I gave blood today...

...it was my first time, even though I had the opportunity to at school earlier this year.  For some reason, this time, it just seemed more important.

The hiking trip in Yehudiya Nature Reserve was amazing: I got to meet and bond with quite a few people I didn't really know, and went on one of the most amazing hikes I've ever been on.  It's hard to want to give the Golan Heights back to Syria after seeing things like this:





Friday morning, we were forced to take a later bus to the central bus station because the first number 46 only let 4 (out of the 17 of us) on board.  Consequently, we were late for our bus that was going to the Yehudiya Junction, which would have literally taken us right to the park.  Instead, we took a bus to Tiberias, on the bank of the Kinneret, and, from there, had to take several cabs to Yehudiya (about a half an hour's drive).  My cab driver's name was Zaki, and we made a pit stop before we went anywhere in which he gave me ten shekels and had me go into a bakery to buy him a challah for Shabbat--which was actually very cool.  He also thought that I was the staff person for all the people on the trip because I was basically the only one who spoke Hebrew.

The trip itself was excellent--hiking and camping is always fun, especially when the campsite's floor is made out of thousands of tiny, prodding rocks that wake you up every twenty minutes.

All sarcasm aside, though, the trip was great.

Then, on the way back on Sunday (this time we actually got the bus that left from the park), I decided to spend Yom Kippur in Bat-Yam with my friends, instead of going out of town with my family.  I figured that I was already tired from the camping trip, and that it would be an experience to see how me and my friends would celebrate a holiday in Bat-Yam.  So, Sunday night, we went to an Orthodox shul near Eli Cohen 24 (previously known as Nathan's/Simon's/Scott's/BenJirik's/Aaron's/Ohad's apartment), which was absolutely terrible.  All the things that make a service to me, such as singing and the harmony of voices and a sense of community, were blatantly and repulsively absent.  To top it all off, the cantor started asking people to pledge donations to the synagogue after Kol Nidre ended (this was my limit, and I then decided to leave).

However, it was quite amazing to see the kids running and bicycling in the streets on Erev Yom Kippur (the night of Yom Kippur).  Nowhere else in the world does an entire country shut down for a day in the same way Israel does.  That night, after shul, me and some friends went out onto the ayalon (highway) and just walked around for a bit, savoring the silent and desolate atmosphere.  Although my religious experience with Yom Kippur may not have been a good one, it was holy in a different sort of way.

The next day, Nathan and I awoke at 12 and did nothing all day until the break fast at Emilie's apartment--which was delicious.  Afterwards, we went to an American bar in Tel-Aviv called "Mike's Place," because Ben Jirik was playing guitar.  It was amazing, and Idan Tishel (one of my camp counselors from 2007) was there.  The entire night seemed to be the culmination of the past 5 days or so, and I had an overwhelming feeling (one which I randomly get at times) that screamed to me "This is Year Course, this is the experience, and I can't believe that this is my life right now."  It was as many Hebrew words as I can think of for "positive adjective"--magniv, maksim, adir, madhim, nehedar, mitzooyan, achla, sababa, tov.

Then, today, I woke up and went to the Tsofim Siyur.  We spent the first half of the day in Shevet Dan (Dan Tribe, the local chapter of the scouts) playing games and making falafel.  Afterwards, we went to Holon to see the Bamba factory, where they make many different Israeli snacks (SUCH AS BAMBA).  After seeing how it was made and how sad the factory workers were, I may never want to eat it again.

We then returned and I went to ulpan at 4:30 to make a sukkah, which didn't end up happening.  At 5, however, people from Magen David Adom (Red Star of David, kind of like the Red Cross) arrived to set up the blood drive.  I donated blood for the first time ever, and it was almost an out-of-body experience.  To be honest, though, it wasn't nearly as bad as I was expecting.

In any case, after this, Nathan, Emilie, Cera and I went to Tel-Aviv to meet with Yossein, the leader of B'nei Barak Darfur, an organization devoted to helping Darfuri refugees in Israel.  We met with him and discussed several volunteer opportunities teaching children and adults Hebrew and English; he seemed fairly excited and I can't wait to see what we can do.

Then, the four of us came back to my apartment and watched a movie on Nathan's laptop.  It was a good night, if you ask me--but I need to start writing more often again, or else I begin to lose both funny and important details.  I hope all of you had an easy fast on Yom Kippur, and are having good times wherever you may be.

Assaf Ramon

Nothing of note happened last night, and today was average--I got let out of volunteering a bit early, had lunch, and cleaned the apartment for a mifgash dira (apartment meeting) before leaving for the thing I actually want to talk about:

We had an Israel Update with a man named Michael Freed, a Brit.  He asked us to name the most important things happening to Israel right now, so naturally we named Ahmedinijad, Iran in general, and the Arab-Israeli conflict.  He then pointed out to us the increased level of violence in Israel (there have been 11 murders in the past month, which is good for a state in America, but bad compared to Israel's standards) and the slowly diminishing supply of water.  It was interesting to note that, because of the amount of external threats Israel deals with, it's hard for it to focus well and try to fix its internal problems.  Michael  noted that the majority of Israelis vote not based on domestic policy, but based on foreign policy and resolution of the Arab-Israeli conflict.  The most interesting thing we discussed, however, was the death of Assaf Ramon last week.

Assaf Ramon was the son of Ilan Ramon, the first Israeli astronaut (who died in the Columbia space shuttle disaster in 2003).  Ilan was considered a national hero as he took off to be the first Israeli in space, and there was a significant amount of mourning here after he died.  In Israel, if a member of your family has died in the army or in service to the country, your mother has to sign off on a paper that allows you to go to the army.  The mother also has to sign this paper for an only child.  Assaf was a pilot (pilots are revered as the elite of the elite in the Israeli army, to be in the Israeli air force is considered a great honor).  Pilots' names are not allowed to be released to the public unless something happens to them--they are, to say the least, one of Israel's most prized possessions.  Last week, Assaf died in a plane crash on a routine flight.  He was in the top of his flight class and had received his wings from Israeli president Shimon Peres only two weeks prior.  Apparently, Assaf took too many G's by accident and passed out, crashing over Hebron in the West Bank.  It's important to ask ourselves what kind of a society we live in where mothers have to sign their names and make a decision about whether or not to send their children (who've had relatives killed) to the army.

In any case, the Israel update was exceptional.  "Yotzeh min ha'klal," out of the ordinary.  After that, I went to Ulpan class (which Nathan has now switched into! :)).  Then we went to the Super Douche to buy some groceries for a huge camping trip we're going on near the Kinneret--but I'm sure I'll write about that when we get back.  We leave tomorrow morning.

Tonight, I'm just going to hang out with Nathan and see where the night takes us.  Have a good one, chaverim!

Fat Meir

Today, I woke up a bit later than usual and went to a soup kitchen to volunteer with Chanya, Guy, Anna, and Chip.  The guy there is called "Meir the Shamen" (Fat Meir) because he used to be fat.  Now, he's fairly fit and has us make sandwiches for hungry kids.  He also made us shakshuka (kind of like the hashbrowns of eggs); it was my first time eating it since I've been here and it was absolutely fantastic.  I've noticed (and this was evident with Meir) that if I speak to an Israeli in Hebrew, and they know I'm American, it'll take them a while to be comfortable enough to speak with me in Hebrew--they'll try, even if they can't at all, to speak English with me as much as possible until we reach the point of no return, where all they speak is Hebrew.

The reason I went to this today instead of my normal volunteering (at the school) is because Year Course chose me and several others to be interviewed by a TV station for a program they're doing about American Jews in Israel.  I ended up making sandwiches at a table with Chanya while a rambunctious, bald man asked us questions about the program and what it was like to be a Jew in America.  They put make up on me before the interview--I don't wanna talk about it.

After, we met up with some other people who had been chosen to be interviewed, and we sat in a circle in a park nearby singing and talking a little more to the cameras. It was pretty cool, hopefully I'm going to get a DVD of the program when it's edited later on.

Then I returned to the apartment and had a delicious lunch of pita and kebab, probably one of the best lunches I've had yet.  We then went to classes (Sheldon's Arab-Israeli Conflict class is interesting, but I may switch out of David Project--we'll see).  After, Emilie, Nathan, Cera and I (mostly I) called up some different people to see about the possibility of working with Darfuris in the area for Garin Tzedek--we might make some good headway, we're supposed to have a meeting with a leader of the Darfuri community on Tuesday.

Shortly after, we had to go back to Ulpan to hear Barbara Goldstein lecture us about the medical clown at Hadassah hospital.  She was boring, but then he was funny.  I guess it's a fairly important job, but kind of a luxury, to be honest.

Then Scott and I went on a jog, and then I had dinner.  That was my day.  I hope you had/will have/are having a good one!

Neve Tsedek

Today, for our siyur, we visited the first neighborhood outside of Jaffo and of Tel-Aviv, Neve Tsedek. Our tour guide told us it was one of the first places in Israel where people spoke Hebrew in school.  We were led by a particularly eccentric guy wearing a fez.  He was one of those people who I think initially wanted to be an actor or stand-up comedian, but ended up leading (very funny) tours.  Near the beginning, he asked Simon what happened to his head:

Monday night, Scott and I headed up to Eli Cohen 24 (previously known as Simon's/Nathan's/Scott's/BenJirik's/Aaron's/Ohad's apartment), and I buzzed in as Scott opened it to warn Simon we were coming.  He picked up the phone, I told him, and then we ran up there to find him bleeding from his eyebrow.  Apparently, after I called him he turned around to go put clothes on and ran straight into a doorpost.  It was pretty funny at the time.  The rest of that night we drank gin and tonic while hanging out near the park, where we played a drinking game with cards--it was pretty fun.

Anywho, the tour guide asked Simon about it and incessantly made fun of him for it.  It was a good tour all in all, but a little boring--despite some of his silliness:



There was also this interesting thing that the guide explained to us about Turkish culture: there used to be little knobs underneath the windows of girls' rooms that would turn up and down to indicate to boys whether or not their fathers were home.  Not only do I find this a little slutty, but I have to wonder whether girls flipped the knob back up once a guy came over, and what they did if they only had a little bit of time (the guide claimed they flipped it halfway, but I somehow doubt it), and why the buildings would have these on them in the first place--suffice it to say, I had a couple of problems with the idea:



Afterwards, Scott, Adi, Judith and I went to Dizengoff center and did...nothing.  Scott bought a shirt from Fox Men, and we did see a CROC STORE:



Then we returned and took naps.  When I awoke, I had a brief chat with my mother and then went with Ephy and Roie to buy groceries (finally).  Then I went to the krav maga class with Simon, Scott, BenJirik, Aaron, and others.  It was intense, and a fairly good work out.  At the end, we started to wrestle, and Aaron kicked my ass--although I did manage to get out from under him one time and pin him for a bit.

Anyway, I think I'm going to go over to Emilie's now and try to talk to her and Cera about the potential hiking trip this weekend near the Kinneret, it's supposed to be pretty sweet.

G'mar chatima tova l'culam, take it easy!

I am on break

The teacher at my school told us at 9 that she didn't need us until after the break, which ends at 10:15.

Naptime.

Sunday I woke up at about 10 and had a solid lunch with a good portion of my mother's family until 2 or so, then returned to Bat-Yam.  I tried to call some people up but nothing was really happening.  As I was taking a shower, Roie returned to the room with his cousin Yoni, and Roie and I proceeded to thoroughly clean up the apartment (even though, when I left on Thursday, its level of cleanliness had been reasonable).  Then I went with Scott and Simon and others to a place in Tel-Aviv called Mike's Place, which is kind of like an American sports bar.  Before we left, some people got some beers, but I'm sick of drinking cheap rat piss, so I got a Bacardi Breezer.  Scott, of course, made fun of me for this relentlessly--it only has one percent less alcohol by volume than the beer, though, and, while I may look less manly carrying around its dainty bottle, at least it tastes good.  You know what?  I shouldn't have to defend myself on this.  It's okay for a guy to get a Bacardi Breezer every once in a while instead of a beer.  Good day.

Anyway, we took the 18 bus into Tel-Aviv and walked down to the boardwalk...Simon and I realized that Mike's Place is an American sports bar, so we decided to go get dinner instead (something which neither of us had done).  He, Aaron, and I went to a nonchalant place for our "last supper," and then we went down to the beach.  Simon had bought a mini-handle of vodka before we left Bat-Yam, and consumed it all by himself, so he was pretty drunk by this time.  This became more obvious as we walked back to the bus stop to return to Bat-Yam while he stumbled behind us.  Then, on the bus, I was talking to Cari about her poetry, and she said she wrote a lot of songs.  Simon then proceeded to "whisper" (a drunken whisper for Simon is more of a normal conversation) to Ephy that he didn't believe she wrote songs.  Cari then acted slightly offended, so Simon spent the rest of the bus ride (probably about a half an hour) focusing intensely to type an apology text message to her.  In the end it wasn't completely coherent, but it's the thought that counts, right?

We went over to Tani's because there was supposed to be some big thing going on, but it ended up just being a bunch of people smoking a hookah in their apartment.  So we went back over to Eli Cohen 24 (previously known as Simon's/Nathan's/Scott's/BenJirik's/Aaron's/Ohad's apartment) and hung out for a little while--Adi came over and Nathan returned from his Rosh Hashana weekend, and I went home to sleep.

That is all.  I hope things are well with you, whoever you may be.  Happy Monday!

Rosh Hashana

"They let us switch out our shoes freely, I don't really like the high-topped boots."

My cousin is home from the army for the Jewish new year, Rosh Hashana, one of the most important holidays.

"But when you switch, don't you also have to switch the diskettes?"

"Diskettes?  In the shoes?"

"Yeah, they put diskettes in their shoes now."

"What is that supposed to mean?  When I went to the army, they didn't put diskettes in our shoes...how are you supposed to explain that to a new soldier?"

"Bluntly."

I come to realize that diskette is the Hebrew word for "dog tags."

"What are you supposed to say to an 18-year-old when they ask you why they need to have diskettes in their shoes?!"

"Times change.  You tell them all you can: the truth."

This was what stuck with me most from the many rushed conversations that my relatives had (in Hebrew) at my Aunt's apartment last night, during the Rosh Hashana meal.  As depressing as they are, conversations like this are important.  I came to Israel in order to experience the Israeli culture in its entirety, not just the shiny, nice parts.  Rosh Hashana at my Aunt's was a good deal of fun: Thursday night, my cousin Gil (who is studying law at Tel-Aviv University) came and picked me up from the apartment, and we ended up giving Noa (my madricha) a ride, which was kind of funny (AND ALSO SUPER AWKWARD).  That night, Gil took me to a pizza place in Tel-Aviv named Tony Vespa, where you paid by how many kilograms the slice you wanted weighed.  It was a pretty good place, at the end of Dizengoff street, I have to remember it.  Later, we went to a bar in Kfar Saba, where most of my father's family lives (including Gil), and drank some with some of Gil's friends.  It was nice.  The next morning I woke up very late, at 2 in the afternoon, and played some with Yuval, the youngest cousin I have in that family.  Then many more people (including my paternal grandparents) came over for the ceremonial dinner, which was delicious--I made the mistake of filling up before the main meal was brought out, as I thought it was already there.  In any case, after dinner my other cousin from that family (the Rosenblums), Dror (the one from the army, he's my age) took me out with some of his friends and we drank in a park nearby.  It was quite a different experience from the night I spent with Gil, but good in its own way: it was the kind of thing I may have done with people on Year Course if I'd been in Bat-Yam that night.

This morning I woke up at 11 and went with Gil to a barbecue some of his friends were having near my other set of grandparents' place.  They live in a kind of retirement neighborhood near the city of Netanya, which is relatively north in Israel.  We then went to dinner at my Safta's (grandma's) brother's place, where I saw other parts of my family for the first time since I've arrived.  It was also pretty good.  Now I am back at my grandparents' place, about to go to sleep.

It is raining heavily in Netanya tonight.  This is the first rain that has come down since I've been in Israel, and there is a special name for it in Hebrew, as it's the first rain of a long, monsoon-like season.  They call it the יורה (yoreh), which sounds a lot like the word yored (falling).  I have always been mystified by the rain, it is one of the last things we have left that we cannot control, and I'm fascinated by the scent and the sight of it.  This particular rain, however, is probably one of the most important ones I've ever witnessed (and smelt).  It marks the end of the summer season here, and marks the beginning of my year in Israel.  It's only fitting that the yoreh would fall tonight, on Rosh Hashana, and that all this should be near the start of Year Course.  While I already have experienced plenty of amazing things, there have also been various frustrations, and I can only hope that as the year progresses I can appreciate both.  Life is full of frustrations, and it's important that I remember what Noah Gallagher told me before I left camp to come here--"On Year Course, even when it seems like you're having the shittiest time, it's still one of the best times of your life."

Tomorrow I will return to Bat-Yam and life will resume again as usual, at least for here.  All in all, this has probably been one of the best Rosh Hashanot I've ever celebrated.

I wish you all a shana tova u'metukah.  Lila tov!

Ahhh...

The apartment is clean again.  There is nothing quite so nice as the feeling of a clean living space.  We also got really nice, new fans from logistics, so everything is well.

Last night was nothing all too special, I hung out at Eli Cohen 24 (Previously known as Simon's/Nathan's/Scott's/BenJirik's/Aaron's/Ohad's apartment) for a while and did nothing, then went down to the corner store.  Shortly after, we headed to the mall with Dana, Carie, Cera, and Emilie and went to get ice cream.  Then we kind of split up, went back to Cera's apartment for a bit, and then decided to head home.  On the way back home, Emilie claimed that wearing tighty-whities (I was wearing tighty-whities yesterday, or, as Emilie and Scott insist, whitie-tighties) reduces your sperm count.  Even though I don't wear them most of the time (about 99% of the time I wear boxers), I still desperately hope this is not true.  It's kind of the principle of the thing--Emilie and Scott both claimed that it was because of extra pressure that tighty-whities exert upon the crotchal region--if someone could give me a rational, reasonable explanation as to why wearing them would reduce one's sperm count, I'd believe it.

After going up to Emilie's to check if Columbia was an Ivy League college (it was, Emilie had me on this one), Scott and I sat around for a bit before I left, just as tons of scouts came in.

I went home and fell asleep.  Then, this morning, I got let out of volunteering early, and now I'm at home about to eat lunch. My grandpa is coming after ulpan today at 7 to take me to my aunt Dorit's house for tonight, and then my paternal grandparents are going to pick me up so I can spend Rosh Hashana at their house.  This weekend seems like it'll be good for getting plenty of sleep and time for introspection, which I've been missing lately.

Shana tova, chag sameach, and I hope you and I can speak soon!

It No Longer Hurts for Me to Swallow

...35

The night before last, as I was leaving the apartment, I stumbled across an exceedingly nice (and relatively large) sofa sitting on the street by the side of our apartment.  It was a little worn down and had some holes in it, but I went back up and got Tomer so we could bring it upstairs.  Simon's/Nathan's/BenJirik's/Scott's/Aaron's/Ohad's apartment (I'm just going to start calling this apartment Eli Cohen 24, because it's 10,000,000 times easier) has many pieces of furniture that they have dragged off the streets, and, to be honest, I'm jealous.  It took Tomer and I about 20 minutes to carry our monstrosity up only one flight of stairs because of its unwieldy nature and its resolute determination to just barely fit through every door.  In the end, though, it was definitely worth it--it's a pretty sweet sofa.

Nothing much happened that night, and I went to bed fairly early.  When I woke up yesterday, I felt considerably better, and it no longer hurt for me to swallow.  I caught bus number 46 with Jake from the mall to go to our first chosen Siyur, a walking tour of Old Jaffo.  It was a pretty interesting walk, although I feel certain we did something similar on Machon, my trip to Israel last summer, because at one point we crossed the wishing bridge, and I distinctly remember it.  Some of the highlights from the Siyur:

We were supposed to arrive at Kikar Ha'shaon (Clock Square) of our own accord at 9:30, with only the directions "Take bus 46 from Yoseftal Street."  Jake and I got on this bus and it drove in a somewhat snake-like pattern for a while, squiggling around Bat-Yam, before it got into Jaffo.  I then realized that we had no idea if it stopped at Kikar Ha'shaon, and when we would need to get off, so I asked the guy sitting ahead of me and he said "right now."  I hit the stop button as the bus turned and the driver was forced to a screeching halt, as the stop was right there.  I asked a person on the street how to get to Kikar Ha'shaon (because I didn't see a giant clock anywhere), and they told me to walk all the way down the street we were on (Yefet Street).  This worked, although I asked several more people as we walked down it, because it was longer than I anticipated.  As we were nearing the end of our walk, we saw some random Arabic guy riding a white pony bareback.  It was pretty funny, I will put a picture of it up when I get my bag back from Eli Cohen 24 (previously known as Simon's/Nathan's/Aaron's/Scott's/BenJirik's/Ohad's apartment).

At the beginning of our tour, we sat next to the clock tower and the guide lectured a little about the history of Jaffo.  While he was doing this, some darker-skinned man sat on a short column nearby and stretched his muscles VIOLENTLY, thrusting different parts of his body with a certain degree of vehemence.  At one point, he began chopping his bicep over and over again.  Later, he held up one of his hands and shook it with a Parkinson's determination until he flung it downwards, almost as though he was trying to get rid of it.  While most of the people on the Siyur with me thought he was crazy, I'm fairly certain he was some sort of monk.  Either way, it was highly intriguing.

Near the conclusion of the tour, we went to the museum of a woman named Ilana Goor, which was fairly surreal and almost DaDa-like.  One of the coolest things was that there was a sculpture by Aleksandr Archipenko, my favorite sculptor.  There was also a table designed by Le Corbusier, a very famous architect.  Once again, I'll put pictures of these things up as soon as I get my stuff back.

The best part of the Siyur, however, was after the formal tour was over.  Jake, Carie, Emilie, Cera and I stayed in Jaffo and had lunch at a highly esteemed bakery--we got toasted bagels, which were delicious.  We then proceeded to go to the Jaffo flea market, where I bought some shorts and two pairs of nice, loose genie pants that I'm extremely excited to wear.  I also bought a tiny Sheshbesh set, but I didn't realize until I got home that it has no dice.

Nathan is sick, so when I got home yesterday I went to go check up on him.  Earlier he told me he had a fever of 103, so I was a little bit concerned.  Adi and I arranged a doctor's appointment for him at 5, and then I proceeded to nap over there.  The doctor's office was pretty shady--it was just some random apartment over on Rothschild street, and 4 or 5 people were sitting in what would usually be a dining room, waiting for the doctor.  Two doctors also shared the "office," one was a dentist, the other an internal medicine specialist.  I then went down the boardwalk to pass out apples and honey to people in Bat-Yam with the tsofim.  This was pretty fun, and as we ran out of food we went to an ice cream place where Nathan could meet us.  I took him to some place on Ha'Neviim street to get him his medicine, and then took him home to go to bed.  Last night I went to Emilie's and we watched Pirates of the Caribbean 2 on that apartment's WORKING TELEVESION (it astounds me that they even have a TV), and then I came back home and went to bed.

I feel pretty good today, but the apartment has been a mess for almost a week now, and I really want to clean it up.  Despite (or perhaps because of) having slept almost 9 hours, I'm very sore today.  Classes start in an hour, though, and I have to go eat lunch.  Hope all is well with you, pictures soon!

Nothing Special

Today I woke up late to go to Bet Sefer Sharet, at exactly 7:45.  This is the second time this has happened, which can lead me to only one conclusion--but first, some background:

I am a very heavy sleeper.  I sleep like a deaf rock wearing noise-canceling headphones missing both ears.  I could sleep through a war.  Thus, I have to set three alarms, and make sure to put them far away from me, otherwise I will subconsciously turn them off.  So every night before I go to bed a set my cell phone alarm (a mildly annoying chirping), my clock alarm (a mildly annoying buzzing), and my iPod alarm (an Earth-shattering bugle horn) all for 7 AM.  This should give me enough time to wake up, eat breakfast, and shower.

Since this isn't happening, however, I suspect this:

I have been subconsciously putting my alarms on snooze every morning when they all ring at 7.  The cell phone alarm has a snooze time of 9 minutes, the clock has a snooze time of 5 minutes, and the iPod has a snooze time of 15 minutes.  What I think is happening, then is that I continue hitting snooze on each of these alarms until they all ring at the same time once again and jolt me into awakening.  It's actually starting to get really annoying, hopefully I'm wrong and this is just because I'm sick.

I had to leave the school early today (at like 11:40 as opposed to 12:45) because my fever kept rising.  I went home and collapsed into my bed, wherein I had a restless, sweaty nap until 3:20.  It was terrible.  When I awoke, I coughed and spit up a bit of bloody mucus.  There is a slight chance I'm dying, perhaps from tuberculosis.  Hopefully not.

I then went down to the Ulpan for our first actual Ulpan Class (Hebrew Classes), to find out that I am in the highest level (7).  This presents a bit of a challenge for me, as I have difficulty reading and writing, but I'm excited to learn how to better.  It's probably best that I was put in this class, because I speak Hebrew pretty fluently.  I was surprised at the speaking skills of the others in the class (I expected them to be better, so I felt more assured about my own skill).

Anyway, I'll probably end up spending the night chilling a bit in Scott's/Nathan's/Simon's/BenJirik's/Aaron's apartment, then going to bed early.  I have a Siyur (tour) tomorrow, a walking tour of Old Jaffo (kind of the Arabic section of Tel-Aviv), it should be pretty fun.

Wishing you all well!

Bus 143

Today, I woke up late for volunteering once again, and decided that a shower was more crucial than breakfast (mistake).  I then made my way over to Bet-Sefer Sharet (Sharet School).  The scouts told me that, if there were only one vowel different (and vowels are not usually written in Hebrew), the name of the school would translate to "Janitor Elementary School."

In any case, on my hurried way to school, I saw many children going to their respective schools, and thought about how independent Israeli kids are, just walking themselves to school.  I suppose this is done in most big cities, but I live in Lexington, so I wouldn't really know.  I wondered to myself how kids didn't get lost more often, and, literally an hour into volunteering today, a teacher came in asking if any kids had seen a child who had gotten lost on the way to school.

Some of the kids I was tutoring tried to tell me that there is a disease which only affects redheads, and it entails gingim (redheads) walking around and suddenly collapsing.  Keep in mind that I work with the slower kids who are having more difficulty with English.  Later, there was an hour-long block when a soldier came in to teach the kids a very strange class.  She taught them about what to do in different types of emergencies and sundry disasters.  She also told them the different ways in which people may react to and acknowledge (or not acknowledge) an emergency.  At the end, she discussed with them how to avoid starting fires in their homes.  It was one of the strangest lessons I'd ever seen.

I left the school too late to prepare myself lunch, and had to rush back to the apartment to grab materials for the first day of classes.  I got the exact classes I wanted--Arab-Israeli Conflict and The David Project (Israel Advocacy), and both were pretty interesting.  Arab-Israeli Conflict is taught by a man named Sheldon, and is probably going to be my favorite class.  It's very informative and intriguing, and there is a certain sense of mystique to it because he told us that, since he has been in the army and various other important positions in the Israeli government, what he says can never leave the classroom (OOPS!).  The David Project was also interesting, but not nearly as much.

After this, I found out that I was to give a speech tonight at the opening ceremony for Year Course (we're already two weeks in, but whatever).  Some more notice would have been nice, because what little time I did have for writing a speech I had to spend going to get dinner (my first meal).

And this is where Bus 143 comes in.

Simon, Ephy and I took Bus 143 in the hopes of arriving at the 5-shekel falafel stand just outside of Bat-Yam, in Holon (literally across one of the streets).  We thought the bus was going to stop once it crossed the overpass, but, instead, it turned left and got on the highway heading towards Jerusalem.  We were freaking out for a couple minutes, in a kind of haha-we're-laughing-and-it's-funny-but-also-kind-of-disconcerting way.  Fortunately, the bus got off the highway in two exits, and we took the same one back.

I ended up doing the speech off the top of my head (I had some rough thoughts, but had written nothing down), and people told me it went pretty well.  I'd like to think so.




I then went with Nathan and Scott so that they could get some 5-shekel falafel, and then we went to Adi's apartment for a light dinner.  All in all, it was a good day.  Tomorrow we find out our Ulpan placements, and on Tuesday we go on our first (chosen) Siyurim--I got the tour of Old Jaffo.


I am still a little sick, but hopefully I'll feel better soon.  Probably not though.  :P

Sick

Today, the entirety of the Midwest boys, Noah included (since he was visiting this weekend) went to a park near the beach and played ultimate.  After that, we went down to the beach and swam for a while, then proceeded to eat dinner at a falafel place nearby.

We then went back to Simon's/Nathan's/Scott's/Ben Jirik's/Aaron's apartment and Nathan, Aaron and I played some poker.  Adi returned from being home for the weekend and played with us.  Cera and Eliana came over and we all tried to listen to some radiolab together but we ended up having too many other things to do.  Then I returned to the apartment and got into bed.

I don't know if leaving my bed was a good choice today, but I didn't want to let an entire day go to waste...:/

Hopefully I will feel better tomorrow.  Lila tov!

A couple of crazy days...

Wednesday did, indeed, end up being a chore day.  I went to sleep fairly early that night after listening to radiolab, because I had my first real day of volunteering the next day and I wanted to be up by 6:45 in order to get ready.

Despite setting alarms, I woke up at 7:50 and had to run to the school, which I am supposed to be at by 8.  The first day was aright--the teacher, Ronit, placed me with the kids who had more difficulty with English, since I speak Hebrew and can thus explain things to them.  This meant, however, that many of the children I worked with had little to no reading skills and a lack of focus.  It was interesting though, to see how an Israeli classroom works.  Maybe I just haven't been in that many American classrooms, but the children seemed much rowdier.  The teacher had a microphone so that she could yell at them, which was fairly unusual to me.  The interaction between kids was also vastly different.  The first two children I tutored, Or and Yoni, got into an argument halfway through an English comic strip about the Great London Fire about Or losing Yoni's ball.  Yoni insisted that Or had to buy him a new one, Or insisted he had not lost it, and I insisted that if they were going to argue about it they had to do it in English (I was ignored). :P

It is bizarre to see workbooks for the English language in the same manner that I've seen Spanish textbooks for most of my life.  The kids were learning words like "bed," "window," "sky," etc.  When I was trying to explain a concept to one of them, I had to use the word "out," and I remembered how many different and confusing usages there are for "out" in English.

I find it more fulfilling to work with the children who are having more difficulty with English, both because I feel like I'm contributing more and because it gives me yet another chance to practice my Hebrew.  We got let out early on the first day, but I'm looking forward to being there more often and getting to know the kids.  The mentality of children in Israeli society has always fascinated me--Israeli kids seem to mature so much more quickly than American ones, possibly because they know that, by the time they're 18, they will be entrusted with the safety of their country.  The society itself here moves more quickly because it is not one that is entirely secure--on some level, it is facing a very clear and present danger.

After getting home from volunteering on Thursday, I went to take a nap in Simon's apartment (on Nathan's bed, of course).  I then got ready for the big party the scouts were taking us to that night.  I'm not exactly sure where it was, but I do know it was somewhere north of Tel-Aviv and near Ranana.  We paid 25 shekels to take the bus up there, and then 50 shekels at the door for unlimited drinks.  I knew it was going to be a particularly good time because some people from section three (ie, Noah) were visiting for the weekend.  It did, indeed, end up being a crazy party, and the bus didn't take us home until about 5 AM.  As I was waiting on the side of the road for the bus, a carload of Arsim (or Arabs, I'm not entirely sure because it was pretty dark) drove by and called me "Gingi" (a derogatory term in Hebrew for a redhead--it can be used as a term of endearment, but rarely is), then attempted to spit on me--they missed.  I told them I just wanted to be left alone, which I suppose they took offense to, because they then stopped the car and the man in the passenger seat opened his door and asked me what I'd said.  Now, I was a good deal drunk at the time, but I knew I wasn't out of line in asking to be left alone.  They were just being dicks to me because I had red hair.  Instead of standing up for gingim everywhere, however, I just apologized.  I figured that I didn't want to get in a fight, and that they were too drunk to listen to reason.  I then came home and slept a shallow, unhelpful sleep until 10:30.

I got up to go take a shower and, when I got out, my paternal grandfather, my aunt, and one of my cousins had come to visit.  This was fine, although I felt quite embarrassed due to the filthiness of the apartment and my ragged appearance.  Still, we had a nice conversation and they seemed pleased.  I then went to go nap at Nathan's/Simon's/BenJirik's/Scott's/Aaron's apartment, and woke up at about 5 to go visit with my maternal grandparents.  We went out to a steakhouse near the beach that was surely the best food I've had since coming to Israel.  Afterwards, I went with Nathan, Simon, Scott, and Ethan (from section 3) to a Shabbat dinner potluck in Emilie's apartment, which was nice.  Later that night, we went down to a bonfire on the beach, and nothing particularly eventful happened.

The last couple of days have kind of been a bit much for me--I don't know if I'll want to participate in such a large amount of craziness for some time, especially since we start the normal schedule on Sunday.  Unfortunately, I am sick this morning, but I think I'm going over to Nathan's to see if he has some medicine for me.  As fun as the past couple of days have been, I somehow doubt they've been worth the hassle and sickness I'm now dealing with.  It has also undoubtedly been detrimental for me to not post for several days; I'm sure countless funny memories have been lost due to my laziness.

In any case, I can only hope that by the end of today I feel better, since tomorrow promises to be a full day.  I hope all is well with you, and, if you are reading this, chances are I would love to speak to you sometime soon.

Of Mice and Onions

Well, mostly just onions.  No mice at all, actually.
Yesterday morning we were taken on our first "siyur," a special trip that we get to go on once a week.  We got to select a variety of interesting options the other day, but this trip was already planned before that.  We went up to Rehovot, one of the richer suburbs of Tel-Aviv (kind of the inverse of Bat-Yam, where I live).  There was a British man on a kibbutz there who told us about the organization we were volunteering with, Table to Table (Shulchan l'Shulchan).

Allow me to backtrack for a second.  The day before we went on this trip, we were told we were going to be picking fruits for people who couldn't afford food for the Jewish high holidays, which are coming up very shortly.  Hence, I and most other people imagined we would be picking cherries, or apples, or oranges--even though those only grow in Israel in the winter.

No, instead, we picked onions.  I hate onions.  I can't stand their smell, their texture, their shape, and especially not their taste.  I didn't know until we start picking them that onions grow in the ground and emit copious amounts of onion dust when plucked.  We spent the morning bent over, collecting onions.  I had to wonder, though, what poor people feel they are at a loss for more during their holiday meals--onions, or actual food?

In any case, one of the main rules that the man told us right before we went to pick the onions was not to throw them, because the lawyer who owns the farm only grows food there for charity, and wants to make sure it's in prime condition.  Of course, Simon threw onions at me the entire time, and I felt obligated to catch them because I didn't want them to bruise.  At one point, Scott threw an onion from halfway across the field that knocked my hat off.  This was right after Simon had climbed up some makeshift crate-stairs to throw a box of onions into a bigger box, and tripped and fell on his way down.  It was one of those awkward falls that takes a long time, yet is inescapable.  In the middle he realized he was falling, and had no choice but to throw his arms behind him and face plant himself into an onion patch.  It was pretty damn funny.

In the last half-hour of picking, I began to get very bored, so I started singing songs and replacing words in them with "onion":

He was a decorated onion with a heart of gold...and I could tell, to all the onions he told.  Of past onions won and lost and onions of old...'cause he's an onion in his own time.  On the battlefield he gained respect and onion, with many medals of bravery and onions to his name...he grew an onion as soon as he could to cover the onions on his face...and always urged his onions on...

Early in the onion...rising to the street...light me up that onion and I strap onions on my feet.  Got to find an onion, an onion things went wrong.  Got to find an onion why my onion's all gone......'cause onion is what I got!

Colt 40-onion, and two zig-zags, baby that's all we need...

Can I onion like that?  You can onion like that!

I'm an onion picker, but I used to be a rapist (this one is actually a spoof of another song we made up called "I'm a gardener, but I used to be a rapper--it is about the kids in Bat-Yam who have dropped out of high school and are now doing gardening work around the city [this was one of our volunteer options, Scott is actually in it]).  I will put up the lyrics to both "Onion picker who used to be a rapist" and "Gardener who used to be a rapper" in the near future.

Then we moved into Disney songs:

Under the onion!  Under the onion!  Down where it's better, down where it's wetter, under the onion!

I can show you the onion...shining, glimmering onion...over, sideways, and under on a magic onion ride...A WHOLE NEW ONION!

Hakuna-m'onion...hakuna-m'onion...it means no onions, for the rest of your days!  It's an onion-free...philosophy!  Hakuna-m'onion!  Hakuna-m'onion! (in a whisper): Hakuna-m'onion, hakuna-m'onion, hakuna-m'onion, hakuna-m'onion.

Oh I just can't wait to be onion!

Arabian onions...like Arabian onions!

Anyway, once we got bored of this we moved on to book titles:
Onion-House Five, The Great Onionsby, James and the Giant Onion, The Scarlet Onion, MacOnion, OnionBeth, Romeo and Onion, The Merchant of Onion, The Adventures of Huckleberry Onion, Dante's Onion, the Divine Onion,  Onionthello, Great Onionspecations, Pride and Onionjuice, Heart of Onion, Crime and Onionment, War and Onion, Paradise Onion, The Lord of the Onions, Oniondysseus, The Last of the Onionhicans, Harry Potter and the: Sorcerer's Onion, Chamber of Onions, Prisoner of Onionkaban, Goblet of Onion, Order of the Onion, Half-Onion Prince, Deathly Onions.

Anywho, the British man proceeded to give us all shirts for the organization.  We ended up picking one ton of onions.  That's a lot of goddamn onions.  As we left, Simon and I asked the British man if he was still sore about the Boston Tea Party, and he said he'd already been living in Israel for 29 years (so I guess that's a "no").

When we got home, I took a massive nap in Nathan's bed, then had a short meeting with Cera and Emilie about Garin Tzedek (our group dedicated to helping the Darfuris).  We figured out some fun things to do and how to hopefully be able to fully volunteer with Darfuris during the next trimester.  We left abruptly as Tomer called me and told me that the tsofim's (like the boy scouts in America, but much more popular, and, frankly, much cooler) first peulah (program) was happening at their headquarters.  The place is next to the school I volunteer at--it's kind of an open field of dust.  The tsofim had built many different things, and kids of all ages were doing different activities.  It was pretty cool, but there was almost nothing for me to do, so we left after a little. I had dinner at a place called Japanika near the beach with the entirety of Lior's apartment, and it was pretty good.  I also ordered a girly drink for the first time since I got here, but I don't want to talk about it.  My pride can't stand to. :P

I then went home and showered, hung out with Nathan for a bit, and then went back to my place with every intention of sleeping--but there were a bunch of drunk people there, so I came back to Nathan's/Simon's/Scott's/Ben Jirik's/Aaron's/Ohad's apartment and slept on their couch.

All in all, yesterday was a good day.  I feel like I'm going to do a lot of chores today though.  Oh well.  Hope everyone's doing well!

We're about to eat dinner.

Today was strange.
I went to my volunteering placement fairly early in the morning (around 8:00), only to find out that I wasn't needed today, and I should show up tomorrow.  I went there with Alyssa, who I don't know that well.  The security guard at the elementary school asked me for my passport number, which I did not have.  I did not tell him this, however--I just wrote down ten random numbers.  I then entered and wandered around the second floor for several minutes before I stopped someone and told them I was a volunteer.  Luckily, they just happened to be the English teacher who I was supposed to be meeting.  Unluckily, she told me that I was not needed today--and thus I proceeded home and cleaned up the apartment a bit.  Then I babysat Simon's apartment while a phone was supposed to come (that never came), then had lunch there.  I got back to the apartment and we went to Super Douche to get some groceries, and then we had a mifgash dira with Noa, our madricha...that went fairly well, except for the fact that our REFRIGERATOR IS BROKEN.   But it is slowly fixing itself (maybe).  Logistics told us to unplug the refrigerator so that the ice block in the back of it would melt...we unplugged it, and then pulled out the shelf and threw the ice block out the window.  I'm pretty sure the refrigerator is totally fucked.

In the afternoon, Cera and I went around Bat-Yam and took some pictures, then went and sat at the beach for a while.  While we were there, I somehow got my replacement phone from a shady van sitting on Ben-Gurion Street...but I'm not complaining.

I can't decide whether I want to chill at Simon's apartment tonight or go into Tel-Aviv, because we have to wake up pretty early tomorrow.  Oh well, we'll see.

Funny Things

Ok, so, funny things aside for a second, last night was a pretty good night: Nathan and I sat on the beach and had some beers, then went back to Jake's apartment and hung out for a while before going to sleep.  It was pretty nice, and I also got to hang out more with many of the scouts--whom, frankly, I love.

Then today we got to wake up later than we initially thought, and then went to the Ulpan to find out our volunteering placements.  As it ends up, I am working with elementary school kids, mostly teaching them English (which is a good placement for me, since I speak Hebrew pretty well and will be able to explain things to them).  We found out the other day that Garin Tzedek (the group we were going to have volunteer with Darfurians, or, as Israelis say it, Darfuris) is going to work differently than what we'd planned: we're going to have options to volunteer with them occasionally, but they cannot be our main volunteering placement.  Which is kind of annoying, but I'm still glad to have any opportunity to work with them at all.  Hopefully sometime in the next couple of days I and some other people can figure out more things for the Garin to do.

We then signed up for Siyurim, which are basically trips that take us to see everything cool in Bat-Yam.  So much for exploration.  Still, Scott and I are looking forward to planning our own camping trips.

Now, on to funny things:

after Ulpan, I went to Simon's apartment for lunch, and they made me pay 5 shekels to eat there.  In their defense, I ate quite a bit.
afterwards, we slouched around for a while before going over to Emily's apartment to shave Simon's back hair, which looks like pubes.  This was quite funny, because Simon was freaking out the whole time.  Hopefully pictures of this will be up soon.  Before that, however, Simon was on the phone with IsraelPhones trying to get his phone fixed, but he was on hold for a long time.  Instead of waiting like a reasonable person, he yelled at the phone and then said that he was Scott, and that if someone didn't pick up in two minutes, he was going to blow up Israel.  It was fairly funny (and also an act of terrorism, so if the IDF reads this, I would understand if they have to kill him), and made me wonder about the fate of my own phone, as the 6 key has fallen off.  When I went to the cellcom stand in the mall to try to fix that, they basically just ignored me.  Awesome.  But, within a minute of Simon saying that, someone came on the phone and fixed everything.  Go figure.

the other night, Aaron almost got into a fight with some Arab people.  I wasn't there, but apparently they bet him 20 shekels that he couldn't hit over 700 on a punching bag machine near the beach.  Now, I saw Aaron hit 840 on the same game a few nights before this, and spend almost 50 shekels (because if you hit exactly 777, you get free vodka from the store it's outside of--although you'll probably end up spending more money than it would have cost to just buy some vodka, it's the principle of the thing, really).  Aaron was apparently so drunk, though, that he couldn't hit over 500, and freaked out about it.  I'm actually kind of glad I wasn't there.

This evening, the tsofim took us to a pool by the beach--it was ok.  I should go to bed now, though, because I start my volunteering placement for the first time tomorrow morning.

Take it easy, friends!

Saturday.

So, here Nathan and I are at the end of the day, sitting inside my room.  Tomer has gone out with the scouts to celebrate his birthday, and hopefully to buy a new shirt--he lost a very classy Castro white T at the beach last night.

Today I woke up early and went to Ulpan for (mandatory) services, I and a couple of others did YJ traditional.  Then I slobbed around Simon's apartment for most of the afternoon before going back to Ulpan for a "whose line is it anyway" type peulah and then an Israel update. 

The Israel update was particularly interesting--we were asked to choose what we thought the three most discussed topics are in Israeli news.  I said the water shortage and the Kinneret, Olim and Aliyah, and Orthodox Jewish controversy, but then was reminded of some other things that are much more in focus right now--Gilad Shalit and the Iran threat.  We looked at an Israeli newspaper as we talked about it, and I think I may want to see about starting to read one every day--it's a good way for me to practice reading and an interesting method to catch up on the news.  I've always tried to read about Israel through Israeli sources (eg jpost, arutz7, haaretz), but getting the information through an Israeli newspaper is quite different.  It was an intriguing conversation, all told.

Then seuda shlishit, then Havdala, which our madricha asked us to lead, and now back here.

Just found out that we don't have to be up until 11 or so tomorrow, so we'll probably go to the beach again tonight...if you'd like to give me a call sometime, I use skype and gchat, and my Israeli phone number is 052-552-4516 (although if you are calling from America you first have to dial 011-972, and then skip the first 0 in my number--hence, 011-972-52-552-4516.  Keep in mind that I'm 7 hours ahead of you, though. :P)

Shavuah tov, chevrei!

Shabbat Shalom!

Today was a day off for us until Kabbalat Shabbat.

Thus, last night was a good time.  I woke up at 12 or so and went to get a pan for the Shabbat potluck tonight, then went down to the Super Douche (by the way, any bag that you get from a supermarket called "Super Douche" would be a "Super Douchebag," wouldn't it?) to get some cucumbers and tomatoes for the salad we had to make for the dinner.  We then prepared for Shabbat and went down to the beach (which has a phenomenal sunset view) to do services, which I and a couple of other Judaeans led.  Afterward, I told a Shabbat story and then we went back to the Ulpan for dinner.  It was pretty nice, and now we're back.  Nathan, Scott, and Cera are about to come over, and I think we'll go down to the beach to play some frisbee and just chill--unfortunately, most places are closed tonight.

All told, everything's going fairly well.  Once again though, I can't wait until the normal schedule starts.

Shabbat Shalom, I hope everyone who reads this has had and continues to have an excellent week!

Last Night, Today, and Tonight

Were all pretty good.

Last night was our first official "night out" with the scouts; they took us to a bar in Tel-Aviv that was pretty great.  The bar was what a bar always is, but the highlight was Scott's decision to try absinthe with Jake (although they didn't add wormwood [because it's illegal], what makes it a hallucinogen).  After the bar, Nathan and I went with Cera, her friend who was visiting Israel Karen, and Karin Lavie to a karaoke bar, but it ended up being closed.  Chas v'chaleela we ended up taking two cabs back to Yoseftal and Ben Gurion street, near the beach in Bat Yam.  We stayed there for a little while and then went home.

Scott and I did not go jogging this morning as we had both had long nights.  Everyone went to the Ulpan to get oriented on our medical insurance and our classes, which was fairly interesting and exciting, as it starts to mark the beginning of regularly scheduled Year Course activities. We then took a bus ride to Mount Carmel and went on a largely downhill hike that consisted of a good deal of rock climbing.  It was fairly fun.  We had dinner at some kibbutz with stone-oven made pizza, just like we did one time on Machon.  It was pretty fantastic.  Before we left to return to Bat Yam, the madrichim told us that we have tomorrow off until 6, when Shabbat is going to start--thus we all decided to go out again tonight, although I did not drink nearly as much.  Nathan was tired and decided to sleep instead (the little bitch). :P  However, he didn't tell me this--what he told me was that he would go out, but only if we both went in our Year Course shirts (they are like the tops of jumpsuits, made of nylon, non-breathable, extremely hot, and very douchey looking).  So I wore my Year Course shirt and met up with the rest of his apartment at the bus stop, only to find out he wasn't coming.

We proceeded to go to the beach and meet up with Adi and some other people.  We swam a little in our boxers, which was fun.  We sat around and Scott got fairly drunk again before Aaron, Simon, Tomer and I decided to go home.

Today was a good day, but I am starting to miss certain people.  I can't wait until we start regular scheduling next week.

It's been a long day...

...full of long, boring lectures.  Scott and I went for a longer jog this morning--he's basically an olympic runner, there's no way his heart rate is much higher than 20 BPM.  We went around a good chunk of the area we've learned so far:

View Larger Map
Later we went down to the Ulpan and took our Hebrew placement exams.  I did a lot better than I thought I would--when I know the word, it's fairly easy to read.  However, I don't know how to spell anything, and I can't always conjugate correctly, so we'll see how it goes.

We listened to a lot of somewhat useless talks, but when we finally had a lunch break, Nathan, Cera, Scott and I got pretty lost on our way down to the beach--I mean, we knew where we were going, but the buses that came by never seemed to be heading to the beach.  And every time we would wait at a bus stop, someone would get bored and suggest that we just walk.  We finally got down to the beach and ate at a place called Tobego with Karin and Marissa.  Nathan and I split some hummus and t'china (which is disgusting, t'china is just like watered-down hummus.  If hummus could vomit, it would be t'china).  When I went to pay, I gave the woman 50 shekels for our 26 shekel meal, but I'm fairly certain she also charged me for Scott's meal.  She gave me back a couple of ten-shekel coins (which look a lot like Chuck E. Cheese game pieces) and then suddenly Scott was paid for as well.  He maintains that I somehow made money, but I'm pretty sure I got ripped off.  In any case, I didn't have enough time to figure out what was actually going on, because we were already late getting back to the Ulpan center to hear another of many boring lectures.  We went and tried to get on a bus that would take us to Kaf Tet Benovember street, near the entrance of the Ulpan, but as we got on (after waiting for 10 minutes), the driver told me the bus doesn't go by there.  We decided to go on anyway and the bus took us somewhere in the middle of nowhere.  As we were randomly wandering around we began to realize we were going to be very late, so we called some tzevet and they told us we should take a cab.  About 2 minutes later, though, we saw Kaf Tet Benovember street, and started running down it.  We only ended up being 15 minutes late, but I'm pretty sure it'll be the last time I take a bus I'm not familiar with on a weekday.  I'm excited to get lost in Bat Yam during the weekend, when I don't have places to go.

It was, lame as it sounds, our first crazy Year Course experience.

Tonight we're going with the Israeli scouts to some bars so they can formally introduce us to "nights out" (since we weren't supposed to leave the apartments last night).  It should be fun.  But I'm going to go nap and shower now, I smell terrible and am about to pass out.

Today has kind of been one of those perpetual headache days...

The First Day

We recently finished having a dinner of spaghetti and salad, the first dinner in the apartment.  It was very nice--we're all getting along well and cooking is delicious.

It was very strange for me to buy food for my own place and stock it into the refrigerator after returning from the Super Douche.  It's the first time I've had to provide for myself to such an extent, and, to be honest, it's very exciting.

The rest of the day consisted of touring around and listening to people ramble on about things.  It's entrancing to live in a bigger city, even if it is kind of a slum area.  I had lunch with my friends from the other apartment in the pizza place below my apartment (it's literally right below us, our floors are hot because of their ovens).  It's okay but kind of expensive, and the guy who works the counter only speaks Russian.

Everything has been fantastic so far, I can only hope that things continue to rise.  I just feel at home; I can't wait until we begin normal programming and have plenty of free time.