I love Adina

This is a message for Adina: Your last comments made me laugh real hard! I miss you so much and I can't wait to see you! And, yes, I still have people calling taxis for me, but this case was different because they REALLY don't speak English. I called 2 taxis by myself when I was rushing around with the bride's little sister getting our hair and makeup done. I'll grow up eventually. E-mail me when you know what I can bring back for you!

FOR EVERYONE ELSE: I thought I should capitalize, boldify (it's MY WORD, ok?) and enlarge it so you wouldn't feel too bad.

My friend's little sister called a taxi back to Yerushalayim this morning and reserved a spot for me for 10am. Then her cousin who came in from America with her parents and sister called and said that they are going to be in Yerushalayim, so maybe they can meet up with the family. My friend's little sister then cancelled my reservation since there was an 100% chance that her mom was driving in. There was a whole back-and-forth discussion of whether to go or not. I was an innocent bystander. I didn't want to sound biased. Haha. At around 1pm, we left. It was a fun ride. They drove to the Old City and I went back to Har Nof from there.

I got to my sister's and my little nephew (the older one) came running to me! He's only 19 months old, but he knows who spoils him! He even says my name! Either I say "Hin" and he says "da", or he says "Didda". Whoa, it is going to be so hard to leave. I really want something to happen between now and Tuesday to make me feel like I accomplished something, other than making Devora miss me a lot. (I love you, Chase commercial loving girl! I still have that message saved on my voicemail by the way.)

One of my NCSYers came to Israel yesterday for vacation. I am hopefully going to get lunch with her tomorrow. She is so excited about the fact that I am going to meet her redheaded friend Hinda. No, not me.

I called my American cell phone from my sister's line to check my messages (yes, I do that so feel free to leave me messages) and I had a message that I couldn't understand for the life of me. All I heard was "Yael" and "Kallah" and "give me a call." I have no idea who it was. I have to keep listening to it.

Now I am babysitting and on my brother-in-law's laptop because the computer needs a new motherboard. I need to get my pictures off the computer, so my BIL said he'll take care of it.

That's about all the excitement going on in my life right now. Well, it's all the excitement I can remember, anyway.

What a wedding...

The wedding was beautiful. It was one of the first weddings that I was at where I felt that my presence was actually appreciated. She was so happy that I was there. So was I. I ended up coming back to her house and slept there after the wedding. I also ended up staying for sheva brachot tonight. It was in a restaurant here in Netivot. It was nice. I am staying over here tonight because when I called the taxi service (okay, when my friend's sister called the taxi service) they had no more taxis going to Yerushalayim tonight. I am going back in the morning. I miss my nephews so much. I didn't get to say goodbye to my friend who just got married, but I will see her in New York. No problemo.

I can't believe that I am leaving on Tuesday. It's been a month! Unbelievable. There are things that I wanted to take care of that I didn't do, but such is life. Oh, well. I can't wait to come back in a way. As much as I love this beautiful country, I miss the people back in the States. See you all soon.

Oh, PS, my birthday is JULY 14! In case I didn't mention it before. WHOA...TWO WEEKS FROM TOMORROW...

My Henna Experience

I went to my seminary's office today to try to figure out how to make up the 3 credits that I didn't get this year. Whoopdeedoo. I got to visit the secretary who was my roomate until January. We left at about the same time. Her excuse was that she had to get married or something. While I was there, my friend who is getting married called me and I asked her if anything was going on tonight and she told me that she was having a henna party. She said that it will start at about 7:30 and I should call her sister so she could reserve a place for me in a taxi.

After that, I went back to my sister's only to run out again to try to find something to wear to my friend's wedding. While I was out, my friend told me that her sister reserved a spot for me on the 5:30 shuttle. It was 3pm. I rushed around trying to find something and ended up buying a skirt that I probably could have bargained the price of, but I wasn't thinking too well. I am going to wear it with a plain black v-neck t-shirt. Weddings in Israel aren't too fancy, so I am making a compromise by wearing a fancy skirt and plain shirt. HA!

Then I went back to my sister's, packed and left again. I was waiting in front of the bank that I would always wait at for the shuttle to Netivot. There was an Israeli girl there too. At 5:40, she called the taxi service and they told her that they moved the stop. Thank G-d she was there. We went to the right stop and got on. We sat in traffic for a good hour, then we finally got out of it. Well, duh.

I got to Netivot at around 8. The henna party was a lot of fun. I can't wait until the wedding! My friend is going to be at a bridal salon from 9-4 tomorrow. There are some places in Israel where you can get your dress, makeup and hair done in one place. It's awesome! I might go with her sister and get my hair and makeup done! Woohoo! Pamper time! We'll see. That would mean less money for me. Maybe my friend's sister will pay for it. *Cough, cough*

That's it for now. I can't wait for the wedding! I am going to dance like CRAZY!

Editor's note: I realize that my blog has been mostly about the details of my day, but the blog is for me too! It's to make up for me not keeping a journal. Okay, I think I've justified myself.

UPDATE YOUR BLOGS!

Okay. Here's the thing. I am here in Israel. There are a lot of times when all I do is search the web. The first thing I do is check people's blogs. Okay, maybe I check onlysimchas first to see if any other people I know got engaged or married. I am, however, an avid checker of blogs and it makes me sad when people don't update them. So their last post may be only 2 days old, but do you have ANY idea how long that is in Hinda terms? Have mercy!

Not to worry, you still have another day or two since I will be out for most of the day tomorrow and my friend is getting married on Tuesday. I might go to her house tomorrow night (it's more that an hour from Yerushalayim) for her henna! I have never been to one before. It would definitely be an experience!

I hope you are all enjoying the beginning of your summer.

19 more days...how am I supposed to grow up in NINETEEN DAYS?!?!?!?!?

Here's How It All Went Down

So this is how my day ended up going...

My sister went out and came back.

I made Challah dough.

My nephew and I left to Geula at around 4.

I picked up the stuff from Manny's.

I walked to town.

I tried to exchange my skirt, but there were no skirts in the size I needed, so I am hoping that the one I have will shrink.

I walked to the shuk and bought Marzipan rugelach.

I walked to the Tachana (15 minute walk) and got a cab back to Har Nof.

I got to my sister's house and cooled off.

Then I pretty much lazed around until now.

WAKE UP! I'M DONE!

To all of those who are expecting presents...what if I can't afford them?

A Whole Week!

Today marks one week that I haven't seen Princess Perica. Whoa! I can't believe it has been so long! B"H, I have not had any severe withdrawal symptoms, but she has the chin movie! We have to figure out a way to get it somehow. We, meaning me, myself and I. You all have to see it. We call it...The Attack of the Chins. It's really entertaining. Just ask anyone that was at the premiere!

ANYWAY, today I woke up at 10:30. Allow me to emphasize the fact that I HATE SLEEPING IN! I really do. I have stopped doing it in general. I was supposed to go to the school office this morning, but I told the secretary (my ex-roomate) that I will have to reschedule. After my sister goes out and comes back, I will be going to town/Geula/the shuk (not necessarily in that order.) I hope it isn't too hot outside. Yesterday there was a nice breeze going on.

Okay, that's it for now!

Oh, and P.S. Perica, you were just here! What kind of presents do you need??? :)

Boo!

Did I scare you? No? Oh...

ANYWAY, I am still in the Holy Land. I am bonding with my nephews and I have realized that the bonding will make it a lot harder for me to leave. I have to start planning my next trip before I end this one! They are SO cute, wow...Bli Ayin Hara!

Today, I didn't really leave the house at all. Wait, I went into the front yard for a few minutes. Does that count? Tomorrow, I have lots to do. I have to go to my school office and figure out how to get my 3 missing credits transferred. Then I am going to come back to my sister's, babysit for about a half hour, then I plan to take my big nephew (all of 19 months) and go to Geula, then to town to return a skirt, then to the shuk to get Marzipan rugelach for Shabbos! I am going to Chashmonaim and I am so excited! I can't believe that after this Shabbos, I only have one left. Whoa.

Next Tuesday is my friend's wedding. It is in Netivot which is more that an hour from Yerushalayim. When I went there last year, my friend had to make a reservation for me on a 10 passenger van. Oh how fun. I found out today that there is going to be a 50 seat bus leaving from Yerushalayim going to the wedding, so I am relieved! Phew!

That's my update for now. Oh, and for all of you expecting a present...I will be shopping for those tomorrow as well.

Miss Me?

Sorry I haven't posted for a while. All my friends have pretty much left the country. I spent the day with a very special friend. We started off by going to the Old City so she could pick up some jewelry from Hadaya. Then we walked to town so she could pick up some stuff. Then we went to the mall and spent (ready?) FIVE hours there. I don't know how it happened. Some of it was fun. I could have done without the clothes shopping, but hey. We went into the food court to sit down for a while and we met up with the S family. Okay, so I could write their name, but to go back and add it in would require effort. They know who they are.

After the mall, we went back to Ben Yehuda Street so my friend could get her last Cream and Dream ice cream. She was up to the 10th ice cream on her card, so it was free. Then we walked to the Kotel. It is so beautiful. We stayed there for about an hour, then came back to Har Nof. She is leaving at 7am. It wasn't too hard to say goodbye to her, because I am going to be seeing a LOT of her in the US of A. It was a crazy long day and I don't know how I am still functioning. Blogging counts as functioning, right?

Whoa. I have 24 days left until the end of my teenagehood. I CAN'T TURN 20! I haven't even learned to share yet! As I said before...whoa.

Ha! Take THAT!

What is your level of maturity? ACCEPTABLE Your Grade: C. You are getting the idea!

Click Here to Take This Quiz Brought to you by YouThink.com quizzes and personality tests.

That explains it!

You Are 45% Normal (Somewhat Normal)

While some of your behavior is quite normal... Other things you do are downright strange You've got a little of your freak going on But you mostly keep your weirdness to yourself

How Normal Are You?

Bored

As you can tell by the two previous posts...I am a bit bored. At least it's fun!

Still Here

Shavuos was beautiful. On Sunday night, the school ate dinner together, we had a few speakers, then we walked to the Kotel. Since it was really mobbed, a bunch of girls and I went to daven outside a shul. After that, we had a kiddush at someone's house, then 5 girls and I walked to a nearby neighborhood for our meal. It ends up that the girl whose house we went to, knows my cousins. It's a ridiculously small world. Whoa. Anyhoo, after the meal, we talked for a while, then we went back to school. It was wicked hot, but we made it. I slept for 5 hours, then two girls and I went to my cousin's house for dinner. My grandmother was there, so they were making second day for her anyway. Oh, speaking of going to my cousin's house...I FOUND OUT WHO THE FLYING YANKEE IS! Why would you call yourself that? Oy.

In the morning, I brought 5 girls to my cousin's house for lunch. BARBECUE! It's great to be around people who only keep one day and can cook for you! My sister was there with my nephews, so it was even more fun! After lunch, we went back to school to hear 2 speakers. One of them was a teacher in seminary. It was a great speech. Then I went back to my cousin's house. My sister had left, so I played with my cousins for a while. Then my cousins from Beit Shemesh came. I am hopefully going to their house for Shabbos. Woohoo!

After hearing havdalla, I went back to school and some first year girls asked me to come to dinner with them at Cafe Rimon. It was really nice. The girls are so cool and a lot of them are coming back for a second year. One of the girls who I became really close to was leaving at 6am so I was attempting to stay up all night. I was in the girl's apartment at 3am, I fell asleep on the living room chair, then woke up at 5:45am. I went outside and a girl asked me if I had slept. When I said yes, she asked me to say the morning brachos for her and a few other girls since they had stayed up all night. (Blogger's Note: If you stay up all night, you can't say morning brachos for yourself) I did, then went down to street level to wait for my friend's shuttle to the airport. A taxi came at 6:30am. It was weird because usually, it's a van-like vehicle, but maybe that's all that was available. Whatever. I can't explain most of the things that happen in this country.

After she left, I went back down to the apartment and went to sleep. Erica woke me up at 9:50 because all the teachers were coming to school for a meeting and we wanted to see them. Now I am sitting in the school building thinking about how much I miss being in seminary. Sigh...

Tonight, I am going out to dinner with my roomate from last year. She is here until tomorrow and I am really excited to spend time with her. I am going to head back to my sister's soon.

Okay, so that was my past few days. I would like to thank everyone (no, I'm not writing another speech) for being very good at commenting. More posts to come!

Erev Shavuos (or ShavuoT)

I am spending Shavuos with my seminary. There is a meal tonight, some teachers are going to speak, then we are walking to the Kotel. I remember how incredible is was last year. We walked to the Old City and through the Arab shuk (it was closed...not to worry) and everyone was singing and dancing. It was awesome. Then my friend is going to bring me and some other girls to a married couple she knows that lives nearby for lunch. Then we are going to trek back to seminary, sleep for a while, then have dinner with the school. For the second day, my cousin who lives nearby offered to make a meal for me and some friends. My grandmother is staying there and she needs a second meal anyway.

As thrilled as I am to be in Israel, part of me wishes that I was back at home. I miss my family and friends. I really wish I could be at the NCSY Shavuaton in Boston tonight, so I could see everyone from the Shabbaton. Such mixed feelings. I hope to enjoy myself over Shavuos and I am pretty sure I will since I have a lot of good friends here. They are all going to be leaving the country within the next two weeks, but I will still be here. I am glad that my sister lives here and has 2 of the cutest kids ever to keep me entertained. I know the time will fly by fast, so I am not worried about that. I can't wait to see you all. Please keep in touch for the next few weeks. I really need it. Thanks!

Blogging again...

Everything is going well, B"H...including my savings account. It is so hard to be away and not have money. Oh, well. I surprised my friends real bad, and I got one of the teachers too! I am very close to her and she had NO IDEA I was coming! That's the best! One of my surprises got ruined, but it's alright.

I GET TO PLAY WITH MY NEPHEWS! I spent last Shabbos at my sister's and I am hoping to spend this Shabbos there again because a Rabbi that I am semi-close to invited my friend for a meal, so she is bringing me as "a friend". He doesn't know I am here. I hope it works out.

I miss you all a lot. If you are reading this and you don't know who I am, I miss you too! Since I arrived here, I realized that 4 and a half weeks is a really long time. I really miss being home, but I know that I am meant to be here right now. There is a lot that I need to figure out, and I am hoping that I can figure it out here. If not, then it will have to wait until July.

If anyone thinks of anything that they need from this side of the world, let me know. Either e-mail me or leave it as a comment, or just hope that I get you something.

Please keep in touch with me so I don't feel as out of the loop as I feel a lot of the time. Thanks!

I will be posting pictures soon (meaning after I publish this post)

What?

How did I get over 1,000 hits? Whoa, mama! Sadly, I think my visits are a majority of it. Oh, well. Oh, right, the speech.

I'd like to thank the Academy (Stern) for granting me with the boredom (okay, so maybe I was supposed to be studying) to make blogging possible.
I would like to thank all the little people who helped me get to where I am today.

Thank you, DJ, for recommending this hobby to me.

Thank you, Erica, for letting me use your computer too many times to allow me to blog.

Thank you to all my readers who have made this all possible!

And thank you to all the people that I didn't mention! (You know who you are, anyway. At least I hope you know who you are. If not, then I know people who can help you with that sort of problem.)

*insert sniffles and nose blowing here*

Thank you all so much and good night!

THIRTY LINES TO MAKE YOU SMILE

1.. My husband and I divorced over religious differences. He thought he was God and I didn't.
2.. I don't suffer from insanity; I enjoy every minute of it.
3.. I Work Hard Because Millions On Welfare Depend on Me!
4.. Some people are alive only because it's illegal to kill them.
5.. I used to have a handle on life, but it broke.
6.. Don't take life too seriously; no one gets out alive.
7.. You're just jealous because the voices only talk to me.
8.. Beauty is in the eye of the beer holder.
9.. Earth is the insane asylum for the universe.
10.. I'm not a complete idiot -- Some parts are missing.
11.. Out of my mind. Back in five minutes.
12. NyQuil, the stuffy, sneezy, why-the-heck-is-the-room-spinning medicine.
13.. God must love stupid people; He made so many.
14.. The gene pool could use a little chlorine.
15.. Consciousness: That annoying time between naps.
16.. Ever stop to think, and forget to start again?
17.. Being "over the hill" is much better than being under it!
18.. Wrinkled Was Not One of the Things I Wanted to Be When I Grewup.
19.. Procrastinate Now!
20.. I Have a Degree in Liberal Arts; Do You Want Fries With That?
21.. A hangover is the wrath of grapes.
22.. A journey of a thousand miles begins with a cash advance
23.. Stupidity is not a handicap. Park elsewhere!
24..They call it PMS because MadCow Disease was already taken.
25..He who dies with the most toys is nonetheless dead.
26..A picture is worth a thousand words, but it uses up threethousand times the memory. 27..Ham and eggs. A day's work for a chicken, a lifetime commitmentfor a pig.
28.. The trouble with life is there's no background music.
29.. The original point and click interface was a Smith and Wesson.
30.. I smile because I don't know what the hell is going on.
Be thankful we're not getting all the government we're paying for.(Will Rogers)

This was brought to you Devora! You can thank her!

I got to Israel okay, B"H. I am still in a state of disbelief, but I'm getting over it slowly. It feels good to be here. I can't post too much right now, but I will definitely make up for it soon! I have a few more friends to surprise tonight, then I am going to work on surprising the teachers! WOOHOO!