1979-1980

Life as an E le f- ant
Drains clogged in the showers, long, dark corridors with
drab walls, small, cubicle-like rooms. That was my first
impression of Shikunai HaElef.
I arrived on a humid evening
in August,
and upon my first view of my future living quarters
(or surviving quarters, that is!), I wanted to catch
the next plane back to the US. Hey, even camp had better.
But then I psyched myself into a state of tolerance.
"It's only temporary, "I thought to myself. Two months of Ulpan
and then you'll be on your way to that mystical Chateau
Resnique on Mount Scopus.
Look on the bright side: you've
got a good roommate,
so put up a couple of posters and you
might even start calling this place home!
So I started to get used to the poor plumbing,
peeling
wall-paint, and dirty kitchen, and I even got used to the
fact that I was among the minority in the Elef (Elef cats far
outnumbered students). The posters were put up, the books
were organized and shelved,
and the mail began to filter in
on a fairly regular basis.
As the
Ulpan neared,
summer began to quietly fade out and the end of
a terrible rumor began to circulate among One
Year program circles:
There were not going to be. enough
places in Resnick to accommodate all OYP students. Some students
would therefore have to remain here on Givat Ram in the
Kirya or the Elef. And those students with a high Hebrew
level in particular would be more likely to remain at Givat
Ram.
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