Shavuot and More...

Sunday, May 16, 2010

Normal day here in Ashdod. In on of my classes I was talking with one of my Ethiopian students and she was telling me how sometimes she is worried to travel outside of Israel because many people are unaware of the Jewish Ethiopian population. It is interesting to get their perspectives on even the simplest things in life that many other people take for granted. 

Monday, May 17, 2010
 

Ashdod held the weekend Shuk today because on Wednesday it is a holiday. I rode my bike there and did some shopping. I officially realize how hot it is getting because a not so difficult bike ride left me very tired. In the afternoon was the English Bagrut exam, what we have been helping the students prepare for months. The teacher asked me to come in from 1 in the afternoon until 6 to help with the test. I sat there for a while watching the teachers run around yelling at each other as they tried to organize all of the different tests, componenets and students.
 

After a while I went sent to read a few passages out loud to one of the lower level classes. Jordan and I waited around for a while until they just sent us home in the afternoon. Turns out we were not much help that day after all.  

Anna and I decided to go to Tel Aviv for dinner, we found a recommendation online and it turned out to be delicious. We split lamb kabobs and a couscous dish. The waiter said the restaurant is famous for these cooked sweet potatoes in a sauce and brought us some to try. It was obviously delicious. Afterwards we walked to Rothschild street and enjoyed a glass of wine and chocolate balls together.

 Tuesday, May 18, 2010

This evening my program went to a local kibbutz to celebrate Shavuot together. It was a unique experience, most people wear white and are celebrating the harvest season beginning but there are actually a lot of reasons we celebrate and the meaning has evolved a lot over the years. Its celebrated on the kibbutzim because that’s where the harvest is extremely important to people. There was a performance put on by different groups of people living there, the children and adults included. At one point they also bring all of the babies born in the last year to the stage to honor them. It was a fun experience.

Afterwards I went to have dinner with my host family. Its traditional to have a dairy meal. I could not believe how much food there was pizza, pastries, fish, salads, eggs, fritattas, baklavah, cheese cake. It was quite the celebration.
 

Wednesday, May 19, 2010
 

This morning we had off from school so I went to the beach with people from the program. Then in the evening we headed to Tel Aviv for a nice dinner. Afterwards we went to this bar where they had “bira v’shira,” beer and singing. Its kind of like group Karaoke where they project the words up to famous Israeli songs on the wall and everyone in the bar sings together. I have never seen anything like it but everyone seemed to be having a great time.
 

Thursday, May 20, 2010
 

This morning I went out to breakfast with Anna and Molly, it was one of the best Israeli breakfasts yet. We had no place to leave our bags and sat there at the restaurant debating for a while until I said lets just ask the waitress if we can leave them here for a few hours, when I asked her she agreed without hesitation, only in Israel. Anna and I walked around Tel Aviv for a while and then met up Polina. We went to this trendy jewelry and arts festival in Tel Aviv. Then we strolled around a bit and Polina gave us a mini tour of the area. After wards we met up with Amir, who is coming to camp this summer, the 4 of us hung out for a while and went out to dinner to celebrate Polina’s birthday at a place called King George, the food was great and cheep, its always fun going out with Israelis because they know where the best spots are.
 

Friday, May 21, 2010
 

Anna went shopping this morning and then I spent Shabbat in Ashdod with my host family. Zahavah’s sister was there and Amram’s sister in law and Shlomit, their daughter was there for a few minutes, getting ready for a flight back to the US. It was nice having a dinner with a few more people.
 

Saturday, May 22, 2010
 

Anna and I both found out we didn’t have school on Monday and were meeting up with our Israeli friends for a party tonight so we decided to spend the night in Tel Aviv. We had a wonderful, relaxing day on the beach. We wanted to try something new for dinner so we asked a few Argentinean olim (immigrants)  for a suggestion and they told us about a cheap Middle Eastern restaurant so we took their advice and it was not a disappointment. After we went to a party Alon was throwing for all of the Israelis heading to camps this summer. It was on the roof of a building with amazing views of the city, all 4 of the Israelis came and we had a good time together.