I got back from Tzfat last night...

FRIDAY:

We had to wake up at 7:45, and since we got back last night around 4am, we didnt get that much sleep. Because i wasnt sleeping for long, it wasnt too difficult for me to function after really forcing myself to get out of bed. I finished packing up my stuff (i did most of it when i got back from ben yehuda--oh, i forgot to mention that i found out that someone got stabbed in ben yehuda that night..scary). When we got on the bus, there were no seats next to each other, so i couldnt sit next to katie (i was pissed because i wanted to be able to sleep on her/laugh with her!) The bus ride was okay, i kind of slept. We first stopped at this place where we learned about tefillin, torah, mezuzahs, and scribes. It wasnt boring because we just watched 2 videos, but the videos were interactive. In the first video we learned about tefillin, torah, and mezuzah. Before we would learn about each one, there was a quiz we would take, and we would press a button on our seat and it would show up on the screen. It was fun! The winner would get a prize (there was 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place). We found out at the end that they have ran out of their prizes, but are going to send them to the winners. The second movie was about scribes and all of the seats were on something that would move around to different screens and sometimes we would use 3d glasses.

After that, we drove for a little until we got to ascent, where we were staying. 7 of us were in a room together. After we made our beds and got settled (i brought the dream sac, but everything felt clean) we went down to where the sukkah was because they said we would finally be getting lunch (it was 1pm by then and all i had that day was an apple). We end up only getting served many different types of cakes. They were good, but we all felt so gross because we wanted a real lunch! During this time i got to shake the lulav and etrog. finally! After this, everyone walked to a grocery store to buy food for lunch. Since it was closing, everyone had to hurry up and ironically, not many people bought healthy "lunch" food. I had a turkey sandwich i made a couple of days ago (i think it was still good...) so i ate that. When we got back one of the rabbis spoke to us about Simchat Torah. After this the boys went to an ancient mikvah, while the girls (and some boys) made challah. IT was so fun! I learned how to braid a challah with 6 pieces, it looked so good! I really want to remember how i did it so i can make my own challah. After the challah making, we got ready for shabbat and simchat torah.

When we came down we lit candles and went to the top of the building to pray. I sat next to this woman who started talking to me and asking me about YJ and such. She somehow mentions that she is trying to find wives for her 2 nephews who are there and wanted to know it if was interested! what?! i told her that i am too young to get married and not ready to. She said she understood, but her nephews are already 24 and so it is time for them to get married. She then just told me to let her know if i was interested. um thanks. After services, we began to dance and start simchat torah! A couple of people were drunk, but i barely got anything, so i was fine, but having a fun time dancing. After this we went outside and we were supposed to find the family that was hosting us for dinner. We found ours (they are a young couple) and the wife was the woman that taught us how to braid and make other designs with challah dough. We didnt recognize her because she wore a different sheitel. Along with the a group of 6 of us, they were also hosting the wife's brother and girlfriend, and 2 friends of theirs. The brother and the friend were really wasted. The friend was from detroit! yay! We didnt know any of the same people, but it was still nice. The wife (her name is chana) was from san diego and so her and rachel knew a lot of the same people! When we got to their house (around 10ish) we started dinner.

Dinner was so funny. The food was delicious, but all of us were exhausted and katie kept on dozing off. The friend from detroit was really drunk and ended up falling asleep (and snoring) on the couch. There was so much food and so i basically skipped the main dishes because i was so full from all of the salads and soup. Chana told some interesting stories and same with her husband (eg. Jews have sensitive souls, so we should eat proper things so our hear and our mind do not get clogged). They werent preaching, but just speaking for themselves. It was interesting because the husband was from a conservative family and her family was religious, but not chabad. It was interesting how open they are to others. For example, chana's brother is not religious, but she is fine with that. There were also a lot of conversations that ended up no where and when we realized this we found it so funny. We all laughed a lot and i explained 2 times the gilly skit from snl because everyone who didnt know of the skit was confused as to why we would all crack up after saying "sorry." the best part is no one has seen this skit besides me! (note to self: britty in bathroom and getting locked in).

We left after eating delicious brownies with powdered sugar. We got a little lost on the way home, but found our way. Soon after we got back, we were all in bed and after reading for a little, fell asleep.

note to self: tricking rachel and nikola into believing Katie and 2 and a half warnings and other things..

SATURDAY:

We set an alarm for 7:50, because it said we should be down and ready to go by 8:30, but we didnt get up until 9. We all forced ourselves out of bed and got dressed. When we got down there, only a few brit boys were there. Everyone else was still sleeping. I guess it wasnt really mandatory. We then left after eating some cake for breakfast to go shul hopping. It was really hot out, but kind of fun. In most of the shuls the women would just watch the men dance. Eventually we got to a shul that was doing kiddish, so we munched on stuff there. After this we walked back to ascent, where we took a 20 minute nap. We woke up at 1:15 and went down to where lunch was going to be. So many people where completely wasted, but it was kind of annoying because they just woke up! Lunch was okay, we all had wine, which made us even more tired. A couple of us left lunch early and then took a nap. We then went down thinking a class was going to take place (the people's house we ate at last night were going to be leading this Q and A class). Instead, there was mincha, and although i wasnt there at the beginning, i got to hear the end of the Torah and the beginning.

After smoozing and cracking up with katie about the gilly thing (and explaining it again) a couple of us went back to the room to nap. People just ended up talking and i read. The time travelers wife is so good! We then go downstairs into the sukkah for the Q and A. There were 2 other people with the husband and wife. Before it started, i asked rachel to grab me a fruit and all of the sudden nicola says "jessica. everyone duck." leaving no time she chucks the apple and it hits mike (a madrich) right in the side of his head! hahaha. "ehh, sorry!" (in gilly's voice!) The Q and A was interesting and something I learned was the reason the Torah starts with a bet and not an aleph is because a bet is kind of like "]" with one side open and the other side shut meaning that we dont know what happened before what the Torah says.

This Q and A session lasted awhile, so after this we all went up to the roof to do havdallah. We then packed, danced some more, had pizza for dinner, read, sang songs, and then walked to a synagogue where outside there was singing and dancing. It took some of us a long time to get there because we were on the ground not breathing because of so many things. (katie being afraid of oompa loompas, gilly, rachel's "daddy alert" with no daddy around...) After this, while walking back, i found 20 sheks! woo hoo! since i was in front, it wasnt anyones from YJ. my plan is to buy falafel and ice cream wth it. We then changed into sweats and when rach and i got on the bus the only seats left on the bus were in the back row (it is a 5 seater). I was in the middle of it. UGH. Luckily, when we stopped for a bathroom, i found out that our madrichim both had their own seats in the front, so rach and i sat with them. I was so happy when the entire bus and different people were yelling at the madrichs saying that me and rach werent on the bus. They know my name!!! hahahaha.

When we got back it was 12:45ish. Right before we got back to beit ar-el, everyone on the bus starting saying "mike" "mike" "mike" like it was in finding nemo with the "mine" "mine" "mine". ah! it was sooo funny and we were all cracking up. steph, you would have trouble breathing. Luckily i did not have volunteering this morning because the schools have the day off. I felt bad for the people that had to wake up and go to volunteering. Sorry i didnt write more about yesterday, i just dont have the energy to go into more details.