Everyone from home always wants to know about the people I'm meeting here. I decided to go into brief detail about my roommates since they are such a big part of my life in Jerusalem. All of them have been easy to live with and welcoming. I spoke a little bit about Tal and Dina previously. These two are married and are currently abroad traveling in South America until mid October.
When I met Dina, I liked her almost instantly. She's very unique and confident in her differences. Extremely creative and artistic, she can create anything from watercolor paintings to cartoon strips to video games; skills she continues to work on as an art student in Jerusalem. Dina's family came here from Russia and currently are living in Germany. She likes eating healthily, creating a family atmosphere in the apartment and is very natural is every sense of the word. For instance, she doesn't wear make up or jewelery and puts very little emphasis onto materialist things such as clothing. I love to be weird and silly (as everyone back home well knows) and its nice to be able to do so with Dina because she likes being crazy and random too. She (and all of the roommates, actually) has no problem giving a brutally honest answer to any question I may have. This trait is very much a part of Israeli culture. You can see some of her work online at http://www.dina.co.il or http://www.flickr.com/photos/dinakof/
Tal, Dina's husband, just got out of serving four and half years in the combat unit of the Israeli Army. As you may guess, he and I have our share of differences in opinions and sometimes his stubbornness pushes me close to the edge. However, one great thing about Tal is we can have our heated discussions, whatever the topic, and still respect the fact that we each have different opinions. I think that even though he disagrees with what I'm doing, he admires the fact that I'm passionate about my beliefs and pursing them. Many people here feel that if you have different opinions than they do that somehow you are against them and you can't have a relationship. I respect Tal for being able to see past this. The two of us have a good time exchanging youtube videos and just joking around, especially when Dina's trying to be serious. Tal is very intelligent, extremely proud of his country and what it means to be an Israeli, and is considering being a doctor or engineer. Both he and Dina went out of their way multiple times to make me feel comfortable and to show me around their home and country.
Matan is the next member of the flat. Not to narrow him down to a stereotype, but if I had to explain in a nutshell Matan's personality and quirks, I would say they fit the general image of a history major. This makes some sense since he is, in fact, a history major. He is pursuing his Master's in European history and is also trying to become fluent in French. He loves to read novels that weigh as much as I do, listens to jazz and classical music, and often joins me in my games with the cats (Hatuli and Luigi). He also loves movies, especially foreign films, classics and thrillers so we often join forces for the occasional movie night. It amuses me that he always has some kind of fruity drink and or wine stocked in the fridge. His skype girlfriend, Anya, is from Germany and is an unofficial roommate at the flat. You can always hear her voice from the computer in Matan's room and she often joins him when he comes out to eat or cook dinner. Anya is very friendly and met Matan when she came to study abroad here.
Dina and Tal left for South America the beginning of July, so Alina has taken their place while they will be traveling. Alina is one of those rare people who are beyond generous and giving. Its even more rare to find this in a person Alina's age, not that she's old, she's only in her early twenties, its just that life seems to beat this trait out of the few that have it by they time they're her age. She has been unbelievably kind to me from the beginning. She offers to share everything with me and goes out of her way to help in whatever capacity she can. Alina's family also comes from Russia and she has been working by the Dead Sea in the Jordan valley with her mother since high school. She will start school at Hebrew University in the fall to study Japanese culture. Alina is in love with everything Japanese and often goes to the Japanese cultural center in Jerusalem to expand her horizons. She hopes to get a scholarship to study in Japan at the end of her time at Hebrew University. She always gets so jealous when I tell her about my Japanese friends from back home. Amongst other things, Alina is a vegan, loves animals and has been trying to find a job as a vet technician. Clearly a bit of a black sheep in her country.
When I met Dina, I liked her almost instantly. She's very unique and confident in her differences. Extremely creative and artistic, she can create anything from watercolor paintings to cartoon strips to video games; skills she continues to work on as an art student in Jerusalem. Dina's family came here from Russia and currently are living in Germany. She likes eating healthily, creating a family atmosphere in the apartment and is very natural is every sense of the word. For instance, she doesn't wear make up or jewelery and puts very little emphasis onto materialist things such as clothing. I love to be weird and silly (as everyone back home well knows) and its nice to be able to do so with Dina because she likes being crazy and random too. She (and all of the roommates, actually) has no problem giving a brutally honest answer to any question I may have. This trait is very much a part of Israeli culture. You can see some of her work online at http://www.dina.co.il or http://www.flickr.com/photos/dinakof/
Tal, Dina's husband, just got out of serving four and half years in the combat unit of the Israeli Army. As you may guess, he and I have our share of differences in opinions and sometimes his stubbornness pushes me close to the edge. However, one great thing about Tal is we can have our heated discussions, whatever the topic, and still respect the fact that we each have different opinions. I think that even though he disagrees with what I'm doing, he admires the fact that I'm passionate about my beliefs and pursing them. Many people here feel that if you have different opinions than they do that somehow you are against them and you can't have a relationship. I respect Tal for being able to see past this. The two of us have a good time exchanging youtube videos and just joking around, especially when Dina's trying to be serious. Tal is very intelligent, extremely proud of his country and what it means to be an Israeli, and is considering being a doctor or engineer. Both he and Dina went out of their way multiple times to make me feel comfortable and to show me around their home and country.
Matan is the next member of the flat. Not to narrow him down to a stereotype, but if I had to explain in a nutshell Matan's personality and quirks, I would say they fit the general image of a history major. This makes some sense since he is, in fact, a history major. He is pursuing his Master's in European history and is also trying to become fluent in French. He loves to read novels that weigh as much as I do, listens to jazz and classical music, and often joins me in my games with the cats (Hatuli and Luigi). He also loves movies, especially foreign films, classics and thrillers so we often join forces for the occasional movie night. It amuses me that he always has some kind of fruity drink and or wine stocked in the fridge. His skype girlfriend, Anya, is from Germany and is an unofficial roommate at the flat. You can always hear her voice from the computer in Matan's room and she often joins him when he comes out to eat or cook dinner. Anya is very friendly and met Matan when she came to study abroad here.
Dina and Tal left for South America the beginning of July, so Alina has taken their place while they will be traveling. Alina is one of those rare people who are beyond generous and giving. Its even more rare to find this in a person Alina's age, not that she's old, she's only in her early twenties, its just that life seems to beat this trait out of the few that have it by they time they're her age. She has been unbelievably kind to me from the beginning. She offers to share everything with me and goes out of her way to help in whatever capacity she can. Alina's family also comes from Russia and she has been working by the Dead Sea in the Jordan valley with her mother since high school. She will start school at Hebrew University in the fall to study Japanese culture. Alina is in love with everything Japanese and often goes to the Japanese cultural center in Jerusalem to expand her horizons. She hopes to get a scholarship to study in Japan at the end of her time at Hebrew University. She always gets so jealous when I tell her about my Japanese friends from back home. Amongst other things, Alina is a vegan, loves animals and has been trying to find a job as a vet technician. Clearly a bit of a black sheep in her country.
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