A Day of Firsts

My summer of volunteer work started bright and early (depending on who you ask) this morning at the Hattie Friedland School for the Deaf in Kiryat ha-Yovel. I took a cab from Nachlaot (and communicated with the driver entirely in Hebrew [or at least I tried]). After about six words, the driver switched languages to English, which was probably for the best because I didn't know where this neighborhood or school was.
We worked with a class of six kids, mostly Arabs, and helped them build gardens in the school's courtyard. The head of the garden program is a huge proponent of permaculture. He plans the irrigation and location of the plants to maximize the productivity of the bed.
We took mulch from a compost pile. The municipality ([Wow! I've started typing like an Israeli refers to the term city) donates some of its waste to SPNI to use in compost piles. You never know what you are going to find in them.
It was really tough to communicate with the kids because there was a double language barrier. Not only do they have trouble hearing what I tell them, but they also can't really understand it because my Hebrew is not Kol Kakh Tov (yet) and they can't understand any English (my sign language skills are a little rusty as well).
Let's see what my group accomplished on his first day.
Before (actually, this is the ground to the left of where we worked, but that is what it looked like before we started)

We made the bed to the left.

After working at the Friedland school, I went back to Nachlaot to take a break (ie. by a map and eat some lunch) before I headed off to my afternoon garden in Givat Shmuel.
Ma Nishtana Ha-"ride" ha-zeh mi-kol ha-"other rides"?
I took the bus (Route 20). It was little nerve-racking at first, but that might've been because I didn't know exactly where the route was headed. Another volunteer helped me out.

Before volunteering in the afternoon, I went for a stroll in the city to explore some neighborhoods that I hadn't been to yet. I mozied over to Emek Refaim (actually, it was more of a saunter).
Now, please pull out your meal scorecards and in the Day 3 lunch box, please write in Shwarma. For the first time this trip, I indulged in this food in all of its goodness and deliciousness (I have since been told that the only place worth eating Shwarma at is The Palace in Mahane Yehuda, conveniently located a few minutes from my house). Nonetheless, a monumental meal.

In the afternoon, I volunteered in a garden in Givat Shmuel near Ha-Palmakh Street. There were two other people there, one local resident and the site coordinator. My first task was to weed a section of the garden. I think I did a pretty solid job, but you can judge for yourself (I apologize for not taking a "before picture").

Next, the site director asked me to clear a path.


Today was my friend Rachel's birthday (thanks to an anonymous tip on that). She just returned from a Kinerret-to-the-Mediterranean hike with one of her friends. She invited me and a bunch of her friennds to dinner at a vegetatarian restaurant on Yafo St. called Veggie Garden (three shmoozeniks were present). You choose your food in a buffet-style line, and they weigh your plate to calculate the costs. I took, what I though was, a unique approach to the buffet. Unlike other people, I surveyed the various food options a few times before I committed to a certain food. I did not want to be caught near cash register with a gaping hole on my plate. However, I didn't take into account the fact that I would be relegated to the back of the line after my tour. I ended up getting to the table five minutes after everyone else had already sat down. In conclusion, I need to work on my buffet line surveying skills.