oct 30 and 31

Yesterday we had shabbat dinner at our apartment. It was awesome, and two people from the other apartment came. Then we had a holloween party. That was FUN. Lotsa food, drinks, and friends. And even some friends of friends. I didn't get home untill about 2.

Today was a bit more lax. I slept in untill about 2, then did laundry/cleaned up, then went out to dinner with Sashas cousins friend that I met at the party. And now Im here, and Im tired. So... lila tov haverim

oct 29

Been here one month today:)

Today it was etshak rabin memoriaal day, so we had a memorial at eschcol peis. Well it was beautiful, untill about halfway through, when the rain started coming through the walls!
Well, that was all we had on the agenda for today, so Ronly sent us home after a short group meeting. So I went home and took a nap. When I woke up, I took a sherut to tel aviv with a few of my roommates to go shopping.
After shopping, I met Eli for dinner(spoke only in hebrew AND ordered off the hebrew menu.)
Then I took a sherut back and here I am:) Tommorow is our halloween party. I'm pretty excited. A few of us are going as the spice girls, and Im baby spice...again:P

יוס טוכ

oct 28

Today the only thing we had was Ulpan. At Ben Gurion high school. It was alright, basically we just reviewed. There is a new addition to our class. A 12 year old girl named Maya who just moved here from australia 8 months ago. She knows alot of hebrew...I really don't know why she's with us...we know nothing.
אניי לא יודץת ץברית טוב אבאל אני רוצא ללמוד ץבריח
There...thats one of the few sentences I know. 'I don't know hebrew very well but I want to learn hebrew.'


Talk to you all tomorrow
לילא טוב

oct 27

Today I got the day off to visit with my mom grandma and uncle in tel aviv. It was the last day of their tour, they're going back to canada as I write this. It was fun, we went to the carmel market and the art market, we went to the 'Israeli' mall, we went out for dinner and then ice cream, and then I came home. I'm going to miss them, but it was nice that they came to Israel at the same time I came. Having lunch on the port at tel aviv with david haya dana and my family was surreal. But now they're gone and I won't see them for four months( plus a few days.)

I am, however, looking forward to teaching in the high school, and volunteering around Ness Tziona. I am very excited about continuing Ulpan and learning hebrew( getting better every day.) I would eventualy like to be fluent.

לילא תוב חברימ. אני אוחבת אתם

Oct 25,26

Yesterday we went to the junior high school and got a tour...we were supposed to introduce ourselves, but noone planned it, and the teacher didn't get permission to take us to classes. So after an hour we left...I went grocery shopping. It was pretty uch a waste of a day.

At night, however, a bunch of us went to a MASA mega event featuring Idan Raichel. It was amazing. We met a bunch of people from the Ashdod group and the Ramla group and all went on a bus there. There was an Israeli street fair, and various food stands. Also there was a stage with an accordion player, and right next to him was a barrel full of free oranges!

Today we went to the high school and also got a tour. This time though, we did get to go around and introduce ourselves. We met some pretty cool kids, and I'm really looking forwardto working with them.

Thats all for now...see ya

oct 23,24

Yesterday I lazed around the house all day, went out to dinner with my host family in the evening( Shlomo Dor Annat and Arad,) and went to see a movie with Omer(Dor and Arad's cousin) afterwards. I went to see fame in Rehovot.

Today I went to Tel aviv to see my mom grandma and uncle in the morning, and stayed all day. Me and uncle Joel went to the beach, and swimming in the morning, then we met David Haya and Dana for lunch along the old port. We walked along the port after and mat Shira and Arad and Ziv, and walked back to the hotel, where we sat and visited.

Thats my last couple of days, in a nutshell

oct 20-22

The past couple of days. my computer was dead so I couldn't write anything, but I was sick anyways so I probably wouldn't have anyways:P

Well...on the 20th I went to the doctor( I now appreciate our canadian health care system) and he diagnosed me with a throat infection and gave me ammoxycilin. Well I guess he knows what hes doing...I feeel alot better!

Anyways...today was our last day of intensive Ulpan, we took a group picture which will be on facebook eventually...Sunday we start volunteering at the high school. I'm excited! We met the high school english teachers today- Ruti and Raffi. They're pretty interesting people. Raffi is also a psychologist with a private practice in rehovot.

I'm going to my Host family's house for dinner tomorrow night. Shabbat. I normally wouldn't say anything, but I haven't seen them for a couple of weeks because I went to hadera and jerusalem the last couple of weekends, and then I was mia for a few days. So in other words I am pretty excited

שבת שלום חברים

oct 19th

Today we had Ulpan, and I went even though I wasn't feeling well because אני רותצה ללמוד ץברית . Not a good plan. Turns out going out in the heat while you're sick makes you sicker...so I came home after Ulpan and made a doctors appt. for tomorrow evening- first opening they had. But tonight I was feeling a bit better, so I went to Weisman 22 with 10 other people from my program. It was fun, even though it was probably not a good idea.

So my doctors appointment isn't till 4:45 tomorrow, so I think I'm still gonna go to Ulpan...I really want to learn hebrew(thats what the hebrew above says.)

לילא טוב חברימ. אני אוכבימ אתם

Oct 16-18

This weekend I went to Jerusalem. I saw the kotel, the rest of the old city, and I stayed at the king david hotel, which is where all the celebrities stay in israel. My mom grandma and uncle are on a tour through israel right now, so I got to hang out with them. I went to jerusalem with Eli, he's in an oranim program in ashdod, and neither of us know the city very well. So on friday when we met at the bus station, we didn't quite know where to go. So we wandered the streets for a bit.

We eventually found an american style resteraunt, and they said they stayed open on shabbat. And they served cheeseburgers...in jerusalem. Right by the old city...I know wierd hey? Well after we ate(still not shabbat) we went to the hotel to meet my family. We had a wonderful shabbat dinner at the kind david, then stayed the night with them.

In the morning we had breakfast at the hotel(food was fabulous,) then the group had a tour planned. Well Eli and I didn't want to go on the tour, but we did walk with them to the jaffa gate(entrance to the old city.) Once at the gate, we continued to the kotel(wailing wall.) While leaving, an israeli woman stopped and asked us if we were jewish. It turns out she wanted someone to turn somthing on for her,and since it was shabb at neither her or us could. Well, we asked her where the nerest place we could get water was, and she took us to her house and gave us water and cookies. She even did the kiddush with us. Well after her house, we went back to the plaza with the shuks.

We shopped and bargained for a while, then met up with my family for lunch. Eli and I got Shmarma, which is a bit like a pita donair, and then we went back to the hotel with them where we met Dana. We talked for a bit and caught up- well they did- an d then Eli and I conrinued to the bus station. We found our respective busses, and went home...that was my weekend:) Today was Ulpan. Next weekend Tel Aviv.

-The reason I say Jerusalem is possibly the most confusing city in the world is that they change the street names without warning...

Oct 15

Today I went to ulpan and teaching class...boring! So I decided to write some stuff I learned in hebrew so far. With the translations of course:

היומ אני באה גכיתה ולומדת יברית -today I went to the classroom and learned hebrew
יש זע מא אני לומדת -This is what I learned
שמי חנה -my name is hannah
אני מכנארא -I'm from Canada
אני אנכנו גרה בנס ציונה ורחוב מאיר הרמון 9 בדורא 1 -I now live in Ness Tziona on Mayer Hermon
street 9 apartment 1
אני מית לומדת בישריאל אני לא תיאר -Im a volunteeri n israel Im not a tourist
אני קמה ב 730 בבוקר -I got up at 730 this morning
אני לא אובלת ארוחת בוקר -I didnt eat breakfast
אבאל אני אוחב פירות וגוינא-but I love fruit and cheese
Theres some of my minimal knowledge of hebrew so far. Its not much, but it gets me by... and its only been 2 weeks so far, so I'll know more every day

oct 14

Today we just had Ulpan...it was good as far as Ulpan goes, but torture for me because I was/am not feeling too well. Anyways...after Ulpan I went to buy some food, again( I have to go almost every day because I have to carry everything I buy.) When I got home I made astirfry for lunch, tomatoes onion and zuccini, and had some fresh pita with hummus. Then I went and lay down, and there you go. Oh ya, the only reason I'm able to write this atm is because I'm filled with tylonol and throat lozenges, and I still feel like crap:S Anyways, don't worry about it, its just a cold. You remember the first day of a cold, you have a fever, it hurts to touch anything, and generally you just feel like dieing...So TTFN all, until tomorrow!

oct 13

Today we had Ulpan, and english teaching class. In our english teaching class, the teacher had us all draw a picture by each adding a bit to it. It was to demonstrate the abstactness of language, and it was really fun. Eventually I'll have pictures on facebook. I took some, I'm just lazy.

Anyways, after class I took a new route home, to try and learn the city. I didn't get lost! I just followed my map and it was all good. When I got home, I worked on hebrew for a while( I'm making flashcards) and then our neighbors came over for english help. Two eleven year old girls. They brought their dog. It was fun. My hebrew flashcards helped them also, they just used the other side.

But tomorrow, just Ulpan. I'm not sure what I'll do after...

Oct 12

Today we had Ulpan at a new place, we learned some cool stuff, and I had an all hebrew experience at the pastry shop ( By the way amazing.) Then we had lessons on teaching english. We made up stories about pictures of random things, they were pretty funny! and we did texts to see what kind of learners we are... I'm visual and auditory.

After we were done, I went grocery shopping(again, by myself) and I went to buy some notebooks and stuff for ulpan. Then I came home and made myself dinner( sauteed zuccini onions and tomatoes with pasta) and thats pretty much it

oct 8th and 9th

So I'm writing one post for the last two days because on saturday all I did was take a train to Tel Aviv and go to the Israeli- Moldova soccer(football) game. Israel kinda really sucks. Moldova sucks more. It was kinda cool to meet all the other oranim kids though. Anyways, after the game a bunch of us went to the main bus station inm Tel Aviv and took the bus home. Nothing fabulous.

Today, on the other hand, was crazy. I went to my first Ulpan(hebrew lesson) class at 830-1, but got let out early because I know basic hebrew. Then we had a lesson on how to teach english, then we did a kind-of environmental awareness thing, we handed out cloth bags from the city of Ness Ziona. All this after 5 hours of sleep. Fun fun. Goodnight everyone...lila tov!

oct 9th

Today I was at David and Hayas house on the kibbutz. I took walks around the kibbutz with Arad and Ziv(yup spelled his name wrong) twice, and Haya and Ziv once. I saw cows! and I pet a cow. Arad and Shira helped me with my hebrew a bit, and we had a very nice shabbat dinner and then played rummicul. Over all a very productive day. I'll post pictures when I get back to Ness Ziona( should be spelled ness tziona I think...in hebrew thats how its pronounced...) on sunday. Tilkl tomorrow...ל'לא תוב!

oct 8th

Man...I just wrote a whole blog and deleted it....

well... today I went to the other apartment and we did some more excercises and stuff. We were done at 1:30 ish. Then I went to a little mom and pops falafel place...so good! Then I went to the mall and bought underwear lol. Then I walked home.

Once home, I called a cab(Ronly talked to them) and went to the rahovot train station to take a train to the hadera station to meet David so I could go to Hayas and his house for the weekend. Well I bought my ticket and caught the train, but got off one stop late...well I crossed the platform to take the train back, and...my cell phone died. So I walked around trying to fine a plug-in for maybe 10 minutes. Eventually I found one and called David, and took the train back and we met.

Once back at the Kibbutz, David shoowed me around a little then we came home. Shira and Arad came over tonight with their 15 month old son...Seef?(might have got the spelling wrong there,) He's adorable!

Oh! After talking to Arad, I realized some corrections are in order:
1. Israels population is 7.5 billion
2. Bedrins is actually Bedwins
3. Drews is actually Druze
4. The 'holy cities' were only the hole cities before the 19th century

Goodnight all

0ct 7th...again

Our lecture today was on minorities.I was interested, so I will relay my new knowledge to you.

First off. Israel is only 11000 square miles, and shared by 6 million people.
Of those 6 million, 1.6 occupy the west bank and gaza strip, so 5.4 million occupy israeli rule Israel. 20% of those 5.4 million people are not jewish, and therefore minorities.
Christians in total make up 2% of the population. There are 3 groups of christians
original, catholic, and new. The original christians are the descendants of the first christians, and are very orthadox. The catholics came here 900 years ago, and the new christians are from jewish men who married christian women.
Muslims have 1.3 million out of the 5.4 million, and there are 4 groups.Arab(suni,) bedrin, chariks and drews. Arab muslims are split into two groups, the sheite and the suni. Suni is the group that most closely follows tradition, and make up the bulk of the 1.3 million. The bedrin tribes are like israeli gypsyes. They mirgate throughout the desert. The chariks are seen as traitors by mainstream muslims. They all serve in the israeli army, and support the israeli government. The drews, while technically muslim, have a totally different religion that is a mixture of many religions. They are also seen as traitors because they support whoever is strongest, and right now thats the jews.The remaining 5% is made up of bahai and samarians. Bahai is a fairly new religion(160 years old) that preaches universal acceptance. Bahai does not limit its followers to just bahai, they believe that whatever you choose to believe in should be supported. The samarians only have 750 members, and in their oppinion are the only pure israeli's.In actual fact,Atheir past is unknown, so they are believed to be descendants of a group exiled to israel. The only real diffference between jewish and samarian religion is the location of the temple(gods house.)

oct 7th

Today was/is cleaning day. We have a lecture at 6:30, but other than that I can do whatever I want. Thinking I might catch up on some sleep... I went to bed at4:30/5am yesterday and woke up at 1245...I know....8 hours...but my sleep schedules been pretty screwed up lately.

On another note...I actually cleaned the bathroom. Top to bottom. Haha not that that's special. People clean their bathroom 's all the time. Todays not very exciting, so I have nothing more to say except... my cell phone somehow ended up in emily's laundry bag this morning. Good day.

Oct 6th

Its only 2:30 pm here right now, but we have a 2 and a half hour break so I thought I'd write todays entry now.

Well today was pretty interesting(I thought,) Mir( Ronly's cousin and our tour guide) Explained the history of Israel and the present Israel to us. So I have some time, and I'm excited about learning all this, so I thought I'd relay all this information to you

Israeli alliyah(immigration)
First odd...there is no 'Israeli' culture. There are very diverse customs and cuisine, none of wich are native ti israel.
Israel was under British rule until may 14 1948, when the british army left Israel. Because of the halocaust, they realized the need for a state where all jews belong. Israel was technically a jewish state since 1917, when Belford declared Israel the jewish homeland,but because of population and other problems, they weren't accepting alliyah, or immigration.

The first alliyah's after this declaration were eastern european, so Israeli culture was much like most of europe. So when the first alliyah's from the mediteranian arrived, they changed the whole way of life. They brought many different foods, culture, and cuswtoms. Ashkenazi( eastern european) and sephardic(mediteranian) jews began to differentiate themselves. Racism within a race developed. The racism between ashkenazi and sephardic jews has improved, but since Israel is only 50 years old, many still cling to their past way of life


After the situation between the sephardic and ashkenazi jews had begun to settle, The ethiopians made alliyah in groves. Two, in 1985 and 1990. Unlike the first alliyah's where people immigrated over a few months, these people arrived literally overnight. These ethiopians understandably had problems adapting to Israeli life, and to this day still tend to stick together.

Changes in Israeli culture
Israel had television tince 1967, however until 1991 there was only one channel. When other channels came into the mix, there was competition between the different stations, which started a whole new culture of advertisment and programming. Also, until 1979 there was only one political party. The forming of a new party furrther seperated sephardic and ashkenazi jews.

Israel today
The area between hadera and gadera is the most populated in Israel.
The city of Nei Bach is very religious, almost to the point of being like amish people
Lod is not a city you want to go to. It is the city most known for drugs, and it has a high arab
population
There are 4 main religious cities in Israel
1.tiberia
2.svat
3.jerusalem
4.hevon
Tel aviv is the city to go to if you want night life. Like many cities in europe, it is open late, and has a great party life. Also like meny european cities it is very expensive and hard to find a place to live
Jerico once held the only casino in Israel, until it was bombed
Haschad is in the area that is most targeted by bombers in the gaza strip
Ness Ziona is the greenest city in Isreal

Thats all for now.

Since its now 4am and I haven't posted this yet, I'll tell you about my night out in Tev Aviv. Tonight was Sasha and Lauren's birthdays', so we all made a big Israeli dinner, from scratch. It was quite an event. 16 people in the kitchen together trying to make different things. Ronly brought over her son, and he helped us beat eggs and stuff...mainly he just entertained us when we were done our jobs...he's 3.

After dinner we all got together and went to the port in Tel Aviv. It was amazing. Tel aviv really is the 'city that never sleeps.' We got there at about 10, and left at 330, and it was still going strong. We went to 'golina,' wich is a club along the port. The port is an actual beachside port, with various ritzy resteraunts and clubs. Anyways, golina was packed. I mean people were crammed against each other, couldn't move without hitting someone packed. It was fun though...definatly an experience

Oct 5th

Today we met at the other apartment at 930...bright and early! A couple of people were late so we didn't have time to do whatever Ronly had planned for us to do, but we did some good stuff anyways. We talked about each of our volunteer experience, and our family backgrounds. Some people have some really interesting heritage.

After our 2 hour lunch break( I got lost on the way to the mall...I had to call max to come find me,) We met our tour guide, who just happens to be Ronly's cousin. He took us on a more in depth tour of Ness Ziona, we saw where the founder first waved the flag, where the family lives who first brought bees to Israel, and a cool little diarama show about the foundation of Ness Ziona.

All in all it was a pretty good day.

Oct 4th

We met the mayor of ness ziona today, so exciting.And we had group meetings about hebrew and volunteering and stuff. Volunteering starts next week...Im excited! Well...my roommates and I got bunkbeds. We had to build them( mainly Ronly and Jaclyn,) but now we have so much more space. And we have 2lockers each now instead of one.

Oct 3rd

So today I woke up at 5pm...my sleep schedule is screwed up! I went to a barbeque with my host family and their friends. It was not like a canadian barbeque. There was so much food! Everyone was so nice to me. They all hugged me like they'd known me forever. Omer was there, and her cousin moises who was there the night before, but I didnt talk to. It was fun.
So I'm going to meet the mayor of Ness Ziona tomorrow...And Omer invited me to go shopping in Tel- Aviv, but we'll see what time we're done.

Friday Oct 2nd

Today was like saturday for us (in Israel they have friday and saturday off, and work sunday till thursday,) so I went to the mall with one of my housemates, Meredith. Even though I could have slept in, I woke up at 8... jetlag I guess. We left the house at 12, so I had 4 hours to kill before we left. I just lounged, which was nice.
Anyways, we walked to the mall( about 30 minutes) and bought various neccesities. I got a laundry basket, hooks, bedsheets, a purse ( I forgot mine) and flowers for my host family, who we were going to meet later that evening. Well I got a blister, and it broke...and started bleeding...so when we finally got back I was glad to go sit down.
I basically bummed around for 3 hours until my host family was due to pick up Meredith and I. When 7 came, the woman, Anat, called me, and told me where to wait for them. The man, Shlomo, came to pick us up. He drove us back to their house, which is in Ness Ziona. When we arrived, we met Anat, and their German Sheppard, Chet. We proceded inside where we met their daughter Dor(16) and their son... can't remember his name right now, but he's 14.
Well they were having a Sukkot celebration, which in Israel means alot of family and alot of food. It was a bit overwhelming at first, there were 30 various relatives there,but everyone was so friendly that soon we felt like one of the family. The food was amazing, and the company was good. After dinner, we helped clean up, then sat and talked with Dor and Omaar(cousin, 24) about everything from television to shopping. I found out Dor is also interested in theater, and is taking drama in her high school. We talked about that for awhile.
Omaar invited us to go shopping with her in Tel-Aviv, and her dad...whose name also eludes me at the moment, invited me to come to their house tomorrow for a barbeque. Pretty much everyone spoke english, and made a point to talk to us. The atmosphere was so warm. I can't wait to see them again...maybe tomorrow:)

Sept 30- Oct 1

Hey
So this is my free time...thursday night-sunday morning, so I thought I might as well start a blog about my trip.
I arrived in Tel-Aviv on the 29th via plane( layover in montreal and frankfurt) and met Haya and Dana Ragosin at the Tel-Aviv airport. After exchanging greetings we travelled back to their Kibbutz( Givat Haim) via 2 trains and a car ride. David was waiting when we pulled up. We went inside their house where they showed me around, and where I would be staying for the night. I was exhausted, but I tried to stay up as long as I could to help ward off jet lag. I made it to 7:30.
The next day I woke up at 5am, and got dressed and ready in about 10 minutes. Haya was driving David to a train station, and I tagged along. After David Got out we continued to a nearby parkade where we parked and took the train to a city where I would take a cab from to get to my apartment in Ness Ziona.
Haya set me up on a cab, and he drove my to my apartment. He spoke minimal english, but the communication barrier was noticable. Once at my apartment, I met the 6 girls I would be sharing living quarters with. Two rooms of two, and one toom of three. My room is the one with three. Emily Schiffer, Jaclyn Horowitz, and me. After unpacking, we met Ronly, our coordinater, and ther went to the other apartment to meet the rest of out group. There wered 8 more. We played getting to know each other games, and had lunch. We then went grocery shopping...That was interesting! After shopping we returned to our apartment and finished unpacking.
The next morning we woke up at about 8am and had breakfast. We all got ready in about an hour... impressive for 7 girls sharing 2 bathrooms. We then went to the other apartment where we did more getting to know you excercises. After this, we went to the city hall to meet with out program heads, Momo and Ofar. We had a very long, interesting meeting where we discussed everything from drug use to the intrusivness of israeli boys. After our meeting was finally done( late) we had a 2 hour lunch period. I went to the mall near the other apartment with 2 girls from my program, Allison and Sarah. I didn't want to walk back to my apartment, since we had to meet at the other apartment anyways, so I bought a frozen pizza at the supermarket and made it in their oven.
When our group gathered again, Ronly took us on a tour of the area. Afterwards I went back to the other apartment. I had dinner there, and just hung out with them untill Ronly showed up to show them how to use their washing mashine. She was coming back to our apartment, so I went with her. Shortly after I returned, my roommates went to Tel-Aviv.
The rest of us, Emily Seigel, Elana, Hailey, Meredith and me, decided to go to a local bar in town after a visit from our next door neighbor\9he told us where it was.) Emily's boyfriend met us en route and drove us the rest of the way. There wasn't enough room for all 5 of us in the car, so I ended up on Elana's lap. It definitely helped having a native hebrew speaker with us at the bar/resteraunt to translate, and we all had a good time. At about 2am we came back the same way, and now I'm writing this.