First Shabbat/Birthday

Hi everyone! It's been one week since I left Nashville, five days since I made aliyah, and one day since my birthday!! Yes, that's right! Yesterday I turned TWENTY! Lots of exclamation points today. Since my last post was so scattered, I promised myself I wouldn't write again until my jet lag was cured. TODAY IS THAT DAY! (With the help of the cafe on the street corner...the owner already knows me!)

Mostly I have just been hanging out, but...I made some (American) friends on the bus coming home from the bank (yes, I now have a bank account!) and my birthday was really something that only happens here in Israel.

Some school kids being crossing guards, a typical day in Petah Tikva

A shop in the mall called Revital (!!)

Which brings me to my Hebrew word of the day! (actually it's two words):

הַכְנָסַת אוֹרְחִים

(Hachnasat Orchim)

Hospitality

See, my birthday coincided with my first Shabbat as an Israeli and my first Shabbat living with a Dati (religious) family. So Friday night at dinner, you can only imagine how far my jaw dropped when they told me services in the morning started at 7 am. Yes, 7 am. As in before 8 am. See, Shmuel and Eliana are the token young couple in the elite group of their synagogue which is a minyan consisting of the founders of the synagogue who are now all older men (and all best friends). So we went all the way to two small rooms (men/women) upstairs at 7:45 (Shmuel made it on time, the rest of us slept in...kinda) where this special minyan was being held. By 9, we were sitting at desks in a classroom next door, listening to one of the group leaders (there is no rabbi for this group, they do everything themselves and take turns with different prayers and weekly tasks like hosting the kiddush) giving us a d'var torah (basically 10 minutes of fun facts and back stories and life lessons of the week's torah portion). On Friday, all of us had helped bring TONS of food over to the shul (synagogue) because we were hosting kiddush. As soon as the guy was done with his d'var torah, we got to enjoy that food with everyone in celebration of Dovi's and my aliyah! Around 10, Shmuel told us we had to wait about 20 minutes, and then we should go downstairs...to snack on the DOWNSTAIRS minyan's kiddush (which was huge and not hosted by just one small family)! You see, everywhere Jews are known for making everything about food (torah: what you can eat; holidays: special/symbolic foods to eat; fast days: this is how long you until you can eat again; etc.), but Shabbat in Israel is all about seeing how much free food you can get and is basically a contest to see how long you can go without NOT eating. Because, of course, once we went home from that kiddush, most of us took a nap for an hour or so...and then helped get ready for lunch! The other wonderful things Israelis/Jews are well-known for is hospitality. Mind you, Shmuel and Eliana have generously opened their home to not only myself, a (temporarily) unemployed pre-ulpan/army/everything olah chadashah, but also two of Shmu's siblings, Dovi (college student/oleh chadash) and Esther (high school senior spending the year in Israel).sfghm  vgc AND THE DOG USDI who just jumped over the couch onto my hand/computer and scared the crap out of me, and the not-yet-house trained puppy Waya.

The cutest puppy known to mankind

So, as you can see, we've got a houseful already. But even so we had guests for every meal (even one for all of Shabbat), which it's totally normal here! It's so much fun! I met lots of new people and even had some guests of my own! That's right, two of my BEST friends from Tennessee (one from Nashville and one from Memphis) are on Nativ, USY's gap year program, and came to visit me all the way from Jerusalem!

After Shabbat and everyone went home, Dovi and I got ready to go to Tel Aviv for a party for his college. But, before we could leave, Shmu put me in his and Eliana's room and told me to look in Waya's cage and around the room for a bit. Then he asked to borrow the camera on my phone and Eliana called me to help her in the kitchen with something. When I came out, it was a little birthday party! Eliana had made chocolate balls with candles in them, and Dovi and Esther were holding a big Power Rangers sign that said "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!"

Usdi making her presence known, as always

It was so nice of everyone! It only lasted maybe 15 minutes because then Dovi and I went straight to the bus stop to go to the beautiful city of Tel Aviv, but it was still the perfect birthday party! In Tel Aviv I met a lot of Dovi's college friends (almost everyone was from a different country...international schools are so cool!) and had so much fun, but then we had to go because he had class in the morning. Since all the drinks were so expensive at the bar, we decided to stop at a convenience store and get a post-birthday beer before we went to the bus. Unfortunately, it was too late to buy drinks, but when Dovi went to the ATM, I got to know the cashier and he told me to pick out a chocolate from the store for my birthday! Even better!! I ate half on the way home and am currently enjoying the other half as I type :) I love birthdays!

In boring Sunday (which is not part of the Israeli weekend) news, I have been trying to set up an appointment with Misrad HaKlita to talk about my bank account and Sal Klita payments, but everyone's busy. When Eliana gets home from work, I'll ask her to help me tomorrow morning because she said her person was really nice and helpful! My favorite part about right now is that I can take things nice and slow. Once I get everything in order, I will be hopefully working soon and being a contributing member of Israeli society! Until then, peace out from the couch!

P.S. I enjoyed the Vol's bye week coinciding with my birthday/first Shabbat here, but next week is South Carolina Gamecocks with Zach (Nashvillian Nativer, future Vol) in Jerusalem!!

P.P.S. My Hebrew words of the day so far are words I think emulate the theme of the post, and then I actually have to look them up and learn them myself when I include them. So we're all learning Hebrew here :)

P.P.P.S. Usdi and Waya were videotaped being cute several times in the past couple of days so I put one of the videos up on YouTube. (Probably more to come!)