Nerves and Nice Surprises

1. I only know one person who lives in Mevasseret. He doesn't even live in Mevasseret most of the time, but who did I see on the bus in Mevasseret? Correct!
2. Got some really wonderfully reassuring help from a friend who has already done the degree I am about to start next week (if there isn't a strike..). I am uncharacteristically nervous about starting (if there isn't a strike..) and feel that the more I talk about how freaked I am, perhaps, the better it will be? Well, time to put on the "rational hat" (I think there is one in the back of the wardrobe..) and face the fears with a harmless little Q&A session tomorrow.
3. Umm... struggling for a 3rd I can really write about today.. I had a really interesting meeting today. I met a woman who is really serious about affecting major changes in Israel in a totally realistic and potentially successful way. She's starting small and isn't put off by the magnitude of the job. And I might get to help her on the way. It was genuinely reviving and inspiring to meet someone who wasn't just kvetching about the state of Education around here, but was really doing something. Who said Pioneerism is dead?!
   

Cookies

I was prevented from writing in detail about my cookies on facebook, and luckily remembered I(just in time) that I do have another venting OOps I mean writing opportunity on the dear old web..

1. So, I'm doing the marathon make cookies for a party we're having on Saturday night. The making cookie procedure has become very evocative for me. Last summer when I left London, I also found myself making many many cookies many many times. And now, each time I make cookies, I remember. And it's a nice memory. People ask me what I miss from London and I always find it a very difficult question. Of course I miss people. And marmite. And maybe Green&Blacks. And the great green outdoors. But would I want to go back? Right now, the answer is certainly no.

Every now and then, often when I am making cookies, I think back to the Summer of 07. I felt so well supported and loved by the people around me, and so scared of the future ahead of me, although that anxiety is difficult to really recall now. I stood in my parents home and talked about about my Grandmother and how she unknowingly sent me on this path of Aliyah. I looked around at the group of friends gathered to hear me and wondered if I was crazy to leave those amazing people behind.

Of course, none of the parts of the sentence really add up. Yes, I was crazy, but hopefully in a good way. They are amazing people and I haven't left anyone behind. I have made good friends here and I have managed to keep hold of most of the relationships that were always so important to me. And importantly for me, especially as someone who likes to keep things stable, similar and reliable, is that I made a positive and proactive acceptance of the fact of life never staying the same, of no two moments ever being the same.

2. My room is beautifully tidy. Ok, so I can't find anything, but I am enjoying how nice it looks. While it lasts.. Ok, in contradiction to no. 1, perhaps there are some things that I like to change..

3. Not to sound too much like Mrs Dalloway.. but I am looking forward to the party!

Politics Shmolotics

1. Exercising the political muscle was nice. It didn't take me very long to get over the British/Non-Israeli/Sit on Fence-ist views which were sorta appropriate to England after having made Aliyah but now I have Opinion! Hear me ROAR!!
2. Wonderful housemates who humour me/entertain me/laugh at me but most are generally vital ingredients in making our flat a home, not just a group of rooms we share.
3. Once a BA-nik, always a BA-nik. It may be boring, but boring is stable. Stable has some nice things going for it.