Tuesday, February 7, 2012

My First Solo Adventure

At home, in my own country, I would hardly call going to see a movie an adventure. But here, in a different country, alone, its certainly exciting. Today I had a self-date, hopefully my first and last since I look forward to making friends once my program starts.

I went to see the movie "The Artist". I looked up the theater and movie times and got directions on Google maps and found out it was only a 15 minute walk away. Well, with these killer quads... I'm sure you wont be surprised to find out that I made it in 12.

One thing I've already learned about myself on this trip is that, believe it or not, I can be terribly shy. I get so embarrassed that my Hebrew is not up to par, that I just avoid speaking at all. Well tonight, I knew I had to speak up, since I was going out alone. And I am very pleased to report that I had an almost flawless night of short sentences!

Here are the things I said:

1) Once I got to Dizengoff Center, where the movie theater is, I realized the structure has several floors, any of which can house a theater. So I walked into a store and said to the sales clerk, "Excuse me, where is the movie theater?" "Slicha, eifo ha kolnoa?" (Note: All "ch" sounds are pronounced like you are clearing your throat and have severe phlegm. Second note: "phlegm" is pronounced "flem".) I also understood her very clearly when she told me it was "le mata", "downstairs". Liar... it was 4 stories above me. Moving on...

2) When I got to the theater, I asked the clerk, "Can I have one for 'The Artist'?", "Echad le 'Ha Artist'?" She then loudly asked me, "Rak echad?" "Only one?!" Thanks for bringing attention to me! Only one. Do you see me standing with someone? I actually only replied, "yes." "Ken." Then she said a whole bunch of mumbo jumbo that I couldnt really understand, so we spent some time looking at eachother and just asking, "MA?!" "WHAT?!" Finally I remembered that in Israel, the movie theater seats are assigned, and she was asking me which row I wanted. I was just barely able to tell her that I wanted to be "not close". "Lo karov." So, she put me in the second to last row, and the screen isn't so big. So I was very far away. No matter.

3) You can't see a movie without popcorn, which is exactly what I got when I asked for "one small popcorn and a water please." "Echad popcorn ve maim, bevakasha."

4) When I gave the guy my ticket before entering the theater, I dropped my gum wrapper on the floor by accident. He asked, "Ma ze?" "What's this?" And I forgot how to say, "trash". So I just brashly yelled at him "ze lo chashoov!!!", "its not important!", picked it up, and ran into the theater.

5) A man asked me where the numbers on the seats where and I cleverly pointed to the numbers and said, "po", "here".

6) And then right before the movie started, I found a phone on the floor. So I picked it up, and I went back to one of the workers, thrust it in her hand and said, "matzati et ze". "I found this."

People in Israel must think I'm crazy, because I try not to look at anyone when I speak. And although my sentences come out fine, I don't always understand the response I get.

This is certainly not characteristic of me, as anyone who knows me would agree. But like I said, this is a new adventure, and I am learning that the comfort-zone Jessica needs to break free...

Saturday, February 4, 2012

From Home... to Home

Somewhere along the Atlantic, I decided things would be okay. 

Today I left my home of Miami Beach, Florida, where I have been staying at my father’s house, the house I grew up in, since I left Boston two and a half weeks ago. I ended up back home because this past summer of 2011, I told myself that by my next birthday, I would either have plans to leave Boston, or be out of there. On January 9th 2012, the day I turned 26, I hopped a bus to NY to visit my sister for a few days before finally returning to Miami Beach.

It’s not that Boston hasn’t been a great place to live, but I feel like I got what I wanted out of the city. I originally left Miami in the fall of 2004 to attend Tufts for my undergraduate degrees in Psychology and Community Health. I loved Tufts. 

I loved Tufts so much, that I immediately went to graduate school at Tufts after college, for my master’s degree in Nutrition. By that time, I was beginning to notice that many of my college peers had left Boston/Cambridge. 

I felt like everyone was moving on with their lives and careers, except for me. I stayed in Boston after grad school, unlike most of my classmates, for a job in a hospital as a Nutritionist. The work was fine; it was my first full-time job. However, the nagging urge to leave Boston only grew during my time as a Nutritionist. 

I stayed in Boston for a year and a half after grad school, bringing my total amount of time there to 7.5 years. Most Jumbos left after graduation, few were left who didn’t have family in the Boston area. I don’t particularly hate Boston, but I needed to make a change in my life—I needed an adventure. And leaving Boston was the first step.

I actually wish I didn’t have this adventure bug in me. I saw many of my friends getting married, starting out their own businesses, beginning long-term careers, and I wondered why this comfort wasn’t good enough for me. Adventures are great, but they require life-changes and can be emotionally and physically difficult to complete. 

I decided that if I were going to go on an adventure, there was only one place to go: Israel. I’ve been wanting to spend time in Israel for years. I’ve vacationed there, even joined the military there between my junior and senior years in a program called Marva, for non-Israelis to serve time in the IDF. And I’ve been wanting to return ever since. 

So I spent several months looking up opportunities for myself in Israel. My job was going to end in April, and I had been looking for positions for almost a year, with the same response from every hiring manager: I need more experience. 

Career Israel is an internship program for young adults to gain work experience in Israel. This seemed like the perfect opportunity for me; not only will I be in Israel, but I will be developing my resume with valuable work experience. I signed up for two very exciting internships, signed over my lease to a new tenant, and moved my belongings to Miami Beach. 

This adventure has been a work in progress for years. And now that I am flying over the Atlantic, I only hope that I made the right choice…