Matching entries matching “turtle” from Young Judaea / FZY Year Course Blog

(this blog was written a few weeks ago as the idea of moving began to sink in)

Now is the time of transitions

In dance teams, transitions during a dance are supposed to be smooth and only slightly noticeable as the entire team moves from one formation to the next.

Transitions on Year Course are not either of those things.

They are a big balagan - a mess and a huge deal because it begins the realization that three months have passed. And now we are moving

Why? It feels like orientation was yesterday and not I am rechecking lists I filled out for my "new" apartment three months ago.

In this short and oh so long span of time I have had many adventures, spontaneous nights, and weekend gatherings with many friends in apartments that shrink as sleeping bags begin to create makeshift beds on cold tile floors.

I am going to miss the "me" time I got every morning as I walked from my bus stop to the rescue center.  Every morning I craved a longer bus ride so I could be graced with a few more songs from my IPOD. Oh the things I crave - longer bus rides, weekends with friends on cold tile floors, easy transitions, more time in Netanya.

And so these transitions is wanted, no doubt, however, I know a part of me will always live in 77 Weitzman.  Multi-colored wall boards, a freezer that sticks, and a leaky sink will be missed.

My transition is marked with my removing my glow-in-the-dark stars from my cupboard and then my green-foamy-wall-thing.  Then with putting away my multi-colored organizer which housed odd items from face lotion to post cards sent by my mother.  Finally with my last day of work - a day that was supposed to be full of scrubbing sea turtles but was in turn graced by rain.  The archetype that  symbolizes starting a new and  washing away what once was.  Our last days were spent  as a closed weekend without any travel just us and our apartment.  Maybe the closed weekend was meant to provide closure before our second major transition this year on year course.

For now, I try to not take my days for granted and I am mentally preparing myself for a needed and unwanted change.  A transition so unlike those I was used to in the day sof my dance team, so not smooth, so very noticed, and so unrefined.


Transition. Change. Whatever. It must happen.

I caught myself folding towels at the Sea Turtle Rescue Center the same way that my mother does; a very specific way indeed.  Despite the fact that I knew those towels didn't need to look pretty because soon they would encounter algae, odd food mixtures for baby sea turtles, and a whole array of other dirt, I could not fold them any other way.

And then I remembered I missed my mother.  I have seen her face once in the last six weeks as I skyped with my family for an hour one night.  Although during that conversation she said to me
"I promise you'd much rather be there (Israel) than here (El Paso)", a part of me still misses home.  It isn't "real" homesickness just a desire to see my family.  Because Israel is my home as well.

I finally put up my glow-in-the-dark stars around my room in my apartment bringing another sense of nighttime comfort into my drab room.

I am used to a tri-fecta of purple on my many walls and not the odd green board that hangs up currently in my apartment room.  This board is supposed to be displaying whatever I feel like but only in those several square inches so as to not damage the walls with tape or any other sticky substance.  Let's just say I miss my royal, lavender, and light purple walls that has gotten my room at home dubbed "the cave".  However, I have kept up that nickname with my room in Israel because today was one of two days so far where the blinds have been opened in my room. 

Who needs sunlight while you are trying to sleep?

I do admit that todays sunlight and breeze was well needed especially since it was perfumed with rain.  That's right rain.  Something that happens as rarely in Israel as it does in west Texas.

Maybe I am not feeling "real" homesickness because Israel shares so many similarities with my hometown.  The weather, my room, and other things share some comforts that make my home what it truly is.

Without the sense of living in a cave or the excitement over a tiny sprinkle of rain it would be a little less like home but no less like A home..

 

The walk to work is perfumed with oleanders and the smell of the sea lingers in the air.  This is my walk to work.  I have the volunteer spot during Israel experience that everyone wanted, and when they ask you "What is your Israel experience?" and you reply "I am doing Sea Turtles" their reaction is the same, "I am so jealous of you!"

Everyday I get to wake up and help save sea turtles which have been injured or harmed by the careless and reckless human activity that has engulfed our planet.

When my mom asked me why I wanted to do this volunteering I responded with a "Why not?"

Who wouldn't want to be a part of a small project helping the entire earth! Sea turtles all over the world are endangered and their numbers are shrinking.  However, I can help a few more turtles get back into the sea, making the world that much of a better and different place.

Don't get me wrong it is hard work.  Everyday I get back to my apartment and smell like I bathed in fish juice.  If you throw in a little sweat and sunscreen you have a brand new and soon to be popular Eau De Sea Turtle Volunteer.   Yet every day I leave from my volunteer placement with a smile and think how lucky I am that I am one of six people all year that get to embark on this experience.

Aaron, the boy who volunteers with me feels the same.  Together we feed the turtles chasa (lettuce) and an assortment of fish.  We clean takes and gather data for research.  The facility runs on volunteer support and people willing to invest in the amazing project that is run there.  I am proud and oh so willing to give my time to the amazing place that is changing the world one sea turtle at a time.

Everyday when I leave Michmoret for Netanya I realize why everyone responds with "I am so jealous" because the truth is I would be jealous too!

One week down a short thirty five more to go. If those weeks are half as amazing as this week was, my experience on Year Course will surpass every expectation I could have imagined.

There is a reason why that one famous says "Reunited and it feels so good".  Being reunited with my friends was amazing however being reunited with Israel brings a happiness and feeling of content sweeping over my body.  It still "wierds me out" to think that the next nine months of my life will be spent in such an amazing place. Nacsholim, the resort kibbutz we stayed at for our first days of orientation brought together my entire section for the first time and it felt good.

Our hike in the Carmel mountains brought a new appretiation for the beauty within Israel. Hearing about the Masada of the north and bonding with my roommates was a special experience.

Settling into my apartment in Netanya was another realization of independence.  Knowing that the kitchen I was staring at was going to be kitchen for the next nine months matured me at least one year.  Already my roommates and I have worked together to cook and clean in an almost Brady Bunch sort of fashion.  Together, we have meandered around Netanya searching for cool places to hang out and napped together on the beautiful sandy beaches.

Being thrown into a completely different society can be a difficult thing, however, being thrown in with some amazing friends makes getting settled easier then saying " Ani Lo Medaberet Ivrit" ( I cannot speak hebrew)

After just a few short days in Netanya, Section three headed up to Tsfat for a Shabbat B'yachad ( a Sabbath Together).  Just minlging with new and old friends about their living situations and bustling cities made me miss my new found family of friends that call Netanya home.  However the vibes from the city of mysticism allowed new friendships to bud and old friendships to flower.  It was after the beautiful orthodox service on a rooftop that we all walked back for a crowded Shabbat dinner and saw the beauty of this peaceful city.  Who could have imagined that a little over a year ago, the day after I toured the city for the first time, Tzfat was hit with its first round of Quetusha rockets in the Lebanon war.  Too positive of a place to be placed in the middle of a negative time.

After a peaceful and restful Shabbat we headed back to our respective ciies to begin the real journey.  And so it smacked me in the face this morning when I went to visit my volunteer placement.  I am one of six people throughout an entire year that has the opportunity to help rehabilitate and save sea turtles and other aquatic animals.  Seeing the beauty of the beach was soon down played by the terrible condition some of these turtles were in.  You see, the beach is quite a deceiving place.  Despite its attraction and serenity it holds inside of it an endangered world.  Sea turtles throughout the Mediterranean are being killed by fisherman every day and I have the ability to save even just a few and benefit the population of several species of endangered sea turtles.  This job varies in so many ways from cleaning to measuring to sleeping next to unhatched eggs, this volunteer placement is sure to be an experience beyond my wildest dreams.  I will be mentioning it a lot over the next two and a half months and the smile I walked in with today will probably never fade despite the hard work and sometimes long days.  Who wouldn't want to be blessed with such an opportunity?

For now as I let the whirlwind of this first week sink in, I am trying to process the amazingness of the next nine months and I can't wait to share it with anyone who has even the slightest interest in a small town girl's adventure in the most amazing country in the world.