Two Months Past?! Email Blast #3

Beautiful faces, hello!

It’s somehow December! I don’t know where the time goes, but at least a lot has happened since I last wrote you!

I have officially decided to stay here for my master’s degree! So instead of being in Israel for one year, I’ll be here for two years. My Fulbright research will directly cross over to be research for my thesis. This past week I gained a second advisor – a research and thesis advisor in the Hydrology Department (my Fulbright advisor is in the Environmental Studies Department)  – and I will be earning an M.Sc. in Hydrology. Very exciting!

My finals schedule was recently announced (end of January through mid February), so my classes just got ten times more intense. The two hydrology courses that I am taking are way over my head because my USC degree wasn’t very science heavy.To compensate, I’ve been spending hours on tutorial websites and with my head buried in text books, trying to teach myself the physics of wells and aquifers. If you know of any good resources, let me know...

OH yes, and how could I forget – the small “war” happened. I stayed very safe, here in Sde Boker because I am just barely out of rocket range from any of Israel's borders and because our population here in this quaint little town would be a waste of ammunition for Hamas to even think about. I did travel twice – one time to visit a friend of a friend on a Moshav and one time to Tel Aviv for Thanksgiving. I took the train to the Moshav and during the ride there was an announcement to get on the floor, under the seats. I did as told, but nothing happened – just a precaution because there was a rocket in the distance somewhere and we had to get away from the windows in case the glass broke. So, I can’t say I was affected much by the Pillar of Defense. Plus, I even got to play Frisbee twice because my Ulpan class (which is at the same time as the weekly Frisbee game) was cancelled due to it’s location in Beer Sheva (hit by over 200 rockets). Life is good, no?


I recently went through another wave of culture shock and missing home – the reality that my friends here are not of the same caliber as my friends from home/USC hit hard. As you all know, I am a social person. I can’t deny that I’m surrounded by amazing people here, but it really takes time and effort to create close bonds with people who speak a different language and who grew up with a whole different lifestyle. And until I can achieve that kind of friendship here, it's hard not to have someone's shoulder to lean on. 

That’s the end of my saga for now! Wishing you all a Happy Hannukah and Merry Christmas!

Until next time,
“Ninush” (my new nick name in Hebrew)

Time for Hannukah!

Visit from Ethan!

Last weekend Ethan Levy came to visit me! My first friend to visit me!

I finally had a real shabbat (first one so far)- Ethan and I did close to nothing! It was amazing. I was in my pajamas until at least sunset! He got me hooked on Game of Thrones because he sat down and took the time to explain all the families and the incest and the background, so that when we watched the show, I wasn't as lost with what was going on.



Most beautiful sunset so far - with a rainbow thingy on the right! WOW eze yofi!!!

Tel Aviv - desert girl goes wild!

A few weekends ago I spent some time in Tel Aviv! I went for Thanksgiving on Thursday, and then stayed through Sunday for a long weekend.

I saw my friend Bluth, whom I met on Year Course, and I stayed at Noah's place with Ethan (Camp Kee Tov friends).
I spent lots of money all weekend, but had a flippin awesome time eating good food and stalking up on goodies to take home to my kitchen. I bought a measuring cup (which is in mililiters, and I have to do conversions whenever I'm baking/cooking).


I got my hair braided at an ethiopian hair shop! When a desert girl goes to the big city..... things happen.

And Bluth and I explored her neighborhood (Florentine) and walked along the Jaffo seaside.

Post-Thanksgiving

On Friday morning I woke up at my Fulbrighter friend's apartment in Tel Aviv and set out to the Fulbright office for one of my check-in meetings (scheduled for this day because I am hardly ever in Tel Aviv, so the Thanksgiving dinner last night put me in a good position to have the check-in). I opened her apartment door to find the biggest rainfall of the season so far! Wow!
Immediately switching my plan of walking the 35 minutes to the office, I hailed a taxi. In the two blocks to find a taxi, I was already soaking wet, but loving it nonetheless! The desert hasn't seen much rain yet - we got a few rainy days, but in desert language that means five minutes of downpour and sporadic drizzles for the rest of the day.
I got in the car and the driver and I both exclaimed (in Hebrew) how happy we were to see the rain! I continued to use my new and improved Hebrew to tell tim that I'm not from here - I live in the desert - so this was a real treat for me.

He proceded to ask me what I was doing in Tel Aviv and I told him about Thanksgiving, an American holiday that I came to the big city to celebrate with friends. He said he had heard about it, but asked me what we do, and what we are celebrating.

Wow, what a question! Not only have I never been asked what Thanksgiving is, but I've never had to struggle with the language barrier of choosing the right words to express the feeling of true happiness. My small Hebrew vocabulary communicated to him that Thanksgiving is a time when you can surround yourself by people who you love and that bring happiness into your life. I told him you can think about what's good in your life and take some time to appreciate it.

This conversation with my taxi driver truly made me appreciate Thanksgiving. It warmed my heart, and that little ten minute ride was my real Thanksgiving here in Israel. The dinner on Thursday night was nice, but I had a feeling of entitlement or something because it was a bougie even at a stranger's home. Kind of felt more like a cocktail party...

So, I want to take a moment to truly appreciate my support system - my family, friends, mentors, and people I look up to. You have all impacted me in some way and made me the person I am - the person I am proud to be. You've affected me in ways you will never know.
Thank you for being in my life and thank you for helping me appreciate goodness....








... Like this challah that was displayed at the Deputy Ambassador's house on Thursday night (tee hee, tee hee....):

(Ok, so maybe I turned the photo upside down, and MAYBE they intended for it to be a "t" but they didn't do a very good job, am I right?)

Thanksgiving!

Fulbright organized a Thanksgiving dinner for us at the Deputy Ambassador's home in Hertzliya Pituach (very nice neighborhood). It was nice to see my Fulbright friends once again, but the experience was nothing in the league of the Ranch that my family usually goes to on the northern coast of California. I missed snuggling by the fireplace and playing with the little Chinese baby who's family also spends the weekend at the Ranch. I miss feeding apples from the apple tree to the beautiful wild horses and walking down to the algae filled pond with my papa or holding hands with my mom on our moonlight starlight walk after the big Thursday dinner.

Here's the whole group - wives, husbands, kids, and all! (not everyone came, but a good amount of us were there). I bet you are thinking, "whoa, so many people!" - yes yes, I had no idea so many people were doing Fulbright. There are only 6 people like me (one year of either post-undergrad or post-masters research) all the other people are either doing one semester Visiting Professorships or 2 year Post-Doc programs.

Obama!

Guess who I voted for?!

All the Fulbrighters in Israel were invited to an election party thrown by the US Ambassador this past week in Tel Aviv. They held the party on Tuesday night (before the election results came in) because the Ambassador, Dan Shapiro, is appointed by the president and if Obama didn't win, then Shapiro could be out of luck. So they held the party before the results were announced.

Jess (who hosted me for the night), me, the ambassador, Amelia (my friend from Sde Boker)

I brought a friend from the midrasha to the party and we stayed in Tel Aviv for the night with one of my Fulbright friends. The party was painfully stereotypical American with hot dogs and burgers, when I was expecting this to be a nice, elegant gathering, haha. Oh well. The company was great - as I get to know my fellow Fulbrighters in Israel better, I appreciate their immense knowledge about all sorts of topics and I am always entertained by certain characters in our group.

It was a fun night to get out of Sede Boker and head to Tel Aviv, and I'll get to see my friends again soon for Fulbright Thanksgiving!

Fulbrighters!

Live band with balloon decorations!

Night Hike Magic

For the full moon last week I decided to lead a night hike! Brining my SC Outfitter skills half way around the world, I teamed up with a woman named Amber who already knew the trail and we lead about 30 people from the midrasha down into a canyon and back out to a campfire! No flashlights needed because the moon was so bright, it was amazing.

I told the story of the moon and the stars and we made food called Poyke - where you basically throw everything together (quinoa, rice, seasoning, vegetables, anything you want) in a pot and it is somehow ready all at the same time! It's a magic boiling pot!