mmm...chocolate

The concert in J-town was a lot of fun. Our program's block of seats was in the first 2 rows! We discovered that all the other programs are way more excited to be a part of MASA (the blanket organization that hosts all they programs). Apparently, MASA even has a song. We were unaware of it, but everytime it came on before the show, they went crazy- jumping and singing it at the top of their lungs. At first we attributed their behavior to their age. Since we're one of the only graduate programs, everyone else is most likely between their senior year of high school and their senior year of college. However, I know people this old and though they have the ability to go crazy over certain things (as do I), they would refrain from acting like fools for something like this. When the show started, some of these people thought it would be a good idea to start mosh pits and crowd surf with the 3 rows of people between the stage and the first row of seats. Maybe I'm being too judgmental, but I had to prevent too many of them from falling to refrain. Know your surroundings, people and be appropriate. (I heard my Dad's voice as I typed that!) Anyway, the songs were all in Hebrew, but I recognized a few from hearing them at camp. The music had a great beat and was very upbeat and energetic, so it didn't matter if I couldn't understand the words!
Afterward, most TASPers headed back to TA. I met up with Meir and a few of his friends at a restaurant/bar. They spoke in Hebrew and I actually followed the conversation and participated (though in English) at times. Meir was very impressed (as was I) because they changed topics a lot. I stayed at his place (AKA: his parent's apt) and in the morning, we made (or he made and I tasted) a fruit salad and we took it and yogurt on a breakfast picnic in the forest near his place.
Up the hill from us was where the soldier and cemetery and important person cemetery is (think: Yizhak Rabin and Theodore Herzl). We went walking through it afterwards, which is not so weird as it seems. It is really pretty and is more like a park with lots of memorials in it. There was a new one for the Ethiopian Jews that died on their way to Israel.
I was planning on leaving after that because it was Friday and the buses stop running around 3 pm, but Meir had to babysit his nieces and nephew and asked if I wanted to stay. Hmm, let's think..yes. His nephew (1.5 yrs) was asleep when we got there and the girls (about 4 and 6 yrs) were at school. We went to pick them up later and all went over to Meir's parents place to play. Luckily, kids' Hebrew is elementary enough to follow and smiles and gestures go a long way. The 4 yr old, even cuddled up with me on the couch and almost fell asleep at one point...and she made me a picture!
When they left, Meir and I met up with his friends (some I had met and some I hadn't) at the top of a mountain above the Sataf Spring just outside J-town. Everyone brought different snacks and someone had a little camping cooking flame thing to make Turkish coffee. Some of the people had just gotten back from traveling and this was their first time to all be together in about a year, so there was a lot of Hebrew, but again, I was able to follow and once they caught up with each other, they switched to English more often. I had to leave after that because I didn't have clothes to stay for Shabbat and another night, so pockets full of treat from his mom, I caught a sherut back to TA.
Saturday night, there was a peace rally in honor of Yithak Rabin. He was killed on Nov. 4th, but they usually have the rally on a Saturday around the date, so more people can come out. There were 150,00 people there!!! In between the speeches, singers would perform. It was hard to understand the gist of everything being said, and it was almost 2 hours long, but the crowd was worth it. Seeing middle school and high school kids there on their own accord was pretty powerful, but then I was blown away seeing groups of them holding balloons and wearing shirts in support of one of the political parties (There are literally a countless amount here.) blew me away. Where else would you see something like that? These flags (there were also shirts) say: Shalom Achshav- "Peace Now"
This banner says: Olmert (the Prime Minister) the time has come to choose. Pretty powerful.
Sunday, after Ulpan, I went with Allie and her sister, Sara, who was in town for the weekend from Prague, to Max Brenner. It's an Israeli restaurant but there are locations all over the world, including one in NYC. It's not a normal restaurant though. They have a limited food menu. Everything else is chocolate in some form. I got a dark hot chocolate to drink and the 3 of us split the 'sharing dish', which had a little of everything, including fondue and a crepe, and a chocolate pizza. Luckily, I hadn't eaten dinner. Allie and Sara were much more stuffed than I was!
And that was my weekend. Then I had a normal school and work week and now we're back to the weekend. :)