End of Week and First Weekend (soph hashavua reeshon)

Wow, the days have been quite full. Let us see where we were. The second and third days of class were good. I think this is a good level after all. It is challenging, but the pace makes it manageable. After class on Thursday, I ran into a couple friends and they invited me to join them in town for lunch, errands, etc. So we threw our stuff back in our rooms and caught the bus down the mountain. Another August student and I were being toured by a July-er and first on his to-do list was a haircut. She and I listened to a playlist on his ipod that he wanted to share with us, drank some coffee, and worked on reading a magazine while he waited his turn and got a trim. Then up the street for pizza, and then another bus to a place for dessert and shopping. I am so used to desserts in other countries being less rich than in the states. Not so with Arabic desserts, apparently. The shop had baklava, but we decided on less familiar choices. There was one with a kind of gel made from orchid juice among other things and inspired some great conversation. “Wow, it’s weird to taste something I’m used to smelling.” “It’s like potpourri in my mouth…I like it!” Then there was a kind of rum cakey thing with a sweet syrup poured over it, and finally a cheese dessert dish. The cheese one was too much for me. I think it would be good with some strong coffee, but with only water, the salt, sweet, and syrupiness was too strong. The other Auguster and I ate a few bites, but left it to the Julyer to finish it up.

The few blocks around the dessert place were all stores and the Julyer took us to the less expensive ones so we could get a few things from our list. I got my hangers and towels (for the kitchen and bathroom floor), and. . . three bouncy balls! :-D That brings the total to 1,779 so far. :-)

We wandered a bit looking for a bus stop, and by the time we found one our “continuing” tickets had expired (when you get your bus pass stamped, or buy your ticket, you can ask for a continuing ticket so you can ride for free for an hour and a half), so we paid our driver and head back to campus. What a funny conversation we had on the ride back. I had made some comment about having short hair versus long and how men seem to treat me differently with each style, which led to discussion on flirtation tactics and defenses. At some point that conversation ended and another began when the Julyer spotted another friend on the bus and joined her and the other Auguster and I swapped questions about each others’ belief systems and lives—me being pretty clueless about growing up Jewish, and her asking for some clarification of ideas put forth in the new testament. It was a fun conversation and when the Julyer rejoined us, my Auguster friend said she wanted to continue it more later. I look forward to it. :-)

As we paused at the guard station to show our student ID’s, I heard the other girl there tell the guard she was just back in town for the night and would leave tomorrow. Consequently she would be partying it up that night. Earlier in the week someone had told me her friend from the July Ulpan knew some sign language and was excited to meet me. The friend would be getting in Thursday, but would have to leave Friday, so they’d planned to party it up on Thursday night. When I heard her telling the guard her plans, I tried out her name and sure enough, it was her. :-) We signed a bit as we walked towards the dorms, and ran into our mutual friend along the way.

That night we had all been invited to our social director’s dorm for dinner, so we met up again there. After most people had arrived, we were all sitting in a circle and joking about name games. I jokingly began one, and then to my surprise, we went around the circle, each saying her name (it was a girls’ night) and an associated word that began with the same first letter. Each successive person then had to repeat all the girls’ names and words with a hand movement that preceded her, and then add her own. I was happily surprised to watch how everyone got into it. Chalk one up for Camp Stevens.

I am so used to going out to dinner or coffee, rather than to bars and clubs, that I often arrive home no later than midnight or 1am. We ended up leaving for town after 11pm and when I blinked at the time, my friend smiled and said, “Oh, yes, we’re going to be dying in class tomorrow” and winked. Well, it was worth it. We had such a good time. When we arrived at the club at about 12:30 or 1am it was pretty quiet and empty, but they assured me it would pick up in half an hour or so. And were they right! The music picked up, the lights went down, and the dance floor was packed. We decided to leave at 3am, but then had to stay a little longer as they put on a song from the musical “Grease” followed by Mambo #5. *grin* We left the club when a song we didn’t know came on and stopped for French fries before heading home. My phone had apparently been taken over by some poltergeist. It kept taking pictures all on its own! Freaky magic camera. But we got some good pictures alongside the funny candid ones, and began the journey home. We turned away one taxi that asked too much (we’d missed the final bus), crawled into the second, and happily rode up the mountain back to the dorms. An hour and a half of sleep, and I was up and about Friday morning, ready for class at 8:30am. :-P

Usually classes will be Sunday-Thursday, but since this week we missed Sunday, we had class Friday. Students familiar with the Israeli way of life were loudly unhappy with the exception, but it was a short day, and I didn’t know any better so it didn’t bother me.

I was very excited to go to my first Shabbat dinner, which the Ulpan had arranged as a potluck, but I mixed up the times and missed it. :-( I was just next door while it was happening, awake and ready to go, with my food contribution next to me, but didn’t realize I was missing it. Ah well.

We’d been warned that bus schedules on Shabbat are quite altered, but I wasn’t able to find accurate information online about it, so Saturday morning I ventured out to try and find a taxi. After wandering around for a while, I was returning to the guard booth to ask for some help when I saw people waiting at the bus stop. One girl, who seemed quite at ease and knowledgeable said that bus 37 would come in just a few minutes. And she said that 37 would take me to the bottom of the Bahai Gardens (which is only about two blocks from the church I was heading for). I got on 37 no problem, and waited and watched out the window pretty diligently for the gardens. Finally, the bus stopped and a man told some other out-of-towners that it was the final stop and we had to get off. I was sure we hadn’t passed the gardens, and when I asked the bus driver how I could get there he almost rolled his eyes in concern for me, “Oh, the Ba’hai?” Like, “Oh dear, you poor thing, you are so far away.” He instructed me to walk down this street to that bus stop over there and take the 23. But as I was crossing the street, he honked and pointed to my left. And there was bus 23. But when I walked over, apparently the bus 23 driver was on a break somewhere. I waited about 10 minutes before pulling out my map to see if I could walk the rest of the way. But then I did not know where I was on the map.

I did my best Hebrew to ask someone to show me the “You are here” point on the map: Slicha, at yodeat apho po? I’m not sure what I said, but the idea was, “Excuse me, do you know where is here?” *shrug* Accompanied by gestures and the map in my hand. She asked where I wanted to go, and I showed her. Then her friend took the map to another woman at the stop, and they all concluded that I should go down the side street (where the bus driver had originally pointed) and take Sherut (a special kind of bus/shuttle thing) number 41. I saw #41 drive away, and decided to just get on the next one. It would have worked splendidly—I saw the Bahai Gardens go by, but I thought we must be about to circle back or something, so I didn’t say anything…he dropped me off about 2 Kms past where I’d seen them, which gave me a nice view of the beach and ocean, and while that was nice, it wasn't quite my goal at the moment. But I had my map, and knew now where I was on it! So, I hoofed it back to church. Service had started at 10:30, so I was glad to see when I walked in at 11:30 that they have long services here. :-)

Someone saw me standing in the back and got me situated with a translation earpiece thing and pointed me to a seat. Unfortunately my headset wasn’t working, but fortunately I could hear the interpreter a little bit even without the headset, and between hearing him, understanding some of the Hebrew, and knowing the text and basic message, I could follow along rather well. I just asked God to give me understanding of the parts He wanted me to get, and rested in His ability to do that. :-)

The lady sitting next to me turned to me after the final song and introduced herself in a friendly Texan accent, and then she connected me with a girl my age, who helped me find the two people I’d been emailing with, who introduced me to others from the church taking the Ulpan, and a group of them took me out to lunch at a build-your-own-sandwich place. Followed by gelato. It was a good morning, finally including some of the walking I’d been expecting before I moved. :-)

I spent the rest of Shabbat milling around my apartment listening to “Journey to the Center of the Earth” on tape, cleaning, eating, arranging, resting, etc. Finished up my homework just as my roommate entered, and went to bed early (though I didn’t go to sleep for a while, I think because I rested too much in the afternoon).

On a side note, my roommate and I found the water heater switch! Turned it on so it would be warm this morning—and saw my first cockroach in my bathroom…are the two connected? It wasn’t a very bright cockroach, and wouldn’t go away—well, I think it thought it was hiding, but it was not doing a very good job. I left the light on in the bathroom and closed the bomb proof door. I figure since light rays can’t get from the bathroom under the door to my bedroom, neither could the roach…it was gone this morning. Yech.

My shower was much nicer this morning, but if I have to choose between bugs in my room and warm water, I think I’ll be okay with cooler showers…Now I'm off to sign up for a trip on Tuesday to Caesarea. :-D