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