It's been one week since you looked at me...

Shaloooooom!!!!

Everyone here has the chance to be set up with a host family to spend Shabbat and other holidays with, so on Friday almost everyone heard from their host families, and while some people had horrendous experiences, Julian (one of my roommates) and I lucked out with ours. We got a phone call Thursday asking if we wanted to go to somewhere we couldn't quite understand because of the thick Israeli accent the man spoke in, so we got ready for what we thought was an overnight camping/hiking trip. All we were told was to bring a sleeping bag (which neither one of us had) and shoes. Our host family (consisting of a dad and his 13 year old son who both spoke really good english and were really nice and welcoming) picked us up for a few hours drive to Lake Kinneret in the north of Israel where we camped with some of their friends and a fairly crowded campsite where there was a water park and the lake. It was really hot but not humid, so I felt like home sweet Calabasas home. Unfortunately, the water we were swimming in was warm, therefore not pleasant at all...And since we didn't get the memo on bringing bathing suits and towels, I had to swim in my clothes and then sit while they dried and then sleep in them... Needless to say, when we returned to Ashdod our roommates were not happy with how bad we smelled.
I really enjoyed just hanging out and playing cards (fun crazy Canadian version of crazy 8's and we decided next time we'll play in Hebrew) and relaxing with some fun Israelis. Since all Israelis are very knowledgeable about their country, we got a good tour and history on our drive. We saw where Jesus was baptized or whatever in the Jordan River, and stepped one foot into Jordan (safely and quickly haha don't worry!) and I'm sure Avi (the dad) will show us many other amazing places. Thank god he's technologically advanced and took lots of pictures and then emailed them to us so you can finally see me in Israel!!!!!!!

Emile, LRW, Julian over looking Lake Kinneret

my "bathing suit" (go Dodgers!) (Are they still sucking?)

going to step a foot in Jordan

our wonderful campsite

I can't believe we've only been here for a week, it feels like months already! My apartment mates and I are having a lot of fun and we've already got a good bond going. I'm almost fully settled into my room, I just need to find some posters or pictures or something to decorate the boring walls. We started Ulpan (Hebrew classes) Sunday and I'm in the "advanced" class, basically because I can read the letters and somewhat know what's going on. So far so good, I'm remembering whatever I used to know and it's easier to speak and learn it here than in a classroom at UCSB obviously...we're also visiting all the volunteer places these next 2 weeks to see where we want to help out. I am most interested in either a place that specializes with kids with motor disabilities or youth at risk.

I'm excited for the shuk on wednesday. It's a big open market every Wednesday here in Ashdod where you can apparantly find everything you could ever want for cheap. I also just discovered what avocados looked like here so I'm very very excited to get some of those deliciousness.

Unfortunately fixing my camera is a no go, it's not worth the cost when I could just buy a new camera for not that much more, but as I say it's just moneyyyyy!! :(

Loves you alllllllll,
LRW

P.S. Skype works, inny49..do it!
P.P.S. Just got an email that Birthright registration for winter starts in like 3 weeks, hint hint wink wink...
P.P.P.S. Aroma here is this amazing Starbucks like place that has great coffee and can't get enough. They give you a little chocolate piece with every drink, fabulous...Also met a couple Israelis who used to live in Sherman Oaks, love it.

When will someone invent the cure for jet lag??

So here I am, sitting on one of the couches in our living room looking at the sun rise and the day begin because IT'S 5:44 AM. After going to sleep at 1 because we stayed up playing this amazing game called the Game of Things even though we were still all pretty tired, I assumed I'd get a solid amount of sleep before we had to get up for more orientation meetings at like 8, but no. So alas, I decided to update the world of my life.

After a pretty uneventful airport and plane experience minus the third degree interrogation by the El Al worker who wanted to know my favorite Four Question and the horrible movie selection that forced me to endure The Bounty Hunter I arrived in Ashdod to a wonderful man named Omri holding a sign with my name on it ready to take me to our apartment...first potential crisis averted (if you know my travel experiences at all, you know I don't react well to crises in the beginning).

Our apartment is on the 9th floor (thank God there's an elevator) and has a beautiful view of the beach. It is a lot nicer and more modern than I expected; after the ancient Rome apartment I lived in, this is a breeze. There's 6 of us here, 4 girls and 2 guys to kill the spiders. My roommate's and my room is the "safe room" -- apparantly every newer house/apartment/building has one designated safe room where in case of a missile attack you run to, so that's a plus i guess...

This week is orientation so lots of boring meetings that aren't helping with the fact that I feel like I'm always tired 100% (benji percent) of the time, but that will go away soon. We start Hebrew Ulpan class next week and begin to check out the schools we will be volunteering in. I've learned a little more information about what we're doing here (it's about time right). We'll spend pretty much the rest of August and September (minus a holiday break we have for Sukkot at the end) finding places to volunteer in and start really volunteering steadily in October. 2 days a week we will have Ulpan, volunteer in schools teaching English I'm not sure how many days a week, and volunteer somewhere else a couple afternoons a week. We have a lot of free time in the afternoons and on weekends for beach, hanging out, traveling, etc. It may take a little time to get used to weekends being Friday and Saturday and having school/work on Sunday.

What else, what else...It's VERY hot and humid here but we have A/C so it's good in here. Everyone's cool, the coordinators are cool. I wish I could post pictures, I wish I could take pictures...I took my camera out of my bag last night to make sure the battery was charged and surprise surprise, it's messed up, some lens error or something..I'm gonna see if there is a camera repair shop nearby, but I don't know what to doooooo so it's very sad. I should just buy a bunch of disposables and be old school...we'll see! The languages spoken here in Ashdod are Russian, French, Hebrew, then little bit of English (in that order)...might be a hopeless search.

Miss and love you all,
Lindsey

P.S. Skype calls are kinda if-y here I think but video chat on iChat worked really well!
P.P.S. My hair is holding up AMAZINGLY (thanks for reminding me to share this very important experience Barrie)! It's so hot and humid here but my hair is perfect and I'm so so happy I got the blowout...thankfully by the time it will start to grow out the weather should settle down a bit. People don't believe this isn't my natural hair, so I tried to find some crazy fro hair pictures to share. They will see the truth in time...

Israel tomorrow!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hey everybodyyyy! 

So tomorrow's the big day!! I leave for my 5 month volunteering adventure in Israel, and I am so so excited!  God knows exactly what I'll be doing there, but I will find out shortly and whatever it is I'm sure it will be an amazing experience.  I'm going to make a blog so I can post pictures and stories and will attempt to keep updating it, but as I told my mother, if i'm not on here a lot that means I'm busy having too much fun!  I definitely will have my computer so we can video chat, skype, email, etc., and I have a super fancy hi-tech Israeli phone so if you really want to call that I can send you the number!  Feel free to visit! It would be funnnnnnnnn!  And those of you who haven't yet gone on Birthright, you should do it over your winter break! It would be fabulous to hang out in Israeeeeellll!!!

Shalom and love you all, 

Lindsey