Mah?

Greetings from the Holy Land! It has been a hectic week, although it feels like it's been several months worth of experiences. I spent the first several days traveling to Israel by way of New Jersey and Brussels. My wonderful family in Jersey took some time away from bailing buckets of water from their hurricane flooded basement to host me before I left for Israel. It was a break from the stress and compulsive planning that filled the weeks leading up to my departure. I had a 10 hour layover in Brussels and took the opportunity to explore in Europe. Brussels was quite charming and I had half a mind to stay there and spend the next several months drinking wine and eating chocolate on the patio of a cafe.

Brussels

I arrived in Israel very very late/early on Thursday and spent my first night sleeping on the rooftop patio of one of the Kiryat Shalom apartments. Tel Aviv is more humid than I recalled and the heat was unbearable. The next night was spent on the roof as well. After a short orientation day we drove 4 hours south to Kibbutz Ketura, which is also home to the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies. We spent the weekend continuing our orientation and bumming around the kibbutz, which had the most delightful pool! I opted to go to the Shabbat service hosted by the kibbutz which I was shocked to find out was completely in Hebrew. Go figure, right? I've definitely had a few "uh, DUH" moments since I've been here and each one is more humbling than the last.

Protestor at the Million Man March in Eilat

 I'm adjusting with the elegance and grace we've all come to expect from me. It has definitely been difficult. It's a new place- new streets, grocery stores, bus lines, language, food, expectations, ect. I began Ulpan classes today. We spent 4 hours in the class- the first was spent talking almost entirely in Hebrew. I can only say a few things in Hebrew- please, thank you, yes, no, you're handsome, you're a toilet, where is the toilet... Being immersed in a totally foreign language is frustrating and quite damaging to the psyche. I felt like a small child again, without the same ability or freedom to experiment and make mistakes with the new language I am acquiring. This is the first time in quite some years that I've allowed myself to try something I do not immediately understand or do well with. I am determined to succeed and fully intend to work my butt off.

I begin visiting possible volunteer sites tomorrow and am already concerned about the difficult choices I have in my future. Although I will visit 8 sites, I will only choose 2 or 3 to spend my time with. I am particularly excited about several sites- A nursing home for disable young adults, The Holland House which is a center for children ages 1-3 with special needs, Save a Child's Heart which aims to provide quality cardiac care for children from around the world, and Hagar and Miriam which assists new mothers from the refugee and asylum community that I am living very close to. I imagine each volunteering site will evoke very powerful and undeniable emotions, which I am looking forward to feeling.

Tel Aviv is more secular than I realized and I am feeling a disconnect from the passion I felt last time I was here. I have had little time to actively seek out spiritual experiences and I hope to have some free time within the next few weeks to spend in Jerusalem. The adjustment process will continue, I will fall into a schedule, which will be (eagerly) disrupted by the High Holy Days in just a few weeks. I have a feeling these next 5 months will go by very quickly.

Sun set on the Mediterranean Sea in Jaffa