Since I have already been here a month, you can imagine a lot has happened in this short amount of time. Although I wrote in my journal every day for the first week and a half, life became very hectic and it became easier to take pictures rather than write every day. So, I will do my best to sum up the last month as briefly as possible, but with some great pictures to go along with the stories.
When I first arrived in Israel, it looked as if I had been traveling for 24 hours straight, due to leaving on August 25th at 1:15 and landing on August 26th at 1:45. Believe me, it felt like I had, even though it was a direct 14.5 hour flight. Fortunately, El Al provided food and endless hours of movies and TV shows at my disposal. I can't quite recall the movies I watched, but I was able to get some shut eye, despite sitting in the middle seat (yes, the middle seat is always the least favored seat, mine is no exception. Fortunately the boy on the aisle was kind to get up every hour. It was that or he'd have my bladder to answer to, so he was much obliged).
When I landed, I had to first go to passport check, which took no time at all surprisingly, then find my luggage, then find the train station. You'd think it would have been obvious, but even the arrow directions seem convoluted here. Once I figured that out, I bought a roundtrip ticket and headed down to the platforms. Too bad it was not clear which train I needed to get on. But a nice Russian couple were going the same way I needed to and the husband even helped carry my bags onto the train! You see, I needed to take a 10 minute train to Tel Aviv, then change platforms to get on the train headed to Be'er Sheva. The husband even waited with my bags once we got on the first train and made sure I got off at the right stop so I could switch lines. I was so shocked by his pleasantries it truly blew my mind how much he was putting himself out to help a complete stranger. This would not be the last time this generosity would arise, and I will explain why later.
Anyways, when I finally arrived in Be'er Sheva I was met at the train station by a family friend, David Arnstein. He and his wife, Beth, know my Berkowtiz/Lawrence/Rothblatt family back home so I was given their contact information, and boy have they been everything and more. I don't know what I would have done without them here in Israel. They have been my family/parents away from home, and I know my parents will forever kiss the ground the Arnsteins walk on for how kind and generous they have been to me. David picked me up in a taxi and off we went to his house to meet Beth. They live in a lovely neighborhood across town from where I am living now. Of course, being the Jewish mother she is, Beth wanted to make sure I was fed, but all I could think about was sleep.
8/27
The next morning she took me to the Grand Kenyon, which means The Big Mall, not to be confused with the Grand Canyon. This mall is apparently the largest in the Middle East! We took care of getting my Israeli phone here, as well as went to a nice café for lunch. We made sure to get back to her apartment on time so I could take a taxi back to Ben Gurion Airport where I was to meet the rest of my teacher fellows. Beth and I said our good-byes (and she even let me keep one of my suitcases and my laptop at her place because I was only going to need a small suitcase for our seminar trip our directors were taking us on. I would get my second bag once we returned to Be'er Sheva) and back on the train I went.
After a bit of confusion, I finally found my group at the arrivals area in the airport. They provided us with sandwiches and water and as we came to grips with being in Israel we all started chatting each other up as if we'd been long time friends. Of course, we all sort of knew about each other from the Facebook group our directors set up for us. But, other than knowing each other's names and faces, we were all strangers. Nonetheless, we were all excited to meet one another. Finally, we were loaded onto charter buses, and off we went to the Jerusalem Gates Hotel. That night we were given a huge dinner, and had the rest of the night to meet one another. We also met the teacher fellows from Netanya, which is north of Tel Aviv, and Beit Sh'ean, which is in the far north.
8/28
The following day we were given breakfast and were taken to a view point of the Old City called Armon HaNatziv, and then we got to go inside a water tunnel called HaChashmonaim. This reminded me of the cave walking I did back in Tennessee, but this one was much more cramped! I'm definitely not a large girl, and even I had trouble squeezing through most of the passageway! Fortunately my lack of vertical heightness made up for the low cave ceilings. Afterward we sat outside and talked about Jerusalem for awhile, and even had a beautiful view of the Old City, including the Golden Dome. After a while we went back on the buses and were taken to Mehane Yehuda, the Shuk of Jerusalem. Every city has markets, but there's always the main shuk. This one is well-known, and probably the largest one in all of Israel. Some friends and I found a shawarma store and once we found it, I was sold. I was definitely craving a shawarma pita! If you don't know what this, go find a Mediterranean restaurant and ask for one. They pale in comparison to the ones here but at least you will get an idea.
Later that night we got dressed up a bit because we went on Slichot tours in the Old City. Slichot, for those who don't know, is what we observe before the High Holy Days begin, just to get your mind, body, and soul ready for these important days to come. We could either choose a regular guided tour or a spiritual one, and I chose the latter to see what that would be like. We basically went much slower through the Old City, sitting around in circles talking about specific landmarks and singing songs. It was nice, but what I was really looking forward to was seeing the Western Wall at night! Again, I got to write a note on a piece of paper and wait my turn to pray at the Wall. I can't write too much about that experience because it's just a very powerful moment that I am unable to put into words. You will just have to experience this yourself one day!
8/29
The next day we drove to Tiberias in the north, which was about a 2.5 hour bus ride. We went to the Maimonides Heritage Center to learn about RamBam (which stands for Rabbeniu Mosheh Ben Maimon). He was a prominent rabbi, philosopher, and physician and one of the most prolific Torah scholars during the 12th century. He is supposedly buried just outside of this center so we paid our respects at his gravesite. I am always very fascinated by historical figures, whether they have prominence in the religious world or secular world. What an accomplished person!
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| The Sea of Galilee, the view from our Hotel! |
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| Structure over Maimonides' burial site |
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| Walking around Tiberias Promenade! |
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| Roommies on a boat! |
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| Some of the gals! |
8/30
The next morning we went on a hike on Mt. Arbel (Har Arbel). Boy was it hot and exhausting! Later we went trekking through a stream, where we had to wear proper water shoes because we were up to our knees! Later that night we had our first Shabbat in the Holy Land! We couldn't do much because transportation is closed, but we had a nice service on the roof of our hotel and then had a very large dinner! We spent the night visiting with one another and enjoying the view of the Sea of Galilee!
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| Very early morning tour. Very. Early. |
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| My dear friend and fellow David! |
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| Be'er Sheva, Beit She'an, and Netanya in the house! (or, you know, on a mountain) |
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| All dressed up for Shabbat! |
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| Be'er Sheva Teachers! |
8/31
The next morning we were given breakfast and then if you wanted you could go to the Tiberias Hot Springs, so naturally I chose to go! These Hot Springs are all natural mineral water about 100 feet below the Sea of Galille. It's like going into the best jacuzzi of your life! There's also a regular pool so you don't have to be in the hot water if you don't want to. Boy was that day heavenly! Later that night we had Havadallah services to end Shabbat, of course overlooking the Sea, and then we went out to the Promenade again to have some fun!
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| The life:) |
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| Ladies out on the town! |
On this first day of September, we left Tiberias, said our goodbyes to our Netanya and Beit Sh'ean friends, and headed down to Be'er Sheva (a 3 hour bus ride). I was given my roommate assignment with my friends Kari and Daniel so we were very stoked and pleased with the assignment! After we arrived we immediately left to walk 50 minutes to City Hall to meet with the Vice Mayor of Be'er Sheva as well as other prominante members of the Ministry of Education and Be'er Sheva Education Board. We were all a sweaty mess, but they understood and even provided some snacks and cool drinks after our schlep of a walk! Later we walked back to our apartment, had our first group meeting in our bomb shelter (served more as a meeting/hang out place, not just for obvious reasons). We then went out to the local center to get dinner (shawarma pita of course!) and some groceries. I got to skype with my parents and David Arnstein brought my second piece of luggage as well as my laptop! He's the best!
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| Meeting the Vice Mayor! |
9/2
Happy Labour Day!
Today we met with members of MASA, had Ulpan (Hebrew class) for 4 hours so that we could be placed into the proper level classes, went grocery shopping at the main supermarket at central bus station, met some students in our apartment building but went to bed pretty early because we had Ulpan very early in the morning!
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| Street view of my apartment building |
9/3
Although we had Ulpan very early this morning, the day was made up by going out to a neat lounge that is popular among the University students here (we live in a college town because of Ben Gurion University just down the road from our apartment). It was fun meeting some Israeli students at the lounge as well as just visiting with each other!
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| Roommies! |
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| The girls! |
9/4
We went on a morning hike around the city to get to know our neighborhood and surroundings more. We also got to tour Ben Gurion University, a very large but beautiful campus! I went grocery shopping again, did laundry, and got ready for Rosh Hashana. Kari and I were invited to dinner at the Arnstein's house. Boy does Beth know how to cook! We were so stuffed after all the apples, honey, bread and appetizers, we were sure that was dinner, but then Beth said to make room for dinner! We were given chicken, salad, more brea and apples and honey, as well as a delicious dessert of cookies and cake! It felt like we ate a child! L'Shana Tova!
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| Very moving piece. |
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| All ready for the New Year! |
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| With David! |
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| Beth's beautiful table! |
9/5
Today we slept in pretty late, and although I had a to-do list, between chatting with friends who came by, or chatting with Kari, the day went by already! So those of us that were around went exploring. We ended up finding a gigantic park with a huge playground. Some of my fellows went to play on the huge slide and sea-saw, but I ended up calling my parents to see how they were doing. I ended up talking to them for over an hour, but it felt great to chat with them before my mom went off to Rosh Hashana services. Later that night Kari and I went to bed early because we were waking up at 3:30am to watch the live NFL kick-off! Plus, she's a huge Raven's fans and they were playing the Broncos. There weren't too many of us who wanted to wake up that early but we figured we didn't have anywhere to go the next day so I thought why not? There's a large flat screen in the bomb shelter so that's where we watched the game.
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| Just some of the large park we found! |
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| Being totally adult |
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| It's game time! |
9/6
Because I stayed up to watch the game, I got to watch the beautiful sunrise, my first one in Be'er Sheva. The rest of the day we all just spent lounging around and visiting one another. We went out that night to another local lounge, along some Israeli friends from the building as well as meeting some new friends at the lounge. It was a very cool place because it's half inside half outside, with a roof-like structure over the outside part, so you are enclosed but feel like you're outside. It was very fun getting to know my fellows more and meeting new friends!
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