Sorry I Dissapeared!!

Sorry for not writing in so long things have just been so crazy busy in my life that I really haven’t had the time to sit still for long enough to put everything I want to say down into words. So what have I been doing these past few weeks that has kept me so busy? I moved into my apartment and started ulpan. Moving in has been a much more stressful and time-consuming process than I had previously imagined. Pretty much every day I have had to go to some store or another to buy something, or spend hours trying to organize all of my stuff in a new and unfamiliar room. My roommate’s parents own the apartment and they were here for the first 10 days helping us get things purchased and organized. We didn’t have a fridge, oven, or washing machine until about a week after moving in. Our first grocery store run was a huge excitement! We actually had something to eat!!

At the same time I started ulpan. My first night in the apartment directly preceded my first day of class. I am in level 4 out of 6 and I love it. I was very overwhelmed at the beginning. There is a huge emphasis on Hebrew grammar, and as I have no real prior grammar training everything that is supposed to be “review” at my level is brand new material for me. They give us a ton of homework and because I’ve been so busy trying to get the rest of my life together I haven’t been able to focus on my work properly. Other than that I LOVE my class. My class is taught by 2 teachers who switch off at least once every day. One focuses on grammar and the other on vocab but they are pretty interchangeable. They are both super super nice. One of the teachers is really amazingly dynamic and we don’t sit in her class for more than 5 minutes without cracking up laughing. Yesterday we played a game to demonstrate a new rule she was teaching us and is was so much fun I almost forgot I was in school. Another really fun, amazing thing about my class is how incredible diverse we are and how well we all get along. My class consists of 3 Americans (including myself), 1 Brit, 1 Russian, 1 Columbian, 3 French, 3 Arabs, 3 Germans, 1 Swiss, and even 1 Japanese woman. It is so much fun to talk to them and listen to all of their stories. For example, one of the German students is 27 and doing post- Theological school studies in Israel. When he was 19 he decided to do National Service instead of serving in the German army. He knew he wanted to go out of Germany and I still don’t quite understand what made him pick Israel. Whatever it was, he caught the Israel bug. He went back to Germany to finish his studies and then decided to do some postmasters additional studies and couldn’t stay away from Israel. I am so fascinated that a non-Jew, especially a German, can feel similarly strong feelings of love for Israel that I do and can share the feeling of having to be here despite everything. There are a lot of recent immigrants in my class- it makes for a nice environment and a support system in addition to the friends I already have. I will post more anecdotes when I have more time.

Back to the apartment: Yesterday I built my first pieces of furniture all by myself! I now have a desk and a real chair at which to do my homework! I also bought a rug and now my room is finally starting to come together. I also bought paint to add some color to my room. Israeli apartments tend to be so absolutely white that it’s painful. Right now I am sitting in my roommate’s room while she and a friend are taping geometric shapes onto her wall. I can’t wait to start painting then in!

This Shabbat I am spending at home with my two roommates and we’re doing a roomie Shabbat. My third roommate Shira works the night shift at an American company so I hardly see her and we’d all really like to spend some time together.
That is about it for the major stuff for now. Other than that I’m still trying to have fun. I went to a concert last night with Becca at the Internal Arts and Crafts Fair in the middle of Jerusalem. It was really really really fun and it was amazing that we were sitting there in an archaeological park with the walls of the Old City on the right and our neighborhood behind. I love this city and I still can’t believe I am lucky enough to live here!