This afternoon we went to visit an old age home. The gentleman was so nice and thankful for our service to Israel. He said no matter where we chose to volunteer he appreciated us taking 5 months of our time to work here. It feels so nice that the Israelis are so appreciative of us. I cannot imagine the reward we will feel once we actually start.
He explained the reason that they built the home in the first place. In the 1973 Yom Kippur War many parents lost one or both of their children and the community realized these parents were going to grow older and have no one to take care of them. Its amazing how the background and status of Israel really effects each and every aspect of their country. He said that now there are some residents in this situation but many are more recent immigrants, especially from Eastern Europe. We met a Moroccan man who I believe was brought to Israel when he was older just to live in this home. He says one lady wishes that her only living decent, her granddaughter, will come in April to visit. It is clear why they need volunteers to keep up the spirits of the guests. Many of them have gone through a great deal of disappointment in their lives. Each person has a really unique story. The manager also made it clear that it is their home, not ours or his – we are guests who come into their homes to help. They make it seem as much as possible like a self-sufficient community with a salon, laundry room, kitchen and whatever else they could need. The center does a great job of leading activities for them, Yiddish lessons, physical exercises, music and art, there is a new schedule each week for them. It was nice to see the elderly being cared for so much.
After the volunteer place we had enrichment activities as a group which we will be having every Tuesday. Representatives from MASA came to talk to us. MASA a large organization that is an offshoot from the Israeli government which gives scholarship to participants in long term Israeli programs. She explained what they do and activities that we can get involved in while in Israel. They have over 9,000 participants in the country per year. She explained a new program, a Building Future Leadership (BFL) Seminar. You interview with them and they bring you to Jerusalem for 3 separate weekends. Each participant picks a project they would like to bring back to the US to implement, throughout the seminar they teach you the skills to bring your ideas home. I am going to look into the program, seems like a great idea for me. Its amazing the opportunities they offer that are free or close to it. You can spend a day learning about the Israeli Defense Forces, they put on large-scale concerts, they organize Shabbat weekends for everyone. I hope to take advantage of some of their programs.
After we got a lesson on the Israeli parliament. I had learned about this in college but it was a great review and helped put things into perspective. He also taught us that Israelis try to use the Jewish history when they formed the modern state of Israel. The origin of the Shekel, the Israeli currency, actually came from the bible; it was the name of the currency they used to trade goods during the biblical times. He also explained how one can tell the level of observance of men by the kippah they wear on their head. If they wear knitted they tend to be from what Americans know as the modern orthodox movement and if they were black cloth kippahs they are ultra orthodox. Overall the enrichment activities were very helpful and informative; I am looking forward to the rest of them.
Wednesday, February 9, 2010
After Ulpan today I met up with Jordan, the other participant I will be volunteering with at my school, and Shiry, one of our city coordinators, to walk over to our school, (its only about a 10 minute walk from my house). We had a meeting with the woman in charge of the English department who will be supervising us and making our schedules. The school is gated in and when we walked in I was pleasantly surprised to see such beautiful buildings. Everything was built in what looks like the white Jerusalem stone. It reminded me of a California school because there seems to be a central courtyard with buildings and classrooms surrounding it. I will take pictures when I begin my volunteering.
As previously mentioned it is a religious school so I have to wear a skirt to work everyday. I was told that there is a religious population in the school but other students attend solely because it is the school closest to their homes while others are sent by their parents so that they are exposed to a more religious upbringing. The students do spend a large section of their day learning torah (bible) and such. They start off each morning from 8:10-8:40 with prayers so we technically don’t have to be there until after prayers. I am sure I will go early to check it out. We will be working mostly with the 10th and 11th graders who are in the more advanced groups. In Israel they have level 3,4 and 5 being the highest, they place us with the kids in 4 and 5 who need a bit of extra help. They said we should be talking only in English to the kids because they need as much practice as possible, especially for their exams in May. We will have the opportunity to plan activities for the students for the upcoming holidays and they want us to share with them as much as we can about American culture because it is very misunderstood here in Israel. If students have extra needs on tests we will also be helping them reading the test to them and possibly even writing their answers for them.
We will be able to participate with the students on trips that they take outside of school, which I am looking forward to as well. The coordinator said that these students are looking forward to our arrival because they really enjoyed working with the volunteers from the last group. I am excited to finally begin in my school on Sunday! (For those that don't already know, the work week here is Sunday to Thursday, its definitely taking some getting used to)(Bought the bottom left spice to cook in rice, i'll let you know how it goes, it smells delicious.)
After visiting my school I went to the market. There is truly anything you could ever want there for practically free. I bought 2 scarves, a skirt, leggings, spices, fruits and vegetables today. The thing that surprised me the most was that I found a little area where they were selling knee braces and other medical supplies. After strolling around for a while I headed home.
This afternoon I went with Anna to buy bikes. It took a while at the store to get everything straightened out but we got a bike, helmet and lock for pretty cheap. It was so nice to be able to bike home. The city will be so much manageable now and quicker to explore. I asked in the shop if it was possible to bike to Tel Aviv and he thought I was crazy. It may be harder than I thought to use the bikes outside of Ashdod but it will still be a great thing to have. I will definitely use it to get to my volunteer sites in the afternoons.
(One of many Temples in Ashdod, beautiful building)
Tomorrow the last day of our 2 weeks of Ulpan and then I am headed with Anna, Sarah and Molly to Tel Aviv!
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