This week in Ashkelon...

Vlad and me painting the apt.

So I returned from Ofakim early Sunday morning for ulpan. Ulpan was fine and I was looking forward to going grocery shopping and doing some laundry. Instead we found out that we were expected to volunteer a few hours after ulpan. At first we were all a little annoyed, only because we had just returned and none of us did any shopping right before we left town for 4 days. The whole process was a bit disorganized and my group ended up hanging around waiting to be told what to do for over an hour. Eventually, we made it to the house we were working in and we filled in nail holes, painted the walls, ceilings and doorways. I worked my tush off and got covered in paint in the process (also ruined a few items of clothing). After painting for 4 hours in an apartment without a/c or much air flow in general, I had a bit of a headache and we were all really hungry. I went to go wash up and the woman who lives in the apartment (who does not speak much English) decided that I needed to be rubbed down with turpentine, which was truly a lovely experience. So, stinking of turpentine and covered in paint, I headed back to go shower and relax.

We had a couple of interesting seminars over the next few days so we went to ulpan in the morning and seminars in the afternoon. In the evenings we hung out, studied (some of us - wish I had studied more!!) and cooked together and for each other. Its amazing how it ends up working out... when one person doesnt feel like cooking, they offer cleaning services in exchange for a share of the food. I usually offer my food to be cooked but let everyone know that my cooking sometimes leaves much to be desired. I am loving how many different spices and foods there are in Israel that are becoming a staple of my diet. Yum yum.

On a side note... on Tuesday night I went on a walk by myself and sat down at the beach for a while. I got TOTALLY creeped on by some religious guy who sat behind a tree with his head sticking out staring at me for a solid 20 minutes. It made me really uncomfortable but I think he was just fascinated by the English-speaking girl on her cell drinking a beer and smoking a cigarette in shorts and a tank top. Breaking all the rules. Totally felt like an exhibit in the zoo and I can even hear the speech about my exhibit. "And here we have the fascinating Erinus Leibowiticus. This is a rare species in that it uses some tools that have been created by smarter members of the same sub-species, but engages in behaviors that will slowly kill it, believing that it is cool. I must say, this Erinus does look cool doing it though." Clearly.

So, we had volunteer days Wednesday and Thursday as well. We went back to the same apartments and continued the painting process. The 2nd day was way better in my opinion. First of all, we all knew what needed to be done the 2nd day. They also gave us more equipment and all around I feel like we got a whole lot more done than we did the first day. On the way back, we went and got shwarma because we were all way too tired (at least my group) to cook. Again, I was covered in paint and further ruined my clothing. Also got a LOT of strange looks walking around covered in paint.

Thursday morning I woke up early and my roommate was on the phone. She was upset and her eye was swollen completely shut. We spoke to our counselor who said that she did not need someone who spoke English to go with her. So, off we went to the emergency room. Within a few minutes of getting there it became very apparent that it would have been REALLY REALLY useful if one of us spoke English. It was an interesting 1/2 day (we were there about 7:30 - 1:30) and I was exhausted at the end of it. (this is probably due to me staying up 1/2 the night flirting with our security guard at the gate where we live). So we saw some really weird things at the hospital and we were pretty confident that they were pulling straws about who had to deal with the stupid Americans. After 6 hours they pretty much said she was allergic to something. So, the medical care system is similar to the US in that regard! Spend 6 hours in a hospital and they tell you something that you knew going in. Sounds about right.

I missed volunteering Thursday because I was supposed to get together with my friend from home who is from Israel and I was really really disappointed when he blew me off. I didn't want to miss the volunteer work to begin with and the fact that I missed it for nothing was really not cool (although I will be making the volunteer days up). While I am upset about the fact that I missed the volunteer work, I took a much needed nap.

Out for Shauna's Birthday!!

Thursday was also Shauna's birthday so we all went out to party and have one more night of sinning on last years tab before Yom Kippur started yesterday ;). We went to two different clubs and I think everyone had a pretty good time although we kinda split up into smaller groups as the night went on. I managed to hurt a good friend of mine which I feel very badly about even though I did it unintentionally. Not a good feeling and yet another thing to ask for forgiveness for.

So Friday morning we were supposed to be on the bus at 7:00 ready to go. We left at 7:08 (I thought that wasnt bad considering everyones condition the night before...) for Jerusalem and arrived at our Hotel, the Prima Royale, a little after 8. We had a series of seminars throughout the day which were very interesting. Each time period we had two seminars to choose from. The first one I went to was Torah Yoga. It was pretty cool and although I didn't necessarily get all of the connections between the Torah and yoga, I enjoyed the yoga session thoroughly! After the yoga session we had a pizza breakfast, which I thought was too early to eat pizza but I was totally wrong.

The next session I attended was about the 12 step program and how it relates to Yom Kippur. We analyzed the AA 12 step program and a program called SMART that has no religious affiliation. It was a very interesting discussion although I am not sure we ever made it to the speakers point because we all had so much to say on the matter. The final session was about secular jews in Israel and what it means to be religious versus secular in Israel. It was a really interesting discussion and I felt so bad because I kept falling asleep! I was just too tired and we had spent too much time sitting in one place and talking throughout the day.

After the seminars we had some free time, went to our rooms (I am sharing mine with Elissa and Madeleine - who are both awesome girls) We hung out and then went downstairs to a very early dinner (like 3:30) and then afterwards came back to the room to get ready for kol nidre. Elissa and I went to a service with Gilad Shelit family, which was held outside of the prime ministers house. We came back and I fell asleep... literally at 7:30 pm. Go me. Apparently I snored quite loudly and obnoxiously. I blame it on the fact that I am stuffed up and was too tired for words. I slept 14 hours and woke up around 9:30. Elissa and I spent the day in bed studying while Madeleine attended services. I felt bad about not going to services but we spent the whole day learning hebrew which was pretty productive. We are all fasting and as a result, we are very hungry.

Madaleine was just skyping with her Mom and randomly I hear "You were growing up before microwaves? You had a TV though, right?" Amazing. Disclaimer from Madeleine: She is NOT an idiot... she was just being silly with her Mom and is "hallicunating because I am so hungry" Back to me: Don't not give her a job because she sounded stupid. She is really really smart and I would hire her. Call me for a reference.