So, I don’t know my way around and I’m scared to get into cabs. I don’t speak the primary language but mostly, I love it here. It’s hard to explain why. Today, during Shabbos, we walked to the Western Wall to have our third Shabbos meal. The food was awful but I had the strangest experience explaining to someone who was Jewish but not observant that the women’s section was smaller than the men’s section because men are required to pray, more men can show up to pray at the wall, etc. I sat, in utter physical agony, listening to some yeshiva boys sing and one offered me a piece of rugala to go with my stale bread.

It is easier to be in physical pain in Israel, away from all the troubles of America. Walking around and trying to get not entirely lost, I feel safer here than in the streets of New York. I have a feeling that this, not the Dominican Republic, will be my second home.

There are some things that take getting used to here. Like the fact that I have to BUY water and even that killed my stomach for three days. I managed to make myself a nice meal after Shabbos. During Shabbos, we, my dormmates, ate with the Director of the school. Not my best meal, I miss Yonah’s soup but there was much to talk about and much to learn. I am figuring out what kind of Jewish woman I will be, where I draw the line on some things.