TEL AVIV: The boring post

I’ve settled into my new apartment in the Florentin area of southern Tel Aviv. The building is only a few years old, so the appliances in the kitchen are in (relatively) good shape, but the place lacks the old tiles and other charms of older construction. I would post some pictures, except my camera is still in the repair shop. As of yesterday afternoon, they had not even taken a look at it yet and seemed annoyed at my call only a week after drop-off.

I’m afraid you have just read the most exciting paragraph of this post. Pretty dull, huh? Well, my FAMILY will read on regardless…right guys?

My schedule right now is not terribly interesting. I wake up at 6:45am, have some cereal or toast & humus and head to school, grabbing a small container of yogurt and some fruit to eat during the breaks. The closest bus stop is about ten minutes away. Eventually, I’d like to ride my bike. But I do not have said bike yet. I figure both bus and bike will take the same amount of time--about 30 minutes.

My intensive Hebrew class (called “ulpan”) at Tel Aviv University (TAU) starts at 8:30am and ends at 1pm. I’m the only person in the class over 22—and I am 34. So, well—I feel a little removed from the other students. While the instructor is truly excellent, sometimes I wonder if I would fit in better at a school that caters to new immigrants. I figure the age range would be wider there.

Two things have kept me from joining the TAU gym. The first is that the student body is planning to go on strike later this month over tuition hikes (and a number of other issues that I’m sadly quite fuzzy on) and I refuse to cross a strike line. The second is that I’m injured. Somehow, I managed to re-injure the bottom of my foot (fasciitis) while jogging in Ramat HaSharon. I probably did not stretch enough. Also, a painful kink in my neck, there since Germany, lingers on. I can only trace the reason to cramped plane rides, youth hostel pillows, youth hostel beds, and a heavy backpack. At one point, I was made of stronger stuff. 1200mg of Ibuprofen a day and nearly constant stretching seems to be helping. Yes, I know there are doctors in Israel.

After ulpan, I post to this blog, apply for research funding, and explore Tel Aviv. More on the last item soon! In a few weeks, I hope to start my interviews in the north and perhaps do some volunteering here in the city.