It's been a while and a lot has happened. I'll do my best to update you on most of it.
The election was a balagan. The Israelis voted and the two main parties, Likud and Kadima, were neck and neck with Kadima (headed by Tzipi Livni) gaining 28 seats and barely squeaking past Likud's (headed by Benjamin Netanyahu) 27 seats. One might assume that the Prime Minister will be the chair of the party who gains the most seats. Nope, that's just too logical for this country. The Prime Minister will be the leader of a party who not only gains a majority number of seats but also is able to form a coalition amongst other parties in the government. This election showed a significant move towards the right, with the majority of the seat-gaining parties being from the right. This reality made it more likely that Netanyahu would be able to form a coalition, despite winning one less seat. But who knows? So we waited, and waited, and waited. Finally, nearly 2 weeks after the election, Netanyahu was given the position of Prime Minister and tasked with forming a coalition. His first move: meet with Livni in an attempt to form a “unity government.” Now, what is the point of the election if in the end there will be a unity government? Good question and I don’t have a good answer. It’s looking like Livni won’t accept the offer, as she believes that she can’t be true to her principles and represent Kadima honestly if she is in a unity gov’t—too much compromising. I can see where she’s coming from but to be completely honest, I am now so confused by politics/government here that I’m not sure what I think is best anymore. As Bubba says, “You just have to change the face.” We will see…
After months and months of waiting, we found out last week that Mom & Dani won’t be coming to Israel. It came as a shock and disappointment to all of us. It’s a long story but basically communication broke down between the Israel and US offices and there was a lot of confusion and dissention about finances. Once a workable budget was proposed, it was too late and the Israel office said there was no point in bringing Mom over just to have their former employees return from maternity leave in a month or so. So that was that. Mom has been planning, organizing and contacting since October and in a phone call – the dream was over. It’s beyond disappointing and I am disgusted at Mom’s company for the way they handled the whole process – but what can you do? Everything happens for a reason, and for whatever reason this opportunity was not meant to work out right now. It’s time to take the lessons learned and move forward.
In happier news I got the Street Outreach Volunteer position for Crossroads! I’m just waiting to start training this/next week. I also have an interview tomorrow at Hadassah Hospital to see about volunteering there. Gotta stay busy!
Lauren came to Jerusalem this past weekend and we had a great Shabbat together. On Friday we went to the home of Rivky & Shmuel – Lauren knows Rivky from a class she takes in Tel Aviv. They are young (my age) with a little baby boy and their home is just so full of love. We had an amazingly delicious meal with 4 other girls, some of whom Lauren goes to school with in Tel Aviv. The real adventure of the night was the trip there and back. Since busses don’t run on Shabbat and we didn’t want to pay for a cab, we decided to walk. The weather wasn’t great but we walked the 4+ miles to Rivky’s house which was in this tiny neighborhood that we happened to find miraculously (seriously we must have had some help from up there!). Rivky and her husband happened to be walking around outside looking for us at the exact moment we arrived (it was dark and there was no WAY we would’ve found the apartment otherwise). We ate, sang, schmoozed and returned to the complete opposite side of the city where I live. It pretty much down-poured on the way home but Lauren and I toughened it out the whole 1hr and 20 min walk (thank you, Boston blood). On Saturday we went to my friend Alana’s for another beautiful and delicious meal. We ate with great company and sat around for 7 hours talking and relaxing. I walked Lauren to the sheirut (van-like bus that runs inter and intra-city) and she was on her way. I got back home, soaked but renewed. It was just the weekend I needed after a tough week. I’m so blessed to have my sister here, thanks Lau!
It’s going to be a busy week and I have a lot to think about. I’m meeting with the army on Wednesday to see if I’ll volunteer to enlist. I’ll save the pro/con list for another time but it is definitely one of the hardest decisions I’ve made in a while. Before you go freaking out, the army here is VERY different from the US since everyone has to serve. Many people who serve in the army here have proper jobs, besides the typical soldiers that you would generally assume. More on this later.
Jenn & Ryan’s wedding is exactly 3 months from today! YAY!
Shavua tov l’kulam
(Have a good week, everyone!)
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment