This year was the first year that I would not be spending Thanksgiving with my family. Instead, I spent Thanksgiving with my Nativ Family. We had all of Nativ 30 and Bogrei Nativ (Nativ Alumni from 1-29), plus the families of current Nativers and Bogrei Nativ. There were about 200 people there. We started off in the shul saying Ma'ariv. Then our director, Yossi Garr, said a few words. After that, we heard the acapella group sing. A couple people put together a Nativ Thanksgiving slide show. It was cute. Then acapella came up again to sing another song. Yossi "rang the dinner bell" and the former Be'er Sheva group (now Carmiel) + the Kibbutz group + Bogrei Nativ from 1-19 joined us in the main dining hall. Yossi told Nativ 30 that we all had a Thanksgiving Surprise waiting for us outside the dining hall. Letters from our families. My letter most definitely made me cry.
Dear Dena,
-This is the first Thanksgiving that the four of us will be separated. The distance is only in physical miles, not in the love we have for you.
-Your seat at the table has been usurped by your four-legged friend. She gladly will eat your turkey and anything else she can put her paws on. Just ask your sister what happens when you leave candy within reach.
-While the seat will be filled, we will miss your humor and level-headedness and calming effect on the entire family :)
-Seriously, it will be really strange to not have you home, but we know you are having a great time in Israel. Try not to eat too much turkey and remember that Thanksgiving came late this year, so close to Chanukah. :)
-We will pat the dog on the head, rub her belly, and play tug-of-war for you, but she isn't getting your piece of pie. We have already seen what happens when she is on a sugar high. Again, ask your sister.
-Have a wonderful Thanksgiving.
Love,
Mom, Dad, and Tova
P.S. Check out Dirk's new hair
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Hey Big Sis!!!
Missing you tons down here in the big D...well P really. I love you and miss you tons and I wish I coulld come and visit you in Israel, because that would just be so awesomely lovely.
Love your bestest best little sister
<3 Tova
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I wasn't the only one who cried from their letter(s). After a dinner of Turkey, stuffing, mashed sweet potatoes, green beans, apple bars, and pumpkin pie (they had cranberry sauce there, but I didn't get any) Nativ 30 had a special thing down in the auditorium. Yossi said that around Thanksgiving time is when Nativers get the most homesick, so more people put on a slide show of the 3 months here so far. Then Lauren, Ashleigh, Levi, and Gillman said because there weren't enough Thanksgiving songs, they wrote one and sang it to the tune of Ma'oh Tzur. What a great transition into next week. Then for those who wanted to watch the Thanksgiving episode of Friends, they could stay and watch it. I'm pretty sure I was the only one who didn't stay to watch it because I wanted to Skype with my parents to tell them how much their letter meant to me. It was nice talking to them, even though we talk almost every day, it was very meaningful on Thanksgiving. We even talked about my winter break plans.
Berlin for 3 days with my dad's college roommate, then I'm thinking about going to Italy. (If any of you have some ideas on where I should go, please contact me)
Friday, November 26, 2010
Saturday, November 20, 2010
מעלות, Harry Potter, and a Walking Tour
MA'ALOT
Last weekend was a closed Shabbat which means we couldn't have the freedom of going wherever we wanted. So the Be'er Sheva group went to Ma'alot which is 6 kilometers from the Lebanon border. I was paired up with Nava Jacknis. We were both very fortunate because on Monday, we had a presentation due for Israeli Literature . The family was so nice. When we walked in, for some strange reason, they thought we were Russian, but were relieved when they found out we were American. The father was from South Africa and the mother was from New York. They had 5 kids (2 of whom no longer lived at home). The eldest boy there, Oorit, is probably about 17. Nechama, the oldest girl, is 15 and such a sweet girl. Hodaya, the baby, is 4 and was slightly obssesed with our presence. The family had a rule for the weekend, only speak in English. It was so that the kids would get better at English and so that we would feel comfortable. We had our own room on our own floor, and it was a big room. Apparently, the 2 older boys shared that room. When we sat down and unpacked what we needed for the night, we started to read the story and take notes on what we were going to talk about in our presentation. Then, Hodaya comes in, while she knows English she refuses to speak it. She asks us if she likes her crocs and then she proceeds to bring in her flip flops, her slippers, her jewelry, etc. We then went upstairs to go to shul. The way to get to there is: go up a slightly hidden pathway with a couple of stairs (which, once it was dark outside, you couldn't see the steps very well), take a right, go up a monster hill (which was a lot of fun to go down), take a left and there's the shul. After shul, we came back for an amazing home cooked meal. At dinner, the family made us feel welcome. They didn't ask us the uncomfortable questions of our personal lives. They asked us where we were from, what the program is, where we are going to college next year, what we will do in Be'er Sheva next semester, and that was it. It was nice to feel like a part of a conversation. They didn't assume anything about us either. After dinner, Nava and I walked back to shul for Tisch (a Yiddish word meaning Friday night singing session). When that ended, our assistant director, Elkana, told us what time shul started the next morning, what time we had to meet up at shul and said good night to us. We got back home and went to sleep. The next morning, we woke up to Hodaya knocking on the door asking why it was locked. Would you want a 4 year old waking you up by jumping on your bed if you're not related? I didn't think so. We got up, got dressed, and sat outside enjoying the view drinking tea and coffee before lunch. Lunch was equally as tasty as dinner. We had a great lasagna. We even tried beer shandy (2/3 Sprite [or 7 UP] and 1/3 Goldstar [or some other dark beer). For dessert, they had the most amazing cookies I've ever tasted. We had the whole afternoon to ourselves. We got to shul to meet up with everyone. Then we all headed down to Elkana's parents' house for Se'uda Shlishit (the 3rd meal of the day). After that we went to Mincha at shul. We all came back to their house for Ma'ariv and Havdalah. After that, we were told what time to meet at the shul so we could get on the buses to head back to Jerusalem. We went back to our host family's house, packed up. We thanked our hosts for everything. We got the recipe for the cookies, and their phone numbers to stay with them again. The mother even gave us cookies for the ride back. We got to shul, got on the bus, and headed back.
HARRY POTTER
In Israel, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 came out on November 18th. (We knew it came out in the States and Canada on the 19th). So I went with Wendy, Sarah L, Kayla, Allie, Elana P, Aviva, Jason, and Alex. In Israel, there are reserved tickets for the movie theater, so the only row they had to fit the 9 of us was the 2nd row (which actually was still a good view). The movie was amazing (I won't spoil it for those of you who haven't seen it yet.) In Israel, they have an intermission in the middle of the movie. The idea being so you'll get up and buy something. After the intermission, we continued to watch the movie.
WALKING TOUR
Almost every Friday morning, Achi has a walking tour around Jerusalem. She goes to places really close by to where we live to show us things we didn't even know was in our own backyard or the history of places we were familiar with. On Friday, I went on the tour with Daniel and Dave (we were triple D). We went to the Russian colony to learn that the jail and court house used to be a hostel. When we were at the museum of the jail, which used to be the women's hostel, we saw police taking handcuffed people out of their car. It was such a fun experience to see the things that were there.
Last weekend was a closed Shabbat which means we couldn't have the freedom of going wherever we wanted. So the Be'er Sheva group went to Ma'alot which is 6 kilometers from the Lebanon border. I was paired up with Nava Jacknis. We were both very fortunate because on Monday, we had a presentation due for Israeli Literature . The family was so nice. When we walked in, for some strange reason, they thought we were Russian, but were relieved when they found out we were American. The father was from South Africa and the mother was from New York. They had 5 kids (2 of whom no longer lived at home). The eldest boy there, Oorit, is probably about 17. Nechama, the oldest girl, is 15 and such a sweet girl. Hodaya, the baby, is 4 and was slightly obssesed with our presence. The family had a rule for the weekend, only speak in English. It was so that the kids would get better at English and so that we would feel comfortable. We had our own room on our own floor, and it was a big room. Apparently, the 2 older boys shared that room. When we sat down and unpacked what we needed for the night, we started to read the story and take notes on what we were going to talk about in our presentation. Then, Hodaya comes in, while she knows English she refuses to speak it. She asks us if she likes her crocs and then she proceeds to bring in her flip flops, her slippers, her jewelry, etc. We then went upstairs to go to shul. The way to get to there is: go up a slightly hidden pathway with a couple of stairs (which, once it was dark outside, you couldn't see the steps very well), take a right, go up a monster hill (which was a lot of fun to go down), take a left and there's the shul. After shul, we came back for an amazing home cooked meal. At dinner, the family made us feel welcome. They didn't ask us the uncomfortable questions of our personal lives. They asked us where we were from, what the program is, where we are going to college next year, what we will do in Be'er Sheva next semester, and that was it. It was nice to feel like a part of a conversation. They didn't assume anything about us either. After dinner, Nava and I walked back to shul for Tisch (a Yiddish word meaning Friday night singing session). When that ended, our assistant director, Elkana, told us what time shul started the next morning, what time we had to meet up at shul and said good night to us. We got back home and went to sleep. The next morning, we woke up to Hodaya knocking on the door asking why it was locked. Would you want a 4 year old waking you up by jumping on your bed if you're not related? I didn't think so. We got up, got dressed, and sat outside enjoying the view drinking tea and coffee before lunch. Lunch was equally as tasty as dinner. We had a great lasagna. We even tried beer shandy (2/3 Sprite [or 7 UP] and 1/3 Goldstar [or some other dark beer). For dessert, they had the most amazing cookies I've ever tasted. We had the whole afternoon to ourselves. We got to shul to meet up with everyone. Then we all headed down to Elkana's parents' house for Se'uda Shlishit (the 3rd meal of the day). After that we went to Mincha at shul. We all came back to their house for Ma'ariv and Havdalah. After that, we were told what time to meet at the shul so we could get on the buses to head back to Jerusalem. We went back to our host family's house, packed up. We thanked our hosts for everything. We got the recipe for the cookies, and their phone numbers to stay with them again. The mother even gave us cookies for the ride back. We got to shul, got on the bus, and headed back.
HARRY POTTER
In Israel, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 came out on November 18th. (We knew it came out in the States and Canada on the 19th). So I went with Wendy, Sarah L, Kayla, Allie, Elana P, Aviva, Jason, and Alex. In Israel, there are reserved tickets for the movie theater, so the only row they had to fit the 9 of us was the 2nd row (which actually was still a good view). The movie was amazing (I won't spoil it for those of you who haven't seen it yet.) In Israel, they have an intermission in the middle of the movie. The idea being so you'll get up and buy something. After the intermission, we continued to watch the movie.
WALKING TOUR
Almost every Friday morning, Achi has a walking tour around Jerusalem. She goes to places really close by to where we live to show us things we didn't even know was in our own backyard or the history of places we were familiar with. On Friday, I went on the tour with Daniel and Dave (we were triple D). We went to the Russian colony to learn that the jail and court house used to be a hostel. When we were at the museum of the jail, which used to be the women's hostel, we saw police taking handcuffed people out of their car. It was such a fun experience to see the things that were there.
Saturday, November 6, 2010
מאה שארים
Me'ah She'arim (if you don't already know) is a very religious neighborhood. When you think about what a sterotypical Jew looks like, they probably live there. If you can't think of what I mean by the stereotypical looking Jew, picture men with either fur hats, black hats, etc. Men have either a goldish or black or striped or gray robe or they are wearing a black suit. Men also have the long beards and the Pe'as (side curl). Women are wearing all black, all white, black and white, maybe some gray. Their dresses are ankle length, elbows and wrists covered, collarbones covered. Married women have their heads covered and unmarried women have their hair up in a ponytail. This morning for Shabbat, Calah and I went with Achi (our madricha) to Me'ah She'arim (which means One Hundred Gates). We knew we had to dress appropriately. I wore a turquoise long skirt that went down to my shins, a lime-greenish long sleeve shirt, a green shirt that covers my collarbone, and knee high socks that look like the Wicked Witch of the East's. As we walked inside the neighborhood, the first thing we noticed was the barriers. No cars would be allowed inside on Shabbat. Then we noticed all the bulletins. Achi read them to us: "Don't go to this store, it is not Frum enough" etc. As we were walking around, Calah and I kept commenting about how filthy it was. There was trash everywhere on the street. Then Achi wanted to show us the synagogue she went to for Yom Kippur. So we went and she was telling us about her first time there when she couldn't find the entrance to the women's section and asked a man to show her. (on a side note...in this neighborhood, if a woman is walking on one side of the street and a man sees her, he walks to the opposite side of the street) The women's section was up a set of stairs that seemed hidden. It wasn't too crowded up there mainly because the women's section was surrounding 3 of the 4 sides of the shul. When we were sitting in shul, there was a 12 year old looking girl who kept giving Calah and I dirty looks (probably because we weren't wearing black). So Calah leans over to me and says" if she gives us one more dirty look, I'm going to stick my tongue out at her to see what she does." Before the Torah service, we decided to leave. However, before we went down the stairs, Achi asked us if we had any questions. "What's the difference between the different types of hats and why only black and white clothing? Why is there so much candy for the kids?" We asked a girl who had a bag of candy. The candy was because there were 2 brides and 2 grooms (so 4 families). Black and white because it's just the way things are. The hats and men's clothing have something to do with before marriage and after marriage. As we were heading back to base for lunch, we asked 3 women who were walking about the black and the hats, but this time about why most people shave their hair and just leave the pe'as. In the Torah, it says you should leave hair to a certain point and they interpret it as shaving their hair. We noticed she was married because her head was covered, but we noticed her head was shaved underneath that. After we left, we walked on the outskirts of the neighborhood for a bit. Then, we came to the Russian Compound. Achi was explaining that it used to be a hostel for men and a hostel for women and a hostel for the rich, but now it's a jail. As we were walking down the road a bit, we saw a very familiar place. What I learned is actually called Kikar Maccabi, I know it as Crack Square (The alleyway looking road that where the bars and clubs are. While I have walked through there at night, I had never seen it during the day. What a difference. Everything was closed and I never realized how wide the street actually was. At the end of the street was a restaurant. As we went up to it, Achi pointed out the lyrics to a very famous song by a popular Israeli band. Hadag Nahash's Hine Ani Ba. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kke3gP1Opi4 (it's the song with English subtitles). Then we went to a little circular area where if you stand in the middle of the circle, it echos. Then we walked back to base to have lunch. We stopped in the park and learned a little bit about the convent next to us. Then Achi mentioned she wanted to learn the history of Beit Nativ. Fortunately, I knew about it because when I went to shul the previous week, the rabbi (who happened to formerly live in Dallas) did a mini tour of the guest house. Then Achi remembered she was going to find me a host family for lunch. She was gone for quite some time, so I sat down at the table when she walks in. She told me they are waiting for me at their house. She proceeded to tell me the directions. As I eventually found out (after getting lost), I went the wrong way. So after I walked back to tell her I got lost, she got up from the table and walked me very close to where I was actually supposed to go. Throughout this walk, I kept apologizing to Achi about how I was stupid and couldn't find my way and how I felt bad about her having to get up from lunch. While I was saying this, she kept telling me to shut up. "Shut up, Dena. Shut up. Punch Buggy. Shut up" I found my way the second time with her help. When I arrived, I recognized one of the people. [if you remember from my entry about the worst Shabbat ever when I had to go to a different house for lunch] She was there. It turns out, I went to her daughter's house. It was a very enjoyable day. After a nice lunch, I went back at 15:00 and slept until 17:30. It was fun
Thursday, November 4, 2010
Bad News
Today is just not the day for me...
First I didn't have a break from Evolutionary Psychology until the end of the Poland meeting. I figure out that I sprained my ankle. I found out that my sister's trip to Israel in December got canceled. What a horrible day.
First I didn't have a break from Evolutionary Psychology until the end of the Poland meeting. I figure out that I sprained my ankle. I found out that my sister's trip to Israel in December got canceled. What a horrible day.
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Best Date Ever
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