New Friends, Partying, and Working

Me and a bunch of people at Inter-Mate

Hey, so this past week was so busy, I barely got a chance to breathe at some points. Like I said in the last post, I went with a bunch of my Master's friends to make new friends at the Inter-Mate program. The Israelis we met were really cool! They all go to the Academic College of Tel Aviv, located in Jaffa, which is southern Tel Aviv. Everyone was between the ages of 22-28 (roughly) and no one was afraid to interact and meet new people. We went to this place on a street off of Allenby and we were welcomed by a big group of people and refreshments. The first activity we participated in was the non-Israelis got into a big external circle and the Israelis got into a smaller internal circle. The Israelis moved around the circle, meeting new people and talking about predetermined conversation topics such as "If you could be a superhero, who would you be?" and "Where have you traveled to?". Then we got into groups based on what kind of chocolate you like (white, milk, dark, none) then what kind of animal you like (cats, dogs, reptiles, not an animal person/allergic). In each group, we were supposed to ask each other more predetermined questions, but we never followed that. In the milk chocolate group, we played "Never Have I Ever" (NOT the dirty version!) and in the cats group, we just went around in a circle telling each other about ourselves. After that, we went to a local bar and I got to know more people. I made friends with Israelis named Adi, Nofar, Hila, Shaun, Tal, and a couple other Oranimers named Anna and Michael. What a fun night!

Left to right: me, Asaph from the
Partners program, and my friend, Dan

The next day, I had classes, then Hilary and I met with our boss for the internship to discuss logistics, and I went to volunteer at Neve Tzedek after school with Nicole. It was the first time I got a chance to tutor someone in English -- in Israel! I helped this little girl (I keep forgetting her name, but it was a cute name) distinguish between am/are/is and has/have, colors, and tall/short/long/thin/etc. She understood as I spoke with her mainly in Hebrew and she was very determined to get it. I was so proud to have made a small difference for this little girl! The hour went by in a flash. After that, the Master's program and internship program went to this bar called Polaroid for a party introducing the new Oranim internship group (7 people) that just got to Israel. I hung out with my friend Dan and a couple Israeli friends of his from the Partners program, the internship program's version of Inter-Mate. I also saw my new Israeli friends Adi and Nofar and spoke with them for a while.

Last Thursday was volunteering at Ironi Yud Aleph High School, the last opportunity high school that I had talked about. I was the only volunteer there, and I helped a 17 year old kid (who's actually a French Jew who immigrated to Israel with his mom about 5-7 years ago) do a little reading in English. He's actually quite good, I just helped him read a few difficult words and discussed the underlying meaning of some quotes and connected them to the story with him. He was studying for a test. I enjoyed doing that, too. What a rewarding experience! At night, I met up with my new Israeli friend, Hila, at the Hemingway Bar in Dizengoff Square for her friend, Lital's, birthday party. It was very fun, a loud bar that had people dancing on the bar. We talked, had cake, and danced a bit. Then I ran into a few friends from Ramla, so when Hila left, I joined them for a couple hours.

Marc and I counting balls

Friday was FILLED with working on project after project. To release stress, Dan and I went out with his roommate to Mike's Place (an American bar across the street from Tsidon) for a bite. Dan and I then proceeded to go out to the other side of town to meet a couple of my Ramla friends. We joined their Brazilian friends, trying to find a place to go. We ended up splitting, some of us going to this really cool bar at the corner of Ben Yehuda and Allenby, while the rest went to a club next door. I have no clue what the name of the bar was, but Dan claims it looks like a scene from Roadhouse, circa 1995. We played a few games of pool, each of us winning one game. Dan and I are going back there very soon.

Saturday and Sunday were COMPLETELY FILLED with working on projects for Org Behavior, Human Resource Management, and Staffing Organizations. 3 projects due in 2 school days -- not cool. On Monday, I had classes and gave my OB presentation with my friends Saul and Alex. We were a kick ass team! At night, I hung with Loni for a bit then went straight to bed. 4 hours of sleep the previous night did not do me any good.

Logo for the Children's
Museum in Holon, Israel

Tuesday was really cool and frustrating at the same time. We had a special enrichment today; we went to this "Dialog in the Dark" exhibition at the Children's Museum in Holon, a town over from Tel Aviv. About half of us from the program took the bus there, got off at the wrong stop, went to the wrong area, got lost, then finally found our way. This "Dialog in the Dark" thing was really cool. We went into this area of the museum that had no lights and we got led by a blind person. It may sound weird, but yeah, it really happened. The point of the exhibition was for us to feel what it's like to be blind. What happens (for those who don't know) is that since you don't have your most commonly used sense, your other senses heighten in sensitivity to compensate.

We all walked around the hallways, afraid we were going to walk into each other, often clutching the wall next to us. We explored a room that had statues on the wall, bicycles, and other really cool things. We got into a boat, going across some small pond. I was told to feel the outside of the boat, and try to decipher the 3 Hebrew letters on the side: it said חנה, or Chana (Hannah in English). That was the small boat's name. After we got out of the boat, we went into another room where there ended up being a bunch of produce (eggplant, peppers, lemons, etc.) that I smelled and touched. Then I walked into the middle of the room -- and ran into a car! Yes, a car. I'm just as surprised as you are. In the next room, we sat down against the wall and just closed our eyes (not that we could see) and were just told to listen to music. Imagination is such a powerful tool. I imagined I was in many different places, based on the music playing. I don't know the  names of anything, except some Mozart playing (thanks for drilling it into my head, Dad), but it was awesome! Last, we ordered food in the dark and ate together while asking our tour guide questions about being blind; we were allowed to ask anything. ANYTHING, including the most personal questions if we so desired. I asked, "Can you visualize things in your head even though you can't see?" and "Have you ever encountered someone who didn't respect your absence of sight and how did they react to you?". I don't remember the answers, but I learned a bunch. Because we were an hour late for the enrichment, I got a late start on working on projects once I got back home. I worked on one then on another in the course of 6 hours. I immediately went to bed due to extreme mental exhaustion.

I got up this morning (early) to finish up some work for one of my projects then went to school. It was Ben-Ami project day. Everyone presented projects in both classes, HRM and Staffing Orgs. Such a tiring day. I'm finally done rambling. I'll update you on more stuff soon.

Adios and l'hitraot!

Not Like Any Other Week...

Stupid woman monopolized the 4 (out of 6) working washing machines at the laundromat! Now I have to wait just to do my laundry. I really shouldn't be writing right now as I have 5 group projects due in the span of 8 days starting next Monday; however, here I am. Procrastination is an art, and I already mastered it as a student at UConn. I just hope my skills of doing homework well under pressure has carried over into my graduate studies.

This past week was filled with action and adventure! Last Tuesday, I had Ulpan then Simon and I went to Ironi Yud Aleph High School (about a 20 minute walk from home) for a volunteering orientation. We ran into Lucy's roommate, Rotem, there. The three of us learned that Ironi High School is a last opportunity high school. The troubled kids typically don't want to learn anything; they often don't come to class and need disciplining. Their parents often don't know how to read English, but we, as volunteers, would help them learn to read and write in English. I'm going to try out this volunteering opportunity this coming Thursday. Jesse (from an Oranim internship program) is an intern there, and he's second in command to the director. He brought us around the school, told us a little bit about the kids and what we would be doing, and hoped we would come next time.

My friend, Mike, on
the L.A. trip with one
of the coolest kids ever

On Wednesday, we had classes all day then I went with my friend, Nicole, to another volunteer orientation. Nicole has been volunteering at the Neve Tzedek Community Center since she came to Israel on the internship program in March (now, she's on the Master's program). Neve Tzedek is a neighborhood in southwestern Tel Aviv in which the affluent live. Nicole and I went to the community center to help tutor kids in English. On this day, there weren't that many kids, so we kind of just sat around the whole time. Randomly, Emanuelle from the internship program joined us at the orientation. I seem to like that place, it's calm and collected, and I get the chance to work with little kids. I remember when I went on a Hillel community service trip to Los Angeles in March, and for much of the week, we tutored little kids in Math, Science, spelling, and reading; it was such a rewarding experience when I got the chance to see a child spell a word right or solve a problem correctly. If they didn't, I helped them the best way I knew how. That's the type of thing I'm looking to get out of my volunteering experience. At night, Alex, Adam, and I just hung out playing some video games, but it's weird... I feel like I had dreamed about experiencing this night before.

Tzfat, I took this picture
on Birthright

Thursday was originally devoted to a program trip of a hike in Miron and spending time in Tzfat, one of Judaism's holiest cities. It's located in the Galilee area, the highest elevation in the whole country. Tzfat is known for being the birthright of Kabbalah (Jewish mysticism). The trip was postponed, so we'll be going there soon. My friends Aline and Kenny (separately) spent time with friends there for the weekend, and they both had fun with their respective experiences. Instead of the trip, everyone took the opportunity of free time to catch up on some group work. We were all busy at work all day. I worked on a couple projects and also on some internship work, writing another blog.

But the weirdest thing happened Thursday. All day, up until a certain point, I had known that everything would happen the exact way it did. I knew I would be playing Battlefield 3 with Alex and Adam, eating cheese puffs. I knew I would walk down to the bank to apply for a credit card, answer my phone, get off it right as the employee came in the room again, listen to the exact same music, walk back, see Simon in his room every time I went to the bathroom or got a snack, and just sitting in my chair doing work. The only different things were Alex telling me he got hired for an internship and my friend Jason calling me to ask about borrowing books from me. It was a very odd day. At night, I hung out with Shawna from Ramla.

Friday was also used to catch up on work. I was so busy, it all feels like a big blur to me. I spent Friday night in Ramla, just hanging with Shawna again. Saturday and Sunday weren't really too exciting, just more work and staying at home relaxing and sleeping. Monday was classes then later, I went with Loni and Hunter to Mike's Place to watch Kenny do stand-up again. He was much better this time. Like I said, he is improving by the week.

I gotta go, need to take my laundry out and run to an enrichment program. We're going to be learning about Hanukkah (which starts in just 6 days, next Monday) and a bunch of us from the Master's program signed up for this program called Inter-Mate, where we will meet a bunch of (most likely Israeli) Tel Aviv University students for a social hour. It's a way to branch out and get to know Israelis personally. I'll tell you more about it next time. Laundry time! L'hitraot!

Busy and Fun Week

At Aline's birthday party left to right: Sarah, Joan,
Andrew, Nohar, Aline, Anna, me, Lior, and Marjorie.

Sorry I haven't written in a week, things got busy and crazy. So last Monday, we had class then later that night, a bunch of us went out to Club Seret for Aline's 22nd birthday party. Aline is this really cool Brazilian girl in my program who is living in Jerusalem. She comes up to Tel Aviv (or technically Rishon LeZion) for classes then stays over at her aunt's in Tel Aviv for enrichment programs we typically have on Tuesdays. It was a very fun night.

On Tuesday, we had Ulpan (as you could tell from my last post, I am getting better and better with my Hebrew) and then an enrichment lecture. Our guest speaker was Jason Seymour, an American diplomat working at the U.S. Embassy. He was pretty cool; he told us about his work history and certain procedures for applying to be a diplomat, why he got into what he does, etc. Mr. Seymour became a diplomat because he loves to explore new countries and loves to learn languages; he said that was enough to make him get into the industry. He has done tours in Pakistan; Guangzhou, China; and Barcelona, Spain. He had always wanted to come to Israel, given his Jewish roots. He finally got the chance two months ago and he is now here for 3-5 years, working right here in Tel Aviv.

Wednesday was packed with fun. School was ordinary (again). Afterwards, Adam, Lewis, and I went shopping at the local supermarket called Chetzi Chanim (Half something) in Rishon. We walked around for about an hour trying to find the place and asking people in Hebrew where it was. We finally got directions, in English, from this Canadian dude. We got there and realized it was much more than a produce store but a regular (big) supermarket. We hit the jackpot! Adam bought 400 shekels worth of stuff (about $107) and I spent 125 shekels. We got home and then I went out to dinner with a girl originally from West Hartford. Shani is the daughter of someone who works in the front office at my synagogue at home. For the first time I met her, she was very nice. We went to this pizza place I've been to before on Ben Yehuda called, Pizzafino. We got to know each other for a couple hours and agreed that soon, I would come down to Jerusalem and visit her. Shani works in Lod, about 40 minutes away from her house.

The lovely (and now engaged)
couple: Idan and Samantha

After that, I got back and found out that Samantha (on my program) had just gotten engaged to her Israeli boyfriend, Idan. They've been together a mere 7 months. That story gives me hope for the future; I told Idan about my Bubbie and Zadie falling in love. They met on a blind date and it was love at first sight. They were engaged 3 weeks later and married 3 months after they met. My grandparents were married for 55 years before my Bubbie passed away in 2003, but their love was as strong the last day they were together as the day they met. Idan was touched and I hope he'll remember my story for the future. A bunch of us from the Master's program went out to the club to celebrate; what a fantastic evening.

Zao t-shirt!

Thursday was an interesting and productive day. Hilary and I got up in the morning to take the train down to Rehovot to meet our boss, Ziv. We met the Zao team, got our own company t-shirts (they're so cool and sleek!), and talked strategy with Ziv. Then we went out to lunch to this place called River, delicious Asian cuisine. After we got back, I just relaxed for the day until I went to my friend Max's birthday party at a local bar that night. I danced, drank, and had a lot of fun. I definitely plan on going back there.

Friday was low key; I don't even remember what I did that day (no, I was not hung over from the previous night!). However at night, two friends from the Ramla crew came up to Tel Aviv to hang out with me and Alex. Nathalie and Shawna went out to Max Brenner's Chocolate Factory with us and halfway through dinner, it kind of turned into a double date. Alex and I paid the bill and we went back to my room to watch a very late movie. Great night! We didn't do too much Saturday, just sitting around hanging out and watching another movie. Cory and I continued our recent awesome collaboration which is sure to turn into a tradition during our program: joining forces on making macaroni and cheese. After that, I went to Mike's Place, a local American bar, with my friend, Dan. He and I just caught up, enjoying ourselves while having a beer and eating some pizza and fries.

Sunday was filled with Ulpan and doing some work. Monday was just classes, but fun this time. Cory and his group gave their presentation for Organizational Behavior and, knowing Cory, it was the funniest academic presentation ever (if I haven't mentioned this before, Cory lives his life by the creative mind of Larry David, specifically "Seinfeld" and "Curb Your Enthusiasm"). His group showed clips from an episode of "The Simpsons" and they connected the episode to the academic article they reviewed. It was the one where Homer accepts a job in Cypress Creek and moves there with his family to work for Hank Scorpio and Globex. Great episode! Tonight, Loni and I went out to the bar to watch our friend, Kenny, do his stand-up comedy routine on stage. He's getting better every time he goes up there. We also enjoyed the company of Cory and Dave.

Well, gotta go. It's time for bed. I got Ulpan tomorrow morning and I'm going to an orientation for volunteering. I'll let you know how it goes. Lilah tov (good night)!