India and Israel

Sorry that I dont write full blog entries anymore - I just havent found the time. i am quite busy these days, but it is Good busy - I'm happy about it.
So this next entry is actually a facebook message I sent a few of my friends yesterday. Although it does not talk about my India trip itself, it speaks of what India taught me at the end of the day. It tells a little about what I have mentally gained from some recent awakenings. So just remember I was writing this to my friends:


April 30, 2008

I’m back in Israel from spring break. I was in Jordan with my mama. It was really nice returning to Israel - I just felt a sigh of relief returning to a country that I don’t technically call home, but I feel like its mine. I don’t have to remain the stupid American who only speaks English and doesn’t understand the language of the country. In Israel I can speak broken Hebrew and I know the life style and how things go here. It’s just so weird that I wont be here in like 5 weeks. wow, 5 weeks I cant believe it.

Now that I have settled back into my life here after my trip to India I have really thought about some things. over spring break i realized how much i have. India really made me realize that I have way too much STUFF. my mom told me she wanted to buy me a nice bracelet in Jordan and I was just like "no, I don’t need it."
I hope the word need is going to make many appearances in my life in the upcoming months. i would love for you guys to analyze what you have as well – what you want verses what you need. i know that you havent been to India and seen the poverty over there, and its impossible to imagine, but its there ad I’m telling you about it.
I am going to organize a clothing drive before I leave my program. I want to send clothes that we find unflattering or "out of style" to people who cant choose what they wear every day. To people who wear ripped dirty clothing daily and have no shoes. I am specifically talking about a community i met in Uganda so i hope to send the clothes to them, but there are communities all around the world that are in need. I would highly suggest that you guys try to do the same thing at your schools. I dont know what college campuses are like, but i assume you could make flyers or a facebook event and get friends to help. online you can find addresses of needy communities.

On the subject of not buying so much stuff that we don’t need - next time you go shopping don’t go to any new clothing stores. try to stick to used clothing-second hand-vintage. This helps the world go round, AKA REUSE REDUCE RECYCLE. the production of clothing is horrible for the environment, so trade shirts with friends instead of buying new ones.

could i BE more of an indoctrinator? haha i love you girls.