Volunteering at Goldwater High School

Wow it seems like it has been forever since I have wrote anything on my blog.  In all actuality it has been three weeks.  Oh well!! However, this blog post will be about volunteering. 

A part of Oranim's program is for all of us to volunteer.  Some people in the program volunteer at the soup kitchen while other people volunteer at the elementary school.  I do not volunteer at either one.  Guess where I volunteer? Yep you guessed right.   I volunteer at Goldwater High School.  My job is to help a student with their homework.  Since, my previous job was a second grade teacher I already know I love working with childre  but working at the High School students is a little out of my comfort zone.

The first day I was paired with a ninth grader and since he did not have any homework because it was right before the jewish holidays.  We played paper football.  I remember playing paper football a lot in middle school so I had to give this student the  same experience.  But, I ran into a problem playing with this student.  Israelis do not value American Football at all like Americans. So I had to teach him the rules which was fine by me.  We played for about an hour and he actually beat me!  Below is a picture of the champion

TODAY AT WORK

Today at work I had the most fun possible.  There were no guests because all of Eilat closed because of Yom Kippur and the hotel was still closed but I still had work.  However, I had the most fun.

I stood in the kitchen downstairs and cracked 1500 eggs into big containers.  Then, after that I peeled a huge container of probably 600 hard boiled eggs.  This was the most fun I ever had at a job!!  At dinner in the dining room I was falling asleep because work was that exciting.

Host Family

 Sky

 Ocean

As part of the Oranim program each participant has the choice of being set up with a host family.  The purpose of a host family is to help make each participant feel like they are at home.  Each participant has a choice to be set up with a host family.  I decided I want a host family so I can experience how people live in Eilat and too just have a new experience I can talk about.  My host family cooks dinner for the high holidays and whenever I want to come over I am welcome.

My roomate and myself have the same host family.  The family has three people.  Dvira the mother and she has two sons.  Ocean who is eight years old and sky who is four years old.  It is very hard communicating with the children because they do not understand English so I have to use the little hebrew that I know to talk to them or Dvira will translate.  For those of you who know me know that I used to be a teacher in the state of Maryland.  When I taught I was the "high five man."  Meaning I gave a lot of high fives so you can only picture what I do with Ocean and Sky but they love giving me high fives too!

Seth (my roommate) and myself went over for Rosh Hashana dinner which was very good.  I am attaching a photo of the the apples and honey, as well as, a photo of Ocean and Sky. 

Meeting with the Mayor of Eilat and the first Shabbat

In some pictures I am attaching our Oranim Group. It was our first Shabbat Friday in Eilat. I thought Oranim was going to feed us because I was starved but no food was included.  AH!  However, the presentation was still wonderful.

I am attaching photos of our meeting with the Mayor of Eilat. I went up to him and got someone to take a picture of us but too bad my eyes are closed.

Working at the hotel

Wow!! I am finally back.  I currently work at the princess hotel in the kitchen and I am becoming quite the chef.

Last week, I had to catch the 5:20 bus to be at work at six in the morning.   When I arrive, the whole kitchen hurries to prepare all of the food for breakfast.  The way it works is all of the food is organized the previous day but some foods need to be ready the day breafest is served.  Meanwhile, it is an all you can eat buffet where the guests have an array of food to choose from.  As breakfest is served I am in charge of working the yogurt station.  You are probably wondering, what in the world is that?  Well, obviously I make yogurt for the guests.  The guests have a choice of four types of yogurt.  The four types are goat yogurt, then from a cow there is 4.5 percent,  fat free yogurt, and sweet yogurt.  Then,  I put the yogurt in the cup and the guests have a choice of toppings too choose from but while I am making their yogurt I am allowed to interact with the guests which I love. 

Eventhough some people only speak hebrew, since I am taking ulpan lessons, I can speak hebrew to make conversation.  If I do not understand their order, they either point to what they want or someone in line helps translate.  Since, people stay at the hotel for the weekend, I constantly see them the whole weekend.  But, as I am making their yogurt I talk to them about anything and everything.  I love each and every interaction.  I have to make sure I create a special bond with each guest.  I have found when communicating with each guest, I have realized to read the persons body language.  If the guest is smiling or if they have a serious face will gauge how I start off the interaction.

Then, when breakfest is finished, I go back to the kitchen to do various tasks to prepare breakfast for the next day.  I am attaching a photo of me in my uniform.  The way we get our uniform is when we check in every morning we recieve our uniform and when I leave I hand back my uniform so the hotel can wash it.  The upcoming post will be about my host family and our oranim program meeting the mayor of Eilat.

Eilat- Roomates

Wow I am so happy because I finally have an internet connection that isn't disconnecting every two seconds, I first want to say to all you haters out there that the Redskins are 2-0.  I have them going 12-4 and winning the nfc east.  We only need 10 more wins.  We are so much better than last year. 
But, now onto the juicy stuff. 

I am showing pics that are below of my roomates here in Eilat.  These pics were taken before a night on the town.  My roomates are Marcel (yellow shirt) from Brazil.  Seth (blue shirt) from Chicago and Facu (white shirt) from Argentina (I hope I spelled your name right).  Marcel is 22 years old and speaks very little english but communicating with him is getting a lot better.  Facu who is 20 years old is a pretty good English speaker.  Last, but last but not least is who I share my room with.  His name is Seth who is 27 years old and from Chicago.  Too bad he is a Dallas Cowboy fan because the Redskins play the Cowboys on Monday Night.  Let the crap talking begin!!!

Next I will post about Shabbat Friday.

How to read my blog

If you read my blog and you take what I write serious then that is the wrong thing to do.   My blog is supposed to be funny.  It may offend some of you but if that is the case fine, I am sorry.  Actually, I am not sorry because I write this blog to document my experiences and so people that I am close with know what I am doing in Israel, but, if you just want to read my blog to see what I am up to.  I welcome you but you have to read everything with a grain of salt and laugh everything off.  Thank you.

Eilat- 9/14/11

Wow with no internet connection in my room, I must say my blog has been slacking.  BUT I'M BACK!!  I am staying at the Royal Palace Accomodation at the top of a major hill.  In Eilat there are many hills but where I live is on the top of a very big hill.  You will be able to tell how big the hills by the pictures I am attaching. 

However, the first day in Eilat, definetly took some getting used to.  Not all people speak English meaning when you are trying to communicate with people from another country you have to pretend you are communicating with an english kindergartner.  A lot of hand movements, improvisation and definetly can not take offense to them not being able to understand you. I have read when communicating with Israeli's that they speak very rude but that is their culture. 
But, I have found if I am respectful to them, they will be respectful to me. 

With the great accomodations we are recieving, like free food where I have to walk for an hour.  I am truly sick of the hotel food!  So, today I finally bought a shwarma and oh my it was tasty!  I also took a picture of a vodka redbull.  The bartender filled the glassof vodka to the midpoint line and I got a real red bull unlike in Washington D.C.

Lastly, I am learning Ulpan at the school and I know how to say some words.  I know mayim means water which I have been drinking three full bottles a day because its so damn hot!! I know ani me washington d.c. means I am from Washington D.C. but that's all the free ulpan lesson for you today.  Until next time my friends Le'Hit'Ra'Ot.

Night Out in Eilat- 9/9

I decided to make it out in Eilat, Israel last night and the nightlife is simply amazing. I forgot where I went but I know I went to Monkey Bar. At Monkey Bar they had live entertainment. The lead singer was dressed like a pimp. After the show he was wearing a fur coat I should have gotten a picture of this but I did not. But, I met some guys that we here for a bachelor party and they got me into an amazing club for free. I forget the name of it but I will show you some pictures of my night on the town.  The venues are very nice compared to DC, it is something different.  But, at all the venues here have no dress code.  The first picture is with my roomate Marcel. He is from Brazil and speaks very little English. I have to use my little Spanish to communicate with him. I think this is a great skill to have to be able to communicate with people from other countries. I must say it is much easier to communicate with him. Tomorrow, I will go exploring in the City of Eilat and I will take pictures of all incredible sites and I will share that with you tomorrow.