Today several of us in the group elected not to participate in the morning activities. While I enjoy the community service aspect of this program I, and the others, had much to do in order to get ready for the long weekend since we can't stay on campus (um, didn't we pay to be here??). As I said before, the country is at it's peak travel season right now and findng a place to stay is no easy feat, especially so last minute.

My roommate and I went to the post office to mail some stuff back home and then went to a money exchange where I could finally trade my American and Canadian dollars for some Israeli money (shekels, shqalim, whatever!). After that I tried to take some more money out of the bank machine but was unsuccessful and I'm not sure why. Although I chose English when using the bank machine (and the menus were indeed in English) suddenly the screen went black for what seemed like forever, and then a beeping sound started. The message along with this annoying beeping was all in Hebrew and all I understood were the two options I had in response to the message I could not read: ken? o lo? (yes or no?). I said no, just to be safe since I had no idea what I might be agreeing to. What happened to the English??? So frustrating.

When walking along the street I found a hair salon that looked quite nice and modern and so I popped my head in and asked how late he was open until. He told me 7pm but convinced me to get my hair cut right then (which I am glad he did. yay for a haircut!). The guy cutting my hair was a very nice Israeli lad who had worked and studied his craft in Japan, Italy and the US (or so he says). And as is true to the stereotype he wasted no time at all in hitting on me (he really likes Canadian girls he said, though I'm sure an American girl would do nicely as well) and complimented me on everything from my lips to the country I live in. It was all very smooth and charming right up until he point blank asked me if I had ever slept with an Israeli guy before. PARDON ME?? Yes, I am aware of the Israeli habit of being brutally honest and nosey, but no I didn't much appreciate such a personal question. I'm used to the usual nosey questions (how much do you make? what do you pay in rent?) but this was going too far, and I told him as much. By the end he was giving me a discount (shyeah, right) and talking about how we should get together. *sigh* Too bad Livnot has me so darned busy! (whew!)

Anyway, I am finished running my errands and now I just need to look up the bus schedule to see how I am going to get around this weekend and how much it's going to cost me. I may disappear off the radar after this until Sunday. So if you don't hear from me before then, take care, have a great weekend and thanks for all your support.