Guess what? I’m still in Israel!
Yes I am quite aware of the fact that it’s been quite a while since my last update as many of you brought to my attention. I’m updating so stop kvetching. Funny side comment-I spelled that “cvetching” at first and my spell check told me that the word needed a “k” in the beginning. Spell check has Yiddish? Ehh…back to EIE/Israel.
I believe my last decently sized post was roughly 2 weeks ago. In the past two weeks, so so much has happened. Well not really, but it makes my post sound so much more exciting-Bob Marley had a birthday about 2 weeks ago. Or he would have were he still alive. So I’m sitting in APUSH right now and “taking notes”. No seriously I am…or I was anyways. We’ve already done these chapters back home so the next few days are a repeat of what I’ve already learned type of deal. Back to APUSH…
30 minutes later:
I haven’t exactly done the “What I’m doing here in Israel” post as of yet so I’m devoting this one or some of it anyways to what exactly I am doing here in Israel. I’m learning loads and loads of course. Want to see my schedule?!
An Average Day on NFTY EIE:
Wakeup: 7:30 (or 6:45 if we have services)
Hebrew Class: 8:00-9:30
Breakfast: 9:30-10:00
Jewish History Class with Ran: 10:00-1:00
Lunch (1st Period): 1:00-2:00
2nd Period-PreCalc Honors with Sheila: 2:00-3:00
3rd Period-Chem with Marc: 3:00-4:00
4th Period-APUSH with Aryeh: 4:00-5:00
5th Period-English with Barry: 5:00-6:00
6th Period-Free: 6:00-7:00
Dinner: 7:00
Meetings: 7:45
I just realized that this schedule sounds ridiculously painful and agonizing, but there really were no straps involved. Around once or twice a week, we go on field trips (Tiyuls) for Jewish History and usually miss some class. Say hypothetically we are learning about a battle in Jewish History, the group will go to that battlefield and have class there. Plus we take a week long trip once a month. Like the one that I leave for on Sunday. It’s called BOOT CAMP?? No, actually it’s called Gadna, and I’m placing it under the category of “painful and agonizing”. Just kidding, it won’t be all that unpleasant.
Paragraph all about Israeli Boot Camp (AKA Gadna):
Vocabulary:
--Tzahal (צה״ל): Tzahal is an acronym for Army For the Defense of Israel (צבא ההגנה לישראל)
--IDF: Israeli Defense Forces
--Mefakedat: Commander
In exactly one week I plan on embarking on what I’m calling boot camp. To be perfectly honest, I’m incredibly excited due to the fact that I’M GOING TO BOOT CAMP?? I mean, I wasn’t all that keen on the whole concept of “boot camp”, but it’s been growing on me. A few nights ago, a Mefakedat came to enlighten our group about Gadna and its facets. While on the program, we are spoken to in only Hebrew. I find this incredibly entertaining seeing as only around 4 of the 101 EIE-ers are fluent in the language. On another note, I tested into level 9 out of 10 for Hebrew class. I found this extraordinarily strange seeing as I always considered myself relatively illiterate in the Hebrew language. I mean, I can find a bathroom need be, but other than that…Past and future tense? Those don’t exist…I live in the present…or only use the present tense anyways. Back to Gadna-the program is actually aimed for Israeli teens in high school allowing them to get a taste of life in the army, but NFTY-EIE (the program which I’m on) got some sort of special allowance and thus all 101 of us will be shipped off to boot camp for the week. I don’t know about you, but I’m so so so excited. Me in boot camp? I’m going to do so amazing what with all of the strenuous activities they have planned for us.
Another side comment: I’m out of Prigat. In Israel, they have this drink called Prigat. It’s AMAZING and natural and healthy and AMAZING. My favorite flavor would have to be the orange, banana, and apple juice combination. Israel has better orange, banana, and apple juice combinations than America. I mean, I haven’t exactly tried any back in America, but I’m sure it wouldn’t compare to Israel’s Prigat. So the sheer fact that I am out of Prigat means that I must be experiencing some sort of a withdrawal what with the ridiculous amounts of Prigat I consume on a daily basis-I think it’s addictive. Or maybe it just tastes really really really good. I love love love Prigat. I know it’s only a liquid and may not love me back, but that’s not the point.
Back to life in Israel…
GOOD STORY: This one may be even better than my last one. It’s a tough call though-right, so here’s what happened. Some EIE-ers and I this past Shabbat decided that it was high time for an adventure. So we went exploring. And when I say “exploring” I mean full out hiking through all billion acres of Kibbutz Tzuba (where I’m staying…no I’m not working on the Kibbutz-just studying there). And back to my good story-So we went out. Now the Kibbutz I’m staying at is “nestled in the Judean Hills” as the EIE brochure told us all. What I’ve come to realize is that when they say “hills”, they actually mean these huge greenery-filled monstrosities attempting to pose as “hills”. Note to future EIE-ers: When exploring the Kibbutz (which I highly recommend) bring water, cell phone, someone with you literate enough to read the signs in Hebrew, and do not under any circumstances wear converses (really really bad idea…right after not bringing any water actually). And back to my good story-so the group us decided that we were going to find a natural spring. Rumors about some natural water spring had been circulating and we set out to find it! In theory, this plan was both genius and foolproof. Honestly, how difficult could it be to find a natural spring? Especially when I’m the one in charge of finding the way because I “know where the spring is” and “am fluent in Hebrew”…I said I vaguely knew where to find the spring, and when I say “vaguely”, I mean I saw a sign for a M’ayan (spring in Hebrew) on the second day. So with me as our guide, we set out for the day with one Nalgene to be shared among the 7 of us. Oh, and that nalgene? Only a quarter full…Footwear? I wore converses=one of my brighter decisions? Except it truly was not. Ha, anyways…we walked about 2 miles following a series of signs and somehow reached the “spring”. The “spring” was actually a little 5 square foot pond. So no swimming, but the view was AMAZING. Almost as amazing as my Prigat…So after exploring the spring, we continued on our quest with another genius and foolproof plan called “Let’s Follow This Path”. Remember how I mentioned something along the lines of “hills” being “monstrosities”. These “hills” have been labeled as such not just because of their size, but because of the fact that they boulder/tall rock-filled. Well we climbed and trudged through mud and over branches and rocks and it was actually quite a lot of fun. We saw a road overhead and had the brilliant idea to leave the path and free climb up to it. From that road, someone looked down and saw water! Water? It must be another natural spring. Except this one was huge and shimmering and sparkling in the sunlight. I mean, there was this weird black stuff we could see bordering the water, but it was probably just rocks or something, we rationalized. So we began our descent back on down the mountain towards the spring! Climbing down a mountain, well hill, is much more difficult than it looks. I didn’t actually climb down, I did more sliding than climbing but I enjoyed myself so so much which is all that matter. We were around 40 feet away from the water when it started to smell. This putrid disgusting stench just would not go away, yet we kept on going. Greatest Idea Ever. At about 20 feet, I looked up. The water was green. Not like a natural green, a puke “something’s been fermenting in here” green. And the black border? It was some sort of plastic bag holding the water in. Pipes were shooting this brown liquid into our “spring”. It was a sewage dump. Ha, the mud we had been stepping in? I hope it was mud. But we had a problem-how were we going to get back up? Someone discovered a road but we had to hike over two fences to get to it so we started making our way over. But then these people came out of nowhere, we panicked, and scaled that mountain/hill in 20 minutes flat. The same one that took us a good 45 minutes to descend. So impressive. By this point, the collective mud, dirt, and scratches covering our group made it appear as if we had just come back from battles. With no water left to speak of, and completely lost, we of course take a road that ends up leading us straight to our rooms. The best part? It turns out that we were a mere 10 minutes walking distance from them. Ha, I found that funny at least. Especially since we were so sure that we had journeyed so far from our nice warm beds. My favorite EIE adventure so far? I’d have to say so. The second best part? There was absolutely no breaking of rules whatsoever at any point in any way, shape, or form I am proud to say. It was all within the confines of the NFTY Code of Conduct. SO MUCH FUN. Note to Parents (specifically mine): I promise you there was no danger involved…Never at any point was I or any other members of my exploring group in any immediate peril. Except for the whole sewage dump having bacteria festering in it part. But it’s not like I took a swim in it or anything…
Remember how I mentioned something about my computer dying? Maybe it was in an e-mail. Well it did. Not in the literal sense of the word, but it’s most assuredly reaching the end. It’s not going to make it much longer, and I’m really going to miss it. It’s climbed mountains with me. Not really, but it has been with me across oceans which is like the same thing. But the other day…drumroll….IT BROKE! In 4 pieces it broke-the disk drive just fell out. And then some metal pieces fell out. And it’s nearing the end. I know death is inevitable as is my computer’s demise, but I’m honestly going to miss it. My computer’s death will be nothing short of sheer tragedy. No longer will I be able to yell and scream at it. Maybe I should stop verbally abusing inanimate objects as they lack the ability to properly defend themselves. But it’s not inanimate at all…SHE (or he) responds with funny noises and pop up screens! So there. I shall be optimistic and stop making conjectures as to the exact date of her passing. But I really will miss her.
Other good stories?
Valentine’s Day was a few days ago, was it not? The day was so entertaining in that the masses of EIE walked around all petulant and grumbling about their deep abhorrence and detestation of the holiday. Apparently, popular opinion would be that V-Day is actually D-Day and should be hated because of it. Hatred is such a strong emotion. Why waste it on a day of the year? 24 hours and you are done. Ehh..
This post is so incredibly long and I have to go finish my homework, but I’m still here and I take it you all are still running around in America as usual. Or just doing nothing/sleeping which is much more probable. But EIE is going well. I was a little shaded out at first, but it’s growing on me. Speaking of shaded/shady/shady people-the Israeli’s? Very very shady. One of the shadier bunches in the world, primarily because Americans of course are the epitome of normalcy.
Love, Elaina
I believe my last decently sized post was roughly 2 weeks ago. In the past two weeks, so so much has happened. Well not really, but it makes my post sound so much more exciting-Bob Marley had a birthday about 2 weeks ago. Or he would have were he still alive. So I’m sitting in APUSH right now and “taking notes”. No seriously I am…or I was anyways. We’ve already done these chapters back home so the next few days are a repeat of what I’ve already learned type of deal. Back to APUSH…
30 minutes later:
I haven’t exactly done the “What I’m doing here in Israel” post as of yet so I’m devoting this one or some of it anyways to what exactly I am doing here in Israel. I’m learning loads and loads of course. Want to see my schedule?!
An Average Day on NFTY EIE:
Wakeup: 7:30 (or 6:45 if we have services)
Hebrew Class: 8:00-9:30
Breakfast: 9:30-10:00
Jewish History Class with Ran: 10:00-1:00
Lunch (1st Period): 1:00-2:00
2nd Period-PreCalc Honors with Sheila: 2:00-3:00
3rd Period-Chem with Marc: 3:00-4:00
4th Period-APUSH with Aryeh: 4:00-5:00
5th Period-English with Barry: 5:00-6:00
6th Period-Free: 6:00-7:00
Dinner: 7:00
Meetings: 7:45
I just realized that this schedule sounds ridiculously painful and agonizing, but there really were no straps involved. Around once or twice a week, we go on field trips (Tiyuls) for Jewish History and usually miss some class. Say hypothetically we are learning about a battle in Jewish History, the group will go to that battlefield and have class there. Plus we take a week long trip once a month. Like the one that I leave for on Sunday. It’s called BOOT CAMP?? No, actually it’s called Gadna, and I’m placing it under the category of “painful and agonizing”. Just kidding, it won’t be all that unpleasant.
Paragraph all about Israeli Boot Camp (AKA Gadna):
Vocabulary:
--Tzahal (צה״ל): Tzahal is an acronym for Army For the Defense of Israel (צבא ההגנה לישראל)
--IDF: Israeli Defense Forces
--Mefakedat: Commander
In exactly one week I plan on embarking on what I’m calling boot camp. To be perfectly honest, I’m incredibly excited due to the fact that I’M GOING TO BOOT CAMP?? I mean, I wasn’t all that keen on the whole concept of “boot camp”, but it’s been growing on me. A few nights ago, a Mefakedat came to enlighten our group about Gadna and its facets. While on the program, we are spoken to in only Hebrew. I find this incredibly entertaining seeing as only around 4 of the 101 EIE-ers are fluent in the language. On another note, I tested into level 9 out of 10 for Hebrew class. I found this extraordinarily strange seeing as I always considered myself relatively illiterate in the Hebrew language. I mean, I can find a bathroom need be, but other than that…Past and future tense? Those don’t exist…I live in the present…or only use the present tense anyways. Back to Gadna-the program is actually aimed for Israeli teens in high school allowing them to get a taste of life in the army, but NFTY-EIE (the program which I’m on) got some sort of special allowance and thus all 101 of us will be shipped off to boot camp for the week. I don’t know about you, but I’m so so so excited. Me in boot camp? I’m going to do so amazing what with all of the strenuous activities they have planned for us.
Another side comment: I’m out of Prigat. In Israel, they have this drink called Prigat. It’s AMAZING and natural and healthy and AMAZING. My favorite flavor would have to be the orange, banana, and apple juice combination. Israel has better orange, banana, and apple juice combinations than America. I mean, I haven’t exactly tried any back in America, but I’m sure it wouldn’t compare to Israel’s Prigat. So the sheer fact that I am out of Prigat means that I must be experiencing some sort of a withdrawal what with the ridiculous amounts of Prigat I consume on a daily basis-I think it’s addictive. Or maybe it just tastes really really really good. I love love love Prigat. I know it’s only a liquid and may not love me back, but that’s not the point.
Back to life in Israel…
GOOD STORY: This one may be even better than my last one. It’s a tough call though-right, so here’s what happened. Some EIE-ers and I this past Shabbat decided that it was high time for an adventure. So we went exploring. And when I say “exploring” I mean full out hiking through all billion acres of Kibbutz Tzuba (where I’m staying…no I’m not working on the Kibbutz-just studying there). And back to my good story-So we went out. Now the Kibbutz I’m staying at is “nestled in the Judean Hills” as the EIE brochure told us all. What I’ve come to realize is that when they say “hills”, they actually mean these huge greenery-filled monstrosities attempting to pose as “hills”. Note to future EIE-ers: When exploring the Kibbutz (which I highly recommend) bring water, cell phone, someone with you literate enough to read the signs in Hebrew, and do not under any circumstances wear converses (really really bad idea…right after not bringing any water actually). And back to my good story-so the group us decided that we were going to find a natural spring. Rumors about some natural water spring had been circulating and we set out to find it! In theory, this plan was both genius and foolproof. Honestly, how difficult could it be to find a natural spring? Especially when I’m the one in charge of finding the way because I “know where the spring is” and “am fluent in Hebrew”…I said I vaguely knew where to find the spring, and when I say “vaguely”, I mean I saw a sign for a M’ayan (spring in Hebrew) on the second day. So with me as our guide, we set out for the day with one Nalgene to be shared among the 7 of us. Oh, and that nalgene? Only a quarter full…Footwear? I wore converses=one of my brighter decisions? Except it truly was not. Ha, anyways…we walked about 2 miles following a series of signs and somehow reached the “spring”. The “spring” was actually a little 5 square foot pond. So no swimming, but the view was AMAZING. Almost as amazing as my Prigat…So after exploring the spring, we continued on our quest with another genius and foolproof plan called “Let’s Follow This Path”. Remember how I mentioned something along the lines of “hills” being “monstrosities”. These “hills” have been labeled as such not just because of their size, but because of the fact that they boulder/tall rock-filled. Well we climbed and trudged through mud and over branches and rocks and it was actually quite a lot of fun. We saw a road overhead and had the brilliant idea to leave the path and free climb up to it. From that road, someone looked down and saw water! Water? It must be another natural spring. Except this one was huge and shimmering and sparkling in the sunlight. I mean, there was this weird black stuff we could see bordering the water, but it was probably just rocks or something, we rationalized. So we began our descent back on down the mountain towards the spring! Climbing down a mountain, well hill, is much more difficult than it looks. I didn’t actually climb down, I did more sliding than climbing but I enjoyed myself so so much which is all that matter. We were around 40 feet away from the water when it started to smell. This putrid disgusting stench just would not go away, yet we kept on going. Greatest Idea Ever. At about 20 feet, I looked up. The water was green. Not like a natural green, a puke “something’s been fermenting in here” green. And the black border? It was some sort of plastic bag holding the water in. Pipes were shooting this brown liquid into our “spring”. It was a sewage dump. Ha, the mud we had been stepping in? I hope it was mud. But we had a problem-how were we going to get back up? Someone discovered a road but we had to hike over two fences to get to it so we started making our way over. But then these people came out of nowhere, we panicked, and scaled that mountain/hill in 20 minutes flat. The same one that took us a good 45 minutes to descend. So impressive. By this point, the collective mud, dirt, and scratches covering our group made it appear as if we had just come back from battles. With no water left to speak of, and completely lost, we of course take a road that ends up leading us straight to our rooms. The best part? It turns out that we were a mere 10 minutes walking distance from them. Ha, I found that funny at least. Especially since we were so sure that we had journeyed so far from our nice warm beds. My favorite EIE adventure so far? I’d have to say so. The second best part? There was absolutely no breaking of rules whatsoever at any point in any way, shape, or form I am proud to say. It was all within the confines of the NFTY Code of Conduct. SO MUCH FUN. Note to Parents (specifically mine): I promise you there was no danger involved…Never at any point was I or any other members of my exploring group in any immediate peril. Except for the whole sewage dump having bacteria festering in it part. But it’s not like I took a swim in it or anything…
Remember how I mentioned something about my computer dying? Maybe it was in an e-mail. Well it did. Not in the literal sense of the word, but it’s most assuredly reaching the end. It’s not going to make it much longer, and I’m really going to miss it. It’s climbed mountains with me. Not really, but it has been with me across oceans which is like the same thing. But the other day…drumroll….IT BROKE! In 4 pieces it broke-the disk drive just fell out. And then some metal pieces fell out. And it’s nearing the end. I know death is inevitable as is my computer’s demise, but I’m honestly going to miss it. My computer’s death will be nothing short of sheer tragedy. No longer will I be able to yell and scream at it. Maybe I should stop verbally abusing inanimate objects as they lack the ability to properly defend themselves. But it’s not inanimate at all…SHE (or he) responds with funny noises and pop up screens! So there. I shall be optimistic and stop making conjectures as to the exact date of her passing. But I really will miss her.
Other good stories?
Valentine’s Day was a few days ago, was it not? The day was so entertaining in that the masses of EIE walked around all petulant and grumbling about their deep abhorrence and detestation of the holiday. Apparently, popular opinion would be that V-Day is actually D-Day and should be hated because of it. Hatred is such a strong emotion. Why waste it on a day of the year? 24 hours and you are done. Ehh..
This post is so incredibly long and I have to go finish my homework, but I’m still here and I take it you all are still running around in America as usual. Or just doing nothing/sleeping which is much more probable. But EIE is going well. I was a little shaded out at first, but it’s growing on me. Speaking of shaded/shady/shady people-the Israeli’s? Very very shady. One of the shadier bunches in the world, primarily because Americans of course are the epitome of normalcy.
Love, Elaina