Greetings, readers of New Voices, my name is Alan Borenstein and I am a part of the Israel Teaching Fellows program. There are several ITF groups sprinkled about the country. My group, based in Rehovot, has Israeli counterparts with whom we will work and learn with throughout the year. My ITF group is administered by Ma’ase Olam, an Israeli NGO, which recently won an award as the best community service group in Israel.
This year will be challenging for me as I don’t speak Hebrew and the fact that a significant portion of ITF involves teaching English to disadvantaged children. Sounds intimidating, right? But what’s life without a little adventure….
Thus far my time in country has been relatively uneventful, excepting my trip to Israel: I was scheduled to leave the States in late August; unfortunately Hurricane Irene and the airlines had other plans. My new flight to Israel had a 5-hour layover in Amman, Jordan. I was not thrilled about this because I lacked the proper visa to exit the airport, and was then trapped indoors for 33 hours.
I passed my layover with people-watching. There were a large number of travelers with Algerian flags sewn to their bags, flying from somewhere to somewhere. Given how close it was to Eid, it wouldn’t have been surprising if they were returning from the Hajj.
My first day in Israel, I opened a bank account. Banking works differently here than it does in the US; it is common to overdraw your account, but rather than facing a set penalty fee, you pay a small amount of interest on the amount of overdraft. I want to personally thank those of you who read the previous sentence and did not fall asleep. I plan to share this and many more pointless random tidbits of Israeli life with you all.
In the two weeks I’ve been here, I’ve spent a great deal of time on buses, usually travelling between Rehovot and Ramat Aviv (a posh suburb of Tel Aviv), where I am undergoing teacher training.
Several days ago, one of my housemates turned 23. The entire group and a few of our Israeli counterparts went to a bar together. It was rather strange to have an Irish pub very much not in Ireland, but the alcohol still worked. I got trapped in a bathroom (note to self, always make sure there is a doorknob before you enter the bathroom stall) and was freed by a housemate.
On Friday, I went to the shuk (market). The produce was much cheaper than anywhere I had seen before, but according to the Israelis there are less expensive places. It was quite an experience. People were crammed together and yelling.
Why is this any different than regular Israel? I don’t really know. Nonetheless, it was exciting and an experience that I look forward to repeating soon, fire safety be damned.
I suppose I should end this rather rambling and disjointed piece of literature with a note about myself. I normally write for hipsterjew.com under the blogonym of A-Train. We write about the trials and travails of modern hipster life and an ironic look at irony.
Alan Borenstein is a Ma’ase Olam Israel Teaching Fellow, one of Masa Israel’s 200 programs.
