Bloggggg.

Wednesday May 5th I hung out with Orly all day. Woke up late and went with her to Shuk. Got some fun things like earrings and cool pretty pants. Why do I feel like I wrote this already? We spent a lot of time at the shuk and then we went back to Katie's. We changed into nicer stuff and went to the Kotel for Boaz's (Jessica's boyfriend) army ceremony. Orly and I wandered off and met her friend Jessica who is fun and crazy like us, only English. We went to get sushi on the way home and took it back to Katie's. Ate and pretty much passed out.
Thursday. Actually did nothing. All day. I woke up early to go skype Ben but he couldn't really talk so I came back to Katie's. She was awake and said we were going to Beit Ar El that day. I was going to go with. She told me to go back to bed since it was pretty early so I was like okay and then I woke up to the sound of them leaving. Ouch. So I just stayed there with Orly. We watched a movie about dramatic ballet dancers, I can't remember the name. Then she went to meet her friend for a while. This girl Haley came over who I've never really spoken to but we talked for a long time and it was nice. Then there was another ceremony at the kotel for someone I didn't really know so I stayed home and watched The Pursuit of Happyness. Then went out and hung out with Joshey.
Friday I got up before everyone and got ready to go to my aunt's for Shabbat. I just missed the bus so I had to wait a bit for the next one. It took a long time to get a ride into Nokdim, but I got there and it was good. I was trying to sort out going to Petra and how I was going to get back to Arad, because the bus times just did not work out. I decided I would get a ride to the CBS with Stefan and Ella when they left the next day and just wait around until the buses started running. Had a really nice time being there, it had been a few weeks. I'm really going to miss going for Shabbat...
Saturday Stefan and Ella came over with the kids to celebrate their birthdays. Lot of fun and family and foods :). Joanna wanted to go with them to Cfar Saba when they left so I stayed and Jenene drove me to the bus station. Waited at the bus station until Katie, Haley, and Rachel came. We figured out more of what we are doing for Petra. Took a bus to Be'er Sheva and then a bus to Arad. Ale wasn't feeling well so she wanted me to come over. I decided to just sleep over, Orly wasn't home so I took her bed.
Sunday started early for me. Ale woke me up at 4. I called Alex and Har El and spoke to lots of people before we took a cab to the emergency room. Waited for a long time, they didn't want to see us unless we gave them 100 dollars and we didn't even have that much on us. They didn't seem to understand we had insurance but they finally figured it out. She was seen by a doctor and given an IV. Around 6 we left. I went home and packed for Sar El and blogged some. Got on a bus. Stopped at the same place I ran into Heather when she was on birthright. Got crunch ice cream. Stopped for lunch at the base Bat Sheva where half of us stayed. The rest of us went on to the Misgav base in the north. We met our madricha, her name is Liron. She looked super young, we found out later she's the same age as us. We got uniforms. After switching a few times we got uniforms that didn't fall off. We met with the commander of the base. He told us about the base, said it was mostly people working logistics. So, no combat soldiers. The base is pretty close to Lebanon so if anything ever happens they could organize supplies. We had dinner, there was lots of shoko. Yums. We talked to lots of soldiers around. They seem to like having us around. The rooms they had us in were really nice. Sheets on the beds and everything. I was with Orly so I was happy. The showers and bathrooms were clean. We were kinda expecting the place to be crap. I spoke to my grandparents and went to sleep.
Monday, first real day of Sar El. I woke up not feeling too well. We ate breakfast. Our room cleaned the bathrooms and went to the base's flag raising. We all took a bus to a different part of the base for volunteering. I helped a bit stacking mattresses but then I started feeling really sick and icky. So I kinda just sat inside a warehouse for a few hours. Eventually got up and went outside, and saw what breakfast looked like again. Fun. I was kinda worried, what with Ale having been really sick and being with her that morning. I didn't want to eat the rest of the day but Liron said I really should. I volunteered in the kitchen with Annie instead of going outside again so if I felt sick I could just go back to our room. We started working for a while but I got sick again. Made good friends with the medic and doctor on base. Got lots of pills and went to sleep until everyone got back. Felt pretty poopish. Went to the evening activity, which was learning about what the colors of the berets and patches and stuff mean in the army. Then forced myself to eat some dinner and went to sleep.
Tuesday I got up with everyone else but decided to stay in until lunch. Went with Orly and Monica to shrink wrap stuff with someone named Katya. We had fun. Shrinkwrapped bamba, a water bottle, and random other things. Went to dinner and then to the evening activity. We played Israeli Jeopardy and yelled at each other. Showered and went to sleep.
Wednesday got up at 7. There was pancakes, they were pretty yums. Went to work with Tamar, Orly, and Evie. Mada was there doing a blood drive. I couldn't donate because I already did a couple months ago. We went and played hide and seek in a tank warehouse. But then we had to pretend to tighten air valves and things because someone was coming to check up on us. Went to lunch. Went back to work after lunch but there really was no work so we sat in an office, then had to hide in a room when the commander came or else the soldiers in charge of us would get in trouble. Orly and I went with one of the soldiers to accompany him to give blood. Evening activity was getting Sar El shirts and hats and speaking about our experience.
Thursday was our last day there. We had to clean up the room pretty well and then we had breakfast and went to the flag raising. They sent us all to work at the same place, but there was really no work. So we hung out with soldiers and then went and packed up to go. We had lunch in our civilian garb and then we left. Drove to other base and picked everyone up, drove to Arad, drove to Be'er Sheva. Got off there and took a bus to Eilat. Got to Eilat and went to our hostel. it was really nice. We made friends with other english speakers staying there and hung out.
Friday we got up at 6 and were picked up by a bus at 6:50. We got to the border and waited around for a very long time. Eventually we started going through. It was pretty simple, they checked and stamped our passports and they checked our stuff. We were hanging out outside of some store waiting to get started. Some guys in the store talked to us and wanted us to try their scarves on and take pictures. Our group was a bunch of Americans and Europeans. We got on a bus and started driving to Petra. It was about a 2 hour drive and our guide was explaining Jordan's history and whatnot. Honestly, I really couldn't understand most of what he said. We got to Petra and walked through with the guide. Again, I couldn't understand most of what he said, so I made up some stuff that I imagined he might be saying...about dinosaurs. No but it was really cool. There were ancient burial chambers built into the mountains and lots of cool carvings and whatnot. There were camels and horses everywhere. The Jordanians try to get us silly Americans to pay for rides on them. They kept calling out to us "Horse, lady, horse!!" and I said, "I am not a horse lady". They did not understand. Some parts of it were really incredible. I think the most famous part is what they call "the treasure". It's this whole temple built into the side of a mountain, with lots of intricate carvings all over. We walked around by ourselves and saw more pretty cool stuff. Took lots of photos, so I'm sure they'll end up on facebook. If not I'll have them emailed to me and I can send them to whoever wants 'em. We had interesting conversations with the people trying to sell us crap. They pick up all of their english on the street, is pretty funny. We went to a place called Petra, A Magical Restaurant for lunch. This was already at 4 or 5 so we were super hungry. Ate lots. It was included in the tour. Drove back to the border and started going through customs. Israeli side is way more thorough. One of our bags set something off so we all had to evacuate and then get angry customs people yelling at us. It was Elana's backpack that has had issues in the past. We smoothed things over and got out of there. Later, she found extremely strong magnets in her bag. Yea. So we got back to our hostel and showered. A few of us went to an Infected Mushroom show but I stayed in and hung out with people at the hostel.
On Saturday (the 15th) we woke up late and got all our stuff together. This whole process took quite a while. We walked to the beach and stayed there a couple hours. It was really really hot outside but the beach was wonderful. We wanted to leave to make our bus to Be'er Sheva, but something always came up that made us wait until we might not have been able to make it to the bus on foot. So we had to take cabs. I was pretty unhappy about that, but it was hardly any money I was just annoyed at people. This weekend will be my last outing with more than just my core group of friends. I have a strong distate for people. We got on the bus to Be'er Sheva and I was sitting next to a randomer. We had a 15 minute break and I got a Magnum Desire ice cream bar. it was incredible. When we got back on the bus i started speaking with the person next to me. He asked if I wanted to watch a movie, so that made the rest of the bus ride a lot better. We started watching My Sister's Keeper. Didn't see the end though. We got to Be'er Sheva and split up with Katie, she went to her sister's. Then we took a bus to Arad. Yoni was supposed to come visit but he got on the wrong bus and that didn't work out. So I got home and remembered the water hadn't been working while I was on Sar El and freaked out, but it was better now. Orly came over and we were going to have a crazy sleepover that ended in her passing out on the couch and me talking to Ben until wayyy late. It was still a really nice night.

My lasy post was definitely lacking. I wrote about yam l'yam in a few
paragraphs and my friends are all doing it in many many pages. Later
if I have time I might add to it, or just link to their blogs so you
guys can see what really went down from other perspectives. Right now
I'm getting ready for Sar El and I just got back from the emergency
room with Ale, so I'll just post whatever I get done before I gotta
go.

So last friday was Shevet weekend. Woke up early and got ready. Katie
made me oatmeal, she's so sweet. I walked to the mall where the bus
was picking us up with my bags and a raw chicken. The chicken was for
Tamar, she came and picked it up. It was just a minibus because there
are so few of us now. Ale came with and got a ride all the way to
Afula. We had no madrichim with which was interesting. We stopped and
I got ice cream with Jessica, there was a deal, two magnums for 16
shek, instead of 23. We picked up sammiches that Boaz ordered for us.
Wayy too much food. We got to Tsfat and went to the Hostel/Chabad
House Ascent. We stayed in the same room as last time. My room was
Katie, Rachel, Jessica, and Julia. We got changed into tzneeusness and
then walked to this cemetery with lots of important rabbis. There was
an earthquake a while back in Tsfat, so now no one really knows if
they are stepping over someone's grave or not because all the
headstones were displaced. There were lots of stairs, my legs were
still sore from Yam l'Yam so it was not fun. We went back to the
hostel and changed into shabbat clothes and went to some class. Ate a
lot of cake. Ascent always has cake and coffee out, it's great. I ate
a ridiculous amount of cake that shabbat.Kabbalat Shabbat. Met a woman
from the Philippines named Ilana, but I don't think she was Jewish.
Katie and I went to a host family together for dinner. We thought it
was the same as last time, and it seemed right because the address
looked really familiar, I remembered asking 20 people where it was
when we got lost. But we were wrong. There were two crazies walking
with us there. A woman from Tel Aviv, originally Toronto, and a guy
from Kfar Sabba. She was spacey and super weird and he was just
Israeli weird. We found the house and the people were pretty nice, but
slightly patronizing. I asked where the bathroom was and they told me
not to turn the light out. But anyways, there was a bunch of people,
Katie and I were at the end of the table next to two sem girls and
crazy Tel Avivian. One of the girls goes to Nishmat with Yael. We had
fun talking, they were pretty normal but didn't seem like they usually
encounter the likes of Katie and I. (Which would make sense, since
we're not quite normal.) The Nishmat girl said she never sleeps
Thursday nights, so I jokingly said, why, you party too hard? She said
no, I was playing frisbee at the park. But she thought it was the
funniest thing and kept brining it up, sooo scandalous. I ate a ton,
thank you shabbat stomach. After dinner Katie and I hung around for a
while and chatted while little children kept stealing my key to our
room in the hostel. Eventually we left, super late. We were worried
the other girls were waiting up on us, since we had the key. But when
we got there the they weren't in yet. I walked around the lobby area
to see if they were waiting there, and some guy asked who I was
looking for. He hadn't seen them, so he said sorry I don't know where
they are, but here take tea. People in Tsfat are so creepy and nice.
The girls came back later, they had been at some fabragin (spelling?
meaning?) Sleep.
I slept in on Shabbat. Rachel and I were the last ones up from our
room, we got ready and went downstairs. We had some cake (obviously)
and then went to a class. We prolly had lunch after this, but I don't
really remember. I sat with Emma, my volunteering madricha from first
semester. After lunch was a "mystical tour of tsfat". It started out
nice, but it was kind of crap. We were walking around and this woman
was telling us about tsfat's history and different nice things. But
then she told us a story about how a bunch of children were kidnapped
and killed because the mezuzahs at their school were flawed. I didn't
like that. Went back to Ascent and ate some foods. Tried to get some
rest in for the craziness of the lag b'omer. Had a "musical havdalah"
and then there was a malavah malka. We left for Har Meron after 11.
Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochi is buried there and on Lag B'omer 500,00 people
go there to pray and dance and act crazy. I wrote a bunch of people's
names on a paper and fought to get to the grave to put the paper
there. It was insane. We were warned that a lot of people beg for
money there, but most people were just trying to give out stuff-
shoko, cake, other food, water, coffee...We left around 1:30 and went
back to Ascent.
On Sunday we had lunch together and then got on the bus to Arad. Julia
and I went food shopping and then we had an apartment meeting with
Alex. I basically told him I was going to skip some Arad programing to
see family and do last minute things before the end of Year Course,
and he was fine with it. I spoke to my mom a bunch. Orly called me and
told me I was volunteering at Ein Gedi now and what to bring tomorrow
morning. I woke up at 6 and got dressed. Waited around until 5 to 7
and walked with Orly to the bus stop. When we got there I was
introduced to everyone and they said if I needed anything ask. So I
asked for one of the super cool shirts they all have. They said
they'll have them for us next time. :) I'm trying to leave with less
stuff then I came here with but it's hard cuz we keep getting
t-shirts. I have 2 from Jerusalem, 3 from Bat Yam, and 2 from Arad.
Not to mention the 3 pairs of genie pants that I've gotten. I'll find
room. So anyhows the first thing we did at volunteering was help this
guy with a paper he wrote in English. We did that for a little while
and then they told us go play. So we hike a bit, I fell on my butt- I
mean, I was attacked by an ibex, and got a nice big bruise on my butt.
We went swimming and it was so nice. Witnessed a baptism, interesting.
Spoke to Israeli children. We walked to the the Dead Sea. There were
so many tourists from the South. A bunch of madrichim called me, turns
out I wasn't really switched to Ein Gedi. Oops, I'm staying anyway. We
helped the guy with his paper some more and then we put up fences
around trees so animals wouldn't eat them. That was pretty difficult
and it was veryyy hot. We got the bus home and had five minutes to go
to our apartments and change, then we had to meet Dikla at the mall,
she was taking us and the Masada kids to our lag b'omer activity. I
really don't know where we were. We were supposed to roast
marshmallows and cook potatoes but the potatoes never materialized. A
bunch of bedouins came and kinda crowded us. They weren't mean, just
annoying. We went home and I got to shower all the Ein Gediness and
bonfire stank off. Yay.
Tuesday was the Masa Mega Event in Jeru. I woke up really early to
blog and pack. Slept most of the bus ride. We had different seminars
when we got there. There was some interesting stuff about Israel's
place in the world and how its been seen and how it can be seen. They
had different food stands and they gave us each a ticket for food and
a ticket for a drink. I ended up with a few tickets, no surprise
there, and ate a bunch of foods. It was all pretty yuck, though. We
spoke about college and defending Israel on campus. Some of the
speakers were really good. After the seminars there was a Hadag
nachash concert. But before that Natan Sharansky and Binyamin
Netanyahu spoke to us. Cool stuff. The concert was eh, I don't think
they're so good live. Every Israeli will disagree with me but whatevs.
Rachel, Jessica, Katie, Haley and I walked to Katie's apartment after
and went to bed.