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Published: November 28th 2006
hello everyone!! I hope you al had a fabulous thanksgiving! As I mentioned in my short email last week, I just cooked a thanksgiving style dinner for me and one of my roommates. One of my french roommates to be exact. hehe. It was strange to be away for the holiday. I realized that I've been away from home for every other major holiday, both Jewish and American before, but never thanksgiving. So it was weird for me to be away from home and americans, hehe. As many americans as there are in Israel, most of my friends right now are not, so I didn't expect to have the same thanksgiving experience, even if I could cook the whole meal. But I got to tell my non-american friends about the holiday, and they certainly liked the idea of all the food! hehe, who wouldn't?
So, another american thing I forgot to mention a couple weeks ago was the american elections. Most people here in Israel knew that the american elections were going on, because American politics heavily affect Israeli politics. However, I never realized just how complicated the american election system is until I had to explain it to several different Israelis! The difference between the state laws and federal laws, the local elections, the senate elections, the house of reps elections, and how each one has different rules on how often they are elected and all that. It took me quite a while to explain it all, but was interesting. I love the exchange of cultures I have going on here, between me, the average Israelis, my international roommates and friends, my ethiopian and russian immigrant students, its so fascinating to learn about all this stuff, about different countries and cultures that not only you never learn about in the US, but would never even think to ask about. Like, did you know that the order of the keys on keyboards are totally different on the french keyboard? and others for that matter. Its the simple things that you just never even think about, that are different. Its also fun comparing different stereotypes of different cultures, and then proving or disproving them. Like I am proud to say that I do not act like the typical obnoxious american, but the other 3 americans in my group are very stereotypical americans, from NY, LA, and Texas, all in different ways. And the french do smoke alot. hehe. Well these are just some small amusing examples. Anyway... lets move on...
While things are still getting worked out with my internship, they are getting better, and I am starting to develop relationships with some of my students, getting to know them, etc. All the kids I work with come from disadvantaged backgrounds, and some of them are living in youth villages, in a system that is similar to foster care, where they are taken out of the home and live in these youth villages, where they get a room, food, go to school, etc. Its interesting that most of them want to be there, that they want to make their live better. Of course, some of them hate living there and resent the fact that they have to, but I was surprised by some of their attitudes of wanting the opportunity to go to school, to learn, to make their lives better. It was so different from the kids I worked with in foster care at my last job at home, where the kids hated living there and couldn't wait to leave. I suppose these kids are older and have a different perspective on the situation. And its nice that they get to go home every other weekend, so it snot like they have no contact with their family. While a lot of them don't have the best behavior, it is more typical of the Israeli student. The relationships and boundaries between students and teachers is very different than in the US. Students and teachers here have closer relationships, the way they talk to each other, etc is well... how do I saw this, more blunt? There aren't the same "boundaries" between students and teachers, its more casual, but there is still respect. The kids love american hip hop music, and really want to learn to speak english. Of course some are better than others, but its so cute to listen to them try. And I can already tell they are getting better. Most of them are great kids, they just have problems. Just the kind of kids I like to work with! 😊
So, at home its now the beginning of the Christmas season. Well, here is the beginning of the Chanukah season! At the schools here they normally play really annoying, loud songs as the bells between classes. Well today, they were playing Chanukah songs as the bell, and I know its a little thing, but it was so cool for me. And its just the beginning of the season. Chanukah starts mid december, and I am really excited to be here for the holiday.
This weekend I'll be in Jerusalem for a program with my group, and I'm excited to be back in Jerusalem, and that I'll get to see a couple friends I haven't seen in a long time. Well, hope to have more fun stories to report soon!
Love,
Leah
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Lisa
non-member comment
Hello there!
I think you should introduce the kiddies to Eminem. They like hip hop, they wanna learn English, have them learn from Eminem. Though, you might want to give them the cleaned up version. I don't think anyone would appreciate them learning bad words. ;) Interview tomorrow! Keep your fingers crossed!