Cinco de Skyo, Lag B'Omer, and My Birthday!

Left to right: Tami, me, and Jenn

I know what you're thinking about the title. No, I did NOT write that wrong. I went to a party called "Cinco de Skyo" at SkyBar. This bar is not a regular bar, nor is it a "real" bar. It is the rooftop of the apartment at my friends' place in the Israel Teaching Fellows program in Netanya. They had a Cinco de Mayo party and I was fortunate enough to go. All of us made drinks, ate food, talked, and played a few crazy games. Oh yeah, and there was a piñata (no, I'm not kidding). My friends from Netanya, Sam and Alon, made it out of (I think) a blown up balloon and paper mache. Then Alon drew the Mexican flag on it. Then Sam stuffed a bunch of trinkets and candy in it, and tied the top up with some string. It was the most creative thing I'd ever seen for Cinco de Mayo. The party was awesome, I slept on a couch under the stars (and thanks to a couple blankets from my friend, Emily, I was not cold), and we went to the beach the next day. I joined Jenn, Emily, Tami, Alex, Alana, Rachel, Kira, and a few others. Emily and I later went out on a kayak ride with Tami and Alex; so fun! Afterwards, I went home to relax from a busy day and a half.

Sam ripped apart the pinata

On May 6th, I went to class, had a meeting for Zao, then at night went to another Partners meeting. We met at the Sportech, which is the rock climbing wall in Hayarkon Park. We played a number of games (Oranimers and Israelis mixed on teams) where we had to answer questions, do minor physical activities, and even had to get strangers to make a pyramid. My team, "Fredy's Angels" included me, Tali (Oranim), Adi (Israeli), Fredy (Israeli), Raz (Israeli), Carmel (Israeli), and Sami (Oranim). We placed second out of four teams, but we totally dominated. We then went to a nearby bar and enjoyed some refreshments while getting to know each other better. Tuesday was spent watching "Boy Meets World" episodes on YouTube all day; not a productive use of my time, but at least I saw two episodes which I had never seen before. Wednesday wasn't too eventful; I had class then Adam and I biked over to Hayarkon Park late at night to enjoy a bonfire with some Oranimers who live in our building. We ended making a couple new friends, Jordan and Johnny. Johnny's a Scottish Jew, apparently there's only about 5,000 of them.

The birthday boys at our party at Seret

Thursday began the one of the biggest, eventful, and awesome weekends of my program so far. I had Ulpan that afternoon, then the Master's program went to the Eretz Israel Museum for enrichment. I had already been to part of the museum, so I checked out exhibits I hadn't seen. I learned about man-made objects, the Rothschild family (a very wealthy family from Europe that oversaw and financed parts of the growth of the Land of Israel), and sports. Finally it was my 24th birthday; I went to Club Seret (one of the hottest winter clubs in Tel Aviv) where I got the table I had reserved a couple days ago. Shortly afterwards walked in Mike from ITF Petach Tikvah, with whom I planned the joint birthday party (he turned 26). We just chilled on the couch until some of our friends from ITF Ramla joined us. Then, out of nowhere, the club started playing the music as a club scene like we had hoped. Later in the night ushered in friends from ITF Netanya, ITF Petach Tikvah, some interns, and a few people from my program (Adam, Jess, Sam, and David). The party was crazy, everyone was dancing and celebrating all night, the music was loud, and we had a ton of fun. We finally left the club at 3am and I walked all the way home.

May 11th was my birthday. I didn't wake up until 1pm, then I went with Simon and Sam to a coffee shop to hang out. I met up with Tami from Netanya and we then went to Nachalat Binyamin St. to look at the knick knacks and art that is sold there every Tuesday and Friday. I didn't buy anything, but I found a really beautiful family name sign. It says the Tribe that my family belongs to (from the Twelve Sons of Jacob), which is Levi, and I want to buy it for my family to hang in our house. It's reasonably priced, too, at about 250 or so shekels (about $65). Later that night, I went to friend's friend's birthday party in Jaffa (I biked there) and met some really cool people from MASA's Tikkun Olam ("Repairing the World") program.

Left to right: me, Mike, Carla (not sure where to put her
hands), Emily, and Tami

On May 12th, a small group of us went to Luna Park in Tel Aviv to enjoy the day at a family-themed amusement park for the second half of my and Mike's birthday. The group included: me, Mike, Emily S. (Netanya), Carla (Petach Tikvah), and Tami. Luna Park is nothing like Six Flags as it is for families, but it's more for younger kids, a lot like Lake Compounce in Connecticut. We got there and went on about 10 rides  during the afternoon. We rode Anaconda (the most intense rollercoaster there, not very intense), tea cups which Carla and I got nauseous on, elephants in which the one Carla and I were in, named "Dumpy", didn't rise when the button was pressed, and Mike and I had a race to see who could pull the rope to the top sitting down (we tied, but I think I won once or twice). Later, we walked around Hayarkon Park for a bit, then Emily, Carla, and I met up with Jevon from Petach Tikvah and we went to a few bars with my friend, Saul. Saul and I beat a couple Peruvians in a game of pool, then we met up with Cory and his girlfriend at Otto. After that, we got a small bite at Moses Burger and then went home. It was such a fun weekend, it goes near (probably at) the top of my list for best weekends in Israel. EVER.

The rope climb game Mike and I
competed against each other in
(I'm on the right)

On Sunday, I went to Ulpan and my Israel Diplomacy course. Monday was class and volunteering, and I did homework all day yesterday. Shortly, I'm about to go meet up with a friend who just finished Birthright. I have four friends either already in Israel or coming soon; three on Birthright, including my old roommate and good friend, Andrew, from college, and one of my closest friends, Mike, who is taking a two month trip around Europe and Israel as a college graduation present to himself.

L'hitraot! Happy belated Mother's Day to anyone still celebrating it.

Yom HaZikaron, Yom Ha'Atzmaut, and the Beginning of May

I am doing a ton of things today; I went to the bank, did laundry, went to Ulpan, and I have homework to do. However, probably the highlight of my day was finding a toaster oven (that works!) on the side of the street (on the ledge of the building next door to me, to be exact, saving me about 150-300 shekels, or $40-80).

Michael Levin, one of the
soldiers remembered on
Yom HaZikaron

Last Monday (April 23rd), I went to school and then volunteered. Afterwards, Adam and I went to a Yom HaZikaron (Israeli Fallen Soldiers and Victims of Terrorism Remembrance Day) ceremony on Mazeh St, off of Allenby. We watched videos of former lone soldiers (soldiers who immigrate to Israel and have no immediate family in Israel): Alex Singer and Michael Levin. Alex Singer was an American soldier in the Israeli army who was killed on his 25th birthday in 1987 in battle in Lebanon. His family has since composed a book of his letters and drawings to them into a book called Alex: Building a Life. They showed a video of people from his life reading excerpts from the book, and illustrating the letters with his drawings. Another video showed interviews about Michael Levin, an American who was shot in the head and killed in the Second Lebanon War on August 1, 2006. The interviews with family and friends tell of his passion, and his feeling of obligation, to help defend Israel. He had been on vacation visiting family in Philadelphia when he decided to cut his vacation short and go back to Israel to fight. Both are buried in the military cemetery area at Mount Herzl, Israel's national cemetery. The whole ceremony was very interesting and a little emotional for some people. I also ran into friends from BFL and went out with them for drinks afterwards.

Shoshana playing on a tank

The next evening officially began Yom HaZikaron, in which all MASA programs traveled to Latrun, a military base near Jerusalem. We watched a video on tanks (it was very action-packed, but a bit corny with the jokes), had group conversations, and played on the tanks (literally!). All 10,000 MASA participants then attended the special ceremony where we watched videos, people performed songs, and we remembered soldiers and victims of terrorist attacks. Just like on Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day) in which there was a siren that rang throughout the whole country and everyone stopped to listen and respect the fallen, a siren rang out twice during Yom HaZikaron; one at 8pm at the beginning of the ceremony and another the next morning at 11am. At the end, we sang Hatikvah ("The Hope"), Israel's national anthem. I think that was the most connected to Israel I had ever felt when singing that song. The next day, we had no class because of the national holiday. But at night, everything changed from sadness to immense celebrations.

People dancing on vans on Rothschild Blvd.
on Yom Ha'Atzmaut

The next evening began Yom Ha'Atzmaut (Israel Independence Day). It was difficult to flip emotions quickly but doable. Simon, Adam, and I went to Rabin Square for the beginning of the celebration with a concert. After that, we walked to our friend, David's apartment to celebrate his upcoming birthday and the holiday. It took us a while to leave but we finally got on with our plans. We passed by a rooftop party and picked up a couple friends, including Elana, whom I met at BFL. We never got to David's party because the cops raided the place, so it had ended before we had even gotten there. Adam, Elana, and I went to Rothschild Boulevard and discovered the biggest street party you would ever see. We spent some time at a bar at the corner and walked around for a bit. Elana and I then walked all the way back to Tsidon at 4am, stopping on the way to grab some late night pizza, and stayed up until 6am hanging out. The next day, Adam, Elana, and I went to Herzliya beach and the Arena Mall to hang out. We walked around, ate lunch, built sandcastles (so much fun!), and went shopping. It was a fun-filled day. I'm so glad I was here to experience one of the saddest days and one of the happiest days of the Hebrew year one right after the other.

Elana's awesome sandcastle. Mine
was a sad excuse for a sandcastle.

The next night, I joined in to celebrate my friends Jenn and Erica's birthdays. We went to Viva Roma, a nice expensive Italian restaurant for dinner, and Dizengoff Club for dancing. A great night! On Sunday, Ulpan unexpectedly began again. Orly (my coordinator) had posted on the Facebook group that it was restarting, and I ended up being the only person in Ulpan Bet to see it, so I got a private lesson from the teacher. In Hebrew, I read two stories: Orly Vehakolnoa ("Orly and the movie theater", a story about a girl who is obsessed with seeing movies) and HaRoeh V'haze'ev ("The Shepherd and the Wolf", known in English as "The Boy Who Cried Wolf"). I learned a lot of new words now that the Ulpan classes have been split into three. At night, I went with my friends to our Israel Diplomacy Course, and this time we learned about skills in advocacy.

Monday was a day that I ran around in between places. I went to school, then to volunteering, and left early to catch a new program that Oranim is doing with Tel Aviv University. It's called the Partners Program, in which Oranimers get a chance to meet Israeli university students. The program was run much the same as the one I had participated in in December, called Inter-Mate, but that one was with the Tel Aviv Academic College. I met a lot of new people and made new friends. The next meeting is this coming Monday.

May 1st (along with it being my best friend, Sam's birthday) included an enrichment which involved us learning about minorities in Israel. A Druze guy shot out facts about the Druze, Christians, and Muslims. It was interesting, but he unfortunately hadn't prepared too well and then many people weren't paying attention (I was). There are almost 8 million people living in Israel, about 6 million of them Jews. The Druze make up a very small percentage (about 1.5%) and their religion is one that is relatively secretive, but comprising of many beliefs adopted from Judaism, Islam, and Christianity. Only about 30% of Druze are religious because it's very difficult to learn the ways of the religion. About 16% of minorities are Muslim and 2% are Christian.

Yesterday, I went to class and met up with my new friend, Shayna, who went to UConn and is making Aliyah. We went to dinner at a nice restaurant called Bar Giora next to Dizengoff Center and we talked about my program, her program, and Israel. Today, in Ulpan, I learned all the different ways to say "to wear" different articles of clothing and items (there's a lot). We also read a couple stories. I just keep learning new words. Soon enough, I may become fluent (if I actually practice outside of class and in the culture, that is)!

Sunset at Latrun with Israeli flags :)

Here's some Hebrew (also transliterated and in English) for you to know a little bit of what I'm learning:

אני אוהב מאוד ללמוד עברית. אולפן שוב התחלה ואני שמח. לפעמים אני שוכח מילים כמו לאט אבל זה בסדר. אני רוצה   את החברים שלי לבוא איתי למסיבה מחר בלילה.

Ani ohev meod lilmod ivrit. Ulpan shuv hatchalah v'ani sameach. Lifamim ani shocheach milim cmo "le'at" aval zeh b'seder. Ani rotzeh et hachaverim sheli lavoh iti lamesibah machar balailah.

I really like learning Hebrew. Ulpan began again and I'm happy. I sometimes forget words like "le'at" (slow) but that's okay. I want my friends to come to a party with me tomorrow night.

Bye!