How will I keep coming up with witty titles?

One week and one day into the program and I'd say all is going reasonably well. My internship is tres cool and my Hebrew is improving. Albeit slowly, but Ulpan (Hebrew lessons) started on Monday night, so with two classes a week I'm hoping that I'll be mumbling "eehhhh" with the best of them soon enough.

The funniest part is seeing people's reactions to me telling them I'm from Australia. Israelis say "wow, so far!" and I nod sagely informing them of the day-long flights it takes to get here. But the Americans take the cake. You guys are growing on me, but it still cracks me up to see you say ever so enthusiastically "OH MY GOD, YOU'RE AUSTRALIAN? THAT'S SO COOL!" Well, shucks. Fortunately the amusement (or bemusement) goes both ways. Not only do the 14 Americans (and Ricky, our Israeli program coordinator) in my group have to contend with learning Hebrew, they also have to deal with my Australianisms.

Ahem, for example...

- pissed (this includes, "getting pissed", "taking the piss" and "man, I'm so pissed")

- tea towel

- the phrase "smash it"

- wanker (and all its derivatives, "this is so wanky" and "this is such a wank")

And then there's jumper. Ahhhh jumper. Which of course is pronounced "jump-ahhhh". The source of hours of giggles for my compadres.

We went on our 2nd siyur (excursion) today. Not such a winner in my books. Perhaps it had something to do with the fact I was running on four or so hours of sleep and was shaking off the effects of the previous night's festivities. But judging from other people's reactions, I wasn't the only one in the "this is such a wank" boat. We went to a biblical recreation place. No, your eyes do not betray you. There was a cistern, there were team-building exercises, there was sheep and goat herding. Okay, I won't lie, there was a baby goat who made the trip a little worthwhile, such a cute little fella.



But I was not built to shepherd. Oh no. So I'm sorry WUJS, epic fail in my books on the siyur today. Nevertheless, I will still be posting some photos from our little excursion.

So back to last night's festivities. They were not intended to be so festive! It was the birthday of one of the owners of one of Tel Aviv's newest and hottest clubs, Supermarket. As my bosses are friends with him and it's a club that we deal with regularly, Rachel (the other intern) and I were asked to come along.



Turns out we didn't even get to meet him, but we still had a great night. On a Monday night, people. This got me thinking... in Tel Aviv, on a Monday night, this club was full. Chock-a-block full. It was going off, and the people were loving it. It could have been a day during the weekend from the looks of it. People love life here, this city is effervescent and it was amazing to see it in full force on a week night.

The only way for me to describe how I feel being here, is lighter. Your worries don't seem to matter as much, or maybe the Israeli attitude to life is just starting to rub off on me. They go with the flow, and I know that is having a positive effect on me. We joke about how Israelis do everything in "Israeli time" (meaning they're constantly half an hour late), and while it's taking some getting used to their lackadaisical attitude to good time-keeping and punctuality, they are still some of the least stressed people I've ever met.

And that's something we can all take on board - stop and take a proper lunch break and sit down and enjoy a proper meal where you can watch the world go by and remind yourself that you're still a human being, and not a machine. Life is here to be enjoyed, don't just trudge through it. Jews toast l'chaim ("to life") for a reason! So l'abriut, enjoy xx.