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!!!!!!!!!!
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