Small town

Me, my friend Ilyssa, and two of my roommates, Hannah and Alana, went and sat at a table outside of the bakery in the town square to chill, drink some coffee, and do art. The sun was just starting to set and we had just a small yellowish light coming from inside the bakery. We sat out there for a couple of hours, all of us contributing our art supplies. Alana writes beautiful poetry in her journal and takes pictures, Hannah drew a colorful design, Ilyssa drew a picture of Abul, one of the Sudanese kids from our daycare, and I drew a profile of Alana because she's absolutely gorgeous. My drawing did her no justice. The girl who works at the bakery offered us some chocolate mousse cake for free and some old ladies stopped walking to watch and admire our artwork:) It's very peaceful and extremely quiet except for the usual saxophone player. It's fun to sit and people watch because the culture in Arad is so diverse and ardent. There's the common Arabs with red checkered turbans, old Russian couples, dark Sudanese men(for some reason I never see the Sudanese women out) long,black haired Israelis, and dozens of colorful cats. I hear people speaking Arabic, Hebrew and Dinka. If I hear English, I know it's a year courser from my program. I see common faces everywhere, a definite plus of living in such a small town. If I go into a store just once, the worker will remember me and be even kinder the next time I walk in. Even after going to the gym for the first time, the owner acts like we've been friends forever- offering me tea, snacks, etc. I usually go in a group of girls and he always helps us with the machines, turns on the music we like, and always asks if were hydrated and doing okay. Anyways, after drawing, we went to the gym for about an hour, said Hi to all the regulars, and then did an aerobics class. The first week in Arad I went to a host family for Shabbat, and everyday at the gym I run into the mother there. I only met her once, but the first time she saw me there she came and kissed me and said "Why haven't you called we want you over for dinner again!!". This whole small town thing is awesome.