Jerusalem intro, Hebrew classes and a very odd election result

After a week's holiday in Tel Aviv - sleeping until noon, with the most strenuous activity involving many a shopping bag - our first week in Jerusalem was rather overwhelming. And with around 100 participant names to learn, my brain felt like it had been shoved into a washing machine - 'extra spin' cycle.

As well as playing name games (an example of which being 'say your name and your favourite smell' - you get the picture) the group toured around David's City, the Western Wall tunnels, the Supreme Court and had some lectures about the religious and cultural tensions apparent in Israel. A fairly heated Q&A session in one particular session revealed people's political sympathies, which was rather eye-opening...

I've been asked to pay more specific attention to my food intake, so here are some highlights - and I'm only skimping on detail because I'm concerned I may develop arthritis trying to type out everything I've eaten. So there is the obvious: humous and falafel, humous and falafel and humous and falafel. Meat is basically my raison d'etre, so I've consumed a rather alarming amount of lamb shawarma (and even some 'meat' shawarma... a logic not dissimilar to the 'don't ask, don't tell' US army policy... I didn't ask and they didn't tell), several amazing aubergine, green tahina and egg sandwiches, Israeli popping chocolate, some exceptional crisps called 'triangles' ('meshulashim' in Hebrew), Mandy's aunt's Iraqi cooking (burnt rice included) and more Sharron fruit than you could fill a big box of Sharron fruit with.

We all moved into our dorm/flats last Sunday - King George street which is central, downtown Tel Aviv, and have been doing hardcore Hebrew classes since. Five hours every day, which is intense. I'm in the top class, but am probably one of the 'least capable' (*remedial) students... so I am pretty quiet throughout and avoid eye contact with the teacher in case she picks on me for an exercise. All good so far, and all I've had to do is play noughts and crosses on a white board. Tough but someone has to do it. Did you know that 'x' is pronounced 'icks' in Hebrew? Fascinating stuff.

Speaking of random exercises, the Israeli election results were finally concluded since I last wrote. Despite Kadima leader Tzipi Livni winning 28 seats - one more than Likud (around 30,000 extra votes) President Peres asked Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu to form a government. Bibi successfully secured the support of the right-wing parties and could therefore form a larger, securer coalition. Coming from England, with a first-past-the-post system, this is a very odd scenario. Granted, because of the fairly low turn-out in the UK, election victors very rarely have a mandate from the majority of the population, but in this case the majority of voters elected someone else. This example puts proportional representation into stark perspective. British lobby groups have been fighting for PR for many years, yet the Israeli example is an instance of it being a weak and essentially undemocratic system. However, it's important to remember that The Party List system is just one example of PR at work.

Along the same political vein, I have been trying to exert as much power as possible in the markets around here. I have successfully haggled on no less than six occasions and one of these instances actually took place in a shop, witch real walls. Best buy so far has been a dress (tubed at the top) that falls to the floor. It cost me 20 shekels, which is just over £3. If I die tomorrow, it'll be happily.

This weekend I'm off for a free trip in Jerusalem - hosted by the organisation that sponsors my programme. We had the opportunity to pitch a community-based project to them and they picked a few people to attend some leadership weekends that will hopefully teach us how to see our projects through. Mine is a writing/photography project which would involve me knocking on some random doors around Israel, inviting myself in and finding some interesting stories from each household(illustrating them with photographs of the homes and their owners). These would then be translated into English and Hebrew and hypothetically made into a book that would raise money for charity. Dare to dream, my friends.