Shoshana


 * Shoshana **
 * Hi! My name is Shoshana, I am fifteen-years-old, in tenth grade and I live in the town of Efrat, Gush Etzion, Israel. Efrat is absolutely a great place to live, with its friendly people, green parks and spectacular view of the surrounding hills. I would rate it among my top three favorite places, along with Jerusalem and Brookline, Massachusetts (a suburb of Boston and the place that I grew up). As I just mentioned, I grew up in Brookline, a busy town only a few minutes away from downtown Boston. The summer after I graduated eighth grade from Torah Academy, my family and I moved to Efrat and officialy made aliya this past summer, after last year's "trial year". I'm really glad that we made the move and now can't imagine going to high school anyplace other than Neveh Chana. **


 * My family is made up of: Hannah-19, Shoshana-15 (me), Avigayil-11, Ayelet Hashahar-7, Yitzhak-4 and my parents. My father is an important doctor at Hadassah Hospital (he's also a professor at Harvard) and my mother is an actuary who works for the Canadian insurance company Sunlife. In my family, education is very important, as are respect, honesty and consideration for others. I believe that these values are vital for a strong, healthy community and not only for the family. **

**One of my favorite things to do is read a good book. I prefer fantasy over other genres, but I have read several classics** **(children and adult) and "real life" stories. I am currently reading the Ender series by Orson Scott Card, if any one has heard of those. Some of my favorite authors include Gail Carson Levine, Tamora Pierce, and Robin Hobb. I also enjoy artsy activities such as creative writing, jewelry-making, and sometimes painting. Something else that I love is spending time with my cousins when we visit each other. When my family made aliya this past august, my father's sister and her family moved to Bait Shemesh at the same time, so now we can see them more often than we did when we lived in Brookline and they lived in Teaneck, New Jersey.**

**Though I don't know many quotes, one that I particularly like is "Veni Vidi Vici", said by Julius Caesar, which means "I came, I saw, I conquered". I think that this motto is a great way to meet challenges in your life. Face your problem head-on, review it for the best manner to defeat it, and then conquer it once and for all. **