Yerucham
Week 1
We settled into our apartments, did our first big shop, kashered any dishes that needed kashering, and generally made our homes livable. My staff totally misunderstood me when I told them that I was working on setting up a volunteer job with JNF and wrote down that that was my job, and didn’t assign me anything different. For the first few days, I didn’t work, because I had no place to be, but I eventually had LeeAnn ask the teacher at her gan if I could join her in working there. She told me the Gannenet was fine with it; I wouldn’t be starting work for a few days though.
Every Tuesday we have Yom Nativ. On the first one, the staff and Yossi explained to us what that meant. There would be several Yemei Nativ during the duration of Nativ, but not as many as we would expect because of Tuesdays when we would be away from Yerucham (Leadership week, Northern Tiyul, Pesach, Israel Advocacy Week, etc.) We were then asked to all suggest ideas for possible Yemei Nativ. After we had a very sizeable list of ideas, we began weeding them out and combining similar ones. We ended up with a list of about 12 and we needed to vote that down to 6. My fellow Nativers, over the course of the voting process, managed to remove every suggested Yom Nativ with inherent educational value, leaving only the ones that sounded fun, but would undoubtedly be diluted with forced, unnatural learning. We then wrote our top three choices for which of the days we’d want to plan, and the staff divided us into groups.
Four days a week, from 8:30-3:30, LeeAnn and I work at Gan Alon with 3-year-old cuties. We get lunch for free in the middle of the day. I enjoy what I’m doing, but the days feel very long and I come home exhausted.
Eemah and Tani Come to Visit!
Eemah and Matan met me in the 'ruch on Tuesday afternoon. We walked over to my host family's house so they could meet my host father and I gave them a tour of my apartment. Then my mom took 9 friends of my friends out to dinner. The proprietor of Al HaGrill was so excited to get to play restaurant with tables and chairs and everything. Eemah loved meeting my friends, and dinner was nice, even though it was a little rushed and the power went out and the restaurant wasn't great. After dinner, we took a bus to Beer Sheva and then a train to TLV. We got to the Sheraton in Tel Aviv around 11 pm and it was great to have an awesome bed and a good shower in the morning. We woke up late and then went to a Yotvata cafe for a huge brunch. After that, we went to see cousin Ronit and we all hung out at the port which has been made into a trendy shops and cafes place. After spending two hours with her, we took a cab downtown to see my cousins Yigal and Dorit and we had dinner at the Cafe Joe below Yigal's office. From there we took a bus to Jlem and went to the apartment that my mom was renting for the week. On Thursday we went to Beit Nativ to try and figure out Shabbat dinner and to say hi to Yitz and whoever else might be in the office. After that we got Matan shawarma and us falafel at Maoz and then we went to the zoo with my cousin Tsafi and her twin daughters Zohar and Nogah. After the zoo, we went back to Tsafis for more hanging out and dinner with the fam (all the fam - Ron, Aviad, Inbar, Tal and the father Meir were all there for all or part of the visis) then we went back to the apartment. On Friday we went downtown and arranged to have Shabbat dinner with Jules and Yehudis Gutin and then we went to visit with my cousins Benyamin and Mazal who are awesome. After that we went back to the apartment to get ready for Shabbat and take a cab to Shira Hadasha before Shabbat started. We davened there and loved it and then had dinner at Fuchsberg with Jules and Yehudis and were joined by David and Seth. Dinner was lovely, and afterwards we walked home with Jim Lebeau and his wife who are friends of my father. On Shabbat we went to Moreshet Avraham in Talpiot and then spent the day with Alexis and Charlie and their family. We went back to the apartment to hang out for a while and then Eemah and Matan got in a nesher to the airport and I got in a cab to get to the bus to get back to Yerucham. I rode the packed bus with Joshy and Seth.
We did lots of things in preparation for Purim in my gan, and not so many things as Nativers. I did, however, go over to the girls' apartment one night to teach them how to make hamantashen. We all had fun, even though I got frustrated with Rachel's (and everyone else's) "eat the dough" baking style. The hamantashen turned out great and they were a delicious snack, but they didn't last very long.
Week 1
We settled into our apartments, did our first big shop, kashered any dishes that needed kashering, and generally made our homes livable. My staff totally misunderstood me when I told them that I was working on setting up a volunteer job with JNF and wrote down that that was my job, and didn’t assign me anything different. For the first few days, I didn’t work, because I had no place to be, but I eventually had LeeAnn ask the teacher at her gan if I could join her in working there. She told me the Gannenet was fine with it; I wouldn’t be starting work for a few days though.
Every Tuesday we have Yom Nativ. On the first one, the staff and Yossi explained to us what that meant. There would be several Yemei Nativ during the duration of Nativ, but not as many as we would expect because of Tuesdays when we would be away from Yerucham (Leadership week, Northern Tiyul, Pesach, Israel Advocacy Week, etc.) We were then asked to all suggest ideas for possible Yemei Nativ. After we had a very sizeable list of ideas, we began weeding them out and combining similar ones. We ended up with a list of about 12 and we needed to vote that down to 6. My fellow Nativers, over the course of the voting process, managed to remove every suggested Yom Nativ with inherent educational value, leaving only the ones that sounded fun, but would undoubtedly be diluted with forced, unnatural learning. We then wrote our top three choices for which of the days we’d want to plan, and the staff divided us into groups.
Four days a week, from 8:30-3:30, LeeAnn and I work at Gan Alon with 3-year-old cuties. We get lunch for free in the middle of the day. I enjoy what I’m doing, but the days feel very long and I come home exhausted.
Eemah and Tani Come to Visit!
Eemah and Matan met me in the 'ruch on Tuesday afternoon. We walked over to my host family's house so they could meet my host father and I gave them a tour of my apartment. Then my mom took 9 friends of my friends out to dinner. The proprietor of Al HaGrill was so excited to get to play restaurant with tables and chairs and everything. Eemah loved meeting my friends, and dinner was nice, even though it was a little rushed and the power went out and the restaurant wasn't great. After dinner, we took a bus to Beer Sheva and then a train to TLV. We got to the Sheraton in Tel Aviv around 11 pm and it was great to have an awesome bed and a good shower in the morning. We woke up late and then went to a Yotvata cafe for a huge brunch. After that, we went to see cousin Ronit and we all hung out at the port which has been made into a trendy shops and cafes place. After spending two hours with her, we took a cab downtown to see my cousins Yigal and Dorit and we had dinner at the Cafe Joe below Yigal's office. From there we took a bus to Jlem and went to the apartment that my mom was renting for the week. On Thursday we went to Beit Nativ to try and figure out Shabbat dinner and to say hi to Yitz and whoever else might be in the office. After that we got Matan shawarma and us falafel at Maoz and then we went to the zoo with my cousin Tsafi and her twin daughters Zohar and Nogah. After the zoo, we went back to Tsafis for more hanging out and dinner with the fam (all the fam - Ron, Aviad, Inbar, Tal and the father Meir were all there for all or part of the visis) then we went back to the apartment. On Friday we went downtown and arranged to have Shabbat dinner with Jules and Yehudis Gutin and then we went to visit with my cousins Benyamin and Mazal who are awesome. After that we went back to the apartment to get ready for Shabbat and take a cab to Shira Hadasha before Shabbat started. We davened there and loved it and then had dinner at Fuchsberg with Jules and Yehudis and were joined by David and Seth. Dinner was lovely, and afterwards we walked home with Jim Lebeau and his wife who are friends of my father. On Shabbat we went to Moreshet Avraham in Talpiot and then spent the day with Alexis and Charlie and their family. We went back to the apartment to hang out for a while and then Eemah and Matan got in a nesher to the airport and I got in a cab to get to the bus to get back to Yerucham. I rode the packed bus with Joshy and Seth.
We did lots of things in preparation for Purim in my gan, and not so many things as Nativers. I did, however, go over to the girls' apartment one night to teach them how to make hamantashen. We all had fun, even though I got frustrated with Rachel's (and everyone else's) "eat the dough" baking style. The hamantashen turned out great and they were a delicious snack, but they didn't last very long.