The Big Hole.

The Big Hole.

No, I am not talking about my room; I am talking about the Rimon Crater. I had the opportunity to travel with the CY for a really nice shabbaton down south. I’ll be honest, at first I was a bit hesitant to go – part of me has finished that chapter of my life and it was time to just leave already. But I went, and I am glad that I did.

The morning started off real early when I went to marzipan to get rugalach. If you don’t know what marzipan rugalach are, you clearly have not spent anytime with Anglos here in Jerusalem. They are a bakery that make great well, baked goods. Their rugalach are the most chocolate filled pastries you can find. A real favorite amongst the yeshiva. So I go and pick them up when we are going on some sort of tiyul. When I got there, they weren’t ready yet so Itzick – the owner told me to come back shortly. Yeah, I’m on a first name basis with him. That’s what happens when you live 3 min from their store. Anyways, I come back, make my 4-kilo order (not kidding) and make my way to the shabbaton. On our way down we made a stop at Ain Avdat, a beautiful hike with a little waterfall. I have done the hike a few times before so I planned to stay back and do my ulpan work – didn’t happen. I fortunately got to drive someone’s car up to the top (one of the faculty members) it was one of the nice 7 km drives ever – however, when driving in beauty you need to focus on the road, not the scenery around – so I did, and it was great. Anyways, we had the usual shabbaton things. We had a tish Friday night, which included lots and lots of drinking… now when I say lots, I mean lots and trust me I did a good portion of the alcohol consumption. No, I did not get sick nor make a complete fool out of myself- I did, however, speak in Hebrew which caused the Rosh yeshivas wife Yale to say to me (* Yale only really speaks Hebrew) “Nikki, I didn’t know you could speak Hebrew like that!” She said this in Hebrew to me. Her husband, my Rosh yeshiva Reb Shmuel then said, “Just give Nikki a drink and she can do it!” This then caused the whole yeshiva to laugh at me. Hey, when you’ve been at the yeshiva for as long as I have, it’s almost expected. Once the tish ended (lets say 1230 am, and after more whiskey, wine, whiskey and some more whiskey) my friend Dave and I decided to go check out the crater – don’t worry, there was a barrier, and I was not that drunk. We then hung out until at least 3 am, just laughing. Good times. It was really beautiful at night and the moon was amazing (you could hear nothing, nothing! It was amazing!) You could also see the stars. It was cool. Also don’t worry, I really don’t drink that much or ever truthfully. That night I froze. It was so cold I cannot even tell you how cold it was.

Anyways, I woke up Shabbat morning with a clean bill of health (not kidding) and enjoyed the rest of the shabbaton. Gave a good d’var torah if I do say so myself.

That afternoon my friend Josh and I decided to go for a hike. We climbed up this look-out called camel lookout. It’s a rock that looks like a camel. I hike up it in a skirt. It was a pretty steep climp. We get to the top only to realize that on the otherside there were stairs. HA! Well, that made going down a lot easier. We had a great view of the crater. If it wasn’t Shabbat it would have been prime photo op – next time.

BTW, Rachel. We had chicken for dinner.

Other than that, that’s it!

Have a great day. (Ulpan is fine. Its killing me)


The following is something that I got from my friend shira. I am going to fill it out here, but feel free to skip it. You’re already here, so here is something else to read. Truth is, I did it because I was bored.


Welcome to the new edition of "Getting to Know Your Friends". Okay, here's what you're supposed to do. Try not to be lame and spoil the chance to reconnect or say hi in a different way! Just copy(not forward) this entire e-mail and paste into a new e-mail that you can send. Change all the answers so that they apply to you. Then send this to a whole bunch of people you know, INCLUDING the person that sent it to you. Some of you may get this several times-that means you have lots of friends.


1. What is your full name at birth? Nicole Breena Greenspan
2. What color pants are you wearing? green

3. What are you listening to right now? Outside dounds
4. The last thing you ate? Lunch.
5 Do you wish on stars? Nope.
6. If you were a crayon, what color would you be? Blue
7. How is the weather right now? It’s b8. Last person you spoke to on the been semi-warm, But this is Jerusalem. It’s going to be freezing in twenty min.
8. The last person you spoke to on the phone? Ian.
9. Do you like the person who sent this to you? Shira is great.
10. How old are you today? 25
11. Favorite drink? Um… don’t really have one.
12. Favorite sport? baseball
13. Hair color? Brownish redish ish
14. Do you wear contacts? Nope
15. Siblings? Younger sister Jessica
16. Favorite month? May (not really sure why, first thing that came to mind)
17. What is your favorite food? shwarma
_18. What was the last movie you watched? Dukes of hazzard
19. Favorite day of the year? Everyday!
21. What was your favorite toy as a child? My star wars action figures.
22. What is your favorite season? Spring because you actually see things blooming.
24. Chocolate or Vanilla? Vanilla
25. Do you want your friends to e-mail you back? yep
26. Who is most likely to respond? Um… this is on my blog. I can see Michelle doing this…
27. Who is least likely to respond? You.
28. Living arrangements? An apartment in Nachlaot Jerusalem
29. How many countries have you visted? Um… the USA (and over 44 states), Poland, Israel, Germany, Turkey, Moldova, Mexico, Canada, Italy, England and France. (fine, 3 of those places were airports, but it was a country so blah.)
30. What is under your bed? Nothing. Or maybe a shoe.
32. What did you do last night? Sat on a bus from Mitzpe Rimon back to Jerusalem. Came home and did some hebrew work. Party anumial I am.
33. Favorite smell? Hugo boss man.
34. What are you afraid of? Um…. If I tell you, you will use it against me.
35. Plain, buttered or salted popcorn? salted AND buttered
36. Favorite car? Im a bus pass kinda girl.
37. Favorite Flower? Gerber daisys
_38. Number of keys on your key ring? 8 – don’t even have a clue what some of them are for.
39. How many years at your current job? . HAHAHAHA
40. Favorite day of the week? Friday
_41. What did you do on your last birthday? English birthday: Cake with family, bowling with friends. Hebrew: Slow Moshe Bar in Nachlaot. Good times.
42. How many states have you lived in? Whats a state?
43. How many suburbs have you lived in? 5?
44. Favorite Vacation? Havnt had one in awhile.
45. When is your Birthday? Aug 20/Chet Elul
46. Beach or River? Beach!!!!!