Shuv Chola

So now I'm sick. The flu or something, who knows. Anyway, I'm bedridden and alone. Everybody should feel sorry for me.

Due to this illness, there is not much to write about. I have been inside my house for the past few days, attempting to sleep as much as humanly possible. I feel a bit better today, so I intend to work on my paper for Early Jewish and Christian interperetation of the Bible. I'm writing about the shadowy figure of Melchizedek, who shows up briefly in Genesis 14 (in two verses obviously inserted later into the text), then again in a strange Psalm, 110, and finally plays a tremendous role in the New Testemant epistle to the Hebrews. It's fascinating stuff, really. I love all the research part. It's the transforming all my research into a coherent paper that troubles me. But I shall endure.

Pupik 2

So the cat has a terrible case of ringworm, and we have to bathe him in this special shampoo every third day for the next few weeks. He's still unbelievably adorable, unless you turn him over and see that all the hair on his underside has fallen off. Anyway, it's just one more thing stressing me out. But I don't really have a choice, unless I want to turn out a tiny defenseless baby into the street. I suppose I can handle the inconvenience for a little while.

School is going well, and the research for my papers is somewhat underway. I found out I only have to do three papers, and a take-home test, which was a source of great relief for me. I still haven't come up with a topic for my Maimonides paper. I meet with my professor tomorrow to throw myself at his mercy.

Of cabbages and kings

I got a 76 on my midterm, much much better than expected. Hooray! Thank God I don't get a grade in Hebrew, lest I feel the need to obsess about that class as much as all the others. As it stands, I haven't been satisfied with a 76 on anything since high school.

I am in strange spirits. Feeling weighed down quite a bit, a little sad even. At the same time, life is going along nicely here. The Student party the other night was fun, lots of people and a live band and plenty of beer and dancing. I spent a long time talking with this Druze guy, who explained to me a bit about the mysterious Druze religion before asking for my number. I still have no idea how to react when guys ask me that, especially when I'm not interested. But how can you talk to someone for two hours, dance salsa with them, and politely tell them you'd rather they not call you? Especially when they're nice, and of course you would enjoy hanging out with them again, if only you could be certain they just wanted to be friends.

In another news, I was completely out of money. My bank graciously allowed me to be overdrawn for a while, as I waited for more money to rain down on me from...somewhere. And lo and behold, Dad calls me today to tell me that Uncle Sam has seen fit to return to me four hundred some dollars, no doubt after having seen the pathetic figure of my income in the past year or two. Or three. I always get miracles just when I need them.

Midweek

I've been fighting a certain lethargy of late, which is why I haven't been posting much. A lot is, of course, going on, but it's unbearably hot today all of a sudden, and I keep putting off the long catch-up that I know is necessary. I finally have pictures from Petra, and maybe I'll even put them in an album at some point-- by tomorrow at the latest.

Two holidays this week: last Saturday was Lag B'omer, midway between Pesach and Shavuot, celebrated with huge bonfires visible in every part of the country. I went to the Katz's, who were having a party, and sat in front of the fire, eating far too much, and practicing Hebrew with their many guests. I particularly enjoy talking to children, who find it very odd that they can speak better than I do and that I often don't understand them.

Tomorrow is Student Day, which means I don't have class, and there's a huge party at the University tonight. I shall be in attendance.

Hebrew Midterm

I have to go take my Hebrew midterm in a few minutes. I am certainly not prepared. Mainly because we don't have a specific book that lays out all that we're supposed to know; our teacher writes up her own pages and lesson plans, and this is just too confusing for me. Especially since I make it a point to miss at least one class a week. So, we'll see how it goes.

Pupik is doing very well. He is absolutely adorable, and I miss him when he's with one of his other caretakers. It will be hard to give him up, but I know that I must. He looks so much like Koti it's eerie. I miss Koti, and my parents' threats to get rid of her frighten me! Ah, but they know I would punish them severely if they did. Maybe stay in Israel to get my Phd? Volunteer in Iraq reconstruction? Anything's possible.

So precious...

Pupik

Yesterday I was walking to Helen's dorm from my apartment when I heard a tiny, constant meowing coming from inside the fence surrounding the dorms. I couldn't see where it was; the grass is so overgrown there. I hurried into the complex and around the other side. Unfortunately, there are two fences separating the dorms from the big, bad world, and between them there is a kind of jungle-like no man's land. It was from this unreachable place whence came the ever insistent cries.

My maternal instict also being somewhat overgrown, I started calling to the kitten hiding somewhere in the brush. I called to it for fifteen minutes, and just as I had decided to risk being arrested by climbing over the fence, I saw the tall grass rustle a few meters from the fence. I started calling again, and the rustling moved towards me. I kept calling until a tiny black and white face appeared through the weeds, struggling to climb over a downed telephone pole blocking its path. It was then that I noticed the poor creature's eyes were either missing or permanently shut with a nasty-looking ooze, and it was feeling its way towards me by my voice alone.

It had a hard time with the telephone pole, and stood there crying and trying to get its bearings for a few minutes, then finally took the plunge and slid down the side. I kept calling it and it walked all the way through the remaining underbrush until it found me on the other side of the fence.

So I was basically stuck. Having culled an unfortunate, blind, ridiculously tiny kitten from its lonely misery, I simply had to take responsibility for it. Ksenia, Helen, Ariel and I managed to track down an emergency vet, who promptly cleaned out its eyes--which work fine, but were horribly infected--dewormed and defleaed it, and sent us home with two weeks worth of antibiotics. We couldn't leave it there, as with Israel's cat problem, they have to put down kittens that young that have been abandoned.

So, naturally, we will take care of it. We've already found someone who wants to adopt it, but first it has to be healed and healthy, as she works all the time and can't feed it every three hours. So little Pupik (Hebrew for belly-button, a kind of backwards nickname, as I called him Puppy and thought he deserved a real name) will be with us for two or three weeks. He is more than precious. Three weeks old, and smaller than my hand. Pictures forthcoming.