More Ulpan and Tu'Bshvat

I woke up convinced that there was a goat roaming somewhere just under my window.  It started around 6 or 7 am, "BAHHH!"  It was only when I was leaving that I realized it was the young crossing guards (here in Ramla, the kids have flags, and make the cars stop).  I guess they were saying something to the other kids who were crossing.  I love these little cultural experiences.  I remember in elementary school at Amagansett we all had different responsibilities (putting up and taking down the flag was my favorite since if it started raining you got to leave class to go take it down - and come to think of it, the class gift when I graduated from our elementary school was a new box for the flag), but we weren't given the responsibility of dealing with the cars.  Considering my conversation with Hadeel and Noor, I am very impressed with the level of responsibility held by children here.

This morning, another awesome Ulpan with Michal.  I think people were tired from last night (I don't know if something was going on, we were in our apartment most of the evening) and so they had some coffee.  There was a buzz around the room that comes from over caffeination.  I liked the energy though, and we got through quite a bit, learning a few more letters (that might sound silly, but trust me, it's an accomplishment).  I remember watching students studying chinese in college who would just make the characters with their pens, caps on, over and over again - I do that, and still it takes a moment for the characters to register and a sound to come out of my mouth - but I am improving.  At the end of class we had short hebrew conversations amongst ourselves.  It was really exciting - I mean, I was able to only ask names, where people are from, where they are studying, living and volunteering - but combined, it's very empowering.  I wouldn't have understood any complex answers, so it was convenient that we all have the exact same vocabulary!

I talked in an earlier post about getting to know the shopkeepers after my experience with Susannah in Morocco - it was so cool how she knew everyone.  I have been introducing myself some more.  On the way home, I met Limo (pronounce the 'i' as 'ee') who runs a nice little falafel place (very reasonable, 10 shekel for a sandwich).  She wants to travel to Greece, and enjoys greek music.  But, she is waiting until her child grows up.  Anyway, the reason I share this is that I was able to start working in some hebrew to my introductions:

Ani Yonaton! Meh at? (I am Jonathan, who are you?)

Ani _____ (I am ____)

Na'im Meod (Nice to meet you!)

it's very rewarding.

I also stopped at the post office earlier and there was one thing in the communal mailbox, a letter for me!

Then across the street to the bank.  It was closed, but when I asked for my favorite Banker - Eti - they let me in anyway.  I told her about the email asking if I was still interested in Hong Kong (CTY emailed me regarding my application for the position in Hong Kong, I am keeping my fingers crossed).

You know if I go, I will have to stop in Thailand I told her.  You're torturing me, Eti told me.  We talked about traveling a bit, and then she told me I have to make sure to stop by every so often to say hi.  She also commented on my Hebrew (props to Michal for being a great Ulpan teacher).  I told her of course I would stop in.

While food shopping, the girls called because the internet was down.  But, luckily we were able to fix it without much hassle.  I am hoping that we can figure out the root of the problem and handle it soon.  I discovered that the short causing the blackouts in the apartment is in the organ.  I took back my converter, which effectively solves the problem temporarily since that may also be what caused the router issue (now fixed!).