Attack of the Bees!
....After having NOT written in so long, I completely forgot my username AND password for this awkward blogspot - I couldn't even sign on to my own blog page! Imagine!
So, my time at the Embassy is coming to a very quick end. The new guy, James (we call him Semaj which we say is his Arabic name - or just his name spelled backwards) is taking my place and I'm still training him. At times, when he occupies the computer, I get to sit out here at the reception area and check my email and stuff..so it works out well. Except that all my pics are on the C drive on my computer...and I'm out here - oh well I'll just add them later...
Hmm. I think I should blog the bee incident.
So 2 weekends ago I
went with a bunch of friends up north to the Galilee and the Golan. It's so nice to get away from Jerusalem and surroundings and just visit peaceful countryside. I always wanted to live in the south or something when I was in the US because it's so cute and quiet and nice and they serve Sweet Tea which is my fave drink!! Anyway, I'm still happy to be a city girl and I probably wouldn't be able to handle how slow they talk...but it's nice for a visit.So, we visited a well known sight called Gamla - the scenery, the mountains, the hike - it was all so gorgeous! I wish I had pics. Anyway, my German friend Ruben was going to help a girl jump off a ledge over a small patch of weeds and stuff - so he stepped on what he thought was just a patch of weeds...until suddenly, in a delayed reaction, a swarm of bees came flying out, angrily, at Ruben's feet. He screamed for us to run, and this sent us all panicked in different directions. Man, it was horrible! Just like the movies...they were all over him and chasing him! He even threw himself to the ground, was rolling around and then ripped off his shirt too...I've never seen anything like it. After we had stopped running and things had quieted down, Landon and I were standing far off kind of in shock. He was checking out his stings - he got 3 - and I was marveling that I hadn't gotten any.
Until, as I was standing there...a few seconds later...some stray bee that I was swatting out in annoyance, just flew right into my neck and stung me! PUNK! That was my first bee sting ever. I feel like I've suddenly been thrust into a whole new realm of people around the world who've encountered "the bee."
But poor Rube, I think he got like 25 stings! (Actually this is what I was telling people until I found out he only got 15, but still 15!!!...) Most of them were around his feet too and his one foot swelled up to twice the size ...kind of funny to look at.
Anyway. We finished the hike, kind of all tense and nervous at first, but then we all calmed down. The hike to the top of Gamla is SO worth it for the view. You are high up looking out far off into the distance, it's quiet and peaceful, and birds are flying around eye level with you...
And by the end of the trip we were laughing hysterically at the whole incident and kept recounting our different reactions and Rubens' selfless heartfelt cry "SAVE YOURSELVES..."(well, he just said Run, but we're taking some creative license here). So at least we can laugh at it now and I am happy to report that Ruben's foot is back to normal and thankfully he is recovered from the trauma.
Ok Ree - there you go - a blog. :)
posted by Emmm @ 5:46 AM
4 Comments:
Em...if it weren't for the fact that I am at my ICEJ "appearing" to check only embassy e-mails, I would have been laughing like an idiot. Seriously...that's one of the funniest stories I've ever heard and your description in hindsight is awesome! I feel like we've just had a convo. Excellent. By the way, I'm not the only one who's been waiting these two painstaking months for another Em-Blog:)
Gosh, I think my first bee sting (out of two in my life) was when I was... uhm... well, younger than 10. How much younger, I don't know. Anyway, I think I was at our neighbors' house, in their back yard, where they had a few of those big metal trucks kids can ride on (this was before they made them all out of plastic) rusting away. There was a dump truck, and a digger truck thing... what's the name?
Anyway, I turned over the dump truck, and discovered to my pain that it was hosting a beehive! I got stung by one of them and ran away, probably crying. Ahh, the good old days.
Michael, your story reminded me when I got my first bee sting - I also was around 10 (about 15 or so years back). I was hiking in the woods of upstate NY and stepped on a hive. I ran away, but unfortunately not far enough. One of those suckers followed me and flew at my face - stung me on my lower eyelid. VERY painful. But at least I had the satisfaction of knowing that this random bee had died since he (or she?) left behind the stinger. So the moral of the story is "Bee careful when walking in the woods or whatever".
Satisfaction? Aside from the whole "avoid pain" factor, my main reason for not liking to get stung by bees is because I know they die after a sting, but yet there you are, satisfied that it died. I'm gonna go away and cry now. :p
That aside, I find it fascinating that you used the "bee" pun, since over the weekend, I had just such a pun going through my head! It MUST bee a sign! :D
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