Friday - teacher's party and Shabbat dinner

In Israel, Friday is the start of the weekend (hurrah!) but oddly, kids still go to school for a half day.  I am meant to teach on Fridays which is a bit annoying because I am one of the only fellows that does (my day off is Tuesday) and Friday is usually a waste of a day in terms of teaching as our school usually has assemblies, performances or trips (so much so that I have had the last 3 Fridays off because my teacher said there was no point  in coming in).

Yesterday was different though! My teacher asked us to come in as we would be needed for the first three sessions (#heartbreak because there is this amazing hip hop class in Tel Aviv that I can make when I have Fridays off but whatever, I'm not here to dance).  So I got to school at 7:50am (might I add it was like negative 10 degrees outside and raining) and beelined for the staff room for a strong black tea because there is no way you can face excited Israeli children on a Friday morning without at least a little caffeine.  

Glittery gumboots!! Take that rain

Me at 7:50am ... Not happy

However when I walked into the staff room, something was going down.  There were about 6 random people I had never seen before rearranging the room and setting out breakfast food and decorations.  So obviously something was being organised but I tend to miss all memos at my school so I made my tea and left to find the other teachers to ask them what was going on.  In the process of making my tea though I saw a cake with the words 'teacher, good, teacher, l'chaim' written on it so I was fairly sure it was a surprise party for the teachers of my school.

And, I was right! The parents of my school threw a party for the teachers to thank them!  A few parents took over the morning classes and all the teachers of the school spent the morning in the teachers room eating an amazing spread of vegetables, salad, cheese and bread (traditional Israeli breakfast) with cake and dried fruit.  The parents also set up a nails station so the teachers could get a manicure.







  

The parents also gave each teacher a small card with a quote from Janusz Korcak on it (a famous Jewish-Polish paediatrician, author and philanthropist):

"The one concerned with days, plants wheat; with years, plants trees; with generations, educates people."

I think it may be my new favourite quote.

Other than the party, my Friday was fairly standard.  I stayed at school for another hour, went dancing in Tel Aviv, came home and then went to Shabbat dinner at my host family's mother's house.

For dessert, I tasted guava for the first time as I've only ever had it in juice.  My host Mum warned me though that guava was no ordinary fruit as it smells like gasoline and it stays with you for the next 48 hours.  I had no idea what she meant by that so I inquired further and she told me that I would be burping guava for at least the rest of the night.  

Now, I am not one to shy away from a food odyssey so I tasted it and well, it was ok.  I didn't want another piece but I didn't hate it.  As for the part about it staying with you, about an hour later after I had washed the guava down with a slice of cheesecake, some almonds, dried fruit and fresh fruit, low and behold, I burped and omg - totally guava'esque.  This remained until I went to bed!!! So she was right and that will probably be the last time I eat fresh guava.

My baby host brother also got a new red power ranger costume and he was walking around the apartment fists clenched punching the air and it was the cutest thing I have ever seen.

 

MM x