This weekend, David Pressman - Josh's brother - came down to Dimona to visit. He's studying right now at a Yeshiva in Jerusalem and this gave him a nice excuse to see some more of the country.
He got in on Thursday night. Two Israelis who are doing the Israel National Trail also came by, so the 4 of us had some of my home-made (kinda) kabobs for dinner. We then headed over to the Moadon for pub-night. We got a hookah and beers and hung out. This was really the first time we've gotten to talk so we had a lot to cover. I think Dave enjoyed hearing the random Israeli 80s music.
On Friday we went for a little hike out in the desert. So we grabbed shoko and walked out back and ended up exploring this huge cave. Pretty cool. Then went into town to see what Dimona has to offer. We walked around the city center for a little (there's not really so much to see) and got some pizza in the same place I took the family to in November. We got some challah and cakes for Shabbat and came back to the village to get ready. We cleaned the caravan and then went to shul. It was Dave's first time at a Moroccan synagogue and I think he liked it. We then had a big dinner in the Moadon and Dave finally got to listen to some Hebrew conversations (Jerusalem is full of Anglos). After dinner we took a walk with Shoko around Dimona.
On Shabbat Dave and I took another hike out into the desert. He wanted to walk out farther to pet some camels, but I didn't think the bedouin would be so happy about that, so we just watched from where we were. When we got back, we had a big lunch with everyone. I played Dave a few times in chess. He won. But he did say that I was getting better towards the end. The local kids came by on their own again. Avichai asked them where their mother was and they said she was at home resting. How nice for her. Then two guys on horseback rode in. I thought they were Arab, but one of them was a Black Hebrew and I think the other was just Mizrahi. I'm glad they came by when Dave was here so he could really get the whole Dimona experience. Shoko had fun playing with their dog. Boaz found Dave a bus that went directly to Jerusalem. So I walked him to that bus and then I went to the central station to grab one to Be'er Sheva. Erin was letting me sleep on her floor since I had an early morning meeting today (Sunday). So when I got in I joined her at Dan's for poker night. After I lost we ran into Zafrani and smoked some hookah with him before calling it a night.
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Weekend with Eliad and Miryam (separately)
After I got back from Yachini, I started to make the long trek up to Tiberias to see Eliad. He and his family spent Pesach in a hotel right on the Kinneret and I decided to show up to crash the family vacation. I only had to take 2 different busses but it still took a little over 5 hours to get there from Dimona. When I finally got there and met up with Eliad, we walked around so I could find something to eat and he caught me up on what has been going on back home.
Danna was able to capture this wonderful moment on film.
Over Shabbat we hung out in the hotel with Danna, played some poker with their cousins and some random Israelis and I taught Eliad how to play Shesh-Besh (backgammon, Andrea you'd be so proud!). I couldn't believe that neither he nor Danna knew how to play. Their Israeli parents clearly neglected their education. Speaking of parents, after knowing Eliad for about 5 years or so, I finally met his father! I think it's getting pretty serious.
After Shabbat we walked around on the "tayelet" (I'm not sure if I consider half a block of touristy shops a tayelet) and I ran into Shira Lee! Such a small world.
On Sunday I got on a bus to head back to Dimona when I got a call from Miryam. Originally I was going to spend the last day of Pesach with her, but there were already too many people so I was just going to spend it in the village. But Miryam called and said there was now room so I got off the bus in Herzliyya. I made my way to the beach where she and Debbie were hanging out and worked on my tan with them for a while.
That night, after shul, we all went to dinner at one of their friends' houses and I was immediately made aware at both that Israeli dress attire is not the same as American/British olim dress attire. Not too big of a deal, but I still like the Israeli casual dress better.
The next day the Dreyfuss' hosted everyone. We ate, played risk, ate and then went over to see Noam Chazzan. Apparently that whole neighborhood of Herzliyya Pituach is a replanting of everyone from a specific London suburb. At Noam's Miryam and her cousin Gali taught me how to play a Swiss-German cardgame that was very similar to hearts and then I was talked into playing soccer. It quickly became clear to everyone that I was American when I attempted to play.
After Shabbat Miryam dropped me off at the bus-stop so I could wait for the bus to Tel-Aviv. But after 45 minutes, it became pretty clear that the bus wasn't coming. Gali and her new husband were going to Tel-Aviv anyway and they offered to take me with them and they just dropped me off at the train station. Although of course by that time I had missed the train I wanted to take. I ended up getting back to Be'er Sheva at around 1 am, when there were not buses to Dimona but Loren was nice enough to let me crash at his place.
Today I came back to Dimona in the morning so I could get some work done before classes start up again tomorrow. But when I got to the village Orr was sitting there with a puppy named Mocha that she found, so clearly, I didn't get nearly as much done as I had hoped. She's looking for someone to adopt Mocha so if you're interested or know anyone, let me know!
Danna was able to capture this wonderful moment on film.
Over Shabbat we hung out in the hotel with Danna, played some poker with their cousins and some random Israelis and I taught Eliad how to play Shesh-Besh (backgammon, Andrea you'd be so proud!). I couldn't believe that neither he nor Danna knew how to play. Their Israeli parents clearly neglected their education. Speaking of parents, after knowing Eliad for about 5 years or so, I finally met his father! I think it's getting pretty serious.
After Shabbat we walked around on the "tayelet" (I'm not sure if I consider half a block of touristy shops a tayelet) and I ran into Shira Lee! Such a small world.
On Sunday I got on a bus to head back to Dimona when I got a call from Miryam. Originally I was going to spend the last day of Pesach with her, but there were already too many people so I was just going to spend it in the village. But Miryam called and said there was now room so I got off the bus in Herzliyya. I made my way to the beach where she and Debbie were hanging out and worked on my tan with them for a while.
That night, after shul, we all went to dinner at one of their friends' houses and I was immediately made aware at both that Israeli dress attire is not the same as American/British olim dress attire. Not too big of a deal, but I still like the Israeli casual dress better.
The next day the Dreyfuss' hosted everyone. We ate, played risk, ate and then went over to see Noam Chazzan. Apparently that whole neighborhood of Herzliyya Pituach is a replanting of everyone from a specific London suburb. At Noam's Miryam and her cousin Gali taught me how to play a Swiss-German cardgame that was very similar to hearts and then I was talked into playing soccer. It quickly became clear to everyone that I was American when I attempted to play.
After Shabbat Miryam dropped me off at the bus-stop so I could wait for the bus to Tel-Aviv. But after 45 minutes, it became pretty clear that the bus wasn't coming. Gali and her new husband were going to Tel-Aviv anyway and they offered to take me with them and they just dropped me off at the train station. Although of course by that time I had missed the train I wanted to take. I ended up getting back to Be'er Sheva at around 1 am, when there were not buses to Dimona but Loren was nice enough to let me crash at his place.
Today I came back to Dimona in the morning so I could get some work done before classes start up again tomorrow. But when I got to the village Orr was sitting there with a puppy named Mocha that she found, so clearly, I didn't get nearly as much done as I had hoped. She's looking for someone to adopt Mocha so if you're interested or know anyone, let me know!
Friday, April 2, 2010
Building the Village in Yachini
I was in Yachini for the past two days helping to build the new student village there. Yachini out west somewhere, near Sderot. The village was established 2 years ago, but was mostly barebones, caravans and a moadon. So we set to work making it look like a real village.
There were about 200 students there from all over the country, so we split into groups, each one working on a different part of the village. Some were planting trees, others were making the pathways between the caravans and laying down stones, sand and grass.
The first day, my group was in charge of building sitting areas out of old tires, dirt, rocks and plastic bottles (they're big on recycling, we made a compost heap later on too). One of this specific village's goals was to be completely accessible for people with disabilities and there are a few who already live there. So we built a rubber track around the outskirts so that the students in wheelchairs would be able to get to every part of the village.
The second day we finished making the sitting areas by covering the tires with mud-cement and decorated them with glass from broken bottles. Then we went to help finish the main stairs leading from the lower part of the village to the upper part. Another group had been building them and we first brought huge stones and laid them alongside and then used more mud-cement to hold them in place and decorated it with more glass and tiles. One of the things I like about these villages is that instead of trying to remake the landscape as what we might want it to be, we try to work with the environment and build within it not against it.
After we were done working yesterday, Natan Sharansky came and spoke to us. It was pretty amazing. He told us about how he thought the Ayalim Student movement were the heirs to the original pioneers and he told us a little of his personal story. I didn't really know anything about him other than the fact that he was a prisoner of Zion in the USSR, but after hearing about his being arrested for demanding visas for Soviet Jews to go to Israel and spending over a year in jail in solitary confinement in a cell about 2 meters by 2 meters but still finding a way to celebrate Yom Ha'Atzmaut with the other prisoners to drive the guards crazy.
It's pretty impressive and it was also pretty cool that this Israeli student sitting next to me, after Sharansky was finished speak, turned to me and said, "I can't believe it. I didn't think we'd actually get to see him." The look in his eyes when he said it showed how much it meant to him to hear him speak and was the epitome of the Ayalim movement, students keeping the Zionist vision alive.
A student davening Shacharit on the edge of the village.
A dog taking a break from working on the top of a pile of sand.
Me with Dave Josset's friend from Johannesburg and a new Israeli friend.
Me practicing my pioneer look while clearing brush to make way for a compost heap.
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Pesach in Yoqniam
Yesterday, I took the bus from Dimona up to Yoqniam and I didn't get lost! Despite changing buses about 3 times, I still managed to get there and with plenty of time to spare before the chag started.
Yoqniam is at the foot of Mout Carmel, overlooking the Jezreel Valley. But of course I didn't bring my camera, so you'll just have to take my word for it that it was breath-taking. From her house I could see the monastery that Christians built on the sight where the Prophet Elijah challenged the priests of ba'al to a God v. god showdown (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elijah#Challenge_to_Baal ). From her house! She hikes up every now and then because it's pretty much her backyard. That's pretty damn cool.
Before chag started, I went with Yifat to the statue of Alexander Zeid, founder of HaShomer (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Zeid ). In the statue he's sitting on a horse, on a hill, looking out over the plains. We sat around, smoked some hookah and drank from coffee (yes, I had some too) with some of her friends. Apparently, it's the big chill spot in town. In American kids hang out in parks and people's basements and in Israel they hang out in ancient monasteries and Zionist monuments. Just saying.
I then went to shul with her father. I had never been to a Yemeni service before. Instead of singing, everything was chanted out loud by everyone at the same time. I had to keep my eyes on the siddur to whole time so I could follow along. I looked up once and wasn't able to figure out where we were until they stopped. The chanting has a wave-like pattern that builds up and comes down that combined with shuckling really pulls you in.
On the way home, her father made a comment about how I responded differently during the Kaddish. He said, "You say it that way and we say it our way because of the Exile. Since we were all over the place we developed different traditions. We don't know which one's right, so we each do our own until the Messiah comes and tells us how to do it." I thought that was a really nice way of looking at things.
On to the Seder. We sat at a long table that was covered with lettuce, onions and radishes. The Hagadah was pretty much the same as ours at home, except there was no English and there were parts in Yemeni Arabic (I wasn't able to follow it but I did make out "Long Hand and Outstretched Arm). It was surprisingly quick. Most of the Hagadah was chanted by her dad while the rest of us tried to follow along. I hadn't really gotten to eat anything all day other than a small snack, so after the first cup of wine (which I was told I had to drink all of and was in a very big glass) following along was a lot more difficult than at shul.
The matzah they used was more like pita than the matzah I'm used to. After Yifat's Dad tore off the Afikhoman, he wrapped it up in a challah cover and threw it over his shoulder like a pack and swayed side to side like he was walking off into the desert. Instead of horseradish, we used lettuce as maror and when it came time to make the sandwich, we wrapped the matzah in the lettuce instead of the other way around. Ma Nishtana was chanted by everyone, lead by her father, like the rest of the seder. When we came to part where there was a song, the women interrupted and got us all to sing. Most of the tunes were the same but there were a few new ones. During Hallel, instead of singing or reading silently, her father lead and after each line everyone responded "Hallelujah." He had me and Yifat's uncle each lead a part of it.
Today, after lunch, we hiked up one of the hills nearby that has the ruins of a 12th Century Byzantine church on top. It seems like there isn't a hill up north that is just a hill.
When chag finally ended today, we got on the train to come back home, but it was so crowded. We were squished up a against a wall where we made friends with two girls who were also unable to move. One of them just happened to be from Paramus and went to little Schechter (my elementary school) but was two years behind me (shout out Aliza Romirowsky, do you remember Dafna Barzilai/do you read my blog?). Just goes to show you how small the Jewish world is. I also ran into Hannah and Harel who got on the stop after us and just barely had room to breathe. Thankfully, when we got to Tel Aviv the train emptied (people were moving to slowly so I yelled "come on, time for the Exodus. Let my people go." Just when you thought I couldn't get any cooler...
Yoqniam is at the foot of Mout Carmel, overlooking the Jezreel Valley. But of course I didn't bring my camera, so you'll just have to take my word for it that it was breath-taking. From her house I could see the monastery that Christians built on the sight where the Prophet Elijah challenged the priests of ba'al to a God v. god showdown (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elijah#Challenge_to_Baal ). From her house! She hikes up every now and then because it's pretty much her backyard. That's pretty damn cool.
Before chag started, I went with Yifat to the statue of Alexander Zeid, founder of HaShomer (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Zeid ). In the statue he's sitting on a horse, on a hill, looking out over the plains. We sat around, smoked some hookah and drank from coffee (yes, I had some too) with some of her friends. Apparently, it's the big chill spot in town. In American kids hang out in parks and people's basements and in Israel they hang out in ancient monasteries and Zionist monuments. Just saying.
I then went to shul with her father. I had never been to a Yemeni service before. Instead of singing, everything was chanted out loud by everyone at the same time. I had to keep my eyes on the siddur to whole time so I could follow along. I looked up once and wasn't able to figure out where we were until they stopped. The chanting has a wave-like pattern that builds up and comes down that combined with shuckling really pulls you in.
On the way home, her father made a comment about how I responded differently during the Kaddish. He said, "You say it that way and we say it our way because of the Exile. Since we were all over the place we developed different traditions. We don't know which one's right, so we each do our own until the Messiah comes and tells us how to do it." I thought that was a really nice way of looking at things.
On to the Seder. We sat at a long table that was covered with lettuce, onions and radishes. The Hagadah was pretty much the same as ours at home, except there was no English and there were parts in Yemeni Arabic (I wasn't able to follow it but I did make out "Long Hand and Outstretched Arm). It was surprisingly quick. Most of the Hagadah was chanted by her dad while the rest of us tried to follow along. I hadn't really gotten to eat anything all day other than a small snack, so after the first cup of wine (which I was told I had to drink all of and was in a very big glass) following along was a lot more difficult than at shul.
The matzah they used was more like pita than the matzah I'm used to. After Yifat's Dad tore off the Afikhoman, he wrapped it up in a challah cover and threw it over his shoulder like a pack and swayed side to side like he was walking off into the desert. Instead of horseradish, we used lettuce as maror and when it came time to make the sandwich, we wrapped the matzah in the lettuce instead of the other way around. Ma Nishtana was chanted by everyone, lead by her father, like the rest of the seder. When we came to part where there was a song, the women interrupted and got us all to sing. Most of the tunes were the same but there were a few new ones. During Hallel, instead of singing or reading silently, her father lead and after each line everyone responded "Hallelujah." He had me and Yifat's uncle each lead a part of it.
Today, after lunch, we hiked up one of the hills nearby that has the ruins of a 12th Century Byzantine church on top. It seems like there isn't a hill up north that is just a hill.
When chag finally ended today, we got on the train to come back home, but it was so crowded. We were squished up a against a wall where we made friends with two girls who were also unable to move. One of them just happened to be from Paramus and went to little Schechter (my elementary school) but was two years behind me (shout out Aliza Romirowsky, do you remember Dafna Barzilai/do you read my blog?). Just goes to show you how small the Jewish world is. I also ran into Hannah and Harel who got on the stop after us and just barely had room to breathe. Thankfully, when we got to Tel Aviv the train emptied (people were moving to slowly so I yelled "come on, time for the Exodus. Let my people go." Just when you thought I couldn't get any cooler...
Monday, March 29, 2010
חג שמח! Happy Passover!
Yesterday Boaz and I cleaned the caravan fro Pesach. I think we have the cleanest apartment that guys have ever lived in. We cleaned everything - microwave, oven and even got all that ice that was stuck to the back of the refrigerator out. Then we went to the pizza place a few blocks away to get some dinner since we didn't have any chametz left.
Now I'm off to Yokeam for seder with Yifat.
Here's a picture of some people burning their chametz this morning:
Now I'm off to Yokeam for seder with Yifat.
Here's a picture of some people burning their chametz this morning:
Saturday, March 27, 2010
Week-End Wrap Up
I haven't been so great about posting this week, so I'll try to go over some of the highlights that I didn't get to talk about.
On Wednesday, MAPMES had a night hike in Nahal Haverim, about 40 minutes outside of Be'er Sheva, near Sde Boker. It was a lot of fun, although the sky was covered in clouds so we couldn't see any stars and barely had any moonlight. Yaley and Orit from our Spain trip came too. It was great to see them.
At some point during the hike, I don't remember how, I started talking to Noa (she runs MAPMES programing) about politics. Not the best idea. I knew that she was leftist (not a bad thing) but I didn't realize just how far left she was. She seemed to be of the opinion that it is ok to prevent people you disagree with from speaking. At which point I called her a leftist-fascist. I had been talking to Loren last week about how sometimes people go so far left, they end up on the right, I just didn't think I would meet one in person. I said the true test of free speech is letting people who make your blood boil speak (as long as they aren't shouting fire in a crowded theater or actively inciting to violence). I then brought up Benny Morris being prevented from speaking at UCL a few weeks ago because he is an "islamophobe." Dan then jumped in a called me out for not saying the same thing about the campaign to fire Neve Gordon from BGU after his op-ed in the LA Times calling for a boycott of Israel. He was right. UCL had every right to deny to anyone they want a forum to speak. However, I would expect a school like UCL to have a better barometer for who they allow to speak. If they let an Islamic extremist like Azzam al-Tamimi, a Hamas supporter and anti-Semite, speak, I would expect them to allow somewhat controversial, leftist historian like Benny Morris speak as well. If I went to UCL I would have been protesting al-Tamimi and lobbying the school not to give someone like him the forum to speak, just like I think BGU should reconsider renewing Neve Gordon's contract at school. Allowing a professor at a university who's namesake is the founding prime minister, call for the dismantling of the state, is more than a little ridiculous. He should have every right to make his inflammatory statements, but that doesn't mean he should have this university as a platform to make them.
Every Thursday night, our village opens our moadon as a pub and this was my week to help run it. Recently, more high school kids had been coming by and we got in trouble for having underage (under 18) kids in the pub. So this week I was the bouncer. I know that I am a very intimidating person so I can completely understand this decision. A group of 4 girls came by but they "forgot" their IDs. They promised that they were 18 and stayed right in front of the door for about a half hour trying to get me to let them in. One of their older friends asked to see my ID. So I got to use my favorite Israeli word "חוצפן - chutzpan" which as you might have guessed, is a term for someone with lots of chutzpah. I told him if they go get their IDs I'd show him mine.
After they finally left - vowing never to come back, as though there are other bars in Dimona - things quieted down. So I called up Eliad to see what his plans are while he's in Israel. Some guys overheard me talking and one said, "Whoa, what great English! What are you doing here you should be in movies or something." His friend then said "he can't understand you, he's English" - Israelis often call anyone who speaks English, English. So I told him that I did understand and that I'm American. I don't think I'll get tired of Israelis looking shocked when I tell them, in Hebrew, I've only been here for 6 months, any time soon.
Yesterday Israel switched to daylight savings time, so not only are we 7 hours ahead of the US again but that means that Shabbat starts late and ends even later. It's a trade off because now I have more time on Friday to do stuff, but that also means I have less time on Saturday nights. But I've been pretty lame lately and not doing much then anyway so I guess it's a change for the better.
I thought there wouldn't be so many people here this weekend because Passover is so soon, but there was a good amount of people. We even had Friday night services in the moadon for the first time and I led, which was nice. Later on, when I took Shoko on our long Shabbat walk around the city, we walked through a park and this kid yelled out, "is that shoko?!" and 5, 12-year-old boys ran over to pet him. They were surprised at how big he had gotten. One asked if I remembered him. I said no and then he said, "I was the one who came with the donkey." "Oh, now I remember you." How is this real?
Anyway, here are some new Shoko pics:
On Wednesday, MAPMES had a night hike in Nahal Haverim, about 40 minutes outside of Be'er Sheva, near Sde Boker. It was a lot of fun, although the sky was covered in clouds so we couldn't see any stars and barely had any moonlight. Yaley and Orit from our Spain trip came too. It was great to see them.
At some point during the hike, I don't remember how, I started talking to Noa (she runs MAPMES programing) about politics. Not the best idea. I knew that she was leftist (not a bad thing) but I didn't realize just how far left she was. She seemed to be of the opinion that it is ok to prevent people you disagree with from speaking. At which point I called her a leftist-fascist. I had been talking to Loren last week about how sometimes people go so far left, they end up on the right, I just didn't think I would meet one in person. I said the true test of free speech is letting people who make your blood boil speak (as long as they aren't shouting fire in a crowded theater or actively inciting to violence). I then brought up Benny Morris being prevented from speaking at UCL a few weeks ago because he is an "islamophobe." Dan then jumped in a called me out for not saying the same thing about the campaign to fire Neve Gordon from BGU after his op-ed in the LA Times calling for a boycott of Israel. He was right. UCL had every right to deny to anyone they want a forum to speak. However, I would expect a school like UCL to have a better barometer for who they allow to speak. If they let an Islamic extremist like Azzam al-Tamimi, a Hamas supporter and anti-Semite, speak, I would expect them to allow somewhat controversial, leftist historian like Benny Morris speak as well. If I went to UCL I would have been protesting al-Tamimi and lobbying the school not to give someone like him the forum to speak, just like I think BGU should reconsider renewing Neve Gordon's contract at school. Allowing a professor at a university who's namesake is the founding prime minister, call for the dismantling of the state, is more than a little ridiculous. He should have every right to make his inflammatory statements, but that doesn't mean he should have this university as a platform to make them.
Every Thursday night, our village opens our moadon as a pub and this was my week to help run it. Recently, more high school kids had been coming by and we got in trouble for having underage (under 18) kids in the pub. So this week I was the bouncer. I know that I am a very intimidating person so I can completely understand this decision. A group of 4 girls came by but they "forgot" their IDs. They promised that they were 18 and stayed right in front of the door for about a half hour trying to get me to let them in. One of their older friends asked to see my ID. So I got to use my favorite Israeli word "חוצפן - chutzpan" which as you might have guessed, is a term for someone with lots of chutzpah. I told him if they go get their IDs I'd show him mine.
After they finally left - vowing never to come back, as though there are other bars in Dimona - things quieted down. So I called up Eliad to see what his plans are while he's in Israel. Some guys overheard me talking and one said, "Whoa, what great English! What are you doing here you should be in movies or something." His friend then said "he can't understand you, he's English" - Israelis often call anyone who speaks English, English. So I told him that I did understand and that I'm American. I don't think I'll get tired of Israelis looking shocked when I tell them, in Hebrew, I've only been here for 6 months, any time soon.
Yesterday Israel switched to daylight savings time, so not only are we 7 hours ahead of the US again but that means that Shabbat starts late and ends even later. It's a trade off because now I have more time on Friday to do stuff, but that also means I have less time on Saturday nights. But I've been pretty lame lately and not doing much then anyway so I guess it's a change for the better.
I thought there wouldn't be so many people here this weekend because Passover is so soon, but there was a good amount of people. We even had Friday night services in the moadon for the first time and I led, which was nice. Later on, when I took Shoko on our long Shabbat walk around the city, we walked through a park and this kid yelled out, "is that shoko?!" and 5, 12-year-old boys ran over to pet him. They were surprised at how big he had gotten. One asked if I remembered him. I said no and then he said, "I was the one who came with the donkey." "Oh, now I remember you." How is this real?
Anyway, here are some new Shoko pics:
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Math Tutoring
I usually volunteer on Thursdays, but since Passover break starts then, I switched to today when I don't have classes. I went over to the same school and helped the kids out with some geometry. So now I know how to say lots of very important everyday words in Hebrew, like equilateral triangles or obtuse angles or adjacent angles. Woo Hoo!
It was pretty upsetting though. I was helping this one kid who, on top of having obvious ADD, just wasn't getting it. If I explained something to him, he was able to do the problem, but he would forget right after we moved onto something new. It's hard to think how someone who can't remember that two halves of one whole are always equal will be able to pass his bagrut (Israeli regents). He really needs a private tutor to go over everything with him, but of course this is Dimona and there's no way the school has it in its budget and I'm sure his parents can't afford it. It's just kind of depressing.
But on the bright side, the weather is coming back around and I was able to break out my shorts. I'm sure in a few weeks, I'll be wishing away the heat when it's 105 degrees in the shade, but right now it's pretty nice.
I'm going to be spending the Seder with my friend Yifat and her family up north near Haifa. They're Yemeni and I've never been to a Yemeni Seder before, but I think it'll be a lot of fun. I guess this means I'll have to eat kitniyot (rice) this year. Oh well, when in Israel...
And for Flori, here are some pictures of the pup.
It was pretty upsetting though. I was helping this one kid who, on top of having obvious ADD, just wasn't getting it. If I explained something to him, he was able to do the problem, but he would forget right after we moved onto something new. It's hard to think how someone who can't remember that two halves of one whole are always equal will be able to pass his bagrut (Israeli regents). He really needs a private tutor to go over everything with him, but of course this is Dimona and there's no way the school has it in its budget and I'm sure his parents can't afford it. It's just kind of depressing.
But on the bright side, the weather is coming back around and I was able to break out my shorts. I'm sure in a few weeks, I'll be wishing away the heat when it's 105 degrees in the shade, but right now it's pretty nice.
I'm going to be spending the Seder with my friend Yifat and her family up north near Haifa. They're Yemeni and I've never been to a Yemeni Seder before, but I think it'll be a lot of fun. I guess this means I'll have to eat kitniyot (rice) this year. Oh well, when in Israel...
And for Flori, here are some pictures of the pup.
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