sorry about that...

ok so apparently entitling my last email "kicked outtt" was not as funny to you guys as it was to me.  i am not getting kicked out of the country (that i know of), i was just getting kicked out of the computer lab.  calm yourselves.  it's not like im cracking katyusha jokes (ok, that's a lie, i am cracking lots of katyusha jokes... oh well)

so. i will try my best to give an update of whats been going on, and will hopefully post more info on the blog at some point.  or instead, this email will j ust end up being really long and you'll forgive me.  more likely option b.

right now im in jerusalem, doing my univeristy of haifa ulpan program, which has been relocated to the hebrew univeristy of jerusalem. its a mouthful.  it is great that hebrew u was able to host us and accomodate our program with a few classrooms and random dorm rooms here and there (note: i arrived last saturday and have yet to meet my roommate. she has stuff in the room, pictures on the wall, food in the fridge, and there has even been some moving of pillows and opening/closing of cabinets, but ihave yet to see her).  the conditions arent great, but at least were not running down to shelters 5 times a day.  anyway, my program has about 100 students from literally all over.  the other day i was sitting around a table at a coffee shop and felt like i was at a meeting of the european union... a girl from luxembourg, switzerland, 2 french, 2 italians, a german guy, a dutch guy, and me.  i really dig the diversity, its way more interesting to me than to be in a program with hundreds of americans, and a token canadian here and there for a change.  the other thing thats cool is the range of ages.  while there are some college aged kids here, there seems to be a large delegation of post-grads and people in their later 20's (as well as a few older people, like a random 41 year old woman whose oldest of three is my age... weird, and a german man named "roberto" who has to be at least 74.  long scraggly white beard, old man shorts... we call him father time).  anyway, thats mostly because its an ulpan program, im pretty sure the semester is slated to be more people in their early 20's, though hopefully maintaining the international flavor. 

classes so far are good, unlike the hebrew u program, which as like 35-40 different class sections, we have 6.  im in level 6, of 6... its pretty challenging, but engaging.  my class is the biggest, with 22 students, from 13 different countries... several of the aforementioned countries, plus south africa, poland, ukraine, russia, hungary, brasil, norway and uruguay.  depite my lack of effort, im making friends with several of the people in my class, and strategically avoiding others (liek the other girl whose name is amy who speaks hebrew and is learning arabic and wanted to sutdy abraod in lebanon but couldnt so was to be in haifa... aka stop trying to be me.  except the difference is that shes not cool. she's a dancer, and shes not funny, and i dont particularly like her, and were it not for our frighteningly parallel academic interests, i wouldn't give her a second thought.  i tried to like her. but she is lame. oh well).  the classes are intense, and by that i mean long. my attention span fades when you put me and 22 other people in a hot classroom that would be comfortable for 15, and then make me sit there for 6 hours.  granted, there are strategically placed breaks, but by the time we get to the afternoon slots, im prettymuch done for.  somehow my passion for hebrew grammatical structures fades when im comatose from heat and boredom.  but my teacher is excellent.  actually, i knew she'd be good before she even opened her mouth.  the hair was a dead giveaway.  any good israeli woman past the age of 40 is automatically compelled to wear her pants at least 2 sizes to small and die her hair 4 shades too purple.  the pants werent so bad, but the hair is a dignified shade of eggplant, with maroon roots... thus, you KNOW she's good.  and the director of the program (aka the queen bee of the hebrew teachers) has a full head of burgundy with plum highlights.  you know its quality instruction, these women are DEDICATED to the cause of being hte best herbew teachers they can be, and that means burgundy hair. the purpler the better.  amazing.

ok so thats class and the people here... being here is weird.  its so not where i envisioned myself, and its very weird to be here and not know if ill be here for 3 more weeks or 5 more months... its the kind of uncertainty that nauseates me to the core, and means im agonizing constantly over the decision looming in front of me... ill keep you all posted on any new developments... im trying to go visit ben gurion univeristy (in the negev) some time in the next week or 2 to see if its somewhere id maybe want to spend the semester if haifa doesnt work out, and if its a better option than just returning to gw.  i like being in jerusalem for a little bit, but its really not where i want to spend an extended period of time.  one thing that is great abotu jerusalem is that my best friend emily and her boyfriend/one of my good friends drew are both here. they are on the legit hebrew u program, and it is great to be able to hang out with them as well.  im so glad that they are here and have such a great semester ahead of them, and i enjoy showing them around the few areas i actually know, and more importnatly, pointing out the what to eat...

for instance: there is a legendary bakery right by the shuk (market) in jerusalem, called marzipan.  they dont actually make marzipan (the weird decroative but gross candy made of almonds or something, i dotn know, its gross), they make breads and pastries and baked goods, and LEGENDARY rugelach.  their chocolate rugelach are basically the best thing one could...ever consume, and thus, when i gave one to emily for the first time, she was literally moved to tears.  as in, i gave it to her, she examined it, took one bite, and said "oh my god, i think im going to cry... its so good" and did.  she cried.  there is more deliciousness in store, even if i am only here a few more weeks... there is always deliciousness in store.

making plans for shabbat- hopefully tonight i will be in emek refaim (the german colony) with my friend shlomit, who was one of the staff on the trip i went on with the avi chai fellowship over winter break, and tomorrow morning emily and i are going to explore and find a synagogue around campus and do potluck lunch after with my friend adina from class.  unfortunately, the campus is located on mount scopus, aka in the middle of nowhere, and kind of a shlep from the rest of the city (read: 30-40 minutes from the center of town by bus) and not really surrounded by the best neighborhoods, but hey, im getting to practice my arabic!  (using it less than i did in france/switzerland ironically, here its mostly to reply to teenage catcalls.  few things startle a 17 year old arab boy like jewy jewberger responding in properly accented arabic.  bwa ha ha)

what else?  i have to take advantage of precious computer time while i have it... emily was kind enough to lend me her laptop while mine is en route (crossing my fingers that package gets here ok...) and once this email is sent i get to play around in the wonderful world of gw registration and try to find classes to sign up for the fall just in case i have to come back.  hopefully katyushas are reasonable enough an excuse to get me signed into a class or 2, hopefully the professor for "israeli politics" will understand.  hopefully.

um.... ive run into several people i know, as is always the case in jerusalem... made plans to see others (like long lost friends interning here for the summer, old friends from high school now in the army, etc etc) and trying to make the most of the situation.  its unbelievable bizarre to be here right now.  im glad that i am, but it is so weird. i feel really out of the loop even though im right in the zone. i said that before and it made even less sense just now, but putting my thoughts on the situation into words consisely is not even close to possible.  the perspectives im hearing are so varied- from home, from the radio here, from other students, from typical israelis, from european news sources, and from random phone calls from one of my friends from gw, who is palestinian, offering a vastly different perspective as well... its hard to take it all in and process.  my own opinion and feelings are so differnt than just about everyone else ive spoken to, so its a lot... but i feel safe and am hopeful things will calm down and the soldiers and civillians aroudn the border, on both sides of it, will be safe and able to return home soon. 

final notes about europe: first of all, that was one of the best experiences of my life.  i am SO glad adam and i decided to go and actually m ade that trip happen. it was something we had talked about doing for 4 or 5 years and im SO glad we actually did it.  i learned so much and got to see and experience so many different places and cultures (and eat lots of new and delicious foods, mmmm), and got to do so with my best friend.  pretty lucky, eh?  in case you dont know him, adam horowitz is prettymuch the best person ever in life. and beyond just getting to go on a dream european adventure, im so glad i got to spend those few weeks with him, because he's the best.

also, things you shoudl know about europe: definitions of personal space vary from country to country. for the most part, everywhere's definition involves a lot LESS of it than the us.  cassis, or black currant, is a delicious delicious addition to my life. it is some sort of fruit or berry or something and it is delicious. it is rampant in europe, used as a flavor option for gelato (acutally not that good), fanta/pop/soda (realllly good, vw), jelly, even frappuchinos (i  made an exception and lifted the "no starbucks outside the USA" embargo to try a raspberry black currant frappuchino in the airport in london.l.. mmmmmm).  it is quite lekker (dutch for good/delicious).  other observations from europe? bajillions of churches called notre dame. each famous for something else. i think we went to 11.  and then on my frist day in jersualem, we passed one on our walking tour (which i may have mentoned, it was 8 hours long).  each one is famous for something else, and it took us until approximately notre dame #8 to realize it meant "our lady."  we are idiots.  additionally, europe, there appears to be no social stigma against the practice of public nose picking.  rampant.  to go on an archaeological excavation of ones nasal cavity on a bus, train, subway, street corner, restaurant, etc... is apparently perfectly ok.  also, the tourist industry in any given country is at least 50% dependent on the continent of asia.  as in, asian tourists are everywhere. except dublin.  but even in israel.  it is a cultural phenomenon i am SO intrigued by, specifically practices surrounding picture taking.  photographic practices of asian tourists fascinate me... i could write a dissertation on the "stand in front of this famous thing by yourself but dont worry abotu smiling" practice alone.  let alone the "all you guys stand together in a large pack in front of this statue. doesnt matter what it is" or the "look, an arbitrary street corner or building."  breathtaking.

in total, we went to 8 countries, 14 cities, stayed in 9 hostels and on 2 different uncomfortable floors w/ friends at the london school of economics (thanks again p and emfeld!).  took hundreds of pictures (only 1/2 of which do i have, we took turns w/ our cameras...and none are on my computer yet, as neither my computer nor the cords are here) and really had a phenomenal time.  i think i wrote a bunch about dublin and how fun it was, and we're still in touch w/ our dublin roommates sean and jorge!  and our interlaken rooommates just got back in touch with us as well, which is fun.  london we did our own way, which involved only spending money on hot beverages and an occassional meal, and a lot of time sitting and relaxing and enjoying each others comapny. it was perfect.  well done europe, well done.

so now im here. with jsut my backpack, so it looks like im that girl who's so hardcore all she brought with her for a semester is a backpack...which is really quite funny if youve ever seen me pack for anything...ever.  i have taken a grand total of 0 pictures since in israel, which i think is appropriate... it doesnt feel like im travelling, it just feels like im doing a program somewhere, and living my life...which is good i guess. aaand thats about all i got for right now...because the battery life is running out and i still have more work to do...and i have to pee (shoutout rose sadler).

that should be sufficient for now... sorry it was long, i guess i dotn really get the difference between what should go in an email and what in a blog... so ill post this there too... and not change any of it. bwa ha ha. thanks for all your emails and your concerns and prayers, it really is comforting to find so many friendly names and messages whenever i open my email box. keep em coming.

ok. keep sending love, esp in the form of text messages and calls to 011-972-52-598-4409.

shabbat shalom!!!!
-amy