Sorry everyone for taking so long to write this up it's been a whirlwind month and a half but i'll try to be better about keeping updated! Thanx for understanding! so here it goes:
I concluded my stay in Tel Aviv with Chaim taking me to the airport on Thursday night the 8th of September. The amazing Hashgacha Pratis I met there in the form of two of the girls from my program last year who would be joining me again this year, already jumping into a Nesher to the school. That made things a lot easier and more clear. Of course the driver charged me extra for the 4th bag I had but... I was just happy to be with my friends.
When I came to my building I got to see my old Madrichot and some farmiliar faces which made me really happy. We didn’t’ have our room assignments yet so we bunkered down in whatever rooms were available until we would find out.
Shabbos September 9th was a P’ninim in-shabbos which I was asked to stay and help out for. I was really happy to do it because I love to stay in for Shabbos. It feels more like home… like its my own. So I got to get to know the new P’ninim recruits a bit and also to talk to my old teachers.
Sunday the internet for Chedvas students is still down, in fact it’s not going to be working anytime soon.
Monday we got room assignments and although I had asked to be with a P’ninim girl and in a ‘early to bed’ room… Rabbi Kahane saw fit to make me into the only P’ninim girl in a room without another P’ninim girl and I was also in a 6 room. The ONLY six room. Well thanx is all I had to say. But I took it in good humor and dragged my chosen closet across the building to my new room and made my area my own by sectioning off my corner of the room thereby leaving me in a considerably smaller sized bedroom for 2.
Tuesday I had Orientation and Wednesday we began class. By that time all of my roommates had arrived… if not unpacked. There are 2 former seminar girls and 3 Olot living in Ramat Beit Shemesh. One is from South Africa, one is from Australia and the other is from America. By the first week I honestly knew I had the best room. It was better than I had imagined and I really love all my roommates. We have a great dynamic and the truth is that when I go to sleep on time, so does everyone else. Everyone is so respectful and so great. We seem to be all home bodies and are in during the days, whether studying or otherwise, we have a lot in common.
From Wednesday morning, I loved the classes and still do. That Shabbos we had a Chedvas Bais Yaakov in Shabbos and it was really nice. Over 50 percent of my year live in Israel. It makes Shabbosim less of a hassle that’s for sure. Monday of the week before I had already been working to get a phone and Ariella had helped me get in touch with an agent for a cheap phone.
But get this people- to get the phone delivered, he had to call me…. What the heck kind of idiot came up with that policy???!!! Because OBVIOUSLY I DON’T HAVE A PHONE TO CALL!
Shabbos September 16th was a Chedvas in-shabbos. Even the non-dormers stayed in and we had a really nice get to know you weekend. On friday night during the Oneg we were each asked to stand up and say something unique about us. The unique thing about me was that I was the only girl in the school who has a married younger sister.
On Motzei Shabbos, between borrowing other peoples phones and other such methods that I was not happy doing, I finally made contact with the guy who came and dropped off my phone. He told me to turn on the phone by the next morning at 9:00 and it would be working… which was great because (also through the frustrating process of borrowing phones and communicating through the ever unstable email system) I had a college meeting set up to begin planning my degree and get started, on Sunday afternoon… haha.
Needless to say, I turned the phone on at 9:30 and low and behold- It wasn’t working. Nor was it working at 1:30, or 2:00 or 3:00.
And you can’t imagine what goes into this college meeting thing. I needed to confirm a few hours before on a phone that I didn’t have, I needed to know what documentation to bring, I needed to get the address and find out which buses I had to take. All without a phone. All on email. And the Internet for Chedvas was STILL down.
Finally after a lot of frustration- begging, buying, borrowing, kicking people off the school computers... I went to my college meeting and had a timely run-in with G-d who helped me find the place when it became impossible to do it myself and I was already late and out of energy…. Lol- don’t take that literally guys. There is more to the story but I have no Coach to write it all.
The phone started working conveniently that night. Better late than never i guess :D
Tuesday Chedvas went to a private beach with the Mechanchot. We had a blast in the water and I even made a turtle out of sand. Me and my roommate from last year wrote I Love turtles with a sand I a heart made of shells and the turtle I carved, and took a picture for our roommate Bat-7 who is in a different sem this year. Then we had a Barbeque and rushed back to be in time for night classes.
That Shabbos the 21st, I went to my roommates house in RBS. It was a beautiful Shabbos and I really enjoyed getting to know Malka’s family. Thank you Benporath family!!!
The following week we had classes all the way up until Tuesday, Wednesday being Rosh Hashana.
I joined the Gershaw’s in Maalei Amos on Wednesday once again anticipating a beautiful and meaningful chag, which is exactly what I got! The three day yomtov was trying but the Gershaw’s are ever-chilled and know how to do it right!! I had a beautiful time! Thank you Leora and family!