Siyur to the City of David

Today, my siyur class and I went to continue our learning of the history of Jerusalem at the city of King David! The western wall is in the "old city" so this is known as the antique city. Our teacher spent the whole time telling us the story of King David and his son Solomon. I've never had a real education on the stories of the Bible so even if it isn't the most exciting thing in the world, I think it's great that I'm learning it now.

We even went to the Gihon Spring which is supposedly the place where Solomon was appointed King! 

The city of David is known for its water tunnels that show how the people of the time period got their water and beat their aggressors. Because today was raining and absolutely FREEZING we didn't go in but we went into a dry tunnel which was a little to claustrophobic for me...

The tomb of King David

Such a great siyur!!!! :)

Second Half of Winter Break

My whole last weekend of winter break was spent in Tel Aviv with friends and family. I woke up early Friday morning to meet up with two of my camp friends from this summer for brunch. These two girls, Ziv and Shemesh were two of my favorites so it's safe to say that I was pretty stoked! We ate at a breakfast restaurant named Benedict and I've been told to go there since my year course orientation (checked that off the bucket list!)
After that I went over to a family friend's house in Tel Aviv for Shabbat dinner. The last Shabbat of 2012!! I had so much fun because I've known this family since I was born so it's always really nice to stay there for a night or two.
The next night was my friend Lauren's birthday!! Her parents took a few friends and I to a really nice dinner at a restaurant called Herbert Samuel which is right across from the beach in Tel Aviv. We all enjoyed a classy dinner with cocktails and wine and steak. Yumm!!!!

NYE was such an amazing night! My friend's and I stayed at an apartment right next to the shuk (such an amazing location). We went out and had a great time!!! People definitely celebrate New Years here... It's just called Sylvester!

Recap on my first week of winter break!!!

So as of last Thursday, yearcourse has been on winter break :p Now, most of my friends have either gone home, gone to Europe or have family visiting them. Me? I decided to be a nomad for two weeks visiting friends that I haven't had the chance to see yet. What I didn't think through was that no one else in Israel is on break. My friends in school still have school and my friends in the army are still there! In Israel, they only have break for Hannukah because they don't celebrate Christmas (obviously) and New Years isn't a big deal here (it's called sylvester).
My break started off really good because it was my camp friend's birthday! She was hosting a party at an American bar in Tel Aviv called Mike's Place. I had the best night because I got to see so many Israelis that I know from camp that I didn't get the chance to see before!!! I was on cloud nine all night :) I even got to hang out with my counselor from 2009 and meet his girlfriend!!!

The next day I had a really nice Shabbat dinner with my grandparents and my second family, The Amranis (really old friends of my mom's). It's always nice to feel like I have family here and big Shabbat dinners are a really great way to get rid of homesickness :) The following days were spent at my grandparents. I was there from Saturday to Tuesday and it was soooo relaxing. I just got a few days to myself and I got some time to do work that I wouldn't have time to do otherwise :)

When I got back to Jerusalem on Tuesday afternoon, literally Beit Ar-El was a ghost town. I live in a 15 girl apartment and currently only one other girl is here with me! I hung out with a few people who were still here and I went with a friend to a local community center to watch a game of wheelchair basketball! That was super fun!

The next day me and a few girls woke up bright and early to get to Haifa!!! After spending about three hours traveling, we finally got to the Bahai Gardens to find out that we came on the only day that no tours are offered and all the shrines were already closed.... COOL. So we walked around the gardens and took a million pictures because everything was so pretty. Also let me add that Haifa is just like San Francisco... the streets are so steep I literally was going to pass out when we went from one garden to the next....

And to end my travels in Haifa I met up with a friend from camp that I haven't seen since August!!! Missed this kid :) He took me to a place called "Sof Haolam" which means in Hebrew end of the world. When he camp to California this summer I took him to a lookout point near my house and lets just say that this place is way prettier than Strawberry Hill :p

Now I'm going to go do my homework..... boooooooo

My first week of classes!!!

This week was so exciting!!!!!
This was my first real week of Jerusalem so my classes started. Its actually crazy how much I love my almost all of my classes! This blogpost is completely dedicated to all of my classes and what they're about!
Ulpan: I have ulpan four days a week now (instead of two). In Jerusalem we have seven levels and I am in the highest level!! This is cool and a bit scary... Although my ability to speak Hebrew has really improved since I've been here, I am sad to say that my reading and writing is just not quite there yet...... My teacher gave me a bunch of different excercises to work on during break so I'm hoping that will help! I also love my class (almost everyone in that class has Israeli parents haha). Also, a YJ staff member is taking ulpan with us which is really cool! Shoutout to Camille!!!! :)
Power of Persuasion: This class is AMAZING. A representative for a pro-Israel advocacy organization called The David Project teaches how to correctly advocate for Israel on the topic of the crisis with the Palestinians. Our teacher always plays devil's sdvocate with us and really gets us to think about this issue way more than before. I have already learned so much and we have only had two classes! Can't wait to see how the rest of the semester goes! I'm gonna be a pro at defending Israel :)
Jewish Art: This is a class that has been very interesting.We have been learning about art throughout the ages. So far we haven't touched on Jewish Art, but we have learned about the Greeks, Egyptians, Islam and Christianity and others as well! I really like my teacher, he is SO funny. I find myself jotting down funny "Avi quotes" in my notebook during lectures....
Jewish and Holocaust Film: This class is going to be really tough. We are going to see movies about the Holocaust and just Jewish movies in general. We are also going to be learning how to write detailed reviews of these movies which should be interesting. This class has a lot of work, but that's okay with me. I already have two movies to watch over the break.... :p
History of Jerusalem: This is a siyur class! What this means is that every class is a trip somewhere!!! we only have this class once a week. Our first trip was to a place called Gush Etzion. This is across the west bank, so our bus had bulletproof windows (lol). Our first stop was a road that is supposedly the road that Abraham and his people used. VERY COOL

A mikveh from the time period:

beautiful views:

We had a lesson outside about the story of Abraham and where he went (not my thing, but whatever) and learned alot about the history Judaism and how that relates to where we were. Kinda cool to think that I could be walking on the same land that Abraham did....

Beautiful scenery in the West Bank

Our second stop was at the Tayelet (lookout point) In Jerusalem. At this point you can see all of Jerusalem from the Old city to the New City. Literally SUCH a breathtaking view.

Here, we sat and talked about the story when Abraham was about to sacrifice his only son to God and then and angel stopped him right before he was about to do it saying that he passed God's test and now God knew he was loyal. As a final wrap up we discussed the story and then went home.

Hadracha: This is my favorite class!!!! The assistant head of my section, Laz is very experienced in leadership for young people and he is teaching a class on how to teach leadership to others!! This class is perfect for me because I want to be a regional director at BBYO at some point in my life! Our sessions are all about programming and psychology and relationships. This really is the perfect class for me :)

Safe to say my classes are great :) I'm so excited for this semester!!!!

And now that I have had only a week of classes it is time for winter break!!!!!