Hi!

It's been a while. In the last three weeks or so, I've undergone two bouts of extremely unpleasant viral tonsillitis (not strep throat, as I had originally been told), and I'm just getting back on my feet, hopefully for good this time. Sometime during my second round of illness, I also managed to spill Gatorade on my Macbook, and while it dried out quite nicely, the screen still doesn't work. So it's currently 7:45 on a Saturday morning and I'm up using my roommates computer before anyone else wakes up. Quickly, before I fall back asleep, here are some updates.

- The Middle East is INSANE right now. It's interesting how relatively stable things are in Israel, but it's very tense given everything going on in the rest of the region. Any sort of talks between the Israelis and Palestinians are completely off the table right now until everything else calms down. It's nuts over here, and I'm very grateful to be safe in Jerusalem.

-Speaking of which, our staff told us last week that we weren't allowed to go into the Old City on Friday (yesterday), because the Palestinians were planning a protest (called a "Day of Rage") that was a) showing solidarity for their Muslim neighbors and b) protesting the veto of a UN resolution that would have declared West Bank settlements illegal. The rumor was that they were going to be rallying throughout the Old City, both in the Jewish and Arab areas. Naturally, I had to go check it out. How could I miss the opportunity to witness a historical event like this? Much to my disappointment, however, the Old City was as calm as ever yesterday (save for a little bit of extra security), and when I got home I read that the protests had been cancelled in Jerusalem, mostly due to random Palestinian disorganization. So disappointing.

-My Old City journey was not in vain, however, and here's why... MARZIPAN. In America when you say marzipan you think of little colorful fruits and creatures made of almond paste, but that's not the case here. Marzipan here is the best, most well-known bakery in Jerusalem, and it is FANTASTIC. There are three branches: one at the shuk, one off of Emek Refaim, and one in the Old City, and seriously, next time any of you happens to be in Jerusalem, make Marzipan just as much as a destination as say, the Kotel. I'm pretty sure they put an entire stick of butter in each rugalech, but nothing beats a gooey roll of cinnamon deliciousness right out of the oven.

-A couple weeks ago, in between bouts of tonsillitis, we took a Tuesday field trip to Yad Vashem. I had been there more than once already, and wasn't interested in going through the museum again (and crying my eyes out), and luckily, my program had prepared for that. Those of us who had been to Yad Vashem before were put in a workshop/seminar about Holocaust denial in the 21st century, and the role it plays in delegitimizing Israel. It was both fascinating and terrifying. We had a very intelligent teacher/guide, who scared us all to death by sitting us down in a room, and systematically shutting down everything about the Holocaust that we know to be as fact. We then looked at a number of different Holocaust-denying sources, from the stupid hicks in middle America who really pose no threat, to the much scarier and more intelligent arguments posed by, for example, the Institute for Historical Review, and crazies like David Irving. There are so many gaps in the knowledge that we have about the Holocaust, and the Germans did such a scary good job of covering it up that it's, unfortunately, not actually that hard to refute. I'm not going to post a link here, but if anyone's interested in some scary reading, look up the Institute for Historical Review.

-So I got a phone call on Thursday afternoon from my madricha asking if I was interested in attending a Friday night dinner with MASA to represent Aardvark. Sure, I said, why not. Later, I talked to a representative from MASA, who informed me that the dinner was, in fact, a Federation mission dinner, and I would, along with one other person, be representing MASA, not just Aardvark. Great. What actually ended up happening was this: I showed up at the Prima Kings' Hotel last night to discover that I was the ONLY person there representing MASA, and that I (along with two lone soldiers with tragic, moving stories and prepared speeches) was expected to give a speech about MASA to a group of middle aged American fundraisers for the Jewish Agency. No one had bothered to inform me of this beforehand, so I ended up composing and delivering a speech on the spot, and, thank God, managed to do so without making a complete fool of myself. It was terrifying, but at least I got a free dinner....

-Purim is about three weeks away now, which means that shops are starting to fill up with costumes. I've heard people planning all sorts of crazy things. Anyone have any suggestions for me?

-My next couple weeks here are very, very busy, and I'm so excited! This week I'm attending a "symposium" event about Israel on North American college campuses (inspired by the memory of American student and IDF soldier Avi Schaefer... http://www.avischaeferfund.org/). My madricha last semester worked with Avi Schaefer and his brother (who I met last night) in the army, and a number of Aardvarks are going to celebrate Avi's memory. Later this week is my birthday, and although 19 is a totally insignificant number, I'm hopefully going to this concert that my friend told me about. Next week I'm lucky to be attending MASA's weeklong "Building Future Leadership" conference, which means I get to spend a week in a hotel hearing speakers and participating in workshops and meeting all sorts of interesting people. I'm so excited!

Okay it's now 8:30 on a Saturday morning, which means it is definitely time to go back to sleep. Hopefully my computer will be fixed soon and I'll be able to post more regularly, but until then... good night!