Saturday night (Motzei Shabbat) - Burger's Bar dinner then a night of laughter at Cafe Cafe on Emek with Amy, Aliza, Heidi, and Helene.
Sunday 18/1 (as they do dates in israel) - 1st trip to Ben Yehuda during the day = shopping! I bought Ahava face wash and moisturizer which has saved my life! (also, an experience when I completely mixed up my hebrew with the saleslady). 1st Falafel of the trip - at Moshiko! 1st trip to the shuk (machaneh yehudah)! Super fun day!!
Monday 19/1 - Ulpan Begins! Level bet! My teacher, Mazal, is the cutest ever!
I also went running in the afternoon with Theise around French Hill and up to campus and back which was nice esp. b/c it put everything locationally into perspective. For dinner, a bunch of us camp people went to dinner in town at a place called "Kadosh" and met up with Michal Chacham (one of the Israelis who has worked at camp with us for the past several summers) Also.. Monday night was the 1st of many Salsa dancing experiences! we're going every week. its SOO FUN!! (also funny, at salsa there were 3 israelis we knew - 1 guy who worked at camp our jc summer, 1 guy who staffed seminar and my desert survival, and 1 girl who was my madricha (counselor) on seminar. it was so coincidental!
Tuesday 20/1 - Inauguration Day! My Ulpan class discusses headlines from the newspaper in hebrew all about Obama's inauguration. Really cool. Now I can talk about it in Hebrew. Also, longest day of ulpan EVER! but.. we did have what they call "TOUR" in the middle, which this time was a special "shirah" activity - aka camp style song singing in an auditorium with a music teacher at the piano - hilarious!! At night we watched the Inauguration at student center thing on big screen. Awesome historic moments.
Wednesday 21/1 - In the morning I went running with Alana Chill which was a great way to start the day! After class and lunch we went to the Old City for this first time this trip. We walked around the Cardo a bit, spent about an hour in the bookstore there where I bought my new Israel siddur!, and then went to the Kotel. It was really nice. And also so different to be there not on a program, but just because we live in Jerusalem and can go all the time. After the Old City, I went to Aunt Aliza's in Kiryat Moshe. I got to hang out with her and Uncle Yossi a bit plus my 1st cousins, Tehilla and Avigael and Rinat and of course baby Talia (who can stand now!). It was so soo nice!! Avigael and Rinat and I went for a nice walk around their neighborhood too. It was so nice to get to spend time with them and hear about their lives and to see where they live.
Thursday 22/1 - After class I did homework at Aroma Cafe which is about halfway between campus and my apartment. At night we went to Rena and Gabrielle's apartment and then a bunch of us travelled out together to the Ben Yehuda scene to find osmething fun and different. We bar hopped a bit - staying at each palce for like two minutes and then moving on to somewhere else... we were a bit picky that night i think. Eventually we ended up in a restaraunt/bar which was nice and then got falafel afterwards.
Friday 23/1 - We went to lunch with Tami (another awesome camp mishlachat person) at Mamilla Avenue which is a brand new outdoor mall right next to the Old City. Itsr eally nice, but really expensive, and very American. Lunch was really nice though!
Shabbat #2 - Rena and Gabrielle came with me to Aunt Aliza's apartment in Kiryat Moshe. IT was SOOO nice!!!!! We had such an amazing time! It was great to feel comfortable and in a house and in a real bed and at a real dining room table. And it was great to feel welcomed by family. We went to shul with them Friday night for Kabbalat Shabbat - it was a small minyan (maybe a breakaway minyan?) in a basement - Carlebach style which was very nice. And the mechitzah (separation between men and women) was side by side which I prefer over the balcony that they had last week. On the walk back I got to talk with Elishai, one of my first cousins. He is studying at Hebrew University as well and was interested in my program. He and his wife, Yael, and their baby boy, Ma'ayan joined us for shabbat along with many others. It was a busy household but beautiful. Me, Rena, Gabrielle + Elishai, Yael, Ma'ayan + Aunt Aliza, Uncle Yossi, Tehilla, Avigael + Noya (1st cousin Noam's daughter - who I stayed with my first night in Israel) + Carmit and Tamar (2 friends of Tehilla and Avigael). It was such a fun night! Filled with alot of hebrew and english translating and great food! After dinner, Tehilla and Avigael were going to go meet friends and invited us along. We figured we were going to a friend's house, but no. Apparently we were just meeting on a street corner and hanging out there. It was so cool! Such a unique cultural moment that was so amazing! Esp in Jerusalem and in their neighborhood which is religious. It was so quiet. It really felt like Shabbat in Jerusalem and it was so nice!! We met a couple of their friends and I got to practice my hebrew skills which was fun.. i'm slowly improving.
That night we slept ALOT. Lunch the next day was incredible!! and the rest of the day was filled with reading, noshing, and napping.
Overall SUCH A NICE SHABBAS!!
Motzei Shabbat: Dinner on Emek at "Caffit" with Frannie, Theise, Kane, Alana Chill, Alana Tilman, Waxman, Ben, Ira, Gluck, Jason. Then walk to Talpiot in search of bowling... which apparently if you ask any israeli where it is they won't understand you unless you say it "bOWWling". After alot of wandering, a pit stop in a mall, and asking several people, we found it and had a great time! When we got back, we had a great sing along (which I should note began in our cab ride when our taxi driver joined us in singing Ken,Ken, Ken, Ken!).
Sunday 25/1 - Academic Orientation. boring... we signed up for advising meetings.
Homework in Aroma. Pasta dinner made by Theise and Frannie - excellent. We were gonna go to Latin Aerobics but apparnetly the gym schedule has been changed for 2009 and we untold. studied and hung out with Amy and Kane. and sleep.
Monday 26/1 - entitled "that was a great day" - as said at teh end of Hook.
6:48 alarm goes off.
7:30 walk to class with amy, get coffee (stumble through my hebrew trying to get soy milk and esppresso and mocha mixture that they dont really understnad here)
8:15-10:15 Ulpan class
11 ish ... Board Hebrew U free shuttle to Givat Ram campus across the city.
We get to campus and wander in search of the Science Museum. Frannie and Chill find it :)
And what an awesome museuM!!!!
Then the group splits.
We walk about 20 minutes: past Knesset, past a park, cross a highway, and into Rechavia. Then another 15-20 minutes into town where we find ourselves across the street from... the Fuchsberg Center. We go into Super Sol (market) and I get turkey slices and a fresh tomato - we go sit and eat in the neighboring park. Then we continue our walk to Ben Yehuda street. On the way we find the awesome nook of a street the Helene has been dying to find, which as it turns out we've been on just only at night and it is so different at night! Eventually, we make our way over to the shuk where I purchase raisins at the spice store (amazing!) and a comforter (for only 55 shek!! awesome bargaining skills!). I go do homework and eat dinner...
9pm SALSA!!!!!!!!! SOOO FUNNN!!!!! turns out this time, the instructor guy used me like the whole time to model what to do for the basic group b/c i had been in it last week and danced with him at the end. it was fun but also slightly embaressing. and then...
12am HELEN'E's BIRTHDAY! we went over to celelbrate at midnight :)
Now... all caught up. (check out photos on fb or picasa for more details)..
Hopefully, I'll be right on track from now on.
Achshav (now)... BEDTIME!!!
Lyla Tov! (Goodnight!)
No comments:
Post a Comment