Matt Goes To Israel

Matt doesn't make it to Israel on time- 8/28/11

2011-08-28T22:16:00.000-04:00

Hi guys. I am sorry to say that the cause Hurricane Irene, my flight was cancelled for me to leave to Israel on August 28. I was going to be in Tel Aviv for a week until my program starts on September 5. The next available flight which I booked will be on September 4. The good news is I may be able to collect some money for my flight being bumped. So, there is always good that can come from something bad.

Mission to the Israeli Consulate- 8/24/11

2011-08-24T17:15:00.006-04:00

So I make it to the Israeli Embassy at 11:00. I decide to take a photo of the Embassy thinking no harm can be done. I walk very calmly to the guard and I say, "Hello." He immediately asks why I am taking a photo of the embassy and he is looking at me like I am a spy or I may attack the Israeli Embessay with my puny self. YEA RIGHT!! I just tell him its for personal use. So, he has me wait by a door and then another very unfriendly guy greets me. He looks at my passport and he doesn't believe it's me. Maybe, I have lost a lot of weight and my hair is a lot longer but come on!! So, I give him my license and everything becomes all good.

I make it to the office and the teller is beautiful, blonde hair and blue eyes. Then out of nowhere a woman tries to get in the door behind me. She gets in and she is the most georgeous woman I remember seeing in a very long time. Blonde hair, blue eyes, drop dead georgeous, not wearing any makeup to cover up that butter face like most women need to do.

Anyways, a man walks in after her. At this time there is a woman being helped, but she is done and the guy goes to the window clearly butting in line over me. The georgeous woman starts arguing with him, sticking up for me and how I have been in line waiting and he just ignores her. That is Israeli culture right their in front of me. I read about Israel that people talk to eachother very bossy as in they are brother and sister but the minute you need help, they will help. Anyways, after that little incident I am very culture shocked, but when I make it to Israel, I will be laid back but the minute someone butts me again I will not hesitate to give them a hip bump to move them out of the way even if it is a 1000 pound man! So, now it is my turn and I have no documents which I find out I should have brought. So, no visa for me.

But, when I go to Israel, I get a visa for the program but when I get a job I need to make Aliyah so I can work there full time. To do that I need a birth certificate and a letter from my rabbi. With Aliyah citizenship I have gathered that your looked very highly upon.

Matt does not make it to the Israeli Consulate- 8/23/11

2011-08-23T15:45:00.000-04:00

So, when I called the Israel Embassy they told me they were open until five. Well today I walked to the Bethesda Metro because now I live within walking distance, thanks mom and dad!! I took the metro to the Ven Ness station and of course I start walking the wrong way for about fifteen minutes because my darn gps does not work on my phone, thank you very much verizon! But, anyways I walk back and see the road I have to turn on, again, wrong way!! But I finally make it to where all the embassy's are. They are all very pristine but I am walking by each one to see where Israel's is and I finally make it to the Israeli Embassy at 1:15 at least 45 minutes of walking all lost but I find out from the guy outside that the embassy closed at 1, oh my goodness! From interacting with Israeli's on the phone and this one, they come off very unfriendly and they talk to you in a very commanding voice. I know it is their culture but come on! take the stick out of your butt!! But anyways, now I know where the embassy's tomorrow for my mission back to the Israeli embassy. I will take my camera so I can post photos of some of the embassies on here.

But fast forward ten minutes, I was very hungry from walking around in the heat so I went to potbelly's to get a sandwich and as I am eating the whole ground shakes. I thought nothing of it. I decide to check facebook notifications on my phone and find out an earthquake happened from here all the way up to Massachusetts, thank god I haven't heard of any injuries. But, my mission tomorrow is to get down to the embassy by 9 o'clock in the morning. By then I will have a visa for a year to work in Israel. So, stay tuned.

Going to the israeli Consulate- 8/23/11

2011-08-23T10:51:00.001-04:00

Right now I have to go down to the Israeli consulate in Washington D.C. because I have to get a student visa so I can work in Israel for five months to do my program with the expectation that I will work in Israel after the program. Once, I get my citizenship I will post it here on the blog. Bye for now. One last thing. I want as many followers as I can get on this blog so please share with this site with as many people as possible. Thank you and have a great day!!

Why I decided to travel to Israel- 8/22/11

2011-08-22T15:52:00.000-04:00

Well I decided to travel to Israel because for about two years I was very interested in traveling to other countries. I previously used to be an elementary school teacher in Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS). Well, I decided to leave that profession because I became sick and tired of the system not paying us enough, cutting our retirement, cutting our benefits, and putting more responsibilty on the classroom teacher. Since I am a man of action, I decided instead of complaining about it all of the time I mine as well do something about it. So, I resigned from teaching eventhough I love the student interaction. However, while I was teaching I decided to register for my master's program. What MCPS offered was a partnership program with McDaniel College. Basically, MCPS pays for a very big portion of each class because they want teachers to have a masters degree. But, this partnership was with other MCPS teachers at classrooms in MCPS. Basically, I paid nothing for this Master's Degree which gives me an edge on everyone else in the highly competitive job market. Thank you MCPS!!!!

Initially I was looking to teach English in Abu Dhabi, Korea, and Costa Rica. But, then I randomly got an email sent from Destination Israel. I browsed the site and I became very intrigued. I had already resigned from teaching and I had no formal plan of what I was going to do next. Let's just say it was perfect timing. I browsed the site and all of the programs seemed very intriguing. I knew I did not want to teach anymore and I was ready for more personal experiences. The free eilat hotel experience piqued my interest because you get a place to stay at, you recieve a class of hotel management, learn how to speak hebrew. recieve three meals a day, recieve a stipend and on top of that it is near the beach, beautiful weather, and beautiful women. So, I applied and got accepted!!

8/22/2011 Packing

2011-08-22T15:13:00.001-04:00

Well before you travel somewhere, you first have to pack. In order to successfully pack, I believe you have to organize all of your clothes into categories, such as, shorts, pants, dress shirts, socks, underwear, and etc., but if you don't want to organize your clothes into categories and choose just throw all your clothes into suitcases, then when it takes time to unpack there is no telling where all your clothes are. Let's say your looking for your new favorite shirt. Well since you didn't put your clothes into categories, you have to rummage through all the suitcases to find that one shirt and now their are piles of clothes on the floor. Now you have a bigger mess than before, and if you took the extra time in the begining to put your clothes into categories, finding that favorite shirt would not be so difficult.

Now, I recently moved out of my apartment where I lived for three years, therefore I have a lot of belongings I need to go through which I need to follow my own advice and put everything into categories. Also, thank you very much to my parents for holding onto two of my tv's until I return from Israel.