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.
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| 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.
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| 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!
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| 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!
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