Just a little update

I had my Hebrew final last Thursday, and Hebrew is now over which is absolutely wonderful no longer having to wake up super early 3 days a week.

For my anti-Semitism class, our final was a paper on any topic of our choice about anti-Semitism. I originally chose to do my paper on anti-Semitism in Ireland from the late 19th century-early 20th century. Turns out there really wasn't very much, but most of the events turned out to be in one city, Limerick, so I changed my topic to anti-Semitism in Limerick Ireland. It was quite interesting to see the anti-Semitism there, and how it differed from eastern European anti-Semitism, and yet I was still able to write a full 10 pages. I was impressed I even got there.

For Evolutionary Psychology, we have our final on January 1st (yea, Rothberg actually schedules finals on New Years, they must really not want us to celebrate at all) at 12:30 pm. It doesn't seem like it will be too ad, and it is just a regular multiple choice test.

For The Emergence of Biblical Israel, that final is on the 2nd also at 12:30, and also doesn't seem like it is going to be be too bad, but definitely more room for error.

My trip for winter break has officially been all booked now. Officially, I will be going to France from January 5th-January 10th, Ireland from the 10th-14th, and London from the 14th-16th. The rest of the people I'm traveling with will be in England through the 19th, but I need to come back early because on the 18th, me and about 30 other Nativers will be going to Poland for 8 days.


P.s. Sorry if this is the last blog update for a bit, I actually am going to have to study for these finals, so there may not be another til the 2nd. If I can, I'll try and get one in within the next day or 2 to talk about Hannukah however which ends tonight.

Merry Christmas!!!!

Christmas was an absolute blast this year. During the day nothing too special occured, but around 4 pm, all the tracks went to different places for a bit of community service (while it was on Christmas, it was more for it being Hannukah). My track went to an "old person home" where we sang different songs, gave out sufganiot, and just talked with the people there for about an hour.

Next, I was hoping to have Chinese food that night, but what I actually had was the next best thing, Japanese food. I was taken out that night with some friends, and we were going to go to a restaurant called Beijing, clearly a Chinese place, but about 20 people had already made a reservation there, so we instead went to Sushi Rehavia. It was still delicious, and was the first time I was there. For all of you at home who think I don't like sushi, well that is starting to change actually. I'm still not incredibly knowledgeable about sushi, but I am finding things I like.

Then came the best part of the night. THE NBA IS BACK IN ACTION!!!!!!!!!!! Even better, on Monday it was Aryeh K.'s 18th birthday, and he is arguably the biggest basketball fan I know and also most knowledgeable. We ended up getting back to base at about 11 o'clock, so the 2nd game of the night was coming to a close, so we watched most of the end of the Heat vs. Mavericks game, and then right after midnight, Adam B., Aryeh, Moshe, and Sarah L. (she is here visiting), and I went to a bar to watch the 3rd game, and in my opinion the best one - Lakers vs. Bulls. The game was actually pretty average at best with some glimpses of good basketball until the end, where Derrick Rose hit the game winning shot with 4 seconds remaining. It was even better because all of the Israelis at the bar were Lakers fans.

All in all, it was a good day, and a good holiday season.

Daniel Shapiro

Today at Hebrew U, I went to a town hall meeting with Daniel Shapiro. Now, for those of you who may not know who Daniel Shapiro is, or at least one who would make sense to have a town hall meeting at Hebrew U, he is the U.S. Ambassador to Israel.

He spoke for about 30 minutes about different American policies regarding Israel, Israeli needs, Iran, Palestine, and other topics of the sort. There was then about 30 minutes of Q & A. While I did not ask a question, Barry S. who is on Nativ with me did ask a question about a hypothetical situation regarding elections in a legitimate Palestinian state.

It was a really interesting thing to hear him speak, and I am very glad that I was able to get the opportunity to hear him.

My Birthday!!!

Even though my birthday was not Friday, I'll start Friday night. 

I finally went back to my Rosh Hashanah host's house, and just like last time, it was a great time. The whole family is just so much fun to be around, and the food was also good (even the chicken). Also, one of the people I went with e-mailed them before that it was my birthday on Saturday, and they had a delicious chocolate cake to surprise me with. A great time.

Saturday was a good day. I slept in and woke up with chocolate milk having been brought to my room. I then had lunch at base (average at best) followed by a pretty good run. I then hung around and played catch with some people. Next was god's present to me, a full lunar eclipse. Later, after Shabbos, I skyped some friends at home.

Now the good times. Aryeh K. and I spent literally 2 hours deciding on what to do for dinner. We looked online at every single kosher meat restaurant in Jerusalem. We ended up going to El Gaucho which is an Argentinian steak house. I had an entrecote steak from Bamba, apparently being from Bamba makes it special because it tasted wonderful. The dinner as a whole was also really delicious and fun because of the company I was with. 

Afterwards, me and 3 others went out for a bit and watched the FC Barcelona vs. Real Madrid soccer match (it was being played at every single bar), and then afterwards just spent the night hanging out for a bit at this one bar we like (and no dad, I did not do 19 shots for my 19th birthday).

Unfortunately, not everything went according to plan. Due to having class at 8:30 in the morning, I wasn't planning on doing anything too crazy or staying out too late. Only have worked out, I didn't do anything crazy, but somehow I ended up staying out until 4:30.

What a birthday!!

Loved my birthday in Israel!!

100 days

Yesterday (for me, still today for most of you reading) was the 100th day of Nativ, or should I say, 100th day of the best year of my life. I am so thankful for the opportunity to be here, to grow, to explore, and to learn. This has truly been a once in a lifetime experience, and I wouldn't trade it in for anything. I am thankful for those who have made this year possible, and those who have been sharing it with me.

I now look forward to the next 100 days. Hopefully they can top the first 100. It will be quite a challenge though.

Idan Raichel Project/MASA Opening event

Apparently I forgot to write about this. Sorry

I don't actually remember the day, but at the MASA (basically a group that works with the Israeli government and programs to get people to Israel) Opening Event, there were general speeches by different people in MASA, and one person who is in the Prime Minister's office.

However, the main attraction was the Idan Raichel Project. Idan Raichel is a musician that came onto the scene in the mid-early 2000's and has been a huge hit in Israel ever since then. He performed a concert for the event, and the concert was so much fun, and I now have some of his music after going because it is quite good music.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving on Nativ was quite a fun experience. First, we started off with all of Nativ and any Nativ alumn doing Ma'ariv. The Nativ a cappella group sang 2 songs, there was a video made by 3 people recapping Nativ so far, and then some general announcements and thank you's from Yossi.

We then got split up into 2 dining halls. The one downstairs had the Kfar track and the Karmiel track, as well as everyone from Nativ 1-23 (i think 23), and then Yerucham was upstairs with everyone from Nativ 24-30. The food was actually quite good, possibly one of the best meals at base yet. I sat with Nathan D., his family, Courtney K., Sivan R., and her parents. It was a fun table to sit at. I will admit though that I was a tad disappointed with the dessert. There was apple pie, but it wasn't really apple pie. It was more of pie with apples, but definitely not apple pie. I did however have turkey. For all of those at home who know that I don't like turkey, don't think that the reason is that I now like turkey, it was more of I didn't want to offend Yossi when he was carving.

Afterwards, the Nativers went into the auditorium and watched some other videos made my Nativers, which happened to be really funny.

Later we went to a different room and decorated cupcakes just for the fun of it, and I might add, it was fun.

Later, for whoever wanted there were different episodes of The Simpsons and How I Met Your Mother that had to do with Thanksgiving, or just random episodes being played.

Later I went out to this market with some buds and spent the rest of the night there before going back to base. All in all, a very fun Thanksgiving.

Science and Italy

Last Thursday (12/2/11) me and Adam B. were taken out to dinner with my roommate and his family. We went to a restaurant called Little Italy. The menu was a basic Italian menu from a basic standpoint, but the items themselves sometimes had a crazy arrangement of ingredients. I ended up getting what was called Shai's Pasta. It was pasta sauteed in butter, with fresh hot pepper, sun dried tomatoes, and other assortments of peppers. I then followed it up with a Hot Chocolate Cake (another name for Chocolate Lava Cake) which they make there. It wasn't much of a cake though, it was more like chocolate soup with a think cakey layer above it; served with vanilla ice cream, it was quite a delicious dessert.

Later that night, me and about 10 other people went to the Israel Science Museum. It was a ton of fun because it was almost entirely interactive which for people like us, very helpful and very fun.

Feet eating fish

 A couple weeks ago, me and Julia S. went to go have a very crazy experience. We went to a Israeli shop with hygiene stuff and cremes and what not. What makes this place special is that in the window, there is a tank full of little tiny fish that eat the impurities off of your feet. We went and did that, and it felt so cool and my feet felt so cool afterwards.


It also wasn't too expensive, and definitely something that should be tried, although I wouldn't necessarilly go if your feet are nice and dandy, it is a much better experience when your feet are kind of gross (i.e. after 3 days in the desert).

more old news: 11/11/11

 I left for Ramat Gan with Adam B. where he had some family.  I tried real fro yo for the first time and it was absolutely delicious. Coincidently enough, the place we got from was called Delicious. We then took a 45 minute bus ride, and as we walked through the door, we get fed. Adam and I then hung out for a while until dinner where we had a very good dinner. The disadvantage to not knowing enough Hebrew to really follow a conversation is that I'm lost, however an advantage is that usually there is someone who feels the need to translate for me.

Later that night, we watched the US Men's National Soccer team play against France. Afterwards we then watched opening night of college basketball, which just so happened to be MSU vs UNC, but they played on an aircraft carrier for Veteran's Day, and that was really cool.

The next day, we just hung out and had a really good and relaxing day.


I am also now a fan of sushi after then being dragged by Adam to a sushi place.

Some old news. 11/7/11

I got taken out to dinner with 10 others at a restaurant called Joy. The food was absolutely wonderful. I had sautéed entrecôte which had a nice chili sauce on top of a bed of coos coos with sautéed onions. For desert I then had a chocolate volcano cake. Needless to say it was one of the best meals I've had yet.

Later that night I then watched the Bears vs Eagles game. Due to the time difference, it started at 3:30 local time. At 3, me and 2 others went to a friends house where we watches the game. GO BEARS!!!! We didn't get back until 7:30, and since I had to go to teffilah Tuesday which started at 8, because I was making up for missing one time the week before,  instead of taking a little nap, Moshe, Adam and I got breakfast. It was a good time.


According to one of the staff members, the 3 of us are the beginning of the new generation of Super Fans.

Jerusalem was not a city built to drain

The rainy season has begun. O boy has it. There have been some serious rainstorms as of late. Yesterday was one REALLY bad one. I get back after Hebrew because my second class was canceled and it was just drizzling, and I had planned to go for a run, rain or shine. By the time I got downstairs and ready to go, it was a MONSOON, and it was amazing. I went for a run, and after about five minutes, I was completely soaked. I mean every ounce of my clothing was soaking.

It was however a really good run, and while Jerusalem stone is usually very slippery, it could be because of my Vibram FiveFingers, but I didn't even slip once, and I was even stepping in puddles that were up to my knees. It was interesting though. I went through this outdoor mall, and then ran around the Old City for about an hour. The fun thing about running in the old city without contacts though, is that you have no idea where you are going, so I was literally just turning left or right whenever it felt right. Best part about that, I even gave directions to some people...IN HEBREW!!!

Also, midterms are this week, so that isn't too much fun, but in general, everything is awesome. Sorry for the long break in posts, more to follow soon.

Questions from our viewers

1. The "really cool minyan which is basically full of really religious hippies that dance around the whole time" on the first day of Rosh Hoshanah - Is this a conservative congregation? or Lubavitch? What makes them different?----- It was an orthodox minyan. It was only different because that is the personalities of the people there, and the Rabbi there. There is nothing specifically different that they do religiously other than more dancing. Not a huge difference, just really cool.
2. You talked about a neighborhood that I love going through where the buildings all have some blue in it. How were they all blue? Were they painted blue? Did they have blue stones or tiles? Why do you think they look like this?------ It was mostly trim on the houses. Just asked my roommate who knows a lot more about colors and what not. In Kabbalistic tradition, the color blue protects you from the evil eye.
3. On the first day of Rosh Hoshana, for the afternoon and evening services, you went with a friend his grandparents' shul and then to their house for dinner. Are the grandparents Israeli? or did they emigrate to Israel? How long have they been living there? Do they or did they work there? What made them choose to live in Jerusalem?------ His grandparents are from the states, but have been living in Israel for about 30 years now. I can't remember what his grandmother does, but his grandfather is a real estate agent. I don't know, but I would assume they chose Jerusalem because it is the religious center.
4. On the Second day, you to Baaka Shyvuni. "It had a mechitza, but was still egalitarian." What is a mechitza? Is it a curtain or wall down the middle? How can you have this and still be egalitarian? Did women participate in leading the service? Did they read torah? How big was this group? Why do you call it a minyan and not a shul?------A mechitza is a separation of men and woman. There it was just a curtain, but in other places it can be different. A minyan can have a mechitza but still be egalitarian, simply by allowing woman participation, but still separating the genders. There was a lot of woman leading and I believe only women read torah. It was a group of about 100 people including kids. I call it a minyan because a minyan and a shul are not the same thing. A shul is another name for a synagogue which is simply the religious building for prayer, whereas a minyan is simply the name for the group praying. For example, this service was in a school gym.
5. Your host's husband "runs a winery in Golan Heights, so obviously we had AMAZING wine for lunch." What kind of wine? Red or white or both? Sweet or dry? Why do you think you enjoyed it so much? Where is Golan Heights? Is it near Jerusalem? Can you visit the winery?-----For Rosh Hashanah he gave us both red and white wine. I don't know enough about wine to say why we enjoyed it as much as we did, but we have had enough wine while here to be able to recognize wine we do and do not like. Golan Heights is in the north. We probably could visit the winery, but I don't foresee us doing so.
6. After was a quiche, carrot cake muffin kugel type food, and 3 different types of salad. Were they vegetarian? or was it a dairy meal for a specific reason?-----They were not vegetarian, but it was a dairy meal partially because one of the people I went with is a vegetarian, but also because they were having a meat meal for dinner with other friends and wanted to only have one that day.
7. On the second night, you went to Scott's friends for another great dinner. Who is Scott? Where is he from? How does he know people in Israel?----- Scott is one of my friends on Nativ. He is from a suburb of Boston. He knows some people from having spent sophomore year here. Also, from staffing a program during part of his senior year. He knew this person because they were staff at one of the Ramah camps, and this person is at school in Israel. 
8. What was it like to be in Jerusalem for Yom Kippur?-----Amazing. Seeing so many people in white, and having the city literally shut down for an entire day was one of the coolest experiences ever.

Future note. If people have questions, don't wait for my mom to send me a million (there were some I didn't answer). Feel free to e-mail me or contact me some other way and feel free to ask.

Desert Surivial!!!

Desert Survival:

Sunday the 16th, we were outside before 6 in the morning to leave for our desert tiyul (trip). For this, we were separated by tracks, so I spent the whole time with the Yerucham track. My track left first to take about a 2 hour bus ride to Be'er Sheva where we prayed in the only conservative synagogue in the city. By about 10 we were done with praying and eating and then were off to the desert. We started off near Mitzpeh Ramon (not sure if the transliteration is correct) where we met our guide Yoav, and guard Sapir. Due to me not having a hat (supposedly they were required) Adi (one of my staff) pulled out a scarf of hers and made me where it as basically a headdress. I'll admit that while I was initially not a fan, I definitely really liked wearing it the 2nd and 3rd days.

The 34 of us (30 Nativers, 2 Madrichim (staff), Yoav and Sapir) start going at about noon, and we start hard. We immediately climb up this one hill which must have been a couple hundred feet high and quite steep. We then take a break there for Yoav to give an overview of the path that we will be taking. It was a little over 30 km in 3 days, but that including climbing up at least 2 mountains each day.

The first day's hike went into the dark, I think because none of us were expecting the intensity of the sun, heat, and hike to be as hard as it was, so by the time we got to our campsite, it was basically right at sunset. There was nothing in particular that was very cool to see, just a lot of different hills, mountains, and random cliffs, but it was still such amazing scenery. There was however one very old riverbed that we walked through, which is cool to think about since the desert is now very dry, but that there used to be ocean and river where there is now desert.

The 2nd day Yoav woke us up at 4:30 to very annoying music he had on portable speakers, but what really woke us up was the knowledge of pre breakfast being available. I say pre breakfast because we would pack food to eat at a normal breakfast time even though the food we had for pre breakfast was much more breakfast like. We then left the campsite and once we got to the trail, it was straight up from there. About 2/3 the way up the mountain we stop for a little break and Yoav did more ocean explaining but also showing that there were different fossils from very old water creatures. While also there, we are explained about the Machtash. Apparently Israel is the first place of these. It is essentially a canyon but instead of carved by rivers, it is ground that rose from the tectonic plates, then the sandstone eroded and water filled in, but then went away leaving the hole in the ground. We finish the mountain then go through this very long pass to our campsite. A pretty difficult day mostly because it was the only day that was truly a full day of hiking.

Because we are in the desert with essentially no light pollution, you can see millions of stars. That night we go on a little night hike to this one flat area which is more comfortable to lie down at and have about 20 minutes of no talking and just listening to the sounds of the desert and watching the stars.

3rd day starts bright and early. We walk for maybe an hour without and hills or mountains or anything. It is just straight walking in the desert with literally nothing around. Then we get to the hardest part of the hike. We hit this one mountain which is essentially straight up, to the point where if one person were to have fallen, there would have been no chance for them to not take everyone else out with them. We end up finishing the hike and get to the best part of the hiking, the jeep ride. We then take about a 30 minute jeep ride to the bus and lunch.

All in all, a very good way to spend 3 days of sukkot in the desert. It was a ton of fun and an amazing bonding experience as well.

High Holidays, School Started, Still love the Bears

9/28/11: NOTHING HAPPENED!!!! THE WORLD LITERALLY STOPPED!!!!! (Also, it was Sivan S.'s Birthday. She turned 18. She is also sitting right across and is not influencing this at all. Happy Birthday!!!!) But actually, it was essentially an off day for us. The only things that we did was have a dinner and Maariv service. 

Rosh Hashanah: 

The First day was nothing too special in all honesty. I went to this really cool minyan which is basically full of really religious hippies that dance around the whole time, but I learned that that is definitely a minyan to only go to for a shorter service (i.e. Friday night) because, while fun, they drag out services. After leaving a little early, me and the people I went back with then took a very roundabout way back to base where we passed through this one neighborhood that I love going through. The buildings all have some blue in it, and it is as if it was made to be one giant garden. For the afternoon and evening services, I went with my friend to where his grandparents go and then went to dinner at his grandparents. A cool minyan, but nothing too special. 

The Second day was really enjoyable. Nativ sets us up for hosts with families in the area, on either the first or second day. I went with these two other girls to a really fun minyan. It was called Baaka Shyvuni. It had a mechitza, but was still egalitarian. I really enjoyed their tunes and the service as a whole. Plus the person I sat next to was very nice and one of the few Americans, so he was able to explain the minyan to me because it was a very new one at that. Afterwards, we find our host and she is super nice right away. She was also on Nativ 11, so it was a cool connection with that. We then meet her husband and 3 kids. Her husband runs a winery in Golan Heights, so obviously we had AMAZING wine for lunch. The lunch in general was also really good. It was 4 courses. First was this delicious cheese and crackers. I don't know what was so special, but the cheese was wonderful. Next was arguably the best soup I had ever had. It was a lintel, coconut, and orange soup. The mixture of flavors was wonderful. After was a quiche, carrot cake muffin kugel type food, and 3 different types of salad. Lastly was a great selection of fruit, apple cake, lemon pie, and chocolate covered pretzels made by her kids. It was a great meal, plus the company was great. They had 2 friends over as well and they were also very nice and interesting. 

Later that night I then went to Scott's friends for another great dinner. It was too bad because I was not that hungry, and due to that I don't remember what exactly was served. I do however remember it being very good and very good company. 

School: I started the regular semester that Sunday (10/2) with Evolutionary Psychology. I liked my professor immediatly by introducing himself as Amir, just like he was a normal person. He also had a pointer which I find hillarious. Best of all, he looks like a monkey. Now in most cases, that is probably an insult, but I feel that in a class based in evolution, that a professor looking like a monkey makes the class that much more legitimate. He also happened to write about half of the extra readings. It is also a good class because it is a 4 hour block, but not all lecture. It is 2 hours of lecture and 2 hours of us getting into groups and researching/presenting a topic from the lecture.

On Mondays I have 3 hours of hebrew followed by 4 hours of The Emergence of Biblical Israel. That is a very difficult time because I get really drained, but it is a super interesting class. We basically analyze the emergence of Israel as a people by looking at the bible from a historical perspective. 

My third class is Anti-Semitism from the 19th Century to the Present. It is twice a week so only 2 hours per day, but those two hours take a long time. The material is super interesting, but the professor is very quite and dry. In a way it is lucky though because the only two grades we have are not based on his lecture. It is a book review and then a term paper based on any topic related to anti-semitism. 

Yom Kippur: This was a really cool experience in Jerusalem. Kol Nidrei/Maariv on Friday night was interesting. A bunch of people went to the Great Synagogue of Jerusalem. The only way I can think of describing it is, that going to the Great Synagogue is an experience that I wanted to have...once. I will never go back. It takes way too long and I didn't like how they ran the service, however the synagogue itself is absolutely gorgeous. Afterwards, all of Nativ went out into the middle of the street by us which is a very busy intersection and starting singing songs from packets/booklets that we have and use ourselves on a normal Friday night, but going to that intersection for Yom Kippur has become a Nativ tradition. Singing there alone was cool, but what really made it amazing was that hundreds of other people ended up coming over and joining us from the city. While we were sitting in a circle, there were hundreds around us joining us in song. Truly unbelievable.
The next day, instead of doing the normal "go to services all day", me and some friends instead went on a "spiritual walk and sit" and ended up at an overlook that actually happens to overlook the Valley of Judgement. I found it much more meaningful. For the afternoon and evening services, I went with one person to the Kotel which was amazing. We helped start the minyan which was pretty cool. For Mincha (afternoon service) it was slightly disorganized, at least in our minyan, and the person who lead took way too long. But then Ne'ila was just amazing. All of the energy at the Kotel was unbelievable, and was one of, if not the best praying experiences I have ever had. O, and Zack D. fainted. In fact, he actually fell onto me, and because it was on me I was able to get him a chair to sit down in. He actually finds it super cool. 

There was then a communal breakfast at the Kotel where I had sooo much food. It was basic cakes, muffins and cookies, but even still, delicious. Later that night, me and Jesse go to this one place and have delicious hot wings. 

Tonight, I will be staying up til 5 in the morning. Gotta love having the Bears play Monday Night Football in the states, but me also not having class til 2:30 in the afternoon. 

Minimester is over!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sunday: Yay last day of Ulpan!!!! That was a relieving feeling. I also had my Jerusalem class final, which actually went pretty well. I knew a lot more than I thought I did. It went pretty well. The rest of the day I basically just hung out until about 11 pm. I took the occasional nap but nothing too spectacular. At 11 I went to a bar to watch the Bears game. Boy was that a mistake to stay for the whole game and not get to bed until 3 am with my ulpan final at 10. I still am very happy with the beer selection at that one bar and the quality of fries, both of which very good.

Monday: Woke up at 7 to go to tefillah. Breakfast. Ulpan final at 10. Not terrible, for the essay section, I actually filled up all of the lines, which they said if done, the teachers would grade the mistakes much easier. After that I then actually teared up a little bit because it was one of the happiest moments knowing that minimester was now over. It was a very hard and intensive 3 weeks, and reminded me very much of the place I loved leaving: high school. Today was filled with naps until dinner at base which was questionable at best as usual. Afterwards we had group bonding programs. For the Yerucham track we were doing a scavenger hunt where we had to run around the main parts of Jerusalem and do some borderline illegal things as well as just fun stuff. My personal participation was having a little kid sit on my shoulders, get scraps from a nice restaurant, wearing woman’s cloths, doing the Macarena on Ben Yehuda, teaching random strangers a song, and other weird things. Afterwards I went to get delicious falafel and then hung out at base.

Tuesday: Today was AMAZING!!!! I got to sleep in til about 7:45 because teffilah was late today due to nobody having classes. We then went to this amazing waterpark and was there until about 3:30. I did have one question regarding the water park, I thought there was a water shortage in Israel. After that, we went to be part of the studio audience for the Israeli version of “The Voice”. For those who don’t know what it is, it is just another vocal performance type show. It was AWESOME!!!!! Due to the fact that they pre-screen prior the television performances, they singers were all really good. It did however run really late because it wasn’t live, so they did random retakes of different parts of the show. We then got back to base at 10 pm to have dinner, and then have our first semester orientation just to find out logistics regarding the semester.

I answered the question of god and the universe. O yea

Thursday: Woke up with my knee really hurting from basketball, which is weird beczuse it didn't hurt while playing, just the day after, and it hurt pretty much all day. Had a quiz in ulpan after a terrible day of ulpan like always, but based on the part that we went over in class, I think I did really well, which is good because we also got back the test from Monday, and I did significantly better than I had done previously. That night, instead of going out like most people, because I have been feeling kinda sick I stayed in, but sorta pigged out with a really good friend. We picked up 2 pizzas, a pint of ice cream, and 1.5 liters of coke and just watched movies in his room. We actually had a very wonderful night. Then when everyone came back, due to the prime location of his room, we were able to see basically everyone, so we still enjoyed the company of many people.

Friday: Slept in with no school, and I felt much better when I woke up. My knee even felt a lot better. I did still feel pretty sick. I infact woke myself up from me coughing so hard. It was actually a pretty boring day. I woke up really late and then just did homework and watched more movies. I was going to go to services with this one person to this one shul that nobody has tried out yet but he got back from an "adventure" too late so we just chilled out at base until dinner. After dinner however, me and 5 others went to go play basketball for a while. That was good to get out and get sweaty. Came back around midnight and went back to bed.

Saturday: Woke up around noon to go to lunch. Afterwards I then had a very phylosophical discussion about god and the universe, and for those curious, I solved the answers to the universe and god. It was pretty awesome, or at least I like to think I did, and in the discussion turned debate, after having one of the staff come in and back the religious side, where I took the analytical side, I basically won with "The question to the universe and god (assuming excistense) is a "why". The answer to the universe through the scope of language is the concrete answer to an infinite amount of "how"'s and "what"'s." If you wish for a more in depth reasoning and background on the debate, feel free to ask, but basically the other person was debating for the existence of god through the scope of everything that is "why" being unanswerable, and therefore god, and while I am not sure on my belief of god or not, I took the analytical aspect (not necessarilly for or against god) and essentially answered his why's through how's and what's. It was actually a very interesting and good debate. Then I went to sleep some more, then dinner, then more sleep, the selichot, and then homework. YAY!!!!

Jesus, Creepers, Islam, Classes, and good old fun

Thursday: Took an insanely hard test in Hebrew, and it didn't exactly go too well. But then in the Jerusalem class, we talked about the Christian/Roman/Greek periods of Jerusalem, and we then took a trip to the Christian quarter of the Old City. We saw King David's tomb, the room of the Last Supper, the place where Jesus was crucified and burried, and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. It was actually pretty cool. I also decided that I have a goal of taking a "creeper" picture of everyone on Nativ, as in I take a picture of someone and they have no idea it is happening. O yea.

Friday: NO ULPAN!!!!! It was fantastic. I was able to sleep in. I even slept til 1, it would have been later if I hadn't been given a heart attack from one of my friends trying to break down my door to wake me up just for fun, and no other reason. Good restful day though which was nice. I did a lot of relaxing. For Shabbat I was planning on going to a shul in the Old City which had been destroyed and was reopened last year. When me and my friends showed up, turns out it was full of black hats, and we thought it would just be better to go to the Kotel. When we get there, somehow out of the 3 of us, we lost one at one point, so me and my friend literally search the entire area until we find the lone conservative minyan going on in an obscure area of the praying area. There was sooooo much spirit there, especially in our minyan, it was wonderful. Afterwards, the three of us end up getting set up for this dinner. The whole scheme starts out kind of sketchy just based on the set up process, but we all want stories and adventures, so this seemed like a great idea. We end up going to this guy's house with 2 other people from London on a 3 week program through AISH, 2 yeshiva boys, 1 woman from Argentina, a woman from Colombia, his three friends, his three daughters, and of course his wife. It was a very full dining experience. While very full and odd at first, it turned out to be a wonderful meal and evening. The food (and really good scotch) was delicious, including wonderful schnitzel, but more than anything, the host(who was originally from Cherry Hill, New Jersey) had wonder stories, and I was having great conversation all night regardless of who I was talking to. After we left at about 11:30, we figured since we were still in the old city, we mind as well go to the Kotel. At 11:30 at night, we went there and just sat at the wall, all the while there must have been atleast 50 people there for one reason or another. It was such a powerful feeling being able to sit up at the wall at that time, but also knowing that we can just do that on a whym whenever we so choose.

Saturday: Sleep in until about 10:45 where I then wake up and get ready to go to my friend's Brazilian friend's house. While it was a very long hour walk, it was so worth it. It was a real homecooked meat meal which is so good compared to the food that I generally have. Plus, just talking about the differences in culture was super interesting. And, they also had very different food (while still having very very good scotch). I then came back to Beit Nativ and slept until about 8 o'clock which was such a wonderful feeling. I then went out and got really good and cheap shwarma at this stand we found, and just hung out at Ben Yehuda for the night with some friends.

Sunday: Yay ulpan...again. Although I didn't have the Jerusalem class, so I was able to get in a really good nap when I got back to Beit Nativ. For some reason, I can't actually remember what happened on Sunday other than that, which makes me seem to think that nothing too interesting happened then. I mean I did study Hebrew, but nothing too big happened then.

Monday: Yay more ulpan. Again I did not have my Jerusalem class, however I did have to stay at Hebrew U to register for my classes for the regular semester. I will be taking "The Emergence of Biblical Israel", "Antisemitism from the 19th Century to the Present", and "Evolutionary Psychology." I also bonded really well with some people that I haven't yet talked much to.

Tuesday: Ulpan test. I think it might have actually gone pretty well. In the Jerusalem class, we talked about the Islam Period. We went to the Tower of David which actually has nothing to do with King David, but when people came to the city, and saw this huge tower, they assumed it was him because he essentially founded Jerusalem as the capital city. It was however built by the Muslims. We also went to a museum right by there that has a lot of the history of the Mosques and the Dome of the Rock. It was pretty interesting, but we were not able to do a lot because of timing.

Tonight we had our second Erev Nativ, and tonight we had the leadership development director of AIPAC talk to us. He obviously talked to us some about Turkey kicking out the Israeli Ambassador, all the stuff with Palestine and the UN, but mostly talking to us about how we can get seriously involved, or just involved on a minor level. And then we had at least an hour of Q&A about basically any topic. It was super interesting, and in the morning (because after I finish this, I'll be going to sleep) I fully plan on e-mailing both senators and representative, and possibly starting a correspondence. Supposedly if we were to do what this guy said, we could actually have a real correspondence with our congressmen which would be very cool.

On a fun note, one of my best friends from home who is now at Georgetown had his first radio show today (11 o'clock my time) and it was a great show. It is called Politricks for anyone interested. I was able to call in and we talked about everything going on with Israel. It was a lot of fun to be on there, and to be on his show.

We have already started talking about Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur and I am getting super excited for that.

Still loving it here, and I am not sure when the "novelty effect" will wear off, but I hope it doesn't because I am loving this.

The Usual Update

So Kabbalat Shabbat at the Kotel was unbelieveable. You can hear all of the chanting and singing from hundreds of feet away. It is beautiful. Due to the fact that both guys and girls went, instead of going to the wall, the 13 Nativers went to the conservative overlook and just did our own minyan which I think was even cooler. After0wards, me and 2 others stayed back and went down to the wall to walk around in the literal mob and hopefully get invited to a dinner. I'm guessing that because we were just walking and not praying that that is the reason we weren't invited, but at some point I would love to get invited to a super religious black hatter's house for shabbas dinner. Saturday, me and 2 people joined someone in going to his grandparent's house for lunch, and it was soooo good to finally have some real food. The food was delicious, plus the wine they had for kiddush was also very good. I may have just been converted from red to white. Later in the day me and some friends went to a park to play some shabbas football, and that is always a really good time. 

Sunday was just a general school day. Wake up, go to tefillah, then get on a bus to Hebrew U for 5 hours of Hebrew (I can't yet tell if I really have learned enough to talk or not, all I know is that I can remember it while I am in class), come back, do some homework, sleep, do some more homework, and then went out with some people. We also had a 9/11 program where we talked about it a little, and then watched a History Channel documentary for almost 2 hours. While I don't mean to disrespect 9/11, it was awful. It took way too long and by the end, everyone was asleep.

Monday I started my Jerusalem class. That class was mostly an overview lecture and we started talking about the 1st Temple Period. We then went to the Mt. Scopus (where Hebrew U is) overlook and looked at the city and David talked about all the different places. That night, me and 2 other people discovered a delicious and really cheap pizza place. We can get 2 really good, really large pizzas for 50 shekels(the conversion changes daily with the terrible U.S. economy, but it is roughly 3.7 shekels to the dollar) total which is an awesome price. 

Tuesday was also good. In the Jerusalem class we went to the City of David which is where King David actually established the capital. We walked through water systems and different shafts, and that was really cool. Also, one of our staff member's sisters lives there, so she talked to us a bit about living there. It is sometimes rough, but they truly believe that that is the true Jerusalem, thus making it completely worth it. At night we had our first mandatory program which is Erev Nativ. We have some program every Tuesday meant to connect us to what is actually happening in the world, and yesterday a representative from the David Project (basically an Israel advocacy group that works mostly with high school and college age kids) came and talked to us, but instead of talking about advocacy, we mostly talked about Israel in the world now, and he also talked about a David Project class we can take starting next week. We mostly discussed the attack on the Israeli Embassy in Egypt from last Friday, a little about Turkey-Israel relations, and the upcoming UN action taking place in regards to Palestine. About that, we came to a consensus that Palestine will gain both recognition as a state and non-state membership status which only requires majority and 2/3 vote respectively. They will definitely not become full members with so many nations on the security council openly saying they would veto. Afterwards I went on a "date" with one of my staff. It is essentially a check in that one of our staff does with everyone. We walked to Mamilla, which is the shopping area right outside of Jaffa Gate to the Old City, grabbed some coffee/hot chocolate and then walked into the Old City. He showed me this place where at night I'll be able to actually sneak my way up onto the outside walls of the city which he made sound amazing. I can't wait to try it. It was a good night though because me and him had never really talked much, but we connected a ton and were very open with each other about a lot. I am really glad I went with him and not my other staff member who I had talked with more.

Today was actually a good school day. In Hebrew we had 3 quizzes, all of which I think went pretty well, especially with the fact that when I was studying in the morning beforehand, I didn't know any of the vocabulary. Next was the Jerusalem class, and we finished talking about the 2nd Temple Period with a visit to the Kotel. We talked about how the part where people pray at is only about 1/10 of the remaining walls of the Temple Mount, and how there are in fact remains from all four walls. We were then given about 20 minutes to roam, and I went with some people to the praying section of the Kotel. While there, the new soldiers in the Military Police were being sworn in, so that was a very cool ceremony. I then was able to go up right to the wall due it not being any time for services. While I have already been to the Kotel twice this trip, and once in 8th grade on Ta'am Yisrael, I had never been able to touch the wall. It was such an amazing and powerful feeling. It is indescribeable.

Oh, I was also chosen by the staff to be one of three commissioners for the NBA (Nativ Basketball Association), and our first games are tonight, but we aren't starting the league yet, this is just to start some games and get a rough estimate of how many people we are going to have.

I am still LOVING it here in Jerusalem, and while this weekend for an open shabbas most people are going to Tel Aviv for a huge party, I am staying here with a couple people to do some more exploring of the city. I don't feel right not taking advantage of the fact that I am in this great city and now knowing where things are. Plus, it is much MUCH easier to not spend money in Jerusalem on Shabbas than it is in Tel Aviv.

I love Nativ, and I am loving the people here. 

OMG GREAT LUNCH

So today only Ulpan Aleph at Hebrew U had class, which really stunk because we had a quiz and test today. I know I got a 100% on the quiz, but I am really not sure how the test went. The grammatical stuff was fine, but there was some vocab which I just couldn't remember at all. 

The real point was that I didn't have much for lunch, and when one of my friends got back from hanging out at Ben Yehuda, but didn't have lunch, and she told me about this one wonderful cafe. We went to Cafe Rimon and while I got this delicious quesadilla and she got pineapple pizza, we obviously split it, and the whole meal was delicious, especially since from where we were sitting I could see the Old City perfectly. It was one of my favorite meals so far. Tonight I am going to the Kotel for Kab Shab and I am really excited because I heard it is wonderful there. LOVE SHABBAS IN JERUSALEM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

For Photos, look here

I decided doing a Flickr would be easier than putting on pictures here due to formatting, so here is the link. If it does not work, let me know asap. http://www.flickr.com/photos/66888096@N05/

Random Tidbits

Sorry for the delay, internet has been down at Beit Nativ, so I have only been able to type during break at Hebrew U.

On this Sunday, I will be starting my 2nd class for the minimester which is a history of Jerusalem class taught by the great David Keren. He used to work for USY and has also been very involved with Nativ, so I have already met and know him and he is such a cool guy. Plus I hear nothing but praise about him as a teacher, so I am so very excited for that. I think next week we start to pick classes for the regular semester, and so far there are 2 classes that I am really interested in taking; Jewish Mysticism and Talmud as a Cultural Adventure. 

Yesterday, another program arrived. It is called Yearcourse and one of my best friends is on that so I saw him last night and I am so glad to be seeing him for the next three months while he is in Jerusalem. 

Monday/Tuesday have really just been very simple days. We have had class all day, get back and everyone takes a nap, and then some people go out and party, whereas some stay in and chill. I have done both, so it has been a good time. 

Random food stuff: The food at Beit Nativ sucks and I get that for breakfast and sometimes dinner, so I am always sooo excited for the food at Hebrew U for lunch which is delicious. 

Also, I went to this pizza place the other day, it is called Tomato and Cheese and it was possibly the best pizza I have ever had. Two nights ago I also had shwarma for the first time here. Most American's go to Moshiko's, however it is super overpriced, and not too great, whereas I went to this other place still on Ben Yehuda called Hamaroosh, SOO GOOD!!!!

Bad news: Today during lunch at Hebrew U, the people at my table all had laugh attacks based on one person starting to try and tell a story, but instead just laughing, and that spread to everyone. Eventually it got to me, but they didn't want me to stop, so I ended up laughing for 1 hour. People may not realize this, but laughing is quite quite tiring, and in that I decided to take a nap when I got back. That nap started at about 3:30. I woke up at 9:15, and in that I missed dinner and a very funny program for my track which was this person coming in and playing comedy games. While I have actually done everything that people have described to me, it still sounded like a great time. 

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!OMG GREATEST NIGHT EVER

Thursday: Hebrew University minimester (mini semester of 3 weeks just for Nativers) orientation. Found out I'll be doing 100 hours of Hebrew Ulpan in 3 weeks along with a Jerusalem history class. Hopefully it will all be worth it and I learn Hebrew. Also, the view from Hebrew U is AMAZING!!!!!!

Friday: We go on a 2 hour hike through the hills of Jerusalem. It was just a very laid back, chill, and all-in-all cool hike.

Then for Shabbat, we separate by track, but all go to Yemin Moshe which is a neighborhood in Jerusalem but also has multiple shuls. We all just go to different areas. My track went to this gorgeous garden facing the Old City, and with it being Friday night, it was sunset and the view of the city plus garden was beautiful. 

Saturday: I wake up and go to the Kotel with some friends for Shacharit and the Torah service. We are in a minyan which included 3 Sephardic bar mitzvahs, and out of the 4 of us, 2 had aliyot. Next we decide to try and go to the Ashkenazi shul in Yemin Moshe, which is supposed to have an amazing kiddush, for Musaf and kiddush. Well we end up going out the Dung gate instead of the Jaffa gate like we entered. Turns out the Dung gate leads you practically to East Jerusalem (for those who don't know, extremely dangerous place for Jews. It is full of arabs and is just a very dangerous place in general. Look it up.) While we are walking through still wearing our kippot and tallit (yea, super stupid) we end up making it to Yemin Moshe in the hot sun. It was a very long and sweaty walk. Now that we got to Yemin Moshe, we can't find the shul. We ask for directions multiple times, yet never find it. We walk in circles for at least 30 minutes before we decide that if we leave then, we might make it back in time for lunch at Beit Nativ. So that was quite an adventure.

Saturday night: I get Burger's Bar for the first time, and the burger was amazing. Now, for those who have not been following what is going on in Israel, there is a social justice issue going on with living costs being too high so there have been nonviolent protest going on. Well tonight, there was the million man march in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, and Haifa. Turns out for the part in Jerusalem, it was literally right next to Beit Nativ so we were able to see the whole thing from the balconies and roof in our building. It was the most amazing thing ever. I finally have something worth telling grandkids about. There were many speakers and live singers. Great and powerful night.(pictures to follow later).

NATIV 31!!!!!!!!!!

First night of freedom

On our first night, we weren't allowed to go out. We won't ever have curfew when staying at Beit Nativ, except for that first night. Instead of being smart like the rest of the group and going to bed at about 1 am, me and 7-8(it depended on the time) just hung out in one person's room and literally did an all nighter. While it was not the smartest thing to do, it was a ton of fun. We had a great view of the sunrise from the balcony on my floor.

The day was generally ok, I didn't start to get tired til about 3 when my 2nd semester group did  neighborhood tour so we were walking a lot, and then during Nativ orientation I actually fell asleep while sitting right next to the director. Later on we all went to a bar-b-q which was pretty good.

Afterwards a lot of the people took full advantage of their legality and lack of curfew, whereas I did not. A friend of mine had surgery on his foot before he left so he can't walk a lot, so instead we just crossed the street, got a beer and then just hung out with this other girl at a very pretty fountain right next to where we stay. Eventually people started coming back, so we again just hung out around Beit Nativ.

All in all, a very good day and night and I can't wait for the rest.

P.s. We did ice breakers by 2nd semester group, so I met a lot of my group and they are really cool, and my staff are also really awesome, along with all staff in general,

First Day of Nativ

I first started off my day finishing packing, but then realizing I had misplaced my passport. Not a good way to start my day. Eventually I got to O'Hare no problem, went through security and all and got my flight to JFK.

All of the people from Chicago then basically chilled around JFK for a while because our baggage was checked through and we got boarding passes in O'Hare. After the long wait of getting almost everyone through checking, we all went through the long and tumultuous process of security.

10.5 HOUR FLIGHT!!!!!! YAY!!!!!!! Except not quite, none of the Nativers were really allowed to talk because so many people wanted to sleep. So we were basically all sleeping or talking quietly with those around us. 

We landed around 5:30 local time, and the weather was gorgeous. Took an hour bus ride to this very random site to have Yossi (the director) give us a little speech about questions and how we won't leave with answers, but instead better questions. We then continued on our busses which were separated by our 2nd semester tracks until we got to Beit Nativ (where we are staying) in Jerusalem. We got our bags in our rooms, ate, and got our phones.

We start getting more serious tomorrow with orientations and all the good stuff. So far, a great start to hopefully an even better year.