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.
