DISCLAIMER: This post was meant to be published Thursday, September 30, but due to unreliable internet connection (problem detailed below) and my recent encounters with nature, now is the best I could do:
Hello everyone! I hope all is well. Today is the end of Sukkot, and tomorrow is Simchat Torah; most of Israel is currently closing down for the holiday, which is the perfect reason for me to update all of you! I realize that my last post was on Sunday, so here is what has happened since:
On Monday, my roomies went to Latet early in the morning, so I was left in (what I though was) an empty apartment for the majority of the day. When I finally stumbled out of bed around 10, I groggily walked to the kitchen to make some breakfast and coffee. Before I crossed from the hallway where my bedroom is to the kitchen entry way, I was greeted "Eh, hello, eh." I literally jumped out of my skin. There was a man sitting on our couch, laptop open on the coffee table, waving at me and grinning. I had no idea where he had come from or what he was doing there. All I could think was, "Thank God I'm wearing actual pajamas right now." He continued: "I am eh, very sorry! I am here from, eh, how you say? Computer company! Yes, I am here to fix internet for you!" He kept apologizing that he didn't mean to scare me, and explained that he had been knocking on our door for about 10 minutes before using a key that maintenance had given him in case no one was home. Well, I had been home, but I was sleeping like a rock, and the air conditioning unit above my bed makes it impossible to hear anything happening in other rooms of the apartment. Anyway, he introduced himself as Gad (of course, I though to myself, Oh, nice to finally meet you, I've been waiting almost 19 years. You're tall and Israeli and you fix internet connections. Just as I pictured you) and after screaming into his phone for a while, told me he had to find his friend Moshe to fix the "eh, the eh, how you say? Router! Yes, the eh router!" I was getting ready to leave to drop off laundry and go about my day, so I offered him something to eat or drink (which he declined) and told him I would be back in a few hours. He replied: "Eh, I'm leaving also! I eh, go with you!" I thought, "Oh, where exactly are we going?" but then he clarified by telling me he would be back later in the day to fix the, eh, how you say? Router.
I returned to the apartment, Windexed every surface and mopped the floors, and was about to begin a blog entry when Gad knocked on the door. He came in, asking for a screwdriver. Do I LOOK like I have a screwdriver? Let me just pull one out of my purse. I'm sorry, I left my toolbox at home along with my wrench and bolt cutters. I told him, sadly, no, I did not have a screwdriver, only duct tape, aluminum foil and some Prigat mango juice. He did not understand my humor, so I dropped it, he called Moshe screaming again, and told me the router could not be fixed until another time, when he can, eh, use a, eh screwdriver to make it how you say? Work. So that was inconclusive. But I met Gad (teehee) and am now strongly considering investing in some tools to keep around the house.
In any event, Monday afternoon was beautification, Tel Aviv style! My roommate and I found a salon off Sheinkin Street, where we indulged in manicures, pedicures and the like. It was quite necessary (the woman who, unfortunately, got stuck doing my pedicure, wore a mask while fixing my feet. I knew they were bad, but apparently, even I underestimated the state of my heels. All better now!
After getting back from Tel Aviv, my friends and I decided to check out the Bat Yam Biennale. The Biennale (which literally means "biannual" in Italian) happens every two years and is a celebration of urban growth, improvement and art. Every time the festival happens, new projects are begun, like refurbishing parks, creating new recreation centers, or coming up with new ways for Bat Yam to be a more ecologically friendly city. The idea of biennale was originally a European one; the Paris Biennale is famously associated with art expositions that last for a few days and then are taken down. What's great about the Bat Yam Biennale festival is that the projects started during Biennale remain ongoing and live to see completion; they are not taken down after a few days. The festival itself was three days, on the beach (which messed up all bus routes quite well, so I spent a considerable amount of time finding my way from a collection of bizarre side streets back to the tayelet - the boardwalk along the beach) and so much fun!
On Tuesday morning, I got up early and spent the morning working at a local school (on my street, actually!) for children with special needs. The children at this school spend a full day there - from 8 AM to 6 PM or later, ranging in age from 6 to 20. In the spirit of the holidays, we did Sukkot-themed activities with them, including making fruit salad "eem dvash" (with honey), dancing to Israeli music (they were very enthusiastic about this) and making arts and crafts, including flower hats. At the end, a bunch of the kids stood up and thanked us in Hebrew, explaining how much fun they had, and they hoped we would come back. I certainly hope to volunteer there again!
Tuesday afternoon was a trip back to Cinema City to see (finally) Eat, Pray, Love, which was amazing, and made me thank myself for calming down my schwarma habit - Julia Roberts' character ends up needing larger pants due to too much Italian pastry and pizza. That cannot be me (just replace the Italian food with laffa and ice cream, and it could potentially be a problem).
That's the most exciting news from here - I am leaving on Friday morning for a tiyul (a trip) with our tsofim (scouts) to the Kinneret. We are going to the beach, camping out, and going on a water hike on Saturday morning! I can't wait!
More soon - and more pictures, when the internet cooperates and ehh, how you say? Works.
Lots of love,
Elana
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