Check out the FSU website for more information or to donate to the Pesach Project!
http://pesachproject.com/FSU_Pesach_Project/Home.html
Saturday, October 24, 2009
If you can't tell, I've been slacking off a bit lately with my blog entries. I find my time here being eaten up by the 8-9 hours I spend at school each day, the 3 hours of homework most nights, my attempts and seeing Israel, and after all of that, just pure exhaustion. So, at the end of the day, it's hard to have the energy to get myself to blog.
But, alas, it's Shabbat here in Jerusalem and I'm finding a little time this quite afternoon to write. Here's what I've been up to since I last updated:
SCHOOL:
Classes are in full swing. My favorite class is definitely Israel Seminar which is on Wednesdays. This is a study tour class to some extent and each week is very different from the next. This week there were three different opportunities that we could choose from. I chose to go to an old employee of HUC, Rahamim's, home to learn about Yemenite culture and eat some delicious Yemenite food! In the afternoon, Eli Amir, a famous Israeli author came to speak to all of the students. We also received our groups for the Duma simulation that is coming up in a few weeks. All of the students were assigned a political party to represent and we are going to fully reenact the Duma elections. I am in the Autonomist party.
FSU (Former Soviet Union) Pesach Project:
Last week we had our first meeting with our committees for the FSU Pesach Project. 18 HUC students and SOs (significant others) will be traveling to the FSU to lead Passover Seders in communities that would not otherwise be able to have a seder. Before the trip, we have to fund-raise to provide all of the food for the seders, rent out the space where the seders will be held, hire translators, etc. The education committee is also going to run several programs where we can learn more about the FSU as well as training to lead seders in a foreign country.
Homecoming:
Last week was Homecoming. On Tuesday we had a pep-rally. On Thursday we had a dance which was a blast. We decorated the Moadon, played a lot of music, and made some fun signs. Everyone who came had a blast! Saturday concluded Homecoming week with an intense girls vs. boys game of Kickball. Even our professor, Dave Mendelsson, played and brought his son along as well. As imagined, the boys did come out with the victory, despite two Israeli men who joined the girls team. After Kickball we had a group Havdallah in the park. It was a great ending to the week.
Parallel Lives:
It's going to be a tough call between Parallel Lives and FSU, but these are the two things that I have a feeling I will love the most about my year in Israel. Parallel Lives is a program with 15 HUC students and 15 Israeli soldiers. We had our first meeting on Thursday and met the soldiers and they are all so nice. Although we are only going to have 8 meetings throughout the year (including two Shabbaton's), everyone is anxious to organize other events outside of the "official" ones. Meeting Israelis is a struggle when you are immersed into a very American program. I've now spent almost 9 months total in Israel and still have no Israeli friends. I'm really looking forward to getting to know these Israelis. AND, they want to help us practice our Hebrew, which I definitely need to do!
Shabbat:
One of the Mason's friends, Rabbi Forman invited Ally and me over for Shabbat dinner. It was so nice to be in a real home. Our friend Ethan also came with as well as another Rabbi and his wife. Everyone was so nice and welcoming. It felt like having dinner with our parents friends at home. Sometimes, it's really nice to be with adults and have a home-cooked meal in a nice home (not to downplay our HUC pot-luck Shabbat dinners).
And now it's going to be back to a hectic week of school again. I'm very much looking forward to Allison's visit in a little over two weeks!
Shabbat Shalom and Shavua Tov!
But, alas, it's Shabbat here in Jerusalem and I'm finding a little time this quite afternoon to write. Here's what I've been up to since I last updated:
SCHOOL:
Classes are in full swing. My favorite class is definitely Israel Seminar which is on Wednesdays. This is a study tour class to some extent and each week is very different from the next. This week there were three different opportunities that we could choose from. I chose to go to an old employee of HUC, Rahamim's, home to learn about Yemenite culture and eat some delicious Yemenite food! In the afternoon, Eli Amir, a famous Israeli author came to speak to all of the students. We also received our groups for the Duma simulation that is coming up in a few weeks. All of the students were assigned a political party to represent and we are going to fully reenact the Duma elections. I am in the Autonomist party.
FSU (Former Soviet Union) Pesach Project:
Last week we had our first meeting with our committees for the FSU Pesach Project. 18 HUC students and SOs (significant others) will be traveling to the FSU to lead Passover Seders in communities that would not otherwise be able to have a seder. Before the trip, we have to fund-raise to provide all of the food for the seders, rent out the space where the seders will be held, hire translators, etc. The education committee is also going to run several programs where we can learn more about the FSU as well as training to lead seders in a foreign country.
Homecoming:
Last week was Homecoming. On Tuesday we had a pep-rally. On Thursday we had a dance which was a blast. We decorated the Moadon, played a lot of music, and made some fun signs. Everyone who came had a blast! Saturday concluded Homecoming week with an intense girls vs. boys game of Kickball. Even our professor, Dave Mendelsson, played and brought his son along as well. As imagined, the boys did come out with the victory, despite two Israeli men who joined the girls team. After Kickball we had a group Havdallah in the park. It was a great ending to the week.
Parallel Lives:
It's going to be a tough call between Parallel Lives and FSU, but these are the two things that I have a feeling I will love the most about my year in Israel. Parallel Lives is a program with 15 HUC students and 15 Israeli soldiers. We had our first meeting on Thursday and met the soldiers and they are all so nice. Although we are only going to have 8 meetings throughout the year (including two Shabbaton's), everyone is anxious to organize other events outside of the "official" ones. Meeting Israelis is a struggle when you are immersed into a very American program. I've now spent almost 9 months total in Israel and still have no Israeli friends. I'm really looking forward to getting to know these Israelis. AND, they want to help us practice our Hebrew, which I definitely need to do!
Shabbat:
One of the Mason's friends, Rabbi Forman invited Ally and me over for Shabbat dinner. It was so nice to be in a real home. Our friend Ethan also came with as well as another Rabbi and his wife. Everyone was so nice and welcoming. It felt like having dinner with our parents friends at home. Sometimes, it's really nice to be with adults and have a home-cooked meal in a nice home (not to downplay our HUC pot-luck Shabbat dinners).
And now it's going to be back to a hectic week of school again. I'm very much looking forward to Allison's visit in a little over two weeks!
Shabbat Shalom and Shavua Tov!
Monday, October 12, 2009
Acharei Ha-Chagim
Acharei Ha-Chagim is a phrase that HUC students have heard since the day we arrived in Israel. I assume it will be a term that we will continue to hear throughout the rest of our education as well as in our careers. Acharei Ha-Chagim simply means, "after the Holidays". For those of you who don't know, the beginning of the academic calendar year begins with holiday after holiday after holiday. I wrote in a previous post about Rosh Hashanah. Just 10 days later was Yom Kippur.
Highlights from...
YOM KIPPUR IN JERUSALEM:
-Before Kol Nidre, Ally, Allie, and I hosted 30 of our classmates for a pot luck pre-fast meal
-After being sick for an entire week, I got to leave the apartment!
-HUC services were held in Blaustein Hall which is a beautiful room with a giant window overlooking the Old City
-No one drives on YK...NO ONE! All of the stop lights are flashing and you are able to walking down the center of some of the main intersections in the city. The streets were filled with children riding bikes.
-a short 3 day school week followed by...
SUKKOT BREAK:
-before I left for my trip, I got a glimpse of the amazing sukkot around Jerusalem
-For 8 days I traveled with three of my friends, Mindy, Carolan, and Kelly to Europe
DUBLIN:
-we took a hop on hop off bus tour with an amazing tour guide with an awesome Irish accent
-walked through a park talking about how we wanted to meet Irish people and a man approached us and asked where we were from. He had just come from lunch with a man from Chicago...who was a professor at U of I!
-Visited the Guinness Factory!
-went to an Irish pub with live Irish music
-at SUBWAY!!!
PARIS:
-I wasn't too impressed with Paris, it's a city, I saw it and don't need to go back
-we got on a tour bus and saw the main sights (including the Monna Lisa and the Eiffel Tower)
-ate creme brulee
GLASGOW:
-saw Scotland
-wasn't too eventful
-took a tour bus
LONDON:
-My FAVORITE of all of the places we went!
-Went to all of the main tourist sites
-The War Rooms was my favorite "museum"
-had Starbucks
-walked around the main city center
-saw WICKED for the first time
-On our way home, we were offered to bump for 600 Euro CASH! Individual hotel rooms for the night, free breakfast, free dinner...it was awesome! We were offered it again in the morning, but we had to come back because Simchat Torah was ending and classes were starting up again Acharei Ha-Chagim.
So now we are in full swing. Three FULL months of classes with NO days off (except for Shabbat of course). It's been a bit of a rough adjustment back to school, but the end of the week isn't turning out so bad. We went to Yad Vashem (the Israel Holocaust Museum) and Har Hertzl with Isreal Seminar today. Since I have been to Israel a few times previously and have spent a significant time in the country, I am in a group with other students with the similar experiences. It's very interesting to be going to the same sights we've been to (sometimes more than once) but to learn about them in different ways.
Speaking of learning, I must go finish my homework for tomorrow. I will try to be better at updating now that we are- Acharei Ha-Chagim!
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