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