More Israeli children and somehow i am still standing.

Three days in on the second job, and I am still alive.

Its actually really simple, not like the first one. These kids are younger so its more like babysitting really. I don't do much but repeatedly tell children that if someone hits them on the head by accident it is not the end of the world. I forgot how rough it is to be a child.



The kids come at 8 and hang out and play until either an activity is set up or someone comes to do a presentation. The first day a man came to do a little play about the Mefoozar mi cfar azar which means something like the messy person from messy town but it sounds much better in hebrew. Anyway the kids loved it. Second day the head lady did an "art project" with them. I put it in quotes becuase the kids were given neon colored circular stickers, a sheet of black construction paper, and scissors. Not too complicated, nothing like the kind of stuff we did with the kids at the Jr. Museum i can say that for sure. And today Bruce Willice's Isreali twin brother came in with some fish and a guitar and talked to the kids about the ocean. Then the kids eat breakfast, go out to play till lunch, come in and eat (and this is real food too, their parents must pay alot: Day 1: Schnitzel (breaded chicken breast) and spaghetti, Day 2: a sort of pasta rice and rosted chicken, Day 3: cous cous and meat balls with vegitables), and then play some more until the end of the day. Camp ends at 1:00 and then 1-4 there is day care. They also eat during day care, chocolate spread sadwhiches and cookies. SO pretty much i am eating, cleaning up after kids who don't know how to eat yet, and watching kids play all day long. It is quite the long day 8-4 but i have only done that once so far. Basically all the Israeli woman who work there told me i shouldn't let people walk all over me and that as a volunteer i don't owe anyone anything and to only come 4 or 5 hours a day. So now i am working from 10-2 which is less hours than the other camp. Tomorrow one woman will be missing the whole day (her son is joining the army) so one of the other girls who works only during the day care is coming to replace her, thus leaving her by herself durring day care hours so i am going in from 12-4 tomorrow. No biggie. The kids are rather cute and cuddley, some of them have some behavior problems and i am quickly learning how to deal with them the Israeli way.



My second day, there was a boy, Elad, who generally has a behavioral problem (calling kids retarded and stupid all the time, useing his body instead of his words and other basic bully type behavior) was kicking another boy in the back. I asked him why he was doing that and Elad said because the other boy was sitting in the chair and wouldn't let him pass. I told Elad that chairs are for sitting in and not for playing on and that the boy had every right to sit in the chair. Elad didn't like this very much so he stood on the chair. I told him to get down several times, he wasn't listening, i asked him if he needed me to take him down, he still didn't budge, and so i picked him up off the chair told him that he needed to listen and went about my busness. All of a sudden i turn around and he is up on the chair again, so i tell him to get down and he doesn't so i tell him maybe he needs to sit in the corner, this was the mistake. I picked him up and took him over to a bench against the wall and he flipped out, screaming crying hitting scratching kicking.....someone else came over to see what was the problem i expleained the story, and the others dealt with him. I asked later if i did something or said something wrong and learned that in israel you are not aloud, there is a law within the school system, that you are not aloud to put a child in time out. The other woman said that you use other words like "you need to go over there and think about your behavior" things like that, but you don't say the words "go sit in the corner" that is like a punishment and as i learned does not go very well with the kids.



I am gaining worlds of life experiance here.



In general its a little symple but the people i work with are quite nice and the kids can be cute so no big deal.



Today we went to a place called Mini Israel. Apparently there is also Mini Holland and Mini England and perhaps others. Basically its a bunch of models of places in Israel, cities, mountains, tourist attractions, governmental buildigs, factories, everything really. Rather cute, kind of boring, nice to see once. I'll post some pictures when i get a chance. Guy said the size ratio is like 1/150 or something. Interesting, nice, nothing more.



Then we stoped by the place that Guy used to take his soldiers to do practices with the dogs becuase they happen to be having one tonight. Basically its a big forest, the soldiers hide things or send someone out on a trail and then they hide in a tree or something and the dog and his or her soldier has to go on the trail and find it. Pretty darn cool, also pretty darn scary in the dark. The dogs wear a vest with a glow stick in it. We saw two practices where the dog was on the leash. The dog was looking for something called a Puppy Roll, basically a stuffed peice of fire fighter's hose. The dog started going on the trail through a dirt feild and we walked, briscally, behind the soldier and his comandors. Then the dog really cought on and started to move a little faster, this time up a hill in the woods. So Guy grabs my hand and we start racing through bushes, over rocks, through tall grass, and that nasty plant with all the spirs on it, in the dark. I was sure I was going to break an ankle or something. Thank god one of Guy's soldiers lent me an extra pair of uniform pants, smelly as they were I was glad to be wearing them. Then we watched a dog go off and kind of lose the trail, they had quite a hard time with her actually. Guy said that sometimes they can just get lost with all the smells and the signals from the soldiers can be confusing as well. Also at one point they told us that we were standing rather close to the Puppy Roll, so we moved over. Basically the dogs are trained to attack anything that isn't wearing a uniform, this meant us. I asked Guy what we should do if the dog starts to come at us. He of course said the heroic, and correct, answer, "i would push you aside and bring the dog to me becuase i know how to recive them, I'd rather the dog bite me than you" It was all really interesting and i got the full army experince because i also enjoyed some army style coffee and cake with the boys. It was a pretty fun evening.



Thats basically all thats new. This weekend we are going to go water skiing and what they call here snapling, we call it spelunking or repelling i believe. I am looking forward to it and will tell you those stories once they happen.



Miss you all lots. Hope all is well.