ZOMG. Surrey, guys. I have not updated this ish in such a long time. I will now try to go through nearly 4 weeks of events. Truth of the matter is now that we’re teaching, days tend to blend into one another. We have a real schedule going on and I LOVE having a schedule. Steph and I teach Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and Thursday and have Wednesdays off. On Sundays and Tuesdays we have ulpan from 4:30-7:00 and now Steph and I have volunteering Monday evenings at the school from 4:00-6:00. But more about that later.
The weekend after Eilat was pretty shitty. It rained the whole darn time and pretty much turned into myself, Steph and Jen Bug hanging out in the apartment with our new couches from Nir’s parents (our other couch had bugs. It was then thrown out the window.) and our new mood lighting lamp and then Jen and I discovering the amazingness that is Animals Talking in All Caps.com which then turned into me posting them on the FB walls of pretty much everyone I know. Good times. But at least my coats and hats and shoes had come so when I did need to venture outside I wouldn’t die from pneumonia.
The following week was wifey time because most of our fellow volunteers in Ramla went to Sar-El which is like a week long army thingy dingy. She and I opted out of it because well, we just didn’t really feel like it. Would have been cool to get a dog tag though. But anyhow, that Sunday evening, we met some friends in Tel-Aviv at a bar and after many attempts, I finally did some karaoke. …Baby One More Time. Had the place going I must admit. Good times.
Tuesday evening/morning just as I was getting into bed, I got a really horrible text from Vicki informing me that she just had to put Bob the Dog down. Came as a total shock to all of us but especially her. That dog was literally her 3rd child. It was a joke that she loved him more than Alex and I but it’s only funny because it’s kind of true. She took it really hard and I felt so awful. Bob was pretty much the most perfect dog in the world and It’s going to be really weird to come back home and not see his ugly one-eyed face and wiggly body. R.I.P Roberto.
That Thursday was Thanksgiving, so Steph made a whole turkey breast and I mashed potatoes with a spatula and we went over to the Golomb place and celebrated the genocide of Native Americans in Ramla. I then took over Maxim’s camera and took a lot of artsy girl pictures. A few of my feet of course.
I really cannot remember what happened that weekend so I guess I will move on to what I do remember. The following Monday, Nir informed Steph and myself that there would be a meeting after school about our volunteering program. We think, you know, a half hour. Maybe an hour. It was 3 and a half hours pretty much summing up what we learned at Seminar Ha’ Kibbutzim all in Hebrew. That was awesome.
Wednesday, we had a day trip to Yafo and then went to the Palmach Museum which is all about Israel before they gained their independence. Lots of reenactments which I tend to love. Like you know, Unsolved Mysteries style. Totally awesome. Elan’s grandparents had a big part in the Palmach and the people working there were really excited to meet him. There were photos of his grandmother in the hallway with a big fro and rifle looking amazing and then his grandfather was all over the tour. How cool is that?
So at this point, Maxim had started his new project which I am totally on board with. Watching all the Best Picture Oscar winners starting with the present and working our way back. So far we, and whoever is around, have watched Million Dollar Baby, Shakespeare in Love and The English Patient. All movies I have seen but not in a long while. We also threw in Lost in Translation one night since it’s my favorite movie ever and then Ides of March which was amazeballs. Elan also insisted on all of us watching Mad Max 2 one night. That was absolutely amazing. So bad. Soooo bad. So great.
Steph and I also found a really nice coffee shop in TLV one night. Very quaint with white string lights and couches and a projection screen that played Fashion TV on mute while Michael Jackson played on the speakers. Also, free wi-fi so…def going back there. I also had a bacon cheeseburger which was delicious and found out about a 24 hour breakfast place in TLV. Finally finding my comfort food in Israel.
So tonight is Schindler’s List which I’m pretty scared about. I still have never seen it and I will be preparing myself with a box of tissues (or toilet paper roll. Let’s be honest. This is Ramla.) and a lot of hand over the eyes action. Vicki and Alex come on Wednesday night and I’m super excited to show them my school and around town. And she is taking everyone in my program out for dinner Thursday evening. Yay!
I will really try to not go so long without updating because I am forgetting a lot of stuff. Like how when Steph and I took a sherut from the central bus station in TLV to find a coffee shop, a man came on with a little poodle in his arms and when I said, “Aaaaw!” he handed it to me and I held the damn dog for a good 10 minutes. We looked out the window together and it licked my face and didn’t shake at all and then I handed it back to the man when he got off the sherut. That was it. Awesome. Ok. bye!
Oh wait! I also forgot about volunteering. I had this girl named Yanna who is in 5th grade at my school but in Steph’s class and she speaks amazing English. Since she didn’t bring her books with her, we just sat and talked in English for an hour. She already has a really sassy and sarcastic sense of humour in English. She told me she thinks her big brother is gay because he wears pink and when I said that she would still love him even if he was gay she said, “Uuuuum…I don’t know.” Moving on… She also told me that her brother has his tongue pierced and like 3 tattoos that their mom doesn’t know about. The girl is 10 years old! After an hour, we all got a 15 minute break and Yanna and I played soccer with the boys. I..what’s it called? I assisted in a goal. Meaning I kicked it to the kid who scored. So then I did that flying thing I’ve seen soccer players do when they score a goal. That was super fun.
jordiblythe7 