the weather outside is frightful

Well its about time Israeli winter hit us! Starting Friday morning the entire country has been in a downpour. It's funny, in Binghamton I would complain about the rain "its so annoying"+"its so wet"+"when will we see the sun again?" but here I'm thrilled with the rain. Being wet doesn't bother me nearly as much and I see it as much more of a blessing. Funny how a simple change in location does that to you.
On Wednesday morning I had my meeting with the other would-be Truman interns as well as the head of the Institute and the Internship Coordinator. They were so excited to have us there and sounded genuinely sweet. After the meeting the girl who was supposed to intern alongside me and I went to the internship coordinator to inform her of our predicament. I think we kinda shocked her with the information we gave her (the professor we were supposed to intern with didn't give us at all what we had applied for nor did the work he expect of us fulfill the internship requirments). She gave us an ultimatum: we could either pick someone else from Truman and automatically get the intership, but not have a chance to meet them prior to the decision, or we could withdraw from the internship course. Rather then leap into a pool of uncertainty, we both chose to err on the side of caution and withdraw from the course.
Thursday wasn't too exciting. During the day I had class, the gym and laundry and at night I went out till about 4am (waaaaay past my normal bedtime) and was the designated sober one for a group of about ten friends. We went all over the Yerushalayim club scene. Honestly, it's not my scene and I dont really mind. I had expected to go out with one or two people and sit in a cafe or soemthing, but when the group got so large the plans changed.
Friday I took the trip to Ashdod to visit Michel, Netta and Fam. Originally I was supposed to go rapelling on Friday and so was considering possibilites in the French Hill area, but with the expected rain the trip was postponed. After the postponment I had contemplated going to a Yishuv (small town. village thing) with some friends, but when that wasnt working out I was thrilled to have the chance to return to Ashdod. Once again, Nettas cooking was amazing and the overall weekend was a blast. I also got to meet the final one of Nettas children, Maaya. And, a super duper plus was the fact that Netta sent me home with food. Score!
Helloooooo New Week. Tuesday and Wednesday are family get togethers, so I've got to go do some home work now!

darn/cool

I met with my possible internship this morning. I was expecting eccentric, all professors are, and I was ready to deal with it. What greeted me was...a bit of chaos. I don't know how clear the professor is on what he wants to do but I keep on getting the feeling that hes telling me two completely different things. His other possible intern is also very confused and we are meeting with the internship advisor first thing tomorrow morning.
Ulpan, on the otherhand, is going so/so. The only problem is that they expect me to know a few forms of verb conjugation that I haven't learned, not even in the Winter Ulpan.
This afternoon, thank goodness, was really fun. After an amazing workout at the gym I went to Eliane's apartment to bake hamentashen. Yay! It ended up that the recipe was like a Jewish geography game peice and is the recipe of a very dear friend of mines mother. WOW. Random!
Ok, bed time. Important decision in the morning.

sunday=monday

Its still really hitting me that Sunday is the first day of the week. I went to the souk today and stocked up on what will hopefully two weeks. Its still tough for me to spend money without having a job. Honestly, its another one of the things that makes me feel realy handicapped being here. Anyway, I did that and then went and paid my dues at the gym. A bit over priced but its something that I need. It keeps me calm as well as fit. After that I went ot visit Eliane at Hillel and I'm going to help her bake on Tuesday night. I'm' really excited for that! Then there was my first cclass. It wasn't much of a class because it was the internship class and as I don't yet have an internship it was a bit frustrating, but none the less fun.
Dinner (an AMAZING salad with fried chicken and pasta that should supply my lunch for tomorrow) and dessert (peanut butter on bananas as well as chocolate) and then I got ready to go to a friends birthday party. It was a really fun evening at the party, the only frustrating part being my having to pa for the cab back, but nothings free. lol Anyway, a good evening and day are coming to an end and I'm going to bed. LaiLa Tov L'Kulam.

a fortnight later

So I haven't posted in two weeks and there's a lot to write but I'm going to type it somewhat fragmented because Its a bit too much to type it all out.
Sunday: Ulpan, Souk...the regular. Nothing too exciting going on. Went to a TuBShvat Seder... I hope I'm thinking of the right week.
Monday: Was Salsa at night and...that might be it.
Tuesday was intense. Day off from school because of elections, but I spent the entire day doing homework. In the evening, when Jerusalems skies finally decided to grace us with an intense shower of rain, I went to visit my grandmother on the other side of town. Got all wet but dried off in the hallway by a nice warm heater while she finished up a weekly Torah lecture. It was a nice visit with her and she decided that I needed mugs in my apartment and gave me three. Yay! The more utensils the better.
Wednesday...I was supposed to go tree planting in the Jerusalem Forest, but because of the rain that got canceled. Instead I went to a small community garden and volunteered there for a few hours. It was fun. Nothing too intense.
Thursday! Cave Day as well as Tovas Birthday, + prep for a joint dinner the next day. This day ended up being sooo insane. I had Ulpan until I was finished with my test, which I luckily finished a bit early. At 1.30 I ran to the student village and changed into outdoor clothing. A bunch of friends and I were going to go "explore" some caves on a university organized trip. Well, it wasn't nearly as exciting as I was hoping. It took over an hour to get to the caves and we were only in each one for about 15 minutes. The most exciting part was walking up a "big" mountain and overlooking the valley where David and Goliath are said to have fought. We saw a spectacular sunset and it was nice to feel that connection to a part of history I had just been discussing in my hebrew language class. When we finally got back to the student village it was 7.30 I had an hour until I was due at a resteraunt downtown for my friend tovas 21st birthday dinner. In that time I had to run to the grocer store and bakery store to pick up some food for the communal dinner I was supplying dessert for the next night. More on that later. Anyway, I managed to run to the store, wash my face and get myself presentable as well as get to the resteraunt a mere five minutes late (apparently I am going to be in depth at certain sections). The dinner was amazing and I got to see Tovas family, half of whom I had already met, as well as meet some of her other friends at Hebrew U. 1 from Canada (dont remember her name now) 1 from Johannesburg (Caylee) and 1 from.., the states? I guess. Anyway, I was invited to a party a bit later but because I had a test the next morning and still had a lot to study as well as a lot to prepare for dessert the next night I took a raincheck and headed back, once again, to the student village. When I got there, at this point nearly 11pm, I started reviewing for my test the next morning.
Friday...starting really early Friday
1am I took a break from studying and made cohocolate covered strawberries. Actually not a lot of work. Studied a bit more and then went to bed...that was at around 2.30.
6.30 am I got up. Having slept four hours I wasnt in the best of moods when class started at 8.30 but was hoping that we would have the test right away and I would do well on it. No. such. luck. The test was pushed off till the end of class and I had to once again run to the bakery and pick up Challah (special bread for Shabbat) as well as make dessert for the cummunal dinner and video chat with someone at Binghamton. Some background information:
-Earlier in the week I got an email from someone at Binghamton Judicial asking to meet with me regarding an incident from last semester. Because I'm..unavailable? lol we agreed to video chat on friday afternoon
-Dinner: Id been iming with a friend and kinda of weirdly got invited to a 6/7 person communal sabbath dinner. The information wasn't solid but I was actually a bit insulted because it was a bunch of my other close friends organizing it and they hadnt thought to mention it. Ouch. Anyway, I decided to go tothe dinner, bring dessert, and then walk to some relatives who live on the other side of town on Saturday morning for services and lunch. Back to Friday.
As I ran my baked apples over to my friends apartment it became fully aparent that we were heading to the other side of town for Friday evening services. I knew it had been an option but hadn't know we had made it official. The synagauge we went to is a few blocks from my uncles house...and about an hour walk back. No biggi. Services were beautiful and when we got back we all had a very enjoyable dinner (6 people in the end becuase one person cancelled).
As I was leaving the dinner I bumped into Carlee (from Tovas dinner) and we made up to walk together to the other side of town the next morning becasue we both wanted to go to the same synaguage.
Shabbas (Saturday)
Walked to my uncle Danny and family at 9 and got there slightly after 10. It was a beautiful day and I got an amazing tan during the walk, but Carlee was a no show (or so I thought) and so I walked it by myself. I ended up finding Carlee at the Shul and we don't know how it happened but we managed to miss eachother. Okay, not the end of the world. I spent the afternoon with some of my cousins and all in all it was a nice day.
Sunday...I want to say I went to the gym and to class but Im honestly not sure. Is it bad that I dont remember what happened a week ago? Can't have been that eventful. Monday was Salsa as well as...something Im sure. This past week was the final week of Winter Ulpan so I spent a lot of time studying. I may have done something onTuesday but I realy dont remember. Wednesday, however, was a crazy day. I had class, final day of winter stuff before the final exam, and then had a study session. When I finished there I ran to my great aunt who just had surgery. I thought I would be visiting for an hour, maybe two. Nope. Visited, it wasn;t that simple but whatever, for SIX hours. I got back to the student village at ten and still had a lot of studying to do. AHHHH. Okay, got the studying done and I think I did well on the test the next day.
Now were already almost at the present.
Thursday night I went to Tel Aviv and visited with Julia, a friend from Binghamton. I had a really great time. It was good to get away from Yerushalayim. No matter how much I love this city, I needed a break, especially after the big final exam. Anyway, we went to a small but popular club called lima lima and it was great.
Friday morning I took a bus to Ariel to visit Yael and Shlomo, other friends from BInghamton. I didn't realize it but they are in the city next door to Shiloh, where some of my relatives live. Atleast I now know how to get there.
Shabbos was really wonderful. Good food, great company. There was another BInghamton alum (not that I am, but Yael and Shlomo are) named Rafi who I had met once or twice before. And now...now im back in Yerushalayim and excited for my first day of real classes tomorrow. Ill try and keep this updated in a more timely fashion. Really, I will!
S

the weekend...well this was bound to be fun

Love this past weekend. Love it. Thursday night Molly, Marla, Chana, Alyssa, Aran and I decided to break away from the monotony of the Student Village and do the typical Americans studying abroad thing. We headed downtown. The Ben Yehudah district of Jerusalem is busy at nearly every hour. During daylight its full of shops and tourist attractions, but the street only really comes alive after dark. Its somewhat out of place in this city, what so many consider the center of the world and full of so much holiness, but Ben Yehuda is one of two extremely popular districts. Full of nightclubs, restaurants and pubs, whatever you like you can find it. Well, we wanted to dance and the discotheques in Israel are a phenomenon unto themselves. We started off at one club but after waiting in line (we DON'T like lines) we headed over to Zazua, a highly recommended and very popular bar/club. For this place we were willing to wait in line.
Marla got in by tagging onto a guy, ha, but Molly and I waited outside (the rest of our entourage having decided to stay at the first club). When it finally came our turn to enter the bar, we were turned away. Apparently some bars in Israel have a 24+ rule. Not expecting this we decided to call it a night. It was already 1.30am and we come to the conclusion that Jerusalem will have to be out quiet night out place, and if we want something more we will head to Tel-Aviv.
The next morning I headed to Tachana HaMarkazit (the central bus station) for my weekend in the Sunday. I was on my way to visit my Uncle Michel in Ashdod! As I entered the bus terminal I saw Eliezer, my cousin and Michels son, but he was heading somewhere else. I wanted to buy flowers to bring to my uncle and Netta, his wife and my new (relatively speaking...that was a pun as well...corny) aunt, but didn't find any being sold on the bus terminal. Somewhat sad about that I treated myself to an icecream cone. Not the best trade on their half but it did momentarily cheer me up...until the guilt kicked in. But still, ice cream is delicious and I hadn't had any since I arrived.
Following the hour+ bus ride to the port city of Ashdod, my uncle and I went into the marina to have a stroll and look at some of the boats. Beautiful city, view etc, and I hadn't even seen their apartment yet! Next we headed over to the apartment where I met my one of my new cousins, Geva (not sure if that would be the English spelling). The apartment, thought, is a thing of beauty all in its own. With large spacious rooms, a large balcony and a beautiful view, it was so relaxing. It felt so Mediterranean. Anyway, Shabbos was only a bit away so we got dressed and headed over to prayers. The shul was also very nice and there was a former American sitting behind us. When we got home I discovered just how amazing of a cook Netta is. I had a slice of cake she had made a few weeks ago, as well as a peice of chicken that afternoon when I arrived but my goodness...she can cook! Soups, salads, chicken, it was all amazing! And, an extra bonus that continued throughout the entire Shabbos was the fact that Netta teaches Hebrew so it was like having my own personal touter there to correct my linguistic mistakes. felt bad because she wasn't felling as well as she would have liked, but I'll go back another time when she's feeling well. Shabbos day was also very relaxed. Tea, cake and cereal to start the morning off and then prayers. When we arrived back at the apartment two of my other cousins had arrived home. Hadar is studying information science at Bear Sheva and I'm embarrased to admit that I forget the older brothers name, but he's working selling tractors, but hes traveled the world and is very nice! Actually, the all are. After a relaxing afternoon on the balcony and then sleeping I had a light snack with Netta as we discussed little things about life and then just chillaxed in the living room. Following Sabbaths conclusion I changed and watched a bit of a video with my uncle and then headed to the bus station.
The bus ride home was fun too. I met a bochur from Highland Park whos at...hmm, I don't remember the Yeshiva name and we failed at Jewish Geography, but a nice guy none the less. Getting backt o the kfar I just hung out. Ulpan today was good. I got my test back and got in the 80's. Usually that would be terribly for me but as I've been struggeling with the course I was happy. We also went on a trip around our campus's bontanical gardens. Beautiful! This afternoon I did some grocery shopping and then went to a TuBshvat Seder to celebrate the New Year of Trees. All fun. Its amazing how much I love this country, how relaxed I feel and how even when I'm struggeling with the language or aspects of the culture I still feel at home.

6.30am. Sunrise. Enough said.

a lot can happen in a day or two

its funny how the stories seem to accumulate. Even something as simple as wandering the street has started to turn into an adventure. Yesterday was hectic, but fun. Starting Sunday my head was once again bothering me so I returned to the doctor I had gone to a few weeks ago and told him that the problem had returned. He gave me a prescription and I decided to make an evening of it and go to an insurance-company-approved pharmacy on the other side of town, halfway between my grandmothers house and my uncle dannys. That way I would be able to visit my grandmother as well. And, since shed only be free between 6 & 7 I decided to go to the pharmacy between 5 and 530 and then visit with her. Arriving at the bus stop at approximately 4.45 I was expecting the bus to come any moment. It didn't. After a while I started talking with a woman who was standing there and since we were both waiting for the same bus we jointly expressed our frustration. After nearly half an hour I called Egged, the bus company, and they said that the next bus should be there at 5.15. 10 minutes away we eagerly waited as we both wanted to get a move on things. While waiting I was pleasently surprised when my cousin Eliezer stopped by to get his bus. We spoke for a bit but his bus arrived pretty quickly and off he went. By 5.25 my bus still hadn't arrived. Nervous/frustrated, I once again called Egged and they siad they didn't know why the bus hadn't come, but there should be one there in five minutes. This one came, and unfortunatly that was only half the story.
When the bus came it was packed. Everyone was standing as there was 1 and 1/2 hours worth of people waiting to get on that line. Sardines to start with, the bus only became more full as we went through town. The driver stopped at every stop and picked people up, but when the entrance to the bus became too full he simply started letting people crowd the back exit and letting them on for free. We could barely breath. When I got off, after around 1/2 an hour, I went straight to my grandmother and had a very pleasent evening with her. I then went to the pharmacist and to summarize the story I couldn't fill the prescription. Stupidity but whatever. Thankfully the evening wasn't over yet.
Monday nights are my "Media Noche" (Cuban Salsa by students for students) class nights and they are simply superb. It was my second lesson and I moved up from basic to beginner. It was fun. Class started off with learning one specific dance to King Africas La Bomba and then we went back to learn the routines of salsa (and hour and a half) followed by another hour of sweaty intense latin dances, not all salsa. I got back to the student village past midnight and then spent an hour on instant messanger with one of my Madrichim.
THis morning my schedule --Drisha, in hebrew_ was to go to the Ultra Orthodox neighborhood of Meah Shearim and then to go to the Souk. The former to get a new pair of Tzitzit + a new Yamulka and the latter to get some groceries. SO i go and get a bit lost. I asked one man for directions to a store and he said he didn't know. The second man I asked not only knew where there was a store but agreed to take me there and proved to be very nice conversation. Well, we arrived at the store 10 minutes before it opened and as we were in the midst of a discussion about faith and other philisophical/theological topics he said we should head to the building next door where there was a Beit Medrish, study hall, we could learn in for a few minutes. Turns out it was the main Breslov study hall in Israel and he was a very devout Breslov Chasid. So we sat and learnt, me feeling a bit out of place in jeans and a yellow button down shirt while everyone around me was wearing full chasidic garb of bekeshes and long peyus. After nealry 20-30min of study they announced that there was about to be a Brit milah, circumcision ceremony. Okay, I thought, this is kinda cool. So we're watching and the baby is placed in a chair, as it is traditionally, but its not just any chair. THey took this chair out of a very special locked and gated glass cabinet. At first I thought it was simply a special chair, but the oens used at circumcision ceremonies always are. My host leaned over to me and whispered to me that this was not any old chair but the chair of the founder of the Chasidic sect and that in the two years he'd been attending this synagauge he had yet to see it used. When the ceremony was over he insisited that I get a a blessing from one member of the ceremony, who is considered like and infant and thus without sin. Then we sat down to make a blessing on a peice of cake, considered blessings of merit by a Brit. When we finished a man sat down next to us and my host once again insisted that I get a blessing from him. He then explained that both are very well known rabbis, whos names are unfortuantly slipping my mind. THough the latter is the son of a rabbi who lost sight at an early age and stopped speaking other then the bare minimum.
By now it was 11 and I had to get to the souk and back to campus by 12.15 for class. I ran as fast as I could, stocked up on some fruit vegetables and bought a new pot and made it abck just in time.
Thats it for now but I must admit that I am absolutly loving the random experiences that this land is throwing towards me!