New life

I am now an official resident of Jerusalem. Just check my Teudat Zeut. It's written so in plain Hebrew. Assuming of course that you're familiar with plain Hebrew. Unfortunately, I haven't yet decided if I'm happy about spending at least the next five months of my life in the holiest city in the world. My first impressions of this place have been conflicting. There really is nothing like the drive into Jerusalem. It gets me every time with the magnitude of rising through the mountains and being exposed to the sprawling white city. However, for some reason, every time that I get off the bus and try to continue on to my destination, I get a feeling that there is just too much anger in the air. And I can't get rid of this feeling until I get out to the outskirts. Therefore, I still think of Jerusalem as an angry city. The center is simply too big to be cramped into such a small geographical area. I have many volunteers trying to prove me wrong about it and maybe they are right; maybe it will grow on me. It does have absolutely everything. Religion, tradition, art, alternative, life, music, food, etc. I guess I'll get back to you in a couple of months on my full impression of the capital of Israel.
I did get treated to a rarity. I got to see snow. In Israel. In March. It started early this morning and I thought I simply haven't woken up fully. But it kept falling and falling until there was no doubt in anyone's mind that winter has returned. The snow is not staying on the ground, however. It's cold but not cold enough according to my recently refreshed Chicago standards.
It definitely is not cold in my room at the absorption center. It's actually comfortable. It's more than I can say about the amenities overall. It's small, bare and cheap. I can't really complain because that last characteristic is also it's overwhelming benefit. From everything I've heard it's quite luxurious for Jerusalem or even for a standard absorption center.
Beit Canada (that's its name) is located in East Talpyot. I may or may not be breaking international law by living there. I don't know for sure because my roommate, Daniel, hasn't decided yet. Daniel is a very knowledgeable fellow from Holland with only one small problem for me; he wants to be a politician. For people familiar with my views on politics in general it's no surprise that I have a problem with politicians. However, I don't expect any problems with Daniel. Regardless, Daniel has some left wing views and for his own peace of mind he needs to come up with a reason why he's potentially living on Palestinian land. For now he's decided that this is the part of Jerusalem that was annexed and therefore rightfully belongs to Israel. Honestly, I don't really care. Furthermore, I think that it's pretty cool that potentially I could be a settler. That would mean that I went from one spectrum of Israeli society, kibbutznik, to a polar opposite. Just another step in my wonderful experience in this crazy, magical place.

P.S. Congratulations to Israel; we are finally number one in something in world's view.