quick antecdote time!

This past weekend was our first free weekend off campus, and, as you may or may not know, I spent it visiting family friends of -my- friend Jack. I have not the faintest idea what their last name was, but the parents were Edi and Mordecai, and their daughter (my age) was called Cegal. So so much fun! They live in Raanana, which is about fifteen minutes from Hod Hasharon, and have a completely schitzophrenic dog named Sofi. I won't go into detail, because...well, because I am lazy. But I'll share a real quick anecdote with all a y'all before I troop back to the dorm to do English homework.

So on Friday night, after attending a late Thanksgiving dinner with a total random assortment of people who had made aliyah over the years, me, Jack, Cegal, and Cegal's friend Raanan went on a bowling adventure. Cegal speaks pretty much perfect english, because her mom is actually American, but Raanan's English was a little on the rudimentary side. (It was just another time when I wanted so so badly to be able to speak Hebrew, and couldn't. I hate not being able to tell what's going on, let alone communicate.) But annnyways, we were heading out to the mall in Hertzaliya, and Raanan was driving.

Wow.

For those of you who have never witnessed Israeli drivers before, I want you to imagine a stereotypical Boston (or New York) driver. Now make them angrier, give them tiny, fast cars, and design a road system composed entirely of roundabouts. Welcome to Israel.

Nor can you forget the mandatory sound systems, which are pretty much always pumping intense disco beats (availible on the radio at all hours of the day). Raanan liked techno, but he was also all about the Kelly Clarkson. So there we were, me and Jack in the backseat, 1am with Raanan blasting down the street, singing along to Kelly Clarkson in screetchy falsetto, and cutting off at least five people in a period of a few minutes. Oh, and signaling? Not something that happens here. You want to be in the other lane, you get in the other lane. Everyone else gets to deal with it.

But all of us lived to tell the tale, so I'm feeling okay about it. The weekend really was tons of fun, though, and Cegal promised to come visit our campus later on. Yay having Israeli friends! But now HSI has taken away one of our free weekends, so unless I miss our camel-Bedouin-tent-camping adventure, that's only one more homestay the whole time we're here. I can't really decide what to do; on the one hand, it is unlikely that I will ever again have an opportunity to spend the night in a Bedouin tent; on the other hand, I may never be back in Israel, and the first homestay was SO MUCH FUN. You guys have any opinions? You should comment if you do.

To everyone I haven't emailed/responded to recently, I am so so sorry and I swear I'll do it soon! I would say I'm too busy, but that's a little bit of a lie. There's just...a lot going on, that's all. But I will get in touch with you soon, I swear!

Oh, and if you want my mailing address-- email me! And you should send me yours as well; there are loads of people who I want to send letters to whose addresses I just don't know.

Much love to all! Hope everything is wonderful in your respective hometowns, more fun stories later!
xoxox