Wow.

So I'm home. and it was lovely. and I have a million and one stories to tell. They'll all dribble out eventually... I'll pick one random memory from each week and post it here.

Week 1 (Spain): Ever since the beginning of the trip, pretty much, our madrichim (guides/staffpeople/etc) bribed us to be quiet/cooperate/etc with ice cream, and later in the trip with falafel and the like. The first time they did this (and lived up to their promise) was while we were staying in Madrid. At the end of the day, they bought about ten-ish pint containers of ice cream for us 39 kids, and we all wandered around with plastic spoons and sampled each others' ice cream flavors. Then I learned to play hearts and did so with Ben, Jorie, and Josh. Josh is the redhead. For those not in the know, Ben's the other guy in that pic, I'm the girl, and Jorie is the one in the cat ears. Also of note: toledo marzipan. Also also of note: we had an evening program based off singled out, and everyone in the group saw me blush twenty shades of red.

Week 2: We went to a jazz club!! Looky! the piccyature has ben, jorie, sari, me, and rose in it. It was wonderful and fun. I danced with people, and it was one of the first times i really hung out with betsy (who was probably too unpicturey to be in random photos, and who also dances way better than she thinks she does.) Also of note: took a plane with a BITCHFROMHELL stewardess on Iberia. Yelled at us for taking pictures. Yelled at us for standing up. Yelled at us for, uh, being. Also, never eat kosher meals on Iberia. Call me picky, but salmon should not be the texture of slightly overdone tuna steak.

Week 3: Mitzvah day! Half of us packed foodbagthingys for people, and half went to the chicken lady and heard a story. I packed foodthingys and it was fun, although a bit overwarm. And food is heavy, dammit. Also, we headed towards/into the negev (er, that is, the desert that is the southern half of israel). Jorie got a migraine on the bus and spent the night in a random hostel along the way, and the rest of us slept under the stars. And the boys (Team Ween) all named their boyparts. And wouldn't shut up about it afterwards. :p
Also of note: discoboat in eilat!! It was wonderful, it was fun, people found out i could dance and were awfully surprised. Especially jake (the one on the right), who was one of the group stoner/drinker/womanizers. Also of note: I polkadotted my leg in the flour caves. Whee.

Week 4: We were at the opening ceremonies for the Maccabi games, and it was CrazyFun. For those of you not in the know, the Maccabi games are essentially the olympics for Jews. And apparently my neighbor got a silver medal for swimming, but i only found that out afterwards. Anyway, at the ceremony, we watched a bunch of people in condiment-colored jumpsuits dance around, and random songs happen, and everyone cheer as their respective countries came in (damn noisy mexicans :p)...it was fun fun fun. Also, the druze village was AMAZING. We had a delicious traditional meal and went shopping, and bought druze glass plates and things, which apparently don't break. This fact was rather ingrained into all our heads every time a new customer entered the shop, and led to many startled usyers, simply because one does not expect a random shopkeeper to bang his glass merchandise together/against tables/etc loudly and forcefully.

Week 5: TOGA SHABBAT! Sadly, there are no pictures, as we're not allowed to take them on shabbat, but it was WAY fun. On saturday afternoon, we all changed into togas and did olympic-y things like relay races. And just took the opportunity to lounge about in togas.
Also, the place we were staying in was hosting a british group as well, so we all made friends with them and a few people hooked up and stuff. No hookups for me or anything, but i made a few friends, incl. Selina, a girl i'm definitely staying in touch with (yay email!). Also of note: Naomi (staff person) found a baby doll in a cable car we were using to go up a mountain. She decided to keep it as our mascot. Unfortunately she found its owner, which led to the following Quote of Note: "I'm going to buy a baby today."

Week 6: Archeological dig -- I kept finding bones. I swear, i'm an old bone magnet. Really. Like... lots of people found two or three little bones, but I kept unearthing them, and way more lil bones than pottery shards. And then I exited the cave and found more bones. Whee. Also, a few of the girls found near-complete and/or complete juglets and oil lamps and things. Twas fun, and we all got dirty. Also of note: gaia concert...!!! it was amazing, and I ran into selina again. And a guy I went to camp with years ago. And everyone danced together, and I got in a picture with a bunch of random venezuelan girls who took a liking to me.

On the Way Home: Never order kosher Iberia meals. Eew. Again. Eew. Also, on the last night, we were allowed to hang out in this second lobby type place of the hotel. The room arrangements were kinda random, and Betsy and I ended up without rooms to sleep in. We figured, however, that it wouldn't be a problem if we just stayed up all night. Problem being that we fell asleep, along with two other girls, in the lobby area and got woken up and kicked out at fiveish in the morning. Bigger problem being that the girls who had a room didn't have a way of getting back into it. Biggest problem being that we didn't know which rooms were usy rooms. We were about ready to curl up in a random hallway and fall asleep, but then we took a lucky guess of which room to knock on and i slept on the floor in Rachel (other girl on trip)'s room. ^.^

Oh, and if i say sleecha to you, it means (roughly) excuse me. And yala yala is "let's go".

Uh... I was going to say something else. really.

OH! WELCOME HOME PARTY is at MY HOUSE on THURSDAY starting at about dinnertime and going into the evening. If you see this, you're invited. If you're referred to it by someone who knows me, you're quite probably invited too. If you're in the wrong part of the country at that time, well, bleh. If you're in the wrong country, double bleh. If you're on the wrong continent, can i come visit? :p Just kidding.

ALSO: if you're coming to the party, do feel free to bring a random vegetarian snack food or non-alcoholic drink type offering.