Yesterday was my first full day in the school in Jaffo where I'll be interning at least until June. It was, in a word, overwhelming. There were HUGE administrative oversights and communication problems, and so I spent more time waiting around for this meeting with the Danks and the principal than I spent observing in a classroom. I got to meet with my small group from the 8th grade for about twenty minutes, but they don't know as much English as I thought they did (based on what I had seen in class). I don't know any Arabic, and pathetically little Hebrew, so communication was somewhat difficult (if you didn't catch it, that was a massive understatement). The students were all wonderfully kind and warm, and excited about our group, but they told the regular teacher that they wanted a translator for next week. That was pretty discouraging.



Today though, today changed all my ideas about how the year would pan out. During the havsaka (break) I was sitting outside on a bench, calmly and quietly reading a James Patterson book, when all of a sudden I was swarmed. Talk about overwhelming...throw about ten 13-year old students around you, speaking two languages that you DON'T know and part of a language you do know, all speaking at once, trying to ascertain intensely personal knowledge about your life - it was a lot to take in, to say the least. They asked if I had a friend, and I said yes, quite a few of them. I found out though, that they meant boyfriend, and so they thought I was incredibly unfaithful. We "talked" about...you know, I'm not even sure. We talked about chewing gum, being fat or thin, and they kept on asking me if I thought they were crazy. One thing I've learned, at least about this particular class, is that any unexpected event or deviant behavior can, and usually is explained by, "oh that's just crazy" or "oh, he's just crazy." They asked me to read to them from the book I was reading, and applauded me. One girl told me to kiss my mother and father for her. And I think about nine or ten students told me that they loved me. It was touching, and incredibly overwhelming at the same time. I think it's going to be an exciting year, and though I know it's important to be their teacher more than to be their friend, I'm glad I could start out this way. We'll see.



The teacher I'm working with, Hanin, is absolutely amazing. She insisted on driving me out to this curriculum store in Ranana (I don't even know where that is, so it's a good thing) so I wouldn't have to deal with getting out there by myself and so she could help me pick out some appropriate material for the groups I'll have. We laughed a lot together today - she's very amazing.



So the program has ended up being absolutely nothing I thought it would be. In fact, in many ways, Israel is absolutely nothing I thought it would be. But don't misunderstand me - different is not bad. There's a lot I can't stand about Israel, and there are a lot of really valid issues I have with how this program is run, but I'm here, and I see why people stay - it's really for and because of the students.



This is entirely too long though, and I am entirely too hungry to keep on going - though, make no mistake of it, I certainly could keep going! :) I love you all!