dont tell me who wins

hello hello

 

last update was when i was preparing for my trip to cairo. the sad news is that that trip did not happen...the day before we were supposed to leave i got a fever, and have been sick since then. i wont get too into detail, but for those of you know know what i mean by "i got a fever" you get the severity of what that means... an episode of an underlying auto-inflammatory condition ive been dealing with for like 8 years decided cairo wasnt in the cards for me...so instead ive been spending the last week and a half doing a whole lot of nothing. in addition to fever, headache and severe joint pain, im now overcome with unconquerable fatigue, making even things like bringing my laptop to the lobby to check my email a more daunting task than my limited energy can handle on any given day. so ive been doing a lot of sleeping, and a lot of resting from all the sleeping...which is in fact as idiotic as it sounds. being sick is no fun, but even worse when you have no movies or tv to watch, and really only one friend around, on and off. so its been boring. austen has been wonderful, and has downloaded lots of shows i never wanted to watch onto my computer via itunes... lost (hate it), grey's anatomy (LOATHE it), and project runway... which i am admittedly into, and we are all caught up with the states, so you will all know who wins before i do. dont ruin it. its all i have. ha, kidding.

 

so beyond that, and downloading the little mermaid (the itunes movie selection is reallllly sparse), ive been doing a LOT of nothing and its been dreadfully broing. the new kids all arrived this weekend, and ive done a good job at meeting as few of them as possible...when im sick, im not exactly the peak of friendly and ready to be social... tomorrow is orientation, registration, opening events, etc.... its going to be a long day and i hope i can find the stamina to push through it... and put on a happy face and make new friends. can you hear the enthusiasm?  oy.

 

in exciting news, i got a new suite mate yesterday! our apartments are divided into 6 bedrooms, and this whole time mine has only been occupied by me, and 2 israeli girls (netta and sharon), leaving 3 empty rooms. yesterday a girl named huda moved into the room next to mine, she is an israeli-arab from a village near acco. she seems really friendly AND im way too excited about the idea of having a roommate with whom i can practice my spoken arabic :-D im also thinking that i may not end up with any overseas (aka american) roommates at all, which im pretty happy abouot. they guarantee you will be with no more than one other overseas student, but so far, its just me...and sicne we start tomorrow, im hoping it stays that way! the israelis dont start classes for another week or 2, so there is still plenty of time for more israelis to move in, and for me to pick out my classes.... i think. we'll find out more about that tomorrow.

 

anyway, sorry for the boring update, but that has been my life the last week and a half. no cairo. just a lot of u-haifa campus...a  lot of boredom...a few minor adventures to a grocery story, failed attempts at renting movies (we succeeded at renting them, but failed to a- select good ones and b- return them in a timely fashion), a trip to herzlya to see the a world renowned rheumatologist who specializes in an auto-inflammatory disease that i dont have, and a suprise visit from my friend tamar and her friend sarika. that was actually fun. there was a random festival that took over the main streets (literally, we could not figure out what the festival was for, but in israel over sukkot, you dont really need an excuse to be festive) which we were a part of for like 1/2 an hour until grandma's arthritis and intolerance for loud/noisy music led us back to campus to make tea and watch tv...literally. apparently im an 87 year old woman.

 

speaking of women in their late 80's, my grandmother is ECSTATIC that the DETROIT TIGERS are in the WORLD SERIES (of baseball, people). this is hilarious and great and im really proud that the team that was one loss away from being the worst team in history in... i believe 2003 (and couldnt even win that title properly) is now entering the world series, against either the cardinals (emily's favorite team) or the mets (haskell's favorite team). moreover, i dont own any detroit tigers shirts... but if i did, id be wearing them in excess. the closest i get is a chicago cubs tshirt from 1990... its baseball...and its a team that no one ever expects to do very well...and its midwest...does that count? otherwise my detroit spirit will have to be expressed in my tshirt that says "detroit: where the weak are killed and eaten"

 

its the thought that counts.  go tigers! and go michael on project runway (i think... we'll see)

wish me luck on tomorrow...long day of actually starting my semester abroad (not that ive already b been gone for three months or anything...)

 

ill write more soon, hopefully with happy news and funny new friedns.  more likely with weather reports (it rained this morning in haifa!) and awkward run-ins with people who were my roommates at programs i went to five years ago whom i havent spoken with since then (oh wait, that was today)...

 

im off to sleep (again), peaceeeee

-am