This week has by far been the most uneventful week of the time we have been here. I’m not mad though, it’s nice to have a break every so often. I still feel a great fatigue all the time though since we wake up at seven every morning and don’t go to sleep till around midnight. The lack of sleep and school constantly makes it very hard to stay in a positive mood all the time. At home you get to chose who you hang out with how you spend your evenings and you have a car to go and do. We were asked to write about the challenges we have been facing here in Israel. I know it’s crazy that there are things that have been hard to adjust to. I am a pretty reserved person who keeps to themselves most of the time, so the constant of people is hard. There is also always drama going on due to the fact there are only 12 boys out of the 39 of us making it’s a bit heated. This drama is irrelevant to me since I’m not boy crazy, but it creates such tension between everyone. There is also no you time if that makes sense when you’re stressed there is no quiet and it’s very draining also I feel like I’m not getting sufficient amounts of nutrition as a vegetarian struggle to get enough protein in the dining hall. These combinations of things can make for a very grumpy and sad Alex but I get a good night’s sleep and move on because there is so much more amazing stuff here, so why focus on the bad when you have the good. The people here are all very kinds and bring different outlooks on all forms of life making for an interesting conversation always to be had. There is also always amazing nature to be found. Every week we go on field trips to different parts of the country and everywhere brings a new aspect of beauty this week we went on two trips.

On Thursday we went into Jerusalem- It was a place that helped elders maintain jobs and stay off the streets by being trained to make crafts such as book binding metal work and paper machane even though there was a language barrier between us since most of them were immigrants it was obvious that they were happy to have young people visit them since most of them no longer had families it brought a smile to my face we also got to shop in a gift shop that was filled with their crafts I bought a yellow hand nite ear warmer and a little tiny notebook. After this we headed to a place called pantry packers where we all proceeded to put on hair nets and aprons and got to work banging food for families in need we had several groups and each group made about 150 bags of their product. My group was in charge of the barley.  We headed to a train station that had been turned into a cute little area with lots of yummy food. There was also a group of people doing performance art and they took us off the street and involved us which was really cool. They reminded me of my friends back home a lot and it was very happy. I also went it to the health foods store where they sold all natural vegan shampoo and conditioner which is what I use back home and it made me extremely happy so of course I bought some good by chemicals.

After a morning of community service  we split up into guys and girls so that the ladies could go to the Mikva. The Mikva was really special even though we didn’t get to go in since obviously none of us are married but we had a women speak to us about her experience and how she got a doctorate studying mikvas. She was so passionate that she almost cried several times and I was fascinated by the concept since before I came here I had never had any exposed to Mikva. After a long day we headed back to campus where we had an activity with our families. We then had a normal Friday on campus till about 1 when we headed to Arad where our core teacher Aubrey lives. We meet up with him and went on a brief walk then we went to the hostile. We got to pick our own rooms which was nice. We had a relaxed evening and had a little service on an overlook of the desert then we had Shabbat dinner. After dinner everyone changed out of our Shabbat clothes and we headed to Aubrey’s house for oneg where he told us a story and we asked him any questions we wanted. It was nice we stayed till after 11 which was fine because we got to sleep in till 11 30. We then meet with a friend of Aubrey’s who to us why she moved to Arad and we spoke with here for about an hour then we had few time all afternoon I played in the sun some and read and took a nap. After this we all headed on a little nature walk which was nice. We then all gathered in a circle where Aubrey told us a bit about Poland and what to expect. Then it was time to get on the bus and head home with a break to have dinner on the street. Overall all everything has really settled out so far. It has been amazing and I know it will only get better,