Searching at Search

I started my internship at Search for Common Ground about two weeks about (this week will be my third week). It has been a generally good experience minus the commute of two hours each way. If I lived in Jerusalem I would probably go more. In fact I feel that because I am at Search for only two days a week I haven't really become integrated and formed a larger understanding of the ins and outs of the organization. That said, i'm very excited to participate in some of the bigger events and conferences.

While I'm interning at search I have been looking for an Ulpan. I was attempting to try to do an evening Ulpan but those are very limited in Tel Aviv. While I took a tests and got placed in an evening Ulpan I might ask to switch to one in the morning so that I can get a better experience with more hours. Meanwhile, I'm interviewing for various jobs and meeting with people from various nonprofits trying to figure out what I want to do in Israel for the next two plus years. I always thought I would work in nonprofits and when I discovered you can work in the international field and make a good living I decided to look more into international development, which I had a background in coming from an international studies BA and an internship at the International Law Institute in DC.

That all went to shit when I decided to move to Israel. There aren't as many jobs in Israel in international development or Middle East affairs in general. Those that have to do with Middle East affairs often have some Israel spin on it, serving Israel's interests in some way. I found a niche in utilizing my skills and background in the Middle East at Max Security Solutions, but when I decided my discomfort with working on Shabbat and holidays and inability to have a normal social life due to the odd hours at Max outweighed the my career interests there I quit.

Now I am interning at Search for the Common Ground, a peacebuilding and coexistence organization (one of many in Israel). While I think it would be an interesting place to work at, the idea of moving to Jerusalem seems like a financially and even socially potentially hard idea. I am just starting to make friends and I hear the pay in nonprofits is like 5,000 NIS a month the equivalent of about $18,000/year. That kills me the most, salaries here are shit, especially in nonprofits. While I would definitely be making between $45-$50k in DC something that might seem like a low salary for a Master's in the US, here it's a joke. I could be working at Starbucks in the US and be making the same wage. It hurts even more that cost of living (outside of rent in DC and NYC) is higher here. A meal if you go out to eat will be cheap at $9, average $14, and expensive $35. Coffee is the most expensive here, for a small (which is like a mini in the US) it is $3 a large $6. Yea twice I ordered an iced coffee (would've been $2.50 in the states maybe) and it was over $6.

Anyways it extremely disincentives you to go into the nonprofit sector. So I'm considering other things. But only things I think I would enjoy and would utilize my research and writing backgrounds. Things such as social media marketing/blog posting, editing, business analytics, consulting etc. I am also currently taking a course on Entrepreneurship in Emerging Markets. I met this girl Liat who is really sweet and awesome who is working for the Pears Program for International Development. Hopefully through this course I can discover a little more about what I want to do in terms of international development and conflict resolution.

Anyways, still working on sorting out my life 4 months into my aliyah. Still haven't done so many things a) taken an ulpan b) filled my prescription for Humira c) found work or a job of sorts

So there is a lot to be figured out and things are a bit more difficult here without fluent Hebrew (something I didn't need in the U.S.).

Tel Aviv Museum of Art

Over Pesach in Israel a number of museums are free including the Tel Aviv Museum of Art. While the Museum is located about a ten minute walk away from me, I hadn't found the time to explore it until just this past week. The museum houses a plethora of works from many famous artists such as Picasso, Van Gogh, and Braque but also has some unique pieces that were some of my favorite to explore.

One of the artists, Vik Muniz, has made historically famous pieces of art his own through the use of mixed media. He takes Boticelli's Birth of Venus and recreates it with pieces of trash. He takes Che Guerva and recreates it with black beans. It's pretty fantastic as you can't tell what the collage is made of until you approach the painting up close. It invites the viewer to become involved in the art viewing it from many different perspectives.

Here are some collages of a Zebra and vase of flowers that I fell in love with. From far away it is a coherent picture but when you approach the piece of art you find a careful composition of magazine cut outs of body parts, heads, eyes, lips etc.

Another piece that you could find draped throughout the museum was done by a leading feminist artist from Portugal. As you walked throughout the museum you could discover more and more of her piece measuring the height of the 27 meter tall atrium with its various limbs spread through various floors of the museums. It is a sight that will truly amaze you and keep you looking to discover more.

There are several other art museums in Tel Aviv including the Nahum Gutman Museum and the Reuven Rubin Museum located in the center of Tel Aviv. While a friend of mine explored the Ilana Goor Museum, an art museum located in the old city of Jaffa. All are supposed to be wonderful and I'm excited to explore them in the next couple of weeks. 

Pesach to Mimounah

I had barely any time to even think about Pesach. I had been working the five days leading up to Pesach and the two days before that I went to a wine festival in Zichron Yaakov in the North. My poor secular boyfriend was left with the task of kashering our whole kitchen for the traditional week long fast from chametz (leavened bread and a plethora of other stuff just cuz the rabbis say so).

The Seder was spent at Dan's uncle's on a picturesque Moshav in the North completely in Hebrew with the exception of the notable songs in Aramaic and the added rendition of a Ladino "Echad Mi Yodea?" (Who knows one?). 

The next seven days of Pesach are mostly uneventful with the exception of eating fresh potato bread at all the kosher for Passover restaurants and spending Shabbat meals with a very talkative family friend, it was just like the states. The difference comes with the traditional celebrations at the end of Pesach. 

Mimounah is a Moroccan celebration where Moroccan families open their homes to guests at the conclusion of Pesach and make traditional leavened desserts such as mufletta a delicious bread served with butter and honey as well as sphinx a Moroccan style donut. While Dan and I wanted to go to his friends Mimounah it was too far without a car, we ordered Domino's pizza and thought that was the end until our friend invited us to his friend's Mimounah. 

Save the traditional garb it was pretty authentic, complete with Moroccan music, mufletta, sphinx, and plenty of alcohol and dancing. If that wasn't enough we went to a second Mimounah celebration the following night as Mimounah lasts a full 24 hours starting the night Pesach ends. My Pesach in Israel felt complete and I'm excited to celebrate next year in Jerusalem, hopefully to be joined my dearest family.

Pesach - otherwise known as Passover, seven days (eight in the diaspora) to celebrate the exodus from Egypt when Jews didn't have time to let their bread rise

Kashering- make clean from impurities (in this case chametz)

Seder- literally means order, the traditional meal on the first night of Pesach where the story of Exodus is retold

Moshav- an agricultural community similar to a Kibbutz in Israel

Ladino- mostly spoken by Sephardic Jews (of Spanish decent) and many Argentinian Jews, a mixture between Hebrew and Spanish

Shabbat- The Jewish Sabbath or day of rest

Every step counts

4/23/2014

While my intention was to write in this blog more frequently I guess life got in the way. I have been living in Israel for three months and two weeks. In that time I managed to move to Tel Aviv, start a job, quit a job and get an internship. Here's the story...

I was diligently looking for work in Israel while I was in the U.S. but I knew it was nearly impossible to get work when you are over a thousand miles away so I didn't have my hopes up. A friend connected me with someone who works at a security consulting company in Tel Aviv. It seemed perfect. The assignment they gave me took me nearly  nine hours to complete but every bit of it was interesting and a learning experience. I got off the plane and as soon as I got internet back at Dan's apartment in Jerusalem I saw an email from the company asking to call them ASAP. The next morning I called and they asked me to come in for an interview. Silly me thought I was going to be doing ulpan right now. They offered me the job, my first job offer! It was a dream come true. I move to Israel and get a job offer nearly the day I arrive.

Unfortunately, it wasn't quite the right fit for me. A combination of things led me to quit my job and reconnect with the contacts I had made 6 or so months ago when I was visiting Dan after my summer in Jordan. One of my contacts panned out and landed me an internship at an amazing nonprofit in Jerusalem called Search for Common Ground (SFCG). No it's not paid, but yes it could lead to a job and definitely great connections.

SFCG is an international nonprofit based in the US with offices in 34 countries. I'm pretty psyched. Hopefully it will be a fruitful experience, albeit the nearly 2 hour commute to their office might be a bit painful. Either way it will be a new adventure that hopefully I will blog about more diligently than my previous endeavors in Israel.

It's amazing how time passes differently while you are in school and while you are just living life...as may I dare say, an adult. In school you reach what seems huge accomplishments in very short periods of time, passing exams, finals, semesters and finally academic years. While I've done a lot of different things in the since I've graduated I cannot say I have advanced myself very far professionally. However, if there is one thing that I've learned from being in Israel it's that I'm young. I should take this time to explore and understand what I want to do in life, what I like to do and understand that it'll all come together eventually. It may take awhile but it will.

Now I'm going to focus on making friends, learning Hebrew, and doing my internship. One step at a time.

Day 1- Watching the Sunrise in Israel

It's approximately 6am in Israel, I gave up on sleeping an hour and a half ago. Day 1 and jet lag has beat me. I'm feeling so many things right now. Today I became an Israeli citizen, allowing me to join my boyfriend in his home country.  I am so privileged to have this opportunity to start my life here.

These past 5 months I have been mostly living at home in St. Louis with my parents. It was rough at times, but I truly am glad I was able to get to know St. Louis a little better, intern at  an amazing nonprofit and spend more time with my parents and brothers.  It was never my intention to stay there, I dreamt of getting a federal job and living in DC. When that didn't pan out, not so surprisingly, I spent my time researching jobs in Israel and found a vibrant International Relations  nonprofit and private organization base in Israel.

Now I'm here and have no idea what I'll be doing! I signed up  for Ulpan Etzion in Jerusalem and plan on moving in on Monday, I have really embraced this go with the flow Israeli attitude (well maybe only kinda embraced it) and am seeing what each day will surprise me with. I'm glad to actually have made this dream a reality. I had been debating about moving to Israel ever since I got back from Jordan in August.

I am so happy to have a path to follow and substantial goals to work towards. I am excited to make my life in Israel work for me, although I know there will be many stumbling blocks along the way.