A Day in the Life

Hello Hello! So I decided I needed to blog rather soon in order to get the sour taste out of your mouths that I left in the last blog. Too much whining. Instead, I'm going to give you a little day in the life of segment to show you just what an amazing time I'm having.

5AM: Wake up to the beautiful sounds of the Call to Prayer, which lasts about 10 minutes, and then I promptly roll over and fall back asleep for another hour.

7AM: Go to breakfast in the Oasis (our cafeteria) where I am fed delicious food that I do not have to prepare.

8AM: Attend Old Testament where I get to learn all the amazingly cool things about the bible that I've always ignored.

10AM: Attend Near Eastern Studies where I'm taught by renowned (and awesomely sarcastic) scripture scholar Andrew Skinner about the history of the Middle East.

11AM: Endure yet another orientation to go over rules and security checks, which as of yesterday, restricts us from actually entering the city since demonstrations were going on all over the city against the missile attacks from Lebanon on Northern Israel .

12PM: Go to the Oasis for yummy lunch where I have to restrain myself from eating multiple pitas filled with peanut butter and honey.

1PM: Attend a committee meeting that I am the chair of, where we discuss what we'll do to fulfill our job as the keepers of "Memories".

2PM: Play ping pong for over an hour and get my butt whipped 5 times by Stefanie and Mike.

3PM: Attempt to start the reading assignment on Judaism that is a daunting 75 pages long and is required by Sunday morning.

4PM: Abandon thoughts of homework to play volleyball in the gym where I sufficiently embarrass myself as well as get hit in the head with the ball.

6PM: Again go to the Oasis where I stuff my face full of food and try pistachio ice cream for the first time in my life.

7PM: Attend the Five Pillars of Islam video in the Forum where I struggle to stay awake for the next 45 minutes and take in some real cultural learning.

8PM: Find myself in the ping pong room yet again, where a large group of us play around the world ping pong with the winner taking the honors of wearing a sweatband.

9PM: Have a history lesson of my new friend Stefanie's life, and then proceed to tell mine, although her's was much more interesting.

10PM: Squeeze in a little more Judaism reading and scripture study before calling it a night and going to bed.

So that's pretty much going to be my life for the next four months, with a couple variations and field trips. Jealous much? Just kidding! But seriously, I am having the time of my life and count my blessings every day that I was lucky enough to get chosen for this program.