A New year and a wrestling match

So, I left you all off ten days ago, and haven’t had a chance to update recently. So, on Tuesday we all went on our own up to Tel Aviv and found this building called Migdal Shalom, and then went on a guided tour of tel aviv and head all about the start of Israel as a country and went to Independence Hall and heard the dynamic story of Israel’s fight to create the Jewish State that exists today. The tour guide was really good, and he held our attention for the while that it took. It was really powerful.
After that, we were set free to roam around tel aviv and whatever. First I had lunch of schnitzel and potatoes… mmmm…. Then I went to the shuk and found some really cool stuff. For those who have been to the Uptown Art Fair, it was just like that, but much bigger and with smaller walkways. It was amazing, the shuk is open every Tuesday and Thursday. Wow.
Wednesday was uneventful, most of our classes ended up getting cancelled due to the upcoming holidays. Thursday- I cant remember- uneventful.
Friday I went off to Ramat Gan (but getting there… I got on the wrong bus…heh). Here’s the problem. I asked the Israelashvili’s which bus route to take, and they were so helpful and told me to take the 43 to Tel Hashomer Hospital. But- when I went to take the 43 I asked the driver if he went to Ramat gan and he told me no- so I got on the 42 which does go to Ramat gan. But- when I told him that I need to go to Tel Hashomer, he told me that I needed to get on another bus- 70- at the main bus stop in tel aviv. So I did and got there okay, and in time for the holiday and everything, but it took me 2 hours to get there. (it’s only a 40 minute drive ) and a lot of stressing out about a bus system I knew nothing about because their website is sooo horrible. Hate it.
Rosh hashana was amazing at the Israelashvili’s. I spoke mostly in Hebrew, which was really good practice. I tried reading Harry Potter in Hebrew- that was a mistake- too high of a level of Hebrew is needed. But I did play Bananagrams in Hebrew against Yochai- and didn’t do too bad. Plus the food was amazing and it meant that I didn’t have to do dishes. Yay J and the chazzan at their shul had a really good voice, although he dragged out the davening a bit too much. I got bored standing there while he sang slowly through a huge paragraph I had just said to myself. But for each of the dinners, since Moshe Israelashvili is Sephardi (meaning his family originates from the middle east- basically not Europe- you guys know about the two diff kinds of jewish customs- based on geography…) so anyways, we did about 10 blessings over signs (honey symbolizes having a sweet new year, a pomegranate for having a multitude of good things, head of a cow to be at the head and not the tail, etc.) and I actually led one of them. That was cool, and I’m glad I had the opportunity to do that.
Monday was a fast day, so I tried to take it easy although I had volunteering and then Hebrew class (which, by the way is 2.5 hours long) but we toughed it out, and ended the fast with pizza a block away from my apt. I LOVE HAVING KOSHER FOOD EVERYWHERE!!!! It makes me so happy. Then, as our Tuesday siyur, we all (shalem and some others who were interested)got on a bus and rove to Jerusalem at 9:00. I don’t even know how far away it is, like 1.5 hours maybe) cause I slept. We had a tour of both the new and old Jerusalem which was really cool, ending at the Western wall. We got back at 4:00 in the morning, but then had to stay up till 5:00 to pray. That was pretty difficult. But then we had the day off mostly. We made shofars at 1:30 (not as exciting as it sounds, trust me) then my whole apt went off to the Doosh to buy groceries. We had nothing in out apt but now we are stocked up full!
Wednesday was a normal day. Lots of classes, some fun, some not. But at night we had this optional martial arts class called Krav Maga- some Israeli culmination of lots of different defense arts. I had so much fun, they first taught us how to get out of a stranglehold, then, we wrestled (don’t worry it was all girls) and lemme just say that you shouldn’t mess with me, man. I won twice against Tova, but I don’t even really care about that- it was just so cool. Not about brute force at all, all about anticipating your enemy and using their momentum against them.
Today was boring- classes and such. Nothing to write home about. But it was nice just being here. I realized that I just really love being here, in Israel.