Ride A Camel In The Negev

We took a beautiful trip to the Negev two days ago. We slept in a Bedioun camp with camels right outside. you could hear them at night. It was really cold and we did tons of hiking and climbing and getting dirty. I got a new grace dot (mole or beauty mark) in the Negev. I like grace dot, the direct translation from Hebrew to English. It is on my nose right near my ring. That makes two on one side!

It is sad to see everone go. But fun to look forward to the future. I did get a call letting me know I have been excepted to the Israeli Army. So tomorrow morning I go back to the same office and do tests. Mental and physical. I am excited. Things are really happeneing.

Fun Fact: New Years in Israel is called "Silvester" and we are going to party and have lots of fun, since most everone leaves the next day.

Thank you all for your wonderful comments especially ZINK and Ray and Marisa. Zink I will be sending you an email. Glad to know you are still around.

Check out the pixs. Ja Bless.
Below: Lerone and I at the end of the Ulpan party.





These pictures were taken in the Negev, which is the bottom desert of Israel. Israel is a crazy place because right now in the north it is snowing and in the south it is like summer. And all this comes from a country the size of New Jersey!

The picture of the sign says: Stay on the trail, no climbing on the mountains, enjoy your trek. Our tour guide told us to climb on the mountains!



These camels seem to be praying to the morning sun. It was very fun to sleep in a tent and hear camels all night.

This is at En Gedi. I have a similar picture on here from when my mom was in Israel a month or so ago.
This is Noam and Josh. they are really good friends on the Ulpan and this was too cute to pass up.

This Is The End.......of the ulpan

This is a crazy time in the Ulpan right now. We are at the end. Tomorrow we take our final written exam, we party all weekend and on Monday we leave for a two day trip to the Negev desert. It hard to believe that it has been 5 months.

So to give you an update on my life, here goes:

I feel rather silly to say this, but the end really caught me by suprise. I went on Monday to the army office in Haifa. It was an adventure to try to find the building, with all the bad directions that I got. Finally I gave up and paid a taxi to take me because I was so lost, and I don't know Haifa like I know other cities here.

I was very nervous. My stomach felt like when I realized I was ACTUALLY moving to Israel. That feeling of, "What the HELL is wrong with you, ARE YOU NUTS??" You know when that line goes through your brain?

I had to do a lot of sitting and waiting at the army office. But, the long and short of it is all I did was sign a paper stating that I do want to enter the army and why. Now I am just waiting to hear back from a commander if I am in or not. At the end, the female cadet who interviewed me said "Go home and wait for an answer" So that's what I am doing.

In the meantime I found out if I could stay on the kibbutz for another month as a volunteer. I can and I am still working in the laundry. Just now for 8 hours a day 6 days a week. Good thing I have some friends and a radio.

My fellow Uplanist are partying hard before the dream is over and they have to go to college and have a real life. I on the other hand have been going to bed early (eventhough it is hard to sleep with all the drunken yelling). I am having fun though. Last night my friends and I went over to Tsofit's house for dinner. We ordered Thai and just hung out talking about life and silly things. This weekend we will have fun partying for the last time.

My roommate Leonie and Danny and a few others are going to Egypt right away after our last trip on Monday. Anyway that is about it. Oh, oh, I am going to try to find a way to post my videos online so you can check them out. Thank you all for kind emails. It is great to hear from everyone.

Pictures: These first 5 are on Kibbutz Ketora in the Negev. This area of the Negev looks a lot like Palm Springs, but the desert is very varied.



Above: I know it is hard to see, but in the distance you can see a field of date palms. Remember in the bible when they talk about the holy land and how it is filled with date palms, well it is true.


Below: Welcome to my life! This machine gets to be graced by my loving hands everyday for hours and hours. This is a steam press for pants. I am one of the few, and the proud that know how to use it.

Tsofit and my closest girlfriends working on the magila. I think my mom said in English it is called the mengle. In Hebrew it is ma-gee-la. I hate this machine the most. Becuase lets be honest, do you really have to steam-roll every sheet and pillow case on the kibbutz. I love the fact that, people in the rest of the world think that Israeli's have such a struggle. Some probably think that Israeli's are riding around on camels. But when they come home from the wilds they like to sleep on wrinkle free sheets! (with their camels by their sides.









Above: This is from my last day of class today. Just a few people and my teacher Rutie.

More Questions Than Answers

Isn't that what life is about though. It never gives you things the way you want them.

I went to the Negev this weekend. The Negev is so beautiful. It is the Southern desert of Israel. What a different world. So beautiful and a bit like Palm Springs. But all together nothing like it really. I learned about bird migration patterns from Europe to Africa and back. About 50 million birds pass through this area of Israel.

Anyway, it was great to see how different other Kibbutzim can be. But as far as I know right now I don't know. It really depends on the army, what I do. If they want me soon, then I won't go to such an isolated area. If you don't then maybe I will spend a while in the Negev.

I am praying and excited and a bit nervous about my meeting tomorrow with the army. I don't know what to expect. I think I will start testing, but who knows.

Its Crazy You Guys

So much is happeneing. We have one more week of classes and work and then Ulpan is over. Wild. It felt like we had so long but now we are all seeing that these are the last few days. Jerusalem last week was so much fun. But some how the week just flew by and now it is a week last and I am finally making a post.

I am leaving in a few hours to take a long trip to the bottom of Israel. So many opportunities have just opened for me. I am visiting two small Kibbutzim in the south. Kibbutz Ketora and Kibbutz Lotan are both holistic kibbutzim. They are hippie earth loving people. So I am going to check it out. I will spend first day at Lotan and the second at Ketora.

Also on Monday I will go to the army office in Haifa for my first round of tests!! Wow it is all coming at once. I have a lot of faith that if the army happens it will be good. I am working with a man who helps new immigrants in the army. He was very excited when he heard I am a photographer. And he told me he helped another girl from California who was a photographer get a good spot in the army. So we shall see.

Right now I feel pretty calm and happy. I am really trying to relax and except what the next step is. So in a few days I should have some great pictures for you guys. Tootles for now......

Pictures From Long Ago and Far Away

Ok so I didn't really feel like writing, but I know I need to put some pictures or something. These start from long ago at the start of the Ulpan and end yesterday in Jerusalem.





Please note: These first five pictures I have no claim to. I didn't take them, but I like them a lot. It is a bit of a trip through the Ulpan. Some are from the summer and some are more recent. The young lady who took them is Noa from Sweden. Enjoy!





Just keep looking. This is a fun one.

This one was before a concert on the Kibbutz during the summer.

This is a picture Noa took when her class went to the Green Line. These two are looking at the Security Fence. I just thought it was stunning.


Fast forward to about 3 weeks ago. This is Lerone, Iris and I hanging out with friends.


Rewind a bit to the beginning of the Ulpan. This is Edy, me and Jonathan. I like this one a lot.

This is Leonie and I. It was taken two weeks ago at the Mexican Party on the Kibbutz. All the Mexicans on the Ulpan organized a party in the pub with food drink and lots of music. It was a lot of fun.


This one was taken at the Kotel, The Wailing Wall in Jerusalem. It is of the men's side right before Shabbat began. The air is electric at this time. The men's side was full.

This is arounf the walls of the Old City of Jerusalem.

This is the HOT Israeli actor Yhudah Levi. He was in the famous Israeli film Yossi and Jagger. If you don't like this picture, don't worry, I took 11 more.

Jerusalem


This we took this weekend at The Wall. I went to Jerusalem with my friends Lerone and Iris. It was a lot of fun. We had danger excitment and Korean food.


This olive tree existed in Israel during the time that Jesus was walking around on water and helping out the good people of Jerusalem. He might have actually sat under it. This was taken right out side the Mount of Olives. It was in the courtyard of a beautiful church.

Cute little Religous boy.

The al-Aqusah Mosque and nice sky. This is the Mosque that is holy for prayer. Dome of the Rock is not where the Muslims mainy pray.

Reiki: it does a body good

I don't want to spend forever talking about how amazing reiki is, but..... It is so wonderful. I cried, I saw things I had not remembered from my life. I cleaned out a bit of the swampy waste that has been sitting in my body.

And Reiki is like a secret gift. Like I can do it in class to help wake me up, or I can do it at night and I fall asleep really well. I have been practicing it with the other members of the class. It is fun because some of us work better together. Like last night my friend Lerone and I went over to another fiends place. He was in the class and I found an injury in his foot and he said it was amazing. Ask soon as I walked into his room he said, "Liz, I needed you today my foot has been hurting." And so we sit around doing Reiki on each other!!!

But Rieki has helped me to be more calm and trusting. The whole idea is that you are a channel for pure energy. You have to believe this and also try not to put your ego into the practice, because then you are not a channel. But in the process of believing that you are a channel for energy, you have to believe in the energy. Which means that you have to trust in things. Wow what a good lesson.

This weekend I am going with Lerone and Iris (friends and fellow beginning Reiki girls) to Jerusalem. I am so excited to get away for a while and also go with such nice people.

Also in other news, I sent a request for a draft notice to the army! Oh my god. Exciting, scary, wild. Now I just wait and see. Also I took my oral test in class. It was scary but not so painful. I understand so much more than I can speak. And right now I am at the point where I translate everything in my head I can't wait for the day when I can hear a sentence and just know what it is.

I wish all you a great weekend and fun.

Reiki

I just have to share a little bit. This weekend I learned the beginning of Reiki and how to channel the universal energy. It was a wonderful experience and I feel so gret right now. I promise to write more about it. but for now, after over 10 hours of Reiki today, I must sleep. All my love.

This is Just a Start On How the Last Few Weeks Have Been

So the pictures on the post below are from Akko, Jerusalem, and Tel Aviv. Some were taken with my mom and most at the end were taken on a trip I took with the Ulpan a few days after my mom left.

First of all she had amazing weather because when we went to Jerusalem with the group it was so cold and rainy and we were not properly dressed for the day. And when we went to the Holocaust Museum it feel like we really experienced the bitter cold that the Jews experienced.

My mom had a wonderful time. She said that she can see why I love Israel so much and that she felt very safe. It was an amazing trip because she really got to see all the major sites and a lot of off the beaten path places. It really was wonderful to see her here. I went with her for her first time to The Wall. That was great. To see someone else go through that. It is such an emotional thing.

-What did you feel?
-It was like falling into an embrace. Of something you were always searching for, but didn't know till the moment you felt it that it was absent from your life.

I said WOW. Maybe it would be an interesting book to collect people’s first impressions of The Wall.

The Western Wall, or Ha Kotel ha Maravee, is all that remains of the Holy Temple. And so it is considered the most holy spot for Jews. Also on top are Muslim shrines that are some of the most holy to Muslims. And of course Jesus spent a bit of time kicking back at the temple. Just a little bit of stuff going on at this place.

My first feeling at The Wall was really interesting. The first time I felt like I was flying, it was very out of body. The second time it feel so REAL, very grounded. Both times were the complete opposites. And both were amazing.

It was so super to travel with my temple. I got to catch up with some people and really get to know some others that I hadn't had the opportunity to know. The guide was wonderful, the bus driver was even more wonderful. He really showed a true slice of Israeli driving, by driving the tour bus through Jaffa's Old City streets.... on a Friday...you had to be there!

The food was amazing too. I have gotten rather bored with Kibbutz food and this stuff was really good! We went on the last night to a Yemenite restaurant in Tel Aviv that was yummy yemmy food!! I had a stomach ache all the next day because I ate so much!!!!

We had a good chance to catch up. And it is interesting to be the daughter looking at the mom and think, she is more than a mom. In just a few months with all the kids gone, I think she has had time to breath and look at herself and her life and wants.

It was pretty hard to go back to the Kibbutz. I think everyone is antsy because the time is coming to an end, and also I think we all are wanting to move on. Ask me in two weeks though, when I only have two weeks to go, and I will probably tell you that I am so sad to be leaving. But right at this minute I am yearning a bit for a new adventure.

So I got back and a day later we went to Jerusalem on a trip. That is Jerusalem three times for me in less than two weeks. But it ok because I love it so much. Jerusalem is such an intense place. There is such a heavy feeling in the air, but it is amazing.

With the Ulpan I went mostly to Yad V Shem, which is the Holocaust memorial in Israel. I had been to it two years ago, but they redid it and it was absolutely amazing. There was so much footage and so many pictures I had never seen. Actually there was only one picture I recognized. Everything was real and little personal stories. I saw real bunks from Auschwitz, a cattle car used to transport, and real cobble stones from Warsaw Poland. There were pictures of women after the death marches and footage of bodies tumbling over each other and the dirt. It was stunning and shocking. It was very personal and very moving. At the end of the museum, there was this room with stories of bookcases and the shelves were filled with folders and the folders were filled with names, and yet they only had 3 million.

It was very moving and eye opening. I watched people on TV screens giving their testimony in Hebrew. And when you walk outside you realize, Wow would Israel have happened so quickly if it were no for this tragedy? And how many other Holocausts are going on right now, but we are still turning our back on other humans. It was a lot to think about.

Actually as I am writing this over the days that are passing, there are still more things to understand and ponder about the Holocaust and the State of Israel. In my class we watched this two-part movie about this girl named Aviya, whose mother was a survivor and was crazy because of the Holocaust. It makes you think of all the things the founders of this country went through. Genocide, Camps, Fleeing Countries, Hatred in Israel, War in Israel…… The more you think about it the crazier it is. In so many ways Israel should not exist based on just about everything that was going on in the world at the time.