Working Girl part 1

So I got the job!

At the organisation which works for Equality in Education.

Here’s the deal: There is a Ministry of Education in this country. And there is a curriculum (sv. Läroplan). But the ministry is apparently a bunch of people waiting for their retirement and the curriculum is sort of followed - sometimes.

There are no inspectors who check the quality of education in schools or make sure that the budget allocated for education is actually used for education. There is no one who makes sure that the curriculum is followed.

Which leads to…

Kids from lower “socio-economic” areas (poor neighbourhoods) do not have schools to attend in their neighbourhood, so they are sent to boarding schools (sv. internat) far from home and families. Also they might not receive the necessary schooling to do further education in universities.

There are a lot more strange and terrible things happening to children whose parents don’t know what rights they have.
For instance, kids are recommended to go to vocational schools (sv. yrkesorienterade skolor), forced to use Retalin (to make them calm and more focused) to be allowed into classrooms, or are classified as mentally disabled and are put in special education. All of this because they might not have Hebrew as a first language or maybe can’t read or write because the teachers they’ve had before were not licensed to teach.

The groups who mostly benefit from the organisation I am working for now, are Arabs in Israel, Bedouins and Ethiopian Jewish new immigrants.

The organisation I am working for, is teaching parents about what rights their children have and getting parents organised in groups so that they can fight authorities and demand to be treated fairly.

My job will be fundraising. Writing to different foundations all over the world and asking them to fund our organisation or donate computers to schools or something like it.

Most of my work will be writing letters in English, meeting with officials from Embassies and presidents of foundations. There might be a possibility of travelling. But the organisation I work for is very small and I suppose it will be up to me if I manage to raise money so that I can travel.

So if anyone has any ideas on foundations or companies with a policy of donating money to different causes, tell me.

I am really nervous about the job by the way but I know it is all about being new and all. When I know the organisation inside out I will be very good at selling. Hey, if I could sell service to corporations, I am sure I can sell a good cause to foundations. Right?

Just life

I have been thoroughly bad at keeping in touch with everybody so I guess no one knows what is up with me and what’s the point with a blog if I don’t give u some information about my life, other than my paranoia about invading robot aliens and such.

So we had a couple of rough months, as would be expected from any relationship. We had our honeymoon period and then came the storm. It was tough, hard, what ever, but we are over it and now life is wonderful again.

So. More?

I am still looking for work.

Have three options at the moment.

1. Had a job interview with an NGO (Non Governmental Organisation) last week. They want a “fundraiser”, in other words a person who writes letters and calls rich people and foundations to beg for money for a good cause. Very well paid, sort of boring job but nice cause and part time. (I will tell you more about it if I get the job)
   
   Background:Since beginning of August I have been a trainee for another organisation, it’s cause is “workers rights”. Mainly immigrants, Arabs and low wage populations in the Israeli society. Well, anyway, this trainee job gave me the opportunity to apply to this other organisation. And I really hope I get it even though I have very little experience. So hold your thumbs, fingers and toes for me…
   
   
2. Archaeology – a job close to the Old City of Jerusalem. Have been guaranteed a job as soon as I get my Israeli ID. (I need it so that I can be insured). This job, well… WOW… it was always my dream to be a female Indiana Jones. So even though it is hard work and minimum wage I really hope I will be able to start within a week or two.
   
   
3. Nanny. Next door to us (right next door unfortunately) there is a day care centre for babies. My neighbour, a very nice girl who has just had a baby wants me to start working there so that I can keep an extra eye open for her baby. It would be easy, since babies don’t speak English and it is so close - I wake up at eight in the morning anyway from all the crying.

So that is the job situation.

Other than that, we are walking in the wonderful nature every day.
We had visitors from Sweden during the summer. My gorgeous sister for three weeks. And a favourite friend from University with his new girlfriend.
AND the first rain came!!! Amazing! Of course, I ran out in the middle of the night and danced with it.

The loved one is composing wonderful music, I am cooking delicious food, and fixing the house, painting and hammering and stuff.

We have friends over at least once a week. Lovely. And they all fall in love with our home. I must agree with them, it is the most lovable flat I’ve been in.

The only thing I am not doing is sewing.
Hmm… it breaks my heart. I really want to, but have a thousand excuses not to. I do crochet (Sv: ‘virka’) a lot though, in preparation for winter. Lots of hats and fingerless mittens. I hope the loved one will sell some at the Music Academy this winter.

I miss all of you and think about you every day:

My funky friends in San Fran; Treehouse friends where ever you may be (Germany, England, Scotland, Oz); my sweet soul in Germany (I miss you very much); the two wonderful artists who influenced and changed my life the most (New Zealand and Oz); my sister and best friends in Sweden; all my little friends; my sweetie darling whose heart is behind bars; all the fun people that I worked with; travelling friends; Uni mates; Ozzy family; Circus friends and all others.

As I've said before I wish I could all collect you on an island and live happily ever after.

I’ll tell you something you didn’t know about Israel…

This place is invaded by alien robots, people don’t take much notice of them since they have disguised them selves as fire hydrant.

But I know they are there.

Silent.

Still.

Secretly observing.

Cute Robot

Market Robot

Patriotic Robot

Robot Family - Daddy, Mummy and little wee one

Imprisoned Robot

Robot walking his Robot-Dog

Homework in Progress

I didn’t tell you that I started studying Hebrew.
Yes I know, this is an important piece of information but I am so way behind in all my writing and my entire life actually so you’ll have to bear with me.

I started studying “Ulpan” (like “Svenska för invandrare” in Hebrew) a couple of months ago.

The class has 23 people and what kind of people do you think study Hebrew?

I know what preconceived notions (sv. förutfattade meningar) I had:

• There would no one like me, who is in Israel because of a loved one.

• There would be A LOT of Jewish Americans doing “Aliyah” (immigrating to Israel)

• There would be A LOT of “Jewish” Russians doing “Aliyah” (but in most of their cases it is more about a better work opportunity than for a religious reason)

• All of them would be about 25 years old.

I was completely wrong!

My class of 23 has:

• 5 anti-social Catholic French people –
  only one of them can smile, the others will look panic-stricken when greeted or act as if it is thin air, and not my person, saying hello to them.
  All of them volunteer for Catholic organisations working mostly with handicapped or mentally disabled children. I really hope they talk and smile to the kids.

• 1 Belgian 65-75 year old man –
  very soft spoken and sweet Christian: “I embrace all religions, God is God. In the end we will all be judged for what good we did in life, not which Bible, Koran or Scripture we read.” This is what he whispered to me during class.
  He is not very good at learning Hebrew since he is so friendly that he engages anyone who sits next to him in a conversation. These talks are mostly about flowers or about the latest church, mosque, temple or synagogue he has visited. Since he is such an “all-embracing religious” guy he visits as many different “holy houses” as he can.
  He also volunteers with handicapped children and as a gardener.

• 3 German Catholics –
  one amazingly daft and the other two very bright. Also working with volunteering or studying.

• 4 Greek Orthodox –
  2 nuns all dressed in black and giggling most of the time.
  One of the nuns has a big black leather brand name bag and drives a small black sports car. She is at all times on the cell phone, sometimes even leaving the class room for an “important phone call”.
  The other nun is small and plump with apple cheeks. She is very good at Hebrew but is so shy that she whispers when getting a question whilst her cheeks turn bright red.
  Another is a very young priest who looks as if he has just escaped from prison. Black woollen hat worn at all times, long black ZZ-Top beard and black outfit that looks just like a nightdress. He has an I-Pod in his right pocket which he listens to when class is “too slow” or uninteresting for him. What he listens to? Yes I asked him. Well - German heavy metal – of course…
  The fourth Orthodox, is a beautiful mysterious woman who works at the patriarch (the orthodox church). Apparently she was a very famous actress who has escaped the world of fame and paparazzi for a much more modest kind of life…

• 5 Arabs –
  very talkative and friendly, one construction engineer from Saudi Arabia and the rest from East Jerusalem .
  Hmm…no... even though they are Israeli citizens and were born and raised in Jerusalem, they do not learn Hebrew in school. But, to be noted, neither do the Jewish in Israel learn Arabic in school (I mean it is not compulsory).
  Ehm, didn’t Dr Phil or some psychologist say something about “Communication is the key to having a good relationship” ?
  But anyway, their English is perfect. They are my favourite people in class, always friendly, joking and curious.

• 1 Finnish tall pale guy –
  studying at the bible school of the Swedish sect “Word of life” (sv. Livets Ord), you know the people who talk in tongues, consider homosexuals and mentally less able people to be connected to the devil in some way or other…I rest my case.
  One would have thought that a person who can learn the language of Jibberish to speak to God would be able to learn Hebrew (the language of the first Bible) pretty well. But I am sad to say, he sucks.

And then there’s a scattering of people from all over the world: 1 Philippine older annoying woman, 1 very shy Austrian guy who wears shoes made from pony skin?!, an Italian guy with an amazing singing voice but also very Christian and religious, a Japanese girl who is here because her Japanese husband is doing his doctorate here and a Korean girl who doesn’t say anything. That’s about it.

Visit from Home

The same night as the Purim party my sister and mum came to visit.

What followed was a hurricane of activities:

Old City - Jerusalem

Monk in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher - Jerusalem

Mountains - Dead Sea

Swimming in a waterfall - Dead Sea

Weird Animal - Dead Sea

Mud - Dead Sea

Cable Car - Masada

View of Dead Sea and Jordan

Tel Aviv

I wish it would rain

In the winter it rains in this country, although it is mostly a desert country there is actually more rainfall in Jerusalem per year than in Berlin or Paris.

All of the rain comes during three months in the winter.

Now it is summer and I am longing for some rain, it is hot hot hot, everyday has a clear blue sky and a large sun in the sky.

It is only five months until the next drop.

Then the streets will look like this again:

Purim

Sorry.

Too many things happened and I got so overwhelmed by the amount of stuff I wanted to write about, that instead of writing a line here and there, I just shut down.
Overload.

So now fast forward from where I left off:

Purim - celebrated somewhere in between February and March

Purim is an odd week in this country and it is the most popular holiday with huge parties.

The story behind the holiday has a Persian evil minister, a Persian king and his favourite (Jewish) wife and her Jewish uncle, as characters. Then there is something about killing all the Jews (you’ve heard it all before…) and how the plot fails thanks to the beautiful favourite wife of the king.
And anyway, because of this “historical” story all people wear weird costumes for a week and go to fancy dress up parties. Obvious isn't it...

The fancy dress parties are not like in Sweden where 10% of the party goers make something fun out of it; 50% put on a silly mask to match their everyday outfits; and the rest, 40% show up as normal as can be. Only wearing a sort of patronising look on their faces of disapproval at the childishness of the dressed up guests.

Here in Israel fancy dress is taken VERY seriously for the entire week and in everyday life:

Old man at a bus stop

Me as an Ars - Israeli "white" trash 2006
(first time I met all the loved one's friends)

Me as the hump of a camel 2007
(I made the camel from newspaper, towels and a bit of fake fur)