12/12-12/19

Saturday night/Sunday: Ended up borrowing Atonement and watching it with Ale. She fell asleep so I watched the end by myself. Not a good idea, it was really depressing. I didn't want to go to bed when it was over so I stayed up and eventually Orly came home and we ended up talking for hours. Slept a couple hours and then went to a meeting at 9. Came home afterwards and then we had our mifgash dira at 11. Passed out after that for a few hours and then I think I woke up and ate. Don't remember the evening.

Monday:

Went with part of the section to do a short hike in haifa. It was really muddy but pretty still. Our guide showed us a cave and told us that a giant made it when he stuck his finger in the mountain and bee stung it. After we went to the bahai gardens. Pretty but honestly pretty boring. Then we went to an area they called the druze village but was really just a street with food shops and tourist things. I got shawarma, it was delicious. People there were really nice, when we jaywalked the cars we cut off actually smiled and waved. So not Jerusalem or Bat Yam. Came home and watched the Vampire Diaries with Ale, I never heard of it before but it's a mildly entertaining twilight rip with better acting. We went with Katie to the beach after and got hot chocolate from aroma. We sat by the beach and then walked home. I love that we can do that.

Tuesday:

Went to Moshav Modi'in with Shevet. It was so nice. I've never seen so much green in Israel. It's this religious artsy community. We saw the shul, which was all pretty and hippyish, and then saw the alleged graves of the Maccabees. Then we ate junk food and played on their swings and had a little concert. We ate sufganiyot and did some calm music/meditating stuff with the chanukah candles. Then we went home and I went to the beach with Katie, Kai, Rachel and Jessica. I love the beach and how close we are to it. It's a 5 minute bus or like a 25 minute walk. Came home and talked to Bennn.

Wednesday:

Spoke to Ben in the morning for a bit and then went with Katie and Gabby to Shuk HaCarmel. We didn't really know how to get there but figured it out. I went to one store and asked how much these pants were, the guy said 20 shek so I asked for 15 and he told me to go away. We went around the Shuk and got yelled at by more people. One woman was sooo mean to Katie, she told her to go to hell and cursed her and it was pretty scary. I ended up buying pants from the first guy, they are blue and very pretty. We explored for a while and then went home. Katie and I were supposed to go running on the beach but just ended up watching The Vampire Diaries on Ale's computer and eating shnitzel. We had some egg yolks in the kitchen because Katie doesn't like eating them so we decided to put them in our hair. They had been sitting out of the fridge for a few days and they smelled so bad. It was so disgusting. But afterwards my hair did feel softer, so we'll probably just keep doing it every time Katie makes eggs. That night Shevet went to a hospital and went to visit kids for chanukkah. We did it with Benai Akiva kids and it was fun. We handed out sufganiyot but had so many that when we left the hospital we handed them out on the way to the bus. And on the bus, actually. People were so surprised, they thought we were selling them not giving them away. Of course, I didn't know how to say free in hebrew so i just said not for money not for money. We went home and Orly made meatballs and rice. Katie and I went to Rachel's apartment and started to watch She's The Man but stopped half way through since everyone was tired.

Thursday:

Woke up really late. Spoke to Heather about her coming, told her I couldn't go to the airport because it would be expensive and time consuming. At 3 we went to a sofim activity for chanukkah. It was silly but fun. I ate a sufganiya in four bites. Katie ate one in two. And then in one. Ale was having a big shabbat dinner since our friend Joe is here from England. Katie and I went with her to shop for food and bought ourselves body wash yay. Joe is in Bat Yam so we met him at the grocery store and it was so nice to see him. I had to rush home because I wanted to speak to Heather before she got on the plane. I spoke to her and then to Ben. After I spoke with my mom for a while and it was great. Then I spoke to my grandparents, haven't been able to reach them in forever so that was good. The connection sucked though which was so frustrating- hopefully it will be better next time. They should be able to get to my blog now, since I told them the link.. (Hi Saba and Savta!) After I spoke with them I went to bed.

Friday:

Got up and showered and got ready for the weekend. It was raining like crazy outside so I wore flipflops, even though everyone else was wearing boots. I don't have any shoes I wanted to get soaking wet so yea. Sometimes I wish I brought rain boots but there was no space and I'm told that the rain is almost done here so it's fine. I brought toe socks along so I had those to wear with my flipflops later on. Very fashionable. We walked to the Ulpan center and got on the bus but we didn't leave for a while, which was annoying. I had to go pee- i mean use the bathroom really bad since we had been waiting so long and then drove an hour and a half before we stopped. We finally stopped and had some lunch, we were only supposed to stay for a half hour but we ended up being there a little longer. Which was, it turns out, really lucky. As I was walking back to the bus I saw a group of Americans and thought they were March of the Living kids, but it's not the right time of year. It was Birthright. I saw Heather. I freaked out. It was amazing, right when we were leaving they were coming, we just caught each other. If we had left on time we wouldn't have seen each other. If we had actually only stayed a half hour, or walked back to the bus two minutes earlier... We had to go basically right away but I was so happy I ran into her. Turns out it didn't matter that I hadn't gone to the airport. We got to a place called Keshet in the north and went to our hostel. I was in a room with Katie, Rachel, and Jessica. Best. Room. Ever. We got ready for shabbat and went to the shul. After we had dinner. So much food. It was glorious. We would think that would be it but then there would be more and more. Afterwards we had a tish where we did an activity about the parsha. My group acted out part of it and were supposed to be "over-dramatic". Katie did most of the drama but it was silly and fun. I went to Orly and Nicola's room and hung out with them and Nikki and Charlie for a bit. All brits. Ooh, I also sat with all Brits for dinner which was different. Then I hung out with Benji and Yoni until pretty late and went back to my room and went to sleep. My roommates were sleeping but I told Katie I was home and we spoke for a few minutes. The next day I brought it up but she did not remember it at all.

Saturday:

Got up 10ish and went to eat at 11. More enormous portions of food. Then we met with someone who works with a Mechina in the area and told us about how we should all make aaliyah and some other things I didn't wholly agree with. Thenn we went on a walk around the area with Ami, he had been in Mechina in Keshet so he knows it well. It's beautiful. We walked up this mountain and we could see Syria. And a bunch of signs that warned us about mines. Fun. I went back and slept a bit, my roommates went to hang out with people. Woke up to go- guess what?- eat more. We did havdalah together and packed up our stuff. The bus came late which was annoying since it was cold out. We stopped on the way home and were told to be back in 15 minutes to the bus. I was back in 20, as was most everyone else. We were put on a list of people who have to go early to our meeting tomorrow, 8:30 instead of 9. This later got changed to 8:45. Orly and I decided waking up a little earlier is fine- we'll just make pancakes. Now we're home and people are gonna go to the beach but I think I may just go to bed.

DONE.

Eli Cohen 14, apartment 34

Shabbat (12/4-12/5): Shabbat was nice, all the girls were there. Slept and ate a bunch and went home with cake. Saturday night I went to dinner with Julia, Jessica, Katie, Rachel, Britty and Moron to Cafe Rimon. We all got soup, since we had originally wanted to go to a soup place but there hadn't been any room. We had a lot of money left from the stipend, more than we thought. X amount of shekels turned out to actually be in dollars, which was a much larger number..

Sunday: MOVING DAY. Woke up early and got the apartment ready and moved all my stuff downstairs. Didn't end up leaving until 11 or so. Watched my friend's bar mitzvah video on the bus, idk why he had that but he did. We got to Bat Yam and went to the Ulpan center. Met our madrichim and ate sammiches. My madrich is Ami, he seems like he's the nicest one. In general the people in charge of us here don't seem as warm as in Jerusalem. We went to our apartment after, we live about 5 minutes walking distance. My roomates are Katie, Ale, Orly, and Shira. Shira is a scout. In Bat Yam, most of the apartments have a scout. They're Israelis who postpone army service to volunteer. They live with us, help us out, volunteer, and all that good stuff. Shira is really nice and cool and I like her a lot. She Katie and I share a room and Ale and Orly are in the other bedroom. We have a huge living room with couches and table everyone writes on that Shira found outside. The kitchen is pretty nice and the bathroom is fine. After my apartment in Jerusalem, it's amazing. I love my roomates and my apartment. We argue over food shopping sometimes but that's normal. So Sunday we got to know Shira then went back to the Ulpan Center and got yelled at for being five minutes late. We aren't used to that, in Jerusalem when you were twenty minutes late you were still early. But it's a good thing I guess. I don't remember what we did, I think the Madrichim told us rules and a vague schedule. At some point we were given pizza and then went home and went to sleep pretty early.

Monday: Went to Ulpan Center at 9 and learned about the tzofim (scouts). Then went shopping for foood. We tried to borrow the shopping cart but were not allowed, so we had to carry all the bags home. Then up three flights of stairs. It was hard but I could use the exercise. I'm trying to be healthier here. Ate leftover pizza for lunch. Yum. Everyone napped then but Shira and I. I showed her pictures of friends back home. She has a boyfriend in the army and only gets to see him once every couple weeks, so we can complain together. We all had to go back to the Ulpan and learned about siyyurim. Met with our madrichim. Went home and made dinner. Shell pasta with sauce from scratch and salad. Good stuff. Everyone was going to Tel Aviv for a party so I went but Katie and I were gonna take a bus back while they were still running. We left at 9 something and didn't get there until 11ish so we stayed for five minutes and left. I didn't mind 'cause I didn't smell like an ashtray afterward.

Tuesday:
Got our volunteer placements, I got the animal shelter. Yay. Found out about our class options and such. Went to the doctor with Ale. They told her to get xrays for her chest and sinus. Went home and then to the Ulpan center where we had a meet the madrichim activity. One of them can play the flute with her nose. She showed us. Went home and ate chicken Katie and Orly made.

Wednesday:
Didn't have to go to volunteering, slept in. Went with Shira and Katie to the mall. Got Moushka something cool. Couldn't find anything for Ben, so was gonna go to Tel Aviv Thursday with Shira. Katie left to go running so Shira and I went to Aroma and hung out for a bit. She went to meet her friend and I walked home by myself and didn't get lost. Shevet met to make chanukiot and then a bunch of us went to be in the audience of a chanukkah special for Israeli TV. I understood most of it, which was great. It was boring at times but interesting. Got a MASA tshirt. Got home at 11 and went to sleep.

Thursday:
Went with Ale to Tel Aviv to get xrays. Got sorta lost on the way but figured it out. She got xrays at the hospital and then we got lunch. Went home and planned on going with Shira back to Tel Aviv to find Benjamin and Elisha gifts but I fell asleep. Got up a few hours later and had dinner with Ale, Orly, and Yoni. Then Evie and Dave Silverman came over and we watched The Parent Trap. At the end Ale was feeling really, really crappy. We weren't sure what to do but eventually got her into bed and I read to her until 4.

Friday:
Went to the beach with Katie and Gaby. It's soo pretty. A bit cold but still nice. Went home and made food for friday night, all of our section was gonna be eating together. Got dressed and went to the Ulpan at 3. Eventually had dinner together there,it was crazy. You had to fight to get to food. Ale really wasn't feeling well so I was gonna go home with her after we ate. She got really bad though so the madrichim called a cab and I went with her and Ami to the hospital. The insurance company said they wouldn't pay for the visit so we went to Tel Aviv to a clinic. Doctor said nothing was wrong with her so we went home. Ale has to pay for the cab which sucks, it's a lot. We got home and it felt like 11, we were sure it was really late. It was 7:30. We hung out for a while with Kai, Katie, Shira, and one of the scouts Chummi. Eventually went to bed.

Saturday:
Went to Ulpan center at 11 for Kiddush and met with our madrichim. Went home and had lunch with Charlie and a couple of his roomates. Went back for a peula about Israel stuff and then did havdalah and came home. Shira's family came and brought us amazing latkes. At some point we are gonna borrow a movie from this boy Adam and watch it here. If we ever stop being lazy enough to get up and walk two blocks.

That's all for now...I miss everybody at home!

Bat Yam Bound.

Friday/Saturday:
Thursday night was tough, I got to sleep late. So instead of waking up at 10 I woke up at 12:30.
I got my stuff together for the weekend and spoke with Ben. Caught a bus to Nokdim around 1:30. Cleaned some for shabbat. Had a lovely shabbat, ate and slept and ate and slept. Went home relatively early and worked on my art final a bit.

Sunday:
Don't remember what I did sunday morning...Didn't go to volunteering. Maybe worked on Arts final?
Went to our film teacher, Rich's, house at 4:30 to watch the movie for our final. His house is on top of Bagel Bite on Yehuda St. It's gorgeous. Apparently he's a huge Blazers fan (who are apparently some sports team) and he has a room full of their memorbilia. I think he holds a record for how much stuff he has. There was a retainer there with their team colors. Yea.
He got us pizza and snacks and we watched The Devil's Arithmetic. After the movie we had to go back for our apartment meeting. Then we went back to Rich's and watched the extra credit movie. Only like 4 people showed up. We watched The Unborn. I've seen it before, it's an awful, awful movie. Afterwards we asked him to show us the south park episdoes that reference him, since he knows the people who make it. There was a long story behind it but there had been another Rich so they had called him Schlomo, so now they use Schlomo for some of the very Jewish characters. He showed us some cool stuff and then it was super late and we had to go back and work on our other finals. I worked on Arts until 12 and then decided I wanted to shower and sleep. Passed out.

Monday:
Woke up at 9 and went with Katie to the Central Bus Station. We got off one stop too late and it was wayy to far to walk so we found another bus stop. Great thing about our bus passes, does not cost us anything to get lost. Bus came eventually and we got off at the right stop. Tried to find gifts for Elisha and Ben but couldn't find anything good. Got 9.90 shek ice coffee :), which is a great price around here. We got on a bus towards Ben Yehuda but forgot to get off in time, of course. So we just stayed on until Emek Refaim and decided to say hi to Laura at Tal Bagels. We saw Britty too so she came with. Then we went home and made some food and I went to the library to finish up my Letter to Herzl. At 4 I went to class and eventually everyone showed up and we started. A lot of people had really cool finals. Avi brought us snacks. He said very nice things about us and sent us on our way. Afterwards I went to work on my film final. Took a break for dinner, we ate most of what was left in the freezer- hotdogs, a block of spagetti (literally), someone's leftover turkey from somewhere...After we ate I went back and worked more on film.

Tuesday:
Wanted to get up at 7 to work on film but couldn't get up until 8:30 I got a text from Ben. I borowed Julia's computer and skyped him while I worked on the final. At 9 we had a volunteer evaluation. My apartment was a little late, we all took a while to get dressed and Katie made us yummy oatmeal :). The other girls at my volunteering filled out the form. Then I fixed it. They've only been there a few weeks, were late everyday and didn't care about the place at all, so I didn't feel that they really had any right to say what they did. Went back to my room to nap but then found out that apartment lists for Bat Yam were up. I'm with Katie, Ale, Orly, and Nicola. I was sad I'm not with Jessica, Rachel, Julia but I do like the people I'm with. Went back and napped until 12. We had a shevet bbq at a park, then a question and answer discussion with the rabbi from shalem. Got a ride home with Boaz and Or, went with Jess and Julia. Managed to get two packs of hamburgers, a soda, chips, pickles, and onions for the apartment. We are notorious leftover stealers. Got home and worked on film for hours, finished it by the deadline (8pm). I came home and the girls were all going to dinner. They were going to a place I don't really like, it was cold out, and I don't like spending money, so I stayed home. I actually scraped myself together a really nice dinner. I made salad with some opened cans of corn and pickles and some tomatoes with balsamic, olive oil, salt and pepper. Baked a few little potatoes in the microwave and loaded em up with butter (shh don't tell). Decided I need protein so rolled up three slices of turkey with chummus and ate 'em. I tried to work on film extra credit but I just couldn't. Spoke to Michelle and my mom and then went to bed.

Wednesday:
Got up at 7:40 and got ready for volunteering. Spoke to Ben while I was getting ready. I left a bit later than usual since the bus is always late when I go early. I came right in time and didn't have to wait. When I got to my stop I saw an Israeli volunteer from Eyal's Farm, Lior, had been on the bus also. So I got there and expected to not really work since it was my last day, but nope, I still had to clean up the two big cages and feed and water the animals. I didn't really mind but it was pretty cold. Afterwards we went on a tour of the Kibbutz. It's really pretty. They showed us the Chuppah and the wedding area- wow. If I get married in Israel...haha. We also saw some historical archeological stuff. Said goodbye and went home. Didn't get back until 12:15 and I had a MASA interview 15 minutes later. Had to shower and get ready in a rush but I managed. Didn't want to have wet hair for the video butttt didn't wanna be all gross from working either. Katie, Rachel, Julia, Britty and I were interviewed. We did little individual things and then all held a MASA sign and wished different Jewish Federations a chag sameach. Afterwards I started to pack up my things, we're moving on Sunday to Bat Yam. Katie made sugar cookies. Yum. At 6ish we went to Merkaz Hamagshimim, the perfoming arts kids made a show. We got there and had falafel. It's good we got there when we did 'cuz they ran out pretty quickly. After we ate we watched the show. It was great. After the Madrichim gave out awards for "best chanichim" It was hilarious and went to the 'worst' kids pretty much. Then, we got t-shirts! They said they run small. I only saw meduims and larges out so I asked Mike if they had smalls. He said if the meduim was too big he would give me a small, but they only had 6 or so. So it was a bit big and she said go to Moran she has them. I go to Moran and see a group of people yelling at her that they need small t-shirts, one girl said she signed up for the small. Moran said what are you talking about you guys didn't even know about these. It was fun to watch. Moran said she couldn't decide and walked away..and handed me one :) I love her. Felt like being on the madrichim's good sides paid off. I was so happy. We walked to Emek and stopped at a coffee shop. We hung out for a bit and then headed back. Rich emailed us our final's with comments and a chance to fix them up. I got an A- but spent a little while fixing it so I'll hopefully get an A. I decided I don't want to/need to do any extra credit. I finished the paper and hung out with Katie for a bit. We watched Maria Bamford for a few minutes. She's a hilarious comedian, with the weirdo kind of humor I like. Went to bed 'round 2:30.
Oh yea! I'm famous! Not really but I'm on Youtube from the JNF 9/11 Ceremony I was at. Did any other yearcoursers make the video? Nooo. Just Rachel and I. Except you can't see her that well.
ANYWAY go check us out www.youtube/com/watch?v=CRPYTiN5Oso
i just had to type that in since it didn't wanna paste it so if it doesn't work search for 9/11 "Living Memorial" in the Jerusalem Forest Hills

Thursday:
Woke up at 10, was supposed to get up at 9. Went to the Old City with Katie to order Heather's lovely chanukkah gift. We were in a rush since we were supposed to be back by 12 for an evalutation. We walked out of Mamilla and saw the 18 bus going towards the stop. We were on th wrong side of the street 2 blocks down but we ran anyway. There was someone getting of the bus very slowly so it was still there. We ran really fast and were exhausted when we got there. Saw Shani on the bus. Got back and did the evaluation for our time in Jerusalem. Packed up most of my stuff. Katie made shakshuka, it was delicious. I got my laundry together and Jenene picked me up. I came here around 4, didn't realize I was tired but passed out 'till 7:30.