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