Ulpan Yagur-Revised

Things are a little different here now:

1. Lazar and I are "yedidim," friends. This is very nice, because he is a really a wonderful person, and I hated the awkwardness of living two doors down from him and not speaking to him. When I came back from Jerusalem on Sunday, the day after my birthday he threw me a little surprise party in my room. It wasn't too much of a surprise, because Spencer texted me twice and called me once asking me where I was, and then Lillian called on Ori's phone asking where I was, and then when I was walking up to my room I saw people at the window on my hallway and I heard somebody shout, "Here she comes!" But anyway, it was a really sweet idea, and the first surprise party I've ever had, and it was fun because my room was decorated with happy birthday fingerpaintings and balloons with pictures of trees on them because people call me the tree-hugging hippie. And the theme of the party was Hippie Party, so people dressed as hippies and drew peace signs on their cheeks. But half an hour later Lazar cornered me in his room and asked me if we could get back together again, so that wasn't as fun, but I was firm and said no. So now things are better.
2. I traveled to Haifa last week to get a real haircut, because when I first cut off and opened my dreads, I had a girl on the ulpan do it and it turned out horribly. My hair is even shorter now, but at least it's styled. By the time I come home next year it will have grown out a good amount. I still kind of hate it, but I guess I hate it a little less every day. I guess.
3. The boy that I wrote when to the hospital for psychological issues actually tried to kill himself with a broken piece of razor. He's back home in Ohio now, enrolled in drug and alcohol rehab. He was really messed up on drugs and alcohol all the time, and one of the big problems on the ulpan, so in a sense things are a lot more peaceful and comfortable now that he's gone. Hopefully he'll get the help he needs back home. A friend of his who was messed up with him all the time got kicked out, and he's not longer here either.
4. A third person left the ulpan because everybody hated her. She was a jappy little princess from England, and a huge slut, and when it got out that she slept with her best friend's (and only friend's) boyfriend, she decided to leave. Everbody agrees that things are MUCH better with her gone.
5. I had a deliciously relaxed and fun birthday weekend, which I needed really badly after all the drama that was going on here on the ulpan. I traveled to Jerusalem with my friend Lucy, and we visited our friend Scott there. He cooked a scrumptious dinner for us Friday night, which included a cake. On Saturday, my birthday, we went to the Jerusalem Biblical Zoo which has every animal mentioned in the Bible, and then some. It had been a long time since I'd been to a zoo, and I'd forgotten how much fun it was to stand in front of the monkey cage for an hour and marvel at the resemblance between the gorilla and my friend Scott. But now I remember. But seriously, everybody who knows me knows how much I love playing with children and like a child, fingerpainting and hula hooping and pogosticking and jumproping and hopscotching and listening to Disney music. So it was special to be at the zoo on my 20th birthday. It made me a little less stressed out to be turning 20.

Those are most of the changes here. I'm still cleaning toilets, still finishing by 10AM most days, unless Ariella, whose sole purpose in life and job on this kibbutz is to follow me and Sarah around and tell us to knock spiderwebs off the walls, is on the prowl. Today she trod on my heels for half an hour saying things like, "Ehh, Mehhriel, pleeze empty the ass-tray," when I am about 3 feet from the ashtry and with every intention to empty it, or telling me to please clean other people's congealed cups of green two-month-old rotten milk.

Rosh Hashannah is next week! I still need to figure out what I"m doing, but I'm really excited to be in Israel for the High Holidays.

And one more piece of good news: my good friend Chen booked a flight to Greece, and he's coming with me!