Hello friends!
This will be a short one...I'm on my lunch break and classes start again soon! So just a few short thoughts on life in Har Nof:
1) Shabbos is Yerushalayim is amazingly beautiful and spiritual.
2) I have to climb almost three hundred stairs to get to class every day (I live on the bottom of the mountain). Maybe I'll be in good shape when I get home?
3) In answer to the above question..seems unlikely! Dairy products are amazingly delicious and fattening here. I ate cottage cheese that was 5% fat...at home I eat 1%!! It's delicious and is basically dessert...yum. Speaking of dessert, I live about a block from two delicious ice cream places. YUM!!! I had ice cream yesterday with a friend, and it was amazing :-)
4) Got a new roommate yesterday; she's from South Africa! It makes me feel very international to have all of these friends from all over the world.
5) Now I need to get ready for an afternoon's worth of classes!
Lots of love,
Rachel
P.S. Please write lots of comments because even though this is technically a monologue, I would rather it be a dialogue! I want to hear from you guys :-)
Monday, April 26, 2010
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Dear friends,
Day 2 of seminary life! It's the first "real" day, as yesterday's classes were special classes in celebration of Yom Haatzmaut. I've been up since 5:45 (it gets light very early here, and my body is a bit confused!) It was odd when I realized that most of my friends and family back home most likely hadn't even gone to bed yet when I was waking up...time changes are bizarre!
Anyway, first day of "real" classes is going amazingly. (I'm on break for lunch...afternoon classes resume at 2 and go until 5:20, and then I have ulpan later tonight!) I forgot how much I love this! I forgot how much I love translating texts, even though I don't know very many words...the tutors here are very patient!
There is still much adjustment and settling in to be done, but I'm so enjoying and relishing these first few days of being back in Yerushalayim. I am so happy and grateful to be here, living and learning in Yerushalayim!
Love,
Rachel
Day 2 of seminary life! It's the first "real" day, as yesterday's classes were special classes in celebration of Yom Haatzmaut. I've been up since 5:45 (it gets light very early here, and my body is a bit confused!) It was odd when I realized that most of my friends and family back home most likely hadn't even gone to bed yet when I was waking up...time changes are bizarre!
Anyway, first day of "real" classes is going amazingly. (I'm on break for lunch...afternoon classes resume at 2 and go until 5:20, and then I have ulpan later tonight!) I forgot how much I love this! I forgot how much I love translating texts, even though I don't know very many words...the tutors here are very patient!
There is still much adjustment and settling in to be done, but I'm so enjoying and relishing these first few days of being back in Yerushalayim. I am so happy and grateful to be here, living and learning in Yerushalayim!
Love,
Rachel
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Shalom!
Dear friends,
Here I am in Yerushalayim, just starting to settle in. I arrived yesterday after a long flight...lots of crying babies on the plane meant very little sleep. That's OK, though. I met a girl on the plane who told me, "It doesn't matter where you're from. If you're a Jew in Israel, you're home." Thank GD! I've arrived in my spiritual home. :-)
I arrived in Har Nof yesterday, and today is Yom HaAtzmaut, Israeli Independence Day. From my balcony in my new apartment, we had an incredible view of the celebratory fireworks...amazing. A beautiful welcome!
My first day was great. It was only a half day because of the holiday, and all the levels of classes were together to listen to classes about the formation of Israel. I'd never learned much of it, so I really enjoyed it. Tomorrow I'll be diving into the regular courses...I'm excited about that. Today, I'm just going to relax and enjoy being back in Yerushalayim.
Love,
Rachel
Here I am in Yerushalayim, just starting to settle in. I arrived yesterday after a long flight...lots of crying babies on the plane meant very little sleep. That's OK, though. I met a girl on the plane who told me, "It doesn't matter where you're from. If you're a Jew in Israel, you're home." Thank GD! I've arrived in my spiritual home. :-)
I arrived in Har Nof yesterday, and today is Yom HaAtzmaut, Israeli Independence Day. From my balcony in my new apartment, we had an incredible view of the celebratory fireworks...amazing. A beautiful welcome!
My first day was great. It was only a half day because of the holiday, and all the levels of classes were together to listen to classes about the formation of Israel. I'd never learned much of it, so I really enjoyed it. Tomorrow I'll be diving into the regular courses...I'm excited about that. Today, I'm just going to relax and enjoy being back in Yerushalayim.
Love,
Rachel
Sunday, April 18, 2010
Leaving on a jet plane...
Hello, friends! I had a lovely Shabbos with Philip and Becca, and now I'm preparing to leave this evening! It appears as though icelandic ash from volcanic explosions does not pose a problem for flights to Israel, only to Europe. I thought for a moment that I might be spending more time here in NY than planned! Gdwilling, I should still be able to leave tonight. I'm so excited! Yerushalayim, here I come!
Love,
Rachel
Love,
Rachel
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Dear friends,
It seems, a little over a year later, my heart is leading me back to Yerushalayim once again. I'm leaving today for the first leg of my trip...a few days visiting my amazing brother and sister-in-law, grandparents, and cousins...and then on to Eretz Yisrael next week. I am so excited to be back in Yerushalayim, but I will miss all of my amazing, loving family and friends. I'll try to update this fairly regularly so that you guys can share in my adventures.
Lots of love,
Rachel
It seems, a little over a year later, my heart is leading me back to Yerushalayim once again. I'm leaving today for the first leg of my trip...a few days visiting my amazing brother and sister-in-law, grandparents, and cousins...and then on to Eretz Yisrael next week. I am so excited to be back in Yerushalayim, but I will miss all of my amazing, loving family and friends. I'll try to update this fairly regularly so that you guys can share in my adventures.
Lots of love,
Rachel
Thursday, February 5, 2009
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. :-)
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. :-)
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Yashar, Yashar
Dear friends,
I have learned my lesson about complaining when things are a bit dull. Just to spice things up, I had quite the eventful Shabbat.
One of my new friends and I decided to go to Ramat Bet Shemesh, a beautiful area outside of Jerusalem. We left early, with plenty of time to catch the bus from the central bus station. We arrived at the bus station at around 1:30. We joined the incredibly cramped, crowded security line, and we were pushed, shoved, and bumped for about twenty minutes before we finally made it inside. We found where we were supposed to buy bus tickets, but we were informed that we couldn’t buy tickets for this bus. The person behind the desk also told us that she didn’t know where to pick up the bus, so we wandered around the station for a while. We asked a few people, but they didn’t know where to get the bus, so we went back and asked again. Turns out that we were supposed to pick up the bus OUTSIDE. Bleh. The last bus was to leave at 2:30. Plenty of time, right? So we walked speedily outside, following the little map to the bus stop that the lady behind the desk drew for us. Unfortunately, my sense of direction failed me, and we looked at the map…backward. Oops. By 2:50, with the stop nowhere in sight, we realized that there was no way we were making that bus. We ended up having to pay a rather expensive cab fare to Ramat Bet Shemesh.
We arrived, and the family was lovely. I was pretty exhausted, but Shabbat dinner was very good. I happened to mention that I was thinking about coming home soon, nothing definite yet. After a little walk after dinner, I went to bed…and slept for nearly 12 hours. (That part was pretty fantastic).
The next morning, I went with one of the kid to walk an elderly neighbor over for Shabbat lunch. We’ll call her Mrs. Gold. Mrs. Gold is 88 and I really enjoyed walking with her. It was a pleasure to chat with her. In fact, after lunch, Mrs. Gold and I sat talking for quite a long time. She gave me lots of advice about life and told me stories about her life. After a while, the dad of the family walked back in and commented to Mrs. Gold with a wicked grin, “Did she tell you she’s leaving?” Mrs. Gold’s face transformed instantly from a sweet smile to an aghast frown. She then proceeded to yell at me for even considering leaving Eretz Yisrael. (Among her arguments were that since I’m 22, I should be a mother with five kids by now…my roommates and I wondered if that could include multiple births, because I think even someone who got married quite young would have trouble with the goal of five kids by 22.)
Anyway, getting yelled at by the nice old lady was a bit traumatic. I think she felt bad, because later she offered to read my palm. (You can email me and ask me what she said if you’re curious.) One of her first readings was that I am very sensitive, and my feelings can easily be hurt, even by a stranger. Nope, I’m not skeptical at all about her palm-reading abilities.
After Shabbat (and palm-reading sessions) were over, we made our way back to Har Nof. We waited a long time for a bus (or maybe it just seemed like a really long time!) When we got off, my poor sense of direction led us astray again, and we ended up walking pretty far in the opposite direction…in the rain. Whoops. We asked an Israeli couple to help us, and they said “yashar, yashar” (straight, straight). Just so you know, if you ask ANY Israeli for directions, they will always say “yashar, yashar.” Unfortunately, things are rarely actually “yashar, yashar”…hence getting a bit lost again. Fortunately, we eventually made it back safe and sound.
Quite a Shabbat. I’m not a fan of being yelled at. Luckily, it doesn’t happen too often.
In other news, I suppose I should make a formal announcement. Completely unrelated to little old ladies yelling at me, I’ve decided that it’s time for me to come home. I have so loved my experience here in Yerushalayim, but I am ready to come home and process what I’ve learned. I’ll be back in just two weeks. I can’t wait to see all of you, my dear friends at home!
Love,
Rachel
I have learned my lesson about complaining when things are a bit dull. Just to spice things up, I had quite the eventful Shabbat.
One of my new friends and I decided to go to Ramat Bet Shemesh, a beautiful area outside of Jerusalem. We left early, with plenty of time to catch the bus from the central bus station. We arrived at the bus station at around 1:30. We joined the incredibly cramped, crowded security line, and we were pushed, shoved, and bumped for about twenty minutes before we finally made it inside. We found where we were supposed to buy bus tickets, but we were informed that we couldn’t buy tickets for this bus. The person behind the desk also told us that she didn’t know where to pick up the bus, so we wandered around the station for a while. We asked a few people, but they didn’t know where to get the bus, so we went back and asked again. Turns out that we were supposed to pick up the bus OUTSIDE. Bleh. The last bus was to leave at 2:30. Plenty of time, right? So we walked speedily outside, following the little map to the bus stop that the lady behind the desk drew for us. Unfortunately, my sense of direction failed me, and we looked at the map…backward. Oops. By 2:50, with the stop nowhere in sight, we realized that there was no way we were making that bus. We ended up having to pay a rather expensive cab fare to Ramat Bet Shemesh.
We arrived, and the family was lovely. I was pretty exhausted, but Shabbat dinner was very good. I happened to mention that I was thinking about coming home soon, nothing definite yet. After a little walk after dinner, I went to bed…and slept for nearly 12 hours. (That part was pretty fantastic).
The next morning, I went with one of the kid to walk an elderly neighbor over for Shabbat lunch. We’ll call her Mrs. Gold. Mrs. Gold is 88 and I really enjoyed walking with her. It was a pleasure to chat with her. In fact, after lunch, Mrs. Gold and I sat talking for quite a long time. She gave me lots of advice about life and told me stories about her life. After a while, the dad of the family walked back in and commented to Mrs. Gold with a wicked grin, “Did she tell you she’s leaving?” Mrs. Gold’s face transformed instantly from a sweet smile to an aghast frown. She then proceeded to yell at me for even considering leaving Eretz Yisrael. (Among her arguments were that since I’m 22, I should be a mother with five kids by now…my roommates and I wondered if that could include multiple births, because I think even someone who got married quite young would have trouble with the goal of five kids by 22.)
Anyway, getting yelled at by the nice old lady was a bit traumatic. I think she felt bad, because later she offered to read my palm. (You can email me and ask me what she said if you’re curious.) One of her first readings was that I am very sensitive, and my feelings can easily be hurt, even by a stranger. Nope, I’m not skeptical at all about her palm-reading abilities.
After Shabbat (and palm-reading sessions) were over, we made our way back to Har Nof. We waited a long time for a bus (or maybe it just seemed like a really long time!) When we got off, my poor sense of direction led us astray again, and we ended up walking pretty far in the opposite direction…in the rain. Whoops. We asked an Israeli couple to help us, and they said “yashar, yashar” (straight, straight). Just so you know, if you ask ANY Israeli for directions, they will always say “yashar, yashar.” Unfortunately, things are rarely actually “yashar, yashar”…hence getting a bit lost again. Fortunately, we eventually made it back safe and sound.
Quite a Shabbat. I’m not a fan of being yelled at. Luckily, it doesn’t happen too often.
In other news, I suppose I should make a formal announcement. Completely unrelated to little old ladies yelling at me, I’ve decided that it’s time for me to come home. I have so loved my experience here in Yerushalayim, but I am ready to come home and process what I’ve learned. I’ll be back in just two weeks. I can’t wait to see all of you, my dear friends at home!
Love,
Rachel
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