Newbies

This week was awesome because 4 new full-time volunteers came! I have had such a great time on my own, but it has been great to have new company.  Three of the girls are all sisters from San Diego, and one boy is from NY. We had a fun pow-wow last night in the common area. 

I am down to my final week at SACH. I have been in Israel for three weeks now! This past weekend I went back to my friend Dekel's in rosh HaAyin. Dekel's mom is incredible. She gets up at 7 am every  Friday morning and cooks for the entire day. For dessert we had Halva cake... yum. Saturday me and Dekel met one of his brother's, Alon, in the Arab town Kfar Qassam for Hummus. I have never seen such a large amount of Hummus. I couldn't even finish half of it!  

When I left his house Saturday evening, his parents insisted I take home a GIANT etrog and some avocados. I didn't even know you could eat etrog! It's actually pretty decent :) 

This week I also got to meet Israeli singer Idan Raichel! He is  well-known globally.  http://www.idanraichelproject.com/en/ He works closely with SACH and helps with some fundraising projects. I took some of the kids to Tel Aviv to his studio, where we filmed a commercial. They were very excited  to meet an Israeli celeb and got all dressed up. 

Sometime during the week I had a conversation with the house mom Laura about infidelity in Africa. Laura told me it wasn't abnormal for children at the house's dads to cheat on their wives while they're here in Israel. I couldn't believe it until I heard it firsthand! I was having a conversation at the hospital with one of the nurses from Tanzania. When we were talking about her husband she told me she's pretty sure he is cheating on her right now. She said it so nonchalantly as if it was totally normal. When I asked if she was upset, she told me she wasn't, there's nothing she can do about it. They share a kid together, and she loves him very much. The mothers and children at the house are away from their fathers for several weeks/months at a time. Below is a picture of one of my favorite nurses, Pascal. 

I was so taken back today when a different nurse asked me if she could borrow my nail polish, she said: "I'm menstruating, can I borrow your red polish." She later explained to me how the only time she can paint her nails is when she is menstruating, because she is not allowed to pray. (She is a devout Muslim). Any other time of month she is not allowed to wear nail polish, because the ritual water used to washed her hands can't go through the polish. This week was another crazy week here in IZ. Next week I will be a nomad. Seriously, no idea where I'm staying. Oh well. 

XO