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