So I haven’t been writing. Just checked. The last time I wrote was before my birthday. Over a month later I’m back. Older and more wise. Just kidding. Older yes. More wise? Not unless you count the TEFL/TESL knowledge I’ve been accumulating from the lovely people at i-to-i TEFL. So yeah, maybe I am wiser. I’m also homeless. But don’t fret. I have a closet. My clothes aren’t homeless–they have a mailing address and everything. Me on the other hand…catch me if you cannnnnnnnnn! 

Just kidding. I’m crashing with the boyfriend and taking advantage of the kindness of  Jewish Philanthropists. Except I’m mostly just crashing with the boyfriend. Which is great. Because I like cooking and showing off how great I’ll be at providing a variety nutritious and tasty meals for my lucky future family. If he hasn’t yet figured out how lucky he is then he probably never will. But I’m pretty sure he does. Or he is a really sick, twisted person considering the things he was saying to me last night. But I like to assume the best in people so I’m gonna continue believe that he’s an incredible guy and not a monster.

What am I cooking right now? Well nothing. But I laid a bunch of stuff out on the table to make it look like I’m about to start making an apple cake. Which I am, per suggestion/request of my not a monster boyfriend. Side note, I need to find a gym.

What else is cooking? Well..I only have 30 hours left of my 130 hour TEFL/TESL program and 61 days to complete it. The goal is to complete it before Monday. In theory that will happen. In practice I’m not so sure. 

Also, I’ll be starting my internship soon. I’m moving to Tsfat. I will be interning and living at Livnot, doing alumni relations.

And my program, Otzma, is over soon–which I’m sort of okay with. Having a home is always a good thing, and not really having one of those since…well May, has been difficult. I miss Bailey. I miss Bailey. I miss him, I miss him, I reallyyy miss him. That’s not getting easier. Just number. The whole taking a year off and help people is a fantastic idea in concept. I don’t think that you shouldn’t. I think that you should–but for your life. Being a part of your community and helping your community creates a deeper meaning of community and allows you to be more of help. But you don’t need too do that. Any amount of time is helpful. Even if it’s an hour a month.

The being able to take a year off makes me feel ridiculously blessed. So blessed in fact that when I hear myself complaining about my situations I feel guilty. But look, this isn’t easy. I’m far away. I don’t really know the language. I don’t have a safe, comfortable place to constantly call home. My schedule changes frequently. I haven’t reallyy been able to sink my teeth into a town yet. You know…get to know people there. Find it’s hidden special places. Find a good Pilates studio. Google is really sort of slacking in Israel.

Might be going to Thailand sometime in May. I’m gonna be back in the states starting the last week in June. I will be making Aliyah sometime in August.

Questions, comments, concerns, requests?

 

Food and Love

I haven’t been blogging much recently…mostly because I’ve been so busy doing stuff and partially because I haven’t been sure what to say.

I love it here. I love the food and the people and over all it just feels right.

Since I last blogged, I spent a day in Tel Aviv learning about politics, culture, and society (But mostly looking at street art, wanting to eat, and trying not to fall asleep). I met a guy. He’s Israeli but originally from Azerbaijan…and he’s an Engineering student. I learned about how marriage works in Israel and in turned learned more about the politics, society, and culture of Israel then I had during my day dedicated to it in Tel Aviv. I had a date with the guy. I went to Tel Aviv and watched the sunset on the beach. I ate decent Mexican food. Yelena and I finally figured out how to get on a sheurit to Petach Tikvah. I met her boyfriend. I talked about boys. I read Harry Potter and slept on a couch. Had a breakfast feast with Yelena and Rev. Later that day I tried lamb for the first time and spoke in Hebrew (a tiny bit) to Yelena’s dad and sister. Then I took three sheruits back to Karmi’el and during the last part of the trip had to hold my breath and pinch myself to stop myself from crying cause I had to pee so badly. After I peed and composed myself I met up with guy and eventually headed back to the Mercaz Klitah. Rachel got all mad that I didn’t notice right away that she had cleaned–but honestly in never looks clean in here (Sorry Rachel…Sorry Mercaz Klita).

What else have I been doing? I’ve been watching the situation in the south pretty closely and I’d be lying if I said that I haven’t spent some time crying about how scary it is. I’ve spoken to a bunch of Israeli’s about it and to my mom and to some other friends on the program. Have you heard that there’s currently a cease fire between Israel and Gaza? Only 7 or 8 rockets have been shot at Israel since the cease fire was signed. It seems that some of the Muslims in Gaza are choosing to celebrate their holiday Eid al-Adha, by trying to kill innocent Israeli civilians in between their prayers.  

I’ve also been doing more volunteering in the school. The last week of volunteering in Karmi’el is here and they’ve just figured out how to really use us (But that’s okay. Either way it’s been a great experience).

I’ve also been spending time with my host family. I went out to dinner with them on Thursday to a good sushi place in the area (yeah…they have good sushi in Israel. Crazy right?). I realized that night that I had really been missing them. They are a really amazing, really warm, loving, welcoming family. Then last night Max, Jordan, and I went out to dinner with them again. We went to Acco and it took twice as long as it should have to get there because of the ridiculous amount of traffic and all of the terrible drivers. Then when we got to Acco…there were massive amounts of people just walking around. The restaurant that we went to is in the old city of Acco…and only Arabs live in the old city of Acco. It’s a beautiful place btw. But there were hundreds and hundreds of Arabs with their families and friends just walking around. A lot of the women were wearing head scarfs–and where completely covered from head to toe–except that all of their clothes were skin-tight and their shoes were incredibly garish and slutty.

The food at Uri Buri was completely ridiculous…both the amount that I ate and how amazingly delicious and beautiful it was. Our host family ordered the tasting menu for the table and we had about 6 or 7 courses of some of the best seafood I’ve ever eaten.  The food tasted amazing…during certain bites I was convinced that I was eating magic. And then dessert. Thank you lactaid pill. Vanilla Cardamom Creme Brûlée. Wow.

We ate for almost 4 hours. It was really something special.

Last night I returned to the Merc intoxicated by food–feeling inspired and loved…and wanting to write about it. But I was too full and happy to concentrate on words so instead I went to bed.

(As I wrote this, I was having a breakfast of vanilla halvah. Really good– but not anywhere near as good as that creme brûlée.)

I’ll expand on the following thoughts at a later date…but for now I’ll leave you with the memo that I wrote on the way home from the restaurant.

“Accept people for who they are. Appreciate and honor their differences. Let people love you.  Show them that you accept them. Enjoy things and people. Know what makes you happy. Go to it. Try to stay away from what makes you sad. Take care of yourself. Honor yourself.”

Going Home With Strangers

It’s called an adoptive family. And it sounds super awkward and uncomfortable. Plus I already have a family. Who are these strange people inviting me to their house and cooking me dinner? Who are these strange people telling me that their laundry machine is sad without more clothes to wash and that whenever I want I can come hang out/eat/escape/whatever that I can go to their house? Who are these strange people offering me kitchenwares, sheets, and towels? Where am I? Did all of that really just happen?

 Max, Jordan, and I were picked up by Rotem and Nitzan. They smiled and hugged us–saying to us in perfect English that they are happy to meet us. We follow these strangers to their car (because that’s normal…right?) and we take a 15 minute ride outside of Karmiel to a moshave in Mizgat. (They ride was breath-ta kingly beautiful and I kept stuttering while being nervous and trying to talk to them while attempting to take in the view.

A moshav is a little villiage. About 200 families live in theirs. It’s a community. They pay taxes to the moshav and there are committees to put on various events and such. Some examples of committees that Rotem told us about are culture, education, social, and chaggim (holidays). It sounds like a really incredible place to live.

Rotem and her husband Avi used to live on a Kibbutz…but they said that it was like living in a glass house and that sharing everything was not exactly for them. Rotem’s parents still live on a kibbutz…and when we met them eariler tonight, they kindly demanded that we come visit.

Dinner was incredible. The food in Israel just tastes better (for real). We had grilled chicken, eggplant and tahini, four or five different types of salads, potatoes, and probably a lot of other foods. Throughout the whole night Jordan and I kept grabbing eachothers hands, sharing a glance and mouthing something along the lines of “Wow this is amazing. These people are so incredible.”

Rotem and Avi have traveled all over the world. They are amazingly warm, brave, intelligent, and loving people. Their daughter Nitzan is 16 but she seems at least 21. They have two more children, a boy and a girl, but neither were around because they are both currently serving in the army.

Rotem and Avi sent us home with enough kitchenwares to supply our whole group of 23. Before dropping us off at the Mercaz Klita, they drove us around our neighborhood…pointing out good, fair-priced markets and grocery stores. We got out of the car and gave them each a big hug and a kiss on the cheek–saying that we’d see them again very soon, that we had an amazing time, and thanks again for everything.