ראש השנה בירושלי

September 20, 2007

I won't attempt an entire post in Hebrew just yet. Let it suffice that I wrote the title in Hebrew.

If I wrote about everything that happened to me this week I think the post would be longer than my Eilat post so I'm going to pick and choose what I write about. If you want a full recap just IM me whenever.

I arrived at destination #1 close to 10 PM on Tuesday evening. The Bus Station in Jerusalem was packed with last minute arrivals from all over the country. Jerusalem is the place to be during holidays. My suite mate, Kelsey, and I wandered around in circles near the shuk area for a good fifteen minutes before I called Justin, the friend we were going to stay with, and asked him where the heck he lived. I have been there before but anyone who's been to Jerusalem knows that every street looks the same and if you don't know your way around it doesn't matter how good the directions are, you are going to get lost.

Justin knew this; he met us on "Ben Yehuda" and led us to the dorms of his college. The girls in Justin's dorm were nice enough to let us crash in their livingroom for our first two nights in Jerusalem. I had so much fun getting to know all the wonderful people there! We took a trip to the Old City to go shopping for belly dancing outfits and shoes. We had a Rosh Hashana demonstration with apples and honey and Justin and I were able to teach them about the holiday and what it represents. We climbed on the roof and watched for shooting stars while we talked about random things. Kelsey and I wandered around the Old City meeting new people and eating tasty, special made food from Saudi Arabia. We had morning devotions in the park on Thursday where we sang songs (in English!!) Oh, so many fun things!

Now, on Thursday I had to say goodbye to all the wonderful people at Justin's school and headed over to Ada's friend's apartment down the street. These girls have such a wonderful ministry. They take in Believers who need a place to stay and they don't charge them or anything. They have Shabbat every Friday night and just minister to whoever may need help. They're amazing girls. So once I got settled in to my room there I called my friend, Nati, in the IDF whom I wasn't expecting to see due to the fact that her commander told her she'd have to stay on base for Rosh Hashana. Well, she told me her commander let her go and she was on her way to Jerusalem!

So that night I rested and finished what little homework I had over the holidays and got to bed relatively early. The next morning Nati came over and a huge group of us headed into the Old City to take the African guest, Christi, to all the historical places. We had a lot of fun getting to know each other and hanging out. I met one guy who had flown in from Holland the same night I came to the apartment. He looked strangely familiar and I later found that I know his brother from my trip to Eilat! Kind of a small world when you're living in Israel. In the four days I spent in Jerusalem I saw six people that I know! And I don't even know that many people...

So, Nati, Josef (Guy from Holland) and I got really close over the four days and were basically attatched to each other's hips after the first day. We went out to Mike's Place on Friday evening after the Shabbat dinner to watch the South AfricaEngland game of Rugby and then went to the Old City to take some sweet pictures while it was void of people. I have to say the most fun I had all week was during that time, probably because I've been dying to go to the Old City for the sole purpose of taking pictures. And I had my guinea pigs! Poor Josef and Nati. vs.

On Saturday we broke Sabbath and went to the Arab Quarter for some very tasty Shawarma, then went back to the apartment and played a game called Fluxx. So randomly fun! After Fluxx a group of us just started talking and talking and talking... until Nati and I had to say our goodbyes and return to Tel Aviv and all it's boringness. She slept over though! That was fun! She got to meet my roomies and the neighbors and we had a good time.

My Rosh Hashana was unconventional but fun all the same! So, until Yom Kippur!....

PS Pics are coming! I haven't had time lately but I've been getting requests for updates so I thought I'd give you guys the post and I'll upload the pics soon!