Moany Monday

1. Crazy dreams, fun in a self indulgent, navel contemplation sort of way.
2. Reappearance of the "it's possible" attitude.
3. Monday's nearly done with.. :)
   

two month break?!

1. Was heartened to receive *some* contributions to the collection I am organising for Israeli Soldiers down south. (http://www.stogether.org/gaza) Ok, there weren't many, but something is better than nothing.

2. Had my "major teaching" afternoon where I tutor four different children in English in three different homes. I so easily forget how much I enjoy teaching.. perhaps that's because I don't do it too often (ie the forgetting and the enjoying!)

3. Lastly, and this is no small thing, I am in bed at 11pm! Not asleep, and with a longish sized article to read before I succumb.. but good nevertheless!

Wonderful Wednesday

The papers Ugh! How dated! I mean The Internet is full of the miracles of the states, but being a) self centred (in the loveliest of ways) and b) not American, I'm focusing on wonders closer to home. I'm resisting the urge to be anti-American and state my relief at not being part of a state that puts it's leaders on MTV and talk shows. Oops.. just did it. Did anyone notice??

1. A wonderful joyous moment today when I realised that I had understood at least three minutes of my class without even noticing! Didn't even consult my trusty right-hand man - which comes in the form of an electronic dictionary. It only lasted a few minutes, and luckily isn't the only part of the class that I understood (I had to concentrate harder for those bits.. However, and here I really mean HOWEVER it really made up for the other moments in class where I wonder a) what the hell are they saying? b) what the hell am I doing, c) surely everyone else knows that I am a fantasist and don't understand a thing.. All very distracting thoughts in their own right. The bottom line is; after a week in University in a language in which I am only a provisional licence holder (at best), I am still standing. Ready, well almost ready, to fight a new week.
2. The joy of a really compulsive read! I am almost finished reading "The Song of Names" by Norman Lebrecht. There are many qualities to books, and since I haven't finished this one, I am not ready to declare judgment on it. However (favourite word for the day??) it did manage to swallow the whole 4A bus today. That's saying quite a lot for a book. Anyone who has had the joy and honour of the Katamon/Har Zofim bus route will understand..
3. My American number! It's so nice and normal to have a landline again - any landline! But this one is particularly special since it looks like Philadelphia number and is free calling "back home". Now I just have to find more time to spend on it..

Rainbows and Registration

1. A wonderful weekend with the Hippies down south. A super drive with amazing views, reminding me a) how big and b) how wonderful this ol' state of mine is. I need to get about it more, travel more, get to know it better etc.
   
2. Despite all of the above, including waking up at 7.30am to witness the most peaceful desert scene, crashing out in my own bed was great. The stars the night before were INCREDIBLE! If only a photograph could capture even an idea of how wonderful it was to lie by a campfire, looking up at the sparkly carpet of stars.
3. Registering for Uni.. am freaked out of all proportion. However, it's going to be fine. This whole thing is going to be an exercise in the science of "It's going to be fine". Ok, so I don't know exactly where my classes are, what classes to do or what the hell they will be about, ok that I am going to lose three evenings a week to be in Ulpan, ok that this is probably the hardest, the real-est thing I have done in Israel so far, in fact anywhere so far.. ok ok!! It's going to be FINE!!
   

(any reassurances/offers to attend courses for me/offers to write papers for me etc will be welcomed with open arms.)

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.