Shalom to all.
Been quite a busy week.
Last Sunday was a normal day and in the evening Jason and I went out to dinner with our friend Shira, who made aliyah a few years ago and goes to Hebrew U. (She also happens to be Jason's ex girlfriend, but I like her a lot so it doesn't bother me). Then on Monday, I can't remember what we did so it must not have been that important. I think we rented There Will Be Blood, it wasn't very good. Tuesday was fun because Jason came into the office in the morning because he had a meeting near by and wanted to meet everyone I work with and see my office. While in my office Jason met one of the people doing Career Israel right now who coincidently is going to Brandeis to be a NEJS (Judaic Studies) grad student next year, the boys got to talking and now they are going to try and find an apartment together for school next year. That night we went on a double date with my roommate Rachel and her boyfriend Yoni. It was fun, and kind of awkward but that made it even more funny. After dinner, our friend Eli came over and we baked challah, we baked challah until 2 in the morning because we started really late and didn't know how to use our oven properly, it was funny. Wednesday we went to go to a short film screening held by Nefesh B'Nefesh. On our way there, we stopped in a place to grab a bite to eat. As we were waiting for our food a man came up to us and said, "Are you a couple?" and awkwardly and confusedly we answered yes. Then the man continued on to say how nice it was to see us together and that we "should have a bracha" (we think he means sheva brachot, like a wedding) and told me what a nice guy Jason was, which is weird because he doesn't know Jason and then the man left. Just another example of the crazy Jews who live here. The film screening we went to was very interesting, it is the only religious film school in Israel, so the films were all very candid looking at religious life. Thursday, Career Israel had a field trip to the West Bank, so of course I went along too. We went to a bunch of different Jewish settlement cities, one was Haredi and one was Religious Zionist and we even went to go to look at an Arab town, but we only look ed at from a far and didn't go in. Thursday night we went to go see a production of the Sound of Music, in English of course, that was being done to give money to Sderot ( a southern city that constantly gets bombed by Gaza). The musical was not as good quality as something Stevenson would have put on but it was nice to just see a play and it was very cute. It was interesting though because sitting in that theater I didn't even feel like I was in Israel, everyone was speaking English and I just had this weird moment were I was like whoa, I am in Israel right now, it was weird. After the show, we met up with a friend of Jason and mine from Brandeis who was here on a program. Friday was a relaxing day, we did some chores, like cleaning and going grocery shopping and mostly just lazed around the house. In the afternoon we caught the bus to Bet Shemesh, on the way there however, our bus started to fill up with smoke and everyone started screaming at trhe driver to stop, and he took like 5 minutes to stop and then we all ran off of the bus. The engine had overheated, it was a very hot weekend this weekend, so then we had to wait for another bus to come pick us up. Eventually we made it to Bet Shemesh to our friend's house. They have 6 kids and still had room for us to stay. Jason and I had fun palyign with the kids and spending time having an Haredi Shabbat. While in Bet Shemesh, we also visited a co-worker of mine and Jason's 3rd cousins who all live there. There was a ton of playing with little kids and people saying things about how we should get married. Then on the way home from Bet Shemesh, I wasn't feeling very good and I got sick when we got off the bus and kind of ruined the rest of the night because I felt gross.
Now to the ants...............................
All of last week we kept finding ants in our kitchen, not some many but enough that it was getting annoying and unclean. While Jason and Eli were baking challah, we found ants in the sugar and that was the last straw. So we decided this week to fix our problem. We cleared and cleaned out the entire kitchen and then sprayed with ant sprayed all over. Then we let it sit for a day(so this is 2 days without a kitchen) and then we cleaned the kitchen again to get rid of all the ant poison and then we put everything back. We were ant free for about a day when we noticed, not ants on the counter but some ants in the sink. And now we have ants in the office. So, we have just given up. As long as it is only a few ants and they aren't on the kitchen counters and all of our food is properly put away in the fridge or in Tupperware then we should be good to go.
That was our crazy week and now we are going to start another.
Hugs and Kisses
J and A
PS - I put up all the pictures up until today on my Picture site, go check them out!
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Saturday, June 14, 2008
Oh the places you'll go!
Hey all.
So here's another update from the life of an almost Israeli. Sunday to Monday was the holiday of Shavuot, this is a the day when G-d supposedly delivered the Torah to us at Sinai. Jason and I went to dinner and one shiur (lesson) at the Fuschberg Conservative Center and then headed over to Pardes to hear another shiur. Usually, people stay up all night studying Torah and then go to the Kotel to pray at sunrise but I was just too tired to do all that. Monday we just spent a lazy day at home hanging out. Tuesday I went back to work and started to have responsibilities on my own. My job for the summer is at a place called Career Israel, which is a 5 month MASA program in which the participants do internships while here. I am working mostly answering tons of emails and interviewing participants for the upcoming fall session. I really really enjoy working there, the people are nice, the work is exactly what I want to be doing, and it is a great connection to have for the future. Wednesday I headed up to Hebrew U to turn in my books at the library and my final paper. I also, amazingly, got my $2000 MASA grant check, which I will be using to live on this summer. So now I am officially done with Hebrew U and have no more school work to do for the whole summer! It is so weird, new, and nice to have my summer free to do what I want, this is my first summer not up at camp in 13 years. I never knew how nice it is to come home after work and not having any school work to do at night. Jason and I have been cooking dinner a lot and going out and seeing friends. On Wednesday, Jason's friend Eli stayed with us. We went out to sushi, at the best place ever, Sushi Rechavia, and then took a fun walk downtown. Thursday, my friend Emily stayed with us. That night we went to dinner with some family friends of Jason's from Buffalo. After, Emily and I came home and had a girls night and watched a movie while Jason was out having a meeting over coffee with someone. Friday, Jason and I went to the Israel Museum to see the art exhibit of art from the past decade 1998-2008. Then we went over to Mamilla mall by the Jaffa Gate and I actually found a pair of jeans in my size in Israel, it was a miracle. However, these jeans are about a foot longer than I am tall so I have to find a tailor to shorten them. Friday night we went to Shira Chadasha and we were hoping that we would be able to get an invite to Shabbat dinner, but really annoyingly there was no one there who was inviting people for dinner. So we came home and made our own dinner. It actually turned out very delicious however, I got burned by the steam from the water heater half way through making dinner and it really hurt. This morning, Jason dragged my to synagogue at Yakar, a very nice minyan in Katamon where his friend Inbal was having a kiddush because she is getting married this week. After that we had been invited by Yaeli, who is a Brandeis grad who is visiting for a little at her brother's, to come for Shabbat lunch. It was a very yummy lunch and it was nice to hang out with some old friends. Then we came home and took a very long Shabbat nap. Now, we are about to go out to a bar with my roommates. It should be fun.
Thats all for now, keep tuning in for more updates.
So here's another update from the life of an almost Israeli. Sunday to Monday was the holiday of Shavuot, this is a the day when G-d supposedly delivered the Torah to us at Sinai. Jason and I went to dinner and one shiur (lesson) at the Fuschberg Conservative Center and then headed over to Pardes to hear another shiur. Usually, people stay up all night studying Torah and then go to the Kotel to pray at sunrise but I was just too tired to do all that. Monday we just spent a lazy day at home hanging out. Tuesday I went back to work and started to have responsibilities on my own. My job for the summer is at a place called Career Israel, which is a 5 month MASA program in which the participants do internships while here. I am working mostly answering tons of emails and interviewing participants for the upcoming fall session. I really really enjoy working there, the people are nice, the work is exactly what I want to be doing, and it is a great connection to have for the future. Wednesday I headed up to Hebrew U to turn in my books at the library and my final paper. I also, amazingly, got my $2000 MASA grant check, which I will be using to live on this summer. So now I am officially done with Hebrew U and have no more school work to do for the whole summer! It is so weird, new, and nice to have my summer free to do what I want, this is my first summer not up at camp in 13 years. I never knew how nice it is to come home after work and not having any school work to do at night. Jason and I have been cooking dinner a lot and going out and seeing friends. On Wednesday, Jason's friend Eli stayed with us. We went out to sushi, at the best place ever, Sushi Rechavia, and then took a fun walk downtown. Thursday, my friend Emily stayed with us. That night we went to dinner with some family friends of Jason's from Buffalo. After, Emily and I came home and had a girls night and watched a movie while Jason was out having a meeting over coffee with someone. Friday, Jason and I went to the Israel Museum to see the art exhibit of art from the past decade 1998-2008. Then we went over to Mamilla mall by the Jaffa Gate and I actually found a pair of jeans in my size in Israel, it was a miracle. However, these jeans are about a foot longer than I am tall so I have to find a tailor to shorten them. Friday night we went to Shira Chadasha and we were hoping that we would be able to get an invite to Shabbat dinner, but really annoyingly there was no one there who was inviting people for dinner. So we came home and made our own dinner. It actually turned out very delicious however, I got burned by the steam from the water heater half way through making dinner and it really hurt. This morning, Jason dragged my to synagogue at Yakar, a very nice minyan in Katamon where his friend Inbal was having a kiddush because she is getting married this week. After that we had been invited by Yaeli, who is a Brandeis grad who is visiting for a little at her brother's, to come for Shabbat lunch. It was a very yummy lunch and it was nice to hang out with some old friends. Then we came home and took a very long Shabbat nap. Now, we are about to go out to a bar with my roommates. It should be fun.
Thats all for now, keep tuning in for more updates.
Sunday, June 8, 2008
Saturday, June 7, 2008
Non-Stop Apartment Adventures
Hello to all my lovely readers out there.
So at 4:30 in the morning on Wednesday, Jason arrived at our new apartment, where I was already asleep waiting for him. I had to get out of bed and help carry his bags all the way up our 3 story flight of stairs. But, it was soooooooo great to finally have him here. Then after some good nights rest, we got up Wednesday morning to run some errands. We went to Home Center - essentially the Bed Bath and Beyond of Israel - and we bought a bunch of things for our apartment, even though it is fully furnished, the people who live here keep kosher and are vegetarians so we needed to go out and buy all the supplies to give ourselves some meat dishes to use. Then we came home and we both unpacked everything. Jason had brought me Mac and Cheese from the states so we made some as our first dinner. Then Jason took me on a walk to the Tayellet, which is only 15 minutes from our apartment. The Tayellet is a look-out spot where you can see all of Jerusalem, it was beautiful. One our walk home, we saw a porcupine running across the street with his spikes all out, he was a funny little bugger. By that point we were already exhausted so we just watched a movie and went to bed. Thursday morning we got up kind of early to go meet both my and Jason's boss from our jobs at school at his hotel in Israel, Jason and him talked for a while about what Jason is going to do next year, I think he actually might be able to figure it out soon, its a miracle!! After that we headed back up to the Kfar HaStudentim, there I had to pack up the last of my things from my room, mostly dishes, food, and books. I had to check out of my room and get a wireless router from a friend. We got back to our apartment kind of later in the afternoon on Thursday and had to get ready to leave for Tel Aviv, Thursday was Doron's birthday and he was having a big party which we obviously needed to attend. On our walk from the central bus station in Tel Aviv to the apartment where the party was at we walked past a Mitzvah Van filled with crazy chasidim blasting the Na Nach Nachman song and dancing in the middle of the street and on top of the van. When we finally arrived at Doron's friends apartment it looked as if we were in a sketchy run down area, but the apartment itself was absolutely gorgeous! It was a huge loft, with high ceilings,the floors were all original tile from 1920's and the walls were covered in vintage signs and objects, all the furniture was vintage too, it was amazing. The party itself was fun, Doron's family was there and we got to meet a lot of his friends, plus Jason and Doron finally met and I got to see Gillian. After the party Doron gave, me Jason and Gillian, the keys to his friends place in the center of downtown (very close to where we were) and we went to sleep at his friends place, which was also a pretty nice looking loft. Friday morning, Jason and I got up early to go to Nachlat Binyamin, the artisan's shuk and then out to Brunch with the Shenker's (my grandparents friends who are Israelis). We went to Max Brenner and had lots of chocolate, it was delicious, plus they liked Jason, which is good. In the afternoon we rushed back to Jerusalem to get ready for Shabbat. We had been invited to Jason's charedi cousins in Ramot so we had to be all showered and dressed to catch the last bus out there. His cousin were a very nice BT (ba'al tshuvah- meaning adopting the orthodox lifestyle) family that speak almost only English. They were pretty crazy but the food was good and they were very very nice to us and wanted to see us again. So because they are very orthodox and we Jews always like to keep up appearances, we told them that we were going to walk home, but instead once we got to a main road, we hopped in cab! Today being Shabbat we didn't do much expect play scrabble, Jason beat me.
Another crazy thing this week was trying to set up the wireless internet, it took us about two days of research and talking on the phone - which Jason mostly did in Hebrew, it was impressive- and we finally figured out how to get ourselves the internet, so yay!
So thats whats been going on, I will write soon, I start work tomorrow and we are still in the process of settling in.
A
So at 4:30 in the morning on Wednesday, Jason arrived at our new apartment, where I was already asleep waiting for him. I had to get out of bed and help carry his bags all the way up our 3 story flight of stairs. But, it was soooooooo great to finally have him here. Then after some good nights rest, we got up Wednesday morning to run some errands. We went to Home Center - essentially the Bed Bath and Beyond of Israel - and we bought a bunch of things for our apartment, even though it is fully furnished, the people who live here keep kosher and are vegetarians so we needed to go out and buy all the supplies to give ourselves some meat dishes to use. Then we came home and we both unpacked everything. Jason had brought me Mac and Cheese from the states so we made some as our first dinner. Then Jason took me on a walk to the Tayellet, which is only 15 minutes from our apartment. The Tayellet is a look-out spot where you can see all of Jerusalem, it was beautiful. One our walk home, we saw a porcupine running across the street with his spikes all out, he was a funny little bugger. By that point we were already exhausted so we just watched a movie and went to bed. Thursday morning we got up kind of early to go meet both my and Jason's boss from our jobs at school at his hotel in Israel, Jason and him talked for a while about what Jason is going to do next year, I think he actually might be able to figure it out soon, its a miracle!! After that we headed back up to the Kfar HaStudentim, there I had to pack up the last of my things from my room, mostly dishes, food, and books. I had to check out of my room and get a wireless router from a friend. We got back to our apartment kind of later in the afternoon on Thursday and had to get ready to leave for Tel Aviv, Thursday was Doron's birthday and he was having a big party which we obviously needed to attend. On our walk from the central bus station in Tel Aviv to the apartment where the party was at we walked past a Mitzvah Van filled with crazy chasidim blasting the Na Nach Nachman song and dancing in the middle of the street and on top of the van. When we finally arrived at Doron's friends apartment it looked as if we were in a sketchy run down area, but the apartment itself was absolutely gorgeous! It was a huge loft, with high ceilings,the floors were all original tile from 1920's and the walls were covered in vintage signs and objects, all the furniture was vintage too, it was amazing. The party itself was fun, Doron's family was there and we got to meet a lot of his friends, plus Jason and Doron finally met and I got to see Gillian. After the party Doron gave, me Jason and Gillian, the keys to his friends place in the center of downtown (very close to where we were) and we went to sleep at his friends place, which was also a pretty nice looking loft. Friday morning, Jason and I got up early to go to Nachlat Binyamin, the artisan's shuk and then out to Brunch with the Shenker's (my grandparents friends who are Israelis). We went to Max Brenner and had lots of chocolate, it was delicious, plus they liked Jason, which is good. In the afternoon we rushed back to Jerusalem to get ready for Shabbat. We had been invited to Jason's charedi cousins in Ramot so we had to be all showered and dressed to catch the last bus out there. His cousin were a very nice BT (ba'al tshuvah- meaning adopting the orthodox lifestyle) family that speak almost only English. They were pretty crazy but the food was good and they were very very nice to us and wanted to see us again. So because they are very orthodox and we Jews always like to keep up appearances, we told them that we were going to walk home, but instead once we got to a main road, we hopped in cab! Today being Shabbat we didn't do much expect play scrabble, Jason beat me.
Another crazy thing this week was trying to set up the wireless internet, it took us about two days of research and talking on the phone - which Jason mostly did in Hebrew, it was impressive- and we finally figured out how to get ourselves the internet, so yay!
So thats whats been going on, I will write soon, I start work tomorrow and we are still in the process of settling in.
A
Monday, June 2, 2008
Hmmmmmmmmm lets see: Mono, Finals, and Moving
Ok, so I found out a few days after Jason left that I have some sort of Mono-like virus, meaning I get all the same symptoms: sore throat, enlarged spleen, ridiculous fatigue, and the list continues........ So because of this I have been too busy aka tired and lazy to anything for like 2 weeks, plus I am in finals this week with 2 tests and a paper due
so I will give a very brief update of my life:
May 18 - went to go see some theater in Old Jaffa organized by the Brandeis liaison Cheryl or Cher Bear as we like to call her. It was a blind deaf theater called Na Lagaat or Please Touch. The show was mostly people were both blind and deaf in some capacity and they helped each other to move around and they had people translating the sign language and a lot of it was done in silence, pretty much the coolest theater experience I have had in a while. Plus the show was themed around baking bread and they actually baked bread on stage which you could go and eat after the show was over.
May 20 - class field trip to Hazor, it was a very hot day but we learned a lot and it was pretty fun and interesting, but this was the day I realized I was actually sick, I got really out of breath from going up 4 flight of stairs.
Week of May 18 - 24 - mostly a normal week, class and the such
May 23 - was Lag B'Omer I was feeling to tired to go but people took buses up to Meron, the grave of Rabbi somethingorother where all the orthdoox and dance all night long. They said ti was pretty crazy, lots of bonfires.
Week May 25 -31 - last week of school, lots of studying for the Hebrew final.
May 30 - went do do Kabbalat Shabbat at the Kotel, me and Rach Horn did our own frummy reform service and it was fabulous and fun. Then we went to a huge dinner cooked by friends. Afterwards, a few people came to my place to play dutch blitz, and my friend Carly actually beat me, yay for inflicted my friends with the obsession with dutch blitz.
May 31 - evening, I tried to move all my huge luggage into my new apartment but, in the dramatic twist of all dramatic twists, the key did not work in the door. And then the downstairs neighbor (who's wife had just had a baby that day) came up to try to help and it still didn't help so I then I was stuck with 3 huge bags and nothing to do so they neighbor offered for me to keep my stuff at his place and come get in the morning when i got a locksmith. That evening i emailed the owners of my apartment and of course, they had forgotten to tell me about the trick to the door that u sometimes had to flip the lock or some hit, but anyways, then i had to call off the locksmith and get my luggage and move it. but in the end, I moved! Yay for the new apartment, and Elysa was there today and she approves, so I feel even better about it!
June 1 - JESNA (Jewish education class) final, long and ridiculous, but also easy because it was open book and open note. That night was Lilah Levan - Student's Day Celebration in Independence Park, went with the roommates, I saw a ton of good bands, including Hadag Nachash which was awesome!
TODAY June 2 - went to train with interns at Career Israel, looks like it should be very fulfilling and interesting and a good summer job. Went to dinner with a bunch of people who were leaving tonight. Now I will study for my exam tomorrow in my Archeology class.
Ok, gotta go study, buhbye
so I will give a very brief update of my life:
May 18 - went to go see some theater in Old Jaffa organized by the Brandeis liaison Cheryl or Cher Bear as we like to call her. It was a blind deaf theater called Na Lagaat or Please Touch. The show was mostly people were both blind and deaf in some capacity and they helped each other to move around and they had people translating the sign language and a lot of it was done in silence, pretty much the coolest theater experience I have had in a while. Plus the show was themed around baking bread and they actually baked bread on stage which you could go and eat after the show was over.
May 20 - class field trip to Hazor, it was a very hot day but we learned a lot and it was pretty fun and interesting, but this was the day I realized I was actually sick, I got really out of breath from going up 4 flight of stairs.
Week of May 18 - 24 - mostly a normal week, class and the such
May 23 - was Lag B'Omer I was feeling to tired to go but people took buses up to Meron, the grave of Rabbi somethingorother where all the orthdoox and dance all night long. They said ti was pretty crazy, lots of bonfires.
Week May 25 -31 - last week of school, lots of studying for the Hebrew final.
May 30 - went do do Kabbalat Shabbat at the Kotel, me and Rach Horn did our own frummy reform service and it was fabulous and fun. Then we went to a huge dinner cooked by friends. Afterwards, a few people came to my place to play dutch blitz, and my friend Carly actually beat me, yay for inflicted my friends with the obsession with dutch blitz.
May 31 - evening, I tried to move all my huge luggage into my new apartment but, in the dramatic twist of all dramatic twists, the key did not work in the door. And then the downstairs neighbor (who's wife had just had a baby that day) came up to try to help and it still didn't help so I then I was stuck with 3 huge bags and nothing to do so they neighbor offered for me to keep my stuff at his place and come get in the morning when i got a locksmith. That evening i emailed the owners of my apartment and of course, they had forgotten to tell me about the trick to the door that u sometimes had to flip the lock or some hit, but anyways, then i had to call off the locksmith and get my luggage and move it. but in the end, I moved! Yay for the new apartment, and Elysa was there today and she approves, so I feel even better about it!
June 1 - JESNA (Jewish education class) final, long and ridiculous, but also easy because it was open book and open note. That night was Lilah Levan - Student's Day Celebration in Independence Park, went with the roommates, I saw a ton of good bands, including Hadag Nachash which was awesome!
TODAY June 2 - went to train with interns at Career Israel, looks like it should be very fulfilling and interesting and a good summer job. Went to dinner with a bunch of people who were leaving tonight. Now I will study for my exam tomorrow in my Archeology class.
Ok, gotta go study, buhbye
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