Happy Purim!
I am currently enjoying my 5 day weekend--its Purim Break! I don't have class on Thursdays and we are off school Sunday and Monday for Purim Break.
Week Update:
Successfully finished my first week of school. On Sunday I have Arab Israeli Conflict, 4 hour class :(, I think its going to be really interesting but its hard to sit in a classroom for that long. On Monday I have hebrew in the morning..I have a new Hebrew teacher who is super tough--we have tests every day, but I know I will learn a lot. I advanced to the highest Bet level after my Ulpan so things are moving super fast. Monday afternoon I have Archaelogy of Jerusalem...it is also a 4 hour class but we go on field trips every other week. Its going to be really cool, we learn about the sites in lecture and then actually go visit archaeological digs all over Jerusalem. Its going to be a unique way to explore. Monday evenings I have a class called Jewish and Non-Jewish Relations in the Holocaust..it is my favorite class. The teacher is awesome and we are going to be learning about the Holocaust from so many different perspectives and at the end of the class we are going to Yad V'shem..the holocaust museum in Israel. On Tuesday I only have Hebrew---and it starts in the morning so I have the whole afternoon freeeee! On Wednesday I have Hebrew in the morning and the Holocaust class in the evening..and thats it! School is so nice/stress free and really laid back. During the week my roommate Becka and I cooked salmon that we bought and basically killed at the shuk. We learned from our mistakes and need to ask for a steak slice next time because there were a lot of bones in the fish. But it was delicious nonetheless...we marinated it in tomatoes, onions, lemon juice, and garlic..YUM! We are quite the chefs!
To kick off our Purim celebrations we went out Wednesday night to a bar in Jerusalem. My friend Alex was DJing with another guy on our program and it was so much fun. The whole international school showed up to support them and we had a great time. On Thursday the monsoon/wind/rain/hail set in on Jerusalem and was here to stay for the whole weekend. It dropped 10 degrees and was absolutely miserable, could not even walk outside! Thursday night I went to Tel Aviv with some friends. We went to this all you can eat/drink/dance/sing winery type restuarant. It was so much fun...the food was unbelievable. It was like a 5-course meal and it was constantly refilled. We had cheesy bread, hummus, salads, sweet potatoes, tahina filled egglpant, pasta, schnitzel, sweet-sour fries and a delicous selection of wine...it was amazing. After dinner the tables were cleared and the whole place turned into a bar/bat mitzvah style sing-a-long dance party..it was really funny. We stayed at an Israeli friend's apartment in the center of town. Friday morning I went back to Jerusalem--soaking wet. The weather was still miserable. We decided to have a huge Shabbat dinner and we had a bunch of our friends over for a pot-luck style dinner. It was delicious..we had challah, israeli salad, greek salad, potatoes, chicken, fries, fish, wine etc--good friends/good food. Saturday night we were craving some American food..so we did it..yes..we ordered Domino's pizza. IT WAS DELICIOUS. Sunday--Day 4 of the miserable weather..we slept in and lounged around the apartment. At night we went downtown and ate at this legitimate hole-in-the-wall..can only hold 10 people..waffle place. They make you waffles and you choose what toppings you want on top. I got applesauce and sour cream...sounds kind of questionable..but it was amazing! Everyone on the streets was dressed up for Purim which was really funny.
Monday will be a catch up/homework/laundry day. no fun.
hope all is well back home!
love and miss always
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
End of Ulpan--Negev Weekend
Finally finished Ulpan!!! In my last week of Ulpan I had one unit test, one oral exam, and one final exam. It was a lot of work but made it through! I got an A wahooo! My credits only transfer as pass/fail but oh well. After Ulpan was over we headed to the Regency Hotel to have celebratory Mimosas. It was a gorgeous day and so nice to be done! At the Regency hotel there was this weird college/job fair going on and we crashed it and got free food and fake tatoos--odd combination but really funny. I ran into a friend from WashU (Annie Lascoe) at the Regency..such a small Jewish world, really fun to see a familiar face.
The OSA (office of student activites) planned a trip to the Negev for the end of Ulpan. I went with 3 of my roommates and about 60-70 other students on the program. We left Friday morning at 630am and drove to the desert. We did a 5 hour hike on Friday..it was unreal-amazing. It was so pretty and such a rewarding experience. After a huge climb we all sat on the rocks and looked out over the desert and had some "thinking time." It was such a cool feeling. After the hike we headed toward our hostel in Arad..a city in the Negev. It was acutally a really nice place..better shower than in our apartment. We all took a nap and hung around the hostel till Shabbos. Then we had a nice Shabbos dinner all together as a program and then the Madrichim lead us in a Color-war type of activity. After the Madrich activity we hung out with the people on the program..I met a lot of cool new friends from the program that I had never seen before. The next morning we slept in and ENJOYED THE SHABBOS. We took the sheets of the beds in the hostel and laid out in the courtyard area..it was 85 degrees/sunny/no clouds...perfect. After laying out, me Becka Ilana and our friend Sam went to go play wiffle ball with some of the guys. It was the perfect activity--jewish baseball..no running..gotta love it. After wiffle ball we cleaned up/packed up and went to Havdalah services and dinner. I love spending Shabbat in Israel..its an experience like none other.
This week is my first week of real school...I will update once my schedule is finalized. Im going to put up some pictures from the hike too!
Love you all!
The OSA (office of student activites) planned a trip to the Negev for the end of Ulpan. I went with 3 of my roommates and about 60-70 other students on the program. We left Friday morning at 630am and drove to the desert. We did a 5 hour hike on Friday..it was unreal-amazing. It was so pretty and such a rewarding experience. After a huge climb we all sat on the rocks and looked out over the desert and had some "thinking time." It was such a cool feeling. After the hike we headed toward our hostel in Arad..a city in the Negev. It was acutally a really nice place..better shower than in our apartment. We all took a nap and hung around the hostel till Shabbos. Then we had a nice Shabbos dinner all together as a program and then the Madrichim lead us in a Color-war type of activity. After the Madrich activity we hung out with the people on the program..I met a lot of cool new friends from the program that I had never seen before. The next morning we slept in and ENJOYED THE SHABBOS. We took the sheets of the beds in the hostel and laid out in the courtyard area..it was 85 degrees/sunny/no clouds...perfect. After laying out, me Becka Ilana and our friend Sam went to go play wiffle ball with some of the guys. It was the perfect activity--jewish baseball..no running..gotta love it. After wiffle ball we cleaned up/packed up and went to Havdalah services and dinner. I love spending Shabbat in Israel..its an experience like none other.
This week is my first week of real school...I will update once my schedule is finalized. Im going to put up some pictures from the hike too!
Love you all!
Friday, February 12, 2010
Week Update:
Successfully finished my 3rd week of Ulpan...one more to go! I am in the second level (Bet) of Ulpan and this past week has been all new material. The first two weeks included a lot of review mixed in with new material however we are moving so so fast and now I am learning totally new things. We speak a little hebrew with each other in the apartment and I try to speak it around Jerusalem...I am getting better but just need to practice with real conversations. We had "Drama Class" this week in Ulpan and it was so much fun..imagine a middle-school or even elementary school drama class...but in hebrew! It really helps us gain confidence to speak hebrew and breaks up our long 4.5 hour day!
I joined the gym..its actually called The Lerner Sports Complex, and its unbelievable. The cardio and weight machines look over the Old City and I can see the Dome of the Rock while I am running on the treadmill. My roommate Becka and I are training to run in the Jerusalem 10k with our madrich Eli. I am seriously out of shape but hopefully will be fine for race day!
Monday night we went out for our first sushi dinner in downtown Jerusalem. It was delicious! We did some damage at the grocery store and bought a ton of great food to cook at the apartment. We love cooking..we cook almost everynight. Chicken, pasta, fish, ravioli, salads, garlic bread, breakfast for dinner...all the classics. Thursday we did our weekly trip to the Shuk. We are getting so "good" at the shuk, its a skill...trust me. Our purchases included; avoacados tomatos, lettuce, bananas, onions, oranges, strawberries, wine, nuts, dried fruit, fish, chicken, cheese and potatoes. EVERYTHING IS SO SO CHEAP--its ridiculous...the combinations of freshest fruit ever for under 5 american dollars. This was our first time buying fish at the shuk..and when I say buying fish I mean literally the fish is swimming one minute..and then when you tell the man at the counter what you want..the fish is on the band saw and being sawed in half..stripped..and cleaned all in front of you. It was crazy! There are pictures of facebook of our salmon (rest in peace.)
Today was my favorite day in jerusalem so far. Becka and I went on a hike with a group of students and a leader in the Jerusalem Springs. We left at 630am and started hiking just as the sun was rising. It was beautiful! The hike was great....our guide was amazing and told us all about the plants and trees we passed and stories to go with everything! We crawled thru a spring (barefoot) in a cave and saw where they would store water from the spring...it was very dark and enclosed ha! We read and acted out the book.."The Giving Tree" at our break spots...and talked about the messages it taught us. At the end of the hike we MADE pita (from scratch,) tahini (from scratch,) and hummus (from scratch.) We made a fire and all just hung out and ate. Its been in the 70s here and sunny...amazing. I took a lot of pictures from the hike and will put them up on facebook later today--including the special way we washed dishes...WITH DIRT!! Hmmmmmm?
Going to take a quick nap before Shabbos starts..will update again after the weekend
Love and Miss Always
Kayla
Successfully finished my 3rd week of Ulpan...one more to go! I am in the second level (Bet) of Ulpan and this past week has been all new material. The first two weeks included a lot of review mixed in with new material however we are moving so so fast and now I am learning totally new things. We speak a little hebrew with each other in the apartment and I try to speak it around Jerusalem...I am getting better but just need to practice with real conversations. We had "Drama Class" this week in Ulpan and it was so much fun..imagine a middle-school or even elementary school drama class...but in hebrew! It really helps us gain confidence to speak hebrew and breaks up our long 4.5 hour day!
I joined the gym..its actually called The Lerner Sports Complex, and its unbelievable. The cardio and weight machines look over the Old City and I can see the Dome of the Rock while I am running on the treadmill. My roommate Becka and I are training to run in the Jerusalem 10k with our madrich Eli. I am seriously out of shape but hopefully will be fine for race day!
Monday night we went out for our first sushi dinner in downtown Jerusalem. It was delicious! We did some damage at the grocery store and bought a ton of great food to cook at the apartment. We love cooking..we cook almost everynight. Chicken, pasta, fish, ravioli, salads, garlic bread, breakfast for dinner...all the classics. Thursday we did our weekly trip to the Shuk. We are getting so "good" at the shuk, its a skill...trust me. Our purchases included; avoacados tomatos, lettuce, bananas, onions, oranges, strawberries, wine, nuts, dried fruit, fish, chicken, cheese and potatoes. EVERYTHING IS SO SO CHEAP--its ridiculous...the combinations of freshest fruit ever for under 5 american dollars. This was our first time buying fish at the shuk..and when I say buying fish I mean literally the fish is swimming one minute..and then when you tell the man at the counter what you want..the fish is on the band saw and being sawed in half..stripped..and cleaned all in front of you. It was crazy! There are pictures of facebook of our salmon (rest in peace.)
Today was my favorite day in jerusalem so far. Becka and I went on a hike with a group of students and a leader in the Jerusalem Springs. We left at 630am and started hiking just as the sun was rising. It was beautiful! The hike was great....our guide was amazing and told us all about the plants and trees we passed and stories to go with everything! We crawled thru a spring (barefoot) in a cave and saw where they would store water from the spring...it was very dark and enclosed ha! We read and acted out the book.."The Giving Tree" at our break spots...and talked about the messages it taught us. At the end of the hike we MADE pita (from scratch,) tahini (from scratch,) and hummus (from scratch.) We made a fire and all just hung out and ate. Its been in the 70s here and sunny...amazing. I took a lot of pictures from the hike and will put them up on facebook later today--including the special way we washed dishes...WITH DIRT!! Hmmmmmm?
Going to take a quick nap before Shabbos starts..will update again after the weekend
Love and Miss Always
Kayla
Saturday, February 6, 2010
TAU comes to HebU
Recap of the Weekend:
Thursday--IT SNOWED AND HAILED IN JERUSALEM! We were hoping for a snow day but it didn't start till we got to Ulpan. Everyone in Jerusalem freaks out at the word snow--it was funny to see the reactions of all the Israelis and there were some kids in my Ulpan who had never seen snow!!
My friend Nikki came to visit! She is studying at Tel Aviv University for the spring semester. Her best guy friend at TAU is one of my friends cousins--small jewish world--so she came with him and another guy friend. We had a great weekend! Thursday afternoon we went to the Shuk and bought tomatoes, avocado, mushrooms, lettuce, candy, wine, desserts, fruit, fresh challah, pita, hummus, chicken, and more. I absolutely love the shuk. We are getting better each time and figuring out which vendors are the best and how to ask for things in hebrew to make sure we don't get ripped off. Thursday night we went out in downtown Jerusalem. Friday it was freezing cold and we had a lazy day of movies, catching up on the latest American TV shows (aka Grey's Anatomy,) and games (Sporcle.) Friday night we had an AMAZING Shabbat dinner. We used all of our wonderful Shuk purchases and made delicious chicken, potatoes, salad (full of veggies,) challah, wine, pita, hummus, and our madrich (Eli--madrich means guide/RA/counselor type) came over after dinner and brought dessert. He is really great and comes over for dinner and we all chat about Israel, school, pretty much just life in general. After dinner--which didn't occur till very late due to an underestimate of the time it takes to make mashed potatoes--we decided to stay in and hang out in the apartment because the weather was once again freezing. Today we woke up to a beautiful (but misleading) sky. It was pretty cold but we had to take advantage of the sun. We went on a walk to this amazing look-out-spot in near our campus and took some picutres. Then we went to our favorite falafel stand (the ONLY thing opened on Shabbat) and ate a lot of falafel.
My friend just left and now I am going to start my homework and prepare for week #3 of Ulpan. WE ARE HALFWAY DONE WAHOOOO! I have a test on Monday that we are trying to change to Tuesday so we can watch the Superbowl, its on at 1am here! We want to go to an American bar downtown and watch with a bunch of kids on my program..let's hope I can figure out how to beg/suck up to my teacher in Hebrew so we can postpone the test.
That's all for now...
love always
PS. I have officially been in Jerusalem for 3 weeks..so weird!
Thursday--IT SNOWED AND HAILED IN JERUSALEM! We were hoping for a snow day but it didn't start till we got to Ulpan. Everyone in Jerusalem freaks out at the word snow--it was funny to see the reactions of all the Israelis and there were some kids in my Ulpan who had never seen snow!!
My friend Nikki came to visit! She is studying at Tel Aviv University for the spring semester. Her best guy friend at TAU is one of my friends cousins--small jewish world--so she came with him and another guy friend. We had a great weekend! Thursday afternoon we went to the Shuk and bought tomatoes, avocado, mushrooms, lettuce, candy, wine, desserts, fruit, fresh challah, pita, hummus, chicken, and more. I absolutely love the shuk. We are getting better each time and figuring out which vendors are the best and how to ask for things in hebrew to make sure we don't get ripped off. Thursday night we went out in downtown Jerusalem. Friday it was freezing cold and we had a lazy day of movies, catching up on the latest American TV shows (aka Grey's Anatomy,) and games (Sporcle.) Friday night we had an AMAZING Shabbat dinner. We used all of our wonderful Shuk purchases and made delicious chicken, potatoes, salad (full of veggies,) challah, wine, pita, hummus, and our madrich (Eli--madrich means guide/RA/counselor type) came over after dinner and brought dessert. He is really great and comes over for dinner and we all chat about Israel, school, pretty much just life in general. After dinner--which didn't occur till very late due to an underestimate of the time it takes to make mashed potatoes--we decided to stay in and hang out in the apartment because the weather was once again freezing. Today we woke up to a beautiful (but misleading) sky. It was pretty cold but we had to take advantage of the sun. We went on a walk to this amazing look-out-spot in near our campus and took some picutres. Then we went to our favorite falafel stand (the ONLY thing opened on Shabbat) and ate a lot of falafel.
My friend just left and now I am going to start my homework and prepare for week #3 of Ulpan. WE ARE HALFWAY DONE WAHOOOO! I have a test on Monday that we are trying to change to Tuesday so we can watch the Superbowl, its on at 1am here! We want to go to an American bar downtown and watch with a bunch of kids on my program..let's hope I can figure out how to beg/suck up to my teacher in Hebrew so we can postpone the test.
That's all for now...
love always
PS. I have officially been in Jerusalem for 3 weeks..so weird!
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Overdue
Long overdue update....
I am almost done with my second week of Ulpan (my hebrew intensive.) It is going well..i am understanding a lot! My teachers literally speak for 4.5 hours ONLY in hebrew. It is super intense but I am learning so much. Ulpan is kind of like being in middle school. We have music class, computer time, we all have the same "passing time," stay in the same classroom, and start school super early! We have another 2 weeks of Ulpan and then we start school.
Last week we went to the shuk (outdoor market) and bought EVERYTHING, fresh veggies, fresh fruit, cheese, eggs, dried fruit, and of course marzipan (chocolate rugelech.) It was a lot of fun--totally overwhelming..everyone yelling in hebrew and small religous jews running into you with their rolling carts. After the shuk we went to the grocery store, its down the street from our apartment, and we bought all the necessities. We then ran out of hands to carry everything so we stole a cart from the grocery store...the man at the front (they search your bags before you walk in,) was yelling at us in hebrew but we pretended to be ignorant Americans and kept walking! We then went out in downtown Jerusalem, it was so much fun! We went to a couple bars and dancing clubs with some people on our program. We slept in on friday (we go to school Sunday-Thursday,) and then went to the Kotel for shabbos. One of my roomies left and went to stay with her family in Ramat Beit Shemesh. We walked to the Kotel from our apartment..it was about an hour walk. It was gorgeous...65 degrees..and we walked while the sun was setting. The Kotel was incredible--being there on Shabbat is such a unique experience. After we got back from the Kotel we turned one of my roommate's bedroom into a movie theatre and watched a movie with some of our guy friends. Friday night here is very relaxing/laid-back...everything is pretty much closed. We cooked a delicious shabbos dinner--schnitzel, salad, garlic bread, and pasta--it was yummy!Saturday night my roommate and I walked to a falafel stand near our apartment..it was amazing and only 9 scheks (little over 2 dollars.) It will be a frequent dinner for us! School week started sunday...:( Sunday night we went over to our guy friends apartment for a delicious pasta dinner.
I am really excited for this weekend. My friend from home, Nicole, is coming to stay with me this weekend from Tel Aviv. I can't wait to see her!
more updates to come later...
love always
I am almost done with my second week of Ulpan (my hebrew intensive.) It is going well..i am understanding a lot! My teachers literally speak for 4.5 hours ONLY in hebrew. It is super intense but I am learning so much. Ulpan is kind of like being in middle school. We have music class, computer time, we all have the same "passing time," stay in the same classroom, and start school super early! We have another 2 weeks of Ulpan and then we start school.
Last week we went to the shuk (outdoor market) and bought EVERYTHING, fresh veggies, fresh fruit, cheese, eggs, dried fruit, and of course marzipan (chocolate rugelech.) It was a lot of fun--totally overwhelming..everyone yelling in hebrew and small religous jews running into you with their rolling carts. After the shuk we went to the grocery store, its down the street from our apartment, and we bought all the necessities. We then ran out of hands to carry everything so we stole a cart from the grocery store...the man at the front (they search your bags before you walk in,) was yelling at us in hebrew but we pretended to be ignorant Americans and kept walking! We then went out in downtown Jerusalem, it was so much fun! We went to a couple bars and dancing clubs with some people on our program. We slept in on friday (we go to school Sunday-Thursday,) and then went to the Kotel for shabbos. One of my roomies left and went to stay with her family in Ramat Beit Shemesh. We walked to the Kotel from our apartment..it was about an hour walk. It was gorgeous...65 degrees..and we walked while the sun was setting. The Kotel was incredible--being there on Shabbat is such a unique experience. After we got back from the Kotel we turned one of my roommate's bedroom into a movie theatre and watched a movie with some of our guy friends. Friday night here is very relaxing/laid-back...everything is pretty much closed. We cooked a delicious shabbos dinner--schnitzel, salad, garlic bread, and pasta--it was yummy!Saturday night my roommate and I walked to a falafel stand near our apartment..it was amazing and only 9 scheks (little over 2 dollars.) It will be a frequent dinner for us! School week started sunday...:( Sunday night we went over to our guy friends apartment for a delicious pasta dinner.
I am really excited for this weekend. My friend from home, Nicole, is coming to stay with me this weekend from Tel Aviv. I can't wait to see her!
more updates to come later...
love always
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