Congratulations SARA!!!

the dinner we made and set table for michael, orna, and ben.

a couple pictures from work.

It's been quite a week. CONGRATULATIONS FIRST OF ALL TO MY BABY-not so baby anymore- COUSIN SARA. i hear she was amazing and the party was fun. It was veryyyyy weird not to be at the last family bat-mitzvah, but i'm so proud of her and am sure she was amazing.

While i missed the fam this weekend while everyone was at the bat-mitzvah, i got a nice dose of family. Michael, Orna, and Ben came over for dinner last wednesday. You can see in the pictures above what we made. Dinner was great, we ate the girls and the fam. After we finished eating the boys came over and we all just sat around, talked, and laughed. It reminded me of family dinners at home. It's so nice to have not only blood family here, but my friends who have become my make-shift family here. 

Today, two of the boys who are on a different track of my program- one where you travel a lot more, left for Uganda (i'm sooo jealous). So last night was out last night having all of us here in Petach Tikva. Basically, next door to our apartment is some russian restaurant that we always walk by and see the people out back. Basically we decided for our last family dinner we would go there. The restaurant did not even have hebrew menus, so the waitress had to come over with the menu, translate it into hebrew, and my hebrew speaking roommate translated it into english for us. Though they didn't even have the normal menu in hebrew nor english, they had an english alcohol menu- we found that quite amusing. Throughout our 3 months here we've had "secret buddies" or "secret santas". For our buddy we just gave them gifts whenever we wanted, and it was all a mystery as to who had who. Last night we all brought our final gifts and went around the table. Each person would guess who theirs was and then it would be revealed and we'd get our last gift. I was right in guessing who mine was- it was my roommate from Tennessee, Rachel. She has given me some really cute gifts throughout the semester. Last night we wrote me a very sweet letter and read it aloud, it nearly brought me to tears.

I can't believe i'm 1/3 finished my program, or time here in israel. I'm going to miss living in Petach Tikva soo much, and my amazing roommates. Next semester we will be living close to one another, but not living with each other will make it not the same. Change is good though as i know. I was talking to Dad the other day and told him how much i've really assimilated to the culture here. As most know the Israeli culture is a lot more blunt, and not so  polite. At first i was a bit offended by this "not-so-polite" culture, now i find myself being just that. At home when i go into a store i stand quietly in line, wait my turn, always say please and thank you and even throw in a "have a nice day" sometimes. The other day i went into a store, grabbed what i needed, when i saw people standing around the counter like they do in israel-there's no such thing as a single file line- i walked right up, said "cama zeh?" (how much is this) handed him the money, didn't say thank you and walked off. As i walked out of the store i thought to myself, OH MY GOSH, what have i become? It's amazing how quickly you become assimilated. I really think I'm gonna be in for a culture shock when i get home. 

Like i said two of the boys left today, so as one of them works with me, last thursday was his last day at work. The kids made him a thank you book and all signed it writing really sweet different things. It nearly brought me to tears. Multiple kids upon asking me when i'm leaving and after i said "od shavua" (one more week) they say can't you stay the year!? It will be hard to leave them, but it will be something i'll look forward to- revisiting them. It's amazing how much i've learned and how many stories have come out of just these 3 months, I can't imagine whats in store for the next 6. 

On that note, i'm going to go to sleep. congrats again to sushiii. 

muchlove-steph