And so a new adventure begins...

Dear friends,
I’m writing this update from quite a different location: home! Yep, I’m back in the United States of America! I haven’t really updated much the past few weeks, so I’m going to try to catch you guys up.

I spent last Shabbat with my big brother at his apartment, which is always a luxury for me because he lets me sleep in his bed (so chivalrous!). When I got there, I found out that Neshama Carlebach would be leading Kabbalat Shabbat services at a nearby synagogue. Even though I already had tickets for her concert after Shabbat, I was thrilled to get to hear her twice in one weekend, so of course we went to that synagogue for services! Her voice is beautiful, and I thought that the services were really moving. That night, one of my brother’s roommates cooked dinner, and it was delicious. Good food, good company, good music—who could ask for more? The next day, we went to a different synagogue for Shabbat morning services (there are about 10 trillion options for services in Jerusalem). We picked this particular synagogue because the family with the adorable kiddies that Philip and I like to baby-sit for tend to go there, and sure enough, we ran into them! That made my morning, because I wanted to give them hugs good-bye! They are adorable and bright, and it was so much fun for me to see them. I especially love watching the one-year-old baby abandon her mom to go to Philip, who she just loves more than anybody else. It’s so cute!!

Anyway, after morning services, we had a lovely lunch prepared by another of Philip’s gourmet roommates, and then after an excellent Shabbos nap, we headed over to a friend of mine from Neve for the third meal. I had such a good time there. We literally sang for hours. ☺

After Shabbat ended, I met up with my roommate Niz (have I mentioned her yet? She’s from South Africa and incredibly dynamic and fun) and a few of her friends for the Neshama Carlebach concert. She sang with an Israeli singer, Etti Ankri, who absolutely blew me away. Neshama was incredible, but Etti, in my opinion, stole the show. My friends and I all went and bought her music, and I’m now obsessed with all of these Hebrew songs (and I have no clue what any of them are about! Lol.) As a performer, Etti was amazing. She was definitely a bit nutty, but I’ve never seen a singer so passionate, so genuine, so real. It was such an uplifting and spiritual experience. The evening ended with ice cream in town at one in the morning. ☺

A few days later, my dear friend Ana agreed to humor me and go to the zoo! The Jerusalem zoo is called the biblical zoo because they have all of these biblical animals…or something like that. Anyway, we had so much fun! It was a beautiful, warm day (but not hot), so all the animals were awake and lively. We heard elephants trumpet and saw one give himself a bath with his trunk! We watched a baby elephant nurse from its mom. We saw a giant reconstruction of Noah’s ark…that was kind of silly, but fun. We had a picnic on the grass near these crazy monkeys that could shout really loud because they have these weird expandable air sacs under their throats. We watched a swan flap its wings and try to escape…unsuccessfully. Oh, and we made friends with a leopard! Through the glass, of course, but he kept coming right up where we were sitting against the glass, so we got to visit with him quite a bit! I think the leopard was my favorite part of the zoo. My visit to the zoo was such a blast.

What else did I do in my last week in Yerushalayim? I visited the Kotel (the Western Wall) before I left. On my ride back on the bus, I sat next to this sweet older lady who really wanted to talk with me, even though it was painfully apparent that I speak virtually no Hebrew and she speaks virtually no English. It was an interesting bus ride! I enjoyed talking to her…it was the first time I really wished that I had studied harder in ulpan and actually learned some Hebrew! Most of the time, I was able to get around without speaking any Hebrew at all, since most people in Yerushalayim speak English.

My good-bye to my friends at Neve was hard and sad. They were so sweet, and they organized a beautiful good-bye Shabbat. I am very lucky to have met them and will miss them all so much!

So that is the abbreviated recap….now I’m back home, missing Israel but happy to be back nonetheless. :-)