Another week at Muss has flown by! After Core and General Studies on Sunday and Monday, we had a tiyul on Tuesday where we went to the artist’s market in Tel Aviv called Nachalat Binyamin. I was so excited, because my mom had hoped I had been going there and told me all about it. All of the artists there sell their own work, and their art was truly incredible.

On Wednesday, it started raining on the long bus ride up North but we didn’t let it ruin the fun. We first stopped at Kfar Giladi, a kibbutz, which is in the same vicinity as Tel Hai and Kiryat Shmona. We learned about the second Aliyah through the origins of Hashomer, the “grandfather” to the Haganah. We practiced our new knowledge through boxing matches led our Core teacher and Israeli National Boxing champion Yossi. It was a fun method (I definitely lost) but it also showed how unequipped the Jews were to fight and how they worked hard to learn to defend themselves.

Afterwards we went to Tel Dan. Our original hike got deterred because of the rain, but this one was just as fun. At one point, we even took our shoes off and waded in “the coldest water in all of Israel.” We had extra time in the afternoon, and for a special treat, we stopped at the chocolate store at Degania. Afterwards, we went to the Kinneret Cemetery to learn about Rachel the Poetess. I always find her story so meaningful and visiting her grave was especially powerful. We finished off the day with DOTS (Dinner on the Street) in Zichron Ya’akov.

On Thursday we switched from the development of moshavot and kibbutzim in the North and learned about the development of the city in Tel Aviv. We started at the beach on a fun playground, then walked through Neve Tzedek, the first neighborhood in Tel Aviv. We saw structures from the beginning of the city that still stood today, and took a tour of independence hall. For lunch, we went back to Nachalat Binyamin, but this time we had assigned surveys to ask random people questions about Judaism. We then went to Kikar Rabin, where we learned about what happened there and reflected on what it means to be Jewish. For DOTS, we ate at Sarona, a market with delicious food.

As the week came to an end, I spent the weekend with my cousins and had an amazing time. However, I also reflected on what it means that my time on this amazing trip is halfway through. In the month since I’ve arrived, I’ve made so many new friends, had incredible new experiences, and traveled to numerous places. While I’ve been away from home for 7 weeks at summer camp, nothing compares to living independently in another country thousands of miles away. Arriving in this new place has not been as “shocking” as one might think. Going to a new country, I knew that the culture would be different and was prepared for it. Being a teenager here is completely different. When Israelis are 18, they get drafted into the army, and don’t know what the rest of their life will look like. They go for what they want, and pushing a little in the dining hall is no big deal. What we view as aggressive, they view as assertive.

Israelis also have similar views about us. Americans can be seen as passive, over polite, and maybe even pathetic in this culture. I believe we all must fight to eradicate these stereotypes. Until Americans stop viewing Israeli culture through an American lense, they won’t be able to appreciate Israeli life. I’m excited to go into this next week, with the fervor that soon it will be Purim and our trip to Poland!