Friends and Gifts

One of the highlights of the past couple weeks has been the visit of my good friends Meg and Eli (henceforth to be referred to as M&E) who are visiting while on vacation. Of all of the things that I miss from the States, my friends and family (i.e. people) are really first and foremost on my list. While I saw M&E in Tel-Aviv the first night they were in Israel, I have spent most of my time hanging out with them in Jerusalem on weekends - which is conveniently where Michelle lives. As a bonus, M&E brought over several gifts from my family: A new 20 gig ipod and a new ultra-comfortable travel pillow. Given that I travel on buses for roughly 10 hours a week these gifts make me extremely happy. Thank you thank you thank you Nana & Papa and Aunt Carole.

Out Sick

This weekend I received a not so pleasant surprise: conjunctivitus. That's right, I have the good old pink-eye. Really it's not so bad. I feel fine, and other than dealing with the goop in my eye every morning I really have no symptoms. On the plus side, when I went to the doctor yesterday to get treated, he informed me that because conjunctivitus is contagious, I would have to miss two days of the army. I feel bad about missing work, but everyone in the army is encouraging me and telling me to relax and enjoy the time off. Seeing that I am but a lowly private I guess I'll have to follow their orders.

My New Old Friend

News certainly travels quickly these days, but just in case you haven't heard yet, I started dating Michelle Gur Aryeh about two weeks ago. Michelle and I had been at Brandeis together and had always been friendly. We kept in touch after school as we were both making aliyah during the summer. During the last six months we would see each other occasionally when Michelle would host me in Jerusalem for Shabbat or a holiday. We had always just been friends. Until two weeks ago. So instead of trying to tell you all about Michelle in one fell swoop, I will instead refer you to her blog: http://michellealiyah.blogspot.com/ There you can also conveniently find a picture of the both of us. Don't we make a cute couple?

A Little Late

You might have noticed that the last post is dated the 29th of January despite not actually appearing on the blog until today. There is a simple one word answer for that: censorship. The army must make sure that I am not giving away any secrets of national interest and so must preview my posts. Hopefully it won't be much of a problem anymore, but there is a chance that it might still slow things down a bit. I'll keep you posted. Eventually. If the army lets me.