What tha!

So it's Thursday and not feeling better...so stoopid. It's weird, like I'll feel better during the day, but then at night it's on and my throat will be so inflammed and I can feel my inner body temp rising. I've had at least like 6 cups of hot tea throughout the day and have been taking Vitamin C pills, etc..It's almost 9 and I'm planning on croaking here in a min. Gotta get up for breakfast at like 8:45- they have scrammbeled (sp!) eggs on Friday mornings- yay! (sense the sarcasm)

Anyways, Mirelle, Rivka and I spent the afternoon hanging out with Danielle, a girl my age from Houston who just graduated from UT, because she is leaving tomorrow. She enrolled in the 5-month ULPAN program but has been a volunteer here for a couple months already and is just over it. She was the only other girl in my Hebrew class-great. She took us to this really amazing chill spot today where we watched the sunset, it was like in the kibbutz but we were just sitting in a huge field and we could see the whole country of Israel it felt like. An amazing view- really, a sight to see. The picture doesn't even reflect the mountains that were so distant. After that we walked to the Colbo (the grocery store on the kibbutz) and were planning on getting dinner items, but we each walked out with an ice cream bar..go figure. So we ended up on our stoop (porch) making dinner because we are SO over the dinner here in the cafeteria. We cut up tomatoes, cucumbers, avacados and added some chicken schnitzel that Simi made for us that Mika brought to us last night, and it was pretty damn good...and filling.

So, that's that. After Mel and Rivka get out of class tom at 1 we are hitching a ride from Loasha, who is one of the Ulpan directors, to Yokneam which is a city about 10 minutes from here where we can access an ATM and get some lunch (because they dont serve lunch at the kibbutz on Fridays) and then Shiran will pick us up and we will go to the bus station to start our adventure to Tel-Aviv. Shiran works in Tel Aviv and is from here so is obviously familiar with that city so we are in good hands. I'm just excited to branch out a little bit. We are planning on going to this Brazillian party that Shiran knows about Friday night and hopefully, if it is warm enough on Sat, going to the beach to lay out or going shopping..we'll see.

Love!

just peachy

So, Im laying in bed..sick. Took the day off work and slept until now. It's about 2:45 and my dad just brought me medicine because there was no way I was walking to the clinic. The clinic is inside the kibbutz, but at least a 10 minute walk and while that sounds lazy of me, I had no strength. Plus I have daddy, he would do anything for me. So, after I talked to him on the phone and told him I was in bed sick, he brought me throat lozenges and flu pills. Should be better by Wednesday.

Anyways, this weekend was fun. Thursday night I went to a party with Shiran, a girl I am friends with through my sister Danielle, and this other girl Shanee. It was at this club called Luna and it was in downtown Haifa. They picked me up from the kibbutz and we made the 15 min drive to Haifa and found parking near the club and I got out to find that Shiran had a flat tire on her car! We got help and 30 minutes later were dancing it up. That place didnt even know what hit them! It was so much fun- this club was pretty big and it had like 3 differnt rooms to dance in, all had different music. We would step outside for fresh air every now and then and I would just sit back and take in the beauty of Haifa, the city is so ancient and filled with amazing architecture. The buildings were like made of stone, like rocks put together and I could just taste the history that had taken place there before me. It was just a grand ol time.

Friday dad picked Mel and Rivka (basically our other sister since being on the kibbutz) up and brought them to the house. We had an amazing Shabbat dinner with chicken, cuscos, rice, schnitzel, salad, meatballs and zucchini quiesh (forgot how to spell that one). After dinner we digested and took Rivka to a pub in Ramat Yishay, Bet Hamarzeach, its one of our favorites in town. It just has a good atmosphere and the bartenders are nice and they serve olives and peanuts with your beer- delish!

Saturday was so cute! Mirelle, Rivka and I took Simi's car and drove to the beach in Haifa for a picnic! We brought hard boiled eggs, olives, rice cakes, avacado and chocolate and blankets and sat in the sand next to the shore and chilled. It was really cute, we watched the sunset and then took Rivka to where we used to go to the beach as kids, I remember that beach as if it were yesterday that we were there playing matkot (like ping pong but with no table...and you play it on the beach) and running in and out of the water. Fun times. It was a little too chilly outside to get in the water, but that didnt stop other people. There were at least 20 people in the water just where we were picnicing. It was a beautiful sunset of peach gold and burnt yellow, it took the sun about 8 minutes to disappear behind the ocean...wonder where its next destination is. Even after the sun set it was light outside though, just a beautiful day. We went to bed early Sat night because we had to be up at 6:15 and leave the house by 6:30 to come back to the kibbutz. So, here we are. Back on the kibbutz...already planning our next escapade.

We want to go to Tel- Aviv this weekend, we wanted to go last weekend but had no where to stay the night and its about an hour drive from here, so staying the night there would be the best option. So last night Eran, our dad's business partner who I know from when my dad came to Dallas last, called and invited us to stay at his house anytime we wanted. Eran came with my dad to Dallas last time and I went with them to Lubbock for a meeting and Eran and I bonded- he's a really cool guy. Gay guy that is. So, he said to me last night that he would give me a copy of his key and stay at his boyfriends house so we could crash at his place and I was just like "what a nice guy!!!" So, we're trying to make it to Tel-Aviv this weekend and Ill keep you posted if that happens. We might/ might not be going to dad's because he is leaving for Germany tomorrow morning early until Sunday. So....that's about it. I hear Mirelle- guess she just got out of class and I'm going to get out of the room for a bit to try and feel better.

Write soon.

living the simple life

I'm writing to waste time before dinner- one of our excitments of the day. I had class today and it went well, we are reading, writing and speaking Hebrew in each class and it is paying off, I am learning and feeling more confident every day. We have a great teacher, Gili, and she is so patient and sweet. Danielle, who is from Houston and went to UT, is the only other girl in my class and we sit next to each other and just like look around because sometimes it feels like the class is a joke. The boys in there can be so immature, talking all the time and asking stupid questions, but boys will be boys. After I got out of class and Mirelle got out of work we walked around and took some pics of the kibbutz. We took a pic of Mivrag, the factory where I work and then just some randoms...of cows and stuff. haha. Just got off the phone with mom and it really made me miss her and everyone else.

We took our first trip with the Ulpan students and the volunteers here at the kibbutz yesterday to Ramat Hagolan and it was beautiful! We first went mountain biking for about an hour, which kicked our butts! Then had a nice lunch at this park in the Golan where we paid a tribute to a soldier named Gilad Shalit, who was kidnapped by Palestinians in 2006 and who is still alive being held captive, by releasing 100's of balloons with his picture on them into the sky- it was a sight to see. For his return the Palestinians are demanding that the Israeli army release hundreds of their men who are murders and who are in Israeli prisons...sad story. People here are trying their best to keep him in mind at all times and remind him that we are still trying to get him back, its a huge campaign. At malls and stuff they pass out bumper stickers with his picture on them and ribbons to tie on your side view mirrors. Anyways, after we ate we went to see this "fire show" put on by tanks where they were like firing at each other- it was crazy, we were at this place where they were kind of trying to recruit people for the army...yeah sure.

Anyways, that was our trip, Elka said we are going to Jerusalem in about 2 weeks for our next trip- should be fun! Going to dinner now, will write later!