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
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