In case anyone was wondering...

I now know what I'm doing next year. Finally. I'll be working in a school in Ariel, which is a city between Yerushalayim and Tel Aviv. The school has a mixture of kids, and in the afternoon I'll be working in the community. Be'ezrat Hashem, it looks good.

I have a new addiction...

... Which is really not news, because I get a new addiction every week. But never mind that.
Anyway, I know I'm a bit late in getting into this, but just last week I got hooked on SuDoKu. It's so much fun, and as nerdy as this sounds, I love feeding my brain! Unfortunately, this is the week I should be cleaning for Pesach...

The Golan

I got back yesterday from my very last Tiyul Shnati. We were in the Golan for 3 days, and had a great time. Aside from the fact that I love being with my friends, the Golan is beyond beautiful this time of year. Also, I discovered that I just love taking pictures of scenery and things. It just makes me feel so good. Although it's a lot more fun to look at pictures of people.
On a completely unrelated note, here is a very cute Pesach video. Everybody go check it out!

Here's what's been running through my head lately...

I wrote this at around 11 PM last night, and I felt like sharing it:

I was in Poland a year ago. An entire year ago. I find that so hard to
believe. Yet today is Kaf Daled Adar, and on this day a year ago I was in Warsaw with my classmates.

When I got back from Poland, I felt that it had been a great and important experience, but I had no desire to go back there. Once is enough, I felt. I decided that if the opportunity to return ever arose, I would turn it down. I was also very sensitive, to just about everything- especially references to the Holocaust or to suffering. A few months later, I felt the sensitivity and the sheer impact of the trip starting to wear off. Yes, I still hate references to Nazism and such, much more than I did before my trip, and I still have my new understanding of the size of the Holocaust. But that was all I had. That was when I found myself changing my mind about going back there. If I ever get the chance, maybe I will take it. Because the Holocaust is not something to forget and move on.

Ever since I felt those feelings disappearing, I’ve been making an effort to take advantage of anything that brings me back there. When I hear music we listened to in Poland, I put my head down and let it conjure images in my mind of places where so much was lost for the Jewish People. This week, every day I’ve stopped and thought about where I was a year ago. I remember the tears, the dancing and the very long bus rides. And I just think about what an incredible experience it all was.

Tonight there is a big thunderstorm going on over here. We’ve been without power for over and hour. I’m sitting here writing this by the light of a candle, and it’s taking me back…

In other unrelated news, it's been snowing on and off today, along with rain and hail. This is our second snow this winter, and it was actually a pretty warm winter, not to mention that snow in mid-march is quite unusual around here. That said, I have a massive test tomorrow and would have been home anyway! And I didn't have time to go out, although I'm not sure how nice it would have been outside. It still frustrated me, especially when the rest of my family was watching a movie, complete with hot chocolate, and I was up here studying...

I'm going through a weird phase.

Whenever I'm on my way somewhere and have nothing to do, I can't help but notice all these gorgeous cars. I'll see one and, find it quite attractive, and look to see who made it. It's really not funny. I feel like such a guy.

Hoops and Yoyo

I just discovered the cutest two guys in the history of the universe- Hoops and Yoyo. They are the theme for a whole series of e-cards on the Hallmark website. Their e-cards are adorable, but they have this whole site with literally everything you can imagine: a blog, a podcast, downloads of everything you can imagine (but don't download too much, and take that from someone who's had a lot of space issues on her computer lately), news posts, e-cards, naturally, scenes with Hoops and Yoyo talking, manners advice, and just, you know, everything else. So cute!
So, OK. I'm officially a fan of these guys. Their podcast is being downloaded onto my computer as I write this. Now everybody go check them out.

Purim in Yerushalayim

Today is Purim in Yerushalayim (it was yesterday in Efrat.) so I'm not celebrating it today. But I was in Yerushalayim this morning, and I just kinda loved being there, even though I wasn't in on the Purim stuff. My driving teacher had the radio on during my lesson, and they were playing Purim music. I had an hour to kill in the mall (because the bus schedule is a pain in the morning) and all these random employees were wearing hats and tiaras and such... kids at bus stops were in costume, and there were three buildings from Mini Israel on display at the mall that were advertising that kids in costume get in to Mini Israel for free...
In completely other news, I went into a bookstore in the mall to check, and I found out that Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows will indeed be in my wonderful country on July 21st. Yay!

I'm young

After who knows how long of me going "I'm 18... I'm so old! I'm almost graduating high school... I'm so old!" I've finally discovered that I am, in fact, quite young. I watched Something's Gotta Give while babysitting for someone tonight, and it was a very cute movie. The thing is, it was about people who are just a bit older than me. And I didn't really like it all that much. I guess I am young...

Happy Purim!

Our play!

Well, it's over. Our Purim play was phenomenal, if I may say so myself. My grade is so talented, and I'm so proud of us! And the backdrops- they paid off. We rose to the challenges the school posed for us, and as hard as it was, I'm happy we did. We took The Prince and the Pauper and turned it into something wonderful, and it was great.
After the play we had an "after-party" in a nearby park, and we had a great and hyper time till the last bus.