Though I'm beginning to lose a track a little, I believe we are now at the end of our third week on kibbutz. Or in terms of our studies, we've just concluded People in Exile week (the Jewish People... obviously). But the history of the Jewish People aside, I have some commentary on kibbutz life after spending some time here.
For a little background, we're living on Kibbutz Ein Dor in northeastern Israel. There are 58 North Americans (I would say simply Americans if not for the 10 or so Canadians), 15 Brits (mainly from Manchester - pronounced MON-chest-tah by the locals - and one from London), and 6 Dutchies (that's Holland). As I mentioned previously, the North Americans are split into three groups; two of the groups are living in one large house and the third group is living in a separate smaller house. All of the European kids comprise a fourth group which lives in a third, separate house. All the houses also contain classrooms and are situated around a courtyard which makes up the guest center of the kibbutz.
First off, this place is overrun by stray cats. I don't think this is an issue specific to our kibbutz - I've been told that cats are the squirrels of Israel - but nevertheless, we especially have begun to feel the effects here. For example, one of the North American houses has adopted Maxi, a tabby which has become a little too dependent on its adoptive owners. To be fair to the cat, it's owners named it and they also occasionally feed it, resulting in the cat wandering into the house at intervals and cuddling with its occupants. But it's okay because Leya, who has a borderline inappropriate obsession with cats, says it doesn't have rabies. The Europeans have also adopted a tabby kitten and affectionately named it Puss-in-Boots (it's way funnier when the Brits say it). They even made it a little cardboard-box home and set it on their front porch to assure that it will never leave. Thank goodness.
The kibbutz is also home to a man we call Minyan Man (no one knows his real name), a proselytizing Jew who comes around on most Saturday mornings and on the recent high holidays to recruit people to participate in his religious services. With a long white beard and the traditional tzitzit, Minyan Man definitely looks the part, and on Rosh Hashanah he stood outside of our house aggressively blowing his shofar. Luckily for me, he's only interested in recruiting men to make up his minyans.
Another kibbutznik (someone who lives on the kibbutz) you should be familiar with is Chava, the director of the kibbutz guest center. She serves as the liaison between the program and the kibbutz. While I really haven't spoken to her at all, she seems friendly enough, though she sometimes shows up at our house for no apparent reason. She just rides her little scooter onto our front porch (I'll discuss the variety of modes of transportation around the kibbutz in a minute), surveys us for a minute, exchanges a few words in Hebrew with the little kibbutz boys who sometimes accompany her, and then goes.
On to available modes of transportation we've observed around the kibbutz. While it seems easy enough to walk anywhere you want to go, I've observed all forms of vehicles from bicycles to golf carts to - I swear - ATV's driving all around the kibbutz. You'll see these vehicles parked outside all the public places on the kibbutz, such as the kibbutz convenience store and especially outside of the dining hall during mealtimes. And of course there are several people driving cars around the place. Normal traffic conventions don't seem to apply here; for example, sidewalks are apparently not just for pedestrians. It's not uncommon to have to move off the sidewalk in order to let a car pass on your way to dinner.
The last thing I want to mention about kibbutz life is that groups sometimes come to share the guest center with us. For example, last week we shared the space with a group of Jewish monks on a silence retreat. By the fourth day they taped off an area of our shared courtyard and marked it "Silent Zone." And on the fifth we came back from dinner to find two shawled monks playing chess on our front porch....
As you may know, last Monday was Yom Kippur, the Jewish holiday of repentance (it literally translates to Day of Atonement) and one of the holiest days of the year. On kibbutz, many of us wanted to do something to commemorate the holiday, but the kibbutz is a pretty secular community and no one was offering Yom Kippur services (except for Minyan Man, of course...) so on Sunday a group of us got together to plan out the day. We broke it down into a bunch of one hour blocks which were a mix of traditional text-based prayer and discussion. The day started with Shacharit (morning prayers), followed by Yizkor (a service to remember people who are close to you who have died). Then came a telling and discussion of the Torah portion and the Haftorah, and then we broke into chugim (which translates to something like "interest groups"). We did two hours of chugim separated by a two-hour break. The first hour of chugim was more discussion and text-based, the second being meditation and reflection based. A few people signed up to lead chugim on topics of their choice. For example, for the first hour of chugim, Elijah, who plans to go to culinary school and is Workshop's resident chef, led a discussion on how our society relates to food and why we fast on Yom Kippur. In the second hour, Erez led guided mediation and some Yom Kippur Yoga. After that we planned to go to the kibbutz's Ne'ilah service (where the shofar is blown and the Book of Life is sealed until next year) and then to dinner.
That was the day in theory. In reality, all those things still happened, but by around 4:00 p.m. everyone was so delirious and hungry that all many of us could do was sit and color and play 20 Questions. Mollie tried going to guided meditation, but she returned about five minutes later and declared that she couldn't concentrate on anything. We also found out that the kibbutz Ne'ilah service was more of a philosophical discussion than a service, so unless you knew Hebrew AND had the stamina to sit through it, there was little motivation to go. What we ended up doing was playing 20 Questions and the Awkward Story Game until 6:05, which is when Chabad said the fast ended, and then we played a recording of a shofar blowing on Youtube. Afterwords we broke the fast and went to dinner.
There were a few things I learned from this Yom Kippur. First, I realized that one of the main reasons I was connected to the religious traditions of Yom Kippur was because it connected me to home, not to the religion itself. Second, I learned that food is so available to us and we largely take it for granted. And finally, I learned that everything is a lot funnier when you're twenty-two hours into a fast and it's all you can do to not just lie face-down and cry.
On Tuesday we leave for a four-day tiyul from "Yam L'Yam," or Sea to Sea. We'll hike from the Mediterranean Sea to the Kinneret with all the habos from Australia, South Africa, England and Holland. I'll post after that. Have a good week!
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
The End of Orientation
Today is officially the first day of Fall, and with the changing of seasons has come the end (finally) of orientation. We had a week orientation to the entire program as well as another week of orientation to kibbutz, and by this point I'd say I'm pretty well oriented... almost too oriented.
After the long Rosh Hashanah weekend, our first official week of Boneh (the component of the program which we spend on kibbutz) started today with a peula about Jewish identity and unity, and then we chose our avodot (see glossary). The avodot range from taking care of the horses on the kibbutz, to working in the Dairy making cheese, to working in the kibbutz's cable factory, to folding laundry. I'll be working in the nursery with three and four-year-olds, which I'm both excited about and terrified of. While the babies won't judge my mediocre Hebrew-speaking abilities, they themselves tend to talk really fast, quietly, and mumble. But I'm hoping that this will help my Hebrew out a lot since I probably speak at the same (or lower) level as them anyways.
But before I get ahead of myself, we still have an entire weekend to discuss. This was the first free weekend on Workshop, and since it was also Rosh Hashanah, we had a three-day weekend and lots of people traveled to visit family and friends for the holiday. Only about 20 of us stayed on the kibbutz, myself included, and Tali (who's sitting next to me right now) feels it important to mention that she was only there on Thursday.
On Saturday I took a day-trip to Taveria with friends of my grandparents who live in Tel Aviv. I had never met Malli and Avram before, but Avram had contacted me about a week before and said that he had wanted to meet me. We made plans to go to Taveria (a city in northern Israel, on the edge of the Kinneret) on Saturday to meet some of their friends.
Malli and Avram came to pick me up at about 11:30 am on Saturday and we made the 20-minute trip (which is normally closer to a half hour or more, but when you drive like an Israeli...) to Taveria. We went to a small hotel in Taveria right on the edge of Kinneret, and there I met Malli and Avram's friends, as well as their friends' kids and grandkids and cousins... around 40-50 people in total. We swam in the Kinneret in the morning, had a big lunch, and then swam some more. We had tea and coffee around 4 pm, after which Malli, Avram, and I departed to head back to my kibbutz. Not only was the day extra relaxing and a nice change of pace from hanging out with a bunch of 18-year-olds, but being around only Hebrew-speakers for a change did so much for my listening comprehension. In addition, I had the opportunity over tea and coffee to listen to a few Israelis and an American-turned-Israeli debate a range of topics from Obama to 9/11 to the solution to the conflict in the Middle East. Though I've heard those kinds of debates happen before, it was so interesting to hear it happen in Israel.
The rest of the weekend was comprised mostly of playing speed-scrabble, going to the pool, and watching Glee. Except all halted on Sunday night when it began to rain (apparently that happens in Israel). I was sitting outside on the porch talking to my sister on the phone and lamenting the Steelers' loss to the Bears, when it started to drizzle. No sooner had I mentioned it to my sister than 15 people came rushing out of the house and into the rain,the which suddenly escalated to a full-on torrential downpour. Everyone retreated inside, except for those from the Pacific Northwest (i.e. just me and Leya), and we ran around in the rain for a little while.
Now we're just killing time before dinner, which, judging from the rest of the meals here on kibbutz, should be pretty delicious... Looks like an intense round of speed-scrabble is about to start. Bye guys, until next time.
After the long Rosh Hashanah weekend, our first official week of Boneh (the component of the program which we spend on kibbutz) started today with a peula about Jewish identity and unity, and then we chose our avodot (see glossary). The avodot range from taking care of the horses on the kibbutz, to working in the Dairy making cheese, to working in the kibbutz's cable factory, to folding laundry. I'll be working in the nursery with three and four-year-olds, which I'm both excited about and terrified of. While the babies won't judge my mediocre Hebrew-speaking abilities, they themselves tend to talk really fast, quietly, and mumble. But I'm hoping that this will help my Hebrew out a lot since I probably speak at the same (or lower) level as them anyways.
But before I get ahead of myself, we still have an entire weekend to discuss. This was the first free weekend on Workshop, and since it was also Rosh Hashanah, we had a three-day weekend and lots of people traveled to visit family and friends for the holiday. Only about 20 of us stayed on the kibbutz, myself included, and Tali (who's sitting next to me right now) feels it important to mention that she was only there on Thursday.
On Saturday I took a day-trip to Taveria with friends of my grandparents who live in Tel Aviv. I had never met Malli and Avram before, but Avram had contacted me about a week before and said that he had wanted to meet me. We made plans to go to Taveria (a city in northern Israel, on the edge of the Kinneret) on Saturday to meet some of their friends.
Malli and Avram came to pick me up at about 11:30 am on Saturday and we made the 20-minute trip (which is normally closer to a half hour or more, but when you drive like an Israeli...) to Taveria. We went to a small hotel in Taveria right on the edge of Kinneret, and there I met Malli and Avram's friends, as well as their friends' kids and grandkids and cousins... around 40-50 people in total. We swam in the Kinneret in the morning, had a big lunch, and then swam some more. We had tea and coffee around 4 pm, after which Malli, Avram, and I departed to head back to my kibbutz. Not only was the day extra relaxing and a nice change of pace from hanging out with a bunch of 18-year-olds, but being around only Hebrew-speakers for a change did so much for my listening comprehension. In addition, I had the opportunity over tea and coffee to listen to a few Israelis and an American-turned-Israeli debate a range of topics from Obama to 9/11 to the solution to the conflict in the Middle East. Though I've heard those kinds of debates happen before, it was so interesting to hear it happen in Israel.
The rest of the weekend was comprised mostly of playing speed-scrabble, going to the pool, and watching Glee. Except all halted on Sunday night when it began to rain (apparently that happens in Israel). I was sitting outside on the porch talking to my sister on the phone and lamenting the Steelers' loss to the Bears, when it started to drizzle. No sooner had I mentioned it to my sister than 15 people came rushing out of the house and into the rain,the which suddenly escalated to a full-on torrential downpour. Everyone retreated inside, except for those from the Pacific Northwest (i.e. just me and Leya), and we ran around in the rain for a little while.
Now we're just killing time before dinner, which, judging from the rest of the meals here on kibbutz, should be pretty delicious... Looks like an intense round of speed-scrabble is about to start. Bye guys, until next time.
Monday, September 14, 2009
The Week in Review: Kvutsah, Tiyul, and Turning 18
At the time of my last post, I was still dealing with the initial shock of getting into kvutsot, but a week later I can tell you that everything is going really well. For a quick breakdown of the group, we have Ilan, who brought a fly-swatter on Workshop; Lauren, who knows the entire dance to Beyonce's "All the Single Ladies"; Max F and Tali, who usually engage in behavior which would be deemed socially inappropriate in any other setting (for example, Max tried to put Tali's entire hand in his mouth the other day during a peulah); Max W, who's favorite TV show is Glee; and Shulie, the glutard who's health problems are the subject of most jokes. There are no dominant personalities, but so far we're meshing together really well as whole.
On Tuesday, the 8th, we went on tiyul, which involved hiking 25k through the desert for three-days, sleeping on mats under the stars, and doing everything we could to not go to the bathroom. Besides one case of a girl getting water poisoning (she's still in the hospital), there were no other serious health incidents. There were, however, a few emotional breakdowns (Ilan), in addition to seeing a fox and a spider the size of my face. Luckily, in the spirit of communing with nature, Charlie stomped on it before it got too far.
Tiyul finally ended Thursday, and the sense of accomplishment that comes with hiking 25k through the desert was only slightly diminished when we found out we just went in a big loop. Then, after listening to our madrichim use a bunch of shallow metaphors to compare our hike through the desert to our life journey, we finally got on the bust to go to kibbutz. Four hour bus-ride with kids who not only hadn't showered in days but who had also just hiked through the desert... I probably don't have to tell you that I was ecstatic when we finally arrived. At that point we had a chance to shower, unpack , and meet the Brits and Dutchies (a little anti-climactic). The funny thing about the European kids is that every time they talk, I feel like they're joking and they'll switch back to their real accents at any moment.
For my birthday Friday, we all went to the discotec at the kibbutz, where I was hit on by a lesbian. Despite the lesbian, I discovered that turning 18 in Israel isn't half as climactic as turning 18 in the States for a few reasons (which roughly include voting, lottery tickets, and porn) but mostly just because nobody cards here anyways. Turning 18 on Workshop, however, is an entirely different story (for reasons that have nothing to do with voting, lottery tickets, or porn, and everything to do with waking up to 30 people in our kitchen singing Happy Birthday) and it turned out to be an amazing day.
The rest of the weekend was fairly uneventful. We swam, slept, and ate a lot of pretzels. We also didn't have internet, which was rough, but the situation is obviously fixed now. Our kvutsah also had our kupa asepha (glossary) in a record 4 hours. The asepha went really well, now we just have to see if it works.
Nothing else very noteworthy to report. We spend most of our time in peulot, doing chevrati's, and having Feelings Time. And blogging, obviously. Everyone here makes fun of my blog, but to all my loyal supporters (or whoever is reading this right now, even if you're a random who stumbled upon my blog on Google) I thank you.
On Tuesday, the 8th, we went on tiyul, which involved hiking 25k through the desert for three-days, sleeping on mats under the stars, and doing everything we could to not go to the bathroom. Besides one case of a girl getting water poisoning (she's still in the hospital), there were no other serious health incidents. There were, however, a few emotional breakdowns (Ilan), in addition to seeing a fox and a spider the size of my face. Luckily, in the spirit of communing with nature, Charlie stomped on it before it got too far.
Tiyul finally ended Thursday, and the sense of accomplishment that comes with hiking 25k through the desert was only slightly diminished when we found out we just went in a big loop. Then, after listening to our madrichim use a bunch of shallow metaphors to compare our hike through the desert to our life journey, we finally got on the bust to go to kibbutz. Four hour bus-ride with kids who not only hadn't showered in days but who had also just hiked through the desert... I probably don't have to tell you that I was ecstatic when we finally arrived. At that point we had a chance to shower, unpack , and meet the Brits and Dutchies (a little anti-climactic). The funny thing about the European kids is that every time they talk, I feel like they're joking and they'll switch back to their real accents at any moment.
For my birthday Friday, we all went to the discotec at the kibbutz, where I was hit on by a lesbian. Despite the lesbian, I discovered that turning 18 in Israel isn't half as climactic as turning 18 in the States for a few reasons (which roughly include voting, lottery tickets, and porn) but mostly just because nobody cards here anyways. Turning 18 on Workshop, however, is an entirely different story (for reasons that have nothing to do with voting, lottery tickets, or porn, and everything to do with waking up to 30 people in our kitchen singing Happy Birthday) and it turned out to be an amazing day.
The rest of the weekend was fairly uneventful. We swam, slept, and ate a lot of pretzels. We also didn't have internet, which was rough, but the situation is obviously fixed now. Our kvutsah also had our kupa asepha (glossary) in a record 4 hours. The asepha went really well, now we just have to see if it works.
Nothing else very noteworthy to report. We spend most of our time in peulot, doing chevrati's, and having Feelings Time. And blogging, obviously. Everyone here makes fun of my blog, but to all my loyal supporters (or whoever is reading this right now, even if you're a random who stumbled upon my blog on Google) I thank you.
Sunday, September 6, 2009
The Berlin Wall
This post was originally intended for last Sunday (the 5th?) but the internet pooped out and, you know. So just pretend this was posted a week ago:
So today was the big day; they split us into kvutsot (see glossary if you're confused). After something like 800 psyche-outs - getting into groups of about 20, doing some sort of crazy activity, and then getting back together as a group - they finally spilled the big news by putting a sticker with the name of a country written on it on each of our foreheads, and then we had to ask other people questions to guess the country, and then we had to figure out that the countries were all either in Europe, Asia, or Africa, and THEN we got into our respective continents, which turned out to be our kvutsot. Our real kvutsot. As in the 19 people we will work with, live with, and spend most of our time with for the rest of Workshop. Kind of intimidating.
Initial impressions: Nervous. Quiet. When our madrichim announced that these were our actual kvutsot and not just another psyche, there wasn't any cheering, just a lot of blank stares, which made me nervous. It was also the first group I was in that didn't give me any definite feeling, if that makes sense. I just didn't know most of the people in my kvutsah well enough to draw any sort of conclusion about how our year was going to go. Just scary. Permanent. But I'm sure it will work out.... right?
So today was the big day; they split us into kvutsot (see glossary if you're confused). After something like 800 psyche-outs - getting into groups of about 20, doing some sort of crazy activity, and then getting back together as a group - they finally spilled the big news by putting a sticker with the name of a country written on it on each of our foreheads, and then we had to ask other people questions to guess the country, and then we had to figure out that the countries were all either in Europe, Asia, or Africa, and THEN we got into our respective continents, which turned out to be our kvutsot. Our real kvutsot. As in the 19 people we will work with, live with, and spend most of our time with for the rest of Workshop. Kind of intimidating.
Initial impressions: Nervous. Quiet. When our madrichim announced that these were our actual kvutsot and not just another psyche, there wasn't any cheering, just a lot of blank stares, which made me nervous. It was also the first group I was in that didn't give me any definite feeling, if that makes sense. I just didn't know most of the people in my kvutsah well enough to draw any sort of conclusion about how our year was going to go. Just scary. Permanent. But I'm sure it will work out.... right?
Saturday, September 5, 2009
Shabbat Shalom
So this post is a little belated, but as you may have imagined, I've made it to Israel. Travel went something like this:
Sept. 1
3:30 AM: Wake up and jump in the shower.
4:00 AM: Make sure my mother's awake. (Apparently three alarms are not sufficient to ensure that she'll be up at the right time.)
4:30 AM: Say goodbye to my dad and sister, load the car, and leave for the airport with my mom.
5:00 AM: Arrive at the airport and attempt to navigate the multitudes of young adults and flustered parents heading off to college.
5:30 AM: We finally manage to check in and my mom even manages to pressure the flustered agent into letting her go to the gate with me. We head to security, the lines for which are ridiculous, and my mom, using her infamous line-cooling powers, manages to pick the longest and slowest-moving line.
5:35 AM: Spotted, William Aultman (Sabrina's boyfriend) going through the lines for security, undoubtedly on his way to Penn. I call out to him but he doesn't hear, though I predictably manage to draw the attention of everyone else. Defeated, I text Sabrina telling her that I'm watching her boyfriend from afar.... William, if you're reading this, I hope this doesn't come off the wrong way.
5:40 AM: We make it through security. I check the crackberry, and I have a Facebook friend request from William Aultman. Coincidence? I think not.
5:45 AM: My mom and I buy breakfast (bagels at Rose's) and coffee (Starbucks). She also insists on buying me a banana, gum, crackers, a juice, and some sucking candies for the plane, even though she's already packed me with Goldfish, Milano's, a small bag of pecans, mentos, and a Cliff bar. She also makes me go to the bathroom no less than three times. But I know it's not her fault - she's Jewish.
6:05 AM: The plane starts boarding. Though I'm seated in Zone 3, my mother doesn't let me board until they call Zone 4. We have a teary goodbye, and then I'm off down the gangplank.
6:52 AM: Plane takes off from PDX. Direct flight to JFK seated next to a nice couple was really pretty enjoyable.
10:00 AM: I really have to pee (even though my mom made me go eight times before I left), but I'm seated next to the window, and they're both dozing. And no one wants to be that person.
10:25 AM (PST): Now I REALLY have to pee. I gently wake the couple and ask if I can trouble them to get out and go to the bathroom. Nice couple is super friendly and we all take a bathroom break together.
2:47 PM (EST): Plane touches down at JFK Airport in New York. Good flight.
3:10 PM: I get my two identical suitcases and manage to find the Habonim Dror representative who's meeting me. We meet up with Nellie who has just flown in from Seattle and head to the international terminal. We're the first two to arrive.
3:45 PM: I arrive in the internatinal terminal and am met by the sight of Hasidic Jews in long black coats, giddy Jewish teens heading off to similar (though really not so similar) trips in Israel, and myriad other kinds of diversity. I'm also met by the three other members that comprise the central office of Habonim Dror North America. I also find out that the next flight isn't coming into JFK until 6:30.
6:25 PM: After twenty-five rounds of Fooch (a card game) and eating my weight in pretzels, the Detroit kids (all three of them) finally arrive. This makes five. Only fifty-three more to go. I never want to see playing cards or pretzels ever again.
7:15 PM: The East Coast bus with the Maryland and Philadelphia kids arrive in suprisingly good condition, given that they were chaperoned by Sager, former workshop madrich and self-proclaimed "King of Kef." Lots of excited reunions as well as awkward hellos. The Galil boys have chosen to distinguish themselves by all wearing sweater vests.
7:30-9:30 PM: People continue to file in from all corners of North America, including British Columbia, Ontario, Arizona, California, Washington, Michigan, Illinois, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New York, and of course Portland.
9:45 PM: We begin the long and trying screening process of getting on the plane. Before I even check my bags, I have a five-minute interview with an El Al security agent about my prior visits to Israel, my Hebrew-speaking ability, where I received my Jewish education, and whether or not I've seen the movie Ratatouille. I'm not kidding, they actually ask these kinds of questions.
10:15 PM: After everyone is checked in, we take our first group picture as Workshop 59 (fiiiifty niiiine).
10:25 PM: Heading through security, Noah is stopped by an agent to investigate a suspicious, solid, fist-sized object found in his bag. It turns out to be a rock. Noah packed a rock. After several more securiy agents are called over to make fun of Noah ("Yo Steve, check this out! This kid packed a rock!"), we continue on without incidence.
11:00 PM: We head to the gate, making stops in the Travel Mart on our way. Emily and I consider buying a three-pound bar of chocolate (it's a long flight), but we decide against it, and instead I purchase a king-sized Twix and some Tylenol.
11:15 PM: Arriving at the gate, we see that we're not the only youth group heading to Israel. It appears that Nativ is also on our plane. Those are not going to be very happy flight attendents. We spot a cute boy in a Foundation for Jewish Camping tee.
Sept. 2
12:00 AM: Boarded and seated, I manage to barter for an isle seat next to Maya and Leya. El Al provides us with pillows and really nice, fluffy fleece blankets. We decide that at the end of the flight that we will be keeping the blankets.
12:05 AM (EST): Smooth takeoff. The next nine and a half hours are somewhat of a blur, but they consisted roughly of talking, eating a pretty decent vegetarian airplane dinner (apparently when I signed up for Workshop I was a vegetarian), marveling at the real metal cutlery they give us, sleeping, beginning to brush up on my Hebrew with the very annoyed Israeli flight attendents, walking laps around the plane, trying not to disturb the rather large Hasidic Jewish population on the plane when they begin praying at 5 AM EST, blocking the isles, more talking, listening to Noah rant something concerning airspeed and temperature, apologizing to the very annoyed Israeli flight attendents, drinking tea, eating breakfast at 6 AM EST (apparently vegetarian also means lactose intolerant, because I got cereal with soy milk), drinking more tea, more sleeping, and finally waking up as we touch down at Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv.
4:50 PM (Israel timezone): We arrive in Tel Aviv. We get our bags, navigate customs with relative ease, meet our madrichim, get our cell phones, eat a dinner of tunafish sandwiches, meet some of the Brits in the airport, and load onto the buses.
9:00 PM: Arrive at Beit Shean Youth Hostel in northeast Israel. Having gotten something like five hours of sleep in the past 30 hours, I'm pretty certain that I'm going to die. We move into our rooms (I room with Leya, Molly, and Tali in room 104).
9:30 PM: After a quick intro from our madrichim, we have free time to hang out, unpack, and go to sleep. I say I'm going to bed.
10:00 PM: I get a second wind and insist on staying up and hanging out.
Sept. 3
I finally go to bed at 1:00 AM, thus concluding travel days.
Jet-lag wakes me up at 6:00 AM. I shower at 7:00. Now I have to explain that showers in Israel, specifically Israeli youth hostels, are more small rooms with doors than an actual shower that we're used to. Being a little rusty on Israeli showers, I manage to flood half the room. Luckily everyone decides to think that it's hilarious, and after some furious squeegeeing, we head to breakfast at 8:00.
At breakfast I rediscover how good Israeli breakfast are (tomatoes, cucumbers, cottage cheese, eggs, Israeli salad, hummus, bread rolls, chocolate spread, turkish coffee, Wasotsky tea) and how sketchy the rest of the food is. Unfortunately, no schnitzel yet.
The day is filled with excessive name-games and group-building activites. Molly decides that every time we're split up into groups, it would be funny to ask if this is going to be our kvutsah. It's funny but also has the effect of getting us all to start worrying about kvutsot.
Tonight I decide that room 104 is going to bed early. As I'm heading back to the room I see Alex's birthday party delegation run in to hang out. Looks like it's gonna be another late night.
Sept. 4
This morning I wake up and shower like a pro. The shower is barely wet. Today, after a short peula on the types of people that live in Israeli society, we head to Tiberias for a scavenger hunt.
It's at least 90 degrees in Tiberias, and being sleep-deprived, semi-dehydrated, and trying to adjust to the water, I'm, again, pretty sure that I'm going to die. I also end up in Noah and Molly's group, who were determined to win. We win, predictably. When Molly and Noah decide to do something, they get it done. The prize is that we get to plan Kabbalat Shabbat this evening. Wonderful.
For lunch, we each get money to get food in tiberias, and we head to a shwarma stand. Molly barters with the schwarma man and we all sit to down to schwarma, falafel, and, finally, schnitzel.
As soon as we get back to the hostel we jump in the pool, and for the first time since getting to Israel, I'm cold. We get out and plan Kabbalat Shabbat on the fly, deciding that the program will consist of everyone saying their middle names and then singing some songs.
Dinner. Rikud. Hanging out. Blogging. Now it's 3:3O AM and it's really time to go to sleep. Goodnight guys! I'll be back soon when there's something interesting to tell.
Sept. 1
3:30 AM: Wake up and jump in the shower.
4:00 AM: Make sure my mother's awake. (Apparently three alarms are not sufficient to ensure that she'll be up at the right time.)
4:30 AM: Say goodbye to my dad and sister, load the car, and leave for the airport with my mom.
5:00 AM: Arrive at the airport and attempt to navigate the multitudes of young adults and flustered parents heading off to college.
5:30 AM: We finally manage to check in and my mom even manages to pressure the flustered agent into letting her go to the gate with me. We head to security, the lines for which are ridiculous, and my mom, using her infamous line-cooling powers, manages to pick the longest and slowest-moving line.
5:35 AM: Spotted, William Aultman (Sabrina's boyfriend) going through the lines for security, undoubtedly on his way to Penn. I call out to him but he doesn't hear, though I predictably manage to draw the attention of everyone else. Defeated, I text Sabrina telling her that I'm watching her boyfriend from afar.... William, if you're reading this, I hope this doesn't come off the wrong way.
5:40 AM: We make it through security. I check the crackberry, and I have a Facebook friend request from William Aultman. Coincidence? I think not.
5:45 AM: My mom and I buy breakfast (bagels at Rose's) and coffee (Starbucks). She also insists on buying me a banana, gum, crackers, a juice, and some sucking candies for the plane, even though she's already packed me with Goldfish, Milano's, a small bag of pecans, mentos, and a Cliff bar. She also makes me go to the bathroom no less than three times. But I know it's not her fault - she's Jewish.
6:05 AM: The plane starts boarding. Though I'm seated in Zone 3, my mother doesn't let me board until they call Zone 4. We have a teary goodbye, and then I'm off down the gangplank.
6:52 AM: Plane takes off from PDX. Direct flight to JFK seated next to a nice couple was really pretty enjoyable.
10:00 AM: I really have to pee (even though my mom made me go eight times before I left), but I'm seated next to the window, and they're both dozing. And no one wants to be that person.
10:25 AM (PST): Now I REALLY have to pee. I gently wake the couple and ask if I can trouble them to get out and go to the bathroom. Nice couple is super friendly and we all take a bathroom break together.
2:47 PM (EST): Plane touches down at JFK Airport in New York. Good flight.
3:10 PM: I get my two identical suitcases and manage to find the Habonim Dror representative who's meeting me. We meet up with Nellie who has just flown in from Seattle and head to the international terminal. We're the first two to arrive.
3:45 PM: I arrive in the internatinal terminal and am met by the sight of Hasidic Jews in long black coats, giddy Jewish teens heading off to similar (though really not so similar) trips in Israel, and myriad other kinds of diversity. I'm also met by the three other members that comprise the central office of Habonim Dror North America. I also find out that the next flight isn't coming into JFK until 6:30.
6:25 PM: After twenty-five rounds of Fooch (a card game) and eating my weight in pretzels, the Detroit kids (all three of them) finally arrive. This makes five. Only fifty-three more to go. I never want to see playing cards or pretzels ever again.
7:15 PM: The East Coast bus with the Maryland and Philadelphia kids arrive in suprisingly good condition, given that they were chaperoned by Sager, former workshop madrich and self-proclaimed "King of Kef." Lots of excited reunions as well as awkward hellos. The Galil boys have chosen to distinguish themselves by all wearing sweater vests.
7:30-9:30 PM: People continue to file in from all corners of North America, including British Columbia, Ontario, Arizona, California, Washington, Michigan, Illinois, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New York, and of course Portland.
9:45 PM: We begin the long and trying screening process of getting on the plane. Before I even check my bags, I have a five-minute interview with an El Al security agent about my prior visits to Israel, my Hebrew-speaking ability, where I received my Jewish education, and whether or not I've seen the movie Ratatouille. I'm not kidding, they actually ask these kinds of questions.
10:15 PM: After everyone is checked in, we take our first group picture as Workshop 59 (fiiiifty niiiine).
10:25 PM: Heading through security, Noah is stopped by an agent to investigate a suspicious, solid, fist-sized object found in his bag. It turns out to be a rock. Noah packed a rock. After several more securiy agents are called over to make fun of Noah ("Yo Steve, check this out! This kid packed a rock!"), we continue on without incidence.
11:00 PM: We head to the gate, making stops in the Travel Mart on our way. Emily and I consider buying a three-pound bar of chocolate (it's a long flight), but we decide against it, and instead I purchase a king-sized Twix and some Tylenol.
11:15 PM: Arriving at the gate, we see that we're not the only youth group heading to Israel. It appears that Nativ is also on our plane. Those are not going to be very happy flight attendents. We spot a cute boy in a Foundation for Jewish Camping tee.
Sept. 2
12:00 AM: Boarded and seated, I manage to barter for an isle seat next to Maya and Leya. El Al provides us with pillows and really nice, fluffy fleece blankets. We decide that at the end of the flight that we will be keeping the blankets.
12:05 AM (EST): Smooth takeoff. The next nine and a half hours are somewhat of a blur, but they consisted roughly of talking, eating a pretty decent vegetarian airplane dinner (apparently when I signed up for Workshop I was a vegetarian), marveling at the real metal cutlery they give us, sleeping, beginning to brush up on my Hebrew with the very annoyed Israeli flight attendents, walking laps around the plane, trying not to disturb the rather large Hasidic Jewish population on the plane when they begin praying at 5 AM EST, blocking the isles, more talking, listening to Noah rant something concerning airspeed and temperature, apologizing to the very annoyed Israeli flight attendents, drinking tea, eating breakfast at 6 AM EST (apparently vegetarian also means lactose intolerant, because I got cereal with soy milk), drinking more tea, more sleeping, and finally waking up as we touch down at Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv.
4:50 PM (Israel timezone): We arrive in Tel Aviv. We get our bags, navigate customs with relative ease, meet our madrichim, get our cell phones, eat a dinner of tunafish sandwiches, meet some of the Brits in the airport, and load onto the buses.
9:00 PM: Arrive at Beit Shean Youth Hostel in northeast Israel. Having gotten something like five hours of sleep in the past 30 hours, I'm pretty certain that I'm going to die. We move into our rooms (I room with Leya, Molly, and Tali in room 104).
9:30 PM: After a quick intro from our madrichim, we have free time to hang out, unpack, and go to sleep. I say I'm going to bed.
10:00 PM: I get a second wind and insist on staying up and hanging out.
Sept. 3
I finally go to bed at 1:00 AM, thus concluding travel days.
Jet-lag wakes me up at 6:00 AM. I shower at 7:00. Now I have to explain that showers in Israel, specifically Israeli youth hostels, are more small rooms with doors than an actual shower that we're used to. Being a little rusty on Israeli showers, I manage to flood half the room. Luckily everyone decides to think that it's hilarious, and after some furious squeegeeing, we head to breakfast at 8:00.
At breakfast I rediscover how good Israeli breakfast are (tomatoes, cucumbers, cottage cheese, eggs, Israeli salad, hummus, bread rolls, chocolate spread, turkish coffee, Wasotsky tea) and how sketchy the rest of the food is. Unfortunately, no schnitzel yet.
The day is filled with excessive name-games and group-building activites. Molly decides that every time we're split up into groups, it would be funny to ask if this is going to be our kvutsah. It's funny but also has the effect of getting us all to start worrying about kvutsot.
Tonight I decide that room 104 is going to bed early. As I'm heading back to the room I see Alex's birthday party delegation run in to hang out. Looks like it's gonna be another late night.
Sept. 4
This morning I wake up and shower like a pro. The shower is barely wet. Today, after a short peula on the types of people that live in Israeli society, we head to Tiberias for a scavenger hunt.
It's at least 90 degrees in Tiberias, and being sleep-deprived, semi-dehydrated, and trying to adjust to the water, I'm, again, pretty sure that I'm going to die. I also end up in Noah and Molly's group, who were determined to win. We win, predictably. When Molly and Noah decide to do something, they get it done. The prize is that we get to plan Kabbalat Shabbat this evening. Wonderful.
For lunch, we each get money to get food in tiberias, and we head to a shwarma stand. Molly barters with the schwarma man and we all sit to down to schwarma, falafel, and, finally, schnitzel.
As soon as we get back to the hostel we jump in the pool, and for the first time since getting to Israel, I'm cold. We get out and plan Kabbalat Shabbat on the fly, deciding that the program will consist of everyone saying their middle names and then singing some songs.
Dinner. Rikud. Hanging out. Blogging. Now it's 3:3O AM and it's really time to go to sleep. Goodnight guys! I'll be back soon when there's something interesting to tell.
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