tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-154479932011-07-28T14:09:35.102+03:00A year in the life of Jess Mauer: International IconJessMauerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09869058165770680858noreply@blogger.comBlogger431100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15447993.post-1153526994370859802006-07-22T03:07:00.000+03:002006-07-22T03:09:54.760+03:00

It has been a few weeks since I have been in Israel. My heart broke a little bit as the plane took off, but I knew that it was time for new things in my life. Now as the news is flooded with terrible sights and my mind keeps running through a million different thoughts, I hope that I am right about leaving.For now I am residing in Alaska with my family and will soon make the move to Oregon. Being

JessMauerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09869058165770680858noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15447993.post-1153523984457944172006-07-22T02:16:00.000+03:002006-07-22T02:39:32.336+03:00

Cappadocia is a weird place. We hadn’t realized how big Turkey was when we made our plane reservations for five days, which isn’t enough time. So at the youth hostel in the beginning we picked one place to go to and for time efficiency signed up for a tour. It’s nice that they took care of everything for us, but this was still one of the biggest mistakes of my life.Continued... First a word on

JessMauerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09869058165770680858noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15447993.post-1152624016611244792006-07-11T16:17:00.000+03:002006-09-09T10:04:51.016+03:00

Getting from Istanbul to Cappadocia, our next travel destination could possibly have been done in less than an hour flight for the more lucrative traveler. For Shosh and I, the 12-hour overnight bus would have to do. This bus was your standard Grayhound/Egged transport. But, for Turkey, this was first class comfort. To assert this fact, we were treated to the bus equivalent of a stewardess giving

JessMauerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09869058165770680858noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15447993.post-1152035786111016722006-07-04T20:55:00.002+03:002008-03-23T22:22:05.704+02:00

Day one in Turkey was a serious adventure. Istanbul is our playground for the next two days. Shoshi and I spent the morning viewing the main tourist sites of the land. Two big, I mean big, mosques. One called Aya Sophia was getting renovated and we counted 26 floors of scaffolding in the middle of it. Kinda made us dizzy. There was also this lucky hole in one of the pillars where if one places

JessMauerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09869058165770680858noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15447993.post-1152029093523027052006-07-04T19:01:00.000+03:002006-07-04T19:06:29.106+03:00

My travels have taken me first to jordan. the country was very... arab. as they say, not bad, just different - but this was really really different. we crossed the border in the afternoon. after you leave israel there's a 5 minute walk btw the countries, sort of a void/no mans land. then we reach the border. after paying fees and getting all stamped up we were on jordanian soil. the 4 of us cram

JessMauerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09869058165770680858noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15447993.post-1152028830711597662006-07-04T18:58:00.000+03:002006-07-04T19:00:47.653+03:00

My year in Israel is coming to a close, and I have been doing some travel outside the country. The next few blogs will be devoted to these adventures around the Middle East. Enjoy!

JessMauerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09869058165770680858noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15447993.post-1147788608074848782006-05-16T17:05:00.000+03:002006-06-06T23:04:12.550+03:00

Everyone deals with the feeling of distress that comes from when actual experiences are different than they believed them to be. OTZMAnikim have been through this over and over again during the year, and why I thought the kibbutz would be just as I had always idolized the lifestyle as, is beyond me. And I’m not too sure exactly what I was expecting, but I’ll be honest, it wasn’t too far away from

JessMauerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09869058165770680858noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15447993.post-1145890287626322922006-04-12T17:51:00.000+03:002006-05-12T07:03:39.736+03:00

Or close by anyways… I was invited to spend Pesach in Israel at a good friend of mine’s relatives home in Rishon, about a 20 minute drive from Tel Aviv. My friend Benny is Persian so I went to my first Sephardic seder this year. Other than being completely in Hebrew, which still might as well be Chinese to me, things were similar. There were a couple of odd differences though than my usual

JessMauerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09869058165770680858noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15447993.post-1144405253817615632006-04-07T12:55:00.000+03:002006-04-09T05:38:00.803+03:00

Elections for the new parliament were held on March 28. Lucky for me even though I didn't have a vote, I still got the day off, as Election Day is a holiday in Israel. Relieved of my fruit duties and feeling the tingle of change in the air, I jumped on a bus to Jerusalem to see the action first hand.Unfortunately there wasn't anything. As it is in America, apathy is a problem among the population

JessMauerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09869058165770680858noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15447993.post-1143539765508045662006-03-28T11:55:00.000+02:002006-04-01T09:13:53.583+03:00

The army lifestyle was an eye opener, but I can fully say it is not the way for me. More to my liking has been the next and sadly last leg of my journey – kibbutz life. I’m living outside of a town called Rohovot, a 30 minute drive south of Tel Aviv, in a small community of families and a few random volunteers from all over the world that live, eat, and farm together. The volunteers live in two

JessMauerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09869058165770680858noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15447993.post-1142109284240103602006-03-11T22:34:00.000+02:002006-03-19T00:14:48.200+02:00

BANG BANG BANG! "YOU'RE LATE!! YOU HAVE 7 MINUTES! BE DRESSED IN FULL UNIFORM!! GET UP NOW!!!"The second night rather than my 6 in the morning alarm clock, these foreboding words occurred around 2AM. In the fog of sleep, confusion, and annoyance, the girls in my room and I struggled to dress and stumble out the door. It was cold. It was dark. And we had no idea what the heck was going

JessMauerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09869058165770680858noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15447993.post-1142021350513992002006-03-10T21:27:00.000+02:002006-04-01T13:13:05.083+03:00

I'm not quite sure what I was expecting while volunteering for the army, but I have had the most insane two weeks of my life. The sleep has been lacking, the food has been too greasy, and the sleeping conditions are sub-par. But I am loving it! Interestingly enough, while my whole year is supposed to make me feel connected and a part of Israel, nothing has worked so well as the army. While living

JessMauerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09869058165770680858noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15447993.post-1140640482476026262006-02-22T22:28:00.000+02:002006-02-27T04:34:23.586+02:00

This will be my last entry of Track 2 with OTZMA. All of the Kiryat Malachi roommates have packed their bags and are awaiting new adventures. We have finished our last days and said our goodbyes to all the children and students that have been a part of our lives for the last three months.Lately, the sun has been out in full force and we have been spending a lot of time in a park near our house. I

JessMauerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09869058165770680858noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15447993.post-1140639005144326892006-02-22T21:50:00.000+02:002006-02-27T04:27:07.873+02:00

I was sure I’d have to go a whole year without hittin’ the slopes. There is actually one mountain in Israel, but really, skiing? In the Middle East? I didn’t even think it got that cold here (It does. It gets really really cold!) let alone that I would take a ski trip. But my arm was twisted when my friends suggested renting a car rather than figuring out all the transportation. We all piled in

JessMauerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09869058165770680858noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15447993.post-1139792105002998562006-02-13T02:53:00.000+02:002006-02-13T02:55:05.016+02:00

I was a late bloomer. I was, and although for some hard to believe, shy. And yes, sadly to admit there were many times of social awkwardness in my younger years. But I knew this way of life was not for me, and I slowly began to develop my identity of self. It started towards the end of high school. But really it wasn’t until college that I really felt it, I was finally – cool.Once I began to feel

JessMauerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09869058165770680858noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15447993.post-1139398219989607752006-02-08T13:19:00.000+02:002006-02-12T11:41:48.820+02:00

I moved out of Alaska for the first time in my life at age eighteen and found to my surprise, in the lower 48, it is possible to drive for 5 hours and be in a completely different state, as opposed to just being still in Alaska. Similarly I have recently discovered since moving out of America that one can hop on a fairly cheap flight and be in a totally different country!On this note I just spent

JessMauerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09869058165770680858noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15447993.post-1139389203976126902006-02-08T10:56:00.000+02:002006-02-08T11:00:03.986+02:00

Mindy Goldberg, Jess Mauer, Jeramie Bloom, Alissa Goldstein, Jen Matlin, Stephanie Hanna

JessMauerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09869058165770680858noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15447993.post-1138660751087177142006-01-31T00:35:00.000+02:002006-01-31T00:39:11.106+02:00

Lately big changes are at hand in the Middle East. In our ever-long-lasting clash with the neighbors, the latest to change is the leadership of the Palestinians. As a result of last week’s elections, the old guard of Fatah is no longer in power. In its place is Hamas, a party that has been a more grassroots, for-the-people type of party, noted for making new schools and feeding the poor. Unlike

JessMauerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09869058165770680858noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15447993.post-1136907446940318262006-01-10T17:35:00.000+02:002006-01-10T20:22:36.250+02:00

Surprisingly, voter turn out in Israel is very high, over 80%, which is a lot better than anyone can say for our great nation. This has a lot to do with the fact that Israelis know when they vote they are making news. The country is always changing and it is quite obvious to them that in such a small location, one vote makes a difference. In America we watch the news, in Israel they make the news

JessMauerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09869058165770680858noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15447993.post-1136907304522517992006-01-10T17:30:00.000+02:002006-01-22T14:14:30.196+02:00

A quick run down of the running parties and what their platforms are – On The Left:Balad – A pro Palestinian nationalist party. Would like to destroy Israel.United Arab List – A religious party consisting of Bedouins and Arabs. The UAL has 3 seats in the Knesset.Hadash – A communist party. This party is all Arab and has 3 seats.• Due to the recent raised voter threshold for a party to be in

JessMauerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09869058165770680858noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15447993.post-1136907078047977232006-01-10T17:29:00.000+02:002006-01-10T17:31:18.056+02:00

During the time of Greek control over the Israelites, Antiochus ruled the Jews as many of you know. But interestingly enough to note was the Hellenistic culture that had slowly seeped into the Jewish way of life. The Greeks brought sports, a new way of dress (hey who doesn’t like togas?), and other trendy cultural additions to the Israelites. This created a polarization with the religious Jews on

JessMauerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09869058165770680858noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15447993.post-1135517318485284802005-12-25T15:26:00.000+02:002005-12-25T18:50:04.456+02:00

I got word a few weeks ago, from a good friend of mine up north in Kiryat Shmona, that her federation was given her group a mini trip to hot springs close to her town. She invited me to tag along and so off I went!Now these hot springs are not your ordinary overdone eat-a-fancy-dinner and have-a-spa-day at your expensive-suite-hotel complete with fake palm trees resort (this kind of place does

JessMauerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09869058165770680858noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15447993.post-1134409410564639412005-12-12T19:41:00.000+02:002005-12-13T21:06:31.046+02:00

The six of us have been living in Kiryat Malachi for three weeks and are really getting into the volunteering and the community. Everyday we go to schools around town and either work in small groups with students outside of class or go around a classroom helping students individually while the teacher is explaining the lesson. I work in a high school four days a week and an elementary school two

JessMauerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09869058165770680858noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15447993.post-1133073048715229152005-11-27T08:27:00.000+02:002005-11-27T09:05:42.623+02:00

I'm going to use my profile section as a place where I can post about really good books and movies about Israel and Judaism. If any of you have any titles that you really like as well, send a comment or email and I will put them there as well.

JessMauerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09869058165770680858noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15447993.post-1132956057183431392005-11-25T23:50:00.000+02:002005-11-26T00:21:41.280+02:00

Thankfully I didn’t have to miss my favorite American holiday! About 15 people from OTZMA got together in Kiryat Gat, another partnership city like Kiryat Malachi, to eat turkey, stuffing, potatoes, and other yummy thanksgiving food. We gathered for the first time since splitting up for the second track. People came from all over the country; from way up north and from Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, and

JessMauerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09869058165770680858noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15447993.post-1132680154877516042005-11-22T19:21:00.000+02:002005-11-22T22:37:29.350+02:00

As we grow accustomed to our new surroundings, Kiryat Malachi is becoming more and more like home. In our apartment I have five roommates and so much space. With a living room and dining room, the ambiance is much more home-like than Be’er Sheva was. It looks like I’ll be volunteering with high school and elementary school students in the morning and with an Ethiopian after school programs after

JessMauerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09869058165770680858noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15447993.post-1131901639180324732005-11-13T19:02:00.000+02:002005-11-18T22:20:33.083+02:00

This week marks the 10-year anniversary of the assassination of one of Israel’s greatest prime ministers – Yitzhak Rabin. The public memorial was held in Rabin Square in Tel Aviv last night and so some fellow OTZMAnikim and I traveled there for the show. We were all very exited because Bill Clinton was going to speak there as well, and not only would he be speaking English, but … sigh, I miss him

JessMauerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09869058165770680858noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15447993.post-1131837717123309892005-11-13T01:16:00.000+02:002005-11-14T00:28:56.603+02:00

In the next week, we will be moving to new cities. OTZMA is broken into 3 different tracks, Be’er Sheva was the first, with a group of 30 that focused on getting us to learn Hebrew, integrated with the community and living in Israel. For the second track we are split into smaller groups and move to remote towns in the periphery of Israel to focus more on volunteering. The periphery pretty much

JessMauerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09869058165770680858noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15447993.post-1130594131462366702005-10-29T15:54:00.000+02:002005-10-31T09:55:50.626+02:00

Every Thursday, OTZMA takes everyone on the program to an Education Day somewhere in the country. Most of these are in Jerusalem or Tel Aviv and have covered a range of issues such as Israeli politics, history, and religious information. But this week we went south to learn about social justice. Part of this day took us to a Bedouin Village. Now this is not the camel riding, tea drinking locale

JessMauerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09869058165770680858noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15447993.post-1130254059148535892005-10-25T17:26:00.000+02:002005-11-13T23:15:15.826+02:00

I’ve spent the last week camping out at a festival called Beresheet along the Sea of Galilee. It was a three-day music festival for Sukkot, which is a huge holiday here. We get off 10 days from the program and Beresheet was the first destination. Check out the link to it, but basically it was the Israeli Oregon Country Fair, if you could camp out in it without being a vender and if only 15 year

JessMauerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09869058165770680858noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15447993.post-1129480128351569842005-10-16T18:27:00.000+02:002005-11-13T22:54:28.496+02:00

I experienced an amazing two days in Jerusalem for Yom Kippur. During the day on Wednesday, our group got to listen to different speakers that were very inspiring. The first was an old rabbi in his 80s. He spoke to us about his life journey and about how he was still making choices, not knowing if he was picking the right path/ doing the right things, but taking chances none-the-less, all of

JessMauerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09869058165770680858noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15447993.post-1128716338728949242005-10-07T23:17:00.000+03:002005-11-13T22:20:35.383+02:00

Rosh Hashana in Israel is really an amazing ordeal. Rather than the holiday season being late December, the country is alive with it right now. Every where I have been in the last week I have gotten happy new year wishes and this is a welcomed change from a “Merry Christmas” when I go to the grocery store.I remember in elementary school, the week before Christmas we went into the auditorium every

JessMauerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09869058165770680858noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15447993.post-1127658035911791722005-09-25T17:09:00.000+03:002005-09-25T18:14:24.910+03:00

I just got home from a sweet weekend in Jerusalem. Thursday was a good friend of mine’s birthday, so a few of us went out to dinner. From there we hit up some hookah bars and went to a fun dance club. One thing I love about this country is how standard it is that pretty much every bar you go to comes with a free/ really cheap hookah right on your table.Friday we walked around all day looking at

JessMauerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09869058165770680858noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15447993.post-1127246436721039202005-09-20T22:57:00.000+03:002005-11-13T15:35:11.610+02:00

We have been volunteering in the schools for the first time. Five of us went to a local high school to run an after school program that is going to be once a week for a group of students called the Ahtedeem. This means futures if you’re curious, and are the students in the top 20% of their class.In Be’er Sheva and other locations around the periphery of Israel, many of the people are very poor

JessMauerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09869058165770680858noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15447993.post-1127077278631539212005-09-18T00:00:00.000+03:002005-09-27T13:24:54.846+03:00

So now, a bit about the weekend. I promise I’ll get to the title in a second.I arrived at my new foster parents' home on Friday in the morning. There are three kids in the family, the oldest is a girl named Yarden that is 18, the middle child is a boy named Tomer who is 13, and the youngest is a 7 year old girl named Sivon.When I got home only their dad and Yarden were home. I spoke with them for

JessMauerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09869058165770680858noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15447993.post-1127073405422183972005-09-16T22:54:00.000+03:002005-09-27T13:21:07.366+03:00

This weekend everyone in the OTZMA group went to his or her adoptive families this weekend. OTZMA has provided everyone in the program with a host family for the year. So we can have the experience of a real Israeli family lifestyle and a home cooked meal every now and then. The constant meals consisting of hummus and pita are growing a bit old.Anyways, this meant that all of us were to spend the

JessMauerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09869058165770680858noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15447993.post-1126222577456645322005-09-09T02:23:00.000+03:002005-11-13T19:21:03.646+02:00

Another week has come and gone, though this one has been a bit more uneventful. I have gotten settled into life at the Mirkaz. I have a normal routine, just like I would have in Oregon, although with add bonuses. Every day a fruit truck drives up and sells fresh fruit to us right outside our building. This is amazing. What is a little weird is that they also have a chicken truck. Which also

JessMauerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09869058165770680858noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15447993.post-1126014746459848402005-09-02T16:49:00.000+03:002005-11-13T15:33:21.070+02:00

Friday afternoon two of my friends and I went to explore the Old City of Jerusalem. We explored around, but kept finding ourselves being totally harassed by the shop owners. You walked down through the narrow street crammed with little shops and tons of different things to buy all in your face. Very chaotic. The owners of the shop try anything they can to get you to get in the store. So the first

JessMauerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09869058165770680858noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15447993.post-1125408974075209292005-08-30T16:30:00.000+03:002005-11-15T16:32:56.360+02:00

No more living out of suitcases for this girl! I am now happily residing in my first Israeli apartment. Appropriately enough, everyone in our group has apartments in the Mirkaz Klita Ye'elim. This building is where anyone who wishes to make Aliyah, to become an Israeli citizen, gets free subsidized housing and many other social service programs to help their transition. These new citizens take

JessMauerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09869058165770680858noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15447993.post-1125408572926304742005-08-30T15:55:00.000+03:002005-11-13T15:27:55.170+02:00

OTZMA is doing an excellent job of making all of us feel safe, in fact, so much so that it is nearly impossible to believe all of the conflict and trauma we are hearing about is happening right next door. I do not have fear walking around and do not think about possible terrorist attacks, unless in an abstract sort of manner during discussions.So you can imagine my shock and distress when our

JessMauerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09869058165770680858noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15447993.post-1125064123932853952005-08-26T16:39:00.000+03:002005-11-15T16:03:25.593+02:00

The disconnect I was feeling from the last post has long past. The last two days have been spent on long desert hikes, sleeping in Bedouin tents, riding camels, and smearing myself with Dead Sea mud. It has been incredible!Two days ago the whole group left in a bus south of Jerusalem, about 2 hours until we reach the Bedouin tents we were spending the night at. First off were the camels. Jeramie

JessMauerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09869058165770680858noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15447993.post-1124828556412235712005-08-23T22:50:00.000+03:002005-09-06T17:16:50.156+03:00

I'm sitting in an internet cafe in Jerusalem, but in my head I am still not completely in Israel. It seems odd that it has not hit me yet, and I wonder when it will. It didn't seem like I was going to be in Israel last week while I was packing and saying my goodbyes, just seemed like a small vacation. It didn't seem like I was going to Israel when Lauel left me at the airport. The reality of my

JessMauerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09869058165770680858noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15447993.post-1124150019599232942005-08-16T02:45:00.000+03:002005-08-16T02:53:39.600+03:00

Welcome Everyone!The week is nearing to an end and my bags are (sort of) packed. I will soon be departing for the great land of Israel and this blog will be your direct link to me half way around the world. If you would like, bookmark the link labeled bookmark me! and you will get a notification by it when I have posted a new entry. Please leave comments or email me with your thoughts, I would

JessMauerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09869058165770680858noreply@blogger.com2