I M A BZ B

Busy, busy, busy. No time to talk, gotta GO.

Ok, fine, I guess I have a little bit of time to chat.

So what have I been up to? A lot! Last Thursday we went to this "Modern-Interpretative-Experimental-Indie-Dance-THING" called "Tetris." It might have been one of the cooler things I've ever seen. As people walk in one by one, they are measured and given a stool based on how tall they all. The stools are placed in set spaces under the stage. The stage is about 7 or 8 feet high and has holes all over it. You stand on a stool and stick your head through a hole and watch the show that way. Tons of heads poking out of the ground (with little cages placed on the holes so you don't get kicked in the face). The dancers then dance and do the show with their feet at your eye level. Everyone gets a slightly different experience because they are in all areas of the stage. There was a lot of running, jumping, falling, moving and acting very very strange. From what I guess, it was mainly based around human interaction, mainly between males and females. I'm pretty sure that each pair of two actors were actually going out because it was very intimate. Shirts and pants were removed. No nudity though....ah well. I don't think I'll ever see anything like it again. It's hard to even explain the choreography.

Then, this Friday, we had a big shabbat dinner for a lot of people. Good fun.

And finally, this Saturday the scouts took us up to Mt Hermon to go into the snow. It was a pretty long bus ride, but it was worth it just to see snow again. We took a chairlift to the top and sledded around. There wasn't a lot of snow, so no skiing, but whatever. Also, we went on this rollerskating type thing that was basically a toboggan on tracks that went down the hill really fast. Good times.

What now? Went to the library and got some random CDs of bands I've never heard of. I hope I like em.

Feeling Groovy

Ahhhh. You know that feeling where you're just happy. Yeah.

Last weekend my whole group of friends went to Haifa for the weekend to see the gardens. It was pretty cool, but my favorite part was running down the side of the mountain. I was with some friends up top and had to meet with friends at the bottom, so I just barreled down the side streets. They have steps going all the way down, pretty neat.

The past few days have been really relaxing. I took a day off work because I had a lot to do. Yesterday I slept in a tiny bit and then actually got stuff done. I even went to the library and got a new book and C.Ds. I spent a tiny bit of the day reading outside in a park. Today was a free day for everyone (Every tuesday) and most people use it to sleep all day. I slept in again, and then spent the day reading outside, eating a great meal at a cafe and tonight I'll be watching Obama's inauguration live with my friends.

I also started photoshopping my friends into movie posters again. I've definetly got better at it, and I've learned a few tricks. I made one based off of "In Bruges" that my friends loved. Yay!

Overall, not bad, I must say.

Good news and Bad news

Last Sunday I volunteered at a local school where the Israeli Scouts had prepared a carnival for little kids from Ashkelon. In case you didn't know, Southern Israel is under daily rocket attacks from Hamas. People need to be on constant alert because at any point during the day, they might need to run to the nearest bomb shelter within 15 seconds. It's horrible. This is why it is so nice for the kids to be able to leave for a day and come to our area which isn't at threat. It was very rewarding to work with the kids and help run activities. This is when Young Judea gets its stuff together and really pulls of something wonderful.

Now that you're in a great mood, here's a story of something that just happened to me. This...probably isn't a good story to read to little kids....or at all. Don't say I didn't warn you. >_>

So anyways, I was taking out my apartments garbage today. We need to bring the bags to a little enclave that has 4-5 big garbage bins dumpsters in it. I noticed that something was strange because one of the dumpsters had been moved and was blocking the entrance. Plus, it was pretty full already, so I couldn't just dump stuff in. I moved up closer to the dumpster and noticed that...something has inside. I got even closer and came face to face with a dead, bloody, fly infested, giant, HEAD. It seemed to be of a donkey or a horse. I quickly backed up and started gagging. After a bit, I thought to myself, "Wait, this CAN'T be right. Where the hell would that have come from. It must have been my imagination." So slowly, I peeked back inside. Whatever was inside there had an eye with eyelashes that was about the size of a tennis ball...and ears. I decided it would be a good idea to head back to my apartment and never, ever look inside that thing again. The most disturbing part was that it had been skinned. I've seen enough dog surgeries to know what the second layer of skin looks like on a furry animal. I wish to god that I wasn't making this up.

I don't think I'm ever going to be able to sleep again.

Mr. Blue Sky

Ahhhh, good to be back!

Today was my first day back at the dog shelter after break. It's always nice to take a vacation, even though I'm kinda already on a vacation of sorts.

My mom and brother came down to Israel and we went to Eilat, which is kinda the Wisconsin Dells of Israel. It's gaudy, and touristy, but it does have amazing scuba diving locations. I only went diving for two days, but they were some of the best dives I've been on. One of the dives took us to this giant underwater coral tree-rock type thing. It was basically a city for the fish, and there were easily the most fish at one time I've ever seen. We also saw a few giant clams, which are officially the coolest living things ever created. They could eat my head, no problem.

The rest of the break was just kinda chilling out with my brother and mom, and I even got to see my sister because she was a Birthright counselor.

New years was also great. My friends and I went back up to Jerusalem to hang out in the apartments there. It wasn't anything extravagent, just some fun times with great friends.

I guess that's about all there is right now. Woo!

Lunar Sea

I guess it's time for another blog entry. Why not?

It might seem that because I haven't updated in a while that I would have a lot of interesting things to write about, but this isn't really the case. Life here has reached a sort of status quo. Still, it's only fair that I write about my daily schedule.

I wake up at 7:00 and have a light breakfast, usually just two slices of bread with peanut butter on them. I don't have much of an appetite that early in the morning, so it's enough. I pack my backpack and head outside to wait for the bus. My workplace is near a giant supermarket, so I usually stop by to pick up some fruit or yogurt. I make hot chocolate inside work and sit, drink, and rest for a few minutes before I head out to work with the dogs. Around 10:30 I head back inside and have lunch, either something from the supermarket or a sandwich from home. By this time I'm pretty hungry so I fill up pretty good. After this, I sit and read for about an hour (there really isn't much work to do there on a normal day) and then finish up with any dogs I didn't take out in the morning. I usually leave the tiny dogs for last because they are paired up with another dog, which means they will play with each other while I can sit and relax in the sun. As you can see, it's not really a labor intensive job. I'm given control over what I'm doing, and I'm not really bothered, so I'm allowed to take it pretty easy. I head home once I'm all done, most days around 12, shower, go online, and then most days hang out with friends. We have class twice a week, and sometimes there is a nighttime activity, but that's pretty much it, day after day.

I'm not saying this is a bad thing; It's a pretty relaxing lifestyle, but it also sometimes seems as if everything is at a standstill, like time has stopped and that this could go on forever with nothing to change it. It takes on an ethereal quality, as if nothing concretely exists. Listen to the song "Lunar Sea" by Camera Obscura and you'll get the idea. Life here is like taking a shower with warm water, but no matter how much you turn the knob, it never gets as hot as you want it, although I'm not sure whether it's the shower that's broken or whether I'm just desensitized to the heat.

The weekends do offer a break in the patter though. We usually head out to a different part of Israel and we're trying to plan a camping trip. Truthfully, most weekends we do the same thing, but there's always the random element of who else is with us, or events that pop up that add to it. Weekends are the time when there's always a chance for something to happen that would break the monotonous weekdays. It's the little things. If weekdays are the gray, repeating, "real life" then weekends are the colored times when dreams can happen in reality. There's too much that can happen, and does. And yet, so far, there hasn't been that spark that pushes through into the weekdays. Once Saturday ends, it's as if the weekend never happened. I need that little bit that finds its way trough the cracks and changes everything. You never know what can happen.

Moving on up (to the crap side)

Nah, I kid, I kid. Bat Yam isn't a crap city...just a slightly run down and dangerous one. Highest crime rate in Israel FTW!

So we had a week-ish break off at the Jerusalem Youth Hostel, which was fun because almost all of Year Course was there and was cramped, loud, and annoying because almost all of Year Course was there. I went to the zoo with some friends (only a 5 min walk from the hostel!!) and was really impressed. Giant snails, and random ant-eater type animals I've never seen before are both big pluses in my book. We watch a giant turtle try to climb up a log for about 20 minutes. As one of my friends said, "I'm so depressed that an animal can be so incompetent." I'm definetly buying an annual pass.

I also got into the show "Dr. Who". It's surprisingly good. It's British and cheesy, but I love it. Go watch it now if you enjoy anything remotely connected to science fiction. Seriously.

We then packed up and left for Bat Yam. I'm in an apartment with kids I didn't know before, but they all seem really cool and nice, and most of my friends are only a few minutes away. They still haven't told us where we are working...but I'm trying to work with them so I can go to the animal shelter at least once a week to help when the doctors come.

Besides for that...I guess nothing much has happened. Things are good. Not great, just good. Truthfully, I'm not looking foward to the rest of the year compared to the past 3 months, but being in Israel is always fun. We'll see.

Rumplestilts's kin OR Hope you like inside jokes targeted to specific readers!

YAWN.
Wow, I was asleep for a while. Like, days. That's why I haven't updated my blog. Honest.
>_>
<_<
>_>

Ok, so ya...gotta keep on it. Sorry for the delay and all that jazz. Let's get to work.
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Where to begin? Well, working at the dog shelter ended a few days ago. Sad, but true. It's been a complete blast and it's going to be hard to not go anymore. (Actually, I plan to keep coming back in my spare time. It's like an addiction....*scratches neck* DOGS GIMME DEM DOGS) There's this one dog, Bruno (not his official name, but my name for him. Dogs don't get names at the shelter...), that I adore, but I don't think he is going to get adopted anytime soon. Ya see, he has this skin condition...and is kinda bald from the middle down. He looks like a rat. I LOVE him. He likes to climb onto my shoulders and I don't really know why. If you know anyone is Israel who is looking for a loving, sweet, naked rat-dog, please tell them. He needs a good family. (I'm still working on convincing my mom to take him home. He really is cute, mom! Honest!)

Another fun group of dogs I like is a tiny black dog I lovingly call "Humphrey McGee" (you'll see why) and a larger brown female. They are pretty good friends, so I take them out together, and lately Humphrey has taken an "interest" in the brown one. He likes to hump her...a lot. The twist here is that he's pretty much a moron and has decided that her side is the correct place to....ya. Plus, she wants none of this, and just steps away each time he tries. She'll occasionally look over to me as if saying "Can you please get him away from me now?" My favorite time was when Humphrey started on her side, stopped, as if realizing he was doing it wrong, and proceeded to begin humping her forehead. She was not pleased.

Last Thursday a vet came to neuter some cats. This was a great day in many ways.
A) The vet was seriously cute. and young. I could work with doctors like this all day and never be bored.
B) She let me actually help out a lot. Including the actual incision. Yes, my friends, I got to cut open a cat's balls. My life is complete.
C) That night was my BIRTHDAY PARTY. (Although my actual B-day was yesterday on Tuesday) I had a few friends from the other cities come over and we ordered out Chinese food take out (No mildew on the rice, luckily... ;) ) and two of my friends actually baked cupcakes for me. Like 50 cupcakes. F*** YES.

Talking about awesome things I've done, we went paint balling a few days ago. Now, I had not done this before and it was, quite frankly, a blast. During one round I hid in a bus (A BUS! WITH WHEELS!) and sniped kids from between the windows. (For those of you who play COD4, this would be the "Bog" strategy.) I love paint balling. We're planning on going out into the wilderness to play it in the woods sometimes...which should be interesting if we can organize it.

What else? OH YA. My actual birthday. Pretty good day that was there. We got some nice ice cream (oh how I missed you, my love) and then watched Arrested Development while...Oops. Almost mentioned things not allowed on my blog. HAHA :D

And finally, we're packing up and moving on up this Sunday...to a deluxe apartment in the sky. (Actually, to Bat Yam, which would probably be the polar opposite of a deluxe apartment in the sky.) Hooray for the highest crime rate in Israel! ^_^

Oh, and I shaved my head again. We'll see if I can keep it up this time. The sad part is, my beard grows way faster than my head...and I just don't have the effort to trim it each day. GOOD THING I'M NOT TRYING TO IMPRESS ANYONE HERE. Haha, oh god. No, really, I promise to shave before living Rishon.

Also, I feel the need to share this with the world, because it is amazing.



That's all for now. Signing Off!