Again, I apologize for spelling errors; i really can barely read what I'm typing. Also, since I always spread out my posts, they may be all over the place, but I guess that's how time feels here anyways.
Since my last post, I'm still working and studying most days. My hebrew is getting better. I try to speak Hebrew with my Israeli friends, but it's hard to understand what they say to me becuae they have their own slang, and speak very fast. Work can also be confusing too because I have told the woman I work for to speak to me in Hebrew, and she does. This means though that she'll tell me to do something, and I won't end up doing it since I dind't hear her telling me. She doesn't get angry with me, although maybe sometimes she gets impatient. Thats the attitude of the Israelis I've encountered; they're friendly, and personable, but they're stern, and they know what and how they want things done.
On Monday we did a day trip to Jerusalem. It was a cold, but fun day. The drive up was green mountains, and valleys. We started out at Yad Vashem- the Holocoast memorial, museum. Our tour guide walked us through it, telling us about certain stories, and letting us explore on our own also. Many people left crying. It was the type of museum that plays to your emotions, and the exhibits were very symbolic. After we climber Mount Herzel. It was quite pretty, it had a lot of tree, and flowers, as well as memorials. Our tour guide brought his guitar and sang us a few Hebrew songs, it was kind of cheesy, but fun. We then walked around the old city of Jerusalem. I have a bunch of pictures, but I'm not sure how soon I can get them up. We were high up walking along the streets, along parts of the wall. For people who were scared of heights, it wasn't a good time, ubt for me, I got to see the view from above.
We then went to the Western Wall. The girls side of the wall is so small compared to the guys side. There were lots of religious people. I went up and leaned against the wall, since thats what it seemed like everyone else was doing. It was strange to be there, in this place that has such a rich, and interesting history. Some people told me they cried when they went to the wall. When we left the wall we had to walk backwards, so our backs didn't face the wall. On the way in, everything seemed liked it was on rewind with people going backwards.
We then went to see this cheesy 30 minute movie about the history of Jerusalem. It was one of those movies where your seats move, like you're on a roller coaster. It was awful, and they were trying to fit to much history into it, so it wasn't really my favorite thing. However they did have a coffee vending machine, with real(er) coffee then the nescafe stuff I've been drinking.
We were then given a bit of free time to walk down one of the main roads. Most people just went to eat shawerma. I roamed around with friends, and bought myself a small hand drum. It's low quality, but it does what I need it to do. I had the oppertunity to bargin down from the original price he gave me, since it would have been way overpriced. One of the oddest things I saw in Jerusalem was on this street. There were three religious men dancing in the middle of the street to techno music, trying to sell CD's or something. We danced for a few seconds too. One of them black- he had the greatest pay-ot(i don't know how to spell that) I've ever seen.
Since Jerusalem, it's jsut mostly hanging around with friends. It might get boring at some point, but for now everyone here seems to ahving a good time, and getting close. Yesterday I spent close to an hour teaching my friend from France, Stephen, some English. He speaks Hebrew, but since two thirds of the people in the program don't speak Hebrew at all, the common language is mostly English. Also, the people who do "know" Hebrew, like me, still can't really hold a convarsation in Hebrew, so I think he was feeling a bit lonely. We had a good time though. I spoke English very slowly to him, he'd write some notes down. We were laughing a lot though since if he didn't understand what IU was saying in English, I tried looking it up in the Hebrew dictionary, and at that point, he wouldn't necessarily understand. Yaakov from hina is doing quite well in Hebrew and English. He came here knowing pretty much nothing, and now he can at least have simple conversations.
Thats all I can think of for now. This weekend, I think I'm staying in the Kibbutz, but you never know. Things are very spontanious here. Anyways, I hope everyone is safe, and healthy at home, and write me letters!
Elana Cipin
Ulpan, Kibbutz Na'an
Israel
76829
I hope that's the right order...
Friday, February 20, 2009
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Feb. 11
I started class and work on sunday. In the morning, I worked with Mazel. What we do is clean the Ulpan kitchen, porch, common room and the building that we live in. I literally washed everyone on the programs dish and every surface of the kitchen counter. What I learned from this experience is that we are all extremely messy. Also, I clean our toilets. It's kind of gross in the guy's washroom, but the work is not that ahrd, and I finish at around 11:45. Then that same day I had class from 4:00 until 6:30. The teacher spoke in Heberew the entire time, and I understood most of it. I really didn't think I knew as much Hebrew as I do. My only issue is speaking it, since at USDS they never erally encouraged us to speak. The class is a strange dynamic with some people who can speak, but not read or write. People who can't speak but understand. People who are basically fluent in Hebrew already. It's an interesting way to learn.
At night we had a bonfire, and roasted hotdogs.
Monday we just had class in the morning, and took a tour of the kibbutz grounds. They have some building that has drums, and we were told that furtheer into the program we can ask to use to instruments. After class, me and a few friends went to the nearby town Rehovot. The bus to get there was crazy. They arrive right on time to pick you up, load and elave in a minute, and when we arrived to Rehovot, they were rushing us off. Looking around the town, and on the route there, everything looks so different. There's palm tree's, and I saw camels also. At night, we had another bonfire. I'm guessing we'll have a lot of fires because the weather is cool at night.
Tuesday was a day off because of the elections. Most of Israel shuts down, to go and vote, aor jsut take the day as a vacation. It was cold and rainy though. I just slept in, did homework, and hung around with friends. New people also came, adding a Brazilian, and also Yakov: the first Chineese jew I have met. He speaks almost no English, and neither does the Brazilian, so it's funny to watch them try to understand each other in English. At night we wentto get fries at the pub, and play some pool. Unfortuneatly I'm awful at pool, so I lost. We have made friends with the guy who drives around the kibbutz patrolling at night, so he gave us a ride from the pub to our building since it was absolutely pouring rain. I don't like when it's cold and rainy here, but the Israelis like it because they need the water.
Today there was more class, and again, I'm feeling confident in my udnerstanding of Hebrew. My Hebrew will get better when I'm here though, when my English will probably suffer. The English I speak here is different since I have to speak with people who have english as their second language.
At night we had a bonfire, and roasted hotdogs.
Monday we just had class in the morning, and took a tour of the kibbutz grounds. They have some building that has drums, and we were told that furtheer into the program we can ask to use to instruments. After class, me and a few friends went to the nearby town Rehovot. The bus to get there was crazy. They arrive right on time to pick you up, load and elave in a minute, and when we arrived to Rehovot, they were rushing us off. Looking around the town, and on the route there, everything looks so different. There's palm tree's, and I saw camels also. At night, we had another bonfire. I'm guessing we'll have a lot of fires because the weather is cool at night.
Tuesday was a day off because of the elections. Most of Israel shuts down, to go and vote, aor jsut take the day as a vacation. It was cold and rainy though. I just slept in, did homework, and hung around with friends. New people also came, adding a Brazilian, and also Yakov: the first Chineese jew I have met. He speaks almost no English, and neither does the Brazilian, so it's funny to watch them try to understand each other in English. At night we wentto get fries at the pub, and play some pool. Unfortuneatly I'm awful at pool, so I lost. We have made friends with the guy who drives around the kibbutz patrolling at night, so he gave us a ride from the pub to our building since it was absolutely pouring rain. I don't like when it's cold and rainy here, but the Israelis like it because they need the water.
Today there was more class, and again, I'm feeling confident in my udnerstanding of Hebrew. My Hebrew will get better when I'm here though, when my English will probably suffer. The English I speak here is different since I have to speak with people who have english as their second language.
Saturday, February 7, 2009
Winter on the Beach in Tel Aviv-
I went to Tel Aviv for an afternoon/evening with my friends Mate, David, and Gabriel We walked on the beach, then got lost walking around. By dinner time, we were hungry, but all the restaurant were closed because it shabbat. Last night I went with 3 friends to the club on the Kibbutz. People from all over Israel go. IIn one room they had more American style music, and in another room they had live Israeli singers who were singing typical Hebrew songs. My friend from the Kibbutz told me that some of the songs were songs they al know from the army, and some were just theme songs from children shows. My friends and I didn't dance in the middle of the crowd, we were all just off to the side dancing with each other. My Venezuelen friend David was trying to teach me to salsa dance, but I wasn't really good.
Friday, February 6, 2009
First couple of days
To start off, if my spelling is bad, it's because not only am I a terrible speller, but the computre is fuzzy, and it is hard to make out words. I got to Israel on Wednesday with no problems at the airport. The plane ride was very crazy. All of the religious families were pacing, and hanging out in theaisles, there were 20 minute lines for the bathrooms because the religous kids would just run out of nowhere to use the toilet without waiting in line.
For the first couple nights I did have a roomate, a fellow Canadian, but as of an hour ago, she's onw gone. She said the program wasn't for her, even though the program doesn't start until Sunday. She was just very quiet, I guess, and everyone else here is very outgoing. Athough I would usually be happy about the idea of having my own room, I think I'm going to see if there is another room I can go to. Otherwise it will be very lonely.
The weather here is great. Sunny, clear skies, and during the day it has been around 20-25 degrees. At night it does get chilly though, I'm cold when I'm under my covers. We don't actually start the prograsm until sunday. There are 2 levels of Hebrew classes, and I am in the more advanced one. Although it's kind of funny becuase there are a few peolple on the program who can speak Hebrew very well, better than me, but they don't know the alphabet, or how to write. My class is a lot smaller than the lower level class, so it's going to be very intimate. We'll all be very close to the front, and we'll have no choice but to pay attention, or they might get mad. In terms of work, I just found out what my firset job will be. I'll be working with a woman named Mazel (yes, like mazel tov). I don't really know what that entails, but Ilan, the Ulpan coordinater describes her as the mother of the Ulpan. I guess she's kind of like the nanny? What I've seen her do is set up our meals, and take out the trash, and organize the closet with all of the sheets. SO ya, I have absolutely no idea what I'll be doing with her.
The schedule is very confusing. There are a couple days where we work in the morning, and then learn in the afternoon/evening. There are also days when we only have class in the morning, with the days ending at 1. There may also be a day where just do our jobs all day. Then friday is a half day, and always ends at lunch because of Shabbt. So out weekends are half day friday, and then saturday.
The people on the Ulpan come from all over. There are around 25 people here so far, but I feel like more people are on their way since the program is supposed to be 35 people. People come from Canada, US, Holland, Hungary, Russia, Chile, Peurto Rico, Guatemala, Mexico, Venezuela, France, Uzbekastan, and Turkmenestan. So the lanuages are English, Russian, and Spanish. The dynamic is very interesting. Most people know very very simple English, so you have to speak slowly, and simply. There is a guy at the Kibbutz who did an Ulpan before us, and he said people usually just go into cliques based on the Language you speak.
Last night we went to the pub on the Kibbutz, and I had fun talking to an Israeli girl my age, I tried speaking my broken Hebrew to her, and she was speaking English very well to me. She likes Briteny Spears and Hannah Montana, and American things like that.
Thats all I have for now. We might go into Tel Aviv today, but we'll see. Theres not really much to do since we're not working or learning. But so far all is well, and I'm having a good time and have made friends.
For the first couple nights I did have a roomate, a fellow Canadian, but as of an hour ago, she's onw gone. She said the program wasn't for her, even though the program doesn't start until Sunday. She was just very quiet, I guess, and everyone else here is very outgoing. Athough I would usually be happy about the idea of having my own room, I think I'm going to see if there is another room I can go to. Otherwise it will be very lonely.
The weather here is great. Sunny, clear skies, and during the day it has been around 20-25 degrees. At night it does get chilly though, I'm cold when I'm under my covers. We don't actually start the prograsm until sunday. There are 2 levels of Hebrew classes, and I am in the more advanced one. Although it's kind of funny becuase there are a few peolple on the program who can speak Hebrew very well, better than me, but they don't know the alphabet, or how to write. My class is a lot smaller than the lower level class, so it's going to be very intimate. We'll all be very close to the front, and we'll have no choice but to pay attention, or they might get mad. In terms of work, I just found out what my firset job will be. I'll be working with a woman named Mazel (yes, like mazel tov). I don't really know what that entails, but Ilan, the Ulpan coordinater describes her as the mother of the Ulpan. I guess she's kind of like the nanny? What I've seen her do is set up our meals, and take out the trash, and organize the closet with all of the sheets. SO ya, I have absolutely no idea what I'll be doing with her.
The schedule is very confusing. There are a couple days where we work in the morning, and then learn in the afternoon/evening. There are also days when we only have class in the morning, with the days ending at 1. There may also be a day where just do our jobs all day. Then friday is a half day, and always ends at lunch because of Shabbt. So out weekends are half day friday, and then saturday.
The people on the Ulpan come from all over. There are around 25 people here so far, but I feel like more people are on their way since the program is supposed to be 35 people. People come from Canada, US, Holland, Hungary, Russia, Chile, Peurto Rico, Guatemala, Mexico, Venezuela, France, Uzbekastan, and Turkmenestan. So the lanuages are English, Russian, and Spanish. The dynamic is very interesting. Most people know very very simple English, so you have to speak slowly, and simply. There is a guy at the Kibbutz who did an Ulpan before us, and he said people usually just go into cliques based on the Language you speak.
Last night we went to the pub on the Kibbutz, and I had fun talking to an Israeli girl my age, I tried speaking my broken Hebrew to her, and she was speaking English very well to me. She likes Briteny Spears and Hannah Montana, and American things like that.
Thats all I have for now. We might go into Tel Aviv today, but we'll see. Theres not really much to do since we're not working or learning. But so far all is well, and I'm having a good time and have made friends.
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Extended Stay in London
Hello everybody! It's Tuesday, and I'm still in London, even though I was supposed to leave yesterday. Isn't it funny how snow always manages to follow Canadians? Yesterday, my flight to Tel Aviv was supposed to leave in the morning, but we woke up to a snowy London. It was snowing all day, a total of 7 inches, but in London that is the most snow they've had since 1991, and they weren't prepared for that. All trains to the airport were canceled, and 850 flights to/from Heathrow were canceled. So I'm now leaving Wednesday (crossing my fingers, since it might snow again!)
Anyways, here in London I've done all sorts of fun touristy things. First day, Cam and I walked around exploring London. We saw Big Ben, parliment, Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, Picadilly circus and Trafulgar square (huge square with all sorts of large fountains, and where- had it been nicer weather- there would have been lots and lots of pigeons. Of course we also managed to have fish & chips, tea & biscuits, Indian food for dinner and had beer at the local pub just a block away.
Saturday Michael and I explored the National gallery where we saw classical art, which was mostly baby Jesus and Mary. We also saw the Natural History museum where we saw massive and expensive rocks, monkeys, birds, cool things like that. We also went into China Town, and since it was Chineese New Year there was music playing, and we saw people in various dragon costumes dancing. The dragons were kissing eachother a bit, and also climbing up in doorways "eating" (or knocking down) lettuce that was tied on a string. We then ate dragon's beard candy. Made of real dragon, of course.
Sunday we went to the British Museum where we saw interesting Greek, Egyptian, Assyrian, and other exhibits (mummies, carvings, rosetta stone, etc.) Cam and I then went to Camden market, which is I guess considered the market where all of the cool kids go. It was almost like Kensington market, but a whole lot bigger, and more like an actual market. When we were leaving, thats when the snow started. From Michael's flat, we witnessnesed some young hooligans getting arrested by the cops. The teenagers here have absolutely NO respect for the cops. They were yelling, swearing, and pushing them, and when the cop cars drove off, the kids who weren't arrested were smacking, and kicking the cars as they drove off.
Monday, after not being able to get to the airport, it was still snowing, and so we walked around the city. Of course we can handle it, we're Canadians, but no one here knows how to deal with it. There were pleanty of snowmen, and people throwing snowballs at people they didn't know. Even the night before, when it had started snowing, kids were so excited by the dusting of snow on the street, that they were making snow angels in the middle of the road, and scrapping off snow from cars to toss snow in their friends faces... also saw kids throwing snow in the face of a homeless man, which wasn't very nice. We got to explore Carnaby street which was the place to be in the swinging sixties.
With my extra day here we were able to walk along the river, and see the Tower of London, London Bridge, Tower Bridge, and and interesting mix of modern buildings, beside old looking buildings.
Basically: I saw a lot. I walked a lot. My feet are sore. I had a great time here. Michael was a great host, Cameron was good company, but I am ready to leave and finally get to Israel. Potentially that will be tomorrow, I'm crossing my fingers! I will try to post pictures soon. I can try to post them on the blog, but if that doesn't work very well, then I may have to post the bulk of them on facebook. So family who doesn't have me on facebook, or doens't have facebook, we'll try to figure out a way around this issue. I miss everyone already.
Love, Elana
Anyways, here in London I've done all sorts of fun touristy things. First day, Cam and I walked around exploring London. We saw Big Ben, parliment, Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, Picadilly circus and Trafulgar square (huge square with all sorts of large fountains, and where- had it been nicer weather- there would have been lots and lots of pigeons. Of course we also managed to have fish & chips, tea & biscuits, Indian food for dinner and had beer at the local pub just a block away.
Saturday Michael and I explored the National gallery where we saw classical art, which was mostly baby Jesus and Mary. We also saw the Natural History museum where we saw massive and expensive rocks, monkeys, birds, cool things like that. We also went into China Town, and since it was Chineese New Year there was music playing, and we saw people in various dragon costumes dancing. The dragons were kissing eachother a bit, and also climbing up in doorways "eating" (or knocking down) lettuce that was tied on a string. We then ate dragon's beard candy. Made of real dragon, of course.
Sunday we went to the British Museum where we saw interesting Greek, Egyptian, Assyrian, and other exhibits (mummies, carvings, rosetta stone, etc.) Cam and I then went to Camden market, which is I guess considered the market where all of the cool kids go. It was almost like Kensington market, but a whole lot bigger, and more like an actual market. When we were leaving, thats when the snow started. From Michael's flat, we witnessnesed some young hooligans getting arrested by the cops. The teenagers here have absolutely NO respect for the cops. They were yelling, swearing, and pushing them, and when the cop cars drove off, the kids who weren't arrested were smacking, and kicking the cars as they drove off.
Monday, after not being able to get to the airport, it was still snowing, and so we walked around the city. Of course we can handle it, we're Canadians, but no one here knows how to deal with it. There were pleanty of snowmen, and people throwing snowballs at people they didn't know. Even the night before, when it had started snowing, kids were so excited by the dusting of snow on the street, that they were making snow angels in the middle of the road, and scrapping off snow from cars to toss snow in their friends faces... also saw kids throwing snow in the face of a homeless man, which wasn't very nice. We got to explore Carnaby street which was the place to be in the swinging sixties.
With my extra day here we were able to walk along the river, and see the Tower of London, London Bridge, Tower Bridge, and and interesting mix of modern buildings, beside old looking buildings.
Basically: I saw a lot. I walked a lot. My feet are sore. I had a great time here. Michael was a great host, Cameron was good company, but I am ready to leave and finally get to Israel. Potentially that will be tomorrow, I'm crossing my fingers! I will try to post pictures soon. I can try to post them on the blog, but if that doesn't work very well, then I may have to post the bulk of them on facebook. So family who doesn't have me on facebook, or doens't have facebook, we'll try to figure out a way around this issue. I miss everyone already.
Love, Elana
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