End of First Work Week

Shabbat Shalom Lekulam.

I am currently writing you from a city called Ashdod. It is (as far as I know) the 5th largest city in Israel (about 250,000 population) and is pretty new in relation to some of the other places around the country. The reason why I am here is because I have some relatives here that I've been meaning to visit - so I finally got my act together and made it over here. Needless to say - I am CONSTANTLY getting fed (no complaints) and relaxing. Though, I will probably have to run a minimum of 4 hours just to even out all the eating. By the way - Ashdod is ROOSKI CENTRAL! I LITERALLY haven't heard any Hebrew here yet ;-)

Okay, recap of the week. I guess you could say that I have survived my first half-week of work. I'm still not *actually* working, as I do nobody has given me any set tasks - but not to worry. It's only been 3 days, and frankly, I still don't know what the hell is going on around me. I am in the midst of reading this huge report on the ministry of tourism/tourism in IL. It's actually really interesting (despite weighing 10 pounds). The reason why I am reading it is because it goes through all of the problems, strenghts, and recommendations for the tourism industry and has been the guidebook for current policy. Interesting stuff. Actually - one of the projects that I have to do for IGF (not for work) is creating a power-point presentation of 15 minutes talking about the function of my ministry, its goals, how it operates, who it works with, my department - ETC, ETC! (just for you dad). So this report actually goes through a lot of the information which I need. I am going to try and somehow post this presentation on here once i write it (due Nov 26th).

So, in terms of work, there is not a whole lot going on, but I managed to keep myself somewhat occupied. For example, Noga wants to create a packet for all of the intl tourism reps, surveying the current marketing material. In otherwords, assess the effectivity of all of the marketing products (posters, pamphles, movies, ect) to see what needs work, what needs to be thrown out, and what needs to be replenished. She mentioned to me that she would like to have a cover letter, in English, to go with this survey. Though she didn't ask me *directly*, I wrote up a draft and sent it over to her.....I think she liked it ;-) It doesn't sound like much, and in a certain sense it ISN'T much, but I've never written anything like that before so already I am learning something new. I guess the reason why I am not getting upset at the situation is because I know that I *will* be doing cool things soon enough and have enough opportunity to come up with my own projects. It's just a matter of time. Overall, I am happy and looking forward to continuing learning.

Aside from that - not much. Went major grocery shopping with Alex (finally), had my first 'normal' dinner at the apartment, and opened up my first bottle of wine as well. Oh man, it was so nice to just sit, have a glass of wine, and feel like a regular person. I have to say, the one thing I am being impatient about is settling in. Right now, things are still relatively foreign, scary, and incomprehensible. It's not that I'm uncomfortable - I just feel like I'm stuck in limbo between being a tourist and civilian. It's pretty bizarre actually. My life just doesn't feel normal yet, I'm not sure how to explain it. I'm not completely confident in getting around (despite managing just fine) and I'm not meeting as many people as I would like to. A lot of it also has to do with the language barrier. Yes, there are plenty of people here who speak English (and russian), but I also don't want to get stuck in an 'anglo' bubble. What I really want, actually, is to find a place where I can take some classes. Maybe cooking, torah study, i dunno. But some kind of activity where I can meet people, interact with Israelis and stay busy. mmmmm - we'll see. I need to do some research.

sababa - ani tsrikha lishon akhshav (i need to sleep now). hope everyone is doing well.

** MOM - HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! I LOVE YOU AND WISH I COULD BE WITH YOU. SENDING YOU LOTS AND LOTS OF LOVE FROM THE HOLY LAND THOUGH!!! **

laila tov
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