First Days, Part 2

My little home in Beit She'an is the bottom story of a three story building.  Inside and down a short hallway, you will see a spacious living room, adjoining dining room and a well-sized kitchen, which when we arrived was generously stocked with all sorts of Israeli goodies that the community assembled for us!  

Home sweet home!

There are four bedrooms for the five of us fellows and it worked out that both girls have their own rooms - mine has a connecting bathroom, which is both the bane of my existence as well as a confidence booster. The bathroom has the unique benefit of being able to offer its user the chance to use the toilet at the same time as showering!  The shower is one of those handheld contraptions, so anytime I want to put shampoo or conditioner in my hair, I have to find somewhere to balance the shower head, or change the water to come out of the tap instead of the shower head.  So this has been an art to master since it's VERY difficult not to a) flood the entire bathroom space, b) get everything wet or c) a combination of a) and b) and then slip and die upon completion of your shower. 

Jessica, the other girl that I live with and I share the bathroom, which does mean that she has to go through my room to get to the bathroom.  It hasn't been a problem and I really haven't minded or been inconvenienced by it at all.  The girls' bathroom shares a wall with the boys' bathroom, and it's very, very thin so if someone is in both at the same time, there's a good likeliness that one can overhear the other.  This has provided the boys' side with a slew of entertainment like screaming when the water suddenly turns from cold to hot, show tunes being sung and swearing.  

Each time, we're a little bit better at using the shower, so it does provide a constant challenge that gives you a little bit of encouragement each time you get more adjusted to using it.  It is very small, always a little damp and has the possibility to have more mold in it than we really want to come to terms with, but if I wanted a modern bathroom, I wouldn't be here, so it comes with the territory I guess!

That's the thing that makes Beit She'an really unique - we are for the most part "roughing it". Beit She'an is off the beaten path, it's removed, a little isolated, in the process of aging or growing (I can't tell which way it's going sometimes, so possibly both simultaneously) and requires us to expect the unexpected and approach things with lowered expectations, or no expectations at all.  

This past weekend, the five of us went to a retreat in the Golan Heights where we met up with other Masa Tlalim (the name of my program) ITF groups from Netanya [North of Tel Aviv] and Beer Sheva [in the Southern, middle of the country].  The two other groups were 22 and 18 people respectively; they were also made up of mostly girls who were around 21 or 22, whereas my group is 24 and up.  

Look out from the Kibbutz over the Golan Heights

At first it was very intimidating to encounter these huge groups since my group is primarily introspective introverts, or those who are uncomfortable in big groups.  Over our first four days after the Beit She'an fellows arrived in Israel, we all bonded quickly, found we had a lot of common interests and began to feel very comfortable with each other.  So whereas we were all had a good idea of what each of us were all about, the other groups were a blank and intimidating slate. 

The weekend retreat kicked off with a group "kayak"; Israeli for "kayak" actually seems to refer to a "raft".  It's the same way that "water hike" means "most of your body will be submerged in water, so wear water shoes" and "waterslide" means "man-sized drainage pipe that goes under a road that you can catch a ride through" to Israelis.  You really need to read between the lines with them or ask a lot of direct questions to actually get a handle on what's going on.  And even then, you might not get a straight answer.

Sunset over the Golan at the Kibbutz

Our rafting trip paired people up in groups of 2 or 4 to negate the perilous waters of the Jordan River - I'm being sarcastic here, this section of the Jordan River was extremely lazy and meandering, with literally just one itty-bitty rapid the entire hour long raft.  The most dangerous part was actually the rafts full of Israelis who are floating mostly sideways, backwards and extremely slowly with little ability or care to change their course.  They jeer and splash at you as you paddle by - especially if you're a raft with a blonde and red-headed girls who are paddling with skill, which Jessica and I certainly were. We wound up getting way ahead of the group and questioned whether we had paddled into Jordan since it had been a while since we'd passed anyone who spoke English, before we reached the finish spot.  It turned out that we were the second raft to finish and the first boat of girls, the rest of the Beit She'an group quickly followed our lead.  I think through this, we gained a reputation for being a little bit competitive, but competent in outdoors pursuit, as well as an enigma to the rest of the groups since there were only 5 of us.    

Your regular Kibbutz peacock

We spent our next days and nights in a kibbutz in the Golan that felt extremely luxurious with comfortable beds and shower heads that attached to the wall.  It was heaven.  The weekend itinerary included Shabbat activities, team bonding exercises, relaxing by the pool, eating falafel, hummus and cucumber salad and lectures.  It culminated in a hike, a visit and lunch in a Druze village up near the Syrian boarder and then visiting an outlook that gave us a view overlooking Syria.  

Nighttime light show and tour of the Archaeological Park in Beit She'an

When it finally came time to return to Beit She'an we were all really excited and almost relieved to return to our scorching hot, rural and removed little town. Really, nothing comes to close to how wholesome and genuine the experience is to live here.  No other town offers a full immersion into the community and lifestyle like Beit She'an.  The natural beauty of the region is unparalleled; there's natural springs that flow from the ground and the ruins of Greek and Roman cities that are just a couple of blocks from my doorstep!
  


Every person that we meet are so happy and thankful for us all to be here and involved in teaching and working within the community.  They know that we left our lives and families thousands of miles away to come here and do something different and have an impact.  They value it from the bottom of their hearts and make every palpable effort to make us feel a part of things here.  Everyone is hospitable, open and wants to help and support us in any way that we need.  

On our way back to Beit She'an, I found out that I had been assigned a host family that wanted me to come over for dinner.  The lovely Levi family welcomed me into their home, introduced me to their children as well as their little dog, fed me pizza and spent the evening getting to know me - this took a huge effort on their part since I speak absolutely no Hebrew and they kindly spoke to me in English. The family has roots in Morocco, so there were homemade delicious Moroccan cookies and tea to follow the meal.  

My host sisters, Hila and Maya. 

They treated me so selflessly and opened their arms to welcome me like a daughter! Maya and Hila, are 12 years old and twin sisters, who gave me lots of hugs and told me about how happy they were for me to be here and how excited they were to have me as a sister and that they can't wait to spend more time with me.

Gilah's famous Moroccan treats!

It's impossible not to pick up on the spirit of the area and immerse yourself into the community.  On top of teaching English in the classroom, I also expect to undertake a community project which could be anything from giving tours at the Archaeological park, to planning community events in the library.  Since Dudu, my host dad, is a volunteer at the Archaeological Park, I am hoping that it gives me a leg-up to be able to offer tours of the ancient city of Scythopolis.  

It does not yet seem real that this is my life and even writing about it is such an out-of-body experience, yet I feel pretty well adjusted to spending my days interacting with new people in a foreign place. Writing about it makes it seem even less real and more like a story that I weave together of snippets of dreams and desires that I've always wanted to achieve for myself.  In The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho refers to something called a Personal Legend as "It's what you have always wanted to accomplish.  Everyone, when they are young, knows what their Personal Legend is.  At that point in their lives, everything is clear and everything is possible.  They are not afraid to dream and to yearn for everything they would like to see happen to them in their lives."  [I'm slowly re-reading The Alchemist right now]

I certainly feel like I am accomplishing an aspect of my Personal Legend and it's amazing how right and easy it feels to be able to do that.  All the doors open and right things happen as if I am really meant to be here.  Right now, I do not for a moment regret quitting my job and spending my days dripping in sweat the moment I go outside if it means being exactly where I am at this moment.

So there's a little snapshot of my life in Beit She'an.  It has NOT settled down into a routine one bit.  This second week is still full of adjustment, exposure and new experiences.  I begin teaching on Wednesday, 9/9 and I'm very nervous. 

Send me good luck, email or comment on the blog page if you have any questions and I will try to return your messages!  Another random aspect of Israeli life is that there's a 50/50 chance that I have free wifi wherever I am going, so I can get service to check email and exchange iMessages with other iPhones as long as it's not impolite to whoever I am with.  I will eventually have an Israeli number and be more like a local!  

Thanks for reading!

Love,
Hannah