The first exciting thing that happened this week was that we had healthy food at almost every meal! I also happened to be on serving duty, and therefore couldn't enjoy said healthy food as thoroughly, but you take what you can get.
Besides that, I have stories from drama class, travelling, and learning (surprised?). In drama class we chose monologues to use for character development. That doesn't sound so exciting, but of course it sparked my theatre-mind-flame and now I'm itching for more. I almost squealed out of enjoyment when the teacher told us we had to memorize our pieces for the next class. Well, she said try, but I'm not one to deny myself a drama treat. My piece doesn't intially seem to have much substance, but that makes it challenging.
On Wednesday, we went on a tiyul (trip) not too far from Jerusalem to four different locations (all in one day...it was crazy)! We first stopped at the location of the fight between David and Goliath, then went to an excavated site which included a water cistern, a stone dove coup, and an olive press - all underground. I was in the Hebrew tour group, since I've really been trying to improve my Hebrew. On that subject, I just started learning once a week with a girl from the Israeli program here. It's a great new experience, since she's older, knowledgable, and can't speak any English! Anyway, back to the tiyul. We then went to a random cave and played some teamwork games (leave it to Israeli advisors to take you to a random cave to play games in the middle of a trip). The last stop was optional cave crawling through the Bar Kochba caves. Bar Kochba was a scholar who was temporarily thought to be the Messiah and who hid for three years in a cave with his son to escape the persecution of the Romans during the fall of the Second Temple. I have no idea how they lived in there, because to get from room to room you literally have to crawl on your stomach in the pitch dark. It's fun to do for an hour, though!
When we returned, we had a learning session in honor of the matriarch, Rachel, who's death fell on Wednesday's Judaic date. And today (Thursday) marked the anniversary of the death of Yitzchak Rabin. It's a difficult topic to discuss, since his death was a tragedy in of itself and in the way it came about (a fanatic Jew killing another Jew) - but of course, it's important to think about.
On a lighter note, I'm staying in a settlement of new immigrants and Israelis who have been relocated from Gush Katif for Shabbat with a friend from home. That should be fun. And on Saturday night I should be meeting up with family friends from the US who are here for their son's Bar Mitzvah. In about ten days I'm going on a two day tiyul to the Negev (desert), and I'm also excitedly anticipating that!
Well, that's all for now. 'Till next time! Shabbat Shalom.
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