Hello Holon

- a couple of pictures from the hike my friends and i went on and our "make-shift" thanksgiving dinner.

So i've moved into my new home here in Holon. 

It has been a crazyyy 2 weeks with hardly any time to write in this thing.

The week before moving into our new apartment we all went to the Judaean Youth Hostel for the 3 days in between moving out of our old apartments and into our new ones. Monday night a group of friends and i- about 15 jumped on a bus to the desert to go hiking and camping. We ended up near Ein Gedy in the afternoon on monday and set up our tents. We made a camp fire and just sat around the fire that night hanging out. The next morning we decided to get up early and go hiking right away. We hiked about 5 hours all through the canyon. We hiked up to the "upper pools" and went swimming, it was gorgeous. Then, we made our way over to the "hidden waterfall" which was beautiful as well. It was a short camping trip but very fun. We really did a lot of hiking and saw a lot of beautiful nature. It's nice to be with people who want to take advantage of our year in israel as much as I do- by traveling. 

Wednesday we moved into our new apartment. In my apartment is 7 of us girls. Me, Jamie from North Carolina, Leah from New York, Sami from Florida, Sylvia from Minnesota, Miriam from California, and Yali from here in Israel. Our apartment is really very nice and the 7 of us seem to get along very well. It's really fun living with an israeli just like us. She is 18 and also just finished high school and is doing what is called Shanat Sheroot (year of community service). Many young israelis now days choose to do a year of community service before the army and they are in what is called the Tzofim, or as we call them israeli scouts. Most of the apartments in Holon from my program have israeli scouts in them and they are all regular Chanichim (participants) like us. 

On the thursday of thanksgiving we were all a bit homesick- all the americans that is. With about an hour to cook in our busy schedule we all seemed to make one thing. I made mashed potatoes, my friend made stuffing...etc. The boys bought a ton of cold cut turkey and two big turkey legs that they cooked. it wasn't the same, but it was a nice thanksgiving. It was another one of those moments here in israel where i realized how far i am from my family, but how much of a family i've really created here for myself. 

My schedule for these next 3 months is a lot different from my old one. On sundays i have Volunteering from 1 to 5. On mondays i have Ulpan from 9 30 to 12 and volunteering from 1 to 5. Every tuesday we have an optional Siyur (or field trip) where the program takes us to places around the country. Wednesdays i have Mifgash Shira in the morning which means our supervisor basically comes over to make sure our apartments aren't growing with mold and they talk to us and then i have volunteering from 1 to 5. On thursdays we have Ulpan from 9 30 to 12 and volunteering from 1 to 5. Also every night there are optional activities to do in and around the city of Holon held by my program. This semester has a lot more structure, but i'm definitely enjoying myself very much.

 

Yesterday we went to a small city south of Haifa called Ceasaria which was an ancient roman port city. The place was beautiful but it was difficult to enjoy it with the pouring down rain. The nice thing about israel is that when it rains here as opposed to it ruining your day, it really brightens it seeing as it hardly ever rains here, so when it does all you can do is be thankful. At one point we all just gave in, took of our hoods and our put away our failing umbrellas, let our hair soak and just made the best of it. 

My volunteering placement is similar in many ways to my last one but also very different. I work with 6 year old kids after they get out of school. My last one was for kids from broken homes, so it took a very long time to gain their trust and little if any affection. These kids are very different in that they hug me and hold my hand. It's rewarding in a different kind of way. The age is also great for me because i only speak hebrew with them so it's a great time for me to practice. I volunteer with two boys from my program, Adam from Florida and Ori from Ohio. We also work with an israeli girl doing Sheroot Leumi (basically religious girls who don't want to serve in the army serve 2 years to community service), she is very outgoing and fun to work with. 

One of the most most beautiful things i've found about this country is that everywhere you look, all of it's citizens have served it in one way or another whether they went to the army or did Sheroot Leumi, you know they did one or the other. It creates a sense of community and Country pride that you really don't find anywhere else.

After this long post I think I'll head to volunteering now. 

-steph

Goodbye Petach

From our last full Petach Tikva dinner, and the 

following evening we had a food 

fight

Us with our friend Becca at her Marva graduation ceremony

A few pictures from our last day at work

So, it's the middle of the night and we are leaving Petach Tikva tomorrow morning. I cannot believe that I'm 1/3 finished my program. Tonight as a friend and i were walking around Petach, we started talking about the streets and got into an argument about what the name of a certain street in the city was. I realized that the fact that we were arguing about the name of some random street really went to show just how much we've really grown to become locals in this place. The other day on the way to work someone approached me who heard my friends and i speaking english. He asked how we knew english so well and i told him that we were not israeli. He told me it was refreshing to hear such good english-obviously not the nicest of people to his own kind, and i told him "well i hardly speak hebrew so of course my english is going to be good i'm American" and he said "well you live here, you're on a bus to work on the outskirts of the small town of Petach Tikva, to me you seem pretty israeli". It was kind of surreal, I really do live here and it's become a home to me. 

I had my last day of work this past thursday and it was veryy somber. There was a sign hung up made by the kids saying Stephanie, Noah, Claire, and Lauren we'll miss you. At the end of the day before the kids leave the manager of the Children's Home always talks to the kids. She explained how we were leaving and then asked who wanted to say something. After 1 of the kids, i said "ani rotza" (i want to), then i said "ani lo eshcach etchem le olam, ve ani ohevet etchem meod. Nakzor livaker." (i will never forget you all, i love every one of you and we will visit.) All the kids and other counselors clapped. It was very nerve-racking to speak in front of everyone in hebrew, but the satisfaction i got was amazing. Then i got a book saying thank you Stephanie, and each of the kids wrote something to me - the english speaker at my work kindly translated them. Some of them were so amazing. Almost every one included "I love you" or "you really helped" or "why are you leaving?" or "please come back to visit". It was amazing to see that after 3 months of struggling, i did make a difference in the kids lives. The head of the Children's Home, "Kadima", also wrote me a recommendation for the future. Having a copy of it in english and in hebrew is very- pardon my teenage ignorance and slang- awesome. I'm so glad that i've actually built relationships with israelis like i'd hoped and the recommendation is truly kind and genuine. I will definitely, definitely be back there to visit.

So, tomorrow we leave Petach Tikva, and the town that has grown to become my home, and the people that have grown to become my family for the past 3 months. I'm moving to Holon on wednesday but until then i'll be in Jerusalem.

Happppppy Thanksgiving everyone, i seriously cannot tell you how much I am going to miss everyone these next couple of days- so be sure to eat my share of food too mmmkay!?

MUCH love-steph

Congratulations SARA!!!

the dinner we made and set table for michael, orna, and ben.

a couple pictures from work.

It's been quite a week. CONGRATULATIONS FIRST OF ALL TO MY BABY-not so baby anymore- COUSIN SARA. i hear she was amazing and the party was fun. It was veryyyyy weird not to be at the last family bat-mitzvah, but i'm so proud of her and am sure she was amazing.

While i missed the fam this weekend while everyone was at the bat-mitzvah, i got a nice dose of family. Michael, Orna, and Ben came over for dinner last wednesday. You can see in the pictures above what we made. Dinner was great, we ate the girls and the fam. After we finished eating the boys came over and we all just sat around, talked, and laughed. It reminded me of family dinners at home. It's so nice to have not only blood family here, but my friends who have become my make-shift family here. 

Today, two of the boys who are on a different track of my program- one where you travel a lot more, left for Uganda (i'm sooo jealous). So last night was out last night having all of us here in Petach Tikva. Basically, next door to our apartment is some russian restaurant that we always walk by and see the people out back. Basically we decided for our last family dinner we would go there. The restaurant did not even have hebrew menus, so the waitress had to come over with the menu, translate it into hebrew, and my hebrew speaking roommate translated it into english for us. Though they didn't even have the normal menu in hebrew nor english, they had an english alcohol menu- we found that quite amusing. Throughout our 3 months here we've had "secret buddies" or "secret santas". For our buddy we just gave them gifts whenever we wanted, and it was all a mystery as to who had who. Last night we all brought our final gifts and went around the table. Each person would guess who theirs was and then it would be revealed and we'd get our last gift. I was right in guessing who mine was- it was my roommate from Tennessee, Rachel. She has given me some really cute gifts throughout the semester. Last night we wrote me a very sweet letter and read it aloud, it nearly brought me to tears.

I can't believe i'm 1/3 finished my program, or time here in israel. I'm going to miss living in Petach Tikva soo much, and my amazing roommates. Next semester we will be living close to one another, but not living with each other will make it not the same. Change is good though as i know. I was talking to Dad the other day and told him how much i've really assimilated to the culture here. As most know the Israeli culture is a lot more blunt, and not so  polite. At first i was a bit offended by this "not-so-polite" culture, now i find myself being just that. At home when i go into a store i stand quietly in line, wait my turn, always say please and thank you and even throw in a "have a nice day" sometimes. The other day i went into a store, grabbed what i needed, when i saw people standing around the counter like they do in israel-there's no such thing as a single file line- i walked right up, said "cama zeh?" (how much is this) handed him the money, didn't say thank you and walked off. As i walked out of the store i thought to myself, OH MY GOSH, what have i become? It's amazing how quickly you become assimilated. I really think I'm gonna be in for a culture shock when i get home. 

Like i said two of the boys left today, so as one of them works with me, last thursday was his last day at work. The kids made him a thank you book and all signed it writing really sweet different things. It nearly brought me to tears. Multiple kids upon asking me when i'm leaving and after i said "od shavua" (one more week) they say can't you stay the year!? It will be hard to leave them, but it will be something i'll look forward to- revisiting them. It's amazing how much i've learned and how many stories have come out of just these 3 months, I can't imagine whats in store for the next 6. 

On that note, i'm going to go to sleep. congrats again to sushiii. 

muchlove-steph

"beautiful day"

me at sports day- we were clearly the black team

me and my roommate lauren on sports day

some of the kids at work got ahold of the costumes

what a face

what a week it's been so far and it's only monday night,

Yesterday i had what i like to call a "beautiful" day at work. Two of the boys at the "bait hanoar" have a particularly troubling story- they all come from "broken homes" but this one is a little more extreme. The kids witnessed their father murder their mother. So the "bait hanoar" has arranged for the kids to get counseling. So, yesterday I had to leave work to go pick up one of the brothers and his two little sisters from counseling. I went to get them, the boy is part of my work but his two sisters are too young to be part of it yet. The place was definitely not easy to find and the people in charge had a hard time giving the kids over to me as they didn't know me and didn't understand how i didn't speak hebrew well. I took the 3 kids to the bus so that they could go home. The boy i know very personally as he is at work everyday- he's one of the kids who creates trouble and is very loud, but at heart you know he's a good kid. This was proven to me on our journey home yesterday. As we got on the bus from counseling yesterday it was very crowded and we were all standing. When i saw a seat open up i told the boy "yesh kise sham" (there is a seat there). He smiled and went to sit down. Then i saw his little sister walk over, when he noticed her he got up looked at her, said "at rotza?" (do you want) she shyly nodded, and he helped her up into the seat and stood next to her. I couldn't believe what i was seeing, the little boy who gives me trouble everyday at work really is a great loving kid deep down who just has a troubled past. That's why i like to say it was just "beautiful", to see his progression. It truly is a great feeling to see something like that, that the "bait hanoar" and i for the time that i'm a part of it can help the kids the way we do. Today by the way, the little boy was a lot more obedient toward me and warm, though just as crazy and loud as every- i think he just has great spirit. 

Today at work we had about 30 soldiers come to do activities with the kids. As they entered one of them asked me if I worked at the "bait hanoar" instead of the army (as the other girls or counselors do). At that point i told her no and that i was american, and she realized how bad my hebrew was and we switched over into english. It was a great thing to see the kids with the soldiers. I couldn't stop smiling as i watched the little kids wearing the army hats that the soldiers let them wear, and playing games and laughing with the soldiers. All i saw was the kids futures' right there. It was also great to see the soldiers having fun with israeli youth while on duty.

It's a hectic week- michael and orna are coming wednesday night. Then, i have a end of the semester party thing thursday night. Two of the boys in Petach Tikva on my program and leaving this next week so friday night we're having "Family shabbat dinner" and then after i have my friends birthday party in tel aviv. 

xx-steph

11/8/08

heya

Tomorrow is sunday and the start of a new week, and my 2nd to last week in petach tikva! (OH MY GOSH!) i can't believe i move out of here in 2 weeks, i'm so not ready to, i love it here. For the kids at work my roommates and i are planning on buying them a new soccer ball- they play with a deflated volleyball. Some new games for the place, and we want to make something for each of the kids. There's 48 of them so it will be a lot but we're going to get working soon.

 

Thursday we had Sports day. Because we have bus passes, the 10 of us from petach tikva had to take the bus to Holon- where we had sports day. Though it wasn't just 1 bus, it was 3. Basically what should have taken 20 minutes in the car took 3 hours for us to get there. It was another one of our fun adventures. Basically we got to sports day 2 hours late AND guess what! we still pulled off second place out of a lot of teams. The trophy we got though didn't say 2nd place, it said 2st place. I know i shouldn't laugh, but i embarrass myself speaking hebrew everyday, so it's okay!

Thursday night i went to Jerusalem to visit my friend who had an off weekend from Marva (the army experience). The marva graduation is in a week or so which i will be at. A lot of the parents are coming out for it so it will be so weird to see everyone with their parents. I can't believe thanksgiving is in 2 weeks and i won't be there. AND more importantly my baby cousin sara's bat mitzvah is in a week!!!

In 2 weeks I'll be moving to Holon. I can't wait to find out my volunteer placement. I did my requests the other day and i should find out soon enough. 

This week Michael and Orna and possibly one of the cousins are coming over for dinner tuesday night. I've hardly seen them since i've been here unfortunately because i've been so busy. It will be nice to make dinner for them so they can see the apartment and meet all of my roommates. My roommates are honestly the best, they aren't at all annoyed that i've asked to have a nice dinner on tuesday instead they're excited about making it. I think we've deciding on stir-fry, which we've had before and is great. 

It's late here and tomorrow is sunday morning- which is like monday morning in the states so i have work tomorrow. It's been a crazy week here with the elections and all my tiyulim so i really need to sleep.

with love!

NEW PRESIDENT!

hello all!!

So it's wednesday the 5th and i am veryy exhausted. 

This week we had a tiyul (trip). On monday we went up north to the Golan. We did some touring around 

the kineret and a bike ride. The ride was complete mountain biking and was anything but easy. We then went to a ceremony for the defense force where we saw multiple tanks fire just for show. the energy there was high and the presentation was of course flawless. It was a sight to see. Tuesday I had a normal day at work with the kids, but we all know tuesday wasn't a normal day.

To put it simply, i did not get back to my apartment yesterday until 7:30 A.M! As i said friends and i had planned on going to an american bar to watch the elections. Well it was crazy there, there were so many americans and israeli reporters. We sat and watched the elections and before we knew it, it was 5 a.m., we decided to just wait until the end and ended up taking the morning bus back to our apartment. It was very weird to watch the elections in the U.S. from across the world. What a day, or night in my case, it was for history. 

Tomorrow we have sports day- our section is divided into groups and we're having a day or sports and competition. It should be fun. This weekend i'm planning on going to Jerusalem with a couple of friends. I love being able to travel this country so easily. 

All the busses at the army ceremony with the sunset.

The 10 of us that live in Petach Tikva- this picture is typical petach as we'd say

A few of us looking out at the kineret

Fun stories

Happpy Halloween everyone! halloween is pretty much non-existent here although on halloween we found an american bar and got a good taste of home. it was actually a weird feeling having been away from the american culture for so long.

I can't believe it has been 2 months already! We have really become a part of this town. There is a little convenient store around the corner from us, that we go to for just about every little thing and any little thing we need. The man behind the counter knows us well by now. Just the other day my friend was in the store and she realized she didn't have enough money with her, so he said don't worry just pay me tomorrow! Later that evening I asked him if he had any markers I could buy, he said no but he reached into his pocket, took out a marker and told me to bring it back when I was done. Also, just yesterday as we were waiting for the bus from work a woman asked me, does this bus go to tzomat sirkin? (a part of Petach Tikva) and I knew that it did, i I had given this woman advice like a local, and in hebrew! 

We only have 3 more weeks left here. I'm not ready to leave, i really love my roommates and my apartment. More than anything i love my job. The kids at work are amazing. Every day i learn more and more about their backgrounds and why they act the way they act. It's amazing to see the changes in them and the good kids that they really are. Knowing all of their names, playing games with them, serving them dinner because we don't know if they'll have food to eat when they get home, and hugging them goodbye and seeing the smiles on their faces is seriously the most fulfilling thing. A lot of the kids have so many problems and the other madrichot (counselors) and i just remind them that we love them, and that we care about them and that's all we can do. The other day we brought out the box of costumes from the back and all the kids started dressing up and jumping around. It's so great to see the smiles on their faces, you would never know about their situations with the big smiles they carry most of the time. The kids represent such innocence and it's amazing to be a part of their lives. 

This last shabbat, the boys next door and i did our normal shabbat ritual of walking to the park- it's such a pretty park and on shabbat all of the families are there. It's fun to see the kids and their families but it definitely makes me miss home. When i'm there i always think about how these kids will think back to their childhood and think about this park and the shabbats they spent there, like i think about the games of kick-the-can Greg and I played with the friends around the neighborhood. 

The elections are tomorrow and it will be very weird to be over here for them. Tomorrow will be a day for history and i'm going to do everything i can to find a tv and find out who my next president is!

Happy voting everyone! -xoxoSteph

October 28, 2008- Better late then never

HELLO!

So if you can't tell by the title I am starting this blog a bit late but i realized how great an idea it was. So basically I'm going to try and cram 2 months worth of information into one post, hopefully not too long post. 

Here is a copy of the first email i wrote home after about a week of living here. 

Hey fam,

So I thought I’d let you in on what’s been happening this past week. The first 3 days we spent in Givat Hiviva- a little kibbutz in the middle of israel. Orientation was very long and a lot of uncomfortable trying to make friends, you know. I definitely have learned not to be shy. 

On Wednesday we went to our towns, or placements for the first trimester- aka Israel Experience (Petach Tikva for me). Wednesday evening we all had pizza with our madrich (Ohad) and just hung out. In our town we only have 10-year course participants. Names- Stephanie, Nufar, Claire, Lauren, Rachel, Marcie, (boys) Noam, Noah, Mike, Max. Nufar and Noam are from Baltimore and went to Beth Tfiloh ironically. Claire and Lauren are from London, yes England. Rachel is from Tennessee and her best friend from camp Marcie is from Texas. Noah Mike and Max are all from Chicago. We definitely have a diverse town.  Petach Tikva is cute, has things we need, and is also veryyy dull. Whats nice though is that we’re slowly becoming a little family here. Thursday night we even cooked dinner, made the table and had a nice little dinner for 10 in the boys’ apartment. Our Madrich (counselor) Ohad is also great, he really cares about us and is always asking if everything okay or if there’s anything we need to talk about. It’s nice to have an adult who truly cares. Today even he went with Lauren, Noah, and I to our work orientation and showed us the bus system and everything. 

 On Friday we all went to Ein Gedi (all of Section 3) to spend Shabbat. It was nice, I’m adjusting well but it definitely is scary coming to a place like this with no “best friend”, no “security blanket”. This is such a growing experience, sometimes I just think about the fact that I’m here for sooo much longer and absolutely freak out, I hope that when it’s time to leave I won’t want to, but I keep thinking how amazing it will feel when I do leave, how accomplished I will feel.

Late last night we drove back to Petach Tikva and now, we’re here for 3 months. Today Lauren Noah and I went to our new work where we met with our “boss” and talked. Tomorrow we start. It’s a place about 15 minutes from us by bus that they call “Kadima”. We will work everyday (except Fridays and Saturdays) from 1 to 7 (not including traveling time). The place is really interesting and I think will be a great experience. It’s a place for kids to come after school that come from “broken homes”. Some of the kids come from really bad homes, one even had his father murder his mother. As was described to me, it’s a place for these kids to feel comfortable and like normal kids who have Madrichim (councelors) or just plain adults that actually care about them. There, the kids have homework time, they have play time, they are served lunch, dinner. I will be a Madricha for 7^th grade age kids (more or less that age). I can see it being a a great opportunity, I’m mainly worried about my lack of Hebrew, it will be hard for me to communicate with them and be there for them, but what a better way to be forced to learn. I’m tempted to go get my Hebrew-english dictionary and just sit down and read. I’ve definitely been embarrassing myself and speaking as much as I can. 

Please write back. I will continue to write as much as possible but it will take some time for me to settle in. This is the first time I’m truly living away from home (as you know) and I’m all the way here in Israel with no security blanket. I feel like I just went to college on speed haha.  Really though, I need to get used to living alone, well not ALONE, but without a mom and dad to cook for me, and a brother to fight with and help me with my homework. Miss you guys already and can't wait to hear back from you!

MUCH love-Steph

Two months later I can tell you I'm doing amazingly. In a quick overview I will tell you about the past month. For Rosh Hashana I went with my roommate Nufar to visit her family in the Negev. Her family is Sephardic and extremely warm and hospital. For Yom Kippur I went with a friend to the Youth Hostel (the Judaean Youth hostel my program owns) in Jerusalem to visit some friends. During the day some friends and I walked 2 and a half hours to the Kotel- Western Wall, mid-fast. The experience there was so spiritual and amazing, the place was absolutely filled with people and when it came time for break-fast, people were handing out food and drinks. For Sukkot I stayed in Petach Tikva (where I live) and we all hosted friends from other towns and made a really nice dinner, it was really sweet. Simcha Torah was definitely the most adventurous of my trips this past month. Me and 3 girls and the guys next door decided with Erev Simcha Torah approaching to jump on a bus to Tzvat. When we got there we had no place to sleep (we brought a tent in case) and no food. We ended up staying at a cheap hostel for the night. That evening we went to a random synagogue and sang and danced with israelis until we were out of breath, and then we sang and danced some more. After we realized we had no plans for food we walked to another synagogue where we were told they were giving out food. As we got there we realized we were too late. We began walking slowly back to our hostel hanging out heads and woman stopped us on the street and asked what we were doing and where we were eating. Needless to say she invited us into her home for dinner. It was a truly amazing experience, I had never felt such warmth from a random stranger, the conversation was good, the food was GREAT, and it was a fantastic evening. 

Now for the fun part here are a few pictures for the past 2 months- 

Greg and I the morning of my departure in New York

The 10 of us living in Petach Tikva and our Madrich, Ohad

Break-Fast at the kotel as Yom Kippur comes to an end

My friend Jamie and I at the Kotel 

Some friends and i at the Kineret for a music festival

A picture my friend took of myself, still on the Kineret

Me, Claire and some of the kids painting at work

Anways, This post is getting a little long, it's getting late here, and i have work tomorrow. I will try and add in some random old stories in my future posts that way I can continue to catch you all up. 

MUCH love-Steph