apartments and friends

My last post ended last Sunday evening, when I was hanging out with some friends from school and when my sister got engaged. A lot has happened since then! Monday was quiet, I went to the Tayelet (Hass Promenade) and took a bunch of photos, of which most are being uploaded to Facebook. I think it was that evening that I went to my grandmother because my uncle was going to be on the radio and it was pretty cool. We only caught the last few minutes of it becuase there was a musical performance at her apartment building, but both the music and the interview were really cool. Tuesday, my friends, was a really crazy day.
Lets start with the fact that m y mother was supposed to arrive on a 6.40am flight and my uncle drove the hour to the airport to pick her up. After waiting there for approximatly two hours, during which we heard nothing from my mother becuase of her lack of a phone card and a cell phone, he gave up and went to work because he was already very late. The only one at my uncles house, I was waiting by the phone hoping to hear from her, but to no avail. After we hadn't heard from her, nearly four hours after her arrival, a few of started getting nervous and started making phont calls to everyone from airport security, to the airline, to the airport cab service. CRAZINESS! Of course, after we all flip out she calls from my grandmothers. Apparently my uncle and she just missed eachother and she took a cab into the city. Oh well. The rest of the day was spent with some hectice wedding plans for my sister. That evening we (my mother, one of my uncles and I) were back at my grandmothers place. At first there were three languages being spoken, dutch, english and hebrew. The conversation simply flowed between the three but since I don't understand dutch I was a bit out of it. THen my great uncle stopped by. Originally swiss, he speaks hebrew and german but no english or dutch. At this point I was actualyl able to converse because I ahve my basic level of linguistic skills in both. It was fun and he was glad that we had those two languages we could communicate in. Wednesday my aunt drove me to move into the dorms and register with t he university. All fun and games until I actually stepped into the apartment. The guys (Eitan, Brahm, Hillel and ______blanking on his name) are all really chill but are all really really messy and the level of kosher is questionable. I ended up meeting some really chill people and found a study abroad buddy, Molly. We have a bunch of friends in common and neither of us want to hang in American places so its been cool. That night we went to the mall and I got a pillow for my bed and the spiciest Shwarma (an Israeli meal consisting of slivers of lamb in a wrap http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shawarma). I crashed pretty early and Thursday consisted of a brunch, a trip to the market of Machaneh Yehudah, and then orientation, followed by a trip to the grovery store. Its gonna be an adjustment getting used to the difference in prices and what foods are cheap. That night Molly, my apartment mates and a friend of Brahms went to center city were we split up, Molly and I meeting up with a soldier friend of hers in a small but amazingly fun cafe and the rest going to smoke hookah. (hookah=blech). We got back at like 1am and I called it a night becuase I was planning on going to the kotel (western wall) early in the morning. I did end up going and spent a nice bit of time there, after which I bumped intoa bunch of people from my program and ended up showing them around parts of Jerusalems old city and the safe way to get to the market.
That eevning was a communal dinner I had bought a ticket to at a nearby hotel. I ended up sitting with vevry relaxed crowd and while walking to there as well as to prayers I spoke with the represenative from Hillel International, who actually thought I should continue Shmoozing With Shmuel here, but I told her I wouldn't have the time. Dinner was buffett style and at my tabel was one of my Madrichim. A Madrich, as explained by them, is a cross between an RA and a camp counselor. They plan program and help with adjustment and any questions, but aren't there to really enforce University policy. Anyway, I was sitting with my Madricha, Rotem, and her boyfriend, Nir, as well as with Aran, Molly, Scotty and Molly. So we are there sitting and the Hillel girl, Elian, and Eli, a male Madrich, wanted me to help lead a song. So they get up there and they are trying to get everyone to sing, but it really doens't work, so I helped out and we all had a really fun time. Later on I edned up spening a good bit of time chilling with some of the girls on the program as well as with Eli and all in all it was a fun evening. Saturday morning I went to services at 8.15, which finished at 10.45. Since lunch wasnt going to start till 11.30 I decided to take a short nap...and woke up at like 12 something. I decided to go the second lunch but that didnt really happen so I ate some food I had bought on Thursday and went to sleep until it was time to end the Sabbath. After that I went to prayers and then grabbed my wallet and went to my uncles house.
Both my uncles, my granmother, and both my aunts (including the one I hadn't yet met) were all there as there was going to be a small early-birthday party for my mother. 4 of my cousins ended up coming and I got to meet my cousins son as well, which was really cool. Hes cute. A few more people trickled in throughout the night and my Aunt Netta lent me blanket because the one I had brought with me really wasn't warm enough for the Israeli winters.
Hmm, so then I ended up getting a ride back to campus with my great uncle and aunt and spent the evening hanging out with Molly and Tova. And now its Sunday morning, most people are in class but I dont start Ulpan (hebrew language courses) until tomorrow. I may be meeting my mother for lunch.