The weekend

Metar (about 20 minutes from Be'er Sheva) is a very nice neighborhood.

The Delgado's house (house, not apartment--in itself a rarity in Israel) is beautiful. THroughout the house the floors are tile, which makes it very easy to clean, as a I saw. You simply dump soapy water on the floor and bring a squiggie...

This weekend I felt a little like Jana (Payton reference): the Delgados are from Cuba and lived in Chicago for three years, so at home they speak a mix of English, Hebrew, and Spanish, which was definitely a challenge for my brain. Spanish--well, I know a tiny tiny amount, Hebrew I know, and English I know. But everything with a Cuban accent, and with words from three languages in each sentence, I definitely had to pay attention. It was very cool though! And then at the bus station in Metar (waiting for the bus that would bring me to the Tachaneh HaMercazit in Be'er Sheva) there was an older couple waiting for the bus also and speaking Spanish, and the bus was 10 minutes late so I started talking to them--in Spanish--and after a while they told me I could speak Hebrew with them :)

And THEN, once back at the Mechina (yes, I arrived safely from Metar to Be'er Sheva, and then safely from Be'er Sheva to the bus station in Kastina with Galya where we met everyone else, and then safely on the bus to the Metzudah) we watched part of a movie about the Yom Kippur war, which was obviously in Hebrew, so it was a very taxing weekend in terms of language.

But playing tag and tickling the whole weekend with David and Ruthie was NOT very taxing; it was a nice, relaxing Shabbat with lots of delicious food. I even started to read "Hakesem m'eretz otz" (The Wizard of Oz) in Hebrew. That was difficult.