So last night I went to my boss' daughter's wedding. It was by far the most amazing event I have ever been to. I'm gonna try to do my best to give you the rundown...but most of the things are beyond words. First, the wedding was at a place called Ronit Farms, which is about 25 to 30 minutes north of Tel Aviv( www.ronitfarm.com/en ). Please go to the website and watch the short 2 minute video so you can get a little bit of understanding of where I was.

Attire:
I was at a loss as what I should wear. Tie? No tie? Khakis? Jeans? Everyone I talked to said different things. So I decided on my nice pair of khakis, a white button down, and a tie. I thought I would be overdressed (b/c of the tie), but I was not. Some people were in jeans and a button down, but there were a good amount of suits there. This may be because some of the guests were American. Most of the girls had on cocktail dresses, etc. So it is safe to say that I fell somewhere on the casual side, but not underdressed.

Cocktail hour:
This happened before the service. Which was awesome. You had the opportunity to eat, grab a drink (or 3), enjoy the nice cool evening, or listen to the cocktail hour music provided by the DJ inside the main event hall. Food consisted of sushi, salmon "burgers" station, some sort of mexican dish station, and other trays of food being walked around. And a HUGE open bar. Seriously. The bar was about 30 feet long, and had about 7 bartenders. But more about that later....

Ceremony:
The ceremony was held outside the banquet hall, near the lake. The chuppah was up on a stage, and was beautiful. 4 tall white pillars, lit up from inside, and a white sheet connecting them at the top (just imagine a tall, glowy chuppah). There were about 75 to 100 chairs for the elderly to sit on, then the rest of the 300 to 400 guest...yes...thats not a typo, stood behind the chairs and around the aisle under the lamp heaters. Only the groom (with his parents), and the bride (with her parents) walked down the aisle. But when they walked down (separately of course), everyone was clapping and cheering. The service lasted all of 7 minutes. Very short, very few prayers. Wham bam thank you maam. The bride didn't even circle the groom 7 times. I didn't really know what was going on since it was in Hebrew, but all of a sudden I see the rabbi put a glass on the floor (not even wrapped in a napkin) and the groom pounds it to smithereens (spelling?). So I knew it was over. Then all of their close friends (mostly girls) rushed up onto the stage and surrounded the bride/groom. More clapping. Then we went back inside for......

Dinner:
Dinner was buffet style. I only got to two stations though :(. The first was a pasta/fish station (which I had both of). The 2nd was potatoes, steak, chicken station (which I had all of), with accompaning sauces. SOOO good. I think there was a salad station too. But I ate soo much chicken and steak to last me till dessert (which comes later). The tables where we were sitting at were big rectangles, and sat 18 people each. I was sitting with my coworkers, their dates, and some others. On each table were a few bottles of wine, a caraf of water, and a caraf of lemonade. The best part....the waiters came around and took drink orders! No need to stop eating to walk up to the bar!! Dessert consisted of a make your own brownie bar, and a pear cobbler with ice cream (yum!!). Also there was a coffee/espresso bar, and lots of cinnamon covered fudge balls. Tables were on two sides of the banquet hall, with the dance floor right in the middle (my table was right next to the dance floor, and I was sitting basically right on top of it). Speaking of...

Dancing:
The newly husband/wife did a first dance (to A Whole New World, from the popular Disney movie A Lion King. JUST KIDDING!! Aladdin). After, and for the next 3 hours (I'm assuming much longer, since I can only verify until I left), the DJ played nonstop music, and EVERYONE was dancing. And it was good music (Stevie Wonder, ABBA, Jackson 5), and with the song was a dance beat. So even if the song didn't have a dance beat originally, it was perfect for dancing. (They also played Israeli "pop" music, I'm assuming, since everyone sang along). As I mentioned, everyone danced. And the bartenders were walking around the dance floor with shotglasses and bottles of alcohol. And people were just throwing back shots like no one's business.

Unfortunately, we all had work tomorrow, so we ended up leaving around 11:45 (Shachar and his wife drove me), which was fine with me, since I was exhausted. So to recap. Amazing decorations, food, location, music. Had I known people, it would have been the best party ever. Ever.

Here's a little teaser for my next entry.

Tomorrow I'm going to my boss' daughter's wedding. I am planning on wearing khaki pants, a white button down shirt, and a tie. However, everyone I talk to says no tie. I'm never one to be underdressed for an occasion, so I'm sticking with the tie. I'll let you know how it goes.

Thursday, all of the Oranim groups are taking a trip. Don't really know where we are going, but I know its around Haifa.

Next Monday is Passover, so I have like 8 days off (wooooo!!!!!!!)

I hope this whets your beaks. Wets? Whets?

BYE

Apologies

To all 6 of my loyal followers, please accept my sincerest apologies for my delay in posts. I have been extremely busy the past month, and have totally forgotten about my responsibilities to update you all on my life in Israel. (sarcasm)



First, I'll update you on work. It is going well, they love me here, and I'm actually doing some interesting things (sometimes). I just wrote a Standard Operating Procedure manual for product testing/inspection. All companies in the US should have them (I guess they aren't a big deal here), and we needed one to get our devices recertified by the KFDA (the Korean FDA). So it was a big project, which I did a pretty good job with (if I am allowed to pat myself on the back), but I think they should have hired an outside professional for it. In any case, its been a great learning experience. I've been in contact with doctors, physical therapists, and chiropractors from around the world who are interested in our devices. I've completely edited and updated the website (http://www.meditrac.co.il/ if anyone is interested), and am still in the process of redoing all of their user manuals, brochures, etc.



Volunteering. I volunteer every Monday at a 2nd chance high school teaching English. A 2nd chance high school is basically what it sounds like. Its for kids who either are kicked out of their original school, or have learning disabilities (like ADHD) and can't keep up with the work. I really like it. Its a totally different environment from American high schools (kids call teachers by their first name, there seems to be no discipline, 14 year olds are allowed to smoke..as long as they step off campus..teachers don't mind). Total culture shock. I have been assigned a class, and each week I work with 2 kids in the class, doing English in their workbook. And although I am helping them, they also help me in my Hebrew. It is verryyyy hard to communicate with some of them, since their English is at all different levels.



Hebrew. I'd like to give a special acknowledgement to Mika for being such a patient and dedicated hebrew tutor. As I've said before, Ulpan has not met my expectations (I've been in class two months and we still only learn the days of the week, counting to 10, and saying "I live in Tel Aviv, I work at ____, and I study hebrew at Ulpan). So every weekend, and usually one day during the week, I have been trying to knock out pages in my workbook, which she then checks. These private sessions have definitely helped, and I am getting much better at reading comprehension (albeit still very basic). However, its still hard for me to speak it and understand it when I'm spoken to (damn Israeli accents!!).



Now, it's time to turn this blog interactive and answer my reader's questions. First (and only), I will answer Greg's questions from the previous post (although I'm sure I've answered them when I talk to you). I have STILL not been to the mall here. I have decided not to get a new rain jacket. I am pretty sure the rainy season is over. It's practically summer now, which is totally opposite from Florida summers (they are both hot, but there isn't a thunderstorm every afternoon here). And in the same breath...there was a hurricane here for Purim. It rained for like 4 days, and it was chilly. Literally, the wind was so strong, that the rain was falling vertical. I dressed up like a cowboy (Yeehaw!). Unfortunately, we were not told to buy tickets to bars/clubs in advance. So no place would let us in. So we ended up walking towards an area of bars (hoping to get in somewhere), when the skies opened up on us. We darted inside to Max Brenner, which is a (famous?) chocolate restaurant. So we waited there for a few hours drinking hot chocolate. So overall, my vote is for Halloween. Haha, but I guess I can't make that decision until I experience a real Purim. They take it seriously here. School is cancelled for like 2 days, there are a ton of parades, a weeks worth of partying....quite the experience.



I can't believe I've been here almost 2 months already!! Time has been going wayyyyyyy too fast. It is actually time to start applying for jobs after this experience is over. I will be applying to places both in Israel and back in the States (I'm an equal opportunity apply-er). That being said...I think it's time to get back to work.....Hope everyone is doing well, and since Miami didn't make the tournament (shocker)....GO BUCKS!!!!