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!