for the children!

the kid helped me out last night, enough that i didn't require an escort this morning ^_^

so i got up around 6am, readied and bussed through to the bus station i had issues with a couple of days ago. as i stood there beneath the shelter, post hailstorm, watching the splashes merging over the paint on the tar, with the beatles, sixto rodriguez, jefferson airplane and other golden oldies [;)] sounding in my ears, i wondered if maybe i should simply ignore the bus and enjoy the moment some more.

i was dropped off right outside the school, but i didn't know that. apparently neither did anyone else - when enough people told me they didn't know i began sarcastically asking which way was north, and i got some very odd answers. i walked about for 50 minutes, got hailed on, until i eventually came to the edge of the suburb and found a map. an upside-down map, with north at the bottom.

maybe that's why everyone who lives there is so confused. and it truly is an extreme form of suburbia - not a single shop / cafe / kiosk / store anywhere. they've got foundations for a mall going up, but that's really it.

i got to the school, and was greeted by the principal and the teacher in charge of security. they were very pleasant to deal with, and everything went smoothly. during the tour of the classes a lot of the kids got very excited, some saluting, some asking some very amusing questions and some getting frightened and having to be calmed down.
by far the funniest question of the day came from a tiny kid who shyly walked up to me during their break: "are you - are you in the artillery corps?"

i'd forgotten what primary schools (kindergarten -> grade 7) are like: the kids were simply charming, and i must admit that they were way better behaved than i'd anticipated.

i arrived back on base around lunchtime, just in time to get hit by another thud of rain and hail. i spent an hour being responsible for working uniform logistics (our unit is performing some colourful community service next week), then a few of us went off to nes tziona [again?!?!] for lunch.

one of the guys ordered a 440g hamburger, then the next guy, then the next; suddenly it was my turn, and i thought "what the heck" and ordered one too. it wasn't bad at all, and i impressed myself no end by demolishing it and all the extras without any trouble :D

then the guy who began it all asked if anybody else could handle a mcflurry. that just screwed me up, instant desire and we didn't pass a mcdonald's on the way back... AND our base store was all out of ice-cream.

a fairly well wasted hour, and then it was time to come home. i sat with spot at cafeneto, but none of the girls were around so it kinda sucked, i think we'll begin properly moving on to greener pastures. i've been 'netting since i've been back, and it's now time to get ready and snark off to petach tikva [loved about as much as nes tziona] to get a ride back to rishon letzion for a team evening.

oh, and Stephen Hawking Says Universe Created from Nothing.