Shalom Chaverim!

(For those of you who do not speak Hebrew, that means “Hello friends!”)

I am here in warm Israel, desperately trying to get things done expediantly. I met with the director of Mahal (Israel’s Army Volunteer Service) on Sunday to get registered. I filled out the registration form, but I forgot to bring my passport photos, so that may cause complications… ehh, hopefully not.

Now, I am trying to get into an ulpan (Hebrew learning) class; I need to know how to speak at least SOME Hebrew before they’ll let me in. Hopefully, an 8-week course is all I need to get a basic handle on what is being said; fortunately, I know a little bit of Hebrew, and I tend to be good with languages.

Sunday drained me of pretty much all my money, leaving me with 40 agarot (about 10 cents in the US). Those bus rides end up costing you quite a bit after a while. Ah well… fortunately, I deposited my last paycheck before I left in my bank account, so all I need to do is take some money back out.

I should be getting a laptop soon, hopefully… my family back in the States is scraping together a little extra money to pay for it, because if I ever want to work from Israel, I’m gonna need my own computer of some sort. Much thanks goes out to my family in the States, and my grandparents (who I’m staying with, here in Israel) for loaning me their laptop until I get one of my own.

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