My time in Israel so far has been a sleep-deprived whirlwind—very reminiscent of birth right. It’s been exhausting and amazing, even with my .streak of bad luck! We have been staying up til 1 or 2 every night so far and been up by 7:00
My plane rides en route here were not bad at all. I lucked out and got a whole row to myself on the long overnight trip from Houston to London. In London is when things started going slightly downhill. I’m not sure if it’s all planes or just British Airways, but the planes sit about a mile from the actual airport. Passengers take a shuttle from the plane to the gates and again from the gates to the shuttle. I had exactly one hour to make my connection, and I was unaware that I had to go through security all over again. My ticket said to be at the gate by 8:10 and at 8:10 I was far back in the security line. So I ducked underneath 3 ropes to a “fast lane by invitation only” and cut in front of about 40 people. I made it through security and ran madly through the terminal of a huge airport I had never been to before. I made it to the gate 15 minutes late—the last person—but the shuttle was actually waiting for me I think. We then sat on the runway for an hour and a half because of a mechanical problem. When I arrived in Tel Aviv I watched the baggage go around and around until everyone from my flight was gone. One of my biggest fears—none of my luggage had made it. I waited nervously for almost 3 days to receive my luggage. But it’s all here, so I suppose alls well that ends well.
My first day here, February 17, I went with Yocheved (the lady whose house I stayed at) to Ben Yehuda Street—a very famous street in Jerusalem full of shops and restaurants of every kind imaginable. There are entire stores devoted to just kippas. I then met up with my program at a beautiful hostel. I talked to over 50 people that night from all around the world. The next day we had a tour of Davids City and all the tunnels. It’s unbelievable how these tunnels were constructed so elaborately thousands of years ago. I had had a stomach ache the entire day and I promptly threw up my lunch on the bus (my bad luck continued). I felt better the next morning thank goodness. That night we went to the Jewish Quarters of the Old City, The Kotel (the Western Wall), and the tunnels under the Kotel. I find the Kotel to be really special at night, and its beautiful with the Dome of the Rock glowing in the background. It’s so surreal when you there. It’s such a holy place that it’s difficult to believe you really are there. Notes are crammed into every imaginable nook and cranny. People are praying at the wall, kissing the wall, sobbing.
The following day we had a speaker come who has worked in Israeli intelligence. He spoke to us a little about the Israeli/Palestinian conflict and the security measures being taken by Israel. We toured many of the border areas and saw the fences and walls separating Israel from the West Bank. It’s really quite unbelievable how close the Palestinian neighborhoods are to the Jewish ones. They are truly right next door. That night we had an Arab Israeli come and speak to us and the conversation became very heated when some of the people in my program strongly disagreed with what he was saying. It was just a microcosm of the situation and the conflicting beliefs and opinions concerning the situation there. We then went out to a karaoke bar on Ben Yehuda Street. Most of the people in the bar were people from my program but there were of course some Israelis there as well. Everyone drank a fair amount (including myself!) and it was a blast.
February 20 we went to the shuk in Jerusalem which is a large open air market with vendors selling dried fruits, nuts, candies, delicious looking breads, and an assortment of other things. The vendors are screaming at people announcing what they are selling—it is almost as though they are having a competition on who can be loudest. Israelis are unbelievably loud, aggressive, and direct. It is common for Israelis to just literally push through a crowd—they don’t believe in lines. They have none of the boundaries or censors that Americans have.
Israel is also a very expensive country. I was shocked walking through the drugstore. A small thing of deodorant goes for like 30, 40 shekels (4 shekels to a dollar), Neutrogena face wash is 70 shekels! I’m glad I brought most of the toiletries I use from home. Food isn’t necessarily cheap either.

Shabbat was nice and relaxing. We actually got to sleep in Saturday morning! We had services Friday night, Shabbat dinner, text study Saturday night, then we all just hung around playing cards and reading and talking. We are leaving for Tel Aviv today for the ulpan. I'm going to be rooming with an Ariella! She's orthodox so I just hope I remember not to flick on the lights in our room on Shabbat!