Married Life
Dear Community,
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
NINA!
in Married Life
Re: NINA!
Hi!
I don't want to bore everyone, but I can share some of the highlights
Today is the end of the series of civic high holidays (Yom HaShoa/Holocaust Memorial Day, Yom HaZikaron/day for remembering fallen soldiers and victims of terror, and finally Yom HaAtzmaut/independence day). I have always wanted to experience them here, and I finally got to. There's a siren that goes off on the first 2 holidays, and it's so surreal because everything just stops for 2 minutes. Then the mood just changes to crazy partying for Independence Day on sundown after the solemn remembrance day. It's wild and so abrupt.
I was on a train for Yom HaShoa and it stayed in the station and everyone just stood up and was silent as the siren went off. I went to Mt. Herzl (military cemetary) for Yom HaZikaron and it felt very alien - I don't know any soldiers who died and it's a very Israeli holiday in terms of how it's commemorated. Mostly I feel very at home here, but I felt so foreign and slightly intrusive on people's grief, but there were almost a million people there, so it wasn't like a private thing. Society here is very collective in terms of experience and feeling, which is lovely most of the time, but Yom HaZikaron is intimate and foreign for outsiders.
School is winding down, which is good and bad. It means all of my semester-long projects are due soon (eek)! I've been steadily working on them, but there is a lot to do still.
One of my projects is a 5-7 minute documentary about an issue in Israeli society from my point of view. I took a class on how to make the film and edit it to be semi-professional. I've focused mine on multiculturalism (or the lack thereof) as told through the voices of 3 students at a non-religious teaching college where I take some of my classes. 1 is a religious Jew, the other is a secular Jew, and the 3rd is a Palestinian (Muslim). I'm having each of them share their experience of going to a college where cultures come in contact with each other. I'm halfway through the process and my first interview is done and the director of the class (this super-picky artiste) said it is "very good." I'm really proud of my work. Half of my class dropped out of the project because of how demanding it is, but I am glad my mentor encouraged me to stick with it when I thought about dropping out(I would've still had to do some sort of alternative project anyway). I think it's really unique and cool to have my own documentary.
I got invited to go to Bethlehem University by a girl in my Diversity class. I really want to go and got an excuse from my program director to miss basically anything we're doing, since who knows when I will ever get a chance to do something like that again!! I have been to Bethlehem before - we took a trip in/around the West Bank and stayed overnight with Palestinian families, but this is not professionally guided/all planned out. I am hoping I have time before I leave on May 15.
My mentor told me yesterday that when I come home, no one will be able to put me in a box. I think that was a high-level compliment. I think having to live with roommates and be around a small group all the time has helped me to become much more professional and positive. Otherwise I would've killed at least 2 people by now (neither of my roommates, thank God - they are lovely girls).
My H enjoyed his visit, and it was wonderful seeing him and sharing all the things I love here with him, and we talked more about the possibility of living here someday in the future. I wouldn't do it permanently, but this is a great place to raise kids. People really take care of each other and parents let their kids be kids. A perfect example of child rearing here - a baby was wearing a shirt (no bottoms, lol) and just flopping around in the sand, happy as can be, while his parents drank beer nearby. No crying because he got a grain of sand in his eye or needing to be entertained every second.
We did this weekend in Tel Aviv last week and it was incredible. Relaxing on the beach for Shabbat was so perfect. We got a private performance from Kobi Oz, who is amazing and famous here. I also went to a Balkan Beat Box concert which was the most fun concert I've been to in a long time. It was so high energy and awesome.
I am happy and sad to be leaving soon. I wish I had another semester, but I also miss my cat and some of the conveniences of home. I think I will have culture shock coming back!
I am pretty sure I know what happened.
Yahrtzeit goes by the Hebrew date of the anniversary of the death, which doesn't coincide with the Gregorian (our) date. That's why Jewish holidays are never on the same day from year to year (although they're the same date in the Hebrew calendar).
There is a website that you can use to convert to and from Hebrew dates - www.hebcal.com
Sorry I ran outand didn't get to respond!
It sounds like an amazing experience. I would live to go back to Israel as an adult. I was 14 when I was there. I hope you get to do the tour!
Good luck with your project!
I loved Tel Aviv, by far my favorite city there.
Update more- I like hearing about it:)
Enjoy the rest of your time there!!