teen aliyah

I am just NOT able to write my blog....am I able to keep this up or should I just forget about it? I know I haven't written in a while, and in my free time I've chilled by playing computer games, cruising the Internet...but I haven't been very good about keeping this up.

What's new?

Well, it snowed. I've never seen snow falling before. It surprised me. It's REALLY cold! Brrrrr! But my mom took a picture of me outside in the snow fall in the park in front of our building.

So anyways.....I'm still in ulpan 5 days a week, but I'm now going to yeshiva Mondays and Wednesdays after the ulpan to study Torah, and again on Fridays to listen to the students give dvarei Torah -- it's a lot of fun, actually. When I get out of ulpan on Mondays and Wednesdays, I walk over to my high school for the afternoon class of Torah study. The high school isn't that far from the ulpan--maybe about a half a mile. My legs are definitely getting stronger with all this walking. I walk from the apartment to the ulpan (about three blocks) and then to high school. From high school home, though, always seems to be a really long trek. Maybe the 30-lb backpack at the end of a long day and having to walk uphill for the last couple of blocks makes it seem longer. I really need to unload that backpack!

The yeshiva class is from 2:00 to 4:30. It's getting harder....as a new immigrant, I get extra help at the high school with Hebrew. The teacher who helps with the Hebrew has really cut back on her translations to make me use my Hebrew more. She's really nice and it helps to have someone who can translate when I get stuck. But sometimes I'm on my own. I guess this is good--it makes me use my Hebrew but, well, it's getting harder.

We had Chanukah. The yeshiva gave me a new Chanukiah as a present -- I really like it. It's fired pottery, with a blue glaze. It's nice to have my very own....my parents have one they got for the family but I got to light my own every night.