Teaching in Netanya

A year of education in Israel

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Some photos from my trip to Poland. These photos represent places and objects that we use to memorialize the lost. It is important to never forget!

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There is something so inspiring about seeing my Jewish friends walking through Aushwitz former concentration camp, proudly donning the Israeli flag over their shoulders. A great atrocity happened here; many Jews entered and never left. But today, we enter to learn and remember. Today, we, Jews, will leave Aushwitz and promise to pass on the lessons and memories.

לחיים יהודים! 🇮🇱🕯

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Poland Trip- Journal 3

Monday May 16, 2016:

Yesterday, we visited Auschwitz and Birkenau. It was the big day everyone was expecting on the trip to be the most impactful and emotional, as Auschwitz is one of largest camps, where most Jews were illed. I had a few conflicting expectations, so I wasn’t really sure what to think upon my entrance. Of my prior expectations, two were most promenant: 1. My experience at Dachau- a smaller camp in Germany- was somewhat authentic. It was left mostly undisturbed and we could get up close and personal with the structures, so it was possible to see how it was when the prisoners lived there. Bunk beds and bathrooms were left in the original places, some of which was open to walk through and touch. The camp was barren and sad looking. Not a place anyone should live. 2. I have been told that Auschwitz is ironically beautiful. People complained that it actually looks so nice, much of the authenticity and horrors of the camp are gone. People say they cannot believe such things happened in such a nice place. Maybe this would affect my experience. How can you see Auschwitz for the horror it really was if the restorers made it look nice?

Upon entering the camp, I found that the second expectation was actually quite accurate. Everything was beautiful. The buildings were brick, built in a charming German storybook style. The lawns were green and trees lined the paths. Modern looking informational signs preceded each site. Inside each building was renovated to look like a modern museum. Everything was very clean and well kept. Thousands of people died here? It’s hard to believe. In addition, the authenticity of everything as stripped. It was like a tourist attraction. Before we entered the camp, there was a restaurant and a souvenir booth. Inside the camp, as I said, each building was renovated. Original artifacts and structures were removed- replaced by displays and glass showcases. 

So I thought why it had bothered me. I am still at the original site. Obviously, it’s impossible to keep everything as it originally was and have thousands of visitors file through daily. This is still where it all happened though, and there’s plenty of artifacts on display to see the real thing. I guess in the end, I’ve been to a lot of Holocaust museums. After a while, you see the same things. Old shoes and jewelry and pots from those who were lost. Disturbing photos of Jews working at the camps. Stories shared by survivors. Maps and statistics on big displays. A few videos of Nazis saluting Hitler. I guess I’ve always felt completely disconnected. I know it was a disturbing period in history and despise everything that happened, but I feel the ultimate way to really feel what happened is to try to see it through the eyes of a victim. See the horrors the went through and how they lived. I feel that the current set up didn’t even bring me close to that. 

There were two exhibits that eventually brought me to tears. First, one of hair. A 30 foot long showcase containing tons of hair that was shaved from the prisoners. Even more disturbing, fabric that was made from the hair- used to clothe future prisoners. The second exhibit, a simple white room with projections of videos on the walls. The videos were of Jews around Europe before the war. Enjoying their lives and living carefree.

And I think what disturbs me most about all of this is the beauty of Jewish culture that were lost. These innocent people who had beautiful hair and beautiful lives and happiness. They had families and jobs. They celebrated holidays and went to school. They shared traditions and bought clothes. Six million Jews. I think the best thing we can do today is to renew their traditions. Some Jews survived and the memories of their lives survived. We can bring the Ashkenazi European Jews back from near extinction!

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Poland Trip- Journal 2 Part 2

Preparation for Auschwitz and Birkenau Concentration Camps:

In order to prepare for Aushwitz, our group organizer, Ben, had us get into pairs and talk for 5 minutes each about our thoughts and feelings under the context that we would be visiitng Aushwitz the next day. At the end of the 5 minutes, te other partner was expexted to ask an unrelated, and maybe trivial question, to bring the talker back to the present. I spoke first. I told my partner my thoughts that hadformed throughout the day. I spoke about how I had thought about Jewish Ashkenazi life before and after the Holocaust and how I wanted to see how the camp fit into the great puzzle. How did it effect certain things and how was it affected by certain things. In adition, I was nervous because I was afraid I would feel disconnected and emotionless throughout the tour. I feel like I should be very emotional about something like this, and I’m afraid I won’t react that way. I am afraid I will see it as simply a museum exhibit, and still not truly understand the reality of what happened. 

My partner asked me asked me what my plans were for next weekend when we return to Israel.

I wrote in my journal about my partner’s monologue and his feelings about the experience. I think his feelings are realy important and gave me something to think about in myself as well. I keep them in my thoughts, but I will not be sharing what he said. The conversation was very personal for both of us, and I believe his discussion is not for me to share publicly. 

Finally, as Shabbat came to a close, we celebrated Havdallah. In Havdallah, we distinguish the past from present and present from future, as we distinguish Shabbat from the rest of the week. At the same time, we posed the iea of distinguishing memory from making memories..How will we best remember theHolocaust and the lives that were lost? And how will we use these memories to move forward and renew the Jewish community of Poland and around the world?

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Poland trip- Journal 2 Part 1

Sunday, May 15, 2016:

Yesterday was our first full day in Krakow. Althought it was also Shabbat, so we ha a very relaxed day. We were not required to meet until 1:00 PM, so I slept in and spent the morning visiting museums around Krakow.

first, I went to the “I Remember...” Museum. This museum is small and the current exhibit was a collection of paintings by the father of a Holocaust survivor, Haim Goldberg, who painted many pieces depicting typical Jewish life before the war. Paintings depicted people working at their jobs, playing instruments, spending time with family, and celebrating holidays. It gave insight into the lives of Jews, because they really had a rich history prior to the Holcaust. It showed exctly what Judaism in Europe had become, and really how sad it is that this beautiful culture was wiped out. I also went to the Schindler Factory museum. I’ve actually never seen Schindler’s List but this is a real-life factory where Schindler employed many Jews that ultimately saved his life. The museum was a bit disappointing, as the factory didn’t give any information about it’s personal history, but rather was converted into a museum giving general information about WWII and the Holocaust in Krakow. It did, however, make me think about businesses like this, which saved many Jews. 

Note from later: An important question was brought up later in my trip- the “righteous gentiles”- non-Jews who employed Jews risked their own lives to do so. Did they do it to be good people? Or purely selfish reasons? On May 15 we had also visited an Apteka, or a pharmacy, which employed Jews and ultimately saved their lives. Often, these righteous gentiles employed Jews for their own benefit- since Jews owed their lives, they came as cheap labor and were a financial benefit. Do these righteous gentiles deserve the honor they are given or not?

At 1:00, we met up at the restaurant for lunch- typical Masa Kosher meal- and had a group conversation with Dara Bramson, an American woman who is living and studying the Holocaust and Jewish Community in Poland. She began with an exerise where we had to determine is 3 groups of people were perpetrators or victims- Nazis, Poles, and Jews. Personally, I categorized Nazis are perpetrators, and Poles/Jews as victims. However, many people were unsure of what to say. This proved a point about how ambiguous information about the Holocaust is. Many statistics are also unknown, such as the exact number of Jews living in Poland today. One thing that really stands out in my memory was a discussion we had with Dara about the revival of Jewish culture and professional representation in mainstream culture in Poland. What surprises me most is that it was not until the 21st century that Jews are beginning to become apparent in eastern European society. For example, the Krakow JCC is less than 10 years old and universities are seeing their first Jewish professors in decades.

After talking with Dara, we went to the Galicia museum where we looked at a collection of photos depicting the dreary remnants of the Holocaust around Poland. We subsequently sat down to listen to the story of Holocaust survivor, Pania Zosia, where she told us her personal life story. She said she was born in 1935, her only family was her parents. She was lucky that at a young age, she lived with a Polish family disguised herself as a Christian Pole. She avoided the consequences of being Jewish during the time of WWII, but at the price that she had to give up her Jewish identity for most of her life and never knew most ofher family. Today, she embraces her Jewish identity. She is an active member at the JCC and the Jewish choir in Krakow. She has a family with grandchildren. One big question that many of us have is, “Why didn’t all of the remaining Polish Jews leave Poland after survivng the Holocaust? Why stay in such a traumatizing place filled with cruel memories?” The truth is, the answer is different for every person. Pania’s personal reason was that she wanted to move to Israel and really tried. However, she could not get her hands on a passport at the time. She ended up settling down where she was and raising a family. She didn’t explain past that, but it seems that once she settled down, she found Krakow tolerable to live out the rest of her life. I suppose, it is her home, after all. 

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Masa-WILF Poland Delegation 2016- Journal 1

Saturday, May 14, 2016:

Yesterday, on May 13, we arrived in Poland. I am on a Masa trip with 28 other Jews who are teaching and interning in Israel for 5-10 months.We came to Krakow first. On day 1, we immediately began our program straight off the plane. We went to the Krakow JCC t hear about the JCC and meet the young adult Jews who live in Krakow. It was really interesting because they are the revival of the Jewish community in Krakow. Since Judaism was eliminated or hidden, it didn’t just spring back suddenly after the holocaust. Many of these young adults were just told a year or two ago that they were Jewish. They had never known because their grandparents- the last survivors of the Holocaust- were still uncomfortable making their Jewish identity public. So, they waited until old age or the end of their life to even tell their family that they are Jewish. Many Jewish Poles in the 21st century have grown up simply non-religious, Some of these Jews embraced the Jewish culture while maintaining a non-Jewish identity while others truly took an interest and became Orthodox

After, we toured the Rama Synagogue and a Jewish cemetery. The synagogue, interestingly, was constructed and decorated in a similar style to the Catholic churches. Why? Because Jews wanted the non-Jewish locals to feel comfortable and not think Judaism was some exotic, foreign religion. They wanted to blend in with non-Jewish society. 

Later that night we also went to a Shabbat service at an Orthodox synagogue. This was actually my first experience going to service at an Orthodox synagogue. Honestly, I wasn’t crazy about it. The women hid behind a wall so the men could not see them. This is a religious requirement. I could not see the rabbi or the bima, only hear what they were saying. However, they spoke only in Hebrew and prayed so fast I could not even attempt to follow in the prayerbook. It seemed that the omen were using the time as a social hour- even the Orthodox women- doing more talking than praying. I ended up leaving early. Orthodox Judaism is not for me.

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Return from Hiatus

Hi there! I hope you didn’t miss me too much! It’s been a long 6 months since my last post. I have quite a few reasons for not sharing, which I hope will explain themselves through my final posts. To update you, early spring is a pretty uneventful time in Israel. I did a lot of teaching, not much of particular interest. As far as my teaching in general, not much has changed from the beginning, but now I am able to look back and reflect on what I’ve learned from this experience. The only particular days of interest are the English Day carnivals my group held at each school, which I will write about in it’s own post. 

My next posts will not be related to education, but rather an experience that just occurred last week. I was chosen among 40 participants to travel to Poland on a trip to study the Holocaust, Jewish renewal, and tie it all together with the concept of leadership. I would like to share my journals and thoughts from the trip, which I believe have really impacted my way of looking at the bigger picture. Some see the Holocaust as a historical event. I now know it is much more than that. I believe this experience is actually important to my development as a teacher. I have been given an experience to dive deeper into a subject and think critically about it. Please read my journal entries to learn about my experiences!

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Check out this awesome video put together by Masa Tlalim! The recording was done while we were visiting Ein Gedi and I even make an appearance at the end! Also, meet some of my fellow Masa participants!

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Sunrise hike in Ein Gedi

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Featured on Masa Tlalim’s Facebook page once again! Thanks Masa Tlalim!

Click here to see the post!

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אני לומדת עברית

For my American friends, the title of this post reads “Ani lomedet Ivrit,” or “I learn Hebrew,” in English. I have always wanted to be fluent in a second language, but I find it very difficult when I am not immersed in the language. For example, I attempted fluency in Spanish. I took 6 years of Spanish classes including 2 years of International Baccalaureate Spanish in high school and a semester of conversational Spanish in college. I know some Spanish, but I am far from fluent. 

I decided that this is my chance! I am living in Israel for a full year, so I must grab the opportunity to learn the national language- Hebrew! I started from nothing. Literally. The only words I knew before I moved here were shalom (hello/peace), ima (mom), sheket (quiet), and bavakasha (please). Today I couldn’t believe it. I found myself speaking to my students and understanding their responses! In two months, I know as much Hebrew as I knew in 6 years of Spanish classes. In two more months, I do not expect to be fluent, but I definitely see myself communicating with common people! 

I have never before had the experience of having a conversation in a second language. It is so amazing to pull words I never knew before and use them to talk to someone. People who once avoided me now talk to me, knowing that I will make an effort to speak their language. Even when I speak incorrectly, they smile and show that they appreciate the effort. Often they help correct my mistakes and I appreciate their help. I found that the more I can communicate with my students, the more they cooperate with me. The used to assume they could fool around since they didn’t understand me and I couldn’t tell them not to fool around. But now they know I can talk to them so they cooperate with me. 

Currently ability: I can have a basic conversation with a child about schoolwork. Goals: 1. I want to have a conversation with an adult (several sentences exchanged).  2. I want to read a children’s book in Hebrew.

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Classroom Management

I had avoided reporting on my teaching for a couple weeks as nothing had really change. The schedule did not exist, no plans were made, students were unruly... overall, it was really stressful and I felt as if I had nothing positive to say. 

However, I can finally report that progress is being made and organization is developing! Two weeks ago, I sat down with the English teacher to develop an official schedule and determine the plans for the week after (which occurred last week). Last week, I finally saw the plans being implemented. It was amazing. When I had used plans that were determined in advance with students I would see on a regular basis, the students behaved and actually showed eagerness to learn! Previously, they were unruly, disruptive, loud, and actually argued that they wanted to play games instead of working. I cannot believe how cooperative the same students were when given structure!

Of course, the schedule wasn’t perfect. We still received some students who were unwilling to follow the rules. These students were promptly removed from our group, as we were told it was not our job to deal with uncooperative students. Also, some students were sick or were moved to different English classes so our schedule is still in the process of being modified and some lack of structure still occurred. Overall, it was a major improvement. 

What have I learned? Structure is the most essential key to classroom management. Consequences are only a remedy to a problem that already exists. Structure often prevents many of those problems so consequences never need to be implemented. I do not need to demand quiet from the students if they aren’t talking in the first place. I do not need to threaten students that they will have to go back to the classroom if they are not running around the room. Preventing the problem is key!

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From Africa to Israel

The past two weeks have been pretty stagnant in regards to progress in school. A schedule was finally determines, and my partner and I finally received the teacher’s plans for the next week so we could begin preparing our own lessons. However, we are still not receiving the students written on the schedule, communication between the teachers, the teachers with us, and the teachers with the school seems to be very low. This makes things complicated and frustrating. We spoke to our host teacher as well as our Masa group leader a few times, and the overall response is that it will take a couple more weeks to get into the swing of things (even though it is already two months into the program). 

What is worth mentioning is my Israeli culture education for the week. Last Sunday, my group went to Tel Aviv to discuss the migration of Africans to Israel. Many of these people are coming from Eritrea and Sudan. They are not Jewish. Why are they coming to Israel?

We took a tour through South Tel Aviv, the neighborhood where these people are living. As soon as we enter the area, we notice the extreme difference between this neighborhood and the rest of Tel Aviv. This is clearly the more impoverished area of Tel Aviv. Shops and homes are set up in shacks with corrugated metal roofs and are surrounded by piles of trash. People are hanging out in the streets everywhere. 

This is how the people from Africa live. To answer why they are here, we met a man from Eritrea. I do not remember his actual name so I will call him Dan. Dan was born and raised in Eritrea. He was an athletic star in his country. Attractive, athletic, and well known. Things changed when his cousin was arrested and never seen again. He fought to find his cousin, but his fighting only made things worse- the government threatened his life and his family’s life. As a result, he fled Eritrea alone at the age of 17. On his way, he passed through Sudan and Egypt. Why didn’t he stop in these countries? Simple. He was not Muslim. He was Christian. They knew he was an outsider and he would be killed or arrested for having escaped to their country. The only country in the area Dan knew would be safe was Israel. Israel is the only country in the area that will not punish outsiders. Dan made this difficult journey, and while he is not considered a citizen in Israel and does not have the full benefits of citizenship, he says he is very happy to be here and feels much safer than he ever did in Africa. 

However, the topic is controversial. Some see Israel as a safe haven and allowing refugees is a positive thing. However, some see them as infiltrators who only bring harm to the country. We then heard from an Israeli man from South Tel Aviv. I will call him David. David’s family has been living in South Tel Aviv since before the growth of the African community. In the past 30 years, more and more Africans, in the thousands, have them fleeing to Israel. Some call them refugees and some call them infiltrators, depending on their view. David sees them as infiltrators. Why? Because when they enter Israel, the country didn’t know what to do with them. They legally aren’t allowed to stay, but Israel knows if they are sent back to their countries, they will be immediately killed. So, Israel simply sends them all to South Tel Aviv. This is why their community has grown there. Not by their own choice, but simply because this is where the bus took them. David found that since they began to settle in South Tel Aviv, crime has gone up and property value has gone down. They put his father out of business since they were offering to do the same job for less money. He feels that allowing them to stay is bad. He believes it is unfair to send them to his home where his family already had a tough life, making their life tougher. 

What should the country do with these people? Are they a positive cultural addition to Israel? Are they harming Israeli society? Should Israel take pride in being a safe haven for refugees? Or do the refugees not belong in a nation built for Jews? These are questions I cannot answer, but important to be aware of.

Fast forward one week: This Sunday we went to Beit Hayedidut- the Ethiopian community center. We met a man named Yossi who told us about his life and the immigration of Ethiopians from Africa to Israel. Like the Eritrean and the Sudanese migrants, he came from a difficult country which persecuted citizens simply for being different. His family endured a difficult travel through Muslim African countries, he spent many months in prisons, and lost much of his family and friends. However, when he arrived, he was welcomed. The question is: Why are Ethiopians welcomed, but all other Africans are not welcomed by Israelis. The answer is simple: The Ethiopians who arrive are Jewish. Why are they Jewish? There have been many theories. However, a community of Jews continues to live in Ethiopia and have been living there since ancient times. Many Ethiopian Jews flee their country for Israel in hopes for a more accepting community and a better life. Still, some prejudice exists towards the Ethiopians, but not nearly as much as towards the non-Jewish African counterparts. 

And so the moral dilemma continues: Who has the right to live in Israel? Should Israel only allow Jews to return to the Holy Land, the purpose of the country’s foundation? Or should Jews accept all peoples, who are often refugees seeking better lives? 

Personally, I believe that Israel should accept these people. Jews have been discriminated against for thousands of years. Often Jews have been persecuted and forced to flee countries, seeking refuge in other countries. Personally, I wouldn’t exist today, had the United States not accepted my Jewish European ancestors, who were most likely seeking refuge from discrimination in Hungary and Russia. If my family had stayed in Europe until the time of the Holocaust, who knows if my family would have survived until today. 

I am so grateful to the United States, a country which was originally founded by Christians, decided to be accepting of all religions and allow Jews to exist peacefully and practice our own religion side-by-side with Christians. I am so grateful to live in a country where I can be me, and my neighbor can be him/herself, and we can be friends and learn and thrive together. 

I believe Jews must learn from our own discrimination and vow never to perform such an atrocious act unto other people. We must be the asylum for other people and accept them into our home and allow them to live. I was taught by my Jewish parents and my synagogue to always respect my neighbor, accept my neighbor, and do whatever I can for my neighbor. Invite my neighbor over for dinner if he/she does not have food. Talk to my neighbor if he/she does not have friends. Donate money to my neighbor if he/she does not have the means to survive. Accepting others is simply what makes me Jewish. I believe that accepting others is also what makes Israel truly a Jewish state.

Adopting this idea may be first baby step towards world peace. 

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Masa|Tlalim on Instagram: “Slacklining at sunset. #Netanya #Israel #ITF #MasaTlalim Photo by: Melissa Smith”

“Slacklining at sunset. #Netanya #Israel #ITF #MasaTlalim Photo by: Melissa Smith”

After a morning of working with the kids, I often spend my evening practicing my slackline skills on the beautiful Netanya beach!

I am honored to have my slackline photo featured on Masa Tlalim’s Instagram! Thanks Masa Tlalim!

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Self-education

It is not possible to be a teacher, without also being a student. In order to educate others, I must continue my own education. Especially in a foreign country.

I have discussed my job as a teacher, as well as my personal cultural experiences, but I now want to mention what I do on the side- the second part of my job is to study. I follow a busy schedule. I only work 20 hours a week. But, on Sunday mornings I spend 2-3 hours with my Masa group discussing and debating culture and politics of Israel. On Sunday evenings, I participate in a 2 hour Ulpan (Hebrew language) class. Tuesday nights, I have signed up to volunteer at a local Ethiopian Community Center. Wednesday evening, I attend another 2 hour Ulpan session. On occasion I attend special events throughout the week as well.

As far as culture and poltiics go, I am learning more and more about how Israelis view their own society as well as the relationships of Israel with foreign countries. Israel is a nation under unfortunate circumstances. She is constantly under physical attack by her surrounding Arab nations, and political attack by many distant foreign countries. Israel fights hard to keep what it has and must defend itself daily. This is why all citizens are drafted into the military at the age of 18 for 2-3 years. However, unlike many other countries, Israeli’s military, AKA the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) exists solely to defend the country, and is not offensive. Because of their partificipation in IDF, most Israelis are more aware and understanding of their country’s political issues than Americans and have a very, very strong sense of love and pride for their country. I have learned a lot about why Israelis do the things they do. Because of all the tension, people often ask, “Why do you still go out?” and “Why risk your life?”. You cannot hide forever. You never know when there will be an attack. Israelis love to celebrate and live life to the fullest despite everything. This is why kids might be a bit more crazy in school and the teachers don’t put an end to their antics. They feel that living in terror is allowing the terrorists to win. Ignore the fear, live your life as if every day is the last! Enjoy life. If anything, this is the best lesson I have learned from Israelis. L’chaim!

My progress in Hebrew language: WOW. I feel as if I am learning so fast. I still have no plans for the classroom so every day I struggle to communicate with the students, and this has been the biggest catalyst of my Hebrew learning. Every day I am working to learn new vocabulary so I can communicate with my students. I found that although my grammar is awful, I can communicate with the students in Hebrew well enough to provide instructions and talk to them. I found that the more Hebrew I learn, the better I connect with the students, and the more they respect me. Even if my Hebrew is completely wrong, I see them smile. It isn’t a laughing-at-me smile, either, it’s a genuine smile that says, “I appreciate your attempt to speak my language.” That smile fuels my Hebrew learning. I was scared to speak to people for fear that my broken Hebrew would sound silly, but those students remind me that people appreciate your attempt to speak their language even if you do it poorly. It’s really the meaning that counts. And because I am not afraid to speak poorly, I speak to anyone I can in Hebrew. More speaking means more remembering. Using language in real life is the best way to learn it. When I am wrong, people correct my words and grammar so next time I don’t make the mistake. 

It helps that I am taking Ulpan, studying with Rosetta Stone, and always asking my Israeli friends how to say things, or asking when what they said in Hebrew, which boosts my vocabulary on a daily basis. I keep posters in my room of basic vocabulary. First I kept posters of the numbers 1-1,000. Once I memorized the numbers, I took down the posters and replaced them with posters of the days of the week and months. By June I will be speaking Hebrew for sure!

I finally understand why this program is called Masa, which means “journey” in Hebrew. My journey is officially in full swing!

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Crushing limestone: !ונגה

Although this blog is intended to keep accounts of my professional experiences in Israel, I firmly believe that all a huge part of my professional skills stem from my cultural- and geological- experiences. As you may or may not know, my favorite hobby is rock climbing! In the States, I’ve climbed all over the northeast, crushing quartz conglomerate, sandstone, schist, granite, and quartzite. 

Since week one in Israel, I hoped to meet some Israeli climbers and travel with them to the sweet local crags. It actually took three weeks to meet climbers, but I was pretty determined. I posted on several international rock climbing forums online. Finally one person responded to me and told me that there is a Facebook group where the entire climbing community in Israel communicates. He was entirely correct, because I joined the Facebook group, and since then, have made countless Israeli friends, and climb twice a week- Thursdays in the gym and Saturdays outdoors. 

As far as gyms, I have been introduced to two gyms, both in Tel Aviv. I first went to Olympus, which is a 15 meter outdoor leading and top roping wall. It was pretty cool, although, I must confess that I wasn’t enjoying climbing in the blazing September Israeli sun. There ropes also were very thick... they seemed to be either really old, or 11 mm thick. I couldn’t tell. But it made me a bit nervous. Nevertheless, I met some young Israeli climbers, who later invited me to camp and climb with them outdoors at Zanoah. 

Zanoah was my first time tackling limestone. I have heard of it, but never seen it in person. It is white with the occasional black or reddish stripes. The rock has no texture to it, so smearing is nearly impossible. It really felt like climbing on soap. There were almost no cracks, although side-clings were common. Holds seemed to always be either slopers or jugs. Nothing in between. So the route was either really easy or really hard. My other challenge was converting measurements. I climbed in meters, not feet; and I climbed by the French climbing scale, not the American Yosemite scale. I found that by the French scale, I am leading 5+ and top roping 6a. I could probably lead a 6a, but that fear of falling still keeps me from trying. My goals for the end of the year are to be fearlessly leading 6a, and tackling 6b and 6c on top rope!

As far as the camping experience- WOW, Israeli’s camp in style. They had 4 tents for 6 of us (no spooning necessary), and more food than I have in my own kitchen. For dinner the first night, they grilled tons of meat- chicken wings, sausages, and chicken hearts. Yes, chicken hearts. They had about 10 skewers, each with 5 chicken hearts and ate them like candy. I tried a few. It was still inside, and it was a bit chewy, but it didn’t taste too bad. When in another country, you must try all the delicacies no matter how strange, right? The meat was all accompanied by sides of tomatoes, eggplant, humus, babaganoush, and of course- pita! The next day we had an equally big feast. For breakfast, homemade shakshuka and for lunch, beef and root vegetable stew. It was amazing. A bit step up from my American camping experience- boxed Mac and Cheese or canned soup for all meals. 

Since that first outing, I went outdoors several times. I explored Zanoah one other time, and also traveled a bit north to some new destinations. First, I visited Zichron Ya’akov with a climbing group, and new best friends in Israel. Since that outing, I have become close with some of the members and finally found my current niche here in Israel. Zichron Ya’akov is an old quarry from ancient times, now used as a climbing wall. It’s only about 10-15 meters tall... at most. But it was certainly a new experience climbing on man-made wall versus natural wall. Most of the wall had a stripey texture to it with odd features here and there. There is even a man-made crack. I’ll admit, this was not my favorite climbing location, but it certainly was a cool experience.

My most current climbing destinations include the Yonim Caves outdoors, and the indoor gym called “Performance Rock” in Tel Aviv. (The first photo of myself at the gym is from Performance Rock). The Yonim Caves are by far my favorite climbing in Israel so far. The crag lives up to its name- it is literally pocketed with caves all over! The routes were a lot of fun, as the rock was a bit more complex than that of the southern crags I visited. I even came close to on-sighting my first 6a! Performance Rock is a bouldering gym. Although I’m not much into bouldering, I prefer the route-setting here than at Olympus. It’s a good Thursday night workout. Plus, I am able to convince all my Israeli friends from Tel Aviv to meet me here and climb with me. :)

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The first two weeks

School has officially begun, but it seems that organization is still a month behind at Bialik. The teachers still have yet to receive their schedules so every day is honestly very frustrating and confusing. We never know who and how many students we will receive. We don’t have time to plan lessons and have to think of them on the spot. We are thankful when the teacher tells us what to do. 

Despite the frustration, I am happy to have this experience. Working in the toughest situations puts everything in perspective and offers many lessons:

1. I am actually getting used to this situation. I stopped stressing when I don’t have schedules a week in advance. I’ve learned to just go with the flow, because it never ends up being a disaster. The worst thing that’s happened was that I make myself unhappy unnecessarily.

2. I learned a ridiculous amount of Hebrew! Since my last post 3 weeks ago, when I could barely say 10 words in Hebrew, I am now putting together sentences. I am learning how to communicate with students who do not know enough English to communicate with me. 

3. I am becoming proficient at figuring out what needs to be done on the spot and developing plans at short notice. No chairs? No book? No idea what we’re even supposed to be learning? No worries, I will figure out what the students are capable of and not yet capable of and play games to improve their abilities. In the end, that’s what I’m here for, right?

The strongest people emerge from the most challenging situations. I take on this challenge! (Also, I think the teacher will finally receive the schedule tomorrow! Huzzah!)