Chapter 2: Reunited!

Hello, loved ones!
It finally got "cold" here today - it went down to almost 65 degrees tonight! Brrr! (Hahaha...)
So here are the updates:
MIRIAM IS HERE!! She has only been here for about a week, but it feels like much longer. That may have to do with the fact that some of her best friends from Israel as well as her sister are on the kibbutz! As soon as she arrived, she already knew half the kibbutz by association. She has had a great time over the past week making friends with the other volunteers. It is really perfect because not only is she meeting new awesome people, but she is surrounded by people she already knows and loves as well! She spends her days cleaning... mmm fun... but its a kibbutz, what do you expect?! She works in the hotel, which is really one of the better jobs, despite making over 15 beds a day. Work ends in the mid afternoon, and the rest of the evening is just spent hanging out. It kind of feels like summer camp! Anyway, things are off the a great start, and Miriam will be updating you with new stories regularly (we hope)!
Sarah is still really happy, and even happier now that she has her sister around to stop by in the mornings on her way to work, meet up with in the dining hall, and bring her cookies :-)Things at the institute have gotten really insane...free time has pretty much gone out the window, unless it replaces time for sleep or reading. Which it sometimes does. Oops! But really, there's so much going on. Classes are now in full swing, but since we still haven't chosen exactly which ones we're staying in I'm still going to about 9 classes. Oy. But after tomorrow I'll be down to 5 officially... I'm just not sure which 5. We also have endless meetings about every little thing. And I've volunteered to be "co-coordinator" for two student groups: Megamah Yerookah ("Green Course") which is a national student environmental activist group of which we will have a branch here at AIES, and the Music and Dance club, which will be whatever we make of it. Yay! They should both be a lot of fun, and I actually feel inspired to make things happen - lack of time and all. I also said I would be an English support tutor for someone who speaks English as their second language. So much to do! But It's really exciting. Last weekend my friend Yovav from when I lived at Tzuba (3 years ago) came all the way down here to the Negev to visit, which was fantastic. We went for a walk/hike along the border with Jordan and down to the next kibbutz. So beautiful...pictures will come soon, right now the internet is too slow.
Tonight both of us went to meet our new adopted family - a really sweet woman named Leorah (shout-out to our LP's! we love you!)and her two young daughters. She gave us cake and ice cream and tea and invited us to come to dinner every Saturday night, and let us borrow two children's books that she wrote to practice our Hebrew :-D So basically it's a great deal! Don't worry, Mom, she doesn't make apple pie - you're irreplaceable ;-)
This weekend we're going to Jerusalem to celebrate Mir's birthday (!!) with a bunch of her friends. She'll be 18 on Friday, so send lots of birthday love!! Also a friend of Sarah's from the institute is throwing a party near Jerusalem Friday night, so it should be lovely weekend.
Sorry for the switching between 3rd and 1st person...it's a little confusing to write from two people. We'll try to work out a better system.
Lots and lots of love you all of you!
Love,
The Schuldenfrei Sisters