They say you might get sea sick on cruises. That's a pretty typical thought and precaution. You bring Dramamine and hope for the best. Sometimes, instead of sea sickness, you get a stomach flu. There are so many people and so many germs contained on a sea faring vessel that it's bound to happen. Little did I know, that a stomach bug akin to the one that visits travelers on cruise liners would hit me.
It all started with a little upset stomach on Saturday. I thought it was something I ate at the gigantic spread at the Kol Hanishama (Reform/Progressive Synagogue in Jerusalem) kiddush lunch. I took it easy and hoped it would subside. When my new, fantastically, awesome, roommate Sasha turned up around 5pm, I just thought I would manage, and went to dinner with her and some of our classmates. We went to this cool trendy new area called the New Train Station.
Sunday was the FIRST DAY OF PRE-ULPAN! None of us could really believe school was starting, but it was, and I felt relatively terrible, but I kept on going. I read Hebrew. I spoke in Hebrew, and I even tried to do some of the exercises. I got home and crashed. It's a tad bit exhausting being in an intensive Hebrew course and not feeling so hot.
That evening I was feeling okay. Our pre-ulpan class went to a great restaurant called Spaghettim. I had the lasagna and a glass of red wine. I was full but feeling great. Next was Glida Americanit! (Ice Cream). It was lovely, although I learned never to get this shop's cherry glida, not so good.
When I got home, I was still fine. I went to sleep and it was lovely! Until...1am. I was miserable. Then back to sleep 4am...again with the miserable...6am repeat. At this point, since school started at 8:30am, I had already decided school was not happening. It just wasn't. It's amazing how much you want a car to drive the distance it usually takes you to walk to in 7 minutes when you're sick. Yea, I stooped that low. I ended up spending the day going between the bathroom and bed. It was not the brightest moment of my time in Israel by far.
The shining lights in this terrible story (which I hope haven't stopped reading due to being extremely grossed you out) are my amazing roommates, classmates, teachers, and Nancy and Amanda (the director of Student Life and our Summer Intern), who all helped me get Gatorade, water bottles, and offered help and assistance. The last few days would have been far worse without them.
Now, a look at today. As these bugs tend to be between 24-48 hrs long, lo and behold, I was able to attend class today, albeit tentatively. I didn't feel awesome, but I still managed to get to school just fine, to understand almost everything the teacher (Tali) said, and answer many questions. I kept hydrated and even managed to FAX, yes FAX, the information to the cable company to hopefully get internet with the help of Jenny and Ellen two really amazing HUC staff (keep your fingers crossed!). All in all I was productive, but very exhausted.
Around 1:30 I made my way home where I then set myself up in front of the computer to watch 24! Ira suggested that since we have seasons 2-4 of the show 24 in the apartment, I should watch them. So, in two days I've watched 6 episodes. This is what life was like before Netflix...I remember now! After one episode, I took an accidental nap, and then another intentional nap later. I felt nice and refreshed post-nap, and set my mind to making a grilled cheese sandwich, with cheddar cheese or really any somewhat Americany cheese I could find and or in place of said sandwich I was crossing my fingers for Chicken Noodle Soup. After making my way to the grocery store, I magically located Britsh Cheddar Cheese. It was 25 NIS (shekels) or around $6 for a small block of cheese. I didn't really care. One thing down, but one more to go!
I ventured down the isle where the soup and canned goods should be. You know the isle? The one with the wall of Campbell's, Progresso, etc? It wasn't there. There were literally no canned soups. For that matter, there weren't any boxed soups either, like the butternut squash kind you can get in a box. There was an Israeli kind of Cup-O-Noodles and soup mixes in those paper packets that I usually associate with gravy. In the end, I decided today was not a soup day. In lieu of soup, vanilla ice cream would do. I felt comfort food was in order, if you couldn't tell already by this extravagant menu.
Apparently after 4 or so days of feeling relatively bleh, I was hungry. Two grilled cheese sandwiches and a bowl of ice cream later, my stomach was happy again. There's something just so nice about grilled cheese sandwiches. There just is.
Again, I must repeat what I've said in previous blogs. I don't want to be negative about Israel. I'm actually pretty intrigued by these soups in packets. However, when you're sick, you revert into whatever your mom made you when you were sick. So, forgive me if packets of soup and halumi cheese (a really good Israeli cheese) were not high on my list of food options. The Norovirus (that's what this stomach thing is called according to the Internet) and I just had a moment. Tomorrow will be another day of pre-ulpan, and I'm sure more adventures will be up ahead. I'm loving getting to know my classmates and meeting new people everyday. It's such an exciting time, and tomorrow is another day.
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