I posted several posts today and yesterday, and this won't be the last. Make sure to look around! I think so far I've managed to post them all in chronological order, as they were written or recorded during the past week and a half. Sorry for the funky formatting, I don't know how to fix that.

August 3, 2011

"Highlights" (which is to say, noteworthy points):

• ·How often do you get a group of people with 4 different nationalities, none of them Israeli, in which Hebrew is the lingua franca? The scenario: sitting at a table eating lunch with 3 other people, all of us novice Hebrew speakers, and actually managing to maintain conversation with the following individual groupings of language abilities (besides Hebrew):
• Person A: English, Spanish, some German
• Person B: English, Spanish, French
• Person C: Swedish, French, some English
• Person D: German
• ·Forgot to mention: I had my first shwarma on August 1. Sub-par (it was in a food court, after all), but an experience nonetheless.
• ·I heard that have a whole month off after all, which got me all excited, but apparently that's not the case if you're taking classes at Rothberg International School (which I am). Alas!
• ·Still no internet; apparently it doesn't work with Mac. Thanks for telling me! Then the help line rejected my phone number. Jack (my roommate) tried, and it installed for her but said there was no internet available.
• Waiting in line for like half an hour, I chatted with strangers, which was super fun. I hope I either run into some of them again, or they track me down on Facebook. Anyway, when it was finally my turn, all I could do was sit down and say, "OK, I got the black box thing, and I don't know how it works." I heard everyone still waiting in line in the next room laugh.
• They have made this process ridiculously complicated and confusing, and we don't even know who to ask for help!!! (Well, there are the Madrichim (they're kind of like RA's, but not really), but only 3 of them for so many students!)
• Bureaucracy and communication really needs to get its act together in Israel. So frustrating.
• ·My phone won't call Joe's number. I miss him so much.
• ·Feeding yourself for the first time is hard! So far I've bought: whole wheat bread, a cauliflower, half a dozen eggs, yoghurt in a jug, granola, a tub of spreadable halva (so good!! The spreadable stuff isn't as good, though), 3 huge onions, pasta sauce (selected specifically for its label in English), and 2 bags of pasta.
• ·Our hot water finally started working! Our shower is super jankedy, though
• ·I still haven't gotten out to even slightly explore the city. But at least I signed up for a bunch of activities.
• ·Today I forgot my ID. I couldn't get through security at the main campus without it, so I had to walk all the way back in the heat to get it. Fortunately security at the K'far waved me in
• ·We saw somebody get hit by a car today (well, sort of; we heard the yells and saw everything immediately after). We gotta say, Israeli response time to any trouble is impressively FAST. Considering the reason, I'm not sure if that makes us feel safer or not… When my roommate first saw the guards bolt across the street and wrangle some guy down by the neck, her thoughts immediately jumped to something you probably wouldn't even consider most other places…
• ·I can hear the Call to Prayer just about every evening. It struck me today that the Dome of the Rock, which I could see out my window as I did homework, is full of and covered with inscriptions the essence of which is: "Jesus is not the son of God." I don't really have a problem with Muslims or anything, so sometimes I forget that about Islam. It was just a chilling thought that this beautiful structure that I look at and admire every day has that essential message…
• ·While the sweating is a drag, the advantage of heat and breezes: clothes dry really fast on the line! I got myself a multipurpose tub/laundry basket so I can use it to hand-wash some clothes.