Awesome two weeks

I just got home from the end of an amazing but exhausting 2 weeks. As I told you, I spent Chanukah volunteering at an IDF base. We started off the first day with a 3 hour drive to the northern border between Israel and Lebanon. The base we stayed on was about a mile south of the Lebanon border. I think the best way to describe the setting of the base would be to compare it to summer camp. The base was in the woods on top of a mountain with tons of bunks everywhere. Some of the bunks were sleeping quarters and some were for working. After we arrived we went to another bunk where we were given our IDF uniforms to wear for the week. In Israel, you see soldiers everywhere you go and I always thought that the uniforms look uncomfortable but they were surprisingly not too bad. However it was about 60 degrees, I wouldn’t want to be wearing it during the Israeli summer. After we got our uniforms, put our bags down and relaxed for a little we went to the dinning hall where the Chanukah candles were lite and we got to eat as much as we could at the buffet (the food was a lot better than I expected). The next day we started our volunteering, we took a 30 minute bus ride each morning to an outpost on the Israel/Lebanon fence. The work consisted of filing boxes of sand on top of the concrete walls so we made lines and carried sand bags from one person to other until the last couple people took the bags and filled the boxes with sand. It might not sound that exciting but wearing the uniform, being on the border fence and doing tough manual labor while helping to secure the outpost was a blast. We spent the evenings doing an activity related to the IDF such as a game where we learned all about the structure and the different infantry units. Some of the other kids in my program and I spent the rest of the evenings playing soccer with the soldiers. The army plays such a different role here in Israel than it does in the U.S. You can’t go anywhere in Israel without seeing soldiers dressed in their uniforms while carrying huge machine guns around, and not help being interested in the IDF. In the U.S. the wars are being fought really far away and as sad as it is, the current wars have very little impact on the everyday life of Americans. In Israel everybody joins the military and the wars are fought on the borders and unfortunately sometimes inside the borders. It’s that and all of the success the IDF has had which makes the military so interesting to me. Hopefully and thankfully this is probably the closest I will ever get to having to fight in a military.

I got home at about 2 PM from Sar-el last Thursday, watched the awful Ravens/Steelers game, (I didn’t check the internet or ask anyone what happened the whole week) repacked and hoped on a train back to northern Israel to start a 4 day hike. The hike I was planning is called the “Sea to Sea” hike because you start the hike at the Mediterranean and walk until you reach the Sea of the Gaililee. I’ve been in Israel for almost 4 months now and have seen rain for maybe a total of 5 minutes so it never occurred to me to check the weather. When we arrived in Akhziv the night before the hike we were told that a terrible storm was coming through and we probably shouldn’t hike. We were already there and the storm wasn’t supposed to start until the evening of the next day so we decided to go on with the hike. We woke up really early, and followed a river bed through a banana farm for about 4 miles until we hit the Nahal Kziv nature reserve. We then hiked for about another 10 miles in the nature reserve. We misread the map a little and ended up walking up a huge hill/mountain towards the city of Maalot when the storm was just about to start. We stopped and asked a police officer driving by where the camp ground was and he told us to get in because by this time the thunder had already started and the sky did not look happy. After confirming we were Jewish and realizing we had no where to go for Shabbat he said he would take us to the yeshiva and we could spend Shabbat there. The yeshiva gave us a room, dinner and lunch which I was very grateful for because the storm went on for 4 days and according to some Israelis was a once in a 10 year storm. I’m planning on finishing the hike but will definitely check the weather next time before I leave.

The last 2 days Oranim took us on an overnight trip to the Golan Heights. The Golan Heights are very interesting because it was not part of Israel originally and only became a part of Israel after the 67 war. Like everything else in Israel there is a huge dispute between Israel and the Muslim countries over whose land it is which makes for some incredible views, interesting lectures and of course Israel war stories. The highlight was probably the hike in the Banias today which is a stream with beautiful waterfalls, as well as ancient ruins dating back to the third century BC.

I’m getting ready for tomorrow because Aubrey is coming to visit me! I’ve got a lot of really fun things planned while she is here. Aubrey has been here twice before and both on organized trips so I’m hoping she can get a better idea of what it’s like to live here on top of having a great time which I know she will. Check out some of the bananas growing while I was on the hike, me today at a waterfall in the Banias and my favorite pic me at the Golan Brewery where i tried 4 of their microbrews.

Happy Chanukah

Happy Chanukah everybody, tonight is the first night of Chanukah as well as the start to a 10 day vacation from volunteering. I’m really excited for Chanukah and not just because I love latkes and Sufganiyot (Israeli jelly doughnuts). The vacation was supposed to start with a 4 day hike from the Mediterranean to the Kinneret on Sunday but due to an unnecessary lecture that I had to go to on Tuesday, the hike will have to be delayed a couple weeks. The good news is that I will get to do some things that I would have missed out on such as going to Jerusalem during Chanukah. Chanukah is celebrated much different here than the U.S., the main difference being that parents don’t give their children presents and then have to explain that Chanukah is better than Christmas because you get presents for eight days instead of one. There are no presents given, just lighting of the menorah, long lines at the bakeries and another reason for Israelis to end every conversation with “chag sameach” (happy holiday). I’m not really sure what Jerusalem will be like for Chanukah but I’m excited to see. The delay of the hike also let me go to a Macabbi Tel Aviv basketball on Sunday which is something I had wanted to do. It was a pretty normal basketball game not much different than going to a WVU game. It was kinda cool to hear Hatikva play before the game, I think that’s the first time I’ve heard it since I’ve been here.

The main reason that I’m so excited for Chanukah this year is that on Sunday I will be doing a 5 day IDF volunteering program called Sar-El. Usually Sar-El is 3 weeks and volunteers come from all over the world to help but Oranim has some type of deal with the program so we don’t have to commit the whole 3 weeks. I don’t know much about the program except that I will be wearing and IDF uniform and will stay on an army base for the week. I think the base is in the Negev and we will be eating with the soldiers and in their sleeping quarters. I’m not quite sure what the volunteering activities will be but I can’t imagine anything to difficult since if you go on the website they have volunteers from all ages who participate. I think I’m most excited for the picture of me in the IDF uniform but whatever I end up doing it will be something completely different than I’ve ever done before.

Hope everybody had a good Thanksgiving, I went to a bar in Tel Aviv that had a full course Thanksgiving dinner. It was great, the only thing missing with the sofa for me to fall asleep on afterwards. We tried to go to a bar in TLV afterwards but we were so full and tired we went home early. The following Saturday I met a father and son from New York at the Kotel, we started talking and he invited us to his house for Shabbat lunch. A great lunch, awesome conversation and the best part was they had Thanksgiving dinner at their house for 45 people so on top of the Shabbat meal there was also a ton of Thanksgiving leftovers. Other highlights of the last couple weeks would include the IDF and Israel Museum. The IDF museum was pretty cool, just houses full of guns, tanks, missiles... that were either made in Israel or from the surrounding countries that Israel has captured throughout the years. The Israel museum had fossils from 30,000 years ago and took you on a journey of all the nations who have conquered the land of Israel throughout history. I took a tour of Jerusalem which was necessary since I’ve been there between 8-10 times but never did any tour and never knew what I was looking at. At the same time, Jerusalem is so filled with tourist that it’s been nice to be able to go when I want, do what I want and not be rushed around following a tour guide with a yellow umbrella who yells at the group constantly to catch up. Took a trip to Ashdod & Herzliya, more haggling with arabs over things I don't need but I think most importantly I found a hummus joint in Yafo (Abu Hassan) that I’ve been to 5 times since I found out about it 3 weeks ago. I’m not saying in competes with Pat’s or Willie Mae's fried chicken but its damn good (always long lines no matter the time) and and they serve massabha which is basically hot humus, i just can't get enough of it. Happy Chanukah everybody, I put some more pictures on FB if anybody want to take a look.

http://www.sar-el.org/

Midway Point

It’s been a long time since I’ve posted, part has been laziness and part has been me being busy, but not so much traveling around Israel. So what’s been new with me, we’ll the biggest thing has been the decision if I wanted to stay in Israel after my 5 month program is up. I’m not sure why I did but I applied and surprisingly got a job with a large accounting firm in the Tel Aviv office. I had to make a decision if I wanted to stay here longer or come back. I needed to look at what is most important to me and for me its family and friends. If I knew that I would have only been here for 2 more years at the most and would have had no problem coming home, then I probably would have stayed. But once I actually got the job, I started to really think that if I took the job there is always the possibility that I might not have came home. I really don’t know what would have happened and it’s not unreasonable to think that I might have stayed in Israel. For people who have never been here or for only a couple weeks than Israel can feel very different. After living here for a few months, I feel very comfortable and really enjoy being in Israel, especially near Tel Aviv but that doesn’t mean that I want to spend the rest of my life here. I’m happy that I was offered the job because it made me think about what’s really important to me and made me decide if I really wanted to be in Israel. The decision was easy, I’ve spent my whole life building great friends and family and that’s what is most important to me and where I belong. Even though Israel will always be very special to me and I’m sure this won’t be my last visit here.

So with that out of the way, this weekend me and two friends from my program rented a car and drove to the Dead Sea, Ein Gedi and Masada. I was the only one who could drive and I must say that I was a little nervous to drive since Israeli drivers are crazy. Everybody is in such a rush to get everywhere, it’s not uncommon for Israelis to hunk before the light turns green so the person in front of them won’t waste a second to go once the light turns. On Sunday we drove to the Ein Bokek, a tourist resort on the Dead Sea and floated in the water for about an hour. Even though I’ve been there a few times before it’s still so cool to go and float in the water. Your body feels so healthy and smooth afterwards and it puts you right to sleep. After that we drove to kibbutz Ein Gedi and walked around the kibbutz. We called it an early night because we had to wake up at 3:30 in the morning so we could get to Masada before it became light out. The highlight of the evening was definitely while sitting outside having a drink and smoking the hookah we saw and IDF fighter jet fly almost eye level with us because we were in the mountain and only about a mile in front of us. After that about 12 more jets came following the first one in about a 15 minute span, the jets were so loud and so close, pretty exciting. The next morning we arrived at Masada at about 4:30 while it was still dark out and began to hike up the snake path. I’ve walked down the snake path but never up before, the beginning of the hike was very tough because we couldn’t see anything but slowly it became lighter and lighter and after about 45 minutes we made it the top of the hill. We watched the sunrise and then walked around Masada. After a schwarma lunch we drove to the Ein Gedi oasis and hiked for about 3 hours through the waterfalls, up the mountain until we arrived at a cave 3 quarters up the mountain. After we hiked back down and a well deserved stop at McDonalds I drove home completely exhausted but still managed to stay awake when I got home to watch the Ravens game that I missed on Sunday…nice win.

So what else have I been doing in the long time since the last post? When I first arrived in Israel, there was the initial excitement of wanting to do everything, followed by the holidays and time to backpack around the country and then some organized trips such as a few days in Eilat. We’ll since then I’ve still been very busy but I’ve also settled in and even though I’m here for only 5 months I now feel like my apartment is home. The weekends have been pretty busy mostly between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. I really enjoy going to Jerusalem and the Muslim quarter in the old city and bargaining with Muslims over stuff that I don’t need. Jews start their prices at a more reasonable price so if you bargain with them you will save a few dollars but the price won’t come down that much. Arabs start off their prices at such a ridiculously high price so they will come down quicker and a lot more than Jews but if you work at it you can get them for a lower price than the Jewish price. I’ve had quite a few Muslims upset with me because my prices were so low and I wouldn’t go to their price but I also got a lot of stuff for really cheap. Jerusalem has a really fun nightlife on Thursday’s which I enjoy hanging out in as well as a humus place (Ben Sira if anybody is visiting soon) that I’m obsessed with and can’t get enough of. Last Thursday I was in Jerusalem and slept on a hostels rooftop deck in the old city. It’s a lot cheaper that staying in a hotel but the Muslim morning call to prayer at 5 AM is really loud and annoying so I think that might have been a one time thing.

I’m only 25 minutes from Tel Aviv and I seem to go all the time. There’s so much to do there, so many different cool areas that there is no way I will be able to see everything before I leave, even though I’m trying my best. There are a lot of great restaurants so if I ever want a normal meal (non middle eastern) Tel Aviv is where I have to go. I got lasagna last night that would have been decent in the U.S. but not having normal Italian food in a while, the lasagna was extra delicious. I’ve been very busy the past month but instead of doing a lot of tourist stuff it’s been a normal life of living in Israel, going to restaurants, bars, pubs, hanging out by the beach and wondering to see the different areas of Tel Aviv. I’m at the midway point now before I come home so I’m going to take full advantage of my time left. I’m really looking forward to Aubrey coming in December and some other friends in January. I’m hoping to volunteer in the IDF for a week during Hanukah break in a program called Sar-El which could be an amazing experience. We’ll I’m off to Jerusalem for dinner, going to meet one of mom’s old friends who I haven’t see in years. Yesterday we toured an army base that was on a hill over looking the west bank in the north where they showed us what they do and how they stop terrorist from coming over the fence from Palestine into Israel. Most importantly they let us play with the guns, bullet proof vest and other IDF toys. I posted some pictures of last weekends trips and other random pictures of facebook if you want to take a look. The pics are of Emi, Dan and I starting our hike up Masada at 5 in the morning and me playing with a huge gun.

Israeli Cancun

After my first full week of volunteering, it was time for another vacation. Sorry for such a long delay between post but I spent the week after the last post recovering from an exhausting trip traveling up north. I needed to spend the next week relaxing in Nes Zionna. Everybody from the Oranim program (about 150 people) went to Eilat for a 3 day vacation last Friday. The bus picked us up at 6:45 Friday morning so I was planning on going to bed early so I could be ready for the weekend. A few girls that Dan and I had meet invited us to a kibbutz party Thursday night about 20 minutes from our house. I’m starting to learn that some words have different meanings between Israelis and American’s. For example, the word ‘party” at home usually means somebody’s house so when I was invited to a kibbutz party I figured it would be out in a field, maybe bond fire with people drinking. “Party” in Israel means nightclub and that also means that parties here don’t start until 12 AM at the earliest. The nightclub was in the middle of a farm surrounded by nothing. The “Party” was a lot of fun even though I don’t understand techno music dancing. When we left the club at 3:30 in the morning because we had to be up in 2 hours, there were still people coming in and the club was packed.

That night pretty much summed up the entire Eilat experience. After my 2 hours of sleep, and a light nap on the bus it was time for a 4 hour hike before we got to Eilat. The hike was in the Negev in an area called Machtesh Gadol. This is one of five craters in the Negev and when we finally reached the top of the hill if you do a 360 you can actually see the wall of the crater. The hike was very challenging but once we got to the top the views were amazing and well worth it. After lunch and a smelly 2 hour bus ride, we were finally in Eilat. The nickname for Eilat is the “Israeli Cancun” and that’s a pretty accurate description of it. It’s made for tourist, both Israel and abroad with beautiful hotels on the water, packed beaches with DJ’s blasting techno music, scuba/snorkeling/Jet Skies… and nightclubs/bars galore. Needless to say, I had a blast going out at night, meeting other people from the Oranim programs and there was even a booze cruise Saturday night to start the evening off right. Having to be ready to leave the hotel at 7 AM Sunday morning did not seem like the best idea after another night of very little sleep and the 8 AM hike seemed like an even worse idea. Luckily for me I sweated all the alcohol out of my body by 8:15 from the desert sun since it was another tough hike. This hike just like the first hike was amazing and from the top of the mountain you could see Israel, Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia. After that we stopped at Ben Gurion's grave for a history lesson and more views of the Negev. We made it home about 15 minutes before the Ravens/Bronco’s game so I couldn’t have asked for a better weekend.

The approximately 10 hours of sleep over 3 nights took a toll on me and caused my eyes to be very bloodshot and hurt so I took the last couple days to rest. I’m feeling all better now and am planning on going to Jerusalem tomorrow night. While Jerusalem has so many historic and Jewish things to do, it also has a great nightlife and restaurants. After the holidays, I’m taking a break from all the Jewish stuff and am just going to enjoy the night out tomorrow. I put some pics up on facebook from Eilat if you want to see more. Here’s a picture of me hiking up the Machtesh Gadol and of some Israelis we were hanging out with Friday night.

It’s about doing, not seeing

“Israel is about doing, not seeing” is what the Rabbi from New Jersey told me Wednesday night during Simchat Torah dinner when I told him where I had travelled during Sukkot. I think that comment does a great job of explaining what it’s like to be here and to really try and understand Israel. Unlike traveling through Europe where you wake up early, sight see all day and then do the same thing the next day. To really see Israel you need to talk to Israelis, party at night, have conversations about life and Judaism, dance with torah’s on holidays and of course sight see. I think it’s the variety that Israel has that you can’t find anywhere else, and that’s what makes Israel so fascinating to me.

I travelled for the past 10 days and started and ended the trip in Jerusalem to celebrate Sukkot and Simchat Torah. Being in Jerusalem is really incredible for the Jewish holidays, even though I don’t really know much about them there is such an amazing feeling being at the western wall with everybody. I’m not sure who sponsors or runs the program but for every Shabbat and Jewish holiday in Jerusalem anybody who doesn’t have a family to go to can meet this guy named Seidel just outside of the western wall. Seidel sets you and your friends up with a family to go to for dinner and lunch the next day. It’s such a great program because it makes you want to go to Jerusalem for the holidays since you have something to do the whole time. The people who meet for dinner are different ages and come from different backgrounds, families take sometimes up to 10 people so it’s a great way to meet new people in Israel as well.

After I spent the first night celebrating Sukkot and the next night partying just off Ben Yehuda street I went to Haifa for a couple days. Haifa is very beautiful, the majority of Haifa is built into the surrounding hills and looking up from the beach it’s a very pretty city. The saying in Israel is “Tel Aviv parties, Jerusalem prays and Haifa works” and that’s the feeling you get there, especially with the enormous port and the technology park next to the bus station that had such companies offices there as Google, Microsoft, IBM, Yahoo, Hewlett Packard and many more. After a few days exploring Haifa it was off to Tiberias on the Kinneret. Tiberias is very beautiful and since it was Sukkot, it was packed with Israelis vacationing. The entire beach was surrounded with Israelis camping on the water, grilling, drinking, smoking nageliah (hukkah) and blasting techno music. We stayed in a hostel but next time I go back I’m definitely renting a tent and camping for a few days. The highlight of Tiberias was probably the bike ride along the Kinneret where we ended with a swim in the Jordan River and a walk around Kibbutz Kinneret where we sampled so many delicious dates, chocolates, cheeses and candy all made and grown at the kibbutz.

After Tiberias it was off to Tzfat which is the center of Kabbalah. We stayed at a place called Ascent where they run Kabbalah classes all day and night. When I said earlier about “doing Israel”, this is what I meant. I went from partying in Tiberias to the next night up just as late having a discussion with Rabbi’s and other people like me about Judaism and how it relates to life, it was very enjoyable. After a late night of discussion, took a 4 hour bus ride on a packed bus to Jerusalem with nothing but ultra orthodox, not the most enjoyable bus ride. Simchat Torah was awesome in Jerusalem, such a special feeling being in Israel for it and I even carried the Torah while dancing in circles with everybody else celebrating. I’m exhausted and need a few days to recover. I posted pictures from the first month on facebook. Next Friday all of the Oranim programs are going to Eilat for 3 days so I’m very excited for that. Check out the sign above the urinal in Haifa just in case you were worried about going to the bathroom during Shabbat.

First Month Observations

It’s hard to believe that I’ve been in Israel for a month already. The question I’ve been asked a couple times from multiple people is “Do you think you could live in Israel?”. Before I answer this question, I want to state that my answer does not mean that I’m staying past January 25th. With that said, when you take away all of the extra material items that America has, life in America and Israel are not that different. What I mean by that is that the U.S. has a so many Malls, restaurants every 5 feet, Wall Marts in every city, big cars, big houses with lots of land and a million extra curricular activities to choose from. There’s a lot to do in Israel but it’s not so much running from place to place and you don’t have the options in the U.S. The people seem to be a more relaxed and in not so much of a rush all the time. Most people seem fine spending their weekends at the beach or hanging around with their families. The part that makes Israel feel so comfortable for me is the family aspect. Despite the fact that everybody here is Jewish, it’s an incredible diverse country. People come from so many different countries and continents (mainly Eastern Europe, Middle East, Africa) but every family I’ve meet so far reminds me of my family. It seems that if you meet somebody at the beach on a Thursday, they are calling you Friday morning and inviting you over for Shabbat dinner. That’s the part for me that made Israel so easy to adjust to and for me to feel comfortable immediately. There might be other places in the world that are more beautiful or have more to do but I don’t think there is anywhere else where I could have moved to for the last month and felt as immediately comfortable and adjusted so quickly. So the answer would be Yes, I know I could live here. I don’t know if I could live here forever but I don’t feel it’s so different to live here as you might think it is.

Tomorrow evening starts sukkot and schools will be closed for the rest of this week and next week which means I’m off for the next 10 days. The blog will be put on hold while I do some traveling in Israel. The plan is to go to Jerusalem tomorrow morning for the night, and then go from Jerusalem to Haifa. After a few days in Haifa I’m planning on living on a kibbutz for a couple days followed by a few days of hiking and camping in the northern part of Israel. Were going to finish the trip off with another couple days in Jerusalem. I spend a lot of time in Tel Aviv on the weekends and in my free time so it will be nice to go see some new parts of Israel. I won’t have skype while I’m gone so if you need to talk to me, call me on the cell phone. Off to get ready for tonight, spending the night in Rishon, here’s Asi and I, Asi is in charge of my program.

Phone # 011972526042751

Yom Kippur

Last week was Rosh Hashanah and my overall impression was that in Israel it isn’t that different from the way we celebrate it in the U.S. Yom Kippur ended tonight and it was very interesting to see just how different it is from the U.S. First, I heard that all of Israel shuts down during Yom Kippur and that was very true. After a big dinner on Friday night, I went to shul with Tal’s father Moshe and his son Lehav. If you were trying to compare shuls between Israel and the U.S. than this would be considered a reform or conservative shul because none of the members are orthodox. The Synagogue was still separated so women could not be in the same room as the men. It was also a small Synagogue so everybody was crammed in next to each other. Everybody wears white to shul but nobody get’s dressed up. Most people were wearing jeans or khakis and either a white t-shirt or dress shirt half unbuttoned. I’m not sure why American Synagogue’s got so formal and Israel is so casual but I must say I like the dress code better in Israel. The first 45 minutes of the service was the Rabbi auctioning off portions of the Torah for people to pay to read. Where in the U.S. you have to pay a yearly membership fee, in Israel they make money by selling Torah portions. The Kol Nidre service lasted 3 and half hours, all in Hebrew, Moshe tried to explain to me what was going on but I just sat there and turned the page whenever Lehav did. For anybody who thought I was going to come back to the States a new religious man, I can assure you with certainty that’s not happening. Last night’s Synagogue trip was an enjoyable experience but it will hold me over until the next Jewish holiday season.

After services we went to the Mall area, the mall is in the center of Nez Zionna and about 1/3 of the residents (Population 35,000) were hanging out at the mall and all the surrounding streets. It reminded me of a huge outdoor festival, except of course without food, drinks and music. It was an interesting sight to see. Not a single car on the road, streets were packed with kids, families and old people just talking and hanging out. I think the most interesting part about Yom Kippur here is that in the U.S. if you choose to celebrate and fast on Yom Kippur great, but nothing around you changes if you do or don’t. In Israel, it’s the opposite, not only do you almost have too but people here are excited to and it’s just a way of life. There was not a single thing open, even every TV station is blacked out and shows nothing for 25 hours. I went back to Moshe’s to break fast and helped him set up the Sukkah for Sukkot next week.

Last Thursday, we took a trip to the Jezreel valley. It’s in the northern part of Israel, where we learned about the early Kibbutzim that were started. We learned how the people worked the lands and how Israel used the Kibbutz as not only an early way to settle the lands but also to expand the Jewish control over the land so when Israel finally became a state they could lay claim to the land and expand Israel’s territory. I find the history of the state of Israel very interesting, so I really enjoyed learning everything. We were supposed to go on a hike in the afternoon but it was so hot that we went to some type of natural pool to go swimming instead, which I must say was a much better idea. Check me out dressed up as an early Zionist pioneer and pretending to work. I would have struggled since everybody who came before the state of Israel and shortly after its existence was both a farmer and a soldier.

The food!

One of my main concerns before coming to Israel was how I would handle the food for 5 months. After 3 weeks I’ve learned that I will be able to survive here and there are a lot of things in Israel that are better than the U.S. but I would definitely give the edge to America on the food. Most of you who know me know that I love to eat, love to cook and usually have the food network on the TV when not watching sports. When I plan a trip the first thing I usually do is a google search for the best restaurants where I’m going. Of course by best restaurant I’m not referring to the most expensive or classy but the hole in the wall with the greasiest most delicious food in that city. So of course I was excited to get to know another country's cuisine.

The number one food item in Israel without a doubt is the Ice Café. I don’t understand why they don’t have it in America but it’s basically ice coffee that is the thickness of a milkshake sold everywhere. It’s the best thing to beat the constant heat in Israel and just unbelievably delicious/refreshing, even if you don’t love coffee. So what am I eating? I certainly am eating healthier than in the U.S. I haven’t weighed myself but there is not doubt I’ve lost a couple pounds. I honestly don’t think I’ve gone a day since I got here without eating humus. I’m eating a lot of fruits and vegetables (mostly cucumbers, grapes, avocado and mangos), pita/cucumber with humus, and of course falafel, schnitzel and shawarma. You can’t walk 10 feet with out running into a falafel/schnitzel/shawarma stand and I’m definitely starting to be able to tell the difference between quality and bad stands. I haven’t eaten at a lot of nice sit down restaurants because their just expensive and not working for 5 months I need to cut cost somewhere. I think what I’m missing the most is the selection of food items in the US, it’s nice to drive 5 minutes and have 50 different choices of food. Oh well, for 5 months I’ll survive, I’m kind of hungry, think I’ll go grab some grapes!

Favorite new snack food – Peanuts that you eat the shell, not sure exactly what it is but it taste like a salted peanut and you eat the whole thing

Falafel, schnitzel or shawarma? – Close call between schnitzel or shawarma but shawarma is going to have to take it

Item I’m craving the most – Fried Chicken

Mcdonalds count – 1 time so far, not bad for just over 3 weeks in Israel

On an unrelated topic I’ve ordered the NFL game pass so I will be able to watch every Ravens game live. I’ve never been so excited to wake up at 2 in the morning as I am for tonight. I’m also planning on being on Skype during the games if anybody is watching the games home and wants to talk during halftime or commercials. The pics are of a late night hotdog from Florentine with about 25 toppings and per Tapper’s request another pic of Daya and her friend Tal.

The Post Rosh Hashanah Post

The holiday started off with my group being invited a banquet on Wednesday for what seemed like all the important people in Nes Zionna. It was at a banquet hall and there were probably over 200 people there. They gave out awards for the past year to teachers, policeman, serviceman… and showed a long video of everything that happened in the past year. The whole thing was in Hebrew so I couldn’t really follow, however I did enjoy the 4 course meal that came with the banquet and finally got some red meat for a change. Apparently the night before Rosh Hashanah in Israel is the like the night before thanksgiving in America. Went out to a dance club, everywhere was packed had a great time even though it was really crowded.

For the first night of Rosh Hashanah went to my friend Daya’s grandparents house for dinner. Her parents and cousins are not religious but her grandparents are and even have a synagogue in their back yard. This was an orthodox synagogue (although I think that’s all they have here) so the men were in the main area and the women had to sit in a separate room. It was a tiny synagogue, no more than 25 men praying. After services they gave me a very quick tour, there is at least 7 Torah’s in this Shul which seems like a ridiculous amount for the size of the Shul. When I first got to the house, my original impression was that it was to religious for me but shortly after I arrived the services were over, everybody left and we had a normal Rosh Hashanah dinner with just the family. Food was good not great, when I got home from dinner and talked to my parents about what they were doing for the holiday, it was the first time since I got here that I kind of wished I was home. I was really craving some brisket, Matzo ball soup and half sour pickles.

I had heard before I came here that secular Israeli’s don’t feel the need to go to Shul because what can you do that is more Jewish than live in Israel. For whatever reason, I have the same feeling being here. If I was home and didn’t go to Shul yesterday I would have felt really guilty about it. However, being in Israel I didn’t feel the need to go to Shul yesterday so I decided to go to the beach with some friends since there was really nothing else to do. To my surprise the TLV beach was packed once again, with families, friends, couples just like on a normal Shabbat. I know Yom Kippur will be different but my overall impression was that Israel treats Rosh Hashanah as a day of celebration where in the U.S. we treat it much more as a religious holiday.

Looking forward to the weekend, going out in TLV tonight to an area called Florentin that is supposed to have a lot of artsy bars and clubs so it should be fun. On my way to the bar Wednesday came across the New Years celebration, I thought my new years was fun last year, not like this (check out the video). The pic is of my Argentina friends and roommates Emi, Cecila and I at the Nes Zionna Banquet.

Shana Tova…almost

Happy “almost” new year everybody, I just came back from Ulpan class and am sitting outside on this gorgeous Israeli Sunday. The new year starts Wednesday and I’m very excited to see the differences between how Israeli’s and Jewish Americans celebrate the holidays. I’ve already started to see that a lot of the traditions and customs that I thought were universally Jewish are really just American Jewish, but more on that later. My friend Daya’s family volunteered to be my host family so I will be spending the holidays with her family. Just because I’m in Israel, I don’t think that means I should change the way I celebrate holidays. So I’m planning on doing my normal custom of doing nothing to help out, show up when dinner is ready and eat until I can’t fit anything else in my mouth.

Had a very nice Shabbat weekend, my friend Dan and I rode bikes to the beach on Friday afternoon before dinner. It’s been a long time since I got on a bike but it was a good time until his bike got a flat tire about an hour away from the house. We walked to the closest gas station but couldn’t get the tire fixed so he had to take a taxi home and I rode back by myself. For Shabbat dinner, Daya’s friend Tal’s parents invited us to dinner. With out a doubt the best meal I’ve had in Israel so far. Four different types of chicken, humus, rice, potatoes, tons of deserts and a lot more that I’m missing. Had a really nice time meeting and hanging out with their family. I’m definitely going to hold them up on their offer that I can come over any time for dinner.

As for some of the differences between American Jews and Israelis, on the way to dinner I saw ton’s of men walking back from shul. All the men were wearing flip flops, jeans and a polo/tshirt. I was told that services on Friday night last for about an hour and most men go, even though they consider themselves secular Jews. I also saw pictures of Tal’s brother bar mitzvah in which he was wearing black shoes, jeans and a dress shirt untucked. Just a little different than the tux I had on for my Bar Mitzvah. Went back to Tel Aviv yesterday and hung out at the beach. Tried to stay up for the first college football weekend but the sun really wore me out yesterday. I’m pretty sure this is the tannest I’ve ever been. I had such a good time on the bikes on Friday I’m going for another ride now, I think to Rehovot to do a little shopping and buy some souvenirs. Check out me in front of the cinema park dinosaurs before the flat tire and Tal’s mom and I after dinner. She’s very nice but I certainly wouldn’t trade!

Shalom from Israel

Just finished the first week of ulpan and so far I’ve learned a lot but like most things I learned in school, I forget very quickly. I think it’s going to be a while until I start to feel somewhat comfortable with Hebrew. The weather has cooled down a little bit and I actually felt a drop of rain today on the walk over to ulpan. However, when I got out it was back to 95 and sunny.

Had a somewhat relaxed second week in Israel, spent Tuesday night at an Israeli friends house that we met, went to a dance bar last night in Rehovot and spent the other evenings doing normal living errands and trying to study some Hebrew. The highlight of the week was probably the pickup soccer game yesterday against 13 year olds. I thought I was in decent shape, but I could barely breathe after the first 10 minutes. We played for about an hour, the Israeli’s crushed us but I had a good time and will probably be back there soon for a rematch. I’m making this a short post because I don’t have to much time to write. I’m meeting my host family for Shabbat dinner tomorrow and will also spend the holidays next week with them. Check out me and my ulpan teacher.

Ani lo metaber Ivrit

“Ani lo metaber ivrit” or in anglit (English), I don’t speak Hebrew. Hopefully that will change soon since yesterday we started Ullpan. Ullpan is learning the Hebrew language, which I’m sure will be very tough for me. I never paid attention in Spanish class in 9th or 10th grade so I never learned anything, but I also didn’t care to learn. I’m excited to start to learn Hebrew and I hope by the end of 5 months I will be able to have a conversation with a stranger in Hebrew. I don’t start teaching for another 2 weeks so the next 2 weeks is Ullpan at 12:30 for 3 hours and then free time other than that.

I spent last Shabbat the way Shabbat should be celebrated in Israel and that is at the beach in Tel Aviv. Busses don’t run on Shabbat and taxis are very expensive so we took the Sherut to the beach. The Sherut is a great concept, one that I think would work back in Bmore. It’s basically a van that picks you up, they run every 3-4 minutes and you flag it down as you would a taxi. The van holds about 12 people and they run on a route like a bus would and you get off anywhere you want. The Sherut is a little more expensive than a bus but more convenient, it is also significantly cheaper than a taxi. It takes me about 25 minutes to go from my house to the central bus station in Tel Aviv. Sherut’s run from every major city and so far I’ve taken a lot of them to get to where I need to go. I spent the afternoon with friends lying on the beach in TA followed by a couple drinks at the bars on the promenade as the sun went down, no complaints from me.

Yesterday I met an Israeli girl named Daya and we made plans to go out to dinner. She picked me up and told me that before dinner we were going to her cousin’s house to pick mangos. Daya’s uncle whose real job is at an IT company, also had a red pepper and mango farm, insisted on showing me every detail of how his farm worked. It was actually pretty interesting and high tech, the red pepper farm was about 1/3 of an acre and the mango farm was a little less than an acre, the entire farm was computerized in terms of how much, when and where the water was distributed. I left the house with a grocery bag full of mangos and red peppers and was told they are taking me with them on the next family trip in Israel. Anyway, sushi after that, had a great time, met some of her friends, all very nice and cute…Kaufman/Sharrow/Stander/JWeitz if you’re interested on making the trip.

I know the video sound didn’t work last time, I will fix that. The first picture is of the sherut and the second one is of me, Daya her cousin and uncle.

Shabbat Shalom!

Sorry for the long delayed first post from Israel but I started to write it a couple times got delayed and than started to rewrite and got more delayed. I got back from Jerusalem about and hour and a half ago, spent the whole day walking around, I’m exhausted so I think this will be a good time to finish the first post.

Where to begin? First, Israel is really hot and I haven’t stopped sweating since I got here. The good thing is that the heat is my least favorite thing about Israel. I arrived safely last Saturday, took a cab to the hostel that was right on the beach. I met some kids who were traveling from Canada and the UK and had a fun time the next two days hanging out with them. When I first arrived on Saturday the beach and restaurants were packed so I just wondered along the promenade to see the city. I would say 90% of the population in TA is under the age of 30, Tan and beautiful. I had a great time at the beach, partying with my new friends and even managed an ocean swim at 4:30 in the morning on Sunday.

Monday, I took a bus to Nes Zionna, and got settled into my new apartment for the next 5 months. My apartment is 4 people including me, one girl from California, and a guy and girl from Argentina. Everybody is really nice, I wish I would have paid better attention in Spanish class in high school because the girl doesn’t speak the best English but still, everybody seems pretty cool and we've got along well so far. As for Nes Zionna, it’s a small city, surrounded by larger cities, about 25 minutes outside Tel Aviv. The mall is in the center of town and it’s the place to be seen. The mall is packed 24/7 because it has the best A/C in the country. It’s a pretty well off town, it looks like it’s been built up somewhat recently since there are a lot of nice luxury apartment buildings everywhere. Spent the week hanging out with people from my group, eating falafel/schnitzel/schwarma, sipping ice coffee while people watching and just walking around getting to know the city.

Yesterday, I went with a friend from the program for an overnight trip to Jerusalem. He knew a couple of people who lived there so we went to meet up with them. Jerusalem is a pretty spectacular city, our hostel was in the old city, somewhat near the western wall so we decided to stop there first before putting our bags down. It was a very interesting ride to the Kotel, first we drove through a very religious and crowded Jewish area, reminded me of what you would think Krakow would have been like 100 years ago. Than we had to go around the Muslim quarter to get to the Jewish Quarter, very different and I wasn’t expecting to go to the Muslim side, I think next time I will take a different route. Not that it was scary but I would certainly prefer to be on the Jewish side. After that we went to our hostel, grabbed dinner and met up with some of Dan’s friends. Every Restaurant/Bar/Café was packed last night, had a great time out. Today we just walked around Jerusalem, got a hebrew Ravens T-shirt from the famous Ben Yehuda street and then went to a concert in a park with his friends, it wasn’t a rap concert but still the music wasn’t bad. It’s been a long, exhausting and exciting week for me, I’m going to lay down and take a nap.

The video is for those of you who have never been to the Western Wall, I promise to work on my commentary as the months go on. The big building is the mall in Nes Zionna and the other pic is the best hummus I've had in Israel so far, a little late night snack last night.

What’s the fastest way to Israel?

I’m assuming the answer to that would be direct, however, if you look at the picture you will see I’m in Houston. Why am I in Houston, we’ll the short answer would be that I got a free flight to Israel but only if I left from Houston. So while I’m sitting in the Houston airport waiting for a flight to London which will then connect me with a flight to Israel, I have some time to think about the reason for this voyage.

The question you are probably asking, why I would leave my successful life as a CPA to go half way across the world just to live in Israel for 5 months. The answer to that is simple, I don’t know. I don’t know why I felt the need to go live in Israel but it’s something I felt I had to do or I would end up always regretting it. I don’t know why I am more interested in Israeli politics versus American politics, I don’t know why I wake up in the morning and read the Jpost before I read the NY Times, I don’t know why I’m so drawn to Israel when all of my friends and family are either in or around Bmore. “Why is Israel so important to me”? That is the main question I’m hoping to answer over the next 5 months. So while I can’t wait for weekends out in Tel Aviv, camping in the Negev, hiking in the Galilee, spending time in Jerusalem, and eating a ridiculous amount of Humus, I hope somewhere in between all that I figure out why I had to leave everything to go to Israel.

With all that said, am I really missing the entire Ravens season when they are going to dominate the AFC? I must be crazy!

Figuring this out

OK, I'm going to try and blog while in Israel. I feel this way multiple people can see what Im doing since when people ask me I'm still really not sure. Tomorrow is July 1st which means one more month to go before August hits. There might be some more test blogs before I leave. Since I won't have Jeremy over there to show me how to work some of my technology problems I need to figure out how to work this website.