My name is Shira Freedman and I made Aliyah last year from Maryland. I had a LOT of problems. The most obvious problem was the language. I was told that I would learn Hebrew by Channukah, which wasn't true at all. This is my second year and I still have a hard time expressing myself in Hebrew. Another big problem was making new friends. I missed my friends a lot and although people were nice to me I didn't have very many close friends. I also found just being new is very hard. I had been in my last school for eight years and I knew all the teachers and had been friends with my friends for a really long time. Although I still don't feel like I belong in Israel I know that at some point I will. If you have any questions or you just want to talk then you can write to me at Shira
During fifth grade my parents went on vacation to Israel. When they came back, they said it was a nice place to visit, but never to live. The next year, my parents went to Israel for a week. When they returned, they said that we might move to Israel. I was in shock. At the end of the summer, August 27th, we boarded El AL flight 2303 to Israel. We arrived in Israel at nine in the morning feeling jet lagged. The next day I started seventh grade. I really hated it. There were 40 kids in the class and the school was filthy. My teacher hated me because I was American. She didn't even try helping me. To top it all off, I did not even understand a word of Hebrew and it was so hot that I got dehydrated the first day.For the class trip, we went to the Golan, Banias and Tel Dan. It was a lot of fun. Towards the end of the year I pretty much knew Hebrew. I hated it at the beginning, but I slowly got used to it.
In eighth grade, it slowly got better, but I still liked America better. In the summer, my cousin came from Queens, NY and we went touring all over Israel. I had a lot of fun.
Now in tenth grade, I love Israel and I would not move back to America for anything. -C.E.
Hi! My name is Jill Mandel. Seven years ago I made Aliyah- a month before I turned 11. I remember that I was so sad on my 11th b-day, because I wasn't with any of my REAL friends or cousins. But since then my klitah here has been pretty smooth, and I caught on to the Hebrew fast- thank g-d. However, all of my cousins and grandparents live in the States. I really miss them, and tend to get jealous of friends who talk about going to visit their cousins who live close by. Another thing that really disturbs me, is that in the States my grades in school were really good(I don't mean to brag). It took me a few years here just to start to get 60's on tests. That is REALLY frustrating!!! All in all though, I decided that Israel is definately the only place I could ever live. This is the Jewish state,If you have any comments, please write back!
announcements A workshop for teenage girls, Teen Esteem, will be held on Tuesday, December 30th led by Miriam Adahan, Ellen Bassel, Tirtza Singer and Sara Tarshish. It is for teens between the ages of 12 and 18. The day will start with an Exercise class led by Ellen Bassel. The girls will learn easy fitness routines that they then can continue to do by themselves. Tirtza Singer will teach stress management and coping exercises. This will be followed by a nutritional vegetarian cooking class. After class the girls will lunch on the meal they prepared. Then Sara Tarshish, an herbalist, will teach beauty tips. Finally, psychologist and author Miriam Adahan will speak on "How to Make Peace with your Parents." The day of activities will cost NIS 100 incuding lunch. For more information or to register call Tirtza Singer at 586-5201 or Ellen Bassel at 586-7952. ---------
Does anyone know... Where is the best place to buy falafel in Jerusalem?
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