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.