The other day Hannah and I journeyed together to the Old City by bus and tried to get lost in the narrow streets of the Arab Quarter. We kept finding our way to places we knew which seemed a little backwards because we were randomly turning down streets for no reason. The Old City has the Arab Quarter, the Armenian Quarter, the Christian Quarter and the Jewish Quarter. I like the Arab and Jewish Quarters, think the Christian Quarter has a little too much tacky holiday decorations (santa claus signs and paraphenilia), and ardently dislike the Armenian Quarter based on the interactions with people there. That is just my personal experience, maybe its been enjoyable for others. I got proposed to in the Arab Quarter by shopkeeper trying to sell me things. He told me, "You have beautiful eyes. Are you looking for a rich husband?" I told him I wasn't and he said "Ah, okay, well come look at my shop then." Both his proposals were rejected. It was very amusing, as were the other people I talked with there. Of course I've been to the Kotel in the Jewish Quarter but we visited again because there was a swearing-in ceremony going on in the plaza for IDF soldiers. We saw them stand in formation, receive weapons, march, and sing HaTikva. This was the first time I've heard their national anthem in person and was one of the best experiences of the day for me. When we arrived back at Har HaTsofim we headed to Jeff Seidel's where the Obama speech was being shown on a projector. It was packed with Americans which was amusing because people would laugh loudly whenever the camera panned to Bush.

Life is very good - I'm so psyched to be here and there is always the possibilty of an upcoming adventure. Even the mundane, normal activities are enjoyable to me. I joined the gym which is right down the street from the K'far Studentim (student village) where I live. Imagine American soaps dubbed in Hebrew being shown on the televisions and a solid number of good-looking Middle-Eastern men. I work out on a machine while trying to read the quickly moving Hebrew subtitles on Oprah and keep an eye on the other interesting - things - around. Its pretty much a gym but its a gym in Israel so its that much more fun. I am just in Hebrew classes right now and I enjoy focusing on only one area of study - I'll be in the class for several hours and only Hebrew is spoken. It was hard at first to understand a class spoken only in a language that I am trying to learn and don't know very well, but today, the end of the week, I felt like I had already gotten so much better at listening and understanding. The very best thing is that every single person I have the possibility of interacting with most likely speaks Hebrew at some level so basically anyone knows the answers to my homework. Roey, my tri-lingual Israeli roommate, and Morgan, my American roommate who just knows a lot of Hebrew, are both my personal Hebrew dictionaries. When I was taking Hebrew in Boulder people just acted like they were doing me a favor if I happened to want to talk about my language learning process (it was my favorite class last semester, I love learning it) but here I can say a sentance with both Hebrew and English words and no one really notices. In my apartment there is a mixture of Hebrew and English spoken all the time - its great practice. I try to read new words on signs and posters all the time and am always asking questions - and its not merely tolerated, but welcomed. So many of us are learning together. I have met mostly Americans, some people from other countries as well, but I know a few Israelis as well. I would like to know more though. Next weekend I'm seeing another soldier from my birthright trip, Michal. I am visiting her in her hometown.

I haven't been worried about a thing since I've been here - I'm just so happy I'm here that it seems impossible to be stressed out. It's so easy to go with the flow. Friends and interesting people have come easily, its been a very natural process to meet people and make friends. I actually see people I know wherever I go - the center, a bus, whatever. Thats funny, because before I came I knew about 3 people in this country. I've been here a week and its no problem. I had no adjustment period to speak of. Besides about 5 days of jetlag which included a messed up sleeping pattern and no appetite, I don't feel other affects of starting a new part of my life in a new country. I got a horrible cold which I've been unattractively suffering from for four days but that happens in the U.S. all the time also. Besides how my body reacted to the change, I've been completely content.