Readjusting and figuring out my life

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My 10 months in Israel were beyond amazing.  It is difficult to express to people how much my experience impacted my life.  I also probably don’t even realize how much it has impacted my life.  It reminds me of the first thing my philosophy professor said in class.  He said that if you really take anything away from this class, you probably won’t realize it until 30 or 40 years from now.  Maybe that is a little drastic for my experience in Israel, but I think it changed me more in the long run of my life than the short term. 

Anyway, this post is more about my life after I got home.  It has been about 5 months since I arrived back in Ithaca.  I went to Israel to dip my toe in the teaching world to see if it was right for me.  I have come to the conclusion that it is the correct choice for me for a few reasons.  For one, I have an ideal personality to make a good teacher.  I am kind, patient, smart, and a positive role model.  A career as a teacher is rewarding and it will give me a lot of time to do other things, such as traveling, and pursuing other hobbies.  Teaching is going to make me very happy and I will be excellent at it.  Even thought I am almost positive I want to teach, I still wanted some more experience, so that is what I am doing this year.

Back in February 2012, I started thinking about what I wanted to do when I returned home.  I decided that I might want to work at the Elizabeth Ann Clune Montessori School of Ithaca.  This is the school that I attended from when I was about 3 until 12 years old.  I know a lot of the staff, and have connections so I sent the principal an email regarding my interest.  She was thrilled.  Some more information was exchanged and soon enough I was signing a contract to work with the after school program with the upper level age group (grades 4-6).  

Let me tell you something about this Montessori school.  It radiates love, kindness, and peace.  This may sound corny or cliché but it is contagious and cannot be avoided.  The person responsible for this is Andrea B. Riddle, the founder of the school.   Andrea was the principle of the school until she died of cancer just over a year ago.  Andrea never gave birth to a child of her own but she had hundreds of children that she loved and cared for like her own, me included.  Her life’s work was this school and her love, too, was contagious.  One day I was talking to the current principle, Laura, and we were talking about Andrea and how the school has rebounded after her loss.  We talked about how sometimes it takes loosing something or someone like that to bring a community together to thrive.  Not that the community wasn’t already strong, but Andrea was a mentor to the people there and they had to step up and take the lead when she was gone.  The best part about working at Montessori is that I too, feel that Andrea is my mentor, I am just a 2^nd generation student of hers.  The staff members who are there right now care so much about the school and its success.  It is inspiring to be around people who love what they do and it is something many schools lack.  One thing that makes an amazing educator and school is the love and community that is so apparent at Montessori.  People are really happy there and it is very clear.

If I had one wish I probably wouldn’t be able to make up my mind.  But, I want to sit down with Andrea today, and talk to her as an adult.  Maybe she will come to me in a dream one day and I can thank her for everything, because I never got a chance to really say thank you.

Leaving Israel I had a job lined up in Ithaca, NY and I planned on living at home with my parents.  But 15 hours a week at the after school was not really enough and I knew I needed to get another job.  I decided to apply to substitute teach in the Ithaca City School District.  Getting this job was fairly easy since I was once a student in the district and before I knew it, I was getting called almost every day to sub somewhere.  Working in the ICSD has been great but the difficult part is that I don’t get to work with the same class every day.  However, for the entire month of January I will be working with a 2^nd grade class at South Hill Elementary.  This will be a great experience and I will work hard to become a better educator.

2 jobs just were not enough.  Coming back with this profound experience and new perspective on Judaism, I wanted to get involved in Jewish education.  At first I applied to teach at the conservative synagogue but I withdrew my application at the last minute because I thought it would be a little too religious and slightly intimidating.  I am also not conservative or a religious person so it just wouldn’t have been a good fit.  Instead, I applied for the Humanistic synagogue call Kol Haverim, which means “all friends.”  After doing some research and looking into what humanistic Judaism is, I knew it would be a great fit.  The best part of working with them, though, is that I get to create the 4^th/5^th grade curriculum.  This is a challenge and I am learning a ton about what works and what doesn’t and how long things take and so much more.  I have a class of 4 students and my goal is very simple.  My task is to light a spark in my students minds so that they will be interested in learning and they will continue to learn later in life.  So my job is to make Judaism fun.  I think so far I am doing a wonderful job and I am impressed with my organization and how my lessons turn out. 

So, I am living with my parents in Ithaca, working 3 jobs, not spending much money, and saving a ton.  Is that fulfilling? It is extremely fulfilling and I am very busy.  But there was one thing that I was worried about when coming back to Ithaca and living with my parents.  What was my social life going to be like?  Most of my good friends either live in New York City, California, Boston, or elsewhere.  I probably wasn’t going to meet too many people my age where I work.  But it worked out wonderfully.  The after school staff members at the Montessori school are great people and getting to know them has been wonderful.  They are warm and interesting, they like to go out and socialize, and are very welcoming.  Within the first few weeks of everyone working there we all went to a potluck.  The host, Allie, is Filipino and mad a ton of egg rolls and other Filipino.  This was the first time that some of us got together outside of work and we have a small community of our own now.

So, after 5 months of being back I am working my ass off, meeting new people, and having a great experience living back home in Ithaca. 

Now I need to start thinking about my future.  In short, I am starting to study for the GRE and soon I will apply to graduate school in education.  I am not sure where I want to go or what I want to be certified in.  I will figure that out soon enough and the trend of amazing, positive things is bound to continue in my life.  I want to leave you with a quote that just popped into my mind that should stay in the background of my life.  It is by Randy Pauche in the book The Last Lecture.  He said; “luck is where preparation meets opportunity.”  It is about living in the moment, seizing the moment, and realizing that good things happen to people who deserve it.  Recently, a woman has become a part of my life and it may seem like luck, but really it is the result of seizing the moment and both of us deserving good things in our lives. 

Final Thoughts for an Israel Teaching Fellow

When I came to Israel I had three goals.  First, to do what I came here to do and teach English.  Second, to learn some Hebrew.  Third, to make some new friends.  Now that everything is over, I can say I accomplished my goals. 

When I arrived in Israel I didn’t know any Hebrew.  Now I can say with confidence that I can understand Hebrew.  After 5 hours of Ulpan (Hebrew class) per week for 10 months, and numerous hours on speaking, reading, and listening to Hebrew in every day life.  I have learned an astonishing amount of Hebrew.  Now I want to continue practicing Hebrew.  I will still speak to some of my friends in Hebrew and on WhatsApp.  I might even be teaching Hebrew to little kids next year.

I have new friends from all walks of life, and all over the world.  American’s, Israeli’s, Ethiopians, Europeans, and more, both young and old…There are even a few students that I can call friends and I really hope to see them again one day. 

Obviously, we all came to teach English.  It is hard to recognize exactly what I taught my students but I know I made an impact in many of their lives…even just a small impact.  I can say for certain that I have encouraged them to speak and use English.  All of my students knew some, or even a lot, of English before I arrived at the school.  But since I didn’t speak Hebrew with them, the only way they could communicate with me was in English.  Sure they made a ton of mistakes, sure they couldn’t always tell me something they wanted but they did find a way to communicate with me.  Many of them went out of their comfort zone to talk to me and I pulled a lot of English out of them.  I think that if my school gets Teaching Fellows for the next 4 years, the 5^th graders, who will be in 8^th grade by then, will be considerably better at speaking, reading, and writing in English than the 8^th grade now.  The 8^th grade is also pretty good at English now so I can’t wait to see them improve.  The last day at the school was Sunday, June 30^th and it was also the 8^th graders graduation.  Becca (the other Teaching Fellow at my school), and I made thank you cards for the 8^th graders.  We made 40 cards that included a colorful card with their name, a short, personal message, and a friendship bracelet.  Together we probably spent 30 hours finishing the cards but I am so glad we did.  After we gave them the cards, I realized how much of an impact we made.  I think this is when many of them realized that in fact we are leaving.  Saying goodbye to the students and the school was one of the hardest things that I have ever done.  I will be back one day, and I will teach more students, but I don’t thing anything will ever be like this experience.  These were my first students and I will remember them very well.

It doesn’t end there, either.  I was involved in so much more than what I expected when I arrived.  I was on a softball team, a part of the Underground club, I did a program called Livnot (look at my blog post from mid October), and I even got to play the piano a lot.  Theses experiences were the icing on the cake.

The Underground Club is an English club on Monday afternoons.  It is for people aged 18-30 but really anyone was welcome to come.  The amazing thing about the Underground is that it brought Israeli’s together.  Arabs, Jews, Muslims, Christians, Russians, and South American’s.  They were all Israeli’s.  Many people don’t think all of these people can get along, but I saw it first hand.  That is one of the great things about Ramla, is that everyone lives together and everyone gets along.

The softball team was an unexpected gift.  I heard that there would be a softball team in the spring, so I had my parents bring some baseball gloves.  When the time came to start playing I was pleasantly surprised.  Our team consisted of 6 guys over 50 years old, a few medical students from Tel Aviv, and then me and one other person from Ramla.  Even though we were terrible and only one 1 game, it was so much fun.  It was nice to be a part of a team and play a sport and I love baseball so softball was great.

My journey as an Israel Teaching Fellow might have ended this week but I will always take the experience with me.  I will apply it to my next journey, and the one after that.

Next year I will continue teaching and eventually get my masters in teaching and make a career out of it.  The thing I will miss the most about my journey in Israel is that walk from the front gate of the school to the classroom where I was greeted with friendly smiles, waves, and dozens of hello’s, good mornings, and “what’s app man.” The worst part is that I will probably never see many of those smiles again.  But that is part of being a teacher, right? Every year new faces come, and old faces go, and you need to learn to say goodbye.  Many people say that you can only take away as much as the effort you put into something.  I put a ton of effort into this experience and I took away a whole lot.  Can’t agree more with this statement and I will keep this attitude towards everything I do in life. 

Thanks for reading

Next chapter…to be continued

Ted Talk of the Day

So I really like the website TED.com.  Ted talks are a lecture series.  Their slogan is "Ideas worth spreading" and I love it.  I watch a few a week and I want to start posting the ones that I see on my blog.  Ken Jennings gives a talk about how our society is losing its value towards knowledge because it is always at our fingertips.  Towards the end he talks about how there is never a time to stop learning and that we should do so every day.  I couldn't agree more, and one of my college graduation speakers said the same thing.

Here is the talk

Ken Jennings TEDTalk

Alone, Not Lonely

Many people have this great fear of being alone.  They think that if they are alone, they are lonely.  They think that others will look at them, judge them, and make fun of them, and one day they will die lonely and miserable.  They don’t understand that being alone and being lonely are completely different things. 

This week’s “How I Met Your Mother” episode was on this topic.  If you know the show Ted, the main character has this daydream about his 4 best friends who are married to each other (so he is kind of the 5^th wheel).  He is sitting in the bar alone staring at a beer and a ticket to a show.  At the end he talks about how lonely and alone he is.  I have watched the whole show and I know that he is not lonely or alone.  He has great friends who he is with every day, but he is just depressed because he has not found a wife yet.  And that is societies definition of alone.  I say fuck that.  Just because he doesn’t have a wife or a girlfriend does not mean he is alone.  In fact, its an opportunity to embrace being by yourself, which many people do not take advantage of.

I love to do things alone or on my own, as I like to put it.  I went to college alone, I went abroad to Barcelona alone, and I went to Israel alone.  You know what I learned? I learned how to figure things out for myself and solve my own problems, I learned who I really am, and I learned that it is extremely important to do things on your own.  I could have done all of these things with my best friends but I chose not to and I couldn’t be happier with the way things turned out.

I am extremely good at doing things and figuring things out on my own.  When I go to visit a friend and I don’t know anything about the place, I usually don’t learn as much as I do when I don’t visit someone.  When I visit friends they show me around and take me places but if I am not the one figuring it out, then I won’t be able to do the same thing next time.  However, if I am the one doing the research and figuring out how to get places and finding the restaurants I learn so much more and if I want to go back to that place I can easily retrace my steps and figure out what to do.  I also like to be in control of directions and schedules.  When I travel with people I usually take the lead on directions and people have told me that they feel safe when I am directing them because they trust me. 

When I am by myself, I am not really by myself, but I am with the coolest person I know.  One thing I lacked when I was younger was a lot of self-confidence.  But as I have grown up I have become much more independent and confident in my decisions and myself.  I am the most interesting person I know.  I listen to the music I want, travel where I want, eat what I want, and do whatever I want, whenever I want.  I also really enjoy meeting new people on my own.  Not because I can make up some bullshit story and be someone I am not because I can.  I like meeting new people on my own because I do in fact think other people are interesting, but I can tell people really like me for me, and not for the people I am with.  They find my life interesting and think I am mature and I think I do a great job of changing peoples perspectives of Americans.

I try to encourage people to do things on their own.  To embrace their freedom and enjoy it while it lasts.  Before we know it, that time we had to ourselves will soon be going to our pets, our kids, our jobs, and our wives/husbands.  Everyone should be able to go to a bar or travel without anyone else and meet some cool people.  That is actually where I might have met some of the coolest people I have ever met…some of whom I don’t even know their names.  But they have been very interesting to talk to, and inspiring, and after we finished talking we said bye, and that was it.   

Things Usually Work Out in the End

My family came to visit me in Israel.  It is Friday night on February 15^th and I walk into the apartment that my parents rented for a few days in Tel Aviv.  They will be arriving the next day around 10:30 and the company gave us directions to enter the apartment so I decided to sleep there on Friday night because I could.  I open the door and try to turn on the lights but nothing works.  I was a little tipsy and tired from a night out so I just went to sleep and hoped for the best in the morning.  In the morning I checked my e-mail.  There is a long e-mail from my brother explaining how his passport was expired and he could not get on the plane but luckily his wife, Kris, went along without him and will be arriving later in the day.  Luckily, my parents arrived just fine and I told them the unfortunate news.  I told my dad who tends to get upset quickly, “don’t worry, this will all work out in the end.”  Kris’s flight gets delayed an hour so we have to wait about 7 hours for her to arrive.  Did I mention that it is Shabbat on Saturday and we cannot get in touch with the renting company until after Shabbat ends, about an hour after sunset?  Kris’s flight lands and we are waiting for her taxi to come.  One hour passes, she should be here soon, 1:30, okay maybe it took a little longer, 2 hours…we get an e-mail from her that she is next door.  I went downstairs but she is nowhere to be seen.  The cab driver dropped her off at the wrong address.  I was thinking this day couldn’t get any more stressful but now Kris is lost, we still have no power, and it is dark.  Finally, Kris arrives at the apartment (thank god she took Adam’s iPad) and we get in touch with the apartment company.  He moves us to a new apartment, an upgrade looking over the long stretch of beach with a huge window facing the sunset, and we go out to dinner at a place called Choco Lulu’s in the Florentine district that I have wanted to go to.  It was great and everyone enjoyed it.  Things tend to work out in the end if you stay calm and don’t let the bumps in the road get to you.  I have noticed this a lot in life.   

Right now, I think I am in a very good place in my life.  I have been living in Israel for 10 months teaching English…what do I need to worry about, right? Not entirely true.  What I am doing here sounds awesome and everyone should be grateful to experience what I am.  However, life here isn’t so easy.  Teaching can be stressful, Israel is expensive, the language is different and exhausting, and I have no idea what I am doing after this.  Don’t get me wrong I love it here but by the time my 10 months are up I will be more than ready to go home and probably completely broke.  Many people don’t like it at all here.  Many of the people on my program could care less about the teaching, learning the language, and would go home tomorrow if they didn’t have to pay to loose their grant money.  This is where my attitude sets me apart from many other people.  My positive outlook, and ability to stay calm when the shit hits the fan helps me get through the problems.  So some days I might have a bad day, but every new day should be something to look forward to and not dreaded.  A lot of the time when people tell me about their problems I tell them to sleep on it.  Then in the morning, or some time after, do something about it.  Don’t just complain to me, face your problem and take some action.

Over the past few years my dad has given me some good advice.  The two quotes that stand out are “be proactive” and “you will never get anything if you don’t ask for it.”  Proactive was the word of the year when I was a freshman in college.  Basically he was saying that I should step out of my comfort zone and take some chances, meet some new people, and try some new things.  Maybe I might like some of them.  The second quote also encourages me to take chances.  The worst that can happen is that someone will say no, right?

I have learned over the past few years that it is great to step out of my comfort zone, dare to question and ask, and just relax when things go wrong.  Things tend to work out in the end.

Now here is a cool video and words of wisdom from Allen Watts

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=siu6JYqOZ0g

A New Beginning?

The highlight of my last month was my trip to Barcelona with my brother.  When I knew I was coming back to Israel I didn't think that I would leave the country for 10 months.  The main reason was that I didn't think I could afford it.  I have also traveled in Europe and I wanted to experience a lot of Israel.  Anyway, my brother and I planned a trip to Barcelona and everything worked out fairly well.

We rented an apartment in the old city, near the Jaume I Metro stop.  This is one of my favorite areas in the city.  Our apartment had a rooftop panoramic view and you could see just about everything.  The sun rose over the Mediterranean over the Santa Maria del Mar, and set through the Steeple of the Cathedral.  I will not explain the entire trip in detail but I took him around the city, we biked, drank, ate great food, did a lot of walking and saw a classical guitarist Manuel Gonzalez perform in a different church, the Santa Maria del Pi.  That was my second time watching him live, the first was in the Palau de la Musica Catalana with my aunt and uncle.  We also went on a tour of the Palau de la Musica, which remains to be my favorite place in Barcelona. 

My last day in Barcelona was December 21, 2012.  THE END OF THE WORLD.  So everyone knows the story.  It was the end of the 13th Baktun of the Mayan calendar which lasts for over 5000 years.  First of all, the Mayans don't have any recordings of what will after the end of the 13th Baktun because their civilization didn't last long enough.  But it is more of a beginning than an ending, and that is what I like to focus on.  December 21st, obviously, is very close to the new year of the Gregorian calendar.

This idea of a new beginning has always resonated with me.  If you know me well, you know that I am a very optimistic person.  I like to focus on the good, and learn from the bad.  2013 will have a major impact on my life.  My birthday is also on December 28th so I am 23, this will be my first full year out of college and more or less independent.  How will I grow? What will I learn? How can I make the most of my experience here in Israel? I will have many experiences this year that I have never had to think about, but I am excited and ready to take charge. 

I had a post about the Rosh Hashonna, the Jewish New Year, a few months ago.  I made a challenging new years resolution about how I was going to be more open about what I want and if people are bothering me.  Today my friend, who I have not seen in a few months, asked me how that was going. I said it was going well.  In some parts of my life it is going well, but in others I think I can still improve.  I am doing a great job at my school.  If anything is bothering me, or if I have a problem with a student, I don't hesitate to take action.  I am a peacemaker and I do not like to cause drama, but I need to keep this idea close to me.  I take on a leadership position in what I am a part of and this is a major part of being a leader. 

The first Monday of every month, we have a training seminar.  This month it was in Jerusalem and included all of ITF in Israel.  The training was about interpersonal relationships.  The lecture was mostly about how a messenger can most successfully convey their message to their audience.  It kind of goes hand in hand with my previous paragraph, which I am just realizing now.  But I learned a lot from the lecture and I want to implement some of the strategies into my teaching.  This is a very positive first step in making the most of my time in Israel.  I feel that I am doing a good job teaching but I know I can do more.  I know I have a lot of potential to make an impact on my students lives.  I need to start planning my classes more and finding different, fun ways to fully engage my students. 

I have a trait that sets me apart from many of my peers.  I truly care.  We get 1000 shekels a month (~$300).  The mindset of many people in the Israel Teaching Fellows is that "I am getting paid X and I am going to put X amount of effort into my work."  This is extremely frustrating for me.  My mindset is that it is a learning experience and I am a volunteer.  I need to make the most out of this experience and there is no reason to attach a dollar amount to the effort I put in.  I only have 10 months here.  At school, I can also do whatever I want.  At the end of the year a full time teacher needs to show that their students improved that year.  I don't have to prove anything.  Of course I want my students to improve but the fact that I don't need to show results means that I can try things that are different and not be afraid to fail.  The people training me keep saying that "you are not teachers."  We are educators but we are here for different reasons.  I am a resource to help my teachers and I want to be the best resource that I can be.  I know that the more effort I put into this experience, the more I will take from it, and the more it will shape my future.  Now the question is, how do I get my peers to have a similar mindset?