Where did the week go

So here is where things begin to blend. My first real week in Israel was incredible but the days blend together and time doesn’t seem to exist. After the excitement of Motzi Shabbat in Jerusalem, it was time to get situated. I went back to Beit Nativ to pick up my stuff and of course I had to stop in the offices to see JJ, Yossi, and David Keren. I had extensive chats with those 3 wonderful men. With Yossi I talked about life and how great it is to be back in Israel since Nativ. We even worked out a possible internship that I have to do for school working for him. David just gave me his always warm you are a great kid praise. Then the real time chunk was bitten when JJ and I got started. He is such an amazing man to me I cannot even begin to explain. He was the reason I went on Nativ and has looked after me ever since. I can talk to him about anything and he is always there to lend a hand in whatever way possible. As soon as I walked into his office he asked me to come spend Shabbat and dinner with him and of course I said we would find time. Unfortunately our conversation was cut short since he had a previous engagement with Shana Weitzen of all people. It was fine since I had to go meet up with people anyways. We said goodbye for now (I came back to see him 5 other days) and I left to taxi back to Har hatzofim to see Josh Grob. It was the sweetest embrace of friends that anyone could ask for. It seemed as though we had not seen each other in years but it was great to finally be together again. I dropped my stuff and we just spent the night at his place talking, laughing, catching up, and enjoying being with each other.

The entire week seemed like a wave of hanging out with old friends in a new setting. It seemed as though every day I was downtown meeting up with people. From Nativ I saw Dani Carrus, Adina Weissman, Jenny Levy, Lydia Schulman, Dan Schwartzman, Greta, and Elkana. I met a group of Nativ 28 kids through my friend Dan Berdugo and it is awesome how once you become a Boger of the program you can connect with any other Boger no matter when they went on it. We of course took over ben yehuda since it is so funny to people watch there. I am pretty sure that I ate more falafel this week then I have in the past year and a half. I went out to dinner with my cousins Kaylee and Devorah along with Irv and Mordechai. It was a really nice time since I don’t see them often in America so of course we made a point to do it in Israel. I went to the Biblical Zoo one day with Joshy, Judy, and my friend Michelle Miller from Arizona. It was an amazing day that took forever. We walked around the park with the spirits of our kid selves not worrying about anything (I suggest everyone do that a little more often). An unintentional great surprise was Thursday night while waiting for Elkana, I ran into Nadiv and Shoshana who I met staffing wheels for the past 2 years and are now Madrichim on Nativ. Then while talking them who else but Max Gan, Aaron leven, and David Helfand came into the room and each one of them had a smile across their face. The biggest shock though was to run into Meir landau (who looks identical to David now) along with his girlfriend, David, Yael, and Diane. Everyone looked happy and healthy. Coming back has shown me that my younger friends are growing up FAST.

The entire week has just been a blur of taking a bus downtown to see friends, hanging out for the day, enjoying the beauty of the day, and then coming back to the cfar to sleep. Each day has its memorable moments: bargaining at the Shuk, praying at the Kotel, waking up to the Jerusalem hills, or even just seeing old friends. I have had the best time ever this first week which of course was only to be expected but it seemed to blow my mind still. Now the weeks over, it is time for Shabbat…Can’t wait!!