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| Tuesday, January 02, 2007 |
| Merry Christmas and Happy New Year (I got to celebrate it before you!) |
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!! Now is the time when things slow down, one takes a look back and assess the joys and trials of a year gone by and looks ahead with renewed hope and peace for what the new season of life will bring.
Unless you're in Israel... No time off, finals approaching in a month, classes at the crack of dawn on January 1st. Dang country would have to have it's own calendar! The last couple weeks have been very difficult to concentrate on classes. Fewer and fewer students are showing up - there were a grand total of four in my Hebrew class on Christmas day and only six on New Year's Day. I have never had to think about school during the holiday season. It is weird to just keep on trucking - having to study around planning Christmas parties and trips, etc.
On Christmas Eve, Jenny, Chelsea, Matt (Chelsea's boyfriend who was visiting), Alana, and I skipped Hebrew and took off for Bethlehem! (It seemed rather appropriate.) It took a while to get all the way to the city (about 20 miles away) due to traffic and the checkpoint. The checkpoint was interesting. We decided it is there purely for psychological value. Alana forgot her passport but was able to get through on her Hebrew University ID. We wandered through gates and metal detectors, watched closely by the military (those that weren't chatting on their phones). We made it though without incident and then were swarmed by taxi drivers more than willing to take us the rest of the way to Manger Square (imagine a hundred yellow and black bumblebees closing in on you). We had dinner in a bedouin-style restaurant where everyone was male and smoking a nargila. Afterwards, we headed to Manger Square (the cab driver didn't get us quite far enough. *rolls eyes* Never trust a cab driver!) and the Church of the Nativity. Everything was closing down by the time we got there but the Church was beautiful and the crowd was ... well, crowded. We saw a few other Rothberg students (apparently they thought it was the thing to do also). The Christmas lights were gorgeous if a little haphazardly strung. We browsed the area for a while and then headed back home.
Christmas day I spent in my room doing a paper and then went to class... we'll skip that day. Tuesday, J, C, Matt, and I went to the American Colony hotel for Christmas dinner. It was delicious! I had venison. None of this kosher meat stuff. :) Afterwards, we went to Dublin Pub for some live Irish music and met up with a few more friends.
The next couple days were more dinners and studying, then New Year's Eve. We went to dinner at Beit Ticho again, counted down with the Americans and British and a few random Israelis, who just like a reason to party, then went to The Colony to dance the night away! Jenny and I got back to the apartment around 4:00am. It was a good evening. :)
Today it is back to the grindstone and I am really going to try to actually focus on schoolwork and learn lots in the next couple weeks. :)
But... Before everything gets too boring...
Shout out to my brother!
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posted by Unknown @ 3:11 PM   |
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