In Which Jewish You Were Here

Fam. These past few weeks have been a whirlwind. 

On one hand, it feels like I just got here. But on the other hand, I'm so used to being here, it's like I've lived here my whole life.

Weird. 

Every day has been an adventure. Even those days when we literally just sit in class all day.

On Mondays and Tuesdays and Thursdays and Fridays, we just sit in class. The classes are pretty, rad, though. I love learning about the history and geography of the land of Israel and being like, dude: I'm currently sitting in the land of Israel.

I work in the little library here on the IBEX campus a couple evenings a week. I find books for people and clean up the mess they make trying to make instant coffee in the wood lounge. It's pretty fun.

Wednesdays are field trip days. Lots of walking. Lots of photo-taking. Lots of laughter on the bus. Lots of PB&J sandwiches. These days are tiring, but also the greatest part of being here.

 On Fridays, after classes, we have our Shabbat (Sabbath) meal. We dress up a little bit for it (meaning, we don't wear sweatpants and tshirts like we wear 99% of the time), and before we eat we have a little devotional and we sing "Shabbat Shalom". Afterwards, we have chapel.

On Shabbat, we go into Jerusalem to attend the congregation there. We attempt to sing in Hebrew but nobody does a very good job.

Afterwards, we split into groups and wander around the Old City in search of lunch. Guys, I'm sort of in love with the Old City streets.

 
Sunday is our day off. We usually do laundry and catch up on reading. Or have random dance parties in the miklat. Or watch anime.

Being here has been both better and harder than I expected. Better, because I had no idea how much I would grow to love this country and how much fun it would be to adventure every inch of it. I've learned so much already. But it's also a little harder than expected, because I really miss my family and I really miss my friends back at school. I feel really far away from them all. Cuz I sort of am, I guess.

I can't wait to post more about where we're actually going on our field trips and what we're learning. But for now, I'll just leave you with this little update post full of snapchat screenshots and pictures from my phone.

 

Let me know how you all are doing. And also, please let me know what kind of fruit or vegetable you would be if you were a fruit or vegetable. I'm curious.

love,
me