The Good Life - החיים טובים

So I try not to bore you all with nonsense, hence infrequent posts. But today is worthy of a post. Jill and I headed to the Malha Mall to see Paige. What a wonderful girl. We also got to see Bar, love her, and I saw D-Sol: I cannot wait to have a beer with D-Sol (Assistant Principal of EIE).

Then we headed to Ben Yehuda, which I'm already sick of, to meet up with Max and wait for Nati & Itay. The three of us had a nice time before we were graced by Netanyel and Itay's presence. It was wonderful to see them, love those guys.

Past couple days nutshell:
Max and I hit the shook for the first time and wow. Philly needs to look into acquiring one of these. I bought fruit and vegetables that are the best I've ever had in my life, for dirt cheap. I made guacamole with the best Avocados I've ever tasted. I've had red and yellow peppers that must have a divine presence. I have oranges that Harry & David would be proud to sell. Apples, eh, they're ok. We're going back tomorrow, it's nice to live in a country where eating healthy is cheap.

Wifey & Laynie Gaga are coming down from Haifa, cannot wait to see them. There's a big Shlichim reunion Thursday for all the URJ camps that we're planning on attending. Should be a good time.

It's 3 in the morning. Write more soon. Love you all, be in touch.
Kress

Shalom from the Motherland

Unfortunately, I don't have internet in my room right now, hence my first post is five days into the trip. What a whirlwind of four days. Max and I arrived on separate flights, and as of right now we are in separate rooms. We have to wait until Tuesday to straighten that out.

Thursday I arrived in Tel Aviv a little before 7 AM. I slept maybe 4 hours on the plane. I took a bus straight to Hebrew U and moved into my apartment. Later there was a bus to a local mall where we bought blankets and sheets and all the good stuff you need to live. After we returned, Max and I decided to go to the Old City and were accompanied by a few new friends (girls, duh).

Friday Max and I wandered around and ended up in the Mount of Olives, an Arab town. We had a pomello (Max's first) and eventually took a cab to visit Mollie at her apartment. She took us to the sheirut station, the shared taxi to Tel Aviv. We wandered around Tel Aviv, went out to dinner at Yotvata and enjoyed a few Corona's and cigars on the beach. Then Gal and her boyfriend Roye picked us up and we headed towards Modi'in to Einav's.

At Einav's we watched A Bug's Life. Holla.

Saturday we woke up and had a wonderful breakfast with Einav's family. Then we went to a little park that overlooks Modi'in (lots of pictures on facebook, red flowers and pictures with Einav, etc). We had a wonderful lunch at Abu Ghosh, at the restaurant that claims the newest Hummus World Record (literally, Abu Ghosh Resturant). After lunch (which was delicious) we headed to Tzuba to visit friends I made on EIE and show Max the tell. There's a bunch of pictures from Tzuba as well, we stayed up on the tell for the sunset which was beautiful. Then we took the bus into Jerusalem and had dinner at Foccacia. We met up with Gettlin at the Coffee House on Jaffa street and then some of our new friends to go to a pub (Nadin's) and then some dance club. No idea what that was called but mad fun.

Sunday Max and I chilled for most of the day. Had orientation in the afternoon and met up with Mollie for dinner at Hamoshava on Emek Rafaim. Delicious and cheap. Then Mollie ditched us to see Jill who had just arrived. Max and I went bowling at "Bowling Yerushalayim" in Talpiyot. It was fun, 164 high. Not too shabby, Max got 155.

Today we started ulpan, really enjoyed it. Max and I are in the same class and our teacher is wonderful. Excited to keep going and really learn the language. Lots to learn.

Here are the public link to the photos in case we aren't facebook friends. Enjoy.

Be in touch soon.

Love you all.

Kress

In the Mix

I had to make a few mixes before I left. Here are the latest (click to download the mp3):

Tiger's Hangover

Aladdin's Bad Touch

The Hardware

Familia, Friends, Random People -

I suck at blogging but I'm going to do my best to keep this updated and document the epic events of a college student. Above is a gorgeous picture of gorgeous equipment: MacBook Pro, the love of my life. iPhone and iPod, necessities. Duh. Nikon D90, my newest pride and joy to document the land of milk and honey at its finest. And the shoobie of the technological collection, my Barnes & Noble Nook. Currently reading my Dad's favorite book, Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand and can't seem to put it down. I don't know if it's the book or the desire to play with my new toy.

The less important stuff: I'll be studying in Jerusalem from January to June at Hebrew U. January-February is strictly Ulpan, roughly 5 hours of Hebrew immersion 5 days a week and then at the end of February my classes start. Honestly, I don't know what they are because we don't register for classes until we get there, but I'll keep you updated.

I leave 10 days from now, on January 20th on a 1:30 PM El Al flight out of Newark. Won't have much to report until then. Happy New Year and check back after the 20th.

All the best,

AK