I have been in an extended finals period since June 28th. I have reached a point where I can no longer look at anything that has to do with school or my paper that I’m supposed to be writing or the three finals that I still have to take. It’s almost like a sick joke that Israel plays on its college students: we have “vacation” from the end of June until the end of October, but we are theoretically taking finals until mid-September. Its nuts. I mean I would rather spread out my 13 finals than take them all at once, but still, this is quite ridiculous.
Ok done complaining.
This summer I have had the opportunity to experience some pretty cool things through the framework of my studies. I spent 2 weeks on the archaeological dig at Tel E’ton
, about 10 Kilometers from Lachish. The dig was amazing. It was incredibly hard work: wake up at 4am, dig from 5am-1pm all hard physical labor, but I learned a lot and had a really amazing experience. One of the best experiences was one morning on the way to the dig I went with my friend in his car instead of taking the bus. He had the radio on to one of the national stations and just before the clock struck 5am they broadcast the Shema and then a Chapter of the Mishna (Oral Law) to start the day off with some Jewish learning. I had no idea that anything like that existed. My friend explained that at 5am on this channel and 6am on another they broadcast this every morning to mark the start of their new day (even though they broadcast continuously throughout the night). I was in shock. I was so pleased and impressed that the
country started its day with the Shema and some Jewish learning. There are so many times when the arguments about the character of this country and the fights between the secular Jews and religious Jews are unbearable, but this simple act that took less than 30 seconds helped make it clear that I live in the Jewish Homeland. It was inspiring and uplifting, and made me feel blessed that I was up at 5am to experience it.
This past week I also got to experience my First Anniversary. It is unbelievable that a year has gone by so quickly. It seems like it was only a few months ago that we got married! This has been a wonderful year for us where we have built our home and strengthened our relationship. To celebrate we stuffed our faces at the all-you-can-eat Brazilian Buffet at Papagaio (thanks mom and dad), we spent Friday playing on the beach and going sailing, and to top it all off we had a lovely, relaxing Shabbat together at home. It’s been really nice to be able to look back over the last year with such fond memories, and we look forward to many many many more happy years together!
