"I gave her my heart; she gave me a pen."

I haven’t posted in a while because, honestly, nothing too terribly exciting had been going on. Living in Tel Aviv-post program means living like everyone else…working, hanging with friends, and adjusting a new phase. I’m officially finished with my internship at Omanoot, volunteer work, and babysitting. For the last couple weeks of freedom here, I’m just working at Oranim as a Program Advisor, and trying to get everything in order for my upcoming vacation to Turkey & Greece then weeklong adventure in Tel Aviv with my family coming.

I am enjoying my time at Oranim much more than I expected. What started as a means to make some pocket change has brought me back to something I love: connecting with people. I used to love connecting with new guests at Mama D’s, my “peeps” as I nicknamed them with Keith, our owner. I once was an ambassador for pink sauce and homemade meatballs and now, without trying, I have become an ambassador for Israel. By talking to other young adults wanting to make a difference and find themselves, and simply by participating in this program, I’m able to reach an audience. I love speaking to potential participants, and I am so excited when they are just as passionate as I am. Who would have thought this Valley Girl might inspire others to journey to a controversial country?

Not only am I reaching an audience in North America, but now I am becoming “International Linds,” as Momo, President of Oranim has nicknamed me. A few weeks ago, Ofir asked me if I’d like to head to Ben Gurion International Airport to pose in a photo shoot for MASA, the organization that provided my grant to join my program. MASA was looking for a few recent alumni about to return to their homes to star in a newspaper campaign they’re running in Israel. You see MASA, like Taglit Birthright Israel, is partly funded by government taxes. Israelis are paying for me to come to Israel for volunteer opportunities, but they have no idea! So many times I would have to explain my program by mentioning Taglit, because it’s the only organization they recognize. Now, MASA is bringing the programs to everyone’s attention by spending about $800,000 in a promotional campaign…and yours truly is part of it!

As usual, this would not be a Merf post if the ordeal wasn’t some sort of ballagan! Let’s back up to the day I went to the photo shoot… I was told to take the train to the airport to meet the group there. I have never taken the train on my own here, so I was a little nervous. The cashier told me to go to Platform 3 and wait five minutes for the train. (By the way, my English is slipping so much that I just had to google “train station” to remember the word “platform.”) Five minutes pass and I don’t see the train, so naturally I start to worry and ask around but no one knows if the train goes to the airport. Just as I start to really second guess what I heard, ENGLISH comes blasting over the intercom: “The train to Ben Gurion Airport will arrive in 2 minutes.” Thank you! Smart Israelis know every tourist needs some English to get around!

By the time I got to the baggage claim area and met our whole group (4 people) the photo shoot was rather…interesting. The photographer literally tapped a religious family waiting to check-in on the shoulder and asked if we could borrow their luggage. Only in Israel. The funniest part was that their bags also had a wedding dress on top, so the ad in the newspaper MIGHT look like I’m marrying the Russian boy from Career Israel I was positioned next to! After a couple minutes, we switched locations to the departing flights sign, and pretended to wave goodbye to Israel. The whole thing was about 10 minutes, and then the photographer was out of there. So the Russian boy, an English girl on a Social Justice program, and an Italian boy from Kibbutz Ulpan went back to our homes. Of course this is after we were thanked by MASA through the gift of a…pen. Thus, the “I gave her my heart; she gave me a pen” reference from the movie, Say Anything, which my sister and I are HUGE fans of! John Cusack in all his glory!

I STILL have no idea when this picture will appear in the newspaper, but now it seems I will have a short interview as well. The newspaper, Yidiot Achronot, which is described as Israel’s #1 paper, will feature a few questions about me which I answered yesterday. Hopefully it will translate correctly into Hebrew, as Israelis still cannot understand the idea of an “internship.” I was asked about what I was doing in the states BEFORE the program and what I will do AFTER…which is a question that makes me feel pretty nauseated. At this point, I just hope the article comes out before I leave so I can take a copy (or ten) home with me! Being mentioned is exciting enough!

Exactly one more month until I return to California, and I can’t WAIT to see my family/friends/dog, eat Mexican food, shop at Target, and enjoy the comforts of home!

Hebrew phrases for today's post:

Chadashot: news

Eeton: newspaper

Rakevet: train

Natanti la lev sheli; Hee natanah li et: I gave her my heart; she gave me a pen

Yeshli chodesh ahad b'yisrael: I have one month in Israel

EDIT: Literally, as I was writing this entry, my newspaper interview was sitting on the stands ALL over Israel! I'm famous!!! I know you can't read it, but hey, it's still cool!