Culture Shock

I slept for 10 hours after Stasia moved my seat next to her and away from all the weird Habonim (other gap year program, communist) people and gave me a teddy bear. The flight was comfortable, at least the part that I was awake for, and we landed around 6am. Bags came, people started leaving for connecting flights, Mimi ushered me hastily out of the terminal because Grandpa was circling instead of parking. I didn't have the energy to cry again, which was a miracle, because being deeply sad at that moment is not something I could have easily handled.

I had a nice chill day that included food I like, a little nap, finishing The Reader, doing some errands with Mimi and Grandpa, getting the second Wicked book, doing a little shopping, facebooking A LOT, and getting organized.

Here is a sample conversation of my interactions with Mimi. This is a true story about me trying to find a new book to read. She recommended a book by the same author as The Devil Wears Prada:

Me: Mimi, I don't think this is what I'm looking for.

Mimi: Yes it is.

Okay, you must be right. I can't believe how incorrectly I interpreted my own thoughts and desires. Silly me.

Goodbye Israel

My last post because Ben Gurion airport is beautiful and modern and has WIFI!!!!! unlike kibbutz Ein Tzurim AND all the airports in ITALY which suck.

Israel is better than all countries.

Peace out, it's been real.

Frederick

There was a story I used to like about a mouse who was supposed to be gathering food for the winter but instead he just wanted to soak up the colors, smells, tastes, sounds, and feelings of the summer months. His name is Frederick. I think.

The point is, I am Frederick. For my last week in Jerusalem, I have been doing my very very best to soak up everything about Israel that I possibly can. All of the sights and sounds of the city, the warmth of the people I’ve met here, the love from my friends on Nativ. Every Shabbat song has been stored in my memory for another time, every morsel of kosher chicken has been savored.

Another thing I’ve been stocking up on is...happiness! I am going to need a lot of it in the coming days/weeks/months, as tonight was an indicator of. On Thursday, David (Meir’s brother) proposed on a mountaintop at sunrise to his girlfriend and one of my favorite people in the world, Yael, so the joy has been overflowing on the romance front recently (we have seen the happy couple quite a bit). Also, there was a BRIS! at shul this morning. I went to Yakar for my last time this year and loved it as always, only this time, at the end, there was a bris! It was so great. I was there with Cori and Becca and we all started crying when the dad was saying the blessings and started tearing up. It was all so amazing and special. The collective joy of the community was unlike anything in America-simchas here are most definitely not by invitation only. I loved it.

In that same vein, I will say that everything here is more intense. That is what I have learned. The happiness, the sadness, the anger, the flavors, the colors, the views, the hikes, the fierce love of family, community, children. It is especially incredible to watch the way Israelis deal with their kids, because children are everything. They are the key to the survival of the Jewish people and they treat them as such. There is no holding back in this society and the feelings overflow. So so so different than the waspy society I am about to return home to, even the Jews are waspy, let’s be honest. There’s no “pc” in Israel, and such such different views on etiquette and manners. I will miss the honesty, boldness, and passion of the Israeli people.

I just finished dinner with my 14 best girlfriends on Nativ at Japanika. It was delicious and perfect. I love my friends.

Now I am off to celebrate my last night in Israel. I can’t bear to think about it, so I am just going to try to make the most of it.

Firsts and Lasts

First: leaving a community forever, not for 9 months or a semester or whatever. I left Yerucham forever.

Last: night with my roomies, Adina and Rachel. We had pillow talk, lap top time, a bit of reading time, and then we slept in our birthday suits because it was just too damn hot out, and we could.

First: Alli from Bus D 2007 visited me in Israel!!! Sad but true, my first friend to visit me here all by herself! We got drinks, hung out with my friends, and walked around. Perfect.

Last: 3 shekel ice cream at McDonalds on Shammai St.

First: staying up all night to study on Shavuot and then praying at daybreak at the Western Wall/Robinson's Arch (so that there was no mechitza). Rachel read Ruth! It was glorious, but freezing and a little boring when Rachel wasn't reading Ruth, so I didn't stay for the Haftarah. Also, Shavuot night, Meir and I studied the creation story by ourselves (I provided the feminist viewpoint, shout out to Elizabeth Cady Stanton) and then everyone on Nativ went to a few Nativer-led study sessions in the middle of the night!

Last: walk home from the Old City

First: time I played Wiffle ball!!!! I was a major success, everyone agreed and Josh G even said I had "great hits"!!!! Wow! My team lost, unfortunately, which disappointed me greatly. Good game, boys.

Last: beer pong at Herzl. But for real this time. I didn't play beer pong as usual, but I did dance my tuchus off with everyone!!

First: program that required no speaking, only 3 hours of straight writing and reflecting on the year.

Last: Nativ-paid for t-shirts. They are funny!

First: shower I've taken in a while.

More to come later!!! Life is flying by! I don't know whether I want the misery of this thing ending to drag on anymore...I just want to be home and moping already!!!! (A word on that though: I have been fairly unmiserable, allowing myself only about 45 minutes of despondency per day the past three days. Other than that, I am LIVING IT UP IN JERUSALEM!)

Bookends

You may remember my first Yerucham post. It was pretty sad and despondent. I was upset about the stove, the shower, the mold, the space, the dirt, the isolation. Well, now I am ending my time in Yerucham and once again I find myself sad and despondent, only this time, for a different reason. The apartment with the smelly shower and gassy, broken stove has become my home.

Taking the pictures down from my wall and packing my things from my one shelf (I don't have a closet here, which was another problem initially) has been a torturous process. We're not going to pack on Shabbat, and Sunday is an apartment cleaning day, so I must live the next three nights in a bare room. On the bright side, we all did a major clothing exchange in the apartment today during which we ran around from room to room in our underwear bargaining with clothes for different clothes, so I got some cute new stuff!!

Everything has come full circle now, and I cannot help but be reflective and sentimental. It is totally surreal that I only have 10 more days in Israel. I remember my first day like it was yesterday, from Lainie cleaning up my vomit in the bathroom at Agron to hyperactively memorizing every name in the Yerucham track to the walking tour when I realized Adina and I like talking about the same people to meeting Meir in the parking lot when we were unloading from storage. Even without rereading my blog, the memories are vivid (although I am quite glad I have my blog in case things get fuzzy!). I can't believe how much I've changed, I can't imagine how things have changed at home or with my friends from high school.

I'm scared to go back to "real life" in America, where people have so much more fashion and tact than I do, where I can't get kosher meat at any restaurant I pop into, where there are more than 100 people I know in the whole country, where public transportation is expensive and inefficient, where grades and finals are the meaning of life, where patriotism is something for hicks, where Judaism is a minority, where English is the language heard everywhere, where nothing is older than 300 years, where movies are made with fancy equipment and happy endings, where Rabbis call out page numbers during services, where graffiti is inappropriate where God doesn't feel as close, where the beauty of nature is masked by suburban developments, where I don't hike for eight hours just for fun, where Passover is an extra day, where the sun is colder and further away.

I can't wait for the "I'm home and I love it!" post in a few weeks, and the "Cornell is the best place ever!!" post in a few months...

A Trip to the Garden of Eden

I left off with my last few days of work in Yerucham which were comprised of working on nativyerucham.weebly.com (check it out!) and my last day of school, which was so sad! The kids and staff members were so sweet and sad to see us go. We had little parties and played games with them and got to talk on a more friendly level, as opposed to the teacher like relationship we had to maintain with them before. I was really moved when I left the school and walked home with Tali and two of "our kids." I will miss Ort Sapir High School a lot!

Thursday afternoon, the fun really began. I packed for the night and boarded a bus headed to Tel Aviv with Miri, and Lainie and Sarah followed on the next bus. When we reunited in Tel Aviv, we found Sarah in a state of extreme sickness. She remained in this state for a long time in the basement bathroom of the lovely new Tel Aviv train station and finally we made a group decision to get her some medical attention. We were a great team-Miri and I handled logistics, transportation, insurance business, while Lainie was more up close and personal with Sarah. We went to one hospital, and then to a clinic more suitable for the situation. The clinic was beautiful and I marveled at not only the efficiency of socialized medicine, but also the modern facility and super nice bilingual staff. Miri and I crocheted kipport and read TIME while waiting for several hours while Sarah was expertly cared for and rehydrated. I went to get her prescriptions from a nearby pharmacy and passed the chicest restaurants and clubs on the walk there...literally gorgeous, glamorous places. I was amazed that we had chosen a clinic in such a posh neighborhood!

Around midnight, we joined 15 more Nativ girls at a delicious Mexican restaurant in the city and ate up. Then we went to the apartment we had rented for the night and got ready for a night out on the town. The group of us girls walked around, toward the beach, stopping and talking with people on our way and playing little games. We ended at Mike's Place, a very American live music bar on the beach, and it was really fun and loud. I got home around 4 am!!!

I left the apartment at nine the next morning for my solo trek across Tel Aviv. I walked for almost an hour, guided by Zionists past (in the form of street names), and finally reached the seedy old bus station (there is a new one and it is clean and nice). I found my way to a bus headed toward Beer Sheva, befriended a soldier originally from France while waiting, and finally got on the bus to Beer Sheva. Once there, I met up with Meir, we got 3 shekel ice creams from McDonalds for breakfast, and took the next bus to Yerucham. That afternoon was spent grocery shopping, napping, and preparing for Shabbat.

We joined the hip religious crowd at shul that night at the Bnei Akiva minyan, where my host family davens. It was a really cool Karlbach service, mixed with Sephardi traditions. After the service, we walked home with a few of my host siblings and waited for dinner to start. Dinner started around ten and ended really late, but it was delicious and fun and my host family is so great. I was really glad Meir could spend quality time with them also.

The next morning we woke up late. Very late. We had breakfast and lunch back to back and both were delicious and successful meals. We spent some time in the park after lunch and then hung out with a few Nativers who were also home for Shabbat, and we had seudah shlishit with Debbie Golan, the founder of Atid Bamidbar and my "boss" for the website. Debbie's husband grew up on the kibbutz where Meir's brother lives now, next to Meir's brother's girlfriend's house, and Meir's brother's host family on kibbutz is the the brother of Debbie's husband. What a small world.

On Sunday, we rose early to catch a bus headed up north for our last Nativ trip! We were supposed to have lunch in a Druze village on Sunday but there has been violence in that Druze village because of some controversy over a pipe going through town so the Druze food came to us instead and we ate in a park, which was also very nice. Then I toured Akko with the group and it was quite beautiful. We slept at a gorgeous guest house on the Mediterranean at Rosh Hanikra, on the border with Lebanon, and it was fantastic. There was a hot tub!

The next morning, I boarded the bus headed toward the "hard" hike option of the day, Nahal Amud. It was such a long hike and it was really hot and sunny out. I got a bit complainy, I'm afraid. But no matter, I finished strong and enjoyed myself. We stayed that night in the Golan and it was soooo nice. The rooms were set up kind of like a camp cabins and the air smelled really sweet. I loved it there. The night was uneventful but fun and I got to sleep early!

I chose the "easy" hike option on Tuesday, which was a great call. We walked through the Banyas nature reserve in the Golan, complete with waterfalls, streams, and ruins! So fun. I didn't really feel like exerting myself again. The whole Nativ group joined up for kayaking down the Jordan river, which was awesome of course. I kayaked with Liza and we beasted, there was even a part with rapids! After the kayaking, we all ate delicious delicious pizza there. From the kayak place, we went to Katzrin to explore a winery!!! We learned how they make the wine, saw the oak barrels, and then had a WINE TASTING! It was great. We tasted three wines, two white, one red. One of the white ones was very very sweet and I didn't like it that much. It was an awesome experience and it made me really happy that Israel has such a glamorous and sophisticated industry (the wine is really good not just by my standards but just in general it is good wine), also it doesn't take that much wine to make me really happy if you catch what I'm saying so I think the glass or so that I consumed probably contributed to that.

We stayed that night at Kari Deshe guest house on the Kinerret (literally on the beach) and it was lovely. Dinner was on our own in Tiveria and I enjoyed a relaxing evening at a nice restaurant. I totally crashed when we got back to the rooms after such a great day!

Wednesday was the big day, the HARD hike. The Yehudiya. The best day of Nativ.

The day started with 6:30 am services. Breakfast. On the buses. Off the buses. Walking in tall thorny grass. Descending. A waterfall, pink flowers, lush greenery everywhere. Walking along the river on stones and boulders. Waiting for the group in front of us. Taking the 8m ladder down into a pool of water at the base of one of the falls. Swimming. Climbing. Swimming. Climbing, walking, rocks, boulders, itchy grasses. Just as my sneakers were starting to dry off, we had to cross the river again and my foot slipped. So much for that. More walking. More stream crossing. The walking continued for hours along the river. Finally we reached a pool with two waterfalls, and every other hiking group was gone. We all dove in and sat in paradise for an hour and a half or so. We ate lunch, swam with the fishes, sat in the waterfall, dove off cliffs. The hike ended with another swimming adventure (Yossi took our packs and threw them in before us and we jumped to catch up with them), and a really steep boulder uphill. It was amazing.

We got home, showered, changed, barbecued on the beach. Then we headed to natural hot sulfur springs to calm our aching muscles. Best day of Nativ. I slept very soundly that night.

Today we got to sleep in a tiny bit and then headed off to natural pools. The water was crystal clear, there were little caves you could swim in, and it was deep enough to dive. The water was the perfect temperature, it was completely sunny and clear out, everything was just amazing. I didn't like the food and I kept cutting my feet, but what can you do. Overall, amazing. The bus ride home was fine, I slept, and finished my book, inappropriately called Dork Whore but really a fascinating and intelligent read about an Israeli/American girl traversing Asia after serving in the army. Great great book, very funny.

Tonight was our last dinner as an apartment--we opted for the classic pizza. We had fun and crazy times as always, and we're planning our acts for the Nativ talent show and starting to pack. Packing is giving me really panicked feelings about Nativ ending. I don't want it to end, I'm panicking. That's where I am right now. More later. Lailah tov!

Famous People!

Yesterday, Nativ went to a MASA event in Jerusalem that featured speakers and workshops to prepare us for colleges next year, and it concluded with a speech by Bibi Netanyahu (THE PRIME MINISTER) and Hadag Nachash. I was also prominently featured when I spoke at the graduation for my MASA leadership program, and thus I joined the league of Netanyahu and Sharansky.

Nativ didn't go for the whole day, which was smart. We got there late and only had a few workshops before the grand finale. I enjoyed watching an interview with Natan Sharansky (recently appointed chief of the Jewish Agency) because he had a sense of humor and he seemed genuinely interested in the lives of the participants when they asked questions. There was a lot of security and many lines and a lot of waiting to do, so I got to frolic with my friends for a good portion of the day as well, and we even saw a wedding from the window!

Bibi sat two rows behind me (see picture above, he is seated beside Sharansky) and appeared quite disinterested the whole time, and in one of the introductory speeches, a girl said "thank you, Mr. Prime Minister" and he looked up for a moment. He really turned it on though, when it was his turn in the spotlight. His speech was great, from a speaking point of view, not incredible from a content point of view. He was very dynamic, didn't read from notecards or a teleprompter (at least not one I could see, and I'm pretty good at spotting them after four years under Mangione's leadership at Democrats Club), and he had perfect English. His speech focused a lot on making alliyah, which can be uncomfortable for some people, like me, to feel like that is the right thing or the Jewish thing to do (in Natan Sharansky's interview, he emphasized his support and need for diaspora Jews, and instead focused on the need to connect world Jewry with Israelis). Bibi was funny though, like when he started talking about the strength and growth of the Israeli economy in contrast with the failure of the economies in our home countries, and he said, "all those countries are great countries, great democracies, but this is YOUR country" and everyone went wild.

The evening ended with a rockin concert (picture at top) by Hadag Nachash (this is my third time seeing them: first at Cornell, second at the Yitzchak Rabin memorial) and they played all our favorite songs. It was fun to see how much more of their lyrics I understood now, as opposed to my first experience with them at Cornell in November 2008.

Today I worked on nativyerucham.weebly.com, spiced up the Nativ facebook page, showered with lice shampoo (Day 4 and still lice free!), and hopefully tonight I will visit my host family. Tomorrow is my last day of volunteering! Time flies....

What Makes it Worth It

Today, I was working with Or again in class, for the second time this year. She is a vivacious, beautiful 11th grade Israeli. During tests, she needs the texts to be read to her, and for the most part, she understands. Halfway through the test today, she said, "Yardena, what are you doing after school?" She asked for my number because she wants me to tutor her at home, in exchange for food! She told me that she understands me when I try to explain things to her. Wow-I can't believe I only have one more class with her. She made it all worth it.

Kibbutz, Walking, Bonfires, Lice, and a Barbecue in Arad

Whew!!! I have had quite the past few days. When I last wrote I was obsessing over twitta and social networking, now I have a new obsession: avoiding the lice infestation in my apartment! More to come on that later.

I spent Wednesday and Thursday night on Kibbutz Ein Tzurim and had quite a splendid time, save for the pesty mosquitoes who made me their breakfast, lunch, dinner, and aruchat eser (Israelis eat an additional meal around ten in the morning and so do Israeli mosquitoes, apparently). I enjoyed ice cream from the Kol Bo (the kibbutz corner store, if you will), I twittered, I slept in, and I worked on the Nativ Yearbook. As an added bonus, I got to see a premier showing of "Gang Bangers of Catan" an all male "porno" (you don't see anything, don't worry) made by some of the Nativers on the kibbutz, based off the popular cult board game, Settlers of Catan. It is really funny. If you don't believe me, I think you can see it on Youtube soon and I will link it to my blog!

From the kibbutz, Meir and I traveled to Jerusalem by bus. I needed some fresh air once we arrived at the bus station in Jlem, so I suggested we walk a little bit. After we had walked a little bit and purchased some sweets from the shuk, Meir suggested we walk a little bit more. We ended up crossing the entire length of Jerusalem (from the central bus station to Derech Hevron in Talpiyot) which totaled almost 6 miles. It was all made possible by the clutch backpack switch made 2/3 of the way there which entailed me switching to a lighter backpack. Thanks, Meir!!

We prepared for Shabbat and had an amazing dinner at JJ's house with Meir's brother David, his girlfriend Yael, the whole Jonah family, and even Shira's grandmother, who is 91 years old and used to live in Russia and then Shanghai and moved to Israel in 1948! She spoke perfect English and it was so amazing to hear her story. She was also a star track athlete in Israel, and it was so weird to see a frail 91 year old woman in front of me, mostly blind, mostly deaf, the works, and hear that she once medaled in sporting events. It was a great dinner table!

Saturday morning we slept in and then set off for Rehavia. We decided to take a short cut without really knowing the short cut, so that was another hour or so of walking. It was a fun adventure though, and it ended with a beautiful apartment in Rehavia, a nice family from Los Angeles feeding us delicious food, two socially awkward seminary girls, and a really, really cute dog. The lunch lasted a long time, but it was worth it because we got proper directions to get back to Talpiyot so it didn't take as long. My feet hurt afterward.

We ended Shabbat at JJ's with a USY alumni reunion, complete with the USY Central Shaliach, Nahum Binder. There was a little tension after Shabbat when I needed to catch a bus and I really needed to not be late for that bus, but everything turned out fine and I made my bus and got home to Yerucham by midnight. When I arrived home, I walked past a dozen bonfires because it was LAG BA'OMER!! So exciting! Israelis really go all out for this holiday and burn a lot of fires and stay out until all hours!

That same night, I arrived home to the LICE APARTMENT! I really don't want to get it! I really don't! I don't know what to do. Everyone is using shampoo and washing things but they are so close to me! It is really freaking me out. Four out of nine girls in the apartment....AAHHHHH!

This morning, we cleaned up bonfire garbage around Yerucham as a group (Sarah made this analogy: it was like going to someone's house after they had a party and washing the dishes for them) which was not the best use of my time, but I was with a fun group of boys so at least I had a good time. Right after the clean up, I showered and got on a bus to Be'er Sheva with the other volunteers from the high school, and from there, a bus to Arad. Our favorite teacher, Karen (also a Nativer on Nativ 2!!!) picked us up from the bus stop and brought us to her GORGEOUS home for a barbecue! It was delicious, we met her family, we saw a beautiful view of the Dead Sea and the mountains beyond, we reminisced about Nativ, we learned about her Nativ experience, we vented about education in Israel, and we generally just had an amazing time. Karen is an exceptional person and my connection with her has really made the difference working at school.

We got home around 7:30 pm and Rachel and I were welcomed by a fantastic apartment dinner! I love coming home to those. The evening ended with Nativ yearbook and blogging. Great day!!!