Quick Life Update

OK, we're going to take a brief pause in the ongoing "Searching for Middle (East) Ground" series to update everyone on where I am now. Part II of OTZMA has drawn to a close, meaning that my time in Yokne'am has come to an end. It's been a fun ride - the people I've met and worked with have been fantastic, and I truly did enjoy the work I was doing. Yokne'am is certainly a much smaller community than I've ever lived in, but it was a refreshing change of pace. Not sure I would want to build a life in this small of a town, but I certainly can see why someone would. (Keep in mind, by the way, that while Yokne'am is tiny by U.S. standards, it is considered a city here in Israel.) I especially enjoyed working in the school everyday - still not sure I want to make education my long-term career, but it certainly reinvigorated my passion for teaching.

Right now, I am staying in Yokne'am with my adoptive family for a few days for Passover, and we are heading up to Efi's parents' in Tzfat for the seder tomorrow night. Also, I've been joking about this, but seeing as at the end of every seder in America we say "Next year in Jerusalem"... well, I feel weird that I'm here in Israel but not in Jerusalem for Passover! So, I'm considering going for a day to have the experience. Maybe it's dumb and there's no point, but we'll see. Following that will be Shabbat back in good ole Ashkelon, and then Allie and I are jumping on a plane to Dubrovnik, Croatia for a 6-day vacation. I know Croatia probably sounds pretty random, but I'm excited - how many people do you know who can say they vacationed in Croatia? Besides, it's supposed to have some of the most amazing beaches in the world, so I'm looking forward to it.

After our trip, it's time for Part III! I'll be in Jerusalem with about half of OTZMA living at Hebrew University on Mt. Scopus and taking part in an internship for the remainder of the program. Our apartments should be interesting - by all accounts, they're some of the nicest accomodations that OTZMA has EVER provided for their participants, the only drawback being that you're pretty far from everything. Hopefully this won't be too big of an issue, but the truth is that the apartments are apparently nice enough that it balances out any potential issues. As for the internship... I'll check in on that later. Suffice it to say that there have been some issues out of my control, but as of today there have been some developments towards what could be a fantastic internship. I'd rather not go into it until everything is finalized, but hopefully I'll be able to go into more details soon.

So that's where I'm at now. I'll do my best to keep posting during break, as I should have internet during most of it. I'm intending to keep posting more installments in the "Middle (East) Ground" series, but they'll be a little more sporadic than last week. Being the Twitter-addict that I am, you can always follow along with me there. (Sidebar: Just one follower away from 100! Woohoo!) In the meantime, Pesach sameach to you all!

One last note: If you didn't see this article in the New York Times about the new Passover tradition at the White House, check this out.