i decided to teach myself the polish language

Bardzo mi miło! I'm quite serious about the Polish (I hope). There is a Polish girl who is teaching me a little.

some notable events of past days--

food related, I ate at Hummus Abu Rizek, an amazing and cheap Arab-run pita-and-hummus joint in downtown. nice spicy homemade hummus and fluffy pita. YUM. i have also become addicted to kumquats. they're really bizarre but somehow delicious. also: date spread. mm mm.

riding the bus to school can be kind of a drag, but the views from the bus are pretty impressive. i pass through most major streets of downtown, all these intriguing-looking cathedrals, the Old City with all the gates and I can see Al-Aqsa from the bus, the British military cemetary and my personal favorite, Naomi Street. I really need to go take a walk down my street one of these days. The architecture in general is most awesome. i do hope i get into this architecture class which goes on lots of field trips including the Church of the Holy Sepulchre which I have always wanted to see.

Other places to check out that I have viewed from my bus and from Hebrew U: the Russian Orthodox church, opulent as they always come, the Mormon university, the Italian Jewish museum and the Great Synagogue. plus i need to get over to the old city to do some slick bargaining for Armenian pottery. i was going to go to the shuk (the big crazy marketplace) today but we did a rain check because well, it was raining. hopefully i'll go tomorrow to get the best halvah in town. also, this Ethiopian Jewish woman gave us a talk today about the Ethiopian trek to Israel. basically the Ethiopians are the coolest. i aspire one day to be as cool as they are.

this saturday I am going to Modi'in to visit the Israeli extended fam for a birthday party. (Historical interlude! Modi'in is Hanukkah Town, basically. that's where the Maccabees rocked out. Wouldn't it be crazy if it was Hanukkah there all year long? you would eat latkes and sufganiot every day! everyone would be fat and happy and gamble with dreidels all the time and have melted wax all over the windowsills year round, and presents every day...alas no. it is apparently extreme suburbia now. But still.)

i'm not going to lie, i am getting kind of homesick, having been away for the majority of this year. Israel is such a politically-and-otherwise charged place which makes it ridden with emotional rollercoasters. but i am mostly very glad to be here. and i really appreciate getting mail from all you superstar letter writers out there. take care of yourselves.

Also, I've got some photos, you can see them here:
http://slc.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2015773&l=004aa&id=28601169