Everything Since Last Weekend

The great thing about forgetting to update your blog is that you get to not update your blog.  The bad thing about forgetting to update your blog is that when you finally remember to update it (לעדכן, by the way, from ''עד כאן''), the prospect of putting your many days' worth of undocumented adventures onto virtual pen and paper looms before you ever more hugely, making the decision to finally sit down to the task that much less appealing.  You will be relieved to know, however, that no matter how often I find myself not looking forward to sitting down and writing a week’s worth of happenings in a single sitting, once I open up my laptop and place my fingers on the keys, I can’t help but do just that—and enjoy it.  It’s curious how many things in life play out that way.

Now, where to begin?

Last weekend was a marvelous blur of unending entertainment: a Hadag Nachash (“the fish is a snake”) concert on Thursday night, followed by an early morning bus to Jerusalem on Friday to stay with Hillel and Rose for the weekend.  We spent Shabbat with Hillel’s parents, cousins, aunt and uncle at his parents’ rented apartment in Rechavia, davened a beautiful Kabbalat Shabbat at a packed Carlebach shull on Friday night, ate a plethora of schnitzel, caught up on sleep, and caught up in general.  Saturday night we went back to Hebrew University, where we stocked up on Burgers Bar (something that’s missing rather conspicuously from the Haifa restaurant scene), added a few more bottles of wine to Suite 413’s collection (no, we did not drink it all ourselves—we merely finished up the Shabbos leftovers), and went to the Ben Yehuda area for the night’s events.  I hung out with real Israelis (it helps with you have a crazy Israeli neighbor named Itai who gives you homemade hummus and rides to the bars in his red sports car), saw camp friends, and generally had a swell time.  You’ve gotta love Israeli theater class-induced friendships: after all the אימפרוביזציה and קטרזיס, there’s no turning back.

Sunday we (all the Haifa kids that spent Shabbat in Jerusalem) met up with the rest of the program for an organized tour of the Old City.  I had Yisrael—one of the International School professors—as my tour guide, and in many ways he reminded me of my Core teacher, Reuven.  He knew his Jerusalem like the back of his hand, and used the Bible—albeit in English—as a walking commentary.  We saw the Christian religious sights, too, which was a first for me.  I just wish we’d had more time at the Kotel, but I know I'll go back there on my own soon.

Probably the most exciting thing about the trip (okay, that’s a bit of an exaggeration—but this was definitely exciting, and a first) was that I saw two soldiers that I knew while walking around the city.  One, Josh, I saw while wandering through Machane Yehuda with Hillel and Nadav; and the other, Ben, I saw while on the Old City tour.  The Ben sighting was particularly entertaining: the city was full of soldiers that day because it was a designated יום תרבות, culture day, in which the soldiers get taken on tours and learn about different things in Israel (from what I gathered).  Ben is a mefaked (commander) and at one point, a few of his soldiers ran to join a group of kids who had spontaneously broken into song and dance to welcome the happy month of Adar.  Like a camp counselor who needed to bring his campers back to their assigned activity, Ben went to coax each of his soldiers out of the rotating circle of happiness—and just like campers, each soldier waited to be taken out individually by his commander.  It’s funny how boys never change.

The week was a jumble of scheduling decisions that I’m very glad has finally come to an end.  I’ll be taking four classes this semester and auditing one (though since it’s at 8:30 in the morning on Thursdays, there may very well be a number of weeks that I won’t be there—the beauty of auditing is that it shouldn’t matter): Women in Israel; Markets, Games and Strategic Behavior; Modern Hebrew Literature; Introduction to Rabbinic Literature; and Difference and Equality: the Jewish Struggle for Rights (for the audit).  Hopefully, I’ll be getting major/minor credit for two of those.  If I don’t, it will be interesting to see how I’ll graduate by next May!

Thursday was another night of dancing (GREAT exercise), Friday we made Shabbat dinner (I don’t think it was entirely kosher halachically speaking, but I’m hoping it was the thought that counted there), and today was down to business work-wise, because tomorrow is…(drum rull please) TEL AVIV!  ETD: 09:45.  Itinerary: TBA (though I know it includes the beach and 75 degree weather).  Shopping goals: 1 dorky hat for Eilat hike next weekend, 1 pair cheap sunglasses.  The possibilities for fun times are endless.

Lilah tov everyone,

Ariel