Shavua Echat

Hello friends and family. I've now been in Israel for almost a week now and let me just say that it is currently SNOWING here (so classes are canceled for the day); unfortunately, it's also raining, so that's no good. In any case we are having a fun snow day though. I woke up really late and Abi and Aurora and I made hot chocolate and waffles with our nifty waffle maker and maybe I'll even do some...gasp...homework. Who knows? School might be canceled again tomorrow too.

So far ulpan (immersive Hebrew) has been pretty good. I'm in advanced Level Bet so I think it's a pretty good level for me, it's intermediate-ish and a lot of it is grammar which I am terrible at to begin with so it's good for me to actually learn it. I understand everything the teacher says though. We had an extremely intense experience yesterday when a large blond Israeli woman came in with a piano to have a Hebrew singalong with some of the classes. She was very dramatic and played lots of the songs lounge-style. Oh, Israel. I'm getting pretty good at taking the bus (except, well, I'm only taking one bus, so it's not that complicated yet). Sometimes I get confused with money because I think that shekels are agurot and vice versa and it's also obnoxious that the American dollar keeps dropping as it has been doing all year. Sigh. I've also been meeting some nice people from ulpan. It's mostly Americans with a bunch of Canadians, a handful of Russians and South Americans, and a couple Japanese students for good measure. I might be starting yoga and/or dance classes sometime this week which should be fun. Also there is an ulpan trip to Caesarea next week- that sounds fun too. Stay warm, all of you. I miss you.

Brucha Haba'a

Shalom y'all, I'm now in a land flowing with milk and honey (I have a small river of cream in my room just now...ha....not really...but I do have AURORA sitting next to me!) The plane ride itself was long but without event except that I sat next to my dear friend Sarah G's cousin and her boyfriend and I beat the airplane computer at backgammon on the "hard" level. Finally we arrived in Tel Aviv, where luckily my luggage had arrived. Cracked out and jet lagged, we were somehow transported to the Hebrew University student dorms, where I don't live, which I finally was able to communicate and explain to the madrichim in charge, so eventually I stumbled down a hill with my luggage and asked these guys if they were in fact the shuttle drivers to the Rothberg school where I had to register. They shrugged and smoked their cigarettes and told me "Lo meveen" (I dunno) so I stood around awkwardly for a while until a guy came down and told them to drive me to Rothberg, which they eventually did. I did all the registration and spent way too much time at the school until 4 o'clock when Abi picked me up. (I haven't seen Abi since 2001 but I recognized her by her unforgettable hair).

Our apartment (myself, Abi and Aurora) is in the Bak'a neighborhood of Jerusalem, right by Emek Refaim. The place is gorgeous. We each have our own room and there is a living room, kitchen and bathroom. It's very cozy and intimate but yet spacious and "slightly luminous" (Aurora's term). Today Aurora showed me around the neighborhood and we did some shopping for Shabbat and an upcoming Tu Bishvat celebration with pizza and empanadas. The weather was quite nice, a little cold but very sunny, and the neighborhood is scenic and charming with a diverse population (I sound like I'm writing a travel brochure). There is an orientation sort of thing on Sunday but otherwise my classes don't start till Monday. Then I have ulpan (Hebrew immersion) for a month and then academic classes start in March. On Sunday Aurora and I were thinking of going to the Israel Museum since neither of us have been, where we will immerse ourselves in decadent culture and stare at the Dead Sea scrolls for a long period of time. At this moment, I'm sipping tea and unpacking, and of course, writing this entry.

I hope you are well. I should have a phone by Monday at the latest. I'd love to hear from you all; write me a letter (ask me for my address or ask my parents or facebook) or email or whatever because I really like letters. A lot.