The first day I was here, one of my friends told us a piece of advice that one of her friends told her. I think that it is something that all my friends who are going abroad for the Spring should abide by or at the very least just think about. She said: "Not everyday has to be a great experience. You are going to have bad days." It's not that this helped me, but when I had a bad day, I would look back on this phrase. Going into the program, I was terrified about basically everything. Cooking my food. Finding places to get food. Not knowing anyone in the country. My friend told us this the first day we were in Haifa and she was right. You have to accept that not everyday has to be a day where you have to do something amazing. There are going to be bad days where you wonder why you chose to go so far away from home. Or why you picked a country where you can barely ask where the bathroom is. Or just wish to go home because you are homesick. Of course I had all these thoughts, but I also had some experiences that I would never give up. I learned to cook my own food. I went to a different country by myself (ie no parents). I met people from all over the world: From Canada to Denmark to the Marshall Islands. These things that I have encountered and learned formed my amazing time here. I would never give up this experience. How often do you get to live in a different country/culture for three and half months?
The big change I have found in myself is that I am more confident about everything. I think that if you are in a place where few people speak your language, you have to gain the confidence to ask people what you want in a foreign language. I am more willing to go up to strangers and ask them stupid questions, like how to get a train ticket. I am also more confident in using my Hebrew. Sure my grammar and gender usage is probably wrong, but how else are you going to learn it if you don't השתמש עברית (use Hebrew)? I am also more talkative in class, but I think that's because my teacher wants us to think a certain way and for some of the topics that we talk about, I just can't imagine it. (For example suicide bombing, although for this topic I could try to see the other point of view). But besides the specific class that I'm talking about, I think that I'm more opinionated about certain topics. I feel that I can argue better against my brother, who has an argument for everything. I am also more confident in my cooking. The first week I was here I didn't know how to cook or even what to make. I think part of that, though, was because I was in Federman where the kitchen is the size of the closet at school. That's not an exaggeration. I am proud of myself for cooking dinner every night. I had real food and left overs. I am even willing to make dinner when I get home. (I say that now...)
I have also learned many non-academic things. The main thing being how my mom goes to the grocery store everyday and spends so much money. I never understood this, but buying food for myself, I have found that I have to go everyday, because somethings just don't last that long or I just forget to buy it the day before. There is also easy access to food because the mini-mart and right across from the dorms. I have also learned that in order to learn your way around a place, you have to actually go out and explore. That seems so obvious, but the exploration is more than taking a bus down and walking around a mall for a few hours. It is walking around by looking at a map in order to figure out how the heck you ended up where you did and how the heck you are going to get back. You don't actually know a place until you have been there during both the day and the night. It looks different at different points in the day and in order to learn the city, you have to know both the nighttime and the daytime life of the city. I have also learned that I really like teaching English. As frustrating as it was to teach the letters for two months and get no where, I liked doing it. Maybe it will be something I look into as a career. I don't know what else I want to do...
Now that I have been in Israel for three months, it is natural to open up my bag for the security guard when I enter a restaurant or to walk through a metal detector to go to the mall. Or to see blobs of green on the bus going home for the weekend. (That would be the Israeli soldiers). The one thing that I have gotten used that is a little bit scary is that the soldiers carry these huge guns. I don't know if they are loaded, I'm assuming not because they are in a public place and don't want it to go off by accident, but seeing these long black metal things is just part of the everyday life that Israelis do in order to survive. How often do you see a soldier in uniform carrying their gun? The scary thing about the whole thing is that most of these soldiers are younger than us. (For those of you who don't know, Israel has a draft for the army at the age of 18. Girls serve for two years and boys for three). Except some of the soldiers don't look older than twelve and seeing them hold guns is a bit frightening.
I have ten days left in Israel...how does time go so fast? Ten days is the length of time of birthright and it seemed like a normal ten days, but I know that this coming week will just zoom by and before I know it, I'll be on a plane back home. Home.
The big change I have found in myself is that I am more confident about everything. I think that if you are in a place where few people speak your language, you have to gain the confidence to ask people what you want in a foreign language. I am more willing to go up to strangers and ask them stupid questions, like how to get a train ticket. I am also more confident in using my Hebrew. Sure my grammar and gender usage is probably wrong, but how else are you going to learn it if you don't השתמש עברית (use Hebrew)? I am also more talkative in class, but I think that's because my teacher wants us to think a certain way and for some of the topics that we talk about, I just can't imagine it. (For example suicide bombing, although for this topic I could try to see the other point of view). But besides the specific class that I'm talking about, I think that I'm more opinionated about certain topics. I feel that I can argue better against my brother, who has an argument for everything. I am also more confident in my cooking. The first week I was here I didn't know how to cook or even what to make. I think part of that, though, was because I was in Federman where the kitchen is the size of the closet at school. That's not an exaggeration. I am proud of myself for cooking dinner every night. I had real food and left overs. I am even willing to make dinner when I get home. (I say that now...)
I have also learned many non-academic things. The main thing being how my mom goes to the grocery store everyday and spends so much money. I never understood this, but buying food for myself, I have found that I have to go everyday, because somethings just don't last that long or I just forget to buy it the day before. There is also easy access to food because the mini-mart and right across from the dorms. I have also learned that in order to learn your way around a place, you have to actually go out and explore. That seems so obvious, but the exploration is more than taking a bus down and walking around a mall for a few hours. It is walking around by looking at a map in order to figure out how the heck you ended up where you did and how the heck you are going to get back. You don't actually know a place until you have been there during both the day and the night. It looks different at different points in the day and in order to learn the city, you have to know both the nighttime and the daytime life of the city. I have also learned that I really like teaching English. As frustrating as it was to teach the letters for two months and get no where, I liked doing it. Maybe it will be something I look into as a career. I don't know what else I want to do...
Now that I have been in Israel for three months, it is natural to open up my bag for the security guard when I enter a restaurant or to walk through a metal detector to go to the mall. Or to see blobs of green on the bus going home for the weekend. (That would be the Israeli soldiers). The one thing that I have gotten used that is a little bit scary is that the soldiers carry these huge guns. I don't know if they are loaded, I'm assuming not because they are in a public place and don't want it to go off by accident, but seeing these long black metal things is just part of the everyday life that Israelis do in order to survive. How often do you see a soldier in uniform carrying their gun? The scary thing about the whole thing is that most of these soldiers are younger than us. (For those of you who don't know, Israel has a draft for the army at the age of 18. Girls serve for two years and boys for three). Except some of the soldiers don't look older than twelve and seeing them hold guns is a bit frightening.
I have ten days left in Israel...how does time go so fast? Ten days is the length of time of birthright and it seemed like a normal ten days, but I know that this coming week will just zoom by and before I know it, I'll be on a plane back home. Home.
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