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!!!!!!!!!!