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