Chesed and Bus Rides (aka Rosh Hashana:Part One)

So, Tuesdsay. Morning was standard Gemarah class. But instead of ending at 12:30, we ended at 12:15. And instead of heading to lunch, we hopped on bus for a ride the was rumored to last an hour, but lasted closer to two. And when we got off that bus we walked into a middle of field and were handed sharp knives and plastic bags.
Why? You ask. No, this wasn't a Battle Royale-esque battle of the Sem. girls (which would be hysterical, no doubt about it.) No, this was actually us doing one of the most fun Chesed projects of the year (as far as I know).
There is an organization in Israel that collects food from various places, including big events like weddings, and distributes it to the many, many Israelis who live below the poverty line and cannot afford food. One of the things they do is go to fields that farmers aren't going to harvest from and collect the food for these people. Y'see, sometimes it costs more to collect the food then is worth it for the farmer. In this particular situation, the price of eggplant had gone so low that a particular Farmer judged that it simply wasn't worth the time, effort and money to collect the vegetable. The problem was that the organization found out about it a few days late. So we (and one other group of people) spent our time combing the field for any eggplants that still retained the sleek purplish-black of healthiness, and hadn't get turned gross and brown. We got quite a few, actually, but it was disenheartening to see the sheer amount of brown ones we had to pass by.
Then we headed back to school and had the rest of the day off. The next day (Wednesday) was just like a typical Friday - totally free, but you had to get somewhere for chag before sundown. I stayed up really really late (One of the girls in Sem. announced her engagement Tues. night. I was up waaaaay later then I intended, celebrating with everyone.) So I woke up and packed, somehow fitting three days worth of clothing (including backups and an outfit for Saturday night) toiletries, two pairs of shoes, and a brush into one backpack. I don't know how I did it, and I don't want to do it again. Then I sat at the bus stop forever, waiting for the seven to roll around. I did get a cartis, though! (Literally translating as "ticket", in this context it means a little card with ten squares on it. Every time I get on the bus I get a hole punched into the square until I have to buy another one. This saves me a lot of time, as I used to spend a good five minutes standing in front of the bus, digging around for 5.5 nis (new Israeli shekel))
Anyway, I got to the Tachana Merkazit (main bus station) and passed through security to go int. Once inside, I started hunting for flowers for the Z.'s (the people I was going to for Shabbos) No such luck. I must have passed every store twice, even stopping random people to ask them where they thought flowers could be purchased (Note I was asking in Hebrew. I tended to get confused looks until I said "Flowers?!?" in English. Then I got regretful shakes of head. Why couldn't I get such a response for Prachim? Argh)
I finally grabbed chocolate, because I was worried about the bus ride. I'm not a great bus rider, in the best of times. I've gotten off at the wrong stop, gotten lost, asked for directions wrong, you name it, I'll probably do it at some point. So I was a little nervous taking the bus the Beit Shemesh by myself. I'd taken a sheirut last time, and I was pretty sure I could pull it off again (Rachov Reuven, B'vakash?) but I wanted to learn the bus system, and I couldn't do it without taking it. So I found the gate for the 415, asked the driver if the bus was going to Beit Shemesh (Kein) and got on, after fumbling for the fare.
I ended up fumbling my way through asking the driver to drop me off near the Super-Hatslacha (the landmark Tifferet Z. told me to look out for) another Sem. girl, who I didn't know, was apparently getting off at the same stop. She asked the driver where the stop was, and I think she had a lot more luck then I did, because he signaled her before the stop and we got off together. We talked for a bit, and each called our hosts. Tifferet picked up, but her hosts didn't, so I asked Tiff to give me directions to pass onto the other girl (who's name, I believe, was Rivkah. But I'm not 100% sure, as I didn't see her again during chag) and I passed on Tiff's directions so the girl wouldn't get lost.
Then I walked to the Z.'s house. In conclusion, the trip was a total success. I didn't get lost, and I made it in time for a pre-chag shower. Pretty good.
To be continued....