End of Ashkelon and Desert Days

Well, we packed up our stuff, cleaned and said goodbye to Ashkelon which now seems like ages ago and was (real time, about 5 weeks ago). I have to say it was an easy goodbye and I was certainly ready to move onto the next step.

After a day of recuperation, relaxation and repacking I set out for Tzukim, a small development town in the Arava desert, about an hour north of Eilat, the most southern point of Israel. After a four hour bus ride from Tel Aviv I was dropped off here:

So I called Rinat, the supervisor of the project and owner of Desert Days, an eco-friendly alternative solution to the traditional hotel stay.


Once Rinat picked me up we drove to the Desert days campus I put my things down in my Sukkah/tent of a room and immediately began exploring.

With less than a few hours of daylight left I climbed to the nearest peak to take in my surroundings. If you've never spent time in the Arava desert, or any desert you must. There's something magical and humbling about the expansive hills and dunes, something so vast and awesome.

I must preface that I really had no idea what I was getting my self into at all...but I certainly lucked out. I imagined getting to Desert days with a group of english speaking volunteers and when I heard I would be there by myself with 3 semi-permanent workers my stomach completely dropped. But when I met Shachar, Matan and May, I was completely assured that my experience would be nothing less than incredible. Probably three of the most accepting, down to earth, and interesting people I have had the pleasure of meeting.

The first night as we were preparing dinner for ourselves I told them a bit about the program and a bit about myself. Although they are all more than proficient in English we spoke in Hebrew.

May and I worked in preparing the 7 "Biktot" or guest houses for new guests and cooking breakfast for most of the visitors. Because the week I was there fell on Hannukah we were extremely busy and Rinat was happy to have me as an extra hand.

The boys worked with Yair (Rinats husband) on building the foundations of new Biktot. Desert Days is an environmentally friendly alternative to the normal hotel stay. There are compost toilets, all food is composted, many herb gardens and all grey water is drained into gardens. All of the Biktot are made of natural materials, mostly wood, mud and bales of hay.

Here are some highlights of the week:

-Eating fresh and homemade food all the time (Rinat is an incredible cook and even makes her own cheeses, bread, desserts for consumption by all guests...and us..of course..)
-Taking hikes around the outlying Wadis, experimenting and exploring with trails for guests with May
-Being stuck inside for 3 days while riding out a Sandstorm where we cooked, talked, read and played lots of guitar
-Drinking fresh fresh fresh herbal tea at all times of the day
-Cooking with new types of vegetables
-Building mud huts and mud walls in the "Chan" (the main living area for all guests)
-Doing morning Yoga overlooking the expanisive desert

There are so many more...but I couldn't possibly hash out every detail or you would be here for as long as I spent there.

It was such a peaceful, growing experience. The other day May came to visit me up North and I realized what an incredible relationship we had established over the course of just a week, I miss the desert, I miss the serenity, and I cant wait to go back to visit.

Thanksgiving abroad and other fun things

I have NEVER spent a Thanksgiving away from my family and although it's not my favorite holiday being abroad wasn't easy.

Luckily... I have OTZMA, and I have my wonderful OTZMA community and the 33 of us plus some guests (including our star guest Nana, my and Kitah Bet's Ulpan teacher) celebrated an American Thanksgiving in Ashkelon.

Bec and I made a PHENOMENAL squash soup, Amir made a Turkey and everyone made AMAZING side dishes, soups, desserts etc. Hilarious things that happened and made these normal holiday traditions difficult:

1. There is currently an agriculture strike in Israel (to find out more about this read here)and we weren't able to buy/find/order anywhere a whole turkey
2. Our kitchens are small. We only have 2 small burners and a toaster oven. Our soup took 2 days to make...but really...

It took the amazing teamwork and communal efforts to make the evening such a success, but we did it!

November is ending and December (a month of traveling and havoc) is about to begin!!!

For my part 1 1/2 I'll be living and working for two weeks in Tzukim in the far south of Israel helping to build an ecologically responsible village and resort with a team of people my age from around the work. Then for the second half of December, Rebecca and I will be going on a Eurotrip with special guests along the way!

• 12/16-12/19 Amsterdam, Netherlands w/ Krissy and Bec
  
• 12/19-12/23 London, England w/ Krissy and Bec
• 12/24-12/25 Munich, Germany w/ Bec
• 12/26 Frankfurt, Germany w/ Bec and Ariel
• 12/27-12/28 Berlin, Germany
  

______

This week marks our last in Beit Canada and that means moving everything into storage for the month of December. So, I've started to move some of my stuff out and Bec and I took this Shabbat to spend with her family at her Aunt Mira's house in Tel Aviv. After the mandatory Friday afternoon nap, Becca's uncle Yonkel took us out in his 1957 Jeep. It's green, it has no roof or sides, it's amazing. After driving around the heart of Tel Aviv and enjoying the tons of attention a green army jeep cruising through the hot spots of town brings we headed to the northern beaches of Tel Aviv to drive around the sand dunes.

Yonkel is an expert driver and was given several rounds of applause by fellow drivers and sand dune cruisers. We finished the afternoon by watching the sunset over the ocean from the clifs next to the sea.

It's still surreal to me that we're walking around in tank tops and flip flops...but I'm sure Europe will be a huge wake up call.

Pictures to come soon!

Karmiel

Here's a post that never was posted from a while ago...oops

Life here is flying by and again I have to keep reminding myself what time of year it is. There's no Christmas carols on the radio and no windy Pittsburgh (or Philadelphia) days. November in Israel is still sunny, still hot, still beautiful and definitely without the radio reminders.

I've been here for almost 3 months now and I'm shocked at how at home I feel. My hebrew is ENORMOUSLY better and there's no longer any anxiety about taking a cab, wrong bus, or train.

I spent this past weekend in Karmiel where I'll be living for part 2 starting in January. Although I've been to most parts of Israel I had never been to Karmiel before and I was pleasantly surprised. Karmiel is in North-Central Israel less than an hour East of Haifa.

We (Michael, Jeff and I) spent Shabbat at Jeff's host family's house: the Kovesh's. The Kovesh Family is amazing to say the least. They have 4 children, Arbel, Klil, Carmel and Ortal and a beautiful home in Yuvalim (a Moshav in Misgav, the area next to the city of Karmiel, also part of the partnership with Pittsburgh). We spent the weekend relaxing with the family and went to a beautiful Kabbalat Shabbat full of music that was the closest thing to services at home that I have yet to see in Israel. I played guitar with the 14 year old son Ortal (who is the same age and a doppelganger of my twin brothers Danny and Jonathan) and we went out with Klil and her friends who were all home from the army and their jobs for the weekend.

Karmiel's views are spectacular and breathtaking and the air is extremely pure. We spent Sunday on a tour of Karmiel with the women from the Jewish Agency to look at all of the volunteer opportunities available to us come January. I'm so excited to be living there in January!

בוא, תן לי יד ונלך אל תשאל אותי

Come, give me your hand and we'll go, don't ask where... (although it doesn't translate quite as poetically...) is a lyric from an Idan Reichal song. Idan Reichal is one of the biggest names in Israeli music. Last week as part of a MASA event (MASA is a giant organization that sponsors thousands of high school students, university students, post university young adults and volunteers to come participate in long-term programs in Israel) I went with a few of my friends to his concert. We had a blast singing and dancing and ran into random people that we knew from different walks of our lives (including campers, youth groupers, high school friends, siblings' friends and the list goes on...)

Me and Bec dancing the night away...

That night we stayed over in Jerusalem with friends before our OTZMA education day, Jerusalem: City of God. Please excuse the fact that I'm extraordinarily lazy and that my internship has me writing tons, but here's a piece about that day and the education day yesterday:

Over the course of two weeks OTZMA has spent two separate days in Jerusalem. One day was dedicated to discovering Jerusalem as the holy center of the three largest religions in the western world. The second day was dedicated to learning fundamentals about Israeli politics and the current political battles that challenge the broad political spectrum in Jerusalem as well as Israel as a whole.
Often in trips to Israel Jews frequent the Kotel which more than a holy site has come to represent Israel as a national symbol. Less frequently however do Jews visit the sites that are holy to Muslims and Christians. All three of which combined make the city such a center of controversy, importance and historical significance.

With our guide Ariel we began unraveling the layers of history at the Temple Mount in the courtyard of the Dome of the Rock. As we moved through the Arab Quarter towards the Kotel we noticed the similarities between the neighboring streets. "It's amazing", said Jenn Perchonok (Houston, TX), "Two worlds, two histories so closely intertwined and at war over so many years over their differences seem so fundamentally similar".

We spent the middle of our day at the Kotel, our own holy site, a place familiar and enchanting and continued our tour after lunch in the Jewish Quarter.

The Church of the Holy Seplechur is believed by Christians to be the site when Jesus was crucified and where 40 days later he was resurrected. There were hundreds of people lined up to see the various sites within the Church, hundreds waiting in the courtyard, and never a moment that there weren't people lined up to place their belongings on the holy stone.

We finished our day overlooking the place we had spent all day exploring from the top of Har Ha'zeitim, the Mountain of Olives.

---

Upon our second visit to Jerusalem we had speakers from various fields within Israeli Politics: We began by learning about the policies and important issues of all of the various political parties currently active in Israel's multi-party system.

After Rabbi Michael Malchior an Israeli politician and activist spoke with us about the problems facing the current Israeli education system and ways in which he was trying to revise the system by bringing Judaism, not as a religion, but as a set of morals, back into politics by way of "thinking Jewishly, and leading Jewishly".

The editor in chief of the Jerusalem Post David Horowitz followed, in speaking about the dilemmas facing Israel and the best ways to speak to those who are unfamiliar about the current political situation. He addressed the problems Israel faces in the media as well as the dangers of a nuclear Iran.

Next we met with Rachel Canar, the Director of Development and Overseas Communications for I.R.A.C. the Israel Religious Action Center. Rachel spoke to us about the work of the Religious Action Center, which helps Olim (new Israeli immigrants) and those in need with Legal help and lobbies as a voice for Progressive Judaism in Israel (which encompasses what Americans know as the Reform and Conservative movements).

Tied into ALL of this was my friend Krissy's visit! Krissy is one of my best friends from college and my roommate from my sophomore year. She is currently traveling the world, en route to Kenya where she will be working as a yoga teacher in Nairobi as part of the Africa Yoga Project, a non-profit that brings Yoga to slums in Nairobi, empowering the community and bringing safe and constructive jobs to the region. Feel free to donate to this cause and to her fundraising efforts at: https://www.z2systems.com/np/clients/ayoga/campaign.jsp?campaign=7.

Anyways, Krissy joined us for our first day in Jerusalem and then came back to Ashkelon to experience a little bit of life chez OTZMA in Beit Canada. She had all of the typical experiences: Taking walks to the beach, eating Yoko (sushi) for dinner, climbing the eight floors to my room, making coffee in a giant pot, getting attacked by Ethiopian children because of silly bandz...YOU KNOW...the NORMAL STUFF..and of course...a night of American debauchery at the Marina, because what would having your roommate from college in Israel even mean if we didn't reminisce a little...(sorry Ma).

We spent the weekend in Tel Aviv with Becca showing her the sites and introducing her to my family (which as per usual we just ran into on the streets...)

There's something quite amazing about long lasting friendships, the ease in which they pick up where they left off is astounding.


And now...I'm back in Tel Aviv and tomorrow I'll take her to the airport :( BUT...with every incredible adventure comes an end and the beginning of a new one.

Here we are...

Here we are...achrai hachim and life is certainly in full swing as everyone promised! Here's what I'm doing:

• On Sunday mornings I work at the local Conservative Synagogue "Netzach Yisrael". The Rabbi and I lead a short service for their Kindergarteners
• On Sundays and Wednesdays I'm teaching community yoga classes in the park
• On Mondays we have OTZMA education days in various regions of the country (read on to hear about this week's Negev seminar)
• The rest of the week I spend working for the Ashkelon-Baltimore Partnership writing articles about what Otzma is doing within the Ashkelon community, which usually includes a site visit or two to see some friends in their own volunteer work.

Here's one of this week's articles about the Ashkelon Sports Department, a non-profit organization within the municipality that provides year-round after school sports programs for children of all ages.

Otzmanikim Michael Schwartz, Jeremy Zola and Whitney Frost volunteer twice a week with the Ashkelon Sports Department. The department is host to a variety of sports clubs and activities for kids of all ages living in Ashkelon.

Michael and Jeremy work together with Sergio, the team's head coach to run drills and practices for the players ages seven to nine. Both having played soccer recreationally for most of their lives it didn't take long for the two of them to feel comfortable and have fun with the boys.

"We help the coaches out. When we're around they can give more individualized attention to the kids, we hand out soccer balls, we keep the kids focused" says Michael.

But aside from helping to keep the thirty energetic boys in check, Michael and Jeremy are there to be positive role models for the children. "We are thrilled to have them here, it means a lot that they take time to help our kids", says Adi, the father of one of the boys. Adi also told me that the Ashkelon Sports Department provides equally sufficient programs for a third of the cost compared to the other Private Sports Departments in Ashkelon. Soccer is offered two times a week for up to ten months a year.

Whitney works with two separate girls basketball teams. A team for 5th and 6th graders and a team for 8th-10th graders. Similar to the work the Jeremy and Michael do she runs drills and practices with the girls making sure to use a very "hands-on" approach. "They really look up to me, not only because I'm American or because I am a good [basketball] player, they really respect that I'm there to volunteer with them. They like that I want to be a part of their community"

For Whitney and both Michael and Jeremy the language barrier is not an issue. Although both their Hebrew and the children's English are certainly limited, it is apparent that movement is a universal language.

On Monday as I said before we had an incredible education day in the Negev. We were able to explore many facets of Negev communities, realize the potential an importance and speak with some incredible people doing inspiring things, once I'm finished the article for the partnership about the education day I'll post it here to give you some more details.

Other than working and Ulpan Israel is great. The sun is still strong here and life is still exhilarating.

Me and fellow participant Alex Kadis swinging on the zip line in a Yerucham Park

Acharai hachagim...

Here is my favorite Israeli phase....for now...

ACHARAI CHAGIM or אחרי החגים

It means...after the holidays...For my non-Jewish readers there are 4 holidays in the hebrew month of Tishrei (which usually falls in September or early October) and one of them is a week long...what does this mean? NOTHING GETS DONE IN THE MONTH OF SEPTEMBER!

So...as September comes to a close so do the holidays, and with the end of the chagim comes what OTZMAnikim call...."real life". Starting Sunday we'll actually be in Ulpan for more than 3 days straight and we'll begin our semi-permanent volunteer placements.

This past week was vacation in observance of the Sukkot holiday. 4 fellow OTZMAnikim and I planned on doing a popular Israeli hike called "Yam el Yam" or "Sea to Sea" which goes from the Mediterranean sea to the Kinneret (the Sea of Galilee). Please note that PLANNED is the operative word here...

We hiked for 3 days, had a blast, met amazing people, laughed, cried, screamed, cursed the land and praised the land but after 3 days and 60 kilometers the girls headed back home.

Michael and I pondering our next move...

So kilometers, hiking and blisters aside it was a nice trip and I luckily I could take the last few days of vacation to relax and explore Tel Aviv.

Sunday it's back to Ashkelon for the "real world"....

I'll keep you posted!

Always playing catch up...

This past week marked the first full month in Israel as an OTZMA participant and what an incredible month it's been.


OTZMA spent Yom Kippur as a group in Jerusalem. We left Ashkelon early on the Friday morning of Erev Yom Kippur for a series of lectures and seminars before the Holiday began. I really have to credit OTZMA with providing such phenomenal educational opportunities. More than the learning that happens on a day to day basis from living in a new country and learning a new language, OTZMA provides us with extremely unique opportunities specific to our situation as Jewish Americans in Israel. I went to 3 seminars on the following topics:


-Writing your own confession
-Yom Kippur and Israeli Secularism
-Torah Yoga with Diane Bloomfield


All of the lectures were equally inspiring and unique. Before the seminar I was having a tough time getting into the mindset of the high holidays. I've really only experienced Israel in the summer, on vacation. September came and it was still hot and I was still here. Although I was in Ulpan (intensive hebrew class) it still didn't quite feel like the beginning of a new school year to me. For Rosh Hashanah I didn't even step into a synagogue let alone spend all day there as I've done in years past. Obviously with new beginnings come change but even so, the markers that never seem to change regardless of occasion or circumstance have indeed changed. In Israel I can't count on the leaves changing, or a brisk wind to tell me it's time to atone. Instead, I can still sit on the beach.

The seminar primed me. It made me stop and look around and realize that the energy in Israel is indeed palpable. I spent Kol Nidre at HUC (the Jerusalem Seminary for the Reform Movement) and even ran into my old friend Alexis (Shoutout to Kvutzah Dekel, NFTY in Israel 2005!) After a beautiful service it hit me:

The streets were completely empty of cars.

Absolutely no traffic in one of the world's busiest cities.

Simply Magical.

I spent the next day adventuring through the old city, slowly making my way to the Kotel (the Western wall) for the second time in a few weeks. The combination of the fast and the Israeli heat exhausted me and I slowly walked back to my hotel to rest for the remainder of the day. It was unlike any of my previous Yom Kippur experiences.

OTZMA broke the fast together and headed back to Ashkelon while Becca and I stayed in Jerusalem for a night on the town with Yoni.

backtracking.

In my brief overview of the past few weeks I forgot to share about an especially beautiful experience:

Monday night (September 6th) at 1:30 am OTZMA boarded a bus to Jerusalem to experience and observe Selichot traditionally. To begin to reflect on the year past, to begin to say sorry and atone before the books of life and death are even opened.

We sat on the quiet dark streets of the old city and listened to stories of Rosh Hashanah, stories and texts about why we welcome in the new year when we do. It was a pretty all inclusive night, a "lailah lavan", and just as first light was showing against the limestone, we ventured to the Kotel.

It had been a year since I was there last, for my twin brothers' B'nai-Mitzvah. I was annoyed and I was bitter. I would spend a year on the Bimah, a pivotal part of dozens of people's celebrations, and for my own family's simcha, I had to stand behind a one way mirror. Fighting, FIGHTING with religious women to get a glance at my brothers. I was really disgusted by the scene. But then they read, one at a time, and I realized, their experience, even if it was without me, was special. Their time at the wall, with all of their uncles and boy cousins was something unrepeatable. I didn't go to the wall that day.

So on Monday, I went to the wall for the first time in 3 years. I went with peace of mind, I went with the things I was atoning for, I went to acknowledge that something greater than me had let me arrive at this season.

Next year will be different from this, this year was different than last.

"And so, if one is standing in the east, one turns toward the west; if one is standing in the west, one turns toward the east; if one is standing in the south, one turns toward the north; if one is standing in the north, one turns to the south. Thus, all of Israel directs their hearts toward one place"
-Talmud

Selichot reminded me that everything is a circle, everything evolves, everything must be flexible, we must be everything while being nothing.

Shana Tova!

Happy 5771 from Israel!

Today marks my 3rd week in Israel and it feel incredible, here's a quick catch up of events:

August 21st- Leave JFK for Brussels, Belgium

August 22nd- Brussels, Belgium for the day for a fabulous bike tour and some chocolate


August 23rd- 25th Tel Aviv, Tiberias Israel to visit Aunts and Uncles and Cousins


August 25th-29th Jerusalem, Israel for OTZMA orientation and tiyul (trip) around the Judean desert




August 30th- Present - Ashkelon (with a few stops in Tel Aviv in between)



For the next few months I will be living, volunteering and learning Hebrew in Ashkelon with 35 of my fellow Otzmaniks. We live in an absorption center for new olim (immigrants) that is a ten minute walk from a beautiful Mediterranean beach. After the holidays (a phrase I now know all too well) we'll begin our semi-permanent volunteer placements, most of us working with at risk youth communities.

More to come soon as the adventure unravels.

May this be a year of happiness, health, rejuvenation, inspiration, hope and spontaneity.

Shana Tova!

August 7th, 2010

After a quick stop home to unload all of my wordly possessions at my parents house I got back in the car and back on the road to Phoenicia NY for my Yoga teacher training. Phoenicia is a beautiful town tucked in the Catskill mountains, close to Woodstock, NY (you may have heard of this or something...).

As per usual for me and new beginnings, I was nervous. Seriously unnecessary questions invaded my mind:

Will they like me?
What if I don't wear lululemon everyday?
What if I can't do every pose?

How ironic. Here I am on my way to a place that will empower me to empower others and I can't even stop worrying about looking good. However, my doubts were pretty heavily destroyed once I got to Menla Mountain Retreat Center and checked into my room where a handful of warm, gorgeous, smiling women welcomed me. All very different people, gathered together to promote change within themselves, and to ignite something within the students they teach.

Going into brief detail about the experiences I had that week would not do them justice, it was hard physically, it was brutal mentally but, some take away points/quotes are:

- "Doubt your doubts and they will disappear, feel your fears and they will fade"

-"Instead of being right or wrong, know that you are a powerful creator of reality"

-“Who you are speaks so loudly I can't hear what you're saying.” -Emerson


Speak the truth and live the truth and last but certainly not least:

do violence to the status quo

New chapters, new adventures, new blog

The countdown began around 4 months. Accepted to OTZMA, 4 months until Israel. Here I am one month away from Israel, a week away from leaving Pittsburgh, the city I've called home for the last 4 years and about a bajillion things have happened since the countdown began.

What's the MOST significant thing that's happened over the past few months? Well, it's not that I began pawning off my furniture, carpets, bed etc. to my friends, or that I spent countless hours on the phone to the Israeli consulate in Philadelphia, Verizon to cancel my Internet, the post office to forward my mail, or any of the other hassles that are inevitable when you move and uproot your life...

Sure these things are significant but the moment it REALLY hit me, the moment when I knew things were changing was last night, when I took my keys out of my bag to unlock the door to my apartment. 6 keys. A key to my office (soon to be given back), a key to my car, 2 keys for my apartment, and 2 keys to my parents house. WHERE ARE ALL MY KEYS.

For those of you who see me often, you know that my bundle of keys is (generally) extensive. And in a weird way the keys have really come to represent relationships and responsibilities as I've grown here in Pittsburgh, coming a long way from just a Swipe Card/ID to get into Holland Hall. Keys to a Synagogue and to an office, to my boyfriends house and car, to a Yoga studio, to my very own apartment, all kinds of keys! A Janitor's delight.

With that said, keys are not usually a measuring device for self-worth or a gauge of aptitude or personality, i.e. we do not say, "Hi, my name is Nikki, I'm 22 years old, I love yoga, long walks on the beach and...oh yeah! I have 14 keys on a blue and yellow key chain!" (Therein would be a world where Janitors were Kings. sidenote: I do not mean to put all these societal stereotypes on Janitors!...they are wonderful and they make my clean world go 'round).

And so... with a silly little thing like keys I'm realizing that to me they represent responsibility, they represent trust, and an openness (pun definitely intended) often seen on sitcoms and in movies (Rachel, Monica, Phoebe, Ross, Chandler and Joey alllwayyys knew that the "door was always open").

Regardless, as much as I may try to stop it...over the next few weeks my key-chain will continue to dwindle, so much to the point that I will leave it behind. Life is moving on...it's twisting and turning and keys are coming on and off the little metal thing that drives me crazy. Some are left forever and some are just left in the junk drawer in my parents kitchen.

Thank you giant key chain. Thank you Pittsburgh. Cheers to what lies behind us, cheers to the excitement ahead!