Places

So Liat and I have been spending an unexpected amount of time searching for an apartment for October. I think we have walked all over the city center and its neighboring areas looking for a 2 or 3 bedroom apartment that is furnished and within our price range. We've found nice unfurnished ones, furnished filthy ones, and some that don't have the same amount of space as people claim.

However, two nights ago was a very special night. After waiting for someone who had already made us wait until 8:30 and then was 30 minutes late we were fortunate enough to see an apartment that was dirty and not available when we want it. Although, that's not what made the night special. What made the night uniquely memorable was after the tour of the apartment.

When we went outside there was a 70 year old woman with an arm brace moving the bench we used while waiting for the guy to show us the place. She ran up to us and demanded/begged us to carry the bench up the stairs. No explanation given.

It was a big bench so I told her "it's really heavy, why do you need this bench?" She nervously and angrily asked me if I know what a "CON-dom" is. I nodded and smirked. And she told me in her antiquated Israeli accent that people were doing "bad things!" And then to better our understanding of what she meant by 'bad things' she began to bang her hands together, illustrating what people do on benches with 'con-doms' so that I could visually understand what she meant by 'bad things.'

Liat and I held in our laughs, and told the lady we could move the bench somewhere else - just not up the stairs. She then thanked us, and we walked away from her quickly and carefully, so that she couldn't see us laughing as we left the apartment area.

Soon

This is tough because the university is closed this week so there really isn't any computer access. I went to the arts fair at the Sultan's Pool near the Old City last night. So I'll have a couple of pictures of that soon enough.

Sick

So, I had a lot to post here, but I left my camera wire at the dorms so I can't put any pictures up.

Anyway... I went to the beach a lot the past couple days. Big waves, no jellyfish, lots of sun, alcohol at night.

And now I'm sick.

Hopefully it will go away by tomorrow so that ulpan doesn't get any less tolerable.


Here's an old picture in honor of Hamas' declaration of not quitting deadly attacks on Israel after the disengagement........ My dad and two Argentinian immigrants at an ulpan get-together.

We'll see if this gets in the Washington Post's out-of-context picture portfolio of the disengagement.

No Internet

So, I've been kind of busy....not very busy, but just enough. The problem is that I live 25 minutes away from the nearest media source. I'm sure there was some kind of reasoning as to why Hebrew U decided to build the majority of its dorms almost half an hour away from campus, but I have yet to discover it.

Ulpan is good. I have experienced teachers. Although...I could go without the last hour or so. About 3.5 hours into it I lose focus, get hungry, and start getting frustrated. It's actually kind of amazing that anyone is able to last that long after being lectured to in a language they dont quite understand. It's not like I can just half pay attention or take notes while not listening. I have to pay attention constantly or I am totally lost. It gets tiring.

Went to Machane Yehudah the other night with Liat. It was right when almost every shop was closing down for the night. But when we were about to leave, I heard the most euphonious and agreeable sound "ESER PITOT -SHEKEL- HALLLLLO!!" So we did exactly that. We bought 10 pitas for about 25 cents.

Empty Club

There's a funny thing about girls in Israel. And it has to do with their dancing. If you've been to a club here then you've noticed that Israeli girls 1) prefer to dance alone and 2) when they dance with someone it is at arm's length. Maybe it's understandable if there are hundreds of people in a club and they are surrounded by people anyway, but that isn't usually the case.

For example, last night (a Monday night) three of us went to a small club in Jerusalem. It was a frustrating place to begin with because they lured us in by telling us there are free drinks for the next fifteen minutes - only to find out that it was a complete lie. And that was after being lied to about a drink special at the bar we went to beforehand.
So there were maybe 20 people in this entire place if you include the bartender/DJ and the security guard. In the middle of the dance floor there were girls dancing all over the place by themselves.
So my new roommate, Dave, went up to them and started trying to dance with them, only to find himself being pushed away. It was like some kind of inherent reaction. He put his arm on her, and she pushed him. She was obviously experienced at this.Fortunately, I got a picture.