Arrival in Beer Sheva

We arrived in Beer Sheva yesterday morning. However, when we loaded the bus, we were informed that there had just been a terrorist attack at the Central Bus station here. This put quite a damper on the experience, although I reacted better than I thought I would. Life goes on in Israel, and the news and people worldwide seem to forget that. I was more angry than scared that someone would viciously try to take more Israeli lives after Israel has gone through so much. What a cowardly way to make a point! I feel more strongly than I am writing right now, but the point is that life does go on. We drove past the bombing about 7 hours after it occurred, and it looked like nothing happened. People were still waiting in line for the bus. Buses were carrying their full capacity. Life continues despite these gutless terrorists. How dare them.
Beyond that, we arrived at the absorbtion center where I will be living for the next 3 months. I am living with 5 other girls in an apartment meant for new immigrants coming to Israel. We have no oven, no microwave, and as our madrich Feivel says, we are living the "real thing." I finally unpacked all my clothes and made my very very hard bed, and I am beginning to feel at home. I am living with Jesse from the UK, and she and I clicked right away! We have a great time singing show tunes and making sick jokes to each other. I know it is going to be a great situation for the duration.
A little bit about Beer Sheva. Beer Sheva is the fourth largest country in Israel, housing about 200,000 people. It is the largest city in the desert, and was named after the wells in the Torah, specifically the 7th well. This is my first night venturing out in the city, but so far it looks like it will be fun. There is a university here, but the students are on break until after the Holidays.
Today we did are first part of community service. We planned a sort of impromptu carnival for the kids in the absorbtion center where we are living. We ended up having about 50 or so come from all age ranges, and it was a lot of fun! Communication was difficult since they come from all different countries, mostly India, France, Russian, and countries in South America. We have the opportunity to volunteer time within the center working with the kids, so I might try to do something like that weekly.
That is Israel in a nutshell thus far. I have already had my eyes opened in ways I never imagined, and I am excited to see what other things I will discover this year.
One more note... I met a settler just now who left Kfar Darom in Gaza last week. He is staying at this hotel in Beer Sheva and then being moved to Ashkelon for a while until they can start rebuilding their lives in the desert. He was just asking to use the computer to check his email. Amazing.