Dimona, Israel. (דימונה, ישראל)
Shortly after spending a few days with my cousin Meli in Jerusalem and visiting the kotel on tsha b'av (nothing is more special about mourning the destruction of the temple than doing so at the western wall), I spent two weeks in Dimona volunteering in a day camp for children with broken families and/or too poor to afford summer camp. This experience was extremely rewarding and it was very important for me to see a side of Israel that wasn't through the lens of an American tourist. The other counselors were so welcoming and warm immediately and really made an effort to include this random American girl, and also to translate when I could not understand directions. Even the counselors I spoke to half in hebrew half in english I truly enjoyed getting to know and have made some lasting friendships. For the two weeks I was immersed in Hebrew and at times this could be very frustrating; although I was able to work and play with the campers, I could not form a strong relationship with them because my Hebrew was subpar and at times even the kids made fun of my accent. The kids also helped me out and were for the most part patient with me. I also mastered some key commands in Hebrew including: Sit, Come, Buckle your seatbelt and Listen as well as the most recited question: where is your hat/waterbottle/backpack? I led a song full of nonsense words called "chee ko ko" and for some reason the other counselors and kids thought it was very funny, so I ended up doing it a lot at the camp and soon all the kids knew who I was and would come up to me to sing the song. My campers were starstruck that I flew to Israel because they had never been on airplanes, and liked hearing about America. One of my campers would use the little English he knew with me, saying "you are fish/cookies/chicken." It was very cute.
The "Black Hebrew" campers and I were able to form stronger connections because they all spoke English. The Black Hebrews are African Americans who are vegan, fast on Shabbat and made alliyah because according to wikipedia they consider themselves to be the only authentic Jews. These campers were considerably better behaved than the Jewish Israeli children.

Next time Arsim* tell you to follow them because they are heading to a great bar in Dimona and it ends up being their basement with a dude with a laptop playing bad remixes from 2000, maybe its not a great idea to sit and have a beer. Being accompanied by recently discharged IDF soldiers, I trusted their judgement, but from now on I will go to bars where the "bartender" doesn't have to run upstairs to his fridge to pull out some beers.

*(wiki def: a mildly offensive Hebrew slang term for the Israeli stereotype of a low-class young man who wears flashy jewelry and tight clothing, Dimona is full of them)