Tour of the Ulpan

 Here's a tour of the ulpan area to give you an idea of what it looks like where we live, eat, sleep, study, work, hangout...

 This is the main entrance (if you can call it that) to the ulpan area

 Porch area.  Most of the time there are people sitting here hanging out and talking.  Door on the right goes into the moadon. On the left, up the stairs, are the class rooms.

 Inside the moadon (means club in hebrew).  This is where we eat dinner, use the internet, hang out in the AC.

 Up here are the classrooms and the Ulpan director's office.

 My classroom

If you walk down the stairs from the moadon, there is this open area.  We don't use it too much except for holidays...our Sukkah is there now.

 

 Keep walking down toward the rooms, past one of our bomb shelters.

 This is one row of rooms. Each one is a different room (bedroom for 2 or 3 roommates and a bathroom).

This is kind of the end of ulpan area.  There's two rows of rooms facing each other and another behind the one of the left.  The pool is behind the right row of rooms. 

Sukkot Hofesh Part II

The second part of the break was all about the beach.

On Friday we went with some friends to a beach just south of Haifa.  It was really nice and quite, not built up or commercial at all.  We basically just pulled off the highway and drove down a dirt road to get there.  There were tons of kite surfers on this beach.  I really want to try it now!  We just hung out, walked, slept. There was a huge sand bar just off the shore so we could wade out there and walk along the beach in the water.  It was a little windy and hazy but the water was warm so it felt nice to walk through it with your feet in.

All of those things in the sky are kite surfing kites, not birds

Right before we left the beach for the night

Saturday we decided to go to Tel Aviv.  As usual we didn't really have a plan of what we wanted to do there.  We just kind of walked around a little before stopping to get lunch.  We ate at one of those restaurants right on the beach, like where you sit down on the sand.  It was a beautiful day so we took our time with lunch, just sat enjoying the food, the weather, the view.  It was so relaxing.  Finally we got up and walked along the beach again for a while.  It was packed! They play this game here Matkot, it's like paddle ball kind of but with a smaller harder ball.  Everyone stands down at the edge of the water and hits back and forth.  Just trying to walk down there is kind of a game by itself--try not to get whacked by a stray ball or swinging paddle.

The two guys on the left are playing Matkot.

Eventually we made our way back home. We cleaned up and had Shabbat dinner and then went back to the beach with some friends.  We really wanted to go at night when there aren't many people there, it's quiet, you can't tell the difference between the water and sky because it's all so dark.  There was some folk dancing on the boardwalk so we had some nice background music to just sit and talk for a while.

Then Sunday we had to give the car back. It felt like I was giving up my freedom.  I'm really glad we decided to rent the car. It worked out great for these few days and now we know how it works so we can do it again just for a weekend.  Two great things about driving in Israel:  (1) there are almost no stop signs, lots of traffic circles and yielding, but almost no stop signs and (2) the parking...there are parking spaces but you can pretty much park wherever you want, just pull over and stop. 

Our little Hyundai

Now, a couple days of just work and then the real routine begins...

Sukkot Hofesh Part I

For Sukkot we have about 5 days in a row off of school and work.  My friend and I decided to rent a car so that we can go wherever, whenever and to places that the buses and trains don't go.  I was a little nervous about driving around Israel...the people here drive very fast and very aggressively and it's a new place with a new car.  But as soon as we pulled out of the parking lot, it was great!  I felt like a real, normal person again. For about 4 weeks now the only ways to get around are kind of a hassle so I don't do it much.  I had only been off the kibbutz to go to the beach 2 times and with the whole group to Tsfat (so i don't even think that counts). To go from that to having a car and free reign to go anywhere (within Israel)...it was amazing!  And with my NJ driving skills, I could definitely hold my own with the Israelis.

Since we were already in Haifa, our first stop was the Baha'i Gardens.  It is really beautiful (and really steep!) but I really don't know anything about the religion or culture so I couldn't appreciate why anything was the way it was.  On the street that runs above the gardens is this sort of terrace thing.  It looks out over the gardens and Haifa and behind it is like wooded park kind of thing. I really liked that better.  It was just calm and peaceful and had a great view. 

After that we went back to the kibbutz so that we could get our bearings and make sure we knew how to get home. Next we took a little road trip to Nazareth.  We didn't see much there.  We were trying to follow the signs but we missed all of the biblical sights.

Then on Thursday we headed out early with some friends to Tiberius.  We didn't really have a plan but one thing that was definitely on the agenda was to visit this old temple ruins that had a mosaic floor because one of my friends had written her undergraduate thesis on it and wanted to see it up close.  It was pretty cool to hear about all of the symbolism in the designs and the background story of when and how it was built. 

From there we drove north around the Kinneret (Sea of Galilee) to the Jordan River.  We rented some kayaks and kayaked down.  The "river" was more like a stream where we were. It couldn't have been more than 25 feet wide for most of it.  The river was moving pretty fast so you really didn't need to paddle too much, except to keep yourself out of the weeds on the sides. 

After that was the highlight of the day in my opinion (which is the only one that counts on here I guess).  We kept driving around the Kinneret to this restaurant that I am not even sure how we found.  It was a really cute place on the top of a mountain.  Just like I hadn't left the kibbutz too much until now, I hadn't eaten any non-kibbutz food since I arrived in Israel. Just reading the menus and looking at all the options was slightly overwhelming. The whole meal was great but that first bite of bread....I think it was the slowest I ever ate one bite of food because it was so good.  I am pretty sure that the food was actually good, although it's hard to know if it just seemed so good because of what I am used to now.  Two people shared desert, a molten lava cake like mom makes with ice cream.  I only took one taste but it definitely reminded me of home. 

Once we were full, we finished circling the sea and went back to the beach and just hung out for the rest of the day.  No one went in the water even though it was about 100F (there was a lot of litter).  We just sat on the rocky beach and talked until after the sun had gone down.  Got some dinner and took the long way home. 

So its been a good break so far.  Part II when it's over...

Tsfat

Last night (We left the kibbutz at 9pm Thursday and came back 3:30pm Friday.) we went to the city of Tsfat (or Safed).  It is one of the four holy cities in Judaism and the center for Kabbalah.  They say that for Yom Kippur the two places the really religious go are to Tsfat and Jerusalem.

When we first got to Tsfat we listened to kind of an overview of Tsfat and Kabbalah and the connection with Yom Kippur.  The speaker was so enthusiastic that I didn't hear a lot of what he was saying because I was distracted by him yelling and waving his arms all over the place.   One thing he said that I liked was what a hug symbolizes in Kabbalah.  He said that we present ourselves to the world with our front and that is where we put superficial things that give certain impressions, make up, ties, facial expressions.  When we hug someone we reach around their front to touch their back.  This says to them that you want to know, will accept and embrace all of them...the part that they share with everyone else as well as the parts that they don't, good or bad. 

Alley in Tsfat

Then we walked around the city with a tour guide who told us a lot of stories about Yom Kippur and about Tsfat. As we were walking there was a man selling chickens for Kapparot.  Kapparot is a tradition where a person grabs a chicken in one hand (by the wing or the legs or wherever) and swings the chicken around over their head and say a prayer.  The idea is that you are releasing your sins through the chicken and throwing them away.  Then the chicken is killed and donated to to feed the hungry.  I'm glad I saw it done once, but I never want to see it again.  The chicken screams and you can practically hear it crying as it is swung around.  It was a terrible sound.  Then they bent the head back and touched the neck with a sharp knife to kill it kosherly (not a word I don't think).  I don't usually get too sensitive about animals but this was pretty awful. They say that people don't really do that too much anymore for that reason.

Kapparot

After Tsfat we went to the grave of a famous Rabbi.  There were many people there that were very religious and really deep in prayer, like how people are at the Kotel (Wailing Wall), but then there were people who has commercialized the area and were selling tourist junk.  I completely respect however anyone wants to pray and feel close to G-d, but why were they (there was a lot of people, it was pretty crowded) there at 2:00am?  Why were we there at 2:00am?  Why do they pray to a particular person? I don't think of that as a very "Jewish" thing to do...I thought you only prayed to G-d?

I learned some interesting things and i'm glad we went, but I'm not 100% clear on a lot of what was going on...which just means now i have a lot more questions

Kindergarten's "Playground"

I just took a ride over to the kindergarten with Nava (the ulpan house mother).  We had to bring the leftovers from dinner last night to feed the animals that they keep there--rabbits, guinea pigs, ducks, chickens.  While we were there she showed me their "playground."  It's not really a playground, more like a play area with stuff in it.  If you (someone from the US who played on jungle gyms and toys from the store) you would think it looked like a junk yard and a really dangerous place for kids, kindergarten age kids, to play.  There's old couches, kitchen appliances, tractors, boxes, pretty much just any old crap you can think of. She said that when something breaks or is too old in her house she brings it there.  The idea is that the kids don't always need toys that they have to play with a certain way.  With all this random junk they can be more imaginative and creative and play however they want.  Nava pointed out a little living room that the kids had made and a pretend farm, when i looked around it looked like there was no order at all, just stuff thrown all over. Maybe i need to work on my imagination...

Nightly walks

We go for a walk pretty often after dinner.  By then it's dark out and cool enough so that you don't sweat immediately...and there's not a lot else to do.  On last night's walk first we walked over to the cows.  The adult cows are nothing special to us anymore because we found the calves.  They will let you pet them and play with you a little.  There were some there that had just been born the day before.  Then we went over to the horse stable.  I think we stood outside one horses stall for a good 15 minutes.  From there we went up into the orchards.  There were different things (a fort from the tree limbs, new kinds of fruit trees) that we had each found walking around in there that we wanted to show each other.  It was dark so we stumbled around with our flashlight for a while until we decided to head back.  We stopped to take a look at the view of the lights from the towns/cities between us and the Mediterranean then walked back home to the ulpan.  A lot different than walking around PA or NJ...

Shana Tova

Happy new year everyone! 

It's Rosh Hashana and then Shabbat so lots of time off this week.  We've just been trying to keep busy with not much to do...so I don't have anything really exciting to tell.  I'm looking forward to next week... more than one day of class in one week and then we are going to Tsfat for Yom Kippur. 

I need some feedback.  What I've been writing so far, is it what you want to hear? Interesting enough?I don't really want to write too much about my feelings about things or about things that have to do specifically with other people, but is it too boring? Is there something you want to know that i am not saying? Let me know.

Pictures

These pictures are borrowed from my roommate.  She was smarter and actually brought her camera on the walk yesterday.

There's lots of cows because they make cheese and yogurt here.  The cows are pretty close to where we live so we walk by them at night often.

 

 

Avocado fields.  They'll be ripe in one month...I think there will be a lot of ulpanists hiding in the trees snacking.

One of those clearings I mentioned.  It's kind of hard to tell from a picture, but it's a really beautiful spot.

This is what I was trying to describe at the end of the last blog.  Up on the hill (just under the sun) is Haifa and way in the distance on the right is the Mediterranean Sea. 

I have a couple of pictures from our living area but i didn't want to ruin this post with them. I'll add them soon.

The Orchards

Tonight we took a "tour" through the orchards on the kibbutz.  Now I promise i will work on pictures.  A lot of people got some great ones.  There are avacados, lychees, guava, passion fruit, pomegranate, clementines, oranges, lemons,... (not all of those are crops, but they grow there)  We didn't see all of the different types but not at least we know where to wander and look for them. For the most part you can just pick and have whatever you want.  And they have these areas for you to sit and hang out, eat your fruit, read, enjoy the view.  Some of these spots are beautiful. They are hidden by bushes and flowers and looks so calm and peaceful.  From the top of the of the mountain you can see Haifa and the Mediterranean Sea.  We were there at sunset and you could see the sun rays streaming through the clouds over Haifa with the bay just to the north and the fields of the kibbutz right below us. It was pretty awesome. 

This is the life!

This is how my past two days went...

Thurs: Work in the morning until about 11:30.  Hang out. Go to lunch. Hang out some more, maybe check my email. Take a nap. Dinner. Play tennis. Pub.

Fri: Run and work out at one of those out door gyms...it's so nice to work out outside instead of in a gym. School! Lunch. Beach. Dinner.  Maybe tennis? Maybe pub? Maybe scrabble?
  
This may not be exactly the experience I thought it was going to be but I really can't complain.

Food

The food here is pretty different than at home.  Not the actual food but the way that they eat. It takes some getting used to but, I think today I finally started to do it right. 
First, salad for breakfast.  Tomatoes, cucumbers, lettuce, sprouts, carrots, onion just whole on the salad bar and you do whatever you want with them.  But, no salad dressing.  You eat it with cottage cheese and/or this white cheese, that's kind of between Greek yogurt and sour cream. Some eggs and toast too if you want.  There's some cereal but no one really eats it.
Then, lunch.  This is supposed to be the big meal of the day.  Hot meats, rice/couscous, hot veggies.  Then lots (like maybe 12 different kinds) of different chopped salads. Always hummus. And bread.
Dinner is really light.  Rarely any meat. More hummus and bread. Fruit for desert. 
No snacks in between but that could be because of our situation.
Number one thing to get over is salad at breakfast.  (Now) I like that though...start the day out healthy, keeps you full but not stuffed.  Then you need to make sure you eat enough at lunch, otherwise dinner is very far away and unsatisfying.  Like I said, I'm starting to get the hang of it. Tonight is the first time I'm not starving for dinner.  They also seem to not think as much about what/how much they eat as we do but they seem much healthier.

Tomorrow starts work...