Today we didnt have to be at the ulpan center until 10! I was still exhausted when i woke up and could not get out of bed. I rushed, but then got to the ulpan place early and had to wait for the madrichim to come. We then found out where we are volunteering. I was initially at an elementary school. I wanted a high school, so i was going to ask if i could switch after. We had a stupid slideshow presentation and then since i was in a school and not a kindergarden i had another stupid thing. UGH. so stupid and pointless. After the stupid thing i asked to be switched, but she told me that they had a bad experience with the high school, so volunteers arent going there. But, rach is going to a high school. i dont understand! This one girl, orly, switched with me (so now im in a junior high) because she didnt sign up for schools at all because she had a sad experience when she worked with kids in jerusalem. Tomorrow we go to our volunteer placements, so ill see how things go. I wish i could be with rach because it is like a 2 minute walk from where we live!!

Then rach and i went back and took over an hour and a half nap, that was supposed to be only an hour nap. I had such weird dreams. One of them was lori and i in a cab in israel and i asked if she was still interested in getting a nose ring. She wasnt. I then said in hebrew that i want to speak in hebrew and so i told her how i think nose rings look nice when you wear it with different shirts. i said think in past tense, but when i corrected myself the driver smiled at me. Another dream i had was getting lost in the lis's neighborhood. There were some more dreams, but those where the weird ones.

After rach and i dragged ourselves out of bed, we made lunch and then we headed to the beach. I got an ice cream. I wanted ice cream that would cost me 9 sheks, but then i thought the guy made a mistake and gave me too much ice cream--so it would cost me 16 sheks. I was wrong...i got all of that ice cream (2 big scoops in a small cup with a cone on the side) costing me only 9 sheks. woo hoo! Rach and i then read for a little, but had to stop because it started to rain. We then decided to go to the mall, where we sat and read for about half an hour. We had to be back at the ulpan center at 5 for a shevet thing. We learned a little bit about chanukah and found out different reasons for why we celebrate this rabbinical holiday. One reason was because the oil lasted 8 days and another reason is to celebrate the victory of beating the greeks. It is interesting how different time periods believed in different reasons, but today we just take into account all of the reasons. We then made our own chanukiahs, but one or two for each apartment. Ours turned out to be pretty, ill take pictures.

After this, for those who signed up, we went on a coach bus and went to a tv show thing. We got masa shirts and basically were part of the audience for this chanukah special show. There were singers and speakers--most of them about making aliyah. One guy made aliyah while he was in a coma--he was from morocco and his brother made aliyah and was serving in the IDF when his brother got in an accident. The brother knew that the hospitals in morocco werent good, so had is brother come to israel. His brother woke up from his coma 19 days after he made aliyah to israel and is now doing well. he was too nervous to speak though. At first it was fun, but then got boring after having retakes and not understanding what everyone was saying. At the end we got doughnuts. score! I slept on the bus ride back. We didnt get back until after 11. We made ourselves a light dinner, then i showered and updated my blog. It is now about 5 to 1. i have to wake up at 8.