A day in my life

I took two benadryl about an hour and a half ago, and I'm struggling to stay awake, but feel rather compelled to do so at the same time. I'm frustrated with the site because it isn't showing the last two posts (both from today) and I'm frustrated with myself because basically all of my posts lately have been really negative and have certainly not shown a balanced view of my life here in Tel Aviv.



Just for fun...I'm going to lead you through (in pain-staking detail, probably) a day in my life...Monday actually...so here goes:

• 4:30 AM - Alarm goes off too early so I can feel the satisfaction of turning it off and going back to sleep. It's psychological, I know, but I wake up feeling more refreshed, like I got to sleep for longer than I was supposed to, and feel more rested.
• 6:15 AM - Actually get out of bed, after turning off the alarm a few more times (thankfully my roommate is a sound sleeper)
• 6:40 AM - Am rushing around the room, trying to be quiet so as to not wake up my roommate, finding what I'm going to wear, getting together whatever books I need to take with me to school that day. I hear the #25 bus go by outside (the windows and door to the balcony stay open, and since we're on the 4th floor the trees don't block the noise of the bus - and yes I can really tell it was the 25 going by, because it has a very distinctive sound...I'll explain later)
• 6:47-ish - Take my time going downstairs and walking across the street to the bus stop, since the 25 just went by, I have a few minutes to spare
• 6:53-ish - Board the #25 bus and ride it for about 20 minutes
• 7:13-ish - Get off 25 bus and wait for #10 bus (the #10 bus goes by about three times an hour, so I have to leave at such an unrealistic hour to catch the earlier one)
• 7:30 - I arrive at school in Jaffa around this time every morning. Like I said, because of the #10 bus, I either arrive half an hour early, or 15 minutes late. I spend the half hour leisurly sipping a Diet Coke from the coke machine, and either talking with one of the teachers or reading whatever book I brought with me
• 8:00 - Usually have a two-period block with a group of students where we do whatever was planned for the day. This week I brought in articles describing Hurricane Ivan and taught my 8th grade students the meaning of the words "appliance" and "debris." (That was all we had time for, because they had to attend some sort of assembly or lecture that their regular teacher didn't know about, so we only had about 15 minutes together.)
• 8:30-12:30 - Lounge about in the teacher's room, reading (thankfully I'm devouring Stephen King's "The Dark Tower" series right now, or such long breaks would be torturous). At some point I stroll over to the little snack bar and get a large toast for 10 shekels (it's a long piece of bread toasted with cheese and olives between the two pieces - it's amazing)
• 12:30 - Observe a 9th grade class for the first time. I'll be getting a group of students from this class for the first time tomorrow. They are the weaker students, and quite a few of them have behavioral/discipline problems (says their regular teacher - not me, I would never be so presumptuous as to make a statement like that after watching them for less than an hour). I leave the class trembling somewhat with fear, moderately sure that I will be eaten and spit out by these students.
• 1:15 - Left school - was supposed to stay for my first class with the new 9th graders, but it's an after-school thing and none of them knew about it and therefore couldn't tell their parents. We (their regular teacher and I) make arrangements for the next day and I leave.
• 1:20-3:00 - Stood around for about 10 minutes drinking water and waiting for the #10 bus, then got bored and thought I'd walk around Jaffa a bit and look for apartments. Given my schedule on Mondays and Tuesdays (I have rather substantial gaps between my classes) I've thought long and hard about finding a flat in Jaffa so I could go home during those times, let Daive out, and eat there.
• Found one sign up, copied down the phone number and the word above it (which was in Hebrew) praying the whole time that it meant "rent" instead of "sell."
• 2:00 - Board the #88 bus and try to use my Dan bus pass for the #88 EGGED bus. Boy...did I feel stupid. Thankfully I had change.
• 2:08-ish - Board the 25 again (after leaving the infernal Egged 88) and settle in to go home.
• 2:15-ish - At a stop sign, I notice a sign taped to a phone booth with a picture of a scooter/moped on it. The same word I copied from the sign in Jaffa is on the paper with the moped, and I realize that it's unlikely that someone is offering to rent out his moped, and therefore that the apartment, even though it looked spacious, had a nice view, and was near lots of grass AND my school, was a fantasy.
• 3:00 - Called a lady from the madas list (list of apartments put out by Tel Aviv University) that I had called and set up an appointment the previous week to look at the apartment she was renting. We set another time - around 4:30 or 4:45 out in front of the apartment.
• 3:30 PM - I leave the dorms and ride the #25 and the #5 to Dizengoff (one of the major roads in the city) where I get off to look for #269. I am determined to be on time (probably early even!) and rested by the time the landlady arrives.

Okay, here I must interrupt myself. The numbering of the houses here completely confounds me. For all I know though, it could be like this in the States too and I just never realized it. I don't think so, though. Anyway...on one side of the street you'll have the even numbers, say for 250-270. On the other side of the street you'll have the odd numbers for 219-237. Makes no sense to me. Ayway, since I left so early, I was able to take my time in finding the actual location of the apartment. (The week before I had waited outside of Dizengoff #268, which was not only on the wrong side of the street, but also at least a good two or three blocks from the correct location. Go Teresa.

- Condensed version: fell in love with the apartment, worked out (or so I thought, anyway) details regarding payment and such, and then I head over to Mary's (walking in the clouds all the way back to the #5 bus stop).

I'm sure you'll all hate me for interrupting such a riveting commentary on the wonder that is my life...but I am about to pass out. I'm exhausted, and am losing the battle to keep my eyes open. I love you all...I'll finish tomorrow.