Roller Coaster, Trampolines and other analogies for "ups and downs"

This was a week of ups and downs. I really wanted to write this in a cool graph that brought my words up and down to further symbolize the message I am sending. But I dont know how to do that. So we will go with a simpler route.

 

 :( (Down): I started ulpan on Sunday, but in the first of many incidents that led to me to understand that I am a late person (some of you probably could have told me this) I was two hours late for my first day. I do not like making excuses, but since yall are friends I will just say it had to do with a lack of tremps (hitchhikes), a lack of buses, and a lack of energy.

 

 :) (Up): They were totally ok with me being late and I got put into one of the intermediate classes. I really like my classmates, But I do not think I am in the right level, so I am going to try to move up a class next week. I tried this week but they were like "No! We'll just make the class harder" which made me feel bad for everyone else, but also didnt work. The ulpan is a bit of a schlepp to get to, but overall I am liking it.

 

:(  Mia and Davida were both gone this week (Mia is in basic training and Davida went to visit her brother in Maale Gilboa, up north). So I was alone in the apartment, and it was rather lonely. I began to wonder if I had missed out by not living in the ulpan with everyone and was slightly intimidated by the prospect of having to make an entirely new social circle, which I hadnt really thought too much about.

 

 :) I do have good friends here, just not doing the same things I am doing, so it is sometimes hard to see them. But when I needed them this week they gave me the necessary pep-talks and when I was invited out with some people from ulpan I braved the awkwardness of going out without a wingman and had a really good time. We went to a bar where a ton of people from my ulpan were celebrating various birthdays and I met lots of new people and got lots of new numbers. I also got a little bit drunk and made friends with the boys working at Burgers Bar, which proved quite fruitful when they gave me free french fries. Free food is always an up.

 

:( Banks and bounced checks were the bane of my existence this week.

 

:)  I got to watch President Barack Obama's inauguration and was positively swelling with pride for America. How amazing is it that we have a president named Barack! Ahhh!

 

:( We still dont have a table.

 

:) But we are having a Shabbat meal here anyway. I am very excited/slightly nervous about spending my first Shabbat in Katamon. All three of us will be home and we are going out to Davida's family friend for Friday night dinner, then having lunch here with friends. It was nice to really use our kitchen (though the oven is incredibly confusing- there are two temperture knobs!) and even though we will have to eat lunch picnic style, I think it'll be really fun. 

Week 2

Things I love about Israel this week:

- I get to eat out EVERYWHERE

- the cellcom guy who was really nice to me and not only gave me a good cell plan but taught me a new hebrew phrase

- the roaming packs of teenage boys with overgelled hair and really tight jeans that wander the streets of jerusalem like stray dogs

- my 35 shekel ($7) haircut

- The fact that I got 3 drawings matted, 2 drawings framed, 2 photos framed, and a painting framed for under $200

- getting a ride with my friends fiancee's friend to her engagement party in Netanya

 

Things I do not love about Israel this week:

- banks. banks. banks.

- rocket sirens (we had a warning siren in Jerusalem this week)

- getting bit by a horse

 

Things I am oddly apathetic about:

- waiting in lines at bureacratic institutions. In fact, the process is pretty much the same as in America only in Hebrew and with more Jews.

- My ulpan is an hours walk away and not really accessable by bus.

 

Things that I am oddly excited about:

- my new FRIDGE! (and by new i mean old and dirty but better than the window sill)

- hanging up pictures on my wall

- i have had shoko b'sakit (chocolate milk in a bag) for breakfast every morning this week

 

People who have slept on our floor/couch this week:

- ari

- ayton

- lara

- michelle

- david

- yael

and yes, they were willing to stay here even when we had no fridge or heat. they must really really love us.

Initiation

I send these messages out in weekly emails so let me know if you would prefer to be on the list ~Kfi

So this week I officially became an Israeli. On Monday I got my Israeli Identity card (teudat zehut) and opened a bank account after spending 40 minutes learning about how banks here suck and take your money for everything you do. Yay! I have also moved almost all of my stuff into my apartment and even have a mattress there, but have yet to actually sleep there. But all that doesnt count. I truly became an Israeli on Tuesday, when I left my cell phone in a tremp (hitchhike car) on my way to Netivot.

So yeah, this week I went to Netivot for 2-3 days. For those of you who dont know, Netivot is an Israeli town near the Gaza strip that, along with Sderot and other towns in the area has been under rocket fire for the past seven years. Obviously, due to the current war in Gaza, the rocket attacks have become more frequent, and there are usually 2-3 a day. When a rocket is launched, a siren goes off in Netivot and the residents have approzimatly 30 seconds to get into a bomb shelter before it hits. In Sderot, they have 15 seconds. Since that is not alot of time, most of the familys in Netivot and Sderot have been living in the community bomb shelters. My friend Eli and I went down to volunteer with a group called Lev Echad that goes around to different shelters and cheers up the families there. Because it has not been not safe to send the students to school in over a week and it is not safe to let them play anywhere but inside or right outside the shelters, they are depressed and scared and really bored. So groups of four or five volunteers go around to the various shelters (there are over 80 of them in Netivot) and play with the children or talk with the teenagers or help out the adults. We also go to the houses of the older couples who cannot leave their homes.

I have read alot about what is going on down there, and even written a research paper about how these attacks are affecting the children growing up here, but it is something else entirely to see it.

We started out on wednesday and went to shelter where four of us played with 15-20 children. We did art projects and games, and skits and entertained them for about four hours. I did not even here the first siren or the boom when the rocket hit because we were in the shelter the whole time. But eventually, the adults were getting annoyed with all the noise we were making so we moved outside and played on the street corner for awhile. It is kind of eerie there because the town looks just like any other Israeli town, and the children are playing just like other children, and sometimes it takes you a moment to realize that the streets and houses are abnormally quiet and everyone kind of orients themselves around the shelters.

The second siren went off just as I was leaving the high school where we were all staying. It was really nice outside and a group of clowns had driven down to volunteer so there were alot of children and volunteers outside playing games etc. When the siren went off, everyone started running outside and one of the smaller girls, Ranana fell on her way inside. She was quickly picked up and we all got inside and were fine but you could tell that she was crying more from fear than actual pain. It killed me that there was nothing I could do or say to make her feel safe. I cannot even imagine growing up feeling afraid in my own house.

We actually went and saw a house that had been hit on Saturday and I could not believe the damage that these rockets can do. More than half the house was obliterated and the one next door was full of holes just from the shock of the blast!

Anyway, I dont want to go on and on about this because honestly I am still trying to absorb it all myself. All I can say is that I am amazed by the strength of these people and I cannot believe that they have had to live like this for so long. They make me proud to be Israeli.

Dont worry, I have had enough excitement for this week and will be staying safely in the middle of Israel for the next few days. For those of you who want to learn more about Sderot/Netivot, you can either ask me or check out this website http://sderotmedia.com/?cat=5