I know what you're going to say....

I KNOW I KNOW I KNOW! I am a horrible blogger. I know! My dedication to my faithful readers has been absolutely atrocious. My bad! Most of my first month spent here has been holidays! So I've been super busy celebrating Rosh Hashana, Yom Kippur, Sukkot, and Simchat Torah. What are these things? Good question!
Rosh Hashana is the Jewish New Year festival, held on the first day of Tishri (aka September). Its the holiday where we blow the shofar, and then 10 days of repentence follow before before Yom Kippur. Rosh Hashana directly translates from Hebrew to "the head of the year."
Yom Kippur is the most solemn religious fast of the Jewish year, the last of the ten days of penitence that begin with Rosh Hashana. Yom Kippur is also called the Day of Atonement.
Sukkot is a week long holiday (although we did not get a week of from classes and volunteering) is also known as the Feast of Tabernacles. On Sukkot we are commanded to live in a Sukkah (which is like a temporary hut-house), which I didn't do, because I needed sleep in a bed. But it was definitely a fun time hanging out with all the Tsofim (the wonderful Israeli Scouts).
Until just now, I didn't really know what Simchat Torah was, but now I do. Its the conclusion of the annual cycle of the public Torah readings, so basically we go back to Genesis and start reading again from there.
All of those holidays, except Sukkot, were spent in Bat Yam. I went to Arad (in the south) for the first night of Sukkot and man, is it boring. I swear all of you should email my dad and ask him for my mailing address, because I am going to need a LOT of crossword puzzles. But I did actually have a really fun time with Josh and his friends. You guys are pretty cool, not going to lie. I'll be visiting again soon, hopefully. A special thanks/shout out to Vanessa+ her roommates for letting me stay at their apartment!
Anyway, I could tell a few stories about what I did over the last two weeks. Or I could just talk about what I did yesterday...and my new plan for my blog!
Yesterday we had our second Siyur (See-oor)! Which is like a weekly field trip associated with our Zionism class. So after a very interesting lesson (I mean it Alan!) during which we ventured out onto the streets of Tel Aviv.
We explored the fascinating streets of Neve Tzedek, which is like southwestern Tel Aviv. Neve Tzedek means the Abode of Justice, in case you were wondering. Neve Tzedek was built originally as the first Jewish neighborhood outside the old port of Jaffa (which is southern Tel Aviv, but not Bat Yam). A part I found particularly interesting is when Alan (my awesome Zionism teacher) told us about Aharon Shlush. He was born in Algeria and by the time he was my age (18) he owned a significant amount of land property and assets  He basically founded this part of Tel Aviv. This dude was actually really important too--they even had a bridge built, creatively named the Shlush bridge, specifically so he could do business in other parts of Israel quicker. Plus he's a total boss, at least that's what I've gathered.
So, if I haven't mentioned it before, I'll mention it now: Tel Aviv is absolutely beautiful. You have the beach and such a architecturally diverse location, you couldn't ask for more! For a really special treat of my photos from that day, click here! Listen to music or something while you look through the pictures, it makes it a lot more exciting. I recommend the song "It's Time" by Imagine Dragons or "Israeli Caves by Maps & Atlases or "Israel" by Miles Davis. Silence is fine too though! If we're friends on Facebook, I'll be posting these photos there too, if you want to know who is who or you want to read my witty comments I caption them with.
Earlier I mentioned a new plan for my blog. I'm adopting the concept the famous YouTube vlogger Jenna Marbles applies to her vlogs, which is every Wednesday. Siyurs on Tuesdays are the perfect occasion to take lots of photos, and then the next day I can fill you all in on my week's activities and any fun stories, along with what we did on the Siyur.
Today I went to my volunteering at a local community center. Me, Avi G, and the Seniors did a little dancing to some hoppin' Israeli songs from the days of their youth. Then they had a little mini workout. I really do love volunteering here. Today I spent time talking to a woman named Hannah, who is very proudly the youngest one there (at age 76) and has 17 grandchildren. She's really sweet and I'm hoping she'll be able to teach me a little more Hebrew.
How is that going? Great question. I LITERALLY KNOW A NEGATIVE AMOUNT OF HEBREW. And our Ulpan intensive classes didn't help much. I don't need to know how to say ice cream (gleedah), flag (degel), and shoes (nah-ah-lie-eem). So I've been doing my best to teach myself and learn as much as I can from just being immersed in the language. I will master it before I return home, I think.
And now, alas, every blog post must end. Email me if you want to get in touch or just say hi! Hopefully I'll be blogging again very soon!!
As always,
Julia Rose