In the words of the great sage, Noam

"Nizrom" is one of the most important words I have learned while living in Israel. It means "to flow" but is generally used as "just go with it". It is helpful when you get lost or, more importantly, when you just don't know where you are going. As I nervously await news from U of Haifa and try not to worry about my life plan, I find myself frequently muttering "Nizrom" to myself and trying to shake off my stress. Though really, it is an attitude that is just crucial to living here.

For instance, on Sunday I went hiking in Ein Gedi with my friends Rami and Krystel, who were here on vacation. First we got on a bus with the craziest driver I have ever met. He rushed us all on to the bus as if he wasn't 20 minutes early telling us we could pay him later. Then, when I went up to pay him while he was driving like a maniac through the desert, his bus ticket machine was broken and he took my money without giving me a ticket. I later found out that he overcharged us. We ended up getting off at the wrong stop and found ourselves at a spa next to the Dead Sea- but alright, Nizrom. We caught another bus back and managed to start out hike just as the sun was at it's peak. Now there are two ways (that I know of) to hike Ein Gedi. The first is to go in through the entrance and wander up some waterfalls to more waterfalls and then back again. The second is to climb up the mountain a bit, then some more, then wander through the dry shade-less planes, through the dry boiling wadi and eventually down to those nice fresh waterfalls. We, of course, did the second one. Our hike alternated between near death and amazingness. We climbed up the side of a desert mountain at noon, which wasn't the brightest idea, and I, at least, nearly got heatstroke (do you "get" heatstroke? are there varying levels of heatstroke? I am rather uninformed on this subject). We eventually found some shade and had some lunch and then climbed down the dry wadi to the most beautiful view of the lush waterfalls below and the Dead Sea beyond. However, we could only see the waterfalls, and at about this point, we ran out of water (I know, very bad planning on our part). So we climbed back out of the wadi and eventually stumbled upon a stream which we deemed clean enough to drink from by using the very advanced method of looking at the water. (It's okay, it was totally safe to drink, we found out later.) This got us through the last dry stretch until we got to the waterfalls at the bottom and fell in. That part was heaven. And the truth is, at the end, it was an amazing hike, because I was with two people who just took everything in stride- as American as they may be, they've got the "Nizrom" mentality down pat.

The rest of the week felt wonderfully usual. I worked during the day, hung out with friends at night, got a sufficient amount of things done on my "To Do" list, and had some down time to read my book (it's in Hebrew!). It felt stable, and home-like, which is a really good for me in a time when I feel like my life is so up in the air. But, yalla, Nizrom.