Israel......I'm lovin' it!

This last week has been, to put it mildly, absolutely superbly GREAT!

I will catch you up from after my adventures in Yafo.

Wednesday
I started my volunteering! I mentioned a couple post back about the assignment. The volunteering takes place in a community center. The bus ride was very simple and takes us pretty much right there. I started working in the preschool they have there. It is not an age group I am used to yet, but the kids are cute. I learned so much hebrew in the just the first day with the kids. One of them was pointing out animals and telling me the names. The ladies that work the day care and the office of the Matnas (community center) are super nice.

After volunteering Jared and I stopped by the market to pick up some food because we invited some people over for dinner. We bought a kilo and a half of chicken on sale. When we got home Jared prepped it with some olive oil, garlic, lemon juice, and parsley. I plated some olives and pickles, and Aviel fixed up the humus. We were trying to figure out how we were going to have enough room for 13 people. We then looked and found out or table has two built in leafs. So it ends up being like 12 feet long! I swear we got the best apartment. So, we had plenty of room, just not enough chairs and silverware. We found some plastic wear and used some trashcans a stools. It was a great time.


After dinner we then watched part of Super Troopers and headed to a club that was having a fundraiser for an organization called Players For Peace. We took a bus that dropped us right off Rabin Square. I thought that since we were so close we might as well stop and look at the memorial. Pay so respect. The rest of the group thought it was a good idea. A few of the guys had no clue about the situation that occured there. Being the Zionist freak that I am, I kinda gave them a small lecture about how amazing a person Yitzhak Rabin was and the event of his assassination.

OH! I almost forgot. As we began to cross the street into the square the guys behind us must have overheard us talking or something. Turns our these guys were on Year Course ten years ago! We chatted a while about things. They wished us good luck. Somehow we manged to not get their names, but maybe it was meant to be that way. Someone has a picture, I need to find it.

Look! I found the picture!

Following our tour of Rabin Square we eventually found the club we were looking for. The fundraiser was a total bust. Everyone was talking about going. We show up, and there are literally only 5 people there. I was fairly bitter that people ditched for a different club. It was a fundraiser for a great cause and ended up being a total bust. Our group ended up just walking down the beach and caught a cab home fairly early.

Thursday
Woke up and caught the bus to volunteering. I am so lucky to be working in such a hospitable place. They feed us and provide coffee everyday. It is nice not to have to cook or spend more money. After volunteering I went home for an hour or so. I went to catch the bus with some others to Ulpan and we ended up getting off way to late. I had to be at Ulpan at 2:15, it was 2. I weighed my options and decided to split a cab with another person so we wouldn't be late. It worked out just fine.

Ulpan is going good. My teacher is great and answers any question we have. I know I am improving. I try to talk hebrew with as many Israeli's as I can. They usually apperciate it but realize how bad it is and start talking in english. Hey, at least I'm making an effort.

That night a bunch of us, practically every person on year course from all over Israel, went to a club called Johny K's. It was Ben Samuel's birthday, so we ended up getting a deal on the entry. It was great to see everybody. I ran into my friend Aaron. He is living in Arad right now and volunteering in Ein Gedi. He also is keeping a blog. Although it was nice to see him and all my other friends in different areas, I think I'm done with the whole clubbing thing for a while. It's fun, but more fun on occasion as opposed to every weekend. Plus, I like going to sleep before 3 and that is not really possible when everyone doesn't start leaving until 2:30.

Friday
Wow! This day was great. One of the best I have had so far.

I woke up about 11 or so. Much needed after the night before.

At 1:30 my roommate Scott and I met up with Becca, Coreen, Rachel, and Daniella. We all took the 129 bus into Tel Aviv. The bus runs down Allenby Street in Tel Aviv, the main street. We got off at Shuk HaCarmel and Nachalat Binyamin. These two shukim are very famous. There is tons of great art, food, and music. Click on the Hyperlinks above to read more about them.
(For those of you older then 35, that Hyperlink means that the words that are underlined and in a different color actually take you to another webpage! I know! The internet is CrAzY!)

Scott and I instinctively headed towards the food. Fruit and baked goods are so cheap at the shuk. I could walk around for hours paying a shekel to try all kinds of food you can't get in the U.S. And fresh pita is one of the best things in the world. Walking through a shuk is one of the best ways to experiance Israeli culture. Everyone is cramped in an increadably small area with smells of exotic and delicious food everywhere. People are arguing about the price of things, but in the most friendly way possible. Every five stands someone is blasting some crazy loud mizrachi music while people walking past begin clapping and dancing along. I helped out in that department. You can hear people talking about politics, people they know, and events that are going on. Although it is really crowded, I never felt uncomfortable. Never once did I feel like I would get pick pocketed. The people walking around were so nice. If you bumped into some one you say "Slicha" they smile and keep walking.

There was also this cool circus like proformer at the end of the Shuk.


He took someones cellphone in the middle of the show and talked to their mom. Good times. Not even five meters from him an elderly couple were selling fresh made lafa with olive oil, goat cheese spread, and zakar(spices). Of course I had to get one.


Once we had exhausted the shuk, Scott and I began walking to meet the girls. These two random guys sitting outside a restaurant heard Scott and I talking as we walked past. This is how the conversation started:
"Are you guys together? (in hebrew)"
me: "No we are not gay (in hebrew)"
"No, not what I meant. But you are American are you not?"
"Yeah, we are hear for the year volunteering and studying. We are roommmates."
"Well great! Sit down and talk for a little."

Scott and I looked sideways at each other for a second. Normally, you shouldnt't do such things as sit down and talk to random people on the street, but I like to have a little more trust in human nature than to think that everyone is a creep trying to get something from you. So, I sat down. These guys were really nice. They are both about mid-thirties with a wives and kids. One of them is a police officer in Holon where we live, and the other just moved here from Berlin. We didn't exchange any crucial information and we were in a very public place, so it was a perfectly safe conversation. I know that there are plenty of nice people like this in the world, it is just that all the creeps that pretend to be nice ruin that chance of spontaneous conversation for the rest of the human race.

The girls finally caught up with Scott and I. Becca and Coreen decided to head back to Holon. Daniella, Rachel, Scott, and I head towards the beach. It was perfect. A little chill in the air, warm water, wonderful sunset, and not too crowded. We had dinner consisting of a can of tuna and pita bought from the shuk.

We all came back to my apartment and watched Old School while we dozed off. A wonderful end to a practically perfect day.

The Shuk is open on tuesday. Is it also a concidence that I have a free day that day too? I looking forward to a repeat.

Saturday
Earlier in the week, Meytal the director of volunteering at the community center, asked if Hannah and I would join the group in a siyur to Jerusalem. She figured since we both volunteer there it will be good to meet some of the families. The siyur took us to a very popular hiking and biking park in the Judean Hill (I'm blanking on the name) and then to Ein Karem. I had been to the first place before when I was in Israel summer '06, but I did see some new things. Most significant was that fig trees and sabra catuses. Both were ripe and read to eat. I really like fresh figs. When I go to the shuk I will pick some up, there were 8 shekel a kilo when I looked on Friday. You can't get fresh, local grown, fruit that cheap in the states. Just another reason I love Israel.

For some reason I am hungry and can't think of anything besides amazing fruit. Back on subject now.

Where I will continue to talk about food.

So the siyur had ended and Danny, Meytal's boyfriend, was really hungry, as was I. Throughout the day Danny and I had been discussing the Pros and Cons of Israel amongst other things. He had mentioned this restaurant in Abu Gosh and since it is on the way between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem he treated us to an early dinner. The food was great. It was a textbook example of Arab food: salad, chips(what Americans call frech fries), felafel, lots of pita, and of course the hummus. THE HUMMUS! It was great. Every Israeli has his/her favorite place to get hummus and for me this is defiantly up there.

When I was about to pop I was so full, our waiter gave us each a free cup of Turkish coffee. Another one of my personal favorites. Danny and Meytal asked for some baklava, but the restaurant was out. They insisted on stopping and buying some anyways. MMMMM that was tasty. Food is on the top ten list of why people should come to Israel. Matter of fact, its on the top three.

Meytal and Danny, thank you so much for taking Hannah and me along and not letting us pay for a thing. You are welcome to my place anytime and I am sure if you were ever around where my family lives in the states, they would be more then happy to feed you.

I just got back from hanging out at the beach for about an hour. Most people stuck around. I was tired and left with Abby and Lisa (look you are in my blog!). We actually managed to catch a bus.

Tomorrow
Volunteering

Laundry