Am I Dreaming

I arrived in Israel about 48 hours ago, but I feel like it has already been a week.  It is not that I have done so much but probably more that I have done so little and time is going very slow.  I have 10 months here.  By the end of my trip I will look back and say it flew by but for now it seems as if I have an eternity here. 

I don't really feel like I am that far from home either.  This is probably due to the high level of internet access (including on my phone) and the fact that I have only really spent time with Americans.  There are 15 people in the same program as me in Ramla and another 15 are coming in a few weeks to do the Community Involvement Program for 5 months, also in Ramla.  I think everyone in the program will get along nicely and within a few weeks we will be in a nice routine. 

I am really excited to meet some Israeli people.  I meet Americans everywhere I go, but now that I am a member of the community in Ramla, I want to meet my neighbors, shop at the market, and do as they do on a day to day basis.  The only thing that makes this challenging is the language barrier.  When I went to Spain I could get by with Spanish, but the main difference was that I could read the signs, the names of stores, and so on.  In Tel Aviv, there is a lot of English, but in Ramla not so much.  Almost nothing is in English and this will make the first few months a little difficult.  At the Shuk (open market) today I did some shopping for vegetables.  I had a 50 shekel bill ~$13.  I went to the vegetable stand and said shalom, gave the items to the owner so he could weigh it, he said a number, I gave him the 50, and he gave me change of 45 sheckels (it cost just over $1 US).  Then I said "toda" (Thank You) and walked away with my 3 tomatoes, 2 cucumbers, and 2 limes.  For all he knew I was fluent in Hebrew.  It worked out very well, but there was a lot of other stuff I didn't even want to think about buying.  Like the cheese.  With the cheese you have to specify an amount and what kind you want.  Maybe in a few weeks I will know enough to buy cheese but for now I will just stick to the simpler items. 

My apartment is supposed to be average living standards for Ramla, and after seeing it and getting settled it was about what I expected.  Nothing is new but everything works, it fits all of my stuff but it is not big.  It is practical and I think I will be satisfied living here for 10 months.  We don't have an oven and there is limited space in the kitchen but I think we will live.  There could also be air conditioning in the bedrooms because I like sleeping in the cold but soon enough the night temperatures will drop and it will be more comfortable.  Sleeping comfortably has been the most difficult task when it comes to my apartment so far.  Last night I couldn't fall asleep because I was hot.  Then I was finally sleeping and I had a nightmare.  I have not had a nightmare in a long time but I woke up screaming.  I learned in my Dreams and Dreaming class last year that people often have vivid and unusual dreams when they are sleeping in new places and this was definitely the case.  In my dream my older brother, Adam, and his wife, Kris, were visiting me, along with my other brother, Mike.  They were visiting me in New Hampshire.  Adam and Kris left a note in my car that they would be back soon and I received a call from Mike that he was in Newport, Rhode Island, ready for me to pick him up.  That was strange especially since they all live in Boston and Rhode Island is in the wrong direction.  Anyway, I thought my keys were in the ignition but they weren't so I was going to get them from somewhere else.  As I was walking away from my car a very creepy man slowly walked around the fence at the entrance of the parking lot and was staring at me with some dead, evil eyes.  I could tell something was wrong and I tried to run but I took one step and fell down.  In real life before I went to sleep we were talking about the other group of Israel Teaching Fellows in Ashdod and someone mentioned that it is dangerous.  They said "if a man approaches you from an alley they either want to mug you, kill you, or severely injure you."  As I lay on the ground this was going through my head.  I could not move or do anything.  I tried to yell and eventually, after several attempts, I let out a quiet strange yell.  At that point I woke up and actually screamed in my sleep.  This was very strange and I do not have any recollection of talking in my sleep.  Hopefully once I really get settled the strange dreams will go away and I will have nice peaceful sleeps in my hot Ramla apartment in Israel

That is all for now.  More to come soon when I start training next week, and maybe some stories from this weekend