Babies and Purim and Jlem, Oh My!

Yo. So. I left you on friday afternoon...didn't do much Friday night, I don't think. Saturday Em was off with the people from her home on a tour all day, and I just slept in and then did some homework and THEN i went out and sat in the sunshine for a good hour and a half, did some reading. Didn't have sunscreen yet though :-( so i couldnt stay out too long. but it was like 80 degrees and I was out in shorts and a tshirt and sandals and couldn't have been happier. I don't really remember much that I did for the rest of the night...hrm. Sunday was gorgeous out again, had a class field trip for my art class to the Italian Jewish Museum, which was very pretty and fun. Got back with time to spare, went and reported that our room has no screen in the window (very necessary as it gets hotter and we want AIR but not any buggies in our room!) although they haven't come and put one in yet...bah humbug. Then I took a nice 15-minute rest in the sun :-) Then it was off to my internship...I got put in the younger baby room this time, because one of the other teachers had to go on a trip or something. it was really fun, they're so adorable and little...the teacher spoke ABSOLUTELY no english, just hebrew and russian, and kept answering her cell phone--seriously, it must have rung a good 15 times in the three hours i was there. but we muddled through, and i really enjoyed the kiddos. at the end of the day, i got to talking with one of the moms who has twins, Amit and Gaia--the youngest in the class. The mom spoke perfect english and was really nice...She asked me to help get the kids down to their stroller, since Amit was kind of attached to me, and two one-year-olds can get heavy! I gave her my number for babysitting if she wanted :-) that would be nice--i could really use some extra spending money!!
Monday was a normal day of class...and then! Monday night we went into Tel Aviv, all dressed up for the holiday of Purim, which celebrates the salvation of the Jewish people in Shushan by Esther, when the evil Haman tried to have them all killed. It's basically Halloween and Mardi Gras put together, at least here...and believe me, if these Israelis take no other commandment seriously, they sure do take the celebration of Purim to its fullest extent--especially the commandment to get so drunk you can't tell good from bad! The night actually ended up being pretty sucky, because we spent half the time there waiting for our friends, and the other half shoving our way through the inSANE street parties LOOKING for our friends. I was not a happy camper, especially since i had to pee the entire night but couldn't find a bathroom til the very end...my friends parked behind a parked car in an alley and in a construction zone but well, my bladder is shy. no can do. I was looking for Adrienne the entire night, but things were just so chaotic i could not find her. one of emily's camp friends did show up with some of his friends though, eventually, and Em and i stayed after most of our friends left to go find ice cream with them, although the place was closed. they were nice people. we eventually got home at 4:15am, tired and kind of bummed and not at ALL drunk.
Tuesday we obviously slept in, then em went out for the day with her best friend from home and his family, and I just hung out, being lazy and fooling around on the computer...the best part of that was that i found my mom and brother a place to stay when they come on the 24th--less than two weeks from now! It's a B&B, although since the lady is closing up at the end of the month there is actually no breakfast. But it's only $40/night, which is worth it :-D! Not much else happened exciting.
Yesterday I went into the old city with Sarah, and it was so fun. we wandered through the armenian markets, got HU sweatshirts and I got sunscreen and sarah got more shirts, went to the Kotel and did that whole thing, had BAGELS for lunch--zomg i missed them so much--and then randomly ran into Margot and Becca and people. Everywhere in the city people were dressed up, singing and dancing randomly. it was fun. Margs came with me and sarah to ben yehuda...we wandered around, sarah bought a new capo she needed, and Margot and i indulged in some McD's fries and cokes. then home...then last night I signed up for housing at UMass, which i'm pissed about because i had NO chance to get the dorm i wanted because the system messed up, but i'm in a 6-person suite on the short hallway of the dorm i was in last semester, which shouldnt be too bad assuming i get nice suitemates. then we went to emek refaim to meet Adrienne and her boyfriend for dinner, which was very nice even though my food gave me indigestion all night :-(. It was wonderful to see her though, and her boy's pretty sweet. oh, and i got free wine cuz the waiter spilled the first glass he brought to me and gave me the new one free of charge--a 31 shek glass of Reisling, too! It was WONDERFUL. mmmmmm.
Today was just a normal class day...wasn't feeling good, but c'est la vie. Then i went and sent an important fax, got some money for the weekend, and yeah. Skyped with kimo before he went to work, then just hung out and watched QAF and had dinner with the girls.
we're going out to a bar soon, methinks, just to hang out. i only have 40 shek to spend, so i guess i'm only having one drink, lol. Then this weekend i'm doing a reform Shabbaton at a kibbutz in the south which should be fun! i'll update after that.
<3