Israel Beauty

For those of you that have not seen the movie American Beauty, I would recommend seeing it. It is about how strange life can be, but also how beautiful death, or the simple things can be too.

It has taken a while to have time this week to upload some picture, but here it goes. It is a mix of different things.

The first pictures, I hope will not affend or turn the tummies of the readers. Last weekend I was on the beach, and you can see what a beautiful day it was. But there was something very sad, beautiful and amazing on the beach. A dead sea turtle had washed up onto shore. What an amazing thing to see. Sea turtles live to be really old. And I found out that the beach here is one of those beaches where the sea turtles come to lay their eggs and the babies have to run as fast as they can to reach the water. I was very excited to hear this, because I remember watching a movie about the sea turtles and how they only pick specific beaches to lay their eggs. So many things could have killed this one, or maybe it died on its own, but it is very sad.
















So on Sunday I went to an Orthodox wedding with one of my co-workers. Sofit (hummingbird in Hebrew) took me along. She use to be good friends with the groom, before he turned religous. And he came to the Kibbutz to invite her. But she couldn't really take her husband, because they would not be able to see each other. See, at an Orthodox religous ceremony the men and women are separated by a big cloth.

There are many injustices such as the men can come to the women's side, but women can not got to the men's side. After the wedding when the women were watching the bride and groom leave the ceremony to go eat, there was an announcement that if the women did not go back to their side, the music would not contiue. Wow.

But it was interesting. The bride and groom both fast for a period of time. There was much dancing and singing. The food was great, too. We ended up staying for about 4 hours and I am sorry the pictures are so aweful, but it was night and I was so far away from everything.



Here you can see the woman dancing with the bride.



And here are the men coming to the woman's side to get the bride. They had the actual ceremony on the women's side, not that we could see, because first the men stand and then the women stand behind them.

Anywhere, Israel

What I love about Israel:

I had some checks that I needed to deposit, so I took a trip into Hadera. This was my first trip alone in Israel since I arrived. And I remebered how much I like to go places on my own. It is great to just walk around looking at everything. Here is some history of Hadera that I found online:

Hadera
A town in central Israel, situated between Haifa and Tel Aviv, was founded in 1890 by members of Hovevei Zion, a group of Zionist immigrants from Russia and Eastern Europe. The name Haderah comes from the Arabic al-Khadra_' ("the Green"), referring to the color of the swamp vegetation of the area. The notorious swamps of Haderah caused more than half the settlers of Haderah to die of malaria during its first 20 years. The settlers received aid, however, in 1895 when Baron Edmond de Rothschild, a wealthy French philanthropist, gave them funds to drain the swamps by building canals and planting large eucalyptus groves. The eucalyptus tree soon became Haderah's symbol.

At first, agriculture was the main occupation of Haderah's settlers. They planted field and vegetable garden crops and citrus groves. But as the population of Haderah increased, the economy expanded and industrialized. Today, industry has become the main element in the town's economy. Situated in Haderah are the American Israel Paper Mills, and the Alliance Tire and Rubber Company, food-preserve plants and other enterprises. Agriculture, however, has continued to develop and there are now carp ponds, beehives, cattle, poultry, and flower and banana fields in Haderah. In the early 1990s, there were 46,000 inhabitants.

In the bus I heard more Arabic than Hebrew. There were guys in from of me that were blonde speaking Arabic. Women with head-coverings with there children and men in heated conversation.

When I got to the bank I waited in line for forever and a day. In front of me was an Israeli soldier with his Russian Grandma. Behind me was an Ethiopian woman. So how many languages was I hearing in line? Hebrew, Arabic, Russian, Ethiopian, and a man yelling into his cell phone in English, trying to order cable service. There was a guy with a fannypack and tight 80s jeans picking his nose and slipping his finger as carefully as he could into his mouth. There were Ethiopian women with tribal tatoos and Orthodox men.

When I got to the counter the clerk didn't speak English, so she sent me to another clerk. Then he took me to another woman who worked behind a desk. In the next almost half an hour she told me all about herself.

Her name is Nava and actually she looked a lot like my grandma Eva. Her son is in LA right now traveling. He just got out of the army. I learned what he did in the army. And she even whipped out her wallet to show me a picture of how handsome he is. Then it was on to me. What was I doing in Israel? Oh, a new immigrant. Yoffi, very nice. When she made a copy of the check from my grandfather, she asked if he was Jewish because Kimmel is a very common name in Israel. I laughed because he is not. She told me she thought it would be great for me to do the army, and on and on.

That is Israel. You might have the nicest heart to heart with some random person in the bank. But she has a great outlook on life. She told me, " You should treat everyone with respect, because everyone has something to offer the world."

After the bank I walked around Hadera. I was hungry but all I could find was a street of very shady falafel and shawarma shacks. Sometimes I am up for an adventure, but not yesterday. I found the mall. Every town in Israel has to have a mall, I think it is a law. The government must have it written down somewhere on offical paper, because everywhere you go you see a cen-yon (mall). And Israeli's love the mall. It is an Israeli pastime, that and sunflower seeds and shesh-besh.

So I got back to the kibbutz at about 7:30, tired, but happy, because I got to see something interesting. Once on the kibbutz grounds it is very far to the actual kibbutz so the people driving give lifts to all that are walking. There was me and two other guys from the last Ulpan. A car pulled up and they told us they could take only two because they had a dog. So the guys were gentleman and let me go first with the big slobbering dog.

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Tonight I am going with most of the Ulpan to a club in Haifa. We ordered a bus to come and take us. It is safe and cheap, only about 5 dollars a person. The club is called Ultra Sound. The clubs here have funny names, like The Terminal and Ultra Sound.

Anyway, Shabbat Shalom. Hard for me to believe that I have been here for almost two months. The time has gone so fast!

Friends. Good Times

There was a girls soccer game today. And free beer!!! So everyone showed up. This picture is of me and Jonathan Leffe. He is Mexican, and one of my new favorite buddies. I love this one threesome of Mexican boys in the Ulpan. I think if I was 18 again, I would marry all of them.





Samuel is from Venezuela and love to show off the fact that he pays 3 dollars for about 80 gallons of gas. I could kill him! He is a very cool kid.



Jona is from Colon, Germany and drank a 6-pak of beer in about an hour, and swears that he was only tipsy. Here is his pride and joy. He and I took a roll down the soccer field hill a few times, it was a lot of fun. Reminded me of the good old days in front of the La Brea Tar Pits Museum.



This is my roommate, classmate, and co-worker Leonie. She would probably kill me if she saw this picture, but I think she looks so beautiful natural like this. She is beautiful, inside and out.



And this is me, Sharon my other roommate and Leonie before we went to dinner the other night.

Oh yeah, The Grass is Green

My mom just reminded me to recheck my spelling on my blogs. Sorry but this blog website has no spellchecker, therefore you have to read my horrid spelling. I guess I said some funny things in my last blog, hopefully no one else got it.

Today, was a long and rather uneventful day. But tomorrow is my test so I am going to sleep early. The days really fly by here. School or work is over at 4pm and then if I want to do anything, study, take a nap, whatever; it is 11pm before I know it.

Actually something interesting did happen today. I spoke with two young men who are going to the US with the Jewish Agency. They will be working with groups of young people, or immigrants, and they wanted my thoughts on the Ulpan so far. They seemed really nice and interesting. I showed them my room and they asked if I would recommend this Ulpan, and how I heard about it. I was the only one representing the USA.

The more people I am meeting from other countries, the more I am really realizing, that America isn't all its cracked up to be. I think as Americans we get sucked into this bubble, that we are the best there is. And America IS a great country and has a lot to offer. But there are other countries out there that are going just fine, not creating wars, and giving there citizens free college.

And also I think we are caught in this sick gas spiderweb. Did you know that in Australia they pay only something like 1.50 per gallon. And they have to ship it all the way to that huge island. Every place pays less than we do and they have smaller cars.

But of course there are things that Americans have that others don't. Like more free-er speech than other countries. I was wearing my shirt that says, "Everyone Loves A Jewish Girl" and one of the woman from the laundry that is originally from Sweden, said you could never wear that shirt in Sweden. Also another Ulpanist, from London, said she wears her's to bed only. It never even occured to me that it would be bad to wear that shirt, or dangerous. Sot that's one point for the US.

Today is a Miracle

Today there were two miracles. The first is, there was a double rainbow. Unfortunately, I didn't see it, but one of my classmates told me about it. The second is it rain for a short period of time. Actually it was more sprinkling. To any non-Jew, this last part, about the rain is queer. Rain??? A miracle??? Lama???? (in Hebrew; WHY)

Because, rain in this reigon (?) of the world is rare. And actually in the prayer services all over the world, everyday, Jwes pray for rain in Israel. But, only at the appropriate time, of course. In the Israeli winter months we pray for rain. And in the summer months we pray for wind. Even if you were living in a place that it was summer there, but winter in Israel, then you would pray for rain.

So this was a big deal. Actually in the class some people got pretty excited and wanted to see. And at supper that night, the couple sintting next to me, were talking about it.

Last night I want back to Zichron Ya'akov with some friends and we had dinner and walked around. It is a really nice little town, I enjoy it very much. I had so-so Thai food, pad thai and soup. The Thai food in Israel should be really good, because many illegal workers here are Thai. But this was not that good.

Also I rode a bike for the first time in at least 6 years, last night. And that is a lie that you never forget to ride, because I forgot. i even crashed, and now I have a bruise on my hip bone, yeah, battle scar! I rode with some friends down to the beach to see the full moon on the water, and it was so beautiful. I really wanted to swim, but no one else would go in with me. So I only went in to my underwear. But it was very magical. The sea is very special at night and again, and again, and again, I AM SO LUCKY!!!

I have a test coming up in class so I am studying very hard. But I really feel I am understanding more. It is getting harder to write in English and easier to write Hebrew.

I am meeting some really nice people too. One of the woman I work with invited me to an Orthodox wedding in 2 weeks. So I will go. She wants someone to sit on the women's side with her, and I am interested to see a wedding like this. She and I get along really well and have very good conversations while we are folding clothes.

Also I notice some of the Kibbutzniks my age are getting more friendly, which is great. They have such a different outlook on life; having grown up in this environment. And I really enjoy speaking with them, plus they can help me with my homework. See I'm working the angle!

Another thing, if anyone has ichat/AIM my screen name is lizraeli. And if you have Yahoo Messanger my screen name is lizraeli717. So if you ever want to talk, maybe we can hook up.

Good Times

I feel I have neglected my blog. I think also life is becoming more normal here, so things that used to seem strange, different or exotic are now more commonplace. But a lot has happened and continues to happen. For one, life in my new room is so great. A few people emailed me and said they didn’t know I was having trouble in my old room. Well, I was, but I chose not to dwell about it on my blog. In everyday life here it was hard not to dwell on it. If you are in a bad living situation, everything seems to be bad. The rooms here are very small and it is three to a room. My old roommates were very different. They had different reasons to come to Israel on this program. They brought guys to the room to sleep overnight and they wouldn’t clean or really talk at all. And when they did talk, I wished they would stop, because is was not topics I am interested in; sex, birth control, drugs, how drunk they got, etc, etc.

My roommates now are very nice. Both are from German, both a bit of clean freaks, and also talkative about interesting subjects. They love to party too, but I think Europeans party different than Americans. So this change has changed my outlook dramatically.

Another thing that is wonderful about this Ulpan experience is that they are constantly helping the new immigrants to get bureaucratic issues handled. There are maybe 20 peers that are new immigrants. The Ulpan has taken us to open a bank account, sign up for health insurance, they are constantly bringing people to the Kibbutz to help us with any problems we are having. Also they bring reps. from colleges to speak with us. It is really great and helpful beyond words. Without all this help I would be really lost. It would be very difficult to find time to do all these things. And also I would have a much harder time taking care of these issues. I am indebted to the Ulpan for all there help.

The weather is starting to change too. Not like it is time to whip out the sweaters, but it is getting cool at night. In the early morning when I walk to work I notice it too. The sun is setting much earlier. When I got here it would set almost at 8 and now it is about 7:30. And the sunsets are different, more simple and calm. But during the day it still gets pretty hot and it has been humid the last few days.

Yesterday I had a wonderful day that I would like to share. I woke up at 9am, which is late for me here. I made a few phone calls that I really need to make. I called a local Temple and found out when religious services were. I have not been to temple since I arrived and in some ways I miss it and in other ways I don’t. Being in a Jewish state, there are many reminders of being Jewish. Even on this Kibbutz that is like, anti-religious (they serve pork and shell fish, which is a Jewish no-no) they still do Jewish things. On Shabbat there is no work and there are tablecloths and flowers on the tables. The little markets are closed and people say “Shabbat Shalom”.

But I would like to go to temple and also the Jewish New Year is coming up fast and I have to find a place to go. This synagogue that I called is in an Israeli village just above me called Zichron Ya’akov. I can see this village sitting on the hill above me. And it is probably an hour walk, uphill from the Kibbutz. It never occurred to me to go check it out.

I will get back to Zichron in a moment. I also called a branch of the Israeli Army. I would like to serve in the army if possible, for a few reasons. First of all, I will be an Israeli citizen and citizens of this country have compulsory military service. Unlike the US, where you sign up on your own for the army, In Israel the army is part of the society of this country. Almost every man and woman serves for a period of time. In this regard, I would be leaving myself out of the country I am living in. I can also make many contacts through the army. In Israel a common question is “What did you do in the army? Or “Who were your officers?” The military is something that helps people find their likes and dislike. Another reason I want to join the army is when I am finished with this Ulpan in January, there is no way I will have the skills to start college in Hebrew. And I would like to at least take some of my classes in Hebrew. Plus to be honest I don’t know exactly what I would like to study. I have a lot of ideas in my head but I would not be able to decide on four months. University here is different than in the US. What ever you study, you only study that subject. So if I were to continue with Photography I would be studying the Chemistry of Photographic chemicals, the history of Photography, stuff like that.

So this phone call was the first step. The man I spoke with told me that he would have to see how many months I will serve since I am older than most girls that enter the military. But he told me it could be anywhere from14 months to the full 2 year service period. Me serving would be completely voluntary and I will also not be in combat. After all the holidays are over I will set up a meeting to find out more and that will be in November. So I will keep you posted.

Now back to Zichron Ya’akov. I spent most of the day yesterday down at the beach with friends. It was a beautiful day and the sea had almost no waves on it. I came back to my room at about 5 to get ready for Shabbat. I had showered and put on a pretty dress for dinner and I went to take out the trash. I saw one of the Ulpanist name Sango. She is from Japan and is a very interest person. She was walking with such determination that I almost didn’t say hello. But I called out to her and she was so happy to see me. She said she had been looking for me all day, because she wanted to invite me to dinner. I was so flattered that I ran upstairs, through in my contacts and went with her.

A little on Sango: I really only know a little about her. She is a very private and quite person. Sango is from Japan and this is her first time in Israel. She is in her late 30s and is in the Ulpan for a very interesting reason. She teachers English in Japan and she wanted to come and learn the process of teaching Hebrew to non-Hebrew speakers. She learned that in the 1980s there was a mass immigration of about 1 million Russians. For a country that has a population of 6 million, that is a lot of people. And in a year to two Israel taught these new immigrants Hebrew. So Sango came to understand this teaching style so she can incorporate it into her teaching. She also is a Buddhist and has been living in a monastery for a while. She is very interesting to watch, everything she does, she takes such care and does with so much so continence. I especially like to watch her eat.

So we went with a woman that is in her Hebrew class. This woman comes from outside the Kibbutz. She is in her late 40s and just moved to Israel. Her husband is Israeli and she has a son that is 5. Her name is Amy and her husband is David. David
was American born and his family moved to Israel when he was very young. His father was a Reform Rabbi and he spoke English in the home. So he speaks English and Hebrew without an accent. Amy was a middle school principal in the US and David makes violin bows by hand.

They also invited some friends. Izhar and I forget his wife’s name, but it was cool too. They are both Israeli. Izhar went to Japan to apprentice as a papermaker and happened to meet his Israeli born wife there. They moved back to Israel and he has a studio in Zichron Ya’akov. He speaks Japanese too.

So for dinner, Sango made sushi. It was so delicious. David and Amy made rice and the vinegar. Plus they bought some really yummy fish from the local Arab village. She made sushi with this fish, tuna and lettuce rolls, shitake mushrooms, egg and cucumber rolls, and also California style rolls. Plus the other guest made salad with mango from their garden, and they brought these grapes that they grow that taste like mango. They were so good! David grilled some salmon and the rest of the fish that Sango didn’t use.

They lit the Shabbat candles and we had a Challa, the traditional braided holiday bread. There was sake and wasabi. It was a fusion meal for sure. It was so nice. It was great to watch Sango make the sushi. She said in her home only her mother makes it, so it is cool now to make it for others. She was so pleased to speak in Japanese.

For dessert we had a fruit that grows here that I think was called Nano, but I could be wrong. It was so wonderful. It is the shape of an egg, but very large and green. It has ridges on it kind of the shape of an artichoke’s leaves, but the ridges are not leaves and you can’t peel it like an artichoke. The inside is white and has big black seeds. It is extremely sweet and flavorful.

Then Amy decided that we should walk to the center of town since Sango and I had never seen it. It is a very pretty old city up on a hill with cute restaurants and shops. And we got ice cream from this very nice shop. They make all their ice creams in house and they have as many sorbets and ice creams. I got peach and plum sorbet. The plum was so good and different.

We also saw Izhar’s studio and he explained the papermaking process, it was very fascinating.

Zichron Ya’akov has an intresting Jewish community. It is not a big population, maybe only 13,000. But there are European and Middle Eastern Orthodox, conservative, reform and this different German sect of Jews. This German Jewish population lives in its own community, they celebrate the Sabbath on Sunday and only mix with each other.

So I will definitely explore this town more. It is a very popular tourist spot among Israelis. There are a few hotels and a few wineries and the view of the sea from the hillside is just breathtaking.

It was one of those nights that I am sure I will remember forever and was such a spontaneous moment. I notice many things happen in Israel very spontaneously and people genuinely like to get together, meet new people and eat.

The Golan Heights

I had an amazing trip to the Golan Heights yesterday. The two lower classes went this week and next week the upper classes go. We left at 5:15 am and came back to the Kibbutz at 8:30 pm. It was an amazing trip. Ruben my new dad led the excursion. The Golan is one of my favorite places in Israel. It is very untouched, or at least it feels that way. It looks like "biblical land". As if you could say, Oh now this looks like the bible.

I have to admit I think I got no good pictures, but I wanted to post some anyway, just so you could get an idea. Please forgive me.

The one good picture of me, my friend Danny took, and stole it from his website, hah hah hah.

Some of the pictures that are very panoramic are actually borders of Israel. We saw the Syrian-Israel and Jordan-Israel boarders.

In the late afternoon we went to a place called Hamat Gader. This is a natural mineral spa known even in biblical times. All through the ages, no matter who conquered the region, this was a popular spot. The hot water was 41 degree. That is really hot people; we are dealing with Celsius now. But there was a cold water pool too, and a really fun slide. Someone described it as a toilet bowl at the end, because you just keep spinning in this giant, toilet bowl looking thing.

At night we ate an amazing meal right on the edge of an Arab village. That is the night buildings picture. The food was delicious, and a bit different from Israeli, Middle Eastern. I think they use different spices.



























In other news, I changed rooms and life is so much better. I think if you can't get along with the people you live with, life is pretty hard. I will write more later, but I just wanted to post something.

By the way thanks to Lalo, Kelly, Dan and Tim; my favorite TJs couple, and Julia; the only other jew in Cato, NY, who also loves Everclear and has a mole on her belly botton too! It is nice to hear from all of you.

Shabbat Shalom

I am learning to quiet the voices in my head that say, "you aren't learning fast enough. what a faliure. you can't do this. why are you here?" I read my brother Jonathan's blog today. www.jonathansojourn.blogspot.com Everytime I feel I am stuggling, all alone, I look at his blog and realize we are stuggling together. And now Ben, my "little" brother has left home to persue some new adventures.

I know he has stuggles with how to make his dreams a reality. College is expensive, especially a private one in the mountains of Colorado. I am sure it would be a wonderful experience. But he is doing a program right now in Philidelphia called City Year. He will will be working with kids and in the end of the year he gets money towards school. Who knows, maybe he will have the door open to a new path, maybe not.

The journey is the thing, not the destination.
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This weekend I am staying on the Kibbutz. I desided last night that I have to make Shabbat for me, my way. I worked yesterday till 11:30 in the laundry. It was really nice because there was almost no one there. Usually there are lots of people. If I work an extra hour everyday the week before, I get the next Friday off. But last week I had a bit of a cold, so I didn't do it.

But working on Friday alone was nice. I folded laundry for about 2 1/2 hours and then ironed pants for the next 2 hours. I was taught how to use the big steam iron for pants and dresses. I really enjoy it and the women seem to be pleased with my work. You can get burned pretty bad though. Steam is really hot. I feel like I am getting a facial everytime I am working the machine.

As long as I can do a few things each day, it is fine. The days that I have to iron with the small hand irons for 4 hours kill. Also folding sheets for 4 hours kills. I learned to put the folded clothes away in there cubbies too.

After work I ate some lunch and headed down to the beach. It was really windy which was nice because it also was extemely hot. The water is so warm here too. I watched the waves and swam a bit and then fell asleep on the sand. I always have some crazy dreams when I am sleeping at the beach.

I went back to my room at about 4:30 and took a shower and put on a nice dress, not my usual shirts and a t-shirt. I lit some incense and Shabbat candles. It felt really good. Then I had dinner with some people on the ulpan that I had never really talked too. We were saying how there are so many people that you never even say more than "Hi" to. Zac is American also, and Adam is South African. It was really nice. We talked about Photography; Adam's father is a photographer in South Africa.

On Fridays the cafe is open, so had had a coffee with my friend Danny. He is researching Turkey, Greece, and Italy. He is sort of thinking about going to one of those places for the Rosh Hashana holiday and I might just tag along if the price is right.

Then I read the newspaper and hit the hay at about midnight. Usually on Friday nights I sleep aweful, because the pub is right out side my door. And on Fridays it is a disco. But last night, either it wasn't so loud or I was really tired.

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Next week should be really fun. I might go back on the same walk to Ceasarea with Adam. He wanted to take some picture, he has a really nice camera from his dad. I think I might break out the old film cameras and see if they are not too angry at me for letting them get dusty.

Also on Tuesday we will be getting on a bus at 5 am to take another Ti-ul (excersion) to the Golan. The Golan is the Northeastern region of Israel. It is a real departure from the rest of the country, because it is pretty lush. In the winter it snows there too. So we will be gon all day, hiking around. My new kibbutz dad will be leading the hike, so that should be great.

Anyway you all, I wish you the peace of the Shabbath, where ever you are. Love, joy, and contentment.