Round 2

I am in Israel! After two years of wanting to come back, I have finally made it. But it doesn't seem real. I feel like I'm in a dream and that I'll either wake up soon or go home in a few days. It's amazing being back here. I kind of know the cities, kind of know the language, and definitely know the culture. I sort of know where I am and I am excited to being a new adventure of exploration in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.

I got to Israel on Monday and stayed with my friend's cousin. I walked around the Mamilla Mall, which is right near the Old City, near the Zion Gate. It was cool that I was able to navigate where I was because I had been to the Old City many times before. I went to a falafel place for dinner only to find out that they had run out of falafel, pita, and shwarma. I wasn't a happy camper, but no worries because the next day for breakfast, we made shakshuka and we ate it with hummus and for lunch we went to a hummus place. After lunch, I went to the youth hostel to begin the program, Career Israel, where I will be doing an internship. At the hostel, I saw Mara, who used to work at Umass and we caught up while I filled out the necessary forms. Between awkward conversation, dinner, and "get-to-know-you" activities (not ice breakers), I met a bunch of people who seem friendly. I told the group of people I was hanging out with that it was my birthday so after all the mandatory activities, we went out to Ben Yehuda street.

The past two days, we've been touring Jerusalem. The tours have been ok. It's hard to pay attention that long when you're hot, sweaty, thirst, hungry, and in the hot sun. We went to David's Tomb and the place where the Last Supper was held. I had been there before so there was no new information, but after a break of ice coffee (which is actually a cappuccino or a freddo) and a walk through the Arab quarter, we ended up at the Holy Sepulchre (and yes, I had to look up how to spell that). That is the place where Jesus was buried before he was resurrected. Also, the center of the world is supposedly there. So of course I had to "feel the energy" of the center. For dinner that night, we drove to Ein Kerem, which is somewhere in the mountains and it was beautiful, especially since we went at sunset. At the restaurant we were at, we ate Israeli-Indian food. I'm still unsure of what that is. There was 8 Israeli salads with fried potatoes and meat. It was a delicious "festive" dinner, as the Madrichim described.

Today, after our Hebrew Placement test (Shmuel would be proud), we toured Nachlaot, which is a 36+ neighborhoods ranging from extreme orthodox to chabad to secular yeminites. The buildings were very fresh, but they too ranged from old to new. The tour guide got yelled at by an Orthodox lady because we were not dressed appropriately (which was true) and we were on private property (not true). Either way we left and he explained that for every person who is not welcoming, there is one who is and pointed to an apartment explaining that the guy used to be a Floridian surfer turned religious and is happy to invite people in for Shabbat. And speaking, of Shabbat, Jerusalem is about to shut down and so I must get ready.