imarielle626

Also called Nargila here.  People like it because the tobacco is flavored so it tastes good.  Some popular flavors are strawberry, cola, fruity, banana, chocolate mint (at least those are the ones popular on my program as Hookah has become a popular social past time because it is cheap and easy to get).  I agree.  Inhaling any foreign substance into your lungs is not a good idea!  Not only can it cause lung and throat cancer, but put you at risk for a heart attack and is just all around bad for your health!  I just wish some of my friends would listen to me!

imarielle626

They don't have a special name, just called hooka bars.  THere are many of them here in Israel although I don't care to much for them.  Second hand smoke kills too so I prefer to keep my lungs clean and healthy.

Penny that comic is hilarious!

imarielle626

Tomorrow I have this campus activism seminar for 11 hours straight that I am so not looking forward to!    Basically what we do is sit in a classroom for 11 hours and listen to people talk to us about how to be active while at your university and be an advocate for things you feel strongly about.  Personally I don't see the point of making this a mandatory seminar.  I have had a lot of experience when it comes to advocating my opinion on certain issues.  I have lobbied before my representatives in Congress on the issue of Gay Rights, as well as spent three weeks on a summer activism "journey" traveling around the U.S. learning about major issues in our country (such as gun control, gay rights, legality of medical marijuana, segregation, anti-semitism, illiteracy, poverty, and more) and how we can make a difference.  I understand the importance of the ideals we are supposed to be getting out of this seminar, but these are things you can't really learn in a classroom, they must be experienced for you to truly grasp the importance and meaning of what it means to be a true activist.

Sorry I just needed to vent that out.  But what do you all think...Is activism something you can be taught in a classroom or is it more of a hands on thing to learn?

imarielle626

Meg, those favors sound cute.  I love the M&M idea.  And the valentines day colors are the best ones =).

AHH!! I am sick yet again =(  It is just a cold which I normally wouldn't mind, except for the fact that I am leaving for Poland in exactly a week in which the weather is currently a high of 29 F (-2 C).  The thing is I have never really been below freezing weather (with one exception of getting caught dog sledding in a blizzard in Colorado when I was 11).  I am really nervous that since I am sick now going to such a cold place where I will be getting minimal hours of sleep will just make me even more sick.  The program I will be doing in Poland is hard enough no having to deal with being sick!  *fingers crossed* I get over this ASAP!

imarielle626

I found this and thought I'd share...

imarielle626

I'm feeling better.  I am taking medicine now so I am not constantly blowing my nose and I have nothing to do tomorrow so I am taking the opportunity to sleep in.  I think this cold is going to pass for now, but come right back once I get back from Poland because the extreme cold is going to screw up my immune system.  By then I'll be moving into a hostel with actual heating so it should be better than my crappy apartment.

imarielle626

I don't leave until late Sunday night (technically it is 1 AM Israel time on Monday).  We start in Warsaw looking at life before the war.  Pre-1939 Warsaw was home to the biggest Jewish community in the world.  While in Warsaw we will be visiting the remains of the Warsaw ghetto and Okopowa St. Jewish Cemetery, the oldest and largest Jewish cemetery.  While in the area we are also visiting Treblinka.  Then we will be going to Lublin to see Majdanek.  The last half of the trip we will be in Krakow and will see Aushwitz-Birkenau, Schindler's Factory, and some more cemeteries and old synagogues.  We land back in Israel at around 3 AM where we will go directly to the old city of Jerusalem to the Kotel (the Western Wall) for a closing ceremony.  Each day has a theme ranging from "Remnants of the Past" to "The Final Solution".

It is going to be a long and harsh week, but I am really looking forward to it because I really feel it is an important place to visit.  The last of the Holocaust survivors are reaching old age and won't be around to tell their story to generations to come.  We had a preparation weekend this past weekend and one of our seminars was on Holocaust denial.  With no one left who tell the stories first hand, it will be up to us to make sure the stories don't die to and prevent future catastrophes, as well as spread the word on current genocides as well (for example Darfur).

Okay enough on that subject.  On a lighter note, I saw two great movies today.  The first was Untraceable with Diane Lane.  It's and FBI movie where they find a website in which the guy tortures and murders people live online and investigate the case to find the guy and shut it down.  It is a bit scary and some parts can be really gory (like the torture scenes), but it was overall a great film.  After seeing it my roommates could not go to sleep right away so we watched Juno online (it just came out here and hasn't made it to the smaller town theatres yet).  Such a good movie!  It was cute and hilarious.  The word choice in some lines just made the movie.  That and Ellen Page was excellent!  Juno is currently my favorite movie!

imarielle626

Barb, sorry to hear you are sick again.  That bug just keeps on hunting you down!  I'm sure the cold winter isn't helping much either.  Maybe you need the extended summer!

I met some people from Australia while here in Israel.  They have had a really long extended summer.  They left Australia in February, right in the middle of their summer, then were in Israel February through December so were pretty much only hear for spring and summer, then go back home to summer in Australia.  How nice would it be to have three summers in a row?  It was something the Aussies liked to brag about I really want to visit Australia during my winter break sometime soon.  Now that I have friends there, it is more of an excuse to go!  Plus I have never been south of the equator so it would be cool to experience summer in December (not that winter in Miami is an actual winter lol).  It is so weird that my friend and I have our birthdays in the same month, but mine is a summer birthday and hers is a winter birthday.  

Shinny, sorry to hear you're out of the race.  I remember from the last one a number of people had to drop out because of the time it eats up.  It really is more of a test of endurance.  Tina just loves to see how much she can suck out of you guys (just kidding ).  Stick around though, there are more fun, new forum activities to come that aren't as time consuming as the Race.  I know I've got something cooking and Silver is working on something too.

imarielle626

I've been here since September so that is what five almost six months now.  I've still got three months and a week left of my program.  Which is a nice segue into why I made my way to this thread in the first place...

I had my last day of volunteering at my kindergarden today.  I'm really going to miss those kids.  I learned so much from them, more than I ever expected.  It was nice to be able to speak Hebrew for four hours a day without having to worry about all the mistakes I was making.  In my next section I'll have Hebrew class every morning and those teachers a stricklers for grammar!  Grammer is probably the hardest part about learning a foreign language, especially a language that distinguish between genders because that is one thing English does not do.

Well I'm off to dinner now.  My roommates and I are splurging on Sushi because this is one of the last nights most of us will be together.  I've got one roommate in Texas, one leaving for Egypt soon, one roommate just got back from Morocco, two of us are leaving for Poland on Sunday, and another is leaving for South Africa on Monday.  Crazy huh?!

Feel Better Barb!

Nice new avatar Shinny!

imarielle626

I'm all packed!  It's sad tonight is my last night in the apartment.  Tomorrow night I'll be spending on the plane. It's weird to be all packed up and ready to leave.  It seems these last three months have flown by!  I still remember stepping off the plane in Israel back in September like it was yesterday and now my program is 2/3 of the way finished.  I am excited to go back home (I just applied for housing at my university last night), but I don't feel ready to go back school and leave Israel.  I know I still have three more months, but if those three months fly by like these past 3 did, I'll be home before I know it.  I guess it is a good thing that the track of my program i got placed on starts with 6 months of volunteering and ends with 3 months of university studies.  At least by the time I start university back in the states I will be back in student mode.  I start school three and a half weeks after I get home (and and move into my dorm the day after my birthday) because in Florida it is required that you do a summer semester and by applying as a freshman to start summer instead of fall puts you in a smaller pool so it is easier to get in.

Time really does fly when you're having fun!

imarielle626

Thanks!  I am happy, it's just sad when things are over.  I am going to miss the freedom of apartment life because the next part of my program I will be living in a hostel especially built for our program, then I go home to university and live in a dorm.

It has been a great adventure, one that is sadly coming to and end faster than I anticipated!

imarielle626

Wow I can't believe Meg's wedding is already here!  I'm gone for a week and it just sneaks up on us!  That bachlorette party Tina made is so cute.  I love the gift leaving option!

So I'm sure you're all wondering how my trip was.  If you want to know more details I'll leave those later, I still have a lot of catching up to do and preparing the Hunt.  Over all my trip was really good.  It is a physically and emotionally draining trip if you can imagine, but we had a great balance of activities so after a long emotional day we would end with fun activity or celebration.  We focus a lot on life in Poland before WWII.  It is hard to believe now that 70 years ago there were over 3 million Jews in Poland.  Today only a few thousand remain.  We visited some old Jewish towns that had the synagogues still in tact or were refurbished for the purpose of trips like mine.  Some of them are beautiful!  We also visited three camps: Treblinka, which was completely destroyed so it is just a memorial, Mejdanek which was half rebuilt, and Auschwitz I and Auschwitz II Birkenau, which was huge and all original buildings.  I've been studying the Holocaust my entire life, but just being there in Poland in all those places is something you cannot learn from books or the stories and an expereience I am glad I was able to have.

Now I am exhausted and can't wait to just relax for the next couple of days before I have to move into my room for the last section of my program.  I have so many shows to catch up on =)

imarielle626

I remember learning about the Ireland famine in history class.  It's horrible when a country loses so much of it's population.  I was looking at some statistics comparing the populations of the world and certain European countries from 1939 (pre-WWII) to 1940s (post WWII) to today.  The world population dropped so drastically!  I think the only other time in history there was such a drop in population was the Black Plague.

Reply  1644#1644 megatan's post

Welcome!  Glad to see you are having fun reading this thread.  It must keep you occupied for a while!  When I first found this thread I tried to read it all the way through, but I think I just read the first couple of pages then skipped to the last couple of pages and continued from there.  But I agree, sometimes we can be better than tv

Every new member of the giggle box needs a proper welcome, so here is yours:

Our door is always open

Refreshments are always being served

So sit back relax and PARTAY!

So even after two naps today  I am still sooo overtired from my trip hence the above!  I tend to do the best thinking when I am like this.  Ha half the stuff you'll see in the hunt I came up with because I just couldn't sleep no matter how tired I was and would stay up for hours watching shows and writing clues.


[ Last edited by imarielle626 at 3-3-2008 20:38 ]

imarielle626

Quote:

So, you have to wonder why these things happen.

I completely agree.  But sometimes there is no logical explanation.  We just have to use examples from the past to make sure they are not repeated in the future.

Most of the week in Poland I had this song stuck in my head.  It's from the musical Tick Tick...BOOM! The lyrics are really great and so true!  I still have trouble figuring out how to post songs so here are the lyrics.

Louder Than Words:
"Why do we play with fire?
Why do we run our finger through the flame?
Why do we leave our hand on the stove-
Although we know we're in for some pain?

Oh, why do we refuse to hang a light
When the streets are dangerous?
Why does it take an accident
Before the truth gets through to us?

Cages or wings?
Which do you prefer?
Ask the birds.

Fear or love, baby?
Don't say the answer
Actions speak louder than words.

Why should we try to be our best
When we can just get by and still gain?
Why do we nod our heads
Although we know
The boss is wrong as rain?

Why should we blaze a trail
When the well worn path seems safe and
So inviting?

How-as we travel, can we
See the dismay-
And keep from fighting?

Cages or wings?
Which do you prefer?
Ask the birds
Fear or love, baby?
Don't say the answer
Actions speak louder than words

What does it take
To wake up a generation?
How can you make someone
Take off and fly?
If we don't wake up
And shake up the nation
We'll eat the dust of the world
Wondering why

Why do we stay with lovers
Who we know, down deep
Just aren't right?
Why would we rather
Put ourselves through hell
Than sleep alone at night?

Why do we follow leaders who never lead?
Why does it take catastrophe to start a revolution?
If we're so free, tell me why?
Someone tell me why
So many people bleed?

Cages or wings?
Which do you prefer?
Ask the birds.
Fear or love, baby?
Don't say the answer.
Actions speak louder than

Louder than, louder than
Louder than, louder than

Cages or wings?
Which do you prefer?
Ask the birds
Fear or love baby?
Don't say the answer
Actions speak louder than

Louder than, louder than, ooh

They speak louder
Actions speak louder than..."

imarielle626

I haven't seen the show yet.  I was sent the song by the leader of a program I did a couple years ago.  I have heard that one of the absorption centers here is putting on the show sometime soon so I hope i'll be able to see it them

imarielle626

Thanks!  It's great to be back!

imarielle626

I acutally think it was a facebook bumper sticker that I saved to my computer.  I found a bunch of cute avatars so when I'm in the need for a change look for a new one =).

imarielle626

Barb and Gypsie I hope you are both doing well.  Dealing with any illness isn't easy, and from what you said you both have the more severe end of the disease.  I guess it's just taking it one day at a time and hoping for the best.

Well, I think it is time for a change of subject.  After all this is the giggle box, we should be giggling (plus it has been scientfically proven that laughing can cure!)  


Oh and by the way, I have officially moved in to my final place of residence for my program (the hostel).  I am all unpacked and am settling in very well.  My room is in a great location (near the laundry room, gym, stairs, and right down the hall from my friends).  Now all I need to do is go to the mall and accessories my room =)  There are so many things I want to buy!

imarielle626

I have a roommate.  We were able to chose, but I chose not to and just get put with who i get put with.  I am really easy going so i didn't really care who I got roomed with.  The girl I'm rooming with is nice.  We are very different and have different groups of friends, but I think she will be a good roommate.  Neither one of us are big into partying so I won't have to worry about dealing with a roommate who comes home drunk at 3 AM, which was one thing I was worried about knowing most of the people on my program.

imarielle626

Thankfully my roommate does not snore.  I have some great ear plugs too though because living in a hostel things can get pretty loud at night, especially on the weekend.  The hostel is built for my program, but they do need to make a profit so other groups and families often stay here.  I am really looking forward to this section of my program.  I think it will be a nice way to end because is is more chill living in the hostel than the apartments.  Here we have a cleaning service come once a week and all of our meals are provided for us.  Plus I am living right in the center of West Jerusalem walking distance from the mall and just a bus ride away from the Old City.  I got all my first choices for classes, although I think I am going to change one because I really want the teacher from the other class.  He was my teacher and head guide in Poland and I really like the way he teaches, but I'll give the class I got a try before I make any decisions.

Mel that cartoon is so true!  I'll admit I sometimes take my life for granted, as I have been that guy in the cartoon may times before.  But I really love doing community service and helping out other people, and when I can't help, just spreading awareness because raising awareness is just as important in my opinion.  I've been on a few life changing programs where I have met some people that really made me feel lucky that I live such a great life and have a loving family.  

Well I'm off to yet another meeting.  We've been having them all day to go over logistics and get us ready to live and study here in Jerusalem.  I just wanted to stop by here and see how things were going with you all =).