End of Hanukkah, family, and Yerucham?

Friday morning we woke up and left for a Ramah shabbaton in Yerucham. It was pretty silly being back there, but it was a lot of fun! I got to see lots of friends and there were some interesting sessions. When we got back Saturday night we went out for dinner.

Yesterday my mom and Rebecca left to go up north for 2 days just to travel around and see more of Israel because Rebecca has never really been up there before. I spent most of the day doing errands and then at 4:35pm we walked to this old age home and lit Hanukkah candles and sang Hanukkah songs with them. It was pretty ridiculous because we didn't have anything planned. It was just really chaotic but funny. Last night I went to a surprise birthday party for my friend Jaime- the food was delicious and it was a lot of fun.

Today so far I've just had Hebrew class- this is our last week of real classes! Oh how time flies.

-Sarah

Hanukkah oh Hanukkah and FAMILY!!

It has been so much fun celebrating Hanukkah this week!! Tuesday night for Erev Nativ we had a big Hanukkah celebration. There were 3 stations- one where you could watch the holiday armadillo episode of Friends, one where you could play dreidel, make Hanukkah card, and do some other stuff that I forget, and one that was a trivia board game. I prepared and organized the trivia and it went really well!! After all that was over we had a sufganiyot eating contest- one person from Yerucham, one from Be'er Sheva, and one from Kibbutz competed against each other, and in the end the Kibbutz person won. It was silly because they sufganiyot were pretty stale. I've been lighting Hanukkah candles every night but last night was the best because I got to light with my mom and Rebecca!!

I was supposed to go meet them at the airport, but then there were no more buses, so I had to wait for them in Jerusalem.. That was pretty disappointing, but then they finally got here and it was so, so, so exciting!!! We all talked for a while and then went to bed. Today my mom went to Tel Aviv, so I brought Rebecca to school with me because on Thursdays I only have Hebrew class. I think she had fun! Now Rebecca is napping and I'm going to try and get some work done.

Happy Hanukkah!

-Sarah

Final countdown (to mommy and RGR)

Sorry I'm getting really bad about posting frequently- it's been an insane week trying to get stuff done before my mom and Rebecca get here. I spent most of the past week either in class, sleeping, or working on my foreign policy paper, but I'll try and remember the things I did besides that. Tuesday night we had Erev Nativ- for the first part we learned about Hanukkah. I was in the singing group so we sang lots of Hanukkah songs. Then we made menorahs! That was fun. I lit the menorah I made last night. Wednesday night I hung out with Kanoff! He's here staffing a confirmation trip. Wednesday night at 2 in the morning I said bye to Jake because he left for IC until this Friday. Thursday was a normal day, and then Friday was shabbat! I stayed on base this shabbat and slept for most of it. I had dinner at the hotel where Kanoff's group was because Misha's brother is on the trip, so we went together. Then I went to bed at 9:15pm and did not wake up until noon on Saturday, just in time to grab lunch at Beit Nativ. Then I just hung out with friends for the afternoon and had Holy Bagel for dinner.

Sunday was also just classes... We did have a mini art history field trip though. My teacher curated an exhibit on Hebrew U campus, so we visited that. While she was taking us through it, a bird pooped on the floor of the exhibit- haha. It was cool because we were allowed to touch the art in the exhibit, because it was really for blind people. Then it was the first night of Hanukkah! We all gathered in this room with a lot of windows that face the main street and lined up our menorahs that we made. We all lit them and sang Hanukkah songs and ate jelly donuts. It was pretty cute.

Sorry for being so boring. This is just such a stressful time with finals coming up! Today I had classes and now I'm doing work... no surprises there!

HAPPY HANUKKAH!!!

-Sarah

Some Nativ days

This has been such an insane week, which it why it has been so long again since I've posted. I have 3 papers to write (freshman writing, foreign policy, and talmud), and I want to get those all done before my mom and Rebecca come in 9 days! I also filled out my USY on Wheels staff application and learned some Torah for Weinstein in 2 weeks.

I've had normal classes all week.

Last Tuesday night for Erev Nativ, we were supposed to go on a hike but it was raining, so Eyal's grandparents talked to us about the Palmach. Wednesday and Thursday were normal days... but Thursday night I went to this really cool concert at the Yellow Submarine of a band called Marsh Dondurma. It was 15 people all playing different musical instruments. The played some jazz songs, some more Middle Eastern songs, and some straight up marching band-esque songs. It was a lot of fun!

Friday morning I went to the shuk and then it was time to get ready for shabbat. It was a closed shabbat, so everyone stayed on base. Friday night we had services all together and then dinner on base, and Saturday I went to services at Kedem and then had lunch on base. I napped a lot, and then Saturday night I went to Waffle Bar and walked around Ben Yehuda a little bit with Jake.

Sunday morning Jake and I woke up at 4:15 a.m. to go to Hadaya to get a bracelet for Jake's sister, because if you're the first customer, you get 50% off. Unfortunately, we were not the first, so that was pretty sad.

The rest of Sunday was normal. I had classes and then did a lot of work, and today so far has just been normal classes.

Bye!

-Sarah

Sorry for not posting in a really long time!!

Last Tuesday night we had Erev Nativ like every week. This really cool guy came in and did improv with us. We played so many games including the "touch someone wearing the color _____" game, the machine game, the mirror game, and more. The last game was that we had to pick three things out of three envelopes: one aspect of Israeli life, one genre, and one fairy tale, and make a skit involving all three. My group picked the army, western, and little red riding hood. All of the skits were really, really funny.

Wednesday and Thursday were normal school days, but then Thursday night we did something really crazy called Road Rally. It was basically a huge scavenger hunt all over Jerusalem organized by 3 Nativers. I was on a team with Jake, Misha, and Kesha, and we won! Not only that, but I was MVP! It was a really fun, wild, and crazy night.

Friday morning I woke up and went to the shuk. I went to Kabbalat Shabbat at Kedem and then went to Jake's friends house for a delicious dinner. Saturday I slept in a little because I wasn't feeling well, and then I went to lunch at Josh Rabin's (my Wheels rosh) house, which was fun and delicious. I spent the rest of shabbat napping, and then Saturday night I stayed in and wrote an art history paper that I forgot about. Sunday morning I went out for Holy Bagel and then had classes and football practice.

Today was a normal day in terms of classes, and then we had a football game tonight. We lost, as usual, but the girls on the other team were little devils. They literally pushed us, grabbed us, and screamed in our faces. The ref even told them they were being indecent human beings. It was great.

Now I'm just doing some work. Catch ya later!

-Sarah

Shabbat in Rehovot, school, girls movie night, and Yehudit Ravitz concert!

I spent this shabbat in Rehovot at my friend Keren's family.  My friend Lilli also came.  Keren has two aunts/uncles who live in Rehovot, so we slept at one's house and ate Friday night dinner at the other's.  As soon as we got there, aunt #1 gave us a big lunch of spaghetti and red sauce and lots of other things.  We then took about a 3 hour nap, and then went to aunt #2's house for dinner.  There were about 6 different kinds of meat and chicken, as well as many sides.  Keren's adorable little cousin was there so we played with him for a while and then went back to aunt #1's house to go to sleep.  Saturday morning we woke up late and then Keren's six other little cousins came over for lunch.  Lunch was enormous and delicious.  We played with all the babies for a few hours.  Then we went to the mall for a little and caught the bus back to Jerusalem.  Saturday night we watched Ella Enchanted.

Sunday I had normal classes and football practice, and then we had girls movie night!  We all got in pajamas and brought pillows and blankets and watched the Sex and the City movie.  It was really cute.

Monday I had normal classes and then at night I went to a Yehudit Ravitz concert!  It was a benefit concert for a battered women's shelter in Jerusalem.  Jake's mom's friend Kim loves the shelter (called Isha L'Isha), so she bought lots of tickets to the concert-because the money from the concert was donated to the shelter- and so lots of Nativers got to go.  It was SO much fun!!

Today so far I had a big Hebrew test and that's about it.

Have a good day!

-Sarah

Girls football VICTORY, school, and Thanksgiving!!!

I've done so much since I last updated!! Monday was a regular school day, and then Monday night we WON OUR FIRST FOOTBALL GAME!!! It was against some Yeshiva girls and it was super exciting. Tuesday was a regular day and we had a short Erev Nativ, pretty much just announcements of what is going on over the next few weeks, because everyone had midterms this week and some people were stressed. I only had 2 finals: Art History and Talmud. Wednesday was also a regular day.

Today was Thanksgiving!!! I was kind of sad to not be at home with my family but Nativ made it really fun for us. At 5:30, all of the Nativers and lots of Bogrei Naivers who made aliyah gathered in the chapel where we davened minca, watched the new Nativ promo video (which I'm in by the way), watched a video that some Nativers made about Thanksgiving, and then Kol Nativ (the Nativ a capella group) performed 2 songs and they were amazing! Then we ate a delicious, traditional Thanksgiving dinner: turkey, sweet potatoes, green beans, pumpkin pie, etc. They surprised us by giving us envelopes of letters from our families! That was a wonderful surprise. After dinner we watched another video about Thanksgiving that Nativers made and the staff told us why they are thankful for us. That was pretty cute. Then we watched all of the Thanksgiving-themed Friends episodes- they are all very funny. After that I went out for a little with some friends, and now I'm going to bed.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!

-Sarah

CARNIVAL & exams...

Today was a fantastic day.  I woke up at 6:45 a.m. to go to the carnival I wrote about in my last post.  There were about 25 volunteers all excited and ready to go.  We all took the bus together to Talpiyot where we met Dov.  A bunch of us got to actually go into the gan and play with the kids there, then we walked over to the gym in another school where the carnival was set up.  There were a bunch of different games like the ones you would see at a purim carnival in America: ring toss, basketball, soccer, etc.  There were 3 shifts: gan, 1st grade, and 2nd grade.  The gan was a little bit young for the carnival games so this lady named Leora played with them with one of those giant parachutes and also tug of war.  All of the Nativers helped out during this.  For the 1st and 2nd graders, there were 2-4 of us at each booth and they loved it.  They each got a bag to put the points they won at each game in.  At the end, everyone got a bag of candy.  The kids were so cute.  They loved playing with us and I think everyone there had an amazing time.

After the carnival I had to take my art history midterm.  It was exactly what I expected so it was okay.  I had foreign policy, and then I came home and skyped with Hagesher at fall convention!  It was fun to see all of my USY friends, and my sister, and talk about Nativ.  Then I went out to dinner at Le Pasta.  I got ravioli.  After that I did some Hebrew homework and then studied a little for my Talmud midterm tomorrow.  I'll study more tomorrow morning before the test.

I should go to bed.  It's late and I went to bed late last night too.  I guess I kind of do every night, but I have to go to services tomorrow at 6:30 a.m. so... yeah.

Lila tov!!

-Sarah

What a week!

So much has happened since Tuesday (when I last wrote)!  Wednesday and Thursday were pretty much just normal days for me.  On Thursday nights my friend Kari organizes Disney b'Ivreet (Disney in Hebrew) for whoever wants to come, so this week we watched Peter Pan.  After the movie was over I just sat and talked with a few friends and then went to bed.  Friday morning I woke up and went to the shuk, as usual.  I got 2 pomegranates for 6 shekels.  I ate one today and it was SO sweet and delicious.  I also got clementines, golden raisins, and maybe some more stuff, I don't really remember.  Friday night I got set up for dinner by this guy named Jeff Seidel.  His set ups are almost always with crazy, rich, orthodox people and my set up was no exception.  There were about 20 people in this really nice house in the old city.  The food was really good, but it came with a price.  One thing was that we talked about the parasha for almost the entire meal.  Another thing was that they made us go around the table and say what we are thankful to HaShem for.  When it came time to do kiddush the mom of the house was like all boys should try and practice now because if you want to get married soon you're going to have to know how to do it...I was just like Oh God.  They also had this little daughter named Sophie who kept trying to talk and quote Rashi.  It was insane.  After dinner I just went to bed.

Today I woke up late (terrible Jew, I know.  I had enough from last night), and then went to lunch with Jake at these family friends of his.  That was a lot better than last night and the good was good.  After lunch we put together 300 small bags of candy to give out tomorrow at this carnival for underprivileged kids.  The story of the carnival is this: Jake's dad's good friend, Dov,  made aliyah recently and now runs this organization called My Brother's Keeper, that does all kinds of programs for poor kids who live in the bad parts of Jerusalem.  He buys winter coats, school supplies, food, etc.  Sometimes he has big barbecues for them, but tomorrow he is making a big carnival, so Jake got a whole bunch of Nativers to help out.  So, we made candy bags to give out.  After we made the bags, I ate my first dinner of the night (grilled cheese on my friends sandwich maker), and then studied for my art history midterm (which is tomorrow) for a little, and then got dressed for the 12th (I think) annual Rav Shlomo Carlebach memorial concert, where a bunch of singers get up and sing Carlebach songs.  The concert was insane.  There were tons of people there, lots of dancing and singing and clapping along.  Some people who get really into it dance kind of crazy.  After the concert I went to Burger's Bar for a real dinner, and now I'm studying more for art history.

Goodnight (soon I hope, for me.  I'm tired)

-Sarah

Some normal days

The title of this post pretty much says it all.  Sunday was a normal day for me- woke up relatively late, went to the gym, went to class, had football practice, hung out, did homework, went to bed. Monday I also had classes and went to the gym, and then Monday night we had a football game!  We played a bunch of moms who were older than us, but we still lost.  I didn't play this week because the coaches instated a new system where the team is divided in 2 and then each half plays every other week in order to give everyone more playing time- so I will be playing next week.

Today I had classes and went to the gym like every other day, and then tonight we had Erev Nativ. We did some activities on Jewish identity.  First there were a bunch of quotes hanging up all over the room and we had to stand next to the one that we identify with the most, and second we had to put a list of Jewish things (God, religious observance, life cycle events, tikkun olam, derech eretz, wearing a kippah, marrying a Jew, etc.) in order of how big of a part of one's Jewish identity they are.  Then I did some Hebrew homework, went out for frozen yogurt, and now I'm just hanging out.

Lila tov!!

-Sarah

PS- can people please start commenting on my posts again? I like comments.

Y-E-R-U-CH-A-M

Shabbat in Yerucham was SO much fun!  We left Friday morning and got to this Midrasha that also has a youth hostel in it around 12.  We all hung out for a while, played soccer, talked, ate lunch- really chill.  We all got ready for Shabbat, did kabbalat shabbat and dinner and all that, and then had some sessions.  The first one was this lady telling us all about her life in Yerucham.  She kind of just tried to prepare us for what we would be dealing with- people in Yerucham have been shafted by the government in many ways, so it is not always going to be easy with them.  She told us that we shouldn't think of ourselves as a gift to them, and we shouldn't necessarily expect any gratitude for the volunteer work we will be doing- we should basically just take it for what it is.  The second session was with this Moroccan guy named Charlie who sang piyutim with us.  It was really fun.  They were traditional songs and people got solos or sang in groups, but everyone sang and had fun.  We all hung around and talked Friday night, some people played ping pong or foosball, and then we went to bed.

Saturday morning we went to services at 1 of 2 shuls in Yerucham.  It was Sephardic, and services were really short.  After services we had another session where we learned about God and Tikkun Olam and some other stuff, and then walked back to our youth hostel and had lunch.  After lunch, pretty much everyone napped, and then we took a walking tour of Yerucham.  It's a really small town, but kind of cute, and I'm looking forward to living there.  We also got to see some of the apartments we are going to be living in!  They aren't the nicest things I've ever seen, but they're decent, and I think we'll be able to make the best of it and have an amazing time living there.  After the walking tour we did mincha, ate dinner, and then pretty much packed up and left.  When we got back I went out to Waffle Bar for a real dinner (the food they gave us was ehhhhh), and that brings us to now!!

Shavua tov!

-Sarah

School, soup kitchen, lots of meetings, and ITALY

Wednesday was pretty much just a normal day: school, hung out, went to bed.  Thursday, however, was a really, really interesting day.  It started at 9:30 a.m. when I went to a soup kitchen with my friend Becca.  We cut raw potatoes into french fry size for about an hour and a half and then spent the last half hour before we had to go to class opening packages of frozen chicken.  My hands got really cold.  It was so much fun though!  There were so many people from all over the world volunteering there, and everyone was talking and just having a good time.  Sometimes they even offered us snacks, which I thought was weird, so I didn't eat any.  I think I am going to do that every Thursday from now on.  They don't start serving the food until 12, but by then I have to go to class, so Becca and I might go back on some Sundays so we can serve.

After the soup kitchen, we went to school.  I had a huge Hebrew test, which was kind of hard but I studied a lot (I still might not have done well but I tried my best), then I went to the gym, and then I had Freshman Writing.  After Freshman Writing I went back to Beit Nativ and ate dinner.  Then at 7 we had a short football meeting.  We couldn't have practice because it was rainy and cold outside, so we just talked about the team.  Then at 7:30 I went to a meeting about this project going on about Ethiopian Jewry.  Nativ is setting up a table right on the corner of Ben Yehuda and King George Streets and trying to get people to sign a petition to get the Israeli Government to check out the Jewish roots of a small Jewish community left in Ethiopia.  It should be a lot of fun and will hopefully make a difference, even if that difference is only educating more people on the issue.

After the Ethiopia meeting I watched half of Liar Liar, hung out for a while, and then BOOKED MY FLIGHT TO ITALY FOR WINTER BREAK!!!!  I'm going with 3 friends from January 16-27!!  I'm so excited!  Now that we have our flights we are going to start figuring out everything we want to do- it's going to be amazing!!

After I booked my flight, I went to bed.  Today we are going to Yerucham for Shabbat!!  Yerucham is the place where I am going to be from January-May, so I hope I like it!!  I'll let you know how it is.

Shabbat Shalom!

-Sarah

School

On Sunday I had class as usual, and then we had football practice Sunday night! We scrimmaged for a long time. Yesterday I also had normal classes, and then we had our first football game last night! It started with a ceremony to mark the opening of the season for the league, and then we played our game at 7:30 pm. We played this group of Yeshiva girls who were about at the same football level as us, but we ended up losing. I only got to play for about 2 seconds, but it was still fun to watch and cheer on our team. Our colors are maroon and white, just like Lower Merion.

So far today, I've only had Hebrew. I was a few minutes late because the bus to Hebrew U took a long time, but it was fine. After Hebrew I went to the gym, and I was kind of sore in my arms and my backpack was heavy, so I took the bus back from the gym to save myself the 20 minute walk. I know that makes me seem really lazy but it's fine.

Now I'm going to do some work and maybe start looking at places to go in ITALY!!! I'm booking my flight either today or tomorrow I think/hope.

Also, today is the election for the mayor of Jerusalem! That's exciting.

-Sarah

Shabbat :)

I forgot to mention in my last post that on Thursday I saw something really cool: there was a package left unattended on Hillel Street, and the police had to come, block of the street, and blow up the package.  It was really cool.  They put this black box thing over the package so it was a controlled explosion so I couldn't really see anything, but it sounded like a bomb (not that I've ever heard a bomb explode before but it was really loud and sounded like what a bomb sounds like in movies).

Anyway, so Friday night I went to Shirah Chadasha and then at the end when they asked if anyone needs dinner, my friend Michelle and I went up and went to this lady's house.  She had a lot of guests.  2 of them were actually her friends (one of them is a professor at the Rothberg School at Hebrew U where I go, but she doesn't teach any freshman classes), then there was Michelle and me, a blind guy, an Israeli guy, a medical technician, and this guy who just made aliyah for the second time and isn't really doing anything right now.  The food was delicious and there was a lot of interesting conversation.  When we got home, I hung out with friends for a little and then went to bed.

Saturday morning Jake and I took his mom's friend, Kim, who is in Israel for about a week, to Shirah Chadasha.  I ate lunch at Beit Nativ, played blokus for a little, and then took a 4 hour nap (I really needed that).  At 7, Kim took us to see this light show at Migdal David, and it was possibly the most amazing thing I have ever seen.  The show told the story of the history of Jerusalem.  There were no words, just these 3D holographic images that spanned the whole entire wall, which is huge and castle-like.  It's really hard to explain how amazing it was.  My mom and sister can tell you when they get back from Israel in January because I am definitely taking them to the light show.  After the light show, Kim took us out for a really nice dinner at this restaurant called Hachatzer.  After we walked Kim back to her hotel, I just hung out and then went to bed, because we got back really late.

So far today all I've done is wake up, so I'll stop here.

-Sarah

OBAMARAMA, school, and "Too Soon" party

So when I last wrote, I was getting ready for the election party.  It was such a crazy night!! There were a good 30 people there at 1:30 am, and by 4 there were probably at least 40.  We all just hung out, watched Fox News, played Election Jeopardy, 2 boys had an election themed rap battle, and at 5:15 am they brought us bagels and spreads.  At 6:00, when Obama's victory was announced, the room exploded with cheering and crying.  It was such an amazing moment (given that 114/116 Nativers voted Obama).  I stayed awake to watch Obama speak (7 am Israel time), and then had to get on a bus at 7:50 to go to school for the day!!  I slept through every single class, but my teachers didn't really mind because they all knew that we had stayed up all night.  Wednesday night we all hung out for a while and then went to bed.

Yesterday I had normal classes and then football practice.  After football I went out for FroYo with Becca and then we hung out for a while.  At 1:30 am there was a small Nativ party themed "Too Soon", where people dressed up as things that it is too soon to joke about, for example Hurricane Katrina, lots of Nativ inside jokes, etc.  I was Heath Ledger, except I didn't really put on much of a costume, I just told people I was Heath.

Today I woke up late and went to the shuk.  I got a pomegranate, a mango, 7 oranges, a challah, and a persimmon.  Now I'm having some cereal and skyping with my mom.

Shabbat Shalom!!

-Sarah

Shabbat, School, and ELECTION PARTY PREP

I spent shabbat at Hackits and it was really fun!  Sunday and Monday I just had regular classes.  Monday night we had our first girls football scrimmage!!  We lost by a lot, but, in our defense, we were playing an amazing team who has been playing flag football for years.  They were really nice though and gave us lots of pointers.  Today I had classes and then Erev Nativ.  For Erev Nativ we talked about the assassination of Yitzchak Rabin (today is the 13th anniversary), and then split into groups and made skits or songs or art about the different borders Israel has had (for example in the Bible, UN partition plan, '67, etc.).  I've spent the past few hours getting ready for our big election party which starts in an hour and a half (1:30 am)!  I was on the fun and games committee and the decorations committee.  We made election Jeopardy and downloaded YouTube videos that have to do with the election to show during the party.  Misha and I made lots of signs and blew up balloons to decorate the room.  It looks so good!!!  Anyway, I can't decide if I should sleep for an hour right now or just pull and all-nighter... 

-Sarah

The Rest of the School Week

This was a really, really good week in school.  Wednesday I had Art History, where we started talking about Jewish European artists of the 19th century, Hebrew, where we started learned the heefeel tense, and Talmud, where we learned this text that had to do with following in God's ways.  Wednesday night I went to holy bagel.

Yesterday was my last day of classes for the week.  It's so nice to end on a Thursday.  I got to wake up late because I didn't have Hebrew until 12:30, and then I had my first freshman writing class.  My teacher, Janet, is very nice.  All we really did was learn how to use the Internet catalog for the library but in the weeks to come we should be doing more actual writing stuff.  After writing I got home and had girls football practice.  I play offense so I had practice from 7-8, and defense has practice from 8-9.  I hung out for a while watching YouTube videos with friends and then we had a Halloween party on this big patio thing on the top floor.  I dressed up as Princess Fiona (from Shrek).  There were lots of funny costumes like ninjas, gangster people, homeless people, playboy bunnies (they were boys), lots of movie characters, and more.  It was a lot, a lot of fun.

I just woke up and now I'm going to go to the shuk and then head up to Tel Aviv to spend shabbat with Hackit again.  I'm going with Misha and Beinart.

Shabbat Shalom!!

-Sarah

Two Days of Classes

From now on I think I'm going to post every other day because every day is pretty similar: classes and going to the gym.  This is what my schedule looks like:

Sunday: Art History and Foreign Policy

Monday: Hebrew and Talmud

Tuesday: Hebrew and Foreign Policy

Wednesday: Art History, Hebrew, and Talmud

Thursday: Hebrew and Freshman Writing

Foreign Policy is by far my favorite class.  The teacher is amazing and I'm learning so much.  I've heard he's kind of a hard grader, but it's so worth it just to learn what he has to teach.

Tonight we had Erev Nativ (we have it every Tuesday night).  The theme was "Who's Line is it Anyway" combined with Zionism.  We played some improv games, wrote songs about different groups of people in Israel (Charadim, spiritual zionists, chovevi tzion, and labor zionists), and then ended by playing the agree or disagree game (where the staff reads a statement and you have to go to one side of the room- agree- or the other side- disagree).

That's all for now!

-Sarah

Shabbat and First Day Back to School

On Friday I did what I do pretty much every Friday; slept late, went to the shuk, went to kabbalat shabbat (at Yakar), ate dinner at Beit Nativ, hung out, and went to bed.  Saturday morning I went to services at Chovevi Tzion, ate lunch at Beit Nativ, took a nap, did mincha with Nativ, ate dinner (not really, dinner was horrible so I ate cucumbers and tomatoes), and then went to get frozen yogurt with some friends.  After frozen yogurt we decided we were actually hungry so we ordered in Shnitzi's.  After waiting an hour for our food, my friend called to see where it was and it turned out the delivery man had gotten into an accident.  Don't worry though, he was fine and our food eventually came.

Today was my first day back to classes after sukkot break!  I woke up around 9 and then went to breakfast with one of my pilgrimage staff, Naty,  and two friends who are also on Nativ and were also in my pilgrimage group.  We went to this cute little coffee shop on Emek Refaim Street.  I had eggs and hot chocolate.  Then Naty took us to this place called Valley of the Holy Cross where they supposedly got the wood for Jesus' cross.  It's this beautiful little path with lots of olive trees and there is a big monastery there.  After that I went to the gym and then had Art History and Foreign Policy.  They were both good, but I like Foreign Policy the best.  I made a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and brought some other snacks that I ate in between classes.  After class we had girls football practice.  It was kind of chaotic but fun I guess.  Now I'm going to bed, I have to be awake for services at 6:30!  We have a schedule where each of us have to go to services twice a week, and my days are Mondays and Tuesdays.

Lila tov!

-Sarah

Last Days of Sukkot Break

Yesterday and today were pretty relaxing days.  Yesterday I woke up late, went to Holy Bagel (again, I know, I go a lot), then watched Forgetting Sarah Marshall with a few friends.  Then my friend Keren and I made wacky mac for dinner, and then everyone just hung out until late and then went to bed.  Today I went to the gym, ate lunch at the gym cafe (so good), went to the shuk, went out for frozen yogurt (vanilla yogurt with chunks of strawberry, raspberry, and mikupelet [chocolate]).  Now I'm getting ready for a dress up party my friend Misha is having for her birthday at her uncle's house who lives in Jerusalem.

Sorry for this short and semi-boring post but it's just been a relaxing, chill few days with not too much going on.

-Sarah

Simchat Torah :)

Monday morning I woke up late, ate lunch, and then went to the shuk. At the shuk I taste tested lots of pomegranates, and I bought a mango (it was amazing. so juicy and delicious I can't even explain), 3 clementines, and a bag of golden raisins. After the shuk I hung out for a little and then went out for milkshakes/smoothies with a friend from camp and then got ready for shul.

For Simchat Torah night I went to Kedem. It was ridiculous. Simchat Torah is my favorite holiday. There were lots of Nativers there which was nice, but also a lot of other people. They sang a million songs, everyone was dancing like crazy, jumping around, making conga lines, dancing in circles, and pretty much just being wild and crazy. I also got to hold a Torah and dance with it for a while. We were all so sweaty by the end, but it was so much fun. After services we ate dinner at Beit Nativ and then played Blokus and hung out and then went to bed.

Today was just as fun as yesterday. I went to Kedem again (it's my favorite shul, I love it there), and the dancing was super fun again. I held a Torah, had an aliyah, danced like crazy (we danced outside a little which was nice). Services were about 6 hours long because of all the hakafot and then everyone having an aliyah, but they were so fun and everyone was so joyful that it wasn't even boring and didn't see that long. After services we had lunch at Beit Nativ and then I took a long nap. After my nap I had dinner and then we went to this thing called hakafot shniyot, which is this thing they do all over Israel where they have a big party with music and dance with the Torahs (since it's not yom tov anymore because there is only 1 day of yuntif). We went to the party in Gan Ha Pa'amon. There were a million people there but it was still fun. Lots of dancing and singing again. Then I went out to Holy Bagel.

Chag Sameach to you all (since you still have 1 day of yom tov left!).

-Sarah

Chol HaMoed Sukkot

Last night, after shabbat ended, I went with a bunch of friends to this restaurant called Dolce.  It's a waffle bar.  2 friends and I split 2 waffles: 1 apple cinnamon and one half white chocolate half milk chocolate.  They were both so amazing and delicious. We stayed out for a while longer and the eventually went to bed.

Today I woke up late, did some laundry, and then went out to Holy Bagel and then Aldo (ice cream) with some friends. We came back to Beit Nativ and chilled for a little and then went to see a movie.  We saw Burn After Reading.  It's an American movie so it was in English with Hebrew subtitles.  It was kind of a weird movie but very funny and enjoyable.  After that we came back, chilled again, ate dinner, and then had girls football practice.  We scrimmaged and I scored 2 touchdowns to help my team win 3-1.

-Sarah

3 Day Desert Experience and Shabbat

I have spent the past 2 nights and 3 days hiking in the negev.  The trip started out Wednesday morning when we all woke up at 4:30 am and left Beit Nativ not much later.  We were separated by track (Yerucham, Be'er Sheva, Kibbutz), so from now on when I say "we", I just mean the Yerucham group.  We stopped at the youth hostel in Ein Gedi for shacharit, which included shaking our lulavim, and breakfast.  We very briefly got to see people on Kivunim, who had just arrived in Israel, which was fun because I have a bunch of friends on it.  We then continued further down into the south.  We got off the bus and got loaded into jeeps which took us further into the desert where the bus could not go.  We each got to pack a backpack for hiking, which had to have at least 3 liters of water in it, and a separate overnight bag, so we loaded all of the overnight bags into a separate jeep which got taken straight to the campsite (kind of cheating in the whole mega-intense hiking/camping thing, I know).  We all had to carry something in our backpacks for lunch.  I carried nectarines and apples.  Then we began our hike.  Our guides name was Norit.  She has a really intense hiker and I liked her a lot.  We hiked for about 3-4 hours then stopped to have lunch on this plateau.  Lunch consisted of tuna, bread, corn, tomatoes, cucumbers, bamba, wafers, apples, nectarines, and pickles.  I made a pretty good tuna sandwich, so I was happy.  Then we all had to take some trash in our bags, and we continued hiking again.  We did a lot of going to the bathroom by squatting this whole time (I didn't want to forget to mention that, so I'm just throwing it in there now).  

We hiked for a few more hours, playing lots of games such as geography, the movie game, etc., and listening to Norit's funny stories, and then we finally we arrived at our campsite (when I say campsite I mean lots of desert... no running water or anything like that).  The kibbutz group was staying at the same campsite, but we did completely separate activities, we just said hi to them really quickly.  Our camping staff had dinner all ready for us (we were kind of spoiled).  We had this delicious soup, shnitzel, and some other stuff.  At this time we got to watch the moon rise, which was amazing and beautiful.  It was a full moon and it was so bright.  Then we had a bonfire!  We had a big massage circle around the bonfire and then our staff Eyal made us play this game called tank where we all get in our sleeping bags in one big long line and then the person on the end has to roll across everyone else, and then the next person and then the next until everyone has gone.  That was silly.  Then we just all sat around the fire for a little while longer listening to one kid play guitar and singing, roasting marshmallows, and just relaxing.  We all went to bed at around 9:30 pm in sleeping bags on these little mats under the bright desert sky.  There were millions of little stars surrounding the moon.

We woke up with the sun the next morning, Thursday, at 5:00 am.  We did shacharit (we brought our lulavim and etrogim, so we did hoshanot and all that), ate breakfast (cereal, tuna, eggs, cucumbers, tomatoes, etc.), made pack out lunches (deli meat with all the toppings), and set out on our hike.  We stopped after about 5 minutes to do some morning stretches, and the continued on.  We hiked for hours, stopped at some point to eat lunch, did trust falls and then a blindfold walk with a partner (this was nice because we paired up with people we don't talk to that much), hiked more, finally arriving at machtesh Ramon (the Ramon crater).  It was the most beautiful thing I have ever seen.  Norit, had us all lay down along the southern wall of the crater, close our eyes, and listen to the song "Kol Galgal".  We laid there for about 45 minutes in almost silence.  It was so amazing, especially after all that hiking!  We walked about another hour after that before arriving at our next campsite, just outside the crater.  We ate dinner (soup, hamburgers, chicken kabobs, french fries, Israeli salad, and more), and then made another camp fire and did another massage circle.  We played some new games this time, such as psychiatrist and this other game that I don't know what to call it.  We roasted marshmallows again, and just sat around before going to bed.  That night was even more beautiful that the previous, with brighter stars and an even bigger and brighter moon.

We woke up the next day, Friday, even earlier: 4:30 am.  Same routine of services and breakfast.  We walked about 5 minutes out of the campsite and then stopped to do some morning stretches, separate boy and girl trust activities, and then finally a big game of red rover.  Then we kept hiking.  The hike on Friday, I think, I was the most physically trying.  There was this one enormous, steep uphill that took a lot of focus and self control to climb.  I hiked in the front of the group pretty much the whole time, and this uphill was no exception.  When we reached the top and looked our over the Ramon crater for the second time, I was completely taken aback.  My friend Ashley and I hiked up a little bit more so we could sit quietly away from the group.  We listened to the song "Hallelujah" and looked out at the crater for about 20 minutes.  I don't even think I can begin to describe how I felt at that moment, but I will try.  Looking out over the crater, I could definitely feel God's presence.  I knew at that moment that God created this enormous, sprawling crater to show us how small we are, to humble us, and to show us the more important things in life besides petty fights we have with our friends, drama, and gossip.  After that we hiked for a few more minutes and then came to the top of a big downhill straightaway.  Ashley, Misha and I were the first ones to run down it and reach the bus, and we really ran.  It was so cool.  We all eventually made it onto the bus which took us to this park about an hour away to have lunch.  We all really had to go to the bathroom when we got to the park but the only place to go was a gas station next door, but you had to pay a shekel to go there.  Luckily someone had money.  After lunch we got back on the bus for the 3 hour bus ride to Jerusalem, just in time for shabbat.

Shabbat was pretty relaxing.  Right before it started I got two packages in the mail from my mom!  That was exciting.  I took a much needed shower (first one in three days :) ) and then went to kabbalat shabbat at Kol Rina.  It was nice, good singing, and I enjoyed it a lot.  I ate dinner at Beit Nativ, sang some zmirot, and went to bed shortly thereafter.  Today I went to services at Kedem, had lunch at Beit Nativ, took a long nap, played taboo, did mincha, ate dinner, did ma'ariv and havdallah, and that brings us to right now.  Shavua tov!!

Enjoy reading this super long post!!

-Sarah

Sukkot day 1

Monday morning we had a quick session about the holiday of sukkot, it's importance, laws about it, traditions we do on it, etc.  Then we all walked to a special shuk called shuk arbat ha minim to buy our very own lulav and etrog.  It was quite an experience.  There must have been about 50 different tables with lulavim, etrogim, hadas, and arava.  I walked around and looked at all of the choices, and finally picked out what I wanted to buy.  I ended up getting my lulav, etrog, and carrying case for 60 shekles total, which was a pretty good deal and a lot cheaper than in America.

After we got back from the shuk, we had to rush to the bus station to get to Tel Aviv in time for chag.  I went to visit Tamir Goodman, a famous basketball player who I know from camp because he runs a basketball program there.  He actually lives in a neighborhood about half an hour outside of Tel Aviv called Zichron Ya'akov.  A bunch of other people from Nativ were also visiting people in that neighborhood, so we all travelled together.  We had to rush to the bus in Jerusalem, and then when we got to Tel Aviv we had to run to the train because it was the last train before chag started!  Luckily we made it and everything worked out perfectly.

Tamir picked us up at the train station with his two kids in the car, they are 4 and 1 (so cute!!), and then we went back to his beautiful house where his wife was.  We went to shul for mincha and then came back and had a big, delicious dinner in the sukkah.  Everyone was tired so we went to bed early, and woke up in time for shacharit this morning.  He goes to chabad shul, so I had to sit behind a mechitza and I didn't really get to bench lulav, but I will tomorrow with Nativ.  After services, another family came back to the Goodmans for lunch in the sukkah (another big, amazing meal), and then we all took long naps that lasted until the chag ended.  We made the first train after chag because we wanted to be back early in order to go to bed early because we have to wake up at 4:30 am tomorrow for a 3 day desert survival hiking trip!  I'm very, very excited.  It should be a lot of fun.

I won't be able to update again until after I get back in 3 days, so in the meantime, chag sameach and have a wonderful sukkot!!

-Sarah

Nativ Girls Football

I know this is kind of my second post in one day but this morning's post was catching you up on my shabbat so now this one really counts for today.

After class, I went to the gym and then ate dinner in the delicious and amazing gym cafe.  The food is so healthy and wonderful; I am pretty sure it is my favorite place to eat in all of Israel.  I had a tuna salad with egg and pasta and cheese and veggies... it was great.  Then I went back to Beit Nativ for a little and then at 9 we had our first Nativ Girls Football practice!  There is a real girls flag football league in Israel, and we have a Nativ team, so it's pretty serious.  We practiced in a nearby park.  I enjoy running around, but I am pretty terrible at actually handling a football, so I faced some struggles when it came to the passing and catching drills, but I improved a tiny bit as practice progressed.  The coaches are 3 Nativ boys.  They are taking it pretty seriously but it's still fun.  After practice I watched a movie and that's pretty much it for tonight.  I have to wake up early tomorrow for shacharit and some sessions on Sukkot.

I wish you all a chag sameach and a good yuntif, and I'll write again Tuesday night (yuntif is only 1 day in Israel)!

-Sarah

Shabbat in Tel Aviv

My friend Ilana and I spent Shabbat at our friend Arie (Hackit)'s house from camp. On Friday, before we left Jerusalem, we went to the shuk to buy salad ingredients and challot to bring. We got back to Beit Nativ, packed up our stuff, and took a bus from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv. Before we met up with Hackit, we went to this amazing restaurant on the beach called Yotvata Ba Ir. We both got these delicious tuna sandwiches and chocolate ice cream. Yum. Then we took a taxi to Hackit's apartment where we helped him get food ready. Hackit has an American phone line in his apartment so we both called our parents and some friends which was nice. We then went to shul for kabbalat shabbat. Hackit's shul is very special. It's part of the Masorti movement, but they share some reconstructionist beliefs. It's a small congregation, I forget what it's called, and they use a guitar Friday nights. Instead of doing a full, traditional kabbalat shabbat, they select different verses and parts of the prayers to sing. They also do meditations frequently. I thought I wouldn't like how non-traditional it was, but I actually ended up enjoying it very much. Also at shul we ran into other friends of ours from Nativ! That was a surprise. It was very real and everyone was participating with full kavanah. After shul we had dinner and then played Bananagrams, a game that is kind of similar to scrabble. We went to bed on the early side, and woke up just in time for shul Saturday morning.

Shul Saturday morning was very nice. Hackit is the ba'al koreh there, so he read the whole parasha. They do this funny thing where they read a triennial, but they read the three parts three weeks in a row, so they are not in the same place as other shuls all over the world. Most people were reading Ha'azinu yesterday, but Hackit's shul was reading somewhere in Shemot. The Rabbi gave Ilana and me an aliyah together. He didn't give a sermon, he just talked about different issues from the parasha in between each aliyah. They also don't do musaf because they don't believe in the reconstruction of the temple, so they just gave a few minutes for prayer and/or silent meditation. I liked the Rabbi because you could tell how genuine his davening was. He led services sitting in the front row, often with his eyes closed, clearly focusing on his prayer. Overall, it was a great experience.

After shul we went to the beach with our friends that we ran into Friday night. It was a beautiful day and the ocean was very warm. Then, we went back to the place where our friends were staying for lunch. Their apartment was absolutely amazing. The dad is a big Jewish art collector. Many of his items are on display in museums all over the world, and we got to see his entire collection. He has tons of books, all different kinds of Judaica, and everything you can imagine. The coolest part is how old a lot of it is... I don't even know how old that's how old. He sometimes brings groups of students or other people into his apartment to see his collection.

After that we walked back to Hackit's to hang out for a little before taking the bus back to Jerusalem. A bunch of other Nativ people who were in Herziliya for the weekend were on our same bus, so that was a big surprise! When we got back to Beit Nativ, it was already kind of late so I just chilled there with friends who I hadn't seen for all of two days, and did some homework.

Today so far I had art history, which was fun, and Hebrew, which was also fun. Now I have a little break to eat lunch and relax before Talmud. After class I am going to the gym, and then tonight we have our first girls football practice. There is a Nativ team, and we play against teams from other year-long Israel programs. I'll let you know how that goes.

That's all for now!

-Sarah

Yom Kippur in Jerusalem

Wow... I'm going to try my best to remember and write about every single detail, because this truly was an amazing Yom Kippur.

It started yesterday. I spent the day carrying around a 2 liter water bottle to make sure I was very hydrated. I woke up late, went to lunch at 11:30, mincha at 12:30, dinner at 3:00, and then left for services at 4:15. For Kol Nidre I went to a small shul called Yakar. I had high expectations for Yom Kippur in Jerusalem because of the way our director Yossi described it: no cars in the streets, masses of people walking around all dressed in white, all stores closed, a real sense of community and unity, etc. I was skeptical on my walk to Yakar because there were still lots of cars around and I wasn't really feeling the sense of awe Yossi had described. Yakar was a great service and really got me into the mood of Yom Kippur. Although it was hard to follow at times because the chazzan was kind of quiet and raspy, there were a lot of great tunes and when the whole congregation was singing it sounded really amazing.

The walk back from Yakar was unbelievable. Yossi was right: there were no cars in the streets at all except a few police cars driving around very infrequently. There were hoards of people all dressed in white leaving different shuls. I was truly awestruck. It got even more incredible when I got back to Beit Nativ; all of the Nativers sat together in the middle of the street, in a big intersection outside of our building, and we all sang ruach songs (pretty much every one we know). Tons of people walking by crowded around us, some sang with us and some just watched, but it was so special and amazing, I can't even really explain. There was this one old man standing all alone crying, and it made me really sad and I wanted to talk to him and hear his life story, but he walked away before I got a chance. There was such a diverse crowd there, from the very religious to people in jeans and t-shirts. It was a truly moving and life-changing experience.

After singing, a few friends and I walked into the Old City to the Kotel. That was really special too. It wasn't very crowded so I got to stand at the wall for a while and just think.

I went to bed right after I got back from the Kotel. I woke up this morning at 7, and we left for Kedem at 7:15. Kedem was an amazing service. They used so many familiar tunes for the different prayers; from Broadway show tunes to Hebrew songs. It was fantastic. I felt so involved because it is a pretty small group (I went there for the second day of Rosh Hashana so you can read more details about Kedem in that post), which felt really good and made services bearable, and maybe even enjoyable.

Shacharit and musaf at Kedem went from 8-1:45, and then I walked back to Beit Nativ where I relaxed for 20 minutes and then left for mincha which started at 3:10 at a shul called Chovevei Tzion. I should mention that all day I walked right in the middle of the street, because I could. Chovevei was so great. Seats are assigned there, but my friend Misha and I got really lucky because this woman who had three seats reserved didn't bring her two kids, so she gave us her two extra seats. Mincha and Neilah at Chovevei were relatively quick. The moment at the end when they blew the shofar and everyone yelled "L'shana ha ba'ah b'Yirushaliyim" was amazing. Even though most of the people there were on the older side and were all strangers, I really felt like it was one close community where I belonged.

I walked back from Chovevei and broke the fast on cake and chocolate milk. Then I went out to dinner with a few friends to New Deli where I got chicken nuggets.

Hope you all had an easy fast!!

-Sarah

Great day!!

Today I had class, as usual. I got to sleep in (kind of... I woke up at 8:35). After a quick breakfast I took the bus to Hebrew U where my first class was Hebrew. In class we shared our collages that we made yesterday with the class and then talked about the origin of the very important and key Rosh Hashana/Yom Kippur prayer U'Netana Tokef. I had a 4 hour break in which I went to the gym and did some reading. Yesterday I finished my first book, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (it was the best book I have ever read. you should all read it), and so today I started a new book called The Seasick Whale by Ephraim Kishon. Kishon is a famous Israeli author whose books have been translated into English. He wrote the book Sallah Shabbati, and then we watched the movie version of it in my Modern Jewish History class. Since we enjoyed the movie, my friend and I decided to read some of Kishons other works. There is a cute little used book store right down the street, so we bought two of Kishons books, and when we are both done with both of them we will be able to trade them in for other books. It's great. The Seasick Whale is about an Israeli travelling all over the world. It's a satire. So far I am really enjoying it.

Anyway, after my break I had Foreign Policy. It was amazing. The teacher is so relaxed and just talks like he's telling us a story, so it's easy to follow and take notes and understand what he is saying, so it's a good situation. I took the bus home after class, grabbed a quick dinner, and then hung out with two friends who are on a different Israel program.

At 7:30 we had a special program for Yom Kippur. Every Tuesday night is Erev Nativ, which means we always do some kind of activity together. Sometimes it's fun stuff, other times more serious. After Ma'ariv, Yossi, the director, spoke for a little bit about Yom Kippur in Israel and how it is the holiest day of the year. Then we had two 45 minute time slots where we could pick which sessions we wanted to go to. My first one that I chose was with Yossi and it was a introduction to the Yom Kippur Machzor, which was very helpful. Second I went to a class on making the vidui, confessions, personal. We read them in English and then had a chance to write our own, which was nice. We had similar sessions for Rosh Hashana which I think I forgot to write about.

I saw something so exciting today! It's a tradtion done during the 10 days of repentence called kaparot. It's where someone swings a live chicken above their head and then a shochet kills it and someone takes it home and eats it. I think the whole process has something to do with getting rid of your sins, but I'm not 100% sure so you can look on wikipedia or google if you are curious. When I first heard about kaparot a few days ago, I pictured someone swinging the chicken like a lasso. That, however, was not the case. The guy actually swung the chicken quite slowly. There was a tent set up right on the sidewalk where this was going on.

I'm not sure if i'm going to post again before Yom Kippur. Probably not, so, I wish you all a safe and easy fast.

-Sarah

Day 2 of classes

Today was the first day of two more classes: Hebrew and Talmud as a Cultural Adventure.  Hebrew was a lot of fun. I have a lot of friends in my class, and we spent the whole time making collages about ourselves by cutting stuff out of newspapers.  The teacher, named Gila, is very nice.  It is going to be a little bit difficult at the beginning because we are not allowed to speak any English in the classroom, but once I get used to it and improve my Hebrew, everything will be good.  Talmud was also pretty great.  The teacher is really nice and smart, and I am definitely going to learn a lot.  I haven't really studied any talmud since middle school, but it's okay because the class is for beginners.  In between classes I had 4 hours, so I went to the gym for a while, ate lunch, bought the books I need for my classes, and sat around and talked with friends.  Soon I will have plenty of homework to keep me occupied during those free blocks!!  I was exhausted from the gym, so after I got home from Hebrew U, I went out to dinner at Holy Bagel with my friend Keren, and went to the grocery store to buy some essentials: peanut butter, jelly, pomegranate juice, an orange for my lunch tomorrow, and this apple-lime flavored seltzer stuff that I like.  Today I also downloaded a widget for my desktop that tells me how many days until my mom and sister come to Israel: 79!

That's all for now!

-Sarah

First Day of College!!

I have a lot to report!!

First of all, I forgot to mention in my last post that on Friday my friend Ariella gave me a hair cut!  She cut off about an inch and she did a very good job.

So today was my first day of real college classes!  My first class wasn't until 2:30 in the afternoon so I slept in until noon.  I've been getting a lot of bug bites, so somehow I convinced myself that I had bedbugs.  I made one of my staff members, Eyal, come up to my room to check for them.  He said that he didn't see them, but to make me feel better he told me to spray air freshener on my mattress to suffocate any bedbugs who might be there, and then I changed my sheets and pillowcases, so we're all good.

At 1:15 I took the bus to Hebrew U.  My first class was Israeli Art History.  I loved it.  My teacher is really nice.  Today she gave us an overview of what we will be learning, such as how does Israeli art reflect what is going on historically and in modern times, and how does Israeli art fit into the international art scene.  She introduces a few famous Israeli artists and showed us some samples of their work in a slideshow.

My second and last class of the day was Foreign Policy in Israel, a class I was very excited for.  The teacher is really smart, and he was the foreign policy advisor for Golda Meir when she was prime minister!!  He gave us a very broad overview of everything we would be learning, the different tensions in the Middle East that play a role in Israeli foreign policy such as conflict between the US and Russia, the West vs. Islamic Fundamentalism, Arabs vs. Arabs, and of course Israelis vs. Palestinians and Israelis vs. Arabs.  It is definitely going to be an informative and enjoyable class.

After class,  I went to the Hebrew U gym with a bunch of friends.  It's a really nice gym, and I got a good workout.  They offer a lot of cool classes, so I will keep you updated on which ones I do.  I had a delicious dinner at the healthy cafeteria at the gym.  Now I'm going to go to bed because I have Hebrew first thing tomorrow morning!!

Goodnight!

-Sarah

Shavua tov!!

Helloooo

I spent this shabbat in Jerusalem.  On Friday I went to the shuk with a bunch of friends, and then we all chipped in and bought pita, shnitzel, drinks, humus, etc., and made ourselves a cute little lunch.  Friday night I went to Shira Chadasha for Kabbalat Shabbat.  At the end of services, they always make an announcement like, "if anyone needs a place to go for dinner, come up to the front and we'll find you a host".  So I did.  Two friends and I ended up having dinner at these random peoples house.  They were very nice and the food was delicious. The mom looked like a slightly older, Israeli Meryl Streep.  There were a few other guests there besides just us so it was very nice.

Saturday morning I slept in (shh...I was tired!).  For lunch I went to a friends friends house with a lot of other Nativers.  It was a lot of fun, and the food was really good there too!  We were there for a while, then when we came back I read until shabbat was over.  I'm watching a movie tonight with a friend and then going to bed, because I start classes tomorrow!!

Shavua tov to everyone :)

-Sarah

October 2

Hi!

So today was a pretty relaxing day.  Services were at 9, then we had a session about Conservative Judaism with Rabbi Joel Roth.  It was long and it made me think a lot.  Then we had a briefing with Yossi, the director, who told us about what would be going on in the upcoming semester, which officially begins on Sunday.  Then I had my interview with Magen David Adom, where I am hoping to volunteer while I am in Yerucham.  After that I went to the grocery store, then out to eat at Burgers Bar, then I watched Gossip Girl on the computer.  Tonight I think I am ordering pizza and watching a movie with some friends, but I'm not sure.

Here is my schedule for the semester:

Class #1: Israeli Art History

Class #2: Israeli Foreign Politics

Class #3: Talmud as a Cultural Adventure

Class #4: Hebrew

Class #5: Freshman writing

That's all for now!  Bye

-Sarah

Shana Tovah U'metukah!!

L'shana Tovah to everyone!!
Sorry I haven't updated in a few days, the internet was down on Monday and then I obviously couldn't go on during the holiday.

Rosh Hashana was so amazing in Israel!! Monday night we did services as a group and then before dinner we all walked across the street where the Shalits (the family of Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier who is being held captive in the Gaza strip) were having dinner on the sidewalk outside of the Prime Ministers house. This is Gilad's third and hopefully final Rosh Hashana in captivity. There is almost always a table set up outside the Prime Ministers house with a petition to sign asking the Prime Minister to work harder to get Gilad back. After we wished the Shalits a Shana Tovah, we had a Rosh Hashana seder with lots of different fruits and then a big festive dinner.

On Tuesday the Yerucham group walked 45 minutes to a suburb of Jerusalem called Talpiyot where we split up between a few different shuls. I went to one called Maayanot. It was a pretty quick service (relatively), but overall it lacked enthusiasm and kavannah, which was disappointing. After services we were assigned host homes for lunch. The lady that set it all up tried to put us with people we would have things in common with. So, the people whose house I went to (their names were Yonatan and Ruti, but I forget their last name) lived in Philadelphia for 4 years, from '96-'00, and celebrated the high holidays the years they were there at none other than Temple Beth Hillel Beth El- Wynnewood. We played lots of Jewish geography and they are really good friends with Laura and Mark Solomon, the Simon-Hazanis, the Monsons, and a bunch of others. This was exciting for me because I was a teeny bit homesick not being able to spend the holiday with my family, and the fact that they knew my kehila that I come from was comforting.

After lunch we all did mincha and then walked back to base. I sat on my balcony and ate a delicious pomegranete that I bought at the shuk on Monday. It was the ripest, most delicious pomegranete I have ever had. Then I went to dinner at Rabbi Paul Freedmans house. Rabbi Freedman is a past president of USY. 12 of us got to go there, and it was really nice. He taught us a little bit about the holiday, and I enjoyed it very much.

Today we were allowed to go wherever we wanted for services, so I went to a young minyan called Kedem. A lot of rabbinical students and other young people go there. It was really, really nice. Afterwards I walked back to base, ate lunch, played rummykub, and then took a 4 hour nap. Before my nap I ate my new fruit of the year, a passionfruit (which I also bought on Monday at the shuk), and said shehechiyanu. I woke up just in time for Maariv. We davened outside, and this silly old lady who lived next door and hates noise blasted opera music during our services. Then we ended the chag with havdallah! I made myself grilled cheese for dinner on my friends sandwich maker. Now we're all just sitting around, happy to be on the internet for the first time in a few days, even though it's kind of slow right now.

I hope you all had a wonderful Rosh Hashana!

-Sarah

Shabbat #4

Hi everyone!

This shabbos was an open shabbos, but a lot of people stayed on base because we have a final for our Jerusalem class early tomorrow morning, plus everyone was just really tired.  Friday was a relaxing day for me.  I did my laundry, read a lot, hung out with friends, and just chilled out.  Friday night about 20 of the girls who stayed on base (including me) did kabbalat shabbat and had a picnic dinner in the park, which was so much fun and really nice.  I went to sleep shortly after that, and slept until 11:30 today.  After lunch I played taboo (the usual shabbat activity), and then did a little bit of studying for my final tomorrow.  I led mincha today!  Then I went for a run with a few friends, and now I'm going to do some more studying for tomorrow. woo hoo.

That's all for now!!

-Sarah

Minimester is over!!

Shalom!!

So minimester (the mini semester of classes before the high holidays) just ended, so i figured now was a good time to start a blog about my trip. A bunch of my friends here have them (which is where I got the idea), so I decided to start one so anyone who wants to can keep up with my adventures! I obviously want to keep in touch with everyone personally, but everyone (including me) is busy and because of the time difference scheduling is hard, so at least you can check my blog to see what's going on!

So, I've been here for almost a month, which is so crazy and hard to believe! It was really crazy and overwhelming at the beginning, meeting so many new people, hearing all of the rules and everything that was going on, but then we started classes which gave us some sense of stability, and everything got a lot better. We went to Hebrew U every day for our classes, and ate lunch there. The classes I took over minimester were:

1. History of the Arab-Israeli Conflict
2. Modern Jewish History: Continuity and Change
3. Jerusalem

Class #1 was really interesting! I actually had my fianl for it this morning. The teachers name was Dr. Jonathan Fine. He is very smart, so sometimes it was hard to follow what he was saying because he would say so much, but he was very nice about answering our questions. We started in the time of the French Revolution, covering the history of Arab and Jewish nationalism, the War of Independence, Six Day War, Cold War, Yom Kippur War, and terrorism vs. guerilla warfare. There were smaller things in between, but those were the overall topics. I knew basic facts about all of these topics, but I never really studied them in depth before, so that was really cool to learn. I have many pages of notes from this class.

Class #2 was kind of boring. There were some days where the topics were semi-interesing, and a few times we watched good movies, but the teacher, Dr. Sarah Schmidt, did not like to answer our questions so I was confused a lot, and it was kind of dull to sit and be lectured at for so long. I learned a lot, but mostly from the supplementary research I did for the papers we had to write, and not really from my messy, convoluted notes from class. We also started from the French Revolution in this class, and we studied basically the path of the Jewish people from that time until now, including the Holocaust, etc.

Class #3 was great! We only had this class twice a week, as opposed to the other two which I had every day. We got a one hour lecture on different topics relating to the history of Jerusalm, starting way back in the Bible, and then we would spend two hours touring all over Jerusalem, seeing all the sights we learned about. That was the coolest part, because in school we never get to actually go the places we're studying about WHILE we are studying about them. I was actually quoted saying almost that exact line in the Nativ promotional video, which I am in. Yay!

I barely had any homework over minimester, which was nice. When I was not sitting in class, here are some of the things I did:

1. Walked around Ben Yehuda Street
2. Walked into the Old City
3. Went to Supersol (the supermarket) or Mr. Zols (a different supermarket)
4. Went to the park
5. Met up with friends from other Israel trips
6. Watched Gossip Girl on the computer (or other TV shows or movies)
7. Hung out with friends outside or inside (I made lots of new ones!)
8. Played on my laptop
9. Went to the shuk
10. Went to a soccer game: Israel vs. Switzerland
11. Went to hear the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra

Here are some of my favorite things to eat in Israel:

1. Chocolate milk in a bag
2. Schnitzel
3. Bamba filled with chocolate nugget
4. Flavored water
5. Cinni-minis
6. Fruit (dried and fresh)

I have been here for three Shabbatot. Here is what I did for all of them (FYI closed shabbat means we have to stay on base, open shabbat means we can leave):

Shabbat #1: closed
Friday night: kabbalat shabbat by group (Yerucahm)
Saturday morning: walked to Kol Rina, a lovely shul in Jerusalem
-sang zmirot
-napped
-played taboo

Shabbat #2: open
Went to Tovik and Shimons. It was fun!
Friday night: ate dinner, hung out with Yonatan's friends at home, went to sleep, woke up at 1 p.m. on Saturday
Saturday: went to the beach!!

shabbat #3: closed
Friday night: kabbalat shabbat all together
Saturday morning: walked to Shirah Chadasha, another cute shul in Jerusalem. They do a lot of singing.
-sang zmirot
-napped
-played taboo and sheish beish

Also, this week there was a terrorist attack very close to where I live. A car full of Arabs hit a group of Israeli soldiers crossing the street. Thank goodness everyone on Nativ was okay, and the only person who died was the Arab driver. Many, however, were injured, but none fatally.

From now on, I am going to try and write on this every day, so that you can be as up to date at possible!!!

Miss you all so much. Keep reading!!

-Sarah