אני ממש מרגישה ישראלי

This week I felt like an Israeli.

Firstly, I have finally reached a point where I feel like this is my neighborhood. Not only do I know the streets, but the guy that owns the pizza store recognizes me and the man at the framing shop knows my name. I ran into three people on my way to lunch on Shabbat that I knew and even got invited to my neighbors for dinner. 

Secondly, I spent most of Sunday hiking through Ein Gedi and then spent most of Tuesday hiking through the Golan. I love that I get mitzva points for hiking here. And while I still kind of prefer the green fields and mountains of the Golan, that dry white sandy thing going on down south is beginning to grow on me. 

Thirdly, I tremped (hitch hiked) from the Golan back to Jerusalem! All by myself! And not only did I save myself 50 shekel and meet some pretty cool people, but I didnt die. Or get lost. And I hitch hiked with an Egged bus. Like an en route, with people on it, official bus. And I tremped with him!

Fourthly, I have read 138 pages of a Hebrew book since Shabbat! And were not talking about really long childrens books. This is a real made for adults book. 

Fifthly, (this one doesnt really make me feel more israeli, but still) I had a job interview at a gift shop on Monday and I have one at a restaurant tomorrow. That one will be in Hebrew so I am a little more nervous, but well see how it goe

47 Pancakes

Highlights of the past two weeks in no particular order:

1. One Seder. That right there is a reason to move to Israel. We recounted the story of leaving Egypt while lounging on mattresses on the floor and eating from low tables. We sang and talked about what it means to redeem ourselves every year. And we ate alot of Matza. yum.

2. I went for a hike that turned into a mud cave excursion. 

3. I, and a few hundred other Israelis, decided to take advantage of the lovely weather and vacation time and go to the beach in Tel Aviv. I think I spend more time in transit/ fighting in lines at the Central Bus Stations than I did at the beach. Still, I got to go to the beach :)

4.Yesterday morning I went out for breakfast and actually spent the extra dollar for an additional basket of bread because it was just so good and I had missed it so much. 

5. I learned this week that it is illegal for me to go to Ramallah. My friend is studying in a coexistence program here and her Palestinian friend offered to show her around Ramallah. Anyway, I was going to go and see a side of Israel I have never seen, but apparently Israelis are not allowed into the larger Palestinian cities like Ramallah and Jenin. Also, its not so safe, so it is a good thing I didnt go. Instead, I went through the Arab market in the Old City of Jerusalem and prayed at the Kotel (Western Wall).

6. I rose before dawn and went to pray on a hilltop with over 200 other people. Every 28 years the Jewish people say a special prayer thanking God for creating the sun. This happened to be one of those years, so as we watched the sun rise, we all said the blessing that thanks God for His creations. 

7. I went and BBQed with a base full of Israeli soldiers. One of them even took me up to the tower that overlooks the whole area and I got to watch the sun set :) Also I got to use night vision goggles. Crazy cool toys. 

8. I went to a Sefardi Memunah, which is a post-passover party where we eat lots of leaven. I think I devoured about 47 pancakes.

I tried to think of another two so I would have a nice even ten, but I couldnt. Thats ok though, 8 is a nice number. And doesnt really get all that much attention. So this email will be brought to you by the number eight. And bread. Mmm, bread.

The State of Being Funky

I never know how to start these emails. I usually spend like the first two minutes starting at my screen saying "Hey Again!, no, how about Heya, or yo, nope too gangster, or Greetings, nope that sounds too alien..." and so on and so forth. I couldnt decide this week so I just started typing and I hope you all will just imagine your own favorite opening line inserted here. or rather in the place of this short rant. 

This past Shabbat I went down to Kibbutz Ketura to visit my friend who is studying at a co-existence program on a conservative kibbutz. This translates into me praying with the men and eating friday night dinner with a group of arabs. My friend is one of two people on the kibbutz who are shomer shabbat (keeping all of the laws of shabbat, as in, not using electricity or writing or driving etc) but despite that it was still clearly Shabbat on the Kibbutz, which was kind of cool. They still had services and all the stores and the pub were closed and everyone was still treating it as a day of rest. Anyway, my friend Alana and I hiked up one of the nearby mountains and got a tour of the kibbutz with the Ben Gurion University kids who were also visiting for the weekend. I got to see a new born cow (one hour old!) stand up for the first time, and I learned that algae under stress turns red and that donkeys make the most amazing noises. All in all, it was a wonderful Shabbat, totally worth the miserable 3 hour busride back to jerusalem on saturday night.

The rest of the week was not as entertaining. I woke up Monday morning in a funk. This is apparantly a word that not everyone is familiar with so I looked it up in the dictionary so that I could give you a more coherent definition. Dictionary.com defines a funk  as 1.state of great fright or terror or 2. a dejected mood. (other options were 3. music having a funky quality, 4. the state of being funky, or 5. a strong smell; stench)

The funk I was in was more #2, but I think there was some underlying terror of the "what am i doing with my life" persuasion. (And I like to think that I am always in a state of being funky.) In response to my funk, I went to Efrat aka my comfort place. After a few days there and some therapeutic cleaning (Shosh, I think almost all semblance's of my former slobbiness are gone) I felt better and went back to Jerusalem to have dinner with a group of soldiers who were being taken out by the group I volunteer with. And even more exciting than the endless train of meat being brought out to us was the plethora of young, english speaking soldiers. And even more exciting than that, was finding that one of them was my friend Abe, who I met about a year ago and hung out with for one Shabbat but havent really seen since then. Anyway, we chatted for most of the meal and exchanged numbers and all that, and while, sadly, he is going back to the states for Pesach, I now have one more friend in Jerusalem when he gets back. 

Next week will be kind of crazy with Pesach (haha all you who have to do the three day chag and double sedarim) but I will try to write at some point in the next two weeks. I hope you all have a wonderful Pesach, or for those of you who dont have to give up the leaven, a lovely two weeks. At this point you can insert a well worded, friendly reminder (of your choice) to write to me :)