Shalom!

This IAP (Independent Activities Period), I am spending it in Afula, Israel, teaching and mentoring students in STEM subjects. I arrived last Sunday and am just now getting a chance to write my thoughts down.

Here are some observations I have made thus far:

1. Everyone stares at me. I should be used to it by now, but still! It makes me very uncomfortable when I'm walking by a group of students and they are giving me the staredown. After I walk by, they sometimes say "ni hao," which means hello in Chinese. Some students even call me "China," which is a real treat. Update: someone just said "konichiwa" to me. Update #2: I just heard "sushi." That's a new one.

The team with a teacher, Hagit (in the yellow), and two students in the middle.

2. Everything is in flux. We don't know our school schedule until the day of and even then, we depend on someone to tell us what we're doing every hour and we wait in the teacher's lounge until then. It's interesting not being on a schedule and depending on someone to tell me what to do everyday. I am not used to it and so I have to learn to be flexible, so I always have my kindle during the down time. We are also dependent on someone to bring us to and from the school everyday, whereas in Mexico, I was able to walk to and from school.

Our first meeting with the teachers at Cafe Cafe. Dudy, the guy on the front right, tells us every morning what our POD (plan of day) is. It's a good lesson in being flexible.

3. Everything is so green! Coming from Texas, where we are in a Stage 3 water restriction, seeing green everywhere is so strange, and beautiful. I wonder if it was this green and luscious when Jesus was here.

A beautiful rainbow after Israel's "snowpocalypse"

4. This country is so diverse politically, ethnically, and religiously. There are people here from Morocco, India, Tunis, Canada, Turkey, Ethiopia, and more. It's so interesting to learn about where all these people are from, yet they are Jewish and can speak Hebrew.

The team with two of our students, Addir and Donna. Addir is half Indian and Donna is Moroccan.

5. The classes consist mostly of boys. In one class, I counted 18 boys and 2 girls!

6. Falafel is soooooo goood! It reminds me of chickpea fritters at Clover, but 23984729384 times better, plus this was only $2.50!

Mmmm yummy.

7. "Die" = stop. Sometimes I hear people saying "die, die, die" and forget that to them, they mean "stop, stop, stop"

More observations to come. It's been a pretty relaxing first week in Israel. I'm looking forward to traveling on the weekends and taking advantage of our afternoons.

Shalom!