Ok, so I have been here for a month. I can't believe that time went so quickly and now the real hard stuff starts...that thing called, ummm, oh yea class. Anyway, I have gotten used to a few things since I've been here:
1. Cooking meals--not ramen noodles and macaroni, but Real Food, like pasta and chicken and, well, a lot of hummus and pita but that's only because it a hundred times better here than in the states. I have to enjoy it while I can.
2. Israelis-- this is in two categories
a. Israeli time-- Class is supposed to start fifteen minutes after the hour and end 3 hours later, but not in Israeli time. Class starts around when it's supposed to (usually 5 or 10 minutes) and then we get a break after an hour and a half. And there's no set time for break. The first class, we had like half an hour and then last time it was twenty minutes. Class lets out like fifteen minutes before it's supposed to. So instead of a three hour class, we have a two hour class. And if people come in a few minutes later, the teachers don't really care. They know that's how Israel time work. I have noticed that when I say "Be there in literally a minute" It's actually another five minutes before I get there whereas before Israel it was a minute or two.
b. Israeli manners-- or lack thereof. I have become a little but more pushy when comes to lines and crowds. When coming back from Jerusalem, there was a clump of people, lines don't exist here, waiting to go through security. In the US it would have easily been a half hour wait. I was through in less than ten minutes. But at least I say "Slicha" (excuse me) and mean it.
3. The cats--ok, not really. But I've learned how to get rid of them. All you have to do is stomp really loudly and the piddle away pathetically meowing.
4. Hebrew-- I have gotten used to the fact that I can only understand half of what is being said, but hey, it's better than nothing. At least, I can understand what the lifeguard is saying. Two of my friends moved into the "no swimming zone" because of the current and they couldn't understand what the lifeguard was saying and they were too far away for us to scream. (The only reason it "no swimming" is because the life guard can't see you, which doesn't make sense given the situation, but whatevs.)
5. Laundry-- Instead of quarters, or half shekels as the case might be, we have to use a token that looks like wavy Lays potato chips. There are like six different places where you can put the detergent. It may not necessarily help the clothes, but you can try. I still have no idea how to work the driers. I think you put how long you want it to dry/cool for and the temp. Except it's in Celsius and even if I did know what temperature it's at in Fahrenheit, I still wouldn't be able to convert it.
6. Taking the buses everywhere--If I want to go grocery shopping where things aren't over priced, I have to leave campus. If I want to go out for dinner, I have to leave campus. If I want to go the beach, I have to leave campus. If I want to go anywhere at all, I have to leave campus. Are we seeing a pattern? At least at Umass, I can walk to the center get what I need and walk back, but here even if I wanted to walk, there would be no way that I could carry everything back up the hill without either breaking my back or my backpack.
7. Jews--duh! It's so nice knowing that mostly everyone is Jewish. In Jerusalem, random people would say Shabbat Shalom to us, but I think that's probably because we were dressed in appropriate clothing. But even in the SuperSol (the grocery store, like Market Basket or Big Y) the cashiers would say Shana Tova (Happy New Year). [And speaking of grocery stores, here you have to bag your own stuff, which I guess is fine, but if you have a cart you don't bring it through the line with you. You just put your stuff on the counter and leave the carriage and someone picks it up. It's so weird.]
8. I was going to say warm weather and sunshine all the time, but it poured today. Not a summer shower of fifteen minutes. Nope. It drizzled this morning, but it was only enough to get the ground moist, but tonight after class it downpoured like there was no tomorrow for a good three hours. Israel needs the rain because there has been a drought for four years and even the Dead Sea is drying up. But the storm was accompanied by lightning and thunder that crackled like a fire being put out. Getting back to my room was an adventure. I had to go down one flight of stairs and then some to get to my room. I got wetter than I do when I shower. My hair was dripping and I could squeeze a good glass of water out of my clothes. To make matters worse, my key had fallen off my keychain. On the way down a heard a cling, but I just thought it was my keychain because it always does that, but when I got to my room, no key. We keep the apartment itself unlocked so I was inside, but then I had to go all the way back and find my key, which I did, but got even wetter. So I was sitting on my bed waiting for the storm to settle down before doing homework, checking email, etc. when a voice came out of nowhere. Apparently there is a loudspeaker in every apartment. I mean there's a bomb shelter so I guess it makes sense, but still, I was freaked especially since it was in Hebrew. Me and my roommate waited for the English to come on. It was just an announcement to not use the elevators because they were flooding. There are a lot of stairs and no doorsnhere so if there is water, it's going to flow downward and collect at the bottom of the staircases and the elevator lobbies.
To totally chance the subject:
For Simchat Torah, literally "Happy Torah", in which we celebrate the finish of reading all five books, my friend said that some family friends invited her to a synagogue and with nothing else to do, a bunch of us decided to go with her. It turned out that it was the same place I went to for Yom Kippur, but it was better because we could eat and the singing was even more amazing. We got there after the evening service and just in time for the dancing. While dancing, we met a few girls around our age and they invited us to a dinner downstairs afterward. Not wanting to turn down the opportunity of free food, we obliged. After challah, gefilte fish, schnitzel, entertainment, pot roast, and sherbet, our stomachs were stuffed, but satisfied. We walked back to campus to go to a birthday party of one of the people that was with us. I didn't stay too long because my eyes were closing as we were walking back, but for the time I was there, it was fun. We managed to fit 18 people in the room that is probably the size of my Orchard Hill dorm.
Anyway, the next day after doing homework all day (read: procrastinating for most of the day and then doing HW), we went to a celebration at night to the same place. Where the guys who sang the night before were singing again, but this time they had mics and background instrumental noise so it was even better. Plus there was free food.
1. Cooking meals--not ramen noodles and macaroni, but Real Food, like pasta and chicken and, well, a lot of hummus and pita but that's only because it a hundred times better here than in the states. I have to enjoy it while I can.
2. Israelis-- this is in two categories
a. Israeli time-- Class is supposed to start fifteen minutes after the hour and end 3 hours later, but not in Israeli time. Class starts around when it's supposed to (usually 5 or 10 minutes) and then we get a break after an hour and a half. And there's no set time for break. The first class, we had like half an hour and then last time it was twenty minutes. Class lets out like fifteen minutes before it's supposed to. So instead of a three hour class, we have a two hour class. And if people come in a few minutes later, the teachers don't really care. They know that's how Israel time work. I have noticed that when I say "Be there in literally a minute" It's actually another five minutes before I get there whereas before Israel it was a minute or two.
b. Israeli manners-- or lack thereof. I have become a little but more pushy when comes to lines and crowds. When coming back from Jerusalem, there was a clump of people, lines don't exist here, waiting to go through security. In the US it would have easily been a half hour wait. I was through in less than ten minutes. But at least I say "Slicha" (excuse me) and mean it.
3. The cats--ok, not really. But I've learned how to get rid of them. All you have to do is stomp really loudly and the piddle away pathetically meowing.
4. Hebrew-- I have gotten used to the fact that I can only understand half of what is being said, but hey, it's better than nothing. At least, I can understand what the lifeguard is saying. Two of my friends moved into the "no swimming zone" because of the current and they couldn't understand what the lifeguard was saying and they were too far away for us to scream. (The only reason it "no swimming" is because the life guard can't see you, which doesn't make sense given the situation, but whatevs.)
5. Laundry-- Instead of quarters, or half shekels as the case might be, we have to use a token that looks like wavy Lays potato chips. There are like six different places where you can put the detergent. It may not necessarily help the clothes, but you can try. I still have no idea how to work the driers. I think you put how long you want it to dry/cool for and the temp. Except it's in Celsius and even if I did know what temperature it's at in Fahrenheit, I still wouldn't be able to convert it.
6. Taking the buses everywhere--If I want to go grocery shopping where things aren't over priced, I have to leave campus. If I want to go out for dinner, I have to leave campus. If I want to go the beach, I have to leave campus. If I want to go anywhere at all, I have to leave campus. Are we seeing a pattern? At least at Umass, I can walk to the center get what I need and walk back, but here even if I wanted to walk, there would be no way that I could carry everything back up the hill without either breaking my back or my backpack.
7. Jews--duh! It's so nice knowing that mostly everyone is Jewish. In Jerusalem, random people would say Shabbat Shalom to us, but I think that's probably because we were dressed in appropriate clothing. But even in the SuperSol (the grocery store, like Market Basket or Big Y) the cashiers would say Shana Tova (Happy New Year). [And speaking of grocery stores, here you have to bag your own stuff, which I guess is fine, but if you have a cart you don't bring it through the line with you. You just put your stuff on the counter and leave the carriage and someone picks it up. It's so weird.]
8. I was going to say warm weather and sunshine all the time, but it poured today. Not a summer shower of fifteen minutes. Nope. It drizzled this morning, but it was only enough to get the ground moist, but tonight after class it downpoured like there was no tomorrow for a good three hours. Israel needs the rain because there has been a drought for four years and even the Dead Sea is drying up. But the storm was accompanied by lightning and thunder that crackled like a fire being put out. Getting back to my room was an adventure. I had to go down one flight of stairs and then some to get to my room. I got wetter than I do when I shower. My hair was dripping and I could squeeze a good glass of water out of my clothes. To make matters worse, my key had fallen off my keychain. On the way down a heard a cling, but I just thought it was my keychain because it always does that, but when I got to my room, no key. We keep the apartment itself unlocked so I was inside, but then I had to go all the way back and find my key, which I did, but got even wetter. So I was sitting on my bed waiting for the storm to settle down before doing homework, checking email, etc. when a voice came out of nowhere. Apparently there is a loudspeaker in every apartment. I mean there's a bomb shelter so I guess it makes sense, but still, I was freaked especially since it was in Hebrew. Me and my roommate waited for the English to come on. It was just an announcement to not use the elevators because they were flooding. There are a lot of stairs and no doorsnhere so if there is water, it's going to flow downward and collect at the bottom of the staircases and the elevator lobbies.
To totally chance the subject:
For Simchat Torah, literally "Happy Torah", in which we celebrate the finish of reading all five books, my friend said that some family friends invited her to a synagogue and with nothing else to do, a bunch of us decided to go with her. It turned out that it was the same place I went to for Yom Kippur, but it was better because we could eat and the singing was even more amazing. We got there after the evening service and just in time for the dancing. While dancing, we met a few girls around our age and they invited us to a dinner downstairs afterward. Not wanting to turn down the opportunity of free food, we obliged. After challah, gefilte fish, schnitzel, entertainment, pot roast, and sherbet, our stomachs were stuffed, but satisfied. We walked back to campus to go to a birthday party of one of the people that was with us. I didn't stay too long because my eyes were closing as we were walking back, but for the time I was there, it was fun. We managed to fit 18 people in the room that is probably the size of my Orchard Hill dorm.
Anyway, the next day after doing homework all day (read: procrastinating for most of the day and then doing HW), we went to a celebration at night to the same place. Where the guys who sang the night before were singing again, but this time they had mics and background instrumental noise so it was even better. Plus there was free food.
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