Let us start with Thursday night. Immediately after our tests, we went down to the negev. We went to a "Bedouin" tent. The quotes are because it was not a real experience but a tourist attraction. It was nice anyway. We had a gigantic feast in the dining tent catered by Bedouin hospitality. The Bedouin were real, it is just that they were running a tourist attraction. They made pita for us (there is nothing better in this world than homemade, fresh pita), as well as some other rice and meat dish that I would fail in trying to describe. It was quite tasty though. At the same time, we met the birthright trip for this season. They were mostly nice and fairly impressed that we spoke Hebrew better than they did (not very hard...). We had a nice campfire, complete with pringles, oreos, vafflim, and mooshi (marshmallows flavored like strawberry). I finally got to go to bed. Yes, I was complaining about my bed time The next day was camel ride extravaganza. I have ridden camels plenty of times before in my life. I didn't feel that it was necessary for my well-being. Actually, I forgot my correct shoes... I was wearing crocs. Yea, crocs. I thought I had packed real shoes...How did that happen? Anyway, I didn't go camelling. Instead, I walked with Sam (Participant) and Shira (Madricha/J-Hist teacher) and we talked. It was much nicer than camelling.
Moving on, we went to Kibbutz Yahel for that night. They have a pomelo orchard (the largest in Israel). If you are wondering what that is, it is a citrus fruit bigger than a grapefruit and much tastier. A wonderful fruit, let me tell you. Anyway, we picked pomelo and ate a few also. We also had a little meeting with some of the kibbutz teens regarding growing up in the negev desert, the arava valley, and Kibbutz Yahel in particular. That was nice. One of the girls was locked out of her hotel room and tried the window. She fell and smashed two of her toes. She later claimed that a flower pot fell on her foot. We also went to Eilat for some shopping and R/R.
The next morning we had services and I gave a d'var torah on Joseph and how his story of being in Egypt is related to us and being about to go stateside. We then went for some hiking.
We did hiking for four days. Lots of fun of course. Of note, there was a forecast for rain one night. You may know that rain and desert are an odd combination. Apparently, when it rains in the negev, it FLOODS. We were supposed to sleep in a riverbed that night. We were evacuated. We slept at a field school instead (they teach people how to be guides for touring and hiking etc there). It didn't rain though....When we were driving back north when we had finished, it started raining. It actually started pouring to be more accurate. And flooding. It was somewhat scary. I said the she'he'chiyanu (a prayer said to commemorate a special time). Very interesting. Not only was it flooding in the desert, but it was snowing in Jerusalem. We spent about two hours trying to get through the traffic of Jerusalem. Again I said she'he'chiyanu. I had never before that moment experienced snow in Israel. It was very nice. Amazing and other great stuff.
I came back and checked my email. I got an email from a Yoel Fogelman. Apparently, he has read my blog and is going to be a madrich (counselor) next semester. The following is our correspondence:
Hi,
My name is Yoel and I’m going to be a Madrich in the next NFTY EIE semester.
I found your blog (“YOMAN YISRAEL SHEL TAL”) on Google and read through it all. It was fascinating for me as an Israeli to read about your experience and it’s a relief for me as a future Madrich to get to know a little more about what to expect (I’m a little nervous).
I would appreciate it if you could find the time to give me some advice from your experience about things you think the Madrichim should change from the previous semester and things you think should be kept.
Yoel Fogelman
yoelfogelman@yahoo.com
I responded:
Hi,
I would not mind at all if you called me. My number is 052-653-8063. I am really pleasantly surprised that you found my blog on google. I was worried that it was not able to be found because I tried searching for it and didn't find it. I will be here with EIE until Jan 1. Feel free to call me until then. I would love to help you out.
-Tal
So he called me and we had a nice conversation. I am not so sure if I helped him out at all, but it is possible.
The name of this post is a bit of a pun. As you can see, I did have a packed week, but we are also packing. Very saddening. Magically, I think that somehow all my stuff (aside from perhaps a pair of sandals) will fit.
Finally, we got our "unofficial" transcripts. You will be quite surprised to read my semester grades...
Israel: Land, Culture, and People (Honors) (aka J-Hist on my blog): 100
Hebrew (Honors): 90
AP Calc AB: 95
English: 91
AP Physics C: 90
Latin 4: 97
Phys Ed: A
Are you surprised? I certainly was.
Thursday, December 28, 2006
Thursday, December 21, 2006
A final update
No, not the final update. This is an update about finals. The first final was the Hebrew one. It was nice. I enjoyed it. There was all sorts of interesting things on there. Great evidence that I learned plenty on this little trip of mine. Next we had the first half of the J-hist final. I answered everything in hebrew except two questions. That's just a little show-off thing that I do. No one else does that. Next we had the math finals. I am of course AP calc. The test had something like eight questions and all of us had similar qualms at the end about mean-value theorem and local linear approximation. Next was AP physics. That was a toughy. I worked on it and skipped what I didn't know to come back to it later. There were two free response questions with multiple parts each worth 35 points. Then there were eight multiple choice questions. Each was worth 5 points. That is a total of 110 points out of 100. The other AP physics kid compared notes with me afterward. Mind you, she is in AP physics B and I am C (she has Basic math and I have Calculus). In any case, we had a bunch of similar questions. We compared what we had for this question or that and either we both got the similar ones wrong or right but we had the same answers. Finally, this morning, I had the second part of my j-hist exam. Essays. One was Israel themed and the other diaspora themed. I wrote about my theory of the twelve tribes and Levi and Yehuda and other interesting things (that was the Israel one). The other one was about the loss of the Jewish creativity (in America) that tended to identify Jews in exile. That creativity is lost, we remain a creative people but the creativity is American not Jewish. We need a modern day Shalom Aleichem. אוי ועי וחבל
I suppose this was a pretty boring post. Sorry about that. I just wanted to write something now. We are leaving in a few hours for the Negev (the big desert of the south). We will hike for five days or so. I am personally looking forward to it. Oh, one last thing. I have school vacation for about the next month. Heheh.
I suppose this was a pretty boring post. Sorry about that. I just wanted to write something now. We are leaving in a few hours for the Negev (the big desert of the south). We will hike for five days or so. I am personally looking forward to it. Oh, one last thing. I have school vacation for about the next month. Heheh.
Saturday, December 16, 2006
My latest update.
So, it has been a long time since I sat down to have a nice write. I hope you are doing well and that life is treating you nicely. I am going to start with the beginning of December, and if I remember something worth mentioning from November, I will mention it, don't worry.
1/12, we went to Beit Shemesh. The kids who we have been getting to know (we had that scavenger hunt with them a while ago) invited us for Shabbat dinner. What an interesting experience. First we had them over here for Kabalat Shabbat, or welcoming the Shabbat and the evening service. They were all very intrigued by said service. Most had never experienced a Jewish service before. We were all intrigued about their intrigue. We have been going to services for many many many years, and there was nothing new or special there. But anyway, we went to dinner afterwards. I was paired up with Charlotte (in the lowest Hebrew class), to go to Tzvi's house. Tzvi is from a family of Russian immigrants. I learned that Tzvi's family knows only slightly better Hebrew than I, with no English on the side. Charlotte was absolutely lost. The family was very interested in us, and I had to act as translator. Poor Charlotte. It was a lot of fun though don't get me wrong. They offered us all sorts of alcoholic beverages in Hebrew, and I declined graciously in Hebrew. Really it was a lot of fun.
On 3/12, we went on extended tiyul (which is a trip if you had forgotten). This tiyul is called the security tiyul. The goal was to understand the six-day war (1967 war, known in Arab civilization as the second disaster) and the yom-kippur war (1973, known in Arab civilization as the october war), as well as borders to the state, and Druze civilization. I feel that I understand all of that a lot more than earlier. We went up to the Golan Heights to look at fortifications, to see a documentary about a tank-corps, and understand certain territorial issues. We went to tel-dan (which I loved!) to learn about biblical-times Israelite culture. Yes, we did learn that already, but it was a full circle thing. A lot of fun and interestingness. The last part of our journey was Druze learning. First we watched a video called ha'kallah ha'surit or the Syrian Bride. It detailed the journey of a Druze girl in the Golan heights to marry a Druze man in Syria. Lots of trials and tribulations. We later went to visit a Druze village above Haifa. A secular (atheist, also) Druze was our guide into the Druze culture. We had dinner at a Druze house, but never met the people that live there...It was delicious. We learned all about the Druze religion and culture except for the religion bit ;-). Apparently, discussing the Druze religion's ideas is forbidden. Besides, our guide did not know about it. You choose at age 15 to become religious or to be secular. He chose secular and does not regret that decision at all. Once you become religious you start (yes, I did say start) to learn about the religion, and you can leave religious life later if so you choose. On to different things though.
On 8/12, we had breakfast at the houses of our Hebrew teachers. This was a very interesting experience. My Hebrew teacher apparently is a bachelorette, and likes dogs (living, stuffed, and statues). She has this funny looking thing that she calls a dog (though she actually calls it calvah) I think it might be a shitzu (or however it might be spelled). We watched a movie in Hebrew whose setting was sometime in the 70s. It was really odd seeing 70s Israel. They liked spanish pop songs...It was weird. Later in the day, David W and I went to Eitan Chamberlin's house for Shabbat dinner. It was delicious. You remember that name. He is going to be as famous as JK Rowling. He wrote an excellent book (I'm in chapter 4) named Ikkibu and it is the first of four books in his quadlogy. Afterwards, I went with David to Walter Zanger's house. Walter is really an intriguing guy (and he is already pretty famous...or was). Also staying at Walter's that evening was Noam. Noam is the boyfriend of the girl who was my tourguide at Hampshire college. The two of them are doing a semester in Israel. The three of us went 'sploring the next day to all sorts of places and had lots of fun.
10/12 we went to the Israel high court and learned about the judicial system. Much different (and better, in my opinion) than the American one. The next day we went on tiyul around the Kibbutz. Visiting all sorts of places or interest (like an ancient Islamic cememtary, or a mosaic floor, or the house of a "holy man", or even a second temple period collumn). On 12/12, we had mock knesset. Knesset is the parliamentary law-making body of Israel. For the week or so beforehand, we were supposed to research a party (we were assigned to these parties) and make a campaign. I was the Avodah party (Labor party or the Party for the Workers of the Land of Israel). There were five of us in the group. I seized control of the party because no one else could remember the facts and improvise like I can. We were going to have one person know diplomatic issues and one know security and one know socio-economic (that was supposed to be me). However, we found out .5 hours before we were to present that just one person presents and others can add things in. so as I said, I seized control and led our party to almost victory. At the end, we had a vote. The Knesset has 120 seats. Parties get a number of seats based on proportionality. For example if 50% of the population voted for Kadima, they would get 60 seats in Knesset. So the votes came in, and my party got 7 of 28 votes. 30 seats in knesset. The party that won got 11 seats or about 40 seats. This is much different than real life. Since there are so many parties in Israeli politics, getting 40 seats would be quite an accomplishment. So in real life, my party has 19 seats in Knesset and is the second largest party in power. I feel that we would have won if kids didnt just throw away their votes...three kids voted for the shas party- a bunch of ultra-orthodox Jews that have no thoughts on defense other than "let God handle it". Two kids voted for Ichud Leumi which believes in the deportation of all Palestinians by force. These five kids don't actually believe what they voted for...they just wanted to be funny. I think its unfortunate. As we say in hebrew חבל.
We have had our last J-hist class. And boy, is that a depressing thought. I'm on the verge of a biblical breakthrough of Solomonic proportions, too. Again, חבל. We also had our finals in Hebrew. I had fun on that one...I will probably have fun on the J-hist final and even the calc one. The physics one, I will probably be tearing out my hair though.. But anyway, hebrew was good clean fun. I will see ya'll soon....I do miss you. But, I don't want to come stateside. I want to stay here. At home...
1/12, we went to Beit Shemesh. The kids who we have been getting to know (we had that scavenger hunt with them a while ago) invited us for Shabbat dinner. What an interesting experience. First we had them over here for Kabalat Shabbat, or welcoming the Shabbat and the evening service. They were all very intrigued by said service. Most had never experienced a Jewish service before. We were all intrigued about their intrigue. We have been going to services for many many many years, and there was nothing new or special there. But anyway, we went to dinner afterwards. I was paired up with Charlotte (in the lowest Hebrew class), to go to Tzvi's house. Tzvi is from a family of Russian immigrants. I learned that Tzvi's family knows only slightly better Hebrew than I, with no English on the side. Charlotte was absolutely lost. The family was very interested in us, and I had to act as translator. Poor Charlotte. It was a lot of fun though don't get me wrong. They offered us all sorts of alcoholic beverages in Hebrew, and I declined graciously in Hebrew. Really it was a lot of fun.
On 3/12, we went on extended tiyul (which is a trip if you had forgotten). This tiyul is called the security tiyul. The goal was to understand the six-day war (1967 war, known in Arab civilization as the second disaster) and the yom-kippur war (1973, known in Arab civilization as the october war), as well as borders to the state, and Druze civilization. I feel that I understand all of that a lot more than earlier. We went up to the Golan Heights to look at fortifications, to see a documentary about a tank-corps, and understand certain territorial issues. We went to tel-dan (which I loved!) to learn about biblical-times Israelite culture. Yes, we did learn that already, but it was a full circle thing. A lot of fun and interestingness. The last part of our journey was Druze learning. First we watched a video called ha'kallah ha'surit or the Syrian Bride. It detailed the journey of a Druze girl in the Golan heights to marry a Druze man in Syria. Lots of trials and tribulations. We later went to visit a Druze village above Haifa. A secular (atheist, also) Druze was our guide into the Druze culture. We had dinner at a Druze house, but never met the people that live there...It was delicious. We learned all about the Druze religion and culture except for the religion bit ;-). Apparently, discussing the Druze religion's ideas is forbidden. Besides, our guide did not know about it. You choose at age 15 to become religious or to be secular. He chose secular and does not regret that decision at all. Once you become religious you start (yes, I did say start) to learn about the religion, and you can leave religious life later if so you choose. On to different things though.
On 8/12, we had breakfast at the houses of our Hebrew teachers. This was a very interesting experience. My Hebrew teacher apparently is a bachelorette, and likes dogs (living, stuffed, and statues). She has this funny looking thing that she calls a dog (though she actually calls it calvah) I think it might be a shitzu (or however it might be spelled). We watched a movie in Hebrew whose setting was sometime in the 70s. It was really odd seeing 70s Israel. They liked spanish pop songs...It was weird. Later in the day, David W and I went to Eitan Chamberlin's house for Shabbat dinner. It was delicious. You remember that name. He is going to be as famous as JK Rowling. He wrote an excellent book (I'm in chapter 4) named Ikkibu and it is the first of four books in his quadlogy. Afterwards, I went with David to Walter Zanger's house. Walter is really an intriguing guy (and he is already pretty famous...or was). Also staying at Walter's that evening was Noam. Noam is the boyfriend of the girl who was my tourguide at Hampshire college. The two of them are doing a semester in Israel. The three of us went 'sploring the next day to all sorts of places and had lots of fun.
10/12 we went to the Israel high court and learned about the judicial system. Much different (and better, in my opinion) than the American one. The next day we went on tiyul around the Kibbutz. Visiting all sorts of places or interest (like an ancient Islamic cememtary, or a mosaic floor, or the house of a "holy man", or even a second temple period collumn). On 12/12, we had mock knesset. Knesset is the parliamentary law-making body of Israel. For the week or so beforehand, we were supposed to research a party (we were assigned to these parties) and make a campaign. I was the Avodah party (Labor party or the Party for the Workers of the Land of Israel). There were five of us in the group. I seized control of the party because no one else could remember the facts and improvise like I can. We were going to have one person know diplomatic issues and one know security and one know socio-economic (that was supposed to be me). However, we found out .5 hours before we were to present that just one person presents and others can add things in. so as I said, I seized control and led our party to almost victory. At the end, we had a vote. The Knesset has 120 seats. Parties get a number of seats based on proportionality. For example if 50% of the population voted for Kadima, they would get 60 seats in Knesset. So the votes came in, and my party got 7 of 28 votes. 30 seats in knesset. The party that won got 11 seats or about 40 seats. This is much different than real life. Since there are so many parties in Israeli politics, getting 40 seats would be quite an accomplishment. So in real life, my party has 19 seats in Knesset and is the second largest party in power. I feel that we would have won if kids didnt just throw away their votes...three kids voted for the shas party- a bunch of ultra-orthodox Jews that have no thoughts on defense other than "let God handle it". Two kids voted for Ichud Leumi which believes in the deportation of all Palestinians by force. These five kids don't actually believe what they voted for...they just wanted to be funny. I think its unfortunate. As we say in hebrew חבל.
We have had our last J-hist class. And boy, is that a depressing thought. I'm on the verge of a biblical breakthrough of Solomonic proportions, too. Again, חבל. We also had our finals in Hebrew. I had fun on that one...I will probably have fun on the J-hist final and even the calc one. The physics one, I will probably be tearing out my hair though.. But anyway, hebrew was good clean fun. I will see ya'll soon....I do miss you. But, I don't want to come stateside. I want to stay here. At home...
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