13 יומ

Ok, so things are beginning to slow down and I’m settling into actually living here. We’ve definitely treated that last 2 weeks as more of a vacation than study abroad. But now that classes are beginning and deadlines are being established, the reality that this is real life is settling in. I figured I would take tonight to show you what my real life is like here in Tel Aviv.

So this is Bnei Dan, the hostel we live in. By all standards, it’s actually pretty nice. As I’ve described, it’s a beautiful neighborhood and as you can see, we have a lovely courtyard. The food is actually pretty good. While I’d love to be free to eat out, I’m alright with what we have in the cafeteria here. I don’t even miss mixing meat and dairy (it’s against kosher and the cafeteria is 100% kosher)! We have a great cook named Nadua. She is a Bedouin and speaks Arabic (she calls it Bedouin) and Hebrew, plus a little English. She’s been very kind to take requests from us (watermelon and peanut butter!)

This is my room. I didn’t get to mention that a few days ago, I moved out of Guy’s room into a single. All the rooms here are doubles and my to-be roommate dropped out of the program on the last possible day so since there’s not another guy to put me with, I just kind of lucked out. I must say it’s kind of nice, but I do miss chatting with Guy before going to sleep. He was a great roommate. Luckily, we’re all on the same floor, so you can’t really be far from anyone. This may sound perilous to some of you as this could easily result in Real World – esque drama. Luckily, everyone here seems really cool and I don’t expect more drama than we can handle (in as controversial a site as we’re at, some tension is bound to arise). I’m really glad I’m in a small program. I’m really enjoying getting to know everyone – like for real.

Speaking of which, let me introduce you to some of them. These are the boys on top of Azrieli Tower. From right to left (I’m starting to see the world in this direction) we have Max, Ariel, GUY!, Jay, and myself.

These are some of the girls at the courtyard of the Rabin Museum. We have Kara, Lindsey, Lisa, Marina, and Nitya.

One last group for now. We’ve got GUY! (Again), Mara, Cheryl, Becky, and Jay (O, and Charlotte in the background) at Perla.

Ok, here are some beach pictures. We spend a lot of time on the beach whether it be relaxing, swimming, or even going out of our way to enjoy the beauty. I really hope to manage studying on this beach. With my attention span it may not be possible.

This is our favorite kebab/shwarma place so far. YOU CANNOT IMAGINE HOW DELICIOUS IT IS!!!! It’s 25 shekels for a huge sandwich filled with meat, salat, hommos, tahina, spicy sauce, and chips (and by that I mean fries). This restaurant is probably one of the biggest reasons I wish we didn’t have a meal plan already. I’d be here sooooooo much more. The guys are really friendly. Only one of them really speaks English, so when he’s not around, we have a good time attempting to communicate between my Hebrew (which sucks) and their English (which is at least better than my Hebrew).

Speaking of delectable delights of the city, welcome to shouk HaCarmel. This is a market lust as you imagine it. It has the most beautiful produce, meat, fish, cheese, bread, and pastries EVER (plus you can bargain down the already cheap prices)! From now on, it’s the only place I’m ever buying groceries. There are also clothes, music perfume, etc. I bought a CD today (I know, they still exist) of an Israeli pop artist I heard and really liked. I’m really looking forward to learning more Israeli music and maybe even singing along.

Ok, that’s all for now. I love sharing my new world with you all. Hope you didn’t find it boring. The one problem with making this all feel real is that we have so much vacation time. We’ve only had a week of class (4 days) and we already have a break. September has three high holidays in the Jewish calendar and we get them all off. The first is tomorrow beginning at sundown. It’s called Rosh Hashanah and is the celebration of the Jewish New Year. Me and about 15 other students are going to Eilat, the southernmost town in Israel. It’s a beach town and we’ll be enjoying the beach and hopefully will also do a day trip to Petra, Jordan and snorkel in the Red Sea. Looking forward to sharing those stories. 

!!!טובה שנה (Shana Tova/Happy New Year)