Nativ Firsts

The past week has been chock full of shechechiyanus and beginnings. I am so excited that new things are happening, and I feel like a meerkat looking excitedly from one direction to another because I want to take it all in at once. Allow me to explain the excitement (also, if you haven't picked up on this: capital letters mean I speaking really, really loudly, so just think about that as you read on):

Monday was a regularly lengthy day and I embarrassed myself in Talmud probably more than I ever have in any class by continuously repeating the opposite of the right answer for about five minutes (the opposite of the right answer is worse than a wrong answer), but its conclusion was worth all ten hours I spent at school.... WE WON IN FOOTBALL! It is our first win, out of three games, and we were just ecstatic. Stasia, Adina, and Laura all scored points, and we won by only one point! It was such a celebration! I played center for a few plays and tried my best to contribute, and even though I didn’t contribute all that much, it felt GREAT to be part of a winning team. Especially a win that we really worked hard for and deserved. It made us happy. I racewalked home with Rachel because we were all spun up about the game and we made great time and we swished our tushies in rapid motion because it’s fun.

On Tuesday, I had Art History and Hebrew in the morning, and then I did the undoable! I MADE BUTTERCREAM FROSTING!!!!!! The story is, they don’t sell buttercream frosting in the entire State of Israel and it was starting to affect my focus in class. I thought about the sugary, creamy texture on my tongue far more than can be considered a normal level, and it was seriously getting to be a problem. Now, the first part of this challenge was the grocery shopping, as I found a few consistent recipes easily. Sugar is a cognate, but I don’t know what confectioners sugar is in English let alone Hebrew! There were several kind souls in the grocery store who helped me identify the proper sugar packets and butter sticks (which, just to be confusing, are not sticks here, but more cubical rectangular prisms), and I found vanilla and milk by myself. I called Elkana and Shosh to help with metric conversions, since the recipes called for ounces instead of grams, and although they helped me, I didn’t pay too much attention to the conversion factors myself and got kind of mixed up later.

This brings me to the second part of the challenge: mixing the correct ratio of ingredients together in the right order using the right utensils and creating something that would resemble frosting. I ended up melting the butter a bit too much and realizing that I should have decanted a bit too late, not really measuring the vanilla or milk in any concrete way (I have a spoon but I still can’t keep the difference between a teaspoon and tablespoon straight) and then the sugar was pretty much just a guess and check effort. By the time it was done, the texture somewhat resembled buttercream frosting, it was definitely vanilla flavored, and it was a lot of butter and sugar. So I ate it, I loved it, I dreamed about it, and I tried to feed it to other people but apparently it was unfit for human consumption...I guess it falls into the “only a mother could love” category.

Tuesday at 5pm we tried out our new Chevruta Talmud study group. For the first few weeks of the semester, Adina and I studied together and we had such beautiful chemistry that people would probably pay money to watch us interact. Probably. Anyway, Rachel and Joshy wanted in on the Talmudic love affair, so we made room and joined forces for one MEGA CHEVRUTA. Seffi sat in on it as well because it occurred in his room, and I asked him to read the first chapter of Beware of God so I could talk to him about it, which we haven’t done yet but hopefully will soon, and you should read it (it’s a collection of short-but actually, short!- stories and you can read the first one here by scrolling down: http://www.amazon.ca/Beware-God-Stories-Shalom-Auslander/dp/product-description/0743264576 which I strongly recommend you do. It’s disturbing, and the rest of the book only gets worse, and I don’t understand a lot of it, but I feel like it’s worth trying to understand even if I don’t get very far). Anyway, our first meeting was a success, and we learned all about prayer and blessings and we covered so many of the topics we went over in class the next day.

After mega chevruta, Erev Nativ took a bizarre turn when JEWS FOR JESUS came to visit! A weird looking man wearing a Jesus t-shirt under a suit who couldn’t pronounce Hebrew very well talked to us for an hour and offended us by saying he would pray for us to accept the Jewish Messiah Yeshua in our hearts. He was charismatic and engaging though, and it was the first 100% awake Erev Nativ (all 80 Nativers were on high alert the whole time!) of the year. He was quoting Isaiah and saying that the Jewish Bible predicted “Yeshua’s” coming, that he would be born of a virgin and that he would have holes bored into him. We were just confused and upset and sooo riled up by the time he left.

Yossi said that a rabbi would now be coming to talk to us about we just heard, and there was a collective sigh of relief which quickly turned into shouts and gasps as the same man walked back in wearing a shirt and tie looking like a proper human being!!! Turns out, we were punked, and he wasn’t actually a Messianic Jew! He is an Orthodox Rabbi who specializes in teaching college age kids not to get sucked in my this craziness. We went over strategies of cult converters and how to defend ourselves. Everyone left happy, and our collective mind had totally been blown.

Wednesday was another long day, and then I went to Jewish Educator Training when I got home, and I liked it! The idea is that kids learn better when they are doing something active or playing an educational game, a premise with which I think most people would agree, but in order to learn how to teach games, you must PLAY the games! How fun! We just played Hebrew School games for two hours. It was great.

After JET, I finished my first college paper. My report on the failures of the Oslo Accords (researching resulted in tears twice-not because the work was frustrating but because it was so deeply sad to me that the peace process disintegrated over the years the way it did, and thinking about how things could have been different, and the good intentions everyone had at the beginning) was a perfect ten pages, and I proof read the whole thing even though I didn’t feel like it, and I printed and stapled and felt very proud of myself. It isn’t the longest or most impressive paper I’ve ever written, but I view it as an extra achievement because I am in Israel where I am legal, where I live in the same building with my best friends, and where there are sooo many better things to do than write a ten page paper.

On one of my breaks during the paper writing process, I was previewing 30 seconds of different Third Eye Blind songs on iTunes as usual, and I came across Bonfire. This was great. Most Third Eye Blind songs have been around for a while and although they feed my soul, they don’t excite me in the new-song kind of way. But Bonfire does, and I’ve been listening to it on repeat, either on the computer or in my head, ever since. “If nothing else I am myself/That's all I have to give/Everything's changing now.” Poetry. I’m telling you.

On Thursday, I woke up lazily and went to school in time to turn in my paper, and Aaron’s paper, to the Lady. I had a two hour break before our extra Hebrew Class, so I took my camera, the big one that feels like an extension of my left hand after two years of obsessively photographing Brighton High School for yearbook, and I found everything beautiful about Hebrew U. There is A LOT of beauty there, and it took the full two hours. I ran around like a scavenger hunt and found all the secret beautiful things there, like hidden balconies and a giant amphitheater.

We got home from school just in time for dinner on Thursday night,

and right after that I went for a great run. It had been on my to-do

list for far too long. I ended my run where the boys were playing

basketball, so I joined the crowd of spectators and did a bit of Air

Alert 3, a tenth grade track throwback routine that includes jumps

and squats. Tensions ran high at the Nativ Basketball Association, and

not even my soothing presence could keep the players from going at

each others' throats. I was glad that Nativ girls all play on the same

team for football.

After basketball, I got dressed up and went out with friends. We

always whine about wanting to go dancing somewhere fun but we

never go dancing. I still had a lot of fun though, and we made up our

own dance floor in various areas in and around the bar we frequent

most. Adina even got up the courage to play dj for a little bit! Fun times.

Friday morning I woke up, consulted with Debbie and Rachel, packed

a backpack based on the aforementioned consultation, ate lunch,

grabbed some apples for the road, bought a weekend's worth of food

at the supermarket and the shuk (a kilo of rugalach, a challah, pb&j,

lemonade, and cold cuts), and then we shoved our way onto a bus

headed for Haifa.

The bus took a really long time, although I was in a deep sleep for

most of it. Adina was meeting us in Haifa because she had a family

gathering earlier in the day, but she got there several hours before

us and she was so alone and so American and so pathetic sounding on

the phone that we couldn't wait to reunite with her. A taxi driver

told us, once we got off the bus next to a deserted station (because

Shabbat was starting soon) that we could walk to our hostel and that

it was just up the road. Too bad he didn't tell us which road, and

that we didn't think to ask. It took a really long time and the help

of many patient people to get us to the right place, and we were

so tired and anxious to arrive. Tears of joy were shed when we

entered room 25 at the beautiful youth hostel, hidden from public

view and far away from any distinguishing street signs.

Friday night was spent reading, talking, laughing, Bananagramming,

and trying to eat dinner over a period of two hours, failing, and

finishing our cold cut and challah sandwiches in about ten minutes.

I went to bed sobbing as I read the first 100 pages of A Thousand

Splendid Suns, and to the sound of crazy teenagers next door

listening to the loudest and most obnoxious music ever created

by man.

Saturday morning, we rose (almost) with the sun for a hearty

breakfast at the hostel. We could see the beach clearly

from our high perch and it was an invigorating sight in the

early hours of the day.

We had already decided we wanted to walk around the city

so we stopped at the main desk to ask for a map and some

advice. The advice was: take a taxi. This did not suit us at all,

and we studied the map. True, we would have to walk around

and over a mountain, true, it would take hours, and true,

there might not be sidewalks. BRING IT ON!

We left at 9:45 and walked on a sidewalk along a highway for

a long time. It was very hot and sunny. We were almost

discouraged. Finally, we reached a turn that brought us into

residential neighborhoods and restored our strength. We took

breaks along the way, stopping at a playground to enjoy a teeter

totter and stalk Israeli children. A little more than two hours

later, we arrived at the gate to the Bahai Gardens. It was

beautiful. We stayed there for about twenty minutes to marvel

at the harmonious combination of man and God's creations, and

to gaze out at the sea beyond, dotted with sailboats and barges.

It was perfect.

Lunch occurred in a cat filled park on a low bench. Two pb&j's

for everyone, some pretzels, some lemonade, some chocolate

tea biscuits, and we were off again! Our walk home was a

different route, and it took us through some beautiful and

interesting neighborhoods. Haifa is a really incredibly gorgeous

city, and very clean from what we saw--and we saw a lot of it.

A screen shot of our 10.2 mile hike around the city is

pictured below.

This post is to-be-continued...Beit Midrash calls!

PS. I had formatting issues, I apologize.

PPS. Title cred goes to Adina! She understands

my desire for overarching themes <3

The Whole Time I Was Thinking...What a Great Blog Post This Will Make

The past few days have been really incredible as far as new experiences go in the Holy Land. And it's true, and I talked to Seffi about it so you know it must be, that everywhere I went I was just imagining how exciting this will be for my blog. I know it won't live up to expectations, or the brilliant thoughts I had in my head at the time, but it will have to suffice.

Thursday was our last Freshman Writing class, and it was quite a celebration. It was cold in the classroom when we arrived so I started out the class with jumping jacks and up-downs, so I was wide awake and all riled up by the time class started. Our teacher wanted to meet with us individually, so the rest of the time we all just watched funny videos on the computer or danced around. My teacher liked my paper too, even though I realized that Adam has a much better grip on the Oslo Accords than I do.

Thursday afternoon was not particularly productive, but I won't count time I enjoy wasting as wasted time. I napped, I snuggled, I napped more. Then it was time for girls' football practice! We got official positions (I'm a center!) and we learned a real play! I have truly missed the feeling of playing on a team, and even that feeling before practice of UGH I SO DON'T WANT TO GO, and then loving every minute of practice.

We got back in time for dinner at home, and we had PIZZA SQUARES!!! YESSS! And then I showered and my room was empty so I sat in my towel for a good hour on facebook, which was delicious. Then I got all ready to go out and put on a really cute outfit. I ended up getting sucked into a showing of V for Vendetta, but the movie was super weird and disturbing. I wasn't in the right mindset for something so provocative, so I left after about 45 minutes with the intent of going out to the bars. I didn't get more than ten steps though, and ended up sitting outside the auditorium with Brian and Meir for a good hour. I had wanted excitement and variety, but a chill night is probably just what I needed in retrospect.

On Friday, I woke up for breakfast and then we all had to go to a talk about Conservative Judaism with Jules Gutin, the International Director of USY. The talk did not really enhance my understanding of the world in any big way, and I thought that the content was limited, if it existed at all. I would have liked a really thought provoking lecture, because I am actually questioning my status as a conservative Jew, but it just wasn't there. I was lucky enough to be sitting next to Rachel and behind Debbie though, so I was happy.

We had lunch, we got ready for Shabbat, and I watched Adam shave a Yankees symbol into the back of Joey's head, because he lost a bet about the World Series. Boys are stupid.

Before Shabbat started, I agreed to go to the shuk with Seffi, Josh, and Debbie, even though I really needed (and..um..still need) to do homework. We saw an art fair on the way to the shuk, so we detoured and found that the art was really incredible and beautiful. Lots of nice jewelry, paintings, purses, everything. Apparently it's going to be there every Friday! I will definitely be going back for gifts.

Kabbalat Shabbat services were nice because Judah led, and he wants to be a cantor, and he is really amazing. I don't like the shul on base here though, and I definitely don't like the rabbi there. He always brings his kids and they are so out of control! They were climbing on the bima like it was a jungle gym and opening the ark at random times! It was so weird. And then the rabbi interrupted his own sermonette to yell at the little kids to wait outside! Bizarre.

After services, we all went to dinner together and then to the tisch. I really love the tisch atmosphere, with the crazy singing and banging on the tables. I've learned a lot of new songs already too, which is great. I sat there and watched some people get up and dance wildly and I wondered why I wasn't one of those people too, but I just felt like staying seated that night I guess. I've completely let go of USY-the tisch isn't a ruach session. Time to move on!

After the tisch, all the girls went down to floor -2.5 for a slumber party! We weren't technically allowed to sleep there, but we had junk food and we played ten fingers and told funny stories. At one point, the boys did a raid and lined up on floor -3 (the room on -2.5 looks out over -3) and they yelled a song at us while saluting. It was adorable, and we all squealed like piglets when they tried to break into our room. The sleepover got a little too loud and honest for me after an hour and a half though, and I removed myself from the situation for a game of dice and chilling out before bed.

On Saturday, I went to Yakar with Rachel, and Cori, Judah, and Sara met us there. It was a lovely service as usual, and I'm glad that Rachel liked it! The slow, spiritual, uncommon tunes aren't for everyone. We started getting a lil sleeps during the Torah service, so we took a nice stroll down the street and I showed them the tree that interested me so much last week. When we got back, I read the parsha in English and I was HOR-RI-FIED. HORRIFIED! The perversion and pessimism in that portion (Vayera) was OUT OF CONTROL. It is nice that God visits the sick and Abraham welcomes in the weary travelers, but it is NOT NICE AT ALL that Lot's daughters sleep with him. I was upset. And then they both had babies, and I was even more upset.

We walked home, we ate lunch, and I sat with Brian--but this caused drama! Adina really wanted to sit next to me during lunch (I wanted to sit next to her during the tisch but the universe just is not aligning for us right now), but then I wondered: is she just hanging out with me for the fame and glory? Am I just a blog post shout out to her? And I thought, even if I am just a gateway to stardom for her, I don't care; I want to sit next to Adina enough at meals that I am willing to be used. Also, she said she likes my earrings, remembers the names of my family members, and knows what I do on Sunday nights in Rochester, NY. So I'll take it.

After lunch, the Kehilla group had a study session with Jules Gutin. He asked, what if someone could prove to you that the stories in the Torah never happened? There was a general consensus, I thought, that it would not affect everyone's religious beliefs too much because we take the Torah as a divinely inspired document meant to teach us morality. My personal feeling is that the whole idea of proving religion is exactly what we should try to not do, and that we should rely on faith and belief. My faith has grown extremely strong here and I am very comfortable with the idea that God exists and that the Torah is a holy document because it's what I want to believe. It's not like wanting to believe that it can snow when it is 65 degrees out, because it can't. It's just that I have this faith and hope that God exists and that's enough for me.

A highlight of the study session was definitely when Seth made a parallel to penguin families and Adam, who was sitting between me and Seth, interrupted Seth to correct him by saying, "Have you SEEN the penguin movies?" I'm still laughing. You might have to know them.

The break between the study session and mincha was over before it even started. We davened mincha as a group, ate a little seudah shlishit, and did maariv and havdalah. Havdalah was nice, and Ariella led it, and I was in a little hug circle with all people that I love so so much.

After all of this, there was a mad rush to shower and prepare for the Yitzchak Rabin memorial ceremony. It has been 14 years since his assassination, and every year there is a ceremony in Kikar Rabin in Tel Aviv. There were projectors everywhere of the speakers (everyone on the left was there...Tzipi Livni included!) but they didn't have subtitles! The only speech I understood was Barack Obama's video message, which was LOADED with political content. Apparently the speeches were all really left-wing, political, and anti-right/anti-religious. I walked along the blocked-off streets next to Kikar Rabin with people during the speeches, visited the memorial, ate a delicious magnum bar, and listened to the concerts. Hadag Nachash played at the end so that was cool, even though I was so envious of all the people who knew all the words to these Hebrew songs!

I slept the whole way back to Jerusalem, loaded my pics to fb, and went straight to bed, which was a great decision. I woke up 8.5 hours later in time for a lil breakfast, a lil homework, a lil snugglin, a lil art history. Art History was cool today because we learned about Israeli art in the 1920's, which is significantly more interesting from an artistic point of view than Israeli art in the very early 1900's.

I spoke to Yossi and Elkana after class and they put my mind at ease about several issues that had previously been troubling me. I enjoy talking to both of them very much and I trust and respect them explicitly as authority figures. It is nice to know I am in such good hands.

I then ran out to the supermarket for a little shop shop, and then I attempted to do homework but ended up filling out my USY on Wheels job application! Vote for me!!!

Now I am about to go for another study session with Jules Gutin. Wish me luck!

Days of Disillusionment

The past several days have been revolutionary for me in terms of how I view Israel, Judaism, and relationships. It has been a very positive thing, because I want to see the world more clearly, but it has also been very hard to come out of my cave, as Plato might say (Mrs. Hall, wherever you are...I paid attention!). So now I am here, blinded by the light of truth, and only slowly beginning to feel the warmth of the sun. And this is where the philosophical metaphor ends. Behold the story:

Shabbat was rainy and cold, and my walk-to-shul date stood me up! Since neither of us use our cells on Shabbat, I made the decision to walk by myself in the rain, and I'm glad I did; it was a great time for personal reflection and alone time--a commodity in very short supply here. I went to Yakar, where I am starting to feel like a regular, and the twenty minute walk felt like just a few blocks (okay, realistically, it is only a few blocks, but they are long blocks!). There are two minyanim at Yakar-a riled up one upstairs and a calm and spiritual one downstairs. I have gone to the upstairs one a few times, but the rainy day mood fit with the downstairs melodies, and everything was at peace. I sat with Cori, my staff member who always goes to Yakar, and a woman with the most beautiful voice I have ever heard sat behind us. She was Israeli and she had such a soft and interesting voice! I didn't sing much because I was unfamiliar with the tunes, but I just let myself get lost in the prayers of others. It was nice.

I walked home with Cori and her friend Sylvie, who went on Nativ 24. Both of them made alliyah recently and joined the army, so a lot of the discussion on the walk back centered around the hardships of living in Israel as new olim, and this was the beginning of my realization. This is not just a realization in the sense that I know life in Israel is more difficult than it is in the United States, but a true and deep understanding of the fact that if I were to make Israel my home, my life would be completely unrecognizable and not only would I never have root beer again, I would face incredible personal challenges every single day.

We got home late for dinner and all was well in the world. I sat between Liza and Stephanie, I think, which was a great change of pace. Even though I love my best friends here more than anything in the whole world, we are all beginning to need our space and separation, from time to time. I can't even imagine the horror of the end of Nativ when we spread out by hundreds and hundreds of miles, but more than a few feet between our beds would be nice sometimes.

The tisch was low key on Friday night, and my no-banging-on-the-table campaign went over really well. We sat in a circle, as opposed to around a table, and sang songs. It was beautiful as usual, only in a quieter, less intense kind of way. The tisch ended with our staff talking more about making alliyah and also the feminism in Judaism debate. I used to be 100% against "inequality" in shul, but now I attend a minyan with a mechitzah every week, at a place where women can't even touch the Torah. Why is that okay? Because I don't feel any more spiritually connected by touching my siddur to the Torah than I do when I sit in a community of women and pray and sing. Sitting next to a man doesn't open up the communication lines to heaven for me any better than sitting next to a girl. It's pe

rsonal, and believe me, I understand the other side, because I was there for 18 years.

Saturday morning I woke up, woke up all the people I promised I would, and headed back out to Yakar. Services were great of course, but I felt myself seriously dozing during the Torah service. I excused myself and took a walk in a direction I had never been before, and the sights were incredible. There was this super cool tree trunk that was bent so it looked like a zig zag tetris piece and there was a "bench" on it halfway up and I really wanted to climb it but did you know that climbing trees is not allowed on Shabbos!? And I was wearing a skirt anyway. Then I continued past a school and a playground and a swarm of ants like you've never seen before! I marveled at God's creation and got back just in time for

the blessings after the Haftarah.

Saturday after lunch, I accidentally took another really long nap like last week. I was really disoriented when I woke up because one of my roommates came into the room and it was dark outside, and I thought it was time for school. Once I realized that it wasn't time for school, I realized it was actually time for the all time greatest pagan holiday: Halloween!!! I got on my pumpkin worshipping outfit (I was a kitty, of course) and we headed out to the bars. People had told me that other Americans at the bars were dressing up, but this was absolutely not true. I was actually the only one. I was glad that I was a kitty, but I definitely received some drunken comments that I could have lived without. Lesson learned.

On Sunday during Art History, I realized that I like western art way more than Israeli art. I didn't mean for it to happen this way, but the way I felt when my teacher showed a slide of Pissarro versus Hirszenberg was like two different hemispheres of emotions. I suddenly felt hugely anti-Israel, and this disappointed me. How could I like impressionism more than uniquely Jewish art? How could I like the story of light falling between tree leaves more than the anguish and history of my own people? I surprised myself with this realization. The good thing that has come out of it, however, is that now I can separate significance from aesthetics, and appreciate art for different reasons.

After school on Sunday, I loitered around until it was time for Beit Midrash. A small group of Nativers went to the Yeshiva at dinnertime for pizza and text study, and I opted to study with the only female rabbinical student about fair treatment of animals (a surprise on both accounts, I know). She was actually awesome, and kind of reminded me of one of my best friends from Tzafon and two-time Regional Rel-Ed, Ayelet. Both of these women have a really down to earth way of relating the meaning of text while remaining absurdly knowledgeable. I learned so much because I felt comfortable asking questions, I got good answers back, and I was totally engaged in the discussion. It was a popular study group, and I think a lot of us will go back next week. Plus...how can I turn away free pizza??

After Beit Midrash, the girls' football team met in the auditorium on level negative three (Josh has petitioned to move -3 to -1 but the tectonic plates have not yet shifted in our favor) and we watched Remember the Titans!!! I blame everyone who has known me pre-Nativ for not exposing me to this masterpiece. We cried, we laughed, we held hands, we covered our eyes, we sang, we clapped...why have I not known about this!? It was great GREAT team bonding.

Monday was a long ass day of school, which started with davening at 6:45 am. When I got home from school at 6:45 pm, I had to eat a granola bar and go to the football game in the pouring rain. Here, we have to be really careful about what we say regarding rain, because it is SO important that it rains (I feel guilty every time I shave my legs in the shower) but it was just so cold and I was unprepared and tired. The game ended up being really fun, and the rain let up a bit. I played a teensy bit and tried to contribute (I played center this time, and I hiked the ball successfully!), and I was especially good at cheering on Adina, who is my personal MVP.

Tuesday morning was Art History and Hebrew again, and a dramatic city bus adventure. I don't know if the other people trying to get on the bus find it as amusing as I do, but it is always so crowded, and everyone budges, so there is nothing left to do. When in Rome...

Tuesday night was a particularly interesting Erev Nativ. We were supposed to do a night walking tour of Jlem but it was so rainy that not even our staff could bear it. Instead, we watched Someone to Run With, an Israeli film with English subtitles. The movie dealt with homelessness, drug rings, violence, family, addiction, and all sorts of other terrible things--and it was all filmed within ten minutes of Beit Nativ, where we hang out every day! It really deeply affected a lot of us, and I especially will not forget this movie for a long time. My romanticized view of Jerusalem is fading by the day. I don't like this city any less, though, in fact I might enjoy the reality more than the touristy perspective. We'll see.

Today I had davening, three hours of Hebrew, an hour and a half of Talmud (do we have free will? can a person be ethical without free will? how far does our freedom of choice go?), and then Israeli Society and Politics until 6 pm. Society and Politics is further peeling back the layers of illusions I have about Israel, particularly on the subject of human rights. Israel has no constitution (only a set of Basic Laws), and subsequently no declaration of human rights. Israel built a security fence that separates Palestinian farmers from their fields (to get to the fields, they have to pass through an army operated check point), and political correctness doesn't even exist here.

I got home tonight in time for a little pb+j and leftover birthday cake scavenging with Lainie and Sarah. Then it was off to Jewish Educator Training where I learned how to plan an interactive lesson for all age ranges. It was a really good class tonight!

Now, my freshman writing assignment calls, and I wish I could write down every entertaining thought that ever passes through my mind, but I can't, and I'm sorry.

L'hit!

I am becoming a m'lafafon, and other news

I am actually turning into a cucumber. I eat m'lafafonim with every. single. meal. And, my nose is conveniently located at the exact height of the armpits of people holding onto the ceiling bars on the city buses.

In other news, life is great!! I have a lot of school work and class time these days, so I've been doing less blogging and more homework. Monday I had a big day of davening, school from 8-6, and the girls' football game! We have a big team and I am not one of the starring players so I didn't play for long, but it was really fun to cheer and run around and I love the team!

On Tuesday, I did homework during the day and then we had an evening program. Rabbi Artsin came to speak with us about God and it BLEW MY MIND! He has a really interesting view of God, and I felt like that's what I've thought all along I just haven't been able to verbalize. Basically, this is the premise: he rejects the Greek notion that God is all powerful (it's a moot point anyway, because can God create something he can't lift? WOW!), all knowing (it would mean that we wouldn't actually have free will), and outside of time and space. He argues that God is a local force, within us, around us, etc. He did a lot of comparing his relationship with God to his relationship with his wife and daughter, about love and creating meaning. He talked about the commandments, and how mitzvah means "connection" in Aramaic, which suits his argument well. It's great to think about the commandment to pray and keep kosher as a means to connection with God. I was just sooooo happy about this talk-I really want to read a book by him!

Wednesday was another long, long day of school. Everything was really interesting though, although once the sun goes down in Israeli Politics and Society, I am a goner. After school, I ditched my scheduled activities and went out to dinner with nine of my girlfriends and Ariella's mom. It was a beautiful evening, and the restaurant was so cute and cozy. It was covered from top to bottom with books and everything was delicious. When I got home, I finished my freshman writing homework (in case you don't check facebook, my freshman writing teacher-a stickler on spelling and homonyms-sent me an email saying I have a week argument in my outline) begrudgingly and went to bed.

Thursday was a glorious day. Freshman writing was funny because it was so pointless so we just goofed off, although I missed Brian's company (he went to Jordan with his mom!). After freshman writing, we peaced outttt of Hebrew U and I began the planning process for THE ADINA ALLEN BIRTHDAY EXTRAVAGANZA!! I went to Elkana (the logistics coordinator for Nativ) to get suggestions for classy bars, since we usually go to mad sketchy places. He recommended a few places, so I went on a walk by myself to scope out the scene. My walk ended up taking me all over Jerusalem, and I wandered in and out of the Russian compound, past an exact replica of a Florentine tower, along the walls of the Old City, through religious neighborhoods, and all different places that I always see from the bus but never actually investigate. It was cool and sunny, and I had my iPod, and I was totally in my element.

When I got home, I napped a little bit and sewed up a muscle shirt for Adam. I was really proud of my handiwork and it looked so good! Everyone had dinner at home and then we went to watch the boys play basketball. It was really rainy and coldish but I was with Emily (she went on Nativ last year and came back to study here and now we are bffls) and we stayed for two exciting games. Then we went back home and got ready for the d-boat!!

The night began with a visit to an ice cream/waffle bar with Adina, Debbie, Rachel, Ariella, and Seffi, and I treated myself to a glass bottle coke that I had been craving. Razie, Max, Jonny, and Jesse joined us afterward and together we went to the bars I had scoped out earlier in the day. The bars hated life though and decided to be only for over 24 year olds; some nicer bars do this to avoid the gap-year customers and the soldiers. So then we were purposeless for a moment, until someone suggested Sideways and we headed there.

Sideways was a good call, because it was off the strip by just enough that there was room for all of us and a significantly lower chance of getting raped or cut by flying glass bottles. Sideways was very hospitable to our birthday girl, and all of Nativ turned out for the celebration! We took over the whole street. It suddenly began pouring and we all huddled under the awnings (some people danced in the streets and I would normally be one of them...but the night was so young and I didn't want to ruin my hair).

From the awnings, we migrated to the bar strip and hung around. I went into a bar to dance for a little while, and that was fun, but the night was already winding down. There were lots of party pictures to be taken, so I made that my job. I was Adina's personal paparazzi because it was her birthday, so I followed her around and made everyone take pretty pics with her. I did a good job.

Today started late-around noon. I had lunch at home, ran around in the rain, put on a slicker, and went to the supermarket across the street to buy snacks for Shabbat. I am going to try to stay more on top of blogging from now on! I know you missed me....

The Good Life

The past few days have encompassed everything I love about being in Israel, being Jewish, and being young. So for those who claim that youth is wasted on the young, or whatever that saying is, know that I am fully cognizant of my good fortune and take nothing for granted.

Thursday night after my last post, I walked to a medical clinic with Shira and Rachel to get our flu shots. The clinic is all for Americans, and the people all speak great English, and it is very clean and nice. The flu shot was not so nice, however, and for the past few days is has been swollen, red, hot, and painful on my left arm. Oh well though, it's better than the flu.

I walked home with a different Rachel, and Gabe and Michael (it's weird to call some people by their first names here, but for the sake of other people's privacy, I decided to just do that a long time ago), and we had amazing pizza squares for dinner at Beit Nativ. If you have been following my food adventures, you may remember how much everyone hated the food at home before, but now that we have stipends and are responsible for about seven meals of our own per week, Beit Nativ food is so great! Never thought I'd say that...

After dinner, the time was ripe for d-boating. We got dressed up, we went to the park, we encountered sketchy dangerous people so we left the park, we hung out outside bars, we danced on bars, we took pictures, we partied. I bought myself a chocolate bar since I wasn't drinking, but all my drunk friends thought it would be really appropriate to ask me to share the ENTIRE thing, and this made me very upset, and then Joshy noticed I was upset that my chocolate got away before I could even enjoy a third of it, and he bought me Reeses Pieces (I am adamant that the pronunciation be "reeseeees pieceees") and that made everything much much better.

I emerged the next morning at noon, just in time for lunch at home. I showered, went grocery shopping, bummed around, and got ready for Shabbat. I went to Yakar with Razie, Shara, Ariella, Max, Jonny, and Aaron, and of course it was beautiful. The Friday night services at Yakar are so incredibly spiritual, and I know pretty much all the tunes at this point. Services here vary from the US in many ways, but one thing that is hard to get used to is that no one calls page numbers because everyone brings his own siddur. It makes the service flow better, though, for sure.

Shabbat dinner, football, and tisch followed services. We ate, we threw, we caught, we sang. I played football for another three hours, or something ridiculous like that, because more and more people kept coming over and wanting to join! And how can you turn people away from a game of catch? You can't. So we kept expanding the circle and reordering the catching cycle. I never thought catch was fun before, but it turns out that it's super fun, and endlessly entertaining. It is, however, horribly demoralizing to chase after a football that has gone astray, because of its unpredictable path. There were definitely some embarrassing moments.

I ended up staying up until 6 am, which in retrospect was a very bad idea, since I woke up at 7:25 am to go to Shabbat services. I went to Yedidya with Judah and LeeAnn, and even though it's a 45 minute walk, it went by really quickly with such great company. LeeAnn and I went to the women's Torah service too, which was really cool since it was a Bat Mitzvah, so the BM girl read the whole thing, and she was good! The portion was interesting too-the flood and the Tower of Babel-what more could you ask for? I read the English and commentary for the portion before dozing off here and there.

The service finished with Mussaf and kiddush, and a delicious one at that. We walked home and discussed Torah and life. It was perfect. I had lunch and schmoozed and lounged, and I ended up napping in Josh's bed for five hours. I had originally planned to hang out with Seffi and Debbie in Seffi and Josh's room, and since Josh wasn't home, Debbie and I snuggled up under his really nice down comforter, and immeeeeediately fell into deep sleep.

I woke up after Shabbat was over, felt exceedingly refreshed, and went for a run with Meir. It was mostly successful, and he slowed down for me for the first two-thirds of the run, and then it was uphill for the rest of the way and I didn't want to keep such a fast pace so I told him to run on ahead. We both passed a group of Nativers a few minutes apart on the way, and they laughed at us. After a very necessary shower, we went to meet that same group of Nativers who were having dinner for Becky's birthday. We got there just in time for dessert!

The dinner party broke into groups afterward, and I walked with Becca to the next celebration, this time at the bars. It was much like any other night out, but this time, there were two additional birthdays and more flaming alcoholic beverages (it seems instinctive to not drink poison that is also on fire, but apparently not). We all usually sit at tables outside of this one particular bar that has good deals for happy hour, but Liza needed to go to the bathroom so we went inside, and what did I find but the POPCORN machine!!! I made best friends with the popcorn machine attendants and succeeded in scoring mad amounts of delicious and salty puffs of perfection. It made the whole night worth it.

The birthday party walked around the area for a while, carrying speakers and blasting hip hop, so it was an amusing event to be a part of, and then it was time to go home. There was more football to be played though, at one am, and then finally I could sleep.

I woke up this morning at ten, stalked my own facebook, and ate some rugalach. Today is a big day of Art History, football practice, and Idan Raichel!

The Swing of Things

Life has resumed a rhythm such as I have not experience since my 9-5 job this summer, and I love it. The semester brings many changes that give us more independence, more choice, more opportunities to save money or waste money, the option to only pray twice a week in the mornings, and the responsibilities of time management. I now have to wake up and eat breakfast not based on the prayer schedule but by the public transportation schedule! The program had a firm grip on my hand for the first few weeks, but now I am holding on by a mere finger.

Tuesday I woke up very early and took a city bus to school for my Art History class. We learned so much in just an hour and a half! We talked about Rembrandt's Belshazar's Feast and learned the Bible and Talmud behind that, Delacroix's Liberty Leading the People, and other symbols of liberty. I really enjoy the teacher and the style of the class, although there is this one Canadian boy in my class who has to comment on everything, and he is really anti-American! We were looking at the Statue of Liberty from social/historical/cultural point of view, and he took over the professor's lecture with one of his own about the evils of capitalism and American domination! He was sitting next to me and invading my personal space and I was getting really frustrated. If you want to bash the US, take a different class; art history is just not the right venue for your rants. Honestly!!

After Art History, I had Hebrew with my Ulpan class from MiniMester. I really like my two new Hebrew teachers, because not only are they really chill human beings, they are so well trained to teach Hebrew! Like Hebrew teaching machines! It's a beautiful thing. The class is a really good level for me, and we are learning at a good pace. I can say so many verbs now, too, except I can't say "I need" which is a problem because I am a very needy person sometimes and it makes it difficult for me to express myself.

I stayed after class for a little while on Tuesday to find books for my research paper on the Oslo Accords, which was a successful hunt. I felt like Hermione in the Hogwart's library! Absolutely thrilling! Reading about the peace process so much is kind of getting me down though, and I'm starting to question/lose faith in all political leaders, like Obama AND Netanyahu! I am of course speaking specifically about peace in this region, so I can still support these leaders in other areas. But which direction is the correct way to peace!? Settlements or no settlements, partition or integration, one state or two states, economic dependency or separation??

After my diplomatic and depressing bibliographical experience, I took the 4 Aleph bus home. It was a new route for me, since we all usually take the 19, which is more direct. It was a very interesting cultural experience however, because the route is almost solely through Orthodox and Ultra-Orthodox neighborhoods. I saw a group of girls, probably my age, standing at the bus stop, and I wondered if they were the cool or provocative girls around town, because their long skirts were tight around their hips. I saw a lot of black hats and earlocks and multi-child strollers. The streets were crowded and not very clean, but they were vibrant and interesting. It was a good show.

I got home just in time for my Talmud study session with Adina. We are taking the class together, and it is popular to study text in Chevruta (I am not sure of the literal translation, but it basically means studying with a partner). We looked over a text about a disagreement between rabbis which ends with one rabbi getting excommunicated. It was pretty hard, but we sat for about an hour and really worked it out. We looked at references from the Bible and considered what I thought was literally every possibility of certain confusing passages.

When we got to class on Wednesday afternoon, after a long morning of Hebrew, I found that there were actually several possibilities that we missed. I still felt like Adina and I had covered many important points in our personal study session, however, and I was glad that I had gotten to go over the text with her since there wasn't an opportunity to share all of our findings with the teacher, since the class is only an hour and a half. Our class is also really big for the style of class it is supposed to be-it's difficult to have class discussion with such a large group. The teacher is really great though, a cute little old man with a lot of knowledge, so class is great still.

After Talmud was Israeli Society and Politics, and that goes from 4:30-6 pm. The last half hour, I was gone. The sun had set and it was pitch dark and the Third Alliyah started to sound just like the Second and the First and everyone who immigrated was from Russia anyway...

I rushed home from school to make PB+J and go to Jewish Educator Training, an hour and a half class for people who might want to teach Hebrew school back in the states. It sounded like a great opportunity for resume building-and the class is free-so I had nothing to lose. It wasn't exactly what I had expected, but I did learn from it, so I think I will keep going. The only problem is...

Girls' football practice started immediately after JET, and I was so rushed! I was also really nervous on the walk to the park where we were going to practice because the boys who were coaching us were acting very intensely. It turned out to be the most fun I've had in a while (which is saying a lot since life here is very excellent all the time), and I even stayed after to practice with a few of the girls and the coaches. Four boys from the program are helping us, and they are so nice and supportive! I don't want to say it was a different side of Adam, Brian, Asaf, and Garrett, but at the same time, they completely transformed into dads teaching their daughters how to throw a ball. It dissolved all my fears, and I even caught the football successfully a few times!!

I ran home from the park with Kay, and then I was sweaty and tired so I showered and slept.

Today I had Freshman Writing and I actually enjoyed it. Our teacher likes us now, and we are allowed to have fun in class, so it was very humorous. Then I researched in the library, ate the lunch I packed for myself, hung out at the cafe, and helped Aaron find books in the library because now I am a master at channeling Hermione. We took the bus home and I just finished a good deal of my homework with Adina in the library on the first floor of my dorm building.

I am about to go get my flu shot : (

but then it is party time!!!! Lihitraot!

Jordana Conquers Fears

Before I tell you the story of this Shabbat, know that I am deeply disturbed by close contact with four things: slobbering dogs, slithering fish, grocery stores, and new food.

Shara and I woke up at 2 pm on Friday. Already we knew it would be a glorious day.

We packed for the weekend and bought chocolates for her Aunt Marcia, who is actually her second cousin (but these are minor details on which we mustn't waste time). Marcia picked us up around 4 and we drove with her to her moshav near Netanya. A moshav is a capitalist's kibbutz, if you will. She owns everything (house, horses, land), but she pays moshav dues for a guard, some programming, landscaping, and they have a plot of land for farming that is bordered by other plots of land for small farms. It is a great system, and many kibbutzniks are moving in this direction.

The house was a big ranch style home, with a big open room for kitchen and tv and many bedrooms. Shara and I actually had our own apartment attached to the house where Marcia's mother usually lives (she's on vacation in America). Everything was decorated with older furniture so it had a very homey feel. Nothing was fancy, but it was all beautifully kept. The three horses and two donkeys lived in an open stable in the backyard.

We arrived after dark and there was a REALLY BIG DOG named Whiskey waiting at the front door. There was a problem finding a key so I had to interact with the dog for an amount of time that really pushed my comfort zone limit. We walked inside and we were welcomed by a tall Israeli man with a ponytail, Tamir (Marcia's son), and three more dogs!!! Shara and I retired to our apartment until dinner time.

Five of us packed into a compact car (Marcia, Marcia's two sons Tamir and Eden, and us girls) and we drove off at an alarming rate to Rishon Nitzion (it actually might be Rishon Le Tzion, I have no idea, they didn’t enunciate). Forty five minutes later, we ended up at a beautiful apartment complex and took the elevator to the top floor. The apartment was stunning, and it was two floors, and modern, spacious, brand new, and filled with a big family and lots of food. There were tables set up on the big balcony porch and probably 25 of us ate comfortably there. It was not a religious family, but they were incredibly lovely people, extremely welcoming, friendly, and warm.

As nice as they were, they were even better cooks. I ate so many new things, and I didn’t even know the names of half the things I was eating. I do know that there were definitely many baby tomatoes on my plate and I ate them right up. The food situation was metzuyan and we all enjoyed ourselves heartily.

Over the meal, I talked with Eden, Marcia’s 17 year old son, and another boy who was 17. They were both in their last year of high school and about to enter the army. Eden has a long-distance runner’s body, shaggy hair, a nose ring, and big left-wing opinions. He said he hates the army and is not excited about it, but he has to go anyway next year. The other boy was just his opposite, a football player in physique and a gung-ho soldier in training. He said he did well on his army exams so hopefully he’ll get to be a medic, but whatever he does, he wants to fight Arabs. They were both really nice, relatable guys, and it’s hard to imagine them in uniform in just a few months.

The dinner ended quite late, and by the time we got home, I was exhausted. Shara and I washed up, read for a minute, and fell straight asleep. I didn’t wake up again until nine in the morning, but I thought it was actually eleven because the clock on my side of the bed was wrong. Shara didn’t wake up, so I had breakfast and a long chat with Marcia. The dogs were all up in my grill the whole time, but I got to learn a lot about her amazing life, how she made alliyah, her family’s story, her travels, her opinions, her book recommendations. She went on a gap year program in the 70’s and moved here with her husband after living in South Africa and England for a while, and now her life is horses, farms, army, and her family’s screen printing business.

Once everyone woke up, we went to the beach for a few hours. It was a gorgeous, hot day, and we packed our lunches and brought an umbrella. I went into the water right away, and it was so beautiful words can’t begin to explain. It bore an uncanny resemblance to the beach in The Little Mermaid when she has legs and she is wearing a silvery dress and everything is sparkling, and there were cliffs in the distance along the coast just like in the movie! The sky was a bit hazy so everything was silver and white and the water looked like a million diamonds were floating on top of it. I swam by myself for an hour or so, and I just took it all in. There were many, many fish in the water (not just minnows...actual fish sized fish!) and they swam near my legs and I was tempted to get out but everything else was so perfect that I just sucked it up. I thought this would be a good time for me to grow up, because I don’t think that squealing at fish and dogs is cute anymore. I’m not sure what else occupied my time in the Med Sea, but I know I was planning how I would describe that moment in my blog. Unfortunately, my thoughts don’t stream so easily in my current environment (my dorm room at 12:45 am). Just know-it was perfect.

Shabbat wrapped up with a visit to Marcia’s factory, and then we were on our way. We took a bus from Netanya to Jerusalem, ran into people we know on the ride, and walked home from the central bus station.

Sunday morning was the beginning of a big day. I will have to summarize quickly because I’m exhausted right now, but here’s what happened: I woke up early because Debbie had gotten locked out of her room so she slept in my bed (which was a very pleasant surprise) and we all went to breakfast. I then went grocery shopping at a supermarket and the shuk, and it was a really stressful experience but I did it! I even compared mass: price ratios for cereals, and I was seriously a mental math machine. I planned in advance with a budget, the number of meals I plan to make from my shopping results, and a list of suggested food items. I ended up under budget and I got all my foods!!

I felt very accomplished. I made my lunch and got ready for school, and then I was off with Shara and Tali to catch the city bus. It was a trial, and we cut it really close, and an old blind man sat next to me and calmed me down when I thought we were going to be late for our first class.

Art History of Israel was AMAZING! It really stimulated me and I love the teacher (she made alliyah about thirty years ago, she’s probably about 50, and she’s just awesome). I can’t wait to go to class tomorrow!

We got home, we had a girls’ program for Rosh Chodesh (new month, cycle of the moon, feminism, everything like that) and then I just sat and talked with a lot of people that night. The program was cool because I learned really interesting things about girls I don’t know that well yet.

That brings me to today, which was long but great. I davened this morning starting at 6:45 am, and it was a very long service because of Rosh Chodesh, Hallel, Mussaf, and Torah. We had just enough time for breakfast and then we boarded the bus to go to Hebrew U for Hebrew class, which was great. Then I got homework done in the library, ate lunch, got free stuff at the student center, and laid on the grass with friends and listened to a concert. It was time for class again, four hours later, and I went to Talmud As A Cultural Adventure. It was awesome, more to come on that later. Right after that was Israeli Society and Politics, which I liked a little less because the lecturer did not pace himself well so we really missed out on the second half of the topic.

I got home from school at 6:45 pm, helped Josh grocery shop and grabbed falafel with him, and then I went on a run, took my vitamins, flossed my teeth, put in my retainer, cleaned my feet, and showered. And now, finally, I am ready for bed. Lailah tov.