Today I took the train from Moda'in back to Tel Aviv. Sitting across the ailse from me was a German, a Dane, and a Swede. They were all speaking to each other in English. From what I gathered, they were in some seminary program, but they mostly talked about how much Dutch people suck. When we reached my stop, one of them said "Do you think we'll be the first ones there?" and the German said "No, we'll have to wait at least another hour for all the Italians."
Bahahahahahahaha.
Today I went to Yafo to meet with my mentor from my second (third) Walkabout here in Israel. On my way, I had the most tremendous bus failure of my life! It was the best, and when I say the best, I mean I have never felt more foolish.
To get to Yafo, I take the number 40 from Azrieli Center, a main bus stop in Tel Aviv. I got onto the number 40 in what I thought was the right direction, but after ten minutes of driving, I realized that I was NOT in fact going in the right direction. After a panic attack of epic proportions (it was all nicely folded inside my chest), I got of the bus. Luckily, the ten minutes were mostly due to traffic, and I had only gone three stops in the wrong direction. I caught the bus in the other direction.
Twenty minutes after being on the bus, I was getting panicky again, because we had not yet reached Yafo, and it shouldn't have taken us that long. Yafo is a city where Jews and Arabs live together, and it was built long before Jews began to arrive in what is now present day Israel. It has a very distinct look to it, especially the old city, which I love more than anything.
Anyway, I walked up to the bus driver and asked if the route 40 bus was going to Jerusalem street in Yafo. He said "Yes, but the other side."
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!
The bus driver printed out a receipt for a ticket for the bus going in the other direction (the previous and right direction), unaware that I had a free day pass. On the receipt I wrote out what happened as a reminder that sometimes we all have fails. I didn't know whether to laugh really loudly and creepily, or burst into tears. I ended up doing something in between the two.
When I finally arrived in Yafo (after getting off the bus three blocks too far and a good hour and a half late), I found Sadaka-Reut's office. It's a really nice building off of a central road in Yafo. I met with my mentor, Hana. What Sadaka-Reut wants me to do is basically observe and take part in all the activities so that I can write a newsletter for the organization. I also met the volunteers who live in the commune where I may be staying for a bit. Apparently, it's just four guys living there now. I met three - Yotam, Ro'ee and Mahmoud. After I finished my meeting with Hana, Yotam, Ro'ee and Mahmoud invited me back to the commune to have lunch with them.
The commune is about two seconds away from the offices. It's a very old, traditional Yafo apartment (the front doors are actually two enormous and tall salon doors, there are two balconies, every door is long and tall). It's also very dirty. Very dirty. I mean, what can you expect from four young men? The first thing I saw upon entering was an enormous flag of Che Guevara spread across the back wall. Aaah.
Mahmoud, Yotam, Ro'ee and I sat in the kitchen as they made pasta with fried mushrooms, garlic, and onions and salad (I helped stir the mushrooms, garlic, and onions). I asked them questions about how they got involved with Sadaka-Reut and what their favorite part about being year-long volunteers, etc. Mahmoud went to sleep as soon as lunch was ready, so I ate with Yotam and Ro'ee. All three of them were really nice. I'm not sure yet if I'll be staying with them yet, but I do know that there are weekly things to do for them. I also just got news that there's an opportunity to help teach English in Kfar Saba, the city I was staying in last time I was in Israel. What may end up happening is that I teach English Sundays and Mondays, come back to Tel Aviv for Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday Sadaka-Reut activities. It looks like my seemingly leisurely weeks just EXPLODED into activity.
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