Ani Gara Bi-Tel-Aviv.

WOW! We've been here about two weeks (although it feels like forever) and we just completed our first week of ulpan! So when we took the placement tests for ulpan, I hadnt written or really spoken hebrew for soo long so I placed in level C. Within a few hours of ulpan (which we have sunday-thursday 830-1), everything started coming back so I asked to move up to D. My teacher made a little mistake and moved me up two levels to E...woops. It was to pretty overwhelming at first but I've decided to stick with this level. Thankfully, Tufts doesnt accept ulpan for credit or for a grade so really this is just an opportunity to learn hebrew- I think it is better to struggle through this level and hopefully come out having learned more hebrew. I can already see after how a week how my writing has become more natural and reading without vowels is normal. Even in everyday activities like ordering at a restaurant, taking cabs, or talking to Emma's cousins I find myself feeling more comfortable asking questions in hebrew. Certainly, listening to hebrew conversations has been really beneficial as well. So three more weeks of Ulpan to come!
Since ulpan is from 830-1, we have all our afternoons free. The weather has been pretty good this week so on monday I went into tel aviv with a few friends via bus which we are just now starting to conquer- and i bought a bus pass..so local. We walked all around the city center and through the good shopping on shenkein street- even with a 4:1 sheckel us ratio we still had to refrain from doing lots of shopping. We ended up walking around for 6 hours which was tiring but really fun.
Emma and I had lunch with my cousin Jay this week as well. Jay and his family made aliyah in the early 1990s and live in Jerusalem but Jay was in tel aviv for business. We went to the ki-kir medina which Emma and I hadnt seen or heard of. It is a huge rotary with tons of shops and restaurants. We had lunch in a cute cafe' and then walked around the rotary...we certainly wont be shopping there- Prada, gucci...etc. for a second i thought we were abroad in paris!
Today (friday) we went to a street party on Rothschild street. My friend Yatir (a soldier on my birthright trip) told me about it and we got an email from our program advisors talking about it as well. We assumed it was going to be street party slash flea market but nono it was just a street party- Tons of DJs, beer, food, dancing it was insane! There were soo many people there just hanging out with friends and dancing away.
Below are two photos - one is the street party and one is a dinner emma and i made. We have been trying to be real people and cook so we dont waste money on restaurants. thus far we have mastered frozen chicken, beans, and corn...with hummus on the side.

xoxoxoo

shmi dana

Shalom!
manish ma? Ok well theres my fancy fancy hebrew for you- clearly i'm essentially a local now. Soo saturday i got to see my sister! we met up on the port (you may have gathered its one of the few places we've discovered and love lots). Weather was gorgeous again and the boardwalk was veryvery crowded. We had some delicious lunch and some froyo that reminded me of berryline (how i miss me some berryline!). Arielle baked me a challah with sesames that was delcious and i have already almost had half - very yummy - good news, i think this means when we are older we can do the jewish holidays and shabbat dinners at arielles house and i'll get to skip out on the cooking thang...phew!
Last night we hung out with these israelis that we met the other night- we went to their apartment in the city and sat out on their rooftop eating chinese food and playing darts- very american minus the gorgeousgorgeous view of tel aviv. at night, tel aviv looks just like miami with palm trees and gorgeous buildings and beaches - i love it.
Today we had our first day of Ulpan! (the intensive hebrew course we are taking) I have about 26 people in my class (a few of people i know but lots of people that i havent met yet which is great!) My Mora (teacher) is named Leah and is super nice and very good about making sure we are all on board. We started with reviewing the alphabet and writing in script and print -some of my bi-cultural knowledge came back but definitely good to have this refresher. like all good first days of class we had no homework! yay! i'm so excited and cant wait to get better at my hebrew!

well thats about it for now- finally getting into the swing of things with ulpan starting and everything. no more fantasy world of just going to markets and beaches all day. but still of course loving every minute of being here. we have so many israelis who are taking us around and showing us a real israeli experience! its amazing! love it!

below i took a picture of my first day of work for ulpan! notice lots of kindergarten activities such as writing letters in between the lines lol. also i took a picture of harry potter in hebrew that i found at our friends apartment! so fun!

xoxoxo

Genesis Continued...

Hello Again!

So basically it feels like i have been living here forever! I know they say they saw there are four stages people go through during abroad and the first one is shock and awe and obsession type reactions to the place and culture. But truthfully things have been so comfortable and relaxing here in tel aviv that it feels like a second home. Heres what my gorgeous second home looks like:

Yes i know its january and it is gorgeous! Lets see- so yesterday (thursday) we had an orientation activity where we went bowling like 20 minutes away- I was actually pretty good despite a poor showing at my last bowling attempt in florida with the prusoffs. After that, Emma and I explored the surrounding area of the dorms by walking around for like an hour in different directions- we pretty much gathered theres not much around us (its very residential) but there are cute shops and cafes everywhere and a huge park a little further away. We had dinner at a place near the mall and they served us a plate with 10 different israeli salads -it was sooo delicious!

Today, we went to the shuk at the namal (port) in tel aviv. Being friday and being the best weather day we've had so far, it was soo crowded with ppl prepping for shabbat and just enjoying the weather along the boardwalk. Emma's cousins have a stand at the shuk where they sell organic fruits and veggies and homemade breads which are delicious. We tasted passion fruits which were sooooo amazing - kinda sour but sweet and juicy and tropical! We then walked around the port and met up with a friend of ours from Tufts little sister who is studying in jerusalem for the year. Being at the namal during the day was great- Israelis are soo relaxed and just spend their fridays really enjoying the day. Now we are off to have shabbat dinner at a family friends of Emma's! We are so blessed to have Emma's family so nearby in tel aviv - they have really been able to give us a real israeli introduction to tel aviv. Tomorrow I get to see Arielle which i'm so excited for!

Hope everyone is well! xoxoxo also i'm putting some more pictures at the end- the first is me and Emma when we arrived (looking pretty good for a day of travel!), a picture of us and our suitemates Mandy and Liat, some groceries at a market, and the passion fruits from the shuk!

B'reishit (In the beginning..)

Shalom!

I have arrived! The plane ride was long but thankfully i had a 6 hour benadryl induced nap and some episodes of entourage to pass the time. When we arrived, we got onto buses that took us to Ramat Aviv which is where the university is located and we got our dorm assignments. thankfully, the dorms are brand new -never been lived in! This was amazing news because i had heard awfulawful things about the dorms which hadnt be redone for centuries!
I am living with Emma - who is also a junior at tufts (we requested to live together). We've been prepping and getting so excited/anxious to get here so its sooo amazing its finally happening. So our bedroom has two beds, desks, and closets. We then share a bathroom and kitchen with two other girls. Everything is totally new so no complaints minus a somewhat tiny bathroom.
Yesterday (tuesday) after unpacking, we napped for a while and then walked to Emma's cousins' house who live less than 10 minutes away. They have the cutest babies so we played with them- they were very helpful for advancing our hebrew since we are almost on the same level as 4 years in that subject. There were three boys dressed as spiderman, superman, and a ninja turtle so mostly we learned things having to do with killing things with swords and pirates. We had a delicious israeli dinner of salad and omelete and then headed back to campus.
We went out to the "namal" (the port) -I'm unclear about what is down there cause it was really dark but the clubs were alot of fun and very crowded. our makeshift hebrew failed us as we tried to find a club that was called lehman brothers...but it was a fun night and we ended up at a very crowded club so i'm assuming its "the place to be".
This morning we had an orientation meeting for the whole group which is about 170 students. We then took hebrew placement exams so that they can place us into appropriate levels of ulpan which begins on sunday- ulpan is an intensive hebrew course that we will be taking sunday-thursday from 830-130 for the next four weeks - I'm really excited to learn some hebrew and hopefully be able to talk to people more easily - most everyone speaks English but there are many people who dont and many people who find it quite challenging so i'd really like to work on my hebrew.

sooooo so far so good!! so excited to be here- I'm also trying to meet up with the israelis we met on our birthright trip and hoping they can show us what israelis all about!
also- there is a girl on the program who i went to bi-cultural with! She recognized and she said she remembered i had a dog named tax and a missing toenail! amazing memory!
xoxo

Shalom and Shalom

Shalom!!
In just 36 hours I will be making my way to Newark airport to leave for tel aviv! Its been one year since I was in Israel and ever since then I have been waiting to return. But this time, instead of 10 days of bus trips and lack of sleep, I will be studying at Tel Aviv university (slash beach). Why Israel? Well thats what I plan to find out. My 10 day birthright trip was one of the most significant experiences I have ever had - but a whirlwind it was. This time, with 5 months ahead of me, I cant wait to actually live in tel aviv, travel thoroughly around the country, and explore some neighboring countries.

This blog will hopefully serve as a journal (holy scripture, if you will) of my time in Israel and also inform "all of you" of my adventures and life in tel aviv. So CHALLAH at me :)

Also- one little CHALLAH! I want to say a big shalom to my big sister (the dna kind, sorry stef!) Arielle (who is also currently living in Jerusalem). I am so excited that Arielle and I are going to be in Israel at the same time- I know I cant even begin to imagine the good times we will have and how much having my sister nearby will enhance my time in Israel. (she already came up with the title of my blog so we are off to a good start).


SHALOM & Challah at me!
Dana