the start to a "wet" israeli winter

It has not stopped raining here since yesterday morning and I have been hearing more thunder and seeing more lightening than i have in my entire life in one sitting since then. We have today off since its the weekend here in israel and shabbat, we wanted to go to the tel aviv art museum but they closed at noon....theres nothing to do in the rain here because the majority of markets and things are outside...so I have a feeling it will be a longggg rainy wet winter.

Last night a bunch of us went to the same bar Rosa Parks and it was fun but apparently they want you to be 25 here to get in bars which I think is ridiculous since the drinking age is 18...we had a little hassle at the door but then they let us in....

So now with this rainy weather I am just cuddling up in bed with my e-reader which I am currently reading The Help....the book is very good and the e-reader is one of my favorite gadgets that I own(thanks mom and dad)

We are thinking of cooking a floor shabbat dinner tonight to make a rainy day activity...we shall see tho :)

the beginning of hebrew intensive

Yesterday started our 10 day long intensive hebrew sessions. We have class from around 2-530 everyday....for me sitting in one classroom for this long is a challenge itself but when mixed with a language I do not even know an ounce of....this becomes a major challenge. Our teacher Elana is like a little old grandma who is so cute and has the patience for all of us americans who have the WORST israeli accents ever. When it was my turn to read I cannot get the sounds of the vowels because its only a,e,ee,o,oo and its drawn in pictures then we are trying to learn block and cursive at the same time....oh wow am I confused.

But on a better note, last night we went to a bar called rosa parks it was a cute little chill place but I just had a diet coke, was very tired and came home with my friend Alex at about 1115 and went to bed. We just felt like we should go be social.

Some girls on our trip found an American Apparel store here in Dizengoff Mall, which could be very dangerous except I am DEFINITELY not ready to shop yet :)

thats all for now

xoxo :)

all settled in

Moved into the apartment on Monday...very big it was set up as a bedroom with two twin beds, a living room, kitchen and bathroom. Once everyone kind of unpacked and met roommates we all decided that we are all in ours 20's and want our own space so converted the living room into another bedroom...so here we all are with our own bedrooms. My roommate is the most opposite person than I am so I am very glad to have my own space. I got a couch in my room and all its the biggest room on the floor...go me =)

I have been basically touring the area around my apartment and the rest of the city and Jaffa...last night Oranim tried to take us on a "booze cruise" which #1 was not a "cruise" it was like a party boat and the water was soo rough it felt like we were on a roller coaster and was going to tip so about 10 people were vomiting out the window of the bottom floor so after about 20 minutes the trip directors made them turn around and bring us back to the port. After that we decided to walk home about an hour and then my friend Alex, the boys and I went to this club called gallina. Apparently Israeli clubs still think its the 1970's and they are like studio 54 in which unless you have a "table" or look like they want you in their club you can't get in so after about 10 minutes of waiting the guys went to the bouncer and bought a table for us and 2 bottles and it was an AWESOME night...

Today, we went to the beach my friend Alex and I and it was a SAND STORM ive never been covered in more sand in my entire life but then we started to talk to these Israeli guys and they had chairs so it was muchhh better...for dinner tonight we cooked a shabbat dinner at the school where our hebrew lessons are and it was really nice to do that

Tommorow we are going up to Jaffa to my friend Jared's moms apartment and beach and to explore the area over there....

:)

first weekend in tel aviv

I arrived here on friday afternoon it was a warm 95 degrees. Friday night we went for dinner at a restaurant called King Georges and of all the things to eat I had cheese ravioli....( I havent even had a schwarma or falafel yet) It was a very good restaurant but I am learning quickly the service here SUCKS completley. Since it was alex's birthday thursday night everyone here was pretty worn out so we just chilled and relaxed (which i didnt really care about since I had just flown for 2 days)

On saturday we went to the beach which is a block from alex's apartment and it was gorgeous out...it was like the perfect breeeze and was so relaxing..I laid on the towel and read my e-reader and took in the sun while everyone back in ny is stuck in the 40 degree weather and rain (except stacy may be having some snow up in buffalo) We then came back and chilled watched my sisters keeper and we all cried our eyes out (oh how i miss college living and having friends together at all times...(.reminded me of 6110 and 213)

Saturday night was a festival of 100 years of Tel Aviv down at the port which is on the water and has a lot of the clubs and restaurants...apparently this is where I will be living for the next 5 months...which I will find out tommorow. It was a huge dance party/light show/fireworks/concert outdoors which was soo amazing... We ate at Max Brenners (so israeli right) it felt like I was right back home in NYC.

So thats it for now :)

the FINAL countdown

whoa....starting laying out all my clothes and junk today....choose my seats for my flight its all happening soooo fast and i just CANNOT wait!

2 weeks to GO!

As I am sitting here, relaxing, researching Israel, I am getting SOOOOOOO excited to leave and start my new life in tel aviv. I spoke with Helen, the internship coordinator in Tel Aviv and I am going to be working in a high school with at risk teens. Should be interesting....I cannot wait to go....2 wks and counting!