These last few months have been packed with volunteering, making new friends, and working on some special projects. Where we last left off, the operation (which most Israeli's call "the war") was in full swing. My program got security clearance to move us into Netivot the day after the cease-fire. Before we left for Netivot, OTZMA took a special volunteering trip to do an "Extreme Makeover School Edition." Whenever we had breaks, I couldn't help but dance with the kids. See if you recognize any of the songs.
Now onto my life these past months...
When I say that I live in Netivot to most of my friends in Northern Israel, they respond with a look of pity and confusion. "Why would you live there?" is one of the nicest follow up responses. What they don't know is that Netivot is one of the friendliest and fastest developing cities in Israel. It is located halfway between Beer Sheva and Ashkelon, and next year it will have a train station (a pretty big deal). Sure - I can count the tourist attractions on one hand: (1) wild red Calaniyot flowers, (2) a replica of the liberty bell, (3) a giant water tower, and... (4) did I mention the flowers? Okay, so its not a tourist destination, but the warmth of the people in this city make it special.
Since many people in Netivot, including my adopted mother, are from North Africa, I eat a lot of couscous. Like couscous, the people of Netivot are warm and filled with love. It is amazing to live here.
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| Gil, the director of the Philadelphia/Netivot Partnership and I look at Calaniyot wildflowers |
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| Look familiar? I have a view of the bell from my window. |
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| Just sixty year ago, this entire area was a barren desert. In stark contrast to that, I give you the water tower of Netivot. |
Volunteering
At this point you may be asking, so what exactly do you do all day except look at flowers? I spend Sunday through Thursday volunteering at five different locations. Here they are in pictures:
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| Leon, my roommate and best friend in Netivot, play slide outside the afterschool of the Ethiopian Cultural Center. They have many energetic kids who attend their afterschool. On any given day you can find us playing soccer, hand games, or dancing around. |
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| Leon's team against Marc's team in one of the most epic games of checkers that the Ethiopian Cultural Center has ever seen. |
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| This picture was taken at Children's World, where I play games with children while their siblings are in occupational therapy sessions. In case you didn't notice, the child in the photo, Roi, likes to make funny faces for the camera. |
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| Potchim Atid is one of my favorite places to volunteer. It is an organization that pairs youth that may need some extra guidance with mentors in their schools. It reminds me a lot of Big Brothers Big Sisters. I made the poster in the background with them. A similar poster hung in my 8th grade geometry class. It reads "Shoot for the moon. If you miss, you'll be among the stars." The girl in pink, Tslil, always has an incredible amount of happiness bubbling out of her. Can you tell? |
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| This picture is taken at the women's school, where women over the age of 70 participate in classes, from Hebrew literature to sport. When they are not learning, they play dominoes. [*For math geeks only* - check out how this base-7 system is generated by the coprime pairs of (1,7), (2,7), (3,7), (4,7), (5,7), and (6,7) by going forward and backward along the spiral]. Many of the women are very religious and shy away from photos. |
I also volunteer teaching English at the Saligman Center. Max, Sara, and I tutor groups of four to seven children at a time for 45 minutes, five lessons in a row. It's fun, but also an intense challenge. Especially when the children of a single group are at different levels of proficiency.
My next blog post will be about my special projects here in Israel:
1. Netivot Running Club
2. The Netivot Night Run 5K Race
3. A MYSTERY PROJECT *stay tuned for next week's blog*
BONUS PICTURE: Here is Leon and I acting out a scene from the Lion King. We went on a weekend hiking trip to Mitzpe Ramon where we took the occasional tour up a rock face.
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