Israel Trip: Week 2

July 9: another day of learning; in Israel, Sunday is a regular day of work. Very confusing if you live in the US or other countries where you have Sundays off from work.

July 10: more learning; after classes, we usually hang out in the apartment, playing Scrabble, surfing the internet (one of my lovely roomies had a laptop with internet access), talking

July 11: classes in the morning, afternoon tour of the Old City, afterwards I met up with my aunt and uncle for dinner

July 12: classes, hanging out with roomies

July 13: Fast of Tammuz; first time ever observing that day; classes in the morning; I left late afternoon to go meet my relatives

July 14: spent late morning/early afternoon in Tel Aviv with two of my cousins; at night there was a family dinner

July 15: went to services at my grandmother's home (she lives in an assisted living facility), had lunch with her; she has led such an interesting life and I want to ask her as much about it while she's still around; after Shabbas, went to the mall with my aunts, had some coffee with them

July 16: more classes, met up with a friend for lunch, I knew her back when she was in New York learning at Aish Hatorah, spent a year learning, never left, is now married and expecting (update: she had the baby this week)

July 17: last day of classes, very sad : ( went to a series of lectures in Jerusalem on laws of speech, my roommate and I left after the first speech because we couldn't understand what he was talking about (and he was speaking in English!)

July 18: finished packing, met my friend at the Aish Hatorah womens' seminary and saw a friend who I hadn't seen in close to 3 years; afterwards, I went to the mall and met up with my roommates and a friend from New York, a great good-bye dinner followed, I feel so blessed to have been able to spend time learning, to have met the women I learned with, specfically all 6 of my roommates; I really felt we had a special connection and that will always be there.

July 19: arrived safely in the US after a long, long flight

Coming up: Reflections on Israel trip, have I changed?