OTZMA's in the house, oh my gosh, oh my gosh

It's been almost a week here in Israel, and simply put, it's been GREAT. We had a group of about 17 people from OTZMA on our flight, so we were able to "enjoy" the company of about 100-120 (that's NOT an exaggeration) of Orthodox high school girls heading off to Yeshiva. Ever since then, it's been a whirlwind of meetings, icebreakers, hikes, and Israeli food (I'm trying to expand my culinary horizons this year. It's a slow process).

Some random thoughts from the past week:

-OTZMA is an absolutely amazing group of people. As against the odds as it might be with 38 people, we have all been getting along really well and forging some quick friendships. As one person put it, it seems to be BECAUSE of all of our differences that we are doing so well. So far everyone has been incredibly supportive of each other (especially on the hikes - more on that later) and there seems to be a pretty strong effort from all of us to bond as an entire group.

-Jerusalem is just as cool of a city as you might imagine. During Birthright we were pretty much kept under lock and key, so being able to explore the entire city with the group was really interesting. For the most part, the people are very friendly and willing to stop and chat with you on the street, and the city itself is absolutely beautiful.

-Best part of the week: Shabbat on the Kotel. I've been to the Western Wall once before, but not on a Friday night! We spent some time praying at the actual Wall inside the partitions (for those who don't know, the Kotel is divided for men and women), and I spent some time just watching and absorbing those around me. Those who think Orthodox Judaism is a very serious and dull religion need to see this. People singing, dancing, cheering... basically a HUGE celebration that involves everyone around. After that, me, Ari, and Brett stepped outside to the common area and ended up joining a giant circle of about 50-75 Israeli soldiers who were singing and dancing, largely to music that I already knew from camp. All I could think of was, "Shabbat Players Israeli style?" After that, we walked back to the hostel we were staying at (only took about 1 hr. 15 min.) for Shabbat dinner and some impromptu singing. then, it really WAS Shabbat Players when we started doing Boom Chicka Boom! Any Sabra person reading this knows how excited I was about that one. The night went on for a while, mostly with the summer camp people singing and dancing on our balcony while the rest of the group looked on amused. Actually, one person came up to me and Ari and told us how much he and everyone else appreciated the ruach (ahem, ruhah) we were bringing to the group. So... cool! Good night!

-Something that can tell you a lot about a group of people is a good long hike. Or in our case, two. According to our tour guide Amos, Israelis attempt to "grow roots" in the land by going on hikes, so that was what we did this weekend. And anyone who knows me knows that going straight up a mountain (literally) ain't exactly my cup of tea, but we all made it through, and I think we're a better group for it. There really aren't many words to describe the hikes, so as soon as my pictures get posted, those will have to tell the tale.

-On the Dead Sea: Go there. It's really cool to just be able to lie back and float. But please, PLEASE, keep your mouth shut. Having the water splash into your mouth is pretty terrible. Just do this one for me.

-Pictures will be up soon - I forgot the cord to plug in at home, so as soon as that gets here I'll get them online.

-As I finish this up, Carpenter is also finishing up his 1-hitter against the Brewers, with just 2 walks and 10 strikeouts, giving him a 16-3 record with a 2.16 ERA. As great as Pujols has been and as huge as the Holliday trade was for the morale boost it obviously gave the clubhouse, he and Wainwright are the reasons the Cardinals could very easily have a deep run this year. ESPN is now predicting a Cards-Yankees WS, which may or may not be a good thing (the prediction, not the series). For the month of August, they had a .769 winning percentage and 3.06 starters ERA, both good enough for the best in baseball. MLB TV, you will soon be my best friend.

-And finally... M-I-Z Z-O-U!!! It's going to be rough having to watch this season from afar, especially after games like that one! Sounds like Gabbert had as good of a debut as you could have asked for, and it was good to see him hook up with Kemp for a TD - hopefully we'll see a lot of that connection over the next few years. Recognizing that picking us over Texas would be a total homer pick (although it IS on Homecoming...), this season is going to come down to the games against Nebraska and kU. If we can win two, there's no reason we don't head to another Big 12 Championship Game. No matter if this is blind optimism or a realistic look at Mizzou's upcoming season, I think we can all agree that no stat looks better after week one than 1-0. Isn't that right, Bob Stoops?

OK, so I'll have to blog more often to avoid mega-posts like this one. In any case, hope all is well back home in the States. I need a good sign-off for these blogs, anyone got a suggestion?

Turning the Page

So last December, my brother gave my parents a DVD set of the complete series of The West Wing. With my interest in politics having recently exploded into a full-time obsession, I promptly swiped it and started working my way through all 7 seasons. It quickly became my new favorite show (despite the whole, you know, ending 3 years ago thing), and I even tried to use an episode of it in my student teaching. For the record, the show doesn't help teach 8th graders about government. Not even a little bit. When I realized a few weeks ago that I was getting ready to leave the country for the year and still had 2 seasons to go, I kicked it up a notch and started blowing through the last episodes to try and get to the end. So now, it's 2AM the night before I leave for Israel, and I'm finally about to watch the final episode. It's been a little anticlimactic - I knew the Democratic candidate was going to win, I knew Josh and Donna were going to end up together, and I knew it wasn't going to be as good as the first few seasons just because Aaron Sorkin wasn't writing it anymore. But here I am, after 155 episodes, getting ready to watch the last one.

So now you're probably reading this and wondering... "What the heck is he talking about?"

The point is that I'm getting ready to close a chapter on my life. And in a big way. Even when I've moved on to other points in my life, it hasn't been that drastic of a change. Going to college in my home state, realistically, ain't the biggest risk. Now, jumping on a plane and moving halfway across the world for a year? That qualifies as a bit of a leap. The two most common responses I've gotten from people when I tell them what I'm doing are "Wow, isn't it dangerous over there?" and "Wow, I could never do that." And I could? When I picked up my first DVD of The West Wing, I never even dreamed about doing this. Then again, at that point I was SURE that I was going to go straight to grad school, I was SURE that I was going to get my M.A. in curriculum, I was SURE that I would teach high school history for 5-10 years, and I was SURE that I would move into school administration after that. Now, I'm not sure about any of that, and to me, that's a good thing. Who knows, maybe I'll even go into politics! (Oh lord, a life decision based off of a TV show...) The point is, the next chapter of my life is here. In 10 hours, I'm boarding the plane to New York, and from there we're off and running. The bags are packed, and while I've still got a little more cleaning to do, there's nothing left. In fact, pretty much the only thing left to do is to watch that last episode. And then it's time to turn the page.

Leaving on a Jet Plane

I can't say I've ever been good at this sort of thing, but I figure now's a good time to start. If you're here, you probably already know the purpose of this blog - I'm heading to Israel for the next 10 months and am using this opportunity to keep in touch with everyone back in the States and let everyone know what I'm up to. A little information about the trip: I'm participating in a program called Project Otzma, which is a service-based program all throughout the country. We're starting off living in a town called Ashkelon, a southern city on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, where we'll focus on learning Hebrew in addition to volunteering in the community.

Outside of that basic info... who knows what's coming over the next year. After graduating from the University of Missouri last year, I've watched all my friends stress out over starting their lives and finding a job, and while this is certainly a very different start to my post-college life, when else will I have a chance to have this type of experience? You know, that "once in a lifetime", "life changing experience", and whatever other cliches you can think of.

In any case, at 11:55 AM on Tuesday I hop a flight to New York, and at 7:55 PM, it's l'hitryot America...