I have officially been living in Israel for a month now, and the PTK orientation period is coming to a close as we enter our extended two-week Yom Kippur/Sukkot vacation. These first five weeks have truly been a discovery period- acclimating to life abroad and learning to take care of myself... do I know where to go if I need medicine? A cup of coffee? Town Hall? Bus stops? My school? the list goes on. More importantly, do I know how much time it takes to get to these places and can I budget my time accordingly? I would like to think yes.
But, to put it to the test, our Madricha organized The Amazing Race: Petach Tikva. Dividing our cohort into three teams, we had two hours to complete a list of tasks scattered throughout the city, some places more obscure than others. As you can see from the pictures below, I was on Team Red, woo! Simple tasks included running to a local coffee shop to get a picture with the waiters, finding five random strangers on the street and starting a break-out hora (traditional Jewish dance), finding a Yemenite restaurant, and counting the number of falafel shops on our main road. However, we were also tasked with running to the shuk and taking over a vegetable stand to help sell produce (a video I wish Weebly would let me post), building a pyramid with random strangers, and interviewing 10 locals for "fun facts" about Petach Tikva (also putting our Hebrew to the test). Fun, silly, and surprisingly difficult, the activity really made me feel confident in my ability to navigate the city. The results showed when the Red Team won 1st place :)
But, to put it to the test, our Madricha organized The Amazing Race: Petach Tikva. Dividing our cohort into three teams, we had two hours to complete a list of tasks scattered throughout the city, some places more obscure than others. As you can see from the pictures below, I was on Team Red, woo! Simple tasks included running to a local coffee shop to get a picture with the waiters, finding five random strangers on the street and starting a break-out hora (traditional Jewish dance), finding a Yemenite restaurant, and counting the number of falafel shops on our main road. However, we were also tasked with running to the shuk and taking over a vegetable stand to help sell produce (a video I wish Weebly would let me post), building a pyramid with random strangers, and interviewing 10 locals for "fun facts" about Petach Tikva (also putting our Hebrew to the test). Fun, silly, and surprisingly difficult, the activity really made me feel confident in my ability to navigate the city. The results showed when the Red Team won 1st place :)
Metaphorically and literally speaking, the fun and games will be over. After Yom Kippur and Sukkot, I will be working during the week, going to Ulpan after school, and will be spending time on lesson planning, and organizing a community service project. I spoke with a representative from Petach Tikva's Environmental Department, and I am scheduled for a meeting next week to meet with one of the directors to hopefully find a project I can work on with the municipality for my days off on Tuesday. Sounds like the whole year will be a never ending sequence of the Amazing Race ;)