"Be Successful"

Sorry the blog posts have been slow so far, but we still don’t have Internet of our own – we’ve all been resorting to “borrowing” wi-fi from our new friends across the street until we get our own set up. Nonetheless, I figured it was time for an update on how everything is going here.

First off... pictures are up on Facebook! I'm working on getting some sort of photo album up where people can see them off FB, so that'll hopefully happen soon. Here are some pics from the hikes in the meantime...










We finally started getting into a little bit of a groove, with ulpan starting today and our volunteer work getting going. Last week we went to work at a community center (think your local JCC) and toured a small “village” built and run completely by college students. The idea was that this is the new form of Zionism, in that our grandparents’ generation created the state of Israel, our parents’ generation fought for and defended it, and now our generation is going to rebuild from within, or something like that. It’s actually very similar to the wave of activism that swept through American college campuses last year, in that our generation is tired of sitting on the sidelines and are actively getting involved in community service. I was actually a little fuzzy on how the two places were connected, but I’m pretty sure the people we were working with were part of the student community. Anyway, we spent the day resodding the lawn and basically getting the place ready for students to start coming after school got out. Seems like it would be annoying and unnecessarily strenuous work, but tasks like that are always more fun and enjoyable when you’re doing it under the umbrella of “volunteering”.

The next day we helped deliver boxed Rosh Hashanah meals to the more downtrodden areas of Ashkelon – the very LARGE downtrodden areas. One of the more interesting aspects of this city is the very large disparity in wealth. In some areas you see beautiful new apartments with grills out on the deck, little gardens being tended to, and big air conditioning units set up outside. Right across the street, you see broken-down fences, clothes hanging out to dry, and maybe a fan or two. It’s going to be a major part of our experience here dealing with that fairly severe break in income levels, as much of our volunteering is going to be in that type of population. I’m still not sure exactly what I’ll be doing day-to-day, but I’ll update as soon as I do (hopefully).

I’m also very glad to be started on ulpan, or Hebrew classes. While 5 hours a day (you read that right) might seem like a bit much, I’m really excited to be able to really communicate with people here. When I was in line at the grocery store the other day, the woman in front of me tried to spark up a conversation, only to be frustrated and annoyed when I clearly had no clue what she was saying. I did redeem myself when I told her I had only been there for a week and was getting ready to start ulpan, as she got very excited and told me to “Be successful”. That right there is really what the Israeli people boil down to – they might be pushy, loud, and seemingly self-absorbed, but at the end of the day, they turn out to be some of the most generous people you will ever meet. I mean, when you get right down to it, this woman pulled a total 180, going from being pissed off at me for not bothering to learn her country’s language to wishing me all the best in the world. To be successful. How often has someone said that to you back in the States? It really just fuels the fire to put it all into learning about this language and this land, because at the end of the day, I’m giving a year of my life to this country and the Israeli people. So don’t I owe it to them as much as myself to be successful?