I've been trying to write something here for days. Well, probably more like two weeks now. It feels as though it's only been days, anyway. Every time I sit down, I either realize I've forgotten to do something really important, or it's already late and I'm beat, or some other thing comes up. Somehow I've been totally blindsided by a bunch of unexpected crap. I suppose that when you ignore all your responsibilities for a week to play tourist with your parents, it's gotta catch up with you. I guess I just didn't expect it to happen so suddenly, or without any warning.

But enough excuses. More vacation is coming right up (Israelis like to bunch their holidays together!). I get two whole weeks off for Pesach (Passover), starting next Wednesday. (Which is probably why I was hit so hard with work &mdash I had to make up for one vacation while working toward another one. But I promised not to talk about that anymore, didn't I?) I can't wait for all that time off, now that the weather is beginning to get nice enough to spend an afternoon on the beach.

Tomorrow is the requisite Pesach party at the Ulpan, which is why I have such an odd list to-do list written on my hand ("white shirt, potatoes & a hard-boiled egg"). As our class is now further along than many others, we've been asked to do more and more with each subsequent party. This time, we are doing a short reading from the traditional Pesach booklet (I don't know what the name of the booklet is, but it's a sort of Pesach manual that tells you what songs to sing, what to say, and when. Maybe like a highly abridged Book of Common Prayer). We're also supposed to wear a white shirt, and bring with us a hard-boiled egg and two steamed and peeled potatoes.

Our teacher wouldn't tell us why we're doing any of this, but after peeking in the auditorium and seeing six or seven 40ft-long tables being set for a meal, there's no doubt that tomorrow the entire school is having a Seder meal together. It should be really interesting (then again, what ulpan party hasn't been interesting so far?). I've always wanted to know the details of the Seder meal, beyond matzoh and "bitter herbs" (whatever that means). So more tomorrow; gotta go charge my camera...