Shabbat and more

Pre-Shabbat pictures!!!

Shabbat was totally and completely GREAT.  Ilana Greenberg and Adina Polack stayed over at my apartment, and we made a very nice Shabbat together.  All of the girls on my program stayed for the weekend, and so did some of the guys.  We all hung out last night, as well as this afternoon, which was definitely fun.  Ilana, Adina, and I were the only ones who ate on campus for dinner, so when we finished we were hanging out for a couple of hours in the apartment across from mine.  After everyone else came back, most of the girls joined us and we just talked and hung out.  We went to sleep around 11:45, though some of my friends stayed up a bit later. 

I woke up this morning at about 10:45, went to the kitchen so I could put our lunch food on the blech, then got back in bed.  I didn't fall back asleep, but I was resting nicely and even doing a little reading until Adina woke up.  When she woke up at 11:30ish, we hung out for a while on my bed until we eventually woke up Ilana.  In fear of waking up my roommate, we headed out of my room to continue our conversation. After a while, we set up shop at the kitchen table for lunch.  Before we started eating everyone else came into the kitchen and we were all hanging out, and continued to do so as the three of us were eating lunch.  Everyone else was making lunch for themselves and we had a good time.  After we ate we had a great dessert of fresh Rugelach from the store down the street, as well as two choices of cake- one honey and one cinnamon.  We spent the afternoon just chillin with each other and with everyone else around the apartment, until it was time for Seudah Shelishit.  We had a good meal then more cake-- all good things.  We even finished the meal off with some singing. Haha.

After Shabbat, Ilana and Adina headed back to Jerusalem.  Since then I've been packing for our trip to Ramat Beit Shemesh for the first days of Succot, and just enjoying the down time. 



Now, I have a couple things to say either just about this country or about myself in this country:

1) Some people say that the most important aspect of this country that relates to food is the fact that this is where the Shiva Minim (7 Species) grow... I say: This is where the world's best Matbucha can be found.  There's no doubt in my mind that that's the best food-related part of this country.  Actually, incredible frozen schnitzel might be a close second.  But I'll stay strong in saying that Matbucha is #1.

2) I love how I'm an awesome traveler.  I load up my backpack, and a small rolling carry-on bag if it's a multi-night endeavor, and I know exactly where everything is, and I never forget things.  I really don't want to jinx my capabilities by saying that, but I feel that my skills just need to be recognized somewhere.  I guess I'm just totally and completely proud of the fact that I have no problem kickin' it somewhere for a night or two and being prepared for everything.  Honestly, I've always been that way.  Really honestly, that's likely because of the always-camping or adventuring family that I was raised in... So props to my parents for that.  But I'm still going to go ahead and take some ownership for my awesome level of preparedness for anything and everything, at all times, in a foreign country. 

3) I love the number of times per day that I find myself laughing at random Israelis' ridiculous wanna-be-American garb.  All of the skin-tight Hollister or American Eagle shirts, Nike shirts that in some way or another say "I'm too cool for you," or shorts on men which look like they belong in a 1970's NBA game... I find it all absolutely hilarious, though I find myself saying, "poveretu" under my breath more often than not. Regardless, I get a good laugh on many occasions per day so it's all good.

4) I often find myself thinking, when I'm driving either in a bus or in someone's car, about what would happen if an experiment was conducted where a couple of Seattle drivers were put onto the roads in Israel.  That might be the most dangerous situation a Seattlite could possibly be in... Just saying.  The zig-zag, step-on-the-gas then slam-on-the-brake, always honking kind of driving that happens in this country is world's apart from the passive-aggressive, I'm-going-to-honk-at-you-because-you're-a-horrible-person-since-you-drive-a-gas-guzzler driving which occurs in Seattle. 

5) The abundance of cats in this country is absolutely ridiculous.  That is my humble, yet very strong, opinion. First of all, they're totally gross.  Second of all, they get attached to living spaces when they are fed in such spaces... Truthfully that's not totally the fault of the cats- more the fault of the feeder- but I'm gonna blame the cats partially.  Additionally, there are actually as many cats outside of my apartment each day as there are squirrels outside of my house in Seattle each day.  I hope you understand that that means that there are just too many cats around.  A couple of my friends and I have decided that we are officially going to be proactive about this cat issue, so if any of you have ideas about how to get rid of the nasty things you can feel free to share your ideas with me.  Here's a picture of me with one of them... Look at how it's looking at me devilishly with those eyes because it thinks that I am invading ITS home.  Unfortunately, it's wrong.  And we will find a solution to this problem.