Seder It Up and Some Rain

Alright, so I got a little lazy the past few days. I'm just starting to feel like this blog is a chore now. But I will express my sincere thanks to those who are still bothering to read it. My google analytics tells me the page average is a whopping 3 minutes and 14 seconds. Apparently I'm not entertaining enough for a whole 5 mins. But on the bright side, at least it leaves something to aspire to. So, the last few days have been rainy and cold. But that hasn't stopped the action in the JC. Thursday we had our Passover Seder dinner, and it was one great big cultural experience for sure. We got to sing songs (albeit very off key), chant Hebrew, eat things like parsley dipped in salt water, and drink wine...okay so it was grape juice. But overall, it was a very educational and enlightening evening.

Carly and I sporting our Passover books that always seems to confuse me because you have to read right to left.

Here I am participating in Urchatz, which is the washing of the hands in the Seder ceremony. Can you tell how excited I am? For real though...

Mike and Jeff showing off their Jewish rap skills. All I remember is something about "He-be-brewing".

Yesterday a group of us braved the city in the cold rain and took a taxi to the far side of West Jerusalem where we shopped in a boutique. We also visited a bookstore next door to it where I indulged my book buying habits and bought a copy of Mrs. Dalloway. Maybe next year I'll give up book buying for lent, because it's becoming a rather pricey and weighty problem. Oh well. Oh and my chocolate lent fast is pressing forward, but not without great sacrifice. I've had to convert to hot milk instead of hot chocolate. Hard times I tell you. But anyways, our adventure in the rain yielded some good times.

Here's me, Moon, Richelle, and Lauren waiting for our taxis in the pouring rain. I think Lauren got thirsty.

This was in the bookstore. Living proof that the world is going to pot. You know it is if Twilight can be bought in Hebrew.

Chelsea, Miriam, Lauren, Moon, and Richelle holding up their prized boutique purchases. What's that face about anyway Moon? Maybe she was confused she just spent $15 on a leather post-it pad.

Anyways, after that adventure and some dinner, we started a game of what's been dubbed "Body Ball". I wish I had pictures, but I was too busy playing. I'll give you the gist though. Imagine 10 college age students running around a gym with a giant exercise ball and two goals. Add some awkward sound effects, massive body/ball collisions, and a whole lot of laughter, and that's pretty much our game. Of course injuries have been sustained by multiple peoples, but it hasn't stopped us from playing as of yet.

Finally, today was another amazing Shabbat. It was district conference for all the Israel branches, so we had a full auditorium. The speakers were fantastic, the music was incredible, and the view, as always, was breathtaking. I think I'll miss church in the auditorium most when I go home. After our 2 hour session, we had a leadership meeting where we learned about alot of the humanitarian aid things going on here in the middle east. It was really neat to see all the things the church is doing and I think it made a big impact on alot of students and members alike. It also helped me recognize the power one person has to make a difference. So, that's been the week in a nutshell. Monday we are headed to the land of Jordan, but I'm going to try and put some pre-blogs up before then since the blogging work is never really complete. So have a wonderful week!