"Your political ideals are backward and responsible for everything wrong with this country...but please pass the Hummus."

The obscure title of this blog has a point...I haven't gone completely insane. The past couple weeks have served as my initial immersion into general Israeli society. When I came here in my junior year, I lived here but I did not REALLY live here. Using the bus system, talking to Israelis -- these and more are all the things I am now experiencing that make this trip more "real" than the last one. Some of the observations of Israelis I have made are the following. Wherein there is more than 1 Israeli, there will be ALWAYS be at least two juxtaposing opinions. This applies to the most simple cases. For instance, a specific question I have been asking is what unit I should go to if I would like to join a more elite unit. Sample answers are Sayeret Matkal, Shaldag, and intelligence. These 3 suggestions came from only 2 Israelis. This also seems to happen constantly when asking for directions to anywhere. If you ask one passenger on the bus which stop to get off at in order to get to a certain place, his neighbor will almost surely disagree with him. As you can imagine, this makes things difficult sometimes and very frustrating. Such is life here -- balagan. But at the same time, there is a connection among many Israelis. It is a very terse and somewhat abrupt rhetoric that is very refreshing in a way. You don't have to "guess" what somebody is trying to say. If they want the Hummus, they will not phrase it passively like, "It would be quite nice if someone would pass the hummus." A more typical Israeli dinner table phrase would be, "Ay! Give me the hummus," while Lafa and Shawarma drop out of his or her mouth. It's irresponsible to generalize but I think that the advanced societies of the far east, western Europe, and the United States have strayed too far from raw human emotion to the point where it is considered impolite to say your true intention without it being disguised by a connecting clause expressing gratitude or a preemptive apology. Here, everybody (again -- wrong to generalize) is more open and forthcoming. If they think something is weird or obnoxious, you will know. You even see it in the kindergarten. The kids I work with are very open and have very little hesitation toward anything. Kids all over are more or less like this, but more so here in Israel. Something I think about every work day that is hard for me to cope with is that in about 13 years, these kids will be in the military and some of them, despite their innocence now, may die. Such is the substance behind the attitude that drives Israeli society. There is no time to mince words.

Still not Israeli...but getting there

Now that we're finally on our routine schedule I feel that I can comment about it with more certainty than before. I am so lucky to have been placed in the kindergarten with the kiddies. Even though everybody says that working in PalRam isn't too bad and that it could be worse, I think that mind-numbing manual labor would somehow be counter-productive for a good learning environment. 3 people have already left the group but I think that that will be the final number (assuming nobody gets kicked out or anything). The Kibbutz continues to be a hospitable and quaint place to live although my one complaint is the maintenance should be spelled "latenance" (it takes weeks to get anything done around here). My sink is broken in my room so everyday activities such as shaving, washing hands, and brushing teeth have increased in difficulty ten-fold. The kids from the previous ulpan have advised me to get used to it and that it will most likely not be fixed until late next week. Until then it looks like I will either be shaving with the Orange Fanta in our room or going to someone else's room. Despite their reputation as introverts, the Kibbutzniks have actually been pretty friendly. Of course, as a previous blogger put it, none of the Kibbutznik girls give us "the time of day" but that's alright...our main purpose here is to learn Hebrew anyways. Yesterday I downloaded the necessary forms in order to make Aliyah from Nefesh B'Nefesh's website so hopefully I will be a full-fledged Israeli citizen with a guaranteed 14,000 Shekels (~$4,000 or less now due to the financial crisis) and benefits by mid to end November. This weekend I am going to a good family friend's house in Herzliya and then next weekend to another's elsewhere. Gene and I have already talked about getting an apartment after the Ulpan and I have also talked with Phil about it. Gene is from Australia and Phil is from England. This would mean an apartment with a trifecta from the English speaking countries (kinda cool). The Hebrew is going well. As my notebook would attest, I still have a lot of vocabulary to learn but I can get around pretty well in most situations. I'm still looking for a gym that I could join around here for a reasonable price but have not been very successful in my findings. I would be okay with just running but unfortunately the army is not looking for the slim, Ethiopian runner build so I have to find a way to keep building muscle. I still have a while to worry about that though -- 6 months to be exact!

Settling in to a Rhythm

It's been a while since I've written and quite a lot has happened since then. This past weekend I went to stay with family friends in Hod HaSharon and it was nice to be able to stay in a room by myself again (although I am really lucky that my roommates are so easygoing). We finally started working and studying and it feels good not to be a waste of space anymore. I am in Kitah Gimel which is the highest class available and it is an agreeable curriculum. On the initial test I scored a 94% which means that I could be in Daled but there is no such thing on this specific kibbutz. I feel that I will still acquire a sufficient amount of Hebrew during my time here. Instead of working in PalRam (the Kibbutz's plastic factory which is its main source of income) I work in the Kindergarten with the 5-6 year olds. Their English is not too good (a.k.a. nonexistent) so if you can put 2 and 2 together you'll figure out which language that leaves for us to converse in. While my Hebrew is good it's not good enough to feel comfortable using it all day. All-in-all, however, I landed a really great job and it's fun working with the kids. The teachers who I work with are also really nice and understanding of my situation. Hopefully I'll get a chance to write later and upload some photos, but I've got to go to sleep now -- 7:00 a.m. is only 6.5 hours away! For those of you who want to contact me by email here it is:

benjacobs1027@comcast.net

When in Rome

We've been here for 5 days already (since Thursday), and it feels as if we've been here for a year. It's a nice feeling to be settled in and I am reminded of it everyday when newcomers arrive and they have to struggle to catch up with everyone else. Over the past few days I've been to Kiryat Atta and a mall in Kiryat Biali called Kiryon. My roommates and I get along extremely well and I am truly grateful for that -- the previous year I saw in my dorm how bad it could be for kids who don't get along to be paired with each other. Also, my hebrew is well above average here and kids are impressed by it -- thank you, Ms. Gavish! It obviously, however, can use much improvement and by the end of Ulpan I would like to achieve my goal of speaking with a level of fluency that would be hard to distinguish from an Israeli's. It's tough getting to know the Kibbutznikim; they are somewhat shy. I have been persistent in speaking to our good family friends' cousin who lives here and he was a bit reserved but at the same time warm. He welcomed me to come to his house at some point and the next time I see him I will take him up on that offer. There are similarities I have become keenly aware of when traveling and adapting to a new place. It's such a vulnerable experience -- throwing yourself into a new environment and attempting to aclimate to the ecosystem. There's an entirely new food chain to learn, different cultural norms, and most importantly "initiation" methods. How is one accepted when one moves to a different place? It is almost universal that hard work is an essential part of it. Many Ulpanistim apparently slack off at work and ditch class. $4,000 is a little too expensive to abide by the rules -- especially since the rules are quite lax. I've been speaking mostly Hebrew to the Israelis who work with us (the director, house mother, counselors, etc.) and I think they have taken a liking to me as a result. When in Israel...(do as the Israelis do). I forgot to post my mailing address and contact information, so here it is:

Ulpan Kibbutz Ramat-Yohanan
DOAR Kfar HaMaccabbi Zip: 30035

cell phone: (from the US) 011-972-54-906-6336

Letters and phone calls are very welcome (just remember the time difference)! Lila Tov!