I will pick up by talking about the little space in time before the volunteering started. Last Sunday, after Ulpan, we were all having personal talks with our volunteer coordinators. We were supposed to solidify our volunteer assignments. At that point I have chosen the ARDC - African Refugee Center, Food Distribution Center and Nofim Elementary School. When I went to meet with Tamar, our coordinator, she told me that the ARDC already had way too many people and she wanted to make sure that I would have something to do, so she suggested RALA - which is spelled like that in Hebrew but it is really the Physician Free Clinic. It is a clinic for people who are living in Israel without a specific status, such as refugees and asylum seekers and Palestenians. The main job would be to help run the triage of the clinic, explain forms to the patients, and just help out with anything. I didn't go check it out because I was sick so I scheduled time with the director of the clinic, obviously to make sure that this is what I wanted to do. Everything else on my schedule stayed the same. When I left my talk I was beyond excited. I was finally going to be making some kind of difference, as tacky as it sounds. However, not so tacky because it is one of the 3 reasons I came here for. I was ready for this new adventure to begin!!
The next two days, Monday and Tuesday we had two volunteering sessions. To be honest, I could have probably used my time more wisely but what can you do. The stuff that they tell us is very obvious and general and most likely things that we will encounter only when faced with the issue in real life. There is no description in the textbook of how to handle difficult situations. Amex called it "crucial conversation" but then again, Amex sucked so I erased everything I learned there. Well mostly everything.
After the first volunteering session, I needed to decompress so I asked my roomate Lisa if she wanted to take a bike ride with me to the beach. The ride was so relaxing and liberating. It was just what we needed after a loooong day of nonsense. We rode to the beach and along the boardwalk and then when we got to the end of the cobblestone boardwalk we decided to keep going further. We rode to the Namal Tel Aviv - Port of TLV. The Port is in North TLV and is very posh and snobby, as I say. You can clearly see the difference in people and surroundings between the North and the South but that is pretty obvious in any city. I definitely want to live in that area someday, at least for a bit. The air outside was perfect, it couldn't have been a better ride. When we got home we calculated our route and it was about 9 miles. Not bad for an afternoon bike ride!
Wednesday, October 6th, was our first day of volunteering. I can't believe that the day was finally here. The month was long but filled with great and interesting things. My first volunteer assignment was the Food Distribution Center. This assignment was mostly going to be manual labor. My friend from the program called me in earlier because the volunteer coordinator for that place was not there that day and he wanted to explain to me what I needed to do. When I go there, the assignment was to break up all the boxes that said "Israel Humanitarian Aid" and put all the contents into plain brown boxes. The people that got the donations would not want to see that on the boxes so that is why we were doing this. At the distribution place, there was a mysterious dreadlocked character by the name Tomer was sort of overseeing this whole thing. By overseeing I mean he was "doing something" on the computer and smoking a cigarette. When my peer left, Tomer started helping me with the boxes. His English was maaaaaaybe better than mine. Ok not really, but pretty amazing. I guess I am now starting to find the value in hearing Israelis speaking English so well and understanding the amazement that people demostrate when they find out that English is not my first language. It was a nice compliment. Anyway, the guy was super cool and said that he would show me around TLV.
The next day was the day when I was supposed to go to Nofim, the elementary school. I'm not going to lie but I was super excited. We were supposed to be there at 9. We went to the counselor's office first. Her name is Tzafrir and she is really sweet and timid and you can tell that the kids just love her. The four of us went into her office and she just went over our schedules and got our phone numbers. Then we went into the break room where all the teachers were. There were three English teachers. Sylvia (clearly she was Russian) Sara and Eric, who is actually American but went to the IDF and then returned to Israel after he got back to the States. He was giving me weird looks, I have mixed emotions about him. Anyway, as soon as we got to the English teachers, Sylvia asked who speaks Russian and Spanish and I raised my hand and so did my friend Katie, who is American but has Russian parents. Sylvia looked me straight in the eye and pointed at me and said in Hebrew "Ani rotza" which means I want. It was hilarious and also the second compliment of the week. The teachers asked if some of us would like to stay behind and go to the classes with them, so I was very excited and said yes.
I can't even really describe how much more I respect teachers after that first experience. Kids hanging from chairs and tables, dancing on tables, teacher yelling and NOTHING changes. It was intense. The teacher introduced me to the class and then the classes would ask me questions in English. She would point out the kids who were struggling and I would sit with them and help them read and write. It is so draining but yet so rewarding when the kid you're working with really sort of "gets it." Also, without me even asking, the teacher said that she would ask around and see if anyone needs anyone to tutor their kids. I was beyond excited! I went to two more classes with her, it was just as crazy.
That same day I had to go check out RALA - which really is the Physicians Free Clinic, which services Palestenians, refugees and asymum seekers. It is a triage where doctors volunteer their time and help the clinic. The clinic strives to create the balance in the benefits between people who live in Israel legally and those who don't, while still selling insurance to them and not cutting any corners. This sort of troubles me but at the same time it is cool because this is not coming out of tax payers money. I don't think so at least. I wanted to volunteer during the clinic hours but Iman, the director, told me that at night they are packed with volunteers but they need help in the morning with administratives aspects, such as making appointments at hospitals and keeping track of the patient records. I am satisfied with my combination of volunteer assignments because I have the people time, the manual labor, and the administrative. I'm excited.
That day was super crazy because right after RALA, I had to run and pack and catch a train to Modi'in, where my dad's family lives. My grandma's sister to be exact, and her husband, daughter and daughter's family. I had to walk to the train station and then my aunt would pick me up in Modi'in. I was a little nervous because I haven't ever really spent one on one time with any of them....ever.
When I got to the city, I called Elina, my dad's cousin, they pulled up and my dad's aunt was waving to me from the back seat. She looked so cute! I was excited to be there! Modi'in was goregous. Very modern and built on rolling hills. Reminded of a modern version of Jeru. The city started from a settlement and is only 15 years old! Hard to believe that any city could be so new! Of course when I got to the house I got offered food right away. That night Elina and her family were going to a show called The Vocal People. I only found out that the whole thing was going to be people making music with their mouths and nothing else. I was AMAZED! All the songs we famous and the group did an incredible job, especially the beat boxers. I was in awe. I got home and crashed right away. This was the first time in 1.5 months that I had my own room to sleep in. It was weird......I got used to sleeping with my Lisa.
The next day was Manya's birthday. I got amazing rest and still woke up at 8AM. I passed over the shirt that my mom bought her. It looked great on her! We had breakfast and then I sat down to study some Hebrew. This was the first time this whole time that I had actually the desire and the motivation to actually sit down and study this language. Usually I just practice Hebrew in real life, at the shukh, stores, in the city and in restaurants. I studied a bit and then Manya asked me if I want to go to the "Canyon." I thought that she was talked about the canyon that I am used to, so I said of course! The canyon turned out to be a mall!
In Hebrew, liknot is to buy and knia is purchase so canyon to go shopping, I think that is how it was explained to me. It was totally Americanized......blah. I needed to get out of there ASAP. I missed the shuk......The next two days were spent bonding, eating, studying, sleeping, eating and learning Hebrew from my little cousins, always so much fun! We also went to a stalectite cave (sp?) which reminded me of the Collasal Caves in AZ! That was gorgeous and I think I appreciated that more than when I did when I was a kid. All in all the weekend the weekend was refreshing, amazing and relaxing. I was definitely pleasantly surprised of how easy it was to be with everyone. I am going back soon!!
The next day was the start of the new work week. I was excited to go back to Nofim. I had to prepare myself mentallly. We got to Nofim and Eric and Sylvia were diving up their classes. They were going back and forth of who was going to use me in their classes. They both have a lot of Russian speakers but I wanted to go with Sylvia because the has the more calm kids and Eric has 2nd graders with ADHD, so if I had my pick, I would pick the obvious ones. I am awful, I know. It was cool walking around the school because the kids started recognizing me, it felt good. A couple of them gave me a hug. These kids are not bad kids. Actually they're pretty awesome. A lot of them are not being challenged enough so they act out. It's pretty simple.I love working with them individually and they clearly like it too. Sylvia came up to me and told that she had found me a solid client and that I needed to call her that day and finalize the day that I would come and teach her son.
The next day was our Yom Sheni study day. On Mondays we are always going to have a long day of ivrit, aravit, lunch and Jewish identity classes. On Mondays, they also need volunteers from both tracks to help out in the kitchen because they feed us every Monday. I got called in last minute. I got there and the girl did not speak a word of English. She pointed to the yams and gave me the peeler and so I got the point. I had to be out of there in an hour because I was now taking Arabic. That's right, I like to completely overwhelm myself and learn a 5th language while I have no grasp of the 4th! Story of my life :) All that I know how to say at this point is, get ready for this: Ana ismi Anna, ana sakne fi Tel Abib, ana homree asharin oua seiti - My name is Anna, I live in Tel Aviv and I am 26 years old. If I get lost, I will at least attempt to explain myself.
On Tuesday, we had Ulpan again and then I went home to relax before my first tutoring lesson. I watched Entourage. The best method of relaxation.....EVER!!! I was really nervous because I have never tutored before but everyone told me that it is easier than I thought. I looked up the house on Google maps, on the map the house that I was supposed to go to was really close but the actual directions were telling me otherwise. I deifnitely got lost on the way to house and called Valya, the mother of my tutoree and told her that I was going to be late. She ended up meeting me in the park by the house because at that point I was like 40 minutes late and was just done with the whole experience. Her son recognized me from school so it was already not starting from zero. We read and wrote together and I felt that he understood more when I was done with him. When I came out of the room, his aunt asked me to tutor her son too and then said that there are 3 more girls that want to speak with an English speaker. So basically now I have 3 solid clients and then 3 potential clients, so I am stoked. That is food money and going out money and I won't have to dip into my bank account!!
The next day was RALA and I went to Yafo to help run the triage for the Palestinians, refugees and asylum seekers. It was cool but there were too many of us running around there and so I found myself asking what I need to do every few minutes. I will figure it out soon but I will probably be coming in the mornings helping out with administrative tasks. It's all pretty fluid at this point. Many times they kept asking if anyone spoke Arabic and could translate it into Hebrew or English. There were also people from Eritrea and Ethiopia. It was all becoming so real that these people are literally living under the radar and are not getting any healthcare or benefits. Like I said, the whole situation is pretty bad and complicated but I am glad that I can sort of learn and see the situation first hand and not have it sugar coated for me. That night I met up with Raz, he was one of the students on Taglit. It was so cool to just hang out with him and to know that I live here now and could do that whenever without any hassles. We met near Kikar Rabin (Rabin Square) and then went to Rothsichild and just hung out there. It was very laid back and we caught up on a lot.
Thursday, went to Nofim and was wrecked after 4 hours of screaming, crazy kids. I have thought about leaving the Food Distribution Center and checking out Brit Olam. I decided to go that night and was so glad that I did. This NGO (Non-Govt Org) deals with refugee women from Africa who are pregrant, either as a result of rape during their journey to Israel or by choice. There are a couple of things that we are able to assist them with: House visits - checking in on the women after they have given birth, intakes - requests for medicine, medical procedures and abortions, and doctor visits. Also, an ad-hoc project is fundraising and grant writing. All in all, I am feeling very inspired by this and will be doing intakes on Wednesday.
Friday and Saturday was a group trip. We went up north to Carmel. Our first stop was wine tasting at Binyamina Winery. We took a quick tour around the place and then the best part came when we tasted so so wine, but still, free wine - no complaints! Our second stop was Faradis which is in Arab village up north. 
We had lunch there and then an Arab woman peace activist came to talk to us. It was one of the most inspiring talks I have ever listened to. It went to show that stereotypes are so ugly and that we all live under them and they influence us so much. She talked about how she came to speak to Israeli soldiers that were wounded during all kinds of war and violence and how she hosted Rosh Hashanah dinner and had a bunch of Israelis over, and the list goes on. She said that bombs, weapons and rocks are not helping solve the issue that we are having and so now she does meditation circles and talks about the issues on both sides. She is having one in Jerusalem in a few weeks and we are going to go. 
After the talk we went to the Kibbutz in Carmel. It is an eco friendly kibbutz where they use solar power and composting and recycle all the water. The best part was when our host starting speaking to us and said: You will have to excuse my very basic English: My mission in life is create sustainability. We all laughed because sustainability is definitely not basic English. We cooked outside and camped.
Some of us snagged some hammocks so that was awesome too! The next day we woke up early, had breakfast, made lunch and went on a 4 hour hike. It was gorgeous. Please refer to pics and see for yourself. We closed our trip by going to the beach somewhere near Natanya. Sorry for the novel!!! Whew! Coming up next:
- My meeting tomorrow with a wealthy man who donates lots and lots of money to Bina
- Volleyball on beach
- More drum circles on Shabbat
- Tutoring
- And whatever else I am forgetting!
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