Looking Back On The Last Three Months...

Has it really been three months already? Yes, chaverim, we have reached the end of our time here in Ashkelon. It is now 3:00, and all of us are at various stages in our packing and cleaning, preparing to move out of Kalanit tomorrow morning. So since I really hate doing those things, what better time to recap the past few months? Here are some of the highlights…

-The plane ride from New York to Tel Aviv. Oh, wait, this wasn’t a highlight, due to the hundreds of screaming Yeshiva girls who wouldn’t shut up the entire plane ride. Yeah, I’m still bitter.

-First shawarma in Israel. After arriving in Jerusalem, a bunch of us wandered around the city until we found a little street with a bunch of restaurants, where we treated ourselves to our first shawarma. More interestingly, a girl overheard us saying “OTZMA” as she walked by, and turned out she was an alumnus from a couple of years ago that had made aliyah! Our first clue at how small Israel really is.

-Deck parties at Yitzchak Rabin Youth Hostel. Every night in Jerusalem, we would all find ourselves outside, having fun and hanging out. This was our first real chance to get to know each other, and the nights more often than not included the “Summer Camp” group loudly singing camp songs into the night while everyone else watched with equal parts amusement and annoyance.

-Our night with the Bedouins. After leaving Jerusalem, we went on a two-day tiyul that included a lot of intense hiking and a night in a Bedouin tent. We also learned that traditionally Bedouins give 3 small cups of coffee. We only got 2.

-Swimming in the Dead Sea. Also, getting swept away in the current of the Dead Sea and trying to get back without insanely salty water splashing in your face and mouth, causing intense pain.

-Moving into Kalanit! By the way, I firmly believe I had the best roommate in the group in Jeremy, a San Fransicoan who will soon be volunteering in a town called Kiryat Shimona. Great guy.

-First time at the beach – for me, pretty much ever. A lot of people here are from coastal areas, so it was status quo for them, but having lived my life in Missouri, being able to walk to the beach was pretty awesome.

-Volunteering to deliver Rosh Hashana care packages. Less notable for the actual work, more notable for the fact that I was working with a girl I hadn’t really talked to the first week, some Philly girl named Allie...

-Starting ulpan and quickly realizing how over my head I was…

-Nights out in Ashkelon, which mainly meant heading to the Marina and the occasional dance club. I say occasional because that hasn’t happened since October.

-The infamous “24 Hours in Israel”, which consisted of us delivering more Rosh Hashana supplies, going to a 2AM educational seminar in Jerusalem to learn… something, and getting on a bus 24 hours after waking up to head to Yokne’am for the first time.

-Meeting my adoptive family in Yokne’am! The Hirsches were awesome, and I loved their little twins. We spent the first night of Rosh Hashana in Carmiel with Effie (the dad)’s family, who spoke English, and the second day/night with Ofra (the mom)’s famiy in Kiryat Shimona, who did not. We also stopped off in a town called Akko, which is this awesome old city filled with medieval fortresses from the times of the Crusades. Finally, we stopped off at an army base in the Golan Heights to see Effie’s nephew, where I got to take a picture with a tank – BUT ONLY ONE (emphasis added by the IDF). I then jumped on a train to head home… only to find about 10 other OTZMAnikim on the same train.

-Volunteering at the local foster home. A lot of people got kind of lame rooms, but my kids were AWESOME. One girl loved being lifted in the air, and another kid always wanted to play basketball or soccer with me – and if you know me, you know the entertainment value there. They gave me a framed picture at the end with all of them.

-Sukkot break in Egypt! I’ve recapped that enough on here, so just go read that.

-Potlucks, both big and small. Whenever I was in Ashkelon for Shabbat, we would have a big potluck with whoever was in town. We also did a lot of smaller potlucks for random dinners, since it was much easier to make a little bit and have a lot of people do the same. The most memorable would have to be the Asian-themed dinner, where we made sweet and sour chicken and I came up with little fortune cookies.

-Random weekend in Jerusalem. I went up to hang out with Allie, and we saw the Israel Museum along with many buses. We also went to an Idan Reichel concert, of which you can read about on the St. Louis OTZMA blog.

-More weekends in Yokneam! Along with more Shabbat dinners with the Hirsches, I went up to spend a few days with a group of 30somethings from St. Louis who were being sponsored on their first trip to Israel. Again, check out the other blog for a recap.

-LOTS of seminars. We had one interesting one on Israeli politics, where we got a crash course in the Knesset, along with a meeting with a former MK. A lot of comments that day about how I was in my element. Also, I got to go to a great Shabbaton where we learned all about security issues facing Israel. A pretty sobering experience – pretty much Iran is the key to everything and it’s going to hit the fan in the next year. Yay! If they could wait till July, that would be great.

-Going to see “(500) Days of Summer” In Jerusalem, only to learn that the online listing lied and we were at an incredibly artsy theater. We saw “An Education” instead. Not what I wanted to see. They didn’t even sell popcorn…

-Date night in Tel Aviv! Go check out Mayumana if you didn’t the last time I asked you to. Please.

-An awesome auction at Netzach Yisrael, which raised something like 10 times more money than they raised the past 5 years. Go Allie for planning it!

-Volunteering at a local school called Kfar Silver, with kids who really did have a great interest in learning English. We even watched part of “Pay It Forward” and discussed it with them. Now if only it were more organized…

-Dogsitting for Allie’s adoptive family while they were in England. They have a little puppy named Gizmo, and outside of my dog (of course)… CUTEST. DOG. EVER.

-Packing and leaving. Wait… not that.

So that was a brief recap… but what comes next? Well, you should probably check out my other blog for that. Oh yeah. It’s a two-part crossover.