Character Building

wow 5 days! I need to get better at this whole blogging deal! So Thursday I had my first Hewbrew test! I already know the whole alefbet and can read and write, all that in 5 days!!! to celebrate my friends and I went to the club Disco Teca to dance the night away! Even though we had a late night of dancing we all managed to get up bright and early to visit Jaffa. Jaffa is this gorgeous old city with amazing beaches, views, and buildings. While walking along the beach I was finding tons of sea glass and I tried to collect it all like I used to when I was younger. We went to the flea market and I bought a necklace that I haggled down to 35 shekels from 60 shekels. I played the sympathy card and said I was a student and broke out my best puppy dog eyes :) While we were in Jaffa we tried some authentic Israeli cuisine at Dr Shukuash (most likely spelled wrong). Shukuash is a poached egg with tomato sauce and spices eaten with bread. Lets just say I am going to stick with pita and hummus. On our return from Jaffa we accidentally got on the wrong bus. The second we boarded all of the passengers knew we were lost and immediately started whispering about us in Hebrew. When we realized our mistake we got off the bus only to realize we were in the sketchy part of town and a few israelis started whistling and yelling at us. Our real bus could not have come any sooner! There is a small cold going through the entire OSP program and everyone is sick including me :( So I might take it easy tonight so I can enjoy a whole day at the beach tomorrow, since its supposed to be 80!!! be jealous Iowa/Boston!!!

alef bet vet, alef bet vet

So it has a been a few days since I have last updated, and quite a bit has happened. First I'm slowly learning how to live with my curly hair, but I'm not looking or feeling good about it. I went bowling, which I soon discovered that Israeli bowing is the same as American bowling, except that I win! Yay for new high score! Thursday night everyone went out and our suite was looking pretty fly.

The next day I went exploring with my friend Lauren. We found this HUGE park that had rock climbing walls, soccer games, birthday parties galore, and a river for boating. We stumbled upon what we thought was a playground, but it turned out to be an outdoor public gym where you can lift weights and such. Lauren decided she was going to stop quick to pump some iron. Also in the park was this huge circle of people dancing the same moves over and over to song after song, I wanted to join in but I realized I was already getting dirty looks from people for using my camera during shabbat when you are not supposed to use electronics. Today I started my hebrew classes. I learned a whole 5 letters of the alphabet and was already assigned a good 1 or 2 of homework all due tomorrow! Eeeek who knew studying abroad actually meant having to study?????

This song is everywhere!

First few days

So I have arrived in Israel. I'm posting some pics of my room (clearly Im not unpacked yet) and the view outside my cab. I was super jet lagged yesterday and have been constantly napping. The internet is not the strongest so my pics may not be loading. So far the food here is pretty tasty (yay hummus!) but I was not expecting the Hebrew overload. I know nothing and I can't read signs or communicate and I feel dumb asking for people to talk to me in English because I can feel the American hatred. The program at Tel Aviv University is pretty large, and I have been meeting alot of new people but I also have been sticking pretty close to my engineering group. There are only 10 non Jews in the whole group so its weird being the minority. There are alot of snobby rich kids so I will have to find my people, I know there are some out there!!! I have a bowling event tomorrow, can't wait to show my skills and maybe beat my high score of 63! haha Also, we have some get to know you party tomorrow night so hopefully I will meet some new people.

OUR FIRST NIGHT!!!

PACKINGGGGG

ughhh packing is such a drag! I have no motivation to pack everything away because I have become very comfortable at home with no worries or stress. Its weird to think that when I leave at 4 am tomorrow I will never come back to this house as my home. Im excited to go to Israel, but Im going to miss my family and friends a lot! Its not like I'm going to Boston which is my home #2, I'm going to a completely different country over 5,000 miles away only knowing 1 other person eeeeek!!!