Let Loose in the Middle East and India

Official Tel Aviv resident

swarjam — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 15:59:00 GMT

and scene...
I AM FINALLY IN TEL AVIV!!!!
the past week and a half are a tad blurry, so I will give some details sparingly. before I came out here, I spent a day volunteering for an organization called shulchan v shulchan (table to table). the organization collects food for the needy here in Israel. They go to banquets (bar mitzvahs, weddings, etc) and collect leftover food, go to stores, have soup kitchens, etc. I spent the day in strawberry field picking.. you guessed it; strawberries. In order to be considered Kosher, farms here need to (among other things) dedicate a certain percentage of their harvest to the needy. It was a ridiculously hot day, but still a really cool experience.
I went to a basketball game in Ranana one night. Jews... not good at basketball. recruits, pretty good. it was an exciting game. kosher
food at concession stands? not tov.
school ended.. I graduated my first ulpan; but am going to start serious ulpan here in TA soon.
The end of the time at the kibbutz was bittersweet. While it was really relaxing and a beautiful area, it became pretty claustrophobic at times. I tried to initiate a color war for some excitement, but
did not succeed. I gave my second haircut securing my title as kibbutz barber though.

I heard an incredible speaker on the high tech world here in Israel.
Its incredible how many large companies get started here and take off.

There is something unique about Israeli culture that really drives the innovation process. The world's largest geothermal company, salinization company, along with the world's largest companies for DVDs and cordless phones are all Israeli. There is an intoxicating amount of upward mobility here. So, after leaving the kibbutz, i finally got to my brand new apartment in tel aviv!! Everyone from my program is in one building, in two wings. I lucked out and got the new wing. I was supposed to be living in a 2 bedroom with 4 people, but dished out a little extra money for my own room. i had enough after the kibbutz with living with 3 people in a confined space. so, my apartment is a studio, its a little prison cell-like given the absence of windows... but hey, beggers can't be choosers. its an apartment and only i live there. The apartment building is on the busiest street in tel aviv; king george. it's always alive.. i can't even compare it to anywhere in chicago- but it's great. i promise... pictures will eventually come. its a 5 or 10 minute walk to the beach, and i have been there everyday since i moved in. the weather has been incredible.. and everyone here takes advantage.
MY JOB IS AMAZING. i technically started Saturday, but all I really did was attend a Purim party for Foreign workers and their children. So, most of my job is emotionally draining, aside from the parties. I go to these events and write articles for magazines and Newspapers in Tel Aviv - most of which are unique to a certain group of immigrants; both legal and not. The articles are pretty standard, some are later translated. I also submit pictures for most of the publications. The next part of my job, the part i'm most excited about, is leading a group called the Nepali Women's Voice. They are forming their own committee to aid Nepali immigrants in their acclamation to Israeli life. Because many of these women are illegal, they need a safe place and group of people to go to with problems - anything from sexual harassment to problems with landlords to searching for "underground" day care centers. So, I lead this group of women, along witht the president of the committee, Sheerjana, who is by far the most amazing woman next to my mother and aunt (hi auntie E!) that I have ever met. My next meeting is Sunday so I will undoubtedly share the "meeting minutes" with you guys. Lastly, I haven't started teaching at the Nepalese Embassy yet, but am slotted to have my first class on Sunday. Very exciting. I can't articulate how great it feels to be involved in such an incredible organization. I am excited to get more and more involved as time goes on, as the foreign community is one big networking opportunity to help. Thats about it. life is amazing. i'm glad i'm here and making a difference, and many friends and having incredible experiences. I hope this finds you all well and anxiously await hearing how you are doing.

Enough with the Kibbutz life.

swarjam — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 19:03:00 GMT

ah... ALMOST out of the kibbutz. I just returned here from Tel Aviv where I was for the last two days. We arrived at went to the Dan Panorama hotel to start a walking tour of the city. We ended at Nachalat Binyamin where we had some free time (falafel time). After lunch I walked around Sheinkin street for a while, met up with a friend, and went to the shuk for some pre-Shabbat madness. We then went to our hostel to get ready for Shabbat. After the candle lighting and prayers, had a nice dinner, followed by an Oneg. A friend of some of my friend's from home was in town from London, so he joined the group for a night out on the La Nachal (the Port of Tel Aviv). It was a fun, loooong night. This morning I woke up for breakfast and then another walking tour of the city. Went to Ben Gurion's house (60,000 books!) I then snuck off for a nice, relaxing lunch on the beach. It was 85 and absolutely gorgeous in Tel Aviv today. We had some Americans who volunteered for the Israeli come and talk to us about their experiences here, which was really interesting. Luckily, I'm too old to volunteer, or else I would definitely consider it. After that, we had a tour of Jaffa before returning to the (duh duh duh) kibbutz in Latrun. All in all, an awesome weekend that got me totally psyched to move there on Thursday.
The past week has been pretty uneventful. We volunteered at a food bank in a Haredi (super Jew) neighborhood. We were split boys and girls, us gals bagged onions while the boys sorted carrots and palmellos. Its nice to give back!
OOOH news. I am the kibbutz barber. Technically, I've only given one haircut, but i'm totally open to doing a second. I had a meeting mid week with one of the newspapers for which I'll be contributing. The company is called Focal, and they currently run a Thai immigrant newspaper. They are also trying to acquire one of the Nepali newspapers that I'm also working for, so it could elimate a trip for me every week. I'm teaching two business classes a week at the Nepalese Embassy here, in addition to heading a women's group, volunteering at an "underground day care center", and contributing to the newspapers. The umbrella organization that I'm working for is called Mesila. the main goal of Mesila is to aid foreign workers.
Israel has some incredibly strict laws, which I will put in the next email. promise. its too depressing to put in this one. BUT, the newspaper articles will be on "happenings" that Mesila leads. There is always an element of social work involved, but they sneak it in well. i.e. instead of a baking class, they'll call it "baking for life". its tov. Its an incredible organization, and i'm truly
> excited to be a part of it. I start a week from today!
School continues to be a challenge - what else is new. Had a test last week. Got an A. I actually haven't gotten it back yet, but I'm confident that I passed.
Had a few more speakers, opened "Club Levy" in kibbutz cabin #33, continued to eat crappy Kibbutz food, and went out to Bet Shemesh a few more times to sneak some decent food at the supermarket. Purim is coming up - which is like Halloween for Israeli's. I plan on going to a friend's "Hollywood" themed party, although its the day
I move in, so it may be a little late before I actually make it out

Getting kicked off of this computer.... will send another soon
\ i hope this finds you all well.

Arrival in the Holy Land

swarjam — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 19:07:00 GMT

I’ve been in Israel know since Friday afternoon. I spent a
few days in tel aviv before coming to Jerusalem.
So, my program began yesterday. Its unclear about how many people are actually on it - we have a French contingent of about 25 people that are living with us and we do activities with, but half of them speak no english, so they’re not with us 100% of the time. Maybe I’ll learn two languages. Sababa. I’m guessing there are between 50-60 peeps on the program (americans, south africans, argentineans, a girl from
brazil, a lot of canadians, russians, and one bloke fromAustralia.)

Everyone seems really nice, i’m sure the crazy in all will
come out sooner or later though, myself included of course. There’s one guy that is incredibly intense about everything so hopefully he’ll be living in Jerusalem.

So we all met at our first kibbutz yesterday afternoon. Some
token ice breakers, dinner, etc. the usual. We all went out in Jerusalem separately, but met up eventually at some bar on some street. Great fun.

This morning we (came home, then) woke up for breakfast
and to review the program procedures, etc…. then had a drama workshop that was fun… there will eventually be videos up on my facebook profile. giddy up. so then we had lunch and a hebrew test (5 points to whomever
can guess who signed their name and turned it in blank). I
have a little free time now before my lecture on “Trends in Israeli Society”,then a free evening!!

Tomorrow we tour the Jerusalem border areas then have a
lecture on ”Israeli Arabs”. Wednesday I tour the City of David, the Israeli Supreme Court and Goverment Offices, and finally go to the Kotel Tunnels and the Jewish Quarter. Thursday, I have a meeting with my future employer in Tel Aviv and an Idan Reichel concert. Very exciting. Download him if you haven’t…

I’m very happy, a little jet lagged, and overall ridiculously
excited for what is to come.

cheers!