It seems like only yesterday when I was waking up early in the morning, making my sandwiches for lunch, going to school, and then playing tennis in the afternoons. Well, that's because it was yesterday. The last time you heard from me, I was an American in Petach Tikva. I made the most of my Israel Experience phase of Year Course, coaching table tennis and exploring this foreign country. Just as my Israel Experience ended, so did my seclusion from society.

Currently in the Community Volunteering placement, I live in Bat Yam with 75 other Year Coursers. Just south of Tel Aviv, Bat Yam is a beautiful suburb on the Mediterranean coast with a great chof ha'yam (sea shore) complete with restaurants, shops and bars. The city of Bat Yam was formed following the War of Independence in the 1950s, but it grew the most in the 1990s when immigrants from the former Soviet Union came due to the close proximity to Tel Aviv industry and inexpensive real estate.

Just as prominent in several sections of the city, though, are the Americans and Brits who have just immigrated and shop at the grocery store, see films at the movie theater, and relax on the beach with the rest of the residents. We are just several more ingredients in the melting pot that is home to many first-generation locals. With this social acceptance, my friends and I live and work in a city that welcomes us and treats us as its own.

For my work in Bat Yam, I volunteer at a middle school in the mornings and at a tennis center in the afternoons. At Shazar Middle School, located down the street from my apartment, four other mitnadvim (volunteers) and I tutor English to small groups of eight and ninth graders. The students are so excited to talk and learn with new, younger teachers, so we try to make English as fun as possible through games such as hangman, Pictionary and Mad Libs.

When we asked the students what kinds of activities they would like to do with their new American teachers, the most common answer was to listen to Tupac Shakur and look at his lyrics. Who would have thought I had so much in common with 14-year-old Israelis?

Last year, I coached an after-school tennis program for younger kids. Now, I coach after-school tennis to players of the same age and ability, but it's completely in Hebrew. Making my job somewhat easier, “forehand,” “backhand,” and “volley” are the same in both languages, but conversation with the kids and with my fellow non-English-speaking coach is completely in Hebrew, making my twice-weekly ulpan (Hebrew class) that much more necessary. On the whole, my work at the Bat Yam Tennis Center feels so familiar and so comfortable, reminding me how much I love tennis and coaching.

With so many Year Coursers in the city, we are quickly becoming an integral part of the community, in and outside of the schools and centers where we volunteer. Trading one ESPN2 sport for another, I have put down my ping-pong paddle (not permanently) for my bowling ball.

Located at the end of my street is the Bat Yam pool hall and bowling alley, a local hangout for teens and adults and the new most popular place for Year Coursers. Two or three times a week, my friends and I, clad in our most outlandish sporty/gangster outfits, have a late-night hour of competitive bowling as the other Bat Yam bowlers watch in amazement at the dress and demeanor of their new American neighbors.

When I walk outside in the morning to go to work and see my friends leaving their apartment buildings on the same mission as I am; when I pass a square at night and am stopped by a group of my students who recognize me and want to chat in English; when I coach tennis to kids who are so excited to meet a young American player; when I show teenagers on the beach how to throw an American football with my friends and me; and even when I become the comedic performance at the local bowling alley, I fall more and more in love with the community of Bat Yam that has so quickly turned me into a local.