"Tel Abib, Tel Abib, Tel Abib- Ashdod"

Several weeks ago I was waiting in the Beer Sheva bus station for the bus to Jerusalem. No sooner had I arrived at the proper platform then the crowd began shuffling its way towards the exit mumbling and grumbling the entire time. I turn to the soldier next to me and ask what happened. He rolled his eyes responding: someone forgot their bag.

And so we all mill around on the other side of the street as the security guards continue to shout at old deaf ladies and cocky teenagers to cross the road, as vendors walk around trying to sell their merchandise and sherut drivers calling for passengers "Tel Abib, Tel Abib, Tel Abib" with two young men rounding out the chant with a hearty "Ashdod" just to spite the drivers.

A suspicious bag. The entire bus station has to be evacuated while the police investigate. At a station like Beer Sheva where there is no bag check or security at the entrances, this occurrence is all too frequent. Israelis have grown accustomed to this routine. But more significantly, they view it as a nuisance rather than a security threat. It has thankfully been quiet in recent years and society has grown complacent. Security is lax if not nonexistent altogether. Can we afford to let our guard down?

Week in Review

The Highlights.

Sunday (2/7): Stopped in Bat Yam on the way back home to see the 6th grade English play from the school me and Tal volunteered at last section.

Watched the Superbowl that night

Monday (2/8): Morning hike in wadi near Arad.

Ulpan and class.

Sports Night with the Sudanese children.

Tuesday (2/9): Volunteering.

English classes with the Sudanese children and adults.

Garin Tzedek activity.

Wednesday (2/10): Ulpan class held at my teacher's house. She served us food and we played
"מלך הפלאפל"- an excellent kids game where the objective is to get the entire set (where each card shows an image of a different item placed in a falafel).

Paintball with the madrichim at night.

Thursday (2/11): Visited a nearby army base (training camp of the "נחל" infantry unit) and the air force museum.

A Day in the Life

The New Orleans Saints won the Superbowl. I walked home last night and collapsed into bed at 5:30am for a beautiful 2 1/2 hours of sleep before waking up in time for a quick bowl of cereal and coffee and running off for our weekly Monday morning activity. This week: a hike.

We met at our usual meeting place at the mall parking lot. Unfortunately the mall is on the east end of Arad and the hike was all the way on the opposite end. After a long stroll across town we finally headed out of the city and made our way along a trail through a wadi passing the occasional Bedouin and his herd of goats or sheep. It was an easy walk until we had to choose between the gradual long incline out of the wadi up to the Observation Point or the steep, direct, straight up the mountain route. Being the impatient teens that we are we obviously voted for the latter. It was incredibly fun getting off the marked trail and just climbing. The view from the Observation Point is spectacular. On a clear day like today you are able to see all the way out to the Dead Sea and Jordan.

Shuk time. My roommates and I gave in and ordered a taxi, saving us a solid 45 minute walk to the shuk on the complete opposite end of town. Shuk shopping was as fun as always. The guy at the olive stand knows us already. When he saw me he points to the bin of olives we always buy from and goes, "Usual?" He even knows that we always get 10 shekels worth. Our backpacks stuffed to capacity and hands filled with bags we made the ponderous trek back home. After unloading the apples, oranges, bananas, kiwi, pamelos, grapefruits, persimmons, potatoes, sweet potatoes, cucumbers, tomatoes, eggplants, zuccinis, carrots, celery, scallions, parsley, dill, olives and nuts I began making my traditional Monday lunch: vegetable stir fry and rice. With just enough time to eat and change my clothes it was time for classes.

Ulpan was the usual. There's nothing really planned for the lesson. More often than not we end up just talking about one thing or another, except that it's all of course in Hebrew. Today we read the Arad newspaper. I'm learning so many new words and retaining less than 10% of them.

Due to a family emergency for my second class teacher, we had a substitute. And now for my "Only in Israel" moment: today's class was taught by a good friend of Uncle Chaim's. Every time I'm over at Karen's, Chaim asks "So have you met Sinai Julian yet?", and then procedes to tell me the story about Sinai. Since most of my class coincidently consists of my roommates whom I have brought to Karen's for a Shabbat they have all heard the story of Sinai and promptly asked to hear his account of how he was convinced to make Aliyah by his Bedouin friend.

I got home at 7 with enough time for a quick hummus and zatar sandwich with a nice side of olives before having to run off again, this time for Sports Night with the Sudanese children. Today was our third time. Unfortunately there were only around six children but it was still extraordinarily fun. When I asked my standard question if everyone knew how to get home, one of the girls asked if I could walk back with her because her mother would hit her if she didn't go back with me. So obviously I walked her to her building. But as we stood in the dark staircase in front of her apartment door, the only light coming from my cellphone backlight she began crying. Eventually what I gleaned from her was that her parents beat her and she was too scared to go home. All the lights were off in the apartment and there was no one home therefore eliminating even the possibility of her getting into her home for the next couple hours. Since I was clearly not going to leave her alone in the pitch dark hallway we went outside and I tried to gain a better grasp of her situation. From what she told me I understood that she is a 9 year old middle child with an older brother and two younger siblings but her parents only beat her. She was terrified to go home yet the entire time she spoke about it so matter of factly. She told me how they use wires to beat her and that she bleeds. She showed me the scars on her legs. I called Josef, the leader of the Sudanese community here and someone I think we are able to trust. He was immediately responsive and said to meet at the Merkaz. The girl was extremely reluctant to talk to him for obvious reasons but we eventually convinced her she could go with him. This incident really shook me up. It was a wake up call that not everyone is as fortunate as I am to grow up with such a strong family bond and support system and also that the issues surrounding the Sudanese refugees here are not just external or political but also internal and very personal.

Back at my apartment girls were coming over for our weekly Girls Night. This week there weren't too many of us. We did a movie night in our living room with a projector and speakers. These nights are always a lot of fun.

And now it is midnight and the day is finally over. Good night.

Best part of my day...

...when I pass a group of Sudanese children on the street and they stop to say hello or ask when the next English class is or the next sports night or give me a high five or hug.

It's very cool.