Problems in Gaza, Classic

So you've probabaly heard more and more news lately about Israel and the Gaza...well I'm very safe where I am if you were worried or concerned. The problems are around central Israel & I am north of Israel. But I must say I did hear the missile alarm (Tzeva Adom) go off about two weeks ago while having dinner in Ashkelon, which is very close to Gaza. When we first heard it, I thought it was an ambulance or something so I wasn't scared at all. The Israelis kept saying it was music and didn't really do anything about it. This alarm goes off for exactly 15 seconds because that's how much time you have to find a bomb shelter. After about 5 seconds, my madricha comes running towards us while we were still eating and tells us to just take everything and run to the bus. The bus was about a 15 second walk, so then she realized it wasn't a good idea/not enough time. After that, we just ran to another building away from the streets that had a roof because we couldn't find a bomb shelter anywhere. We stood there for a few seconds and everyone was really confused since none of us had experienced this before. After the 15 seconds, our madricha explained what had just happened. It was a warning that a missile was coming towards the area I was in. It was a miracle because we found out later that night, about 80 missiles went out that night and the only one hit by the anti-missile from the IDF (Israeli Defense Forces) was that specifc missile. To be honest, I was not worried at all. I just did not think about it at all.

The next weekend, I decided to go to Savyon with my friend Kate to visit family. Savyon is about 30 minutes east of Tel-Aviv. Earlier that day a few people from our program warned us that there would be a bomb in Tel-Aviv that weekend. To be honest, I didnt care because I just had other things to worry about. I knew I would be safe with my family. Anyways so we took the train from Haifa to Tel-Aviv...which takes about 1 1/2 hours. My aunt picked us up, we were fine. We turned on the radio and every time a tzeva adom (alarm) went off a red line would appear on her gps....it would literally go off every 30 seconds. It was just constant....again I wasn't scared because I just felt comfortable with my aunt. We got to her house, ate, and then Kate & I went to watch TV. I left my phone upstairs because I just felt like I did not need it. Everything was perfect and relaxing. Around 8:30 pm my cousins start running inside and changed the channel immediately...I did not know what was going on until they told me bombs and mssiles just went off in Tel-Aviv. Eh whatever. I heard it too from inside the house, but I just thought it was something else. That minute, Ale (our Madricha) texted us immediately asking where everyone was. Like I said before, I did not have my phone on me but Kate did. So before even telling me about the text, Kate responded to her saying we were both in Tel-aviv......we weren't in Tel-Aviv. I told her like 100 times before that we were in a completely different city. It was actually very frustrating. Anyways long story short....it was the absolute worst weekend of my life. We were forced to evacuate to Jerusalem. We got there and it was just very uncomfortable. I had no blankets or pillows, it was freezing, there was no food, I had no clean clothes or underwear, nothing. We did not even get settled there until like 12 or 1 am. It was just so crowded and awful. The next morning, we had to wake up early so we could leave and go back to Yemin Orde. We left Jerusalem around 9am and we ended up getting back at 11am. On Fridays, there is not food for lunch. So again, no food. Finally we convinced Ale to order pizza....but we didn't even get it until like 3:30pm. So I basically didn't have food for a day...whatever. She also did not even order enough so everyone was still hungry. It was just so annoying because I had to spend the whole weekend at Yemin Orde. I mean it's great and everything, but I just really look forward to leaving every weekend to spend shabbat with my family, relax, actually have my privacy, & not eat the gross food here that makes me want to throw up. I am also not being over dramatic. Overall, it was a frustrating weekend and I'm done ranting. Xoxoxo Simcha.

Celebrating the Ethopian Holiday

 

Most of my group in Yemin Orde.

Last week we had the oppportunity to celebrate one of the Ethopian holidays, called Sigd. It is a traditional holiday for Ethopian Jews. The ethopians danced and prayed in the Amharic language.
If you want to know more about this holiday, this is the perfect website to look at: http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Judaism/sigd.html. After this, we went to eat an ethopian meal. This consisted of Injera, which is a flatbread that you put different foods in like chicken. Personally, I did not like it at all. It had a weird sour taste to it, but it was still interesting. They also had many other types of food. Everything was delicious, but very spicy. In the Ethopian culture, you are supposed to share everything and eat with your hands...very different from America! Everything was so messy! After dinner, there was more dancing and singing. Overall, it was such a good experience and I learned many new things I never knew before.

Ein Hod: The Artist Village Puelah

So every week we have different puelahs(activities) run by Ale(my madricha or counselor) and usually they are boring...but this time she decided to actually make it fun. We went a small hike to the village of Ein Hod, which is only like a 30 minute walk. Ein Hod is an artists village, so it is very artsy and everything is decorated. It is a very small town..there are only about 200 families living there. We usually go there if we get bored just to walk around and hang out there. But anyways, we went to a few art gallerys when we first arrived. Some of the art there is amazing! After looking at all the art, we took another small hike and went to a place to pick olives off olive trees.

I'm not really sure why, who, or where those olives we picked went but whatever. I thought it was a random thing to do, but it was a fun surprise I guess. Afterwards, we walked some more and went to someones house and made a bonfire. We all made fresh pita and it was delicious! We all made a spread that had olive oil, salt, and sesame seeds mixed together...it was so good, especially after we put it on the pita! Then we decided to make more pita and to put chocolate spread on that piece. It was so filling, so none of us ate dinner that night. It was a fun adventure because everything was just one surprise after another..which made it a lot funner since none of us were expecting to do anything exciting.

Short & Sweet

My cousin and I!



so cute!

I went to visit my family for shabbat dinner. I only stayed for a few hours and then spent the rest of the weekend with my friends!

Weekend in Tel-Aviv

 

Benjamin Netanyahu

 So this past Thursday my section and basically all of year course went to Jerusalem for the 100th celebration of Hasdassah. We got there at like 3 in the afternoon and stood around not knowing what to do for a few hours...typical year course. But anyways so once the whole event started, we ate....& the food was absolutely AMAZING! They had so many options...it was the best. After we all ate and everything we went to a different place and heard a bunch of people talk, including the prime minister of Israel. That was pretty cool. The event finished at like 8:30pm and we took a bus to Bat Yam, which is near Tel-Aviv.


Rooftop view of Tel-Aviv from the Carlton Hotel

I stayed with a friend that night & the next day we went to the shuk..which is a market. Everything was so cheap! It was fun just walking around. Oh & I ran into someone in the city who knows my rabbi and a bunch of people I know! Not going to lie, but it actually made my day. It was the funniest thing ever considering that never happens..well because I live in Alabama. So basically we spent the day walking around to different shuks. Later that day, I went to the Carlton hotel in Tel-Aviv and stayed there with like 10 people. The reason why we went was because my friend Rachel's grandmother came to Israel for a long weekend so she insisted on getting a hotel for all of Rachel's friends. She also payed for everyones dinner, drinks, and dessert. It was very nice of her to do that! It was such an interesting experience though. haha The next day we all went to breakfast and her grandmother payed for all of us again. It was also an expensive breakfast. It was 120 sheks per person meaning 30 dollars per person! Afterwards, everyone went back to the room and slept or left to go back to their apartments. Instead, I went to the pool and the beach. By the end of the day it was just me and three others. We went to eat sushi and then back to the hotel. Rachel left to have dinner with her grandmother, so then it was just me and two others. We ended up watching movies and staying another night at the hotel, which was so relaxing! Overall, it was a pretty grand weekend!
                      
          

Dancing with the Torah

This past weekend was Simchat Torah. This is supposed to be one of the happiest days of the year because you drink and dance with the torah. For this, I went to Tsfat which is one of the holiest cities in Israel. Tsfat is a very artsy and orthodox city...& it is also beautiful!

I went there with my program. We left early Sunday morning and stayed in a hotel for the night. When we got to the hotel, we had refreshments and a chance to Shake the Lulav for the last time. We had some free time after, so we decided to walk around the city for about 30 minutes. It was actually very chilly, which felt nice.


After this, we had orientations and lectures....which were not that interesting. We also lit the candles, had a mincha service, kiddush and more refreshments. After all of that, we went to a different building and started dancing with the torahs Hakafot/Hasidic style. We all had to wear long skirts and shirts that covered our elbows, which was annoying because it got really hot. It was still really fun! We danced with the torahs for about an hour and a half and finally went to dinner. They had so much food, it was crazy! They passed out a lot of wine, beer, and vodka as well. After the meal, we went back to the other building and danced some more for a few hours. We had the option to go to lectures with the Rabbi, Farbrengen, or just have free time. I was so tired, so I decided to go to sleep.  The next morning we slept in and of course I wasn't feeling well, but I just got ready for the day anyways. We went to the other buliding again and danced again. They passed out more wine, beer, and vodka. I did not really have any energy so I sat and watched for a little bit. I missed breakfast, so I was also hungry. After dancing all morning, we had a torah reading and service for an hour. When we finished we finally ate lunch...I was starving. After lunch, we had some free time and then more lectures and workshops. I went to the "Bringing Spirituality Down to Earth" workshop. I felt like it lasted forever and the rabbi would never stop talking. When it was finally over, we had a tour of Tsfat. It's such a beautiful city. I started feeling sick again and started getting a fever, so the second we got back to the hotel I went to sleep. I felt bad for missing all the activites that were going on, but I could not handle it. I slept for a good hour and felt much better afterwards, but not great. When I woke up it was dinner time, so I ate a very light meal, went to my room and packed. We left the hotel around 9pm and went to another area in Tsfat. We danced and danced on Jerusalem Street. The women and men were separated since it was orthodox...same as the night before. It was a really good experience because I had never done anything like this before. I'm very happy that I was able to experience this in Israel. I always have celebrated Simchat Torah, but not like that. I usually celebrated by going to synagogue and having dinner. I won't ever forget this experience.

                            

This had to be on my blog.

Ale is my madricha and no one likes her. & she's so indimidating. In case you did not know, a madricha is a female counselor. She lives with us at Yemin Orde...we try to avoid her at all times.

Night Life

Every Thursday, we are off for the weekend. Usually I go visit family, but this time I stayed with my friends. We decided at the last minute to go to Haifa for a few hours. When we got there, it was around 9pm so I thought things would be closed, but I was wrong. There were thousands of people there and many different events going on. There were mini concerts and acrobat people all over the place. It was crazy!

 

Everyone was just walking around or eating dinner. It was pretty overwelming I must say. I went with about seven other friends. We ended up splitting up and going to different restaurants, but at the end we met up again. We left around 1 or 2 in the morning and the streets were still insanely crowded. We took a bus back to Yemin Orde. The second we got back, I was exhausted so I just crashed in my bed. Overall, it was a pretty fun night!

Basketball Games & Beach Days in Haifa

After being stuck in Yemin Orde for a few days, the village decided to plan a night trip to a basketball game in Haifa. I'm not really a big fan of basketball, but it was still fun to get out and actually go somewhere. We sat at the top and ate popcorn and nachos...which were gross.

Rachel (my roommate) & I

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The next day after our volunteering shift, our whole group went to the beach for the afternoon. This was a big surprise because our madricha paid for the cab ride there and actually planned this for us. She didn't go with us, which was good because no one likes her....but it was a fun and relaxing afternoon. The water was warm, so it felt so nice. I kept feeling things touching me, so I decided to get out of the water and just hang out with friends.

Stephanie, Rachel G. & I

We also got to watch the sunset, which was beautiful.

 

                          

 

 

Sukkot



Not the best picture, but this is the sukkah we decorated

So I never really celebrated Sukkot at home with my family in America. We always went to synagogue and it wasn't really that big of a deal...well in Israel its different. Everyone is off for the whole week...or most people are at least. I was at my uncle rami and aunt oras house for the first night of sukkot. I helped decorate and prepare all day with them. My aunt cooked all day long and my uncle set the sukkah up for most of the day. A bunch of my family came like Sara, Ron, Lee-shy, Liad, Yaffa, and a bunch more! Everyone got here around 6 & we all managed to sqeeze inside the sukkah. All the food my aunt made was so good! They were all my favorite Israeli foods. Afterwards, we all sat outside eating fruits and nuts....of course. Everyone was in a circle singing karoke or just talking. It then started to rain, which is very surprising! I'm pretty sure that was my first time actually seeing rain in Israel! So we all went inside and continued to talk/sing karoke, etc. Everyone finally left around 9 or 10pm. It was great being with my whole family! Xoxo simcha
                              
                                        My cousins Adva and Lee-shy.

 

Birthday bashhh

Surprised my friend, Bentzi for his birthday along with 15 others at my roommate, Rachels apartment. It was so great! We all hid in the bathroom and one person would walk out every minute. He was so excited and happy to see all of us! It was priceless.

 

The Dead Sea Experience

I went to the Dead Sea with my 10 year old cousin, Liad and my aunt/uncle. It was fun, but extremely hot and dry! Liad and I went into a sulfur pool nearby and found it was filled with dead skin.....it was actually the most disgusting thing. We got out immediately and took a really long shower afterwards. We also put black mud all over us. It makes your skin so soft...it was wonderful! Oh not to mention, I've never seen so many very large Russians in my life...they filled the place! It was crazy! Overall, it was a fun filled day with many new experiences. xoxo simcha

Guess I didn't get the memo to wear white

Last night at sundown was the start of Yom Kippur...this was my first year for the holiday. It was such a different experience than America. After we ate dinner, we just walked the streets of petach tikva. There were so many people and everyone was dressed up in white..except me of course. Guess I didn't get that memo beforehand...oh well.  I mean I knew white was the thing to wear, but I did not think EVERYONE would be wearing it. I know next time! but it was my cousins and their friends plus me...we just walked the streets and the highway for hours talking. There were absolutely no cars whatsoever...unless it was a police or an ambulance of course. It was so weird! But everyone was speaking Hebrew so I wasn't really listening...after listening to it for more than hour, I got so overwhelmed and tired of it because I had to really think about what everyone was saying & I was really tired. Its difficult! But we ended up going to my cousins house at like midnight and I fell asleep..I don't know why I was so tired because I'm usually wide awake at midnight. After about an hour I woke up and I walked back to my aunt rivkas house with my other cousin, Atad. The second we got back, I crashed. I slept until like 11 the next day...but I ended up going back to sleep and slept the rest of the day. There was nothing better to do anyways. Finally around 5ish, my cousins and I walked to a synagogue nearby to listen to the shofar. It was weird because everyone was standing outside since there was no room inside. There were hundreds of people...they all came just to hear the shofar for like a minute just like us. After, we walked back to rivkas and broke the fast. It was the best thing ever!! The end.
Xoxo simcha

Roomies

Just in case y'all cared...here's my lovely roommate, Rachel! We knew each other before Israel, so we picked to be each others roommate. & she's from texas in case yall really wanted to know haha
xoxo simcha

 

What's in the Poyke Pot?

 

 

The first night I arrived at Yemin Orde, my madricha wanted us to have "bonding time" to get to know each other. So, after dinner we made a bonfire outside even though it was like 5 million degrees to make poyke. We waited about ten minutes for the fire to get bigger & then we somehow mananged to put both poyke pots in the fire without getting burned. Poyke is basically a stew with chicken and vegetables in case you did not know. But anyways, its a pretty easy thing to make....it just takes about two hours. We basically just put oil in the pots, then the vegetables & chicken, and lastly a lot of water. Afterwards, we just let it sit for a while. During this time, we all made our own pita bread from the fire.

It didn't really have that much taste but it's okay.  By the time the poyke was done, it was around 10pm. It was pretty late to eat a heavy meal like that, but it was definitely worth it!

It looks kind of gross, but it was so good!