Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!!!
I know it was a week ago but I was waiting for photos that I can't get. :/

I didn't get off unfortunately BUT I did spend the morning in Jerusalem at an education base with my friend Tzvi. (Tzvi's Blog. He's a fellow lone soldier.) We had to go to a mandatory meeting for a course called Course Nativ(pronounced Na-teev)קורס נתיב.
The course is for soldiers that are new to the country and have been in Israel for less then 10 years. It is also the first step to the conversion process for the soldiers that aren't jewish and want to become jewish. It isn't a mandatory course but from what I hear it's a lot of fun.
There is a closed course that is about 7 weeks and an opened course that is about 3 months.
Each week there are one or two trips to different places in the country. Every day there are lessons on Israel.
The meeting finished surprisingly early. We thought it was going to be a few hours. It turned out that it was 15 minutes. Im honestly surprised that I even knew what was being said they were speaking so fast. Instead of the meeting being 830-1130 like we thought it was in and out. They were doing the meetings in waves. It was great. Tzvi and I decided that we didn't want to go back with a whole group of people and took a separate bus to Ben Yehuda. We walked around Ben Yehuda for a little before finally getting some breakfast and then took the new train system to the bus station where we went back to Tel Aviv.

Later on in the evening we met back up at a Thanksgiving Dinner for American Lone Soldiers held by The Michael Levine Lone Soldier Center. The Lone Soldier Center holds a Thanksgiving Dinner  every year for American Lone soldiers. Pictures can be found in the "Thanksgiving Dinner" link. I was surprised as to how many Lone Soldiers that weren't American that came. I honestly was kind of disheartened that they were using it as an excuse to get off base.
On a plus side it was GREAT to see all the Americans and meet some new people.
They had so much food and drinks and it was just a great time. They also had a football game(Greenbay Packers vs Lions?) on the big screen. It was being broadcasted live. It was so much fun. It was a little slice of home.

American holidays aren't really celebrated in Israel. People know it's a holiday but they won't really do anything about it. Halloween is celebrated by mostly the Club Scene but it isn't like home. Just like America doesn't celebrate other countries holidays; Other countries don't celebrate ours. The only celebration going on is the groups of American's that get together and celebrate our holidays. We keep our family traditions alive and make new ones. It is a lot of fun and makes things easier. It's great to feel that small piece of home.
I really have been feeling the need to go home and spend the holidays with my family but I can't. I was home in the summer to try and see my sick Aunt one last time. I only get one month a year to be home. I can either use it to work or to go home. I've been using my one month to go home. As of January 1st, 2012 I will be allowed to come back home. I'm going to save this part for another blog update. :)
I have some things I need to do. Although I really would love to come home. There is nothing like December in New York. It is one of the things I miss the most about home. The holiday spirit, colors, and cheer. It really pains me to hear and read all the religious discrimination going on during this time of year. I really hope that they can be put a side. It doesn't matter what religion you are, just enjoy the smells of cinnamon and freshly baked chocolate chip cookies and all the beautiful colors and warm drinks. You never know when you won't be able to experience it again.


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A Small Mini Blog Post

Hey so this isn't really an update. More just like a random blog post of a few sentences. I decided I'd blabber just to make it seem slightly longer and more important then it actually is. Its actually a request. I made a Facebook page for the blog. Due to the amount of emails, messages, and friend requests I decided to make a page for the blog. In the two days it has been up it got 50 followers. Granted those followers are from my Friend Invites. I would like to send the link for those of you on Facebook and to share it with you guys. Hopefully this will help get the blog to reach more people. I would be absolutely thrilled if you guys could take the time to "Like" the page and even maybe "Share" it on Facebook as well. I also have a twitter for my blog as well. I'm not sure if you guys knew this.
My blog's Facebook page and My blog on Twitter. My twitter doesn't really get much use except for small little updates about a singer I love called Porcelain Black. She is very awesome and so unique. Her music I consider to be perfect for me because it is rock n roll and pop mixed together. Something I love and have been looking for in artists for a while now. It was either play rock songs or play pop songs. Now I can do both at once and I love it. She's perfect.
An update on Israel- It is definitely not summer in Israel anymore. Once again it has become "winter". It has been cold, windy, and rainy. I am kinda loving it but at the same time I despise the cold. I need more winter clothes here. There might not be snow in central Israel but there is all the way up north at Mount Hermon where they have a ski slope. I am kind of hoping to go there this winter. I miss snow. Actually I miss everything about the fall/winter months. I never thought I would but I definitely do. I miss the colors and holidays of fall and the smells and lights of winter. I really miss Halloween. It sucked that I had to be on base for it and didn't get to dress up for it. I couldn't go out because of money. I didn't even have money to buy food. It sucks. The Israeli Army really doesn't pay enough for Lone Soldiers with a yomiot schedule. Yomiot is where you go to base every day. You don't sleep on base, you sleep at home in your own bed. In order to survive you have to pretty much be a hermit. You can't go out with your friends, you can't buy those fun foods like cookies or Bamba or a hamburger from the hamburger shop even though they only cost 20 shekels. Every shekel counts and goes towards rent, bills, and food. You can't live on a kibbutz because as a Lone Soldier you aren't allowed a car. If you have  a car you don't need help from the army. You pretty much can't do anything even if it means buying new clothes because your old ones are worn out. It really sucks and it's really difficult. Due to a new rule on base I can't even work. This sucks. Now I have to figure out how to get off base to go to work. I know my commander will help me. She's awesome. She also hates this new rule the Rasar put in effect for all soldiers. It's highly unfair and has a lot of soldiers upset. We have to be on base way earlier then we need to be and we can't leave even for work or a problem at home. Dude needs to lighten up. We are the only building on the entire base of Tel Hashomer that does this. Tel Hashomer is gigantic! You need a car just to get to the middle of the base. To get from one side of the other by foot could take about a half hour to an hour. So yeah only building out of a small city kind of sucks.
So right now what Im trying to do is figure out how to survive. The Lone Soldier Hostel is out of the question because I don't feel safe there. So I'd rather struggle and get in trouble for going to work then deal with this butt heads crap.

With my Facebook page I want to try and make a picture specifically for it, if you have any ideas let me know. :)
http://www.facebook.com/Fromnytoisrael- Facebook page. So please like and share my page. I would greatly appreciate it. Look through the photos and choose one for the page's main photo. :)

Thanks guys! Enjoy the page!