Well, there's a lot to write home about since my last post! I'm sorry that this update is so late. The cliff notes version of the past week and a half is that I went to an international church and am eager to go back again, I spent 2 days in the Golan Heights, I've started the next (and last) session of ulpan, I got followed home from church, and I got to spend a wonderful afternoon and evening with some dear family friends.

A lot of people who will be here for the semester or year didn't get here until this past week because HU only requires international students to do 1 session of ulpan before the semester starts. I only did 2 sessions because my home university required it, and most of my fellow international students come from universities back home that have no such requirement. Anyway, all this is to say that I've been meeting a lot of new people and making some new friends!

The church that I went to is called Living Bread International Church. It's across the street from a tram station and the tram also stops in my neighborhood, so it's pretty easy to get to, although total transit time one-way (walking to the station, waiting for the train, and the train ride) can take anywhere from 25 minutes to an hour, since the tram comes only 20 minutes or so and can get delayed. And the 10 or 15 minute walk home from the local tram station is not so fun alone at 10:30 or 11:00 at night. I'm praying that another international student will get involved at Living Bread so I don't have to do that walk alone all the time. Actually, my awesome roommates have twice now walked in pairs to meet me and walk me home, but I wouldn't want to ask them to keep doing that all semester! I might be able to take a bus there, but the Jerusalem bus system is confusing and I don't really know how to even figure out which bus to take to get there. Anyway. The church is not a very structured one, at least as far as the services go, but I actually love that. Plus it's tiny; I've been there three times so far and I don't think there were more than 15 people on any given night. They meet 5 nights a week, but I won't be going that often, even if for no other reason than that it's kind of late and that combined with how long it takes to get there and back doesn't leave much time for homework and sleep. Plus the whole tram or bus process to get there and back costs about $3.75, and I can't afford to do that more than a couple times a week. It's overall a very different kind of fellowship than any I've been involved with before. It's very charismatic and passionate, the people are very welcoming and seem very genuine, and there is just a feeling of joy, celebration, and eagerness to serve God and humanity. I look forward to getting more involved there.

The trip to the Golan Heights was organized by the office of student activities, and there were about 80 of us that went, all international students. We took 2 charter buses there, and it was a little over a 3 hour drive. For those who don't know, the Golan Heights is a mountainous region that used to be part of Syria but was conquered by Israel during the 6 Day War back in 1967. We drove to the top of a mountain with a 360 degree view. The side of the mountain we'd driven up was Israel; down the other side was Syria. The border was only a few miles away and you could see it clearly from where we stood. You could see Lebanon from there, too. Driving into the Golan Heights was interesting; there was barbed wire everywhere with bright yellow signs every 20 feet or so that said "Danger: Mines." There are 2 million landmines in that very small area. Amusingly, there are also a lot of cows in the region. Sometimes the two cross paths, unfortunately for the cows.

We also hiked that day. Getting to the trailhead was quite an off-roading experience; I've never seen such huge potholes in my life, and the bus bounced so violently at one point that I actually caught several inches of air off my seat. It was actually alarming to go off the main road knowing there were landmines everywhere, but this was obviously a frequented dirt road. The dirt road actually went straight through an abandoned Syrian military camp that got bombed all to hell during the 6 Day War. All that was left were dozens of huge heaps of broken concrete slabs that used to be buildings.

The hike was exhausting and everyone was like, "They advertised this as a LIGHT hike! What is this??" It wasn't all that long as the crow flies, but it was basically climbing either straight up or straight down steep rock faces most of the time, with no railing, which made for a persistent worry of falling into the ravine that the trail skirted. A small river ran through the ravine, and the end of the hike brought us to a pool at the bottom of a beautiful waterfall, where we got to go swimming. My roommate Jacq gets huge credit for being Ms. Prepared, as I dubbed her on that day. She brought 3 full sets of swimwear, so 2 of us who had been misinformed by one of the madrichim and told that there would be no swimming that day were able to borrow Jacq's swim clothes and dive in. Yay! So much fun. Plus Jacq had snacks, which was more than the rest of us could say, and she generously shared them.

After the hike and the visit to the mountaintop (where a tour guide told us about the history of the region and such), we went to a youth center where we would be staying for the night, and had a Shabbat dinner and then a big group gathering that put us into teams and has us do silly shenanigans for bonding purposes. It was admittedly quite entertaining, even though it was the kind of stuff we would've done at a summer camp in elementary school.

The next day we went to Israel's only photography museum, which had some neat photos on display. Then we hiked up to a monument for some famous historical figure who died in the area in the 1920s and heard a bit about him. Then we hiked further up the mountain and spent most of the afternoon swimming. Afterwards we hiked back to the youth center and had some down time. I had an amazing discussion with a new friend that I met on the trip during that hour and a half or so, and we had another dinner all together before driving home to Jerusalem. Fun trip!

The next day the next session of ulpan started. I have most of the same classmates as I had last session, and one of the same teachers. (Each class has 2 teachers that switch off days. I'm not entirely sure why they have this system. Maybe just to keep things interesting, since the class is so time intensive. It works, too! I'm really glad I'm not with either teacher the whole time, it would get so old.) Fortunately, it's the better of my 2 teachers from last session that I'm continuing with this time. Whew! The first few days of session 3 were kind of a drag, but I'm getting back into the swing of it now. Plus I'm starting to really realize how much I've advanced in my Hebrew abilities, which is encouraging!

A few days ago, my roommate Sefi went with me to Living Bread Int'l Church, which was great. We took the tram home, and I was glad to have someone to walk with me (and not to have to inconvenience anyone by calling and asking for an escort to meet me at the station). But I was especially glad she was with me later when we started getting followed home by some strange guy! He was definitely not a student, and he followed us for over half of the walk home. At one point (in an area where there were some other people around) we slowed almost to a stop so he would have to pass us, which he eventually did and then disappeared around a corner ahead. But when we got to that corner, he was lurking in the shadows off to the side and started following us again when we passed! He followed us right into the student village, actually. I thought we'd be safe when we got there because of security, but some security guards don't ask for your student card when you come in, and unfortunately this guy just waltzed straight in about 10 feet behind us. We practically ran from him down the stairs and across the courtyard, but thank God we then ran into a friend of mine, and as soon as there was another person on the scene the guy abruptly veered off in a different direction and disappeared behind another building. After talking to the friend, we made sure we couldn't see him and he wasn't following us anymore before going into our building. I closed my shutters so he wouldn't be able to look in and see me through my window in case he was still out there. It was spooky, but I'm just really glad I wasn't alone and that we made it home safe.

And finally, yesterday I got to meet up with a lovely couple that I know from when my family lived in Spain! They were the pastors at the international church we went to there, and they were in Israel for a week. In that short time, they already visited more of the historical/biblical sites than I have yet in 6 weeks! But really, that makes sense. They were here specifically for travel, while I'm occupied with Ulpan for the moment. I'll get to those sites yet!

Anyway, I met up with Dan and Kathy at the Jaffa Gate of the old city, and it was so great to see them! I'd kept them waiting for a bit because I ran late, but they didn't seem to mind. They introduced me to a few of their fellow travelers from Barcelona, who then left to go to go to an evening church service. Dan, Kathy, and I caught a bus to the neighborhood they were staying in. I'd never been in that area of Jerusalem and it was quite pleasant. They took me out for Asian food at this great sushi place, and I got tempura chicken stirfry that totally hit the spot! (I'd been hankering for some good Asian food.) Meanwhile we talked about all kinds of stuff, both about experiences in Israel and in Barcelona and about life in general. I don't think I've ever actually spent significant time with them without my family there too, and I really enjoyed getting to know them better, and as an adult now. I was only 12 when we moved back home after our year in Barcelona, so the dynamic was quite different. We then went to the bed and breakfast where they were staying with their whole group, and I met more people that they'd come with from Barcelona, which was lovely. We all talked for hours and caught up and I drank black tea, and then we had a Shabbat dinner (well, it had some of the traditional elements of a Shabbat dinner, such as challah bread and 2 candles and starting with a prayer and a song; however, it was not kosher. But hey, we're not Jewish, so it works!). There was much more talking over dinner, and then I plucked up my courage and called for a taxi, and did the whole thing in Hebrew! That's when I started feeling more appreciateive of how much Hebrew I've learned so far. Plus talking on the phone is tough for me even in English! I was very proud of myself. I also dealt with the cab driver in Hebrew when the taxi got there. Dan and Kathy rode with me back to the student village so I wouldn't be alone with the cab driver at night and such, which I appreciated. I hugged them goodbye and they took the taxi back to the bed and breakfast. Then I spent the rest of the evening playing bananagrams and watching Fresh Prince of Bel Air with Jacq and then talking and hanging out with my roommates and neighbors.

Today I woke up sick. I wasn't sick enough to be knocked off my feet, but my throat and tonsils are all swollen up and painful, and I'm congested and have a runny nose. Plus I felt feverish and shivery this morning, but that's gone away. Sefi made me tea when I woke up feeling crummy, God bless her, and it was delicious! Leave it to the English girl to make a great cup of tea. I got some more sleep after that. Anyway, I spent the day just resting. Tomorrow if I feel crummy still, I might stay home and rest, because even though I'm sure I would be able to sit through a class, I think I'm sick enough that pushing myself to do so would probably make me get worse, whereas a day of resting might put me back into good health. But we'll see how I feel in the morning. For now, though, that's the update! Sorry it was so late, and thus so long! I'll be more consistent in the future. Keep following! Stay in touch!