Israel Public Diplomacy 101

I've realized that doing laundry is a good time to reflect on my recent experiences. So here I am at the laundromat again. Anyway, a number of weeks ago, I signed up for this non-academic class at Tel Aviv University (not through Oranim) to learn more about the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict because I am less than informed. The class is called Israel Public Diplomacy 101. When I get into a discussion in the future with someone about the Conflict, I want to have the ability to present to the other party the right facts about Israel, and correct them on anything not true. This is because what we see in the media often portrays Israel in a very negative light.

This past Sunday was the second class, which takes place every 2-3 weeks, but it was the first time that my friends and I could attend (we couldn't go to the first one because we were in Eilat). So Simon, Shoshana, Anna, Nicole, and I hailed a couple cabs to TAU. We got to Beit Ha'Kvutzot, or the Diaspora Museum. We eventually found the room and settled in.

The teacher, Ari Applebaum, started off by having all of us introduce ourselves and say what place in Israel we would be. I said, "Hi, I'm Josh and I would be the Kotel (the Western Wall)." Lots of people chose Tel Aviv. Ari then got into the class, discussing the physical aspects of Israeli diplomacy. He mentioned that there is a difference in perception when people see a map of Israel in the center versus a map of Israel off to the side. When in the center, Israel looks bigger and is therefore viewed as a national power. If seen off to the side, the country is viewed as an underdog because it's surrounded by big countries like Jordan, Syria, and Egypt. However, Ari pointed out that Israel shouldn't be viewed as an underdog given its strong military, history of superb strategy, and being known that Jews are really smart and run things.

I also took away a few other things from the class. People say that when officials come to visit Israel, one place they have to visit is Yad Vashem, the Israel Holocaust Museum. It's important to understand what the Jews have gone through in their long history, especially something as damaging to a people as the Holocaust, but the teacher said that officials, and visitors, should not just take into account that Israel was founded in response to the Holocaust, so Jews could have a place to call home. I am not sure whether I agree or disagree with that point yet.

In 1975, there were a number of Communist countries who hated the U.S. and a bunch of Arab countries who wanted to get back at Israel. They joined forces in the United Nations and passed a resolution stating that Zionism (which protects Jews for desiring a Jewish state) equals racism. RACISM? Really? The Arab League is THAT dumb? Either way, the resolution wasn't repealed until 1991. The fact that the U.N. was founded on the belief that everyone and every country deserves an equal say in their desires and also BASIC FREEDOMS is key. That resolution should never have passed, but it's good that it was repealed.

In order to understand the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict in broader terms, it seems like you can't just view it locally. You have to view it as more of an Israeli-Arab Conflict, given that Hamas, Hezbollah, and Arab countries support the Palestinians and want Israel not to exist. I'll be learning more in this class, and I'm looking forward to it.

My laundry is almost done, so I will leave you with some Hebrew that I have learned, thanks to Ulpan. Here is the Hebrew, transliteration, and translation into English. Enjoy!

.אני יהושע. אני גר ברחב צידון בתל-אביב. אני גר על יד הנמל ולמלה רחב דיזנגוף וקרוב בתל-אביב אוניברסיטה

Ani Josh (or Yehoshua). Ani gar b'rehov Tsidon b'Tel Aviv. Ani gar al yad ha'namal v'lemalah rehov Dizengoff v'karov b'Tel Aviv Universita.

I'm Josh. I live on Tsidon Street in Tel Aviv. I live next to the port and the top of Dizengoff Street, and near Tel Aviv University.

Whew!

Whew, what a great past week! For a shorter blog post, I'll just give the highlights...

On Sunday, I had Ulpan. Then Hilary and I met with our new boss for the first time as interns. We planned out what Hilary and I will be doing for the next few months before the product launches, researching and writing blog posts on employee referrals programs, bonuses, and business strategy. Once we launch, we'll begin selling the product, speaking with American companies. We're all looking forward to it. Hilary and I also get the opportunity to meet the rest of the team this Thursday at the company offices. 

Monday was just classes and relaxing. During break in between classes, Alex and I went on an adventure. Instead of just going to Kanyon HaZahav (Gold Mall, next door to the abandoned mall we have classes in) like we always do, we journeyed to another local mall, Cinema City (and we used our growing Hebrew skills to ask people how to get there!). This mall has a bunch of stores in it, too, but also a big movie theater (25 screens). We missed the time to see the movie we were interested in, so we just chilled and explored the surroundings. Tuesday was Ulpan then more relaxing.

Sitting in the middle of the
multicolored lighted floor
of the Cinema City theater!

Wednesday we had classes again. After class, Alex and I went over to Cinema City again and saw "Olam HaZmon", or in English, "In Time", with Justin Timberlake and Amanda Seyfried. Yes, the movie was in English but there were Hebrew subtitles. For anyone who has not seen it, I suggest you see it. JT did a great job in the movie, the love story was a bit weird, though. Great premise for a movie. Hollywood is running out of ideas; too many businessmen and not enough creative minds. "In Time" is basically a cross between Robin Hood (not Men in Tights :P) and Bonnie and Clyde. Afterwards, we took the bus home. I then hung out with my friend Loni (she prides herself on being from Detroit), watching the majority of "Bridesmaids". It's relatively funny, but "The Hangover" is way better. Then, my friend Hunter and I went to the club. Damn, that was a fun night!

Thursday was completely packed! I started off at 1pm meeting with my Organizational Behavior group, which includes Alex and our friend, Saul (he's South African). We have to do a presentation on work teams and trust. The project is a work in progress, but slowly coming together. After that, I worked a little bit on my first blog post for my internship. At 6pm, I made a Skype call that was long overdue; talking to my close friends Ilan and Stacie. Miss ya guys! Mazel Tov to them because they're getting married in June 2012. 

Left to right at Thanksgiving: Andrew, me,
Cory, and Lucy. What a great holiday!

The best part of Thursday was the Israeli Thanksgiving Seder we put together. That's right, I said THANKSGIVING SEDER! At the helm was our program coordinator, Orly, who is Israeli. She ran everything and delegated responsibilities to everyone. She even special ordered a turkey from a deli in Jaffa (southern Tel Aviv) and cooked it herself! And she did a DAMN GOOD JOB! Everyone else brought food and drink as a potluck; half of the table was cooked by my friends Lucy and Lior. I brought wine, one chardonnay and one Merlot. About half our program joined in and the dinner was absolutely delicious! After my first Thanksgiving in Israel, some of us went out to a popular club in Tel Aviv called Seret. We spent a few hours there, pretty fun. I'll be back there on Monday night for another friend's birthday party!

Our Haggadah for Thanksgiving

On Friday, I did a little more work on my internship blog and met with Hilary. Then I rushed to pack to go to Ramat Gan for Shabbat. Ramat Gan is the next town over from Tel Aviv, a short bus or monit sherut (shared taxi) drive away. I went there to meet the oldest son of my dad's friend from college, Shmulik. He took me to this place where he is a counselor of sorts at a religious Jews' version of a Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts organization. There, I met his kids and other kids in the "Scouts", mainly between the ages of 12-19. It's weird -- to me, every Israeli who hasn't been in the army yet looks older than they are, and once they get out of the army, they look younger than they are. It's like the army does something special to you... 

Anyway, Shmulik and I became fast friends and I with a bunch of his kids, too. They are all so warm and welcoming (thanks to Ron, Roni, Shiri, Shira, Michel, and others)! We did Kabbalat Shabbat service and had dinner with everyone, then had a long discussion about moral values and beliefs which I did not understand about 98% of it because it was all in Hebrew, so I couldn't really contribute. But it was fun to hear everyone talk. We slept over his best friend's house, right around the corner from the synagogue-ish building, and got up early to go to Shabbat morning services. Just like the night before, I constantly lost my place because everyone knows Hebrew fluently and read the prayers really fast, so I was barely able to keep up sometimes. I got a hold of the situation, though. Afterwards, we chowed down on lunch and prayed Mincha (the Shabbat afternoon service). 

Shmulik just called me and told me that they're doing some singing and dancing thing on Allenby in Tel Aviv, so I'm going. Obviously, this post was long than intended, but better to be detailed than say nothing. I'll update you on more later! Peace!

Suk/Suq/Souq/Souk/Soq/However It's Spelled

So yesterday was the first time I went to the local souk, aka HaCarmel Market, in Tel Aviv. It's about a 30-40 minute walk away from my apartment, at the corners of HaCarmel, Allenby, and King George streets. What an exhilarating experience! Simon and I went for about an hour and a half. We explored what the market had to offer for a bit, then I started buying stuff. They have phenomenal prices. I got a whole branch of bananas for 7 shekels, 3 big Granny Smith apples for 7 shekels, 4 pairs of boxers for 20 shekels, and 6 pairs of socks for 20 shekels. All in all, I spent about 58 shekels at the souk, which equals to about $15.67. Can you say BARGAIN?!?!

It took us a while there partially because we got caught in the rain, but we planned leaving perfectly, once the rain had stopped. I also stopped to check out a Fedora just for fun. Then I realized that I looked kind of good in it. I've been told that I look good in them before, and I still don't understand how. Here's a picture, what does everyone think?

On the way back, Simon and I got Subway (yeah, it's in Israel)! I got tuna and he got chicken. However, I'm not that impressed with it as I am at home. Maybe I'll try it again, a different sandwich. Either way, the souk was fun; I think I'll go every once in while to get some necessities, like produce (and any knickknacks for people). It'll save me some money because TLV (Tel Aviv) is expensive.

I gotta go do some work for my new internship. Peace out!

Employed!

I officially took the internship I was offered and I brought my friend, Hilary, on board, too. She and I are both really excited to get this whole internship off the ground. In case you don't know, the company is developing a software product that will revolutionize the HR (human resources) hiring process. I will be getting experience in marketing, PR, recruitment, entrepreneurship, and learning about how American HR departments do hiring for their companies. It is a great feeling to know that you're going to be a part of something big. And to think if this company succeeds... wow, I don't even know. All I know is it will take a lot of hard work and selling. Good luck to me and Hilary, I guess. Both of us are looking forward to this job.

Look for an update later this week on everything! L'hitraot!

Eilat (and Everything in Between!)

So all of Oranim went to Eilat this weekend. Eilat is a port city at the southernmost tip of Israel, at the bottom of the Negev desert, sitting on the Red Sea (the sea that Moses parted when the Israelites made the exodus from Egypt). For me it was a great, bad, and everything-in-between weekend.

Left to right: my friends Talia, Dave, and Naum

On Friday, the Master's program woke up at 5am to catch the bus at 6am. We picked up some Russians whose program in also in Tel Aviv and we headed down south. We passed through Jerusalem and drove all the way through the Negev, hitting places such as Dimona (where we got breakfast) and Beersheba, and driving past the Dead Sea. We stopped to take a short hike at Makhtesh Ramon, which is the biggest natural crater (or more accurately, erosion cirque) in the world. The Bedouin tribes (mainly Arabs) are known to inhabit this area and surrounding cities, along with Syria and Jordan. The Bedouins used to be governed completely by the Israeli military, but they have developed to be more independent for themselves. They govern themselves off of RESPECT for each other via honor codes. They are, however, well-known for being skilled thieves, desert nomads, and hosting Taglit-Birthright groups all the time (they are very modern, given that they use electricity and have indoor plumbing but live in tents). After the hike, we drove another 2 hours or so, stopped for lunch, then drove to Eilat.

The rest of the day was devoted to relaxing and getting ready for Shabbat. I moved into Room 531 with my roommate from home, Simon, and a friend from Ramla, Geoff. I futzed around for a bit, then went to a small Kabbalat Shabbat service (beginning of Shabbat) led by some really Orthodox guy who spit out the Hebrew words quickly. I then went to the program's Kabbalat Shabbat service with some friends from Ramla. I had dinner at the hotel with my Ramla friends and hung at the hotel for a while. Later, we went out to a bar called Joya (for anyone who clicked the link, I originally wanted to make a corny joke involving Goya beans, but realized they're not spelled the same way). We did a little dancing, got down tonight, but made no love (two out of three ain't bad).

Dinner at Pastory, an Italian restaurant.
Pictured left to right: Caroline, me, Zak, Anna,
and Shoshana.

On Saturday, I got breakfast then went straight to the beach. My Ramla friends and I went snorkeling (most of us, including me, for the first time). Boy was it exciting (I wish I had pictures, but alas, I don't have a waterproof camera)! We swam around the main buoyed area, chilling with the fish and coral for about an hour. After taking a break and some of us checking out the rest of the beach, we went back in, swimming to the second pier on the side of the beach. We looked at the fish on the way and I swam right through a school of fish. On the way back, I was having trouble putting and keeping my goggles on and breathing out of it considering I accidentally swallowed about half a gallon of seawater, so I jumped out at the first pier and walked the rest of the way. We all left the the beach and come back to the hotel.

Then I noticed something... I lost my necklace! If anyone who has talked to me about it knows, my Chai (חי) necklace is one of the most important of my possessions. It belonged to my Zadie (Yiddish for grandfather) until he passed away June 2010; I have worn the necklace just about everyday since to keep his memory close to my heart. I immediately bolted from the hotel, took a cab the 5 kilometers to the beach, and frantically searched for the necklace in the small area where I KNEW I placed my backpack. I had put the necklace in my shirt in the bag and it must have jumped out when I packed up earlier. I spoke a little Hebrew to the guys who were sitting right there, and after a few minutes, one found it for me! You should have seen my face. He pulled it out of the sand and my eyes and mouth widened, I gently grabbed the necklace, and thanked him for saving my day. I would have been devastated if I had not found it. I gave the guy a hug, thanked him again, and hailed another cab home. That was the best 64 shekels (or $18) I have ever spent.

Booze cruise with my Ramla friends left
to right: Max, me, Geoff, and Max.

I came back to the hotel and took a nap before Havdalah (the end of Shabbat). After all of Oranim did the Havdalah service next to the nearby shopping mall, I went to this great Italian restaurant across the river from our hotel with Shoshana, Anna, and our Ramla friends, Zak and Caroline. I got a delicious dinner of ravioli with aubergine (smoked eggplant) and a four cheese sauce (Bon appetite!). I'm still licking my fingers. All of Oranim then went on a cruise around the Gulf of Eilat (tip of the Red Sea) and we had a booze cruise! I took a billion pictures, check them out in my Eilat album on Facebook. We danced, sang, celebrated, and partied. Alex and I then strolled back to the hotel together and just shot the shit. I then ran into Shawna from Ramla in the lobby and talked with her for a good 2 hours. I went to sleep at 3am.

We woke up at 7am on Sunday and we got ready to go, leaving at 8:45 to take a hike at the Red Canyon in the Eilat Mountains. It was a very rocky hike (literally) walking up and even rockier down. We took a break on the way to play a game in which Alex had to pretend to be a kangaroo and everyone had to guess what he was. No one guessed right because he was set up to look funny! :) Once we got to the top, it was the most beautiful sight. As far as the eye can see, we could see the Red Sea surrounded by parts of Saudi Arabia, Egypt's Sinai peninsula, Jordan, and the very south of Eilat. After the hike, we drove to David Ben-Gurion's resting place in Sde Boker, a kibbutz. It was used by Ben-Gurion and his wife, Paula, as a retirement home until they both died. They are buried side-by-side there. David Ben-Gurion is very important to the history of Israel and its politics. He was Israel's first Prime Minister 1948-1963 and helped build Israel's statehood. He moved himself and his wife to the Negev late in his life for a reason; he had a dream that one day, 5 million Jews will inhabit the Negev. Currently, 700,000 Jews are sprawled throughout. There is hope that it will grow in the future. After getting close to Ben-Gurion's grave, we hopped back on the bus and went home to Tel Aviv. On the way back, I enjoyed a very long talk with Aline, a Brazilian girl in my program.

Me overlooking southern Eilat and the edge of Jordan

Well, I'm beat from an intense weekend. I leave you with the music video of a song I've been listening to on my iPod a lot recently. Thanks for reading!

Run!

Jaffa in the distance

Oh my God, what an amazing run! The gym was closed today because they're getting ready to throw a party tonight. I decided to take a run along the beach instead. I ran from Tsidon 1 (my apartment building) to Charles Clore Park and back. By the time I got to the park, I took a long breather and looked around. I took in a beautiful view of the Mediterranean Sea and from afar, Jaffa (the southern section of Tel Aviv). It was about 8.5 kilometers, or in US terms, 5 miles. Never have I run so long before. I'm damn proud of myself!

View of the Sea and part of the park

Weekend, Poker, and Yitzhak Rabin

Me, Noa, and Aviad at Shabbat dinner

Here I go again, writing a post while at the laundromat... this has got to stop. So I left off on Friday night where I was about to go to Noa's house for Shabbat dinner. Oh my God, what a great dinner! I saw her boyfriend, Aviad, again. I met Noa's mother, Hannah, and her boyfriend (and his daughter and her boyfriend), and Noa's older brother's family. A total of about 13 or so people over for Shabbat dinner, doing a late celebration of Noa's 23rd birthday. Great food, great conversation, and a wonderful time. I got some insight of my job dilemma from Noa and her mom's boyfriend's daughter, and we looked at pictures of Noa's mom and her boyfriend taking a trip to the Bahamas, Vegas, Miami, and New York. I got back from Modi'in at 11pm and went out with my friends to a nightclub for a friend's birthday. A bad night of dancing: not a single girl would give me a single dance, except my female friends. I have better luck next time. No worries!

On Saturday, I finally caved. I didn't want to do this but I did. I bought an HDMI cable for 70 shekels (thought I'd say something more exciting, didn't ya?). Thats only about $19. It was a good idea, though, because now I am running my computer on my TV, meaning I can more easily watch movies and go online on my bed. At night, I went to hang out with my Birthright friend, Patrick. I saw his digs (a studio apartment with 2 roommates, but comfortable) then we went to a coffeehouse with some of his friends. I met a couple Australian girls (the first Australians I have ever met) and this guy from Vancouver. A fun dinner hanging out with a good friend.

On Sunday, I went to Ulpan (Hebrew study) and learned some more words. The rest of the day was pretty relaxing. At night, I went to this American bar right outside my apartment building, called Mike's Place. I got a basket of fries and a half liter of Goldstar (Israel's BEST beer) for just 100 shekels. Good deal. Shoshana, Kenny, and I watched the Jets beat the Bills. I was not happy, especially the next morning when I heard that the Patriots lost to the stupid Giants. Thankfully, there's a place I can go to watch football. Unfortunately, it's at the most inopportune times of the day (stupid 7 hour difference). Good night, though. I did, however, miss out on hanging with Alex and our new friend, Melanie, who just happens to have dated an old friend of mine from West Hartford (now that's Jewish Geography for you!).

Cory looking at his poker cards

Monday was a class day. Org Theory and Design was fun. I met with the guy who wants to hire me for his new company again. He told me more about the product and how I'd be learning about how companies run their HR systems now, but if I worked for him, I would also help change how that system is run. Honestly, I am almost ready to say yes, at least for now. We'll see... After that, I messed around in the mall for a bit then went to OB. I learned more. We went home and I just relaxed, watching a movie (Eurotrip). I then played some poker with my buddies. We taught Cory how to play, he still didn't understand, and just made jokes the whole time. No one is so funny without even trying. Adam won, and Alex scratched by without losing a dime (or a shekel). I kind of lost by going all in and losing the hand because I thought Adam was bluffing. Lesson learned.

Today, we had Ulpan in which we played a game. Lucy, Alex, and I teamed up and had to come up with the most Hebrew words with the letters all the groups were given. We won, partially because we had the most words and partially because we're awesome. I helped Naum and Lucy (and Dave) with some words today, and it felt good. Maybe if the HR career doesn't work out and business is a fail, I'll go into teaching. You know what they say, "If you can't do, teach". A few hours after that, we went to the Israeli Museum at the Yitzhak Rabin Center. We took a self-guided tour of the establishment of the State of Isreal, all of Israel's wars, and Rabin's life.

Yitzhak Rabin was born in Jerusalem and lived in Tel Aviv most of his life. He is known as one of Israel's most important and critical political and military figures. He served in the IDF for about 25 years, holding many positions including general and Chief of Staff, leading Israel to victory in the Six Day War. He also served Israel as Prime Minister twice and was elected to the Knesset. He also won a Nobel Peace Prize with Yasser Atafat for negotiating the famous Oslo Accords, which originally was meant to put Palestine and Israel at peace. With this, Israel agreed to give the Palestinians Gaza and the West Bank and recognize the PLO. The Palestinians were supposed to recognize Israel as the Jewish State. This did not last long and they were back to fighting. Unfortunately, on November 4, 1995, Yitzhak Rabin was walking out of a rally for the Oslo Accords at Kings of Israel Square (now Rabin Square) in Tel Aviv and was shot in the back of the head by an Orthodox Jew and was assassinated (the perpetrator was sentenced to life in prison). Found in Rabin's pocket later was a bloodied piece of paper containing the song "Shir L'Shalom" ("Song for Peace"), which explains that it is impossible to bring a dead person back to life, and therefore, the need for peace. Hopefully, the Palestinians and Israel will find peace in a foreseeable future.

At right, the song "Shir L'Shalom" (Song for Peace),
which Yitzhak Rabin had in his pocket when he died.

I hope you enjoyed this post and I will bring you more in the coming days and months!

RIP Suzete Berrincha

Just yesterday, a girl named Suzete Berrincha was murdered. I knew her from my days at Hall High School in West Hartford, CT and UConn. She was such a bright star in the sky, talking with her for just a few minutes was a highlight of my day. She was so upbeat, so happy, and so sweet that it seemed she could go anywhere in life. Unfortunately, she was taken from us way too early.

Here was my Facebook post on her wall: RIP Suzete Berrincha: I didn't know you all that well, but whenever I talked to you at Hall or UConn for just a few minutes, it was always a highlight of my day. You were such a great and happy person to be around, it's so sad that you were taken from us so young. I wish I could have gotten a chance to know you better. You wil be missed. :'(

Homicide Suspect Captured In West Hartford

Please keep Suzete in your thoughts and prayers for her family. I know I will, even though I'm halfway around the world from home in West Hartford. Rest in peace, Suzete.
_______________________________

Update 11/10/11: Here is a copy of Suzete's obituary.

Decision Drama

There are two things that have rocked my mind this week, and one of those is not school. I am trying to decide whether to take an internship or not. On Sunday, I met this guy who started his company 2 months ago. He left his old job in the U.S. because he noticed a gap in the marketplace. He is developing a product to make human resources departments more efficient with the hiring process. He wants me to come on board as an intern and help market the product to U.S. companies, working late afternoons into evenings. But I wouldn't be working all the time, just a few days a week. It would cut into my social life, but that wouldn't be the worst thing. The main issue is that I came to Israel to get a Master's degree in Organizational Behavior then work in the human resources field.

For whomever doesn't know, I originally found out about the Master's in Israel program while I was compiling a booklet of Israel opportunity programs for my Hillel internship. I came across the MASA website and read through a bunch of programs in which I thought would interest many students who would eventually see the booklet. All of a sudden, I saw the description for the Master's program and knew I had to do the program. I was simultaneously taking a Social-Organizational Psychology class, which was very interesting to me. This class, and the professor, Janet Barnes-Farrell at UConn, made me want to do HR for a career. And this past summer, while my friend Mike was interning at GE, I shadowed his HR manager to make sure this career field was what I wanted to do. I figured out that it is! So then why am I having such a huge time deciding whether to take this internship?! This job is not really related to HR, but I would get more experience in marketing and entrepreneurship selling an HR product. I originally wanted to get HR work experience. The other choice I have is to work at an HR department at a hotel (which I mentioned in my previous post) or do whatever Oranim finds me for an internship. Does anyone have any suggestions?

The other thing is a girl. No joke. She agreed to go out on a date with me last week but then turned me down and said we should just be friends. I don't know, I just can't get her out of my head. I wasn't so serious about it when I asked her out, but now my mind has changed. She didn't really give me a chance. She's really cool, not a bitch at all. I just want to show her that I am worth trying to date.

Let me know what you think about both subjects... please comment!

Learning and Partying

Tuesday was my second day of Ulpan (Hebrew study) class. It was a trying one, given that the Dan Bus company was sitting in the classroom where we normally have class, providing bus passes for everyone in the Master's and internship programs that wanted one. Therefore, we had class in the lounge of the apartment building. We learned how to write more letters and read simple paragraphs. I already know how to read and write Hebrew, so most of this is old stuff to me from my years at Solomon Schechter; however, it is a good thing I am in this level class because I am learning so many new words (and relearning some old). After our break, we moved to Naum's apartment a few blocks away to provide for an easier learning session. He provided his old tenant's mirror as a whiteboard and we sat on his couch and chairs in a circle. Great job for thinking on your feet, Naum!

Theodor Herzl, the Father of
modern Zionism

The rest of the day was pretty lax (except for me going to the gym) until we had an enrichment session: Intro to Zionism with Ofer. Ofer, Director of Oranim's programs, came to educate us on the Zionist people who helped make Israel what it is today. We learned how Theodor Herzl wanted a Jewish State after seeing Alfred Dreyfus treated with such hatred just because he was a Jew; Herzl basically decided that his dream was to find a place, preferably Palestine, in which the Jews could live in peace and not be persecuted for being themselves. At one of the Zionist conferences, he almost settled on Britain giving him Uganda, but no. The Jews eventually got what they wanted and established the State of Israel in May 1948. We also learned about Jabotinsky, Ben Yehuda (who revolutionized the Hebrew language), and other important people who have streets in Tel Aviv named after them. Afterwards, I went out with my friends Simon and Anna to Benedict's, a 24/7 breakfast restaurant. This place has the fluffiest (and most delicious and filling) pancakes you will ever have. I ordered white chocolate pancakes and a hot chocolate. Oy, what a dinner/breakfast! I then went to enjoy some hookah with some other friends.

Wednesday was more class. I actually learned quite a bit in both classes, HR Management and Staffing Organizations. The only issue is having the same teacher for 6 hours straight. I'll get used to it. At night, we had the biggest party yet; everyone was going out. Oranim sponsored a party at this bar called Lima Lima. A bunch of people from both programs went and it was a blast. It was an early night for most, but the drinks were awesome, the music was great, I danced, I talked... That's the kind of night you're looking for in Tel Aviv!

Thursday was enjoyable. I woke up late and I began searching for an internship. I have to go to HR departments at hotels to find an HR internship. Annoying, huh? Anyway, I went to a few along HaYarkon St.: the Hilton, Carlton, Tal Hotel, and Herods. I'm going back probably on Sunday to start really looking. Afterwards, Alex and I went to the gym (I'm really getting a workout there!) then I relaxed for the night. Instead of going out with a friend from the internship program, I stayed in and brushed up on my cooking skills. I made french toast for the first time, without any vanilla extract or sugar... and if I say so myself, it came out pretty good. I would like to make more in a bigger pan, though. Oh the frustrations of having just a hotplate, a pan, and 2 pots. Then I made some pasta to fill me up. All in all, a delicious dinner. Then, I went upstairs to join in on a little party.

I've so far been in Israel for just 3 weeks and it feels like I've been here 2-3 months. It's crazy. Tonight, I'm going to Modi'in for Shabbat to visit Noa and meet her mother. I can't wait! See ya soon!