to settle in. My apartment is definitely not as big or nice as my last one, plus there's 7 of us now. But it's still cute and were starting to make it homey. I'm really excited to be here. Good always comes from change.

PS- I know deep deep down that I will be happiest in Colorado. I want to go there so bad!

"So many people live within unhappy circumstances and yet will not take the initiative to change their situation because they are conditioned to a life of security, conformity, and conservatism, all of which may appear to give one peace of mind, but in reality nothing is more dangerous to the adventurous spirit within a man than a secure future. The very basic core of a man's living spirit is his passion for adventure. The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun."
— Chris McCandless

leaving bat yam

Thanksgiving Tiyul

Right now I'm sitting by my window typing and I can hear beautiful piano coming from the apartment next to me. It's nice having free music :) definitely a change from a couple weeks ago when all I could hear in my bathroom from the vent was screaming and fighting in hebrew. That went on for a couple of days. Nobody has any privacy here!Today was an awesome day. We woke up at 7.00 and drove to the Bar Kokhba caves. The Jewish people were planning a revolt against Roman rule, and for five years the word spread and caves were secretly built. In 132 AC, the revolt began and unfortunately the Jewish plan backfired because the Romans trapped them in their own caves for years and food, water, and even air ran out untill they all died. This was also a canabalistic time because many of the jews ate the corpses! Ew. So we climbed through these tiny caves in pitch black, some parts were so small that we had to squirm on our stomachs and push through with our elbows. Good thing Jews are generally small. I came out of the caves with scrapes on my knees and dust clouding my hair. Great time. Then we went on a 2 hour hike and got to a cliff where we repelled down the mountain. It was freakin awesome. Then at night I went to a thanksgiving pot luck dinner. It was actually so adorable about 30 people came and every apartment brought a dish. We went around and said what we were thankful for and a lot of people said " I'm thankful to be celebrating thanksgiving with my new family" :)). We feasted, played backgammon, and then me and my roommates watched Glee. Tomorrow night is prom, otherwise called a goodbye-to-bat yam and the scouts- party. I think I might have strep throat though so I don't know if i'll be able to go.

Rwanda update

Last night the social action track had an auction and raised 1,000 dollars for Rwanda!!!!!!!!! Some of the things bidded on were:
-Your whole apartment will be cleaned by Rachel
-A night on the rooftop of Tel Aviv. drinks and music included
-An extra day off of school
-hike planned by Jenna
-astronomy lesson with tamar
-Mystery box(inside was a bottle of vodka and chocolate cake)
-cooking lesson with Elana
-A date with Eyal (our madrich)
-Get your laundry done
AND TONS more random stuff like that. Our creativity paid off and we were really successful:)

ROOMIES

Last day of volunteering :(

Today was saaaaad because I had to say goodbye to everyone at the preschool I work at. The teacher gave me a big gift (matanah in hebrew)  with bath soaps, lotions, perfumes, etc. It was so sweet she also wrote me a long letter(meec-tav) about how much she appreciated my hard work(avodah) and having me around. One by one, every kid came and hugged me goodbye (there's 34 of them) and I almost cried it was so cute. She said I'm always welcome to come visit (mavaker) and I always have a place to stay in Bat Yam with her. It's really cool how fast I made so many connections in this random city on the opposite side of the world. Moving is very bitter-sweet, and I now realize that no matter where you are in the world, although it may take a while, you can truly find happiness because wherever you are, you take yourself with you and if you really love yourself then you can never go wrong.

how to build a smile

Appreciate.
Appreciate.
Appreciate.

A child can fall in love
with a piece of string.
A cat can fall in love
with drops of dust.

What did you fall in love with today?

Oh. Oh.
You forgot to fall in love?

Try it now.

Let’s love the day we’re sitting in;
revel in how it rolls out its mysteries
like a drunken artist, hoping someone,
anyone, will notice its design.

Appreciate.
Appreciate.
Appreciate.

Whatever we bless
turns into a poem.

-Found on the internet

I just got back from Tel Aviv and it's 6 in the morning. Super foggy out, and a full moon. This morning I went to Alana and Hannah's apartment to make MASH(scrambled pancakes, bananas,honey,nutella,and granola). I had to head over to Tel Aviv around 4 before the buses stopped for Shabbat. I had no idea where I was going but I figured it out by asking people on the streets ( I had to ask like 7 different people) and got to his house around 5. It was really nice seeing him again because it made me feel closer to home, because I usually see him when I'm just walking around the house and pops and mike are about to go for a run. His apartment is beautiful and is in a really quaint neighborhood. On the corner of his street is a little outside coffee stand and there's a nice park/fountain on the other side. I met Noah's cousin,Ethan, who is 20 and is in his 2nd year in the army. He went on year course two years ago and then decided to make aliya. A ton of friends on my program are already thinking about joining the army and making aliya. Sometimes I feel like I should definitely move here, but then other times I feel like I don't have enough connections here like any family or great friends. More of his cousins and friends came and we ate a wonderful dinner (plus drank expensive wine)It was really great having a full home cooked meal but for some reason when ever I have family dinners (the last time at Tuvias, and the time before at my Israeli roommates shabbat dinner) I always feel a hint of sadness because my own family is missing and then start to miss you guys and our Shabbat dinners/bananagram nights. (PS-THANKS SO MUCH FOR THE PACKAGE and BANANAGRAMS it made my day!) After dinner I went out with Ethan and his 2 friends from the army to Tel Aviv and two of my friends also met up with us at a bar on a really cool music street called Vital. We hung out there for a couple hours and then went to the beach and put a blanket down and stargazed. The moon was chedder cheese orange(no exaggeration) over the ocean and we we startgazed for a while (I saw a shooting star) and somehow all that time zoomed by and we took a taxi home at 5.30. For some reason I'm not tired at all, but It's probably best that I go to sleep because the light is already creeping in my window...
Goodnight fam.

Day

So today I had a Rwandan seminar from 9-4! Long day, yes. I had to miss the hike and biking trip this weekend because of it, but it was very interesting and vital and we were aware that we'd have to sacrifice things in order to complete our project.I was kindof mad though because like 4 people completely blew it off and didn't come. It's unfair how some of us are working very hard raising money and coming to all the meetings and getting things done, when others haven't done a single thing but are still getting on the benefits of going. The levels of commitment are very different which weakens our group dynamic. Anyway, we had a speaker come in that works in an organization for preventing genocide. He talked to us about the different warning signs and ways to prevent it. We also planned some more fundraising events and so far we've raised 1,000 dollars!!!! Nobody emailed me back except for Mike Berman about donating. Talia (our group leader) just got back from the village so she told us alllllll about it and everything we'll be doing, so next time I talk to you guys I can fill you in on that. I'm so excited and it really seams that we'll be making a lasting impact on the village/Rwanda as a whole. The kids at the village are the kids who will grow up to actually be able to contribute to Rwanda and help other people. Investing all the money and time on a small group seamed unfair to me at first because while a select group of lucky kids get 3 meals a day, education, therapy, etc, there are kids who are eating one meal every other day outside the village. However, I now realize that the long term benefits are greater this way because they are giving these kids ALL the neccessary tools and opportunities to succeed in order to give back to the country. Making this group very strong and successful will in turn boost the whole of Rwanda instead of spreading out the food and money, which would save more kids but  wouldn't be able to give opportunities for them to go far in life because they would be just "getting by".
We also got a book called "We wish to inform you that tomorrow we will be killed with our families" by Philip Gourevitch and we have to read it by winter break.

After the seminar, I went to a yoga class that I found online with Alana and Hannah and it was so enlightening and purifying and right now I feel amazing and whole:)) It was taught in English(whew)at a studio in someone's apartment in Tel Aviv. Right now I'm waiting for hannah and alana to get dressed and then I'm going to Tel Aviv for a drum show that this South African I met is putting on. I have the apartment to myself this weekend because the rest of my roommates when on the biking trip thing, and it's so refreshing finally being able to be alone and play my music loud and have quiet when I want quiet and walk around freely and play my mandolin!!!!! I made a huge dinner for myself of fried rice, veggie shnitzel and green beans.
I only have about a week left here! It's crazy how it went by so fast... It's a bummer that as soon as I start to get used to things (bus routes, places and music I like in Tel Aviv, etc) were leaving and I'll have to start all over. But that's all part of the fun. Looking back at my time here so far.... oh wow it's been an emotional roller coaster. I've had some of the greatest times here, but also some of the lowest, loneliest times. It's definitely been quite a journey.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZQaEnbm6k8&NR=1

When the air that you’re breathing in seems in short supply And the knots that you’re making Are harder to untie Let this be your Chance to grow With your arms outstretched And your limbs akimbo (chorus:) Well, there’s turbulence up in the sky Though most of it’s inside your mind There’s traffic jams out on the road Though most of them inside your soul All over things we can’t control All over trouble letting go So come on now let go of limbo Arms out stretched, limbs akimbo

When the skin that you’re livin in Is getting too tight And the lens that you’re looking through Doesn’t let in enough light Let this be your Chance to grow Your arms outstretched Limbs akimbo When the ground that you’re walking on Is shaky at best And your heart is palpitating In your chest Let this be your Chance to grow Your arms outstretched Limbs akimbo

We are not humans on a spiritual path, but rather spirits on a human path

Another crazy weekend up North

Me and four other people (Rebecca, Jared, and Seth are all from Boston, and Eli is from California) woke up at 6 in the morning on Friday and traveled allllll the way up north(three hours away). I've been there so many times now I have the route mastered. We started off in this really cute town ( I forgot what it's called..) and saw an ancient synagogue and went to a winery (we didn't try anything though because we were on a budget). Then we went to the grocery store to get food for our trip (canned beans,pees,corn,bread,penute butter, chocolate spread, water,mashed potatoes, and rice). Then we walked about a mile to the start of the hike in the mountain called Zahar Zavitan or something like that. We hiked for about 2 miles and then the sun started setting so we found a nice flat place to camp and quickly gathered fire wood because we had very little time before the darkness would creep in. Half an hour later, it was pitch black but we managed to cook rice, beans, and corn. Then we said kiddish!(over a bottle of rum) and went into some deep conversations...
Two of the boys I was with (Jared and Seth) are taking advantage of their time here more than anyone else. Every single day/night they explore and do something different; they don't waste any time here. They told me an analogy that went like this: Each of us have a sack this year, and you have to fill the sack with as many pebbles as possible and later on, those pebbles will turn into gold. Basically it means that you have to take in as many experiences as you can, even if they don't seam worthy or important at the time, because later in life all of those experiences will turn into something very valuable. They are hilarious, super funny guys. Every day they ask each other , "Seth, hows your sack doing today??"
All I could see while laying in my sleeping bag was the stars and the outline of the mountain surrounding me. In the near distance I heard coyotes and Jared snoring to my left.... The sun woke us up at 6.00 and we began to make a fire so we could toast our bread and make tea. That didn't happen, however, because a park ranger comes and ruins the fun. Camping in the nature reserve is forbidden and so is making fires. He was taking pictures of us for proof! The fine was supposed to be 700 shekles per person but because we were American and "didn't know," he let us off the hook. Then the park ranger looked at me and recognized me! A month before, I had done a different hike on the same mountain and he remembered me. :) Israel really is a small country.... So anyways, we ate our bread non-toasted and had water instead of tea. We cleaned up the campsite and went on our way... About a mile in, we were already sweating and hot and we found a beautiful natural pool and went swimming/cliff jumping. (Picture above) We hiked for another 20 minutes and found mooree pools /rivers. Another hour of hiking and we got to a waterfall with caves surrounding it. We went swimming and ate lunch and I dozed off for a little nap. By then I was exhausted, but we still had about 2 hours untill the end of the hike. The next hour was mostly climbing up boulders to the top of the mountain, and the last hour was at the top of the mountain walking around it to the campsite. We walked past a lot of cows and horses and met some other hikers on the way. We got to the campsite and I literally fell down I was so tired... I bought a chocolate ice cream  (ice cream has never, ever tasted so good before!) filled up my water, and then we were on our way.... We didn't want to stay at the campsite because it costed 30 sheckles, so we decided we'd find another place to sleep and walked down the road untill we found a bus stop. We ran into some other year coursers from a different section at a random bus stop in the middle of nowhere (Again, Israel is so small....!) and on the side of the road, cooked rice on our camping stove and waited for a bus to Tiberias. We got to Tiberias and found a nice spot on the kinneret with bathrooms/grass to sleep on/fire pits. We hung out there, made dinner, smoked huka with our neighbors,and then went to sleep at like 9 because we were so damn exhausted from the long busy day. We woke up and went for a swim in the kinneret. we layed around there for a while and then brought a picnic table into the kinneret to eat lunch! That was the first time I've ever cooked and eaten lunch in a body of water:)) Me and Rebecca found a ride into the city to buy some fruit. I bought some fresh apples and pears and we sat on the kinneret and talked to some cute Israeli soldiers. They talked to us about the army for a while and then helped me study for my Hebrew test the following day(which I aced!) Turns out they were traveling back to Tel Aviv like us, so we all left and went back together. :)) Weekend is over and now I'm writing a paper for my Israeli film class and cooking beans, green beans and eggs. Enjoy my pictures on facebook!!!!!!



http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2095988&id=1275210092&l=81b2227e07 Pictures from this trip

Sorry for my expenses.

Food and transportation for the weekend going up North: Around 50 dollars
New sleeping bag because my old one broke: Around 35 dollars
Laundry: Around 7 dollars
Advanced payment for next weekend(my whole section is going on a bike trip around the kinneret. why doesn't young judaea cover it??): 50 dollars.


SO SORRY FOR THE CRAZY MONEY SPENDING! AH! I will be spending WAY less money in a couple weeks when I go to Arad because I wont have to take busses three hours to go camping, i will be so close. Also, I wont be spending as much money on food because A) There's hardly any food places around it's such a small city and B) I'll be hanging in my apartment a lot more with my new roommates

Last night for running club we went to Tel Aviv to this beautiful running path and I ran four miles!!!!!!! That's the most I've ever ever run before!! :))))) Then we went to Eyal's (my madrich) house for dinner. His family is orthodox and he just became secular a couple of months ago. His family made us a huge dinner.
I'm in a big rush packing for this weekend. Three day hike/camping trip in the Golan!!!! CAN"T WAIT!! I hardly got any sleep last night because I was so excited. :) Will take lots of pictures
Love you

These are my little adorable kids/teachers (they help me with my hebrew) :))

-tea leaf green

Swingin from stars
too near or too far
watching them shine
doin my time
makin them mine
then i leave them behind

Freedom=Going out into the world with just a backpack and an open mind.

Thursday is when it all began. We had a mandatory young judaea event in a basement in Tel Aviv that was boring and pointless. To be honest,I don't even remember what we did. All I remember was holding on to my backpack and tent, anxiously waiting for the night to begin. The whataya-call-it  event finally finished around 6ish, and me and six people walked down to the train station and took a bus to Haifa, then a bus to to Naharia, then a cab to beach nearby. We finally got there about three hours later and it was pitch black. Then I realized we forgot to bring water!!!! And we were literally stranded because no one was around and we had no transportation. We set up our tents (luckily we had 2 flashlites) and started gathering wood to make a fire. My eyes slowly adjusted to the dark and in the distance I saw 2 fisherman sitting on the edge of the rocks. Me and Eli (a boy from California) walked over to them and sat with them for while and they gave us their extra bottles of water (whew) and some walnuts. We made the fire and started cooking. We heated up corn, peas, and carrots from a can, everyone else made chicken and I had a can of white beans with tomato sauce. We ate really well and hung out by the fire for a couple of hours talking and listening to the ocean. Then I went to sleep in my tent but slept with my head outside of the tent so I could fall asleep looking at the stars( I even saw two shooting stars!!!!!) Apparently we were close to the border of Lebanon and I was awoken by two Israeli policeman at 6AM. They asked for our IDs and searched our tent. (Security is really tight right now.. ) I woke up very smiley because the water was glistening and beautiful and we were alone on this amazing beach with just the sound of the ocean to distract us. We made a fire and cooked shakshuka ( eggs with tomato sauce), cleaned up the area, packed up, and started walking down to the nearest town which was about 3 kilometers away. We got to a gas station and stocked up on canned food and fruit and then waited at the bus stop for about 45 minutes. We traveled down to Tiberias and then took a cab all the way up the mountain, through a kibbutz called Arbel, and got dropped off at a campsite(or so we thought....) The plan was to tent out at the beginning of the hike(The hike is called Abel) and then wake up and hike in the morning. After the cab drove off, we walked up to the campsite and it was locked up and closed!!! We were at the top of the mountain, deserted, with nowhere to go and no transportation. We had tents and food though so if worst came to worst we would just camp out on the side of the road. It was only six but the sun was setting already and we had an amazing view from the top of the mountain.
We were debating what to do and where to camp when a huge, empty tour bus came right up to the gate of the closed campsite where we were sitting and Reverend Dave and his tour guide walk out and save the day. He came to check out the spot because in the morning he was planning to take his christian group there to watch the sunrise. We asked him if he could drop us off at a legitimate campsite and they drove us down to Tiberias and dropped us off in a really neat part of town. There was no campsite near but we saw a really cool light/water show that a hotel put on for all the guests. We walked for about a mile and found a beachy area on the kinneret between two hotels and pitched our tents. For dinner we made rice,eggs,beans,onions,peppers, all together in a pan (surprisingly it actually tasted good..) and fried bananas for desert.:) There were cats running around and I fed them tuna.I stargazed for a while and drifted off into a happy, wholesome sleep...:) I woke up to the water again and I seriously have never felt happier. Nobody was awake and I took a morning swim and then ate cookies for breakfast and brushed my teeth in the kinneret.:)) We cleaned up our campsite and then walked through Tiberias untill we found a cab that took us back up to the mountain we were at before so we could go on our hike. We each had to carry all of our stuff plus three liters of water on our backs through the hike( soooo happy I have the nice hiking backpack..I hardly felt the weight)The hike was INCREDIBLE!!!!!!!! First, we went to a beautiful lookout of the kinneret. (See pictures on my facebook.. coming soon) then started descending down the mountain. We had to hold onto cables while we walked across a thin strip of the mountain (it was pretty scary..) and walked for about an hour untill we came across all these natural caves. We climbed through and up them and I even conquered one of them by peeing in it.:) We walked an hour further and came across an old fortress from the seventeenth century!!!! It was build by Ali Beq, the son of of the Druze emir Fahr ad-Din as a military stronghold. At the entrance of the cave there were 3 goats and they came right up to us and my friend Eli was petting them. I gave them water and the started following us around. We walked up to the top of the fortress and ate lunch looking over the entire mountain, an Arab village at the bottom, and the kinneret. You could hear the call for prayer coming for the mosque.There were some gun shots coming from the Arab village, and a young Israeli couple that was also eating lunch with us explained that during a wedding the Arabs shoot their guns into the air. Extraordinary view. We continued descending down the mountain for about an hour and a half and started to see the Arab village. There was an Arab on a horse rounding up around 100 cattle! And a little further I saw some Arab children chasing a group of goats. We walked through the village for a while and we were exhausted and our feet all hurt so we decided to chill on the kinneret for a while. We layed on the beach, made a fire, cooked some pteteem(an israeli noodle dish), went for a swim, watched the sunset, dried off by the fire... It was all amazing and so refreshing. There was a hippi family down the beach with a big ol trailor and they were singing and playing drums by a fire so we went over to join and we hung out with them for about an hour and then had to start our long, three hour journey home. I got back last night around 11, jumped into the shower, and went to sleep with a big ol happy smile on my face. I love adventures.

:)

Last night I went with a couple of friends to a jazz club in Tel Aviv it was really chill, we just listened to music and drank some wine. Today I had Hebrew and I'm enjoying it very very much. I am doing the best in my class and working really hard at it because a) it's awesome to be bilingual b) hebrew is a really beautiful language c) because I have a lot of time on my hands d) my teacher is really great e) it's been very helpful to me here because I can somewhat communicate and get around here f) I hope to become fluent someday and g) I just really love learning for the sake of learning. it's rewarding. So tomorrow I'm hiking up north with about 6 people. Were camping for 2 nights :) Can't wait. I'll call you guys and let you know the dish.

I Miss chipotle.. and mommy

Weeds are flowers too if you get to know them- quote by winnie the pooh

Today I got 95% on my hebrew test!! woot woot! I also just went to the office to plan the hike for this weekend. There's a group of ten of us and were gunna start in Tiberias and hike to the Kinneret and then sleep on the kinneret and do a AWESOME hike the next day. We have no running water today :( But I'm just about to go to laundry (for the third time this week..) and then go to my friend Allisons house to cook stuffed peppers and drink red wine. Last night I played bananagrams with my roommates and it made me miss you guys. We'll have a rematch in december.
Peace, love, and Zionism