Monday, December 19, 2011

Yeah I continue to not put in paragraphs I'm sorry Aunt Charlotte!


Well this past weekend I went and met up with my brother Zak and my cousin Ally in Jerusalem. I left Friday morning with my friend Ari on two buses and got to Jerusalem at about 3:45 ish. We checked into our hostel and then as soon as we got settled we headed down to the old city to try and meet up with them at the Cotel. It was only a 20 min walk to the old city so it wasn’t so bad. As it turns out trying to find two specific people on friday night at the Cotel is not easy and we couldn’t find them. But we knew the name of the place the were staying in the Jewish Quarter so we just tried to find it. We knew we were close because we found some Sephardic synagogue and they were staying in a Sephardic center of some sort. They was basically no one in the streets but we found like 3 dudes and they happened to be British and were more than willing to help us find the place and had actually ate there once. We went down stairs into a small plaza facing some windows with the people inside getting ready to eat shabbat dinner. Someone came out and asked what we wanted because I’m sure it looked awfully strange. We walked in and I looked around as everyone stared at us until Ally waved me down and then I ran over and hugged them both. I let them eat their dinner and then we went to their room. We talked took pictures and I got my sweet Hannukah presents! Then we left and planned to meet the next day for Ally’s Bat Mitzvah. We walked back and chilled in the lounge area. Lots of people were eating dinner because they signed up earlier so we asked if we could have some and they said yes because they had a lot of extra food they didn’t want to waste or have room in the fridge. So free dinner we did eat! We then hung out by the bar and pool table and met these American students who were studying in Amman, Jordan and came to visit Jerusalem between finals weeks. So it was a real chill evening. We then woke up ate complimentary breakfast then checked out and left our backpacks in the luggage storage then left to go to the hotel for the Bat Mitzvah stuff. Zak and other people took pictures so you will see them but about 12 or so people got Bar/Bat Mitvahed in a little synagogue in the basement of this hotel/education center. It was nice and even though it felt weird to be there and not be in the group it was cool. We then talked outside for a bit and said our goodbyes. It was great to see family in person and hear whats going on with them. We then proceeded to go back and chill at the hostel and watch tv until the buses started after shabbat, we then started our journey back home and I got back in less than 2 hours which is great time. Well now I have to try and some Hebrew studying with a practice test this week and real thing next week so thats it for now!

Saturday, November 19, 2011

Also I got my hat back


Well at the moment I feel a bit burnt out, maybe its from Hebrew or just this program. I think its just its hard to find the motivation on the weekends to study on the weekends sometimes. I think I once I make my decision on what I’m doing after which I need to do like now I will feel a bit better and such. I don’t have a lot to update really except that tomorrow I’m working in the dining hall just for that day so who knows. I just want to say to the past few days I have realized the awesome situation we have here. Like yesterday where I ate dinner with a people from Uzbekistan, Ukraine, and France. Sometimes its easy to take for granted hanging out and learning with people from all these countries. We just ordered some pizzas for dinner from a place called “American Pizza” which I obviously find amusing. Its getting a little chillier here but it depends if it rains. I also think I need to buy some new shoes because my slip on canvas shoes are pretty much shot. Me and Ziv always try to stream NHL games and we never get good coverage or anything and I solely blame the nation of Canada for no specific reason. I watched the movie “Drive” thats a really cool movie and I recommend its kinda slow and not a whole lot happens but the music is awesome and the action is good when it happens. The time went by really slow today which is good I guess but it just felt weird. At the moment people on facebook are saying its snowing in Minnesota. Which reminds me I need to go ice skating in the north still, maybe in a few weeks I will venture with some people for a day trip on the weekend who knows. Thats all I have for now but I should have news soon about something so keep your eyes peeled!

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Good Times


Well today we had are second to last tiul (trip) of the program. Well I will include links to the places we went or at least will try. First we went to Lohamei Hagetaot a Holocaust museum of sorts but it mostly focuses on the fighters in the ghettoes. Its located on a kibbutz of the same name. We first went to a section that was made for the children and some cool stained glass pieces based on drawings kids from the ghettoes. We then walked a bit around some cool corridors with mini replica type houses, its hard to explain exactly but I think thats the best I can do to describe it. After that we went to a room that was based on an orphanage ran by Janusz Korczak (Henrik Goldschmit). He is a very amazing person and you should read about him but I don’t want to write to much about that but he has an interesting story. We then went to another room the had a big table that had these huge books on it with lights at each one to read but they were flexible and i pretended like they were microphones which was funny. After that we went into an exhibit to see pictures from inside the Warsaw Ghetto and such. We finished our time in the basement with a decent size model of Treblinka and Board that was light up with all the work and death camps across Europe. They was a lot of details I skipped over but it was a nice museum. We then went to Nahariya for lunch. I had some Shwarma in pita and some ice cream and went inside a weird cheap store where everything was made in china and was super cheap, it reminded me of a ghetto smaller Walgreens of sorts. We then headed to Rosh Hanikra. Its a kibbutz and also a super amazing historical place along with amazing views. Its right on the border with Lebanon and we got like 60 metres from the physical border thats on the other side of an army base. We took a cable car down to the grottoes that have been carved out by the waves crashing against side of the cliff for thousands of years. The British made train tunnels that go through the main rock formation in the 40’s. The people fishing was cool to see. I  don’t have a lot to say besides its somewhere that I would recommend everyone to go and visit. We then saw a few memorials for people before 1948 that participated in an operation to blow up some bridges and then a monument to people that were lost on a mission by boat to Lebanon. That was it basically. I liked this trips low key atomosphere and its good to get outside the kibbutz and see new places. Tomorrow is the last day of the week and I plan on being productive this weekend so I’m looking forward to it. Check out the pictures for sure too on facebook and here!