I wish that we had more time before Shabbat because I didn't have time to really take pictures of how ridiculously gorgeous it was. The buildings were beautiful, the land around us was vast and green, and the water we were on was the cherry on top. Sunset on Friday night was totally perfect... I just wish I could have taken pictures. To bring in Shabbat all the girls lit Shabbat candles in a room overlooking the sunset, which is an experience I'd be more than happy to replicate for the rest of my life. We had Mincha, Kabbalat Shabbat, and Arvit, then we had dinner. The food was great, my roommate made an awesome D'var Torah, and afterwords we all had a half an hour or so to hang out before we had an Oneg. After the Oneg I stayed up for a while just talking to people and reading a book, and I went to bed a little before midnight.
We had Shacharit at 8:30, where a great representation of Early Start appeared early. We had Torah reading and then Kiddush, after which Rabbi Kahn gave a D'var Torah. Then we had Musaf, and afterwards we had lunch. Lunch was set up buffet-style, which was super easy. The food was awesome! Tons of salatim spread over three or four tables, a few kinds of chicken, some chamin/chulent, a couple different meats, incredible sweet potatoes, other vegetables... It was delicioso! After lunch and dessert we had the afternoon off, so I attended a series of classes/learning opportunities with a variety of teachers. I learned about Na'ama (Noach's wife), Pirkei Avot, we had a discussion on questions from The Book of Questions, and a group of fifteen or so of us completed all of Tehillim. Afterwards we had Mincha and then Seudah Shelishit. Before Shabbat was over, we had the classic NCSY sing-in-a-circle and then Arvit. Havdalah was really fun, as Rav Ari rocked the one-man band thing and we all danced around and sang to his music. After Shabbat was over, we headed out back to where we live. When we got home I hung out for a while then went to bed.
Sunday morning I woke up and went to the Kiryat Ono mall to get school supplies. I totally am in love with how easy it is to get there, because I left at 10 and got back at 11. Impressive- I know. Haha. I got notebooks, folders, pens, and some paper clips and made my way back to campus. At 11 all of the girls had a meeting, and after I went to the store to get some food to eat. I found Quinoa, which was something of a miracle, and I was quite happy about it. At 12:30 I went to the orientation for the Israel Advocacy internship track, because although that is not the one I'll be doing I wanted to be able to listen to speakers and attend trips in the future. At 1:30 we started the orientation for the Magen David Adom (E.M.T. training) internship. That is the one that I'm really focusing 100% on, though I'm actually also doing the Learning option. Anyways, though, our orientation was crazy long because each class is six hours. We did CPR training, which was a good refresher because I've taken that course before. We didn't end until 7:30, which was super long and tiring but I definitely felt like I had learned something at the end of the day. My brain was pretty much on meltdown mode, though, since I hadn't eating more than a couple pretzels and a small salad all day long. No good.
I tried to figure out what to do about food, and ended up making Quinoa! But I really saved that for lunch since I had already eaten some vegetables with a salad. Here's a picture... Enjoy, because I'm super proud of my creation using my very limited resources.
After dinner I just hung out outside of our building. I skyped with Gindins!!! And I didn't do the homework that I needed to do, hurray! I went to bed at midnight so I could at least get half a decent sleep in prep for our first full week of school.
Today I woke up, headed to the bus, and to school I went. We had tefilah, then we started our Judaic classes. My first class was called Survey of Biblical Literature, and it seems like such a cool class. Basically we're going to go through one perek (chapter) of each of the twenty-four books of the TaNaCh during each class. The goal is obviously to be able to know something about each of the twenty-four books, and I think it'll be super cool if we can make that happen. I also really like the teacher. She's the same woman who taught Barren to Baron last week, and I'm excited that I have her twice in my schedule.
My second Judaic class for the day is called Jewish Literacy, which actually means Women in Halacha. Since Halacha (law) is my favorite subject on the general, I'm seriously looking forward to this class. Also I really really like the teacher. I haven't had her yet, but she seems awesome.
My first general studies class wasn't until the 2nd available time slot, so I had a nice break today. Unfortunately I spent the first hour of the break looking for this woman's office, which I never found by the way, and looking for this place to buy my Psychology book, which I also didn't find. I spent the second hour fakely working on a paper I should have been writing, and actually writing part of this blog post. Haha. And eating lunch. So I guess that free time was productive? I figured out where the woman and the Psych book weren't, I ate, and I blogged. Solid.
At 2 I had Marketing which was awesome. I really loved the professor, and it seems like it's going to be a really cool class. Basically two-thirds of the program is in that class, which is obnoxious because so many people talk and laugh throughout the class. Obnoxious. Maybe they'll drop it because they couldn't possibly have had a clue what was going on in the class? Or maybe they wont. Regardless that part was annoying, but the rest was great.
My last class for the day was called Love and War: Ancient Greek Thought. That was the first class that I think I've ever taken where I knew that I was going to hate it from second number ten. I was totally beyond regretful of my decision to be sitting in that classroom once he had uttered less than a sentence. I'm not really sure why that is, though, because he seems like a really cool guy. But maybe it's something about the topic? I don't know. All I do know is that that class needs to go away. So it will. Haha.
Tonight I'm just going to be hanging around campus. I need to figure out what I'm going to do for dinner, write an essay, and read for Psychology. Then I'm going to go to sleep. I know, people, it's a beautiful plan.
Here's a sign that I saw in the synagogue that's a couple blocks away from here. Whenever I've seen this sign I've really liked it, and I'm pretty sure I have a very similar picture from my trip here in 8th grade.
It basically means, "If you came to Synagogue to talk, where are you going to pray?"
I hope everyone had a great Shabbat, Shavua Tov to all!
ckdrop.
Definitely stealing that photo for my class :-)
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