Ah, I was kind of wrong about Fox News. All they talked about was the election. I'd like to know what's happening elsewhere in the US, thanks.
So the first real day of ulpan went by just fine. I struggled a bit to keep my eyes open and focus on listening to other students. I had forgotten how tired I'd get if I got up at 6 AM to work out and then go straight to class after showering and eating breakfast. We mostly focused on a beach story and reviewed several concepts that I had seen before. I'm undecided on whether this class is a little too easy or not but this is Level Bet, right? I'll see how it all goes tomorrow. At one point, Dornova said, "I know you all will want to go to the beach all the time but don't expect to do it because you're going to be doing 2 to 3 hours of homework!" Heh. I guess too many of us were having side conversations about figuring out how to get to the beach.
I took my first attempt after classes. I waited what seemed like forever for 37 to come along and I asked for a transfer ticket. There was also another bus- 46- that went directly to Hof Ha-Carmel cental bus station (which was located right across the street from Carmel Beach) but apparently that comes once every hour. Someone told me that she caught it around 2 PM so perhaps it might be on the dot. I guess I should've waited another 10 minutes to catch that bus...
So I rode the 37 down to where 99 stops. I got off and waited for a lonnnggggg time. I noticed that 133 also went to the beach and it came along. I asked the bus driver (double checking) and he said that he doesn't drove to the beach. Then a woman waiting on the seat behind me said that I have to go across the street in order to catch the bus. Ah MAN! Then I went over there and waited a lonnngg time again for 133. 99 never came.
I finally made it to what I thought was Carmel Beach after an hour, what it should probably have been at least 30 minutes. It was much smaller than I thought and I saw a lot of roped off areas. The waves were pretty strong but Tel Aviv had those but the areas weren't roped off. Hm. I also figured it was meant to keep people from swimming out too far as it's jellyfish season. July in Israel was the worst time to be if anyone's looking for a beach vacation. It's jellyfish mating season so basically people enter in the water at their own risk. After walking around a bit, I finally found a comfortable spot a bit close to the shore- it wasn't crowded at all so I felt a little weird being the only one for several meters around. This beach was seriously not as big or "glamorous" as Tel Aviv- there wasn't even much to eat or drink! But there was a huge amphitheater for concerts- that'd be so much fun! There's also a little playground and a pool for children.
After several hours, I went back to the bus station. While walking towards my bus stop, I saw what seemed to be a rarity in Israel- a map of bus lines in Haifa on the wall! I went over to the info desk and if they had any paper copies and they said no. Oh, really smart, Israelis, for not thinking that perhaps while you're creating that map, you might as well print some too! I sighed and began tracing the lines to figure out other bus routes to see other beaches. I was just so glad to see this for more beach options!
Right now I'm writing this as I'm getting my free laundry. :) This definitely beats remembering to go to the ATM and saving change for laundry and... might make all the bus transfers well worth it. And now I'm just discovering that it was not the Carmel Beach- that was Zamir Dado Beach.
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