Passover Seder

This Pesach, I went to my first ever Yemenite Seder. It was the first time I ever ate Yemenite food. I take a cab to my aunt's sister's house in Karmiel. Once I get dropped off, I find out that he dropped me off at the wrong place because he didn't quite understand me. Eventually, I get to the right place. Not too long after I arrive, we leave for Moshav Elyakim (where my aunt's parents live). I meet the rest of the family and we sit down to begin the seder. It was a slight culture shock. During the actual seder, the men and women were not sitting together. During the meal, we were drinking wine instead of grape juice (which we were using for the 4 cups) and men and women could sit together. I knew it was a Sephardi Seder, but that still surprised me a little bit, especially as I was putting rice on my plate. Well all I can say now is: "Kitniyot". After the meal, women and men separated again and we finished the seder. The family (that didn't grow up speaking English) attempted speaking to me in English so I would feel comfortable while I was speaking in Hebrew to improve my speaking skills. It was an interesting mix to say the least. Once the seder was over, the family left, and the dishes were done, I went to sleep. The next morning, I wake up, get dressed and have a Yemenite breakfast. I ate a Yemenite dish called Fatoot which was quite tasty and I also had a dish that was described to me as Matzah French Toast. Not as good as the fatoot. Throughout the day, extended family came by and I learned that another one of my aunt's sisters lives in Karmiel also and teaches at the religious high school that I used to work at. She told me there were 3 American boys there whom she would ask if they knew who I was (which they do because they're on my program). At one point, my cousins and I took a walk around the moshav and talked for a bit about the army and when we were each going to visit each other. We chilled around for the rest of the day then once chag was over, my oldest cousin (who's a sergeant in the army) and his father (yes Dad, that would be your oldest brother) drove me back to Karmiel.

Closed Shabbat on Kibbutz Channaton

This weekend was a closed weekend. The Karmiel track went to Kibbutz Channaton. We arrived Friday and found out there was another group there who were doing this hollistic type process in silence for 10 days which meant we couldn't be very loud. We went to our rooms and about an hour later, we had a program about what type of leader we are. We took- what I would call- a leadership personality survey which, once we added up the scores, showed us what kind of leader we are. There were four types of leadership personalities: Directors, Supporters, Creators, and Analyzers. My leadership personality type was: survey says: Creator. What a surprise, right mom?

About Creators...
Effective Traits: imaginative, creative, visionary, idealistic, enthusiastic, innovative
Ineffective Traits: unrealistic, unreliable, inconsistent, hasty, impulsive, impatient, fragmented
Possible Majors: Art, English, Design, Hospitality, Travel, Theater, Communications
Possible Careers: Writer, Politician, Travel agent, Hotel manager, Cartoonist, Musician, Composer, Artist, Journalist, Craftsperson, Florist, Costume designer, Sales, Scientist

We then split up into personality groups and had to design something and be able to market it to the kids of Nativ 31. It was a fun experience to do this. After this activity, we got ready and had Kabbalat Shabbat. After Kab-Shab, I went to a shiyur (lesson) on the parsha of the week. We had an interesting discussion. After the shiyur, we went to dinner. Saturday morning, we had davening and then lunch. After lunch we had free time. I sat in the sun for a bit. After free time, we had a tour of the kibbutz. After the tour, we had mincha, dinner, ma'ariv/havdallah. After that, we had about 5 minutes to get on the bus and head back to Karmiel

חג פורים שמח

For the holiday of Purim, Nativ came together and went to Ma’ale Chamisha, right outside of Jerusalem. We spent Shabbas there with Jules Gutin and Rabbi Elise Wineck, head of Koach. We had discussion groups with our staff and with our guests. The first session I chose was with Maya. This discussion was about having a small Jewish population on campus and how to deal with the challenges we may face next year. The second session I attended was with Adir. His discussion group dealt with the topic of drinking on Purim and what it has become today. When dinner and the discussion groups were over, I went to bed. Saturday morning we davened shacharit. After shacharit, we made Kiddush and went to our third discussion group. This time I chose Elkana’s group. This dealt with empathy and compassion towards other and how it helps you become a good leader. After the discussion groups ended, we had lunch, then free time. Because Purim began on Motze Shabbat, ma’ariv and megillah reading had to be tied together. We all got changed into our costumes to end Shabbas and start Purim. I, of course, dressed up as none other than the fabulous Tinker Bell. Little did I know that the American staff members were all being characters from Peter Pan. Adir naturally was Peter Pan, Sherman was the evil Captain Hook, and Maya was Tinker Bell. I challenged her to a Tinker Bell duel. When we saw each other, I knew I immediately won. Maya looked nothing like Tinker Bell. I even did my hair correctly. We ended ma’ariv and went straight into Megillah reading. During this time, we were all admiring each other’s costumes. After Megillah reading, we had dinner then a dance/karaoke party. It was a lot of fun. Gill and I signed up to do karaoke together. We chose Rotze Banot. (It’s a Hebrew song which means “want girls”.

After the last song was sung, we all went to bed. Sunday was the Purim Parade in Holon. We were also delivering our Mishloach Manot to each other. It was a lot of fun. After the parade, we went to Tel-Aviv for lunch. After lunch, we headed back to the hotel for our final session on Conservative Judaism with Jules. After Jules we had dinner, then we had a theater group come in and improv for us based on stories we told. Monday, we had free time in Jerusalem. I was going to buy a new talis for my mom, but she didn’t give me the money to buy it, so I didn’t. Instead, I went to Ben Yehuda Street to hang out. I bought some poppers for the fun of it. Then a couple of us had a picnic in the park. Then the girls of the picnic decided to go to Tattoo so one girl and I could go get our cartilage pierced. She got a first piercing, I got a second. It actually looks quite nice. I didn’t notice this until much later, but I got a silver ring and the first ring is a purple ring. For all of you USYers reading this, those are the ZOHAR colors. After getting my cartilage pierced, I met up with my friend Yasmin, who I met at the MASA BFL (Building Future Leadership) conference. We walked to the NU store (check it out) and I bought a T-shirt. Every t-shirt purchased goes to a cause of some sort. I bought the shirt donating money to technology in Africa. The story is on the inside of the shirt in both English and Hebrew. After shopping, Yasmin, Ben, Yedidya, and I were sitting at a table on Ben Yehuda just chatting. Later on, I was on my way back to Karmiel. It was a fun experience to see Purim in Israel and Shushan Purim in Jerusalem. Everybody dresses up in an assortment of costumes and have a lot of fun. I am glad I got to be in Israel for Purim.

MASA Leadership Week

This past week I was in Jerusalem for MASA's Leadership Week. It was a lot of fun. My program was the only full program that attended. Other programs in attendance were Young Judea Year Course, Aardvark, Bar-Ilan Israel Experience, Israel By Choice, Neve Yerushalayim, Ofek, Otzma, Real Life Israel, and others. At MASA Leadership Week, I met kids from USA, Canada, Argentina, Australia, Holland, Belgium, France, Germany, Lithuania and other countries. I was in Group 3 (aka BUELLER) and it was a bunch of kids who are going to Maryland next year and some other schools (like me...I'm going to Hofstra University). I went to a discussion group called Personal Communication which helps people with speaking skills and public speaking. I found it very useful. There was a special interest day one of the days. I chose Jewish Peoplehood which I found very useless because it taught me nothing about Jewish Peoplehood. Tuesday, we had 3 hours of free time in Jerusalem. I went to Ben Yehuda Street and met up with my friend, Yisrael. We went shopping for Purim costumes/accessories. Then we went to the shuk, and we met up with our friends Miriam and David. I bought a pair of fuzzy handcuffs, olives, dried avatiach (watermelon), strawberries (6 NIS for a kilo...good price). Candy, Dr. Pepper. I also got my package later that day (I LOVE YOU MOMMY AND DADDY). This package had my Purim costume (Tinker Bell), 3 boxes of Thin Mint Girl Scout Cookies, 1 box of Tag-a-Long Girl Scout Cookies, Dr. Pepper flavored chapstick, a pair of Toms shoes, Kosher Kitchen stickers, a new camera (for some much needed pictures), 2 boxes of Cheezits (Did you hear that Robert? My mom sent 2. You're supposed to send me 1), and a couple other things. This weekend is Purim and I'm really excited.
I'll let you know what happens next week

Oh I Just Can't Wait...To Get Back to ATTPAC

Today, my mom messaged me on Skype and told me to call her because one of the house managers, Preston, was there and able to talk for a few minutes. How exciting! As my mom handed over the phone, I spoke to Doug and Preston. They told me they weren't going to get in trouble for talking to me on the job because they knocked my mom unconscious and stole the phone from her. Naturally, I said "good for you." Don't worry Mom, I still love you a lot. I can't wait for the "new" training session I have to go through. How much is actually different? I can't wait to get back for Billy Elliott.

I'm excited for tomorrow night, Monday nights are mine and Ariel's night to make dinner. We decided to make tofu sushi (because Ariel's vegan). It was exciting to go to the Russian market and find the seaweed, sticky rice, wasabi, chopsticks, and sushi rolling mat. It wasn't too expensive either. I'm excited to make sushi tomorrow night

It's a Funny Story Actually...

So as many of you know, one of my greatest passions has been dance. When I got to Israel, I wanted to find a dance studio to volunteer in second semester. Knowing that I'd be going to Karmiel, and knowing that every summer is the National Karmiel Dance Festival, I figured there had to be a dance studio around. I looked and so did my madrichim. Nobody looked hard enough, however. On Thursday, walking back from my teaching job at the high school, I crossed the street and found a dance studio.

I've been here nearly a month and was surprised to see a dance studio across the street from where I teach English.

Funny story, huh?

Weekend in Tel Aviv

This past weekend, I planned to spend the weekend in Tel Aviv (the New York of Israel) and planned to see my friend, Ben, on the Kibbutz track. I got to the CBS (central bus station) in Karmiel with a few minutes to spare. I took the direct bus to Tel Aviv. I waited around the CBS for Ben to arrive. Once he arrived, we headed to the hostel where we were staying. We couldn't check in yet, so we walked to the beach then had lunch. After lunch, we headed back to the hostel to check in and ran into our friend Aaron, from the Yerucham track. We checked in, walked around then had sushi for dinner. After sushi, we went to this amazing yogurt place. Saturday, Ben had an ultimate frisbee tournament, so I just tagged along. I sat around for 5 hours while he played. But it wasn't a total waste of time, I did get some sun. After the tournament, we had Subway. I never realized how much I missed Subway. Instead of ordering a footlong, I ordered a 30 cm sandwich. After dinner, we headed to the CBS to catch our buses back to our locations. My bus was at 9:15 from the 7th floor, platform 5. I said bye to Ben and went to wait for my bus. Somehow, the bus left from a different platform than I was told. I had to quickly rush downstairs and catch a bus to Haifa and figure out how to get to Karmiel from there. I had bought a ticket for 51 NIS. The driver looked at me with a puzzled look on his face, so I explained that the ticket was for the direct line to Karmiel. He told me that he normally drives the direct route I needed to Karmiel, but was doing the Haifa route that night. Fortunately, he told me that I would ride to Haifa, then to the Mercazit Hamifratz. Get off there, wait 20 min, and he would drive the bus to Karmiel. It worked out in the end. I didn't realize how lucky I was until then because I don't know what I would have done if I didn't have that driver. I got back later than expected, but it didn't cause any problems. All in all, this weekend was fantastic.