Today was a good day

Today we had a normal day of school, normal wake up and normal classes. In Hebrew we started learning past tense. Towards the end of class, our madrachim walked in with a special surprise, sufganiyot. As much as I am trying not eat sufganiyot and other treats, I figured it is Hanukkah and I will never have another Hanukkah in Israel were you can find sufganiyot everywhere, so why not take advantage. In Jewish History we talked about the results of the 6-day war and land disputes (we got into a little debate over what to do with all the territories). During lunch, I had a meeting with Ariella. We went over the parasha that the NFTY convention d’var torah competition is based on (I am thinking of entering). As usual, after lunch I had my general studies classes. Then during my hour off I was actually successful in getting stuff done. After dinner, I continued my success and even had time to watch some Harry Potter with Sara before announcements and candle lighting at 9:30. After candle lighting, Preston and I finally had time to call Ronen (our old camp unit head) and see if we can meet up with him before we go back to the U.S. We are hoping to see him sometime this weekend. Then I went back to my room, edited my English assignment, sent it in, got ready for bed, and continued watching Harry Potter with my roommates. Overall, I would say it has been a pretty good day ☺

Welcome to Winter!

This morning we got up early just to have the bus come late. Today was also the first rainstorm Israel has had in a year! Luckily, it helped put out the fire in Haifa. Sadly though, a good portion of our tiyul was outside and it was cold (not a good combination). Our tiyul had 2 parts, but the 2nd one got caught short. First we went to Ammunition Hill and learned about the 6-day war. While we were there we saw a movie that wasn’t really a movie but was way cooler. Basically it used a model of Israel and a bunch of lights and narration. But the lights also had animation (aka small car things but they were lights that moved across the model). It was really cool. Then we walked through some of the trenches (quickly though b/c it was raining and we were wet.) After that we went through the museum and then got on the bus to go visit Hebrew University. Sadly however, our bus couldn’t get through the gate we needed to go through to get in so we settled for 15 min. looking out at the view. Then we went back to Tzuba for general studies. It was nice to walk into my room and have heat since I was freezing. We got back with extra time before 1st period started so once I finished lunch I had plenty of time to finish my homework. It didn’t take long to finish my work, so we had a roommate bonding session and watched Harry Potter. Then we had to go to class. All my classes went by pretty quickly (which was weird considering rain usually makes me tired). My econ. teacher found Micro power points that cover all of our material so we go over them in class and barely have to take notes, which is nice. He also e-mailed us the presentations so we will have them for reference. During my free period, I actually relaxed for once. It was wonderful. I watched some shows and did some pre-back to school shopping research (aka I looked at the Nordstrom website for a long while). Sara, Izzy, Mikah and I went to dinner early and then had time to relax in our room until announcements. For once, announcements were done efficiently and quickly. After we lit the candles I went to go do homework and actually finished it! Woohoo!

Dear College Board, I guess we meet again

So this morning I woke up and took the SATs. There isn’t much to report about them other than they were more difficult and more challenging than I expected at certain points. I will just have to wait until the end of the month to see how I did. We finished right after lunch (1st period) started so of course we all went straight to the dinning hall. I ate quickly so I would have time to relax before I started the long school day I still had ahead of me. However, my relaxing was quickly compromised by the Jewish history essay that is due in the morning. Normally I would have just waited until after classes and announcements but I had mezuzah making tonight. While I was upset that it took away time from writing my 2 essays and doing the rest of my homework it was pretty fun. After that we lit the Hanukkah candles and I went back to my room to attempt to finish my assignments. But I didn’t have much time and am still trying to finish it all. So I am going to go attempt to finish and go to sleep at a reasonable time, especially b/c we have early wake up for a tiyul tomorrow.

Dinner with Ariella

Oh how I love sleeping. As I always do on Shabbat I slept in and ate in my room. At 11 we had Shabbat morning services. This morning, along with a regular service, one of the girls on our trip had her bat-mitzvah. After services, we had lunch and then free time until 4. So I worked on my Jewish History essay. At 4, my JHist. Class and one other class got on the bus and headed towards our teachers houses for dinner. It is so cool and weird that it is perfectly normal for us to go to our teachers house for dinner. We had dinner with Ariella, her husband, and their adorable one-year-old. They made sweet potato latkes and other delicious foods. After dinner we had havdalah and lit the Hanukkah candles. Then we had sufganiyot and had the opportunity to look at Ariella’s wedding album, her daughters first year album, and pictures of her from here community service and army training (those were a little embarrassing for her). It was so nice of our teachers to invite us over for dinner and we had a really good time. When we got back to Tzuba we had a little free time and then announcements. After announcements Sara and I decided to watch Harry Potter as a way to relax and prepare for the SAT tomorrow. Now I am going to sleep so that I have a good nights rest before my big test.

Homemade food makes teens happy

So this morning was pretty not interesting. I woke up and had an SAT prep marathon. We had an hour and half of English and then an hour and half of math. Then we had an hour of mock practice (we did one English and one math session). After all of the SAT prep we had lunch and then free time. During free time, Sara and I decorated all of our presents for our secret Santa. At 3 we left for services in the German colony. We split into 2 groups and went to 2 different modern orthodox synagogues. Services were kind of boring b/c we couldn’t really follow what was going on but we made the best of it. When we got back I left for dinner with the cousins. We went to Shai’s dad and step-moms apartment in Jerusalem to celebrate with all of his siblings and their families. We got to dinner late so there wasn’t a lot of food food but it was ok b/c I wanted to save room for dessert. There were store bought sufganiyot, cakes, and my favorite, Michal and Maya’s homemade sufganiyot. After everyone ate their fill of desserts, all the mom’s decided to give me the leftovers to take back to Tzuba to share with my friends (they were very happy to eat the sufganiyot). Michal, Shai, Maya, and Itay also gave me a small but cute present and so did Shai’s parents. It was so sweet of all of them. When I got back to Tzuba my roommates were very happy with the presents I brought back. Then we just hung out in our room, watching shows and relaxing.

Israeli version of georgetown cupcake

As a Hanukkah present we got to sleep in until 8:15 this morning. In the hour and 15 minutes we had before we had to be on the bus we had to get ready, eat breakfast, and buy our secret Santa (it has a weird Israeli name too but secret Santa is easier) presents. I was really on top of things and was even able to secretly give my person their present. (We are giving presents every other day). Then at 9:30 we got on the bus and headed up north to have a Hanukkah day with the Israeli kids. When we got to their school we quickly moved to our respective buses for our mitzvah projects. We weren’t given a choice on where we were going so I went to a food-packaging place. We made Hanukkah food packages. In the middle of making boxes I was told to go up stairs to make candy packages for kids in the hospital. After about an hour and a half of packaging we got on the bus and went back to their school. Right when we got back we went to the dining hall and had lunch and then we split up into 4 groups for centers. There was dodge ball, a Hanukkah quiz, jelly taste testing, and playing dreidel (I won my game). Then we had a torah study and discussed western influence on Israel but focused on Israeli youth. After that we had a sufganiyot snack and then lit the candles and had a talent show (I didn’t perform). When the talent show was over we got on the bus and headed back to Tzuba. Along the way we stopped for dinner so I had a mozzarella, pesto, and chicken sandwich from aroma. Then we walked around a bit and ran into a sufganiyot stand. There were soo many different kinds! And I found the perfect one. I saw it as my chocolate cubed Georgetown cupcake just in sufganiyot form. It had a chocolate filling with chocolate icing and chocolate sprinkles on top. It was absolutely wonderful. Then I bought myself a Hanukkah present of new headphones b/c mine decided to break yesterday. We got back to Tzuba around 10. I showered, straightened my hair, and called ally to say happy birthday. Now it is late and I have a ton of SAT prep tomorrow so I am posting this and going to bed.

Secret ammunition factories under bakeries and landury rooms

Today we had a full day tiyul. We started the morning off by going on a little hike to a point were we could see the main highway. During the war of independence convoys would travel on the highway trying to get to Jerusalem trying to get supplies in. After that we had a nice drive to a kibbutz where Jewish teens were secretly making ammunition. We got to go into the room underground where all of their secret activities were happening. They didn’t tell anyone and had to come up with a bunch of lies so that they wouldn’t ever be suspected of anything. After our tour we ate lunch and then got back on the bus to go to Tel Aviv. We went to what was the first mayor’s house. It was also the sight at which David Ben Gurion declared the state of Israel. It was pretty neat to be where such a monumental event, in modern history, occurred. Then we got back on the bus and went to Tzuba. When we got back I had some free time before SAT prep. I also had to eat before class b/c dinner would be over by the time we finished. Luckily, Sara and I went to dinner early enough that there were still latkes ☺. There was also wannabe sufganiyot (jelly donuts). Sadly though there was no applesauce b/c apparently applesauce and latkes don’t go together in this country. (But its ok b/c I had some pink applesauce before I went to dinner). After SAT prep I had some free time and then we all met in the Belmont to light the candles. We split into groups of 2 and each lit a hanukkiah. Then we had mandatory lice checks but don’t worry I am clear. By that time it was already 10:45 so we basically had to be in our rooms. So I talked to Rachel Weiner (well actually I have done that a lot today) and skyped with Naomi. Now I am going to bed and am going to hope that my phone starts working again. P.s. HAPPY HANUKKAH!!!!! Guess what: a great miracle didn’t happen there it happened HERE!