THURSDAY:
Yesterday Rach and I woke up and since we had an apartment meeting at 9, we had to clean. We did pretty much all the cleaning. Annoying, but oh well. Noa said it looked good :) I wasnt feeling hungry and since it was the Fast of Esther, I decided to do it! I just was on my computer for a bit and then after showering I went with Katie. We were going to go to the Azoreli Center, but when we were on the bus to there, she got a call and forgot she was supposed to have lunch with people from the place he volunteered at (place for blind and deaf people.) We then just went back to the Bat Yam mall and was kind of successful? (r bday 2.) When I came home I ended up taking a nap-I was feeling fine, just tired-but not even from fasting. After napping and arranging plans to meet up with natalie penso, I went to the ulpan for my final exam. It was a little bit more difficult then I thought. I think I did fine on it though. After that I was going to go take a bus straight to the CBS, but i didnt have my camera and knew my mom would get mad (and i would be a little sad) if natalie and I didn't take a pic together. I also made myself a sandwich and brought some snacks to break the fast. On the way to the CBS, I called rach at 5:14 to ask when the fast ended...i was just going to end at 6. She said that it ends at 5:14!!! Woo hoo!!! It was an easy fast and I didnt even eat breakfast before the sun came up! It wasnt raining at the time when I left, but on the bus it was raining.

When I got to the CBS and after asking around where "line" 60 was, I found it!!! I told the bus driver in bad hebrew when to let me off. It was pouring when I got off the bus and started to walk in Ramat Gan where Natalie's base is. When she came out it was so great to see her! Neither of us could believe it. She was in uniform with her hair in a bun. So cool. We went to a cafe nearby and got nutela choco cham and split this yummy chocolaty dish thing. It was so good-but so much chocolate. I didn't drink any water for the entire day!! After leaving, it was drizzling (i didnt consider it to be raining, but natalie did) and we got on the same bus. She got off before me, but i got a pic with her when we were on the bus! She lives like 30 minutes from Ramat Yishai, so the next time I go there I need to call her....maybe I will stay with her or something. Then I got to the CBS, but talked to Rach and I forgot to mention that MASA planned a night for us which involved a workshop we chose and then a subliminal concert (I was supposed to see david broza, but they ended up not having him...i didn't find out until the end of the concert when I was like "wait....where's david?!") I missed the workshop and Rach told me they had gotten back on the bus and were going to the port for the concert. No bus takes you directly to the port, but when I got close enough I walked and it was pouring. When I got to the port I called rach asking her where on the port because the port is kind of big. She had no idea...they were still walking to get to the place. She told me to call ami, but when I did he said that he was busy and would call me later!! I called rach back and we cracked up. She said she passed a Castro, so I was asking everyone where the Castro is on the port. No one knew. I asked these girls in hebrew, but after telling me they dont know, they told me that they speak english. I asked them, by chance, if they knew where a MASA concert was....it was like 20 meters from where i was! I was so happy with myself. I had to wait for rach and everyone to come! Everyone was so wet and I hung out with Erez for a bit and we bumped into Ari. It was pretty fun-some people were protesting saying that their lyrics are racist. I have no clue. I knew some of the songs, so it was fun to sing/dance to. After that we went on the bus and then when we got home we just hung out before going to bed at like 1ish.

WEDNESDAY:
Both of us didn't even feel like we slept. We actually got out of bed at 6 and then he drove me to the CBS because I had to catch at 6:45 direct bus to Bat Yam. There wasn't a later one that would get me back at around 9, for my last day of volunteering. I was so so so tired. I forgot a jacket and asked for a sweatshirt. I napped for like 20 minutes when I got home and rested on the ride home. When I got to volunteering I was tired. Once again, Basima asked where the other Jessica was. I can't handle that when I am cranky and tired. I told her I have been busy (because I'm leaving so soon) and didn't have time to grade them all. For my last day at volunteering I didn't work with any kids. I spent the entire time grading all of the tests. It was about 60-2 tests, each having 30 or a little more students in each class. It was kind of good because I was really tired and I wasn't sure if I could function that well. During the break I hung out with the scouts and then Lior asked me, "Whose sweatshirt is that?" It was one of the sweatshirts all israelis have (a sweatshirt made to remember a school trip) and when I told her "Boaz" she asked if I know what it meant. Oh no. It meant "Because we have it that big." Nice and approps. I was walking around the middle school with that on. Yay. Thanks Boaz! To be fair, he just threw me any sweatshirt, I dont think he purposely gave this one to me. After I finally finished the tests, I told her I had to go and then she gave me a gift (foot and hand cream...perfect!!!) and a card with a pen. She also made one for the other Jessica. But I was the only one who got a gift :)

When I got home I had about a half hour before I had to go to a meeting about Arad classes. They are mostly all Jewish, again. A lot of people are unhappy with this. The classes I want is Judaism and Medicine (which counts as philosophy) and then learning about Jewish holidays and such. It is a beginners level, but the only other class being offered that time is Intro to the Tanach, which would be so boring for me. In Arad, we are all having intensive learning until April 7. From 9:45-1 we have ulpan, at 2:30-4:30 is our first class and then from 4:45 to 6:45 is our second class. Not many people are going to do 2 classes. We are learning Sunday through Thursday. After this, however, we are done! We will just have volunteering. I dont love this, but in some ways it can be good. This is basically what marva people do. It sucks that I wont have ulpan for the rest of my time in Israel, but it is intensive, which will probably help me so so so much. I'm excited! They are only doing this for our section.

I didn't have Jewish Philosophy, so I came home, had lunch and then cleaned up the kitchen. Then I worked on my final and finished it. It was easy. The David Project was mostly us talking for the last day and got out really early. I got a 20 on my midterm quiz. (it was out of 20.) They also put up who we are living with. I am with Rach, Nicola, Cara, Leah, and Michal. NO KATIE. We talked it through and it will be fine because she will come over all the time and Nicola and Cara are doing Marva. Katie is with Naomi and Julia and 2 others-but those girls are doing Marva, so when they leave it is just going to be them 3. I am really upset that I'm not with Katie. It makes me happy that others are made because they love seeing our best friend relationship. I must say that I fosh have the best apartment. We are all already friends. Also, I talked to miki...I'm in her apartment!!! Miki and I talked, but before that Nicola, Shir, and I all talked about the apartments. I really am gonna miss Shir!

After hanging out with everyone and Maya and trying on my costume for everyone (which is not a lion, but a leapord-the mascot for David Project) Michal and I went for our last day of Garin Tzedek. In order to function, I had coffee...I'm crazy, I know. We bought him a little thing of candies for Purim. He doesn't celebrate it, but it doesnt matter. We did some work with him and played Taki. He started singing "Replay" and then we listened to music and on the computer he has "Hey Baby" so we were all singing it. We all had a fun time and were singing and dancing. He would tell me something, but I would have no clue what he was saying-and would tell him that. Then he told Michal to be the translator! When we said bye, we took pics with him and with his family (happy mom?!) and then we left. We walked around and found the 18 bus and met up with Katie, Leah, Monica, and Elana for a garin tzedek dinner/dessert whatever thing at Benedicts. Since I paid for Leah when we shared something at moses, she paid for my meal. It was great. We split chocolate chip pancakes and we all split a bottle of champagne. We were all in hyserics and being crazy hyper. It was so funny! When I finally got home I was on my computer for a bit and got to bed a little after 12. I was so tiredddd.

TUESDAY:
Yesterday I woke up at 9:30ish because I had to be at the ulpan at 10ish for a shevet thing. Instead of making masks, this actress came who uses masks and had different people come up and use masks. Joe was really good and Katie was good too. When the actress asked for a volunteer to be the girl katie (who was a boy) was in love with, EVERYONE looked at me and was chanting my name to go up. hahahaha. NO! Luckily, Nicola did it. Phew! After shevet we all hung out for a little because we had to be at the ulpan for the volunteering project. We had to make thank you cards and then fill out a thing about our volunteering placement. A group of us were the only ones that volunteer at our place, so we worked together. After this, Katie and I walked and got 5 shek falafel. So good. Then we went back to our apartments and got changed for the beach. Shir was home!!!!! She left like 2 weeks ago and was in Texas for a convention, was in LA, and then had to do stuff with the scouts for a couple of days. We caught up-which I am so happy about, because rather then having nothing to update each other on because so much has happened, we just told each other everything that has been going on! Then Katie and I went to the beach and wanted to tan. Of course I was only in the sun for a little, because of the huge clouds. It would get so cold when a cloud covered the sun. I napped for a little. Boys were playing football and it was annoying how they moved closer to where we were lying down and they hit us TWICE. I dont think they even apologized.

When we left the beach we thought we saw the 46 bus coming, so Katie took of her shoes and we sprinted to the bus stop. We kept on looking back to see how close the bus was. We got to the bus stop and were out of breath, but the bus didnt come....it was the 10, not 46. At least I got a work out! When the bus finally did come and I got home, the scouts came over and we all hung out. Then after Katie ran, I met her at the park and we then played basketball for a bit. It was nice/fun to shoot around. I really want to join in on a pick-up game. Some kids basically kicked us off, but it was fine and I went home and ate dinner and showered before meeting Ami and others to go to the play Nalaga'at ("Not on Bread Alone") which is acted by blind, deaf, and blind and deaf people. It was unbelievable. It is really sad how their craziest dream is to see the stars or be able to go anywhere alone or be able to watch TV. They talked about how they feel alone a lot of the time and the only way they know that there is someone by them is if they feel their hands. It really made me realize how lucky I am for being healthy and have a good, happy life. These people can never be independent and it is so hard for them to communicate. I don't know how I would remain sane if I couldn't let my thoughts out all the time. It was incredible how some of the actors could speak-even if they were born deaf and blind. It is also crazy how some would play instruments. Here's the URL for it: http://www.nalagaat.org.il/home.php

After that I took a bus to Arlozorov and took a crowded bus full of relgious people (I got the last seat in the back!) to Jerusalem to see Boaz before he went to Eilat with his close friends. It is the last couple of weeks they will all be together. I got there at like 12 and then when we got back to his place he helped me grade some of the tests Basima gave me to do. He did the hebrew ones and I worked on the english. He was so anal and nervous to mark things and kept on asking if this or that was right. He was a bit shocked when I told him that the teacher isn't checking over them to see if we graded them right. He also said it wouldn't take long and I wasn't even close to being done when we decided to stop because we were too tired. We finally got to bed at like 3ish and woke up at 5:30.

Today I woke up and showed Rach what I did last night and then talked to Steph for a little. I was late to volunteering, but when I got there I couldn't find Basima, so I sat in the teachers lounge listening to my ipod and playing solitaire until the period was over. I took students out, they were boys and 2 were not listening to me and being loud. Other teachers sent them back to class. In the other class I walked around helping students. Basima then gave me 2 tests her students did. She wants me to do them when I have free time and give them back to her on my last day, which is Wednesday. Is that a joke?! I find it funny, I'm not really that angry. This would never happen anywhere else. She also asked about the other Jessica. For the last time, SHE IS NOT GOING TO COME ANYMORE. So frustrating. I dont want to talk to Jess and tell her that she needs to fucking call Basima.When I got home I worked with Katie on our slides.

We are all cranky (especially Rach.) She is telling us that it isn't her project, but then she says we shouldn't have this and this. UGH. Like she doesn't want any slide effects...I wasn't going crazy with them. I swear. She didn't even want there to be red to emphasize a word on a title of one of the slides we did. At like 2:30ish, Cara and I met outside of the library and then after coming up with a really short script for our oral test in ulpan, I finally went into the library!!! The librarian spoke to me in hebrew and english. I could follow along, for the most part, of what she was asking me. She also was patient when I answered her back in hebrew. She showed me all of these great children books perfect for me. If only I had more time to go there and just read. I feel like I had a lot less free time being here. When I got to ulpan, I was nervous and trying to memorize what i had to say. I was the doctor for plastic surgery.Unlike other ulpan classes, we had class for the entire hour. After learning for a bit and preparing for the written test, Cara and I went first. Eeeeek! I couldnt memorize something, so I just said something that made sense, but not part of our really short script. Our teacher said it was really short, but she gave us an 85! I think I know why I got a 75 last time, even though I spoke for a wayyyy longer time, and I was alone...I didn't use much vocabulary. After that, while others were going, I got a Nokout (the oreo one...so good. i get that one at the place close to the ulpan because they don't have my ultimate fav kind of ice cream) and then hung out with some people who were out of class for a bit. When class was over, my group got ready for our presentation. We went first. Eeeek. It ended up going really well. I really wasn't nervous and I think ours was the most professional.

After ulpan, I had the zman madrich in Yaffo. It was a really pretty place-Rach and I decided we must have a picnic there. Noa made us pasta and salad, and then we all sat in a circle and decorated masks-one side being how we are now, and the other is how we want to be. My first side was all red, because I'm always embarrassed...but my other side was gold and had blue words by the lips such as confident, strong, etc. I still had rosy cheeks, though! I think on year course I wear that side of the mask, for the most part, but I am scared that I might go back to my other mask when I go home.

After that we bough fro-yo with our apartment stipend. So good. A couple of us couldnt finish ours, so rach finished ours! She was hungry! (I'm still a little shocked along with everyone else there that i didn't finish mine-and physically couldnt.) Then instead of going to a friends apartment, I ended up talking to aaron, steph, mom, soph, boaz, elana, michelle, am i forgetting someone else?? It was really nice, but I didn't get to bed until 3, I think.

SUNDAY:

Yesterday I woke up at 9ish and Rach, Katie, and I went to tel aviv to buy our purim costumes! In case I didn't mention what we are, I'll say it now. We are being characters from the Wizard of Oz. Rach is being the tin man because she doesn't have a heart, Katie is the scarecrow with no brain, and I'm the lion with no courage. After going to the Diezengof center, we were trying to find our way back to the shuk. We past some shuk-looking stores. We saw this hideous leapord tank top thing that was partially silky. The guy told me it was only 5 sheks, so I can't try on. I pretended I didn't hear him and tried it on. Luckily I did because it was wayyy too small. I got the bigger size and then tried it on after I bought it. It doesn't fit well. The waist is so tight, but around the boobs it is baggy.

At the shuk we got this padded bra for me and then we found some things for rach and katie. I also bought a package that had lion ears, tail, and bow tie. I'm set! While we were in the shuk, there was a music video for purim playing, we got on camera. Katie and I also finally decided to buy a basketball!!! Can't wait to play with it. I wish we had just boughten it earlier. then we got really good smoothies and took the bus home. I was late to zman madrich, but it was fine. I was late to class because I ran home to put on running clothes and grab my books. Today was our last day in Jewish Philosophy! We had so little classes this trimester. In the David Project we worked in groups on our case study. We made some progress. Then we walked home and Rach got changed to go runnning. We met up with Katie and ran the path that takes us to ulpan 3 times. We walked 1 of them. In total it was 2 miles. I don't believe it, but whatevs! I like how flat it is. I haven't ran in so long and it felt good. I have learned that I really like listening to hard core rap that noah gave me.

After we ran, we did some stretches and crunches on the grass. Then we came home and showered and had dinner before walking over to where the arts night was. The art was really good, so were the snacks :) Or was there so I was hugging him for like the entire night. For the show, I sat next to him and it was good. During part of the show, Or went with Ami and they came back a little later with Joe and then some pizza. Or gave me some of his! Yummm. After the show and getting lost on the way home (embarrassing) we all worked on our project. I finished my thing close to 2.

SATURDAY:

We woke up at 8:30 and both of us took showers. Katie had straightened my hair and it just wasn't cooperating, as always. We then left for the shul at 9:30 and when we got there we mingled and did finishing touches on things. The service was supposed to start at 10, but no one was there and people didn't really come until 10:30ish. Services were really nice. It was different because Nadav didn't lead services. I obviously didn't understand his d'var torah, hopefully when dad and noah come, they will make him talk about it in english! They also didn't do a haftorah...? When they threw the candy at him (since I was in the front row with them...tee hee) I got a couple chucked at my back. Ouch. After services we cleaned up a bit and then went to the restaurant where the party was. I thought there was going to be dancing. It was nice, just a really good lunch. Moran and the video man made a really nice, cool video. I recorded some if it. I missed the beginning though. Moran and the video man are cousins and she is also cousins with the photographer! He came late and Drora almost wanted me to take pictures for her with my camera. Luckily he came. I took pictures at the party, though. Oh, I forgot to say that my dress wouldn't zip up all the way and after everyone tried zipping it, I went with a guy to a person's house on the moshav before services to grab some safety pins. I liked what I wore, but I didn't have any pictures with me. Oops.

After the party was over, we walked back to their house and hung out there for a little. I was going to be leaving when Drora, Shlomo, and Nadav were visiting Drora's mom in the hospital, so I said bye, thanks and mazel tov before they left. I hope she is going to be okay. I watched another episode of "That 70's Show" with Moran before going to catch my bus..which was about 20 minutes late. The bus ride was fine and after catching another bus, I got home. Then katie came over and me, her , and rach talked for a bit and then watched The Lion King after katie and I made rach in a bad mood and just being crazies. I had one of rach's "daddy-alerts." After watching the lion king, we started to watch the 2nd one, even though it was past 12:30. It wasn't good, so we stopped it. I then talked to Boaz for like an hour. It sucks because I didn't get to bed until 2ish. It is so weird because I never thought I would be comfortable enough to talk to a boy on the phone for that long-and every night! weirdddd.

FRIDAY:

On Friday, I woke up and put a lot of taylor swift and other songs onto my computer and ipod. So great. Around noonish, I went to the CBS. When I got there I had to wait about 20 minutes for the 826 bus to come. I asked the driver in broken hebrew to let me know when we get to Ramat Yishai. The bus ride was nice...at one point I was sleeping and then Rach called me. I put my ipod to my ear and said hello, and was a bit confused as to why my phone was still ringing! When I got there Ohad called me to say shabbat shalom and to check up on me. It was nice to see everyone. Drora got a new haircut that looks really good. After eating a good sandwich Shlomo made me, Moran and I got ready for Kabbalat Shabbat. At the shul there were exchange students from Ann Arbor! They were in 9th and 10th grade. The people in charge of them (mom and dad know them) told me to go over there and tell them where I'm from and talk with them. I knew I was going to be awkward, but went with it. It was really enthusiastic and bubbly and they were just so cold. They made me so uncomfortable and I asked them questions about what they are doing here and if they know people from JAMD. They didn't give a shit about me. I am older...I'm supposed to be the cool one, not the weird older girl trying to talk to them!! Moran saw the whole thing and how I was smiling and they were just straight faced. Yikes.

Services were nice, lots of singing. Edo gets really into it and it is fun to watch him. Have you been there mom? I'm sure you would love it. I met some of their family and everyone's boyfriend and girlfriend. After services, we set up for morning services. I am so happy I stayed with the Weinish's, but I still felt a bit weird, especially because they would mingle with their friends and family and I would just stand by them or go pretend to eat something. I know that if it was someone in my family, I wouldn't want to have to look after a foreign family friend. I tried my best to keep busy so they didn't feel the need to make me feel comfortable.

Dinner was really good, but a bit awkward. Their family doesn't speak a lot of english and so I was just silent for the entire night. What was I supposed to say? I couldn't join in on the conversation? I tried to listen, but I could only understand bits of it and words, not really the main idea. After dinner, Moran and I hung out and watched a couple of episodes of "That 70's Show" before falling asleep around 12:30.