Tiul

Well today was our first trip. We went to Rehovot and visited the Machon Ayalon http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Machon_Ayalon. Its a museum about underground bullet production by the Haganah. The cool thing is that the people who worked there founded the kibbutz I am at now after finishing working in secret. After that we went to Yaffo and got a walking tour and some time to find something to eat and explore the market. The coast on Tel Aviv-Yaffo is beautiful in case you were wondering. My big toe is sore after soccer last night so that kinda sucked to walk but i doubled my sock and that was fine. Before the trip I went to the post office after breakfast and got my two packages. I’m tired so this post could have been a little more descriptive but oh well. Well its just about  bedtime and I only have class tomorrow so thats super awesome!

Sand in my bed

Sorry I haven’t updated in a while its easy to forget. Well I got through my shifts totally fine and and a fine rest of the week. Class is going good still. At the end of each week I plan to go through my notes and transcribe them in a another notebook for easier studying later. It kinda takes a while but its relaxing at the same time. Hebrew can make total sense one second and none the next so some days are better than others. This week we have are first trip. On wednesday we are going to Rehovot which has connections to the kibbutz so that should be cool and we are also going to Yaffo. Today me and my roommate Michael took the bus to Hadera. He needed to go there so I went with him. We had a bonfire last night at the beach and I will hopefully post some pictures along with this post. Right now its quiet around the Ulpan area because everyone is getting ready to go to the pub tonight. It opens at 11 and lots of people come at like 12:30 and its open till like 4. I owe my roommate a drink tonight because he bought lunch today (Schnitzel in pita). I thought I got away from the mosquitoes but guess again there are out every night here so it kinda feels like home! 

First Week

Well I finished my first full week of work and class. Sunday through Thursday 7-4 basically. Morning class wasn’t so bad. Its cold in class sometimes so i will actually wear my sweater which makes me feel weird but I’m not the only one who does so its not that bad. I feel like I have learned a lot but there is still so much to learn. Sometimes the class goes a little slow because of some people whose first language isn’t English. She speaks Spanish but we have a few Brazilians who have trouble sometimes. They gave everyone these big 2-ring binders and they kinda suck in my opinion. I went to the store here and got a different binder some paper clips another notebook and a pack that had 4 pens a pencil and an eraser. Work at Plasson is as tedious as ever. Its not bad now that I’m getting the hang of it but its the work no one else wants to do. This week I only have to work 2 days instead of 5. The catch is I work Saturday and Sunday night 10pm-6am. I have class at 1pm so I will be able to get to sleep after work but its gonna be a rough two days I think. While at work one of the employees asked my name and where I’m from. When I said Minnesota the first thing he mentioned was the show How I Met Your Mother. I actually wasn’t too surprised because since I have been here people from like every country have talked about how they like that show. I haven’t seen that much of it myself but it has international appeal like you would not believe. There are people from 28 countries I think which is a fact I have just been wanting to mention. The rooms here are organized in pairs of sorts. Today I slept in a bit then got up, organized and rewrote my notes in my new notebook in a much more organized fashioned. It took like 4 hours but I was trying to kill time before dinner at 6:30. The weekends are very low key here so far in the Ulpan area which is nice after a busy week. Well I went to the pub last night and it was fine very relaxed but some girl with heels stepped on my foot for what felt like forever and it hurt and it was fine after a bit but I woke up this morning and its kinda bruised which is pretty lame. I got up went to the store to get some energy drinks for my late shifts the next two days. Lunch is pretty soon and then I think I will try to sleep as much as I can during the day today but we will see how it goes...

I almost forgot to name this post

Peanut butter treats

Well I just finished full day two. I think I will prefer working in the morning and having class in the afternoon but I won’t know till next week. I really like the classes so far. I have to organize my notes a bit but other than that its going good. The teacher’s name is Tamar. She looks like a teacher and with only 3 classes under my belt I think we will learn quite a bit. Work is pretty boring and not too hard. My feet kinda hurt from walking back and forth from the different machines in the plastic factory and checking to make sure the pieces don’t fall. Some other people are sitting down just putting pieces together which sounds pretty good but maybe a bit boring. I want a shirt that has the company name on it for work like the people there. I’m gonna inquire about it to Amir at the Ulpan office and to Mike who is the guy who tells us where to go when we arrive at work. I just got finished stamping all my clothes. Everyone has a two digit number which is on their card for the dining room and laundry. They have a machine and a whole bunch of little numbers so you can use this thermal stamp thing and mark all your clothes it took a while but its not so bad. You put it in the laundry and it will come back to your numbered box in the office (also where I get my mail) a few days later clean and folded. Dinner is pretty soon but before I’m going to go to the little store and get some cups for my Nestea 2 liter I have in my fridge...Well it turns out the store closed at 4 so tomorrow I will get some cups. There is a coffee shop like right underneath the dining hall and we get 50 shekels a month to spend which isn’t a lot but its a really cool place. I was going to get some pictures of the walkway to the beach and the beach and sea at sunset but my camera ran out of battery its being really weird so if there aren’t lots of pictures sometimes its because my camera is being goofy. Well now I’m off to the Moadon/lounge place to post this with the photos because it will be way faster there and I can socialize a bit.

Survived the first weekend

Well tomorrow is my first full day of work and study. On Thursday and Friday night the pub is open so there is a lot of activity on those nights. Saturday night they don’t serve dinner but you can take boxes of food home at lunch to eat later if you want. Some people visit a town thats not too far but you would have to taxi or get lucky and find a ride somehow. Tomorrow I only have like 15 minutes between when I get done with class then have to work so not any down time which should be fine I’m not too worried about it. My French roommate speaks pretty good Hebrew so if I have any questions I usually ask him. Right now I’m in this little hangout room they have for the ulpan and the internet here is much better than in the rooms so I might spend time in here when I need to use the internet. I’m gonna start getting ready for bed I have to get up at like 6 so i gotta get my rest.

Day One

Well today was my first day of work and study. Every week you alternate from working/studying in the morning and doing the other in the evening. So this morning I had to get up at like 5:30 so i could be at the office at six to meet the guy from the plastic factory. The factory is called Plasson. They make plastic fittings and other things that they sell mostly in Europe. I will get a separate ID card to let me get in the gate and clock in. Today we basically just got a tour and saw some things. We will work 6-11:45 on morning weeks and 11:45-4 on afternoon weeks and we never work on fridays usually but most other jobs do. He gave us tomorrow off so Sunday is actually the first day I work so I will know more then for sure. I was done with that and I had time to kill before lunch so I went back to my room and just relaxed a bit. After lunch I had my first class at 1. It went pretty good there will be a lot of class participation. Class was like 1-5 with a few 10-15 min breaks. After that we had a little rules meeting about the ulpan in general. Then dinner and a few people went to the little coffee shop they have here after to hang out and that was pretty cool. A lot of people gather at the benches outside the pub at night and hangout. A lot of people smoke here like a lot a lot which is kinda makes sense because a lot of Israelis smoke.

running out of title names

Well today was my first full day at the kibbutz. I had to charge my camera so I only got like 2 pictures today but tomorrow there will be more. I had a short hebrew test to determine what class I will be in. I am in class bet which is one above the beginner one and apparently starts at a similar spot from as the alef class but goes much faster which seems like a good fit. Besides that I went to the beach and the pool (working hard i know). I got a little sunburnt but not too bad. Tomorrow we officially meet everyone in the ulpan and get a tour even though I have found my way around ok it seems like a good idea. Apparently there is an ulpan opening ceremony of some sort so I will have to get back to you on what that is all about. I guess that means we will found out what our jobs are because the first day off work and study is Wednesday. I will look very touristy but tomorrow i will take a picture of some of the things around the kibbutz.