Update on my ankle

It's sprained. I sprained my ankle. Accidentally landing on a pinecone. How I'm a figure skater with this kind of coordination baffles me. 

What also baffles me is that the medical center at Tzuba told me to just wrap my ankle and it'll feel better soon. I walked around on a sprained ankle for two weeks. Mostly in flip flops which is obviously terrible. 

The hospital gave me a sleeve for my ankle and some exercises to do to strengthen the muscles. They're ones that I've done before so I know how to do them and hopefully it gets better soon. Like very soon. Before Gadna. In three days. 

My first Googly Eyes.

I finally googly eyed something in Jerusalem. I've never felt more accomplished. I really felt like Sammy was standing next to me giggling as I stuck those two little eyes on the stone bulb thing with the old city in the background. If you look hard enough, you can see the Dome of the Rock in the distance. 

I felt it was important to share this experience. Considering it was the first of many. 

Shopping, Skating, and Superfriends

One week filled with many reasons to be thankful. It's only been three weeks here and I already feel at home. It feels like three years but at the same time it feels like two days. (If that makes sense) I really love it here and when my mom would tell people she was afraid I may never come back, she was very right. I never want to leave or anyone on this trip to leave. We can just live here forever as a huge happy family. 

The adventure of the past week really began with shopping on Ben Yehuda street. So filled with life and musicians and stores for everything. If you go to Israel and you don't go to Ben Yehuda street in Jerusalem, you're truly missing out on some amazing Israeli culture. So much bargaining and food and ice cream and jewelry and kippot and PEOPLE! So many people in on place at one time. 

I only bought one thing there, a mud mask with Dead Sea minerals that I have yet to use. But it's very exciting for me. 

The next shopping adventure was a t the shuk in Jerusalem. That may have been the busiest marketplace I have ever been to. In the words of Elah, there were like "500 billion" people there. Obviously that's not true but I thought the way she said it was really funny. 

No matter where we go, we always have to be in groups of three or more. We had five people. It's fun with a lot of people but it's very difficult to keep track of everyone. Surprisingly though, we never lost anyone in the hour and a half we were there. I'm very proud of that. 

The first day we got here, my necklace broke and I lost one of my rings so I have made it my goal to find a necklace and a ring wherever we go. Sadly I haven't found a ring yet but I'm still looking for one that really means something and will look perfect with the rest of my rings. But I did find two very, very pretty necklace charms and a chain. The total was about 67 American dollars for the two charms and the chain, all of which are sterling silver. I'm currently wearing one of them and I absolutely love it. It took me forever to decide which one I wanted and wheb I heard the price of both of them, I decided to get both because why not?

I also bought a pair of elephant pants, falafel lafa(I cannot describe the amazingness that was that falafel. It's an entirely different blog post) and a birthday  present for my brother who turned fifteen on February 16. It's nothing super special but I hope he likes it. I have yet to buy my parents a gift but then again, you always save the best for last. 

Now onto the skating part of this blog. If you're wondering if I'm skating in Israel, I'm bit, sadly. I truly miss it a lot and I miss my babies (my skates) and my coach Yasmin and all my skating friends but that's not what this is about. This section is about the amazing Jason Brown and his Olympic journey. The team event, his short, and his long were all incredible and I really cannot believe that I know him personally. I was unable to watch him skate live, which was very upsetting so I had to keep checking the USFSA's tweets on twitter to see how he was doing. But when it came to his long program, I had no access to twitter and just cell service. My friend Amit went out for the weekend and gave me a second by second update on how he was doing. When they announced his score and when Amit texted me what place he was in, I started crying. Jason, in his first Olympics at only 19 got 9th place out if 30 skaters from all over the world. He even did better than the US's other male skater who was at his second Olympics. I'm incredibly proud of how he did and how determined he is. 

Friends? More like superheroes. At EIE, you have the ability to organize theme days. So I took a chance and organized a super hero day in memory if Superman Sammy Sommer. The amount of support receive from everyone was unbelievable. Even if they didn't dress up, people still came to be a part of the picture. I truly cannot say how thankful I am for this group of about 70 teenagers, so wonderful and who want to give all the love and support in the world to their friend. It hasn't even been a month and everyone has already accepted each other as family. 

I really couldn't ask for a better group of people to be with in Israel. 

Some Interesting Statistics

So for my Jewish History class, every week we have to read an article and write about our reaction to it on our blog.
The article I was assigned this week was the one below on what drives success.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/26/opinion/sunday/what-drives-success.html?emc=eta1&_r=1

Its really interesting to see how a persons ethnicity affects their success. The fact that some stereotypes are actually correct about some people is both disturbing and intriguing and I'm not entirely sure how I feel about it. Being able to succeed based on race isn't something that should be taken lightly. If Asians have a better chance of getting a job than a perfectly able and smart person of any other race JUST because they are Asian is definitely unfair.

Now, that is not the topic of the article, saying one ethnic group has an advantage over another, but that there are recent statistics that "debunk" these stereotypes. I'm just very glad that in today's society people realize that stereotypes are not the truth.

 You can relate that directly to Jews and their stereotypes. Like being good with money, big noses, super religious, greedy, etc. The majority of Jews do not possess these traits. For example, I do not have a big nose, I'm not religious and I'm most definitely NOT good with money.......


If you want an interesting read, I suggest reading this article, its one that I truly enjoyed reading and a topic I really liked learning about.

Gettin down and Dirty - February 7, 2014

Dirt and rocks. Rocks and dirt. Everywhere.


Friday morning we went to a farm in Jerusalem (outside of Jerusalem? I'm not entirely sure).
It wasn't just a plain old farm with nothing really special, it was a VERY special farm. This particular farm gives jobs to teenagers that have dropped out of school, haven't gone to college, or are on the street. It gives them an opportunity to not only get their lives together but it gives them a job in agriculture. There are teachers/therapists that also work to help to get those kids on the right track while working on the farm. 

When we went to the farm, none of them were there because it was Friday and they don't have to work on Fridays. 
Because Jerusalem was basically built on rock, it is hard to get fertile soil, so our job was to go through the huge field they already had plowed a bit and pick up rocks and bring them over to the side.

A few friends and I, to make the job more fun, started singing "Look Down" from my favorite musical "Les Miserables" and plenty of other songs. (We may have gone through the entire first half of the musical.) I truly enjoyed being able to get dirty with friends and sing the greatest songs on the planet.

This went on for two hours. Yes, it was VERY hard work, my back hurts still, my legs are sore, and I'm exhausted but I really don't mind because the faces of those kids when they see they don't have to clear that entire area of rocks is all that really matters. As long as they feel that there are people that are there to support them and want to help them and make sure they get to where they need to be in life is all that should ever be thought of when I think of this experience.

Oh my Goodness- February 5, 2014

Wow.

I have over 1100 views on my blog already. This is unbelievable. I'm very appreciative of how many people actually care about how my trip is going. 

So pretty much this is just a post thanking everyone for supporting me through my adventure in Israel. 

I hope to have more posts very soon considering we are going on more tiyuulim (trips) this weekend. 

Again, thank you so much for caring about what I'm saying and checking my blog.

One Week- February 3, 2014

It has really been one whole week already. This is kinda a crazy thing to think about. 

I have lived at Tzuba for an entire week yet it feels like I've know the people here for my whole life already. I really love them all. We are truly like a family. I've been getting so much more help on my homework here from not only teachers but friends! What a concept. Someone my age coming to help me with homework every night. I have never really appreciated being in the same class as someone until now. 

I'm still getting into the routine of actually doing homework, but I'm definitely not procrastinating as much as I used to which is very exciting for me and my grades. Having someone to come over every night to help with homework and to keep me on task is extremely helpful. (Thanks Sam!)

I can already feel myself learning more and more everyday. Whether it be about Jewish History, Hebrew, or even any of my general studies. Of course I really miss all of my teachers from Deerfield. Quite a lot actually, I'm still learning. And learning very fast. Instead of doing one unit over the course of a few weeks, we do one unit in either a day or a week. It moves fast but its still very easy and the work load doesn't overwhelm me. (Well, at least it hasn't yet.) I'm just so glad to be having this phenomenal opportunity and having the ability to still keep up with my friends back home.

I would also like to say CONGRATULATIONS AND GOOD LUCK TO JASON BROWN AT THE WINTER OLYMPICS IN THREE DAYS! SK8 GR8! So sorry I couldn't meet up with you at the airport yesterday, but considering where I am I know you understand. I love you and Bhatzlacha b' Sochi! <3

The Kotel- February 1, 2014

I've never had a more emotional experience or connection to a single place than the Kotel. 

I hadn't realized that I was actually in Israel until I actually saw the wall. I turned the corner after going through security and it hit me. I'm in Israel, standing at the most holy place in our entire religion. It was an overwhelming feeling to be at a place that 2000 years ago, people had the exact same footing that I did, that people stood in the same exact spot that I did. As soon as I walked into the women's side of the wall, emotion took over and my eyes filled with tears. I have never appreciated a place so much in my life. I walked slowly towards the wall taking it all in, crying like I'd never felt such a sense of belonging. I never thought it would be such a big deal to go visit. I always thought it would just be one of those really cool things to see but I was genuinely happy to be there. I even hesitated to touch the stones that made up the Kotel. And as soon as I did, I almost collapsed. I kept my hand on the wall for much longer than I probably thought I did. I connected so deeply to, what is only a wall to some people. I felt as though I was one with the wall and all the women around me. The words to truly describe this experience cannot be found at the moment. The spiritual side of me really came out today when I touched the Kotel. It was by far the most wonderful experience I had.

Before we actually entered the Kotel area, our Madrichim (counselors) gave us a bit of a native plant to Jerusalem and a slip of paper for meditation which I didn't read until I stepped back from the wall and was about thirty feet away from it I finally pulled out the slip of paper. It said, "You stand before the Kotel, the holiest of places. If you could transport any person (living or deceased) to this spot right now to share in this experience with you who would you bring and why?" I immediately thought of Sammy Sommer. Low and behold, the tears started streaming again, because this beautiful young boy would never have the chance to see this absolutely unbelievable and holy place again. It truly broke my heart, and I know it breaks all of his family's hearts, especially Phyllis and Michael. They are the two strongest and loving parents that I know and I love them more than anything. They are like my second family and Sammy's loss was hard for not only their family, but mine as well. The Sommer family was on my mind all night and even after the experience at the Kotel.

We left the Kotel to go to a Debbie Friedman memorial service where they sang "Those who sow" which was sung at Sammy's funeral. I'm so lucky to have had been sitting by so many beautiful and caring human beings during that song because I started to cry again. Its been a little more than a month and its still very raw that this amazing, strong eight year old boy, full of life and wonder, had to leave us so soon. I'm still very appreciative that I have the opportunity to be in Israel with my googly eyes to put all over and all my friends that are here for me whether we are super close or not. I love them all and I love the Sommer family more than one could imagine.

The Kotel will always be the most special place, most definitely causing tears everytime I think about it and/or go there. I'm very glad that my first experience was with people I trust and people I will be living with for the next four months.

The First Shabbat- January 31, 2014

The first Shabbat. What a Shabbat it was. Getting to sleep for four hours after the dig, getting to take a nice long, hot shower, getting all dressed up and pretty, wearing make up for the first time since Sunday. I didn't even mind services at all. It was all so much fun. 

After services and dinner and oneg Shabbat, we had a party. Like a crazy dance party. In a bomb shelter. With Israelis. TURN DOWN FOR WHAT???? It was awesome. Dancing for hours with lights flashing and music blasting. I'm actually surprised I can hear. It was maybe the most fun I've had in months. Then again, I've never actually been to a party like that. I've been to b'nai mitzvot and homecoming but those are nothing in comparison to crazy that was the bomb shelter party. 

Shabbat was super fun and I really don't want to wait another week to have that kind of fun again.

The First Tiyuul - January 31, 2014

I don't think I've ever loved a history lesson more in my life. 

We went to on a field trip (tiyuul) for the first time. To an archaeological dig. Not only did we get a chance to dig to find 2000 year old pieces of pottery but we also go to visit grave sites from around the time of the first temple and then around the Byzantine era. The differences in the two were incredible. I have never felt more intrigued in history. Israel is one of those places where everything around you is history whether you know it or not and learning about Kvar Bish (the hill where the people lived that we were learning about) was an experience that will definitely stay with me forever. 

We did have the opportunity to crawl through a man made tunnel, but because of the condition of my ankle I decided it probably wasn't the best idea. So I sat above the tunnels just looking over 

Jerusalem. It was beautiful. I took so many pictures. I couldn't believe how amazing everything looked from all the way on top of that hill.