taxi driver

As I was traveling to my friend's apartment in Tel Aviv, I got attacked by a taxi driver. As I was getting out of the taxi, he tried to steal my purse and he yanked me into the car and broke my purse and my camera, cell phone, and wallet all fell out but I grabbed the camera and wallet but he managed to get ahold of my cell phone and he was grabbing me and wouldn't let me leave until I gave him all of my money in my purse! It was so scary :( There were other girls with me too, though, and I gave him all the money in my wallet (50 shekles) and my friend gave him more so he let go of me and then we ran away. There are some very stingy, shady people here. We got out of the car and he didn't even take us to the right place. We had no idea where we were, but we ended up finding our way to this girls apartment. Her name is Jenna and her parents are from S. Africa! How ironic! And her mom started the orphanage that I'm going to in Rwanda, so Jenna knows all about it and has been there multiple times. Apparently her dad is the mayor of Jerusalem, too. Well anyways, we finally arrived, but her "apartment" was 3 full floors of a beautiful building(including the penthouse). It was a mansion, and we hung out on her roof all night. It had fancy couches and the view was amazing, we could see other people below us on their roofs playing poker. The next day, I come home to my apartment and it was so funny.... Aviv's whole family was in there: her dad was doing dishes and cleaning the kitchen, the mom was mopping our floor, the brother was installing a TV and playstation, and the grandma was in our room folding clothes!! They brought boxes of things for our apartment- cooking utensils, food, beautiful plates and cups, tableclothes, a panini maker, a toaster, a hot water maker, couple plans, plastic plates and cups, and soaps. It was soo soo nice of them. Then they took out our trash. Then they insisted I join them for Shabbat at Aviv's aunts house. So I went there for Shabbat and once again, had amaziinnggg food and the aunt was like "I made this special for you just incase you came.." There was about 10 different veggie dishes , 3 types of chicken, meat berekas, potato berekas, rice, diced potatos, salads, and a special vegetable pie thing for me! Yumm. Well, I got back from dinner and then walked to the beach with my friend Rebecca and met up with a bunch of people from yearcourse. :) And then, of course, came back home to chat with Mimi:) Love you all,
PS- I'm freaking because I haven't got my retainer yet and I feel my teeth shifting terribly.


PPS- the Rwanda village I'm going to is for teenagers not for little kids like we thought. They all work on the farm and go to school.