Max Brenner is amazing.

Friday:

Got up at 10:30 and got packed for Shevet weekend to Mevo Modin. Went to the bus ten minutes early 'cause of some confusion about times. Waited with Katie, Rachel, Orly, Jessica, Julia and Ami for a bit. Then most people turned up and we got on the bus. We were about to leave when Ami asked how many of us brought sleeping bags. 0. So we all had to go get sleeping bags from our apartments. I had borrowed one from Ale's aunt earlier on in the year and now I finally got to use it. We got out stuff together again and left. It was a short drive and when we got there this (the?) rabbi showed us around and pointed Katie, Rachel, Orly, Nikki, Nicola, Julia, Cara, Jessica and myself to the caravan outside their house where would be sleeping. The rest of the girls and guys slept inside the house. We got ready for shabbat and then saw some pretty nature-ey things and he talked about meditation and then we went to shul. Shul was interesting, it's a really pretty place. A cat came in and hung out on the women's side. I later found out that the moshav believes the cat is a reincarnated past member. Ok. We ate dinner afterwards. As usual, my shabbat stomach kicked in and I ate a ridiculous amount of food. It was awesome. Afterwards I went with Orly to hang out with some moshav people, her boyfriend's aunt lives there so she knew a bunch of people. Eventually went to bed, built a nest on the floor with Orly.

Saturday:

Didn't get ready in time for shul in the morning, so Orly and I got ready and went straight to the Rabbi's house. Helped set up for lunch and then ate. I went with her to Adam's aunt's house after and ate incredible cookies. After that we found a bunch of our friends playing soccer, or football, depending on where you're from. We watched for a bit and then went on a walk with some people to this park near the moshav. It's a Holocaust memorial area, yet also a park area. I thought that was weird. We went back and ate some more and then Orly, Nikki, and I took a nap. We got up for havdalah which was really nice and pretty. Packed and left.

Sunday:

Had zman madrich, got our schedules pretty much. Ami said he was going to come for our apartment meeting directly after. So we ran home to clean up the place, not that it was so bad but just to tidy up. We waited a while and he ended up not coming then so then we had to rush to get some food together before class. Had class and then went home for a little while and had our apartment meeting before I had to go back to the Ulpan with Katie for an interview..We were picked by our madrichim to be interviewed by Masa for a leadership seminar. So it was about ten of us, all girls for some reason, who got interviewed. The guy interviewing was really nice, he was from Miami and asked me if I knew about different cuban places and I had no idea what he was talking about...I don't think I'll get a spot because of my lack of leadership experience and all that but we had a really nice conversation and I'm pretty sure I made a good impression. I don't actually know if I want a spot truthfully I'm not sure. Went home and watched The Time Traveler's Wife with Katie and Shira. One of the better mushy woman movies I've seen lately.

Monday:

Went into volunteering by myself, it was rainy and cold. I asked what I could do if the rain got too strong for dog walking and they told me I can always shred papers. I only took out one dog out a time just 'cause that's what I had the energy for so I only got 6 dogs out...Right when I was going to leave the sky cleared up and maybe I should have stayed longer but I was wiped out. Went home, I was still freezing even though it was sunny by then, and showered/aka defrosted myself. Took a nap and then went to Ulpan. My teacher didn't show up so we watched a movie. Bikur Ha-Tizmoret. I felt like it was Israel's take on Little Miss Sunshine. It was about an Egyptian police force band trying to get to Petach Tikva but ending up in Beit Hatikvah and meeting up with the people there. It was slow but I thought it was really cool. Other members of the class disagreed. But you all should see it if you haven't. A bunch of people were going to Mike's Place in Tel Aviv that night but I didn't want to.. So I stayed home and played with the hair straightener, so now I have straightened hair for the first time since like..junior year I think. It's pretty. I started reading The Hitchhiker's Guide to The Galaxy and then went to sleep.

Tuesday:

Had a Shevet siyyur to the Tel Aviv garbage dump and recycling facility. It was actually really cool. Saw mass amounts of trash and then some incredible things that people can do with garbage. I took some pictures that I will attempt to put up here. Katie had to see an eye doctor so I was going to go with her to help her find the place, since although I have no sense of direction I do have a pretty good sense of Hebrew. So we were supposed to be going on a siyyur after to the Comics Museum in Tel Aviv but we needed to go back to our apartment to get her insurance card and knew we wouldn't have time to go. So we went to the siyyur in Holon to the Samaritans instead, thinking Holon is pretty close to Bat Yam so we'll have no trouble getting back. Wrong. Anyway we learned about the Samaritans in Holon. They're like Jews, but only follow the written original bible. Katie and I were trying to find a Dan bus that went home but all that people knew about was Egged. After getting pointed in the wrong direction a few times we found the 1 and took that to get to where we could take the 43 to Bat Yam. We got to our apartment and called the doctor, telling them we were going to be a half hour later probably and they said that the office would be closed then. Sucks. So we decided to just go to to Tel Aviv to get Max Brenner. We went and it was super nice. We got a dessert to share that came with a banana chocolate toffee waffle (ohmygoodness it was amazing), meringues, a chocolate milky thing with whipped cream and other yummyness in it, ice cream with hardened chocolate on it, an intense piece of concentrated chocolate cake like stuff, and of course, chocolate fondue with a bunch of delicious things to dip. And the whole mess had melted milk chocolate all over the place. Wow. Really. It was so great. It was so much fun. I'm glad we went. We walked outside and saw the 19 stopped at a light right next to us, so we ran 4 blocks and somehow miraculously made it. We got off at the Ulpan to go to the scout's Singing and Soda night. They were doing different competitions, like they would say a word and the teams had to think of a song with that word and stuff like that. It was silly and fun. After Katie, Orly, and I hung out with a bunch of people.

Wednesday:

Woke up not feeling well. Decided to be a bum and stay home. Now I actually feel pretty sick. I'm hoping it goes away by tomorrow 'cause I don't want to miss volunteering again. I had lunch with Shira and Adi, sorta. Had class. First class was okay but second class my head started to hurt pretty badly. Went home took advil and took a nap. Woke up and no one is here. Skyped with Ben for a while. This weekend, starting tomorrow night, is a sofim weekend. We leave right after Ulpan. I'm excited. :)

Smiling- it doesn't happen in Bat Yam.

Except us Year Course kids.

Friday/Saturday:

Shabbat was nice, ate a lot and spent time with family. Unfortunately had to go back to Bat Yam. Just kidding...kinda ;). Took the number 5 from har choma to the bus station- bad idea. Took forever, made all kinds of circles. When we finally got to the central bus station we ended up on the wrong side of the street, as in, facing what we just came from. I don't know. So after brief disorientation I get inside the bus station and get on a bus to tel aviv. When I got to Tel Aviv, I had no idea how to get to the regular city buses so I asked someone but she said she wasn't from around here and couldn't help. So I was looking around and then that same person came up to me and helped me find the 46 stop to Bat Yam. It was really nice of her, considering she's on vacation here and is from Sweden, and really shouldn't have had to help me out since I'm supposed to live here and all. Waited for the bus for a while and then it finally left and a while later I'm back in Bat Yam. There were people over. In my room. In my bed. I wasn't pleased since I was super tired and wanted to go to sleep but I didn't wanna be mean so I asked nicely if they could go hang out outside so I could go to sleep. They did and it was all fine and I went to sleep.

Sunday:

Zman Madrich in the morning. Got our schedule for the week. Next was zman shevet, we spoke about mezzuzahs. We could make mezzuzah covers if we wanted to after but I was too tired and just went home. Had class at 1:30, we spoke about what our midterms will be like. Nothing too bad. Talked about cannibalism and prostitution in Text and Tablet, heh, but not really. That's a fun class. There's actually 6 of us in it now. After the midterm our teachers leaves for China to do some...history stuff I guess and then we have a different teacher for a few weeks. Uneventful evening as far as I can remember. Spoke to my mom and Benjamin.

Monday:

Got up and it was raining. Wasn't sure if I should go into volunteering or not, didn't think I could walk dogs in the rain. Got ready anyway and walked to the bus stop. I called the shelter but no one answered. I called Ami and asked him what I should do, whether I should go to Yaffo and see if it's raining there or what since they didn't answer the phone. He said if they contacted me back I should go in. I told him they weren't going to contact me back. He said I should probably stay home today and that it was allright with him. So I went home and spoke to Ben until he went to sleep. Class was canceled so I kind of just wanted to kill time until Katie came home or Ben woke up so I took a shower and organized some stuff and went to lay down. Katie came home and wanted me to go with her to Rachel's apartment to exercise, I didn't want to go and she ended up not going either. Shira came home and brought Guy the scout with her so I hung out with them and Katie for a few minutes but then just got into bed. They came in and messed with me a few times but then left me alone and I fell asleep around 4pm.

Tuesday:

Woke up at 4:30 a.m., very confused. Saw a bunch of emails from Ben. He was busy for a bit, so I skyped with Karina. Then I talked to Ben for a few hours which was great. Did some homework after that and kept myself busy until it was time to go to my siyyur to the Nalagat Theater. Went with the group, we got lost but found the place. The play was called not by bread alone. It was really interesting. It was about people's dreams and goals and what makes them happy, modeled after, I believe, the actors own lives. Most interesting part- all the actors are blind and deaf. Some of them spoke, many of them used sign language and there was a screen that had hebrew, english, and arabic translations. Afterwards the audience gets to eat bread that the actors make in the beginning of the show. It was delicious. We got lost again after trying to find a bus home. Ended up at what we believed was the right stop but we waited a while. Some of the girls decided they didn't want to wait and got a cab home. 5 minutes later the bus came. Went home and passed out, I'd been up for 20ish hours so I was super tired.

Wednesday:

Went to volunteering by myself. It was rainy it Bat Yam, but not in Yaffo. Managed to do all of kennel 4 except one cage that was stuck shut, hopefully someone took them later in the day. Got home and took a shower then got in a fight with Ale about money spent for shabbat. Was super pissed, at some food and went to class. Class was pretty good, made me feel better. We registered our second semester classes, putting down if we wanted to take them for credit and all that. Did I ever put my grades up here from first semester? (Film- A, Zionism- A-, Hebrew- A)

Went home and Katie and I cleaned the apartment for Mifgash Dira. Ale and Orly came home when Ami came, we talked everything out. Ami left and all the scouts came over, they were having a sushi making night. We got to sit in on it and eat some also. I made a roll, it was beautiful. Just saying. It got to be kinda late, like 12, I was exhausted but stayed up 'cause it's nice to have people over and hang out. Katie and Cara were making cookies too. So at 12 there was a knock on the door. A loud, scary one. We assumed it was the neighbors and didn't want to get it because they're frightening and we feel bad. It's not like we were having a wild party and screaming, but the walls are thin and we weren't whispering either. So Shira finally gets the door after the person is literally banging on it. It wasn't the neighbor, it was two cops. They weren't really scary or anything but they were pretty rude. I think they expected us to be up to all kinds of no good but saw we were not. They said that everyone who didn't live here should leave, so they did. They asked if we were soldiers or what and what we were all doing here. They said you can't make noise after 11 on weeknights. Yea so they left but it was pretty unsettling and I felt bad for the neighbors but also angry because we weren't being loud just using conversational tones. Talked to Ben, went to sleep.

Thursday:

Cold and rainy outside, went to volunteering anyway. It took a while to get there and I was worried I'd miss the stop 'cause the windows were fogged up and I couldn't see. But I didn't. When I got there no one else was there, I decided to start from kennel 5 because I did 4 the day before and I knew people also did 3 the day before, and 6 is too hard for me because those are the big dogs. There were two dogs in the first cage and they seemed too big for me to take both at once so I took one out first. The dog had soo much energy and just kept jumping around, probably not so comfortable for him considering he was wearing a leash. Before his 15 minutes were done he wanted to go back to his cage, and I felt bad but he wouldn't walk anymore so I went to put him back. A woman was cleaning that kennel then though, and told me that I should go to number 4. I felt bad since I don't know when the last time the dogs in 5 got out or the next time they will get out, but nothing I could do. So I went to 4 and started taking the dogs out, two at a time (no other Year Coursers seemed to be showing up today so I might as well). Some other volunteers showed up from a different program and were taking the bigs dogs out, which is great for the big dogs but not so great for me since apparently all the dogs I take out aren't very smart and like to pick fights with animals much larger and stronger than they are. We managed to keep them apart though. After I'd only had a few dogs out it started to rain, but it wasn't too hard so I kept walking. Then it started to pour, so I had to take the dog back that I was walking. There was another dog in his cage also, that I hadn't been able to take at the same time. I felt really bad because that dog had seen me take out his buddy but he wouldn't be able to go, and I'm pretty sure he's new so that just makes it worse. So I sat with them for a few minutes and tried to give the dog I hadn't taken out some attention. The one I had taken out though was being really annoying and basically just chewed on my limbs and clothing the whole time. I think this job is increasing both my pain tolerance and my patience. After a few minutes I went inside and to wait out the rain, though I knew that by the time it was over I'd have to leave anyway. The other volunteers were sitting inside, I didn't know if they spoke english or even hebrew but I felt awkward standing there so I went and sat with them. I said whatsup and they answered in english and we hung out for a while. They on a program from Mexico that sounds similar to year course, they come to the shelter once a week and next week is their last time. They were really nice and it's a shame I didn't talk to them the last few times I'd seen them. The rain stopped but it was already time for me to go catch my bus so I left. I ate some cookies Katie made on the bus ride back, that was great. When I got home I was so cold and wet and gross, Katie had turned the water heater on for me so I got to go in the shower pretty much right away. Yea, it's the little things. So Katie went to Jerusalem for a soldier swearing in ceremony at the Kotel and I went to Lunch and Learn. The Shalem rabbi came today and talked to us about the significance of God bringing the plagues on Egypt, apparently it has to do with Jews being known. The hebrew word for 'know' can also mean to experience (haha..) so supposedly it was important that Pharoah experienced what the Jews were, that they were an important group. And now, even though Israel is tiny and most people don't agree with it, everybody knows about it and sees the affects that is has on the world. After Lunch and Learn we had our Arad presentation. Learned about Marva, which I'm not doing, and volunteering and classes and siyyurim, which I am doing. Instead of bus passes, we get bikes! Which we have to pay a deposit for and lock up wherever we go and take the seat off when we lock them, since this deters would be bike theifs. If we can return the seat and helmet then we get our money back. So we were supposed to pick our roommates for Arad, I don't know what to do about that... Living with people is tough.

Ulpan was canceled so I got to go home after the meeting. No one was home, took a nap. Started to try to figure out online classes/Bright Futures stuff. I decided against the scout party tonight, don't really like that scence and don't wanna be out that late. So I'm home alone, blogging and looking at college stuff and maybe I'll watch a movie.

I can't figure out how to make this blog look how I want it to :(

Correction: I neglected to mention that Ben's birthday was on Janurary 3rd, although I did not forget it, I didn't mention it on here. I apologize for any confusion. :)

Monday:
Was stupid and didn't go into volunteering because Ale was sick and I didn't want to go by myself. Blogged and didn't do much, felt too bad to go back to sleep. Went with Katie, Rachel, and Jessica to the Castro Outlet. I tried on some very ugly dresses. I decided I want to buy some cute dresses and things. Gonna keep an eye out. We went home and got our stuff together for Ulpan. We got cookies for someone's birthday in class, yay. And I bought hot chocolate, we have a hot drinks machine in the building. Probably the only nice thing about the place. (The bathrooms are so scary and gross....) After class Katie and I went and borrowed a cookbook from the culinary kids and went to the grocery store to get chocolate and eggs. We ran home because we were late for our Mifgash Dira. Apparently, Ami was later than us, so we ran for no reason. When Ami we got there we had our meeting and then made cookies! It was awesome. We're definately his favorites. Katie and I went to Gaby and Cara's place after 'cause Gaby just got back from America and we wanted to see her. We hung out for a while and then went home. I told her I'd go running with her, but we were so tired. I went to sleep right away but woke up a few hours later with a call from Ben. Had a dumb fight that turned into a wonderful amazing conversation. :D

Tuesday:
Siyyur day! My Siyyur was with the soffim in Tel Aviv. It was supposed to be like the Amazing Race. We were split into two groups and we had different "missions" we had to complete, like giving a piggy back ride to an artist (thanks Katie), taking pictures in front of 5 different bars, finding out how old some of the buildings were, and finding clues in the mall. My team ended up losing before we got to the final mission, buying as many things as you can in the shuk for 20 shek. Most people had gone home by then so it was basically just me, Katie, Cara, and two other people. We took the money and bought a bunch of cookies and candy, and some little things we wanted like hair clips and clothes pins. Maybe we lost the game, but we actually won. Ale called me on the way back and told me she and Orly were going to Jerusalem and she wouldn't be in volunteering the next day. Katie and I got home and made stir fry and ate cookies watching a bad movie. (One of the Bring It Ons, there are so many....) A bunch of the scouts came over so we just ended up hanging out with them until pretty late and then we went to bed.

Wednesday:
Went into volunteering by myself. It was hard but not as bad as I thought it would be. While I was there my phone rang and it said Joe. I thought it was my friend Joe so I answered saying "Hi!" really loud. Oops, it was Joe the madrich. He was checking in on us that day. So I decided it wasn't my responsibility to cover for anyone who didn't come so I just didn't say anything to him about it. He came by and was looking around, he was obsessed with the dogs. So cute. He asked if I was the only one there and I said something along the lines of 'it appears so'. Later on I said that people might be sick and he said don't worry about it everyone' s madrichim will speak to them directly and find out. I think this may just end up being like Jerusalem, where because I'm the only one who shows up they all think I'm wonderful. But I do care a lot more about the animal shelter. It's crazy hard, but every day I'm there I'm glad that I'm doing it. After volunteering I went home, showered, ate some leftover stir fry, and went to class. My second class was canceled so after my first class I went with Jessica to get ice cream- cought up with her a bit, and then went home and got to do nothing for a while. Called Jenene and wished her a happy birthday. I ended up falling asleep and when I woke up I talked to Ben and helped Katie and Shira make chicken and potatoes for dinner. We ate pretty late, I called my mom and wished her a happy birthday, and then I went to sleep.

Thursday:
Went to volunteering by myself. When I got there I decided, when there were two dogs in a cage, I would take both out at once. Not fun. While I had them out David and Ryan came. Initially, them being there did more bad than good, but after a while things worked out and we got a lot done. They even stayed later than me. I went home, waited my turn to shower and then had to go right away to Lunch and Learn. They switched it up a little, we had pitas instead of regular bread. BG talked about Pesach and we ate a lot and then I went home and packed for the weekend. Went to Ulpan. We had a quiz but I don't think it was for a grade. More of a let's-see-how-much-you-know thing. We talked about how Israelis tour the world after the army and talked about travel and stuff. When we had about a half hour left of class we got to go downstairs and listen to Bernie play piano. After I went with Katie straight to the bus, which of course we just missed, and then we got the next one and went to the central bus station. She went to meet her sister and I got on a bus to Jerusalem. When I got there I was trying to figure out where the 74 stopped and this American kid pointed it out. Well he was wrong, but I saw Leah Benson where I ended up. After I found the actual bus stop and went to Har Choma. Got a ride to Nokdim and here I am :).

2010 :)

friday night:

Katie made yummy chicken soup and Heather made kenedalach. We sat around for a while and then ate together and then sat around some more. Really did nothing.

saturday:

Stayed in bed most of the day. Eventually go up and we had some soup. After shabbat we went to the beach (Ale, Heather and I). Walked there and walked around a bit, Ale wanted to find tortilla chips and Heather wanted pizza. No one knew what tortilla chips were. We sat by the beach and talked for a while and eventually went home.

sunday:

Had zman madrich early in the morning. They just gave us our schedules and bus passes for janurary. I tried to get them to lend me one for Heather, since a bunch of people were still on break, but they said no. :( It was allright though, someone lended her one when she needed it. Went home and took a nap before class. Had Jewish philosophy and Text and Tablet, then went home and did a lot of nothing then bed.

monday:

Ale and I took Heather with to volunteering. It was nice, walked a bunch of dogs. Heather made friends. With the dogs. Had Ulpan afterwards, I like it. Small class. No one was feeling well so Katie, Heather and I went to the doctor. Katie has tonsillitis. Heather and I had fevers and prolly viral infections. Internet was out at my apartment so we stopped at Aroma on the way home to check if Heather's mom had answered her about flight info. Realized Heather's flight was in two hours. That was really fun. Ran home and packed up all her stuff. Ran outside and got a cab to the airport. Got to the airport with less than an hour until her flight. Explained to them what happened. People were helpful, said she couldn't get on that flight but there was another flight in an hour, that was full, and to JFK instead of Newark, buttt they could put her on standby. So we went through baggage security and waited. She made the flight and they asked for her bag, then started to yell at us saying we didn't put the bag through security. We freaked out and told them we did but they said no there should be a tag on it. They take it to security where the security people look at it and say...they did put the bag through. And they pointed out where the tag was. SO Heather's gets a ticket and we figure out where we're going and I walk with her until the actual security part. We say bye and then I sat there waiting to hear if she got on the flight. She gets on, I call a cab and go home. When I got home I was too nervous and afadgfadsgds to sleep so Katie was trying to watch a movie and I helped her get it to play and watch it with her. Only she falls asleep. So the movie ends, there's no internet so I can't talk to Ben, so I read until 5 or so and went to sleep.

tuesday:

Wake up at 8ish for the Shevet Siyyur, surprisingly am not tired. I didn't realize where we were going until we got there. The Kabbalah center. Ew. It was boring and silly, but they did give us candies and pretzels so I guess it wasn't so bad. I was supposed to go to Independence Hall afterward but Ami said it was okay if I just went home, he thought it was because I went to dr. the night before but I didn't tell him about the whole rush to the airport no sleep thing. Shh. Soo I went home and just relaxed, watch some crummy tv on ale's computer and took a nap. When everyone came home I woke up. It was 'girl's night', a tzofim activity for all the girls on yearcourse. We went to the Ulpan in our pjs and they gave us cake and talked and stuff. It was fun. Went home after, talked to ben, passed out.

wednesday:

Got up in the morning basically feeling fine but Ale was sick and couldn't go into volunteering. I didn't know what do because I really can't go to the shelter by myself, it's too hard to deal with the dogs and cages and all without another person. So I wasn't feeling great either I guess and just stayed home with her. I don't think it's what I should have done but I don't know what else I really could have done. I felt pretty bad about it. Spoke to Ben for a while and Heather though, that was nice. Went to class, Philosophy and Text and Tablet. Can't remember what I did after, probably eat and sleep.

thursday:

Volunteering with Ale. Then Ulpan. Then went home, got my stuff, headed towards the bus stop by the mall to get to the tel aviv bus station. Katie walked with me to the stop. Took that bus for like 30-40 minutes then got to the bus station. Took a bus to Jerusalem from there, that was about an hour. Creeper sat next to me, and I was oblivious about it for a while. Took a bus from Jeru to Beit El. Mordechai picked me up a few blocks away from his house, anndd I was finally there, about 3 hours later.

friday:

Tried to help a little around the house before shabbat, didn't do much though. Saw Moushka wrote something on facebook about how she didn't have a winter jacket since she lives in Miami, so I responded that she should go borrow from my closet, I have two I didn't take with me. My mom called me before shabbat so I mentioned that if Moushka comes by I told her she could borrow stuff from my closet. My mom said that she could just bring them over to her. :)

They had a young couple and their two kids come for shabbat also, they were nice. Didn't eat much during the day, had some toast and a cup of tea. I was soo hungry while we were waiting for everybody to come back from Shul. I read the book I took from Beit Ar-El all those months ago. Stumbling on Happiness. It's really cool. Soo when we finally ate, I ate so. much. food. I realize that I've said this before and people don't really think i'm capable of it, but seriously. My aunt asked me how many days it had been since I ate. Ha. So after I ate so much that I couldn't breathe right I read my book some more and then Deena and I went for a walk. It was coldish, but from what I hear Miami is colder right now. That's so weird. After we walked I read a bit more and then went to bed.

saturday:

Woke up late. We ate lunch. And I went to sleep again. Pretty much got up in time for the very last bit of shabbat and then packed my stuff up to go home. Did not go home empty-handed of course, but with a bag of random fruits and veggies and cereal and chummus and matbucha. :)

They gave me a ride to the bus station and then I waited for about an hour for the next bus to Bat Yam. I called Yaeli and caught up for a few minutes but was pretty bored. Saw a cockroach

:/ and no one else saw it. Yuck. Eventually bus came and I went home. Katie was at the apartment and she made me some food, 'cause she's so sweet. Then we went to Kai's apartment and watched Monsters Inc. and hung out with people.

sunday:

Shevet learned how to write hebrew letters as they appear in the Torah with caligraphy pens. I wasn't very good at it but it was fun. Katie and I had lunch together at home, yummy pasta. Then class. Philosophy was pretty eh but in Text and Tablet I got to be god. Sort of. It was some kind of court exercise. After I went with Ale to Tel Aviv to pick up a suitcase her parents sent her with someone. She's going to send the suitcase back with the same person and is letting me use some of the space. So I can unload some of the things in my bags so that when I go home I'll have room for mass amount of CANDY :)

My apartment was chosen to make calls to perspective yearcoursers and get pizza for doing it. We didn't call too many people in the end..But we did call a few. They didn't have any questions so it was weird, we didn't really have anything to say to them. Ate too much pizza and drank too much soda so I couldn't sleep when I got home. Poo. Talked to Ben for a while and then Karina.

winter breakin.

Sunday: 12/20

Had to go to zman madrich early but when we got there, they gave us chocolate milk. best punishment ever. Had our apartment meeting later on in the day. Outlets in my room are still broken, sink still leaking. They say they'll fix it eventually. There was a beach party for a tzedakah project that night. It was pretty nice, and after I saw Heather. She was staying in a hotel 5 minutes from where we were on the beach. We hung out for a bit and I got some of the things she brought for me.

Monday: 12/21

First day of volunteering. Went in around 10, it was just Ale and I because apparently no one else knew about it. The shelter is in Tel Aviv, it takes us 30-40 minutes to get there. There's dogs, cats, birds, and some horses. There are 200 dogs and each is supposed to be walked for 15 minutes. It's very very hard work but I like it. I'm becoming a dog person now.

Tuesday: 12/22

Had a shabbat peula with Shevet. Talked about if shabbat is supposed to be done because of traditional textual reasons or spiritual abstract ones. Made havdalah candles. Ouch. But fun. We went to Neve Tzedik, this artist neighborhood (Orly's computer wants me to spell that with a 'u'), for our siyyur. It was raining really hard and we got lost on the way and stumbled into a random eyeglass store for a while. We saw someone getting married in one of the ugliest dresses I've ever seen. Back cleavage, eew. Our guide was...interesting. We walked around the area, it wasn't all that great really I'm not sure what we were supposed to see there. Afterwards I went with Shira to visit her friend from Section 2. Turns out I knew her from orientation also. We went back home and then went to the scout's murder mystery thing at the Ulpan. That was fun. We had to go into groups and complete different "missions" to be able to make guesses. Some of the things we had to do were hard and some were gross. Roll a dice a few times and the number corresponds to different foods. Blend all the foods together and eat whatever it is. Our group actually won.

Wednesday: 12/23wVolunteering. David, Orly, Ryan and Ira came. We had class. Jewish philosophy first. It's kinda boring but idk it might be allright. After that I have Text and Tablet, which is a historyish languageish class. There's only 4 people in the class which is really nice. I don't really like it so far but I think it's just cause I was so tired from volunteering. After class I went with Katie to buy shampoo and conditioner. In the store she dropped the conditioner and it broke and got everywhere. A woman who worked there was like wait don't move! and we thought we were going to pay for it. But no one asked us to. We went back to where we picked up the bottles and saw that all of them were cracked on the bottom, so it turns out Katie didn't actually break it. Got a text that said something like "yo be at da ulpan" so I ignored it because I didn't think it was from a madrich. Oops, it was. We missed a meeting about winter break.

Thursday: 12/24

Volunteering, only David and Phil came with me and Ale. Went to Jerusalem with Katie, Jessica, Rachel, Lori, and Ale. Walked from the central bus station with our bags to Rechavia. Not fun. Got some groceries. Hung out with Joe and Theo, got a sandwich at New Deli.

Friday: 12/25

Went to Mamilla with Ale to meet Joe and Theo for lunch. We'd been trying to find some where to eat shabbat meals. It was only a couple hours until shabbat and we still didn't know what we were going to do. I asked Joe if he knew anybody and he said the family he was staying with could take a couple girls. We had 6 people to find a place for though. We wanted him to call them and ask if they knew someone around who could take a few of us. But he knew once he called they would say just bring everyone. And they did. Ale called Jeff Seidel and he said he could find places for us for friday night. We met at the Kotel (and saw Heather!) and split up, Ale and I went to eat with an Australian family from South Africa who were on vacation in Jerusalem. It was so nice. At first I was sitting next to some yeshiva boys when one of the women said 'oh..let's move a bit' and had her husband sit between myself and the guy. Obviously we needed a mechitza at the table, right? But I didn't mind if it makes everyone more comfortable. Dinner was great, so much food. People were really nice. Only thing that bothered me was when one of the yeshiva boys said he didn't like some arab store owners so he went after hours and filled the lock with toothpicks so they wouldn't be able to open it. A few people laughed and I said actually that's not funny, it's just vandalism. Some people who heard me nodded but I didn't say it very loud. Dumb boys. So we ate a ton and the family was really sweet. Eventually we left to meet up with Rachel, Katie, Jess and Lori. We saw Mike! He's our madrich from Jerusalem semester.

Saturday: 12/26

Started walking to where Joe was staying. He said it was 40 minutes away but we left an hour ahead. It took us about an hour and a half. We finally got there though and they didn't seem to mind that we were late. It was a young british couple, Sam and Daniel. Six of us girls were there plus a handful of Joe's yeshiva buddies. Sam didn't know that we were coming until an hour before shabbat but there was still tons of food. We brought 3 bottles of wine but I don't know if it was any good since...what do we know about wine. But they seemed happy about it, though these people seem like they are always happy. We played Risk in Hebrew after. Didn't end up finishing cause people went to shul. I stayed and helped Sam clear up and chatted for a bit. She's so nice,she said she loves having people over and that it makes shabbat for her. When everyone came back we played articulate. I was on a team with Katie and Jessica, we won. Then, guess what, we ate more. After shabbat we walked back to Rechavia and I saw Naomi street. Cool eh. So we got home and changed and Ale and I walked to Emek Refaim to meet Joe and Theo and go to Joe's yeshiva football match. (Soccer for you Americans.) We stopped at Aroma and got hot chocolate with about 3x the normal amount of chocolate pieces. Then we went to the game and were the only girls around. Which was weird. The game was crazy, all the boys are really rough with each other and curse a lot. Even though there were rabbis and black hats all around. I guess it has to do with being british and playing soccer. We went to Ben Yehuda afterwards and I saw Heather. They got pizza and then we headed back to Katie's and played cards, but with mini cards.

Sunday: 12/27

Went to the old city and tried to pick up the rings I ordered from Hadaya. I left the receipt in Bat Yam and the woman working there said if I didn't have the receipt I had to come in when the guy who makes the rings is in. Spoke to Heather, even though she was already in Jerusalem, a block away from Katie's, she had to go back to the airport cause her bags were already on the bus and it would take too long to get them out. Went to the Kotel. Arranged for someone to bring my receipt from Bat Yam since they were coming to Jerusalem anyway. Went to Bar and Burger for dinner. It was really good. Spoke to my mom for a while. Joe wanted to buy something for Sam and Daniel so we were looking on Ben Yehuda for a nice gift. We were looking at a Havdalah train set. The guy said it was usually 700 something but today 390. Joe only wanted to spend 200 and told him so, the guy said fine 250. Ale was like come on, let's go. I didn't know what she was doing so I said wait we can prolly get it lower. She knew exactly what she was doing, when we started to walk out he said wait. And he didn't say anything for a few minutes and then said fine don't tell anyone you got it here for that little. So Joe got it for 200 and we were all very pleased with ourselves. So we went back to Katie's and waited for Heather to come, she took a train and a cab from the airport. She came and met everyone and we went to sleep.

Monday: 12/28

Rach and Jess wanted to do laundry at Beit Ar El so Heather and I and Katie walked with them. Heather and I stopped at Tal Bagels. Ale came by after and sat with us. I got an ice mekupelet and Heather got two plain bagels. They only had one plain bagel so the second one she picked off sesame seeds from. Laura, my cousin who works there, came by and asked what she was doing. We told her they said they had no more plain ones. Also, Ale ordered ice coffee and got ice mekupelet. Laura got Heather a free bagel and gave Ale her drink but let her keep the one she already had. Yay. Ended up giving the drink to Laura anyway but it was still cool. We went to Beit Ar El after and I showed Heather my old apartment and bedroom. Saw Moran and Or, got invited to Or's grandma's for dinner. Got my receipt from someone for the Hadaya stuff. Went to Rami Levi, the people there remembered us. Went to Or's grandparents house, that was fun. I didn't lock myself in the bathroom this time. But people still laughed about how I did it last time.

Tuesday: 12/29

Went to Hadaya with Katie in the morning and picked up the rings. The engraving didn't match on the insides but they fixed it for me. Went to the shuk and waited for Heather, Ale, and Rachel to come meet us. Katie bought me a rugalach from Marzipan. We got pitas and went to find a hike we heard about 30 minutes from the central bus station called liftah with a natural spring. We were looking for it when a woman started screaming at us. We finally found the trail though and started walking. It was super pretty. I saw a religious guy coming down the side of this mountain and didn't understand where he would be going. We keep walking until we see a bunch of religious guys walking around. We walk closer and then we see a guy start to take off his pants. Oops, it was a mikvah. We turned around and walked as fast as we could. We laughed about it a lot. We ate our sammiches and I took Heather aside and gave her the ring. Then we walked home and showered. Ale and I met Yael for dinner at the Village Green. It's this buffet style vegetarian place. After we went to Babbette's and got waffles. I saw Yael's parents. We met up with Heather, Rachel, and Katie at New Deli and then I went home with Heather and Ale. Spoke to Benjamin for a while and then went to sleep.

Wednesday: 12/30

Heather's ring was a bit small so I wanted to go to Hadaya when they opened at 5 to fix it. Waking up then didn't happen so we went around 9. We got there (Heather and I) and there was a sign that said on break till 10. So we waited and when they came back they fixed it in like 2 seconds. We went to the Arab shuk...I mean...year course doesn't allow that so of course we didn't go there...I was looking for a gift for Elisha and found it. Got conned by a one armed man because apparently I'm not capable of haggling with someone who has only one arm. Still got a good price though, just could have gotten lower. Walked to the regular shuk, can't believe I didn't get lost. Heather got a massive amount of candy for really cheap. We found a pasta place to have lunch. It was rainy and uckey and gross outside. We went back to Katie's while everyone else was about to go out. Packed up most of my stuff and just chilled to everyone came back. Jessica's friend drove our bags to the bus station so we wouldn't have to carry them. We got to the bus station right on time. Ale and Heather went to get pizza and stuff to make cookies and I cleaned my room and passed out talking to Ben. I remember being woken up with a cookie shoved in my mouth. They were pretty good.

Thursday: 12/31/09

Went to the shuk with Rachel, Katie, Ale and Heather. Everyone got glittery hairbands for new years. Heather got a bunch of stuff. She got the same genie pants as me, I joked that I thought if we were in different countries our wardrobes wouldn't still match but I was wrong. It's nice though, I won't be the only weirdo walking around in huge diaper pants at home. We went home and tried to figure out what we were doing for New Years. Got dressed, I was basically wearing everyone else's clothing. We were trying to find Florentine street because we heard there was some street festival thing going on but ended up getting separated from the group (Heather, Ale and I) and just went home after a bit. Happy New Year!!

Friday: 1/1/10

Lazy day. Haven't left the apartment once. Going to have shabbat dinner together. Spoke to my grandparents for a long time and to Ben. Shabbat Shalom :)