I bless the rains down in Africa.

For those of you who don't recognize it, the name of the blog post is an allusion to an epic jam called "Africa" by Toto. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORyUCu7fAt8&feature=fvst

I've decided to name this post after this awesome 80s song because, although I am not technically in Africa, I am pretty close to Africa. And also because it kind of rained here last Saturday.

That's right, friends. We had a teeny tiny minuscule bit of precipitation (precipitatzya) (but actually משקעים I think) on Saturday morning. It was unbelievable. Apparently last year there wasn't even a hint of rain until January, but here we are in the middle of August with some bizarre unseasonable temperatures and a few droplets of rain. I didn't realize how monotonous (but gorgeous) the weather is here until I woke up on Saturday and couldn't tell what time it is because there were clouds and the sun wasn't brilliantly shining in my face. It was really rejuvenating and felt a bit like home. I've actually had several dreams about rain here in Jerusalem so I felt very relieved after this tiny bit of rain. Also, it smelled like summer for a while which was nice. You know. That smell right before a storm. Where you can feel the atmosphere shifting around you and you can basically sense the plants getting ready for some hydration. Awesome.

Before those rains, though, I joined some friends at Rebecca and Jessie's for a delicious and fun Shabbat dinner. Most impressive, apart from Rachael's homemade and professionally boxed chocolate parve cake, was Ben's ridiculous salad. This salad was kind of based of of Chipotle (something I am very much missing right now) and featured all sorts of seasonal goodies: pomegranate seeds, a corn salsa, some black beans, and a billion other tasty treats. Best salad ever, quite possibly. Also there was challah so clearly I was happy. The food was great and the company was even better.

Sometimes you just want the middle of the cake. Right?

World's prettiest salad.

Saturday was fairly relaxing. After that hint of rain I was feeling pretty good. Saturday night I went with a few of my fellow singing classmates to lead a havdallah service at school for a birthright group that was in town. It was a great experience, and a few of the participants even stayed after to learn more about HUC. Woohoo potential future rabbis! Then, luckily, Michael was doing standup so we went to Off The Wall comedy club (after having gelato for dinner oops) to watch. He was great, per usual. Always nice to end your weekend with a good laugh.

Still weird to me that the weekend ends Saturday, but alas, מה לעשות (what can you do)

The week has been pretty great so far.

Monday was "Tu B'Av" which is kind of like Israeli Valentine's day...basically in Ulpan we told love stories. I talked about Disney's The Little Mermaid. It was kef (fun). Tuesday we had a meeting after school where we learned about the different community service projects we would have the opportunity to participate in. I'm hoping to get to work with the Ethiopian population in M'vasseret Tzion (not far outside of Jerusalem) to help families adjusting to Israeli life (and also because I would love to be able to practice my Hebrew and maybe, maybe learn a wee bit of Amharic).

Notes that have fallen out of the Wall, and some unsuspecting feet.

Wednesday we had tests in both Hebrew and Biblical archaeology, which is always fun. Who doesn't love tests in 100% of your classes on one day? After school I went to the Old City with Jessie & Vlad for a quick trip to the wall and then some time in the Jewish Quarter. At the Wall, I was standing next to a woman who was teaching her daughter how to pray there. It was a really incredible thing to watch. Also, we had an interesting interaction with an Israeli clown. He had all these kids with him and one kid was schlepping this giant suitcase. It was weird.

What's in the suitcase?

Lachish

Thursday was our last field trip of our summer Biblical archaeology class. We went to Lachishand Maresha. We learned about the way the ancient city of Lachish was set up, and the views from up there were seriously amazing. I had brewed some coffee WAY too strong for our 7am call time and spent the first 45 minutes or so twitching (a good problem, in my book, because it meant that I had had too much caffeine--a nice problem to have after a severe lack of good coffee). Also at Lachish were some beautiful vineyards (this will connect to something later).

Views from Lachish

Ruins at Lachish

Heading to Maresha I decided to man up and not freak about about the cave situation, which was a great idea because actually these caves were amazing. Basically, they have this system of caves underground that range from Columbarium to this expansive cave with ridiculous acoustics where we did a little bit of singing as a class. It was really incredible to hear. So, the caves were good and I didn't have a panic attack (little victories, people).

Sign we basically ignored

View from the bottom of a cave at Maresha

Thursday night was the Jerusalem Wine Festival, which was quite possibly one of the most fun nights I've had since arriving in Israel. A group of us went and tasted wines from all over Israel. Maybe even some with grapes grown in Lachish! Whoa. But seriously some of these wines were so delicious. It was a great night filled with tasty יין (yayin--wine) and wonderful people watching. After the wine festival a few of us split a cab back towards our apartments and we had quite possibly the best cab ride ever because our driver was loco. He asked us what we were doing in Jerusalem, and when we told him, he made us sing for him, and then he was singing with us, and it was absolutely out of control. Maybe he was also at the wine festival. I don't even know how to describe his voice except for exuberant. It was a really hilarious night and I think everyone had a great time!

Jerusalem Wine Festival

Lindsey, Daniel, Rebecca, and Jessie at the Jerusalem Wine Festival

Yesterday I spent the whole day getting ready for shabbat. My roommate Becka and I decided to host a shabbat dinner this week, so we ventured to the shuk with Jessie in the morning. Going to the shuk on Fridays is really fun because it's chaotic and crazy and also you get to run into random classmates doing their shabbat shopping as well. For those of you who don't know, there was an attack on Thursday in Eilat (not close to Jerusalem) which meant that there was a much stronger security presence at the shuk. I still feel very safe to be here, and I also really appreciated this increased security, just in case. But the shuk was hugely successful (I'm pretty sure we bought every type of fruit and veg that they had) and we prepared a FEAST that was also a potluck so when I say feast I really mean it.

Our tiny table set for 9--somehow we all fit!

On the menu for last night's epic shabbat meal:

• Two challot from Marzipan.
• Assorted salatim (salads) with my homemade za'atar pita chips.
• Israeli salad
• Pasta with veggies (green beans, eggplant, garlic, onion, tomatoes, bell pepper, etc)
• Ina Garten's ridiculously good zucchini pancakes (recipe here) topped with labeneh (somewhere between sour cream and greek yogurt), as they should be.
• Roasted asparagus with olive oil and garlic. Plainly delicious.
• Fruit salad filled with figs (which are unbelievable in Israel) plums and cantaloupe
  
• A giant delicious rugelach sort of cake. Yum.
  
• Chocolate with hazelnuts and chocolate with chili.
• A fine selection of Israeli wines, some sodas, and, of course, Nestea.
  

It was a really delicious and fun night. We really stretched the capacity of our apartment (and our little kitchen table) but it was absolutely worth it and I can't wait to host shabbat dinner again!

This morning I let myself sleep in a little bit so I'm feeling rested. This is good, because I'm also feeling pretty behind on school work so I'm going to take some time today to get caught up. Ulapn is almost over! Time is certainly flying here. Meanwhile my brother just moved into his residence hall at University of Central Florida, which is absurd to me but of course I am so proud. Hi Abe.

Thanks again for reading!