Kfar Ha'Studentim

We live in the University's student village or as they call it, the kfar hastudentim (ha-stu-den-teem). Here's some photos of the village to give you an idea of what it's like here.

From Kfar Hastudentim

The south gate of the village (the one Shawn goes through to get to the University). Guards at each gate. We have to show ID every time we pass and sometimes they want to see what's inside our bags/purses. As a spouse, I don't get a school ID but I have a piece of paper (that I show with my ID) that says I can get into the university.

From Kfar Hastudentim

From Kfar Hastudentim

There's about a dozen of the newer buildings, and most of them have ten levels.

From Kfar Hastudentim

From Kfar Hastudentim

From Kfar Hastudentim

A nice place to sit just outside our door.

From Kfar Hastudentim

From Kfar Hastudentim

One of our windows that faces the front of the building.

From Kfar Hastudentim

A grassy area that we see from our back windows. We're bound to see groups having a bbq or picnic on the weekend evenings, people studying in the shade, and those sun bathing in the middle of the day.

From Kfar Hastudentim

Building two has the laundry room on the main floor. Nice American front load washers which are fairly clean. It costs ten sheklim per load (about $2.50).

From Kfar Hastudentim

From Kfar Hastudentim

Playground between buildings one and two.

From Kfar Hastudentim

A market, next to the playground. Items are usually slightly more expensive here than down the street, except for hummus. Alcohol is prohibited in the student village but you can find almost any kind of liquor you want at this market.

From Kfar Hastudentim

The north gate, which faces the French Hill neighborhood.

From Kfar Hastudentim

From Kfar Hastudentim

The super market ("Mister Zol" is the name of this chain) in the small French Hill strip mall. It's only a block down from the north gate of the village. They have monthly sales and two-fer deals, but most of the time things are still a bit pricey compared to the midwest. On the left you can see a blockbuster dvd rental box. I think they've had them longer than we've had Red Box in the States.

From Kfar Hastudentim

Update: Shawn apparently passed the level test because they let him get into the level Bet. The first several days were a little confusing in Bet, but Shawn is catching up with the class. We are also excited to have met a few more students this week and had them over for cookies. Many of them are here for the MA so we hope to have them over again.

June 24

Yesterday we arrived in Tel Aviv at about 5:20am and it was such a weird day. Mostly because we hadn’t gotten more than a couple of hours of sleep on the two flights. We took a shuttle to the university and we are so incredibly thankful Shawn worked out the payment for the summer classes and housing! When we left Denver, we weren’t sure Shawn was even on the list for the first month class or that they were expecting me in the housing. I spent most of the morning being reminded of my desperate need to learn Hebrew and wondering what in the world were we doing on a different planet.

Our dorm apartment is nice. They took a two bedroom apartment and switched the twin bed and desk of one room into the other. So now we have a king sized bed (I think its hilarious that I didn’t think to bring our king sized sheets). The kitchen has two appliances: a good sized fridge and gas stove top. The apartment was just a bit dusty and only a few bugs running around or laying dead.

Today we will be shown where to do some shopping and I am really looking forward to it! We’ve met some nice students that speak English and hope to meet some more today.