These last few weeks have been amazing. I have enjoyed the fact that I am finally in a routine with everything and I know what I can expect in my schedule.
A basic day starts by waking up at 6:30 in the morning. I will then make some breakfast, usually scrambled eggs, and coffee and read some news, go on Facebook, or check my email. Then I shower, get ready and leave the house at 7:30 for school. Most days I teach 4 classes at school. I usually just stick to the lesson plan but if we finish early I will try to play a game with the students, such as 20 questions or pictionary. After school I have a little time to rest but every day I do something in the afternoons as well. Sunday and Wednesday are Ulpan (Hebrew lessons), Monday is an English club for Israeli's my age, and Tuesdays I meet with an Israeli and help her English and to help my Hebrew (like tutoring but we just chat for a while). Thursday night I go to Tel Aviv, and Friday is my day at the Market and then Shabbat dinner somewhere. Lastly, my lazy Saturdays surely are lazy, and I can gather myself for the week. It may sound kind of boring but it is great. And I still get many chances to do cool things.
Like one weekend I went to Haifa. The weekend of November 1st I went to Haifa to visit the soldiers from my Birthright trip. For the first time I felt more like an Israeli. Most of the time here I am with Americans. Whether it is people from my program, or friends from home who are also here. But this weekend in Haifa I didn't even see any other Americans. On Thursday when I got there, Yaniv picked me up from the train station and we went to his house where we ate some food and got to catch up a bit. Then other friend, Daniel, invited me to do Capoeira for a few hours. Capoeira is a Brazilian martial art dance form. It is like other martial arts but the key is to dodge and avoid each other while in the Hoda. I had learned once before, from Daniel on Birthright, but I had not tried it since. It was awesome and I picked up the basics fairly easily. Some of the people were amazing. I wanted to get a video of them but it slipped my mind. That night we went out to get some beers at a pub and relaxed. The next day I went with Yaniv to a play soccer with his friends. There were about 5 teams of 4 and we just rotated out after 7 minute games. By this point I was extremely sore and tired but it was great and a lot of fun. That night we had Shabbat dinner at Daniel's house where they were very impressed with not only my Hebrew, but also my accent. I was very proud of that, especially since my Spanish accent is awful.
Another part of the past month was the short conflict with Gaza. You would think I would put it up top because it was a life changing experience and one of the craziest parts of the past month. Not really in Ramla. I didn't once here the alarm go off. Ramla is a highly populated Arab city, not that Hammas would care if they killed some Arabs in Ramla. Ramla is also just out of their firing range, and a different direction from Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. I can't say the same for my friends in Be'er Sheva and Ashdod though. Both of the programs in those cities were evacuated up north and they volunteered in other places for a week. For me, life went on as usual. On Shabbat, my teacher invited Rebecca (the other ITF member from my school) and I over for dinner and we had an amazing home cooked meal. I brought a nice bottle of wine, I usually drink cheap wine but I didn't want to bring the crap wine there. But I found a bottle of Chianti for 40 NIS ~$10 and it was really good. Then after 8 days of conflict, there was a cease fire and there has not been anything since.
Lastly, it was my first Thanksgiving experience outside of the US. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday so I was really encouraging everyone to do something. We ended up having it on Friday and it was just a bigger Shabbat dinner, with Turkey (obviously). Everything was fantastic and there was a lot of good food and more wine. I wish I could have been with my family and friends back home but we have a nice "family" here. It is comforting to be able to call the people I am with my Israeli family since I don't have anyone here. I said I was thankful for the school I am teaching at. Since this whole experience is either going to make or break the decision of whether or not I want to teach as a career, it is great to have a school that is organized and cares about the well being of their students and staff. I wish I could say the same about all of the other schools but maybe it is also because I care too. For some reason I always seem to be a part of the best experiences. Like my host family from Barcelona, this school and our group. Am I lucky or is it something else? Whatever it is, I hope the trend continues forever.
