I have recently realized that maintaining this blog is more of a burden than I initially expected. I simply don't have time in the day to sit down and reflect on my experiences because my life is a perpetual whirlwind of bloggable material. Therefore, I present to you the final entry in my "Backtrack" series. Regrettably, I am only going to mention as many of the highlights of the past month as I can remember, and if you have a question about something specific, make a comment on the entry and I'll do what I can to elaborate in future posts.
Here we go...
1. I have explored the many neighborhoods and attractions in the phenomenal city of Haifa. This includes the beaches, the parks, the museums (including a phenomenal science museum), the malls, the shuks (markets), the cinemas, the restaurants, the gardens, and the soccer stadium.
2. I spent a weekend in Holon, a city in the outskirts of Tel Aviv. This weekend included visiting with old friends, enjoying the beach in Bat Yam (another small city), and spending time in Tel Aviv.
3. I have spent time in Modi'in learning about the Maccabi's and the story of Hannukah from the place where it all occurred so many years ago. A great miracle happened here!
4. I had a wonderful week of vacation with my family. We explored Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, and Haifa. We met with long-lost cousins who we previously did not know existed, we saw museums, drum circles, friends, and of course it was wonderful to see my family after so many months!
5. Every day from 6:50 am until 3:00 pm I have a shift with the ambulance. I have seen some truly exciting things, and had many not-so-exciting days. I have many interesting stories, and thankfully I have not had to deal with anything too traumatic. I love being able to criss-cross the city on a daily basis going to calls and dropping people off at hospitals.
6. Israel went to war! Having tolerated 3000 rockets from Gaza into Israel over the past 8 years, during a supposed "time of peace", Israel finally decided that it had had enough. It was very interesting to cross-reference the reporting of the western media from the reality of the conflict. The anti-Israel bias that permeated the news was alarming, and unbalanced. My life was hardly impacted by the actual war. I became slightly concerned when several rockets were fired from Lebanon into the north, but that seemed to be an isolated incident, not an invitation to open a second front to the war. I am very grateful that the violence and bloodshed has ended, and I look forward to seeing the direction that the peace process moves from here on in.
7. For one week I volunteered with a program called Sar-El in order to help with the war effort. 120 people from my program were scattered throughout the country on various army bases helping out with menial chores so that soldiers could deal with more important tasks. I bagged lunches, bagged bags, packaged batteries, and counted view-finders. It was a surprisingly fun week, and I was glad to help in whatever way I could.
8. I watched the Obama inauguration from a hotel room on the beach in Haifa that a friend's father was kind enough to rent. Despite my physical dislocation from America, I still feel very connected to the excitement and energy surrounding Obama's initiation as president!
9. I spent a weekend at the Dead Sea and Ein Gedi. It was a wonderful Shabbat with my program, and it was fun to see everyone after such a long absence.
10. I spent a weekend helping out the Tsofim youth movement of Israel. The "Tsofim" or Israeli Scouts, invited me a few friends to assist them in their screening process for 16-year-olds who would spend the summer at Jewish American summer camps. Through role-playing games I helped test their English, and their ability to deal with difficult situations that might arise as a camp counselor. It was very interesting to see this aspect of Israeli culture in depth.
I think that's it. Though I hoped I would have been able to address my travels with significantly more depth, I promise I will attempt to do so moving forward!
Always,
Zach
No comments:
Post a Comment