"We Got One Last Chance To Make It Real!"

Hey folks,

It has been an epic last week, and one of the busiest of my trip so far. It hasn't been the busiest in terms of the program, just a standard week like always, but with the arrival of a new group in Ashdod and my attempts to get to know everyone and be a social butterfly, this feels like one of the first times I have sat down and had time to myself.

20 new Americans, Canadians and Brits arrived last Monday and were thrown into the whirlwind of Israeli culture and social experimentation that Oranim provides for its participants! 17 of these participants are girls and it seemed a little overwhelming at first meeting them all. However, I am happy and super relieved to say that I get along with not just some, but ALL of the new girls in the group so far and am finding it fast to make friends for my last month here in Ashdod. I have now moved to the apartments, and I'm finding it quite cozy and easy to adjust. There aren't nearly as many problems with appliances (actually none that I can think of!), and my new roommates are all great. My actual room-roommate, Dan and I get along very well and have been entertaining the new girls all week. We also both play guitar and I feel like I've been playing a lot more than usual, which has been responsible for a spike in my mood as well. I took it upon myself to be a little bit of a tour guide the first night and showed the new girls all around the neighbourhood, establishing myself as a familiar face for them and a friendly person that they could ask for help. This strategy seemed to work well and I feel now like I can comfortably slip into any of the small groups that have already formed in their program. We had everyone over to our apartment the first night for a little social gathering, and on Tuesday night we all headed to the famous Pigal in Ashdod, the home of the reknowned bottomless beer special and what my roommate refers to as Bad Decision Tuesday! We went out again on Thursday night, and I went bowling with members of my own program on Friday night. I also started exercising more again this week, going on two longer runs in Yud Alef, and yesterday I went down to the beach with a bunch of the girls, went swimming, and showed them the ancient ruins. We were hoping to catch the sunset, but it was hazy and the sun didn't end up being visible. I'm going to make an effort to go down as much as possible for my last four weeks, the sunset at the ruins being one of my favourite vistas in Ashdod and maybe in Israel overall!

This week has been a bit of a turnaround for me. Things were slipping a little too much into routine here in Ashdod and starting to feel a little stale. New blood has been rejuvenating for me and made me realize how important it is to seize every last opportunity while I'm still here, as I am incredibly lucky to be able to live in a country as beautiful as Israel for five months. I've started creating a bucket list of sorts for my last month (stole the idea from one of the new apartments) and although it really isn't that long because I've accomplished a lot of what I wanted to do already in Israel, I'm really going to try and achieve every goal, destination, or experience on the list! Getting into shape with more running is definitely high on my list, as well as checking out the Flour Caves near Ein Gedi, banana boating in Eilat, and making as many long-lasting friends as possible by putting myself out there and not isolating myself at all. This last one will be the hardest as my energy level is waning a little, but I'm off to a good start!

Anyway, that's all for now. I'm going to continue with all of this positive energy and see where it takes me. Let me know how you're all faring and hope to hear from you about your daily comings and goings. Miss you all!

Ciao for now,

Max

P.S. As always, guess the name of the song my blog title is derived from!