In Israel, we have a case of the Sundays. Our work week runs from Sunday to Thursday. Somehow the weekend goes by SO fast.
As usual, the day starts with Ulpan, so needless to say, I did my homework at the last minute last night and stayed up way too late. No surprise there! I'm the queen of procrastination. Tired, but ulpan is fun as always. I sneak back home to make a quick lunch and head off to Pardes for my 2nd class there. We are continuing to talk about water issues (among other environmental issues) in Israel through the lens of text study, and this time I am in a new chevruta (learning group) to test the waters and see with whom I best learn and discuss. Jeffrey and Hanalei are a married couple from Colorado studying at Pardes for the year and they volunteer to adopt me for the chevruta study. When we return to the classroom, one of the biggest topics of discussion was how to approach potential confrontation with regards to the environment. If someone in your neighborhood or a friend of yours isn't doing his or her part, is it your obligation to encourage them to do so? Make them do it? Scold them and hope their behavior changes? What is right, what is wrong, what is appropriate and what is not? Unfortunately there are no straightforward answers to these questions so the discussion that ensues is very difficult. Very interesting things to think about. However, I still don't think I could be a full-time Pardes student - this is already too much and I'm only in one class!
I hussle back as soon as class is over, so I can meet with Yonit. My internship is still not finalized so my schedule for next week is still up in the air, and it's making me a little nervous. An hour later, we have a game plan for the week. Who to contact and when, to follow up with both of my areas of interest: environment and hunger/homelessness. I felt much better after our conversation, although I felt a little bad that our meeting took so long. Two Jews can't just have a 10 minute conversation!
I come back to the apartment for a quick change of clothes so I can go out and support the Giants tonight! 1pm games in NY are great because they are 7pm games here and the bar is filled with Americans! Ethan decides to come with me which is great because otherwise I'd be going alone. We hop on the bus to King George and head down the street (in the drizzling rain, yes more rain!) to the Lion's Den. The place is pretty packed, but one of the owners helps us find two seats in the back. They show the game on a projector on the wall out there, but there is still waitress service, food and drink. Very exciting! By the time we got there, the Giants were already at a significant lead, so it was definitely fun to see them score, but it wasn't such a close game that kept me on my toes.
Around the end of the 2nd quarter, I see that Steven, the HUC student from the day before, is sitting at the table just behind us! Small world. He is there with another friend of his who he tells me knows from HUC. During halftime we chatted for a little bit. During the 3rd quarter, some seats opened up next to his table so he invited Ethan and me over to join the party. Fun fun fun to watch the Giants win, but meanwhile I'm buggin' out over all the other games that are on that have scores scrolling across the screen. Cincinnati doesn't have a very big lead, and I have a lot of points on them this week so I'm in trouble! Man oh man is this stressful! But I had to get home for ulpan homework and to get some rest, so another day comes to a close. Hooray for football and bars. Makes me a happy girl living in Jerusalem.
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