Pre-Farewell to Jerusalem

Tonight, at 19:45, Wendy and I will be getting on a Sheirut and heading to the airport in Tel-Aviv. I am heading off to Berlin, Germany from December 31, 2010 until January 3, 2011. After my time in Germany with my father's college roommate and his wife, I will be heading off (on my own) to Italy. Starting off in Venice, then heading off to Florence, and ending my time in Italy in Rome. Not to worry, I will be meeting up with a couple friends in Rome due to the fact that we are staying at the same hostel. I will try to post a blog entry everyday for my duration in Europe. I will also post pictures of the amazing sites that I will be seeing.

Next time in Europe.

Christmas Time, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Girls Night Out

As a cast member from the show, I got a letter from Andrew Lloyd Webber. It says:

"Dear Mr. Berl and the cast of Joseph,

May I express my joy in hearing that students in Jerusalem are staging our production. It gives me particular pleasure to know that the presentation will be staged with the creativity and distinction that befits its standing in the music theater community. It is great to know that Joseph will be presented in the Holy City by dedicated and talented students, and that it will add to the holiday festivities in Israe. It was my first musical venture and remains close to my heart.

Know that I salute your efforts and will be interested in hearing of your success.

With the best wishes for a smash hit and the glorious fulfillment that comes with the performance. I remain,

Pretty cool, huh?

As you all know today is Christmas. But here in Israel, it doesn't feel like Christmas. Last night, a bunch of us Nativers tried to go to Midnight Mass at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Unfortunately, the church was full and we couldn't get in. We tried to go to another church, but you needed a ticket to get into that church. My friend, Tanya, and I decided to go to the Kotel (Western Wall) instead. Some background information for all of you: I feel no connection to the Wall at all. I see it as a wall that the Romans built and had every right to tear down. Jews idolize the wall (which is breaking the Second Commandment.)

Tonight the Carmiel girls had "Dessert and Wine" aka Girls Night Out. We had planned to go to this restaurant called Little Italy. We had made reservations for 20, but only 15 could show up. Right off the bat, we could tell it wouldn't be a great night. They were rude to us the second we walked in. You should never be rude to a paying customer. We sat down and ordered desserts and a bottle of wine. Then, the manager came up to us and yelled at us saying how this was a restaurant, not a coffee shop. That we had to order real food and spend 60 NIS each. So we all got up and left and walked next door to a restaurant/coffee shop called Cup-O-Joe. They had no problems with us there and the night went smoothly from then on out.

Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat

Many of you are probably unaware that I was just in a production of Andrew Lloyd Webber's "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat." We had a total of 7 shows in 5 days. My roles (in order of appearance) were: the sister, Dinah (it makes sense because my name is Dena), jazz dancer, Harem girl, Joseph's subconscious, chorus, Screaming Egyptian girl in Pharaoh's court, Waltz dancer, Calypso dancer, and the coat bearer. Backstage, I was dance assistant and makeup assistant. On the first night of the show (Thursday December 2), I was surprised with how well we did. The first night Wendy Brodsky, Sara Fletcher, Matt Goldberg, Tanya Werger, Sarah Lesser, Allie Griff, Ariel Lubow, Ariel Wertheim, Jenny Bromberg, Kayla Reisman, Calah Hardin, Becca Rosenthal, Robyn Klitzky, Dave Yedid, Jason Kornblatt, Corey Rosen and Shira Anis all came to see the show. It was great. Monday the 6th, we had 2 shows. I didn't know anyone at that show. As our director called matinee performances "Sesame Street Shows." He was right. It was all kids. Monday night, I knew people that came. All of Nativ staff came, Carmi Cheskis-Gold, Ben Fiedler, Matt Goldberg, Sean Haber and Aaron Gillman. I knew a couple other people that came, but they aren't on Nativ. Tuesday the 7th went pretty well too. I didn't know anyone at this performance because Tuesday nights are Erev Nativ, so the Nativers weren't allowed to go. Wednesday the 8th's matinee performance wasn't quite that clean. But our evening performance was much better. Zoe Kronovet (my roommate), Ashleigh Hayflich (my roommate), Lauren Binder, Aaron Soskin, Gordy Volk, Tali Marcus, Elana Petelnik, Tamar Friedman, Shoshana Coven, Daniel Lewis, Matt Alfasso, Levi Mastrangelo, Dana Bornstein, Amy Shumer and Hilary Zarnett. It was such a great show. Thursday the 9th was our final show. Our director, kept telling us that we had to push each other. This show was not for the audience, this show was for us. He also told us no pranks. (The ones I planned for on stage were modified for backstage). Elie Dickler, Aviva Pollack, and Matt Goldberg came to see us for our final performance. I pulled a fantastic prank. Yisrael (who played Joseph) is afraid of snakes. My original plan was to get a rubber snake and tape it inside the sleeve of the coat so that when I brought it down and he put on the coat, he would freak out. It wouldn't have worked because he found out about the rubber snake on Tuesday. Because I hold his gold outfit in my costume bag, I give him the gold outfit during intermission. For my prank, I carefully folded the gold, put the snake in the middle, and folded the rest over it. I proceed to hand him the gold. He tells me to put it down. I tell him he has to take it because I have to get to the other side. As he takes it, I move a little farther from him when suddenly he screams "Oh My Gosh! Oh you bitch!* That was well played." Prank equals success. Then our makeup lady takes pictures of me with the snake. It was a great night. Our cast party was a lot of fun too. I'm glad I took part in this show. It was a great experience and I made so many friends who live here who can't wait to have me over for a Shabbat or whenever. I even got to keep some of the props. I got to keep the pants, my harem skirt, the harem earrings, and of course the Joseph finale shirt. On the first night of the show during warmups, our director read a couple letters to us. One was from Shimon Perez. Another was from Andrew Lloyd Webber himself. I am going to get a copy of the letter from the composer. On the last night, the show was recorded, so I will also be receiving a copy of the show. I'm sad the show is over now because I don't know what to do at 7:30 on a Sunday, Monday, Wednesday, or Thursday night anymore. I'll figure out something to do, I always do.

 the cast

 family

 harem

 holding the coat

Makeup! Miriam, on the left is our actual makeup lady. Adina (right) and I (middle) assisted

 Pharaoh

 Snake

I am waltzing in the right hand side of the picture.
*If you are reading this to younger children, please insert a different word here (like meany).

Thanksgiving in Israel

This year was the first year that I would not be spending Thanksgiving with my family. Instead, I spent Thanksgiving with my Nativ Family. We had all of Nativ 30 and Bogrei Nativ (Nativ Alumni from 1-29), plus the families of current Nativers and Bogrei Nativ. There were about 200 people there. We started off in the shul saying Ma'ariv. Then our director, Yossi Garr, said a few words. After that, we heard the acapella group sing. A couple people put together a Nativ Thanksgiving slide show. It was cute. Then acapella came up again to sing another song. Yossi "rang the dinner bell" and the former Be'er Sheva group (now Carmiel) + the Kibbutz group + Bogrei Nativ from 1-19 joined us in the main dining hall. Yossi told Nativ 30 that we all had a Thanksgiving Surprise waiting for us outside the dining hall. Letters from our families. My letter most definitely made me cry.

Dear Dena,

-This is the first Thanksgiving that the four of us will be separated. The distance is only in physical miles, not in the love we have for you.
-Your seat at the table has been usurped by your four-legged friend. She gladly will eat your turkey and anything else she can put her paws on. Just ask your sister what happens when you leave candy within reach.
-While the seat will be filled, we will miss your humor and level-headedness and calming effect on the entire family :)
-Seriously, it will be really strange to not have you home, but we know you are having a great time in Israel. Try not to eat too much turkey and remember that Thanksgiving came late this year, so close to Chanukah. :)
-We will pat the dog on the head, rub her belly, and play tug-of-war for you, but she isn't getting your piece of pie. We have already seen what happens when she is on a sugar high. Again, ask your sister.
-Have a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Love,

Mom, Dad, and Tova

P.S. Check out Dirk's new hair
----------------------------------

Hey Big Sis!!!

Missing you tons down here in the big D...well P really. I love you and miss you tons and I wish I coulld come and visit you in Israel, because that would just be so awesomely lovely.

Love your bestest best little sister
<3 Tova
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I wasn't the only one who cried from their letter(s). After a dinner of Turkey, stuffing, mashed sweet potatoes, green beans, apple bars, and pumpkin pie (they had cranberry sauce there, but I didn't get any) Nativ 30 had a special thing down in the auditorium. Yossi said that around Thanksgiving time is when Nativers get the most homesick, so more people put on a slide show of the 3 months here so far. Then Lauren, Ashleigh, Levi, and Gillman said because there weren't enough Thanksgiving songs, they wrote one and sang it to the tune of Ma'oh Tzur. What a great transition into next week. Then for those who wanted to watch the Thanksgiving episode of Friends, they could stay and watch it. I'm pretty sure I was the only one who didn't stay to watch it because I wanted to Skype with my parents to tell them how much their letter meant to me. It was nice talking to them, even though we talk almost every day, it was very meaningful on Thanksgiving. We even talked about my winter break plans.
Berlin for 3 days with my dad's college roommate, then I'm thinking about going to Italy. (If any of you have some ideas on where I should go, please contact me)

מעלות, Harry Potter, and a Walking Tour

MA'ALOT
Last weekend was a closed Shabbat which means we couldn't have the freedom of going wherever we wanted. So the Be'er Sheva group went to Ma'alot which is 6 kilometers from the Lebanon border. I was paired up with Nava Jacknis. We were both very fortunate because on Monday, we had a presentation due for Israeli Literature . The family was so nice. When we walked in, for some strange reason, they thought we were Russian, but were relieved when they found out we were American. The father was from South Africa and the mother was from New York. They had 5 kids (2 of whom no longer lived at home). The eldest boy there, Oorit, is probably about 17. Nechama, the oldest girl, is 15 and such a sweet girl. Hodaya, the baby, is 4 and was slightly obssesed with our presence. The family had a rule for the weekend, only speak in English. It was so that the kids would get better at English and so that we would feel comfortable. We had our own room on our own floor, and it was a big room. Apparently, the 2 older boys shared that room. When we sat down and unpacked what we needed for the night, we started to read the story and take notes on what we were going to talk about in our presentation. Then, Hodaya comes in, while she knows English she refuses to speak it. She asks us if she likes her crocs and then she proceeds to bring in her flip flops, her slippers, her jewelry, etc. We then went upstairs to go to shul. The way to get to there is: go up a slightly hidden pathway with a couple of stairs (which, once it was dark outside, you couldn't see the steps very well), take a right, go up a monster hill (which was a lot of fun to go down), take a left and there's the shul. After shul, we came back for an amazing home cooked meal. At dinner, the family made us feel welcome. They didn't ask us the uncomfortable questions of our personal lives. They asked us where we were from, what the program is, where we are going to college next year, what we will do in Be'er Sheva next semester, and that was it. It was nice to feel like a part of a conversation. They didn't assume anything about us either. After dinner, Nava and I walked back to shul for Tisch (a Yiddish word meaning Friday night singing session). When that ended, our assistant director, Elkana, told us what time shul started the next morning, what time we had to meet up at shul and said good night to us. We got back home and went to sleep. The next morning, we woke up to Hodaya knocking on the door asking why it was locked. Would you want a 4 year old waking you up by jumping on your bed if you're not related? I didn't think so. We got up, got dressed, and sat outside enjoying the view drinking tea and coffee before lunch. Lunch was equally as tasty as dinner. We had a great lasagna. We even tried beer shandy (2/3 Sprite [or 7 UP] and 1/3 Goldstar [or some other dark beer). For dessert, they had the most amazing cookies I've ever tasted. We had the whole afternoon to ourselves. We got to shul to meet up with everyone. Then we all headed down to Elkana's parents' house for Se'uda Shlishit (the 3rd meal of the day). After that we went to Mincha at shul. We all came back to their house for Ma'ariv and Havdalah. After that, we were told what time to meet at the shul so we could get on the buses to head back to Jerusalem. We went back to our host family's house, packed up. We thanked our hosts for everything. We got the recipe for the cookies, and their phone numbers to stay with them again. The mother even gave us cookies for the ride back. We got to shul, got on the bus, and headed back.

HARRY POTTER
In Israel, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 came out on November 18th. (We knew it came out in the States and Canada on the 19th). So I went with Wendy, Sarah L, Kayla, Allie, Elana P, Aviva, Jason, and Alex. In Israel, there are reserved tickets for the movie theater, so the only row they had to fit the 9 of us was the 2nd row (which actually was still a good view). The movie was amazing (I won't spoil it for those of you who haven't seen it yet.) In Israel, they have an intermission in the middle of the movie. The idea being so you'll get up and buy something. After the intermission, we continued to watch the movie.

WALKING TOUR
Almost every Friday morning, Achi has a walking tour around Jerusalem. She goes to places really close by to where we live to show us things we didn't even know was in our own backyard or the history of places we were familiar with. On Friday, I went on the tour with Daniel and Dave (we were triple D). We went to the Russian colony to learn that the jail and court house used to be a hostel. When we were at the museum of the jail, which used to be the women's hostel, we saw police taking handcuffed people out of their car. It was such a fun experience to see the things that were there.

מאה שארים

Me'ah She'arim (if you don't already know) is a very religious neighborhood. When you think about what a sterotypical Jew looks like, they probably live there. If you can't think of what I mean by the stereotypical looking Jew, picture men with either fur hats, black hats, etc. Men have either a goldish or black or striped or gray robe or they are wearing a black suit. Men also have the long beards and the Pe'as (side curl). Women are wearing all black, all white, black and white, maybe some gray. Their dresses are ankle length, elbows and wrists covered, collarbones covered. Married women have their heads covered and unmarried women have their hair up in a ponytail. This morning for Shabbat, Calah and I went with Achi (our madricha) to Me'ah She'arim (which means One Hundred Gates). We knew we had to dress appropriately. I wore a turquoise long skirt that went down to my shins, a lime-greenish long sleeve shirt, a green shirt that covers my collarbone, and knee high socks that look like the Wicked Witch of the East's. As we walked inside the neighborhood, the first thing we noticed was the barriers. No cars would be allowed inside on Shabbat. Then we noticed all the bulletins. Achi read them to us: "Don't go to this store, it is not Frum enough" etc. As we were walking around, Calah and I kept commenting about how filthy it was. There was trash everywhere on the street. Then Achi wanted to show us the synagogue she went to for Yom Kippur. So we went and she was telling us about her first time there when she couldn't find the entrance to the women's section and asked a man to show her. (on a side note...in this neighborhood, if a woman is walking on one side of the street and a man sees her, he walks to the opposite side of the street) The women's section was up a set of stairs that seemed hidden. It wasn't too crowded up there mainly because the women's section was surrounding 3 of the 4 sides of the shul. When we were sitting in shul, there was a 12 year old looking girl who kept giving Calah and I dirty looks (probably because we weren't wearing black). So Calah leans over to me and says" if she gives us one more dirty look, I'm going to stick my tongue out at her to see what she does." Before the Torah service, we decided to leave. However, before we went down the stairs, Achi asked us if we had any questions. "What's the difference between the different types of hats and why only black and white clothing? Why is there so much candy for the kids?" We asked a girl who had a bag of candy. The candy was because there were 2 brides and 2 grooms (so 4 families). Black and white because it's just the way things are. The hats and men's clothing have something to do with before marriage and after marriage. As we were heading back to base for lunch, we asked 3 women who were walking about the black and the hats, but this time about why most people shave their hair and just leave the pe'as. In the Torah, it says you should leave hair to a certain point and they interpret it as shaving their hair. We noticed she was married because her head was covered, but we noticed her head was shaved underneath that. After we left, we walked on the outskirts of the neighborhood for a bit. Then, we came to the Russian Compound. Achi was explaining that it used to be a hostel for men and a hostel for women and a hostel for the rich, but now it's a jail. As we were walking down the road a bit, we saw a very familiar place. What I learned is actually called Kikar Maccabi, I know it as Crack Square (The alleyway looking road that where the bars and clubs are. While I have walked through there at night, I had never seen it during the day. What a difference. Everything was closed and I never realized how wide the street actually was. At the end of the street was a restaurant. As we went up to it, Achi pointed out the lyrics to a very famous song by a popular Israeli band. Hadag Nahash's Hine Ani Ba. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kke3gP1Opi4 (it's the song with English subtitles). Then we went to a little circular area where if you stand in the middle of the circle, it echos. Then we walked back to base to have lunch. We stopped in the park and learned a little bit about the convent next to us. Then Achi mentioned she wanted to learn the history of Beit Nativ. Fortunately, I knew about it because when I went to shul the previous week, the rabbi (who happened to formerly live in Dallas) did a mini tour of the guest house. Then Achi remembered she was going to find me a host family for lunch. She was gone for quite some time, so I sat down at the table when she walks in. She told me they are waiting for me at their house. She proceeded to tell me the directions. As I eventually found out (after getting lost), I went the wrong way. So after I walked back to tell her I got lost, she got up from the table and walked me very close to where I was actually supposed to go. Throughout this walk, I kept apologizing to Achi about how I was stupid and couldn't find my way and how I felt bad about her having to get up from lunch. While I was saying this, she kept telling me to shut up. "Shut up, Dena. Shut up. Punch Buggy. Shut up" I found my way the second time with her help. When I arrived, I recognized one of the people. [if you remember from my entry about the worst Shabbat ever when I had to go to a different house for lunch] She was there. It turns out, I went to her daughter's house. It was a very enjoyable day. After a nice lunch, I went back at 15:00 and slept until 17:30. It was fun

Bad News

Today is just not the day for me...
First I didn't have a break from Evolutionary Psychology until the end of the Poland meeting. I figure out that I sprained my ankle. I found out that my sister's trip to Israel in December got canceled. What a horrible day.

Best Date Ever

Last night, instead of going to a rally for some Yeshiva funding (or whatever it was) I went on a fabulous date. Shoshana and I planned this out last Thursday at Cafe Ivrit that we would have date night. Our date included going shopping to buy a dress (whether it was window shopping or money shopping, we weren't sure of yet) and then going out for dinner. We started window shopping until we came into a store that seemed as though everything was on sale. So of course we looked around and both found things we liked. She bought a pink dress (that could double as a skirt) and I bought a black zip up turtle neck vest and a purple dress (that could double as a skirt). It was such a deal. Only 50 NIS ($11.45 USD) for my purchase. On the way to dinner, Shosh found a pink rug that she absolutely had to have for her room. (In case you couldn't tell, Shosh's favorite color is pink). We wanted to go to a Chinese restaurant called Mandarin, but upon going inside, we learned it wasn't Kosher. Then we walked to a Kebab type place and said we'd go there another time on a different date. So we walked over to the Pasta Bar (which was Kosher) and we ended up eating there. It was so delicious. I ate Penne Pasta with tomato sauce. Only 29 NIS ($6.41 USD). Afterwards, we walked back home. At 9:30, we went down to Israeli/Disney b'Ivrit night in the auditorium. Expecting to watch Hercules in Hebrew, we were a little surprised to  see that we were watching a movie called Walk On Water. It was actually a really good movie.

Watching the World Series

As many Dallasites know, the Texas Rangers made it to the World Series 2010. This is an amazing experience for us. But as you all know (because you read my blog) I'm in Israel. So watching the World Series has been very difficult mainly because of the time difference. I didn't get the chance to watch Game 1 because I had classes the next day.  All I saw was that my team lost and I learned that Aaron Sherman (a madrich) is a Giants fan. I went out until 2 in the morning so I could come back and actually watch the game. The TV room was locked so I sat with some friends until 2:30. Then I went up to my room and watched the game from my computer. I started watching at the bottom of the 3rd inning, the score was 0-0. I watched until the bottom of the 5th and I almost fell asleep. So I exited out of the game and went to sleep. When I woke up, I saw the unfortunate score. The first thing that popped into my head was a line from the Sandlot, "You're killing me Smalls." However in this case, Smalls is equivalent to the Rangers.

I appreciate that my mom sent me the ALCS shirt and a pair of Texas Rangers earrings just in time for the World Series.

Ne'ot Kedumim

Today we Nativers went to Ne'ot Kedumim. It is a Biblical artificial nature preserve. We split up by track and had a series of leadership tasks to complete. We had to start off with herding goats and sheep. (as you can see in the picture). We then walked to a different area of the park and had another leadership exercise where we have to get a circle through a hoop. Then we went to a log, received numbers (1-15) and had to switch sides by number without falling off the log. After the log exercise, we figured out who was Be'er Sheva's Robin Hood. We did archery. At first, I couldn't get the arrow to go but then when I got a little bit of help, my first shot was a bull's eye. After that, we had to make food. Thankfully I've watched my dad attempt to make bread so I knew how to make the dough for pita. It was really good. We got back at 15:10 and started getting ready for Shabbat.

Shabbat Shalom

The Bomb Squad

So I get home at 17:00 and put my bag up in my room. I step out of my room to say hi to people on my program and people start screaming about how the bomb squad is on its way. Being the naive American that I am, I run to my porch to see what's going on right outside my building and because I wanted to see the robot. Our director said we could go to our porch and observe, but once my roommates and I got up there, the police had told our director, Yossi, that we could not be on the porch so he waved us back inside. Many of us naive Americans and Canadians were trying to come up with clever ways to see what was going on. We tried a porch that's hard to see from. We couldn't see anything, so we tried the library in the old building right under my porch. Well the police saw us, but didn't say anything. Unfortunately, we still couldn't see anything. We then found out the suspicious package was inside the synagogue in the gates of base. We discussed if we'd actually be safe or not should a bomb go off. One person said yes, others said no. The streets were completely blocked off however. By 18:00, the bomb squad finished their job, the police opened the streets back up and now the hustle and bustle that is Jerusalem rush hour has started up again. As it turns out, the suspicious package was just a bag of books. It's a bit of an adrenaline rush to get to see (well not really see as much as have the experience of) this. If it were to happen again, I don't think we would be quite as excited as we were tonight.

First Week

Well I survived the first week of school. I finalized my classes. In case you were interested, my schedule is as follows:

SUNDAY
no classes
MONDAY
8:30-10:15 Hebrew.
12:30-14:15 Israeli Literature
14:30-16:15 Jewish Jesus to Christianity
TUESDAY
8:30-12:15 Hebrew
WEDNESDAY
12:30-14:15 Israeli Literature
14:30-16:15 Jewish Jesus to Christianity
THURSDAY
8:30-10:15 Hebrew
12:30-16:15 Evolutionary Psychology

This is not a bad schedule in my opinion. I'm very happy with it. The first rehearsal for Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat went well last night. Michael, the director, told me I'm choreographing "Close Every Door to Me",  "Those Canaan Days", and " a section of "Go Go Joseph"

I'm pretty excited for all of this

First day of school! First day of school!

You get a prize if you can figure out the reference for the title!

Today was the first day of school. I only have one class on Sundays, and that is Art History.  My class doesn't start until 2:30 so I had the morning to myself. I spent it with some people who don't have class on Sundays and some people that do. For lunch, a group of us spent 73 NIS on a pizza for the 6 of us. At 1:30, Jennie, Yedidyah and I got on the bus to Hebrew University. Along the way, Jennie kept freaking out about how much time we had left until class began. (These are Israeli drivers, what they drive is more important than the other vehicles on the road, including bus drivers). We got there in time. Art History was a good class. Tomorrow I have Israeli Literature and Jewish Jesus through Christianity. I will most likely have to drop Jewish Jesus because I can't take 4 classes. Thursdays I have Evolutionary Psychology. Thursday, I'll post my official schedule (including rehearsals for the show)

Simchat Torah, Assassins, Sculptures, Sushi, Crosswords and more

SIMCHAT TORAH
Simchat Torah was a lot of fun. I didn't go to shul erev Simchat Torah, but in the morning I went to an Egalitarian Orthodox shul called Yedidyah. When we girls were in the women's section, we met a girl a few years older than us who happened to have been on Nativ 24. She told us "if you guys get fat on Nativ, you will lose it by the end of the program." We found that to be very random. Also at shul, we ran into Chaiim. It was so much fun to see him again and again and again (too bad he's going to Australia now).

ASSASSINS
We have just begun the game of assassins where we all receive a clothespin with someone's name on it and the goal is to grab the clothespin without anyone seeing you take it. If you take it, you killed someone and go after their target and so on...
I was killed and I've been helping those that are alive and joking around with my friends still in the game about how they can see dead people

SCULPTURES
There is a sculpture in Liberty Bell Park of an alligator. Last time I was here, the task was to look at the entire sculpture from the tail. ( it's quite amusing and I encourage you all to come to Israel not just to see the sculpture but to see how fantastic it is)

SUSHI
Girls night out was originally to a sushi bar called Japanika. Because there were 6 of us on a Saturday night, they didn't have the room for us and were taking people before us even though we were on the list. So we ditched Japanika and walked down the road to another sushi bar called Tsunami. It was delicious. So many combinations. The edemamme bowl was enormous. It was superb.

CROSSWORDS
In the lobby of the old building (my building) there is the largest crossword puzzle in the world. The challenge is to have the most words in your track, so they separate each track by color. It's quite the challenge when there are 5 people all looking to solve the clues in the book and there are only 3 colors.

MORE...
I finished my finals for the minimester. I am getting my cartilege pierced today. There are bed bugs at Beit Nativ (no mattresses right now). I bought stickers. and finally...
I MADE IT INTO THE ISRAELI LITERATURE CLASS!!!!
Let me explain. This class is limited to up to 25 students. All the students who signed up for this class were wait listed. Because the semester starts on Sunday, they had the lottery of all the students last night. Today they sent out emails to those who for sure got it. I am one of the lucky 25. It's like getting the Golden Ticket only 5 times better...[haha joke 5 times better because 5 X 5 = 25 and there's 25 in the class]
I love my humor sometimes

Worst Shabbat Ever...But I Survived the Desert

WORST SHABBAT EVER...
For Shabbat, Wendy and I were being hosted at a friend of one of the Madricha's house. It was in a city/town called Elkana (east of Tel-Aviv).  What should have taken one hour, took 3. We had to take 2 different buses. The first took an hour. We waited another hour for the second bus. The third bus came, we told the driver where we wanted to get off, but apparently he didn't understand us because he completely passed our stop and kept going. Then at the last stop (in Ariel), he told us to get off the bus because it was the last stop. So Wendy calls the host family informing them that we are stuck and we don't know where we are. Our madricha's friend said she'd meet us 15 minutes later. It was a good 30-45 minutes before anyone came to get us. Once we were in the car, she informed us she was speeding not because it's Israel (and that's what they do there) but because it was Shabbat. We made it before Shabbat with about 2 minutes to spare. It was a very awkward situation for us because the family barely spoke any English and they barely spoke to us at all. When they did it was very impersonal. Except for the one time (which was a very funny event)
-They have 4 children: 3 boys and 1 girl. The 2 oldest boys are married. Oldest has 2 kids, second oldest has none. The 3rd child (the youngest boy) is unmarried and 22. So he says he wants the 2 girls next to him. They notice Wendy's necklace (which is half a heart; her best friend has the other half). They ask our age (18) and if we have a boyfriend. We both feel awkward so we say yes and mention 2 different guys on our program as our significant other. That was the highlight of our night.
Because the family had made plans for lunch and informed our madricha of these plans, so she arranged for us to go to a different family's house for lunch. That was strange because not only because we were in a place nowhere near where we were used to, but we didn't know this family or the family where we were having lunch that day. It was slightly less awkward for us because they knew a little bit more English than our host family. We had to walk back to our host's house. We walked too far at first, but we got back. We took a nice long Shabbas nap until 6:10 (when Shabbat officially ended.) We knew we needed to head back to Jerusalem because we had to pack for the Tiyul aka Desert Survival. They hadn't done Havdallah yet, so it was holding us back even more. After Havdallah, the daughter drove us to a bus stop to get on a bus which would go straight to Jerusalem. Right as she pulled up, so did the bus. Our trip back to Jerusalem was an
hour. A big improvement as opposed to the way there.

BUT I SURVIVED THE DESERT
Early Sunday morning (about 6:00 am), all 93 of us Nativers were getting onto the buses to take us to where our desert survival was to begin. Originally, the plan was for two of the 3 groups to hike one way and the other to hike the opposite way. This, as it turned out, was not what had actually happened. We came to find out that our staff had to change the plans that morning. The Be'er Sheva and the Kibbutz tracks began at Ein Gedi (a beautiful nature preserve). We then got on the buses to a nature preserve for: what was supposed to be a hike turned into a 10 minute walk..with all 3 tracks in the same place. Yerucham and half of Be'er Sheva got on the jeeps to Ein Ekev (another gorgeous nature preserve). Our director, Yossi, told Yerucham to eat and the first half of Be'er Sheva to follow him. He led us on a path straight to...a natural spring/pool. None of us knew to bring our swim suits, so a few of us jumped in the water. It was quite refreshing. Oliver and Elana saved a kid from drowning in the water (go them). After we got out and dried ourselves out in the sun a bit, we went to the small little rock area where Yerucham had been eating and we were about to eat. Our half of the group began setting up lunch and waited for the other half to arrive (they had the rest of the food). We ate and the first half of Be'er Sheva got on the jeeps and headed towards the buses. We waited for everyone else (which meant we got a nice nap while it was quiet). When everyone was on their appropriate bus, we rode to the campsite. It was getting dark, and we were told to quickly set up our tents. We had a hot soup, davened Ma'ariv. Then ate dinner. After dinner, each track went on a night hike in the desert. [I will add in that I now know the true meaning of surviving in the desert. Go find a cliff, use the restroom, and burn the toilet paper (there is a story to this understanding)]. Once all the groups were back, we had a bonfire and then went to bed, knowing it would be an early morning (4 a.m.) By 4:30, we were up and dressed and beginning Shacharit. We got to witness the sunrise and it was breathtaking. After breakfast, Yossi gave each group a task. My group was literally given the shit job. We had to go to the cliff areas that people were using as a restroom and pick up the toilet paper that people had not burned. After we finished cleaning up the campsite, we began our hike. It was a good 1.5-2 hours. I felt more accomplished today than I had the day before. We hiked up a mountain (which was not a fun experience due to my fear of heights.) This resulted in a slight panic attack. Once on the mountain, it was a beautiful view (which I saw by sitting down in the middle and looking out) our guide had a surprise for us...Bubbles! Then came the hard part, getting down from the mountain (actually it was Machtesh Ramon...a crater but not really) Ariel was holding my hand as I was tearing up from fear. She and Allie were distracting me from thinking about the fear (which worked). We got on the buses and went somewhere for brunch. Each group sat in a circle. Our guide had a piece of candy. With the candy, we had 2 things to say. The candy part [the great part of the Tiyul] and the wrapper [the bad part of the Tiyul]. After brunch, we went to the mall for lunch. Once we got back to base, it was a race to the showers.
Now we are all clean and happy.

There's a Fly in My Soup

For the first night of Sukkot, I was hosted with 3 other people for dinner. 2 of the 4 had originally planned to go. The other 2 claimed they were sick  (actually they were just hungover) so I and one other person took their spot. Yesterday morning, I and 4 people went to the Shuk [like a farmer's market] and we bought a few things. When we got back to base, we learned we had missed lunch so we went off to get Moshiko's [Falafel Fast Food] and eat it in the park. After, we realized stores would be closing down soon and we needed to get a bottle of wine for our host family. My group brought Moscato. Once we got to our host family's extended family's house, we sat down in the Sukkah and began talking with 2 of the 7 children and 1 guest. Apparently the guest we were talking to knew a couple of the people on our trip, including my roommate. When the soup was brought out, i found a fly in it. The meal was so delicious. The rule was: my side of the table started with the food then passed it down to the other end of the table. What a process. Last night, a few of us decided to fufill the mitzvah of sleeping in the sukkah. It was so much fun.We all went to sleep by 4:30, woke up at 7 (because people were coming down to eat breakfast) and I went back to my room to sleep some more.

I'm a little nervous for desert survival (hopefully I'll get through it)

Squat and Thrust

Today was the audition for Joseph and the Technicolor Dream Coat. I didn't actually plan to audition, I just wanted to choreograph because I was told they needed a choreographer. Well at 4:00, I went to the audition and found out that even the people who were doing tech work also had to audition...Well of course I didn't have a song prepared, so what did I pull out of my pocket? Strangely, not Avenue Q. But "Popular" from Wicked. At one point, the director stopped me, made me sing "Happy Birthday". Then, he made me seduce a chair (probably to see if I had a shot at being Potaphar's wife). So I seduce the chair (which I was told afterwards was very well dong...slightly scary thought). Because I was the only dancer present at today's audition, he asked me to do a jete. I thought this was the most simple task. I was right, it was, even while wearing jeans. So the director might actually let me choreograph. He asked us to come to tomorrow's audition so it would be easier to figure out parts. I'm excited to see how the people do tomorrow. I'm bringing more than the 2 people minimum he wanted us to bring for tomorrow's audition.
I can't wait for that

Dr Pepper

I couldn't get my blog to work for the longest time. Now I have a lot to write....

Thursday: Today was the first day of Rosh Hashannah. Be'er Sheva track gets to choose whichever shul we want to go to, but we have to be back at base by 13:00 to eat lunch together. I decided to go to Yemin Moshe, an orthodox shul but a significantly shorter service compared to the one I'm used to back home. So the group of us who went to Yemin Moshe gets back by 13:00 and we were waiting for our Madrich to show up. We waited and waited and waited. Finally at 13:30, we asked Roni if we could just eat since it didn't look like Adir was going to show up. She told us to wait 10 more minutes then we could go. So of
course DSL counts down the 10 minutes to the very second. At 13:40, we go inside the

חדר אוכל (eating place), we get our food, sit down and start eating and who shows up of course, Adir. (Insert Adir joke here...Adir who...Doe, Adir, a female deer, etc...). He then says "Thanks for waiting for me" (Jerk). After lunch though, we had opportunity time until 17:00 when we had Mincha. Then we went to the fountain right outside the base and said Tashlich there. (To this day, I surprise myself coming to Israel when I know it's the one place in the Middle East without oil, and now no water).  After Tashlich, the Kibbutz and Yerucham tracks returned.

Friday: Second day of Rosh Hashanna (probably one of many peoples worst). Be'er Sheva track were assigned a family to be hosted by and the shul we had to go to. A 45 minute walk to Moreshet Avraham (the other shul was Masoret). The service wasn't bad at all. I sat through the entire service not leaving once (go me) and then being hosted by a nice family (whose name I don't remember).  Jacob and I bought the family a bottle of Moscato. We had a wonderful Rosh Hashanna lunch of beef, broccoli kugel, sweet potatoes, rice, and the most addicting challah I have ever eaten.  (The rest of the day will not be posted on my blog...**MOM AND DAD & maybe TOVA** you can find out the story via skype)

Saturday: Shabbat. Most of us were too tired to go to shul on Saturday morning. My roommates and I all woke up at the same time and we decided to organize the room.  I figured today I could duct tape the hole in the bed and it wouldn't be so bothersome. Incorrect. When we took the mattress off the frame, the whole was much larger than we had originally assumed and we deemed it unstable and unsafe for me to continue sleeping on it. I moved my mattress and sheets to the only extra place we have: the top bunk. Of course we removed the ladder from the room so I have to carefully use the bedside table in getting me in and out of bed. The rest of the day, I played cards with my fellow Nativers. After Havdallah, a couple of us went out to get a drink then we ended up going to a dance club. At the club, I ran into one of my friends from Dallas. We exchanged numbers and went our separate ways. Once back on base, I got ready for bed and fell asleep.

Sunday: Class. While Sunday was a fast day, I was not one who fasted. First we had Ulpan. Our real teacher, Gali, is a nice person with a light-hearted personality and jokes around with us. After Ulpan, we had our Jerusalem class. My class (Intermmediate) went to the Jewish Quarter of the Old City. It was so amazing what the city has gone through since at least the time of David close to 5,000 years ago. When we got back from our Jerusalem class, we chilled for an hour then ate dinner. After dinner, we davened Ma'ariv and because the previous day was September 11th, we watched United 93. It was a very intense movie (and even more intense for me because I had a heart-to-heart very similar to the subject of the movie with one of my friends). After the movie, Zumba had been canceled and we went off to bed or to go think about what we just saw. My FBO Brother, Alex, was freaking out so I brought my fuzzy pillow (due to the fact I haven't gotten my fuzzy blanket in the mail yet). He held it and calmed down. Then after he calmed down, I went back to my heart-to-heart with Seth and we talked about our dogs. Then at midnight, I went to bed.

Monday: Class. We had our second teacher, Eli Sheva. OMG that was a nightmare. Then after the first break, instead of going back to class, we had to go to this singing thing. It felt like the biggest waste of time. At one point in the singing thing, the lady leading it asked who could dance. One of the kids in my Ulpan class gets up and says he can. At this point she wants a female who can dance and of course, everyone suggests me to go up so I do. By this point, the guy who originially got up decided to sit back down so one of the kids from my track got up and decided to waltz with me...(I will try to post the video as soon as my friends post it on facebook). We get back to class and we have Gali again. Since we didn't have Jerusalem class today, we went back to base and relaxed for an hour or 2. Then we ate dinner which wasn't very filling. The Be'er Sheva track had to go to a program which was mostly ice-breakers and some Jewish learning thrown in there as well. After the hour and a half program, I was still hungry and went to Moshiko for a much more filling meal. Once I got back, I worked on my homework, and played a version of Banana-Grams. Then it was off to my room to do my readings for my Jerusalem class

Today: We had Ulpan as we do everyday. We started with Gali. Then after the break, we had Eli Sheva (again another nightmare...then we find out tomorrow is our worst nightmare...Eli Sheva all day). Because we were 5 minutes late to getting back from the first break, she punished us by giving us a 10 min break instead of 15. But then she ended up giving us a 5 minute break. After that break though, we had Gali again. I FINALLY GO MY DR. PEPPER TODAY!!! At lunch, one of my friends mentioned that there was Dr. Pepper in the little cafe on campus. I was basking in the glory of Dr. Pepper (with real cane sugar) **TOVA** I still want you to send Dr. Pepper... Then we had our Jerusalem class. Today we went to the Citadel and it was so cool. When we got back, I started writing the blog (that was 17:45) and it is now 18:32. It is time for dinner right now. I'm going to eat, get a laundry bag and figure out what else I will be doing for the rest of the night.

Shana Tova, Kings, and Zumba

Yesterday during college, my first class Ulpan Aleph Plus (the highest level of Aleph) had a lot of laughs during the second half of class which just so happened to be the funnier teacher. He picked up a backpack and asked us what was inside the bag. Of course we said we didn't know and that he should show us. He pulls out a water bottle and instead of saying it was water inside, we jokingly said it was Vodka. For some strange reason, he played along with us and said "Why do you think I'm always so happy?" Then, as part of the lesson, he gives us colors and tells us to draw as though we are ages 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7. It was so funny to see twelve 18-year olds coloring pictures. My second class was Jerusalem through the Ages. We had a lecture then went on a tour of the Israel Museum (which has a 1:50 scale model of what Jerusalem looked like back during the Roman Empire Period). It was so fascinating. Right when we got back, a group was gathering together to go out and wish Jerusalem a Shana Tova (Happy New Year). We had a bag with lots of apples, a jar of honey, and little flyers for us to hand out to the people we saw on the street. My friend, *C.M., and I partnered up together because he didn't know enough Hebrew to help him pass out the pamphlets to the Israelis in their native tongue, Hebrew. So I walked around with him, dealing with the competition of Seminar girls who were also passing out mini flyers (but they didn't have free apples and honey like we did...instead they had candy and balloons). We ran into some Americans who knew someone I knew...weird. So on our way back to Beit Nativ, *Pete's Girl and I had the apples and honey on a plate offering it to passer-bys. We then had this great idea to go to the Gilad Shalit tent and offer them apples and honey for a sweet new year. They were so grateful of us. We all felt so special.  Once we walked in the gate, our madricha said, "If there's no dinner left, you can all kill me." (What a great thought...we're not that mean).
Fortunately there was food left and some people still in the cafeteria. After dinner we got ready to go out because we were determined to find the Waffle Bar this time. With me was *B Buddy, *Lil Bro, and *Fiddle. We had decided that each pair would split a waffle because we didn't know how big each one would be. We all ordered white chocolate.
--I'm taking a quick break to explain how this works.  He turns on the waffle maker, puts the batter on the maker. He then waits for it to cook. Once it's done, he takes it out, puts it on the plate. In this case, he puts a Hershey-Kiss-like drop of white chocolate into each square of the waffle. He then takes a scoop of ice cream, puts it in a little bowl. He then puts a nice little glob of whipped cream next to the ice cream. And to put the cherry on the cake, he dripples everything with a chocolate syrup. Can you say just AMAZING.

***WARNING***
[DO NOT READ THIS TO UNDERAGE CHILDREN...ONCE THIS SECTION IS FINISHED, I WILL CONTINUE ON TO THE ZUMBA STORY]

Once we left the Waffle Bar, we went down to Kings Bar near Ben-Yehuda Street. We met up with a group of people already there. So we sat down, ordered a shot and ordered a drink. After a fun night out, I decided to get back so I wouldn't have to disturb my roommates. I was stumbling in, up the stairs, and down the hall. I got in just fine, drank lots of water then fell asleep.

***CONTINUE READING***

Earlier today, we had a little meeting to find out who's hosting us for Rosh Hashanah lunch either tomorrow or Friday. It's a group of 2-4 people. I'm with one other person and we decided to get a bottle of wine for our host family (Moscato FTW) Then a group of us played charades. After the game, I convinced *Farmer to come take a Zumba thing with me. It was so much fun and I was proud of him that he made it to the end.
Now I'm sitting in my room relaxing before the Yuntevim

Hadag Nahash

Last night was the Hadag Nahash Concert at the One Shekel Festival. Guess how much it cost...one shekel.
It was a lot of fun even if there were a few iffy people standing in the crowd. While we were chartered to the concert, we had to take a bus back on our own. Of course I wasn't going to leave alone, so a group of us got on the bus together, paid 6.5 NIS and we went on our way to get back to Beit Nativ.  We wanted to find the Waffle Bar, so we asked for directions to get there. The directions given to us were not very clear so we ended up not going to the Waffle Bar. Instead, we ended up going to Cup-O-Joe for dinner. We each got a pizza bagel and it was amazingly delicious.  We paid for the meal then headed back to Beit Nativ. It was a great night.

Guys are like Buses and what's a Player in Hebrew?

"Guys are like buses, one leaves another one comes along" - Canada Man

I have officially been named Dena the Queen-a...of the Weridos. What a great nickname between my roommates and myself while we were doing henna artwork on our feet and hands
I just have a small flower on my foot which looks quite nice.

Good Shabbas

This morning was quite interesting. We started off with a nice little holy shit hike.
It was only an hour long hike so it wasn't too bad. Plus, we were going the easy way (downhill) as opposed to the hard way (uphill). How nice of the madrichim (guides). While we waited for the buses, we attempted to play a game called Multi-Samari Intergalactic. It was actually quite fun, but with 93 people it was difficult. So we broke into mini circles. My mini circle played Rabble Dabble. (I only made one mistake).
After the hike, we all went to lunch in the mall. I had pizza at the Big Apple Pizza. It was actually really good. Then my roommates and I went on a search for hangers and storage bins (which of course we couldn't find) but we had fun looking for it.
After we all got back from the hike/lunch, we had some free time...forgive me. It's no longer free time, it's decision making time (whether we decide to sleep, go out, read, etc...) and I decided to go to the Shuk (farmer's market) with some friends. I finally exchanged my money and will now be able to buy things with cash.
We got back and of my friends had bought too many hangers, so he gave me some. Good thing too, or else I would not have been able to keep my nice clothes from wrinkling.
Getting ready for Shabbat is always fun. We start off with telling each other stories of what we did today during decision making time. Then the first roommate takes a shower. We wait a bit then the next person showers. Then, we wait a bit longer and the third one showers. All in this time, the two who aren't showering are in the process of getting ready as well. At this point, I have 20 minutes left and all I have left to do is put on a skirt and put some shoes on. My makeup is nice and done (even though my mother forgot to pack makeup sponges in my makeup bag) but it's on and it looks nice.

Good Shabbas.
-DRK

Orientation, Drinking, and Soccer

Today was orientation for the minimester at Hebrew U.
It went pretty well.. start off with the boring stuff and get that out of the way for the more interesting things.

My group began with getting our Student ID's. My picture turned out decently.
Next we had lunch at the Frank Sinatra Cafe.
Then we took a short campus tour. (Our tour guide was rather unpleasant.)
and finally, we learned a litle bit about the computers in the library.

By this point, it's only 14:45 and we are pooped. But of course there is the soccer game tonight.
Qualifying game for the Eurogames in 2012..Israel vs. Malta. It's kind of a big deal.

I could have paid 22 shekels to go, but I was too tired.
Alone time is always good tho.
One roommate at the game, the other out shopping with a friend.
The only noise I hear right now is the honking of the cars in the city of Jerusalem..
The honking is worse here than in Times Square.

Now being 18 has it's benefits of course.
One being that in Israel, I am legal to drink.
So last night I did.
I went to a jazz bar with 10 other people and drank half a beer (I hate the taste)
Funny how I was the only one out of 11 who wasn't buzzed or even tipsy.
Go Me!!
It's amusing to see other people tipsy

Once the kids who went to the game get back, I may go out with them and just walk around.
I'm liking this freedom of no curfew.
I'll just have to find out what time the hike tomorrow is.

Still Jet Lagged and already having problems

Well I'm still jet-lagged of course.  We had t'filot at 8:30 this morning and it went somewhat slowly.

I have pretty awesome roommates.  However we do have a few problems...
-Our fridge decided to leak and we had water on the floor.
-We had ants on the floor but we got that mess cleared up quickly

We had a small walking tour of the area we're in and it's funny to hear people complain about how hot it is, especially when I'm used to hotter.

Ice breakers all day (joy) and food.

Good day so far

New York

New York one of the few places where you can get away with kicking people and shoving people and making it look like an accident.
It is also one of the few places where you can just be a dick to everyone.

Tourists here are also a sight to see.
They take pictures of people selling things on the street, pictures with cops, and pictures of cops on horses..(I guess they don't get that where they come from)
Weirdos

New York is also the place where this country hits cancer puberty once a year (the ball dropping)

Enough of the humor. My BAG OF AWESOME got lost today, but now it has been found.
EXCITING!!

Tomorrow Mom and I are going to see a show.
Not sure which yet..we'll check the cheap tickets line either early in the morning or online.

Long day.

Now to eat the rest of my falafel.

Pre-Farewell to Texas

Well it's the night before I leave for New York and of course I'm not fully packed yet.
One bag is and I wouldn't have been able to complete it if not for my dad being a master packer. Lucky him for having traveled a lot.

As I wait for the laundry to finsih, I play solitaire, watch NCIS and load "Fight Club" onto my computer.
Heidi follows me around confused with the bags and the clothes. Boy is she going to miss me.

Whether I text everyone tomorrow once having landed in New York or tonight, I will say good-bye to everyone. Although, knowing me, I'll wait until right before the group gets on the plane to Israel and I'll have to give my phone to my mom. Though, I might wait for everyone to respond...

Oh well, back to the packing and laundry.