this israeli happening

Okay, yeah, I know. For all intents and purposes this blog has been an abject failure. But to be honest, as much as I wanted to blog during my MASA trip, most of the time I 1. didn't feel like writing because I would rather hang out with my friends and 2. didn't really have anything to write about.

My MASA trip was cookie cutter. Everything was taken care of for me and I wasn't settled enough here to have real complex experiences or problems. My daily life consisted of adjusting to a new job, petty mood swings and visiting tourist sites that everyone who reads this blog has likely already seen. So it felt stupid.

I actually forget this blog existed, until today when I had an experience I have kind of been subconsciously waiting for since I got to Israel. Immediately afterwards, it popped into my head that I wanted to share it on my blog, and then I realized a million other things I wanted to share also, so I raced home and immediately started up my computer before the moment could past (inspiration is both fickle and fleeting).

I'm not going to make empty promises to get back on top of blogging, but I'm going to write today, and if anything happens that seems real or important enough to share I will write again.

But first, about today.

I had heard stories of people getting "adopted" when living in foreign countries from people I've met, and I knew that people in Israel had a tendency to want to adopt new olim. People always joke that you can't walk down the street on Shabbat without being invited to dinner, but this had never actually happened to me... until today.

I was biking home from work, and stopped at the middle of the street on a stoplight. There was an old man standing next to me. This morning I accidentally hit a woman's arm with my bike and she yelled at me and I think I was feeling some residual guilt so I smiled at him. And then he smiled back, a huge toothy grin, and said something in Hebrew. I told him I didn't understand and expected that to be the end of it, but it turns out he spoke good English.

He began to talk to me with the usual - who are you, why are you here, etc. Usually these conversations annoy me because I have them so often, but this man seemed so sweet and genuine that I got off my bike to humor him. I got the usual "welcome to Israel, I'm so happy you're here" etc etc, but then he wanted to keep talking. He asked where I was from and what I was doing and proceeded to tell me how brave I was to move to a foreign country alone.

At this point I was still instinctually skeptical and ready to jump on my bike at any moment, but he seemed really sincere. Then he asked me my age and I told him 23.

This same situation happened last week with a man who was at least 50 years old, and following the disclosure of my age he begged me to get a drink with him... yikes. So this was the moment of truth. After I told him he said "Ahhhh! So you call me, and I can introduce you to some good boys." Okay, way more my style. For the record, this man told me his children are in their 40s, so he is probably in his 70s.

He asked if I had time for a quick cup of coffee. At first I said no, but then as we continued to walk he told me that he lived in America for a long time... in Seattle. I took this as a sign and agreed to have coffee with him.

We sat down, I told him about my family, and he told me the story of when he arrived in Seattle all alone with two small children and he didn't speak English at all. He was waiting at a stoplight and a woman smiled at him, and took it upon herself to help welcome him into the city and get settled. We didn't have time for the details of the story, but he said they are still close friends today.

He went on to tell me that he knows how hard it is to be in a new country all alone with no family, and he wants to help me if he can, and that if I need anything then just to call him (he gave me his number, but I did not give him mine). Before we drank our coffee we said a prayer, and he said it was okay that I wasn't religious but that he was going to buy me Shabbas candle holders and I had to promise to light them every Friday and ask God for whatever I want, and he would listen. I said that I would.

He then gave me one Shekel, and explained a concept to me with a Hebrew name that doesn't have an English equivalent, but basically he said I was to keep this one shekel safe, take it with me to visit in America, bring it back to Israel with me and give it to someone poor on the street, and this was a mitzvah. I said I would do this as well.

I don't know what kind of guy this was, if he was a genuine man or a nutjob or if he will even remember me tomorrow, but it was a very sweet and sincere experience that reminded me of why I love Israel, even when sometimes Israeli's drive me out of my mind. This is a country where the majority of people truly want to welcome (Jewish) immigrants and make them feel at home, and it's really nice because I can't imagine this ever happening in America (although apparently 50 years ago it did!).


In other news, I suppose I should explain while I am still in Israel: I made aliyah! Yup, this bitch has dual citizenship. It was a kind of sudden decision where I realized I just really, really didn't want to leave Israel, and 8 weeks and a heap of paperwork later, it's done. I had a weeklong period afterwards where I had a "what-the-hell-did-I-just-do" moment which is why I haven't flaunted my newfound citizenship in case I decided to leave, but I have thrilled to say that has passed and I am so happy to be here.

Work is going great as well. When my internship with Newshound was ending, I felt in a lot of ways like my work was just getting started. I proposed to my amazing boss Paula to stay on an extra three months in the hopes that it might lead to a job afterwards. Everyday was terrifying as I put in my all trying to help the company grow in the hopes it could lead to a job for me. We had starts and stops, I certainly made mistakes, but overall it paid off because Paula offered me a job on Sunday! It's going to be only part time to start, but I think it's highly likely it will be full-time by September.

I love working at Newshound. I am working with an amazing group of people and it's cool to be in such a small company that also has such power. Paula is a journalist for Russia Today, and when I run her Twitter (which is often) my words go out to tens of thousands of people immediately which is really cool and kind of terrifying! We are reporting the news as it happens - Paula see's something in Ukraine, texts me, I tweet it and an hour later it's picked up my mass media. It's amazing.

The role I will have at Newshound is basically to run our web presence. I will be responsible for maintaining our website (which I designed and will launch in the next few weeks), our blog (which I also designed :)) and Paula's personal website. I will also run the Newshound Twitter and supervise Paula's Twitter and the Facebook as well as supervise the social media and marketing efforts of the incoming interns. I don't have an official title yet, because Paula and I haven't picked one... such is working in a small company! But I will have one soon, and it's bound to be super-fancy.

I live in a really cute apartment with a boy from Florida who is in the spokesperson unit of the army, a girl from London and her amazing dog Henry. I bought a bike named Nymeria from a friend who was leaving the country and I have all of a sudden become a biker (albeit the only biker in Tel Aviv with a helmet). I mostly spend my nights watching Australian Top Chef with one of my roommates or having guitar singalongs with the other roommate, although occasionally I do go out.

I have also recently joined some kind of grassroots dog rescue organization, and our meetings consist of brainstorming awesome fundraisers (my idea was dog speed-dating) and letting the pups play together. Pretty much every weekend is spent at the beach with various groups of friends and lately the waves have been massive.

My Hebrew has certainly improved, but it's still very iffy. When I return home from visiting this week, I am going to start ulpan so that hopefully I can fully integrate into Israeli society sooner rather than later. I will also start scouting for a second job unless Paula can promise a transition to full-time within the next 2-3 months, and I'll talk to her about that too when I get back... nothing wrong with enjoying the summer!

The weather here is HOT and apparently everyone in Israel is a size 4, since I haven't for the life of me been able to find shorts that fit, so I've been living in leggings... I'm excited to go shopping at Express and Target when I get home! Not to mention DRIVE MY CAR... I have been daydreaming about backing my car out of the driveway, rolling the windows down, ahhh....

Okay, now I'm just rambling. Anyway, this has been fun. I hope to write again when I have something to say. No promise though.

Come visit! xoxoxo

Jordyn

the flies market

Language is a funny thing and I'm realizing more and more since being here how strange the English language could be. I have my own set of problems with Hebrew and any other language that randomly genders inanimate objects, but that's for another day.

I just have a quick anecdote that made me laugh...

I was walking with one of my Israeli friends, and he said:

"Let's go to the flies market."

"The flies market?"

"Yes, you know, where they sell old things and stuff..."

"OH, the flea market!!!!!!"

Hehe.

One thing that happens quite often is second language speakers will learn a word in English and not use it for awhile. Then later they want to use it, remember the word in Hebrew and translate it back to English, but because of similar words/dual meaning they sometimes come out incorrect. Another one that cracked me up today is when he was talking about an Israeli singer who was a jerk because he is "always speaking in three bodies."

Three bodies... hmm...

What do you think he meant?

...third person!

Language can be quite funny, and we take a lot of things for granted when we know a language from birth. I'm still working on my Hebrew and I'm lucky enough to have made some friends who continue to work with me. Hopefully it keeps getting better!

As you can see, Israelis are not the most considerate bus riders. This picture was taken as I held on for dear life in the aisle.

updates on everything because i'm a terrible blogger

Hello my friends! Yeah, I'm a total loser who is terrible at blogging. But! I'm here now. And I will try to at least give you a brief overview of what I've been up to.

First, I will apologize if my writing is not what it usually is. One thing that's happened since I've been here is my English has gotten SO MUCH WORSE. That might not make any sense since it's my first (and only) language but it's true, and other people have backed up my claims with similar experience.

While I only speak English here, and I don't have any other languages at even a conversational level, I still live a very international lifestyle. My roommate, who is also one of my best friends, is French (as in from Paris) and while she speaks English well, her grammar/word choice is questionable at times (but it's so damn cute she gets away with it). In my workplace, as we do international news, we have people who speak all different languages - the languages I hear on a daily basis in the newsroom include French, Hebrew, Spanish, Russian and Arabic. I have other friends from Chile, Australia and Argentina.  All of this on top of the fact that I just spent ten days in Amsterdam and Berlin - in Amsterdam I was useless, but I made a real effort to pick up German while in Berlin and to start learning the language.

All of this to say, when I speak it's a total balagon (Hebrew for chaos/mess). I pick up speech patterns from all of my different friends, use verbs and conjugations questionably and randomly intersperse words from other languages into my sentences. So if my writing seems strange, blame it on my worldliness!

Anyway, moving on.

Since it seems ridiculous to try and write about everything I've done, I will just do a bulleted list and try to give a brief overview of some things that have happened.

• Hiking/Camping in the Negev was amazing! I made a lot of friends from other programs which was nice, and now they come to visit me in Tel Aviv. We stayed in a Bedouin tent but it rained so much that we didn't get to ride camels. Better luck next time. 
• Work has been really good. Mostly I do the social media stuff, but sometimes I get to go out on interviews. When I go on interviews, my responsibilities are to take pictures for the Facebook and Instagram and help with set-up. It's also cool to learn with the producer I'm traveling with all about who we are talking to and why and what we hope to get out of them.  Just this week I got to watch an interview with Einet Wilf (former Knesset member) in her home, and with Uzi Eilem, the former Director of the Research and Development Department of Israel's Ministry of Defense. Both were about the impending death of Ariel Sharon. Uzi worked with him for many years, so it was really interesting to hear about his experiences. Both of these interviews were in English which was great because I could understand. I have been on others, but many were in Hebrew and I just watched awkwardly and tried to pick up as many words as I could.
• Went to a Security & Diplomacy Seminar in Jerusalem. I absolutely LOVED this. It wasn't for everyone, but because it so closely relates to journalism I signed up to go. They bussed a group of us to Jerusalem where we stayed in a nice hotel for a night and had a lot of different lectures/seminars/discussion groups on different facets of Middle Eastern security and peace issues. I really felt like I learned a lot and left with a better understanding of all the various Middle Eastern conflicts, and the issues surrounding them and why it's so hard to solve so many of these problems. Also, they fed us really, really well. 
• MET MY FAVORITE ROCK STAR! Okay, this might not seem so exciting to most of you, but it was one of the coolest things that has ever happened for me. There is a music group called Beats Antique and I LOVE them. I have seen them 10 times in concert in the past three years, and they are just amazing. My group of friends back in Seattle worship them. Their shows always sell out, and they are extremely popular in the underground circle in which they travel. Anyway, turns out they decided to come to Tel Aviv which is a HUGE deal as many artists don't come here because of the political implications. I found out they were coming right after I had read this news article about a girl tweeting that she was looking for Kim Kardashian at a Kanye concert, and Kim tweeter her back and invited her to sit with her in the VIP section. Obviously I had to try my hand at Twitter. I sent out a tentative tweet as a joke:
  
  
• And then, THEY RESPONDED!!!

• Several of my friends said they would come with me to the club to help me track down Beats Antique, but at the last minute bailed. I was tired and did not want to go to a big club myself, so I didn't go.  I decided it was silly to try and meet them, and I almost gave up. Then, two days later, I decided to "go big or go home." I tweeted them directly, basically saying that I was a huge fan and wanted to meet them and would this be possible? I didn't have high hopes and planned on deleting the tweet in an hour, but they actually answered! They tweeted me back, and told me where they were going. This time, I was prepared. Again, friends said they would come with me and bailed at the last minute (they don't know Beats Antique) and I was too late for the busses, so I found myself walking to a Reggae club alone at 1am. I got there, and couldn't find them anywhere so I sat at the bar to drink and get up the nerve to figure out what to do. After about an hour, I still didn't see them and decided I would go to the bathroom and then leave. I went to the bathroom, walked out and then heard my name - "Jordyn???" I look up AND THERE IS DAVID SATORI (the mastermind behind Beats Antique)! AND HE RECOGNIZED ME AND KNEW MY NAME!!!!!!! One thing I didn't realize is that he is like, 6'6". So incredibly tall.  It turns out the reason I couldn't find them was because he walked Tommy, the drummer, home and then came back. Turns out he was the nicest, most down-to-earth guy ever and we ended up going to another bar where it was quieter to drink and hang out. 
• This was the first time I had ever met an idol of mine, and it was really amazing 1. to see that he is just a regular person and 2. that he was so nice and down to earth. He told me a little bit about touring, but he didn't even want to talk about himself so much and asked a lot of questions about what I was doing in Israel and if I liked it and all that. And as a rockstar should, he even bought be drinks and a cab home! It was a really amazing night, and two nights later was the show. My friend Lisa came with me, and it was one of the best shows I've ever been to in my life. And I felt really cool when after the show I got to go backstage and talk to him and introduce him to Lisa =p Definitely one of the coolest experiences of my life. 

me and David Satori after the show!

So, Israel has been good! We had one week of CRAZY weather where it rained and hailed and thunderstormed literally for 8 day straight. It also snowed in Jerusalem, and we went there, and it was so beautiful. I loved running through the snow and seeing all of the famous sights. We also went to the wall and it was my first time going on a day that wasn't Shabbat, and I was shocked by how jovial everyone was! I was used to it being really morose, but it was a really lively atmosphere. There were several Bar Mitzvahs, everyone was singing and laughing and throwing candy and releasing balloons, and I really loved it. 

Nothing else too exciting - I've been eating my weight in Shnitzel because it's the only thing close to my work for lunch, and it's cheap - I need to start remembering to pack lunches. But for that I need to go grocery shopping. It's a sad thing realizing you're eating all of your money. But the food here is so good! So it goes. I will try my best to write about my Europe trip soon. No promises though, because apparently I'm terrible at that. 

Love you all!

Video of the Beats Antique show in Tel Aviv

hi bloggy friends. i promise there will be a new entry by sunday. I PROMISE!!! i have literally not had a day off in ten days, but i have the next three days to myself, so things are coming.

stay tuned.

happy thanksgivikuh.

i love you.

xoxoxoxoxoxo

bonjour mes amis!

Hi everyone, sorry I haven't written during the past week! The main reason is that there hasn't been too much new news. I was a little more tired, so I mostly took it easy. The main focus was on ulpan, my content writing and spending time with my friends. My friend Nicole and I have claimed a restaurant as "our place," it is an adorable little cafe with the most amazing greek salads that have huge blocks of feta cheese, and all of the chairs are facing the sidewalk so we sit and eat salads and drink wine and talk about everything that is going on in our lives. It's become a lovely little tradition already! My friend Lisa has invited me to go to Amsterdam and Berlin during our one week break with two of her friends from home (a couple), being in Berlin for New Years Eve, and I have happily accepted! I wanted to do something fun for the break and this sounds like the perfect thing.

Finally yesterday my roommate arrived! Her name is Yohanna and she is an adorable French girl who never stops smiling. She arrived early yesterday morning, and immediately asked what I was doing for Shabbat. I told her that I didn't have any plans, and she insisted that I join her at her uncles that evening... of course I wanted to go! Her cousin picked us up, and it turns out I had met her the week before at a panel as she works for one of the employers that some people on Masa intern with... small world! Her aunt and uncle live in an adorable little flat in a nice neighborbood, and for a family of people who spoke primarily French and Hebrew, they welcomed me with open arms. I will admit it was a bit unsettling to finally get the hang of Hebrew and then all of a sudden be in a room of beautiful people yelling at each other in French, but I still had a great time and was so happy that she invited me.

After a lovely and gigantic meal, we went back to our apartment (or our flat as she calls it, and I may start doing that too!) and got ready to meet up with everyone and go out. Unfortunately for me people in Israel don't like to go out until SO LATE and we literally left FOR the bar at 12:15am and I was ready to be in bed at like, 10pm. But alas, it was Yohannas first night so I went anyway and we had a really nice time.

Sorry I don't have more news, I just wanted to check in before we go to the Negev tomorrow for three days of hiking and sleeping in the desert...yay! I'm pretty sure I'll get to ride a camel again, #score. We get back Tuesday night, and on Wednesday I will begin my internship. Woohoo! I will be out of touch for the next few days, but will definitely post about the Negev and my internship once those things begin.

xo
Jordyn

How to Stop Eating McDonalds

...move to Tel Aviv.

Ha... I kid. But really.

Last night we had our "Welcome Party," which was an event at a bar for my group, the group before us (who arrived in August) and all of the staff. The bar ran a special deal for us which was that for every drink you buy you can get a shot for 10 shekels ($2.50).

Yeah... I don't know WHO thought that was a good idea, but so it goes. This morning I walked over to Dizengoff Center (the most massive chaotic gorgeous mall ever which happens to be two blocks from my apartment) to run an errand. It is CRAZY there, you could spend hours just walking around, moving with the crowds and never make a single decision about where to go or what to do. I was feeling pretty exhausted after last night and completely starving, and as it's Friday the selection of places open to eat was way smaller than usual, and then I saw the glowing lights of McDonalds!

There was literally a trail of large "M's" leading up to the top floor of the mall where the Mcdonalds was located. After fighting with myself for all of 10 seconds, I decided that yes I was going to just do it... instant hangover cure, right?!

Well, this particular McDonald's was quite busy, with a constant stream of people going up to several different registers in a pattern I could not figure out. The entire menu was in Hebrew with NO English, and there were not pictures. Normally I might just try to order, but I remembered that Israel uses a different measurement system than the US and a quarter pounder wouldn't even be a thing. I sat there and stared for about ten minutes and was so overhwhelmed with the prospect of ordering that I gave up and left.

So, no McDonald's!

Otherwise, things are going well over here! Hebrew lessons are difficult yet fun and tapping into a weird part of my brain. One activity we do is learn different questions (what is your name, where are you from, where is your house, etc.) and ask them to different people across the room, but we do one at a time and everyone listens. The other day, and I have no idea how this happened, I accidentally started speaking Spanish which is bizarre because I haven't taken a Spanish class since the 8th grade. Everyone laughed and thought I was joking, but I totally wasn't! Though it is crazy how much the Spanish sneaks up on me, I know it a lot better than I thought I did.

While I don't know too many Hebrew words, the reading and writing of the letters is very easy for me which is good. I feel really bad for the kids who came in not knowing the letters at all because this is 100x more difficult for them. I just have to learn the words/grammatical structure but I don't have to worry about memorizing a weird variety of letters in both print and cursive that looks strangely like hieroglyphics.

I went to visit the Newshound office the other day and I can't wait to work there! It's about a 25 minute walk from here which is perfect for me, and right at the cusp of being walkable. While the busses here are great, I hate depending on busses, and by walking to/from work I'll be able to get some exercise in every day whether or not I have time to hit the gym. I find busses undependable and the bus ride takes about 15 minutes, but when you add in the time spend waiting for it it's not too different! So I will be able to walk to work, at least temporarily. They are moving offices in two months and I may not be able to walk then, but the move is good news because it means they are expanding, and expansion is good because it means there might be a job for me later. Just sayin'.

My boss is very nice and very cool, and I think working at Newshound will be a lot of fun. Additionally, both my direct superior and the CEO do not speak Hebrew, so I will be in good company! I am still going to focus on learning it, but it's nice to know I won't be out of place in the office without it.

Other highlights of my first two weeks include dogs and cats everywhere, gorgeous sunny weather, delicious coffee every morning, crying into my wallet at how expensive everything is and considering hummus and pita an actual food group.

Shabbat Shalom everyone!