Photo Blog of Kovalsky Vacation

I just noticed that I started a photoblog when my mom and cheryl came to visit but I never posted it. Only the first half of our trip but, Enjoy!

 Cesarean Aqueduct

Mom, Me & CK at Cesearia

 

Carmel Forest One Year After the Fire 

 CK & Idan enjoying delicious Pastries in the Carmel Mountains

 CK & I enjoying the beautiful weather at the Dead Sea

Lighting the First Candle

Update Time!

These past few weeks have been fun and interesting. A lot of work and a lot of good food as well. Seems to be a theme.

On the topic of food. A few weeks ago I decided to cook a non traditional Shabbat dinner, the main course being homemade macaroni and cheese with a little hot pepper twist, it was DELICIOUS. I highly recommend.

My internship is starting to pick up a bit more and I have had some interesting interviews to conduct and stories to write. I interview 4 young participants here on a program where they study, volunteer and tour together, they were all 18. So young, such a different perspective on life and Israel, yet still very interesting. This time I met them all at the places where they volunteer, it was nice to actually see them in their environment and see new places in Jerusalem. Very bright, nice young people.

While conducting all of these interviews I found myself near the shuk and just had to find this Indian restaurant my friend had been telling me about, it took a bit of searching and asking Israelis who thought I was crazy looking for and Indian restaurant in the shuk but I eventually found it. Highly recommended. 

My boss also gave me an interesting mission. There was an article written about a pretty famous chef in Tel Aviv. In the article it mentioned how he went to a Hadassah Youth Village for a year as a child so my boss wanted me to get a hold of him and interview him. I wasn’t sure where to begin but I emailed the lady who originally wrote the article and I contacted the restaurant. The next day I was pleasantly surprised to get a phone call from the restaurant manager willing to setup a meeting with me. He said you can talk to Aviv on the phone in Hebrew or you can come in and talk with him in English and I will help if there is language problems. So I figured why not? And I made a plan to visit them the next week. My boss was so excited for me and helped me plan out all of the necessary questions to get his full story.

I arrived at the restaurant and it was quite a nice place. A big restaurant room and a big bar area. They had me wait at the bar for him. I sat there trying to look busy, not sure how long this could take. Eventually he showed up with his restaurant manager. Both very friendly guys and we began chatting, I tried to write down as much as possible but they were chatting in Hebrew and I was trying to follow them and write everything down in English. Not so easy but fun.

We got chatting about his childhood – he made a lot of trouble as a kid, kicked out of a few schools and eventually the army as well but finally found his passion in cooking and has done pretty well for himself. I will post the article once I finish it. I started to ask him about the best burger place in town, he thought about it for a few seconds then decided to order me his burger. I have to admit it was pretty tasty. I had already eaten lunch but I wasn’t going to pass up a free, gourmet meal and ate the whole thing. Yum.

That same day was Idan’s final cooking course, he had been studying once a week for almost 6 months. The last week was reserved for them to invite family and friends to join them at their “restaurant” as they served us food they made. It was quite a nice experience. A 4 course meal prepared by the students. The first plate was ceviche (raw fish on top of cut up strawberries and kiwi). I am not the biggest ceviche fan but it was pretty good. Then we got a bowl of bean soup. On top of it was a turkey\chicken ball that was tempura-ed with a homemade breadstick through it. Soup wasn’t my favorite but the rest was quite tasty. The main course was beef over a pile of cooked spinach and mashed potatoes with a hint of wasabi in them and a ball of wasabi on top with a caramel gravy. It was to die for. They were bringing out second plates. The dessert was the classic warm, chocolate cake with this interesting homemade stick cookie on top covered in cinnamon and sugar with a bit of vanilla sauce. Tasty as well. As you can see, I ate well that day.  

I have also had a lot of progress with my group project for school. I joined a new team this year and our focus was to work on a “green” initiative in Jerusalem. After almost a whole semester of meeting with people and searching for a good partnership we found this community center in Nachlaot (the center of the city) who is starting a composting initiative in their community. So we are working with them to help perfect the distribution of composting buckets, aid in their marketing plan and advise them on how to move forward with the next steps of their program. They are happy to have us and we are happy to work with them, they are organized and ready to move. Its nice to finally find a project a be a part of a team that is going somewhere. Because I am now working to help this community spread compost, I must begin myself. The community center gave each of us in our group a special composting pail and this week I have begun. I am lucky to have a community garden right below my apartment so I hope this is fun and easy. I will let you know how it goes!

(our compost bin, day 1) 

This week an interesting opportunity was offered to me, visiting an Absorption Center just outside of Jerusalem. For those of you who do not know, an Absorption Center is a place where new immigrants come to live and learn during their first year or two of live in Israel. It is for anyone but often there are a great deal of people from the former Soviet Union and particularly Ethiopian Jews.

My cousin was here on a program last summer and put me in touch with a women he met that works at the Jewish Agency in Jerusalem. I met her last week for coffee and she was telling me about her job here, organizing different mission trips for people visiting Israel. She offered for me to come with her on the next one and I figured, why not? What a cool experience.

So yesterday I met her at the Absorption Center in Mevasseret, a community just outside Jerusalem. As we waited for the group to show up I met the guest, Benny, who was speaking to the group, a man who was born in Ethiopia and made aliyah when he was a child. He has been in the country for a while now, acclimated well and is now a teacher at a boarding school where many Ethiopian students study. He brought along one of his students who wanted to see what he was doing and where he was speaking. 

What made the experience all the more interesting to be a part of is that the group was a group of African American professionals from all over the US. AIPAC sends a group almost every week of different people from the States in order to better educate current and future leaders of the situation that actually exists in Israel.

This group had very little knowledge about the country and the recent large scale Ethiopian immigration. So we sat in the center’s library for a while talking about Benny’s story, the story of his student and the story of the Ethiopian people in Israel. The group was fascinated, as you can imagine. It was quite interesting to witness this conversation and their interactions.

Afterwards they were taken on a tour of the whole center. First we went into a classroom where the adults were learning Hebrew. For some of these people it was one of their first weeks in the classroom. They were learning the basics, the letters and their name. They were seems so nervous as we walked in but one of the students said he spoke English and told a bit about his story. Said he was in Israel just over a week and point out his wife sitting next to him who was 6 months pregnant. He was so happy to be in Israel and so thankful. There are a million different reasons why this was an unreal experience for everyone at the same time I couldn’t quite put my finger on what was going on but everyone enjoyed it. Seeing a people they never knew existed, dressed unlike them. How different the worlds of both of these groups of people were but the both had their roots in Africa. Right before we left, the English speaker spoke up again, telling the group how happy he was to be in Israel, how lucky he feels and to please bring the rest of the Jew from Ethiopia. He was so genuinely happy and appreciative. One our way out the group learned the word for “thank you” in Amharic, the language of Ethiopia. Each and every face lit up once we said it. They were so happy and excited to hear something familiar.

Afterwards we toured one of the kindergarten classrooms. There were nearly 30 children sitting in chairs looking at their teachers, it was music class. As soon as we walked in they all put their hands out and wanted a high five, they had so much energy and excitement, they were all so excited to see visitors. Everyone in the room was smiling – in a situation so unfamiliar. The kids sang a song and some of the visitors joined in with the hand motions, the kids loved it, giggled and pointed. The teacher showed us 5 students who were new to Israel within the last week, one of the girls had already caught on to the Hebrew song, it was quite incredible. On our way out again we said “thank you” but you could notice very few of the kids even noticed, they are too young to really remember Amharic after all of the Hebrew they have been surrounded with for the last few months of their lives.

To say the least it was an eye opening cultural experience for everyone that day and I am glad I was able to take part in it.

On the First Night of Chanukah

My sister, Cheryl, and my mother planned to come visit me in Israel this winter so we have spent the past few weeks planning this vacation.

Now that they have finally come its time to enjoy the fruits of our labor. We spend the last few days in Tel Aviv exploring and relaxing and took a day trip up north but I will get back to that later. For now I just want to discuss the first night of Chanukah.

 (Dead Sea Factory)

We drove to the Dead Sea area today and picked the perfect day to do so, they weather was amazing, 80 degrees and sunny. Stopped at the Ahava center and of course we were sucked into buying some lotions. Then we drove most of the way down the Dead Sea to picnic on the beach. The weather was absolutely perfect but the water was a bit cold so we just went in a bit past our knees. Afterwards we drove to our Kibbutz hotel in Ein Gedi. This place is perfect. It has lovely, clean rooms which give you the kibbutz feel, it has beautiful landscaping with gorgeous trees, it is surrounded by views of the Dead Sea and surrounding mountains, it is not overly packed with tourist and tonight the weather was just perfect to sit outside with a long-sleeved t-shirt and scarf and be perfectly pleasant. 

 

(chanukiah made out of coffee beans)

My mom, sister and I went to light Chanukah candles in the lobby this evening and there were other people gathering to do the same, the hotel was passing out sufganiot (donuts) and everyone seemed excited for the holiday to begin. Afterwards I went back to my room to do a bit of work. Although I was working on an article for my internship and not feeling completely free as though I was on vacation, I felt like it was the first time in a long time that I felt relaxed. What a huge contrast from Tel Aviv, where I was just a night ago. It was quiet all around me, it seemed as though the world had slowed down for the first time in a long time. I am not someone who usually enjoys alone time and silence but whatever was here tonight was perfect and I needed it. 

My cousins stayed here when they came and visited last year, Matt highly recommended it, I understand why, this is a perfect place for him.

 '
(Huge Tree on the Kibbutz)

I am looking forward to the next few relaxing days ahead of me and for 7 more tasty, bright, fun days Chanukah.

New Places and New Things the Past Few Weekends

A few weekends ago Idan's mom planned a nice horseback riding adventure. We drove up North of Tel Aviv to Hof Dor (Dor Beach) where there was a small community built on the water where you could horseback ride. The beach was absolutely beautiful. There were even a handful of people there and a few were even swimming. We hung out on the beach for a while then went riding. I was a bit nervous because as good as my hebrew is, I have never learned the vocab for horseback riding. The guy who helped me on my horse quickly figured that out so he helped me in English but the other instructors didn't realize. I think I may have missed the memo on how to get them to speed up but not really sure. They named each of the horses and when they wanted to talk to you they called the horses name, I was Albert for the afternoon.

We walked for a while in an area with brush and then came to the beach and walked along it for a while. It was the perfect day to ride along the water and the perfect time of day with the sun pretty low in the sky. Afterwards we went back to the beach to have a nice picnic. Idan's mom is a great cook so it was a lovely picnic with lovely company and a lovely view.

Two weekends ago I explored another new type of transportation in Israel. The community bikes in Tel Aviv. They have this new system where  you can rent bikes at different stations around the city. You pay a few dollars to take it but if you return it within the next 30 minutes you have no additional charges. It sounds simple and convienent but they still have some kinks to work out. First, if you do not have a year membership there are only some stations where you can take from - pretty inconvienent, or what if there are not any bikes when you want to rent. Well this weekend Idan and I had some nice and no so nice adventures on the bikes.

Friday we went to 3 stations before we found a place that rented fo daily use and had bikes available. Then we rode to the South end of Tel Aviv and at lunch at this fun tapas restaurant in a new, updated area of Tel Aviv. Its an old train station which they have redone and put lots of fancy shops and restaurants in. Nice place to explore. Luckily we docked the bikes there before 30 minutes so we werent charged extra and when we wanted to continue our adventure there were bikes available. After we rode down the beach to meet one of my Israeli friends who just returned from her South American travels. We sat and had coffee and heard all about her adventures. We had a beautiful view of the sea and the sun looked perfect in the sky. After we grabbed another set of bikes and rode most of the way up the shore then back around to Idans.

 

The smells that you pass in this city\country on Friday's are truely delicious. There is smells of the tastiest food coming from everyone's windows and in Tel Aviv the restaurants are hopping on Fridays, the combination made for a delicious smelling bike ride.

That night his whole family (cousins and all) were getting together for Shabbat dinner at his aunts. Lots of good food, company and hebrew. I am surprised how well I can keep up with the conversation but by the end of the night man am I tired.

Saturday we decided to go on another biking adventure with his cousins and friend. This time the Tel Aviv bikes took a bit more planning. He and I were going to rent at a station near Tel Aviv's "central" park. But at that station you couldnt do daily memberships so we walked to a station near Idan, got our daily membership tickets then drove to the park. But no, its not that easy, there were 10 bikes there and only 1 was working. We took that one bike and walked over a mile looking for another station. Finally I just sat down with our stuff and Idan went riding looking for the next station. A little while later he came back with 2 bikes. Good thing he did not send me to get us bikes. So we were off to find our new adventure partners in the park.

It was a beautiful day and the park was packed. Kids, adults, walkers, bikers, dogs...you name it, they were everywhere. Its the same park my sister Elyse and I ran a 10K in while she was visiting, much busier this time. We drove through the park and made it all the way to the beach. We decided to go North for a while and we spotted a bike station. We thought to return them and take another pair so we could start our time over and be charged less. When we went back to use our tickets to get 2 ne bikes, the ticket scanner was broken. There we were, outside the city, on the beach, on shabbat with no way to get our bikes back. A technician came to work on some of the bikes but he wasn't able to help us, and after calling the company and no help being provided we decided that I would run back to the port with Idan's cousin and we would there find another station. After that run I was temped to jump in - why not complete the triathalon? Lucky we finally found two working bikes and made it back to Idans car before we needed to move it at 4.

This past weekend I spend in Jerusalem. I was supposed to go to a Football game with some friends but the weather was horrible. Football you may ask, yes. There is a American football league here with Israelis and Americans playing. So instead of tailgating we just bbqed at my friends, Israeli bbq is always delicious. 

Friday I went to the shuk with idan and a friend from camp, we strolled around and had delicious kubbe. If you have never had kubbe before, look it up and find it or make it. Its kind of like Iraqi dumplings for your soup or you can eat them fried. 

 

My roomates and I are never all in Jerusalem on the same weekend so we decided to have non-traditional shabbat dinner together. We went out to the Jerusalem Cinemeteque and ate a tasty dinner and watched the movie 50/50. To no one's surprise was it that I fell asleep.

My cousins were in israel at the end of last year on a Federation sponsored partnership program with professionals in Modiin. My cousins parter in the program invited Idan and I over for shabbat lunch. I had never seen Modiin and always enjoy the experience to celebrate shabbat with new people so I was thrilled to join. We drove over midday and had a lovely dinner with 3 of the Modiin participants and their families - all lovely people. Modiin is such an interesting community. First, they are up on a hill so they have nice views all around the city and the city itself is only 14 or so years old. Everything is new and everyone is young and the real estate prices are going up. This could bring a lot of interesting issues to the city in the future. 

Now a week full of work before my mom and sister CK come to visit!! Yay!!

Academic Update

Here is an "academic" update on the last few weeks.

School has been going well. I had put together a presentation with a friend of mine on Non Profit Boards for the class and our professor really enjoyed our simulation. Whohoo.

I have been keeping busy with my internship at Hadassah. They are celebrating their 100th Year in the fall and they are building a new building for the hospital. Inside the hospital there will be a heritage center/interactive museum so I have spent the last few weeks doing research on Hadassah's history and some of their biggest projects over the year. I am actually interning for the head of PR for Hadassah so this week I will be doing interview with participants currently on Hadassah the internship program and I will write them up and hopefully they will be published in the local papers back where the participants are from, we will see where it goes.

Last year we were in a project class, I worked on the group trying to better acclimate young immigrants into Jerusalem. This year I switched groups to work with a team whose aim is to make Jerusalem greener. This week we are headed to a gree conference in Jerusalem to see who we can partner with and what assistance we can bring to help Jerusalem.

Midterms are starting to begin so I have a few interviews/mini projects a head of me which should be interesting...

A Tasty Week

Things have been calm and lovely here in Israel. The weather is close to perfect, I prefer just a few degrees warmer. I have been catching up with friends, settling into school and finishing up final details with my internship. Hopefully it will begin soon and be a nice experience.

Last week I had a lovely and delicious dinner with my roommates at an amazing Italian restaurant in Jerusalem. We went out to celebrate 2 of our birthdays that were missed over the summer. We had a delicious cheese appetizer – stuffed with sautéed garlic. I had gnocchis but they were really made from semolina, they were delicious. Then for dessert I tired the chocolate gnocchis. There was chocolate in the dough, stuffed with chocolate and covered in a coffee, toffee sauce, it was like nothing I have ever eaten before.

The next night my friend Eric from my Ashdod program came from the north to see me.  We walked around the city and then at dinner at a Middle Eastern restaurant, tons of salads, majadara (rice and lentils), French fries and amazing kebabs. Delicious meal as well.
This weekend I went to a wedding with Idan in Ashdod, it was a very nice wedding- more appetizers than I have ever seen – always food before the wedding here, than short ceremony, than dancing and
more food – fish, chicken, salads, breads, desserts.

Friday I spent cooking with Idan and his mom. We made a chicken stuffed with rice, meat, raisins, parsley & nuts. It was a recipe he learned  in a cooking class he’s taking. We also made some beautiful challahs, one was even stuffed with cooked onions. Yumm…

This was a good week for food.

First Week of School

First week down.

Classes seem great. The professors seem lively, friendly and smart. I am very excited.

It seems a though this semester will be much more practical than theoretical which is great.

It was nice to be back and see all of my friends in my program, know where my classes are and how to sign in to all of the confusing Hebrew U websites. Yay to not being a "first year" anymore.

Last night we all hung out together, ate delicious desserts (I made chocolate chip challah buns) and played celebrity, what a game. Good times.

Today was my first shabbat back, it rained on and off all day so it was nice to stay inside, clean, go through emails and cook a bit. Friends from camp stopped by (Rebecca Brindza and Charolette Harkavy) they are both in Jerusalem for the year. Lots of fun to catch up with people, yet strange when they were your campers/staff and you know them from half way across the world.

Tonight I had dinner with my friends Leah and Jason, they love my challah so this weekend it was a double wammy. Afterwards we played games and hung out. Its amazing how time flies and its lovely having friends in walking distance on shabbat.

Looking forward to more relaxing weekends.

Happy Birthday CHERYL! Love you!

Shabbat Shalom.