Life Update

Wow, believe it or not, I'm back! My computer took a bath under my faulty air conditioner a while ago and ever since then it's problem and problem. Turned out to be an easy fix, but things aren't easy without a car! So it took a while... I believe I left off last time right before our field trip to the northern Galilee region. So to summarize, we hiked. Then the next day we hiked. Then I believe we hiked some more.

Don't be fooled by the flat, there was a large large hill to climb at the end.

We returned to home base each night at a hostel right on the Kineret, but this was not just a hostel. Boy was this place beautiful. The palm trees and bright full moon were breathtaking with the lake and mountains in the background. The weather was way cooler up in that area too which made everything 100 times better.

We got a tour of the Sapir Site, one of the most important water pumping systems in the country and one of the most secure areas too. We were also taken on a guided tour of Tzfat, the center of Kabbalistic Judaism. We hiked one mountain called Arbel that involves some very vertical ledges as well as the option of exploring an old crusader fortress!

Yes that is a castle and yes that is very high up

The stories say that an ancient Muslim leader fought a great battle against crusaders in the valley below the mountain. I spent the entire trip trying to avoid walking through the many streams that our trails criss-crossed, hopping from rock to rock, nearly dying on slick logs while most people had given up and just barreled straight on through. But the last day we actually hiked through a stream. Not across the stream, through the stream. We walked through shin-high water and waist-high water (freezing cold I might add) for about 30 minutes, following the stream. It was a little cold and a little dangerous, with many well-hidden rocks just waiting for a toe to stub, but it ended up being one of the most beautiful and interesting hikes on the trip.

After the trip we had about a week and a half vacation for Sukkot for which my boyfriend, Gil, came back from travelling abroad. I stayed with him and his family and spent lots of time sleeping, eating delicious food (only sometimes in a sukkah...), talking to his very large family, and playing with nieces and nephews.

Netanya, where Gil lives, has one of the most beautiful beaches I have ever seen

On the last day of vacation we went camping at Hof Dor, right on this beach with explorable islands, bath water, and PERFECT sand. 

Finally after the holidays. אחרי החגים אחרי החגים. That's all you ever hear Israeli's say that time of year, wait until after the holidays. Everything shuts down for basically a month and people procrastinate any work due anywhere near the time of the holidays to afterwards. Which really is unfortunate if your air condition breaks... Anyways, finally it's after the holidays and real work can finally start because I think all of us were sick of training. Our schedule's work like follows: Sunday is open to variety, Monday and Wednesday mornings from 8am - 1pm is teaching English in Israeli schools, Monday afternoon volunteering in various centers in the Akko community, Tuesday and Thursday mornings for Ulpan (Hebrew classes) and evenings for volunteering in the Druze villages. In between we have some meetings and study sessions. We work a lot...

My placements are in the Ort Hilmi School for Monday/Wednesday which is an Arabic school near the Old City. Unfortunately, I don't get a lot of Hebrew practice there, but the kids are so incredibly excited about learning English and make us feel like rock stars. One volunteer was even asked for her signature. Real Life. Our goal is to make learning more fun than their normally scheduled classes with games and songs and more. The teachers are all very happy to have us there and the past year's volunteers said they had a wonderful experience at this school, so we're hoping for a repeat! So far the kids are amazing. One 7th grader who spoke nearly perfect English was brave enough to demonstrate her outstanding voice in the middle of the hallway between classes with students running around everywhere. And of course she's beautiful... most of the girls are beautiful. She told me that she learned most of her English by listening to songs and watching movies, so I'm taking her advice and starting to accumulate more Hebrew songs and TV shows. I would love to pick up some Arabic while I'm spending so much time there, but without a base in the alphabet it is really hard to remember any of the many words they scream at us daily. We were all surprised to find out when we started learning about our placements that Arab and Jewish students are legally segregated into separate schools, with the Arabic schools clearly receiving much less state funding. It is oddly reminiscent of the US 1950's except that nobody seems to notice it and people here aren't making real strides to try to break this trend. While there are some mixed schools, they are purely optional and not at all common. Before starting here, I did not realize how important English is to these students. It is a required subject on their high school exit exams called Bagrut and without taking one of the higher levels in school (regardless of your exam score) the Arabic students are not allowed to continue their education in university. Jews who are not well-versed in English can still make a decent living and career through other routes including the military (a non-option for Arabic students), but for the lower performing students at Hilmi, this is the end of the road, so I feel like my time spent here is really meaningful which makes getting up so early worth it :)

I teach advanced middle school students (7th-10th grade) who study in the High School building above. 

High School Hallway. The buildings are really new and very well equipped!

The Druze village I will work in is called M'rar and is placed on a mountain with a perfect view of the Kineret.

The girls who work at the Youth Center had their moms and grandmas prepare this "small snack" for us on our first visit. But that wasn't enough, they packed up every crumb of leftovers for us which fed each 6 person apartment for at least two more days. The Druze are known for their hospitality and generous nature if you hadn't already figured that out. 

The Druze are a religion independent of Islam, Judaism, or Christianity and it's really pretty recent. But the unique thing about the Druze is that nobody is allowed to convert to their religion (you must be born to both Druze parents) and much of their belief system is kept secret. There are many non-religious Druze though just like any other religion, and those are mainly the population that I will be working with. There is even a population of Druze in the US! Another unique aspect of the community is that despite their origins, they are highly loyal to whichever country they live in. The ones in Israel are loyal to Israel to the point that they are required by law to serve in the army like every other Jewish citizen (whereas other Arab Israelis are forbidden from the army). While just across the border the Druze in Syria are loyal to the Assad Regime as required by law.

Religious Druze men follow a strict dresscode pictured above and aren't allowed to shave their mustaches!

The girls who volunteer in my youth center are so friendly and welcoming, and while we haven't started working yet, I know I am so lucky to have such a great village. My plan is to teach a science course, but I'm really working to make it as interesting and fun as possible. The course is provided free to the students (truly amazing considering the large supply list the village is buying for my class) which means they are free to come and go as they please. Therefore, it is my job to keep them inspired to continue coming back. Additionally, my job and my goal is not really to teach them science facts and theories, but to get them interested and give them a base for curiosity for their future. I have some fun experiments planned but I am really nervous because of the language barrier. We will have some Arabic-speaking volunteers to help us, but there that barrier is still very present and I can feel has definitely already affected things at Hilmi. 

Sidenote: I learned that  my apartment building has a readily accessible roof! So Cool! As if the sunset views couldn't get any better. 

Aerial-ish view of Akko from my roof!

Other random cool tidbit, Gil taught me how to make sushi, and I kind of rock at it. New hobby for the win! 

That's all I can remember for now from the last month or so, which I think is pretty impressive for one sitting considering my tendency to forget my thought in the middle of sentences...No worries, more to come! This time much sooner I hope.