Back in Yafo

September 7, 2010

Today is the day we had to leave Kibbutz Ketura. L I’m very sad to have left. I know we didn’t get the real kibbutz experience because we weren’t working, we were on vacation. Spending all our time at the pool, and all. But it was an amazing week, and I’m very sad it was over. I’m also very sad to be losing most of the group to Tel Aviv. I have a lot of friends in the Jaffa (or as they say in Hebrew and I’m trying to train myself to say, Yafo) track, but it’s hard losing 15 of your brand new best friends to another part of town. It’s also weird being in my apartment with just one other person now after being surrounded by 25 other people for an entire week.

I slept most of the bus ride to Yafo (4 hours), which was excellent. I’m in the upstairs apartment, 3^rd floor, which is good for security but bad for my tired legs in the million degree heat. I am living with Stephanie and Tiffany, and Allyson if she switches from the Tel Aviv track. I have a great room, pretty good sized, and our living room is massive, so that’s good. The other two Yafo apartments are just downstairs, so that’s good for hanging out. After moving our stuff upstairs, Benji took us on a whirlwind tour of our neighborhood. Mostly, the only thing I retained was how much more humid it is in Yafo than down south on the Kibbutz. That was super hot but a dry heat, and this is yucko muggy style. Unfortunate, but what can you do. Oh, also we had pizza! It was good.

Then Stephanie and I braved the big bad world by ourselves and went out and bought a bunch of crap for our apartment at the pharmacy (called SUPER PHARM, LOL), veggie store, grocery store, etc. All I can say is, thank god everyone here speaks English!

One thing that is really cool in our neighborhood is that you can hear the Muslim call to prayer while you’re walking in front of a church listening to men in yarmulkes speak in Hebrew. It really is a mish-mosh of cultures, and that’s really awesome.

Another awesome thing is that these ladies gave us apples and honey on the street corner. I was like, I know it’s the new year, and you do too! Being in a Jewish state is awesome! She was walking up and down giving them to all the people in cars stopped at a red light too. It felt nice. I wonder if she would have given them to me if I had been wearing a hijab.

Now I am exhausted, and probably going to bed super early. Tomorrow night is Rosh Hashanah, so I am going to this lady’s house with Hannah for dinner. I hope it will be good! I’m sure the food will be! The bad news is that the buses and shops and everything are all going to be closed until Sunday because of the holiday and then Shabbat. Welp, my feet will get lots of exercise! And lots of beach time for me!