Some philosophical musings

So I haven't updated in a week. Well here you go. Last Wednesday (the 24th of February) was a very sad day in my life. Starting Wednesday continuing through today, there has been a lot of wind, rain, and cold in Tel Aviv. So before going to work Wednesday morning, I went to get my brand new windbreaker/rain jacket. However, it was no where to be found. I was soo upset, because I know I didn't lose it. I only got to wear it once during the first week of my trip, and its been in my closet since. So I guess I have to finally go to the mall here to look for a new jacket. At least it gives me an excuse to go to the shopping center here, especially since I live only a 5 minute walk away.

Fuck. Canada just scored. (Yes...I'm watching the gold medal game now).

This weekend was Purim. Pretty much just like Halloween. Except kids get 2 days off from school. There have been parties every night since Wednesday night, and people go all out on costumes. But like I said, it was cold and rainy all weekend, so that definitely put a damper on the celebrations.

So for some philosophical musings (happy Evan??). When it rains, the streets turn into rivers. And since there are a few hills in Tel Aviv, the water rushes down the streets very fast. So this leads me to believe that there isn't much of a sewer system here. Very philosophical.

Work has been going well. The past few days have been slow, as it has just been me and the secretary in the office, which is cool, because we've been listening to music, talking about random things, trying to avoid work (especially since I wasn't left any work to do). It will be nice to go in tomorrow and have the boss there again.

My hebrew is definitely not improving as fast as I had hoped. Having Ulpan twice a week is really not helpful, especially since they've cancelled one class each for this week and last week. It would really be helpful if I was hanging out with someone who was fluent and she would help me learn so I would be able to communicate in two languages....cough hint cough...

Fuck another Canada goal. (Break in writing). GO AMERICA! USA SCORES!

Ok enough musings for today. I'm gonna go watch the rest of the game. Hopefully I won't get lazy and wait a week for another update...but no promises!

Our Trip to the Golan Heights

So last Wednesday and Thursday (the 17th and 18th), we took a group trip to the Golan Heights in the north of Israel. We departed at 6:30 in the morning (yuck), and made the 2 and a half hour trip north. Our first stop was the Gilaboon Stream. This hike lasted about 2 hours. It was very beautiful, along the Gilaboon Stream, crossing it back and forth a few times. It was a pretty strenuous hike, not going to lie. Some points you are climbing down very steep rock ledges, using metal handles that they drilled into the rocks like a ladder. The scenery is verryyyy green up there. A lot of trees, plants, flowers, even bamboo. Finally, at the end of the valley, the stream turns into a waterfall. Very beautiful, and it gathers into a pool at the bottom, very inviting for a swim. We then bussed to the top of one of the mountains over looking the Valley of Tears. Here we learned about the battle for the Golan Heights during the Yom Kippur War. We walked around the underground army bunkers built into the mountain...very interesting stuff. Then back to the hotel for dinner. After dinner, we got to socialize with all of the other Oranim groups from around Israel (since all of the groups do all of the group trips together). Most of the groups are from Tel Aviv. One girl in one of the groups went to Miami, and apparently knows Julie. But I'm happy to report that after talking to abunch of other groups, and conversing w/ my group, it is clear that my group is definitely way better than all the others. Not only are we the biggest, but we have the most fun people with great personalities, sense of humor, a zeal for fun. I am definitely in the wrong group. All of the other groups sucked (sorry to any of you from the other groups who are reading this, but theres 0% chance of that happening). The second day started with a trip to an Israeli army base on the Lebanon border. It was very top secret...sort of. We weren't allowed to take any pictures inside the base, except for in one direction, which was at a tank in a garage. We were allowed to get in the tank and take pictures of us in the tank, which was pretty cool. Real small inside them. Then we got to walk around to certain parts of the base, see certain things that I may or may not be allowed to post on the internet. Trust me, they didn't show us anything cool. Just talked to us about what they do. Basically a lot of patrolling the area. After that we went to the Banias, which is a water reserve. There are snow capped mountains, and all the water runoff forms this river. This was another beautiful hike, albeit it much easier than the first days. I keep saying this, but soon I'll learn how to post pictures on here. This hike lasted about an hour or so, through lush vegetation, catcusesses (or cacti...), trees, flowers, red rocks. At the end was another waterfall, but this one was intense. For the entire hike, the water had huge rapids. You could definitely not raft in them. The guide said this is the fastest he's seen the water in 5 years. This all led to a very impressive waterfall. After this, we were all exhausted, and slept the whole bus ride back to Tel Aviv. Today started another work week, and this week is going to be busy. My roommate Aaron and our other friend Rob both celebrate their birthday this week, so Wednesday night a bunch of us are going out to a club here (good thing I don't work on Thursdays!)...and Purim is this weekend too, so gotta find a costume soon for all of the parties that will be going on! Here's hoping I survive the week!

First Day Of Work

Happy Valentine's Day to me. I got to wake up early and go work! I was actually pretty productive. Before 11:30 am, I wrote a press release about our company that will be posted in a medical device periodical, and opened correspondence with a Japanese distributor interested in selling our products. Then at 11:30, Orit (my boss), made me a cheese sandwich and tea. WOOOO!! Then I had to hang around while she was in a meeting, then around 1 PM she showed me where to get lunch (the company is picking up the tab for my lunches). Today she took me to what I believe is a "soldier house" (based on the name, I think its where soldiers live...but I'm not 100%). There was a big cafeteria there, buffet style, FILLED with all these soldiers eating. I felt like I was at Israeli Culver. The food wasn't terrible, but it was awkward sitting by myself. Besides the soldiers, there were a few random old people there. They didn't look like working professionals...sort of a mix between homeless and an elderly care center. There were only big tables, so I sat at the only half empty table with 3 old men...thank god I brought my ipod. I guess the soldiers eat at 1, so next time I'll have to get there earlier...or sit at the table with the soldiers and try to practice some hebrew. Then after lunch was less productive...made an excel spreadsheet of a bunch of current chiropractors in the USA that currently use our products. And that, my friends, was my day. On Sunday, Tuesday, and Wednesday I'll be working 9 to 5, and on Monday mornings I volunteer at a school helping teach English, so I'll work 2 till 5. The best part is that I don't have to work Thursdays, so I'll always have a 3 day weekend! Hopefully this will allow me to travel around Israel (and other countries). Anyways, I'm heading out to dinner w/ a group of people to celebrate our first day of work (and VDay). I hope everyone has a fun Valentine's Day!

Hey everyone...sorry for the delay between posts. Its been pretty busy the past week. We finished our 2 weeks of "intensive" Ulpan, and I use the word intensive very loosely. I understand that not everyone learns at the same pace, but its pretty hard to learn at all when there are 20 some kids in the class, not everyone wants to try to learn, and everyone learns in different ways and speeds. I would have been much better off had I stayed home and studied Hebrew on my own. I would definitely be much farther along than I currently am. That being said, I just have to make the best of the situation and practice as much as I can on my own, and with the help of my friends who speak hebrew already. In typical MBA fashion, I've been making and updating a Hebrew study guide using Excel, complete with pronunciation and Hebrew letters, so while I learn how to speak, I'm also learning how to read the Hebrew words without the vowels.
I start work on Sunday (sigh...). I'm working at a small medical device company, doing operations and international marketing. This is basically what I did when I was at NIMS, but hopefully this will be more rewarding. As of now they don't have anyone doing marketing, so I can basically take it where I want it to go. Now I really wish I paid more attention in my 2 marketing classes that I took...uh oh.... Once I know more of what I'll be doing, I'll let you know, but for now it will be basically creating a bunch of marketing pamphlets/brochures, fixing up their English website, and probably dealing with clients and doctors in the USA, since my English is much more gooder than theirs (I hope...)
Although it is sometimes a bummer sharing such a small living space with a roommate, we really lucked out on the location. We are living on the beach, a block to the gym, a block to the grocery store, right next to an ATM that doesn't charge me service charges, and less than a 5 minute walk to the two main bus lines that take me to north to work/Ulpan/volunteering, and to the south where all the bars/restaurants/"downtown" is. And now that we have our bus passes, its so easy to get around.
So tonight starts Shabbat, and that has taken some getting used to. A ton of things will be closed all day tomorrow (Saturday), so it has been an adjustment to make sure I do all my errands on Friday morning so I don't starve on Saturdays. Speaking of food, there are soo many good restaurants around me! I have a list a mile long of places I want to try, from mexican, to sushi, thai, italian, ethiopean, greek, and of course...middle eastern (believe you me...after my first night I'm already sick of hummus). I really wish I could cook more like I was doing in Miami, but its pretty hard when we don't have an oven and only have a hotplate. I'll probably have to get creative pretty soon for cooking!
Hopefully I'll learn how to post pictures soon on this blog, so I can share some of my surroundings with you!
On a sad note, we got rid of Jaxson yesterday. He's now on his way to a farm up in Connecticut, away from noise and commotion. Unfortunately, no one but my family got to see him at his best. He was such an amazing dog (when he wasn't scared). Obedient, loving, sweet, I can go on forever. Hopefully he'll bring his new home as much love and laughter as he brought to ours. I'm gonna pour one out for my homie tonight before we go clubbing it up :(
On that note, its time to go study a bit of hebrew so I can become fluent and finally order turkey and cheese at the supermarket without sounding like a gringo. And as is the custom here...shabbat shalom.

Hey everyone. So tomorrow is the last day of my first week of Ulpan class. The first day was sooo hard. Our teacher doesn't speak in English to us, so it was rough understanding her teaching style. She is a very verbal teacher, which is hard for me since I learn much better by reading. So I have taken it upon myself to read the Ulpan book on my own, and ask her when I come across vocab words I do not know. This has proven successful, as I have learned an extraordinary amount in just a few short days. Mika (a girl I'm good friends with here that my mom introduced me to) has also been helping me out with my pronunciation and writing, which has been very helpful. In a few short weeks I'll be fluent! (Ok not even close, but I'll hopefully be able to say more than "Where are you from", and "I am studying Hebrew" and "I ate pizza and drank a beer at a restaurant").
I had an interview with a company on Sunday, and I have a secondary interview tomorrow. Its a small medical device company that makes a back brace for people with lower back pain. It is most commonly used for as another option for surgery for those with herniated discs. They want me for an "international marketing" type of position (basically fixing their English website which has lots of grammar and spelling errors, writing marketing materials, etc). While it could be interesting, this isn't my first choice. I'm still waiting to hear back from some venture capitalist companies, which would be ideal. I still have another week of intensive Ulpan, so at least I don't have to decide for a couple more days.
Our living situation is a lot of fun. Its basically like living in the dorms again. Our group is split between two buildings, and I'm really close with a lot of the people who live in mine (20 in mine, 12 in the other, and 3 live on their own). I think my building is better, as we have staff working the front desk 24 hours (they all know me since I talk to them everytime I come in or out), our rooms get cleaned everyday, fresh towels, and best of all.....we are right on the beach. My window literally overlooks the Mediterranean Sea. (I guess that would be awesome if I loved the beach...I may not like going to it, but you sure can't beat the view). Alright, time to go watch the season premire of Lost!!!!!!! Till next time~