Howard county & Baltimore federation visit OTZMA!

Sign outside the gate at Beit Canada 

Last Sunday was an awesome day for OTZMA, Ashkelon and hopefully Baltimore too!  We have been prepping for about a week for people from Baltimore and Howard county to come and hang out and tour the מרכז קליטה.  I woke up early, put on my OTZMA t-shirt and my jeans and headed to a quick meeting before Ulpan.


The first hour and a half or so of Ulpan went slow as we waited for the folks from Howard County to arrive.  We went over the activities that we would be doing with them and reviewed the map that we were supposed to have studied over the weekend (which OF COURSE we all did!!)  So when they arrived, the group from Howard County was separated into two groups and sent with us to the corresponding Moadon's.  First we introduced ourselves and talked about where we are from (Go Washington D.C. area!!). There were a lot of people who were from the same area that I am from and it felt nice to be able to talk about home and make those connections.  After brief intro's, we were given a map of Israel and tags and had to race to complete the map.  Being totally awesome, my group won and completed our map the fastest.  Booyah.  All me, in case you were questioning that.  Then we sang a song together and it was wonderful and horrendous all at the same time ;).  

The winning team with our completed map!  

After experiencing Ulpan together, we split the people from the mission into groups.  I started my tour off in the Ulpan classrooms themselves and was excited that the people on my tour were very curious about the nature of Ulpan and life in the absorption center.  I haven't written in much detail about the absorption center so I will fill in some of that info as I talk about the tour.  Basically, the Ulpan classrooms were part of a donation by the Grossman family from France that I will discuss shortly.  There are 8 classrooms and an office where Hebrew lessons are taught during the mornings.  There are several levels of Ulpan that one must go through as part of the absorption process.  Its an intense program and is difficult for us so I can't imagine how difficult it must be for people who don't speak the same language as their classmates or the teacher.  In the evenings, there are Judaic studies classes for new immigrants as well as space for older students to do their homework without interruption.  

The view from my room.  It's ok to hate me. 

The lovely bathroom in our room

All of our cooking equipment
 and the kitchen

The next stop that we went to was actually my apartment!  We showed them the way that we live here in the absorption center and I talked a little bit about what its like sharing such limited space with 4 people.  Luckily we knew we would be coming through our apartment so we cleaned like crazy and hopefully we were at least somewhat impressive.  



Inside each OTZMA apartment there is a big room and a little room.  The bigger room is a common room and has two beds, a dresser and a table for four.  The smaller room has two beds and another dresser.  The kitchen has a refrigerator, a toaster over and a stove-top type thing with two burners.  We have plenty of cabinet space and a nice big sink.  Off of the kitchen there is a smaller room with the water heater and a place outside to hang clothes... if only it was inhabited by a million birds that poop all over anything out there. 

2 of the beds in the main room which used to be
shared until one of our roomies moved with ITC

Recycled tires turned
 playground equipment

Part of the playground

After the apartment we walked down to the basketball court and playground.  This area was donated by a Bar-Mitzvah boy who gave $13,000 to the absorption center.  With that they built the basketball court which also has soccer goals.  These are used all the time so I think it was a very important investment from a wonderful child.  Next to the basketball courts there is a playground.  Last year some students from Australia came and helped to improve this area.  They did an ecologically friendly project and used recycled or reclaimed materials to give the children more areas to play, which I almost never see them using.  C'est La Vie.  

The basketball court donated by Bar-Mitzvah boy

The guard booth and one of the
guards with a little girl in the complex
holding a picture she made him!

The next stop was technically the beginning of the tour.  The guard station, main office and moadon.  We have a guard on duty 24/7 who keeps the crazies out.  This is also were the office of the director is located along with the offices of several other wonderful support personnel.  Next we moved onto the gan.  The gan is a building that was donated several years ago. In this building there is the gan-yeledim (preschoolish place), several offices, a music room and another moadon.  




During the day, the young Ethiopian immigrants go to a normal Israeli school.  When they get back, they have a few hours in the gan-yeledim.  In the classroom, young students are taught to integrate into Israeli society.  They are given activities that help them identify as an Israeli but also as an Ethiopian.  They are taught about the seasons and about life in Israel in a structured way but they also have a playground outback and they keep the kids active throughout the afternoon.  Currently there are only about 20 children in the after school program.  However, in the past they have had as many as 100 children at a time that they rotate in and out throughout the day.  Along with the donation of the building itself came the donation of a staff educator who worked at the absorption center for 2 years helping them to improve their after school education program.

"My Israel"

In the offices in this building there are several Ethiopian staff members, all of whom made Aliyah 20-25 years ago.  They are critical to the success of the program as they help to make the new immigrants feel more at home.  When they come here, they do not have the language skills and literally everything that they experience is new to them.  I have heard stories of new immigrants climbing up stairs on their hands and feet because they had never seen stairs before.  The staff members housed in this building help to make the transition a bit easier in any way that they can.  They take new immigrants to the bank and help them set up bank accounts.  They also take them to the doctor and help them to communicate and get a health check-up.  Its really wonderful what they do.

Building 3 - My building!

The laundry room and the
line of clothes waiting!

So, the next stop on our lovely tour in one of the 3 residential buildings.  Building 1 houses larger families and consists of 3.5 rooms per apartment.  This building (along with building 3) does not have air conditioning, but many of the apartments do have balconies.  Underneath each residential building there is a bomb shelter large enough to contain all of the residents of the building.  In fact, a year and a half ago when things were really bad here, the residents spent almost 1 1/2 months essentially living in the bomb shelter.  Staff members rotated who stayed in their with them and gave up time with their families to assist during this terrifying period.  Building 1 also has the laundry room and the office of the maintenance man, Oded.  The buildings are all about 30 years old and there is a constant flow of people coming and going which keeps Oded very very busy.




So, Building 1 has larger families and 3.5 rooms.  Building 2 is our building and houses student groups and people from different programs. All of the apartments in our building have 2.5 rooms.  Building 3 also has 2.5 rooms per apartment and houses smaller families and singles.  

The courtyard that was built as part of the
Grossman family donation

So, moving back to the Ulpan building.  In this building there is also a computer room and a lovely synagogue.  The Grossman family of France donated $1 million for the completion of this building and the main courtyard.  The computer room has over a dozen new computers with internet access and the synagogue is very beautiful.  There is a plaque recognizing the donation and it is pretty moving when you know the story.  They donated the money for this in memory of an entire part of their family that was killed during the Holocaust and in order to remind their children and grandchildren of the significance of this place and Israel.  I find it amazing that they chose to give the money to the absorption center and it really does show that people recognize how important places like these are to people who oftentimes have no other place to go. 

One of two plaques commemorating the family
members lost in the Holocaust - the names of the lost family members and ages are listed

I know I left out some details here and there, but its a lot to try and remember especially now that several weeks have gone by since Baltimore and Howard County visited.  If there is anything that anyone is curious about, please just comment or send me a message!  


So, after the tour we got on the buses and all went out to lunch together.  It was really nice getting to spend some more time with the people from the mission and we really enjoyed getting to eat at Yoko (the Sushi place) with them.  It was kind of fun showing off our Hebrew skills and encouraging them to have their children come to Israel with OTZMA or a program like OTZMA.  

Mosaic done by OTZMA 16 in 2001

City of God Education Day

Last Tuesday was another OTZMA Education day.  We woke up and boarded the bus at 7:00 am again.  After an hour and a half or so ride, we arrived outside the Old City in Jerusalem.  We were met there by our tour guide, Ariel Fogelbaum and our security guard for the day, Tal. We entered the Old City and made our way through security and up to the Temple Mount.  I had no idea where we were as we went through security... and next thing I know we are on this wooden walkway that overlooks the Kotel that I have seen several times before but never been on.  We even asked about it on my birthright trip and we were told that we were not allowed to go there because it is too dangerous.  Hmm... 

So, we go up and through another gate and are met by the Temple Mount police or the security or authority or something like that.  They were very very unhappy men.  Half of our group was told that we were dressed inappropriately.  After 10 minutes of arguing about dress and modesty (a few guys were yelled at for hugging the girls in our group - NO TOUCHING the guard yelled - we didn't know, oops!!), and several people getting yelled at, we were allowed to walk towards the Dome of the Rock.  

The Dome of the Rock

Non-Muslims are only allowed to enter the Temple Mount during specified periods and never on Friday, Saturday or holidays.  Any Non-Muslim is also not allowed to pray on the Temple Mount or bring prayer books or any other religious items.  From Jordanian occupation from 1948-1967, Jews were not allowed up on the Temple Mount at all, nor were they permitted access to the Western Wall.  Since the Six-Day War, Israel regained control over parts of Jerusalem however granted control of the Temple Mount to Muslims although it remains under Israeli sovereignty, with the agreement that Jews and Israelis would have access to the Western Wall at all times.  

It was like entering a different world, being up on The Temple Mount.  In front of us stood the Dome of the Rock.  We were given an interesting speech about The Dome of the Rock and what exactly it is.  Apparently underneath the gold encrusted dome, there are a series of caves.  The Foundation stone rests somewhere (please forgive my ignorance about it... its already been a week and we get SO much info on these days) in the Dome of the Rock.  Under the Foundation Stone, it is said that there is a cave called the Well of Souls.  The Dome of the Rock is the third holiest site in Islam and it is believed that this is the place where Mohammed rose to the heavens to receive the word of God.  

For Jews, the Temple Mount is also a very holy place.  From what I understand, it is actually the holiest place in the world as it is the location of the Foundation Stone.  When we stand to pray and face Jerusalem, we are actually facing the Foundation Stone, not just Jerusalem and the western wall.  It is believed that it is from this location that God gathered the dust to create Adam, the first man.  It is also believed that this is the location where Abraham took Isaac to sacrifice him in God's name.  There are many references to the Foundation Stone throughout Jewish History and many other significant events are believed to have occurred there.  Many religious Jews will not actually go up on the Temple Mount as this area is the Holiest of Holies and it can not be determined with 100% certainty the actual location of the Foundation Stone.  Therefore, the entire Temple Mount is off-limits to orthodox Jews.  

After visiting the Temple Mount (and essentially being kicked off due to the time restraints for visitors) we made our way through a pathway that leads under what used to be homes that now holds many vendors selling souvenirs and other various items.  The pathway led us to the side of the Western Wall.  

Once we exited, we were given some free time to spend at the Kotel.  I always love this time, although it is frustrating due to the difficulty accessing space at the wall.  The women's side of the wall is significantly smaller and many women sit and pray in chairs right up against the wall, making access difficult.  That is a completely different issue which I will discuss a bit in my next post about Politics and Society in Israel.  

The view from the women's side of the Western Wall

Not only am I personally moved by being in this holy place, I find it even more meaningful how many people there are obviously moved and affected by touching the wall.  As those who know me know, I am not a particularly religious person (at least not how the Rabbinate defines religiosity).  However, I am very spiritual and do feel a strong connection to Judaism.  Standing at the Kotel, I always have a moment of awe touching the stones, realizing that against all odds, we as a Jewish people are still here today with a place that we can call our own.  A home for all Jews.  I am struck by how many times other cultures and religions have tried to rid the world of Jewish people and yet we are still here.  It gives me such a feeling of strength and when I am at the wall, with my hands on the cold stone, I can almost feel the lives of all of the Jews that have been there before me... all of the other men and women who have stood in that spot, touching that wall, asking God for whatever is important to them.  Even now, it gives me the chills. 

When I was on Birthright back in July, we talked about the Kotel before visiting.  As mentioned before, when we pray, we face the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.  We face the Western Wall. When I am standing there, I feel almost as if I am channeling the energy of hundreds of thousands of Jews who are standing behind me, facing the same wall, praying.  I feel as if I am making that connection for them and I can't help but tear up more often than not.  I think it probably also has to do with the people around me and seeing their religious connection to the Kotel.  All around, women are crying, kissing, touching the wall, with their foreheads pressed up against the cold hard stones.  Some women try to jam their tiny pieces of paper into the cracks in the wall which are filled with the prayers of so many who were there before them.  Speaking from experience, it can be quite challenging to get your note, however small, into the cracks of the wall.  They are jammed full of prayers.  If only women were allowed to pray aloud at the wall and to really experience the wall in a way that might be even more meaningful to them.  Every time I go to leave, its difficult to step away.  I can't quite describe the feeling... its as if I feel as if I am leaving something behind.  With each step that I take backwards, I feel more and more like just me again until I am comfortable turning around and really walking away.  

After the Kotel, we wandered around Jerusalem some more.  We ate a bagel lunch (how appropriate!) and then we were led to what we were told was "some nice gentleman's home". His house was absolutely marvelous.  Filled to the brim with books.  Everywhere you looked, Jewish texts lined bookshelf after bookshelf of the small home.  The walls were lined with pictures of family and I did not notice until later that this was in fact the family home of our wonderful tour guide.  He led our entire group up to the roof.  The view from the top was astounding.  He told us about how he used to spend all of his time up on the roof, studying, playing and even sleeping on the roof when the weather was nice enough.  Their house sits on the edge of the Jewish quarter, I believe they said it is the last Jewish building before the Christian quarter.  From the roof you can see the Temple Mount, the Tower of David, the Arches on the Mount of Olives, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.  Absolutely amazing.  

Inside their home, you can see the original arches from ancient times.  Floors have been added to the home, which was probably originally just a couple of rooms.  Inside one of the presumably original rooms, there were beautiful murals painted all over the walls and inside the arches, which tell some of the classic stories from the Torah.  I was absolutely astonished at the beauty of their home and the kindness of their family for allowing us inside to see and even inviting us to return for Shabbat, in smaller groups of course!

Original arch inside home

After a short but rather interesting discussion between our tour guides father, my roommate Tracy and I, we left and headed towards the Christian quarter.  As we approached the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the atmosphere changed.  Instead of walking through streets lined with vendors selling everything from T-shirts to Kiypot to various jewelry adorned with Jewish Stars, we started seeing more and more of these items adorned with crosses.  Now, this is not something that I find bothersome, just occasionally bizarre, particularly while walking down an alley in Jerusalem.  I think I just didn't realize before that there is a strong Christian presence in Jerusalem so it was new to me.  It was also funny to me that necklaces with Jewish Stars and Crosses were both being sold by the same vendors sometimes.  If nothing else, Israelis are businessmen ;-)

As you near the entrance to the Church, the narrow alleyways open up into a large square.  FILLED with people.  All kinds of people.  At different times I heard Asiatic languages, Russian, French, German, Italian, English, Spanish... It felt a little like I imagine the Tower of Babel must have felt like.  I couldn't make anything out with all the noise and the chaos.  

Entrance to the cave
where Jesus was
laid to rest

We entered the Church and the first thing that we noticed were people crowded around a stone slab on the floor.  Due to noise issues and crowdedness, we went first to a room that houses an altar and a glass encased cracked rock which according to Christianity is the spot in which the blood of Jesus dripped down and flowed onto the skull of Adam (the very same Adam who was created from the dust gathered from the Temple Mount).  After a moment here, we walked back outside into the main entrance where it was explained to us that this slab of stone is believed to be the stone on which the wrapped body of Jesus was laid (for burial I think?).  People were putting various items on the stone and praying while touching the stone, which reminded me a bit of the way that we as Jewish people pray at the Western Wall.  I saw one woman opening souvenirs directly onto the slab before picking them up and putting them back in her bag.  

As we exited the main room we moved into another dark room.  I was surprised at how dark and damp the inside of the Church was.  In this chamber, there is a large structure built around two small caves.  According the Christian belief, it is in this cave that the body of Jesus was laid to rest and later disappeared from.  Another man apparently built the cave as a burial chamber for himself but then gave it up for Jesus to be buried there.  There was a line like you wouldn't believe to walk through the two caves and if I remember correctly, there was at least one police officer present to keep the peace as people waited to enter this holy site.  

Altar in the room
leading to burial cave

Flame inside the
burial cave

In the next room, we saw another burial chamber.  According to Christian beliefs, this cave was also built by the same man as a new place for him to be buried after sacrificing his original cave to Jesus.  This cave is much smaller and the room leading to it has an old altar in the middle.  A small opening in the rock leads to the now empty burial cave, which we went inside, a few at a time.  Kind of creepy, with only 2 spaces carved out for bodies and a flame which appears to remain lit at all times.  

After exploring the Church a bit more, we went to the spot where it is said that Jesus was crucified.  We had waited to go up there, and we were not sure that we would be able to due to the lines and lines of people waiting to pay their respects and pray.  Again I was surprised by the adornments all along the walls and ceiling.  It was such a strange feeling to be in this place and I wondered if the fairly obvious lack of connection that I felt was the same feeling that a non-Jew would have upon approaching the Kotel.  I understand that there is a lot of history in this place and that it is very significant in Christianity and I am very respectful of those who visit this holy site... but it was all very foreign to me.  I also find it very interesting that the various sects of Christianity all have control over various rooms in the Church.  If only we could all just get along like that...

The spot where Jesus is believed to have been crucified

When it was time to leave the Church of the Holy Sepulchre I was more than ready.  Not because of anything against the Church, but it was just so incredibly crowded and it was nice to get some fresh air!  For our final stop, we went to the Mount of Olives.  Again I reached a point in the day where my brain could not absorb any more information.  I know that this is a very important Jewish cemetery with many important and influential people buried here dating back to the first temple period.  The view from the Mount of Olives is pretty incredible and it was a nice way to end a long but wonderful day.  

This education day was particularly interesting (although exhausting) because I had never realized how diverse of a city Jerusalem is and how holy it is to several other religions as well.  I think that it is so important that we are able to coexist and live together in peace with other people that this site is significant to.  For the first time in Israel, I felt outnumbered, which was a feeling that I had not had since I arrived here.  I remembered what it feels like to feel that way.  Its not that its a bad thing, but I think that in Israel sometimes it is taken for granted how many Jewish people live here.  Being the majority  is not something that we as a Jewish people are used to and I think that we have to remind ourselves that while we are a majority here in Israel, we are certainly still very much a minority worldwide.  I also think that every Jewish person should visit Israel and experience the awesome feeling of being surrounded by other Jews in a place that is so important to us historically and to our future.  We need to strive to remember this and work to make Israel a place that our future generations can come and feel at home and feel completely safe in a way that the Jewish people have never really known.  

All about אולפן (Ulpan)!

So I thought I would write a little bit about אולפן (Ulpan - aka Hebrew classes)!

We were divided into 2 classes in the first couple of weeks based on previous knowledge and skill level.  We were split about 50/50 and clearly, I was put in כיתה א. That is the first class and it is definitely where I belong.  At first, I was admittedly a little bit bored.  I knew the letters already (although not the script) and I knew the vowels so it felt like it was starting off kind of slow.  I think it is interesting that although block letters are used most commonly in signage and newspapers, no one writes in block letters - only script.  It is also interesting that there are never any vowels used in anything, you have to just know the words by the context.  

In class we learn many new words every day.  We are learning present tense right now but hopefully soon we will be starting to learn the past tense.  Hebrew is a very interesting language and I am loving it!  I am truly surprised by my ability to communicate in Hebrew.  Its hard for me to put sentences together, but I can understand a decent amount as long as I can convince Israelis to speak slower.  I think that is one of the things that I say most often. "speak slower please!" and "one more time, more slowly."  

At this point, we have learned about 25 verbs and more nouns and adjectives than I can count.  Its hard to let go of the fact that many things don't have an exact translation into English.  For example, instead of saying "I have" in Hebrew they say "there is to me".  I think a lot of people in the class struggle with that, but Hebrew has been around a lot longer than English so... I don't know what else to say about that. 

In Hebrew, just like in Spanish, nouns have a masculine and a feminine form.  Adjectives have both feminine and masculine and plurals of each.  I thought it was absolutely hilarious when I found out that milk is a masculine word.  It just BOGGLES MY MIND.  Clearly, milk should be masculine.  Duh.  Because milk comes from men, right?  Ok... moving on.  

So about once a week we get to watch a movie in Ulpan.  So far, we have watched 3 - 2 of which were pretty awesome.  However, the room we watch in is the childrens classroom so you have about 34 adult size people sitting on childrens chairs for several hours and its really not that comfortable.  Additionally, the speakers on the TV are broken so everyone sounds about 3 octaves higher - A LOT like chipmunks which makes it hard to take what they are saying seriously and it makes it a bit harder to understand. 

The first movie was Beaufort which is an award winning movie made here in Israel.  Here is a link to the trailer on youtube with English subtitles: Beaufort Trailer. Its about a young commander in the army and his troops in the months before the IDF's withdrawal from Lebanon.  It is an emotional story that I thoroughly enjoyed, even with the sound being awful.  There is a song in the movie that is quite beautiful.  Its called Shpitz's song. I would highly recommend checking this movie out if you have the interest.  

The 2nd movie that we watched had no subtitles and was about a former convict who turned religious and was broke and got lucky and got some money and bought an etrog to try and get his wife pregnant.  I wasn't really paying close attention that day and the movie really didn't do it for me.  

Yesterday we watched "Nina's tragedies".  It was a very bizarre movie but I enjoyed it thoroughly!!  Its about a messed up family and involved a lot of cursing, sex, perverts, peeping toms, a very creepy child and lots of death.  Oh, plus a birth.  Afterall, what good is a movie without a few deaths and a birth?  Oh, and nakedness and sex.  and curse words.  Hooray for Ulpan!

We also finally got our books earlier this week and I copied the audio CD's from the teacher today.  I am hoping that I can make progress because its REALLY important that I am able to speak Hebrew when I get to Ofakim.  They don't speak much English there and the better I can do, the more I will be able to help!  I have been trying REALLY hard to practice my Hebrew.  It helps that there are plenty of cute Israeli boys that are willing to talk to me and help me practice.  Of course, they also teach me bad words and I have made a few pretty bad mistakes as a result so far, including accidentally telling the director of Beit Canada that "I suck too much".  Clearly not what I meant to say!! Luckily, she knows that I am a student in ulpan and she corrected me and warned me to be more careful.  Oops. Several people have also made mistakes about the word "cup" which, pronounced incorrectly, means something else entirely.  Therefore, a couple of people have asked "do you have a pussy" instead of "do you have a cup".  Oy!  

The other thing that we love to do in Ulpan is SING!  I will see if I can post a lovely rendition of the song "Yachad" that I recorded today in class.  It was classic!  I'll see if i can post it later.  For now, I need to just go to bed.  Its 3:24 am and silly Erin took a 4 hour nap today.  Tomorrow should be fun.  Goodnight blogger.  

Haven't updated for a little while....

Sukkot Break 

"got my toes in the water, ass in the sand,
not a worry in the world, a cold beer in my hand,
 life is good today!" - Toes by Zac Brown Band

Madeleine and me!  We are adorable :) 

So, break was pretty interesting.  I feel badly, I wanted to go and do stuff but I had such a good time just hanging out in Ashkelon.  I worked on my Hebrew and although I wish I was doing a bit better, I do not feel like I am doing badly.  I spent decent amount of time hanging out at the beach and relaxing with my friends.  It was nice because the group was dispersed, so we went out in smaller groups with whoever was around and I really enjoyed it.  I felt like I got to know everyone on the trip better.

Last Thursday I got a call from Frenchie so went to Ashdod to visit him with Madeleine.  We had a good time Thursday night although I was pretty confused for the majority of the evening.  Most of Frenchies friends spoke French and Madeleine does too so I was a bit out of the loop.  We still had a great time though.  The bar that we went to is right on the beach in Ashdod and one of the girls we were with got a bagel and lox and only ate 1/2 of it.  At one point M looks around and goes "what would happen if that bagel just disappeared?"  Then we shared it and it was amazing.  Best bagel ever (and my first in Israel!)  Madeleine went home Friday afternoon and I stayed and hung out with Frenchie until the next night.  He was a very good host and made me some very fancy meals (schnitzel with hummus and cheese on pitas lol) but it was perfect.  I hope I get invited back at some point!  :)  

Sunset on the Beach in Ashkelon

It was nice to have a place to stay for a couple of days without roomies (as much as I love mine, sometimes you need a break)!  I didn't get to do much in terms of exploring Ashdod because it was Shabbat and Frenchie was sleeping most of the day Friday.  I didn't feel that comfortable exploring by myself and I didn't want to leave his place unlocked while I went out.  So, I caught up on True Blood and took advantage of having a comfortable mattress and complete control over the A.C. and just laid in bed.  Good way to spend the last few days of break.


Now we are back into the swing of things and I am really excited about the next couple of months.  I got my volunteer placement (although I haven't heard from them yet!) and it should be pretty cool.  I didn't think that I wanted to teach English but after spending a day with ITC - the teaching track - I realized it was pretty rewarding.  I got placed with Atidim (not sure I spelled it correctly) and will be working with underprivileged but gifted youth.  From what I understand they are likely to be in high school.  I'm pretty excited about it but it looks like I won't get to go until next week.  


So I totally forgot to write about the Potluck dinner that we had!  It was pretty awesome.  It started with about 5 of us that decided that an OTZMA shabbat potluck sounded like a good idea.  So, word about this event spread and there ended up being 14 or 15 people there!  It was pretty cool.  Everyone made yummy food, some more interesting than others, and pseudo-Rabbi Amir said the prayers.  Of course we forgot to discuss whether or not the meal would be Kosher so we failed a little on that front, but whatever.  It was a great time and throughout most of the meal we got to hear about Amir, Lauren and Eli's adventure on the first few days of break.  Sounded pretty crazy!!!  Here is Lauren's retelling of the story in her blog.


I need to go visit my host family soon.  I am missing them even though I only met them for a few short days.  I feel bad because I told Osi I would visit and then I didn't.  I wasn't feeling well for several days though, so hopefully she will understand and forgive me.  I may even go this weekend!

These are a few of my favorite things :)

So, yet another relaxing day in אשקלון.  Woke up late again this morning after an uneventful night last night (although I went for my first run EVER and did P90X!!!) and headed to the beach.  Spent a few hours at the beach instead of grocery shopping, forgetting how early the stores close on Shabbat... oops.  We are having a potluck dinner tonight with everyone who is here and I am pretty excited about that.  


On a side note, I wanted to write about a few things that have happened randomly throughout my stay here that have made me fall in love with Israel.  


1. Shawarma (שווארמה).  I can't believe that I am actually saying that, but a good שווארמה on pita with some hummus, tahina, eggplant and skhug (I think?)... YUM!  
2. הים.   The sea here may be polluted but it is so nice to be so close to the beach!  Even if you are "far" from the beach... its much closer than I am to the beach at home.  

3. גולדסתאר.  I was never a beer drinker before, but damn Goldstar has got me drinking beer.  This is not such a good thing.  
4.  Cheap clothes!
5.  TONS OF CHEESES AND SPICES!  Plus Israelis use mayo a lot, which makes me happy. Garlic mayo - the best idea EVER.  
6.  Iced coffee.  Amazing.  Especially from ארומא!!


Now some more serious things that I love about Israel:


7.  I love the contradiction of everything in Israel.  For example, when you are driving down the road near the Dead Sea, you see this stark empty landscape.  Then, all of the sudden, you see an oasis.  Back to empty landscape with nothing around and then all of the sudden tons of industry.  In the middle of nowhere.  I love the fact that everything here is such a contradiction.  


The people here are that way too.  You have this culture, that at first glance is cold and tough.  They actually are very tough, but thats besides the point.  One of the first words that I asked to learn was excuse me or I'm sorry.  The word is סליחא.  I have really never heard this word used by Israelis!  I say it all the time, but apparently American's are over polite anyways.  So, point being the people here act tough, but in reality, most people I have met here would bend over backwards to help someone.. even a stranger.  


I have had some of the most interesting conversations with people here.  I think I wrote about the woman who told me about my beautiful wedding on the beach in Ashkelon.  There is guy who was living at the absorption center with us and we had some of the best talks I have ever had with someone.  He is from France and made aliyah about 18 months ago.  We talked about how the people who have lived in Israel their whole life don't really understand why people would make aliyah.  People who have always lived in Israel don't realize how different it feels from other places.  There is an appreciation for the everyday here that there isn't at home.  Priorities are different and life is (at least sometimes) simpler.  Its also more complicated in many ways due to the political situation.  There is that contradiction that I love so much again.  In any event, we talked about why we both feel strongly about Israel and why he made aliyah.  One night he downloaded this video of the Hatikva with a translation and pictures.  At the end of it, we were both sitting there tearing up about the meaning.  Here is the Hebrew and translation.  (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hatikvah)

כל עוד בלבב פנימה		As long as in the heart, within,
נפש יהודי הומיה,		A Jewish soul still yearns,
ולפאתי מזרח, קדימה,		And onward, towards the ends of the east,
עין לציון צופיה;		An eye still gazes toward Zion;
עוד לא אבדה תקותנו,		Our hope is not yet lost,
התקוה בת שנות אלפים,		The hope of two thousand years,
להיות עם חפשי בארצנו,		To be a free people in our land,
ארץ ציון וירושלים.	.	The land of Zion and Jerusalem.

I think the way he talked about how much it meant to him really moved me as well.  He told me about the way that the army sings it every day and how special it is to him.  All of these talks we have had are amazing... It's nice to talk to someone who feels Israel is different too.