Israel update 2
I'm in Israel at my grandparents' apartment (dad's side) after 10 days
of travel and awesome hikes here (birthright trip - so actual trips,
with people my age - and it was free =)). We had some great hikes - 6
hours in a place in the south (in the desert) called Wadi Gov. it was
essentially descending into a canyon and coming back up. We had to use
some ropes for some of the declines due to steepness.
We also climbed Masada before daybreak to see the sunrise (sadly, it was a somewhat
foggy day, so wasn't a great view, but was still very cool). What was weird was these ultraorthodox people on the way up the...mini-mountain. I had a bottle of water in my hand, and one asked me for some of it. So naturally, I let him drink. Thought it was strange he didn't have water of his own, but I assumed he forgot his in a car or whatever. I continued up Masada, passed by a few more ultraorthodox, none holding water. Odd. Continued up, and 3/4 of the way to the top (I was hurrying to try catching the sunrise), another one asks me for water. I was kind of pressed, so told him to drink quickly. He was like "what?", I somewhat pissed off-edly went "drink!" (this was in Hebrew, otherwise "bitch" would have been the next word).
Other highlights of the trip included riding a camel, haggling in the Jaffa flea market, and meeting a guy in Jerusalem...who's from Santa Cruz. And the guy wasn't a tourist. Dude was putting tfilin on people. From Santa Cruz to Jerusalem - very unexpected. Also, in Jaffa, I bumped into a girl from UC Davis who graduated this past June (didn't know her and she wasn't with our group). What was also amusing is that me and one other person (out of 40) spoke Hebrew, so we'd translate to-from English and Hebrew for the group, and even more when we met with IDF soldiers (some of them hung out with us for 2-3 days).
And now that Hamas appears to have won the election in the Palestinian
areas, I'm a bit worried (hoping to make it out of here in one piece);
we'll see what happens.
Visited mom's parents today. They were happy to see me, but are in bad
shape (grandpa had an irregular heartbeat and was in the hospital
before I came to Israel; he was out and back home but grandma was in
when I got here).
I just got some unexpected GOOD news - no, GREAT news. A tutoring
agency that offers $40-50/hr wants to interview me and asked if I'm
still interested in them, and I told them sure,and that I'm in Israel.
I just got an email from them saying there's a student in AP US
History, and based on my resume, they think I'd be a good fit, but
they want to meet with me first to make sure. And for $40/hr, I hope
to be a good fit =). Should be nice making some bank tutoring and not
doing much grading Or so I hope =).
Can't wait to visit Marc in NY next week!!!!
of travel and awesome hikes here (birthright trip - so actual trips,
with people my age - and it was free =)). We had some great hikes - 6
hours in a place in the south (in the desert) called Wadi Gov. it was
essentially descending into a canyon and coming back up. We had to use
some ropes for some of the declines due to steepness.
We also climbed Masada before daybreak to see the sunrise (sadly, it was a somewhat
foggy day, so wasn't a great view, but was still very cool). What was weird was these ultraorthodox people on the way up the...mini-mountain. I had a bottle of water in my hand, and one asked me for some of it. So naturally, I let him drink. Thought it was strange he didn't have water of his own, but I assumed he forgot his in a car or whatever. I continued up Masada, passed by a few more ultraorthodox, none holding water. Odd. Continued up, and 3/4 of the way to the top (I was hurrying to try catching the sunrise), another one asks me for water. I was kind of pressed, so told him to drink quickly. He was like "what?", I somewhat pissed off-edly went "drink!" (this was in Hebrew, otherwise "bitch" would have been the next word).
Other highlights of the trip included riding a camel, haggling in the Jaffa flea market, and meeting a guy in Jerusalem...who's from Santa Cruz. And the guy wasn't a tourist. Dude was putting tfilin on people. From Santa Cruz to Jerusalem - very unexpected. Also, in Jaffa, I bumped into a girl from UC Davis who graduated this past June (didn't know her and she wasn't with our group). What was also amusing is that me and one other person (out of 40) spoke Hebrew, so we'd translate to-from English and Hebrew for the group, and even more when we met with IDF soldiers (some of them hung out with us for 2-3 days).
And now that Hamas appears to have won the election in the Palestinian
areas, I'm a bit worried (hoping to make it out of here in one piece);
we'll see what happens.
Visited mom's parents today. They were happy to see me, but are in bad
shape (grandpa had an irregular heartbeat and was in the hospital
before I came to Israel; he was out and back home but grandma was in
when I got here).
I just got some unexpected GOOD news - no, GREAT news. A tutoring
agency that offers $40-50/hr wants to interview me and asked if I'm
still interested in them, and I told them sure,and that I'm in Israel.
I just got an email from them saying there's a student in AP US
History, and based on my resume, they think I'd be a good fit, but
they want to meet with me first to make sure. And for $40/hr, I hope
to be a good fit =). Should be nice making some bank tutoring and not
doing much grading Or so I hope =).
Can't wait to visit Marc in NY next week!!!!