The End Of A Semester!
I cant believe the first semester is actually over! Its was a crazy ride that was the perfect start to my Nativ adventure. Finals were stressful but I am glad I passed all my classes! Winter break started at the end of the month of December until January 12th. Everyone (including me) was counting down the days until they either went to europe, flew back to America, or whatever they were doing. Me? I could not wait to go visit my friend Lucy Needleman in England.
Hold on a second! Before I can talk about what I did during winter break, I need to talk about the preparations that had to be made before we all could go off and enjoy 2 weeks of vacation. On the erev nativ, during finals week, maybe a week before break, we are told we have to pack EVERYTHING up in our rooms before we leave for break. WHAT? are you kidding me? Do you know how much stuff there is in my room? I have been living there for 5 months after all...well, I better get started (BTW this was before our finals were over).
having to pack up room 624 was one of the most stressfull things I have ever done. The reason? There were so many rules to follow when packing. first, we need to pack everything that we dont need until we get to Karmiel. These things we wontt see until we get up north. ok, so thats first. Second, pack things you are going to take with you on vacation. easy enough right? Well not really, because we ALSO have to pack for our Southern Tiyul. Do you think nativ could have made it any more difficult? No, I dont think so either.
I finally get everything packed and all my finals finished..suddenly the first batch of people start to leave to go on vacation including my roomate Debra Goss and my boyfriend Ari. It was sad, but at the same time, it made me so much more excited for my own winter break to start.
BYE BYE NATIV 30 SEMESTER 1 :)
Say "Marshmallow" : Hello England!
It was surprisingly easy to wake up at 4 a.m in the morning on December 31 becuase I knew by the end of the day I would be in London, England. It was also exciting because I knew when the sun came up in Jerusalem, my parents would be in the apartment. Why did I have to get up if my flight was not till 9:30? well, I did it not only becuase I was scared out of my mind of having everything run smoothly, but my flight was in Tel Aviv and I live in Jerusalem. I was so scared becuase not only have I not flown by myself very much, but I have never flown internationally before.
Thankfully everything went off without a hitch. The sherut taxi picked me up at 5:30 infront of agron and I was on my way! I got to the airport with time to spare, and thank godness I did becuase I had to go through special bag checks becuase the jars of jam I was bringing as a gift looked very suspicious. Finally sitting at my gate with a 2 hour wait, the anticipation took over!
Well, something happened in Heathrow airport after I stepped off the plane...I took the longest walk of my life. Heathrow has the longest hallways! Thankfully I finally get to the exit and I look around for Lucy. I didnt find her though becuase before I could have a good look, someone ran up and embraced me. It was Lucy. I was so excited!!! I got my Luggage and we walked outside to her car. I walked right up to her car and then realized that...yup, I am standing on the wrong side. This was the first of many times I did that while visiting England.
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| Me infront of Big Ben in London |
Lucys house was beautiful and her family was even nicer. After catching up for a bit, we got ready for New Years. We went to my other friend Olivias house where all of Lucys friends were to hang out and enjoy bringing in the New Years. My Other friend Josh eventually came over too. It was so nice seeing everyone again! As we counted down, I looked back on the past few months a realized that this year has been one of the best years of my life, and I still have many more great months in Israel to look forward to.
The next day was reserved for family and Downtown Abbey. My cousin James came and picked me up from Lucys house early in the morning. I had alot of people to see so I had to start early :). I had such a great time at brunch and just meeting and spending time with my England family.
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| Family in England |
I can certinly see how we are all related. I felt so comfertable and right at home with them. I cant wait to visit them again. After, it was time to watch Dowtown Abbey. It is a show that Lucy got me hooked on. It was overall a great day. Plus, we had to go to bed early becuase we had a busy day the next day seeing all the sites in London.
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| FINALLY MEXICAN FOOD! (I found one of the only mexican places in London) |
London is such a beautiful place. I was so excited to start our day. To start we took the Central London Tubeo from where Lucy lived to central London! Who knew the train could be so much fun. I saw Big Ben, The London Eye, and Buckingham Palace too just to name a few. But something that was special was that Lucy showed me things that people who were on regular tours would not see. For example, Fotrnum&Mason (where the queen gets her food), Selfridges&Co, The street where Annie asked her mom about the "F" word (father) in the movie "The Parent Trap", The Ritz, and Old Bond Street. There is so much to see in England, I know I did not get to see everything, so I guess I just have to go back :) I know you dont think that I went all the way to England to only site see? Next we went shopping! Lucy took me to all the stores that she loves that I dont have in America. The last stop on our tour of the shops was Top Shop. This store was huge but it was also really amazing. That night I made sure to find the only mexican resturant in London and that is where we went to dinner.
It was Lucys first time and I am sure that she loved it. It was so nice going to a regualr mexican restuant becuase in Israel there is a lack there of. I was going through withdrawl and It really hit the spot.
Over the next few days we kept really busy by going to Camden and by just spending time together. The food in England is really good also. It didnt matter what we were doing or eating lol , if it was Fish and Chips with Lucys' family or the entire bag of sweet jalepeno kettle chips I ate every second during my trip, The experience was amazing and I cant wait to go back very soon.
The Easton Family Comes to Israel
It was so nice when I stepped out of the airport back in Israel to have my parents there waiting for me. I had not seen my parents for about 4 months and unfortunatly I missed them a little bit. I knew that Cindy Easton was going to have the break planned to the T and It was good she did. There was so much to do in such a short amount of time. We stayed in a beautiful apartment on Emek Refaim in Jerusalem. It was so nice to have my parents here to take care of me for a few weeks.
We went to see my mom's little sister Iris and her family and we also spend the day with our cousin Ruth. It is nice to spend time with the family we have in Israel. Of course we went to visit Tel Aviv University to see where my parents met. While we walk through the campus there is a chorus of "Oh this looks so different" and "Remember this street?" and of course "If only we had this supermarket next to the dorms life would have been so much easier!" It was nice to reminise wth my parents over living in Israel as a college student. It was so much fun just spending time with my family but there was one thing I could not get out of my mind. OUR TRIP TO EILAT AND PETRA!
I was so excited to go to Petra. I have not been to many foreign countries and I was excited to put Jordan on my list. Eilat was beautiful and WARM! The ride down was easy and quick, only about 3 to 4 hours (I think) from Jerusalem. We stayed in a really nice hotel right next to the water and board walk. We had a few days to spare until Petra so we explored Eilat. It had been a really long time since my mom had been to Eilat and she was shocked to see how much it had changed. I think she was slightly dissapointed in how crowded Eilat had become with buidlings and tourists. During those few free days we went and layed out on the beach (My mom was determined to lay out no matter the temperature) and we also went to the Underwater Observatory Marine Park. It was so nice (although I wish Lisa was there)...but I was still so excited to go to Petra...excdept for the part where I had to get up at like 6 in the morning..
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| The car we took to the boarder ... |
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| Beach In Eilat |
We woke up at the crack of dawn and got a quick breakfast. When my dad walked in and told us the van was here we ran outside and were stopped in our tracks. I thought we were going to see a little van that would take us to the boarder of Jordan and Israel...Instead we saw a truck with an open back and no seatbelts waiting for us. I wish I had taken a picture of my dads face because it was priceless. we all got into the van and we started on our way to the boarder. Just to make things more fun the van didnt go on the main roads, we turned off and went on some dirt crazy road..Good thing my dad took a motion sickness pill before we left :) Boarder control was no hassel however the ride up was kind of rough though. we stopped about 30 times to "see the land" and "buy important Petra items" which really means lets stop so the driver can smoke. Finally after sitting in between the driver and my dad in the front seat becuase they didnt have enough room in the van we get to Petra.
Petra was so beautiful! It was such a nice walk and seeing how they built things in the walls and seeing the original stones in the ground was amazing. I took so many pictures and actually enjoyed the tour ( dont tell my mom ). I enjoyed everything except the 2 obnoxious AMERICAN boys who made me embarassed to be from the America making rude and innapropriate comments and who could care less about the amazing sights in Petra. We spent all day in Jordan and It was such a great day.
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| Petra |
I had the best winter break ever but it was time to go back to Nativ and I was so excited to see everyone and hear about what they did during break! We didnt have much time to relax at Beit Nativ becuase we had to get ready for our southern tiyul.
Welcome to Karmiel!!
The 7 hour bus ride from Eilat to Karmiel went by really fast. I slept most of the way and the rest of the time there were movies playing at the front of the bus. When we first arrived in Karmiel it was such a beautiful sight! There was so much green compared to where we just were in the desert.
After a few minuites we pull up next to a large gray and orange building. This is where we are going to be living for the next 4 months. Its called the Mercaz Clita. It is in the middle of Karmiel right next to the Karmiel Bus Station. As we get into our new apartment (number 1518- but is actually on the 4th floor) we look around and start to put everthing in its place. We have a main room where our drawers and closet it and also it turns off into a small kitchen with a sink 2 sets of shelves and a countertop where we put a toaster, a hotplate, and a blech. In the living area there is a small table, a couch/bed, three chairs, and a full lenght mirror. Then there is the bedroom and bathroom areat that is behind door number 2. In the beedroom there is one single bed and one bunk bed. I took the top bunk. Then the bathroom has a shower (that really sucks because it is just a curtain and then an indented floor meaning water gets everywhere) with a doodad. a doodad is what we call the switch we have to turn on when we want hot water. In the bathroom there also of course is a toilet and a sink. The apartment is small, but when we finished organizing things and made the apartment more like home, it is a great place to live.
I work at Gan Iris and I LOVE working there. I work from Sunday to Thursday. I start work at 8:30 and end at about 3:30. The kids are 5 or 6 years old and are the cutest things ever! I help the kids and the ganenets with whatever they need. The gan is exhausting but one of the greatest parts of the gan is that no one speaks english...not even the teachers. It really makes me work on my hebrew and it makes my hebrew better. That is one of my favorite things about working in the gan. I look forward to wokring at the gan for the rest of my time in Karmiel.
I know Karmiel has so much to offer and I cant wait to explore it all!! Spring break is soon and I am excited to relax and enjoy norther Israel and all the beaches that are near Karmiel.
PURIM IN JERUSALEM!
My purim experience in Jerusalem with nativ started out amazing! On that thursday, my friend Debra and I went to visit our friends on Year Course and joined them when they went to a Year Course Party. There was dancing and singing and it was so much fun! I was a Hippie and my friend Debra was a bumble bee. It was a great way to start off our purim experience.
Nativ finally all gets together right outside Jerusalem in a beautiful hotel. We started our weekend off with celebrating shabbat. Anytime nativ spends shabbat together all together it is a sight to see. It makes shabbat so much more special. We rested, ate (this hotel had the BEST FOOD I HAVE EVER HAD!) and had really great study sessions. The study sessions were based on topics from drinking during purim to our college experience on a large campus. Shabbat was great but there was still only one thing on everyones mind..PURIM.
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| Debra and I at the Young Judea Party |
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| Me with Ari the Banana! |
We were so excited to dress up for Purim! My friend Debra and I were a bumble bee and a lady bug! We all got dressed in our costumes and took pictures and then headed down stairs to hear the megilah. It was one of the most fun megilah readings because I was surrounded by friends. After we had a dance and karaoke. Everyone just forgot about any stress in their lives and just relaxed and had an amazing time!
Sadly...I got really sick after that with strep and didnt get to take part in any other Nativ Purim activites which included a parade and spending time in Jerusalem.
