Jerusalem is Very Confused

For some reason, this city seems to think that it is Fair Lawn from the summer of 2009. As I type this, there is a strong wind whistling outside my window and spitting rain blowing into the faces of passersby. I don't really mind the weather, but it just seems very out of place - I know Jlem has a rainy season, but this is a lot of water (it's a good thing in this country - even though my Silicon Wadi professor explained to our class that Israel has the capability to use desalinization techniques to purify seawater to perfectly potable quality for less than 1/1000 of the GDP [considered to be a very reasonable sum] but the agricultural lobby in Israel fights hard against this for some reason and so the drought continues). Everything is good with the Yankees, they currently lead 3-1 in the Series, my hair seems to be safe, and I can't wait for them to finish off the Phillies.

Adina's birthday on Thursday was a blast. I went out for waffles with Adina, Rachel, Debbie, Jordana and Ariella. The waffles were delicious and I had great company so that made it even better.

Debbie, Me and Rachel enjoying waffles on Ben Yehuda.

After waffles we went exploring Jerusalem a little bit until we found a place to hang out, and many more Nativers joined us there to celebrate. This was the first occurrence of the rain, and we all had to scramble for cover. After a while, Joey and Debbie and I headed back to Beit Nativ. Debbie went to bed and Joey and I spent a little while getting ready for the game. We met up at 2 am in a little alcove on his floor. Watching the game was great, but we got very tired by the end and headed back to our rooms to follow the box score online and fall asleep if we got too tired. I watched like that until around 6am when the Yankees won! Evening out the Series was very important, and I went to bed happy.

I woke up on Friday at 11 or so, just in time to say goodbye to my roommatey. After a little while, I decided it was time to head down to lunch. I left my room and went to the door of my building - at which point I immediately turned around. Jerusalem was currently in the middle of a torrential downpour. The courtyard in between the two buildings was partly underwater! I waited a bit for the deluge to stop, and then went to lunch. Jordana and I decided to go shopping for snacks and stuff for Shabbat, so we headed across the street to Supersol. When we got back, the water had mostly drained away and I spent the last few hours before Shabbat in bed on my computer. As Shabbat came nearer (Shabbat starts very early here - 4:11 this past week and we'll get as early as 3:55 on December 4th before it starts to get later again) and my friday morning lethargy failed to break, I decided that the only way I was going to shul was if someone came into my room and said "What the hell Seffi? Get off your butt and get dressed for shul!" Just as I thought that, in came Adina, dressed and ready to go. She gave me a look and I jumped right up and started getting dressed. Adina, Brian (and Brian's mom - a very nice lady who was in Jlem for shabbat after taking Brian to Jordan during the week), Gabe, Haley and I headed to Shira Hadasha (which Brian and I agreed was lacking some of its usual energy, though even a diminished Shira Hadasha is better than most davening experiences we've ever had in the States). We made it back to Beit Nativ just in time for dinner, which was very pleasant, and afterwards I played Risk with Adam, Gabe Ci, Gabe Co and Meir. Gabe and I agreed that we had missed Risk a lot from our days in USY. Saturday morning I woke up in time for lunch and then we played Risk again. After Risk, I went to the Parshat Hashavuah study session and then led Mincha. We did Maariv and Havdallah soon after that, and then (once stores opened a few hours later) I went our for sushi with Adina, Gabe, Lainie and LeeAnn (Nativ doesn't give us stipend for Saturday nights, which is absolutely ridiculous, because nothing even remotely approximating dinner is served at Beit Nativ). After that, Adina and I walked over to Ben Yehuda Street to pick up a bagel for Debbie, and then we headed back to Beit Nativ. I watched Coraline with Gabe, Lainie and Adam - it was a lot of fun and a surprisingly good movie.

On Sunday Joshy and I woke up and headed to school. Class was interesting, but also a little confusing. Silicon Wadi is unique in that the professor isn't an educator, but an entrepreneur. He brings expertise about his topic that no teacher could, but he also isn't as skilled in the areas of pacing his teaching and explaining concepts. The class is still worth taking though, and next time we are taking a field trip to Intel in Israel.

On Sunday evening a lot of people were ordering food for dinner, but the Beit Midrash program was beginning that night and they were going to have free pizza. I ended up going with LeeAnn, Debbie and Jordana and the three of us benefited from the free pizza and then studied about Jewish views on ethical treatment of animals (Tzar Baalei Hayyim) with Yonina Creditor (many of my readers know that name, if you don't, don't worry). The whole program is designed to bring JTS Rabbinical School students, studying in Israel, together with Nativers in study. It was interesting, and definitely worth going back a second time.

Today was back to classes as usual. This morning though, students in Rabbi Schindler's classes got an email telling them that Talmud was canceled today so my classes ended at 2:00 (The free time was wonderful, I just hope that everything is alright with the Rabbi). I took that time to head to the library and begin my research on Conservative Judaism for my Freshman Writing paper. I took out six books, and hopefully they will prove useful - at the very least they give me sources to cite, and since a list of sources is all that's due for next class, they'll serve that purpose (I hate writing essays piecemeal like this, but this time it's helpful). That's about all for now. Hope all is well!

Talk to you soon,
Seffi