What's happening now?----?מה קורה עכשיו

Picking up I where I left off, so bare with me, ok people? Anyway, when Marissa and I got back we just came home and crashed. I called Anna Rose to see what she was doing for Shabbat and we decided that we would all have a small Shabbat. It would just be me, Marissa, Anna Rose and some of her roomies and I would invite Shay. We decided to go to the shuk and get some veggies to make some random things. Marissa and I would make a pasta and veggie salad and fry up some sweet potatoes and regular potatoes and Anna and her roomie would do some tuna salad and random things too. It would be small but nice.

Shay came over to our place and we all went over there. Everything came together very nicely, even though Anna was running around and freaking out for the first 30 minutes, but I can't blame her because I would do the same thing. She even got the little challas, it was cute. We did the Shabbat, wine and Challa blessings and dug into the food. It was really good. I got a bunch of fruit and cut them up for dessert. Soon after, Anna's roomie Rami and his friend came over and then it was balagan with those two. After we ate, we all decided to go out for a bit, but we didn't last that long because we were still tired from our trip. However, Rami said that they were going hiking the next day so Marissa and I invited ourselves because we didn't get to go on our trip, so were definitely compensating for it. We were excited!

The next morning, at 10AM, I got a call from a groggy Israeli that the hike was still on and that he would get us in 20 minutes. Yesh!! We quickly got ready and went to meet them at a busy intersection so that they wouldn't have to go into my street. On the way north we needed to stop at the kibbutz that Shuval lives on, by the way we changed his name to Shuvs through the course of the day. While he got whatever he needed (oh yeah, real shoes for hiking) we stopped to get some Jahnun. Basically it's a Yemenite food that is only sold on Shabbat. It's dough, egg and smushed tomatoes that you eat together. It sounds weird but it's super taiiiiim (delicious.) The jahnun wasn't enough, so Rami got a great idea to go get the best pancakes in Israel. He wasn't joking though, they were pretty much amazing. We all got different kinds, I got coconut, there was chocolate, better and pineapple. We had a conveyer belt of tasting all the pancakes. Someone would yell "time!" and we would rotate them to the next person. It was glorious.

What seemed like years later, we finally made it to Zichron, where we were a few days ago. We went to the park called Ramat Hanadiv and Marissa and I quickly recognized it as one of the trips that we took with the group at the very beginning. We gave the guys a hard time because this was not a real hike, it was more like a walk in the park, but it was ok because it was gorgeous and we didn't mind. Because it rained we knew it was going to get really muddy so we took before and after pictures of our sneakers, I also sent the pics out so some of you have seen what I am talking about. Anyway, the walk/hike was amazing. It was so much more fun because it was only a few of us this time and we would stay in random places for as much as we wanted, get lost or just do whatever we want! So great. It was so green and everything was blooming. Neither my words nor the photos that I took could do the place justice, so if you want the pics, just let me know.

The next day Marissa and I woke up early to go to the Israel Museum in Jerusalem. It was nice but I wasn't overly impressed. There were specific things that stood out for me that I loved. One of the exhibits was a timeline of events that took place from 1900 - 2010, went by decades and used materials and videos and written timelines to illustrate the events that shaped the world. It was really powerful to me. Other rooms were modern too, and incorporated light, sound, video and moving photographs. There was classic art there and artifacts, traditions, rituals and outfits of men and woman. There was also a photo exhibit and it was really good. Marissa ended up separating from me and I stayed behind for a little bit. I went outside and saw the LOVE sign that is in Philly, but only in Hebrew letters: אהבה
It was nice and it was a great way to OFFICIALLY end our trip.

It was time for me to step up my job hunting skills into full gear. I started weighing out the options of finding a restaurant to work in Tel Aviv or volunteering and affording to not work. My budget told me that with my tax refund, deposits and miscelleneous things that I could stay afloat and not work. I decided to take that route and hopefully my amazing Excel skills won't screw me over. I wrote my cover letter, something I haven't done for almost a year and a half and redid my resume to have a non profit spin. Right now what I am looking at is to do something that deals with international program coordinating, such as sending kids abroad to South America, or coordinating international volunteer efforts, something along the lines of what I did. There are a lot of opportunities out there, I just need to get my resume into the right hands and convince someone that I am right for the job. It will happen. My goal is to have a job lined up in June.

I resumed volunteering at the clinic. A while back i was helping Aziza, the multilingual nun do the interviews with the Africans who have come through the Sinai, but because I was gone for two weeks, they got someone else to help her. I didn't mind, I was ready to start learning something else. I told that I now had availability to work mornings and that I am great with statistical stuff, so I told them to use me for whatever. I was going to start coming in the mornings the following week.

It seemed to me that my roomate's Matan's friend Guy had moved in with us. He lives in Hadera so when he comes to TLV he stays for a bit because the drive is soooo far, all 40 minutes! Oh Israel, once again, how small you are. If I remember correctly, it took me 30 minutes to get from North Phoenix to Chadler going 80MPH, wow. Meguchah! (Ridiculous). Anywho! Guy was trying to make me his wife. The good news was that I was learning tons of Hebrew from him because his English....well, not so good! The bad news is that he took me wanting to practice with him as a sign that I liked him and that was no good. I had to find the balance.

Because they told me that I could, I resumed going to Ulpan (Hebrew) and jumped from intermediate to advanced which so much more my level. It's really nice to just go off on random tangents and not have to stop every few minutes to explain or to review. On average I think I learn about 7-10 verbs a day in that class. I write them down but do not use all of them, yet the exposure is amazing. Plus it's great to see all the Tikkun Olamers back at the Yeshiva, it's like old times!

In addition to Ulpan, Tiffany and I started a Sunday night ritual where we have Hebrew only dinners and teas and desserts. We switch off houses that we go to. It's also nice because we are both living with Israelis so they can either join the conversation and correct us or laugh in our face. Last week when I went over to Tiff's, her, her boyfriend and I spoke Hebrew for two hours. It reminded when I was living in Mexico and I would get headaches from forcing myself to speak the language so much, but it makes such a big difference, it's amazing. It's all about pushing yourself.

Sara came back from a month of being India and it was Marissa's birthday, so we combined our reunion and had some quality girl time. I saw Sara's pics on facebook and they looked amazing. I really want to make it out there and soon! The cost to get there is a lot but when you are there it is really cheap. At least that is what everyone says so I will go ahead and believe that. So, it was nice to be reunited again.

I went back to Caesaria to do a kite surfing lesson with Shay's class. Once again no one asked any questions but helped me with my awful kite skills! I can't believe how much power a little kite has so I don't even want to know what a real kite feels like. I have a post it on my laptop that says that before I leave Israel I need to get on a surfboard and/or a kite board. Hopefully it can be both.

The following week, Shay came to TLV and we went running together. He is ridiculously fit and looks like a marathon runner. We started running and I got nervous that I would get tired and he would keep going but we both got in the zone and it felt really great to run with someone. We ran forever and then it started raining. Then it started raining hard and I felt like I was filming the movie GI Jane. People were looking at us like we were crazy but it was nice! When we got back to my apt we calculated the distance that we ran and it said we ran about 7 miles or more. What champions!

Last week I got a text message from the casting liaison that there was another audition coming up and that some roles might be suitable for me. Even though I never got a call back from the first time I went I decided to give it another try. I got semi dressed up, went to Ulpan and then the clinic, and tried to downplay my outfit because it felt awkward to volunteer with refugees dressed like I was going to an interview at some corporation. Anyway, the day dragged on and I was getting really excited to give this another try. I got there and waiting for about 30 minutes until they called me in. First thing they told me was to just stand with my name facing the camera, then asked for some profile shots and then without the name tag. Then they asked if I had some acting experience and I just said I have done modeling but nothing serious. Next they said that when the music would come on I would dance, so the song they decided to play was "If you like it then you shoulda put a ring on it" by Beyonce. I BUSTED OUT!!! I didn't care at that point. One of the girls that was in the room started smiling and may have busted out laughing but controlled herself. The last thing they said for me to do was pretend I was really sad and look down and then all of a sudden get really happy and start laughing. I did that a couple of times. I walked out of there with mixed emotions but whatever!

That night I met Marissa, Sara and a girl that volunteers with Marissa for a night tour of TLV. The tour guy was really cute and knowledgeable. The tour was great too! Seven months later and we are still finding things out about the random city that we live in. At the end of the tour, the girls seemed to decided that I should strike up a convo with this guy, even though he never once hinted that he was interested. Oh well. Anyway, he walked the other way when the tour was over but then started coming back around and the girls started pushing me toward him. I didn't feel like talking to him! We finally caught up to him and the light turned green. I got fire under my ass so I yelled bye to the girls and booked it across the street to catch up to him. I started yelling his name "Mehor" but he didn't respond. Finally when he turned around, he corrected me and said that his name is Me'or. From light, it means. Anyway, Meor and I had a lovely conversation down Allenby. I used the excuse that I didn't hear where the Purim party was going to be and then we started talking about what I was doing here, blah blah blah. We exchanged numbers, so that's end of the story, but apparently I'm ballsy now!

Thursday night was 17/3, St. Patrick's Day/First night of Purim. I concluded that because the whole weekend would be Purim, I could afford to spend one night celebrating the holiday I didn't get to celebrate last year because of my damn concussion :(. That is also the day that I got a call from Avigail, the casting manager, telling me that film people are discussing using me for their commercial. At that point I was an option for them, and she asked if I would be avaialble to shoot either Sunday night or Monday morning. I almost screamed YES into the phone. Considering this thing also pays money, and a good amount too, I would make myself available! That just added to the awesomeness to the night. Matan, Lisa, Sara and I went out to a bar Molly Blooms and had a great time! I told the bartender to make me an Irish Car Bomb (Guiness, Baylies and whisky) I told him that this drink would take off in Israel but I don't really think he cared. Then I found a bunch of people wearing green and we all danced together and were jolly. Great night.

The next day, Marissa, Sara and I concluded that we were going to dress up as Sex, Drugs and Rock N Roll. Oh yes. I'm not going to tell you what I was but rather put a picture up here. Anyway, that day Sara and I went to get our outfits, it was a zoo! Purim is so much more serious than Halloween will ever be! I know, I know, I can't believe I just said that, but you should have seen the mess of people trying to get their outfits. We made it out of there alive and got what we needed. We were going to reconvene later that night to make the outfits, hang out and then go out.

Our outfits were coming together nicely. We all got black tops to match, glitter paint and fabric to write what each one of us was. My outfit came together with marijuana sunglasses, green boa, bag filled with cocaine (salt) and a joint. Sara's was a red boa, condoms glued to her, and she just looked like sex. Marissa had Kanye West glasses, rock guitar and just poofed out her hair. It was lovely!!

Does this all make sense now?? Classy, I know!



We met up with some friends at a bar called Rothschild 12. The music was great! It was a mix of 80's, 90's and current. All random and all good! It was super fun!

The next day, Rami picked me up and we went to the beach to meet his friends and play Matkot. The raquet and rubber ball game that all Israelis are obsessed with. I think I talked about it when I first got here. His friends were great and the day was perfect. We concluded that I needed an outfit change for that night and I decided that I was going to be a German boy that night. He had suspenders and hat for me, and I had a shirt and shorts. It all came together so well! I loved it. We all went out to a Florentin block party that night. There were four stages, and all the DJs were set up on apartment blaconies that were all overlooking the corner of very busy streets. It was great. The music, the outfits, everything!

The next day, Michal from the clinic called and asked if I could take this family to get their health clearance to go to Canada. She asked me to do this Monday morning and I said yes because I have not heard from the audition people, and because it was already Sunday, it was too late for them to call me and tell me that they wanted me. That day Lisa came over and went went for a walk together and just hung out. I wanted to bring my phone with me just in case. My intuition was right because I got a phone call from the production company asking me if I can meet them the next day for the commercial!!! I was going to be discovered! FINALLY! Just kidding, but I was really excited. They told me to be at the train station at 9:30 the next day and they were going to come and pick me up. I was so excited but then I realized that was going to be during the time of when I was supposed to take the family. So now I had to make a decision. Don't hate me, but these is probably a once in a lifetime thing, being in a commercial (unless I really do get discovered....) but I called Julie, one of the other girls from the prog and asked if she would be able to help me, and she said yes! I was sooooooo excited!!!!!!!!!!

That night I was like a kid and could not sleep I was so excited. My alarm finally went off and I started getting ready. I didn't do my makeup and wore a long dress that I love. I took the bus to Arlozorov where I waited and overheard some people talking and concluded that they were also waiting to be picked up. Whoever was supposed to pick us up was late, typical. Finally I got a phone call from the guy that called me the day before and he told us to take a cab to the Shuper Sal where they were filming and they were going to reimburse us for the ride.

We got there and part of the store was blocked off for filming. We checked in with someone and they told us to go hang out and drink coffee and they would get us when they needed us. OK. Sounds good to me! We chilled for a little bit and then they got us to go get dressed. We were going to be wearing store clerk outfits, oh dear god, so not flattering. When we dressed out, we walked up to where they were filming and then they did my make up. Some of us went to film some bits but some of us didn't. We had lunch and then after lunch we were going to another location. They was a straight up staging warehouse. It was cool. The cool part was that all day we were working with Zvika Hadar, the host of the Israeli (American) Idol and many other things. He wouldn't stop smoking his cigar and was super cool!

Basically our roles consisted of sitting in front of computers and pretending to type and we were all yelling Baduk (checked/guaranteed) for the wine for Passover that they were advertising. Overall it was for the store, but because of the holiday that is coming up it was a big deal. The day dragged on but I got to speak Hebrew, meet cool people, eat A LOT and just hang out on a set! Can't complain! Now I get paid 1500 - 2000 shek dogs. Not bad. I could get used to this.

I decided to go to see my family in Modiin and walked through the door to hear that a bomb went off at a bus stop in Jerusalem. This hasn't happened since 2004. It concerns me. They stop a lot of attempts a day but it sucks when they actually fail. Fifty two people were hurt and one died. However, being with family is nice. I eat non stop and just hang out. It makes me sad that its always such an event when I come visit. I want normal things like all of living semi close together so that it wouldn't be such a big deal every time. But that is not how it is and I have to appreciate the time I have here and see everyone.

Well I have bored you long enough: See you next time, hopefully not too long from now!

Much love to everyone!------!חרבה אהבה לכולם

Our trip!! ------- !!הטיול שלנו

So! Marissa got back from NYC on Feb 15th and we were supposed to go the next day but we took an extra day and just chilled in the city and did last minute planning. The day before we left I had an audition for a commercian where they needed European looking people and then an interview for an international marketing position. I did the interview in the morning with this guy Ricardo who came to Israel from Bolivia 30 years ago. I decided to be completely honest with him and lay out my cards on the table and tell him that I was here for exactly two more months and while I could really use the money, I understand that running a business is important and I wouldn't want to lie and tell him that I was going to be here for a while and then up and ditch him. On the way to the hotel, these random women stopped me and invited me to go to coffee with them. I was actually sort of bummed out that I was on the way somewhere because I totally would have. Love love Israel because of this randomness. I got to tge hotel and asked for Ricardo. He came and we went into some lobby. He basically started asking me questions in English, Hebrew and Spanish, oh eize kef! What fun. It was cool to communicate in three languages. I laid out my cards and he obviously told me that couldn't hire me for such a short time and told me that from the second he met me he would have given me the job because he could tell I am great with people. All true. It still felt good to get out there and meet with him.

Later that day, I had audition. I didn't listen well to the directions over there so wandered into some industrial area. I went into some auto shop and told them that I was looking for the street and some guy motioned me to come with him and he busted out a map of TLV and was able to tell me right away how to get there. It started pouring on the way over so I had to duck into a mall which actually had a shortcut to the place. When I got there the girl at the front asked me what agency sent me , which threw me off guard and then I told her that I talked to someone from the English speaking website that I look at for everything. I went in and asked if I need to speak in Hebrew in the commercial, to which I got an answer that I don't need to speak at all. The girl asked me if I had acting experience and then told me to pretend that I was on a date and to pretend that I liked the person so I needed to keep looking up and down and play with my hair, etc. Obviously I am not a very good flirter (which I seriously disagree with) but I didn't get the part, at least up to this point I haven't heard from them yet. I met up with Marissa at Aroma (coffee shop) to finalize our tentative plans. We printed directions to our Couch Surfers and some hiking places. We were ready to roll, all we had to do what pack. When we got to the house, Matan, my roomie, had a friend over and she told us to be careful if we were going to hitchhike and that made me uneasy but we were going to play it by ear. We decided that we would try to leave the house at 9AM the next day.

We woke up, ate something, put our backpacks on and were on our way. We were five minutes into our walk and I was already tired and looked ridiculous. It was hilarious. I was borrowing a friend's backpack so I wasn't used to it at all. We got on the bus and because the bus drivers in TLV might be the best in the world, when the bus jerked I almost fell face forward. What a great start. Our journey was tentative to the following: DA NORTH! Ha Tzafon! El norte!

Nazareth
Tiberias
Qiryat Shmona
Akko
Tal El
Haifa
Caesaria
Jerusalem

We got the bus station and bought out tickets to Netzrat. Pretty steep but we were going clearly across the country so it was justifiable....I was nervous because this was one of the few times in my life where I knew that I would have to play it by ear and see where life would take us. Being in Israel is the first experience with that. I feel that being in Israel has trained me to know that I don't know and be ok with that, so with that, along with 20 soldiers we piled onto the bus to Nazareth! And the adventure began!

Two hours later, after falling in and out of sleep, busses tend to do that to me, we were in Nazareth. Where Jesus was conceived. Oh yes. We didn't have a map of the city and the bus took us too far so we had catch a city bus back to the Old City. This was like Disneyland for Catholics and Christians all around the world. Everywhere you went there were signs for something. The Greek Orthadox Churches, Bath houses, wells, Mosques, and the Basillica of Annunciation, which was the focus of the Old City. We walked around for a while and looked at the sites. My favorite was the Basillica of Annunciation - there was something so magical about it. Yes, I am a terrible Jew because I have always loved going into churches and cathedrals. They have a different feel to them. I think I get to say this because I am not connected to any religion at this point in my life so I get to have an objective perspective. In the Basillica there were mosaics of the Virgin from all around the world, inside as well, there were different interpretations of Mary and Jesus. It amazes me and scares me at the same time how religion spreads out around the world, gets a flavor of the culture it is in and then comes back to the focal point. It's intense. The Greek Orthadox Church was beautiful as well, there was gold everywhere and I mean EVERYWHERE. I loved it. I am not going to be attaching pictures because I sent them out, but if you haven't seen them please let me know and I will send you some. So after we saw all the sights, I called our first CouchSurfer, his name was Hilel, oh Hilel. He told me that he could either be home by 3 or 6, so we decided that we would go over there by 6. He sounded annoyed which then annoyed me but I was going to do my best and not let that taint our first experience....

We decided that we would go to Afula, a small town on the way to Ein Harod, where Hilel lived, get dinner and then go to Hilel's. We waited for the bus to Afula for what it seemed like forever, so we decided to go to the tourist office and see which way to go if we wanted to walk and the lady said 10 KM, we thought about it and then returned to the office and asked if there was another bus to take, she told us and then asked, "Lo halachten ba'regel?" You didn't walk? And we laughed and said no and returned to that damn bus stop. Meanwhile, this guy tried to tell us that for 10NIS each he could get us to Afula, I knew he was BS'ing right away but we decided to try, so of course then he started telling us how we have to fill up the car with two more people. We got out - oh Israel, I love the games you play. The bus finally came and it cost 12.5NIS, but it was not sketchy at least.

We got dropped off at Afula and decided to grab some schnitzel, healthy I know. We talked to schnitzel stand owner and he loved that we were speaking Hebrew to him so he hooked us up with more food. After we were done we started walking to the bus, which again took FOREVER to get there. We had to ask someone on the bus where Ein Harod was so he pressed our step and told us to get off. We walked to a gas station where were supposed to wait for Hilel. He called and said that he didn't see as asked me to give the phone to an Israeli who knew where we were. I walked up to the gas station guy and said, cracking up, "Slicha, atah yechol le'agidlo eifo anachnu ki ani lo yoda'at...." Excuse me, could you please tell him where we are because I don't know. How sketchy! Hahaha. He told him and minutes later Hilel pulled up outside the gas station. The gas station guy walked outside and saw us get into a strangers car, I almost died laughing because that must have been so bad. In the car, I think I was having verbal diarrheia. I couldn't stop asking irrelavent questions, I just couldn't control myself. I just didn't know how to act in this situation, it was hilarious. We got to his house and he said to make ourselves at home. We just fell on the couch because we were so tired. He started skyping with his friends and Marissa and I just zoned out to watch TV. He turned out to be ok, he travelled for 6 years and picked up Spanish so him and I spoke Spanish. He didn't stop smokiung the entire time, just kep

Tiberias - woke up ate at the kibbutz and then went to bus stop. Saw a random guy hitchhiking so we both looked at each other and decided that we would start. Oh dear god. After about 10 minutes of pointing right we got one! The guy was great. It was all in Hebrew, he pointing to different things and talking to us. It was great. He dropped us off and we were still 20 KM from Tiberias. Got another guy to pick us up. Marissa talked to him about our volunteering and we had a good convo. Amazingly beautifu  outside, green valleys, flowers of all kinds, unbelievable. Never seen Israel this gorgeous, but then again I have never been to the north. Got dropped off and still had 11KM to get there so we got one more person to take us there. He worked for the army and we spoke just in Hebrew with him because we told him we wanted to practice. We noticed that the people that picked us up were all middle aged men, who would probably kick our ass if we tried to pull anything with them. We were finally in Tveria! It was amazing. Beach town on the Kineret or Sea of Galilee, whatever you want to call it, where Jesus walked on water, even though we heard it actually happened on the Jordan River, but whatever. We walked straighted to the beach, put our stuff down and just laid down, it was incredible. No big groups with us, no rushing, nothing, just doing what we wanted whever we wanted. We agreed that it would be a fabulous idea to go and drink a beer on the boardwalk, so we got ourselves some GoldStars and just chilled. Ah yes, amazing. Just Marissa and me and our backpacks, relying only on ourselves.

The next CouchSurfer was Avi. Marissa said that he sounded really cool on the phone and she felt that they were good friends. Cool, can't complain. We walked around a little bit more and then went to wait for the bus to Yavnel where Avi lived. I told the bus driver to tell us when we got to Yavnel and he started yelling that there are many stops and we need to be more specific. Par for the course. Marissa called Avi and he gave her more directions. Oh the bus we sat next to this cyclist who wouldn't stop talking and said that his mom was American, to which I wondered why he still spoke with such a thick accent. He gave us bananas, that was nice. He told to get off somewhere which turned out to be incorrect so then when we told the bus driver to stop the bus he started yelling that we bought tickets to Yavnel but were getting off somewhere else, blah blah, it really becomes entertaining. I am scared I am going to be an animal when I come back to the states and start yelling at people. Time can only tell right. Anyway, we got off the bus and Marissa was mad at herself because of the miscommunication, so she twisted her ankle and fell, with the thirty pounds on her back. Lo tov. Not good.

Yavne'el - Avi and Har'el chilled with us, drank some beer with them, spoke some Hebrew and then they left, Avi brought us dinner because it was Shabbat and we were in middle of nowhere. We ate, then he left, then came back and then left again, we just chilled again. Total stranger just left us in his house, pretty amazing. We were supposed to wake up to go hiking the next morning so at 4:30AM he dropped off food for us at the door so that we would have breakfast the next day. When we woke up however, Marissa's ankle was in no condition to hike the Golan, eize basa! But it was more important to recover because we had a long trip ahead of us. We got up and started walking out of Yavnel, it was Shabbat so it was a quiet and beautiful Saturday morning. I am not going to beat a dead horse with oohhs and ahhhs of how beautiful it was, but DEAR GOD, WAS THIS REALLY ISRAEL!! That was the most asked question on the trip as I recall. Anyway, it took us about 3 hours, in six different cars to get to Qiryat Shmona. Wow. On the way, we got picked up by this middle aged woman and her friend, totally out of carrier, she had this calm hippy vibe about her, then some other guy got us and we saw horses running in the middle of the road, opposite direction of the cars, then some guy who I thought was a woman got us, and because Hebrew is a very male/female language I was trying really hard to not ask gender related questions, it was hilarious. He actually drive us like 5 minutes because he was dropping Yemenite food off at the some gas station so it was completely pointless for him to pick us up! We finally saw anothe hitchhiker and caught a ride with him to Qiryat S. He said it only took him 3 cars to get there, lucky guy!

QS - Nofar and Rotem, lesbian coupe, totally warm and cool. Our age, a little bit younget than me, college students, travelled a lot, went for a walk around the place with Marissa. Nothing much there, but because we were supposed to hike, that is the reason why we made a stop there. The girls asked if we wanted to have dinner with them. Obviously we said yes. The made pasta with pesto, baked potatoes and sweet potatoes and a salad. Delicious! We had coffee and talked and then they asked if we want to play this game called Brandi Dog, where the instructions seemed ridiculous so we just decided to see how it goes, and it was soooo fun. That was a great way to bond with the girls. The next morning we woke up and it was raining. We drank coffee with the girls and set off to Akko.

This one religious guy stopped. He was weird. He asked for my number and I gave it to him just so I could ignore his calls later. There is a method to the madness, people! I learned how to do this now. And unlike in the States, when an Israel guy asks for your number, HE WILL BE CALLING, AND NOT JUST ONCE! (This weirdo has already called me about 6 times) Anyway he also offered us cookies and just game them to us, they were actually pretty good. He dropped us off at the junction and we decided to take the bus from there on out to Akko.

Akko was cool! The waves were  gigantic because of the storm , I have pics and a video. It was surfers paradise. They were going over the walls and flooding everything. I was hungry so I walked up to a flooded fruitstand and asked how much an orange was, so he told me because I am pretty I can just take it. I wonder if that will work in the States, probably not.....I am getting way spoiled out here, it's not good. Anyway, we walked through the Old City and through the market, my absolute favorite part of Israel, everywhere you go it's so great. The girls told us about this Hummus place that we had to go to, Sayid. We got there and the line, which is never really a line was balagan as always. The host host guy asked if we wanted to get seated earlier by sharing a table with these two guys in the corner so we said yes and basically had to sit on their laps because it was so damn crowded. However, when we sat down the guys started getting up and as they left they said b'teavon, which means......drum roll please......bon apetit! Anyway, the hummus was cheap and delicious, just the way we like it, but I am sort of hummused out so I will not give you more details.

We walked around Akko more and went through the shook, got some candy and fruit, walked up so an elevated area, saw some donkeys and decided to go get some coffee and call my relatives to pick us up. We got picked up from the train station by my grandpa's cousin and he took us to their's and Nina's (my 3rd aunt, who is 13 years older than me) and haticha! Hottie! The house was beautiful like always, I love it. I showed it to Marissa and she loved it. Another thing she loved or maybe didn't love is that no one in the house but David (Nina's husband) spoke English, so the only languages that would be spoken would be Hebrew and Russian. However, Marissa's pronounciation of spasibo and pazhaluyskta were amazing by the time we left the house. We also got to paint with the girls in the class that Nina has every Sunday. It was really fun and took me back to the good old days when I was younger and was actually artistic.

We were originally going to spend the next night at our next couch surfers house but Nina "talked us into" - twist my arm - in staying another night. I love being with everyone, it's such a warm family and it is just a joy to be around them a lot. Very loving and amazing, a great example of how I want my family to be, multilingual and all, even though it's crazy difficult.

The next day we went to the Bahai Gardens in Haifa. Nina decided to play matchmaker for me and called one of her friend's sons to show us around the city. Ay Dios Mio! The gardens were AMAZING! I sent out pics, whoever wants, let me know and I will send again. The guy was cool too. We walked around and then went to get Thai food and went to his dorm because he studies at the Technion, a very good tech school in Haifa. David then picked us up and we went back to Tal El to eat more delicious food. We had more family time and then the next morning we took the training to Haifa and Daviv dropped us off at our next destination, Ein Hod, an artist village. The fire that took place a couple of months ago, reached the village and you could see the damage quite clearly, but the village itself was amazing. It was so beautiful and quiet there. It was in the moutains so the air was crisp and nice, the people were chill and the art was very interesting. We walked into a couple galleries and then had some iced coffee and just chilled and enjoyed the great environment. We finished our coffee, took some more pictures and started descending down to the road back to Haifa. We got down and decided that we don't want to walk all the way to the mercaz and guess what, decided to hitchhike there! We were very successful, as soon as the hand went up, the third person stopped. He was so cool. He knew we were American but spoke to us in just Hebrew. He was a boat builder who lived right on the beach. I learned the word for boat which is sira. He dropped us off right at the beach and we started walking on the tayelet, hoping to reach the center eventually. The walk was so nice, people were surfing, eating outside, just enjoying the coming warm weather, beach weather! Ah yes! We obviously took some jumping pictures and continued on our way. We walked to what it seemed like 10 miles and finally decided to get on a bus and go to the central bus station so that we can go to our hosts house.

Our next host was Adriana. When I called she wouldn't stop talking and told me that she was having other couch surfers over and that we would make dinner together. We were excited, it sounded really nice. We got to the CBS and NEEDED a snack so we jumped into a bakery and grabbed some goods which cost us basically nothing, this is how you travel! The we got on a bus to go to her house. The drivers in Haifa are even crazier than TLV, and with the hills of Haifa it is very easy to get car sick, even if you normally don't. So one of us did and we had to get off the bus to get some air and ended up walking the rest of the way to Adriana's house. It only took like 10 minutes. Obviously. We met her outside the house and went in with her.

She seemed really nice but SHE WOULDN'T STOP TALKING!!! Dear god that woman could talk! She offered us some tea and then told us for 30 minutes why she quit her job, something that could have been summed up in one sentence. We moved over to the couch and she started asking us the usual questions that everyone else has asked us already and every time we would answer she would make it about herslef and go on FOREVER! Marissa and I found this hilarious/suicidal. Marissa went to the bathroom and made a face at me and I almost busted out laughing.

It was FINALLY time to start getting dinner ready. It was a relief because then we could at least zone out and help out. Maris and I were tasked with pealing the potatoes. We banged it out really quickly but then of course Adrina redid all of it. Reminds me of my mom. Love you mom!! She was going to make potatoes, fish and salad, yum! The guests came over soon after and we were soooo happy to see them. They were Spaniards from Granada and Salamanca. Luis and Sara. Such a cute couple and their host Eran, who was a bit strange but super nice! Oh but guess what, my Spanish, the one I studied in school, yeah that on, GONE! I have been focusing so much on ivrit that my Spanish is officially in hiding, and the fact that it's also Castellano, does not help at all because I am used to the beautiful dialect of Mexico.

We sat down for dinner and the conversation was mostly in Spanish, but Marissa understood bits and pieces and I didn't understand all of it because I was zoning out. At one point of the convo Marissa made a comment that she was at my family's house for a few days and did not understand anything because of the Russian, and because Adriana had to put her two cents into everything she said she knew some Russian, such as da, nyet, spasibo and she forgot the 4th word. Wow. Oh it gets better. At the end of the meal, when we were all still pretty hungry she said that she was sorry that she didn't have any dessert. She went to the store and saw ice cream and decided it was too expensive. Then she says this: There are bananas on that table if you really want them, but I was really looking forward to eating them for breakfast....

WHAT??? Insert cricket sound here please!!!

One great thing that came out of that evening is that we made new friends and they said that they would go to Caesaria with us the next day. At the end of the evening, when it was just me and Marissa in the room, Marissa kept repeating "It's free, it's free, it's free" It was hilarious!!!!!

The next day, we were meeting the couple at the bus station at 10AM so we woke up and 9AM and wanted to sneak out but she was already in the kitchen. She offered us some tea and coffee and then the talking commenced. However it was cut short because she realized that there was a bus coming. She didn't even get a chance to finish her sentence because we were already out the door. As we ran out we both yelled "OH MY GOD!!!!!" at the same time!

We met Luis and Sara at the bus station and we were on our way. We got to Caesaria and went to the national park which was King Herod's dream. It was so amazing. It was built at the perfect place, the water was turquiose and blue, the sky was clear, the sun was shining. It was gorgeous. We walked around the park for a few hours and decided to call Shay, our next host in Caesaria. He told me that he was in TLV and would be back in 2 hours. We left the park and said bye to our friends and went to find something to eat. I ended up asking these two guys that were fixing something on the road. I spoke to them in Hebrew and as I started walking away they asked where I was from and said in a smart ass way, "ani me Artzot Abrit, ma atem hoshvim?" "I'm from United States, what do you think?" If I can be a smart ass in Hebrew, I am good to go! Anyway when we started walking back, those guys offered us a ride to the food area. It was really nice of them but not surprising. They dropped us off at the supermarket, we bought bread, cheese and pringles, yes! We went out on the lawn and just devoured our food. I turned to Marissa and said, that at this very minute, sitting on the lawn, eating, with just our backpacks and the clothes on our backs, waiting for yet another stranger to pick us up and take us into his house, I felt like I was in my element, I was ready for anything and she agreed. It was an amazing feeling. At that moment, Shay pulled up, and who knows what he thought!

As soon as he picked us up, it was so easy with him! He was so nice and adorable. He right away asked what we waned to do and where he could take us. He took us to his house but before that he took us to a pond with turtles. There were no turtles but there were beavers! There were also orange trees surrounding the whole kibbutz, it was so nice! When we got to his place, we unloaded our things. He said that he was going to leave for an hour and give us some space to take a shower and do whatever. We did just that.

He came back and poured us some drinks and we went outside to smoke hookah and get to know each other. It felt like we have known him forever. He is Uzbeki and speaks Russian, Hebrew, English and Arabic and works for the army, but right now they gave him time to go to school. Impressive I would say. It was so comfortable with him. He said that his friend was going to come over and they were going to make dinner for us. They made an amazing meal!! I could get used to this, boys cooking for us. Yummy. We drank more and then one of the neighbors came home and there more of us, drinking, laughing, hanging out, such kibbutzniks. They asked if we wanted to go out and we both said, betach! Sure! When we went out, we weren't just some random girls, we were all friends that have known each other for ages. It was such a fun night!! When we came home, Shay gave us his bed and had a matress that he was going to sleep on, wow, what a host!!

I slept soooo well, wow. The next morning was beautiful. He made us breakfast which was granola, assortment of fruitm coffee, tea, whatever we wanted and it was so beautiful! He said that he had a surfing lesson and asked if we wanted to come hang on the beach while he did it. I jokingly asked if I can go to the lesson and he told me that I should try, I didn't say no to that. When we got there, I went with him and stood with the rest of the people, while Maris laid out. No one asked me anything, in fact a couple of guys offered me an extra wetsuit. Oh I love Israelis!! Anyway, it was then time to get our boards. We lined them up and listened for further instructions that I sort of understood only because whatever the instructor did, he gestured. Haha. It was time to go into the water!! I was nervous but really excited. We ran into the chilly water and started attempting. I sucked but a few times I managed to ride the wave by pure luck. Just on my stomach but I flew over some people. The surf instructor was gorgeous. He looked so so so mashou mashou, something something, something gorgeous! I was in love with him. Or maybe with his surfing skills. The girls were really cool too, I told them what I was really doing there and told them to keep it a secret. It was sooo fun. Shay told me that I would have to come back next week because everyone thought that I was one of them. I mean, I totally would!

After surfing, we went back to his house and we made a beautiful lunch outside. Man, eating outside is the best thing in the world! I loved it. He said that being in nature really suited me, he called me Teva Girl, which means Nature Girl. I loved it, and the attention I was getting!We smoked more hookah and looked at the time and realized that it was time to go to our next host, in Zichron Yaakov. We called Adam (our next host) and Shay drove us out to Zichron, another really nice gesture.

On the way to Zichron I was getting really sad, the time that we spent at Shay's kibbutz really showed me how much I loved the north and the experiences we were having. I wasn't ready to go back to TLV. He dropped us off in front of our next house and it felt like a really tough goodbye between some good friends, even though we met him yestderday! Weird. We had his number so I was sure that we would see him again.

Adam showed us around his house. He lived in the center of the city, or another small cute place in Israel. It reminded of something from a movie set, a cute little town in the mountains. His house was nice, he showed us our room and made us some coffee. He lived in the states for a long time, so he barely had an accent. He lived there with his mom and his two brothers visit often. At first he was sort of awkward but then he came around and we went for a walk around the town. Then we came home and smoked more hookah. Yes, we are addicted. It was nice, the conversation was about languages, and usually no one I know talks about it so it was really great to speak to people who share the same interest. The three of us had French, Russian, Hebrew, Spanish, English and some Chinese. Cool huh? We had dinner and then went upstairs and pulle dup random videos on youtube that were in different languages and reminded us of our study/travel abroad experiences. It was great! We were exhausted and needed to be up early to go to Jerusalem the next day.

Adam woke up early the next day and made us breakfast, it was so nice. We ate breakfast and then got our stuff ready and walked out to the bus stop. It was the end of our trip in the north and we were going to get on a bus to Hadera and then catch a bus to Jeru. We got to Hadera and after some usual running around and no one being able to tell us anything, we realized that the only way to get to Jeru would be through TLV.....NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! After some thinking we decided that maybe we would celebrate Shabbat with some friends in TLV and take a day break and then go to Jeru on Sunday. It was a good plan and a good and logical end to the trip. What an amazing experience. When Marissa and I got off the bus in TLV at the Central Bus Station, we gave each other a high five. It was clearly one of the most interesting, fun, random, and exciting trips we have ever been in and I feel like I have grown from it. Can't wait to do something like this again!

Sorry for literally writing a novel, hope that some of this made sense. Much love to all!

Life in the center! -----!!החיים במרכז

Aaaaaaalright, so! Where the heck do I begin? My apologies again for losing track of time and not writing anything in here for what it seems like forever. Ani mitztaeret (I'm sorry). I guess I will start by briefly filling you in on the closing ceremony of my five month experience of Tikkun Olam.

After lots of deliberation of when to have the party, we all agreed that it would make the most sense to have it the same day as official five month closing ceremony by Bina. It was going to be brutal getting everything together but we had a great team so we knew that we would do it. Our plans were the following:

Potluck
Slideshow
Talent show
Karaoke
Flip cup -----Great right???

The party was going to be on Jan 24th. The night before that, Lisa, Adam, Dante and I stayed up until about 3 in the morning doing different things. We were cutting out decorations to put up for the next day, working on a slideshow, Lisa was working on that and every time she came up with something knew I laughed harder and harder every time. We also made superlatives, which were great. So yes, all that and we had to be up by 7AM the next day to be at the ceremony by 9AM.

We were a little late to the ceremony, there we had breakfast and shared some things that the people that were leaving learned throughout this time. I have to admit, the people at Bina are sort of stoic, they don't really have any emotion so it was difficult to connect with them and share much with them. However, throughout this time, I have developed amazing relationships with the staff so they have known how I felt for a long time. Our director had a good bye talk with us and told us that we can do the group events and participate in Ulpan, which he had already told me before and I was reeeeally excited for that part. It was good, we were getting antsy to go because we had ordered T-shirts for everyone and we had to cook and decorate the house, all that had to be done just a few hours from then.

We decided to divide and conquer, Dante went to get the shirts, Lisa and I went home to cook and decorate and work on slideshow and Adam went to get the booze, yofi! We hauled ass around the house and somehow pulled everything together pretty much before everyone got there. The house was decorated in bright colors, hearts, stars of David, superlatives, rings hanging from the ceiling. It was beautiful. The thirts were here and Lisa and Adam were finalizing the slideshow because they were going to MC the whole event. Right before we kicked off the party, the party organizers changed into the Tikkun Olam Tshirts and covered them up with zipups, and went to Adam's room and took a shot of tequila, to congratulate ourselves and to wish it to be a great party!

We got into the living room and welcomed everyone, the people were there, the Aliya coolade, the food, and then we unzipped our sweatshirts and the party began. It was amazing! Lisa and Adam were hilarious. They redid the version of "Twas the night before Christmas" into the summary of the program and made sure to include everyone's names and rhyme them with something. I was crying because I was laughing so hard. Then the slideshow came and even through I had seen it over a million times, the peoples' reaction brought tears to my eyes. It was so amazing. I am hoping to get a copy of all that was mentioned. After the slideshow was a talent show was ridiculous. We were all dying! I didn't realize how talented my peers were but I always knew that they were effin hilarious. The talent show ended by Katie Vogel's renactment of the MASA propaganda of Make Aliya, have a 1000000000 Jewish babies, you had to be there understand but it involved crossdressing, confetti and just overall amazingness!!! So as you can tell the party was a major success, I didn't expect it to be so amazing but it was. The party then morphed into Sara's birthday which we kicked off by some awesome games of flip cup and then a lot of us went out to Markid, a dance club which plays amazing music but the bouncers suck. It was a great night!

The next day was our day of cleaning and also when Marissa and I had to meet with Reut, our guide for the trips who was going to help us create a path through the north of Israel. We had a great time cleaning, we divided and conquered, turned on the stereo and played some oldies like "Shout" cranked up the music so that the whole neighborhood would hear, but we didn't really care because everyone was working or something like it. By the end of a few hours, the house looked 100000000 times better than it did when we first moved in. It was so great to see it and we left the decorations up. Elin, our madricha came over and so did Tamar to have our last personal talks. It was nice and sad but I knew that I would see them again because I was sticking around for another few months.

After we cleaned, Marissa and I went to meet with Reut. She was so amazing and helpful. Chick chock and we had our whole tentative plan. I was really excited and nervous because I didn't know what to expect but only time would tell in this case. The next couple of days were really chill. There were only four of us left in the house. Anna Rose had moved into her new place so it was just Nancy, Lisa and Katie and I and it was wonderful to have the house all to ourselves. Nancy's dad flew in from NYC so we had a night of tomato soup and grilled cheese and invited whoever was left in the coutry. It was sooooo nice. The rest of the time that I spent in the apartment I was packing and tying out loose ends. It was a weird transition but I was ready.

On February 1st, I was moving into my new apartment. We went out to breakfast to Benedict and then Nancy's dad was kind enough to drop me off with my bags. When I got there, Ariana, the subletter was sitting there and Lisa and Katie helped me roll the suitcases. They both LOVED the places and that got me even more excited about my place and the new chapter of my life, living in the center!!!!

The next few days I was getting settled in and pretty much moved out of the south TLV house. It was weird not to live there anymore but people get used to everything. Matan, my new roomate decided to celebrate me moving and we went out one of those nights. It was soooo fun but I got a little tipsy but it was great roomie bonding time. The next week or so I was just exploring the area more and enjoying life in the center. It was so nice to go out with friends and not have to take a bus anywhere and walk, oh yes, sooooo nice.

I was getting really anxious and excited for mine and Marissa's upcoming trip. She was in NYC up until the 15th so we had to send out our Couch Surfing requests while we were skyping with each other which was not a big deal. Accepts and Declines started pouring and we were starting to get an outline and it was so exciting! We were purposely picking people that spoke many languages, French, Spanish, Hebrew, English and Russian. It was going to be so great! In between that, I was helping promote the program to Taglit groups, volunteered some, talked to fundraisers for Bine - the program that subsidizes Tikkun Olam and just hung out and started reaching out to NGO's in the states. I started zoning in on jobs that require me to use my languages, even though Hebrew has completely replaced my Spanish at this point. But I love it so much! It's such a tachless (direct) language, it's hard to give it up. In any case, I am promising to stay true to my passions and to what I am good at, and I hope I will continue going this route when I am living in a box on the street. Staaaaaaaam! (Kidding.)

עין לנו חרבה הזמן ביחד :( We don't have a lot of time together :(

We officially have less than 2 weeks in the program. When I say we, I mean, myself and five other people. Our program ends on Thursday, January 27th. I can't believe that five months have flown by just like that. Scariest thing ever actually. But it was the most beneficial and growing 5 months of my life, and that is why I am not sad but happy that they happened. Now that some of the pressing things have been scratched off the list such as:

- Getting an apartment
- Changing flight
- Celebrating my  21st birthday 3 times
- Seeing out of town friends

I can start focusing on other pressing things. Such as planning the closing ceremony party with Lisa, Dante and Adam. We have the ideas so now we just have to execute them. Need to start looking for a job, planning Marissa's and mine 10 day Israel adventure, packing and making an effort to travel to see some of my family. But as they say here, le'at, le'at - slowly slowly. I am excited for the change though.

I have been sick for a few days :( It started as losing my voice this past weekend from my birthday party. Who's SHOCKED? Anyway, I didn't go to my volunteer assignment because I didn't want to scare the kids with my witch voice, it sucks because I am missing another day at the school because we are going to Eilat on Thursday through Saturday and I also would love to get better for that so that I could actually enjoy it. So Sunday I stayed in all day, finally sort of recovered my voice to go tutor for 2 hours, and when I came, she didn't remember that I was coming to teach. She thought I was just coming by since I had done that so many times before! Hahaha. It was actually really nice. She made me tea and we had cheesecake together and just talked, something that we have never done before. because I am in and out of there, gotta make my money by teaching three hours a week! She told me about her ex husband and about Israel and about life, it's a very interesting, sad and different perspective. The life here is so hard and yet, I am here, working for free and liking it. Like I said before, I feel luckier and luckier every day of my life.

After my "tutoring" I biked to Yafo because it was our second to last Ulpan day. We were going to order pizza and have dessert. It was really nice. We are in love with our teacher. She has quite possibly taught me more in 5 months that some stuff that took me 3 years to learn in college. Either I am getting smarter or she is really that amazing. I think I will take both? Vanessa made her a card and we all signed. I wrote mine in Hebrew, but we will just see how much of it she will actually understand, although she did say that when I sent her a text to see if we were still meeting earlier that day so that she could teach me future and imperative, it looked like one of her Israeli girlfriends had written it, what a compliment!

The next day was study day, Lisa and I simultaneously woke up sick. I think it definitely makes a difference when you are working with kids and sharing a room with someone. I have never really been exposed to this environment so my body at the nice age of 27 cannot not assimilate to this lifestyle. In two weeks I will have my own room and I will just be sharing an apartment with one others person, just like the old times! I can't wait! Living with 8 peope has certainly been experience, don't get me wrong, but I can honestly check it off my list and never do it again. Gotta try (mostly) everything once, right? Anyway, back to this, so we went to our last study day and were just dying in there. We had our last Ulpan and our last meal for the semester and called it a day. We went home and just slept for what it seemed like forever. It sort of helped. I was supposed to have an audition for a commercial ad that I replied to. They were looking for "European Looking People" and so I thought to myself that it would probably not hurt to respond! However, because I was a mess that day I cancelled with them and told them to keep me in mind for next time. Hopefully something comes up soon, I wouldn't mind paying some of my rent with that money.

The next day was an all day group day tour. We were going to the West Bank settlements. The first place we went to was called Harara. There we met up with a socio-linguist, who til the end did not tell us how many languages he spoke. We were able to count Arabic, Hebrew, Yiddish (his 1st language) Russian, German and French, but that is to say the least. He is sort of my role model. He was sharing with us some tactics for possible solutions for a two state solutions, the consequences, the loopholes and so on. I am convinced that I am going to leave Israel more confused and frustrated because now I know the options and I have never really looked into this stuff. The next place we went to was called Beit Al. Was founded about 20 years ago, we were met by a religious man who came to Israel about 28 years ago and has lived there ever since. He creeped me out, with all the stuff that we belong here and we need to make more babies to outpopulate the Arabs. He didn't explicicitly say that but that is what was read between the lines. There are a lot of fanatics out there and it is scary because it is coming from both sides. The upside to this guy was that he feb all 25 of us with burgers and hotdogs in pitas! Delicious. The last place we went to was called Amona, very villagy place, with lots and lots of nothingness. It was so cold and windy that I could not focus my attention 100%. We watched a video about the struggles between the Jews and Arabs, the dissengagement from Gaza, the singing of the Ha Tikva (The Hope)  - The national anthem of Israel, for those who don't know. I walked out of there with more mixed feelings, just like I always do. I don't feel like writing them here, but would love to talk about this upon my return.....

Today I am going to take it easy and work from home for the Yafo clinic. I am not going to lie that I do miss the working from home. Getting cozy in my PJ's and just knocking out the work. Except in this case I am actually interested in the work that I am doing! FINALLY!

- Tomorrow we go to Eilat for 3 days, I am really excited! Will tell you how that goes when I come back!

Aaaaaaand since it has been over a month since I have written in here, I will try to condense everything into my new blog, sorry I suck!

Much ahava to all!