Shabbat Shalom

So, as per my title for this post, it's Shabbat in Arad. So it's a pretty quiet day. Last night we had services, dinner, and an oneg. The services were ok, but I didn't know a lot of the tunes we used. Dinner was disgusting, mainly because we've had the exact same kind of chicken for the past four days in a row. It tastes decent, if you can get over the fact that it's swimming in grease. If I never see that chicken again, it will be too soon. And I bet we'll have it for lunch again tomorrow.

Before all of our kabbalat shabbat activities yesterday evening, we returned from our first tiyul. Thursday night we camped out in the middle of the Judean Desert, surrounded by miles and miles of dust, rock and scorpions. It really wasn't a bad experience. We had a camp fire and sang songs and goofed off. Then we slept in little tents, which really weren't big enough to hold as many people as they insisted we pack into them.

The next day, we went hiking--my first hike, and everyone else's second. To be perfectly honest, I hated it. It was scary and painful. By the end, I was so dehydrated and overheated that I was sick for at least an hour afterwards. Today, I'm incredibly sore.

Right now I'm missing home pretty badly. The mirkaz klitah is an extremely foreign environment, and it's dingy, dirty and in varying states of disrepair. I really just want to be somewhere bright and pretty and clean for a little while. I'm sure I'll get over this feeling, but it's hard. I feel like I'm the only one who hasn't adjusted fully, although I'm sure that's not true. And my roommate is driving me crazy with her never-ending optimism and lack of empathy for my misery. Plus, somebody tripped at brunch and spilled scalding hot water on my back, which really just made me feel that much worse!

Hopefully my next post will be more upbeat. We start classes tomorrow. Maybe being busy will help me adjust.