apparently it rains in the desert...

Hi - Here's a picture of me, Becca, and our madricha looking especially attractive on our hike last weekend. We were feeling pretty lazy and decided to not do the hard part of Mount Shlomo, so Dana led us down the mountain, got us lost with no phone reception, and provided an all-around amazing adventure that involved climbing back up the mountain we had just climbed down. Dana is currently cooking me and Becca dinner, and I have a spare 15 minutes before dinner-time to write about what's going on.

That's not a shadow on half of the mountains. This is the _____ ( I was obv. not paying much attention) where rocks that are 50000000 million years old meet up with some rocks from... today. It was awesome hiking along the mountains, going back and forth from the light rocks to the dark rocks.

I'm currently feeling a bit overwhelmed by life. I have 5ish more weeks in Israel (the countdown has begun) and I'm not sure how I feel. Israel and Be'ersheva are home. My friends and madrichim are family. I have a new way of dress (and it's pretty comfy), a new diet (of weekly falafel b'pita and daily 1.5 shekel coffee), and a new schedule (where waking up at 7:30am everyday is OK). Am I ready to leave this? Am I ready to go back to the "empty nation" that I call "home"? I miss my family and friends. I miss Brandeis. I miss crazy Boston weather (not that I don't love the weather here). I (kinda) even miss Los Angeles. But won't I miss Israel even more?

While in Eilat, I found out that Los Angeles and Eilat are sister cities. When I think about having to leave Israel, I'm somewhat comforted knowing that I'll be back soon. I know how much some people hated hearing that I was planning on making Aliyah when I feasibly could do so. It's time to get used to the idea. I'm straddling two very different worlds between the States and Israel. It's true, I occassionally feel awkward in Israel, not knowing the language (at least, not knowing it well enough to know when my roommate's boyfriend is asking if I want anything from the merkolet), but don't I feel like the same pangs of an outsider in the States? I still haven't quite figured out myself.

You can't really tell from the picture, but these clouds had formed a big circle around downtown Be'ersheva. I thought it was pretty cool. Dinner's ready.

long time no... blog

i didn't have high expectations for my blog when i first set it up... i'm just not very good at keeping a "journal" type thing. but, it's november, and that's pretty worthy of an update on my life here in the holyland.

i'm beginning to freak out that i leave in less than 2 months. don't get me wrong - i miss all ya'll in the states HARBEH (a lot) but i'm not necessarily ready to leave my new home here in b7 (be'ersheva). israel feels just as home as the states, maybe even more... no worries though, when it's time, i'll get on the plane and come back to you guys...but only because i'll be back in israel soon enough

midterms have started and i'm super busy keeping up with readings and homework and writing papers and studying for tests. no worries though - i still make sure to have a *little* fun (like in the picture - rachel and i took some time off from hebrew homework to practice wearing our hair modestly) but i'm not on a *total* vacation as my mom likes to put it. i go to more class here than i will be next semester. i'm rocking 6 classes - 6!! (at the end of the add/drop period i decided to also take Representing "Home": America, Israel, and Jewish Identity - it's a literature class that i'm loving). instead of the internship, i'm tutoring high schoolers in english once (maybe twice) a week. and, i'm still doing my fellowship with Rabbi Eli and Chana. so basically, i'm busy. but i love it.

i went to 2 amazing concerts this last week - din din aviv at the dorms and shuti ha'navuah in b7's old city. din din aviv was fun - she sang some of the popular music that i hear on the radio. shuti ha'navuah was AMAZING and i'm kinda in love with them. super innovative, yet super nerdy. i need to steal their music from someone.

ma od? it rained for the first time since i've been here. for those of you not up to date on weather here in b7, i'm still wearing tank tops and flip flops everyday. yup, i know you all hate me. sometimes i wear a sweatshirt or scarf. but only because it's really cold in my classes and their fashionable. :) the 1 day of rain was preceded by a week of lighting storms that were SUPER cool to watch. i'd never seen lighting minus rain, so it was fun going power walking with rachel and every now and then seeing a burst of light. the rain was exciting too, but i like my sunny days.

i can't think of what else i wanted to write about in my blog.. but i'll leave you with some inspirational words from rabbi eli - (i'm probably getting this totally wrong)

the essence is in the name. egypt=mizra'im=constrained. america=am ri'ca= empty land. canada=can nee'dah=menstruating woman.

yallabye!