ech om'rim and first Shabbas!

ech om'rim and ma ze...how do you say and what is....very useful terms for trying to learn hebrew.
It is Saturday night, after Shabbas has ended, Allie and Abe both just caught the bus and train back to Jerusalem and Haifa respectively, and I am sitting on the steps outside the cafe to get internet, will get my own by the end of the week. Anyway, on Wednesday we went bowling and it was funny because it was like night/club type bowling at 11am. After bowling I hung around on campus and met lots of new people, yayy!! Wednesday night I made my first and only terrible purchase of 6 Goldstar beers, which are like local cheap beers, for 66 sheks (about 16.50), won't do that again, it’s way cheaper elsewhere. Anyway, then we went out to a dance club called Apartment 98 where my roommate Shirley’s cousin works. We got on the list, but you are supposed to be 24ish to get in. Since the drinking age is 18 there are some clubs that say you have to be 23/24 to get in so that they don’t have a lot of younger kids mixed with the older crowd…makes sense. So after dira 98 we went to Friends, which is Estelle’s uncle’s bar. Both places were very cool, although I have to get used to the excessive cigarette smoking everywhereeee. On Thursday, Estelle and I went to shuk h’karmel, the carmel market, in the city. The shuk is amazinggg, everything is SO cheap. I bought three clementines, two apples, and a green pepper for 1 USD. We got other things for our apartment too. Oh, and cheaper alcohol.
Allie came Thursday evening and it turns out she used to go to Friends all the time last year when she lived in Tel Aviv. We decided to go back again that night with some friends and we met her friend Dvir there. When we were leaving Friends we went next door and had amazing gourmet grilled cheese things on a croissant, it made me miss late night back at BC! Friday Allie and I went back to the shuk to get things to make for Shabbat dinner with Abe, our friend that we met on Birthright. There was an artists market next to the shuk which was awesome, I can’t wait to go back, it is there every Tuesday and Friday. The shuk was a little busier than usual because everyone was getting things for Shabbas since many places close Friday evening and a lot of people don’t go out much on the "day of rest". We met Abe back at my apartment and we made…well, mostly Allie made…a wonderful pasta and veggie dish with delicious fresh challah and pastries. It was SO nice for the three of us to actually be together again. Although Shabbat here is a little more calm than the other days, I want to visit Allie in Jerusalem for Shabbat to get a feel for “real” Shabbat. I think it is very refreshing and important a lot of weeks to have an actual day of rest, I could really get used to it.
Today Abe, Allie, and I went on quite the adventure to find the beach for the first time. We walked to the end of the street because you can see the water but there was an air force base between us and the beach. We could see people walking around and flying kites but we couldn't figure out how to get there...such a tease. Once we had enough walking we put our blanket down on the grassy area in the middle of the street for a little while (see pics). It was warm and sunny, but I will have to figure out the best way to get to the beach soon!
Sidenote: I just witnessed my first Israeli car accident, pretty hard rear ender but nothing too serious. They are crazy drivers here. Never cross the street while the walk sign is red, even the Israeli's, as impatient as they are, wait EVERY time for the green walk sign. I was told only Americans cross when it is red because the Israeli's all know they will get hit.
So Ulpan starts tomorrow bright and early, I am in level 1B. The levels went A, AA, AB, 1A, 1B, 2A, 2B, 4A, 6A, 8A, so I think 1B is not so bad for me! We will see when it actually starts but I am happy with my placement so far. I have learned a lot already, but I am learning so many new sayings and vocab words that I don’t remember them all. When Allie, Abe and I were playing cards we were saying the numbers in Hebrew so I can get faster with my numbers and not have to count up from 4 or 6 anymore, haha. I ask sooo many questions to my sister or my roommates or anyone really, I cannot wait until I know more Hebrew! That’s it for now, I will learn to make my posts more concise given time.

and of course, Happy 21st Weener!!! and Happy Birthday Aunt Becca as well!!!

Pictures thus far...
http://picasaweb.google.com/SpivackL/IsraelWeekOne?feat=directlink