Dirty Feet

My feet are so black right now, it's disgusting. I have to take a shower and scrub away the filth that has somehow managed to cleave to the bottom of my souls. If you thought walking around Manhattan in flip flops was bad, try Tel Aviv. It's worse!

So much to write about and I'm extremely sore. I woke up this morning feeling like I was coming down with Jeff's cold and really sore! I felt like I had worked out really hard at the gym yesterday and to be honest, with the move, I didn't get there. I don't know why I'm hurting so much since Jeff did all the heavy lifting, but I guess running up and down steps and unpacking could be the culprit.

This Shabbos, I did a lot of things I've never done before. As mentioned on Erev Shabbat, I was invited to Oren's for Friday night dinner. There were 10 people at the meal, and I was the only native English speaker. It was GREAT! I had no choice but to use my Hebew and I think I fared pretty well. Aside from Oren, there was only one other guy from shul and the rest were girls from the neighborhood. Plus, Oren's two sisters from Kedumim were over for the weekend. Yifat who is 16 (recently turned) and Alumah is 20 and starting Bar Ilan after the Chagim. Yifat speaks very little Hebrew so I was forced to really work at it when having a conversation with her. Anyway, the taco salad didn't go over as well with this group, although Oren was still really happy. Yifat kept asking why there were corn flakes (as in the cereal) in her salad. She didn't touch it with a 10 foot pole, good thing there was an Israeli salad for her. Jeff and a couple of other guys showed up for dessert and by the time it was Midnight, I was falling off of my face with exhaustion. Jeff walked me part of the way home and I still don't know how I got the rest of the way home but I managed to get up the steps and fumble in the dark with my keys to let myself in.

First night in the apartment was pretty good. I was so tired that I fell asleep right away and woke up on Shabbat morning at 9:30.

So, guess what that means (Dad, this will make you so happy!). Yup, I actually made it to shul. Now, I didn't make it for a lot of the davening but I was there for the end and for the massive kiddish that was sponsored by 5 guys. I've never seen such a huge vat of cholent before in my life. And, if you know me at all, you know that I didn't do anything but drink some water and try my hand at socializing. I spoke with a lot of the girls I had met the night before at Oren's, and then met a number of new guys, most of whom were married.

And then I invited myself over to Oren's for lunch. He hadn't planned on having lunch at his apartment, but I had nothing else to do and no refridgerator and just a can of green beans sitting for me on the counter which was just so lonely and depressing so I figured, why not? I knew he had leftovers from Friday night because I helped with the clean up (and even washed some dishes today and last night). Well, I must have started a trend because by the time we got to Oren's, almost everyone who had been there on Friday night also showed up for Shabbos lunch. We had a really impromptu Shabbos buffet and I did even MORE talking in Hebrew. It was great! I decided that Oren's family is my new adopted family here in Israel and am looking forward to going to Kedumim for a shabbos at some point this year. More new people dropped by Oren's in the afternoon and I met a couple of his friends who were nice. By 5:00 pm, I decided I had worn out my welcome and headed back home. But, without anywhere to sit, I decided to grab my book and a bottle of water and hit the beach. I didn't make it to the beach and ended up sitting on a bench in front of Ben Gurion's house. It was nice and relaxing until the mosquitos started biting and that was it for me. I got back to the apartment and Itai scared the heck out of me when he opened the door shirtless and told me that a neighbor had started complaining about some noises from my apartment. Now, that was news to me especially since I haven't been in the apartment for more than a few hours and majority of that time was spent sleeping. So, I let him in and he checked a few things out with the AC, and then I was left with only 30 minutes before Havdalah. I read some more of my book while sitting on the floor until Shabbos was over.

Tonight was my typical Sat. night activity, laundry. It was long but uneventful. Didn't really speak to anyone else in the laundromat except for the people who called on my cell phone. So now, I'm going to hit the showers and wash away the disgusting sweat that has been clinging to me since this morning and get dressed. Gayle wants to meet up at a cafe for a study break in a few and I could use some food, am starving!

Tomorrow should be really busy with errands but I'm hoping to get some work done. I need to finish one of my short stories before the end of the week.

Song of the night is My Doorbell by The White Stripes, because I met a guy in shul would plays drums in a band and he says they sound like the Israeli version of the band. Hmmm, we'll see!