Today it was hard to get up so early, but what made it easier was it wasn't cold out. The drive was a little painful because the Brits were screaming and singing loudly. So rude! We hiked up the ramp and then waited a long time for the sun to come up. The sunrise was lame. Of course it was cloudy. I have never been up so many times in a year to see the sunrise and I have not seen one on a clear day. Sababa. We then were given a history about Masada from Monica. She toured us because she volunteered on Masada. I remember going to the places we went to and knew more about Masada then I thought. It was a nice, quick tour. We went to the synagogue, the biggest cistern where water was stored, and the church. Then we walked down the ramp and got on the bus to go through Arad to go to the Arad park. We were given a pretty lame breakfast and then had some peulas. We did evaluations about Arad, wrote some notes to each other, and got certificates for completing Year Course with a sucker. Then we got back on the bus to go to Arad.

When I got back to the apartment, after showering, I was on my computer to start writing goodbye letters to people. I napped for about 2 hours. Talked to Boaz for a few minutes :) I then decided to walk to my volunteering placement to say goodbye and get 10 sheks back from the ceramics place. It was so sandy and hot outside. Ew. It was nice saying bye, and then when I checked the ceramics place, no one was there. I don't really care about the 10 sheks, but I decided that I should practice being assertive and not be embarrassed to ask. I met Rach at the mall and we got our last ice cream from there. The person working there was new and was not generous with the ice cream. She didn't even fill the cup and usually the cup is overflowing. Then we got some food for shabbat and I got chocolate to take home with me.

We then hung out in the apartment and I continued to write letters for the rest of the night. We got pizza and other things making me even more tired. Now it is 11:20 and tomorrow morning Rach and I are hoping to leave at 7 to go to Ein Geti together for a few hours. So much to do and so little time!! I hate doing countdowns, but I always find out how many days left. 5. Just 5. Ughhhhh. :(

WEDNESDAY:
Yesterday we woke up around 10:30ish and took out the trash and then just chilled. Shai came and checked our apartment (freezer hahahaha). Then for the rest of the day we just chilled and relaxed. At 3:30, we left on a bus to Jerusalem for a Marva ceremony at the Kotel. The bus ride was long and we got into some traffic. By the time we got there the ceremony had already started. It was still so cool to see all my friends! They looked so cute. Instead of getting berets, they got their berets taken off and got baseball hats saying Marva. After the ceremony we hugged each other and then Shevet got Burger's Bar. Everyone else there was so pissed because they were hungry and wanted food too. I guess I would be mad too if I wasn't on Shevet. It makes sense though, even though they kept saying that this event should not have been a Shevet event. But, the bus was provided for Shevet, but Boaz let anyone else who wanted to come go. Year Course didn't provide the transportation. After eating dinner on the floor, just looking at the Kotel, we went to the Kotel to davin. Rach and I davined together, sharing a siddur and it was nice, but we got interrupted during the Amida and told that we had to leave now. Great. So we left and after waiting for the bus where we were dropped off (Rach and I walked on the steps, rather than going up the steep hill) we got on the bus back to Arad. There was so much traffic and we didn't get back until past 11. We had to meet at the mall at 3:20 the following morning to hike up masada. Great. As soon as we got back and got into the apartment, I went to bed.

TUESDAY:
Yesterday the alarm went off at 8:30, but we kept on snoozing. I didn't get out of bed/wake up until 11ish. I needed the sleep. Rach had finished up packing, so I began to pack! EEEEEEK! At 12:30ish, our apartment left to go to a musa's for an apartment lunch on the stipend! We had a waitress who wanted to practice her English. None of us were in the mood. i got a really good hamburger and musa fries with a lemonada icee shake. Everything was so so soo good. We were all so full and Rach and I were about to pass out. We walked home and then I napped for about 20 minutes. I was then back to packing! I had pretty much finished packing around 6ish. My bags were easy to pack because I had to leave out things for the next week. Then we had a bonfire with Shai and his other chanichim along with Amir's. We had potatoes and corn and marshmallows. After we walked home, we went straight to cleaning. Well, we had already cleaned a bit earlier that day, but now we were getting more serious. Rach worked on the main room and I worked on the kitchen. Leah finished up packing her stuff. I then showered and we watched most of "Moulin Rouge" before turning it off because we were too tired and then going to sleep. I had some more weird dreams and one of them involved me being on a bus and seeing terrorists lighting up qassam rockets and aiming them towards the bus I was on. One flew right next to my window. Some more hit the ground right in front of the bus. Once I knew that I could have died and that no more rockets were coming, I was thinking about how that just added to my Israel experience. Also, my phone rang and I saw that it was in Hebrew, so I knew it was Boaz, but then it ended up being Katie who changed her name in my phone to Hebrew to trick me. What is going on with me?!

MONDAY:

I woke up at 7, but didn’t get out of bed until 7:15ish I was just so cozy!! After getting ready and saying bye (which was so weird!) I walked to the bus stop. I got there and I was supposed to have about 40 minutes in between that bus and the bus from tel aviv to Arad. Because of so much traffic, I didn’t get to the tel aviv CBS about 30 minutes after the bus left. The next bus was about 2 and a half hours later. While I was on my computer, there was a bomb scare, so everyone was standing right where I was sitting. Someone had just left their bag. So many people kept on trying to walk through. It is funny how not many people are really concerned. After about 7 minutes, everything was taken care of, so everyone went back to where they were sitting. I probably could have caught a bus to Be’er Sheva and then to Arad and arrive in Arad way earlier. Oh well.

The bus wasn't until 12:50 and the bus was really empty, so I got my own seat. When I got back to Arad, I was on the phone and then a soldier asked me if I was American. He is from New York and is volunteering in the army for 2 years. Love speaking to American soldiers in the IDF (that's a lie...I just love speaking to ALL soldiers in the IDF!!!) After being in my apartment for a bit and putting a few pics on my flashdrive, I went with Michal to the camera place. I got 5 pictures developed (Boaz and me, Boaz's whole shabbat crew, the syblings, the family, and me with the family). I got 2 frames. Michal also got a frame and a picture developed of her and Guy. Michal's camera broke, so she asked the guy if he could fix it and he took out this cleaner stuff and her camera was fixed!! After paying a shek for each picture and for the frames, Michal and I went to Katie's apartment for bit. We showed everyone our pictures and told them that the guy fixed Michal's camera. Naomi's camera was also broken, so she walked with us back to the center of town and while she tried on pants, Michal and I went back to the apartment to get my camera. Then after helping Naomi, we took our cameras there, but neither Rach's, Naomi's, or my camera got fixed. Michal and I then got ice cream and then went to the mall to go buy some food for our apartment. The lines take forever in Israel, I am looking forward to the quick lines at home.

When we came home and Leah dressed Rach and I up. We went back to Katie's with a cake Leah made. We had stuffed peppers and veggies for dinner. It was so good and so fun. Then we all went to Musa's. It was my first time there. I was tired and not really in the mood to be there. Rach, Michal, and I left after being there for an hour or two. I came home and went to bed. I had weird dreams about going home, but not having to fly and laughing at how Rach has to pack well because she is going on an airplane, but I don't need to pack well because I am just going to be driving. In our house, we were living in Aunt Ronda's old house (but not her real old house.) At one point I pinched myself and I knew I was dreaming and wanted to do something since I was dreaming, but it ended up not working out...Michal told me the next morning that when she came into the room I was mumbling stuff and said "Boaz, I'm cold." hahaha.

SUNDAY:

Boaz and I woke up at 5:20ish. He kept on telling me that I can go back to sleep and I can wake up later. It was so tempting, but I decided to go with him. While Boaz was looking for his wallet (which ended up being in the car), I put the gift on the kitchen table. When Boaz’s mom, told me not to forget it, I told her that it was a little gift for them. She thought I was going to be coming back next week. It was hard to say bye to her. I almost cried, but held myself together. Boaz’s dad also thought I was coming one more time. Oy. We couldn’t go through the back entrance, so I ran with Boaz to the front. It is not fun to run in the morning. Luckily, we had some time and it wasn’t so crazy once the bus got there. I kind of wanted to go with him to Be’er Sheva and then go to Tel Aviv, but we both knew it was really stupid. After saying bye, I went to wait for the bus to take me to the Tel Aviv CBS. Once I got there, it was about 7:30ish. I decided to wait until 10 to call Shlomo and ask what time I should take the bus at. I was going to take at 10:30 bus, but he said that an 11 o’clock would be better. Once I finally got on the bus, I slept for a bit and got to Ramat Yishai after 1 and half hours. I used to think that bus ride was long, but now it is really short compared to the buses I take to Jerusalem or Eilat. Once I got there, Shlomo had to go for a bit. He said I looked tired and told me that if I wanted I could take a nap on Moran’s bed. I thought I was going to sleep for a few minutes, but I passed out and Moran woke me up a few hours later. I was so tired! We then hung out and talked before going downstairs to watch some TV before going out to sushi for dinner. At each table there is a screen you can play different games on. It was so funny to watch them all try and guess the answers, or already know the answers from seeing that question before. They sometimes make their own sushi, so they told the waitress that one of the rolls were not rolled too tightly. We then got a free roll! After dinner, we went out for ice cream. After 9 months, one of the few things I know how to do in Hebrew!

After dinner, when we got back, Moran and I were on our computers talking to people. I talked to Noah and Lori for a bit and talked to Nathan and Steph. Might have forgotten that Mom and Dad’s anniversary was on the 21st. Sorry! Is it 26 years or 27? I showed Moran the “Swagger Wagon” youtube video. After trying to sing the words and talking and laughing with Drora (mother-father, blue shits) and giving them a challah cover and them giving me a beautiful chamtza necklace, Moran and I made different videos attempting to sing the lyrics to “Swagger Wagon.” It was hilarious. She is going to edit all the videos we made and then send it to me. After I showered and then we watched some of Mean Girls, before I crashed. Moran finished the movie. At 2ish Boaz called me. I was so confused.

SATURDAY:
On Saturday, we didn’t wake up until 2ish and then after having a really good lunch (chicken), Boaz and I finished watching the “The Notebook.” I also downloaded skype for him and we made sure that it worked. Then Boaz and I drove to the park right by The Knesset. He brought ice cream and we just made fun of each other and joked around about the army. We both were so cold, so we walked around and then walked by the Knesset. I saw the menorah that was there and remembered that I had been there before! On the teen mission!! I love when that happens. When we got home we hung out with his family and then we took pictures. We figured out how to do self timer, and only after a few tries we figured it out. Really good pictures. Then Boaz and I took a few together and then I took some of their family. After, Boaz and I walked to Omer’s house so his brother could cut Boaz’s hair. Took some action shots. One of their friends stopped by and after taking some pictures together, we said bye. It is so weird saying bye to them. We kept on hugging. Eventually, Boaz and left, because we had to wake up early in the morning. I forgot to mention that he had to be back on base 2 hours early (at 8) because he got in trouble for eating when he wasn’t supposed to. We got to bed before 1.

FRIDAY:
I got woken up around 8:00ish and we all left Katie’s at around 9. Rach and I walked to Yad LaKashish. We were carrying everything and it was hot. When we got there we dropped our bags and then spent a lot of time (and money) there. The stuff is beautiful. Among other things, I bought Boaz’s family a card to go along with the gift I got them. After we left, we grabbed a bus to the CBS and Rach got Aroma as we waited for Boaz to come. Near us was these 2 people on a date- I think they were both American. The guy was a paratrooper. I found it really interesting to watch. I couldn’t stop looking! Rach kept on looking at the entrance and I kept on getting excited, thinking she saw Boaz coming. She kept on psyching me out! Once I least expected it, he just pops up. After saying bye to Rach, me and him walk to the shuk. He had a blister that popped on his heel, and he could not walk normally. I knew how he felt. At the shuk we went to a restaurant and had some hummus with pita and rice. After getting a huge bag of candy, we took a bus back home.

I had gotten “The Notebook” from Miki, so we watched the beginning of it. He was freaking out when he found out that there were no Hebrew subtitles. Every now and then he would ask what someone said, of course I knew the exact line! Once his mom came home and stuff, we decided to finish the movie later. We both were tired, so then we napped for a few hours. I kept on having to wake him up because he was snoring. I couldn’t just touch him though, I had to shake him, hard, to get him to wake up.

Around 7ish, we left for Shabbat dinner. Once we got there, I heard Yoav yelling my name from the balcony. Hahaha. I joked with Boaz saying, if only you would be that excited to see me! Dinner was really good. Boaz told his family about different things he had to do in the army. It was nice because I understood what he was saying. Not because I can understand everything in Hebrew, but because he told me the same thing earlier that day. Yael (Boaz’s aunt) asked if I had lost weight because I looked thinner. I just told her that I have no idea. After dinner, Yoav kept on jumping on me and playing with me. After eating ice cream and everyone was sitting down together, I told them that I needed to take a picture of all of them. I got a few nice ones. We then tried to get a picture of everyone with me in it (minus Ron (Boaz’s uncle) who would take it), but at that point everyone had gotten up and it was a lost cause. Boaz told me later that night that the picture I got of everyone is probably the first picture with everyone together-they hate taking pictures all together. Complete opposite of my family. We might not like it, but some aggressive adults (i.e. Mom) force us, even if a kid in the picture refuses to smile or is crying in the picture (i.e. Stephanie). It was a commercial when I took the picture. We were watching this comedian. I understood some of her jokes! At one point she was talking about buses and how she sees a bus in the distance and it looks like the 6, or the 8, or the 26. It ends up being bus 817. She then jokes about taking taxis and then about her learning how to drive. After we watch some of money taxi and they are all guessing the answers. I think it was 10 or 10:30 when we left. Boaz and I walked to town and after his friend was the one taking our order, his friend comes and they talk about the army. I heard Boaz tell his friend the same story and his friend told him some stories. His friend is in a unit where he is a fighter, but attached to him is a mini helicopter thing. So cool! After, we took a taxi to Omer’s because Omer had surgery- I am pretty sure he got his appendix out. Anyway, he had people over so we hung out there until 4ish. We decided to go once I shut my eyes and was lying down on a pillow and Boaz was also closing his eyes.

THURSDAY:
Today I had to wake up at 6:30 to get on a coach that was supposed to be there at 7. The alarm didn’t go off, but luckily one of Miki’s apartmentmates woke me up. I got ready quickly. We picked the Aussie’s up, except now they live in Ashkolon. The bus was a long drive, but eventually we got to where we met up with the Desert Queens. We were in a parking lot and there was a huge field of huge sunflowers (I first wrote sunflower seeds hahaha). They were so pretty. I think sunflowers are one of my favorite flowers. After breakfast we got into different cars (about 22 or something) that are good for off-road driving. We stopped at this one memorial to look at Gaza. The memorial was for a pilot who died in the plane crash between 2 Israeli planes. He was one of the 71 who died. The memorial consisted of a big wind chime thing. It was beautiful. In Israel, whenever I see memorials, I don’t get creeped out, but I find them to be really nice- and I know that I should be happy there to honor them. It was a clear day out so we could see all of Gaza and the sea behind it. While driving we drove along the border of Gaza and eventually of Egypt. I fell asleep for some of that. It was impossible to sleep when we were off the main road. So bumpy and a little nauseating. Lunch was so so so good. Potluck including many salads and pastas. There was this huge German Sheppard who was such a cutie pooch. He wanted to play fetch and use a rock as a ball. I played with him and his tongue was all sandy from trying to pick up the rocks. Right after lunch, we began the huge stretch of being off road. A car got stuck and a few of us went up on a sand dune while others tried to get the car unstuck from being in the sand. It was so much fun to climb up. So much sand got into my shoe. Later that night, I found out that a lot of sand also got into my sock. One of the three desert queen women in the car along with Rach, Ale, Naomi, and me, drove for most of the time. The passanger and her at one point switched and her driving was so much different. Instead of going slow, she would stop to wait for the car in front of her to get ahead and then she would go really fast. We were jumping all around. I was pretty happy when we finally got to the main road. After a pee stop, Ale wanted to drive, so she did. She was a good driver and I fell asleep.

Our last stop before dinner was at this other memorial. There we danced and then in pairs, I was with Elana, made and decorated our own kites to fly because it was so windy. Elana’s and mine was the best. It was an Israeli flag with different colored squiggles. After flying the kite for a bit, we got back into the car and went to a park where we had dinner and hung around a bonfire to keep us warm after the sun went down. The bus was about an hour late, and I didn’t get back to Beit Ar-El until 11:30ish. I took a bus with Cara back to Katie’s and after showering, I have been blogging. It is now 2:30. Must get to bed!!!

WEDNESDAY:
Later this day, we had to stop sleeping for lunch, which was at 1:15. It was pretty descent. After Mincha and hearing Ruth (I got up in front of everyone there to explain to them about Kri and Cativ and how there are examples in Ruth—I was that tired that I wasn’t even nervous!) we went back to bed for some more hours. The next time we woke up was for dinner and Moran, Emma, and Ami came to surprise us! After dinner, we had a group get together where we talked about our year on Shevet. Boaz had us close our eyes and he went through some of the highlights that we had done that year. It is crazy how quickly time has gone by, but how much we have done. I feel like that is how everything always works. After being given our own little Havdallah set on behalf of Boaz and the Shevet staff, and doing Havdallah, we packed up to go. Moran drove some of us back to Beit Ar-El. When I got there I got onto my computer and got to talk with Rachel Weinstein for a bit and then Steph. Haven’t spoken to either of them in such a long time. Rach told me bad news about her friend who damaged his skull and then died of internal bleeding. It is crazy how instantly anyone can pass away. Katie came later on and told me that she found out that Moran’s cousin had died in a car accident. I still am not sure which cousin, but nonetheless, I don’t even know what to say. I still have no idea how to react in such situations. How can I continue talking to Stephanie, just pretending I didn’t just hear horrific news? I also talked to mom and dad for a bit. I then blogged and hung out with Miki before going to bed around 2ish.

TUESDAY:
On Tuesday, I woke up around 9:30ish to get ready to meet Moran and her cousin at a bus stop. I got on the bus they were on and then off we went to the mall. Moran’s cousin name is Mor, I just find that funny. She was in uniform and I later found out that she is 19-she is a month and a day older than me! When we got to the mall we checked out this one store, but didn’t find anything. We then went to this other store and at first it seemed like there was nothing similar to the pitcher I had bought the day before. Eventually, I saw something very similar to it, except they were only in solid colors. The price was a little much, but after Moran talking to a guy working there, we decided for me to get the pitcher and a nice matching plate (both are ceramic pieces and orange) and a membership card. The card cost 50 sheks or something, but ended up saving me so much money! They wrapped it up and put flower petals around the plate, with the center piece being the pitcher. I was too scared to hold it, so I made Moran. After walking around with them for a little and talking to Mor, I had to go back to Beit Ar-El where I could meet up with Boaz, so he could drive me the Dan Sacher park, which was where Shevet was meeting up for lunch.

While Mor/an (haha) were searching for clothing for a cousins wedding/clothing for Shavuot, I took out money (for my last time), unsuccessfully looked for a nice gift bag, and eventually, somehow after getting lost in the parking lot, got the bus stop I needed. When bus 4 came I took it. I was anxious that I should have just waited for the 18, because I am more familiar with where it goes. I accidentally banged my new present about three times-nothing happened. Oy. After pushing the button and then thinking the next stop was my stop and the driver saying “mah at rotzah yeldah,” I got off the bus way too early. I asked for directions to Baka and walked for at least an hour. Uphill. It was hot out. When I finally got to Beit Ar-El (I was so proud that I didn’t get lost), I hung out in Miki’s room for a little and then put both of my gifts in Boaz’s office before leaving with him.

We had come right after the bus had come and a lot of Marva people were on the bus!! We had lunch—bagels, and salads. It was a lovely day and really nice to be with everyone again, even though many people were missing.

We then drove to the Yitzhack Rabin Youth Hostel in Ramat something, close to Rehavia. We got our room assignments, and relaxed for a bit, we needed to sleep because we would have a very long night ahead of us. I was exhausted and passed out. The annoying thing, was instead of napping and relaxing, everyone else was catching up. Benji flooded his bathroom with the shower. Rach sewed his buttons and other holes in his uniform. People were laughing and sleeping. I got woken up at least 5 times. I blame Benji for more than one of them. Let’s just say that I was cranky, or as Benji would say, “…in a mood!” Eventually everyone napped. Then it was time for candle lighting, services, and dinner. At services, we were given Artsroll Tanah’s that had Shevet 5770, engraved on them for us to keep!

Dinner was so so soo good. We had a discussion as to why we eat dairy—we were just given the halachot regarding kashrut and not sure of the laws so in order to make sure that they didn’t mess up they only ate dairy, another reason that I guessed (and was right!) was that it doesn’t fill you up and make you feel heavy and tired that way you can stay up and study all night long. After dinner we grabbed some jackets and headed towards Beit Ar El.

When I say we, I really mean, Rachel, Katie, Naomi, Julia, James G, Boaz, Joel, and Joe. Others would either join us later or go to town. We were given a list of different Shiurim throughout Jerusalem in English that we had the option of going to.

After secretly talking to Boaz on the phone for a little, Rabbi Yosela from Shalem spoke to us based on a sheet he handed us with different quotes talking about human character, such as old mindsets, wanting to be challenged-rather than always being right without arguing or fighting, how one handles drinking & using his wallet & dealing with anger, where anger comes from (“emerges from the absence of creativity), and Jerusalem having 9 out of the 10 measure of beauty descended to the world. I kept the sheet of paper with the specific quotes.

After getting lost and finding our own way (as a group), we get to Hartmen Institute, which was on the way to Rechavia. We heard Rabbi Professor David Hartman talk. We came late, but one thing that really stuck in my mind was when he talked about the one thing the God cannot forgive us, even after we repent. The one thing is desecrating God’s name. What does this mean, exactly? A rabbi gave an example, using himself. It is considered to be desecrating God’s name, when he goes to a butchery, and takes meat without paying for it right away. This is because people could see him not paying and assume it is because of his job position. Basically, it is showing us how such small, everyday things are the things that really play a major role in Judaism.

Then we made our way to the Conservative Yeshiva at Agron. It was a little more difficult for me to focus, but one funny thing the Rabbi said was “incest is all relative.” After his schpeel, some of us began to lose it. Rach, Julia, Katie, Naomi, and I walked back to Beit Ar-El. Not sure if you have noticed, but we have done a lot of walking so far! After having snacks and me finding out who Yael is in the Tanah (strong woman who killed an enemy general by sticking a tent pole into the guy’s head), and talking about other people’s Hebrew names, we started to walk towards the Kotel. For some reason, we had to have a guard. I took advantage of that and spoke to him in Hebrew. I tried telling him and Boaz about my camping experience. It was so hard to speak Hebrew. I’ll just pretend that it was hard to tell the story because I was so tired. We finally get to the Kotel and Rach, Katie, and I have to go to the bathroom. I bumped into Katy Scharf, which was nice! We also bumped into a lot of Yeshiva boys we usually always see in town. Haha. We are pushing past people, but once we get to the other side, we found out that those toilets are only for guys, and the bathrooms only for girls was on the other side-by the women’s side. Great. When we turn around and start to head back, we bump into the Rabbi from New Jersey, Ari Kurzmann, and Jonathan Kaufman. In the bathroom, while we are leaving, this one girl looks familiar, no clue how I know her, but say hi. When she said hi, she was just saying hi back to be polite. She had no idea who I was. When we left the bathrooms, it was no longer dark outside. The bummer was that it was cloudy, so there wasn’t such a nice sunrise. After sitting on the group for a bit and thinking, I realize that she was one of the daughters of the house we stayed at in Efrat! I was sitting near Yoni Buckman and Eitan Mendelson, and then the seniors from JAMD came! Said hi to them, acted a little crazy because I was so tired, and then left them to sit back down. I then saw Shoshie Gruber and then Kendall joined us with her friends. So great to see so many people!! When we finally left, after getting a slow start and stopping and going, etc., Joel, Rachel, Katie, and I walk together back to the Hostel. We are all so tired and just want to sleep that it takes us over an hour to walk back. Once we got into our rooms we past out (Cara already was!!)

MONDAY:
Around 5ish we woke up and then after taking down the tents we started to head back to our apartments. We wanted to walk when it wasn't too hot out. We also wanted to wake up so we could see the sun rise. Too bad it was cloudy out. After walking for so so so long and being hot and sweaty and waiting for the masada bus to leave, I went back to my apartment. After being on my laptop to update things (Tamar Brown facebook IMed me!! So great.) I showered and instead of going back to bed, because I wasn't tired, I watched the newest episode of Gossip Girl. Wow it was crazy. After telling Debbie I would be a little late, so I could pack for the rest of the week, I packed up my backpack and went to volunteering. I am never in my apartment. I have been living out of my backpack. I come back to arad like once a week. It was hot out. For most of my time there I just labeled clothes. I was fine with that. After having some juice and a good nectorine in Debbie's apartment, I asked her what she thinks I should get for Boaz and his family. She told me I should check out the ceramics place. When we got there after some time, I saw a really pretty pitcher. It was different warm colors. So pretty. I was so excited to get it for them. I told the person I would come back and pay before I left for the day. I then helped Debbie fold some material for a special order and then I left and was kind of in a rush to catch the bus from Arad to Be'er Sheva. I thought the ceramics person would be ready for me, but she didn't really realize I was in a rush. Finally I spoke up, telling her sorry, but I am in a big rush to catch a bus. I wanted to pay with a credit card, but that would take longer, so I just paid in cash. I ran out (not literally) and about 3 minutes later I saw that my shoe was almost going to be untied. I made a decision that it was better to tie it then, rather than wait until it came completely untied when I was really rushing. I put my shoe up on a ledge and then I accidentely bang the pitcher into the stone. After I tied my shoe I heard a jingle. Shit. It broke. I thought it was the bottom, but it ended up being the handle. I was in too much shock and just wanted to soak in what happened rather than reacting right away. I just thought about what I should do the entire bus ride to Be'er Sheva. Boaz's mom called me to ask if I was coming to Boaz's base that day for parent's day. I didn't know about it-which made our conversation a bit awkward...

When I got there, I bought falafel to make me feel better, and then asked Katie what I should do-she told me I should try and buy super glue and see if that would work. I called Moran, too, and she told me that I should get something new-she would take me to the mall the next day. Moran actually made me not cry and remain calm. The bus ride to Jerusalem was okay. I wanted to sleep, but wasn't tired. A boy who was sitting next to me kept on falling asleep on my shoulder! When I got to Jerusalem I started to walk to get the shuk. I don't know how this happened, but I forgot to turn and then I realized I was not familiar with this religious area, and retraced my steps. I was out of it. I did find my way and bought some banana clips before heading to the hotel. I walked and because I was going to get there really early, I called Nathan and we decided to meet up at a park. While waiting for him, I unwrapped the broken gift and was just so sad! This religious middle aged man came up to me and asked what time it was. When I told him, he asked if I was American and why I was in Israel. He also asked if he could sit down, but I told him my friend was coming soon. He introduced himself to me and shook my hand. He was a black hatter with curled pais. I don't mean to be stereotypical, but I would never expect that to happen!! After he said bye and chag sameach, Nathan came. I forgot to say that the whole conversation was in hebrew. Woo hoo. I officially no longer flip out when someone speaks. I can actually listen, and (slowly) respond! It made me happy. After talking with Nathan for a bit and catching up, we walked to the hotel.

I wasn't expecting to see everyone and it was so weird to see the seniors and even people my age in Israel who I have not really seen. It was overwhelming to see everyone and people coming up to me and hugging me. So nice to see certain people, but kind of funny when some people would say hi and hug me. A nice weird though. After my plate was full of food I had to hold it in one hand because Boaz called me. I then had dinner next to Zoe and got to catch up with her. It was so weird that it seems like the other day when she was on my driveway saying bye to me!! After eating and then talking with a lot of people, I went on a walk with the seniors to the windmill and then I took a bus back to beit ar el to fall asleep in Miki's bed. Ben Kline saw me "sleeping" and asked Anna why I was going to sleep so early. hahaha. He thought I didn't hear, but I did!!

SUNDAY:
I got to volunteering at 10 and I organized the closets with the different fabrics. I also swept the floor (she didn't even ask me to do that!) Debbie then brought cut up watermelon and homemade apple juice for us and others to have. It was so good, especially on a hot day. I got to watch her cut the fabric and it was so cool. It was like 30 layers of fabric. Later we had lunch, with Rachel, the person she volunteers for, and Dikla (madricha) and it was so so so good. Different salads (typical Israeli and tomato with cheese) and fresh bread from the bakery and the main dish was omelets! Different things in it, so so sooo good. They are all such good cooks. All of them are similar, too. All are young middle aged and many with small children. All artists. It is crazy how they can make such good food for so many people. They all do it. I wish I could have good meals like that every day!

After lunch I was taught how to put price tags on the clothing with this gun thing. Took me some time to get the hang of it (and get staples into the stapler), but I got it down. When Debbie had to go, she dropped Rach and I to the mall to look to see if there are nice vases or picture frames at the mall for Boaz and his family. After being unsucessful (the mall basically only has clothing), we got really good ice cream. We then went back to our apartment to grab our laundry and then we did laundry. We think it was our last time doing laundry together :( I have a feeling that our clothes are not the clean because we stuff the washing machine with a lot of clothes. We only had one load of darks and one of lights. Michal met up with us there and she watched our stuff so Rach and I could go to the center of Arad, where we saw a camera store. We looked at frames for a bit and the heat got to our heads. We were a little crazy. After doing laundry, we had an apartment meeting and then rushed so Shai could give Rach, Michal, and I a lift to the observation point where we wanted all ים לים'ers to come. Elana also got a ride with us. We only had 1 tent, but in the trunk, I saw that Shai had one and so I grabbed it (I asked him though). Everyone else bailed. It was okay. We decided we can do a tekes and just not camp out-just burn bracelets onto each other and have a campfire.

It was really calm out and although it was cloudy we could see some stars. We had some melted chocolate and sat back on the plane sculpture thing-wrong word, but oh well. Around 10ish we decided to go to bed. Oh, it was windy out so our tent was swaying. It was also not cold out. Exactly the opposite, which is annoying because it is supposed to get cold in the desert at night. When we got into the tent, we wanted to have ventalation, but the mesh thing on the door didn't shut all the way. The bugs were so annoying. It was also so hot. Rach and Elana eventually fell asleep, but Michal and I could not. Then we heard Israeli teenager voices. Great. They were being loud (2 boys and 2 girls) and they were asking where the vodka is. AH. Then they saw our tent and started to freak out and ask "מה זה אוהל????" and then tried waking us up by yelling slecha and one of the boys saying "ehh excuze me?" Even if I was sleeping, I would have woken up. I was cracking up and told Michal to say something! When she said "כן?!" the girl asked "יש לה איש?" after all of us responded lo, that was it. They woke us up just to ask if we had a lighter. So rude! Eventaully, I think they were a bit creeped out by us, so they left. Michal and I still couldn't fall asleep, so we got up at like 12:30ish and made the other tent in the dark. It was much better. There was more space so we could be a little cooler and the mesh zippers worked. In the middle of the night I woke up and it was a little chillier, but mostly just really, really windy. I usually love sleeping in my sleeping bag and outside-I get the best sleep. That did not happen this night.

Also from Rach...

SATURDAY:
We all slept through our alarms for like 9 and didn't get up till 10ish. Let's just say we finally left the hostel at about noon which really pissed a lot of us off bc we were ready and waiting for others. Eventually we left and headed for the beach.


Eilat is hot. Oh and I forgot to mention that this weekend was gay pride weekend. It was about a mile walk but felt like much more. We finally settled on a spot, put our stuff down, and went in. The Eilat beach is not sand but rocks. The water felt so nice but the rocks hurt our feet. We laid out. Jessica and I went to aroma where we shared a sandwhich and salad and drank ice limondas. It was delicious and perfect. And very much needed to get away from everyone. What a surprise, people had begun to tick me of. We returned to the beach and beached some more. Then we packed up and started walking to the CBS. Again, some people took longer than others and we were running out of time so we had to grab a cab. We hate doing that. So some of us were even more annoyed.


So we had bought roundway tickets Eilat-Beersheba but Monica lost hers. At the ticket cooter they wouldn't let her buy another bc this bus was filled. The driver let her though. Since the bus ride is 3 hrs there is a stop where Monica was almost left behind.


On the bus from Eilat to Beersheba I finished my book-No Time For Goodbye--it was decent with a really good twist at the end. Good story, okayish writing. Since then i've been blogging on my iPhone in notes to be sent to email and then evetually to blogger. Can't wait for my phone to be a phone again!


Some things that I've learned about traveling with lots of people: don't! I should just give them the information and let them plan on their own. It's too much. We were 9 girls. Way too many girls for me to handle.


This week should be interesting with Shavout coming up. We will be in Jerusalem. Then there is Desert Queens on the 20th and I'm spending shabbat with Moty and Efi and hopefully I'll see Raanan and Sharon this week in Jerusalem. So once again I won't be in arad that much. But next week, last full week I'll be there the whole week. It's been almost three months for a whole week in arad. Boy! Does time fly.

(back to me now):

Once we got back to our apartment, we all showered and were happy to be home. I kept on seeing a pigeon come into our bathroom before I showered, and after I showered, it had come back in, so I shut the window a little bit. When I brushed my teeth, the pigeon had come back into the apartment and then once it saw me it flew right out. Why did it keep on coming in? I decided to look where it kept on going-into our cabinet. On the bottom shelf I saw a nest and a fricken EGG!!!!!! We voted and decided to keep the egg alive.

stole this from Rach...

FRIDAY:

We all woke up and got dressed and meeted up outside waiting for the tour to pick us up.


So in the facebook event I had written that the trip only includes lunch, a snack, and water. People asked me many times and I said that there is no breakfast. Do people listen to me? no, of course not. Jessica Michal and I had bought cheese in Beersheba to go with our crackers for the morning. Others bitched most of the day about not eating anything for breakfast.


Michal and Monica didn't get money the night before so they went with Tomer, tour coordinator, to get money and meet us at the border. The rest of us were in the mini bus going to another hotel to get a bunch of others including a bunch of juniors that are doing a semester abroad in Tel Aviv University. They were mostly from the east coast so while we were waiting at the border crossing into Jordan we played Jewish Geography. In the actual line for passport control I met someone from Poway who actually went to Chabad of Poway for a bit and went there for preschool and we knew all the same Jews but not each other. He is two years older.


We all cleared the border and walked through no man's land to the Jordanian side. We boarded our DesertEco Tour coach bus and started on the 2ish hour drive to Petra with our tour guide Alie. Along the way our tour guide told us about Jordan, the coast line, and Acaba-the fastest growing city in Jordan. Mt Aaron was pointed out, Aaron, Moses brother, is supposidely burried and is a holy site for Jordanians bc he was a profit for monotheism. We looked at the country side and napped. The towns we dove through look like Arab towns in Israel.


We made a pit stop along the way. We stretched and took pictures. Driving along we had passed these huge tents that people live in. They reminded me of Bedouin tents more more rectangular instead of circular. We passed them while driving so I didn't get that good of a look at them.


Things took longer than expected at the border so we didn't get to Petra till almost 1ish. We went to the visitor center after having baklava where we could go to the bathroom, get a map and other information stuff.


Then we finally started on our tour.

Here is a little blurb about Petra from Wikipedia:


Petra means rock in Arabic and is a historic and archaeological city in the Jordanian governate of Ma’an. It has rock cut architecture and water conduits system. Established around the 6th Century as the capital city of the Nabataeans. It was unknown to the Western world until 1812, when it was indroduced by Swiss explorer Johann Ludwig Burckhardt. “A rose-red city half as old as time” and “one of the most precious cultural properties of man’s cultural heritage.” Chosen by BBC as one of the “40 places you have to see before you die.”

So it was good to check Petra off our Bucket Lists. It was beyond beautiful but an exhausting day. We finally all made it back to the bus at 4, hot and tired. We then drove 10 mins to Petra's Magical Restaurant where we had a buffet lunch that was delicious. As soon as we entered the establishment we bee lined for the bathroom to wash our hands. There was an assortment of salads, rice, beef/vegie stuff to put on rice, chicken, fish, steamrd veggies and pasta. It was all yummy and it was supposed to be authentic Jordanian food but it's all the same to me. I love middle eastern food. And the best part was there was watermelon! I love watermelon season! We relaxed and then got back on the bus to head back to the border. We all slept on the bus. Katie got me back and took a picture of Jess and I sleeping bc I had taken one of her and Naomi.


We arrive to the Yitzchak Rabin Border Crossing and we are all ready to just get back to our hostel and shower and get sushi or something. I turn my phone back on and bc it says cellcom I decide to call home. I talk to my parents for a little bit but then had to go through security and passport control. We all proceeded through security and are doing fine till Elana's bag goes through the xray machine. And just like that we all get whisked away to the outside. Some of us have our bags others don't. Some don't have their passports bc the security personel were still holding them. We had no idea what was going on other than shit it's elana's bag again-there had been issues in the CBS in Jerusalem but they never had this big of a problem. Most people were by the exit but the 9 of us were kind of cornered off. Some security guards are talking to Elana and we are all amazed that she isn't crying. Eventually nothing is settled but they let us get our bags and continue to passport control. The security personel weren't allowed to share with Elana what exactly the issue was. While In line for passport control everyone is talking about it and us. We clearify that it wasn't bomb and that it's just her backpack. Everyone recommended that she gets a new one. We all got visas for a month. Sadly we were again reminded that we have just over 2 weeks left. :(


So eventually we all got back to the hostel. We procceed to shower in the 4 showers. These are the nicest showers I've had in a while. My shower in arad is a showerhead in the middle of a bathtub so there is very limitted rom, sarel is just a faucet head and katie's apartment is leaking a little bit. It was wonderful.


We put on clean clothing, and for four of us--Naomi, Jessica, Katie and I- that meant the same thing, black skirt and white tank. I got dressed first. I was outside hanging out when she comes out to tell us something. Naomi was outside with us in pjs and was like wouldn't it be funny if I put that on too. Do it! Jessica was like guess what katie is putting on? No! Yea! We looked like fools. It was funny.


We were all just hanging out at the picnic tables out front, drinking, playing cards and what not. Our game of bullshit was never completed.


Monica Michal and Hailey left to go to the infected mushroom concert. They were pretty out of it when thy left.


We were hungry so we went to the 24 hr store to but stuff. We really wanted to buy challah and eggs to make French toast in the morning but they didn't have any. We thought that everything would be open even though it was shabbat but it's only like that in the city center apparently. So we bought some chips and just hung out outside. Where we met some israelis from Beersheba that we hung out with for a bit. Eventually we went back to the arava. The boys weren't outside so we decided to go to sleep.

THURSDAY:

On Thursday we once again skipped breakfast and then after last announcement session, we went to volunteering. We were told once we got there that we weren't needed until 10. Great. We decided to get our ice cream then. Some people were sitting there and we all got our own ice cream for the last day. Once we got to volunteering we just hung out there and talked with Arthur-once he came back. After joking around with everyone, we were done with volunteering because we had to go to where we went the first day. All Sarel volunteers were there (including the cheks) and same with the important officer. We got fruit and pastries and after the officer thanking us and saying how great it was to have us here and how much it meant to the soldiers and him, he gave us the picture we took the other day laminated and a keychain. We told Arthur that we wanted to have lunch with him...and we did :) We talked with him and got to know him a little better. After lunch, we had to pack up and get ready to go. Arthur walked with us and then we took a few pictures and hugged goodbye.

After returning our uniforms and packing up, I was walking outside when I saw him again!! He came to give us the pin that goes on the berets and a base tag!!! I hugged him again. Then we had so much free time because the bus was running really late. Great. We walked around the base and went to where other people volunteer and went back to our place to hang out for a view minutes longer. They all joked that they didn't want us to go and then locked us in! We ran around to the side door, but when we got there he was there! We all screamed. Finally we had to go because the bus was close, but that was a lie, again. We then just sat, waiting for the bus. Finally the bus came.

We left Sarel, Bat Sheva in Rishon Litzion, after waiting for the other group coming from the north, which was late and made us worry about getting to Be'er Sheva on time. We got to Arad and Rach, Monica, Michal, and I jumped out of the bus. Grabbed our sleeping bags and ran up stairs-went to the bathroom, and Rach grabbed a thing of crackers bisquits and peanut butter. It was the 9 of us and Phil, our Sarel madrich, going to Be'er Sheva. He was to go to his home in tel aviv while we continued to Eilat. He kept making announcements on the ride to arad that everyone needed to hurry up at our stops because some people need to go to Eilat. When people were asking me where we were going after sarel we needed to give a very long answer - arad, Be'er Sheva, Eilat, Petra, Eilat, Be'er Sheva, and then back to Arad for a couple of days. Yep, a couple of days.

So the bus ride to Eilat was uneventful. We got off and were really excited for the weekend. We had directions to the hostel but couldn't tell what a street sign said so we asked for directions. We were literally 5 mins away.


We checked into the Arava Hostel and put our bags down. Some of us showered. Others were outside making friends with others staying at the hostel - a bunch of guys living on a kibbutz and doing ulpan right now - alex and zack twins from parkcity that were originally born in anheim, Garreth from South Africa who made Aliyah in oct and wants to be in the navy(met him when i was going to shower and him to pee), a kid from Toronto, hillel from Ny who had left ny bc of legal issues, nat or Nathaniel also from ny, and one other guy who I can't remember where he is from or his name...oops. Anyways, some girls were drinking with the boys, some stayed up to 3 and others went to bed around midnight. I went to be with the earlier bunch, we needed to get up for Petra at like 6:20!

WEDNESDAY:

On Wednesday morning we decided to sleep in and skip breakfast. After some news we went to our volunteering place where they gave us a rake. We were then standing outside for awhile, so Michal and I came up with a routine with the rakes to Tik Tok. Then we were sent to jail where we were told that we had to help the men basically get rid of the field. It was so hot out. We mostly just fake weeded and would do anything to stay in the shade. Eventually they told us we had to go into the sun. Great. We sang some songs and were so happy when it was 12, which meant drop our rakes because it was time for lunch!! Before then, Arthur had come and given us cookies and pastries. He had to go because he had to go see the dentist, so we took pictures with him in case we wouldn't see him the next day.

After lunch, we slept for about 20 minutes in our room, but it was such a good quick nap. I passed out. We then waited outside for a bit before the other guys came back and unlocked the gate. Then we continued to weed for a few more hours. We sang more and Rach videoed Michal and I a few times doing our dance to Tik Tok. It is so good. We also sat for awhile and just talked with A-shoulder. After putting all what we weeded unto garbage bags, we took the garbage out and then after washing up we decided to go to get seats for the ceremony that was going to take place in an hour. The ceremony was to make soldiers that were training to be officers get their blue tag on their shoulder. We were really lucky because the ceremony takes place 2 times a year. Before Michal, Rach, and I got seats, we saw the food for the families, and decided just to go for it. Some people talked to us asking who we are, etc. Then we got good seats and it started to get more crowded. Then Michal got a call saying that everyone is waiting for us to come to take a picture. We didn't want to leave our seats though!! We asked someone to save our seats and then we ran to where they were taking the pictures. It was a hard run! After the picture we sprinted back and luckily, our seats were still saved. This is mean to say, but I did get some pleasure from people coming way later and trying to sit by us, but all of the seats around us were being saved. The ceremony was really cool. Lots of "SMOL SMOL SMOL YAMIN SMOL...KADIMA CAN!" There was a band and it was cool to see how excited all the families and friends to see the people they came for get their officer tag. After, we had dinner and then I think Michal, Rach, and I got our daily ice cream.

Then for our final peula, we had goodbye awards. Before that, Boaz called and once again, my phone wasn't on silent. I made a sad face to a few people around me and told them that Boaz was calling me. They yelled at me to get up and go answer it. Then everyone was yelling "GO TALK TO YOUR BOYFRIEND WHO IS IN THE ARMY JESSICA." My face got red. It was also embarrassing to come back in. We got t-shirts, a pin, and a completion certificate. Gal, the madricha, wrote down all these things about the army and then we had Q and A session about the berets, stuff on arms, and stuff on shoulders that show different ranks.

After leaving and going to take a steaming hot shower, we went to the hedar ohel where we ate and hung out for a bit and then talked with some soldiers we had met from where we volunteer (one was from Bat Yam!!). I and a few others were exhausted, so we said goodnight to them at midnight.

TUESDAY:
It was a little cooler outside when we woke up. Rach and I went to breakfast a bit later, but still finished before 8:15, so we sat outside and then got confused as to where we were supposed to be. I thought it was where we were last night, but I was wrong. Rach and I were both confused as why she would actually listen to me! One thing we heard in the daily news was that Israel had made it clear that their planning to build will take about 2 years-and strongly said that they never said they were willing to freeze their building plans. Then off we went to volunteering!

At first we sat for a bit and then were told to come outside. We love being inside because there is good AC. The main guy (he doesn’t know English) told me to fill up the huge water jug. I asked some soldiers where a hose was. Then one of the guys helped me. I think he just wanted to practice his English, but I don’t care! After watering the plants, we were given the job to paint the outside. After we finished (Rach got paint on herself), the girls were given the job to check more flashlights. Arthur came and hung out with us and after sitting for a bit, we were told to sweep the big room. So much dust. Even if you sweep in the same spot over and over again, there will always be more dust. The room got a bit cloudy and I really think it was from us sweeping. The dust would just go up and then settle somewhere else on the ground. After lunch, a group of us lied down on the grass on top of each other’s stomachs. We played the “HaHa” game where you go in a line saying one more Ha then the person before you. When we came back, Arthur was napping on the couch, so we napped in our normal spots. We actually fell asleep. I thought that Rach wanted me to wake her up every time she started to snore, but eventually she just yelled at me to stop and told me to move. Hahaha. I woke up to Rachel tickling me and her and Arthur staring at me and laughing. Then we did the same thing to Michal. We had slept for about an hour. At this point, I believe we became actual friends—like we could be friends on facebook and it wouldn’t be weird—with Arthur.

Then we were given the job to pick up trash from outside. It was hot and not fun. We also had to organize some things. After carrying papers to an office and them not wanting them, we painted the inside of the warehouse. Arthur called me a good girl before he left. It was a little awkward!! After we finished, we decided to go. We went to get our ice cream and then we had dinner and after our peula was outside. We were in a circle and we were put into groups and were given a situation and try and give our opinion in trying to resolve it. The topics were about the Hatikvah talking about Jewish souls when not everyone in Israel is Jewish, should Israel continue to build in Jerusalem, should stores be allowed to be open on Shabbat, should buses be able to run on shabbat, the problems of marriages in Israel, and war crimes in Gaza. I talked a lot, I just had so much to say! I was impressed with myself how certain vocabulary would just come out and I felt like I knew what I was saying. I really have learned so much about Israel and I have a better understanding of situations where people are not sure if they should agree with Israel or not. After showering, we got some food before going to bed.

MONDAY:
We all woke up at 6:30ish to get dressed and to be at breakfast by 7. It is kind of nice to wear the same thing every day and not really have to worry about how things work. Earlier that morning we heard girls cleaning everything-their rooms, floors of the building, along with the bathrooms and showers. Breakfast was pretty lame and then after chilling outside until it was 8:15, we had the morning news. We all got into a chet and we found out that U.S. said that Israel will freeze building for at elast 2 years in an attempt to make peace. Then we went to volunteering where we took poles for tents and put them on the ground to tie them up. We needed 180 of one kind and more of another kind. We started to joke around with one of the guys we worked with. His name is Arthur. Then the girls were given the job to check to see if flashlights worked. Michal and I joked about doing a Tik Tok dance with the flashlights. The whole time loud American hip-hop/club music was playing. It was fun to dance to when no one was looking. Arthur came at one point and gave us pastries. Right when we were supposed to sort metal things from each other outside (so hot), luckily, we had our lunch break. It was at 12 and we had to be back at 1. When we came back, we had to sort the metal things from each other. If they were straight, especially the tip, then it would go in one pile. Broken or bad metal things would go in another pile. I was saved by Boaz’s phone call, so I got to be in the shade for a little. It was funny how my phone could be on and I could answer it whenever. After taking out the trash and Arthur leaving us, we met another guy who works in the warehouse. He has an A scar on his shoulder. Earlier, him and Arthur did a hand war and Arthur won! He is so much smaller than the guy with the A scar. We had to roll up tents. At first, the guy got kind of annoyed with us because we sucked at tying them together. To be fair, we had no idea how to tie it good and he wouldn’t show us!! Fnally, we figured it out and did a big tent really, really good. Props to Rach for making beautiful knots. When it was time for us to go, A-scar didn’t want us to. The girl working at the warehouse was telling us how she works here and she doesn’t even have to do this type of work and that we shouldn’t listen to him. So then we left!

We went to our favorite place where we began our new trend. We decided for each day, someone would pay for 2 ice creams and the 3 of us would just pass them back and forth to each other. We would each pay for one day. The first day we got 2 nok-outs one that was dark chocolate and the other one with white chocolate and strawberry. Good combo. Then we had dinner. Right after dinner was our night activity. That night it was “Army Experience.” We were all in a Chet and then saw 4 officers come up to us with a straight face and told us the rules. We cannot smile or laugh. We must always answer them with saying “Mefaked” at the end. Some people laughed and when they got called out on it, they laughed even harder, so they either had to do push-ups or run. We then all had to do push- ups after a girl did not do good push-ups. Joe had to put paint all over our faces in 30 seconds. We also had to run around. I always got a good start and so I was always in the very front. I was in the mood to run. Then they told us we had to come up with a good song that we would all know and we had to scream while we ran. We needed to be loud enough so people would hear us. They also said it needed to be good. If it was good, we would run faster. When we were choosing, people wanted to do Tik Tok, but I was thinking about doing a nice Jewish/Israeli song. Hahaha. We ended up dong Tik Tok. Then after running we went back into a Chet and after some push ups and more running, the 4 mefakeds took off their hats and then started to smile and said “hey, what’s up.”

After getting blue things to go on our shoulders that said “mtnadev sar-el,” we then went inside and learned about the soldiers and got to ask them questions. One of them had escaped from Iran and we couldn’t take pictures with him or take pictures of him. All of them are training to be officers. It was funny to see them be so strict and then so chill and acting like their age-around 21. After we took pictures and stuff, we showered and sat on benches new the cheder ohel. Some soldiers came up to Rach and me and asked who we were, etc. It was all in Hebrew! Then we had a 9:25 snack in place of a midnight one. Once we got kicked out of the cheder ohel, we went back to our room and all of us just talked for a while.

SUNDAY:
Boaz had to wake up early to catch a bus. It was good that he came to Arad with me because he had to get on base an hour early (at 9, instead of 10) because he got in trouble. He forgot he had his phone on him and it went off (cotton eye joe ringtone). Oy. Because he was in Arad, he could sleep in a little. When I told him we were about 40 minutes from Be'er Sheva, he was like "Jesseca, I thought you said you were close to Be'er Sheva. 40 minutes (it is actually 50) is not close. 10 or 15 minutes is close." hehehe. After I walked him to the bus and said bye, I came back and just relaxed on the couch thinking how much I am going to miss him and Israel. I thought at the time that the next time I would see him would be my last time. (Sorry to kill the climax, because I know all of you care so so so much, but I later found out that I would be able to see him 2 more times-I will be with him for my last shabbat.) I then got up and after waiting an HOUR for the bus to take us to our base for sarel (and being a little emotional (3x)..what?!) we get on the bus. After some sleeping, we get to where some of us are going to be. We get off the bus and then after having a meeting with this important guy in the army and of the base and for all communication, we got our uniforms and then had lunch. Some of us had to go back to the place where we got our uniforms because our pants were just too big. This time a person helped me and I got a pair of girl pants. Still big, but not completely falling off...only just a little.

After lunch, I went with Rach and Michal (JRM anyone?!?! Katie?!) and James Genn and Joe Sacks to where we would be volunteering. It was at the storage place that had a room for just tents and sleeping bags. The other room had flashlights, vests, helmets, and other things like that. Bceause the main guy wasn’t there, the people working there didn’t really know what to do with us. We swept a bit and then after being given cookies from the girl (saying in English that although she is black she is Jewish, goes to synogouge, etc.—it is funny how she thought that we didn’t believe that she was Jewish) and then were told that we could leave early that day. It was so hot out, so we went to a shady spot where there were picnic tables. We were just sitting there and these group of guys came up to us and asked if we wanted the rest of their orange juice. Sure! We talked with them for a bit in English and then in Hebrew. It was funny because after we went through all the basic questions to each other, it was just silent. We didn’t know what else to say! After they left Rach, Michal, and I passed the drink around each other. Rach then spotted a soldier who bought a iced coffee, but didn’t finish it. Once no one was around, we egged her on and so she grabbed it and a water bottle and brought it to our table. Then we drank the water and iced coffee. Hahaha. We told ourselves it was okay because since we didn’t volunteer for the whole day, we were cleaning up the garbage and being “garbage collectors.”

We went back to our hot, stinky room and took a nice nap. After going to dinner we had our nightly activity. While he was talking, my phone went off. I forgot to put it on silent and it was Boaz, so I ran outside quickly. When I came back we were divided into groups and then we rated different songs such as: Yachad, A New Land, Bo’I, The Silence that Remains, Jerusalem of Gold, Bat Shishim, and Yeledeem Rotim. After the activity we showered and got ready for bed. I passed out pretty early. It was hot out and a little buggy. Rach and Michal got eaten alive. Boaz called me right before 12 and when my phone rang I thought it was morning and I would have to get up in a few minutes. I looked at the time after he said “lilah tov” to me because I was so confused as to why he was telling me goodnight when it was the morning!

SATURDAY:
On Saturday we woke up around 1ish for lunch. Gal came over. It was a big lunch, but really good. After lunch Gal, Boaz, and I hung out and were trying to figure out what movie to watch. Eventually Gal left and Boaz and I just watched this weird movie. Both of us were so confused. We had some dinner and then later we got to the CBS to head to Arad. We missed the 9 o'clock bus, which made me nervous, but we ended up getting to Be'er Sheva and were waiting for the bus to Arad. I saw Tamar and Alex (madrich) also waiting for the bus. I told Boaz a bit about yam l'yam, but he would always fall asleep while I was telling painful details. I really do need to work on not including EVERYTHING that happens to me-except for this blog! When we got to Arad, I had to unpack and repack and shower and handwash my underwear before getting to bed around 1:30ish on the couch with Boaz. Everyone was back from Marva, so we were a full house! It was hot out, which was not fun.

FRIDAY:
On Friday I hung out in Katie's apartment and blogged until Boaz called me and told me he was about an hour away from the CBS. I then packed up and walked there. It was so hot out. I was sweating A LOT. I bumped into Ami (madrich from BY) and it was nice to see him! He told me he was walking slowly because of the heat, but I was doing the opposite, so I would hopefully have a few minutes to dry off before seeing Boaz. After seeing him, we got lunch at the CBS. It was my first time having chinese food in Israel this year! So good. We then took a bus back to his place. On the way (after he peed), we saw kittens that looked about a week old!! We felt so bad and didn't know what to do. There were 2 of them and they were meowing and we just wanted to feed them or give them milk or something-it was really hot out. When we got back home we asked his mom, but she said we shouldn't do anything. She felt so bad too. We talked and caught up and then we napped for a bit, but when he was still passed out, I just hung out with his family and watched some tv with Miki and Anat. Anat had a gymnastic competition earlier that day. I saw some videos her dad had recorded of her. She is good!

After waking Boaz up, we went to Shabbat dinner, which was nice-food always being really good. Hung out with his family and they were doing arm wrestling. Anat and Mya are so funny and remind me of my family. They fight and, like sisters, annoy each other on purpose. After dinner, Boaz and I walked to town and after walking around in circles before we were with his friends and then to get to them and then while we are with them, we finally sat down somewhere. Because we got such a late start, I don't think we got back until around 4ish. I was so tired.

THURSDAY:
Yesterday(!) when we all woke up, I finished watching Alice in Wonderland with Katie and Rachel. Then we got ready and left to meet Moran at 12ish on emek refiem for a birthday breakfast for her!! On the way, we wanted to buy her a birthday balloon, but the closest thing we could find was this big balloon we blow up ourselves. It was huge. When I was carrying it to café café, it popped. It was a loud pop and Katie finally screamed like a girl! We almost all cried. We picked up the pieces to at least show her. Rach and I split a muesli and French toast. It was so nice just talking with Moran. She is not our madricha, but our friend. I’m gonna miss her a lot, but it is nice to know that I have made my own Israeli friends. We got her a belguin waffle for a birthday dessert and after breakfast we all walked to beit ar-el and Rach was there for a little, but she left to meet her cousin for coffee. Katie and I stayed there for most of the day. When we got our passports, Boaz wasn’t in, so I wrote him a note in Hebrew. It was weird how easy it was to write a note to him in Hebrew!!

After getting kicked out of different rooms, I find Katie in our old apartment (not the shelem one) and cleaning it up for them. I blogged. We were there for hours. Rach came back and around 5:30ish we left and went to sushi bar on emek refiem. We split 2 combinations and it was so so so good. I don’t really feel guilty about going out for meals now that there isn’t much time left. When we got back to Katie’s (which was really fast) they went to some friends’ induction ceremony, but I decided to stay back with Naomi and while she watched a movie I napped. When everyone came back around 10ish, I showered and we didn’t go out until close to midnight. We hung out with Yoni for a little and then saw some of our random friends and the soldiers that we met on a siyyur and boombamella (they got inducted that night). We also saw this kid who is friends with Gabi and Cara, and he told us he is leaving on Sunday. It was so shocking and Rach and I were so upset. It was weird to know that this was the last time we would see people and the time has come. The year really is almost over. We got back around 4ish-I was so tired, but excited to see Boaz the next day!

WEDNESDAY:
On Wednesday, Rach and I woke up at 9 and showered and then took my laptop and went to “Coffee Shop” to have a nice breakfast and then blog. We made friends with our waiter and we would ask him questions about Hebrew words because I wrote Boaz a little note in Hebrew to give to him at the Kotel. After having a mocha and muesli, we (Rachel) got to work. People sitting next to us were American and Rach and I were listening and it is funny to hear these women have a deep conversation when it seems so fake. That is probably how other people view me when I am having a deep conversation with a friend. We were at the coffee shop for about 4 hours. We felt so accomplished when we finished. It is in so much detail. It is good that it was a joint effort because while Rachel can talk about our actual hiking, I remember all the funny, inside jokes.

We then dropped the laptop and charger at Katie’s and went to the shuk. We bought Boaz gummies and then we bought banana clips. I felt so Israeli. I bumped into Hannah Manson while at the shuk with Danielle Arje (Kendall’s good friend from camp). Hannah is going back to camp this summer and she is with little kids. Rach and I joked around afterwards how I’m happy that I might have found maybe one friend for camp! Hahaha. Then we walked to ben yehuda street and rach got an iced coffee, and I bought a shot glass with Israel on it for Lori. At the bottom we saw this competition going on, it was for dancing. We watched for a few minutes before walking back to Katie’s. When we got home, after writing Boaz’s note nicely and putting it in the gummy bag, we began to watch Alice in Wonderland. Rach somehow got it, and so now it somehow is on my computer! People came back when we were at the beginning. I couldn’t watch for long because Boaz’s mom called me to tell me they would come get me in like 10 minutes. She called me earlier to ask if I wanted a ride with them. I got ready and then got into their car.

It was nice and weird because I hadn’t seen them in 2 weeks!! We picked up Stav, who was in uniform and wearing a banana clip! After Boaz’s dad did an impressive parallel parking job, we walked to the Kotel. I talked to Stav and Boaz’s mom. While standing around at the Kotel to try and find Boaz’s grandpa, I saw Kendall! We talked on Tuesday about how she was also going to be at the tekes because a family she had gotten really close with, the son was a commander and was handing out the guns and Tanachs. So jeaouls of Kendall’s Hebrew skills. She told me that she can understand basically everything, but her speaking isn’t on the same level. I am still impressed and hopefully one day I can be at the same level she is at now.

After being in the crowd and then Katie, Rachel, Naomi, Elana, and Orly coming, we went in the back and after talking with Boaz’s dad for a little I went to stand up on something with Boaz’s mom and Anat. It was a bummer, but we didn’t get to see where Boaz was or see him get his gun and Tanach. It was still cool that in that crowd he was there! I had been to one before and knew someone, but he isn’t such a good friend or anything. After the ceremony, we found him and his fan club were there and Katie starting to take lots of pictures. It was so exciting to see him and so cute to see him hugging his family, especially his mom. Katie got a good picture of his mom having his face in her hands. Once we all talked and took pictures, we went to the steps where we had snacks. I forgot to say that Boaz’s mom made me a sandwich that I had before the ceremony started. So nice! My friends were so funny with Boaz’s family. Katie practicing her Hebrew and being jokingly creepy and Rachel only wanting to speak Hebrew. After Boaz’s family left Boaz and I finally got to talk for a little before he had to go back. It was good to know that I would be seeing him the day after tomorrow!

I then walked to Mamilla alone. Instead of going through the Armenian quarter, I almost went into the Arab shuk. I turned around telling myself how stupid I was. Rach and them stopped at Aroma to eat, so I talked with them again for a few minutes and Boaz’s family was also there! Haha. I went in to quickly say hi and then I left with Katie to walk to ben yehuda to meet up with Kendall. Katie told me how they kept on bumping into them on the way home and saying hi and then how it was so funny how while my friends were ordering food, Boaz’s family walks in. Katie and I had a nice talk and then when we had to part it took us about 10 minutes to walk away from each other. We kept on hugging, but it was so weird of us because I was going to see her in a few hours! I met up with Kendall by the bars and then we went to ben yehuda street and got ice cream. We talked and talked for hours and it was such a good catch up. We both found it weird how we just never really hung out this year. I mean we both had busy schedules.

At 12:30ish we decided to go and after saying bye, I walked back to Katie’s. I feel so cool walking alone and just being independent. When I got home, almost everyone was sleeping, so I got ready for bed and then went to bed.

TUESDAY:
We woke up early to get on a bus by 7am. We were going to Jerusalem for a MASA all day event. During the bus ride, Rach blogged about Yam l'yam, while I just zoned out. During our break, I saw the ice cream deal and even though it was before 9am, I forced someone (it ended up being Katie) to do the deal with me. Only 8 sheks! Saving 2 sheks!! In the bathroom there was a woman with blonde hair and it looked like it was Bubbe Eleanor. The woman kind of smelled like her too! I was freaking out before she turned around and I saw that it was not her. Also, on the bus ride, I saw soldiers on the side of the road wearing red boots and thought that it could be Boaz…I later asked him and after him laughing at me, he said it wasn’t him.

Similarly how Paris as known as the center for love and America is known for freedoms, Israel should be known as creative. After almost having another falafel for lunch, but then getting a hamburger instead, there was a panel type of thing about being active on their campus. Kind of interesting. There then was an interview with Natan Sharansky. I didn’t know he was such a big deal until I saw so so so many people there and standing up for when he came and when people asked him questions they would have to walk up to one of the microphones and before they spoke they would say how much of an honor it is to hear him speak, etc. His story is incredible-about how after refusing to publicly say that his beliefs about Judaism and Zionism was wrong, the Soviet Union put him in jail for 9 years. He also is just so funny and doesn’t regret going to jail because he learned so much when he was in there. I want to know more about the torture room. A few points he told us, was how important it is to have a strong, Jewish identity, to be a fighter and don’t give in, and to have connections to ties to things you feel strongly about. Two of the people that I met on Desert Queen (adults) were working for him! After he spoke we had a little break and then Rachel had her graduation from BFL (the thing I really wanted to do.) It was nice and me and a few others were annoying parents of Rachel. Katie was the best at taking pictures and being in Rachel’s face.

After that we were a little late to another lecture that was big. We saw Britty! The guy’s big thing was about how important it is to remember the Jewish memory. Kind of similar to Sharansky’s idea of having a strong Jewish identity because with the memory, you can support Israel and Judaism. I forgot to mention how I peed like every 2 minutes. Before Rachel’s graduation, there was a long line, but I didn’t have time, so I went into the guy’s one. Guys were peeing, but I didn’t see anything. It was funny how shocked guys were when I was washing my hands and walked out with them. Hahaha. I ended up getting to Rachel’s thing right on time!

After that lecture, we talked with Britty for a little, before going outside where it was warmer. Something funny was when we first got there, there was a coat check and I had no idea what they were doing until they told me! Hahaha. We saw Britty again and she told us how she might be making aliyah and doing garin tzabar (like Cara, Ale, and Kendall). She wants to be on the same kibbutz as Kendall. So jealous of her. It is always tempting to do garin tzabar, do the army, and then go to university in Israel. If I really don’t like U of M, I am happy that I have this exciting option. I have a feeling that when I get home, I will see how much I like it home, too. We then got dinner, which was packaged sandwiches. It was so gross, I couldn’t eat all of it. We talked with the sofiem and it was so nice to hang out and laugh with. A lady then told us how in a few minutes hundreds of people are going to start to get through security, so if we want to beat the long line, we should go now. We were so nervous that we rushed to the security area. We had to go through security because Bibi was making an appearance, so extreme security check took place. The woman asked where I was from. I responded, “Michigan?” and then realized that I think she wanted to know which program I’m from or where in Israel I am living. Or, she just didn’t care, just wanted to see if I was suspicious. She just made me so confused! She then asked where we were staying tonight. I said Jerusalem and then where and in my head I was like “shit, why didn’t I just say Arad?!” A group of us got asked these questions at the same time, so then I just shut up and let others do the talking.

After getting our hands checked for gun residue and me asking the guy something in Hebrew, but him not even acknowledging what I asked, we went through a detector and then we were in. Rach and I decided to go find our seats. We had so much time and we were just sitting in the pretty much empty area. It only looked like a few people were sitting. The seats were comfortable. After being there for a little over 20 minutes, I decided to practice my Hebrew by asking a guy working there what time it will start. He then asked where we were from and then a woman asked where we were from and then spoke in English telling us that they are still doing sound check and setting up, and we aren’t supposed to be in there. She didn’t know who let us in. Hahahaha. We then had to wait outside with everyone else, where we just chilled and I talked to mom for a little. She thought I said Masada when I said MASA, and I almost hung up on her! When we finally were able to go in, I ended up sitting next to Shira and being by sofiem. There was Israeli music being sung by a band and the words on the screen. It was so fun to sing along and dance crazily. I did know some of the songs. I was so excited when they played the song I learned when I went to the sofiem thing where they auditioned to be in the carivan or work at camps abroad. The group of us all went crazy. Once everything began, it wasn’t long before Bibi walked in and took a seat. Some of the Israelis were so annoyed that people were standing and clapping for him. It was cool to see him. After some student speakers and Britty’s friend having a video and then speaking, Bibi spoke to us. He was telling us how this is our land and welcome home, etc.

After he finished speaking and left, some more people spoke and before we knew it Hadag Nachash came on! It was so fun just to dance. I got to talk to Boaz for more than 2 seconds, which was exciting. The last song was Shirat HaSticker, and then after leaving, getting our stuff from the bus, we eventually walked to Katie’s. On the way, Rach and I stopped and got New Deli, where we ate by the Fountain. It was so delicious and I kind of wished I got my own because it is just so so so good. Not much after we got to Katie’s we went to sleep.

MONDAY:

Katie and I woke up at 8 and then Lindsey talked to us about anorexia and bulimia and then vitamins. It was a nice way to wake up! About an hour later after first waking up I got out of bed and then after checking stuff on the computer, Katie and I left to walk to a bus stop that could take us back to the CBS. When we got the CBS, we bought candy and then ate a lot of it on the bus ride home. It was not even 11am yet. We then went to my apartment and had some breakfast, which was hamburgers Leah made the night before. By 12 I was at my volunteering and Rach's person once again didn't need her, so she was helping at the place I volunteer at. We put clothes in the right sections and then after sweeping the floors and mopping, our person took us out for falafel!! 2nd day in a row eating it!! It was at a different place and was good. She paid for us and then she let us have an early day!

When we got back to the apartment, after sitting on the couch on the computer for a little, I went into my new room to take a 30 minute nap, but saw that Michal was passed out on my bed, so I then just went into Rachel's bed. Ahhh I love her bed. After forcing myself to get up, Rachel and I began to blog about our Yam l'yam experience. We were interrupted when we had to go on this hike for Lag b'Omer. We were in the Yattir forest and it was pretty cool. The hike wasn't really anything-instead of wearing sandals, I wore my hiking boots, which didn't hurt my pinkey toe too much. We saw the civilization that once lived there. They had built a wine maker (the children would crush the grapes), an olive oil maker, had some cisterns and a place for prayer. We also went into this cave that smelled bad and had some bugs in it.

After we got onto the bus to go to this place to make a bonfire. Katie and I found some wood and then arab children made the fire and then we all roasted marshmallows and mingled with the arab families. I practiced my hebrew with a few of them. We were supposed to have hotdogs and potatoes, but the madrichim just decided to leave after the marshmallows. When we got back to the apartment, with all of the extra potatoes, we (michal, leah, rach, and I) had a nice dinner together. They had one thing, but I couldn't resist but make a grilled cheese on pita with tomatoes and garlic. After dinner we packed and such and then I didn't get to bed until 1ish.

SUNDAY:

(5/2) we got to sleep into like 10ish, 11 was breakfast, well lunch with chicken and other stuff for before we hit the road. We all talked about the previous night and filled out evaluation forms for Ascent. Iris came in and told us how much he enjoyed our company and that if we were ever in Jerusalem to find him. Joe and him became pretty close, and they didn’t come back to like 4 in the morning. Joe’s stories of the night were pretty cool and scary…almost suffocated from the mass of people. As we were leaving more people were coming.

We left Ascent and started on the 5 hour drive back to Arad. Rachel read another 200 pages…

This wasn’t our favorite weekend but it was definitely an experience.

Right after we got off the bus, Katie and I went to the clinic and after waiting to speak to the person who knows english, we went up to a room together with Alex. They talked about Katie's eye and to come back in a few minutes. I then went to a different doctor who was not patient with me and then sent me back into the first room for the woman to wet my foot, open it up and then cut off the dead skin before putting antibacterial stuff on it and wrapping it up. She spoke to me all in hebrew and asked if it hurt and to tell her if it hurts, etc. It didn't hurt and I felt like working on my hebrew so I told her that I felt nothing. Woo hoo! Haha. After she finished with me, I waited outside for Katie to go back in so she could get a referral that would allow her to go to the hospital in be'er sheva. Katie was a little emotional because yelling took place and then after failing to try and be slick and help her without Alex knowing, we went back to the reception desk and then the same woman gave us the rest of the bag of marshmellows!!! I only like the white ones, so I made Katie or Alex eat the pink ones.

After dropping off our stuff at my apartment and checking our emails and facebooks (which took more than 15 minutes--it was more like an hour), Katie and I went to the falafel place she works at, hoping she would be able to get a free falafel for me. We ended up having to pay. While waiting for the bus, I ended up eating it. I hadn't had falafel in a long time, so it was nice. We took a bus to be'er sheva and then a public bus to the hospital. The bus only cost 4 sheks! The bus took some time to get to the CBS, so Katie ran to go get candy, but before she could get any, the bus came so she had to run back. She had tried some candies, so basically ran out of the store while eating sour gummies without paying. Hahaha.

When we got to the hospital we signed in, went to the nurse and then accidentally we didn't really understand the nurse and then just went into the E.R. There were soldiers there, along with a child screaming and some blood. Wrong area. After getting lose and going to different places, we finally get to the 3rd floor for E.R. for eyes. It was annoying how the 3rd floor didn't connect all the way, so to get to the right area you have to go on a special elevator. When we gave the women papers to give to the doctor, we just followed her in and then the doctor was with a patient and then he asked what was going on, she turned around and was shocked to see that we had followed her. She then yelled at us to get out and to wait where everyone else was. Oops! there were about 7 people. We waited for so so sooo long. Like hours. Like at least three. Boaz called for a few minutes- he told me that he was leaving the base for a few days, so he wouldn't have his phone. At least I would be seeing him in a few days!

It wasn't until midnight when the doctor finally called her name. Instead of flipping the eye up because it was so infected, him and the other doctor decided just to pop it a little and then just squeeze out some of the oil fluids. He was squeezing really hard and I thought it didn't hurt katie, but she told me it killed afterwords. He had an earring and was kind of cute and Katie kind of was crushing on him and we were so tired and she would tell him to smile and stuff like that. At one point she started to laugh and then I started to laugh and she couldn't ask a question without laughing. I was so tired that I had to leave the room and alone, in the hallway I was cracking up. Katie could hear me and I could hear her laughing at me. So funny, but so uncontrollable. After telling her to put stuff in her eye and put a hot compress on it and try to squeeze more stuff out 4 times a day for 10 days and telling her to come back in 10 days and explaining to her that they might not be able to get it out because the capsule needs to peel off the eye, it cannot be tightly connected to. He said that they might not be able to take it out for a month or even 2 months! It was good that we went to the hospital, but just annoying that she still had to do stuff with her eye, rather than it just being over with. Plus, she has to go back again.

Since there were no more buses at that hour, we headed to Katie's sister's (Lindsey) apartment (she is studying at the ben-gurion university). We couldn't figure out how to get out of the hospital and it was a little scawy!! Finally we follow people and get out of the hospital. We walk for about 15 minutes to Lindsey's apartment. She was in the middle of finals, so she told us her place was messy. It was a nice, good size apartment and after Katie cleaned it up a bit (made the bed and cleaned dishes) we got to bed around 2ish.

SATURDAY:

(May 1) Katie, Julia and Jessica got up to go to services, Rachel and Naomi slept in to 10 when Katie had come back to the room to “wake us up.” We got dressed and went down for a light breakfast-coffee and cake later to be followed by kiddish of coffee and more cake. There was then another talk. Rochel sat with us and asked what we learned from the farbregen, when she heard that we were there. Rachel starts telling the story about the fisherman that Iris had told the night before but Iris is there so we just ask him to tell it again.

We then went to the cave for lunch. Boaz was at the head, and then Rachel and Ami were on either side with Jessica next to Rachel. We were all sitting down—Shevet at a single table for the first time like ever when Iris came over, asking no one in particular, if the table was full. He then introduces himself to Rachel and asks if she was sitting in the first row during the talk yesterday? Umm, maybe, middlish front I suppose. Ok great, nice meeting you. Boaz then makes a remarks: ohh Rachel that is how those yeshiva boys flirt: were you in the front (licking lips)? Jessica, Ami and Rachel are dying in hysterics. Like almost peed my pants, which isn’t funny b/c Rachel is always almost manic in Tsfat. We most definitely looked like fools. And then Boaz and Ami continued to refer to him as Rachel’s husband for the rest of the weekend…great, thanks guys. The chulent was good, but we didn’t eat that much. Because it was going to be such a late night, as in no sleeping, we all needed to go take naps. Jessica and Rachel left early, before benching, to go nap. On the way out a girl stopped us who just made Aliyah and is from San Diego. We continued walking out when Iris gets up to give a talk. Great, future husband giving a talk and we just walked out. We were standing outside the door so that we could still listen, we didn’t want to walk back in because that would just be weird. But Katie and Boaz were able to see us and kept making comments.

We got back to our room and got into bed. Then others came back in and we all tried to nap but that didn’t really happen.

Rachel, Naomi, Katie, and some of the Shalem girls got up to go for the Mystical tour of Tsfat while Julia and Jessica continued to sleep. And yes, Iris was there then too. Rabbi Lieter’s wife gave the tour—some of it was a repeat from last time that we were there but some of it was different. Iris was making small talk with Rachel about Israel and Tsfat, Katie is keeping out a watchful eye and keeps trying to get me away from him. Eventually we fall behind and he starts talking to Joe and they become good friends. At one point, Katie had her arm around Rachel’s shoulder and then my back, and it might have graved her tush when some guys were like no, no, no, with a waggle of the finger. We crack up and then Katie makes conversation with them. We went to a secret cave thing where there was a burial. There was a question posed by the Rebbatsin as to what was learnt here—Rachel got it right, the Noachide Laws—by Noach’s sons. Hmm? And then Kabbalah. She explained that not everyone is listed in the Torah that lived then, only the people that knew the secrets of Kabbalah are listed—Noach’s sons being some of them. Katie and Rachel made a friend from Norway who is traveling around Israel because he feels a pull to this country. He isn’t positive that he is Jewish but Rachel thinks he is. Not everyone feels that magnetic pull. We all went to a couple of different synagogues. One of them Rachel got yelled at for her top—there was no cleavege, just a little collarbone and chest. I never get yelled at! I just wanted to pull it down lower! But I didn’t.

We finally made it back to Ascent. We missed Mincha but then had seudah shlishit it was okay. Again the Rebbatsin gave a talk, she wanted it to be a Q&A/Talk thing. And Joel decided to ask “if it is idolatry to pray to the grave of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai and practically worship, b/c that is how it looks.” Others peoples questions were a lot more simpler. She starts talking and eventually talks about how its not idolatry, on this very long tangent. But Joel had already left. She kept asking Simon, Joel’s twin, if she had answered his question. Yeah, that was enough. Needless to say we all wanted to kill Joel. We all went back to our rooms to just rest up and go to sleep before Havdallah, instead of the Q&A with the Rabbi.

Havdallah was amazing with singing, dancing, and good spirits. We then went back to bed to get up at 10 pm for pizza. Jessica ate 6 slices. Rachel ate 3 slices. And head out eventually for Har Meron. See we did climb Har Meron, just a week after Yam L’Yam! It was packed beyond belief. It took forever for the bus to get there. Shevet had it’s mini bus but others from the hostel got in it so we had to wait for a normal bus. Shevet was singing songs, not necessarily Jewish ones but we were united in our efforts.

We pulled up and all got off. There were people giving away free drinks and food so we all got shock, the chocolate milk in the bags, and continued to the entrance where we ran into BRITTY! Jessica, Katie, and Rachel all practically jumped her! It was great seeing her. She was there with a friend and looking for another, so we had to part our ways. We started walking up the mountain. It was packed. It was like a carnival with people dancing at different music centers and what not.

We finally got to the grave building. The women and men sides are separate. To enter you have to push and shove, not very nice and it is hellish inside. We didn’t push or shove, we just let those behind you push you which in turn is you pushing someone else. It is a domino affect that is beyond claustrophobic. Katie, Naomi, and Julia got to the front and were able to touch the fence. Rachel just wanted to just get out and made way for the exit. Jessica got really close to the fence. Its not like you can touch the actual grave and it is weird touching graves. Jessica and Rachel finally got out and waited for the others by a big yellow sign, where we again ran into Britty. We got to catch up a little bit and then they tried to enter the craziness. Julia, Naomi, and Katie finally made it out of there and we started for down the mountain. We ran into everyone else, after finding free rugulas, of course. Where are my friends? By the food of course. We figured out how to get to the buses back to tsfat. We needed to pee. But didn’t want to go in the port-o-potties so Jessica Katie and Rachel did it in the nature. We rejoined and waited for a bus. Most people got on one but then it was full so we got on the second one. We kept falling down b/c it was a windy road and we were standing…people probably thought that we were drunk—we hadn’t had a drop to drink. We made it to the CBS in Tsfat and walked back to Ascent. Rachel showered, we all got ready for bed and went to sleep.

On the way to the buses we were all talking about what we expected and how different it was from what we thought it would be—some thought that it there would be these huge bonfires with people dancing around them, others thought that it would a mountain like in the nature instead of a paved road and the grave would be at the top and people would be on top of each other trying to get there. People were on top of each other but it was in a building. We weren’t really shocked by the pushiness of people, we have been to other graves on busy days and the Kotel during Birchat H’Cohanim but this was something else. Lag B’Omer is a holiday where we are supposed to be happy but being in the building just made Jessica and Rachel angry.