Spending time with an Israeli Family and Shabbat on a Kibbutz!

Oh man – what am I doing to myself?! After spending 3 whole weeks in Amsterdam with a stay at home mom and her 21 month old and now spending the last few days in Israel with another young couple and their 17 month old, I am turning into a little housewife/mom and love it!!! Oh man… This is so much fun – and so much work too! But I love the work. I get to cook all day long, clean the dishes, help with laundry. I have time to work out, walk around town, journal, read, browse the internet learning about things I’ve always wanted to (like how to make homemade yogurt and kefir – its so easy!). Alright sure, I don’t have my own child to watch over 24 hours a day – I get it, it’s harder than this, but my point is I can’t help but think about getting married and having babies of my own. Yes, of course, one step at a time. I need a boyfriend first ;) But I can't help but think about my future and what a fullfilling feeling it is to one day have a family of my own and enjoy being a wife and a mother :) I wanted to write a post on this because these are my true feelings at this point in my journey. I have accepted them and have been embracing them! 

Another important realization I have found through this time is that I am realizing that I can actually survive days without things I must get done! (Do you notice how I used the word survived? That was not a mistake.) This is pretty big deal for me as many people who know me well know that I pack my days pretty full and try to be as productive as possible.  Free time was always hard for me (yes, I know this is a weird concept for many. Call me unique). Work occupied my time and distracted me very much (which I liked). But, now I finally have learned to really enjoy down time, truly relax, and enjoy an unplanned day happily! (Where have you been all my life!!!) I love this feeling!

So, back to wanting to have a family of my own…. my time will come soon, but for now I get to enjoy the day to day life with Shachar, Yamit, and their cute son Maayan, who live in Yoken’am (north Israel). What a lovely family. They let me cook whatever I want and they help guide me with spices and ingredients! Spices here are incredibly fragrant!  I’m having a blast. We all get to sit down in the evening to enjoy the delicious meal and I get excited because once again I realize I can cook and others really enjoy it. What a pleasure!

They also took me to a Kibbutz for Shabbat. This was perfect because this was another thing I wanted to make sure I did while in Israel. It was really a great experience for me as I always wanted to see what living life on a Kibbutz was like - to see what true communal living was like. We ate SO much while there. We were in the presence of so many Jewish moms just feeding us non stop!!! The people there were so very generous. Was really refreshing to see.

 Overall, I have had a wonderful time enjoying life in this small town called Yokne’am with this wonderful family. I am grateful to them for hosting me and welcoming me into their home as if I were family J

The pictures below for albums of Yokne’am and the Kibbutz

Meditating in the Desert

Since I got sick in India, I wasn’t able to fulfill my goal of visiting an Ashram and spending time deepening my meditation practice. So, I figured I would find an Ashram here in Israel to make up for lost time.

It was easy as can be. I used google to help me find one and tadah… here I am! Google + Lonely Planet makes dreams come true J I sit here now at the Ashram, grateful for this place and this experience. We meditate twice a day, I volunteer to do work for 6 hours during the day and enjoy 3 nice vegetarian meals throughout the day. Really nice community of people and extremely laid back environment. Although I thought I would stay for longer, I have decided just to stay here for 3 days and move on to other places in Israel. I had hoped for more meditation time but don’t get the feeling here that this is the focus of this center (which surprised me). The energy is more of a relax, very slow paced, feel. I hate to admit this but I am no longer in the mood for such an environment. Although slowing down for me has been a wonderful part of my trip, my natural fast paced self is ready for the fast paced world again! I am now really missing studying and working towards my goal in life – to be a good doctor and help people. It will return soon but I can’t help but want it back NOW. Patience dear Elana! Although a bit of me is ready to get back, I am still very grateful for being away and still have more intentions I want to fulfill! Being here at the Ashram is now one more to check off my list. Ultimately, being here has offered me time to reflect and reassess my goals and priorities in life in addition to offering me tools to teach me how to stay in balance in such a fast paced world. I am grateful for this time and looking forward to using some of these tools when I return home.

I am grateful to places like these for existing so I always know I have places to go when I need inspiration to re-balance my life! It is so easy to get caught up in our world of overwhelm and responsibilities and often I find it difficult to slow down and enjoy the present moment. These places are life savers in my opinion!

Click on the picture below for a few more pictures of the Ashram.

Journey to Israel

Taking an overnight flight from Amsterdam, a layover in Prague, landing in Israel, hoping on train ride to Beersheva, and then finally a bus ride to the Ashram in the Desert, was tiring, but was surely a nice welcome to Israel. As I was sitting on the train I couldn’t help but notice row after row of 18 year old boys and girls with huge automatic guns hanging from shoulder across to their hips. It surely was a welcome to a land where the military is an obligatory duty for these fresh out of high school kids. Big eye opener. For some reason I wasn’t afraid sitting in a closed area with so many guns. Rather, it felt good in some strange way. These boys and girls are doing this work to protect this holy land. They are inevitably learning a great deal from this experience whether they realize it or not. And they sure have a large community of friends among them. They giggle and fight like any group of US teenagers. The only difference is they all wear the same clothes – dark green uniforms, black high boots, all shirts tucked in with the same belt neatly putting together the outfit. There seems to be no obvious sense of individuality when so many are wearing the same dress. Rather, these teenagers are learning to be part of a cohesive group, fighting for the same cause. I surprisingly found it quiet calming.

However, soon after this calmness set in, I felt complete madness as I transitioned from the train to the bus. I wasn’t warned that Sunday travel was so difficult as all of the soldiers pack these buses to get to their respective bases. It was crazy. The first bus came, we all threw our bags under the bus and soldiers started running towards the door. Running! They did everything they could to squeeze their way onto the bus. I wondered why they were doing this, but figured this is what I too had to do to get a seat on the bus. Sadly, I did not make it on the first bus. I grabbed my bag and waited. Luckily, I had just bought my first falafel sandwich of my trip so ate it happily as I passed the time for the next bus. One hour passed and the next bus arrived. Once again, I threw my bag on and rushed for the door. Shoot! How did so many soldiers get in front of me again?! Ugh! Alright, I got to wait once again. (And this is what travelling does to someone. You learn to go with the flow. Since you really have nowhere to go at any particular time, missing two busses and waiting yet another hour doesn’t really bother you). So finally the third bus of the day arrived and I was determined to get on the bus. After throwing my bag underneath the bus once again I ran to the door and I found myself completely shoved between a mob of soldiers. My short little self could barely see in front of me. I had a body squished to my back, my front, and sides, and I was getting on this bus!! I was lucky because as everyone around me was pushing their way in, I somehow got momentum to raise myself up and in. I was in!! Yay! I found the last actual seat in the way back of the bus as I was lucky not to have to join some others who had to endure the 3 1/2 hour journey sitting on the floor in the aisle. I gazed around….. I was the ONLY person on that bus who wasn’t wearing a uniform, who wasn’t Israeli, who didn’t speak Hebrew, who was on vacation. It felt great.

Never forget....

I didn’t get a chance to finish my last post and really want to include these thoughts in my blog so I never forget the feeling I am experiencing right now. Hold this dear to my heart Elana…. Forever!

-       I often times remind myself of the bare rooms the Nepalese teenagers lived in. Dirt floors, wooden beds, no fans. How a hot pink mosquito net was a prized possession of a teenager and she was proud to show it to me. I want to keep this in mind any time I feel bored with my room or living situation and feel a need for change. Always be grateful for the simple luxuries I have and look for joy in the small things.

-       Remember the constant heat that radiates from every corner of these countries. Sweating day and night and needing to spray myself with poisonous deet to keep the mosquitoes away. Keep this in mind every time you step outside and enjoy the fresh clean air. My time outside is a luxury in most of the US, with whatever weather that mother earth brings.

-       Always keep in mind the chaos, the crowds, and the lack of cleanliness in third world countries. Always be grateful for the order of the western world and realize how much work goes into keeping this order.

-       Remind myself how families would eat the exact same dish every single day and night. Be grateful for the variety you will always have and always offer your food to share with others that may need it more than you. There are truly starving people in this world. The next time you overindulge, think about them, and you may think twice about what you are doing.

-       Freedom! Always keep in mind the freedom you have as a woman in the western world. I have opportunities, endless options, and potential to be whatever kind of woman I chose to be. Find gratitude for this privilege instead of overwhelm. Not all women have this luxury in the world.

-       Always keep in mind the small things in life. Poor people find the most happiness in the things in life that are free. Family and nature. Always value these two things in the world and you will be happy in life.