birthday and zoo

one post: two things: talking about my birthday and then my trip to the zoo . . . and then ill put pics on yahoo so you can see them both!

my birthday was...perfect.
had services in the morning - and at the end they all sang yom huledet samech to me. my teacher gave me a pretty bracelet. after class karen and i went to tmol shilshom and relaxed studied and ate. then i finally bought a copy of the runaway bunny in hebrew (!!!!) and found a kippah that i approved of for karen to wear. came home and talked to some people. then went over to the concert.
i think i can comfortably say that i think that it was one of the best concert ive ever been to...idan raichel clearly loves his music and what he's singing about. and his band and back up singer peoples are passionate about what they are singing also! they put so much sincere energy into each song. it was an amazing 2 hours.

had my last hebrew test of ulpan on wednesday which went fine. i think im finally getting somewhere with this dikduk (grammar). debra and edie got here that day so i got to spend the afternoon helping them get a little situated in this crazy city. thursday was our final tiyul of the summer -- we went to somegreat caves and then to the beach in tel aviv. where i sat in the shade and read - just a preview of next week's beach visit :)

Yesterday i went to the Tisch (yeah they are here too!) Biblical Zoo In Jerusalem. I had wanted to go -- and karen was interested. so we borrowed our classmate's boys. Robert is in his early 40s and in my kitah. He brought his wife (family doc) and three boys (Isaac, 9 - Theo, 5 - and Abraham, 2 1/2) here for the year with him from Minnesota. They will go to Cinnci after this year. It's been interesting getting to know the whole family and watching the boys deal with this change. Isaac is clearly the most aware of the change and has been open with his parents about his discomfort, etc. Robert said that as much as he'd love to hand us all three of the boys, it would be easier to take just the older two . . . so we picked them up at 10 am yesterday - hopped in a cab and 30 sheks later we were at the zoo. it was a good time - clearly made better by having kids with us. it's a huge piece of property with all sorts of animals. there's a section with slightly more obscure animals that are found in biblical passsages. interesting comment i saw there -- noah was the very conservationist. weird thing to think about...
there was also a description at one of the bird exhibits about a bird who was 104 years old and he still likes to curse off the nazis. yes. that was printed. in a public place. in israel.

ridiculous.

it ended up just being an amazing week. we went to jerusalem open house last night for services...so i finally got to experience it. and it's too cool. so ill finally getting my ass involved with them after break.

going to eilat on sunday til tuesday. 011 972 54 7325684 if some reason anyone needs me.

and a reminder - - my vonage number works both ways. stop bitching if you dont hear from me. you can call me too - 305 677 2210. we've all been hearing funny things from people in the states who seem to forget that you can contact us! but of course remember the 7 hour difference and please be understanding if it takes me a few days to get back to you.

anyway. yes, eilat. then will be here relaxing and getting ready to start school a week from tomorrow! WOW. im like, officially a grad school student.

crazy shit.

check out the pics on yahoo.

drum roll please

we're rapidly approaching the 11th hour - rather the 12th hour - i.e. the arrival of my birthday.

i have realized that
a: i get to celebrate it for SO long this year because of two very different time zones
b: i have never been apart from my family for my birthday
c: i havent been this excited for a birthday since...sea world when i was 10?
d: ive met some amazing people here and their enthusiasm for my birthday FAR surpasses my expectations.

i basically know nothing going on tomorrow.
we have class: "oh fuck, i have to pray on my birthday" - yes i said that in response to realizing we had shacharit in the boker.
right, class. then getting lunch and studying with karen at timol shilshum - a local bookstore/coffee shop/restaurant . . . a nap, of course. and then we're all going to idan raichel concert in the evening.

and tomorrow ill let you know what really happens . . .

disengagement, elaborated

havent updated all week. and im fully aware of that. it was an uneventful week. with lots of events. saw michele and tomer (and the puppy!) up in tel aviv on tuesday evening, celebrated one month on wednesday, and just relaxed and enjoyed my time here.

disengagement. i know you all want some deep meaningful response to it. but let's be honest -- im seeing it on tv and the news also. there is little to no sign of it here. we have protests and demonstrations - on both sides. walking down ben yehuda on thursday i got to see a crowd of 50-75 people sitting in the middle, waving israeli flags, playing drums, and singing peace songs. and they all had pretty orange all over them. on the corner of agnon and ben maimon there are usually people standing with some sort of sign -- yesterday on my way to supersol i saw "women in black" who had signs in hebrew english and arabic saying "end the occupation"

i feel safe. im not scared. we watch our back and look where we're going. but shit, i do that in nyc also! so it's not that big of a deal.

and life goes on.

going to the grushkas for lunch. and then havdallah.

and then last week of ulpan and some random ass celebration :)

?

disengagement what?

Milestones

see the pics, enjoy.


Last night i took my first tequilla shot -
the pic of me taking the shot is on mel's camera so we have to wait for that. but at least you get to see the full glasses?















Last night I got to spend time with people who werent all heterosexuals (it is in fact overwhelming sometimes how many straight people there are here and how little of a gay life i have)


















This afternoon i made my first challot in israel - pics before and after the baking

























and happy half birthday k

put on your learning hat!

two exciting days and adventures to update y'all on.

yesterday AM woke up to a puffy eye. took half a benadryl and went to class bc i had to write a "chubor" a little essay story thing. during the "hafsikah" (break) karen informed me that it was ridiculous to be there - that i should go home, take more benadryl, and get the swelling down. i saluted and forward marched all the way home. knocked myself out for the afternoon - woke up and it was worse. whined to my mama about it - and while i was doing that a kind girl by the name of jen, who is in my class, called to check on me. so i talked to her and she told me i had to go to the doctor (she's already become BFF with the docs here!)


i made a 4:00 appt and Jen said she would come with me. but then because of a series of adventures she couldnt come, so i called karen and whined that i dont like going to the doctor - so she came STRAIGHT from the gym to the doc with me. what a friend.

basically, yeah. i had a bite on my eye. he gave me drugs to make it go byebye. it's finally not as swollen. but it's itchy. ive found the spot where the bite occurred -- dead center of my eye.

skipped the tiyul (trip) last night and started this mornings but couldnt deal. the meds he gave me made me whoa tired.

in other news, i got a prescription for my crazy drugs -- which cost a crazy amount of money in this country. damn crazy drugs.

after sleeping through most of today, i went to supersol to buy foooooooood - rather, to buy the ingredients necessary to bake the infamous challah...it's generations old - and pretty friggin groovy if you ask me.

things that are not easily found in israel...oh, everything.

i found parchment paper - that's called extra baking paper here. and i couldnt find an egg brush, but i think i have ideas where to get one. couldnt find kosher salt - maybe they just think it's always kosher here? had to ask for help on the "shemarim" yeast. that'll be fun to play with tmw. i got two kinds - we'll see if i can get either to show some life. and the tzimukim - raisins - well they took me awhile but i found them. i mean, obviously dried fruit would be under fresh fruit. come on rena........

so tomorrow i will attempt to do the unthinkable - i will bake challot in the middle of the afternoon in israel without a mixer and without knowledge of whether it will work. and for that reason, we will also buy challot from a store...

over and out.

oops

today in class i was explaining how to make challah.
and explaining that you need 1 1/3 cups of water.
the word in hebrew for cup is cos
the word in hebrew for vagina is coos

yes, i said coos. and was FULLY aware of what came out of my mouth - but just a moment to late.

that was fun.

long skirt, long shirt

one of the rabbis at the school responded to requests by the students to bring us to mea shearim. it's actually the name of the street -- but it's the whoa religious peoples. it was kinda interesting hearing his stories - but honestly we've found that this rabbi has some crazy harsh opinions sometimes.

pictures include:
a picture near the entrance of the area
me and michael being a married couple
me and karen (irony...) (we cant take serious pictures together, they always look weird) (my boobs look very big in this picture)
rose trying to deal with how hot she was, pre entering the area.

there are some amazing stores there and im psyched to go back -- mom there are places with some crazy cheap stickers. oooooooooooooo stickers are fun.

in other news, michael is NOT happy with rena. as rena made mac & cheese and then didnt do the dishes. and the cheese stuck in the pans got NASTY. <50 lashes with a wet macaroni)

we have class tonight (boooo) but then im going swimming. i like swimming. it's fun. except i have to put wax in my ear because of my tube.

enjoy the pics, enjoy the day.