I don't know how much this was talked about in the States, but President Bush has been here in Yerushalayim since...Tuesday? Possibly Wednesday, I'm clearly not exactly hooked into the local news. But everywhere he goes, EVERYTHING shuts down. He staying (just him and his posse) at the King David hotel, and apparently everyone who lives around there was basically advised to not leave their houses while he was here. He went to visit Beit Lechem and the Gush area and they cloesd down the highways into Gush Etzion (which is hysterical, as more then half the teachers couldn't get back home for a good chunk of time)
Anyway, Eliana and I just thought this was the absolute coolest thing ever. One of the visiting alums had been out in Yerushalyim, just walking, and some guy (unclear if he was from America or Israel) wouldn't let her cross the street for a few minutes and she watched while the Presidential motorcade went by. Cool, right?
So Eliana and I decided (well, more Eliana decided and convinced me) that we should go wander around the city in hopes this would happen to us and we could wave and squeal like girls. So we hopped the bus, got off at a random stop and started walking. (at 10:30 Thursday night, by the way) Just to clarify how vague our plan was, we had NO IDEA where the Kind David hotel was, never mind how to get there from our random stop. But we saw evidence that the President had passed by from all of those crowd-control barriers set up and lots of those "Police barrier: Do not pass" streamer-things wrapped around them (except they were in Hebrew, so I couldn't really understand them.) And we passed a hotel where a lot of press were staying (identifiable from those little press tag things aroung their necks) and we passed a sign saying "Bring Pollard Home."
We took lots of pictures, but my camera cannot take good pictures in the dark, so a lot of mine are blurry. We ended up on Ben Yehudah (not deliberatly, we just walked straight.) and bought hot chocolate before running to catch the bus back. We were sure we were going to be past curfew, (which we were 12:48 when curfew's at 12:30) but when we got on the bus, our madricha got on with us! So we chatted with her for a bit, and she didn't seem so bothered when we got back late. We all signed in, so the school may comment to us about it, they might not. It's not the worse thing you could do, and Eliana and I have stellar records to boot.
This week is Shabbos Rammim, so I have to go the makolet and grab cookies or something for a gift before the bus leaves from school at 2. I'm mostly packed, and I'm psyched for next week!! (Mom and Zvi are coming to visit! Wooohooo!)
Friday, January 11, 2008
Sunday, January 6, 2008
To celebrate the fact that I woke up early enough to get a computer...
So, Firday morning. Here's a typical Friday for you. I woke up decently early (because I'd gone to sleep so early the night before) and I went to teh computer room for my crazy long post. Then I walked around to see who wasn't busy (in sem. I wasn't reallly in the mood to dig up people from other programs.) Abby wasn't busy, so we decided to head to Ben Yehudah together, maybe visit Rachel K. (she'd the one who got married.)
Abby wanted to get a hair cut, and there's a haircutting school right off of Ben Yehudah that does cuts for 35 nis, so we both went for it. My stylist-in-training spoke no English, and I don't knwo any words that involve cutting harir, so we had an intersting time of it. But my hair's even now, which is nice. And angled well.
Then we met up with one of Abby's friends from high school, a guy by the name of Yotz who had made Aliyah by himself and was fresh out of his army service. We calledc Rachel to come meet us, and then headed to Holy Bagel (great, American-style bagel place) and ate while we walked back to the bus stop, because we had to get back early for Abby to do toranut before Shabbos started. We met Michal, Miriam, and Shoshi L. at the bus stips, and chatted with them the whole way back.
Shabbos was nice, low-stress because we were in school I went to bed early. I was the only one who stayed in from my suite, so no annoying lights were on that I hadn't left on. I did toranut fro lunch, and went to Mrs. J's husband's shiur on aggadah. Apparently he's writing a book about it, which is kinda cool.
Post-Shabbos Eliana and I went to see The Golden Compass movie. It's good, but the book is MUCH better. We got back, and I got into bed before midnight (pretty good!).
Second semester starts today,a nd the French program that's been here for two months is finally leaving. I suppose I shouldn't really compoain, because I had very little to do wtih them, but they did hog the computers, and I caught two smoking out by the laundry room once. They're going to have a great time when they get back home with France's new anti-smoking laws.
Next Shabbos is shabbos rammim, which is going to be wierd, as I just switched Gemrah classes, so I'm going to Rav Br.'s house. I think he lives in Alon Shvut, but I'm not sure...
Abby wanted to get a hair cut, and there's a haircutting school right off of Ben Yehudah that does cuts for 35 nis, so we both went for it. My stylist-in-training spoke no English, and I don't knwo any words that involve cutting harir, so we had an intersting time of it. But my hair's even now, which is nice. And angled well.
Then we met up with one of Abby's friends from high school, a guy by the name of Yotz who had made Aliyah by himself and was fresh out of his army service. We calledc Rachel to come meet us, and then headed to Holy Bagel (great, American-style bagel place) and ate while we walked back to the bus stop, because we had to get back early for Abby to do toranut before Shabbos started. We met Michal, Miriam, and Shoshi L. at the bus stips, and chatted with them the whole way back.
Shabbos was nice, low-stress because we were in school I went to bed early. I was the only one who stayed in from my suite, so no annoying lights were on that I hadn't left on. I did toranut fro lunch, and went to Mrs. J's husband's shiur on aggadah. Apparently he's writing a book about it, which is kinda cool.
Post-Shabbos Eliana and I went to see The Golden Compass movie. It's good, but the book is MUCH better. We got back, and I got into bed before midnight (pretty good!).
Second semester starts today,a nd the French program that's been here for two months is finally leaving. I suppose I shouldn't really compoain, because I had very little to do wtih them, but they did hog the computers, and I caught two smoking out by the laundry room once. They're going to have a great time when they get back home with France's new anti-smoking laws.
Next Shabbos is shabbos rammim, which is going to be wierd, as I just switched Gemrah classes, so I'm going to Rav Br.'s house. I think he lives in Alon Shvut, but I'm not sure...
Friday, January 4, 2008
Three Day Tiyul. This is what Rav B. considers a break.
So, first semester is over. On Monday we all had to choose our classes for second semester. Most options were exactly the same, but they wanted us to re-register for everything. I just signed up for the same classes all over again. I might try out another Halachah class, just to see, but I'm pretty happy with mine, despite the fact that it's huge.
Now, Tuesday was our the first day of our between-semester break. Three days in Eilat. So Tuesday morning we had to be on a bus heading out of Yerushalyim by 4, so that we would make it to Eilat in time for our first hike. Have you ever had to wake up at 3:30 in the morning, knowing that for the next few hours you'd be cramped in an uncomfortable bus trying not to fall asleep on someone else's shoulder? Yeah. Plus, one of the buses got involved in an accident, so we were delayed a bit. Eventually we were on our way, and I spent the whole ride failing miserably to fall asleep. At least I'd got to bed early the night before. A lot of girls pulled all-nighters, and were painfully exhausted the whole day.
Anyway, we pull into a stop to eat breakfast and make lunch. Then we divided into two groups - The hard hike, and the medium hike. Easy hike was for Darkaynu (a program in our seminary for girls with mental issues) and only one of our girls was going on it, because she wasn't feeling so well. I was on the medium hike, which was a good thing.
The hike started with an uphill climb for some random peak. I can't remember the name of the hike, but we started at Givat Yocheved, and just went up. That part was not so fun, I was basically hauling myself up this ridiculous mountainside. We took a break at the top and chatted a bit with our tour guide. Apparently colleges in Israel were still on strike, so she was giving tours to kill time, and she'd already had experience from her Sheirut L'umi years. Then we started on the "down" part of the hike. I put that in quotes because the Israeli perception of down and my perception of down are very, very different. Sure, over the course of the next five hours or so, we were heading mostly down, there was still plenty of up to go with it. Lots of up. I spent a good bit of that hike (especially in the begining) slogging with our shomer (guard) named Ron, who had a handgun instead of a rifle, like most shomrim on hikes. He has to stay with the last person, or behind them, at all times. Mrs. Nomi B. (one of the teachers) or Debbie (a madricha) hung out with me a lot too.
I took a bunch of random pictures of the view, which is amazing. I walked with Shoshana L. and Shoshi and Debbie for a bit near the end. They were naming two random actors and trying to get them connected with the least degrees of separation. I'm terrible at these games, but it was near the end of the hike, we were walking on (mostly) flat ground, and the bus was just over the next ridge, so I hung around. Also, I got the Johnny Depp connected to Russel Crowe (Johnny Depp in Pirates of the Caribbean with Orlando Bloom who was in Lord of the Rings with Billy Boyd who was in Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World with Russel Crowe. Sorry about the blatant victory dancing on the Internet, but I don't memorize enough actors names to generally get any of these, and this is my personal diary, despite being available for your reading pleasure, whoever you are)
By the end of the hike, though, I was staggering a bit because I had pulled a muscle in my upper thigh joint and it was hurting. I used the elevator for the rest of the night, to dinner in the hotel (which was really good) and then to the Shiurim (I went to Rav Sh.'s. It ended early, which was nice.) and then I stretched before I fell asleep.
The next morning, it was KILLING me. I woke up early with the group (before sunrise again! Yay!) and headed out with them to eat breakfast and make lunch before I made an official decision about which hike I was doing. Shoshi L. came with us, as she was considering the medium hike. I staggered around for a bit (I'm exaggerating a little, but it did hurt to climb steps) and then decided to go on the Darkaynu hike with Shoshi L. and Michal (Shoshi was still feeling so-so. Michal just hates hiking). We took the bus back to the hotel with Rav Sh. who wasn't feeling up to the hard hike, despite the fact that it was killing him that he couldn't do it, and we jumped onto the Darkaynu bus while he went inside to rest.
Darkaynu was a lot of fun. We took a tour of a kibbutz that make Shoko (come to Israel and drink shoko. It's great) and we took lots of pictures of cows and fields. It's actually amazing what they've managed to accomplish in terms of agriculture considering that it's the middle of the desert. Then we went on a hike at Timna park. It used to be (was way back, many centuries ago...) a copper mine, mined by Egyptians quite far from home. There was an information movie, and then we went on a short hike. I could've done it in maybe 45 minutes if I dawdled and took pictures. I think it took us 2 hours. There was one part where you climbed through an old mining shaft. You could see the copper in the walls, easily. (Identifiable by it's signature green look, a la the Statue of Liberty. Oxidation and all that.) Then we made little bottle of sand with all natural colors. I might send it home with mom so I won't lose it.
That night there were more shiurim. (I went to Rav. Br.'s) and then there was an optional kumzitz. I went to my room to hang out instead. (Note: My room consisted of me, Daniela, Shoshi L. and Michal. It was great. Except that there were no towels. Not kidding. We get there the first night, and we all had towels for the beach, except Shoshi, so we called down the front desk. They said, "Towels don't come with the package" and hung up. We were stunned. It became a running joke, in fact. "Look, there's hooks for the towels! Look, there's a ring for a towel!" Hotel Adi, no towels for you!)
Shoshi and Michal went to the kumzitz, and Abby came to visit, so we tried to watch TV. Now, there was nothing good on. There were a few Arabic channels (Eilat is RIGHT NEXT TO the Jordanian border. Every time we did anything someone would point at the distant mountains and inform us that that was Jordan. On the kibbutz with Darkaynu we passed within 40 feet of the fence that marks the border. There's two flags waving over the gate. Israeli and Jordanian) and CNN international, and some random Israeli channels. We ended up watching The Shooter with Hebrew subtitles. I have no idea who wasted their time subtitling that thing, because the movie is terrible. We spend more time laughing at it then anything else. After that we all headed to bed.
There was an optional hike a 4 in the morning or so on Thursday. I woke up for it (Shoshi's alarm went off, she was going) but I couldn't even manage to open my eyes, never mind getting out of bed. I ended up getting later and packing before breakfast, which was very good. Then I made lunch and went back to my room, finished packing and headed down to the bus with Shoshi. We were heading for a private beach for our last day.
The beach was great. It was a little cold out (very windy) but the sun was bright. I applied sunscreen at least three times in our four-hour beach time. I was one of the few to go swimming, and once you got used to the water it was wonderful. It was a sandy beach and there was kayaking and banana boating (for the those of you who don't know, banana boats a big blow up banana-shaped things that get pulled along after a motorboat.) I went banana boating with Abby, Debbie, and Miriam and we asked him to go fast enough to tip us over, which he did. We all had to wear life jackets anyway, and we had a blast, even though we had the hardest time getting back on that thing for the ride back.
We all changed into normal clothing for our bus ride, so I stopped swimming about half an hour before we left so I'd be dry in time. I got the window seat for the ride back and ended up sleeping on and off. I had to wait a bit for dinner, because I was still fleishig, but I ate quickly,
took a shower and went straight to before 9. This is our "refreshing, relaxing" break between semesters, so we can feel all fresh and ready for classes on Sunday!
I'm staying in this shabbos, because I figured I'd be just too exhausted to deal with the whole shabbos deal, and I'm happy I did because I'm NOT in the mood to pack again. Next week is Shabbos Rammim, and then Mom and Zvi are coming, so I don't have to deal with shabbos for a while, which will be a nice change from my Tuesday afternoon panic sessions.
Now, Tuesday was our the first day of our between-semester break. Three days in Eilat. So Tuesday morning we had to be on a bus heading out of Yerushalyim by 4, so that we would make it to Eilat in time for our first hike. Have you ever had to wake up at 3:30 in the morning, knowing that for the next few hours you'd be cramped in an uncomfortable bus trying not to fall asleep on someone else's shoulder? Yeah. Plus, one of the buses got involved in an accident, so we were delayed a bit. Eventually we were on our way, and I spent the whole ride failing miserably to fall asleep. At least I'd got to bed early the night before. A lot of girls pulled all-nighters, and were painfully exhausted the whole day.
Anyway, we pull into a stop to eat breakfast and make lunch. Then we divided into two groups - The hard hike, and the medium hike. Easy hike was for Darkaynu (a program in our seminary for girls with mental issues) and only one of our girls was going on it, because she wasn't feeling so well. I was on the medium hike, which was a good thing.
The hike started with an uphill climb for some random peak. I can't remember the name of the hike, but we started at Givat Yocheved, and just went up. That part was not so fun, I was basically hauling myself up this ridiculous mountainside. We took a break at the top and chatted a bit with our tour guide. Apparently colleges in Israel were still on strike, so she was giving tours to kill time, and she'd already had experience from her Sheirut L'umi years. Then we started on the "down" part of the hike. I put that in quotes because the Israeli perception of down and my perception of down are very, very different. Sure, over the course of the next five hours or so, we were heading mostly down, there was still plenty of up to go with it. Lots of up. I spent a good bit of that hike (especially in the begining) slogging with our shomer (guard) named Ron, who had a handgun instead of a rifle, like most shomrim on hikes. He has to stay with the last person, or behind them, at all times. Mrs. Nomi B. (one of the teachers) or Debbie (a madricha) hung out with me a lot too.
I took a bunch of random pictures of the view, which is amazing. I walked with Shoshana L. and Shoshi and Debbie for a bit near the end. They were naming two random actors and trying to get them connected with the least degrees of separation. I'm terrible at these games, but it was near the end of the hike, we were walking on (mostly) flat ground, and the bus was just over the next ridge, so I hung around. Also, I got the Johnny Depp connected to Russel Crowe (Johnny Depp in Pirates of the Caribbean with Orlando Bloom who was in Lord of the Rings with Billy Boyd who was in Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World with Russel Crowe. Sorry about the blatant victory dancing on the Internet, but I don't memorize enough actors names to generally get any of these, and this is my personal diary, despite being available for your reading pleasure, whoever you are)
By the end of the hike, though, I was staggering a bit because I had pulled a muscle in my upper thigh joint and it was hurting. I used the elevator for the rest of the night, to dinner in the hotel (which was really good) and then to the Shiurim (I went to Rav Sh.'s. It ended early, which was nice.) and then I stretched before I fell asleep.
The next morning, it was KILLING me. I woke up early with the group (before sunrise again! Yay!) and headed out with them to eat breakfast and make lunch before I made an official decision about which hike I was doing. Shoshi L. came with us, as she was considering the medium hike. I staggered around for a bit (I'm exaggerating a little, but it did hurt to climb steps) and then decided to go on the Darkaynu hike with Shoshi L. and Michal (Shoshi was still feeling so-so. Michal just hates hiking). We took the bus back to the hotel with Rav Sh. who wasn't feeling up to the hard hike, despite the fact that it was killing him that he couldn't do it, and we jumped onto the Darkaynu bus while he went inside to rest.
Darkaynu was a lot of fun. We took a tour of a kibbutz that make Shoko (come to Israel and drink shoko. It's great) and we took lots of pictures of cows and fields. It's actually amazing what they've managed to accomplish in terms of agriculture considering that it's the middle of the desert. Then we went on a hike at Timna park. It used to be (was way back, many centuries ago...) a copper mine, mined by Egyptians quite far from home. There was an information movie, and then we went on a short hike. I could've done it in maybe 45 minutes if I dawdled and took pictures. I think it took us 2 hours. There was one part where you climbed through an old mining shaft. You could see the copper in the walls, easily. (Identifiable by it's signature green look, a la the Statue of Liberty. Oxidation and all that.) Then we made little bottle of sand with all natural colors. I might send it home with mom so I won't lose it.
That night there were more shiurim. (I went to Rav. Br.'s) and then there was an optional kumzitz. I went to my room to hang out instead. (Note: My room consisted of me, Daniela, Shoshi L. and Michal. It was great. Except that there were no towels. Not kidding. We get there the first night, and we all had towels for the beach, except Shoshi, so we called down the front desk. They said, "Towels don't come with the package" and hung up. We were stunned. It became a running joke, in fact. "Look, there's hooks for the towels! Look, there's a ring for a towel!" Hotel Adi, no towels for you!)
Shoshi and Michal went to the kumzitz, and Abby came to visit, so we tried to watch TV. Now, there was nothing good on. There were a few Arabic channels (Eilat is RIGHT NEXT TO the Jordanian border. Every time we did anything someone would point at the distant mountains and inform us that that was Jordan. On the kibbutz with Darkaynu we passed within 40 feet of the fence that marks the border. There's two flags waving over the gate. Israeli and Jordanian) and CNN international, and some random Israeli channels. We ended up watching The Shooter with Hebrew subtitles. I have no idea who wasted their time subtitling that thing, because the movie is terrible. We spend more time laughing at it then anything else. After that we all headed to bed.
There was an optional hike a 4 in the morning or so on Thursday. I woke up for it (Shoshi's alarm went off, she was going) but I couldn't even manage to open my eyes, never mind getting out of bed. I ended up getting later and packing before breakfast, which was very good. Then I made lunch and went back to my room, finished packing and headed down to the bus with Shoshi. We were heading for a private beach for our last day.
The beach was great. It was a little cold out (very windy) but the sun was bright. I applied sunscreen at least three times in our four-hour beach time. I was one of the few to go swimming, and once you got used to the water it was wonderful. It was a sandy beach and there was kayaking and banana boating (for the those of you who don't know, banana boats a big blow up banana-shaped things that get pulled along after a motorboat.) I went banana boating with Abby, Debbie, and Miriam and we asked him to go fast enough to tip us over, which he did. We all had to wear life jackets anyway, and we had a blast, even though we had the hardest time getting back on that thing for the ride back.
We all changed into normal clothing for our bus ride, so I stopped swimming about half an hour before we left so I'd be dry in time. I got the window seat for the ride back and ended up sleeping on and off. I had to wait a bit for dinner, because I was still fleishig, but I ate quickly,
took a shower and went straight to before 9. This is our "refreshing, relaxing" break between semesters, so we can feel all fresh and ready for classes on Sunday!
I'm staying in this shabbos, because I figured I'd be just too exhausted to deal with the whole shabbos deal, and I'm happy I did because I'm NOT in the mood to pack again. Next week is Shabbos Rammim, and then Mom and Zvi are coming, so I don't have to deal with shabbos for a while, which will be a nice change from my Tuesday afternoon panic sessions.
Saturday, December 29, 2007
Yeah, I havent' updated in a while. Perhaps I'll fill in the time later...
So, I went to Ma'ale Adumim this shabbos, to my roommates's house, with Michal. It was actually a lot of fun, if kinda quiet. (I don't mind quiet - sleep is a great thing on Shabbos. A great and wonderful thing)
The bus goes past Yaffo, so Michal and I headed to Ben Yehudah for lunch before catching the bus out. We had a bit of a panic on the bus, because normally when we're heading for Daniela's, we'll call her when we cross into Ma'ale Adumim, and she'll stand at the bus stop and call when she sees us coming so we'll know to hit the button. But this time she wasn't picking up her phone and we didn't know the name of the stop or her home number. So we panicked. She picked up on the fourth or fifth call, and it all worked out fine in the end.
We got there early and hung out for a bit, and Shabbos (like I said) was a mostly quiet affair, with lots of reading. I read three books. All of them by Eoin Colfer (of Artemis Fowl fame - I read the latest one on Friday night) but it's nice to take a mental break every once in a while. Considering I'm spending some 9+ hours a day on limudei kodesh and reading Anna Karrenina in my spare time, mindless YA novels are wonderful.
When Shabbos ended, we watched the rest of the Transformers movie (we started it last week, on Saturday night, during Daniela's second birthday party. Her first on was midnight Wednesday night (she turned 19 on Thursday) and then on Sat. night a few of us who could make it came to her house for unhealthy food and awesome movies. But we had to cut the movie short to make it back to curfew, and Michal was the only one who had never seen it, so we finished it tonight. I still love that movie, even if it's aimed at 15-year-old boys. For those...slightly older people reading this blog, I'm talking about the live-action Transformers movie that came out this summer. Not the original animated one where Optimus Prime died. I never saw that one, and based on my inability to watch old animated shows for very long without frequent breaks, I doubt I ever will.)
Anyway, a bunch of teachers from S/A/R were in the country this weeked (winter break!) so the school had a semi-reunion tonight. Michal and I headed back after the movie, and I was still fairly early for the party. It was nice. I chatted with a bunch of people whom I like but I don't keep in touch with because we're not that close. Also, it was in the OU building, which is in between Ben Yehudah (where the bus from Ma'ale Adumim let me off) and my school, so when the party ended, I just hopped on the 7 and was back in school in minutes. It was a nice night, all around.
This week, we're having a three-day tiyul in Eilat, just because. Oh, and to make everything all better, we're leaving at 2:30 in the morning. Some girls are planning on staying up because it's just not worth going to sleep. Not me! So you might not hear from me for a while (not that that's a new thing)
This update is for you Mom! Can't wait to see you!
The bus goes past Yaffo, so Michal and I headed to Ben Yehudah for lunch before catching the bus out. We had a bit of a panic on the bus, because normally when we're heading for Daniela's, we'll call her when we cross into Ma'ale Adumim, and she'll stand at the bus stop and call when she sees us coming so we'll know to hit the button. But this time she wasn't picking up her phone and we didn't know the name of the stop or her home number. So we panicked. She picked up on the fourth or fifth call, and it all worked out fine in the end.
We got there early and hung out for a bit, and Shabbos (like I said) was a mostly quiet affair, with lots of reading. I read three books. All of them by Eoin Colfer (of Artemis Fowl fame - I read the latest one on Friday night) but it's nice to take a mental break every once in a while. Considering I'm spending some 9+ hours a day on limudei kodesh and reading Anna Karrenina in my spare time, mindless YA novels are wonderful.
When Shabbos ended, we watched the rest of the Transformers movie (we started it last week, on Saturday night, during Daniela's second birthday party. Her first on was midnight Wednesday night (she turned 19 on Thursday) and then on Sat. night a few of us who could make it came to her house for unhealthy food and awesome movies. But we had to cut the movie short to make it back to curfew, and Michal was the only one who had never seen it, so we finished it tonight. I still love that movie, even if it's aimed at 15-year-old boys. For those...slightly older people reading this blog, I'm talking about the live-action Transformers movie that came out this summer. Not the original animated one where Optimus Prime died. I never saw that one, and based on my inability to watch old animated shows for very long without frequent breaks, I doubt I ever will.)
Anyway, a bunch of teachers from S/A/R were in the country this weeked (winter break!) so the school had a semi-reunion tonight. Michal and I headed back after the movie, and I was still fairly early for the party. It was nice. I chatted with a bunch of people whom I like but I don't keep in touch with because we're not that close. Also, it was in the OU building, which is in between Ben Yehudah (where the bus from Ma'ale Adumim let me off) and my school, so when the party ended, I just hopped on the 7 and was back in school in minutes. It was a nice night, all around.
This week, we're having a three-day tiyul in Eilat, just because. Oh, and to make everything all better, we're leaving at 2:30 in the morning. Some girls are planning on staying up because it's just not worth going to sleep. Not me! So you might not hear from me for a while (not that that's a new thing)
This update is for you Mom! Can't wait to see you!
Sunday, December 9, 2007
Another Shabbos, More Sufganiyot (I'm eating waaay too many of those...)
So, I'm on Chanukah vacation. I have to say, I like this system of Jewish holiday-based vacations. Tomorrow I'm planning on visiting my cousings in Tel Aviv, wish me luck. I 'm not really sure which bus to take.
But that's not waht this post is about. This post is about Shabbos. I was in Chasmonayim, with Rachel adn Joel and co. Rinat wasn't there, but it was OK, because I brought Eliana with me. I'm still sick (almost day 8 now!) so we slept in another house because Rachel's mom has a weak immune sysytem, but it was fine. We davened in that hosue on Friday night because it was raining heavily (heaviest rain I've been here for) and we had a fun vegetarian meal, I love the dairly quiches during shabbos.
We made it to shul really early the next day, and it was nice. During the Rabbi's speech, when they pull the curtains on the Machitzah back, I saw Josh and Ashy, so I went over after shul to say hi.
The shul as having some sort of shul luncheon, and Eliana and I sat at the family table, and had a meat meal. Somehow I always manage to do that whenever I visit, despite the fact that they're vegetarian. After lunch Eliana and I just slept for the rest of Shabbos, which was fantastic. Shabbos naps are saving me from my crazy schedule this year.
After Shabos Rinat was throwing a Chanukah party for her friends, which naturally included my whole senior grade. They were all invitied, less then half showed up, but it was a lot of fun. We made our own sufganiyot (it must be my fourth this year, which is crazy for me) and ate fun vegetarian hot dogs and chicken. We played some Jewish Tabboo, sat around and talked, stood around and talked, ate some more, sang some songs, etc. It was really fun. For the last half-hour or so, we watched the begining of the Simpsons Movie, and I take back everything I said to Zvi, it's hysterical.
Rinat had hired a bus to take a group to and from Yerushalayim for the party. I don't know how much it was to go both ways (I took the Chareidi Superbus into Chashmonaim again) but it was 15 shekel to take it back to Yerushalayim, so Eliana and I decided to take it back with everyone. It was fun, I chatted with Yael the whole way (and Ein Hanatziv is really laid-back) while Noam acted like a flight attendent on the microphone in front of the bus. The bus stopped at the Tachanah Merkazit, where Eliana and I got off and caught the 7 back to sem.
I'm probably going to try to go grocery shopping Monday, or at least run over the Makolet and buy milk, as I have none, but I'm missing home and the total lack of responsibility when I'm sick. You don't want to take care of yourself when you're ill, really.
But that's not waht this post is about. This post is about Shabbos. I was in Chasmonayim, with Rachel adn Joel and co. Rinat wasn't there, but it was OK, because I brought Eliana with me. I'm still sick (almost day 8 now!) so we slept in another house because Rachel's mom has a weak immune sysytem, but it was fine. We davened in that hosue on Friday night because it was raining heavily (heaviest rain I've been here for) and we had a fun vegetarian meal, I love the dairly quiches during shabbos.
We made it to shul really early the next day, and it was nice. During the Rabbi's speech, when they pull the curtains on the Machitzah back, I saw Josh and Ashy, so I went over after shul to say hi.
The shul as having some sort of shul luncheon, and Eliana and I sat at the family table, and had a meat meal. Somehow I always manage to do that whenever I visit, despite the fact that they're vegetarian. After lunch Eliana and I just slept for the rest of Shabbos, which was fantastic. Shabbos naps are saving me from my crazy schedule this year.
After Shabos Rinat was throwing a Chanukah party for her friends, which naturally included my whole senior grade. They were all invitied, less then half showed up, but it was a lot of fun. We made our own sufganiyot (it must be my fourth this year, which is crazy for me) and ate fun vegetarian hot dogs and chicken. We played some Jewish Tabboo, sat around and talked, stood around and talked, ate some more, sang some songs, etc. It was really fun. For the last half-hour or so, we watched the begining of the Simpsons Movie, and I take back everything I said to Zvi, it's hysterical.
Rinat had hired a bus to take a group to and from Yerushalayim for the party. I don't know how much it was to go both ways (I took the Chareidi Superbus into Chashmonaim again) but it was 15 shekel to take it back to Yerushalayim, so Eliana and I decided to take it back with everyone. It was fun, I chatted with Yael the whole way (and Ein Hanatziv is really laid-back) while Noam acted like a flight attendent on the microphone in front of the bus. The bus stopped at the Tachanah Merkazit, where Eliana and I got off and caught the 7 back to sem.
I'm probably going to try to go grocery shopping Monday, or at least run over the Makolet and buy milk, as I have none, but I'm missing home and the total lack of responsibility when I'm sick. You don't want to take care of yourself when you're ill, really.
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
Sick
This is day four of the unidentifiable illness of doom. I've managed to miss nearly all my classes, but Shani T. says the according to Talmud, the best cure for illness is to study Torah. Somehow, I'm less then surprised.
Friday, November 23, 2007
Thanksgiving...Sort Of
So, I wanted to throw a big Thanksgiving party, with all sorts of fun stuff, like maybe a turkey. Of course, that plan fell apart pretty quickly, as nearly everyone had some sort of family/friends from different Midrashot plans already. So instead I grabbed Eliana, and we decided to head for Emek Rfa'im, one of the two hang-out streets. Basically, there's a lot of food options. It's around 45 minute walk from school, give or take, so we decided to walk it.
Well, about 8 minutes into the walk, a dog picks us as the most interesting thing around. And this dog follows us. And follows us. In fact, the dog follows us all the way to Emek Rfa'im. Problem? We cross a bunch of BIG streets on the way. A big street in Israel can have up to three lights, with little island things you stand on in the middle of the road. And this dog was stupid, kept getting himself in the middle of the road before realizing we'd stopped at the last island-thing. We'd start shouting at the dog (I tried in Hebrew, it can't hurt right?) and eventually he'd come back to us. We spent most of the walk FREAKING OUT. And I don't think there's any sort of animal control in this country.
Anyway, when we finally got there he picked someone else to follow, and we ducked into Shnitzi's, which is similar to Chickies, but not as good (in my personal opinion, that is). Anyway, we both got sandwiches, and hung out, watching the crowd. Normally when I'm there (which isn't often at all, really) There's a ton of American teens with their friends. Lots of people I know at different Yeshivas and Midrashot. But this time, it was mostly Israeli's. Interesting change. More people started showing up as we left, but we decided to walk back, so we didn't want to stick around for too long. It was very cold outside.
Anyway, we got back around 11 at night, and I went back to my room to crash. Out of the four people in my suite, only Lani and I stayed in that night, as my roomie went to her parent's house (they made aliyah) and Rikki flew home, so it was pretty quiet. Now I just have to finish packing and get on a bus to Beit Shemesh for Shabbos.
Well, about 8 minutes into the walk, a dog picks us as the most interesting thing around. And this dog follows us. And follows us. In fact, the dog follows us all the way to Emek Rfa'im. Problem? We cross a bunch of BIG streets on the way. A big street in Israel can have up to three lights, with little island things you stand on in the middle of the road. And this dog was stupid, kept getting himself in the middle of the road before realizing we'd stopped at the last island-thing. We'd start shouting at the dog (I tried in Hebrew, it can't hurt right?) and eventually he'd come back to us. We spent most of the walk FREAKING OUT. And I don't think there's any sort of animal control in this country.
Anyway, when we finally got there he picked someone else to follow, and we ducked into Shnitzi's, which is similar to Chickies, but not as good (in my personal opinion, that is). Anyway, we both got sandwiches, and hung out, watching the crowd. Normally when I'm there (which isn't often at all, really) There's a ton of American teens with their friends. Lots of people I know at different Yeshivas and Midrashot. But this time, it was mostly Israeli's. Interesting change. More people started showing up as we left, but we decided to walk back, so we didn't want to stick around for too long. It was very cold outside.
Anyway, we got back around 11 at night, and I went back to my room to crash. Out of the four people in my suite, only Lani and I stayed in that night, as my roomie went to her parent's house (they made aliyah) and Rikki flew home, so it was pretty quiet. Now I just have to finish packing and get on a bus to Beit Shemesh for Shabbos.
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Timing
Signs here tend to be in military time. Which is fantastic, as far as I'm concerned, because I love military time. It's more elegent then "am" and "pm" and I enjoy being able to switch back and forth in my head. Both the digital readout on all of my watches and my computer have been set in military time for at least three years now. The only thing that has seriously confused me was when I was at the bank. The bank opens pretty early, then closes for around three hours in the middle of the day (siesta, as far as I'm concerned, but most places seem to not take them here anymore. In Argentina, everywhere except Buenos Aires SHUTS DOWN during siesta.) and then the post office reopens. Anyway, the times were written left-to-right, but arranged right-to-left. I didn't realize it, and spent a good three minutes, staring at that sign, trying to figure out why the post office had the absolute wierdest hours ever. (I won't be writing in military time here, mostly, because most people reading this are American. I am starting to use it when writing notes to myself.)
Now, time difference is a whole 'nother ball game. Frustrating at absolute best. The East coast of America is normally a 7-hour time difference. I have one of those world-time options on my watch, and it's perpetually set to New York. I also got pretty good at counting back seven hours in the first few days of seminary. Ah, but then it all changed. The clocks here change right before Yom Kippur, so that the fast ends waaaaaay early. (This is also a political issue, involving the government, and the rabbinate, and the public complaints. But that's the basic expliantion.) Anyway, now the East coast is only six hours away. It means I don't call in the morning anymore, because I don't wake up that early, but I can call earlier in the afternoon. It also means I haven't spoken to Zvi in a while, because I'm normally in class before he's heading to school and I'm going to bed when he's coming back, roughly. Also, my roommate is from Seattle, so her time difference is also a whole different set of problems, and is also more frustrating for her. She sometimes does wake up early to call her friends, as they're all still up.
And then there's Sundays. Sundays here are just another work day. Much less of Christian influence then America, you see. It took a bit getting used to. Scratch that, I'm still not used to it. Saturday nights were the party night, and now I have class at 9:15 Sunday morning, so I'm more careful with then. Thursday night is that party night now, as there are no classes on Friday. But partying can't start until after Bkiut class, which ends at 10, or Mishmar (which is optional, but normally full) which ends at 11. And curfew is still 12:30, if you're planning on sleeping in the dorm. So...we watch movies, mostly. Good movies, bad movies, chick flicks, etc. Someone is normally wandering down the hall, knocking on people's doors and asking if they have any DVD's. (That happens every night, though, not just Thursday. Talia, a friend of mine at another seminary, came to visit one Wednesday night (I don't kn0w why either) and we found out she'd never seen Dirty Dancing. Needless to say, I was really really tired the next day during morning shiur.) Then whoever is in the room (I normally watch in Michal's room, because I'm friends with the room and it's right next door to mine.) votes on a movie, and there we go! The only problem is if you want to do things on Friday, you have to get up earlier to have time before you start heading to your hosts for Shabbos. So...not so much sleep Thursday night. I've ditched the movie a couple of times, because by Thursday night I am crashing. I don't get a lot of sleep during the week.
But our lack of free Sundays has resulted in me calling America around 7 in the morning on Sundays a few time, because I'm wide awake and chipper because it's lunch time for me, and I forget that there's no work on Sundays in America. It's a normal work day for me, after all. I laugh about it every time, because I find it amusing. I'm not sure anyone sleeping in my house Sunday morning would be inclined to agree.
Now, time difference is a whole 'nother ball game. Frustrating at absolute best. The East coast of America is normally a 7-hour time difference. I have one of those world-time options on my watch, and it's perpetually set to New York. I also got pretty good at counting back seven hours in the first few days of seminary. Ah, but then it all changed. The clocks here change right before Yom Kippur, so that the fast ends waaaaaay early. (This is also a political issue, involving the government, and the rabbinate, and the public complaints. But that's the basic expliantion.) Anyway, now the East coast is only six hours away. It means I don't call in the morning anymore, because I don't wake up that early, but I can call earlier in the afternoon. It also means I haven't spoken to Zvi in a while, because I'm normally in class before he's heading to school and I'm going to bed when he's coming back, roughly. Also, my roommate is from Seattle, so her time difference is also a whole different set of problems, and is also more frustrating for her. She sometimes does wake up early to call her friends, as they're all still up.
And then there's Sundays. Sundays here are just another work day. Much less of Christian influence then America, you see. It took a bit getting used to. Scratch that, I'm still not used to it. Saturday nights were the party night, and now I have class at 9:15 Sunday morning, so I'm more careful with then. Thursday night is that party night now, as there are no classes on Friday. But partying can't start until after Bkiut class, which ends at 10, or Mishmar (which is optional, but normally full) which ends at 11. And curfew is still 12:30, if you're planning on sleeping in the dorm. So...we watch movies, mostly. Good movies, bad movies, chick flicks, etc. Someone is normally wandering down the hall, knocking on people's doors and asking if they have any DVD's. (That happens every night, though, not just Thursday. Talia, a friend of mine at another seminary, came to visit one Wednesday night (I don't kn0w why either) and we found out she'd never seen Dirty Dancing. Needless to say, I was really really tired the next day during morning shiur.) Then whoever is in the room (I normally watch in Michal's room, because I'm friends with the room and it's right next door to mine.) votes on a movie, and there we go! The only problem is if you want to do things on Friday, you have to get up earlier to have time before you start heading to your hosts for Shabbos. So...not so much sleep Thursday night. I've ditched the movie a couple of times, because by Thursday night I am crashing. I don't get a lot of sleep during the week.
But our lack of free Sundays has resulted in me calling America around 7 in the morning on Sundays a few time, because I'm wide awake and chipper because it's lunch time for me, and I forget that there's no work on Sundays in America. It's a normal work day for me, after all. I laugh about it every time, because I find it amusing. I'm not sure anyone sleeping in my house Sunday morning would be inclined to agree.
Advocacy
The David Project is an organization that teaches students how to advocate for Israel, specifically on the college campus. My program offers a course every Tuesday, I'm taking it. Last Tuesday night one of our teachers invited us to a talk he was having with some Irish tourists, who he hinted might be a bit anti-Israel and pro-Palestinian Arab.
To sum up, they were. Well, at least the ones who spoke. There was a whole large group, and we all sat around in a rough circle. We (the students of the class) were basically instructed not to talk, as this was supposed to be a learning experience for us, and we'd only had a few advocacy classes, so we couldn't really be expected to do a good job. They (the Irish tourists, and I only mention that they were Irish constantly, because their accents were very cool) mostly didn't talk. It came down to about four very loud, insistant people and maybe five people who actually waited their turn. It was clear that anyone who spoke had a pre-existing Pro-Palestinian Arab bent. Some were a bit more obvious in their bias, accusing Israel and demanding explinations. One guy tried to give the whole thing a religious basis, but he was also pretty anti-Israel. One woman was a little bit over the top (she claimed that you can "blame the victim" - at least when the victim is Israel.) but on the whole they were pretty polite. It was astonishing how wrong their facts were a lot of the time. How can you argue against things that aren't really true? They were nice peole before and after the talk at least.
It's a taste of what might come, but when we spoke about it in class the next day, some teachers expressed their personal beleifs that the whole process might be futile. I'm inclined to agree with them. Maybe it's the cynic inside me, but I don't really think anyone who has clearly made up his or her mind is going to change it, especially based on one hour-long talk. I do think it's important to do this, as peaceful discourse is always a plus, but most advocacy is not peaceful, sit-down discuccsions with people who want to talk. It's rarely a sit-down discussion with people who don't have an opinion. So...important skills to have, but it's not the most important part of advocacy. Intersting experience, though.
To sum up, they were. Well, at least the ones who spoke. There was a whole large group, and we all sat around in a rough circle. We (the students of the class) were basically instructed not to talk, as this was supposed to be a learning experience for us, and we'd only had a few advocacy classes, so we couldn't really be expected to do a good job. They (the Irish tourists, and I only mention that they were Irish constantly, because their accents were very cool) mostly didn't talk. It came down to about four very loud, insistant people and maybe five people who actually waited their turn. It was clear that anyone who spoke had a pre-existing Pro-Palestinian Arab bent. Some were a bit more obvious in their bias, accusing Israel and demanding explinations. One guy tried to give the whole thing a religious basis, but he was also pretty anti-Israel. One woman was a little bit over the top (she claimed that you can "blame the victim" - at least when the victim is Israel.) but on the whole they were pretty polite. It was astonishing how wrong their facts were a lot of the time. How can you argue against things that aren't really true? They were nice peole before and after the talk at least.
It's a taste of what might come, but when we spoke about it in class the next day, some teachers expressed their personal beleifs that the whole process might be futile. I'm inclined to agree with them. Maybe it's the cynic inside me, but I don't really think anyone who has clearly made up his or her mind is going to change it, especially based on one hour-long talk. I do think it's important to do this, as peaceful discourse is always a plus, but most advocacy is not peaceful, sit-down discuccsions with people who want to talk. It's rarely a sit-down discussion with people who don't have an opinion. So...important skills to have, but it's not the most important part of advocacy. Intersting experience, though.
Friday, October 26, 2007
Fruit is not in Shmitah yet, a fact for which I am eternally gratefull
Did you know that oranges here are green. You heard me. And they taste wonderful. A little fresher then American ones. Of course, nearly all produce tastes better then American produce here, but I'm not a big orange fan in America and I can't get enough of them here.
(Which may or may not have anything to do with my utter delight at the color. Green! I don't think I can eat orange oranges anymore. Green!)
I also need to figure out how to make food besides cerael and milk, as I'm getting a little sick of it as my main souce of snacking and my backup when I miss meals. I'm a little leary about buying vegetables, though, as I haven't quite figured out exactly what signs will tell me if something is keduashat shvi'it and such.
(Which may or may not have anything to do with my utter delight at the color. Green! I don't think I can eat orange oranges anymore. Green!)
I also need to figure out how to make food besides cerael and milk, as I'm getting a little sick of it as my main souce of snacking and my backup when I miss meals. I'm a little leary about buying vegetables, though, as I haven't quite figured out exactly what signs will tell me if something is keduashat shvi'it and such.
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