Just a year and quick click away: 10 updates (all I have the energy for tonight)

So, yes, it has been a few days (maybe longer) since I've sat down to blog.
A few updates (there are many, but it's 1 am and I have to be up in a few hours for class, so here's what you get for the night...)
1- My dermal piercing, the one on my wrist? NO ONE here knows what it is. NO ONE. Not the Israelis, Europeans, Americans, NO ONE. And creepy guys (like the one that FOLLOWED ME around campus today?) seem to think I possess that piercing solely to give them a reason to talk to me.

2- FINALLY getting used to this heat.

3- Have now officially found, and have figured out how to get easily to, all the three major malls in Haifa. Important.

4- I can now understand a few spoken words here and there when I creep in on random peoples conversations. It's awesome. (AND I can say a few basic phrases myself, in recognition of ones spoken to me! YES!). I have discovered I truly enjoy learning Hebrew (the tutor is the best money I have spent here! Got a good mark on my midterm!!!)

5- I have no roommates. Officially. So, I am thinking I might just end up with this entire place, including my bedroom, bathroom, living room area (which I have fixed up nicely with stuff I've found around- see the pictures below) and kitchen all to myself until fall semester in October. I just call it my apartment. It's the best to have friends over to study, eat, watch TV, etc!

6- With two friends, actually made a home-cooked meal tonight! (well, pasta and sauce, but not bad when boiling water is pretty much impossible and there is no microwave or safe-seeming pots!!!)

7- Been to the beach A LOT. Love it. SOOO tan. Although, I will admit, to anyone who knows me I've got body image issues. Yes, just like just about every 19 year old girl, I get self-conscious. It's been a little bit harder here. Israeli women and girls all seem to be so small, and the Europeans I'm in the Ulpan with are all VERY TALL and thin. But I'm learning to get over it and not care as much.

8- Got two pictures of Tracy, one of the most admirable people I've ever had the luck of knowing. Seeing her on my fridge and bulletin board whenever I walk around my apartment (haha) keeps me in remembrance of what really matters in life (see comment above).

9- Enjoying the clubs and night scene. A lot. (although, it's not cheap- cutting back on it to save money for stuff I would rather spend it on, see comment #3 in reference to the malls)

10- Ivan is still living in the stairwell. We think he is a she and that she's pregnant.