Yael

My name is Yael. I'm 15 years old. I have six younger siblings, only one who is a boy. I love reading and writing, mostly in English, but in Hebrew as well. My favorite books are fantasy/science fiction stories, such as Eragon and The Hunger Games, because they mix excitement and outrageous or impossible plotlines with realistic characters. However, I'll read books of almost any genre.

My parents are both American originally, and I lived in the USA for three years (2000-2003) in Boston, Massachusetts, while in //shlichut//. My parents help start a Hillel program in Brandeis University. (That is a program for Jews in secular colleges and universities.) I do not remember enjoying my life in the US more or less than in Israel, but I do remember that we visited our grandparents much more often than we can now, and it was really fun! Despite having lived in America for 3 years, my siblings and I were all born in Israel-four of us were born before we left to the US, and the three younger children were born after we had returned.

My favorite colors are yellow and green, and almost always have been. My favorite series of books and movies is Harry Potter. I like them a lot because they are good children's fantasy, and they were the first fantasy novels that I read and enjoyed. I have read and re-read the books more often than I can count! In my house, we only see movies during vacations, so of course we had to see Harry Potter 7 part 1 on Hanukah! I enjoyed the movie, especially when compared to the earlier movies. It was a bit too dark and serious for my liking, but there was a nice dose of humor to make up for it.

My favorite holiday is Hanukah (really, I would write that all year long), and my favorite season is winter. I think I like winter and Hanukah so much is because of the cozy feeling of the whole family together in the warm house while it is cold outside.

I love chocolate and ice cream a lot, something I get from my parents. Whenever one of them comes back from the US, they bring pounds of chocolate. My one-and-a-half-years-old sister is so crazy about chocolate, that she will probably soon figure out how to open the refrigerator in order to get some.

My favorite place in the world is my house. Although I don't believe my town is the best place in the world, I absolutely revere the view from my backyard, and I love the warm family feeling in in the house. I also love the beach that my family camps out at once a year for three days in the summer. It is about two hours north of my house, between Haifa and Zichron Ya'akov.

I wish that all of my family would live close enough for us to see them more often. I have family in Canada, New Jersey, Florida and New York, that we see less than once a year. I miss them a lot most of the time.

My goal in life is to become an author. I love writing. My first serious story is a 95 page (in Microsoft Word) story about a father and a son who go back about 20 years and meet their deceased wife/mother when she was five years old. I finished writing the story about a year ago, and since then I've been trying to proofread it and have others proofread it. One day, I hope to publish a book .