Today I woke up at 7:40, and again at 8:10. I woke up at 7:40 to find rachel's alarm (her iphone) on my bed. I had no clue where she was. She then came back to the room saying that she has been up since early in the morning throwing up! When we finally left, we took a bus to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. On the bus, there was this cute baby who britty and i tried to make smile. difficult child! When we got there, we had to go through all of this security and i forgot to bring up that we couldnt bring cameras or bags. When we got there we sat around for a little in comfy chairs and an air conditioned room (it is so hot out today). There were cookies and bottled water. a few of us took advantage of that. (what?!) We had 2 speakers. The first speaker was this man who was interesting and talking about that the Gaza war and the lebanon war is wars with Iran. Iran is the main threat with israel, not hamas. We also talked about Turkey being a threat because they have a lot of power because they control water. At the beginning he said he was from the midwest and asked if any of us were and so im like "michigan!" and then he said he has been to west bloomfield a couple of times. for the rest of his presentation, he used west bloomfield and ann arbor for an example. i was so happy!

He spoke for a little longer than an hour and so did the woman. The woman talked about brands and how we need to change the way people think and view israel. First she brought up how different places have different brands. Brazil is fun, Los Vegas is sin, paris is romance, etc. We then talked about what israel's is and how right now people dont picture anything when they think about israel except for war and conflict. A lot of people in america dont know anything about israel (non-jewish) and they dont seem interested. One research thing that was done was they had people in a room and they played a game where they are in a neighborhood and each house is a different country and each house is having a party. For one country, Italy, everyone was talking about how friendly the people in there were, gave them food and wine, and no one wanted to leave. When they went to Israel's house, a lot of poeple didnt want to go in. The house was cold looking, stone, concrete, the man opened the door, no food was served, talked about politics. Some things that have been done is to bring people and different critics for different things, whether it be food, wine, sports, nature, clubs, dj's, etc. She also brought up how next year at university, we should talk about the interesting things about israel, that will get people the see israel in a different way, or in more than one way. The way she put it was really good. Of course, in the center, there will be conflict, be around it we can have all of the amazing, fun things about israel that no one really knows about. On the bus ride home I talked to some people with ari talking about all of the good food places in michigan. We could not stop talking about the cider mill. We miss it so much! Also, we tried explaining to james and other brits what cider was, they just didnt get it. They thought it was an alcoholic drink.

When we got back to the apartment, I called the doctors (because they called me letting me know in a message that my strep test results were back) and i found out that i actually do have strep! I feel better already, so im kind of relieved i have strep because they had me taking the medication before i found out. It is just a pain because i have to take a pill 3X a day and i have to take it 30 minutes before i eat. After i found out that, I took a pill and after 30 minutes had lunch. After that I saw all of the comments my mom left on my blogs and i read the emails they emailed me. i was so overwhelmed! I then hung out with some people in our room and attempted to watch gossip girl. im so annoyed that it wasnt working!

At 3:45 I had to be downstairs because hadassah and donors came here for the ceremony of revealing the Beit Ar-Al sign/ribbon cutting ceremony. We were put into a classroom and it was kind of like a "fake" class with some donors in there and i was sitting in front and they were taking pics and video taping. oh dear. The topic we learned about was really interesting. It is the recent conflict with Turkey and israel. A lot of us had no clue that all of this was happening. I really need to read online israeli newspapers...ah! After the "class" there was food for all of us and it was ACTUAL food, like people were at the tables serving things. It was so good. We were supposed to introduce ourselves with people, we did a couple of times, but we only had like 10 minutes to eat. At the end, we were all stuffing out mouths making it look like we never eat...oops! We were then in the beit midrash where different people spoke and after we went outside for the ribbon ceremony, rach and i got ready because we were planning on going to a seminary to learn. Rach wasnt feeling well so we ended up not going. We then decided to go to the mini library in beit ar-al to start to work on our papers. It went okay...i kind of have a decent outline? I am just so tired. I then went back around 8:30 and i showered and i ate some dessert. Now it is 10:30 and i am in bed. I will study for my hebrew quiz and work on my paper tomorrow...all i have is volunteering in the morning and some shevet stuff to do.

mom- here are the responses to your comments (im in bold):

jessica wendy, where do i begin. so many things on which to comment - i also laughed a lot why were you laughing?! i dont remember saying anything that funny!. dad just asked me why i'm laughing as he already read the blog and apparently emailed you. he told me the blog says you are sick. sometimes he skims a bit too much. okay, my plan is to comment on each day:
thurs: your bet word, my gosh jessica. did everyone hear you and know what you said? yes i will check your debit card - although you can too, and i will show you how...miss independent. then, if you are running low, you email me and i can reload it. hmm. also, yikers on the stitches and the blood leftovers. did she need a tetnus shot? no. now of course i have to comment on the PARTAY. so many jamders, or fja'ers. did you and ari take a picture for me?! ha. how fun. and, are you speaking to yoni b'ivrit? haha yucky driver sitch.
friday: sounds like you just love singing? who do you take after here? hmmm? are you going to sit with us at temple and sing/dance? how about shabbat and holidays with us? can we count on yael vered to lead us in song? woohoooo. yes we can. no, mom. i only like singing with brits.
saturday: so, is james in year course shevet? yes. and, rachel's bro seth - where does he live? he is at aish for a little, he wants to be here for a couple more weeks before he goes to colorado to bartend and be a ski bum. so happy you have your thermometer, you do, don't you? no, rach had one and she brought these plastic covers. i'm sorry to hear you are sick. okay, time to comment on your next blog. xoxo mom

you had your first experience dealing with socialized health care - were there a lot of people in the clinic you went to? no did you have a special card to show them? yes .was anyone with you besides the dr? no. for example, a nurse, receptionist? anyone nice? no. did you have to pay for the antibiotic? no. wait long? no. what is the name of the med you were prescribed? penicillin. did you have any conversation in hebrew or find out after how to describe your condition in hebrew?no. okay, enough of that. can you share with us the whole mitzvah of washing the hands? we want to learn toooooooooo. it is a little confusing and im not 100% sure i understand it...so bear with me. Whenever we are Tameh (doesnt mean not clean, but loss of potential), we sometimes only need to wash our hands. This is because hands are the staple for action. Therefore, when we wake up (in the morning) after we say modeh ani, we wash our hands because when we were sleeping we became Tameh through our hands. The reason why we use a cup when we wash is because water is Tahor and the vessel (cup) becomes the water/purpose of the water. For example, when you see a ray of light, you arent seeing the light, but the dust particles reflecting the light. We dont say that we see the dust particles, we say we see the light. Similarly, we call the cup water because in my example, the cup represents the dust and the water represents the light. it is also important to realize that netilat means to take, but by "to take" it means you take it, even though it is really taking you. I know that doesnt make sense at all. Next sunday we are going to discuss it more, so ill make sure to get a clearer answer. i'll share with bubbe "excuse the french" line. too funny. and, one last thing, will you keep your papers you write? they will be on my computer, but idk if i will want to show them to you and dad... i'd love to read them (on the beach next summer!!) really, dad and i like reading your work, especially when we(dad) don't have to help proof/edit! maybe steph can get some good topic ideas for school too. ha, are you reading this stephanie? okay, see ya. xo

do you ever see the fja teacher anymore? yes what does he teach there? i forget, but he is the head of a couple of high school grades. good for you that you found a teacher and hung out with her. so nice to have that opportunity. glad you told aliza what was going on, too bad for pamela- does she not get that you guys are not getting the volunteer experience you expected? yeah, but she is trying. maybe there are other placements more prepared for you, or if not, to be up front and figure things out. i am sure she has a lot going on, but she is your liaison to the program and that is her responsiblity. regarding ari m - i didn't know she was in your section? yes! what track is she? arts who does she live with? i forget, but she is in beit ar al so, do you know your fruits and veggies by now? no yet. good luck on the test. and, kol hakavod for cleaning up dishes, wow, look at you! we had a long night here last night (sun.) deets in an email. so, do you have strep? how are you feeling? i wish they didn't tell you to take the meds until they were sure you actually have a bacterial infection v viral. glad we didn't give you too many antibiotics when you were younger! and, one more ?, is anyone recommending you get a flu shot? nope please be careful and wash your hands. lol cannot help myself.
love you. xo mom