First Shabbat at the Mechina

I finally figured out how to connect my notebook computer to the internet yayyyyyy!

I'm getting used to living at the mechina, and I am getting to know people better and am also getting much more comfortable talking in Hebrew. I am learning new words every day, and I've even started to translate my thoughts into Hebrew. There are still times when I feel lonely or miss home, but it can only be expected-I've known these people for less than a week. I expect that I'm feeling the same way that many of my friends at college must feel. We're all in the same boat; we're leaving home, putting ourselves in new environments, and making new friends.

Today was our first shabbat, and I learned a lot of things about the people here throughout the day. We had mandatory services on Friday night (for the rest of the year, you can choose if you want to go to services), and for many of the people here, it was one of their first times ever going to services in their lives. It's so interesting that Israelis have such a connection to the Jewish people without having to pray, keep Shabbat, etc. This group is diverse-there are also people here who are very religious. Therefore, we had a "mechitza," separating the boys from the girls. I also think that girls were not allowed to lead the services. I am not sure about this because when the planning committee for Shabbat asked for volunteers to do "kiddush" (blessing over the wine), they said that girls could do it too, and then one of the religious boys got very angry. I am not sure if there was any conclusion from this. Most of the day, we had discussions about what Shabbat means to us and what it means to be Jewish. It was really interesting, and like I said before, helped me to get to know people better. Everyone opened up about their traditions and opinions. It was great.

Earlier this week, we went on a hiking trip for one night around the area that we are staying in. It was fun, except that we had a 2 hour discussion about how we can change our behavior during classes and tours (not smoking, talking on the phone, shouting out, etc.). In this discussion, everyone basically said the same thing over and over again, and in the end, we came to no conclusion. Earlier in the week, we had a 2 hour discussion, after which we voted on how we should vote in the future. We had to decide if the majority should be 50% or 50% plus 5. Everybody was very passionate about this. In the end, we voted 25 for 50% and 26 for 50% plus five. So 50% plus 5 won with only plus 1, which made the others very very angry. I know this is a confusing story, but I decided it was worth trying to explain because it's pretty funny. Actually, it was very annoying at the time, but it's a good story.

Another good thing that happened today-almost all the people in the mechina who smoke decided that they are going to quit. It probably won't actually happen, but I really hope it does because so many people smoke and it is annoying.

I think I wrote about this in my last entry, but the people here are reallllllly nice. It's almost surprising how nice they are. They always want to help and make sure everyone is alright. The beginning of the program is hard for everyone, because they also are away from their families and meeting new people. It's weird that we've only been here for a week because it feels like much longer.

We are still here at the mechina until Tuesday, and then we are leaving for Rosh Hashana for 5 days. I will be staying at my grandparents' apartment in Jerusalem. It will be nice to actually sleep and relax for a bit. i'll write l8a allig8ta :)