happy holidays everyone!
i didnt fast for yom kippur... i know im a bad jew. but i had to work, because i am taking an extra day for my sukkot holiday when i go to turkey (next week!). and i also didnt go to services, cause they were in hebrew with a bunch of old israeli people who dont like us ulpanists and are kinda rude. the bait kenesset (synagogue) is TINY so being squeezed in with them, trying to follow and get some sort of meaning out of the hebrew, while on an empty stomach, and then after that going to work seemed just not....right. i thought i would feel more jewish here, in israel, the land of the jews. actually i just feel more american, and im okay with that. the people here are not JEWISH, they are ISRAELI. there is a difference. i kinda like the american jew better than the israeli jew. i dont know, its hard to explain. im having a good time and trying to learn as much as i can, but i am definitely excited to go back to the states.
today during work, a few kibbutzniks needed to work on some water pipes, so they shut off our water. i kinda need water to clean, and they didnt let us know when they were going to shut off or turn back on the water, so i got to leave work rather early. yay. i had to work 3 days in a row, which i really didnt like. so while i was supposed to be working but there was no water, i straightened my hair. it looks kinda silly cause its a short and curly hair cut, so straight it looks weird and not layered properly.
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Sunday, September 20, 2009
we gotta get outa this place, if its the last thing we ever do
this weekend, as you know, was rosh hashanah. Eli (marsha's husband) and Jordan (Marsha's son- pronounced yarden) came to pick sarah (my friend from the ulpan) and me up from yagur and take us to their house in karmi'el for the long weekend. they picked us up on friday afternoon and took us to their BEAUTIFUL purple house. it was gorgeous! it was like living in art. there was beautiful art on the walls, and arty lamps and the house was designed in such a way that it was small but kinda very open. their garden was full of colors and there was a fish pond with a few steps to create a small waterfall type thing down to another small fish pond. 
and there were little bits of mosaic put all around in the stones that made up the pathways. and there was mirror mosaic-type stuff on some of the walls. it was really a beautiful house.
and karmi'el is a beautiful city. it is very well kept up, clean and the gardening is beautiful too.
on friday night sarah, marsha, and i went to services. she introduced us to some of the people there (most of them spoke english fluently) the rabbi asked if i spoke russian cause ella is a russian name. it was kinda awkward, but he was nice. the service was all in hebrew which was hard, but we picked out a few things. there was a sign hanging which i found particularly profound. it said 'da lifney mi at omer' which means 'know before whom you stand' it was very beautiful.
after the service, we went to marsha's friend's house for dinner. her name is marcie, and we had dinner with her, her husband simon, her 3 kids, her daughter's boy friend, jordan, and eli. one of marcie's kids is named natan. he looks EXACTLY like charlie from Lost. EXACTLY LIKE HIM!!! and none of them except for sarah knew the show, so we couldnt share our exciting news with them. but they were all very nice. marcie is from america and simon is from london, so their whole family is bilingual, as is marsha's family. so it was great cause we had a nice english speaking HOME COOKED MEAL. it was delicious! so many different kinds of salads, and potatoes, and other veggies for me to eat (of course they all had meat as well) then we talked for a while until sarah and i were falling asleep in our chairs.
(this is at a park in karmi'el. it was a lot of fun there! )
the next morning we woke up around 11 and marsha showed us around karmi'el and the surrounding villiages. we went to a really cool little store in the vegetarian community (all these little settlements were set up on mountains to over look the arab villiages, although its not a big deal cause the arabs here are generally very peaceful. but anyways, each settlement started out with a general theme, like vegetarian or a special type of meditation, or that sort of thing) then we went to have coffee at a beautiful community where i bought a very nice sholder covering thing. i thought i should have one in case i needed to go to services again, cause i had to borrow my friend's shoulder covering for the services on friday (for some reason all my dresses are sleeveless!
(this is a view of the kineret from one of the settlements we went to)
after that, we met up with eli and jordan for lunch in an arab villiage and had some of the best humus i've ever had. and guess what. IT RAINED. it is officially winter. there was a rainbow and everything. it rained for about 10 minutes. and ever since it has been raining for 2-5 minutes every so often. its kind of exciting. that evening, some of marsha and eli's friends came over for cake and coffee. this was a little less english, but it was still fun. it was nice to hang out with older people who had real lives right now to live, and not be in this fantasy life here on yagur in the ulpan. the food was good and the bed was big and comfy.
this morning, we got up relatively early, and marsha took sarah and i to the golan.
we went to an artist villiage, and sat at a cafe over looking the kineret. it was really nice. then sarah and i took the bus back to yagur and i am back in fantasy land with a test on 20 new words tomorrow that i have yet to study for (dont worry ill study later and get an A++ since i will try to learn all the words and be fantabulous!)
(this is at the cafe overlooking the kineret)
thats about it for now.
and there were little bits of mosaic put all around in the stones that made up the pathways. and there was mirror mosaic-type stuff on some of the walls. it was really a beautiful house.and karmi'el is a beautiful city. it is very well kept up, clean and the gardening is beautiful too.
on friday night sarah, marsha, and i went to services. she introduced us to some of the people there (most of them spoke english fluently) the rabbi asked if i spoke russian cause ella is a russian name. it was kinda awkward, but he was nice. the service was all in hebrew which was hard, but we picked out a few things. there was a sign hanging which i found particularly profound. it said 'da lifney mi at omer' which means 'know before whom you stand' it was very beautiful.
after the service, we went to marsha's friend's house for dinner. her name is marcie, and we had dinner with her, her husband simon, her 3 kids, her daughter's boy friend, jordan, and eli. one of marcie's kids is named natan. he looks EXACTLY like charlie from Lost. EXACTLY LIKE HIM!!! and none of them except for sarah knew the show, so we couldnt share our exciting news with them. but they were all very nice. marcie is from america and simon is from london, so their whole family is bilingual, as is marsha's family. so it was great cause we had a nice english speaking HOME COOKED MEAL. it was delicious! so many different kinds of salads, and potatoes, and other veggies for me to eat (of course they all had meat as well) then we talked for a while until sarah and i were falling asleep in our chairs.
(this is at a park in karmi'el. it was a lot of fun there! )
the next morning we woke up around 11 and marsha showed us around karmi'el and the surrounding villiages. we went to a really cool little store in the vegetarian community (all these little settlements were set up on mountains to over look the arab villiages, although its not a big deal cause the arabs here are generally very peaceful. but anyways, each settlement started out with a general theme, like vegetarian or a special type of meditation, or that sort of thing) then we went to have coffee at a beautiful community where i bought a very nice sholder covering thing. i thought i should have one in case i needed to go to services again, cause i had to borrow my friend's shoulder covering for the services on friday (for some reason all my dresses are sleeveless!
(this is a view of the kineret from one of the settlements we went to)after that, we met up with eli and jordan for lunch in an arab villiage and had some of the best humus i've ever had. and guess what. IT RAINED. it is officially winter. there was a rainbow and everything. it rained for about 10 minutes. and ever since it has been raining for 2-5 minutes every so often. its kind of exciting. that evening, some of marsha and eli's friends came over for cake and coffee. this was a little less english, but it was still fun. it was nice to hang out with older people who had real lives right now to live, and not be in this fantasy life here on yagur in the ulpan. the food was good and the bed was big and comfy.
this morning, we got up relatively early, and marsha took sarah and i to the golan.
we went to an artist villiage, and sat at a cafe over looking the kineret. it was really nice. then sarah and i took the bus back to yagur and i am back in fantasy land with a test on 20 new words tomorrow that i have yet to study for (dont worry ill study later and get an A++ since i will try to learn all the words and be fantabulous!)
(this is at the cafe overlooking the kineret)thats about it for now.
Thursday, September 17, 2009
otir'e otir'e, kama tov yehiye....
sorry (hannah) i know it has been a while, i know. nothing much has happened tho. my teacher calmed down a bit and is not so bad anymore. she still loves me, and she really loves this boy jake. she calls him darling. it is really funny.
one boy, Noah, from quebec Canada is getting kicked out soon. as soon as he finds an apartment (he's an oleh hadash- new immigrant). it kinda sucks, cause he isnt one of the worst people here, but its really his own fault. i mean, he doesnt really come to class that much, and Ari (the director) made him sign a form saying he would get kicked out if he missed another class, and he missed the very next one. so kinda his fault.
a bunch of girls are changing rooms. my best friends here, sarah and alexis got in a huge fight that just kept getting worse and worse. one would do something and the other would try to get back, and it was just a spiral. they are roomates, so we figured they needed a break from eachother. at the same time, this annoying girl jenny kept begging ari for her own room (shes kinda selfish and single minded), so ari decided to move almost all the girls! by the end of this weekend, both sarah and alexis are moving into my building (but seperate rooms) and they are separating one set of roomates. then jenny and this girl Lena are switching rooms cause lena lives by herself. its kinda confusing, and a total drag, but im kinda excited to have all my friends in my building. and sarah and alexis made up and are good friends again, so everything is okay.
shanah tova! mahar rosh hashanah. hayom, anachnu halchanu ..... i dont know how to say the rest without my notes. and i dont know who can understand me anyways. so. tomorrow is rosh hashanah. today we went to the nursing home on the kibbutz and sang them songs. each person in my class had to read a little thing about one of the special foods that we eat on rosh hashanah. we eat olives because olive trees are a staple of life here in israel. we eat dates because...darn i forget. we eat beats because we beat back our enemies. we eat pomegranates because they have many seeds that represent mitzvot. we have carrots...i also forget that one. we have honey for a sweet new year. and stuff like that. i read the one about dates. then we said a prayer for peace, sang some more songs, and ate apples and honey. the old people loved it. they were so cute and sang along and corrected our hebrew. it was nice.
after that, sarah, alexis, and i went to our ulpan house mother's house so she could help us book our trip to turkey for over sukkot. we are trying to go to this place called kemer and stay at a 5 star+ resort with everything included: the air fare, room, food, discotheque, with a gorgeous pool and also right on the beach. we didnt book it yet because there were only 2 seats available on the plane, but we are on the waiting list and the travel agent said she would call if it opened up and book it for us right away. the resort is called sea life resort. it looks really nice.
this weekend i am going with sarah to stay with marsha elentuck. shes picking us up tomorrow. ill tell you all about it after it happens, but im very excited to a)get to know her better b)experience an israeli new year, and c) get off the kibbutz a little! i like it here, but there are limited activities.
im learning a lot of hebrew. it really is an intensive program. on day we learn past tense, the next future tense. every week we get a list of new words and the next class we have a test on them. we also usually have a test on subject material each week. so far i know past and future tenses for xxIx verbs. it probably doesnt make any sense to you, but there are 4 'buildings' of verbs. like action, posessive, ...non action...that sort of thing. i also know past for XXX verbs.
anyways, its time for dinner, so im gonna go. but i love you all and ill try to update more often.
shanah tova
btw, the title is the chorus of a popular israeli song. it means you will see you will see oh how nice it will be....
one boy, Noah, from quebec Canada is getting kicked out soon. as soon as he finds an apartment (he's an oleh hadash- new immigrant). it kinda sucks, cause he isnt one of the worst people here, but its really his own fault. i mean, he doesnt really come to class that much, and Ari (the director) made him sign a form saying he would get kicked out if he missed another class, and he missed the very next one. so kinda his fault.
a bunch of girls are changing rooms. my best friends here, sarah and alexis got in a huge fight that just kept getting worse and worse. one would do something and the other would try to get back, and it was just a spiral. they are roomates, so we figured they needed a break from eachother. at the same time, this annoying girl jenny kept begging ari for her own room (shes kinda selfish and single minded), so ari decided to move almost all the girls! by the end of this weekend, both sarah and alexis are moving into my building (but seperate rooms) and they are separating one set of roomates. then jenny and this girl Lena are switching rooms cause lena lives by herself. its kinda confusing, and a total drag, but im kinda excited to have all my friends in my building. and sarah and alexis made up and are good friends again, so everything is okay.
shanah tova! mahar rosh hashanah. hayom, anachnu halchanu ..... i dont know how to say the rest without my notes. and i dont know who can understand me anyways. so. tomorrow is rosh hashanah. today we went to the nursing home on the kibbutz and sang them songs. each person in my class had to read a little thing about one of the special foods that we eat on rosh hashanah. we eat olives because olive trees are a staple of life here in israel. we eat dates because...darn i forget. we eat beats because we beat back our enemies. we eat pomegranates because they have many seeds that represent mitzvot. we have carrots...i also forget that one. we have honey for a sweet new year. and stuff like that. i read the one about dates. then we said a prayer for peace, sang some more songs, and ate apples and honey. the old people loved it. they were so cute and sang along and corrected our hebrew. it was nice.
after that, sarah, alexis, and i went to our ulpan house mother's house so she could help us book our trip to turkey for over sukkot. we are trying to go to this place called kemer and stay at a 5 star+ resort with everything included: the air fare, room, food, discotheque, with a gorgeous pool and also right on the beach. we didnt book it yet because there were only 2 seats available on the plane, but we are on the waiting list and the travel agent said she would call if it opened up and book it for us right away. the resort is called sea life resort. it looks really nice.
this weekend i am going with sarah to stay with marsha elentuck. shes picking us up tomorrow. ill tell you all about it after it happens, but im very excited to a)get to know her better b)experience an israeli new year, and c) get off the kibbutz a little! i like it here, but there are limited activities.
im learning a lot of hebrew. it really is an intensive program. on day we learn past tense, the next future tense. every week we get a list of new words and the next class we have a test on them. we also usually have a test on subject material each week. so far i know past and future tenses for xxIx verbs. it probably doesnt make any sense to you, but there are 4 'buildings' of verbs. like action, posessive, ...non action...that sort of thing. i also know past for XXX verbs.
anyways, its time for dinner, so im gonna go. but i love you all and ill try to update more often.
shanah tova
btw, the title is the chorus of a popular israeli song. it means you will see you will see oh how nice it will be....
Friday, September 4, 2009
here's lookin at you, kid
not much has happened here worth writing about. i went out to dinner with marsha elentuck and her daughter yasmine, and it was lovely. they are really nice and i got to practice my hebrew (with the waitress, not with them).
i am doing well in class. the teacher is a bitch, but she loves me. i seem to attract the really obnoxioius teachers. it happened in high school too (mr. Hanson, my math teacher for example). anyways, she is really rude and talks down to the everyone, and sometimes she just refused to answer our questions. and she decided not to teach us command form of words because she doesnt like them. she is just really obnoxious. but when we were practicing talking in hebrew for the first hour of class today (in conversation as opposed to learning grammar and stuff like that) the boy i was talking to was not very talkative, so she told me to talk to her. she mannaged to tell me i was her favorite and she wanted to be my kibbutz emah while insulting the woman who is already my kibbutz emah as well as all americans, as well as everyone in kita alef, as well as everyone else on the kibbutz! i had no idea what to say to that. it was uncomfortable, to say the least. but she said my hebrew was perfect and i was the best in the class, i just think im not. so i guess thats good. we had a test today, which was awful. it was on 'et' and noun contractions, both of which dont really happen in the english language. she gets really impatient with us, so none of us really understand it. it is quite frustrating.
other than that, not much has happened. i met some kids my age on the kibbutz which is nice. im trying really hard to make friends with them. they are really nice.
i miss you all,
ella
i am doing well in class. the teacher is a bitch, but she loves me. i seem to attract the really obnoxioius teachers. it happened in high school too (mr. Hanson, my math teacher for example). anyways, she is really rude and talks down to the everyone, and sometimes she just refused to answer our questions. and she decided not to teach us command form of words because she doesnt like them. she is just really obnoxious. but when we were practicing talking in hebrew for the first hour of class today (in conversation as opposed to learning grammar and stuff like that) the boy i was talking to was not very talkative, so she told me to talk to her. she mannaged to tell me i was her favorite and she wanted to be my kibbutz emah while insulting the woman who is already my kibbutz emah as well as all americans, as well as everyone in kita alef, as well as everyone else on the kibbutz! i had no idea what to say to that. it was uncomfortable, to say the least. but she said my hebrew was perfect and i was the best in the class, i just think im not. so i guess thats good. we had a test today, which was awful. it was on 'et' and noun contractions, both of which dont really happen in the english language. she gets really impatient with us, so none of us really understand it. it is quite frustrating.
other than that, not much has happened. i met some kids my age on the kibbutz which is nice. im trying really hard to make friends with them. they are really nice.
i miss you all,
ella
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