Starting Week Two...

My Israel journey continues, although it's really just begun. I'm beginning week 2, where hopefully the overwhelmingness, confusing, state of constant being-lost-ness, and most other new things start to become slightly more familiar. Ulpan, my Hebrew class continues quite smoothly. I'm definitely a little more advanced than this class, but I am learning new words. My voice is slowly returning, so now I should be able to participate more in class and use the Hebrew I'm learning. My Ulpan schedule varies each day, but as of right now, I'm spending anywhere from 2-6 hours a day in Ulpan, usually beginning at 8:15 am. I'm not a fan at all of these early starts, but it does leave the rest of the day to figure out what to do. I'm also slightly swamped with homework right now because I'm making up the stuff the class did before I switched into it. So far, living in Israel has been one big experiment with the most common answer to ANY question from anyone being "I don't know?" Included in that experiment has been eating. Happily, almost everything here is KOSHER!!! So I don't have to go to a restaurant or grocery store and look at what's in the package to see if I can eat it. And I'm not the only one like that anymore...what a nice feeling not to be in the minority anymore. As for cooking at home, that's been an adventure too because our kitchen is missing several items most Americans are used to: an oven, a microwave, dishwasher, disposal. But I'm making many yummy dishes, and occasionally going out to try food in Israel. Speaking of food, I definitely have to tell you about my experience in the Shuk (market). First of all, the Shuk is way cheaper than the grocery store close to me (which ironically is called Mister Zol, which means Mister Cheap). Second of all, as you'll see in the pictures which actually don't do them justice, the vegetables and fruit in the shuk are absolutely gorgeous looking. Brightly colored, big and healthy looking, and cheap!! And there's hundreds of them. In fact there are about 10-15 stands selling the same things! The Shuk is essentially a long hallway with these stands on both sides, so there's only one road to walk in. Now imagine packing that in with thousands of people. This may not be the case every day, but I went on a Friday from 12-2, which is right before Shabbat (the Sabbath), which is when most Jews go in order to get their food before Shabbat. I happily got my Rugalach from Marzipan (an amazing desert in a chocolate flavor for me, that I was introduced to by my sister 5 years ago) and some yummy fruits in addition. My Friday ended with me and my roommates making a wonderful Shabbat dinner, where the female roomies said the blessing over Shabbat candles and our Israeli roomie leading the longer version of the wine blessing in very rapid Hebrew. I'm on the tail end of my cold, I can see the light at the end of the tunnel, so I'm going to spend the rest of my Shabbat doing just that, resting. Until next time... Shabbat shalom to my Jewish readers and have a nice weekend to the rest! -Talia