So apparently Israel has wind days instead of snow days...

Hey everyone!
Sorry I haven't blogged in a few days - with the start of class it's been a little hectic, and I was going to blog last night, but the internet connection I had been using suddenly got locked, so I couldn't. I found another one, so now it's time for an update...

Sunday we had some more registrationy stuff, and then another trip to the mall - a lot of new people came, so they had to go buy bedding and stuff as well. I figured since we were getting a free trip to the mall, why not go and have a fun trip instead of lugging around pillows and a comforter. I went to the Michal Negrin store (!!!!) and got a couple really pretty necklaces.

Monday was the first day of Ulpan, but because it was the first day it started at noon instead of 8:30. I went with one of my roommates, Jessica, and another one of my friends, Amanda, to my new favorite coffee place - Cafe Aroma. It beats Gelman Starbucks hands down! I get their house speciality (Cafe Aroma) and it's sooo yummy! Plus, they give you a little bite size chocolate bar with every drink! After that we went over to campus, and were told that we didn't need to go to the orientation because it was the same as one we had already been to, so I went to lunch at the main cafeteria on campus, Frank Sinatra, with a bunch of friends.

After that we had our first session of class. I'm in the middle class of the third level, and while I could probably be fine in a higher level, I feel comfortable in the one I'm in. We have two teachers, one who does grammar and newspaper articles, and the other we haven't had yet but I think is doing more stories and stuff like that. Yehudit, our grammar and newspaper teacher, is really nice, and I like that we're actually learning about somewhat relevant things. On Monday we read an article about the upcoming snow that was expected, and it was nice that I was able to come back and talk to my Israeli roommates in Hebrew about something that was actually current.

When class was over, I came back to the apartment, and as a WONDERFUL post-Ulpan surprise, the boys had cleaned the apartment! When we moved in, it was pretty dirty in the common areas (kitchen, bathrooms, living room), but we came home and it was all so nice and pretty! Courtney, Jessica, and I were thrilled to say the least! Later in the evening, I went out with a bunch of friends to dinner downtown near Ben Yehuda street to celebrate the first day of class. We went to this restaurant called Tmol v'Shilshom and it was REALLY good!

Yesterday (Tuesday) was day 2 of Ulpan, which was spent almost entirely on grammar (EW!) but I'm glad we're reviewing it all, because my grammar is not the greatest. We also had about an hour long sing-a-long, with a very odd song leader lady, but it was a nice break from class, and we apparently have it once a week. We spent the evening hanging out in our room with all the roomies and my friend Amanda who lives downstairs. We had our first Israeli pizza (which Jessica, the camera-obsessed one felt the need to take a picture of), and hung out. It was really nice hanging out with all of our roommates - I've been having a lot of fun with Jessica and Courtney, but hadn't really spent much time with the boys. Guy and Roie (the boy roommates) are really nice, and we had fun all hanging out together. And we enjoyed watching the snow that started in the evening, and we hoped for a snow day (Courtney and Roie even wrote a snow day song, with Courtney singing and Roie occompanying on the guitar). Jessica taught me some wierd east coast custom about wearing your pajamas inside out for a snow day, so I did it...

And apparently it worked! At about 6am I got a text message from the university that classes were cancelled on account of...wind??? Yup, wind. It definately was very windy outside, and walking to campus would have been a pain, but I'm pretty sure everyone in Michigan would agree that it was a pretty big joke. I went to look out the living room window, and there was about a half an inch of snow on the ground. Again pretty humorous. But, after 2 days of class, we were ready for the break. I spent the morning and early afternoon on and off napping, while my roommates went to play in the snow (which I was very much not up for because it was all slush by the time they went down). We had a fun day hanging out though, playing scrabble with the girls next door, and teaching the boys how to play Uno. They even made us spaghetti for lunch - it was really cute! We hung out in another friend's room for a little while this evening, and then came back home only to find that the weather had gotten even worse!! There is definately more snow now than there has been all day, and we've been told by one of the madrichim that there will probably not be class tomorrow either. In fact, I'd be really surprised if there were.

But that's ok, because we are going to Tel Aviv tomorrow! I'm so excited, since I've only spent a few hours there before, so I can't wait to explore the city. One of our friends, Jordana, has access to her grandparent's vacation house right on the beach, so 8 of us are going there for the weekend. It should be a lot of fun, and we'll even be back in time Saturday night to enjoy another Saturday night out in Jerusalem.

Love from the City of Gold,
Leah

PS sorry no pics with this one, but the internet is being annoying and barely letting me post at all, so pictures might get added later once the people who set up internet in our apartment stop being annoying and actually come to campus.

PPS...it's hailing now...ya, hailing, in Jerusalem