Friday/Saturday:
Shabbat was nice, ate a lot and spent time with family. Unfortunately had to go back to Bat Yam. Just kidding...kinda ;). Took the number 5 from har choma to the bus station- bad idea. Took forever, made all kinds of circles. When we finally got to the central bus station we ended up on the wrong side of the street, as in, facing what we just came from. I don't know. So after brief disorientation I get inside the bus station and get on a bus to tel aviv. When I got to Tel Aviv, I had no idea how to get to the regular city buses so I asked someone but she said she wasn't from around here and couldn't help. So I was looking around and then that same person came up to me and helped me find the 46 stop to Bat Yam. It was really nice of her, considering she's on vacation here and is from Sweden, and really shouldn't have had to help me out since I'm supposed to live here and all. Waited for the bus for a while and then it finally left and a while later I'm back in Bat Yam. There were people over. In my room. In my bed. I wasn't pleased since I was super tired and wanted to go to sleep but I didn't wanna be mean so I asked nicely if they could go hang out outside so I could go to sleep. They did and it was all fine and I went to sleep.
Sunday:
Zman Madrich in the morning. Got our schedule for the week. Next was zman shevet, we spoke about mezzuzahs. We could make mezzuzah covers if we wanted to after but I was too tired and just went home. Had class at 1:30, we spoke about what our midterms will be like. Nothing too bad. Talked about cannibalism and prostitution in Text and Tablet, heh, but not really. That's a fun class. There's actually 6 of us in it now. After the midterm our teachers leaves for China to do some...history stuff I guess and then we have a different teacher for a few weeks. Uneventful evening as far as I can remember. Spoke to my mom and Benjamin.
Monday:
Got up and it was raining. Wasn't sure if I should go into volunteering or not, didn't think I could walk dogs in the rain. Got ready anyway and walked to the bus stop. I called the shelter but no one answered. I called Ami and asked him what I should do, whether I should go to Yaffo and see if it's raining there or what since they didn't answer the phone. He said if they contacted me back I should go in. I told him they weren't going to contact me back. He said I should probably stay home today and that it was allright with him. So I went home and spoke to Ben until he went to sleep. Class was canceled so I kind of just wanted to kill time until Katie came home or Ben woke up so I took a shower and organized some stuff and went to lay down. Katie came home and wanted me to go with her to Rachel's apartment to exercise, I didn't want to go and she ended up not going either. Shira came home and brought Guy the scout with her so I hung out with them and Katie for a few minutes but then just got into bed. They came in and messed with me a few times but then left me alone and I fell asleep around 4pm.
Tuesday:
Woke up at 4:30 a.m., very confused. Saw a bunch of emails from Ben. He was busy for a bit, so I skyped with Karina. Then I talked to Ben for a few hours which was great. Did some homework after that and kept myself busy until it was time to go to my siyyur to the Nalagat Theater. Went with the group, we got lost but found the place. The play was called not by bread alone. It was really interesting. It was about people's dreams and goals and what makes them happy, modeled after, I believe, the actors own lives. Most interesting part- all the actors are blind and deaf. Some of them spoke, many of them used sign language and there was a screen that had hebrew, english, and arabic translations. Afterwards the audience gets to eat bread that the actors make in the beginning of the show. It was delicious. We got lost again after trying to find a bus home. Ended up at what we believed was the right stop but we waited a while. Some of the girls decided they didn't want to wait and got a cab home. 5 minutes later the bus came. Went home and passed out, I'd been up for 20ish hours so I was super tired.
Wednesday:
Went to volunteering by myself. It was rainy it Bat Yam, but not in Yaffo. Managed to do all of kennel 4 except one cage that was stuck shut, hopefully someone took them later in the day. Got home and took a shower then got in a fight with Ale about money spent for shabbat. Was super pissed, at some food and went to class. Class was pretty good, made me feel better. We registered our second semester classes, putting down if we wanted to take them for credit and all that. Did I ever put my grades up here from first semester? (Film- A, Zionism- A-, Hebrew- A)
Went home and Katie and I cleaned the apartment for Mifgash Dira. Ale and Orly came home when Ami came, we talked everything out. Ami left and all the scouts came over, they were having a sushi making night. We got to sit in on it and eat some also. I made a roll, it was beautiful. Just saying. It got to be kinda late, like 12, I was exhausted but stayed up 'cause it's nice to have people over and hang out. Katie and Cara were making cookies too. So at 12 there was a knock on the door. A loud, scary one. We assumed it was the neighbors and didn't want to get it because they're frightening and we feel bad. It's not like we were having a wild party and screaming, but the walls are thin and we weren't whispering either. So Shira finally gets the door after the person is literally banging on it. It wasn't the neighbor, it was two cops. They weren't really scary or anything but they were pretty rude. I think they expected us to be up to all kinds of no good but saw we were not. They said that everyone who didn't live here should leave, so they did. They asked if we were soldiers or what and what we were all doing here. They said you can't make noise after 11 on weeknights. Yea so they left but it was pretty unsettling and I felt bad for the neighbors but also angry because we weren't being loud just using conversational tones. Talked to Ben, went to sleep.
Thursday:
Cold and rainy outside, went to volunteering anyway. It took a while to get there and I was worried I'd miss the stop 'cause the windows were fogged up and I couldn't see. But I didn't. When I got there no one else was there, I decided to start from kennel 5 because I did 4 the day before and I knew people also did 3 the day before, and 6 is too hard for me because those are the big dogs. There were two dogs in the first cage and they seemed too big for me to take both at once so I took one out first. The dog had soo much energy and just kept jumping around, probably not so comfortable for him considering he was wearing a leash. Before his 15 minutes were done he wanted to go back to his cage, and I felt bad but he wouldn't walk anymore so I went to put him back. A woman was cleaning that kennel then though, and told me that I should go to number 4. I felt bad since I don't know when the last time the dogs in 5 got out or the next time they will get out, but nothing I could do. So I went to 4 and started taking the dogs out, two at a time (no other Year Coursers seemed to be showing up today so I might as well). Some other volunteers showed up from a different program and were taking the bigs dogs out, which is great for the big dogs but not so great for me since apparently all the dogs I take out aren't very smart and like to pick fights with animals much larger and stronger than they are. We managed to keep them apart though. After I'd only had a few dogs out it started to rain, but it wasn't too hard so I kept walking. Then it started to pour, so I had to take the dog back that I was walking. There was another dog in his cage also, that I hadn't been able to take at the same time. I felt really bad because that dog had seen me take out his buddy but he wouldn't be able to go, and I'm pretty sure he's new so that just makes it worse. So I sat with them for a few minutes and tried to give the dog I hadn't taken out some attention. The one I had taken out though was being really annoying and basically just chewed on my limbs and clothing the whole time. I think this job is increasing both my pain tolerance and my patience. After a few minutes I went inside and to wait out the rain, though I knew that by the time it was over I'd have to leave anyway. The other volunteers were sitting inside, I didn't know if they spoke english or even hebrew but I felt awkward standing there so I went and sat with them. I said whatsup and they answered in english and we hung out for a while. They on a program from Mexico that sounds similar to year course, they come to the shelter once a week and next week is their last time. They were really nice and it's a shame I didn't talk to them the last few times I'd seen them. The rain stopped but it was already time for me to go catch my bus so I left. I ate some cookies Katie made on the bus ride back, that was great. When I got home I was so cold and wet and gross, Katie had turned the water heater on for me so I got to go in the shower pretty much right away. Yea, it's the little things. So Katie went to Jerusalem for a soldier swearing in ceremony at the Kotel and I went to Lunch and Learn. The Shalem rabbi came today and talked to us about the significance of God bringing the plagues on Egypt, apparently it has to do with Jews being known. The hebrew word for 'know' can also mean to experience (haha..) so supposedly it was important that Pharoah experienced what the Jews were, that they were an important group. And now, even though Israel is tiny and most people don't agree with it, everybody knows about it and sees the affects that is has on the world. After Lunch and Learn we had our Arad presentation. Learned about Marva, which I'm not doing, and volunteering and classes and siyyurim, which I am doing. Instead of bus passes, we get bikes! Which we have to pay a deposit for and lock up wherever we go and take the seat off when we lock them, since this deters would be bike theifs. If we can return the seat and helmet then we get our money back. So we were supposed to pick our roommates for Arad, I don't know what to do about that... Living with people is tough.
Ulpan was canceled so I got to go home after the meeting. No one was home, took a nap. Started to try to figure out online classes/Bright Futures stuff. I decided against the scout party tonight, don't really like that scence and don't wanna be out that late. So I'm home alone, blogging and looking at college stuff and maybe I'll watch a movie.
No comments:
Post a Comment