Since about six months ago, Rabbi Azose has been telling me (from time to time) that I need to go to Amukah, to pray at the kever of Rabbi Yonatan Ben Uziel. Since Rabbi Yonatan Ben Uziel never married (he was married to Torah), yet held that it was a chiyuv from the Torah for a man to marry, davening at his kever is a particular merit for finding one's basheret. It happened that one morning in April when I decided to tell Rabbi Azose I was thinking of going to learn at Ohr Somayach for the summer, that he got to me first to tell me that I should go to Amukah. So davening at Amukah was one of my major goals for this trip.
Tuesday, there was a trip from the neighborhood (not affiliated with the yeshiva) to kivrei tzaddikim in the north. My guess is the main reason for this trip was to visit the kever of the Shelah haKodesh in Tiveryah, since he composed a prayer for parents to say for the education of their children, and it has become a custom to say that prayer on erev Rosh Chodesh Sivan. The trip visited a number of kevarim, including Amukah, Tzefat (including the ARI z"l, the Ramak, R' Shlomo Alkabetz, and the Beit Yosef), and Tiveryah (including R' Meir ba'al HaNes, and the Rambam and the Shelah).
On Sunday night, I walked to Rechavia (about 120 degrees rotation around the old city from where I am, a good 45 minute walk away) to meet a shadchan there, and got my first taste of a section of the city colloquially called "town" by the people here. Ohr Somayach is located in a very religious section of the city, and that character persists until you get close to Rechov Yafo (90 degrees away). "Town" is the more secular part of the city, where all the big hotels are, Ben Yehudah street, and nightlife in general. I didn't stay to explore the night life.
After meeting with the shadchan, she reminded me that it was Yom Yerushalayim, so after finishing with her, since I still hadn't davened Avrit yet, I went to the Kotel. I joined a minyan there. Shortly we finished, a group of a few hundred people came in to the Kotel singing and dancing to celebrate. So I joined them dancing for a half an hour or so before returning to the yeshiva. Ohr Somayach isn't a terribly zionistic place, so they made little mention of Yom Yerushalayim.
I've found a volunteer activity to do Erev Shabbat, going to an apartment complex behind the yeshiva to help pack Shabbat food for about 30 needy families. I went last week, and b"h I'll be doing it again this week.
Last week, one of the other volunteers there was asking me about where I am in my PhD program, and as I explained that when I return to Chicago, I have to do my thesis proposal, then do another couple years of research before I do my dissertation. As I explained, I let out a sigh, thinking of what awaits me when I return. I'm feel much happier here than I was in the PhD program.
The rabbis from Ohr Somayach who were in Chicago for a memorial day event there have now returned to the yeshiva, and I've been promoted to a more advanced morning Gemara shiur (Rabbi Shachar's shiur). The afternoon bekiut shiur has also gotten more manageable with the return of Rabbi Rockmill. We're learning Masechet Chagiga, and right now we're in perek Ein Dorshin (which includes all kinds of aggadot about creation and ma'aseh merkavah). Rabbi Rockmill is quite a character. He has already nicknamed me HAL, since he knows I work with artificial intelligence. There's a Sephardic rabbi here, Rabbi Peretz who does a Sephardic halacha shiur right before lunch which gets about 10 guys in attendance.