After the crazyness that was Wedensday and Thursday, the last two days were exactly what I needed to make me fall in love with this whole experience immediately. Friday morning we went to the shuk on Machaneh Yehuda, and as soon as we got off the bus all we could smell was the amazing smell of fresh baked challah. We hung out at the shuk, where we got challah for shabbos, delicious rugalech for breakfast, and lots of amazing and cheap produce.
My roommates and I at the Shuk
From there, a small group of us walked over the Old City and went to the Kotel (Western Wall) for the first of many trips. Going to the Kotel is always an incredibly spiritual experience, but I particularly enjoyed it because I had never been there without the construction and a big wall blocking the full view, but it's gone now so I could finally take the entire thing in. It was also something I really needed after the passing of my Papa, and I used the siddur he used every morning to do the morning prayers at the kotel.
Me at the Kotel
After coming home and resting for a little while, I went with one of my roommates and a couple other friends to an amazing minyan called Shirah Chadasha. It's basically an egalitarian orthodox minyan that uses Carlebach melodies. The service is orthodox, and men and women sit separately, but women can lead, and the melodies are simply beautiful. Apparently they recently changed locations, and so we had some difficulty finding it, but once we got there it was worth the wait. And their new building is definately much nicer, with a lot more space for the continuously growing and popular service.
Following services, a big group of us got together in someone's room for a potluck shabbos dinner. It was really nice, and I've had fun hanging out with this group of people. I can already tell that we click well together, and I think it's really going to be a great semester with them. We talked and laughed, enjoyed dinner together, and just had an overall good time.
Shabbos morning and afternoon was a lazy rainy day, and after a few non-stop days, it was definately exactly the break we all needed. After shabbos, most of us from Shabbos dinner went out to a grill restaurant near Ben Yehuda Street. For those of you who eat out with me often, you'll understand when I say that it was AMAZING to be able to go to a restaurant with friends and actually order ANYTHING I wanted! No more having to ask if soups have meat bases or what was in the food that was sitting in front of me, or having to find something vegetarian on the menu. Typical Israeli style, the meal started out with lots of salads of all variety: eggplant, tomatoes, hummus, corn, pickles, and so much more. Plus, there was endless pita, straight out of the oven, which was amazing!
Some of us at dinner Saturday Night
After dinner, we went to a coffee bar on Ben Yehuda street, and then out to the clubs. The nightlife scene is definately different here than in DC, especially because its all so centrally located - its not like there are clubs spread out all over the place, but an entire street of club after club trying to get you to come in. It was a lot of fun and we met some really cool people. It was really entertaining though because all the music that was being played was like 2 year old American clubbing music, and the sound system was based from a laptop with itunes sitting on the bar. It was really amusing.
Anyway, the rest of the people who weren't on the group flight arrive today. I definately think it was a great decision to come on the group flight, especially since so many people (about 120) came on the group flight and we've already made friends. Plus the first few days were so overwhelming that it was nice to have a few days to explore the city and enjoy being here before classes start. Ulpan (the one-month intensive Hebrew course) starts tomorrow, and while my Hebrew DEFINATELY needs improving, I've already begun picking it back up again which is cool. And, speaking of languages, it's really fun being able to read all three languages on the signs around town (Hebrew, Arabic, and English).
So now it's 9am and I've been up for like 3 hours, and I still have two hours left before I have to be up, so hopefully I'll be able to fall asleep! Goodnight...maybe?
B'ahavah,
Leah
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