Shabat Shalom

Shabat (that's the Sabbath, for anyone wanting the English version) started at sundown yesterday, so things are pretty quiet. All the businesses are closed and the buses don't run.

Here's a condensed summary of my Shabat so far, further details available upon request. This morning Sara and I met some classmates (Meindert and Madeleine) and walked to a church with them. It's in the city center, which is about 40 minutes away, and we didn't know when it started, so we were an hour early and wandered around the neighborhood for a while. I really liked the church. It was actually a Messianic Jewish Congregation so I don't know if it's ok to call it a church. Anyone know? Everything was in Hebrew, but they had headphones with an English translation, which was very thoughtful of them. The people were friendly and invited us to stay for a tasty lunch. It was pretty awesome to get to worship God in Hebrew alongside Israeli Christians! I am going back next week for sure.

I have officially started my ulpan classes at the Universita ha'Ivrit! So far so good. The teachers are extremely nice and the other people in the class are ok too. I'm still getting used to sitting in one class for 4 hours at a time--aaghh! It's draining. The class is pretty easy so far. It's completely in Hebrew, which sounds more intimidating than it actually is. The teacher acts out sentences she thinks we may not understand. (For example, the way I found out about the death of Michael Jackson was through one of her particularly inspired pantomimes.)

Thursday night, Anika and Sara and I went to a burger bar called Burgers Bar. It's kosher, which means you cannot get a cheeseburger. You may think this would be a devastating fact to discover (and it was at first), but it was DELICIOUS! So were the fries.

Also, yesterday I had a conversation with an Israeli, in Hebrew! She was not really an enthusiastic or even willing participant in this conversation, but I introduced myself and asked her a few questions about herself. I would say on a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being utter hatred and 5 perhaps being mild irritation, her mood could be put at about a 6.5. Not too shabby!

You've probably realized by now that I get excited by some pretty lame milestones, so I'll go ahead and tell you that another highlight of my day yesterday was cooking some rice. I did not burn down Jerusalem, and I'm pretty sure the kitchen is still kosher. The reason this is an accomplishment is not because rice is hard to cook (it's not) but because I used a giant stewpot and had no utensils or hotpads or measuring cups and didn't know what the knobs on the stove meant. Ok, well I guess you had to be there.

And now here are some pictures of things completely unrelated to anything I talked about in this post.

This is the British cemetery, which I pass on my way to campus everyday. The other day, we saw some workers digging, so we thought they had found some more British people to bury, but I think it's just for soldiers from WWI.

Naemiiiii! She is my favorite German ever. It was great to get to see her face, and I'm sure that if you know Naemi you're pretty jealous of me. It was so nice of her to drive to the airport to sit with me for a few hours and bring me foooood.

I just remembered that I promised to show off my spectacular view. It doesn't look that spectacular in pictures, so just trust me, ok?

This is to the right. There is a grocery store and several restaurants and a bank up that street, and a lot of stray cats. I can bring you one if you want.

And this is to the left. The yellow shiny round thing in the middle-ish is the Dome of the Rock. I hope you can see it ok. It's even yellower, shinier, and rounder in real life! I'm going to go visit it up close someday soon. And since I know you're curious, the writing on the side of the building says "Hebrew University in Jerusalem - Student Village." And that is where I live.

P.S. Hi family! Drive safe and keep track of your suitcases, they're easy to lose track of. And don't forget to pick up Anne!

The prodigal suitcase has returned!

Good news! My luggage came! A full three days late, but I think it had a fun-filled romp around the globe without me. Thanks for all your prayers in this department, they worked!

Also I have reliable internet in my room now. You know what that means: we can skype!

You'll be happy to know that I haven't been taking advantage of my relative anonymity to wreak havoc. Actually none of the things I've been doing are very interesting, but I'll make you a list of some of the more noteworthy occurances:

• New roommate moved in! Her name is Sara Owen and she's in my Hebrew class at OU. We got the same scholarship to be here. I wasn't sure if we'd be put in the same apartment, so it is definitely a huge blessing to have a friend here.
• Speaking of friends, I have some more now. The two I've spent the most time with are Stephanie (an American) and Anika (a German). I don't have Israeli friends yet but I'm working on it.
• Falafel! My roommate Nadia told us where a good place was, so Sara and I walked there the other night. If you are unaware of the glory that is falafel, let me tell you: it is fried balls of ground chickpeas and spices that are served in a pita with tahini and various toppings (I got cucumbers, lettuce, tomatoes, and french fries in mine). It's GREAT! Next time I will go by myself though so I don't feel awkward about making dinosaur noises as I devour it.
• Various orientation meetings and tours. After we got ourselves orientated, Sara and Stephanie and I went exploring in a park on campus. We found some caves with tombs in them. HMM I wish I knew the story there...
• I have a sweet view out my window. To the right, I can see one of the main roads of the French Hill (where I'm living). And to the left I can see the Temple mount! Don't panic, there will be pictures.
• I'm getting better at getting around. I went grocery shopping yesterday and went to a big scary mall today. Also I can get to and around campus with minimal disorientation.

Classes start today! I'm in the Aleph level, which I guess is where they put the dumb kids. I'm ok with that. I hope the teacher is more like a grape than a sabra.

And here are some more pictures just for giggles...

A vending machine on campus that sells kosher frozen dinners! This is Stephanie, demonstrating how cool we think this is. Once I heard of a vending machine that you can put your dog in, and it washes it. This is almost that cool!

The beautiful campus of HUJI! I haven't found any ugly places yet. It's sooo hilly though! It is the Mt. Scopus campus, so I should have been expecting that.

I walk to class in front of ya, spill kefir on your keffiyah...

Pictures take forrreevveerr! I'll put up more when I have the time and the patience. Right now it is unpack and eat lunch time. YES! Leave comments! I want to know what all is going on America.

My dream last night, which may amuse you if your last name is Piersall

Oscar the hedgehog somehow became evidence in a murder trial, and was supposed to appear in court sometime in the fall. For this reason, he was returned to my care. (The reason Keri claimed she returned Oscar was that a girl in the group she was going to prom with also had a hedgehog, and so she didn't think it was cool to have a hedgehog anymore.) A mysterious man who my parents seemed to know showed up and kept telling me he would feed Oscar. I was convinced that he was trying to kill Oscar, and that my mom's sudden desire to have an all-new set of pots and pans was somehow related to this sinister plot.

Meanwhile, one of Cody's new friends had said something to me in a text that I took as some kind of creepy innuendo. I freaked out and even dropped my plans to go clubbing that evening, and ransacked the entire house, looking under all the beds and in all the closets, to make sure he wasn't hiding anywhere. Later I went to Cody's house, and discovered that he felt at fault for the whole ordeal. I heard him announcing to his father that the only way to fix his mistake was to study abroad. I remember thinking this was all connected to the Oscar debacle.

Then I woke up.

I have been trying to put the clues together, but I haven't come up with anything. Also I think there are a few red herrings in there.

I am HERE! (A statement that is both vague and true)

The flight stuff went relatively well, I suppose. I got here. In OKC and Chicago, everything went very smoothly, but the Philadelphia airport is on my bad list though. My plane arriving there sat on the tarmac for an hour and a half, then the one leaving for Frankfurt was a full 4 hours behind schedule. They turned off the air conditioning for a few hours while we sat in the plane, and there were stinky boys next to me. Ew. It was a little bit miserable. (Looks like I picked the wrong day to quit sniffing glue) I think I slept through dinner, but I'm not sure. I vaguely remember hearing someone say, "If they offer you chicken or beef, don't take the beef," and also I smelled food, so it could have just been a really vivid dream. Anyway, we made it to Germany safely.
When I finally got to the Frankfurt airport, poor Naemi had been waiting for four hours! It was so good to see her. We didn't have time to drive into the city, but she brought delicious breakfast food and we sat on benches and ate bread, scones, croissants, jam, cherries, and grapes. It was GREAT. People kept staring at us, probably because they were jealous of our carbs.
Then Naemi abandoned me to go back to school, and, through a sequence of awkward events, I found my next gate. The only part of this adventure that you may find remotely interesting was when I was seeking someone to give me a boarding pass and kept going to the wrong desks. When I thought I finally found it, it turned out that it was some medical place with lots of elderly Germans sitting around. The lady at the desk said, "You don't need a wheelchair, do you," but I looked pitiful and stupid enough that she somehow printed it off for me anyway.
The Frankfurt-Tel Aviv flight was actually quite fun. I made friends with the girl sitting next to me, a Palestinian named Ruwa. She gave me some Jerusalem pointers and showed me a lot of pictures of her cat. She lives five minutes away from the university where I will be studying, so hopefully we'll hang out.
The highlight of the Tel Aviv airport was not finding my luggage. Apparently it stayed in Frankfurt. BUT it should be here soon. I met some nice people on the sherut who offered me socks when they found out my luggage vanished, but I declined. They were some pretty ugly socks. Meanwhile, I have pretty much everything I need, especially the things that are absolutely essential. But I can't wait to be reunited with my luggage.
So anyway, Israel is beautiful. I rode the sherut from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, so we were driving through the mountains while the sun was coming up. I was surprised at how green everything is. The highways are lined with flowers and palm trees, which is a nice idea. I got lost wandering around Hebrew University, so I can assure you that campus is also beautiful.
The Israelis that I have encountered have not been completely friendly. The most extreme example of this phenomenon might be the one who screamed at me for showing up a day too early for registration (oops). I already got the sabra speech and was told to yell back when someone yells at me. In case you don't know the sabra thing, a sabra is a kind of desert fruit that is prickly on the outside and sweet and soft on the inside. This is a metaphor that Israelis like to make about themselves, which to me means that they are fully aware of their manners issue and should do something about it (like be nice). But hey, now I know better what to expect, right?
Welll, this was pretty long and you are now dismissed. I'll tell you more about my living arrangements next time and hopefully get some pictures up. Oh the suspense!

Leeeeaviing on a jet plane

I am ALMOST all packed up. I have not packed my computer yet because I need it to write blogs and whatnot. (You're welcome!)

I hope you're ok with another bullet list, it's so convenient. Here is what the next few days looks like, starting now:

• Go meet Dad for lunch at the Old Mill Tasty Shop
• Finish packing
• Drive down to Norman, OK, and hang out with wonderful people
• Tomorrow morning go to the airport. From OKC I fly to Chicago, then Philadelphia, then Frankfurt, Germany
• In that magical land I will see my friend NAEMI! This is extremely exciting for me.
• After a 12 hour layover in Frankfurt, I continue on my merry way to Tel Aviv, where I will arrive at 3:20 Monday morning.
• Getting to Jerusalem shouldn't be too tricky. It's under an hour away, and I can go straight to the university and get myself registered.

I'll fill you in on the details later and tell you how splendid everything went. Meanwhile, if you have the time and the inclination, I would really appreciate your prayers for safe travel and that everything goes smoothly. And now I am off to lunch.

Happy Friday!

Hello!

I kind of forgot I had this blog thing. I don't really have many new things to say, but to keep the hecklers happy (cough cough NATE cough), I will tell you some of the things I have been doing and not doing this summer.

Things I've been doing, in no particular order:

• I got a job! I work at a daycare in the afternoons and I love it. It reeeally beats waiting tables. There's still a lot of people-pleasing, but the people I have to please are tiny and think that "Because Miss Caroline said so" is a good reason to do something. I come home everyday ten pounds heavier because of all the sand in my hair.
• I talk on the phone with people I miss.
• I hang out with people I used to miss before I came back to Kansas.
• There have been a lot of good conversations with God and with other people about God.
• On Tuesday nights I go to Downtown Christian Fellowship, which is basically a lot of college-age Christians fellowshiping downtown. And I love it!
• A few weeks ago, Frances and I drew faces on a bunch of potatoes. It was totally her idea.
• I'm really good at bringing the history of the English language into conversation whether other people want to hear about it or not (they don't).
• I've been reading my Lonely Planet guidebook to Israel and the Palestinian territories and getting excited for my trip. I'm still trying to plan out how I'm going to spend the last 2 weeks of being there, during which I will be a wandering vagabond.
• Sometimes I go to the Y.

Things I have not been doing:

• Reading, unfortunately. Mostly what I read these days is my guidebook. I haven't finished a single book in the month since I've been home. I'm in the process of reading some real winners though.
• Making much money.
• Spelunking. Ever.
• I definitely haven't been studying Hebrew as much as I should be. Sometimes I do flashcards I found on the internet, but then later I can only remember half of the phrase, or I can remember the whole phrase but not what it means.
• Drugs

Hmm. I think this was a good list to make. I'm having a pretty good summer. If there's something in there that you are jonesin' to hear more about, let me know and I would love to tell you. Another thing: do you have Skype? Maybe you should look into it so we can chat. Also here's a wikipedia article that you may or may not enjoy. I thought it was a little bit hilarious. I will probably get sued for posting that.

myfirstdictionary.blogspot.com