Icky week

This past week started off great. I was ready to have the many jobs that I have and I felt good. Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday go well. Then comes Wednesday, I'm feeling a bit tired, but it's no big deal. I met my boss Judy and she told me my job and said I could work at a slow pace since I looked tired and worked from 9-12 and there's nothing to do once I clean the apartments. I come back after I finished and she offers me to go home and sleep, but I didn't want to, because I knew I should be working. It was a good offer though. I go and have lunch, after lunch I went to work in the laundry room. I didn't do much, but I did what I was told. While I was there I was talking to Elana and Rose about how I was feeling kind of weird. I got a huge headache, my throat was starting to hurt, I was getting cold. Well, by that time we realized I was coming down with something. I had to wear layers to get to dinner. So, the next day my madrich took me to the clalit (the clinic) I was told I have strep throat. Now I'm on Penicillin and I'm still not feeling 100% but if I still feel icky I think I'm going to go back to clalit. I took Thursday and Friday and Today I was working again. I like working.

Whats has been on my mind....

So many people say "I don't believe in Gd" or "I don't believe in Religion." For me I'm not sure if I believe in Gd or not but I know that your not suppose to write his name in vain and since I was taught that in elementary school I still don't. But I do believe in Religion. Right now I'm reading Night by Elie Wiesel. Which takes place during the holocaust. I also read it freshman year. I was just thinking how if back then you didn't believe in Gd or you didn't believe in Religion it wouldn't matter. Your Jewish because it was what you were born into. Doesn't matter what you believe really the Religion you are is the Religion you are.
I believe in Religion because it brings people together, it unifies them. I love going every Friday to services, not to pray but to sing, to sing with others that want to sing to. Sure what I'm singing is a prayer, but it's more then a prayer. There's a volunteer here named Rafeal he's from Brazil and he doesn't speak Hebrew and all of the prayers are in Hebrew, he can't read it either, but he remembers the prayers from home and is able to sing along. No matter were your from as a Jew we're all singing the same prayer. Whether its transliterated in English, or in Portuguese, or whatever the language may be, its all the same. Believe what you want, but it probably won't matter to me. What matters to me is being with others and singing

Busy week with many jobs

So in the beginning of living here on the Kibbutz I got to work in clothing and I got to fold sort and put away clothes. My job(s) has changed. This past week I was given about 4 jobs. One of my jobs is helping this guy named Sebastian who is the carpenter. I go to houses and places on the kibbutz with him and put together shelves, closets things in that department. Sometimes I help him cut the wood and stuff of that sort. I was with him for 2 days last week and I'm with him for one day this week.
My next job is cleaning 2 faculty apartments for AIES. AIES stands for Arava Institute for Environmental Studies. Its a research group that teaches students about the environment and more. If you are interested in knowing about the group go to www.arava.org. When I went to work for the Arava I was introduced to a women named Judy and she told me all about AIES, but all I'm doing is cleaning 2 apts that staff comes in and out of. The staff that stays in the apts teaches for a day or two. I'm in there about twice a week.
The third job I have is dining room/chadar ochel. I help clean the whole place after meals, clean the machine that cleans the dishes and serve food. Well there's more jobs then that in the dining room, but that's all I've done. I like the people I'm working with there so I enjoy it. I'll be in there a few times this week.
Also I'm in the Mercaz/Center where everything goes on and I clean that almost every morning. Normally my madrich is there to help me, but I had that job when I was in clothing, which I'm doing again this week again. I'm back once again in clothing. I like it, because I know that I'm doing a good job. I enjoy folding clothes, its weird, I know. So as you can see, I'm a bit all over the place, but I enjoy it. In the beginning of last week I was a bit stressed and freaking out, but now I'm enjoying it. And I feel relieved, you know why? I feel relieved because I'm going to Illinois State next year and I'm so excited. :)
By the way, I really hope the bears win today. It would be nice to see the bears win the superbowl too.

3rd week of shvil

This past week of shvil was all about nature and group bonding. The best day was when we had to switch shoes with the person we knew the least about. Yoash our guide told us that we didn't have to wear the shoes on our feet, and some shoes for some people were a bit too small. When I say too small I mean it, my friend Helene picked me and Elana the 2 smallest people in the group, with the smallest shoes. So it was pretty funny when she tried to try on one of our shoes. she ended up holding them if I remember correctly. I wore one of her shoes and one of my friend harry's shoe. Both of the shoes were to big so it was kinda fun walking in them. After we gave each other our shoes back we got to switch backpacks and hats with each other. My madrich, Eyal, took my backpack and hat while I got my friend Seth's backpack and hat. After we switched we decided to act like each other according to whose backpack and hat we were wearing it was so fun/funny. That was the best part of the week here's a pic of the guide, the medic/guard, and Helene after we switched backpacks. The medic on the left has Zach Snyder's backpack and hat, the guide has Zach Zimmerman's hat and backpack and Helene is wearing our guide's hat and backpack. Wow that's confusing.

2nd Week of Shvil

So I forgot to blog about the 2nd week of the hike that I was on. I actually wrote this blog in my journal in the beginning of the 3rd and last week of the hike. Anyways the 2nd week of shvil was great. We got to view a lot of nature of course, but more then that we got to learn about the palmach which was the underground army before Israel was independent. We followed a bit of their foot steps and we got to learn about it along the way. Besides learning about the palmach we learned about how bad the industrial life is interrupting with nature. Towards the end of the second day we came across a conveyor belt transported goods from the dead sea to dimona. It was a bit sad to see that while hiking. There was also a lot of trash everywhere that we couldn't clean up. We see trash we throw it away, but there was absolutely to much and some of it was to big. Once we got past all the industrial stuff it was great. There was a lot of team building activities we got to do. Yoash the guide had us pair off ask each other specific questions, so we got to know each other a bit better. Also, he gave us alone time, which didn't work out so well for me because I felt an urge to talk to someone. Besides that the week was great. here are some pictures.

Winter Break

A lot of stuff happened over winter break! I stayed with my friend Rose and her family from Saturday night to Tuesday morning. During those days we went to the City of David where we walked in a water cave, which was really awesome. Also we went to the Israel Museum, if you ever visit Israel and your staying in Jerusalem go there. The artwork the archeological artifacts and everything else is amazing. I finally got to see this sculpture on the left. I knew it existed I just didn't know where. On Tuesday I met up with Elana. We went to see my brother Louis in the morning and had breakfast with him. After that we headed to Tel Aviv and browsed Dizengoff mall. We were at the mall for awhile finally we get a call from our madrich (counselor) and he tells us where he lives and we go to his house and we helped him make dinner for everyone who was coming. He had a party for our section a couple families came and a lot of year coursers came to. We didn't stay for the party. Instead we went to go meet up with my co-counselor from this past summer Yael. we sat in Rabin Square and just talked it was really nice seeing her. Soon enough we went back to Eyal's. The party was still going on and Elana and me were exhausted. So once people were leaving we went to sleep. The next day we went back into Tel Aviv I got my nose re-pierced, because it closed up and we got to have breakfast at Max Brenners. That was the best breakfast ever. We headed back to the kibbutz after our day was over and now we are getting ready to leave to go on our second week of shvil. Oh, and my new years eve was a bit boring I stayed on the kibbutz and chilled with everyone. There was a nice bonfire going on and many people got drunk, but I didn't. I have to go. Can't wait to talk more about shvil.