I'm alive!

I don't know how long it's been since I last posted but a lot has happened. But first I feel it is important to mention that whole wheat pita with chummous makes any day better.

So my family arrived. I got lucky and went to the aiport at 2:30 am to go pick them up. Yay for Avi, the sheirut driver, and his terrifying driving skills. After sleeping in most of the morning we woke up and got ready for shabbat. Shabbat morning we threw candy at Zalman and ate lunch with Lori. Or at least the girls got to eat lunch with Lori. Zalman and Lori are not on speaking terms at the moment.

Sunday was kotel day. We went to geulah, got snubbed by chareidim, and saw the kotel. We also did lots of shopping. Z managed to find a kippah and a kittel, after going into about 50 stores. My mom even got a magnet! We had pizza for dinner at sabbaro. It was decent. Then we finally got home all tuckered out.

Yesterday was movie day. I finally got my LOTR fix by watching #3. Some of us did go to super hatzlacha which is how I realized I'm charlie horse. Darn Mommy and her eager "but it's exerciz"-ness.

Today we went back to Jeru where we invaded Lori's apt. I'm sure she's thankful she wasn't there to witness the act. Then we got lost in Tachna Merkazit. Almost impossible, but we managed. Lastly we walked to the Israel museum where I decided to go back and meet Amo. So I walked and I walked and I walked. And voila, I am here in good old TM, using up internet minutes on blabbing. So good bye.

All pictures all the time.

OK, this post is totally about the pictures, so enjoy.

Yesterday I went with Lori to get her sheitel's cut.

Ain't she a cutie?


To keep myself occupied during this 3 hr visit, I brought my knitting.

Exhibit A

Even I was amazed at how much I finished by the time we were done.

Exhibit B

After finishing with sheitels I was dropped off by tachna mercazit to meet Elisheva. I had a few minutes of waiting and meandering, and trying to look a non-sketchy as possible. Then Elisheva came! Yippee! We got fries (I felt like a teenager again) and then went to our shmoozing spot. After dealing with a bug crisis, Elisheva left me for a bit to go take care of something. It was then that I heard announcements. Since they were in Hebrew, I ignored them. Ooops. Suddenly someone told me there was a chefetz chashud on the third floor where I was sitting. So I picked up all my stuff and tried to not have a mini panic attack. This was after all my first time experiencing one. The funny thing is that all the Israelis were taking their time going down the stairs. There was even a couple making out as if nothing was going on! So I made myself calm down and went to go join Elisheva downstairs.

After coming home I did get the movie night I had been hankering for. I watched Dirty Dancing Havan Nights and I knitted. Then Lori came home and we watched Kate and Leopold, and I knitted somemore. Shoshana came home in the middle of that so we took a hiatus.

Finally before I went to sleep I took a picture of my lovely handiwork. At this rate, I might have a scarf before it warms up!

Exhibit C

Lastly, please refer to facebook later this evening for more Israel pictures!

Hummus and Halvah

I bought hummus today. I love me some hummus. I hate me some bad grammar, but that's besides the point. Lori almost has sheitels. Tomorrow we go to watch the lady cut it. Picture's will probably follow at some point. I know, I'm lazy. I feel like a bum. bum bum bum. Does any other 20 yr old have issues with taking a long vacation after they finish school? Am I just the lucky one?

Last Thursday I met Sheva for dinner.


Then I went to Afikei and became an honorary student. In fact when I walked into one of their classes today half of them greeted me with much enthusiasm, while the others looked muchly confunzled. It was a good class given by Rabbi Laufer. He is one funny Rabbi.

Shabbas was nice. I read! I'm still reading and as I learned today when I finish my book, Rhapsody, there are 2 more to go through. Huzzah and hurrah!

And now for you're viewing pleasure, since I've actually run out of things to say, here are pictures of what I've been doing to keep busy...

First I began scraping stuff and then I realized it made a mess. So I moved the stuff. (making yet another mess)
The scary ceiling.

And lastly, the mess I made.

Toodles.

We're Painting the Roses Red

Or the bathroom whiteas the case may be. This morning I woke up around 10, decided I didn't want to finish my scary dream and got out of bed. I don't know if it's the air or water or something but since I got her and got over my jet lag I've been having a weird dream every night, usually right before I wake up. So anyways I spent some time on the computer and ate breakfast. Looked outside at the pouing rain and decided to dwaddle. Of course once the sun came out and began drying the streets I realized I had no other excuse. It was time to find rechov Agrippas. So off I went in my camo boots, purse swinging, pig tails bobbing in time to the music in my head. It only needed to ask like 3 different people to make sure I was on the right street. I don't know if it's because I miss my gridded streets, or what, but I have this nasty habit of going the wrong way. I bet some part of my mind is laughing at me and saying "Rivkah will learn Hebrew, even if it's only to get directions. Just you wait." Or whatever. The point it, I found the little hardware store, bought whitewash, a scraper, and a paint roller. Then I came home blasted music and went to work. Scraping, and scraping, and scraping. Halfway through I took pictures. At one point I decided to take a lunch break and laugh at myself. You see I was wearing goggles to cover my eyes from falling paint. But not only were these green tinted swimming goggles, the strap had broken. So with one hand I would scrape the ceiling and with the other I would hold onto the goggles. Everynow and then I would switch hands. It was very amusing. So I quit scraping for the evening. Now let me tell you about last night.

It was all the soup's fault. But mmm mmm mmmmmmm that soup was yummy. Lori took me out for dinner and I finally got my coveted cream of mushroom soup. Drooooool. *sigh* (Thank you Lori!) of course shortly after we finished Zsh and Mr. P came to drop off Zsh's stuff and we went out for second dinner. We went to this baguette place with the most fantastic fries. Or they were beyond fabulous. And now, since I need to pretend my life is not just about good food I'm going to inform you of my little project. Yesterday when I was meandering in the rain I decided I needed a scarf. And since I forgot to bring one I figured I should go buy one. Except that then i had a semi brilliant idea. I say semi because I know it will take me longer to finish this scarf than I would like to think. So anyways I bought yarn in the prettiest shade of blue to match my eyes. Wish me luck. I'm off now to warm my fingers.

toodles!

Revelation abounds!

I had one! So today after sheitel shopping with Lori (she remains undecided at the moment) and bencher ordering I decided to venture forth on my own and walk to the kotel. Now everytime I would come to a new street I would doubt my instinct and go the other way, only to learn that I went the wrong way. So it took a little while, but finally the streets began to look familiar and I was in the old city. I go to the kotel, davened a bit, said hi to the Big One up there, and then realiezed that i had not drank anything all day. So I decided to walk home and pick something up on the way. This something turned out to be shoko. Oh shoko, the yummy chocolate milky goodness in a little plastic sack. mmm. On the way home I decided to trust my instincts only to go the wrong way like 5 times. Stupid instincts. I did get to see something funny and cool on Ben yehuda, but I need to put up the video tongiht since I don't know how to do it right now.

So I had two revelations today. 1) I think that right now I'm happy to have unscheduled time. I know this means I will probably be bored more often than I wish, and I'll spend a little bit more money than I should, however, I need a little unscheduled time in my life. I think that's probably why I decided to come to Israel for a few months. To just spend some time with myself. Make new friends to hang out with. And enjoy being a 20 yr old with no obligations. I can't even remember the last time I didn't have obligations. 2) Next time I go wandering I need to bring:

• a backpack
• water
• snacky things
• sweater
• and the odds and ends in my purse.

This way I can stay out longer, spend less money and not freeze. Hurray!

pictures will arrive later.

Wedding Wedding Wedding!

OMG, like more than half my childhood friends are married. Ok, it's actually less than half, but Tonny is married, and in a few weeks Zsh will be married as well. It's like a resurge of the summer when 7 people I knew before seminary got engaged. Most of them are now married.
Tonny's wedding was beautiful. Elisheva was my date. Which was nice since I needed to borrow her shirt to go with Lori's skirt. The shmorg was nice, mostly meat, but some veggies. Tzivia was beautiful. For all of you who have never met her/seen her, she's tiny. She was also very excited and has a lot of energy. Tonny was shuffled out past the front doors at one point to daven mincha. Rabbi W. led the wedding ceremony. Tonny's cousins sang under the chuppah. It was just so very beautiful. We had to go down to the room we were eating in. I'm totally blanking on the technical term here. It was so pretty. I don't know if you're getting this, but it was pretty. I met lots of people. sof, it was just great. I'm glad I was able to make it!

My life has been a whirl wind since I got here. Shabbos I slept a ton. It was like my jet lag up and hit me. Motzash we had Lori's shower. Yummy yummy soup + pita makes a happy Rivkah. Not to mention cookie brittle. I got some good pictures of Lori opening presents.

Tonight was sheva brochos for Tonny. He and Tzivia are a very cute and very happy couple. It was great to go and see a lot of the Schwarzmer clan. In some cases I even got to put name to faces.

As for now, I need to go. I'm so shiverry my insides are quivering.

Those little green men will do anything!

Hi!

yes, I'm alive. Tired, possibly jet lagged, and happy to know that I will see my luggage later. Let me start at the beginning, cuz everyone says that.

On Monday morning I woke up around 10:30 am (USA time). I did a whole bunch of stuff and around 3 pm I realized I was leaving Tuesday morn at 8 am. That night I packed while my aunt made me yummalicious food. The shuttle came at 6 am Tues morn to take me to La Guardia airport. There I was lucky enough to wait, and wait, and wait for my plane. It was delayed 2 hrs. So after a very brief nap and a small coffee I got on the plane around 10:30 am. This plane was small. It was one of the old ones- the kind that has the stairs attached forcing one to go outside to get on. It still had the propeller things, as well as only 36 seats. Plus, with only 4 passengers the had us sit so that our weight was evenly distributed throughout the plane. In air we ran into a tad of turbulence so they cancelled drinks because it was too bumby. Thankfully it was short and I managed to sleep for almost the whole duration (about an hr).

I arrived in Philly around 11:30 am. The airport had only slightly more to do, mostly it had a lot of places to eat. There was a Body Shop, and yes I did go in and have a chat with one of the sale's ladies. it was a very lovely way to spend some of my time. After walking through all the terminals I found my gate and waited. I read and I waited. I texted people and I waited. And then a few minutes before I was supposed to board it occured to me that if no one else was waiting with me, they might have changed my gate. Now I had been in the airport since 11:30 and my plane to Frankfurt was boarding at 3 pm, I figure I would have heard some announcement. So I found some local yokels (or airline personnel) and they found me my gate, which was thankfully not far. I even managed to board my plane on time. The flight to Frankfurt was looooooong. The movies were ok. I saw Hairspray (loved it), The Heart Break Kid (eh), and episode of Everybody Loves Raymond, and House. At one point I even tried to sleep, but ha. So this second airplane was bigger than the first, but more than half empty. People had whole rows to themselves. It was great. Kosher meal sucked-- of course-- and I did almost go crazy with boredom, but I was also kinda tired. At one point I asked a guy for the time to figure out how much longer we had left. He had been working the whole ride so his eyes were kinda blood shot. I also thinked he musta popped a blood vessel because the whites of his eyes were totally red. It was kinda ewww.

Arriving in Frankfurt was ok. The landing was bumpy and my ears popped like mad, despite the gum I chewed frantically. I then had a nice long walk through the airport. (this was 2 am or something German time). Where I got to sit and wait, and wait, and wait. (Anyone notice a reoccuring theme?) I was there so early they hadn't even set up the metal detectors for me to walk through. In fact, one of my plane mates was take a nap on on the the detector ramp thingies. While I waited I had a nice little chat with this russian lady who was with her church group (Greek Chrisitian or something) from Minnesota. Meanwhile, people finally airrvied to set up the stuff, and the place filled with Chasidim. I found it very amusing to see the chasidim davening and the other tourists taking pictures. I also ran into a freind who I had worked with in camp so I had someone to talk to for a little bit.

My plane from Germany to Israel was a double decker Lufthansa plane. It was humungoid! And super nice. Even in coach the seats were rather comfy. Lucky me, I got to sit next to a grump old Israeli but at least I had a seat between us. They showed that movie with Catherine Zeta Jones, the new one about cooking. It was predictable and only kinda cute, so I tuned out and actually fell asleep. Lufthansa is a realy quiet plane. I did not even notice take-off and landing and my ears didn't pop. It was the biggest and best plane of the 3.

Finally in Tel-Aviv, I couldn't get off the plane fast enough. I got through customs quite fast and went to wait for my suticases. Remember our theme here? Well, yes, I waited, and waited and waited. My suitcases decided to get off in Philly and join the circus or something because they werent in Israel. Ironically there was a suitcase that looked so much like mine I even pulled it off and looked into the pockets to make sure it wasn't mine. So I got to wait on line by lost and found. There I was given 400 Nis. So 4 pm (Israel time) I finally made it out of the airport. Only an hr later than expected. Zsh came to pick me up and we took the train to Beit Shemesh where I was met by some Polly's. They took me over the shopping center to buy neccesities. I mangaed to find socks. (note to everyone, Israeli under garments are made scary) Finally we went the Polly's house in Beit Shemesh where we had dinner. There Lori called us and had us go to Jeru for a sleep over. The end of this beginning was we found me some clothes and pj's, I got my shower, and managed a decent night's sleep.

Part of me wants to continue on to my shopping expedition with Sammy, and Tonny's wedding but that will need to wait since I'm tired of writing.

Shabbat Shalom.