A Rough Beginning...A Bittersweet End...

I was once told an interesting saying that for some reason really strikes me quite hard, especially on the difficult day that was today. The saying goes something like this: "You can spend all this time planning your life right here down on earth, and up in the heavens God is laughing at you the whole time." This especially means that there are other things in mind that I am not aware of, and something new in life that I suppose I will find out all in good time. And that has been the revelation these past few weeks, and from what it seems like now, there is a lot more to come.

This blog entry contains something a bit more difficult to explain...and I have to alter my life plans a bit. But I shall sum it up as follows: I will no longer be able to remain a graduate student here at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. The main reasons are significantly personal, but the long and short of it is a fabulous career opportunity back in Los Angeles starting next month, and a financial crisis with a grant that I was supposed to be receiving...the very ticket on really why I am here. Today was my first day with the withdrawing process... It almost feels like the rug has been yanked out from under my feet, tossed to the ground, shaken and thrown away. I had to drop all my classes, and now begins the discovery of what comes next. I am very excited to see what awaits me in the future, yet the road is long to get there.

As many of you know, my times here in Israel have not been easy. From an unsettling start in Jerusalem, to finding housing here in Be'er Sheva, to getting settled and then having to relocate apartments, from bureaucracy to bureaucracy at the university, to finally grant and other financial issues with the state of Israel, the math adds up to the fact that I tried to plan something and make it work, and this is not where I am supposed to be. Everything I have done with making it work has failed, and failed again. MAPMES is an OK program, but in my opinion not enough to slave over it and make it work to some extent toward my career. Finally NBC News Tel Aviv did not work out, as the bureau is too small to conduct fulltime internships and/or pageships. Although I tried to deny all of these things for several weeks now and continue to remain optimistic, the time has come to acknowlege the uphill road and move it along to opportunities that will further my career and make a happy life.

I just a few short weeks I will board a British Airways flight back to New York, then on to Sacramento for a little bit before the big move to Los Angeles. Until then, I plan to still have fun, to see Israel, to travel a few more times to the places I want to see. I also will be able to have someone sublet my room, transfer the lease over and be free and clear of any obligations here. Next weekend, I'm still travelling with a group to Eilat, one of Israel's most tropical cities. My flight departs early in the morning November 17, so the plan is to head to Ben-Gurion Airport on Friday the 16th, the day before, check in my luggage, and then head to Jerusalem for a final time to visit the Old City, and to go to a special place that I absolutely loved in Israel...called Kol Haneshama. From there, I will start my journey home.

To all who have been religiously checking this blog and haven't seen anything here for a bit, I apologize...this has been what's going on in life. Again, expect a few more posts before I have to leave. And of course, thank you to you all for your love and support. I'll be home soon! And don't worry, Israel... I'll be back...you can count on it :)

"GFC in Israel" and a Fabulous Trip to Tzfat!

One of the coolest experiences I've had yet since I've been in Israel occurred this weekend in the mystical city of Tzfat (Pronounced S-fat), which is in the northern part of the country. I got the chance to travel along with the Overseas Student Program (OSP), which coordinates a lot of the undergraduate students who are here at Ben-Gurion University. Yet before talking about Tzfat, I should update you on the week's happenings with the apartment, classes and all that other cool stuff.

OK, so as many of you know, I recently landed an apartment just west of the BGU campus, and the coolest part is that I'm splitting it with three other MAPMES students. We have a four-bedroom place on the top floor of a building that overlooks a local park with a rent rate that would make many of my friends still living in Los Angeles quite jealous - a whole $350 a month for the whole place ;) To the right is a picture of our living room and just below to the left is a photo of my bedroom. It's quite cozy, and we all share a central bathroom. Right now in Be'er Sheva, the weather has been quite warm...settling temperatures at night have ranged from probably 75-80 degrees F (roughly 28-30 C), so we've been able to keep the windows open at night and enjoy the warm Israeli desert nights. And we have about a 10-minute walk to the BGU campus, which isn't too bad especially since we pass the best schwarma and fallafel stands in the entire city on the way to class :)

The coolest part of this past weekend occurred before it even started! I got the lucky chance to meet up with a special visitor from Greene Family Camp in Jerusalem: Mr. Loui Dobin! It was great to see our GFC camp director here in Israel and to visit outside the stress and intensity that is Greene Family Camp during the summer. And it was also great to meet up with some other great camp friends here in Israel either working here or studying, including Adam, Lauren, Carly, and several others from our Israeli delegation from years past. We went out to a restaurant called Foccaccia in Jerusalem and ordered excellent some amazing pasta dishes and had just had blast visiting! Afterward, we visited an amazing waffle place near Kikar Zion...and wow was it delicious crepe-style waffles! (And Loui gave me the first distributed copies of the published camp DVD here...hahaha!)

From Jerusalem, I went from Tel Aviv to Netanya, where I met up with the group travelling by bus from Be'er Sheva toward the hike and sabbath trip in Tzfat, which is one of Israel's four holy cities. Now travelling with the OSP group, we hiked near a place outside of Haifa and snagged a great view of the Mediterranian Sea as well as went "spelunking", or rather hiking in caves in the mountains. From there we stayed in a hostel in Tzfat...where it was here I got invited to my first ever Orthodox service...and boy was it intense! Let's just call it an experience to have in a mystical city on a sabbath...and I was grateful to have an orthodox Israeli on this trip to sort of escort us (me and my roommate Max as well as other OSP and MAPMES students) as to what to do so we didn't stick out as much as totally clueless as to what was going on! For those who are unfamiliar with this sort of religious service, it is basically a processional where men are at prayer in Jewish tradition serparately from women, who at this particular synagogue, were upstairs from where the men were sitting. Men are not allowed to look at the women in these kinds of services (Funny thing here...I truly didn't even know they were upstairs above us until after the service!) and vice versa for the women. The service is of course all done in Hebrew, and it is very difficult to follow along because they go so quickly. But long story short, we stayed up late, had a blast and slept in until noon the next day...fully observing a much-deserved day of rest!! Finally, we went on a hike around Tzfat on Saturday morning, and shortly after, it became time to head back to Be'er Sheva! Some pictures of my trip with captions are below.


The old city of Tzfat on the Shabbat, with no one on the streets!


Lunch at a Druse village on the way to Tzfat! Great food!


A beautiful view from near the city municipal building in Tzfat

This week is the first week of classes at BGU, and I'll be getting all of my classes situated in the next couple of days. I'll keep you all posted as to what I will be officially taking while I'm here. AND I'm enjoying all of your comments! Please stay in touch, and look for more adventures soon... Jerusalem possibly next weekend, and Eilat the weekend after that. Until then, take care :)

The Past Few Weeks...And One Special Note...

Sooo sorry to all of you who have been religiously checking my blog these past few weeks and have not seen anything new of my fun adventures to the Sea of Galilee, Tel Aviv, and finally moving into my new apartment in Be'er Sheva. These past few days have been very busy especially with getting unpacked while undergoing the apartment remodel. I promise in the next entry I will post pictures of my new room and how the apartment looks... it should be cool when it's done.

I last left off with a trip to the Kinneret, the Sea of Galilee, that is. It is about a 3-hour bus ride from Tel Aviv with a short bus stop in the city of Tiberias. I traveled with my friend Carly Passes (yay camp friends!), and we stayed in a hostel on right the Sea of Galilee called Kare Deshe. This place was gorgeous! It had a full continental dinner and breakfast topped off with amazing veggies and good seafood. Actually, the best part was the private "beach," which was essentially a rock beach but with deck chairs in the water. From there we were able to just hang out, relax, get a good suntan, and swim in the water. And the best part was that our other camp friend, Ofir, who is from Israel, called us and invited us to this party happening on a kibbutz. It was great to see him and just hang out with some of his friends.

From Kare Deshe, Carly and I went back to Tel Aviv and managed to find some things to do... like the beach, and going out some more. One of her friends that she studies with at Tel Aviv University had a birthday bash at her apartment, so I got to meet some people there and of course play a little geography to see who knows who! I put some pictures below for you to check out of these past few weeks. More on my Shutterfly website as well. I also got to meet up with my friend Einat, who invited me to her house and we had a feast with her family! All good times!


Me with Ofir (far right) and two of his friends.
Carly and I with Gal from two years ago GFC.

Me, Allie and Ally (Carly's roommates), Meir and his friend at a concert in the park on a moshav outside of Tel Aviv. It was amazing! :)

Check back soon for more updates! I'll be putting apartment pics up soon too! All the best until then!


***There is one special note I want to add to this blog. Aunt Lynnie, I know things are rough now and I'm praying for ya...You know that time when we were talking about USC football vs. Cal football? Somehow Cal beat USC down to the wire...you are a fighter and will prevail! I have full faith that you will be amazing! Much love to you, Jeffrey and Marissa. Blessings to you from the Holy Land ... (and if it helps, as we say at USC, FIGHT ON! :)***

The Holidays in Israel

One of the really cool things that I may have missed mentioning in the previous two entries is a lot about what's been going on here in Israel...Holidays! And there doesn't seem to be an end of them! And the holidays in Israel are absolutely awesome. Rosh Hashanah, marking the Jewish new year, started when I landed in Israel from the States. Yom Kippur, the day of atonement and likely the most important of the holidays, was 10 days later. And then comes Sukkot, Shemeni Atzeret and Simchat Torah.

First, to start off, the High Holidays of Israel have been very fun. As I mentioned, Rosh Hashanah was the first, and I just happened to land in Israel right as the festivities were ending. Then came Yom Kippur, where I went with Lauren to her school for a long and full day of services and such. We went to a potluck afterward and broke the fast with some of her friends from HUC.
The services were held in Blaustein Hall of Hebrew Union College (pictured to the right), which was a gorgeous room. And it definitely made the fast a little easier to be in such a huge place with a ton of people. Toward the end of the final service, called the Ne'ilah Service, about 10 people or so crowded on the stage to sound the shofar, the rams horn, to indicate the end of the holiday. Another cool thing was the singing of HaTikvah, I even got to meet a few Ben-Gurion University people afterward, and I know we'll be in touch when school starts in a few short weeks.

And now, we are in the festival of Sukkot, the festival of tabernacles or "booths." In fact, a lot of places around Israel have these makeshift built booths with palm branches on them where people eat meals, enjoy each other's company, and depending on the tradition, sometimes even sleep in it! The picture to the left is Meir and I standing under his sister's family sukkah. They are lit at night with hanging lamps or bulbs, and are enclosed on the sides. The first night of Sukkot usually involves a big dinner with lots of family, and that's exactly what we did! I met up with my friend Carly, who is a graduate student at Tel Aviv University, and Meir, one of our scouts from Greene Family Camp in 2006. Meir invited us to his family's house in the east part of Tel Aviv for some dinner and good times with the folks. As you can probably notice in the photo, we definitely ate our little hearts out on good hummus, chicken, this amazing salad, and of course wine and ...(oh my!) sunflower seeds. Yes indeed, for all of those who know me, I was very happy :)

Anyways, we are now in the process of ending all of the holidays, and then it's a trip up north to the Yam HaKinneret (the Sea of Galilee) for a few days with some friends from Greene Family Camp. Keep stay posted for pictures!

And yeah... so someone else had some other plans in mind....and shtuff!

OK, so you know that lengthy piece that I last posted about having a dorm at BGU? ... Well... So it seems that didn't work out. Long story short, the room was incredibly smaller than what was liveable, and there were probably three or so extra people assigned to a space that should not have been and that was half the size of a normal apartment where two people live comfortably...not to mention the roommates I would have had were all smokers (gross!). When I saw all of this last night, this immediately told me that I need to really try and start my life in Be'er Sheva elsewhere...

SOO after all that, there is definitely good news...all in a day's work! I have found an alternative place to live! After staying up into the wee hours of the morning last night in Jerusalem, I looked online for places to live and made several calls this morning for walk-throughs of apartments near the BGU campus. I arranged with probably around 10 landlords/ladies to tour their places in Be'er Sheva...fortunately many of them spoke English. Here's how the phone calls started: "Shalom _______ (after looking at their names on the ad), ze Josh, at(a) - depending on man or woman - metaber anglit?" - asking them if they spoke English... and 9 out of 10 they did! - the other times I just had to hang up the phone after I realized I wasn't going to get anywhere - Yay...they speak English...I would carry on the conversation about their place from there.

So here's where I got my break: It's 11:30am, and I'm in probably the 8th or 9th person I've called to try and attempt to meet with. I get a call from a woman replying back to my message that her "realtor" is the one that wants to show me her apartment, and that I should be in Be'er Sheva very quickly by 2:30 to meet him. Of course, I bolt to the bus station in Jerusalem, hop a bus to Be'er Sheva and meet this realtor as quick as possible. He wants to pick me up at the bus stop in Be'er Sheva near BGU and drive me around Be'er Sheva in his car (yes a bit of a risk!) to tour four different places that he has contracted to show me. The whole situation turned out very well. Dudti, the name of the realtor, showed me several 3-bedroom places near the University (two bedrooms and living rooms = 3 bedroom according to Be'er Sheva standards), and I eventually found one I really liked...

The place I have finally chosen is about 10 minutes walking distance from the university...right on the north outskirts edge of Be'er Sheva right along the main highway street that divides the town in the Daled neighborhood. It has two bedrooms, a full kitchen, living room, bathroom and a top level view outside of the Negev. I have to say that I am very impressed with this place... much more than all of the others I saw today simply because the landlord is from the UK, understands English beautifully, and has loaded the whole apartment with all the furniture we could want. It also contains everything I and another person from MAPMES that I am rooming with would need! There is even a TV with DVD and digital cable (with American channels!) for us to have a ball with. And the rent is considerably cheaper than other cities in Israel.

So long story short, I sign a contract tomorrow in Tel Aviv, and it all looks good. More updates to come from "Be'er Sheva Housing Quest 2007" as soon as more details become available :)

In the meantime, please check out a new addition to the blog... pictures! Check out: http://joshintheholyland.shutterfly.com/action/ for pictures of my adventures in the Holy Land. I have pics from landing in Israel, the Teyelet in Jerusalem, and pics of the new apartment online here. See you soon! ;)

The Housing Hunt: The Adventure and Conclusion!

Sooo, good news! I lucked into my own room at one of the dorms literally right across the street from the Ben-Gurion University campus! And wow what a story it was just trying to land it. Also, it has become quite essential that I learn Hebrew...and to do so fast! However, I am getting better. I'm already ordering food on the menus and navigating my way around the country...which has been quite rewarding.

OK so here goes the whole story about finding housing: Since my acceptance in the Master of Arts Program in Middle East Studies (MAPMES from here on out), finding housing in Be'er Sheva, Israel has been somewhat of a challenge. I was first offered a space back in June in what are called the Mechinot Gimmel, or the "gimmel" dorms right across the campus. But I also found out at that time that I would have to share that room with someone else... and that there was no other university housing available. The rooms are definitely a lot smaller than a normal room, and I knew that if I had to share it, it would be a bit difficult to live...kinda cramped. Therefore, I opted to live off campus in a private apartment... an idea that I thought would be awesome, that is, until I got to Be'er Sheva...

Day 1: The morning commute in Jerusalem is a beehive of activity. People are going to work, opening shops, and going to school...something pretty cool to experience. The cool thing that happened during this time was that I mastered the Jerusalem city bus system as well as navigated the intercity lines and central bus station to get to Be'er Sheva on my own! The trip to Be'er Sheva from Jerusalem can only be done by bus (unless of course you own a car) and not by train, so learning how to navigate the bus lines (in ivrit!) was key. And I didn't mess it up either...yay! On my way to Be'er Sheva, I pop out a "teach yourself Hebrew without a teacher" book (cause I need to learn it quickly!) that I bought in Jerusalem a few days ago...and away I went! (I do have to admit, I was a little nervous when I was getting close to the city...what was I looking for? Where was I supposed to get off the bus? All these questions came up.) On the way there, a HUGE sign that said Ben Gurion University was right off the main street of town right in front of the University... yes a clue that I had made it! For the first time, I walked on campus and the first thing I saw was the quad....check out the picture above. I instantly fell in love with the campus! A waterfall running through it and everything!

While there, I met up with a GFC friend, Re'em Hekrish, who mentioned he might be interested in renting apartments with me. Of course I said yes...he's a student now at BGU after working in the U.S. and is Israeli (and of course speaks Hebrew). We went to the student union building and met with a "realtor," which was a person who mentioned listings of places. This wasn't too successful because alot of the places they had available were about a 20-minute walk from campus. We then decided to look at ads posted in the downstairs department of the student union. We made a few calls on some ads...but had little success. Re'em had to go to class, so it was then that I decided to do a walking tour of the local neighborhoods to see what was around. What I saw was quite interesting. The housing is diverse, with several different accommodations, some really nice, some not so good. There are two different neighborhoods near the campus that are pretty much students, and I probably walked about 15 km (12 ish miles) through them both looking for anything that said they might be renting or looking for roommates. Having some idea of what to look for the next day, I was quite happy having finally seen the university campus and the area... and headed back to Jerusalem.

Day 2: Much of the same, walking around neighborhoods...only this time, I was able to meet with the Madrich (counselor, sort of like an RA in a college dorm) of the BGU Office of Overseas Programs (OSP), the bureau that deals with international students. His name is Dotan and quite a cool guy, however it looks like he might be leaving BGU since we now have a madricha taking over. He showed me how to get plugged in with international student activities, gave me a schedule, and enlightened me to the fact I now have a BGU email! I apparently had been getting announcements from OSP for a few months... so now I will be able to meet students as well as other Israelis who are involved...many of them from the States. I also spoke with a housing coordinator in the OSP office who mentioned that there could be a very slim chance that there still might be room in the student dorms. Of course I said, put my name down and if you find out anything tomorrow, then let me know! From there, I met up with our MAPMES coordinator Hagit and then wandered the community to check out more housing options. From here, I also set up an appointment with our MAPMES liaison, Mickey to see if he could help me find an apartment. We were on schedule to meet the next morning back at BGU. That said, back to Jerusalem I went!

Day 3: Here comes the good part... I'm on the bus going back to Be'er Sheva when I get a phone call... It's Dana, our OSP housing coordinator saying that there is an open room in the Gimmel dorms...of course yes I'll snag it, I said. The room is fully furnished with all the utilities included...with internet and cable. All I gotta do is move in and buy bedding, etc.... the cool thing is that I move in Sunday!! I cancelled my meeting with Mickey, went to the OSP office to get further details, and ended up leaving Be'er Sheva 30 minutes after arriving since I no longer need to look around for a place to live! Yay, so that's the apartment hunt in detail! A situation that turned out to be quite nice, and now way less stressful, especially all I gotta do is move in! The picture of the dorms is on the right.

Amid all the craziness of finding housing, I have been staying with Lauren in Jerusalem in the meantime. It has been very nice visiting and hanging out with her, and we have gotten the chance to do some other fun things around the city. I got to visit the Western Wall last weekend during the Shabbat (sabbath) and we got to walk around Ben Yehuda St. and check out some of the clothes shops, boutiques and food places. It's been fun to also do some cooking with her in her Jerusalem apartment, as she has picked up a few new recipies of Israeli cuisine...of course I cooked some good stuff too to go with it! :) This Friday is Yom Kippur, the Jewish day of Atonement, and we will get the chance to go to a service at her school at Hebrew Union College.

I hope you enjoyed the read on the housing hunt! The adventures keep continuing after this weekend with a possible trip to Tel Aviv after this weekend to visit more friends from the U.S. that are here! I'll also include more pictures of Be'er Sheva and Ben-Gurion University soon as well as photos of the new apartment very soon!

Yalla bye! ;)

Heivenu Shalom Aleichem!!

I made it! After about 34 hours of travel, I have finally arrived in Israel to the welcoming tune of Heivenu Shalom Aleichem, a tune that played on arrival on the plane as it sat on the tarmac at Ben Gurion Airport welcoming everyone to Eretz Israel, the land of Israel!

The flights that I took were actually pretty decent, however I might have preferred less stops along the way (stopping at Santa Ana Orange County, Chicago Midway, New York--landing LaGuardia, departing JFK), London Heathrow, and finally Tel Aviv!). I did get the chance to stay the night in New York City with my friend Kristin at her East Harlem New York apartment. We got to go out for a bit in NYC while I was there, and it looks like she's doing well with her new job with Teach for America. While in New York, I walked around a bit in Central Park and "mastered" the subway system just getting from her place to JFK.

After landing in Israel, I made it to Jerusalem, and am staying with Lauren until I get my place together in Beer Sheva. It looks possible that I could room with a fellow Israeli that I know from Greene Family Camp...which would be awesome. I leave tomorrow for Be'er Sheva via a bus line to check out places with him, and to get everything set up for the big move down to Be'er Sheva!
More pictures and updates to come at this point on where I will be living, but keep checking back. I will also have my Israeli mobile phone set up in about a few hours! All the best, and "shalom" from Israel!