We Don't Care 'Bout Your Blah Blah Blah

I've done so much in the last few days! After Tel Aviv I sat down and did some work! I mean there was a lot of procrastinating thrown in but basically I wrote my final paper for my internship class (7 pages), as well as the one page summary for that class, finished my paper for my Arab Israeli Conflict class (13 pages!), wrote my Architecture take home exam (6 pages), and did my Children's Lit exam (sort of 2 pages but then again there were some fill in the blanks too). All I have left is my final and then I'm free! On top of all that, one of my mom's best friends called about an hour ago and offered to drive me from Jerusalem to grandfather's apartment in Ramat Gan on Thursday, which means I don't have to worry about paying for a taxi! It's pretty great. Now if only I could make myself study.

I thought of more things I'm going to miss about Israel:

• The Cotel (or Western Wall to you non-Hebrew speakers). It's probably my favorite place in Jerusalem for reasons I can't quite describe, particularly on account of I'm not religious. But I don't know, I'm pretty sure I've mentioned this before but every time I go there I feel peaceful. It's like, no, I don't really believe in God but if I did, he'd be hanging out around the Cotel (while not solving world hunger problems. Come to think of it, he's probably at the Cotel instead) listening to all the people praying. Usually when I go, I say a little prayer but I also just say hello. I think it's nice. I try to be relatively casual about my iffy relationship with God, and I think it's all just more relaxed that way. I don't think I'd make a good Catholic, as much as I like their music. Moving on!
• The pancakes at Benedict. Benedict is this awesome 24 hour breakfast place in Tel Aviv and let me tell you, they have the world's GREATEST pancakes. I mean it. I mean I'm not like a connoisseur or anything but seriously these are good pancakes. The ones at Orphan Andy's in San Francisco come a close second, especially because of the chocolate chips, but these pancakes are just. Incredible. They are the best. I could go on but I think I'll save you the trouble. Go to Tel Aviv. Eat the pancakes.
• On a more serious note, my family. It is such a novelty to me to be on the same half of the world, let alone the same country as my family! It's nice to be able to call my cousins and meet up for dinner or coffee. It's really nice to be able to take a bus to visit my grandfather, the world's sweetest man, or my mom's best friends, who are basically the aunts I don't actually have. I'm really going to miss it.
• The taxi drivers. There's something very special about the cab drivers in Israel. They are always up in your business, they are always listening to the news, and they are always so stereotypically Israeli, I love it. Nowhere else could you get into a (surprisingly respectful and polite) argument about religion with your Muslim cab driver. Whenever people ask me what Israelis are like, the first thing I think about is the cab drivers. Is that odd? I hope not. I like them.

I'm sure I'll think of more. But soon I'm going home and that's been occupying most of my non-study brain. I'm mostly packed and ready to go! I get home on the 9th in the morning, which is the day of my brother's graduation. The next day, my mom leaves for Israel, which is also apparently the day I'm supposed to start work. This is problematic for several reasons:

1. I will be jet lagged. Jet lagged Jasmine as not a happy, cooperative, or peppy Jasmine.
2. My mom is leaving for three weeks and I will only be seeing her for about 24 hours after five months apart. This totally, totally blows.
3. I also have not seen my friends for five months, and, after by last summer, when I saw them a lot less than I intended, I need to make up for lost time!
4. Did I mention the jet lag? and
5. My middle school reunion is on the 11th, another day when I am supposed to be working, which means I may have to miss it (or at least most of it) for the second time in two years! I want to see my old, crazy, dramatic friends! It used to be the best part of my summer. I miss Walter, our giant librarian (literally, he's 6' 7"), and Esther our awesome math teacher (who just had the cutest baby!), and obviously all the crazies I went to school with.

So basically this is me throwing a little temper tantrum. But then again, I love love love my job and I'm excited to see all the returners and meet the new people and see my students again. I just wish I had a couple days to breathe in between.

A Mish-Mash and My Apologies

It's been more than a month since my last post. Sorry guys! But as of today my classes are officially over for the semester. I had my last Hebrew class, which I guess was kind of sad. We read little folk tales, which were very cute, and I had a great time. I'm definitely going to miss some of my friends here, but I'm still ready to go home. Plus, I got done with my tutoring an hour and a half early since the second class I help with was canceled today, so I got to come home sooner which was good because I am so tired! My friend Miriam and I have been working hard on our final paper for our Arab-Israeli Conflict class, and it's going great! We just reached our twelfth page and we have just the conclusion left to write so I'm feeling pretty good about it.

Next week I have a final on Tuesday, and then two take home finals and a paper due on Thursday and then I'm finished! I leave on the 8th, so I have about half a week of bumming around Israel before I get to come home. I can't wait to be home. I miss everything! But there are definitely things I'm going to miss about Israel, like:

• Tel Aviv. It's an awesome city and the beach is fantastic and it's basically like Israel's New York but more Israeli. Which means it's more relaxed and beachy.
• Pita and hummus all the time. There's no hummus like Israeli hummus. Except maybe my mom's.
• Speaking Hebrew with people! It's been so nice being able to improve my Hebrew, and I feel happy whenever I get to speak it. Hopefully I can keep it up with my parents, but it's so nice being in a country full of people who speak this language that I love.
• My History of Israel professor. Have I mentioned him before? He's British and really adorable and I love him. He's so funny and he's actually a great teacher, which I cannot say about all of my classes, sadly.

There are definitely other things but those things come to mind first. I love this country and I feel so lucky to have been here for so long. I can't wait to come back and experience other parts of it - there's so much I haven't seen yet! I haven't even been snorkeling in the Red Sea!

Speaking of which, last week we had a vacation for a couple days there in the middle for Shavuot. My friends and I took the bus to Eilat, which is at the southernmost tip of Israel. From the beach, on a clear day, you can see Jordan, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia! That was pretty awesome. Basically the Red Sea is the best ocean in Israel because it's incredibly clear and full of gorgeous fish and coral reefs and other amazing things. I didn't get to snorkel but I did see some of the fish and I definitely spent hours in the water and tanning. Eilat is incredible, despite being touristy and pretty much over 100 degrees every day. I can't wait to go back.

That's about it for now, I think. I will do my best to write again soon! But I love this country.