On Sunday I had more TASP stuff. Then Lindsay and I spent the day going to see apartments. At this point I had practically secured the apartment with Edi (the guy from day two). All I had to do was meet the other roommate. Lindsay still needed a place to live. We saw five places that day, many of which were awful. The first place was pretty much two dorm rooms. It was really clean, but there was no communal living space and the rooms had little kitchenettes in them. There was A/C and a really nice bathroom, but you had to walk through one room to get to the other one. Apartment number two was a room in the home of a 40-something security guard. He had come to Israel 18 years ago (not sure where he was from) to play basketball. The place was nice, but it would have been a lonely experience because he was pretty quiet and didn’t really have friends over ever. The next place we saw was in a basement. Not only is that not safe, because of potential break-ins, but it felt really dark and somewhat claustrophobic. The kitchen was pretty crappy, but the guy was awesome. He was our age and worked at a sushi restaurant. Apartment four had been broken into twice in the past four years – once through the balcony of the available room. Not only that, but the two other roommates were both smoking when we arrived and the place stunk. Number five is going to be Lindsay’s place. An Israeli guy named Oren lives there. He’s an acting student and was really nice. The apartment was adequate and in a good location. I could have chosen to take the other available room, but Lindsay and I really don’t want to live together because we’ll already be spending so much time together and we want to live with Israelis to practice Hebrew. Lastly, we went to Edi’s apartment to meet, Ana, the third roommate. She’s from Argentina and was pretty cool. We discussed switching rooms and she said she’d give me the mattress that came with the apartment because she wanted a new one (different firmness). We both told Edi that it would work and Lindsay and I went back to Yafo (she’s subletting here).
Monday was a TASP field trip to some ruins and a cave. We saw the spot where David killed Goliath. Some of the second-years came on the trip and it was nice to hear about their experiences and apartments. One of them had gone to Cornell with a friend of mine from HP. They had actually roomed together which was hilarious when we figured that out. After our outdoor activities, we went to a winery for a tasting. The wines were delicious; I even liked the white one. Monday was a pretty tiring day, but afterwards I managed to run some errands, purchasing a cell phone and apartment hunting with a guy on our program.
After orientation on Tuesday, Lindsay and I walked all over the city in search of face wash for me. Based on the lack of supply and selection, I have come to conclude that people here don’t wash their face often.
Wednesday we had a walking tour of southern Tel Aviv with TASP. We started in Yafo and made our way up, following the pattern of the formation of Tel Aviv. For lunch, we stopped and had falafel. The guide made sure there was no wheat in it, so I finally got to try it. I’ve determined that it’s pretty over rated. The tour was good, but repeated some of the stuff I had already heard about from birthright. That evening Yonni and I biked up to Tel Aviv to go sign the lease at Edi’s apartment. Edi said he would email it to me so I could translate it and come back on Thursday to sign when I had a better understanding of what it said. I thought this was a fine plan and went back to Yafo.
Thursday morning I had a meeting at my school. The principal kept the Danks and I waiting for nearly 40 minutes. We sat with her for 15 minutes before going up to the English room. There are two English teachers at the school. Limor is in her 40s and has been there for a few years. Sahar just returned to Israel after graduating from Hunter College and spending the last six years in New York City. She’s never taught before, but will be teaching most of the grades at the school. Limor is teaching the upper grades (4th, 5th, and 6th). I’m going to be teaching the native speakers and gifted students. Native speakers are kids who were either born in an English-speaking country or whose parents speak English at home. The gifted kids are bused in from all parts of the city. I’ll have small groups and I’m pretty sure I’ll be the only English-instruction for these kids. Limor was shocked that I had not come prepared with a book I prefer to use. I told her that I didn’t know I was teaching elementary school until last week and found out two days ago that I would be at this school. She told me that she’d get me the phone number of a publisher and I could start thinking about what kind of book I wanted. She’s a pretty strong/harsh person and also told me that shadowing her would be useless because I’m not going to have to teach 35 kids at once, like she does. People at school were nice enough, and it will be interesting to see what it’s like once the kids arrive.
I whipped out my iPod just outside school so I could check my email. A message from Edi was in my inbox. It told me that things had changed and I wasn’t getting the apartment because a former roommate wanted to come back in October and was willing to pay for the September rent also. I came back to Yafo and immediately started looking for an apartment again. I wrote down some listings and went to see five more places that evening. The first one is a bit further south than I had originally wanted, but two Israelis live there: Shahar is 22 and in the army. She dances and does yoga. Amir studies computer science and philosophy at Tel Aviv University and he’s 25ish. The apartment is kind of dingy, but they’re really nice. The second place I saw was in a great location. Two Israeli girls live there. One is a nurse and the other is an officer in the army. The apartment was on a busy-ish street and the room faced the street. The third apartment I saw is a two-room. A Russian guy who just finished architecture school lives there. It was really homey – he had tons of art books and old cameras decorating the place. The kitchen was clean and there was a porch which is used like a living room. The roommate is leaving to move in with her boyfriend. She’s selling her bed and there are other pieces of furniture that come with the room. Anton, the Russian guy, speaks some English, but I’m not sure exactly how much. I loved the apartment and the location is pretty far north, but it’s quiet and near good grocery stores. The fourth apartment was the worst. It was a room in a two-room (no living room) with a 40-something statistician. He was pretty creepy and I left without even asking him all of my apartment questions. The fifth one was pretty bad also. It came with furniture and was in a decent location, but the 28-year-old Russian kibutznick plays piano for 3-4 hours a day, which would drive me nuts. His English was great and he didn’t smoke, but his best friend is always over and smokes like a chimney. The friend and others were actually there – it was a sort of group interview. They asked me a million questions and I just wanted to get out of there because I was tired and knew I would not be living in that apartment.
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