Eilat!!

Hi Everyone,

Sorry this took me a while but two weekends ago I was in Eilat and it was wonderful!! We left on friday morning and of course missed the bus but Shiri was right when she said that would be the only thing that went wrong the entire time...

So instead of catching the 10 am bus we wandered around and got some falafel near the shuk and enjoyed Jerusalem until 2 pm when we caught our next bus. 

Us waiting for the bus... I'll never forget Cody saying... "only 2 more hours until we get to spend 5 hours on a bus" haha.  It wasn't THAT bad though.

Our first sight out of Jerusalem... Cody and I were both impressed by the fact that I got this picture. 

BEST PICTURE OF THE TRIP

Please notice the camel on the right... do you think he takes unleaded or premium?

For inspection Israeli soldiers come onto the bus and walk through to check everything out. No matter how innocent I am I always feel like I am guilty of something when they do this... 

We started out the night with a terrible dinner, well mine was terrible, by the sea.  So to counteract the nastiness of the meal I entertained myself by throwing my chicken to a nearby cat... he enjoyed it much more than I did. 

Our hostel was actually perfect for what we were looking for and only a little walk from the main area of Eilat.  We went to bed early the first night because everyone was going to Petra the next day... I chose to stay back and enjoy Eilat and when my friends returned I said, "Do not take offense to this but I had the BEST DAY EVER! " haha

I started my day early with a 2 hour walk down the coast of the red sea, saw many interesting beaches, watched some dolphins,  and got a little sun.  Once the sidewalk ended I decided it was time to go back and grab a drink.  I stopped for a 5 shekel lemonade which was actually amazing and then just wandered up and down the beaches.  This city reminded me of a strange mix of Las vegas, florida, and the minnesota state fair.  It was very interesting to people watch.  I even bumped into this little guy trying to take a shady nap....  

I also found this, yes  you read it right. It is a Jeans store with a bar inside. Why hasn't the U.S. come up with this yet... 

After a while of sitting in the sand and observing I went and had a fancier drink at a little cafe and attempted to read for my class... didn't really get far.  Then I started to head back to shower before the rest of the gang returned.  After we were all reunited we went to dinner at this amazing little italian place that our hostel owner suggested.  We never would have found it in a million years if we hadn't asked.  

That day I met some really interesting people from our hostel, there were some guys from Scotland there for bird watching, some Israeli scuba divers, and some ladies from the UK who were pretty entertaining as well.  I have found that meeting people abroad leads to some of the best advice, stories, and philisophical discussions the world has ever seen.  

Anyways the next day I lead the group to a glass bottom boat tour that I had found the previous day... only Shiri and Andrea and I went but it was well worth it! It was 2 hours and we got a free slushie on the boat haha, it was so relaxing! 

This is one of the really amazing hotels on the beach. 

Me waiting to load the boat. 

The background shows the long strip of hotels and beaches that we were on the whole time, despite looking a little far away, it was a really amazing view. 

Jordan, we went along the border on the boat. We also could see Egypt and Saudi Arabia in the distance. 

What I like to believe is Jack Sparrow's pirate ship heading for Egypt... 

I was suprised at how alive the red sea is... This is just one little sample of all of the kinds of activities that were happening. There were about 200 more sailboats, a few more parasailors, and lots of tour boats roaming around. 

After we sat in the sun some more and Shiri and I went swimming in the Red Sea! It was amaaazing and you could see really far down, which actually made me a little nervous and I started to question every rock-- if thats what they really were. Who knows what was down there. 

Us watching the sunset. 

Sitcom picture #1532, haha we just love those group photos. 

Overall Eilat was a huge success and we all got some sun, some of us more tan than others haha. I would love to head back there some day! Anyways this week I have a shabbat for class with a bunch of activities planned so stay tuned! I also know we are all wanting to go to the zoo which is supposed to be pretty awesome here. 

Much love, 

B

Sad Day In Jlem.

Hi all,

Before I write about how much fun I had in Eilat I thought I would do a seperate posting on something that isn't so pleasant and keep this seperate from the rest of my trip.  As many of you know there was a bomb that went off next to two buses yesterday and injured 39 people and killed 1.  This was the first bombing in Jerusalem in 4 years.  This morning we were saddened to find out that the 1 killed was an older woman from my hebrew class, Mary. She was a bible translator who had lived all over the world but spent most of her university years in Scotland, and she was possibly the sweetest woman on the planet.

As if the bombing wasn't sad enough, the void in our already small hebrew class was pretty upsetting.  This woman always had a smile, in fact we were joking that we never saw her without one.  Shiri and I were talking about her on the way home and I wanted to share a cute story, the last story we have about her.

Last time we were in class the teacher was asking (in hebrew of course) about things that we can do... we were learning the verb "can".  Jokingly she asked Mary if she could stand on her hands, and Mary didn't quite understand and said yes... now keep in mind Mary was a fragile tiny older woman.  So we all kind of looked at each other confused and giggled until someone asked her in English if she really could stand on her hands... she laughed when she understood what she had said! It was probably one of the cutest moments in hebrew class.

Like the work I am doing for my independent study I got to see first hand how Israel responds.  We talked about it for the first 10 min of class and then we got on with our lesson, people were quiet and somber but the teacher kept teaching.  The last 5 min the provost came in and talked to us and helped give some tips on how to respond.

We have to remember that a terror attack is meant to throw off our routine and to make us fear normal life, and that usually an incident like this is isolated and meant to do just that.  Going on and doing regular routines is how you combat terror acts like this.  We were also told that as hard as it is for us here, it may be even harder for our friends and family who are worried and unsure of what is happening.

So for everyone reading, I am doing just fine and I don't feel threatened and we are going about our routine like normal.  After class I went to the school to help teach English and the kids really helped cheer me up even though they had no idea what I had just learned.

The day started out sad and gloomy, but just as I was thinking about Mary the rain cleared and the sun came out shining and there was a beautiful giant rainbow above Jerusalem.  You can't have the rainbow without the rain...

I love all of my friends and family so much and I miss you all!  In just two months I will be heading back and I can't wait to give you all hugs! 

-B

Without Method or Conscious Decision

Hello everyone! 

The title of this posting is a description of how I feel about Israel haha... I love it but there is the most random, strange, crazy things that happen here which is part of what makes it great, there is NEVER a dull moment.  Literally as I am typing this a lady in a crazy outfit and on stilts is teetering by me... No joke. I can tell Purim is coming (crazy Jewish holiday, enough said).

This week has been full of ups and downs!! I'll start with the downs because as much I like to crack jokes and keep it light this is the reality of studying in Israel.

A few days ago a rabbi's house was broken into at night and him, his wife, his 3 month old, 4 year old, and 11 year old child were all stabbed to death, 3 other children were not harmed.  To send a message about this horrible tragedy Israel actually posted the pictures of the murder victims- quite disturbing.  Their shiva was yesterday in Jerusalem and so it was crazy busy and the president was all over town back and forth so there were alot of police escorts.

On a happier note I had some great experiences at the school where I teach the other day.  I was assigned to a class with a very shy and troubled little girl, probably one of the most extreme children I've gotten to work with.  According to other teachers she hardly ever interacts with anyone or cracks a smile.  After just 20 minutes I had her laughing and smiling and coloring and saying a few words here and there to me, it was so rewarding and I will be working with her weekly from now on.  Those are my favorite kinds of kids! I also had an ADORABLE 1st grader who spoke 5 languages!  After just 10 min she said, "I love you" it was the cutest thing ever!! I would let her take some breaks from english and teach me Italian words because...........................................................................................................................................

I AM GOING TO VISIT MY AMAZINGLY WONDERFUL SORORITY SISTER 

HANNAH SCHNEIDER IN ITALY!!!! 

Needless to say I am bursting with excitement and everytime we get online and discuss it I get more and more excited!! It will be so much fun to see her and explore Italia! 

I know I am going to overdo the Italy excitement so I am going to stop here for now... :-)

Thursday I had a lovely dinner party at my apartment with Andrea, Dana, and Shiri and those of you who know me well know what I made... After we went to Zack and Cody's apartment (yes I know that is the name of a disney show and yes we have joked about it).  A few of us then headed out to Ben Yehuda and did karaoke!!! It reminded me of the AOII girls, BUT Ashlee was not there to drown me out with her rockstar voice.  Despite the tone deaf singing, someone who worked there kept signing me up for songs so every other song they would announce "Brittany and friends" it was kind of hilarious.... especially when the mystery person picked songs that we didn't know... we are hoping the videos don't surface... 

Friday despite getting only 2 hours of sleep Shiri and I dragged outselves out of bed and were ready for our western wall tunnel tour and  the bus was no where to be found so we went back to bed and reunited later for shabbat dinner.  It was amaaazingly fun and we met some great people, including an Italian man who gave me some great tips for my travels. 

Saturday Laura and I went on a walk to the old city and while on the way we heard what sounded like a gun shot really close to us... we nearly dove to the ground when we realized it was just a car backfiring... we felt silly...

We had a great time and just sat and talked by the wall while the sun went down and shabbat ended.  It was beautiful with the sunset here are two cool scenery pictures below. We couldnt take many more pictures because on shabbat it is rude and you will get in trouble if you take pictures there so we will have to go back not on a saturday.  

For those of you who have been reading my facebook posts and are concerned, the bank has fixed the problem and I am being sent a new card... most of my posts have been exaggerations and while I say that I am living in "poverty", drinking coffee creamer, and starting a reality show with the premise being how long I can last on 50 Shekels, I am in fact being well taken care of until my real card arrives- which leads to my next story... 

Yesterday I asked my teacher where a change station was so I could change some dollars into shekels, she told me it was in town and I told her the story of my card.  She instantly offered in hebrew to lend me money which was sooo crazy because no teacher in the U.S. would just volunteer money like that.  I of course declined and told her I was going to the change station later in the day.... the story continues

I went into town and worked on my independent study in a coffee shop until my professor came to meet with me.  Afterward I had an hour to kill so I went to the change station and then got on bus 19.  I purposely got on it going the opposite way because I had the time and wanted to sit and ride around for a bit.  Everyone says the 19 goes in a circle and ends up back at campus, but what they failed to tell me is the circle is actually a LOOP AROUND THE WORLD and THEN it comes back so I ended up on this bus for 2 hours and missed all but 15 min of my class.  Luckily my professor is awesome and didn't mind, he also invited a bunch of us to his house for shabbat dinner.

Today Shauna and I went to an did some excavating in an archeological site! Here is a picture of me on our way there. 

Best part about Israel is even though I am so far from home I still manage to run into people I know! Emma and I worked at Herzl together and her and her family were excavating too... Herzl Camp reunion!

What was cool about the excavation was that the land that we were working with had been occupied by several different groups and had been destructed many times so depending on what is found you can tell what group it came from.  We actually found many cool things but this was the coolest.  It was a large piece of marble that was from the destruction of the temple as far back as 70 CE!!

It was really a good time but the walk back was so far so of course I had to stop for some falafel :-)

After this super busy day I am so exhausted!! 

In conclusion... life in Israel is crazy and makes you do crazy things like this.... 

 Eilat on Friday! Stay tuned...

-B

Kibbutz Yahel

Hi everyone, 

This past weekend was my trip to Kibbutz Yahel, which was especially interesting to see because my mom lived there for some time when she lived in Israel!  For those of you who don't know a kibbutz is a collective community usually based off of agriculture.  In the past there would be members who picked tomatoes, members who did laundry, members who watched over the children, etc. However now it is much more of just a community and the members of the kibbutz might not even work in the fields or for the kibbutz at all.  They still have many fields of agriculture but they hire others to work in the fields and it is actually quite a large business.  

I have a ton of pictures of the scenery and only put some of them on here but I wanted to show how even though we were in the middle of the desert there is the ability to grow all kinds of plants and flowers. This is the view outside of our guesthouse. 

 These are the date tree crops there are rows and rows of them! It is crazy to be driving through the desert and not see anything but sand and then come across something like this! 

 These rows of green looking "grass" are actually scallions... there are sooo many of them!

 These giant black spider beetles were EVERYWHERE! It was so gross, especially in the pomelo fields they were all over the place. They are actually kind of tall looking but you can't tell from this picture.

This was the road that we were told not to cross... it is hard to see but there are two fences and between them is no man's land and on the other side is Jordan.  There is a good relationship with Jordan because they have shared the pomelos in the past and have compromised on the land, but we were told not to step on the road because any footprints have to be investigated and the kibbutz can be put under a "general warning" if they are not sure where the footprints came from.

 Pomelos are these big yellow fruits and they are only grown in 3 places in the world (Southern Cali, Israel, and Southeast Asia I believe...). They are the largest citrus fruit and they taste similar to a grapefruit. They are amazzzing but you need a sharp knife to cut them open... I'll have to post a video of me opening one because its really interesting. We picked these pomelos ourselves from the field.

 Here are just some scenery pictures from the Kibbutz and the surrounding views.

 This was the start of our desert hike... it was a little strange walking directly into this vast desert... I would hate to be stuck out here!

 These plants are sooo sharp and they are all over the place so you have to be careful where you step! They spread out and can get stuck on your shoes haha.

Lion King view?  Those trees are the biggest providers of shade... and in fact standing under them the breeze really cools you down, its like a good 15 degrees cooler under them!

No idea where this came from or what it was but it looked cool... maybe its from some tribe in the desert no one knows about...

 Lizard trying hard to blend in, better luck next time! There are actually quite a few animals that live out in the desert such as fox, rodents of a few kinds, gazelles, and many poisonous snakes (7 varieties I think). 

The kibbutz was amazing and had wonderful food.  It was strange because it was alot more modern that I expected. The kids go to a high school down the road quite a ways and there is wireless internet, cars, etc. Anything you would have anywhere else.  When you are on the kibbutz it is easy to forget that you are in the desert, but as soon as you step out its literally nothing.  We had a great time and learned alot and had a wonderful shabbat there and I for sure started my tan!  I have so much to say but I would rather not be boring so if you want to know more about modern kibbutzim then ask me... I like to think I'm an expert now! 

This will be a more studious week and then in 2 weeks off to Eilat and hopefully Petra for Purim vacation!! Stay tuned :)

-B

Israeli Nachos are NOT Nachos

Hi again,

So Thursday rolled around and my friends Eric and Emily and I were soooo ready to get out of Jerusalem!! We grabbed our stuff and hopped on a bus to Tel Aviv for the beautiful 75 degree day! It was wonderful we just relaxed on the beach and walked around and I did my first sudoku in like 5 years...

Later that night we arrived back in jerusalem and Geries invited Shauna and I to go out with some of his friends so we met up with them on Ben Yehuda Street.  I have mentioned this before but I have to emphasis the unique nature of the people of Israel.  For instance it is totally normal for them to stop in the middle of the street drive over the median and continue on the opposite way.  Below is a picture of a man on a motorized cart driving on the street... typical Israeli-- not to mention super dangerous considering the drivers here... 

Anyways, here is Shauna Geries and I and below is another one of me and Geries's friend Dimitri who is around from time to time.  It was a really fun night... one of the funniest things was Geries ordered Nachos which when they came out we realized are VERY different than what we thought they were going to be and he proceeded to argue with the waitress for a good ten minutes about how they were not in fact real nachos.  If only I could capture his personality in this blog... 

Today was a VERY low key day and by that I mean I was online playing around with Twitter and facebook for almost the entire day... the plan was to go walk around the old city but we were advised not to due to "heighted tension".  For those of you who do not know (which seems to be most everyone) grad rockets fell on Beersheva (south of Jerusalem) two days ago.  If you are interested to know more you can read about it on the Jerusalem post website. Grad rockets fall on Beersheba neighborhood

People have asked if I feel scared here but honestly I still feel safer here than in the US.  If anything happens this entire country is trained in what to do... in America most people would have no clue.  Most of the time the things that make it seem scary are just extra measure to be on the safe side... When I get home it will be weird to walk into stores/libraries/restaurants etc. without having my bag checked and going through a metal detector! 

Anyways thats all the news I have for now... Next weekend is my Kibbutz trip so stay tuned to hear all about that! Also I revived my twitter from the dead today so you can follow me at bbeck0914 

Safe and Sound in Jersualem, 

B

Hafia

Hi Everyone, 

I finished my first full week of school which sadly was pretty uneventful!  Sorry to disappoint! Thursday night Shayna, Rosie, Esther, and I went out to Ben Yehuda st. area which was alright, and then I met up with Yoni and some of his friends at a dance club.  Israelis dancing is hilarious, they really do dance like no one is watching... 

Then on Friday Rose, Shayna, and I headed for Haifa and we stayed with Rose's boyfriend's family.  It was my first "real" shabbat dinner and it was delicious!! We had a million different things and I wish I could have taken a picture but I wasn't sure about their shabbat rules, and some people don't like when you take pictures.  They spoke 99% in hebrew which mentally made my head hurt trying to translate all night, but in the end I improved my hebrew overnight.  Afterward we went to their friends birthday party, where after a while I finally started speaking Hebrew and trying to be apart of the conversation.  Here is a picture of us:

Afterwards we went to another dance club and it was another late night (dance clubs are popular here if you haven't noticed).  The next day Shayna and I went on possibly the shortest walk known to mankind but stumbled upon this little surprise:

We caught the bus home around 6 when they started running again and called it a night.  The next morning I headed over to the school where I am helping teach english and had yet another eventful day! Like I said before the kids here are SOOOO NAUGHTY!! I even witnessed an Israeli temper tantrum which was quite hilarious actually. Don't get me wrong they are good kids, they just have much less strict standards here in terms of what is O.K. and what is not in school.  Sometimes when they are reading I can tell they don't understand a word and I have gotten very good at explaining it in hebrew but occasionally I have to pull out some charade moves and act it out which always gets a good laugh.  

This picture is from a bit ago but I got this text when Egypt started collapsing and so I thought I would put it in here to document this moment in history.

So these cat pictures have become quite popular around here and they keep getting better and better.  I like to call this one Peeping Tom-cat. Mind you he was on the 3rd floor of the apartment building-- no idea how he got up there.

I can't take credit for this one- This was all Yoni and sorry its so small but I think I will call it

 "The Mad Catter"

Alright enough for now, hopefully I will have more people pictures soon! We have just booked a trip to Eilat and Jordan over Purim Break so that is something to look forward too and I am still waiting to hear if I will be going to Kibbutz Yehal for a weekend in March.  Thats where my mom lived while she was in Israel so it would be a great experience!! 

Until next time, 

B