It's been a while since my last update, so I may accidentally leave things out because I have forgotten about them. My apologies.
Sukkot break was about a 10 day vacation for all of us. Some trekked the Yam l'yam hike from the Mediterranean Sea all the way to the Sea of Galilee (I want to do this eventually), some went on other hiking trips, some traveled to Tel Aviv, up north, to Jerusalem, and south to Eilat, visited family, etc. Did I do any adventurous hiking trips? No. BUT I attempted to hike. Twice. Plans just fell through, so hopefully I will get to go hiking soon!
Right before the holiday of Sukkot, OTZMA went to help build and decorate the sukkah at the local synagogue. We decorated the sukkah with pretty origami designs. Then we ate and sang songs. Sukkot is a Jewish holiday and many Jews build Sukkahs (temporary huts) in their yards, and I saw many on balconies! Just a few days before Sukkot began, sukkahs were appearing right and left. I thought it was cool, I felt a sense of community, everywhere.
Some families eat their meals and celebrate in the sukkah for the next 7 days of Sukkot. There are different ways to observe Sukkot, so feel free to look up what they are. I wasn't able to really celebrate with my adoptive family or anything else due to poor planning on my part. My host family warmly invited my to celebrate the beginning of the holiday. Since I was in the middle of planning a hike, I regretfully said no. This was because I was planning on traveling before the buses stopped running (due to the holiday) and I didn't even go hiking! So the buses stopped running Wednesday evening all the way through Thursday evening, and they stop AGAIN for every Sabbath -Friday evening to Saturday evening. Traveling then was.not.easy.at.all. When our hiking plans fell through, I think we decided to go back to Ashkelon before the Sabbath began so we wouldn't be stranded, again.
I did travel to Tel Aviv, twice. (Each time was to meet up with people and go hiking) The first trip was with a few friends..we met up with some other OTZMAnikim, went to the beach, went out to a few bars, walked all around. The second time visiting Tel Aviv, we pretty much did the same thing. We walked everywhere. I am pretty sure we covered most of Tel Aviv within the two visits: Ben Yehuda, Allenby, Shenkin, beach, Florentine, Central Bus station and more, Rabin Square, Yarkon Park, etc. Yes, my feet hurt by the end.
In between the two trips to Tel Aviv, I stayed in Ashkelon and just spent time with friends. Slept in (felt so nice), went to the beach, studied-maybe a little, went out occasionally. I did trek through Ashkelon National Park, which was gorgeous. Alex, Shauna and Sarah and I took the bus and finagled our way in with a student discount! There were ancient ruins overlooking the sea. We hiked near the edge of cliffs, we could see all way down the beach on both sides. It was beautiful there. So at least I did hike a wee bit.
Other exciting new: Our hot water button which we use to turn on the hot water for showers is broken. Actually this is not new news, its broken before, then fixed, then broke again. Same thing with the AC. We have also discovered that if we have both the hot water on and the AC on at the same time, it blows the fuse and breaks..both. So now, if we want a nice hot shower, we have to use pliers or a can opener and jimmy the timer...and now it's just become habit.
Now it's back to the merkaz klita- absorption center we live in, back to learning heavy amounts of Hebrew a day, back to volunteering-tutoring 5th and 9th graders with their English. The 5th graders are just starting to learn English and they really try to work hard. They have homework in a workbook with different themed lessons. We we first started helping them it was extremely difficult due to the language barrier. We hardly knew any Hebrew to communicate with them and they didn't understand our English. As time went on, we are learning more Hebrew to speak with them and they are understand more of what we say. I can see the difference and it already amazes me. With the 9th graders- since they have been learning English for a couple years, they are able to speak just a little bit and understand just a little bit more. The other day I brought my notebook that I use in Ulpan and used that to teach English words. The kids already knew what they were in Hebrew. I also find that this is a great opportunity for me to practice my Hebrew with them. Even the woman in charge of our tutoring was taking notes from my notebook! I worked with her daughter and son and then her! I loved the exchange. It is still difficult for me to understand most Israelis, they speak wayyyyy toooo fast!!
OH, and I have started cooking :)
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