In Moda'in

Yesterday I went to my internship for the first time.  It turns out that La Escuelita only has classes on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, even though the Israeli work week starts on Sunday and ends on Friday afternoon.  The classes are two hours long in the evening.  I went to the school on Monday evening.  La Escuelita was given space by the Tel Aviv city hall in Tachana Mercazit, which is the Tel Aviv bus station.  That place is a MESS.  It is like a labyrinth and seriously the most incredible anthropoligical study I have ever laid my eyes on.  There's an entire floor that's full of food, another floor that's full of clothes and bags, etc..  Only about three floors are devoted to actual BUSSES.  I was told to go to Gate 48.  I got SO.  LOST.  When I FINALLY found Gate 48, I had to call my mentor - not Matan, but another mentor named Liat, and she had to come and get me.  When she found me, we walked up a flight of stairs, through a door I hadn't noticed until she opened it (talk about Harry Potter esque), up another flight of stairs, and finally to what was kind of like a mezanine.  Three rooms were devoted to La Escuelita.  It is seriously in the worst place imaginable.  I don't know how the people they help even find the place.

There were about seven or eight kids there that day, all between the ages of six and twelve.  I met the teachers - two of whom I do not know their names.  One teacher introduced himself as Or, another Ofer, and then Liat.  There were five teachers altogether, and I get the impression that sometimes there are a lot more kids and very few teachers.  What I saw of the kids is mostly that they were born in Israel of Latin American parents, speak Hebrew and Spanish, but are forgetting their Spanish.  It reminds me of myself when I was their age, coming to America - I only wanted to speak English, I completely wanted to forget my Hebrew.  I told some of the kids that I only wanted to speak to them in Spanish so they didn't forget.  One of them - Michal - she was a little punk and told me she couldn't understand my Spanish and that I wasn't speaking real Spanish.  THEN SHE MADE FUN OF MY HEBREW.  What a punk.

I feel better now that I'm actually involved with my internship.  I touched base with Liat after the class was over.  I won't be back until Friday.  Liat is going to find more things for me to do - there are plenty of things to do, so I'm not concerned and neither is Liat.  It looks like I'll have stuff to do, but not on consistent days.  I might touch base with Sadaka Reut and see if there's anything I can do for them while I'm not working for La Escuelita.

Now I'm in Moda'in, which is basically a suburb twenty minutes away from Tel Aviv.  I'm staying with friends of mine from Columbus - the father was the Israeli representative for the Columbus Jewish community.  While he and his family were in Columbus, my family grew very close to them.  I am currently lying on their couch in their livingroom, typing on Ori's computer.  Amira, Avi's wife, and I have a plan to go see The King's Speach tomorrow.  When Ori and Yoav, Amira and Avi's sons, get home from school (at like, 1:30 pm, Israeli kids get out of school ridiculously early), Ori, Yoav, and Roni, Avi and Amira's one daughter, are going to get falafel at this particularly great falafel stand.

I realized that part of the reason why I felt so disconnected and homesick was because I was operating under this idea that being here meant being completely cut off from people in Columbus.  Obviously, that's such a lie.  Israeli kids get on Facebook just as much as American kids.  Reading my friend's blogs as well from Austria, Jordan, and soon Japan, that makes me feel better, knowing that they are feeling the same things as me.  I now am realizing that I can be here and do stuff here - by myself (LIKE GETTING AROUND TACHANA MERCAZIT ON MY OWN - A FEAT FOR WHICH I SHOULD GET A MEDAL), and with other people I don't really know - and then be able to talk to friends at home when I can.  This whole thing of me not freaking out anymore allows me to meet people in Israel and speak to them in Hebrew, you know - actually make connections?  Yesterday I spoke with Ofer in Hebrew until he started speaking in English so the kids couldn't understand us talking about them.  I was proud of myself that I could speak to him in Hebrew until we didn't anymore.

As I was walking from La Escuelita to the platform where bus number 34 was leaving, I bought "toast" - which was basically an enormous bagel with pizza sauce, cheese, eggs, olives, pickles, onions pressed in this small grill.  As I was talking to the guy who was making my "toast", he asked me what I was doing here (we talked half in English and half in Hebrew, so he knew I was American) and I told him I was volunteering in a school that teachers Hebrew and Spanish, and he gave me a free pastry!  He said "for you, a humble soul, anything."  I was so touched.  Way better than the guys on the beach!!!

Now I'm watching the Israeli version of Beauty and the Geek (called Ha Yafa veh Ha Chafnun) with Avi, Amira and Ori.  I feel warm and happy.