A Quick Rewind
I know, I know - the holidays are over. But I never got around to telling you what I did with my two and a half weeks of vacation. The short answer: nothing.
As I mentioned briefly, I helped organize a few really large potlucks. I also was able to host a few of my former students for part of the holiday. Eleventh graders at American Hebrew Academy spend the first three months of the school year in Israel and some of the girls needed home-hospitality during Sukkot. I was happy to be able to host them in Pardes' sukkah and introduce them to a number of my friends.
Towards the end of the holiday, I heard that the entire junior class came to Jerusalem and I decided to surprise them at their hostel. I showed up and was greeted with, "Ms H?! It's Ms H! What are you doing here?!" from thirty-some sixteen year-olds. It felt just like Greensboro. Except they were actually excited to see me and I didn't have to assign homework or tell anyone to turn out their lights and go to bed.
As I was saying my goodbyes to them, the woman next to one of my former students told me I looked familiar. She looked vaguely familiar, but I certainly couldn't place her face. She was Israeli and was currently working as staff and house-mother/counselor for my former students. First I asked if she had any connection to AHA or Greensboro, but she said no. Then I mentioned that my family is in Boca Raton and maybe we knew each other from there (the other group of students learning with the AHA kids while in Israel is from a high school in Boca). Nope, It wasn't Boca, it wasn't Greensboro. Next I tried locally, mentioning all the places frequent in Jerusalem. Suddenly she jumped up and shrieked - "Are you related to Lois S?!" Indeed! Two years ago, while I was in Israel on Otzma, I spent one weekend with some distant cousins who lived in Israel. We completely lost touch afterwards. And now here she was - the oldest daughter of the family, my age, was now acting as the house-mother to the students I had house-mothered last year. And we were cousins!
I'm constantly floored by the small-ness of this country.
The rest of vacation was uneventful. I was sick, as I mentioned. I got some reading done, a few projects completed, I went to a concert, did some volunteering, and did a lot of sleeping in. Now that the holidays are over, it's time to get back to work. And by work, I mean learning. I love my classes and my new friends and life here. Everything's great.
I hope you're doing well, too.
Love,
sarah....
As I mentioned briefly, I helped organize a few really large potlucks. I also was able to host a few of my former students for part of the holiday. Eleventh graders at American Hebrew Academy spend the first three months of the school year in Israel and some of the girls needed home-hospitality during Sukkot. I was happy to be able to host them in Pardes' sukkah and introduce them to a number of my friends.
Towards the end of the holiday, I heard that the entire junior class came to Jerusalem and I decided to surprise them at their hostel. I showed up and was greeted with, "Ms H?! It's Ms H! What are you doing here?!" from thirty-some sixteen year-olds. It felt just like Greensboro. Except they were actually excited to see me and I didn't have to assign homework or tell anyone to turn out their lights and go to bed.
As I was saying my goodbyes to them, the woman next to one of my former students told me I looked familiar. She looked vaguely familiar, but I certainly couldn't place her face. She was Israeli and was currently working as staff and house-mother/counselor for my former students. First I asked if she had any connection to AHA or Greensboro, but she said no. Then I mentioned that my family is in Boca Raton and maybe we knew each other from there (the other group of students learning with the AHA kids while in Israel is from a high school in Boca). Nope, It wasn't Boca, it wasn't Greensboro. Next I tried locally, mentioning all the places frequent in Jerusalem. Suddenly she jumped up and shrieked - "Are you related to Lois S?!" Indeed! Two years ago, while I was in Israel on Otzma, I spent one weekend with some distant cousins who lived in Israel. We completely lost touch afterwards. And now here she was - the oldest daughter of the family, my age, was now acting as the house-mother to the students I had house-mothered last year. And we were cousins!
I'm constantly floored by the small-ness of this country.
The rest of vacation was uneventful. I was sick, as I mentioned. I got some reading done, a few projects completed, I went to a concert, did some volunteering, and did a lot of sleeping in. Now that the holidays are over, it's time to get back to work. And by work, I mean learning. I love my classes and my new friends and life here. Everything's great.
I hope you're doing well, too.
Love,
sarah....
posted by sarah @ 11:59 PM
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