nov 27-29

On friday(shabbat) I made cookies and studied hebrew. The most I went out was to get ingredients. UNTILL the nighttime. I went to bars place around 8, and we had dinner. Then we went to Altzman(the backyard bus) where we met emily sasha laurie and allison from my group, along with many others. We left to go to a party at naan(nearby kibbutz.)
On Saturday I came home and slept all day. Well I did study a bit, and upload picturea, and eat some of my cookies. Which, by the way, I'm eating again. On saturday night I went out with Elana, and we didn't get back untill late
On sunday(today) it was back to work. School was good, but tiring. I came home and slept, and then here I am now.
I sincerely hope someone out there besides my grandpa is reading this:) If not though, its just you guys that are missing out.

nov 25 26

Yesterday I went to the soup kitchen, then to ulpan. We split our ulpan into two groups this week, advanced and regular. I'm in advanced...it just moves faster. Also we speak primarily in hebrew. Yesterday evening I went over to my host family's house. We had dinner, then we sat and tried to do puzzles, and talked, and played with their dog.
Today I went to school( one of the kids in my host family goes there,) and then came home. No after school work today, it's american thanksgiving. We had a huge dinner, and an even huger party. It was awesome. But now... אני יעאפא I am tired, אז...לילא טוב so...goodnight

nov 23 24

The past two days nothing extensively interesting happened. Yesterday the kids at our school went to some concert all day, and no one told us. So we showed up, waited, and were told to go home. Waste of a day. I did go to the afterschool program in the evening. That was fun. It is helping with my hebrew a lot since the kids don't know much english. Also the teacher doesn't know much english. We're helping each other.

Some of you will be pleased to discover that I have decided to study in the field of education. English and educational phsycology. I just applied to the U of A... wish me luck! Took me awhile, but I finally decided what I actually want to do. That bank stuff was basically a fallback plan.

Nov 22

Today I just went to school...thats it for work. Then I went to the grocery store with elana. I was almost out of food, so I filled two reusable bags, plus a 6 pack of 3l bottles of water. Relative to canada, it was fairly inexpensive. Then when I got home I made cookies. Well tried to make cookies. The second batch burned, and the first got stuck to the foil. It was a new recipe, so thankfully I only made half the recipe. So I didn't waste THAT much.... Oh well. On e failure, four successes. Not bad. Oh I remembered another recipe

MESSY VEGGIE OMLETTE

1 zuchinni, sliced
1 onion, sliced
2 eggs
salt pepper garlic and parsley to taste

Sautee zuchinni and onion, when onion is clear, break eggs over frying pan.
While eggs are cooking, add salt pepper garlic and parsley.
Do not scramble eggs, let a sort of egg patty form in the pan

And of course all of these recipies I have actually made. They work.

nov 21

I'm at David and Haya's today, I got here yesterday morning. Shira and Arad were here with their baby yesterday, so I got to see them. They invited me to come to their place for a day or so over hanucha. I have alot of things to do! Bar asked me to come to ber sheva, david said I'm invited here, and shira wants me to come there. And of course I'm going on a couple of day trips with Elana. I'll have a full break.

As I may have mentioned before, I have discovered the joy of cooking. I made up some new recipies that you may not think to try because they sound gross. I have never been dissuaded by the possibility of failure when it comes to cooking, so I started mixing random things together in the hopes the finished product would be not horrible. So, for your concocting pleasure, I will write some of my newfound(for me) recipies;

TOMATO SAUCE
sauteed onions( about half per serving)
chopped tomatoes(same as onions)
canned tomato paste( 1 can per serving)
olive oil(half a cup per can of tomato sauce)

HANNAH'S EGG SALAD(per serving)
2 boiled eggs, diced
a teaspoon of extra virgin olive oil
garlic to taste
parsley to taste
salt to taste

mix together ingredients and enjoy!

CHOCOLATE CHIP MERINGUES(or 'snow eggs')
12 egg whites, beaten vigorously
1 pound of white sugar, added to beaten egg whites
1/2 teaspoon of white table salt, added to egg and sugar mixture
1 and 1/2 cups chocolate chips, folded into egg sugar and salt batter

preheat oven to 300
drop batter onto baking pan
bake meringues for 8-10 minutes or until golden brown around the edges

'PLAIN' PASTA
boil and drain pasta, preferably whole wheat
add canola oil , mix
add sauteed onions, zucchini, chopped tomato, mix well
add garlic, salt, pepper, parsley to taste

So far thats my recipies. If anyone has any other recipies they would like me to test for them, feel free to ask. untill then, בותי עבון

nov 19

I just got back from school, and I have a bit of time before I have to go to the after school program, so I thought I'd write.
We have a meeting with Ofir tonight(vice president of oranim) ... that should be interesting. There have been a few problems with oranim, which I have refrained from writing about because they don't REALLY matter. I mean, I'm not saying I want to be a pushover about these issues, but the point is, I am here in Israel, I am volunteering, I am learning hebrew, and I am seeing the country. Maybe this has not all happened within the time that I wanted, or exactly how I pictured it, but the fact remains I am doing what I wanted, and I'm staying posetive. The issues with Oranim, in my view, are seperate from my goals here. Which are being met.
In other news, I'm down to bread, peanut butter, cereal, garlic, milk, eggs, onions, zucinni, and pizza slices. I need to go grocery shopping. Thats the plan for sunday after school. No time today.
Alright, I'm done venting for today
ליפריות חברימ
אני אוחבת כול אתם

nov 17 and 18

Yesterday I went to school...no big deal. Then I went to Ulpan. It was kinda nice because we had such a small group.(The rest were in Tev Aviv at a conference about genocide.) Then we all went to a pancake dinner hosted by emily siegels host family. I had pancakes and hummus! And cheese! very interesting experience. Today I was/am sick:( apparently it's the change in the weather...our skin is acting wierd also.

nov 16

Today I went to school, then I volunteered at a needs based after school program for kids with nowhere else to go. That was a challenge. All the kids were speaking hebrew to me and my roommate that I went with. We played hangman in hebrew with a boy around 8, and that was ok because he was using pretty simple phrases. The problem arose when he asked us to write the phrases and he would guess. I did it though...it was fun.

FYI, for all my Israeli friends who care, I decided what I'm doing over hannucha. I'm staying in Ness Tziona for the most part, but I'm taking day trips to the dead sea, masada, haifa, jerusalem, and other places I can't remember right now. Anyone who want's to come with me, or wants information on the tours I found, send me your email address's.

nov 15

nov 15

nov 14

Today I went to school...thats it. Then I came home and watched tv, and I think we're going bowling tonight for someones birthday. Exciting. Not. Oh well...tomorrow I will be busy,( school, then after school program, then meeting.) Until tomorrow...

Hannah

nov 14

So today I did nothing all day...The perfect shabbat.
Last night I did end up going out, not till 10 though. I watched julie and julia, and ate pizza and cottage cheee untill then. I went out with Emily's friend, he took me to 'autzman' which is in Omri's backyard. It consists of an old abandoned bus and a bunch of couches. We sat there with a bunch of his friends and talked and smoked hooka. Total Israeli experience haha. Then Bar and I went to a burger resteraunt( at midnight) Where they had a latenight deal. I didn't get home till about 3.

Anyways...Im going back to autzman tonight, and then...who knows?

לילא טוב חברים
אני אוחבת אתם

nov 12,13

Yesterday, thursday, I taught english at ben yehuda, then I went grocery shopping. On thursday night I went out to Tel Aviv, and hung out with Ben. Another Canadian from the tel aviv internship group.
Today is like our saturday, and I have no plans. This is the first shabbat since I've been here I have no plans, so I figure thats a pretty good track record.

nov 11

Today I went to the soup kitchen. We made Matza ball soup! (If you don't know, ask me) I also served, along with sasha. This is now my wednessday morning activity. Wednessday afternoon I have ulpan.
Fyi any oranim people reading this. I want to travel around israel over hannucha, if anyone has any info on groups, let me know!

nov 10

Today...I had school, then Ulpan. Nothing special. My group coordinator is supposed to come over later to give us a more complicated personalised schedule. Other than that...
אני ץואפא מעיוד
If you can't read that, look it up!

שם דואר

לילא טוב הברים

חנה

nov 9

Today was back to the grind. School(teaching) then visa pictures, then grocery shopping, then home. Nothing too interesting. My pictures say I did get tanned though, which is nice.
Well
I don't really know what to say.
Tonight we have a speaker from ashdod, I dunno what shes gonna talk about. I'm also looking for somthing to do over hannucha, so if by chance any of my oranim friends are reading this, and you are going to be in Israel over the break, give me a shout. Other than that, theres nothing to say. I'm just killing time. And now I'm done

nov 3-8

So sorry I haven't written in so long. I was busy teaching then I went to Eilat this weekend

So nothing miraculous happened tuesday to thursday. Just school...
but on friday morning we went on an Oranim trip to Eilat. It was fun! We stayed in a hotel with 3 people to a room( I stayed with zoey and elana) and I had a pool right outside m y door.

Anyways, friday night we had shabbat dinner at the hotel, then I went to the beach with people from other groups. Saturday was a full day. I woke up at 9 30 and went down to breakfast, then went to the pool and met jordana and alyssa(tel aviv group.) We hung aroundthe pool for awhile, then they invited me to go shopping with them, then snorkelling. The snorkelling was amazing. I saw lots of cool fish, coral, and sea urchins. There were thousands of really cool fish. It was a little wierd breathing with the mask at first, but I got used to it quickley.
After snorkelling we went back to the hotel and got changed for dinner and going out. I went to McDonalds( first time in Israel.) Then I went for a walk with Ben(another canadian) and eli. We met up with the group after and were supposed to go to a club, but ben and I snuck away to play poker. It was su much better.

Well, goodnight everyone, I'll try to write again before 5 days

Nov 1-3

Sorry I haven't written for so long, Ive been busy. Monday was my first day teaching at the junior high.

Sunday I had a 'free day,' so I got to sleep in, then in the evening I went to a judaism class in tev aviv with jaclyn. We met emily sasha lauren and laurie there.

Then on monday, I started teaching at ben yahuda junior high.I go from 830-2 every day except wednessday. The kids were grea. All except one group we were sent knew english really well, and just needed practice.

This morning it was pouring rain. Elana and I walked halfway to ben yahuda, then realized our path was flooded, so we went back to the bus stop and took the bus. Once there, we met Hailey and Lauren, and waited in the break room. A group of about 10 kids showed up, and we split them up so we could each help 2 or 3 with their homework. I really enjoyed the 1 on 1 approach.
After this class ended we got another group, who we did the same thing with. Then we had an hour break. After lunch, we went to the classroom we were supposed to be in, and found that they were at gym class. We went to another classroom instead and worked with some special ed kids. 2 per person. Elana and I asked for this arrangement to be permanent, since we liked it so much.
After school we had Ulpan and then went to the grocery store. I bought 6 bottles of water for Eilat.
Then I came home, and here I am. Tired, cold and wet. But despite all this I'm so happy to be here in Israel, helping the community. I'm so glad I enjoy what I'm doing, and I hope I'm making a difference, however small, in these kids lives. I'll try to write every couple of days from now on, but I might be busier in the next little bit.