Jordana Tries New Things

Today was a shehechianu kind of day. Ulpan was pretty standard, but things are really starting to click!! It is so exciting to be able to read entire pages of our textbook in Hebrew without vowels! I always feel accomplished after class in a big way. Then I got a dairy meal at the Frank Sinatra Cafe on campus and that was new because usually I get a really heavy meat meal and the dairy was super delish...or taim m'od, I think. And then the best part of the day is that we didn't have Jerusalem History, which is always informative but not my favorite and it also just makes the day very long.

When I got back from Hebrew U, the fun really started. I did LAUNDRY!!!!! 'Stasia and I combined forces/loads and played some Kanye and made the cleaning happen like no other. THEN WAS THE MOST AMAZINGLY RESOURCEFUL MOMENT OF MY LIFE SO FAR. I was like, wow, all them Israelis have these handy dandy clotheslines. I want me a clothesline. Sooooo I went up to my roof balcony with Stasia and got some duct tape (not exactly sure if this is allowed here and the management probably doesn't know so I hope I don't get in trouble for this, but it is definitely temporary don't worry, management!) and taped it around one side of the balcony and made two right triangles and folded the duct tape in half and created a clothesline!! Then I hung my clothes on it and now they are all dry! The even BETTER part of this story is when I went to creepy storage place and found a tent frame that no one was using so I removed the metal rods to expose an elastic cord that was holding the frame together and threaded my undies on the cord and tied one end to one bunk bed and the other end to the bunk bed across the room. Then I needed the sun and its fabulous antibacterial properties so I relocated my undies line to the roof and it all worked so well! Everyone was appropriately amazed and marveled a good amount. I enjoyed that.

THENNNN I WENT FOR A RUN! I was so proud of myself and all the girls were like, oh wow, I'm jealous, you really have your act together. So I went on this great run through the park and up Ben Yehuda and all round mah hood and I just loved being outside by myself (I checked with the staff first and got a thumbs up for daytime solo runs) and experiencing the city that way. I loved dodging through people on the streets because I felt like a dog in an agility course because those always looked like fun to me. It was all really successful except for one creepy old Chasid who was staring at my spandexed body disapprovingly but that only made me run faster and no trauma ensued! Jubilation!

After my run, I went to dinner in my work out clothes so everyone could see how motivated I am and they were all impressed. Dinner really sucked, I'm not gonna lie, but I did eat healthy foods, just not a wide range of food groups. I supplemented with Cocoa Puffs in my room.

Then I cleansed in the ritual bath I like to call my shower and it was delicious (even though we have to choose hot and no pressure or cold with pressure-oh well, you can't have everything) and I was so scrubbed and dried and great!

Then Shara and I went to Emek Refaim (the entire rest of our program was there too, but Shara and I just walked together) for a STREET FESTIVAL!! Honestly, there were two concerts per block. The street was blocked off (security at the entrance but of course) and there were so many people and kiosks and street performers dressed up in really bizarre outfits and lots of food smells and it was just the best experience. I love seeing people out and about and doing weird things like dressing up like the tin man in silver air conditioning tubes and wearing stilts. Or like a mermaid but a drag queen or I'm not really sure what that was all about but it was interesting. The festival was all I had hoped for and more and now I am just so ready for bed (although I'm really bouncing off the walls...I must be overtired?) and I am going to bed with such an excited feeling in my bones and I can't wait for another shehechianu day tomorrow!!!!