Davis Cup

As some of you might not know, Israel made it to the semi-finals of the Davis Cup.  I went to Tel-Aviv with my friend Josh (New York, 23) to watch Russia get defeated in the quarters.  We went to day one and day two of the three day tournament.  It was awesome. We started out the first day with Dudi Sela and Harel Levy locking down two singles wins.  Day two clinched the win when Andy Ram and Jonathan Erlich beat Marat Safin and Kunitsyn.  It was a huge moment for Israel and it was so fun to be a part of. 

Day one took place on a Friday.  A really friendly man we were sitting next to invited us to his house just north of Tel-Aviv to have Shabbat with his family.  We figured an opportunity like this doesn't come along too often so we jumped on it.  It ended up being really fun. It was him, his wife, his 14 year old son and his 31 year old son.  It was so good to have a home cooked meal too. They really welcomed us into their home as part of their family.  It was one of the best experiences I've had in Israel and one I will remember forever. 

Pictures;

1st:Dudi Sela Neshama!  (One of the cheers for him, Dudi Sela's got soul/spirit)

2nd: Ram and Erlich in the blue vs Safin and Kunitsyn

3rd: Safin (The somewhat rude Israeli fans thought it was funny to sarcastically cheer him on as Safina)

4th: Me, Amir Hadad, Josh

5th: The family who took us home. We were trying out the self timer on the camera

Eilat

A couple weekends ago I went to Eilat with 4 of my friends from the ulpan.  It is the southern most city in Israel and from there you can see Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia.  It is extremely hot. It was in the low 40's celsius when we were there, which is about 104 to 110 degrees. It doesn't really cool down at night either, it's just more tolerable because the sun is not on you.  Rowan, the Aussie, got off the bus and immediately told us how much he missed the heat and how good it felt.  

We stayed at a hostel that was about a 15 or 20 minute walk from the center of town.  It was a really nice hostel and the 5 of us had an 8 person dorm to ourselves.  Chloe (France) and Tamar (New Zealand, 18) both went down there to take a two-day advanced diving course.  While they did that during the day, Rowan, Itamar and I walked around the little shops by the beach, escaped the heat in the mall, and snorkeled.  The snorkeling in the Red Sea was absolutely awesome. The visibility was perfect and there were so many kinds of tropical fish.  We even saw an octopus! 

The last day we all went to a place called Dolphin Reef.  It's a huge place on the Red Sea that is home to about a dozen dolphins.  You can snorkel or dive with the dolphins, or just watch them being fed, which is what we did.  The trainer was very attractive.  Tamar, Chloe and I listened very attentively while he delivered his talk about the dolphins and the facility in Hebrew, most of which went right over us.  Overall, I loved Eilat, but I don't think I could live there. 

Pictures:

1st: Rowan, Me, Itamar

2nd: Me, Chloe, Tamar, Sexy Dolphin Man

3rd: Cute kids watching the dolphins

4th: One of the main sections of beach, Jordan in the background

5th: Rowan, Itamar, Chloe, Me

A Little Bit of Kibbutz Life

These are some recent pictures of daily life activities in the Ulpan.  The social life is pretty constant here.  There are always people around and our room sees an almost steady flow of visitors, most of whom let themselves in.  After a shower, it is important to emerge from the bathroom in at least underwear because if there are not people in here already, there will be before you have time to get fully clothed.  You have to really make an effort if you want alone time.  Several days ago I wasn't feeling well so I went to sleep at 5:30 pm.  I had planned on taking an hour long nap but ended up sleeping until 6:30 am the next morning.  As soon and I showed my face again, people were asking where I was and saying how worried they'd been about my whereabouts. If you don't see someone for 3 hours you really start to wonder if they suddenly decided to leave the program. 

Pictures:

1st: John the Baptist, Daniel, Itamar, Keren, Me, Lior. Just hanging outside the rooms.

2nd:  The kibbutz dogs take themselves on walks, sometimes into your room if the door is open. We call this one smiley. He's super friendly.

3rd:  We think this is a tarantula. It lived in Chloe, Ilana, and Tamar's room for about a month and a half in this hole by the door jam of their bathroom. It didn't bother anyone and it kept the bug problem well under control. They named her Misty. She recently moved out. Tamar was very uncomfortable having a hairy spider the size of a tennis ball living in her room.

4th: One day, Chloe, Ilana and I had a Kinder party. We bought one of every Kinder product sold in the market here. It was a great day. 

5th: One night a couple of the girls dressed Itamar in drag.  We all enjoyed that experience. 

Tree Climbing

There is a fantastic tree for climbing right outside the dining hall. My friend Itamar, 20, (born in Israel, then Britain, then Australia) is pretty much a monkey. He, Michal  (one of my roommates) and I climbed it one night and took my camera.  It made for a pretty fun photo shoot, although it turns out it is a little tricky to take group pictures of yourselves while in a tree. 

Ulpan Outing #1

Once a month, all the members of the Ulpan go on a day long outing. For our first one, we went down south.  We started off the day by hiking to Nachal David (David Stream) which is right by Ein Gedi. I was really happy to do it since I didn't get to with Taglit or when Dad came to visit. It was so beautiful.  It doesn't seem like something you would find in the middle of the desert. There are many swimming holes and waterfalls.  People have been visiting and making use of this natural resource for thousands of years.  It is mentioned several times in the Bible.  There are also amazing views of Yam Hamelach (the Dead Sea, literally Sea of Salt) and the surrounding area.

From there, we drove the 2 minutes to Yam Hamelach for a dip.  My skin is going to be in fabulous condition by the time I leave Israel.  After that we headed to Masada.  We took the cable car up and the Roman Ramp down.  Even though it was my third time in 2 1/2 months, I loved it.  It's fun to go with people who have never been there to see their reactions. I'm almost ready to start leading guided tours.

Next we headed to a Bedouin community.  We listened to one of the men in the community give a little talk and watched him make traditional bread and coffee. We got to sample both.  My favorite thing about the Bedouins is the food. We got to eat dinner there in their tents. You sit on the floor around a huge tray of food and eat with your hands. It is so delicious.  I'm hoping for a Bedouin restaurant to open up in the greater Seattle area. 

Pictures:

1st: View of Yam Hamelach from the hike

2nd:  One of the waterfalls and swimming holes at Nachal David

3rd: Bedouin man making coffee

4rd: Mmm. Rice and chicken, bread, cucumber/tomato salad (probably the thing I've eaten the most of in Israel), pickled vegetables, cabbage salad, tehina.

5th: Ilana (Brazil), Natasha (Belarus), Chloe (France), Me (USA)

Weekend In Tel-Aviv

My Friend Chloe's family has an apartment in Tel-Aviv that we often go to for Shabbat. It is co-owned by several family members but no one lives there permanently. Family members just use it when they come to Israel.  It is pretty awesome for us because we have an amazing, and free, place to stay in the center of Tel-Aviv. We go Friday afternoon and return to the kibbutz Saturday night.  We take a bus from the kibbutz to the mall about 15 minutes away, then take a bus to the central station in Tel-Aviv. From there we take a bus to the apartment. It takes about an hour and 30 or 40 minutes total, because we have to wait for buses. It's so nice to have a place to just relax and have a kitchen.  It's an easy walk to the beach, restaurants,  and a bunch of shopping.  There is also a huge roof-top deck that is fun to hang out on. It's really nice of Chloe's family to let us use it.  Last weekend, Chloe, Ilana, Michal, and I all went together.  Ilana went to culinary arts college so she made us a delicious Shabbat dinner (Pasta, Salad, Pita, and Wine).  We will be going back frequently. 

Pictures:

1st:  When we got to the bus stop at the mall, there were police waving us away from it. Ilana speaks Hebrew and was able to tell us there was an abandoned package, hefetz hashud, at the bus stop. Ilana had watched a scene like this unfold before so she filled us in. There is a special robot they use to handle the package. First it approaches it and pokes it. If nothing happens, it shakes it. Then it blows it up. The one Ilana had seen blown up before turned out to be a bunch of books.  The driver of that white car got yelled at by the police for pulling up there.

2nd: The living room and stairs to the roof

3rd: I know it's not a great picture but I wanted to show the Shabbat table. Ilana, Chloe, Michal.

4th: Michal (one of my roommates) and Me on the deck

5th:  Trying to perfect the use of the camera timer. 

Work

Kibbutz Tzuba owns and operates a hotel on the premises called Hotel Tzuba.  I clean rooms there.  I work with one of my best friends from the ulpan named Chloe.  She's 18 and French.  Two more girls from our group work with us as well.  Jessie is 28 and from the Caribbean, and Natasha is 25 and from Belarus.  

A typical work day begins at 8. We arrive at the office/storage room for all the linens.  We then sit around on plastic chairs for the next 45 minutes to hour and a half waiting for instructions.  During this period we watch 5 Arab guys and 3 ladies drink coffee and chat.  We chat amongst ourselves and place bets on how many minutes it will be until we're put to work.  At some point a couple of the guys will throw some huge bins of linens through the door and proceed to stand there and watch us fold them.  They usually have some more coffee and a cigarette at this point.  When the boss leaves, the music comes on and the ladies start dancing very seductively.  Eventually they split us into two teams and we clean anywhere from 10 to 15 rooms.  I make about 25 to 35 beds a day and do a lot of sweeping and dusting.  Sometimes I get to clean the bathroom. Woot. It's really exciting when people leave things in the fridge and we get to claim them.  So far we have gotten things like melon, ketchup, sweet and sour sauce, juice, turkey and yogurt.  One problem with our job is that the people we work with are paid by the hour, so the longer they're there, the more they make.  This results in us returning to the office for pointless cigarette and coffee breaks periodically.  Luckily, we get out early every day. So we can't complain.  We laugh a lot at work.  

Pictures:

1st: Kamar (one of our bosses) and me doin' what we do.

2nd: Typical office scene

3rd: Jessie, Me, Chloe

4rd: Playing pinata with a suspended bag of linens and a mop. One of many ways to entertain ourselves while we wait.

5th: Resting