This is a picture of an article from the newspaper we get in class. It is an easy news paper special for new immigrants. The article was about tourism to Sinai over Passover. And this picture was taken at Rasa Satan, where we stayed. Actually it was just 2 camps down from us!!




This picture is of Noa and I on Israeli Idependence day a few weeks ago.



Goodbye Jora!! My friend Jora from Belgium left last week. Here we have Jessica from the US, me, Jora from Belgium, Daniel from Sweden in the back and Simon also from Sweden.


"Like, I'm like, living like right near, like the valley. Like totally not the valley in LA. Been there done that. this is like, a much prettier valley in like, Israel."
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OK, OK, enough of these little five minute writing sessions. Its not like I have no time to write. But sometimes I forget what I want to write, or what is important.


More about Bet Oren, what I know is this: it used to be a kibbutz, but now is not, but it still is a community. There is no dinning room and all the homes are privately owned. But they still have shared childcare, like a kibbutz. There is a store there too, but if you saw how far away from everything it is, you understand it is a must. It is way up in the mountains of the Carmiel and is a bit isolated. There is only one bus a day that goes there. But then again there are only two that come to En HaShofet, but I still manage to escape now and then.

It is so high in the mountains. It has the most beautiful view of the land, trees and the sea past that. It is breathtaking. It was cooler up there. So they have an area that is famous in Israel for Weddings, Bar-Mitzvahs, and other celebrations.

The friend I am planning to move there with is Irit.

She is a really amazing person. She is my age and has been trying to get Israeli citizenship for over 2 years!! She has the same problem that my cousins had with their daughter. She is adopted. And Israel, for all the great things it stands for, sucks in this area. It is not fair. Her father is Israeli, her mom is from Finland. They adopted her from Brazil and moved to Sweden. How confusing can you get. No it does get more confusing. Her parents divorced, mom is back in Finland, dad moved to Thailand. And she wants to live in Israel. And her citizenship is almost finished, her dad came here to sign some papers and finish it up with her, and he had a stoke! Thank god he is healing fast, but can you imagine how much patience this girl has.

She just got her first work visa. All this time she has been living on the kibbutz working 6 days a week in a factory as a volunteer. So basically she has gotten room (not a room alone mind you) and board and about 100 dollars a month for the last 2 years.

Believe me, when I hear things like this, I don’t take my citizenship for granted I had it so easy in comparison. And also it makes me think how impatient I can be, when things aren’t going the way I want them to go. Like moving for instance. I want to go now I don’t want to have to wait and wait. Because also I don’t have much time before the army starts…..3 months, can you believe that!

Speaking of the army, I had to go in to the draft office on Monday. Honestly I hate that place. I get so nervous inside before I go. Not because I am scared, but because I am embarrassed. Every time I go, there are these little 18, 19, 20 years olds there that mock me because either my Hebrew is wrong, or I don’t understand and ask if they know English. And it makes me so mad. It is not fair. Here I am trying to speak, and trying to serve the country and these little brats are mocking me or laughing at me.

So I go. I get my magnetic card and go up to room 302. There a million people there so I figure I will have to wait forever. You slide the card in a computer and then it puts you into a list. I was confused because I had been to room 302 when I first came to the draft office. But I wait only five minutes and a soldier calls me. She just had to check all my information and that was it. Then I went down to room 131 to wait for 2 1/2 hours. Wait and wait and wait. And mind you I had to pee really bad, but the thought of going and missing my turn was not worth it. In this room I didn’t know what I was supposed to do because there was no computer to slide the card. So I waited and waited. Then I went up to this window that was sometimes open and asked the soldier what I was supposed to do.

“Do you want the money?” she asked. “I don’t understand what I am doing here.” I say. “OK” she says holding my papers, “go in that room and give them your ID, then they will call you.”

So I give it to them. When I came out I went over to the only girl that seemed nice and asked her what we were waiting for. She said it was just an interview to see how you will be living in the army. Like close to home, a closed or open base, that kind of thing. So I waited and waited. Finally I was called. Thank god the soldier that interviewed me was the nicest one so far.

First thing I say to the soldiers in Hebrew is, “I speak English. My Hebrew isn’t very good. Please talk slowly.” And usually they pay no attention and go on as if no one said anything to them. So I say it to her and she asked if I would prefer to do it in English. So at this point with my about to explode bladder, my growling stomach, and my tired mind, I said OK.

All she did was take down info about all my immediate family, mom, dad, my brothers. Where they live, age, health, that kind of thing and then I signed papers asking to recognized as a “lonely soldier”. Which means I have no family in Israel and can get a little bit more money and hopefully a lot more help. They usually help you find a place to live and you get a bit more time off than regular soldiers. But it is help and I will take it as I am a bit lost on the whole army thing.

Also some good news is one of the girls that is a volunteer here will be going into the army with me. I am really happy to know someone else. We will be doing the Army Ulpan together. It is a good feeling to know you are not alone.

More things I am slowly finding out about the army is this: If you enlist as a volunteer your schedule of getting information and doing things is completely different than if you are automatically drafted. So for example, if I had come here when I was 18 and had to do the army service, I would have done things in a very different way than I am now. This had been confusing because some information that seems very important to me, like where I will be or what I will be doing I still don’t know about. I never got this very important paper telling me my choices for a job in the army. But I think that is about to change.

I got a letter a few days ago that I am supposed to go to Tel Aviv to take placement tests. I am glad this is finally happening because I was starting to get a bit worried. So Iw ill take all these tests and probably get an interview and then in a few weeks I will get the important paper I was waiting for. On the paper will be 4 job options, then I have to rank them and hopefully I will get my first or second choice.

It is all a bit crazy but it is becoming more real every day. The other day I was with my roommate Noa at a cloths store. She wanted to buy something for her friend. When I was waiting I over heard a woman asking the clerk if they had a lot of plain white undershirts because her daughter was entering the army soon. And it was just a mental note for me: Better buy some white undershirts soon.

Now that I am sitting here writing I don’t remember if a wrote about the fact that I pierced my ears. But I did. And here is a picture of the earrings that basically made me do it. I just feel in love with them. So soon I can wear them. The healing process had been very good. My ears are still a bit tender, but nothing bad.



I guess that is all my news. …..