Sikkum of Arad

And with a blink of an eye, Arad is over... I have already been on year course for over 3 months!!! How crazy is that? In honor of the end of my first trimester, this is a blogpost to just kind of summarize my time in Arad.
I am definitely really happy that I started out here. Because this is my first time away from home, I really feel that Arad helped me adjust. I say this because Arad is a small town, absolutely nothing like Tel Aviv..... Because it is so small I have focused on adapting to daily life on year course and now that I am moving on to a bigger city, I feel more ready.
I had the most incredible opportunity teaching English for the kids of Arad and now that I am living in Jerusalem I will be a full time student. So much is about to change! Although I am so thankful for my experiences in Arad I am beyond excited for what's about to come.
Aside from partying, I had many incredible experiences that were all in the negev. Living in Arad has really helped me appreciate the Southern part of Israel (a place that I had never spent much time in previously). Through going to a indie music festival for three days to spending a weekend vacationing in Eilat, this trimester has really been filled with crazy stories. BUT there is always room for more!!! My number one goal for my time in Jerusalem is to really travel Israel! And most importantly to travel Jeursalem! It's harder to travel from Arad to anywhere but in the negev but now I can go to the North and  central Israel easily11 My friend Aviva and I have already planned a trip to Haifa and Akko! Should be super fun :)
O JERUSALEM GET READY FOR SECTION 3!!!! :)))))))))

Happy Hannukah!!!

חג חנוכה שמח!
My roommates and I lit the candles together for the first night and Arad is filled with lights everywhere. There are huge menorahs lit in the town center! Being in Israel for Hannukah is going to be such a memorable experience!!!

Last night was our last free night in Arad. Today is a day dedicated to packing and cleaning.... Not fun. Tonight our whole section is getting together to lit the candles and tomorrow we are off to the dead sea for our camping trip!!!!! I cannot wait!!!
Definitely going to miss arad thoughhhh.

Siyur to an IDF Base and The Air-force Museum!

This past Thursday we took a trip to visit a real IDF base and the Air Force Museum as our last siyur during our time in Arad. We went to go visit a base that serves for basic training so all of the soldiers had just arrived about two weeks prior. Some of the commanders on the base were American so they spoke to us about their time in the army and talked about making Aliyah and how they got to be where they are standing right now. I was very interested when the girls spoke because they talked about the different jobs that women in the army do (not EVERY job in the army means you go and fight). For example there was a girl who worked as a spokesperson for the "Nahal" brigade. She works with the press and with social networks to get the correct information to the public. So cool!

Than we went to this room with a huge screen and shot M-4 that had a laser inside. Definitely not as cool as shooting a real gun (my friends who did marva learned to shoot a real M-16), but still fun!

After that, we went to go look around and see where the soldiers lived (in tents). I felt so weird walking around with my sunglasses and my camera while these guys are working their butts off in basic training. I could hear them talking about us in Hebrew and saying how we're probably on Birthright (biggest insult). Safe to say it was super uncomfortable but still cool to see a real base.

Next stop was the IDF's Air Force Museum!!!
Very cool to visit this place especially since the Air Force is very important in my family. My dad was a commander and my mom was a photographer in the Air Force!

Plane with the "remove before flight" tags

seat in a plane that ejects in case of danger

plane that has struck down 13 targets

Our final week in Arad!

I cannot even believe that it is already the final week of our first trimester in Arad. It seems like only yesterday that I was on that direct flight and meeting my section 3 family for the first time. Funny to see how things have changed since then...
My final week in Arad has been filled with so many goodbyes. Although Arad isn't the most interesting place in Israel, it has been my home these past three months and I have really enjoyed my time here. This week was my last at volunteering. Because I work at the elementary school and the middle school I had two last days. My last day at the middle school was so nice and fun! The teacher and I have a great relationship so he wrote me a poem! This is what it said:
Dear Edden,
Volunteers come
And volunteers go
One like you
I've yet to know

The kids adore you
You're full of pep
Never a dull moment
You're always in step

Malibu to Arad
A long way to go
You've done Young Judaea proud
And have just so much to show

We will miss you dearly
The zion, het and tet kids will cry
I will miss you the most
It is very difficult to say goodbye

Please stay in touch
I will always be here for you
I hope the feeling is mutual
And you feel like this too

IS THAT NOT THE CUTEST THING IN THE WHOLE WORLD?! I am so happy I got to work with this man we have become so.close and I am really going to miss him and all of my kids once I get to Jerusalem! My last day was filled with goodbyes and "don't go" pleads from my kids. My heart melted when my ninth grade boys wrote "Edden we will miss you" all by themselves through a game of hangman... TOO CUTE

My eighth graders:

Word Searches

Noa and Yael the scouts :)

9th graders!

7th graders! (my favorite class)

Tomer (He won't listen to anyone but me!)

Roee and yael :)

Later that day we had "sikkum" of Arad as a whole. It is so surreal that this trimester is over....
The next day was my last day at the elementary school and it was basically the same story. I was very sad to part from these adorable little kids. I mean it hasn't just been a few weeks, I've been here for three whole months! That's a really long time and I have really connected with these kids.. I am really going to miss this place and my volunteering.

3rd graders!

5th graders!

Malka!

Today (wednesday) was a day devoted to cleaning! My apartment organized everything and we cleaned the whole apartment! I've even packed a whole suitcase already (space bags to the rescue). All of the Aradians went to Sde Boker to cheer on our friends in Marva for their closing ceremony. I'm so proud of them!!! It was so beautiful I need to go back to that place asap! Lastly was a celebratory dinner with my roomies for the end of Arad at our favorite bar "Muza"! We even have enough money left over in the stipend to pay for our wine! Cheers to a great week and hopefully an even better weekend! :)

Thanksgiving weekend at Eilat!

After my section had a siyur at Kibbutz Quetura, we went to visit Eilat. A bunch of us had decided to take advantage of this opportunity and spend the weekend there!!! I was super excited because this was my first time ever visiting Eilat even though I have been to Israel a million times. We got dropped off and then my friend and I broke off from the group to find our hostel. It literally took us an hour and it sucked because we were carrying our luggage and my shoulder bag is SO heavy. When we finally got there, we checked in and were pleasantly surprised with how cute the place was considering how cheap it was for two nights.
Some pics of the hostel (the hostel has a few cabins and they are outside and the whole place is decorated with the owner's artwork):

After we were settled in the hostel and we showered and got ready for our first night in Eilat, our friends Sarah and Emma from Marva finally arrived to Eilat so then we all went out together to visit our friends that were staying in a different hostel. We were celebrating my friend Rory's birthday by having a little pre party before and then going out. Too bad almost all the clubs in Arad are 23 and older... so we called it an early night..

The next day was literally so much fun!!! We woke up and got some breakfast and then met up with all of our friends at the beach! We were all chilling and eating and swimming all day. I even got to get some journaling time and that was very relaxing. We were hanging out next to the place where you can do different water activities so my friends and I got a free boat ride which was super fun and then a few of my friends and I went banana boating!! I literally had so much fun because I had never done that before. The whole time I was screaming my lungs off because I thought I was going to fall!!!!

We spent the rest of the day eating delicious food and traveling on the boardwalk buying a bunch of cool things and just enjoying each other's company. That night I had the most delicious shawarma ever for only 30 shek!!! YUM!

The next morning we woke up bright and early for a hike! We hiked up to the top of a mountain in a nature reserve and I literally stopped every five minutes to take a picture because the view was so gorgeous! I could even see Jordan so clearly! Once we got to the top we listened to country music, snacked and just had fun soaking in the view and reminiscing.

We ended the day with lunch on the beach and a little shopping ;)

Had such a fun filled with my section 3 arad family from Thanksgiving to Quetura to Eilat!!! 

I really feel like I went on a vacation! Yay for my first vacation with no parents!