2 New Best Friends

Those who know me well know how much I love plants and flowers and how difficult it was for me to leave behind the 4 orchids and numerous other plants I had collected over the past 5 years in San Francisco.  Last week I was strolling in Tel Aviv and low and behold I found an orchid man!  I had just spent my last bit of cash on frozen yogurt (my love for frozen yogurt hasn't changed since moving) and he was selling orchids for 60 shekels (very good price considering I had seen them a few weeks earlier for 200 shekels at a little flower shop).  I freaked out, called Tom immediately and went in search of an ATM.  The ATM ate my card and then the bank was closed (they like to close from 1-4 in the afternoons) so I was shit out of luck.  He only sells the flowers 2 days a week in preparation for Shabbat so I was lucky enough to return the next day with money and purchase my 2 new best friends!

He didn't have many varieties, but I was still there for over 30 minutes examining the flowers and trying to decide who would be lucky enough to have me as a mommy.  In my broken Hebrew (which is getting better by the day) I explained to him that I used to have many orchids in San Francisco and that I was excited to start my new collection in Israel.  I also told him once we had our own apartment I would be back to buy more (we're still living at Tom's dads house) and I think he thought I was crazy.  I don't think anyone has ever come to his shop (it's actually just a bootleg operation on the sidewalk) and spent as much time as I did staring at the beautiful flowers.

Here are my 2 new best friends...

Hebrew...

It's been awhile since my last post....Hebrew has really been consuming my life.  Here is a brief update.

Number of times I have cried since my last post = 1
Number of protests I have attended = 1

So 2 weeks ago I started an intensive Ulpan (Hebrew learning program).  It's 5 days a week (Sunday-Thursday), 5 hours a day (8:15am-1:15pm), for 5 months.  I'm supposed to be fluent at the end of March...at the rate we're going it's looking pretty good for me.  It's very fast!  Luckily I have my own private tutor at home, as do most of the women in my class.  Everyone has an Israeli boyfriend or husband, its quite amusing.  The 3 single American guys in the class are looking though and are quite disappointed in the lack of single women.

The American's are the minority in the class; there are tons of French and Russians.  We started as 4 Americans, 3 boys and myself.  One dropped out after a week, another is going to the army in a month, and the last one has talked back to the teacher quite a few times so he will either get kicked out or leave depending on how much patience the both of them have.  The class is taught solely in Hebrew which is the best way to learn.  You don't want to associate the words with their english meanings, but it makes it very difficult when the teacher hugs herself to demonstrate the word "with"...interesting logic.

I have also made friends which is very exciting!  We hang out during the breaks and after class and commiserate with one another.  The class is hard and moves very quickly, and when your lost you better find yourself fast or else you'll be lost for good.  I'm even scared to go pee because I am afraid I'll miss something important and then get called on as soon as I walk back into class.  She instills this extreme anxiety in you...it's really quite fun!

Until we move to Tel Aviv (we found an amazing apartment and are in the process of signing the lease and you are all invited to come and stay with us) I commute about an hour and a half to school each day due to traffic.  It's only about a 25 minute drive in the car, but by bus takes way longer.  The bus is very nice though and equipped with wifi, but at 6:30 in the morning I'd rather be sleeping.  It will be nice once we move and it will only take me 10 minutes to walk...I'm looking forward to that day.  I will send an update on the apartment once it's all signed, sealed, and delivered.

More to come this week...hope you are all well!