that little town o' bethlehemm

WHOOOOOOOOOO what a ride it's been this week!! I've had some very fun times, some 'wow im super homesick right now' times, but overall its been a great week.

Our story starts in that little town of bethlehem. Actually, it doesnt, it starts in Jerusalem, on Christmas Eve morn. I joined up with becky and her family to go to Bethlehem for Christmas eve. Now, I know you must (might?) be thinking: why would 4 jews want to go to Bethlehem for Christmas?? Let me tell you--because its AWESOME. And, because its like one of those 'when in Rome' things. I mean, how am i NOT going to go to bethlehem on Christmas eve?? So anyways, I meet becky and her fam in Jerusalem, and we walk over into east Jerusalem and hop on a Palestinian sheirut to bethlehem. Now, this bus driver must have had some freaky in or some mad awesome back route or something because we didnt pass the checkpoint---we didnt go through the wall at all. SOMEHOW, we just ended up in Bethlehem. Shweet! After getting to Manger Square (ha ha), we were greeted immediately by a parade that we literally walked into. It was so cute seeing all the kids playing instruments in the parade, and i mean SERIOUSLY, i made so many bad 'little drummer boy' jokes it wasnt funny. So we watched the parade, and then we made our way to the Church of the Nativity--where they had a bunch of cooool old mosiacs and priests on cell phones (gotta love it) and a star on the rock that jesus was apparently birthed onto. There were also these underground grotto/cave things that were really cool, underneath like linking 2 churches, and that was fun to walk around in. I also practiced my latin (which i really havent used since 7th grade, so like, 10 years ago??) and managed to read a placard from a mosaic (something something sweet angel joseph something dream) hahaha I was proud....
We basically spent the day watching parades, people watching *what an interesting city to do that in* and exploring the city. It was so nice to feel some of that christmas cheer that is so contagious, and I have admittedly been missing in Tel Aviv. We decided to walk to rachel's tomb, which we actually never ended up being able to see, vut what we DID do was MUCH cooler: we walked along the separation wall and got to see all of the AMAZING graffiti that was along it. I took SO many pictures: to check them out (they are part of my facebook album, they are the beginning of the album) here's the link:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2334016&id=1516692&l=585337d2e0

So I had a nice Christmas--lounged, took it easy, cleaned, the usual for a shabbat. Lots of skyping with the family, and opening my Christmas stocking that my Gran sent, which was nice too. It was still weird for me, and it made me quite homesick, but it was still good.

This week was fun too--on Tuesday we took a siyur to the Supreme court of Israel (nerd me was rejoicing) and to the MFA (ministry of foreign affairs), the people who deal with israel's image and contacts with everyone else in the world. It was really interesting to see how blind study groups viewed Israel, and how they are now trying to market it with a more positive, less war-based image. The Supreme court was also really interesting--its so intriguing to me to see how another countries' legal system works, and comparing it especially to the US. I think once i get to law school (I KNOW I KNOW IM GETTING ON IT) it would be nice to take a comparative law class--i find that stuff very intriguing.

I had a really fun new years, even though I missed my sis a lot :( We all (and by all, i mean LITERALLY almost all of my program....oyyy rollin out 20 people deep is SO fun/not) We went to a Funk Revival party, at a venue called The Block, which was AWESOME because, well, it was funk music. It wasnt as groove funkayyy as I wanted it to be, but it was still really fun, and everyone came out and just had a BLAST. New years is called Sylvester's here, and it apparently is a big deal with my generation but is not with the older generation--its kinda weird having two new years in this country, ya know?? And there was also a street party that we tried to find, but ended up in the wrong place so oh well.

One of the guys on our program, Seth, has a brother who's currently visiting who started a blog, well, its more like a job, but just check it out: http://thisistheworldwelivein.com/ It's super interesting and a wonderful insight into places like the African Refugee Center, which I live right next door to. Yall should check it out. <3


At the Siyur last week, Ricky handed us our final calendar for the program. HOLY JEEZ we have like 37 days left (who's counting, im not counting, put 'em up, put-'em-uppp) and that realization is SO SCARY TO ME and I dont want to leave. There I said it. I mean, I DO want to come home and I miss everyone like crazy and this place is insanity-inducing but its quirky and fun and Im hiding from real life and I love it. Words literally cannot express how happy I am that I made the decision to come here, and all of the amazing times that I have had. The end is nigh, and i want it to be far farrrr away. Because I know, sneaky sneaky world, that 37 days might as well be 37 hours. But I'm going to rev it into full gear, and try to see as much and do as much as I possibly can in the next 37 days.


HWOTD: (well phrase) Hine ani ba- it means HEEERE I COME!!!!!