The Cast of Characters

It's also about time that I explain who I'm living and interacting with here and Israel. Here's a brief explanation of all the Otzmaniks and others that I see on a regular basis.

First of all, the Natzrat Ilit group is divided into two parts- the complainers and the non-complainers. The complainers believe that the apartments are too small, too dirty, too old. We're not being taught Hebrew well enough. Things are not explained explained well enough to us. Volunteer activities aren't starting fast enough and there aren't enough options. Everything is better for those in Beer Sheva.
The non-complainers feel differently. We feel that everything we have encountered has been explained to us clearly. We all expected the apartments to be much worse than they are ( I have yet to see a cockroach). While ulpan is not perfect, we need to be putting far more effort to learn Hebrew on our own instead of just ditching class because we don't like it. As for volunteer work, I have a full schedule and although everyone does have ample free time, that among other things, were expected because it was explained very clearly to us before the program even began.

My Roommates
There are five of us living in one apartment. Two sleep in one bedroom, one in the other, and two in the living room.
Zara- She's from Seattle and has spent the past two years teaching preschool. Before that, she lived in Spain for a year and taught English. Zara is probably my closest friend on OTZMA. She will be living with me in Kiryat Malachi in Part 2
Rena- Rena is originally from Philadelphia but has been living in New York City. She majored in painting and after this wants to try and become a makeup artist for movies. I absolutely adore Rena. She's hilarious and has awesome stories. Rena is the second-youngest person here (after me of course). We are probably two of the most put-together and natural leaders here.
Carly- Carly is also from Philadelphia. I don't know Carly that well because she is a complainer and I can't stand how much she complains about everything.
Ashley- Ashley is from Toronto. She's a little bit insane. I originally had the room to myself but I had to move into the living room so that Ashley could have her own space. This was the best possible thing for everyone's sanity.

Other Otzmaniks
Avi- Avi lives right next door to me. He is one of the funniest people I've ever met- also one of the neatest. He reminds me a bit of Danny Tanner from Full House. He has quickly become one of my closest friends.
Within the first week that we moved to Natzrat Ilit, Avi fell out of the shower and down the stairs. He is probably the only person who could have pulled that off. He hurt his shoulder and had to go to a doctor in Nazareth to get it checked out. He was driven over by a woman from the Natzrat Ilit doctor's office. She was Arab and the first thing she asked him was if it was true if all Americans hate Arabs. He spent the whole ride trying to convince her otherwise, because he was a little bit afraid for his life. Once at the doctor's office, he spent fifteen minutes trying to explain in Hebrew what had happened- and Avi's Hebrew is pretty weak. The doctor asked him where he was from. As soon as Avi answered he was from the US the doctor said, "Oh, so you speak English." This is a classic Avi story.
Brian- Brian is Avi's roommate. He was one of my first close friends I made on OTZMA. He is also hilarious and when he and Avi are together I can't stop cracking up. I spend most of my time in their room.
Diana- Another good friend of mine. We roommed together back during orientation and got along well. Diana has also studied opera and is my partner whenever we're needed to sing at an event at the absorption center.
Eilan- Eilan and I are a lot alike. After OTZMA, he's going to go to med school. He wants to be a pediatrician in third world countries.

Malachi Crew
These are the people, as well as Zara, who are in Natzrat Ilit now who will be moving with me to Kiryat Malachi after this
Sarah- Really sweet and outgoing and an all-around fun person to be around.
Justine- Justine wants to be an ESL and Spanish teacher after this. She's really sweet and hard-working. Justine is the one who organized our English classes at the absorption center.
Adam- Although he was one of the last people I got to know, I really like Adam. He's a great guy but is not looking forward to sharing an apartment with 5 girls in part 2. But he's happy because of all the girls here, we're the lowest-maintenance.
Rachael- She's from Sonoma but has been working for a non-profit for the past couple of years in Los Angeles. Until recently, Rachael had been spending her time with the complainers, even though she's really sweet and none of us would consider her a complainer. Rachael went with us to the volunteer project by the Kinneret. After that, she got to know us better and I think she's going to start hanging out with us more.

Matt- Matt is our Madrich (He works for OTZMA). He's originally from Los Angeles and we all like Matt a lot- even if he is a bit of a scatter brain. When we were in Jerusalem, we saw how Jenny (Beer Sheva's madricha) would yell at her group. We're all very happy we have Matt, who is much more laid back.