Jerusalem and Back

I returned this afternoon from a weekend in Jerusalem. I stayed with my good friend and neighbor, Ariel J. Hausman, at his yeshiva, Ohr Sameach. He is in Shanah Gimmel (thought #1: at what point do we stop using letters? Shanah Kaf-Alef? Shanah Lamed?). We had a lot of fun: we went to a Shalom Zachar, Aufruf, and a tish. Lotsa fun Jewish stuff. We ate at the houses of people I didn't know who speak English and serve good food. I read Mitch Albom's interesting novel, "The Five People You Meet in Heaven," and prayed a lot (thought #2: ever been to a black hat synagogue's coat room? I mean, all the coats and hats look the same!)
That evening, we walked to Ben Yehuda Street and did some shopping, watched a Bnai Akiva sing-along, and threw rocks at the red string merchants (just kidding!). We got pizza at the Big Apple Pizzaria, and I ran into three people I know: Noah Mendelsohn, currently at Ner Yaakov and a member of Shalhevet's Class of 2005, and JJ Katz and Jonathan Feld, both formerly of Hebrew Academy of Miami and currently of Gush (I met them at Model UN two years ago). I talked to the Miami guys for awhile, comparing and contrasting our experiences over pizza. Ben Yehuda was fun, but felt very Americanized (thought #3: there are so many Americans, there have been rumors of allowing some Germans back into the German quarter) (thought #4: how many quarters are there? Jewish, Christian, Muslim, Armenian, German... am I missing something?)
Well, back to the holy books.
-YSB, Sh'lita (if I may)