1 hour, 57 seconds.

On Saturday morning I slept in until about 12, and then spent most of the day hanging out in Lizzy's apartment with Scott, Andrew, and, of course, Lizzy.  We watched many stupid videos and had light meals, discussing how different things were going to work for the Nike 10k Nightrun that night!

When we finally headed out, it was about 6:15 or 6:30 in the evening.  We went to Rabin Square, and, on the way there, a significant amount of people wearing the shirt for the 10k got on the bus.  One was a woman who I heard say that a little over 10,000 people were participating in the run.  When we got there, the square was packed with red-shirted runners, such as Andrew and myself:



In the days leading up to the race, I ran several 4ks, but I thought for sure that during the 10k I would end up walking a couple of kilometers.  To my surprise, I ended up running the entire thing somehow--I suppose when there's a level of motivation and determination, things sometimes just come naturally.  I went into the race wanting to break 100 minutes, but I ended up crossing the finish line in 1 hour and 57 seconds--and I was the first person to finish in the 60+ minutes heat.  All in all, it was exhilarating, and I felt a distinct sense of accomplishment afterwards.  I find it strange that my first serious race was such a long one, but that just makes it all the more triumphant.

On Sunday I woke up at around 11:30 and went to a meeting with a Hadassah lady down at Ulpan--she thought that Year Course isn't a "whole" experience, and wanted to talk to a couple chanichim about how they feel the program works (or doesn't).  I'm pretty sure we set her straight...we also got free pizza, so it was totally worth it. :P

Then there were, of course, classes, and after that we got to go to an Idan Raichel concert.  It was pretty good, I suppose.  I'm not that into him, though, so I feel like some of my other friends enjoyed it a lot more.  It was definitely an interesting experience, regardless.  I also saw Hadley and Oren there, which was cool.

And then this morning I went to the school to volunteer.  It's very hard to work with kids who straight-up don't care.  I don't know how to tell them that they need to learn English because it's an important skill in Israeli society without sounding too harsh, and it's even more difficult because some of the students just scream the whole time.  Still, if I have to endure students who don't care for most of the day, there is one guy, Adir, who I work with just before I leave who makes up for it all.  He has great difficulty with English but has improved drastically since we've started working together, and he genuinely cares.  It's absolutely phenomenal, especially compared to the other kids.

Anywho, I then went to Ulpan for a presentation about our upcoming trimester (they always say semester) in Arad, and that's when it kind of hit me: we only have a month left in Bat Yam, with the scouts, in the urban center of Israel.  It's hard to believe 2 months have already gone by...although I've written down a lot here, I can't help but feel as though I've missed some things that I want to remember, as though some experiences slipped by without my even having a conscious recollection of them.  It's strange to think that there is only a month left here, but it is also invigorating: it makes me want to make this coming month the best one possible.

Tonight, after Ulpan, Garin Tzedek held a very successful Israeli dancing session, with many attending.  It was a good deal of fun, and included most of the dances from Young Judaea that I've grown to love over the years.

After that, Nathan and I went for a longer run, did some exercises, and returned to my apartment for a delicious stir-fry dinner that Roie cooked.  By the time I got out of the shower and got ready to go out, everyone who I called had already gone to bed--which is good, it'll be nice to get some decent rest for once.

Tomorrow, I was signed up for the Palmach Museum Siyur (a museum I've visited several times--interesting, but less so after the first time), and then today when I checked the list, I was suddenly signed up for Sea Scouts, which is what I actually wanted.  I'm not going to ask any questions; I'm just going to accept what fate has graciously handed to me.  Tomorrow should be a good day.  Take it easy, chaverim, I hope all is well!  Feel free to send me an e-mail or a message or leave a comment or something, I'm sure I'd love to hear from you!