Piggie Gets Hungry

So the kids....I sometimes wonder about them...

The program here for the kids is fantastic, but there are a couple weird things that I'm just not sure that I understand...

Today while we were finishing lunch (part of my job is to eat lunch with them), as we were clearing the table (each kid clears his own items), there were a handful of community items (water-pitchers, salt, etc...) and I asked the kids to each take some. They bitched and moaned (as one might expect an 11-12 year old to do), but when I insisted the woman who is in charge of it all came over and yelled at me (in front of the kids...); it turns out that clearing those items is OUR job, and the kids should only be responsible for their own items (it's funny...it's not the first time I've noticed this... socialism turned into an odd form of selfishness---or at least a hyper-awareness of everyone doing HIS or HER job, and no one else's...)

Anyhow, everything here is good. I've been traveling far too much (spending weekends and even the odd weekday-night) with friends all over the country. I've seen Keren, Zohar, The Lasdays (from Ramot), Jenny Rosenblat (michbuchah!)...it's been really good, but I'm a little exhausted, and looking forward to some time just to be.... more time to study Hebrew, less time on the trains.

That's about it for my life these days...

In terms of overall impressions of Israel:

I like the country. There are moments when I'm really just content because I'm here. I was coming back from Tel Aviv this morning on the train, and it was just beautiful...the ocean is out to one side, and the modern Jewish world on the other...

On the other hand, Israeli culture can get on my nerves at times (though I'm sure a lot of this is just a case of culture-shock, and it'll get better)... Things like the street-signs are TINY, so you never know what street is coming up, or the fact that the people are VERY friendly when you know them, but are almost downright rude to strangers (perhaps it's just that I've spent too much time in the mid-west).

That's it for now; hope everyone is doing well---


Daniel