Jobsearching

The jobsearching continues with frustration climbing slowly each day. What would I like to do? I say my "field" is "informal education". For the past 8 years I've worked with teens and young adults, generally in a kiruv setting. Although my Hebrew is workable, and I've run activities in Hebrew, I don't yet feel comfortable to work with Israeli youth. This limits me to working with chldren of Olim (immigrants), students who are here for the year, and student short-term programs. Any ideas?

"I used to think that if I cared about anything I'd have to care about everything and I'd go stark raving mad..." Prince Henry, Ever After.


I understand that now. I still have to figure out how to limit my caring.
How can one person be both guarded and so open to emotion at the same time?

4MEME From me...

I've been tagged by West Bank Mama to do the 4MEME, so here goes:

Four jobs I've had:
1. Ice Cream Scooper
2. Grocery Store Assistant Manager
3. Youth Group Coordinator
4. Office Manager

Four places I've lived:
1. Southfield, MI
2. Brooklyn, NY
3. Givat Shmuel
4. Jerusalem

Four of my favorite foods:
1. Pizza
2. Steak
3. Popcorn
4. Choc Chip Cookies

Four books I would read over and over:
1. Hebrew/English Dictionary
2.
3.
4.

Four movies I would see over and over:
1. A Few Good Men
2. Newsies
3. Almost Famous
4. Toy Soldiers

Four places I've been on vacation:
1. East Coast, US
2. West Coast, US
3. Midwest, US
4. Israel

Four places I would rather be:
1. Golan
2. Galil
3. Shomron
4. Negev

I tag treading fences, SethJ, Donuts' Mom, & Israeliwannabe :) Good luck...

To Pray Or Not To Pray....

...that is the question.

Menachem, point taken. Thank you.

Not From Arutz Sheva...

I know I get a lot of flack for getting my news from Arutz Sheva...this is straight from CNN....

It appears as if Gaza has degenerated into anarchy.

In just the past 10 days in the 146-square-mile territory:

~ Three Palestinian government offices were occupied by gunmen.
~ Armed militants detonated explosives in a United Nations club.
~ Three British nationals were kidnapped at gunpoint.
~ An Italian man was abducted.
~ Two rival families unloaded weapons at each other in a personal dispute.
~ A Palestinian police officer was killed in a shootout between police and militants.
~ The Palestinian-controlled border crossing was shut down by police angry at the death of their colleague, prompting European Union monitors to leave.
~ Palestinian police took over government offices in their continuing protest.
~ Israel launched air strikes on suspected militant targets.
~ Gaza was not supposed to turn out this way.

Last summer, Israel ended its 38-year military occupation of the area. For the first time in history, Gaza came under Palestinian rule.

No Ottoman Turks, no British mandate, no Egyptian control, no Israeli occupation. And in November, the Palestinian Authority took control over an international border crossing for the first time in history.

But since then, it's the absence of law and order in the territory that's been its most notable feature.

Some Palestinian politicians say the trouble is a result of "labor pains." Palestinians are just beginning to taste political freedom, and freedom can sometimes be messy, they say.

Others point to the Israeli occupation of 38 years, arguing it engendered a culture of violence in Gaza.

There is also the claim from some Palestinian officials that Israel decimated the Palestinian security forces during the past few years of fighting, rendering Gaza's police impotent.

Finally, many ordinary Palestinians point to the weakness of Fatah, the main Palestinian political movement which controls the Palestinian government. Fatah's leadership is widely seen as ineffective and, in some cases, corrupt.

Day By Glorious Day

It's been almost two years since I lost one of my closest friends. He was born with a terminal illness that he fought for 24 years, but I didn't lose him to the illness. Mikey had a way of getting through every day and finding what to smile about. He took pleasure in putting things into perspective and helping one seeing through an upsetting event. He definitely gave me the tools and know-how on how to continue living this way after he was gone, but I didn't follow through. I lost him to my own self-wallowing. Two years is a long time, and I'm ready to bring Mikey back into my life. No, I won't be able to shmooze with him online, visit him in the hospital, go to a movie with him in New York... but I can smile and think, "Day by glorious day". Today was a great day... because I decided it should be. Mikey..this one's for you :)

Nice to meet you...

I just got back from an extraordinary event. I was invited to the bat mitzvah party of a girl whose family I met while helping them "settle" into the caravilla they were exiled to when their home was taken away from them by the Israeli government and handed over to the terrorists. Probably about 95% of the invited were evacuees (with there being under 150 people there, you can see I was part of quite a minority). I had thought about how to greet the other guests. Common questions like "Where are you from", are not askable, as the question is generally followed by the neighborhood in gush katif, and why bring that up... A seemingly OK opening was "so how do you know the family?", but when the people we were talking to questioned back, what about you...we ran into toungue tiedness...uhh, well, we met them in nitzan when we went there to volunteer...? Yes, that's right, while you were being kicked out of your houses, we were volunteering and helping people like the ba'alei simcha move into their new quarters... Way to stay clear of upsetting topics... Well, I don't think it's so possible to stear completely clear of upsetting topics... Someone I had met in nitzan that week came over and mentioned that I remind her of such a dark time in her life, and at least some good came out of it...she met me... great.