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.